lmao sorry for splitting it! felt like it was getting too long (for me, of course, since my updates are usually shorter than this) hope u enjoy

there are swear words btw if anyones? sensitive to that

A month into living in Seoul and Donghae is already considering moving back to Mokpo.

It had honestly started out great. He went straight to one of his old friends’ flats who helped him plan to move in the first place, called his parents the next day and made sure they knew where he was and that he was safe. Thankfully, they were okay with it, albeit a bit sad. Donghae had expressed how upset he was in Mokpo, unable to feel the freedom, the rush, but with no ideas in mind. However, when Kyuhyun suggested that Donghae should move to Seoul with the kind offer of ‘you can sleep in the kitchen- I needed a maid anyway,’ Donghae was shocked. But honestly, the more he thought about it, the more reasonable of an idea it became.

But one day, it just came crashing down. Or maybe it was one week, but the details are kind of a blur.

“Look, Kyuhyun, you don’t understand-”

“What?” Kyuhyun snaps. It’s not the first time the younger male had snapped, but it never fails to scare Donghae, because Kyuhyun practically roars. “What is it that I don’t understand, hyung? Because to me, I think I understand perfectly. We’re just two guys who do what we love. Why the hell are you giving up all of a sudden? So what if you have no more inspiration? I didn’t make friends with someone who’s a giver-upper.” Kyuhyun pauses in his dramatic speech to walk over to the front door. Donghae notes how Kyuhyun looks furious.

“Now get out,” says Kyuhyun, opening the door. To anyone, this may have seemed like Kyuhyun was kicking him out, but Donghae smiles knowingly. “Get lost.”

Donghae walks out the door with a “thank you, Kyu.”

“Anytime, hyung.”

Donghae sits against the ledge at the side of the wide river, allowing his legs to dangle freely. He admires the beautiful, twinkling lights of streetlamps glimmering against the dark depths of the river, and is reminded of why he was so in love with the city in the first place. He allows himself to lean back as he takes in the simple yet complex beauty of the night sky, closing his eyes as he allows it to completely flood his system, feeling the stars illuminate him from the inside out. The man lets out a small exhale against the black blanket of the night sky that feels as though it carries all his precious burdens in it, leaving him cleansed like a fresh new canvas.

Suddenly, a small idea comes to his head that he wants to quickly dismiss, but toys with the thought a second longer. He weighs the pros and cons of the idea, before thinking it, no one’s here anyway. Though completely uncharacteristic of him, Donghae takes in a deep breath and has a moment of hesitance before he yells from the top of his lungs loudly into the void, voice echoing off every surface possible. It quickly strains, though, turning into a loud, bellowing laugh that is so much more Donghae.

Humming silently in content as he feels much less drained than earlier, Donghae gets up on shaky legs off the ledge and starts to walk silently back to the apartment.

Donghae opts to take the shortcut back to the apartment, despite the fact that he gets lost most of the time he takes it. Turning by his heels to the bicycle path, he takes out his phone as the reflected light provided by the moon is suddenly shielded overhead by the roof of a tunnel that surrounds the tunnel in darkness.

Squinting to see his phone’s dim screen, Donghae frowns as he notes that his phone is about to run out of battery. He taps on the flashlight button, then holds his phone up to where the end of the tunnel is. However, out of the corner of his eye, he spots a flash of pink. As Donghae turns his head to look, he feels his mouth drop.

The mural on the wall of the tunnel is absolutely gorgeous. It’s a beautiful painting of bubbling, pink liquid that’s being splashed around that Donghae assumes is pink champagne due to the white foam painted on top. The different shades of pink are painted with beautiful, textures marks that Donghae wants to feel with his very fingertips. His eyes follow the surface of the liquid, loving the fact that it swivels just barely below the top of the tunnel as the negative space really highlights the mural, and trails to the empty edge where he realises that the mural is not complete yet.

Donghae feels an urge to meet the artist that painted this and compliment them to high heavens, because holy hell do they deserve it.

Suddenly, the buzzing of his phone breaks Donghae out of his trance as he looks down to his phone, thankful it had not run out of battery while he was admiring the art.

Kyuhyun: When I said get lost I didn’t mean it literally

Donghae smiles and types out ‘on my way back now!’ before taking one last look at the sparkling mural before running back to the apartment with nothing but overflowing inspiration.

“Wow, Donghae,” Kyuhyun laughs as Donghae sits in his room by his laptop, drawing designs on his tablet. He leans against the side of the doorframe, something he knows Donghae hates, but the latter doesn’t notice as he’s too engrossed in his designs. He eyes the mannequins that litter Donghae’s room, salmon pink fabric rolled out on his bed with a sheer cream mesh layered on top. “What’s up with all the inspiration? It’s been, like, three weeks and you still haven’t stopped working unless it was to pee, sleep or eat. Honestly, it looks like your hand is about to fall off!”

Donghae lets out a breathy laugh as he presses save and puts the pen of his tablet down, turning around in his chair to face Kyuhyun. He fights back a frown upon seeing the man leaning against the doorframe and raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything.

“By the way, are you going to join?” Kyuhyun asks, pulling out a crumpled up pink flyer that Donghae immediately recognises as the sort-of-open fashion show he’s wanted to join since he got out of university. “Applications end soon.”

Donghae had been admiring Choi Siwon, a young and famous designer-slash-model, since his first year of college. So when Choi Siwon opened applications for a fashion show in Seoul last year, Donghae had been devastated that he couldn’t join. However, as a loyal fan, he was completely up to date with all the news and he knew exactly which ten designers would go through to the fashion show. Donghae had watched the fashion show online (over and over and over again) and fell absolutely in love with almost all the designs, remembering why he wanted to become a fashion designer in the first place. Although only one winner came out of it, all the designers that made it to the finals, and some that didn’t, were recognised and were offered huge jobs.

This is why Lee Donghae moved to Seoul and prayed that Choi Siwon would host the fashion show competition again.

“Yeah, I am,” Donghae says with a determined smile. “I’m going to enter these designs and see if they accept me.” He looks back to the laptop screen and eyes the drawing he’d been working on before adding, “I hope they accept me.”

Kyuhyun rolls his eyes. “Of course they will, Hae. You’re so good, honestly, of course you’d get chosen. The other nine people that get chosen will just have to watch their asses. You have no faith in yourself.”

Donghae makes a noncommittal sound of disagreement before Kyuhyun continues to ramble on.

“But seriously, where did all this inspiration come from?”

“Hmmm, I guess you could say I found something that inspired me more than the city itself does,” Donghae says simply, turning back around with a small, secretive smile on his face.

Kyuhyun leaves, muttering something about being jealous that inspiration doesn’t come to him like that and how it’s unfair, because composing music is also tough work and that a boost of inspiration would help him too. Although Donghae is pleased with himself and the bout of inspiration, he still feels unfulfilled without seeing and thanking the artist that he owes all of this to.

Standing up and closing his laptop lid, Donghae grabs his jacket and his keys and slips on his shoes with only one place in mind.

It takes Donghae by surprise when he sees the tunnel lit brightly and the silhouette of a figure crouching by the mural with a paintbrush in hand, even though he had wanted to come here to see the artist in the first place. Feeling his heart beat faster at the thought that he could finally meet the artist that inspired so much in him, Donghae starts to walk faster towards the tunnel with a bright grin on his face.

When he reaches the