Of Starry Nights and Ethereal Lights

Pairing: Jisoo x Jeonghan

"Jeonghan-ah, are you free tonight?" Jisoo's smooth voice crackled over the line due to the horrid phone connection. Jeonghan flipped his bleached hair over his shoulder as he checked the calendar for important meeting dates. When he found none, he reported it back to Jisoo.

"Meet me outside your house at eleven. I have something to show you." Without giving Jeonghan the time to protest, Jisoo has disconnected the phone call. Jeonghan stared at his blackened screen, smile teasing the corners of his lips at the thought of whatever Jisoo had planned. Whenever he called Jeonghan out, there was always a surprise in store.

Perhaps it was because of his excitement, but Jeonghan's four hour-long shift in the convenience store passed fairly quickly. He passed on his orange vest to the next shift worker, a broke college student named Seungkwan who always had a smile ready, and shoved his hands into his coat pockets as he walked out of the building. He noticed how Seungkwan was quieter than he was used to and how he had accepted the vest with a polite smile instead of the usual cheery greeting, and took note to consult him on it later.

Half-drowned in thoughts, Jeonghan reached the front porch just as Jisoo pulled up to the curb. Jisoo immediately hurried out of the car, draping his scarf and hat over Jeonghan and scolding him for not wearing more outerwear. Jeonghan gave him a small quirk of his lips before seating himself in the shiny Lexus, and they drove away in silence.

Jisoo caught on to the other's weariness and reached over to hold his hand as he drove with his free hand. Jeonghan relished the comfort that filled his heart like a cozy fireplace, and pointed out the fairy lights lining the streets. They rolled down the windows, Christmas music escaping and drifting into the cold winter breeze, and belted out garbled lyrics to songs everyone knew the melody to but no one the words.

Time always seemed to flow by faster with Jisoo because one moment Jeonghan was swaddled in blankets inside the warm car, and the next moment he was shivering from the change of temperature as he lay beside Jisoo on a patterened quilt spread out on the snow.

"Look, that one looks like you!" Jisoo exclaimed, aiming a finger at a sparkling star dangling near one of the evergreen trees. Jeonghan argued that no one could look like a star for it was a ball of flaming gases, but Jisoo insisted that it was like Jeonghan all the same.

"If I look like that one, you look like the one over there," Jeonghan stated, pointing to a star winking near the moon. When Jisoo asked for a reason, Jeonghan simply said Jisoo lit up his bland life just like the star was illuminating the night sky. He felt the tips of his ears burn in embarrassment from such a cheesy line, but the genuine meaning behind his words must have reached Jisoo because he was smiling brighter than any star Jeonghan ever seen.

Jisoo suggested they wish on a star and make it festive in honor of the beginning of December and the ending of the year. Jeonghan gazed at Jisoo for a few moments after the other's eyes had fluttered shut before turning to face the neverending ceiling of glittering pinholes, conjuring his own wish.

Please let my mother and father stay safe, healthy, and happy over the holidays since I can't go down there myself. Please protect my little sister and allow her to get accepted into the college of her choice. After a pause, he added, Please keep Jisoo by my side forever.

"You done?" Jisoo asked, shifting onto his side to face Jeonghan. When he nodded, Jisoo looked satisfied and closed his eyes again, repeating his prayer to himself like a mantra until he fell asleep. After seeing Jisoo's shoulders relax and his breaths even out, Jeonghan pulled a fluffy blanket over their bodies and shut his own sore eyelids.

+) Jisoo would have met up with Jeonghan beforehand and had dinner with him before going over to his designated spot for stargazing, but he had been preoccupied with work. His closest friends constantly questioned him about working hours, not understanding why he would bear minimum wage labor at the oddest hours when he came from a well-living household. In truth, he was saving up money so that he could help shoulder some of Jeonghan's debts.

Jeonghan's family had been relatively poor, and during a particualraly difficult phase in their lives, his father had borrowed large sums of money from loan sharks with no way of paying them back. Recently, Jeonghan had been faced with having to reimburse a total of two thousand dollars. Since he was new college graduate without a steady employment, Jeonghan had to unwillingly carry the responsibilities as eldest son and take on a multitude of jobs to earn enough for the debt and his own daily needs.

Jisoo had earned nearly one thousand five hundred and had sent it over to Jeonghan's bank account as soon as he finished his last shift for the night and before he drove over to Jeonghan's house. He prayed for Jeonghan to accept the money without feeling guilty or burdensome and swallow his pride.

Please let me see one beautiful smile from Jeonghan before the year ends where he doesn't have to force himself to pretend.