An astrophysicist by trade, Hoseok had always been a bit of recluse. Yoongi constantly for it, dude, seriously, you go to the movies by yourself? One spring day, Hoseok had driven through difficult traffic, his predictions were wrong, and his coffee was rancid which made Yoongi’s comments more loathsome than they already were, Hoseok snapped. He swore to his coworker that he would have a date that weekend. Only to make his life sound a little less pathetic.

Hoseok broke his normal pattern of heading to some fast food spot after work and made a trip to the Starbucks downtown, determined to prove Yoongi wrong. In his haste, he forgot how crowded Starbucks were, and how hard it was to introduce yourself when you were pressed up against someone else. He wavered.

There was a man, practically a boy, with long eyelashes, sun bleached hair and a dirty face lying down using a hiker’s backpack as a pillow. He seemed abnormal enough (and he was the only one there not wearing a tie.)

Hoseok waited until he woke up to approach him, “Here, it’s cherry blossom tea.”

“Thanks,” he rubbed at sleepy eyes, long eyelashes, pink chapped lips.

“You didn’t get much sleep last night?”

“I never do,” he smiled in a lazy way. Pink lips. Red cheeks.

“Do you want to go to the movies on Saturday.”

His eyes disappeared in black crescents, “Sure.”

~~

Hoseok finished the popcorn bag before the main title appeared and was bouncing his knee through the whole movie, but he didn’t expect a hot date. Taehyung was his name, and when clean he was more than chapped lips. He was bright smiles and thin limbs and eyes drawn in eyeliner and a box shaped smile that took up half of his face. Hoseok predicted that Taehyung would leave as soon as the movie was over.

But he didn’t.

He threaded their fingers together and leaned into Hoseok, whispered into his ear, “Your place, or that cheap motel across the street?”

Hoseok swallowed.

Somehow, they made it to his house. Hoseok was nervous and out of practice but Taehyung was patient, and by the end of it so Hoseok felt fairly confident. Taehyung was a talker. And by the time the sun rose, Hoseok had told Taehyung more about himself than he ever told his coworkers. “You have the universe on your skin,” Taehyung had told him when he trailed kisses down his chest.

“Yeah,” Hoseok chuckled.

“What’s this one?” Taehyung rubbed at Hoseok’s forearm.

“This one is Jupiter, the biggest gas planet and this one,” Hoseok held up his other arm, “is Neptune.”

“There are nine planets in our solar system, so why those two?”

 “First of all, there are eight.”

“Pluto will always be a planet in my heart.”

Hoseok laughed and continued, “Jupiter has no solid surface and a dark spot which is caused by a never ending storm. I’m no poet, but that sounded like a good metaphor for my life. And then Neptune, also a gas planet, is blue and on the edge of our solar system. Also it’s pretty.”

“Yes but why planets? Why not anchors or dragons?”

“Because I’m an astronomer, I don’t care about dragons, I care about space and what it has hidden.”

“Did you spend your childhood outside, under the stars?” Taehyung lay back down on the bed, using one arm as pillow.

“Actually I grew up in LA, there are no stars there. They’re hidden by pollution, gas, and lights. LA’s only saving grace is Griffith observatory, but that wasn’t enough to keep me there,” Hoseok wrapped an arm around his waist and rested his chin on the top of Taehyung’s head, “So I moved here. Where the skies are clear and the galaxies are infinite.”

“Chasing stars,” Taehyung mumbled into Hoseok’s collarbone. The conversation ended as they drifted, wrapped up in each other.

~~

“So where are you going?”

“Excuse me?” Taehyung’s response is muffled by the toothbrush in his mouth.

“You had a big backpack at the coffee shop. Were you just getting back from a hike or are you going on a trip?”

Taehyung spit out the toothpaste, “I’m always traveling.”

“You go on a lot of vacations?”

“No. After a vacations you go home. But my home is where I sleep that night, so I don’t vacation, I live everywhere. America is my home.”

Hoseok stared wide eyed, “I- what?”

“I’m going to get my bag from the train station, I’ll be back in a bit.” Taehyung pecked Hoseok’s cheek and left.

Hoseok continued staring at the door. What?

~~

Taehyung’s backpack was full of clothes, shoes, instant soup, water jugs, toiletries, etc. It was a whole room in one giant hiking bag.

“So you just walk back and forth across the United States?”

“No, sometimes I backtrack, like last year I went from New York to Florida, and then back up to New Jersey. Then down again to Lousiana, Mardi Gras is awesome.”

Hoseok slumped onto his couch, “How? How much money do you have?”

“Not a lot, my dad was a soldier, but not a high ranking one so we didn’t have much when I was growing up. I take odd jobs here and there when I’m low on cash, but most of the time someone is willing to take care of me,” he smiled to Hoseok, “or wants and uses movies as an excuse.”

Hoseok turned away. He actually hadn’t planned on sleeping with Taehyung, but he wasn’t going to complain. “Why do you do it?”

“I wanted to travel after college. Planes were a no-no, so I bought a backpack, filled it up with food, and took the first train out of the city. It took a few weeks to learn all the tricks, but once you do it’s a nice life. I get to meet new people, see new places, and with all this walking I feel closer to the Earth than I ever have before.”

Dear god, he’s a hippy. The one guy Hoseok had the courage to date, and he was a young, no purpose in life, free spirited, homeless boy. Just his luck.

~~

Taehyung doesn’t leave.

At first Hoseok was annoyed by how stubborn Taehyung was, it’s not like Hoseok could kick him out, every time he felt the words on his tongue, Taehyung would pout or laugh or tug on his arm making Hoseok forget what he wanted to say. Coming home to a house full of Taehyung was overbearing the first day. But comforting by the weekend. When Hoseok was in the labs, he would imagine Taehyung living and breathing in his red house, opening up the windows or planting a garden. And when Hoseok got home after work, he was always welcomed with a kiss at the front door.

His morning question changed from “When are you leaving?” to “What do you want for dinner?” in two easy weeks.

Two weeks to become completely enamored in the spontaneity that was Taehyung.

~~

It’s easy to fall for Taehyung.

He listened, Hoseok didn’t know he had so much to say until he found that Taehyung was willing to listen. And when Taehyung spoke, it was never about himself. It was always about the places he visited or the people he met. A doctor from Mumbai that was visiting Seattle on their days off. A woman who graduated in a high school of 2300 students and was now living in a small town in Nebraska. A child who painted Taehyung’s arm with green and red dinosaurs. He would get lost in these familiar strangers when they lay down and looked up at the sky.

He never pried. He didn’t ask why Hoseok lived by himself in a two story house, or why he lived half a country away from his family. However, he did ask why was the house red, “Out of all colors on the spectrum, red?”

“I bought it that way,” Hoseok answered while rhythmically slicing tomatoes.

“You never thought to change it?” Taehyung was sketching with charcoals by the entryway to the kitchen.

“Not really. No one ever comes over, hardly anyone drives by, and I have no neighbors. Why should I care about what color my house is?” he slid the tomatoes into a bowl and began mixing.

“For yourself. You live here, so your house should be pretty for you,” Taehyung looked up at him, “Or, if that’s not enough, you can make your house pretty for me.”

Hoseok smiled, “I would, but that means work. You can paint the house if you want, you can do it when I’m at work this week.”

Taehyung scrunched up his nose, “That’s too much for one person.”

Hoseok laughed, “Come on pasta’s ready.”

Taehyung left his charcoals on the kitchen table after they ate. There were also jars of paint hidden in Hoseok’s bookshelf, and pastel drawings taped up in the bedroom. Pieces of him were scattered around the house, and Hoseok was too enchanted to clean them up.

~~

“There’s a company picnic next Friday,” Hoseok said as he undid his laces. The days were getting longer so he was coming home in time to watch the whole sunset, “You should come with me.”

“You mean go to a place full of other space fanboys like you?” Taehyung was sprawled across the couch with and notebook in his lap and pencils scattered across the floor.

“We’re not fanboys, we’re astrophysicists, we’re professional star nerds,” Hoseok kissed Taehyung’s forehead, “So will you go with me?”

Taehyung hesitated, “…sure…”

But the next evening, his bag was packed and resting by the door.

“Are you leaving?” Hoseok asked.

Taehyung nodded behind his mug of tea.

“Where are you going?”

“I hadn’t thought of that yet. Maybe Omaha? No one ever goes there, maybe I can make some friends to redeem Nebraska.”

“So soon?”

“I was here for two months. Aren’t you tired of me free loading in your house?”

No. Hoseok went with the less vulnerable, “You could start paying rent.”

Taehyung shook his head, “Nah, I’ll find a job at the next place okay?”

Hoseok’s touches were soft and hesitant that night, and his kiss good bye in the morning was more desperate than he intended, but even that didn’t stop Taehyung from being gone by the afternoon.

~~

Not having Taehyung was daunting. Hoseok didn’t realize how easily the younger slipped into his life.

Yoongi comforted him, these things happen. Eventually you’ll forget about him.

But Hoseok didn't forget.

Three long months, and Hoseok was still upset when he didn’t come home to Taehyung kissed by the sun. The garden he planted withered, there was no one to water it during the day. The dishes would stack up for weeks, Hoseok was a young bachelor, he didn’t have time to clean. But one weekend he found that he did, and he cleaned the whole house, including the bathrooms. Because Taehyung might come back that week, and scold him for the dirty house. Actually, Taehyung probably wouldn’t mention the grime. But Hoseok would feel bad if Taehyung was staying over and his place was dirty. When he comes back. And after a few more weeks, the thought changed to if he comes back…

If he came back, the house wouldn’t be so empty. Hoseok wasn’t used to the silence. The silence that he used to love when he first got the house, felt like a reminder of how lonely he was, now that Taehyung had once sang in the walls.

It was hard. Waking up to an empty bed. Cooking for one. He would grip his cellphone in his hands, fighting back the urge to call his house and see if someone would pick up. No one did. He still tried. But no one was there to answer the phone. Work days were endless. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t.

When looking at the charts in the observatory, Hoseok began to wonder if Taehyung was a comet. Something that flashed brilliantly over your life, but then left after a few days. Hoseok hit his head on the table. The idea was painful. His life was painful.

But it got better.

Hoseok unlocked the door, the day at the office had been stressful. His calculations were off, the simulation was a total failure. He was going to have to restart the project.

He was immediately tackled once the door was fully opened, embraced by thin limbs and pale skin. There was a familiar pressure on his lips before he could register what was going on.

“Welcome home, Hobi.”

Taehyung smiled, eyes disappearing into half crescents.

Hoseok laughed and hugged him tighter.

Because in the fourth month, Taehyung came back.