A bottle of stardust (SVT)

The hourglass

Seungcheol and Chan

A figure, cloaked in black, dark shadows flitting by his side, appeared in the hospital corridor one night. The whole place was dead silent, and he would know, he has met the dead.

The quietness was shattered as a monitor began beeping frantically, a nurse's heeled shoes clacking against the ground as she bustled to the room, brushing past the figure. She didn't see him. The machine quietened once the nurse entered, but soft murmuring soon replaced it.

"Am I going to be alright, nurse?" A boy's little weak and sleepy voice spoke. The figure leaned into the room. "Don't worry," The elderly nurse said soothingly, "You will be okay, Chan, you will be okay." Chan coughed, and the nurse gently patted his back, worry choked up in her eyes. "Let me get some water for you, okay?" The nurse said. She reached for the jug, and found it empty. Sighing, she turned to the boy, "I'll be right back." The figure watched her go, but he knew that the water dispenser there was broken. She'd have to go a level down to get water. The figure's shoulders sagged, but he walked into the room anyways.

The boy perked up when he saw him. Chan let out a little laugh. "You look funny, sir." He tilted his head, "Who are you?" The figure pushed back his hood, revealing a young man. "I am a grim reaper." Chan's blank face met him. "Oh." He paused. "But who are you really? What's your name?" Chan asked curiously. The grim reaper stopped. He was surprised. No one had asked him that question in the decades he worked as a grim reaper. "I...I am...no, I was Seungcheol. Choi Seungcheol." Chan's little features morphed into a great big grin. "Hello, Seungcheol! I am Chan, Lee Chan! What are you here for, Mr Seungcheol?" Seungcheol stared at the ground. "You know you are sick, right?" Chan's face crumpled. "Yeah..." Seungcheol crouched to meet the little boy's eyes. "I'm here to take you home." "Home?" Chan's face lit up. "Where my brothers are?" "No, where your parents are."

"Oh."

Chan looked at the grim reaper, "How much time do I have left, sir?"

Seungcheol's heart ached for the boy. He had to take him now, but...

"Here," The grim reaper pulled a small metal hourglass from his pocket, shining in the moonlight that spilled through the windows. "Once this runs out, I'll take you home." Chan considered, before smiling. "Okay!" He chirped. Seungcheol turned the hourglass. "So, what do you want to do?" Chan thought for a while, before asking shly, "Could you read to me?" Suengcheol's cold eyes shone with warmth. "Sure."
They sat side by side one the hospital bed, a thick story book on the grim reaper's lap. They were so happy, Chan felt so happy, so happy...

And they didn't even realise the hourglass let its last drop of sand fall to the little collected mound below.