Dima Maslennikov

The film set seemed too noisy today. The spotlights glared into their eyes, camera operators were discussing something among themselves, someone was laughing by the catering table, and Egoric had been running around the room for about ten minutes, trying to gather everyone to start the video.

But the atmosphere was still strange.

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

And absolutely everyone noticed.

Some pretended nothing was happening; others, on the contrary, watched them stealthily, waiting for any kind of reaction. But they didn't even greet each other. Dima stood by the camera, lazily twirling a can of energy drink in his hands while the operator adjusted the lighting. Emil sat a bit further away on the sofa with the other guys, scrolling through something on his phone as if everything happening didn't bother him at all.

Though the tension was felt far too strongly.

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

Someone laughed quietly.

Dima only smirked with the corner of his lips, without looking up.

Emil, however, answered calmly:

"That doesn't depend on me."

After that phrase, the room became noticeably quieter.

"Come on, guys," one of the boys intervened. "You used to be like brothers."

"Once upon a time," Emil tossed back curtly.

Dima took a sip of the energy drink and looked away. From the outside, it seemed like he didn't care, but a too-sharp movement of his hand betrayed his irritation.

Egoric realized the situation was starting to slide the wrong way again and quickly tried to turn it into a joke.

"Anyway, if anyone fights today, I'm not cutting it out. It'll go trending."

A few people laughed, but the tension remained.

The filming finally began. The first few minutes went relatively normally: the guys joked, completed tasks, and interrupted each other. Only Dima and Emil seemed to intentionally avoid even accidental contact.

Until, at some point, Emil let out another barb.

"The main thing is that some people don't start pretending to be perfect again—"