Remember Me
Chapter 24
There were a lot of things that Rune liked about his job, but there were the odd few that made him wonder. For example: photoshoots; Rune found that he loved that he could wear outlandish outfits and make up and pretend to be someone he wasn't as part of his job. On the flipside of this most colourful and imaginative of coins was the time it took. He had to get up at wtf-I-went-to-bed-at-this-time-the-other-night-and-the-sun-isn't-even-up-yet hours and then
sit still! for however long it would take the make-up artist to paint him.
Oh, and the whole 'being miles away from Khema and not being allowed to have the phone on during the shoot' thing as well. He hated that bit. In fact... he reached out to grab up his mobile, earning him a death-glare from the make up artist (which he replied with a sheepish grin) and flew his thumb over the small buttons, beeping out a message to his boyfriend.
2 damn early. shld b in bed w/u asleep nstead of here bein poked w/eyelner. luv u, miss u, txt u l8r, ttys. xXxHe watched the message send then slid his phone shut with a tone, sighing as his chin was tipped and he was told to close his eyes. All he wanted to do now was wriggle!
Daniel had different problems with the whole situation to Rune. While he had no problem sitting still, and in fact dozed off while in the chair most of the time on these early morning sets, he hated being touched and petted and looked at by the make-up artists and the hair stylists and most of all, he
loathed being dressed in clothes that he felt he could barely breathe in.
He hadn't seen what the stylists had in mind for him as of yet, but he already knew he wouldn't like it. He didn't see what was wrong with his knee ripped jeans and massive anime-emblazoned tshirt (thank you tour of Japan), especially considering it was his own style; but the magazine they were shooting for had funny ideas about fashion. He just made up his mind to avoid EJ at all costs (following the leather trousers debacle) and be in and out of them as quickly as possible.
While Kaii, on the other hand, couldn't seem to get away from EJ.
"You look ravishing," the bassist leered.
"That's not an invitation," Kaii responded with a middle finger stuck in EJ's face as she stood, patiently, and let Wardrobe tie up her top. It couldn't very well be called a shirt because it was 1) made out of rubber and 2) less material than a string bikini. She was lucky she was so flat-chested; yay for the asian genes. Scratching at her nose and receiving a swat from the stylist who was fluffing up her pink-and-caramel hair, she gave EJ the once-over. "You know, you're not too bad yourself when you clean up. Still not an invitation," she ended necessarily.
EJ flashed Kaii a winning smile and gave his own self an appraising glance.
Wardrobe had seen fit to squeeze him into a pair of sinfully low-cut jeans, dark and for once not cut into shreds. He was glad he'd shaved today, or his pubes would have definitely been on display. The shirt, however, had not escaped the same fate and was sliced within an inch of its life, strings of it hanging over one shoulder, the other shoulder left completely bare; his hair was its usual wild mess. Kaii and he had gotten their make up done first and now they were just waiting for Rune and Dan to get dressed. A single pair of dark red leather jeans hung on a rack; EJ couldn't help but hope they were for Daniel. Hey, he could dream.
"Do you have any idea what we're gonna be doing today?" EJ asked as he idly kicked at a couch wedged inconspicuously in the corner.
Kaii shook her head then looked at the stylist. They shrugged. "No idea."
Rune had submitted to being dressed with the patience of a three year old in the same situation. The hairstylist had to be called back in to redo his hair after he'd wriggled around so much while the poor wardrobe assistants coaxed him into some black waistcoat type shirt and a tie, carefully careless around his neck, and some painted on black leather trousers to match the theme, exposing his navel and flared at the bottom. He'd gained height in the boots he'd been given and then he was off texting Khema again.
Dan had point blank refused to be dressed by anyone and had only shimmied himself into the red leather jeans under great protest. The shirt they tried to give him had been too much, and he ended up mooching out of the dressing room in a short grey and white striped hoodie, looking very disgruntled, but still not as uncomfortable as he felt. "I hate everything," he growled, and leaned back against a wall.
"Yeah, well, everything hates--" EJ had to stop when he turned around to look at Daniel.
It took a moment to take it all in, but fuck was it worth it in EJ's book. Daniel looked stunning. Better than Kaii, even. In fact, for a moment EJ forgot his own name. 'Hi, I'm EJ. Bitches love me cause they know that I can fuck.' But that didn't matter with Daniel around.
"You," he managed to finish, his voice coming out fluttery, unsure, like he couldn't quite catch his breath. His large, round brown eyes couldn't move from Daniel.
"Clearly," Dan said shortly, occupied with staring at the sight of his legs in too-tight trousers.
Rune, however, snapped his head up from his phone screen in a second and looked at EJ like he'd just grown a second head. He looked to Dan and then back at his best friend and chewed on his bottom lip in thought. "Jay?"
"Yeah, Rune?" Still EJ's gaze hadn't moved.
Rune managed to unobtrusively sidle over to the bassist and give him a discreet poke. "Something up?" he asked, his look meaningful.
"Ow! What?" EJ shrieked, having not noticed Rune until he was prodding him with his pointy fingers. The gesture having sufficiently distracted EJ from Daniel-- and how sometimes, when the guitarist shifted just right, EJ could see a hint of flat tummy-- made him frown viciously at his best friend. "Nothing's up. Why?" he asked suspiciously, completely unaware of himself.
Rune gave EJ bambi-eyes. "Pay attention to me," he asked in his very best wounded-mouse voice, filing away the depth of EJ's distraction for later, more appropriate scenarios in which to have that conversation.
Clueing in to the fact that there
were other people in the world besides Daniel, EJ shifted so the object of his recent obsession was out of his sight and gave Rune all of his attention. "Yeah, babe?" That is, all of it except the large chunk that was throwing one hell of a temper tantrum in his skull about being denied view of Daniel's oddly curvaceous ass.
Rune leant in and cuddled EJ around the waist, careful not to smudge his face. "Make mornings go away," he begged.
EJ laughed and gathered Rune to him, a little more himself now. "If I could, we'd be curled up in bed enjoying the afternoon because I would have kicked all the mornings in the world into outer space. And I'd even go so far as to have a certain Neanderthal join us. You know, the smelly one you won't leave alone with your inane, grammatically incorrect texting."
Rune scowled. "Oi! My texts aren't inane and Chem isn't smelly," he stuck his tongue out at EJ while Dan rolled his eyes at their banter.
"Listen up, boys," announced Kaii as she came waltzing into the room after having pow-wow'd with the photographer and his staff. "Guess what kind of shoot we're doing? A bathroom one. This is Frederic, our photographer," she gestured to the man standing next to her, not even giving her rather exposed body a second glance.
"Right. Hello, boys," Frederic smiled a yellow smile. "Ready to get started?" His team filed in after him as he began walking toward the back of the warehouse-like room where the shoot was set up.
Rune disentangled himself from EJ with a sleepy sigh and looked over to their set for the day. He hoped he wouldn't have to get wet. But then again, this would be good eye candy for Khema.
He grinned at the idea and looked over to make sure that the others were also following this photographical Pied Piper, dropping the grin into a concerned frown as he saw that Daniel had gone very still. He went over and tugged at his guitarist's sleeve gently, noticing the slight flinch he was given. "Dan, are you okay?"
Daniel swallowed, eyes fixed on a particular member of Frederic's entourage, a brunette in his late twenties who didn't seem to notice the issue he was causing.
"Yeah Rune, I'm fine," Dan replied, but he didn't move and he didn't look any less coloured in than before.
Rune tilted his head worriedly. "Are you sure? Are you feeling okay?"
Dan blinked but didn't seem to come out of it, walking towards the set with the rest of them anyway. "Yeah, I'm sure," he replied, still distant.
Rune looked from the man who had caught Daniel's attention, seemingly unpacking lightbulbs or something innocently enough, and shrugged to himself, making a note to keep an eye on things.
The set was, just like Kaii had said, a bathroom. A public bathroom complete with sinks and mirrors and stalls-- even an open, locker-room style shower at the very end. It was all stark white, to accentuate the colorful nature of the band's clothes. Plus, the bold, black X's on the floor stood out a lot easier, too.
EJ hadn't noticed Rune and Daniel had lagged behind until he'd already gotten onto the set, and watched them with his brow furrowed. He tried to catch either of their gazes, but failed. What was going on? A look to Kaii had her shaking her head with a shrug, just as perplexed.
"Okay, Wrist Broken! A pleasure to have on set today," Frederic oozed, taking a camera from the profered hand of the offending brown-headed guy and snapping his fingers at another lackey. "This shoot if for the cover of
Nylon magazine, correct?" Apparently, he didn't need an answer as he plowed on before anyone could open their mouth. "Then let's make it sparkle!"
Frederic explained that the first few shots would be group shots, then inidividual or dual shots that would be edited into a composite. Positioning the band took several minutes, but finally the photographer was satisfied.
Kaii ended up at the mirrors, a tube of lipstick in hand. "Pretend like you're putting it on."
Daniel was guided to the electric hand dryer, whose nozzle was tilted upright and seemed to be constantly on; at least it wasn't as noisy as a typical dryer. "Pretend to be drying your face. Make your hair fly," Frederic instructed in his simpering, nasal voice.
Rune and EJ ended up smushed together in one stall, pressed very intimately against one another. "This is familiar, right?" Frederic leered, making EJ want to hurl. "Just... eh, I'm sure you two can come up with something,"
Daniel went along with the instructions he was given like an automaton, blankly and without feeling (something which was surely going to get him yelled at by their weird photographer) even though he hated the way the air blew at his face.
He turned his head and made eye contact with the brown haired man who'd so shaken him earlier on, and shuddered. The look in those familiar eyes was surprised delight but his smile and the tone to them was predatory. Daniel had never felt more exposed in his life than standing there in those too-close jeans being eyed up by his infamous ex-boyfriend.
No one noticed Daniel's discomfort, however, because none of the band members were given a chance. The minute they were in position, Frederic started snapping away at them. "Pink-hair!" he barked at Kaii. "Look through the mirror back at me! Stall twins!" He gestured wildly at EJ and Rune, "look sexy!"
"Look sexy?" EJ echoed as he pressed a palm flat to Rune's lower back, holding his vocalist close. "I thought I already was sexy." He dropped his head down to rest horizontally on top of Rune's, looking out at the camera with smoky eyes.
"You are... don't make me laugh, I can't look sexy when you make me laugh," Rune mumbled back, ducking his head to try and hide the smile on his lips.
Daniel and the brunette he was once intimately in contact with were stuck on each other and couldn't seem to separate, no matter how badly Daniel wanted to. Something about seeing the other man sapped the blond of his free will and the whole thing was frankly starting to freak him out.
"Blondie! Turn your head! Move! Focus! Don't just stand there, what are you looking at?" Frederic came up and snapped his fingers in Daniel's face. "FOCUS!"
Daniel pulled his head back and that was enough for him. "Fuck off," he snapped, uncharacteristically, and stalked out back into the changing rooms. He kept himself as small as possible as he walked past his ex, almost cringing away from the way the other man leant towards him, making as if to speak.
Daniel headed for the changing rooms and his own clothes like a rabbit making for its run.
Rune had jumped at the outburst, had followed Daniel's exit and turned to EJ, concerned. "What was that all about?"
EJ shook his head, but went after the guitarist anyway. He made a growling noise when the photographer yelled at him, too, for leaving set and shoved after where Daniel had stalked off, into the dressing room.
"Hey," he said, closing the door after himself and giving Daniel a worried look. "You okay?"
Daniel turned as EJ came in, looking panicked until he saw who it was. He had found his tshirt and appeared to have been about to pull his hoodie off and pull the anime shirt back on by the way his elbow was caught in the material. "I'm fine, I just have to get out of these fucking... can you turn around please?" he asked, and it was almost normal except for the shaking note of something underlying his words.
"Yeah." Although it took a moment for him to do it, EJ unusually complied and did an about-face, staring at the door and swallowing the image of Daniel down his esophagus. "So, what happened out there? I know that guy's a total asshole, but..."
Despite EJ's unusually easy acquiescence to Daniel's request, the blond still changed quickly back into his own roomier jeans and tshirt, keeping on eye on EJ's back the whole time. He sat down in a chair facing the door when he was done and told EJ he could turn round again. "He's just a jerk... I hate wearing those clothes..." he said tightly, aiming at kick at said red jeans.
EJ swallowed all the compliments that came bubbling up, wanting to shower Daniel with them but knowing how counterproductive they would be. "Well, then--"
The door opened, hitting EJ in the ass rather hard and shoving him out of the way. One of the assistants, not the brown-haired one, poked his head in and gave them both a bored look. "You'd better get back on set before he blows a gasket," he monotoned.
Daniel snarled at the assistant (something clearly not in his nature) and crossed his arms, looking mulish. "I'm not going," he said, but it was unclear if he was speaking to EJ or the assistant. His "diva" persona was undermined by the way he kept rubbing his hand up and down the elbow of his other hand in a gesture that was openly anxious.
That had EJ blinking at Daniel, wondering where his guitarist went. None of this was usual Daniel, except maybe for the whole clothes issue but Daniel had endured it before... "Dan?" he asked, cupping the very same elbow and bringing him close. "It can't just be the clothes, what's going on?"
The assistant looked at a clipboard in his hand and then over his shoulder. "Okay, whatever. You, the skinny one with no ass. Freddie says he changed his mind, he wants to do close-ups of you and the short one."
EJ shot the guy a withering look but complied, thinking that at least this would get the focus off of Daniel. He leaned forward and tipped Dan's face up for a kiss to the forehead. "I'll be back in a little, okay?" Why did he say that? Like that would assure Daniel any. For all EJ knew, he was the cause for whatever snit Daniel was in.
Dan tensed up at EJ's touch, but tried to hide it as best as he could. He tensed further and further still as EJ brought him near, as his face was upturned. There was usually a lot of slack in Daniel's posture, and it said a lot for the impact of the situation on him that by the time EJ bent to kiss him on the forehead - a gesture he would have usually received with slightly uneasy but appreciative acceptance - the tension was too much for him and he snapped.
He broke back from EJ, tugging his arm away and putting distance between them. "Fucks sake EJ, can't you keep your fucking hands off me for one fucking minute!" he snarled, picking up his hoodie and slamming out of the changing room. It was a sure bet that he wasn't going to be making his way back to the set of the shoot.
