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A/N: Wrote this on a whim thanks to 4am college brainrot. Hope you guys enjoy it. (Also, happy new year everyone!)

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᠁

 

Jeon Soyeon isn’t a prude.

 

is never really a problem with her when it comes to art. If you push past the initial shock from the lack of decorum or propriety (basically, just getting your mind out of the gutter), you can learn to appreciate the work behind its expression of the human body and the various types of emotion it portrays.

 

Some people may feel like the form should be hidden away, simply because of how they perceive it as both inappropriate and indecent. But there’s no denying its usefulness in teaching artists how to draw accurate human anatomy and fully understand the mechanics beneath a clothed form. Hence, the reason why Soyeon is looking forward to their next session in her Life Drawing class. Having an actual person model before them would really help improve her figure studies.

 

That said, she certainly did not expect to walk into the classroom and find a shirtless Seo Soojin inside.

 

Her skin-tight jeans are highlighting her tapered waist and the fine curves of her hips, all the while hugging her long legs in just the right places. With only a black push-up bra (thankfully) covering her chest, it leaves enough room for one’s imagination to run wild – except Soyeon has forced hers back into its cage with a padlock keeping it shut in there.

 

She’s many things, but a ert isn’t one of them.

 

Her sneakers practically screech to a halt upon seeing the half- form of her year-long crush standing idly at the front of the room while chatting away with her professor. The abrupt stop causes Song Yuqi, her boisterous dormmate-slash-blockmate, to bump right into her back.

 

“Yo, what the heck?” The Han girl sounds confused. “Something wrong, unnie?”

 

Soyeon whirls around to give her friend a panicked look. “That,” She darts her eyes towards Soojin. “That’s what’s wrong.”

 

Yuqi raises a questioning eyebrow as she glances at the tall girl, and Soyeon can see the gears in her head turning. “Who’s she?”

 

“Uh, our hot neighbor, remember? The one I’ve been raving to you about for like the past two semesters already? God, sometimes I wonder if you even listen to me.”

 

Blinking a few times, Yuqi squints at Soojin like doing so would help jog her memories back. But then the blonde quickly elbows her in the ribs, hard.

 

“Ow!” She complains.

 

“Quit staring!” Soyeon hisses into her ear. “She’ll notice you and get creeped out!”

 

Yuqi just rolls her eyes. “As if your whisper-yelling wasn’t obvious enough…” She mutters under her breath. “But yeah, she’s dorming with Miyeon-unnie and Shuhua. Right? I thought she was a dance major, though. Why is she here?”

 

Soyeon almost groans. “Oh, gee. I wonder what Soojin is doing here, shirtless, on the day of our life drawing class? She’s the model, Yuqi!”

 

The younger makes a face at her sarcasm. “Wow. You’re really on the edge because of that, huh?” She says as they head to the other side of their classroom where the bench easels are kept.

 

“Soojin is posing for us, and she’s going to be . ing , Wooks!” Soyeon wails. “Her s will be right out there for me to see. And when that happens, I’ll never be able to look at her the same way again!”

 

She pivots on her heel sharply and makes a beeline for the door. “Screw it, I’m skipping class today. I can’t do this.”

 

“Woah there, captain.”

 

Yuqi immediately yanks her back by the hood of her jacket, ignoring the loud yelp she receives when Soyeon stumbles back on her feet. For someone who looks like a porcelain doll, the ginger-haired girl is honestly quite terrifying with the amount of strength she hides beneath an innocent veneer.

 

“You’re being dramatic.” Yuqi rolls her eyes as if she was talking to a mere child. And if Soyeon wasn’t so frazzled, she would’ve smacked her for that. “Also, you can’t just leave. Miss Kim already saw you walk in. Do you know how pissed she’ll be when she finds out you ditched? Not worth it, if you ask me.”

 

Soyeon shakes her head, muttering stuff about how she might never survive till the end of class while they each grab one of the provided easels.

 

Because she’s so distracted and lost in her own thoughts, Soyeon bumps the darn thing against another easel beside it. As a result, she inadvertently knocks over a cup full of brushes some dingus has left behind; and they all clatter to the floor. Loudly.

 

—

 

She flinches at the resounding noise that tears through the silence of the room, hair standing on end when she instantly feels three pairs of eyes boring straight into the back of her head at the sudden interruption. So much for going mostly unnoticed…

 

Swallowing her embarrassment, Soyeon turns around slowly and musters up her fakest smile yet.

 

“Ah… Sorry about that.”

 

Yuqi tries her damn best not to guffaw at the blonde’s little mishap, but then Soyeon does that job for her by graciously kicking her in the shin. She has to bite down on her tongue to hold back a curse from slipping past her lips for all to hear.

 

“Good morning, you two.” Miss Kim addresses them with a smile. “Early again as usual.”

 

The greeting, however, falls on deaf ears for Soyeon. Mostly due to the rapid pounding of her heart from the way she involuntarily locks gazes with Soojin’s alluring fox eyes.

 

Yuqi (bless her) takes notice of her best friend’s distracted state by the black-haired vixen and swiftly replies with an overly enthusiastic “Morning, miss!” before grabbing Soyeon’s hood again so she can drag her away from further embarrassment.

 

“Unnie, close your mouth. You look like a slobbering dog.” Yuqi later whispers to her once they’re somehow out of earshot from the other two.

 

Soyeon just kicks her again.

 

᠁

 

Of all the people who could’ve modeled for them, it just has to be her hot neighbor. A temptation disguised as a blessing.

 

Lord, give me the strength to push through the rest of this four-hour class.

 

She prays while trying not to combust in the middle of their drawing session. It’s only been an hour since they've started, but Soyeon is more than ready to just pack her things and call it a day.

 

Who cares if she hasn’t even finished the basic body structure yet? Certainly not her.

 

Glancing around her, Soyeon finds everyone else doing their work smoothly and without any signs of a psychological warfare raging inside their minds. Even Yuqi is doing just fine and seems to be in the editing stage of her rough draft. As a matter of fact, they all seem to have made more progress than she did by this point. Significantly so.

 

How the Hell is Soyeon going to finish her plate, if she can’t even spare Soojin a passing glance without feeling like she broke all Ten Commandments in the Bible?

 

Why are you like this?

 

Soyeon grumbles inwardly to herself as she narrows her eyes at the lousy “sketch” in front of her; a rather coarse portrayal of Soojin etched onto paper in 2B pencil. The intensity of her glare should be enough to burn holes into the pages of her sketchpad (or so she wishes). But alas, it doesn’t work that way.

 

“Ugh.”

 

Mustering what’s left of her composure, she forces herself to look respectfully at Soojin’s bare figure for the umpteenth time already. Well… almost bare.

 

Thank God for the satin sheet covering up most of Soojin’s lower half, or else Soyeon’s poor soul would have completely left her body for staring as long as she did. The blonde had nearly coughed up blood earlier when Soojin—after being instructed to lay down sideways on the elevated platform facing her direction—casually stripped off her remaining clothes before posing in front of the entire class without a trace of her usual shyness anywhere.

 

It was very admirable, impressive too. But Soyeon had been way too focused on the fact that she was sweating like a in church to pay her confidence much notice.

 

She can feel her eyes about to pop right out of her sockets upon meeting her crush’s gaze again. Sadly, Soojin shows no indication of her recognizing the art major (although, granted, they barely see each other due to their conflicting schedules); save for the curious raise of her brow.

 

Soyeon blushes furiously as she bites back a squeak. Seo Soojin came in like a powerhouse, and her gay wasn’t prepared.

 

Get your together, Jeon.

 

She tears away from the magnetic pull of those dark irises to explore every visible outline and feature of the dance major’s willowy figure… for reference. Yup, just reference. Only for art and nothing else.

 

(So long as her line of sight doesn’t stray and linger on certain “areas”, she’ll be fine. Hopefully.)

 

In that moment, Soyeon is once again reminded of just how breathtaking Soojin actually is. The other girl is splayed across the platform with that strategically-placed sheet spreading over her petite waist, twisting around her legs like white vines before gathering by her feet in silky pools. Sensual, yet strangely elegant.

 

She also takes the liberty of examining Soojin in full. Like, really examine her. Who knew Soyeon would get another chance to see Soojin this close and personal? Her hair, which was previously a flaming red shade, is now an inky black and straightened out with a full fringe styling it. The color, the look, suits her so well; Soyeon can imagine the time she’s willing to expend on just drawing portraits and illustrations of this living visual alone.

 

If Ariana Grande was right and God is indeed a woman in the form of Seo Soojin, then she has turned Soyeon into a believer.

 

Beautiful. The artist thinks, her heart thundering wildly against her sternum.

 

With the pencil clutched tightly in her grasp, Soyeon wills her stiff hand to scribble over the lines and shapes she has made. Thickening them with repeated coats of metallic graphite as she nibbles on the inside of her bottom lip. Focused on getting those divine proportions right, and not ogling that ample bos—

 

Holy Mother of Christ.

 

Soyeon is going to have a .

 

You know that one episode of Mr. Bean in art class? This is pretty much the same case, but with the only difference being that Soyeon is painfully aware of what she’s seeing right now. The melons she’s staring at are nowhere near the fruits Mr. Bean had to work with, nor did she have any sculpting clay just conveniently lying around for her to cover them up and spare her the nosebleed.

 

Oh, she can see it now. Jeon Soyeon, died at the tender age of 19. Cause of death? y Soojin and her goddamn melons.

 

A frustrated groan escapes as she smacks her forehead against the paper, ignoring the confused looks from her seatmates while trying not to smudge her work and make it any uglier than it already is.

 

“Unnie,” Yuqi’s low voice interjects from her left. “Miss Kim is doing her rounds now. Hurry up, or she’s gonna think you’re slacking off.”

 

Soyeon takes a deep breath of resignation before reluctantly peeling her face away to get an overall glimpse of her progress so far. And boy, her inner perfectionist is screaming.

 

The lines she has attempted to “refine” earlier have been scratched quite deeply into the surface, denting both its back and the pristine white page behind it. She must have put too much pressure on her pencil, considering the amount of uneven grey littering across the (otherwise) clean paper. A shame, really. Doodle Soojin is just an amateur’s depiction that gives no justice to the Real Soojin.

 

Soyeon wants to cry.

 

This piece is 100% guaranteed to flop along with her grade.

 

When she gathers enough courage to look at the model again, Soojin is studying her intently (wait, shouldn’t it be the other way around?) and she chokes on air. In her shock, Soyeon accidentally breaks the tip of her pencil after pressing it down too hard; it leaves behind a tiny chip on the paper. She finally snaps.

 

“Miss Kim!”

 

Her hand flies up as she almost shouts for her professor, which earns the blonde a few pointed looks from her annoyed blockmates after startling them with her outburst. But Soyeon doesn’t care anymore. She needs to escape, or else she’ll ing die on this bench.

 

Miss Kim turns towards her student. “What is it, Soyeon?”

 

“Can I use the bathroom? Uh, please?” She asks in a voice that sounds a note higher than usual.

 

“Of course, go ahead.”

 

Soyeon mumbles a hasty “thanks” before skedaddling out of the room like her pants were on fire. Away from the scrutiny of her entire block and their professor, including Soojin herself. The gaze of whom she feels burning into her retreating back as she nearly rips the door off its hinges in her haste.

 

The excuse should buy Soyeon a couple minutes or so to get her act together. For the meantime, though, she’ll just camp inside one of the stalls until her gay panic calms down.

 

…

 

… On second thought, she might actually have to use the toilet after all. Whee.

 

᠁

 

Less than several hours later (no, Soyeon didn’t actually spend its entirety hiding inside the bathroom like a coward), Miss Kim announces that the class has thirty minutes left and advises everyone to start rendering their plates for the final product.

 

Soyeon has long since returned from her “toilet break” with renewed moxie, all thanks to a few light slaps to the face and a lame pep-talk that some random girl walked into as she was giving herself a peace sign through the mirror.

 

Needless to say, it had definitely been the most awkward five seconds in her entire college career to date.

 

The blonde hasn’t noticed just how much time has passed. Granted, she’s been too engrossed in absorbing every notable detail of Soojin’s amazingly lean physique. (Perks of being a dance major, she supposes.) Feminine shoulders, tapered hips, a toned but smooth stomach. Her waistline curves inward, though not enough to make an hourglass figure. Soojin isn’t a slim girl nor an athletic type of woman, but rather a mixture of both. Strong, slender, and seductive.

 

It should be illegal to be that stupidly gorgeous, oh my God—

 

Seo Soojin isn’t good for her health, but Soyeon doesn’t mind dying so long as she is the cause of it.

 

“Twenty minutes left, guys. You should all be on the cleaning stage of your work and making sure that the proportions are accurate. Don’t forget to include the smaller details for completion.” Miss Kim informs them as she’s doing her rounds again. Inspecting the outputs of her students and either nodding in approval or commenting on what particular areas needed improvement.

 

Soyeon inspects her workplate with a critical eye. She successfully drew Soojin from head to toe, so at least she has something to turn in by the end of class. While it seems rather sloppy and with a few parts requiring some more touch-ups, it’s still better than nothing.

 

Despite not being an expert at drawing human bodies realistically, she can already tell that the proportions are a bit off from the shoulders down. Soyeon erases both of Doodle Soojin’s upper arms (doing so with a vengeance that the friction almost rips the paper) and hurries to redraw them properly. Soyeon must have been the only one having trouble here, because Miss Kim notices her struggle and ventures over to check on her. Reminding the tense artist to calm down and relax her .

 

This gets Real Soojin’s attention, and the model looks back at Soyeon as she hastily scrawls the digits of her right hand.

 

I ing hate this class.

 

The last fifteen minutes are spent with her quietly muttering sounds of frustration, erasing and redrawing just about every single detail she finds wrong like her very grade depends on it. Which it does, considering Miss Kim’s arbitrary requirements in what makes a “good” artwork.

 

Her piece is somewhat embarrassing to look at with all the remaining mistakes, but hey. Finished, not perfect.

 

By the time class is over, everyone has submitted their workplates and returned the bench easels they’ve borrowed before filing out of the room. Soyeon stays behind longer to gather her art supplies and help Yuqi carry her easel back while Soojin changes behind a curtained corner.

 

“Congrats, unnie. You actually survived.” Yuqi teases in light amusement. “I gotta say, I’m proud of you.”

 

Soyeon wanted to strangle her friend. Maybe then, it’ll wipe that annoying smirk off her face. “Survived? I was already at my wit’s end by the first hour!”

 

“Oh, I know. You weren’t exactly inconspicuous either when you asked Miss Kim if you could use the bathroom earlier.”

 

Thinking back to the scene she had caused mere hours ago, Soyeon buries her face in her hands with a groan of embarrassment as Yuqi pats her shoulder. “Ah, don’t be ashamed. For what it’s worth, Soojin-unnie might think you’re a cute weirdo.”

 

That… doesn’t really reassure her all that much, but Soyeon can appreciate the girl for trying.

 

A sudden buzz in Yuqi’s pocket grabs their attention, and the blonde peers up from the pencils she’s sorting away to see that Yuqi has gotten a text notification.

 

“Who is it?” Soyeon asks.

 

The answer can’t be any more obvious from the way Yuqi’s entire face lights up as her lips draw into a small but earnest smile.

 

“Just Minnie-unnie.” She says with a certain softness in her voice, which gives away the fondness in her eyes. Something that Soyeon has grown quite familiar with seeing on her best friend whenever the Thai is mentioned. The artist can only wonder if Minnie was even slightly aware of the power she holds with having Yuqi wrapped around her finger since day one.

 

“She needs help with a photography assignment, apparently. Something about needing a model for her portfolio shoot.”

 

“Well, look at you. Asia’s Next Top Model.” Soyeon chuckles, earning a light but playful push on her shoulder from the shy-faced Yuqi. “Aren’t you flattered, though? Minnie-unnie basically chose you to be her muse!”

 

A faint blush colors Yuqi’s cheeks as she types out a quick reply to Minnie. “It’s unexpected, but… yeah.”

 

She leaves it at that and proceeds to carelessly dump the rest of her things into her backpack, likely in a haste to meet the older girl. Knowing Minnie’s schedule, her Computer Graphics class just ended less than an hour ago and she’s currently waiting for Yuqi in the courtyard as usual.

 

“I’ll go on ahead, unnie. We’ll catch up with you later.” Yuqi informs her as she prepares to head out, walking backwards so she can address her friend.

 

“Sure. Oh, and say hi to Minnie-unnie for me, will you?”

 

Yuqi gives a playful salute and winks. “Aye, aye, captain!”

 

Shortly after she leaves, Soyeon shoves her remaining art supplies inside her backpack and then grabs her sketchpad from where it’s lying on the floor. As soon as she stands back up and turns for the door, the artist nearly smacks face-first into someone standing behind her. Blinking, Soyeon glances up to find a fully-clothed Soojin staring down at her with warm eyes the color of dark chocolate.

 

instantly goes dry.

 

“Hey, Soyeon.” Soojin greets in that unmistakably attractive voice. So soft and so sweet, just like her.

 

Said girl swallows thickly, hoping she doesn’t sound too constipated with how tight feels all of a sudden. “S-Soojin! Hi!” She stammers clumsily. Dammit!

 

As the sole recipient of her crush’s intense gaze, Soyeon feels a Hell lot smaller than she already is under its invisible weight (mind you, she’s one of the shortest people on campus) and reflexively shrinks back like a turtle to its shell after being provoked—except the oversized hoodie she bought from last month’s anime convention isn’t exactly big enough for her to drown in.

 

“I’ve seen you around…” Soojin runs a hand through her black hair, eyes averting shyly when they make contact with Soyeon’s lighter ones. Is she nervous too? “It’s been a while since we last talked. How are you?”

 

Scuffing the heel of her sneaker against the floor, Soyeon shoves her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. A nervous habit of hers.

 

“Ah… I’m kinda overwhelmed with requirements lately, but I’m managing. It gets pretty easy once you’re halfway through sophomore year, I guess. What about you?

 

“Pretty much the same. But it’s more of performances for upcoming events. It’s good to hear that you’re doing okay, though.”

 

Soyeon barely catches herself from snorting. Yeah, I beg to differ.

 

“So, um… How did the drawing go?” The dancer asks a moment later.

 

Oh, you know, just ing peachy. I definitely wasn’t freaking out over the fact that your s were right in my line of sight and almost sent my soul to kingdom come!

 

“It went fine. Yeah, totally fine. I got the hang of it eventually, so the rest of it was a breeze. Might even be one of my best works this year!”

 

Soojin looks beyond thrilled. “Really? Can I see it?”

 

, now Soyeon feels horrible for lying to her face. It didn’t help her conscience either when Soyeon lit up with such genuine enthusiasm after hearing that. “Oh, uh… I-I already turned it in. Sorry.”

 

Of course, Soojin is too much of a sweetheart because she just smiles kindly. “That’s okay, I understand.”

 

The following silence is painstakingly awkward and filled with this sort of tension neither of them could put a finger on. Soyeon can’t pinpoint exactly why Soojin hasn’t already left yet. Because, personally, she’d rather go back to her dorm and wallow in her self-pity. She’s about to do just that by excusing herself, until the dancer major decides to speak up at the same time.

 

“I should probably—”

 

“Actually, I have something—”

 

They both stare at each other before bursting into a fit of laughter, the weird tension in the air finally lifting at last. “You can go first.” Soyeon offers with a friendly smile.

 

Soojin becomes bashful then, timidly pushing a lock of hair behind her ear as she says.

 

“I’ve actually wanted to approach you for some time now. Hoping I’d be able to talk with you more and maybe get to know you a bit better…?” Her voice falters at the end, as if unsure of whether she worded it correctly or not. “Shuhua and Miyeon also model for art classes in their free time, so they suggested that I try it out. Said if I’m lucky, I’d be assigned to one of your sessions. I seriously couldn’t believe it on my first try, but hey—It actually worked.”

 

Soyeon watches her fidget on the spot while trying very hard not to squeal at how much she looks like a lost kitten. Soojin is being so ridiculously cute without even realizing it, the art student would’ve busted out her biggest “uwu” yet.

 

No, Jeon! Conceal. Don’t feel. Don’t let the gay show.

 

“Cool.” Is all Soyeon can reply with.

 

Cool? Cool?! Her crush just admitted that she wanted to talk to her, and all her could muster up is “cool”?!

 

“I mean, if you’re not too busy, then maybe we could like… hang out sometime?” Poor Soojin sounds even more unsure. She doesn’t know what to take from the rather lukewarm answer. Is it a green light for her to pursue a potential bond with the artist? Perhaps even something more?

 

Meanwhile, guilt continues to eat away at Soyeon’s conscience—particularly because she’s acting like the world’s biggest clown by not flirting back like any normal person would with their crush.

 

“S-Sure! We can do it right now, actually. My Visual Design class isn’t until two, anyway, so there’s plenty of time for us to catch up.” The words leave before Soyeon can even think them over. “And hey, maybe next time, you can draw me as well.”

 

Oh my God, she did not just say that.

 

Soyeon expected the older girl to seem weirded out, ending their conversation there and parting ways with her. But instead, Soojin just smiles shyly as she blushes a little.

 

“With or without clothes?”

 

Soyeon fainted.