Archive of Our Own

The world of entertainment was a fickle thing. People’s opinions changed from one day to the next. One thing is popular one day and the next? People have moved on. There are certain exceptions to this rule, though. If you had enough influence on something, it would stick around. It would linger on the internet and on the minds of other people. 

Artem was used to this idea. In fact, he was sometimes the subject of such internet trends. He would review a movie, people would talk about the movie more, and then people would forget about it. He still didn’t know how his little website got so popular, he just wrote what he thought and needed someplace to put it. 

For the most part, he stayed incredibly impartial to the actors and mostly focused on the story itself. There were some instances where he couldn’t ignore the inexperience of actors, but for the most part he did just address it as ‘inexperience’ and not as being completely unsatisfied with their acting in general. But every rule has its exceptions, and Artem’s exception was called Kanon. 

Artem knew that he was being petty. He knew that, okay? Kanon did nothing but be nice to him in that reception and treat Lyra with respect. Sure, his partner had asked for an autograph. Sure, he had seen her texting with Kiki about Kanon. Sure, he was a little tipsy. That didn’t give him the right to… heavily dislike Kanon! But he still did, and it was reflected in some of his reviews. 

That’s how this whole thing started. 

— 

Kiki Bennet, or kanonsnumber1fan, did not like the internet personality ‘Mockingbird’. She didn’t like them one bit. Don’t get her wrong, Mockingbird’s analysis were really good and at one point she was an incredibly big fan. She loved his analysis of the “Super Attorney”. In fact, she agreed that it felt cheesy and not too well put together, she just liked the romance aspect a bit too much to pay heed to their words. 

That was until they started criticizing Kanon. 

Now, she was a civil person and didn’t mind people not liking what she liked. It was fine and in the age of the internet, the block button was her best friend. She didn’t need the negativity in her life, and honestly, she was willing to let it go. After all, it was only once and she was mature enough to admit that Kanon wasn’t necessarily the fittest person for the role. 

But then she picked up on the passive aggressiveness of their reviews if anything had Kanon in it. Once was a mistake, twice a coincidence. Three times? Three times was war, and Kiki didn’t take too kindly to people insulting her idol.

—

—

Artem doesn’t… really click on trolls. He doesn’t care for them, he doesn’t want to join any internet feuds. Anyone who has a problem with him can, frankly, just go away. He knows his worth and he’s not really writing anything with the intent of being paid. He hosts his own domain, he organized his own website, this was a hobby. A hobby that somehow garnered a lot of attention. 

He had seen his fair share of trolls but… something about kanonsnumber1fan just made him want to click on their profile. It wasn’t the first time he had gotten trolled by people who didn’t agree with his sentiment on their favorite actors. And he had remembered that same user commenting on some of his posts too. For them to react like this… He felt like he at least owed them a cursory glance at their profile before he blocked them, right? So he clicked on the user. 

Only to find Kiki and Kanon edited to the banner of their profile. 

Kiki Bennet was… trolling him? 

His brain scrambled to think of all the things he knew about her. He knew, of course, that she was a Kanon fan (her account had ‘stan’ in the bio, and he was suddenly reminded of why he had come to dislike Kanon in the first place), she worked mostly with Celestine, and that she was also Lyra’s friend. Now, he trusts Lyra with his life (and it has paid off if the Kendricks case was any indication) but… would she accidentally slip about his online identity? No, right? But he got that name from the book… could Kiki make the connection there? She’s smart enough to make the connection, he’ll give her that. Maybe she was just playfully teasing him? 

Artem sighed. Maybe he would ask her tomorrow if it was a joke or not. 

— 

Kiki was… not fuming, that’s not the right word. She was brewing or simmering. Her body still had some of the residual heat that was her ire against username asintokillamockingbird. She re-watched the episode of Super Attorney twice and she didn’t understand why they had said Kanon was overcompensating his lack of dialogue with body language. That was what you were supposed to do when pretending to be sick and losing your voice! 

“Geez, who stole all your merch?” Lyra asked, siding up to her and picking out her mug from the cupboard. 

Kiki jumped a bit at the sound of Lyra’s voice, “What?”

“You look like you’re planning a murder.”

“If I was planning a murder I wouldn’t tell you, that’d make you an accomplice in premeditated murder and I’m not paying Themis legal fees.”

“I’ll give you that one. Why are you upset though?”

Kiki sighed and dumped two sugars into her coffee. “Kanon’s… not doing so hot with certain critics.”

“Oh?”

“This one person called Mockingbird just shits on him every episode of Super Attorney and it’s bothering the heck out of me!”

Lyra nodded, taking a sip of her own coffee before responding, “Maybe series aren’t his thing, you know? He usually does more movie-centric stuff.”

“That’s what I thought too!” Kiki set her own mug down with a bit of force. “Mockingbird’s reviews are usually about Science Fiction movies and they always focus on the bigger picture! He did a review of another sci-fi series that was really good, so I expected them to do the same with this one. But no! If you look closely, anything that they’ve reviewed with Kanon has a much lower rating than any other stuff on his site.”

Kiki pulled out her phone and started furiously swiping at it until she found what she was looking for and shoved it at Lyra’s face. “Look! Even in The Space Oddecey to Planet Gale, Kanon played the lead protagonist, right?”

Lyra took the phone out of her hands and started scrolling down the article.

“Well, since it’s sci-fi you would have assumed that Mockingbird would have at least said something nice, but NO! They didn’t! A-And in this other movie that won the Stellis Academy Award where Kanon was the supporting lead, he rated it lower than the Academy did! They’re biased against Kanon’s presence in the media! Then there’s the fact that Mockingbird is really influential so he’s really hurting Kanon in the process too!”

“Wow,” Lyra said returning Kiki’s phone, “I would have never guessed he had a grudge against Kanon.”

“Right?! And usually, they’re very diligent in responding to comments. I commented once on his post and they were very kind and thoughtful, but they still haven’t responded to my tweet.”

“Oh? Can I see the tweet?”

“Sure, let me just—”

“Good Morning.”

Kiki squeaked and turned around while Lyra smiled at Artem, offering him a little wave. “Morning Artem”

“G-Good morning Mr. Wing! I have the reports ready! I’ll get them to you right now!”

Kiki giggled nervously and grabbed her mug of coffee, speed walking away from both of them. Artem turned to look at Lyra, raising a singular eyebrow at her with a confused look on his face. Lyra, in turn, giggles at him and pats his arm. 

“Don’t worry about it, she was ranting at me and got spooked.”

Artem frowned at her. “I caught the end of it. She’s a fan of Mockingbird?”

“Difficult relationship, but I didn’t know you had a grudge against Kanon.”

“I don’t.” He said, and Lyra laughed at him. 

“Your cheeks say otherwise, Mr. Wing.”

Artem coughed into his fist, willing his cheeks to go back to their normal color. “If that’s all, I’ll head back into my office.” He turned around and walked back, though Lyra could still see how the tips of his ears remained red.

“You didn’t even grab a coffee…”

Whatever , she thought, not her circus, not her monkeys. 

Even if they were.

—

—

Whenever Artem tried to approach Kiki to talk to her regarding her comments, which honestly he was willing to discuss with her, he got one of two reactions. She either ran back to do her work or she used Lyra as a buffer between both of them. 

And honestly? He was impressed. 

If Artem had any doubts that Kiki knew about his double life as Mockingbird, now he was absolutely sure. After all, if Lyra had figured it out with little to no prompting, who was to say that Kiki couldn’t? Kiki was smart and capable, of course, she had it in her to figure out who he was. And it would neatly explain why she would keep avoiding him at any chance she got. And he couldn’t just… call her into his office in order to resolve this. It would be unprofessional. The fact that Kiki had managed to stay professional regardless of her comments on his work was simply astounding! 

He did want to just talk to her about the movies though. Or maybe how to hide his dislike for Kanon better.

—

—

[TRANSCRIPT OF AN INTERVIEW WITH STELLIS NEWS] 

CHEN: One last question. I don’t know if you’re aware of the tweet that went viral on Tuesday—

KANON: [LAUGHING] Oh, I know! The one with the critic Mockingbird, right? 

CHEN: Exactly. Looking through his page, actually, kanonsnumber1fan noted that they do tend to be rather harsh on you when it comes to his reviews. 

KANON: Actually, I don’t mind! Before all of the movies I’ve been staring at lately, I read their reviews religiously! So knowing he’s talking about me and holding me to this high standard is actually really flattering and really humbling. The day I get a positive review from Mockingbird is the day I know I made it, you know? 

CHEN: That’s such an optimistic way to put it! 

KANON: It’s an opportunity for growth, but also a reflection of where I came from. I had to work hard to be here, and I have to keep working hard not just for myself, but for my fans too! 

CHEN: With that in mind, is there anything you’d like to close out with? 

KANON: Yeah! Please don’t forget to watch A Paradise Under The Moon, premiering on May 2nd. I hope you all will enjoy it, and hopefully, Mockingbird will too! 

[END TRANSCRIPT]

—

— 

— 

Celestine walked into Artem’s office a day later after she responded to that tweet, plopping a couple of employee performance papers that needed his signature. 

“So, who hates you?”

Artem took a folder from the pile and began reading through it. 

“Kiki.” 

Celestine laughed for a bit before calming down and looking at Artem like he had grown two heads. 

“Oh, you’re serious.”

“She doesn't like me and has said so on numerous occasions. I can’t fault her either because she’s been nothing but professional when we do meet.”

“That is absolute bullshit Artem. Kiki is intimidated by you at the most. There is no way that sweet girl is even capable of hating anyone. When did you hear her say that?”

Artem signed the paper he held before closing the folder altogether and reaching for another one. “She didn’t say it out loud.”

“Then how the hell do you know she hates you?” Celestine asked, crossing her arms.

“She periodically insults me on the internet and we have heated debates in the comment section of some of my posts. Did you know she’s user kanonsnumber1fan on Twitter?”

“What does that have to do with anything? And isn’t that the person who just calls out Mockingbird on— wait a second!” Celestine slammed her hands on Artem’s desk, causing Artem to look up from the new file he had in an unimpressed manner. “ You’re Mockingbird?! And you didn’t tell me?!”

“I… thought I did?”

“You didn’t! And I don’t think Kiki knows either!”

“...Well, that makes the performance review I wrote very awkward.”

—

“Hey, Lyra? Can you help me figure something out really quick?” Kiki asked, leaning over to her friend’s workspace. 

“Yeah, sure! What’s up?”

Kiki gave her a paper with a couple of things highlighted in neon pink. “I don’t really get the part about ‘ Maintaining professionalism even if they don’t get along with the person ’ As far as I’m aware I don’t hate anyone in the office.”

Lyra read over the paper carefully before nodding to herself and circling something with her red pen. She handed over the paper to Kiki and tapped on the bottom two times. “It makes sense since Artem did your review.”

“But… I don’t… Hate Mr. Wing?”

“Yes, you do.”

Kiki’s eyes widened, “No! I don’t!”

“You hate Mockingbird.”

“What does that have to do with this?”

“Artem is Mockingbird.”

“Oh that makes perfect sense, thank you.” Kiki leaned back over to her space and grabbed another highlighter. After a couple of seconds of processing, she slowly looked back at Lyra, who was still looking at her but now had a grin on her face. 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE’S MOCKINGBIRD?!”

—

—

Artem arrived at his office the next day to find Kiki waiting for him with a gift basket full of coffee (did he see an Italian brand?) and fountain pens. 

“M-Mr. Wing! Lyra told me that you’re Mockingbird and I just want to apologize for saying all that stuff online! It’s just that—”

Artem raised his hand at Kiki to signal her to stop talking. “It’s okay. You brought something to my attention and I appreciate it. I hadn’t realized that I tend to be… harsher on Kanon than other actors.” Artem gave her a small smile and took the gift basket out of her arms. “Though I won’t say no to the basket.”

Kiki let out a sigh of relief she hadn’t known she was holding before looking at Artem with a confused face. “So, do you really hate Kanon?”

“Not… Really? I associate him with something else and sometimes it gets out of hand. I also don’t know much of him objectively other than some of his movies and that he was in a band.”

“...Would you like to know more?”

Artem took a moment to look at Kiki, which she took as an ‘oh my god he’s glaring at me’ and began to ramble. “N-Not that you need to listen to me or learn anything from me! I was just saying because—”

“No, I’ll take you up on that offer. I’d like to know more about Kanon, as well as some of your movie preferences.”

“Eh?!”

“Before all of the trolling—” 

Kiki cringed at the mention of her actions against Artem. 

“You left some interesting replies to some of the movies. I’d like to get to know what you think of them, after work of course.” 

“O-Of course!”

“Well then, thank you for the basket.”

“You’re welcome! I’ll, uh, send you an email with my availability? I-Is that a thing that’s happening? I should just… go back to work actually. Bye!”

Artem chuckled as Kiki rushed out of the door. Maybe she would stop being skittish in time? 

—