The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era [BL]

Silver Moon Awards v: [We're pleased to announce the nominees for the Rookie of the Year Award. Recognizing exceptional newcomers in the world of cinema. Check out the contenders for this prestigious honor. Who do you think deserves to take home the title?]

And under that post were the names of the nominees, along with a short clip of their appearance on the movie they were in.

There were five names. Wulfric bypassed the first four and din't even bother to look at them. His gazed just zeroed in on the fifth name.

[Astrid Townsend (The Sleeping God)]

He almost jumped up in joy when he read Aster's name. But he resisted the urge, since he was still on a video call with Aster. Instead, he looked at the other and shared the good news.

"Aster, it's already official. You're nominated for Rookie of the Year at that Silver Moon Awards!"

Astrid was slightly surprised at first, mainly because he didn't expect that that would be Wulfric's next words with the way their conversation was going. Then he remembered how the other paused for a while earlier, as if reading something. That must be the announcement from the Silver Moon Awards.

Although he had already somewhat expected that he might indeed be nominated, knowing that it was now official still made him very happy. But perhaps not as much as a certain prince.

Wulfric's eyes sparkled with sheer delight. A wide, infectious grin stretched across their face, radiating pure happiness. It's as if he was the one who got nominated and not him. No, even if he was, let's say, about to be given a medal of honor, he probably still wouldn't be as happy as he was now.

Simply because this award was for Astrid, that's why he was so genuinely happy.

Looking at Wulfric now, what a stark difference it was when they first met. Back then, the other only cared for what would be amusing or interesting to him. Not even caring about the feelings of others.

But look at him now. He looked so giddy with happiness just because Astrid was nominated for an award. It's like a complete 180. Not that he's complaining. The fact that Wulfric was changing was a sign that there was progress.

Speaking of first meeting...

For some reason, no, maybe fueled by the earlier incident, an image of Wulfric naked's body flashed in his mind. That tanned body sculpted like a Greek statue, from his biceps, to his pectoral muscles, to those eight-packs abs, and... that long and big eggplant.

He stopped. He once again felt his face heating up. That eggplant was probably the only thing on Wulfric's body different from a standard Greek statue. No, stop thinking about that, you perv!

The fact that he's reacting like this when he wasn't even affected the first time he saw it was proof that, just like Wulfric, he's also changing. At least when it came to his feelings for the other, that was definitely the case.

"Aster?"

Wulfric's call once again pulled Astrid back from his own thoughts. "I'm sorry, I'm just a bit surprised about the nomination," he said, making up an excuse.

Wulfric nodded in understanding. It's natural to be surprised. The blush on Aster's face must be from excitement because of this news.

"Congratulations, Aster. What did I say? I knew you will definitely get nominated," he said. "There's no doubt in my mind that you will get this award."

Astrid chuckled when he heard that. "Thank you for your confidence in me, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Yes, it would be great if I won, but it's also fine if I don't. Being nominated was already a huge recognition."

And he's not just saying that for lip service. Of course, it would be nice to win. Especially since, out of the three major movie awards, Silver Moon was the only one giving Rookie of the Year award. But since it's not an acting award, he wasn't very fixated on it.

Now, if this was an award for the best actor or supporting actor, that would be a different matter altogether.

"What are you saying? You will definitely win," Wulfric said, seemingly offended that he was lacking 'fighting spirit'. "If you don't, then that means that this Silver Moon is rigged. Because that's the only way you could lose."

That almost made Astrid burst into laughter. He didn't know if the other was just too blinded by his love for him that he probably considered him the best actor in the whole Empire, or if he was just that confident in him.

"But what if I still lose?" he asked in a teasing manner.

"Then I will order an investigation and have the organizers of that rigged award show jailed."

Wulfric said that in such a righteous tone that one would believe he was talking about sending heinous criminals to prison.

This time, Astrid finally couldn't hold back and just laughed out loud.

-----

After the announcement of his nomination, Astrid received congratulatory calls and messages from his family and friends.

As always, his parents were very up to date about the things happening to him in the industry. It's probably the result of his mother's efforts. She's making sure that they stayed up to date to any news related to him. Even Reas, who's not very interested in things like this, was also keeping up with his news.

Just by that simple thing, Astrid once again felt how lucky he was having them as a family. Because those were the things he had never experienced in his past life.

Aside from his good news, there was another piece of good news that the official account of Silver Moon had posted. One of his friends was also nominated for another category.

[Congratulations on your best supporting actor nomination!]

He typed that and sent it to Lauren.

That's right. The other was also nominated for his role in [The Sleeping God].

Astrid wondered if that brother of his at least called Lauren to congratulate the other.