BEYOND THE CAMERA (Alien Stage)

Sa Pasilyo

Grabe na ang level ng delulu yung ramdam ni Till yung kilig ang narinig niya yung kanta ni Ivan, pero di naman para sa kanya. Hays, sakit naman.

(The level of delusion that Till feels is quite intense, even the flutters he felt when he heard the song by Ivan was. But, it's not meant for him. Ouch, that hurts.)

Di niya alam kung paano nangyari pero nakabag siya ng filipino artist na gusto mag collab sakaniya, kaya ano ginawa niya? Kinuha niya at ginawa niyang hostage para matuto siya ng matino na Tagalog upang makagawa siya ng kanta para kay Ivan.

(He didn't even know how he managed to bag a Filipino artist that wants to collaborate with him, so what did he do? He took him and made the artist a hostage to make sure he learns proper Tagalog so that he can make a song for Ivan.)

(Di iyan totoo, nun pa sila kaibigan. Gusto lang maging dramatic ni Till.)

[ That isn't true, they were already friends back then. Till just wanted to be dramatic. ]

“Sigurado ka ba na kailangan mo tulong? Parang alam mo naman na gagawin mo eh."

(" Are you sure that you even need help? You look like you already know what you're doing eh.")

Reyes said, scooting closer to Till this time. Unlike when Luka or Ivan peeks, he doesn't flinch away and immediately hides what he's writing. Since Reyes is literally his proof reader in a way to check if he's using the right words, since, well, he knows the language better than him.

“Ya, mga basic lang naman na salita ginagamit ko."

(" Ya, I'm only using basic words.")

Till had been learning Tagalog for a while now. With Reyes' help, he's started to switch between Korean and Tagalog when talking to the other. (Imagine they're speaking Korean atp, it's the fanfiction logic.) Reyes had been staying in Stareum. (a made up fictional city so that it's still reminiscent of alien stage)

“‘Kay lang naman, para di ka ma biglaan. Take your time."

("That's alright, so that you can get used to it better.")

Reyes winked at Till as the other brushed it away. Piling close naman na itong drummer na ito.

(The drummer feels a bit too touchy.)

“Do you think they'll like it?"

Till suddenly asked, feeling doubtful about his work as he tried singing it. Reyes only looked at him for a good while before sighing as he tapped his foot to the beat.

"They'll like it. I'm sure of it, your target audience would definitely have a brain rot over it.”

Till only chuckled at Reyes’ comment as he shrugged. They both knew he was technically right on that, he thought of making an album aimed for those hopeless romantics as an attempt to reach a wider audience.

“If all goes south, you can always revert to your old music."

“Putangina mo, ayaw ko nga."

("Fuck you, I don't want to do this anymore.")

Reyes full on laughed as Till threw a pen at him, napaka emo yung lumang music kasi ni Till, kaya nakakahiya. Ano yun? 2010s emo era?

“In all seriousness, the fans would like it, just trust me.”

Reyes put a hand on Till’s shoulder as the lyricist sighed, it's true, really, if Reyes is helping him compose his song then it'll definitely go to the right target audience.

“Basta oout mo na nag collab tayo."

(" Just tell everyone that we collaborated.")

"Oo, di kita iiwanan.”

("Yeah yeah, I won't leave you behind.")

Reyes made a heart sign with his hand before disaster struck him, like Till punching him. The fucker only cried out as Till just glared at him with angered eyes.

“Sinuntok dahil lang sa heart sign amputek.."

(" I got punched just because of a heart sign motherfu-")

“Shut up!"

The two bickered while laughing as the whole studio rumbled at their shenanigans, unbeknownst to them, they didn't realize a certain black haired man was standing at the door, frozen in shock as he slowly backed away from the door.

Ivan dialed Luka as the other like picked up in a heartbeat, about to tease the hell outta Ivan for calling so soon-

“I think he's in a cult. I'll just deliver his gift next time."

Ivan said as he walked towards his call while Luka only asked millions of questions in the call, Cult? Till? That doesn't sound right.

“Don't be a coward, you're probably hearing things.”

Ivan put the phone near the door as Reyes and Till were screaming at each other in Tagalog.

" What the fuck.”

" Exactly.”

Ivan whispered through the phone as he hoped that the two inside of the studio didn't hear Luka’s swear through the phone, well, considering they didn't hear the knocks Ivan did minutes ago, they probably didn't hear that as well.

"You should get your potential husband out of the cult.”

" And how do you expect me to do that?”

“Just drag him out.”

" I'm not barging in, he'd hate me.”

" No he wouldn't.”

" I swear if he hates me after this.”

" You're overthinking it Ivan.”

Ivan wanted to say something else before the studio door suddenly opened,with Reyes flying out of the door and directly landing on Ivan. The gentleman Ivan is, he helped Reyes stabilize himself as Till went out of the studio, flushed red with an angry face before paling when he realized Ivan was there.

Reyes was the first to speak, thanking Ivan awkwardly before scramming away as if he saw a murder scene right then and there as Ivan looked at Till with a confused look, silently demanding for an explanation.

“Are you in a cult?"

Till was going to fucking bawl his eyes out.

“What? No?"

Ivan sighed in relief with Till's answer before giving him the package, it was still stable albeit a little cramped because of Reyes' sudden crash but the content inside of the box should be fine.

“Be more quiet next time, we could hear you from downstairs.”

That wasn't a lie, an exaggeration, yeah, but if Ivan had sensitive ears, he would probably hear it downstairs just faintly. He thought of renovating Till’s studio for his birthday to have better soundproof walls.

" Sorry.”

" Don't be, did you have fun?”

Ivan felt a little burn of jealousy at the thought of Till laughing aloud with the mysterious stranger but his other side also screamed that if Till was happy, he should be too. Even if he was just yelling as if he was with a murderer in the studio, that was fine, if that's happiness for Till then good for him. Ivan would learn how to scream like he's being forced into a cult as well.

" It'd be better if you were there..”

" What?”

" I had fun, yeah.”

Ivan only looked away slightly as Till scratched his neck awkwardly. Surely Ivan didn't hear that, right?

“What's in the box?"

“Just open it."

“I want to know what's in the box."

“Then open it, Till."

“But-"

“Open it."