;;

it was a ten minute
journey to the gallery.

jeongguk had stupidly
insisted that he'd get the
bus even though taehyung's
car was parked right outside
the art block. he thought he was
being polite but then the look
on taehyung's face made him
realise that he was being a
bit of a fool indeed.
taehyung had a small
mini, a substantial car for
his age and his supposed wage,
it was warm and cozy inside.
he liked it.

it was a pretty shade of yellow-
bright and blossoming
against the gloomy skies.
rain patterned in beads
against the car window,
as grey splatters down a
perfect painting. they fell
as one, together and in
harmonious sync. jeongguk
wondered whether
taehyung should have felt
like that. whether he thought
of things in the same way, or
not. whether he saw art in
everything that surrounded
them. jeongguk certainly did.

he couldn't help but feel
so fragile next to him,
still so new to the world,
with so much more to learn
than expected. jeongguk
wanted to grow up faster.

he wasn't entirely sure whether
or not that was an excuse
to make taehyung respect him
more, he already seemed to
do that so much.
he just wanted to be like him.
confident and always so sure
of himself. it was so dangerously
attractive, dangerously attractive
and dangerously wrong.

but could he help it?

of course not, he'd give up
so much if it were possible
to keep his mind astray from
the man sat next to him.
but it was simply impossible.
nothing he did would work,
so he didn't fight against it.

it was the little things that
jeongguk noticed.
the little things about him
that made him
breathless.

the way he let his pink
tongue slide along
his thick bottom lip,
the way he flicked his
hair out of the way of his
face, the way he changed
gears, veins in his hands
popping, the way he
gripped his steering wheel
with one hand; the other
reaching for his phone-
oh god, he was so hot
when he was multitasking
that jeongguk forgot about
how dangerous that was.

and his little mole on the
side of his nose.

jeongguk wanted to kiss it.

"you're staring." taehyung
chuckled.

jeongguk immediately
diverted his gaze to his lap
and let out a feeble "i'm not."
(he really was.)

taehyung didn't seem to
mind tho, he smiled to
himself- a glorious smile,
before bringing his hand to
his lips.

"do i have something
on my face?" he asked,
wiping his cheek with
his sleeve-
jeongguk furiously shook
his head.

this was so embarrassing.

"n-no." he stuttered,
looking out of the
window as taehyung
pulled into the car
park of the gallery.

the rain had died
down now, but jeongguk
still get the tiny droplets
on his arms when he
clambered out of the
small car.

"it's closing soon, come on."
the man ushered, the smaller
scurrying along side him.

he'd been here countless
times; it was almost his
second home.

he remembered holding
his grandfather's hand on the
first occasion, he'd only been
four or five, barely knew a
thing about the world yet
he'd loved art. he loved the
colours and the life and the
whole new world that he saw
in the paintings that
he would draw. his doe eyes
saw so much, with such youth.

he'd remembered crying because
he didn't want to go inside. he
remembered being afraid of the
massive building and whatever
was held within, unknown to
his innocent heart.

but when his grandfather had
crouched down to  meet his
gaze, wiped away his soft tears,
and smiled at him, warm and
loving and caring;
he knew then.

that he'd love it.

the doors welcomed
home with open arms.
there were only a few people
milling about today, not
that there was a lot in the
first place, it didn't
get many visitors.

jeongguk loved how
solitary it made him feel.

and he loved that
taehyung was here
with him.

"hello ggukie, you're
here early." a beautiful
woman spoke from the
booth that stood to their
left on entrance.

her smile warmed
jeongguk's heart, he always
adored seeing her familiar
face.

"h-hi jisoo, this is
mr kim- h-he's my art
teacher." jeongguk waved
shyly, edging towards
the bubbly woman.

jisoo only smiled
brighter. her sparkling
eyes creasing up as she
grinned.

taehyung followed
suit, stopping before her
with a soft look on his
face. jisoo looked at him
and smiled even wider-
of that was even possible.

"taehyung? my, it's certainly
been a while." she piped,
smiling to herself as she
reached for two tickets
from the counter.

she knew taehyung?
why did that make his
heart sink?

"i don't know what
you're talking about,
i've never met you in my
life." taehyung joked with a
deep chuckle that jeongguk
heard in his head, far after he'd
stopped.

he wished he'd joke
about with him like that.
it was fine, they were probably
just friends.

but jisoo's lingering gaze
said otherwise.

taehyung took the tickets
and slid them into his pockets,
putting a hand on jeongguk's
shoulder.

shit.

oh fuck he was already
blushing.

his freezing fingers grazed his
nape as he said goodbye to
jisoo and walked inside,
jeongguk felt his heart hammer
against his chest at his mere
touch. his cheeks burned like
an inferno as they walked down
a long corridor to the exhibition
hall.

taehyung hadn't let go of
him, why hadn't he let go?
this was the part where he
dropped his hand and realised
that this was totally inappropriate
and removed his grip
on jeongguk's neck.
it was the part that jeongguk
was supposed to shut down
his thoughts and never
think about them again.
the part where he wasn't
supposed to be wanting
taehyung's large hand to
wrap itself around his neck
and choke him.

yeah, he really wasn't
supposed to be imagining
that.

the part where they made
the distance between them
very clear again. but taehyung
didn't let him go, not even as
they stopped in front of the
very first painting. his fingers
stayed on his neck, resting there,
burning embers into his skin.

"do you come here often,
sweetheart?"

kill me.

jeongguk thought his
dick twitching in his pants.

he said it so nonchalantly,
so carefree and dismissive,
it made his heart swell with
pride to know that his
attention was half on him
and half not but oh god his
hand- and his fingers,
his fingers, his fingers, his
damn fingers.
his fingers were rubbing
soft, gentle circles
into his skin as his gaze was
fixated on the landscape
before them.

jeongguk didn't
really see the art
before him, he was
too busy trying to
stop himself from
purring at taehyung's
gentle touch. tender.
soft. loving.

"you like this." his
voice felt like the
ocean, abyssal and
never ending as it
wafted through his
ears, the sound
stayed in his head for
an eternity. jeongguk
let out a hesitant sigh.
"don't you?" he asked,
though jeongguk had
a strong feeling that
the older man already
knew the answer to his
rather vague question.

"y-yes mr kim." jeongguk
shut his eyes momentarily,
trying to comprehend
what was happening, where
they were, what time of day it
was, but he couldn't, his mind
was shutting down. nothing
he tried could get him to
concentrate.

it just whispered.
taehyung. taehyung. taehyung.

"you like looking
at these paintings." taehyung
chuckled, dropping his hand.

fuck.

fuck he was so hot.

that was besides the
point. the point
was- jeongguk
needed to stop getting distracted
by every tiny little thing
that taehyung did.

it was feverishly unhealthy.

but it would be hard.

very hard indeed.