Chapter Text
"10 more minutes until we are on air!" One of the assistants called while the two twins were getting ready for an interview in their dressing room.
They had recently gotten invited to appear on The Bop On Top as guests. Velvet was stoked and accepted since this channel was watched by thousands of Mount Rageons every day.
She had told Veneer that it would be a great opportunity to become more well-known and increase the number of fans. Veneer agreed that it would be a great idea as well.
Now, both of them were getting ready for what would be one of the biggest interviews they might ever have. Velvet was eager and was practicing what she would say by talking to herself in the mirror.
On the contrary, her brother, Veneer, was insanely nervous. He didn't want to say too little or too much. He wanted to make a good impression and keep that cocky act up throughout the entire interview and didn't want to come across as quiet or scared.
He also didn't want to reveal too much and get both of them arrested for troll napping and using trolls to enhance their performance, something that has been made illegal not so recently.
While he was doing his makeup, Veneer glanced in his peripheral vision and saw his sister getting ready as well. He saw her excited smile, which she rarely ever did. Veneer felt happy that his sister was happy and wanted to do even better in this interview to make her proud of him.
"So, how are we thinking?" His sister asked, "Should I be the elegant mysterious diva" She fanned her face dramatically with her hand. "or the charming charismatic queen, who gets along with everybody."
"Maybe the second option?" Veneer suggested, he could assume that was the right answer since his sister just thanked him and started to fix her high ponytail, making sure it wasn't crooked.
She wanted everything to be perfect in their first interview.
Knock, Knock, Knock.
Both of the twin's focus turned to the door when they heard knocking. The door to the dressing room opened and they saw a guy with blond and blue ombre hair that was standing in the doorway. He had a dark purple beanie and was wearing a spotted jumpsuit. They both assumed it was an assistant.
"You both are on in three minutes by the way. How are we feeling? Excited? Nervous?" He asked with a grin on his face, trying to start a conversation with them.
His sister spoke up first. "Honestly, I am very excited. I can't wait for the interview."
He nodded, "That's great to hear." He turned his attention to Veneer, "And you?"
Veneer snapped back into reality, embarrassed. "Oh! Yea! Excited, and kind of nervous-"
"I understand that. It's not that common for celebrities to get to be interviewed by mainstream television programs in the first month. Just remember that you both will do amazing out there and to just stay positive through it." He gave Veneer a small smile, Veneer returned a smile.
He appreciated the little pep talk he gave him.
"So when are we gonna meet the interviewer? No offense, not really interested in seeing assistants right now." Velvet nonchalantly said.
Veneer shot Velvet a look, telling her to be respectful.
"Oh, I am the interviewer."
Velvet and Veneer were surprised.
"You're the interviewer?" Velvet asked skeptically.
"Yep!" He responded with a little smile.
"Oh, so you're Kid Ritz?" Veneer asked as well.
"That's me." He smiled awkwardly.
"Wouldn't you be dressed more... professionally? For interviews and stuff?" Velvet said as she was looking at what Ritz was wearing, clearly not hiding that she was judging his clothing taste.
"I would be, but I'd rather dress more casual to make it more chill and laidback I guess" He shrugged.
"That sounds fucking stupid-" Velvet whispered to her brother, Veneer just elbowed her in response, causing her to whine in pain.
"Ow! What was that for?!" Velvet said dramatically.
Ritz chuckled at that, and so did Veneer.
Velvet shot Kid Ritz a glare. "What do you think you're laughing at."
Ritz immediately stopped laughing.
Velvet's strong glaring gave him a feeling of unease. It was scary how much she intimidated him.
"Nothing, don't worry." He laughed it off, making Velvet glare at him even more.
"Okay, Okay-" Veneer started to diffuse the situation. "The show should be starting now, right?" He asked Ritz.
Ritz cleared his throat and checked his watch. "Oh! Yes! Thank you for reminding me, Veneer" He started rushing out the door to set up.
Once he left Velvet snickered, "For one interviewer, he really does seem unorganized. Plus his hat is so goddamn ugly-" Veneer tried to laugh it off.
"I'm sure every interviewer is unorganized Velv- and his hat, I hate to admit it, Isn't pleasant-" He tried to find the right words.
"It adds character though.." Velvet didn't seem convinced and made her way to the main studio.
They both made their way to the studio, Velvet was in awe of the studio lights and cameras.
Veneer felt uneasy as they both made their way to their seats.
An assistant with a megaphone announced. "3, 2, 1 action."
"Hello everyone! On this episode of The Bop On Top, we have superstars Velvet and Veneer."
Velvet eagerly waved at the camera and blew a kiss to it, Veneer also waved at the camera. Keeping his body language relaxed.
"This duo has produced a song, 'Watch Me Work', which became a big hit and got them the number one spot on the leaderboard!"
"First question for the both of you guys, what inspired you to write this song? And is there any backstory to it?"
Velvet answered confidently, "We wrote this song because of our lifelong dream to become superstars! As kids, we always dreamed of achieving stardom." She smiled.
"That sounds nice. Next question! If you told your younger selves that you are the thing you dreamed to be, how do you think you would react?" Ritz asked, keeping up his calm charismatic demeanor.
Veneer answered this time. "If I told my younger self..." He trailed off, thinking of an answer. "He probably wouldn't believe it, or he would be ecstatic."
"Me, If I told my younger self, I probably wouldn't be surprised since I had always known that I was built for the spotlight!" She said, leaning back in the chair more.
The questions were your average interview questions, 'What songs do you plan on releasing next?', 'Any thoughts of collabs?', but one question caught Veneer off guard.
"Okay! Last question!" Kid Ritz seemed excited about this one. "How do you guys stay the biggest stars Mount Rageous has ever known?!" His voice went into a whisper as he leaned forward in his seat.
"What's your secret?"
Veneer knew their secret. Trolls. Their secret was that their talent wasn't real. He started to hyperventilate and panic, thinking that Ritz was onto them and knew about it.
"Secret?" His breathing increased, "We don't have a secret!" He sounded very defensive. His sister shot him a look of worry, she knew that if she didn't shut him up, he would crack and fess up to using trolls. "Who said we have a secret?!" He yelled, Kid Ritz was surprised by his sudden panicky state.
Velvet grabbed his shoulders and cut him off. "What my calm, casual brother means, is that it's simple really." She played it off, Veneer was relieved to see that Kid Ritz didn't seem to be too suspicious.
Velvet continued, "It takes loootss of hard work and loads of natural talent!"
Veneer wanted to laugh at that very obvious lie, it was only obvious to him and her though.
He was grateful that his sister stopped him while he did and calmed him down.
The interview ended and both of them were relieved to hear "CUT!" Meaning that the interview was over.
"You guys did great out there." Ritz praised them both.
"Yeah thanks, I guess," Velvet muttered and made her way back to the dressing room.
Veneer felt embarrassed and wanted to apologize on her behalf.
"Sorry about her, she didn't mean to come off as rude."
Kid Ritz just smiled. "Oh no worries, I don't normally expect celebrities to be all buddy buddy with me on the first interview."
He felt happy that Ritz was easygoing and understanding.
"And sorry what Velvet said about your hat-" Veneer apologized.
He looked confused, "Wait- what did she say about my hat?"
"Nothing, don't worry!" He forced an awkward chuckle as Kid Ritz just watched in confusion.
The awkward silence was loud, the occasional stage crew chatter in the background helped make this less awkward.
"Y'know.. You are the first and only interviewer that we've ever had that isn't uptight and invasive with questions." Veneer smiled, Ritz looked at Veneer and felt a smile creeping on his face.
"Really?!" He shouted in excitement but remembered to keep it professional just a bit. "Sorry-" He cleared his throat. "Really? That's great to hear."
"Yeah.." Veneer said, looking away.
"I guess it also means I'm the worst as well? Huh?" He joked, earning a laugh from Veneer.
"Don't say that, obviously that's not what I meant-" He rolled his eyes half-heartedly.
Kid Ritz seemed to be thinking about something but was hesitating to ask. He finally spoke up.
"So.. don't mean to pry but.. what happened back there?" Veneer gave him a confused look, asking him to elaborate.
"When you started panicking I meant." Veneer internally groaned, he wished that he would have brushed it off and continued with his day. But this isn't much of a surprise since he is an interviewer.
"Oh, I just got stage fright." He lied, he watched as Kid Ritz's slightly worried expression changed to a more relaxed face.
"Did you want me to edit that part out?" He asked Veneer.
"Oh, yes, please. I didn't know you edited each episode, wouldn't that be tiring though? Why not hire an editor? Do you get paid more if you do edit?" Veneer asked.
"Woah, Woah!" Kid Ritz jokingly threw his hands in the air. "I'm supposed to be the one asking questions! But yes, I do edit, and no, I don't get paid more."
Veneer was confused, "But why work harder If you get nothing? It'll just tire you out" He couldn't fathom how someone could just work hard to get nothing, he had always been taught to work to get something, like Velvet and him working for fame (Not really but you know what I mean). Even Crimp working to get paid, everyone always got something in the end.
"I don't know, It's like a hobby and I don't have a lot to do anyway, so It keeps me productive." He responded.
"You don't have anything to do?" Veneer was surprised.
"Yep, I mostly just edit episodes and rot in my room all day" He joked, Veneer didn't laugh, he just gave Ritz a pitiful look.
He noticed this and chuckled, "I don't need your pity dude, don't worry." He smiled at Veneer.
"It's not pity!" Veneer tried his best not to smile at that, "I'm just surprised since you'd seem like the type of person to have lots of friends."
"In what ways?"
"I mean first, you're very friendly, you're easy to talk to, outgoing, honestly can't see why you don't have friends."
Ritz shot Veneer a half-hearted glare, "I have friends! I just don't really have enough time or energy to maintain them I guess-"
"Well, do you wanna get coffee then?" Veneer asked nervously, He didn't want to sound like he was hitting on him. After all, they've only been talking for 20 minutes at this point.
"It would be a nice way to get to know someone other than your staff." Veneer teased.
"Har Har Har" Kitz sarcastically said, "That doesn't sound bad though, I can try to find some time tomorrow if that's good?"
Tommorrow? There was nothing to really do tomorrow except practice and sit around all day complaining about their assistant.
"Tomorrow's nice." Ritz smiled excitedly at that response, "Okay! Tomorrow it is. Do you want me to give you my number so that you can send me the location where?" Kid Ritz reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone.
"Sure, just give me a second." Veneer grabbed Ritz's phone from his hand and entered his number.
"There." He held up Ritz's phone, showing the new contact.
"Sweet!" He exclaimed as he grabbed his phone back.
"See you tomorrow then!" Veneer called to Ritz as he walked.
"It's a date then!" Ritz chuckled as he walked over to one of his staff.
A date?
Veneer walked back to the dressing room and opened the door. He was met by a very pissed and impatient Velvet.
She quickly turned her head to Veneer as he walked in, scowling at him.
"What took you so long! With the amount of time you were talking to that stupid interviewer, I could've fully given myself a perm!" She rolled her eyes.
"Be real. Girl, you can't even give yourself a perm even If you tried-" Velvet just gave him a look.
"While you were busy flirting with Mr. Kitz Ridz-" Veneer rolled his eyes. "We weren't flirting, and his name is Kid Ritz."
"Whatever, so while you were busy doing whatever the fuck you were doing, I've been waiting to leave!" She got up and opened the door.
"Let's go! C'mon!" Velvet urged impatiently, waiting for her brother to hurry up.
Outside, Veneer and Velvet walked to their luxury car. Veneer got into the driver's seat and Velvet got into the passenger seat.
"If I got my driver's license, I swear I would have left you here since you took so long."
"Vel, if you did get a driver's license, you would have surely crashed all of our cars."
"Shut up." She said annoyed as she turned on the radio.
It was a podcast of The Bop On Top, presumably a celebrity from an earlier interview.
Veneer listened to the radio and heard a familiar voice, Ritz's. He could even hear his confident tone through the radio. He imminently thought of tomorrow, the coffee date. He wasn't sure whether to call it a date or a hangout.
He could only just wait until the next day.
Velvet, annoyed turned off the radio. "I can't stand his stupid interviews, he's everywhere."
"We were on the show though- Soon, we'll be everywhere too." Veneer suggested, Velvet just nodded.
"I guess, but he just annoys me." She groaned.
On the drive home, Velvet went on an entire rant about how stupid Kid Ritz was, his tacky clothes, and of course, his ugly purple beanie.
As Veneer was getting ready to get to bed, he took a shower. He came out of the bathroom in a white robe and noticed a notification on his phone.
It was Ritz, Veneer smiled to himself and put his phone down to change into some pajamas.
Once he finished changing he looked at the message, [Hey, what time are we meeting up?]
He texted back, [When are you available?]
A few seconds later, Ritz replied. [12? Is that ok?]
[That's cool, see you tmrw] Veneer replied.
He sighed, turned off his bedroom lights, and went to bed. He was excited to talk with Ritz tomorrow, he seemed like a cool guy.
Veneer, unknowingly, spent most of the night imagining what would happen tomorrow.