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Jisung is blind.
No, it’s not in the way that your nearsighted friend brags about being blind without their glasses. Nor is it in the way that he can’t see anything at all. He’s legally blind. Blobs of colors and blurs of shapes aren’t clarified until he can really see them. Really focus on what they are to 99% of people out there. And then, and only then, can he begin to interpret the world how others do.
He’s always on the back foot, he knows. One step behind everyone else. One sentence behind understanding what was just said. But he doesn’t let it upset him. Seemingly ever. He just laughs it off, but in a way that lets you know he’s not hurt. He’s not upset at all, and just explains to you why he is…how he is.
There are two things (of many) to know about Jisung. First, he loves to learn. Second, he loves games. Video games, card games, board games…if it was a game, Jisung either loved it, or wanted to learn how to play it so he could love it. He never let his sight stop him from learning games, ever! So the gaming shop in town that he frequented since he was a kid was eager to hire him as soon as he was old enough to legally work. Working at the small, family owned store gave him a chance to share his love of games, and also raise awareness for people with disabilities. They aren’t disabled or incapable, they just need a little guidance sometimes. People who are blind or deaf or are in a wheelchair are people, just like anyone else.
It was after a closing shift one night when he first met Minho.
Because he saw the world out of focus, people he talked to had…colors that went with them. Usually one solid, intense color that enveloped them, as if Jisung could see their soul embodied through an attribute properly sighted people only appreciated in a sunrise or sunset. His mom was bubble gum pink. His dad was light green, like the early leaves that spring produces after a harsh winter. His boss at the shop was dark red. The intensity or tint of the colors would change with mood, or sometimes complement outfit choices.
But Minho? Minho was light yellow, as bright as the stars, and never wavered in its shade or intensity.
It was off to his left as Jisung sat on the padded bench his boss upgraded long ago. He was waiting for his dad to pick him up after he closed the store for the night. This yellow aura, never changing, approached him confidently from the direction where most of the small town buzzed on the weekends. It was your standard one-road town, where everything you could want was one mile away at most. Jisung turned towards the starlight to see short, dark brown hair, bangs barely hanging in his eyes. A complete stranger, he took a seat to Jisung’s left, with no hesitation, and leaned in slightly. Enough to where Jisung could see his piercing brown eyes and flawless complexion.
“Hi.” The mystery man chirped, holding his hand out halfway between where Jisung’s vision was clear and his actual hand. “My name is Minho. What’s your name?”
Jisung gently took Minho’s hand, feeling how petite it was in his own. “Jisung.”
“Hi Jisung. Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.” In all his years closing, he knew the game store closed the latest, except for the bar, which was at the opposite edge of town. “Umm, forgive me for asking, but every store is closed in the direction you came from. Why were you walking around there this late?”
“Oh. Nothing’s open?” Minho let out an exaggerated laugh with his full body moving in time with each chuckle. “Well, nothing wrong with taking a walk on a beautiful and clear night!”
“But there’s no streetlights, and only half the shops have lights on to save on their electricity bill so they can pay their workers.”
“Less light pollution makes for better star viewing, you know?”
Jisung hid his frown, and explained his situation like he normally did. “I’m blind, actually. I can’t read or see details unless they’re close.”
“Oh!” Minho frowned. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I had no idea! I…”
Jisung smiled empathetically as the standard frantic apology came out. “You didn’t know, it’s fine. It’s hard to tell just by looking at me. Not like I’d know if you were intensely looking at me or not. I can’t really tell. It’s part of my life. I get used to working around it.”
“That’s great. It really is.”
The two sat next to each other in silence, the ambience of a humble small town echoing around them. Jisung looked toward where his dad would pick him up soon, and Minho’s eyes were fixed on the stars. The bright yellow stayed next to him, steady and strong, until it blended with the yellow of the headlights pulling forward.
“Nice meeting you, Minho.” Jisung gave a slight head nod in his direction when he stood up. “Maybe we’ll see each other again.”
Minho took his eyes off the stars to give him a mischievous grin. “I’m sure we will.”
Jisung was confused by the random encounter, but believed that their paths would cross again. His dad asked him a question as he got into the car, but Jisung didn’t hear, or quite frankly care. His gaze stayed focused on Minho’s yellow light, even in the rear view mirror, until it became just another blur, unrecognizable from all the others.
________________
“Shit, Juho, I’m so sorry for being late!” Jisung flew into the shop, panting and slightly sweaty. The new board game he was playtesting was in one arm, and his foldable walking stick was in the other. “My mom opened the back door, and Kyu started barking at the tree, which scared Hani so she ran outside and climbed up the tree, and then dad had to keep Kyu inside until mom could get Hani. And of course, I can’t do anything because Hani blends in with the tree since I can’t tell her and the tree bark apart unless I squint to look for the white. So I had to run here because there was no time to wait, and…”
“It’s fine, Jisung.” Juho waved his young employee off, the scratching noises of weekly inventory taking place on the clipboard behind the counter. The red around him stayed steady. “15 or 20 minutes one way or the other isn’t going to hurt. I knew you’d be here sooner or later.”
“Because I try to be responsible and show up on time!”
“Jisung.” He walked from behind the counter and put a hand on Jisung’s shoulder to calm him down, making sure he was focused in his direction. “Life happens. It’s fine. Sometimes when you play a game, it doesn’t go to plan, right? So what do you do instead?”
“Stay calm and adjust.”
Juho nodded. “Right. So stay calm. You’ll be okay. You can help that customer over there.” Jisung saw him point towards the card game section in the back left corner of the shop. “He’s very…odd. He asked for you specifically.”
“Oh?”
When Jisung turned to look, it was the yellow he saw last week when he was waiting to go home. Minho, if Jisung remembered correctly. He wasn’t surprised in the slightest that Minho had come to find him. Jisung placed the large box on the counter so Juho could restock it before he interacted with Minho again. Jisung knew by memory where most of the games were, but he wasn’t great at putting them back, not having the depth of field to stack the boxes without something falling.
“Hello again. How can I help you?” Jisung said in his best service voice.
“Ah!” Minho turned from the corner and faced Jisung square on. “I was hoping you could help me pick something!”
Jisung held back his suspicions of why Minho was here, but continued with his normal order of questions. “Sure. Card games are very good for newer players. It’s just a matter of what the personality of your friend group is.”
“Is that so?” Minho’s voice was quite animated, which was so different from most people who talked to Jisung other than his friends.
“Yeah. So my friend group is a little more competitive. Which I grouped into this section over here.” He pointed to the right wall, moving his finger to circle the area of games from his perspective. “If you and your friends like to work together more often, that’s over to the left.” He gestured in that direction. “I organized it so the outsides are very competitive or cooperative, and then you get more even as you move towards the middle.”
“That’s a great idea, Jisung!” Minho leaned forward again so Jisung could see his genuine approval. “How long have you worked here?”
Jisung beamed, voice full of pride. “Five or six years now? But I basically grew up here. I started spending more time here as soon as I could navigate the world a little better.”
“Okay, you’re a little younger than I am.” Minho lightly tapped the walking stick Jisung was still holding, which was better than touching him directly. “You don’t need this too often then?”
“Not around here!” Jisung laughed. “I know this place better than the back of my hand! I usually use it for small spaces and less familiar places.”
“Ah, understood.” Minho looked back to admire the card games hanging off hooks and displayed on shelves, all meticulously placed there by Jisung. “What’s your favorite card game to play?”
He stepped to the left, where Minho moved out of the way before he even stepped that way. My favorite is one my friends play with me on my birthday. It’s called Hanabi.” He reached towards the second column from the left, just a little above his head, and took the blue box off the clear shelf. “It’s a game where you have to clear all the cards in order, kind of like solitaire, but you see everyone else’s hand but your own. You try to encourage your teammates to play cards in the correct order, but you don’t have all the information. I bought the version with the large numbers, but this is the normal size.”
Minho tapped the underside of the box to look at it, and Jisung instantly let it go. “Why do you like it?”
“Because then my friends get to be like me for a little while.” He looked away to hide his embarrassment about an admission he only shares with close friends and relatives. “It’s my couple of hours every year to have a pity party for myself. And then we all eat cake and have fun after.”
“Do you feel like that outside of your birthday?”
“That’s a personal question, but I’ll answer it anyway.” Jisung responded, slightly annoyed, but he did consider himself open to answering any question. “No, I don’t because there’s no point. There’s a lot to learn from these games. As long as I’m applying those lessons to my life, I’m doing just fine.”
“Oh I know that.” Minho leaned forward to wink at Jisung. Leaning forward to emphasize points was something only his friends did. It was starting to weird Jisung out, even though he appreciated the gesture. “I just wanted to make sure you remembered that.”
Jisung squinted at the yellow above his head. “I only met you once last week. How do you know that?”
“I’ll tell you when you’re ready. I think I’ll buy…”
“Hey! I’ve been standing here waiting. What are you doing just standing around and talking?”
Jisung turned around and could barely see the man, since his brown-toned outfit blended in with the many shelves throughout the store. His aura was ink black, which didn’t help much either. Before Jisung could apologize, Minho zigzagged in front of him with no effort.
“He was helping me, a customer.” He was clearly upset, but the yellow stayed strong and steady. This phenomenon was new to Jisung, and even more befuddling than his past interactions with him. “What’s it to you?”
“You have a purchase in your hand.”
“And somehow you get to decide whether or not that’s my only purchase?”
Jisung reached out his left hand to touch Minho’s shoulder, but it ended up between his shoulder blades. “Minho, please stop, it’s okay.”
“It’s not okay!” Minho yelled, finally getting the attention of Juho.
“What’s going on here, Jisung?” Juho looked between the three men, all clearly agitated.
“Well,” Jisung withdrew his hand and tried to hide it. “I was helping this customer here,” gesturing to Minho, “and explaining how our card game sorting system worked, and I didn’t notice the other customer because I couldn’t see him since he blended in…”
“Couldn’t see me?” The edges of the black aura softened into waves and vibrated fiercely. “What excuse is that for…”
“ENOUGH!” Juho yelled with a tone Jisung never heard before. “Get out of my store! No one treats my employees like that. And you,” he turned to Minho, “I don’t why you asked for Jisung here specifically, but…”
“It’s fine, Ju.” Jisung stayed partially hidden behind Minho. “I know him. He’s odd, but he’s not doing anything harmful.”
“Are you sure, Ji?” Jisung nodded as he stepped to Minho’s right side. “Okay, you’re safe for today. You,” he turned back to the rude customer, “get out!”
The man grumbled a bit and swore to himself about how Jisung was shit at his job. Though Jisung wasn’t completely used to that response, he didn’t let it bother him. A lesson he learned from the competitive games he played with his friends is that you can be rejected sometimes, and that’s okay. Not everyone needs to like him, because all the people who matter to him most like him, and that’s all Jisung needs.
He looked cautiously back at Minho, whose expression had softened from his intimidating exterior. Even though he was legally blind, he worked hard over the years to get a general category of people’s facial expressions. The way their muscles tensed, or eyebrows raised, or nose scrunched. Minho’s face was quite easy to read, and it worried him. Usually it took many weeks and interactions to barely read someone’s emotions through their face. And yet, by the second meeting, it was easier to read than a book. Which, to be fair, isn’t that hard to beat, though that didn’t make it any less concerning.
Minho turned towards the shorter man, but somehow didn’t hover above him. “Are you okay, Jisung?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Even though that was totally unnecessary.”
“It was, but you’ll learn why when you’re ready.”
Jisung looked up to the ceiling in frustration, adrenaline still running through him from the conflict. “What does that even mean?”
“Hey you!” Juho finally interrupted. “Thanks for your help, but I need Jisung to get back to work!”
“Let me grab one more game to buy and then I’ll pay and go.”
Minho bowed to the manager and gently stepped past Jisung. With the square blue box decorated with fireworks under his arm, he scanned the cooperative section again. A sudden ‘Ah!’ and a delighted smile appeared on his face. He reached up on his tiptoes to grab a dark blue rectangular box, slimmer than Hanabi, with a red rocket across the front. Similarly bowing to Jisung, deep and with full respect, he made his way to the register.
“Hanabi and Spaceteam.” Juho nodded with approval, rushing behind the counter to ring up his first sales for the day. “Good picks.”
“Hanabi was Jisung’s recommendation, and this one,” he tapped his lean and small fingers on the Spaceteam box, “reminds me of home.”
“Home?” Jisung shook his head even more confused by this man. “Did you grow up near a space station or something? Or maybe in a town where rockets were made? I’m not sure where else home would be for you in all the places in the world where that might be a reminder.”
Minho took the bag from Juho, shoving his credit card into the back pocket of his black jeans, with a tiny laugh. “Something like that, I guess. See you around, Jisung.”
Jisung kept his eyes on the increasingly blurring figure of Minho until the door closed behind him. Both he and Juho let the silence sit, their day already more chaotic than most. He kept his eyes on the floor and shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around the enigma that is Minho.
_________________
“So I have none, nada, zero idea what this guy’s deal is! There’s so many questions and I’m no closer to answers than I was before!”
“And you haven’t seen him since the argument with that guy in the store?” Jeongin asked, seated directly across from him in his normal red sweater with his dark blue aura. The youngest of his friend group was often the wisest, with the most thought provoking questions and counterpoints.
“No!!!”
A round of laughter broke out in their circle of four when Jisung’s voice cracked through his screams of exasperation. He had relayed the peculiar events to Chan, Jeongin and Changbin at their weekly game night. They were just starting to set up when Jisung went into recounting his two interactions with Minho. Many times, his friends let him get the frustrations out of his system and move on, but these encounters were too intriguing for them to ignore.
“I don’t know, Ji.” Chan’s voice came from the orange sweater on Jisung’s left, his gray aura projecting loose waves of anxiety behind him. “This guy sounds like a stalker or something.”
Jisung scoffed at the suggestion. “Who would want to stalk me?”
“I’ll be your bodyguard!” Changbin proudly offered, sporting his standard light pink t-shirt, which is a color Jisung only agreed to because his aura was bright black. It made complete sense with his personality, but not in the context of color theory. “I’ll meet up with you after work for a while, if you want.”
“I don’t know.” Jisung closed his useless eyes to block out the confusion. “And his aura doesn’t change! And he knows how to talk to me! And he fits! He fits and I’ve only met him twice. I can’t explain it, but we fit.”
There was a rare moment of total silence, not even the white noise of a game being set up. “If you think you two fit, then maybe you should try to see him again.”
Chan whipped his head towards Jeongin, death glare fully activated. “C’mon Innie, don’t be ridiculous. Jisung could be in serious danger if that happens!”
“We need to protect Jisung from this weirdo!” Changbin agreed.
Jisung stared at the ground, frustrated at his elder friends’ perception of him. “I’m not that fragile. At least I don’t think I’m that fragile.” He gave Chan and Changbin confused looks. “Do you think I’m that fragile?”
“No, Ji. I’m sorry.” Chan scooted to Jisung’s left to give him a hug. “We just don’t want you to get hurt.”
“If you don’t take the risk, you can’t win the game.” Jeongin glared back at Chan. “If Jisung wants to talk to him again, then why not give it a shot?” He took a softer tone towards Jisung, and Jisung could see his temporary frustration with Chan dissipate through his aura. “Do you want to talk to him again, Ji?”
“Yeah, I do.” Jisung leaned into Chan’s side hug and looked in Changbin’s direction. “He’s weird, but I get a good feeling about him.”
“Can one of us come with you at least?” Changbin leaped over to Jisung in a flash and put his head in his friend’s lap. Jisung chuckled and ran his hand through the thick black hair. “We just want you to be happy and not get kidnapped.”
“I know, Binnie.”
“How would we ever beat Innie without your help?”
“Hey!” Jeongin yelled. Jisung heard a slap against skin and the youngest silently giggle to himself before feeling Jeongin’s usual drawings of circles on his knee. Changbin drew hearts and Chan drew triangles, so he always knew who was who. “Even if someone went with you, do you know when you might see him again?”
“I don’t think so…”
“What’s his name?” Chan asked.
Jisung continued to be grateful for the love and support of his best friends. He tried to explain how there were times eyesight was overrated, and this was one of them. They could tell Jisung was upset, and they took a little time out of their usual night of fun to calm him down and cheer him up. He smiled thinking of the strange and mind-blowing man with the steady yellow aura.
“Minho. His name is Minho.”
________________
“So you’re Minho, huh?” Changbin asked the man meandering towards their table after staring at them for at least 15 minutes.
“Jisung told you about me? Oh! Of course he did! Yes, I’m Minho. Nice to finally meet you all!” Minho chuckled a little and bowed to each of Jisung’s friends.
“Okay, Binnie,” Jeongin whispered to Changbin, where they were seated next to each other in the booth. “Maybe you were right about the weirdo thing.”
It was the Sunday after game night, and the group had decided to go to lunch at the other restaurant. Jisung had noticed that the two times Minho showed up so far were in abnormal scenarios. The first time they met, he had closed earlier than normal, so his dad wasn’t already waiting to pick Jisung up from work. The argument at the game store happened when Jisung showed up late. Instead of going to the normal restaurant, he and his friends made the higher probability play so they could run into Minho and make sure he got their approval. Being a small town, the ‘normal restaurant’ and the ‘other restaurant’ were plenty.
Chan’s arms were tightly folded across his chest, trying to block Jisung from Minho’s line of sight. “So, what’s your deal?”
“What ever do you mean, Chan?” A chair from a nearby table screeched against the tile floor as Minho pulled it underneath himself to sit. “I’m here to get to know Jisung’s friends!”
Jisung frowned because he thought this was crossing a line. “By ambushing us when we’re trying to have lunch?” Jeongin tapped his hand on the table so Jisung could find and hold it to calm his nerves. He saw the steady presence of Jeongin’s blue aura out of the corner of his eye and took advantage of it, sneaking his hand underneath the largest hand in their friend group. “This is getting kind of creepy. How do you know their names when I haven’t told you about them?”
“I’ve known them as long as you have!” Minho had a joyful lilt in his voice that didn’t match the mood at the table that grew more agitated by the second. “Chan and Jeongin and Changbin are important to you, so I wanted to get to know them while they’re all here!”
“You need to watch your mouth!” Changbin growled, fist ready to fly straight into Minho’s jaw.
“C’mon Binnie, don’t embarrass Jisungie, it’s…”
Changbin threw a punch at Minho, thoroughly pissed off at his mystery person bullshit.
Jisung was the only one who truly saw what happened next.
Minho’s aura created a shield in front of him, yellow stars sparkling at the edges, and bounced Changbin’s fist directly back towards his face. The fist acted like a large metaphorical stone, which made tiny ripples in Minho’s aura that Jisung could see in detail, floating towards the outer edges of his vision from the source. Changbin punched himself so hard that he flattened Jeongin to the wall where their booth sat. That caused Jeongin to push Changbin with so much force that he ended up in Minho’s lap. Chan, who was ready to throw a follow-up punch on Changbin’s behalf, started to punch Minho, but it hit Changbin’s chest instead, and that bounced him off Minho’s aura shield again and straight into Chan’s lap.
“What the fuck was that?!?!” Changbin screamed over Jisung’s hysterical laughter. “What kind of monster are you?”
“Perhaps I should have told you violence won’t work on me. Did I tell you that? Oops, my bad!” Minho wiggled his finger at the growling behind Changbin, giving Jisung a cheeky wink. “That goes for you too, Channie!”
“Channie?” Changbin was so disoriented that he looked to his left and began to panic when he didn’t see Chan. “What the fuck did you do with Channie?!?!?!”
“I’m right here, Bin.” Chan gently patted Changbin’s sides, chuckling to himself from not quite knowing how his friend transported onto his lap. “Just calm down. Jisung is fine, Jeongin is fine, you’ll be fine too.”
“CALM DOWN?” Everyone in the restaurant was looking at them, but Minho was nowhere to be found. Jisung frantically looked towards the doors to see if they had recently opened or closed, but he wasn’t as familiar with how the doors of ‘the other restaurant’ worked. “You’re telling me I tried to defend Jisung against an asshole who’s stalking OUR friend, and YOU, Bang Christopher Chan, want ME, Seo Changbin, to CALM THE FUCK DOWN?!?!”
Changbin got so worked up that Chan was quick to back hug him so he didn’t fall on his face. They fell on top of a still recovering Jisung, who looked over at Jeongin to see what he thought of the craziness. His dimples and eye crinkles were strong enough for Jisung to notice them, but the amusement was a reaction to Changbin, not to what just happened. He knew his friends couldn’t see the auras, so there’s no way they saw what Minho actually did.
“Where did Minho go?” Jeongin asked innocently, which finally alerted the others to Minho’s disappearance.
“AND THAT BITCH JUST BOUNCED?!?!!?!”
Chan was about to give Changbin more words of encouragement when he started cackling into the center of Changbin’s back at the top of his lungs. Jisung, Jeongin, and even Changbin, eventually followed, turning into minutes worth of cycled and recycled laughs. The rest of the restaurant, which was mostly elderly patrons, had written their antics off to ‘silly kid things’ and went back to their own conversations and meals.
Jisung was astonished not only by the antics, but the moment where he could see the details of what happened. He had asked others in the past to describe the phenomenon to him, but he didn’t understand their explanations until that moment. The waves Changbin’s fist made into the shield-turned-pond were breathtaking. Jisung had no word other than clarity to describe what he saw. A beautiful yellow moment that was smashed in an instant. That instant being Changbin punching himself in the face, but still.
He looked towards his strong and viciously loyal friend, who was still yelling about something that Jisung had tuned out a while ago. Back across the booth from him, he could see the black eye on Changbin’s right side bruising nicely. Jisung started to feel guilty, thinking maybe it was his fault Changbin would need ice later on, but another game lesson came to mind.
You can’t take responsibility for what someone did on their turn, only what you did on your own.
___________________
*plop*
*plop*
*plop*
*plop*
He couldn’t do it.
Jisung stared at his reflection in the lake, glasses hanging by his ears as they did when he pushed his chin into his chest. He tried so hard to replicate what happened at the restaurant last weekend, but he couldn’t do it. He made up some pathetic excuse to Juho to get off work early so he could head to the lake before dark and get back in time to be picked up. Fortunately they closed early enough on weekends that he could time his return just right to not tip off his dad that he wandered off by himself.
Jisung got into a lot of trouble before he found his current group of friends. He didn’t drink, or smoke, or do drugs, but he loved to explore. And, needless to say, exploring the world when you’re legally blind, by yourself, is not the wisest of ideas. It’s not like his parents could get him into sports. It wasn’t an impossible venture, but the type of sports Jisung wanted to play weren’t conducive to bad vision, and the amenable options were too boring. He did get into music for a while, but it was hard to stick to the basics long enough to make real progress, and he had a few bad teachers that eventually soured him on the idea of trying again.
It was when he started hanging around the board game shop and met his friends that he could experience the world of sports and music (and everything properly sighted people could do) without the hassle of needing to get good at them. He could enter worlds the board game and card game creators would weave together and live in them. He could be a normal player in a game made for people who could imagine scenarios in their head. Come up with strategies to outwit your opponents. Explore and understand how to excel and win without needing a ball to do it.
He tried to be optimistic about it all, but sometimes it just sucked that he couldn’t be more independent. There was no way around it. So it was moments like this, where he took advantage of being trusted and believed that what he said was true, that he tried to recreate Changbin’s misfortune at the restaurant.
*plop*
He dropped another rock into the lake and focused on the center spot. He couldn’t even see the first ripple get one inch away before it blurred into the rest of the blue-gray expanse. His reflection wasn’t even crystal clear. No stars shined around his head like the ones he saw at the edges of Minho’s aura either.
“Fuck this!”
Jisung stood up and kicked the rest of the rocks next to him angrily into the water. He pulled his portable walking stick out of his cross body bag and extended it to its full length. He took the outdoor stick in preparation for today’s adventure, since it usually did better with uneven terrain. Jisung kept his eyes on the ground until a familiar yellow light was growing larger and stopped right in front of him.
“Are you fucking shitting…” Jisung mumbled, slowing down to not bounce off Minho and fall to his watery demise.
“Hi Jisung! How are…”
“At this point just kidnap me.”
Minho brushed his brown bangs out of his eyes and grinned. “Kidnap you?”
“Yeah. Clearly you’re a stalker, and you want something from me. Like, the store I get, the restaurant I can kind of see how you get there by deductive reasoning, but here?” Jisung finally looked up at Minho, wearing a tight black t-shirt, skinny jeans, and a fully amused expression. “Even my boss didn’t know I would be here. So just take me to whatever weird space town you’re from and end my misery.”
“I’m trying to protect you, not kidnap you.”
“Protect me from what?” Jisung screamed, his voice echoed through the small forest. “There’s no one else here! And,” He narrowed his eyes in Minho’s direction. “Who said you can protect me? Who said I even need protecting?”
Minho sighed and looked upon Jisung with a sad smile. “Perhaps you’re right.” Jisung felt the shame in Minho’s chest radiate from him, his aura finally rippling and glittering from the outer ring of stars. “I can’t hide it from you forever. I just wanted to spend more time with you before you found out.”
“Why?” Jisung anxiously walked forward, his sense of how close he was to Minho severely hampered from the intensity of the aura behind him. “Would me finding out whatever this big secret is stop us from being friends?”
Minho held his hands out hopefully. “You want to be friends?”
“I feel drawn to you.” Jisung could barely see Minho’s aura become a sphere, stars sparkling on the outer edges as it surrounded them both. He flailed his hands around until they found their home in Minho’s. “I can’t explain it to my friends. Or to myself. But you’re safety.” He shook his head in frustration as a breeze picked up around them both. “You’re a stranger. Kinda stalkery, not gonna lie. But I trust you. I have no reason to think you’re lying to me.”
“I haven’t lied to you.” Minho clung to Jisung, hands sliding to his forearms, as he activated the hover to transport to their destination. “I hope you still want me around once you know the truth.”
Jisung tried to reassure him, but he couldn’t hear his voice as the hum of the sphere around them grew louder. The trees quivered as the wind increased, their branches and leaves swirling in the sudden inclement conditions. Jisung looked below him and saw the dirt create a tiny whirlwind beneath them. He screamed and tried to force himself into Minho's arms, but the otherworldly man held him in place. Sensing this was part of the process, Jisung copied Minho's stiff and upright pose and looked above him. The stars around the aura that Jisung saw at the restaurant came into sharp view, cycling in and out of his vision as the orb protected them from their ascent through the canopy of the trees. Their humble main street came into full view, and Jisung could see the details of the top of the buildings, as clearly as he could see the details of the stars.
The world in focus was so overwhelming. There was so much to absorb. Lines and shapes and colors that Jisung thought he understood were clear, but fading away the higher they climbed. The crystal blue sky to the west reminded Jisung of Jeongin's aura, and the darkness left from the lack of sunlight held the indescribable black of Changbin's. Higher than birds, higher even than a plane, they continued to climb through the atmosphere. Jisung was hungry to take in all the details he had been missing for his entire life, but the darkness consumed them. They were clearly in space now, and the gray of the thousands of satellites reminded him of Chan, grounding him to the moment. His friends were with him through this insane turn of events, and perhaps Minho did know them in some way.
"What the fuck is happening?" Jisung yelled in their bubble, nails digging into Minho's arms from terror and the thrill of the journey.
Minho's brown eyes had a spark that matched the yellow stars protecting them. "I'm taking you to my home!"
"I..." Jisung was left speechless, spellbound by his surroundings. "Why can I see?"
"I'll explain soon. We're almost there!"
The Earth shrunk as they flew further away. The oceans and land masses with lights showing where the sun no longer shined were breathtaking. If he was facing the Earth, Jisung thought, and it was getting smaller, that must mean they were either moving toward the moon or the asteroid belt. Living on the moon would make more sense if the rocket ship on SpaceTeam reminded him of home, but with Minho, Jisung couldn't be sure. They were basically strangers after all. Jisung had been looking at Minho, admiring the way his hair fell perfectly across his forehead. After minutes, or maybe hours, Jisung finally dared to look down. Instead of absolutely nothing, he saw a surface that reminded him of the moon.
"Welcome!" Minho's tone was gleeful as he stretched his sneakers down to rest on the ground below. "This is my home, Vesta!"
Jisung felt himself land on a slight decline and instinctually pushed his toes into his sneakers to balance himself. "Are you going to turn into an alien now?"
Minho laughed airily. "No? Why would I do that?"
"I dunno," he shrugged, "sci-fi stuff. It's not like I've met anyone from space before."
"You have, but I'll explain soon."
Jisung looked around now that he was finally settled. There were various shades of gray that expanded out like the ocean. They had landed in a shallow crater about ten feet in diameter. He bent down to feel the rock, which was rough and porous to the touch. But the details, the details, were beyond his imagination. All the dips and bumps were smooth on the surface, but he could tell where the lines and circles were drawn. He wished he could conjure more accurate words to describe what he was seeing, but he never had to, so the vocabulary just wasn't there. The yellow contraption that guided them here shielded them from flying debris and the lack of atmosphere, and that was when Jisung noticed he and Minho were holding hands.
"Oh, sorry!" Jisung let go and tried to take a step backward when he bonked against the outer curve of the sphere and slid to the ground. He looked up at Minho bewildered. "I just touched the..." He tapped the rock beneath him. "But there's a wall I ran..." He quickly looked behind him, then back at Minho's knowing grin. "But it was soft somehow?"
Minho sat in front of him crossed-legged and carefully took Jisung’s hand in both of his, drawing tiny stars on his skin. His soft yellow aura was solid and strong, yet separate from their bubble of protection. "It's the only way to survive here. There's no atmosphere here like there is on Earth. It's why I like taking walks there. More room to wander."
"Okay, so..." Jisung closed his eyes. The details he saw on the surface of Vesta distracted him from focusing on the swirl of new information in his head. "You live here, but what does that have to do with me? And I still don't know why I can see all of a sudden."
"Let the children lose it." Minho softly sang, smiling wistfully at Jisung. "Let the children use it. Let all the children boogie."
"I don't understand."
"I'm a star man." Minho grimaced, knowing that their new connection, that was actually decades old, could end with his next admission. "I watch over you. Have been since you were little. Tried my best to protect you. And I..."
After a long silence and a few sniffles, Jisung finally dared to look at Minho. His aura had finally changed. Fractures zigzagged through it like a mirror, and the sections were barely hanging together behind him. The pitch black backdrop of space accentuated where they were, and the outer stars transformed from a circle to an oval frame. Minho, bathed in starlight radiating from the orb that protected them, refused to stop drawing stars on the back of Jisung's hand. His tears literally sparkled as they fell. Jisung couldn't possibly fathom what could be worrying Minho. He had seen auras change in plenty of different ways, but even in his friends' darkest moments, he had never seen an aura crack and almost fall apart. At a loss for words, stranded on an asteroid, he felt compelled, as if his soul was pushing him relentlessly, to move next to Minho and hope their thin gelatinous bubble didn't collapse.
"Are you okay?" Jisung positioned himself behind Minho and wrapped his arms around the star man's waist, gently leaning his head against the other. "I'm a very accepting person. I couldn't love myself if I didn't love all types of people who weren't like me."
Minho fully relaxed into Jisung's touch, wishing on the billions of stars he had seen over his life that this would work out. "I don't want you to hate me for what I did."
"How could I hate you?" Jisung felt drawn to Minho in that moment, as if their souls were connecting. As if they were meant for one another. Maybe this was love, as silly as it might be. "I don't hate anyone. I can't hate anyone. I don't have it in me."
With half of his secret revealed, Minho altered his aura to become a giant and soft yellow blanket to envelop him and Jisung. "In every star person's life, they receive a mission to complete on Earth. Each of these asteroids belong to a family.”
“Where’s your family?”
“I…” Minho didn’t want to cry. He thought he was past this. “Got exiled because of how I handled my mission. With you.”
The chill of space, despite being protected by their starry bubble and the large blanket that hugged them both, had seeped into Jisung’s bones. His lips rested in the crook of Minho’s neck, nose nuzzling it to comfort him through this difficult confession. He couldn’t imagine what it was like to live alone, looking out into the cluster of asteroids with other families and homes, knowing you couldn’t see your family again. It broke his heart as someone who not only treasures his family and friends, but relies on them to get through life.
“I’m sorry that happened to you, because of me.”
Minho shook his head and turned around to face Jisung. The aura blanket split into two, one over each of their shoulders, purposefully leaving room in between for them to hold hands, which Jisung did instantly. “It’s okay. I spend more time watching you anyway. It’s less lonely and I feel less guilty that way.”
“Guilty about what?” Jisung fixated on the sparkles that accentuated where their hands were connected. “Just tell me already!”
“I’m the reason you’re blind.” The words spilled out of Minho’s mouth like he had been holding his breath. He expected Jisung to pull away, and was shocked when the younger looked at him inquisitively, open to explanation, instead of with judgment. “I gave you the auras to make it easier to get through life, and that’s why I got exiled. I was interpreting the mission I got, and I messed that up. Well,” He looked at Jisung’s beauty in the intense starlight, not believing he was finally confessing to the man he admired from afar for over two decades. “I thought I had until I saw you thrive.”
“Thrive?”
Minho grinned and gave Jisung’s hands a squeeze. “You have a job. You have friends. You have come to peace with what I did to you. And that’s why I finally revealed myself to give you your sight back.”
“What?” Jisung shook his head vigorously, looking up to see Minho’s eyes shining with love. “No!”
“No?”
Jisung was shocked by his own reaction. He looked around at all the details he was able to see for the first time. The peaks and valleys of the crater beneath him were fascinating. The sharp corners of the stars contrasted with the soft gelatin shield properly protecting them from the emptiness of space. Even seeing Minho’s face from more than a few inches away was stunning.
He was beautiful. But is he beautiful enough to give up his walking sticks and the solid colored shirts his friends wore at game night? No more large numbered Hanabi cards for his birthday? Maybe he could learn to drive instead of relying on his dad to go everywhere. Tears fell from his eyes as he reached a mental crossroad. It was certainly tempting, knowing that Minho would be more involved in his life from now on. Or at least he hoped.
The star man looked a little hurt by Jisung’s rejection. “Will you stay in my life?” Jisung asked in earnest. “If I turn down your…”
“Of course.” The tension from the building anticipation left Minho’s body. “If you let me stay, I’ll never leave you again.”
“Then no. I don’t want my sight back.”
Minho pulled Jisung into his arms and stood them both up. The blankets turned into brilliant yellow princely capes invisibly pinned to their shoulders as Minho wrapped Jisung’s arms around his neck and rested his own hands on Jisung’s waist. “Can I give you a show before we go back? So I can have a memory of you here?”
“Sure. But, a memory?”
Minho laughed as soft music began to fill the space. “Of course! How do you think people on Earth get wishes? The more positive memories we have, the more shooting stars we can send. They’re easier to see if we make them from home.”
A pleasing melody of a choir and violins in unison echoed and enveloped Minho and Jisung as they began to shuffle back and forth in a slow dance, never breaking eye contact. “Am I your first memory here?”
“Of course.”
Minho leaned in to kiss Jisung’s cheek and pulled him close, leaving no room between their bodies. Smushed against Minho, Jisung looked with crystal clear vision at the stars around him, real and fictional, wondering what wish this would bestow on the lucky human who saw it. He wrapped his arms around Minho’s waist and took in the last moments of being able to see. He knew he made the right decision, as his advocacy for those who aren’t obviously disabled would do far more good than if he was magically cured.
Jisung pulled away to enjoy Minho’s brown eyes with the obvious sparkle in them. “Will you come to game night to meet my friends?”
Minho giggled nervously. “Would they be okay with that? I didn’t make the best first impression.”
“If I explained what happened, they’ll be fine.” Jisung caught the infectious giggle himself. “They just want to make sure I’m okay.”
“Then yes, I would love to.”
The music faded away as the bubble protecting them from the atmosphere snuck its way under their feet. Jisung, now knowing what was happening, rocked back and forth on his sneakers, the surface reminding him of a bouncy house. The broad grin on his face was reflected on Minho’s while they were lifted off the ground with whatever magic power star men used to transport themselves and their loved ones back and forth from Earth.
“We’re going to go fast this time!” Minho shouted with glee, the exhilaration of the anticipation of travel and holding Jisung in his arms mixing together. “Hang on tight, okay?”
Jisung nodded, wrapping his arms extra tight around Minho. “I’ll be fine!”
“Okay! Here we go!”
Minho was not kidding.
Jisung shouted and laughed hysterically as they zoomed out of the asteroid belt, barely dodging rocks that were hurtling towards them. He was able to see different houses and protective orbs in different shades of yellow. None of them were as bright and steady as Minho’s aura.
Wait…
“Did you give me the star people’s bubbles as auras to help me?”
“Yep!” Minho spoke calmly while he started his dive towards Earth. “It’s against the rules, but what else were you supposed to use once you lost your sight?”
Jisung looked to his right at the upside down moon. He was awestruck seeing the craters so close. “I would have figured it out!”
“As if I was supposed to know that when you were little!”
“Thanks for watching over me all these years.” Jisung was suddenly overwhelmed knowing that someone with such a big heart was watching from afar. He often thought of his lack of sight, and the accompanying auras, as a blessing instead of an obstacle. “It means a lot.”
They blasted through the atmosphere, zeroing in on the continent, country and town Jisung knew and loved. “You didn’t need me, but you’re welcome. I did my…”
“AHHHHHHHHHWEREGONNADIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!”
Jisung went from admiring the landscape to having his vision going back to normal as he and Minho hurtled towards the trees in the forest. The afternoon had fallen into sunset, where the blurs of oranges and purples meshed with the greens in the canopies of the trees. He closed his eyes and clung to Minho while the shield fell away, skin feeling the light breeze of the evening. When he finally dared to peek one eye open, he was met with a smiling Minho, feet sturdy on the ground, aura back in place with the addition of blurry and sparkling stars on the outer edge that he now knew were three-dimensional and brilliant.
“We didn’t die?”
“I wouldn’t let you die!” Minho threw an arm around his shoulder and started leading him away from the lake and back towards town. “I’ve taken that trip many times to make sure you’re okay.”
“Does that mean you’re dead and I see dead people now?” Jisung muttered nervously, trusting Minho to lead him safely through the forest despite the irrational thought.
“That would make for some great lore, but I am, indeed, alive and kickin’!” Minho pinched Jisung’s cheek lightly, eliciting a frown from him. “Let’s get you home, okay?”
“Yeah.” Jisung leaned into Minho and closed his eyes, peace washing over him. “Let’s go home.”
_____________________
“Oh no!” Changbin shouted at a cautiously approaching Jisung, Minho following a pace or two behind in his yellow sweater, while his black aura transformed into a popcorn-like pattern. “Not him!”
“Binnie, I can explain…”
“Binnie,” An orange blob in the form of Chan jumped across the carpet and rested a hand on Changbin’s bicep. “Jisung trusts Minho enough to bring him to game night. Give him another chance.”
“He wasn’t that bad the first time.” Jeongin stuck his tongue out as his friends before standing up to greet Minho properly, stretching out his right hand as a peace offering. “Let me properly introduce us. I’m Jeongin.” He jerked his head behind him as Minho returned the handshake. “Those nerds are Chan and Changbin. Chan is in orange and Changbin is in the pink. They’re not as tough as they look.”
“Innie!” Jisung put his hand over his mouth and laughed. “Don’t say that!”
“What am I supposed to say?” His bold and steady blue aura impressed Minho as the youngest sat back down. It was similar to the most confident star people he had ever met. “You probably shouldn’t team up with them if you want to win?”
“Hey!” Chan reached out to swat at his leg, obediently moving back to his normal spot across from Changbin. “We’re not that bad!”
“Whatever you say, Channie.”
Changbin rolled his eyes at their bickering while Minho sat next to Jisung in his normal spot. Smiles bounced between them as Jisung looked between his friends to make his announcement, reaching out to intertwine their fingers together. “So Minho and I went on a…trip together last week.”
His friends erupted simultaneously.
“WHAT?!!?!!?!!” Chan exploded, a wide grin on his face.
“Where did you go?” Jeongin asked, a quizzical furrow in his brow.
“So he DID kidnap you!” Changbin screeched and pointed aggressively at Minho. “I knew it! Where did you take our Sungie?!?! Is this stockholm syndrome happening?!!?!?!?”
Jisung reached his right hand out to rub Changbin’s shoulder. “It’s fine, Bin. I’m safe. Minho is protecting me.”
Changbin crossed his arms defiantly. “Exactly!”
“We went to space.”
Chan gave Minho a skeptical look, but Jeongin nodded firmly at the pair with a comforting smile. “I believe you, Jisung. Did you have fun?”
Jisung beamed and sighed with relief. “I did! It was mind blowing! And so pretty!”
“Please give me another chance.” Minho pleaded softly, getting a sympathetic look from Jisung. “I’m sorry I made a bad first impression. We all care about Jisung, and I want to be part of his life too, which is hanging out with the people who mean the most to him.”
“Binnie?” Jisung looked between Changbin and Chan, just wanting his friends to get along. “Chan? Please?”
“We love you, Jisung. We’re just a little overprotective sometimes. Right, Bin?” Chan stared Changbin down until Changbin gave him a small nod. “Good. Now,” He smiled at Minho. “Do you like games?”
“I do,” Minho relaxed his body and naturally leaned into Jisung, excited to learn more about his friends. “I just don’t have anyone to play them with.”
“Well, you’re in luck! Jisung is one of the best game teachers out there!”
“And best partner.” Jeongin added with a wink and a smirk.
“Innie!” Jisung and Changbin cried out at the same time. Jisung made himself into a tiny bundle and hid his head in his arms from embarrassment.
“You little piece of shit!”
Jisung heard a slap, which he presumed to be Changbin hitting Jeongin, followed by a chorus of laughter, including Minho to his left. He peeked out over his arms and his eyes widened.
He could see the details of his friends’ auras like he could see the stars in Minho’s steady yellow glow.
“Minho!” Jisung looked back and forth between his normal blurred world and the lighter blue circles and loops on the edges of Jeongin’s aura. He bounced up and down, looking at Minho in awe. “Did you do this?”
“Do what?” Chan followed Jisung’s eye line to above Jeongin’s head. The border of his aura was big and small triangles that made various rotated trapezoids in light gray. “I don’t see anything.”
It was Minho’s turn to be surprised. “You never told them?”
“Told us what?” Changbin’s pitch black hearts outlined in pink stood out against his abnormal bright black aura. “Jisung?”
Jisung couldn’t help himself and brushed Minho’s bangs out of his eyes with both thumbs. “They would think I’m crazy. Of course I haven’t!”
Minho’s heart fluttered while Jisung held his face, his aura pulsing just as quickly. “Have you told anyone?”
“No.” Jisung glanced at the stars in his peripheral vision to try and dispel his anxiety. “I didn’t want them to think I was lying about being blind.”
“Tell us what Jisung?” Jeongin silently signaled to his friends to approach Jisung and Minho and tighten their circle. “You can trust us. Promise.”
“So,” Jisung let his eyes unfocus and refocus for a moment before looking at his friends. “Everyone I see has an aura behind them, that’s a different color. It helps me read emotions and have a better idea of where people are in space. In…space.” He exhaled a few breathy laughs and glanced at Minho before continuing. “I found out recently that Minho gave me the ability to see them when he learned I was legally blind.”
“Wait.” Chan spoke after a moment of silence and confused looks. “Minho knew you when you were little? But you never met him until now?”
“Yeah.” Minho jumped in, glad that Jisung didn’t tell his friends that Minho was the one directly responsible for Jisung having worse sight than most. “I only wanted to show up in Jisung’s life once he was doing okay.”
“So if you’ve always seen them, what’s so different?” Changbin sounded skeptical, but at least willing to listen.
“This.”
Minho stood up on his knees and swiped the air above each of their heads slowly. Jisung first, then Changbin, Jeongin, Chan and himself. Even with the slower speed, each person ducked their head in turn to not get hit. They watched in wonder as Minho closed his eyes to focus, holding his hands together like he was hiding something. After a few seconds in the stillness and quiet of the room and night, he opened them to reveal what he had gathered.
Hovering just above Minho’s cradled hands was each person’s shape, in their designated aura color, in the order they were seated, emitting a soft starlight glow over the room. Each two-dimensional shape rotated in place horizontally with a thin, taut, invisible white string connecting them. Between Minho’s yellow star and Changbin’s heart was a red star. Jisung leaned in, nose one inch away from this marvel, and locked his eyes on the unexpected addition.
“I…” Jisung felt Changbin’s hand on his shoulder, and Chan and Jeongin’s hands on each knee, as he tried to hold back his tears. “I have one too?”
“Yes.” Minho whispered into his ear, but loud enough so his friends could hear too. “I made it so anyone you tell will be able to see your aura, and those who know will be able to see the other auras too.” He looked up at Jisung’s friends, who were all looking at the red aura behind him with the dark red stars dotting the outer edge. “That’s the main reason why I got banished. I not only gave our sacred secret kept from humans for generations to you. I gave you the ability to use it.”
“I’m so sorry, Minho.” Jisung looked behind him to see Minho studying the diagram he created in his hands pensively. “I’m sorry I ruined your life. You’re all alone because of me.”
“You live alone?” Changbin asked, feeling bad for being unkind to Minho if he didn’t have friends himself.
Minho looked up at the most skeptical of Jisung’s friends and nodded. “I do. I am an outcast from the star people I grew up with. All because I fulfilled my mission incorrectly, according to them. So I’ve been watching over Jisung and you all for a long time. Trying to make sure Jisung turned out alright.”
“I turned out great.” Jisung put a hand on Minho’s shoulder and grinned through the tears that were no longer held back. “I have a job. I have friends. I’m at peace with my disability. I’m exactly who I want to be everyday. What else could I want out of life, you know?”
Minho left the colorful shapes to hover like an invisible mobile and took Jisung’s hands in his. “You are amazing.” He leaned forward to kiss his forehead and kept eye contact as he pulled away to admire him in the indoor starlight. “I’m glad you don’t hate me. I hope your friends won’t either.”
“We’re not judgmental like that.” Chan spoke up gently, patting his back in support. “Any friend of Jisung is a friend of ours. You won’t have to be alone anymore.”
“Yeah.” Changbin peaked around the corner of Jisung’s shoulder to look at Minho. “No one should ever be shunned because they did what they thought was right.”
“Vague rules make for bad gameplay. Same for real life.” Jeongin added with a shrug and a half smile. “If they didn’t want you to share the auras, they should have said something before you did it, not be assholes after the fact.”
Minho was on the verge of tears, overwhelmed by the love and kindness of Jisung's friends. They truly were as wonderful in person as they were from afar. "Thank you all so much. It means a lot to me."
"Thank you for watching out for us. From..." Jisung stared at the ceiling, letting the aura colors glow from his peripheral vision. "Vista?"
"Vesta, but close enough."
"The asteroid Vesta?" Changbin yelped, gripping and shaking Jisung's shoulder in excitement. "You actually went to space?!?"
Jeongin rolled his eyes. "That's what they said earlier, Bin. Pay attention, old man."
Changbin was about to dive at Jeongin, but Minho's aura zoomed between them, causing Changbin to bounce off it and into Jisung's lap. Now that all of his friends could see the auras, Chan let out a loud belly laugh and gave Minho a wide-eyed look. "Wait, is that what happened at the restaurant?"
"Yeah!" Minho allowed himself to be more expressive now that he felt more comfortable. "I told you! I can't get hit!"
Jisung let his eyes wander from the solid-colored shirts rippling from laughter, to the auras now shimmering with in-depth details, and back to the model of his friends being connected to one another through Minho's magic shapes. Meeting Minho for the first time had been quite the experience. It was like he knew everything about Jisung while being a complete stranger. Yet Jisung felt a pull to Minho he couldn't describe, and now he knew why. Minho used the power of the stars to take his sight, but also let him use the power of the auras to get through life as best he could. It wasn't always easy being left out of games and activities that the other kids did growing up, but once he realized his strength was his inner eye and not his outer ones, everything was alright. He could be a part of any world he wanted in his mind. But, in all honesty, there was no better world to live in than the one under his roof and surrounded by his mischievous best friends.
"Hey Jisung?" Chan leaned in and drew a few triangles on his arm to get his attention. "What game should we teach Minho first?"
“Hanabi.”
“I thought that was your birthday game.” Minho wondered aloud as Chan turned behind him to grab the blue box with the fireworks off of the game shelf. “It’s not your birthday yet.”
“It’s not, but it teaches a helpful piece of board game wisdom.”
“What is that?”
Jisung gave Minho his most optimistic grin. “Even if you can’t see everything, you can always rely on friends to help you out.”
Chan hummed in agreement as he started searching through the pile of extra cards to make it a five-player game. “And it helps to live in someone else’s shoes for a day.”
“And, maybe…” Minho scooped the floating shapes in his hands and made them disappear. “Having all the information doesn’t mean you’ll always succeed?”
“That’s the board game lesson!” Jeongin looked delighted as he slid a card rack towards Changbin. “You found a good one, Sungie!”
Jisung slowly began turning red. “Innie, we’re not dating!”
“Yet!” Changbin shouted.
Jisung glared at Changbin before turning his back to him in fake protest. “Okay, so how you play is you start with…”
Jisung lost his sight as a child.
He used the auras Minho gave him to get through life.
All that’s left to do is boogie with the star man for the rest of his days.