natural figure | taegi

chapter three

•) Monday Midday

Scrape after scrape after scrape the colours came together. It had been a while since Taehyung had worked with a palette knife, piling blotches of paint and dragging it where desired. It had a nice effect, patchy and textured. It wasn't his favourite medium but it was nice to change it up a bit every now and then. Today was a free day so the students were given the whole session to paint and draw as they pleased. Taehyung wasn't sure what he had in mind to paint though, for the moment he enjoyed mixing colours and seeing what would happen.

His music was sweet in his ears and poured inspiration into his head. A change in pace told him to turn his knife sharply, a honey-like melody instructed him to swipe down slow. The music was telling him what to do, he enjoyed painting this way. Everything was a surprise, art block had had him under lock and key for so long he forgot what it was like to just have fun with art.

Something cold and soft slid up the nape of his neck and he snapped forward with a yelp. Everyone looked up, waited a moment and returned to their work. Taehyung whipped around tugging his earphones out and gritting his teeth to find Yoongi standing above him with a paint brush in hand, hair pushed down into his eyes from the black cap on his head. Taehyung's heart pounded heavily.

"Your hand." Was all Yoongi said, Taehyung blinked, not understanding until Yoongi pointed with his brush to the canvas. Taehyung looked over and found his hand had slammed into the paint when he'd been startled. He groaned and looked all the way down his forearm, covered in storm blues and sunset oranges. "Sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen."

"It's fine." Taehyung muttered quietly and reached for the paper towel always kept beside him. As he wiped his arm down, Yoongi pulled up a chair and took a seat, yanking his hat off before using his hand to neaten his hair. He placed it under the table for safe keeping. Taehyung slowed himself to shoot him a displeased sidelong look. Yoongi wasn't doing anything, he was just observing. Eyes moving rapidly as he surveyed Taehyung's piece. "What are you doing here? You're not in this class."

"I came to visit."

"You came to visit?" Yoongi sniffed his nose and nodded. His elbows resting against the tops of his thighs, body low. Taehyung watched him.

"That's what I said." Yoongi confirmed and Taehyung's brows knitted together.

"Why?"

"Why not? Am I not allowed to?"

"It's weird, what's the point?"

"How's it weird? Weren't you going to visit me on Friday?" Yoongi told him and Taehyung's body froze up. How did he know? Taehyung's wide eyes met Yoongi's, calm and composed. "What if I just wanted to see you? Is that a good enough reason?"

Taehyung choked on his spit. He didn't know what to say, so he said nothing and in a fluster he stood and headed for the sink to wash his paint stained arm. Leaving Yoongi behind him he tried to restore his natural breathing pattern as the refreshingly cold water ran over his skin.
What the hell should he do? Yoongi had found out that Taehyung had come asking for him. How was he supposed to act?

Too busy scrubbing his already clean skin he didn't realise how long he'd been standing at the sink until someone coughed and called his name. He looked up, one of the other students gave him a face of concern and Taehyung smiled awkwardly. Raising his hands to somehow indicate that everything was fine. Then he glanced back to his station and found Yoongi painting away. His body filled with heat and he moved back over. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry, I could see something in all the mess you'd made so I helped myself." Yoongi immediately stopped and put down the palette knife. Taehyung's cheeks would burn to the touch. "I shouldn't have."

"It wasn't a mess, it was all coordinated-" he cut himself short when he came around and saw what changes Yoongi had made. All the sudden he was no longer mad. A still capture of house in an orange and yellow field, the sun pinched between baby pink trees filled the reflection in his eyes. He was left bewildered, Yoongi was looking up at him. "How did you... so quickly..."

"Do you like it?" Yoongi asked, Taehyung glanced to him and back. He was nodding before he'd realised it and he didn't catch Yoongi's bright smile. "You didn't come."

"Huh?" Taehyung's attention peeled away from his canvas to Yoongi beside and below him. Yoongi wasn't looking anymore, he was picking at a piece of dried paint on the table next to him.

"On Friday, you never came. But you asked when I had lessons."

"O-oh... that..." Taehyung was caught in his own setting mud. He didn't know what to tell him, he had no excuses to make sense of his strange behaviour. "I was..."

Yoongi was quiet, dipping and pulling his finger through a mound of oil paint. He looked at it and then said; "you should've come," as he pressed his finger into the skin of Taehyung's hand and let the paint cling to him. Too stunned to notice, Taehyung's eyes were glued to the top of his head.

"I... that..." Taehyung's brain was like a short circuiting computer. Nothing was registering. Mouth opening and closing looking like a fool, he heard Yoongi laugh.

"I'm sorry, I'm making you uncomfortable. You didn't have to come, I just would've liked it if you did." Yoongi told him, going back to the canvas with the palette knife in between his fingers. He began touching it up here and there. Taehyung was still standing with nothing to say. He found himself sitting back down in his seat. Yoongi looked at him, paused and then smiled. Taehyung was shy in giving him one back. For the most part thereafter it was quiet between them, words that were. spoken every so often and didn't hang long in the air. They fiddled around with the artwork, arguing about what should go where and how things should look until finally Yoongi put his brush down and placed his hands on his knees.

"I should get going. I really was here only to visit." He stood and Taehyung never knew that he was looking up at him with soft eyes. Yoongi smiled. "It was nice seeing you again. Thanks for letting me stick around."

"Uh... yeah, of course." Taehyung began to stand as well but Yoongi motioned for him to stay put.

"Don't worry, I'll show myself out. I've taken enough of your time already." He scratched the back of his head and reached down to the lower compartment of the table to retrieve his cap. After pulling it over his head he stood with his fingers awkwardly pulling at one another. For a moment he just looked at Taehyung, and Taehyung looked back silently. Yoongi bit his lip and then stuck his hand out for Taehyung to shake. He responded quicker this time. "See you around, Taehyung-ssi."

"Bye..." He was gone with a wave to a couple of the other students as he left. Taehyung gazed until the door swung shut, as it clicked he looked down. Hand pressed into his canvas, colours mixed and dragged the wrong way. He groaned and fell back into his chair with his head hanging over his shoulders. Something crinkled in his hoodie pocket that had him sitting upright again. What he pulled out made his eyes glitter, another neatly folded page that when opened brought a picture of Taehyung's very own pen drawn face to light. There was a tingle in his fingers as he touched it. Another scribble down the bottom right read a phone number and a brief note.

You don't have to, but I'd like if you'd call sometime. Or text, whatever you're comfortable with.
M.Y

word count } 1370