“Go on in and take it!” the faceless man shouts at him. “Do you expect me to do it? You’re hired for this!”

He flinches and shines the torch down the bottomless dark pit with a gulp. “B-but you were the one who dropped the shoe,” he argues weakly, jumping backwards in time before the other man could hit him.

“This isn’t school anymore,” the man retorts irritably, folding his arms as he stares down at him. “I’m your boss so do what you’re told if you don’t want to lose the job. And pay for the $50,000 shoes.”

“B-b-but—”

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

His eyes snap open at the sound and Yixing jerks up, the sudden movement causing him to tumble onto the carpeted ground. He looks around, startled, as his phone continues to beep its alarm, when he realises that this does not resemble his room at all and holy he’s .

Streams of sunlight enter the room into his eyes while he searches futilely for his jeans and subsequently, his phone (it was in his back pocket the last time he remembered) so he can turn the alarm off and not disturb the other figure on the bed. Hastily, Yixing pulls his pants up, sneaking a glance at the stranger whom he has slept with the night before and stops short.

How. The. . Did. He. Manage. To. Hook. Up. With. Someone. That. Hot.

 It is only when said God stirs in his thousand-thread count bed sheets that Yixing snaps back to reality and hurries to wear his wifebeater and leather jacket. A glance to his phone tells him that if he doesn’t get a move on, he is going to be so late to his first ever job, and that isn’t the great first impression he wants to make.

“Thanks for a great night!” he yells over his shoulder just before he slips out of the room and the apartment to the roadside to hail a cab from god-knows-where to the location of the company that recently hired him.

The judgmental cab driver gives Yixing an once-over as if he knows Yixing’s had a one-night-stand but the ditzy fresh graduate does not even notice it. “Where to?”

Yixing grins happily at him. “Exo Studios!”

-

It is only when he arrives at Exo Studio that he begins to feel incredibly self-conscious. Okay, wearing clothes that he had specifically labeled as his ‘club wear’ on the first day of his first job is not the smartest thing to do but Yixing figures that if he goes home to change from that snobbish neighbourhood he was at earlier, he’d be so late. And employers didn’t like latecomers.

Red tinges his cheeks as he meets the producer who hired him at the door. Kim Junmyeon raises an eyebrow at his leather jacket but shrugs a little before he lets him into the studio. “We have heater in here. You might want to take that off?”

What, and walk around in a wifebeater!? NO WAY.

 “I’m fine like this!” Yixing says cheerily, nearly breathing a sigh of relief when Junmyeon mutters a “suit yourself” and doesn’t comment on it further.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said to the rest of the employees of Exo Studios. Feeling very much like a walking exhibit, Yixing tries not to let the amused stares bother him too much and places his full attention to Junmyeon’s words while the other man shows him around the studio.

They pause outside a conference room where a piece of paper labelled Writers’ Meeting. DO NOT ENTER. was stuck over it, when sounds of shouting and chair flinging float to Yixing’s ears. Junmyeon opens the door but instead of entering first, he shoves Yixing in and stays outside.

“These are the writers of our show, Kyung Soo and Jongdae,” he yells from the hallway.

Both writers freeze. The man with huge owlish eyes scowls and puts down the swivel chair he has been holding over his head. Yixing doesn’t even realise he is gaping at him. Wow. For someone his size, he sure can weight-lift… not to mention scream.

“KIM JUNMYEON. DON’T THINK YOU CAN HIDE FROM ME FOREVER. YOU’RE RUINING MY SCRIPT WITH YOUR GODDAMNED SPONSORS. TAKE YOUR GODDAMNED VITAMIN WATER BOTTLES AND THIS STUPID EXCUSE OF A WRITER YOU BROUGHT IN AND DO US ALL A FAVOUR AND QUIT!” he bellows, chest heaving from the amount of effort it takes to make his voice that loud. He holds a hand up to catch his breath but it only takes him two seconds before he wraps that hand around the other writer’s mouth. Blinking his huge eyes at Yixing, he smiles. “Hi. I’m Kyung Soo. Run now or you can never escape. Sorry, a little busy here to shake your hands—”

The other writer somehow manages to throw Kyung Soo off him. This writer offers Yixing his hand and a large toothy grin. “Don’t listen to the bug over there. He’s the stupid one,” he says solemnly, shaking Yixing’s hand hard enough that he feels his arm is going to fly off. “Hi, newbie. I’m Jongdae.”

“Hi, nice to meet—”

“Excuse me?” Kyung Soo splutters at Jongdae. Sensing another storm coming ahead, Yixing bows quickly and slips out of the room just in time to hear a loud crash from inside.

A weary Junmyeon leaning against the wall groans. “That’s the third table they’ve broken since we started this project,” he bemoans, shaking his head. “Damn Kyung Soo. If we didn’t have sponsors, who the hell is going to pay for the ing tables?”

Yixing opens his mouth to respond, but someone else cuts him to it.

“If we have so many sponsors, why do you keep getting me to negotiate with the artists for lower pay?” the new voice says, miffed. “Wait – is that – Yixing?”

Blinking, he turns around to find the source of the voice who apparently knows his name, and brightens considerably at the sight of his former high school classmate. “Byun Baek Hyun!” he exclaims, grinning as the other pounces on him in a tight hug.

“Great choice of clothes for your first day,” smirks Baek Hyun who then narrows his eyes at Junmyeon. “You sure you want to join Exo, Xing? I’m just the casting director so I have it easier than most… but wait till you meet your boss.”

The next second, Yixing is yanked away from Baek Hyun. The producer fires a glare at Baek Hyun. “Don’t listen to him. Everything’s perfect in here.”

The laughs from Baek Hyun echo down the hallway as Junmyeon ushers him further away. The ‘On Air’ light above the door ahead of them flickers off just then and Junmyeon gestures for him to enter the studio set.

“Out of the way!” a voice yells. Yixing barely takes a step back when someone nearly barrels into him with a huge camera on a pedestal. Said man pauses and whips around to look at Yixing and the producer.

“Is this the new guy?” he asks eagerly and breaks out into a gigantic grin that shows off all his teeth. Yixing cannot help but smile back. “Welcome to hell, buddy! I’m Chanyeol. Let’s hope you stick around longer than the one in our previous project, eh?”

“What happened to the previous assistant director?” he asks nervously, noticing the look exchanged between Chanyeol and Junmyeon.

“Let’s just say he had no chemistry with the director,” Chanyeol says finally when a young man appearing to look almost as tall as Chanyeol nears them with nearly 10 new bottles of milk tea in his hands.

Junmyeon grabs his shoulder before he can pass them by and sighs at the sight of the bottles. “Yixing, this will be your production assistant, Sehun.” To Sehun, he gestures wildly towards the back of the studio. “Is he refusing to drink the vitamin water again?! That ing...” He breaks off his sentence abruptly.

“Are you swearing at my Luhan?”

A man with adorably squishable cheeks appears seemingly out of nowhere and takes one bottle out of Sehun’s hands. He his head sideways at Yixing. “The new AD huh. I’m Minseok, Luhan’s manager.” He holds the milk tea bottle up. “Kindly remind your PA here that he needs to bring at least 15 bottles of milk tea for Luhan a day unless you want him to walk off set. Any issues you have with Luhan, speak to me. Luhan’s not to be disturbed.” He crooks a finger at Sehun and the taller male sighs exasperatedly before following him.

Whoever this Luhan is, Yixing does not like him at all. He purses his lips and politely waves at Chanyeol as Junmyeon takes him back to the office to give him the scripts. Why does this Luhan have to make use of his poor production assistant to do his bidding? He can get his own personal assistant! And heck, what is that manager for then?

“So here are the scripts for the first two episodes,” Junmyeon is saying as he dumps thick stacks of scripts into Yixing’s hands and directs him to an empty cubicle. “This will be your seat. Go through the scripts, make call sheets... do what you ADs do. You start filming in three days.” He pats Yixing on the back. “Welcome to show business.”

-

He has just finished the script for the first episode when his stomach growls. The clock on his mobile phone announces that it is lunch time. Before Yixing can die in horror at the idea of eating alone, the conference room door bursts open and out storms the squabbling writers.

“Shut up, just shut up. Give me one hour of peace,” growls Kyung Soo, elbowing Jongdae as he stalks past him. It is then he notices Yixing watching them and shoots the AD a bright smile. “Hey, we are heading to the cafeteria for lunch. Come sit between us before I murder Jongdae.”

Too delighted to be invited along to consider the consequence of being stuck between the two, Yixing nods and follows them to where the rest of the Exo Studio employees are walking to.

There is a small crowd in the middle of the cafeteria that appears to be a common sight when Jongdae grins and drag the two of them over. “Look at our dear director and his group of fangirls,” he calls out teasingly as they near the table. He shoos the girls away and plops down across said director and motions for Yixing to sit.

Omona, he is going to meet the frightening director now? Drawing a deep breath to prepare himself, Yixing pastes a wide smile on his face and looks up. His jaw promptly drops.

The God from last night!

Whom he slept with!

“Hey, keep your drool in,” Jongdae teases, reaching over to close Yixing’s mouth. A look of recognition flashes in the director’s eyes but unlike Yixing, he keeps his cool and offers Yixing his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kris,” he murmurs.

Yixing’s face warms. In the day, his God looks even more handsome. “H-hi, I’m Yixing,” he stammers, grabbing Kris’s hand feebly to shake. “M-my pleasure.”

-

Turns out Yixing is starting to regret his words. Now he can see why the previous assistant director quit. Mr Director here is not an easy person to work with. Each time he points out mistakes in his call sheets, Yixing wants to hide. After the 20th revision of his call sheets, Kris finally sighs and agrees to it.

They take a walk around the studio sets, with Kris pointing out every single thing that needs to be changed. “Didn’t you read the script?” Kris asks sharply. “It says here that he needs to look out the bathroom window. We need a ing window in the bathroom! Get it fixed!”

“I-it’s just my first day here. I didn’t ask for the set designer to do it like this,” Yixing replies defensively. “I’ll talk to him and have it changed but you don’t have to swear.”

The director stops abruptly in his tracks to glare at Yixing. “I’ll talk however I want. I’m your boss,” he sneers, “Just because you were good in bed doesn’t mean I’ll be nice to you.” He stalks out of the studio, but not before muttering, “I like you better when you were just my name.”

-

Somehow – how, Yixing didn’t know – word got out that the AD and the director had slept with each other. By the time the weekend comes around, the employees of Exo Studios have finished dissecting the director’s love life rather than the love lines of their drama.

“My, my, isn’t that our infamous newbie,” Baek Hyun teases, slinging an arm around the embarrassed Yixing who has gotten used to walking around the studio with his head ducked. Baek Hyun pinches his cheek lightly. “I don’t know to call you lucky or unlucky. Our poor Kris may look popular, but word has it he hasn’t hooked up with anyone since 2005.”

But Kris is hot. How is it possible?!

Yixing resigns himself to the fact that people are seeing him differently now that they know about his one-night-stand with Kris. It usually doesn’t bother him, but it is a different story when it comes down to two people.

Firstly, Chanyeol. The once friendly cinematographer (or cameraman in layman’s terms) scowls darkly at him whenever he comes near to discuss the camera shots.  

Secondly, the other person part of the gossip. Kris. If anything, the director is even harsher on him now that people know. As if he is afraid they will think he is being biased. So he pinpoints every single thing that Yixing could have done better and tells him to just ing quit if he is going to make a mess of their project.

 Yixing is on the brink of breakdown when he gets reprimanded for the 7th time that day. And apparently everyone, except Kris, can tell.  

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, can you teach the extras to walk properly? Isn’t it a given that they shouldn’t look straight into the camera? They need to blend in,” the director barks, chucking his script into the set. “This isn’t ing school. Do I have to teach you everything?”

“Sorry,” Yixing mumbles so shakily that even the arrogant Luhan looks sympathetic.  Luhan taps his manager and whispers something into his ear before he folds his arms and shuts his eyes as if taking a nap.

“Luhan’s tired,” Minseok announces. “Let’s take 10.”

The production team trickles out of the awkwardly silent studio set after an annoyed Kris, presumably to get something warm to drink after staying in the freezing set for hours. Yixing buries his head into his hands, his cheeks flaming at such a high temperature that he doesn’t even feel the cold.

“Do you want some hot chocolate?” a small voice asks in concern.

Without looking up, Yixing shakes his head.

“Oh, come on, take it.” A cup of steaming hot chocolate is shoved unceremoniously into Yixing’s hands. The assistant director sniffles and stares at the cup, still unwilling to look up.

His production assistant sits down next to him with folded arms, seemingly a little put off that Yixing wouldn’t answer. “Cheer up,” Sehun says gently. “It’s the norm around here. He has issues with, umm, anger management.”

Yixing offers the normally emotionless Sehun a small smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. It is nice to have someone console him, even though it is incredibly humiliating to look like in front of his PA whom he is supposed to be in charge of.

“Thanks,” he starts to say, when The Dreadful Voice shouts for him.

“ZHANG YIXING. WHERE THE IS MY SCRIPT? DIDN’T I TELL YOU TO SHOW ME THE NEXT SCENE’S PROPS?”

“C-coming!”

Placing the hot chocolate down quickly, he spots the director’s script where he had thrown it earlier underneath their sponsored Samsung flat screen television and hurries over to it. His fingers pat blindly on the carpet below the television stand and he thinks he feels paper and so Yixing pulls and before he realises what is happening, the ing television topples off the stand onto the ground.

(Someone gasps in the background. “Oh my god, he’s done it this time.”)

A thunderous Kris stands over him, boiling with so much anger Yixing can feel arrows of death from the other man’s eyes. Frightened, he slowly gets to his feet.

“Y-your script was under it, I was just trying to get it...” he stammers. “I didn’t mean to—”

“Can’t you do anything right?” Kris roars, so furious that his face is becoming red. “We have to return the television to the sponsors after the drama. How the are we going to get a completely similar one after we have filmed this before?! This isn’t even sold in the markets!”

“I’ll... I’ll pay...”

“With what, your life?” the director asks sarcastically. “Your peanuts pay isn’t going to cover this. What the hell is Junmyeon thinking, hiring a fresh grad on our project? I can’t ing work with you.”

“... I’ll pay with my savings.” Yixing’s lower lip trembles. “Then I’ll quit.”

Notes;

1. Special thanks to _Melie for making a gazillion posters for this fic.
2. Still haven't quite decided to make this a chaptered fic or a series of one/two-shots.
3. I need OTP ideaaas other than Kray! Especially for Luhan. He's too damn famous.