I could a tale unfold - 6

Late that afternoon Ross, was about to shoot Claudius, aka Terrance Bender, aka a royal pain in the ass who was never satisfied unless his costumes outshone everyone else's on stage.

"I don't give a tinker's hoot in hell," the man in question was saying, mixing his metaphors, "I'm the King, I should have more jewels, more gold, and the damned jacket is too loose."

"It's a doublet and it fits the way it's supposed to," Ross retorted, not willing to bow to Terry's demands. "You're the king and older. You want to show off your physique go to 'Aunties' or 'The Bloodhound'."

"Well I…"

"If you end that with 'never' you're a damned liar," Ross said caustically while winking at his crew when Terry turned to check himself in the mirror.  

Beth snickered, covering her mouth when Terry glared at her, telling him, "You really look quite handsome. Honestly."

Somewhat placated, he smiled before going into the shop's dressing room to change.

"Why the hell didn't I stick to digging ditches?" Ross muttered.

"Because you're good at this, and love it," Kirk replied, coming into the costume shop at that moment. "Are you ready for me?"

"Am I ever," Ross whispered as he walked past Kirk to get his costumes off the rack.

One of the girls overheard the comment and laughed. "You two are so—cute."

"Cute, huh? I prefer to think of myself as handsome and debonair with a bit of dashing thrown in," Kirk replied with a straight face.

"And cute," Ross told him, handing him the costumes. "Terry should be out in a minute."

At that moment Terry stepped into view, eyeing what Kirk was holding before saying to Ross, "He gets four and I only get two?"

"He's the star," Ross replied, taking Terry's costumes out of his hand, "and we do have a budget, believe it or not."

"Favoritism," Terry sneered as he stalked away.

"Yeah, right," Ross called after him. "Take it up with Chandler if you don't like it." When Terry closed the door sharply behind himself on the way out, Ross muttered, "Bastard. I swear."