“Thanks for coming Kyuhyunnie.” Heechul wrapped an arm around Kyuhyun’s neck and pulled him close. “I’m sure you’re going to do just fine.”

The elder grabbed Kyuhyun’s chin and jerked it towards him. “Yes, you’ll do great! Your features will be perfect for this concept.” Heechul snickered when he saw the clear look of bewilderment in his eyes. “Your eyebrows are very thick and so are your lips; the shadows will come out nicely!”

Kyuhyun backed away from the incubus in a feeble attempt to protect himself. “Hyung, no offense, but I could hardly give a about this. I’m just trying to get a bit of cash to help Ryeowook with the rent.”

Heechul sighed and beckoned Kyuhyun to follow him into the dressing room. “So he’s still not letting you help out?” Heechul waved over a stylist and motioned exasperatedly at the vampire. The stylist took one look, nodded, and then she disappeared into the lines of clothes racks.  

“Not even a penny.” Kyuhyun grumbled. “Argh, he’s so stubborn!”

The stylist returned and held out a few articles of clothing for Heechul to look at. “Ah, thank you, these will do nicely!” Heechul turned back to Kyuhyun and held the suit jacket out to his body. “Ryeowook’s always been a bit headstrong, but just keep going and he’ll eventually give in.”

“I don’t want to pressure him though.” Kyuhyun rolled his eyes when Heechul began rifling through an accessories box.

“Even though he says no, I can tell that he’d appreciate that you’re trying to help out.” Heechul held out a beaded necklace with a few rosary charms stranded on it. Kyuhyun immediately blanched and skittered away. “Don’t worry you big baby, it’s been charmed; it won’t hurt you!”

Heechul forced the clothes into Kyuhyun’s arms and shoved him into a nearby dressing room. “Now put on the leather stuff, the suit’s for later! You still have hair and makeup to do!”

"Hyung, when I put this on - if there’s a burn, I'm going to kill you!" Kyuhyun screeched from behind the curtains.

Heechul ran his hands through his blond hair and began looking through the racks himself. "Trust me, you'll look so y, Ryeowook'll have a heart attack when he sees this spread!"

"That's a bit counterproductive to my job!"

"Thank you for paying for my haircut, and I'm happy to help, Siwon, but why me?" Ryeowook squeaked as a male model walked by in nothing but a pair of sheer white briefs. "Dear god, please tell me I'm not wearing that!"

Siwon laughed and waved to the model. “Keep up the great work Lee Joon, you look fantastic!” The model turned back and shot a dazzling wink and two finger guns before sauntering off. “And don’t worry, what I have planned for you is much more sophisticated.”

Ryeowook heaved a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness.” he began nervously fiddling with the watch on his wrist. “So, you never actually told me why you needed me?” He gasped when he saw an incredibly risque photoshoot and immediately averted his eyes, blushing a bright crimson.

The incubus snickered and pulled Ryeowook closer, but was mindful of his personal space. “Well, it’s sort of a tradition for this magazine to ask their top models to bring in someone for a special ‘unknown’ issue. Heechul-hyung and I were picked, and I decided to ask you to come in and model!”

“M-me?” Ryeowook stammered. “I’m really not that attractive, are you sure about this?”

“Of course!” Siwon exclaimed. “Honestly, Ryeowook, you’re very good looking.”

Ryeowook turned a cherry color and hid his face in his hands, making quiet, unintelligible noises that brought a smile to Siwon’s face. “It’s true! Don’t tell me that you haven’t noticed the looks you’ve been getting ever since you got here!” Ryeowook froze and stared up at him with wide eyes. “You didn’t notice!?’

“I thought they were staring at you!”

“I’ve been coming to this studio for years, they’re all desensitized to my looks. They were definitely looking at you.”

“Ohh, that’s so embarrassing!” Ryeowook shrieked. “I’m not even wearing anything special!”

Siwon rolled his eyes and pulled Ryeowook into a dressing room. A stylist took a look and immediately dove into the racks of clothes. “See, all she’s looking through are casual clothes, you’ll be fine!”

“Did you not want casual?” The stylist poked her head out of the clothes. “I have some underwear over there if you want-!”

“No thank you!” Ryeowook screeched. The stylist shrugged and went back to looking through the clothes racks.

Ryeowook played with his watch again, eyes daring frightfully around the room. "These models are so attractive." he half muttered to himself. One female model nearby heard him and flashed him a wink. Ryeowook squeaked and blushed a crimson that had the woman giggling and waving shyly.

"Here's your clothes, please change quickly, we don't have much time." The stylist placed a few hangers in Ryeowook's hands and then she was gone, flitting to the other models and seeing what they needed. “Please put on the casual clothes for your first shoot, the suit comes for the special spread!” she called over her shoulder.

Ryeowook looked up at Siwon fearfully. "What if I don't meet your expectations?"

Siwon smiled and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You'll do just fine, I promise." he turned Ryeowook around and gently pushed him into the nearby dressing room. "Now put those on, and when we’re doing with you, you’re going to knock the socks off of everyone!”

The human laughed brightly and Siwon could see everyone smile at the innocent giggle. “Let’s hope that Kyuhyun isn’t there, his feet smell terrible!”

Nana, the model who had smiled at Ryeowook, walked up to Siwon and tapped him on the shoulder. “Siwon-ssi, who’s Kyuhyun?” Siwon grinned and quietly led her out of earshot of Ryeowook’s dressing room.

“Kyuhyun is Ryeowook’s boyfriend, but they keep it on the down low.” Nana gasped and her hands flew to cover . “Heechul-hyung and I have a surprise for him; hyung picked Kyuhyun as Ryeowook’s partner for the shoot today!”

“Oh my gosh!” she squealed.

Siwon quickly shushed her, but her outburst had drawn a small crowd and now Siwon was surrounded by starry-eyed models and stylists alike. “Be quiet! They both don’t know the other’s here!”

All the staff sighed dreamily. “That’s so romantic.” One model stage whispered to her friend. “I wish I could have a relationship like that.”

“You’ll find one eventually, your knight in shining armor will come soon.” Siwon reassured her.

“I’m a lesbian, actually.” The model snickered.

“Women can be knights too.” Siwon immediately fired back. The model immediately beamed brightly and laughed, causing everyone else to laugh as well.

“Yah, who started the party without me?!”

The crowd turned around to see who the new person was and immediately groaned. Only Siwon was happy to see this person. “Heechul-hyung!”

“Ah, MaSi!” Heechul exclaimed, bringing the younger into a tight hug. “Is our modeling star ready to go? His partner’s already started his solo shots.”

“My WHAT?!”

Everyone looked up to see Ryeowook coming out of the fitting room with wide eyes. “Hyung, my partner? What does that mean?”

Heechul let out a laugh and immediately pulled Ryeowook into his arms, but he was careful not to wrinkle the outfit. “Ah, my cute little Ryeowookie, you look so handsome today!” Heechul pulled back and quickly planted a swift kiss on the top of his head. “Your hair looks very nice, it’ll come out great!”

“Hyung, thank you, but that’s not what I asked!” Ryeowook protested. Heechul ignored him and turned his face expectantly. Ryeowook rolled his eyes and gave Heechul a quick kiss on the cheek, drawing out sighs from the crowd still surrounding them. “Can you answer my question now?”

The older man pinched his cheeks and cooed at the human. “How do you feel about partner shoots?”

“Yes, turn your head a little to the left-perfect! Okay, now tilt your head up, yes, like that! Boy, Heechul sure knows how to pick ‘em, you’re a natural!” The photographer crowed. Kyuhyun inwardly groaned, but didn’t let his dissatisfaction show on his face. Instead, he took in the compliments and let it fuel his ego, arrogance clearly showing in his eyes. “My god, keep that look! So haughty, I love it!”

Kyuhyun let a small, satisfied smirk spread across his face. He really did like getting compliments.

“Okay, now, give me the iest pose you can think of!”

The vampire immediately turned his head to the right and tilted it back slightly, letting the shadows contour his face handsomely. He lifted his right hand to finger the dip of his tight shirt and moved his left to suggestively linger over the button of his jeans.

He heard the sharp intake of a gasp and he glanced over at camera, seeing a little intern staring at him with a flushed red face. Heechul was standing beside her with a pleased smile, nodding proudly at him. The cameraman was also looking a bit red, but was resolutely taking pictures of the ‘model’ in front of him.

After a few more minutes of picture taking and various suggestive poses, the photographer, with a bright red face, called the shoot a wrap and mysteriously disappeared. Heechul sighed and walked over to Kyuhyun. “That photographer gives me the creeps, keep an eye out, okay?” the elder clapped a hand on his back and whirled around with a determined gleam in his eyes. “I’m going to make sure he doesn’t fool around with your partner.”

“Wait, my what?” Kyuhyun shouted. “Hyung!”

“Didn’t I tell you? Your special shoot I told you about! It’s a partner shoot!” Heechul called as he hurried away.

“Heechul-hyung!” Kyuhyun screeched, but Heechul was already far away and out of striking range.

Luckily for Heechul, his favorite photographer was in charge of Ryeowook’s shoot and he sighed in relief. “Ah Ryeowook-ssi, if you could just look at the camera a bit-yes, and now tilt your head back a little bit.” Ryeowook willingly obliged and started at the camera with an intensity that startled Heechul. Siwon looked at the elder with a satisfied grin.

“I chose well, eh hyung?”

Heechul nodded. “I didn’t think he had it in him, but he’s doing really well!”

“How’s Kyuhyun doing?” Siwon whispered into Heechul’s ear.

“He just finished and now he’s taking a break.”

Ryeowook looked over and quirked a finely plucked eyebrow at the suspicious pair beside the camera. “What are you two talking about over there?”

Heechul looked up with the biggest grin on his face and Ryeowook immediately knew something was up. “Oh nothing, just talking about your partner! He looked really good in his solo shots, but you might give him a run for his money!”

“I’m going to go check up on him, keep up the great work!” Siwon told him, and then he was walking away with his ridiculously long legs.

Ryeowook’s attention was momentarily diverted by the photographer telling him what pose to do. Heechul interjected, “Screw that, do your iest pose! Look at the camera like you mean it!”

“Thank you for putting that so eloquently Heechul-ssi,” the photographer drawled. “But yes, please do, if you don’t mind.”

Ryeowook looked uncertain for a moment, but then he shook off his embarrassment and walked to the table in the background. He leaned against it and turned to look at a distant point above the camera, his eyebrows tilted up in an almost pleading manner that made Heechul want to pick him up and give him whatever he wanted.

But Heechul only saw him as a brother, so someone who didn’t see him as family might interpret his intense gaze as something more...ual.

“Heechul-ssi, are you sure this guy’s an amateur?” the photographer hissed. Ryeowook heard this and laughed nervously, tugging at his leather jacket. “Anyways, I think that’s enough, so you can go put on your next outfit.”

Ryeowook bowed and thanked her profusely, shaking her hand and apologizing for his inexperience. The photographer laughed and ruffled his hair. “I hope to see you again soon, Ryeowook-ssi, you seem to have a natural talent for this.” she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a little paper. “This is my card, call me if you or your partner want to do your own private shoot.”

The human frowned. “I’ve never met my partner before, so I don’t think I’ll be calling.”

“Oh? But I was told that your photoshoot partner was your boyfriend, so I just assumed...”

“What?!” Ryeowook shrieked. Heechul immediately covered his mouth and dragged him away, waving a quick goodbye to the bewildered photographer. “Hyung! You brought in Kyuhyun?!”

“Lower your voice! You're not supposed to know he's here!"

"Of course I'm not, he told me he was going to Changmin's to play games!" Ryeowook huffed and ran a hand through his hair exasperatedly. "Ugh, never mind that, what's the concept?"

Heechul blinked. "What?"

"The concept, the partner concept."

"Oh, it'll be really classy, don't worry." Heechul reassured him. "It's a free concept, so you can do whatever you'd like."

Ryeowook nervously gnawed on his lower lip. "Ah, but it was so much easier when I was alone, what am I going to do with Kyuhyun?"

"Just be natural, it'll come out great." Heechul spun on his heel and began hurrying away. "I'll make sure Siwon doesn't tell Kyuhyun anything, let's make it a surprise!"

Kyuhyun leaned back in his seat with his eyes determinedly fixed on the game he was playing. He cursed when his character died and quickly threw the phone in his bag, muttering angrily to himself. "Aah, I should've leveled up more."

The vampire frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. He really hated lying to Ryeowook, but the paycheck that he would get from this shoot would let Ryeowook ease up on his hours at work. He sighed and stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

How was Ryeowook going to react to his lies? It was only a white lie, saying he was going to Changmin's, but instead coming to the studio, but he's getting money out of it, so maybe he would be okay?

Maybe he would buy dinner from a nice place and soften him up before handing him the check? Kyuhyun smiled as he imagined Ryeowook's wide eyes when he presented him the check, his lips slowly curling up into a smile, the little sniff before he burst into tears, and Kyuhyun would hold him in his arms, and Ryeowook would be sobbing his thanks into his chest, and then-

“What’re you thinking about?”

Kyuhyun yelped and looked up into the eyes of Choi Siwon. Siwon smiled and stretched out a hand to help him up. Kyuhyun grudgingly took it and pulled himself out of his comfy lounge chair. “Nothing.” he mumbled. “Is it time to go?”

“Yeah, your partner’s just finished up with his solo shots, so you can head towards the set.”

“So he’s a man then?” Kyuhyun’s mouth twisted. He would’ve rather had a female partner, since he felt no attraction to them. But what was he thinking? It wasn’t like he was in a relationship or anything.

“And a very attractive one.” Kyuhyun looked to the door to see Heechul confidently striding through. "This shoot is going to be the best unknown issue ever!"

Heechul walked up to Kyuhyun and attempted to fix his unruly mop of hair. "Now let's get out there and rock that camera!" Kyuhyun just nodded and walked out into the studio.

Much to his dismay, the photographer from the first shoot was there waiting for him. He gritted his teeth and walked resolutely towards the set. This was all for Ryeowook, just one last shot and then he could go back to their apartment and back to his loving human.  

The photographer beamed at him and beckoned him closer. "Hey Mr. Cho! Looks like we're working together again, eh?" Kyuhyun nervously nodded and shuffled to the set, taking the path farthest from the creepy photographer. "Your partner's already here, he looks like he'll be fun to work with!"

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