Luhan wasn’t usually in these types of places. But just a glimpse of someone that he wanted to sketch was enough to drag him to the sleazy urban side of town.

He had seen him by the bus stop. A young face with milky white skin and perfectly stoic features, Luhan couldn’t help but follow him onto the bus. He had tried sketching the boy from his seat on the bus, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted to see him face to face.

He stood in front of a bar and lounge that the boy had walked into a few seconds ago. 

Does he work here? Is he meeting friends? 

Luhan took a deep breath and entered.

Dimly lit, the place featured a large, extravagant bar and many booths, tables and couches. He spotted the mystery boy standing near the bar, surrounded by other quite attractive men.

The boy noticed Luhan staring and smirked, motioning for him to come over. Luhan’s eyes widened.

Did he notice me following him? He’s going to call me out on it... 

Despite these thoughts, he went over.

The boy leaned over Luhan, one hand on his hip. “Looking for a date?”

“W-what?” Luhan stared cluelessly into the taller boy’s lidded eyes. “That’s a bit forward, isn’t it...?”

The boy’s smirk disappeared. “Do you know where you are?”

Luhan cocked his head to the side, mouth open. He had no idea.

The boy took a small card from his jacket pocket and handed it to Luhan, looking at him like he was the dumbest person alive.

Luhan read the card. S.H., Bartender/Host. Underneath was a list of prices. He realized what part of town he was in. As his head started to spin, the boy took the card back from him.

“I can’t stand around chatting,” he slipped the card back into the pocket. “Pay up, buy a drink, or leave.”

“No, that’s not what- Um...” Luhan fumbled inside his bag and took out his sketchbook. “I’m an artist, you see, and-”

The boy held a hand in front of Luhan’s face to stop him from talking. He turned his hand around, palm facing up, and stared at Luhan with a raised eyebrow.

This is terrible... Luhan sighed, putting a few bills of cash into the boy’s open hand. He didn’t really have money to spare, but he had come too far to give up now.

Closing his hand around the money, so-called ‘S.H.’s demeanor completely changed. He smiled angelically at Luhan and motioned to the booths and couches.

“Take a seat. I’ll get us drinks.”

Luhan walked through the room, looking for a place to sit. This truly was a host bar; every table of people seemed to be ridiculously attractive and having a great time. He found a small empty booth and sat down.

“Nice work, man. You just got here like a minute ago,” Sehun’s friend and coworker Jongin commended him as they stood by the bar, waiting for their drinks.

“That guy’s a total er,” Sehun smirked. “He looked so lost when he came in here. I figured it’d be easy to reel him in.” He glanced over and spotted the small, blonde, aforementioned er before looking back at Jongin.

“What about you, Kai? Is your usual here?”

“Yeah, he’s here,” Jongin chuckled and shook his head.

The two of them took their drinks and smiled at each other before leaving in their respective directions.

We’re too good at this, they both thought as they approached their customers.

Luhan looked up as S.H. placed two drinks down on the table and sat down across from him.

The boy smiled again. “So you’re an artist,” he took a sip from his drink. “What’s that like?”

“I love it, but it’s a challenge,” Luhan smiled, feeling at ease. Remembering why he was here, he flipped open his sketchbook. “Can you just stay like that for awhile?”

S.H. rested his chin on his hand, looking down at the open sketchbook. “Did you come here just to sketch me?” he asked slowly.

Luhan focused on drawing, occasionally glancing up at the boy across from him. “Yeah, um... I’m not trying to sound creepy, but I saw you at the bus stop, and I’m working on this illustration for a novel. It has all the elements it needs... except a subject. But when I saw you, I knew I wanted to draw you...”

S.H. paused, taking in all of Luhan’s babble, before laughing charmingly. “You’re silly.”

Luhan looked up, blushing at the attractive sound of S.H.’s laugh. “I-it’s not silly. It’s my job...”

“I know,” S.H. reached over and fixed a stray piece of Luhan’s hair. “It’s cute.”

Luhan’s cheeks flushed a deeper red. “Stop moving! I’m almost done.”

A small smile played at S.H.’s lips as he returned to his previous position. He waited for Luhan to finish sketching before moving to sit next to him, putting his arm across the top of the booth, and, consequently, over Luhan’s shoulders.

“What are you doing?” Luhan felt his heart start to beat faster with the taller boy so close to him.

“This is a date, isn’t it?” S.H. raised his eyebrow and smiled. “Just talk about anything you want to.”

Luhan could not deny that he liked having S.H.’s arm around his shoulders. “I keep talking about me though. You haven’t told me anything about yourself...”

S.H. laughed. “I can’t do that,” he replied in a nice tone. “This is really your first time here, huh?”

Luhan spent the next two hours with S.H., telling him all about his life. He told him about the four years he worked through art school, the various part-time jobs he had done to pay tuition, and the deadline that approached, set by the novelist hiring him to do illustrations. S.H. listened with the comfort and attentiveness of a very good boyfriend. They had both finished their drinks by the time Luhan left, exiting with a slight buzz and his sketchbook clutched to his chest.

On the bus ride back, he examined the sketches he drew of S.H. He sighed in relief, knowing he had more than enough to work with for the illustrations. He smiled, looking out the window, until it suddenly dawned on him that he had paid money for the evening he just had. He slumped over, resting his head on the back of the seat in front of him, full of renewed shame.

And why exactly did I have such a good time?

Luhan returned to his apartment building. He checked the public board and sighed. He had placed and ad looking for a tenant to rent out the unused second bedroom in his apartment, but the tear-away strips of paper with his phone number printed remained untouched.

He climbed a flight of stairs and walked down the hall to his apartment. He unlocked the door, opened it, and turned the master switch for the lights. He peered into his tidily kept, spacious kitchen and living room. He loved having this much space, but it scared him a bit in the dark.

He sat down at his large desk set up against the far wall. It was the only messy spot in the apartment, littered with papers, sketches, various pencils, pens, inks, and erasers. He placed his sketches of S.H. next to the illustrations he had been previously working on. The background was completely sketched in; Luhan even sketched a rough outline of where the male protagonist of the novel was supposed to stand. His eyes darted between the sketches.

A story about an exiled prince, his eyes lingered on the sketch of S.H. His features are perfect.

“How was work for you yesterday?” Jongin asked casually as he and Sehun studied in his dorm.

Sehun didn’t look up from his multivariable calculus book as he answered. “You know that little blonde thing? He had followed me from the bus stop because he wanted to sketch me. I mean, I’ve had creepy customers before, but...”

“That’s a lot of detail,” Jongin chuckled, twirling his pencil between his fingers.

“Huh?” Sehun finally looked up.

“Sehun, whenever I ask you about work, you say things like ‘It was okay’, ‘They made me use tongue’, ‘I got paid extra’.” Jongin knew better than anyone that Sehun saw his customers as faceless, replaceable means to an end. “Why are you interested in this kid?”

Sehun frowned slightly more than his face already did for him. “I’m not. You’d be weirded out too if you were in my situation.” He returned his attention to his mathematics book.

I’ve had weirder, Jongin thought. Try having a customer who tells you to quit your job every day... right after paying you.

“Geez, I’m finally done reading,” Sehun sighed exaggeratedly before taking out paper and picking up his pencil. He had little to no time to relax, needing to master this material before the next day’s lecture.

Sehun took academics very seriously, having gotten into one of the top colleges in the area. He was determined to do well, despite having to take a job at the host bar to pay for his tuition.

In fact, Sehun had found difficulty saying no to his job, given the surprisingly high paycheck and ability to accept tips. It did, unfortunately, cut majorly into studying hours that Sehun needed, working shifts that lasted anywhere from 7 p.m. until 2 a.m.

Sehun went to classes during the day, studying in between, and worked at night. Any time he had left over, he used for sleep, which was at this point spent on Jongin’s couch.

“By the way, I’m not trying to kick you out, but I don’t think you can keep staying here,” Jongin piped up as if on cue. “If any of the advisors catch you living here, they’ll throw you out for sure.”

Sehun scratched his head. “Yeah, sorry about that. I’ll keep looking.”

“I’d love for you to able to stay here,” Jongin bit his lip, feeling sympathy for his friend who already had to pay his own tuition.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sehun shook his head. “I’m late shift today, so I can look for a place.”

This was Sehun’s fifth attempt in the last month to find a cheap living space, and after an hour of it this time around, he ended up at a complex consisting of mostly two bedroom apartments. He didn’t really know why he was here, assuming he was too tired and desperate from searching. He read a brochure sitting on a table that listed rooms and prices, dejectedly deciding he could not afford them, and turned his attention to the public board on the wall facing him. He scanned the board for ads looking for tenants, and found one.

Looking for a tenant to rent out 2nd bedroom

I’m very clean & respectful

Call the number if you are interested

Or just come up, I’m usually in there ^ ^

Room 117

The information for rent prices and perforated strips containing the phone number were below. He tore off one of the slips. Somehow, this person seems like kind of an airhead...

He checked the time on his phone: 8:34 p.m. Seeing that he still had an hour and a half until his shift, he decided to take the airhead’s advice and go up to the apartment himself.

He made his way up the stairs and down the hall to room 117, and knocked.

When Luhan heard a knock at his door, he panicked for two seconds before realizing it might be a potential tenant. He frantically looked around and made sure everything looked neat and clean before opening the door with a warm, welcome smile.

That smile was replaced with shocked wide eyes and open mouth, seeing who was on the other side. The expression was returned to him.

“Y-you’re...”

A/N: hunhaaaaaan
my OTP ^ ^ glad to be writing them, it's honestly a lot of fun
rated R for general profanity, alcohol, and promiscuity maybe some if i can
enjoy!