hold me 𐦍 yeonbin

021 ᯓᡣ𐭩

Soobin is too embarrassed to admit he has no idea where to look for Jupiter, however, he has already committed. He needs to find it before Yeonjun even if that means he has to cheat using the internet.

Even though the sun has fully set behind the cliffs scattered across the bay, a pale blue light forms a gradient into the black sky above where there are a hundred times more stars than Soobin can see from his apartment, which makes it all the more difficult to spot one specific planet among them.

The last time Soobin visited the ocean he was too young to remember the smells and sounds of seagulls and beached seals. Along the coast, a train track outlines a steep rocky cliff that drops fifty meters to the sea. The tide is low enough to smell seaweed from the dock. A sliver of sandy beach edges the base of the cliff.

The road breaks off in two directions when they near the cliff, one leading down to the docks lined with boats and buoys, while the other runs past a pier of empty booths and stands, and up a nearby hill to the lighthouse.

All is quiet but the creaking of the boats, calm waves lapping the rocky cliff, and his and Yeonjun’s own footsteps over the gravely line separating the pier from the road.

Soobin tries to ignore the constant paranoia of someone recognizing Yeonjun even through the dim lights of streetlamps and the occasional spotlight passing over them from the lighthouse’s tower. He tries not to feel anything around Yeonjun that would alarm him.

Soobin spots a line of benches along the edge of the pier where they can rest while he looks up how to locate Jupiter. He tugs on Yeonjun’s sleeve to change direction. Yeonjun follows wordlessly. Without the constant stream of cars and nightlife and frat party music, Soobin is going to miss the serenity when he has to go back home.

When he gets to go back home.

“What are you looking at?” Yeonjun asks as they sit on one of the benches, leaning over Soobin’s lap to peek at his screen.

Soobin tilts his screen away.

“Do pixies ever get tired?” he tries to distract Yeonjun from his phone.

“Not physically. I never had to sleep until entering Terra.”

“Do you like to sleep?”

“I like choosing when to go to sleep and when to stay awake. In the operating room I—” Yeonjun’s breath hitches and he curls into himself on the bench. “I don’t mind it,” he says.

When the lighthouse tower’s light shines over their heads, Soobin can see a small cloud of dust fall to the bench and the ground. The dust is too dark to tell what color.

Soobin kicks what dust he can into the cracks in the dock and brushes the rest off the side into the water.

“Do you hate looking at my dust?” Yeonjun asks.

“No, not at all!”

Yeonjun eyes the dust falling into the ocean, then back up to Soobin.

“Most humans will probably think it’s just glitter, but I don’t want to risk it, you know?” Soobin explains. “I think your dust is pretty.”

“Oh,” Yeonjun whispers. “Okay.” 

Following the guide he found online, Soobin tries to match the stars with the sky above. None of it makes sense. He can’t translate the constellation map on his phone to the real world no matter how hard he tries. He is about to give up, admit to Yeonjun he has no idea where to find Jupiter and that he is sorry for taking him all the way out here to waste his time, but Yeonjun interrupts him before he even starts.