Ten: What if

Ever since the Buttons did the interview, everything was going as Barry feared it would. The articles, The internet and the media ofcourse all had him under a lense and were picking him apart. He couldn't be safe anywhere and to make it worse he still couldn't reach Vanessa. Even though he knew it would be a bad idea to try shed some light into the matter, he found that he couldn't just do nothing. Not even take this time that he was spending offline to write. It was hard to write when he couldn't get his mind critic, who'd only seemed to grow more louder and bolder by the day, to shut up. The voices had been fed and there was proof of all the things that they tried to make him believe.

Thomas had had to come through for him, and take his phone away. All the responses Barry was trying to get out there were like going against a storm, and an angry one at that. He had turned off the wifi and took Barry's phone into his pocket. It did seem odd for Thomas to ground Barry like that seeing as how they didn't know each other like that. Their relationship was definitely more friendly than it was professional though and Thomas really did want to help.

" How could you respond to them! All you had to do was absolutely nothing. " He pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head, and dabbed a handkerchief at the sweat droplets of his nose. He couldn't settle down, even though he would not openly say it he was really worried.

" Can you sit the fuck down for just two seconds you're making me anxious. " Barry's left foot was tapping against the carpet and his fingers wouldn't stop raking his hair. They itched to write to say something, to type back. Maybe if he just said something the right way, and just be honest and really just explain himself well, and post it at the right time and responded to the right thread, then all of it could go away.

His career was over. It felt like it. His eyes took in the sight of his house, for all he knew it might have been one of his last days and he did not know. Maybe he would have to move out of the house into a hotel that he could afford with what he had while he waited for the gods of creativity to unleash his artistic juices on him. He could already smell the stench of hotel soap caught up in his nose. He shuddered at the thought of just being out in public like that, no special treatment, no back ups, no nothing. Just existing out there as a civilian who the public currently hated.

That was the worst part of his job. How one moment he was at the top and he was everyone's hero and he could do a tiny thing like not get nominated for awards or have his parents talk crap about him and he'd lose it all. It seemed like the adoration and the deep loathing from his fans were basically two sides of the same coin and he wasn't sure how he was having that anymore. Quitting was starting to look like a real option.

He had given up acting which was his first true love, but he couldn't stand the camera lenses, the need to put up with appearances and the kind of PR Stunts it needed. Being in the background seemed like a way for him to do what he loved while slowly removing himself from the narrative of stalkers, and haters and people that didn't even know him throwing themselves at him.

" This might go on for a while, Barry, I need to know that I can trust you to be alone now. Has Vanessa gotten back to you yet?"

" Why would she? I'm not the moment anymore, why would she want to tarnish her name?" His heart sank a few inches. He hadn't wanted to believe Vanessa had been that superficial. Sure he definitely wasn't going to get nominated for best boyfriend of the year but he was trying and it was some mountain to climb. And he wished more than anything to be able to get himself to a place where he could just accept Vanessa's love. But a part of him wouldn' t let him. If he needed someone to act like they loved him and did all the things that to everyone watching seemed like acts of love when really they were all just calculated and performative, he'd get his parents.

" Really, I thought she'd have reached out by now. She called me asking if you were okay. "

Barry's head shot up, his pulse rising from processing the fact that there was still something between them. It wasn't much, he knew that. If Vanessa loved him and cared about him so much. she would call him, she wouldn't leave. She wouldn't be on interviews promoting her work and refusing to talk about him. She could fix it for him. It was selfish for him to feel that way but it was true.

Everyone was benefiting off of Barry's hate train the best way they could. He'd known that was a possibility. Even his best works, his classics were now being shit on. And the movie he'd worked on with Vanessa a few months ago, had tanked some people wanted him cancelled. The thought of it made him want to choke slam every person that had backed up honestcriticbabe22, by retweeting amd liking her tweet. She was a popular content creator and as far as he knew she had planted the #cancelthebuttons seed in the minds of her four million, a number that had doubled, subscribers and now they were bearing the fruits. How was it that he could work so hard for something and have it taken away by simply opinion?

She was the one that said to save Vanessa. She'd explained how Barry was latching onto her at her prime because he was slowly losing relevance. First of all, it was Barry's movie that gave her the big break and he'd fought for her to get the role against well established actors, but that was besides the point. The point was that everyone was on her side, they felt they needed to protect her from him. As if he was some kind of cold blooded monster that fed off of actresses who are just having their moment.

In any case, she was the one that had abandoned him, the one quick to assume they were getting engaged even though they were barely dating. If there was a victim it was clearly him. And this was all working out for her for all he knew she could have been behind it. An agenda by her and his parents to drive them into exchanging vows, on a live show that would interrupt normal programming .But God forbid, you as a man actually try to defend yourself from feminists on the internet.

"Do you really think she cares?"

" Definitely. I know it doesn't look like it right now. But she's new to this...and she's playing it really safe. She hasn't made the situation worse in any way and when you've come up in her interviews she's been respectful." Thomas said, he couldn't keep the fascination in his voice from leaking.

He was just way too impressed at how she was handling this. Whoever her Publicist was, she needed to meet them and it wasn't often he had thoughts like those. Everyone in the Industry just wants to be the best at what they do after all. He had to snap his facial features back to neutrality before Barry realized he wasn't getting the most he could get out his money with a publicist like him.

" How can all this come from the fact that I am not married, am not even that old! Do my parents really appeal that much to the public that I should follow in their footsteps?" The answer was in the question, all Thomas had to do was tell him what he obviously needed to hear at the time. But he had gone full on professional mode, deciding only a few seconds earlier to push himself further and prove himself to Barry both as an acquaintance and a professional. He'd been at it for seven years, it was embarrassing to still have to introduce himself, and not just for formality, in award shows.

" Ofcourse when you zoom in on it is hella hedious. I can't imagine what it must be like for you who's actually their child. But from the outside it really looks great! And it's going to continue selling for a long time. "

" Don't you think there's something off," Determined to get the answer he was looking for Barry pushed harder, " they kinda are just merging into one person. Don't they remind you of snails mating just a little bit?"He'd stopped listening,his hands slapped his coat back dramatically and gripped at his waist. He stared ahead like he was seeing something play out, and perfectly.

" You're not going to like this. But you could do it too."

Barry tilted his head, not wanting to believe what was being suggested.

" You only need like ..." Thomas pulled out Barry's phone to confirm the date and time. "...a month to pull it off. Sure your work is amazing, believe me I know that. But we're at a tight spot here. If a relationship to obsess over is what they want then you should really give it to them! It doesn't even have to be real."

" How different would that be from what my parents are doing Thomas?"The veins mapped on Barry's head were threatening to snap.

"It could be a mutual agreement. Either use Vanessa, or another person if she still isn't talking, have an agreement to act like you're together and we can sell them the best love story they have ever seen. Think of it as getting back to acting but not really."

Barry remained silent, but the wheels were already turning in his mind.