"Hey, Daehyun," Youngjae asks through the phone one day, "Can you meet up with me at the café in an hour?" 

Daehyun smiles to himself and nods even though the other can't see. "Sure, I was planning on going anyways." 

It's been around four months since he’s moved from Seoul to Paris and since he's met Youngjae. After countless talks over coffee the two got to know each other better, and within a week they had exchanged numbers. He learned about how Youngjae moved here at 18 to pursue his dreams of being an artist, and Youngjae learned that Daehyun was the playful type like he had guessed. Needless to say, Youngjae was his closest friend in this now-familiar city – but there was still one thing Youngjae had never shared with him before. 

His art. 

Occasionally, Daehyun had, of course, caught glimpses of the gray pencil markings scribbled into that black sketchbook of his. But every time Youngjae caught him looking, he would pull the book closer towards him and smile, as if the book held a secret only he could know. Daehyun had never bothered to ask him why; what's his is his after all. He was a bit curious though, as to why the artist brought that book with him everywhere but would never let him see it.

 

Upon arriving at the coffee shop that afternoon, Daehyun sees Youngjae already sitting at their usual table. He gives a small wave and the other man smiles, waving back at him. 

"I got you your drink for you," Youngjae grins. "Caramel latté with two shots of espresso on Friday’s right?" 

Daehyun laughs and sits down, bringing the cup to his lips. "Perfect," he smiles, "you know me all too well." 

They catch up on what's happened since they last saw each other – which isn't much, since they just met up the day before. Daehyun tells him of the phone call he had with Himchan last night, and Youngjae listens and chuckles occasionally. As soon as they're done, Daehyun raises an eyebrow at the younger man and asks, "So what did you want to meet me for?" 

Youngjae's fingers caress the side of his cup and he gives a small smile. "I was wondering if," he hesitates, taking a sip of his drink, "you'd like to model for me?" 

"Model?" Daehyun questions, the word piquing his interest. "Well, yeah, I'll do it – I mean if you need one," he chuckles, "but I don't think I'll be a very good one." 

Youngjae rolls his eyes with a smile. "You'll be perfectly fine," he says, grinning at him. "With a pretty face like yours there's no way you'd do badly." 

"I admit my face is pretty, but what if you screw it up?" Daehyun jokes, and Youngjae scoffs. 

"Are you questioning my skills?" Youngjae clutches his chest dramatically, fake hurt all over his face. "You, Jung Daehyun, have never seen what I'm capable of." 

Daehyun laughs and leans back in his seat. "Well it'd be nice to finally be able to see your art," he admits, "Since you've been hiding it from me this whole time." 

Youngjae brings a finger to his lips. "It's a secret, you'll see," he smiles widely, taking his pencil and quickly scrawling his address down on a napkin before handing it to Daehyun. "Just come over to my place tomorrow afternoon then." 

Their conversation switches to another topic and soon Youngjae has to leave. "For work matters," he says after excusing himself. They say their goodbye's and Daehyun stays seated at the table. 

What work matters can he even have, Daehyun thinks. He looks out the window and his eyes follow in the direction the artist left to, shaking his head. Honestly, it was kind of unusual that in the tine they've been friends Youngjae had hidden so much from him, yet he decides to reveal it all in one day. 

Daehyun folds the napkin Youngjae gave him and puts it in his pocket. Let's just see what he's hiding tomorrow. 


                                                                                                                         ***


Daehyun wipes his palms on his pants and knocks on Youngjae's apartment door. For some reason he's nervous, even though there's no reason to be. All he's doing is going to his friend's apartment for the first time to model for him. What's there to be nervous about? 

While stuck in his thoughts, Youngjae opens the door and grins at him. "You're here! Come in," he greets, stepping aside so Daehyun can walk in. Daehyun clears his throat and his eyes look around, scanning the small apartment. 

"Your place is nice," he compliments, and it really is. Everything is clean and smooth, the walls like blank canvas and the furniture the black ink that stains it. It's not completely monochrome though; splashes of color paint the room through decorations, flowers and picture frames. Even though it isn't what he expects of an artist's apartment, it screams Youngjae to him. Everything screams Youngjae, especially the sweet scent of the younger man that hits his nose the moment he walks in.

"Thanks," Youngjae laughs and closes the door behind them. "Do you want something to drink?" He asks, and Daehyun nods. 

"Just some water is fine," he smiles. Youngjae enters the kitchen and opens a cupboard, Daehyun trailing behind him. 

"What concept where you looking for today?" He asks him, and Youngjae smiles slightly.

"There is no concept," he chuckles, "Just you." Youngjae hands Daehyun his glass of water and motions for him to sit down. "Jung Daehyun on a day off from work, how does that sound?" 

"It sounds plain," he says, crinkling his nose. "But I have no objections, since you're the artist after all." 

Youngjae laughs and leads him towards the living room. "Good, there's nothing worse than a model who complains a lot," he nods, before pulling up a chair beside the windowsill. "Now sit here, so I can start painting." 

Daehyun ends up sitting in that spot for hours, and by the time Youngjae's finished, the sun is setting in the horizon. He can't say that he didn't enjoy it, however; he kind of liked the feeling of being stared at by the younger male for hours. The two would occasionally make eye contact, and Youngjae would always smile at him before returning back to the easel. 

Daehyun hopes he didn't catch the faint red color dusting his cheeks while he was painting.

When the artist finally announces that he's done, Daehyun stands up to stretch and roll the stiffness out of his neck. "Finally," he groans, raising his hands above his head. "Now let me see your chef d'œuvre." 

Before he can even glance at the artwork though, Youngjae blocks the easel with his body and turns Daehyun around. "You aren't seeing my masterpiece yet," he wiggled his finger mockingly, "I have something else to show you." 

Youngjae brings him to another room and stops in front of the door. "I haven't showed this to anybody else yet, so feel special okay?" he says, taking a key out of his pocket to unlock the door with. Daehyun nods in response, even though he's slightly confused. What's so important that it has to be locked up? 

His questions are answered when the door opens though, and Daehyun lets out a gasp. 

"Jae..." he whispers, taking a step in. "These are beautiful.." 

The room is surrounded with paintings of all shapes and sizes, and there are still multiple easels set up with unfinished works of art on top. Paint splatters the cloth-covered floor, and Daehyun steps over a set of used brushes. "I was starting to doubt whether you were really an artist or not, but ," he says excitingly, "Yoo Youngjae, you are amazing. How long did it take you to do all of this?" 

"Twenty-five paintings in about a three months," Youngjae replies, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He watches as Daehyun runs his fingers across a particular painting, a smile spreading across his face when he realizes what it was. Youngjae had drawn the place they usually sat at their coffee shop, from the angle of where he used to sit before they had met. 

"I did that one the day we met you know," Youngjae mumbles, walking towards the painting. "In case you were wondering." 

Something stirs inside of Daehyun and he tries to shake the feeling away. "I love it," he says quietly, turning to look Youngjae in the eye. He regrets it right away because the feeling comes back even worse than before. "I love them all," he adds, red-faced and staring at the wall. You're a grown man, Jung Daehyun, he mentally growls, get a hold of yourself. 

"I'm glad you do," Youngjae smiles, "because..." He pauses for a moment, rubbing at the paint staining his fingers. "Because," he finally confesses, “you were my inspiration for all of this." 

Daehyun looks back at him with wide eyes, before looking around the room again. "Me? The inspiration for all of this?" he asks in disbelief, "What did I do to inspire you?" 

Youngjae chuckles and scratches the back of his neck. "Honestly, I was about to give up on being an artist all-together," he says embarrassingly, brushing the hair out of his face with the back of his hand. "I had no inspiration at all and nothing I drew would come out right. But then I met you," Youngjae grins, "And suddenly, it all came back to me. After every conversation we had, I would have a new idea – then all of these were created." 

"I... I still don't understand," Daehyun mumbles, fingers brushing against another painting. This one was of the time they went to the Eiffel tower together; Youngjae had said he wanted to see it at sunset so he could paint it one day. "Why... How could I have helped you draw all of this?" 

The artist turns to look at him, biting his lip slightly; it was a habit Daehyun noticed him doing often when he was nervous.

"I paint when I'm happy," Youngjae says quietly. "You made me happy." 

Daehyun stares at him and the other stares back, before he leans forward to press his lips against the younger man's. Daehyun can feel him smiling into the kiss, and he gently cups Youngjae's face in his palms. 

When they pull away, Daehyun presses his forehead against Youngjae's and searches for his fingers with his own. As they link together, he smiles and squeezes slightly, just to make sure that oh my god that really just happened. 

"I'm glad I forgot my cell phone that day," Daehyun murmurs, his free hand reaching up to caress the artist's cheek. "I'm glad we met." 

Youngjae squeezes his fingers back and grins; Daehyun has to remember to breathe. 

"I'm glad we met too." 


                                                                                                                         ***


When Youngjae eventually shows Daehyun the portrait he did of him earlier, he has to turn his head away in embarrassment. 

"See, I caught the blush on your cheeks perfectly!" 

"Shut up, Jae." 

The younger laughs in response. 

A/N; wow it's been almost half a year i'm so sorry ;____; I completely lost inspiration for writing in general and this is kind of rushed because I still haven't gotten that inspiration completely back yet but I didn't want to just leave this unfinished so OTL sorry for the long wait and bad ending and yes sorry;;;

P.S; also aren't they the cutest things ever sobs