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Hyunjin wanted to smack his head against the desk. A class of sixty students and the professor wanted individual introductions. He, thank god, was early in the alphabet and was able to get his piece over and done with. The professor meant well, he could see how earnest they were, responding to everyone’s answer as if they’ve dropped an important piece of wisdom. But the responses were getting drier and more repetitive as each student shared.
He could feel his leg shaking with impatience and had already repositioned himself twice to try and keep himself attentive. Sitting in a class was never his forte, especially when he found the concepts drier than the paint on his nails. He examined them now, keeping himself from picking at the designs he put on last night in prep for his first day of classes.
His pen was tapping against his mouth and his attention pulled the window to the side of the lecture hall. There was a vine crawling up the side, gripping on the brick that surrounded the window. The leaves fluttered with the breeze he wished he could feel outside, and automatically he started drawing the pointed tips, starting at his wrist. Soon he was enraptured, looking to the window for reference as he copied the patterns further up onto his forearm. The leaves soon become less of a copy and more artist interpretation as he reached the crease of his elbow. He put the usual little dragon character into the pattern of one of the leaves, a signature of sorts. He went back to shade and add more shadows to the existing piece and before he knew it people were standing up around him.
He blinks around and sees the student next to him smirk at his bewilderment, but confirms class was over, with zero classwork addressed. He thanks her sincerely for the clarification and picks up his bag before loping towards the door. As he reached up, he sees something on the inside of his left wrist that hadn’t been there a second ago. He squints at it as he continues down the hall towards his next class. It looked like a code, a short series of both letters and numbers, but in English, like usual. He takes a picture before it inevitably gets smeared, adding it to his library of clues on his phone.
He hadn’t taken the soulmate connections seriously until recently, as whoever his soulmate was hardly ever wrote on their skin. Something must have changed as in the past two years, he’s been getting more frequent transmissions, and sometimes in Korean. It gave him hope, as before he had relented that he would never meet or be able to communicate with his soulmate, and thought of the connection as a pen-pal before anything more serious. The connection kept hidden their names, for some reason destiny never wanted to make things simple. When they were much younger, they were able to give each other a simple clue, his soulmate was a dragon and he was a star.
There were too many potential names to try and narrow it down, but Hyunjin liked the ambiguity of their identity. He knew people that had found their soulmates, and it was never on purpose and never when they expected. One couple he knew that found out had known each other for years but always happened to wear long sleeves and missed any sort of marks over and over again, despite being right next to each other. When they finally figured it out, it felt like a piece of the puzzle lying in place a little closer.
Hyunjin had long accepted that destiny was in charge and no amount of trying would bring his soulmate closer. It didn’t stop him from keeping track, or the smile that came up on his face when he thought of the vines he had inadvertently given them for the day. He would wash them once he got to art class, respecting that maybe his soulmate didn’t want a half sleeve for the entire day.
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Felix couldn’t help the blush that started when he saw the marks start on his left arm. Thankfully he had learned to bring some sort of long sleeve everywhere, as his soulmate reliably doodled at least once a day. In the back of class though, he didn’t rush to pull the sweater from his bag and watched as the leaves slowly turned into a curling vine up his arm. The teacher was going through the syllabus, something Felix already combed over before his classes started and inserted all important deadlines into his planner. He wasn’t always organized and would slowly lose track of things as the semester got busier, but he did at least try to help himself in the long run to be successful.
About twenty minutes later, the class was close to end time and the vines on his arm had the final shading added to it. He noticed the dragon near his elbow, a common item in all the artwork. He took a quick picture before pulling out both his sweater and his planner out of his bag. He loved the doodles, his soulmate a true artist, and he enjoyed that whoever they were shared the art with him as often as they did. His parents didn’t care for it, as well as his place of employment, which is why he came prepared. Sweater on, he flipped through the pages to check where he was off to next before quickly writing the location of his next class onto his wrist. He was getting better at Korean, but when stressed, he often fell back onto his native English to ensure he understood.
The professor dismissed the class in the next minute, and then he was off, trying to recall from his earlier scouting the route to his next course. The leaves peaked out from under his cuff as he checked his wrist to compare to the class numbers he was passing, a warmth unfurling in his chest. He really did love the art, it always brought him some comfort, especially when stressed. His soulmate seemed to know whenever he was a little too far into his own head somehow, and almost instantly something beautiful would appear. They seemed to prefer natural forms, flowers, nature and the like. Every once in a while it was cartoonish figures or sometimes writing, a few stanzas of Korean that Felix was slowly working on translating. Which is why he took the pictures. Sometimes there were patterns of topics his soulmate would be into for a couple of weeks, and after some googling, Felix would find the connection to a book of poems, or a European artist that his soulmate was emulating with the doodles on his arm. Every line was a piece of the person Felix was patiently waiting to find.
He was taught from a young age to not take it too seriously and to leave it in the back of his mind. Fate didn’t reward the impatient, and he could be making himself a better person in the meantime. Which Felix did, working hard to get the grades and got the opportunity to study abroad with a scholarship. Wanting to connect better with his Korean heritage, he started to learn the language through classes in Australia before moving to Seoul. The culture shift was rough, the little language he did know seemed pitiful compared to the native speakers.
Thankfully, through the school, he was connected to Chris, a fellow Aussie, who helped him with the transition and connected him to other friends, so he wasn’t entirely on his own. Having people that he could practice with and be patient with him as he stumbled through the sentence structures and pronunciation was invaluable, and now two years into his program, he was very nearly confident.
When practicing for a particular interaction, whether it be the doctors or immigration, Felix would sometimes write a cheat sheet on his arm, a few Korean phrases that he would mutter to himself on the bus, determined to be able to do it on his own without Google translate coming out. His soulmate would sometimes edit the phrase a little, adding a longer stroke to a character, or changing the order to make more sense, which he was forever grateful for. The help, as little as it was, pushed him to try even harder. And now that he knew his soulmate at least understood Korean, the glimmer of hope they would meet grew a little brighter.
His star. Felix smiled to himself as he thought back to the doodles they sent each other as kids. They couldn’t learn each other's names, but Felix often referred to them as his star. It was much easier than dragon, but of course his soulmate had no problem drawing a convincing dragon at a young age. Thank god he was able to make a star no problem.
He checked his wrist one more time to ensure he had reached his destination before pulled the sleeve down further. Chris and a few friends were joining him here, and even though everyone was aware of the soulmates, Felix preferred to keep his private. Not out of embarrassment, but safe. He would hate for their introduction to be interfered with outside of fate.
He wouldn’t let himself get too disappointed later when he got home to find both his own ink and his star’s erased away.
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They get introduced to each other by Chris.
Hyunjin is invited by Chris to study at the library as they share an elective together and sees Chris already smiling with someone beside him. The blonde stranger has his head turned away from him, but he’s wrapped in a knit sweater that hangs over wrists as he gestures along with his quiet story. Hyunjin smiles at the way the both of them seem so animated, Chris’s smile so big as he covers his laugh with his hand and looking away and seeing Hyunjin. He immediately waves him over, the infectious energy spreading already as Hyunjin feels his own smile widen to match his.
“Felix, this is Hyunjin, Hyunjin, Felix.” Chris makes the introductions quickly and Felix stands to bow automatically. When he turns to face Hyunjin, he can feel his eyes widen as his takes in warm brown eyes, freckles that dot across his nose and cheeks like constellations and smile that short circuits his brain. He was slightly shorter than Hyunjin, but his aura was warm and welcoming. Hyunjin was torn between feeling the sweetest comfort and ecstatic nervousness.
“Nice to meet -” Felix starts in English before quickly correcting himself and repeating a respectful Korean greeting, using the bow to break embarrassed eye contact. Hyunjin’s smile softens as he returns the bow, feeling like he needed to do everything to keep him comfortable.
“Nice to meet you too,” Hyunjin replies in English, a little embarrassed for the broken flow and heavier accent. Felix’s eyes shoot up to meet his in surprise and Hyunjin feels his heart stutter at the sunny smile that appears.
“Noice,” Chris compliments, breaking the spell Felix cast. Hyunjin uses it as a chance to take the seat across from the two of them, pulling out his notes and laptop and keeping his gaze firmly on what he was doing.
Chris had been helping Hyunjin with English when he expressed his interest in the language. When asked why, Hyunjin just shrugged and said it could be useful one day if his art really takes off. What he didn’t tell him though was that if his soulmate could practice Korean, he should try to practice English.
They stick to Korean after that, both Felix and Chris fluent, but Hyunjin notices the formality and slight hesitation when Felix speaks. It makes him curious, and he listens with one ear as he combs through his notes, still too overwhelmed to look at Felix to closely, least he combust.
Felix’s voice alone is rich, and he speaks easily with Chris, seeming to continue the story from before in Korean for Hyunjin’s sake. Hyunjin tried his best to figure out the context of the story, learning that Felix liked to bake to relax and his friends were rather useless as sous-chefs. He smiles at the frustration in Felix’s tone, clearly the effects of baking ruined by whatever company was around at the time. Hyunjin doesn’t add much, happy to just listen along as he worked at his projects.
Eventually he gets tired of writing academic papers and flips to something else, his weekly art project for his class. Once weekly they had to turn something in based on a theme, and Hyunjin hadn’t started his for this week yet. He puts in music as both Chris and Felix quieted to work independently and relaxes as he lets the music and his pencil takes over. He only wanted to start with a pencil sketch and elaborate with a medium more his taste once back in his dorm.
Double checking the theme, light, he gazes around the library for inspiration. This far into the semester lets him infer that his teacher didn’t want some shapes on a flat plane with different light sources. It had to be beyond that.
His eye is drawn Chris, who’s hunkered over form as he scrolls on his laptop to pause before writing something down in his notebook. He seemed tired, the blue light making it even more apparent, and Hyunjin plays with that in a sketch, capturing his eyes with the shadows. It doesn’t feel right, to capture Chris in this not so flattering way, and he flips to a new page.
His eyes betray him to look up to see Felix looking towards the center of the library, lost in thought while leaning back in his chair, pen fidgeting in his one hand. The library had a large glass dome in the center, creating a great source of heat on these chillier days and of course light when the sun was high enough in the sky. And wouldn’t Hyunjin have all the luck, Felix’s face seemed to glow in these conditions.
Fingers already at work, he tries to take a snapshot in his mind’s eye of how exactly the shadows and highlights came together to make this portrait. He’s honestly a little breathless at how perfect of a side profile the man in front of him had, how he looked ethereal by just sitting close the sun. He couldn’t have asked for a better model for this subject. Felix looks back just as Hyunjin looks back up to reference him, the sudden eye contact causing Felix to blush. Not wanting to lose the moment, Hyunjin speaks up even as he keeps his pencil moving.
“Can I please draw you?”
“Me?” Felix’s blush seems to deepen as he glances towards the sketch book.
“Yes, when you look at the light, it’s just...” Hyunjin doesn’t finish the sentence, fixing a detail on the sketch with this new angle before he flips the notebook around to show the rough sketch, what he was trying to capture to try and convince his newest potential model.
Felix’s gasp is audible as he takes in the drawing. Chris also looks over and whistles lowly.
“You just did this?” Felix questions in awe, voice small as he looks back up to Hyunjin. It’s Hyunjin’s turn to feel embarrassed now, having started without permission, but he’s hopeful this reaction so far has been positive. Until he says too much.
“Yeah, I mean, I should have asked first but you looked...like an angel.” He shakes his head slightly at the unwarranted honesty and reaches back for the book, confidence shaken. His ears are so hot they feel like they could sizzle.
“I’m sorry, it’s fine, I didn’t ask first. I’ll draw something else.” Felix doesn’t give it back right away, looking back toward the page with a brighter blush himself and running a finger close but not close enough to smudge the graphite.
“Can you finish this one for me please?” Felix looks back up to him, hopeful, while extending his arm to give the sketch book back.
“You want me to? Really?” Hyunjin asks while taking the book back shyly, looking down at the page and willing his cheeks to stop burning red.
“I do.” Hyunjin looks up at that and sees Felix smiling encouragingly, if a bit bashfully. “Do you need me to sit still?”
“Actually, I could take a picture, so I can finish it at home.”
Felix nods with a brighter smile, which he tries to suppress to resume the pose while Hyunjin takes out his phone to capture it.
“Thank you,” Hyunjin says with sincerity as he looks at the photo on his phone, his chest feeling warmer and warmer. He was almost vibrating with excitement to get back to his dorm and recreate it with his style, now with the permission of the most beautiful man he’s ever met. He rolls his eyes at his own dramatics in his head but the more he thinks it, the more he realizes it’s true. Felix was truly beautiful.
“I can’t wait to see it,” Felix says, unaware of where Hyunjin’s mind had gone.
“I hope to do you justice,” he teases back, and they smile at each other for even longer.
“Well,” Chris starts, interrupting whatever world they had escaped to. “I’m due for my shift, so I’ll leave you guys to it.” Hyunjin looks to him sheepishly for leaving him out of the exchange but Chris just winks inconspicuously and ruffles Felix’s hair before picking up his bag and carrying out his laptop still open.
“He doesn’t have a shift,” Felix murmurs, fixing his hair back as they both watch him walk away.
“That’s why we met up today,” Hyunjin finishes, as Chris exits without a look back.
They look back to each other and laugh, obvious that Chris wanted to give them some space to themselves.
“I didn’t mean to make either of you uncomfortable,” Hyunjin starts, ready to apologize for ruining the study session.
“I’m not uncomfortable,” Felix quickly cuts him off, “and I’m sure we both played a hand at implying Chris should leave.” Hyunjin accepts what Felix says as truth with a nod and smile and finds that he’s bursting with questions for Felix. He starts into them without realizing and hours later, when the librarian tells them they close in ten minutes, he realizes he still has more.
“When will the sketch be done?” Felix asks, as they pack up their things quickly, not wanting to hold up the staff at the library.
“By the end of the week. I’ll be sure to let you see it before I hand it in. Thank you again.” Hyunjin says, following his instinct to reach for Felix’s hand and giving his fingers a squeeze in gratitude. The way Felix lights up and looks up at him tells him he was right to do that and receives a squeeze in return. His whole arm tingles in response.
“Of course. Give me your cell, I’ll put my number in it so we can meet again.”
Hyunjin follows the command without thinking, unlocking and handing his phone over to Felix, biting his lip at the prospect that Felix wanted him to have his number and hang out again. He couldn’t wait until the next time.
They part ways after Felix surprises him with a hug, a hug that Hyunjin can’t seem shake the feeling of as he skipping across the quad, lifting his face to the sky. He felt like air. Like warmth.
Like light.
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Felix closes the door and leans against it, his face aching with the endless smiling the last few hours. His roommate Seungmin, watches him for a moment before breaking Felix’s daze.
“Did you fall in love with Chris?”
Felix glares at him playfully while stepping out of his shoes and putting his bag by his desk.
“No, I didn’t fall in love with Chris,” he says as he flops into Seungmin’s bed, an act that gets a cry of protest.
“I did meet someone though,” he starts, and Seungmin groans even louder.
“Spare me,” he mutters, flipping the page of his medical textbook.
“His name is Hyunjin. And Minnie when I tell you that man is the most beautiful man alive, I mean it. His face is perfect. His eyes are dark and artsy-”
“What does that even mean, artsy? He has paint on them?” Seungmin interjects but Felix continues, ignoring him.
“And his nose is perfect, and his lips, oh my god, his lips Minnie, they rival Angelina Jolie’s. And he’s soft and kind, and so incredible at art, he drew me for maybe a few minutes and what he was able to capture was just -”
“He drew you? Like a sketch? Why?”
“I don’t know, I just know all the sudden he’s telling me I look like an angel – an angel!” Felix grabs Seungmin’s arm and shakes it, squealing at the compliment replaying in his brain. He’s never felt more treasured before from a simple compliment.
“What does Chris think?” Seungmin asks, looking for a less biased opinion.
“Chris introduced us, and, get this, he even pretended to go to work so me and Hyunjin could talk. He’s so considerate, I have to bake him something as thanks.”
Seungmin’s eyebrows raise with Chris’s actions, a clear indicator he approved of whatever Felix was raving about. He relaxed a little more as Felix went on, telling him every detail of the encounter, how they talked until the library closed and how Hyunjin was trying to learn English, and that he majored in Art History and preferred painting over sketching and how he was on the dance team. The details started to lose Seungmin after a while, Felix getting more and more tired.
“Do you think he’s your soulmate?” He asks quietly, knowing that Felix hadn’t considered it with everything going on in his head. There’s a long pause and Seungmin thinks Felix is asleep before he gets a quiet answer.
“I don’t want to think about it. I hope he is. If he isn’t, I don’t know how my soulmate will compare.”
He sits with Seungmin a little while longer, letting his calming presence bring him back down to a level where he might actually get some sleep, before getting up and getting ready for bed. He was happy Seungmin listened to everything, but the soulmate question threw him. What he felt today with Hyunjin was everything he expected to feel with his star. Looking down at his arms, there were no doodles, no words, nothing from his star today, but to be honest, Felix hadn’t exactly been checking.
He hoped he didn’t miss anything, the quiet companionship his soulmate provided too precious to give up. But Hyunjin gave him that too. There’s not many people who are willing to talk for hours, who sketch someone out of blue. That felt special too.
Too confused to think much harder on it, Felix drops into his bed and snuggles between all the pillows, before grabbing his phone from the bedside table to turn on the alarms. He freezes when he sees a text from an unknown number. He opens it and has to bury his face into the pillow to keep from alerting Seungmin.
Hey, it’s Hyunjin. I hope you got home safe. I’m so happy to have met an angel.
Felix kicks his feet before sending back his own message.
It’s Felix, I’m safe. I’m so happy to have met the greatest artist of our time.
He turns his phone to do not disturb, desperately needing the sleep before class tomorrow, and falls asleep replaying Hyunjin’s smile in his head.
He doesn’t see the writing on his arm come up with “angel”, and a sketch of a pair of wings. It smudges off before he wakes up.
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The two of them become fast friends nearly overnight. They both feel the simmer of something more just underneath the surface, but the joy that the friendship brings them is too large to pay too much mind to it currently. It’s exciting to just get to know one another, to be together quietly or loudly, to hang out with all their friends.
The winter is full of long sleeves and a muse that deserves a proper canvas. If the writing from either of their soulmates lessened, they haven’t seemed to notice. If they did notice, the guilt they had towards this special connection in comparison to Felix and Hyunjin’s new friendship was not enough to be addressed.
Hyunjin learns quickly that Felix loves skinship, and is quick to volunteer it whenever he knows the younger one is overwhelmed or tired. His instincts the first day had been more than right. It’s not his preferred way to connect, but with Felix it feels right. Their friends tease them about regularly and Hyunjin will toss back quips that imply that everyone one else just smells too bad to be this close. When he does, he always gets one of the softest smiles from Felix, which makes him all the more sure that what he’s doing is right.
They aren’t dating. They usually had someone inviting themselves along with whatever activity they had planned to do. Hyunjin told himself he didn’t want to rush anything, but he knew he was just too nervous.
Exam season is rough on all of them, and after that comes winter break. The hug Felix and Hyunjin share before Hyunjin goes back home is long and tight and makes Hyunjin regret not asking his parents to bring Felix with him. Felix just tells him to say hi to everyone, especially Kagami, before flashing his smile, squeezing his hand twice and heading back to the dorms where he would stay with Chris for the holidays.
When Hyunjin gets home, his heart feels uncomfortable and he seems out of place. He texts Felix constantly, telling him every little update, video calling when his parents went to bed, and showing him more art work.
Felix teases him that he used to draw other things other than him and Hyunjin blushes. Since meeting him, it was like his brain refused to create anything else. Everything was Felix, little snippets of every piece of him. Even his art teacher had to talk to him after class to remind him to “expand his influences”. He was able to bullshit some weekly work, but his final project was Felix. And he was so proud of it. It was to be returned after an art expo over the break, something Hyunjin was going back to the school to attend.
On one of the videocalls, Hyunjin’s heartache finally gives him the courage to ask.
“Hey Felix,” he starts, and he gets a hum in reply. Felix was working on a new keyboard just off screen, but he stops to give Hyunjin his attention when he doesn’t immediately start speaking again.
“Hey Hyunjin,” he prompts, looking at him carefully through the screen. He notices his discomfort, but gives Hyunjin the space to tell him himself.
“You know the art expo for the final projects?”
“Of course, I can’t wait to see it.”
“Do you think you would like to see it with me. Together?”
“Together?”
“Like just me and you. And maybe we could get something to eat before. Before going. Together.”
“Together sounds really nice.” Felix answers. Hyunjin’s ears ring with the response. He almost can’t believe it.
“Is that a yes? Will you go out with me?” He clarifies even more. He couldn’t get this wrong.
“It’s a yes, Jinnie, I’ll go out with you.”
“Hold on,” Hyunjin says and thinks he taps the mute button before stepping off screen. He swears boldly and loudly in elation, punching the air and feeling tears prick at the corners of his eyes before he hears his father’s reprimand from the floor below and bright laughter from the phone. He yells his apologies before rushing back to the phone, frowning when he sees Felix wiping his own eyes in what he believes is laughter.
“You heard me,”
“Everything. Including your dad,” Felix answers between breaths. He seems to calm down but his eyes stay sparkly and bright.
“I’m not sorry though.”
“I’m so happy I could make you that happy, Jinnie. I can’t wait for our date.”
“Hold on,” he repeats, but purposefully not hitting the mute button before grabbing a pillow to scream into. The laughter he hears overwhelms him and soon he keeps his head buried for a new reason.
He hears a muffled sob which snaps his head up to see Felix wiping his eyes quickly.
“Lixie, what’s wrong? I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Hyunjin says, wiping his own tears away to focus on comforting the man on the other end.
“It’s a happy cry I promise. I’ve never felt so much joy before.” He looks to the screen and see Hyunjin’s eyes wet too and pouts empathetically. “Why are you crying?” he accuses, laughing once at the state they both are in.
“I’ve never felt so much joy before,” is all Hyunjin has left to say, sharing a tearful happy smile.
They stay on the phone for a while longer, until the tears dry and the smiles turn sleepy. They both go to sleep with hope for the future of what they were becoming.
Neither even thought about the soulmate bond.
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Hyunjin was nervous. Nervous was an understatement. He had gotten ready at home, his parents to join everyone at the expo later before taking the train into town.
He had made a reservation at a restaurant nearby, close enough that he and Felix could walk to the show afterwards. Felix insisted they meet at the restaurant, even when Hyunjin said it was a bad start if he didn’t pick up his date. Felix said he was probably going to be late, so this helped him not feel as bad. And for Hyunjin, whatever Felix needed to feel better he got.
He had a Christmas gift in his back pocket, something he found in his hometown that instantly reminded him of Felix. Of them really. The matching rings seemed serious but to Hyunjin they seemed just right.
He was pacing in slow circles when he brought his hand up to check the time once more. Felix wasn’t even late yet, but Hyunjin felt like time was moving slower. When he brought his sleeve up, what caught his eye was not the time, it was the hint of blue just below that.
Pushing the strap of his watch up, he tried to make out what his soulmate had written. It had been completely blank for months, or he hadn’t cared to check as regularly as he once did. When you have someone as perfect as Felix in your life, it’s easy to forget the idea of someone perfect whose not around to prove it.
It had already smudged a bit, but it seemed to be an address, all Korean, and if Hyunjin was right, somewhere on this street. He hears a distant “Jinnie!” and his focus is completely ripped away to turn towards the sound.
Felix is shutting the door to the cab when he sees him, and Hyunjin is running before he realizes it. Felix is in his arms in the next second in a rib-cracking hug. The time away was too much, too long. The hug is returned just as fierce and they stay like that swaying, Hyunjin’s nose pressed into the scarf where Felix’s neck and shoulder meet. Felix is on the very tips of his toes when he finally makes a mock choking sound to get Hyunjin to pull back a little.
The smiles are a thousand watts as they take each other in.
“You look incredible,” Hyunjin breathes, the long coat and very light make up accentuating Felix’s naturally beautiful features even more. He runs his hands from Felix’s back to take his hands giving them a squeeze before dropping one and lifting the other to have him twirl. Felix laughs but goes along with it before taking both of Hyunjin’s hands again.
“You look so handsome too. I love the new hair,” Felix reaches up to push the light pink locks behind Hyunjin’s ear. “So artistic now,” he teases. Hyunjin rolls his eyes but takes the complement to heart. He covers Felix’s hand with his own, holding it to his face. Then blue catches his eye.
“Lixie, what’s this?” he asks so softly. He’s seen it before. He barely breathes. He holds the hand above his wrist like it was going shatter if he addressed it. Felix, being none the wiser of how groundbreaking this is, just laughs and explains.
“I didn’t want to accidentally leave my phone in the cab so I wrote the address down to tell the driver.” he pulls the cuff of his coat down a bit more and repeats the words in flawless Korean, but Hyunjin can hardly hear them. He lets go of Felix’s hand and pulls the cuff back of his own coat, undoing the watch with muscle memory only as every other thought had completely shut down.
“Hyunjin, what’s wrong, I don’t-” Felix cuts himself off as he sees what Hyunjin uncovers entirely. It’s exact. It’s his writing. Smudges and all.
They stare at the ink for too long, the dominos falling down, the realization settling in.
“My star,” Felix breathes, and Hyunjin gasps, grabbing at his hand again desperately.
“My Yongbokkie,” he repeats with such adoration. The tears start before either of them realize and soon enough they are sobbing and hugging each other even tighter once again.
“All this time, it was you.” Hyunjin says in disbelief, holding Felix’s face now to stare in wonder. How could this perfect human be his.
“It was always you. Even without this. It was you.” Felix replies surely, before pressing up on his toes to press a kiss to his soulmates mouth.
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The art expo becomes an event of legendary status. No one really blinks when Felix and Hyunjin enter in late hand in hand, cheeks and eyes glowing. Chris notices that it’s something more right away and assume they’ve finally agreed to start dating each other. Some of their friends start groaning when Chris cheekily points it out to them, realizing they’ve lost the bet and would have to pay out Chris and Seungmin.
Having already seen Hyunjin’s final submission, Chris knew that if they weren’t already dating, that artwork would be a declaration of love like no other. Felix was otherworldly in the angelic depiction of light that Hyunjin had captured him in. He was not ashamed to admit it, but he cried seeing someone love his friend that much. He was so happy for Felix. For the both of them.
He had already introduced himself to Hyunjin’s parents and they didn’t seem surprised at the subject of Hyunjin’s final piece. Apparently, Felix was the only thing he could talk about at home.
He watches from a distance and decides to get some candid's of when Felix finally sees how Hyunjin looks at him. His heart told him this was something important to remember. He watches as Hyunjin asks to cover Felix’s eyes and they both start laughing at the awkward walk the last few feet before turning the corner to the painting.
Felix’s gasp rings throughout the venue as Hyunjin uncovers his eyes. It draws some eyes, and honestly, Chris can’t stop the tears again as he watches Felix step closer, eyes wide and almost frantic as he takes in everything on the canvas, before looking back to Hyunjin who was smiling shyly. No one, including Hyunjin, was prepared for the way Felix launches himself at the artist, locking limbs around the tall frame and to no one’s real surprise, kissing him deeply. They keep it a tasteful duration, or rather they can’t continue between the hiccupping breaths of Felix as he sobs. Hyunjin laughs lightly but is definitely crying himself, letting him to the ground before turning Felix around in his arms to look at the painting together, hooking his chin on Felix’s shoulder.
They are given a few minutes to just soak it in before Hyunjin’s parents carefully get closer, a sweet smile exchanged between the older couple. When Hyunjin realizes, he tells Felix to turn around again before wiping his face carefully. They both laugh at something Felix says before Felix is bowing deeply towards his parents. They laugh and bring him up into a hug, patting him on the head and welcoming him immediately. Hyunjin can barely contain himself watching them. When the hug is opened to him as well, he feels more calm then he ever has in his life in the arms of everyone he loves.
Chris watches as the hug breaks up and they speak with the parents a little longer, and something is shared that makes the parents gasp, before grabbing at Felix again and hugging him even harder. Chris tilts his head as he considers the interaction. That seemed to be something much more than just them dating. He watches as the new couple hold hands and sees the matching rings. Much more indeed.
The two men are shooed away by Hyunjin’s parents and they make their way to the friend group, the smiles even wider than before. Chris wasn’t sure if Felix had stopped crying.
“So we have something to share,” Hyunjin starts while glancing at Felix again.
“You’re dating, yeah we know. I already won.” Seungmin interjects, leaving Felix to roll his eyes between sniffles.
“Yeah that, but something more -”
“We’re soulmates!” Felix exclaims before looking up at Hyunjin and breaking into new sobs. The yells are obnoxiously loud from everyone and they are engulfed in a massive group hug. Chris makes sure he tells Felix he deserves it, and then tells Hyunjin the same. And a warning to never hurt him. Hyunjin whispers back that he don’t think he could hurt someone like Felix if he tried.
The news spreads and suddenly it’s like an engagement party, the couple showing off their rings while latched onto one another. The happiness they exude could make vinegar taste like honey, make winter switch to spring.
Hyunjin confesses it takes Felix three more hours after the expo to finally stop crying.