through the lens

[kyumills]

title: through the lense
pairing: wooseok/yuto ; wooyu
rating: teen
tags: slice of life, 

summary: In reality, however, Yuto didn't have half a clue what to do with his life

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People looked at Yuto and thought he had his whole life together.

He moved from Nagano to Korea after high school and was studying at Yonsei, one of Korea’s top tier schools. Yuto was funny and handsome which allowed him to fit right in amongst all the college kids his age. And he was fluent in Korean, which was a major plus since he was in school. In Korea.

His body language and overall charm was different--he simply stood out; the professors even learned his name because of it.

In reality, however, Yuto didn’t have half a clue what to do with his life. He didn’t know why his father allowed him to step on a plane, go to a country he wasn’t familiar with, and get an education there out of all places. For some reason, it didn’t really matter to his dad. As long as Yuto didn’t spend all his dad’s money, shoot up drugs, or get a girl pregnant he was allowed to do whatever he wanted. He’d eventually figure out what his true calling was, but until then he’d just get a nine to five job. Or a seven-thirty to nine job if the world was completely honest. He’d work at a gas station if he needed to. Just until he figured out what to do. 

Yuto wondered if his parents always knew what they were destined to do, or if they had to figure it out as painfully and as long as Yuto had.

His father owned a very successful business. He was responsible for heading a cyber-security company in Nagano. Yuto’s dad was a CISO, chief information security officer, making the high end of two hundred and twenty two thousand dollars per year. His mother was a famous chef and Yuto?

Yuto was trying his best to be a son worth bragging about.

“Yuto I’ll be at Hyuna and Hyojong’s for the night,” Hui said, tying his shoe, “Don’t miss me too much.” Hui was Yuto’s roommate, the only one willing to deal with the wreck that was himself. He was averagely tall, passionate about the keyboard, and very kind; Yuto would consider he and Hui to be the best of friends. He couldn’t lie.

“Use protection!” Yuto teased as Hui closed the door, “You can actually get Hyuna pregnant if you don’t!” He heard a ‘dumbass’ from behind the door and slightly chucked. He was genuinely happy for Hui. Finding and keeping love was hard enough just for a pair, but \Hui, Hyuna, and Hyojong were a trio. And Hui managed just fine with them.

It was cute.

Hyojong was mature and overall collected; he was also kind of short and rapped extremely well. Hyojong liked to have fun too, which made him enjoyable to be around. When he and Yuto got together they teased the absolute heck out of Hui and Hyuna. They were relationship goals; goofy, honest, in love, and communication based.

Yuto hadn’t dated at all while in Korea. People would try to throw themselves at him--emphasis on try--and, while the concept of dating and relationships were great, he just didn’t feel up to it. Yuto had a lot to figure out and he didn’t necessarily know if he could do it with another person Back in Nagano, however, it was quite a different story. He had dated fifteen other people over the span of three years. He didn’t remember them well; he remembered small details of each of their faces. But he remembered why he was in Korea to begin with:

Kang Hyunggyu.

It sounded crazy, he knew, but Hyunggyu was his last boyfriend. He remembered it clearly: Hyunggyu and Yuto met in Tokyo and they promised each other forever. Yuto was there returning from a year in China, a study abroad program allowed him the opportunity to leave. He’d just gotten there and they rowed down the Chidorigafuchi moat together and watched the cherry blossoms bloom, went to Fuji-Q on multiple occasions, and were always together. Yuto wondered what happened between them. Maybe he thought their love was going to last forever. Scratch that, maybe he hoped their love would last forever. But it didn’t. Hyunggyu broke it off with Yuto a few days before he hopped on a plane and never came back to Japan ever again. Yuto wanted answers.

Maybe that was his dream: to get the answers he needed to finally move on.

Yuto stared at his work desk, piles of paper and books scattered across it. Winter break was almost over and he had nothing done. He had a pile of homework scattered haphazardly on his desk with no actual work done. Great, he thought, another thing to worry about. Yuto decided to do something about his workload instead of dwelling on the past.

Yes loitering between his bed and the mini-fridge he had freshly stocked with a whole bunch of Japanese snacks was fun, but he needed to do some work.

He put on his best pair of jeans, the black ones with rips in them, and a shirt before grabbing his leather jacket. I look good, he thought. He was ready to go out, headphones in his ears and backpack on his back.

When Yuto stepped outside the sky was nothing less than beautiful, ethereal almost. The sun hid itself between tall Seoul buildings, lending itself to nothing less than a lucrative piece of artwork. The blues, pinks, purples, and reds melted into each other, mesmerizing Yuto. He was awestruck, watching as the colours blended together.

When was the last time he looked up at the sky? Yuto couldn't remember.

He walked aimlessly up a hill by the campus, watching the sun peek through openings in the skyline on its descent away from the Earth. It didn't take Yuto long to fall into deep thought while staring at the sky. Maybe leaving Japan wasn't such a good idea after all. He wondered how his mother was doing, how she’d been holding up with him in a different country despite her constant protests of being alright. Yuto knew his mother was lonely without his father.

Maybe it's how she justified cheating on him. Because she was lonely.

The incident that happened when Yuto was young left a sour taste in his mouth. After all, he was the one to witness his mother and one of his father’s friends being rather comfy with each other. There was a kiss on the mouth involved in that too, and young Yuto had a hard time accepting that his mother most likely wasn't in love with his father anymore. Young Yuto couldn't understand why his mom would let another man--another friend--kiss her. In their home. Did his dad’s absence justify her situation? Probably.

Probably not though.

Maybe that was another part of his dream: to leave a home full of secrets and lies. “Man fuck that.” Yuto chided his thoughts, dubbing them as “fake deep” while laying back. The breeze tickled his face, lifting hair into his face. He stared at the sky again and smiled.

That is, until he heard a shudder from beyond his line of sight.

He got up, looking for the source of the noise only to find a boy with a camera to his eye. “Hey,” Yuto brusquely asked, “What are you doing?” Yuto realized he most likely sounded intimidating and softened his tone, “I meant to ask, are you taking pictures of me? Why?”

“Have you seen yourself?” the stranger asked, “You look like a god. And golden hour really accentuates your features.” The stranger walked up to him, handing Yuto the camera. They looked at the pictures and wow, Yuto thought, I look good. “Sorry I kind of rambled. I can delete them-”

“No no no it's fine,” Yuto answered, “Can I ask a question?”

“Sure.”

“What’s golden hour?” The stranger smiled at him and he smiled back. He looked at the picture on the camera in front of him. Yuto’s side profile, a huge grin on his face, combined with the wind gave off an ethereal vibe. The sun created a small flare across the picture and it looked so..beautiful. Was beautiful the word? He wasn't exactly sure about it.

“Golden hour?” the stranger smiled, “Well, golden hour is the perfect time to take pictures. It's when a period of time before sunset and after sunrise where the daylight is more reddish in color.” Yuto was still a bit confused, looking down at the pictures for the umpteenth time and not seeing what the guy saw. “It works across the skin beautifully. See? Yours is glowing here.”

Yuto saw it now that it was pointed out to him.

“That looks great,” Yuto smiled at the stranger. “But why me? Why did you decided to take pictures of me? You're a stranger, I don't know you.”

“Well, you're handsome with or without the golden hour,” the stranger responded, “Oh, where are my manners? I'm Jung Wooseok, I'm twenty years old, and I study media at Yonsei. Pleasure to make your acquaintance unintentional, yet very handsome, model. Can I take more pictures of you, if you don’t mind?”

“Oh please, it's just Yuto,” Yuto smiled, “What a coincidence, I got to Yonsei. I study business.” Yuto continued, “And as long as you don’t sell them off than sure. One would think you’re flirting Mr. Wooseok.”

“Oh really? I didn’t know,” Wooseok brushed his hair back, “I just think people look better in their natural state.” Yuto blushed. Another click rung through the air. “Hey, can you hold your jacket? Kind of like this?” Yuto obeyed, holding his jacket half way . “You know what? I think you’re right. I just like being honest with people, I appreciate natural beauty, so it might sound like I’m flirting. If it makes you uncomfortable I can-”

“Don’t worry about it.” Wooseok took pictures from a few different angles, instructing Yuto to give him natural looks. He didn’t know what that meant, natural looks, so he just posed like he did when he took his selfies. “Ooh no, I feel like I look ugly, don’t take pictures like that.”

Wooseok laughed and in the hour they'd spent talking and laughing Yuto realized his final dream: Jung Wooseok.

"Yuto do me a favor and think of something that makes you happy,"  Wooseok brought the camera to his eye, "Tell me about it."

And Yuto told him. Yuto told him all about Hyunggyu, and rafting. He told Wooseok about Fuji-Q roller coasters, Mt. Fuji, and even spending time with his mother in Nagano. Nagano. Yuto loved Nagano. 

Yuto missed Nagano. He smiled at the thought. 

 

"Nagano seems like a beautiful place Yuto," Wooseok said.

"It is. It's not just Nagano. Japan is a beautiful place."

"Yuto look towards the building. Tell me what Seoul means to you. How it compares to Japan. "

Yuto slightly turned his head towards the city and, much to his dismay, started going on about what Seoul meant to him. He went on about what he'd hoped from the city. He sat down. "I think Seoul is beautiful. I mean, I chose to start a new life over here so, there's that. I learned a strange language and worked my butt off to get here. So it's beautiful to me, but amongst all the beauty there are is spots of filthy places and filthy people. When I first got here, and I laugh every time I tell this story, I knocked a guy out for harassing this guy and his boyfriend. It wasn't any of the other dude's business and it infuriated me to no end." Yuto took a breath. "I always think of the people who do horrible things that I can't punch out. All the people who do evil and I can't stop it. I miss Japan because of it. At least there I had Somme influence. Sometimes I feel like I'm a stranger to Seoul, to Korea, although I've been here for nearly four years. I'm gonna make best of it though." Yuto heard the final click of Wooseok's camera, snapping back to reality. 

He began to apologize. He didn't mean to get that deep with a guy he just met. 

"Don't worry about it," Wooseok extended his hand to help Yuto up. "It's been in your mind for a while, huh? You switched from Korean to Japanese five times." Yuto took the hand in front of him. He was amazed at how large they were, and held his up to compare sizes. "Yuto, you know you have baby hands right?" Yuto interlaced their hands without realization, breaking it off once he did. This situation,  it was just like the way Hyunggyu and his situation unfolded. 

He couldn't deal with another heart break. 

 

The sun had disappeared, the last rays of sunlight filled the starless sky. They headed down the hill together as Wooseok trailed behind to get "edgy but dramatic" shots of Yuto. Not that Yuto was complaining, being a model for Wooseok was pretty fun. They watched their shadows fade away.

They neared campus and Wooseok startled him by reaching to his hair and slightly running his fingers through it. "Your hair," Wooseok began, "It had...dirt."

By the time they had to part ways,  night had washed over Seoul is lovely waves. 

"Thanks you know," Wooseok looked down at the floor, "For being my model. It was an honour. I got some great pictures." Wooseok handed Yuto his phone. "Can I have your number? To send these to you?"

"Oh! Uh, sure." Their fingers brushed during the exchange for a split second, but it was enough for a Yuto to know Wooseok was freezing. Only now did he realize Wooseok only o had a simple long sleeve on. "Wooseok, really? Take my jacket. You're freezing."

"No. No way. You need it."

"You're freezing! Take it and give it back to me next time we do this."

"Next time?"

Yuto smiled. "Yeah. Next time."