Days passed and Luhan continued to settle into his job as Sehun’s assistant.

He still got nervous from time to time but for the most part, he had carved his niche in Sehun’s world and he found it to be quite to his liking. Sehun was very comfortable to be around, often making jokes and teasing him, and he realized that so soon as he walked through the door every morning, all the stress and anxiety that had been his constant companions for years would immediately disappear. Granted, they came back as soon as he left and began his journey home but for the eight hours that he was with Sehun, he felt at peace.

It was lunch time on a day like any other and he found himself unable to decide what to make for them. A sandwich was the easiest bet but he wasn’t really feeling for anything in particular. Deciding to ask his boss what he was in the mood for, he closed the refrigerator and started back down the hall.

“Sehun-ah, what do you want to eat? I…”

He came to a dead stop at the entrance of the studio.

“Sehun-ah?” Jongin repeated, raising a sardonic eyebrow.

Luhan’s face flamed immediately. “Jongin, how…why…” He stopped to clear his throat. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

Jongin’s face broke into a guarded smile. “I’m surprising you, silly. What would be the point in telling you?” He placed a bag on the low table by the sofa. “I was out of the office for a meeting, not too far from here, and thought I would drop in and see how my two favorite people are getting along. I even brought lunch.” He gestured to the bag.

Luhan gulped. “Thank you.”

Jongin walked over to him, gently brushing his bangs into a neat line. “No need to thank me, baby. It’s just lunch. No biggie.” He leaned forward and briefly pressed his lips to Luhan’s. Pulling back, he smiled down into his boyfriend’s face. “Now, give me a tour.”

While Luhan nervously showed Jongin around the bottom floor, Sehun followed behind them, seeing Jongin’s display for exactly what it was:  a declaration of ownership. He didn’t know why his hyung would think it necessary to do so since he hadn’t made any advances towards Luhan nor had he shown any interest in Luhan in Jongin’s presence but apparently his hyung thought it was.

As they walked through the house, Jongin saw a few pieces hanging on the walls that he was interested in and Sehun took over the tour, the two bargaining like auctioneers until they reached a satisfactory arrangement.

“I’ll have them delivered by courier,” he was saying as they re-entered the studio. “Or should I send them home with Luhan?”

“Courier will be fine,” Jongin replied, already making a note in the schedule on his phone. “There’s one I use regularly. I’ll arrange it and let you know when to expect them.”

Sehun nodded and turned back to his easel, where he was midway through a portrait of an elderly woman, deceased, that had been commissioned by her husband. She had been the love of his life and Sehun wanted to do his best to bring her likeness to life. He only had old photographs and a few stories that the husband had shared with him to go on but he thought that he was doing a good job so far.

Jongin stood beside him, perusing the unfinished work.

“How about…”

“Not for sale,” Sehun said firmly.

“Are you sure? Everything has a price.”

“Not this.” Sehun’s voice brook no argument.

Jongin shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He started to turn away but then he suddenly swung back around, snapping his fingers. “Hey! You do living portraits right?”

Sehun frowned but nodded.

“I have a great idea. Why don’t you do one for me?”

It was Sehun’s turn to shrug. “Sure. What do you have in mind? Yourself, your car, the house?”

Jong chuckled. He reached behind him and pulled Luhan around, holding him closely to his side.

“My most prized possession,” he smirked.

Possession.

Sehun had to roll his shoulders to ease the tension. The word and Jongin’s tone irritated him so much. Luhan was a person, not a thing. He clenched his teeth in an effort to prevent himself from saying something out of line but it took everything he had. He was sorely tempted to wipe the smirk off of Jongin’s face…with his fist.

“Sure,” he gritted. “Anything in particular?”

“Hmm…” Jongin looked serious as he thought it over. Finally, he shook his head. “I’ll think on it and get back to you. When can you fit me in?”

“This should be completed in a day or two. I can probably squeeze you in before I get to the next one.”

Jongin nodded enthusiastically. “Good, good. I’ll let you know for sure by then.”

They lapsed into an awkward silence, which was only broken when Jongin’s phone rang.

“Aish! Excuse me. Hello.” He walked off out into the hallway.

Sehun turned to Luhan. “Are you okay?”

Luhan nodded but his cheeks turned a brighter shade of red.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, you know,” Sehun said gently. “You could…”

“Sorry about that,” Jongin said as he strode back into the room. “It was the office.”

“No problem. I guess you need to be getting back soon.”

Jongin nodded. “Yeah, I have a meeting in an hour that I need to prep for. What’s…” He trailed off as he peered closer at a stack of sketches that Sehun had piled on the small table Luhan used as his food/drink tray. “Hey, can I buy this?”

Sehun groaned. “Hyung…”

Jongin picked it up and started flipping through the stack. “These are really good. Not as finished as the ones hanging on the wall but there’s a kind of vintage appeal about the roughness.”

Sehun was about to made a sarcastic comment when a thought occurred to him.

“You know…Luhan drew a few pieces as well.” He watched Jongin’s face closely, delighting in his shock. He purposely didn’t look at Luhan because he knew that there would be shock there too, most likely coupled with horror and flame-red cheeks.

“Luhan? Draw?” Jongin scoffed. “You’re kidding me right?”

Wrong answer, Sehun thought, anger boiling in his veins.

“He’s actually really good at it,” he said, not caring that he sounded more than a little defensive. He opened a folder and withdrew the sketches that Luhan had done so far. He held them out to Jongin. “Here. Have a look.”

Jongin frowned as he took the pages, studying them seriously.

“Well, they’re not bad,” he finally acknowledged, “but nothing worth raving about either. He clearly lacks any kind of technique.”

“I quite like them, actually,” Sehun interjected. “As you said, that unpolished quality, the rawness of it, makes it all the more real and emotional. You should take them home and hang them up in your gallery.”

Jongin’s eyes bugged out of their socket. “Hang?” he blustered. “In my… You must be out of your mind.”

“Why not?” Sehun countered. “Had these been done by a professional, even by me, you would’ve been more than happy to pay for them.” He grabbed them out of Jongin’s grip. “Fine, leave them with me then. I was going to have them framed anyway.”

It was Luhan’s turn to go wide-eyed. He wasn’t the least bit surprised by Jongin’s reaction but he was more than a little stunned to hear that Sehun had planned to have his meager little drawings framed and mounted on his wall. The thought of his sketches being in the company of Sehun’s brilliant works was just… To say that he was honored and touched was an understatement.

As Sehun started to turn away, Jongin grabbed his wrist.

“On second thought, I will take them home.” He met Sehun’s gaze squarely and the two seemed to have a non-verbal faceoff.

Satisfied with the outcome of his little challenge, Sehun nodded and smiled. “As you wish, hyung. I’m sure it’ll mean a lot to Luhan. He worked pretty hard on them and he did a great job for someone who hasn’t had a single art class since grade school.” He flashed Luhan a smile and was rewarded with an answering tug on Luhan’s lips.

“Great.”

A tense silence fell between them and again, thankfully, it was broken when Jongin’s phone rang.

“That’ll be the office again. I’d better get going. I’ll get back to you about the portrait.” He turned to Luhan and kissed him again. “I’ll see you at home. Be a good little assistant.”

He started to walk off but stopped when Sehun cleared his throat.

“You forgot something,” Sehun said sweetly, holding the folder once again containing Luhan’s sketches out to him.

“Of course.” Jongin walked back and took the folder from him. “Thanks,” he said, smiling though his tone was hard.

Sehun smiled widely. “Don’t forget to pay him.”

Jongin turned without a word and Luhan and Sehun watched him go, neither relaxing until they heard the outer door close.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Luhan said shyly, too embarrassed to meet Sehun’s eyes.

“What kind of boss would I be if I didn’t?” Sehun asked gently. He stepped closer and tipped Luhan’s chin up until their gazes met. “What kind of artist would I be if I didn’t defend talent? And what kind of friend lets their friend get hurt?”

Luhan’s flush deepened but he smiled and Sehun felt his own lips tilt upward in response.

He tweaked Luhan’s nose and dropped his hand.

“Let’s eat.”

By some miracle, Luhan managed to push the impending portrait to the back of his mind.

Jongin hadn’t said anything to him about it since that day in Sehun’s studio and he was too afraid to bring it up. So he was more than a little alarmed when Jongin showed up, again unannounced, at Sehun’s house three days later, ready to get down to business.

“I’ve given it a lot of thought and I think I finally know what I want,” he said enthusiastically.

Sehun, still shocked by his hyung’s abrupt appearance, said nothing. He’d thought, hoped, that Jongin would have changed his mind after their little battle of wills. Sadly, if anything, his hyung seemed even more excited about the project. It made him uneasy and he didn’t know why.

“Okay,” he said carefully, picking up a fresh pad for his preliminary sketch. “What do you have in mind?”

“Hmm… Well, I can’t really tell you. I think I’ll have to show you.”

The odd glint in Jongin’s eyes should have been a warning that neither Luhan nor Sehun would appreciate what was to come.

“May I?” Jongin asked, gesturing to Sehun’s easels.

Sehun nodded and stepped back, watching warily as Jongin moved his unfinished work out of the way.

Jongin pulled a low chair forward and meticulously arranged it, turning it to and fro so that the sunlight would catch the spot perfectly, or whatever represented perfection in the image he had in his mind.

When that was finished, he led a silent Luhan over to the chair and arranged him.

Sehun clenched his jaw while Jongin turned Luhan’s face an inch this way and another inch up or down. He wanted to throw his sketch pad on the floor, stomp over to his hyung and shake some sense into him. But all thoughts of teaching Jongin a lesson flew out of his mind when he saw what came next.

After Jongin ensured that Luhan was in the right position, he shocked both Luhan and Sehun by ing the top button of Luhan’s simple white shirt. And he didn’t stop there. He kept going until Luhan’s shirt was completely parted down the front and even went further, spreading it open and pushing the shirt off one shoulder.

“Hyung…” Sehun began when his mind started working again.

Jongin held up his hand. “Just a minute, it’s not quite right.” He tilted Luhan’s chin up towards the light. “Ahh, you’re so beautiful,” he murmured looking into Luhan’s flushed face. He glanced over at Sehun, his smile a mixture of possession and triumph. “Isn’t he Sehun-ah? I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

Jongin stepped back to take a good look at what he’d created and nodded his satisfaction.

“Hyung…” Sehun tried again, only to be cut off once more.

“It’s going to be amazing, I can already tell,” Jongin said confidently. “Your skill and his looks. It may just be my most priceless piece of art work yet.”

“Hyung, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Sehun finally spit out. “Luhan…”

Jongin waved a careless hand. “Luhan is fine. Aren’t you, Lulu?” He leaned down into Luhan’s face, smiling as he cupped his cheek. “He likes to make me happy.”

Luhan’s cheeks were a rosy hue but other than that, he said nothing and made no move to either confirm or deny Jongin’s assertion.

Straightening, Jongin moved out of the way so that Sehun could have a clear view of his subject.

“Go ahead and start. I’d like to see the preliminary sketches before I get back to the office.”

Although every fiber of his being screamed no, Sehun forced himself to pull up a chair and take a seat. Had it been he and Jongin alone, he wouldn’t have held back but he didn’t want to embarrass Luhan, didn’t want to make it worse for him. He knew that Luhan wasn’t okay. Besides the color in his face, he sat ramrod straight and his lips were trembling. Sehun could tell that he was biting into them to hold himself together. He didn’t know how Jongin could be so blind to what was so obvious to him but maybe he didn’t want to see. Or maybe…

His mind flipped back to Jongin’s last visit. He’d had the fleeting thought that Jongin was suspicious of his interest in Luhan. Was this some twisted way of showing him who Luhan belonged to? Had he inadvertently made Luhan a pawn in Jongin’s game?

The thought enraged him and it was all he could do not to give into the urge to call off the project. He didn’t, though, because he suspected that if he made a scene, not only would it humiliate Luhan but Jongin might threaten to stop Luhan from working for him and he wouldn’t risk that. He knew how much being his assistant meant to Luhan and he had already admitted to himself that he enjoyed having Luhan around. He also wanted to help Luhan, to bolster his confidence and help him become independent and he couldn’t do that if he was cut out of his life.

He laughed inwardly. It sounded like some sick, fantastical Korean drama. People in the modern world did not let others control their lives. If anything, humans nowadays were entirely too self-centered and self-involved to ever consider handing over power over themselves to another party, no matter how much they loved and were loved in return. And yet, from the very first time he’d met Luhan, that was exactly what he’d seen. Luhan was under Jongin’s thumb and though he obviously wasn’t happy, he made no move to emancipate himself. It was the type of thing one saw in abusive relationships and the possibility scared Sehun witless. He didn’t know why Luhan allowed it but until he got to the bottom of it, until he had freed Luhan from Jongin’s controlling clutches, he was going to have to tread carefully.

“Sehun-ah? Problem?” Jongin asked.

Sehun glanced up at Jongin and saw that triumphant, speculative look in his eyes again. It hardened his resolve.

“No.”

Picking up his pencil, he began drawing an outline. He tried not to look at Luhan more than was necessary, hoping to ease his embarrassment somewhat if he could, but when he did look, his gaze hidden beneath half-lidded lashes, he couldn’t help appreciating what he saw. He was indeed beautiful, flawless even. His skin was pale and smooth, unblemished from what Sehun could see. His , the only one he could see from his position, was dusky and slightly pebbled, as if Luhan was cold. Or perhaps frightened, he thought. His body was lean, un-muscled but not skinny by any means. The way the light caught him made his skin seem luminescent, his thick, slightly-curled eyelashes framing pretty honey-colored eyes.

If it were anyone else or for anyone else, Sehun would have complimented them on the artistry of the pose, etc, but because it was Luhan and because it was for Jongin, he felt burdened. The artist in him longed to get to work but the man in him, the friend he had assured Luhan he was, ached for the boy. He didn’t know how he was going to get through it.

A ringing phone jarred him out of his reverie.

“Ahh, dammit!” Jongin swore.

He didn’t leave the room, answering the phone right there so that Sehun didn’t risk going to Luhan like he so desperately wanted to.

Wrapping up his brief conversation, Jongin walked back over to Sehun.

“Needless to say, I’ve got to go.” He perused what Sehun had done so far and grinned widely. “Wow, you really are a genius, Sehun-ah. It’s a pleasure to see the artist at work.”

Confused, Sehun looked down at his sketch and stifled a gasp when he realized just how much he had actually done. He’d been so lost in thought that he hadn’t noticed that he’d finished the outline and had started filling in the details. He could see Luhan clearly, embraced by the light and…more. The picture was far too telling of his emotional state for Jongin’s eyes to behold.

Moving the sketchpad out of Jongin’s view, Sehun stood.

“I’ll see you out, hyung.”

“Okay.”

Jongin walked over to Luhan, who had yet to move an inch or say a word, cupped his chin and kissed him. Unlike the last time, this kiss was a lot more intimate than was customary in public, much less someone else’s home. The hand that trailed down his chest and paused at his further cemented Sehun’s conviction that Jongin’s behaviour was all for his benefit.

“See you at home, baby.”

He stood up and picked up his briefcase.

“I’m really looking forward to the finished product,” Jongin said as Sehun walked him out. “It’s one thing owning something that someone else has conceived but it’s a completely different feeling giving birth to an idea and seeing it come to fruition. Now I see why you artists are so passionate and possessive about what you do.”

Sehun smiled politely. “We are that.”

“I’ll see you soon, Sehun-ah. Keep up the good work.”

Sehun closed the door behind Jongin and leaned against it, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly. Giving himself a hard shake, he made his way back to the studio.

Luhan was exactly as he’d left him. He was as still as a statue and it hurt Sehun’s heart to see him like that.

“Luhan, you don’t have to do this,” he began.

“I’m fine,” Luhan said softly, surprising Sehun. “Continue.”

“I can’t…”

“I’m fine,” he repeated insistently, but his voice broke at the end and Sehun rushed over.

“You’re not fine,” Sehun whispered, kneeling in front of him. He pulled Luhan’s shirt back into place, buttoning it up.

Luhan bit into his lips again but he couldn’t stop the trembling and his breath whooshed out on a loud, harsh gasp.

Sehun watched, fascinated and horrified, as a fat tear welled and brimmed over, sliding down his now ghostly pale cheek.

“You’re not fine,” he repeated, his tone hard and angry.

Bastard, he swore mentally. He’d tried to tell himself that Jongin must care for Luhan but after today, he didn’t see how that was possible. How could anyone treat someone they loved like that?

And what kind of person was he to stand by and let it happen?