Archive of Our Own

Hongjoong remembered it clearly. He was fifteen while visiting family for the holiday. His cousin had spent some time in America and had brought back DVDs that he had found in some clearance bin. If Hongjoong’s parents knew what they were watching, he would have been sent off to a monastery. It wasn’t porn, but it might as well have been.

There he was in all of his grotesque glory.

Tall, with broad shoulders and a grabbable waist. He didn’t say a single word the entire film, only animalistic roars that sent heat straight through Hongjoong’s poor, confused body. Never before had he experienced something like this.

His cousins teased him for being scared stiff. He didn’t have the heart to tell them that that was not the case. The popcorn bowl in his lap was his one and only savior that day.

However, even as an adult he struggled with confessing that Pyramid Head of all things was his gay awakening. Those around him had normal awakenings of actors and idols, hell, even a celebrity chef or two still didn’t hold a candle to his monster fantasy. Even people’s obsession with Ghostface didn’t calm his anxieties about his love of the grotesque.

The butterfly effect is an odd thing.

He never thought that one night could kickstart so much. His sexuality, his career, his friends; everything in his life started at that moment.

Career planning in his school had left his teachers frustrated when he answered with, “I dunno. I’ll figure it out.”

You’re too bright for that

You have so much potential.

But when he announced he was signing up for cosmetology school, he got the same responses.

It’ll be a waste to use your brain for that.

What about going to a real college to get a real job?

His parents were slightly more supportive, but told him to keep a back-up plan just in case. But he didn’t need one, he was determined to make it work.

He spent his hours volunteering at a local theater to help build his portfolio while putting in the grueling time at school. In Itaewon, he searched for any drag queen kind enough to give him tips—of which, thankfully, there were many. They pinched his cheeks and called him adorable then offered to give him private lessons, which he may have agreed to once or twice.

Stage productions were his first money makers. Not a lot, but enough to make him brim with pride when he said, “Can’t, I have a gig,” when trying to make plans. His friends were stuck doing nude illusion looks for weddings weekend after weekend while he was helping make fantastical creatures come alive on stage.

He applied for movies left and right, hoping that one would finally take a chance on some no-name makeup artist. He had a decent portfolio, but that didn’t mean much in a small market full of artists who had already carved a place for themselves in the industry.

Finally, one decided to take a chance on him. Whether it was because they actually believed in him or if it was out of desperation, he never did find out. Whatever the reason, he was happy with it.

His first film job was some dime a dozen zombie movie. He hardly got paid for it, which wasn’t too much of a surprise seeing how poor the reviews of it were. It was a step above a low budget student film, which Hongjoong thought did some injustice to student films seeing how he had seen some crews do way more with way less, but that was beside the point. It was less than ideal, but he still liked to look back on it with some level of fondness.

His jobs consisted of the same kind of low-budget films for the first year. While they weren’t always the best written or best looking at the end of the day, he found that they were fun. There was pressure to do well, but at the end of the day, they were creating art and that’s what he loved the most.

The first long job he got was a TV series. Only twelve episodes, but once again, another zombie story. He was slowly beginning to hate the oversaturation of the genre, but he had gotten damn good at zombie makeup at that point.

It was the biggest budget set he had been on up to that point. It also happened to be where he met Yeosang and Seonghwa.

Yeosang was also a makeup artist, but the kind Hongjoong used to snub his nose at. Beautiful and flawless faces that were unobtainable by most living people. Like Hongjoong, he transformed people, but he transformed them into “better” versions of themselves. There was something scary about that as well, but that was more on the commentary on society than on Yeosang. He was just a magician. It was rumored that Yeosang was well sought out for celebrities of all kinds. Red carpets, private events, idol photoshoots; his schedule was always packed to the brim.

Seonghwa worked in costumes and often had begun working alongside Hongjoong when it came time to bring their masterpieces together. He was soft spoken, but had no issue offering his opinions on what would bring a look together. When he was young, and his family couldn’t afford new clothes very often, he had taken up sewing with his mother. He had learned how to hem and repurpose by the age of eight and never looked back.

He and Seonghwa had managed to work most of their jobs together in recent years. They seemed to be a match made in heaven and most producers realized that. Yeosang was come and go, seeing how in demand he was. That didn’t stop him from demanding all the details of the set when he wasn’t involved.

It made Hongjoong love his job a little more when he had people to share it with.

However, most of his older jobs sat in a heavy shadow of the jobs he worked currently. Real horror movies. Ones that required entire teams of special effects artists in order to carry out the demand. His name was in the credits of movies that played both in theater and exclusively for streaming services. He had some sense of stability, even though his hours were far from it. Though, it was a tough market to be in. CG replaced a lot of people in his field and quite a few artists he went to school with had a second job or had to leave the field entirely. When he wasn’t filming, he did pick up gigs at the local theaters, but the pay was so little that he considered it more of a hobby than anything else.

A new job was on the horizon and Hongjoong was spending his days preparing for it. It wasn’t a location shoot, but the days were still going to be long. He’d have to prepare snacks and drinks, comfy sweaters to hang out in when he wasn’t working.

He was excited to be working on a fantasy film for a change. They tended to carry a fun air that tended to feel like a vacation from most of his jobs. He still got to create monsters, but also got to enjoy the whimsy of putting elf ears on everyone on occasion.

Apparently, one of the main villains of the story was a human-spider hybrid. They were using traditional effects mixed with editing, which made Hongjoong want to celebrate like it was his birthday. Eventually he’d need to make a list of all the supplies he’d need, but that could happen once he knew more details of the job itself.

He happened to be reading the long email of instructions sent to him when his phone started ringing. Yeosang’s contact photo took over the entire screen, a selfie he had taken at some skin care event. His skin was dewy and glowing, his pretty chestnut hair tucked behind his ear. Without thinking, Hongjoong hit the answer button.

“Hey.” He set his laptop to the side and curled up against the arm of the couch.

“It looks like we’re going to work on the same film again!” Yeosang said a little too excitedly through the phone speaker.

“How did you know I got the job?”

“Because I know that you probably didn’t even have to apply. They probably called you up and offered it, huh?”

Hongjoong pursed his lips in annoyance.

“There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of favoritism, hyung. You’ve earned it.”

It didn’t always feel that way, but he appreciated the sentiment nonetheless. “I thought you took that TV show? That romance one?”

“It’s on ‘temporary standby’ because the lead actor has to go into rehab. I actually wasn’t supposed to say anything about it, but you don’t count. Best friend privileges.”

“I’m sure it’ll hit the news eventually. But your secret is safe with me.” While yes, he did have best friend privileges, it was more likely that Yeosang spoke without thinking

“Thank you. But I can’t just wait around in hopes he’ll magically be cured in a month. I need to pay rent, y’know.”

Hongjoong hummed in agreement as Yeosang continued on.

“And I like working on films like this once in a while. It keeps things from getting stale.”

Hongjoong tried to not take it so seriously; it wasn’t that deep. But it felt odd that something he felt so passionate about was something people just wanted to stop by when they felt bored. He looked around his tiny apartment and admired the movie monster paraphernalia on the walls. Art of The Creature from the Black Lagoon and Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein between shelves of figures of Freddy and Pyramid Head. On the TV was a paused YouTube video of someone reviewing a new fake blood line. He decorated his phone case with cheap stickers he found online, a collage of some of his favorite monsters and random quotes from his favorite movies. He had tattoos all over his body, wanting to physically represent how deep his love for it went.

Other special effects artists he met were closer to how he felt, but there still always seemed to be something missing. He knew he was in his own head, that it was his own fault he felt this way. He didn’t want to be a “pick me” type of person. His passion was no better than anyone else’s just because he felt stronger about it. There were plenty of people he had met in online forums that felt the way he did, he wasn’t that special. It was a driving force for why he had started to learn English, that way he could have a larger pool to swim in. He wasn’t the greatest, but he could easily read Twitter think-pieces and be a voyeur of arguments on Reddit threads.

“It’s been a while since you’ve been on a film set, right?” Hongjoong shifted and adjusted the phone against his ear.

”Mmhmm. I’m getting tired of celebrities.”

“Well, I hate to tell you about movie sets…”

Yeosang chuckled. “Not like that. I mean the stuck up ones. Like the ones that have a few hundred followers on Instagram and think they’re hot shit. Or the big wigs that think they’re above the average human. But, I am interested about this one who I found out got hired for this movie. ”

“Have your eyes on someone?”

“Not in a romantic sense. But I’ve heard such wonderful things about Jeong Yunho, I just want to see if they’re true.”

“Who?”

Yeosang let out a burst of laughter. “I love when you act dumb."

“Act…dumb?”

“Wait… Do you seriously not know? You of all people? Mr. Horror?” Yeosang gasped loudly. With how expressive he was, he really should have been an actor himself. “Blood Lake? Buried in the Basement? Divinity?”

“I thought he was a romance star? Why are you naming horror movies?”

“He’s basically uh… Who’s that fish-guy that you like?”

“Doug Jones?”

“Yeah! He’s the Korean Doug Jones. He does all the body contortions and stuff. He does all kinds of stuff though. People have been talking about him more because people found out how handsome he is.”

“Shouldn’t people talk about him because he’s a good actor?”

“My sweet moonlight child. You have an artist’s soul through and through. Of course his acting is good, but why did you think he was a romance actor?”

“Well, you know him, so?”

“I don’t only work romances, you know.”

He had a point, Hongjoong just didn’t want to admit that he was correct. “I’m just saying that your style tends to lean toward a more contemporary subject matter.”

“You sound so pretentious.” There was no malice in the way Yeosang said it. In fact, Yeosang was one of the few people who could say something like that to Hongjoong and he wouldn’t take offense to it. “Ah, but I gotta go. I’ll talk to you soon, yeah?”

“Sure. Congrats on getting the job, too, by the way.”

Yeosang thanked him before ending the call. Hongjoong’s eyes fell back on his laptop which had fallen asleep sometime during the phone call. Then, he looked at the TV, which still had his paused YouTube video on. More than likely, he only had a few more minutes before that too fell asleep. The caption on screen was about how the fake blood was berry flavored.

He should probably order some.

📽

Hongjoong stared at the photos of Yunho. He was handsome, there was no denying that, but the professional style of headshots made him seem more average than he probably was. He had seen some headshots that were done to obviously try too hard, normally done by young actors who were too eager to get into a big role without paying their dues. Yunho was young, but seasoned by the sound of it.

He had large puppy eyes and sweetheart lips, fluffy black hair that was styled to look like it wasn’t styled. If the plain grey background was replaced with something like a park, he could have easily passed as someone’s boyfriend.

But what was it that made Yeosang so curious? He worked with beautiful people on the daily, what was one more?

A small knock sounded from his door and he quickly got to his feet. He opened his mouth to greet the actor, but paused when he laid eyes on him. The black hair had been changed to honey blond, though it looked like the dark roots had just started to push their way to the surface. He looked much more casual than his photos, baggy grey sweats and oversized hoodie.

“Morning!” The actor gave him a smile, his white teeth on full display for Hongjoong to gawk at. “I’m Jeong Yunho. I’ve heard wonderful things about you. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Kim Hongjoong.” He held his hand out, his arm so straight and stiff that it felt that his elbow was going to snap from the pressure. He had to tilt his head

When Yunho took hold of his hand, his eyes widened. Hongjoong was expecting something snarky about the tattoos that littered his arm, but instead, Yunho let out an excited, “wow! Your tattoos are so sick!”

“Really?” Hongjoong knew his tattoos looked good. They were artistic interpretations of some of his favorite movies, something like an abstract painting that would make people really stop and focus, as if he was a piece in a museum. He loved a good realistic piece as much as the next guy, but he wanted something a little different than just slapping Freddy or Pinhead’s face on his arm. Once he had started to make actual money off films did he start his sleeve. He had some little ones elsewhere on his body, but his sleeve was his prized possession. A collection of cities he had visited mixed with his life-long passion.

“Yeah! They look like an oil painting or something!” Yunho hadn’t let go of his hand the entire time, instead taking liberty to turn Hongjoong’s arm back and forth as he inspected the artwork closer. “Is this from The Crow?” He pointed to the famous black eye makeup, that bled like it had been rained on. It turned into a cloud of smoke that then transformed into a burst of crows. The fact that Yunho guessed it was impressive.

“Yeah, it is.” Hongjoong tried to hide his surprise by swallowing the lump in his throat. “How did you know?”

“I dressed up as Eric Draven for Halloween once. I’d recognize that makeup anywhere.” Yunho’s nose scrunched when he smiled. “Oh, shit. Sorry.” He let go of his hand and took a step back. “Didn’t mean to get into your space like that.”

Hongjoong’s arm hovered in the air for a moment before he let it fall back to his side. “It’s fine. Why get tattoos if people aren’t going to admire them, right?”

Yunho gave a nervous chuckle, the faintest dusting of pink high up on his cheeks. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t have any. Kinda too afraid of the pain.”

“You’re a contortionist, right?” Hongjoong motioned for him to sit in his chair. “I’m sure you’ve had injuries that hurt way worse.”

“I’m really lucky actually. Only a few sprains here and there. Planning to keep it that way.” He knocked on a cabinet nearby. Hongjoong didn’t have the heart to tell him that it wasn’t actual wood, but plyboard. There’s technically wood in that, right?

“Well, maybe one day then.” Hongjoong leaned against the vanity counter. “So the reason I wanted you to come in today was so that I could just do some swatch tests on you so I know for when filming starts.” He switched the subject quickly so they didn’t have to linger too long on personal details.

“Sure.” Yunho flopped into the chair. For his height, it was at an awkward height to fall back into. “What do you need me to do?”

“Nothing, just sit back and relax.” Hongjoong turned and gathered some hair clips. “I’m going to get your hair out of the way really quick. Do you have anything on your face right now?”

“Just moisturizer and some sunscreen.”

Hongjoong had to swallow the moan that almost fell out of his mouth. He looked this good barefaced? God, he hated him.

“Okay. I’m gonna get your hair out of your face.” Hongjoong tried to not appear nervous as he swept back his hair, pinning back the blond strands by his temple. Surprisingly, his hair was still soft despite the bleach. There were a few spots of yellow that were around the start of the new growth. “Are you allergic to anything?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

Hongjoong made a note on the corner of his list before he returned back to Yunho. “So you’ve seen the concept pictures already, right?”

“Yeah. They showed me at the run through. It’s important for me to know right away so I can start building the character in my head.” Yunho tapped his temple.

Hongjoong smiled at his level of dedication. He launched into a lengthy explanation of the process while painting different swatches of grey over his skin. Yunho listened intently as he explained the importance of blending and the placement of each prosthetic they’d add to his skin. It was made to look like it had been infected at one point and never healed, flesh scarred around his lips and parts of his chest. He showed examples of the silicone prosthetics and let Yunho feel them so he could get a sense of how they’d feel on his body.

“Do you have any questions?” He handed over some makeup remover wipes.

“Yeah, how long have you been doing this?”

Hongjoong hadn’t fully expected it. Normally, that was a question that got bundled with the ice breakers that happened on the first day when they had a little more time together.

“I took interest in high school. But I’ve been working on films for about six years.” He sat in one of the other makeup chairs and swung it around to face him.

“Wow, that’s pretty cool. I’m surprised we haven’t worked together yet.” Yunho leaned on his elbows.

“I was surprised too. You have a pretty big filmography.”

“Oh? Did you look me up?” Yunho smiled, smugly. His cheeks were red from the constant rubbing.

“My friend mentioned it to me. But I recognized quite a few of the titles.”

“I worked a lot as a movement coordinator at first, then I got offered some small acting parts. Kinda snowballed from there.” The smirk wiped away and it was replaced with a boyish humbleness. “Glad all the money my parents spent on gymnastics paid off.”

“Gymnast to film. That’s kind of a big jump, no pun intended.” Yunho still snorted at the joke. “What made you switch?”

“I watched the Silent Hill movie as a teenager and was never the same after.”

Hongjoong looked up at him with a curious tilt of his head. He couldn’t possibly mean…

“Pyramid Head,” Yunho clarifies with a hint of smugness.

Hongjoong’s eyes widened to the point he felt the strain in the back of his sockets. He had delivered it so clearly, so unashamed that it momentarily stole Hongjoong’s breath. It wasn’t the same thing. It couldn’t be.

“That was actually what made me fall in love with special effect makeup.”

Yunho’s eyes sparkled. “Really?! That’s so cool. I know it has its problems, but man, I love it so much. It’s what got me into the games, too.”

“I’m awful at video games. I’ve just watched let’s plays of them.”

“That’s okay!” Yunho said with a little too much enthusiasm. But the way his eyes sparkled made Hongjoong’s heart leap. “I know we’ll probably have some down time. I’ll bring a system sometime and we can set it up somewhere so we can play.”

Hongjoong had known some actors to do that in their trailers. While he got along with most of the actors he worked with, there had been some level of bonding, at least on a surface level. But he tended to stay with his other creatives just because that was the hierarchy of most film sets. Once or twice he had been asked out, but had denied them every time. Yunho offering to hang out seemed…already incredibly familiar.

Once he managed to swallow his initial shock, he nodded robotically. “Sure. I’d like that.”

Yunho’s smile split across his face like a sunrise. Hongjoong felt the warmth of it on his skin and without thinking, he reached up and touched his cheek to see if it was real. He cleared his throat and quickly shifted his gaze.

A knock came from the door and they lifted their heads to see who it was.

“Yunho-ssi, we gotta get going.” The man’s unique features made Hongjoong think that he was possibly another actor. His larger nose sat in the middle of sharp angles and above plush lips. His ink black hair curled around his pierced ears, the tips brushing against his matte leather jacket. A phone was in his hand, held carefully between ring adorned fingers.

“Ah, is it that time already?” Yunho pulled his sleeve up to check his watch. His wrists were slender and it looked like the leather band had to be cut and restitched in order to fit. “Oh, Hongjoong-ssi, this is Jung Wooyoung. He’s my…manager? Assistant? What title are you using nowadays?”

“Wrangler extraordinaire.” Wooyoung stepped into the trailer and slipped his phone into his pant’s pocket. “Nice to meet you.”

Hongjoong stood and took Wooyoung’s hand when it was offered to him. His palms were warm, but felt somewhat dry, but not scratchy. “Sorry for keeping him so long.”

“Oh, it’s no problem at all!” Wooyoung flashed him a large, toothy smile. “If we didn’t have a costume fitting to go to I would have let you keep him all day.”

“We’ll have plenty of time during filming. Won’t we, Hongjoong-ssi?” Yunho winked as he stood up.

Hongjoong tried to will away the heat that found its way to his cheeks, but figured it was pointless. He nodded with a polite smile. “Of course. I look forward to it.”

Wooyoung had made his way back to the door, trying his best to encourage Yunho to follow. “It was nice meeting you!” He shouted over his shoulder.

A response would have been the polite thing to offer, but Hongjoong was too distracted by watching how Yunho walked. The baggy material of his sweats swayed with each step, curving around his hip to show the shape that had been previously hidden. What else were they hiding?

“Bye, Hongjoong-ssi.”

His eyes flicked up to find Yunho staring at him from the doorway. If he caught what Hongjoong was staring at, he didn’t let on. He stayed with one foot already out the door, stepped down from the trailer entrance but remained unmoving.

The tension in his throat made it difficult to swallow. “Bye, Yunho-ssi.”

Yunho smiled the same smile that made Hongjoong’s heart skip. Only then did he step out of the trailer to follow a complaining Wooyoung.

Hongjoong sank into his makeup chair, heart hammering beneath his sternum.

He was so fucked.

📽

Black tank tops should be illegal.

Hongjoong couldn’t believe what he was seeing, couldn’t believe that he was in a musty gym at nine in the morning on a Tuesday for what felt like a personal attack on his sanity.

San already was a menace to society when he wore anything sleeveless. With his golden skin and thick arms out for the world to see like he wasn’t constantly making every straight man who passed to mentally ask “do I want to be him or do I want to be with him?” The first time Hongjoong saw his indescribable muscles paired with his dazzling, dimpled smile, his first reaction was to punch him, because there was no way that a human like him existed. Then, when Seonghwa announced that he and San were dating, it was no shock to anyone. They were beautiful separately, and they were even more beautiful together.

But then seeing San next to Yunho?

Game over.

When Yunho got overheated, his skin turned a beautiful shade of dusty pink. It reminded Hongjoong of flowers in the park during spring mornings. It painted his neck and his ears, drops of sweat like dew on petals gathered along his forehead and darkened his blond hair. He wasn’t muscular like San, but there was definition in his lithe limbs.

Yunho moved like a dancer. Even while learning the fight choreography with San, it only took him two tries before he was adding his character’s nuanced movement. Every twitch of his fingers and every flick of his arm had been practiced. It looked like a video that had been glitched. He watched himself in the large mirror on the other side of the room. His focus sharpened his eyes and it made Hongjoong’s heart skip.

His hand rested uselessly on his tablet. His notes app was open on the screen, but not a single note had been taken, nor a single photo or video. He was so immersed that he hadn’t even noticed his mouth was hanging open until Seonghwa walked by and snapped it shut for him. His teeth clacked and he nearly threw his tablet in shock.

“Focus, dear.” Seonghwa winked at him.

“Like you weren’t as bad when you first met San,” Hongjoong quipped as he readjusted himself.

“Never said I wasn’t.” Seonghwa looked at his boyfriend fondly. They had been going strong for two years, and even moved in together recently. It was slow, but steady, and they were disgustingly infatuated with one another. Though, with someone like Seonghwa, it was easy to understand why San was head over heels. Even Hongjoong had admitted to having a crush on Seonghwa when they had first met. It felt like a blip in time seeing how it didn’t last long after they had lived together for a short while. Hongjoong was thankful for it, in the end. He loved having Seonghwa as a friend, and he loved getting to see him and San flourish.

“What are you even doing here?” Hongjoong grumbled as he took his tablet and adjusted it to take a video of Yunho.

“I also have to be here to observe. I have to make sure he can move in his costume, after all.”

Seonghwa was living his dream of getting to not only create beautiful fantasy costumes, but also to help create the bottom half of Yunho’s spider. It took quite the team to get it to function with several members from the props department to work the legs as Yunho moved. Hongjoong had yet to see it come together as a cohesive piece, but the parts he had seen were impressive.

“It’s a shame we won’t get to see his acrobatic talents in this one,” Seonghwa added.

Hongjoong peeled his eyes away from the screen to glance briefly at him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, he’s known mainly for his body contortion, right?” Seonghwa raised a brow. “With the costume he’ll be wearing, he won’t really be doing any of that. Too big.”

“Oh, I hadn’t really thought of that.” Hongjoong tried to stop the disappointment from curling his lips into a pout. Flexibility wasn’t something that he normally thought about in another man. Sure, it helped on occasion, but it wasn’t a prerequisite. But the thought entered his mind and now he couldn’t get it out. With Yunho leaning back on his elbow, his leg pulled up so high that he was able to kiss his own knee. A pretty blush across his pale cheeks and his lovely heart lips split open to let out little gasps.

A loud clap abruptly woke Hongjoong from his fantasy.

San was cheering happily and pulling Yunho in for a tight hug. The slaps he gave his back thudded loudly, making Yunho almost sound hollow. A smack like that to Hongjoong’s back would have made him cough up a lung.

“Good work today! You’re gonna do great!”

Yunho gave a wide smile. It was wide enough for Hongjoong to see that he had the slightest overbite. “Thanks. I really appreciate all your hard work.”

“You didn’t need me much,” San said as they started to wander closer. “Plus, this is probably going to be easier than most of your other work.”

“I wouldn’t say that. Sometimes it’s the easier roles that tend to trip me up.” San grabbed two towels off a nearby pile of mats and offered one to Yunho, which he eagerly accepted. “Plus, if this suit works the way it should, I won’t have the use of my legs which is normally my selling point.” He looked over at Seonghwa with a teasing lift of his eyebrow.

Seonghwa responded to the tease with a smirk. “What do you mean if, Yunho-ssi? Are you doubting me?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Yunho winked at him. They seemed friendly for having just met recently. But Seonghwa was such a warm presence that it was hard not to fall into some level of familiarity.

“Good boy. Now, if you excuse me for a moment, I need to have a very important meeting with San-ssi.” There was a twinkle in his eyes as he looked at his boyfriend. San carried the softest, most affectionate smile as he reached out for Seonghwa’s hand. As they walked away, Seonghwa told him how he smelled nice, and San reminded him it was just sweat. Seonghwa purred, “I know,” before they disappeared into a nearby room which Hongjoong assumed was some kind of changing room.

“They’re disgustingly sweet, aren’t they?” Yunho chuckled nervously, losing all the confidence he had had with Seonghwa.

“I’m used to them sneaking off to make out,” Hongjoong retorted. “They act like they don’t live together.”

“So, did you get all that you needed to?” Yunho glanced down at Hongjoong’s tablet and set his towel down next to it.

“I think so.” It wasn’t a total lie. Hongjoong was afraid to look at what he had managed to gather. He had been so distracted that he wasn’t sure if there would even be notes for him to refer back to. In the end, he had gotten a few good videos at least.

“That’s good.” They lapsed into an awkward silence, but for whatever reason, Hongjoong didn’t mind. Yunho’s eyes flicked back and forth from Hongjoong’s face down to the ground, then back to Hongjoong’s face as if to check if he was still looking at him.

“You looked really good out there,” Hongjoong offered.

Yunho brightened. His whole body lifted like he had taken a large breath at the request of a doctor. “You really think so?! I didn’t want to let on to San how nervous I was. The movements are just not what I’m used to and I’m so afraid of not standing out like normal. But then I start second guessing myself cause then if I can’t use my—” He snapped his mouth shut hard enough that his teeth clacked. “Sorry… I didn’t mean to ramble.”

Hongjoong shook his head and gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s fine. I’ve been told I do the same.”

“Yunho!”

The loud voice made both of them flinch. Yunho recovered quicker, since it seemed that he knew who it was right away.

“Why do you always have to yell!” He turned toward the ominous voice, only for Wooyoung to walk around the corner. He had his long hair pulled back into a small ponytail, with silver clips pinning back the parts that were too short. His rings shone in the lights as he waved at them, his face split into a wide smile. “Gotta keep you on your toes.” His attention shifted to Hongjoong once he got closer. “It’s nice to see you again. Sorry to cut it short again, but gotta get this guy to his next appointment.”

“We’re just chatting.” Yunho quickly cut in, but then smiled at Hongjoong. “Plus, I’m gonna be all yours here soon.”

Hongjoong blushed but reached up to adjust his glasses in a flimsy attempt to hide it. “Y-yeah. No worries. Good luck at your appointment.”

“It’s just his bi-weekly massage.” Wooyoung playfully nudged Yunho with his elbow. “Need to keep those muscles relaxed to do what he does.”

The image of Yunho oiled up and only covered by a towel on a table went straight to Hongjoong’s belly. He forced a smile on his face. “It’s good to take care of yourself.”

“Yeah.” Yunho kept staring with a dopey smile, glued to his place on the mats. “I’ll see you soon?”

Hongjoong nodded. “See you soon.”

Wooyoung nudged Yunho again. “C’mon. Gotta clean you up, you stink.”

They bantered the entire way out the door. It seemed they were more like friends than they were co-workers, which was nice to see after he had witnessed so many managers very clearly not give a shit about the people they were supposed to be helping.

He figured it was time for him to go as well. He needed to meet up with the rest of the visual effects team so they could start planning out the prosthetics needed with their warehouse. When he went to retrieve his tablet, he paused when he noticed the towel sitting there. Saliva built on his tongue and his hands shook as he reached out.

A door suddenly opened, making him jump nearly ten feet into the air. He adjusted the course of his reach and scooped up his tablet so he could shove it into his bag.

“Oh, you’re still here!” Seonghwa said, a little breathlessly. He was fixing his hair but Hongjoong was already trying to scurry past them.

“I’m leaving now! Gotta go! See ya!”

There was an itch on his palms and sweat along his brow. If he didn’t find a bathroom right away, he was screwed.

📽

“I haven’t really seen you so interested in an actor before.” Seonghwa chuckled from behind a polite hand over his smiling lips.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m a fantastic listener.” Hongjoong didn’t mean to frown so hard that his lips pushed into a pout, but it happened anyway.

“Not what I meant.” Seonghwa removed his hand from his mouth and reached for his drink. “You’re nice to everyone who sits in your chair, but you’re not so invested.”

“That’s so untrue. I almost hooked up with Mingi that one time.”

“But you didn’t. Plus, you guys only flirted due to remote filming and close proximity, it would have ended in disaster anyways. Remember Jackson?” Yeosang interrupted. “He was all over you, invited you out to the fancy after parties and red carpets and you acted like he was inviting you to go get your teeth pulled.”

“It’s because he had a reputation of doing that to everyone! It didn’t make him special! Me and Yunho have stuff in common!” There was so much Hongjoong could have been offended by, but he chose to pick his battles.

Yeosang lifted a perfectly plucked eyebrow. “Oh? Like what?”

Hongjoong fidgeted in his seat. He took a quick survey of the room to see who was in earshot, but everyone seemed engrossed in finishing up their lunch. “We both got into the industry because of… Pyramid Head…”

Seonghwa slammed his canned coffee onto the table hard enough to rattle their cutlery. It made both of them flinch, and it brought several curious eyes toward them, but they quickly turned away when Seonghwa didn’t speak right away. Ice prickled Hongjoong’s spine, so he stayed incredibly still, like Seonghwa was a T-rex who couldn’t see him unless he moved.

“You…” Seonghwa spoke so politely that if Hongjoong hadn’t known him for so long, he wouldn’t have realized how much he was holding back. “You told him about that after knowing him for five minutes, when it took you a year to tell me?!”

“It’s not like I told him it’s what made me gay!” Hongjoong hissed it across the table.

“He told me after six months,” Yeosang added, nonchalantly.

“You’re not helping,” Hongjoong groaned.

“You know what will help?” Yeosang leaned forward on his elbow.

Hongjoong should have known better than to take Yeosang too seriously. He was a great friend, and a great listener, when the time called for it. But apparently, it wasn’t one of those times.

“Finding out if his assistant is single.”

After a few blinks, Hongjoong tilted his head. “How will that help me?”

“See, it’ll help me out, which helps you because it makes you a good friend.” Yeosang smiled innocently.

“How do you even know he’s gay?” Seonghwa asked, temporarily distracted from Hongjoong’s betrayal.

“I believe that everyone is bisexual until proven otherwise.” Yeosang nodded with full confidence.

“How progressive of you.” Seonghwa shared a look with Hongjoong, who just shrugged. Yeosang’s instincts weren’t always the most reliable. Somehow, he avoided falling into major trouble. Hongjoong attributed it to his dazzling smile and friendly nature. He was one of the smartest people Hongjoong had ever met, it just took a bit to boot up the chip in his brain that created those smart thoughts.

With a gentle squeeze of Yeosang’s hand, Seonghwa turned back toward Hongjoong. “If Yunho asked you out, would you say yes?”

Hongjoong tried to stop his teeth from grinding. “Does it count that he asked to play games together during down time?”

Yeosang asked, “what game?” at the same time Seonghwa said, “he did?!”

They paused for a moment as they sorted themselves out. Yeosang shook his head. “No, answer hyung first.”

“Uh, yeah. He said that when there’s some downtime we could play some horror games, since I said I’m not really good at them.”

“Oh my god. This is so romantic,” Seonghwa gushed.

“Is it?” Hongjoong felt a growing pit in his stomach. It was rough and bumpy, so it didn’t hurt yet, but it certainly wasn’t comfortable.

“Yes! You’ll be close together in his trailer, and if you get scared all you have to do is jump into his arms!” Seonghwa clapped happily.

Hongjoong pursed his lips as he thought about it. He was nowhere near as romantic as Seonghwa or Yeosang and it made him nervous when he thought about giving in to something like that. During adulthood, he had grown confident in who he was. Not that he had ever shied away from what he loved when he was young, but it came with sharp quills to keep himself safe from people’s expectations. Thinking about potentially having a cheesy romance moment with Yunho made his stomach feel warm like he had just drank a steaming cup of hot tea.

“Hyung.” Yeosang tapped Seonghwa’s arm with his fingers. “He’s blushing. Look at him.”

There was no point in denying it, so Hongjoong didn’t. “I’m excited about this.”

Seonghwa reached a hand out and let it hover above Hongjoong’s for a brief moment. It was to give Hongjoong a moment to either pull away or accept an oncoming touch. When Hongjoong didn’t move, he dropped his hand onto his. “I’m so happy for you.”

Hongjoong scoffed. “Please, you’re acting like we’re getting married. I don’t even know if he likes men”

“It’s been so long since you’ve liked someone. I’m trying to not be dramatic.” When Hongjoong raised a brow at him, he rolled his eyes. “And I don’t want to pressure you. I just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy.” Being single wasn’t the end of his world. He enjoyed his routine, his space and only really needing to worry about himself. Yunho just seemed so easy to be around, and it allowed the fantasy of maybe that wouldn’t be so bad to be around. As stupid as it made him feel about hardly knowing him, but his life was built on fantasy, so what was the harm?

📽

Yunho’s filmography was longer than Hongjoong expected, but what surprised him the most was how many he had seen already. The rabbit hole led him down forums that talked about how amazing he was at bringing some of the most iconic creatures to life and how unfair it was how handsome he was outside of the makeup. There were even a few cult classics that Hongjoong loved to brag about because it made him sound knowledgeable about the genre. (Some called that being pretentious but he disagreed.)

While watching a few of his favorites was tempting, he wanted to start with something new. He picked a monster-romance where some village girl falls in love with a monster in the mountains. It seemed super cheesy, which was always a risk with monster movies, but the reviews of it were surprisingly positive.

A good majority of Yunho’s roles didn’t have many lines so it was a pleasant surprise when his husky voice came through the screen. It was different than his day-to-day voice. Every syllable was practiced as he hissed them out from behind fake teeth. It wasn’t as boisterous and excitable, but there was something vulnerable about the way he spoke, like every word could potentially be his last.

Sometimes Hongjoong found it hard to turn his work brain off. Being a special effects artist meant he was often captured by another artist’s technique and his focus wasn’t always where it should be. But with Yunho on the screen, all he could think of was him. Every confession struck Hongjoong’s heart like an arrow, hooking into the flesh and threatening to rip it apart if tugged on.

The film ended in tragedy, with Yunho’s character dying in his beloved’s arms after sacrificing himself for her. Hongjoong was thankful he was alone because of how ugly he cried.

He hugged his Chucky plushie as he slept but woke up to puffy eyes. An attempt was made by slapping an ice mask over his eyes, but that could only do so much. The nerves didn’t help either as he downed a second cup of coffee before he had even left the house. It was their first day of filming, and they had decided to get all of Yunho’s parts done first. That way, post production would have as much time as they needed in order to get their work done. He and Yunho would need to be there the earliest since it took the most time to paint his body.

The trains weren’t even running by the time he needed to be there, plus, the first day normally came with him carrying way too much stuff to comfortably ride the train. For those types of occasions, he had a tiny car that he was able to load up and drive out. The studios were surrounded by museums and educational buildings. Convenience hadn’t been taken into consideration when building it, so if Hongjoong left without something, he’d be shit out of luck unless he hunted down an already stressed out PA to run out for him.

He had already set up his work station with a few photos taped to one side of the mirror, while on the other side he posted the concept photos of the makeup he’d be doing. There was a slight bias, as he had more photos of Yunho up than any of the other actors, however, he told himself it was because Yunho’s concept was more complicated. They also hadn’t been able to do a full run of test makeup. Besides their initial meeting, they had only been able to do one other meeting where Hongjoong tested the prosthetic glue to make sure Yunho didn’t have a bad reaction. He applied a small prosthetic to his arm, a fake wound that Yunho giggled at like a teenager because it looked a bit like a vagina, then covered it in a layer of the grey paint so Hongjoong could see how it blended. Normally, Hongjoong liked to have at least one or two run throughs just to make sure everything was perfect, but the life of an artist sometimes blossomed under spontaneity.

Yunho showed up looking like the boyfriend of Hongjoong’s dreams. Sleep held onto him and made his eyes heavy, but he looked extra cozy in his baggy sweats and zip up hoodie. It wasn’t much different from the first day they had met, but it was the image that refused to leave Hongjoong’s mind.

“Morning,” Yunho greeted with a heavy rasp in his voice.

“Good morning. Ready for today?”

Yunho mumbled something that Hongjoong didn’t quite understand. So, instead of forcing small talk on him, Hongjoong sat him down in his chair before he fell over. He instructed him to take his shirt off but that he could wear his jacket for the time being. When Yunho leaned forward to undress, Hongjoong made sure to turn away and make himself busy so he didn’t ogle him too much. Only when he heard it get quiet again did he turn around.

He got to work by first tucking his hair into a wig cap before he started to prep his skin. Every time he was about to touch him, he made sure to let him know what he was doing before he did it. He was sure Yunho was an expert at it by now, but he had yet to experience Hongjoong as an artist and he always did his best to make sure everyone felt comfortable in his chair.

Most of the time, when people wore the wig caps it made them look somewhat silly. It made their ears look too big and it pulled their skin uncomfortably. But it didn’t happen to Yunho. It made him softer, and maybe it was because he was asleep, but he was adorable. His blond hair was tucked securely under the elastic, so his cheeks seemed rounder and fuller. His heart-shaped lips were parted as he breathed, a habit he had because of a bad break in his nose that never seemed to have healed correctly.

Every now and then, his head would start to tilt and Hongjoong would have to pull him back with gentle fingers. He didn’t wake up, but his lashes would sometimes flutter and it made Hongjoong wonder if he was dreaming. It let Hongjoong admire his humanly beauty for as long as he wanted. He got to appreciate every pore and every acne scar before he covered them with either latex or foundation. It felt like a sin to cover the two tiny freckles underneath one of his eyes.

One side of his face had a prosthetic added that stretched from the corner of his eye down to his cheek bone that resembled multiple fake eyes. Half of him would be taken over with stereotypical spider characteristics. Hongjoong would “split” his cheek to show off fake teeth with fangs that would be touched up with visual effects later. Hongjoong had taken inspiration from Shelob from Lord of the Rings with how part of her skin had seemed blistered to the point it made it look like her skin was hardened leather armor.

They were halfway through when the door opened and Yeosang walked in carrying several bags. “Good morning, gentlemen.” He waved his fingers the best he could without dropping his cup of coffee.

“Morning,” Hongjoong responded without looking up from his canvas.

“Wow, it’s looking great.” Yeosang dropped off his bags with a thud before taking a moment to inspect his work. “And you’re not as messy as you normally are!”

Hongjoong’s hands were still covered in grey and black smears, and there were plenty of tissues and used sponges that littered his counter space, but it didn’t look like a bomb had gone off in the room. Small victories are still victories.

“I knew you would complain so I tried to keep my disaster to a minimum,” Hongjoong quipped with a small smirk.

“Very proud of you.” Yeosang wiggled past him, careful to not bump his elbow and mess up his process.

“Who’s up first?” Yunho tilted his head back when Hongjoong gently tapped his chin. He was good at guessing what each gesture meant, which made Hongjoong’s job ten times easier.

“Jongho-ssi,” Yeosang said as he began to unpack. “Should be here soon.”

Soon apparently meant fifteen minutes. The door opened and Jongho slipped inside with a salute of his iced coffee. Hongjoong had met him earlier when he had come for a consultation with Yeosang. All the hired makeup artists, all four of them, had gotten together and decided to divide and conquer the actors to make everything look consistent. They had emergency plans set up in case someone fell ill or got hit by a car (Yeosang was a tiny bit dramatic but it made the conversation funny, at least).

Jongho was mild mannered with pretty tanned skin and dark eye circles. He had a cute laugh and a gummy smile, that when on display was contagious enough that Hongjoong couldn’t help but smile with him.

He whistled as he looked Yunho over. “Damn, never looked better.”

“Alright, time to paint your body, up you get,” Hongjoong interrupted with a wave of his hands to wordlessly tell him to take his hoodie off.

It was going to be torture. He was already being brave by being so close to his face, now he was having to deal with seeing the small details of his body. Hongjoong had to bite the inside of his cheek when he noticed that Yunho was completely hairless from his hips up. He loved a good happy trail on his men, but there was something attractive about Yunho’s smooth, peachy skin.

He glued down pustules along his chest and back and gently reminded him to be careful when he had to sit down. It was the hard part of the process, at least for Yunho. He needed to remain standing as Hongjoong worked on his torso, so thankfully he was able to get some rest so he wouldn’t fall asleep while on his feet.

Hongjoong repeated the same process that he had done on his face on his chest, though he was able to work a little faster now that he had his rhythm down. The only thing that slowed him down was when he got to Yunho’s clavicle. At first, he didn’t notice the puffs of air that ruffled the hair on the top of his head. The trailer thankfully had air cons in it, so it didn’t occur to him that it could have been anything other than the machine powered air. But when it changed from a steady stream to a shuddering wave he looked up.

His head would have collided with Yunho’s chin if he hadn’t had the quick reaction to pull back.

“You’re at perfect headbutting height,” Yunho said with a sparkly smile.

“S-so I’ve heard.” Hongjoong cleared his throat and went back to work the best he could. His heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest like a 90s cartoon character.

Yunho chatted idly with Jongho and let Hongjoong manipulate him however he needed. He was a good doll who didn’t even flinch when Hongjoong spent a little too long painting his armpits. Hongjoong imagined that he looked like a bee the way he was buzzing back and forth from gluing prosthetics to painting. He was so in his element that he was glad there was someone else to entertain Yunho while he worked.

Once he was done, and he knew the paint wasn’t going to smudge, he sat him down to put on the finishing touches. He was far from a nail tech, but he knew his way around nail glue. They weren’t incredibly long, but they were sharpened to a tip, dark and blue to match the “rotting” skin.

He helped Yunho with his wig, carefully sliding it over the wig cap and pinning it down. The lace-front was glued to his forehead and Hongjoong retouched what had been messed up in the process. It was a beautiful wig, but Yunho was what made it stand out. The glossy strands highlighted his face perfectly, wounds and all.

Hongjoong didn’t help with helping him get his red contacts in, though he held out the container as Yunho used the little plastic applicator instead of his fingers. It looked like a little plunger, and while Hongjoong felt it looked closer to a torture device, he understood not wanting makeup in his eye. Yunho blinked a few times and Hongjoong handed him a tissue when his eyes started to water.

“And, the piece de resistance.” Hongjoong held up a tiny box like it was a treasure. Inside were dentures that had been molded to Yunho’s teeth weeks prior. They were crooked and yellowed, pointy unlike his real, perfectly square teeth. He dotted the inside lining with a sparing amount of denture glue and offered it to Yunho. He slid them into his mouth and wiggled them around until they found a comfortable spot. Hongjoong already missed the small gap on his bottom teeth.

Before he knew it, he had a fully fledged half-spider.

“What do you think?” Yunho words slurred and he frowned. He swished his mouth back and forth and repeated ‘think’ a few times until it came out a little more recognizable. Jongho couldn’t stop laughing and Yeosang had to step back to let him finish his fit before he restarted on his foundation.

Hongjoong couldn’t help the amusement that crept onto his face. “I think you look handsome, Yunho-ssi.”

There was a small of course you do that he heard Yeosang mutter under his breath, but Yunho didn’t seem to notice. He gave a satisfied huff and held his head high. There was a lack of snarky commentary, couldn’t risk embarrassing himself, so Hongjoong took pity.

“We should get you over to Seonghwa. I’m sure it’s going to take a bit to get you into your legs.” Hongjoong offered him his jacket and thanked the stars that it was a zip-up.

“Hol’ on, lemme just—” Yunho quickly snatched his phone off the vanity and pulled up his camera. He snapped a few selfies, turning his head back and forth to capture different angles, parting his lips slightly to show off the jagged points of his new teeth. He took one silly one where he puckered his lips at the mirror.

Hongjoong snorted and shook his head. He had to do makeup on a few other background actors, so he started to sort out his brushes to see what he needed to clean before they got there.

“Get in here.”

Hongjoong looked at the mirror, seeing Yunho waiting with his phone in the air. “Me?” He pointed at himself with a brush handle.

“Yes you.” Yunho chuckled, warm and soft, contrasting with his harsh look. “I got some candid ones, but I want one with you.”

Hongjoong glanced in Yeosang’s direction, though he had his back turned to them. He bet he still had a smirk on his face. “O-okay. How do you want me?” He kicked himself for phrasing it that way, but whatever.

“Uh, maybe just here at the side.” Yunho reached out and guided him by the hip toward the corner of the chair. Hongjoong placed a hand on the back of it, and placed the other on his hip, brush sticking out as if he was taking a break to take the photo.

“Sassy, I love it.” Yunho held his phone back up and snapped a few more photos, slight changes in position in between just like before. A true professional. “Perfect, let me just text Wooyoung that I’m done then I’ll be out of your hair.”

“Not for too long. I’m going to come out to help once you’re in your legs. There’s some blending I gotta do.” Hongjoong went back to his station

“Oh, that’s great.”

Yunho played on his phone while Hongjoong cleaned up. When Wooyoung arrived, he walked in without knocking. “Mornin’ everyone!” He said, much too loud for the tiny space. “Damn, who’s this ugly bastard?”

“Sure you’re not looking in a mirror?” Yunho teased back as he stood.

Yeosang whipped around at the newcomer’s voice. The movement caught Wooyoung’s eye and quickly glanced over. For the first time since Hongjoong had met him, he was silent. But not for long.

“H-hi, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” He held his hand out. “Jung Wooyoung, I’m his manager.”

Yeosang smiled and took his hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Kang Yeosang, another makeup artist. And no worries at all. In fact, you should interrupt us more.”

Well, Hongjoong was fulfilling his best friend duty one way or another, and he didn’t even need to lift a finger. “Do you know where to go from here?”

Wooyoung flinched as he was pulled out of his stupor. “Y-yeah. It’s not too far from here.”

“Good. I’ll see you guys in a bit then.”

It took some effort for Yunho to wrangle his manager out after a few million goodbyes to Yeosang, who looked way too smug for his own good. Even Jongho told him, “way to be subtle,” which earned him a pinch on the arm.

The other actors filtered in one by one. He repeated the same process that he had done with Yunho. There were less details but that didn’t mean he put any less effort. Yunho was meant to be the stand out, but background actors could make or break scenes if they were not done well.

Two other makeup artists had arrived to help where they could, but they were mainly there for Yeosang. Not that they couldn’t help Hongjoong, they seemed more than willing, he was just picky about who he let assist him. He normally worked faster when it was just him, anyway.

He sent the extras on their way and started preparing his waist bag. Brushes and little paint pots were loaded into the many slots, alongside sponges and Q-Tips. A little extra prosthetic glue and a tube of base paint could go a long way when needing a quick fix.

The set was busy. Crewmen were buzzing around and it smelled like wood and sweat. The design team had really out done themselves. It really did look like a cold, mountainous cave and the wetness of it made Hongjoong shiver with a sudden chill. There were a few pieces that he recognized from previous sets, ones that were too good to deconstruct or throw out and so they were saved in one of the many warehouses on the premises. There were a few green screens that had been placed behind the set pieces so the atmosphere could be tweaked in post editing.

He was looking for somewhere to make camp when he heard a loud voice boom behind him.

“Hey! Hongjoong-hyung!”

Hongjoong turned in the direction the voice came from, and smiled when he saw Mingi making his way over. “Hey, been a long time.”

“Yeah! I was in Japan for a while, just got back in time for this.” Mingi gave him a large smile, showing off the slightly crooked tooth on the top row. His headphones were down around his neck and his trust mic pole was rested against his shoulder.

Hongjoong had always found Mingi cute. They had been friendly enough for some after-work beers and some messy make outs in corners, but they hadn’t really found a way to make it anything more than that. Mingi was a loose feather on the wind. He liked car races on weekends and loud music festivals during the summer. Mingi couldn’t stop moving, and Hongjoong was happy with the moss growing on his sedentary body. He hated to admit that Yeosang was right. They probably would have crashed and burned once the initial thrill wore off. So Hongjoong was content to keep him as a friend.

“Did you have a good time? I saw the photos you posted, they were pretty.” Hongjoong looked him up and down. The only thing consistent about him was that while on set, he would be wearing cargo shorts and his trusty, faded black hoodie. His hair would be swept back off his face and tucked into a backwards baseball cap. Maybe a ring or two, if they didn’t get in his way.

“Yeah! Even though it was for work it still felt like a vacation.” Mingi set his mic pole on the ground, looking like a dapper gentleman with a cane. “You know, I was kinda hoping you’d be on the set for this one.”

“You were?” That took Hongjoon by surprise.

“Yeah! I’ve worked with Yunho before and I knew you guys would work really well together on something like this.”

“Oh, you did, did you?”

Both of them jumped when Yunho’s voice suddenly appeared behind Hongjoong. His height rivaled Mingi’s, and his painted appearance made him menacing as he hovered. Mingi was wider compared to Yunho, but he even took a step back before he realized who it was.

“Holy shit I didn’t even recognize you!”

Yunho narrowed his eyes at him. He was in his hoodie still and his long hair was pulled back into a claw clip to avoid it getting tangled. A casual monster man. It made Hongjoong swoon a little.

“Hyung, you did a great job. Really outdid yourself this time,” Mingi continued with an encouraging clap on his shoulder.

“Thank you.”

“Yunho-ssi! We need to get you into your legs!” Seonghwa called with a gentle hand curved around his mouth to help his voice carry over the busy studio.

“Time to suit up.” Yunho smiled back at them. It seemed more at ease than before, but there was still a tiny bit of strain in one corner.

“I’ll see you in a bit then!” Mingi gave them a small salute with his fingers before walking away.

Yunho passed off his hoodie to Hongjoong with a playful wink.

Hongjoong ignored the look Seonghwa gave them as Yunho turned to crawl in. A stool was set up on the side of the spider’s body, with Seonghwa on one side and another costumer on the other. They took Yunho’s hands like he was a princess as he slowly dangled his legs through the hole in the middle. The waist was made of silicone that they had to close like a corset in the back. The strings were tucked in and it would get blended in with the magic of Hongjoong’s makeup.

“What do you think?” He set his hands on his hips and extended one of his legs to show off the green leggings that he had to wear so the editors could easily erase his legs in post production. They clashed awfully with the paint job Hongjoong had worked hard on.

“The epitome of sexy.” Hongjoong chuckled as he tried to avoid looking at the mound at Yunho’s crotch.

“More where this came from.” Yunho’s finger guns were as charming as they were lame.

Hongjoong cleared his throat as he stepped up. “So how are you going to move in this thing?”

“It’s going to be sorta like puppetry. They said they’re going to make me larger in post editing but I guess they have it rigged like an electric car? There’s a big-ass remote control and everything. At first I thought it was going to be super impractical, but it looks so bad ass, doesn’t it?”

“Thought you were going to look like the Scorpion King, did you?” Hongjoong reached into the makeup bag he had strapped to his hip and pulled out the body paint and his sponge.

“Oh god, yes. Biggest nightmare. But they said anything too hard will just be done with CG, hopefully they do a good job with it.”

Hongjoong had to get up on the stool to lean over the large body so he could get in to blend the paint. “I’m sure you’re in safe hands.”

“If they’re yours, I believe that.”

His heart skipped so fast it made him dizzy and nearly knocked him off the stool. Luckily Yunho’s large spider legs managed to catch him before he face planted.

Seonghwa’s hand appeared on his back and steadied him, but remained silent so he didn’t drag more attention to it than needed.

Hongjoong worked on sealing the silicone waist of Yunho’s body suit to his skin, creating an effortless transition between man and monster. He crawled off the stool and let the rest of the crew work with him on how to move in his suit. San had joined them as well, monitoring closely in the camera to see how each movement came across. His mechanical legs were slow as they moved, but his real ones helped move them along a little quicker. The crew had practised a few times with the controller, but it was the first time to see it all come together as one cohesive creature.

The human actors made their way on set, all dressed in their traditional clothes and long hair that was pulled back, just like Yunho’s. Hongjoong’s skin started to prickle with excitement as he realized how close they were to starting. It didn’t matter how many times he did it, the first day jitters always made him feel energized.

He took a step back and observed everyone as they took their places. Yunho was helped onto the main set pieces and his legs were arranged on some of the nearby boulders so it looked like he was halfway up the wall. His shoulders rolled a few times before his head dropped back, his eyes closed. It almost looked like he was praying.

Everything grew quiet. Bodies blurred as they walked by, the only thing that remained in focus was Yunho’s beautiful long neck. Once everyone got into their places, the room went still. Every breath was trapped in anxious lungs.

“Action!”

Yunho’s eyes rolled open, red and stone cold.

Hongjoong shivered. There he was.

His monster.

📽

The director had barely been able to call for the first break of the day before Yunho was bending over backwards in his suit, searching for where Hongjoong was hiding. It looked like he was melting, and Hongjoong was both surprised and impressed by his ability to get so far back. If he had tried that, he definitely would have slipped a disk.

Seonghwa was already there to help get him out of the suit, but could only get so far without Hongjoong’s help with where he was practically glued in. It took a whole team, but eventually, Yunho was able to wiggle free from it. It was not how Hongjoong imagined undressing him for the first time, but he couldn’t complain too much. He still got a great crotch shot in his ridiculous green pants.

Wooyoung brought Yunho a pair of sweats and a pair of slip-on mules. Hongjoong tucked some paper towels into the waistband of his pants so they didn’t get ruined by the paint. Yunho crinkled every time he moved, like a giant piece of candy ready to be torn open.

“Alright, we’ll be in my trailer,” he told Wooyoung. “Come grab me when they’re ready?”

“Sure thing.” Wooyoung smirked but Hongjoong didn’t get a chance to question it before he was being swept off.

If he had known they were going to go through with their plan on day one, he might have worn something a little cuter. Yeosang had reassured him that morning his outfit was fine, and that baggy pants and a pullover he’s had since he graduated high school was the perfect aesthetic for him. Whatever that meant.

Yunho’s trailer wasn’t as luxurious as some Hongjoong had seen. It looked older, well used and somewhat dated. There had been ones that looked like they contained entire living rooms inside. Hell, most of the trailers used by the big name stars cost more than his apartment. Yunho’s reminded him of an old school, with the off white and the creaky plastic cabinet doors. The furniture looked thrifted or well-loved, like he had had it since early college.

He liked it.

The other thing he noticed was how clean it was. Hongjoong wasn’t...messy, per se, but his work station did look like a hurricane hit it once he was done. Yeosang often teased him with an innocent sounding giggle that felt like a flick to his nose. He didn’t intend to leave it that way! He was just more concerned with getting his job done.

There were a few pictures in frames on a nearby counter. They were all of Yunho with multiple other people. He recognized his assistant Wooyoung in one, with Yunho’s arms around his shoulders and their cheeks squished together. There was another with what looked like other actors, all in zombie makeup and throwing up peace signs. None of the photos contained anything about winning awards or red carpets, like Hongjoong had seen a lot of celebrities have. Not that he judged too harshly for that kind of thing, accomplishments were accomplishments and they deserved to be celebrated. Yunho had a few; nothing huge like an Oscar, but for an actor like him, those were still great.

There was a humbleness in Yunho that Hongjoong appreciated. It made him down to Earth and a comforting presence. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket that had just come from the dryer.

“Do you want anything to drink?” Yunho shifted on his knees to the mini fridge next to the TV.

“Oh, no I’m good. Thank you, though.” He was afraid that once a drink got into his hands, he’d get too nervous and somehow spill it all over himself. He undid the makeup bag from around his hips and carefully hung it on a hook by the door.

Yunho came back with two water bottles anyway, and silently set one down in front of Hongjoong before cracking open the other. The condensation lifted some of the makeup on his hands, leaving a grey smudge on the plastic.

“So what are we playing?” Hongjoong carefully lowered himself into a nearby chair. It was a saucer chair that was a bit flimsier than Hongjoong had anticipated and he nearly fell over in it. He managed to stabilize it with a thud that was made heavier due to the hollow floor of the trailer. Luckily Yunho had gone back to the TV so he hadn’t seen Hongjoong’s struggle.

“This is a new one that just came out!” Yunho proudly said over his shoulder. He looked kind of funny with his current get up. Kind of like he had gotten stuck in some kind of interdimensional portal, with his top half in a fantasy and his bottom half in the present. Which was partly true. “People online are saying it’s the scariest game of the year so far. I tried playing it once but my computer crashed on me.”

“That seems foreboding already.” Hongjoong chuckled as he watched Yunho connect his laptop to the TV on the wall.

“Nah! It’s fine. I think it’s more like fate anyways.” Yunho connected a controller with a cable for a moment and let it blink before the light stayed on a solid color. He disconnected it and set it aside.

“What do you mean?”

“It means that I get to play it with you for the first time. Sorta.” The keys on the laptop had a heavy thok as he pressed them.

Since Yunho was facing away, Hongjoong didn’t bother to hide his smile. It was so cheesy, and god he hated to admit that Seonghwa and Yeosang were right.

“Hey, do you think you could hand me that robe?” Yunho’s shoulders shimmied with the small shiver that ran through him. He pointed behind Hongjoong without looking.

Hongjoong rolled his head back and carefully reclined back to grab the robe that hung on a nearby hook. It was plush and soft, and smelt like Yunho’s spicy cologne.

“I was trying to not ruin your work but I’m freezing. My nipples feel hard enough to cut glass.”

Hongjoong knew. He had been trying not to stare at them the entire time, but it was hard not to. He was silently grateful when Yunho slipped the piece of clothing on. “I-it should be fine. Just don’t go rubbing your back on a tree like a bear and nothing should rub off.”

Yunho snorted at the image. “Deal. Now, let’s get started.”

Hongjoong went through the settings, adjusting the light settings and the controls to how he liked it. He made it a little lighter than he probably should have, but he wanted to enjoy the environment of the game. Not because he was scared. Nope.

The tutorial was easy enough. It lured Hongjoong into a false comfort as he walked around to get used to the controls, reading random notes that helped fill in the lore of the abandoned apartment building. The first thump made him gasp, which he quickly tried to swallow in hopes that Yunho hadn’t heard it. When he tried to slyly glance to see if he had noticed, Yunho had a small smirk pulling at the corner of his lips.

Hongjoong returned his attention to the tv and tried his best to remain calm. He gripped the controller so hard his joints ached. He was determined to not suck and make a fool out of himself in front of Yunho. In movies, jump scares rarely got him anymore. But in games it was different. He was an active participant, even if a possibly scarier monster was sitting next to him.

Yunho sat close to him, like a ghost haunting the chair he sat in.

The character wandered through the abandoned apartment building at Hongjoong’s demand, carefully picking up clues about the disappearance of all the tenants. There was hardly any light despite upping the and every small sound put Hongjoong on edge. His palms felt clammy and his thumb slipped off the joystick a few times.

“You’re doing great, hyung,” Yunho encouraged beside him.

His breath tickled his ear and Hongjoong’s eyes rolled back. The plastic of the controller creaked as his hands threatened to break it in half with how tight he was gripping it. He inhaled deeply through his nose as he tried to keep himself under control. Nothing big had happened right away, which as nervous as he was, had lured him into a false sense of security. The hope of it not being as scary as it was made the first true scare all the more terrifying. It left his nerves frayed and he found himself jumping even at the small flashes of white light that acted as a camera flash.

Yunho cooed at him as he tried to stifle his laughs by muffling them with the sleeve of his robe. Hongjoong clenched his jaw and exhaled. He’d be damned if some flash scare the piss out of him. Hongjoong had managed most of the jump scares with as much dignity as he could. But he was running through a long corridor, enemy hot on his heels. The monster took up the entirety of the hallway as it slammed into walls and threatened to bring the ceiling down. Hongjoong was so focused on what was behind him, that when a specter jumped out in front of him, he screamed and tossed the controller into the air. He flew out of his seat and smacked into Yunho, who caught him with his long arms and pulled him into his lap before they both went down.

Yunho’s laughter filled the small trailer. Every rumble of his belly jostled Hongjoong, sliding him closer until his hip was flush against his abdomen. Hongjoong’s hands fell onto his shoulders, fingers digging into his robe.

“I got you, don’t worry.”

When Hongjoong looked up at him, their noses were nearly touching. There were a few smudges in the grey along his nose and the base had started to crack a little around his lips. He’d need a fresh layer, but all Hongjoong could focus on was his lips. The lipstick made them look dry, but that didn’t stop Hongjoong from wanting to sink his teeth into it. His heart kicked, and the moment he felt brave enough to let gravity pull them together, a knock sounded on the shitty metal door.

It rattled the whole trailer and made Hongjoong jump higher than the game had. If Yunho hadn’t also flinched away, his shoulder would have knocked his teeth together.

“Hyung! It’s time to get back to set!” Wooyoung called from the other side.

“Y-yeah, be there in a sec!” Yunho stood and grabbed the controller. With a few swift clicks, the game was saved and closed. He powered off his laptop and closed it. “Guess we’ll have to finish later, then.”

“Duty calls.” Hongjoong tried to quell the disappointment in his voice by smiling.

“Do uh…” Yunho shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Do we need to do any touch ups?”

“Once you get back into your legs we will.”

“So you’re coming back with me?” Yunho’s eyes sparkled.

“Of course. As long as you’re on set acting, I need to stay close by in case I need to fix your make up.”

“Oh, that’s cool.” He blinked and the shine in his eyes was gone as it was replaced with his “cool guy suave.”

Hongjoong offered a hand out to him and Yunho took it eagerly. “I need to seal you back into your suit anyway.” He grabbed his belt from the hook and flung it around his hips.

“Right, of course.”

They awkwardly stared at one another until another annoyed bang came from the door, followed by Wooyoung threatening to come in and haul Yunho back to set over his shoulder. Hongjoong didn’t want to invoke his wrath any further, so he quickly ushered him out the door.

The second he stepped out, he found himself missing the warmth of the trailer.

📽

Hongjoong had begun to get used to horror games. He wasn’t impervious to their tricks and their scares, but he didn’t have so much adrenaline going into them after making it through the first game. It didn’t hurt that he had a great teacher. Yunho wasn’t a backseat gamer, but if Hongjoong looked back at him during a moment of uncertainty, his face tended to give him away whether he wanted it to or not.

The few times where Hongjoong just wanted to sit back and relax, Yunho took over with no complaints. Hongjoong learned that he was quick to recognize patterns and looked incredibly handsome when he was focused. Hongjoong found himself easily forgetting whatever it was that was on the tv screen when Yunho got into one of those moods.

A coffee machine appeared in the tiny kitchenette and it had become a small routine for Hongjoong to start brewing it while Yunho set them up. If Yunho had preplanned and set everything up before he got there, he’d stand with Hongjoong while they waited for it to brew. He ran his finger up his arm and would pick a random tattoo and would want to hear the story behind it. It wasn’t always interesting, but no matter how many times he heard “I dunno, I just like it,” he kept asking about them.

“Do you have any more? Besides your arms?”

“Yeah.”

“I’d love to see them one day.” He used the back of his fingers to brush Hongjoong’s forearm. It was a blend of color and dark shadows. The lines had flattened after years of being healed, but he suddenly itched for a new one, one that Yunho could worship.

“I don’t have a spider. Maybe I should get one.”

Yunho’s eyes lit up. “I think you’re a fake horror fan if you don’t have a spider.” He stole his cup of coffee and slipped away. He was a natural flirt but he rarely stayed long enough to see its effects. If he did, maybe Hongjoong would have been able to get swept up in the moment and act on his impulses.

📽

They didn’t always end up in Yunho’s trailer. There were a few times where they had to work through their breaks. Either Yunho had to review movement cues with San or Hongjoong had to fix some of the other actors’ makeup. But separation made the heart grow fonder, he supposed.

Hongjoong made sure to spend time with Yeosang and Seonghwa because the last thing he wanted was to become too obsessed and forget that he had friends outside of… whatever it was he had with Yunho.

Yeosang informed them that he was working on Wooyoung, finding ways to “coincidentally” run into him while out and about on set. Seonghwa smiled with amusement and daydreamed about the possibility of them going on a triple date someday. Hongjoong didn’t want to get too hopeful, but his list of fantasies were growing by the day. It was probably smart to add one that wasn’t overly explicit. But where was the fun in that?

At night, he laid bed dreaming of long legs pinning him down and staring at his own blissed out reflection in multiple eyes, of fangs digging into his neck and silky webs caressing his wrists.

When they pointed out the blush on his face, he smiled innocently and pretended to be bashful.

📽

The nerves didn’t have as much of a hold on him as they had before. His heart still fluttered when he first heard Yunho’s voice in the morning and the tingles certainly still ran through him if he stared at his naked skin too long.

Yunho made it easy to be comfortable around him. He showed up to work with an extra coffee for Hongjoong, sometimes accompanied by a pastry that he liked to lie and say he got by “accident” but Hongjoong could clearly see the mobile order sticker on the outside and knew better. Still, he didn’t burst his bubble and accepted it happily.

There wasn’t much space in the makeup trailer, but there was enough where they didn’t need to be nose to nose when they moved around each other. That didn’t stop them. Yunho’s hands easily found Hongjoong’s hips when he had to step around him, and Hongjoong reached out for his arm when he passed by.

Yeosang’s mischievous and knowing eyes followed them, and if Hongjoong caught his gaze, he smirked.

One day, Yunho had brought coffee like he normally did, but he seemed nervous about it when he handed the cup over. They were filming a pretty big scene so Hongjoong had thought it was nerves, so he didn’t think much of it until Yunho spoke up.

“I have a question.”

“Shoot.” Hongjoong was getting his supplies ready, so he kept his back facing Yunho.

“You’ve never said anything, so I just keep assuming. But, uh… It’s okay I keep bringing you coffee, right?”

That made Hongjoong turn around. “Yeah, of course. I don’t expect you to, but I always appreciate it. Why?”

“It’s just…something Wooyoung said.” Yunho had his hands squeezed between his thighs, making him look small. “Said that your girlfriend might not like it.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Hongjoong quickly corrected. “I uh, also wouldn’t ever have a girlfriend.”

Yunho blinked as he processed the information. “So… Boyfriend?”

Hongjoong’s heart raced. “Don’t have one of those either.”

“Oh, okay. Good.” Yunho’s eyes widened when he realized what he said. “I mean, not good. You deserve someone nice, but I mean, good that there’s no one to be jealous of. I mean, to get jealous. Not that you would date someone who was controlling, but I—”

Hongjoong couldn’t help the smile on his face.

📽

“So I thought we could do something different today.” Yunho leaned his elbows on the counter and cupped his face with his palms like he was a cherub. He was far from it with the way his ass stuck out, swaying playfully from side to side. Hongjoong glanced at it because it was obvious Yunho wanted him to, but only for a moment before he looked at his face.

“Oh yeah?” Hongjoong pressed the brew button on the coffee machine. It grumbled as it rapidly boiled the water needed.

“I thought we could watch Silent Hill.”

“Like, a play through?”

“No, the movie. I got a digital copy of it since my laptop doesn’t have a disk drive.” Yunho’s eyes flicked to Hongjoong’s lips briefly. “Since you know, it’s what brought us here.”

“I thought that was our job contracts?” When Yunho flicked him in the forehead, he laughed and caught him by the wrist. “Kidding, kidding. Sure, let’s do it.”

“Great! I know we won’t be able to finish it, but we can always hack away at it.” Yunho winked and laughed at his own pun before bouncing over to his laptop. “Are you the type to give me fun facts as we watch?”

“Are you the type to appreciate it?”

“Seeing how I’ve seen this a bunch of times already, yes.”

“If you’ve seen it a bunch, and if you’re an avid player of the games, I don’t see what else I could add.” The coffee machine gurgled as it spat out the last of it into the pot.

“Maybe you should just say it anyway. Who knows, I could learn something new. Plus… Nah, nevermind.”

Hongjoong looked over at him. “No, what is it?”

Yunho was squatting in front of his laptop, knees spread far apart and back arched like a shy cat. He turned his head to glance over his shoulder. Even with the fake pustule glued to his face, he still carried his usual boyish charm.

“I just like listening to you talk. I don’t care if it’s all stuff I’ve heard before.”

Hongjoong’s face warmed like it was being held over a fire. He blamed the steam of the coffee. “Oh, that’s…that’s sweet of you.”

“I just think passionate people are attractive when they talk. There’s so much confidence that rolls off of them.” Yunho turned back to his laptop. Hongjoong focused on the mirrored image on the TV screen. His background was some anime he didn’t recognize. Bright colors and happy faces; opposite of the aesthetic the two of them had in the moment.

“So, you think I’m attractive?” Hongjoong dared to pour the coffee despite the nerves settling into his hands.

“Who doesn’t?”

“A lot of people, actually.”

“Well, then they’re idiots.”

Hongjoong set the pot down while he tried to regulate himself. It probably wouldn’t have helped him, but he wished he had had time to prepare. Nothing in life had prepared him for someone like Yunho. He was still waiting for a red flag to pop up, and one that was more glaring than how competitive Yunho got when playing Dead by Daylight, because if he was being honest, he found it incredibly hot.

He finished their cups of coffee and made his way to his respective seat. Yunho accepted his mug as he shuffled back into his chair. The paper towels tucked into his waistband rustled under his robe and when they puffed up, it made it look like he had shoved a pillow underneath. It was cute and Hongjoong wanted to shove his face into it.

The movie started and Hongjoong’s focus shifted to the introductory scenes. Under his breath, he mouthed along to all the words since he had memorized them ages ago. He offered small trivia at first, ones that wouldn’t lead into long discussions as he gauged how truthful Yunho was about not minding hearing repeated topics. Every time he risked a glance, Yunho was smiling.

“Have you ever been in heavy fog like that?”

“Once or twice. But I’m afraid it may have been air pollution instead of fog.”

A smirk crept across Yunho’s face. “You took pictures in it, didn’t you?”

Hongjoong pinched his lips together to try to stop himself from smirking back. “Am I that predictable?”

“If you didn’t, I'd be disappointed.”

Hongjoong shifted so he could pull his phone out of his pocket. He had used it as his profile picture on social media for years until he decided he needed something more recent. When the fog had filled the city, he was in Myeongdong, and he had raced to the nearby cathedral to try to capture the perfect aesthetic. He hadn’t been in the best outfit, baggy pants and a pair of thrifted oxfords hardly screamed horror protagonist, but what protagonist was really ever dressed for the occasion? A black and white filter had been slapped over the photo to bring his full vision to life.

“Wow.” Yunho grasped his phone carefully when it was handed over to him. “This is a great shot.”

“I set it up on a nearby planter then put a timer on it. I kept having to run back and forth to check.” A small sense of pride came through his voice as he remembered people looking at him like he was crazy as he tried to get the best candid shot.

“You should send this to me.” Yunho’s eyes hadn’t lifted from the screen the moment it had been laid in his hands.

Hongjoong’s eyebrow arched in confusion. “Why?”

“Because it’s so…you.” Finally, he looked up at him. “Please? Can I have it?”

Words escaped him, so instead Hongjoong nodded. Yunho took the liberty and sent it to himself via KKT, which also meant that Hongjoong officially had his contact info and not just what was given to him on the company mandated emergency contact list. Yunho’s phone pinged and he scooped it up, his large smile returning as he opened the message.

“Thanks, hyung.”

The air raid siren snatched Hongjoong’s attention. It was something he could recognize anywhere, something that never left his brain. A shiver ran through him. No matter how many times he had heard it, it always made his body stand at full attention. As the darkness took over the screen, he sucked in a breath through his teeth.

It always felt like coming home.

After a while, Hongjoong felt Yunho’s eyes on him. Occasionally, he’d tried to glance at him only to catch him still staring. It made him itch, but not with anxiety. Need? Of course need, that wasn’t out of the question.

Hongjoong knew the situation he was in was dangerous. The angel on his shoulder, which sounded oddly like Seonghwa, told him it would be fine, and that it just showed how much Yunho valued their new found friendship. However, the devil on his other shoulder, which not surprisingly sounded like Yeosag, told him it would give him a hard on in the middle of the film and that would be his chance to pounce.

They may not even get that far into the movie right away. Pyramid Head didn’t show up until fourty-seven minutes into the film. He may be spared to live another day.

If only he had been that lucky.

Wooyoung had appeared about twenty minutes into the film to announce that one of the cameras had started to malfunction and that it might be awhile before filming could start up again. Even though there was catering on set, Yunho handed Wooyoung his card and encouraged him to go grab some food for all three of them. When Wooyoung accepted, he did so with a smug smirk and a wink sent in Hongjoong’s direction.

“Have fun you two,” he said with a twinkle of his fingers before disappearing out the door again.

The angel and devil on his shoulders started giggling and Hongjoong quickly shook his whole body to get rid of them. Yunho hit play once more.

His fingers moved to the iconic piano medley, as if he actually knew how to play and his one interaction with a piano wasn’t at some music store in a mall where a large yellow sign invited him to test it out. He felt something on him, and when he looked up, he realized it was because Yunho was staring at him again. He tried to return back to the atmosphere they had before, casually giving out trivia despite the words sticking to his tongue like they were layered with adhesive.

“Here he comes,” Yunho said with glee.

The heavy thuds felt real in the small trailer and Hongjoong held his breath until he showed on the screen. Pyramid Head, the monster of his dreams.

“He’s so fucking cool.”

Hongjoong wasn’t an animal, he normally had more control over himself. He no longer popped random boners at the sight of his favorite monster, thankfully. But with Yunho’s heated gaze on him, he might.

He tried to focus on the screen, tried to focus on the jerky movements and the shrill grind of metal. Every time his eyes closed, even for the briefest blink, he felt a hand on his throat. Long fingers that didn’t look like they had the strength behind them, squeezing and cutting off his air, reaching in to tenderly tangle in his arteries and tendons as if it was nothing but hair.

A tingle ran through him and his legs snapped shut on instinct. His pants were baggy, but made of a swishy canvas, so the noise brought Yunho’s attention directly to them. Hongjoong’s tongue felt swollen and fuzzy in his mouth, begging for him to unhinge his jaw to allow it space. If he did that, who knew what would come out.

Hongjoong glanced at the open bathroom door. It was so small he was certain too much movement would rat him out. A bruised elbow from hitting the wall or a waterfall of knocked over products was too easy to achieve in such a small space. But if he didn’t do something, he was going to be exposed as a weirdo.

His thighs tensed as he willed the courage to stand up, only Yunho beat him to it. He stood with his robe tightly wrapped around him, hastily making his way to the bathroom.

“Want me to pause it?” Hongjoong called out just as the door snapped shut.

“No it’s okay! I’ll be back in a sec!”

A pout pushed its way onto his lips as he settled back into his seat. The movie drowned out any sound from the bathroom and he couldn't pause it without making it obvious what he was trying to do. It would be embarrassing if Yunho was doing anything other than what Hongjoong hoped he was doing, so he admitted defeat.

There wasn’t a polite knock when Wooyoung arrived back at the trailer, but there was a loud thump when whatever he was carrying hit the door. He hurried in with a few bags of takeout, hauling them up onto the kitchenette. “I think they said they’re about ready, so you better swallow this down as fast as you can.” He looked back over his shoulder. “Where’s Yunho?”

Hongjoong pointed to the bathroom right when Yunho called out, “In here!” He sounded breathless.

Wooyoung’s brows creased and he mouthed to Hongjoong, “is he okay?”

“He’s fine.” Hongjoong nodded. “Only been in there for a minute.”

The longest minute of Hongjoong’s life.

Yunho joined them a moment after. His eyes avoided looking at either of them and he kept his robe wrapped around himself tight. Wooyoung eyed him suspiciously but didn’t mention anything.

On the TV, Pyramid Head made his second appearance and the familiar screams of terror brought Hongjoong’s head back to the screen.

“Again, hyung?” Wooyoung held a takeout box toward him. “How many times have you seen this?”

“Not enough.” Yunho stuck his tongue out. “And it’s his favorite, too. You’re outnumbered here.”

“Not much of a horror fan, Wooyoung-ssi?” Hongjoong was about to stand up, but Yunho quickly offered him his takeout box before he could. It was warm and smelled wonderful.

“Eh, it’s hit and miss. It depends on what it is.” Wooyoung popped a container open and didn’t hesitate to shove a large scoop of japchae into his wide mouth.

“On what?” Hongjoong shivered as Yunho squeezed his shoulder as he passed him to get back to his seat. He crossed his legs and sat back while he quickly ate, like he was expecting a show.

“I like psychological horrors more, they’re not as scary.” Wooyoung leaned against the counter instead of choosing to sit down.

“They’re not?” Hongjoong nearly dropped his chopsticks when he heard it.

“I mean, they’re not always as gory and stuff.”

“You don’t think it’s just as scary for something as invisible as psychological terror? Something we’re more than likely to experience than I dunno…a psychopath running at us with a chainsaw?”

Wooyoung blinked. “You know, when you put it that way…”

“Oh, but when I say it, you tell me I’m dumb!” Yunho chimed in.

“Because all I ever hear from you is how you want to fuck the monsters. His thoughts are profund.” Wooyoung’s cheek swelled from his recent bite, slurring his words.

“My gay awakening was Pyramid Head, so I don’t know about that.” It came out of Hongjoong’s mouth so easily. The sky was blue, and he was attracted to monsters.

Yunho slapped his knee and threw it up in victory. “Thank you! Someone who gets it!”

Wooyoung shook his head. “Oh my god, there’s two of you now.”

“That’s right! So keep your kinkshaming to yourself!” Yunho held his fist out to Hongjoong, who gently tapped it with his own. “Thanks for the back up, hyung.”

Hongjoong had only taken one bite of his food, but he felt warm like he had engulfed it all in one swallow.

“Anytime.”

📽

The rain was a comforting sound on the trailer’s metal roof. Hongjoong was curled up in his usual spot, warm mug in his hand while he watched it. Yunho was supposed to be reviewing lines when he spoke up.

“Did you see that article about how Scream is queer coded?”

“Oh my god, it’s like the Babadook all over again.”

“No, listen! I thought it was crazy too but—”

Hongjoong melted into the chair as he listened to Yunho ramble, a soft smile hidden behind his hand. Yunho hadn’t even turned on the tv so they could play a game. Music dripped out of Yunho’s bluetooth speaker, but Hongjoong hardly heard what was playing. Yunho jumped around with an interactive explanation, looking crazy being half-painted and in sweats.

He had never been more beautiful.

📽

“Do you have a stalking fantasy?”

“Hmm. I don’t know. Real stalking is terrifying. But to be so desired someone’s life is consumed by you? Every waking thought and breath is for the other person? That just sounds…”

“Lovely?”

Hongjoong cautiously glanced at him in the mirror. Yunho wasn’t looking at him with judgement or contempt. “Everything in horror can be viewed in some kind of way, but not a lot of people look that deep into it.”

“How do you mean?”

“Okay, so think of the big surge of cannibalism as a metaphor for love right? I love that metaphor. But people tend to stop there. They love to post aesthetic screenshots of Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham, but when you bring up how cannibalism has roots in racism and colonization, suddenly it ruins the narrative right? When in reality, it just explains its place in the horror world even more, and how it can be a metaphor for things that are so much deeper.”

Hongjoong hadn’t realized he had stopped working until he realized that Yunho’s face was only half painted and they had fallen behind schedule. He cleared his throat and started to blend the paint before it dried. “Sorry, didn’t mean to get carried away.”

“No, don't be. It’s interesting.” Yunho looked up as Hongjoong dabbed paint carefully under his eyes. “You’re right, I don’t think people dive into it enough. It’s something I know I’m guilty of and I help create it.”

“I don’t always blame people for it. It’s not a genre for everyone.” Hongjoong was no stranger to people refusing to entertain him at all when it came to it. Dates refused his suggestion of haunted houses or to go to a movie premier with him. It made it easy for him at that point because why pursue something when they refused to even acknowledge something he loved so much. When he was young it had greatly offended him, but as he grew older, he knew it wasn’t personal. But he also refused to taint his safe spaces with negativity.

There was a beat of silence before Hongjoong spoke up again. “You know, a lot of the time people look past me being gay pretty easily. It’s all the other stuff.”

“What other stuff?” Yunho cracked an eye open.

“They think that because I like horror stuff so much that I’m…I dunno. Some serial killer or something.”

“These little hands couldn’t hurt a fly.”

Hongjoong smacked him with the handle of his brush. “Who said I’d use my hands, huh?”

“What would you use then, huh?” Yunho smirked.

It was an odd question, that was for sure, for anyone else it might have been creepy. But to Hongjoong, it was flirting. Hongjoong sat on the edge of his vanity and bent toward Yunho, which in turn made him lean forward in his seat like he was being told a secret.

“My teeth.”

He parted his lips and flashed his teeth like a growling dog.

Instead of laughing or teasing, Yunho reached out and took him by the chin, his fingers curling gently around his jaw. “Look at those things. Could easily tear someone’s throat out with them.”

Hongjoong was supposed to be playing the part of a ferocious beast, but the second he felt Yunho’s hand on his skin, he melted like an ice cream cone on a hot summer day. His eyes fell on Yunho’s lips. They were slightly parted just enough for Hongjoong to see his bottom teeth peeking out, his plush tongue pressed against the backs of them. If he lingered too long, the temptation would get to be too much, so he quickly changed his focus to Yunho’s eyes.

He hadn’t covered the two moles under his eye and now it seemed like a sin.

Something smacked against the door, like a bird crashing into a stationary building and Hongjoong ripped himself out of Yunho’s hands.

“Oh my god, it just won’t stop!” Yeosang stumbled in a moment later, his umbrella still dangling out the door. He tried to shake it off, but it did fuck all. “Where did all this rain come from?!”

“It’s the perfect weather,” Hongjoong stated.

“Of course you think that.” Yeosang shook his hair which flung water drops all throughout the trailer.

Hongjoong quickly stepped between him and Yunho, trying to guard his unfinished work. “Hey! Watch where you’re dripping! What are you, a dog?”

Yunho started barking, deep and low in his chest. Hongjoong gently patted his head, wishing the wig cap wasn’t there so he could run his fingers through his bleached locks. Yunho froze under his hand, but ended up leaning into his palm.

“Good boy.”

A glaze washed over Yunho’s eyes and his shoulders slumped like Hongjoong had activated some kind of button.

Yeosang got settled and used one of Hongjoong’s hair dryers to fix his frizzy hair. Both Hongjoong and Yunho reassured him that it looked fine, but he was hearing none of it. Hongjoong had returned back to work when an intern popped into the door.

“Delivery for you, Hongjoong-ssi!” She held a cardboard box out to him, not fully stepping into the trailer. Her rain coat dripped on the entryway mat and Hongjoong made a note to grab some towels to hang by the door for when others arrived.

“Thank you.” Hongjoong took the box with a smile, letting the intern run off back into the rain.

“What is it?” Yeosang asked.

“It’s from the art department. I begged for it.” Hongjoong popped the tape open with a pair of scissors.

The cardboard had been darkened by the rain, but thankfully it hadn’t soaked through. It was loosely packed with some old newspapers, just enough to keep it from jostling around on the ride home. He pulled the small stature free and smiled behind it as he held it up like a trophy.

“Is that…me?” Yunho pointed to himself.

“It’s one of the mock-up designs for you. They did it during the design process. Not everyone uses the 3D models anymore, but most of the people here in the design departments insisted on at least a few, especially when building your legs.”

It was light, a 3D printed model that was then hand painted with care. There were so many details that were cared for. The shadows under his eyes, the lean muscle that ran through his torso, the shine to the spider’s abdomen; it was all there.

“Wow, I have an action figure.” Yunho looked at it like it was his child, a hand hovering close to it as if he were afraid to touch it.

“It’s a figurine.” Hongjoong chuckled. “You can’t play with it.”

“Need a bigger version for that, don’t you?” Yeosang quipped.

Either Yunho didn’t hear him, or chose to ignore it. “What are you going to do with it?”

“Display it with all my other figures, of course,” Hongjoong said with pride. “It will be one of my most prized possessions.”

No matter what happened between them, he’d always have a piece of Yunho to admire. He wasn’t the first, nor the last to create something out of his willing body, but he knew Yunho would never forget him after this.

📽

It was Yunho’s death scene. It wasn’t going to be heartbreaking like the movie that made Hongjoong sob on his couch. Well, maybe it would be to those who loved to root for the villains of stories, but that’s another story entirely. Yunho’s character was to be defeated by the heroes, breaking the curse and allowing them to live in happiness together.

Or something cheesy like that.

Hongjoong had stopped paying attention to the script after a while. He was being edged over the past few weeks so his energy had shifted to paying attention to other things in the room.

He had now completed several games in Yunho’s trailer but none of them had resulted in the near-kiss like the first day had. They sat closer to each other despite having the entire trailer to themselves. Their fingers brushed while they shared snacks, and Yunho had gone so far once to brush crumbs from the corner of Hongjoong’s lips. His heart nearly stopped when he licked them off his thumb. When he told Seonghwa and Yeosang, they both screamed at him about how he was an idiot for letting the moment pass. The blood had rushed too quickly to his dick for his brain to work properly, but he rather them think he was just an idiot instead of a horny idiot.

He knew he didn’t have much time left. Once Yunho’s parts were finished, it was unlikely he would be around again unless they needed him for reshoots. Like a child who was moving schools, Yunho had promised they’d stay friends.

“I’ve grown too used to our hangouts to let them go so easily. We should make it a regular thing.”

Yunho had said it while standing above Hongjoong, arm lifted while his armpit was getting painted. Yeosang had heard and he had stopped mid-stroke to stare at him with his large owl-eyes.

Jongho, who hadn’t really seemed to understand the mood of the room, snorted. “You’re so romantic, hyung.”

“We’ve spent a lot of time together during this. You’re not sick of me yet?” Hongjoong asked, innocently.

“Never.” Yunho held his phone up. “It’s my last day in the chair, can we take a photo together to mark the occasion?”

“Sure.” Hongjoong moved to set his brush down in preparation to pose, but Yunho stopped him.

“Stay like that.”

Hongjoong glanced at the mirror and took in how they looked. Yunho’s arm stretched over his head, palm splayed against the wall to help him balance, Hongjoong tucked closely into his front. It showed off their size difference on a whole new level, but it also made Yunho look possessive. A monster protecting his stolen prize.

The trailer was the wrong backdrop for what they were trying to achieve, hell, Yunho was still unfinished and they were running a bit behind schedule. But that didn’t stop Hongjoong’s hands from falling onto Yunho’s hips and his head tilting so his nose was brushing his jaw. Heat rolled off Yunho’s body despite the cool temperature in the trailer.

His mind wandered. Yunho could have easily dipped his head down to take his throat between his teeth. Mark him, claim him like his instincts told him to. Hongjoong’s knees trembled and his hands tightened on Yunho’s hips.

“Ugh, I hate happy couples, flaunt it somewhere else.”

Yunho laughed and broke character to look back at him. “Oh, stop. You are so universally loved.”

“And single,” Jongho said with a scolding finger raised in the air.

“Voluntarily,” Yunho countered.

Yunho hadn't denied being a couple, but neither had Hongjoong, not that he had a chance with how the two actors bickered. Like two brothers, really. Yeosang was smirking as he blended Jongho’s foundation but didn’t join in on the conversation.

Hongjoong batted his eyelashes up at Yunho. “You know, we’re still running behind.”

“Right! Sorry!” Yunho readjusted himself back into position, like a good boy.

Their routine had changed, and it made the air buzz a little. Hongjoong had worked on Yunho in the trailer like usual since there were a few scenes that Yunho needed to be “normal” for. But since Hongjoong had to change his prosthetics near the end of it, they decided to have a temporary setup on set. They had a little tent to give them a bit of privacy, but the noise of the crew was just a buzzing distraction around them. The prosthetic piece was heavy and took quite a bit of glue to apply. It had to hide the blood packs for his dramatic stabbing, which in Hongjoong’s opinion would look bad ass if pulled off correctly.

There were jugs of fake blood behind them, probably more than what was needed, but Hongjoong liked to be prepared. They’d need it for other scenes anyway.

They didn’t have much time to chat since Yunho was busy discussing with the director how they should go about the scene. Hongjoong had him stand while he worked to avoid any dimpling in the prosthetic so he was able to grow comfortable in their height difference. There were even a few moments where Yunho’s hand found its way to his side when they got close enough. It felt so natural that Hongjoong never even questioned it.

Hongjoong packed the little blood packets, or squibs, underneath the fake flesh and carefully pricked the skin with little holes so the blood would burst through easily. “Okay, remember that on the cue, we’ll detonate the squib with a trigger and the blood will come out. We really only have one shot at this, so make it good, okay?”

Yunho smiled at him and nodded. “Got it, director.”

Hongjoong pinched him. The real director had just walked away and he didn’t need him getting offended. “Also, it’s not going to hurt you. There’s a protective layer between it and your skin. But if you feel anything let us know.”

“Got it,” Yunho repeated. While he still looked happy, the seriousness settled into his eyes.

Once Hongjoong was satisfied with his understanding, he let him go to Seonghwa. The team helped him into his legs for the last time. Hongjoong caught Yunho stroking one of the legs, perhaps thinking no one would notice his silent gratitude for them. Who knew what would happen to them after. Saved for another shoot with a similar creature or broken apart to be used for parts like a deceased organ donor. He wished there was a way he could sneak it home, but there wasn’t a shirt big enough for him to shove it under. They’d figure something else out. The world was filled with monsters for Hongjoong to choose from.

Seonghwa gave him the thumbs up that everything on his end was done and that it was Hongjoong’s turn. He stepped up onto his stool and blended in the edges of the costume to his torso. Excitement filled every blood cell in his body, making him feel like he had a hive of agitated bees living just beneath his skin’s surface. The tubs of fake blood called his name like a victory song and he couldn’t wait to sing along to it.

When he was done hiding the wires along Yunho’s back, he wiped his hands on his apron and stepped off the stool. “Sorry if it’s cold.” He had tried to save the packs somewhere at room temperature so it wouldn’t be freezing by the time he had to dump it all over him.

“Honestly, something cold sounds kind of nice,” Yunho shrugged. “The legs get so hot, believe it or not”

“Even when you’re half naked?” There had been too many times that Hongjoong had to distract himself when he noticed that Yunho’s nipples had hardened while on set. The lights and machines kept everything warm, but the air conditioner sometimes broke through and personally made it Hongjoong’s problem. This time, there was only one exposed because of the prosthetic but it still taunted Hongjoong from underneath a layer of grey paint. He should have planned for the torment by sticking prosthetics over them.

“You have no idea how hot I can get.”

Except Hongjoong did. He felt it every time he painted him. It sometimes made the paint go on smoother, his heat melting it like silky butter.

“Save it for later, you two,” Seonghwa scolded. “We have a spider to kill, if you haven’t forgotten.”

“Right.” Yunho gave a stern nod.

The costumers helped Yunho get into place as he guided the large arachnid body across the set. Hongjoong huddled close by, one trigger in his hand, and the other in the props director’s hand. Two triggers made it harder for errors to happen since it had a delicate timing. He looked up at Yunho and watched his transformation. His eyes rolled back as he closed his eyes, his nostrils widening with every deep inhale that he took. When he opened his eyes again, Hongjoong hardly recognized him.

“Lets do a quick dry run before the action starts, alright?” Yunho gave a curt nod and a moment later, the director called action. They ran through their lines like it was the real thing, which was smart because who knew if the footage could actually be used for something. He and Jongho went through their exchange with lips curled in snarls and spit flying as they enunciated each word.

It was like watching a great artist create a masterpiece. Hongjoong had been privileged to see many creations come to life before his very eyes, but Yunho was something else. Other actors should consider themselves lucky that he preferred heavy monster makeup to conventional main roles.

They marked their cues and Hongjoong practiced his reaction speed with the props director without actually hitting the trigger. After several successful tries, they gave the thumbs up to carry on. The actors returned to their places and they took a moment to recenter themselves before the director called action.

The excitement didn’t even allow Hongjoong to watch. He stared at the ground in front of him as each word passed through him, silently rehearsing them as he waited with anticipation. His thumb twitched on the trigger like a hunting dog begging to be let off its leash.

“Okay, first burst, go!”

Without any hesitation, Hongjoong squeezed the trigger and the first pulse of blood spurted from Yunho’s chest. Yunho reacted right on cue and let out a startled gasp. Jongho drove the fake blade deeper into his chest, the next spurt landing on his face. They had one take to get it right, otherwise the mess would prove too bothersome to clean up and start over, so they gave it their all.

Yunho fell to his side on the rocks, clutching the wound as blood spilled over his pretty fingers. It was more than likely too much to be realistic, but it looked beautiful. Hongjoong had to peel his eyes away and he readied for the next scene.

“Cut! Hongjoong-ssi, you’re up!”

“That was wicked hyung!” Mingi pumped his fist in the air, his misaligned teeth easily noticeable from far away.

Hongjoong gave him an appreciative wave as he carefully carried the paper cup over to Yunho who was still slumped over.

“It’s supposed to be berry flavored, so hopefully it’s not too bad.” He showed off the shiny red liquid. It was so dark it almost looked black, but the bright studio lights reflecting against it gave it away.

“Thanks for trying to be considerate. I’ve had some taste like ass before.”

“You know what ass tastes like?”

Yunho looked him up and down. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Hongjoong’s heart slammed into his sternum so hard it nearly knocked him to the floor. Yes, he would like to know. But he’d like to find out with a physical demonstration. “H-have fun dying. Again.” He offered the cup to Yunho, who accepted it with a wink, like he was accepting a shot of something enjoyable.

He ran through the scene with professionalism. The blood spurt from his mouth with a dramatic flare, dripping down his chest and onto the rocky set pieces below him. He made dying look easy, elegant even.

Hongjoong’s breath was shallow as his gaze remained locked on Yunho. Jongho was good, he had no doubt, but it was like he didn’t exist as long as Yunho was in his sight.

With a final gurgling breath, Yunho sagged. His limbs drooped like wilted petals and his eyes remained open, frozen forever in death. The moment stretched on for a minute with the only sound in the studio was the gentle buzzing of the lights and equipment around.

The director yelled cut and everyone broke out into applause. Yunho smiled and bowed to everyone nearby. Jongho came up and hugged him, not caring about the bloody mess since he was covered in it as well. It was awkward due to the spider legs, but they managed it. Cameras circled them for behind the scenes shots, looking for any emotional moment to capitalize on. They had invaded the makeup trailer a few times, but with limited space and Hongjoong’s even more limited patience, they gave Yunho his own camcorder and said go crazy.

Yunho was a star, and Hongjoong smiled at his luminescence.

The applause went on for a few more minutes, with additional handshakes and bows, but the moment Yunho crawled out of his suit, his eyes locked on Hongjoong. He said something inaudible to Wooyoung, who just nodded. With a small flick of his head, Hongjoong understood. They tried to act like normal. Yunho pulled on his sweats and shoes, followed by his robe while Hongjoong hovered nearby. He caught a curious look from Wooyoung but he ignored it as they quickly made their way off set.

The fake blood smeared on the door handle but neither cared as they quickly slipped inside. Yunho kissed him like it was all he had dreamed about. The past several weeks fueled every nip to his lips and every rough tug of his hips. Hongjoong felt his fake teeth underneath his lips and he mourned the fake they were probably too flimsy to actually bury into his skin. Yunho managed to lock the door behind them before Hongjoong grabbed him and threw him down on the nearest surface.

It happened to be the table.

Yunho let out a shocked gasp as the air was ejected from his lungs. The long hair from his wig pooled underneath his head like a bramble. His heels hooked onto the edge of the table and his thighs opened wide for Hongjoong.

In that brief moment, Hongjoong lost his momentum, but not because he ran out of steam. He was in awe of the creature laying beneath him.To have both the man and the monster; it made him feel selfish in the best way. Even better was when he realized that he had created him. Not the idea of him that had been printed out on paper, not the long list of accomplishments to Yunho’s name, but him.

He leaned down and kissed him. Yunho’s hand found his neck and kept him in place as their tongues rubbed against each other. When Hongjoong tried to pull back for air, Yunho grumbled. Perhaps it was meant to be a growl, but it didn’t have enough effort behind it to make Hongjoong afraid of it.

Instead, Hongjoong yanked his shirt off and threw it somewhere behind him. It was already a mess but he didn’t need to ruin it further. He dipped down and kissed Yunho’s throat, avoiding the synthetic wounds so he could get right to his skin. Based on the sounds that bled out of Yunho, he had already forgiven him for pulling away.

He kissed down to his chest but was blocked once again by the latex wounds. Thicker and still shiny with fake blood. There was a moment of hesitation before he said ‘fuck it’ and dug his fingers through the synthetic flesh, the “blood” that had been caught underneath bubbling to the surface. It wasn’t real. He knew that. But it didn’t stop his heart from racing. The sweet taste almost ruined the illusion of it, but it was easy to distract himself when Yunho moaned underneath him.

“God, I don’t know why that’s so hot.”

Hongjoong trailed his mouth up to sink his teeth into the swell of his pec. He took one of his damned nipples between his lips and bit down. Yunho’s whole body jolted underneath him like he was electrocuted. After every gasp, his belly filled with air and pressed into Hongjoong’s sternum. His teeth scraped the paint up and unlike the blood, it tasted nasty, so he spit it out. While he wanted to memorize the feeling of his skin between his teeth, he knew they had a deadline. He pushed up, his face covered in the sticky liquid. When he reached up to try and wipe it away, Yunho reached out and stopped him.

“Leave it.”

Yunho kicked off his shoes and Hongjoong dove in to rip his pants off. The neon green tights made him laugh, and Yunho made a joke about them killing his sex appeal, but Hongjoong was too preoccupied trying to get him naked.

It was kind of funny to look at Yunho while he was half-painted. The flesh of his legs was such a pretty color. His knees and toes were pink, his leg hair was prickly at his ankles after a few days of growth, it was hardly dark enough to see from far away. His thighs and ass were bigger than the rest of him, something that had been unfortunately hidden under sweat pants and then unfortunately had only been revealed with neon green tights. Hongjoong could see the remnants of when he was a gymnast, cord-like tendons and plush muscle that had softened from years without training.

He was cut, with a pretty little wrinkled scar around the base. It was flushed bright red, veins straining on the underside of it. Hongjoong’s mouth watered and he didn’t hesitate to dip down to slip his mouth over the head.

Yunho gasped, his back arching off the table. “Hot. Fuck, your mouth is so warm.” His fingers threaded through his hair and pushed down on his head.

Hongjoong had only intended to tease, so the sudden force made a surprised sound bubble up in his throat, just before Yunho’s cock muffled it. His jaw ached from being stretched open and it took everything to try and stop his teeth from grazing the delicate skin. But when he couldn’t stretch it further, his bottom teeth pressed into the scar at the base. He tried to pull off to apologize, but then the sound Yunho let out surprised him.

It was like a wounded animal. Desperate to be released from the trap it was in, only Yunho kept him pinned down, every move resulting in a sharp tug to his hair. Hongjoong let his jaw relax and his teeth pushed into him deeper, not enough to penetrate the skin, but in warning of how easily he could ruin Yunho’s day.

There was a fresh spurt of salty pre that landed in the back of his throat.

Oh. He liked it.

Yunho let him go and Hongjoong pulled off so he could finally get air into his lungs. With a nervous chuckle, Yunho dropped his head back. “Was about to finish way earlier than I wanted.”

“What, can’t go two rounds?” Hongjoong licked his lips like a cat lapping up milk.

“When we’re on an actual bed and not at work? Absolutely.” Yunho used his chin to motion toward the small bathroom. “There’s lube in there.”

Hongjoong peeled himself away and waddled in. His erection made it hard, and the tight space made it even harder. He had been in broom closets larger. There was a toilet and the world’s smallest sink with a mirrored medicine cabinet above it. He opened the cabinet and found the lube instantly since there was only that and a can of shaving cream in there.

“Why do you keep lube in here?” Hongjoong asked as he wandered back out. He rolled the bottle around to check out the brand. It was new-ish. It had been opened and used based on how the outside was a little slippery.

“Sometimes I spend a lot of alone time here,” Yunho said with a nonchalant shrug of his hands. “And you never know when a hot makeup artist is gonna want to show you a good time.”

“You bring all your makeup artists back here?” Hongjoong smirked and Yunho laid back on the table.

“Only the ones who want to fuck me while covered in fake blood.”

It sent a tingle down Hongjoong’s spine. It felt so raw and open. Possibly, it was too early to get hopeful since they were in a brightly lit trailer. The true test was if they got to do it again. Most people tended to get uncomfortable in his dark apartment, eyes never quite leaving his figures and masks in fear they might come off the wall to attack them. But Yunho had encouraged his greedy mouth, not knowing it was like handing him the key to a door he had tried to keep locked.

Lube messily splattered on Yunho’s thighs as it dripped from Hongjoong’s fingers. Yunho held his legs open with his hands hooked under his knees. He kept his bottom lip pinched between his teeth and only let out heavy puffs of air through his nose when the first finger breached him. The cold temperature made him shiver and his eyes flutter back into his head. Hongjoong made sure to make a note of that for later. His hand disappeared between his legs, fingers fumbling until he found his hole. He wasn’t shaved, but not out of control either. A small part of Hongjoong appreciated that.

The tip of his finger went in easily, but required a little more force when it reached his knuckle.

“Thought about this so much.” Yunho was a talker, it seemed. Not that Hongjoong minded. In fact, he loved it.

“Tell me about it.” Hongjoong hoped that it would distract him enough to help him relax. It was almost impossible to do anything besides wiggle it back and forth in encouragement.

Yunho pressed his lips into a thin line before his cheeks puffed up with a stifled moan. His fingers scratched the surface of the table, it was too slippery for him to dig into it. “Drove me crazy, having your hands on me all the time and not being able to have them do what I wanted.”

“What did you want?”

“This.”

His plan worked. Yunho relaxed just enough that Hongjoong was able to jab his finger in and out without any hesitation. While he would have loved to be able to take his time, they couldn’t afford to waste any time. Yunho’s thighs trembled as his fingers dug into the meat of his leg. His toes pointed like a dancer’s, his knees threatening to close when the stimulation became too much. The way he whined is pathetic and needy, a stark difference from the makeup he wore.

“More, please give me more.”

It was easy to obey such a simple command. He went until he had three fingers pressed inside of him and Yunho’s head was thrown back with a hand clamped over his mouth. There were other trailers around them, Jongho’s was only a stone’s throw from them. There were crew milling about as they prepared for the next set up, ears never too far away to hear.

But it would take a meteor hitting the trailer to make him stop.

However, he did pull his hand away. Yunho let out a broken whine, but Hongjoong quickly leaned up to give him reassuring kisses. “I’m not going anywhere. You said you wanted more, didn’t you?”

He gave his pants and underwear a hasty shove and they ended up in a puddle around his ankles. Just to tease, he took Yunho’s cock in his hand and stroked it a few times just so he could see pre-cum dribble from his tip. It was torture to both of them, but Hongjoong stopped when the pain in his cock started to become too much.

The leftover lube on his hand peeled up some of the makeup from Yunho’s skin when he grabbed him by his waist, but Hongjoong couldn’t be bothered to care. He scooched the taller man closer to the edge. Yunho jolted and placed his hands down to catch himself, but Hongjoong pulled his legs up over his shoulders and Hongjoong’s thighs brace his weight. Hongjoong wanted to show off, wanted to show how he could manhandle a big man like Yunho despite their size difference.

It seemed to work with how Yunho ground down against him, his slippery hole caressing the whole length of his cock. He let go only because of the relief it finally gave him. His mouth dropped open as he let out little pants.

He forced his eyes to stay open so he could watch the little folds in his belly crease and uncrease as he moved.

“You have lube in here—fuck,” Hongjoong moaned. “But do you have condoms?”

“No. But I don’t mind if you don’t.”

“Anything I need to know?” Hongjoong was already backing up, searching for Yunho’s hole with his cockhead.

Yunho shook his head. “Just that I might die if you don’t fuck me right now.”

“I’m into a lot, but not necrophilia.”

It broke the mood for just a moment. Yunho laughed, a beautiful sound made of sunshine. But Hongjoong didn’t want sunshine. He wanted his dark, ugly insides, he wanted the things Yunho was afraid to share with others.

Hongjoong slid into him and didn’t stop until his hips pressed against Yunho’s thighs. He moaned against his knee and couldn’t help but press against the soft skin in appreciation for allowing him inside.

“You feel amazing.”

Yunho moaned at the praise. “More.”

A greedy little thing.

Hongjoong pulled back and started a rhythm that was made of letting Yunho fall onto him like a guillotine blade, and him thrusting up like a knife between the ribs. When Yunho moaned, it showed off his fake teeth. He couldn’t say all bark and no bite, because besides when he was joking around, he wasn’t even sure if Yunho could bark.

Maybe if he called him a good boy, he would.

They had built up a good pace, both moving together like a well-oiled system. Hongjoong didn’t know where to look, Yunho’s blissed out face or the way his cock flopped uselessly against his belly. It flung sticky strands of precum between their bellies, joining them together in its web. Hongjoong’s thighs were already getting tired, but he refused to give up now, not when he felt the heat building in his gut already. Yunho took his cock in his hand and started to stroke it lazily. It didn’t keep up with their rhythm, but it seemed to be enough for him to start whining.

Why hadn’t they been doing this sooner? Why had he been so stubborn about it? Why had he missed out on—

A hasty knock came from the door and made both of them jump, grabbing onto each other as if that would somehow save them from the potential embarrassment of being seen in the predicament that they were in. “Hyung! Why is the door locked!?” Wooyoung shouted with another annoyed pounding on the door.

They both relaxed when they realized they were safe, but Hongjoong still couldn’t help but grumble. “Why is he always interrupting us?”

Yunho’s eyes rolled for a whole different reason. “I-I need a bit longer!” Hongjoong had slowed down, but didn’t stop completely. Yunho adjusted himself on the table, not allowing Hongjoong to slip out fully, but pushed himself up just enough to give his legs a break.

“About how much longer?” Wooyoung called from the other side of the thin door.

Hongjoong smirked and rolled his hips, earning a wet squelch that only they could hear. Yunho smacked his chest but didn’t bother to try to stop him. “Mmm-maybe ten minutes!”

That wouldn’t do. Hongjoong wasn’t done with him yet. So he thrust into him harder, making him yelp.

“Make it twenty!”

Better.

“Alright…” It took a moment for them to hear his footsteps fade away from the trailer. But Hongjoong quickly sprang back into action.

He took Yunho’s waist between his hands and pulled him back onto his cock. Yunho gasped with an open mouth, shapeless begging dripping from his tongue. His fingers dug into him, trying to find any place to crawl in to see what he could find inside. Would it be rotted and ruined like him? Every whimper was like a prayer for Hongjoong to taint him. Just a little more, and he could.

Yunho reached up for him and pulled him down by his neck until their noses brushed. For a split moment, Hongjoong was worried about the leg perched over his shoulder, but then it easily bent down with him. Yunho’s knee touched his shoulder, effectively changing the angle of how he drove into him.

“Oh fuck.” Hongjoong moaned against Yunho’s lips.

“Forget I could do that?” Yunho chuckled.

“Yeah, but I won’t forget again.”

Yunho’s breath was humid against Hongjoong’s skin as he moaned when Hongjoong gave him a particularly hard thrust. The table creaked underneath them, but if it broke underneath them, so be it. Hongjoong was practically determined to make sure it did.

Hongjoong pinned Yunho’s hands to the table above his head. They were so close together it was hard for him to do anything other than grind into his ass. Yunho leaked over his belly like a faucet, effectively ruining his makeup. It was fine, Hongjoong would do it over and over again if he needed to.

Yunho was his blank canvas, something he could make over and over. Into an angel with hundreds of eyes and burning halos, a wolf with a bloody mouth, a monster from the sea. Anything he could imagine, he could create with Yunho’s willing body.

He moaned and hurried his thrusts, fanning the fire that was growing in his belly. Yunho was so willing to accept anything Hongjoong gave him. He didn’t care about the bite marks and the scratches and that only made Hongjoong want to see what else he’d accept.

“W-wanna tie you down. See what else makes you moan.” He’d use pretty red ropes that would look beautiful on Yunho’s pale skin. They’d leave the prettiest pink marks.

Yunho’s hole clenched around him and his mouth fell open, but nothing coherent came out. He tugged on his wrist, but Hongjoong refused to let go. If he didn’t hold onto something, he was afraid of splintering. All the things he had worked so hard to keep in were bubbling up and if he wasn’t careful, he wouldn’t be able to push them back down.

“I-I like when it hurts.”

“Shit.” Hongjoong wasn’t ready for that image. It was so vague, but Hongjoong let his imagination run, and before he knew it, he was ready to burst. Yunho’s hand was back on his cock, gripping desperately tight as his face scrunched up in the pleasure he was trying to hold off for a few more seconds.

Heat finally consumed him and his orgasm hit. He pumped into Yunho like he was a bottomless pit, giving and giving until he felt his body was on the verge of shriveling up. His eyelids felt glued together, but he managed to peel them apart. He wanted to kick himself for missing Yunho’s orgasm face, but seeing the result was still satisfying.

Yunho’s grey skin was coated in the milky substance, little rivers running over his abdomen and making little lakes at the base of his ribs. Hongjoong hated to waste it, but it started to darken as it mixed with the makeup, so he mourned its loss and instead leaned forward to plant a kiss on Yunho’s lips.

Both of their breathing was still heavy and the sticky mixture was pressed against Hongjoong’s belly. He let out a happy hum and he felt Yunho’s lips twitch into a smile.

“Please tell me you don’t have plans after this.”

“Even if I did, I would cancel them for you.” Yunho nipped at his lip. “I’m not done with you yet.”

Hongjoong smiled into the kiss.

“I do have a question, though.”

He pulled back to look at him, his stomach swirling with sudden anxiety. “What is it?”

“How hard do you think it would be to pull off a Pyramid Head cosplay?”

If only Yunho knew the monster he had created.

📽