Sorry for the delay! My boyfriend unexpectly had some cousins come to the US, so we had to play tourguide for a few days. It was so strange hearing him called hyung and oppa for the first time. haha

Seunghyun was never one to meddle, and hardly one to interfere. But then he stepped onto the balcony and saw that stupid beautiful boy, cigarette to his lips and arms to the sky, pale skin illuminated in the dim moonlight. So here he was, cigarette of his own at his lips listening to Jiyong’s unsteady breathing.

“I’m sorry about last night.” He wasn’t quite sure how to begin. Not without revealing his long hidden presence.

“It’s whatever.” Jiyong breathed as he exhaled a billow of smoke. A gust of wind blew across him and Seunghyun nearly swore he could hear the shutter of Jiyong’s tired bones.

“Are you outside?” He stood up, heading back into the warmth of his room, albeit only briefly.

“Well I can’t smoke in my dorm.”

“And no coat right?” Jiyong slightly scoffed at the question. He was used to the cold long before this winter chill.

“What can I say, I like to be rebellious.” 

He took a long drag of his cigarette, but his lungs were already full with the low rumble of a laugh from the other end of the receiver. It set them ablaze, but left no burn of fire and tar.

“So that’s what they call foolishness now huh?” The gravel of his voice seemed so much more real, more heady and Jiyong just let it sink into him.

“I guess so.”

“Hurry up and get up already. It’s cold.” That voice no longer came through the receiver, but surrounded him.

Jiyong shot up, only to be met with those warm obsidian eyes. Seunghyun stood before him, coat in hand, gesturing for Ji to take it. But Ji couldn’t find himself to do more than simply stare at the hand extended to him.

“What-”

“Just put in on and let’s go before you freeze to death. I told you I’d owe you.” Seunghyun placed the worn peacoat around hunched shoulders and motioned for Ji to follow.

He slipped his arms into the sleeves, the scent of clove and wood and sugar mingled in a heady mixture Jiyong still remembered quite vividly, along with the firm hold that he once found around his waist.

“Isn’t it a bit late for coffee?” He spoke, words finally finding their way off his tongue.

“I have something better in mind.”

The red glow of the small neon sign above them danced across the bridge of his slender nose and sunk into the hallows of his cheeks as they past through the small doorway. If it was possible, Seunghyun found the harsh neon to make the boy look all the more weary. He watched, following closely behind as Jiyong suspiciously eyed their new surroundings.

“Ramen?”

“Yes, ramen. Now sit and I’ll go order.” Jiyong narrowed his eyes in defiance at the command, but when he met Seunghyun’s unwavering gaze he found himself complying.

Who does this? Who calls someone up in the middle of the night and takes them out for dinner, just because? Jiyong could think of a plethora of words to describe that boy, but conventional was not one of them.

After the exchange of unwanted idle talk and 10,000 won, Seunghyun returned with two steaming bowls, slightly surprised the other boy hadn’t disappeared in his absence. He gently slid the bowl across the table and watched as Jiyong’s gaze seemed to search the bowl for something no ramen could contain.

“It’s not poison I swear.” He saw one corner of those rose hued lips turn up, and Ji finally began to eat.

Silence tangled around them as they sat, bowls before them. Seunghyun’s eyes traced and mapped the lines and curves of Jiyong’s tired face. Even now, the reality of the boy’s beauty left him short of breath and at a lack of words. To be a poet, if only. Able to express the breadth of his desire, the lingering ache in his bones; but those were words that could not yet quite come to him.

“Why were you outside so late?” he asked, finally breaking the tempered silence. Jiyong finally looked up to meet his gaze, an uncertainty thinly veiled behind a questioning look. But Seunghyun knew. He had always known, for it is what led him into the night as well. Only the peace of night seemed to dampen the unrest in his bones, a temporary stay from a deeply asive loneliness.

“It’s quiet. Peaceful, I guess. It usually doesn’t involve 2am phone calls and bowls of ramen.” his lips quirk into a smirk of mirth and Seunghyun can’t help but laugh.

“What about you?”

“My muse is nocturnal.” The look in Seunghyun’s eyes left Ji’s chest tight and throat dry.

“ing art kids…” he mumbles shaking off his heart’s palpitations, but Seunghyun’s rumble of laughter brings them right back.

“Let me paint you.”

“Excuse me?” Jiyong nearly chokes on his words.

“For senior studio. I need to do a portrait for my next project.”

“I’m a designer, not a model.” he dismissively laughs, trying to shake off the sudden request.

“I don’t want anyone else.” Seunghyun continues, gaze boring into Jiyong again.

Despite the shouting that filled his head telling him otherwise, Jiyong couldn’t help but find those words nestling into a long vacant fragment of his heart. He knew it would be hard to keep this strange beautiful boy at a safe distance now, but even if only temporarily, he wanted those words to stay.

“Okay.”