Mad About You (One Shot)

He starts off every day with a cup of coffee from the same shop. It's a small shop, not far from his apartment and his art studio, and the pretty young lady behind the counter always has his same beverage ready for him at ten o'clock on the dot. Minhyuk sees beauty in this same cup every morning: how the same ingredients blend together to create a taste so familiar and yet so new and rich, so good he keeps coming back for a cup every morning.

His coffee hour is one of the more relaxing of his day. He takes the same seat every morning, in a nice shady corner facing the windows so he can see the sun gradually spread her fingers over the buildings. He likes seeing the people gradually rouse themselves out of their sleepy houses and start to walk about the streets, slowly becoming more animated the more they walk in the sun. Minhyuk wants to paint here one day, he thinks the nice dongsaeng behind the counter might let him but he wouldn't want to draw too much attention to what he's doing. When people are aware you are trying to catch what may seem like an insignificant moment of their life on paper, they become defensive, stiff, suddenly their actions aren't natural and they don't want you to see them. Minhyuk doesn't want that.

As he drinks his coffee today, he sketches a little on a pad, random little things. A dog that was too happy to walk its owner down the street, an expectant mother pausing to smell the flowers from the shop across the street, the way the light shone on the coffee dongsaeng's hair when she served a costumer to his left. If anyone else were to find this sketch pad, they would think nothing of it but to Minhyuk, they are all beautiful in the grand scheme of things. The dog owner might not remember the way her collie had pulled at her leash as she ran into a crowd of pigeons but Minhyuk will. He's putting the finishing touches on coffee dongsaeng's bangs when the door chimes.

There's a costumer.

Call it what you will but Minhyuk loves to observe people, especially at this hour in the morning. He knows almost all of the patrons of this shop by face and most of their faces are also in this pad, along with their fancy lattes, their pastries, the books they happened to be reading on a particular day. Minhyuk quietly observes this costumer to see if he's any of the regulars: Business Ahjusshi With the Rolex, Tired Grandma With Laugh Lines, College Girl Who Stares (at him and it's hard to sketch someone without them knowing when they're looking right at you so Minhyuk only has a few outlines of her face).

It's none of them today. This costumer is tall, relative to coffee dongsaeng who is of average height, broad shouldered, thoroughly male and when he saunters up to the counter with his scuffed sneakers, Minhyuk stares at his back.

All people are beautiful but this person, from the back of his hair to the way he removes his wallet from his back pocket to pay for his drink, he's really beautiful. Minhyuk's hand moves without thought and by the time this stranger turns around, he has a rough sketch of his entire body with emphasis on his shoulders and tight waist. He dresses casually, almost lazily, with jeans with a hole in the knee and a cap almost too big for his head but Minhyuk thinks his simple wardrobe enhances his physical appearance.

When he snatches a glance at the stranger's face, Minhyuk's pencil becomes lax in his grip. If he's quite honest with himself at the moment, he hadn't expected such a face. It's childish, really cute, small half asleep eyes, pouty lips, hair that seems to have been combed by his fingers instead of with an actual instrument. The more Minhyuk looks at this grumpy stranger, with his simple coffee cup and his clean fingernails (Jiho would call this kind of behavior "creepy", Minhyuk just thinks he's being a good artist) the more his face fits with his body.

Soft and hard.

Child and adult.

Minhyuk looks down at his sketch and sends another glance to the stranger, who has just seated himself at the opposite end of the shop near the windows. Minhyuk watches, half in awe while his hand works furiously on the paper, as the stranger's hair is set aglow the moment he takes off his cap. The stranger drinks lazily, as if still half asleep and when he really and honestly dozes off for a few minutes, Minhyuk can't control his hand.

There, in less time than it takes to drink his own coffee, he has a seemingly perfect sketch of this stranger but it's still...it bothers him. In the sketch, the stranger seems to be gripping his cup of coffee too tightly, not in the casual way he is doing right now. His hair seems too lifeless, his face as still as death in sleep, a complete 180 degrees from how the stranger's face seems to glow with life even when he dozes.

For the first time in years, Minhyuk wants to set his pad on fire. He didn't capture him the way he wanted to; he didn't capture the casual beauty of this stranger with ripped jeans and dirty sneakers. Minhyuk says and lays his pencil down for the first time that morning, his hand aching. All that passion and what does he have to show for it? A useless sketch that didn't do the subject justice and now cold coffee. He leaves with a small nod to the coffee dongsaeng, taking his cold coffee and his pad with him. Tomorrow will be another day, he thinks, stepping into the sun. Another day to capture some beauty on paper.



Minhyuk's art studio is covered with sketches everywhere. Little caricatures of his neighbors, drawings of his family, there's an annoyed Jiho drawing by the window that always serves to make him laugh because the glare on his face is just too perfect. Minhyuk comes in to his studio every day at eleven AM and stays there well into the night. Half of the time, Minhyuk emerges colored in charcoal, some random splotches of paint, when Minhyuk doesn't even remember using paint that day.

He never remembers much of what he does in those hours in the studio but today, something is different. He can't help but draw eyes, the same eyes everywhere, but he doesn't remember where he had seen them. The eyes are small, a little hidden by the structure of an invisible face. He draws them until his hand aches, unknowing of their origin but not really caring because he subconsciously knows this eyes and that is the reason why he is still unsatisfied with their look.

"Hmm," he bites at this thumb nail as he looks as his easel, completely covered in the same eyes, each drawn a little differently each time but still not perfect enough. He puts his pencil down and steps away, hoping the distance will make at least one pair of their eyes look the way they're supposed to. Still, nothing. Minhyuk sighs and rips the page away, throwing it into the already overflowing wastebasket. These eyes are haunting him...

Minhyuk walks around his studio, alternately picking stuff up and setting it back down as he thinks. He reaches his sketch pad by the window and absentmindedly flips it open, hoping for inspiration. He sees the eyes...they are the stranger's eyes, the one with the ripped jeans. They look even worse on the pad than on his easel...

He lets the pad drop to the stool by the window again and runs a tired hand through his hair, now feeling more exhausted than ever. So it's the guy...

This is an interesting new development, the mini-obsession with perfecting that stranger. Minhyuk vows to ignore it for the time being and go back to doing some artwork he was commissioned to do. He feels the eyes staring at him all night.



The stranger comes back a few days every week and by then Minhyuk has his schedule done. He'll come on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and he'll stay there long after Minhyuk's coffee hour is up. With each sight, Minhyuk tries to draw the stranger better each time, with more life in his eyes, more color in his face but he's been unsuccessful so far.

Today, when the stranger comes in, Minhyuk notices the change in his appearance right away. His hair is styled upwards, his jeans are no longer ripped and faded, and his sneakers are black and new. Minhyuk remembers the outfit for last time, the simplicity of it all, but he can't help but like this look too. His face is transformed by this hairstyle and it is no longer childish, cute. Its cunning now, he looks very much like someone famous, perhaps a pretty boy who has come to the quieter side of town to get away from the constant struggles of being the center of attention?

Minhyuk writes "idol" at the top of today's sketch and starts with his hair, because that's where his attention is at the moment. It defies gravity and the color is pleasing to Minhyuk, a little blond, a little brown, what would look cheap on some, this stranger manages to look natural. He looks as if he was born with this hair color. His shoulders are still broad, his waist tapered, his legs long but today, the stranger is awake. His eyes are alert and they disappear, almost completely, when he smiles at Coffee Dongsaeng.

Minhyuk thinks he's back to looking like a childish cartoon character but the stranger straightens his face quickly and then he's serious and he's back to looking untouchable. Minhyuk writes that word quickly under "idol" and underlines it. He goes to work with the stranger's face next; Minhyuk hesitates at his jaw. He needs a better look..

He looks up and this time the stranger is angled to the window, looking out of it, and his jaw line is completely visible to Minhyuk. He stares, for far too long without his pencil touching the pad and when the stranger takes a gulp of his coffee, Minhyuk is ensnared by that little motion. The stranger's neck, its warm color, the way the sun bounces off of it, how comfortable he looks today...

Minhyuk can't look away.

He knows this, he knows attraction well, and he’s just never experienced it for a stranger before. He sketches slowly, touching his pencil tip lightly to form the stranger's pout. For a moment, for a brief moment he can easily deny later, he imagines himself...touching those lips with his own. He knows their shape now, he can name the colors present in that pout, and they probably taste like coffee at the moment.

Minhyuk wonders what the stranger drinks. His cup is simple but Minhyuk is aware of the vast array of the complicated drinks that can be hidden by such a simple cup. Is it too sweet? Is it bitter? Is it a subtle mixture of both the way Minhyuk likes it? Does he ask for whipped cream, some kind of sweet syrup, a drop of vanilla in his coffee? These are all the things Minhyuk would know if he kissed-- The door opens with a bang. Minhyuk jumps and knocks his sketch pad off his table, looking to the door to see just what the commotion is.

"Sorry," says the ahjumma by the door. "It's windy outside."

Minhyuk swallows and goes to reclaim his pad from the floor when it's suddenly staring at him in the face. Minhyuk looks up slowly and comes face to face with the stranger, who holds the sketch pad closed and Minhyuk prays to whoever's up there that he hadn't sneaked a peek.

"Here you go," the stranger says. He smiles a little at Minhyuk and Minhyuk is struck by the way he forms his words, how distinct that voice is. The way those eyes are disappearing the more Minhyuk stares at him. The stranger seems to enjoy Minhyuk's quiet staring.

"Thank you," Minhyuk says after a while, taking the sketch pad from him. He makes sure their fingers don't brush because he's sure his attraction is written across his face in red permanent marker.

"You're an artist?" the stranger asks, gesturing the pad and the forgotten pencil next to Minhyuk's coffee.

"Ah, yes," Minhyuk says, fingering his pad. He hasn't been this uncomfortable since high school and the problem persists the more the stranger looks at him, also staring blatantly.

"Can you draw me? I'll pay you." The stranger is already taking out his wallet.

Minhyuk stops him with a raised hand. "No, it's...it's fine, you don't have to pay me. I could use the practice." Or use the excuse to stare at the stranger's face without fear of being caught. That too.

"Oh, okay," the stranger says, pulling up a chair, his smile still not dimming.

"I'm Kim Yukwon," he says, nodding.

Yukwon.

Minhyuk is tempted to say the name just to see how it tastes on his tongue but the thought of tasting and Yukwon in the same phrase draws his attention to Yukwon's lips and he's back to wondering what kind of coffee he drinks.

"Lee Minhyuk," he almost forgets to say, so excited, so ready to finally, perhaps, draw Yukwon the way he's always wanted.

"Would you like me to pose or--"

"No, no, stay as you are."

Minhyuk doesn't want to ruin the moment. He starts with broad lines for his face and the top of his shoulders, paying close attention again to Yukwon's jaw and his...his lips. It's intimate, he notices then, drawing Yukwon when he's sitting this close. The lips he's sketching out, the nose, the jaw, it feels as if he is touching all the parts of Yukwon's face as he draws. The curve of a brow, the short eyelashes, and suddenly, he's back to the lips again, staring at his target and trying to keep his thoughts from straying. The attention he pays to Yukwon's lips surprises him but it shouldn't and he swallows down his desire to just reach across the table and seeing how they really taste.

When he breathes out he feels a small shudder rattle his chest and he takes a sip of his coffee to maintain his composure. Yukwon's stare on his face is not helping matter either and Minhyuk will deny till the day he dies that he ever blushed. Girls blush. Guys...just turn beat red from embarrassment. It's complicated, it's about the network of blood vessels in one's face and blood pressure and--Lee Minhyuk does not blush. Impossible, that's hearsay and he will sue anyone for libel for spreading such accounts.

They don't talk as Minhyuk draws, Minhyuk because his tongue is currently too big for his mouth and moving it would just result in mass amounts of saliva being dumped everywhere. He wants Yukwon, badly. Sketching him isn't helping. Imagining brushing his fingers along Yukwon's jaw and taking his face in his hands isn't helping. Wanting to hear his name come out of Yukwon's mouth...not helping.

These thoughts aren't helping.

Yukwon looks down sometime during the sketch and Minhyuk drinks him in completely, taking his fair share of Yukwon and more so he doesn't have to keep looking up and down, risking his willpower because he wants to finish this sketch. His hand stops.

Yukwon looks over in interest. "Done?"

"I think so..." Minhyuk raises the pad and holds it to Yukwon's face. He squints at the similarities he sees but still...still he didn't capture it. What makes Yukwon Yukwon, that wicked playfulness in his eyes when he had picked up Minhyuk's sketch pad, the clarity of his eyes as he looks at Minhyuk now. The sketch is defective. His disgust must show on his face because Yukwon lays his hand on the pad to stop Minhyuk from taking it back.

"You don't like it?" Yukwon asks, his eyes on the drawing.

"No," Minhyuk says, eyes on Yukwon's lips. What a fool he was, thinking he could imitate such...such natural beauty.

"I like it." Yukwon picks up the pad and looks at himself; Minhyuk gets a look at the definition in his arms when he does this and looks down at himself. Yukwon is a lot more muscular than he looks.

"I think it looks just like me," Yukwon says, smiling, trying to imitate the pose Minhyuk had drawn him in.

Minhyuk smiles a little, thankful at Yukwon's praise but at the same time hating himself because he's taking this so seriously. But Yukwon's sketches have been the only sketches Minhyuk has ever been unsatisfied with. But maybe...maybe that's not it. Maybe he's just putting extra attention on these sketches because...because he is attracted to Yukwon and this attraction is making him want to capture Yukwon perfectly on paper, no matter how impossible that might be.

"Can I keep it?"

"Huh?"

Yukwon lifts his sketch up.

"Oh, sure," Minhyuk says and then carefully detaches the page from the pad. Yukwon stares at the drawing again once its in his hands; he smiles slowly and Minhyuk feels as if he's just tripped because there is no way in hell he has ever fallen for someone's smile so fast.

Good shit.



Their routine changes but just a little. This time Yukwon sits at Minhyuk's shady table; he always sets his coffee next to Minhyuk's and then they're chattering away, usually over simple things, like the weather tomorrow or the soccer game last night, but it's comfortable. Yukwon learns right away Minhyuk is not much of a talker when he's drawing and his silence is much appreciated, even if Minhyuk has a really hard time paying attention to anyone when Yukwon is there.

They're friendly, on a first name basis but that's just about it. Minhyuk has no clue of what Yukwon does for a living or how old he is but Minhyuk's not in a rush to learn any of these things. He nurses his attraction quietly, sometimes having to catch himself from gaze upon Yukwon's neck or jaw too much because being an artist is one thing, shamelessly using this fact to check out his acquaintance...that's exactly what he's doing but it's okay.

No one has to know. Not even Yukwon.

Today, Business Ahjussi With the Rolex has a new hairstyle and Minhyuk sketches this easily while Yukwon goes to get himself something to eat from the dongsaeng. It's a slow day and the sketch nearly draws itself so when Yukwon comes back with a pastry that's practically dripping with chocolate, Minhyuk gives it and him an overwhelmed look. "What is it?"

Yukwon shrugs. "Dunno but it's chocolate and my manager hasn't let me have chocolate in months, that asshole."

"Manager?" Minhyuk is still a little wary of the thing, it looks like it's bubbling like a chocolate cauldron, and Yukwon says something but Minhyuk doesn't hear any of it because Yukwon has swiped his finger along the edges of the thing and now has that same finger in his mouth and oh god... Minhyuk feels his mouth water.

He must be hungry.

Not...not hungry for Yukwon, no, definitely not, um. He must be hungry for food. Yeah, that has to be it. Totally. Um.

Yukwon takes his finger out of his mouth with a pop (Minhyuk can feel the sound travel all down his back) and smiles at Minhyuk, moving the plate of the thing a little closer to him. "Want some?"

Oh Minhyuk wants some...but he's pretty sure Yukwon isn't offering himself at the moment. Minhyuk forces himself to look down, even when the smell of chocolate starts to swim around him and he feels like there's a chocolate cloud right over his head and it's making him dizzy...

He looks up at Yukwon only to see him sucking on those fingers again. Minhyuk's free hand slowly falls off from the table and fists itself in his pants leg, closing his fist over the fabric to keep himself from grabbing Yukwon or the chocolate plate or something.

"I never asked but..."

Minhyuk looks up at the sound of Yukwon's voice. He swallows the little sounds threatening to escape because Yukwon has a swipe of chocolate on the side of his mouth and from the way he's looking at Minhyuk, he hasn't noticed yet.

Minhyuk licks his suddenly dry lips, his skin on fire. Minhyuk doesn't even like chocolate all that much but he'd bear with it if he could just...lick at the corner of Yukwon's mouth? Bite the skin there and suckle on it a bit? All of the possibilities...and none of them have anything to do with what Yukwon has just asked him.

Or Minhyuk thinks he's been asked a question.

"Sorry, could you repeat that?" His voice sounds strained to his own ears. He's going to die today and just before he takes Jiho out of his will too, damn. He doesn't want to leave him with everything!

"Are you my hyung?" Yukwon asks and then repeats his birthdate.

Minhyuk feels hysteria build up in his chest.

He's going to go to prison.

Oh well, he hopes they have nice pencils in prison. Seeing as how he's going to go there the moment he lays a finger on Yukwon because the boy is not even legal yet, holy shit.

"I am your hyung," he says, now wishing more than ever Yukwon would just swipe that tongue a little farther away from the center and lick that chocolate spot right off. The gods of chocolate are not merciful with Minhyuk today and Yukwon continues to look at him, his eyes getting smaller by the minute.

"How old are you?" Yukwon says and Minhyuk feels like a pedophile even if they're not much older.

"Why? Do I look like I'm thirty?"

"More like twenty five."

Minhyuk feels the hysterical laughter building up in his throat. "I'm...twenty..." he says and really wishes he still had some more coffee left so Yukwon would be spared from staring at his old face.

"Only twenty?" Yukwon says, suspicious.

"Only twenty," Minhyuk repeats.

Yukwon seems satisfied with this and doesn't require proof; he goes back to eating with that same insufferable smidge of chocolate on his face and Minhyuk almost chokes on his tongue. That's it. He has to say something.

"Yukwon..."

Yukwon licks his lips, miraculously missing the spot of chocolate what the hell, man.

"Hyung..." Yukwon imitates his tone.

"You have a little...on your face," Minhyuk wipes at his own lips to let Yukwon know. Yukwon follows the wiping motion with his eyes and Minhyuk feels a shock run through him.

His mother is going to be so disappointed when she visits him in prison, so very disappointed.

Yukwon slowly mimics Minhyuk's lip wipe and looks down at the chocolate now on his fingers; he licks them clean and it is then that Minhyuk gets the first glance of that tongue. Has it really been that long since he's been with someone that a kid is tempting him? A kid. There's no time to be disgusted with himself, or even leer at Yukwon, because Yukwon is suddenly on his feet with a shout. He must've looked at the time because he's mumbling something about being late and when he raises his hands to comb through his hair, giving himself a just-woken-up look, Minhyuk gets an eyeful of the smooth skin of Yukwon's stomach.

Oh...so that's how it is.

Prison won't be so bad, Minhyuk thinks. Nope, it might actually be worth it if he can...Yukwon is a lot more defined than he looks...

"Sorry, hyung," Yukwon says, wrapping his chocolate thing in napkins and waving. "I'm laaaate."

Minhyuk blinks and in the next instant Yukwon is out of the shop, stumbling away. He's confused but still turned on because the flash of skin feels burned into his mind's eye. Minhyuk flops on the table and coffee dongsaeng comes to him and asks him if he's feeling okay. He thinks he tells her he might be dying and going to prison but he can't be sure because the smell of chocolate is still around and he feels dizzy with want again.

He doesn't even like chocolate...



Next time he's in the shop, Minhyuk doesn't sit at his usual table, instead sitting in one near the window. He does a few quick sketches of the outside world (a little girl chasing a butterfly, a stray cat rubbing against a man waiting for the bus) and then Yukwon is at his table, with only his coffee and no chocolate obscenity to ruin Minhyuk's mental state again. He apologizes for running out last time and his tone is off and makes Minhyuk look up. There are dark circles under his eyes and Yukwon looks sick, his hair lies limp on his forehead. Minhyuk doesn't want to draw him like this.

"What's up?" he asks, setting his pencil down.

Yukwon shakes his head. "Nothing...I've just been up all night. I can't sleep." Yukwon makes to take another sip of his coffee and Minhyuk stops him with a well placed hand on the lid.

"Drinking coffee when you're trying sleep? Seems a little counterproductive..."

"Hyung." Yukwon visibly wilts and puts his coffee back down, pillow his head with his hands on the table. "I can't live without coffee."

Minhyuk snorts, "Try sleeping a little first, then you can have some."

Yukwon closes his eyes and Minhyuk is close enough to see the way his eyelashes brush against the top of his cheeks. He starts to sketch the now dozing Yukwon, with careful emphasis on the hair flopping over his forehead and the tiredness under his eyes. It hurts him a little so see someone normally full of so much life so tired and suffering and yet...and yet he still...

His pencil stills when he makes it to Yukwon's lips. He pouts a little in his sleep, his face scrunched up, as if he's personally fighting sleep away and Minhyuk tries his best to not make too much noise with his pencil. No matter how tired Yukwon looks, Minhyuk still wants him. That little pout, the way his hair brushes his forehead, the way he's, perhaps, finally getting the sleep he needs because his body is completely relaxed and he's starting to breathe out of his mouth.

He looks peaceful and Minhyuk just...kinda wants to brush some of his hair back so it stops tickling his face. It's a little weird to watch someone as they sleep but Minhyuk has stared at people his entire life and he's beyond feeling embarrassed for his observations. At least, mostly. Time inches by slowly as Minhyuk draws and when he shades in Yukwon's hair, Yukwon slowly opens his eyes and stares up at him. His eyes are smaller than usual, red and watery with their fatigue and Yukwon groans into his hands when Minhyuk tells him he's only been asleep a few minutes.

"Damn," Yukwon says, rubbing his eyes. "And I have another gig tonight too...My manager's gonna kill me."

"Gig? Manager?" Minhyuk thinks back to the idol sketch from what seems like a million years ago, when Yukwon walked into the coffee shop as it he had just walked out of a teeny bop magazine.

"I'm a singer, trying to get signed," he says and doesn't sound too excited about the whole thing. "You should come hear me play some time but not tonight...I'm gonna suck tonight."

Somehow Minhyuk doubts it and he just might swing by tonight to hear how Yukwon sounds, because after being stunned by his voice, he can only imagine how he sounds when he sings.

"I hope there aren't any scouts in the audience tonight," Yukwon taps his blunt fingernails on his coffee cup. His expression is disturbed, downcast and Minhyuk doesn't want to draw him like this either.

"Try to sleep some more," Minhyuk says and he moves his pad off the table to make room for Yukwon's head.

"Hyung, you don't have to...I don't want to disturb you or anything--"

"It's nothing," Minhyuk says and pats the table, indication to Yukwon to lay his head on it. "Coffee Dongsaeng won't mind and what kind of hyung am I if I stand in the way of your sleep, hm? Lay down."

"Coffee dongsaeng?" Yukwon questions sleepily, lowering his head back to the table again, this time cushioning himself with his crossed arms. Minhyuk pats him on the head, intending it to be a friendly gesture but knowing he might've come out a little creepy.

Hey, he's just being a good, paternal hyung, is all. He's not groping Yukwon's hair or anything. He's not. This is a perfectly innocent gesture. He's seen brothers do this to their dongsaengs all the time; his own father used to do this to him when he was sleepy. Yukwon makes a little snuffling sound and he's back to being a cute kid in Minhyuk's mind, not the guy who made him insane a few days ago over a spot of chocolate.

Minhyuk drops his hand from Yukwon's head and puts it somewhere safe, like under the table so he doesn't do anything slightly creepy again. He stares at Yukwon until Coffee Dongsaeng comes over to their table and asks them if they need anything more. Minhyuk puts a finger to his lip to signal her to quiet down and she blushes and apologizes, her eyes on Yukwon's sleeping face.

"Do you need anything, oppa?" she asks in a whisper.

"No, we're fine," he says, smiling a little. Coffee dongsaeng bows once and then sweeps away from the table, her long skirt whipping all around her like an upside down daffodil. Minhyuk sketches her next emerging out of such a flower, with a small coffee mug in her hand, her eyes shining as she asks him if he would like the special today. He stays in the coffee shop longer than he ever has that day, listening to Yukwon's sleeping grunts and definitely not wondering how Yukwon would look waking up in his bed. Nope, not that. Definitely not that. He doesn't mind the time he spends there, as long as Yukwon will feel good enough to shine like he always does.



Yukwon makes Minhyuk come to him that night. Sometime in between him waking up and alerting Minhyuk to his arrival back in the land of the conscious (because apparently Yukwon woke up and Minhyuk didn't notice because he was lost in his own "Art World" or so Yukwon had said), he had decided that maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Minhyuk came to watch.

"I thought you said you didn't want me there," Minhyuk says later when they're walking away from the shop together.

Yukwon has just rattled off the address of the lounge he's playing at tonight and now he's going to rehearse there. He tells Minhyuk to be there around eight even if Yukwon doesn't take the stage until nine o'clock because-- "I guess I'm really good," Yukwon doesn't seem cocky, just pleased he knows how to pack a house.

"I'll see if I can fit you into my busy schedule," Minhyuk says and his teasing tone is thankfully not lost on Yukwon.

He smiles and scratches his head, "I know how busy you artist guys are with your crayons--"

"Yah, I don't use crayons!" At least not anymore, he adds to himself.

Yukwon walks a little closer to him and they bump shoulders; Minhyuk narrows his eyes and bumps him back harder but he's not particularly strong and Yukwon has bigger muscles so the only indication he gets that Yukwon felt that is his wide smirk.

"Hyung, you're so weak," he says, laying a hand on Minhyuk's shoulder. "My niece pushes harder than you do and she's seven."

"I'm just going easy on you because you're younger than me," Minhyuk says, ignoring the hand on his shoulder because wow, Yukwon has huge hands and that's not a very unattractive thought.

"Not that much younger," Yukwon says, dropping his hand. The loss of the weight almost knocks Minhyuk off balance. Maybe he is weaker than he had thought.

They part close to the lounge and Yukwon reminds him again to come early and Minhyuk agrees. Yukwon's entire being is bright and it is amazing what those two hours sleeping in the coffee shop did to him; Yukwon is glad he waited for Yukwon to wake up. "I'll be looking for you, hyung," Yukwon says, smiling. Minhyuk nods and then Yukwon is walking away from him and Minhyuk thinks he's F.U.C.K.E.D. fucked because no one's backside has ever looked more attractive.



Minhyuk walks circles around this part of town for hours, walking into shops and looking around, not intending to buy anything but looking as if he will all the same. He walks around until mid-afternoon and then decides it'll be a while until he has to show up at the lounge so he might as well annoy someone for fun. Jiho is in his garage when Minhyuk stops by, tinkering with his car while obnoxiously blasting English rap music.

He screams out his own rendition of the lyrics every so often, enough that Minhyuk can tell his pronunciation hasn't gotten any better but his enthusiasm is still as high as ever. "When I pull awp to da club all da shawties be like damn, twenty eights 'n I be like gurr you juss know who I am, dun hate~ SEE I DUN FELLINLOVE WIT A STRIPPA, Y'ALL. ALL I DO IS FLIRT WIT HA--"

"Jiho!"

"Sonuvabitch," Jiho jumps up and spins around, holding his wrench at Minhyuk's face. "Oh. Oh, it's just you...Yah, hyung, do you want to die? Why do you always sneak up on me like that?"

Minhyuk blinks at the wrench and pushes it away from his face; Minhyuk is still looking at him as if he has three heads. "Sorry about that," Minhyuk says but he's not really sorry. Jiho's boom box skips before another song starts playing and Jiho goes back to fiddling with his car.

"Go eat somethin'," Jiho gestures to his house with his free hand. "Ma girl came over yesterday and cooked too much so you gotta help me out and eat some."

Minhyuk laughs, "Why? Are you scared of your own girlfriend?"

Jiho stops screwing and looks up dramatically, "Have you met her? She is scary as fuck when she's angry. If she thinks I think her food tastes bad...hyung, bro...I'm not getting laid for years."

Minhyuk rolls his eyes. Jiho's girlfriend isn't that scary. Jiho is just being extra sensitive. "I'm not one to turn down free food so," Minhyuk says, about to walk into Jiho's house through the garage. "See you in a few."

"I'MMA BUY YOU-A DRAAAAAANK~" is the last thing Minhyuk hears before entering the house. Jiho's lucky his family has ties to the mayor or else he would've been run out of town years ago. Also, he can be a pretty scary kid when he wants to be.



The next thing Minhyuk knows he's waking up to Jiho's living room, the dark being chased back by the large television screen. He's disoriented and doesn't remember falling asleep on the couch after eating much of Jiho's food but there is no doubt about it. He must've been more tired than he had originally thought.

"Oh, you're awake."

Minhyuk looks up.

Jiho is sitting on the floor with his headphones in, writing down a few things on a stray piece of paper. "How long have I been asleep?" Minhyuk asks.

"Long time," Jiho nods. "You were asleep when I came in and you glared at me real scary-like when I tried to wake you up so I just left you alone."

Minhyuk rubs his face, so very tired all of a sudden, when a thought wakes him up completely. "What time is it?"

Jiho shrugs, "Dunno. Guess it's around nine. Why?"

Yukwon, that's why. Or who.

Minhyuk grabs his sketch pad near his leg and flips through it until he reaches the address of the lounge, carefully ripping that part of the page out for him to take.

"Gotta go. I'll be back for the pad later," Minhyuk says and races for the door, ignoring Jiho's inquiries of "just where the hell are you going?"

It's summer so it isn't as dark outside as it is in Jiho's cave. Minhyuk feels a chill and pats down his arms to rid them of his chicken skin. He has no time to waste; if what Yukwon said is accurate, there probably isn't room for him at the club any way but he promised to show up. He's not someone who can easily break his promises.

The lounge is in the wealthier side of town and Minhyuk feels a little out of place in his plain white t-shirt and black jeans. He arrives just as the lounge is about to close its door for the show to begin and packs in the back, next to a bunch of screaming teenage girls and excited noonas who shout Yukwon's name in decibels only dolphins are usually capable of hearing. Minhyuk tries to shrink away from all of them but he's stuck in the little room at the back of the lounge, way behind the circular tables before the stage.

"Good evening," he hears Yukwon say into the microphone. The women around Minhyuk shriek again and he can't hear what else Yukwon says over their excitement. The lights dim and the ladies settle down, still freaking out about this or that or Yukwon looks so good tonight, right? Minhyuk wouldn't know; he still can't see Yukwon and he hopes he'll be able to hear him over the racket.

Yukwon hums into the microphone and the explosion in Minhyuk's ears annoys him; he doesn't even hear the opening chords of Yukwon's song because by the time the girls calm down, Yukwon's already well into his chorus. His voice is nice, a little rough around the edges but Minhyuk thinks it gives off an authentic feeling. His voice could be raw because he hasn't had a lot of practice as a singer or it could be raw because he reliving what he felt when he wrote those lyrics down. It's a song about being left behind, the kind of song anyone can relate to because they've all experienced it on way or another, and Minhyuk thinks he sounds great...from what he can hear of him, anyway. The girls next to him have not stopped chattering since the beginning of the performance and Minhyuk is extremely close to losing his cool guy image and telling their to shut their mouth hole for five seconds so he can appreciate Yukwon's art.

Yukwon is an artist just like he is but his art is audio, emotional in its barest form. Yukwon sings three songs and Minhyuk likes each one more than the last, probably because he can hear better as the girls have calmed down and now wait with watery eyes as Yukwon's set ends.

Yukwon wishes them all a nice night and the applause are deafening to Minhyuk, who is now suddenly surrounded by hysterical girls and with no idea of how to deal with them. Suddenly the crowd around him dissipates as the girls rush the stage, hoping to get autographs and Minhyuk hopes himself they don't maul Yukwon in the process. He sees then as the spotlight falls on Yukwon, how wide his smile is whenever a fan introduces themselves to him.

If Minhyuk had his sketch pad, he'd first write "star" at the top and sketch Yukwon giving a tiny girl a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He looks good up there and Minhyuk perhaps stares for longer than necessary: he tells himself he's just observing a subject but even he knows that's not all. Yukwon is more than just a subject now. Minhyuk's not sure what he is exactly but Minhyuk wants to do more than just sketch him, that's for sure.



"You didn't come last night, hyung," Yukwon accuses the next day, sitting down at Minhyuk's window table. Minhyuk puts the finishing touches on "Star", who looks suspiciously like...well, you know. Star strums his guitar easily as the crowd before him sways to the beat, his hair falls over his forehead and partly blocks his vision from the crowd but he can still feel them.

"I did come," Minhyuk says and doesn't mention how late he left the club because he was too busy watching Yukwon sign autographs.

"Really?" Yukwon sounds like he doesn't believe him and he looks a little unsure.

Minhyuk hides his smile by looking down into his pad. "'Yeah, I did. You were really good. You've been playing guitar a long time?" He feels Yukwon nod.

"Yeah, feels like forever. Did you like my set?"

"Too bad I barely got to hear any of it. Your fangirls are really loud." Minhyuk looks up; Yukwon looks a little pleased, he scratches the back of his head shyly and Minhyuk adds a little childish fill to Star's face. Okay now it looks a lot like...

Minhyuk holds the pad at arms length and cocks his head.

Hmm, it really does.

He's gotten better at catching Yukwon on paper, it seems.

Before he can over think it, he places the pad next to Yukwon's face and his eyes flies between the two of them. Yukwon holds himself still, much like someone would be if someone told them, "Don't move, there's a huge mutant spider right behind you!"

"Are you drawing me?" Yukwon asks when Minhyuk, still holding the pad up, sketches his eyebrows.

"Yeah, you looked really cool up there," Minhyuk says, lowering and flipping the pad so Yukwon can see it.

Yukwon's mouth drops. "Wow, this...is this really me?"

Minhyuk gives him the pad to hold and Yukwon's eyes run all over the pencil lines, hopefully not noticing the delicate way Minhyuk caressed his face to existence with his pencil. It's hard to draw Yukwon without feeling as if he's touching him. Minhyuk has never had this experience before, drawing has never felt this intimate to him, but it is now and he hopes that isn't too obvious in his drawing. He doesn't want to scare Yukwon away with his...pedofileness.

Oh right, Yukwon still isn't legal yet. Guess whose going to prison for "caressing" a minor?

Minyuk's eyes don't leave Yukwon's face as Yukwon observes himself. He seems to be a little in shock, maybe he hadn't believed Minhyuk went last night and this is finally his proof?

"I do look cool," he says finally, smiling and looking up at Minhyuk. Minhyuk feels a troop of endangered pygmy primates bounce around in his stomach when Yukwon looks at him. There's something in that look, Minhyuk thinks, he'll never get properly down on paper.

"Hyung, you...this is really good."

Minhyuk sips his coffee and takes this praises loosely, because the drawing still feels incomplete somehow. Yukwon puts the pad down; Minhyuk gets another look at his failure and struggles not to take out his lighter and burn it.

"You can have it if you like," Minhyuk says; if Yukwon doesn't take it, he really just might burn it.

Yukwon blinks, "Wow, really, hyung? Thanks..." Minhyuk carefully rips the page out and then holds it by Yukwon's face again, observing. Everything is anatomically correct except...except he still hasn't captured it. Yukwon's Yukwonness (Minhyuk enjoys making up words) is still not there. He initials the corner of the drawing and then passes it to Yukwon, who holds the paper carefully.

One day, he thinks, he'll be able to capture Yukwon properly on paper. One day.



Apparently that day is today. Minhyuk wakes up first, blinking at the light coming from his window and the arm around his chest. Just what in the hell...

He turns.

Yukwon's back is to him and his hair is all over one of Minhyuk's pillows and half covering his face. All Minhyuk sees are those lips. Minhyuk's not afraid of prison anymore but he still thinks it could be a distinct possibility. How had they ended up in bed again?

The day had started out like any other...and somehow ended differently than all the others. In between drawing a little girl who dropped her ice cream and Yukwon confessing to him, really badly, he remembers, Yukwon had stumbled all over the damn place. Minhyuk had thought he was saying they shouldn't see each other anymore but it had been the opposite and he had known for sure when Yukwon reached over and kissed him in the coffee shop.

In the coffee shop.

Where he could've been arrested for attempting to grope a minor under the table.

Somehow they spent the entire day together without managing to jump each other in pure daylight...but the moment Minhyuk had taken Yukwon home...he had never bumped into so many things in one night. Yukwon had been eager but without practice so to spare Yukwon from killing him, one can only bump into so many walls and not have a concussion, Minhyuk had taken the lead. Okay, so, sticking his hand down a minor's pants while that minor panted in his ear...he definitely won't tell that to the judge. Especially when in between the living room couch and the bed, Minhyuk had slipped and mentioned chocolate.

"Chocolate?" Yukwon had panted, straining to buck against Minhyuk, who was holding him down by his hips because he's was an asshole, a mean asshole.

"What?" Minhyuk hadn't understood what the talking had been about. The youth of today, he had thought, unbuttoning Yukwon's jeans fully, talking all the damn time.

"You said...," Yukwon swallowed, "You said something about...chocolate?"

Minhyuk had pulled back, hands still where they were, and gave Yukwon a small glare. Unfortunately Yukwon had made a small noise when Minhyuk pulled away and now licked his lips pretty goddamn shamelessly and Minhyuk forgot everything except him. Minhyuk remembers little after that but somehow they found themselves in his bed and Minhyuk remembers one thing above all else. Yukwon throwing his head back, the veins in his neck sticking out and his breath puffing as Minhyuk finally tasted him.

That image now burns and Minhyuk almost falls in his haste to get it all down on paper. He scrambles out of bed and sketches quickly, before the image vanishes. He's still sketching when Yukwon turns on the bed, his outstretched looking for something not there. Minhyuk stops sketching, too amused at the look on Yukwon's face to continue. He looks angry and he pouts, his eyes still closed, as his arms continue their search.

"Hyung?" Yukwon stretches and moves himself, combing all over the bed until he stretches too far and tumbles off the mattress. Minhyuk snorts as Yukwon sighs and finally opens his eyes; he looks around in a daze before finally finding Minhyuk and squinting at him. "So it wasn't all a dream?" he asks.

Minhyuk shakes his head, laughing a little. Yukwon smiles, lazily and he looks like a sated jungle beast. Minhyuk wonders if he purrs when someone pets him. Oh, he purrs alright and suddenly all the forgotten images from last night are back when Minhyuk gets glimpse of Yukwon's smile. He feels himself flush to his toes when he recounts the time Yukwon, upset with him for his teasing, flipped him on the bed and... That's always fun, Minhyuk thinks, his hand trembling.

Damn...

"Does this mean you're my artist boyfriend now?" Yukwon asks, sitting up with his elbows on the bed.

"If anything," Minhyuk says, drawing the lines of Yukwon's neck, "You're my singer girlfriend."

"Yah!" Yukwon says, yawning and combing a hand through his hair. "You think I'm a girl after last night, hyung?" And then Yukwon smirks and it is a filthy smirk and Minhyuk drops his pencil because goddamn, last night had been good.

Yukwon smirks, looking more satisfied than he ever has been. Minhyuk picks up the pencil and throws it at Yukwon's head but Minhyuk is a sucky thrower and it flies right over his head, brushing his hair a little. Yukwon, his eyes have closed, tells him he's so old he needs to get his vision checked and Minhyuk attacks him, pulling him down to the floor. He wants to draw Yukwon for real this time but for that, he'll need a little inspiration. Or that's just what he tells himself when he grabs him.

"Whose old now, eh?"

Yukwon laughs into his mouth, "Still you, hyung."

Damn.

Well, at least he's not going to prison. He's pretty sure Yukwon doesn't want to lose this, whatever it is. It's nice. Then Yukwon does that thing with his tongue and Minhyuk almost loses his mind. This thing is very nice.

Maybe they'll go for coffee later and try to look innocent when Coffee Dongsaeng comes over and asks them if they want anything.

"What I want isn't on the menu," Yukwon will say, and give Minhyuk a sly look, as if speaking some secret language but everyone can understand it so it loses its meaning. Minhyuk will roll his eyes, as if deeply pained.

He'll give Yukwon an 'I told you so' look and say, "See? See, this is why you're the girlfriend."

And if Yukwon's hands just happen to stray when they're sitting together near their window table in revenge, well, Minhyuk won't complain. Who is he to deny Yukwon revenge? Revenge is sweet.