Chapter Text
The first time Martin realized he loved Juhoon, they were fifteen years old and lying on the roof of Martin’s parents’ garage, counting stars that were too faint to see in the city haze.
Juhoon had always been fearless; dangling his legs over the edge, laughing too loud, daring the universe to answer him back.
Martin had always been the careful one, one hand gripping the shingles, the other gripping Juhoon’s sleeve just in case.
He gives Juhoon his sweater if Juhoon feels cold. Juhoon sometimes complains that he worries too much and that he’s not going to get sick, but he didn’t take the sweater off either.
Back then, he told himself it was just a habit. Just friendship. Just Martin being Martin.
But it wasn’t just that.
It was the way Juhoon’s voice seemed to settle somewhere under Martin’s ribs, like it had found a place there and refused to leave. It was how the world sharpened and softened at the same time whenever Juhoon laughed, every sound clearer, every other detail fading into something unimportant. It was how Martin always knew, instinctively, where Juhoon was in a room, even without looking.
“Do you think,” Juhoon said, squinting up at the sky, “that the stars look brighter somewhere else? Like, if we just… left. Got in a car and kept driving until the sky actually worked?”
Martin huffed a quiet laugh. “The sky works fine.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Juhoon insisted, turning his head just enough that Martin could see the grin without looking directly at him. “It’s broken here. Half the stars are missing.”
“They’re not missing. Just… hidden.”
“Same thing.”
Martin didn’t argue after that. He never really won arguments with Juhoon anyway, not because Juhoon was always right, but because he made everything sound like an adventure, even being wrong.
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