Chapter Text
It’s another hot and humid day in Seoul, and Stray Kids tiredly trudge into their vans at 10am. It’s the week before Stay Week, and while they absolutely adore their fans, it’s a hard week. Comeback is close and so is Kingdom week. The boys, Minho especially, have been swamped with schedules after schedules. Minho cracks his neck and whines forlornly as he climbs into the car after Seungmin. The younger boy scoots to the end of the cushioned seats and Minho positions himself in between him and Jeongin. The two of them have lines to run through for their skit that day, and hence quickly fall into their practice.
Seungmin puts an arm around Minho as he says his line and Minho cheekily adds in an ad-lib to throw the younger off by putting both his legs onto the younger boy’s lap. He gets a satisfactory response from Seungmin as the latter blushes from his cheeks down to his neck and chest. Minho loves teasing the boy. He feels all of his tiredness melt away at Seungmin’s adorable reaction.
“Ahh hyung” Seungmin rolls his eyes and giggles, front teeth exposed in a wide smile. “Focus!”
Minho obliges, and they run their lines and fall asleep after finishing. Jeongin curls up in Minho’s lap and Seungmin rests his head on Minho’s shoulder. The three of them fall into a deep sleep, none of them fresh enough to appreciate the city view of concrete Seoul making way for a more verdant landscape. It takes the entourage about two hours to reach their destination. Four vans filled with staff, filming equipment and the members pull into the driveway of a plush looking rental home. The house was situated somewhere between Seoul and Sokcho, a jewel in the midst of the emerald sea and deciduous trees. The sound of cicadas fill the car as Chan rolls his window down, relishing the refreshing change from the recycled air inside their car. Beside him, Hyunjin is already pulling out his camera, rolling the film in and loading it for shots. Changbin is halfway out the car, loudly appreciating the scenic view and running down the driveway to the entrance. Felix still has his eyes closed, seated next to Jisung who’s knocked out cold. He appreciates the distant gurgle of a running stream, the crunching of the gravel under everyone’s feet and the excited buzz in the atmosphere. If the eight of them were exhausted and not looking forward to today’s schedule, it was all forgotten with the beauty around them.
The eight of them are quickly rounded up in the main hall of the house, not getting much time to explore their residence yet. Their manager explains the schedule for the day and announces that the eight of them will share the house for the night as a short break. The boys cheer noisily, and noncommittally listen to the rest of their instructions, now excited that they’d get the night off and away from their managers (who’d be staying at a nearby hotel instead). They hastily run through a rehearsal, raucously laughing through it and memorising their lines as best they can. Minho, Felix, Jeongin and Hyunjin are whisked to the makeup and dressing room first. They’d be wearing wigs and heavy makeup and would thus require the most time getting ready. The other four take their time exploring the house. It’s a modern setup, with two large bedrooms downstairs and one master bedroom upstairs, a larger than king-sized bed in the middle. Each room is softly lit and smells like shea butter. Jisung inhales the pleasant scent of freshly done laundry and the fragrance sticks. He happily bounces on his socked feet, darting from end to end by himself. Chan opens the balcony doors of each room, soaking in the calming aura of his surroundings and the low buzz of conversations and laughter around the house. Changbin and Seungmin help the staff bring in some equipment despite protests from their managers. The four of them then put on the skit costumes handed to them in one of the rooms and lounge in the living room, waiting their turn for makeup.
The other four boys are in the dining area that’s been converted into a styling room. Minho washes his face well and grabs the T-shirt and jeans handed to him by the stylist noona. He thanks her and crowds behind a curtain slung in one corner as an improvised dressing booth. He peeps out slightly from behind the heavy blue curtain, double-checking that no one is looking. All the stylists and makeup artists are busy fussing over the other three boys. Jeongin is already done, snapping pictures of himself in the full length mirror as Felix snickers behind him. Minho hangs up the white T-shirt and jeans and moves to pull his own jeans down. He carefully pulls his oversized T-shirt down to cover his lower body. He feels his face burn slightly as his fingers brush the embroidered cotton and lace covering his hip. He pulls the jeans on quickly and buttons it up. He follows with the T-shirt next, quickly pulling it over the peach coloured bralette snugly fit around his chest. He cringes at the loud “He’s Mine” printed in bold lettering on his couple T-shirt with Seungmin. There’s an equally obnoxious caricature of a finger pointing to one side slapped below the words. He scrunches up his nose in distaste.
It was no secret to the members that Minho liked wearing pretty things. He’d slowly been getting comfortable enough to wear lacey shorts under his oversized tees at the dorm and even gracefully blushed when Jisung and Felix appreciatively whistled when he wore a simple silk camisole one night. Chan nearly had an aneurysm in the showers one day when he saw Minho slapping essence on his face wearing nothing but a pair of black and white striped booty shorts lined with baby pink lace, with a towel slung around his neck. Minho had raised an eyebrow at Chan through the mirror, as if challenging him to say something. He got easily defensive by his preferences, and any criticism especially from his leader would break his heart. What Minho didn’t expect was Chan stuttering out a “p-pretty” and fleeing, face red.
Minho shakes his head to bring himself to the present. He’d never gone for a choice as bold as this one before. He was wearing a two-piece peach lingerie set, made of soft cotton embroidered with little flowers and the edges stitched with soft lace. He tucks the ugly T-shirt into his jeans and makes sure nothing is sticking out. When he checks himself out in the mirror, he’s relieved that the bralette isn’t visible beneath his T-shirt. His makeup artist ushers him to a chair placed by the large window in the room. He feels his cheeks burn under the generous sweep of a thick brush on his cheekbones. When he finally opens his eyes he gasps as he looks into a hand mirror. His entire makeup is peach-based and warm-toned. He feels his insides preen happily. He was wearing bright apricot blush, silver-gold under his eyes, shimmering peach-coloured eyeshadow and tangerine tinted lip colour. He keeps gawking as his stylist tucks his short dark hair into a hair net of sorts, and puts on a glorious brown wig. It is auburn and long, reaching down to his waist. She plaits a bit of his wig and sends him off after complimenting him on how pretty he looks. The other three boys are busy laughing and taking pictures, their wigs funny and out of place. All at once and dramatically they turn to Minho. Their jaws quite literally drop.
“Hyung-“ Jeongin.
“Oh my god.” Felix (in heavily Australian-accented English).
“Whoa,” Hyunjin.
They all exclaim at once. They start flitting around Minho, almost yelling about how pretty he looks. Minho fees his face heat up but makes funny faces at them to dispel his nervousness. He quickly makes his way out of the dining area and into the living room without thinking twice. He needed to take pictures for Stays, most importantly. What he doesn’t realise is Chan, Changbin, Seungmin and Jisung are getting ready in there. He swears as he realises it’s too late. Hell, might as well give them a show. The room falls into a stunned silence as he struts the rest of the way in.
Minho twirls a lock of the lustrous brown hair with a finger. He bats his eyelids for good measure, the sparkles in his peach eyeshadow reflecting the lights overhead.
“Hyung....” Jisung whispers almost reverently.
“That’s noona to you, baby” Minho replies cheekily, and winks.
“Well, fuck.” Chan swears.
Changbin chokes loudly and Seungmin just stares at Minho, mouth agape. Minho gives a full bellied laugh and plops himself onto the sofa they’re sitting across. He pulls out his phone and begins taking pictures, willing himself not to get flustered by Chan almost chanting how pretty he looks.
“Hyung, really, you-” Changbin sputters. “You look so pretty, what the fuck?”
Seungmin continues staring off into space as if he’s astrally projected himself to another planet and has achieved nirvana there. Seungmin’s always the one Minho’s most worried about, because he can never seem to gauge what the other is thinking. He hopes internally that the boy isn’t weirded out. Once every one is ready and positioned in the living room, they all sit down and film their introduction videos.
Minho drapes himself across Seungmin’s lap like they’d decided. Seungmin looks into his eyes with an unreadable expression. His gaze flickers to Minho’s shoulder for a quick second. Minho swears the boy turns a light pink shade all over. He doesn’t have time to process what happens next, when he feels Seungmin’s hand reach forward and pull the sleeve of his T-shirt over his shoulder. He was pretty sure it wasn’t falling off, so his breath hitches when he realises Seungmin had used it as an excuse to lightly brush his fingers over the strap of his bralette under his T-shirt. It’s the older’s turn to flush. Seungmin offers a small but unapologetic smile.
“Pretty” he whispers to Minho.
Minho swallows, not getting enough time to organise his thoughts as they begin their shooting. He keeps giggling through the filming, chest warm from the way Seungmin has his hands protectively clutched around his thighs and leaning close into him. They joke around and finish. They conclude the shooting quickly and with only a few cuts when they laughed too hard. During the game there was one time when Jisung backed him up into a corner and left him flustered without realising what he’d done. Throughout the shooting he feels the members being extra touchy around him, Hyunjin and Felix even running a finger along the back strap of his bra. He stops himself from jumping every time, secretly pleased at all the flirting and attention he was receiving. Chan is incessant with his praise after they’ve wrapped up, not stopping even when Minho playfully punches him in the stomach in retaliation.
The shooting is done by midnight and the members lounge in the living space, some in the shower and the rest on their phones. There are wigs on the floor and props strewn around the table. The stylist had offered to help Minho out of his wig but he’d politely declined, saying that he wanted to keep it on for more pictures. She and he both knew that was a lie, but she only winked at him and left. After a while, all the other members are done with their showers and are changed into pyjamas. Minho is the only one left now, he realises sadly as he moves to get himself off the floor and to the bathroom. He’d already untucked his T-shirt and taken off his shoes earlier. He feels all eyes on him as he stands.
“I’m gonna go....I’m gonna go take a shower,” he announces to no one in particular, willing himself to not sound as sour as he feels.
There’s a beat of silence and Jeongin speaks up. “Um hyung, y-you can just change into something more comfortable instead.”
Minho almost chokes. The rest of the boys smile and some hum in agreement.
“You look too pretty to take all that off just yet, Minho” Chan says sweetly, but this time there’s no hint of teasing in his voice.
Minho doesn’t know what to make of this situation. He’s not sweaty or grimy by any means, but that doesn’t mean he should stay in this ridiculous costume forever. It doesn’t help that there are seven sets of eyes eagerly watching his every move as he stands to leave. He bites his lip but says nothing as he climbs the stairs up to the bedroom where all their travel bags were piled. He looks around the bags, finds what he’s looking for and moves to the bathroom. Minho washes his face with cleanser and moisturises. He takes off the ugly T-shirt and jeans and throws them in a pile onto the floor. He swears he’s going to burn them tomorrow.
He looks at himself in the mirror: his face bare but glowing somehow, and the peach lingerie snugly fit around his hips and torso. The lace on the bottom of his panties hug his thighs flatteringly and the colour prettily compliments his milky skin. He runs his hands through the wig on his head. He undoes the braid and combs through the auburn hair with a brush. He picks a clip out of his vanity bag and pulls his hair back in a pretty style. He pulls out his personal makeup and does it like the stylist had done earlier, replacing the lip tint with flavoured lip gloss because he didn’t have anything else. He wings his eyeliner a bit more than she had and puts on mascara. He looks a whole vision, and he’s acutely aware of that. Wearing nothing but lace lingerie and a wig, fresh makeup glowing on his skin. He finally pulls out the last of his finds: a large white dress shirt. He’s not sure whose it is, but he’s pretty sure they wouldn’t mind. They shared a lot of clothes among themselves. Minho pulls it on, leaving the top few buttons undone. The shirt reaches just above his knees. He folds the sleeves up and and leaves the bathroom with a smile, feeling pretty and confident after all the praise, reassurances and touches he’d received all day.
He can hear the kids all gathered in the master bedroom. They were noisily chattering and he could hear glasses clinking too. Guess they’d pulled out the alcohol as well. Minho prances to the master bedroom on his toes and twirls as he enters. The atmosphere shifts in that instant. The ‘00 liners have seated themselves on the floor, and Jeongin is leaning against the headboard of the bed. Chan and Changbin are lying on their belly in the middle of the bed. They all turn to gawk at Minho. Hyunjin well near squeaks.
“My shirt...” He says in a daze.
“Fucking fuck” Seungmin swears this time around.
“Language, Seungmo~” Minho coos and tosses himself on the bed next to Jeongin.
His shirt rides up a little and he swears he hears someone say a quick prayer. Minho shyly crosses his legs and sits up straight. He knows that from the angle Felix and Jisung have on the floor, they can definitely see straight up his shirt and directly at his panties. They give no indication of this and just huddle closer to each other, quickly darting their eyes around. Minho smiles as Changbin passes him a glass of cinnamon whiskey.
Time to get drunk.