Such Sweet Nothing

Chapter 1: Earth

He had no idea what happened. At first, Earth had thought this was some kind of prank. He kept waiting for Santa to yell "got you!" or for the Wabi Sabi staff to gleefully inform him that they'd hidden cameras everywhere.

That never happened.

Then he figured that everyone had days when they felt off, but Santa's off days had become his new normal.

It was like one minute, they'd been all over each other, at each other's places, taking pictures, making content, and just spending time together, and now it was like none of that had ever happened.

Shooting My Only 12% had been demanding, but Earth had never had more fun making a series than he did with Santa. Santa was like sunshine, like fresh air. He was the sort of person who replenished you with his endless energy and enthusiasm. They'd played the entire time on set and Earth felt that he'd never been more comfortable with someone.

Back then, Santa had been so sweet, playful, and attentive, in a way that Earth now wished that he hadn't gotten used to. But now, it was a different story. Now, when their first real series just finished airing. Now, when they should've been promoting more than ever. Now when all the new fans they gained wanted nothing more than to see them together.

Now when Earth wanted Santa more than ever.

No. That was a dangerous thought. They were co-stars and nothing more. And Santa made it abundantly clear that he didn't even want a friendship like the one they had before.

They'd had fights before. Bad ones, with screaming and slammed doors. But besides that stupid, misguided ignoring thing Santa had done for Earth's birthday, Santa had never given him the cold shoulder quite like this. They had been able to come back from every other fight. Sometimes Earth would go to make up with Santa and other times, Santa would come around and charm his way back into Earth's heart.

But now... Earth supposed they were colleagues. But barely that. Even the events they were scheduled for were sparse and sporadic, as though Santa didn't even want to work with him anymore.

Earth's heart slammed in its cage in horror. Surely that couldn't be what Santa wanted.

Earth wished that it could be different. He wanted to talk to Santa as a mentor at least. He wanted to tell Santa that he didn't know what was going on with him, but it was damaging to his career to act this way. Earth wanted to tell Santa that they should go back to the way things were. They should be making Youtube content together and posting pictures and TikToks again, the way they used to do.

Santa wasn't as prolific with social media as Earth, but that was okay. He was young, he would learn. But he'd been in the industry a few years already, and he should know by now what to post and what his fans wanted.

And their fans wanted them.

Long before they'd blown up like this, Earth would've sworn that Santa wanted him too.

At first it wasn't even about the fans when they posted to social media. They were just sharing a new friend they'd found, and Santa had been eager to post him. To share with everyone just how close they were.

Earth wanted to tell him that they should be doing more of that. More fanservice. Because that's all it was, right? Fanservice. None of it was real, even though it had sometimes felt that way. Even though it had almost escalated past that several times. 

Earth was embarrassed, but he longed for that kind of attention and connection from Santa again. He'd done everything he could to get Santa's attention. He'd worn more provocative clothing, taken better care of his appearance, acted cuter, flirtier, and more available. He'd posted pictures and videos with other men in an attempt to gain a reaction from Santa, but nothing seemed to get to him.