A long lane at night

1.21. POST-CREDIT SCENE

** ALLAN **

THIS WAS SUCH A SURREAL EVENING. WALKING A red carpet and watching a movie premiere is something you always fantasise of, but you know well enough that the actual chance of having the experience is non-existent. Yet, here I was, inside this spellbinding theatre, next to those awesome celebrities I have admired for a very long time.

I felt very grateful for Brian, but I didn't feel indebted. I knew I would never have the life I did now without him, but I also knew much of it was fruit of my hard work. It was this beautiful correlation where he was the reason that made me always want to give my best and this best was paying off.

Our professional lives resembled those amazing puzzles that stand firm together, but collapse if you remove one single piece. Without Brian, I would have never considered making the gameplay videos. Without me, Brian would have never created their unique soundtrack. Knowing that it all came from a place of love and care for one another made the whole thing more precious. He just wanted me to do something I enjoyed and I just wanted to have him involved. Now we were here and something deep inside told me that it wasn't going to be a one-time thing.

A couple of days ago, first of July, it had been Brian's twenty-fourth birthday and our third anniversary. Being the happy loners we are, we celebrated by going to a comedy show, then dinner at a steakhouse. He denied it, but he was still feeling stressed about the soundtrack recording process. He lived those three weeks on hold in constant fear his phone would ring again.

Yet, I could see how proud he was of himself and how excited he got when the album copies arrived by mail. We received one copy of each edition, the standard CD and the double vinyl had the same track list. I loved it that he was careful enough to avoid spoilers on the song titles. We also got the deluxe edition with additional music he wrote and recorded, but had ultimately been cut from the movie along with their accompanying scenes. That was probably one of the proudest moments I witnessed him experience. I wanted to play the record right away, but he wouldn't let me.

'I heard it to exhaustion in the studio, plus I want to experience the whole thing when we get to watch the movie at the premiere.'

'All right, then, mister. To the shelf with you.'

Being an important part of the online campaign of the movie, I also got sent a box full of stuff. Mine had all these cool memorabilia and official toys from the movie. They sent separately this awesome official T-shirt that they wanted me to wear for a midnight screening on release day. Along with the shirt, they sent three prizes for a giveaway I was supposed to do with the channel subscribers. I was actually looking forward to this upcoming screening. It is always amazing to watch the movie with the fans of the franchise. I was working extra hard, however, to not feel snobbish about having seen the movie before the fans.

The movie was introduced by the director and the main actor and shortly after they took their seats, the projection started. The very first second was the beginning of the soundtrack in complete darkness before the studio logo was revealed and I could see Brian shivering on the corner of my eye. I felt so happy for him that my excitement couldn't hide my smile.

The next two and a half hours passed by and we barely took notice. Brian had indeed made an excellent job and I was sure his wish to make the fans proud would come true. All along, I kept remembering how emotion-driven his approach to music is and how the score was really as crucial as any part of the storytelling process. The best part was that it was successful at enhancing and blending at the right moments. The final action sequence was a spectacle of special effects and Brian had this awesome beat drop at the extremely important plot twist at the end. It had a lot of us gasping, especially considering how many people there were artists who had worked on the picture and knew the ending. When the movie ended and the credits started appearing onscreen, neither one of us three could hold our little squeaks when the words 'music by Brian Leech' came up.