Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The universe was a cold, empty expanse and in it laid Seokjin.

This crater was his favorite. Big enough for his humanoid form to lay in comfortably, but not too much so that he would completely sink into it. No, no. It was round and rough and perfect. He loved to run his fingertips along its middle and sides as he lay, cherishing the rough surface of his little moon. Every time he got the chance, he would let the universe take its toll and he would gaze up at the stars all around. They would glitter and it would make him smile, for they could light up the moon and make it glow.

Still, the universe was cold and empty.

Seokjin had the power of the creation of stars, of the spinning of the moon, and the pure balance of so many planets -- but no matter how much he gave, the freezing, vicious, and barren universe would always take.

It took his Yoongi. And no matter how much he loved his little moon, he would never forgive the endless expanse for that.

He would never forget the day they met. He had been sitting on one side of the moon, both of his hands planted down onto the surface, feeling every crevice of it move inch by inch. The spirit did this every day. It was his job; making sure the moon orbited correctly, not ever being too close nor too far from the planet below, keeping it away from the burning hot sun that could envelop the entire solar system if it wanted to. It was his primary reason for living. And yet, Seokjin could not look away from the world in front of him.

Earth was such an interesting place. Sure, perhaps he was biased for he was Earth’s moon, but Seokjin couldn’t lie; the concept of the place fascinated him. The stories spirits spoke about life on Earth, what they heard and what they speculated always made him wonder. There were trillions of organisms on it, and the largest species were those called homo sapiens, or, humans. They were all virtually the same but did so many different things. Since they were not attached to a planet, what did they do with their lives? What did they have to worry about? How were they created? So many questions that Seokjin mumbled to himself, day in and day out.

Seokjin was asking himself those same questions when suddenly, he felt something within the atmosphere. It made him straighten his back and still, his eyes flicker back and forth at the space above him. A loud screech came from the expanse, and on instinct he covered his ears, still focusing his eyes on the direction where the awful sound came from.

Then, he saw it. Illuminated by the stars and the searing sun, it glowed like some of the brightest stars.

It was shooting through space at an unimaginable pace. Asteroid? No, no, it was long and did not seem as though it belonged. It had a pointed nose, shining and glowing from the stars and the fire bursting from its tail. It was rattling and veering from side to side, seemingly not able to control where it flew. It didn’t seem to have a mouth nor eyes, though it had a large square where Seokjin could see something moving inside. A creature from another planet? No, no, he would have been able to feel its energy. He felt nothing from the large beast ahead.

Well, that was his initial thought. But soon, something within him buzzed, and he felt it.

Something was inside it. Something alive.

A large roar snapped him out of his thoughts. He jumped to his feet, staring up at the thing as it veered to the right, then to the left, then aimed itself at --

Seokjin’s eyes widened. A ship. It was a ship. Humans. Humans.

This had happened before. How long ago was it now? He wasn’t sure, but he knew what would happen. These humans would stay for one Earth rotation, take some samples of his surface, plant their flag, and leave. He would simply have to hide for that long. He had done it before, he could do it again.

So, he hid.

Closing his eyes, Seokjin laced his fingers together in front of him. Slowly, he picked apart every molecule of his being, every atom floating away and dissipating. Bit by bit, he dissolved into the expanse of space, his body lacking form, shape, and reason. His eyes became the stars, his vision infinite. He reached for the universe, and it accepted him with open arms.

From the shadows, he watched as the ship grew closer and closer to his tiny little planet. It began to vibrate harshly as it became accepted into the moon’s atmosphere, the force sending waves of unease throughout him. It continued to approach, faster and faster, screeching and roaring as if it was in pain -- was it in pain? Did this happen last time? -- spinning around and around until --

It crashed.

Seokjin felt the landing throughout himself. His shapeless being quivered, the stars within him blurring with every painful movement. He thought he heard something scream, but all he could think was my moon, my moon, my darling, what have they done to my moon?

He stayed like that, curled and feeling like every part of himself had been punctured, before the pain subsided. He managed to right himself, the stars floating back to their rightful place and the expanse untwisting until everything had found its way to correction. Gathering himself, he focused the stars in the direction of the moon, searching with everything he had for what had happened.

In front of the spirit, was the ship. But instead of together and planted, like the others, the rocket was on its side, a large gash in its middle. The nose and part of the wing had embedded themselves into the moon’s surface. The large square had a large hole cracked into it, and he could see flickering light bleeding through. The ship had not landed, it had destroyed; itself and his precious planet.

But there was something else. Something warm and alight with energy and alive.

The human was outside of the ship. It was dressed in puffy white clothing like the others, its boots large and made to help weigh him down. It had a large, see-through circle on his head and a lump on his back, also white. It was laying down on its side, its chest the only thing moving with a slow up and down, up and down.

And because Seokjin was a curious spirit, he leaned in closer, pushing the dark expanse down toward the human; just to see. Just for a peek.

The human was breathing soundly. Its breath fogged the circle, but every second or so the human would breathe back in and Seokjin could see its face in its entirety. What seemed to be its mouth was rounded and pink in hue. It had fur on the top of its head, whispy, short, and as black as space itself. Some strands fell in front of its eyes, closed and curved, making the organism seem peaceful and soft. Every part that he could see was perfect, and it urged him to see more and more. He had never seen a human this close before.

Suddenly, the human coughed, and the spirit backed up in alarm. It was shaking, shivering, and now that he was closer he could see how uneasy the breaths were; they were haggard, uneasy as if it was gasping every time it tried to breathe. No no no, what's happening? Is it okay? I’m not going to lose it now, am I? He thought.

All anger for the disruption to the moon’s surface gone, Seokjin grew frantic for the human’s safety, searching for anything that could be causing the human pain. He looked all around it, inspecting its white suit before he saw it; from the lump on the human’s back came a gust of some sort of gas. Focusing on it further, he saw multiple ragged holes, watching as the gas leaked out hurriedly. The spirit, desperate to help, tried to place it; it must depend on this to breathe, right?

Then, it came to him. Oxygen. How could he have forgotten? Humans would die without it.

It would die without it.

Not taking a second to think, Seokjin quickly returned to his humanoid form, the stars returning to his eyes and the expanse shrinking until color and shape returned. He appeared next to the human and quickly dropped to his knees, urgently slapping his hands on the moon’s surface. He dug his nails in, the crust gathering underneath the beds as he closed his eyes. From deep within himself, he searched for the energy of his planet, his love, his life, his reason for existence. It glowed brightly in his mind, and he took ahold of it, merging his energy with its own. As their energies intertwined, he pulled from inside the moon, picking and choosing oxides from the core, the surface, the innards. He pulled and prodded, placing every single one outside of its realm, forming a protective circle around the moon. Piece by piece, he made oxygen, he made gas; he recreated an atmosphere.

When finished, he opened his eyes, disconnected his energy, and screwed off the human’s helmet. It gasped again, inhaling the oxygen in gulps as the unconscious being stopped itself from suffocating. Seokjin could hear its heartbeat once, twice, then continuously; securing its human’s place with the living.

He smiled. The human would be safe now. Safe.

With him.

~

Seokjin tried not to pay too much attention to the human. Really! He knew the human would probably be frightened by his presence, especially if he was staring at it the second it woke up. So, the spirit tried to do what was required of him; forcing the moon to rotate ever so slightly, keeping it the distance it was supposed to be and keeping its axis straight. If he could focus on his duties, then it would be easier to detach himself from the human.

Though he couldn’t help but glance back at the body every so often; watching as its chest moved slowly up, and down, up, and down. It has been so long since I’ve seen one of them, He thought. One of the living.

He continued to do what he had to, moving and humming his way along the surface of the planet before eventually, he heard something. It made Seokjin straighten his spine where he stood, halting any movements that could block what he had just heard. Shuffling. Breathing. Though it was faint, he recognized it immediately.

The human.

He turned in an instant, locking his eyes on the moving body. It was sitting up now, its back facing the spirit and its head in its hands. It was making a deep, guttural noise, a sort of groan that made Seokjin furrow his eyebrows.

It’s hurt again. He thought, in a panic. It needs help!

With no hesitation, he moved forward through the atmosphere, the gases around him creating a rushing sound in his ears. He was upon it only a second later, staring at its hunched figure. It continued to groan and sigh before Seokjin finally dared to reach out his hand and lay it on the human’s back. “Are you alright?”

The human’s head snapped around so quickly, Seokjin didn’t have time to say another word before it began to scream. The sound echoed in the air, forcing his ears to ring, ring, ring horrifically in his ears. He slapped his hands over them, flinching as he watched the human back away on hands and knees. It attempted to stand, only to find a weakness in its knees and fall.

“Please! Stop, y-you -- you don’t have to be afraid!” The spirit tried to plead, but the human continued to scream and scream.

He’d never heard anything like it before. It was so explosive and loud and filled with so much fear and negative feelings that it made something inside of him ache. He didn’t know what to do. What did one do when a human was upset? Usually, when Jungkook was upset, scared for the organisms on his planet, Seokjin would make him laugh and giggle once again by making —

That was it.

With one fell swoop, he raised both hands to the sky as if he was praying to someone far, far above them. He closed his eyes and hummed, a low, soft melody from the depths of his being. As he hummed, a ball of pale yellow light began to appear in his cupped hands. It started from a small atom, barely seen, before it swirled around and around until it was as big as both of Seokjin’s hands combined.

He could not hear the human screaming anymore. The thought made him smile.

Opening his eyes again, Seokjin focused his sight on the organism. It had quieted, and its eyes were bright and wide as it stared at the floating sphere in his hands. It was still, holding its breath like it would make one movement and the glowing orb would disappear.

“Do not be afraid.” The spirit repeated. “It will not hurt you. Stars love to make new friends.” He took a short inhale before blowing on the sphere softly, watching as it floated from his hands.

The star dipped and bobbed through the air, the human’s eyes fixated on it as it came closer and closer. It tried to back up, but still only focused on the little star until it was right in front of it. It seemed to glow brighter, then, in front of the human, sparkling greater and greater until it leaned forward and bumped against the human’s nose.

The human looked fond, yet, confused. It managed to tear its eyes away from the star. “What’s going on?”

Seokjin liked the way the human spoke.

"It's alright," Seokjin said, settling down on his knees next to the other. The human did not move, this time, but eyed him warily. "You're safe now. You're here, and I saved you. There's nothing to worry about."

He watched as it flicked its eyes from side to side, rolling them upwards at the sky above them. It gasped softly, holding its breath as it took in the dark abyss that greeted it. "And..." It paused, looking back at Seokjin. "And where is here?"

The spirit furrowed its eyebrows in confusion. The human should have known. It was the one who had crashed onto his planet, after all. "Is this... is this a joke?"

"What?"

"A joke. Jungkook told me -- he told me about these!" Seokjin perked up, shuffling closer to the other on his knees, the fabric covering his form making a scraping sound as it slid across the ground. "They make you laugh, right? Humans? And laughter brings dopamine, which brings happiness, and that elongates human life. When did you create laughter?" He shook his head, clapping his hands together once in a final sort of way. "I'll have to ask Jungkook, never mind. Was that the set-up, or the punchline? To the joke, I mean."

The human’s face began to change. The nose slowly began to scrunch, its cheeks puffed and creating a darker shade of pink. "No, I --"

"So you're not finished, right, okay. Okay, sorry. I'll let you continue." Seokjin nodded, inhaling once and placing his hands on his knees, stilling himself. He locked his eyes on the others and waited.

There was silence, for a moment. The human said nothing, and the star bobbed up and down next to it. "...This isn't a--"

"WAIT, I have one!" Seokjin waved his hands in the air, curling his lips into a smile. He had to share this one, it was 'funny' like Jungkook said. And to make a human happy, he had to make it laugh with how ‘funny’ he was, so it wouldn't die. Yes, that's it, He thought, closing his eyes in focus. "I swear, I have one, and this one is good. Listen! Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon? Great food, no atmosphere!"

That was the one. That was the one! The human would laugh and laugh, and it would be happy so it would want to stay here. So it would stay, and Seokjin and it would be best friends. He could see it now. Rotations would never be lonely again! He and the human, laying down on his favorite crater, Seokjin telling it about the universe and it telling him about human things (like whatever "politics" are) and it would be amazing.

But he heard nothing. Nothing that resembled a laugh, anyway. Did all humans laugh the same? Opening his eyes, he met the human's eyes. It no longer looked scrunched, just severely confused. Its mouth was open into a small hole, and it didn't seem to blink. Huh.

"Did I say it right?" The spirit said in a low voice. "Are you laughing?"

The human continued to say -- and do -- absolutely nothing.

Seokjin cleared his throat, folding his hands together. "...Is it because I don't know what a restaurant is? I do know what the moon is, because this is the moon, and there is no atmosphere on the moon, so it's funny! At least Jungkook told me it was, maybe he was wrong -- "

"We're on the moon?"

He blinked. "Of course we are. Wasn't that your joke?"

"We're on the moon."

"...Is this the punchline?"

Finally, the human let out a sound that resembled a laugh. It was short and sounded more bitter than anything else, but Seokjin took it as a victory. The human pulled its eyes away from the spirit, pulling its hands up and patting its face numbly. Suddenly, it jerked them away, its eyes growing wide as it stared at them. "No, no no," It said frantically, patting its face repeatedly before twisting its body around. "My helmet." It slapped his hands on the ground, and Seokjin shook a little from the impact. He said nothing, though, to avoid the human scaring itself even further.

"Do humans usually scare this easily?"

The human said nothing, instead of looking to the right and quickly moving in that direction. He began to struggle on his hands and knees, moving toward the crash site. Seokjin watched as it made little noises, whines, and groans as it moved before it leaped forward and grabbed its helmet with both hands. Twisting it around, it tugged it over its head, the thing making a clicking sound as it connected with the pillowy garments that the human wore. It sighed, before going limp right where it lay, breathing heavily.

The spirit let it lay there for a few seconds, letting it catch its breath. Then, he got up from his knees and floated over to where the human had stopped, the star trailing behind him. He lifted a hand, bobbing in the air before tapping against the glass.

"What?" The sound came out gruff, a little muffled from the helmet between them.

"I made air for you. You don't need that."

It laughed again, in that very concerning tone that Seokjin was becoming increasingly more worried of. "Of course you did. You made air. On the moon."

"Did you hit your head again?"

The human waved its hands in front of his body, looking bothered enough that the spirit chose to give it a little space. It then sat up again, brushing off the bits of moondust that had gathered on its garments, before sparing a glance at the other. "So."

Seokjin fell to the ground with a soft plop, crossing his legs in front of him. "So."

"We're on the moon."

Can humans not hear very well? He thought, before nodding in response. "We're on the moon."

"Alright. Great. Glad we got that settled." The human inhaled. "I remember being in my ship and losing control. And I suppose I...?"

It did not go on, so Seokjin finished the sentence. "Crashed. And then you were losing oxygen, so I created some for you, and reconstructed the atmosphere around the moon to make sure that it could support a human like you. And now we're best friends, right?"

The human looked a little confused again, the tops of its cheeks blushing the dark pink hue that the spirit liked. There were so many colors in this little organism. "N-no, not yet. We just met." Seokjin frowned at that, but the human went on. "Anyway, you recreated the... atmosphere on the moon, and you're some sort of flying star man."

He chuckled. "No! I'm not a man at all, though I wish I was, to tell the truth."

"You look like me, though."

"I can look like anything I want to. I'm not a real organism. I don't belong to any planet besides the moon. It and I are connected. Our souls are interwoven, and if I die, it does too. Same the other way around. We are one, really, but still separate. Does that make sense?"

"Not at all."

"Fantastic!”

The human scoffed, crossing its legs as it did so, unintentionally mimicking the other. He said nothing about it, but Seokjin felt very honored anyway. “You’re an interesting fever dream, I’ll tell you that.”

“What’s a fever dream?”

It sighed and shook its head. “Nothing. You’re just… interesting.” It closed its eyes for a second, seemingly composing itself before snapping them open again with a sharp inhale. “Wait. How did I…” It looked around itself, its eyes widening with every glimpse of the crash site. “How am I alive. How am I alive -- am I dead?” Its eyes returned to Seokjin’s. “Is this heaven? Hell? Purgatory?”

“I don’t know what any of those words mean, but you’re not dead.”

“How?” Its voice strained as it asked, breathless. It gestured to the site around them, from the almost-halved spaceship to the array of metal and glass shards weaved throughout. “The ship is destroyed, it looks like I came out of the window, my helmet was off my head, I should be dead. I’m dead. I’m dead, I’m done for, I’m dead.”

Seokjin scooted a bit closer, placing his hands on the other’s knees. He had learned from Jungkook that humans relied on touch for comfort; and yet, as soon as he did, the human backed away slightly, pulling away from his touch. He frowned. Was it scared again? Did he do something wrong? “You’re not dead. You’re not, just trust me, okay?”

“But this is impossible.”

“And apparently to humans someone can’t live on the moon, but, I’m here, so it's possible.” He said, intertwining his fingers and placing his hands in his lap. “I just need you to try and believe me, alright? I don’t know how you survived, maybe there were cushions and the gravity slowed you down, but either way, you’re alive, and you will be for a very long time. I won't let any harm come to you. Not while you’re in my care. I promise.”

While Seokjin had spoken, the other had put its hands over its helmet, shielding its face from view. It remained silent when the spirit finished. All that could be heard was its breathing, ragged but slowing down bit by bit with every exhale. After a few moments, the glowing star made its way from behind Seokjin, approaching the human carefully, as if it was shy. Then, it bumped lightly into the human’s gloved knuckles, rubbing against it before pulling away.

The human pulled down its hands slightly, only revealing its eyes. The glow of the star reflected in them, making them shine as if they were stars themselves. Finally, the human sighed and pulled down its hands, looking down at the ground. “None of this makes sense,” It began, “but I’ll do my best to… trust you.”

The spirit grinned. “Well, I think I know something that could help.” He pushed out his right hand, extending it toward the human. “Seokjin. Spirit of the moon. Nice to meet you.”

For once, it laughed genuinely. “How do you not know what heaven is, but know what a handshake is?”

“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to get one back!”

The human chuckled, and Seokjin couldn't help but feel warmth bubble up from within him as it took his hand and shook it once. “Yoongi. Human of Earth.”

“Sounds like a good name. For a human.”

“I like to think it is.”

Seokjin smiled, removing his hand slowly, his eyes locked onto the skin there. He felt it tingle with something unknown. Yoongi was so warm. Nothing in space was warm, nothing except the sun and a few asteroids. Seokjin was used to the freezing temperature, used to the way that it numbed every aspect of his being. It was a part of life in space. He welcomed it.

But Yoongi was warm. He was warm and soft and so alive.

Was Seokjin warm? Or cold like every other thing in the infinite mass he called home?

Snapping the spirit out of his reverie was the sound of grunting. He lifted his head to look back up at the human, realizing it had stood up and was walking toward the broken spacecraft. He instantly shot upwards into the air, chasing after the human, and landing on the ground in front of it.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Yoongi pursed its lips, stopping in its tracks. “Going to my ship.”

“You’re hurt!”

It waved a hand dismissively, slowly stepping around Seokjin to continue forward. “I’m fine. I need to find a way to get home. There has to be some sort of protocol that I can find to… to help me.”

The spirit frowned, ignoring the disappointment stirring in his stomach. He flew around Yoongi again, it then huffing in frustration. “You have to rest.”

“If I survived a goddamn crash in space then I can survive walking.” The astronaut closed its eyes, taking a inhale before continuing. His voice was softer as he said, “Honestly, you don’t have to worry, okay?”

“You may have survived, but whatever research or machinery you had in there probably didn’t.” Seokjin crossed his arms, his body bobbing in midair. “I don’t want you searching around broken glass and metal and chemicals. You need to rest.” Suddenly, he threw up his hands, excited. “How about I get it for you! Everything that is still intact, I’ll collect it for you while you rest and bring it all to you.”

Yoongi raised an eyebrow. “Won't you get hurt?”

“Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure I can handle myself. I know this place better than you do.”

There was a pause as the spirit waited for the other to respond. Its eyes were pointed upward, sternly staring up into the stars as if in thought. Then, it sighed. “Fine. I guess I should listen to the moon alien.”

“Of course, you should!” Seokjin shifted the air around them to sweep Yoongi off its feet, slowly cradling its body downwards until it was once again laying on the ground. “I am very trustable.”

“Just ask you, huh?” Said Yoongi, an amused lilt to his voice as he looked up at him.

The spirit furrowed his eyebrows. “Of course! You can… ask me anything!”

It chuckled. “That's not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“Nothing. You’re just… interesting.”

He held back a smile. “You know what?” He crouched down by the human, their eyes connecting. “If that's what you say I am, then that's all I want to be.”

Before Seokjin turned around to head to the spaceship, he could have sworn the human’s cheeks had grown pink again. So, so colorful, the human was.

~

“Is this enough?”

“No. There has to be more.”

“But-“

“There needs to be more.”

The moon never used to be so messy. Sure, it was a planet, so nothing could be the neatest, really, but it never used to be like this: papers scattered, burnt and ripped on the edges, some barely intelligible; notebooks, their spirals crushed to one side or the other; emergency rations piled together; as well as other things that Seokjin didn’t want to begin to recognize.

In the middle of it was Yoongi. Its body was slumped over as it sat on the ground, chunky suit fingers shifting through every piece of research and technology that had survived. Its legs were crossed and tucked underneath it, elbows resting on knees as it searched. On his lap was the star, still glowing bright with gas, buzzing in contentment (Seokjin tried not to feel jealous). It lit up the bottom of the human’s helmet, making it difficult to see entirely through. Still, the spirit could see the way the human’s steely eyes stared, barely blinking, mouth moving with a low murmur that he couldn’t understand.

Seokjin sighed. He was sitting a few feet away, the same papers and notebooks surrounding him as if he had any idea what to deduce from them. His legs were splayed out on the ground, his arms extended on either side of him, keeping him balanced. His job had been to look for a “way out” for Yoongi, but he didn’t think it would be this boring.

He didn’t think anything could be this boring.

The spirit flopped on his back, staring up into the abyss with a louder sigh. “I thought this would be more fun.”

Yoongi didn’t move his eyes from the papers. “And I thought gods were supposed to have patience.”

“I’m not a god! I’m a spirit.”

“A spirit that controls an entire planet?”

“I do not control it, I make sure it's… doing what it's supposed to!”

“Sounds like a god to me.”

Seokjin turned to his side, propping himself up on one hand. “Jungkook should have told me humans were this difficult. Or is this just you?”

The human stopped, meeting the other’s eyes. His thumbs caressed the stack of papers in his hands absentmindedly, smoothing out the creases. The movement was almost rhythmic. “I’m not difficult, but you can think whatever you want to, moon god.” It gave a small smile before dropping the expression a few moments later. “You keep mentioning this Jungkook guy. Who is he?”

Seokjin smiled back. “My best friend.”

Yoongi laughed. Seokjin shot him a look, and it pursed its lips in a terrible way of trying to hide its amusement. “Sorry. Out of all the things you’ve told me today, that’s one of the cheesiest. Planets — I mean, spirits can have best friends?”

“Of course, we can; I definitely do.”

Jungkook. Spirit of the Earth. Ever since the beginning of creation, when there was light and darkness and uncertainty, when Seokjin was all but an undefinable mass in the universe, Jungkook had been there. They didn’t have names, of course, when they had first met. They had been nothing but the souls connected to lumps of rock hurtling through the air. Still, there had always been something between them. A sort of familiarity and safety, something that Seokjin had not been able to replicate over billions and billions of years. As he grew and formed a personality and sense of duty, so did Jungkook. They loved and lived and learned together, and nothing was able to separate them.

The Earth spirit was special to him, but not just because of their past. He was the only person that could tell him about the nearest life that he could not approach; humans. Jungkook’s job wasn’t only to shift the Earth and spin it around, but his duty was to the humans too. He had to learn about them to take care of his planet, for if they destroyed his Earth, then he would be destroyed too. So, he looked over them with joy, and couldn’t help but tell Seokjin all about it too. The spirit told him about humans every single day, and Seokjin couldn’t love him more for it. He told Yoongi this exactly.

“He seems nice.” That is all he responded with, though, shrugging. “So he basically watches over us like… all the time.”

“Not all the time! He’s not creepy. He still has a job to do, the planet won’t spin itself. He just pops in a few times to make sure you humans aren’t…”

The human popped in before Seokjin could find the word. “…ruining everything?”

Seokjin grimaced. “I was trying to put it kinder than that, but yeah. It’s not your fault though, some organisms just can’t see the big picture.”

“Like an Earth god controlling their every move?”

“Not a god.”

“Basically a god.”

“You are insufferable.”

Yoongi snorted. “You’re the one distracting me from my escape plan. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were planning on keeping me here.”

The spirit sat up again, averting his eyes. “That’s—that’s absurd.”

The other paused, and then said, “…You’re not keeping me here right?”

“Of course not.” Seokjin didn’t look at it, but he could almost feel its suspicious stare. He reached up and scratched the back of his ear. “I want you to get home. I don’t like my moon being messy, despite whatever contrary you may believe. Besides, why would I have gotten all of these things out of your ship if— if I wanted you to stay?”

“Maybe you wanted to trick me.”

Seokjin returned the stare. “You need to trust me.” He sighed. “We were just having a good time, can’t we go back to that?”

Yoongi looked down again. The edges of the papers were taught in his hands. “We were having a good time because I wasn’t being serious. I need to be focused and realistic here if I want to get home. I can't act like I’m on vacation.”

He frowned, realizing that the star had become still. Silent. “We’re both going to be miserable if you act like I’m not here. You can't ignore me.”

“I should. I don’t even know you.”

Seokjin was so lost. He didn’t know what went wrong. They had just been joking, and he had been talking to a human for the first time in his immortal life. Of course, something had to go along and ruin it. Why did Yoongi ask that, anyway? And why had he responded so weirdly? Now Yoongi thought he was some sort of intergalactic criminal. All he wanted was him to not be scared. He just wanted him to stay and be calm and not be scared.

He didn’t want to be frightening. He never wanted to be frightening.

“There’s nothing else to know. All I am is this planet. This is all I am.” Seokjin folded his hands together. It was so cold. “I know I’m not human. I’m not a person like you. I’m not even of your species. But I have thoughts and emotions like you and I make promises and keep them just like you. We’re not that different at all. We’re not.” He breathed out slow and steady. “I promise I’ll get you home. Until then, let’s just try to get along, okay? From one living organism to another.”

Every second that Yoongi did not respond was another weight on Seokjin’s shoulders. He hoped he had said the right thing, but every word that he had spoken swirled in his mind, making him second guess every last one. He didn’t know how tiring having active conversations was. His head felt as if it was filled with fog.

But then, the human tilted its head toward him. Nodded once. And curved its lips.

“Okay. I promise to try.”

Warmth.

“Thank you,” Seokjin said (It flooded his senses, warmth). “You won’t regret it.”

“I better not.”

~

A couple of rotations passed with them in that wreck. Seokjin would always tell Yoongi that it should take a break, go rest, maybe find another comfortable place to sleep, but the human always refused. It stayed up for hours and hours on end, unyielding and impatient, searching for the answer it was looking for. Sometimes it would go so far as to accidentally fall asleep in the same spot it had been researching in, its body slumped forward and its arms cradling the star like a teddy bear. On these occasions, Seokjin would slowly lay it down on its side and cover it with whatever sheet metal he could find. If Yoongi refused to take care of itself, then the spirit would do it for him.

The human desperately wanted to go home. If the spirit hadn't heard this come from the human’s mouth himself, then he would have gathered it from how it acted. Sometimes its eyes would wander from the page it was reading and simply stare. There was pain there. Longing. But it only lasted for a few moments before the human was as tough as steel again, researching like it was the only thing he knew how to do.

Seokjin tried to relieve Yoongi of this pain. He did not have much experience with others’ negative emotions, but he did what he could in the only ways he knew how. He told him jokes, stories, silly little poems that Jungkook would recite to him and that he had committed to memory. He would even make up jokes sometimes, ones he thought were — if he did say so himself — pretty hilarious.

“Why did the circle jump over the moon?”

Yoongi shrugged from its spot on the ground. It had given up digging through the trash for the time being, just so it could be (kind of) appreciative of Seokjin’s efforts. “I don’t know, why?”

“Because it was making a round trip!”

It did not receive the applause he thought it would.

He tried to make the human laugh many times throughout their time together, despite multiple failures. Eventually, Yoongi had begun to lay down on the ground almost all the time, never once moving from its spot unless it was to eat a part of a food ration. They were not making progress, and Seokjin knew this by the way Yoongi pushed aside papers as if they were nothing at all.

One day, Seokjin had had enough. He missed the focus and the drive that had pushed the human on from the beginning. It couldn’t give up now. The answer was close, he could feel it in his nonexistent bones and he told Yoongi just that, standing over its slack form.

“Every fact of your anatomy that you tell me just makes me more inclined to believe you’re not real.”

“I will ignore that stinger because I know you are currently in the pits of despair.”

Yoongi chuckled. “You’re funny.” It sat up slowly, bending its back until Seokjin heard a small pop. It groaned before continuing. “I’m fine. Just need a break. This whole experience has been tiring.”

“…You didn’t just hurt yourself again, did you?”

“No, human bodies just do that. It’s just the sound of air being released from between bone sockets. No harm, I promise.”

“Good. Anyway.” He placed his hands firmly on his hips. “You can't be tired.”

“Why not?”

“Because all you’ve been doing is sitting down and laying down and sleeping in the past Earth day.”

“Humans are naturally tired, moon god, that’s just how we are.”

“That’s not what I’ve seen.” Seokjin scrunched his nose in defiance, crossing his arms across his chest before plopping down on the ground next to it. “You were so determined and now you’re barely anything at all.”

“I’m still determined!”

“Then get back to work!”

“No.”

He couldn’t deal with this. Why were humans so stubborn? Whenever Jungkook wasn’t motivated, all he needed was a joke or a story and he could get right back up to do what he needed to do. Humans and Jungkook couldn’t be that different. But apparently, they were, because absolutely nothing was working.

So, he turned toward his last resort.

“If you’re not going to work,” Seokjin started quietly. “Then you have to do something else for me.”

Yoongi rolled its head back over and sighed. “Alright. Like what?”

“Talk to me.”

The human furrowed its eyebrows. “Talk to you?”

The spirit nodded curtly, pushing his chin up toward the sky proudly. “I’ve been talking ever since you got here. I’ve told you about my friends —“

“The two you have?”

“—my life, my stories, my creation, my jokes; absolutely everything. You know about almost every part of me. But what about you? What about your life? I’ve been spending all my time with you and the most I know about you is you crash ships for a living.”

“I know how to fly them, you know. That time was just a fluke.”

“Then tell me that you do. Tell me where you learned to control that… beast you came herewith. I just want to know.”

There were always these times when the human would stop talking. Sometimes it wouldn’t even make a noise. It would just stop and stare stare stare like it always did. Seokjin knew that there was a flurry of emotions and thoughts behind those dark eyes, and he yearned to know at least one of them. It was one thing to learn about humans from a spirit; it was another thing to learn about them from a human.

A human that’s your friend, he reminded himself. Hopefully.

Much to the spirit’s joy, Yoongi folded its legs underneath him, beckoning with a whisper to the star that had been hopping around above to come down and join them. It flew down quickly, nuzzling into its lap and making a home there. It seemed to grow brighter as the human laid its hand across it. The star brightened Yoongi’s face, illuminating it and making its features shine. Despite being an alien, the human fit in nicely.

The human ran a hand over the star’s surface absentmindedly. “You know, this still baffles me.”

“What does?”

“This little guy.” Yoongi caressed the orb with a thumb. It buzzed louder as if purring. “It’s like... A dog. I mean, I’m petting it with my hands right now.”

“I don’t see why that would surprise you.”

“Stars aren’t alive. At least, humans have found that stars are simply balls of gas. They live millions of lightyears away, and they’re not able to be touched because most of them have already gone out by the time Earth can see them.”

Seokjin frowned. “That’s depressing… and wrong. Stars are just inherently shy.”

The human chuckled, grinning in that gummy way it always did. “I guess you’re right. Because you make all of them, don’t you? You create them and send them into the sky.”

“I make some of them, but that's mostly a job for Hoseok.”

“The sun god?”

He wanted to strangle him. Not really. Figuratively. He would never hurt anyone or anything, especially not Yoongi, but good gracious could it be frustrating. “Not a god! But yes. The sun is the first star, and is large and hot and also a big ball of gas. Since Hoseok is the sun spirit, he can make more stars.”

Yoongi tilted its head, its hair falling to one side. Its eyes were pushed together, confusion painted clearly across its face. It was kind of cute. “Then why can you make them?”

“I don’t know. One day I just showed up and was able to.”

“And here I thought you knew everything.”

Seokjin pushed his hands onto the ground, watching the dust billow upwards from the impact. “I wish I did! That would make everything easier.”

The human snorted. “Life must be hard living on the moon. Doing nothing. Having to worry about absolutely nothing.”

“Not true! I have to worry about the distance of the moon from everything at every moment in time. I have to worry about the stars, the eclipses, the moon spinning, and being in the exact place it’s supposed to be. If I make one mistake the entire Earth would be flooded and you’d all be dead, and Jungkook would be very angry with me —“

“And the human race would die.”

“— And the human race would die!” His hands waved frantically through the air. “So I have a very important job, and it's hard, and – stop laughing at me!” Yoongi’s mouth had stretched into that big smile it always had, shoulders jumping up and down with amusement. The star buzzed in its lap, and Seokjin swore that it looked like it was laughing just as hard. He pushed its shoulder, clearly offended, but the human continued to shake. “I’m confessing my struggles to you, and all you’re doing is mocking me.”

It snorted. “It's hard not to when you get so worked up about it.”

Seokjin turned his head away pointedly, crossing his arms over his chest. “You just don’t appreciate hard work.”

“I’m an astronaut. I’ve worked harder than you know.” It paused, then said, “Actually, I guess you literally don’t know. I bet you don’t even know what an astronaut is.”

The spirit turned around again, catching the eye of the other. It was smirking, and its eyes sparkled with the reflections of the stars, as well as something more mischievous that he couldn’t place. He saw this look in Jungkook many times, and there was no way that he was going to be made fun of by a human that crashed its ship. “I know exactly what they are.” He said, pointedly. “They are strange aliens who make me hide on my own moon. My own moon. Just so they could experiment and test for… whatever you test for. No matter what you’re looking for, you and the rest of them are terribly annoying.”

“We’re allowed to explore wherever we want, Seokjin.”

“And who allowed you to do that?”

Yoongi shrugged. “Ourselves, I guess.”

“That's terrifying.”

“Well, it's not like we just woke up one day and decided to come here. Astronauts study for years and years to even be able to go to space. I have multiple degrees in mathematics, engineering, physics, and I spent years preparing for this.” Yoongi’s voice had risen in pitch, no longer the teasing tone that it had just held. Now it was loud and excited, each word full of love and passion. Its chest puffed up as it spoke, pride evident in its eyes, smile, and posture. Its hands flew through the air, but the movements weren’t frantic. In fact, they glided, the gestures deliberate and detailed. It looked as if Yoongi had carefully considered every movement, and yet the words flowed from his mouth as if there was not an ounce of hesitation. His voice had a way of grounding the moon spirit, but Seokjin found that he didn’t want to fly after all.

After living a million lifetimes in silence, he realized he never wanted to hear anything else.

“--Seokjin? Are you listening?”

He blinked. “Of course I am.” Yoongi squinted at him. “...What were you saying?”

The other sighed, rolling his eyes. His shoulders dropped, and his hands returned to the star in his lap. “Nothing. Just that I’ve learned a lot. We both work hard and I want you to know that.”

“Don’t worry, I know. It's your passion. I can see that, in the way you speak about it.” Seokjin suddenly straightened his back, eyebrows furrowing. “Wait. You said you’ve studied for years, right? As in, the ship, space, planets, and other stuff like that?”

“Yeah?” The word had a questioning lilt to it as if asking him to continue.

“And that your space people – “

“ – space program – “

“ – know everything there is to know about space and, you know, putting humans up in it?”

“The point, please.”

Seokjin took a deep breath. “Then, wouldn’t they already have some sort of way to help estranged astronauts? They can’t always be sure that they know where the ship is. They have to have a way of finding you if something went wrong. You can’t be the only one.”

Yoongi went quiet. He stared down into the star, watching as it hummed and glowed. Slowly, his eyes began to brighten, his eyes growing wider and wider in realization. “I can’t be the only one.” He said. “And I’m not. I’m not!”

With no warning, he hopped to his feet. The star fell, catching itself midair and buzzing in anger. But the human was already off. He swayed a little as he walked, boots hurriedly stomping on the ground as he approached the ship. He looked determined. He looked ecstatic.

Seokjin rose quickly, flying over and steadying him with both hands on his shoulders. He didn’t try to stop him, only following behind. “What? What is it?”

He didn’t answer. He only walked faster, stepping over scraps of metal and discarded paper, unfazed by the mess. Seokjin let go of him when they arrived at the door of the beastly thing, the opening pointed upwards because of the crash. Yoongi carefully swung himself over the opening with a grunt, landing on the opposite wall of the ship.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” He waved from six feet below, not sparing a glance, and instead racing towards the front. Seokjin floated downwards a few feet, craning his neck for a peek of what the human was up to. He found him fiddling with a shelf below the front square (Yoongi had told him it was called a window), aligned with dozens of shapes and pieces of metal that he couldn’t even begin to name. The human’s head was turning from side to side slowly, as if searching for something. Then, without a warning, it pulled open a latch and pressed something on the inside.

Suddenly, he heard a ringing sound. It was quiet at first, then rose, louder and louder until Seokjin trembled with its force. He hugged himself tightly, the high pitch of the ringing sending unease throughout his body.

But Yoongi reacted differently. He started jumping, laughing, spinning around in circles. In flashes, as he turned, he could see the gummy smile light up his features. “Yes! Yes!” He cheered, his voice light and airy.

“What? What!” The spirit said. He hated how loud the ringing was. He wanted to hear him laugh. “Tell me!”

Yoongi stopped spinning, balancing himself on the shelf. He looked up at the spirit. “I’m so stupid. I forgot about the button.” He laughed again, unable to control it.

“Button?”

“The buttons connected to a separate generator. It didn’t lose power like the others. It still worked. Of course, it still worked, you were right, there had to be a way to let them know.”

“Know about what? What did you do?”

Yoongi’s grin seemed as if it was forever etched into his skin. “They’re coming to get me. I’m going home.”

“You’re going home?”

“I’m going home.”

Something inside of Seokjin tightened. The walls of the ships suddenly seemed smaller. But he smiled, trying to match the pure joy Yoongi exuded. Trying to be as naturally passionate as he was. “You’re going home.”

Spirits of the universe didn’t have the ability to sleep. But he wished he did. He suddenly felt so, so tired.

~

After the discovery of the button, Yoongi came alive. Not that he wasn’t alive before, of course, Seokjin knew the difference. But there became energy within the human that the spirit had not seen before. He wanted to talk constantly now, full of stories and words of wisdom. He even laughed at Seokjin’s jokes, which had barely ever happened before. He had left his paranoia behind him and had not looked back. The anxiety that he had held in his shoulders barely seemed to appear now. He seemed to grow into himself. He seemed to become more human.

Seokjin, honestly, didn’t know how to deal with it.

“Don’t you have some sort of alien to discover or something?” He was sitting down at the center of the moon, his legs crossed and his hands pushed down onto its surface. His eyes were closed, and he was trying with all of his might to focus on the moon and its rotation. He didn’t need to focus this much, honestly, he could do it subconsciously now. But sometimes it relaxed him, the subtle rocking of his planet. It gave him peace, tranquility.

And Yoongi, in the past couple of days, was definitely not that.

“I think you’re the only alien here, moon man.” He said, laying next to the other. Seriously, right next to him. No boundaries whatsoever. The star was on his chest, hopping up and down enthusiastically. “You’re not supposed to exist. So you’re an alien.”

“What does that mean? We’re all not supposed to exist. Humans are just evolved monkeys which are just evolved organisms.”

“And you’re a moon god.”

“You make no sense.”

“You’re right. I make dollars.”

Seokjin opened his eyes and glared, pushing his bottom lip out in indignation. The human paid no mind, holding his stomach and cackling in that silent way of his. His laughs always made him shake, but they barely let out any noise, except when he was feeling particularly excited. It both endeared and annoyed the spirit. “I’m supposed to be the funny one.”

“Looks like I beat you.”

“You’re so mean to me.”

Again, the human laughed, softly this time. After a few moments, he stilled, leaving the moon in silence once again. Though silence wasn’t really the word to describe it. The planet was never truly silent, now. It never was, for both the star and Yoongi resided themselves there. It was always constantly full of the sounds of breathing or humming, or perhaps a small stream of whispers from the human to the star, when he didn’t feel like talking with Seokjin. The spirit didn’t mind. He didn’t mind the noise at all. For when it left, the familiar silence reminded him of before. It reminded him of what was to come.

The human grabbed the star, carefully lifting it with two hands. He moved it through the air before bumping it against Seokjin’s right arm. It seemed to purr against his skin.

He was confused, but couldn’t help but pat it softly on the top. It glowed with satisfaction. “What was that for, exactly?”

“Holly likes you.” He smiled, and the star bobbed slightly up and down as if agreeing.

“I can’t believe you named him. A weird one, too.”

“Holly is a wonderful name, thank you very much,” Yoongi said. He let go of the star, pushing himself into a sitting position as it flew a few feet away. “I named it after my dog!”

“You mean the animal you kidnapped and forced to be your friend?”

His nose scrunched. Suddenly, Seokjin noticed in a moment of clarity that he wasn’t wearing his helmet anymore; it had been abandoned next to the ship for quite some time now. He couldn’t complain, though; it was nice to see Yoongi’s features clearly. “She loves me. I did not kidnap her, I gave her a home.” Seokjin chuckled at that, but Yoongi continued with fervor. “Don't laugh at me! You know exactly how it is. I bet you’ve named and kept a million stars, yeah? You just can’t remember their names.”

Seokjin’s throat tightened. He said nothing, raising his hands from the ground and folding them over his chest. He fixed his eyes on the black expanse above. The stars were in the same place they always had been. Glued to the same space he had thrown them into when they had left him. Even from lightyears away, the spirit swore he could still feel their warmth. It wasn’t easy to forget. He could never forget anything. Not their warmth, not their personalities, not their creation; not even the way he made them. Every detail of those little stars clung to his mind. For how do you forget something so vivid?

“I remember.” He said, finally. “I remember all of them.”

Yoongi took a moment to respond. He felt his gaze bore into the side of his head. “...What are they?”

“Not all of them you’d be able to understand.” The spirit’s eyes never left the sky. A small smile slowly appeared on his lips. “Some of my friends have names so beautiful they do not exist in human language.”

He felt a hand on his thigh. It was barely there, only a bit of pressure, but it made his head snap toward him nevertheless. They locked eyes, and Yoongi pulled his hand away. Seokjin could still feel the imprint of warmth that he’d left there. “Tell me.”

“They’d sound nonsensical to you, Yoon.”

“I don’t care. Tell me.” He paused, before stretching out his hands and pulling the star back to his lap. It buzzed in surprise, before going back to its comfortable hum. “For me and Holly?”

Seokjin couldn’t say no to that.

There had been many stars in the spirit’s lifetime, too many to count. They had names like Nyx, or Yua; easy to understand throughout many human languages. But then some names barely had any syllables at all. Some were songs, some were poems, some were languages and words that no living creatures besides the spirits of planets could understand. With every name that Seokjin told, no matter how understandable they were, he told their story. He kept his eyes focused on the sky, reciting their tales and their souls as if they were his own. Sometimes he’d point out specific ones, the ones that made a mark. He’d lean in close to the human, shoulder to shoulder, and talk quietly of his favorite constellations and who resided in them.

These were some of his favorite stories to tell. Jungkook was a better visual storyteller. But what he liked about these tales was that he was there for them; they were his own.

“You seem to love them a lot,” Yoongi said when the spirit had finished. He had listened intently to every word, not missing a single thought. His eyes never left the other, and it made Seokjin feel strange. He never had someone pay this much attention to his stories before.

He nodded. “I do. Every single one of them.”

The human turned back toward the sky. The spirit watched as his eyes flickered back and forth, jumping from star to star, his mouth moving silently. He was trying to remember all of the names, just like Seokjin, even though it was impossible. He wondered why the human cared that much. Was there a significant reason? Or were acts of love simply in human nature?

“Seokjin?”

“Hm?”

“May I ask you something?”

“Go for it.”

Yoongi absentmindedly stroked Holly’s top, eyes still hopping from star to star. “If you love them so much, why do you let them go?”

He didn’t want to let them go. He never wanted to. If he could, he would keep each one of them on his moon and make each one a small home to live in. Every day they would play for hours and hours on end and Seokjin would talk to them forever. But, unfortunately, that was not reality. “Because they aren’t meant to stay with me. How many stars do you see stuck on the moon?” He chuckled, the smile not reaching his eyes. “They’re destined to be up there, with other stars like them. And, eventually… they all want to go.”

Seokjin watched as Yoongi’s hands tightened slightly around Holly. “What do you mean?”

“They start floating toward the sky. They start not paying attention to you as much. And, if they don’t get up there, their light eventually starts to fade.”

“So then, one day they just… leave.”

He shook his head. “Stars can’t leave this atmosphere by themselves.”

“How do they leave then?”

“You give them a boost.” Seokjin lifted his hands toward the sky, cupping them as if he was grasping one of the many stars above. Slowly, the spirit stood, bringing both of his cupped hands to one side of his body. Suddenly, he thrust his hands forward, splaying his palms outward towards the dark expanse above.

The movement came naturally; he could almost taste the word goodbye on his tongue.

Instead, he said, “And then, they fly.”

“Where to?”

He shrugged, dropping his hands from the air. “Wherever they feel they’re needed.”

Seokjin turned his head toward the human, only to notice his eyes were still fixated on the sky as if watching a star disappear across the horizon.

This wasn’t a new facial expression. Every so often, Seokjin would look back at him after doing his daily duties, and Yoongi would be still. He’d either be standing or sitting, usually with Holly attached at the hip, but doing nothing else besides stare. The sky seemed to entrap him in its infinity.

It made the spirit proud, in a way. Despite being stuck here, Yoongi couldn’t help but be amazed by a world he had always yearned to know.

At once, a thought came to him. “Is this the first time you’ve gone to space, Yoongi?”

The human blinked, and the glaze in his eyes was gone. His hands eased around Holly, and it hummed in thanks. “No. I’ve orbited the Earth a few times,” He said. “but I've never been anywhere else.”

“And yet it still interests you?”

“It fascinates me.” He shook his head. “Do you realize what you’ve been doing?”

Seokjin raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“You’re the one making shooting stars.”

“…That’s what I just said.”

“No, no,” He shook his head again, more fervently this time, planting his hands on the moon’s surface. When he leaned towards the spirit, the star squeezed out from underneath him and flew a few feet away. “Shooting Stars. That’s what we call them on Earth. We see them every so often, they’re a phenomenon. They have folklore around them, legends! And you - “ He laughed. “ - you, a moon man, have been creating them this entire time.”

Seokjin couldn’t help but smile back, slowly sitting down again. “I didn’t think anyone noticed them.”

“Everyone has. I… I have.” He turned his head toward the horizon. The moon rotated noticeably as they sat. “When I was a kid, I used to love them.”

He couldn’t tear his eyes away. “Really?”

The human nodded. “I used to look for them every night.” He then chuckled, “My mom would always scold me for staying up past my bedtime, looking out the window. I’d even do it during the winter. The house would be so cold but I thought that if I… Well, if I wished on as many as I could, then all my dreams would come true.”

The spirit hummed. “And did they?”

Yoongi looked at him quizzically. “What?”

“Did all your dreams come true?”

The human cast his eyes downward, soft and easy contemplation written across his face. He then slowly pulled his head up, and just for a moment, his hair looked as if it had blended into the sky itself; embedding Yoongi into the universe forever. “I’d like to think so.”

Jungkook liked to tell him about art. It was one of his favorite subjects. He would go on and on for hours when they would meet, telling him all that humans could create. When Seokjin asked about what art was, it was the first time in a millennium that the Earth spirit was at a loss for words. When he finally decided on an answer, he had this gleam in his eye, as if it was a secret only them two knew about:

“Art is everything that makes you feel alive.”

Seokjin understood now.

He turned away from the human. “I don’t think I had many dreams before you came. I don’t sleep, so realistically I cannot have a visual experience like that, but metaphorically, you see. Like you had dreams of coming up here, I just never had them.”

The response was quiet. “And now you do?”

“I think so. I mean… I do.” He flicked a piece of moon rock across the ground, watching as it bounced. He kept his eyes focused on it.

Suddenly, he felt pressure on his right shoulder. He looked over in alarm, only to realize that Yoongi had come even closer. His head was now resting on his shoulder, and his eyes were closed. “I’m cold.”

Seokjin laughed. “I have no body heat. What makes you think that I’ll be of any help?”

“Shh, moon man, it doesn’t matter. Just tell me about your dreams.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re so demanding. Fine, then.” He looked down again, only to begin to focus on the body next to him, radiating warmth despite the complaints. He opened his right hand, watching as the skin stretched and the muscles flexed from underneath. He was so pale compared to the little human. He wondered how it would feel to have a human body. Would he be warm too? “My dreams… I guess my dreams are to be more like you.”

“More like me?” Came the mumbled reply.

“Mmhm. You have so many different things about you that I never could have expected. You’re so diverse, and there are so many little things about you that don’t connect but do at the same time. Not - not to say you’re confusing, you’re not! You just are so… multifaceted. There is nothing flat about you. You have different jobs, purposes, emotions, paths; you don’t have one set journey you’re expected to be on. You can do whatever you want to.”

Silence fell over the moon, besides the soft thrumming of Holly behind them. Seokjin closed his eyes, losing himself within the rhythm of Yoongi’s breaths. In and out, it went, in and out. Breathing was another evidence of being alive.

“So,” He began again, taking a shuddery breath that took more work than he expected it to, “that’s my dream. To be as human as I can possibly be. Because then… when you leave… I’ll still have something of you for me.

Just me.”

Seokjin waited for a moment but didn’t get a response. When he twisted his body to the side to look at Yoongi, he was met with the soft, rhythmic breathing of sleep. He sighed, slowly wrapping his arms around the human and setting him down onto the ground. With a careful finger, he brushed a lock of hair away from his eyes and simply stared.

He tried to commit him to memory. The curve of his face, the flattened nose, the way his eyelashes rested on the tips of his cheeks; he wanted to remember all of it. Though, he was sure he wouldn’t forget it.

How could he?

~

Yoongi slept for a long time. The spirit couldn’t be positive, but he was sure humans were only meant to sleep for around a third of an Earth day before needing to get up again. He had been observing Yoongi for multiple rotations now, so many that he had lost count (he tried to make markers in the crevice of the moon, but he always forgot where he had begun counting, so he had given up), and he had taken note of many little habits the human had. So, Seokjin thought he knew how long he should be sleeping for.

And it was definitely not this long.

It had been at least half of a rotation, maybe a third now. He at least had expected Yoongi to mumble, to move, to yell at Seokjin for being too loud while playing with Holly before shuffling off to another comfortable part of the moon. But, he hadn’t. He had laid where Seokjin had placed him after their conversation, and he had not moved once.

Seokjin had checked, and Yoongi was still breathing. He was still alive, he knew he was, because the strain of the foreign atmosphere was still scratching at the back of his mind, and the oxygen dome had no areas of weakness whatsoever. He had done everything right. He had done everything right, so why was Yoongi not awake?

He tried to keep away for as long as he could. He did. Maybe this was some hibernation that Jungkook had never told him about, who knows. Maybe if he interfered he would throw off Yoongi’s entire wellbeing and he’d turn into a strange creature. But, Seokjin needed to know. He couldn’t lose him. Not yet.

So, he grabbed Holly, marched right over to Yoongi’s sleeping form, and pushed the star into his face. It buzzed in irritation, but he ignored it. “Wake up! Rise and shine!”

No response.

“Hello! Time to wake up and eat your rations! Food, mmm, yum! Delicious water, too!”

Again, nothing.

Seokjin could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on; human bodies were so exhausting. Maybe that's why Yoongi loved to sleep so much. In frustration, he pulled away from the star and let go of it, Holly spinning away in confusion. He placed his hands on his hips and glared down at him. “Yoongi. You need to wake up. Wake up or I’ll banish you.”

Surprisingly, Yoongi was much less annoying awake.

In one last act of desperation, the spirit fell to his knees and clasped the human’s shoulders tightly. Without hesitation, he shook him back and forth violently, unrelenting on his mission. “Yoongi. Yoongi. Yoongi,” He chanted, worry growing with every word out of his mouth. What if he didn’t wake up? What if he stayed there, sleeping, and he died? What if Yoongi had sent his team out to save him just to find him dead? And it would be all his fault. Oh god, it would be all his fault –

“Would you stop that!”

In an instant, Seokjin pulled his hands away. He watched as Yoongi - irritated, for some reason - slowly sat up, his eyes squinted and his brows furrowed. He backed up quickly, a grin splashed onto his face.

Yoongi did not look the same. His mouth was twisted into an exaggerated frown, his hand rubbing his head gingerly. “What the fuck was that for?”

“Wow, that’s a new word.”

“Seokjin - “

“I thought you were dead! And you’re not, cause I saved you!”

“From what?”

“From sleeping!”

Yoongi groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. He closed his eyes, and suddenly the bags under them seemed so much more prominent. “Sleeping isn’t dangerous. You’ve seen me do it a million goddam times. You could have let me sleep more.”

Seokjin shook his head. “You had already slept for almost an entire Earth day.”

He stilled. Then, after a second, he pulled his hand away from his face and looked him in the eye. “What?”

“You slept for a long time. You didn’t move, the moon and the Earth just kept rotating and you just laid there. I thought…” He looked away, settling on the ground with folded legs before managing to make eye contact again. “I thought you were in trouble.”

Yoongi’s lips pursed. Slowly, he brought up both hands and rubbed his eyes, sighing. “I guess I just… tired myself out. Got too excited about the button. Sorry, I worried you.”

He nodded, raising his head toward the sky. “Maybe you were just hibernating.”

“...Sorry, what?”

“Don’t you do that? Sleep for at least a few rotations?”

“That’s called a coma, and no, we don’t. Not usually.”

“And coma’s are…”

“...bad.”

“Bad, yes, right, bad. Look at me learning new things!”

Yoongi laughed, the sound low and quiet. Seokjin managed to steal a look at him only to realize he had also craned his neck toward the sky. Despite the human’s exhaustion, he could still see the reflection of stars in his eyes. He was sure that was a good sign. It had to be.

“Hey,” The spirit began, making Yoongi’s eyes connect with his. “do you want me to get those little packets you have? The rations.”

He seemed taken aback by this as if food hadn’t been a thought. Silly human. “Oh, right. Yes please.”

Seokjin stood up, stretching his limbs until they were no longer stiff. “Do you want one or two? Maybe food will get you to liven up a bit, who knows. Maybe they’ll stop you from hibernating again.” He smiled, hoping Yoongi would do the same at the small joke.

He didn’t return the expression, only pulling his eyes back to the sky. “No, thank you. Just one. I need to make sure I have enough food until my team comes. I can’t waste it.”

There was a bitter taste on his tongue. “Right. Silly me.”

~

“Have you ever heard of music?”

The metal beast was cold against their backs as they leaned against it. Both of their hands were focused on the pieces of research paper in their hands, for Yoongi had wanted to show him something. It was called origami, or something to that effect. He had shown him how to specifically fold and warp the paper, to make it into something new. Seokjin had deliberately done every fold just as he had done, but for some reason, his creations were nothing like Yoongi’s.

Seokjin was just in the middle of another try at a crane when Yoongi asked. He looked up from the twisted paper in his hands, happy for the distraction. “I’ve heard the word before. I know what it is… in theory.”

“Let me guess; Jungkook told you about it.”

“Don’t sound so disappointed!” He said, squashing down a side of the paper in an attempted fold, only for it to pop back up again. He groaned and threw it to the floor. “You forget that you’re quite literally the only human I’ve ever interacted with. Ever.”

Yoongi’s eyes flickered to the disfigured crane, holding back a laugh. “Oh trust me. I know.”

He crossed his arms in indignation. “How can anyone do this? Humans are so strange. They have no planet to take care of so they fold things for fun.”

“To be fair, all you do is make stars and move the moon centimeters at a time.”

“It’s a hard job, and you are simply unappreciative.” He pushed his tongue out at him, before returning to the subject at hand. Yoongi always had a way of distracting him. It was part of his charm, he supposed. “Anyway. You were talking about music?”

He nodded. “I was just wondering what you knew about it. It's such a strange concept to me that things that are such a staple in culture - well, human culture - could be so unknown.”

“I don’t know if you know this, but I’m not human.” He said plainly.

“Which is weird too! You look like one!” Yoongi waved his hands in the air. He was getting excited again, but Seokjin wasn’t going to say anything about it. “But, hell, I’ve gotten used to the fact that things aren’t normal here. Or anywhere, I guess.”

The spirit let his lips stretch into a faint smile, some of his stubbornness melting away. “You’re getting off-topic again, Yoon.”

“Oh, right. Sorry, sorry,” He closed his eyes and waved his hands again, but downwards this time as if getting ahold of himself. “Anyway. What do you know about it?

Seokjin shrugged. “It's an art form that is communicated through soundwaves. It's usually pleasing to the ear and can be made through almost anything. Jungkook says there’s nothing like it.”

“There isn’t.” Yoongi grabbed another piece of the research paper, laying it as flat as it could be on the moon’s surface and beginning to fold. His hands were such a wonder to Seokjin. They were pale, and looked as if they had done rough work in their day, the skin callused and the frames sturdy. But, his fingers still had a sense of fragility to them. Not like they could break easily, no, but as if they never held anything roughly. The paper moved delicately in his hands, and it bent to his will with no urgency. The spirit couldn’t help but watch as a perfect crane slowly began to be folded into existence.

He scooted closer. “Tell me more.”

The human stopped his ministrations for a second. He looked at the spirit, grinned, then returned to the origami below. “Music is a sort of magic. It can make one feel happy when they had just gone through something devastating, or it can bring someone into such a state of sadness that they cry simply because of what the music is saying. It's brilliant, really, and very strange at the same time.” An inward fold. He could see the start of its wings. “It’s been scientifically proven that music can help the body heal, physically and mentally. It brings people together. When you’re at a concert - “

“A concert?”

“ - a music gathering with a lot of people, and everyone is singing at once, it makes you feel alive.”

You make me feel alive. “That sounds… really nice.”

“It is. I don’t know how to explain it to you, though.”

“How about you… show me?”

Yoongi’s cheeks turned a light hue of pink. “No, no, I’m really not a good singer. I mean, I’ve written some songs, but I’ve never been much of a performer.” Suddenly, he held up the paper above him, proudly displaying a little origami crane. “Ta-da!”

“How are you so good at that?” Seokjin said, astonished, gingerly taking the crane in his hands and pulling it closer to his face. No imperfections whatsoever. Very annoying of him, to be even more talented, but he could let it slide. Soon, a thought came to him, forcing a smile upon his face. “Maybe you’re just as good at… signing?”

“Singing.”

He brought the crane down, resting it on the floor. “Maybe you're just as good at singing too!” The human shook his head, but he wasn’t having any of it. He jumped to his feet, hands on his hips, and determination in his mind. “Show me.”

“You know, you always put your hands on your hips when you have a point to make.”

“Shush. Show me.” Slowly, he dropped his arms, before holding a single hand out to Yoongi. “Please? I’ve never heard a song before. I really would love to hear one from you.”

As much as Seokjin was a sucker for Yoongi’s questions, he was positive he had an influence of his own. For the human then sighed, took his hand, and pulled himself to his feet. He swayed for a moment before steadying himself, the other hand falling to the spirit’s waist. He waited for him to pull away, but he didn’t. Instead, he pulled them even closer, until they were both chest to chest.

“Uh… what are you-- “

“A song is almost always accompanied by a dance.” Despite how smooth the line was, the human’s cheeks were a shade darker than before. It was adorable.

Seokjin grinned, placing his other hand on his shoulder. “I don’t know what that is, but you should show me anyway.”

“I’ll, um -” He laughed, looking to the horizon instead of the spirit that was centimeters away. “- I’ll make it easy. Just take my lead.”

So, he did. Yoongi began to sway from side to side, the other following suit. Then, he stepped to the side, moving them fluently from one position to the other. It took a bit, for the human had to tell the spirit that when he stepped forward, he had to step back and vice versa. But, once it clicked in Seokjin, they moved as if there was no thought to it at all. Though the spacesuit was large and always made movement difficult, it didn’t seem to matter. There was no music yet (at least none that he could detect), but they still moved throughout the moon as if they needed no rhythm. It was as if they were one organism with a single mind and body, their hearts simply an extension of the others’.

Then, he began to sing.

Fly me to the moon,
let me play among the stars.

Seokjin couldn’t help but laugh, quietly. “You did play among them, didn’t you?”

Yoongi laughed back. “I did.”

Let me see what spring is like on
Jupiter and Mars.

In other words, hold my hand.
In other words,

His face went a shade darker. “I, uh, don’t remember the rest of that verse. I'll do the next one.”

The spirit tilted his head but nodded. He trusted him.

Fill my heart with song and let me sing forevermore.
You are all I long for,
All I worship and adore.

They spun and spun and spun and everything else disappeared. Seokjin was surprised the moon didn’t spin off its axis and go flying, but it stayed beneath them. It didn’t matter though. Nothing else did.

If this was what music was, then he wanted to hear it for eternity.

In other words, please be true.
In other words -

Yoongi laughed again, and Seokjin didn’t know why, but he continued.

Fill my heart with song,
let me sing forevermore.

I will, he thought. I’ll let you.

You are all I long for, all I worship and adore.

So close. They were so close.

In other words, please be true.

Sparkles. Yoongi sparkled.

In other words…
In other words…
I…

“I… I forgot the rest,” He was breathless. His eyes were wide and they didn’t seem to blink. “Sorry, that must have been terrible.”

“It was beautiful,” Seokjin said. He didn’t need air to survive but still felt as if all of it had suddenly been sucked from his lungs. “That was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever -” Before he could finish, he suddenly noticed that they had floated into the air. The height of where they were did not faze him, but what did was how close they were to the edge of the atmosphere. The foggy edge of the oxygen dome was only a few inches above their heads.

It was so much closer than it used to be.

Without warning, he tugged Yoongi to himself, gripping him tightly as they dropped to the floor. It was a short way, so the fall was for only a moment, but the human still squealed in surprise. “What are you doing?! How did we - “

Seokjin stared above them, his brows furrowed. “We had gotten too close to the edge of the dome.”

“...So?”

“It's not supposed to be so close.” Slowly, he floated upwards, one hand outstretched. He only had to fly around six more feet above them before the strain of what he thought was breathlessness was brought upon him again, the foggy edge wafting through his fingertips. With a thoughtful hum, he brought himself back down again.

Yoongi was frowning, his arms crossed. “Wasn’t it like that before? Maybe you just… accidentally floated us both too high.”

“No, I’ve been able to fly higher than that.” He rubbed his fingers together, the tips slightly colder than the rest of him. His eyes fluttered back to the other, who had grown even more concerned. He shook his head before dismissively waving one hand. “It's probably fine. Nothing to worry about.”

“Are you sure?”

An ache slowly began to ebb behind his eyes. “C’mon, you know me. I’m always sure.”

Yoongi didn’t look convinced, but he sighed and dropped his arms anyway. “Fine.” He shifted his weight from one side to the other, swaying slowly. “You just probably were distracted by dancing, anyway.”

How could I not be distracted when it's you? “That’s probably it. I’ve never done that before.”

His eyes curved upwards now, and his eyes glimmered in the starlight. “Well, now you have.”

Yoongi was a beautiful thing that had shown him so much beauty. The word human never used to mean so much, but now it meant more than he could describe. To be human meant to be art, to laugh, to bond, and to have experiences that one couldn’t put to words. It meant to be warm and maybe even annoying at times but it also meant to be true. Human meant so much to him now that spirit had begun to mean less.

So what was he?

~

“Black holes, go.”

They were laying down this time. Side by side, tucked within one of the most comfortable crater’s Seokjin could find. Holly was circling them, above, just slightly grazing the edges of the crater, buzzing loudly whenever there was a break in conversation. Yoongi had requested for the spirit to tell him everything that science had neglected to discover about space, and he was glad to oblige.

“Holes that are black.”

Yoongi’s elbow wedged into his side, and he winced. “Smartass.”

He snorted, covering his grin with a hand. “I had to! Also, ow.”

“Tell me,” he glanced back over at the other, and although he tried to remain as stoic as possible, Seokjin could see a glimpse of amusement in his dark eyes. “Please.”

He was hard to say no to. So, the spirit rolled over to his side and propped his head up with one hand as he thought. Then, clucking his tongue, he said, “Well, first off, they’re horrifying.”

“I can see why you’d think that if you were a human, but you’re not. You’ll never be able to touch one unless you want to. So why do you think they’re scary?”

He huffed. “They’re remnants of stars. Actually, they’re multiple pieces of stars, frozen in time and bloodthirsty. They ruin what is beautiful and instead - quite literally - suck the life out of everything.”

“But don’t you think it's kind of cool, that the stars you create can become such massive phenomenons?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Why?”

“Let me put it this way.” He sat up quickly, crossing his arms and staring at Yoongi like it was his fault that black holes were created. But who was he kidding; Yoongi wouldn’t hurt a fly, he knew that. His eyes flickered to Yoongi’s hands, before going back to his act. “Imagine you had a child - do you have a child?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Honestly surprised you know what a child is, but, no, I do not.”

“Okay, so, imagine you have a child. A small organism you made all your own, with infinite energy and able to fly and glow brightly.”

“Sure, like any human child can.”

Sarcasm. How kind. “Shush,” He said, before continuing. “So, you have this child that you love, and you raise it and protect it until finally, you send it out into the world. Everything is fine, right? The child is doing what it wants, you’re protecting the moon, fantastic. Then, you find out that this child explodes into a million pieces. Not only that, but those dead pieces are powerful and dark and anything that touches them gets killed.”

Yoongi’s eyes were wide, maybe even a little concerned. “...okay.”

“Then, another child that you’ve raised touches those pieces and gets stretched and pulled until they look like a blob version of themselves and then they die too.”

He coughed into his fist, wheezing sounds coming from within. “Alright, I - “ Suddenly, he coughed again, more violently this time. His eyes closed harshly, his forehead wrinkled as he shook.

Seokjin didn’t feel like joking anymore. He placed a hand on his back. “Yoongi, are you - “

The coughing stopped, and he pulled himself away. “I’m fine.” His voice was hoarse. “I just was going to say I - I get it. You made your point. Black holes are assholes.”

The human offered him a smile at this, and the spirit returned it, although hesitantly. “...Yeah,” He said, dropping the hand that had been on Yoongi’s back. He flexed the fingers, the lingering warmth making them tingle. “I don’t like them at all.”

He straightened up quickly, as if his posture would erase what just had happened. “Well, even if you don’t like them, I want to know more. Like, well…” His lips were parted as his eyes flickered, deep in thought. “...where do they lead to? If someone can survive it, would it lead to another dimension? Are there spirits for black holes, just like there are for the planets and the Sun star?”

Seokjin managed to chuckle. “How about you jump into one and find out?”

He scrunched his nose. “I’d rather stay here and annoy you. Thanks though.”

Stars were still shining, the moon was still spinning, and they were still talking to one another. Everything was as it should have been. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

~

Yoongi had fallen asleep on his lap. Seokjin’s hands had been slowly combing through his hair, and he had been humming another song to pass the time. He knew the other couldn’t get enough of them, so even if the human couldn’t remember another lyric to save his life, he made sure that the air was always full of some kind of melody. But now, the only rhythm to be heard was the sound of his low breathing.

Usually, Seokjin would not mind. Anything the other did was something he loved to see. But his eyes were closed so often now. He always seemed so tired. And now, every time the human would float back into unconsciousness, his stomach would twist with an ugly feeling.

He looked up and spotted Holly close to the edge of the dome. He said nothing and only watched as she hummed and bobbed, purring kindly at the sight of the dark universe. It was nice to see the warm glow up close. Comfort is always needed in times of uncertainty, Yoongi once said. They had been just beginning to bond, and he had wondered why he always kept Holly so close. Holly is my comfort.

“You’re my comfort, you know.” The spirit spoke as if a single word would shatter the moment completely. And yet the stillness continued, and Yoongi didn’t stir. “I wish you knew how much you meant to me.”

He didn’t respond. Of course, he didn’t.

Seokjin stopped his fingers, letting his hand rest on the top of Yoongi’s head. He felt colder than he remembered. “This is all unfair.” He whispered. “All of it. Us meeting, you showing me so many things, you having to leave, you wanting to leave.” He couldn’t stop the words from flying out of his mouth. His heart was tight and he was bitter and he hated it. “You’re one of the only things that made me feel alive but you don’t belong here so you can’t stay. Nothing can stay, do you realize that? Nothing! Nothing ever stays. Not you, not Jungkook, not Hoseok, not the stars; nothing. No one.” The edges of his eyes stung. “No one ever stays. Why do I have to be the one to be alone?”

He tried taking a deep breath, but it came out shaky. “You know,” he started, his voice even meeker than before. “Sometimes I just wish you never came.”

The silence deafened him. He wished Yoongi would sing again.

~

Days passed. Seokjin continued to tell his stories, and Yoongi continued to sit and listen. Even when the human had nothing to say back, silence never really felt like silence. It wasn’t heavy or overbearing like he had expected, for the spirit could still hear the difference. Yoongi’s breath filled the air, and Holly’s humming never quite stopped, especially when it was in the human’s arms. It made him feel like the moon wasn’t just a floating rock in the universe, but a home.

Sometimes Holly didn’t hum as loudly, though. Sometimes, it flew high above their heads, bobbing up and down and up and down. In these times, it didn’t respond as frequently, and Seokjin couldn’t help but wonder if, in its own way, it was also staring at the sky.

They never mentioned this. When Holly got like this, Yoongi would simply give him a look. His eyes would be wide, tired, and pleading. He never said a word, but his eyes said enough. So, Seokjin would float above, gently cup the star with both hands, and pull it back down until it rested on the ground again.

When this happened, Yoongi made Seokjin tell him the names of the stars again. With every one, he pulled Holly even closer.

~

Turns out, for a magical galactic spirit and a human astronaut, there is not much to do on the moon. Seokjin had thought there had been plenty before Yoongi came, but now that he was here he realized how boring everything was - well, once you got off the high of wow I’m actually on another planet. He tried to improve it, though. When they talked, it was all the entertainment needed, both of them exchanging stories and dreams and secrets and jokes that they never thought they’d be telling anyone.

Well, he never thought he’d be telling someone these things. Yoongi wasn’t as alone as he was; he had told him about many friends he had down on Earth. About how much he loved the company of his team, the humans that were supposedly sent to rescue him.

Seokjin hoped they were coming. He didn’t want Yoongi gone, no, and in fact, if it was possible he’d much rather Yoongi stay with him. Here, on the moon, forever.

But as the days wore on, Yoongi talked less and less. Holly stayed by his side, and even when it didn't, the human never let the little star get out of his sight. He spent most of his time sitting and staring out into space, the star bobbing and weaving around him or tucked nicely into his lap. He sat and he slept and he did those things all over again. Something was wrong, but the spirit could do nothing about it. He simply gave him his rations, conversed in hush whispers when Yoongi was feeling up to it, and sat close by.

He sat so close, that he began to realize that the human was no longer staring at the constellations above them; but at the Earth down below.

Sometimes Seokjin needed to sit by himself. Headaches were better to deal with alone.

~

“Yoongi, you need to listen to me.”

“No.”

“You can’t ignore this. It needs to happen.”

“It doesn’t have to happen.”

“Yoongi.”

Yoongi shook his head, standing on unsteady feet, his face twisted in anger. Holly was trapped within his arms, the bright glow replaced by a dull, scared light. It buzzed sharply, but the human ignored it entirely, refusing to let it get away. “I can’t do it. I know you do it all the time, and it gets easier every time for you, sure, but I don’t. And I can’t.”

The spirit groaned, furling its hands into fists before relaxing them at his sides. “If you can’t do it, then I’ll do it for you.”

“No!”

His head hurt. Suddenly, he had a flashback to the first day; screaming and threatening, refusing to take off the helmet because apparently, the human’s survival was impossible in itself. On all accounts, this was harder. “Yoon, look at it. Look at it.”

Yoongi was hesitant, but moved his eyes to the star in his arms. Its buzzes were quieter, now.

“It won’t survive if you don’t let it go.”

It broke Seokjin in two when Yoongi locked eyes with him again, devastation written clearly across his face. If he had known that he would attach so much to this star, then he would have never made it for him in the first place. So much good had come out of this little star, but to what cost?

“It's…” His voice wavered as he responded. “It’s not right. It should stay here. With me. Holly would be so much happier here, I know it.”

His hands tightened into fists again. “Please. Holly can’t stay here forever and you know it.”

“Just for a little longer. Until - “

“Until they come for you, I know, I get it.” Everything hurt now. “But Holly doesn’t have time. Its glow is gone, and all it wants to do is fly. It needs to be out there. You need to trust me.”

“But - “

“Trust me.”

Trust. What a curious thing. To firmly believe that someone or something was going to pull through. To have faith in something so strongly that you were willing to depend on it, even for a small little thing. It was such a dangerous but precious thing. To trust was to put your entire faith into someone else's hands, and allow them to do what they wanted with it because you trusted them. Who was Seokjin to ask Yoongi to trust him? After all, no one had gotten close enough to trust him before. Why should he have the honor of trust now?

But the human believed in him. So, trust he gave.

Yoongi, inch by inch, began to loosen his hands and drop his arms. When it had enough leeway to slip out, Holly zoomed from his arms to Seokjin’s, purring and shivering as it rubbed itself against him. He patted against the surface, but never let his eyes move away from Yoongi. Defeat was evident on every inch of him; his eyes never looked so empty.

As the spirit approached, his bare feet made a shuffling sound against the hard crust of the moon. Though there was no wind, the plain white robes he had worn for millions of years billowed around him, and he was suddenly aware of how strange he must look to the human.

Moon-god, He almost laughed at the thought. I guess he was right.

When he reached the human, he carefully pulled Holly from his arms and into his hands. He tried to smile as he held it out in front of them, but his head was aching, so it was hard to tell if he had done it at all. “You want to help me give it a boost?”

The movement was reluctant, barely there at all, but sure enough, Yoongi nodded. With a kind hand, Seokjin pulled up the human’s chin, making sure he watched as he put Holly in both of their hands. The star was purring louder now; as if it just knew.

“You want to say goodbye?”

Yoongi didn’t say anything. He simply raised the star to his forehead and closed his eyes. He wished he knew what the human was thinking; despite all the beautiful talk he loved to spew, his mind seemed to always be tightly wrapped. He probably would never know what he ever really thought, but maybe that was a blessing in disguise.

After a moment, he raised his head again and opened his eyes. “I’m ready.” He whispered, his eyes so stuck on the star that his calm brown eyes glowed yellow in their reflection.

Seokjin kept his left hand on Holly, his right hand moving down to Yoongi’s waist to steady him. He was shaking, so he squeezed tightly. With a deep breath, he brought their hands down, and without thought thrust them toward the sky.

Despite all that the stars made him go through, this was one of his favorite parts. Holly was no longer with them. It had broken through the atmosphere and was slicing through the darkness of the sky like a golden knife. It was glowing brighter than it ever had before. If Seokjin focused, he even thought he could still hear it buzzing with excitement as it turned into just a streak in the barren sky, before disappearing.

Just Yoongi and him again. Just two.

Seokjin turned back to the human, expecting to see more anger, maybe even tears. He knew he was to blame, if he hadn’t brought Holly into the world, then they wouldn’t be going through this. He thought Yoongi would start yelling at him again, and he’d have to clean up another mess.

Instead, what he was greeted with was pure exhaustion. He couldn’t keep his eyes open. “Seokjin…“ Was the last thing he mumbled before Yoongi pitched forward, his weight completely baring down on Seokjin as his body went slack. Both of them fell to the floor, the spirit catching him in his arms before he could hurt himself. But, when he turned him over to check if he was okay, all he was meant with was unconsciousness. It looked as if there was nothing left inside him at all.

Bile rose in his throat. No. Not now. Please, not now, not him. “Yoongi!”

~

It had been hours.

Seokjin was still holding him. He looked so fragile compared to the human he first met; defensive, strong, stubborn. Hopeful. Now, exhaustion covered his features, sucking the life out of them. His hands trembled, even in slumber, and his skin was almost as pale as the moon itself. Each breath he took was shaky and disconnected. When Seokjin laid a hand across his forehead, he felt no difference in temperature at all. How could he have missed such a change? How did he not see it sooner?

The universe’s claws had finally begun to sink in.

The spirit looked up from where he kneeled. The protective dome of oxygen around the planet was only a couple of feet now. He watched in horror as with every breath Yoongi took, it shrunk down, centimeters at a time.

It was time.

He knew it. Seokjin had known about it for a very long time, but now that it was here, staring at him in the face, he still couldn’t look back. He already felt the suffocating grip of loneliness begin to close around his neck. How could he go back to being alone after this? How could he live without Yoongi’s laughter, his jokes? His stories? His smart comebacks and groans of faux frustration? How could he continue to do what he was meant to do if he would never again be able to feel the warmth of humanity, of life, of Yoongi, on his skin?

He put his hands to his face. He couldn’t afford to be selfish. Yoongi’s life was the most important thing; as long as he continued living, Seokjin could find a way to be happy. Somehow.

Somehow.

The spirit pulled himself to his feet. His vision swayed, and his legs threatened to collapse underneath him, but he forced himself to stand. Yoongi was pulling so much energy now, and he could feel it in every particle. His headache was pounding now, and every movement sent a shockwave pain across his entire being. He couldn’t stop though, he couldn’t. So, ignoring the sweat that beaded across his brows, he raised his hands to the skies. He squinted, desperately trying to focus, his vision blurring the black of the universe with the yellows of the stars until they all swirled together.

And yet, Seokjin still stood. He stood and began to speak with all the power left inside of him. “I know they’re coming.” He said, straining his vocal cords with each word. “Yoongi said they have to be. Show me.” The stars began to shine. They began to pulse and glow, growing brighter and brighter until it almost blinded him. He squinted harder, focusing his eyes and sweeping the sky for any sign at all. “Come on.” He whispered. “Come on, my darlings. Show me where they are.”

His mind was screaming now, begging, pleading for him to stop. He could barely see, and his body yearned for him to lay down but he needed to do this. So he kept pushing. Harder and harder until -

Suddenly, without warning, the stars dulled. Most of them returned to their original glow.

“No, no, no, please. It can't be, darlings please – “

And then, he saw them. Glowing as bright as the sun itself. Near the other side of the Earth, moving slowly, carefully.

A metal beast.

He didn’t think. All he saw was the tightening of the atmosphere around them, and the way Yoongi coughed violently below. His mind couldn’t focus on anything else. So, he closed his eyes, cupped his hands together, and pulled.

Seokjin’s head felt as if it was getting crushed from all sides. Harsh pressure was applied everywhere as he pulled the object from outside of the atmosphere. He pulled with all of his might, a high-pitched ringing sound in his ears. His mouth sprang open and he began to scream, pain blinding his vision as he continued to pull. He couldn’t stop. He couldn’t stop, but his human form was breaking apart, he couldn’t control it. He couldn’t control anything but all he knew was Yoongi, Yoongi, Yoongi –

Then, in a moment, there was nothing.

The ringing stopped. The pressure was gone.

He didn’t know when he was able to see clearly again. It felt as if the pieces of the puzzle that were himself were scattered, and he had to piece them together again. When the spirit came to, he realized that he had morphed himself back into the undefinable expanse of the universe. The oxygen dome had disappeared, and the stars twinkled like they always had. Everything was as it was supposed to be, except for one thing.

Yoongi was gone. Only the scraps of a dead metal beast remained.

And the universe was cold once again.