Title: Top Billing
Fandom: Singin' In The Rain
Pairing: gen
Categories: Drama, Post-Canon, Character Study, Yuletide
Length: Medium (3,568 words)
Warnings: n/a

Author on LJ: romanticalgirl
Author Website: romanticalgirl

Summary:
Singin' in the Rain was the end of the beginning for Don and Kathy, but what was it for Cosmo and Lina?

Review:
After the movie, life moves on. Lina makes a life for herself as gossip columnist and Cosmo moves into acting and eventually writing. Mostly by happenstance, they start meeting periodically for drinks and sniping. Through these meetings, we see what happens to them, and peripherally what happens to the other characters from the film.

The character voices are pitch-perfect superb, and this story allows them to age and grow and be more nuanced while still very identifiably themselves. Lina especially is a delight!

“I know I was never a genius like you and Don was, but let’s see if I can give this a go.” She scrunches her nose, making her voice more nasal. She’s learned a lot in the intervening years, including the fact that sometimes acting means being who people expect you to be rather than who you are. “Dear Cosmo, I used you for what I needed you for and now I’m doin’ just fine on my own, and I don’t need no hangers-on. Love Don.” She smiles, sharp and wicked. “That sound about right?”

“I don’t get it, Lina. You’re a bigger star now than you ever were as Lockwood and Lamont.”

“No.” She sips her drink and shakes her head. Her eyes are as sharp as her smile, but he sees a flash of something there. “Back then I was a star. Now I’m a shark. And you respect sharks, but you don’t love ‘em.”

“I’m the sidekick,” he reminds her. “Nobody falls in love with me.”

“That’s not what the rumors say.” She finishes her drink and sets her glass down on the table. “Not that I put stock in rumors.”

“What? I’m not big enough news?”

“Honey, nobody’s too small when it comes to my job.” She shrugs and stands up. “You just gotta give me somethin’ to work with.”

Top Billing