Himchan had just lost a bet and now he was trying to figure out how to go about completing his task. He looked at the camera placed in front of him and cleared his throat. Then he played with his hair a little bit more and blinked rapidly. Normally these kinds of things came easily to him, but today it was extra hard. Because today, he actually meant it on a more personal level.

            He cleared his throat again and the boy behind the camera gave an all too happy grin. “Cat got your tongue, Hyung?”

            Himchan scowled before remembering that everything he did was being recorded. “You cut that part out!”

            “I can’t exactly cut out the confident Kim Himchan acting all nervous. This part is solid gold.”

            Himchan rolled his eyes and remembered the punishments of his bet. It had been the result of a stupid drinking game and now he regretted everything. He should have followed the maknaes’ example and went to sleep. Himchan remembered going around the four of them and talking about which celebrity they had interest in.

            Each of them had named one and Himchan knew they didn’t really mean it. They rarely interacted with other groups so most of these interests were superficial. Except for his. He had talked to her many times, they had exchanged numbers once he had gotten a phone and they got along well.

            Whenever Himchan was tired of just having s to talk to, he would turn to her and she would always be there. She wasn’t a celebrity, but she was close enough. A makeup artist, in his opinion, is as important to the whole entertainment industry as the performers. Without them, ninety percent of them would be hiding under their blankets.

            The bet had been to see if Himchan could get her to pick up at 3 am, and if she didn’t, he had to make a video for her. It was dumb, and s’ way of getting them together he knew, but he was also nervous. Of course, today had to be the day she didn’t pick up. Himchan had held the phone in his hands, muttering, “Pick up, pick up.” And so after they reached voicemail and she hadn’t’ called back in the next ten minutes, he officially lost.

            Yongguk came up from behind and showed the camera his well made-up eye. “This,” he said in a dramatic voice, “is your hard work paid off.”

            From behind him Daehyun walked up and showed off his flawless skin. “This piece of perfection is also achieved through your means.”

            Jongup did a flip and smoothed his hair. “Thank you for your hard work.”

            Zelo finished up last, blinking his eyes, lined with black. “You are an artist.”

            Himchan laughed. “This sounds more like a badly made commercial than anything else.”

            Yongguk looked offended. “This is to get you started, you loser. You lost the bet, so you have to do it. Go! We’ll deliver it personally too.”

            And so he went. Himchan took a deep breath and smiled charmingly at the camera. “So for the past two and half years, you have always been by my side. You help me with my makeup and you make fun of me whenever my eyes water. You like to laugh at my need to always check in the mirror and even though you insist that everything you use is waterproof, I just need to double check. Your gentle touch makes me smile and even though we’ve been close, we’ve gotten closer lately and I’m grateful.

            “This is sort of a confession, long story short, I lost a bet and now I have to do this. You should see that you have a missed call from me! If you had picked up, ah, then we wouldn’t have to suffer this embarrassment. I just wanted to thank you for always being with me and supporting me. It hasn’t been easy, getting ready for all these concerts and yet you always took all our schedules in stride. You are amazing.”

            Himchan paused and decided to speak the truth. “This isn’t exactly a confession or a proposal because I don’t think either of us is ready to take that next step. And that’s okay with me. I hope telling you my feelings wouldn’t make things too awkward because I’m definitely okay with just being friends. I’m up next to do my makeup so you’ll see me in five seconds!”

            And before he lost his courage, he blew a quick kiss at the camera and Youngjae stopped recording with a happy grin. “See, Hyung? That wasn’t so bad?”

            Himchan growled. “I swear, after this, she’ll never want to do my makeup again.”

            Yongguk grinned. “Or she’ll want to get extra close. You never know.” 

sorry sorry mental block these days