The Makeup Artist // Xu Minghao

All For Chapstick

A/N: This is going to be a gay love story so you already know this is gonna be good ;)

Yingjie is in the photo above.

Yingjie's POV

I anxiously watched from behind the stage as all thirteen members of Seventeen walked out onstage.

Oh god I hope their makeup turns out okay.

As they stepped out into the high powered fluorescent lights, I let out a soft gasp.

They all looked absolutely stunning.

All of them were naturally very handsome and with makeup it only seemed to enhance their beauty. Their previously unblemished skin now appeared to be absolutely flawless. Their skin glowed underneath the attention of the light and gave each member an ethereal effect. Their chiseled features, now more prominent thanks to the perfectly blended slight contour, were eye catching and gave them a statuesque ideal. The eyeliner especially made their colored contacts stand out and those that opted out on contacts were no different.

My eyes wandered over to Jun, Mingyu, Chan, Wonwoo and Minghao - the members that I did makeup on - and began to analyze my work.

No stray marks, so that's good. The blending was done effortlessly. The tiny wing eyeliner I did on Chan matched evenly, much to my relief. I inwardly winced, already knowing it would be a total pain trying to recreate that look again perfectly.

But dang did he look good with those wings.

The slight blush on Wonwoo and Jun's cheeks looked as if it was real. Score! Props to the makeup-no-makeup look. For Mingyu and Minghao I went a bit more pronounced on the eyeshadow. Mingyu wanted an overall natural look so I stuck with natural toned colors. My gaze ran over his eyes and I hummed in satisfaction.

I turned my attention to Minghao and a smile unconsciously came onto my face. Minghao was a fun person to put makeup on as he seemed to love it as much as I did. He insisted on having his eyeshadow stand out and have it stand out it did.

His eyes were shaded with a mixture of pinks and red with a touch of brown to tone it down. I concentrated the pigmentation around his eye, following his eyeliner in a way, and gave a faded effect on the lid itself. This was one of his signature styles when it came to eye makeup and I can definitely see why.

He looked magnificent.

"Phew!" a voice said to the right of me, "I'm glad the makeup turned out so well!"

I turned around and found Hana and Misun standing next to me, my two fellow makeup artists. Hana was rather tall with shoulder length hair and gold square rim glasses. Her signature makeup look included faux freckles and red lipstick. Her sense of fashion could be described as vintage or hipster; she was dressed in a reddish-brown button skirt with black leggings, a white button down and black boots. Misun was average height with a pixie cut hairstyle and a studded nose ring. Her signature makeup look included perfect eyebrows and smoky eyeshadow. Her sense of fashion was alternative meets tomboy; she wore semi-ripped blue jeans, a graphic shirt that was sleeveless on one side and long on the other, and white adidas shoes.

When we were initially assigned to Seventeen as their makeup artists we didn't know how to feel about one another. Two girls and one boy. We were all very different yet somehow we became fast friends. Maybe it was the love of makeup or the same love for Seventeen that bonded us. But either way, we were here together to stay with Seventeen until the very end.

"You always worry too much, Hana," Misun teased, "the makeup we do always turns out good."

"Yeah," Hana sheepishly adjusted her glasses, "but I can't help myself from worrying."

"I have to admit," I rubbed the back of my head in an embarrassed fashion, "I was a bit worried myself."

"There's nothing to worry about," Misun reassured and pointed to the members onstage, "they look so gorgeous it should be illegal! And the fans seem to agree."

Misun's finger moved to where it was pointing out at the crowded room. The screams were what reached me first. I blinked in confusion as to how in the world did I not notice the sounds until now? It almost seemed as if each and every person in the crowd had a megaphone and they were shouting into it. The next thing I noticed was the flashing of cameras. They were flashing so fast they could have been considered a strobe light. I watched as one particular female fan began crying and screaming how much she loved Seventeen.

Same, girl.

Same.

"I love how much they love Seventeen," I commented, smiling at the various signs and crying fans.

"These fan meetings are always so sweet. I love to see the interactions!" Hana agreed.

"Yeah, but the preparation is always hectic," Misun commented, "I mean how long did it take us to do every single members' makeup?"

There was a moment of silence while we all thought.

"Umm, I think around 4 hours?" Hana guessed, "But I'm not too sure. Remember we got delayed when Woozi accidentally dumped all that setting powder over himself?"

The memory of the event earlier in today flashed by in my mind and I giggled, "I don't understand how that even happened!"

Misun and Hana were quick to join in my laughter, "I think he said he didn't know it was open. So when he threw it up in the air to catch it..." Misun said between laughs.

"And then DK got covered in the powder too! Trying to help Woozi clean up!" Hana chuckled out, causing another round of laughter.

"What a bunch of dorks," I said in a fond tone with a final chuckle.

"So that explains why I was barely able to get chapstick on Jeonghan," Misun thought aloud, "the powder incident took up more time than we thought."

"Huh, yeah I guess we- oh my GOD-" my eyes widened and I raised a hand to cover my mouth, "I forgot to put chapstick on Minghao!"

"You WHAT!?!" Misun and Hana both shouted.

Chapstick may not seem like a big deal but to a makeup artist, whose job is to make sure someone looks absolutely perfect...this was a very big deal. Chapped lips were a total no-no especially when Minghao was at a fan meeting! 

"I have to put some on him before the fan meet starts!" I said while running to the vanity table and quickly snatching up the red tint chapstick.

The sound of running footsteps followed me, "Well you better hurry cause you only have two minutes!" Hana said worriedly.

"Wait you're going to go out looking like that?!" Misun asked pointing at my outfit.

I looked down at what I was wearing: black skinny jeans with holes at the knees, a red and black striped turtle neck with a black graphic tee pulled over it, a long red belt and black combat boots.

"What's wrong with how I look?" I asked with a curious expression.

"You're right, you look hot! NOW GO!" Misun pushed me out onto the stage where I stumbled into view of everyone.

Oh dear god.

I felt all the gazes of everyone in the room turn towards me. All the fans and bodyguards and, of course, Seventeen members.

Was this really worth doing? All this just for chapstick?

My hands clenched in determination.

Hell yeah this was worth it!

This was in the name of chapstick.