stop-mo·tion noun:
1. a cinematographic technique whereby the camera is repeatedly stopped and started, exp. to give animated figures the impression of movement
2. freezing the movement of an object in motion in a picture, blurry or clear

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"So... I understand that I don't have classes until this afternoon..." YoonGi mumbled, leaning against the wall, "But... Why the hell do I have to play spy kids with you!?" He snapped at Hoseok who snuck around the traditional arts building like a secret agent. He even dressed in a full black outfit, right down to the socks. It made YoonGi roll his eyes at how childish this kid still was. At least he was smart enough to wear a mostly white outfit to fit the white and grey marbled wall... YoonGi rolled his eyes, shaking his head. When he looked back to Hoseok he saw that the little shit had already started running up the stairs to the second level. "Yah! Where the hell are you going!?" YoonGi yelled and chased after him.


"Waaaaah... This is the same school and campus but why do I feel like I'm in a foreign country?" Hoseok mumbled, looking around the art covered walls. "Yah, Hyung! Are they allowed to do this!?" He gasped, pointing to a graffitied wall. If someone had done this in another building even the musical arts building, they would surely get expelled!
"It's art isn't it? This is an art school Hoseok... This kind of creativity is encouraged in this building..." YoonGi scoffed, pushing away his juniors hand. "Why are we even here in the first place?" He groaned, wanting to go back to his dorm and sleep until his classes later that day. Of course he wanted to sleep, relaxing was the number one thing on his mind most days... But while they were roaming the building, YoonGi might as well enjoy all the artwork decorating the large hallways. "And be quiet, classes are in session, idiot."
"Yeah yeah, okay." He quickly agreed, ignoring YoonGi's instructions. "But Hyung, remember that girl I told you about? The pretty one from the book store?" Hoseok smiled like an idiot, his fingers now exploring the large spray painted mural on the wall. YoonGi nodded quickly, crossing his arms as he let his eyes follow the movement of the artwork before him, "Well, she actually goes here too!" YoonGi could see on his juniors face how excited he was, the huge smile and pink cheeks. It made him want to vomit a little to be completely honest.
"Ah, good for you, Hoseok." YoonGi nodded. It's not that YoonGi wasn't happy for his friend and roommate, he was actually very happy that Hoseok had struck gold in something that could possibly grow. Since rooming with the man pretty much thrown things like personal space and privacy out the window, he knew that Hoseok was rather lonely being far from home. He'd just rather be doing other things than, well... stalking her. What kind of image did that give him after all?
Slowly Hoseok crept passed a few closed doors, soft rustling noises and muffled voices passing through the wood. The building was much quieter than the musical arts building YoonGi was used to, where every music studio had a mess of beats and bass pumping with usually bad vocals and the dance studios had all forms of music blasting loud and clear. Even the drama department had loud voices reciting their scripts together. There was never a quiet moment in that building! This place was... silent and peaceful, if he dropped a pin someone would certainly hear it and come to investigate who was making such a loud ruckus.
"So where are we going?" YoonGi asked. It almost made him uncomfortable to be in such a silent place. Quiet was just something he wasn't used to, and would probably never get used to.
"I don't know." Hoseok mumbled, tip toeing down the hallway.
"Yah! You don't even know where you're going!?" He hissed between clenched teeth, this kid...! "And stop sneaking around like that! We go to this schoo too you know, you're just drawing attention to us." His hand grabbed onto Hoseok black hoodie, pulling him back and choking him.
Hoseok coughed, trying to pull the hoodie from his throat. "H-Hyung! I can't breath...!" He gasped, his fingers yanking on the fabric. Not without his signature eye roll, YoonGi let the slowly suffocating boy go with a long sigh. "I-I think she mentioned she was a photography major..." Hoseok sighed, pulling the sweatshirt as far from his neck as he could, in case YoonGi tried another murder attempt. A photography major...? Something in YoonGi's brain struck a cord, he knew someone in a photography major didn't he...? Without realizing, he began pursing his lips in thought.
"W-Well...! I'm a dance major too you know...! So... I've never seen this place inside either..." Hoseok muttered, hanging his head in shame. He wanted to see this mystery girl so badly that he completely forgot to come prepared... And surely later YoonGi was going to make him pay for dragging him out of bed this early... But he was a boy that fell in love at first sight, he forgot everything when his mind went to her.
"How do you even know she's here anyways?" YoonGi narrowed his eyes towards the boy, "What if she's sleeping comfortably in her bed at the dorms... Like I should be right now."
"Last week!" Hoseok smiled brightly again, "Last week I saw her in the cafeteria! But before I could ask her for her name she had to go to class though..." His shoulders dropped a bit, remembering his failure at trying to speak with her. Just thinking of that day made him blush out of the blue, it was embarrassing to even think about let alone speak to YoonGi about. That day was definitely going to be one of those things that he'd randomly think about late at night and then keep him up, even years from now...
"Well, judging by where we are now..." YoonGi's eyes looked over the mural once more before he ran them along the length of the opposite wall. Canvases of all sizes hung in a row, showing a body posed in different positions... Was this all the same person? "We must be in the Painting part... Or whatever. I don't know how things are sectioned around here..." He mumbled the last bit.
"Well then lets get going!" Hoseok yelled a little too loudly.
"Excuse me." A deep voice startled them, they quickly looked at a door that had opened up and a well dressed man had been leaning out, "But classes are in session right now, could you please take your conversations elsewhere?" He grumbled at them.
The two boys quickly apologized with rose red cheeks before running off in fits of giggles.


"Hyung... I'm so lost..." Hoseok moaned, his back hunched, "How long have we been looking?" It felt like they had lapped the building at least three times! Did this place even exist? Did the girl lie to him so she could get away? There was no response on YoonGi's end, "Yah, Hyung! Are you even listeni-?" When he looked to find what had him so silent he found that his senior wasn't even next to him. In a panic he quickly spun around to find YoonGi stopped at the opposite end of the hallway, looking up at a large drawing of a flower.
"Pretty..." He mumbled, astonished by the drawing. He never seen this form of artistic talent before, honestly he was a bit envious of the student who created it. The dark shading and bright white high lights, it looked almost like a photograph!
"C'mon hyung... I think you're enjoying it too much here..." Hoseok mumbled, grabbing onto YoonGi's sleeve and tugging him away from the drawing.


Finally, they had come to their destination! The only way they were able to tell was by the photographs that were group in threes amongst the walls. "Wahhh... So many pictures...!" Hoseok looked around. He had never seen so many pictures gathered in one place before, not even at his house where his parents worshipped his own small shrine of baby pictures. There was no way someone could walk through this hallway without stopping to view some of the high contrasted pictures. His eyes landed on a series of three nature shots, scanning each one throughly.
YoonGi had walked slightly farther than Hoseok, his eyes briefly glancing at some of the pictures when someone in them caught his eye. "Ah, it's Stephanie...!" He gasped. In front of him was a series of three pictures of his girlfriend in beautiful ballet poses, taken in stop motion. A smile slowly grew on his face staring at her beauty, who could have taken such amazing pictures of his girlfriend? Her long legs and flawless figure was definitely his favorite things about her... And the person who took these definitely shown them off well in the photographs. Printed on the bottom of the matboard was a small title of the series reading 'Swan' and underneath that a name.
"Hwang Hae Ri? Stephanie's roommate took these pictures...?" He asked himself, looking over them once more. "I guess that makes sense...She's pretty good." He nodded, remembering that she was the person he knew in this major. He didn't know such clarity could be reached with an old camera like hers... That only digital cameras could capture an image so clear and sharp. That girl must have a serious talent if she could make these turn out so well.
"Hyung!" Hoseok suddenly startled him. YoonGi cursed under his breath and spun around to see Hoseok had made it slightly further than him, "Hyung! You have to see this...!" His junior gasped, staring at a picture with his jaw dropped open. What could be so important and shocking that he had to yell for him like that!?
"What?" YoonGi snapped, quickly walking over to him. Didn't the teachers words from earlier sink into his head? They were going to get in trouble if they didn't control their voices soon... He stopped next to his roommate and sighed, searching for the groupings of pictures that Hoseok was so perplexed by... They couldn't even be that special anyways... Finally, his eyes had settled on the series Hoseok was staring at.
A girl staring at a book.
A boy walking down the street with headphones on.
Him sleeping on a bench somewhere.
Just what was so special about thi-
His eyes widened, wait a minute. His eyes looked at the picture again and he shoved Hoseok out of the way, nearly knocking the poor kid to the floor. That was him sleeping on a bench. Of course he'd recognize himself anywhere! He knew himself best! "Wh-Who took this!?" His eyes darted to the bottom of the matboard desperately looking for a name but all he found was a title reading 'Hidden Beauty'. What did that even mean!? "There's no name!?" He gasped, searching the top of it for one even.
"Yah! Hyung, what was that for!?" Hoseok whined, rubbing his arm.
"This is me." YoonGi said staring at it again.
"Yeah, why do you think I called you over...?" Hoseok sighed, standing next to his senior admiring the work again. "Whoever took it really got your good side. You should thank them!" He laughed to himself but YoonGi didn't join him.
"It's... Me?" YoonGi restated like a drone. Even he didn't understand why he was so surprised to find a picture of himself hanging on the walls, he just was! His eye glanced at the title again... 'Hidden Beauty'...? What could that possibly mean?
"Ah? There's no name on it... What a bummer..." Hoseok frowned, "But... Whoever took it must think you're a real looker... 'Hidden Beauty'? More like 'Hidden Roly Poly'." He snickered at his own terrible joke, which YoonGi shot him a terrifying glare for. Did he have to act like such a kid twenty four seven around him? If Stephanie ever met his roommate she'd probably think of him the same way as Hae Ri...
"Yah, you're lucky I can recognize your talent or you would have gotten a zero for your marks." A womans voice suddenly could be heard. The pair turned their attention further down the hallway to see a teacher and a small girl standing outside the room having a conversation. The smaller girl bowed repeatedly, apologizing. Her hair pulled into a high, messy pony tail and her red flannel shirt pushed up at the sleeves.
"Ah! That's her!"
"Ah, it's Hwang Hae Ri." The two boys spoke at the same time. Hoseok and YoonGi looked at each other at once, both shocked by their statements.
"You know her!?"
"That's the girl you like!?" Okay, this whole talking at the same time thing was getting on YoonGi's nerves. His eyes darted back to Hae Ri, she looked pretty miserable just like the other day outside. Was her back feeling alright...? Every time he's been to their dorm since Hae Ri was never around. Maybe she was... Avoiding him? No, what reason did she have to? Especially after he had helped her out like that.
Hoseok looked over to the girl known as Hwang Hae Ri. So that was her name? Just hearing it made his heart melt into a puddle inside his chest. But how did YoonGi already know her!? That wasn't fair at all! He laid eyes on her first and he even had a girlfriend! "Hyung! How do you know her!? You have a girlfriend, that's so unfair!" Hoseok complained, getting excited for nothing.
"Yah, calm down. She's Stephanie's roommate okay?" YoonGi scoffed, adjusting the straps on his backpack. "I just met her the other day, so settle your happy ass."
"Stephanie's roommate...!?" A large smile spread across his face, he looked back to Hae Ri to see her walking into the classroom in low spirits but he had other things to worry about, "Hyung..." He whispered, grabbing onto his arm.
"Don't even think about it." YoonGi groaned, already knowing what was going to come out of his friends mouth.
"Hyung, pleeeaaase!?" Hoseok began jumping up and down like a child throwing a tantrum, "You already know her, and she even is roomies with Stephanie! How cool is that!?" He smiled, "All you have to do is bring them around once or twice so I can actually get to know her, huh? Huh? Oh please hyung!"
"Fine, whatever. Just leave me alone..." YoonGi pulled his arm out of Hoseok's tight grip. He watched his friend dance around in excitement and bliss... YoonGi did owe him for getting him up in the mornings for classes after all... His eyes looked back to where the teacher and Hae Ri were standing but noticed they had disappeared back into the classroom. What were they arguing about again....? Recognizing talent and marked zeros...? "Alright, you saw Hae Ri. Now lets go back to the dorm." YoonGi sighed, grabbing onto the happy Hoebi's arm. Before he left he took once more glance at his picture hanging on the wall, with no name claiming its photographer.

Notes