Work Text:
In the middle of the forest, there was a group of friends who wanted to spend the week away from the city, so they rented a vast place with some cabins so they could have some time alone and time together enjoying nature and each other. They booked some nights, organized to be out of their work schedule, and they actually were making the best day of their lives there. They ate a lot, drank a lot, and had a lot of fun. And after that, everyone was sleeping in their cabins. Or they were trying to.
This specific time was a cloudy night with lightning and a storm was calmly giving an arriving warning. The only light you could see on was from Jihoon, who was probably trying to do some late work, and Soonyoung and Minghao’s cabin, which were side by side, with their tedious light. The two friends were sitting outside the little cabin, both hoping the mosquitoes wouldn’t bite them and the breeze was making its way to calm their senses. It didn’t feel like a season of the year, but actually a moment in life only.
“Hey,” the blonde one says with white short hair and sits closely, “What are you doing?”
Normally when you hear this kind of question you may think he’s just looking for a subject to talk about, but knowing Hoshi as Minghao knew, he is curious about his holdings.
“Hyung, I think I finished,” he said, not much emotion out of him yet. “This is a trying to write some cheesy fairy tale.”
He shook the papers that weren't even glued together yet and the movement of his hands captured Hoshi’s attention, making his head follow his moves around, starving to understand some words and put sense into the title.
“Oh” the boy's eyes went big as the other was just offering some candy “Can I read it?”
“It’s in Chinese” he almost smiled.
“So, can you read it for me in Korean?” he made Minghao laugh.
“I don’t know,” he said with a wide smile on his face.
“Please”
Hoshi put his hands together and if Minghao didn’t accept he would almost hit his head on the floor asking him to do it. But Minghao also knew since the beginning that he would read the text to him and ask for his reactions to see if it was actually good enough.
“Once upon a time, there was a boy. - Yeah, every story begins with this catchphrase and a character. Well, - Once upon a time there was a black-haired boy who lived in the northern part of his magical kingdom. He was slim, liked to play games, and had a lot of friends.
He was an ordinary boy, with an ordinary life. He was really good at school and loved to study. Actually, his friends thought he was crazy because he was always really serious about his grades and his assignments. He never lost a paper. He was the best in class. People always looked at him thinking he was the nicest boy to be around because he was really kind and smart.
He had friends right beside him. There was one in particular who was always by his side it was almost annoying for everybody else to get closer to him because of Jungkook. They always ate together, played together, and even slept together.
They were best friends…”
“We, ok, we got it. move on!” the boy said, laughing, “OMG! They were best friends forever!” “Shhh, pay attention to it.”
“One day the boy traveled for all his country with his father to help sell their harvest. When they made it to the south, something strange happened.
It was the beginning of the night and his father was looking for a place to eat and sleep, he found round bright eyes looking at him in the shadows. He thought they were from a cat, but actually there was a boy observing him all this time. The boy was a little smaller and had a cute mole on his face. His smile was huge.
“Hi.” The cat boy said to him.
“Hi” was the only thing he could say back.
“I’m Junhui,” The cat boy said, now getting out of the shadows and coming closer. “Do you want to eat?”
“My father is looking for dinner and a place to spend the night. Why?”
Wonwoo didn’t know how to react to it. Jungkook wasn’t like that, he gave him a lot of space and didn’t ask to be around, he just… is around. But Junhui Cat Boy was different. He got closer, he was inviting himself into Wonwoo’s world without being invited to.
“My family runs an inn, you should go there” he made a big boy smile and ran away.
Wonwoo was too astonished to speak. He tried to convince himself that nothing was real until his father came back in the same direction the boy ran.
It was obvious that his dad wanted to stay at Junhui family’s inn. And they had amazing nights and days while Wonwoo’s dad worked and sold his work around. He was making money and it would help once he got back home. But for Wonwoo the experience was different.
He spent all his days there with Junhui. They would play around, read, run, eat, and to the chores. Junhui’s family loved to have another boy around to make Jun help the inn. They were making plans to work there together and growing together.
Until one day it was time for Wonwoo to come back.”
“I can’t believe you chose to separate the boys,” Hoshi whined, getting comfortable around Minghao. “They were best friends already!”
“There’s a reason for that, wait” Minghao complained, and came back to his pages.
“Until one day it was time for Wonwoo to come back. While he was traveling through the kingdom, Wonwoo started sending Junhui letters about the places he was meeting, the food he was eating, and how much he missed being around. Once they were home in the north, it was time for Junhui to answer back.
The boys spent years changing letters, and while everything was changing around them, they were the same as each other.
Wonwoo saw his parents being old to deal with business and now it was his time to do it. He saw Jungkook growing up and becoming a famous entertainer. Jungkook was beautiful in the most non-obvious ways possible, and yet, Wonwoo didn’t feel a thing.
Wonwoo started feeling that all his friends were a couple with another person. Worse, they were marrying women and were starting to talk about children. Literally, the only person he knew was still the same was Junhui.
Every other night he would go out with Jungkook and talk about life and how things changed from their beginning. He loved taking these moments away from his problems and his mind. Until the day that Jungkook told him the King wanted him sitting at his court and, again, was time for Wonwoo to say his goodbyes.
For the rest of his life, he never got the chance to meet Junhui again, but they were always talking using their letters as a way to remember to be true of themselves. And even if one day their lives had an end, their friendship never died, it’s eternalized in those letters and in the stars in the sky.
The End”
Hoshi was looking up making up his mind and choosing carefully the words he wanted to use. He felt a strong sensation in his stomach, not like butterflies, but more like a cold feeling that Minghao could die if he didn’t be sincere.
“ I love it,” he said, looking at his friend, “ I don’t think I truly understood but I loved it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I mean, you need to work around it, polish its ends, and give a good try to another person to read because I’m not a reliable reader. I just love to listen to you reading.” He said, teasing him.
“ But…?”
“Oh, but nothing,” Soonyoung said happily. “The idea of it is really nice. it’s something we know we’ll always have. That one true friendship that nobody can and won’t give up to.“ he took another breath. “You know, that one person you never meet personally but you love unconditionally with the deepest part of your soul. You may never meet but this person is there waiting for you and you’re there waiting for them.”
“You’re being too specific, hyung. Do you have someone in mind?” Minghao laughed, “ I don’t know, it’s not something that is finished, only something I’ve been working on.”
“No, you just got me thinking about it.” he said, “but, unfortunately, I’m too sleepy now.”
Hoshi got up and closed his eyes slowly, rubbing his fingers as a way to try to wake up. He got on his foot and started walking.
“Good night, hyung.” he said, smiling
“Good night, Minghao” he said, with his big boy smile, running back to his cabin.
It didn’t take so long for him to turn off his light and finally sleep. But Minghao took his chance to take another look at the sky. It was so clear he could actually see the “ fēi yú zuò”, the flying fish constellation in the sky. He could see the star right at the north, who he loved to call Wonwoo, and back at the end of it, on the extreme south and end, there was Junhui. Meeting Wonwoo by stars around them. He smiled and finally turned off his light, going to his bed.
Lastly, the only light on was still Jihoon’s one.