Right Back After This

Episode 20

Dinner is lovely, and Riz wants to be able to pay complete attention to it. He consciously tries to acknowledge that the table setting is elaborate and purposeful, that the pottery of the plates appears handmade and skilfully done, that fresh flowers have been arranged carefully among the different plates of food, set out to be shared between them. He tries to appreciate the skill that went into the cooking, and he finds not just that the tropical fruit and roasted meat and fresh salads are all delicious, but that they feel at least a bit like they have something of a story behind them. They're selling authenticity here, and Riz almost buys it- except for the fact that none of the fruit has any blemishes, and the leaves of the salads are too green. The food is blander for it.

He smiles at the serving staff, because he doesn't need or want serving staff. Is he being condescending? How do you get across 'I know where you've come from and I wish you didn't need to be here'? This wasn't the kind of servitude he was ever in, but their faces are so carefully pulled into waxy smiles that it hurts. His is just as fake, and maybe that's all he needs to show.

It's hard to focus and appreciate all their effort, though, because he's distracted. The one thought playing in his mind is that he needs to talk to Ares as soon as is physically possible. There are too many distractions. Like, for example, Amello is sitting next to him, and for some reason when he wants to ask if Riz is alright, he just has to put his hand on Riz's thigh, and whisper it quietly into his ear. Riz is alright except for that, and except for the fact that Kiel, sitting across from him, has decided to rest his foot up on the bench Riz is sitting on, between his legs. It's not even remotely a sexual behaviour, but that's the thing- despite that, it makes Riz aware of where his legs are, forces them apart, forces him to think about Kiel. Riz is painfully aware that Kiel couldn't do anything more flirtatious if he wanted to, and that's the problem.

When dinner's over, and they're taken to a back meeting room with their mics flicked off, Riz tries to catch Ares' attention.

Saccharine are sitting on a couch, the three managers standing in front of them, crew bustling around fixing trivial things as always. Everywhere Riz looks feels like the wrong place. Sonja is shuffling uncomfortably; Ares is fiddling with the ends of his sleeves; the crew member who's carefully rubbing some kind of skincare product on his face couldn't look at him if they wanted to, but at least they're providing a shield against everyone else's stare. Especially Paloma's steel daggers.

"Riz," is the first thing Paloma says, in a sigh Riz can only read as disappointment. Surely, somehow, she's noticed how fucking horny he's been the past hour or so, and that's what she's about to start yelling about. She looks down her glasses at him. "What's gotten into you with Kiel?"

"I don't know what you mean," Riz says, and he doesn't, but also he does.

"I don't know what-ever-the-fuck was different this time. Usually the engagement we get from you two is fine, it's interesting, but this is a good response." Riz breathes a sigh of relief even before Paloma is holding a tablet for him to read. The crew member retreats from his face for a moment, so Riz to take the tablet and flick through a few social media posts- pictures of candid angles of that hot tub moment, speculations.

I'm proud of Riz for stepping out of his comfort zone this whole trip!

do you guys think maybe Kiel doesn't hate Riz as much as he pretends?

BRUH WHAT JUST HAPPENED I CAN'T BELIEVE RIZ DID THAT, POWER MOVE

am I the only one that thinks this is kinda homoerotic?

guys are we going to get a friendship arc

here's 10 reasons why Kiel is a piece of shit in case everyone forgot (read more)