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“And… ok, good!” Seungmin flashes a thumbs up over the camera after he takes the last photo. He lowers it and pushes a button, looking through the camera roll.
“Thank god! My neck was starting to hurt!” Hyunjin says from down the sidewalk, and Seungmin smiles as he watches his friend flounce toward him, hopping over the sidewalk cracks. Hyunjin rests his elbows on Seungmin’s shoulders and leans in. His breath tickles Seungmin’s ear, and Seungmin tries not to shiver. “Show me the photos, Minnie!” Hyunjin says excitedly, shaking Seungmin’s shoulders.
Seungmin rolls his eyes, even though smile’s already spreading on his face. “Here’s the best one,” he says, flicking to the last photo he took of Hyunjin.
Hyunjin’s standing underneath a flowering cherry blossom tree in the photo, head tilted back like he’s looking at the perfect blue sky through the branches. It’s a side profile, so only half of Hyunjin’s face is visible, but even that’s enough to make Seungmin’s heart squeeze.
Hyunjin lifts one of his bony forearms off Seungmin’s shoulder and reaches for the camera, tilting it towards him. “Oh, Seungmin,” he says, slightly breathless, “it’s perfect!” He pulls Seungmin into a side-hug since Seungmin told him to be careful around his nice, expensive camera.
“Oh, please,” Seungmin says, “it’s nowhere near perfect. The angle’s a little off - see the tree branch in the upper corner? And I probably should’ve crouched down to take the photo, it would’ve made you look taller if I’d taken it from the ground– ”
He gets cut off when Hyunjin puts a hand over his mouth. “No, no self-deprecating comments on my watch. You promised, remember?” Seungmin rolls his eyes and nods since his mouth is still covered. Content with his response, Hyunjin lowers his hand from Seungmin’s mouth.
“You know, there’s a reason why you’re the only one I trust to take photos of me,” Hyunjin says, so quietly he’s almost mumbling. Hyunjin’s hand brushes Seungmin’s for a fraction of a second and Seungmin’s heart swells. Hyunjin’s looking at him intently, his expression soft and ethereal. If Seungmin hadn’t already beaten down his hopeless crush on his roommate a year ago, he’d think they’re having a Moment with a capital ‘M.’
Seungmin gulps and tries to breathe evenly. “Yeah, why?” he asks in what he hopes is a nonchalant voice.
“It’s because you’re good at this, Seungmin. I know you like to tell yourself otherwise, but that’s exactly why I’m here,” Hyunjin says. He lightly holds onto Seungmin’s fingers, and one corner of his mouth turns up prettily. Seungmin holds back a whine at the touch. Any longer, and he’ll turn into a disaster panicked gay real fast.
“I’m here to tell you that you’re good at what you do, and as long as we’re friends, I’ll keep doing just that.” Hyunjin finishes his sentimental speech with a smile that stretches to his eyes. That’s when Seungmin decides he’s had enough of this emotional rollercoaster. He tugs his fingers out of Hyunjin’s grip and busies himself with his camera, which is why he doesn’t catch Hyunjin’s smile falling off his face.
When Seungmin looks up again, Hyunjin’s got a replacement smile on his face, not quite as big as the one before. Seungmin points an accusing finger at Hyunjin and says, “That was the sappiest, corniest line I’ve ever heard. You ever thought about acting in a drama?” Hyunjin laughs, the high-pitched one, and Seungmin rolls his eyes while he waits for Hyunjin to collect himself. “Come on,” he says, turning and beckoning to Hyunjin, “let’s go to the dorm. I’ve got a quiz in Art Survey tomorrow I should study for.” Hyunjin nods and falls into step with Seungmin.
Seungmin doesn’t talk on the walk home; Hyunjin talks enough for both of them. He just listens with a smile playing on his lips as Hyunjin squeals at an adorable puppy out on a walk with its owner on the other side of the street. Seungmin grips his camera, even though it’s looped around his neck with a strap, and tries to force the memory of Hyunjin’s hand gently wrapping around his fingers out of his mind.
***
Between classes, Seungmin finds a bench on the edge of a little patch of greenery on campus. It’s not windy enough for a jacket, and it’s not sunny enough that Seungmin has to wear short-sleeves to be comfortable; perfect weather. He pulls his camera out of his backpack and flicks through the camera roll, out of habit. Almost every photo has Hyunjin in it, either smiling all the evil in the world away or posing like the model he totally could be if he hadn’t thought that one guy who’d scouted him on the street was scamming him.
Seungmin shakes his head as he remembers Hyunjin telling him that story. Hyunjin was offended that someone thought he’s the type of person that could be scammed, while Seungmin argued that people who get scammed and Hyunjin fall into the same category since Hyunjin had turned down one of the most well-known modeling agencies in Korea. Hyunjin had huffed, crossed his arms, and refused to speak to Seungmin for all of thirty minutes before he asked if Seungmin wanted to go for a walk and take photos.
Great, and now he’s smiling like an idiot, in public of all places. Seungmin tries to hide it, but he supposes even the thought of Hyunjin is too happiness-inducing, so he lets the silly grin spread on his face as he keeps going through his camera roll.
“Hullo, Seungmin, how you going?” Seungmin jumps at the voice, only to glare at the owner as he plops down beside Seungmin on the bench.
“Felix, my man, my bro, you gotta stop doing that,” Seungmin says, clapping a hand on Felix’s shoulder. Felix, in typical Felix fashion, laughs it off and shrugs Seungmin’s hand off his shoulder.
“Aw, but you love me anyway,” Felix grins, and Seungmin begrudgingly nods, even though he’s rolling his eyes on the inside. Felix scoots closer on the bench and peers over Seungmin’s shoulder. “What’cha looking at that’s making you grin like that for?” Felix asks.
Seungmin holds the camera away from Felix, yelling, “Get your tiny hands away from my nice camera!” Of course, when Felix pulls out the old puppy-dog eyes and jutted-out bottom lip, Seungmin relents and holds the camera so Felix can watch him flick through the camera roll. The smile on his friend’s face when he does so is enough for Seungmin, but it makes Seungmin wonder who would win in a ‘make Seungmin do stuff by guilt-tripping him with adorableness,’ Hyunjin, or Felix.
Nah, Hyunjin would totally win. In Seungmin’s opinion, anyway.
“You’ve got a lot of photos of this Hyunjin guy, Seungmin,” Felix points out.
Seungmin nods. “Well, out of the two of us, I’ve got the better camera, so I take photos of him and send them to him so he can edit them and post them on Instagram. It’s nothing more than that, really,” Seungmin says, but by the look on Felix’s face, Seungmin knows he’s the only one he’s trying to convince. Felix, if Seungmin is deciphering the raised eyebrow and pitying eyes correctly, believes something else.
“You know, I read something the other day,” Felix says. He kicks the pavement with his shoes, making an annoying scuffing sound. It does have a rhythm, but Seungmin’s too peeved to appreciate that.
“Well that’s new,” Seungmin says on autopilot. Felix glares at him, but at least he stops scuffing his shoes, and Seunngmin sighs with relief. “Sorry, that was rude of me. Please continue.”
Felix rolls his eyes and looks at the pavement again but doesn’t scuff it this time. “It was some BuzzFeed article, obviously not super academic. Something like ‘5 Signs You’re In Love, But You Don’t Know It.’ Anyway, I was gonna skip it, ‘cause like, why would I read that, you know? But the preview of the article said something about photos, and I know you like photography, so I clicked on it for you. So I could tell you to look for signs of love in your life.”
Seungmin holds up a hand. “Okay, first of all, I just wanted to thank you, and the Academy, for being so incredibly interested in my nonexistent love life that you read a mind-numbing BuzzFeed article for me. That is, undoubtedly, true friendship, so thank you, from the bottom of my – ” Seungmin stops when Felix punches his arm. “Hey! I was in the middle of my acceptance speech,” Seungmin whines as he nurses his arm. Felix may not look that intimidating, but he apparently packs a punch.
“Can I finish?” he asks now that he’s got Seungmin’s attention. Seungmin nods reluctantly and slumps back on the bench. Felix shakes some hair out of his face before continuing. “Now, before I was so rudely interrupted, I was going to say that the article mentioned something about the photos you take. It said that we subconsciously take photos of the things we love the most. So, by default, the person you love the most, maybe even the person you’re in love with, is the person that appears the most in your camera roll.” Felix looks pointedly at Seungmin’s camera, and Seungmin clutches it close to his chest, offended.
“Felix, don’t be ridiculous. I got over my crush on Hyunjin a year ago. Any love that’s between us is purely platonic. You know, best friend kind of love,” Seungmin says, even though it falls on deaf ears, so he’s just reasoning with himself again. “Besides, your article didn’t specify between platonic and romantic love, right? So, your assumption is still correct, but under different circumstances. I love Hyunjin, but only as a – ”
Felix raises an eyebrow when Seungmin stops talking. It’s not a skeptical eyebrow raise, it’s a concerned one. “You okay, Seungmin?” he asks. Seungmin stands up so suddenly that Felix falls off the bench in surprise, nearly whacking his head on the seat.
“I have to go,” he announces, stuffing his camera into his backpack and sliding the straps over his shoulders. “Nice talking to you, Felix! And thank you!” he shouts as he sprints across campus.
Felix watches Seungmin run from his spot on the ground and shakes his head. “Oh, to be young, dumb, and in love,” he says to himself, and uses the bench to pull himself up from the ground.
***
“Hyunjin!” Seungmin shouts as he throws open the door to their dorm so hard, it bangs into the wall and bounces off it. He winces at the noise and grabs the handle, guiding the door shut, to make up for treating it so badly when he walked, nay, charged into the dorm.
Hyunjin’s head appears as he peeks around the wall. His forehead is scrunched in worry. “Was that you with the door? Are you okay?” Hyunjin asks, fully appearing from around the corner and starts coming closer.
Seungmin nods. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just… I need to talk to you. Right now,” he says. He stares Hyunjin right in the eye, so harshly that Hyunjin seems to cower a little.
“Is it an emergency? Is it important?” Hyunjin asks, voice laced with worry.
“It is to me,” Seungmin says in a small voice.
Hyunjin smiles a small smile, relieved. “Okay, then. Let’s sit on my bed, I know you washed your sheets a few days ago.” Seungmin sighs and follows Hyunjin further into the dorm. He smiles internally at Hyunjin remembering when he did his laundry, not to mention his distaste of people sitting on his bed. Naturally, he’d make an exception for Hyunjin, but Hyunjin’s hospitality, even in their shared dorm, means everything to him.
Even in the past minute, Seungmin’s managed to fall even more in love with Hwang Hyunjin.
“Here,” Hyunjin says, shoving a textbook onto the floor, making space for Seungmin. He pats the bed and Seungmin sits down and shrugs off his backpack. “What was it that you needed to talk to me about?”
Seungmin sighs. He pulls out his camera and opens the camera roll, leaning over so Hyunjin can watch him flick through it. “Look at all these photos,” he says, pausing on one where Hyunjin’s smile looks like it could cure cancer.
“There’s a lot of me in here,” Hyunjin remarks. He leans closer to Seungmin, head resting the slightest bit on Seungmin’s shoulder. Seungmin’s heart rejoices when Hyunjin does this, but rational Seungmin wants Hyunjin to go away since Seungmin can smell the body wash Hyunjin used when he showered this morning and Seungmin really doesn’t need to be thinking about Hyunjin showering right now.
“Felix told me something earlier,” Seungmin starts. “He said that we take photos of the things we love the most, the thing we hold closest to our hearts.” Hyunjin’s expression is blank as he looks at Seungmin, waiting. Seungmin could’ve sworn he sees something flicker across Hyunjin’s face – hope?
“What do the photos on your camera have anything to do with that?” Hyunjin asks. He tilts his head in the most perfect way and Seungmin nearly swoons, that’s how far gone he is.
“I love you,” Seungmin blurts out. He’s surprised at his own bluntness, and by the look of it, Hyunjin is too. Despite that, Seungmin carries on. “I thought you were just a crush I could get over – I thought I got over you. But these photos – they’re proof that I never got over you, that I just kept on falling for you.” Seungmin stops and fiddles with a few buttons on his camera until Hyunjin’s hand covers Seungmin’s as he finds the ‘off’ button. Seungmin’s cheeks promptly blush when Hyunjin’s fingers touch his.
“I tried to tell Felix I only loved you as a friend, but – ” Seungmin’s voice breaks. “I couldn’t. I couldn’t lie to myself anymore.” Seungmin breathes in and rolls back his shoulders. He looks at Hyunjin’s face, which resembles curiosity and kindness more than anything, and shrugs. “That’s what I came to tell you.” He moves to get off the bed and get to class when he’s pulled back onto Hyunjin’s bed by a sharp tug from Hyunjin on his arm. “What?” Seungmin asks, voice hushed.
Hyunjin sighs. “I should’ve known I have an idiot for a best friend.”
Seungmin’s mouth falls open. “Whattya mean, I’m an idiot?” he sputters, “I’ll have you know after the first semester exams I placed second-highest among the art students – that stupid Jisung guy beat me, I don’t know how – ”
“Seungmin?”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
And Hyunjin’s leaning forward, fingers tickling the back of Seungmin’s neck as he kisses him. Seungmin’s eyes go wide with surprise when Hyunjin’s lips meet his. After a bit, he relaxes a little, and his eyes flutter shut as he leans in and moves his mouth against Hyunjin’s. He figures he must be doing something right when a little gasp flies out of Hyunjin’s parted lips. Hyunjin jerks away at the noise and covers his face, clearly embarrassed.
Seungmin giggles at his friend’s flushed state. “Don’t be shy, Hyunjinnie, you’re a great kisser,” Seungmin says and pats Hyunjin’s knee. Hyunjin peeks through his fingers, and from the way his eyes crinkle up, Seungmin can tell he’s smiling.
“So, you like me?” Seungmin asks, smirking.
Hyunjin’s response is to hit Seungmin repeatedly with his pillow. “What do you think, Minnie?” Hyunjin asks between pillow smacks. Seungmin just laughs and covers his face with his arms. The onslaught stops after a moment and Seungmin sits up cautiously. Hyunjin’s hugging his pillow, cradled between his crossed legs. “Of course I like you,” comes Hyunjin’s quiet confession.
Seungmin can’t help the giant smile spreading on his face. “That’s good.”
Hyunjin smiles back and yanks on Seungmin’s arm and Seungmin ends up crushing him before he rolls to the side. “So,” Seungmin says, propping his head up with his hand, “what do you wanna do for our first date?”
Hyunjin’s face lights up. “We should go take some photos,” Hyunjin says, and nuzzles his head into Seungmin’s shoulder, and lets out a content sigh. “I don’t have nearly enough of you in my camera roll.”