Something Infinite | Seongjoong

Something Infinite

TRIGGER WARNING
Before you start reading, please be aware that this fic deals with cancer and major character death.
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Is there anything that is infinite? Seonghwa's only answer to this question was the starry sky. It was infinite, sublime even. During the day, one could only guess at its extent, but at night, the beauty of the starry sky was revealed in its full glory. No matter how often he looked into the endless black night, he could never have enough of it. How could he, when the starry sky looked different every night? Although every light from earth was swallowed by the black firmament, the endless beauty dazzled Seonghwa anew every time.

Even today, Seonghwa couldn't miss the view of the starry sky so he grabbed his jacket, telescope and poured himself a bottle of black tea. He said goodbye to his roommate Jongho with a quick "see you later alligator" and closed the door of the small student apartment before Jongho was able to start singing alligator by Monsta X again. He hurried, ran to the bike rack in the courtyard, loaded his luggage onto his roommate's bike and pedalled off. It wasn't long before Seonghwa left the tall university buildings behind.

A few steep streets the young astronomy student mastered through years of practice. Soon the shy city silhouette shining in all lights and colours appeared behind some trees. The sea of lights of Busan became bigger and bigger the more metres of altitude Seonghwa covered on his bicycle.

After about 25 minutes of riding uphill, Seonghwa reached the place where he settled every night. A small viewpoint at the foot of Geumjeongsan. He parked the bicycle in the meadow and took the contents out of the bicycle basket. First he placed the telescope safely on the meadow, then Seonghwa spread his jacket in front of the telescope and took a seat on it.

First, however, he observed the stars with his bare eyes. An entire overview of the firmament was a breathtaking sight. Below on the ground shone the bright city, and above in the sky isolated lights, so called stars. Seonghwa always wonders if the shining of the stars is an answer to our brightly lit earth. Of course, as an astronomy student, he knows better than anyone that stars are simply balls of hydrogen and helium that burn.

Still, Seonghwa likes the idea that someone is alive out there somewhere. Even if the stars visible to us in the sky were anything but habitable. According to research, there are planets that would be habitable.

Seonghwa took a sip from his teapot and turned one last time while sitting so that he could also see the sky in the other direction. "Wow, wonderful." Seoghwa whispered to himself. He was glad that he was so knowledgeable when it came to astronomy that he could determine which star to see in the night sky, when to spot certain phenomena in the sky, and where and when the best place and time was. He smiled as he turned his head back to the telescope, ready to watch all the stars through his telescope.

But before he could turn his gaze back to the main view, Seonghwa was startled. In shock, he knocked over the closed teapot that was rolling down the grassy hill. A few metres away, his night-trained eyes could make out a figure. The small figure slowly climbed up the hill and caught the rolling teapot. Seonghwa did not hear a person speak, but the figure indicated a human. Why would someone be here alone that late?

Suddenly, a giggle sounded from the figure. A giggle like he had never heard before. It was sweet, innocent but still had something naughty in it. The small sound brought a smile to Seonghwa's lips. The figure was now only a few steps away from Seonghwa and slowly he could see that a young man of his age was standing in front of him. The little man handed Seonghwa the teapot and chuckled again.

Seonghwa could have sworn he got goosebumps as he accepted the teapot. He bowed still sitting on his jacket, and thanked him with a few short words. The little man knelt down to be at eye level with Seonghwa. "No problem,..." The little man looked at Seonghwa questioningly. Seonghwa was busy trying to take a glimpse of the handsome man in front of him, and only realised with some delay that the young half-blond-half-black-haired man had asked for his name. "Oh, um...Seonghwa. My name is Seonghwa." The student stuttered.