You’re sitting in a buzzing photography studio, clutching your DSLR camera tightly to control your trembling hands. You breathe in and out. You feel your feet pulse as they ache in your cheap office shoes. You can already see a small tear on the bottom of the flats.

While you fidget in place, you can hear Ara’s voice play in your head, I’ve got a gig for you (Y/N) but you’ve got to come here now! This is only the beginning! You couldn’t recognize her voice when she called you in the middle of a busy weekday. You don’t get calls from cool creative directors of fashion magazines everyday, but when she mentioned replacement photographer, everything clicked in your mind.

You pull out your phone from your pocket, ignoring the missed calls and unread texts, and turn on the front camera. You see your melting makeup and Ara’s lipstick mark on your cheek when she greeted you. You try to blot it out with a white handkerchief from your pocket right before today’s guests arrive. 

Suddenly, the room bursts into greetings. Six tall, handsome men and the rest of their entourage enter the studio. Ara bounces towards them, gliding on her high heels, and waves you over. You hear her making small talk with the men as you approach them.

“(Y/N), this is VIXX, your models for today!” She introduces them one by one, and they each bow towards you. You return the gesture.

Their leader, N, smiles, “We put ourselves in your hands today, (Y/N)-ssi.”

“I will do my best!”, you reply a little too fast, hoping they don’t notice the shakiness in your voice. They all laugh and agree.

Ara signals for makeup and styling to take over and she knocks you with her elbow. “You’ll be fine. Great, actually.”

“I hope so”, You say as you let out a sigh.

As music blares over the speakers, the men get groomed and dressed. Today’s theme is the boyfriend look: denim jackets, big sweaters, comfy sneakers, soft makeup. You make adjustments to the lighting with your assistants as Leo, their main vocal who hasn’t spoken a word, is getting final touch-ups before the makeup artists scurry off. You take a few breaths before locking in your lens to the camera. You’re ready for this. You deserve this opportunity. You feel your heart pumping in excitement.

“Okay, let’s start!”, You say.

You take a few test shots and check the photos quickly on the laptop. We’re fine, we’re doing this. “Leo-ssi, could you please bend your knee and lean to one side-Yes, perfect!” Leo quickly adjusts to your feedback and settles into the pose.

You feel the adrenaline of directing and shooting and you keep going until, before you know it, you hear Ara, “I think we got it!”.

“What?”, You ask.

“I think we got everything for Leo-ssi, let’s move onto the next,” Ara says, as she gives you a thumbs-up.

You sling your camera to the side and walk over to her. She’s sitting in front of the laptop, clicking through the photos.

“Are you sure? I can still take more.” Your heart squeezes in anxiety and your arms grow numb.

Leo walks over to the two of you and bends down to take a good look at the pictures. You mentally hear a clock ticking as he looks at himself, his pose changing at every click. “Ah, these are nice,” He says nodding with the first small smile you see from him.

“Thank you, Leo-ssi!” You smile and you feel a weight lift off of your shoulders, your body releasing your worries. He straightens up, nods at you, and walks off to get changed.

You look at your friend and she scoffs. “Told you. But we’re just getting started.”

Time seems to pass by easily as each member steps up to get photographed. In these brief moments you can see flashes of their personalities as they pose for you. Ravi exuded his signature swag but surprised you with a soft thank you for a smooth session afterwards. N quickly got into the groove of the shoot and gracefully changed poses and expressions, while asking for feedback to get things perfect. Ken couldn’t resist messing around with his aegyo energy before Hongbin jumped in to join Ken’s pictures as the handsome visual. You’re feeling confident as a photographer, as if you’ve been doing this forever. It’s been awhile since you’ve had so much fun.

Laughter drowns out the music playing in the studio, as Hongbin and Ken start to get physical and push each other around while still mugging for the camera.

“Hey, hey, hey!” A voice cuts through the noise and Hyuk walks past you, onto the backdrop, shooing away the rowdy duo.

Ken and Hongbin instantly get on their hands and knees to beg for mercy from the tall maknae but they quickly skitter off when he feigns kicking them, swinging his long legs. You take a few pictures of their antics and when Hyuk finally notices the flash going off, he looks at you and smiles. His eyes crinkle at the corners as he sheepishly bows towards the crew.

“I apologize for our behavior!” He jokes, as the other members snicker at the sidelines. He lastly bows towards you, “I will work hard so please take care of me!”.

Before you could reply to his cheeky manner, his hyungs holler, “Go, Hyogi!”.

You shake your head and point towards where Hyuk should be standing. He follows and you hold your camera, “You ready, Hyuk-ssi?”.

He nods, slides his hand into his pants’ pocket, and pushes back the ash-gray hair from his eyes. His playful smile suddenly changes to a piercing smolder, catching you off guard as you look through your camera’s viewfinder. For the first time today, you hesitate to take a picture, feeling his gaze through the glass. Your nerves return with a vengeance and you’re frozen on the spot, unable to breathe or make a sound.

Ara shouts, “Hyuk-ssi, could you please make it cuter! We’re going for the boyfriend look!”.

Your daze breaks as you hear your friend’s voice and you quickly press the shutter before Hyuk returns to his mischievous smile. What was that? You lower the camera from your face.

“(Y/N)-ssi, are you all right?”, Hyuk asks lightly.

“I’m fine!”, You stutter as you fiddle with your camera’s knobs and settings.

The rest of the shoot goes without a hitch. After Hyuk’s portraits, the team scrambles to set-up for the final group photo with all the members of VIXX. You plop down on a seat next to Ara, who is scrolling through the photos, and she hands you a bottle of water. You gulp half of it down and sigh.

“Final stretch, my professional photographer,” Ara says both jokingly and sincerely. “Just get this group photo down and we can get some drinks, on me!”

“Sure, that sounds nice.” You take a moment to look at the pictures you took as she taps the keyboard of the laptop. It’s the first time you’ve ever photographed celebrities, let alone popular idols, and you feel a swell of pride in your chest. You shyly turn towards Ara. “Um…I just wanted to thank you for this opportunity-”

“Opportunity! I think I should be thanking you!” Ara avoids your gaze, embarrassed, “If you weren’t around, I would’ve been so screwed.”

You don’t want to push any further, as you can see Ara fighting a smile. “Thank you.”

“Okay, break time over.” Ara perks her head up and you follow her gaze. You look at the backdrop and VIXX is there, in new outfits and getting touch-ups and adjustments to their clothes. You stand up and stretch, ready for the last push.

You cross your arms as you chew on your bottom lip. You’re trying to imagine the composition of the shot as VIXX fidgets awkwardly in a line. Ken wriggles in anticipation and Leo can’t resist giving him a small push to throw him off. The members quietly laugh and talk in hushed tones, waiting for you to give them instructions. You take a test shot and review it on your camera. You sense something wrong and scratch your head. You raise your hand shyly.

“Sorry, I hope it’s okay that I’ll position you myself. Please, excuse my intrusion!”

You walk towards each member and gently arrange their stance, the placement of their hands, the position of their heads, prodding and moving them here and there. You lightly touch Leo’s broad shoulders to face at a certain angle. You tilt Ravi’s head just a few inches to the side. N reassures you that it’s okay to direct him any way you’d like and Ken mocks him by pretending to be a mannequin when you pose him. You poke at Hongbin’s feet to get them in place.

When you’re finally in front of Hyuk, you feel the longest moment pass as your eyes meet his. You carefully take his hand and guide it towards Hongbin’s shoulder, arranging his fingers one by one.  Without thinking, you hold his hips and make him shift his weight slightly to the side. His body stiffens to the sudden touch but you step back and look at him and it’s perfect. You pause to admire your work but then feel the delayed embarrassment of your actions.

“Ah, sorry, sorry, Hyuk-ssi! I was just posing you!”, You say.

He laughs. The tips of his ear are tinged pink and he clears his throat, “It’s all right.”

You quickly turn around hurry back, at a distance, avoiding looking at his direction. Trying to keep your composure, you raise your camera and find all the members ready, carefully arranged. You take a deep breath and take the shot.

When you step out of the studio, the sky has melted from a deep orange to blue and the cold air seems to wake your tired body.

“Good job, everyone!” Ara proclaims as she follows right behind you. “Let’s get those drinks, but just give me a second. Got to update the team.”

“Sure, no problem,” You reply.

Ara walks off to the side and immediately switches to business mode as she begins making calls. You feel a warm buzz from the rush of the photo shoot as you walk further down the driveway. You see the crew exchanging thanks towards each other while waddling towards the vans to pack up the cases of lighting equipment, racks of outfits, and makeup trolleys. A few of them see you and they congratulate you on a job well done. You’ve never felt such satisfaction from work before and silently hope you get the chance again.

You pace back and forth and check your phone while waiting for Ara. You scroll through the missed calls and texts from your office. I guess I’ll be resigning soon, you think as you read the angry messages. I hated that job anyway. You shove your phone back in your bag and walk back towards Ara’s direction.

“Let’s get going!” Ara waves at you as she stands beside her car.

You get into the front seat and shut the door.

“I hope you don’t mind that we have some company for our drinking session tonight.” She quickly starts the car and locks in her seatbelt.

“Who’s the company?”, You ask.

“VIXX just invited us to join them and they’ve asked specifically for you to come.” Ara gives you a wink, places her hands on the wheel, and drives off onto the night roads.

You feel your phone vibrating in your bag. You take out your phone and see it’s an unknown number. You hesitate. You wonder if it’s your boss, getting ready to fire you or your officemate, ready to chew you out, but it’s not. It’s Hyuk.

“Good evening, (Y/N)-ssi, this is Hyuk-ssi. Our manager is already drunk but he said to make sure we give Ara-ssi the directions to where we are since it’s kind of a hidden spot. She’s not answering her phone though.”

You feel your heartbeat race a little.

“Good evening, Hyuk-ssi. Ara is driving right now but just give me the directions and I’ll tell her.”

“All right!” Hyuk gives you the directions to a small restaurant hidden in the side streets of the city. “The owner is an old friend of our manager and he’s not very good with technology so it’s not on the map.” You hear laughs from the other members around him and the bright, clinking of glasses.

“Ah, I see! Well, thank you for your help! We’ll be there soon.” You internally congratulate yourself for keeping your cool.

You’re about to hang up until you hear faintly Hyuk calling your name. You think he must’ve given the wrong directions or you consider maybe that they made a mistake in inviting you. You try to relax.

“Yes?” There’s a pause. You imagine him smiling, with his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“I’m looking forward to seeing you again.”