❝ the stylist chair ❞
┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ ° synopsis the job description didn’t mention meeting an angel in person. ┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ ° genre & tags fluff / idol!jeonghan / stylist!reader / mutual pining / hannie is a little flirty / perhaps light swearing as usual / does breaking out of your shell around someone count as character development? / feelings are difficult ┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ ° pairing jeonghan x afab!reader ┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ ° w.c 4.9k words
┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ ° author’s note this was requested by anon! thank you for requesting (: // i’m not a make-up artist nor do i do make-up at all on myself so don’t come for me if stuff is wrong
˚ ༘♡ ·˚꒰ now loading… enjoy! ꒱ ₊˚ˑ༄
“You start your new job today, right?” Your mother chirped up on the other end of the phone, ignorant to the fact you were trying to multitask - and failing miserably. It wasn’t supposed to be difficult, not exactly anyway but for some reason you always found ways to make the simplest things harder for yourself. Gathering paperwork, your portfolio and also choosing an outfit for your first day? Perhaps you’d given yourself too many tasks.
“Uhh - yeah, some boy group...” you mumbled, sifting through your files case to find the right paperwork, not really paying attention to the conversation, “they recently had a stylist go on maternity leave... needed a filler.”
Your mother laughed softly through the phone speaker and you could picture her shaking her head as you swore quietly, completely in your own world.
“I’ll leave you be, call me later! Good luck sweetie, they’ll love you!” You weren’t sure how your mother was so cheerful this early in the morning as you barely had wiped the sleep from your eyes. You hummed, acknowledging her absence as the call ended. Throwing your phone onto your bed, freshly made, you took a deep breath.
It wasn’t a good idea to get so worked up before your first day at a new job, you couldn’t turn up in a foul mood - and what if things went wrong during the day? You didn’t need the added stress on top of that. This whole paperwork stuff wasn’t that important for your first day anyway, just some bank information that they could receive another day. Standing from your kneeling position next to your bed, your eyes turned towards the state of your wardrobe on the far side of the wall - there was more pressing matters to attend to.
-
Dressed in the comfiest clothes you could pick up without sifting through your dirty washing, you turned up to the Pledis building with minutes to spare. You were met by another young woman, dressed just as slack as you - a sigh of relief, if you say so yourself. You hadn’t underdressed nor overdressed for the occasion. You wasn’t too sure what was too little here, after all you were now a stylist for a multi-million dollar earning boy group, topping the charts worldwide. They could be specific about their stylists and how they look, you didn’t know otherwise. This was the first big job you’d landed.
Her name was Sooyeon, she gave you a big beaming smile when you walked into the reception, her hands clasped in front of her and a few tattoos sneaking out from under her sleeves. She had dyed her hair following the split hair trend, proudly wearing pink and black on her hair.
“You must be y/n?” She spoke softly as you approached, her eyes disappearing into creases with her smile, “it’s lovely to meet you.”
“You too.” You responded politely, not interested in making enemies on your first day. Yet as Sooyeon gestured her head for you to follow, you couldn’t dream of ever wanting to make enemies with her.
“Perfect timing, by the way,” Sooyeon hummed as you both stepped into the elevator, your eyes watching her press the buttons, “they have a schedule today so we’ll be leaving soon. You can help us finish packing our things while we wait for them all.”
-
You’d prepped everything well at the makeshift vanity the recording show had shoved into the dressing room. You’d lined up his make-up perfectly and you’d stared over the descriptive sheet of the desired look for today’s schedule over fifty times. Yet you still hadn’t met him, let alone seen his face. Sooyeon said his name was Jeonghan - apparently mischievous and you should be aware of his pranks. Cringing slightly, you wondered why he had to be the member who was filling in the stylist for.
A soft tap sounded on the open door behind you, causing you to whip around startled by the sudden sound in your silence. There was a gentle chuckle, almost angelic and you paused, staring the man in the face. Was that an angel? He gifted you a small smile, glimpsing his white teeth.
“You’re Hana’s temporary then?” He spoke up, respectful as he lingered by the open door, “my name is Jeonghan - what’s yours?”
The words made you freeze as you stuttered your words a little, unable to find the will to speak as you looked down at your feet.
“Y/n,” you uttered barely and Jeonghan still seemed to catch it, nodding, “I-uh, come in - I can’t do your make-up standing.”
Jeonghan chuckled once more, sauntering to the chair you’d been provided and sitting quietly. You admired the black shade of dye the staff had used on him and how well it complimented him and his skin tone before you turned to your things, humming to yourself as you got started on his make-up. He sat quietly, not battering an eyelid nor speaking to distract you. This was supposed to be the mischievous man? The one you was supposed to be careful of his pranks? You almost scoffed jokingly but you held it in, letting it crack a small smile onto your lips instead. Jeonghan didn’t miss it as you worked carefully on his eyeshadow.
“Thinking of anything interesting?” He mused, causing you to tense before you mentally shook the feeling from your body. You might as well small talk with him, you weren’t sure if you could manage if you made things awkward with him.
“Sooyeon told me to be careful of your pranks,” you admitted quietly as you paused his make-up to move your hair behind your ears, “but I can’t picture you being the type to prank people.”
He was quiet and you wondered if you’d said something wrong. With a beating heart, you chewed the inside of your cheek. How could you be so stupid this soon into the job? But moments later, he laughed once more - that sweet, angelic laugh.
“With my members, maybe,” Jeonghan hummed, closing his eyelid for you obediently when you gave the command with your hand, “they call me the mother of the group. I don’t think I could prank my stylists, you guys work too hard already.”
“Mother of the group?” You quirked a brow and Jeonghan’s laugh turned nervous, “are you the oldest?”
“No, second oldest,” his lips curved into a smile, “Seungcheol is our eldest.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” You quickly stepped back, staring at him in panic as he stared up at you - perhaps just as shocked by your sudden raise of your voice, “I’ve been speaking informally this whole time!”
His shoulders relaxed from where he had tensed up, his head hanging momentarily as he let out a sigh of relief.
“Don’t ever do that to me again holy fuck...” He was quick to laugh again, shaking his head before looking back up at you. You furrowed your brows, glancing amongst his expression to try read his emotions.
“You’re not mad?” You asked quietly, blinking. It was Jeonghan’s turn to furrow his brows, shaking his head.
“Did you think I’d get you fired or something?” He taunted, a smile curving his lips again, “relax, Sooyeon got you tense with that huh.”
You pursed your lips, too stubborn to announce he was in fact correct. Jeonghan saw it in your face, especially with the way your eyes darted away from him and towards the make-up products you had littered in front of him. He was quick to notice your bad habit of chewing your lip, something you’d been trying to work on for years. Your mother advised you to chew ice but was what you supposed to do, carry a bag of ice around with you?
He looked down at his hands, an amused smile tugging his lips as he held back a chuckle, fiddling with the rings adorning his fingers instead.
-
You shoved some rice into your mouth, followed closely by some vegetables as you sat once more with Sooyeon at the small table. Seventeen were currently in the midst of their schedule, busy in front of the cameras. It felt wrong to be behind the scenes, watching them in person as you ate your lunch but you soon realised this was your reality - like a front row seat. No matter how much you tried to distract yourself, perhaps by thinking of what you’d be having for dinner that night or what time you should ring your mother later, you couldn’t get over your interaction with Jeonghan prior to this moment - your first interaction at that.
And no matter how hard you tried to hide the tingly butterfly feeling in your tummy you got whenever you looked in Jeonghan’s direction, Sooyeon could see right through you like a window - on your first day at the job nonetheless. Your eyes fell back to Jeonghan before they slowly made their way down to your lunch. Sooyeon ran her tongue over her teeth, a cheeky grin growing on her face.
“That bad, huh?” Sooyeon teased, her voice low to stop any involvement from other staff. You blinked, confused as you stared at her. If you did say so yourself, your act was brilliant. Sooyeon wished she could snap a photo of your face on the other hand.
“What do you mean?” You mumbled, turning your face back towards your food as gradual embarrassment loomed over your figure like a thundering black cloud. You could try shove your face with rice as much as you wanted but it wouldn’t hide the fact that you should have paid more attention in drama class and the thought made you squeeze your eyes shut.
“You won’t stop looking at him, y/n,” Sooyeon began again, basically whispering as she shuffled her things closer to you so your arms were touching. In your personal bubble, Sooyeon had all the control as her eyes glossed over the red hues in your cheeks, she knew it, “I know you don’t care about him ruining the make-up.”
Puffing your cheeks, you leaned back in your chair to try escape Sooyeon’s suffocating presence by your side but alas it was all for nothing. The wide grin on her face, the way she kept glancing between Jeonghan and yourself - it was all over. Raising your bottle of water to your lips, you figured the only way out of this was to play it cool.
“Script says they’ll be eating bibimbap in approximately ten minutes, not to mention the heat in here with no air conditioning? I can see his forehead shining from here,” you sighed, chopsticks back in your hand as you proceeded to ignore the way Sooyeon huffed and pouted, “I don’t know what you’re insinuating Sooyeon on my first day?”
Sooyeon grumbled under her breath, playing with her food before the room erupted into conversation and staff yelling commands - not to mention Seventeen’s own loud presence approaching their make-up artists. Jeonghan wore a smile as he approached, his aura radiating light-heartedness with a hint of tired. You stood from your seat within moments of noticing him, causing him to tut.
“Sit down, will you?” He laughed, shaking his head as he pulled out the empty chair beside you, his eyes glancing at how close Sooyeon was sitting next to you, “finish your lunch first, there’s no need to rush.”
Your tongue poked your cheek, hands a little shaky at the situation as you lowered yourself back into the chair. Your initial plan was to shuffle away from Sooyeon once you’d finished Jeonghan’s touch up but now you were stuck in the midst of either being too close to Jeonghan or being too close to Sooyeon - neither of which you fancied right now.
“Alright, okay.” You muttered, picking your chopsticks up once again as you quietly began to eat once more. Jeonghan leaned back in his chair, thumbing through his phone as he waited patiently for you to finish your lunch. Despite him saying there was no rush, you had in fact rushed what was left of your rice and vegetables, cleaning up your mess quickly so that you could get to work.
Jeonghan didn’t fail to notice, his eyes borderline rolling into the back of his head as you leaned to reapply his lip tint, your finger dabbing his lips ever so gently. You couldn’t deny you needed to look into this brand, the lip tint did an amazing job of somehow making his lips look so plump. You paused. What the hell was you thinking? Jeonghan watched as you blinked, a little frozen before moving away from him again, fetching a clean applicating cushion and gently tapping away at his skin, removing the drops of sticky sweat he’d gathered on his forehead.
“How are you feeling?” Jeonghan asked suddenly as you was cleaning up what you’d used, causing you to glance at him.
“Hm?” You hummed, raising a brow as you sat back in your chair. Heat rushed to your cheeks but it seemed to affect your whole body, suffocating you in a tight hug.
“We’re suffering in these loose outfits, how are you feeling in a hoodie?” Jeonghan reiterated, his eyes glancing you once over in your hoodie and jeans, “I can ask the staff to get you a fan.”
“It’s fine, I promise,” you laughed, shaking your head as you waved him off. Jeonghan scowled, “you guys haven’t got long left, I’ll live.”
-
Kicking off your sneakers that night, you’d never flopped onto your bed so quickly. Admittedly, you’d long shrugged off the hoodie you’d worn all day in a sweaty environment, leaving you in your sports bra as you laid beneath your air conditioning, soaking in the cool atmosphere in comparison to what you’d be in all day. Of course, it wouldn’t be long before you found yourself in the shower but for a moment, all your aching legs and sticky skin wanted to do was lay there and bask in what you’d been waiting for all day - the comfort of your own apartment.
In the midst of poor clothing choices, no air conditioning and stuffy rooms full of staff, you also had your tricky dilemma involving Sooyeon’s awful invasion of privacy and Jeonghan’s teasing nature. Swallowing the tough lump in your throat, you debated admitting your sins to Sooyeon - specifically the one about Jeonghan’s lips but you gathered you’d never hear the end of it, especially with the whole “first day on the job” shit.
-
The dilemma faded perhaps after two days. Sooyeon brought all the lies you’d tattled, which you thought was odd considering it was like she was looking through a window when she looked at you but you didn’t complain - at least she was no longer grinning like the Cheshire cat in your ear about looking at Jeonghan. It was peace of mind that you could go about your job without dating scandals, you figured his fans would pull that for you let alone without Sooyeon’s help.
“Something on your mind today?” Jeonghan perked up from where he sat with his eyes shut, your finger dusting a shimmery powder onto your eyelids. He hadn’t missed how quiet you’d been since you’d started his make-up for today’s photoshoot. Of course, you’d uttered your hellos and how are yous but nothing more extensive like you had on your first day. He’d never admit it but Jeonghan was slightly concerned he’d said something wrong or put you in an awkward position.
“Not really,” the lie slipped from your mouth instantly without a second thought, “I feel like I have no interesting conversation topics for you, is all.”
Jeonghan chuckled a little, opening his eyes the moment you mumbled to say you were done with his eye make-up. They followed you and your every movement as you packed away the make-up you’d just used and instead got out the lip tint you’d be using that day. Your hands were gentle, never roughly grabbing anything and always putting things away neatly like it was jenga. He hadn’t failed to miss the small things you did like the way you stuck your tongue out of the corner of your mouth when you concentrated or the way you’d twizzle the ring your mother gifted you as a graduation present while you were bored behind the scenes.
“What, have we spoke about everything in the world in two days?” Jeonghan scoffed lightly, amused nonetheless that you’d avoided speaking to him, “tell me about you.”
Your finger froze, hovering just above his lips as you once more found yourself in a predicament with this man. Clicking your tongue, you shook your head and continued applying the lip tint.
“What’s there to know? I work as a make-up artist and my name is y/n.” The words were a little sharp but you were getting defensive over Jeonghan’s need to know about you and Jeonghan was finding it ever so amusing as he watched the tiny little flame flicker in your eyes.
“Do you have any siblings? Where’s your mom and dad? Do you own any pets?” Jeonghan blurted out a series of questions, ones you should have known was coming but you couldn’t help but sigh as you turned away to put the lip tint in your case.
“Are you writing my biography?” You quirked a brow as you found yourself looking at him behind you in the mirror. Jeonghan stared back confidently, a sly smirk on his face.
“Maybe,” he shrugged, “the extravagant life of y/n l/n.” His hands acted as if he was reading it on a billboard in New York City, chuckling as you scoffed and rolled your eyes.
“Extravagant? You mean boring.” You uttered, taking a baby wipe out of a packet to rub off the make-up on your hands. Jeonghan jutted out his lower lip that you wasn’t finding his biography act amusing.
“Well, I’m the one writing the biography and you never answered my questions,” he huffed in a slight tantrum, “so how am I supposed to know whether I can title it extravagant or not?”
“We don’t have the time for-” Jeonghan broke you off, grabbing your wrist as you attempted to walk past him. Your eyes met as he stared up at you, “we have ten minutes until I have to go.”
-
He was a pain in more than one location, you thought as you swallowed a painkiller to cope with your cramps. You were waiting for him to turn up but today you weren’t so sure if you wanted to cope with his personality whilst it felt like a knife was being turned in your stomach. Yet the door opened wide before it shut again, his lanky figure sauntering over to the chair you’d set out for him. Your hand reached to shove the packet of painkillers back into your bag but Jeonghan caught sight of them sooner than you thought.
“Is everything okay?” His brows furrowed as he stood before you, suddenly refusing to sit down as your knees almost buckled beneath you, “why didn’t you call in sick?”
“Because I’m not sick now sit down,” you mumbled, turning to gather your things as usual but Jeonghan hadn’t seated himself, “it’s just cramps - you know, that monthly stuff you guys hate.”
“Oh come on,” Jeonghan chuckled with a shake of his head, bringing over another chair, “I’d hardly call those types guys, take a seat.”
“I can’t sit down I have to do your make-up.” You argued and Jeonghan rolled his eyes, finally sitting in his seat.
“Duh that’s your job but not today,” he hummed, looking over the stuff you’d laid out as he tucked his chair closer to the mirror, “sit down and talk me through it, I’ll do it today.”
You opened your mouth to speak but suddenly you buckled, falling back into the chair Jeonghan had fetched as another sharp jabbing pain hit you in the abdomen. Jeonghan glanced at you in the mirror, “that’s why.”
Frowning, you watched his pale fingers drift among the products you used on him, clicking his tongue.
“There’s so many,” Jeonghan laughed a little at this and you couldn’t help but crack a smile, “you start with something on my face, right? Which one is it?”
“That bottle on the far left, it’s a little messy because it spills in my case,” your voice was meek as you grimaced at the pains kicking your ass, “why are you caring for me?”
“You forget that you’re Hana’s temporary because she’s on maternity leave - right? I’ve cared for a pregnant lady up until she was too far gone to keep working, I know what you guys’ bodies is like,” Jeonghan hummed, his eyes watching his hands as he carefully applied the liquid like you’d told him, “Hana always said these times of the month were your bodies being angry you didn’t give them a child - so I told her it must be happy now she’s pregnant.”
The realisation hit you once more than you were only with Jeonghan a temporary amount of time, like a sand timer as you watched his movements carefully.
“Do you miss Hana?” You asked quietly and Jeonghan glanced at you in the mirror, pausing your actions.
“What, think I don’t like you and I prefer Hana or something?” Jeonghan mused, not answering your question. You pouted and he rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to his make-up.
-
Jeonghan had almost became a friend in the midst of you standing over him applying weird feeling liquids and powders to his face practically daily. Yet somehow you’d both managed to carry the most tense, awkward aura when you were together and it was always ten times worse when you had to be in his face and touching his lips - your mother called it sexual tension but you brushed her off saying there was nothing happening between the two of you. You could basically see her smiling through the phone when you said that.
Today was like every other day with you sat in your chair devouring your lunch while Jeonghan was hard at work across the room. Today was an interview, mainly for promoting Seventeen’s latest comeback but you didn’t miss how weird the questions were - specifically when the MC asked “where’s your favourite place?” but you shrugged it off as wanting to get a vibe of what each member was like off camera.
But as you scooped rice into your mouth - sort of like a vaccuum - it became Jeonghan’s turn and you listened carefully to the angelic laugh he let out from across the room before he admitted his ‘favourite place’ was in fact the stylist chair. The words caused you to freeze on the spot, like you had turned to stone in Medusa’s presence and Sooyeon caught it all with her eyes like a high definition camera.
“Y/n?” She whispered, her voice for once not teasing you as her eyes fell to the way you’d become a statue. She waved her hand in front of your face, watching as you blinked your now dry eyes and slowly turned to her.
“Did he say that?” You mumbled and Sooyeon slowly nod, her eyes glancing across the large warehouse-like room to where Jeonghan sat.
“Girl...” Sooyeon cracked a small smile, nudging you with her elbow, “and he’s looking this way right now.”
-
The next day you couldn’t even utter a word in his direction let alone look at him as he walked into the room, whistling a tune as if nothing had happened - to him maybe it hadn’t. He’d perhaps admitted he found the stylist chair comforting because you allowed him to be a human with no cameras for some time or because you shared jokes and acted like a friend. Definitely not for the reasons you’d been listing in your head ever since he said it.
Jeonghan glanced at you before glossing his eyes over your outfit choice - you were wearing the hoodie you’d worn weeks ago on your first day, the one that suffocated you with no air conditioning. His tongue reached out to wet his lips as he sat in the chair you stood beside, a smile growing on his face at your stubbornness when it regarded this hoodie.
“Any specific reason I’m getting silent treatment? Or is there a lack of content for the biography again?” He hadn’t let go of that stupid biography skit and he used it consistently when he was in the stylist chair to make you spew information about yourself. He loved it, he loved listening to you speak about yourself. Sometimes when you gossiped over little details, he would watch the sparkle in your eyes and he’d never miss how excited you got to discuss certain topics - one of these was your childhood pets.
“Are you ignoring what you said yesterday or was it a fever dream?” You finally spoke, your throat a little raspy because you’d spent the last night screaming into your pillow crying out of stress that you didn’t know what his intentions were with that interview. Jeonghan let out a small “aaaah..”
“Is that bothering you so much?” He taunted, turning to face your beet red face stood beside him, “is there a problem with me liking this chair so much? Sitting in your company and enjoying you as a person?”
“Stop saying that shit,” you scoffed, folding your arms across your chest, “I’m your make-up artist for fucks sake.”
“So?” Jeonghan mumbled, mimicking your attitude by folding his arms across his chest - you narrowed your eyes at this, “maybe I don’t want you to just be my make-up artist, y/n but your stubborn ass is going to throw a fit about that, isn’t it?”
It didn’t go straight over your head but boy, you wanted it to. You stared at him, the muscles of your arms relaxing involuntarily as the room went silent between you. It was thick with a tense atmosphere that you could slice with a knife like cake. Jeonghan chewed at his tongue, already regretting his words when you took longer than a few seconds to respond. There’s no way he meant it like that, right? Maybe he just wanted to exchange instagram usernames so you could be friends outside of work - but that felt like a crime in itself.
“What?” You whispered, unsure how to feel but maybe that was because there was a million thoughts bouncing around in your head that you couldn’t even focus on the way Jeonghan had made his lower lip bleed under the pressure of his teeth. He rubbed his clammy hands onto his jeans, trying to dry them as if he wasn’t physically sweating from announcing a workplace crush.
“You know exactly what I was doing with the biography bullshit y/n,” Jeonghan sighed as if he was annoyed with himself that he’d been caught in the act, “I wanted to know so much about you because every time you spoke about yourself, I could admire your actions and the way you reacted. I got to watch you lick your lips when you’d made them dry from talking so much about your favourite vinyl record. All the tiny little things about you I learnt in this chair - because you wouldn’t open up to me without some jokey skit covering my curiosity and I fell in love with everything.”
There was that thick suffocating silence again, sending both Jeonghan and your own mind racing as you stared at each other again. Your eyes were going dry and the stinging pain caused you to sharply turn away, blinking furiously as your eyes began to water in response to your stupid actions.
“I think maybe we need to speak about this outside of work?”
-
The front door opened and you furrowed your brows from where you stood in the kitchen, slicing up celery and numerous other vegetables for the dinner you were preparing. There was only one person who had a key to your apartment and it certainly wasn’t your mother because you’d left your front door locked after you came home from work that morning. You’d been at work prior to do Jeonghan’s make-up as usual and then after shooting, you’d come home early - this was one of the much rarer days where you had such a freedom. Jeonghan had dance practise after the photoshoot and you knew damn well he didn’t need make-up for that.
Lanky arms wrapped around your waist and the grin grew on your face almost immediately at the sickening sweet smell of his cologne washing over you.
“I see you’ve taken to letting yourself into my apartment,” you mused teasingly, focusing on the vegetables, “how was practise?”
He chuckled, his chest vibrating against your back as he leaned down to press a kiss to your head.
“Well, you did give me a key,” Jeonghan taunted and you admit, you scowled despite the fact he was very correct, “Hana visited us to show us her little newborn, he was so cute!”
“I bet he was loud too.” You hummed, scooping the sliced vegetables into the saucepan on your right. Jeonghan made a soft noise as if he was thinking.
“I think Seungkwan and Soonyoung might have been louder...”