"and here's our third place winner, jeon jeongguk," the mc announced. jeongguk got up from his seat in the stage and went to the front. the bidders and audience clapped, taehyung clapping the loudest. the boy took a bow and thanked everyone for the warm welcome. he introduced himself properly and also quickly promoted jeon's corner.

the mc thanked jeongguk, leading him back to the seats on the stage with the other winners.

"we will be starting the auction for this wonderful piece. starting off with one hundred thousand."

bidders began increasing the price. many had an eye out for the painting, making jeongguk all giddy.

"eight hundred thousand. going once. going twice. an—"

"one million!" a voice that jeongguk knew all too well screamed. the boy looked up to see taehyung's flaming eyes.

"one million two hundred thousand," the previous bidder said.

and taehyung should've learned to stop and leave the bidder there, but of course he didn't. "one million three hundred thousand!"

the bidder didn't seem like he was about to quit either. "tch, two million."

the room became so quiet that they'd be able to hear a pin drop. jeongguk's mouth was wide open with just one thought in his head, "damn those rich people." he also prayed taehyung wouldn't say anything stupid, but the older was too astonished to even breathe.

the mc finally came back to his senses and continued the auction, letting everyone know the man has become the new owner of jeongguk's painting. the rest of the auction went own, but the bids were never able to go as high as the third place winner's. once everything came to an end, bidders were invited to claim their piece of artwork and meet the artist behind them.

"hello, i'm jung hoseok," the man who had just received jeongguk's painting said cheerfully. he extended out his hand for the other to shake. "great painting you go there."

"thank you very much," jeongguk said with a small bow.

"do you do any international services at your jeon's corner?"

"yes, we will be soon."

hoseok reached back to his pocket and grabbed out his wallet, retrieving what seemed to be a business card. "here you go, contact me when you can." the card was english and the number seemed quite foreign.

once taehyung had finally been able to get through the crowd of people, he was able to get to jeongguk and hoseok. "uh, hello, am i interrupting something?"

"you were the guy that also wanted the painting, right!" hoseok beamed.

taehyung nodded shyly.

"sorry, i just really wanted that painting, it's very nice."

"it's alright, just wanted to bid on something at least once tonight."

hoseok turned his gaze back to jeongguk. "anyways, what gave you the inspiration for this work?"

jeongguk began explaining his love for astronomy and stars, not even mentioning anything high of what was painted under the stars. taehyung may or may have not gotten just a teensy bit jealous that jeongguk was smiling so wide at a man who he had just met. this lead him to snake his arm around the boy's waist. the boy instantly froze and stopped speaking, hoseok giving them a look of confusion.

"why don't you tell him about the two stargazers, gguk?"

the younger remained speechless, but did elbow taehyung to make him stop, which of course did not stop him.

the man in front of the two chuckled. "i'm assuming it's you two?"

"yes, yes it is," taehyung said proudly.

"i'm also assuming you two are dating?"

now that's something taehyung couldn't answer proudly as he didn't really know where they stood in there relationship.

"don't worry, i'm not homophobic. actually, i have a husband back in u.s. that i left behind. here's my piece of advice, my husband was too scared to live here so we moved, you, don't be like that. this country needs a change."

"oh, no, no, we're no—" jeongguk began, but was interrupted.

"we greatly appreciate your advice. did i introduce myself? kim taehyung, it was fun bidding with you." the two shook hands and began talking about god knows what. jeongguk just stared at the two in disbelief, and how taehyung's character changed instantly.

"well, i better get going. it was fun talking to you two," hoseok said after checking his watch.

the boys waved him goodbye. once the man was out of sight, jeongguk grabbed the arm around his waist as harsh as he can and pried it off of him. "what the hell was that?"

"what was what?" taehyung asked innocently. "anyways, let's go, i'm starving."

"no way, with the shit you just pulled i'm not going anywhere without a proper reasoning."

"will the fact that we're going to one of the best restaurants in seoul change your mind."

jeongguk took a second to think. "...maybe."

the older smiled, knowing it was a good idea to surprise the boy with a fancy dinner. the two walked after giving jeongguk gave his regards to those who had helped with the auction. the restaurant wasn't too far so the boys walked side by side in the busy streets of seoul.

once they reached the restaurant, jeongguk admired. the entire place, from the structure to the decor. everything seemed quite expensive yet affordable. once they entered, taehyung told the the lady at the front his name to look for his reservation that he was lucky enough to get on such short notice. they were guided to their table and given a menu each. once they had both ordered, it was time to wait.

"hyung, were you jealous?" jeongguk started a few minutes into waiting.

"was i that obvious?"

"yup, but i don't really see why you should be jealous."

"what do you mean by that?"

"i mean that last ni— never mind."

"what? jeong—"

"oh look, food's here!"

a waiter set the plates of food and drinks on their table, gave them a bow and left. jeongguk quickly dug into the mouth watering food not wanting to answer any questions the older may have. taehyung brushed it off for later and began eating his own food. they started light conversations on how great the food was and what they should get for dessert.

once they had eaten to their heart's content, taehyung quickly whipped out his credit card to pay for the food. for the first time, jeongguk wanted to split the bill as the food was quite pricy, but taehyung insisted on it being his treat. 

afterwards, they agreed on walking to burn of the calories they had gained from the red velvet cheesecake the two had munched on. the walk back home would take a maximum of fifteen minutes, more thank enough time for them to talk.

"what were you saying earlier?"

"when?" jeongguk questioned, completely forgetting about their conversations from before.

"about me having no reason to be jealous."

"oh, that."

"yeah, that."

"i meant it in the way that i just met the guy so i'm not going fall in love just like that. it takes some time for me to actually like someone."

taehyung nodded, moving a little closer to the younger's side. his hands lightly brushed against jeongguk's. the older looked up to see any negative reaction, but there was none. he took this opportunity to quickly entangle the two hands. the other did expect such a move, and he had already decided on pretending it never happened, as he didn't dislike the thought of them holding hands.

"so, uh, how long would you take to like someone?"

"hmm, maybe a month or so."

"y'know, we've known each other for a month or so."

"and?"

"ggukkie," the older whined, making the other giggle quietly. "you told me you'd give me a proper answer in seoul."

jeongguk let out a loud sigh. "my stupid hyung, how stupid can you be? was my kiss from last night not a proper answer to you?"

the older's eyes widened. "i-i just thought it was a spur of the moment kind of th—" he was cut of as jeongguk let go of his hand to instead grab the boy's face and kiss him for as long as he could.

"now, was that a more clear answer?"

taehyung still dazed, came back to planet earth with a wide smile, matching the one of the boy in front of him. "hmm, i don't know, still a lil blurry to me, maybe you should try again."

jeongguk laughed. he quickly flicked the older on his forehead and returned his hand to where it belonged and continued walking.

"okay, just to be crystal clear, you like me, right?"

"yes hyung, i really, really, really like you. you sound like an insecure high schooler."

"that's a lot of reallys, babe."

jeongguk stopped in his tracks. "babe?"

"i thought you liked it."

the younger suppressed a smile. he turned away and resumed walking. "okay, taetae hyung."

"taetae?"

"don't you like it?"

"i love it."

—•
taehyung cut his mullet so i'm sad

don't mind me as i sit here in the corner and cry
bye<3