“I am so happy to see you coming back!”

“Omg who’s that handsome guy here? Hehehehe”

“So,,, our Donghae just decided to take a rest all of a sudden,,, to spend some quality time with a handsome guy??? I see hahaha”

“ASDFGHJHGFDSDFGH HE’S SO HANDSOME I NEED TO KNOW HIS REAL NAME”

“Lee Hyukjae? For real?! Wow!!! Never expected such collab!!!”

“This pic feels so different from the others… I really like it~”

“I smell love!!!”

Hyukjae couldn’t help but chuckled reading all the comments under Donghae’s post. The guy published that picture the day he took it, but the raven head forced himself to read the comments only on the next day. It’s been… a while since he was so exposed to random people. Hyukjae had his solid fan base, so that was only natural most of the comments were from them and random haters, but Donghae’s post was going to change everything.

Although the photographer tagged him on that picture (they still haven’t followed each other for some reason, but already had that ‘connection’ thanks to the picture) and there was an influx of followers on Hyukjae’s account, he still was a bit… afraid to check the comment section. Mostly because he didn’t want to see it didn’t turn out that well for him personally. Not like the man expected to wake up famous again thanks to Donghae, but he didn’t want his dreams to be crashed once he’ll see people weren’t that interested in model on the picture. Because he wasn’t that interesting.

However, everything was… not the way he expected things to be. Although the guy had quite a number of haters – each one of them made Hyukjae grit his teeth at infinite stupidity of their comments – people who appreciated his work were… so nice. And friendly. They welcomed the raven head even more than he expected, assuming things about their relationship and stuff. The man could only laugh because the way they assumed that photographer and model who were first spotted interacting and didn’t even follow each other’s accounts were friends or even lovers. He already forgot how far fans’ imagination could go.

But also that was funny and nice. They noticed him too. Thanks to Donghae. That was something Hyukjae won’t forget, so if the guy wanted the man to model for him, he will. As much as he’ll ask for.

The raven head checked the photographer’s account and realized that apparently people were so hyped because Donghae rarely posted pictures of people there. Which was quite peculiar as the guy was famous for his magazine cover shots, but his Instagram was almost crystal clear when it came to people, so that one picture of Hyukjae really seemed out of place. Both because it looked accidental and barely had any traces of editing and because there was a person on it.

The raven head didn’t give it much of a thought though; he hated himself for being like that, but he kept scrolling through the comment section just to see some more praises for himself. Yet, it was another type of comments that caught his attention.

“Hope you’re having a great time today, HBD!”

“Happy birthday baby!!! May you be happy and healthy! I hope you’ll spend some great time today and maybe will find your inspiration! Missing your pictures!”

Hyukjae didn’t know what surprised him more: the fact they were treating Donghae as an idol (like really, just how much power he actually had in his hands?) or the fact that apparently… today was his birthday?

A few more actions and one Google search confirmed that indeed; today, October 15th, was Lee Donghae’s birthday.

Wow.

Hyukjae didn’t know what to do with this information. They had a meeting arranged for that day – Donghae didn’t want to waste any time and decided to start shooting immediately – and now the man didn’t know what type of behavior to offer. Did the guy he just met expect him to know about such thing as his birthday? Did he not, that’s why he never mentioned it before? Were they close enough for Hyukjae to prepare some kind of a gift or even celebrate together? Was that the reason why Donghae took a vacation?

He didn’t know. Their relationship was still too uncertain to be able to decide on something, so Hyukjae decided to follow the flow. He’ll observe Donghae’s behavior and decide what to do. It’s not bad to offer lunch as a birthday present as well, right? Not like there were many places to buy something special in, after all…

Nodding to himself, Hyukjae jumped off the bed he was lying on and reached his suitcase. Donghae told him about the concept he thought of, so the raven head needed to pick suitable clothes, and he didn’t really know whether he had something good…

***

“Oh,” Donghae uttered the moment he saw Hyukjae. “You look… so…”

Donghae’s concept was as simple as complicated; autumn. You might think it’s not hard to choose the clothes that could match the theme, but there were so many options. Hyukjae spent a few hours trying to choose the color palette of his clothes, deciding whether they’ll look appropriate in such environment. They weren’t in the city anymore, but that wasn’t a countryside as well, so him looking either too stylish or too simple could ruin the mood completely. But he didn’t know what to choose, he never gave it much of a thought while dressing up the days before. That’s why Hyukjae decided to go all in.

He dressed up just as if he never knew about Donghae’s concept. A simple coat of a light-brown color (yes, he was a fan of coats and never denied it), but a grey cardigan with white t-shirt under it. Simple dark blue jeans, but khaki sneakers. He didn’t want to repeat any color he had on himself to not make the look boring, but also wanted them to match each other and was pretty much content with what he’s got. Yet, he was a bit worried now once Donghae saw him.

“Too much?” the raven head asked with a smile.

The photographer shook his head and returned him a smile, however, that wasn’t a friendly smile, but… a warm one? Or… how do you describe a smile a person offers when they see something – or someone in this particular case – so beautiful it makes their heart flutter?

Donghae felt that again.

Ba-dump.

He was looking at his model and realizing that was the most perfect person he’s ever planned to take pictures of.

“Almost perfect,” the guy said, making the man in front of him smile in amusement.

“Almost?” he asked.

Donghae inspected him from head to toe and nodded. Yes, almost. The look was wonderful, but the more Donghae looked at it, the more he felt like something was missing. Something simple, yet important. Something like…

He touched the scarf on his neck unconsciously and that’s when it hit him. Without hesitation, the photographer took it off and, shortening the distance between him and his model in two steps, circled the said scarf around the man’s neck only to discover that red suited Hyukjae the most. His eyes shone in other vibrant colors once they were surrounded with red; they were brown and he knew many people underrated that color, but for Donghae it was beautiful. Every color was beautiful, it’s just that he rarely worked with people whose eyes were other than brown, so he now was really attentive when it came to different shades of that color.

Hyukjae’s eyes had a shade of dark chocolate. They looked almost black when Donghae stood afar, but now, once he got closer, he noticed they were just a dark shade of brown with a few black dots. People don’t tend to say such eyes look warm, and the guy understood why; they showed how distant the person was. Those weren’t the eyes of someone whom you befriend the moment you see them, but the eyes of a person whom you befriend till the end of your life, however, you just needed to get patient until you get closer. Close enough to see those eyes weren’t black, but actually brown. With black dots in them. Dark chocolate you either love with your heart and soul or can’t stand how bitter it is.

And apparently Donghae happened to love dark chocolate very much.

“Now you look perfect,” he said with a smile while still looking into the man’s eyes, failing to notice how tense the latter was.

Hyukjae wasn’t used to let people he wasn’t really familiar with so close into his comfort zone, so he naturally got a bit stiff when Donghae’s breath mixed with his own, however, that childish immediacy the guy looked at him with, not having any second thoughts, was so charming he couldn’t do anything but smile.

“It doesn’t match my outfit at all,” he said.

“That’s the point. Your look is something you chose yourself – stylish and thoughtful. But the scarf doesn’t belong you and it adds some colors. Some chaos in the strict order. Something that makes people wonder.”

“About what? They don’t even