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When Thanos asked him to come over and help with something, Nam-gyu never would have predicted the favour that was going to be asked of him would end up being… this.
It wasn’t uncommon for Thanos to source Nam-gyu’s help when it came to his career; Thanos wasn’t really making enough money off of his music yet to hire a real photographer, but Nam-gyu had a decent camera and knew how to work it pretty well, which was good enough for him. So even though Nam-gyu wouldn’t consider himself a photographer by any means, he still found himself being the one behind all of the covers for Thanos’ tracks and all the photoshoots Thanos posted to his social media.
It was a pretty good system, and even if Thanos could only afford to compensate Nam-gyu for his time in the way of taking him out for a drink every now and then as a thanks, Nam-gyu didn’t complain about it.
“When I blow up and the cash starts rolling in, I’ll be sure to really pay you back, my boy!” Thanos would always tell him after every one of their amateur photoshoots. “Just you wait, in no time everyone will be raving about ‘The Legend Thanos’— I can feel it coming soon!”
But after almost three years of self-producing music from his bedroom, after almost three years of failing to expand his work beyond his small circle of loyal listeners, after almost three years of Thanos making that very same promise with little results to show for it… Nam-gyu had his doubts he’d ever be seeing that money.
He didn’t mind, though. After all, it wasn’t like Nam-gyu really had much else to do that this was taking away from; his shifts at Club Pentagon kept him busy on weekend nights, but once the club closed up during the week… well, Nam-gyu was actually thankful of Thanos requesting his help for random tasks and jobs to take his mind off the fact that he didn’t have many hobbies or interests other than getting drunk and getting high, that he didn’t really have many other friends to spend his time with.
Which was why when Thanos called him out of the blue one random Tuesday afternoon, asking if Nam-gyu could come over and bring his camera, he didn’t think twice.
Thanos’ apartment was usually only a fifteen minute walk from Nam-gyu’s place, but on that day he made it in a little less than ten, because of the urgency with which Thanos told him to get over there as quickly as possible. “I want to get it all done while there’s still natural light! So get your ass over here, Nam-su, we have to beat the sunset!” he’d exclaimed over the phone, and hadn’t even waited to hear Nam-gyu’s response (or include a please or a thank you in his demands) before he hung up, leaving Nam-gyu with no other choice than to get his camera and his ass over to Thanos’ place, quickly.
He made his way through the city to the apartment building that he spent probably just as much time in as his own, bypassed the elevator that was always broken and took the stairs up to the second floor, and walked down the dimly-lit, kind of sketchy hallway until he was standing in front of a door with the number 333 right above the peephole; it was a journey Nam-gyu had made so many times, one he had become so familiar with, that he could make it with his eyes closed.
Nam-gyu gave a quick knock on the door, the same rhythmic pattern of taps he always used when he came over to Thanos’… and was met with nothing. He decided to knock again, a little louder this time in case Thanos hadn’t heard him, and while he still didn’t get an answer on his second try, Nam-gyu did hear a voice coming from inside.
“Thanos,” said the voice, slightly muffled though the walls, but still loud enough for Nam-gyu to hear. “The door.”
But along with Nam-gyu’s knocking, that call for Thanos went ignored, too.
“Thanos,” the voice said again after a few moments, sounding a little more impatient. And when Nam-gyu continued standing out in the hall, continued facing the closed door, continued hearing no sign of life from Thanos inside the apartment… well, he was starting to grow a little impatient as well. So, he knocked again.
“Thanos!” the voice yelled almost immediately in response, completely bypassing impatience and now embodying pure anger and frustration. “Answer the fucking door!”
Nam-gyu waited a moment, and just to be an asshole, was about to knock for a fourth time— when another voice stopped the movement of his fist, just millimeters from the door. “Alright, alright!” came Thanos’ voice this time, sounding equally frustrated, before the door finally swung open. Nam-gyu lowered his hand back to his side as his eyes landed on Thanos standing in the doorway… but Thanos’ attention seemed to be captured with something else inside the apartment; Thanos pushed the door open, but didn’t even spare Nam-gyu a glance in greeting before he was turning back inside.
“Did you forget that you also have a fucking pair of working legs, huh?” Thanos said as Nam-gyu followed him inside the apartment, gently shutting the door behind himself and kicking off his shoes. “You know that if you had just gotten up off your ass you could have opened the fucking door yourself, right?”
Nam-gyu’s eyes followed the path along which Thanos was directing his shouting, looking across the small apartment… to where Thanos’ roommate, Myung-gi, was sitting at a desk pushed against a wall on the opposite side of the living room. Myung-gi turned around in his chair, looking away from the two large computer monitors he had set up on the desk to shoot Thanos a cold, piercing glare. “I’m working,” he snapped, giving an annoyed wave of his hand to the computer screens. One of them appeared to be displaying a livestream that Myung-gi was watching (didn’t seem much like work to Nam-gyu), while the other was full of spreadsheets, numbers, charts and graphs. Nam-gyu didn’t know exactly what Myung-gi did for work— something in the world of finance, from what he’d heard from Thanos, and that he was involved in crypto, too— but what Nam-gyu did know was that just looking at that screen gave him a headache, and was glad that that wasn’t the kind of work he was helping Thanos with.
“So was I, asshole,” Thanos replied, crudely mimicking Myung-gi’s hand gesture as he waved to himself, at the headphones around his neck— headphones that Nam-gyu realized were probably the culprit of why Thanos hadn’t heard his knocks in the first place. He was always listening to music (usually his own) at a volume so loud that Nam-gyu was sure he’d go deaf before the end of his thirties.
“Yeah, but I’m working my real job,” Myung-gi shot back, these words the harshest he’d spoken so far. “You know, that actually makes money.”
Nam-gyu’s daze once again darted back over to Thanos, just in time to catch him tensing up— the way his shoulders squared and his chest puffed out, the way his jaw clenched and his nostrils flared, the way his face flushed red and his hands curled into fists at his sides. Thanos started to move towards his roommate, but Nam-gyu quickly stepped up behind him, placing his hands firmly on Thanos’ upper arms and began to guide him in the opposite direction before Thanos could get within arms’ reach of Myung-gi.
“Come on, calm down,” Nam-gyu told him, trying to keep his own tone light as he pushed Thanos back towards his bedroom. “Don’t entertain him, hyung– you know he just says shit to piss you off.”
Thanos grumbled something under his breath that Nam-gyu couldn’t quite make out, but was sure wasn’t anything nice just by the tone in which he grumbled it. “When are you going to move out?” Nam-gyu asked once they were finally in Thanos’ room, gently shutting the door after him and leaving Myung-gi and his insults behind. “You’ve been saying for months that you can’t stand living with that asshole.”
“I can’t,” Thanos confirmed, removing his headphones from around his neck and throwing them down onto his bed with enough force to let out his frustrations. “And I am going to move out, just… when I can afford to.”
He said that last part a little quieter, but it was enough for Nam-gyu to drop the subject, only letting out a soft sigh. Thanos had been living with Myung-gi for a little over half a year, and had spent pretty much the entirety of that time complaining about how much he hated living with Myung-gi. Lee Myung-gi was rude, he was condescending, and he was overall a shitty roommate— all things that Nam-gyu knew from Thanos directly telling him, and from what he’d observed himself whatever he was visiting their apartment.
But… Nam-gyu also knew that Thanos only put up with it all, that he was only still staying with Myung-gi, because he couldn’t afford to live any other way. As much as Thanos complained about it, the setup they had going on did work in his favour; the apartment was owned by Myung-gi, but after one of the cryptocurrencies he’d invested in had apparently gone to shit, he suddenly found himself struggling to pay off his new place. So, when Thanos (who, at the time, had just gotten kicked out by his old roommate) had heard from a friend of a friend of a friend that this guy named Myung-gi was looking to rent out the smaller, second bedroom of his apartment at a lower price to help cover the costs, Thanos had taken up the offer immediately.
It really was a decent agreement— Myung-gi’s place was nicer than anywhere else Thanos had ever stayed, it was in a nice area, and the rent he was charging was cheaper than what Thanos’ share had been with his last three roommates. Really, the only downside to it all was that… well, he had to live with Myung-gi, a downside that Thanos seemed to think outweighed all the positives.
Whenever Nam-gyu witnessed the two of them fighting during his visits to the apartment, or whenever he was stuck listening to Thanos complain about Myung-gi, there was a part of him that couldn’t help but think of his own apartment. Sure, it was only a one-bedroom studio, barely big enough for Nam-gyu to live in by himself… but he did have a decently comfortable couch. It wouldn’t be an ideal living situation, of course it wouldn’t— Thanos would hate having to sleep on a couch, and he already complained about how small Nam-gyu’s apartment was whenever he came over, he’d hate living there…
But, Nam-gyu couldn’t help but wonder if he’d hate it more than living with Myung-gi. Maybe one day he’d work up the courage to ask.
“Which! I have a feeling is going to be soon,” Thanos said, his sudden exclamation in a much more optimistic tone bringing Nam-gyu out of his own thoughts and back to their conversation. “Once I release this new song… man, I can just feel it, I know that this is the one.”
Nam-gyu only nodded… and refrained from mentioning that that was what Thanos had said before his last three song releases as well. “Right,” he said, trying not to let his doubt slip into his tone. “Well, what do you want to do for the shoot?” Nam-gyu set his bag down and began to take his camera out as he looked around the room. Usually, Thanos liked his photoshoots to be just as extravagant and over-the-top as he was, but this time, Nam-gyu couldn’t spot any typical Thanos props or costumes lying around— just Thanos’ dirty clothes strewn across the floor.
“Actually,” Thanos said, “before we start with the pictures, I need you to help me with a bit of… setup.”
“Sure,” Nam-gyu replied, looking down at his camera and fiddling with some of the settings. In addition to playing the part of photographer, he was used to helping Thanos out with other aspects of their photoshoots as well— setting up a backdrop for the picture, fixing the hairstyle and outfit Thanos chose to make sure he didn’t look completely ridiculous, touching up the pictures in photoshop after the fact because Thanos wasn’t good with computers; honestly, with the amount of work he did, Nam-gyu probably deserved to be credited as a co-creator on everything Thanos put out.
Nam-gyu waited to hear what it was exactly that Thanos was needing his help with… but after a few moments’ silence, he brought his gaze up from his camera to look over at his friend and ask what he wanted Nam-gyu to do, when the words died on his tongue as he took in the look on Thanos’ face.
Why did he look… nervous?
A confused frown made its way to Nam-gyu’s face as he took in the way Thanos fidgeted with the rings around his fingers, the way he shifted his weight from foot to foot, the way he was avoiding meeting Nam-gyu’s eyes. “What?” he asked suspiciously, unable to remember the last time he’d seen Thanos not being overly— and annoyingly— confident in himself.
Thanos hesitated, as he stopped playing with his rings and instead moved a hand up to run it through his hair, brushing messy purple strands out of his face. “Okay,” he said, the word coming out like a tense sigh. “So, you know how I like to make the covers of my singles match the vibe of the song?” Nam-gyu nodded, remembering the time he had photoshopped a picture of Thanos into outer space for his song about “taking over the universe with his raps”.
“For this song,” Thanos continued, “I wrote it about that sweet senorita I hooked up with a few weeks ago— remember, the one I met at Pentagon who was so into me?” It was then that a small smile broke through the nerves on Thanos’ face, as he got a sort of dreamy look in his eyes. “The song is called ‘Your Kiss’ because, well… she kissed me all over, if you know what I mean. You’ll hear all about it in the song.”
Nam-gyu grimaced, not caring and really not wanting to hear about Thanos’ latest fling. “Get to the point,” he said, not bothering to hide the disgust in his voice.
Thanos savoured his memory only for a moment longer before he gave his head a quick shake and joined the conversation again. “Right— so, I want that to be the theme of the cover,” he said, then raised his hands up in front of his face, as though he was framing an invisible picture. “Kissed all over. You see my vision?”
“Not really,” Nam-gyu told him, mostly because he didn’t want to envision Thanos being kissed all over by some girl.
“Come on, Nam-su, use your imagination,” Thanos told him. When Nam-gyu didn’t, Thanos gave a curt sigh as he realized he was going to have to explain his idea in detail. “Agh, that’s why I’m the creative one between us,” he muttered, before continuing. “For the cover, I want to look kissed all over, and I thought that I could do that with, um… lipstick.”
Nam-gyu raised an eyebrow in question. “So you want me to help you put on lipstick?” he asked… though, it wasn’t the most outrageous request he’d ever gotten from Thanos. It wasn’t like Thanos hadn’t ever asked him for help with his makeup before; he was terrible at doing his own eyeliner.
“What? No, dude, I don’t want to wear it,” Thanos said, shaking his head. “I want to use it to, like… make kiss marks. On my face.”
“As if you’ve been kissed… ‘all over’,” Nam-gyu said, speaking slowly as he tried to get on the same wavelength as Thanos.
Some more of Thanos’ tension seemed to melt away at Nam-gyu’s words, as the corner of his mouth flicked up in a slightly hopeful curve. “Yes!” he said, bringing his hands together, his voice almost a sigh of relief. “Yes, exactly, so…”
But then, his voice trailed off, and he only continued to stare at Nam-gyu with that wishful gleam in his eye. Nam-gyu stared back at him, waiting for Thanos to finish that sentence, but was met with nothing; instead, Thanos remained silent, looking like he was waiting for Nam-gyu to read his mind and finish his sentence for him.
And unfortunately, Nam-gyu thought he might have finally gotten on Thanos’ wavelength, that he was finally starting to understand Thanos’ vision for this photoshoot.
“Thanos,” he said, his voice firm as he crossed his arms over his chest. “What exactly are you asking me to do?”
At the realization that he couldn’t stall for any longer, the hope on Thanos’ face deflated from him with a disappointed huff, before he looked back down at his feet and mumbled a quiet, “Well… I need someone to, you know… put the kiss marks on me.”
Nam-gyu had been hoping that his prediction for Thanos’ request was going to be wrong… as it turned out, he wasn’t so lucky.
Warmth enveloped Nam-gyu’s face immediately, and he took a slight step backwards in Thanos’ small bedroom. “What? Hyung— no,” he said, shaking his head. “I am not kissing you.”
Thanos rolled his eyes, giving a frustrated click of his tongue. “Tch— well it’s not like I really want you kissing me, either,” he said, as his own cheeks began to flush pink as well. “But come on, Nam-su, there’s no one else I can ask!”
“What about the Pentagon girl?” Nam-gyu offered, too flustered to care about the bitterness in his words. “You know, the one you wrote the fucking song about in the first place?”
“I never got her number,” Thanos said with a dismissive wave of his hand, which Nam-gyu probably should have guessed. Thanos was decent at picking girls up from the club… but not so much at scoring a second date.
“Then… why don’t you ask Mi-na? Or Se-mi?”
Thanos scoffed in response, as though that was enough of an answer… until he glanced over to Nam-gyu again and seemed to understand it wasn’t, as he took in the way Nam-gyu still stood staring at him, arms crossed over his chest, interrogative frown still on his face. “I already did and they both said no,” Thanos finally admitted, his words quick and his voice low with embarrassment.
Once again, that shouldn’t have surprised Nam-gyu. He ran a hand over his face and through his hair as he thought about what he was being asked to do, while Thanos continued to plead his request. “Come on, it’s for my career, Nam-su!” he said. “Don’t you want to see me succeed?”
“And just how is this going to make you succeed?”
“Well, I can’t release the best song I’ve ever written with a lame cover for the track,” Thanos told him, like it was obvious. “No one will listen to it if the song looks lame! This cover needs to be just as good as the song is and, trust me, I know this idea is it! Please, Nam-gyu, just help me out?”
Closing his eyes, Nam-gyu took in a long, slow breath, in the hopes that it might help him get all his thoughts in order… but Thanos’ words, his request, only continued to spin around in his head, conjuring up images that were not helpful to Nam-gyu in that moment. He forced his eyes back open, escaping the images his over-active imagination was running wild with, and he instead took in the real sight before him: Thanos still staring at him, eyes wide with desperation, an irresistibly hopeful smile pulling on his lips.
Nam-gyu let out a sigh that was just as long, just as deep as the breath he’d taken in. When Thanos had asked him to come over and help with something, Nam-gyu never would have predicted that what would be asked of him would end up being… this.
And yet, it was how he found himself sitting on Thanos’ bed, his camera set to the side for now, and having a tube of lipstick being pressed into his hand.
He’d never quite been strong enough to be immune to Thanos’ pleading eyes.
After handing the makeup over to him, Thanos took a seat on the bed as well, settling down directly in front Nam-gyu; when he crossed his legs, their knees bumped against each others’, reminding Nam-gyu how closely they were sitting… and the reason for which they needed to be sitting so close together.
He looked down at the lipstick, then pulled the cap off to reveal a stick of gaudy red makeup. The tip was pristine, brand new— so much so that Nam-gyu thought Thanos must have bought it specifically for this photoshoot… and that it wasn’t one that a girl had accidentally left in the room after a hookup with Thanos. That at least was a relief amongst the rest of the nerves that Nam-gyu felt about this.
Nam-gyu turned the tube over in his hands once, twice, then glanced back up at Thanos, who gave him a sort-of-encouraging-sort-of-impatient look, before Nam-gyu finally gave in and raised it to his mouth, quickly swiping the makeup over his bottom lip, then his top. He swiftly shoved the lid back on, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible, but before he could even part his painted lips and ask what he should do next—
“Absolutely not,” Thanos announced, his expression immediately turning into one of disapproval and, honestly, disgust as he glared directly at Nam-gyu’s mouth, before shifting his gaze up. “Dude, are you serious? You put that on like a fucking clown— you didn’t even stay within the lines of your lips! Come on, man, we learned how to do that in grade school. I don’t want these kiss marks to come out looking like they were made by some messy, sloppy chick.”
But isn’t that exactly your type? Nam-gyu thought bitterly, as frustration grew in his stomach. “It’ll be fine,” he said instead, deciding to keep the peace.
“I don’t want it to be fine, I need it to be perfect,” Thanos said, as he got up from the bed and walked back over to the small desk pushed into the corner of the room. Scattered on its surface was about a dozen different hair styling products and tools, but from a drawer Thanos pulled out a packet of wipes. Not makeup wipes, Nam-gyu could see from the label, but Thanos still brought the pack over to the bed, pulling out a wipe and dragging it across Nam-gyu’s mouth before he could argue.
Nam-gyu shoved his hand away, cringing at both the taste of lipstick and the chemicals from the wipe that had managed to get on his tongue, but before he could chide Thanos about it, the other man was hopping back onto the bed and taking the lipstick from Nam-gyu’s hand.
“Let me do it,” he said, scooting even closer to Nam-gyu than he had been before. “I’ll show you how it’s done.”
“You’re such a dick,” Nam-gyu murmured, with an annoyed roll of his eyes at the way Thanos always thought he was better at everything than everyone else… annoyance that quickly dissipated, though, when Thanos reached out, and gently held Nam-gyu’s chin in his hand, to keep him still. It was annoyance that quickly turned into something else, something Nam-gyu couldn’t name— not because he didn’t know what the feeling was, but rather because he simply didn’t want to acknowledge it— as Thanos held his chin with one hand, leaning in close with his gaze set on Nam-gyu’s face, using his other hand to slowly drag the lipstick across Nam-gyu’s mouth. While Nam-gyu had done it quickly and carelessly, Thanos took his time, painting Nam-gyu’s lips with short, gentle brushes of the lipstick, carefully following the curve of his mouth.
Nam-gyu tried his best to look anywhere except Thanos’ face as he worked, but when he finally released Nam-gyu’s chin and sat back, Nam-gyu allowed his gaze to wander over to his friend again… to see that he looked much more pleased than he had been after Nam-gyu’s attempt.
“Hm,” Thanos said, as he lowered the lipstick and placed the cap back on.
“What?” Nam-gyu shot back, his own expression pulling into a slight frown as he tried to determine what exactly the tone that Thanos carried in that “hm” was.
Thanos’ gaze lingered on Nam-gyu’s mouth for a moment longer, before he looked back up to meet Nam-gyu’s eyes again. “Nothing,” he said with a slight shrug. “It’s just… the colour suits you.”
Nam-gyu couldn’t possibly believe that that was true, and he felt his face bloom with a deep warmth he hoped wasn’t as red as his lips were. “Don’t make fun of me,” he muttered, reaching up to untuck his hair from behind his ears to hopefully hide the blood rushing to his cheeks and ears. “Just tell me what you want me to do.”
Thanos remained silent, frozen in a moment of hesitation, before he finally gave a quick nod, as though he was just remembering what they were preparing to do. “Right,” he said, quickly clearing his throat as it seemed like those nerves were making a return, the ones he’d had when he was first asking this favour of Nam-gyu. “I guess, just… you know. Kiss me all over, and all that shit. I’ll give you the creative freedom to… do whatever you think looks good. But make sure it does look good, alright?”
Nam-gyu raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. “I thought you were supposed to be the creative one between us,” he said, repeating Thanos’ words from earlier.
“Well, maybe this is a chance for you to prove me wrong,” Thanos replied, and though Nam-gyu could still sense those nerves… there was also something else in the way that Thanos’ mouth curved into the slightest smile, a trace of confidence and the push of challenge.
It was what made Nam-gyu take a breath in, then finally lean forward.
He lightly brushed his lips against Thanos’ right cheek— to the spot where his skin dimpled whenever Thanos smiled— before he quickly pulled away again, moving back into his own space. But when Nam-gyu’s gaze went down the path his lips had just gone on… he frowned.
“This lipstick sucks,” he said, staring at the extremely faint pink smudge left on Thanos’ cheek. “It barely left a print.”
Thanos was quick to match Nam-gyu’s frown. “Hey, don’t blame the lipstick— I spent good money on it,” he said, wagging a finger at Nam-gyu. “Blame yourself. What the hell kind of kiss was that, dude? I barely felt it.” Thanos reached behind himself and pulled his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans, opening up the front-facing camera and holding up his phone to use it as a mirror. He tilted his head around slightly to get a good look at his cheek, before shooting another glare over to Nam-gyu. “I mean, seriously?” he said. “This is all you’ve got? I can’t say you’re doing a very good job at proving yourself, here.”
Nam-gyu breathed out the frustration building up within him, but instead of also letting out the sharp remark on the tip of his tongue, Nam-gyu decided to use his mouth in a different, more… effective way. He raised one hand to push Thanos’ phone out of the way, then his other to grab hold of Thanos’ chin, just like Thanos had done to him earlier. Gently turning Thanos’ head to the side and guiding him forward, Nam-gyu leaned in once again, planting his lips firmly against that same spot on Thanos’ cheek. And this time, when he pulled away, there was a distinct print of red lips on his skin.
“Better?” Nam-gyu asked as he let go of Thanos’ chin, his tone flat, growing tired of Thanos’ demands.
Thanos looked at Nam-gyu for a moment in awe, his eyes open wide and his own lips parted slightly in surprise, before he raised his phone again to look at the new image of himself… then gave a quick nod as he returned his gaze to Nam-gyu. “Better.”
And when Nam-gyu leaned in again to press his lips to Thanos’ other cheek, not as forcefully as before but still firm enough to leave a decent mark, he couldn’t help but notice a warmth to the other man’s skin that he swore he hadn’t felt before.
Nam-gyu left three imprints of his lips on Thanos’ face— one on each of his cheeks and another on his jaw— before the mark of his kisses began to fade, and he had to get Thanos to reapply the lipstick. Thanos did so silently, focus on his face as he once again used one hand to steady Nam-gyu’s face and the other to re-paint his lips red, before giving Nam-gyu a nod to continue.
It was awkward as hell. That was the only thing running through Nam-gyu’s mind as he leaned forward again into Thanos’ space— as he pressed a kiss to Thanos’s forehead, to his cheekbone, to his chin, all he could think about was how it was awkward as all hell to be doing this with his best friend…
At least, it was at first. When Thanos had first made this request, Nam-gyu had thought he was insane for asking it. He agreed because those stupid, pleading eyes that Thanos always pulled out when he wanted something always worked on Nam-gyu, but his compliance came with an awkwardness so heavy that Nam-gyu was sure Thanos could feel it in each of his kisses.
And yet, what shocked Nam-gyu more than Thanos’ initial request and his own willingness, was that this feeling of awkwardness… wasn’t permanent. Because each time he pulled away, just far enough for Thanos to raise a hand between them and drag that red stick across his lips again, it became a little easier to lean back in again. Sometimes, it felt even a little too easy, and once or twice, it was too easy for Nam-gyu to forget to stop and pull away once his lips only left faded prints. By the time Nam-gyu had covered most of Thanos’ face with the mark of his kiss, the action had almost become… natural.
He didn’t know why it was happening, how and why it felt natural to feel Thanos’ skin under the brush of his lips, how it felt so easy to run his fingers through Thanos’ hair to move it out of the way and press a kiss to his forehead, how it felt so comfortable when Nam-gyu’s nose bumped gently against Thanos’ as he slowly drifted from the site of one kiss to another.
It was a feeling Nam-gyu never would have expected to arise from this, but… it was also one that he found himself completely enveloped by, so much so that he didn’t quite have the capacity to think too logically about it.
After he planted one more kiss on Thanos’ temple, right beside the small scar underneath his eyebrow, Nam-gyu had pretty much run out of space on the canvas of Thanos’ face. He started to pull away, for what he thought would be the last time, but when he did, Thanos once again brought the lipstick back up to his mouth, painting him for another round.
Nam-gyu let him finish, but raised an eyebrow in question. “There’s not really a lot of room left,” he said, and was surprised to hear his voice come out stable despite what he was feeling within him. “You still want… more?”
“Yes,” Thanos sighed, his reply so quick that it caught Nam-gyu off guard… and judging by the way Thanos just as quickly snapped out of the sort of dazed look on his face and became more alert, it seemed his ready response had also surprised himself. “I mean,” he continued, clearing his throat and speaking again with his voice set to a more casual tone, “I wanted it to be… all over, you know?”
Nam-gyu looked at him, at every mark of red already all over his face. “And what exactly does all over mean?” he asked, having thought he’d already accomplished that.
Thanos brought his eyes up to meet Nam-gyu’s again, and Nam-gyu felt the flicker of something electric as their gazes met. “Whatever you want it to mean,” Thanos said. “You have creative freedom, remember?”
Nam-gyu was so used to getting bossed around by Thanos whenever he helped out with these photoshoots that for a moment, he hadn’t remembered. He had forgotten that this time, Thanos had given him just one order: to “do whatever you think looks good”.
And with that warm blaze growing within him, Nam-gyu realized that he did, in fact, have a few ideas of his own.
So as to not to smudge any of the prints he left before, Nam-gyu placed his index finger underneath Thanos’ chin to tilt his head backwards— just enough for Nam-gyu to lean in and press a kiss to the underside of Thanos’ jaw. When he moved his lips to the tender skin just underneath Thanos’ ear next, Nam-gyu heard him take in a sharp breath and felt him tense up slightly.
“This okay?” he asked, barely lifting his lips from the red mark he’d just made as he spoke.
Thanos gave an affirmative hum in response, the soft vibrations from his throat traveling across Nam-gyu’s lips. “Fine,” he said. “Just… that tickles.”
Nam-gyu wondered if Thanos could feel the way his lips curved into a slight smile for his next kiss.
He continued to move down Thanos’ throat, leaving the same trail of prints as he had on his face— not in any particular pattern, not with any real thought of composition or arrangement, just… whatever looked— whatever felt— right. He brought his lips to the very front of Thanos’ neck, feeling the bobbing movement of Thanos’ Adam’s apple as he swallowed. He marked the side of his neck, along the dark line tattooed against his skin— where it probably wouldn’t even end up being very visible on camera, and which seemed to be an especially ticklish spot for Thanos. He pressed a kiss to the hollow of Thanos’ throat, and over the sound of his own heart beating in his ears, he thought he heard Thanos let out a quiet sigh.
When he reached the base of Thanos’ neck, there was a brief moment where Nam-gyu paused, looking at a new barrier he was encountering… until his hand moved before his brain could quite catch up, and without thinking he was gently pulling the collar of Thanos’ shirt out of the way. The shirt was very loose-fitting, as was most of Thanos’ clothes, and the wide collar easily dropped down over Thanos’ shoulder when Nam-gyu’s careful fingers pushed it to the side, exposing more skin. He pressed a kiss to Thanos’ collarbone, the crook of his neck, the curve of his shoulder, and any other free space his lips could find before the red of his prints once again turned into a faded pink.
This time, when he pulled away and straightened up to meet Thanos’ eyes again, the other man’s entire face had flushed a light pink, matching well with his purple hair and the assortment of red lips on him; Nam-gyu was sure that his own cheeks were a shade not too far off as his brain started to catch up with him, and realized what he’d just done.
“Is that all over enough for you?” Nam-gyu asked, his voice low, his words meant to only reach Thanos, the only person— the only thought— on his mind in that moment.
Thanos took in a breath, slightly uneven, slightly nervous, before answering. “Pretty much,” he said, just as softly. “I mean, are there… any empty spaces left? I wouldn’t want it to look… unfinished.” It would have been just as easy for Thanos to reach for his phone, sitting on the bed beside him, and check for himself as he had done earlier, but his eyes were steady on Nam-gyu, focused only on him.
There wasn’t really anywhere else that Nam-gyu could add more prints to, not without overlapping on some of his previous ones, which would probably end up looking messy, overdone. Except…
Nam-gyu couldn’t help it as his eyes drifted down to the one place he hadn’t yet marked. “Just one,” he said, letting his gaze linger on Thanos’ lips for perhaps a moment or two longer than he needed to before looking back up.
Thanos gave a slow nod of understanding, and Nam-gyu felt like he could melt underneath the heat of Thanos’ gaze as he said, “I guess you better take care of it, then.”
Thanos reapplied the lipstick once again, repeating the same movements as he did every time— bringing one hand up to cup Nam-gyu’s cheek and steady his head while he used the other to paint Nam-gyu’s lips… only this time, when Thanos lowered the lipstick, his other hand didn’t follow suit.
Instead, it remained there as a gentle guide as Nam-gyu leaned in again, and delivered a kiss to that final place.
But whereas the rest of Nam-gyu’s kisses had been brief, just a firm plant of his lips to Thanos’ skin before moving on to the next spot… this time, Nam-gyu stayed. When his lips found Thanos’, he just couldn’t bring himself to pull away… and seemingly, neither could Thanos.
Nam-gyu’s heart was beating up in his throat, heat was sparking in his gut and rushing through his veins, as his mouth began to move in a slow rhythm against Thanos’, against the same mouth that normally made Nam-gyu roll his eyes at whatever stupid shit it said, but was now rendering him completely speechless, completely thoughtless, as his mind went blank, preoccupied only by the lips against his. Soft lips that slotted between his own, practically a perfect fit; lips with which Nam-gyu left a kiss beyond every other one he’d left on Thanos before, lips that kissed Nam-gyu back in a mix of both hesitance and hunger, as though a deep desire was finally breaking through a barrier of nerves.
It didn’t feel real, it almost felt like a dream— and it had to be, right? There was no way that Nam-gyu was really here, that he was really kissing Thanos, and… and not just Thanos, but Choi Su-bong, too— his best friend, who as far as Nam-gyu knew wasn’t even into guys the same way Nam-gyu was, and yet was kissing Nam-gyu deeply and had his fingers tangled in Nam-gyu’s hair and was sighing against Nam-gyu’s mouth when Nam-gyu ran a hand up his leg and leaned into his touch when Nam-gyu brought his hand up to cup his face—
It was only when Nam-gyu’s fingers grazed something matte on Thanos’ skin that his speeding, whirlwind of thought came to a halt, a sudden reminder breaking through this dream. The feeling of the lipstick on Thanos’ cheek under his touch brought him out of that dream, reminding him of what he was actually supposed to be doing, what he’d gotten so distracted and carried away from— the photoshoot, for Thanos’ song.
Nam-gyu quickly lowered his hand from Thanos’ face, and with a brisk realization washing over him and snapping him back to reality, placed it against Thanos’ chest to push him away, breaking their kiss. Thanos was slower to react, appearing to remain stuck in a sort of daze for several seconds after he and Nam-gyu had separated… just long enough for inspiration to strike Nam-gyu through his own daze, for him to grab his camera forgotten beside him on the bed, and capture a picture of Thanos in this state.
The red and pink lips all over his face, his neck, his exposed shoulder. His mouth, that wasn’t printed with the same distinct mark as the rest of him, but rather just a messy, wet smudge of red across his lips, how he’d gotten it obvious to anyone. Flushed cheeks, and unfocused eyes, still stuck in a heated daze… it was perfect.
Kissed all over. Exactly what he’d asked for.
The snap of the camera seemed to alert Thanos a little, but not enough for him to react before Nam-gyu’s hand was against his chest again, this time with more force as he pushed Thanos to fall back against the bed. Once he was laying down, Nam-gyu moved forward on the bed, moving onto his knees and straddling Thanos’ hips as he brought his camera up again to snap another shot from above, a different, more… personal angle, as he looked down at Thanos underneath him.
When Nam-gyu lowered the camera this time, Thanos was looking back up at him with much more clarity in his gaze, surprise glittering in his wide eyes. Nam-gyu had to swallow back his heart jumping further up into his throat at the sight below of him before he could find his voice again, before he could bring himself to speak, so that everything his heart was feeling wouldn’t burst out of him. “That was good,” he ended up saying… then quickly added, “The photos, I mean.”
Thanos’ chest fell as he let out a shaky breath and gave a silent nod in response, but as he did, Nam-gyu could have sworn he saw the faintest smile on Thanos’ lips, underneath all that red.
In Nam-gyu’s opinion, those first two pictures he’d taken were already good enough, but he decided to take quite a few more anyway; partly so that Thanos could still have more options to choose from for the final product, and partly because it meant that Nam-gyu could hide behind his camera for a little longer, not having to stare directly at the mark he’d left on Thanos’ lips… the mark that had left Nam-gyu with more of a rush than any of the others.
By the time Nam-gyu had gotten pretty much every possible shot and angle of Thanos’ face and the sun outside had dipped in the sky, he finally set down the camera and let Thanos know that he’d gotten everything they needed, that they could be done for the day.
Thanos had been relatively silent for the remainder of the photoshoot, and with that growing silence an unease had started to develop within Nam-gyu, replacing that exciting heat in his gut with a cold, heavy weight as he wondered if that had all been a mistake, if he’d just ruined their friendship with a stupid decision, if he’d just fucked everything up.
He watched as Thanos made his way back over to the bed— they’d moved over to the window for the last few pictures, using the golden light of the late afternoon to leave a sort of sunkissed effect on Thanos’ face in addition to being… normally kissed— and picked up that packet of wipes again, the one he’d already used on Nam-gyu earlier discarded to the floor. He pulled a fresh wipe out of the packet and tossed it over to Nam-gyu, and it was only then that Nam-gyu remembered he was still wearing that red lipstick as well. He muttered a quiet thanks to Thanos as he caught it, and was just about to raise it to his lips to wipe away the day’s events for good, when Thanos’ voice cut through the room again.
“I wasn’t making fun of you earlier, you know,” he said, and there were no nerves, no uncertainty in his words. “About the lipstick. The colour does look good on you.”
Nam-gyu looked over to him again, and felt that cold weight in his stomach suddenly vanish, melted away by that warm, familiar smile Thanos was sending him from across the room.
Relief brought a similar smile to Nam-gyu’s face as well, and Thanos’ words brought a similar warmth across his cheeks and his ears. “Well… it suits you too,” he said, looking at the imprints of lips— of his lips— all over Thanos’ face.
Thanos gave a quiet chuckle, hesitating a moment before he got another wipe for himself. “Of course it does— everything looks good on me,” he said, and along with his smile sent over a playful wink that left Nam-gyu scoffing and rolling his eyes…
But that also left him with a comforting reassurance that stayed with him, that kept him smiling, long after he wiped the lipstick off, long after put his camera away, and long after he left Thanos’ apartment.
_______________
With the song itself already having been pretty much ready to go, it was only a few days after the photoshoot that Nam-gyu was receiving a text from Thanos with a link to a music streaming service, a link that brought him to the page of “The Legend Thanos”.
Thanos had gained a small fanbase from the couple dozen songs he’d released over the past three years, each song getting a decent amount of streams, but never enough to launch Thanos into the spotlight he always dreamed of. Though, it wasn’t any of those songs that Nam-gyu gave any attention to; instead, his eyes went immediately to the one with barely any streams at all, because it had only just been uploaded to the site.
The song was titled “Your Kiss”, and beside the title was the track cover that Nam-gyu recognized all too well, even just from the miniature icon on his phone screen.
He grabbed a pair of headphones and hit play on the song, but Nam-gyu found it rather difficult to really pay attention to the rhythmic melody or Thanos’ smooth voice or the lyrics being sung… when all he could focus on was the cover of the track, blown up to a bigger size on his screen once he’d pressed play on the song.
The picture Thanos had ended up going with was the second one Nam-gyu had taken, the one he’d taken after pushing Thanos down on the bed. If Nam-gyu looked closely, he could see the faint outline of his own shadow looming over Thanos’ figure. As he looked at the red prints all over Thanos’ face, he wasn’t thinking about how the imagery did actually fit the song very well— all he could think about was how those prints had gotten there. As he heard Thanos’ voice in his ear, rapping about getting drunk off of “your kiss”, all Nam-gyu could do was remember the feeling of Thanos’ lips against his; he didn’t think he would ever forget that feeling… or ever stop craving more of it.
Thanos must have keeping track of the time from the moment Nam-gyu had replied to his text letting him know he was about to take a listen, because it was only seconds after the song finished that Nam-gyu finally got a break from that picture of Thanos and his screen lit up instead with a pop-up telling him that Thanos was calling.
He quickly hit answer, and was glad that Thanos wasn’t video calling him… so that he wouldn’t be able to see the way Nam-gyu’s entire face had gone red.
Nam-gyu didn’t even have the chance to say a greeting before Thanos’ voice was once again in his ear, only this time it wasn’t through the recording of a song. “So?” he said over the call, his tone sounding both excited and nervous. “What did you think?”
Thanos’ music had never exactly been Nam-gyu’s taste— rap wasn’t really his thing in the first place, and Thanos’ rapping… well, Nam-gyu could always appreciate how he tried his best. “It was great,” he told Thanos instead, putting as much encouragement into his words as he could. “You were right— this is the best song you’ve written so far.” That, at least, wasn’t a lie; the song wasn’t necessarily Nam-gyu’s thing, but it did definitely take first place above the rest of Thanos’ work.
“I know!” Thanos replied, and Nam-gyu could practically envision the wide smile on his face from his voice alone. “I told you, man, I’ve got a feeling— I really think this song is gonna be the one.”
Nam-gyu couldn’t help but smile as well, and even though Thanos had said that about his previous three releases as well, Nam-gyu genuinely hoped that it would be true this time.
“Also, um…” Thanos went on, his tone shifted to something softer, which caught Nam-gyu’s attention. “The cover for the track really ties the whole thing together. When I posted it on Twitter earlier, people were really into the whole concept, and that photo has gotten people talking more about the song as well, so…” A brief, nervous chuckle accompanied his words, one that sent a slight rush through Nam-gyu. “… so, I just wanted to say thanks. You know, for taking the pictures, and…”
He didn’t have to say what else; Nam-gyu knew well enough. After all, it was only all he’d been able to think about for the last few days. “You can thank me by buying me a drink,” Nam-gyu said, suggesting the same payment that Nam-gyu accepted from Thanos every time he helped out with a photoshoot.
“You free tonight?” Thanos asked, though he sounded less curious, and more… hopeful.
“You know I don’t work on Thursdays,” Nam-gyu told him, which, of course, was his round-about way of saying yes.
“Good,” Thanos said, and that hopefulness was a little stronger. “I’ll pick you up at nine.”
Nam-gyu felt his face pull into a frown, though not out of displeasure, but rather… from confusion, surprise. “Pick me up?” he repeated curiously, as it was typical for them to just meet up at whatever club or bar Thanos wanted to go to that time. Nam-gyu didn’t think he’d ever been picked up by someone to go out with, ever; not even by the guys who’d asked him out on real dates.
“Yeah,” Thanos said, and again… Nam-gyu could almost imagine that smile. “I’m pulling out all the stops to show my appreciation this time, you know?”
“How chivalrous of you.”
“Anything for my Nam-su.”
Now, Nam-gyu was extremely glad they weren’t on a video call. “I’ll see you at nine.”
“And not a minute later!”
Thanos ended the call there, allowing himself the final word as he often did, but Nam-gyu didn’t mind. As the pop-up of his and Thanos’ call disappeared, and his screen returned to displaying that picture of Thanos… this time, as he looked at the imprints of his own lips all over Thanos, Nam-gyu couldn't help it as those very same lips pulled into a wide, unabashed smile.