Work Text:
Standing by himself next to the bar, Wonwoo never felt more lonely. He didn’t know what struck him to accept the invitation to his office New Year’s party held on top of their office building. When he asked why the party was being held outside in the dead of winter, his coworker just scoffed and said it was because the fireworks and starry night were romantic to kiss under. Wonwoo just smiled like he understood that logic. It’s not like he had a lover to kiss under the supposed romantic starry nights and fireworks, he just hoped he wasn’t the only awkward single. And what was romantic about standing out in almost freezing weather? Not his cold ass, that’s for sure.
Sure, there some tiki torches thrown around for aesthetic and half a degree of warmth, but Wonwoo’s ass wasn’t feeling much warmer. He could go stand next to the fire pit, but he would have to associate himself with a bunch of coworkers and their spouses, and he was not up for some awkward conversations just to save his ass from hypothermia. Downing down his fancy-ass cocktail that the company spent big bucks so Instagram pictures would make the office look good, he ordered another, might as well get at least a bit buzzed so he doesn’t feel the cold anymore.
“Wonwoo!” He grimaced at the loud, cheerful voice, he could recognize it everywhere. Turning to give a fake smile to his coworker slash friend he wonders everyday why they’re friends, “Hey, Mingyu.”
The cheerful male had an arm planted around another male’s waist and was basically skipping over to where Wonwoo was. Another couple to make him feel like a single pringle, he just hoped they didn’t make out in front of him.
“
I didn’t expect to see you out here!” Mingyu practically shouted in Wonwoo’s ear. He flinched, “I would say inside voices, but for some goddamn reason, we’re outside in below freezing weather.”
Mingyu looked offended, “That goddamn reason is the romance, Wonwoo! Tell me, what's more romantic than kissing your lover on New Years under the beautiful stars and fireworks.”
Wonwoo groaned, not another romantic, “Not getting hypothermia.”
Mingyu gave an annoying chuckle. A chuckle? Who even chuckles anymore? A hand slapped him hard on the back and he almost spit his expensive-ass drink. “Cheer up, Wonwoo. This one here,” Mingyu said, gesturing to the boy hanging off his arm, “brought a single friend. You guys can pretend to be couple, and who knows? You might fall in love. He's probably doing the same thing as you, being anti-romantic asshole and nursing a drink. You guys are perfect for each other!”
“First of all, I don’t believe in love at first sight, and second of all I don't give a fuck about kissing someone under this ‘romantic’ starry night and fireworks.”
Mingyu was ready to shout some romantic insult him, but was stopped by his boyfriend who placed a hand on his chest and gave him the a look, he sighed and placed his arm back around his boyfriend. “Whatever, Wonwoo. You do you, and I’ll be doing this cutie when midnight hits. But not in a sexual way because you know public indecency and I don’t want to be arrested and I like this job and-”
Wonwoo held out his hand, “Look, I get it, you’ll just be making out with him in like half an hour and then doing him once you get home. I’ll just be a lonely loner and probably go home and play with my cat. Just don’t make out in front of me, I don’t need to throw up.”
Mingyu smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, let’s do that.” Wonwoo shook his head and walked to the railing of the roof. If he was going to be alone, at least he’ll get a good firework show out of it.
A cold breeze blew by and he shivered. Wonwoo wondered why he hasn’t left this stupid party yet.
“You dragged here by someone, too?” a soothing voice came up next to him. Wonwoo turned to see another male adorably bundled up in a thick black sweater and white scarf,
his hands, unlike Wonwoo’s, were gloveless and red, trying to keep warm in the makeshift sweater paws he had going on.
“No, I work here, except I hate social interactions. I only came because a friend and another random coworker convinced me to go because of the ‘romantic’ starry nights and fireworks. Still don’t know why I agreed.”
The other male laughed a bit, it was low and hearty, a genuine laugh. Wonwoo liked it, “Tragic.”
Wonwoo turned to stare at the other male, who’s eyes were wide with awe as he stared into the city.
“You know,” the male began. “I think the stars can get pretty romantic, but really space in general.”
Wonwoo cocked his head, “Really?”
The other nodded and stared excitedly at Wonwoo, “Yeah! The Coma Berenices is a cluster of stars about Queen Berenice of Egypt who sacrificed her hair for her husband to come home safely from war, it’s next to Leo. And some asteroids are named after the discoverer’s lovers, which is pretty cute because asteroids have some much meaning to some astronomers.”
Wonwoo smiled at the male, “You sure do love space.”
The male blushed, making his red cheeks redder, “Sorry about my geeking out, I’m an astronomer. There’s an observatory a couple blocks down from your office that I work at, if you really want to see some cool stars, come over.”
“Maybe, I’ll take you up on that offer,” Wonwoo said with a smile. “Since you think the starry nights are romantic, how about the fireworks?”
The male shook his head, “No way, I’m an astronomer, that’s why I have a thing for stars. Fireworks are just big balls of destruction, they aren’t good for anything than scaring the shit out of people who don’t expect it.”
“You said it, baby,” Wonwoo’s smile froze on his face. “Um, I didn’t mean anything about, you know.”
The male laughed his hearty laugh again. “No worries. My friend was trying to set me up with a guy that came here alone, you wouldn’t be that guy, right?” he teased, obviously not meaning it.
“Yeah, totally, my friend was doing the same thing... Wait, is your friend’s not a huge dumbass named Mingyu right?”
The male nodded his head sadly, “That would be the one, destruction in a body.” He shivered as another breeze blew by. “They really should have told us that this would be an outdoor party, right?”
Wonwoo hesitated slightly, but reached forward to grab the other male’s exposed hands, “Yeah, people like you come underdressed.” His gloved hands rubbed the others hands, “What would you do without me? You’d get hypothermia in these nice hands.”
The other male smiled, “Did you just compliment my hands?”
Wonwoo looked around, sheepishly, “Maybe? Look I’m awkward with social skills.”
“You weren’t awkward when you were trying to warm my hands,” the male said, wiggling his fingers in Wonwoo’s grip.
Wonwoo laughed nervously, cheeks red from embarrassment, “Yeah, well, I guess Mingyu didn’t have to set us up, we did it by ourselves.”
The other male nodded, looking over at the loud male, laughing excessively hard at something his boyfriend said, “Yeah he didn’t.”
The two males stood next to each other in a comfortable silence, Wonwoo holding the other’s hands still. In the distance, they could hear Mingyu whoop in excitement as the minute countdown began.
Wonwoo turned to look at the other male, floral scent tickling his nose. He felt his heartbeat rise, reaching one hand up to cup the other’s red cheek, a fire coursed through Wonwoo’s body. He’s never felt like this before, reacting to the other male, it was beautifully intense.
Fifty.
“Earlier, I told Mingyu that I didn’t believe in true love, but spending ten seconds with you makes me question the possibilities under this ‘romantic’ starry night.”
Forty five.
“We don't even know each other's names.”
Forty.
“I'm Wonwoo.”
Thirty five.
“Don’t I get to know yours?”
Thirty
“Maybe.”
Twenty five.
“Let’s keep this a secret between us, what Mingyu doesn’t see, he doesn’t need to know.”
Twenty.
Wonwoo stepped closer, their eyes locked together, eyes thick with emotion
Fifteen.
Lips trembling.
Ten.
Wonwoo’s hands found them pulling the other male closer.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
There was no hesitation as their noses brushed together. Wonwoo felt the other flinch from the unexpected large booms from the fireworks erupting above them. He smiled into the kiss, and kissed him harder. There was no domination, it was as they were one, breaths matching the others. Warmth radiated from the other as they pushed closer together.
Wonwoo pulled away from the other, breathing a little hard, heart beating fast, he felt so stereotypically drunk off love.
“Junhui.”
“What?
“Didn’t you want to know my name? It’s Junhui.”
Wonwoo smiled, “Beautiful name.”
Junhui smiled and punched Wonwoo teasingly, “I’m Chinese, how do you know it’s beautiful?”
“Because you’re beautiful.”
“Wooh! Get it Wonwoo!”
Wonwoo closed his eyes and grimaced, gripping Junhui’s hands harder, “This is why I didn’t want him to know.”
Junhui gave him a wicked smile, “I know what to do.” He grabbed Wonwoo’s hand and sprinted, pulling the confused male along. Junhui laughed as the wind whipped past their ears, down the stairs and into the streets running under the brightly lit streets with the booms of fireworks ringing in their ears.
Wonwoo smiled as they stopped running and stood in front of a dome shaped building, “I said you needed to come look at the stars here.” Still pulling him along, Junhui dug in his pocket for his keycard. Scanning it on the door, he entered the observatory, dimly lit with a few people milling about drinking liters of coffee, it was peaceful and warm.
“This way,” Junhui said, tugging on Wonwoo’s arm. “We don’t do much observing at this observatory, it’s more like a research center, working on computers.”
Wonwoo slung an arm around Junhui’s shoulder as he lead them to a large room with a telescope and multiple computers.
“I work here, on the few days we actually get to look through the telescope, I get to do it.”
Wonwoo enjoyed the excitement running through Junhui’s eyes as he pulled up large pictures of stars on the screen. He excitedly chattered about constellations, asteroids, and other space shit, Wonwoo wasn’t retaining any of it. Instead he was staring at Junhui as his eyes lit up about certain stars, his smiles when he talked about his favorite planets, his hands shaking in excitement as he was getting ready to show another asteroid.
Junhui turned to look at Wonwoo, “You’re not listening are you?"
Wonwoo laughed, “Maybe, maybe not.” He walked over to Junhui and smiled, placing a hand on top of Junhui’s.
Junhui frowned, “Then you should come to the balcony, you can see the starry night here better.”
Pulling Wonwoo out, they laid on crappy deck chairs on the balcony. It was still cold, but Junhui was too excitedly pointing out all the constellation. It was cute.
“You know, I think you’ve convinced me that starry nights are romantic.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I may not believe in love at first sight, but hanging out with a space nerd under the stars come close enough.”
(“Hey, Junhui.”
“What?”
“You see all these stars in the sky?”
“I’m an astronomer, I look at stars for a living.”
“Okay, Mr. Smarty Pants. Well, I was trying to match up each star to a reason why I loved you.”
“Yeah, and?”
“I was doing good, until I ran out of stars.”
“There’s over a hundred billion stars in space.”
“Well, maybe I love you a lot, you do say stars are romantic.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“And I do recall you saying people who name asteroids after their lover’s romantic. It may not be an asteroid, but I think stars are more romantic.”
“You named a star after me?”
“Of course, you’re the only star in my sky.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you’re not an astronomer.”)