Chapter Text
"Love you since we had nothing in our hands
Only the endless dreams of being big tomorrow."
— ˚⟡˖ ࣪—
Martin has loved music ever since he was young, precisely when he was just a little kid who knew nothing about the world at all. All he had back then was a dream of playing music on big stages when he grew up, loving it in everything he saw.
A kid who played guitar with barely anything, just a love that grew stronger and stronger every second that passed.
A kid who loved music so much that he built his life, his childhood, based on it — attending music competitions, writing lyrics, fooling around with the notes on piano, drums, and guitar — his life was solely made for music itself.
And yet.
Music has never come to him as something big; it just happened the way it was supposed to in his life. Just that one time he first approached music through his dad's old vinyl and was immediately drawn into it.
Until he got to meet Kim Juhoon – a silent kid living two blocks away from him. His life changed a lot ever since he got to meet Juhoon on that day, when the other boy just sat at the tree and lost in thought with his novel as company. Their first meeting didn't start with chaos or something unexpected.
Instead, it was…peaceful, just like how it was meant to be and just like how music was drawn into Martin's life.
Martin caught the other's eye through his bedroom window, and suddenly their eyes met each other as the other boy peeked out of his book to look at him, almost as if he was curious about him just as much as he did to him. And so, how could he let that slide, knowing how much they equally wanted to talk to each other?
Martin quickly excused himself, asking his mom's permission to go out and have fun as he quickly ran out of his house. The door burst open as the boy glinted with happiness, running straight towards the tree from two blocks away as if it was his usual, precious spot. He ran towards the other boy with a smile that was brighter than the sun shone at broad daylight, with his body trying hard to contain such happiness.
It was, in fact, his first time being here.
And it was also his first time having a childhood friend, someone who loved to hang out with him, letting him be true to who he truly was. The other boy smiled through his novel at the sight of the new friend beaming with contentment, talking to him about everything and also nothing at all.
"Hi, I'm Martin!! Nice to meet you!"
In fact, the other boy gave him this kind of sweet, tender presence of being sought without any judgement and without tuning down what had been blooming so bright to ignore. He attentively listened to whatever Martin yapped about, even pushing one or two sentences to show his own interest.
And especially when he mentioned music, about the messy music sheets lying haphazardly across his bedroom.
He talked about the guitar that his dad gave to him on his seventh birthday and about his love for music—the never-ending passion for something that has been stuck with him ever since he didn't know anything at all, starting from zero and working on it slowly despite the clumsiness.
The other boy would listen to it through his novel pages, mouth curving upwards as his eyes now drifted from the novel to looking straight at the boy sitting right in front of him. Heck, he was even curious about everything Martin talked about—about what the other boy wrote in those music sheets, about the dreams that felt so big yet exciting that the other carried. Martin felt seen, even though it was his very first time having a friend who would listen to him without getting bored, who would actually paid attention to his non-stop talking session and chimed in when necessary.
They talked and talked, though Martin soon realized he hadn't known the other's name just yet, which made the other laughed at his silly antics. Their laughters echoed through the playground, as if it had always meant to be that way.
"I'm Juhoon. Kim Juhoon."
Even the other's name sounded pretty, just as beautiful a soul as he was, with how he enjoyed every moment passing by with Martin as they sat there together from daylight to dawn, only stopping talking when Juhoon's mom told him to get home safely since it was almost nighttime. His mom was also calling for him, thus unfortunately, their time ended there before they got to know furthermore about each other.
"See you tomorrow, Martin."
That was also the first time Martin felt his love for music was seen—No, perfectly captured through the other's big boba eyes. His love for music was then growing much stronger ever since that day, as now it finally found who the perfect person to write for.
Truth to be told, Martin has only written music about his daily lives—waking up, spending time with friends at school and family at home, his endless passion for music that grew much stronger and stronger every day. But now? It was his very first time writing about someone else—about their first meeting, their first time knowing and talking to each other, and about someone who would love hearing him talking about such passion.
And so, Martin had an idea.
Maybe a little too silly yet wholesome idea coming from him.
But he wanted to write a song dedicated to their first-ever meeting, when everything still felt so new yet familiar, as if their place was supposed to be there.
He wanted to write about the time they spent together, about how Juhoon cared about his passion and supported it just as much as he did. He wanted to put his appreciation into lyrics, and his feelings about this first meeting to be poured into the rhythm as his first-ever gift to his first-ever childhood friend.
He quickly ran upstairs after finishing his dinner, in the confusion of his family members, quickly closing his bedroom door as he worked on it immediately. Luckily for him, tomorrow was a day off, and he could stay up all night to think of something for the other boy, playing guitar for the whole night, and hopefully some inspiration might pour in. He wrote whatever came to his mind, then if he didn't like it, he would just fix it again and again, until he got what felt right to him.
But the unfortunate? He couldn't contain his happiness.
Not at all.
He slept until late noon after he finished it, then woke up in a hurry and ran towards the other boy's house to show his proud working sheet. He showed it to the other boy right when the front door opened wide, eyes glinting with excitement and prideful of the work he's been working on. "Jju-ah, look!!"
Juhoon then looked at him with bewilderment, clearly evident that he didn't expect this at all. And for the other to work on this in such a short amount of time, probably spending his whole night on this? How could Juhoon ever deny such an offer when the other looked at him that way?
The way that Martin looked at him as if he hung the stars?
And the nickname, also? Juhoon couldn't lie but found himself adoring such a sight, especially when he didn't hate the nickname given to him also.
"I see you've been working hard for this. Then, it's my pleasure." Juhoon tenderly held onto the sheets, treating him carefully as if he was holding treasure as they walked to the tree together. Then they both sat down, with Juhoon holding the sheets as he carefully read through it:
Dear Star, the one I first met.
Dear the one who heard me nevertheless.
Dear the universe for the blessing lying upon our crossed fates.
For the day I first ever met you,
The universe starts shifting, leaving adored fractions lingering.
For one dares to dream big, and one loves it nevertheless.
I adore this moment where we get to be ourselves.
Thank you to the dear star for the soothing presence.
Thank you to the universe for leading me towards wherever.
And thank you to you, my dearest friend.
Juhoon carefully read it again and again, feeling every word meant wholeheartedly and every feeling captured perfectly. He knew how much their first time meeting meant a lot to them both, but to put it in such beautiful, poetic writing like this? How can he ever surpass it, knowing he wasn't that good with his words?
"Wait, Jju—You're crying?" Well. Juhoon looked at the new friend who now had a concerned look as he felt the tears swelling up more and more. Tears then ran down his cheeks as he embarrassingly tried to wipe them all away, though it kept pouring no matter how. The other helped him despite the clumsiness of not knowing what to do, clearly something that he didn't expect either. Marin's hand aimlessly wavered in the air, mumbling gibberish as he panicked to see his new friend crying like this.
Juhoon just laughed through his tears, shaking his head to signal that it was all good and there was no need to be worried about. In fact, he felt more than happy to know that Martin cared about this day just as much as he did, just like how much he had trouble sleeping at night due to such excitement.
"It's just happy tears, Tinnie."
That them both looked forward to meeting each other, to be there and present in each other's life in the most beautiful way possible.
That none of them could forget about this first meeting, no matter how they tried to, carrying it as if it meant everything to them.
That the universe did, in fact, lead them towards a place they had always belonged to.
That Juhoon was just as thankful for this silly encounter as Martin.
That Martin would always have and always will be the star to him, also.
— ˚⟡˖ ࣪—