“Hey little fighter,” the voice full of mischief stirs Taeyeon from her sleep, causing her to groan before the sentence was even finished. “Things will get brighter!”

Taeyeon cuts it close, pulling the sheets over her head just before the blinding lights of her room was flicked on. She curls her body into a ball, reveling in the warmth and protection of her covers against the chilly morning.

“Come on, Taeyeon, you have to get up.”

“Don’t wanna.”

“You big baby,” a chuckle is closely followed by the snatching of her sheets, her cocoon of bliss quickly dispersing. Taeyeon has no energy to fight back for her blanket, because she’s been there before multiple times and her mission was never accomplished.

“Cold,” Taeyeon shivers at the biting air enveloping her exposed skin, curling her body more in hopes of maintaining some sort of body heat.

She waits to be pushed off the bed or something of the sorts, but instead there’s a long pause. The unusual silence confuses her. Moving her tucked in chin away from her chest, she tilts her head to squint up at the intruder, stolen blanket still in their hand. What Taeyeon had predicted to be a teasing smile to greet her was the complete opposite. Worry knitting their brows, unreadable eyes stare down at her instead.

“How are you feeling?”

Uncurling her body just a tad, she glimpses down at the tape keeping the IV drip catheter secure to her arm before looking back up. It didn't look good, no matter who saw it, her declining condition. She could tell that the morning had turned sour, and she felt helpless, not knowing how to lift it. Not wanting to further worry her friend, she shines her her normal cheery grin. “Like a million bucks.”

“Right.” Tiffany smiles back, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. Taeyeon knows she doesn’t believe her.

----

“Hey little fighter,” Taeyeon rolls her eyes at their childhood catchphrase being overused, waiting for Tiffany to cut to the chase.

Unlike mornings when Tiffany would announce her entrance with a rude wake up call, the sun has long gone down and she instead turns off Taeyeon’s room’s light, leaving her to bask in the dark with the open door being the only source of light left. She catches onto that playful grin of Tiffany’s before she shuffles further into the room, the door being pushed to a close against the body weight pressed up upon it.

Taeyeon can't shake off her high suspicion of Tiffany’s grin, the girl always finding something to do to fight the boredom of sitting around. Her speculation over possible hidden agendas is pushed aside as curiosity takes its place. Tiffany is anything but secretive, the girl couldn’t keep a secret for two minutes without bursting.

“What are you up to now?” Taeyeon asks, not being able to take her eyes away from the unmistakable glow emitting from in between Tiffany’s back and the door.

With bursting zest, Tiffany jumps on the spot, darting both hands out from behind her back, “things will get brighter!”

The giggle she hears bouncing from Tiffany’s hitched lips bring upon a chuckle of her own, Tiffany’s face literally lighting up from the jars filled with fireflies hovering in front of her. Sparkling eyes stare at her, anticipating, waiting for a response.

Taeyeon just smiles, kneeling up from her sheets, beckoning Tiffany to come closer. “What’s the occasion?”

“You said you wanted to go stargazing.”  Tiffany moves towards Taeyeon, taking a seat on her bed.

Taeyeon bites back her laughter, eyes shifting from the illuminating bugs to Tiffany’s face. “Tiffany, you do know that these aren’t stars, right?”

Tiffany puffs her cheeks, feigning anger as she pulls the jars back, away from Taeyeon. “These little critters are nature’s own stars,” her lips purse into a pout after huffing the air out, expression falling some, “and you’re bed bound.”

With a solemn smile, Taeyeon inches closer to Tiffany, nudging at her shoulder. The gesture falls short, Tiffany’s face obscured by her curtaining hair when she turns her head a bit to avoid Taeyeon’s stare. The warm ambience created by the small dots of coagulating lights dull, the childlike excitement disappearing from Tiffany as her arms drop until the back of her hands rest against her lap.

Taeyeon can see the obvious downcasted look following her current state being voiced out. Tiffany’s fallen spirit crushes her; she’s never liked the fact that Tiffany felt the need in being held responsible in picking up the shambles of her life. Ever since they’ve known each other, Taeyeon’s been showered in unconditional love, always given Tiffany’s undivided attention. Everything is blissful with Tiffany beside her. Right now, counting the minutes she has left, she figured she didn't need much more, nor would she ever wish for more than for Tiffany’s happiness.

Tiffany’s happiness is Taeyeon's happiness.

She crawls closer to the still Tiffany making sure she doesn’t move too far from the headboard, before leaning forward to gently grab one of the jars from her slacken hands, careful not to injure any of the fireflies. Thumb pads gliding over the smooth surface of the glass jar, Taeyeon falls mesmerised to the beautiful flickering lights radiating from ‘nature’s own stars.’

Another simple gesture that holds something so much more that Tiffany has given her and yet Taeyeon feels regretful, because she knows she won’t be able to return them all.  

“Things have certainly gotten brighter, with or without these stars.” She looks up from the jar, holding Tiffany’s gaze through the darkness of her room. “Thanks Tiffany, you always know how to brighten up my day.” She didn't need to go stargazing, nor did she need a jar of nature’s own stars. She didn't need any of it when she had her own star, burning brightly just for her.

A small laugh leaves Tiffany, trailing off into a sigh. “You don’t have to thank me, dummy. You didn’t ask me to do anything.” Bashfulness takes her when she unconsciously wonders at how warm Taeyeon’s eyes look against the small lights of the fireflies, twinkling as they buzz around.

The jar Tiffany is still holding leaves a warm yellow hue casting onto her empty hand. Without much thought behind it, Taeyeon leans forward to slip her palm into her grasp, gently squeezing until Tiffany curls her fingers around her hand too. “Actions speak louder than words. Thank you, for always thinking of me.”

The atmosphere turns again, the weight behind the sappy words Taeyeon spills falls heavily onto Tiffany’s chest. Everything has been sounding so final these past few days between them, hidden emotions behind words that were usually not there that Tiffany doesn’t know if she’s thinking too much into Taeyeon’s words or if Taeyeon had meant more to what she said. If she thinks too much into it Tiffany knows that she’ll come to believe it. Tiffany didn’t want to believe any of it. It wasn’t Taeyeon’s time yet and Tiffany wants to scream every time she has to come to terms with the reality, that all she has left in her right now is that little bit of hope that maybe things will get better, no matter the odds against it. Because ignorance is a bliss and having Taeyeon by her side is blissful and much more.

Wanting to lift the mood, she lets go of Taeyeon’s hand, forcing out a laugh, “stop being so cheesy.” When Taeyeon doesn’t share her laughter, she ends hers in an awkward cough. Taeyeon continues to stare at her for a bit, but her gaze isn’t focused anymore. When Tiffany is about to ask if she’s okay, Taeyeon turns her gaze down to the jar in her hands.

“Hey, Tiffany?” It comes out as a meek whisper, the continuous beeping of surrounding machines almost drowning it out.

“Yeah?”

Her grip on the jar tightens at how serious the atmosphere has become. Taeyeon doesn’t look up when she asks her, and she’s okay with that because she doesn’t want Taeyeon to see her face.

She’s meant to be the strong one. She had to be strong for the both of them.

“Do you think it will be brighter in heaven?”

Her chest constricts at how Taeyeon could twist their catchphrase into something so painful. Tiffany can feel the tears building, but she maintains her composure because she has to be Taeyeon’s rock. She wanted to hold onto that little hope because without it everything would become so real. But how could she when the way Taeyeon is and how she’s been acting indicates that hope had left Taeyeon long ago. Letting out a deep, shaky breath, Tiffany forces a smile, making it reach her eyes to hide the tears that's threatening to spill.

“Of course, Taeyeon,” she bites her lip when it begins to tremble, “things always get brighter when you’re there.”

----

Everyone has left, leaving Tiffany behind for some alone time. Squatting down, she places the jars on the fresh soil, leaning forward to fall onto her knees so she could brush the dirt off of Taeyeon’s name.

Silence wasn’t something Taeyeon and her shared, one of them always finding a way to break it. Left on her own, Tiffany doesn’t know how to break the silence now, her fingers drumming on the lids of the jars to pull her away from the hollowness found in what's become of her and Taeyeon.

Picking one of the jars up, she stares inside at the unmoving fireflies, “the brightness is gone, Taeyeon.” Tilting her head away from the jar, she blankly stares at Taeyeon’s name, the emptiness in her growing the longer she waits for a reply that she knows will never come.

The clean, engraved name hits Tiffany that this is all she has left of Taeyeon, the realisation of such breaks her. Reality has finally settled in, she can no longer deny what has happened. No longer having a reason to stay strong, Tiffany lets her bottled up tears fall, a cry she’s been holding in since Taeyeon was diagnosed burning up .

She wants to smile for Taeyeon because the girl’s no longer hurting anymore, her fight is finally over. However, she can’t get herself to smile, not when her world’s gone entirely numb and subdued. Her world has gone dark and she doesn’t know if she’ll ever find any light that would shine as Taeyeon did.

“Hey, little fighter, has things finally gotten brighter?”

This is a part of a drabble challenge I did with my fellow AFF friends, so please excuse it for being short or sloppy, or both.