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I. Make A Friend (Besides Changbin)
Hwang Hyunjin has met many types of people in his life but none of them are quite like Yang Jeongin.
In the heavens there were plenty of people for Hyunjin to make acquaintance with, but Hyunjin never really felt like he fit. He always felt as though he was created in the wrong hemisphere.
Hyunjin came to be in the mid-north, sitting between the most insufferable crop of others. There was Andromeda, a beautiful girl much too attached to being bound at the hands, always wailing for a handsome man to come save her. Hyunjin had once asked her if she’d ever thought about falling to earth, and she told him, “Only if someone comes to take me!” He always found that quite pathetic.
Then, of course, her mother, Cassiopeia, arrogant and vain beyond the normal limits that stars should be. All of them are vain to a certain extent, it comes with being admired, shining bright, but the woman was nearly unbearable. She hated Hyunjin because he shined brighter than her, especially in her old age, because he was more beautiful. And the wretched Perseus, monster slayer, the exact type of man Hyunjin stays far away from, the type that loves giving into someone like Andromeda’s whims. Thinking with his sword and puffing out his chest, Hyunjin didn’t care for him either.
In the heavens Hyunjin burned bright and beautiful, others either loved or hated him, they envied him, they competed with him, they wanted him, they wanted to be with him, and he was friends with none of them. Save for the creatures, of course. He would often find himself braiding Pegasus’ mane, perhaps his only friend in the sky.
Felix keeps trying to tell Hyunjin that he wanted to fall from the sky, but Hyunjin disagrees. He had been getting sick of being a star; there was so much pressure to be the brightest, or the prettiest, or the most north. It’s really tiring! But he never tried to fall from the sky, he just did. Felix seems to think that Hyunjin lined himself up, in a perfect, intentional way, so that fate could flick him to the earth. Either way, Hyunjin is here now, in a funny little inn on the arm of his very first friend.
He supposes he could say Changbin is his first friend, because he stayed with Changbin for many months and became plenty close with him. But Changbin doesn’t count because he never chose to be friends with Hyunjin, he just happened to be there when Hyunjin fell.
Hyunjin remembers it clearly, he was sitting there, resting his eyes, trying to tune out Andromeda’s wailing, and then he just started hurtling towards the earth. The landing was softer than it could have been, given that he landed right in the middle of Changbin’s beet field, the soil freshly tilled, so he can’t complain about that.
Changbin was nice enough to take him in, house him until someone came to fetch him. So, Changbin is his friend, but it’s not as if Changbin had a choice, Hyunjin kind of just existed around him until they were close.
Jeongin chose to be his friend. He made Hyunjin feel at home right away, calling him beautiful and looking at him like he’s something bright, not only literally but figuratively. And maybe Hyunjin is more like Cassiopeia than he’d like to admit, because he adores that Jeongin adores him, it makes him feel special, but he also just really likes Jeongin.
Jeongin is soft and kind, he’s not large and scary and he doesn’t wield a sword or slay monsters like Perseus, he has one eye that’s golden and the spirit of the little yellow bird he can shift into. He has a wonderful singing voice and when Hyunjin looks at him too long Jeongin’s cheeks turn the prettiest pink color in the universe, a color he never saw in the heavens. He doesn’t get sick of Jeongin like he does Changbin, because even living with Changbin he’d get fed up, annoyed with being told what to do. Jeongin is such a silly boy, and he spends time with Hyunjin because he likes him not because he’s waiting for someone to come fetch him, and he’s Hyunjin’s very first friend on earth.
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II. Learn to Play Chess
It wasn’t very easy for Hyunjin to adjust to life on the ground. The entire time he was at Changbin’s he had no control over his cycle. Each time the sun set he’d fall into a very deep sleep, and he never saw it himself, because he was asleep, but Changbin says he’d glow blindingly bright, shining from the ground instead of the sky, like his body was confused about where he was.
Thank goodness Jeongin brought him to see Felix. Felix shines too, but from the freckles on his face, because he’s of the stars but in the way that he can read fate. Still, Felix helped him work on it, to connect with the sky on an energetic level and work around some of his urges. He still gets sleepy at night, but he’s able to stay awake for longer, and his shine isn’t harmful to the eye.
Something they haven’t been able to change is the way Hyunjin glows when he’s feeling big feelings, but Felix says that’s normal. It happens to Felix too! His freckles shine bright when he smiles or laughs, or when he’s overflowing with happiness. That makes Hyunjin feel less alone. For Hyunjin, it’s more, and it’s the whole of him instead of just some dots on his face, he starts glowing from every pore in his being if he feels happy or excited or overwhelmed, anything big, really, and the more he feels the more he shines.
Some people, like that grumpy witch Seungmin, and even Changbin sometimes, cover their eyes when he glows, say it hurts, but Jeongin never does.
Hyunjin has been thinking a lot about what comes next. Minho offered to take him home, but the more he thinks about it the more he despises the idea. He much prefers everyone he’s met on earth to the people in the heavens. They’ve only been at the inn for a week and Hyunjin has been enjoying his time very much.
“I would like to learn to become human,” he announces to Jeongin, the man sitting across from him at something he’s been told is a chess board. Jeongin is trying to teach him the rules, but Hyunjin hasn’t been paying very close attention, too lost in his own head. Jeongin never seems to mind, he’s endlessly patient, the silly thing, that’s why he’s perfect for this specific request. Not that Hyunjin is likely to ask anyone else anyways, he only has two friends (three if he counts Felix).
Jeongin looks up from the game pieces, his eyebrows raised and his mouth dropped open in a circle. “Huh?”
Hyunjin scrunches his nose. So cute, his silly boy is. “I’ve been thinking about all the human things I want to do, now that I’m down here for good. I want to try everything that I couldn’t do before!”
“Oh, alright!” Jeongin smiles, his mouth is wide and when he does that his entire face follows, tipping upwards at the ends. “I could probably help you with that. What kind of things were you thinking?”
“I haven’t thought that far,” Hyunjin slouches, lips pursing up.
“Well that’s okay,” Jeongin assures, his hand inching across the table, like maybe he wants to touch Hyunjin. Hyunjin wouldn’t mind if he did, but he never does. “We can figure it out together.”
Hyunjin nods, satisfied, his smile returning along with a dim glow. “Humans play chess. Lets start with this, then.”
Jeongin smiles even bigger. “That sounds perfect, let me reset the board.” And Hyunjin’s silly boy swipes his arm over the game Hyunjin hasn’t been paying any mind to at all and resets the game, eager to teach him again.
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“And this is called checkmate, because your king can’t get out—”
“I’ve got it!” Hyunjin interjects. He’s realized chess is quite boring. He’s spent most of the time staring at Jeongin’s fingers, they’re thicker than his own, more masculine. “I’d like to learn to use curtains!”
Jeongin looks up, cocking his head to one side. “Curtains?”
“Yes,” Hyunjin nods. “Seungmin made fun of me for not knowing how.”
“Well we can’t have that, can we?” Jeongin grins and his eyes glow like stars.
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III. Learn to Use Curtains
“Okay, Hyunjin. This is a curtain. It hangs here and covers the windows to keep the light out.”
“But why would you want to keep the light out? The sunshine is wonderful,” Hyunjin frowns, swishing his hand through the bunched fabric hanging over the window. He discovered the beauty of the sun at Changbin’s house. He’d often spend his afternoons bathing in it, soaking in the warmth, something he never had a chance to do before.
“Sometimes it gets really really warm in the summer, and the sun makes the inside warm up too much,” Jeongin explains. “Or, at night, when the light is coming from the inside you can close the curtains so people on the outside can’t see in.”
Hyunjin is unconvinced, but he supposes Jeongin has no reason to lie.
“And!” Jeongin perks up, like he’s just thought of another brilliant idea. “It’s nice as a decoration! To get the windows dressed up, make them look pretty.”
This Hyunjin understands. “Okay, that’s nice,” he smiles, seeing his shine out of the corner of his eye. “So how do I use them?”
Jeongin nods, his face growing very serious. “You see this bar up here, that’s the curtain rod, so you can just hold the curtains right in the middle and pull them apart, they’ll bunch up on either side and stay out of the way.”
“Ohhhh!” Hyunjin leans in, grabs the curtains right where Jeongin just did, pulling them apart and closed again. “Look at that, Jeonginnie! I did it!”
“Great job, Hyunjin!” Jeongin smiles and claps and looks at Hyunjin like he’s everything.
“I feel more human already, thank you.”
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IV. Ride a Horse
“You know what’s so funny? I was best friends with Pegasus back home, but I never tried to ride him!” Hyunjin strokes his hand down Chan’s horse’s mane. She’s very pretty, her hair is golden, almost like Hyunjin’s own.
“Best friends?” Jeongin laughs. “Did you two talk?”
“Well, no,” Hyunjin blinks. What a silly question from his silly boy. “But I braided his mane often enough, I’d like to think we were acquainted.”
Jeongin looks at him a bit strangely, cocking his head to one side. “Oh-kay.”
“This horse is very pretty,” Hyunjin sighs, looking back to the beast. “Do I look like her, Innie?” He positions his cheek next to the horse’s, doing his best to mimic her wide eyes.
“No, Hyunjin,” Jeongin laughs. “You don’t look like her. She's a horse, you’re a man.”
What a stupid reason. Hyunjin scowls. “Why not? Aren’t I pretty as her?”
Jeongin’s cheeks turn that lovely pink color Hyunjin loves so much, he looks away, just like he always does when Hyunjin makes him turn pink. “You’re pretty too, Hyunjin. I think you’re much prettier than Chan’s horse.”
“You do?” Hyunjin begins to glow, much brighter than is probably acceptable. “Really?”
“Yes, really,” Jeongin mutters, kicking his toe into the dirt, still looking down.
Hyunjin giggles, leans in and pokes Jeongin right on his pink cheek. He’s warm, Jeongin is always so warm, like the sun.
“Okay, let’s get on this horse, then,” Jeongin says, turning away from Hyunjin’s prodding fingers.
All Hyunjin can do is laugh.
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“This is wonderful!” Hyunjin gasps, perched high on the horse’s back. He feels on top of the world.
“Wow!” Jeongin exclaims, smiling up at him from down below.
“What?”
“You look even prettier when you’re up there!”
Hyunjin peals with laughter, glowing the brightest he has all day.
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V. Learn to Wait His Turn
Human conversation rules are very confusing. Hyunjin is used to speaking when he thinks, talking loud and shining bright to be paid attention to, but on earth these things are seen as rude.
Felix was the one to tell him, he said Hyunjin should work on waiting his turn, but he said it in a kind way. Felix is very kind. Felix also told Hyunjin that Jeongin is enabling him, he said that Jeongin likes him too much to tell him that speaking over others is rude.
Hyunjin wants to prove to both of them that he can do it. When Seungmin comes over and asks Chan about finding some beets, he waits his turn to speak, even though he’s practically bursting out of his skin with light trying to hold in his words. Still, he waits until Seungmin asks what he wants, and then he tells them.
When he prances back to where Jeongin is sitting, the man is smiling, like he is often, and Hyunjin says, “Innie, I waited my turn!”
“I heard!” Jeongin says. “Great job, that’s wonderful!”
Hyunjin flops to the couch next to Jeongin with a sigh. “Felix says you like me too much to tell me when I’m being rude.”
Jeongin stiffens for a moment, Hyunjin can see it from the corner of his eye. “Sure, I like you a lot, but I never found anything terribly rude. You’re very easy to talk to, actually. Sometimes I have trouble making friends.”
That sounds impossible, really. Hyunjin doesn’t know why anyone would ever dislike Jeongin. “You’re friends with Minho and Jisung, and Felix and Chan!”
“Sure, but I kind of just stuck around until they liked me, they didn’t like me for me,” Jeongin shrugs. “And when I met Minho and Jisung I pretended to be a bird for months.”
Hyunjin hums. “I like you for you, Jeonginnie,” he says, scooting closer on the couch until he can lay his head down on Jeongin’s shoulder. “You’re my favorite human.”
When Jeongin laughs beneath him Hyunjin can hear it rumble in his chest, and when it dies out Hyunjin can hear his heartbeat, loud and strong.
“I can hear your heart,” Hyunjin whispers. “It’s going so fast.”
“Sorry,” Jeongin says, very small.
“Don’t be sorry for being alive.”
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VI. Go Fishing
Hyunjin regrets asking to go fishing when he steps in a pile of mud on the way to the lake. “Yuck!” he frowns down at his foot, covered in wet slop.
“Don’t worry, Hyunne,” Jeongin chirps from ahead, a rod hooked over his shoulder. “You can stick your foot in the lake to clean it off.”
Jeongin has started calling him by nicknames. Hyunjin has never had a nickname before, he likes it very much. “Okay,” he sighs, dragging his feet as he continues on the path.
“We’re almost there now, don’t worry,” Jeongin promises. “How did you know about fishing, anyway?”
“I could see everything from up there,” Hyunjin looks up towards the heavens. “We don’t have any water, but I could always see the most curious things being pulled out of it!”
Jeongin nods, understanding. “That makes sense.”
Hyunjin smiles. He likes when Jeongin understands him.
The lake is bigger than Hyunjin expected, it looks so tiny from up in the sky, but Jeongin sets down all of their things on the bank and puts his hands on his hips. “Ready?”
“Ready,” Hyunjin confirms.
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“Why can’t—”
“Shhhhhhh,” Jeongin hushes him.
“Why can’t we—” Hyunjin tries again, quieter.
“Hyunne, we have to be silent, or else we’ll scare the fish,” Jeongin whispers, eyes trained on the water.
Hyunjin snaps his mouth shut, following directions. He brings his knees to his chest, wraps his arms around his legs and puts his chin there.
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Eventually the line jerks and Jeongin springs to action.
“There we go! Okay, go ahead, Hyunjin, pull it in!” he hands off the rod.
Hyunjin does as he’s told with wide eyes, but once he reaches the end of the line he screams, dropping the thing to the ground. “What is that!” he points down at the spiky monster at the end of the line, flopping around on the ground where he dropped it.
“That’s the fish!” Jeongin bends down and scoops the thing up, despite it’s wiggling.
“Why is it flopping?!” Hyunjin steps back, wanting to put distance between himself and the thing.
“It’s out of water, it can’t breathe,” Jeongin says.
“Oh no,” Hyunjin sucks in a horribly tight breath, then a sniffle, and then his eyes are leaking and bubbling wet before he knows what’s going on. “It’s dying.”
Jeongin’s face breaks in two, horrified. “No no no! Don’t cry!” he says, hands working to pull the fish from where the hook has pierced it’s lip. “We’ll let it go, it won’t die!”
Hyunjin lets out a wretched sob, the thought of the monster dying making him feel something very dark and deep.
“See! Look!” Jeongin says, holding the fish up and then tossing it back towards the lake. It hits the water with a plunk, out of Hyunjin’s sight. “He’s free! Not dying, don’t worry!”
“Really?” Hyunjin blinks, his eyes quit leaking almost right away, sniffling again.
“Yes, I promise. He can breathe in the water,” Jeongin says, still looking so sad.
“Okay,” Hyunjin wipes at his eyes, smiling brightly, hoping his smile will help Jeongin feel happy again. “I don’t think I like fishing much.”
Jeongin laughs, shoulders relaxing, breaking into a small smile of his own. “That’s okay. At least we tried.”
“Could we do swimming next?”
“We are already here,” Jeongin says, looking out over the water.
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VII. Go Swimming
Hyunjin knew early on that he appreciated the male form. For all Perseus got on his nerves, Hyunjin much preferred gazing at him than Andromeda, even though everyone always told him how beautiful the girl is. He understands, to an extent, but women don’t cause his belly to stir in the way men do.
He’s never thought about it more than that, it never really came up, not that important. He had many other things to worry about, especially since falling to earth.
When Hyunjin strips himself of his clothes, Jeongin turns pink again, but his eyes stick, like he can’t look away. Hyunjin feels adored, appreciated. Although Jeongin always looks at him like he’s beautiful, it feels different when he’s undressed, it feels like Jeongin is appreciating the whole of him instead of just the half. Hyunjin giggles when he sees Jeongin’s throat bob, gazing at his form just as Hyunjin would gaze at Perseus. He understands the look on his face as one of attraction, he feels gleeful that Jeongin looks at him in such a way.
“Your turn,” Hyunjin says, gesturing to Jeongin’s clothing.
Jeongin swallows again, shaking his head like he’s in a daze, “Right, sure. Swimming.”
Silly boy.
Jeongin’s hands shake when he goes to unbutton his trousers, he slips off the button twice.
“Do you want help?” Hyunjin asks, stepping forward.
“No!” Jeongin says quickly, stepping backward and finally grabbing hold of his button. “I’ve got it, thank you, Jin.”
Hyunjin nods happily, hums while Jeongin finishes undressing. And oh, my.
“Wow, you’re much more beautiful than Perseus,” Hyunjin says in awe, stepping out with his hands outstretched reaching for Jeongin’s skin. He wants to feel his stomach, the taut muscle there, his body is unlike any Hyunjin has ever seen, it’s much more perfect.
“What are you doing!?” Jeongin yelps, face and neck and chest verging on red instead of the usual pink.
Hyunjin pauses, confused, his brows knitting up. “I want to touch your tummy.”
“Oh,” Jeongin squeaks. Hyunjin takes that as a confirmation, so he closes the extra space and flattens his hand there, smoothing it over the ridges of muscle, clenching beneath skin. “Jin, you should really ask people if you can touch them, that’s a human rule.”
He retracts his hands immediately, “I’m sorry! I didn’t know. May I touch you, Jeongin?”
Jeongin is smiling but his eyes look a little pained, Hyunjin has no idea why. “I guess that’s okay, but I still don’t understand why— oh spirits, why are your hands so cold?”
Hyunjin shrugs, focusing on the way his fingers look smoothing over Jeongin’s skin. His abdomen is so soft but so tight, his waist so much smaller than his shoulders. “You could be a statue, Jeonginnie, that’s how wonderful your form is.”
“Uh,” Jeongin laughs, coughs a bit. “Thank you?”
“I think I like boys. Is that something that’s allowed here?” Hyunjin peeks up, looks in Jeongin’s eye, but Jeongin looks away just as quickly.
“Of course. I like boys too.”
“I know you do. You like me.”
“Well, right, but I meant—”
Hyunjin looks up at him again, confused once more.
“Nevermind,” Jeongin trails off. “Lets try swimming, yeah?”
“Alright,” Hyunjin agrees.
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“This is nice,” Hyunjin laughs, spread out on the water, floating on his back. Jeongin is close, just in case, but he feels safe knowing he’s being watched out for.
“It is,” Jeongin agrees, his cheeks and chest and neck back to their normal tan. This color is pretty too, Hyunjin decides.
“Being in the sky kind of feels like this,” Hyunjin muses.
“Does it?”
“Yes. Weightless, floaty,” Hyunjin looks up at Jeongin, his hair is all wet, dripping over his face, his cheeks. “It’s always cold, though. It’s very very cold.”
“Maybe that’s why your hands are always so cold,” Jeongin teases.
“Maybe that’s why I like how warm you are.”
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VIII. Drink at the Pub
Hyunjin knows of wine and spirits, plenty of those in the heavens told tales of intoxication, human revelry. Jeongin takes him to a place called ‘the pub’ to complete this wish on his list. He orders Hyunjin some sort of funny concoction that bubbles and runs red with the flavor of cherries, and it makes Hyunjin feel wonderful.
“Oh, I think I like this a lot,” Hyunjin giggles, head pleasantly silly, limbs loose. “We should do this more often.”
Jeongin laughs, reaching out to grab Hyunjin’s back so he doesn’t tip off of his barstool. “That’s not healthy, Jinnie, but every once in a while this is okay.”
“Mmmm, yes,” Hyunjin smiles, scooching his stool a bit to the right so he can lean into Jeongin’s side. “I like that drink.” He points towards his red alcohol, giggling happily. The ice has melted enough that it’s begun to run pink.
“I thought you might. You have a sweet tooth,” Jeongin takes a sip from his own mug, ale, which Hyunjin finds not very pleasant at all. It tastes like dirt and grass, like the mouthful he got when he fell out of the sky.
Hyunjin turns, he wants to stare Jeongin in the face. He squints, paying close attention. Jeongin has very soft cheeks, and the bones in his face are sharp and defined. He’s very beautiful, Hyunjin thinks, and oh, wow!
“Your eyes look like they’re made of stars,” he breathes, reaching out a finger to try to poke them.
“Hey, quit that,” Jeongin complains, grabbing his hand before it can touch. “You’ll blind me!” And then Jeongin’s cheeks turn petal pink, just how Hyunjin likes. What a wonderful night at ‘the pub.’
“And I love when your cheeks get pink. That’s my favorite color. My favorite human thing.”
Jeongin looks away, turning an even darker shade. “You’re drunk, Hyunjin.”
“I think such things when I’m not drunk, you silly boy!” Hyunjin argues, sticking his tongue out for good measure.
“Why do you call me that?” Jeongin huffs, superbly pink and warm. Hyunjin knows because he’s leaning against Jeongin’s side again, perfectly content.
“Because you’re my silly boy,” he mumbles, cheek smushed to Jeongin’s shoulder. “So silly, Jeonginnie. I like you so much.”
Jeongin doesn’t say anything to that, he just finishes his drink, slides it across the bar.
“Will you teach me how to dance?” Hyunjin requests, eyes doing their best to plead. The dance floor in the pub is lively, he would like to have fun too.
“We danced at the Spring Equinox, remember?” Jeongin argues, only halfheartedly.
Hyunjin puffs out a great sigh. “Yes, but I want to do it at the pub.”
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IX. Dance at the Pub
Hyunjin loves dancing, it’s one of his very favorite human things. Music and laughter and being spun round and round.
For as much as Jeongin complains, Hyunjin is pretty sure he likes dancing too. He holds Hyunjin at the waist, and Hyunjin links his arms around Jeongin’s neck, and they spin and sway to the music and Jeongin laughs so loud his eyes crinkle up. Hyunjin is glowing, he knows it, he can see it reflected in Jeongin’s golden eye, but Jeongin never complains or says anything about it, he just dips him down and twirls him around again.
They spin and spin until Hyunjin is glowing something fierce, breathless and laughing, and that’s when he sees it.
A couple near the edge of the floor, holding each other much like he and Jeongin are, except much closer. They’re smiling, and they lean in and meet in the middle. Hyunjin has never seen anything like it.
“What is that?” he asks, eyes lingering on the pair.
“Oh um— don’t stare, Jinnie,” Jeongin says, turning him away. “They’re kissing.”
Hyunjin blinks, looks up at Jeongin’s starry eyes, just as pretty as kissing. “Kissing?”
“Yeah. Have you never heard of it before?” Jeongin won’t look him in the eye again. Silly boy. Maybe he’s drunk too.
“I’ve heard of it. I’ve never seen it.” Andromeda would always go on and on about kissing, about how her perfect savior would kiss her. It annoyed Hyunjin then, but now he understands. “I’d like to try. It looks nice. Very human.”
Jeongin swallows, Hyunjin can see it in his throat. “We can put it on the list, alright?”
“Okay,” Hyunjin smiles, big and bright, holds Jeongin tighter.
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X. Visit the Market
“I thought we were going to do kissing next,” Hyunjin frowns, trailing behind Jeongin on the path into town. “Why aren’t we finding someone for me to kiss?”
Jeongin misses a step, almost falls flat on his face when he stumbles. “Uh, right, about that—” he laughs nervously. “When you kiss someone it should be with someone you like. Someone you like quite a lot.”
Hyunjin picks up his pace, falling in step with Jeongin again and attaching himself to Jeongin’s arm. He likes hanging onto Jeongin, it makes him feel like they’re one. “I like you a lot, why can’t we kiss?”
“No!” Jeongin blurts, loud and fast, making Hyunjin jump a bit. “Sorry— I just mean, it’s not like that kind of like. It’s a romantic kind of like. A love kind of like.”
“Oh!” Hyunjin tilts his head, thinking. A love kind of like. He’s heard plenty of love stories from the others in the heavens. He quite likes them, really, though he doesn’t know why so many of his counterparts in the stars have sad endings to their tales. He doesn’t like that part, he likes happy love stories. “I think I understand.”
“Good! Great!” Jeongin babbles. “So, maybe it’s a down the line list item, something to focus on later, when you’re ready!”
“Okay,” Hyunjin hums, hugging Jeongin’s arm even closer to him, smiling happily.
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They end up at the market. Hyunjin is more than pleased, he’s always wanted to go. Jeongin tells him that this specific one comes through town once a year, that the travelers bring their wares from all over the Realm, magical and otherwise, and that the whole town celebrates.
There’s more life and magic here than Hyunjin has ever seen in one place. He’s seen Felix read the fates and Seungmin grow flowers, he’s even seen Minho light candles with his fingertips, but he’s never seen anything like this.
Flowers and water being spun in the air, people juggling pins and children darting about between legs. Hyunjin can feel the low pulse of magic running through the very air, he wants to take in everything, every second.
“Do you like it?” Jeongin asks, his eyes crescented, cheeks lifted up.
Hyunjin can see himself glowing on Jeongin’s skin, illuminating him, but he likes that Jeongin still asks for his opinion. “Yes! I love it.”
They spend the day going round and seeing everything there is to see. Eating some food that steams and smokes and smells like the ocean, dancing again in the middle of town square, and just watching. Sometimes Hyunjin prefers to just watch, to see what’s going on. He enjoys watching other people’s stories play out, perhaps a consequence of his time in the heavens.
It’s when Jeongin slips away to buy them some more food that Hyunjin wanders over to a stall that he feels is calling his name.
“Hello there, beautiful,” the man behind the table grins, looking at Hyunjin brightly. He has a funny lilt to his words, a curl. “What can I do for you today?”
Hyunjin scrunches his nose in a smile, what a strange man. “What do you sell?” The table looks to be covered with dried flowers, pressed and preserved, they’re very pretty.
“These are charms,” the man waves his hand over the things. “They’re all magicked to have a specific effect. Might I interest you? Say, perhaps, in one of love?” the man plucks a red flower from off the table, holds it out in front of Hyunjin’s face.
Hyunjin turns his head to the side to look at it better. “Love?”
“Yes. Someone as pretty as you ought to be treated how he deserves, no?”
“I suppose that sounds nice,” Hyunjin blinks, righting himself. He reaches out to grab the thing, but right before his fingers can close around it there’s a hand at his waist.
“Jin,” Jeongin says, too serious to be normal. Hyunjin pulls his hand back, looks over at Jeongin, questioning. “I lost you, what’s going on?”
“Ah,” the man behind the table says, dropping the flower back in it’s place. “I was mistaken about his— situation. my apologies.”
Jeongin’s eyes go dark as he looks at the man, his jaw twitches. Hyunjin doesn’t know why Jeongin holds such disdain for someone they’ve just met.
“Hold on, do I know you?” the man behind the cart asks, looking at Jeongin closely.
“Let’s get out of here, Jinnie,” Jeongin says softly, ignoring the merchant’s question, pressing lightly to the dip in Hyunjin’s waist where his hand rests.
“Okay! Goodbye! It was nice to meet you—” Hyunjin says to the man, trailing off because he hasn’t gotten a name.
“Yeonjun,” the man smiles wide, vulpine.
“Yeonjun!”
Jeongin mutters under his breath as he pulls Hyunjin back into the crowd.
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
XI. Grow a Flower
They started growing a flower weeks ago, but it didn’t bloom until now. Chan had helped them out, letting Hyunjin describe his ideal flower and handing over the seeds that matched his description best.
Hyunjin is sitting in the backyard sunbathing when it happens, Jeongin banging out of the door to the inn, eyes wild, out of breath.
“Jinnie! It bloomed!” he shouts, and Hyunjin is immediately out of his chair, sprinting towards the smiling man.
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
The flower is pink, Chan told him it’s called a ‘lily’, and it’s everything Hyunjin hoped it would be and more.
“Oh my goodness,” he gasps, cradling the bloom in his hand. “It’s so beautiful.”
“It is,” Jeongin breathes, and when Hyunjin looks up, Jeongin is already looking at him, adoration deep in his starry eyes.
Hyunjin doesn’t know why, but it feels like something in his chest stutters.
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
XII. Bake Cookies
“I’ll be honest, I’ve never really done this,” Jeongin says, staring down at all of the ingredients on Felix’s kitchen counter.
Hyunjin has requested they bake cookies, because he likes when Felix does it, so he wants to try too.
“I thought you were an expert in humanity, Jeonginnie!” he teases, smacking the man lightly on the shoulder.
“I’ve watched Felix do it enough, I’m sure I can figure it out!”
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
Jeongin can’t figure it out. Their cookies turn into a floury mess of dough, it doesn’t look right at all, but they still have fun doing it.
“I’m sorry,” Jeongin sighs. “That was much harder than I thought.”
Hyunjin giggles, swinging his feet from where he’s seated on the counter. “Don’t worry, Innie, I had fun because it was with you.”
Jeongin peeks up at him through his eyelashes, and suddenly Hyunjin’s stomach feels a bit funny.
“Oh,” Jeongin mutters, stepping closer. He reaches one of his hands up, right next to Hyunjin’s face. “You have some flour on your mouth.” He cradles Hyunjin’s jaw in his large hand, the pad of his thumb running over Hyunjin’s bottom lip, feather light.
The mess in Hyunjin’s belly goes wild, it feels as though his breath gets caught in his throat. He blinks down at Jeongin, confused, glowing.
“There you go,” Jeongin says, chuckles softly, moving his hand away. “All better.”
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
XIII. Have a Crush on a Boy
Hyunjin asks Felix the question that’s been on his mind all week during their normal sessions, sitting across from one another with their legs crossed, Felix teaching him how to control his urges.
“What does it mean if my stomach feels funny whenever I see Jeongin?”
Felix smiles in the way he does when he’s being silly and mischievous. He reaches out and grabs both of Hyunjin’s hands in his own. “What kind of funny?”
“Hum,” Hyunjin thinks. He hasn’t felt anything similar before, it’s brand new. “I don’t know, it’s messy and jumbly and twisty, I think.”
“Does it feel like you swallowed butterflies?”
Hyunjin scrunches up his nose. “I would never swallow butterflies.”
“It’s a human figure of speech, Jin,” Felix laughs, freckles shining bright. “It means you feel excited, like your insides are fluttering because you like someone.”
“I guess it’s like that,” Hyunjin says, scooching closer until his knees bump against Felix’s. “And also, I can’t stop glowing whenever he shows up. I don’t know what that’s about.”
Felix gasps, shakes Hyunjin’s hands around where they’re folded together. “I think you have a crush on him, Hyunjinnie!”
“A crush?”
“Yes, like, when you want to be with him all the time and hold his hand and kiss him, maybe more. Romantically, or sexually, or both.”
Oh. Felix might be right, that does sound nice. Jeongin is beautiful, and Hyunjin likes him so much it makes him glow all the time. Also, he’s pretty sure that when Jeongin held his cheek the other day, after they failed to make cookies, that he really wanted Jeongin to kiss him.
“Like boyfriends?” he squeaks, unsure. What if he’s got it all wrong?
“Yes,” Felix giggles, glowing even brighter. “That can come next!”
“I think I do. Jeongin is so lovely, I think I would like to kiss him.”
Felix squeals, overjoyed.
“And maybe more,” Hyunjin whispers, and he feels like maybe his smile is mirroring Felix’s silly mischievous one. “I like him in all of those ways.”
“This is wonderful, Hyunjin! The most human feeling of all,” Felix gushes. “How are you going to tell him?”
“Oh, I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet,” Hyunjin sighs. “I don’t want things to change too quick.” For all that Hyunjin is a star, he feels particularly human in this moment. He gets a tug at the bottom of his gut, a tiny question of ‘what if?’ It’s quite unfortunate, considering Hyunjin has never felt insecure in his entire life. But Jeongin makes him feel all sorts of things he’s never felt before, so maybe that’s a good thing.
“That’s alright too,” Felix nods reassuringly. “You can always go at your own pace with matters of the heart.”
Hyunjin didn’t even know he had one of those.
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
XIV. Mail a Letter
“I want to do the thingy with the lips on there,” Hyunjin waves his finger over the letter they’ve sealed up, signed and stamped to Changbin.
“The what?” Jeongin smiles, looks at him funny in that cute little way of his.
There goes those butterflies again. Hyunjin has been noticing, ever since he talked to Felix, that everything Jeongin does is cute, and it gives him the butterflies in his tummy, and he’s terribly smitten.
“You know, Innie,” he sighs, frustrated that he doesn’t have the exact words he needs. “I see it in pictures, or in stories, the red lips on the card.”
“Oh,” Jeongin waves his finger. “Like a lipstick print on the envelope!”
“Yes!” Hyunjin exclaims, though he has no idea if that's what he meant, he just liked how excited Jeongin got.
“Okay, let me go and find some of Felix’s lip paint, hold on,” Jeongin says, determined glint in his eye.
He leaves Hyunjin sitting at the table with a wayward sigh and a second to daydream. Boyfriends, he never thought of himself as the type to have a boyfriend, but Jeongin is so very special to him.
“Here we go!” Jeongin says, back before Hyunjin knows it, setting a tube onto the table.
Hyunjin picks it up, opens the top. “How do I do it?”
“Just spread it over your lips, and then you kiss the letter,” Jeongin says, helping him get the paint to the top of the tube.
Hyunjin does as he’s told, doing his best to spread it around his lips without any reference. And there sure is a lot of talk of kissing around here lately. “Okay?”
Jeongin laughs, reaches out and holds his cheek again, this time to clean up his mess, and Hyunjin’s heart skips a beat. He knows that’s what he should call it now. “Okay, now you’re perfect, Hyunne, go ahead.”
Hyunjin nods, picks up the letter and holds it up. He doesn’t want to screw this up, that would be embarrassing! He puckers his lips up best he can and kisses the thing right on the seal, pulling back to find his perfect kiss mark.
“I did it!”
“You did! Great job!”
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
They drop the letter in the postbox, and the Hyunjin kisses Jeongin too, right on the cheek, leaving a big red kiss print on his cheekbone. Jeongin goes petal pink and refuses to look at him and Hyunjin can’t stop giggling. “Now you give me one,” he says, handing over the lip paint.
Chan looks up from his journal when they walk inside, eyebrows raised at their lip-marked cheeks. “Wow, what have you two been up to today?”
“Kissing!” Hyunjin grins, grabbing onto Jeongin’s arm.
“No!” Jeongin protests, voice strained. “We sent Changbin a letter.”
“Okay,” Chan laughs. “You two are strange.”
Hyunjin thinks he might be going pink too.
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
XV. Go Stargazing
Hyunjin has been working really hard on staying up at night for one specific reason; he really wants to go stargazing. He wants to see what he saw from the sky but on earth, because he thinks it’ll be better from down here.
Jeongin takes him to the tippy top of the tallest hill in town, far enough away that the lights don’t interfere with their gazing. Hyunjin is so excited he can’t stop glowing, but Jeongin doesn’t seem to mind, he lets Hyunjin link arms with him as they climb to the top.
“Oh my goodness, Innie,” Hyunjin says, flopping flat on his back at the top of the hill, looking out over his former home. “It’s so pretty!”
Jeongin joins him, laying down only a bit away, their shoes bump together a little bit. “It’s really great, isn’t it? I always liked doing this.”
“Maybe you knew I was up there waiting to come down to find you.”
“Maybe so.”
Hyunjin can see it all, Andromeda and Pegasus, Perseus and Cassiopeia. He tells Jeongin about them all, about how one time Andromeda wailed so loud he got a migraine, and then Perseus swung his sword in that horrible way of his and scared the wits out of Equuleus, the little horse going mad. Jeongin laughs, he sounds interested in what Hyunjin has to say, it makes Hyunjin feel warm inside, to be sharing stories from home with someone he likes so much.
“You know what, Innie? I never put it together before, but maybe I felt so comfortable with you right away because you look just like Vulpecula!”
“Vulpecula?” Jeongin questions, and Hyunjin doesn’t need to look at him to know his brow is furrowed very cutely.
“Yes! Little fox! He was another of my sort of friends, very close to me in the sky.” Hyunjin sighs, looking over his past, spread out in front of him like a map. It’s strange to think, from down here, that he was ever up there.
“Do you miss it?” Jeongin half-whispers, like he’s afraid of the answer.
“Mmmm,” Hyunjin doesn’t really have to think about it. Not at all. “No.”
“Really? Why not?”
“Because if I was still up there I wouldn’t have you! My silly boy.”
“Oh,” Jeongin averts his eyes, his cheeks turning color in the shine of Hyunjin’s glow. “Well, I’m glad you’re here too, Hyunne.”
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
XVI. Hold Hands with His Crush
Hyunjin reaches out then, because he’s feeling brave after sharing such a lovely night with Jeongin, and he links their hands. Jeongin makes a tiny noise of surprise, but he laces his fingers into Hyunjin’s. They fit perfectly together, and Hyunjin’s chest feels like it could burst in two, he’s glowing so bright he nearly has to close his own eyes.
“Jinnie,” Jeongin says, his voice creaky, on the verge of a whisper.
“Yes?”
Jeongin squeezes his hand, sending Hyunjin’s butterflies crazy. “You like this? Holding hands?”
“I love it, Innie,” Hyunjin squeezes back. “You make me feel like I swallowed butterflies.”
Hyunjin thinks that if Jeongin were of the stars, he’d probably be glowing right now too.
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
XVII. Pet a Dog
Hyunjin must be out of his mind. There’s no other explanation for why he told Jeongin he wants to try this.
He was feeling so brave after their first time holding hands! It boosted his ego too much, he felt like he could take on anything! But now, even though he’s holding hands with Jeongin again and even though they made Seungmin bring Meong all the way from home to help with this task, Hyunjin is regretting his choices.
“Jinnie, he’s not going to hurt you,” Jeongin soothes, low in his ear, Hyunjin squeezing an iron grip into his hand. “He’s very nice, look!” Jeongin reaches out his non-Hyunjin burdened hand towards Meong’s giant yellow head.
Hyunjin flinches, yelps, watches in horror as Meong licks Jeongin’s hand with a massive tongue. Dogs are scary, they’re big and broad and they’re much too excited to see people and jump on them. But it looks so nice when Seungmin sits with Meong’s head in his lap and pets the dog, and Hyunjin wants to be able to do that too.
“Jinnie,” Jeongin laughs a little, hand scratching behind Meong’s ears. The dog seems happy, content, his tongue lolling out. “Just go slow, alright? I’ve got you, I won’t leave your side.”
“Okay,” Hyunjin winces. “Can we go together, though?” He raises their joined hands.
“Sure, love,” Jeongin says, and he’s most certainly never called Hyunjin that before. “Here.”
Jeongin pulls apart their fingers, readjusting so that his hand is on top of Hyunjin’s, their fingers linking together that way.
“Ready?”
“Yes,” Hyunjin shakes, he squeezes his eyes shut as Jeongin extends their arms, too afraid to look.
He gasps, a cold wetness on his fingers, it tickles, he can't help but giggle, peeking through his lashes to see Meong’s big nose touching his fingertips. Then Meong licks them, and his tongue is warm, and Jeongin reaches the last bit until they’re touching his head.
Meong is soft, his fur is light and silky, and their hands melt right in. It’s not nearly as bad as Hyunjin expected it to be. He actually kind of likes it.
“He’s so soft,” he says in awe, Jeongin guiding their hands back and forth across Meong’s head.
“He is,” Jeongin hums. “I think he likes you, Jin.”
Hyunjin giggles, bubbles over with it, Meong leans into his hand, asking for more pets. “I think I like him too.”
“I’m so proud of you, Hyunne,” Jeongin says, and Hyunjin preens under the praise.
“I can only do scary things with your help,” Hyunjin murmurs. “You make me feel brave, Innie.”
Jeongin goes pink, but this time he doesn’t look away. Hyunjin is enamored, he wants to look in Jeongin’s eyes forever, all mismatched and stardust.
“I’m glad,” Jeongin says, smiling, his lips curling up.
Suddenly Hyunjin’s chest is thumping very quickly, and he’s overcome with the butterflies, like they’re fluttering up his throat and out of his mouth. He takes a sharp breath, pulling his hand from Meong.
“I have romantic and more feelings for you!” he blurts before he can stop himself, hand clapping over his mouth afterwards.
Jeongin looks up, eyelids fluttering prettily, pinker than ever. “You do?” he seems shocked, surprised.
“Yes,” Hyunjin squeaks. “Felix says it’s a crush.”
“Um, well— I have a crush on you too,” Jeongin mumbles, bringing a hand to the back of his neck, rubbing there and smiling a pretty, timid smile. “Romantic and more feelings.”
“You do?” Hyunjin breathes, taken. He can’t believe his luck, that his silly, wonderful, pink boy would care for him in just the same way.
“Of course I do, Hyunjin,” Jeongin laughs softly, reaches out and takes both of Hyunjin’s hands in his own. “I thought it was more than obvious from the second I met you.”
Hyunjin overflows with light, bursting out of every pore and seam of him, so bright that Meong gets up and turns around with a huff, and Jeongin has to squint against the intensity of it. Jeongin doesn’t complain.
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
XVIII. Kiss Jeongin
The next few days are magnificent. He and Jeongin hold hands and cuddle nearly all the time, and they laugh and joke and hug. Hyunjin glows so much he can barely stand it. He wonders if it will ever get dimmer, being with his Jeongin.
They’re attached at the hand now, Jeongin leading him somewhere or other, Hyunjin isn’t very sure, he’s just always happy to go where Jeongin goes.
“What are we doing?” he asks, spinning the daisy Jeongin picked for him between his fingers.
“I’m taking you somewhere special,” Jeongin says. “To check off an item on the list.”
Hyunjin shrugs, a good enough answer for him. “Alrighty.”
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
Jeongin takes him to the sea, somewhere Hyunjin has always wanted to go.
“Wow, this is so pretty!” Hyunjin stands at the edge of the cliff, the waves churning and swirling below. In the distance he can see big ships, he wonders if pirates like Changbin live out there. “It’s so big!”
The sun is hanging in the sky, a perfectly sunny day, one of Hyunjin’s favorite kind, and Jeongin comes up next to him, dropping an arm around his waist, a hand warm at his hip. Hyunjin loves when Jeongin holds him, he’s never felt as safe as he does in Jeongin’s arms.
“Thank you,” Hyunjin says, leaning his head on his silly boy’s shoulder.
“What are you thanking me for, love?”
“For showing me what it’s like to live.”
Hyunjin didn’t know why Jeongin had brought them here, not really, because he never asked to see the sea, but then Jeongin spins him by his waist so they’re facing one another, and he brings his hand to cup Hyunjin’s jaw, and then Jeongin kisses him.
Indescribable, nearly, the feeling. Hyunjin’s breath is stolen, but then it’s as if Jeongin gives it back. One soft and perfectly warm meeting of their mouths turns into a slow dance, an easy back and forth.
People’s lips were made to fit together, Hyunjin understands that now, and Jeongin’s hand wraps around the back of his neck and holds him even closer, kisses him even deeper. Natural and sublime.
When they finally pull apart, Hyunjin’s face is aching from the force of his smile, and Jeongin is laughing and squinting his eyes from the force of the glow.
“That’s my very favorite human thing,” Hyunjin admits, taking both of Jeongin’s cheeks in his hands, smoothing over the skin. “You’re my very favorite human thing.”
Jeongin kisses him again, and Hyunjin kisses him back.
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
XIX. Become Human
All stars die eventually.
Supernova, that’s what it’s called. In technical terms; a star that suddenly increases greatly in brightness because of a catastrophic explosion that ejects most of its mass. The death of a star.
Usually it takes centuries, years and years of living in the sky, glowing bright, before a star reaches death.
Hyunjin died when Jeongin kissed him by the sea.
When he told Jeongin so, Jeongin laughed, said Hyunjin must be mistaken, he’s more than alive.
“No,” Hyunjin had argued, still smiling. “My star died. I belong here, with the people on earth.”
“You’ll always be my star, Jinnie.”
After that Hyunjin doesn’t glow as brightly anymore, though he still does when he’s happy. It never reaches the peaks it once did, making Jeongin squint, making their eyes hurt, it’s more of a comfortable shine, bearable and happy.
Hyunjin thinks there’s no feeling more human than this, celebrating the Autumn Equinox with all of his friends, because he has so many now. Felix and Chan and Seungmin and Changbin. Minho and Jisung are here too, home from their adventures, and Hyunjin is friends with all of them, and he’s best friends with his boyfriend, his silly Jeongin.
They spin and spin in the middle of the makeshift dance floor, bumping into Chan and Felix once or twice, and Hyunjin is laughing and smiling and he pet Meong without Jeongin’s help earlier, and he keeps stealing kisses from petal pink lips and causing a petal pink blush to creep up Jeongin’s cheeks.
Later they’ll go up to Jeongin’s room and they’ll kiss until his head spins and Jeongin will touch him until he’s falling apart, and they’ll come together as one and have the best time doing it, because they always do when they’re doing things with one another.
Hyunjin savors every minute of it, every second, even now, after they’ve done it all before, because all of it is so very human, and Jeongin is his very favorite human thing.
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
XX. Fall in Love
“I love you, Jeongin,” Hyunjin tells him, later, after all of those things that Hyunjin thought up before, while he’s laying on Jeongin’s beautiful bare chest with free reign to touch his tummy and his muscles and admire his form.
Jeongin’s heart picks up in his chest, something Hyunjin doesn’t hear as often anymore. His hand, buried into Hyunjin’s hair, stroking his scalp lightly, stills. “I love you too, Hyunjin. I love you so much.”
Hyunjin lifts his head up, because he can’t help but look into Jeongin’s starry mismatched eyes, and he finds deep, pure, adoration, and he knows Jeongin sees him inside and out.
“It’s very human of us,” Hyunjin muses, stealing a kiss from Jeongin’s lips, his favorite human taste.
“What is?” Jeongin steals one of his own.
“Love. The most powerful human emotion,” Hyunjin smiles, completely and utterly content. “I think fate flicked me out of the sky so I could find you.”
Jeongin smiles wide, all of his features tipped up, and Hyunjin can see him glowing, even if it’s not physical.
“I’ll have to ask Felix to thank her for me.”
˖ ₊✶༉‧₊˚
In the heavens Andromeda and Perseus look down on the earth.
“I always knew he was destined for more,” Andromeda sighs, dropping her chin into her bound up hands.
Perseus nods his agreement. “Hopeless romantic, that one. Even if he didn’t know it.”
“What a silly boy.”
“A silly boy indeed.”
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