Chapter Text
He takes a deep breath.
Fingers clenched tightly around the bouquet of flowers in his hands, Beomgyu recites the lines in his head over and over again, until he’s sure that he can deliver them properly without messing them up.
He doesn’t want to mess up— this was the love of his life.
As he straightens his shirt, he sees the light inside the second floor window flicker momentarily, and he flushes, straightening up.
So she was here.
Heart racing, he quickly takes out the pebble he had picked up earlier, and sends it sailing up to the second floor, pelting against the window with just enough force to make a sound. He quickly dusts off his hands on his work trousers.
All of a sudden, Beomgyu hears the excitedly hushed giggles of a number of girls inside the building, and a faint exclamation of “he’s here!”, before the love of his life— the most beautiful girl in the world— appears at the window, her face glowing with youth.
Momentarily, the rest of the world falls away.
It lasts for all of three seconds, before her expression lessens into one of vague disappointment.
“Oh,” she says, before leaning further outside of the window, as if looking for something more.
As quickly as his heart had peaked, it plummets back down into his stomach.
Beomgyu blinks quickly, unsure how to respond— with all semblance of his practiced lines having flown out the window.
“You’re…you’re the local shop boy, right?” the girl finally asks with a reserved smile. With a cough, cheeks blooming with pink, Beomgyu nods quickly.
“Yes! Yes…uh I mean, I work at the shop, but I’m not…I’m not a shop boy,” he fumbles with his words, before rubbing the back of his neck.
God, what was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he find the words?
“What did you need? Did I leave something behind at the shop?” she asks, this time with a faint hint of amusement in her tone. The girls behind her push slightly to get a better look at him.
“No, I just…I just thought—”
All of a sudden, he finds himself being shoved harshly to the ground. With a wince, he holds his arm, before looking up to see a smirking boy in front of him, holding a similar bouquet of roses— except they were clearly more beautiful and healthy looking, as compared to the ones he had spent a week scraping together the funds for to buy at the local shop. He blinks.
“What’re you doing here? Don’t tell me you’re here to court Hyeri, are you?” the boy sneers, as he stares down at the other’s wilting flowers.
Heart dropping, Beomgyu looks up at the window to see his beloved’s face light up at the sight of the boy, and the other girls giggling more excitedly.
“Seungwoo! You’re here!” Hyeri calls, hurriedly tucking her hair behind her ears.
Fingers clenching, Beomgyu gets back up. He needed to stand his ground.
“I am, in fact. So what?” he asks the boy defiantly.
With a scoff, the other merely walks forward and shoves at his chest. Beomgyu flinches, and only just manages to prevent himself from falling back again.
“Seungwoo stop it! Leave the poor boy alone,” Hyeri calls from the window, and Beomgyu’s face colours in shame. Was he the one who had to be saved in this scenario?
“Tch. Fine. But you? As if you’d be anywhere near good enough for her,” the boy sneers, before turning to address the girl at the window.
“My beloved Hyeri, I leave my bouquet of roses at your doorstep. I hope that you’ll accept this token as another indication of my wide and far-reaching love. I’ll see you again tomorrow night,” he blows her a kiss, to which she blows one back.
As if to rub salt in the wound, the boy smirks at Beomgyu again, before making his leave.
With a sigh, Hyeri leans outside of her window again, eyes following the boy down the road, before looking back at Beomgyu as if having forgotten he existed.
“Sorry, can I help you, still?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, I uh…I was just wondering if you would like to come out with me tonight. I’d like to tell you something,” he perks up, cheeks flushing.
With a frown, she looks back at her room.
“It’s late. Can this wait until morning?” she asks, folding her arms.
“I’ve brought some wine for us to drink?” he offers helplessly.
Suddenly, as if perking up, she eyes the wine, before nodding once.
“Fine. I’ll come down in a second,” she says. In a matter of seconds, she appears at the front door, before walking forward and wrapping her arms around herself.
“It’s cold,” she pouts, looking around. Hurriedly, Beomgyu takes off his jacket, and wraps it around her, to which she gives him an amused smile.
“Thanks.”
**
“So you’re telling me you really like this guy?” Beomgyu asks, frowning as the beautiful girl in front of him laughs, cheeks rosy from the wine.
“Yes! He’s been bringing me flowers every day since we met, which has been far longer than you have, as a matter of fact,” she waves, before pouring herself another glass of wine.
“But I would do much more than this to prove my love to you, Hyeri. This is just the beginning,” Beomgyu takes her hand in his.
“Is that so?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Hyeri, I would cross oceans to prove my love to you. I would—” he starts, before a flash of light catches his eye.
Startled, he turns around, to see a shooting star streak across the sky, bright and blinding.
He blinks.
“Wow,” Hyeri whispers.
Wow indeed. Was this a sign of luck?
Gulping, he turns back towards her, watching the starlight in her eyes.
“That,” she says excitedly.
What?
“I want that. If you really want to prove your love to me, I want you to bring back that fallen star to me before my birthday,” she beams, before setting down her wine.
Beomgyu blinks at the proposition, before a smile slowly spread across his face.
“And- and if I bring it back?” he asks.
“I’ll choose you over Seungwoo,” she replies simply, before putting a warm palm against his cheek. He leans into it momentarily, before she takes it away.
“I’ll do it! I’ll- I’ll get the star back before your birthday,” he promises, heart pounding.
Was this real? Was Hyeri really giving him a chance?
“Good,” Hyeri smiles, before picking her wine back up.
“You have two weeks.”
**
Two weeks was simply too easy for him.
Or so he had thought, until he wakes up in a crater, head pounding.
In his basement, buried deep down, was a candle that Beomgyu had saved over the years, that his mother had only warned him to use in times of great need.
With a shy smile, he had thought to himself that this was most definitely one of those times.
He needed to win over the love of his life.
There could possibly be no greater need than that.
The candle had been a rare one— a magical item that allowed him to travel to wherever he needed to go, as long as he thought of the time and place.
In his head, he had figured that all he needed to think about was the fallen star, and it would take him right to it. He would then use the rest of the candle to travel back to his hometown.
That was, until he had blacked out entirely upon arrival at his supposed destination, and woken up in a crater with ash in his mouth, no fallen star in sight.
No— all that was in front of him was a boy with pale, blonde hair, and a silvery dress shirt, one hand propped against the earth, and the other holding his head in pain.
As the boy raises his head, eyebrows furrowing in anger with each increasing second, Beomgyu can’t help but notice how celestial he looks.
He blinks.
“Who—”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the boy demands, mouth carved with fury.
Huh?
“You- you came flying out of nowhere and crashed straight into me!” the other points a finger at him.
Beomgyu blinks again, taking a second to register his words.
“Oh…oh, I’m sorry!” he tries to sit up straight, before immediately reaching to touch his own temple, where the throbbing ache begins to intensify by the second.
Still, he tries to get up, before bending over to offer the other a hand.
“Do…do you need any help?” he asks awkwardly.
“You can help me by leaving me alone,” the blonde slaps his hand away, before turning to face the opposite direction.
Beomgyu swallows.
“I…look, I didn’t mean to crash into you. I was just looking for a fallen star, and…wait, you don’t happen to have seen one, have you?” he asks suddenly.
They were in a crater, weren’t they?
The chances couldn’t be too far off…
With a glare, the boy stands up, before dusting the ash off himself.
“A fallen star? You’re looking right at it,” he says snappily, crossing his arms.
Blinking, Beomgyu looks around.
Looking right at it…? He couldn’t see anything.
With a frown, he continues to look for a few seconds longer, before it hits him.
No— it couldn’t be.
“You?” he asks, eyes wide.
The blonde rolls his eyes.
Living in a world where magic existed, Beomgyu had known that there was a possibility for things to not entirely be as they seemed.
But the idea that a star was actually some glowing, ethereal person…
“Why’re you looking for me anyway?” the boy suddenly asks, snapping Beomgyu out of his thoughts.
Cheeks turning pink, he suddenly remembers his assignment.
“Oh, I…I’m supposed to bring you back to my beloved as a token of my love,” he gets out.
The boy stares back at him blankly.
“You’re going to give me as a present to your girlfriend? Do you know how weird that’s going to look?” he asks.
Biting his lip, Beomgyu rubs the back of his neck.
“Yeah, well I didn’t think you were gonna be, you know…” he trails off, gesturing at the other.
The boy raises an eyebrow in response.
“A-anyway, I promised her I would. She said she would choose me over the other guy vying for her attention if I did this for her, so it’s a must,” Beomgyu hurries on, before he can properly dwell on the situation.
“And what makes you think I would willingly go with you?” the boy asks dryly.
At the question, Beomgyu blinks. Oh.
Panicked, he suddenly reaches forward for the blonde’s hand.
The other flinches, quickly retracting it.
“Listen, it’s not such a big deal. I’ll just show you off to her, and once that’s all over, I’ll help you go back home,” Beomgyu tries to reason.
“Really? And how’re you going to help me get back home?” the other asks, disdainfully. It’s so blatant and honest that it almost makes Beomgyu laugh.
“I have a candle. I was going to use it to get us home, but since I need to make a bribe here, I’ll save it for you,” he smiles, taking out what’s left of his burnt candle.
Blinking, the blonde suddenly perks up, eyes wide like dinner plates.
“You’ve got a Babylon candle?” he asks, all traces of anger seeping out of his expression. For a second, he’s almost blindingly bright, eyes hopeful. It makes Beomgyu’s heart inexplicably stutter.
“Y-yeah. I mean, if you’re willing to come with me, I’ll give it to you. Do we have a deal?” he asks.
Pausing slightly, as if considering, the blonde finally nods.
“It’s a deal.”