“You’re not going to ignore me for your notepad, are you?” Jiyong asks, only half serious, as he takes a bite of his meal.

“Of course not,” Seunghyun laughs. His eyes flick up to Jiyong’s face, noting the way his lips curve down in a soft pout and how there’s just a bit of food peeking out of Jiyong’s lips. He smiles wider and looks back down at his notepad.

“What are you doing?” Jiyong asks, rocking forward on his ankles to peek over at Seungyun’s work. Seunghyun clutches the pad close to his chest and kisses Jiyong on the nose.

“You can’t see it until I’m done,” he says, adopting a horrible fake accent. Jiyong rolls back on his ankles, sitting once more. He still looks confused, but doesn’t argue.

Seunghyun’s eyes continue to flick between his notepad and the blond boys face, and it takes only a couple minutes for Jiyong to realize what’s actually going on.

“You’re not drawing me, are you?” he asks, his face lighting up in a smile. Seunghyun only nods, staring at his work in concentration. Jiyong lets out a laugh. “I’m afraid I’m a horrible model.”

“No no,” Seunghyun disagrees quickly, still using his fake accent. “If I could just ask you to pose a certain way, however,” he says, his face lighting up in a devious smile. He orders Jiyong around, getting him to twist his limbs in various uncomfortable ways, until he settles on a pose. All the while, Jiyong is playing along, his eyes lighting up and a sweet laugh spilling from his lips.

People stop to stare at the two of them—surely not because they believe for a second that Seunghyun’s fake accent is real, nor that he’s actually an artist, but probably something more along the lines of  wondering what the hell the two of them are doing, or why they’re causing such a ruckus. But Seunghyun doesn’t care, and he can tell Jiyong’s never had a day in his life where he’s cared what someone else thinks about him. And so they carry on.

“You know when I was in art school, my biggest inspiration was Monet,” Seunghyun says, spouting off a story in his terrible accent. He purposely pronounces the ‘t’ and Jiyong cringes slightly.

“Monet,” Jiyong corrects gently with a soft laugh.

“That is what I said,” Seunghyun nods. “Monet.” He earns another laugh from Jiyong. “Anyway, I have always wanted to be able to paint like him, but my teacher looked at my work, and she tells me my paintings are no good,” he’s waving his arms around wildly, and if there was anyone in the park that hadn’t stopped to stare at the two before, they’re definitely staring now. “So she tell me I am only good at drawing. So that is what I do. I draw. And I draw only the finest models.”

“Well, I am flattered to work with you, Mr. Lee,” Jiyong says, giggling and playing along. “My first modeling gig was in Milan, and you know, they speak very highly of you there.”

“In Milan?” Seunghyun asks. “Milan is a pleasant place. I’ve only sketched there twice, of course, but there were lots of willing models. Sometimes that’s hard to find.”

“What do you mean?” Jiyong asks. “You’re so easy to work with,” he winks in Seunghyun’s direction.

“Oh you know, sometimes people are very shy about their bodies,” Seunghyun elaborates. “But in Milan, everyone was jumping up and down to be a model,” he laughs as he notes the slight pink that tinges Jiyong’s cheeks. He can feel a slight blush creeping up his own. “It is a pity I didn’t see you there.”

“I don’t know that I would have volunteered,” Jiyong says, covering his—still clothed—body with his hands and feigning modesty. “I have to make sure your work is good first,” he says, sticking his tongue out playfully.

“Well would you like to see for yourself, mister faithless?” Seunghyun asks, offering his notepad to the blond.

“Oh, are you finished already?” Jiyong asks, not dropping his model façade for an instant. “You work quickly, Mr. Lee.”

“Well, I am a professional,” Seunghyun says with a slight bow of the head as Jiyong takes the notepad for him. His dark eyes narrow and flit across the page, studying each line. He brings his fingers up to his chin and taps them once or twice.

“Your line work is very serious,” Jiyong says, beginning his mock critique. “The piece seems very concentrated, yet loose and flowing at the same time. I think you captured my eyebrows quite nicely.”

“Yes, well they are my favorite feature,” Seunghyun says matter of factly. “It is a rather good piece, don’t you think?” he scoots closer to Jiyong, and looks at his (horrible) work over Jiyong’s shoulder.

“It’s going to go up in a museum someday,” Jiyong says seriously, nodding in agreement. To Seunghyun’s surprise—and more importantly, his embarrassment—Jiyong grabs the attention of the next passerby. “Excuse me, miss,” he says, and she turns with wide eyes.

“Jiyong, what are you doing?” Seunghyun says, instantly breaking character. He didn’t mind people staring at them, but purposefully involving them in their charade was a little beyond his comfort zone. Jiyong ignores him and proudly displays Seunghyun’s scribbles. The woman he’s stopped does a terrible job at attempting to mask her distaste, pursing her lips slightly.

 “How much would you pay for a piece like this?” Jiyong asks.

“You’d be lucky to get 6,000 won,” she says honestly. Her voice isn’t cold, and Seunghyun thinks she’s trying to hold back a laugh.

“What?” Jiyong says, in overly dramatic surprise. He flips the drawing around so that he can see it again. “Only 60,000 won for a piece like this? It was drawn by the great Mr. Lee Seunghyun himself. His name on the page alone is worth 150,000 won!”

“Right,” the woman says, a little incredulously.

“A masterpiece like this belongs in a museum, or a highly esteemed gallery,”Jiyong gushes. He rambles on for a bit, building up the piece and making it sound like it really was something to be admired. Jiyong’s praises—despite the fact that they were not genuine—made Seunghyun swell with pride. He wanted to be able to evoke true praise from Jiyong. To show him something that was truly well done and meaningful.

Of course, that was what his book was for.

After Jiyong had finished babbling, and the woman had let out a good laugh, she bowed and departed, and Seunghyun and Jiyong were left to their own devices once more.

“I’m going to keep it then,” Jiyong says, huffily. “If that simple woman doesn’t want to own a piece that could be worth millions in the future, it’s her loss.”

Seunghyun laughs as Jiyong leans his back against Seunghyun’s chest. Jiyong lets out a sigh and examines the drawing once more.

“Where did you learn to draw?” he asks, finally. “The zoo?”