Soohyun stared back at the doctor, still trying to process his words. His headaches had returned with a vengeance. He tried to ignore them. He hated hospitals. He was pretty sure they emitted an aura capable of making people sick by mere proximity.  He must have been right, because the doctor was trying to tell him that he had a brain tumor. Cancer. It was too dangerous for surgery. The doctor wanted to try this new type of radiation therapy. He would have to stay at the hospital. The doctor was trying to sugar coat it, but Soohyun knew where this led. He was all too familiar with it. The slow sickness, growing weaker every day, and eventually… death.

Soohyun was in the middle of listening to U-Kiss’s “Take Me Away” for the 100^th time when he got a new roommate.

“Um, hello. I guess we will be spending a lot of time together. My name is Hoon.”

Soohyun decided that hallucinations must be one of the side effects of his treatment. He supposed this is what you get when you mix meds and an iPod looped on U-Kiss all day. Not that he minded.

“Hello Hallucination!” Soohyun could feel his heart start beating in tempo with that song, Hoon’s song, the only song he’d ever written.

They talked and talked. There wasn’t much else to do. Life in the hospital wasn’t easy for Hoon, not that it is ever easy for anyone. He had worked so hard to build up his body and his voice, to be an idol. It all came crashing down with news of cancer. Soohyun found himself telling Hoon everything. How Hoon’s ballad had saved his life, had reignited his passion. Soohyun sang for Hoon, and then Hoon sang for him. When they finally sang together, Soohyun’s voice had never felt more complete.

“I wrote a song for you.”

“Really? Will you sing it for me?”

“I’ll sing it for you the day you are released from the hospital. Then you will always associate me with something good.”

It didn’t take long for Soohyun to realize he was in love with Hoon. But then again, he thought he might have fallen in love from the moment he first heard Hoon’s voice, all those years ago. Their first kiss was initiated by Soohyun. He figured he didn’t have long to live anyway, so what did he really have to lose? He hadn’t expected Hoon to kiss him back. It was all fire and passion, as Hoon explored, mapped, and memorized every inch of Soohyun’s mouth.

It was around the tenth time they kissed that Hoon realized he loved him back. That night Hoon set out to explore the rest of Soohyun’s body. He wanted to know everything about Soohyun. He was addicted to Soohyun, and he wasn’t ever giving him up. Hoon loved the weird boy living across the room, but he didn’t know how to say it. He couldn’t arrange the words into an intelligible sentence. So he sang it instead, and Soohyun understood. Soohyun always understood him, even when he said nothing at all.

Sometimes Hoon said too much.

“how do you do it. How do you sit there and smile every day. It’s not fair! You finally learn to be happy and now you are about to lose it all!” Hoon yelled. “I finally found you. I finally understand why people play love songs all day long and read romance novels. I know what it means to be desperately in love, and now we’re going to die! I hate this! I hate everything! Why do you not hate it?!”

“How can I be mad at fate, when it has given me so much? It gave me you.” Soohyun ran a comforting hand through Hoon’s hair.

“Am I really worth it?” Hoon whispered, pushing in closer to Soohyun’s chest, desperate to erase any distance between them. “Soon it will all be over.”

“I don’t love you for just now, this life. I want more than that. Don’t you understand? I will love you for all of eternity.” Hoon was silent for a few moments.

“How can you be so sure? That we will exist after death, that we can be together?”

“Because deep down it feels right. It makes more sense than anything else in this world.”

Soohyun stared in awe at his father as the last few notes gently slipped away. For a few minutes silence reigned, until it was broken by enthusiastic clapping. It became a big event for the hospital whenever Mr. Shin sang. Soohyun watched as all the weary nurses and doctors returned to their work with smiles on their faces and renewed vigor in their steps.

“I don’t know if we are the ones healing you, or if you are healing us!” A nurse exclaimed as she adjusted his father’s IV bag before leaving.

“Daddy, I want to sing like you!” Soohyun reached up to hug as much of his father as he could. “Mommy says that if I practice really hard, one day I can be as good as you. She helped me draw out a calendar and gave me some stickers and every day I practice I can put a sticker on it! Do you think I’ll be able to sing like you by next month? That’s a lot of practices.”

“That is a lot!” Mr. Shin laughed. “What started this sudden desire to sing? I thought you wanted to be a fire fighter last week.”

“I want to create the light like you do.” At his father’s puzzled look Soohyun clarified. “Whenever you sing all those people light up. They were so sad and dark before but now they are light and happy.  I want to make people happy.”

Mr. Shin smiled fondly at his son. He was so proud of Soohyun.

“And one day you will, Soohyun. You will be able to touch more people’s hearts than this old father of yours ever could.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because real truth is something you feel deep down. It feels so right that it makes more sense than anything else in this world. Truth isn’t something that can be broken or changed, and sometimes you are graced to catch a glimpse of it.”

“It was the last time I saw him alive, but I know that he’s waiting for me somewhere.  He’s probably composing a whole list of songs for us to sing together.”

Hoon wasn’t so certain about this life after death issue, but he believed in Soohyun and maybe that would be enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soohyun rearranged Hoon’s pillows for the 15^th time in the last hour. Hoon had been growing weaker over the past few days, and it was everything he could do to hide his worry.

“Sing me my song.” Hoon pleaded. Soohyun’s hands stilled.

“It’s supposed to be for when you get better.”

“I think you and I both know that’s not going to happen. Please, Soohyun.”

So Soohyun sang. He sang with all his heart, better than he ever had before. No song had ever mattered as much as this one now, in this very moment. As his powerful voice rang out there was not a dry eye in the room. In the golden silence that always follows a wonderful song, Soohyun and Hoon sat with their hands clasped together. They never wanted to let go. Hoon was unable to break that silence, unable to express all the emotions that filled him. But Soohyun understood.

 I love you.

A figure gently closed the door before silently slipping away.

Hoon died the next day. The only thing Soohyun had to console him was that it was a peaceful death. He passed away in his sleep, Soohyun beside him. Soohyun didn’t cry. He thought maybe a person had a limited amount of tears in their lifetime, before they were gone and you didn’t have any left to give. Hoon had always complained that his company would never let them take a break. Maybe now he would be able to rest, take a long vacation somewhere tropical, full of white beaches and clear blue sea. Soohyun clung to that hope.

The next two days passed by in a lonely haze. He felt numb, like he was just waiting for something to happen. Waiting for something to prick the bubble that encased his heart. He barely registered when the doctor told him that his tumor had gotten worse. They could no longer put it off, they had to operate right away. It wasn’t until he lay there on the operating table, waiting for the anesthesia to take effect that the bubble finally popped. Soohyun fell asleep with a smile on his face. He couldn’t hear the Doctor’s desperate commands, the machine alarms wailing. All he knew was that his old friend the Reaper had come to take him home.

He woke to warm brown eyes greeting him, accompanied by an achingly familiar smile. Soohyun reached out to grasp Hoon’s outstretched hand. He was never letting go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soohyun and Hoon’s deaths did not pass unnoticed. The night that Soohyun sang Hoon’s last song they were not alone. The fan, in utter grief, posted the video she took of Soohyun singing online. The video went viral. It started with the Kissme fandom, as they were desperate to see one last glimpse of their idol, and they couldn’t help but share it with everyone they knew. Powerful emotions were contained in that love song, conveyed in such a simple yet beautiful melody. Combined with the story of the star-crossed lovers, it was hard not to feel touched when you watched it. They called it the love song of the century.

U-Kiss was left devastated and reeling with the loss of Hoon. They had postponed their comeback, hoping to be able to wait for him to recover. Now with him gone, they couldn’t seem to find the will to go on. It all seemed too hard now, trying again and again with little to show for it. They decided to spend one last day together as U-Kiss, recounting memories and opening all the rest of the fan mail, before telling management of their decision to disband. In the 3^rd letter they opened they found sheets of music, accompanied by a simple note.

I wrote this for Hoon. It may be too much to ask, but I was hoping that you could sing it for him when he gets out of the hospital. From the moment I first wrote it I imagined it sung by you. ~Soohyun

They titled it simply “For Hoon,” and in only one month, they made their comeback with the song. They worked days and nights practicing, being involved in every part of their comeback process, wanting everything to be perfect. They wanted to make sure that Hoon was never forgotten. The first time they won 1^st place, they cried for the rest of the award ceremony.

All over the world people listened to Hoon’s song. Then they would go on with their day. But some would smile, some would sing the song over and over fueling their daydreams, others would turn to their loved ones and hug them a little tighter, and everywhere people shone just a little bit brighter.

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a/n: Ah, I killed them. Do you hate me now? Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I tend to assume that those who don't comment didn't particularly like the story.

And thank you to all my subscribers! You brought a smile to my day. :)