Chapter Text
Dark lipstick was a sudden decision of one of the make-up noonas, the girl who usually works with Red Velvet. Ten still can’t remember her name, but does remember her cheeky smile as she said “I have an idea,” and asked him to wait for a moment while she was searching for the right colour in her bag.
“It looks good on you”, it wasn’t rare for him to get compliments from girls, but from noonas it’s always different. They aren’t fans, they don’t see him as an idol, just as a part of their work. For fans, some would always say he looks good, someone would say he doesn’t - it doesn’t matter.
From noona, who doesn’t actually compliment him, just herself on a job well-done, it somehow feels much more real. Gives him confidence with any look, just that bit more to tease his teammates a little more cheerfully. To tease Taeyong at all.
Taeyong didn’t say anything, when he saw the colour of the lipstick: not during the fan meet, or later in the car, but Ten noticed the glances anyway, curious, shy. Taeyong would turn away as soon as Ten looked back at him.
Cute.
Ten doesn’t like to intimidate Taeyong. Not like others. Their relationship is different and there is no point in changing that, not with how much Ten respects his hyung and looks up to him.
But sometimes, when Ten manages that without any effort, just by being, wearing something, dancing something cool, which makes Taeyong look at him like this — there is a feeling that he finally has an upper hand in their dynamics. Ten likes it.
Ten spent the rest of the evening watching doramas in NCT 127 common room, and it’s about two at night when he was tying the laces on his shoes before heading out. He stood up and found Taeyong staring at him.
“What?” Suddenly it didn’t feel like he had an upper hand at all, with how he used impolite speech towards his hyung just because Taeyong startled him, “Sorry, hyung”. He felt his cheeks getting pink, and thanked god that the light in the room was off. He still could see Taeyong soft smile, though.
“Nothing,” his tone was quiet. Soft. He raised his hand reaching out to Ten’s face and Ten didn’t even think of stepping back, anticipating the touch.
Taeyong put his hand on Ten’s jaw, lightly, barely touching, and traced Ten’s lower lip with his thumb.
When Ten was finally lying in his bed, later, the touch still lingered and his heart was beating like crazy.
***
For the next fan meeting the Red Velvet noona isn’t with them, as usual, replaced by another girl. She still has the same make up bag with dozen lipsticks, though.
Ten doesn’t plan anything, not until he sees the dark color in her hands. She seems to have taken it out unintentionally, maybe it was next to the colour she planned to use. Noona is ready to put it away when he stops her.
“Noona, can I borrow this one?” She looks at him a bit owlishly, unsure of what he needs, “I mean, I’ll give it back just a bit later.”
She chews her lip, handing him the tube, “you were wearing a dark one last time, weren’t you? I don’t think…”
Ten laughs sheepishly, “yeah, I know. Don’t worry, I won’t. My lips are all in your beautiful hands,” Ten winks to her and instead of blushing she rolls her eyes.
“Don’t smudge that eyeliner, playboy,” she still sounds pleased though.
They have a half an hour break in the middle of the fanmeet. It's a long one, so their managers cared enough to give them some time to rest. Ten can’t find Taeyong in the common changing room so he starts looking for him backstage, away from the noise.
It takes him some time before he manages to find the leader sitting quietly behind a bunch of cardboard boxes, probably from all the stage stuff. He looks tired, scrolling down sometging in his phone, which lights up his face.
Ten approaches carefully, gently knocking on the wall a couple times, just to make his presence known. He doesn’t want to startle Taeyong.
Taeyong looks at him, vary at first, but he seems to visibly relax as soon as he sees Ten’s face. It’s nice to know that Taeyong isn’t bothered by him.
“Hi,” hyung smiles, “are you okay?”
Ten nods, stepping closer to Taeyong. He is still not sure what he is doing. He doesn’t want to pressure Taeyong into anything, even if it seems fun to him. Ten looks at him, trying to understand his mood. He is usually good at reading Taeyong, used to understand these expressions of interest, or care, or discomfort.
It’s harder when he’s tired though, like all the emotions get blurred.
“Ten?” Taeyong tenses a little, probably confused by Ten staring at him, trying to figure out what to do. His hands are shaking a little, as he squeezes the tube of lipstick in his hand.
Then Ten decides to just go for it and smiles playfully. He closes the rest of the distance between them, leaving just enough that Taeyong doesn’t feel his personal space invaded. Ten knows better than to do that — at least before he gets a permission. He takes the lipstick out of his pocket and shows it to Taeyong, hoping that his hands are not trembling.
Taeyong looks at the tube, and then on Ten, confused. It’s probably a good time to use words and ideally without faltering. Why is he always like this with Taeyong? Why he can’t approach him the same way he does with everyone else?
“You liked the colour on me, didn’t you, hyung?” Ten doesn’t need to ask, actually. His lips still remember that touch, “I think it will look good on you.”
Noonas might disagree, but that is the last thing bothering Ten right now. Fans will notice, of course, but that too doesn’t matter for him. He just hopes Taeyong feels the same.
Hyung looks at him, then at the lipstick in his hand, still cautious, maybe also thinking about noonas, or fans, or somebody else, but then he just nodes, simply, confidently (much more so than Ten feels, even though he is the one who suggested this).
Taeyong reaches out to take the tube out of Ten’s hands, but Ten steps away, “Hyung, but it’s dark here. And there are no mirrors. How will you do it yourself?”
“You have any other ideas?” Taeyong raises his eyebrow, skeptical, and Ten smiles again, teasing.
“Well, I can do that, you know? I’m good at makeup.”
By the look on Taeyong’s face he isn’t impressed with this statement. He sighs, but Ten can see that there’s no annoyance, too. He feels lucky.
Taeyong nods and sits straight on the chair, finally giving Ten the sign that it’s okay to approach. Ten closes the distance between them. He wonders if he can make Taeyong flustered, just a bit, not to make him uncomfortable. If he can touch him in that same way that it will linger.
He opens the tube, carefully wipes off the extra product on the brush. Only then he notices that his hands are still shaking, just a little, like they are before getting on stage. Ten wonders, why this has such an effect on him, but gives up thinking. He needs to look confident in what he is doing.
Taeyong lifts his chin just a little, parting his lips like he would do, if Ten was just a makeup noona. Ten wonders, if he also closes his eyes when they paint his lips the same way he does now.
Ten is glad he does, though. Probably makes it less likely for him to notice that all Ten’s confidence is fake.
He probably should have also grabbed a pencil, otherwise the edges are going to be pain, but he already didn’t so he will have to deal with it somehow. Ten starts from applying the lipstick to the safe area - the middle of the lower lip, somewhere he doesn’t need to worry about the clear lines.
It’s weird, a little bit. Different, when you can't feel what you are doing, like when you do your own makeup. But even there, this isn’t the same like with Haechan, or Johnny. They did each others makeup, but not like that, not without any need to, alone, hidden from everyone backstage.
Ten doesn’t want anyone to interrupt, to ask them what they are doing, just because this is more intimate, than he would ever want to explain. He hopes no one else wants the quiet privacy of this part of the backstage today.
It’s good that noonas chose to not apply any lipstick on Taeyong, just some basic lip balm, which has already absorbed. It’s winter, but the lips aren’t chapped, like Taeyong is that clever guy who doesn’t forget about proper skincare. They seem so soft that Ten wants to touch them — the same way Taeyong did. He doesn’t do that and keeps painting his lips instead, carefully spreading the dark colour, closer and closer to the edges of the lower lip.
Taeyong breaths steadily, but Ten notices the way he holds on to the chair with his hand. Maybe just to stay still, and make Ten’s job easier. But also maybe because it's harder for him to breathe evenly than it seems to be.
Ten hopes that it’s the second one.
Hyung looks a little bit undone, more than he usually lets people see. Probably because he knows, that Ten isn’t trying to tease him, or make fun of him. Because there’s this line of trust which lets this soft intimacy happen between them.
The edges go just fine, easier than Ten feared it to be, but then he transfers his attention to the lower line of the lip, trying to paint it evenly. Like that, he feels Taeyong’s warm breath on his fingers, and can’t hold himself back from shuddering, smudging the line slightly.
Taeyong doesn’t open his eyes, doesn’t tense more, trusting Ten to fix that. Ten takes the tube with his right hand, and then carefully cups his hyung’s chin to steady him by his left, carefully wiping the extra colour under the lip with his thumb.
He wishes he didn’t feel the way Taeyong’s breath hitched at that, because there is still the upper lip to go, and Ten isn’t sure he can finish what he started without drawing something horrible on Taeyong’s pretty face.
Ten doesn’t know why, but he doesn’t take his left hand away, instead tracing Taeyong’s cheekbone with clean fingers and then his temple, almost ecstatic at the fact that Taeyong doesn’t move away, instead letting his breath to become more erratic, as Ten places his hand in Taeyong’s hair, and strokes down the nape of the neck.
Ten knows that their break is finishing soon, and they don’t have much time for that, so he takes his hand away, transfers the tube of the lipstick back to his left hand again, and goes back to painting the upper lip.
He does it the same way — from a safe zone, working his way to the edges. It’s just that bit more difficult with how the warm air of breaths feels on Ten’s fingers, and with how Taeyong’s upper lip seems to be that bit more sensitive, than his lower one, with tiny shudders running through him with each light touch of the brush.
Somehow, it still works out. This time without any mistakes, the deep black lying on Taeyong’s lip evenly. It looks beautiful on him, just like Ten expected.
Taeyong opens his eyes slightly, when he hears Ten closing the lipstick. Hyung watches him carefully, thinking of something, but Ten doesn’t know if he should ask. Taeyong smiles to him and suddenly says, “thank you,” in that low voice, which makes Ten clench his fingers around the tube, like it’s the only thing holding him together.
“We should go, probably,” Ten says, “the second part will start soon”.
Taeyong nods and follows him to the direction of dressing rooms, but then suddenly catches him by the elbow.
“Wait. Your lace is undone,” instead of letting Ten fix it himself, Taeyong stands on one knee to fix the laces for him, caring as he always is with them. Ten doesn’t argue.
When Taeyong finishes, he doesn’t stand up right away, looking on Ten’s knee instead.
Ten is wearing his favourite black jeans with holes in them exposing his knees. Couldn’t find anything better after oversleeping this morning, honestly.
He doesn’t expect Taeyong to touch his knee, gently, and then to lean in and press the lightest kiss there, the one he can barely feel. Ten’s heart pauses for a second, before beating so fast he can barely hear anything.
Taeyong traces the place of the kiss with his fingers again, gentle. “Still didn’t dry,” he says that in a voice which implies that it’s not a big deal, just a usual way to check if the lipstick is dry. Then he wipes the stain away, so nobody can tell, and stands up, looking like nothing has happened while Ten is falling apart.
“Let’s go? Fans are waiting”.
Ten follows Taeyong without arguing, and even tries to focus on the fans, and promotion, and other important things, but fails everytime he looks at Taeyong.