You don't know about Us - A MewGulf AU

Chapter 7: Permission

Time went by quickly, and the day of the second workshop started early for Gulf. Still half-asleep, he was glad for his temporary-manager-whose-name-he-had-forgotten-in-the-morning who had picked him up and dropped him at the meeting place without much chatter. He was still blinking away the sleep in his eyes when he entered the room. There were less people present than last time - most of the extra staff didn't need to be present anymore after introductions - but there were still notable conversations which stilled as he entered. Gulf would've felt slightly awkward about it, were it not that he was honestly too tired to care right now. Who schedules a workshop starting from 8 am anyway? He stifled a yawn.

His greeting was still met with hesitancy and whispers, even after last week's workshop. He should maybe start wondering why, but the corner of the room seemed like a comfortable place to close his eyes for 5 minutes before they'd start.

As soon as he sat down, a small plastic wrap containing two Salapaos was stuffed in his hands. Looking up, it took a while to recognize First looking down at him. "Mew's fans bought us breakfast," he said, gesturing to the table standing on the opposite side which was filled with food.

Gulf nodded, thanking his ex-schoolmate. He slowly opened the wrap, looking at the bun for a while before taking a bite. The filling was sweet instead of savoury, surprising him for a second.

"Still not a morning person, phi?" First asked when he sat down next to him, opening his own wrap with Salapoa. Gulf chewed slowly before swallowing, then nodded.

"Didn't think you'd remember," Gulf smiled a little and took another bite. They'd only shared a few classes, yet First still remembered him well. Those days felt very long ago right now. Suddenly Gulf was glad that he had another friend in the crew, not just Mild and the forced friendship by roles from Mew. (He wanted to have a genuine friendship with Mew, not one purely work-related, but he knew he will have to work on that.)

First just shrugged, seemingly taking it as a compliment. "I'm glad we're working together again, it's been a long time since we last met."

Gulf eyed his now-empty plastic wrap. "Me too," he smiled. Feeling that the conversation was done, Gulf closed his eyes. With a filled stomach and his renewed friendship, he was filled with a sense of satisfaction. The conversations around them had slowly started again as well, banning any of the awkwardness which had been floating around earlier.

He found himself almost nodding off when someone calling his name suddenly startled him out of his slumber. Opening his eyes, he noticed that First had left and was now talking to Ja. They were standing with the staff member who had called his name, flipping through the temporary script. "Nong Gulf," the staff – a man in his forties wearing a shirt which read 'acting director' in big English letters – said, "Mew as well, could you come over here for a moment?"

Gulf nodded and stood up while the acting director called some more names. Eventually Gulf, Mew, Ja, First, Boat and Jame were left standing in front of the staff. "Because this season all our main couples are new to each other, I think it's important to start off by getting you all comfortable with your partner," he turned to Mew and Gulf, "especially Tharn and Type have some more... you know... intimate... explicit scenes, so it's important to have proper chemistry on screen and know your boundaries with each other."

While Mew seemed to grimace at the word 'chemistry', Gulf simply nodded. He agreed with the acting director. Hell, he's heard phi Mew from the other universe talk plenty about their workshops and how it improved both their acts and friendship.

(There's nothing that can beat real chemistry, but this is as good as a start as any.)

He scoffed mentally at how the voice in his head sounded approving.