Do Kyungsoo always thought that art was the purest form of expression, his pieces consisted in detailed traces and purely realistic colors. He liked to think about himself as an old-fashioned artist who liked to stick to his paintbrushes, and a non-naive creator who enjoyed good art and loved the feeling of receiving positive criticism on his paintings.

On the other side, there is Kim Jongin, a modern artist who got his fame thanks to his never-ending desire to experiment with art. Jongin was very well known because all his pieces consisted of extravagant colors and bizarre lines that only made sense when you read the reasons why they were there.

Two personalities that crashed together like oil and water, or so Kyungsoo liked to think. He wasn’t a closed-minded person, au contraire, he just can’t handle people who take art as if it’s the easiest thing in the world, because it’s not. Kyungsoo thinks it’s complex and at the same time simple, but never easy.

In his defense, art needs to be taken seriously to understand the meaning of a painting and all the elements that compose a piece; while he is pretty sure Jongin justifies his art as something fun, and that’s it.

And as Kyungsoo was thinking about how different he and Jongin were, he got so lost in his thoughts that when a strong hand was placed on his shoulder, he was shaken well enough to jump a little bit and see who dared to scared him.

Oh.

Obviously, it was Kim Jongin who was looking at him with a smug smile plastered on his face, holding a glass of champagne and looking oh-so-good in a black dress shirt that was ed enough to reveal his shining bronze skin. Without any control of his body, Kyungsoo gulped the sip of red wine he was tasting quite loudly.

He then remembered that they were standing in the middle of a room that was holding another artist’s paintings; they were at the night gala that was held annually to sell art pieces to rich people who only pretended to know about art and make themselves look like intellectuals.

“Did I scare you?” No, shut up. I was surprised. The justification that wanted to escape from Kyungsoo’s lips was replaced with a side gaze and a little negation with his head, and instead he questioned:

“What do you want?” With obvious irritation in his voice, Kyungsoo dared to look at Jongin, who was looking at him like a curious puppy.

“Oh, c’mon Kyungsoo. We are friends, I want to hang out with you on this boring cold night.” While Jongin stood next to him, Kyungsoo could sense and almost touch the mock in his voice.

“Yeah, right, friends.”

With another sip of his glass of wine, Kyungsoo decided to adjust his white dress shirt a little bit and start walking away from his friend. Of course, it didn’t took long enough for Jongin to destroy his peace.

“Hey, what’s wrong? What did I ever do to you?”

Poor Jongin is on his right mind to be asking these questions considering that he has only been friendly with Kyungsoo. It’s Kyungsoo who has been evasive with him just because he misjudged him.

Nevertheless, Kyungsoo doesn’t want to be considered as someone soft that will tie relations with anyone, he considers himself as someone quite selective and it’s well-known that he only has a few close friends.

“You’re right, you didn’t do anything to me...” Kyungsoo had to make himself brave as he was about to speak up his mind in a quiet place full of important people. “It’s just that you are all… friendly and lovely with everybody. That gives me the creeps and I’m not the type of person that falls for your charms that easily. I don’t even know you, Kim Jongin.” This was enough for Jongin to make a surprised face for he had never see Kyungsoo lose his calm attitude this way, and just when he thought it was over, Kyungsoo opened once again his dreamy heart shaped lips;

“… and for the record, you and I, Kim Jongin, we will never be able to hang out together in a room without me wanting to teach you a proper lesson on why art needs to be taken seriously, not like you do.” Kyungsoo was so close to Jongin’s face that they could feel their breathing against each other’s lips, but it was not as romantic as it could have been in another time and place. Kyungsoo’s brows were almost touching each other, for he was frowning so hard Jongin was tempted to put his index finger on the wrinkle that was forming on the smaller man’s face.

Being at an art exposition and gala, the silence was already quite knowledgeable in the room, but now, it was as big as an elephant; it couldn’t be ignored. Yet, Kyungsoo quickly realized what he just did and bowed to the rest of the attendants, apologizing for his rude behavior, even if he wasn’t sorry for telling Kim Jongin his point of view.

So sad he missed the smile that was starting to form on the tanned artist’s face.

“This is going to be a long night.” It was what both of the artists thought at the same time, at the same place, thinking about each other.

---

 

The two artists moved to a different room glancing at each other; Kyungsoo with his eyebrows almost together, making a frown that Jongin found rather adorable than dangerous. A calm voice through a speaker informed that the bidding was going to start; forcing them to sit shoulder to shoulder in a podium located in a room full of chairs and rich people who were totally focused on leaving the room with a piece of art in their possession.

“I really don’t want to be next to you.” Kyungsoo informed so naturally while Jongin stole a little glance to the shorter man next to him.

“Oh, again with the hate talk, if only you dared yourself to know me a little more you will realize how much you will enjoy my presence.”

“Is that a challenge?”

Something inside Kyungsoo was starting to trigger and the Jongin’s words were starting to make a notorious echoing in his mind.

“He thinks I’m not capable enough to tolerate someone like him.”

“It’s a challenge if you want it to be. It’s not really that hard to have a normal conversation with me, Kyungsoo. We are both artists and I think that we have more in common than you think.”

Jongin had to lean a little and whisper the words in Kyungsoo’s ear, since the auctioneer voice was starting to get louder as the bidding from the rich people was getting more intense. It was not even Jongin or Kyungsoo’s paintings, so they could already imagine how tense the next moments were going to be.

Kyungsoo couldn’t hide the chills that went through his whole body when Jongin’s breath brushed his now over-sensitive ear.

“I need to think of something before I show any weakness and he starts mocking me.”

It didn’t took long for Kyungsoo to actually have an idea, which caused him to let a one-sided smile to appear across his face, which obviously got Jongin’s attention.

“Well, if you want this so bad, let’s make a bet.”

Kyungsoo was so sure he was going to win.

“I’m listening.” Jongin looked at him right in the eye, it was so charming that Kyungsoo had to look away for a second. The tanned artist showed interest in the little game Kyungsoo had prepared for the both of them.

He had to his lips before speaking, with the auctioneer calling numbers and speaking with a rather obnoxiously voice through the microphone, Kyungsoo had to gather up some courage because this was going to be hopefully the only and probably the largest conversation he was going to have with Kim Jongin.

“You know how the art media and blogs consider us enemies, right?”

Jongin nodded with a roll of his eyes before returning his penetrating gaze to Kyungsoo’s face.

“Yeah, I find that really dumb, to be honest.” Jongin felt he needed to add that, he thought that if he said that he never saw Kyungsoo’s art as something to win over or as an enemy the other would open up a little bit more with him.

“Me too, but let me finish.” Well that’s a first, Kyungsoo actually agreed with him. The surprise in Jongin’s face was brief while the man next to him continued explaining. “This bet is about that; this is about messing with the media, whoever gets the highest amount of money placed for whichever of our paintings will model for the other.”

As if it was nothing, Kyungsoo raised his shoulders while he finished the explanation, but Jongin still had a lot of doubts about this and before nodding into this bet, he needed to have clear some details.

“Wait, wait, you can’t just drop this bomb like that.”

“What now?” Somewhat irritated, Kyungsoo turned to see the other artist surprised face.

“Modeling you mean… as any kind of modeling?” Jongin had to swallow hard the moment he thought of an image of himself painting Kyungsoo’s figure... .

“Yeah, you can take it like that, it doesn’t matter what kind of concept it is, and the loser will have to pose for the other for a certain time, that we can decide later.”

“Why are you so sure about this? I thought you hated me and losing won’t be so nice for you, am I right?”

Jongin was suspicious of something, he didn’t know why, it was just that the confidence Kyungsoo was showing over this bet was something to worry about.

“That’s because I won’t lose. I’m sure of it.”

Kyungsoo was not even looking at him anymore and pretended to be paying attention to the bidding that was going on for one of Zhang Yixing’s paintings.

“If Kyungsoo wants to play this so bad, let’s fight fire with fire.” Something inside Jongin was making him keener on this bet and he knew that if he messed a little more with Kyungsoo he would accept to spice up the bet even more.

“Fine, if you are so sure about it, let’s add this to our bet.” He got Kyungsoo’s attention once again and took the chance to speak with a husky voice, just to make the other nervous as Jongin already noticed the little effect he had on Kyungsoo whenever he spoke so close to him.  

“What is it?” Kyungsoo had to narrow his eyes as the suspiciousness started growing inside of him.

“The loser will pose for the other AND the winner get’s to decide what kind of concept the loser has to paint for our next series.”

The idea of Kyungsoo painting non-realistic figures and using excessive bright colors in a piece was so bizarre that Jongin wouldn’t miss it for a thing; while at the same time, Kyungsoo had the idea of Jongin doing perfectly shaped figures appealed to reality while mixing paint to get warm colors.

It was so tempting for the both of them that they nodded in agreement almost at the same time.

Jongin reached for Kyungsoo’s hand and shook it strongly, without unlocking his warm gaze from Kyungsoo’s expressive big eyes.

“It’s a bet.” Kyungsoo mouthed before a voice through the speakers announced the start of Kim Jongin’s art bidding session.

---

 

Kyungsoo expected that Jongin’s art would get biddings and attention from the rich people, but he was surprised at the amount of fight that was going on for a single painting.

It was an abstract painting, consisting of not-well-defined lines and colors that were out of Kyungsoo’s common usage. He thought of Jongin painting that piece. He hasn’t been to his studio yet but he imagined Jongin in the middle of a room, a plastic mat covering the floor to prevent paint from ruining it and peaceful silence (or not?); almost hearing Jongin the canvas with a thick brush...

“This is getting out of hand, Kyungsoo, snap out of it!” he punished himself while a voice saying “SOLD TO NUMBER 12” surrounded the room. He didn’t get the amount of money but when he looked to his side, where Jongin was, he realized that the tanned man was scribbling down the amount with a little smile plastered on his face.

“How much was it?” He reached a little bit to get a look at Jongin’s handwriting and still didn’t get to see the number.

“I’m not telling you, let’s wait ‘till the end of the event.” Kyungsoo didn’t want to wait. He wanted to know now!

“Why? I want to know!”

“You should have listened to the number then, it’s not my fault that you were in the moon thinking about how you’re going to dominate the world.”

“I-I wasn’t… I didn’t…” Kyungsoo couldn’t find the words to defend himself, even if he wasn’t thinking about how to dominate the world, he was dazing off thinking about other things.

“It’s alright, I do it every now and then.” Jongin joked with a little smile creeping up his face.

“Cut if off, Jongin.” Kyungsoo was starting to feel more relaxed, he didn’t want to lose off his poker face façade with Jongin, but the latter made it really hard for him not to go with the flow and actually enjoy their time together.

“We will now begin with Do Kyungsoo’s art pieces bidding.” The monotone voice that was easily recognized through the speaker broke the artist gaze exchange.

And they didn’t realized that they missed the rest of Jongin’s art bidding.

Their little chat was not so little at all and now both of them will need to reach the host to see the register of money.

When they realized that Kyungsoo’s bidding was going to start, Jongin got closer to Kyungsoo and the smaller artist couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that they were side to side. Both of the artists didn’t dare to move and a fat drop of sweat was threatening to fall from Jongin’s forehead, not that Kyungsoo noticed.

“You know, I always admired your art.”

It was like splash of ice water for Kyungsoo.

“Kim Jongin admired MY art?”

“How is that possible? You do nothing related to what I do.” Kyungsoo needed to play it cool, he felt like he needed to know the reason behind that, it can’t be. Jongin was far from doing realistic paintings and using realistic colors, what is the meaning behind that confession? Kyungsoo’s brain was functioning at his maximum speed.

“Well, I don’t necessarily have to imitate your art to prove that I admire it.”

That’s true.

“What about the non-realistic use of colors? It’s not what I would call proper.”

“Once again, I don’t really have to do exactly what you do. In art, anything can be used to express something. As long as you represent your inner feelings or fascinations through any form of art, you’re an artist.”

Kyungsoo couldn’t really complain about that, it’s true, his inner self was clapping at Jongin’s words, because they thought almost the same.

That’s why he didn’t say nothing and therefore, the tanned male started speaking again.

“I don’t paint realistic figures or use realistic colors because it’s not what I’m interested in. I want to show the many feelings we have at the same time, to show that not everything has to be so perfectly shaped, and mainly, to prove that everyone has a different reality.”

“Jongin…I-“ He actually wanted to agree with him, Kyungsoo wanted to say how right his words were and how good it was to hear someone saying something pure about art in a long time.

“No, listen, I wanted to befriend you because you seem like an interesting person full of charms that not many people have found out. I think I can do it; get to know you. I want to share precious things with you. You seem like this kind of person to me.”

“What… what is going on? Is this some kind of love confession?”

He didn’t want to panic, Kyungsoo wanted to know what was going on in Jongin’s head. Having this kind of attention was somewhat new to him and he wanted to know more behind the reason of the words coming from Jongin’s plushy lips.

“SOLD TO NUMBER 88”

The artists were too focused on each other, they forgot where they were and forgot the current bet that one of them won.

---

 

Now that the whole event was done, rich people were boarding their luxurious cars and little by little, the hall was getting emptier. Only two figures were standing right by the big door that decorated the gala building.

The two artist already saw the numbers, both of them now know who will be posing for who and who will be facing a not-so-pleasant challenge for their next painting collection.

“I honestly didn’t expect this to happen.”

“I wasn’t actually expecting YOU winning over ME.”

“I only won for like, 10 more dollars.”

“Still, I could almost taste my victory, but that rich men had to bet a little bit more.”

“Oh, shut up Jongin, a victory is a victory.”

Yes, Do Kyungsoo won over Kim Jongin by mere ten dollars.

Even when Kyungsoo was so sure he was going to win, having the idea that Jongin will be posing for him is kind of… overwhelming to the both of them.

Jongin almost collapsed from where he was standing when they got a look at the money registered for all the bids on their paintings. The amount of money was crazy but only the last digits were the ones that defined who will be the winner of this bet.

Now Jongin has to face the truth and (not that he minds) speak with Kyungsoo to set a week to visit the smaller one’s studio to pose. Their little bickering was over and they did well to wait until all the guests left the gala building; they’re already too beautiful together for the eyes to avoid.

“Just end with my suffering Kyungsoo, tell me when I should be seeing you at your studio.”

Even when Jongin was the loser, he was the calmest of the two artists, chill smile and a relaxed posture while facing his not-anymore enemy. Kyungsoo, on the other hand, had a little blush starting to be plastered on his face, as if he were already thinking about what kind of modeling will be happening at his studio.

“Come this Monday,” they were on Saturday and Kyungsoo feared that three days of mental preparation for what’s coming were not enough. “Here, my phone and studio location.”

With the little calm left in his body, he handed a handmade “business card” and Jongin was nothing but eager to accept it.

“Monday comes good to me, if I have any complains I will contact you, Do Kyungsoo, don’t worry.”

Jongin realized that Kyungsoo had a messy handwriting, like he almost fuses the letters together and thought that having in his power Kyungsoo’s cellphone, Kim Jongin was going to give the other artist a hard time until Monday.

On the other hand, Do Kyungsoo was trying to recover, he was pretty sure the tanned artist was going to plot something against Kyungsoo so he can be a mess while painting.

Even when Kyungsoo won the bet, he feared what Kim Jongin was capable of. He wanted to show Jongin a new perspective of making art, but his inner self was sure he was going to be the one learning a lot of new things from Kim Jongin.

---

 

Freaking Kim Jongin.

The latter had contacted Kyungsoo through KakaoTalk and now he won’t stop sending him pictures of cute animals.

Is he a 5 year old? Kyungsoo started to think that Jongin had a very much interrupted childhood.

He opened his messages and the images only to leave them as seen, which created a more explosive reaction.

“Are you ignoring me don’t ignore me.” Jongin’s grammar and form of redaction and spelling was something else to add up to Jongin’s weird on-line personality.

“Busy.” The only word Kyungsoo typed, wanting to leave very clear that he was not in the mood to chit chat.

“’kay but look at dis puppy!!!!!!!!!”

And next, a GIF of a little dog chasing after a bubble and popping it started to repeat itself.

Even when Kyungsoo smiled and did a reaction to that GIF he still stopped replying to Jongin.

“Did u see it? Please have ur black soul be happy 4 a while hahahahaha”

Unable to hold it anymore, he left his phone resting on a table full of bottles of paint. He decided to ignore Jongin texts for a little while he finished with his practice; human figure and torsos. Not like Kyungsoo has in mind to paint some while Jongin is in the studio, of course not.

The buzzing of the phone could be heard, and still, Kyungsoo kept analyzing which color would make the skin more tanner, thinking of a certain male’s beautiful skin color.

Kyungsoo admits it. Having a crush on Jongin and being in denial.

He can’t admit it, but he really likes him after the good while they spent together at the art gala.

Enough said, he was sure Jongin felt almost the same way.

Jongin being more of an extrovert and Kyungsoo being the exact opposite, trying hard to hide his reactions and such.

Or maybe Jongin was this way with everyone, he liked flirting and reaching someone’s ear to murmur things with his melting husky voice.

Kyungsoo only wished this to end… did he really?

He thought he wanted this whole situation done so he can keep on his life; keep living with the lie that Kim Jongin is someone he used to hate and not someone he started to like.

Kyungsoo didn’t do a lot of progression while discussing with himself how he felt about Kim Jongin. All this self-discovery made him kind of anxious and realized that his art was being affected with said feeling.

Even when Kyungsoo woke up the next days with his normal routine, he couldn’t stop thinking about what Jongin might be doing in that moment. Was he eating well? Was he feeling okay? Was he watching those funny cat videos on the internet now?

Well, he would know if he asked, just like Jongin was doing.

Jongin hadn’t stopped sending him texts, wondering what he ate or what was he doing in that moment. It was complicated for Kyungsoo, this whole “art relationship” with Jongin, he only was starting to be confused about how he felt about the tanned artist.

Kyungsoo regrets being rude to Jongin, he knew on the inside he didn’t deserve that cold treatment. To compensate it, still ignoring Jongin’s text he entered the searching engine and typed “Kim Jongin”. In a little time, a big amount of interviews and articles that included the other artist appeared before Kyungsoo’s eyes.

“The interviews are going to be for later.” He decided and skipped to “images”, and there were them; Jongin’s art.

He started seeing it, the reason why Jongin painted that way. He was finally starting to understand the meaning of the brush traces and mixing of colors that gave the painting a unique feeling.

The scenes that Jongin used to paint were mostly facial expressions and some poses that instead of giving it a ual view, it was more like a poetic representation of a feeling. And while Kyungsoo liked to paint very complex scenarios that included a good amount of people on the scene and realistic use of light, proportions and proper care on the use of colors, Jongin was the total opposite of him.

For Kyungsoo, it was truly amazing, being able to give a deep feeling in a simple painting.

It was a little hard to admit this feeling, but after a lot of thinking, he decided that giving Jongin a chance to know each other was the most correct thing to do.

The artist checked the notifications and saw that he had 4 unread messages from the subject of all this problem. A sigh escaped his lips and opened the chat.

“Why r u ignoring my texts” They were supposed to be 25 year old men, but Kyungsoo guessed that supposing things over Jongin was not the proper thing to do by now.

“Kyngsoo I want to ask u smthing”

“Its for the sake of science and art”

“do u prefer tea or coffee” A loud giggle was unable to be controlled from Kyungsoo and that made him type instantly “both”.

The moment Jongin got the text, a fast reply came back.

“you cant say that”

“I just did.” Kyungsoo said.

“Okay but imagine that ur at a zombie apocalypse what would you rather drink every day???”

“But zombies are not real.”

“sHHHHH they are, don’t ruin my illusions like this”

It was such an obnoxious typing it almost made Kyungsoo feel pain, but at the same that he was so happy to be chatting with Jongin.

“Okay, jeez, well, I’ll choose coffee.”

“Ew, why?”

“Just because I like it a little bit more.”

“But it tastes so bad!!”

“Jongin I’m not forcing you to drink it…”

“I know, I just wanted to ask you this because some people say that you can discover a lot of things just by simple questions”

“And did you discovered anything?”

“Yes, u have a bitter personality hahaha im so funny hahah”

“Wow, Jongin, wow.” Kyungsoo had to roll his eyes and smile at the same time.

“I know, im such a genius”

Little did Kyungsoo knew that Jongin was also smiling like a goofy teenager in front of his phone screen, enjoying the little chat he was having with the big eyed artist.

---

 

Going fast forward, Monday came and Kyungsoo and Jongin were just as excited as they could be.

By now, both of them exchanged a good amount of texts; Jongin kept on sharing animal videos and whatnot while Kyungsoo always watched them with a little smile on his face, commenting later on with Jongin what he saw or what was funnier to him.

But Kyungsoo knew that talking through a screen was so much different from talking in real life, he realized that the day he and Jongin exchanged words at the art gala, and now that he sent Jongin the exact hour at which he should arrive, the anxiety in Kyungsoo’s body was starting to increase minute by minute.

“See you in an hour!” Was the last text he received from Jongin and the owner of the studio was messily arranging his materials and making sure the canvas was properly placed and his brushes were all clean and his palette was dry. A lot of things were going on inside Kyungsoo’s mind right now and he decided that opening the windows was one of the best solutions to calm down his nervousness. A cold breeze of wind was exactly what he needed.

What he didn’t needed right now was a knock on the door interrupting his little meditation.

“Uh, come in!”

Kyungsoo already knew it was Jongin, but as the gentleman he is, he went to open the door for him, surprised to see him in a casual attire; jeans ripped from the knees with a few splashes of paint here and there, a plain black t-shirt that was adjusted in just the right places while his hair was hidden in a black cap. Just a casual Kim Jongin.

“Hello, ‘Soo!” as their relationship was starting to get friendlier Jongin managed to call him nicknames from time to time, it was nice, Kyungsoo liked it, but hearing him in person saying it was way more surprising than expected.

“Hello Jongin, come in.”

“Thanks, I got these for us.”

It was a carton tray with different types of coffee.

“I didn’t know which one you liked better so, I got you an ice Americano, a cappuccino and a Frappuccino…” Jongin was signaling which one was which and when he ended, he took a glance at Kyungsoo only to see a surprised look on his face.

“I… uh, anything is good.” He was a little bit overwhelmed by everything that was going on that he forgot to say thank you or to say something more proper to the tanned man.

“If you like all of these, I’ll leave it on a table so you can drink while you paint, just remember that this one” Jongin signals to a clear glass that has a green content on it and smiles to him. “This one is my sweet tea.”

As Kyungsoo takes the tray on his hands and reaches to a table to place it there, he nods and then looks at Jongin one more time.

Jongin was looking at everything like he just entered an art paradise, eyes full of wonder that seemed to take note of every little detail to everything in Kyungsoo’s studio.

“Tell me ‘Soo, what are you planning on doing with poor me?”

Jongin joked, just to free Kyungsoo from the panic attack he appeared to be having right now.

Kyungsoo seemed to take note on this, because his shoulders started to relax bit by bit.

“I would like to paint expressions and body language.”

“Any feeling you would like to pay more attention in?”

“I just want to show pure and strong feelings, so, just express with your body and face whatever you’ve been feeling this past week.”

“Oh, that would be easy.” “You have been on my mind this past week” was what Jongin wanted to add to his answer, but he knew he had to wait more.

Surprised, Jongin left the single bag he was carrying next to where Kyungsoo was going to sit.

“Before starting, can we sit down and chat for a little while?”

Kyungsoo was surprised by this petition, but he had no rush on ending this meeting anytime soon, even if he was become a pile of goo every time Jongin spoke to him with such a nice voice.

“Sure, but I don’t have chairs to sit...”

“It’s okay, we can just sit on the floor and lean on the walls, if you don’t mind.”

“It’s okay, I actually do that too.”

They sat and Kyungsoo noticed that Jongin proposedly sat close to him, shoulder to shoulder and legs touching each other.

Coffee and tea on their hands, the pair sat in a comfortable silence that was leaded by a melodic whistle of the wind, Jongin had a smile on his face that was too hard to hide while Kyungsoo tried to look anywhere but his tights touching the tanned male one.

“You know? I looked at your art.”

“Oh, you did? What do you think?”

“I think that I finally get what you mean about art. Remember what you told me at the gala?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“I finally saw what you mean, I felt all the emotions you had while doing those paintings, Jongin. For some reason, I felt that I had a connection with them even when I didn’t even knew you at all.”

And after the good while Jongin has been at Kyungsoo’s studio, the latter looked at him right in the eye with a smile. A warm and heart-shaped smile that Jongin never in his life saw coming from someone.

Jongin was expecting to make Kyungsoo open up to him a little more, and he wanted to make him realize that art can come in all form and shapes, but he got more than expected. Jongin found himself caring for Kyungsoo, wondering what was he doing and such. He always wanted an excuse to talk to him, hence the animal videos and constant nagging on random topics. Jongin felt that even when Kyungsoo only replied with short answers, he was reaching little by little to the other artist hearth.

Even when the pair had different opinions about most things, the chemistry that both of them developed within a few days was what Jongin would call destiny, almost like they were made for each other to interact with each other.

And now, they were sitting next to each other, Jongin making his decision that he didn’t want Kyungsoo just as a friend, expecting the smaller artist to think exactly the same thing as him.

“Kyungsoo.” It felt so good to say his name, his voice dropping tones to make it huskier.

“Mh?” the sound that escaped Kyungsoo’s lips was almost too much for Jongin to control himself.

“I really, really want to kiss you right now, but I don’t want to do something you don’t want, I need you to answer me.”

Kyungsoo was surprised at how simple was for Jongin to say this, little did he know that Jongin’s heart was also beating like crazy.

“You…”

“If it’s not what you want, I won’t ask ever again.”

“You really are something else, Jongin.”

“I get that sometimes.” rising his shoulders, a smug smile appeared on Jongin's face when he heard the elder response.

“I was going to say that you didn’t need to ask for permission.” But now, that was unexpected for the youngster.

“Now, who’s surprising who?” Jongin was thrilled, maybe beyond of that; Kyungsoo was showing more feelings about him.

Jongin barely finished his sentence when the warm and plush lips of Kyungsoo were smashing into his.

What took over Kyungsoo to kiss Jongin will be forever a mystery, the artist were enjoying this probably more than it was allowed, it was like taking all their frustration out and it felt too good.

Jongin was taking note on all the feelings he was having in that moment; happiness, excitement, overwhelm and most importantly, he could feel the love that both of them were saving for each other the moment their eyes crossed at that art gala.

While Kyungsoo, in his mind, thought that the bet could be long forgotten, he did wanted to paint Jongin, but he knew the gazes he will be painting, will be only for him.

Not to mention that (now) loving Jongin, would be forever his new favorite form of art.