Taehyung didn’t think his day could get any worse. His alarm couldn’t choose a better day to bail on him, getting reprimanded by his client, tripping on his own two feet and smashing his newly purchased Canon 5D Mark IV… Could this day possibly get any worse?

Taehyung sighed despondently, picking up his shot glass and downing the cold, bitter liquid in one go. He was currently perched on a bar stool, sitting directly in front of the bartender who continued mixing cocktails without a care in the world. The bartender’s probably seen too many despondent souls like Taehyung drowning themselves in alcohol every night, to not even bother sparing a single glance at him, which Taehyung was thankful for.

“God, this suuuuucks.” Taehyung slurred out, though he was not yet drunk out of his mind, while swirling his index finger around the glass rim. He simply wanted this stupid, uneventful day to pass. He wanted to forget about it. He hoped that tomorrow morning, he would still be able to see his Canon 5D Mark IV sitting on his bedside table again, perfectly new and undamaged. He spent months scrimping and saving up just to buy that and now it’s gone. He was also no doubt going to get chided by his boss tomorrow for ‘letting down his client’ more like for ‘offending his biggest client and possibly standing to lose millions’.

“Man, I think you’re drunk.” He heard a low chuckle and slowly turned his head to find himself staring at possibly the most handsome man Taehyung’s ever laid his eyes on. Taehyung blinked once and twice, trying to clear his blurry vision and focus on the breath-taking piece of human sitting beside him. Taehyung frowned a little at his blurry and colourful blinding vision as he was reminded of the times the editors at his workplace would add similar blurry, ugly- filters to his pictures on Photoshop. They didn’t know how to appreciate true art, that’s for sure.

“I’m noooooot! I could go another 10 rounds.” Taehyung replied, turning away from the stranger.

“Sure, sure. Just take it easy man.” The stranger said before ordering another glass of beer. Taehyung simply snorted at that.

“Why would I even be here if I wanted to ‘take it easy’,” Taehyung air quoted with both his middle and index fingers.

The man let out a chortle. “Got dumped by your girlfriend?”

“Dumped? This is worse than getting dumped.” Taehyung shook his head, fingers touching a new shot glass. “And I don’t swing that way.” He smirked slightly, turning to face the latter. He was expecting the man to get disgusted, stand up and leave or something. However, he was totally not expecting to be returned with another wide smirk and a statement that left him confused and a little flustered.

“Guess I’m in luck tonight.”

“So, what’s bothering you?” The man, who Taehyung managed to find out afterwards that his name is Yoongi, questioned. Honestly, Taehyung was just wondering when this question would pop out. 

“Do you know that feeling when you look at your subject and then everything else fades in the world? It’s like there’s only the two of you. And it’s such a magical moment.” Taehyung sighed, which was probably his 100^th sigh in that night.

Yoongi grunted, furrowing his eyebrows while nodding slightly. “Is this about some romance ? Cause I can’t relate to that.”

“No. It’s just my job…” Taehyung trailed off, unsure why he’s even confiding in a stranger about his woes. He just met Yoongi an hour ago and he’s already acting like they’ve been best friends since he could even remember. Sure, Yoongi was undeniably attractive. He had flawless skin, don’t ask Taehyung why he even paid attention to his skin. He argues with himself that since he is a photographer, he is bound to pay attention to every single detail of every person he meets. He sees beautiful things through his eyes just like he does through his expensive camera lens. Yoongi had a messy yet hot looking kind of hairstyle going on and he had on a casual black tee which still managed to emphasize his chiselled body with- are those scars on his arms? but Taehyung couldn’t be sure due to the dim lighting of the bar, not mentioning the fact he was under the influence of alcohol. The moment Taehyung’s eyes first landed on Yoongi, he felt a pull towards him, if not even a little. And the first thing that came to mind was how he could convince Yoongi to model for him because truthfully speaking, none of the numerous models he came across during his 5 years of shooting experience could even hold a candle to Yoongi. Something about Yoongi just appeals to Taehyung like no one else has ever done before.

“No, Mr. Kim. I’m not trying to argue with you. I just think that it’s better if the chair is removed-” Taehyung tried to appease the angry mid-fifties man standing in front of him, a disapproving sneer painted on his face.

“I paid you for your services so you better listen to me on this. If not, I’ll find another company, simple as that.” Mr. Kim stubbornly kept to his stand even though Taehyung’s co-workers could also see that it was a bad decision on his part. Taehyung had been convincing him for the past half an hour to simply remove the damn chair from the set but he refuses to listen to his explanation. The female model was simply supposed to lie on the bed, clothed of course, and pose but that old man insists on adding an irrelevant chair to the bedroom set. Like what was the ing point of it?

Taehyung gritted his teeth at the old man’s words, nodding his head in compliance. “As you wish, Mr. Kim.”

Taehyung resumed shooting, trying to maintain his professional stance but cringing at every picture he saw on his Canon DSLR camera with the chair in them. The chair stood out like a sore thumb. In addition, it wasn’t helping that the old man kept interjecting the shoot with spiteful remarks on how Taehyung “didn’t know how to shoot properly” and why Taehyung was even hired in the first place when “he could do way better”.

“Why can’t they just ing trust me? If they’re that great, why don’t they do it themselves?” Yoongi kept silent, urging Taehyung to go on. “Do they even know how to take the perfect shots? Because I sure as hell do.”

Yoongi seemed to go still at this sentence.

“Mhm. I know what you’re talking about.” Yoongi finally spoke up and Taehyung’s eyes widened in surprise. Was Yoongi a photographer too? Wow. Taehyung never expected that coming from him. “It’s not that difficult to take the perfect shots. When your subject is unknowing, you try to capture that perfect little moment to aim and close in on them.” Yoongi seemed tense as he spoke, gripping his glass a little too tightly.

Yeah, Taehyung thought. He loved it when he captured his models naturally when they didn’t need to intentionally pose with exaggerated movements and gestures. He loved capturing little creatures and animals in their natural habitat, doing their own thing. One of his favourite shot was of his adorable golden retriever, Tiger, running happily towards him in the park. That was definitely not a professional shot given that it was his very first picture he took with his first owned camera from his mother his 12^th birthday, yet it was his favourite and it was perfect in his eyes.

“It’s not that easy either. Finding the right angle is also important.” Taehyung piped up.

“Yeah, I usually do high-angle shots. What about you?” Yoongi spoke with a shrug.

“I like shooting from all angles.” Taehyung replied confidently which earned him an impressed look from Yoongi. Yoongi’s lips seemingly curved up with amusement and a hint of admiration shone in his eyes. Taehyung liked shooting from different perspectives and seeing the world from different angles. High angle shots usually tend to make the subject look more vulnerable and low angle shots vice versa. He didn’t understand how Yoongi could be content with just shooting from a high angle. He decided that perhaps he could teach Yoongi more about it after tonight.

After a moment of silence between them, Taehyung decided to speak up again. “So, what do you like to shoot?”

Yoongi turned his head to look at Taehyung, as if Taehyung had grown two heads. “People.”

“Oh.” Taehyung did not know how to reply to that, not because of his questionable answer but mostly due to the fact that Yoongi’s gaze on him was so intense. He cleared his throat. “W-well I think you shouldn’t limit yourself to people. There are so many other things in the world for you to shoot.”

“Why do you like shooting?” Yoongi swivelled his body around on the bar stool to finally face Taehyung completely.

Taehyung tilted his head quizzically, his lips at the sight of Yoongi’s full body before grinning slightly. Now Taehyung could see that Yoongi was wearing tight ripped black jeans, showing off Yoongi’s perfectly sculpted thighs which definitely wasn’t helping in Taehyung’s case. He shook his head to clear his dirty thoughts slightly and focus on Yoongi. He could’ve sworn Yoongi’s eyes lingered on his lips a little too long before it flickered up to meet his gaze.

“Hmm the feeling of satisfaction, the acknowledgement…” Taehyung intentionally bit his lower lip teasingly while pretending to be deep in thought. “What about you?”

“The thrill.” Yoongi reached out to brush his thumb against Taehyung’s lower lip, sending tingles down Taehyung’s spine. His eyes were full blown with desire before he closed them and shook his head slightly, retracting his hand back to cup his almost emptied glass.

Disappointment washed over Taehyung but he decided not to let it show. He yearned for Yoongi’s calloused hand to touch him once more and those temptingly sinful lips to close in on his. He was being greedy, Taehyung thought to himself. “Yeah, you feel as if you’re on top of the world. And maybe it would have stayed this way if I didn’t choose it as my money-making tool in the first place.” Taehyung buried his head in his hands before continuing. “I don’t feel happy doing what I love anymore. Should I just quit?”

Yoongi made a small understanding noise at the back of his throat, reaching for Taehyung’s remaining glass and moving it away from him just as Taehyung was about to down it. “That’s enough.”

“Sometimes, you can’t simply quit and walk away even if you want to.” Yoongi whispered inaudibly, staring straight ahead and touching his clothed chest lightly.

What lay under his shirt, unbelievably close to his heart was a scar. A clear reminder of the very day he was almost out with a perfect shot.

Hiii. This story was inspired by a prompt: A photographer and a sniper meet in a bar. Neither is aware of each other's occupation. They talk about "how to take the perfect shot". by writing.prompt.s on instagram. I know nothing about photography or shooting (in the literal sense) so please don't judge too harshly. ; ; I hope you guys liked it! And please comment down below on what you guys thought about it. <3