"Jonginnie~"
Jongin only dismissed his clingy friend and concentrated on halfheartedly mashing the buttons on his controller.
"I'm not in the mood, Baekhyun."
Baekhyun kept up with his horrible attempt at kicking his without even looking at the screen.
"Nini..." Baekhyun continued with an impatient little edge to his overly high-pitched voice, "stop moping."

'Game Over' the screen spelled out in fat block letters, and Jongin sighed. He didn't even bother to deny the fact that he was moping.
"What do you want from me?" he asked instead, moodily reaching out for a piece of chicken that was barely luke-warm by now. Next to him, Baekhyun clucked his tongue and dramatically rolled onto his back.
"For you to stop moping, I just said it! Jongin, that girl!"
"I ing wish!" Jongin only retorted, a bit of the sticky sauce off his fingers.
"You could have confessed over the course of the last year, you had plenty of chances-"
"I know, I know, okay?" Jongin complained, though it lacked any kind of real anger. It was true that Jongin was hotheaded, but the only thing within arm's reach were either his controller or the remnants of chicken. Neither deserved being thrown at Baekhyun.
"You know what I think?" Baekhyun said, flopping over and on his stomach.
Jongin didn't even blink.
"It's probably rated R, anyway, so please spare me."
"I think you should still confess."
This actually gratified an incredulous look. Baekhyun was so strange sometimes - alright, most of the time, but this was an odd statement, even for him.
"Why on earth would I do that?"
The girl he'd had an eye on forever now - a mature and elegant Chinese girl named Fei - had recently graduated from high school with him, and just when Jongin thought his time for a romantic confession had come, some other guy had literally snatched the chance in front of his very own eyes. Jongin could do nothing but awkwardly stand at the sidelines and stare like an extra in a movie, while the girl glowed at the confession she had seemingly been waiting for. Lucky for him, Baekhyun was right there to snatch the rose he'd been hiding behind his back and made a show of giving it to Jongin's mother, praising her for how well she'd raised her son (that damn cheeseball knew exactly how to charm his parents).
Long story short - Jongin's first love ended before it had even started, and confessing to a person in a relationship was rude, pointless and embarrassing.
"No really, dude, I'm serious!" Baekhyun whined, tugging at Jongin's side, who squirmed away from his touchy best friend.
"Yeah, that's my main concern, too - how could this possibly be a good idea?!" Jongin argued, vainly trying not to make a mess on his comforter with leftover chicken-sauce.
"It would be a great lesson in self-confidence!" Baekhyun pointed out, now wrestling with Jongin for no apparent reason - because the boy tended to have way too much excess energy that he was too lazy to convey into any type of actual exercise.
All of a sudden, he froze mid-way and the momentum caused Jongin to throw the shorter one off the bed. A yelp and a numb thud resounded and Jongin grimaced.
"Oh, . Sorry-"
A head popped up, with mussed hair sticking in all directions, and a concerning gleam in Baekhyun's eyes.
"I got it. I know just what we gotta do."
Jongin shivered.
With a dramatic shake of his head, Baekhyun slammed his palm on the mattress.
"Why didn't I think earlier of it? It's so obvious."
"Baekhyun, what-"
His elegant fingers all but clutched Jongin's unsuspecting wrist and for a second, he feared that Baekhyun had hit his head and severed the last, few working synapses in his already messy brain. Because the glint his eyes bordered on being manic.
"You need a make-over."
Jongin groaned.
"Not again, Baek, I told you I hate all that makeup stuff!" he whined, tugging at his wrist, but it was a vain attempt at escaping the death grip that Baekhyun surprisingly had.
"Not that type of make-over! A bigger, real make-over!"
Before Jongin had a chance to wriggle himself free, Baekhyun had grasped his other wrist as well, pinning them to the bed with his own weight.
"Look, Jongin. I know you have it in you. We'll make you more self-confident, polish up your image a bit, and all your social troubles will be gone!"
"You want to make me more confident?" Jongin asked slowly, wishing he could inch away from his supposedly best friend, as he pushed and pushed against his tight grip.
"U-huh. Obviously, I'm the best possible teacher you could have!"
For this, Baekhyun deemed it necessary to suddenly let go of his wrist and flip his non-existing, long hair, causing Jongin to accidentally smack his chin.

 

Now one might emphasize with Jongin and want to smack Baekhyun, too, for making Jongin feel even smaller. The problem is, that was technically hardly possible. Jongin was already the personification of shy and awkward. The kid who kept his head down and rather bit his lip than say anything. Baekhyun hadn't exaggerated when he mentioned Jongin's year of silent pining. Apparently, he'd been silent enough for her to not even notice him standing nearby with a rose in his hand, like an idiot. Jongin was basically invisible to people, and the mere thought of conversing with strangers filled him with dread. Sure, there was a selected number of (very few) people he carelessly showed his true colors to. Like his year-long high school buddy Baekhyun.
Telling him the truth came naturally.

"This is a horrible idea."
"This is a great idea."
Jongin tugged at the uncomfortable leather jacket and grimaced.
"No, I'm pretty sure it's horrible-"
"Stop whining, it's genius!" Baekhyun cut him off, tugging him past the bouncers and into the club. It was dark, loud, crowded, and smelled of alcohol. Jongin didn't particularly like any aspect of the aforementioned ones. The music was alright though-
"Come on, no time to waste, we're not here for fun, sweetie," Baekhyun yelled in his ear and tugged him along. So much for that.

"We'll start off easy, your choice."
Jongin looked at him helplessly, until Baekhyun forced him to face the dance floor.
"Don't look at me, pick someone. Anyone."
"How do you expect me to-"
But Baekhyun wouldn't have any of it and all but pushed him towards the mass of dancing people.
Because right after Step 1, which had been labeled "literal makeover" and was the reason for the uncomfortably tight leather pants Jongin was currently wearing, came Step 2 - "Casual Flirting". When Jongin had squealed complained over this being way too early of a step, Baekhyun had only tutted at him and rightened a purposefully messy strand of freshly bleached hair.
'That's why we're going to a club! Because all the people there will be completely wasted anyway! What better people to train on than drunk people who wouldn't even remember whether you embarrassed yourself or not?'
It had almost sounded reasonable back then. Luckily, Jongin wasn't silly enough to scratch the almost prematurely. Because now that he was awkwardly standing on the dance floor, body absently swaying to the music... he had no idea what to do.
I'm not cut out for this.
I'm just an awkward nerd who plays video games and took ballet lessons as a kid.
I can't do this.
But Baekhyun kept giving him the look, and also he'd actually told Jongin to just keep his precious leather jacket, which had probably been very expensive. Baekhyun only meant well, and he should at least... try.
He tried to get a random girl's attention (because he definitely didn't dare going for a boy and eventually risk hitting on a straight guy), but ended up being ignored. Good thing that it was too dark to see the blush burning on his cheeks.
Baekhyun signalized him to try harder, to be more aggressive, but wouldn't that border on ual harassment?

After that, Baekhyun convinced him to take a shot. And another. And maybe another one.
Problem was that Jongin really couldn't handle alcohol well. Meaning that Baekhyun ended up rescuing him from a woman that looked about twice his age and would have 'eaten you for breakfast', quote end.

The last thing Jongin knew was that he was sitting in a taxi, mushed into Baekhyun's side, who comfortingly patted his hair as he tried not to puke.
"This was a horrible idea," he faintly rasped out.
Baekhyun had the decency to hum in empathy.
"It was a decent idea. Next one will be better."

"Okay, you brought that list?"
"Baekhyun, this is ridiculous-"
"Na-ah, that's not the way to go."
With a groan, Jongin handed him a shabby piece of paper. Baekhyun noisily slurped his vanilla milkshake and frowned.
"That's not a long list of talents you have," he commented offhandedly.
"Gee, thanks. I noticed," Jongin grumbled, and when he attempted to slump down in his seat, Baekhyun ruthlessly slapped his back.
"What did I say about posture?"
"Emitting a confident body language is crucial in the process," Jongin echoed unhappily.
"There you go. Don't get impatient now, I know this might look like an impossibly hard journey, but we'll get there."
We. Jongin gaped at his obnoxious friend, who was busy going through a list he'd scribbled in the back of his sketchbook.
"Making a list of talents... sort of check. Let's not be like that. Alright, time for a quick re-cap."
"You do realize that I realize you're just going through the list of WikiHow tips with me?"
"Name three things that you should focus on during an encounter with a stranger!" Baekhyun dictated, the tip of his pen already hovering over the check boxes he'd drawn.
Jongin sighed.
"Uh, I don't know-"
"Wrong approach."
"Fine!" Jongin said, rolling his eyes, "make eye contact, hold eye contact, don't apologize easily, have a straight posture and open body language. Happy?"
Baekhyun patted his shoulder with a proud grin.
"You little prodigy student, you. Alright. Time to practice all the steps we learned on sober people in a sober environment!"
Yeah - sober, Jongin thought, as he downed the rest of his awfully sugary and caffeinated drink.
"Just start a casual conversation with someone. Believe me, you'll feel much better after achieving something. It'll be like opening pandora's box!"
Jongin dearly wished he had Baekhyun's level of confidence. But a small voice told him that he probably needed a generous portion of ignorance to grow this type of confidence on.

He unsurely ventured to the counter, and faked looking at the menu. When a guy around his age stepped up next to him and ordered a very specialized drink full of extra syrup and sugar in any imaginable form, Jongin saw his chance and cleared his throat.
"Is this good?"
The guy tilted his head little, a quizzical look on his face. Jongin tried not to stumble over his words. It was hard.
"The drink, I mean."
"Err. Yeah? That's why I ordered it?" the guy asked carefully.
Screw that, Jongin tried not to stumble over his own feet. And he was currently standing.
"I just. I don't come here often and thought-" he began, forcing himself to meet the other's eyes (damn, he was sort of cute), "maybe you could recommend me something. Since you seem to be a regular here."
His cheeks were burning without question, and if Jongin interpreted the small grin tugging at the other's lips correctly, he found his awkwardness kind of endearing. For now.
"I wouldn't know what you like to drink though - did you try the lemon cheesecake one?"
Jongin shook his head and tried to subtly correct his posture.
"Eh, no. Not yet. Maybe we could-"
"Look, I'm flattered, but I'm kinda late for work," the guy interrupted him, looking kind of sorry, and his heart dropped. He felt the stupid heat already rising to his cheeks again. He was probably glowing by now.
"Yeah. Sure. Sorry to keep you up."
"It's okay," the guy said and patted his shoulder with a generous smile. As if he knew exactly what kind of torture Jongin was currently going through. "Have a nice day."
Number, he should ask for his number - but the other had been so kind and had indulged Jongin's weird behavior. Roping him into this confidence test-thing didn't seem right. So he just awkwardly waved after him and trudged back to the table in defeat, a chilled lemon-cheesecake flavored drink in his hand. It felt like a certificate of his failure.
"Aww, Jongin. C'mere."
He wanted to punch Baekhyun for indirectly embarrassing him yet again, but the other's side hug was so sincere, that he couldn't bring himself to do it. Besides, hiding in Baekhyun's shadow always meant disappearing completely. No one ever paid attention to him when Baekhyun was in close proximity. He was like a magnet attracting attention to himself only.
"I can't do this, Baek. Confidence training is lost on me..." he mumbled, sulkily sipping on the way too expensive drink. At least it tasted good.
"Aww, no. Don't say that."
Yes, Baekhyun was a good friend, he only meant well-
"We still have 7 other points on my list. One will work."
Okay, no, scratch that.
"Nnnope," Jongin said, wriggling out of the hug to get to his feet. "Enough for today."
"But you're only getting warmed up," Baekhyun protested with a pout, but Jongin had already slung his bag over his shoulder.
"Yeah, literally so. That's why I'm now drinking something with ice cubes in it. Look, Baek. I gotta go to dance practice now-"
"A-HAH!"
He almost dropped everything as Baekhyun jumped to his feet with new-found vigor.
"What now?!"
Baekhyun shot him his most innocent grin. He looked like a cat that got the cream. A Cheshire cat that got the cream.
"Oh, nothing. No reason to worry."
The tone was so sweet and fake that Jongin felt the shiver again. The trademark 'Baekhyun is up to no good' shiver.
But no matter how insistent Jongin was, Baekhyun refused to reveal his latest, great idea. Instead, he followed him to the dance practice and basically camped in the practice room, eyes glued to Jongin (whenever they weren't distracted by someone's cleavage. Or .)
Jongin found this highly unsettling - and so did his co-dancers -, but when the boy started nodding to himself and flipping open his devilish little sketchbook again, Jongin knew he was done for.
 

What Jongin hadn't expected was to find himself in a deserted park a week later, wearing a carefully chosen outfit by Baekhyun, while a stranger was correcting the state of the many zippers on the leather jacket he had actually kept, after all.
"What did you even do with those," the stranger mumbled, clearly directed at Baekhyun, who was lounging on a blanket in the grass nearby.
"Nothing! Maybe some hot girl tugged on them though."
"Eww, Baekhyun. Don't make me burn this jacket," Jongin mumbled before he could help it. The other only laughed while flipping through his phone.
"Babe, that's real leather. Burning it ain't easy."
"And there... we go," the stranger, no, Kyungsoo said. Jongin unconsciously his lips as the short boy with the deep, calm voice and the dark eyes (and dark hair and dark clothing) fiddled with his dark camera. It was hard to believe that Baekhyun knew someone like him, and apparently their friendship was still fresh. That would explain the fact that he hadn't driven the fellow fashion student away yet.
"Okay, I'm ready. Let's start with simple poses, I gotta get into this myself."
Jongin unsurely looked into the camera, feeling a little silly with the way he was just standing in this park, having a casual photoshoot. For some reason, he felt really at ease around Kyungsoo in general though. Something about the tacit boy was calming. He seemed a little nervous himself, but not the point that it was distracting. More along the lines of 'don't be intimidated, I have no idea what I'm doing - I'll just take the lead here, but feel free to complain'.
"You're really handsome, you know?" Kyungsoo mumbled, eyes trained on the screen. "Baekhyun was right. You'd make a really good model."
He said it in such an offhanded, non-suggestive way that Jongin didn't know what to do with this info, so he just shot him an awkward grin.
"Wait til he gets into it," Baekhyun chimed in from somewhere behind them. "Kai, I want to see Kai."
"Who the hell is Kai supposed to be?" Jongin asked with furrowed brows while Kyungsoo mumbled something about fixing the white balance.
Baekhyun looked up at him with one hand supporting his chin.
"The guy you turn into when you dance," he said nonchalantly.
"You came up with an alias for me?"
"No, with a name for that guy you turn into when you dance. It's not the same, note the difference!"
Jongin blankly stared at him. Baekhyun pointedly stared back.
"Look, Nini. This is the best hobby to get you out of your shell, since you'll only meet people that won't confront you in your daily life, right? Just try to think of this as a dance performance. You can dance a little, too, if that helps. Just... get into the mood."
Jongin cringed at the way Baekhyun emphasized mood, and Kyungsoo seemed to share his thoughts. Still. It wasn't an entirely stupid idea, right? This was just a little photoshoot with an amateur photographer.
Just treat it like a dance performance.

"I realize I'm not a professional, but I'll try to give you pointers, anyway," Kyungsoo said as he was focusing on something Jongin didn't really get to see. "I'll just tell you when something turns out odd on camera. This won't mean that what you do is silly or that the way you look is bad. Sometimes, things just translate weirdly through the lens. I don't mean to offend you though."
"It's okay," Jongin said. And strangely enough, it really was okay. For some reason, he really was comfortable with the boy currenly adjusting the focus. And with a deep inhale, Jongin lifted his arms into a stance he loved to incorporate in his choreos, peeking out between his arms and flashing the camera an intense look.
The shutter clicked, and Kyungsoo hummed in encouragement.


Jongin didn't end up confessing to Fei. Cause, you see, that would be rude, pointless and embarrassing. But casually modeling turned out to be fun, and even lucrative at times. Polishing his alter ego Kai definitely came in handy, too.

He still fell out of his role and broke down into a stammering mess when it was revealed that the person Jongin had tried to hit on at the coffee shop had been Kyungsoo's best friend Jongdae.
 

Here's the Kai Solo I just couldn't write last time!
People who read this fic's description may have noticed that Baek did come up with the name Kai. I actually wanted to write this scene forever~

The title comes from my very obvious inspiration - the song "Popular" from Wicked :D
Next one will be back to ChanSoo, promise~

Love,
Sugar-and-Salt ♥︎

P.S.: You really surprised me with your votes! Not in a bad way or anything, I was just... surprised, yeah.
Don't worry, I'll handle any eventual with care~ :3
*have faith in me* x3

P.P.S.: A kind soul nominated this for the Exo Fanfic Awards under the category 'ongoing fics'!
Whoever that was - a big shoutout to you - you're amazing ♥︎

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