Eye of the Beholder | EXO | Lay x Chen | ChenXing

Eye of the Beholder

Going to photoshoots was still something Jongdae had yet to get used to. He should be used to it, really, he'd been a model for five years now. A top model even, if you listened to his manager. He sat in the passenger seat of the van and picked at his fingers. His manager slapped his hand.

Jongdae pouted, "Minseok hyung..."

"Don't pick, Jongdae. You never know when a photographer is going to want to take a picture of those little baby hands."

"Hyung~" Jongdae whined, "My hands aren't that small!"

"Fine, they're not that small. Just stop picking at them, they won't look nice on camera if you've picked them bloody."

"Sorry," Jongdae said.

Minseok nodded and Jongdae sat on his hands, leaning his head on the window to watch the buildings rush by. It was still early in the morning so fog coated the windows and made it hard for him to see any of the words on the buildings, but he didn't mind either way. As long as Minseok could get them to their location, he wasn't too worried about his surroundings. Their van began to slow down and Jongdae sat straighter in his seat. He pulled the sun visor down and began to fiddle with his hair. Sure he was going to get his hair and makeup done soon, but he liked to look at least a little bit put together when he first came into a shoot.

They parked in a spot close to the entrance and Jongdae gave himself a full-body shake. Minseok gave him an exasperated eye roll and Jongdae pouted grumpily at him. Minseok laughed and ruffled his hair.

"Hyung!" Jongdae shouted.

Minseok laughed even harder and got out of the van. Jongdae huffed and followed him out, trying desperately to fix his hair. He followed Minseok up the short sidewalk and into the large warehouse he would be shooting in. The door opened with a jingle and they were immediately greeted by loud shouts of "hello" from all around them. Jongdae greeted them all with a bright smile and a bow of his own.

The warehouse was large and pretty empty, but one portion had a tall white backdrop and a rack of clothes next to it. He could see the photographer setting up the space, taking test shots of a clearly awkward intern who kept showing peace signs to the woman behind the camera. Jongdae held back the chuckle he could feel at the sight and allowed himself a warm smile.

"Chen-ssi, we're so happy to have you here! It's an honor to work with you, really," the director said to him.

Jongdae avoided flinching at his words (he really needed to pay attention to his surroundings more), and replied, "Please, the honor is mine. I'm so excited for the photoshoot."

He could practically feel Minseok's proud smile at his answer and allowed a staff member to lead him to wardrobe. The stylist shoved him into a loose flowing white shirt and a soft pair of pink shorts. The hairstylist worked just as quickly, curling his hair and dusting his ash blonde hair with a pink color that he wasn't sure if it was permanent or not. He figured it wouldn't be too bad either way, as it looked pretty in the mirror. The whirlwind ended when he was seated in front of the makeup artist.

The makeup artist sat him down in a chair and then stared at him. The makeup artist was... handsome. He had dark black hair and a prettily pointed nose. His eyes were intense and Jongdae felt like he was shrinking under his gaze. The man held Jongdae's jaw lightly and turned his head to the side. Jongdae blushed. The man smiled and a deep dimple appeared in his cheek.

"What's your name?" Jongdae asked.

The man smiled, his voice musical as he spoke, "Yixing."

"Yi...xing?" Jongdae said. It felt awkward on his tongue but he liked the way it sat in his mouth.