Chapter Text
“Charles, what has been your experience working on Pacific Rim. Your character, ranger pilot Robert Martini, since appearing at the beginning of this past season, has often been cited as one of the best new characters to join the show by many.”
"Please, call me Chuck. My dad only calls me Charles when he’s mad. " He grins charmingly at the pretty brunet reporter, dimples wide. "Playing Robert, Rob, on Pacific Rim, has been an amazing. He's a very complicated character and I see tons of potential for character development for him. I mean, to put it mildly, right now, Rob is a bit of an ass."
Chuck laughs in a self-deprecating manner, and she joins him.
"He has a chip on his shoulder but it's because he's the best, you know. He's young and he's got the best kill count on the show, but there are so much we can explore about his character. For one, Rob’s troubled relationship with his father, Max.
“Who is played by your co-star Hercules Hansen.”
“Yeah, no relation though, just a bit of fortuitous casting. Herc is an amazing actor and next season is going to be intense. So everyone who’s not watching the show should tune in because there’s nothing like it on television right now."
"But we’ve heard talks that the show is having trouble competing in its current time slot, even to the point that producer Stacker Pentecost is considering bringing on board Raleigh Beckett to help shake things up in what some claim could be the final season of Pacific Rim."
"Well, I've just gotten the new set of scripts today so. But look, it’s true that the ratings has been going down recently but that’s because of weak writing and mediocre acting. We certainly don’t need some prettyboy Hollywood has been to ---”
Click. Chuck hits the power button on the tv remote. Ok, it wasn't the most diplomatic way that he could have answered the question, but it's not like there will be anyone who'd ---
His cell phone starts vibrating then on the kitchen counter. He looks down at the caller ID. Oh, just perfect.
The first thing the old man says when he answers is, ‘are you still intent on destroying your career by working on that drivel.’
Not hello, how are you doing. I miss you.
"Nice to hear from you, dad,” Chuck says and goes about trying to scrape together something edible.
"I just saw your latest interview." Ah, of course, the old man would have watched it, even though he claims that he never bothers following Chuck's career on this side of the Atlantic. "It's bad enough that you've chosen to forsake a promising theater career, move to the other side of the world so you can work in some science fiction show designed to sell toys to mindless children ---"
"Look dad," Chuck cuts the man off before he could continue on. Charles Hansen Sr. has the rambling capacity of any classically trained thespian, perfected over the years of delivering soliloquies on stage. "You say this every time you call me. And I tell you the same thing every time. What's changed?"
"Marcus is looking to start a new Romeo and Juliet production next year. Come back and do some real acting for once."
"You know they're not going to let me play Juliet,” the sarcasm rolls out before he could stop.
Chuck hears a sharp intake of breath on the other end, but the other man didn’t take his bait.
To his credit, Hansen Sr. might be as traditional as they come, but he's never made an issue about Chuck being gay, especially considering the way Chuck came out; shouting 'Oh yeah old man think you're disappointed now! Well, what do you think about having a son that loves sucking dick’ probably wasn't the most tactful way to break the news to your old man since…well, EVER.
But he just makes up for it by being difficult in many other ways. “Try out for Mercutio then,” Chuck hears.
“Dad.” This was a fight that neither of them would ever win.