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“Ready Ace?” Fenrys smiled, shutting his eyes one last time before the cameras began rolling. “This is going to be rough .”
“Let’s do it sucker.” She winked at him from her side of the bar. “Shot for good luck?” Aelin graciously opened the bottle of tequila resting on the dark wood of the bar, and poured two hearty shots into the shot glasses between them. They both lifted the dainty shot glasses carefully and Fenrys stretched the arm holding the shot towards her. She chuckled and linked her right arm with his, wasting no time and slinging the shot back.
“Alright, alright, let’s not get drunk off camera you two!” Lysandra hollered from behind a camera, when she noticed Aelin reaching for the bottle once again.
The set Aelin and Fenry’s were currently in was beautiful. The vast loft with brick walls did not feel like a studio at all. The particular corner they were in housed a large oak bar, with delicate whorls carved along the sides. Fenrys, as the host of the talk show, was standing behind the bar. Behind him, the three rows of liquor on the wall twinkled under the bright studio lights. Aelin sat on a delicate barstool across from Fenrys, one leg crossed over another and elbows leaning on the bar top after setting down the empty shot glass on the counter.
“Let’s start,” The director began the countdown and an eerie silence fell over the set. “-and action! ”
“Aelin Ashryver Galathynius!” Fenrys howled, meeting her turquoise gaze across the bar with a wolfish grin. Immediately, Aelin knew they were in trouble. The last time the both of them had been left to their own devices at a bar they ended up commandeering the karaoke booth for two hours.
“Fenrys Moonbeam!” She grinned right back at him, wiggling her freshly manicured fingers towards him, the gold glitter on her index fingers gleaming.
“Welcome to Day Drinking with Fenrys Moonbeam,” He spoke to a camera on his right and pointed to the windows of the loft-studio. “Where we drink during the day, of course. Today, I have a dear friend of mine, Aelin.”
The camera panned to Aelin, and she gave a dazzling smile. The pair of blondes could charm an entire room in minutes and when this segment of the show landed on the internet it would take it by storm. Fenrys and Aelin were incredibly close, but her fans did not know that. When Fenrys had texted her two weeks ago to ask if she could be his guest she hadn’t responded right away. She feared that because they were such friends behind a camera, that having their interactions filmed would ruin the singularity of the pair. He was quick to dismiss her concerns, he only told her that no one would watch it if they didn’t have the chemistry.
“I’m ready for a good day, Fen.” She ran her hands over the dark brown trousers she wore, showing her nervousness to Fenrys. The wide leg pants were carefully accented by a belt at her waist. The black long sleeve shirt she wore seemed simple to the camera next to Fenrys, but the camera behind her had the view of the daring open back along with the Old Language tattoos laying across her shoulders and down her spine. Her blonde locks laid over her shoulders, leaving the camera with a full view.
“For all of you who may not know, Ace and I have known each other for a while now. Isn’t that right?” He said nonchalantly while rolling up the sleeves of his white button up. The button-up paired with dark blue jeans and boots matched the casualness of this interview. Aelin nodded with a smile, her hands knotting together on her lap while her face showed the confidence the cameras wanted to see. It was always difficult to be in front of the cameras, performances were incredible, but until the music began playing from the in-ear monitors she would continue shaking.
“I think for about 7 years now?” Aelin replied earnestly. “What have you got for me today Fenrys?”
“A lot of fun of course.” His deep brown eyes twinkled.
“Our first segment is going to be fun.” Fenrys said with a mischievous grin, his hands were lining up ten shot glasses between the two; five for Aelin, and Five for himself. “I’m going to play a couple of your songs at random, and every time the song drops an innuendo you drink and if the song does not, then I drink. Simple, right?”
“Oh this is a set up, obviously!” Aelin chuckled. She had four albums out, and she was sure that all of them had sultry lyrics weaved throughout.
“First up!” Fenrys poured tequila in all six empty shot glasses, three for Aelin and three for him. He waved at a producer in a corner of the studio.
“I’ll be honest, looking at you got me thinkin’ nonsense,” Aelin had written this song shortly after meeting Rowan for the first time. She couldn’t help but share a smile with Fenrys, who knew the person the song was about. “Cartwheels in my stomach when you walk in-” The song cut off, and Fenrys shrugged.
“I’m pretty certain that was a love song, but I’m not convinced those were innuendos.” He reached towards his shot glass, winked at the camera, and drank the shot. His sun-kissed blonde hair flowed freely around his shoulders whenever he moved.
“Thank the gods,” Aelin huffed. “I wanted to see you suffer a bit first.” She directed a wink at Fenrys, who was discarding the empty shot glass to the side.
“Alrighty, next up!” Aelin spoke to the camera, wanting to help her friend out with the hosting. The producer in the corner played the next track right away.
“I feel the rush, addicted to your touch.” Aelin hid her face behind her hands briefly to hide the blush spreading across her face. No one had asked her about this particular song yet, mostly because it had been released only a week ago. “Breathe, one, two, three, take all of me, so good. ” Aelin was reaching for the shot before the song stopped playing on the speakers above her head. She had given writing credits to Rowan on the song, though he had little to do with it. He was the one who had told her to take all of him, but had no actual writing input. She felt that it was just right to add him to the song. A clever person could easily figure it out, with his name woven between lyrics and writing credits, but who really paid attention to those things? The majority of her fans did not. It was Lysandra’s idea, her closest friend and manager, who now stood behind the production crew in the studio trying to stifle her laughter to not disturb the recording.
Fenrys barked a laugh seeing her embarrassed reaction. “ That was so fun.” He moved her shot glass out of the way. “Last one?” He blinked three times discreetly and Aelin returned the question with a single blink and a slight smile on her lips.
Fenrys waved his hand above his head and the next song began playing. “ Hold me and love me, just wanna touch you for a minute” Aelin barked a laugh at the song. LoveGame from her first album was an instant hit in Erilea, something about the danceability of the song and the raunchy lyrics. “ Let’s have some fun this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick-” Aelin pushed the stool back and stood up, the shots flowing through her loosening her bones.
“Fen, you know this one right?” She waved at the producer to keep the song going, and she briefly caught Lysandra smiling brightly at her, always encouraging her on. Gods, she felt so grateful to be surrounded by friends who she could always count on. It hadn’t always been like that for her. The chorus began and she started the infamous dance from the music video, with heels and all. Her left hand up, and hips rolling she followed the routine Ansel had crafted for the song years ago. Five, six, seven, eight! Twirl and boss them around bitch! She heard Ansel’s voice in her head from years ago.
Fenrys started dancing from his side of the bar, messing up the steps just a bit, and yet giving it his all while swinging his hips to the beat.The filming crew was laughing from behind the cameras, the joy echoing off the walls in the studio. “I’m a professional, okay?” Fenrys yelled at them as the music came to a close after the dance break. “Ace, take the shot, don’t think I didn’t notice that distraction!” He laughed and slid the shot closer to her.
“Yes, yes,” She sketched a bow to the camera to her right, and threw the shot back.
“She’s a multi-talented pop star, she dances, she sings, she can act, and most of all-” Fenrys grabbed another shot and lifted it between himself and the camera to cheers.
Aelin and Fenrys now sat on the cozy couches on the opposite side of the studio. The brick red couches were of a worn out corduroy fabric, accented by colorful embroidered pillows atop it. The studio lights here were warmer, showcasing the different shades of red along the couch. The ground was covered with plush carpets and sitting pillows, as if they’d have more than one guest planned only to have Aelin show up instead. The glass coffee table across from them had an assortment of beers in a bucket of ice waiting for them, and a bottle opener in the shape of a wolf next to them.
“Aelin here is a very talented human, and what better way to put her to the test than having her listen to my terrible singing?” Fenrys grinned at the new camera placement. This time it was across from the coffee table Aelin to the left and Fenrys to the right. He reached over to the coffee table, snatched two bottles and opened them with the small wolf bottle opener next to them. “To functional ear-drums!” Fenrys toasted, and Aelin couldn’t help the snort that escaped her.
“I’m going to put this headset on, and listen to whatever song the producers play on here, and I’m going to sing it back to you, silent disco karaoke? Is that a thing?” Fenrys explained the next segment to Aelin. “You’ll have to tell our audience how awkward it is to listen to me sing.”
“Mother save me,” Aelin took a swig of the beer, mentally preparing herself. Fenrys was a huge fan of karaoke, but he was never quite as successful as his late twin, Connall, was.
Fenrys cleared half of his beer before clearing his throat. “ I am unwritten, can’t read my mind, I’m undefined-” his smile brightened as he sang, though the notes were not as stunning as the sound coming out of the headset over his ears. Aelin couldn’t stop the grin from creeping onto her face.
“Staring at the blank page before you, open up the dirty window, let the sun illuminate the words that you cannot find-” Fenrys brought the bottle to his lips, holding it like a microphone and locating the closest camera to give it a full-blown show as the song continued. Aelin could hear the crew giggling at Fenrys making a fool of himself. It was part of his charm, to light up a room no matter who and what was in it. As the chorus neared Fenrys turned to Aelin, who was leaning back on the couch watching Fenrys twirl and sing, the producers were now broadcasting the song to the studio, loud enough for Aelin to hear which part of the song he was nearing up on, but not loud enough to cloud the microphones around them.
“Sing it Ace!” Fenrys hauled Aelin off the couch, and held his beer bottle towards her like a microphone. She pushed his beer to the side and brought hers to her lips instead, and began singing as well. “Feel the rain on your skin! No one else can feel it for you, only you can let it in!” Now face to face, the blonde pair laughed after howling the chorus to their small audience of producers and assistants.
Fenrys pushed back the headset from his ears and handed them off to Aelin. She accepted them graciously, finishing her beer after placing the delicate headset on her head. From behind the soundboard Lysandra was giving instructions to the producer who Aelin assumed was in charge of the music for the production, he nodded enthusiastically at Lysandra and frantically pressed buttons to find whatever song he was instructed to play. Shortly after he gave Lys a thumbs up, a guitar instrumental began playing from the headset. Lysandra smirked from afar, the mischief clear from Aelin’s side of the studio.
“Oh hell yes,” Aelin said and kicked off her heels to the side, because the song would require passion, and gods know she was three drinks past caring for shoes. “This is an oldie, but a goodie Fen, you like this one.” Aelin said to Fenrys and the cameras while the instrumental started. “ Right now, he’s probably slow dancing with a bleach-blonde tramp and she’s probably gettin’ frisky-” She could see Fenrys guffawing next to her, he knew exactly why Lysandra had chosen the song. Remelle had been a thorn in his side for decades since she would not leave Rowan alone, and because Fenrys was close to him she would harass him as well. Unfortunately for Remelle, Aelin was the most fiery person he’d ever met, and made sure to show Remelle that after their first encounter where Remelle tried to shamelessly flirt with Rowan in front of Ace.
Aside from that, Aelin did truly love the song, not that Rowan would ever hurt her in the same way but she loved the intricacies of singing a difficult song like that one. She lived for it, for music, for art and for the way her heart expanded when she took breaths between verses. Aelin’s musical projects were vastly different from the acoustic song she was performing for the cameras, having started in the Adarlan club scene, most of her music had dance elements to it. What many fans did not know was that she spent most of her career writing music for other artists as well, under the pen name Celaena Sardothien. It was liberating, to write music, produce and collaborate with artists without having to adhere to the rules that the music industry had imposed on her. No one would expect a club artist to write about loss and hurt, and yet there she was leading a double life and connecting both with music.
“-cause I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four wheel drive-” Aelin climbed on the couch, letting the music drift her into that marvelous head-space she entered when performing. “Carved my name into his leather seats. Took a Louisville slugger to both headlights, slashed a hole in all four tires-” She passed the bottle to Fenrys to finish the lyric. “Maybe next time he’ll think before he cheats!” From her perch on the couch, Aelin flipped off the camera in front of her.
“And with that my friends, we finish off this episode of Daydrinking with Fenrys and Aelin!” Fenrys bumped his hip into Aelin, and she stumbled onto the floor with a sheepish smile.
“Next time, we’ll make sure to go to a real karaoke place, so you can all experience ear damage just like I did!” She gave the cameras a feral smile, the seemingly endless alcohol they consumed finally catching up to her. “Now, we’re out to go night-drinking!” She clawed the floor for her heels, while Fenrys closed the show.
“Not so fast, you need to eat first.” A male voice told Aelin from somewhere behind Lysandra. Aelin snapped her head towards the voice, her heartbeat picking up at the sound. Rowan stepped out from behind Lysandra and shook his head, though he was trying his best to hide the smirk forming on his lips. Rowan had received a call from Lysandra earlier in the day making sure he would come get Aelin after the show, and there he was, supportive as always. He still had on his working clothes, the dedicated black jeans and shirt he often wore to the tattoo studio in order to avoid staining any of his fun clothes with tattoo ink during the day. Although, if anyone asked Aelin, he wore black clothes every day and just didn’t want anyone to catch on. Aelin stared at him across the room, with a smile spreading over her face. She couldn’t concentrate on the spins while staring at his broad shoulders, thank the gods.
“ Roooooooooooooowan” Sang Fenrys at the top of his lungs and lunged towards his friend for a hug. “ I missed youuuuuuuuuu!”