pairing: BaekLay
length: 3842 words

The large warehouse was filled with several people dashing around as they prepared for the photo shoot. Multiple voices were shouting over each other as directions were relayed from person to person. The clanging sounds of lights and reflectors being set up added to the cacophony.

Baekhyun was feeling very frazzled as he rushed to set up his camera amidst the crowd. He had already started the day on the wrong foot: no morning caffeine to wake up his system, a plain bagel instead of a chocolate croissant for breakfast, and his lucky socks were somewhere in the gigantic pile of laundry sitting in his closet that he had yet to clean. Then the taxicab had dropped him off ten minutes late, since there was an exasperating amount of traffic congestion on his way to the studio. And although he was tardy, upon arriving, Baekhyun had been given news that his model was even more delayed, which meant he would have to rush the photo shoot itself now that their time together would be halved.

All in all, Baekhyun had experienced much better days than today.

As the photographer adjusted the camera lens, carefully twisting it to perfect the focus, a loud voice suddenly reached his ears. “Baek! Baekhyun! Baek!”

He cursed internally as he accidentally moved the lens too far to the right, causing it to go completely out of focus, before letting go and turning to face the man who was yelling his name. “What is it, Jae? Can’t you see that I’m busy right now?” Baekhyun’s tone was far grumpier than it would usually be, but Jaebum didn’t seem to notice as he began speaking at a mile a minute.

“I know you’re going to get mad, but please don’t be mad—at least not at me, because it really isn’t my fault, I promise—and I know this is really last-minute, but something came up so Hyungwon won’t be modeling today and I’m really, really sorry that he had to cancel, but—”

“Wait, Hyungwon isn’t coming anymore?” Baekhyun cut in, his eyebrows now set in a deep frown. “I thought he was just late. Why isn’t he coming anymore?”

Sweat began beading across Jaebum’s forehead as he rocked back and forth on the balls of his heels, looking every which way except at the photographer to avoid seeing Baekhyun’s unhappy expression. “He got called away on a family emergency, so his manager said that they’d make it up another time and I’m really sorry that I let them go, but I had to, because I can’t be the jerk that prevents him from seeing his family even though I knew you were going to be mad at me and—”

“Okay, I get it, Jae. You can stop apologizing.” Baekhyun tiredly rubbed his temples; skipping out on his morning coffee had been an awful idea. And now, he had no model, even though he needed this photo shoot for his current art project. The deadline was in three days and he needed all of the time that he could get to edit his pictures. But if there were no photos taken in the first place, then it wasn’t like he could edit anything to submit anyway.

Not to mention, Chae Hyungwon had been perfect for his artistic vision. Baekhyun had sifted through dozens of portfolios of promising models that had applied for this photo shoot and no one had struck him as strongly as Hyungwon had with his golden proportions, lanky frame, and natural charisma that oozed from every inch of his slender body. There was no way that the photographer could find a worthy replacement in time, especially since the studio was booked on a week-by-week basis. With his project due in a couple of days, rebooking the studio with another model was out of the question.

“Um, Baek,” Jaebum started, timidly raising his right hand, “can I speak?”

Even though he really didn’t want to deal with any more of his assistant’s excuses, Baekhyun grudgingly grunted to give him permission.

Jaebum’s eyes and voice were touched with a note of wariness as he rapidly said, “I know you’re upset right now and honestly, you have every right to be upset since I know how important this photo shoot is to you and that the deadline is coming up really soon, but even though Hyungwon cancelled on you so last-minute and threw off the entire schedule, plus you’re also in a really foul mood right now, which is completely understandable and I’d also be pissed off if I were you—”

“Just get to the point already, Jaebum!”

“Sorry!” he squeaked before taking a deep breath and then exhaling loudly. A nervous smile was now pasted on his face and he began to rock even faster as he exclaimed, “You don’t have to worry about finding a replacement model, because I found one for you! Well, actually, my friend Jia found the replacement after I texted her and I begged her to help me, since she knows a lot more people than I do and all she had to do was call up a few people to find someone, and even though I haven’t met the guy yet, Jia sent me some pictures and I think he’ll be perfect for the photo shoot and I really, really hope you think so too, because it took a lot of energy to find him and I’m honestly really stressed out from this, but I’m not saying that I’m more stressed out than you are, because you’re probably stressed beyond belief and—”

“What’s his name and when is he coming?” Baekhyun interrupted, knowing that the longer he let Jaebum ramble, the more time they were wasting. Every second was precious as the clock relentlessly ticked, edging closer and closer to the end of the photographer’s booked timeslot.

Quickly taking out his phone, fingers fumbling as he hastily punched in his pass code, Jaebum opened up his message thread with Jia. “Zhang Yixing. Jia says he’ll be here at ten-thirty, which is in,” his eyes glanced at the top of his phone screen, “five minutes!”

That was five minutes too long in Baekhyun’s book and Jaebum knew it as soon he saw the photographer’s eyes narrow unhappily. “If he gets here even one second past ten-thirty, consider your paycheck today cancelled.” Baekhyun resumed adjusting his camera lens while pointedly turning his back on his pale-faced assistant, who was nodding vigorously while his fingers flew over his phone keyboard to send Jia an urgent text message as he prayed for his friend and the model to arrive soon.

--

“Jia, you’re here!” Jaebum almost sobbed when his gaze alighted on the pair that had just entered the warehouse. “Thank god, I thought you’d never get here,” he wailed as he latched onto the female, who looked down in amusement at the grown man currently hanging off of her arm.

“You owe me one, Im,” she answered dryly, but she didn’t make any move to shake him off. Jia used her free hand to gesture to the man beside her, who was wearing a large, gray trench coat and long, black pants. A fuzzy, pale blue turtleneck sweater covered his torso and a pair of suede loafers covered his white-socked feet. His hands were tucked in his coat pockets and his midnight black hair was neatly swept up over his forehead. A deep dimple decorated his right cheek as he smiled brightly, showcasing two rows of perfectly straight and very white teeth. “Im, this is Yixing.”

Jaebum immediately detached himself from Jia in order to bow several times in succession, saying, “Thank you so much, Yixing, for doing me such a huge favor, especially so last-minute! You really saved my skin by coming through! If there’s any way I can repay you for this, please let me know and I’ll do anything!”

“No worries. It’s my pleasure,” Yixing amiably replied as he reciprocated the bows. “I haven’t modeled since college, so it’s nice to be back.”

Jaebum wanted to cry, because this man was so nice and he had come right at ten-thirty on the dot, so he was punctual as well, which would surely earn him points with Baekhyun and all that was left was the actual photo shoot, which was luckily all set up by now, so everything was finally going the right way and—

“Jaebum!” a voice suddenly screeched from the center of the room, causing the said man to jump in fright as he was jolted out of his thoughts. “Where’s the model?!”

“He’s here, Baek!” Jaebum instantly replied while ushering Yixing towards the grouchy photographer.

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Byun,” Yixing greeted with a dimpled smile. He took out one of his hands, which were gloved in white, from his coat pockets and held it out towards the photographer.

“Just Baekhyun is fine,” the other male flippantly said as he turned to the replacement model and shook his hand. “You’re Yixing, right?”

“Correct.”

Baekhyun then began raking his eyes over the replacement model’s body, observing every last inch of him. And as his gaze traveled upwards, the photographer thought to himself that Yixing had a very handsome face, especially with his dimpled smile. But there was just one problem. “You’re not very tall for a model,” Baekhyun commented with a slight frown on his face. “You’re barely taller than I am and I’m already quite short.”

Jia snorted in the background, but Yixing wasn’t fazed at all. Instead, a lilting smile graced his features and he replied, “You’re right. I am relatively short. But my height isn’t the reason why people cast me to model for them.”

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Really?”

The replacement model’s grin stretched even wider. “You’ll see in a minute. But first,” his gaze flickered towards the set, “would it be okay if Jia and I could inspect the backdrop for a moment? I promise we won’t take long, since I know we’re on a time crunch.”

“Of course, Yixing! Anything you need!” Jaebum jumped in, enthusiastically waving towards the backdrop that stood several feet away from them. Baekhyun shot his assistant a dirty glare that caused Jaebum to smile sheepishly.

Once Yixing and Jia were at the backdrop, the photographer motioned for Jaebum to stand next to him. “What’s the deal, Jae?” Baekhyun hissed, keeping his voice low so that the Chinese duo wouldn’t hear him. “I need a model, not some random guy who’s looking to make a quick buck.”

“Yixing isn’t like that!” Jaebum hastily insisted, waving his hands wildly in protest. “He modeled while he was a university student and he has an extensive portfolio even though he’s only an amateur.”

“That’s the problem, Jae. I need a professional. I need someone of Chae Hyungwon’s caliber. Sure, Yixing is good-looking.” Very good-looking, Baekhyun silently added. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be a good model. Besides, this project could determine whether or not I get invited to the Seoul Art Expo this summer and you know how long I’ve been building up my portfolio for this chance!”

“I know and I promise that Yixing won’t disappoint you,” his assistant reiterated with a pleading expression.

Baekhyun was about to counter with a biting remark, but Yixing and Jia returned with the female holding a small towel. “The baby blue backdrop is very nice,” the replacement model said with a bright smile once they were next to the Korean pair. “I hope you mind me using this as a prop during the photo shoot,” Yixing continued while gesturing to the towel in Jia’s hands. “We made sure it matched the backdrop, so it won’t be a distraction whatsoever. And you’ll be able to Photoshop it later so that it blends into the background, like it was never there in the first place.”

And sure enough, the towel was the exact same shade of baby blue that the backdrop was. “Where did you get that?” Baekhyun questioned, looking quite bewildered.

Jia grinned as she patted the duffel bag that was hanging off of her left shoulder, which Baekhyun hadn’t noticed until now. Not that he had really noticed Jia in the first place anyway. “Yixing brings this to all of his photo shoots, so he can match any backdrop being used,” she explained while slightly ping it to reveal dozens of different colored towels.

The photographer gaped for several seconds before asking, “And why do you need all of these?”

A playful smirk appeared on the replacement model’s angelic face as Yixing replied, “You’ll see in just a moment,” while shrugging off his trench coat. Jia slung the baby blue towel over her shoulder so that her hands were free to take Yixing’s coat from him.

Baekhyun anxiously looked at his wristwatch for the time and impatiently said, “Well, if you could please hurry, that would be greatly appreciated, Yixing. I usually shoot with my models for about two hours, but at this rate, I’ll only have one hour with you. We need to get a move on so that I have enough material for my project at the end of this session.”

“Yes, of course, Baekhyun,” the replacement model answered calmly as he peeled his gloves off of his thin hands, which were covered in all sorts of markings. He then crossed his arms and placed them at the hem of his sweater to pull it over him, showing a light gray short-sleeved shirt that he had been wearing underneath.

And then Baekhyun’s eyes widened, because not only were Yixing’s arms very nicely toned, but they were completely covered in ink drawings. The photographer was so fixated on trying to recognize what each tattoo was that he almost didn’t notice Yixing taking his shirt off as well. And then Baekhyun’s mouth dropped open, because the replacement model’s entire upper torso was also inked on every available surface. The photographer’s cheeks also burned when his eyes came in contact with Yixing’s well-defined six-pack.

But then, the replacement model started taking off his pants and Baekhyun almost choked in shock. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! You—you can’t just strip in front of my entire crew!” he exclaimed while his face turned tomato red. Several females squealed in the background and Jia was almost doubled-over in silent laughter, clutching her friend’s clothing to her body in order not to drop anything as she snickered.

Yixing already had one leg free from his pants and he blinked up innocently at the photographer as he replied, “It’s fine. We’re all adults. I’m sure everyone here has seen a man before, if not in person then in a biology textbook at least.”

“That—that’s not the point!”

The replacement model sent Baekhyun a toothy grin, showcasing his pretty pink gums, as he said while slipping his other leg out of his pants, “Chill out, Baekhyun. I promise you’ll get a good photo shoot. And if you’re worried about any indecency, I have the towel. That’s why I bring them with me.”

With all of his clothing off except for his gray plaid boxers, Yixing languidly rested a hand against his hip and stood tall, allowing everyone in the room to ogle at his tattoo-covered body. Starting from his neck all the way down to the ankles of his feet, colorful ink decorated every possible space of skin. Baekhyun had never met anyone so shameless and the fact that Yixing was incredibly attractive didn’t help at all.

“Like what you see?” the replacement model asked as his eyebrows wiggled teasingly. “I can guarantee that you won’t find many models like me. Anything you get out of today will be fresh, unique material and since I only model for very special occasions nowadays, it’ll be exclusive as well.”

Baekhyun gulped audibly and he resisted the urge to openly fan his heated face. He was already mortified enough by what was happening and he didn’t want to add to the mortification by showing the world how affected he was by Yixing’s antics. “O-okay, fine, we’ll carry on. But first, I have a few questions.”

“Ask away.”

“When…did you get all of those tattoos?”

Yixing thought for a moment before answering, “I got my first tattoo at the age of sixteen. A song that I had composed had finally been bought by a well-known entertainment agency that wanted to use it as an insert song for a film they were co-producing. I was so happy that I wanted to ink my accomplishment onto my body, so it would physically be a part of me.” He pointed to the calligraphy spanning his right bicep and Baekhyun noted that he recognized the title.

“You wrote that song?”

“Yup, it was my breakthrough into the songwriting industry. I’ve been composing since I was twelve and even though my early stuff is pretty awful, I sent demo after demo to every studio that I could and I finally got my foot in the door with that song. After this first one, I decided that I’d start tattooing everything that was important to me and my body has basically become an archive of my life,” Yixing explained as he gestured to other parts of himself.

Baekhyun could see wings, cartoon characters, insignias, and mythical creatures intertwined with various phrases and words on the replacement model’s pale skin. “Wow. That’s…pretty cool, honestly,” the photographer said as his eyes lingered on the bacon and eggs smiley face from Mulan that was tattooed under Yixing’s right collarbone. A Disney classic. He was winning serious points in Baekhyun's book right now.

“Thanks! I enjoy doing this, even though not everyone is comfortable with all of my tattoos. That’s why I try to keep them covered up as much as possible when I’m in public,” Yixing said as he absentmindedly rubbed his fingers against the waistband of his boxers. “Anyway, shall we get started? It’s getting a bit chilly, standing around without any clothes, and I recall you wanting to maximize the short amount of time that we have.”

Baekhyun turned bright red again as he nodded in response before quickly situating himself behind his camera, hoping that no one would notice how much he had blushed in the past ten minutes. “Just…pose however you’d like. I’ll direct you if I want to adjust something, but I’ll trust that you know what you’re doing since you have prior experience.”

The replacement model held up an okay sign as he tugged off his boxers and dropped them into a plastic bag that Jia was holding out while taking the baby blue towel from her in his other hand. He tied it around his hips, ensuring that his crotch was covered, and confidently strode to the backdrop before dropping down on one knee and rotating his body so that his back was exposed to the camera.

To Baekhyun’s surprise, Yixing really did know how to model well. Although his stature was not as high as Hyungwon’s or that of any other traditional model and he only did this as a hobby, Yixing knew what his good angles were and how to showcase them. And with his body completely adorned with colorful tattoos, he knew how to flex his muscles and make the drawings come alive. He was captivating and dynamic, which was exactly what Baekhyun wanted from the model.

Baekhyun barely had to direct Yixing as he snapped picture after picture. The photographer was glad that he didn’t have to speak much, because he knew that his mouth was completely dry and his heart was racing at a mile a minute as he noticed the curves of Yixing’s toned muscles and lean body.

In fact, he was so busy ogling the Chinese male as they worked that Baekhyun hadn’t realized their time was almost up until Jaebum tapped him on the shoulder and loudly whispered, “We have to clean up soon! Are you almost done?”

“O-oh, is it already noon?”

“Yeah, we’re going to get kicked out soon. And Yixing’s been posing non-stop since you started. Don’t you think he needs a break by now?”

Baekhyun wanted to punch himself in the face for being so forgetful and inconsiderate, especially when his subject was the complete opposite. “Cut!” he called after snapping one last picture of Yixing reaching for the sky. “Good work, everyone! Time to pack up!”

Jia rushed over to help the replacement model re-dress while Baekhyun dismantled his camera. Jaebum ran around the warehouse, helping out the other crew members with taking down the gigantic lights and reflectors that stood around the room.

Once the space was clean and people began filing out, Baekhyun jogged over to Yixing and Jia, who looked up at him at the same time. “I, uh, wanted to say thanks again for coming to model for me. Sorry if I happened to be snappish earlier. It’s been a stressful morning, but you really made it better.” A light pink color appeared on his cheeks as he added, “I was really impressed by how well you modeled and how professional you were. And I’m sorry for not giving you a break as well. I guess I was too caught up with taking pictures that I forgot you might need some rest in the middle.”

“Nah, don’t worry. I had a lot of fun today.” Yixing smiled kindly at the photographer.

Baekhyun began rubbing the back of his neck as he looked past Yixing, not wanting to make eye contact with him since he knew that he’d blush even more. “Uh, I was also wondering if I could get your phone number for any future photo shoots. I’d love to have you model for me again sometime soon.” And maybe get some coffee together as well, but Baekhyun kept that thought silent, especially since Jia was watching him with knowing eyes.

“Of course! May I see your phone please?” Baekhyun easily handed it over and Yixing grinned as he added himself as a contact in the photographer’s phone before handing it back. “Definitely let me know when you need a model. My schedule is really flexible, since I work at home, so I’m only a phone call away if you’re ever in a pinch again.”

“That’s great to hear.” Baekhyun’s stomach flip-flopped several times in anticipation of seeing Yixing again and he made a mental note to add extra to Jaebum’s paycheck for today’s photo shoot. As incompetent as his assistant could be at times, this was not one of them and Baekhyun would make sure that Jaebum was properly rewarded for a job well done. “I’ll send you a copy of the photos that we took today once I’ve finished editing them. Probably in the next three days, since that’s when my deadline is.”

“Awesome, I’ll be waiting! See you soon, Baekhyun!”

The photographer waved as Yixing and Jia walked away, and he was smiling for the first time that day.

♈♈♈

A/N: Happy sixth anniversary to our lovely boys of EXO! Every single day, I am in awe of how driven, hardworking, humble, and down-to-earth they are. They are truly inspirational people and it's been such a big year for them. Performing at the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, setting new records with their album releases last year, and soaring above and beyond with their individual activities are all fantastic feats. Their messages for the anniversary made my heart so warm (Lay's Instagram post made me especially emo, because of OT9), and I am so proud to be a fan of people with wonderful work ethic and amazing talents. Not to mention, CBX comeback is in TWO days! I am absolutely in love with the concept and aesthetics of the image and MV teasers. And I am absolutely LIVING for their visuals. Baekhyun with that choker?! I choked. :') But why does Chen have a baby mullet?! I mean, his face completely makes up for the hair, which isn't THAT bad, but c'mon, stop giving him the short end of the stick in terms of hairstyles. OTL I've also been following Yixing on Idol Producer and he is such an inspiration, I swear. Not that we didn't already know that, haha. And I'm really anticipating his third child, since he's rushing to hatch it soon! (His words, not mine, LOL. XD) My biases have been feeding me well and I am so grateful every day for these wonderful human beings.

I've been working on this triple update for the past few days after my last midterm of my undergrad career (yay!), so I could release these stories in time for the anniversary. And I just want to thank you all so much for being really patient with me. I know that I had finished fifty short stories in less than a year by EXO's fifth anniversary last year, but I barely scraped twenty stories this year. Life has been busy as I finish up club duties, lab research, and my last semester of undergrad. I most likely won't be regularly updating until the summer. Even then, I have applications and auditions, so I probably won't be updating daily, but we'll cross that bridge when we reach it. Anyway, I hope you all have been well! Have a lovely day and once again, happy sixth anniversary to EXO!