The photography display was being held in a local community hall and was a bit smaller than Junhong was expecting. That wasn't to say there weren't a lot of people there. The two friends had to edge their way around people while they looked at the pictures, eyes scanning each one for something remotely like what they were expecting to see. Over all it was turning out to be a more difficult task than they expected.

Eventually they decided a break from perusing the photography to position themselves next to the drinks and snacks table. They were doing their best to gorge on the free food without looking too obvious about it.

Jongup was midway through a particularly fancy looking nori roll when his eyes fell on a row of colourful card boxes lined up on the table. “Hey,” he said, nudging Junhong, “is that boxed wine?”

The younger followed his gaze and stared at the red and green grape patterns on the boxes.”I think so...”

“Is it free?”

He glanced around. “All the other stuff is free. Look! That person is taking some!” He gestured with his tiny finger sandwich to the girl who was filling a plastic glass with the white.

“Let's get some...”

The two edged their way across the room, stepping around other students and making small, fake conversation like “Ah, that one's impressive,” “Good colours,” “Very meaningful,” until they reached the wine. They spent a short while loitering there, pretending that they were near the alcohol out of pure coincidence, looking at some of the closest pictures and making awkward small talk.

“I'm going in,” Junhong whispered, taking a plastic cup.

“Go with God,” Jongup whispered back as he pretended not to really notice as the younger filled his cup with the closest red he could get to. “How's it taste?”

“Like cardboard,” He replied.

“Cover me while I get some white.”

Junhong made a show of thoroughly appreciating a photograph of a tree. He sipped his red and tried to pretend that his slightly disgusted expressions were ones of intense thought.

“I guess you're here to see the photo of you, right?” Said a calm voice from around his shoulders.

He jolted. The drink sloshed in his hand and spilled over the edge, splashing down the front of his top. “Um, hi!” He managed to say while grabbing a tissue from the table and dabbing at his shirt as quickly as possible as he glanced down.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.” Youngjae replied, looking a little bit amused. “I saw you from over by my station. I thought you might come.”

“Oh, really?” He asked, mortified by how high and weird his voice sounded as he tried to play off the embarrassment that was eating him. He was trying not to stare at the other boy too much. Youngjae was smaller than he had expected – both shorter and slighter. His eyes were long and his cheeks round and soft looking.

“Yeah... It's over there if you want to see, I'll show you.” He stuck his thumb over his shoulder towards a further wall. His hands were small. The nails on his fingers were heavily bitten. “My name's Youngjae by the way.”

“I know- I mean... It's nice to meet you. I'm Junhong.”

Youngjae raised his eyebrows.

“Um. Me and my friend live with Taehyung, and he's friends with Daehyun.”

“Ah! Of course, that makes sense. Do you know Daehyun then? I don't think he's mentioned you before...”

“Um. No. Not personally.”

“Okay. Well, come on then,come look at the picture.” Youngjae turned and made his way through the crowd,weaving his way through people easily.

“Are you coming?” Junhong turned to Jongup.

“No thanks. I'm staying here by the food.”

He sighed and gulped his wine down then set the plastic cup aside. With a deep breath he followed after the photographer, bumping into everyone on the way.

Youngjae waited patiently for him by the canvases that had been hung off the wall. He had a half smirk on his face as he watched the tall boy struggle to cross the room. “So, what do you think?”

“Um.” He tore his eyes from the photographer to look at the actual photos.

Each picture had a distinct tone and style to them. An off-centre focus or an open clear space. All of them had a very city-life feel to them with large buildings or bustling streets. In the centre of them all hung the photo of him.

It had been edited, he could tell. The colours had been balanced out and the edges softened. The light that hit the house had been changed somehow, so his features weren't clear but his silhouette was defined and there was a gentle halo glow in his hair and along one side of his body. A small placard titled the picture 'The View'.

“I suppose you can't really tell it's you unless you know,” Youngjae was saying, “You're not really supposed to show people's faces unless they're an actual model – consent and everything -, but I didn't want to lose too much of the picture. It's a shame, but I've kept a version of the original if you'd like a print – I won't charge you. You can have a print of this one too, but this I will have to charge for.” He paused and took a small breath. “You know, maybe if your family would be interested or something.”

Junhong realised he'd been horribly quiet for too long. “It's a really good picture! The, um, contrast of the colours and the, um, levels used with the pixels... Is... Really...”

“You don't know the first thing about art and photography do you?”

Junhong willed his face not to turn red. “No. But, I do think it's a really nice picture.”

Youngjae laughed at this. It was high pitched and wheezy in a way that made people look around at them for a moment. His whole face changed with it, squashed up in his cheeks. “Well at least I have approval for it then.”

“Yeah! Of course,” Junhong laughed nervously, “But if you do, um, want to use the original I'm okay with that.” He fumbled with the hem of his shirt a little as he said this.

“You sure?” Youngjae smiled at him.

Junhong tried to swallow the nerves that simple action brought on. “Yeah. I don't mind. Um, maybe I cold see it first just to be sure, though.”

Youngjae laughed again and Junhong's breath caught a little. “Sure. One second, come with me, I have a print of it in my bag.”

“Really?”

Youngjae shrugged. “I figured you'd be here.”

“Oh.” He followed the photographer through the crowd of students.

They found themselves at a quiet end of the hall where Youngjae pushed open a door and stepped through. Junhong hesitated a moment, unsure if he was supposed to be in there, before Youngjae ushered him inside. It was much quieter in the small store room, cooler.

“Somewhere... Ah, here we are,” Youngjae said as he rummaged through a satchel that was sat on a nearby fold-out chair. With a few gentle pulls he slid a glossy print from between two thick notebooks in his bag. “Here you go.”

Junhong took it tentatively and looked down at the image. It had still seen some editing, the colours were brighter and the scene over all cleaner looking, but the focus was sharp and he could make out the details of his own face in startling clarity. It wasn't that he'd never seen photos of himself before – it wasn't unusual to get caught by someone's camera at some point. It wasn't even that he had an issue with his profile, as he honestly had no opinion of his face either way. It was the intensity with which the camera was focussed on him. Something about it made him feel tensed and nervous and flustered and flattered all at the same time so he was left with a strange churning in his middle.

“Well?” Youngjae asked. His voice seemed softer than before, smaller. Concerned.

“I like it. It's a really good picture. A really really nice picture.” He said. “Thank you.” He wasn'y entirely sure why he added this, but Youngjae seemed to accept it without question.

“Great. Just keep it from bending, rolling it up is the best way to stop it creasing. I guess I don't really need to say that it'll bleach in the sun...”

“Right. Yeah.”

Youngjae eyed him for a moment before saying, “You seem like you have something you want to say.”

Junhong chewed his lip nervously. “If I'm honest, I didn't actually come for the photo you took of me.”

“Oh.” Youngjae seemed to deflate a little. “Do you have a friend here?”

“No!” Junhong bluted out quickly, worried he'd offended the photographer. “No, no, I definitely came for you. Um, to see you. Your work, I mean. Um.”

Youngjae stared at him.

“I thought you might... Might have a photograph of... Of the view from your window. Um. Your house is in a really nice area and looks over the river and down on the city so...”

Youngjae gave him that half smirk again. “I do, actually. But it's not fit for display.”

Junhong's brow furrowed. “Huh?”

“I took a huge panoramic of the view – as in, a really long photo – and I want to display it in full size and effect but the space I got to display here wasn't large enough. Unless we get a larger venue for events I won't ever be able to display it.”

Junhong felt a jolt of panic. “I'll help you!” He blurted out.

“That's nice to offer, but you have your own work to do as well. Besides, there's not a whole lot that can be done unless a venue owner is willing to give up space cheaply.”

“But...”

“Come on. I need to get back to my display and you should get back to your friend before he eats the whole snacks table.”

Junhong gave up protesting to allow himself to be removed from the room and left in the hall while Youngjae went back to stand beside his work. He let out a heavy sigh, suddenly feeling a great weight in his chest. After a moment he made his march of collateral damage as he struggled hi way back to his best friend.

They made it to the party at a reasonable time. Taehyung temporarily mistook the wine stain and worriedly asked Junhong if he was okay, only to laugh when the story was explained. The two were then dragged towards the crowd of dancers and had bottles shoved into their hands while music blasted around them.

Junhong only sipped at his drink occasionally, not really feeling the party mood. He and Jongup soon broke away from the crowd to stand at the side, talking just over the noise.

“How do you think you're going to help?” Jongup half-shouted.

“I don't know, but i'm going to try,” Junhong replied with equal volume.

“Hey! Jongup! There's a dance-off and Jimin's in there saying he could take you down.” Taehyung called, jogging over to them with an arm waving. There was a boy beside him that Junhong had seen maybe once or twice with him before, a student he recognised for being in a higher year than him on the contemporary music course, and Jackson Wang.

Jongup shoved his drink into Junhong's hand. “I will destroy him,” He said simply before disappearing into the cheering crowd.

“Having fun?” Taehyung asked, stepping up to his side as his friends joined them.

Junhong gave him a smile and a shrug, not wanting to be too much of a kill-joy.

“You need to drink more.” He nodded affirmatively.

“Not if he doesn't want to,” Said the older student, “You're on my course right? First year?”

“Y-yeah, I am.”

“Which modules are you doing?”

“Um, the rise of hip-hop one, the lyrics one...”

“Are you into rapping?” The older student asked with a small grin.

“Yeah!” Junhong perked up.

“I rap a little mys-”

Taehyung cleared his throat loudly.

The older rolled his eyes at him but went quiet, drinking from his bottle.

Junhong blinked in confusion.

“Anyway, I was just telling them about when you went to Canada. You speak some English, right?” Taehyung said loudly and meaningfully.

“S-some English. Not a lot. Just phrases.”

“It's always a good place to start. I study English here and once you get in the hang of practising it it's not too bad.” Said the boy he vaguely recognised.

“But that's because you have us to practice with,” Jackson said.

“You... All speak English?” Junhong asked, a little nervously.

“It's my first language, and this genius taught himself,” Jackson replied proudly.

“It's a useful skill to have.”

“But it is really impressive.”

Junhong let them chat, feeling a little confused. He knew Yongguk liked to incorporate a lot of English into his own raps but Junhong had never felt confident enough to do it. He felt asense of doubt creep up on him. He suddenly realised that he'd got so lost in his own thoughts that the conversation had moved and he had no idea what was going on.

With a small internal sigh of defeat he let himself mentally plan ideas for helping Youngjae while he drank from his bottle.

“They'll be talking about this for a while.” Came the sudden deep voice of the older student.

Junhong jolted for a second time that day, thankfully not spilling his drink, and glanced at him. “Oh. Um. Sorry. I lost track.”

The older snorted. “You're lucky then.” He held out a hand, “I'm Namjoon by the way.”

“Junhong.” He shook his hand. “So, you rap?”

“Here and there. It's what I'd like to do. Get real good and then go undergound, you know?”

“My friend was underground before he got here-” Junhong began before he was cut off.

“Wait, do you mean Jepp Blackman? Because I know he's here.”

“Uh, yeah, actually! He helps me with my work a lot.”

“Ah lucky,” Namjoon gave him a pat on the arm, “I'd love to meet the guy, maybe do a collab with him one day.”

“If you asked I'm sure he'd be fine. He's really nice.”

“I heard he's a bit... Stuck up.”

“No!” Junhong shook his head viciously, “Not at all! He's just really shy.”

Namjoon raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, I know it seems hard to believe but he's a really quiet, shy guy who just loves to rap. Once you get to know him he's really nice and smart.”

“Maybe I'll see about talking to him if I catch him around campus,” Namjoon said with a grin.

Junhong was about to reply before Jackson called Namjoon's name loudly, demanding he take his side on a small argument that seemed to have sprung up. He was left alone with his thoughts once more.

Jongup re-appeared, victorious and sweating with a hotdog in each hand, “Here! I won free food,” he said, handing one over.

“Thanks.” Junhong bit into his own, savouring the moment of having free food once more.

“Are we going to stick around much longer? I don't really know anyone else here,” Jongup muffled around a mouthful of his own hotdog.

Junhong glanced at the group of chatting boys. “Nah. I think we're done. Let's go home and play Pokémon Stadium.”

“Why, so you can cry off the calories you've just eaten after you lose?” Jongup taunted, grinning.

“Oh you are so dead!”

“Yeah, dead like my ghost types. Which will beat your Pokémon.”

“That was terrible.”

“Yeah, okay, you're the one who is clever with words. I am clever with game strategy.”

They continued to tease each other as they made their way back home.