A/N : MESSY ENGLISH SORRY igotlazytoedit i'll regret this later

Monochromatic Hearts

“Kim Kai, reported to comeback with a mini album early next month"

[Photo]

Source : Music News via Nade

1. [+3,420, -176] Wow, SM is really overworking him. His new drama is coming out too.

2. [+2,443, -220] Didn't he just release a full album 5 months ago??

3. [+1042, -102] I'm looking forward to it!!

4. [+750, -87] I thought Sehun is also expected to comeback next month?? Are their promotions going to overlap??

5. [+423, -40] His drama is coming out too, right? 

"SM confirms Kim Kai to comeback next month, Oh Sehun's comeback postponed due to schedule conflicts"

[Photo]

Source : Daily Entertainment via Naber

1. [+2,355, -376] Ahh I can’t wait! Fighting, Kim Kai!

2. [+1,843, -220] Watch the other idols postponing their comebacks after this news

3. [+1292, -102] Not a fan here but his past albums have really good sidetracks.

4. [+530, -87] Heol but Sehun hasn’t made a comeback for more than half a year now. I guess it’s understandable since he’s still on his tour and drama filming too on top of that.

5. [+123, -40] And with his drama promotions too… What is SM thinking…

-

The clock reads 5.16 a.m. 

10 minutes ago, Kyungsoo opened his eyes to the emptiness of the ceiling, accompanied by Baekhyun’s snoring beside him. 5 minutes ago, he found himself on the bathroom sink, retching but nothing came out. Now, after having brushed his teeth, he smoothens his shirt down and slightly pulls at the hems, taking note of the hardly noticeable raised curve crossing his midline. He wonders how long it will be until he can no longer fit into his favourite jeans, and wonders if he would be saddened by it.

As he blinks at himself in the mirror, the paleness of his face and the full yet chapped lips bring a upon a dissatisfied frown. 

-

He sets the camcorder down, levitating it with the hotel’s directory he found in a drawer until his whole face and neck are seen in the frame. 

Seeing as Baekhyun is still sleeping soundly on the queen bed, instead of recording in the room, Kyungsoo brought his whole case into the bathroom. Having a large mirror by the sink to reflect most of the lights, it makes the lighting in there much more decent.

Kyungsoo starts with the tone corrector, dabbing the liquid onto his face in patches before making it even with his base brush, and then continuing with his foundation. The red button on his camcorder is his only witness.

The hotel bathroom is quiet save for the sounds of his brush is making and the popping of caps of the products he’s using. 

Rows upon rows of compartments are evident, all filled with tubes and bottles and other tools of some sort, arranged in many shades or colours accordingly to the type. There are more stacks of palettes in another division, and then another specially for glitters and jewels. His makeup suitcase makes up for a couple of thousands of won, and it’s his most cherished treasure chest. The products and tools sitting in there are Kyungsoo’s golds and diamonds.

He continues with his translucent powder to set his base makeup before picking his liquid concealer.

It’s too bad that he isn’t an on call celebrity make up artist. Those people receive fully sponsored items from high edge makeup brands all over the world, and they get to not only do makeups for celebrities in the show business, but also for runway and editorial models that demands a high fashion look, of which Kyungsoo loves. 

But he isn’t one to complain. Working under Sehun means not having to deal with too much difference in personalities, save for the art and creative directors that insist for a certain look for their projects. Working under Sehun also means no on call work, the one thing he likes about it too, so he’s free to do whatever he wants in his free time. 

He smiles at the camera once while choosing his palette. 

Upon many requests from his followers regarding the makeup he did when he took a selfie with Sehun a few months prior, he finally has the time to make a video of it. He’s sure the steps are different now but he tries his best to mimic the makeup in the photo concerned. It’s nothing flashy, and it isn’t a magnetic look that draws you in for its boldness, and that’s probably the reason his followers love about him. He doesn’t try to look striking, but he definitely succeeds on captivating their eyes and prolongs the magic.

Since he’s going for a soft look, he applies some apricot brown shade onto his lids before closing the edges off with a darker brown. The matte texture gives the soft touch he’s looking for, and he hopes the camera catches this little detail. The lack of shimmer might make him look a little dull, but he hopes by wearing the little to no coverage powder, the natural glow of his skin will make up for it.

Kyungsoo never speaks in his videos. The subtitles he add are the only assistance his viewers can get. He would always just add some EDM music in the background to prevent his videos from falling flat, but never will his voice be heard. It doesn’t only spare him from having to buy a microphone but also the embarrassment of listening to his own voice and talking alone to the camera. He’s gotten many comments requesting him talking in his videos, but it just isn’t likely to happen.

He loves his bushy eyebrows. He’s never plucked them. He only shapes them a little and leaves them like that. His followers also seem to adore them, commenting on how they complement his doe eyes well. Some even doubt him for drawing them too thick when in fact they’re not drawn at all.

The first time he gained attention for his makeup, it’s because Sehun took a birthday selfie with him and uploaded on his Instagram account, garnering a lot of attention on who the guy with full lips was. Kyungsoo started getting an immense number of followers on his account, requesting selfies of his own and then leaving comments on how to do them.

There are times he gets adventurous enough and uploaded some videos of him doing makeups on special occasions, like Halloween. They are hardly tutorials though, because he skips most of the basic steps and just goes straight for the highlight of the look. Also, it’s possible that his followers only watch them because he has a face that is pleasing to the eyes. Kyungsoo is absolutely aware of how attractive he is, but immediately grows shy when he’s reminded for it. 

He completes his look with a light rose coloured lip tint, smacking his full lips together afterwards, and smiles at the camera. Giving a small wave, he finally stops the recording. Before completely wrapping up, he takes a final selfie (he barely poses) and decides that’s a good picture to include at the end of the video later when he has the time to edit. It’s been almost 3 months since he last uploaded anything on his Instagram, and this will surely appease his followers once he publishes it. 

By the time he monitors his video for the second time, it’s already 7, and in comes the notification from Sehun that he might need a light makeup before going to the set that morning. Following that, there’s another message coming in from his neighbour, saying that he’s fed Winter this morning and Kyungsoo replies with a simple thank you and promises of coffee. He misses Winter terribly but there’s nothing he can do about it when Sehun has schedules outside his part of town. Kyungsoo always leaves a spare key with his neighbour should he miss out days from home.

With one last look in the mirror, Kyungsoo packs up.

-

“You look pretty today,” Sehun offers, an amused smile playing on his lips. “Were you recording?”

“Thanks. And yeah, I was.” Kyungsoo returns the gesture with a timid smile of his own, placing his makeup suitcase down and separating the compartments. “Moisturised?”

“Done. You know me.” Sehun closes his eyes then, letting Kyungsoo apply his base. “I heard they’re preparing breakfast for the cast and crew today. Make sure you get some.”

“Of course.” Kyungsoo uses his favourite wedge puff to even it out. “I’ll never say no to free food.”

One of the saddest things about doing makeup on an ever busy idol, is that he can’t help but notice the dark bags underneath Sehun’s eyes. Those bags carry the weights of sleepless nights and skipped meals just so he can attend to a schedule on time or perfect his routines in the dance room. It’s just the sad reality of most celebrities in their country - overworked and underappreciated. A thick layer of concealer goes there, but not too thick to make it look cakey.

Sehun plays his own songs on the portable speaker he brought with him, breaking into light moves now and then and earning a pinch on his arm to make him stay still. While Kyungsoo does his hair, the idol mumbles something along the lines of ‘why is Baekhyun not up yet’ and ‘I’ll take his portion if he’s not up in 20 minutes’. He makes a mental note to wake Baekhyun up later after having done with Sehun’s hair.

Jongdae comes out of the kitchen with a cup in his hand, greeting Kyungsoo a good morning and asking how he’s feeling. When the manager offers to pour him some coffee, Kyungsoo has to decline. “I’m already frequenting the toilet these days. Coffee is diuretic. And bad for the baby.” 

“Oh, right.” Jongdae hums, sipping on his coffee while checking his phone. 

“Did you even gain any weight at all?” Sehun turns and places a hand on Kyungsoo’s tummy, making the makeup artist yelp and smack his hand with the hair blower. “Ow.”

“I’m only two months along!” He hisses, going back to blowing the idol’s hair. “I’m not supposed to show yet…”

Sehun pouts dramatically, glaring at himself in the mirror. “When will you start showing though?”

“Well— I mean, it’s already there but, it’s not big enough to actually show through my clothes…”

The idol hums in response. “Have you gone to the doctor yet?”

Kyungsoo places the blower down, squeezing a small amount of hair wax in his palm. “No.”

“Do you need someone to go with you?” Sehun is considerate enough to not throw Jongin’s name out at times like these.

“I haven’t thought about it. I thought of going alone.”

He knows an appointment is long overdue, considering he hasn’t made any medical checkup yet ever since the revelation of carrying a baby. It’s just that he hasn’t had the energy and time to go and make an appointment, considering how tiring it is with having to follow Sehun around and only having the team’s van as his form of transport. It’s nearly, if not entirely impossible to hail a cab at his place, and there’s the medical costs he has to worry about.

“Has he contacted you?”

Kyungsoo hesitates before answering truthfully. “He came over the other night.”

“He came over?” The makeup artist doesn’t catch the knowing smile crossing Sehun’s face. “Did he say anything to you?”

Kyungsoo isn’t sure to what extent he can tell him, because for one, Jongin is Sehun’s best friend. He doesn’t want either of them to have the wrong impressions of each other because of him. But Sehun is his best friend too. He’s at a little loss. 

“You don’t look like you wanna tell me.” Sehun interrupts his reverie rather understandingly.

Pursing his lips together, Kyungsoo apologizes. “I’m sorry.”

Sehun doesn’t say anything more, letting Kyungsoo finish his hair in silence with only the music blaring in the air. When Kyungsoo tidies up and keeps his tools, he hears Sehun ask him something.

“What?”

“I said I want a selca of us. Since you look pretty today.” Sehun says, already opening up his phone camera. Kyungsoo promptly fixes his bangs and inspects his own makeup in the mirror, wiping almost a minute spot of smudged lip tint that has already escaped his lip line. What he fails to notice is Sehun capturing that very moment and getting away with it with a barely covered smile.

“I’m done.” Kyungsoo moves closer to Sehun while the idol flips the camera to selfie mode, searching for their best angle (more like, Sehun looking for his best angle) and snaps a few shots.

“I hope you don’t mind me uploading this,” Sehun asks for his permission, although Kyungsoo thinks he doesn’t need to, but he appreciates the thought of asking him first, just like he always does whenever they have shots together. He however still feels a little embarrassed about it, but he guesses no harm is done there. It’s admittedly fun to read some of the comments sometimes too.

“Go ahead.” Kyungsoo says, locking his suitcase and makes to return to his room until something makes him stop midway. He cups his mouth with a tentative hand, about ready to sprint to Sehun’s bathroom but the feeling goes away as soon as it comes.

“You okay?”

Kyungsoo turns around to Jongdae on the dining table who’s looking over at him worryingly. He waves him off with a curt nod, making a mental note to bring his mint candies later. “I’m good.”

-

The filming set is located at Hangang Park near the Han River, and a few feet away from it stands the food truck with already a queue of staffs lining up. There’s quite a number of people already eating on the benches, and some standing, but most of them are definitely conversing with each other, taking the time to socialize and Kyungsoo can see the group of actors eating while discussing with each other in a lighthearted fashion. Baekhyun clutches at his arm and drags him to the end of the line.

“What time are they starting?” Kyungsoo asks, glancing at the group of actors.

“They said in another hour or so.”

Kyungsoo hums, calculating the time needed to finish Sehun’s makeup in case the director wants to go for a specific look. He is also informed that there will be a brawl scene so he has to take that into consideration too. 

It comes with the job, commonly preferred as theatrical makeup. He even took a special course for it just in case it might come in handy, and soon enough it does, although he can’t say it’s his favourite. He likes making people prettier and more attractive, not the other way around, but at most he has to do is just some cuts and bruises here and there.

Baekhyun keeps sighing dreamily at the side, appreciating the second lead of the drama Seo Kang Joon. “You know, I kind of want to dress him up.” He confesses none too shamefully.

“You say that about almost every actor out there.” Kyungsoo chuckles.

“Yeah well just like you wanting to do—” Baekhyun stops as soon as he sees Kyungsoo’s expectant gaze on him. He clears his throat awkwardly. “You know what, never mind.”

Kyungsoo internally sighs, grateful Baekhyun’s brain to mouth filter is working alright. He doesn’t say anything but only shows his gratitude by hugging Baekhyun’s arm quietly while the line moves. 

When it’s their turn to take the food, the similar feeling of unease in his tummy returns, and the various smell of food and perfumes from the people surrounding him aren’t helping. Kyungsoo tugs at Baekhyun’s shirt to let him know. “Um, Baekhyun.”

“Hm?” 

“I think I feel sick…”

-

Sehun chews on his peach slice thoughtfully, listening to his co actors discussing - more like chatting in his opinion. The discussion on acting has long since been discarded after only 5 minutes before the desire to socialize came up.

“I’m telling you the truth! My dog can do a somersault!” Kang Joon exclaims wildly.

“Stop lying, gosh!” Their female lead, Boyoung cracks up.

“I have the video proof in my phone, hold on, I’ll show you,” Kang Joon says seriously, fishing his phone out from the pocket of his jacket, and Sehun stifles a laugh, still humoring him as he waits for him to show the video.

But he doesn’t end up watching the video with them because something else has caught his attention. He watches from afar as Baekhyun assists Kyungsoo who is bent over a trash bin and heaving the contents of his stomach out. 

Sehun thinks twice about going over to them before deciding against it. It’s for the best that he doesn’t. He’s sure Kyungsoo’s in good hands with Baekhyun. Going over to them would only stir talk. 

He sighs through his nose, staring at the paper plate half full of cut fruits and not having the appetite anymore to finish all of them.

-

Sehun stays still as Kyungsoo styles his hair, not much to do on his face after the base makeup back at the hotel this morning. The idol can’t help but notice Kyungsoo’s pale lips, no more glistening like they were earlier.

“You forgot to reapply.” Sehun motions to his own lips.

Kyungsoo blinks up questioningly before going ‘ah’ in realization, going over to his kit and picking a tube. He uncaps it and brings it to Sehun’s lips until a gentle hand stops him.

“I meant yours.”

Baffled, Kyungsoo drops his gaze at the tube in his hand, capping it back. “All that food must have wiped it away.” He laughs nervously. “I’ll do it later.”

Sehun frowns at the transparent lie, but he chooses not to call it out. “How much did you eat?”

“A lot.”

This time, he can’t tell if Kyungsoo’s telling the truth or not. “Really?”

“Really,” Kyungsoo breaks into a small smile then, running his fingers through Sehun’s blonde locks to make sure it’s light and flowy enough to be caressed by the wind during filming later. “Why do you sound so interrogative?”

“Who else will?” He hears Kyungsoo chuckle behind him.

-

Jongin slips a hand underneath his jacket to fix the underarm of his dress shirt and loosens his tie slightly as he goes, feeling like he might choke himself at some point during the press conference. Luhan will definitely have his head if he saw Jongin The shutters of the cameras seem to intensify at every action he performs, as if everything he does is photo worthy. He knows fansites don’t have access into the venue, hence it’s the reporters’ jobs to get decent photos to fish more traffic to their articles.

The public conference ends on a good note and finally they are all ushered to a separate room for private interview with members from the broadcasting channels. It’s a little hard to focus when the actress beside him, Ko Seunghee keeps on brushing her arm with Jongin’s, whether intentionally or not, Jongin can’t tell. There are times she keeps giggling a little too much than can be considered cute - it begins to sound like a shrill to him. Still, he maintains the practiced smile on his face. 

As soon as the interview ends, he s his jacket and loosens his tie, greeting his co-actors a good job and promises of meeting soon before heading out of the room. When a hand is latched around his, Jongin turns around.

Seunghee smiles prettily, her hair slipping down her shoulder with grace. “We’re having late lunch later. Come join us?”

Jongin gives her an apologetic smile. “Would love to, but I have somewhere I need to be.” Seunghee drops her smile dejectedly and lets him go with a quiet goodbye. Without sparing her another word, he is being ushered by Junmyeon to their van. Similarly rushing when they first arrived, they are now quickly heading back to the agency building for a small meeting with the production team before letting Jongin go for dance practice. 

His schedule is jam packed but at least now he still gets to sleep at nights. Once the comeback drops, there’ll be no such thing as sleep anymore in his dictionary. He takes what he can get for now.

-

Dropping the weights back to where they belong, Jongin grabs his face towel and sinks back on the bench, wiping down the sweat that makes him seem as if he just got dumped with a bucket of  water. 

It’s nearly 11 p.m. which explains the near empty company gym save for one of the dancers on the treadmill. It’s arm day today for him, and Jongin studies his biceps in the mirror, flexing and turning to the side to appreciate the taut skin over bulky muscles and the sheen layer of sweat that gives him a healthy tanned glow. Since his comeback is nearing, he opts to look his best in the music video as well as on stages.

He stays there for a couple more minutes to cool down some, rehydrating himself every couple of minutes in between stretches. The other guy is still on the treadmill, steadily jogging with his ears plugged. Junmyeon said he’ll wait outside the building at sharp 11.30, and that leaves him with around 5 minutes left for his gym session.

The agency told him he’ll get a weekend off right before his comeback so he can spend it however he wants, rest as much as he can before going into war of never ending schedule. He’s thinking of going back to his parents’ home for a bit. It’s been a while since he last saw them anyway. His sister recently gave birth to a healthy girl too so he’s got a new family member to meet.

Jongin pulls out his jumper from his backpack and puts it on, throwing the bag over his shoulder as he exits the gym and heads to the lifts. Most of the offices are already dark, although there are some staffs who stay in due to some work. The thing about show business is that there should always be a team of people put together and are in charge of social media management, particularly for damage control. Jongin doesn’t fully understand how it works but he does know it is a continuous labor. 

Once he reaches the lifts, there are already a couple of staffs waiting. He stands back as he sees the down button already pressed, returning the bows given to him by the employees. When the elevator opens, Jongin lets them enter first before himself.

One of them, a middle-aged man, turns to him with an amiable smile. “My daughter’s a big fan.”

Jongin blinks in surprise before bowing courteously. “Ahh, thank you.”

“She always makes me buy your albums. Cheaper when you’re a staff here.” The man laughs cordially, and Jongin can only bow again in gratitude, feeling mildly bashful.

It gets a bit embarrassing when fathers talk about their children being a fan of him, because Jongin can’t tell if these fathers truly welcome such hobby. Jongin knows how some fans tend to love their idols in secret for fear of being reprimanded by their guardians. 

“I’m just glad it makes her happy.” The man said. “A friend told me you’re having a comeback soon.”

“Yes, that is true.” Jongin offers him a smile, and soon they reach the ground floor.

“Well, good luck, kid.” The man says with a smile before stepping out with the other worker. Again, Jongin bows to him before he proceeds to walk out as well, taking his time as he strolls the hallway leisurely.

The walls beside him are lined with framed promotional posters of their albums and concert tours. Jongin’s recently ended tour is still up there too, and he stops to stare at it long enough until his phone rings. It’s Junmyeon telling him he’s already outside, waiting.

He says he’ll be there in a minute, eyes still fixed on his 5 month old album poster. A new one is due next month, and he knows it’s a bit dramatic but he can’t help thinking that it could be his last album ever. 

-

Apparently, Kyungsoo updated his Instagram account, and Jongin wouldn’t have any idea if it wasn’t for Sehun and the photo he received from him via chat. 

“my thumb slipped lol”

He can only scoff at the blatant lie, half convinced that his friend is just trying to get on his nerves while he pretends to ignore the said photo of a certain makeup artist set on fixing his lip makeup in the mirror. Jongin is also mildly positive Sehun took this without his knowledge if the shyness he’s noticed from one of his videos is any indication, unless Kyungsoo has grown out of it.

And as he brushes his teeth he assures himself that it is out of pure boredom that he opens the app and stalls by scrolling the timeline until one post from Sehun spurs him to tap on the cool looking black cat in glasses, indeed a new post is up. He halts his brushing for a moment, a thumb hovering over the thumbnail of a close up of a well done makeup. It was uploaded over two hours ago and it already has over 11k views and Jongin has to remind himself that some people really follow him for his face.

Maybe Kyungsoo has really grown out of his camera shyness, because he looks rather forward as he alternates between looking at the camera and at the mirror although he still doesn’t speak. The bathroom looks classy and Jongin can only assume he’s at a hotel. 

The ending selca should’ve come as no surprise, really, yet Jongin still finds himself thrown by it. It’s hardly a drastic transformation. It’s the soft subtlety with alluring undertones and he guesses that’s what the makeup artist was aiming for. In that moment, he realises that over 30k people will be seeing this, and he wonders how they would feel. He taps on the comments section and isn’t surprised to find some lecherous ones along with compliments in others. It’s the former that puts him off and immediately he closes the app and scowls at his reflection as his brushing intensity increases to the point that he can taste a little bit of iron along with the minty foam.

“ing hell,” comes his muffled voice as he turns on the tap and rinses his mouth. He ponders over how these 30k people would think of Kyungsoo once they knew he’s already bearing someone else’s child, a child that so happens to be a close friend of the idol he’s working for. Would they think so lewdly, still? 

Does Kyungsoo feel grossed out by these comments? Or does he actually enjoy making himself pretty in front of thousands of people and letting them fantasize over him? Was that what he was aiming for, riling them up?

Jongin blames it on the exhaustion that he’s starting to have these wild speculations - or for even having any speculation at all. A new text from Sehun right before he slips himself into bed isn’t much of a help.

“you two would make a really cute baby”

Well what do you know, one is on its way. Cute, Jongin’s not so sure about that. It’s about to possibly shatter his profession should any of them drop their guard. 

That’s far from cute. 

A/N : i wasnt in my writing mood for a few days so i drew what i imagined how ksoo’s selfie would look like (pardon my drawing skills i havent touched my tablet in months otl)

(lmao creating a fanart for my own fic?? yolo)

also, i uploaded the barefaced version of this on my twitter if you’re interested go take a look :D (but don’t reupload, please :/)

i’ve been revising my outline a lot and i hope i can stick to it this time fml

comments, upvotes and subscriptions are highly appreciated!! and thank you for 600 subs im crying