Chapter Text
“That’s all for tonight guys, now I hand you over to our resident dick rippers, Sips and Sjin for four hours of filth and debauchery. Goodnight!” Alex sat back in his seat as his best friend and producer Chris Trott gave him a thumbs up as the ‘on air’ light went out.
“Good show mate.” Chris praised as he shuffled through some paperwork. “Any plans this weekend?” The smaller man asked, flicking his fringe out of his eyes with a shake of the head.
Alex shrugged. “Dota and sleep mostly.” He answered.
Chris grinned. “Isn’t that the same thing you’ve done the past four weekends, and every day after work?”
“Keeping tabs on me?” He shot back with a raised eyebrow. “Like you ever do anything but sit in the flat with Katie watching TV.”
Chris snorted a laugh. “That’s the point though mate, I actually spend time with a real live person when I’m not here instead of sitting alone in my pants scratching my arse.”
Alex nudged Chris with his shoulder, causing the other man to stumble to the side. “I’m anti-social, you should know that by now.”
Chris laughed. “Or you can’t find anyone who will put up with you long enough to actually spend any time in your company you narcissistic wanker.”
“That’s says much more about you than about me you bastard.” Alex shot back. “You must really have issues if I’m your best mate.”
Chris didn’t reply verbally, instead sticking his middle finger up at the taller man.
**********
Alex Smith loved his job and he had his best friend to thank for that job.
He had known Chris for as long as he could remember, the two boys had crossed paths in nursery as toddlers before starting primary school then being placed in the same tutor group at high school which cemented their friendship. There was a small period of time when they separated, Alex staying at school to do this A levels whilst Chris went off to a nearby college to his own, they reunited once again when it was time to apply to university, finding one that did courses both boys wanted to study.
They were in their second year when Alex managed to wrangle them both a job at the uni radio station, Chris as a production assistant and Alex filling up a position in the marketing and research department to compliment his degree.
It had been a cold and dreary Wednesday during the Christmas holidays, the station was working with a skeleton staff due to the combination of people going home for Christmas break and a swath of illness that had swept the campus.
Alex was putting the finishing touches on an email to one of the resident artists with direction on the new design for an advert poster that was to be posted around the uni in the New Year when Chris burst into the room looking panicked, his usually straight hair sticking up.
“Smith!” He squeaked. “I need your help or I am totally fucked!” Alex clicked send on the email in front of him before turning to his friend with a questioning look. Chris took a deep breath before explaining his predicament. “My producer is on holiday so he left me in charge and we’re due on air in half an hour and I just had a call from Rosie, she’s lost her voice so she can’t so the show and Kev isn’t answering his phone and I can’t get hold of any of the other presenters to cover.”
“Can you just do it? You know her format probably better than she does.” Alex suggested.
Chris shook his head. “I can’t work the desk at the same time.”
"I can try and work the desk if you want, I should be able to figure it out.” The taller man said.
“I want you to present.” Chris said eyeing the other man for his reaction.
Alex raised both eyebrows in surprise. “Me?”
“Look, you have a big enough fucking ego as it is so don’t take this too much to heart yeah?” Chris didn’t wait for a reply before he continued. “You’re funny and sarcastic and apparently people find you quite charming so I need you to just do this for me and not be a prick about it because I need this job to complete my course credits and if I don’t get the show sorted then I’m going to have nothing but three hours of dead air.”
Alex nodded and took in Chris’ anxious posture. “Alright mate.” Chris had let out a huge relived breath. “Brief me on the show and we’ll wing it together.”
The show had been a roaring success, the switchboard had been flashing more vigorously than the sad little Christmas tree in the corner of the studio. Alex had relaxed into the role of presenter almost immediately, making jokes and going off on long hilarious tangents when a word or song prompted something in his head.
Chris had received a call only minutes after they went off air from his boss. The phone call left him dazed and grinning, Alex had to ask him multiple times if he was okay before he answered.
“He wants us to do all of Rosie’s shows until the New Year and he wanted to talk to us about making a new show, with you presenting and me being lead producer.”
From there, the show grew in popularity and they took over the primetime six until ten pm slot in their third year, pulling in thousands of listeners each night.
It had been hard, completing their degree whilst working on the show so much but they managed with the help of the head of the station who convinced their teachers to give them both credits towards their studies for their work.
Alex hadn’t been sure what he wanted to do with his life, his degree could have got him a job in a large marketing company and he had felt like he should give up on his newer passion to get a proper job. Luckily, Chris convinced him otherwise.
“It’s in Bristol.” Trott had said with a grin. “Been going for a couple of years, they pull in hundreds of thousands of listener’s worldwide every day and they want us!” He had beamed, fidgeting in excitement.
Alex had smiled at his best friend, Trott really wanted this, and it was a huge deal for him. A proper producer’s job at a proper radio station where he could really build a career, Alex couldn’t deny him and it was probably the best decision he had ever made.
**********
Ross stared at his own bewildered face in the mirror and took some deep breaths. “Come on Hornby.” He scolded his reflection. “Stop being such a twat.” The image in the glass, rather unsurprisingly, did nothing. With a large sigh he turned around and made his way to the front door of his new flat, only pausing to pick up his keys to shove them into his pocket.
This job was a big deal to the dark haired man, the first opportunity to be lead producer on a large show on a station that was slowly becoming world renowned.
Yogsradio had taken the south by storm when it first started broadcasting, catering at first to a niche group of teens and twenty something’s that liked the fact they didn’t cater to a particular genre of music and the long periods of talk that would be in between each song. It was that strange mix of podcast and traditional radio that drew in the fans and had the business expanding onto the internet radio market, reaching millions more listeners than they had been able to originally.
Ross knew he was lucky to have landed a job with them, even after his stint as a runner on radio one.
Ross arrived at the ironically named ‘Yogtowers’ just before two pm, getting ushered through to an empty office by the blonde receptionist.
The dark haired man was reading the awards lining the wall when a soft knock at the open door caused him to spin around.
“Hey, you must be Ross.” The man was short, with sandy coloured hair that swept to one side over his forehead. “I’m Chris Trott.” He introduced himself, holding a hand out for Ross to shake. “Everyone calls me Trott.”
Trott couldn’t have been any older than his own twenty four years Ross observed as he shook the other man’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Trott smiled at him and motioned for him to sit. “You too mate. So, I am the lead producer on our late show so I have been asked to get you settled in, show you the systems and equipment and stuff, then they wanted you to go sit in on the drive time and evening shows to see how stuff is done.”
Ross nodded along with the information. “Yeah, sounds good.”
“I’ll get Martyn to pull you out of drive time early when he gets here so you can get to know each other a bit.” Trott advised. “You got any questions before the grand tour?”
“Just the usual.” Ross said with a smirk. “Who to avoid, what I can and can’t get away with.”
Trott laughed. “I think you are going to fit in here just fine.” He commented. “Working at Yogradio will be the weirdest and best job you will ever have, that’s pretty much a guarantee, Martyn is a bit more chilled than the guy I work with so you are safe from as much chaos but it will still be a wild ride mate.”
Ross grinned at him. “I’ve been on the website listening to some past shows of Martyn’s and if you say that is un chaotic then I don’t think I want to meet your presenter.”
Trott barked a laugh at him. “Wait until you hear Sips and Sjin, then you’ll be praising the rest of us for our chill.”
**********
Martyn arrived to collect him an hour later, they retreated to the canteen so the blonde man could top up on caffeine before his show.
"How are you finding it?” Martyn asked, stirring sugar into his coffee.
Ross nodded his head, swallowing his beverage before speaking. “Yeah, it’s all coming back to me and the people seem cool.”
"Where were you before here?" Martyn asked. "I didn’t get a chance to check out your CV.”
“I went to a couple of regional stations as a runner when I left uni, then I moved to London and did some stuff for the BBC in TV and radio but I left that to go be assistant producer at a station in my home town but I got bumped up to lead researcher and I got bored not being part of the live shows.”
Martyn nodded at him. “It is kind of a rush isn’t it?”
Ross grinned at him in agreement.
**********
Ross entered his flat feeling lighter than he had that morning, the stress and worry of meeting his new co-workers was gone. One afternoon was all it had taken for him to know he would enjoy working at the station.
He had gelled instantly with Trott, falling into an easy banter that quickly descended into childish jokes and sexual innuendos. He couldn’t have been happier after meeting Martyn, having worked for some self-absorbed ‘talent’ in the past the prospect of spending hours locked in a small room with the man had been weighing on him but he was pretty sure if he took the trouble to look up the word ‘nice’ in the dictionary there would be a picture of Martyn Littlewood next to it.
Ross kicked off his shoes and toed them under the coffee table on his way to the kitchen, opening the fridge he pulled out a bottle of lager and popped the cap open on the countertop before going back to collapse on the sofa.
He pulled his laptop from the table and booted it up, opening his browser to bring up the radio stations website, planning on listening to the show Trott worked on as he finished unpacking the rest of the boxes that were piled up in the corner of the room.
Ross smiled to himself when the stream connected and Tubthumping by Chumbawamba came blasting out of the tinny laptop speakers and Ross found himself singing along, surprised that he knew as many of the lyrics as he did.
Once the song finished it was immediately followed by a ridiculous cheesy jingle reminiscent of the girl bands of the 50’s announcing it was time for ‘wine or cheese’. Ross paused in his unpacking to listen, Trott had mentioned the game earlier when they were talking about formats and it sounded like it was quite funny.
“Good evening line one, what’s your name and more importantly, wine or cheese?” Ross quirked his eyebrow at his laptop, that voice sounded oddly familiar but he couldn’t place it.
There was a girly giggle before the caller spoke. “Hey Smith! I’m Cheryl and I choose wine.”
“Right Cheryl, you’re in France at a fancy vineyard and you’re doing a wine tasting, you’re on your twelfth glass and you haven’t been spitting it out like the guy said and your busting for a piss… what do you do?” The presenter said, the smile in the man’s voice evident.
The caller hesitated for a moment before answering. “I look around and try to find a toilet.”
“There is no toilet in sight and you are literally about to burst if you don’t go in the next twenty seconds.” Smith countered.
Ross strode towards his computer and pulled it onto his lap once he sat, he definitely knew that voice.
“Errrrm… I… errrr…” The woman stuttered as she tried to think of what to do next. “I ask the guy who gave me the wine where the toilet is.”
“He doesn’t speak any English and has no idea what you are talking about, the pain in your stomach is now pretty agonising and you are finding it hard to walk.”
“I try to ask the other people who are tasting the wine if they know where there’s a toilet.”
A loud buzzer sounded through the speakers. “Too late.” Smith announced. “Your bladder has now exploded like the Death Star, your whole midsection bursts spraying the rest of the wine tasters with blood and piss and you are dead. Thanks for playing wine or cheese.”
Ross opened a new browser window to try and see if there was a picture of the presenter anywhere online, he was certain he knew this man from somewhere and his curiosity was getting the better of him.
Smith started another round of the game but Ross wasn’t listening to what was happening as he typed the shows name into google, just as he was about to hit the search button Smith laughed, a loud booming giggle of glee that made the dark haired man freeze as his heart accelerated in his chest and a swarm of butterflies ran rampant through his stomach.
Six years may have separated him from that laugh but there was no doubt in Ross’ mind about who it belonged to.