Jongwoon sighed heavily as he stood outside the hospital, clutching a bottle of new medicine for him to try in one hand with his other hand stuffed into his pocket. His mother was there – to make sure he showed up to his doctor’s appointment this time, he supposed – and was thoroughly chewing him out, complaining about how much his treatments were costing her and how he obviously wanted to ruin all of her hard work with this stupid disease of his. She had to take off time from work to come down here and deal with him, she reminded him loudly, and that was even more money lost, which was completely and utterly unacceptable. He didn’t bother trying to tell her for the millionth time that it wasn’t something he could control, that it wasn’t something he had wanted. He wished Jongjin was there. Jongjin was the only one in his family who seemed to care about him even a little, and his mom was always a notch nicer to him when his brother was around anyway. He’d been forbidden to have any contact with his brother since he moved to the old vacation home, though, so he was sure Jongjin didn’t even know he was sick.

He shuffled his feet as his mother ranted, looking up at the sky and blowing a puff of breath out into the cold air around them. He wanted to go home. He knew what was coming and so did she and he really wished she’d just let him leave. He didn’t want to spend the rest of the day being berated by someone who didn’t even care about him. He was honestly surprised that she was still paying for his treatments at all.

It took a while, but when he finally saw the chance, he took it. She’d paused to answer her cell phone and he, muttering about having something important to see to, dashed off to his car before she could protest, locking his doors as soon as he was behind the wheel. Not bothering to look back, he drove out of sight.

---

“Ryeowook! Ryeowook, you have to calm down! Just let him explain things when he gets back, okay? Don’t overreact right now.” Sungmin gently patted his dongsaeng’s back, glaring at Henry, who was sitting on the back of the couch munching on a small piece of the cookie in his hands and not helping at all. “It’s just a letter. Stay and listen to what he has to say.”

“But how can he expect me to just leave like this?” Ryeowook hiccupped, his bottom lip quivering. “He can’t possibly think that he’ll tell me what’s wrong and then I’ll just leave and never see him again. That hurts too much.”

“Ryeowook—” Sungmin was cut off by the sound of a key turning in the lock and he shot up, grabbing Henry’s arm roughly. “We’ll wait outside, okay? You should have some time to talk to him by yourself,” he said quickly before dashing out of the room, Henry waving as he was drug along after his hyung.

Jongwoon, muttering to himself, walked to the living room slowly, staring at the bottle of pills in his hands.

“Maybe I shouldn’t even take these,” he mumbled quietly. “At least Mom would stop complaining about all the money she was spending on me if I—” He stopped mid-sentence when he glanced up and saw a small figure sitting on top of the letter he’d left on the coffee table. “Ryeowook!” His face immediately brightened and he plopped down on the couch, leaning forward slightly and smiling at the pixie as he dropped the bottle on the cushion beside him. “You came back! I am so sorry, I really am, I didn’t mean what I said at all and—”

“Hyung…” Ryeowook stretched his wings, fluttering up onto Jongwoon’s knee. “Hyung, what’s wrong? What aren’t you telling me?”

The human’s face froze for a moment before falling and he looked away. “I’m sick,” Jongwoon muttered finally, glancing down at his hands before letting his eyes slip closed.

“H-how sick?” Ryeowook stuttered out, climbing onto the older man’s hands and peering up at him.

Jongwoon was silent for a long time before he spoke and, when he finally did, the younger felt his heart drop to the bottom of his chest. “Dying sick.”

“H-how much l-longer do you…” The pixie couldn’t even bring himself to finish the question and was doing his best to hold himself together, but small tears had started forming in the corners of his eyes and were threatening to spill down his cheeks at any moment. His hyung was going to die.

The human shook his head slowly. “It’s progressing faster than the doctors had expected. Not long. That’s why…I didn’t want you to get too attached.”

“W-why didn’t you tell me?” Jongwoon could tell that Ryeowook was definitely crying now and he sighed softly, rubbing his forehead.

“God, Ryeowook, I couldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“I just couldn’t, okay? It’s hard to tell you right now, but I figured you deserved to know! I’m…I’m just not used to having people worry about me, to having people care. The thought of you finding out and then worrying about me was overwhelming and frightening, really. I mean, my parents don’t care. My parents have never cared, not since the day I turned three. That’s when they stopped caring and started beating me and, before you ask, no, I don’t know why. My brother was born and suddenly the world revolved around him and I was just in the way, I was some weird kid that they shouldn’t have to deal with, a spider or fungus in the midst of their otherwise perfect life. My brother cares for me, I guess, but my parents don’t let him be around me much. So I got used to being beaten and being forced to wait on my parents and not being cared for and that’s how my life went. I didn’t really care much for anyone either. If no one cared for me, where was my incentive to care for them? But then I met you. I met you and I was blown away by you because you were one of the first people in my life who cared about me for me and not for something I could do for you. But it was weird to have someone care for me and I didn’t want you to know about this…this disease. I didn’t want you to worry about something that you couldn’t change and I didn’t want you to waste any of your precious life trying to fix it. There’s nothing you can do. There’s nothing I can do. I just… I’m really sorry, Ryeowook. I’m really, really sorry.”

The pixie was silent for a while, letting the information sink in, his mind whirling a hundred miles a minute. Then, suddenly, he sprang up, fluttering in front of Jongwoon’s face.

“What do you mean there’s nothing we can do?”

The human blinked. “The treatments aren’t working properly; they say they caught it too late to cure it. I’ve tried four different medications and god-only-knows how many in-hospital treatments and nothing seems to be working the way it should.”

“What about us? The pixie Elders are known for being able to cure all kinds of diseases among our people; maybe they have—”

“Ryeowook, I appreciate the thought, but I told you that I didn’t want you wasting your life on me.”

The tears in the younger man’s eyes fell quickly down his face as he shook his head furiously. “I can’t lose you, hyung. I’m not going to give up on you. Besides, after all this time, you need someone in your life to care for you and I want you to give me the chance to be that person.”

Jongwoon stared at him for a moment before standing and walking over to his piano, running his fingers over the cool, black surface, his face blank. He wanted so much to push Ryeowook away, to make him go live his own life, because he was scared that the pixie would be like all the others who had just left him after they’d gotten what they wanted. But, at the same time, he wanted so very much for Ryeowook to stay, to be a part of what little time he had left. That’s why he hadn’t pushed Ryeowook away from the start, wasn’t it? He desperately wanted a friend.

“Would it be…too selfish of me…to ask you to stay with me until this is over, then?” he asked softly, refusing to look anywhere but at his piano. “I’m tired of being lonely.”

Hiccupping, Ryeowook gently landed on his shoulder, forcing a smile through his tears. “No, hyung. I’ll stay with you. I promise.”

---

After a long talk with his brothers, Ryeowook officially moved into that house by the edge of the woods. Jongwoon fumbled around in the attic for a while, eventually bringing down the old dollhouse sitting up there and carefully dusting it, placing it on the dresser in his own room.

“There! Now you can have a you-sized bed to sleep on!” he explained when Ryeowook looked up at him questioningly. The pixie smiled a little at the sentiment and plopped down on his hyung’s shoulder, poking his neck and telling him they should go fix dinner.

The days passed slowly, the pair working on all of the things that Jongwoon said he wanted to accomplish before he became too incapacitated to do anything. One day, they finished a piano piece he’d been working on for ages; another day, they worked together until the human knew how to make a proper meal (it wasn’t much, just a hearty stew, but he was proud of himself and Ryeowook was proud of him too); one day it even snowed lightly and they went out back, twirling around in the falling flakes and making snow versions of themselves. Jongwoon seemed happy.

At night, when the human had gone to sleep, Ryeowook would sit up on the pillow beside Jongwoon’s or on his little bed in the dollhouse, staring at his friend. It seemed like he was a little bit paler every day; his dizzy spells weren’t frequent, but they were strengthening in intensity; he was starting to get tired out really easily over the simplest things. Sometimes, Ryeowook would curl into a ball underneath his tiny blanket and cry because he was just watching Jongwoon’s life slip away and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

---

They celebrated Christmas together. At first, it was just going to be the two of them, but then Sungmin and Henry appeared, banging on the window to get their attention and dragging Jungsoo along behind them. Jongwoon jumped to his feet and pried the window open just enough for the three pixies to dash inside, then sat on his couch and watched, smiling, as the brothers hugged and chatted.

At one point, when Ryeowook had dashed to the kitchen after Henry and Sungmin, who were rather determined to eat all of the Christmas cookies, Jungsoo hesitantly fluttered up to the coffee table, staring at Jongwoon.

“Ryeowook really cares about you, you know.”

Jongwoon blinked when he realized he was being addressed and he immediately nodded, trying to be on his best behavior for his little friend’s worrisome hyung. “I know. I care about him too.”

Jungsoo shook his head slightly. “I think he cares about you more than you realize. If you hurt him, if you leave him with a broken heart, I won’t ever forgive you, understand?”

The human smiled slightly. “I promise I’ll take care of him until the day I die.”

“Good.” Jungsoo stretched his wings, heading for the kitchen to see what his dongsaengs were doing; as he flew past Jongwoon’s ear, he murmured, “And, just between us, you’re not too bad, for a human.”

The human laughed, but his laugh quickly turned into a cough and he sighed. “I’m just afraid that day is going to come a lot faster than I want it too,” he whispered to the empty room, a sad smile on his lips.

---

It had been a little over a month since Ryeowook moved in with Jongwoon and it had simultaneously been the best and worst month of the human’s life. He loved spending time with the pixie - just being around him made him happy - but his symptoms kept getting worse and he knew he was spiraling toward a place he didn’t want to go.

One morning, Ryeowook woke up to find someone looming over him and let out a quiet yelp, scrambling behind the chair in the corner of his room in the dollhouse. The figure let out a laugh and fell onto the bed, reclining against the headboard as Ryeowook frowned deeply.

“Hyung! Don’t scare me like that!”

Heechul waved away the comment, then jabbed his finger in Jongwoon’s direction. “Quite a handsome human you’ve got yourself,” he teased lightly, delighting in the way Ryeowook’s cheeks turned bright red.

“He’s not--”

“I dropped by your house, little one, and talked to your brothers. They told me you were here and they told me what the situation is. Why haven’t you gone to the Elders yet?”

Ryeowook sighed, climbing onto the end of the bed and sitting Indian style, fiddling with his fingers. “Jongwoon hyung said he didn’t want me to, erm, waste any of my life doing things like that for him,” he mumbled after a moment.

“And so now you’re just going to let a human boss you around?” Heechul clicked his tongue, shaking his head. “You want to save him, don’t you?”

“Of course I do! But he said there’s nothing that anyone can do and--”

“And has he asked the pixie Elders that himself? How does he know they can’t help?”

The younger pixie frowned slightly. “Hyung, the last time you gave me ‘advice’ it ended up being a trick and that’s how I got seen in the first place!”

Heechul’s face softened slightly and he reached over, ruffling Ryeowook’s hair. “Even I wouldn’t joke about something as important as this, Wook. Trust me. Where’s the harm in at least going and asking the Elders? If it means that your friend over there gets cured or at least gets to live a longer life, I’d say it’s worth the risk. Just think about it.” Before Ryeowook could say anything, Heechul spread his wings and glided out of the room, disappearing from view.

The pixie sat on his bed silently, his mind whirling. He wasn’t sure it was a good idea to leave Jongwoon; though he would never admit it, the man really did need help now and then. But if leaving meant that Jongwoon would get better, then being alone for a couple of days wouldn’t mean much, would it? The human always said that his doctors had tried basically everything and nothing worked, so maybe it was time to give pixie magic a chance.

Ryeowook stood, grabbing a small bag from the corner of his room and gripping it tightly as he swept over to Jongwoon’s bed. He gently pressed his hand against his friend’s forehead, smiling a little. “I’ll be back soon. Don’t go without me,” he murmured, then ducked out of the room and flew out of the house through the hole in the screen porch door.

---

With a yawn, Jongwoon blearily blinked open his eyes late that morning, immediately glancing over toward the dollhouse and frowning a little when his pixie friend wasn’t there.

“Ryeowook?”

He stumbled out of bed, grabbing a sweatshirt and pulling it over his head as he shuffled out of the room, beginning to look through the rest of the house. By the time he got down to the kitchen, he was beginning to worry and an awful feeling was slowly creeping into the pit of his stomach; What if he left? What if he just got tired of me and left?

What he did find on the kitchen counter was not at all what he had been expecting. There was a different pixie there, this one with blood-red tinted wings and long, dark brown hair, who was not in any way the person that he had been looking for. Without waiting for him to say something, the pixie spoke.

“Wook isn’t here.”

I knew it. I knew he’d gotten tir--

“He’s gone to see the Elders for you. He wants you to live so bad it hurts, Mr. Kim Jongwoon, and, even though it took a little bit of prodding from yours truly, he’s finally decided to try the one thing you haven’t.”

Jongwoon blinked. “He went...what?”

“He went to the Elders; keep up.”

“Wait and who are you?”

The pixie smirked. “Heechul. A friend of Ryeowook’s. You can thank me for getting you two together, actually, considering I’m the one who lied to him to get him to show himself to you.”

Jongwoon was having a hard time following this conversation with the pounding headache that had started shortly after he’d gotten up. “He went to the Elders for me?”

“Duh. You are the one he’s in love with, stupid.”

Jongwoon’s eyes widened considerably at this new knowledge and he felt his heart start to beat uncomfortably fast in his chest. “W-what?”

Heechul made a face. “You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed. I haven’t been around him in ages and I could tell. Has he actually not told you yet? I thought for sure he’d have spilled the beans by now, with you apparently being on your death bed and all.”

“B-but I’m...and he’s a-- But he couldn’t be!” Jongwoon slid into a seat at the kitchen table, rubbing his forehead and trying to process this information. Heechul flew over to the table, whacking the human’s hand as hard as he could.

“Don’t be stupid and don’t die before he gets back. The Elders are a lot more powerful than you think and I bet they’ll be able to help you. Sungmin and Henry will probably be over to check on you some.” With that, the pixie flexed his wings and, with a nod, flew out the same hole Ryeowook had left through several hours earlier, leaving Jongwoon alone in that house.

The minutes ticked by in silence, his mind spinning. Ryeowook loved him? But that didn’t make any sense at all. He was a human and Ryeowook was a pixie and that was that. They were friends, that was all. Right?

Jongwoon frowned slightly, thinking back to how he was always happier when the pixie was around and how often he found himself wishing he’d been born five inches tall and with wings. How any times over the past month had he called out for Ryeowook, had he felt his heart lighten when he flew into view?

Others had never cared for him and he’d never particularly cared for others, but maybe that was why Ryeowook had come into his life. To show him that things could change, that he was worth something in this world. And maybe he’d learned how to love along the way.

He looked down, finally noticing that he was shaking slightly, and got up, grabbing the pill bottle on the counter and quickly swallowing one of the tablets inside. He patted his side gently, making a face.

“Don’t give up on me now, immune system. I’ve got to talk to Ryeowook before you do,” he mumbled, smiling a little. “I’ve gotta tell him something important.”

a/n: This is going to be a long one, so feel free to skip it, but it's something I really want to say. First of all, I'm really sorry about taking so long to update this fic. Honestly, this chapter scared me, which is why I avoided writing it. I didn't know where I wanted the story to go, and I was afraid of writing anything. When I was writing 49 Days, I started the story with the ending already in mind and a rough plan of how I wanted to get there; I started this story with a vague idea and no idea where I wanted to take it, which is why it's been really rather hard for me to write, I think. It's taken a long time for me to be able to face it and decide what I want to do with it. Also, for those of you that have been so patiently waiting for an update, thank you so much. <3 It really means the world to me. :)

love&hugs,

afallingstar