Chapter Text
(Shades of you) Kwon Jaehyuk and Seo Yeon-oh’s first chemistry test
For the first few seconds, the screen is completely black. There are quite a few muffled voices that can be heard in the background, but no proper words can be distinguished. There is the distant screeching of a chair or table leg over a wooden floor, then slight ruffling, pages being flipped in a hurry, making one’s heart start fluttering in anticipation along with them.
In the next couple of seconds, the video opens with a blank white wall, and the noise quiets down to an almost imperceptible crackling.
Brown locks falling tenderly over his forehead, eyes cast downwards and accentuating his long lashes, Seo Yeon-oh walks into frame first. If anyone has any doubts regarding his identity, the small mole sitting right under his eye clears them, like a guiding star. The milky beige cardigan he is wearing makes him look angelic, worthy of his nation-wide agreed upon moniker. And, despite the countless years in the industry and the even more numerous auditions and chemistry tests, he looks oddly on edge.
“Were you looking for me, Sir?” He speaks, voice clear as a crystal, betraying none of the nerves he seems to be harboring, a testament to his talent and professionalism.
“And what if I were?”
Kwon Jaehyuk’s voice is unmistakable. Half the world’s population would be able to pick it out after only a few words, after having heard it everywhere for eight years, in cafes and elevators, on TV, on the internet and in their households. His grave tone, worthy of his lengthy former rapper career, seems to change the atmosphere in the video in an instant. When he steps into the frame too, dark hair and dark turtleneck, the contrast is enough to elicit a gasp from even the most unimpressionable soul.
He is very visibly awkward, and their eyes don’t quite seem to know the road to one another.
“If you were, I would very much like to know why.”
After a beat of silence, when the screen almost looks frozen, both their heads move in frightening coordination, and their gazes finally catch.
The stalemate they are locked in lasts and lasts, with such an intensity that any viewer would eventually forget to wonder if this is the Baek Jeonghun and Kwon Hyun-woo in the script that they are seeing on their screens or Kwon Jaehyuk and Seo Yeon-oh properly sizing each other up from up close for the first time. With so much time and space in between, it would be impossible for anyone to even guess.
“Let’s say I was simply curious. You intrigue me, Mr. Baek Jeonghun.”
With a scoff, the other man smirks. “I’m not a painting, Mr. Kwon, in case you haven’t noticed. I don’t know if I should feel flattered by your confession, considering your reputation, which I’m sure you’re aware of, or offended by the look in your eyes, which would seem more appropriate for an object than a human.”
“Oh, I am very aware of my reputation.”
“Is that the only point I made that you are willing to acknowledge?”
“What kind of fool would incriminate himself?”
“So you do agree a crime has been committed. I’m afraid you have just answered your own question. Sir.”
The taller man inclines his head. His eyes narrow and, for reasons unknown to everyone but to him - and perhaps even to him -, dart sideways once, twice, enough times to get noticed, before they land on Seo Yeon-oh again.
“I will be very frank. I want to paint you, Mr. Baek Jeonghun.”
When the scene ends, it’s more than obvious. The two actors turn toward the camera almost in unison. Kwon Jaehyuk coughs into his fist. Seo Yeon-oh’s cheekbones are dusted with a faint rosy color.
The screen turns black again and the video ends.