Post by Mjolnir on Sept 8, 2017 12:29:21 GMT -5
Off Camera
A Little Bit Ago
It feels like a life time ago that they were living in their dormitory, least for Lan. The tiny little hole in the wall they had spent years together in at that university was nothing compared to the penthouse apartment Brock and him now were sharing. He pauses on his work on his phone, eyeing the apartment and the view that the balcony window had of the cityscape. Graduation had come and gone for him, and while his parents had been expecting him to get a "real job" he had instead had an opportunity land in his lap. He knew that in spite of what Brock said, partially why he was doing what he was doing was because he had the itch, he missed wrestling, hearing the fans gasp & cheer and applaud, the excitement of the combat in the middle of the ring.
He was destined for greatness, if he stuck it out.
Also he was maybe more like his older brother than Brock necessarily realized.
But Brock's just starting out, especially with this masked alter ego, no the opportunity Lan was thinking about was the unlikely occurrence. He had said he was open for representing other clients, but part of him wondered if anyone would even acknowledge this. If he would even get a call or a text or a tweet from an interested party. Someone else had wanted his representation, someone fairly high profile in the company that Lan had courting Brock.
Ryan Keys, Lan knew him, he had made it his business to get to know a lot of the roster Brock would be competing against. Just the nature of the business, know thy enemy, and Lan was serious about helping Brock on his road to success at all costs. Even if Brock wasn't aware that's what he wanted. So it shocked Lan a little when Ryan got in touch with him.
A freshly made former champion, but also the first ever West Coast Champion that had headlined the mass majority of the shows WCGenesis had been putting out, whether televised or otherwise. He had taken down a number of the top talent in the promotion to win it and to stay on top too. Skilled far beyond the level of your average wrestler, with charisma oozing out of him and not that bad of a looker either. The thought of representing him intrigued Lan, for a couple of reasons.
He'd be lying if he claimed the thought of having someone like Ryan backing him, and Brock, if things ever got messy wasn't a comforting one. Naturally they'd do the same for him, not that he'd likely need it.
But more than that, Lan had been dreading the reality of having to get a "real job" or worse yet, having to get one within his father's company and been further groomed by his father to take over for him when he was ready to retire. His dad, Yuichiro Hikari of Hikari Enterprises, meant well enough, he wanted the best for his son and he wanted to see him continue the family legacy and pass it onto Lan in due time. But for the longest time Lan had had this stinking feeling in his chest about it, sometimes even what felt like a bottomless pit in his stomach trying to suck everything into it. His father had given him the Mufasa "Everything the light touches" speech more than once, and every time Lan felt like he was going to go cross eyed from having to deal with all of it.
This though, this could offer him a way out, a venture that he actually had passion for and had been enjoying more than he had figured he would be. Could he have a future in pro-wrestling too? The thought hadn't occurred to him, but he felt more alive and thriving in his element scheduling & booking flights, hotel rooms, deals for Brock than he had at any point in any other career path attempt he had made. If his firm grew, if he attracted more clients and more high profile ones at that, if could provide quality service to each and every one of them, this could be his career. His life.
The thought made Lan smile.
The door to their apartment opens and Brock steps in, a book bag slung over his shoulder. Lan sits up from lounging on the couch long enough to grin at him and call out to him.
"Welcome back, nerd."
Playfully he taunts his friend, who nods submissively and meanders over to their dining room table. He sets his book bag down on it and starts unpacking textbooks, ignoring his suit clad friend on the couch.
"You've said that literally every day of summer every time I come home. Are you ever going to grow tired of it?"
Brock states with some weariness in his tone, eyeing the other man over his shoulder. Lan looks unfazed by this information, likely because it isn't the first time Brock's mentioned it. He shakes his head.
"Nope! I'm going to let you know every day what a nerd you are, nerd. You're literally the only person I know that's ever taken summer classes in college that isn't because they're trying to fix their GPA."
In a carefree sort of way he teases his room mate, still finding it funny himself that Brock was taking summer classes. He had started to think Brock didn't sleep, after all when did he have time to? If he wasn't studying, he was in class, if he wasn't in class, he was training, if he wasn't training, he was working shows and getting himself ready for his WCGenesis debut. Though he'd never admit it to Brock, it scared him a little. He's like a machine.
"You know why I'm doing this."
He said with a knowing look at Lan, being surprisingly patient with his friend. He had a lot of college ahead of him, aspiring for more than even a Bachelor's Degree. He had been taking summer classes ever semester to try to power through as fast as possible and be done with it. Otherwise he'd be there for practically all of his 20's. Unlike Lan, who had done his four years and was done.
"Yeah, yeah, so I got more interesting news!"
Rolling his eyes, Lan springs up to his feet and he throws up his arms for his announcement. Brock eyes him and an eyebrow raises in curiosity about this.
"You know when I'm officially debuting yet?"
There's more than a tiny bit of hopefulness in his voice. The sooner he started working for WCGenesis proper, the sooner he could feel like he was getting anywhere with finding out some answers about what was going on with his brother. As well as something Brock himself was in somewhat denial over, he was feeling the itch in a big & bad way. He wanted to prove himself, to fight and claw his way to the top of the promotion. He wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps and be able to call himself a champion.
"Nope! Still working on that!"
The two become mirror opposites, Lan maintaining his cheerfulness while Brock deflates a little in disappointment. He resumes fishing through his book bag and unloading it while Lan scurries over to beside him and puts an arm around him in a friendly embrace! He brings his phone up to Brock's eye level, letting it catch his attention!
"I have interested parties wanting representation!"
Brock stares at the screen, then at Lan's grinning face, then back at the screen. This is all a lot to take in and process for him. Someone actually saw those tweets Lan's been putting out and wants his representation? Lan actually is excited about it too?
"What happens when they find out your firm is just you and you don't have any staff?"
Brock asks the first question that comes to mind for him. He likes his friend, but he wondered if some of these other wrestlers weren't expecting some big wig company backing them. If so, they might be disappointed when they find out it's only one man. Said one man looks mildly offended.
"I won't hear a word of this! Diane is a lovely lady!"
It's hard to tell if it's faux or genuine offense that Lan takes with Brock's statement. But Brock gives him a sideways look and shakes his head.
"Dude, Diane is you doing a bad Irish accent."
He didn't mean for that to be as blunt as it came out, but it's the truth. Lan looks almost genuinely offended now by this comment!
"Hey! That accent is great!"
After all he spent many hours practicing it in the mirror and watching clips of Groundskeeper Willie on Youtube to master it. Nevermind Willie is Scottish. Both shake their heads at the other, Lan patting Brock on the back before heading towards the kitchen.
"Anyways, Ryan's going to be coming over to hash out his contract and to have dinner. Wear something nice. I don't want you scaring him off with your t-shirts and jorts look, dude."
This hits Brock with a ton of information all at once! They had agreed no one would know he's Azul for safety reasons, and to avoid it somehow making its way back to his father. So that was a nonissue. But something else had hit Brock like a revelation.
"What's wrong with my jorts?"
Mildly hurt Brock asked, they were comfy and something he enjoyed wearing around the apartment. Besides, his mother had bought him some. Lan cranes his neck to pop his head into view of the doorway and looks at Brock.
"Everything, Brock. Everything. They're jorts."
Lan went back to getting ready to prepare dinner while Brock frowns lightly at this news and heads for his room to go change. Dinner wasn't going to be just the two of them for once after all.
He was destined for greatness, if he stuck it out.
Also he was maybe more like his older brother than Brock necessarily realized.
But Brock's just starting out, especially with this masked alter ego, no the opportunity Lan was thinking about was the unlikely occurrence. He had said he was open for representing other clients, but part of him wondered if anyone would even acknowledge this. If he would even get a call or a text or a tweet from an interested party. Someone else had wanted his representation, someone fairly high profile in the company that Lan had courting Brock.
Ryan Keys, Lan knew him, he had made it his business to get to know a lot of the roster Brock would be competing against. Just the nature of the business, know thy enemy, and Lan was serious about helping Brock on his road to success at all costs. Even if Brock wasn't aware that's what he wanted. So it shocked Lan a little when Ryan got in touch with him.
A freshly made former champion, but also the first ever West Coast Champion that had headlined the mass majority of the shows WCGenesis had been putting out, whether televised or otherwise. He had taken down a number of the top talent in the promotion to win it and to stay on top too. Skilled far beyond the level of your average wrestler, with charisma oozing out of him and not that bad of a looker either. The thought of representing him intrigued Lan, for a couple of reasons.
He'd be lying if he claimed the thought of having someone like Ryan backing him, and Brock, if things ever got messy wasn't a comforting one. Naturally they'd do the same for him, not that he'd likely need it.
But more than that, Lan had been dreading the reality of having to get a "real job" or worse yet, having to get one within his father's company and been further groomed by his father to take over for him when he was ready to retire. His dad, Yuichiro Hikari of Hikari Enterprises, meant well enough, he wanted the best for his son and he wanted to see him continue the family legacy and pass it onto Lan in due time. But for the longest time Lan had had this stinking feeling in his chest about it, sometimes even what felt like a bottomless pit in his stomach trying to suck everything into it. His father had given him the Mufasa "Everything the light touches" speech more than once, and every time Lan felt like he was going to go cross eyed from having to deal with all of it.
This though, this could offer him a way out, a venture that he actually had passion for and had been enjoying more than he had figured he would be. Could he have a future in pro-wrestling too? The thought hadn't occurred to him, but he felt more alive and thriving in his element scheduling & booking flights, hotel rooms, deals for Brock than he had at any point in any other career path attempt he had made. If his firm grew, if he attracted more clients and more high profile ones at that, if could provide quality service to each and every one of them, this could be his career. His life.
The thought made Lan smile.
The door to their apartment opens and Brock steps in, a book bag slung over his shoulder. Lan sits up from lounging on the couch long enough to grin at him and call out to him.
"Welcome back, nerd."
Playfully he taunts his friend, who nods submissively and meanders over to their dining room table. He sets his book bag down on it and starts unpacking textbooks, ignoring his suit clad friend on the couch.
"You've said that literally every day of summer every time I come home. Are you ever going to grow tired of it?"
Brock states with some weariness in his tone, eyeing the other man over his shoulder. Lan looks unfazed by this information, likely because it isn't the first time Brock's mentioned it. He shakes his head.
"Nope! I'm going to let you know every day what a nerd you are, nerd. You're literally the only person I know that's ever taken summer classes in college that isn't because they're trying to fix their GPA."
In a carefree sort of way he teases his room mate, still finding it funny himself that Brock was taking summer classes. He had started to think Brock didn't sleep, after all when did he have time to? If he wasn't studying, he was in class, if he wasn't in class, he was training, if he wasn't training, he was working shows and getting himself ready for his WCGenesis debut. Though he'd never admit it to Brock, it scared him a little. He's like a machine.
"You know why I'm doing this."
He said with a knowing look at Lan, being surprisingly patient with his friend. He had a lot of college ahead of him, aspiring for more than even a Bachelor's Degree. He had been taking summer classes ever semester to try to power through as fast as possible and be done with it. Otherwise he'd be there for practically all of his 20's. Unlike Lan, who had done his four years and was done.
"Yeah, yeah, so I got more interesting news!"
Rolling his eyes, Lan springs up to his feet and he throws up his arms for his announcement. Brock eyes him and an eyebrow raises in curiosity about this.
"You know when I'm officially debuting yet?"
There's more than a tiny bit of hopefulness in his voice. The sooner he started working for WCGenesis proper, the sooner he could feel like he was getting anywhere with finding out some answers about what was going on with his brother. As well as something Brock himself was in somewhat denial over, he was feeling the itch in a big & bad way. He wanted to prove himself, to fight and claw his way to the top of the promotion. He wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps and be able to call himself a champion.
"Nope! Still working on that!"
The two become mirror opposites, Lan maintaining his cheerfulness while Brock deflates a little in disappointment. He resumes fishing through his book bag and unloading it while Lan scurries over to beside him and puts an arm around him in a friendly embrace! He brings his phone up to Brock's eye level, letting it catch his attention!
"I have interested parties wanting representation!"
Brock stares at the screen, then at Lan's grinning face, then back at the screen. This is all a lot to take in and process for him. Someone actually saw those tweets Lan's been putting out and wants his representation? Lan actually is excited about it too?
"What happens when they find out your firm is just you and you don't have any staff?"
Brock asks the first question that comes to mind for him. He likes his friend, but he wondered if some of these other wrestlers weren't expecting some big wig company backing them. If so, they might be disappointed when they find out it's only one man. Said one man looks mildly offended.
"I won't hear a word of this! Diane is a lovely lady!"
It's hard to tell if it's faux or genuine offense that Lan takes with Brock's statement. But Brock gives him a sideways look and shakes his head.
"Dude, Diane is you doing a bad Irish accent."
He didn't mean for that to be as blunt as it came out, but it's the truth. Lan looks almost genuinely offended now by this comment!
"Hey! That accent is great!"
After all he spent many hours practicing it in the mirror and watching clips of Groundskeeper Willie on Youtube to master it. Nevermind Willie is Scottish. Both shake their heads at the other, Lan patting Brock on the back before heading towards the kitchen.
"Anyways, Ryan's going to be coming over to hash out his contract and to have dinner. Wear something nice. I don't want you scaring him off with your t-shirts and jorts look, dude."
This hits Brock with a ton of information all at once! They had agreed no one would know he's Azul for safety reasons, and to avoid it somehow making its way back to his father. So that was a nonissue. But something else had hit Brock like a revelation.
"What's wrong with my jorts?"
Mildly hurt Brock asked, they were comfy and something he enjoyed wearing around the apartment. Besides, his mother had bought him some. Lan cranes his neck to pop his head into view of the doorway and looks at Brock.
"Everything, Brock. Everything. They're jorts."
Lan went back to getting ready to prepare dinner while Brock frowns lightly at this news and heads for his room to go change. Dinner wasn't going to be just the two of them for once after all.