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the thing is that jongbin had always looked up to youngjun with stars in his eyes. they met when the younger was only a baby, taking his first steps with grabby hands. while youngjun was only two years old.
their parents, being such good friends they were, made sure jongbin and youngjun spent all their respective childhoods together. sharing not only a lot of memories but also habits, quirks and even mannerism.
it wasn't until one summer morning when jongbin realized that they weren’t going to be together forever. that same morning when he went to wave goodbye as yeongjun entered his classroom for his first ever day of elementary school. a year later the boys went together, hand in hand, yeongjun promising the younger boy to show him everything.
the years passed in a blur of bright paint, crafts scattered on the floor and laughter in every corner they looked. suddenly they were in front of a modern building, in a familiar situation. yeongjun, already a year into middle school and jongbin clinging to the side of the older boy.
in the middle of the school year, on a rainy spring day, they met their first actual friend. (bin always claimed that he and jun were not friends but more like brothers.)
his name was byungsun and he was new to the town. his family had moved from the other side of the country because of his mother’s job.
byungsun (or sun as he liked to call himself) really lived up to his name. the boy was the personification of a sun. the same sun that shone on a summer day so bright that you couldn't even stare at the pavement for too long, for you could be blinded by its brightness. that same sun that made you so happy, you could smile all day but also the same that burned you mercilessly.
the childhood friends started to gravitate around their sun for the time that lasted middle school. and sun was more than glad to shine on them.
jongbin claimed one day, once the first year of high school was around, that their sun was a crucial part to their universe and that if byungsun was the sun, he could be the rest of the stars. to which yeongjun just sighed and said that “if they were talking about astronomy, he would be a comet flying pass them”. making sure you are always happy, he left unsaid.
ever since the boys spent the afternoons lazing around one of their houses. yeongjun always wanted to go to byungsun’s place because he said his mother’s apple pie was to die for. while jongbin added “no, hyung, we should totally hang out in your place. your playstation is so cool.” byungsun trying to avoid getting swallowed by their discussion, always, just stood up and went to pet jongbin’s dog, the only reason he hung up with these dorks.
it wasn't until yeongjun’s last year in high school that they came across kiho.
they were having lunch in their usual spot, (a lonely bench at the backyard of the school), talking about the exams that were nearing, jongbin rolling his eyes to byungsun’s whines about maths and how much hatred he had for them, when a low voice invaded the air around them. “all of it!” the person barked.
the boys looked at each other and moments later yeongjun stood up, heading to the source of the noise, the other two in tow. he reached some dumpsters not far from their bench when the same voice yelled again. “hurry up kid!”
yeongjun signaled the other boys to remain where they were and turned around the back of the dumpsters, only to find a dark haired boy crouching down looking for something in his backpack and a jock from yeongjun's class hovering above him. “i told you it was everything,” said the dark-haired boy with a stern yet low voice. “you can’t possibly just carry 3 hundred won around, nerd,” the jock spat the appellative with disgust.
“what are you doing?” said yeongjun, already fed up with the bastard.
startled to hear somebody else there, the bully turned around, shooting yeongjun something along the lines of “why do you care?” through gritted teeth. the dark haired boy took advantage of this situation and stood up as quick as he could to snag his money from the bully’s grasp. the aforementioned tried to take the money back, attempting to punch the kid, but yeongjun was already there dodging the man’s fist and tackling him to the ground. the jock was about to rise from his spot when byungsun and jongbin came rushing in with a teacher in tow. the teacher scolded the bully and took both him and the strange kid to the principal's office.
as they walked away from the three boys, the stranger turned to look at them and muttered a small “thanks” before the teacher guided them inside the building.
they were about to sit down at their spot to talk about the incident when the bell rang and they had to return to their classes.
the next day, when yeongjun and jongbin arrived at school, they were surprised by the dark-haired kid standing next to the doors of the school.
“uh,” said the boy, eyes staring at the floor “i wanted to thank you for-you know, yesterday.”
yeongjun smiled. “don't worry.”
jongbin, on the other side laughed openly, throwing an arm over the boy's shoulders and saying: ”anytime”.
“excuse these thickheads,” cut in a new voice coming through the door. “i'm sun and those are jongbin and yeongjun.”
“i'm kiho,” muttered the boy “nice to meet you.”
“nice to meet you too.” yeongjun smiled.
“gotta go to class now, but lunch in the usual spot, right?” byungsun looked at yeongjun and then at jongbin.
“yess,” answered jongbin stretching the s. “kiho you should totally come too.”
“it would be cool,” added yeongjun.
kiho looked up from the floor and said “yeah, it would be cool.”
what the boys didn't know is that at that exact moment, when they invited the boy to hang out with them, not only were they changing kiho's high school life but also their own.
now their universe was a little more complete with the planet earth looming around.
the same earth where they were standing on right now. the same one that bonded all of them together and that one that they could call home. that was kiho. with his shy smiles at first that slowly morphed with time into the loudest laughter. that same fire glistening in his eyes.
a home. a neutral ground. what held them together.
months passed and the year finally came to an end. and with that came yeongjun's and kiho's graduation.
uncertainty flooded the air around the boys and many questions hung around them. but they promised, one day at byungsun's place with the beginning of the semester looming around, that they would keep in touch and try to visit each other as much as possible.
kiho ended up going to a university nearby, while yeongjun, who had better scores chose a university a one hour ride away from the boy's town. during the first year, they managed to keep their promise intact, kiho visiting the other two boys after class and yeongjun at the weekends.
byungsun was more than happy with the hyung's visits. yet jongbin felt like a few of his stars had dimmed and even some of them died. he missed yeongjun so much that it started at some point to ache. one particular weekend, a conversation he had with kiho a while back in high school came back to him as he stared at yeongjun climbing out of the train and hugging the gang.
“you two look at each other as if you were each other's universes.”
“of course, hyung, we are friends since we were babies.”
“i don't mean like that, bin-a,” said kiho. “he looks at you with way more depth than a simple friend looks at his pal.”
as he recalled the memory, his cheeks started to feel hot and to his despair when he looked up from where he was sitting a meter away from the group, yeongjun was making his way towards him with a grin and a fond look in his eyes.
“hey,” said the older as he took a seat next to jongbin.
“hi.”
“how have you been this past week?” byungsun and kiho gathered around them.
“fine, i guess.”
before yeongjun could answer, byungsun screamed “let's go eat meat!” and the rest of the group knew better than to fight sun when he had his cravings for meat.
hours turned into days and slowly into weeks and jongbin was still clueless about how he could face his newly found feelings for a certain hyung. that is why, when the gang decided to go to yeongjun's city to visit him for a weekend and get to know where their hyung studied, jongbin found himself shaking in nervousness as he made his backpack for their trip. he had to talk to yeongjun about that certain topic this time, otherwise, he was sure he would not make it to his graduation.
jongbin and byungsun boarded the train (kiho said earlier in the week that he would be going straight from university). the whole ride was rather uneventful. in the middle of it, they got a text in their group chat from yeongjun saying that he would pick them up from the station. jongbin could swear he was feeling his heart being ripped from his body.
it was already afternoon when they arrived and yeongjun was diligently standing next to the exit in a coat that made him look way older than what he really was. byungsun hugged him, screaming “hyuuung!”. while jongbin just stood by the side and greeted him with hand wave, that yeongjun totally ignored and hauled him up in a bone-crushing hug.
the boys went to another terminal of the station to wait for kiho and once the group was complete they headed out to eat something before going to yeongjun's room. byungsun spent the whole dinner talking about the city and how excited they were. usually, jongbin would have followed him in his rants but he was strangely quiet. so, when jongbin excused himself to the bathroom, jongbin had no better idea than to follow him.
“bin, what is wrong?” said yeongjun as soon as he walked into the bathroom and found jongbin sitting on the counter.
“i'm fine, hyung,” answered the boy trying to hide his need to cry and letting all out for once.
“no, you are not fine.” jongbin could feel how yeongjun was getting closer to him and he tried to shuffle away but was too late. the older cupped his cheeks and forced him to look him on the eyes. “please tell me what is wrong.”
“i-i.” it had taken so little from yeongjun's side to destroy all the barriers jongbin had formed to protect himself from the invasive feelings. in that moment he saw his facade shattering before his eyes and the feelings in form of tears flooding his eyes.
“hyung- i-i like y-you,” he said between sobs.
“oh, binnie, i like you too,” said the older smiling to the boy.
“not in th-that way.” jongbin finally looked up willingly, meeting yeongjun's eyes he said, “i li-like you in a romantic way hyung.”
after seconds that felt like years to jongbin, yeongjun retracted his hands from jongbin's cheek, looking perplexed.
“i need some air.” with that was gone, leaving behind a broken jongbin and a ghost touch on the younger's cheek.
yeongjun avoided the jongbin the rest of the night and the latter simply excused himself to sleep as soon as they arrived to yeongjun's place.
“make yourselves comfortable,” had said yeongjun as soon as they walked in. “minhyuk, my roommate is gone for the weekend so can use his bedroom.”
byungsun and kiho ended up sleeping in minhyuk's bed while jongbin took the sofa.
the next day was as awkward as the night before. it wasn't until kiho said at dinner: “are we going to talk about the elephant that has been following us since we left the restaurant yesterday or what?”
“is that or you two go figure it out on your own. now. outside,” cut in byungsun pointing at jongbin and yeongjun with his fork.
when neither yeongjun nor jongbin answered, kiho and byungsun shared a knowing look and a few minutes later the old friends found themselves standing outside the apartment, with a slammed door on their faces.
after many minutes, they figured that sun and kiho were real about their threat.
“so-” they said in unison, to which yeongjun smiled.
“you go first,” offered jongbin.
“well, i wanted to apologize for avoiding you.” the older looked genuinely guilty. “your confession caught me totally off guard.”
“i know, i am sorry too, hyung.” jongbin stared at the floor. “i am sorry for imaging you liked me in that way and for daring to tell you when you clearly weren't interested.” he was again at the verge of tears.
“jongbin, it's not that.” the younger slowly looked up to where yeongjun was sitting on the stairs. “i was caught off guard, but that doesn't mean i don't like you back. in fact, i do, but like i said it was like a splash of cold water that i didn't saw coming. not in a million years. jongbin i have liked you for a long time,” jongbin noticed the fond smile that adorned yeongjun's features. “i'm ranting, i'm sorry.”
“don't apologize, hyung.” jongbin approached yeongjun, who was still sitting on the stairs and sat beside him. “it's really cute.”
both of them chuckled lightly and the older cupped jongbin's cheek. and he closed the distance between them, sharing their first of many kisses in an old staircase with their friends most likely hearing behind from the door. before things could escalate much higher, the boys heard a cough beside them and immediately separated, both of them sporting bright red cheeks. a brunette man stood next to them with a smirk on his face. “i leave for a day and you get yourself a boyfriend.”
yeongjun blushed bright red and replied, “thought you were gone until sunday, hyung.”
“you thought wrong, junnie,” said the stranger. “where are my manners, i am kim minhyuk-,”
“my roommate,” cut yeongjun in.
“nice to meet you, jun's boyfriend.” minhyuk smirked again.
“nice to meet you too, i'm jongbin.” the boy stood up to stand in front of minhyuk.
“so you are jongbin. finally, i have a face to put up with the mind. i am glad i'll have some peace of mind now. this boy here never stopped whining about you,” he glanced at yeongjun, who was now a shade redder. “i would love to continue this lovely conversation but perhaps we could head inside.”
with that, minhyuk opened the door with his key and as soon as kiho came in view, he froze at the door.
“hello,” he said to byungsun and kiho, who were casually and not-so-subtlety standing beside the door, clearly eavesdropping the conversation outside.
“whassup,” countered sun with a smile, trying to look cool, while kiho just replied with a quiet “hi”.
minhyuk gave kiho a small smile and headed to the kitchen probably to make himself some dinner. in the living room, the boys gathered around the table to play some board games. as jongbin and yeongjun sat down together they didn't miss the knowing smirk sun and kiho shot their way. the night passed quickly in a hurricane of screams from sun, loud waves of laughter and lots of snickering. before they realized, it was already two in the morning and kiho called it a night claiming he was really tired, followed by sun. when they were about to leave minhyuk joined them in the living room, offering for sun and kiho to take his bed, claiming that they would be more comfortable sleeping with each other on the same bed rather than himself and one of them. once they were gone, minhyuk stood up and turned to yeongjun, who said: “hyung, i'm sorry for that. i didn't know you were coming back today.”
“'s okay, junnie,” he answered with a smile. “what you could do to make up for the damage is getting me a date with kiho,” he stated with a hand on his hip and a grin on his face.
yeongjun almost choked on his water, while jongbin's laughter flooded the place.
“guys, i am totally serious here,” said the older man.
“well, i saw how kiho seemed aware of your presence in the house today, so it isn't a totally crazy idea.”
“i'll try, but i don't promise anything,” offered yeongjun.
“that's enough for me,” said the older as he sat down next to the two boys. “now, if you'll excuse me, i need my beauty sleep.”
after a few moments after the couple went to yeongjun's room and after some laughter coming from minhyuk's room, the apartment was silent. the peace and darkness of the night came in. finally, the house felt like a home, thought minhyuk, filled with smiles and five content beating hearts.
the next day passed by in a blur. they went sightseeing and in the afternoon, minhyuk cooked for the four boys in the apartment. throughout the day, he had seemed truly interested in whatever kiho was saying and vice versa. so when the saturday night came by, and they were standing at the terminal, minhyuk said: “we should totally hang out again, kiho-ya.”
to which kiho replied with a blush: “i would love to, hyung.” while the two exchanged numbers, sun made gagging sounds behind them and went to fetch himself something from the vending machine.
next to them was jongbin hugging yeongjun, while the latter sobbed a bit. the older tried to calm jongbin down by muttering promises about seeing each other again before he could notice his absence. suddenly, sun came to them hollering something like “stop behaving like an old married couple, you four dumbasses,” making everybody laugh as they boarded the train, leaving behind a nostalgic yeongjun and a happy minhyuk.
they got to their respective homes and went straight to sleep, having to wake up the next day for school and university. midterms came by for kiho and he aced all of them. sun, on the other side, kept struggling with maths while jongbin had made an oath to have the best scores at the entrance exams so he could go to the same university as yeongjun.
the latter visited each weekend like the old times, the only difference being that now he had a dongsaeng waiting eagerly for him to spend the weekend between board games with the rest of the gang, movie dates and lots of tasty food. sun and bin learned slowly to live the days one by one and treasuring each moment as graduation neared.
one weekend, a certain brunette came with yeongjun from university to visit the boys at their hometown. kiho, who was also there, spent the weekend showing minhyuk around. so it came to no surprise when kiho said on a saturday that they were officially dating. from that weekend on, the five spent their days together simply in the presence of each other. and one could find minhyuk revolving around kiho everyday they could. just like a moon revolves around its earth.
jongbin and byungsun, endorsed in their school work had hardly time for going out. but once the graduation rolled around and both boys received high scores, graduating at the top thirty students, all their efforts seemed like a blow of fresh air at the distance. everything seemed to be going on the right track: yeongjun and minhyuk already in their second year, kiho finding his dream career after doubting for some time, byungsun deciding to take on his father's business and jongbin following not only his vocation but also his heart.
the five boys found themselves facing again a huge amount of uncertainties and they knew their paths would most likely be filled with difficulties. yet a truth they hold dearly was that their small universe was bound to stay together for eternity. it had everything they could possibly need.
stars and comets.
a bright sun.
the stable earth.
and a powerful moon.