Chapter Text
Leo can't say he understands too much about music. He never cared too much about it beyond having a few playlists on Spotify to play whenever he had to go somewhere and didn't want to deal with people talking to him. He can get beats and rhythm but don't ask him to read sheet music or try hitting a drum in a way that doesn't sound horrific.
No, his magic lies in camerawork. He can't make the music but he can bring it to life, make a masterpiece to accompany it. And he's fucking good at what he does, there's a reason he's in BING's main crew. Their videos are damn good because he makes sure they are, and their concerts? He's not one to brag—not too much—but the concert's are one of a kind because he knows how to make them so.
The job is everything he's ever dreamed of. At this point, the pay isn't even something he cares about. BING has always been generous to him. He can say without lying that there's many things about this job he enjoys a lot more than the money. Travelling the world and seeing places he never thought he'd be able to see, spreading his name, building up a portfolio that will undoubtedly serve him for the rest of his life, those are all great of course.
But the freedom is the best part. They trust him more than enough to take the lead in camera shots. He was in on the building up of the rest of the crew. All he has to give in return is perfect shots, which is easy enough, and material to post any- and everywhere.
"Absolutely wonderful, guys," he says conversely as the flash of the camera blinds the room for a moment. As soon as it's done, he grabs the picture that got pushed out the top of the Polaroid camera and puts it away, replacing the small camera with a bigger, much more expensive camera to snap a few extra.
Pentar picks up Zam, who screams and flails to grab onto him, and the moment is forever captured in a set of photos. Leo grins at the scene and lowers the camera to give them a moment to breathe.
Jumper is the one to roll her eyes and walk away to grab the guitar resting by Leo's side. "How's it going, Leo? Nervous?" she asks as if they haven't talked in ages. In reality, they've been talking non-stop for the past day to prepare and make the best out of this show. He supposes they haven't really talked, then.
"I'm good, bro." What else can he say? Everything is perfect. "I'm not nervous at all, I feel like I should be the one asking that."
Jumper shakes her head at him when he laughs. She doesn't stop him from snapping a few more pictures when Yungy picks up Pentar in turn. From the corner of his eye, he sees her hide a laugh behind a hand, and he relaxes a little more where he stands, knowing she'll be okay.
"I'm hardly nervous. It's always the worst when we're flying over, so I'm good to go, I'm excited!"
He hums, not to disregard her words but to focus up a little when the three remaining BING members pose for him. Distraction isn't the word he'd use, but she can't stop him from doing his job as well as he possibly can. She gets it, at least, waiting until he's done to ruffle his hair just to piss him off and grab Pentar's guitar too to hand it over and get back to posing.
"You're lucky I'm crouching down to take these pictures, otherwise you wouldn't be able to reach, Jumper." Still, he grins and he gives them a moment to rearrange. All in all, the vibe in the room is relaxed, playful, nowhere near as tense as he'd expect a band to be right before a show.
He really can't complain about his job when this is his life.
"Your outfits are amazing," he comments idly as he moves for a different angle. The band members know exactly when to switch up their poses too, all too used to his style of things. "Hannah and Bacon pulled out all the stops, I see."
"It's our biggest show yet! We have to look our best." Zam reaches up to fix her hair, almost like she has to prove her point. "Wanna guess how many outfits we have?"
Leo lowers the camera to stare at her. Physically, he urges her to give him the answer. Mentally, he's already doing the calculations on the shots he needs for each of the fits they have. And as she excitedly talks about each of them together with Jumper, the slight worry he has fades away again. He knows Hannah and Bacon don't disappoint, they don't just keep BING's preferences in mind but also the show and the crew.
"I only have two."
Okay, he can complain about his job a little when this is part of the life.
Leo just glances at Yungy for a quick moment. The way the guy grins and twirls his drumsticks between his fingers with insane skill can only be described as stupidly smug. He doesn't even want to know what he's getting at. Unluckily, he doesn't get a choice. Yungy walks over before Leo can get back to taking pictures and slings an arm around his shoulders.
"Do you like it? I got a new top." Yungy doesn't give him any chance to get out of this, letting go only to step in front of him to show him his fit. He's wearing a black tank top with a subtle, spider-web design. It's short enough to lift up and show him a strip of skin when he spreads his arms like a show-off.
With every ounce of willpower, Leo manages not to stare, and he rolls his eyes. Damn Yungy and damn everything that comes from his annoying brain. Not only does their stupid rivalry have them one-upping each other on outfits, ever since the guy figured out Leo's gay, he's been fishing for any reaction to him, like he wants him to get a fucking crush. It's childish. It's pissing him off. It's working.
"It sucks," he says, like a liar.
He doesn't manage to wipe the smile off Yungy's face. If anything, he just gets more smug. At this point Leo can't figure out what his goal here is.
"Sure it does. But for my second outfit, and hear me out here, I take it off: go shirtless!" he tells Leo, who almost believes he's going to demonstrate right then and there, something he wouldn't be able to keep a straight face at, not without blushing and betraying himself to everyone in the room. Yungy keeps going, either not noticing the distressing thoughts running through his mind or not caring, his voice lowered to keep it between just the two of them. "The fans will like that, right? It's good footage, I promise."
"Yeah, sure." There's no other response he can come up with. At the mere idea of Yungy going shirtless on stage, in front of a million or so fans, has his mind screeching to a halt.
A part of him is mad, jealous that he'll do it in front of fans who don't quite deserve it. The more rational parts of him remind him that he's being a worthless gay by getting jealous at such an idea. What, does he want Yungy for himself? He'd rather die than admit that.
"Good." And then Yungy winks at him. Leo glares back, with no real heat behind it.
Thankfully, he turns away to get back to the others who seem to have noticed none of it. Leo can lift his camera and snap some pictures of them messing around, the size of the device hiding away the redness in his face that he tries so hard to swallow down, as usual. Thank god he's going to have an even bigger camera to hide behind during the show.
But fuck him, honestly. If Yungy is so proud of his outfit, Leo just has to wear a better one. Nothing wrong with some good old-fashioned friendly competition, right? Nothing gay about it either; he totally doesn't want to feel Yungy's stare burn into him for once, not at all.