Title: Snapshots
Status: One-shot
Length: Around 2.200 words
Author: F
Pairing: Onew/Reader (‘I’ means ‘YOU’)
Other characters: SHINee’s managers
Genre: Romance (?)
Rating: G. No male-male relationships. No sexual explicit content. Not even a single swear word.
Summary: Onew had a new hobby: taking pictures of you.
Note and Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, except the make up artist. The rest belong to their rightful selves.
This fic was inspired by the scene in SHINee’s Night Photobook DVD. The one where Onew played with a polaroid, then Key and Jonghyun kept praising him, saying that he was a good photographer. I’m certain you’ve all watched it.
This fic might be weird. I hope it doesn’t fail. Sorry. I was feeling lonely the moment I wrote it. I just had to share that loneliness with these characters…
I knocked on the coordinator’s door. It was my first day as a temporary make up staff in SME. The real make up artist was away for some reason that I didn’t really know. Whatever. I was glad I could make some extra money. Life had been hard recently, especially when you were still in school. I needed the money so badly. I considered the make up artist’s call was a call from the heavens when she asked me to temp for her. So here was I, reporting myself to the artist coordinator’s office. He greeted me and immediately rushed me to SBS studio. I was to hurry to Inkigayo’s backstage, SHINee was waiting to be made up.
I walked fast to SHINee’s waiting room. I passed many idols along the way. My friends would kill me if they knew where I was at the moment. But I wasn’t really the fangirl type. I knew none of these idols. I only knew those who were famous enough to be in TV everyday. I was familiar with SHINee, but not really. I wasn’t making sense. Hell, whatever. I was here for work.
In the waiting room were five boys and two older men, whom I believed to be SHINee’s managers. Three of the boys were arguing about whether or not the blonde one amongst them was the one who farted. The blonde’s name was Jonghyun if I was not mistaken. That quiet one on the corner reading a book most probably would be Minho. And I believed this dorky one was Onew. He was playing around with a mini digital camera on his hands.
“Who are you?” One of the manager asked me.
“I’m temping for the make up artist.”
“Well, hurry! SHINee’s up in an hour!”
Aish, this was what I hate about showbiz. They always rushed things and treated other people as though no one mattered except their artists. I went with Minho’s first, because he seemed to be the most cooperative one. I thanked God that I made up boys. They took less time in being made up. Next, I applied some make up for the cheeky one, whom later I found out was ‘magnae Taemin’. The ones called Jonghyun and Key were the most annoying. They kept telling me to ‘cover these zits’ or ‘hide this scar’ or whatever. I was a make up artist. I knew how to do my job. I wished they would shut up.
“Key, Jonghyun, the lady knows how to make your face up. Stop nagging her.”
Thank you, Onew, I thought silently.
After I was done with the brats, I moved to Onew. He was as cooperative as Minho. I loved cooperative people. They made my job easier. As I was applying foundation on his face, he showed me a picture on his digital camera.
“I’m sorry, but I took a picture of you. Is that okay? I just got this camera and I’m still learning how to use it,” he said.
I glanced at my picture on his camera. He snapped me when I was making Taemin up. I was surprised. My picture was good. And I had never been the photogenic one.
“It’s good. Thank you,” I told him.
“I’ll delete it if you don’t like me taking pictures of you,” Onew said again.
“No, it’s fine.”
How could I think about Onew taking pictures of me when these people kept nagging me to hurry. Finally, I was done in time. SHINee was to be ready behind the stage. Before he went out of the waiting room, Onew spoke to me.
“Remind me to give you a copy of the picture.”
Yeah, yeah, as if he would remember me.
To tell you the truth, this wasn’t my first time as a make up artist, but maybe different artists needed to have different attentions. Or maybe the artists I used to work with were not as famous as SHINee. SHINee was as busy as a bee. I was expected to be at their management’s demand every freaking day. Today I was going with Minho for Dream Team shooting. Next, I was with Key and Taemin for Sukira recording. I meant, that was a freaking radio show! What would you need make up for? Aish, I had to stop whining. The pay was beyond good. I’d better shut up and do my job.
Weekend probably was the busiest time of all, with three continuous stages from Friday to Sunday. Poor kids. They never seemed to be resting. I spent most of my time making up the heavy bags under their eyes.
“Why are you frowning?” Onew asked me when I hid his eye bags with concealer.
“Your eye bags are the heaviest and darkest. Have you slept?”
He grinned. I liked the way his eyes disappeared everytime he smiled.
“Can you keep a secret?” I only looked at him, still busy with powdering his face. Then he whispered, “I didn’t sleep because I was busy taking pictures of the others sleeping. Do you want to see the pictures?”
He didn’t wait for my reply. He took his digital camera from his bag and turned it on. I sighed and turned my attention towards his camera for the sake of humoring him. The pictures were good.
“You’re good,” I told him honestly.
“I am? Everyone also says so. But I’m just doing this for fun.”
“Be serious. Maybe you can be a great photographer someday,” I told him absent-mindedly.
I was finally back in my flat around midnight. I had to be around for SHINee’s late night shooting. I threw my bag on the couch, the contents were spilt because I forgot to zip it. Out came a case of CD, something I was sure I had never put in my bag before. I went down to grab it. There was a writing on the case, ‘sorry I took your pictures.’ I figured this must be from Onew.
I turned on my laptop and put the CD in. I expected to find only one picture, since he only showed a picture of me he took once. Instead, I found a folder full of my pictures in the CD. I frowned and scanned all of my faces in confusion. When did he ever take my pictures? But I guessed that was the point of a ‘candid camera’. There were pictures of me applying make up, me listening to my iPod, me reading in the waiting room, and more. I was certain I had never realized that Onew took many pictures of me.
What amazed me more was how I looked in Onew’s perspective. I looked… good. Not meaning to sound narcissistic or what, but I had never been a camera-face. That was why I chose to be a make up artist instead, so people would end up beautiful at the end of the camera. These Onew-taken pictures of me were at least… bearable to see. In fact, I liked them a lot. I made a mental note to thank him in the morning when I met him.
Onew just smiled when I thanked him for the pictures.
“I hope you’re not mad at me for taking your pictures. I didn’t mean to stalk you or something,” he apologized. I laughed.
“If those pictures were creepy, I would absolutely go ballistic. But they are good. I like them. So, I guess it’s alright.”
He smiled again. Eyes disappeared amazingly.
To my surprise, it wasn’t the last CD I received. The next day, Onew gave me another CD of my pictures. They were even better than the last ones he gave me.
“Why do you always snap me?” I asked him. Surprisingly, he blushed.
“Because… I think you have the most perfect existence to be captured in my camera.”
I laughed.
“Excuse me?” I asked him again.
“No, seriously. It’s just my finger is clicking on its own everytime you’re in the room. Look at these.” He showed me one of my picture. “A picture is worth a thousand words. In your case, it’s worth an encyclopedia. I just have these many images in my head on how great your pictures will look. Are you okay?”
Onew finally realized that I was looking at him intently.
“I’m… I’m flattered.”
No, I was beyond flattered. No one had ever really paid much attention to me, moreover taken pictures of me. I was… dazed. Onew knew my existence. He saw me.
It seemed like that was the beginning of endless candid photo shoots. I became more relaxed whenever we were in the same room, knowing that he was busy taking pictures of me. I got to admit, he was getting better. I never thought I could look that good in pictures. Me, the make up artist who rarely put on make up on herself.
“You should have a more serious camera, Jinki,” I told him. Now that we had become friends, he preferred to be called by his real name. “This new found hidden talent of yours would be wasted away in that limited digital camera.”
The next day, he showed me his new DSLR, smiling from ear to ear. He began clicking away.
“Hyung, decide! You want to be a singer or a photographer?” Key demanded.
“Can’t I be both? Siwon hyung is,” he answered.
“But, please, would you stop snapping our pictures in most disastrous of times?” Jonghyun begged, making Onew grinned.
“On the contrary, that’s exactly the point of me taking pictures of you.”
“We have to hide that camera from him,” Taemin whispered to his hyungs.
I was alone in the waiting room, reading magazine and listeing to my iPod. I looked up when I heard someone came. It was Onew. I turned my attention to the magazine again. I saw a shadow passing left and right on my magazine. I looked up again. Onew was pacing back and forth with his camera in his hand. He stopped when he realized that I was looking at him. I raised my eyebrows, encouraging him to say whatever things he had on his mind. He sat beside me, eyes wandering around the room, cheeks slightly getting redder.
“I… I just realized that… That we never took a picture…” he stuttered. I was trying to understand what he wanted to say. I smiled, amused, when it finally hit me.
“You want us to take a picture together?”
Onew smiled and nodded excitedly.
“Sure!”
He took his mini digital camera and we both smiled to the camera.
“Thank you,” he said.
I waved a hand, meaning he didn’t need to make a fuss about it.
When Onew wasn’t around, the magnae sat beside me.
“Noona, do you know that Onew hyung takes your pictures a lot?” he asked.
“Yes. Why?”
“I was just wondering. He has so many pictures of you, I’m afraid he’s stalking you. I just want to make sure you’re alright.”
Oh my… Wasn’t this boy adorable?
“Nah, it’s fine, Taemin. I bet he’s gonna burn them anyway.”
“I don’t think so, noona. You’re the only one he takes pictures of recently. The number of your pictures is just increasing in our shared computer.”
I couldn’t believe this, but I blushed.
My temping period was finally over. The real make up artist would be back to work tomorrow. And I had just gotten used to the way Onew always tried to engage me in conversations everytime I was applying his make up.
“Do you realize that you look extra pretty today? I took lots of pictures of you. I’ll give you the files tomorrow,” he told me.
I blushed violently. My heart was beating extra fast because of his words.
“Keep it. I won’t be able to get them tomorrow.”
“Why not?” He looked confused.
“Your make up artist will be back tomorrow. I’m just a substitute, remember?”
“Oh.”
Was it just me or did he really look disappointed?
“So… this would be the last time we’ll ever meet?” he asked me.
“Who knows, Jinki? I might just be called by SME again.”
“I could still call you, right? I mean, I could email you the pictures,” he stuttered nervously.
I put down my brush and stared at him. I thought about it for a while. Even though I didn’t think it was such a good idea for me and him to keep in touch, I had to admit that I wanted him to contact me.
“Yeah… You can call me – email me – whatever.”
Why was I suddenly nervous? I continued applying make up to distract me from the sudden nervousness. My heart was beating like crazy. I blew away the bit of loose powder on his forehead, and I finally realized that we were so close to each other. He stared at me. I was so nervous, I didn’t know what to do. It seemed like his face was moving towards me when Minho suddenly appeared in the doorway.
“Hyung, why are you still here? Hurry up! We’re next!”
Minho left. Onew looked uncertainly at the doorway, then he looked at me. Maybe he was trying to say something, I could only look at him, waiting. Job was calling. He left. Recording continued until late. The artist coordinator told me to go home, for there was no need for me to be around anymore. I reluctantly gathered all my things and put them in my bag. My chest felt heavy. As I walked towards the exit door, I felt like I was leaving destiny behind.
What I didn’t know was the minute I stepped out of the building, Onew was running only to find an empty waiting room.
Fin