Work Text:
Almost everything looks better behind the lens. The sea looks bluer, and the waves stronger. He’ll never get tired of this; trying to stop the time and capture the beauty in life, perpetuating it in pictures because they will last forever, safely stored in pixels—unlike memories.
A shadow falls as Seoham changes the focus, blocking the view. He lowers the camera down and sees Jaechan standing in front of him with arms folded across his chest. “Haven’t you got enough pictures of the sea already?” Jaechan asks, a half pout gracing his lips.
Seoham tries to keep a straight face, but it isn’t easy. The boy knows exactly what his pout is doing to him, though it doesn’t mean Seoham always has to make it easy for him. “Kind of, but I can use a bit more wave pictures.”
“Waves can’t be that interesting. Why don’t you take more pictures of me, instead?” Jaechan’s lips are now in a full-blown pout, making him look even more adorable, and as usual, Seoham gets an urge to kiss it away. So he does.
Taking Jaechan’s chin in his hand, Seoham gives his lips a chaste kiss. It doesn’t even last longer than a fraction of a second, but Jaechan’s eyes widen and his mouth falls open. “What? A cat got your tongue?” Seoham jokes.
Jaechan stares at him for a moment before answering in a hushed voice. “Hyung, what are you—here?”
“Nobody else is here,” Seoham says with a shrug. “Come on, let’s go back. I have an idea.” He turns on his heel and begins to walk away.
“Why?” Jaechan trails behind him. “Won’t you take my pictures?”
Seoham slows down so Jaechan can catch up, but doesn’t stop walking. “Sweetheart, more than half of the pictures I took are yours,” he reminds him. “Let’s go back to the hotel, then you’ll see.”
“Wait, hyung.” Jaechan grabs his arm, making him stop. Then he stands on his tiptoes and kisses Seoham’s lips, just for a second before grinning up at him. “Now let’s go.”
They must’ve kissed countless times since December, but every time Jaechan initiates a kiss it’s like Seoham is falling a little deeper, a little more hopeless, over and over again.
~*~
Their impromptu photoshoot starts with Seoham telling Jaechan to choose what he wants to wear. A decision that will definitely backfire on him. He knows from the glint in his eyes that the boy is up to something, and yet it still surprises him when Jaechan walks out of the bathroom wearing his white shirt. The little menace. Of course, he would deliberately choose something like that.
The shirt is already a little big on Seoham, but on Jaechan it straight up looks like a dress. It falls on just above mid-thigh, exposing plenty of collarbones and half a pale shoulder, with his tattoo peeking from under the collar. The sight is more than enough to drive any hot-blooded man crazy, and the boy knows it.
“Really?” Seoham says dryly, ignoring the way his blood rushes at the visible outline of Jaechan’s body underneath the thin fabric.
“What? I wanna look pretty. Don’t you think this looks good on me?” Jaechan does a tiny twirl before tilting his head inquiringly in faux innocence.
Taking a deep breath, Seoham retrieves his camera from the bedside table and strides toward the balcony door. “Right, the lighting is good here, let’s give it a try.”
It’s difficult to focus on taking pictures when Jaechan looks just like temptation personified, so Seoham should be proud of himself—and his self-control—that he actually manages to get some work done. “Tip your head back, just a bit. And touch your collarbones with your fingertips.”
Jaechan does what Seoham tells him to, tilting his head a few inches back and slowly caressing his collarbone. He is exquisite. It’s so easy to get lost in his beauty when the afternoon sunlight makes him look ethereal like this. Seoham snaps some pictures, then moves to the right to get another angle before he snaps some more.
“Part your lips for me.” Jaechan tracks the movement with his eyes as he effortlessly does so. “Perfect, baby, you’re a natural,” Seoham murmurs, continuing to click away. He really is, as if he was born to do this. But then something inevitably dawns on Seoham, something he’s been thinking about lately but had always pushed it back to the furthest part of his mind.
He doesn’t know how their drama will fare, but he has no doubt that Jaechan is going to be big regardless. He’s too talented... too beautiful not to be. As soon as the photographers for magazines see what Seoham sees from behind the lens, they’d be crazy not to want him.
“Hyung?”
Jaechan’s voice shakes Seoham off his reverie, and he realizes he has stopped snapping pictures for no idea how long. “Sorry, I was just thinking about something. Let’s continue before we lose the light,” he says.
But instead of complying, Jaechan steps towards him and covers the camera with his hand. “You’ve taken enough photos, don’t you think?” His voice is soft, barely above a whisper. He bites down on his lower lip, gazing up at Seoham, and there’s no way Seoham can deny him anything when he looks at him like that.
He places the camera back on the nightstand before sitting down on the edge of the bed, pulling Jaechan’s slender body onto his lap with almost no effort at all. Jaechan wraps his arms around Seoham’s neck, long fingers playing with the hair on the back of his head, gently, unhurried, like they had all the time in the world.
“Hyung,” Jaechan whispers again, their eyes locked on each other. “I don’t wanna leave...”
Seoham’s thumb makes some circular motions on the soft skin of Jaechan’s hip, just above the waistband of his boxers. He doesn’t understand how time works. Everything feels slower here, unlike the rush and restlessness of Seoul, where people just want to get from A to B as fast as possible. On this island, people actually have time to stop and revel in the beautiful view around them. But nonetheless, time flies, and five days just go by in a blink of an eye.
“Me neither. But we can go back here some day,” Seoham says, and it sounds more like a hope than a promise. “If you haven’t forgotten me by then,” he adds, a poor attempt of a joke.
Jaechan doesn’t find it funny either. He gives Seoham another one of his deadly pouts, tightening his arms around Seoham’s shoulders. “Stop that; it’s not funny at all.” His gaze roams over Seoham’s face before it flickers up to meet his eyes. “I think about you so much it scares me sometimes. So you’re stupid if you think I could ever forget about us… about you.” He draws in a breath and closes his eyes, pressing his lips against Seoham’s once again.
And as naturally as breathing, Seoham kisses him back, nibbling gently on the plump lips and soothing them with his tongue afterwards. “I’m sorry,” Seoham murmurs when they part for air, resting their foreheads against each other. “If it will make you feel better, it scares me too.” Slowly, Jaechan opens his eyes. Seoham pulls back a bit to look at his face, at the longing in those dark eyes, how red and swollen his lips are after the kiss, and he has never seen anything more beautiful.
“I wish you could see how beautiful you are right now,” Seoham says, brushing his thumb across Jaechan’s lower lip. Touches and memories fade—unlike pixels—but sometimes they’re worth choosing over infinity.
Jaechan kisses his finger and smiles. “I could say the same thing about you.”
~*~