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One day Lee Cheonghyeon came back with a cart.
“Hyung,” he said, smiling radiantly. “I bought back graffiti.”
Kim Iwol reacted instinctively. First, an incredulous stare, next, well hidden panic. Was Lee Cheonghyeon falling into the path of a delinquent? “You have too much time,” he said. “Go practice.” Then: “What will your fans think when they see the visual of spArk falling into the path of a delinquent?” The graffiti was gathered up, the cart was pushed out of sight.
Lee Cheonghyeon chased after him. “Wait — wait, hyung! Hyung.” A hand grabbed onto Kim Iwol’s sleeve and he paused briefly, glaring down at Lee Cheonghyeon. The meaning was clear, you better have a good excuse.
Lee Cheonghyeon smiled again. “It’s for us,” he said.
So Lee Cheonghyeon wanted to paint a mural of spArk —
“No, hyung,” Lee Cheonghyeon said patiently. Beside him, Choi Jeho was visibly tired. Kim Iwol looked at him accusingly, what was the use of being a hyung if he couldn’t stop Lee Cheonghyeon from delinquency? I trusted you, he thought.
As if hearing his thoughts, Choi Jeho’s brow wrinkled further. Then he rolled over on the couch. Lee Cheonghyeon continued his explanation, uncaring of Choi Jeho’s motionless body.
“Think about it,” he said. “Something for us. Something for spArk.”
“I thought you liked our matching workout clothes.”
Ignoring Kim Iwol blatantly, Lee Cheonghyeon continued. “Even Joowoo hyung agreed,” he said blithely. He held up the can of spray paint. Kim Iwol snatched it back. Lee Cheonghyeon pulled out another from behind his back. “Besides, this way it’ll be permanent. We’ll see it everyday.”
And that was exactly why Kim Iwol didn’t want it. To begin with: wouldn’t the sight of their faces that couldn’t possibly be wholly encapsulated by a mural be a disservice? Wouldn’t seeing Kim Iwol’s comparatively plainer face next to their wintry cold ones lead to him being kicked out?
And, importantly: when he left, wouldn’t a painted over patch of wall be uncomfortable to look at everyday?
Kim Iwol said, “Humility is a virtue for idols.”
Choi Jeho raised his head to look at him incredulously.
“Hi, Sparklers~”
— how do they wake up looking this perfect
— did they run out of space on the whiteboard and switch to writing on walls?
The comments flew by quickly. With the familiarity and skill of someone who stalked streams tirelessly for Manager Nam’s daughter, Kim Iwol read everything with a casual glance. “I hope everyone has been well,” he said. “Today we’re painting a mural.”
He’d made Lee Cheonghyeon return the spray cans for something classier. Now, he nodded to himself. It was a good choice.
Lee Cheonghyeon dressed in overalls with a headband brushing his hair away, exposing his face to all smiled like a flower blooming in the warm rays of sunlight. “Of us!” He winked and leant forward, as if sharing a secret. The paintbrush waved beside his face, stained with blue. “It’s so everyone can always appreciate cutie visual Lee Cheonghyeon.”
— emperor centre choi jeho should be in the centre then haha
— ^^^
— spArk can run, sing, play music, dance, and even draw….
— cheonghyeon-ah noona will break open her wallet for you
Lee Cheonghyeon skimmed the comments with easy grace. He really had come so far from the original spArk, where livestreams consisted of freezing at the overwhelming fandom wars happening within the comment section.
In the warm lighting of the room, Lee Cheonghyeon smiled at Kim Iwol. “I already have a composition in mind,” he said.
The composition was as follows:
Jeong Seongbin, Choi Jeho, Kim Iwol, Lee Cheonghyeon, Kang Kiyeon, and Park Joowoo.
Kim Iwol squinted at the draft. “This composition makes no sense,” he said. It wasn’t even in height order. “Maybe we should do age order?” That way, it’d be easier to paint over him if he was at the end of the line up.
Lee Cheonghyeon laughed brightly. “No,” he said. “I want hyung to be in the middle.” Kim Iwol froze, this was on live stream. He looked up to meet Jeong Seongbin’s eyes from where he was mixing the paints.
Jeong Seongbin stared back levelly. “I think the composition is great,” he said.
“Thanks, hyung!”
— lee cheonghyeon loves his members more than us spArklers could, huh?
— cheonghyeon-ah TT.TT
— kim iwol is always so exact,, but hes right it really is a bad comp
The saving grace was that none of them were good painters.
Kim Iwol studiously avoided his own likeliness. Instead, he concentrated on Lee Cheonghyeon. The eyes, eyelashes, eyebrows — as expected, he nodded to himself, he really couldn’t capture Lee Cheonghyeon’s visuals.
Behind him, Kang Kiyeon was closing up the stream admirably. It had been 2 hours since they started, after all.
Kim Iwol turned to give a heart, dropping the paint brush on the ground. He smiled and said his goodbyes, but distantly his heart was pounding uncomfortable. Something itched at the sight he saw while turning around: Lee Cheonghyeon, painting Kim Iwol with startling attention. The painting looked -- it looked good. In it, Kim Iwol's gaze was severe, and yet there was a curve to his lips. The face was smudged with paint; Lee Cheonghyeon had clearly painted and repainted it multiple times.
He wished — he wished for another composition.
“Hey —”
“I like the composition fine, hyung.” Lee Cheonghyeon’s tone was warm. Kim Iwol stared back steadily despite the piercing gaze.
“…”
“And I’m never going to paint over it.”
No use arguing. He’d change his mind. “…I was going to say that you’re painting Choi Jeho’s ears too big,” he said quietly. There were other ways, he affirmed. They could wallpaper it up. They could move dorms. There was a multitude of ways in which Kim Iwol could leave quietly; covering it up wouldn’t be too hard.
Lee Cheonghyeon stared for a moment more, then he laughed. Bright, sharp. Kang Kiyeon’s hand settled on his arm, faltering. He looked alarmed at his friend’s atypical behaviour, and Kim Iwol felt rooted into place. Something hid beneath his tongue, he swallowed back the ache.
“Don’t frown,” he said. “You’ll get wrinkles.”