Seungkwan awoke to the sound of his phone ringing, placed on the shelf that was just a few inches above of his bed’s headboard. 

Blearily rubbing the sleep out the sleep from his eyes, Seungkwan fluttered his eyes a bit to adjust to the light of the dawn seeping in through his small window. As his eyes adjusted to the brightness, Seungkwan slowly noticed the strange alarm that his phone was playing.

That wasn’t his usual alarm…

Seungkwan slowly sat up straight on his tiny single bed carefully, as to not hit his head on the shelf above him like he did so many times in the first few days of living in his goshiwon. He glanced at the clock that he had hastily hammered and hung on the wall just last week. The lopsided device continued ticking at him in response. 

4:27 AM, it read. 

He pursed his lips, confused. Seungkwan had set his alarm at seven for school, why the hell would it be ringing right now? 

It wasn’t until after a few seconds passed that Seungkwan realized that he actually was an idiot, and that the reason as to why his phone was blaring with an obnoxious sound was because someone was calling him. That was his ringtone, not his alarm. 

Eyes almost bulging out of his head, he quickly turned back to face his shelf and grabbed his phone. Unplugging it from its charger, he looked at his phone. His device said that it was coming from an unknown caller. 

It could probably just be a caller from overseas promoting a scam of some kind, but Seungkwan was already awake, and he was never really one who could go back to sleep once he woke up. Seungkwan sighed and rubbed his bangs away from his eyes. He might as well just answer the call and get it over with. He swiped right to answer the call, yawning a bit beforehand. 

“Hello?” Seungkwan started, grimacing a bit at his hoarse voice. He probably should've gotten up and drank some water first. 

“This is Boo Seungkwan, right?” The person from the other side of the line responded. Seungkwan couldn’t put his finger on exactly who the caller was, but they sounded familiar. In the back of his mind, anyways.

“Yes,” Seungkwan replied, trying to stop himself from yawning even more, quickly regretting staying up late last night. “Who is this?” He added, confusion finally catching up with his fatigue filled mind.

“This is Lee Jihoon, I interviewed you a month ago for Pledis Entertainment,” The caller responded, the distance between him and Seungkwan not enough to mask the exhaustion dripping from his voice as he spoke. “Sorry for calling you at a time like this.” 

Oh, it’s Jihoon. Seungkwan thought. That’s why the voice sounded familiar. 

Truth be told, Seungkwan had almost forgotten about the interview he had with Jihoon a month ago. He got so caught up in his schoolwork and the inconfidence that he may not actually get the job, even if Jihoon had told him to ‘look forward to a call.’ He had assumed that the interviewer ended up picking someone else. 

Seungkwan could not say with full self conviction that he was confident in his abilities. He knew that he was a good makeup artist, but he also knows that there are other people who are better than him. Better than him in certain aspects. Better than him in the way that they act or dress. 

Then again, it may just be his self doubt being overly critical of every little thing that he likes doing. 

Seungkwan let out a breath, momentarily forgetting to reply. Shaking his head, he tried to get over the shock of Jihoon calling him and his own, overwhelming thoughts. “It’s fine! I was going to get up anyways,” Seungkwan said. Total lie, but he had to be nice and say some white lies. Jihoonwas a potential employer, after all. “Why did you call?” 

Jihoon cleared his throat before explaining. “Well, one of our stylists got into an accident an hour ago,” It was evident that Jihoon tried to make it seem like he wasn’t stressed, but the exasperation in his voice didn’t help his cause. “I know that you still haven’t signed a contract with us, and that you’ll most probably deny what I’ll ask you for, but you’re my best bet,” Jihoon continued.

Seungkwan heard Jihoon take a deep breath before asking him; “Can you fill in as a stylist right now for an idol group?” 

Oh.  

Looking at the clock beside him once more, Seungkwan’s tongue poked out of his cheek as he sat on his bed; thinking about the opportunity that was presented in front of him. 

This is it. This is his chance to score the job.

Seungkwan’s heart doubled its rhythm when he heard Jihoon say that he’s his ‘best bet.’ The guy seemed to be someone who didn’t compliment other people easily, and Seungkwan can’t say no to flattering remarks like that. How can he say no? There really wasn’t anything prohibiting him from saying yes. He’d miss class today, but he can always retake his classes next week anyways. His professors were pretty lenient with him, too. Seungkwan’s mouth curled upwards and formed into a toothy grin. He took a breath, calming his nerves before answering Jihoon’s request. 

“Yeah, sure.” He breathed out, surprising himself with how squeaky his voice came out.

Jihoon also seemed equally surprised, though probably not because of Seungkwan’s voice. Seungkwan heard the guy from the other side of the call let out a sigh, presumably out of relief.

“Thank you,” Jihoon replied to him, and Seungkwan could sense that he took off a weight from his shoulders. “I’ll send you the address and explain what you’ll be doing once you get here. Take a taxi, I’ll pay for it once you arrive. ” 

“No problem.” Seungkwan said, standing up from his bed. Taking a glance at his small closet, he asked Jihoon: “At what time do I need to be there?”

There was a small pause, and Seungkwan assumed it was Jihoon checking the time. “Can you make it by 5:15?” He then finally answered, though his response seemed more like a question.

Seungkwan hummed in response to Jihoon’s request. It was now 4:30 in the morning, and Seungkwan could probably get acceptably ready in 30 minutes; assuming that the ride wasn’t that far. “Yeah, I think I can.” 

“Good,” was Jihoon’s response. “I’ll see you here, then.” 

“See you.” Seungkwan said back. He heard Jihoon hum in acknowledgement before hanging up on their call. 

Seungkwan stood there, in the middle of his claustrophobia inducing goshiwon, smiling like a fool. He’s got this. 

He took a quick shower, careful as to not wet his hair so he wouldn’t need to dry it and take too much more time; he washed it last night, anyways. Seungkwan brushed his teeth and did his morning facial routine: a cleanser, toner, some moisturizer and lip balm, topped off with spf 50 sunscreen. Protect your skin from UV rays, kids.

He then rummaged in his closet for what to wear, finally deciding on some black straight cut jeans and an oversized striped long sleeved shirt. Seungkwan paired the two with some comfortable white sneakers. He then decided to tuck in the right side into his pants, creating asymmetry. Seungkwan didn’t know what it was about doing so, but it made it seem like he actually put effort into choosing his outfit. He wanted to make a good first impression. After all, he was going to meet idols. 

Seungkwan plopped himself on his desk-slash-vanity, taking out his makeup products from the drawers beside it. He also took out his small table mirror and plugged its wire onto a socket to turn on its lights. Seungkwan then placed his phone on the desk and played a random Spotify playlist to occupy him whilst he got ready. 

He glanced at his clock, 4:38. Seungkwan hummed in content, he can do his makeup in less than 15 minutes, and it looks like he has enough time.

With his skin already prepped, he took out his MISSHA foundation compact and pressed the sponge onto the foam filled with medium coverage foundation. He then started dabbing it onto his cheek, blending it out until there was no more left on puff and continued doing so until his full face was covered. He blended the foundation out a bit on his neck, making sure there wasn’t a stark contrast between its colour and his face; unlike some poor idols with bad makeup artists.

Concealer came next. He unscrewed open his The Saem concealer, putting a bit on his under eye bags, on his problem areas and around his nose to conceal the redness residing there. He then blended it out with a makeup sponge, making his face instantly brighten and not look so dull. 

He added a bit of eyebrow mascara on his eyebrows, making them look fluffier and changing their colour from grayish black to a light brown. Seungkwan didn’t see the point in filling them in with a pencil as he already had quite thick eyebrows. He only wanted them to match the dirty blonde hair colour that he was currently sporting.

Blush came next. Using A’PIEU’s liquid blush, he added a bit of colour to his cheeks. He also cream-contoured, just a bit, making his cheeks look just a tad slimmer. He then powdered his t-zone and under eyes so they don’t get too oily and crease. Seungkwan didn’t bother to powder his entire face; he wanted that dewy look, after all. 

With his Ink The Velvet from peripera, he lightly coloured his lips. Popping them open and close a few times to equally spread out the red liquid lipstick. He then took out a highlighter from IT’S SKIN, taking some product onto the top of his ring finger and putting it onto his nose, cupid’s bow, and the inside corners of his eyes. He then curled his lash