Stardust

Kim Mingyu was always a mysterious character. He always sat in the back of the room and longingly stared out the window with a certain look that seemed almost melancholic.
He never much cared for friends, he never really needed to. For most of his life he had just one friend, who stuck by him through the all of the shit the inevitable storm threw at him.
And that friend was Jeon Wonwoo.
Wonwoo was always the one that was one step ahead of Mingyu. Wonwoo was the one that took care of everything Mingyu couldn't. And Wonwoo was the one that always eventually pulled Mingyu back to reality.
Wonwoo was like the calm before the storm to Mingyu. His dark, silky eyes gazed into Mingyu's fiery, blazing ones. When Wonwoo gazed into Mingyu's eyes there was a complete and utter sense of balance. Everything seemed right, as if nothing would ever go wrong.
The two met on a particularly dull and hazy day. The clouds were a painted mixture of blue and gray with dreary clouds hanging lazily across the sky. Mingyu was a curious child at the time, and at that moment he was absentmindedly humming the tune to a song while haphazardly walking across a narrow log in the middle of his neighborhood park. The park was quite small, but Mingyu was able to entertain himself with the miscellaneous things scattered across the area. At the time, the young child was laying down on a think bed of grass watching the clouds roll by. His head was propped against a large oak tree which helped contain the beating sun blazing down on him. He blinked once, and for a second Mingyu thought he saw something in the corner of his eye. The figure seemed almost human like, and Mingyu furrowed his brow. Sitting up to see better he tried to focus more intensely.
And there it was again, but this time it had a more sculptural shape. The figure was indeed human. In fact, it belonged to a boy of similar age to Mingyu.
Instinctively, Mingyu spoke without thinking as per usual back then. "Who are you?" Were his first words.
"A friend." The boy replied.
It did not take long for the two to become close. In all actuality Mingyu thought Wonwoo knew him better than he did himself.
It had been ten whole years that the duo had been together. Day after day the two boys met in the same exact place, which had been the large oak tree where the two fatefully met. Wonwoo was always waiting for him after Mingyu got off from school.
It was revealed that Wonwoo was enrolled in private school and lived alone in a house somewhere in the outskirts of the neighborhood.
"You're always welcome to come over, Wonwoo." Mingyu always said.
And Wonwoo always answered with the same thing, "Today is not the day." Wonwoo's eyes had a predictable look every time he said that phrase. They gleamed for a glorious and beautiful second with a yearning smile, but like a candle flame his eyes flickered to ash and smoke with a mix of sorrowful ache.
Mingyu loved Wonwoo's smile. It was painful every damn time to see it go, but when it was there Mingyu cherished it. He savored the look as if it was the last time he'd see it, and maybe one day it would be.
When Mingyu asked as to why Wonwoo could never come with him, he replied "everything always ends at night." Although Mingyu never quite understood him, he never pushed him further.
Again the two sat down in the same bed of grass underneath the now decade older oak tree. But this time it was unusually quiet, the only sound that could be heard was the occasional caw of a bird or the dash of a young doe.
Mingyu looked up to the sky only to be reminded of the day he had met Wonwoo. The sky was a similar inking of blue and gray, but there were more clouds filled in the horizon and harsher, more brittle winds through the air.
A gust of wind blew through Wonwoo's dark hair and Mingyu's heart began to ache. Even more than usual, the pain stabbed him through the heart and hung there with an open wound. The deep mystery of Wonwoo was piercing the back of Mingyu's mind, and repeatedly he ignored the thoughts. But today, they were more persistent.
"Why do we do this?" Mingyu simply asked.
Wonwoo cocked his head to the side to look at the boy next to him, his expression was consistently hard to read.
"What do you mean?" He said carefully.
"I mean why do we meet here every day? All we do is sit here say the same things over and over again. Nothing is different and nothing ever changes."
"Do you want things to change?"
Mingyu laughed bitterly and laid his head back against the tree trunk.
"Every day for the past ten years I've wanted things to change. I come here to the same spot eager to see you and talk with you only to realize I'm living through a loop on endless repeat."
The wind picked up again, harsher than before.
Mingyu continued, "I can't even fathom a reality in where you and I are anything more than what we are now."
Again, things got quiet. The clouds hanging in the sky began to slowly drift into towards the sun, blocking the warmth that radiated from it.
"Today's the day." Wonwoo finally said.
"What?" Mingyu asked surprised.
"Today's the day. I'm finally ready."
It felt awkward and mechanical to walk side by side with Wonwoo, unlike the ease of days spent under the tree. Mingyu's head was flooded with thoughts, most of which he couldn't even process before another one took its place.
Why is he finally ready to come over? What's going to happen? Is there something wrong? Is it me?
They finally arrived at small, quiet house at the end of a narrow road. No one was outside nor was anymore inside. Mingyu's house was usually abandoned, although it filled quickly with unwanted thoughts and emotions.
The two made their way into the backyard where a large oak tree also resided. Mingyu always loved the tree and always thought of Wonwoo when he came home every day. The old tree seemed fitting given the current situation. Wonwoo's lips slowly crept into a smile as the two sat down in the similar manner they did in the park.
"I like this better." Wonwoo said.
"Me too."
"There's more ... warmth. It's like I'm surrounded by the flames of a fire, yet I'm not being burned."
Wonwoo then reached down slowly and grabbed Mingyu's hand, intertwining their fingers. Mingyu's head shot up in shock, and turned to face the beautiful mystery of a boy.
Yet all Wonwoo could do was smile, that same smile Mingyu loved so much that twisted his stomach into a knot.
Mingyu didn't say anything, after a minute, he let his hand relax. The two melted together and nothing could stop them from completely immersing themselves in the intoxication of each other.
Wonwoo looked up at Mingyu, and his eyes were back to the same beautiful glow. Cautiously, Wonwoo leaned forward towards Mingyu and Mingyu didn't stop him. The two connected lips and electricity hung in the air with such an intense feeling it was overwhelming. They didn't stop, and they didn't want to stop.
With a heavy breath Wonwoo spoke, "I've been waiting for this for so long."
"You have no idea." Mingyu said breathlessly back.
The two connected foreheads for a while afterwards, just enjoying the feeling of touching each other. Then, Wonwoo began to laugh. But not in a way that was truly happy, it seemed more painful and sharp. Mingyu pulled away to look at the boy, when he realized that tears were streaming down his face.
"What's wrong?" Mingyu immediately said, panic flooding in.
Wonwoo was still laughing, while also choking back sobs. "I told you that today was the day."
"What are you talking about?" Mingyu replied.
Wonwoo pulled his head back carelessly to look up at the tree, his cheeks were stained with gushing tears.
The sun was starting to set, and reds and oranges mixed with the blues and grays that were there. The colors clashed and mixed as the sun drifted lower and lower below the horizon.
"The sun is setting. Everything ends at night." Wonwoo said.
Mingyu had heard that phrase all too many times, but he never understood what it had meant up until now. Felt how surreal one sentence could mean.
Ten years the two had been together, and nothing ever got in the way of that.
It took ten years for Mingyu to finally understand what Wonwoo meant. He never realized it before, since he only ever met him during the afternoon hours of the day.
Mingyu began shaking his head furiously, before speaking. "No, that's not fair." He spoke. "Why now? Why after all this time do you do it now? This can't be real. You're joking with me, Jeon Wonwoo."
Again Wonwoo bitterly laughed. "Because I am in love with you. And I have been, and I always will be. Time is precious, and because I had little of it, I decided to spent every minute of it with you."
Mingyu's face twisted into a tragically painful look. Tears silently rolled down his cheeks, and he looked up to face Wonwoo with sorrow eyes.
He was still as beautiful and breathtaking as always. His eyes shone with unconditional love and his smile radiated everything Mingyu ever wanted.
The sun was almost past the horizon now, and blues and purples crept towards the tree with poisonous speed.
"Thank you, for making my life worth living." Wonwoo said.
Mingyu embraced Wonwoo with everything he had left, his nails dug into the back of Wonwoo's neck as tears began to stain his shirt.
The sky grew dark, and the reds and oranges were completely gone. The moon shone through the branches with brittle rays unlike the warmth of the sun.
Wonwoo's body began to feel incredibly cold. And the tight grip that was holding onto Mingyu loosened. A blinding light consumed Wonwoo's body with the same haunting rays as the moon and all of the warmth escaped his body.
Yet Mingyu held tightly onto the love of his life. As if there was a miracle that would let the boy remain on the earthly plains.
"Goodbye." Wonwoo whispered.
Mingyu tried to hold back a sob but it was already too late. Then, Mingyu felt himself falling. The space where Wonwoo's body was was gone. He fell back onto the cold, damp grass to face the night sky. Black consumed the sky, an endless void of darkness.
Blazing light faded the sky from where Wonwoo stood. Stardust. That's all that was left of Mingyu's only love.