Minho smiles as his sleep is disturbed by the sound of rocks softly hitting his window. Today is Wednesday and the sky is bursting with stars, sending showers of stardust into the eyes of curious onlookers. Minho quickly shrugs on a light jacket before opening up his bedroom window; he’s met with a wicked smirk and hands twitching in anticipation.

“Hurry your lazy up, Choi. It’s Star Day.” The boy yells as Minho makes his way down the tall oak tree that separates their houses.

The boy, who’s nothing but skin, bones and dreams, throws Minho their blanket before grabbing Minho’s hand and running wildly across the street. He says he loves running in the middle of the night because there are no cars, no useless noise, no soul in sight; it’s just them two, the sound of their heart beats and the moon watching silently, yet blithely overhead.

After a couple minutes of blindingly sprinting, Taemin forces Minho to give him a piggy back ride because his legs are tired, and Minho who spoils Taemin to no end always obliges. Minho loves it though. Whenever Taemin would talk Minho could feel his entire chest vibrating, sending jolts along his spine. And when Taemin’s arms are draped casually around Minho’s neck, and his feet sometimes bump into Minho’s knees and when Taemin’s cheek is pressed right next to Minho’s, he feels like he can’t breathe. And Minho’s lost really, lost in the beauty of Lee Taemin, and he doesn’t really mind because no one has ever really understood him the way Taemin does, no one has ever really etched himself in every seam of Minho’s heart like Taemin did.

Once the market place comes into view, with dim lights and a cheerful yet casual atmosphere, Taemin climbs off Minho and intertwines their hands like always, as if Minho was an anchor keeping Taemin from floating out to sea.

“Hey Jinki.” The pair greet in unison, gently waving at the store owner before giddily running up the stairs to the roof.

A cool breeze ruffles their hair as the settle themselves near the ledge; the night air fills up their lungs leaving them feeling lightheaded and dazed. Minho sits with his legs stretched out in front of him, and Taemin throws his ankles across Minho’s shins, wrapping the big blue blanket over them, like a little tent, like a little home, like a little world.

“There.” Taemin whispers, right into Minho’s ear, his lips gently brush Minho’s cartilage but before Minho can even think about it Taemin’s already naming every constellation he can see, pointing out the groups of stars excitedly with his index finger while his other hand is placed softly on top of Minho’s.

“That’s Cassiopeia, oh! And over there, yeah that’s Pisces. And if you kinda squint you can see-”

“Andromeda.” Minho finishes for him, chuckling as Taemin clicks his tongue.

“I’ve saved up quite a lot you know, I can almost buy a telescope.” Taemin says happily before snuggling closer to Minho, this time wrapping both his arms around Minho’s torso.

“You smell like cinnamon. Cinnamon and laundry detergent.” Taemin says as he lays his head on Minho’s shoulder, toying with one of Minho’s stray curls.

And Minho smiles lightly, pulling the precious boy even closer, staring in awe as little stars trickle from his mouth in the form of laughter. And Minho swears he’s a speck of dust in the vast emptiness of the universe, but Taemin, Taemin is a galaxy with planets dotted on his back and stars shimmering in his eyes. Twinkling comets whiz across his beautiful eyes, large and ebony eyes framed by long eyelashes that look more like the sun’s corona.

He was something that didn’t quite belong in their little suburban area. He looked like a fish out of water really, tall and lanky with bones jutting out in weird angles, a crooked smile that reeled you in like a gravitational force.

Minho carefully ran his fingers through Taemin’s golden hair, subtly pushing his bangs from his eyes, eyes that have seen universes being obliterated by black holes, eyes that have seen the death of countless stars.

“You’re beautiful.” Minho says then, words pushing past his lips before he can stop himself.

And the lights dim in Taemin’s eyes as he shakes his head slightly, bangs covering Minho’s world as Taemin shifts away from Minho, hands clutching the sky blue blanket. The stars are glassed over, water droplets spilling from the edge of the universe as Taemin curls himself into a little ball, cutting off rays of moonshine from spilling into Minho’s eyes.

So Minho gently holds Taemin’s hand, the remains of asteroids are streaked across Taemin’s arms, never quite fading. And Minho wants to tell Taemin that he outshines every scattered thing in the infinite night sky, and he almost wants to say that he loves Taemin, but he doesn’t because wounds from thorns hold him back. Because Minho has learned that a simple ‘I love you’ could destroy nebulas and really love is nothing but a gigantic black hole, hungry, greedy and unforgiving.

And so Minho settles for this, uncertain hands grasping onto each other, swirling galaxies shrouded between them, want and something a bit more than friendship hung heavily in the air. Because really Taemin is just a little dreamer, with dreams bigger than the universe and Minho, well Minho is just a star gazer, afraid of destroying something perfect in order to make it beautiful.

I'm sososososo sorry for not updating in such a long time T^T I really wanted to finish my other story, plus I rewrote this nine million times >< thank you for all the love sweeties hope you guys enjoy this chapter~