Work Text:
Otabek leaned back against the back of the couch, phone in hand, held in front of his face. Face in frame, check. Lighting looks ok, check. No visible nose hair or boogers, check. Selfie time.
“You’re doing it all wrong.” Phichit Chulanont, the selfie master, quipped from beside him. “Here, let me.” The Taiwanese skater gently took Otabek’s phone and tapped the screen a few times. “First, you want the settings to be for portraits, maximizes your lighting and makes your skin look better.” Otabek blinked at him owlishly.
“Second, you want to hold the camera above you and never straight on. Unless you want a double chin?” Phichit smiled brightly. Holding the phone above the two of them, he shifted around a bit before nudging Otabek in the side. “Tilt your chin towards me, nope, too much… there, perfect.” The shutter noise sounded, and Otabek moved away.
“Wait, we need to take a few so we get a good one.” Phichit said, surprised. “You only take one?”
“Yeah, usually. Never really thought about it.” Otabek says carefully.
Phichit shook his head woefully. “We need to fix this .”
Otabek had thought learning new skating techniques was the most challenging thing he‘d ever do, but Phichit’s social media education was coming in close second. The camera settings, holding the phone and posing at the right angle was important, but there seemed to be many other unspoken rules for being a social media pro. Phichit drilled him on public image, uploading frequency, peak times, and how to handle disputes gracefully. Of course, since one could say the current rise and fall of modern rulers happened on social media; as a young professional athlete, Otabek was already somewhat aware of the dangers of social media.
Therefore, he decided to keep his Instagram account private; despite Phichit’s pleas that he could be “Instagram model famous” and people would definitely enjoy his gym selfies, if he would ever take some. Otabek figured there would be fewer headaches if he didn’t have the public watching his every move. Post. Upload. Whatever. However, his efforts with Phichit’s guidance appeared to be paying off, as he was getting positive comments with more frequency than usual.
In fact, his most recent upload, a gym selfie, posted to get Phichit off his back, already had several likes and a few new comments:
yuri-plisetsky What’s gotten into you lately?
Jjleroy!15 Looking good, my man!
yuri-plisetsky Not that it’s bad, just not like you.
phichit+chu <3 <3 <3
Jjleroy!15 @yuri-plisetsky Someone jealous?
yuri-plisetsky F U JJ
Otabek smiled. He could get used to this.