Junhong admired the way the two older men seemed to click so well. Namjoon and Yongguk had chatted comfortably about music, society and their influences. Their collaboration, or what he'd seen of it, was incredible. He couldn't help the slight pang of jealousy, but knew that if he was ever going to get on either of their levels and hope to collab with them, he'd have to work a lot harder.

“Nice one!” Namjoon cheered, giving Yongguk a hearty slap on the back after their practice run. “Let's take a refreshments break.”

Junhong grinned to himself as the two men poured themselves glasses of water from a provided jug. Himchan wasn't often around but trusted Junhong with keeping an eye on everything until he got back. So far, he was thinking he'd been doing a good job.

“Everyone else is all good to go for tomorrow,” Jongup said, scrolling through his phone, sat on the floor near Junhong's feet.

“Yes!” He gave the air a small punch, “this is going so well.” Pride swelled in his chest. They'd found a few musicians last minute who wanted to perform and would play just before the headlining rappers went up.

“Huh. Taehyung has a lot more friends these days,” Jongup added unexpectedly.

“Huh?”

Jongup stared at his phone, frowning a little. His eyes were fixed on Taehyung, who had his arm around another boy who he vaguely recognised. He tapped on his face, hoping to see a tag attached, and saw the name Choi Youngjae appear. Something niggled at the back of his head.

“What's with that expression?” Junhong asked.

“This guy...” Jongup began to reply, before the venue doors opened and distracted him.

Himchan stepped in, the daylight behind him temporarily silhouetting him until he closed the door and smoothed his hair down. He give everyone in the room a gentle smile. “Hello, sorry I had to duck out most of today.”

“Hey, Himchan!” Junhong and Jongup chimed at the same time.

Yongguk's eyes widened when he heard the name, nearly choking on his water. Namjoon patted his back, unable to disguise the smirk on his face.

“Ah, Yongguk.” Himchan strolled across the room and took hold of the other man's hand in what was at first a warm handshake, but turned into a more tender action. “It's lovely to meet you face to face. I didn't think we'd get the chance to before our date.”

“U-uh, yeah,” Yongguk stammered out, face slowly heating up.

“I really would stay around and talk properly, but I have a lot of work to do and you have your rehearsals. We're still on for tomorrow night, right?”

“Of course!”

“Brilliant.” Himchan smiled charmingly and headed to his office. “If you boys need anything, just knock!” he called back before shutting the door.

Everyone looked at Yongguk with matching smirks.

“So what do you think?” Junhong teased.

“Is he real?” Yongguk asked weakly, “He looks like a model.”

“He used to be an ulzzang,” Jongup explained, “before he decided he'd rather focus on his career.”

“Got yourself quite the catch there,” Namjoon said, chuckling.

Yongguk didn't reply, just nodded weakly.

Jongup headed home later than Junhong, having had to stop by the campus to drop off a submission. He could see just in front of him the young boy he'd seen at the party and in the photo with Taehyung. Choi Youngjae. His brow creased a little. He had fluffy brown hair and seemed on the small side. He'd clearly got close to Taehyung in the past few months. Jongup narrowed his eyes.

Choi Youngjae turned towards the European house as they crossed the bridge, and Jongup watched with fascination as he took out a key and went to unlock the door. At that moment, the door was opened and a startled Daehyun stumbled in the doorway, clearly about to step outside but catching himself before he crashed.

“Woah, hey, sorry!” The older boy apologised, stepping around the startled Youngjae.

“You're such a disaster,” came a chiding tone from inside the house, and then the face of the Youngjae that Junhong knew appeared in the doorway, “try not to step on my housemates.”

“It was an accident!” Daehyun whined, “Sorry Mini-Jae!”

“It's fine,” Choi Youngjae laughed, “but I'm not that much smaller you know.”

“Even if you grow to ten feet tall you'll still be mini me,” the other Youngjae said.

“Aww, my best friend and his tiny son.” Daehyun dodged as a shoe was thrown his direction. “Bye Youngjae, bye Mini-Jae!”He called, running off down the street.

Jongup watched the two Youngjaes step inside.

Everything clicked in his head.

“Junhong!” Jongup burst into the house, startling both his best friend and Taehyung, “There's two Youngjaes!”

The two boys looked at him.

“I guess this is where you tell us he lives a double life as a secret agent?” Taehyung asked.

“What? No.” Jongup shook his head. “Two people called Youngjae live in that house. One is the one you took a selfie with, Taehyung, and the other is the one we know, Junhong.”

“But you guys met Youngjae,” Taehyung said, “at the party.”

“Did we?” Junhong looked at Taehyung in surprise.

“Yeah, I brought him over and you didn't talk to him...” Realisation dawned on Taehyung's face. “Because he wasn't the Youngjae you know.”

“Wait, if you've been talking about a different Youngjae this whole time...” Junhong's brown furrowed with worry, “Does that mean he's not interested in knowing about me then?”

“Uh,” Jongup looked at Taehyung who was biting his lip awkwardly.

“He said he was asking for a friend so... There's a chance even my Youngjae wasn't even interested in you.”

Junhong slid off his chair to the floor. “The event is tomorrow... He must think I'm such a loser.”

“Come on, loser, you can still impress him tomorrow.” Jongup crouched down and patted his friend's head.

“Yeah,” Junhong sighed, feeling thoroughly miserable.

The day of the event came and Junhong and Jongup found themselves sat at the door for most of it, selling entry to far more people than they were expecting. The thrum of music reached them, reminding them on how much they were missing out. Junhong grumbled a little as he wondered if Youngjae was having fun. My Youngjae, not the other Youngjae, he thought to himself, Not that I have a problem with that Youngjae, I just care about my one. He paused. Not that he's mine or anything. Not that I want him to be... Not that I don't want him to be. He shook his head from the intrusive thoughts.

It got quiet by the time Yongguk and Namjoon's collab began, and Junhong and Jongup sneaked away from the ticket table to watch. Junhong could see easily over the crowd, but Jongup had to stand on a chair to get a decent view.

The performance was phenomenal. They were full of energy, each bar written powerfully and spat with enthusiasm. They clicked, worked together, bounced off each other and met again on the same beat. They looked delighted to be on stage. Junhong couldn't help grinning.

Behind them hung three huge canvases. Youngjae's masterpiece. Junhong could only just make out the top: a blue sky and the tips of buildings spreading from one edge to the other. He'd have to wait to the end to see it.

It was a while until people cleared out. The concert ended with loud cheers and people trickled out of the building, heading home. Junhong and Jongup were finally free from their position at the front and made their way into the main part of the venue to congratulate the rappers.

“You did a really amazing job!” Junhong said excitedly, “Do you think you'll do it again?”

“Well that's for the future to figure out,” Namjoon laughed.

“It was a very spectacular,” Himchan said in his soft voice as he made his way over, cocky grin on his lips.

Everyone glanced at Yongguk to see the man's face redden considerably.

“I hope we're still on for tonight and you're not going to run off with a fan?” Himchan closed in on Yongguk, one hand down his arm, eyes locked on him.

“D-definitely not. I'll be there.” Yongguk swallowed.

“Perfect,” Himchan put his hand on Yongguks chest and pushed off him playfully “I'll see you then,” he said, turning and heading out.

Namjoon snorted. “Dude.”

“He can't be real,” Yongguk breathed.

Junhong and Jongup looked at each other, then turned away from the older men.

“I feel like I just watched something I shouldn't have,” Jongup said uncomfortably.

“I don't know if anything will ever make me feel clean again after that,” the younger replied.

“Junhong!” Youngjae's voice called, and before he could make a response the photographer had crashed into him, pulling him into a tight hug. “Thank you! Thank you so much! Everyone got to see it and people even talked to me about it and someone here was actually an art seller who was interested in my work!” He pulled away a little to grab Junhong's face, eyes watery with delight. “I could kiss you!”

“I wouldn't be totally against that,” Junhong found himself saying.

Youngjae stared at him, wide eyed.

“Uh!” Junhong straightened up. “I mean, I'm glad for you! That's great news!”

Youngjae blinked a few times, before nodding. “I'm really excited. Thank you, again, this has done so much for me.”

“No, no, you don't have to thank me. It's fine,” Junhong babbled, embarrassed, “I'm really happy this all worked out for you.”

“Is there anything I can do in return?”

“Um,” Junhong's brain went blank for a moment, then he said the first thing that landed in his mouth. “Do you want to come to my end of term dance recital?”

Youngjae stared at him again, a curious expression on his face as though he'd expected a different request, but smiled. “Definitely!”

“Great,” Junhong laughed nervously. “I'll, um... Contact you somehow. About it.”

Youngjae clicked his tongue and held out a hand. “Give me your phone.”

Junhong complied, slightly confused.

Youngjae handed it back a few moments later. “There. Now you have my number and you're welcome to contact me any time.”

“Oh! Great!”

“Any time. About anything.”

“Right.”

Youngjae gave him a half smile, as though laughing at a joke he wasn't telling anyone. “I need to head home. I'll talk to you later.”

“Oh. Okay,” Junhong nodded, “Um, bye, I'll see you around.”

Youngjae gave him one last amused expression, before leaning up and kissing Junhong's cheek, then leaving.

Junhong touched his cheek and turned to Jongup, who was wiping away imaginary tears.

“So good, so pure,” the older dancer whispered.

“Shut up,” Junhong mumbled and spotted Yongguk and Namjoon giving him thumbs up. He turned away, face burning.

“Looks like you impressed him,” Jongup gave his arm a pat. “Now if you impress him at the dance recital you might even get a date, which is what he wanted you to ask. Then you could've had the chance to look out that window.”

Junhong flinched with realisation. “Aw, crap!” He turned quickly and stared at the stage to stare at the three-piece panoramic.

The city spread out across the pictures, buildings rising from a gentle morning mist. Sunlight broke through the gaps and illuminated old buildings and hid the dark alleyways and urban mess. The river sparkled up the middle, flowing through the districts and beneath decorated bridges. People were dotted about the streets, alone or in groups.

It was almost exactly what he'd wanted.