The Treasure She Never Asked For

Marcel looked at the comments on the screen and couldn't stop himself from laughing. If he knew fans could be so entertaining he would have engaged with them regularly even before he became Marcel. 

"How long have you been at it?" Marcel asked as continued to read the comments.

"Maybe 10 minutes?" Alistair guessed as he hadn't been timing himself.

"You have quite the following," Marcel said as he pushed his hair away from his face.

[Am I the only one who thinks he looks familiar?] one of the fans asked.

[I'm sure I've seen him too] another chimed in.

[Isn't he the one with Sherry?] 

After that, the comments exploded again. Marcel didn't want to continue, so he looked at Alistair before getting up from his bed.

"Well, have at it," Marcel said as he went back to his own bed. He did not want to answer anyone's questions. It was like he was instantly reminded why he hadn't interacted with his fans the way Alistair did.

"Who is Sherry?" Alistair asked and his fans paused in disbelief as they couldn't believe that he did not know who Sherry was. Just like that he ended up getting scolded for no reason.

"I was part of her music video, you can check online," Marcel calmly explained. He did not find it weird because he also hadn't known who she was until they worked together.

Marcel leaned against his headboard and pulled out his phone as he casually listened to Alistair, who was still talking to his fans. He listed down the things that he knew he needed for the project that they were assigned, and it felt like the items were never-ending. With Avian's help, he was able to determine what he would need and remember each and every detail. 

After he finished listing his things down, he rummaged through his bag and took out a notepad where he wrote down everything that he had just recorded in his phone and stretched his body as he glanced at Alistair who was finishing up his live session.

"I'm going downstairs," Marcel said as he got up from his bed and picked up his phone. 

"Mmh," Alistair answered and Marcel walked out of their room. He ran down the stairs before going back up to change his clothes so he could go for an evening jog. 

"Where to?" Alistair asked as he noticed that Marcel had changed.

"For a run, wanna join?" Marcel offered as an afterthought, not expecting Alistair to actually take him up on his offer.

"Give me five minutes, I have to get in shape for that shoot," Alistair mumbled as he got off the bed and went to the closet to change. 

"What is it?" Marcel asked impatiently as he stood in front of the door.

"The director was asking if you really needed everything on that list, it was a bit too long," he said to Marcel.

"I thought that we weren't supposed to worry about the budget," Marcel said with a raised eyebrow.

"But still, it's a bit…" he trailed off as he was not sure what to say.

"Weren't you going to provide those things, anyway? Besides, they can be shared, right? I need everything, nothing can be missing," Marcel said sounding a bit overbearing.

"But," the crew member wanted to say something but was unsure of what to say. Marcel noticed that he was in a difficult position, so he loosened his expression.

"If there's an issue, just tell the director to look for me personally, I have to run now. Let's go," Marcel said and followed Alistair outside. The crew member thought that he would have said that there was room for discussion, but he felt like he was just told that he was not a suitable opponent so he should call his boss. The crew member went back with complicated feelings and relayed the message to the director before disappearing immediately.

"Where is he?" the director asked, the vein on his forehead popping up prominently.

"He went for a run," the crew member chimed in and really disappeared this time.

After running at full speed for half an hour, the two of them ended up at the park where marcel started to do the routine that Avian had assigned for him. Since it looked easy, Alistair decided to follow what he was doing, but he knew the meaning of regret five minutes later.

"How are you even lifting your weight in that angle?" Alistair asked as he looked at his trembling arms that were struggling to hold him up.

"I was the same the first time I did it, but you'll get used to it," Marcel said a bit winded. The two of them worked out for an hour, with Marcel helping Alistair out with his posture once in a while before they jogged back home.

They took longer to return because they were exhausted with the workout from before. When they got home Marcel made a beeline for the kitchen and Alistair made a beeline for the bedroom. He wanted to shower immediately.

As Marcel took out a bottle of water from the fridge, a crew member came to call him to the room that they were using for production.

"Is it okay if I go like this?" he asked as he pointedly looked at his tank that was sticking to his body from the sweat.

"It's fine," the crew member said and led the way to the "office".

Marcel walked in while using his top wipe off the sweat that was trickling down his forehead as he walked in exposing his torso. Although not as defined as he would like, it was still impressive for someone who had been working for a couple of weeks.

"What is it?" Marcel asked as he took a long drink from the bottle of water.

"Do you need all of this?" the director asked as he lifted the sheets of paper that Marcel had passed on to him.

"Yes, I need each and every one of those things in that list," Marcel said while nodding his head.

"You have to reduce it, it's too much," the director said.

"It's just the staff and the props. You said we had a flexible budget. Besides, I'm sure other people are going to ask for similar things, isn't it better to have the list in advance?" Marcel asked his facial expression the epitome of innocence.

"But still, it's too long," the director said.

"Have you gone through it? I'm sure a lot of things in there are redundant, I just wanted to cover all my bases and not be presumptuous," Marcel said as he pointed at the list.

The director frowned and looked at the list and saw that he was right. There were even things that they were going to get for them anyway like hairstylists and makeup artists in the list and the frown on his face slowly eased as he went through the list.

"Is this everything? Will you add anything last minute?" the director asked.

"Maybe, but it'll probably be miscellaneous. Can I go now? Wet clothes are uncomfortable.

"Mmh," the director said as he looked up from the list. 

"Good evening then," Marcel said as he turned around and left, walking carefully so as not to touch other people with his sweaty self.

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