Baekhyun thought of himself as a wasted existence. At least he felt like exactly that. He hadn’t even reached his 20th birthday yet, but he felt like his life was already at the end. No strength in this world could possible make him endure this any longer. Being the most sought after model in the industry for the past 8 years had taken its toll on him. He was drained.
Beautiful on the outside but his insides weren't that pretty anymore. The industry was ruthless, especially to people like him. He was pretty, he was young, he was naive. Baekhyun sometimes remembered all the things he had been promised and the things he had actually received. There were a lot of pretty shiny things he had now. He had gotten success, he had gotten a name for himself, but no happiness.

His body was not his own anymore. There was a hidden part of his profession that no one was allowed to see but Baekhyun knew it all too well. Exploited until there was nothing anymore to exploit. He felt like a tool, because he was a tool. They always made sure his body was intact but Baekhyun wished they would care about his mind, too. No one wanted to see what was inside of him. No one wanted to listen to his voice. No one even realized he had one. It was hard to speak.
Maybe it was the , maybe it was the abuse, maybe it was just in his head. They always told him it was only in his head so sometimes he tried to believe it. He really wished it was like that. It would make so many things easier. But the touches and the exhaustion felt too real.

Baekhyun knew the drill all to well. Dressed up in intriguing high end pieced from head to toe, eyes and lips looking to be either sinful or cutely indecent depending on what the client wanted, he got sat in front to a dinner table in a high class restaurant. Made to entertain his guest, make him feel at ease and important. There was not much the model had to say, a few shallow lines of admiration that he had to repeat, not that they cared what would come out of his mouth. It was good for his business, for his connections, they said. But Baekhyun did not know how. What would a high ranking politician do for his career? What could the CEO of a big industrial company potentially offer him expect his fingers roaming all over his small body. Tracing lines that Baekhyun would feel for days, until he wanted to rip his skin apart, wanted to free the tainted parts of his body. But it was useless, there was no spot on him that was pure anymore.
The truth was hard and cold. They paid good and Baekhyun’s contract was binding, he was a mere puppets to his company. He was not to be treated as someone with feelings, he was a product. And products were meant to be sold. He was at the verge of just accepting it. Baekhyun wondered how long until his body would grow cold enough.

Baekhyun felt alone for the longest time. People were always around him, but he felt more like a prisoner than a celebrity. Loved by many, but trapped inside a world he did not want to be. He remembered when he got discovered, being a small, malnourished boy roaming a supermarket with the sole intend to steal himself some food. Coming from a poor family he took the offer of the agency immediately. At the tender age of 12, his whole life had changed. The company big and corrupt, but he did not know that at the time. Sometimes Baekhyun wondered if he would had decided differently if he knew how his life would be now. At the top of his game as a model, but at the bottom as a human. Then he would remember his desperation as a kid. The hunger, the longing for warmth and how money to buy food and pay the bills had sounded so heavenly. It did not work like that at all. Modeling had never been his passion, but it became his profession to save what Baekhyun would call a broken future. But what exactly had he saved now?

The years came and go, Baekhyun’s image and clientele changed from kid’s couture and commercials to mature brands, working with high end designers and high profile products, like expensive make up. From cute children outfits to daring lingerie if the job called for it. He could not pass a street without seeing his own face. Baekhyun had stopped going out in his rare spare time. He did not want to see himself. All he would see was an empty shell. And, really, that was exactly what everyone wanted. No one asked for his opinion, no one asked him about himself. They did not care. So Baekhyun had learned to keep quiet. But he was still just a boy.
He did his jobs, he smiled prettily if he had, too. All those commercials, all those posters, all those brands with his face on had never gotten a real emotion from him. That was nothing he could give anymore. Baekhyun wondered if anyone would see the changed if they were to inspect the timeline of his work. There was a brief time where he had enjoyed what he did. Baekhyun did see happiness in the early pictures. But it had gradually faded away.

It was a routine, Baekhyun getting dressed up to be watched. This location was no different. A very famous music festival he was a special guest in. He was here because one of the main sponsors for this event was a make up brand he was currently the face of. So his task was to occasionally show up and look pretty. It was torture as its finest. The only time he was involved in something to do with music was something where his voice wasn't needed. Not like it was needed at all anyways. He had taken on some MC jobs he really enjoyed, but apparently that was not what the majority wanted from him. They didn't want him to talk. So Baekhyun thought this was hard to endure, lest why he roamed the halls in a small break in search of a quiet place. It was a restroom that was so far away from all the occupied dressing rooms in the backstage that no one used it. Perfect, Baekhyun did not hesitate to open his for his . A clear little plastic bag he always carried around for when things got to hard to cope. These days everything was hard.
Music had always been something that Baekhyun had dreamed of. Maybe this career was the outcome of his wish. He loved to sing. But no one bothered to listen. So he had stopped.

The hole in his chest grew bigger with being here, the only pretty face not allowed to join in with his passion among all these talented artists, so the all too familiar white powder was pulled out way too easily. His slender fingers working efficiently, he knew how to do it. Could barely go a day or two without it. Thing were easier that way.

It was only then that he entered. Powder still on his nose, Baekhyun must seem so pathetic as he locked eyes with the tall man. Loey. The headliner of the Festival. The biggest act. Most probably the biggest artist of their generation.
Baekhyun thought it to be ironic. Both of them were known over the globe. And this is how they met. In a dirty restroom crammed in the back of a venue blasting music while Baekhyun, the world’s famous model, just took a line of . Pathetic.

Park Chanyeol and Byun Baekhyun were the exact opposites. It had been clear from the moment they had met for the first time.

Park Chanyeol was someone he had always admired from afar. He was handsome, he was tall, talented and successful in what he loved. He was probably the most successful rapper of this era, his persona as /Loey/ shaping a whole generation with his art and talent.

And he was independent.

No contracts that bound him on anyone but himself. Everything he did was up to him.
Baekhyun had made a lot of naive mistakes in the past, his contract barely bordering on things that were legal. He knew he still had a few years left with the people around him. But Baekhyun wasn't sure if he wouldn't break before that. How easy was it to just consume a white line way too long for him? Baekhyun thought of it to be a beautiful way to die.

Park Chanyeol's eyes were deep but the model did not expect any less. The tall man had changed the hip hop genre in the past few years, had made himself one of the biggest names in the world. Of course there was a lot to him. They were probably on par with their success, but deep down Baekhyun knew he would fade away eventually. He was just a pretty face that would eventually grow old. They would forget him and his name once another pretty face took his place.

Chanyeol’s impact would last. He had always been jealous of that, his dream had always been to sing. But instead he was kept silent and pretty. He was not allowed to pursue his passion, not allowed to use his voice. Instead he was dolled up and put on a strict diet to fit all the couture. It was a tiring activity. On that had become a routine that Baekhyun started to despise. But he despised the dinners more. The one's were he was all dolled up, sitting in front of a high ranking member of the community, batting his eyelashes and making sure his plate stays full enough. He knew the food would only make him throw up when thinking about what would happen in the later hours.

His life was not his own, he knew that already. So that was probably why he had this deep admiration for the rapper. He loved his music, his songs all meant freedom for him.

So having him see like this was…. disappointing to say the least. Chanyeol crooked his head to the side as he scanned the petite male clad in tight pants and a sheer, see through blouse, hair tousled messily but calculated, eyes lined in kohl completing his look. Completely concealing the depressed boy that was under the layers. The rapper did not get to inspect him in peace though, for the door was opening abruptly and Baekhyun’s face went pale and he finally reacted. Slender fingers quickly coming up to rub away the white powder on his nose. But it was too late.
„Baekhyun, here are you. Come on, you have to go.“ The hand of his manager was circling around his small arm, digging uncomfortably into his skin and led it outside. Not exactly soft, but Baekhyun knew this was not the full force, he knew what the full force was. But with another person’s presence, things had to be professional. As professional as they could be after witnessing how the most wanted model had just taken some drug like the addict he was.
Baekhyun could not think straight anymore. Chanyeol’s deep eyes imprinted on his mind, that gradually got clouded by the drug. He could not tell what was in his gaze, he had not seen this impression for the longest of time.

He could not think about this any longer though, as his small body got pushed inside his dressing room again. Baekhyun’s manager yelling for someone to fix up the stains on his cheeks. Smiling for this job was harder than usual. He avoided Chanyeol at all costs and made sure to leave as fast as he could after the event ended.

The slap on his cheek was not a common practice, but it was not foreign to him either. Baekhyun was no stranger to physical punishments from the people around them. Although they usually toned it down, his blemish free body was a valuable product.
“You useless idiot." Voice like venom, it reached deep into Baekhyun's soul, a place he found numb and hurting at the same time. His manager never had mercy with him. He would always push the young boy to his limits, dictate what he should do. Even yell if Baekhyun asked for so much as a chocolate bar.
“You were supposed to give him a positive outlook, not this mess you created! Our contractors wanted to get him for a campaign!" Baekhyun felt the uncomfortable grip in his hair, pulling at the soft locks. He winced.
„Did you know what he had said to their offer? He did not want to work with them solely because you were one of their partners, too.“ Another slap but Baekhyun did not feel it, reflex made tears fall but his cheeks were numb. Was it really him that Chanyeol despised? Had their one encounter a few days ago made him hate him so much? Baekhyun suddenly felt sad.
“I don’t give a single how much ing you take with that pretty nose of yours. But are you too dumb to do it so no one sees it? You will fix this, do you understand?!“ What was he supposed to do?

It was like a punishment. His company did their homework throughly. Every possibly event Loey attended was checked for opportunities to send Baekhyun, too. Baekhyun got put out of sleep multiple times to attend a late night event last minute to cater to his agency’s needs. It seems their connection to his current brand deal got clouded because of this. Park Chanyeol had been in contact with said brand to endorse them, actually positive about taking the deal it in former discussions, but the moment he had met Baekhyun he had dropped it, even going so far as to openly name him as the sole cause.
So now he had to fix it. But Baekhyun did not know how. What was there to fix? He could not even fix himself. Chanyeol seemed to despise him. The model could have sworn he saw something different in his eyes when they met. It greatly confused him.
He could not tell, he did not know what to do.