thirty-eight || my ethereal love

you all are so sweet with your comments, thank you so much for the support <3

ʚ♡ɞ

"Beomgyu! Hurry the fuck up! I can't believe you're going to be late for Taehyun's showcase!"

"I'm rushing I swear!" The male immediately tucked his shirt into his pants and checked his hair one more time, patting down a loose strand that annoyingly stayed up.

After fighting with the strand for at least two minutes, the male groaned loudly and gave up, grabbing his bag as he rushed out of his room and went downstairs where he saw both Yeonjun and Huening Kai waiting for him, Yeonjun with an annoyed expression on his face.

"You took forever!" The elder immediately said the moment he saw Beomgyu come downstairs. "What was the hold up, usually you're never late to these type of things."

"I-I'm sorry," Beomgyu stuttered out softly, trying to soothe out his outfit before they go. "I-I got caught up in the moment and lost track of time."

"More like you spent forever choosing one outfit," Huening Kai snickered, causing Beomgyu to groan loudly in embarrassment knowing that the male was right. "You should know that in whatever outfit you wear, Taehyun still finds you beautiful."

Beomgyu chose to just remain silent after hearing that, his cheeks burning up as he looked at his phone and saw that they had at least an hour before the showcase started.

"I'm nervous... and it's not even my showcase!" Beomgyu said tiredly, walking over to a random mirror on the wall and started fixing his hair.

Yeonjun and Huening Kai glanced at each other, slightly judging Beomgyu before looking back at the male who was still fighting that one strand that wouldn't go fucking down.

"You know he's been working on it for nearly two months now," Yeonjun walked over to him, licking his thumb and swiped it across the strand Beomgyu was struggling with, causing the younger to groan in disgust at what he just did. "I'm sure he'll win, if he doesn't, boo-hoo for him."

"But he's definitely going to win!" Huening Kai butted in, trying to light up the mood after Yeonjun had basically dissed Taehyun. "You've seen his art, it's amazing!"

"I haven't."

"Eh...?"

Beomgyu rolled his eyes and walked away from the two, heading over towards the living room where his mother was, watching some show before she left for work.

"Mother," He called out, gaining her attention away from the TV, her eyes lighting up by how beautiful her son looked. "I'll be heading off now, would you like me to stop by anywhere to get you something?"

"No, my flower," She said, leaning forward and standing up to fix his hair, squinting in disgust for a second as to why one strand was wet. "Just have fun okay?"

Beomgyu smiled softly and nodded his head, he was so grateful that she hadn't gotten upset when he came out that he was dating Taehyun, instead, she had gotten super excited and started swooning over how adorable he was, telling Beomgyu to keep him and remain happy.

She was also learning how to be less strict, expect less for him. That he didn't have to always be perfect, and Beomgyu has never been more grateful she was or else he was certain he'd start sobbing and run away.

Just kidding!

...maybe.

Beomgyu nodded his head and allowed her to fix his hair for a few seconds before finishing up, staring at him with a gentle gaze before patting his cheek, a sign that it was okay for him to go now.

"Wait, who's driving?" Beomgyu asked the two who were waiting for him the moment he walked back towards them, the two of them finishing up their bickering session.

"I am!" Huening Kai smiled widely, raising his hand in excitement. "I offered because I... kinda... need to get my hours in."

"Isn't it illegal to have more than one person in the car if you don't have your—"

"It's fine! Let's go!" Huening Kai exclaimed excitedly, unsure whether it was excitement for driving his hyung's to death or to see Taehyun.

Most likely both.

"Yeah, let's go," Yeonjun agreed, glancing at his phone which was blowing up. "Soobin is freaking out 'cause there's too many people there."

"Soobin? Freaking out over too many people?" Beomgyu snickered, amused by the fact that Soobin was freaking out when he was the most lively person ever.

"You do remember he's only extroverted around those he's comfortable with? Taehyun really left him alone to wait for us." Yeonjun scoffed in annoyance, but behind his tone he held back a laughter.

The three of them gathered their things and walked outside to Huening Kai's car which he borrowed from his older sister, both Yeonjun and Beomgyu totally not shitting their pants knowing that they'll be in a car with a first time driver.

"Alright Hyuka," Yeonjun said, gently patting the males shoulder the moment they got in the car. "I'm trusting you not to kill us."

"Oh please," Huening Kai scoffed, turning the car on as he smirked at the two who looked terrified.

"I'm the best driver in Seoul!"

ʚ♡ɞ

"Y-Yeonjun hyung! Wait!"

"FUCK NO!" Yeonjun immediately stumbled out of the car, face planting onto the ground the minute he did, causing both Hurning Kai and Beomgyu to wince.

"It wasn't even that bad! I swear!"

"You ran a red light two times, hit the curb three times, then nearly ran over someone walking across the street! You're insane!" Yeonjun spat out, lifting himself off of the ground and closing the door, running over to where Soobin stood.

"I think you did great, Hyuka." Beomgyu awkwardly said, trying to encourage the male who seemed a little bit bummed.

But he kept it to himself that Huening Kai was a bad driver, but not as bad as Yeonjun.

The two of them got out of the car and walked over towards Yeonjun and Soobin who were comforting each other after what had happened, even though Soobin seemed highly fucking confused.

"I hope you didn't wait long, hyung." Beomgyu smiled warmly, walking towards him.

"It's fine, but you guys should've seen the amount of people walking in after Taehyun went in, holy shit I couldn't breathe!" Soobin started off smiling until he slowly started to rant about how chaotic it was.

Both Beomgyu and Huening Kai slowly side eyed each other, allowing Soobin to ramble on and on until he eventually stopped after a very long two minutes, which allowed all four of them to finally enter the building where the showcase was being held.

"So, Taehyun is up against what..." Huening Kai took a brochure from a table and looked at the list, his eyes widening after seeing the amount of people in the showcase. "Twenty school districts?!"

"What's the big deal about that?" Yeonjun asked curiously, looking over at the brochure. "Isn't it just some dumb showcase?"

Huening Kai gasped loudly, staring at Yeonjun as if he were some sort of escaped mental asylum patient. "I can't believe you just said that!"

Beomgyu couldn't help but hold back a small laugh. Lately, the two of them have been back and forth more and more, which was probably because as the days went by, Huening Kai became more comfortable around them which resulted in lots and lots of bickering.

"Hey! Don't look at me like that, I don't know anything about your nerdy art shit—"

"This showcase is the most important day for Taehyun! Don't diss it!"

"I'm just asking—"

"This day is super important!" Huening Kai exclaimed, offended by the elders rudeness. "This showcase is like... Taehyun's ticket to a better life! He always ranks in the top five, but whoever wins the showcase gets a full scholarship at Star Seekers Univeristu!"

Both Beomgyu and Yeonjun's eyes widened after hearing that. Star Seekers University was one of the most popular and successful universities in the city, it mainly offers majors for art, music, acting, all of those successful careers. It was perfect for Taehyun!

It just made the eagerness in Beomgyu even stronger, he wanted to see his lovely boyfriend win!

Taehyun had the potential to be one of the most talented and famous artists ever, he knew that the younger just needed one little push to achieve that goal. He would support him throughout it all.

"Ahh..." Yeonjun's irritating mood began to ease down slightly after hearing all of that from the younger, feeling a bit bad that he disagreed something so important. "My bad, I hope he gets the scholarship, I guess."

"The showcase begins in fifteen minutes," Soobin suddenly spoke up, looking at his phone before over at the other three. "Should we head into the auditorium? I'm
sure if we head in right now before all these old people we can get good seats."

The four of them agreed on that idea, so without a second to waste, they all headed into the auditorium where in Huening Kai's words, "was the biggest fucking place in the world".

Yeonjun disagreed, but he decided to stay quiet for once.

After pushing past a bunch of people who didn't know how to move aside after hearing the words 'excuse me', the four of them finally found good seats near the middle section. It was perfect for Beomgyu as well since in this spot, he could get the best pictures of his boyfriend!!

"Are you alright...?" Soobin asked him, breaking him out of his little daydream. "You seem nervous as hell, you're not even the one presenting."

"Oh..." Beomgyu couldn't help but laugh a little, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "I-I'm just really excited for him, he hasn't exactly shown me what he had planned or worked on at all, so it'll be my first time ever seeing it."

Soobin smiled in amusement from that, looking back over at the stage, he noticed how people were taking their seats and how the lights dimmed slightly, causing their moods to lighten up even more.

"Hey..." Yeonjun suddenly spoke up, leaning forward in his chair to look over at Beomgyu. "Didn't you say he had you model for him?"

Beomgyu scrunched his eyebrows in confusion before gasping softly, nodding his head eagerly. "He did! I'm unsure what for, but his mom had this outfit ready for me and then he made his father dump a bunch of glitter on me! I couldn't get it off for like days."

Huening Kai, Soobin, and Yeonjun all glanced at each other. As if whatever thought that came to their mind had linked up, causing them to think the same exact thing.

Poor Beomgyu, oblivious to everything, didn't notice this at all.

The lights began to dim even more, causing everyone to grow silent as the curtains began to open. The blinding white lights shining down on the stage as a woman, who seemed to be in her late twenties, came onto the stage with a huge smile.

After making her way towards the middle of the stage, she gently tapped the microphone to make sure it was working, bringing it up to her mouth as she faced everyone.

"Good evening everyone," She spoke softly, yet her tone was strong. "My name is Ms. Noh! I'll be your host for our crystalline showcase today!"

As she finished speaking, a round of applause began to pour out as she smiled brightly, allowing the audience to applaud. Which allowed Huening Kai to inform Beomgyu that Ms. Noh had won the crystalline showcase five years prior, which lead her to graduate from Crimson Heart Univeristy, which impressed him a lot.

After the applauds died down, she cleared her throat.

"I thank you all for taking time out of your day to support all of our students who have taken their precious time arranging their artworks to show today!" Ms. Noh began to blab on and on and on.

Beomgyu lost track near the two minute mark.

"Alright now, let's get started shall we?" Ms. Noh finally finished up talking, smiling widely as multiple people cheered on.

"Let's welcome our first student from Itamori High School!"

The crowd began to cheer as a girl walked out on stage with a wide smile, rolling in a covered canvas as she placed it in the middle, prepared to showcase what she had worked on for the past months.

"Hey, how long until Taehyun comes up?" Soobin asked Huening Kai in a whisper, causing the younger to glance at the brochure where the list was.

"Ah..." Huening Kai awkwardly said, his eyes widening slightly. "He's second to last..."

"How long will that take?"

"Uhm..." Huening Kai scratched the back of his head, as if he weren't prepared at all. "About two hours...?"

"Two- two hours?!" Soobin gasped in shock, checking the time. "What the hell Huening Kai!"

"I-I thought you knew!"

Beomgyu chuckled softly and held back a smile, glancing over at the stage as butterflies began to fill his stomach knowing that his boyfriend would be on that stage presenting his art work, he couldn't wait.

Two hours would go by in a flash!

ʚ♡ɞ

"Hey! Wake Yeonjun up!"

"No! He's terrifying when he's asleep!"

"You're his boyfriend?!"

"Can you guys please quiet down?" Beomgyu groaned tiredly, his exhausted eyes looking over at his two friends who were on the verge of bickering AGAIN. "Just leave him be, he'll wake up eventually!"

"But Taehyun is about to go on!" Huening Kai wailed annoyingly, staring at Beomgyu as if what he had just said was crazy. "He needs to see it!"

Beomgyu sighed in exhaustion, shaking his head as he looked away and tried to focus his attention on the showcase in front of them. Just as Huening Kai said earlier, it did nearly take two hours for Taehyun just to show up, if he knew that it would be like that then he would've most definitely come in at a more later time... but since this event was super important, he knew it meant a lot to the younger if he stayed the whole time.

After a torturous long twenty minutes, the person on the stage concluded their artwork, bowing towards the audience respectfully before walking off stage as two helpers rolled his artwork off of the stage, finally allowing the next person to go.

That person being his darling boyfriend.

"Alright, our second to last contestant!" Ms. Noh, still full of energy after two hours of constantly talking, presented with joy.

"Please welcome to the stage, Kang Taehyun!"

The three (should've been four... but ones passed out.) of them began to clap right away, cheering loudly as Taehyun walked out onto the stage with an awkward smile as someone behind him rolled in his covered canvas.

As if time had slowed down, Beomgyu's eyes widened the moment he saw Taehyun walk out on stage, his heart nearly bursting into fireworks when he saw how absolutely beautiful the male looked.

The male was had worn a white ruffled shirt that was slightly unbuttoned from the top, showcasing his collarbones slightly, pairing the shirt with black velvet shorts that went down to knee length. Around his waist was a black corset made out of lace, wrapping around the males waist wonderfully as it highlighted his physique in the most beautiful way possible. He had also worn white boots that went all the way up to his calf, finishing off the outfit beautifully.

(based off of his romantic concept outfit!! just imagine him with pink hair!) :

Beomgyu couldn't take his eyes off of the male, not even for a second. It was like he had suddenly fallen into a trance that was whispered into his ears, his eyes lingering on his boyfriend who looked so ethereal. It nearly made him jealous knowing that others got to see how precious he looked tonight.

It wasn't until he felt a soft hand tap him back into reality, causing him to gasp loudly for air as he snapped his head towards Huening Kai who looked startled from his reaction.

"Beomgyu hyung?" He called out worriedly. "Are you okay? You look like you're about to hyperventilate—"

"I'm fine!" Beomgyu immediately covered his burning face with a soft cough, looking away as he tried to regain his normal breathing pace after not breathing for at least one minute. "I'm just- uh- yeah."

Huening Kai gave him a smile, knowing exactly why he had started to space out and nearly suffocate himself to death, but for the sake of his sanity he decided to stay quiet!

"Hello, Mr. Kang, please introduce yourself!"

Taehyun gently took the microphone from her and bowed respectfully before turning to face the audience, his eyes immediately landing on Beomgyu, which caused both of their hearts to pause within that moment.

It was like he suddenly lost all of the words that he was going to say, stuttering a little as he cleared his throat and forced himself to look away, ignoring the painful burning feeling that ignited in his ears.

"My name is Kang Taehyun, I am a seventeen year old student attending Ito High School." Taehyun smoothly introduced himself, recovering in a second after making that breathtaking eye contact with his lover.

"What do you have to showcase today?" One of the judges asked him.

Taehyun breathed softly and walked over towards the canvas gently grabbing the silk as he looked back over at the audience.

"An artwork that I have worked on for three weeks now," He said softly, his eyes slowly looking over at where his friends sat.

"I named it 'My ethereal love'."

After finishing up his sentence, the male handed back the microphone to Ms. Noh before pulling the silk off of the canvas swiftly, showcasing his artwork to the world.

An array of gasps echoed out throughout the auditorium as Taehyun's artwork showcased brightly under the divine white light. Everyone instantly pulling their phones out to take a picture to keep this everlasting moment in their mind.

In that moment, it was like Beomgyu had dissociated with the entire world, everyone around him began to become nothing but a blur. His eyes lingering on the artwork that his boyfriend had kept him waiting on for months now.

It was a painting.

A painting of him.

He recognized it, how on that day when Taehyun wanted him to model for him, this was the reason why.

As if it were a picture, perfect and beautiful, Taehyun had managed to paint his lover in a way that captures so many others hearts in an instant.

From the detailed features of Beomgyu's face, he caught every single detail he admired so much that the latter never knew he had, painting it onto the canvas as if it were an ease. He had completed it with the way his shirt covered in golden sequences shined brightly, as if he had truly placed gold stones onto the canvas to give off the illusion of it.

Showers of glitter and sparkles rained down on the males face, his head tilted upwards as his eyes were fluttered closed in a calming manner, his plush lips parted slightly as his expression was in ease, as if the rain of sparkles and gold relaxed him. The gradient background of yellow mixed with the calmest shade of lavender highlighted his features greatly.

Taehyun had added small little improvements and features to the painting, his own spark that just screamed he had made it.

(this is based off of Beom's gravity photoshoot, just imagine it as a painted canvas :,))!!

The entire auditorium was silence in awe, nobody dared to even speak a single word as they all stared at the beautiful creation in front of them. Some felt like that the painting wasn't even real, as if someone hadn't created that with their hands.

It wasn't until a judge had stood up from his seat, slowly clapping in astonishment which caused the entire auditorium to clap and cheer, those stayed in their seat and soaked in the beauty of the painting while others cheered on the male who seemed shocked.

For Beomgyu, it was a different story.

He couldn't bring himself to move a single muscle, his eyes lingering on the painting of him, something that his boyfriend had made with his entire heart.

It nearly brought him to tears when he finally snapped back into reality, the once muffled sounds around him crashed over him like a tsunami, cheers all around him echoed out. His legs nearly folding when he saw Taehyun look at him.

If there was a word to describe falling in love with someone all over again, consider Beomgyu that word.

The cheers began to die down slowly, a judge picking up a microphone as he cleared his throat.

"Mr. Kang," He called out for the male, causing him to break eye contact and look over at him. "May you explain to us why you chose this person to showcase, as well as the meaning behind the name?"

Taehyun hummed softly and grabbed the microphone from Ms. Noh, clearing his throat softly.

"There are plenty of reasons why I chose this person to showcase. Those reasons being that one, he's extremely beautiful, is he not? He's like a shining star in the dim night sky, the brightest of them all that captures your gaze in an instant." Taehyun explained with ease, as if he had this whole speech memorized from the top of his head.

But Beomgyu knew deep down, the male didn't need any script or memorization to know what to say.

All the words came from his heart.

"As to the reason why I chose him specifically out of the hundreds of people in our school..." Taehyun hesitantly paused, trying to find the right words. "There's no exact word how to describe his beauty, yet ethereal takes the trophy. This person, helped me throughout the hardest hours of my life."

"He managed to let light into my closed off world, allowing me to view a life that I now find beautiful and less empty. I had always thought that the meaning behind my talents were to just showcase it and go on with my day, but instead, I discovered that my talents impact others in such a way it makes their heart... flutter."

"The reason why I decided to name this piece 'My ethereal love' is because this person, showed me all of the love in the world." Taehyun couldn't hold back a smile, looking over at Beomgyu who was in tears.

"Without him, I wouldn't be here today," He said softly, capturing those in the audiences heart. "He's my inspiration, the reason I keep going."

"That's why, I named it that, because he's my ethereal love."

The judge stared at him for a few seconds before smiling in awe, nodding his head as the whole auditorium was filled with cheers and claps once again, allowing Taehyun to finish up his showcase with ease.

As the male handed the microphone back to Ms. Noh, he looked up over at his hyung, his eyes lighting up as the two of them stared at each other without a care in the world.

As Beomgyu was about to break eye contact, his heart stopped when he saw the male mouth three words that made him fall for him even more.

I love you.

ʚ♡ɞ

After another thirty long minutes, the showcased had finally wrapped up, allowing everyone to either stay in the auditorium or wait in the lobby for the ones they were supporting.

Beomgyu, Huening Kai, Soobin, and Yeonjun (who had magically woken up in the middle of Taehyun's sappy speech) waited in the lobby patiently, all of them blown away from seeing the males artwork.

"You know, he really captured your beauty properly." Huening Kai sighed dreamily, staring at Beomgyu with admiration in his eyes.

Beomgyu laughed softly and thanked the male, his face burning red for nearly an hour now. The younger's speech replaying in his mind over and over again, not failing to make his heart throb a single bit.

"Hyung!"

All of their heads turned around when a familiar voice called out for him, Beomgyu's eyes widening in excitement as he saw his precious love squeezing through the crowd to make his way towards them.

"Taehyun!" Beomgyu exclaimed excitedly, running over towards the male before crashing into him, wrapping him in the most bear hug ever. "You did so well, It was breathtaking!"

Taehyun's face began to flush a deep shade of red in embarrassment, hitting the elders head slightly as he tried to squeeze himself out of the bear grip. "Stop! Get off of me! People are staring!"

Beomgyu didn't care one bit, squeezing the male tightly, he squished his cheek against Taehyun's forehead and closed his eyes in happiness.

"I love you so much my darling." Beomgyu whispered lowly in the males ear, causing Taehyun to flush a deeper shade of red.

Before Beomgyu could steal a gentle kiss, the younger had pushed him off and made a run for it, running towards Yeonjun who didn't care one bit that the two of them were being clingy as fuck.

"Wait don't leave my love—"

"You!—"

Before Taehyun could start scolding Beomgyu, a cough interrupted the two, causing all of them to look over in the direction where the cough came from, showcasing the appearance of one of the judges that were judging his artwork.

"Kang Taehyun?" The man asked him, causing the male to hesitantly nod as he stepped forward. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Min Yoohyuk, one of the professors at Star Seeker University."

"S-Star Seeker University?" Taehyun's eyes widened, he repeated in shock as the man nodded his head.

"I'm usually not supposed to do this since they announce winners a week later," The man said which made Taehyun's eyes widen even more.

"But I'd like to congratulate you on winning the crystalline showcase, you've earned yourself a spot in the Star Seekers Univeristy full scholarship fund."

Taehyun gasped loudly, covering his mouth as he processed what the FUCK he had just heard.

"I'd be a pleasure to have you at our school, but I may take my leave now." Mr. Min smiled softly, bidding farewell towards the other before walking away.

Before Taehyun could even process anything, he was suddenly squeezed into a giant group hug, causing him to wheeze loudly as both Soobin and Huening Kai congratulated him excitedly.

The male was nearly about to yell at all of them until he was suddenly pushed out of the group hug and into Beomgyu's arms, the elder swiftly wrapping his arms around the males waist tightly as he stared down at him with so much admiration in his eyes.

"I can't believe I won," Taehyun breathed out, grabbing onto the elders shirt to hold himself up. "I can't— oh my god."

"You deserve it!" Beomgyu smiled widely, gently placing a kiss onto the males head. "They'd fumble hard if you didn't win, you're going to become the best artist of the century."

"I couldn't have done it without you, hyung." Taehyun looked up and frowned, trying to hide his wide smile behind it. "You helped me."

"But you made it, you did it."

Taehyun and Beomgyu both stared at each other for a few seconds before breaking into a small little fit of laughter, the two of them hugging each other tightly.

It was finally a step up, the first step towards the door of success for Taehyun.

He had made it into his dream university, but most importantly he got to showcase his one true love to everyone.

"Hyung," He called out, looking up as he cupped the elders cheek.

The two of them stared into each other's eyes fondly, their hearts lighting up like flames in the cold winter nights, warming each other up instantly.

"I love you, my ethereal love."

ʚ♡ɞ