#she's very strict with her lead actresses. she's known to crush them at a moment's notice and make another to replace them

[whimsicalcotton]

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[aubrey-plaza]

Staubrey theater au? :)

there are SO MANY iterations of this- Aubrey and Stacie as actors who hate each other- tyrannical director Aubrey and diva actor Stacie- diva actor Aubrey and annoyed techie Stacie- major fan Stacie and diva actor Aubreyand that’s not even counting musical theatre and all those dynamics

but let’s go with:

Stacie Conrad is one of the best new costume designers on the east coast and it’s something she’s worked very hard to achieve. She might still be considered ‘up-and-coming’ to some but nobody can do what she does and she knows it. This gives her the freedom of picking her projects so when Cynthia Rose Adams, a brash and sharp stage director, approaches her and tells her she’s doing an all-female production of Glengarry Glen Ross and has David Mamet on as a consultant, Stacie instantly says yes

Cynthia Rose has a clear and crisp vision and her production manager Flo is a dream to work with and Stacie’s looking forward to this project

She sits in the far-back of the theatre, hidden, during callbacks and starts sketching outfit ideas for each of the women as they read lines

They cast Levene (Cynthia Rose takes a chance on a new girl called Jessica Smith from Wisconsin), Aaronow (Emily Junk, theatre legacy who’s been in the business since a child on account of her mother), Moss (Ashley Jones who’s trying to make the jump from musical theatre to plays), Williamson (assertive Australian Amy Hobart who Stacie is quite honestly pretty excited about seeing on an American stage) and even the detective (Denise Walmsley, an unexpectedly stellar actress who’s only done off off Broadway plays)

There’s some backlash from some men’s rights groups so Cynthia Rose reluctantly casts Jesse Swanson as the sole male in their production and Stacie sniggers when Cynthia Rose ends up giving him the role of the weakest man (Lingk)

They still don’t have a Roma because Cynthia Rose has someone very specific in mind. Flo assembles her crew and Stacie’s excited to meet the people she’s going to be working with but Cynthia Rose still won’t tell her who’s going to be Roma and Stacie is starting to get impatient because she wants to finalise her looks to present to Cynthia Rose who apologises and says it’s all under wraps

When they do find out who’s playing Roma, Stacie has to reluctantly agree that Cynthia Rose had been right not to tell her because there is no way she could have kept that secret

Aubrey Posen hasn’t been in the business long, but the work she’s done has been phenomenal. Stacie hadn’t even known that Posen was up for grabs because of her residency as Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire in London that’s earned her a Laurence Olivier award and okay, so maybe Stacie has a small crush

“Aubrey, this is Stacie Conrad, our costumier,” Cynthia Rose introduces them

“Nice to meet you, Stacie, I look forward to meeting the woman in charge of making me look good.”

“I can only make you look better than you already do,” Stacie says awkwardly and Cynthia Rose grins with surprise over Aubrey’s shoulder at Stacie but Aubrey just laughs softly and Cynthia Rose leads her over to the other crew members

“What was that?” Chloe teases and Stacie is mortified

“Nothing! Go back to ogling the set designer,” Stacie snaps at Chloe who laughs before walking away to talk to Beca

And, okay, Stacie is hot as hell and Aubrey has eyes but she also has a pretty strict rule about dating within a production and no matter how incredibly inviting Stacie’s boobs might be, Aubrey’s a professional. She knows Stacie has a crush on her so she’s a little mean on purpose just for the brunette to stop tempting her

Once they actually start working together, Stacie realises how absolutely Difficult™ Aubrey Posen can be and somehow, she ends up liking Aubrey even more (and has several “jesus christ Stacie what is wrong with you?” moments along the way)

“Measuring time, Posen,” Stacie calls out while Lilly plays with the measuring tape next to her

“I already sent in my measurements,” Aubrey says back, returns to her script

“I don’t care,” Stacie says but Aubrey completely ignores her so she gets up and walks over to Aubrey, ripping the pages from her hands.

“Hey!”

“We take fresh measurements, Posen, get over there,” Stacie says and the blonde is glaring at her but she does follow Stacie’s instructions and lets Lilly measure her as Stacie notes down the numbers

Lilly whispers something to Stacie who shakes her head. “No, just looking at her I can tell that she’s clearly not a 32, do it again please,” Stacie says to Lilly who measures Aubrey again and mumbles something to Stacie. “That’s more like it,” Stacie says with a nod, very aware of the glare being levelled at her by Aubrey

(okay, so maybe she’s being purposefully difficult as well because the measurements Aubrey had given them was correct, but Stacie really likes pushing Aubrey’s buttons)

Aubrey comes into the theater one day early for rehearsals and finds Stacie on the stage, fabric draped over her shoulder and singing some Adele song. She’s standing on a step to reach the curtain rods while she sings, and Aubrey doesn’t mean to sneak, but she stays as quiet as possible as she watches Stacie work and sing. Stacie finishes the song with a flourish as she hops off the step stool and Aubrey forgets that she’s trying to be sneaky and claps her hands and Stacie whirls around at the voice, a loud “AAH Fuck!” falling from her lips.

Aubrey laughs softly and walks closer, drops her bag on a chair in the first row. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I thought I was alone.”

“You have a gorgeous voice.”

Stacie shrugs. “Thanks.”

“Why aren’t you on Broadway?” Aubrey asks and Stacie rolls her eyes

“We’re not all cut out for the stage,” Stacie says but Aubrey cocks her head inquisitively, arches an eyebrow and Stacie melts. “I’m a terrible actress.”

“Shame,” Aubrey says with a coy smile. “You certainly have the looks for it.”

“You been checking me out, Posen?”

“Hard not to when you always have enough fabric for our costumes but never for your legs,” Aubrey says offhandedly, referring to the short shorts that Stacie likes wearing, flipping through her script even though Stacie knows she’s known all her lines since the first rehearsal and it’s one of the first signs Stacie gets that Aubrey might actually like her back

The second happens during one of their fittings. Aubrey’s in a tight pencil skirt but there’s something off about the inside lining so Stacie’s frowning and staring at the skirt as she says, “I’m gonna put my hand under the skirt now, okay?” and Aubrey nods but when Stacie reaches up under the fabric, her fingers brush up between Aubrey’s thighs to tug down the loosened inside lining and Aubrey gasps loudly and Stacie’s gaze flicks up in surprise at the sound, finds Aubrey blushing bright red. “You okay?” Stacie says and Aubrey just nods, clears her throat and says “Fine.”

The third time, Stacie’s standing in her underwear in the dressing rooms when Aubrey comes in. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she says immediately, but she’s staring at Stacie’s body and Stacie doesn’t even have to suppress a smile because Aubrey is staring nowhere near her face. “It’s okay,” Stacie says but Aubrey’s breathing is stunted as her eyes trail down Stacie’s stomach and hips, linger on her underwear before looking further down at Stacie’s legs. Lilly urges Stacie to turn, so she does, grateful for the mirrors when she can keep watching Aubrey, sees as the blonde melts, biting her lower lip as she stares at Stacie’s butt. Lilly holds out a dress and Stacie steps into it and that’s what finally snaps Aubrey out of her staring and she’s blushing fiercely as Stacie turns to her while Lilly zips up her dress.

“You look nice,” Aubrey says and Stacie laughs because that’s an understatement coming from someone who just spent a good minute ogling her. “What’s that for?” Aubrey asks, moving further into the room and closing the dressing room door behind her as she puts her bag down on one of the tables

“Opening night,” Stacie says. “Do you like it?” Stacie twirls even though she hears Lilly grumble behind her and Aubrey’s caught in a daze again as she nods, watching Stacie

They’re two weeks away from previews and the flirting dies down considerably. Stacie has a million tiny things to do and Aubrey is super focused. There are still small moments, like when they do their first run-through in full costume and Stacie calls out “Roma!” and holds out the hanger with her outfit and Aubrey brushes her fingers against Stacie’s as she takes the hanger and softly says “Thanks for making me look good”

They go through two weeks of previews and lock down the final performance. Critics aren’t allowed to watch the previews but somebody leaks that the production is very good and suddenly they’re sold out for the first 3 weeks of the show. The opening night performance goes off without a hitch and the crew are all backstage celebrating with a few bottles of champagne afterwards when the actors come backstage. Before any of them can even reach for a glass, Stacie loudly says, “Costumes, please!” and everybody slinks towards their dressing rooms because the past two weeks have shown them just how relentless Stacie is with keeping the clothes in perfect form.

Aubrey comes off stage and Stacie knows how wired she gets, how intense she can be so she doesn’t take it personally when Aubrey sharply says, “Stacie, come with me,” and just follows the blonde to her dressing room. She takes it very, very personally when Aubrey pushes her up against the closed door and kisses her, unleashing all her pent-up adrenaline on Stacie. Stacie kisses her back, but then her hands brush against Aubrey’s hips and the fabric there and she pushes the blonde away from her

“Stop,” Stacie says but it comes out so breathless

“What?” Aubrey asks, face falling, suddenly regretting making a move because shit is going to get really awkward now, all because she’s grossly misinterpreted Stacie’s behaviour. She bites back tears as she pulls away, her adrenaline rush crashing fast as she says, “Stacie, I’m so sorry, I—”

“Take off your clothes,” Stacie interrupts and Aubrey’s getting whiplash from the sharp turns this conversation is taking

“What?”

“Strip.”

“Huh?”

“Aubrey, please take off your clothes before I rip them off you and ruin all my months of work,” Stacie says darkly and—

“Oh.”

Aubrey moves away from her as she untucks her blouse from her skirt and starts unbuttoning it, and Stacie stays pressed against the door as she watches Aubrey unzip her skirt and step out of it, hanging it up and then shrugging out of her blouse and draping it over the skirt. Aubrey drops down onto the couch and bends down to roll her thigh high stockings down her legs slowly. Once she’s done she stands up again and gestures to the garments draped over the chair. “Happy?”

“Clip,” Stacie says, points to Aubrey’s hair and the blonde smiles, bending down to look at herself in the mirror as she takes out the bobby pins and clip holding up her hair. Stacie’s eyes are drawn away from Aubrey’s legs when blonde hair tumbles down Aubrey’s back as she stands up straight. Stacie pushes off from the door and strides over to Aubrey, and the blonde barely has enough time to turn around before Stacie’s hands slide around her middle and pull her closer as she leans in to kiss Aubrey

And okay, Aubrey knows she has a rule about dating within a production, but it’s unfair how good Stacie looks in a black turtleneck and leggings and now that she knows how soft Stacie’s hair is all she wants to do is tug it free from the tight ponytail Stacie keeps it in during shows and run her fingers through the strands

When Aubrey tells Stacie that’s why she’d been so standoffish in the beginning, Stacie laughs and just kisses her harder

send me a Staubrey AU and i’ll tell you 5 of my headcanons for it