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Minho stared at himself in the mirror with critical eyes.
“Pull yourself together man. It's just a kiss, you've done this a hundred times before,” he admonished himself.
A few meters away he could hear the sounds of the crew making last minute set adjustments and shouting instructions at each other.
Jisung was presumably somewhere on set waiting for him.
And wasn't that just a joke, Jisung the rookie actor, was calmer than he was about their upcoming scene.
Xxxxxxxx
Lee Minho had made a name for himself in the BL genre and even won a supporting actor award for his first role. He was used to the fanservice and fan-shipping that came along with the job. Honestly it never bothered him, until now.
Until he looked up and caught Han Jisung's gaze.
It had been a normal day like any other, he couldn't even remember which day of the week it was. He had been chemistry testing with potential partners and thus far nothing had really clicked. It was something he had done ad nauseum, seeing as he had never really settled into an official “ship” changing up partners with each project.
While it wasn't ideal as he didn't market as well as say Chan and his onscreen partner Felix, he wasn't exactly struggling to get roles.
The first time his agent, Hyunjin had tentatively suggested a BL role he had shrugged and given it a shot.
The plot for Cause of Death had been good. It revolved around a Medical Examiner and a man with seeming ties to shady dealings trying to solve an intricate murder plot, with a side of human trafficking thrown in.
He'd landed a supporting role as a police officer also drawn into the mystery and while a relationship between his character and another male side-character had been hinted at, the storyline didn't allow for it. All in all it had been a good first foray into the BL genre. He'd met two actors in Chan and Felix that he now considered good friends and he had picked up a supporting actor nod. He'd been amused when the fans of the show had taken to shipping him with his co-star. They'd even set up a fanclub dedicated to his thighs, apparently his uniform pants had stolen the show in many of his scenes.
His next few roles had seen him steadily climbing up the call sheet until he scored another role alongside Chan and Felix or ChanLix as the fans called them in The Red Thread of Fate.
This time he was part of a secondary ship that sprouted wings and flew straight to the top of the trending tags. Seungmin, his co-star, was a cool guy and they hit it off right off the bat.
The series had dealt with themes of fate and reincarnation and yet somehow their side ship had ended up skyrocketing into the BL stratosphere and even spawned a side story with him and Seungmin in the lead roles.
For quite a while there was a lot of buzz around 2Min, with them doing fanmeets, lives and variety show appearances. He never understood how Seungmin's long term boyfriend Jeongin could put up with watching another man clinging to his boyfriend and all the onscreen kissing and yearning looks.
But after a while it came time to move on. Minho’s next role was as a boxer who unknowingly had a one night stand with his future physiotherapist. Who after butting heads decide to start a FWB situation, before feelings occur to complicate things. He had to admit working with Changbin on that series had been a blast. It had been his most physically challenging role to date. Having to train and learn fight choreography, also having to bulk up so that he could believably throw Changbin around on camera in their more steamy scenes together.
It had also been his fourth collaboration with ChanLix with Chan playing his older brother and Felix as Chan’s fiancé.
The press tour for that series had been a breeze, though Minho did notice the yearning looks between his manager and Changbin when there were no cameras around.
All of this led to Minho being in high demand and he had easily signed up to his current project. The storyline was a bit far-fetched but hey if the fans ate up a 200 year old vampire falling for a 20 year old man with special blood then who was he to refuse a paycheck.
The only issue was he hadn't felt that spark with any of the actors he had tested with so far. His character of the vampire was supposed to be borderline obsessed with his charge that he had been protecting for the last 20 years. His character even quoted Jane Austen in reference to his charge. It was the interesting take on vampirism that had caught his eye. He'd even chuckled to himself that all of the stories about vampires were conspiracy theories planted by vampires themselves to avoid detection in the human world.
“Minho-hyung do you want to take a break?” Hyunjin asked quietly off to his left.
“You know what, yes, I'll take that opening. I need to stretch my legs anyway.”
“Director-sshi, if we could take a small break please?” Hyunjin asked deferentially.
Park Jin-Young looked up from where he had been flipping through the script highlighting excerpts and waved his hand while nodding.
That was as much of a go-ahead that they would get Minho supposed standing and bowing to the director.
He left the room via a side door separate from where the young hopefuls were waiting.
God he was getting too old to do this song and dance each time. If another boy barely out of his pimple teenage stage stepped through the door he was going to start feeling like a pedophile. Ephebophile? Yes ephebophile that was the word.
Either way he was a 26 year old man, he was not under any circumstances going to be shipped with someone barely legal.
As he stepped outside to get some fresh air he stumbled upon someone anxiously pacing.
It was a young man slightly shorter than him with brown wavy hair parted in the middle. He had a very expressive face, currently that face was scrunched up in concern accentuating his round cheeks.
“Aish, Han Jisung, get a hold of yourself. Just do it!”
He ran a hand through his hair before he took three deep breaths to compose himself.
It was as if Han Jisung disappeared between one moment and the next. It was fascinating to see him switch right in front of his eyes.
“Please Myung-Soo sushi, isn't there anything I can do? I can't sit around like this all day. Miss Nayeon at the orphanage always told us to be helpful. This house is too large……”
Ah the arm's length scene Minho recognised the dialogue.
He had to stifle a chuckle at Jisung's exaggerated expressions.
Especially the parts where Jisung admonished Minho’s ‘Myung-Soo sshi’ to stay an arm's length from him and the absolutely scandalised look on his face when his character Tae-joon realised the innuendo regarding all his measurements.
At this point Minho realised that it had probably been 5min and he was due back inside.
But at least he had Han Jisung's audition to look forward to later in the day.
Or at least that's what he thought before Director Park threw them a curveball.
Han Jisung finally walked into the room for his screentest and Minho had to school his features into a placid expression. He would sound like a creeper if he had to admit to having watched Jisung on his break, though that would be par for the course with his character Myung-Soo he thought.
“Good day everyone,” Jisung greeted, bowing to everyone in the room including the often ignored lighting crew.
‘One point to Han Jisung,’ Minho thought.
“Han Jisung reading for the part of Lee Tae-joon. I will be doing the scene on page 24 midway down the page.”
Director Park flipped to the relevant page and Minho stepped from his seat to join Jisung on the one couch in the room.
“No not that one,” Director Park spoke up suddenly.
“I'm looking for chemistry. Try the first meeting scene. Page five from the top.”
“Page five?” Jisung asked, blinking at Director Park anxiously.
“Will that be a problem?”
“No,” Jisung squeaked anxiously.
As Minho walked to his mark, he shot Jisung a small thumbs up and was met with a nervous smile.
~~~~~
Myung-Soo reclined next to the pool having just done a few laps. He'd noticed the black tie event occurring a floor below him. He knew there were a few fellow vampires mingled in among the human guests.
“Uh your drink Sir,” a nervous voice interrupted his reverie.
He opened an eye, only to spring from his recliner, if he moved a tad faster than was humanly possible he was to be forgiven.
Because right in front of him closer than he had ever seen him before was Tae-joon, the absolute last person that should be here.
Myung-Soo stalked forward without a word, an animalistic part of him that he kept tightly locked up flared to life at the panicked look on Tae-joon's face.
Tae-joon started backing up, apprehensive, his eyes blown wide and his pulse rabbiting in his throat.
Next thing Tae-joon's foot slipped and he tumbled backward and would've landed up on his ass splashed with a cocktail if Myung-Soo hadn't intervened catching him with a strong arm wrapped around his waist. Peripherally Myung-Soo was aware of the tray clattering to the ground and rolling off somewhere, the cocktail glass smashed, spilling the sweet beverage.
Myung-Soo however found himself pressed up against Tae-joon. His beguiling eyes stared at him helplessly and he was panting slightly with his mouth half open. Myung-Soo's gaze was caught by a bead of sweat making its way down Tae-joon's face and he had a random thought as to how good it would taste to lick Tae-joon's cheek.
‘What the hell!? Where did that come from?’
He hastily stepped back releasing Tae-joon. Almost immediately the other sank to the ground as if his knees had given out.
When Tae-joon stupidly reached for the shards of glass Myung-Soo moved quickly to grab his wrist.
“What do you think you are doing?”
He felt the bones in Tae-joon's wrist grind together in his grip.
Tae-joon let out a pained whimper from his little mouth and Myung-Soo had another wild thought of licking into that mouth and swallowing his gasps before biting his lower lip.
~~~~~
Silence. One could hear a pin drop before Director Park cleared his throat and the moment was broken.
Minho came back to himself where he was kneeling on the floor grasping Jisung's wrist. Jisung blinked his large brown eyes at him and looked shell shocked.
Minho dropped Jisung's hand as if it were a hot coal.
“Well director Park,” said assistant director Park Jihyo, “ it appears we have found that illusive chemistry.”
If Park Jin-Young were a cartoon character he would be rubbing his hands together in glee.
“Indeed, that's what I was looking for! Nayeon,” Director Park called for his formidable PA.
The woman hurried over and gave a deferential bow.
If Lee Know hadn't seen her ruthless efficiency, he would've been fooled.
“Cancel the other auditions for the day, I've found my Tae-joon.”
“Yes, Director-sshi.”
Nayeon walked toward the door of the audition room, a sweet smile in place as she prepared to dash the dreams of the other young hopefuls.
Xxxxxxxxx
Which brought Minho back to the present and the problem at hand. Him kissing Han Jisung. Minho thought back to his first onscreen kiss with Seungmin and honestly he wasn't even half as nervous as he was at this moment. The intimacy coach had signed him and Jisung off, and they had come close, oh so very close to kissing during the intimacy sessions, but something had stopped them each time.
Minho couldn't help but think that was a mistake. Maybe if he and Jisung had kissed each other before this wouldn't be so awkward.
“Places everyone!” Assistant director Park Jihyo called, snapping Minho out of his fugue state.
They were filming an outdoor scene and were trying to film while the light was optimal.
He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt in an uncharacteristic display of nerves.
Glancing up he saw Jisung wandering over to his mark and all but collapsing onto the grass.
Minho quickly made his own way over to his spot and sat down beside Jisung.
“Three, two, one aaaaand action!”
~~~~~
Myung-Soo and Tae-joon sat on the embankment shoulder to shoulder.
“You know, I don't think I've ever had this much freedom in my life,” Myung-Soo said, leaning back on his arms and tilting his head back to enjoy the warm sunshine on his face.
“That will never stop being weird,” Tae-joon stated, staring at the vampire next to him.
“Yup, no incineration or even a little bit of sparkling in the sunlight,” Myung-Soo shot back.
“I didn't say I was disappointed,” was Tae-joon's reply as he ran his eyes over the vampire's handsome features.
Feeling a bit of a strange flutter in his stomach, Myung-Soo turned and rummaged through the cooler at his side and pulled out a can of tomato juice.
“Blergh, I don't know how you can stand the taste,” Tae-joon pulled a disgusted face as he watched Myung-Soo take a deep swig.
“Don't knock it till you try it. You humans drink bloody Mary's all the time. Plus it's not like I can just randomly suck on a blood bag in public.”
“But at least with a bloody Mary, there's alcohol to burn away the nasty tomato taste.”
“And yet you smother all of your food in tomato sauce.”
“But I don't swig it directly from the bottle!” Tae-joon shot back.
Myung-Soo just laughed and took another swig.
“Let me have a sip,” Tae-joon demanded after a beat of silence.
“Were you not just saying how gross this is?” Myung-Soo asked, moving the can out of Tae-joon’s reach.
“What was the first rule of friendship?” Tae-joon asked with a raised brow.
“To be generous and share with your friends,” Myung-Soo replied dutifully.
“Precisely! Now hit me,” Tae-joon made grabby hands at Myung-Soo.
After a beat of hesitation Myung-Soo shrugged and handed the can to Tae-joon.
Tae-joon sealed his pink lips over the opening and gulped down a mouthful of tomato juice. Myung-Soo’s gaze was drawn helplessly to the movement of Tae-joon’s throat as he swallowed.
As Tae-joon’s lips disconnected from the can, they turned down in a moue of distaste.
“Nope. That is a complete no from me, I don't know how you drink that stuff like it's the best thing on this earth.”
Myung-Soo noticed a smudge of red on Tae-joon's plump lower lip and without thinking he reached out and wiped it with a thumb. Tae-joon's mouth dropped open in surprise and Myung-Soo felt the urge to bite, to lick and devour his charge all over again.
Myung-Soo brought his thumb to his mouth and licked away the tomato juice stain.
The hint of Tae-joon's elusive taste hidden underneath the acidic sting of the tomato juice snapped the frayed edges of Myung-Soo's control and he lunged forward and smashed his mouth against Tae-joon's in hunger.
Tae-joon gasped shocked as Myung-Soo licked into his mouth, chasing that delicious flavour that was uniquely Tae-joon.
Their tongues tangled together in a brief fight for dominance before Myung-Soo brought his hand up to tilt Tae-joon's face just so and Tae-joon melted against him, giving up all pretense of a fight and submitting so beautifully.
Myung-Soo didn't know how long they kissed, all his senses were wrapped up in Tae-joon. He was drowning in Tae-joon’s scent and taste, his one hand gently caressing Tae-joon's face and neck, feeling his bounding pulse. The other carded through his hair and starlight burst behind his eyelids as he savoured the kiss, his hearing was locked onto Tae-joon's rapidly pounding heartbeat.
Everything in his long life seemed to have led him to this point, holding Tae-joon in his arms and kissing him as if he was the very blood he needed to survive.
Distantly an annoying sound intruded~~~~~
“Cut! Guys cut! The scene is over.”
Minho snapped back to reality harshly and jerked away from Jisung.
Jisung moaned and chased after his lips, his gaze half lidded and hazy and his cheeks flushed.
Minho placed a gentle hand on Jisung's chest, trying to keep a respectable distance between them.
He saw the exact moment Jisung came back to himself and realised where he was. The blush on his cheeks grew more pronounced and his expressive brown eyes widened in distress. Minho patted him gently on the chest as if to say ‘It's OK.’
Jisung hung his head in embarrassment.
“Wow guys, you really gave us some really good material there,” Jihyo said, fanning herself with her hand.
“The fangirls and fanboys are going to eat you two up with a spoon.”
‘I'd like to eat him, with or without a spoon,’ Minho thought to himself, glancing at his co-star.
Looking at Jisung's flushed face, Minho felt that he finally understood why BL actors got into official ships, because being paid to kiss Han Jisung seemed like a new dream come true.
Maybe just maybe this BL would finally see him gaining an official partner. But Minho felt a few more kisses and a conversation with his co-star was in order to seal the deal.