Chapter Text
1st of February- 3 months before the finalists announcement
" Sawadee Krub , this is Ten! Glad to see you didn't run away and decided to stick on my channel."
He smiled at his camera with confidence, sitting in a simple room in front of a huge library which held a variety of books in multiple languages.
" I decided to take part in this year's NMT awards! Fear not if you don't know what the hell that is because I will explain everything thanks to my awesome wikipedia knowledge. "
He looked for something outside of the camera's vision field, and reappeared with a bag of makeup the size of his head.
" Because I'm not that boring I'll apply glitter to my face while I introduce you to this competition, in case you've never heard of it or want to compete yourselves. The theme for today's makeup is the theme of the competition's first challenge, which is...candy fantasy! "
He did some little jazz hands with an ear-wide smile, too excited for his usual sarcasm. Bah, his viewers would deal with it just fine. If they wanted salt they had all of his other videos to refer to.
" I decided to go for cotton candy, because I feel like my makeup lately has been really like... gothic and while I've been loving the drama I wanted a bit more variety and some kind of a challenge. While this is going to be artistic it probably won't be easy to do, so please refer to some more in depth tutorials of mine that will be way easier to follow.
As always I'll start off with the skin so let's some foundation and apply that with a little sponge thingy. "
The video cut and he came back with some cat-ears headband and a discernible frown.
" Please don't laugh at me, I lost my usual headband and had to borrow this from my roommate. I'm pretty sure he's a furry or something."
" Enough dwelling on my roommate's kinks, let me talk about the competition for a bit" he said while starting to apply his foundation. " So the NMT face awards is a makeup contest held each year by the makeup brand NMT, full name Neo Makeup Technology, that makes makeup artists from all around the continent compete around two themes. The first phase is digital voting, then the judges pick their favorites top ten competitors. Those are the finalists. Wait, let me grab my concealer...for concealer and powder, I'll use the NMT products in the shade honey. They're affordable and the shade range* is kind of amazing, so I really recommend them to you. "
" As I was saying, ten contestants are picked. Those ten finalists will be presented a new challenge and will have up to a week to come up with a look and realize it. The judges’ votes count for half of the points, the viewer's count for the other half. We combine the two and the contestant with the most points wins. "
He opened the bag that he had brought, getting some pink shimmer, blush, an unknown bottle, colored hairspray and some cotton out of it.
" Why do I have all of those? Wouldn't you like to know " he said with a wink to the camera. " More seriously, I'll apply this pink highlighter and the blush on my cheeks and forehead, and then I will use some latex to stick cotton onto my face. For the latex, I have a more in-depth video on the matter. "
He paused for a few seconds before chuckling.
" That sounds very wrong. "
He grabbed the pink highlighter before starting his explanations again.
" So the competition starts today and the two themes you have to create a look for are "candy fantasy" and "bird of a feather." Both looks have to be posted on Instagram with the hashtag #NMTAsia2020 before the first of May. If you want to enter the contest yourself, please remember that you have to be at least 18 years old, must be from East Asia and have to speak some level of english as it is the contest's official language. Though don't worry, they will be translators for korean, Hindi, mandarin, japanese and tagalog. Kinda sucks that they didn't include Thai but they probably can't hire someone for every language "
Once the pink highlighter was done, he started gluing some cotton on his temple, fuzzing it up and symmetrically applying some on his hair and on a portion of his jaw.
" Now, the trick is to use some 1-day coloration spray to color your hair and the cotton. Be very careful with your eyes but aside from that feel free to go feral. Up next are the eyes so I will go for a very...doll-y look? Like some sweet pink and silver cut crease. If y'all don't get diabetes from this look, then I did something wrong. "
He didn't talk much while working on his eyes, he never did. This was by far his favorite part and the focus he had was out of this world.
" And now for the liner...I promise I won't go gothic but this is going to be dramatic because it's me, so brace yourselves. "
One thick black wing on each of his lids, some mascara, pink mascara too, brows pomade, sequins and lip gloss later he was ready and turned back to the camera with a smile.
" Here it is! My interpretation of the first theme, " Candy fantasy ". I hope you like it, and wish me good luck! I'll post my second look on friday so please stay tuned. "
" A few more rules I wanted to communicate: You are allowed to bring your own makeup supplies if you are selected in the top 10 but you don't have to, you are not allowed to be helped and you can be a makeup professional but amateurs will be privileged. "
" Great I think that's all, so see you next time everyone, I hope your week won't suck too bad. "
He reached forward to shut off the camera, cracking his neck as he did so. He felt like his look was a bit underwhelming. Sure it was nice and very eye-catching, but maybe it lacked subtility?
" Hey Ten did you see my- Wait why are you pink? "
Well, he reassured himself as his roommate barged into the room with the noise of ten overweight elephants, nothing would ever lack subtlety as badly as Yangyang did.
" Why do you think? This is clearly a Pinky pie cosplay. "
Yangyang threw a pillow at him, that Ten luckily was able to avoid ( the laundry would have been interesting if he hadn't. )
" Right. It's for your makeup competition thing ? "
" Yep. By the way you're going to vote for me right? "
" Ahaha yeah of course " he said while slowly backing off.
" Yangyang? "
The kid was already gone.
Ten shot up and ran after him, dodging his cat and the catch in the process before finally catching him and by extension his phone and opening his Instagram. Maybe after this instance the guy would reconsider putting four times the number 4 at his password.
It took him about 45 seconds to realize he had liked the publication of someone who was very much not him.
" Oh the betrayal. "
" It's not betrayal if she's hot. "
Ten reconsidered the photo with a raised - pink and gliterry - eyebrow.
The look was simple yet terribly efficient.
If he went for bold pink, this person played with soft blue and lilac. A vintage look depicting vintage candies.
As for the model, well she objectively was hot- too hot for it not to be her job. He opened the picture's description to see that the model's and the makeup artist's instagrams were indeed two different accounts.
He clicked on the latter to show a very professional page with professional contacts and professional photoshoots.
Qian Kun. What was a guy with his portfolio doing in this kind of contest?
" See? You didn't even endorse her, you endorsed a guy! "
Yangyang took the phone back before smiling again.
" Well he's hot too so we're good. "
Ten rolled his eyes as his roomate's pansexual shenanigans, before giving him a slight tap on the head.
" You're aware this is a makeup contest, not a beauty pageant? "
" Yeah but I don't know shit about makeup. "
" Well I know shit about makeup. And let me tell you, this guy's looks are too controlled, too watered down, not spontaneous enough, too...
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"...amateurish, not precise enough, too...just too much! "
The actress giggled, putting her phone down.
" You were right about signing him up for the contest, Mrs. Wang. This is just too fun. "
Kun sighed before starting to work on her makeup again.
He worked for a very respected Taiwanese talk show, and sweetheart and rising star Xuan Lu was going on set in fifteen minutes. This was no time to discuss the debatable decisions of his very-impulsive boss.
She watched him from afar with a grin, her glossy red shoes and glossy red lips matching as always.
" I think this influencer is one of the contestants you should worry about the most. While you're going to be favored by the judges, he will be favored by the viewers. He's incredibly popular to the general public in both Thailand and Korea, and let's not lie to ourselves you almost only work behind the scenes. "
" So I'm competing against youtubers now? "
" Well if you think it will be that easy, you shouldn't stress about this right?" she said with a wink.
" I will be rooting for you, Kun-ge! " said the actress from her seat, immediately bringing a smile to his lips.
" Thanks Lulu. Okay, you're all set to go. " he declared with a last straw of his powder brush. " I'll come fix your makeup during the break so don't stress, I've got everything covered. Thank you for modeling for my first look, by the way. "
" You're welcome, I felt absolutely lovely! I'll be going now, thank you Kun, Ms. Wang " she said as she excused herself from the makeup lounge.
His supervisor got up, helping him clean the makeup station.
" She's a pretty one, isn't she? "
Kun nodded distractedly with a polite smile.
" I'm sure you could get her number if you asked. This girl wouldn't refuse you anything. "
He stopped his movements for a few seconds, before going back to gathering his brushes.
" I think I could, but it would be extremely unprofessional of myself. She's here to have her makeup done, not to be flirted with. " he declared.
Ms. Wang tapped onto his shoulder with a smile that was on this fine line between sorry and amused.
" I just think a nice girl could make you happy Kun. Maybe you should try meeting new people at the contest, don't you think? Get out of your work bubble. "
" We don't know if I'm going to be in the top ten participants. "
" Don't think I didn't see you dodge the dating question young man "she said, making him cringe a bit inside. " And though you are right, weren't you the one who said that there was no difficulty in competing with internet sensations? "
" I said it was pointless, not that it was easy. Which is why I should be working on my second look right about now. "
The woman sighed, starting to walk away, followed by the characteristic clicking sound of her heels.
" See? More work. Let yourself go a little Kun, or I will start thinking you're incapable of love. " she said before walking out of the room.
The moment she got out of sight his polite smile fell, and he sighed as he let himself fall back into a couch.
It wasn't that he was incapable of love, he thought as he scrolled through his phone that was still set on this TenOutOfTen guy's channel, locking the screen the moment his eyes fell onto an old video with an obnoxious rainbow thumbnail.
It just wasn't love that his supervisor could understand.
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22nd of March- 1 month and 9 days before the finalists announcement
" Mr. Leechaiyapornkul put your color pen down. First grade was over more than ten years ago. "
He slightly jumped in his seat, startled by the teacher's call. His pen was back in his pencil case in seconds, his eyes glued on the board as if they never left it. He couldn't afford his parents hearing anything about a lack of attention in class or he could bid farewell to his rent. He made money out of youtube but not enough to pay it for more than two or three months, even by splitting with Yangyang.
Truth was he didn't really care for the class. He wanted to study makeup, his parents wanted him to study new technologies, guess who won. At least they agreed to him having a channel on the side. Not that they could have stopped him but still, it was nice to have their approval even if it wasn't like they watched it.
Next to him Yangyang was scribbling like crazy, taking notes of each and every word that slipped through the professor's lips. That was one kid that found his vocation. Why did he randomly choose to study in Thailand? Who knew (even though Ten suspected a girlfriend as he saw him hang out with that Minnie girl more than one time). But he definitely enjoyed the hell out of their informatic course. This kid was infuriating, the kind that took nothing seriously, never really worked but still was an ace. Ten loved him.
" Did you draw that? "
He turned to his right to find a boy looking at his notebook where a small sketch of a face full of colors had been drawn just minutes before.
" Ah yes. It's a makeup look. "
" Makeup? You do makeup? " he asked with a questioning smile. " Isn't that a girl thing though? "
" I'll put my fist in your nose and we'll see if that's a girl thing ".
Ten almost laughed at Yangyang's sudden interruption especially since he had seemed so captivated only seconds ago, but remembered the teacher's presence and decided against that.
" Let's not come to that. No it's not a girl thing. " he simply concluded, not in the mood for a debate.
" Oh. Then why don't you wear makeup to school? "
This was a question Ten usually didn't get in that kind of conversation, hence why he was a little taken aback by it.
"... Well probably because people think it's a girl's thing? "
Yangyang was still angry about the interaction when they came back to their shared apartment the same afternoon, and who was Ten to stop his hilarious annoyed rambling. It wasn't like it was an uncommon comment, and Ten wasn't even sure he minded. Usually people left him alone, when they didn't get homophobic. Those were the worst.
" What was your drawing anyway? " asked Yangyang once he calmed down a bit, trying to take a glance in Ten's notebook.
" What I plan to do for the NMT awards, like my second look. I want something really mind blowing you know? I think I'll be going for a peacock-inspired look so I can use some blue-green duochromes*."
" I have no idea of what the hell a duochrome is but go for it. "
" Duo-chrome. Two colours. Did little Yangyang skip latin classes? "
" Well he was in classes long enough to know 'chrome' is a greek word, not a latin one"
Ten rolled his eyes again as he stepped into his room, smiling at the sight of his cat sleeping on the bed. Someone here was peaceful, at least.
There was nothing peaceful about Ten, he had accepted that by now. He was always giving his everything, his mind always overfilled with ideas, designs and projects. Well except for when he needed them, of course, because that just was how things worked wasn't it?
He casted a glance to all of his palettes and face paints, then back at his brushes before smiling.
Why settle for one bird when he could have ten of them?
He sketched his new idea on a spare piece of paper, before fetching everything he'd need. This was going to be one hell of a look.
Through the years he had accumulated a decent amount of products, and now his mirror and cabinets filled half of his room. In the other half was a desk with his computer and drawing supplies, as well as a keyboard he promised his parents he'd practice with. And while this was not a promise he kept, it still made some cool, chill sunday nights.
Makeup was a weird hobby to start. You rarely thought "I'm going to get good at makeup" and just went with it. Most of the time you played around with your mother's makeup as a kid, experimented with khôl pen and eyeliner in middle school and fell down the rabbit hole in high school or college.
It wasn't what happened for Ten though, for two main reasons: one, his mother didn't wear makeup (maybe some mascara and lipstick here and there but nothing much) and two, wearing makeup at school was out of the question. He couldn't even wear his hair longer than a finger so barging in with a full face*? Yeah not happening.
He had to wait until his older sister got into college to steal her stuff and start playing with shimmers, to discover that it wasn't that different from painting, and to fall in love with it. As for his channel, blame it on Yangyang.
He brought up the idea the year they started living together, saying something along the lines of " a lot of big beauty influencers are men now " and " originally makeup was unisex, and actually more directed for men as it has roots in war paints and in religious rituals, which were orchestrated by men". And while Ten was not sure why he knew that, it had helped.
He looked at his reflection in the mirror, smiling at the bird shapes that were slowly forming. At the same time he realised that this was going to be long, very long.
And he was right because it ended up taking seven hours*. His eyes were malfunctioning by the end of it, but his heart was beating faster.
He had half a zoo on his face, going from his right eye to his left, colored powder and paint running down his temple, wings all over his forehead.
He was not going for minimalism, he was going for a dream. A scenery the judges wouldn't be able to forget.
He had a good scale: if Yangyang found it pretty, he'd done a good job. And when he sees him his jaw drops to the floor so Ten would say that is a mission well accomplished.
He takes a picture, posts it on instagram and all that is left for him to do is to pray for the best.
He loses himself browsing the NMT hashtag, seeing what the competition looks like. The range of skills and styles is wild, and all of the sudden he's not that sure that he would ever land in the top ten.
He couldn’t stop himself from looking up the guy Yangyang had complimented the work of the day prior (got the favors of his best friend? The guy basically was his nemesis now. )
His second look was out as well, and Ten had to admit it was good.
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21st of March- 1 month and 10 days before the finalists announcement
" She did it again? "
" Taking decisions for me without my consent? You bet she did. "
His brother laughed as he took another straw of his cigarette, blowing the smoke through his nose, perfectly aware that it would make Kun wince.
" Welcome to the lovely life of employment, mr. artist " he said after some time. " What boss wants boss gets, you know? "
" Trust me I know. I don't even know why it pisses me off that bad. Maybe because she always acts as if she knew what would be good for me better than I do. "
" Kun she may be a bitch but you're oblivious. "
He crushed the cigarette under his foot, letting the flame die down before he went on. That was a habit of his: free his hands when he was about to have an important conversation.
" I don't know if this competition is a good idea or not, but I know two things: once you're half-right, she has no business telling you what to do with your life, two, you're half wrong, because at this point I think anyone knows what would be good for you better than you. You are drowning yourself into work. What are you trying to prove? "
" That I'm good. Like always. "
His brother sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder.
" Kun...This excuse worked five years ago but now you've worked with celebrities, you are renowned. No one doubts you're good. No one but you, and maybe that's why a contest is what she suggested of all things. "
He sat in silence, relishing on a stray ray of sun that hit the back wall of the restaurant his brother worked at. Well, currently worked at. He couldn't keep a job for more than three months or so it seemed, to his wife's dismay. Kun selfishly relished in it, because the fact that he earned more than his brother was the last thing giving him value to their parent's eyes.
Not knowing what to say, refusing to admit he was right, he resorted to silence and extended his hand towards him.
" Would you happen to have a cigarette left? "
" You're kidding yourself if you think I'm letting you touch that. I'm quitting anyway. Can't let Zhaohui get sick "
" Wow Chao, people will wonder who's the big brother now " he said with a laugh that Chao could only imitate.
They parted ways quickly after that, his brother having been called back to work. They saw each other often anyway, he would not die from the separation. Contrary to popular belief, he was not that lonely.
He walked all the way to the salon where he worked when he didn't have a TV deal which meant every wednesday and saturday. His favorite type of job was, by far, makeup for movies or runaways, but he was still too young in his career to access more than two or three of those. He was actually lucky to have landed any. In the meantime he tried gaining renown and experience by fulfilling the brief that he was given.
He waited in the cold for about 20 minutes for the manager to come back for her lunch break and open the shop, the lady not even bothering to ask why he was here so early. She had grown used to it.
He didn't have to wait long for his first client to come, a woman that had to be in her late 20's. She immediately walked over to him, getting some paper sheets out of her bag and placing them over his makeup station.
" Hi. I am going to be a bridesmaid for my best friend's wedding, and I wanted to get my makeup done. Can you do that?"
Kun sticked on a professional smile, casting a glance at the reference pictures printed on the paper. Soft brown, a dash of pink shimmer. He casted a glance over his palette of bold colors with a regretful smile. Not today, apparently.
" Yes of course. Do you have any requirements? " he asked
" Make me look pale, I've been getting a bit too tan lately. Make me look thin too. "
Kun nodded, getting his material ready as the girl got her coat off and got into the chair. Her hair and dress were already all nice and shimmery, luckily he could manage to match this vibe.
He couldn't hold back a grimace as he applied white spray to her collarbones. If monolids-friendly eyeshadow shapes were his favorite thing about the chinese makeup trend, this one was the worst (okay, the worst actually popular one). But what could he do, what the client wants the client gets. This was definitely why he prefered to work on sets, at least it was not the model's responsibility to choose what to wear.
" Aren't you applying a bit too much? " suddenly asked her client as he powdered her face.
" No, don't worry. It's just that if there is a photographer at the wedding, they're going to use a flash wich reverberates a lot of light on the skin. If you want to keep it matte, you'll have to wear a lot of powder."
" That's not what I heard on youtube though " she started, making a bit of Kun's soul fly out of his body, sending him back to the conversation he had with his boss a few days prior. This was exactly why he disliked influencers: they had, as their name indicated, a lot of influence that was not backed up with actual knowledge.
" I hear that you had to put white powder under the eyes and under the cheekbones and let it sit. It's called 'baking'. You've heard of that? "
' Look at you who just defeated my 3 years of studies and 5 years of experience thanks to a 10 minutes long video you found on the internet ' said no makeup artist ever, and definitely not Kun. The remark didn't make him that mad, though. Firstly because he rarely got mad, secondly because he got that kind of remark at least twice a week.
" I have. The fact that letting the powder sit longer will make the face better is a myth, the light and eerie effect comes from the powder, not the technique. Additionally, it's an american makeup technique. We don't use it professionally here. " he said, his smile not faltering.
" Ah. Well, you don't wear makeup anyway. "
Kun refrained the urge to roll his eyes. " I don't like wearing makeup. I like doing makeup. "
This apparently was a thought that had to be too complex for the client, because she didn't risk a reply. Kun wasn't going to complain.
He still gave his all to do a nice job, though. He was not letting her get out of the salon before he was sure she would be the bridesmaid with the most flawlessly executed makeup. Maybe perfection would make up for the lack of creativity.
Not that he blamed her, color was somewhat terrifying. Just so visible! Kun didn't like visible, one step wrong and it'd be obvious like the nose in the middle of the face. His thoughts wandered to the video Ms. Wang had shown him to convince him he had serious competitors, the guy who had painted his face fully pink, and he couldn't refrain a snicker. He had to say the idea of coaxing his face in bright pink sounded like an interesting experience.
" Here we go " he said with a final touch of lipstick, smiling wide - for real, this time. " You may even be prettier than the bride now. "
" There's no bride. " she said without missing a beat. " My friend's a man. They're both men. "
Kun stilled at this declaration, his hand hovering over a tube of mascara for a bit too long.
" I'm sorry for assuming it was a straight couple. " He finally said.
" That's fine " said the girl with a raise of her shoulders and a tiny smile. " I'm sorry for assuming you didn't know makeup because wow, look at that! " she continued while grinning at the mirror.
The professional smile came back to Kun's face as he remembered that yes, you could be open minded and still an asshole. At the end of the day he did an awesome job, got paid, and the knowledge that she was going to see a gay wedding made his day.
Which didn't mean that when he ended his workday his apartment didn't feel way too far, as it always did, and so he let himself fall back on his couch the moment he reached it.
He knew because of his perfectionism people often assumed his apartment would be neat with clear organization, but the problem with living space was that it was impossible to keep at its best all the time. Which meant that he opted to never have it at its best. Way less time-consuming.
Kun started thinking that maybe his brother was right when the first thing he did to unwind was reach for his graphic tablet, ready to sketch his second look for the NMT awards.
He knew that he wanted something different this time, more than just a pretty face.
What he knew the best was graphic looks*. Pure, clean lines and shapes, solid colors.
Bird of a feather, he could work with that. He could work with anything.
He was almost done when his phone chimed, notifying that his brother had just sent a message.
' From: Qian Chao
Look who wanted to say hi!!! '
He opened the attached picture, laughing a bit when the face of his nephew appeared, more or less smothered in paint and way too close to the camera.
' From: Qian Kun
He just keeps getting taller and taller, doesn't he? Tell him Uncle Kun thinks he did an amazing job with those colors! ' he responded before putting his phone down.
But before he could move on to something else, his thoughts started racing. Kid, paint, makeup, his brain took shortcuts before coming up with one truly crazy idea.
He took a hold of his phone again, immediately opening the messaging app.
' From: Qian Kun
Actually Chao, does Zhaohui want to come over tomorrow afternoon? I'll bake some crepes'
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It was a beautiful bird.
A mockingbird, to be exact, that curled from the boy's left eye all the way to his cheek. All in geometrical shapes and plain, solid colours.
The artist had used only three: blue, yellow and red , that's it. A perfect contrast between the crazy work of the person who did the makeup and the model who appeared to be a little kid, not a day older than 5.
And wherehas Ten had felt like the other's first submission was a bit lacking, he could appreciate the polished finish of this one.
" Hey Yangyang, could you come here for a sec? I need your opinion on something. "
The other approached while munching on something, stoppin a second to look at Ten's phone screen.
" Do you think this is pretty? "
" Yeah!" He said with a nod. "I like the colors, it's simple. "
Shit, he had also passed the Yangyang test. Ten definitely had one hell of a competitor.
And if only it had been just him!
While he didn't think everyone could compare to his work, he had been able to pinpoint at least forty makeup artists with just as equally mind blowing pieces on their accounts.
He sighed as he threw his makeup away, knowing that it would be worthless to stress out. His two looks had been posted, all his cards were on the table and he couldn't do anything but wait. And what better to do to change his mind than to work?
" Hey Yangyang? " he called again, making his friend come back to his room - again -
" What now? "
" Could you do a video with me please???? " he said with big puppy eyes, ineffective ones since the younger remained expressionless.
" You will never let me do my homework, will you? "
" Oh come on, we both know you'll ace the test. "
" I probably will, but what about you? "
" Ouch? " was all Ten could answer, because Yangyang was completely right.
He ended up sighing and raising his hands in defeat, moving closer so he could sit in front of Ten.
" What kind of video did you want to do? " he asked.
" You know the 'my boyfriend does my makeup' challenge? We could do something like that! I mean you're not my boyfriend, but you should try to do my makeup. "
" I don't know shit about makeup "
" That's the whole point! Come on, pleaaaassse?"
Yangyang sighed again, for what had to be the 20th time this day, before nodding. " Okay. Go turn your camera on, nerd"
Ten didn't replicate and rushed to his device before Yangyang had enough time to back up on his decision.
" Sawadee Krub, this is Ten! A little impromptu video to take my mind off of things and to bring back Yangyang on my channel since you loved him the first time, when I offered him a drag queen makeover. "
For sure, ' Drama queen to Drag queen' probably was one of his most popular videos now. Yangyang didn't shut up about it for two weeks. Was he setting himself up for the same scenario to repeat again? Probably. But it was worth it if it could make his anxiety shut up.
" This was completely unplanned but I decided to go for what is traditionally called the 'my boyfriend does my makeup' challenge. Except I have no boyfriend, so this is more like 'my Yangyang does my makeup'. Please introduce yourself. " he said while gesturing to his friend.
" Hi! I'm Yangyang, Ten's roommate. Don't be too harsh on me, I suck at makeup. Okay, should we start? "
" Yes, let me just put my hair back. "
He grabbed a random hairband while Yangyang started opening drawers and makeup bags.
" So I'm starting with the flesh. " he said after a while, holding a tube full of light beige foundation.
" That's a terrifying way of putting it. "
" Shut up, I'm the makeup artist now. "
Ten shuckled but didn't reply, letting Yangyang work on his face. Thanks to some miracle he actually managed to pick the right sponge for it, and the shade wasn't too off. So far so good.
" Okay now...damn what do you do after....ah yes, powder!! I used to call it cocaine but Ten wasn't a fan. "
" Wonder why. " he mumbled, not low enough to avoid Yangyang tapping him with his brush. he had been less lucky this time and it ended up being a highlighter brush, thin and flat, the opposite of what it had to be. This would take some time.
And time it took.
When they finished the video the sun was setting, giving him a perfect golden hour glow to take a pretty instagram picture. Well, more or less pretty. Yangyang had done an okay job, if you ignored the bronzer* that was two shades too dark and the liner that went all the way to the brow.
As soon as the picture was out his account got flooded by likes and comments, a few hateful messages as well that he always carefully took the time to delete, one by one. While he tried to convince himself that he was unaffected by them and only wanted to shield his community for years, he couldn't ignore the fact that they hurt. And 'I don't have to get hurt' seemed like a good enough motto to live by.
As he did exactly that his eyes caught onto one comment that was from a certified account that was unfamiliar to him. Well not so much lately. @Qian_KunMUA whose account he was looking at only a few hours ago.
It read " Seems like the awards won't be so hard to win (or will they?) "
Even though the comment may have been posted with malicious intent, it made Ten smile.
First because the one of the people he considered part of his most serious competitors had the same feeling about him, second because it was enough to bring back to life the flame of competition that had been dying, crushed under his anxiety.
Whoever this Kun guys thought he was, Ten would make sure to put him back where he belonged.
(In second place.)