Diamond Heart | Hyunbinchan

Chapter 1

SPRING IS SHORT.
BUT IT COMES AGAIN.
- IU, Lilac MV (2021)

Chan always thought it would be better if he never met his soulmate, if they never showed a sign of their existence.

It's why he's here, on a friday night, walking into a club, making a beeline for the bathroom. The music is still calm, a deep bass resonating through the room and in his bones. Music is what he knows, what he breathes, what he is, but he doesn't often feel it in his entire body the way he does in this club. It's in a basement but the ceiling is high up, the dark walls are illuminated in pink and blue and purple neon lights, the dance floor is not yet full – the bathroom is blessedly empty.

He washes his hands, sprinkles water in his face, fixes the mess his hair becomes after a day of meetings. He takes his tie off, unbuttons two buttons, rearranges the fall of the silky black fabric over his torso. He untucks his shirt, letting the hem fall freely over his belt. Rummaging through his pockets, he finds a lipstick and a small eyeshadow palette next to his airpods, and starts adding just a touch of black on his lids.

In the corner of his eyes he notices someone step in. He's tall, dressed in black, with shoulder length black hair, fringe falling to cover his eyes. Chan focuses on applying some lipstick. It's nothing too fancy, and definitely not the limit of his skills with the art, but he's confined to the space of his pockets and those already hold a phone and a wallet.

Chan is slinging his tie around his neck in a makeshift choker when the tall man steps to the sink next to him to wash his hands. Chan loosely winds the tie around itself on the side of his neck and lets one end fall to his back and one end fall over his chest like a dangling earring.

Dark eyes meet his in the mirror.

Oh. He's pretty, is the first thing Chan notices, only to immediately correct himself. Beautiful. He's wearing dark jeans, probably, Chan's brain is occupied with the well fitting, soft looking black turtleneck he's wearing, accenting his shoulders and making Chan wish he could hook two fingers into the collar and tug to see more of his skin.

Beautiful smiles, his whole face going soft and Chan needs to revise that, again. Adorable.

Adorable turns towards him, so Chan turns to him too, and wow, he's even prettier out of the mirror's reflection.

"Do you want a hair clip for that?" Adorable asks, and takes a pin out of his hair that Chan hadn't even realised was pinned back in places.

"Huh?" Chan says. And really, excuse him, but Tall and Gorgeous and Adorable is talking to him?

Adorable smiles, sweetly, stepping up to him. "May I?"

Chan doesn't know what he's asking, but he nods anyway. This close, he needs to tilt his head back to look into Adorable's eyes. He feels cool fingers on his neck then, a barely noticeable tug on his improv fashion, and warm metal slides into place, securing his tie. It's still loose, he could easily tug it off, but now it won't come apart if he moves his head too quickly. "Oh."

"Mmh," Adorable says, eyes fixed on Chan's collar. He lets his fingers trail down Chan's neck, over his shirt.

Chan's skin burns, he goes still as Adorable tugs in the front of his shirt, and it takes Chan an embarrassingly long moment to realise he now has three buttons undone. Well, it's not like his whole chest will be visible, just a sliver of skin and his collarbones.

"I'm Hyunjin," Adorable says softly, taking his hands off Chan. "Let me buy you a drink?"

Chan sucks in air, his heart beating faster than the muffled bass from the dancefloor. "I'm Chan," he says and smiles.