Dima Maslennikov

The set seemed too noisy today. The spotlights were glaring, the cameramen were discussing something among themselves, someone was laughing at the food table, and Yegor had been running around the room for about ten minutes, trying to gather everyone together to start the video.

But the atmosphere was still strange.

Because for the first time in a long time, Dima and Emil found themselves in the same room again.

And absolutely everyone noticed this.

Some pretended nothing was happening, while others watched them furtively, waiting for some kind of reaction. But they didn't even say hello. Dima stood near the camera, lazily swirling a can of energy drink in his hands while the cameraman adjusted the lighting. Emil sat a little further away on the couch with the rest of the guys, scrolling through his phone, as if he didn't care at all what was going on.

Although the tension was too strong.

"Well, today is a historic day," Yegor chuckled nervously, clapping his hands. "Maybe at least you won't kill each other during the shoot."

Someone laughed quietly.

Dima only smiled with the corner of his lips, without raising his eyes.

Emil answered calmly:

— It doesn’t depend on me.

After this phrase, the room became noticeably quieter.

"Oh, come on," one of the guys intervened. "You used to be like brothers."

“There was a time,” Emil said shortly.

Dima took a sip of his energy drink and looked away. He seemed indifferent, but the overly abrupt movement of his hand betrayed his irritation.

Yegor realized that the situation was starting to go wrong again, and quickly tried to turn everything into a joke.

— Anyway, if someone gets into a fight today, I won't edit it out. It'll end up trending.

A few people laughed, but the tension remained.

Filming finally began. The first few minutes proceeded relatively normally: the guys joked, completed tasks, and interrupted each other. Only Dima and Emil seemed to deliberately avoid even casual contact.

Until at some point Emil made another barb.

— The main thing is that some people don’t start pretending to be ideal again.