Cat Boy

29 | oh

"Honestly, I'm not too sure about this," Wonpil admits as Joshua takes him by the arm to guide him towards the wooden stool in the middle of the makeshift studio. "Do you really think I should be posing as your model when I have a broken heart to nurse?"

"Everyone's got a broken heart, nursing it is a luxury they cannot afford," Jeonghan says, his tone offhand despite the ostensible gravity of his comment. He dips the tip of his brush into a color just outside Wonpil's line of sight, completely absorbed by his task. When the blond looks up, his expression is dry. "Now toughen up and look pretty."

"And you don't have a broken heart," Joshua adds, dragging up an easel. Wonpil doesn't know what they even need an easel for—the whole plan was to paint on his face again, using him as their 'canvas' as Jeonghan had so eloquently stated at a time that now seems so long ago. "It's just a little rejection, not the end of your love life as you know it. Don't be dramatic."

"I thought you liked dramatic," Wonpil jokes, surprised by how at ease he feels in the company of the two boys. He had braced himself for the comment about his rejection to sting, but it doesn't—at least, not as much as he had expected it to. There's still a pinching sensation where his heart should be (is), but it's more like a sprinkling of salt on a wound rather than a complete reopening of it.

Joshua pauses in the middle of his task, glancing at Wonpil with his eyebrows raised and a twinkle in his warm coffee eyes. "And since when did you do what I liked?"

A small smile tugs at the corner of Wonpil's lips as the two artists set up what they've dubbed as the right atmosphere for their painting session. He's used to their little routine, which is almost like a ritual because of the amount of times he's seen it repeated. The dusting of the old canvas, a measurement of god-knows-what on paper, Joshua and Jeonghan speaking in low tones to each other with their voices just out of earshot as if conspiring against him together. It's a familiar routine, and if familiarity breeds contempt, it also breeds comfort.

Wonpil settles into his seat, the hard wooden top of the stool digging into the bones of his butt in a way that had at first been uncomfortable but now feels normal. Distantly, his mind considers the possibility that maybe his bones have changed to adjust themselves to the stool's shape, but he discards the idea as quickly as he comes up with it. He's not a science guy, but he's pretty sure that would take much longer than a few weeks.

"Done yet?" he called out, his gaze on his forearms as he rolls up his sleeves to minimize the amount of cloth exposed to the duo's dripping paintbrushes. Jeonghan's eyes flicker away from Joshua's face, lingering on Wonpil's hands for a split second before flicking upwards to rest on his face. Wonpil looks up innocently, arching his eyebrows at the almost dark expression on Jeonghan's face. "What?"

"Don't interrupt our sessions," Jeonghan mutters, making Wonpil frown. That's a first. The bleached blond lifts his paintbrush into the air and makes a strange pattern in the air, as if painting on an invisible canvas. "They're sacred to the beginning of the ritual."

Ah. So he's not the only one equating it to a ritual. "You don't get to be mad at me," he says. "I've got a broken heart and am still here to be your model-cum-canvas."

"I think my art portfolio for college is much more important than your heart," Jeonghan says wryly.

Joshua shoots him a warning look, but even he seems to be biting back a smile. That's enough for Wonpil, who settles back good-naturedly in his place. "All right, you know the drill," the pink-haired barista says to Wonpil, who nods once. "Did you wash your face before this?"

"Do you really need to ask?" Wonpil fires back, and Jeonghan starts. Joshua used to be the one to start, but he's noticed a change in the trend recently. Jeonghan, who had been so quick to make jokes on his expense, has become more taciturn. Normally, that would have been a good thing considering the romantic aspect of the circumstances, but his behavior is so alien it makes Wonpil nervous.