“The right one!” She stomped off as if that answered anything, so he had no choice but to go talk to Walter. He had to convince his friend to give up the energy of a demigod and just be his normal, mortal self.
Yeah, like that was going to happen. It would be like trying to convince him to give up being a werewolf. And not just any werewolf, but Red Wolf, who could see energy, dissolve phantoms with his mind, and hypnotize people. It wasn’t going to happen.
He found Walter where he’d expected: sitting in the makeup chair and glaring at his script. A quick glance told Bing that they were about to film a really difficult scene. It was the one where Wang Xuegang—the future Red Wolf—teeters between his humanity and his dark werewolf side. At first he holds on to what is familiar as a man, but in the end, he lets the werewolf free, with profound effects—both good and ill.
The whole movie depended on this scene because it showed the hero’s emotional struggle between good and evil, man and wolf. Back when they’d first written the scene, Bing had been nervous about playing it, but Walter had reassured him. This type of angsty drama was where Bing excelled.
“How are you going to play this with a comic focus?” Bing asked.
Walter lifted his head with a too-wide grin. “It’ll be as easy as defeating one hundred thousand celestial troops.”
Bing arched his brow, recognizing one of Monkey’s legendary fights in heaven. “Monkey can’t help you with this scene, Walter. It requires subtle emotion. He’s not known for—”
“Shut up. I’m trying to focus.”
Bing didn’t respond. The Walter he knew would never be so rude, so he waited to see if his friend would realize what he’d done. He did. Walter’s ears flushed hot, and eventually he spoke, though he didn’t raise his eyes from the script.
“You missed your shot, Bing,” he said, almost too quietly to hear. “It wasn’t your fault, but it happened.” He looked up. His eyes were steady, but there was pain in the expression. “Why would you mess with mine?”
Bing swallowed. “The last thing I want to do is hurt you, Walter.”
“So stop messing with me. This scene is important—”
“I know—”
“And last night was important to me too.”
“Me too.” That was the absolute truth.
“So back off and let me try to do this scene right. I won’t do it the way you would, but that’s okay. I’m me. This is my chance.”
Bing nodded, but he couldn’t leave it at that. “Monkey can’t help you with this scene.”
“I know—”
“Kick him out of your body. He can’t help you, so push him out.”
Walter straightened his spine. “And lose all my confidence? It’s not just about the martial arts skills. He gives me breath.” He inhaled deeply and released it without constriction. “No asthma and no anxiety. You don’t know how important that is to me.”
Bing knelt down beside his friend. Since Walter was in the makeup chair, that put him on a lower level, and he looked up into his friend’s eyes. “I do know. And I want to be happy for you.”
“No, you don’t. You want your part back. After eight weeks away, you’re suddenly back. You’ve cooked up all sorts of reasons why I should upend everything and give it back to you.” Walter leaned forward until they were close enough to kiss. “The answer is no.”
“I’ve never said anything about getting the role back.” That was true, though itwasone of his ultimate goals. The image of drooling Batman was still burning in the back of his brain. But the most important thing was to get Walter back to his normal self.
Walter was fierce right now, with powerful energy in his body and presence. He was also vulnerable, even as he saidnoin the clearest terms possible. Two opposing states in one body. That was amazing to see and sexy as hell. And damn if he didn’t get hard just feeling it. But even so, he had to push Walter into giving it up.
“This isn’t your power, Walter. It’s Monkey’s. You have to find your strength on your own.”
Uncertainty flashed in Walter’s eyes and was quickly followed by panic. But a moment later, it was squashed. “Spoken like someone who was born talented and gorgeous. You’ll never know what real anxiety is like. How awful it really is.”
Bing rocked back on his heels. “That isn’t fair, and you know it. You’ve seen me scared. You were with me when I asked my parents for money for this movie. You sat with me when I could barely get the words out.”
“And we celebrated together when they said yes.”
Bing nodded. He remembered. They’d had pizza and macaroni and cheese—a carb-fest that had had him doing double workouts for a week afterward. “I know fear, Walter, and you can’t take shortcuts to self-esteem.” He reached out and gripped Walter’s hands. They were rough with calluses, a product of the very real work he’d been doing in his training. “This movie is too important to risk it with something like Monkey. He’s wild. You can’t control him.”
“And yet I have.”
