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Yushi was struggling to sleep, having to stay up late these weeks doing his assignments made him mess his nightly resting schedule. He turn his body here and there, facing the wall seemed lonely, facing his desk made him remember the sleeplessness nights he had spent. And soon, he just settled looking up to the ceiling with his fingers intertwined and placed his hands on top of his stomach.
In his mind he counted the imaginary sheep that was told to be effective to make people got bored and sleepy.
However, something disturbed him.
Yushi heard the serene melody coming from the outside. He tried to ignore it thinking one of his neighbours might be spending the night happily as he heard the serene melody was sung with such excitement. However then, he heard rustling coming from the outside as he was about to close his eyes after finishing counting the imaginary sheeps.
The rustling sounded like a very large bird was wriggling and flapping its wings. For Yushi who was always excited about birds and other kind of animals, it piqued his interest. He got up from his bed, slowly went to his slightly open window.
There it was, the source of the serene melody and the sound of flapping wings.
The first time Tokuno Yushi saw it, the world was bathed in starlight.
It was already this late, the kind of night where silence stretched endlessly, and the city lay in restless slumber.
Yushi had left his window open, hoping for a cool breeze to soothe his sleepless mind, when a glimmering light caught his eye before his other senses could. He hadn't thought much of it at first—just the city lights playing tricks on his sleepy mind.
But then, against the vast darkness of the sky, he saw something impossible. He heard another serene melody from the being that caught his attention.
There it was.
A boy.
Barefoot on the rooftop across from his window, standing amidst the silver glow of the stars. And behind him—wings, flapping excitedly as he turn here and there as if dancing to the melody he sang.
They fluttered as he moved, catching the stardust that drifted down like gentle rain. The boy laughed, his voice ringing like the echo of wind chimes, twirling as if the sky itself belonged to him. And maybe it did. Yushi was quite sure about it.
Yushi should have looked away. Should have just closed his window and convinced himself it was a dream. But he couldn’t.
Instead, he whispered, “Who are you?”
His curiosity goy the better of him.
The boy froze mid-spin as if he just heard Yushi's soft voice asking the question directly to him. Slowly, he turned, green jade eyes locking onto Yushi's with an intensity that sent a shiver down his spine.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then, as if answering an unspoken call, the boy spread his wings and leaped. Yushi's breath hitched, expecting him to fall—but he didn't. He landed, light as a feather, on Yushi's windowsill. Yushi sighed in relief.
“Can you see me?” the boy asked, his voice hushed with something like wonder.
Yushi swallowed, his heart pounding. “Yes.”
The boy tilted his head as if studying Yushi. His gaze was soft, but something sorrowful lingered beneath the curiosity. Reminding Yushi of a golden retriever dog he just encountered around the campus some days ago.
Then, just as quickly as he had appeared, the boy smiled—a quiet, fleeting thing.
“I must have lost my way again.” He murmured.
“Your way?” Yushi asked.
The boy reached out, the tips of his fingers brushing against the wooden frame of the window.
“I come here when the night calls me. When I forget where I am meant to be.”
He exhaled, eyes flickering to the sky. “I shouldn't stay long...” He muttered to himself.
Yushi's chest tightened. “Then don't go.”
The boy turned back to him, surprised.
“Don't go.” Yushi repeated his words, his downcasted eyes looked pitiful even to this young boy, as if the boy was about to abandon him when it was clearly their first time meeting.
For some reason, the thought of this young boy leaving felt unbearable for Yushi, like the air would grow cold the moment he was gone. Like Yushi would wake up to find this had been nothing more than an illusion due to his tiredness, due to his sleeplessness nights, due to... His loneliness.
The boy hesitated, his gaze searching. Then, slowly, he tucked his wings close and stepped inside.
He said his name was Kim Daeyoung. He was an angel—or a cupid? He himself didn't even know. He told Yushi that he was an angel but he himself didn't know what kind of angel he was.
And he was not meant to stay, staying in human realm. That was what he knew and was told time over time repeatedly by his elders.
Yushi learned this over the nights that followed—nights where Daeyoung appeared at his window like a ghost of moonlight, slipping into his room with his thin lips curving up forming a warm smile.
Sometimes, Daeyoung would curl up in the corner, listening as Yushi read to him from an old book that had caught Daeyoung's attention while accompanying Yushi doing his assignments. Other times, he would sit on the edge of the bed, tracing invisible patterns onto Yushi's palm with his fingertips. Always, he would leave before dawn.
And every time he did, Yushi felt something inside him pull taut with longing.
“Will you leave me one day, Daeyoung?” He asked one night, as Daeyoung played absently with the ends of his blanket because it reminded him of the one his elder gave him in the past.
The fallen angel stilled. He didn't meet Yushi's eyes. “You already know the answer, Yushi-san.”
Yushi's throat tightened. “Then why do you keep coming back?”
Daeyoung exhaled, his fingers curling into the fabric. “Because when I am here… I forget.”
“Forget about... what?”
Daeyoung finally looked at him, something fragile could be seen in his gaze.
“That I don't belong to this world.”
Yushi clenched his fists. He wanted to tell him—then stay. Stay, and don’t leave, and let me keep you. But Yushi knew better.
Daeyoung was never his to hold.
And yet, every night, Yushi found himself reaching for him anyway.
It was inevitable.
One night, Daeyoung came drenched in rain. His wings, usually so brilliant, drooped under the weight of the water, trembling with exhaustion. Yushi had never seen him look so fragile.
“You are soaked, Daeyoung.” He whispered, worried could be sensed from his tone alone. Yushi pulled Daeyoung inside. Drying his hair, his feathers with all of the towels he had in his wardrobe.
Daeyoung didn't speak. He merely stood there, his breath uneven, his body trembling.
Yushi guided him to the bed, hands warm as he wrapped a towel around his shoulders.
“You can rest.” Yushi told him. It felt weird seeing the boy who was always filled with excitement like this today, but Yushi didn't want to prey too much.
Daeyoung closed his eyes. “I shouldn't.”
“Just this once.” Yushi said, almost begging.
Silence. Then, with a sigh, Daeyoung let himself sink into Yushi's arms, his wings folding around them both.
Yushi held him close.
Then, he felt Daeyoung sobbing under his warm embrace. Yushi patted his back slowly and gradually, he felt Daeyoung finally could breathe easily.
“Remember... That one time Yushi-san told me that I have similar names as Korean people...” Daeyoung suddenly asked. Yushi stopped moving his hand.
“Yeah... Why?” He asked back with worry.
Daeyoung pulled away from Yushi's warm embrace. His tear filled eyes met Yushi. Yushi felt his heart tightening as if it was squeezed from the outside of its cage.
“The elder got mad at me for going to human realm so much.... They told me, I was once belong here. I was a young boy born in Daegu, playing around with the friends I made on earth... Until... I was found dead due to the unknown illness. I died young... Because I died young, they said I became an angel...” Daeyoung was sobbing so hard. Yushi quickly pulled out tissues and softly wiped the tears that stained Daeyoung's flushed cheeks.
From the way Daeyoung tried his best to express his feelings, Yushi could see that despite his tall body, Daeyoung was still an immature child by heart. A child who seeked comfort, who seeked the warmth he had never received all these years.
“They said my parents had gone to the other side. I... I asked them why they didn't become angels like me... They told me it was because they died due to their old age... I felt lonely, I felt resentful. Even if I knew the elders have taken care of me so much, I still miss my parents. I want to meet them.” Yushi reached put and hug Daeyoung again as Daeyoung continuesly poured out the immature and fragile words about his loneliness, about his attachment to the human realm. It was because he felt lonely being an angel. He was still seeking the warmth he barely remembered from being in the arms of his parents.
“Yushi-san... If I didn't die young... No, If I could be born again... Perhaps... Could we still meet each other like this? Could I be my parents' son again?” His watery eyes met Yushi's again as he looked up. Yushi confidently nodded his head.
“Of course, even if we couldn't meet like this, I'm going to be the one who will search for Daeyoung and meet him again. Even if Daeyoung was not born as your parents' son, even if Daeyoung was born as a flower, as a dog, even if Daeyoung was born as …a star in the night sky, I will find you.” Yushi's voice was steady, unwavering.
His dark eyes held a quiet intensity, a promise carved into eternity itself.
“Even if I have to search the entire world, I’ll find you, Daeyoung.”
Daeyoung's breath hitched. His wings, shimmering under the faint bedroom's light, trembled as if the weight of Yushi's words reached deep into his very being.
“But… what if I forget you, Yushi-san?” He whispered, voice barely louder than the wind.
Yushi let out a soft chuckle, filled with a sadness so gentle yet so piercing.
“Then I’ll remind you.”
A tear slipped down Daeyoung's cheek, catching the silver glow of the night. His lips curved into a small, trembling smile.
“Yushi-san always says things that make it harder for me to leave.”
Yushi exhaled, reaching out. His fingers brushed against Daeyoung's, warm against the angel's cool skin.
“Then don’t leave.” He murmured, his voice low, pleading.
“Stay.”
Daeyoung closed his eyes, his grip tightening ever so slightly before he pulled away.
“You know I can't.” The words settled between them like an unspoken farewell.
The sky stretched endlessly above them that can be seen from Yushi's room's window, indifferent to the sorrow below.
Yushi clenched his fists, his heart aching with a pain that had no cure.
“Then let me be selfish just this once, Daeyoung-ah.” He said, stepping forward, closing the distance between them. His hands cupped Daeyoung's face, his thumbs brushing away the tears that kept falling.
“If you have to go...” Yushi whispered, pressing their foreheads together, “at least let me hold you until then.”
Daeyoung's breath stuttered, but he didn't pull away this time. Instead, he leaned into the warmth, letting himself be held—just for a little while, just for tonight.
Yushi didn’t know how much time he had left. Didn’t know when Daeyoung would suddenly really disappear—because it seemed like the elders wouldn't let him off easily, leaving nothing behind but the ghost of his presence.
But for now, in the quiet of the night, Daeyoung was here under Yushi's warm and tight embrace.
And that was enough.
As Yushi had promised, no matter what kind of being Daeyoung became, he would be the one to find him and remind him the bond they had shared together.
When morning came, Yushi woke to an empty bed.
The sheets were cold. The air smelled faintly of rain.
And by the window, caught in the first light of dawn—
A single feather.
Yushi picked it up with shaking fingers, pressing it to his chest.
He already knew.
Daeyoung was gone.
Outside, the city had stirred awake, accompanied by the bright sun as if it never rained last night.
And somewhere beyond the sky, a fallen angel flew home.
The End.