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Aiko & Heeseung
The wind was soft on the rooftop that night, whispering through the air like a gentle lullaby. Above them, the sky stretched vast and deep, dotted with stars that blinked faintly behind drifting clouds. The moon hung low, bright and full, casting a silvery glow over the rooftop of the warehouse they now called home.
Aiko had just finished dinner, her fingers still dusted with crumbs from the last bite of the stale bread and beans they'd managed to scrape together. Her mind wasn't on the food, though. It hadn't been for days.
Her eyes kept drifting back toward the lab.
Back to the door that led to the stairs. Back to the sterile room with its buzzing lights, scattered notes, and glass vials that clinked every time she paced too hard.
She needed to get back to work.
She always needed to get back to work.
Turning, she started walking—but didn't get more than two steps before a hand gently caught her wrist.
"Not tonight."
Aiko turned, blinking as Heeseung looked at her with that familiar, quiet steadiness. His expression was soft but firm, the kind of calm that always somehow grounded her no matter how frayed her nerves were.
"But I need to—"
"You've been running yourself into the ground all week, Aiko," he said gently. "I get it. I really do. But just for tonight... come with me."
She opened her mouth to argue, to insist she could rest after, that she was so close, that it was too important to stop—but something in his eyes made the words die in her throat.
Instead, she let him guide her by the hand, up another flight of stairs and through the side hatch that led to the very top of the building.
The rooftop was cool and quiet, away from the rest of the group. They could hear the faint murmur of voices inside the warehouse, the gentle hum of the generator, but here, it felt like the world had slowed down.
Heeseung let go of her hand and walked forward, dropping down to sit on the metal grating, his legs stretched out in front of him. He patted the space beside him.
"Sit."
Aiko exhaled slowly and obeyed.
The two of them sat shoulder to shoulder under the moonlight, the silence between them comfortable for a long moment.
Heeseung leaned his head back, staring up at the sky. "It's nice up here. Feels like nothing can touch us."
Aiko hugged her knees to her chest. "That's what scares me."
He looked over, eyebrows raised. "Scares you?"
She nodded, her voice soft. "Because it can touch us. It already has."
