Work Text:
Usually. In cases like this, Rafayel can bs his way through an assignment. Mostly if it’s one revolving art. He was the kid that trudged across campus and attended 3 of his classes with a 18 by 20 canvas. Was it worth getting anonymously famous through the yak? Of course not, a face like that shouldn’t be anonymous. Regardless, another all-nighter wouldn’t hurt, but this project will not allow for it. The professor this semester has weekly check-ins for each of the students to see if they are actually working. Also, the students are forced to work at the Dodd because of it. Aren’t they supposed to be artists? Where’s the freedom in creative freedom?
Rafayel sighs, reeling about class while waiting for the CL bus. All he has to do is pick a day every week and “act” like he’s working in a studio or something. Who’s to know he’s actually scrolling through TikToks and sending them to the girl in his bio group that he wished he had half a chance with? Well, other than the security cameras that barely work in all the buildings. The bus arrives and he luckily finds a seat. He scrolls the Dodd art school website and looks to reserve a studio space.
Wednesday. 5:30 pm.
It’s the only spot that’s consistently open every week. Lucky him! Better luck than the housing crisis of 2019 that had him couch surfing at Zayne’s for a good semester. Good thing he didn’t need to worry in 2020-- nor did anyone else.
He reserves the space for the month, but slowly realizes that the last shuttle for his apartment leaves at 5.
♡
“Paw points is literally not going to pay for gas!” Xavier takes his coffee that Rafayel bought him as a sad excuse of a bribe.
“It’s just for the month-!”
Xavier pinches the bridge of his nose. “You’re acting like I don’t have plans, a life even! Unlike someone .”
Rafayel picks up a sticky note and pen making a little drawing for the prompt of the week at the library. He stops and glances up at his friend. “Zayne?”
Xavier sighs and looks down at the boy. He seems to be drawing a mermaid- merman? Xavier looks over and reads the prompt.
Draw your favorite mythical beast OR give a restaurant recommendation.
Xavier takes a sticky note and a pen as well to add to the board. “Zayne is excused from that. He’s over in China finishing up his doctorate.” He sticks the note that reads “Applebees” next ot Rafayel’s finished doodle.
“You can’t be implying that I don’t have a life.” Rafayel pouts a bit as they walk from the board to find a table to sit at.
They set their bags down as they get to the table. Xavier pulls out his laptop and gives a deadpan stare to Rafayel. “When you aren’t here with me, you’re outside, painting. Or at home, painting. Or on the rare occasion you switch mediums and grab your sketchbook.” He opens his laptop to cover Rafayel’s face.
Rafayel peaks from the side still with a slight frown. “You just don’t want me to pass…”
Xavier ignores Rafayel’s advances as he pulls up his notion. He moves to the calendar and opens a tab under Wednesday and adds an event.
Take fishboy home.
Wed. 8 pm
SET WEEKLY
Rafayel gleams and hugs Xavier. Xavier rolls his eyes. “There better be a triple shot espresso with my name on it every Wednesday.”
“But you usually get a double-”
“Yea. Usually .”
♡
On the elevator, Rafayel double-triple checks the room reservation confirmation email.
3rd floor, room 320.
The elevator arrives at the floor and he gets off and walks around. Walks around a bit too much- After several turns he finally manages to get to the studio. He can faintly hear music from inside. A bit of a romantic playlist. Going from Love Me Like That to invisible string .
He checks his phone.
5:40 pm
Yea. He can definitely kick this person out.
Rafayel walks in the studio. His eyes catch someone. Painting away at a canvas as tall as them. Seems to be a background layer they are starting with. Rafayel’s gaze glances down at the artist. Their hair half up tied in a ponytail. Sleeves rolled up to their shoulders exposing their strong arms. The smock is cinching their waist… Wait- He needs to kick this student out. This is his space.
Rafayel approaches the artist and before he can say anything, they speak.
“Oh is the music bothering you? I can turn it down. My bad.” They grab their phone and decreasing the volume level before he can confirm that’s what he was here for.
Rafayel awkwardly coughs, “oh- no that’s not-”
The artist turns their head around. Glasses perched on their face, with two strands of hair framing their face. They tilt their head and furrow their brows.
Rafayel takes out his phone and shows the student the email.
They move their glasses up and squint, trying to read the phone. Then they place the glasses back down and turn back to their canvas continuing to paint. They wave their hand gesturing to another side of the room.
“Feel free to set up wherever, let me know if the music is too loud.” With that, they immediately turn the music back up to the original volume.
Rafayel blinks. Stunned. No way this guy-
“I think you must be confused,” Rafayel starts with his sweetest voice. “I reserved this space,” he gestures his hands over the space for emphasis (regardless of the artist not looking at him), “for, myself .”
They place down their brush and begin to speak, “You know as well as you do this school barely funds for the art program. And with Professor Yuu wanting his students to “log” hours of working on this project this month, of course we are gonna need to share this space. So either: we share or you find some free space to be to your lonesome which, spoilers , you won’t.”
“Anyways,” they pick up their brush again and begin adding strokes to the canvas. “I’m Hyunjin. If that makes you feel better. I’m no longer a stranger.”
No way this guy is that dense.
“Okay, Hyunjin .”
Hyunjin cuts him off. “You know the thing to do after someone introduces themselves is to also introduce yourself, Rafayel .”
“How do you know my name-?”
“We are literally in the same class,” Hyunjin said, like that’s common knowledge. Sure that’s probably true. Art majors typically take the same courses since there’s few that will fill their major requirements. But it’s not attendance is taken verbally.
This Hyunjin guy is weird.
♡
They work in silence the whole time. Other than Hyunjin’s playlist that was playing, you can only hear strokes of the brush against the canvases. Rafayel notes to bring headphones next time-- as well as to add Right Through Me to his playlist. As he looks down at his phone, it glows with the message “ I’m here” from Xavier. Has time passed that fast? He looks up at his canvas. To be fair he didn’t make much progress. He finds it difficult to be a creative when others are watching. Sure, when it’s completed, please look at his work. But the process. God no. He thinks for a moment to take the canvas home and work on the full project there, but it’s in the process of drying and the last thing he needs is for Xavier to complain about the paint getting on his seats even though Rafayel know’s he can be safe with it. Acting like he didn’t scrub 3 seats on the Night Campus Bus. But, if he has to work on the project here every week, he might as well keep the canvas here.
Rafayel stands after packing up. As he heads out, he glances at Hyunjin. He’s made lots more progress. He notices the background to be an ocean. But the colors are too dark to just be something shallow… The assignment was supposed to revolve around the usage of anatomy. What business would a human have that deep underwater? Rafayel breaks his gaze with looking at his phone due to the sound of his ringtone.
Right. Xavier.
He rushes out, opting to take the stairs since the elevators are too unreliable. He walked out the building to find his friend’s car with his hazards on at the curb. Rafayel slides in the passenger side, and before he can put his seatbelt on, Xavier presses on the gas.
“Why the rush!” Rafayel successfully puts the seatbelt on, and begins to hold onto the handle above him.
Xavier focuses on a road not even assessing his question. On one hand, Rafayel is glad his friend is this insanely focused considering on the wavering paths that are to come, mostly at this 200cc Mario Kart speed. But on the other hand, if he would have to be a witness for Xavier in court, he would like a good liability for why his friend was speeding like a madman.
They make it to a red light, and Rafayel can finally catch his breath.
“There’s this girl.”
Rafayel whips his head. “HUH? You-”
The light turns green which has Rafayel reach for the handle, but Xavier drives at a decent speed. Still above the speed limit, but at least it’s not 70 in a school zone.
“She asked me for my Hogwarts House, and I said Slytherin. I don’t know a damn thing about Harry Potter or whatever, but it made her happy since she was a Hufflepuff.”
Rafayel blinks. “What does this got to do with you speeding? Don’t tell me you have a date! At-” He looks at the clock, “8- probably 9! At night!”
Xavier smirks. “I do indeed.”
“What the fu-”
“With you!”
Rafayel's face drops. “No-”
“We are going to watch every Harry Potter movie.”
“Dude! For some girl? Have some standards. You know I would never-”
Rafayel’s phone glows and it’s a notification.
august 🥀 (im cultured i swear)
*open link*
take it rn
for science
(because you know)
(we are in bio together)
(im a slytherin btw)
He slowly puts down his phone. “Hypothetically speaking. How long would this take?”
“19 hours and 39 minutes.”
“Nothing a little 2x speed and subtitles can’t fix.”
♡
Rafayel still hasn’t caught up on the sleep from the Harry Potter Marathon a whole week later. Apparently the girl Xavier was trying to woo didn’t even like Harry Potter to that degree.
Rafayel sighs as he walks on the elevator. 2 more weeks of this… He hasn’t made much progress. And honestly, probably because of that Hyunjin guy. Rafayel can’t help but feel a bit inferior. It feels like Hyunjin practically lives here.
When he arrives. Hyunjin’s here.
When he leaves. Hyunjin’s here.
Even on the days Rafayel wasn’t scheduled to be here. Hyunjin is still here.
And the way Hyunjin can just work unbothered. He rarely acknowledges Rafayel when he’s here. The only time Hyunjin does is when one of his friend’s notice there is someone else is in the room and pry for information.
Rafayel gets to the door of the studio and hears another person in the room. Their voice being insanely deep—
“Felix I need to finish this please…” Hyunjin said, his voice a bit tired
“Hyunjin, you lock yourself in here every day. Even weekends! Please. Just one dinner… You know it will be quick! Joe Frank is right there.”
Rafayel walked in, and the short blonde one pointed at him. “See literally! I’m sure he’s looking to use the room,” he, assuming Felix, grabbed Hyunjin’s arm and attempted to drag him out the studio. Hyunjin doesn’t give in.
“N-no that’s Rafayel. I was waiting for him to come!” Hyunjin looks at him, eyes pleading. Waiting… for him? No way right?
Felix barely looks convinced.
“We needed to work together on the art contest that’s coming up. Because our stupid assignment took too much of our time we ended up becoming partners. And we need to start today, right?” He looks behind Felix to give Rafayel a smile. To be completely honest, his heart skipped a beat there.
But why does Hyunjin want to skip dinner with his friend?
Why is Hyunjin constantly working on this piece like clockwork?
Why is Hyunjin acknowledging his existence?
Felix looks at Rafayel for confirmation. He holds back a sigh.
“Yea, the 1st place prize is this acrylic paint set. It’s so hard to get ahold of. However,” Rafayel glances at Hyunjin, “you need to eat.”
He can see the tinge of red grow on Hyunjin’s cheeks.
Hyunjin stands and unties his smock. He goes to the sink and rinses his brushes, and Felix cheers.
“Finally! There’s so much I need to update you on. Like how Minho-hyung got back with Satoru-”
Hyunjin snaps his head around, eyes wide. “No way.”
“See what happens when you’re gone!” Felix whines.
Hyunjin quickly covers his canvas and takes Felix’s arm and drags him out the studio. Rafayel tried to listen to the rest of their conversation as they left. Call him nosy, but the way “Minho” is stuck with the biggest red flag on campus, and at that, got BACK together. Maybe he will ask Hyunjin about it later. It seems like they are on speaking terms.
♡
When it’s just him and his paint brush, Rafayel feels like he can conquer the world. Everything flows easily. All the strokes begin to make complete sense… He feels like he can truly finish this project today. Instinctively, he turns around. Hyunjin still isn’t back.
Back? Now why would he be waiting for him to return. Wasn’t this what he was waiting for? Time in the studio alone to finish this stupid assignment and clock in these hours?
Rafayel turns to look back at his canvas and realizes. The long dark hair at his shoulders. The tie of the smock is a bit too tight. The wrist that holds a scrunchie that is used to tie his hair. The left sleeve rolled up past the shoulder with the right still down but in the process of being rolled back up.
Fuck. His muse is Hyunjin.
Rafayel hears the door open and flinches but quickly hides his painting.
But then he relaxes. “Oh, it’s just you.”
“What do you mean “Just you” ?” Xavier walks towards him, “I’ve been calling you for the last 30 minutes!”
Rafayel turns on his phone and sees the 11 missed calls from Xavier.
“At least you got some work done.” Xavier places his hand on Rafayel’s shoulder.
Xavier examines the piece, “So who’s this? Is this the mystery bio girl you won’t tell me about?”
Rafayel flushes and covers the painting. He picks up his water cup that held his brushes and heads to the sink.
“No. Definitely not- why would I ever-”
“Woah there buddy, what did those brushes ever do to you?”
Rafayel looks down to see the bristles left on his hands. He sighs and begins to wash them a bit more gently. He cleans up the rest of his workspace (and a bit of Hyunjin's, since it wasn’t looking like he wasn’t returning anytime soon).
“You good with Cane’s tonight?” Xavier said, looking back at Rafayel as they head out.
Rafayel’s gaze is stuck looking at Hyunjin’s canvas. It’s a large one so of course the cover won’t hide it all.
A tail…? Suppose it’s something else with the whole composition of the painting. Of course Hyunjin was going to go above and beyond with his piece.
“Rafayel?”
Xavier’s voice snaps him out of it.
“Cane’s! Of course I’m down. My treat!”
“No. I don’t want to see you embarrassingly decline your card.”
♡
It’s the final week. Good riddance. Rafayel is finished with the assignment. All hours are accounted for. He just has to sit in this room and stall for the next 3 hours.
He arrives at the studio. He sees Hyunjin working on a whole other piece. It’s a simple contemporary piece of a still life capturing the flowers by the window. Rafayel drops his gaze under the windowsill and sees other identical paintings strewn about.
“You know, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” He picks up two of the canvases from the floor. “This is looking pretty similar to me.”
Hyunjin gives a lifeless chuckle. “If Mr. Insanity taught me anything, that is " Don't Go Insane .”
Rafayel puts the paintings down and walks to Hyunjin. “What is this even for?”
“The contest.” Hyunjin gets a bit rougher with his brushes against the canvas.
“You know that was just a silly cover up because of your friend- you told him the truth right?”
Silence.
“Hyunjin-”
“I can’t lie to Felix! He’s literally my best friend!” Rafayel thinks back to Felix. And honestly. He wouldn’t lie to him either.
Rafayel grabs the brush from Hyunjin. Hyunjin tries to grab his brush back, but Rafayel catches his wrist with his other hand.
“Hey what are you-”
“Not lying to Felix.” Rafayel adds a bit of shadows to the piece. As well as adding the textures through the window to capture the landscape. Hyunjin stands there stunned.
“Alright, done.” Rafayel hands Hyunjin’s brush back while smiling.
Hyunjin looks at the canvas in awe. “Oh wow…”
After a beat of silence Hyunjin continues. “You always know how to bring life to a painting. Like… the way I paint, I always opt for a darker color scheme. And somehow it just makes everything have a sense melancholy.”
Rafayel glances at the flowers Hyunjin painted. They are beautiful… Sure the colors are on the darker side, but no way dull or boring, or sad even. He captured the true presence of those flowers. As much as they have been in the studio, they have been kept alive by the sunlight brought through the window and whoever has been watering the vase periodically when visiting the studio.
Hyunjin continues, “But you… You share such a bright and loving way to art. Not afraid of color. Allowing it to shine and glow. Capturing the beauty of everything. It’s such a positive and optimistic way of looking at the world… I envy that.”
“Envy me?”
Hyunjin looks down at his hand noticing the grip on his wrist getting tighter.
Rafayel simply laughs. “I envy YOU ! The way you were in here tirelessly working on your project. The way you’ve done it with ease. Despite whatever distractions were present. Other than that, your craft . The amount of detail you put in your works is more than incredible. You capture life phenomenally . It’s so realistic… You see things for what they are.”
Hyunjin mutters.
“Huh?” Rafayel tilts his head.
“...not all the time.” Hyunjin speaks a bit louder.
Hyunjin pries himself from Rafayel’s grip. He grabs a larger canvas. Oh the one from the project.
Hyunjin takes in a breath. “Before I show you… If you aren’t okay with this being submitted, please let me know I won’t feel bad. I can just redo it…”
Rafayel furrows his brows. Why would he need to give consent for a piece…?
Hyunjin then takes off the sheet showcasing the the piece.
It was a mermaid. Purple and green iridescent scales covering the tail. As well as adding to parts of the body. Anatomy done phenomenally well… The gestures in the arms and hands flowing freely. Made the mermaid seem very cute and playful despite being in the depths of the sea. Rafayel notes the background showing some of the dangers of the sea such as predators or pollution that could potentially be harmful. But as he looks up at the painting…
“Is this supposed to be…” He lamely points at himself. All Hyunjin could do was cover his head in his hands.
“Sorry you know… you know when you just see someone and you just have to- ” Hyunjin gestures at the painting. Rafayel nods and walks over to his work station.
He pulls his canvas and places it on the easel.
Hyunjin gasps as it’s uncovered “That’s…”
Rafayel sheepishly smiles.
The piece clearly shows an artist at their canvas. But it’s more than that. The colors that are sporadic around the piece. It’s messy with purpose. That is an artist’s brain after all. But the focal point is on Hyunjin and his form. From him struggling to roll his sleeve back up, to his paintbrush marking the back of his jeans due to still being wet.
“So… I do get you completely.”
They both laugh.
After it dies down a bit, Hyunjin speaks up. “You know I saw that piece you did last year. You know the one of Ariel?”
“Is that why you drew me as a mermaid?!”
Hyunjin nods, “I couldn’t get it out of my head. And then you… I kept seeing you in my classes and I really wanted to say something since that piece just.” He makes an explosion effect with his hands and adds the additional sound.
Rafayel muffles a laugh and nods. “So somehow that mashed up together in your head?”
“You know better than I how that goes!” Hyunjin hits him playfully. “I’ve been admiring you're works since I got here and I just… wanted to say something. Anything.”
Rafayel glances at Hyunjin with a revelation. . “Then why did you fight with me when I wanted the room to myself!”
“I wasn’t going to have a perfectly good model get away from me. Like come on. There’s only so many references I can remember in my brain.”
Rafayel can’t fight with that logic. Considering how many times he looked back at Hyunjin to paint.
“I guess we should turn in our assignments as well as the contest painting.” Rafayel stands up and offers Hyunjin a hand. He takes it and stands up. Rafayel takes his piece as well as the contest piece and Hyunjin takes his own.
♡
“How did we lose!” Rafayel rereads the email as he shoves a slice of pizza down his throat.
Hyunjin sighs into his bowl of cereal. “Apparently it was student voted, and the stupid frat guy joined and had all his whole frat and sister sorority vote for him for his stupid experiential learning credit.”
“Well if these students had a pair of fucking eyes-”
Hyunjin promptly snatches his phone back from Rafayel’s grip, “I know it’s a flip phone but it’s not supposed to fold that way.”
“We should get revenge.”
Hyunjin meets Rafayel’s gaze which is darker than ever.
“Huh-”
♡
Rafayel barely makes it on the CL bus after meeting with Xavier for the afternoon. He sits down.
“Dude, who in their right mind would come in the middle of the night a teepee a frat house?”
Rafayel begins to sink in his seat, or as much as he could as a 6 foot man.
“Jisung. Literally you-”
“Binnie-hyung! I’ve changed! I live there now!”
“You voted the white guy over Hyunjin!”
“We are brothers 4lyfers! That’s what they said!”
“Ji- you’re literally in a cult-”
“Channie-hyung, not you too!”