stargazing, jaehwan had said before, was one of his favourite things to do. so here they are: it’s a quiet night, a dark one. just the two of them, fingers interlocked, laying on a bed of soft grass, staring up at the magnificent view presented above. it’s beautiful, wonshik agrees, enthralled by the scattering of thousands— millions of bright, twinkling stars, all over the boundless pitch-black expanse of the night sky.

somewhere in the midst of silently admiring the stars, wonshik gets distracted. he thinks to jaehwan, instead: images of jaehwan start flashing before his eyes, without wonshik even realising. jaehwan’s eyes, they remind wonshik of stars. how they twinkle whenever jaehwan starts talking about anything he’s interested in, how they shine with passion whenever he sings with that lovely voice of his. how they sparkle with affection whenever jaehwan sees wonshik. unknowingly, wonshik’s cheeks start warming up, the corners of his lips pulling up as well.

suddenly, wonshik feels tugging on his hand.

‘wonshik? you there?’

‘y-yeah, sure. why?’

the tugging stops, and jaehwan sighs with relief.

‘you didn’t reply when i asked you if the view was beautiful. thought you’d fallen asleep from boredom,’ jaehwan laughs, soft and breathy and making wonshik’s heart flutter.

‘oh , sorry. didn’t mean to leave you hanging, i… i just got distracted.’

‘oh? by what? what could possibly be a distraction from this beautiful view?’

wonshik thinks back to the image of jaehwan’s shining eyes. he swallows nervously, heart beating faster, louder in his chest.

‘i, uhh just…’

‘what?’

‘just… suddenly thought about how the stars reminded me of you.’

wonshik feels jaehwan squeeze his hand slightly. his cheeks burn and he would very well dig a hole to bury himself in if he could.

‘ah…’ jaehwan laughs again and the sound is so pretty it makes wonshik regret spilling the truth a lot less. ‘that’s really sweet.’

wonshik laughs nervously, heart still racing. ‘i’m sorry if that was weird, i—’

‘no it wasn’t, not at all!’ jaehwan squeezes his hand again and wonshik feels something a lot like relief. ‘can i ask why?’

wonshik often tries to put up a strong front. it never works, never with jaehwan. jaehwan makes him weak, so weak: he easily tears down all of the walls that wonshik has so cautiously built, to expose the vulnerable side to wonshik that loves jaehwan so very much, that would do anything for jaehwan. he takes a deep breath.

‘your eyes,’ wonshik shuts his eyes and the image of jaehwan appears again. ‘they twinkle like the stars.’

‘and the stars,’ wonshik blinks his eyes open, ‘they’re… they’re so beautiful.’ wonshik pauses, ‘just like you.’

wonshik bites his lip, he can feel jaehwan’s body warming up slightly beside him. jaehwan squeezes his hand again, and releases a shaky breath.

wonshik smiles, finally. ‘i love the stars so much.’

(just as i love you)

wonshik doesn’t complete his sentence, but the message is there, loud and clear. suddenly, he’s no longer looking up at the stardust-smattered night sky, he’s looking up at the love of his life. jaehwan’s straddling him, warm hands on either side of his face. the next thing he knows, wonshik’s getting kissed by a boy with stars in his eyes and lips of the softest pillows ever. under the vast masterpiece of night sky, and in the middle of an abandoned field. there’s wetness on his cheeks, and at this point, he doesn’t care who it’s from anymore.

jaehwan pulls away, eyes shining brighter than usual. there’s a sour twinge in wonshik’s nose, and his heart swells with emotion.

‘i love you.’

--

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