...in which they nearly lose one another

special treat - my second entry for Infinite Secret Santa 2014

given prompt: Yadong or Myungyeol - something supernatural or from the future, angsty but with happy ending

Hoya/Dongwoo

2470 words

dedicated to chocoteddy1479

The skies were weeping and so was he. As he stood, looking at the window, it was as though he was looking at his mirror reflection. The tears the clouds shed were rolling down the cold glass just like his own tears were rolling down the pale surface of his face. It was dark and unbearably silent in the room, in the whole flat.

Only the angry sound of the rain hitting the windows accompanied by feeble sobs was heard.

It also rained back then, he remembered as he looked out, eyes scanning the sad scenery. It reminded him of so much pain he had gone through, of the evil that still was in the world. It was going to be two years since that day, he thought.

Since the day when the skies bled ashes and the walls of his world fell apart.

The harsh rumbling of thunder woke Howon up from his slumber. Perfect way to start a day, he thought ironically. They had left the window open before they went to bed; the weather had been too hot for the past few weeks. With a sigh, he turned around just to witness his lover casually snoring away.

Sometimes he wondered if Dongwoo had been such an irresistible human being since birth. But when only the idea of little Dongwoo made Howon nearly lose his chickens, the probability of that was quite high.

He was yanked from his daydreaming when a gunshot was heard from the outside. He let out another sigh, plunging his face into his pillow while Dongwoo began to stir awake.

The war between the North and the South had been tormenting the country and terrifying the whole world for a few years by then. When Dongwoo and Howon were becoming of age, in the late 2070’s, the South stopped supplying the North with much needed resources. Simply because the Earth itself was running out of natural raw materials and everyone wanted some of the little that was left for themselves.

Unable to take care of its citizens, the North pulled out the ace it had been using for nearly a century to threaten the world – nuclear war. With the technology and science still advancing, it was a fact if the war were to start the world would disappear. Nonetheless, in the year 2082 empty threats surfaced to reality when with a snap of his fingers the North Korean leader destroyed Jeju Island.

It began then.

The two lived quite near the centre of all conflicts and even though Howon had been trying to talk Dongwoo into moving somewhere safer, the other never agreed and usually changed the topic of their conversation quickly. Howon assumed the elder had his reasons and he never asked about them, but somehow he didn’t want those reasons to cost them their lives.

He had been coping with Dongwoo’s reluctance for months, but more people were dying still closer to their flat and truth be told, it was more than just uncomfortable. More gunshots came, more screams reached his ears, more supersonic fighters flew above their heads, more bombs were being dropped around and something in him finally snapped. He was not going to tolerate it any longer. He hated how neither of them would admit how much the war was destroying them from the inside; how they both acted like nothing was happening.

With heavy and a bit nervous heart, he faced Dongwoo who was still fighting the remainders of sleep in his eyes.

“Let’s get out of this place.” He suggested, voice as serious as it could get.

Dongwoo did not answer, but Howon’s suggestion effectively chased sleep from his face. The elder merely stared holes into the ceiling and was not even blinking. For the first time in months, it seemed as though Dongwoo was thinking about moving away seriously and so Howon waited rather patiently.

After a while of studying his fingernails, Howon heard a small “okay” coming from his side. With eyes wide, he looked up and saw tears coming from Dongwoo’s eyes. It sent thousands of little daggers through Howon’s chest to see the elder like that. Without thinking, he reached out and wiped those tears away with his thumb, being as gentle as he could.

“Hey.” He whispered, “It’s going to be all right. We can do this together.” He cooed, but it caused even more tears to spill.

“Okay...” Dongwoo sobbed, visibly shaking as he tried to hold it in.

They were going to try, to run for their lives, but neither were convinced that they would live the following day. Thunder rumbled outside and raindrops kept hitting the window as Howon reached out again, cupping the other’s cheek until he looked at him.

Howon opened his mouth, ready to say something, but not words came out; instead he forced the corners of his lips to form a meek smile. It was in Dongwoo’s nature to return smiles he was given and so, even through the tears, he smiled back and the sight broke Howon’s heart a little. Nonetheless, they both knew they were in the misery together till the end, despite all that might come in their way.

He noticed then that the thunders were not that loud anymore.

He inched from the weeping window and turned around to let his eyes in the sorrowful grey that was ruling the flat. It was so quiet that he could hear the awful reedy sound that pierced through his head; it was so quiet that he could hear his heart slowly dying in his chest.

He couldn’t sleep because the vivid images were haunting him even in his unconscious