Chapter 6: Makeovers

"Roast?" Tao blinked as he walked alongside Kyungsoo and the Beagle liners towards the 2nd year's wing. 

SM Academy had separated the bulky X shaped academic hall into 4 different wings. The North wing was for club rooms, reception, offices and the nurse's office. The East wing was for the 2nd years with each floor dedicated to different classes. It was also where the recording and make up studios were located. The West wing was the 1st years' wing and the drama and arts department's forte. The South wing was the 3rd years' wing. The dance studios and cafeteria were also located there. 

Kyungsoo nodded and showed the younger a picture of the dish he was planning to make for dinner. "What do you think?"

The adorable hyung was looking at him with sparkly eyes, what could he think? Tao gave Kyungsoo his signature smirk-smile. "If Hyung's cooking is really a-as good as what that beanpole says t-then no problem." Tao grinned. 

Chanyeol snapped up at the 'beanpole' comment and pouted exaggeratedly which only served to fuel nearby fangirls' enthusiasm. The five Exo 2nd years were oblivious to what the fangirls were squealing about as they walked towards the east wing. 

"Ahh~ they are so good looking, I could die~"
"Seriously, they are like us second years' F4!"
"Ah. But who's that small one?"

Kyungsoo sneezed making the '2nd year F4' fuss around their Umma.

Sherry who was just around the corner frowned as the fangirls continued to gossip about the Exo F4 second years, completely ignoring or disregarding Kyungsoo's presence with the 4. She looked down at her Exo scrapbook. Kyungsoo's cheerful recounts of his days with the mysterious beasts of SM helped pack the scrapbook with more information with each day. It was also what gave her an incredible score on her journalist evaluation, just this morning. 

Sherry watched as the Beagle-liners mourned dramatically to part ways with her classmates (they were in 2-B which was on the second floor whereas class 2-A was on the first floor) before squaring her shoulders and walked past the fangirls, making sure to bump her shoulders against theirs' as she did. She'd be damned if her friend who made her the top journalist student in their year, does not excel in his own evaluation this week.

"Kyungsoo!" Kyungsoo and Tao stopped just outside their classroom. Tao reverted to his cool indifferent composure and eyed the girl with long dark wavy hair sauntering towards them warily.

Kyungsoo blinked a couple of time before he recognised his friend. "Ah. Good morning Sherry. You changed your hair." The shy heart shaped smile spread across his face. "It suits you a lot. You look beautiful." He said genuinely. 

Sherry felt her heart fluttered and beamed at Kyungsoo. "Thanks. Evaluations, concept makeover week and all that jazz... Decided it was time to look like a journalist." Sherry shrugged before she grabbed Kyungsoo's shoulders with a sudden seriousness. "Kyungsoo. Do you have an idea about what you want to do for your makeover?"

"Err...I-I, well.." Kyungsoo stuttered, shifting a little uncomfortably as Sherry's beam turned twisted and something akin to insanity sparkled in her eyes.

"Good! Come with me." Sherry grabbed Kyungsoo by the wrist and dragged him after her. 

"S-Sherry! Wait.. T-Tao-" Kyungsoo looked back at Tao helplessly as they disappeared around the corner. Tao stayed in his spot, confusion keeping him rooted to the floor before he snapped out the moment and ran after the crazy woman who had his Hyung captive. God forbid that she keep Kyungsoo away from making dinner. He still hasn't got a taste of Kyungsoo's cooking damnit! But they were gone. Tao gapped, whipping around wildly but was only met with other 2nd years looking at him with confusion as they walked past. Tao came to a realization then. To have whisked Kyungsoo away without a trace in such a small bracket of time...Sherry must be some kind of witch. 

~*~

At an obscure little store in SM town at the far side of the campus, the aforementioned witch was smiling down at the very uncomfortable looking Kyungsoo. Not only because there was there insane looking glint in Sherry's eyes but because the store he was in was a women's clothing store. And he was seated in the lingerie section. 

"Um... Sherry. I should be practising for the evaluation-" Kyungsoo said with a small voice. 

"D.O!" A cheery Taemin waved as he stopped a couple of feet away from where Kyungsoo was sitting. A wise move because just 2 steps in, he would have be in the land of lace, ruffles and leather meant for ladies which looked all sorts of discomfort. 

Eunwoo, on the other hand, wasn't very lucky. The disgruntled looking ginger was dragged into the heart of the lingerie section by Sherry. He was struggling weakly in her chokehold but Kyungsoo knew how strong the journalist-in-training was. The slight bruise on his left wrist (Kyungsoo mentally sighed. He bruised too easily) was proof of her disproportionate strength.  

"Kyungsoo, help me get this rabid woman off!" Eunwoo squealed. Sherry rolled her eyes and let him go, scoffing as Eunwoo dramatically huddled over Kyungsoo in fake pain.

"Che. What kind of man are you?" Sherry asked snidely as Kyungsoo comforted Eunwoo.

"A sensitive one!" Eunwoo retorted. Sherry rolled her eyes and was about to say something when a voice cut through.

"Oh Sherry! You're here?" A grinning Luna waved excitedly. She stopped dead in her tracks however at the sight of the boys and a blonde eyebrow raised. She cupped with one hand and stage whispered, "Do they know they're here... at the most womanly part of a ladies store?"

"N-nuna! It's not what you think! We don't have any-" Eunwoo spluttered but Luna's giggle cut him off.

"It's fine. Sherry probably dragged you in, right?" Luna giggled again before she looked up and down at Kyungsoo. "So you needed my help with Kyungsoo's makeover, huh?"

Kyungsoo blinked rapidly. So the whole purpose of this (kidnapping) was to give him a makeover?

Luna ran an experienced eye over Kyungsoo and nodded. "I see what you mean. We'll need to fix his clothing ASAP if we want him to ace his evaluation!"

Kyungsoo looked down at himself with confusion. Is something wrong with my clothes? But I'm wearing my uniform, Kyungsoo thought to himself. Everyone is wearing it.

"See that's what I thought!" Sherry said, gently pulling Kyungsoo up to stand and made him do a slow twirl. "He needs..." Sherry snapped her fingers, trying to find her words. "More attitude. More colors."

"His complexion is not bad but it'll stand out better if his hair was another color. Or a deeper shade of black." Taemin commented, finally crossing the invisible boundary into the lingerie section.

"The same can be said about his clothes. No offence, Soo, but the monochromic colors and the suit kinda makes you look like an overstuffed owl." Eunwoo said sheepishly.

But it's the school uniform! And you're wearing the same thing as well! Kyungsoo cried in his head, his face turning red in indignation.  

"Oh! Red is a good color on him!" Luna clapped excitedly. "Let's go with red."

"Maybe some blue, too." Taemin said, gently grabbing Kyungsoo's chin and tilted his head sideways.

"Yes, definitely. Some cornflower blue. I can see possibilities of canary yellow." Eunwoo mused. Sherry raised an eyebrow at Eunwoo. "I have a healthy interest in fashion okay?"

"D.O you should pay more attention on your nails as well. I almost got marked down because of it."

"Skin condition is not bad but a facial always helps!"

The four classmates shot comments rapidly, towering over the sitting Kyungsoo, tugging and pinching him as they came up with a makeover plan. Kyungsoo whimpered when the four broke out into evil laughter at all the things they could make Kyungsoo try out.

~*~

"Ahh~ I feel reborn!" Luhan stretched contently as he entered the dorm. According to the timetables posted on the notice boards, today was the evaluation for those training to be journalists and bands/musicians' evaluation was on Wednesday. Which meant they had one more day before their evaluation. 

Luhan had now cut and dyed his hair a chestnut brown according to what the hair stylist suggested. She knew exactly what she was doing and now with Luhan’s new look, his popularity with the student population would probably only skyrocket. Sehun rolled his eyes at his cousin, without any heat, as he sipped on his 'to go' cup of the house special ‘Sparkling’ bubble tea. He, too, had fixed his hair; t it out of his eyes and joined the rest of the dorm members for facials and massages.

“I think that girl who did our massages had the hots for you, Jongin.” Chen nudged Kai, wiggling his eyebrows. Kai shrugged coolly with a smirk.

“Ahh~ My son, growing up so quick~” Suho cried dramatically, suddenly grabbing the younger’s shoulders and looked at his ‘son’ with fake teary eyes. Kai deadpanned at the leader.

“Hyung. You just killed the vibe.” Kai said with no emotion whatsoever before turning back to Chen with a playful grin as Suho pouted and complained. Xiumin wrapped his arms around Luhan from behind, pouting as he did. 

“It’s a shame my donut didn’t come with us. We could’ve matched with our red hair.” Xiumin sighed. He was sporting newly dyed red hair in a fauxhawk which drew attention to his pale skin that looked baby soft due to the facials they had that afternoon.

“Really where did he go? I was looking forward to our first SM makeovers together.” Luhan sighed, patting his roommate’s hands. From behind them Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Lay and Kris appeared into the living room, all of them holding a cone of ice cream each. 

“Ohhh~ Yeolie, you look good.” Suho said. Chanyeol had heeded Kris’ advice and dyed his long hair copper brown, along with a perm. The tall 2nd year grinned at the K-wing leader before flipping his hair majestically making everyone snort. Baekhyun on the other hand dyed his hair a sandy brown color, leaving his sideburns to his original dark color. Lay and Kris seemed to stick with their present hair colors and just trimmed their hair but like the others, there was a refined look that suggested they had also visited the spas and studios around the campus. 

“You’re back?” Tao appeared, looking flustered. The 10 members of exo looked at the M-wing’s maknae. He didn’t seem to have done anything to his hair or appearance and there was a frown etched on his face. “Have you seen Umma?”

“No.” The 10 boys looked at each other before shaking their heads. Lay’s eyebrows knitted together in worry. It was dark; the clock on the wall was ticking away at 8:03. On days of the concept evaluation, there were no classes at all, though you did have to show up for homeroom. Lay asked slowly, “Wasn’t he supposed to be in your class?”

“Yea but that girl, Sherry, t-took Kyungsoo hyung. I tried looking for him but I couldn’t find him anywhere.” Tao said, his frown deepening before to himself. “He’s supposed to be making me dinner too.”

“He’s been gone the whole day?!” Suho gapped before whipping out his cellphone. He tapped urgently at the screen as the others also slowly took out their own cellphones. After since the whole Kanga High fiasco, they had all perhaps became a little over-protective over the ‘mother’ of the dorm. It couldn’t be helped since Kyungsoo didn’t have any knowledge or experience of fighting.

They were not known as the beasts of SM for nothing, while some were more known for their fighting skills, all of them were skilled fighters. Those who were more quick to throw their fists around were mostly the younger ones; Tao, Kai, Sehun, Chen, Baekhyun, with Kris as their sort of leader to make sure the kids were in line. These 6 had the most fearsome reputation. Kai was more famously known around his old neighborhood as the ‘Black Panther’ because of his dark complexion and feline ferociousness. 

Tao refused to go along with his title and threatened anyone who dared use it because it sounded too scary. He would always whine that he wanted something that could highlight his martial arts skills and cute charm like perhaps the 'Kungfu Panda’ instead. 

Sehun was the ‘Arctic Wolf’ because he was so pale and the fact that he always very cold and merciless to his opponents. Chen was the ‘Bloody Hyena’, the one who still had an impish smile plastered on his face even if he was bloodied (by his own blood or other's). 

Baekhyun was known as the ‘White Fangs’. His nickname actually stemmed from the first part of his name, Baek, which meant white and his sharp canines that is always flashed when he smiled sadistically at his opponents. 

Kris was the ‘Alpha’. A short title but one that people could easily identify with. Kris, like the alpha of a wolf pack, was dominant, ruthless and commandeered his boys well.

The others were just as good at fighting as the other (especially Lay and Xiumin) however as they rarely participate in fights, fights are usually associated with the ‘6 Wild Beasts’. The others fell under the ‘Tamed Beasts’ but were still holders of equally fearsome nicknames/titles. Unknown to Kyungsoo, even Luhan had a reputation from China as the ‘Porcelain Huntsman’. 

...Really though, who the hell came up with these ridiculous titles? 

Suho groaned, slapping his forehead. “I don’t have his phone number.” He moaned as a mini panic attack kicked in. God only knows where Kyungsoo was. What if some other enemy of theirs got hold of Kyungsoo? Looking back, Suho considered it a miracle that they weren’t kicked out of SM considering their rather bad reputation.

“Me neither.”
“Now that I think about it...does anyone have his phone number?”
“Ah! I planned on asking-”

Suho chewed on his bottom lip before snapping his head towards Kai. “Jongin! Call Taemin.” Suho demanded. 

Kai blinked. “Wae?” What does that mushroom prince (this was a nickname Kai gave Taemin following an embarrassing haircut that Taemin sported back in the days) friend of his have to do with Kyungsoo? Oh wait, Taemin is in 2-A as well, isn’t he? But were Kyungsoo and Taemin actually friends? If so, how come Taemin didn’t ever mention Kyungsoo?

The sound of the front door jolted them back from their panic attacks to sanity. “I’m back.” Kyungsoo’s voice called out. Tao sighed in relief and immediately walked out of the living room, towards the foyer. 

“Hyung, you shouldn't have left me hanging like that. I was-” Tao’s accented words were cut off and there was silence. “Hyung… you- your hair-” Tao choked out. The rest of the exo members exchanged looks of curiosity before Kris raised from his seat on the couch and walked out to the foyer. There was an audible gasp.

“Ahh… do I look weird? Sherry suggested the look but I wasn’t really sure. I look weird, don’t I?” Kyungsoo let out an awkward self-depreciative chuckle. Quickly, Xiumin detached himself from his roommate and ran out of the living room, followed by Baekhyun and quickly by the rest of the dormmates.

“Kyungsoo!” Xiumin gapped at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo felt himself flush embarrassedly at the stares he was getting and ruffled the ends of his new hairstyle nervously. Sherry had for some reason insisted to help Kyungsoo with his makeover to ace his evaluation. Kyungsoo didn’t exactly see how his hairstyle would contribute to the evaluation but Taemin, Luna and Eunwoo all insisted that for idol groups, appearance would be evaluated as well. Which was why they all but dragged him around the studios at the academy and shops around the malls in SM town. 

And after the whole day being the four’s personal puppet, he now sported something called a carmine color with his hair trimmed and sides of his head shaved ever so slightly. His skin looked and pretty much felt like marshmallows after a variety of facials and massages. That was not all, the quartet had gone all around the malls in SM town and brought a whole new wardrobe for him to wear - Kyungsoo could only thank god that SM town had special discounts for their students. Eunwoo actually turned out to have an incredible fashion sense and knew exactly was kind of clothes fitted Kyungsoo's style. Currently, he was a black t-shirt with a pale blue plaid shirt over it and dark skinny jeans. It was simple. It was straight forward. It was Kyungsoo-like. And all together, Kyungsoo just looked like the most adorable thing on Earth.

"You look awesome!" Chanyeol burst out, ruffling Kyungsoo's new hair.

"Really?" Kyungsoo peeked up at the tall curly haired boy with a shy smile. Chanyeol nodded frantically, still patting Kyungsoo's hair. Xiumin beamed at Kyungsoo and threw an arm around him.

"We're a matching pair now!" He grinned, pointing towards their hair. Kyungsoo blinked his huge eyes and nodded before a full out heart shape grin spreading across his face. 11 hearts cried at the adorableness that was Do Kyungsoo. Xiumin proceeded to hug the now redhead with squeals of how cute he was, making sure the younger's body was flush against his. Kyungsoo laughed innocently, not understanding the erted nature of the oldest's hug. Xiumin hid the smirk playing on his lip by burying his face into the crook of Kyungsoo's shoulder, enjoying the results of the massages and facials.

"Baozi, what do you think you're doing?" Luhan asked deadpanned. The 'Porcelain Huntsman' side of him showing clearly as he eyed his roommate coldly. Xiumin peeked his head up from Kyungsoo's milky shoulder and grinned sheepishly at Luhan. Kyungsoo felt his smile freeze and everyone in the vicinity felt a shiver run down their spine. They (except for Kyungsoo) knew of Luhan's dangerous reputation. He could perhaps even rival Tao’s fighting skills. But then the tension broke at once when a pure, boyish smile broke out on Luhan’s face and he exclaimed rather childishly, "We should have a group hug instead!"

Kyungsoo mentally reprimanded himself for thinking the sweet and friendly Luhan Hyung was scary for even a minute and spread out his arms wide, accepting Luhan's embrace. The rest also joined in on the hug.

.
.
.

Before it turned into a fight to hug Kyungsoo all to himself and there were flying limbs everywhere pushing away each other. "What is wrong with them?" Kyungsoo asked, eyebrow twitching at the ridiculousness of the situation. He stood a few feet away from the tangling mess of arms and legs who were still not aware that Kyungsoo wasn't amongst the fighting limbs. Tao shook his head at his hyungs before turning towards Kyungsoo with his signature smirk-smile.

"Hyung! Don't forget you're making me dinner!" Tao said cutely. Oh yes. He'd found out from Sehun that Kyungsoo was incredibly receptive towards aegyo and smiles. It only makes sense to use them to his advantage.

Kyungsoo remembered with a jolt and nodded, returning Tao's smile. "I'll get right to it!" He said with a small fist up in a 'fighting' pose and round about to the kitchen. Tao grinned, anticipating the food and shook his head at the still fighting clutter of his dorm mates when Kyungsoo poked his head out. "Oh yea. Tao, we're in the same class so you can just call me Kyungsoo. No need the Hyung." Kyungsoo grinned before poking his head back into the kitchen.

Tao blinked slowly before his brain wrapped what was said around it. And a smile (or what it a smirk?) broke out. "Kyungsoo~" 

~*~

"D.O!" That was the only warning Kyungsoo got before he was assaulted with a bone-crushing embrace. He'd probably fall over with the long haired teen on top of him if Tao wasn't standing behind him and caught Kyungsoo.

"T-Taemin?" Kyungsoo gasped out. He frowned with worry when he felt his long-haired friend tremble ever so slightly. "Is something wrong?" He asked softly only to be answered with a sob. Kyungsoo turned to give Tao a wide look of desperation. Tao gently pulled Taemin off Kyungsoo. This prompted Taemin to pull Tao into a fierce hug, startling the kungfu panda. "Taemin?" Kyungsoo tried again as Tao pat his classmate's back awkwardly with a very uncomfortable expression.

"I'm finished…" Taemin sobbed. He finally pulled his head away from the crook of Tao's neck to show twin streams of tears rolling down his cheeks but there was a blinding smile on his face. "I'm debuting!" He sobbed happily.

Kyungsoo and Tao shared a look and broke into cheers and praises. "Congratulations!" Kyungsoo clapped Taemin on the shoulder excitedly. Taemin laughed as Kyungsoo rapidly showered him with compliments and praises.

"Who's debuting?" A voice asked confusedly. They all turned to see Kai walking up to them, mouth wide open in a yawn. He froze when he saw Taemin in tears and his eyebrows knitted together in worry. "Yah. Mushroom prince, what's wrong- Ofmp!"

Taemin tackled his friend into a hug. Tao didn't bother catching Kai, preferring to stand next to the amazeballs of a cook (the taste of last night's roast blew his mind away) hyung which meant that Kai went down with his lookalike friend's weight on top of him. "Gah! Get off me fatty!" Kai whined. 

"Yah. I'm your sunbae now. Mind your manners." Taemin said proudly, standing back up to do a superman worthy pose. At Kai's unimpressed stare, he elaborated. "SHINee is debuting!" Kai blinked a couple of times before a large grin spread across his face and they grabbed each other into a goofy hug-hopping ceremony. 

Kyungsoo chuckled at the sight. Following the incident at the tunnels (which was, wow, last week?), Kyungsoo became a witness to Kai's, or as he tells Kyungsoo to call him, Jongin's sweeter side. Kyungsoo remembered Sherry telling him on the first week that Kai was very popular with the ladies since he was so cool and y but the more Kyungsoo hung out with the tanned younger man, the more he found that Kai was just really shy around girls. And apparently when Kai goes into 'shy' mode, he defaults into a cool devil-may-care persona. Underneath all that was a shy, albeit irresponsible (he still gets into fights and has yet to reform from his bad habits such as smoking) and rude at times but overall Kai was a sweetheart. And it was moments like this, where Kai would goof around with those close to him, that reminds Kyungsoo of this fact.

"Taemin!" Taemin stopped and looked back to see Key waving him over. "We need to go!" Key pointed at his wrist watch as he said this. Taemin nodded and with one final hug to everyone, even to one very awkward Tao, Taemin was gone along with Key. 

"Where are they going?" Kyungsoo asked. Kai casually rested his arms around Kyungsoo's shoulders. 

"To their new apartment probably. Once you are confirmed for debuting, you are considered to have 'graduated' and you move out of the academy to a new location. And that's when it all starts to take place." At Kyungsoo's lost expression, Kai elaborated. "Album recordings and releases, music bank appearances, variety shows, concerts… the dream." Kai said, his voice going deeper and deeper until he was almost purring out the words. Kai, himself, didn't seem to notice but Tao sure did and he sure as heck noticed Kyungsoo shudder at the end as well.

"Kyungsoo, that'll be us soon." Tao cut in, brushing Kai's arm off to replace it with his on Kyungsoo's shoulder. Kai blinked startled by the Chinese male's actions, only to be met with a cool stare. Kai let out a silent scoff before he returned the stare with a sharp glare, once again placing his arm around Kyungsoo.  

Kyungsoo, oblivious to the stare off happening over his shoulders, looked in the direction that Taemin went off to before he looked down at his clenched fists, "That'll be us soon." He whispered to himself and nodded. That'll be us soon.

"My Soo~" A wild Chen appeared! In no time, Kyungsoo was in his embrace. "Aigoo~ Look at you, having to suffer these two's company. Come and do vocal warm ups with ChenChen okay?"

Chen quickly ushered Kyungsoo away with him still being in Chen's embrace. Kyungsoo allowed himself to be manhandled to the destination, the practise studio, while he wondered if the life of an idol would continue to involve being hugged, snuggled and cuddled. He didn’t hate the attention (his brother and Hyunsik were always touchy) but he experienced a hell lot more skinship during his time at the Academy than his whole lifetime. 

Meanwhile, Kai and Tao continued to glare into each other's eyes with such intensity that one could almost see lightning bolts coming out from their eyes. They didn't realise until much later, when Baekhyun and Lay passed them on the way to the practice room, that Kyungsoo had been gone for a while now.

Fiend's Thoughts

That's right my love. I'm back for good. Aren't you so proud of me for keeping my promise to update immediately. Well, our beloved mushroom prince is debuting but don't worry there will be cameos from him and the rest of SHINee. Tension is starting to rise between Baozi and the Deer! But c'mon, can you blame them? The bae is soo lovable~

On a more serious note; Everyone must've heard about the whole 'Kris' lawsuit' thing. Despite this, Beasts of SM is still going to include Kris and this author will continue loving Kris and Exo. Even if Kris ends up leaving Exo, he'll still be a part of Exo in my heart. Both Kris and Exo, let's love~ We are one! Are we not?