when it gets loud (i turn it up)
Baekhyun/Chanyeol, 9264
Baekhyun is enlisted to create the music video for a rockstar. ( prompt)
“Hello?”
Baekhyun peeks up from behind his desk, surprised. He doesn’t get many people coming by his office. Actually, scratch that. He’s never had anyone-apart from the cleaning staff-in his office. “Um, hi.” He watches as a tall man enters his office, face hidden behind the thick collar of his jacket and the brim of his hat. Baekhyun stands, not really sure what to do. “You can put your jacket over there,” he suggests, pointing towards a peg by the door.
“Thanks,” the man replies in a low voice, throwing his hat and gray jacket over the flimsy metal, sprawling into the leather chair on the other side of Baekhyun’s desk, looking more comfortable than Baekhyun feels. The brunet loosens the collar of his white dress shirt and rolls up his sleeves. Baekhyun stiffens.
The man has sleeves inked onto his skin, both arms, and an elaborate design peeking through the neck of his shirt. In the dim lighting, Baekhyun can see the glint of a barbell through the man’s left eyebrow. The man clears his throat, expectant, and Baekhyun flushes. He settles into his chair and leans forward on his desk, assuming a business front. “What can I help you with?”
The man’s smile widens and the beginnings of blindingly white teeth show. “I’ve heard that you’re pretty good at directing music videos.”
From who? Baekhyun wants to ask, because he’s only directed two so far, one was geared towards a children’s television show and the other was for a cheap brand of toothpaste. But he holds back because he needs to pay this month’s rent and if this guy is insane enough to trust Baekhyun with this aspect of his career, Baekhyun’s not about to stop him. In fact, the guy even looks kind of familiar… but he can’t put his finger on it. “I guess you could say that.”
He chuckles and despite all the tattoos Baekhyun feels himself loosening up. “Then I’d like you to do one for me,” he runs a hand through his tousled hair and smirks, “if you have the time.”
Baekhyun narrows his eyes because he feels like that’s a personal dig. But he lets it slide because job. Yes. Finally. He scrambles for the paperwork and reaches for a pen. “If you could just fill out this paperwork-”
“Not here,” the man interrupts with a patient smile, “I’ll have to bring this all back to my agency. My manager doesn’t even know I’m here.”
Baekhyun frowns at that.
“But don’t worry! I know this’ll be great, I've seen your other stuff and the toothpaste...” he pauses and then bites his lip before singing, “here’s a dob for your gob.”
Baekhyun doubles over. “Oh my god,” he says, “no that was horrible!”
“Are you kidding me? It was great, I was totally hooked,” the brunet leans forward conspiratorially before whispering, “I have, like, one hundred tubes of the stuff at home.”
Baekhyun chuckles, noting the sudden lack of distance between them. He can smell the musky scent of the guy's cologne.
The man checks the clock mounted on the wall and curses. “Hey, do you think that you could come by around one tomorrow? We can get everything figured out, yeah?”
“Um, yeah, sure.” Baekhyun blinks, watching as the stranger stuffs various papers into the pocket of his heavy duty coat, pulling on the conflicting hat. The man pauses at the door, throws a small rectangular card his way, and then disappears down the too-small hall of the old office building.
Baekhyun reaches for the card eagerly and flips it over. In neat lettering on the front is The Machine and Baekhyun gapes, staring at the scratched door. He just had a musician from one of the best agencies in the country in his office. No wonder the guy looked familiar.
It plagues him all the way home, long after he’s locked and ditched his crappy office for the chance to retreat to his warm apartment.
His studio apartment on the fifth floor is just as he left it, duvet strewn across the full mattress and full bowl of cereal on the table. He sheds his clothes as he walks, grabbing the bowl and flopping onto his bed, turning on the television. It’s already on the music channel and is rerunning the latest music awards.
He doesn’t have to wonder whom the tall man in his office was for long because three men dressed as casually as one can in a suit take the stage when Best Alternative is announced. They’re all fairly tall, and the shortest of the trio accepts the trophy and goes to stand next to the other who has ears riddled with piercings. The last breaks into a wide smile and gives an enthusiastic thank you speech, from all three men in the HeadLiners. Their names flash across the bottom as their latest song plays in the background.
Chanyeol Park.
-
Baekhyun is late. He's late and this may be his only chance at a real job and he's about to blow it.
As reliable as public transportation is, it's only reliable when the passenger is on time and Baekhyun had spent too long searching for a suit and missed the last bus that would have gotten him there before one.
At one fifteen, he barrels around the corner and stops in front of the iconic building of The Machine. He's only seen pictures, never had a reason to see it in person. The glossy photos don’t do it justice. The building is an elaborate creation of glass and thin stretches of white, surrounded by budding shrubs and natural works of art. He’s never seen anything like it.
Wait. He’s late. Baekhyun barrels through the front doors and tries not to gawk at the massive interior. He steps towards the front desk and wishes he would have studied architecture in college. The woman glances up, expectant. “I’m Byun Baekhyun, I-”
“They’re expecting you on the fourth floor,” she interrupts, no-nonsense, “the elevators are around the corner on your right. The conference room will be right in front of you when the doors open. Have a nice day.”
Baekhyun backs away slowly, biting his lip as the woman shooes him away with an elegant flick of her wrist, returning to her work. He makes for the elevators and finds them right where she’d said they’d be. He’s delighted to find that the back is just glass and watches aptly until he arrives on the fourth floor.
The hallway is, unlike the lobby, teeming with life. Men and women with varied states of dress-from expensive suits to baggy sweats-hurry to and fro. He avoids the traffic and gulps before opening the door of the large room across from the elevator, smile plastered on his face.
Five heads turn in his direction and all movement ceases.
“You’re late,” a particularly angry-looking man snaps.
“Stop it,” Chanyeol chastises, then greets Baekhyun with a blinding grin, “I’m glad you came! So this is Tao, Jongin, our manager Yifan and assistant manager Yixing. And I’m me! Yay, that’s everything. Come on, Baekhyun, I’ll see you guys later!”
“Wait!” The closest man to the door shoots Chanyeol a look and ushers Baekhyun inside, pointing to a chair. “We need to talk, first.”
Baekhyun takes a seat in the plush chair and immediately the angry man is beside him. “Do you have any experience?” Baekhyun nods wordlessly and pulls a manila folder from his bag. The man grabs it and shuffles through the pages. “So, you’ve never actually worked on a music video before?”
“Well, no. But that was the concentration of my major.”
“Theoretical knowledge isn’t practical knowledge,” the man says simply, dropping the folder onto the table. “Are you sure you want to do this, Chanyeol?”
“Completely, Fan.”
“Right. Then it’s your funeral, not mine,” he turns back to Baekhyun. “We have a deadline. This all needs to be filmed and finalized by the end of the month, at the latest. That means I need a basic outline in my e-mail tomorrow morning,” he pulls a card from his pocket and tosses it on top of the folder, standing, “if your idea is to have my guy in a box for three minutes, you’re fired. Now, I have other places to be. Come on, Yixing.”
“It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Byun!” the man by the door says cheerfully before leaving along with just about everyone else in the room.
Baekhyun sits there, watching as Chanyeol bids his bandmates farewell and stuffs his hands in his pockets, waltzing over to Baekhyun’s side. “Please don’t tell me that they scared you off.”
“No,” the brunet shakes his head, staring at the no nonsense business card atop his resume, “I’m just-” his stomach interrupts with a loud growl, “hungry.”
Chanyeol laughs. “Well, come on. The cafeteria here isn’t actually that bad. And since it’s past rush hour, it’ll be empty too.”
The taller patiently waits for Baekhyun to gather his things, then leads him to the elevators, chatting animatedly. He talks about the building, his office on the eighth floor that he shares with his band, though he’s only ever been in it once to print out music sheets. He talks about the recording rooms in the basement and the new renovations taking place. Baekhyun is so lost in the way that Chanyeol’s eyes light up and his grin stretches all the way across his face that he completely misses Chanyeol paying for both of their trays.
“I can’t believe you did that,” Baekhyun mutters, slightly embarrassed. He can pay for his own food.
“It’s no big deal,” Chanyeol assures, sliding into a bench near the back of the room. “Come, sit.”
Baekhyun glares but does so, tentatively taking a bite of his sandwich. He hums happily and catches a glimpse of Chanyeol’s pleased smile. He doesn’t talk until he’s finished the entire thing. “So why didn’t you tell me who you were? I had to wait until I got home before I remembered.”
“You remember me?” Chanyeol looks absolutely ecstatic and Baekhyun’s slightly confused.
“Well yeah, I mean, who wouldn’t remember the frontman of the HeadLiners? You were on the television right when I got home.”
Chanyeol’s face darkens and his smile isn’t quite as bright as before. He gives a hollow laugh and the brunet frowns. “Yeah, you’re right.” He turns around to toss his burger wrapping in the trash and when he turns back his face is devoid of the darkness from before. “So, you done?”
“I-”
“Hope you don’t mind us joining you, Chanyeol,” says a perky voice and then two bodies sit down on either side of Baekhyun.
“Actually we were just going to talk about the music video,” Chanyeol explains with a forced grin, “so you should leave, Jongin.”
“Oh nonsense!” Jongin exclaims with a chuckle. “Tao and I can help! Right, Tao?”
“Right.” The scary-looking man on Baekhyun’s right nods in agreement, more focused on his task of carefully removing the packaging from his sprinkle-adorned cupcake.
“So,” Baekhyun coughs, “what’s your song about?” He turns to Jongin.
“Are you asking me?” At the nod, Jongin laughs, snake bites glinting in the fluorescent lighting. “This is all for Chanyeol’s debut solo album. He’s been begging us to sing crappy love songs since we all got together, so thank god the higher ups finally decided to have him go solo for a while. It’s great. Tao and I get a break and Chanyeol gets to serenade twelve year olds with poppy love songs.”
“You still have to tour with me.”
“I’ll wear a hoodie.”
“So,” Tao interjects, heavily lined eyes on Baekhyun, “what’s your idea for the video?”
“Um. I think I’ll need to hear the song first.”
“Great plan!” Chanyeol jumps out of his seat and walks over, starting to tug on the shorter man’s arm. “Right, so Baekhyun and I are going to go talk about important stuff and the two of you are going to stay here. Understood?”
“Aye aye,” Jongin salutes. Tao snorts. Chanyeol narrows his eyes at the two of them and links arms with Baekhyun, pulling him out of the room.
“Did you all have to get piercings and tattoos to be in the band?” Baekhyun jokes as they step into the elevator.
Chanyeol’s lips quirk into a smile and he shoots Baekhyun an amused look. “Tao’s always had piercings. He started getting them in middle school, then the dragon on his back in high school. Jongin met him in college, and that’s when he got his snake bites and septum. Jongin has a thing about needles though, so he could only take the design on his foot before he passed out. Jongin’s all done with tattoos for now.” The elevator dings and Chanyeol steps out, leading Baekhyun down a long, carpeted hall lined with doors. The taller makes a little noise of recognition when he reaches one by the end of the hall. Opening the door, he lets Baekhyun step inside first before following.
The room is reasonably large, with wooden floors and white walls. There’s a drum set in the corner, an acoustic guitar leaning against a keyboard, an electric guitar atop a stool, and a bass lying beside a couch.
“Take a seat,” Chanyeol invites, pointing to the green sofa. Baekhyun does so, holding his bag in his lap and watching attentively as Chanyeol looks around the room before grabbing a stool and the acoustic. He strums a cord, frowns, and scoots closer.
“So, this is yours?” Baekhyun asks as Chanyeol tunes the guitar. The taller man nods, leaning sideways to fish a pick out of his jeans. Baekhyun gasps. “You’re going to play me the song?”
“Um. Yeah,” Chanyeol replies, looking like a deer caught in headlights. “Is that not okay?”
“No, I just thought you’d have it on a CD or something.”
“Actually, not yet. It’s not completely finished,” the man admits with a slight flush on his cheeks. “But! It will be done before the filming.”
“Okay then,” Baekhyun smiles. He still doesn’t have any idea what he’s going to do. He can’t fault the man for not having finalized everything. “So, what are you going to play me?”
“Shh,” Chanyeol hushes with a grin. “Just listen.” He wiggles slightly on the stool and quickly picks his way through a scale before taking a deep breath and meeting Baekhyun’s eyes. He strums a series of chords, then begins plucking notes. “This is the main riff,” he explains, “it’ll be going on the entire song, meanwhile the drums and bass kick in,” he sets down the guitar and dashes over to the drumset, tapping lightly on the cymbals before beating out a steading rhythm. Baekhyun taps his foot along to the beat.
When Chanyeol makes a dash for the bass, Baekhyun has to hold back his laugh. He plucks out a series of three notes, then grabs the electric guitar. “This is only during the chorus,” he preambles before striking a chord with fervor, smile on his face growing as his fingers travel up and down the neck of the guitar and a cheerful melody from the amp surrounds Baekhyun. By the time Chanyeol sets down the instrument, Baekhyun feels warm and at home, and he has no idea when he started smiling.
“So, if you put all of that together, there it is! Apart from the ending, still working on that,” Chanyeol announces. “What did you think?”
“I liked it,” Baekhyun answers honestly, “what’s it called?”
“It’s called Earlier,” Chanyeol chuckles at Baekhyun’s thoughtful face, taking a seat beside him on the long sofa, pulling his legs up and toeing his beat up sneakers off. “It’s supposed to be a love story. This guy really likes this girl but she hardly knows him, so he’s trying to think of a way to tell her about how he feels, meanwhile all he can think about is all the things they could be doing if they just got together earlier. At the end, they get together and she agrees. It was originally why didn’t we do this earlier but everyone said it was too long.”
“It’s cute,” the brunet hums the riff under his breath, “and catchy. Can I get a copy of it?”
Chanyeol lowers his head apologetically, “sorry, I don’t have any hard copies of anything, other than written notes but I doubt that would be helpful.” Baekhyun nods in agreement. “Um, do you want to hear the rest of the album?”
Baekhyun laughs. “Why not?” Then he watches as Chanyeol leaps off the sofa like an excited child and hugs the acoustic to his chest.
-
It’s dark when Baekhyun leaves, the beginnings of a timeline in his head. Chanyeol walks him all the way to the train station, decked out in a dark trenchcoat and large sunglasses. Baekhyun tells him he looks absurd, Chanyeol insists that this is what he always wears in public, and it’s not weird at all. Judging from the stares of bystanders, Baekhyun begs to differ.
The ride home is silent in comparison and as soon as Baekhyun reaches his apartment, he remembers Yifan’s threat and dives for his phone lost in the folds of the couch. He calls two numbers and turns the living room area into a giant storyboard. Once he’s done, there’s a knock on his door.
“You guys really don’t waste any time, do you?” Baekhyun greets, throwing open his door. And sure, they might look a little more mature and exhausted from nine to five jobs, but they’re both the same.
“Why would we pass up a reunion?” Jongdae grins, tired eyes flashing with mischief. He lets himself into Baekhyun’s apartment, throwing his things beside the materials on the floor. “Hmm. It’s cute, but our penthouse is much better, wouldn’t you agree, Sehun?”
The younger is much less overt, giving Baekhyun a brief hug before cautiously stepping into the apartment. “I like it,” he says, yawning and making his way over to the couch, “it’s less to clean.” He lies down and his pink hair clashes amongst the brown cushions.
Jongdae smiles fondly at the young boy, still dressed in a tight-fitting suit. “He had to deal with a couple A-lists today. Poor kid,” he yanks a blanket off the back of the couch and tucks the younger in. “This is exactly like finals week.”
“Exactly,” Baekhyun agrees with a laugh, “so, you ready?”
“Ready. What are we doing?” Jongdae removes his jacket and throws it atop Sehun, rolling up his sleeves and sitting cross-legged by the storyboard.
“Music video. It’s romantic, and I’ve got a pretty good idea already.”
“Great. Let’s go.”
-
Jongdae leaves right after the first light of dawn creeps into Baekhyun’s studio apartment. With a barely conscious Sehun on his shoulder, he promises to book the venues and calls for a cab. With the deadline, only with Jongdae’s links and sweet-talking could Baekhyun hope to nab all the filming locations he wants and needs.
His email to Yifan receives an instant reply.
I like it. It’s creepy, but cute.
Make it happen.
-Yifan
Baekhyun rolls his eyes and slams his laptop closed, crawling into bed.
-
As soon as he wakes up in the afternoon, he orders takeout and digs through his contacts list until he finds the name he’s looking for.
“Hello, Do Kyunsoo, how may I help you?”
Baekhyun sighs in relief. “Hey, it’s me, Baekhyun, from high school?”
“Baekhyun!” Kyungsoo shouts from the other end. “How are you? I haven’t seen you since graduation!”
Baekhyun laughs. Kyungsoo was always friendly. “I’m good. Hey, I was wondering if I could talk to you? Maybe meet up somewhere for breakfast tomorrow?”
“That sounds great!” Kyungsoo agrees enthusiastically. “I can meet you around eight at this nice place beside my office building. Do you need any directions?”
“No, I think I know where that is.”
“Awesome! Well, I have to go, I’ll see you then!”
Baekhyun smiles as the line goes dead and pumps his fist in celebration. This is going better than he could ever imagine.
-
“So, how is it being a talent scout?”
Kyungsoo looks up from his blueberry scone. “I love it,” he declares with the wide grin that hasn’t left his face since Baekhyun stepped foot in the cafe. “I love finding people with raw talent and giving them the chance to develop it and go somewhere else. Oh! I saw my first on the television last night, she was getting interviewed by the national news. She still calls me sometimes, she’s so nice.”
Baekhyun smiles warmly in response. “You think everyone’s nice.”
“Only if it’s true.”
Baekhyun laughs and rolls his eyes, trying not to feel inadequate in his unwashed ratty sweater across from Kyungsoo’s neatly combed, buttoned business shirt perfection. “I was wondering if you could help me out.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m trying to make a video. A music video,” the older brunet explains, brushing the crumbs from his front. “I need someone to play one of the leads. A nice, cute girl… do you know what I mean?”
Kyungsoo nods, “I know exactly what you mean. I have one girl, she can be temperamental at times, but she’s lovely. So is her agent. You shouldn’t have any problems convincing them if you tell her your situation. Also her labelmate might come, but she’s no problem.”
“Oh, okay,” Baekhyun says, accepting the proffered card and pocketing it immediately. He stands and Kyungsoo looks suddenly and deeply sad. “Well, I guess this is goodbye.”
“Yeah,” Kyungsoo mumbles, fiddling with the cardboard sleeve of his plain coffee. “But, we should really, really do this again. It’s been too long.”
“It has,” Baekhyun agrees with a sad sigh. “Hey, do you maybe want to come see how filming’s going sometime?”
“Yeah! That would be great!”
Baekhyun returns the giant grin Kyungsoo’s wearing. “Awesome. I’ll call you with a time and place!”
“Soon!” Kyungsoo demands with a mock stern expression. Baekhyun chuckles and shouts back an agreement before he pushes open the glass door.
-
He leaves his mess of an apartment the next day to dart into his office to get some supplies. His entire abode is covered with masses of paper depicting scenes, ideas, and to do lists. The walk to the run down office building is a nice change.
The old lady at the reception stops him as soon as he closes the door. “You’re the advertisement guy, right?”
It’s not worth correcting. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“You’ve had some guy coming to your office every day. It’s annoying. If you’re not going to be here, tell him,” she says sternly, wrinkles accentuating her displeasure. “He’s up there right now.”
Baekhyun takes off. He has no idea who would come. The landlord? An angry toothpaste customer? The possibilities are endless.
But then he rounds the corner and it’s none of the above because there’s a tall man in a trenchcoat, glasses, and stupid snapback standing in front of his door.
“Chanyeol Park, what are you doing here?” Baekhyun greets, feeling pleased when Chanyeol jumps. He neatly nudges the man aside so that he can unlock his door and step inside.
“You haven’t been to your office in a while,” Chanyeol notes, sticking his head into the tiny room.
Baekhyun nods. “It’s stuffy and smells bad. I’ve been holed up in my apartment for a couple days now. I just came by to grab a couple things. If I’d known you were going to wait for me like a lost puppy, I would’ve told you.”
“I wasn’t,” Chanyeol starts with a pout, then stops and watches as Baekhyun bends down to pull out a crate from under his desk. He sets it to the side with a grunt and then yanks free a pile of multi-colored folders filled with important things from college he’d kept just for this reason. He sets them all on top of the crate and hefts it up, arms trembling under the weight.
“Do you need help?”
Baekhyun considers saying no, that he’s fine by himself, but this guy has been waiting outside his office for days and this crate is heavy. Really heavy. “You get the crate, I’ll carry the folders?”
“Got it.”
And then the weight is gone and Baekhyun smiles up at Chanyeol in thanks. The taller seems to have no troubles with the crate and Baekhyun locks the office behind them, leading the way back to his apartment. The receptionist gives them a look as they exit, but Baekhyun ignores her.
Chanyeol has to duck slightly so that his head doesn’t hit the doorway. “This place is tiny.”
“Maybe for you,” Baekhyun allows, shedding his jacket. “But it’s just about the right size for me. You can set the crate on the couch.” He watches as Chanyeol gently releases the crate and then stands in the corner, looking lost. “You can take off your disguise, if you want. Are you thirsty? I have water and crackers. Yum.”
“I’m fine,” the taller says with a dismissive wave, slowly peeling off his jacket and removing both his glasses and hat. He’s wearing a cable-knit sweater and brown slacks beneath and looks very warm. Baekhyun is jealous.
“Well, I was just going to get started on the script. So you’re free to do whatever.”
“I don’t have anywhere to be, and Tao and Jongin are busy making changes to their parts of the song. They think it’ll be harder to play live the way it is right now, and I don’t want to get in their way.”
“Oh, alright then,” Baekhyun sits himself on the floor, shivering as the cold from the wood seeps through his jeans. “Make yourself at home. If you need anything, just tell me.” And then he gets to work.
-
Baekhyun’s gotten as far as he can possibly be without a song, actors, and set dates for filming so he takes a break and Chanyeol talks him into pizza.
“I usually don’t get pizza,” Baekhyun begins, eyeing the trail of cheese hanging from the bottom of his slice hungrily, “because it lies around for days afterward.”
“Not a problem, I’ll have it all gone,” Chanyeol assures with a wide smile. With the rate he’s going, Baekhyun believes him.
“So, what’s your story?” Baekhyun has given up. He’s had three slices and he’s done, fine with just watching as Chanyeol continues to devour slice after slice.
“Huh?”
Baekhyun laughs at the dumb expression. “Your tattoos! You told me when Tao and Jongin got theirs, but you never said when you got yours.”
“Oh, um, right,” Chanyeol sits up a bit straighter, licking the grease from the tips of his fingers. “Well, I actually was tattoo free until I graduated from high school.”
“What?”
“It’s true!”
“No way!” Baekhyun exclaims in mock shock.
“Believe it!” Chanyeol grins. “I got my ear pierced before I met the guys, and then I ran into them at an open mic night. Literally.”
“Literally?”
“Yeah, I almost broke Tao’s bass. He still hasn’t really forgiven me. But then after that we started having jam sessions and Tao showed me the place where he got all of his stuff done. That’s around the time when I got the eyebrow and both cartilages,” he fingers the piercings thoughtfully, “when the first company turned us down, I went out and got my back done in one sitting and told them we weren’t giving up.”
“What’s on your back?”
“Secret.” Chanyeol holds a finger to his lips and grins at Baekhyun’s frown. “When the second place told us we weren’t quite ready yet, I got a design on my chest and Jongin got the one on his ankle. Tao talked us into going to The Machine a week after and they gave us a callback. I got the sleeves and we celebrated. The day our first album was released, I had my neck done and Jongin made me wear a scarf. I don’t regret any of them and I think they make me… me, y’know?”
Baekhyun smiles. “Yeah. Are any of them special?”
Chanyeol flops down on the floor, pizza still in hand. “Jongin and Tao designed pretty much all of them, so yeah. They’re all special,” he stops when he sees Baekhyun give a slight shiver. “Get down here. It’s warm.”
Baekhyun rolls his eyes dubiously. “The floor is warm?”
“Very.”
“Right,” the brunet agrees with a sarcastic lilt, eyes on the strewn storyboard so he completely misses Chanyeol’s long arms when they grab him around his midsection and yank him down so that Baekhyun’s head is on Chanyeol’s stomach. The taller holds him down, laughing while the other squirms in his grasp, loosening the grip when Baekhyun stills. “Huh. I guess it is a bit warmer.”
“Told you.”
Baekhyun smiles and yawns. “Maybe we could take a quick break?”
Chanyeol nods. “Sounds good. Five minutes?”
“Five minutes tops,” Baekhyun affirms sleepily, cushioning his head on the taller man’s stomach. Just as all he’s nodding off, he suddenly realizes how firm the musician’s abdomen is. In his sleepy state, he wonders just how muscled the man is.
-
When he opens his eyes, it’s light outside.
“Shit,” Baekhyun says with feeling, about to stand up when he realizes he’s weighed down by something. He looks down and sees and arm around his waist and then he remembers. Gently peeling off the limb and leaving Chanyeol to continue sleeping on the floor, he goes about organizing the hundreds of papers lying all over his living room and makes himself something steaming hot and full of caffeine. Shaking his arm awake, he reaches for a business card and dials the number into his phone.
By the time Chanyeol begins grumbling, Baekhyun’s called and secured a part for the female lead in the video, and he’s adding specifics to his mess of an outline. He’d thrown a blanket over the sleeping guest, but Chanyeol had kicked it off almost immediately.
“What time is it?” The pincushion of a man asks groggily.
“A little after nine.”
“In the morning?” Chanyeol groans. “Why are you awake?”
“I have work to do,” Baekhyun pauses halfway through writing a word to spare his client a glance. “Do you want coffee or something?”
“Coffee would be great.”
“Cream? Sugar?”
“Black.”
Baekhyun screws up his face but gets up to start the pot anyway. He takes his with arguably too much cream and sugar, then places the mug of liquid death beside Chanyeol. He takes a large sip, then almost spits it out when he checks his email.
Meeting at 10 am.
Bring everyone involved.
-Yifan
Baekhyun checks the clock on the oven. It’s quarter past nine. He swears and starts gathering up the storyboard, working around a dazed Chanyeol. He stuffs everything he can into a bag and quickly smashes in the number he had dialed less than an hour ago.
“Whoa, what’s the rush?” The grounded man asks, taking measured sips from his paint-splattered mug.
“Meeting in half an hour,” Baekhyun forces out, thanking the person on the other line and then hanging up, dashing over to his dresser to reach for a pair of jeans that might boost his self-esteem if he’s in the same room as Yifan. He hears Chanyeol curse behind him and struggle into a seated position.
They both work around each other, Baekhyun trying to look like he actually got a decent amount of sleep and Chanyeol trying to look like he didn’t sleep on the floor. They leave in a rush of flying papers and unzipped jeans. Chanyeol points it out and Baekhyun turns a bright shade of red before pushing the laughing man away and jogging down the stairs double-time after he’s fixed it. The train’s just about to leave and they make it with a second to spare, laughing breathlessly as the train pulls out of the station.
Baekhyun visibly relaxes when they enter the same conference room and it’s empty except for two well-dressed women. They smile at him and he returns it, holding out a hand as they stand.
“Thank you so much for agreeing to come on such late notice.”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” the dark-haired woman dressed in a business suit laughs, “Krystal had a free schedule today so we would’ve just been sitting on the couch watching romcoms anyway. So you’re Baekhyun, the director?” At Baekhyun’s nod, she smiles and gestures to herself. “I’m Amber Liu, the babysitter-”
The long-haired girl beside her slaps her arm and she grins.
“This is Krystal Jung, my charge. And I’m going to go ahead and assume that he is-”
“Chanyeol Park!” Krystal interrupts, then blushes and slaps a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I’m a fan. I went to a concert once, you guys were great.”
Chanyeol brightens. “No kidding! It was probably all Jongin; I’m horrible live.”
“We know. That’s why we have to pre-record, just in case.” Jongin and Tao enter at that moment, looking exhausted and irritable. “Where is Yifan?”
Amber perks at the name.
“Alright, is everyone here?” Yifan asks, stepping into the room, Yixing a shadow behind him. Without looking up, he continues. “Okay so we’re going to have to start filming s-what are you doing here?”
Amber grins. “Looks like we’re working together on this one, Fan.”
Yifan stills and it looks like his feathers have been ruffled. Baekhyun takes a seat, hiding a smile. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but it’s amusing seeing Yifan out of his element.
“We’ll talk about this later,” he hisses, then glances back down at an absurdly large notebook in his hands. “Filming. Baekhyun, do you have locations?”
“Yes.”
“A crew?”
“Yes.”
He snaps the book shut, eyebrow cocked. “Well then. Could you start filming two days from now?”
Baekhyun grits his teeth. He’d been hoping for a little more time than that. “It would be hard, but not impossible,” he allows. He’s going to be up all night making phone calls, he can feel it.
“Excellent. Send me the location and time and I’ll be there to watch. Now, could everyone please leave? I have some business with Ms. Liu.”
Amber leans back in the standard leather chair. “Ooh, scandalous.”
Everyone else evacuates, including a disgruntled Tao and Jongin who agree to hide in the practice rooms and nap until Yifan finds them. Baekhyun heads for the elevator, making a mental list of all the people he’ll need to talk to call, but is stopped. He stares at the hand on his wrist and then at the tall brunette.
“Sorry,” Krystal says, letting go, “I just wanted to thank you.”
Baekhyun lets a smile work its way onto his face. “It’s really no problem. You came highly recommended. I should be thanking you!”
She laughs and Chanyeol walks over. “Oh, also, would it be okay if my friend comes to watch the filming? She’s filming a movie right now, but she’s got a few days off this week. She’s not a problem, you won’t even notice her.”
Baekhyun nods. “It’s no problem.”
“The more the merrier,” Chanyeol agrees, glancing into the conference room where Yifan’s shouting something at Amber, who’s resting her feet on the table and grinning. “Well, do you want to walk around while they do that?”
Yixing looks up from his phone. “You’ve got a half an hour, at least.”
Krystal shrugs. “Sounds good.”
“Then let’s go!” Chanyeol grins, reaching for Baekhyun’s hand. The shorter man pulls back.
“I can’t,” Baekhyun begins, hanging back to hit the elevator button. “I have to secure locations, call up the crew, finish the script, and you have to finish the song!”
Chanyeol blinks. “It’s been finished.”
“What? Since when?”
“Um, right after the first meeting.”
“Then could you send it to me?”
Chanyeol stares down at his hands. “Sure. No problem.”
“Alright.” The elevator dings and Baekhyun reluctantly steps inside, stomach churning when Chanyeol and Krystal link arms and walk down the hall. It’s a completely irrational feeling, so he convinces himself that it’s because he has to go home and work instead of staying and messing around with Chanyeol. He sighs and waits for the doors to close so he can get to the lobby.
“Wait!” An arm shoots out just before the doors close.
“Chanyeol, what-”
The man quickly pulls Baekhyun over and whispers into his ear, “I’m so glad I picked you.” And then he’s gone.
Baekhyun stands frozen as the doors shut and his heart struggles to break through his chest.
-
He’s standing under a tree because the area he had reserved is pretty popular and the only time he could get it was the first day of filming. So, here Baekhyun stands beside his camera crew. It’s gloomy out, and Baekhyun would say that it reflects his mood because he’s been holed up in his apartment staring at pieces of paper until his eyes water, surviving off of take out and coffee, and, perhaps most importantly, with no-
“Is it supposed to be this dark?”
Baekhyun turns to face Yifan, Yixing not far behind. “It’s because of the clouds. I’ve got someone working on it.” And then, almost immediately, the area he’d taped out as where they’d have the filming is cast with a bright glow and the trees groan.
A brunet makes his way down the trunk and jumps from the lowest branch, landing shakily on his feet. He brushes himself off, then sends Baekhyun a thumbs up. “Did it, Baek.”
Baekhyun smiles back. “Thanks, Joonmyun. You can take a break until everyone else gets here.”
“And when exactly will that be?”
Baekhyun glares at Yifan. “Well, you know, considering you’re two hours early, I’d say not for a while.” He can see the taller man searching for a reply, but rolls his eyes and walks away before he can be hit with one.
Luckily, a trailer pulls up in the improvised parking lot behind them, an empty clearing free of trees and endangered species of grass. Baekhyun grins and dashes over, swinging open the door.
“Jesus,” Sehun complains, startling and dropping a huge brush. He dusts himself off and glares at Baekhyun. “Don’t you know how to knock?”
“Thanks again,” the brunet says instead of apologizing, placing a hand on the younger’s shoulder and laughing as it’s shrugged off. “I’ll get the money to you as soon-”
“If you even think about paying me, I will leave.” Sehun threatens, eyes hard.
“Hey!”
Sehun jumps out of his chair and slams the case of foundation onto the cluttered desk in front of him. “Since neither of you seem to know how to knock, get out. Come back when it’s something important. And knock!”
Baekhyun chuckles and pulls Jongdae outside, where they talk until expensive cars pull up in front of them and the remaining staff and necessary persons appear. It’s only after Baekhyun thanks the caterer and the van drives away that he makes his way over to the lounging cameramen.
“Are we ready?” He asks the grinning man to his right, only his attention is diverted when something slams into the back of his chair.
“I’m so sorry I’m late!” Chanyeol exclaims, out of breath and hair a mess. “I woke up late and had to take a taxi because my car broke down.”
Baekhyun blinks. “Um, it’s no problem. We’re still getting ready.” Then he remembers why he’s so upset today and his eyes narrow. “I never got the song.”
Chanyeol laughs nervously. “Right. About that. It’s not exactly done yet… but it’ll be finished by the end of the week I promise!”
“The end of the…” Baekhyun really doesn’t know why he tries. He doesn’t. He can see all of this just being a huge failure. He glances at Kris and shivers. He should’ve just become a doctor. But, then he looks back at Chanyeol and the six foot man has his puppy eyes trained on him and Baekhyun finds himself, inexplicably and probably stupidly, trusting him. “Alright.”
Chanyeol grins. “Thank you! And wow, did you pick out two female leads?”
“What, n-” Baekhyun realizes he’s talking about Luhan, who’s beginning to simmer beside his camera. Minseok launches himself out of his seat and tackles the slightly taller man, reminding him what the therapist said and that he shouldn’t let anger get the best of him. Baekhyun sighs and points to the trailer behind him. “Just go over there and let Sehun take care of everything.” He receives a nod and then he turns to Luhan to apologize. The man assures him everything is okay with a forced smile, teeth gritted. Minseok watches worriedly from the side.
All in all, it’s not the worst that could happen. The day is dark and the weather is dreary, not the ideal for a romantic feel, but Baekhyun can work with it. They start just a little after the planned time, which is fine. He can deal with that. What he can’t deal with, though, is an unforeseen six foot tall issue.
Chanyeol is impossible to work with. It’s almost magic, how seconds after Minseok and Luhan start recording, Chanyeol breaks out into laughter and they have to start again. Baekhyun supposes he should feel as mad as Krystal looks, turning to glare at Amber who only shrugs helplessly. But he’s not. Baekhyun just can’t be mad at Chanyeol, doesn’t see how anyone could, honestly. So it’s after a couple hours of wasted film that Baekhyun calls a break and pulls Chanyeol over.
“I know what this is about.”
Baekhyun nods.
“I’m sorry.”
Baekhyun nods again.
“It’s just,” Chanyeol groans, “I can’t help it.”
“I know,” Baekhyun sighs, “just, could you try?” He tries to squash the feeling of hopefulness as Chanyeol gives him a determined nod.
He waits until everyone’s finished drowning their sorrows in food and Sehun’s done touch ups before setting the scene again and slumping back in his chair. He really isn’t surprised when Chanyeol’s face splits into a manic grin first take, but then the man is facing him.
“This next one. I’m going to get it this time.”
Bakehyun nods, ignoring Krystal’s scoff, nodding to Luhan and Minseok to start. And then, to everyone’s surprise, Chanyeol nails it. Baekhyun doesn’t want to test his luck, so he just has the two do the same scene over again, but it’s perfect. It’s like that for the rest of the day, so by the time the sun’s starting to set, they have four takes from every angle possible and everyone has a smile on their face.
Baekhyun is the last to leave, checking through his notes to double-check that everything is complete and that he has everything ready for tomorrow, when two heavily tattooed arms wrap themselves around his neck.
“Hey, Chanyeol.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?” Baekhyun hums, attention elsewhere.
“For believing me.” He gives the shorter man a quick squeeze before dashing over to his ride, a city taxi. Baekhyun waves as it drives away, notes forgotten.
He’s warm all the way home, cheeks rosy.
-
They have the warehouse for two days. It’s where they’re going to take most of the footage, and the basis for Baekhyun’s ideas. All the others come in the afternoon, after Baekhyun’s set up everything with the help of a few guys Jongdae knows, who do a great job for less. Baekhyun has to agree with him. In a matter of hours, they have the front room of a house set up along with a light pole and a park bench across from what’s painted to look like a street.
Having a warehouse means bathrooms in the back, both which Sehun claims as dressing rooms, setting up all his things and brushing Jongdae and Baekhyun away so that they won’t mess up his momentum.
Krystal and Amber bring along the labelmate, a small girl named Jinri who promises to stay out of everyone’s way. Baekhyun gives her his chair and says that he was planning to stand anyway. Jongdae leaves as more people start arriving, hiding out with Sehun in the transformed bathrooms to start editing the footage from the other day.
Yifan is late and Baekhyun is satisfied when he stumbles in looking a little less than perfect, explaining that he pulled an all-nighter with Yixing and the other man is still home, but he had to come in and make sure that Baekhyun wouldn’t mess anything up.
Since they have two days, Baekhyun decides that with the limited time today, they’re just going to film the intro he has planned out, save the most important parts for tomorrow.
Chanyeol stumbles in with a grin on his face, piercings glinting in the artificial light. Against his better judgement, Baekhyun had decided to let him keep them in because they’re just as much a part of Chanyeol as the tattoos covering his back and the snapbacks he seems to have on hand at every moment, one slapped on his head as soon as Baekhyun looks away.
Filming goes considerably better, the only mishaps occurring when Chanyeol walks straight into the aluminum pole; and Krystal trips down the stairs, Amber reaching her side before Chanyeol, who was only a mere four steps away. Sehun unhelpfully yells that his shoe choice would have been so much better and Joonmyun barks a laugh from atop the light pole, where he’s replacing the dud bulb.
Everyone leaves in a rush, all except Baekhyun stretched out across three chairs, reviewing Luhan and Minseok’s footage again. His eyes are just starting to droop when an arm snakes around his stomach, yanking him up. Bakehyun’s shocked for all of three seconds before he sees an inked vine out of the corner of his eye and relaxes. “I thought you went home.”
“Same here.”
Baekhyun sighs. “You should go home. You need to look nice and not-tired so Sehun can mold you into a lovesick teenager.”
“Shouldn’t be that hard,” Chanyeol muses, arm tightening around Baekhyun so he can sit on the chair the brunet had his head on, situating the shorter man so he’s leaning against his side.
Baekhyun drops the footage on his lap, eyelids closing against his will. “So what is it today? I haven’t done anything to be thanked for.”
Chanyeol shrugs, starting when it jostles Baekhyun, but thankfully the other man stays still against his side. “Just wanted some alone time with the director, so I can make sure that he makes me look good.”
Baekhyun laughs. “So not an issue.” He can feel Chanyeol chuckling behind him and it’s like a lullaby.
He wakes up at intervals, hears a car door slammed shut, his address said aloud, and then he’s out again until he hears someone tell him, “goodnight.” He mumbles back a reply and rolls onto his stomach, burying his face into his pillow.
-
Kyungsoo meets Baekhyun at the door when the sun’s barely risen. The talent scout looks exhausted and frozen. Baekhyun says as much and earns a heated glare.
“I picked up this really nice bouquet of flowers that I was going to give you but you know what?” The man hums, “I don’t really feel like it anymore.”
Baekhyun gasps. “Gimme!”
Kyungsoo shifts on his feet. “Actually, I only placed the order. I just wanted to make sure this was the right place. I’ll be back later.” He turns on his heel and then he’s gone.
Baekhyun laughs and reaches out to unlock the door, frowning when it’s already unlocked. Only he, Yifan, and Jongdae and Sehun have the key, the latter in case they forgot anything and the former because he demanded it. Baekhyun can’t see any of them deliberately getting here this early, so he quickly pushes open the door, face to face with a pitch-black room. He fumbles for the overhead lights and flicks the switch.
As the room comes to life, so do the speakers placed around the room, filling the entire space with a subtle beat accompanied by a few strums after a couple seconds. Baekhyun stands still, stunned as the room continues to echo the rhythm, and then a voice accompanies it. Probably only a few minutes pass, but Baekhyun feels like he’s standing there for years, enveloped by a slightly gravelly voice that really shouldn’t go with a song about love, but it does. When it comes to an end, he sees a brown head pop up from behind one of the speakers and realizes his eyes are watering. He quickly wipes a sleeve over his face and meets hazel eyes.
“Did you like it?”
“It’s,” Baekhyun stops, embarrassed to find that his voice is coming out broken. He clears his throat and tries again. “It’s really nice, Chanyeol.”
A thousand-watt smile lights up the man’s face and Baekhyun sucks in a breath.
“Let’s go!” Sehun shouts, throwing open the door, sparing a questioning look for the two men before gasping and running over to Chanyeol, stabbing a finger at the purple bags Baekhyun completely missed. “What are these? Did you even sleep last night? You know what, I don’t care. Come with me.”
Jongdae shrugs helplessly as the two disappear behind the door to the girl’s bathroom, where Sehun has all of his make up stored. He merely holds out a hand and accepts yesterday’s footage from Baekhyun.
As everyone else files in, Baekhyun settles himself in for the last day of filming, smiling as Jinri quietly sits down beside him and outright grinning as Jongin and Tao, who had woken up before noon for the event, coo at Chanyeol when he emerges from the dressing room and Sehun moves onto Krystal, who already looks practically perfect.
Someone sits down on Baekhyun’s left side and a huge bouquet is dropped onto his lap. He gasps and picks it up, admiring the rainbow of flowers and nudging Kyungsoo with his shoulder. “You shouldn’t have.”
“I wanted to help,” the other shrugs, surveying the scene before them, Minseok and Luhan setting up whilst Joonmyun adjusts the lights from above. “This is pretty nice. You did a really nice job.”
“It’s not done yet,” Baekhyun chastises, nose buried in the bouquet. “But maybe when I’m done, we’ll have two successful graduates from our year. Then it won’t just be you bragging at reunions.”
“Three.”
“What?”
“Three,” Kyungsoo corrects. “It’ll have three successful graduates.”
Baekhyun frowns. “But who is…”
“You mean you don’t know?” Kyungsoo’s eyes widen significantly, eyebrows shooting up. “Chanyeol was in our grade, Baekhyun. I mean, we didn’t have any classes with him, but you’d see him in the library and at lunch sometimes.” He pauses, laughing at Baekhyun’s continued silence. “You really didn’t know?”
Baekhyun stares at the laughing musician, poking fun at Tao and Jongin while Yifan watches with a displeased frown and Yixing laughs along.
“He was really quiet,” Kyungsoo continues, “didn’t have any tattoos back then. Had these huge glasses, though.”
Baekhyun continues to stare. Then Krystal emerges from the dressing room and he’s forced to stand up and explain the scene, fighting to keep his eyes from lingering on Chanyeol for too long. He resigns himself to his seat while a love story is reenacted in front of him. He wonders how he could have missed someone like Chanyeol, because right now he doesn’t seem to be able to take his eyes off of him.
Tao and Jongin meander over during lunch and congratulate Baekhyun on a job well done.
“But I’m not done yet.”
They share a look. “We can’t get Chanyeol to focus for five seconds let alone a full hour. You’ve already done more than enough.”
Baekhyun frowns as the final scene comes up. He unwillingly rises and motions Krystal and Chanyeol over, bouquet clutched between his hands. He gives the two meaningful looks. “This is the last scene. I want you two to do everything you can to make sure this is a one take.” He’s worried about the flowers. He unwillingly hands them over to Chanyeol and makes his way back to his seat, ignoring the twist in his stomach when Krystal leans over to whisper something in Chanyeol’s ear. It’s probably hunger. He hasn’t eaten yet.
Everyone takes their places. Baekhyun calls out for the filming to start. It’s a little cliché, but Baekhyun was under a time restraint. Chanyeol will knock on the front door of the red house, Krystal will open it, lovesick Chanyeol gives her the bouquet and professes his love. Scene ends with her throwing her arms around him. Fade to black. Everyone’s happy.
So Baekhyun’s not exactly sure what’s going on when Chanyeol turns towards him instead of the model house, taking slow, deliberate steps forward. He looks around, but no one else seems to have a problem with this, Minseok and Luhan following his every move.
Chanyeol marches right up to him, lowers himself onto one knee, and presents the bouquet to Baekhyun, who accepts it with numb fingers. Then three words leave Chanyeol’s mouth and Baekhyun can’t breathe. He crushes the stems in his grip and looks up to see everyone, everyone, staring at him.
“Cut.”
-
Baekhyun stares down at the assortment of flowers. They are very pretty. He doesn’t know how long he’s been staring at them, just knows that he’s been hiding out in the women’s room since Chanyeol gave him the bouquet.
His head snaps up when the door opens, but he goes straight back to looking at his feet.
Chanyeol looks extremely apologetic, head hung low so that the beginnings of the design on his back are visible above his shirt. “I’m-”
“Am I the only one who didn’t know?” Baekhyun interrupts, not wanting to hear an apology. He remembers the secret smile on Krystal’s face and has been wondering that ever since he could breathe normally again.
“Not,” Chanyeol starts, stops, takes a deep breath, then tries again. “Jongin and Tao were the only ones who knew before. I told everyone else today.”
Baekhyun nods slowly. “But, I mean, why me? You’ve known me for a little over a week.”
Chanyeol sighs and jumps up on the counter so that he’s sitting about a foot away, staring at his hands. “Would you believe me if I told you that an awkward, geeky kid had a huge crush on you back in high school that he never let go?”
Baekhyun laughs, face buried in between flower petals. “And then?”
“And then he tried to think of a really good reason for seeing him.” Chanyeol kicks at the air. “I really did want to make a solo album though. Jongin and Tao aren’t romantics.”
Baekhyun hums. “I am.”
The taller man straightens and moves a bit closer. “Hey… do you maybe want to get coffee or something sometime?”
“No,” Baekhyun hums, studying the already wilting flowers. “but maybe you can take me out to dinner instead.” He laughs as Chanyeol punches his shoulder and then he’s lifted off the counter, flowers forgotten beside a sink as Chanyeol spins them in a circle.
Baekhyun thinks this is a much better ending.
-
Chanyeol manages to convince everyone to keep Baekhyun in the music video, despite Baekhyun’s whining and Yifan’s arguing.
Jongin and Tao eventually give up and the solo album isn’t really a solo album anymore.
But Chanyeol still dedicates every single song to Baekhyun.
Baekhyun is enlisted to create the music video for a rockstar. ( prompt)
“Hello?”
Baekhyun peeks up from behind his desk, surprised. He doesn’t get many people coming by his office. Actually, scratch that. He’s never had anyone-apart from the cleaning staff-in his office. “Um, hi.” He watches as a tall man enters his office, face hidden behind the thick collar of his jacket and the brim of his hat. Baekhyun stands, not really sure what to do. “You can put your jacket over there,” he suggests, pointing towards a peg by the door.
“Thanks,” the man replies in a low voice, throwing his hat and gray jacket over the flimsy metal, sprawling into the leather chair on the other side of Baekhyun’s desk, looking more comfortable than Baekhyun feels. The brunet loosens the collar of his white dress shirt and rolls up his sleeves. Baekhyun stiffens.
The man has sleeves inked onto his skin, both arms, and an elaborate design peeking through the neck of his shirt. In the dim lighting, Baekhyun can see the glint of a barbell through the man’s left eyebrow. The man clears his throat, expectant, and Baekhyun flushes. He settles into his chair and leans forward on his desk, assuming a business front. “What can I help you with?”
The man’s smile widens and the beginnings of blindingly white teeth show. “I’ve heard that you’re pretty good at directing music videos.”
From who? Baekhyun wants to ask, because he’s only directed two so far, one was geared towards a children’s television show and the other was for a cheap brand of toothpaste. But he holds back because he needs to pay this month’s rent and if this guy is insane enough to trust Baekhyun with this aspect of his career, Baekhyun’s not about to stop him. In fact, the guy even looks kind of familiar… but he can’t put his finger on it. “I guess you could say that.”
He chuckles and despite all the tattoos Baekhyun feels himself loosening up. “Then I’d like you to do one for me,” he runs a hand through his tousled hair and smirks, “if you have the time.”
Baekhyun narrows his eyes because he feels like that’s a personal dig. But he lets it slide because job. Yes. Finally. He scrambles for the paperwork and reaches for a pen. “If you could just fill out this paperwork-”
“Not here,” the man interrupts with a patient smile, “I’ll have to bring this all back to my agency. My manager doesn’t even know I’m here.”
Baekhyun frowns at that.
“But don’t worry! I know this’ll be great, I've seen your other stuff and the toothpaste...” he pauses and then bites his lip before singing, “here’s a dob for your gob.”
Baekhyun doubles over. “Oh my god,” he says, “no that was horrible!”
“Are you kidding me? It was great, I was totally hooked,” the brunet leans forward conspiratorially before whispering, “I have, like, one hundred tubes of the stuff at home.”
Baekhyun chuckles, noting the sudden lack of distance between them. He can smell the musky scent of the guy's cologne.
The man checks the clock mounted on the wall and curses. “Hey, do you think that you could come by around one tomorrow? We can get everything figured out, yeah?”
“Um, yeah, sure.” Baekhyun blinks, watching as the stranger stuffs various papers into the pocket of his heavy duty coat, pulling on the conflicting hat. The man pauses at the door, throws a small rectangular card his way, and then disappears down the too-small hall of the old office building.
Baekhyun reaches for the card eagerly and flips it over. In neat lettering on the front is The Machine and Baekhyun gapes, staring at the scratched door. He just had a musician from one of the best agencies in the country in his office. No wonder the guy looked familiar.
It plagues him all the way home, long after he’s locked and ditched his crappy office for the chance to retreat to his warm apartment.
His studio apartment on the fifth floor is just as he left it, duvet strewn across the full mattress and full bowl of cereal on the table. He sheds his clothes as he walks, grabbing the bowl and flopping onto his bed, turning on the television. It’s already on the music channel and is rerunning the latest music awards.
He doesn’t have to wonder whom the tall man in his office was for long because three men dressed as casually as one can in a suit take the stage when Best Alternative is announced. They’re all fairly tall, and the shortest of the trio accepts the trophy and goes to stand next to the other who has ears riddled with piercings. The last breaks into a wide smile and gives an enthusiastic thank you speech, from all three men in the HeadLiners. Their names flash across the bottom as their latest song plays in the background.
Chanyeol Park.
-
Baekhyun is late. He's late and this may be his only chance at a real job and he's about to blow it.
As reliable as public transportation is, it's only reliable when the passenger is on time and Baekhyun had spent too long searching for a suit and missed the last bus that would have gotten him there before one.
At one fifteen, he barrels around the corner and stops in front of the iconic building of The Machine. He's only seen pictures, never had a reason to see it in person. The glossy photos don’t do it justice. The building is an elaborate creation of glass and thin stretches of white, surrounded by budding shrubs and natural works of art. He’s never seen anything like it.
Wait. He’s late. Baekhyun barrels through the front doors and tries not to gawk at the massive interior. He steps towards the front desk and wishes he would have studied architecture in college. The woman glances up, expectant. “I’m Byun Baekhyun, I-”
“They’re expecting you on the fourth floor,” she interrupts, no-nonsense, “the elevators are around the corner on your right. The conference room will be right in front of you when the doors open. Have a nice day.”
Baekhyun backs away slowly, biting his lip as the woman shooes him away with an elegant flick of her wrist, returning to her work. He makes for the elevators and finds them right where she’d said they’d be. He’s delighted to find that the back is just glass and watches aptly until he arrives on the fourth floor.
The hallway is, unlike the lobby, teeming with life. Men and women with varied states of dress-from expensive suits to baggy sweats-hurry to and fro. He avoids the traffic and gulps before opening the door of the large room across from the elevator, smile plastered on his face.
Five heads turn in his direction and all movement ceases.
“You’re late,” a particularly angry-looking man snaps.
“Stop it,” Chanyeol chastises, then greets Baekhyun with a blinding grin, “I’m glad you came! So this is Tao, Jongin, our manager Yifan and assistant manager Yixing. And I’m me! Yay, that’s everything. Come on, Baekhyun, I’ll see you guys later!”
“Wait!” The closest man to the door shoots Chanyeol a look and ushers Baekhyun inside, pointing to a chair. “We need to talk, first.”
Baekhyun takes a seat in the plush chair and immediately the angry man is beside him. “Do you have any experience?” Baekhyun nods wordlessly and pulls a manila folder from his bag. The man grabs it and shuffles through the pages. “So, you’ve never actually worked on a music video before?”
“Well, no. But that was the concentration of my major.”
“Theoretical knowledge isn’t practical knowledge,” the man says simply, dropping the folder onto the table. “Are you sure you want to do this, Chanyeol?”
“Completely, Fan.”
“Right. Then it’s your funeral, not mine,” he turns back to Baekhyun. “We have a deadline. This all needs to be filmed and finalized by the end of the month, at the latest. That means I need a basic outline in my e-mail tomorrow morning,” he pulls a card from his pocket and tosses it on top of the folder, standing, “if your idea is to have my guy in a box for three minutes, you’re fired. Now, I have other places to be. Come on, Yixing.”
“It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Byun!” the man by the door says cheerfully before leaving along with just about everyone else in the room.
Baekhyun sits there, watching as Chanyeol bids his bandmates farewell and stuffs his hands in his pockets, waltzing over to Baekhyun’s side. “Please don’t tell me that they scared you off.”
“No,” the brunet shakes his head, staring at the no nonsense business card atop his resume, “I’m just-” his stomach interrupts with a loud growl, “hungry.”
Chanyeol laughs. “Well, come on. The cafeteria here isn’t actually that bad. And since it’s past rush hour, it’ll be empty too.”
The taller patiently waits for Baekhyun to gather his things, then leads him to the elevators, chatting animatedly. He talks about the building, his office on the eighth floor that he shares with his band, though he’s only ever been in it once to print out music sheets. He talks about the recording rooms in the basement and the new renovations taking place. Baekhyun is so lost in the way that Chanyeol’s eyes light up and his grin stretches all the way across his face that he completely misses Chanyeol paying for both of their trays.
“I can’t believe you did that,” Baekhyun mutters, slightly embarrassed. He can pay for his own food.
“It’s no big deal,” Chanyeol assures, sliding into a bench near the back of the room. “Come, sit.”
Baekhyun glares but does so, tentatively taking a bite of his sandwich. He hums happily and catches a glimpse of Chanyeol’s pleased smile. He doesn’t talk until he’s finished the entire thing. “So why didn’t you tell me who you were? I had to wait until I got home before I remembered.”
“You remember me?” Chanyeol looks absolutely ecstatic and Baekhyun’s slightly confused.
“Well yeah, I mean, who wouldn’t remember the frontman of the HeadLiners? You were on the television right when I got home.”
Chanyeol’s face darkens and his smile isn’t quite as bright as before. He gives a hollow laugh and the brunet frowns. “Yeah, you’re right.” He turns around to toss his burger wrapping in the trash and when he turns back his face is devoid of the darkness from before. “So, you done?”
“I-”
“Hope you don’t mind us joining you, Chanyeol,” says a perky voice and then two bodies sit down on either side of Baekhyun.
“Actually we were just going to talk about the music video,” Chanyeol explains with a forced grin, “so you should leave, Jongin.”
“Oh nonsense!” Jongin exclaims with a chuckle. “Tao and I can help! Right, Tao?”
“Right.” The scary-looking man on Baekhyun’s right nods in agreement, more focused on his task of carefully removing the packaging from his sprinkle-adorned cupcake.
“So,” Baekhyun coughs, “what’s your song about?” He turns to Jongin.
“Are you asking me?” At the nod, Jongin laughs, snake bites glinting in the fluorescent lighting. “This is all for Chanyeol’s debut solo album. He’s been begging us to sing crappy love songs since we all got together, so thank god the higher ups finally decided to have him go solo for a while. It’s great. Tao and I get a break and Chanyeol gets to serenade twelve year olds with poppy love songs.”
“You still have to tour with me.”
“I’ll wear a hoodie.”
“So,” Tao interjects, heavily lined eyes on Baekhyun, “what’s your idea for the video?”
“Um. I think I’ll need to hear the song first.”
“Great plan!” Chanyeol jumps out of his seat and walks over, starting to tug on the shorter man’s arm. “Right, so Baekhyun and I are going to go talk about important stuff and the two of you are going to stay here. Understood?”
“Aye aye,” Jongin salutes. Tao snorts. Chanyeol narrows his eyes at the two of them and links arms with Baekhyun, pulling him out of the room.
“Did you all have to get piercings and tattoos to be in the band?” Baekhyun jokes as they step into the elevator.
Chanyeol’s lips quirk into a smile and he shoots Baekhyun an amused look. “Tao’s always had piercings. He started getting them in middle school, then the dragon on his back in high school. Jongin met him in college, and that’s when he got his snake bites and septum. Jongin has a thing about needles though, so he could only take the design on his foot before he passed out. Jongin’s all done with tattoos for now.” The elevator dings and Chanyeol steps out, leading Baekhyun down a long, carpeted hall lined with doors. The taller makes a little noise of recognition when he reaches one by the end of the hall. Opening the door, he lets Baekhyun step inside first before following.
The room is reasonably large, with wooden floors and white walls. There’s a drum set in the corner, an acoustic guitar leaning against a keyboard, an electric guitar atop a stool, and a bass lying beside a couch.
“Take a seat,” Chanyeol invites, pointing to the green sofa. Baekhyun does so, holding his bag in his lap and watching attentively as Chanyeol looks around the room before grabbing a stool and the acoustic. He strums a cord, frowns, and scoots closer.
“So, this is yours?” Baekhyun asks as Chanyeol tunes the guitar. The taller man nods, leaning sideways to fish a pick out of his jeans. Baekhyun gasps. “You’re going to play me the song?”
“Um. Yeah,” Chanyeol replies, looking like a deer caught in headlights. “Is that not okay?”
“No, I just thought you’d have it on a CD or something.”
“Actually, not yet. It’s not completely finished,” the man admits with a slight flush on his cheeks. “But! It will be done before the filming.”
“Okay then,” Baekhyun smiles. He still doesn’t have any idea what he’s going to do. He can’t fault the man for not having finalized everything. “So, what are you going to play me?”
“Shh,” Chanyeol hushes with a grin. “Just listen.” He wiggles slightly on the stool and quickly picks his way through a scale before taking a deep breath and meeting Baekhyun’s eyes. He strums a series of chords, then begins plucking notes. “This is the main riff,” he explains, “it’ll be going on the entire song, meanwhile the drums and bass kick in,” he sets down the guitar and dashes over to the drumset, tapping lightly on the cymbals before beating out a steading rhythm. Baekhyun taps his foot along to the beat.
When Chanyeol makes a dash for the bass, Baekhyun has to hold back his laugh. He plucks out a series of three notes, then grabs the electric guitar. “This is only during the chorus,” he preambles before striking a chord with fervor, smile on his face growing as his fingers travel up and down the neck of the guitar and a cheerful melody from the amp surrounds Baekhyun. By the time Chanyeol sets down the instrument, Baekhyun feels warm and at home, and he has no idea when he started smiling.
“So, if you put all of that together, there it is! Apart from the ending, still working on that,” Chanyeol announces. “What did you think?”
“I liked it,” Baekhyun answers honestly, “what’s it called?”
“It’s called Earlier,” Chanyeol chuckles at Baekhyun’s thoughtful face, taking a seat beside him on the long sofa, pulling his legs up and toeing his beat up sneakers off. “It’s supposed to be a love story. This guy really likes this girl but she hardly knows him, so he’s trying to think of a way to tell her about how he feels, meanwhile all he can think about is all the things they could be doing if they just got together earlier. At the end, they get together and she agrees. It was originally why didn’t we do this earlier but everyone said it was too long.”
“It’s cute,” the brunet hums the riff under his breath, “and catchy. Can I get a copy of it?”
Chanyeol lowers his head apologetically, “sorry, I don’t have any hard copies of anything, other than written notes but I doubt that would be helpful.” Baekhyun nods in agreement. “Um, do you want to hear the rest of the album?”
Baekhyun laughs. “Why not?” Then he watches as Chanyeol leaps off the sofa like an excited child and hugs the acoustic to his chest.
-
It’s dark when Baekhyun leaves, the beginnings of a timeline in his head. Chanyeol walks him all the way to the train station, decked out in a dark trenchcoat and large sunglasses. Baekhyun tells him he looks absurd, Chanyeol insists that this is what he always wears in public, and it’s not weird at all. Judging from the stares of bystanders, Baekhyun begs to differ.
The ride home is silent in comparison and as soon as Baekhyun reaches his apartment, he remembers Yifan’s threat and dives for his phone lost in the folds of the couch. He calls two numbers and turns the living room area into a giant storyboard. Once he’s done, there’s a knock on his door.
“You guys really don’t waste any time, do you?” Baekhyun greets, throwing open his door. And sure, they might look a little more mature and exhausted from nine to five jobs, but they’re both the same.
“Why would we pass up a reunion?” Jongdae grins, tired eyes flashing with mischief. He lets himself into Baekhyun’s apartment, throwing his things beside the materials on the floor. “Hmm. It’s cute, but our penthouse is much better, wouldn’t you agree, Sehun?”
The younger is much less overt, giving Baekhyun a brief hug before cautiously stepping into the apartment. “I like it,” he says, yawning and making his way over to the couch, “it’s less to clean.” He lies down and his pink hair clashes amongst the brown cushions.
Jongdae smiles fondly at the young boy, still dressed in a tight-fitting suit. “He had to deal with a couple A-lists today. Poor kid,” he yanks a blanket off the back of the couch and tucks the younger in. “This is exactly like finals week.”
“Exactly,” Baekhyun agrees with a laugh, “so, you ready?”
“Ready. What are we doing?” Jongdae removes his jacket and throws it atop Sehun, rolling up his sleeves and sitting cross-legged by the storyboard.
“Music video. It’s romantic, and I’ve got a pretty good idea already.”
“Great. Let’s go.”
-
Jongdae leaves right after the first light of dawn creeps into Baekhyun’s studio apartment. With a barely conscious Sehun on his shoulder, he promises to book the venues and calls for a cab. With the deadline, only with Jongdae’s links and sweet-talking could Baekhyun hope to nab all the filming locations he wants and needs.
His email to Yifan receives an instant reply.
I like it. It’s creepy, but cute.
Make it happen.
-Yifan
Baekhyun rolls his eyes and slams his laptop closed, crawling into bed.
-
As soon as he wakes up in the afternoon, he orders takeout and digs through his contacts list until he finds the name he’s looking for.
“Hello, Do Kyunsoo, how may I help you?”
Baekhyun sighs in relief. “Hey, it’s me, Baekhyun, from high school?”
“Baekhyun!” Kyungsoo shouts from the other end. “How are you? I haven’t seen you since graduation!”
Baekhyun laughs. Kyungsoo was always friendly. “I’m good. Hey, I was wondering if I could talk to you? Maybe meet up somewhere for breakfast tomorrow?”
“That sounds great!” Kyungsoo agrees enthusiastically. “I can meet you around eight at this nice place beside my office building. Do you need any directions?”
“No, I think I know where that is.”
“Awesome! Well, I have to go, I’ll see you then!”
Baekhyun smiles as the line goes dead and pumps his fist in celebration. This is going better than he could ever imagine.
-
“So, how is it being a talent scout?”
Kyungsoo looks up from his blueberry scone. “I love it,” he declares with the wide grin that hasn’t left his face since Baekhyun stepped foot in the cafe. “I love finding people with raw talent and giving them the chance to develop it and go somewhere else. Oh! I saw my first on the television last night, she was getting interviewed by the national news. She still calls me sometimes, she’s so nice.”
Baekhyun smiles warmly in response. “You think everyone’s nice.”
“Only if it’s true.”
Baekhyun laughs and rolls his eyes, trying not to feel inadequate in his unwashed ratty sweater across from Kyungsoo’s neatly combed, buttoned business shirt perfection. “I was wondering if you could help me out.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m trying to make a video. A music video,” the older brunet explains, brushing the crumbs from his front. “I need someone to play one of the leads. A nice, cute girl… do you know what I mean?”
Kyungsoo nods, “I know exactly what you mean. I have one girl, she can be temperamental at times, but she’s lovely. So is her agent. You shouldn’t have any problems convincing them if you tell her your situation. Also her labelmate might come, but she’s no problem.”
“Oh, okay,” Baekhyun says, accepting the proffered card and pocketing it immediately. He stands and Kyungsoo looks suddenly and deeply sad. “Well, I guess this is goodbye.”
“Yeah,” Kyungsoo mumbles, fiddling with the cardboard sleeve of his plain coffee. “But, we should really, really do this again. It’s been too long.”
“It has,” Baekhyun agrees with a sad sigh. “Hey, do you maybe want to come see how filming’s going sometime?”
“Yeah! That would be great!”
Baekhyun returns the giant grin Kyungsoo’s wearing. “Awesome. I’ll call you with a time and place!”
“Soon!” Kyungsoo demands with a mock stern expression. Baekhyun chuckles and shouts back an agreement before he pushes open the glass door.
-
He leaves his mess of an apartment the next day to dart into his office to get some supplies. His entire abode is covered with masses of paper depicting scenes, ideas, and to do lists. The walk to the run down office building is a nice change.
The old lady at the reception stops him as soon as he closes the door. “You’re the advertisement guy, right?”
It’s not worth correcting. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“You’ve had some guy coming to your office every day. It’s annoying. If you’re not going to be here, tell him,” she says sternly, wrinkles accentuating her displeasure. “He’s up there right now.”
Baekhyun takes off. He has no idea who would come. The landlord? An angry toothpaste customer? The possibilities are endless.
But then he rounds the corner and it’s none of the above because there’s a tall man in a trenchcoat, glasses, and stupid snapback standing in front of his door.
“Chanyeol Park, what are you doing here?” Baekhyun greets, feeling pleased when Chanyeol jumps. He neatly nudges the man aside so that he can unlock his door and step inside.
“You haven’t been to your office in a while,” Chanyeol notes, sticking his head into the tiny room.
Baekhyun nods. “It’s stuffy and smells bad. I’ve been holed up in my apartment for a couple days now. I just came by to grab a couple things. If I’d known you were going to wait for me like a lost puppy, I would’ve told you.”
“I wasn’t,” Chanyeol starts with a pout, then stops and watches as Baekhyun bends down to pull out a crate from under his desk. He sets it to the side with a grunt and then yanks free a pile of multi-colored folders filled with important things from college he’d kept just for this reason. He sets them all on top of the crate and hefts it up, arms trembling under the weight.
“Do you need help?”
Baekhyun considers saying no, that he’s fine by himself, but this guy has been waiting outside his office for days and this crate is heavy. Really heavy. “You get the crate, I’ll carry the folders?”
“Got it.”
And then the weight is gone and Baekhyun smiles up at Chanyeol in thanks. The taller seems to have no troubles with the crate and Baekhyun locks the office behind them, leading the way back to his apartment. The receptionist gives them a look as they exit, but Baekhyun ignores her.
Chanyeol has to duck slightly so that his head doesn’t hit the doorway. “This place is tiny.”
“Maybe for you,” Baekhyun allows, shedding his jacket. “But it’s just about the right size for me. You can set the crate on the couch.” He watches as Chanyeol gently releases the crate and then stands in the corner, looking lost. “You can take off your disguise, if you want. Are you thirsty? I have water and crackers. Yum.”
“I’m fine,” the taller says with a dismissive wave, slowly peeling off his jacket and removing both his glasses and hat. He’s wearing a cable-knit sweater and brown slacks beneath and looks very warm. Baekhyun is jealous.
“Well, I was just going to get started on the script. So you’re free to do whatever.”
“I don’t have anywhere to be, and Tao and Jongin are busy making changes to their parts of the song. They think it’ll be harder to play live the way it is right now, and I don’t want to get in their way.”
“Oh, alright then,” Baekhyun sits himself on the floor, shivering as the cold from the wood seeps through his jeans. “Make yourself at home. If you need anything, just tell me.” And then he gets to work.
-
Baekhyun’s gotten as far as he can possibly be without a song, actors, and set dates for filming so he takes a break and Chanyeol talks him into pizza.
“I usually don’t get pizza,” Baekhyun begins, eyeing the trail of cheese hanging from the bottom of his slice hungrily, “because it lies around for days afterward.”
“Not a problem, I’ll have it all gone,” Chanyeol assures with a wide smile. With the rate he’s going, Baekhyun believes him.
“So, what’s your story?” Baekhyun has given up. He’s had three slices and he’s done, fine with just watching as Chanyeol continues to devour slice after slice.
“Huh?”
Baekhyun laughs at the dumb expression. “Your tattoos! You told me when Tao and Jongin got theirs, but you never said when you got yours.”
“Oh, um, right,” Chanyeol sits up a bit straighter, licking the grease from the tips of his fingers. “Well, I actually was tattoo free until I graduated from high school.”
“What?”
“It’s true!”
“No way!” Baekhyun exclaims in mock shock.
“Believe it!” Chanyeol grins. “I got my ear pierced before I met the guys, and then I ran into them at an open mic night. Literally.”
“Literally?”
“Yeah, I almost broke Tao’s bass. He still hasn’t really forgiven me. But then after that we started having jam sessions and Tao showed me the place where he got all of his stuff done. That’s around the time when I got the eyebrow and both cartilages,” he fingers the piercings thoughtfully, “when the first company turned us down, I went out and got my back done in one sitting and told them we weren’t giving up.”
“What’s on your back?”
“Secret.” Chanyeol holds a finger to his lips and grins at Baekhyun’s frown. “When the second place told us we weren’t quite ready yet, I got a design on my chest and Jongin got the one on his ankle. Tao talked us into going to The Machine a week after and they gave us a callback. I got the sleeves and we celebrated. The day our first album was released, I had my neck done and Jongin made me wear a scarf. I don’t regret any of them and I think they make me… me, y’know?”
Baekhyun smiles. “Yeah. Are any of them special?”
Chanyeol flops down on the floor, pizza still in hand. “Jongin and Tao designed pretty much all of them, so yeah. They’re all special,” he stops when he sees Baekhyun give a slight shiver. “Get down here. It’s warm.”
Baekhyun rolls his eyes dubiously. “The floor is warm?”
“Very.”
“Right,” the brunet agrees with a sarcastic lilt, eyes on the strewn storyboard so he completely misses Chanyeol’s long arms when they grab him around his midsection and yank him down so that Baekhyun’s head is on Chanyeol’s stomach. The taller holds him down, laughing while the other squirms in his grasp, loosening the grip when Baekhyun stills. “Huh. I guess it is a bit warmer.”
“Told you.”
Baekhyun smiles and yawns. “Maybe we could take a quick break?”
Chanyeol nods. “Sounds good. Five minutes?”
“Five minutes tops,” Baekhyun affirms sleepily, cushioning his head on the taller man’s stomach. Just as all he’s nodding off, he suddenly realizes how firm the musician’s abdomen is. In his sleepy state, he wonders just how muscled the man is.
-
When he opens his eyes, it’s light outside.
“Shit,” Baekhyun says with feeling, about to stand up when he realizes he’s weighed down by something. He looks down and sees and arm around his waist and then he remembers. Gently peeling off the limb and leaving Chanyeol to continue sleeping on the floor, he goes about organizing the hundreds of papers lying all over his living room and makes himself something steaming hot and full of caffeine. Shaking his arm awake, he reaches for a business card and dials the number into his phone.
By the time Chanyeol begins grumbling, Baekhyun’s called and secured a part for the female lead in the video, and he’s adding specifics to his mess of an outline. He’d thrown a blanket over the sleeping guest, but Chanyeol had kicked it off almost immediately.
“What time is it?” The pincushion of a man asks groggily.
“A little after nine.”
“In the morning?” Chanyeol groans. “Why are you awake?”
“I have work to do,” Baekhyun pauses halfway through writing a word to spare his client a glance. “Do you want coffee or something?”
“Coffee would be great.”
“Cream? Sugar?”
“Black.”
Baekhyun screws up his face but gets up to start the pot anyway. He takes his with arguably too much cream and sugar, then places the mug of liquid death beside Chanyeol. He takes a large sip, then almost spits it out when he checks his email.
Meeting at 10 am.
Bring everyone involved.
-Yifan
Baekhyun checks the clock on the oven. It’s quarter past nine. He swears and starts gathering up the storyboard, working around a dazed Chanyeol. He stuffs everything he can into a bag and quickly smashes in the number he had dialed less than an hour ago.
“Whoa, what’s the rush?” The grounded man asks, taking measured sips from his paint-splattered mug.
“Meeting in half an hour,” Baekhyun forces out, thanking the person on the other line and then hanging up, dashing over to his dresser to reach for a pair of jeans that might boost his self-esteem if he’s in the same room as Yifan. He hears Chanyeol curse behind him and struggle into a seated position.
They both work around each other, Baekhyun trying to look like he actually got a decent amount of sleep and Chanyeol trying to look like he didn’t sleep on the floor. They leave in a rush of flying papers and unzipped jeans. Chanyeol points it out and Baekhyun turns a bright shade of red before pushing the laughing man away and jogging down the stairs double-time after he’s fixed it. The train’s just about to leave and they make it with a second to spare, laughing breathlessly as the train pulls out of the station.
Baekhyun visibly relaxes when they enter the same conference room and it’s empty except for two well-dressed women. They smile at him and he returns it, holding out a hand as they stand.
“Thank you so much for agreeing to come on such late notice.”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” the dark-haired woman dressed in a business suit laughs, “Krystal had a free schedule today so we would’ve just been sitting on the couch watching romcoms anyway. So you’re Baekhyun, the director?” At Baekhyun’s nod, she smiles and gestures to herself. “I’m Amber Liu, the babysitter-”
The long-haired girl beside her slaps her arm and she grins.
“This is Krystal Jung, my charge. And I’m going to go ahead and assume that he is-”
“Chanyeol Park!” Krystal interrupts, then blushes and slaps a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I’m a fan. I went to a concert once, you guys were great.”
Chanyeol brightens. “No kidding! It was probably all Jongin; I’m horrible live.”
“We know. That’s why we have to pre-record, just in case.” Jongin and Tao enter at that moment, looking exhausted and irritable. “Where is Yifan?”
Amber perks at the name.
“Alright, is everyone here?” Yifan asks, stepping into the room, Yixing a shadow behind him. Without looking up, he continues. “Okay so we’re going to have to start filming s-what are you doing here?”
Amber grins. “Looks like we’re working together on this one, Fan.”
Yifan stills and it looks like his feathers have been ruffled. Baekhyun takes a seat, hiding a smile. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but it’s amusing seeing Yifan out of his element.
“We’ll talk about this later,” he hisses, then glances back down at an absurdly large notebook in his hands. “Filming. Baekhyun, do you have locations?”
“Yes.”
“A crew?”
“Yes.”
He snaps the book shut, eyebrow cocked. “Well then. Could you start filming two days from now?”
Baekhyun grits his teeth. He’d been hoping for a little more time than that. “It would be hard, but not impossible,” he allows. He’s going to be up all night making phone calls, he can feel it.
“Excellent. Send me the location and time and I’ll be there to watch. Now, could everyone please leave? I have some business with Ms. Liu.”
Amber leans back in the standard leather chair. “Ooh, scandalous.”
Everyone else evacuates, including a disgruntled Tao and Jongin who agree to hide in the practice rooms and nap until Yifan finds them. Baekhyun heads for the elevator, making a mental list of all the people he’ll need to talk to call, but is stopped. He stares at the hand on his wrist and then at the tall brunette.
“Sorry,” Krystal says, letting go, “I just wanted to thank you.”
Baekhyun lets a smile work its way onto his face. “It’s really no problem. You came highly recommended. I should be thanking you!”
She laughs and Chanyeol walks over. “Oh, also, would it be okay if my friend comes to watch the filming? She’s filming a movie right now, but she’s got a few days off this week. She’s not a problem, you won’t even notice her.”
Baekhyun nods. “It’s no problem.”
“The more the merrier,” Chanyeol agrees, glancing into the conference room where Yifan’s shouting something at Amber, who’s resting her feet on the table and grinning. “Well, do you want to walk around while they do that?”
Yixing looks up from his phone. “You’ve got a half an hour, at least.”
Krystal shrugs. “Sounds good.”
“Then let’s go!” Chanyeol grins, reaching for Baekhyun’s hand. The shorter man pulls back.
“I can’t,” Baekhyun begins, hanging back to hit the elevator button. “I have to secure locations, call up the crew, finish the script, and you have to finish the song!”
Chanyeol blinks. “It’s been finished.”
“What? Since when?”
“Um, right after the first meeting.”
“Then could you send it to me?”
Chanyeol stares down at his hands. “Sure. No problem.”
“Alright.” The elevator dings and Baekhyun reluctantly steps inside, stomach churning when Chanyeol and Krystal link arms and walk down the hall. It’s a completely irrational feeling, so he convinces himself that it’s because he has to go home and work instead of staying and messing around with Chanyeol. He sighs and waits for the doors to close so he can get to the lobby.
“Wait!” An arm shoots out just before the doors close.
“Chanyeol, what-”
The man quickly pulls Baekhyun over and whispers into his ear, “I’m so glad I picked you.” And then he’s gone.
Baekhyun stands frozen as the doors shut and his heart struggles to break through his chest.
-
He’s standing under a tree because the area he had reserved is pretty popular and the only time he could get it was the first day of filming. So, here Baekhyun stands beside his camera crew. It’s gloomy out, and Baekhyun would say that it reflects his mood because he’s been holed up in his apartment staring at pieces of paper until his eyes water, surviving off of take out and coffee, and, perhaps most importantly, with no-
“Is it supposed to be this dark?”
Baekhyun turns to face Yifan, Yixing not far behind. “It’s because of the clouds. I’ve got someone working on it.” And then, almost immediately, the area he’d taped out as where they’d have the filming is cast with a bright glow and the trees groan.
A brunet makes his way down the trunk and jumps from the lowest branch, landing shakily on his feet. He brushes himself off, then sends Baekhyun a thumbs up. “Did it, Baek.”
Baekhyun smiles back. “Thanks, Joonmyun. You can take a break until everyone else gets here.”
“And when exactly will that be?”
Baekhyun glares at Yifan. “Well, you know, considering you’re two hours early, I’d say not for a while.” He can see the taller man searching for a reply, but rolls his eyes and walks away before he can be hit with one.
Luckily, a trailer pulls up in the improvised parking lot behind them, an empty clearing free of trees and endangered species of grass. Baekhyun grins and dashes over, swinging open the door.
“Jesus,” Sehun complains, startling and dropping a huge brush. He dusts himself off and glares at Baekhyun. “Don’t you know how to knock?”
“Thanks again,” the brunet says instead of apologizing, placing a hand on the younger’s shoulder and laughing as it’s shrugged off. “I’ll get the money to you as soon-”
“If you even think about paying me, I will leave.” Sehun threatens, eyes hard.
“Hey!”
Sehun jumps out of his chair and slams the case of foundation onto the cluttered desk in front of him. “Since neither of you seem to know how to knock, get out. Come back when it’s something important. And knock!”
Baekhyun chuckles and pulls Jongdae outside, where they talk until expensive cars pull up in front of them and the remaining staff and necessary persons appear. It’s only after Baekhyun thanks the caterer and the van drives away that he makes his way over to the lounging cameramen.
“Are we ready?” He asks the grinning man to his right, only his attention is diverted when something slams into the back of his chair.
“I’m so sorry I’m late!” Chanyeol exclaims, out of breath and hair a mess. “I woke up late and had to take a taxi because my car broke down.”
Baekhyun blinks. “Um, it’s no problem. We’re still getting ready.” Then he remembers why he’s so upset today and his eyes narrow. “I never got the song.”
Chanyeol laughs nervously. “Right. About that. It’s not exactly done yet… but it’ll be finished by the end of the week I promise!”
“The end of the…” Baekhyun really doesn’t know why he tries. He doesn’t. He can see all of this just being a huge failure. He glances at Kris and shivers. He should’ve just become a doctor. But, then he looks back at Chanyeol and the six foot man has his puppy eyes trained on him and Baekhyun finds himself, inexplicably and probably stupidly, trusting him. “Alright.”
Chanyeol grins. “Thank you! And wow, did you pick out two female leads?”
“What, n-” Baekhyun realizes he’s talking about Luhan, who’s beginning to simmer beside his camera. Minseok launches himself out of his seat and tackles the slightly taller man, reminding him what the therapist said and that he shouldn’t let anger get the best of him. Baekhyun sighs and points to the trailer behind him. “Just go over there and let Sehun take care of everything.” He receives a nod and then he turns to Luhan to apologize. The man assures him everything is okay with a forced smile, teeth gritted. Minseok watches worriedly from the side.
All in all, it’s not the worst that could happen. The day is dark and the weather is dreary, not the ideal for a romantic feel, but Baekhyun can work with it. They start just a little after the planned time, which is fine. He can deal with that. What he can’t deal with, though, is an unforeseen six foot tall issue.
Chanyeol is impossible to work with. It’s almost magic, how seconds after Minseok and Luhan start recording, Chanyeol breaks out into laughter and they have to start again. Baekhyun supposes he should feel as mad as Krystal looks, turning to glare at Amber who only shrugs helplessly. But he’s not. Baekhyun just can’t be mad at Chanyeol, doesn’t see how anyone could, honestly. So it’s after a couple hours of wasted film that Baekhyun calls a break and pulls Chanyeol over.
“I know what this is about.”
Baekhyun nods.
“I’m sorry.”
Baekhyun nods again.
“It’s just,” Chanyeol groans, “I can’t help it.”
“I know,” Baekhyun sighs, “just, could you try?” He tries to squash the feeling of hopefulness as Chanyeol gives him a determined nod.
He waits until everyone’s finished drowning their sorrows in food and Sehun’s done touch ups before setting the scene again and slumping back in his chair. He really isn’t surprised when Chanyeol’s face splits into a manic grin first take, but then the man is facing him.
“This next one. I’m going to get it this time.”
Bakehyun nods, ignoring Krystal’s scoff, nodding to Luhan and Minseok to start. And then, to everyone’s surprise, Chanyeol nails it. Baekhyun doesn’t want to test his luck, so he just has the two do the same scene over again, but it’s perfect. It’s like that for the rest of the day, so by the time the sun’s starting to set, they have four takes from every angle possible and everyone has a smile on their face.
Baekhyun is the last to leave, checking through his notes to double-check that everything is complete and that he has everything ready for tomorrow, when two heavily tattooed arms wrap themselves around his neck.
“Hey, Chanyeol.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?” Baekhyun hums, attention elsewhere.
“For believing me.” He gives the shorter man a quick squeeze before dashing over to his ride, a city taxi. Baekhyun waves as it drives away, notes forgotten.
He’s warm all the way home, cheeks rosy.
-
They have the warehouse for two days. It’s where they’re going to take most of the footage, and the basis for Baekhyun’s ideas. All the others come in the afternoon, after Baekhyun’s set up everything with the help of a few guys Jongdae knows, who do a great job for less. Baekhyun has to agree with him. In a matter of hours, they have the front room of a house set up along with a light pole and a park bench across from what’s painted to look like a street.
Having a warehouse means bathrooms in the back, both which Sehun claims as dressing rooms, setting up all his things and brushing Jongdae and Baekhyun away so that they won’t mess up his momentum.
Krystal and Amber bring along the labelmate, a small girl named Jinri who promises to stay out of everyone’s way. Baekhyun gives her his chair and says that he was planning to stand anyway. Jongdae leaves as more people start arriving, hiding out with Sehun in the transformed bathrooms to start editing the footage from the other day.
Yifan is late and Baekhyun is satisfied when he stumbles in looking a little less than perfect, explaining that he pulled an all-nighter with Yixing and the other man is still home, but he had to come in and make sure that Baekhyun wouldn’t mess anything up.
Since they have two days, Baekhyun decides that with the limited time today, they’re just going to film the intro he has planned out, save the most important parts for tomorrow.
Chanyeol stumbles in with a grin on his face, piercings glinting in the artificial light. Against his better judgement, Baekhyun had decided to let him keep them in because they’re just as much a part of Chanyeol as the tattoos covering his back and the snapbacks he seems to have on hand at every moment, one slapped on his head as soon as Baekhyun looks away.
Filming goes considerably better, the only mishaps occurring when Chanyeol walks straight into the aluminum pole; and Krystal trips down the stairs, Amber reaching her side before Chanyeol, who was only a mere four steps away. Sehun unhelpfully yells that his shoe choice would have been so much better and Joonmyun barks a laugh from atop the light pole, where he’s replacing the dud bulb.
Everyone leaves in a rush, all except Baekhyun stretched out across three chairs, reviewing Luhan and Minseok’s footage again. His eyes are just starting to droop when an arm snakes around his stomach, yanking him up. Bakehyun’s shocked for all of three seconds before he sees an inked vine out of the corner of his eye and relaxes. “I thought you went home.”
“Same here.”
Baekhyun sighs. “You should go home. You need to look nice and not-tired so Sehun can mold you into a lovesick teenager.”
“Shouldn’t be that hard,” Chanyeol muses, arm tightening around Baekhyun so he can sit on the chair the brunet had his head on, situating the shorter man so he’s leaning against his side.
Baekhyun drops the footage on his lap, eyelids closing against his will. “So what is it today? I haven’t done anything to be thanked for.”
Chanyeol shrugs, starting when it jostles Baekhyun, but thankfully the other man stays still against his side. “Just wanted some alone time with the director, so I can make sure that he makes me look good.”
Baekhyun laughs. “So not an issue.” He can feel Chanyeol chuckling behind him and it’s like a lullaby.
He wakes up at intervals, hears a car door slammed shut, his address said aloud, and then he’s out again until he hears someone tell him, “goodnight.” He mumbles back a reply and rolls onto his stomach, burying his face into his pillow.
-
Kyungsoo meets Baekhyun at the door when the sun’s barely risen. The talent scout looks exhausted and frozen. Baekhyun says as much and earns a heated glare.
“I picked up this really nice bouquet of flowers that I was going to give you but you know what?” The man hums, “I don’t really feel like it anymore.”
Baekhyun gasps. “Gimme!”
Kyungsoo shifts on his feet. “Actually, I only placed the order. I just wanted to make sure this was the right place. I’ll be back later.” He turns on his heel and then he’s gone.
Baekhyun laughs and reaches out to unlock the door, frowning when it’s already unlocked. Only he, Yifan, and Jongdae and Sehun have the key, the latter in case they forgot anything and the former because he demanded it. Baekhyun can’t see any of them deliberately getting here this early, so he quickly pushes open the door, face to face with a pitch-black room. He fumbles for the overhead lights and flicks the switch.
As the room comes to life, so do the speakers placed around the room, filling the entire space with a subtle beat accompanied by a few strums after a couple seconds. Baekhyun stands still, stunned as the room continues to echo the rhythm, and then a voice accompanies it. Probably only a few minutes pass, but Baekhyun feels like he’s standing there for years, enveloped by a slightly gravelly voice that really shouldn’t go with a song about love, but it does. When it comes to an end, he sees a brown head pop up from behind one of the speakers and realizes his eyes are watering. He quickly wipes a sleeve over his face and meets hazel eyes.
“Did you like it?”
“It’s,” Baekhyun stops, embarrassed to find that his voice is coming out broken. He clears his throat and tries again. “It’s really nice, Chanyeol.”
A thousand-watt smile lights up the man’s face and Baekhyun sucks in a breath.
“Let’s go!” Sehun shouts, throwing open the door, sparing a questioning look for the two men before gasping and running over to Chanyeol, stabbing a finger at the purple bags Baekhyun completely missed. “What are these? Did you even sleep last night? You know what, I don’t care. Come with me.”
Jongdae shrugs helplessly as the two disappear behind the door to the girl’s bathroom, where Sehun has all of his make up stored. He merely holds out a hand and accepts yesterday’s footage from Baekhyun.
As everyone else files in, Baekhyun settles himself in for the last day of filming, smiling as Jinri quietly sits down beside him and outright grinning as Jongin and Tao, who had woken up before noon for the event, coo at Chanyeol when he emerges from the dressing room and Sehun moves onto Krystal, who already looks practically perfect.
Someone sits down on Baekhyun’s left side and a huge bouquet is dropped onto his lap. He gasps and picks it up, admiring the rainbow of flowers and nudging Kyungsoo with his shoulder. “You shouldn’t have.”
“I wanted to help,” the other shrugs, surveying the scene before them, Minseok and Luhan setting up whilst Joonmyun adjusts the lights from above. “This is pretty nice. You did a really nice job.”
“It’s not done yet,” Baekhyun chastises, nose buried in the bouquet. “But maybe when I’m done, we’ll have two successful graduates from our year. Then it won’t just be you bragging at reunions.”
“Three.”
“What?”
“Three,” Kyungsoo corrects. “It’ll have three successful graduates.”
Baekhyun frowns. “But who is…”
“You mean you don’t know?” Kyungsoo’s eyes widen significantly, eyebrows shooting up. “Chanyeol was in our grade, Baekhyun. I mean, we didn’t have any classes with him, but you’d see him in the library and at lunch sometimes.” He pauses, laughing at Baekhyun’s continued silence. “You really didn’t know?”
Baekhyun stares at the laughing musician, poking fun at Tao and Jongin while Yifan watches with a displeased frown and Yixing laughs along.
“He was really quiet,” Kyungsoo continues, “didn’t have any tattoos back then. Had these huge glasses, though.”
Baekhyun continues to stare. Then Krystal emerges from the dressing room and he’s forced to stand up and explain the scene, fighting to keep his eyes from lingering on Chanyeol for too long. He resigns himself to his seat while a love story is reenacted in front of him. He wonders how he could have missed someone like Chanyeol, because right now he doesn’t seem to be able to take his eyes off of him.
Tao and Jongin meander over during lunch and congratulate Baekhyun on a job well done.
“But I’m not done yet.”
They share a look. “We can’t get Chanyeol to focus for five seconds let alone a full hour. You’ve already done more than enough.”
Baekhyun frowns as the final scene comes up. He unwillingly rises and motions Krystal and Chanyeol over, bouquet clutched between his hands. He gives the two meaningful looks. “This is the last scene. I want you two to do everything you can to make sure this is a one take.” He’s worried about the flowers. He unwillingly hands them over to Chanyeol and makes his way back to his seat, ignoring the twist in his stomach when Krystal leans over to whisper something in Chanyeol’s ear. It’s probably hunger. He hasn’t eaten yet.
Everyone takes their places. Baekhyun calls out for the filming to start. It’s a little cliché, but Baekhyun was under a time restraint. Chanyeol will knock on the front door of the red house, Krystal will open it, lovesick Chanyeol gives her the bouquet and professes his love. Scene ends with her throwing her arms around him. Fade to black. Everyone’s happy.
So Baekhyun’s not exactly sure what’s going on when Chanyeol turns towards him instead of the model house, taking slow, deliberate steps forward. He looks around, but no one else seems to have a problem with this, Minseok and Luhan following his every move.
Chanyeol marches right up to him, lowers himself onto one knee, and presents the bouquet to Baekhyun, who accepts it with numb fingers. Then three words leave Chanyeol’s mouth and Baekhyun can’t breathe. He crushes the stems in his grip and looks up to see everyone, everyone, staring at him.
“Cut.”
-
Baekhyun stares down at the assortment of flowers. They are very pretty. He doesn’t know how long he’s been staring at them, just knows that he’s been hiding out in the women’s room since Chanyeol gave him the bouquet.
His head snaps up when the door opens, but he goes straight back to looking at his feet.
Chanyeol looks extremely apologetic, head hung low so that the beginnings of the design on his back are visible above his shirt. “I’m-”
“Am I the only one who didn’t know?” Baekhyun interrupts, not wanting to hear an apology. He remembers the secret smile on Krystal’s face and has been wondering that ever since he could breathe normally again.
“Not,” Chanyeol starts, stops, takes a deep breath, then tries again. “Jongin and Tao were the only ones who knew before. I told everyone else today.”
Baekhyun nods slowly. “But, I mean, why me? You’ve known me for a little over a week.”
Chanyeol sighs and jumps up on the counter so that he’s sitting about a foot away, staring at his hands. “Would you believe me if I told you that an awkward, geeky kid had a huge crush on you back in high school that he never let go?”
Baekhyun laughs, face buried in between flower petals. “And then?”
“And then he tried to think of a really good reason for seeing him.” Chanyeol kicks at the air. “I really did want to make a solo album though. Jongin and Tao aren’t romantics.”
Baekhyun hums. “I am.”
The taller man straightens and moves a bit closer. “Hey… do you maybe want to get coffee or something sometime?”
“No,” Baekhyun hums, studying the already wilting flowers. “but maybe you can take me out to dinner instead.” He laughs as Chanyeol punches his shoulder and then he’s lifted off the counter, flowers forgotten beside a sink as Chanyeol spins them in a circle.
Baekhyun thinks this is a much better ending.
-
Chanyeol manages to convince everyone to keep Baekhyun in the music video, despite Baekhyun’s whining and Yifan’s arguing.
Jongin and Tao eventually give up and the solo album isn’t really a solo album anymore.
But Chanyeol still dedicates every single song to Baekhyun.