Chapter Text
“-dae, kim jongdae, wake up,” jongdae groaned as he hears the hushed whispers, who he knew immediately was his best friend and fellow colleague, chanyeol. another paper ball was thrown at him and jongdae would usually challenge him in one way or another, but today, he was too fucking tired.
"why?" chanyeol asks, as his friend complains of his exhaustion.
"i just flew in this morning, fuck, my flight got delayed and i came straight here after i dropped my bags off at home."
the blonde-head sighs, of course it had something to do with his side job.
"you wanted to have this life, man."
"i know that, yeol, but it's so fucking worth it," jongdae groans one last time before pulling his head off the table, "anyway, who's our new client again?"
"i don't know, minseok was pretty mum about it, but apparently, we were personally requested."
"and it's for a photobook, right? in japan?" chanyeol nods. "did he say why we were personally requested?" his friend shakes his head this time, “i mean, we are damn bloody good at what we do, right?”
jongdae agrees.
they both met in their high school’s photography club, and although there’s at least 30 of them, since joining extracurricular activities were mandatory, only a handful were actually interested in photography. the rest just… did whatever they wanted, the teacher in-charge didn’t care anyway. between the both of them, jongdae was the one that was a little more interested in taking pictures, while chanyeol was just the kid that was strumming the guitar he took from the music room (don’t worry, he’s the music teacher’s pet).
‘why didn’t you just join the music club then?’ jongdae had asked when he struck up a conversation with the other as he was intrigued by the boy with the guitar. ‘don’t wanna,’ chanyeol would shrug, as he barely looks at the other. jongdae was quite persistent, always sitting beside chanyeol during the club meetings and using his little camera to take photos around him; particularly of chanyeol, and the latter, although initially finding the other mildly annoying, soon grew to enjoy jongdae’s presence, and the rest is history.
they both then went into the same university, jongdae in photography and chanyeol in music, the latter ultimately switching majors as he decided he didn’t want to do music for a living (truthfully, he hated the theory part, or whatever). someway, somehow, chanyeol had suddenly got really into photography, and was even more avid about it than his best friend by the time they graduated. they both decided to set-up their own company, exoplanet photography, heavily supported and invested by chanyeol’s family, and lo and behold, five years later, they were one of the more popular photography companies in seoul.
there were rumours that they’re secretly boyfriends, and in spite of the very personal skinship they have with each other, they have never even kissed. jongdae’s gay, while chanyeol’s bi, but no, not even a peck. they truly treated each other like brothers, and as long as the people who matters to them knows, they didn’t really care about what other people say about them. their circle of friends also include luhan and junmyeon, as well as their manager, minseok.
“are you ever going to quit your other gig?” chanyeol asks, spinning his pen around while leaning back on his chair.
“for the million-th time, no!” jongdae groans, he was really very exhausted after the 13 hour flight from los angeles. the only reason why he didn’t just take the day off was because they had a small job to finish today, and they came as a package.
“just take the day-off jongdae,” minseok announces as he enters the room, “i’m sure yeol and i can survive by ourselves today.” jongdae only shakes his head, “i can survive 4 hours, don’t worry. just let me get some shut-eye.”
“you’ve edited your previews?” minseok asks, and jongdae nodded. “and uploaded them?” the latter nods again.
“of course, the ever so-efficient lovingbyun-nim has done all that! you’re offending the master, kim minseok!” their manager only shakes his head as he chuckles, going back to his desk to continue on his administrative tasks.
“so, how was la?”
“yeol, let him sleep for a while. you can bombard him with questions later.” god bless minseok, jongdae thinks.
so, later came (sooner than he liked).
“it was alright, of course there was a shit ton of schedules jam-packed in like, the 2 days i was there but i managed to get really good shots, and that’s all that matters.”
“isn’t super m going on tour or something?”
“yeah, next month… but it’s our busiest month too, so i’m not going to abandon you on your own. besides,” jongdae clicks his camera into place while waiting for their client to arrive, “it’s seasons’ greetings season, gotta make sure everything is on schedule so i can mail them all out on time.”
“let’s see if you can break your record of 6739 orders from last year.” jongdae shrugs, sure, lovingbyun has 200 thousand followers, but honestly, who could blame them? byun baekhyun is a fucking legend, enough said.
“hopefully, my pictures are fucking great this time man, i’m really excited.”
“the theme’s angel and devil, right?" jongdae nods. chanyeol knows everything about what he does with lovingbyun from the very first day jongdae chanced upon this new group super m at their busking event in the streets of garosu-gil.
at 15, jongdae was fucking bored. he was never the person always on their phone, instead, he occasionally goes to those gaming centres and plays for hours on end. if he's not gaming, he's at the park, using the camera his mom had gotten him for his birthday that year to take pictures. granted, they weren't the best quality, but jongdae quite enjoyed being outside and appreciating nature.
then, chanyeol came along, dragging him from one shopping street to another, and he knows that chanyeol was filthy rich, but he always thought, 'god, does he really need more fucking hats?'
he does apparently. but whatever.
one thursday after school, his best friend drags him to garosu-gil. it was the 3rd time they've been there that month, but his friend had been contemplating on this particular bag for the longest time. he finally decides to get it, jongdae could only just hope.
as always, he stands outside the store while his friend goes crazy inside by himself. jongdae takes out his camera and begins snapping a few picturesque shots of the streets at sundown, and he remembers how nice seoul sunsets always are.
then, screaming came. lots and lots of screaming. he looks towards the direction of the commotion, only to find 7 men, looking about his age or younger, dancing and singer to a big speaker at the side. he sees a lot of girls screaming, carrying fan boards, large cameras and a few almost crying. there were a lot more onlookers as well, but many had just walked past. just as jongdae was about to do the same, his eyes fell upon a pink-haired man because fuck , was he handsome as fuck. 'fuck, fuck, fuck' was all jongdae could think of in his little pubescent brain, and the second pink-haired guy started singing, jongdae falls down the metaphorical hole of byun baekhyun.
so he discovers, the group that he just saw performing - super m , he finds out through the fanchant - had just debuted only 2 weeks prior, with 'jopping' . the title was stupid, jongdae thinks, up until the 1:50 mark in the music video when baekhyun appears in all his glory and starts singing. and then the high and really long note at the end?
jongdae was never into korean pop but this certain pink-haired individual had changed his mind. his mind was very, very confused by this sudden deep attraction that he feels, as he scrolls through their website and decides to go to their next busking event.
he asks his mom whether he could buy a really, really nice camera and she asked what was wrong with the one she had given him.
"nothing's wrong with it, mom. just wanted a bigger one that takes really nice pictures." his mom says that if he could come up with his own money for half the price of the camera, his parents would pay for the other half.
he tells chanyeol about it, and after his friend laughed for a straight 5 minutes over how jongdae had wanted a dslr to take pictures of a dude , he offers him some money. the older rejected it of course, he was determined to work his ass off to come up with his own money. how hard can it be anyway?
really, really hard . it took him almost a year to save up for a really good camera, and when he finally has it in his hands, the next obstacle came: to get into fansigns . in one year, super m became really, really popular; the kind of popular that it takes buying hundreds of albums to get into one god damn fansign. his determination and motivation deflated a little, he still gets to go to the free events and concerts, but the more popular they got, the more money jongdae had to fork out just to see baekhyun. he still opens up his own fansite anyway, and chanyeol was there beside him, wanting to become his first follower.
jongdae was never embarrassed going to all the free events dressing as comfortable as he could, well, with a mask on of course - he didn’t want anyone he might know to see him there. literally a thorn amongst all the roses, he thinks that baekhyun knows he takes photos of him. jongdae was always the first at events he could attend, and he thinks , again, that baekhyun knows of his existence. his idol occasionally smiles at his camera, throwing finger hearts, but for him to just look into jongdae's camera, the owner had to learn not to drop to his knees everytime he does that.
the 2nd year after jongdae discovers the heaven that is byun baekhyun, chanyeol dumps 2 boxes (he was always strong) on his table, saying he was sick to see his best friend so down everytime super m had a comeback and he couldn't afford it. turns out, his friend bought him a bunch of albums to get into one fansign that jondgae had been moping over, heavily relying on his 5 albums to get him into it. and jongdae could only hug chanyeol very, very tightly when one out of his 124 albums got him into the fansign.
he doesn’t know how to act, what does he do, what should he bring? chanyeol gets his driver to drive him to the hotel where it’s being held at, and jongdae walks in, backpack on his bag, equipped with his camera and album, a marker just incase, and settles down quickly once he was let in. he looks around, he was literally the only guy in the hall, which made him a little uncomfortable, considering he knows everyone else has been to a fansign once before. it was his first time, he didn’t know what he had to do, is supposed to do, he’s lost, and at the point of time, feeling lonely for the first time in his life.
“hi.” jongdae looks to his left, a young lady with blonde hair and her hand out. “i’m nayeon.” he takes the hand, “jongdae.”
“so... you’re here for?”
“baekhyun,” jongdae looks at her bag, decorated with a lot of kai, another member of super m, enamel pins, “kai?”
she nods, “i’ve never seen you before.”
“yeah, first time,” jongdae smiles nervously, was it really that obvious?
“yeah, i’ve been to one of these so many times, and i like to observe, remember faces. i definitely won’t miss out on a male fan, which is really, really rare, only seen one once before.”
“oh, yeah, my friend bought me a lot of albums as a surprise, since i couldn’t afford it before.”
“you didn’t do group orders?” nayeon asks, and jongdae only furrows his brows, “what’s that?”
“how long have you been a fansite for? wait, you’re one, right?” jongdae nods, “my user is lovingbyun . i only really go to free events, and concerts sometimes.”
“oh my god, i know your fansite! your photos are really good. you don’t go to airports?”
he shakes his head, “i’m only a casual fansite, really new too. i don’t have connections or anything, and am still getting used to this whole fansite thing. the only thing i knew is that i love taking pictures, particularly of baekhyun,” he paused, “what’s your fansite?”
“i’m justjongin. listen, i can help you with all of this fansite thing if you want, like group orders, which means people can buy from you, and you can use them to get into fansigns. produce your photos to sell, or make merchandise, everything. we can work together!” jongdae was taken aback by nayeon’s enthusiasm, but really, he wanted all the help he can get.
so he nods, and the rest is history.
“yeah, that’s what the three of us decided on.” the three of us meaning the three musketeers, as bambam calls themselves. bambam is a fansite for ten, tenoutoften , and they met at another fansign a month after nayeon and jongdae met, and the three of them have been really close since. they did everything fansite-related together, even flying to wherever their idols were, producing slogans, dvds and photobooks together.
“did baekhyun see you?”
“of course he did. think he was a little shocked i came.” jongdae would never think in a million years, would baekhyun ever acknowledge him, but thanks to nayeon really, is the reason why baekhyun and jongdae acted like long lost friends every time they met.
-
“hi…” jongdae greets nervously as he shifted from mark to baekhyun at the fansign.
“hi! what’s your name?” baekhyun greets with a much livelier tone, taking the album from jongdae and opening to his page. nayeon had panicked when she saw how ‘clean’ his album was.
“you need to put tags on each page so they know which page to open!” taking out her own tags and markers, helping jongdae tag each member’s page, “so it’s more efficient for them to sign!”
“a-ah, jongdae. kim jongdae.” baekhyun quickly signs his piece before looking at the other, “you have a very nice name.”
“ah thank you,” was all the fan said, before baekhyun uncaps his marker again and write down a little more. “you have a very nice voice.”
“thank you. i’ll see you around.” and the best thing that could ever happen ever, to any fan, happened to jongdae. at his very first fansign.
what happened you ask?
well, byun baekhyun had only winked at jongdae.
and jongdae has to try his very best not to collapse there and then.
he managed to get into chanyeol’s car before he did though, when he sees what baekhyun had written in his album: i hope i see you again, jongdae-ah! ^^
since then, the interactions with baekhyun just continuously increased. everytime it was jongdae's turn with him, baekhyun would just act like an old friend, and despite the fast beating of his heart, jongdae manages to keep the conversation going, before he promises to see him next time.
“ah, jongdae-yah. you’re here again!” “hello jongdae-ah.” “i got your gifts, jongdae-ah, thank you~” “congratulations! you did really well.” was what baekhyun had said when jongdae tells him he had just graduated from college. really, jongdae felt like they were friends.
even at events, concerts, and now at airports, baekhyun would always do a little something for jongdae. a wink, a wave, and jongdae’s favourite: a smile. because of all these interactions, lovingbyun really raked up a whole lot more followers by every comeback. once in a while, baekhyun would even like his pictures on instagram, yes, jongdae does sns, but only for baekhyun, only him.
10 years on, super m is only more popular than ever, with successful debuts in japan and america. baekhyun gained even more fame when he debuted his solo album, city lights , and un village topped music charts almost immediately as it came out. his future solo releases just became more and more popular. even though there are increasingly more fansites, baekhyun still remembers jongdae, and jongdae couldn’t stop falling in love with him more and more each time.
the day ends soon after, with minseok reminding them to be up early tomorrow morning for their flight. chanyeol did manage to convince them to eat dinner at this new italian fusion that he badly wanted to try, and the older two had the softest spot for the youngest anyway, but not before chanyeol promises to be back home by 10.
"i tell you! one day, baekhyun is going to propose to jongdae." seriously, who serves soju at an italian restaurant, more importantly, who serves soju to park chanyeol, the biggest lightweight jongdae has ever known? before minseok could shut him up, there was a large commotion coming down from upstairs. jongdae just continues eating, having learnt to ignore his friend's antics when he gets drunk.
a loud gasp came from said friend, "OH MY GOD. IT'S BAEKHYUN!" again, jongdae just ignores his embarrassing friend, before he hears a: "ah, hello jongdae-ah."
he chokes of course, knowing the voice all too well even before looking at his owner. he chokes even more when he goes to pat jongdae on his back.
"you're baekhyun! and you know his name!" chanyeol continues. and jongdae wishes he can dig a hole, not for himself, but for his friend. he finally turns around, covering his mouth with a piece of tissue paper, to see not only baekhyun, but the entire fucking group behind him. he tries to stand up, baekhyun backing up a little, before he bows and greets them all.
"i do know his name, i won't ever forget the name of my most loyal and longest fan." chanyeol gasps again, and jongdae really, really wishes they hadn’t agreed to the dinner.
"ah, i forgot to mention: my most handsome fan too." chanyeol squeals at that, and jongdae now wants to bury a hole, a black hole, for himself. even though he's used to talking to baekhyun casually, it was usually only at fansigns, his own lovingbyun bubble, not somewhere outside of official schedules, on their own personal time. he makes sure he stays out of baekhyun's personal boundaries, he never wants to become, even borderline, sasaeng and he - wait.
he looks up at baekhyun, "ah hyung, i didn't stalk you or anything! i came here just to have dinner, i didn't know you'd be here! i don't even have my camera with me right now," he flusters.
"then what's that?" kai looks over baekhyun's shoulders and points at the very large camera bag and tripod beside jongdae’s seat. fuck.
"that's my work camera!" jongdae shouts out of panic, "sorry i… i am a photographer."
"oh you are?" baekhyun smiles, and since jongdae was too busy having a mental breakdown (really, 10 years did not help with his nerves around baekhyun), he misses out on the knowing glint in his idol's eyes. instead, he nods vigorously, "my friend wanted to come here for dinner… i am sorry i really didn't kno-"
"it's fine, jongdae-ah, i believe you," baekhyun smiles. his manager signals that they needed to leave, much to the other members' disappointment, since they were very much enjoying the little show, and baekhyun puts one finger up, "just a minute." he goes to the cashier and passes him a card. jongdae hears a ‘we already paid though?’ and soon enough, he sees his idol walking towards the door, "see you soon, jongdae-yah." he shoots him a wink and jongdae wants to cry to oblivion.
"the bill has already been paid for," the cashier tells them.
"by who?" jongdae asks, confused.
"let me guess," minseok pipes up, "the man with the mullet?" the cashier nods, and jongdae wants to cry. again.