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Hongjoong was lonely, had always been that way. Nobody but his father knew him. Nobody but his father saw him.
He sat, enclosed in his icy prison as the core of Dione. Life was small, very small, and it was driving him insane. It wasn't like Dione cared for him, it seemed.
Often, Hongjoong sang to himself. They were only tunes he made up, had been recited over and over and over again for decades. He remembered nearly all that he had created.
Though, the need for them had gone away.
Instead he found another way to pass the time, through art. Living, breathing art. It started with one creation.
A small creature made of ice and gas, taken from the prison which held him. Hongjoong worked for 24 straight hours on perfecting the small bird:
Its elegant wings spiraled in many branches of gas, always frothing. The sharp feathers of ice, most of which were curled at the base of the neck, scattered as it flew.
Complete with a long craned beak, Hongjoong's bird was absolute genius. Though it didn't pay any attention to its creator, it was something, and that's what mattered.
The day he had been discovered had been the day his little bird was destroyed.
Melted away by Hongjoong's light, the only light within his life. His own burning star, which had been brought to him in a burst of sunlight.
Cradled in his arms, Hongjoong spent his time while the other was asleep making a replica of a certain little bird just as it used to be.
"Look," he murmured, laying a cold hand on his light's cheek, "I'm finished."
His light smiled after he opened his eyes, taking a look at the moon's delicate creation. "You can't touch it this time." Hongjoong whispered.
A smile tugged on both of their lips. "I won't." His light said, resting his head upon Hongjoong's shoulder and giving his body a squeeze.
He closed his eyes, keeping his hand which occupied the bird far away from his burning sun. "Can you make me a dragon?" He asked, sitting up in his light's lap.
He brought one of Hongjoong's hands to his chest. "I'll make you anything you ask for."
His sun worked as Hongjoong watched, careful not to touch, and made what he had asked of him. The dragon, sophisticated and intricate, was finished within 68 hours.
The two had sat and worked, hushed praises escaping from Dione's son. His light was flawless in his attention to detail, which was recognized with the kiss that Hongjoong had laid upon his lips.
Soon, the fiery dragon was finished. Hongjoong brought his hand up alongside his love, which held his creature. "Do you think they can touch each other?" Hongjoong whispered.
He laid back into his light's chest and sets his bird into the air. His sun encompassed him on every side as their creations soared in the cage. "Yes. They'll be like you and me."
Hongjoong smiled and observed the painfully familiar walls of his cage, crude and dark. He thought back to when he was alone, but only briefly.
"They can," came a deep voice, a sultry tune in Hongjoong's ear. He could feel the warmth radiating from his sun, literally and figuratively. He was smiling widely now.
His love's dragon twirled its body around the moon's bird. Ice and heat sang out when the two touched in a sizzle and his light laid kisses on his neck and everything felt perfect.
Hongjoong turned in his grasp and wrapped his arms around his light's tanned neck. Sickly pale skin against sun-kissed bronze never looked so good.
"What will you name it?" He asks, eyes trained on the sun's own. "I'll name him Hong." His light laughed. Hongjoong have him a kiss on the jaw.
"Then I'll name mine Gi. After my sun."
They shared yet another deep kiss and stayed wrapped up in each other whispering. "I've never asked you before, my moon," he says.
Hongjoong sends his light a short kiss. "What have you not asked?"
Brown eyes flickered over his moon's beautiful face as the sun lifted his hand and caressed his cheek. Brilliant warmth spread under his fingertips and into Hongjoong's blueish skin.
"Do you ever think we could live side by side with each other?"
It was a difficult question to answer. As much as the small moon wanted to say 'yes' and let his love kiss his cheeks, he felt tears well up in his eyes.
"I don't know.." he says, voice no more than a whisper. The first tear rolls down his cheek. It's stopped in its tracks by his sun's thumb. "I can make it happen," he breathes.
Hongjoong opens his eyes to watch his light's own brown ones as they close and open again, feeling the love radiating from him. The way his sun's bold red hair framed his face was magnificent.
His love cards his fingers through the dark blue hair that curls around Hongjoong's neck. "How?"
Smiling, his light shifts to his knees and cups his hands underneath the moon's chin. "Give me time, my love, and we will truly be able to become one."
Hongjoong's tears don't stop so he closes his eyes.
☆彡
Awake again, but alone. Like it always was. Like it always will be.
When Hongjoong can't find his lovely sun, can't find his tiny flamed dragon, he sobs. The tears evaporate into gas and ice and dissipate into the cage.
His bird is nowhere to be seen and Hongjoong doesn't even realize it.
Time ticks on and Hongjoong uses it for crying. He can still feel the warmth of his light as if he were actually real and not a figment of his imagination.
Vivid red hair still is ingrained in his mind. The same beautiful brown of his eyes and his perfect teeth and the plushness of his soft tinted lips is still there.
His body was colder than ever before.
Dione was not to be present either. His own father did not show himself. Hongjoong still sobbed. He sat in his stone cage surrounded by ice in isolation for so so long.
His head hurt, his eyes burned, but most of all, his heart was shattered. It was all an illusion. A perfect, body-tingling illusion that Hongjoong would never have the pleasure of living.
So when he woke to pieces of stone trickling onto his back, tears sprung to his eyes.
There it was. The warmth. Everything that he thought he dreamed, that he thought was fake, was actually here with him.
Hongjoong threw his arms around his light's neck and inhaled the beautiful scent of sunlight. He was back to crying again, the happy tears a stark contrast from the previous round he let out.
"Oh Mingi," he cried out, again and again, as his love held him for real. "You're my whole goddamn world, Mingi. Never let go, please, please never let go of me."
Encircling his arms around his moon yet again, Mingi gave him a real kiss. "I can get you out of here." He beamed, pulling Hongjoong farther into his chest.
Their smiles were bright. Mingi was a dream come true, a dream made real. "How?" He breathes, looking up at his lover. He was met with blown pupils filled with love.
"Just close your eyes," Mingi's hand came up to press a finger to his moon's soft lips. His love traced his mouth, slowly pulling his bottom lip down.
"Imagine being way up with the other moons, with the other suns and planets and stars. Each fragment that passes, you'll feel the reality of what you've imagined."
Mingi's fingers trail down to Hongjoong's chin. "Now kiss me," he whispers.
His cold hands come to his chin as the moon obeys, pressing his lips to meet Mingi's yet again. It feels the same as any other kiss they share, until it doesn't.
Hongjoong opens his eyes and is met with the sight of his light's pupils, blown wide with adoration and happiness.
Then he sees the expanse of black reaching out behind Mingi and tears well up in his eyes. "Is this..? This is really what space looks like?" He exclaimed.
Mingi gave him a nod. His fingers came up to bury themselves into Hongjoong's hair and pull lightly. "Is it pretty?" The boy asked, laying a kiss upon his moon's cheek.
"Yeah," the older murmured, giving the sun a hug. His arms latched around the back of Hongjoong's back as the two embraced each other.
"Now you're out here. Now we can live together, without the coldness of your dad's cage." Mingi said. Hongjoong nodded.
"What shall we do first?"