"Hyung, wait up." Myungsoo laughed as he walked a little faster, trying to keep up with his energetic boyfriend as he skipped forward, kicking up piles of the colourful leaves that lay scattered on the forest floor.
"Hurry up, slowpoke." Dongwoo grinned in reply, spinning around as the leaves fell back to the ground, and Myungsoo saw the perfect opportunity to snap a photo, and he did so as Dongwoo grinned only wider, standing amongst the kaleidoscope of leaves that fell to the ground.
"Where's the fire?" The younger retorted, though undeniably amused by his lover's simple enjoyment. 
"Right here." Dongwoo replied, grinning as he stooped over to pick up a particularly bright red leaf.
"That's a fire?" Myungsoo asked, raising an eyebrow as he finally stood next to his boyfriend.
"Yep! Quick, take it, it's burning my hand~" Dongwoo exclaimed before all but shoving the leaf into the taller boy's hand and dancing forward, seemingly unable to keep still for more than a few moments. 

His energy was the reason they were going for a walk in the first place. He was known to always be energetic, but someone - Myungsoo's guess was Sungyeol - had allowed the second eldest in the group to have coffee that morning, and he was more than hyperactive as a result. Myungsoo didn't mind so much - he actually found it rather adorable how fidgety and playful Dongwoo was - but Sunggyu had been trying to relax on their day off, and it was from where he had lain on the couch that he called for Myungsoo and told him to go get rid of his boyfriend's energy. Myungsoo had no problem complying. He'd grabbed his camera and Dongwoo's hand and taken him to a park a fair distance from the dorm where they were free to explore the labyrinth of paths.

They had been walking for well over an hour now, and Dongwoo was still bouncing down the paths excitedly, laughing simply because he could. The older boy was so clearly in love with just being alive that it brought a near permanent smile to Myungsoo's face, and he knew he could never grow tired of watching his lover simply exist, as he did so with such a burning passion that it was impossible to ignore. He'd been dating Dongwoo for nearly two years now, and known him much longer, and still had yet to see him angry, and seeing him upset at all was a rarity.

"Myungsoo-yah~ come on!" Dongwoo called, snapping the younger out of his reverie. Myungsoo blinked and looked for his boyfriend, who was a good hundred feet ahead of him. The younger laughed softly to himself at the eager bounce in Dongwoo's step as he bounded back to where he stood and skidded to a halt, taking the taller boy's hand in his own.
"Turtlesoo~" Dongwoo commented with a grin, "I wrote you something, you ready?" 
Myungsoo just chuckled, raising an eyebrow, "What is it?"
Dongwoo cleared his throat and glued on a pseudo-serious face.
"Myungsoo is cute, but he's really slow,
I keep telling him to hurry, but he won't go
At this rate, we'll be here 'till tomorrow 
Maybe by next week, we'll get home~" He finished with a grin, and Myungsoo stared at him blankly for a second before laughing and reaching up to ruffle his hair.
"Cute," The taller boy commented with a roll of his eyes, though he couldn't stop the small smile Dongwoo's oddities brought to his lips, "Let's get going then." 
Dongwoo beamed and proceeded to pull Myungsoo down the path, making sure to point out every little thing he noticed that he deemed interesting. The younger wasn't as fascinated as Dongwoo was, but he still payed rapt attention, as he was completely taken by the animated way in which his lover spoke when he pointed out things like the tree stump that, if you squinted hard enough, "like Sunggyu hyung", he'd laughed, it looked like a bear. 

They continued on like that for a while, Dongwoo being Dongwoo, and Myungsoo loving him for it until the younger of the two halted his boyfriend with a quick kiss and informed that it was time to start heading home. Dongwoo pouted but agreed on the condition that they stopped for food, as he was hungry.
"You're always hungry." Myungsoo laughed, but he saw nothing wrong with the request. It was only a twenty minute walk back toward the central park, as the paths tended to wind and loop back to the starting point, and five minutes from there was a small café where they could grab something quick.
As they made their way there, hand in hand, Dongwoo swung their arms but his steps were more tame now. Myungsoo knew that he had successfully tired him out to an effective enough degree. 

They reached the café in half an hour, and Dongwoo tugged at Myungsoo's hand, not caring to let go though they were more in public now, as he led him up to order.
"No coffee," Myungsoo commented sternly, "Sunggyu hyung would kill me." 
"Hot chocolate?" Dongwoo asked, eyes pressing for a yes.
"Fine, fine."
"And..a chocolate muffin?" The elder asked earnestly.
"Isn't that technically an icing-less cupcake?" Myungsoo pointed out.
"Technicalities." Dongwoo scoffed with a grin, and Myungsoo just couldn't say no.
"You and your sweet things." He chuckled.
"Why do you think I like you?" Dongwoo grinned playfully, and if they weren't in public, Myungsoo would have kissed him right then.
"Yes, hyung, you can have your not-a-cupcake muffin."
Dongwoo grinned and squeezed Myungsoo's hand, and the younger smiled at him fondly. He was lucky that Dongwoo wasn't the type to take advantage of people because Myungsoo was simply unable to say no to him. He was completely and utterly wrapped around Dongwoo's finger, and he doubted that would change.

Myungsoo ordered himself a black coffee as well as Dongwoo's requests, and they sat down in a window seat so that they could enjoy the colourful scenery outside. Dongwoo ate happily, occasionally feeding Myungsoo small pieces of his snack as he saw fit, and the small smile never did fade from the younger's lips.

Myungsoo was jolted back to the present as a teardrop - was he crying? He didn't realize before - hit the photograph in his hands. He looked down at it again now, blinking rapidly as tears flooded his eyes, blurring the colourful photo of the fall leaves surrounding Dongwoo as he grinned at the camera.
Myungsoo blinked as the memory faded away, and he glanced down at the wooden coffin through tear-filled eyes. It didn't look right, Dongwoo's face, still, without a smile on it. His soft, alabaster skin just looked wrong when it wasn't crinkled around his eyes with laughter. 

He'd only been gone for a week, but a week without Dongwoo was a lifetime without sunshine, without stars - a moonless night was what life had become, and each second stretched out into an eternity. 
Living life with Dongwoo was like being strapped to a shooting star. Everything was fast, bright, brilliantly dazzling and exciting. The world something incredible, something to be enjoyed as you sped on above it, untouchable by any of the dangers below. Perhaps, then, Myungsoo should've seen the end coming. Shooting stars crash eventually, but he didn't think it would come to a close like this, not so soon. Without Dongwoo now, everything was slower; the world was dark and dangerous, and Myungsoo lay in the crater of the impact, alone and vulnerable.

Leave it to Dongwoo to die a hero. Leave it him to lay down his life just to ensure someone else would see another day. Sometimes, Myungsoo wished his boyfriend hadn't always been so selfless. 
The details of what had happened were fuzzy, as Myungsoo had been in a state of shock when he heard them, but from what he remembered, Dongwoo had been out for drinks with some friends and a fight broke out in the bar. Dongwoo and his friends had meant to get out of there as soon as the first punch was thrown, but one of the girls they were with - a good friend of Dongwoo's, and tiny even compared to him - had been pushed somehow into the middle of the crowd. 
No one had predicted that the fight would get as bad as it did, and as Dongwoo ran back into the throng of fighting men to save his friend, Myungsoo was certain that he didn't see the end coming.
Dongwoo's friend, through her hysterics, had promised that Dongwoo died with a smile on his lips. He'd grabbed her and pulled her towards the door, letting out a soft laugh and a "let's get out of here; I have dinner waiting at home" before it happened. She'd said that he dropped instantly, and the knife wound was bad enough that it killed him quickly; he wouldn't have had time to feel much pain. It had been her scream that had broken up the crowd, and before anyone could even think to call for an ambulance, he was unconscious, laying on the ground in a crumpled heap with the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon on his face. He only lasted until the ambulance had gotten there.

Myungsoo considered himself lucky only in the sense that his last moments with his lover had been in a gentle embrace. He'd sent Dongwoo off with a warm kiss and an "I love you, have fun tonight", and Dongwoo had kissed him back and hummed out an "I love you too, cutie~ I won't be too late. I'll buy us dinner on the way home."
With a final kiss, Myungsoo said goodbye to his boyfriend for the last time.

He couldn't help it now; tears welled up and spilled over, running thick and fast down his cheeks as a sob was ripped violently from his chest. 
He felt arms around him in an instant, but what he could tell to be Sungyeol's embrace didn't provide him with any comfort. Those weren't the arms he wanted around him, that wasn't the chest he wanted to be breaking down against. Still, he knew he couldn't stand on his own now, and as sobs wracked through him, shaking the entire frame of his weary body, he clung to his friend's shirtfront. 

Myungsoo had to fight back a tortured scream as his hands clung to Sungyeol so tightly it hurt. Tension wound up in his chest, constricting his aching heart as he trembled where he stood. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. It made no sense why Dongwoo had to die - had to be ripped away from life, which he held so dear. He used to bring life into every room he stepped into, but now he lay there cold, never to smile again. Myungsoo would never hear his rich laugh echo off the walls of their room again, he'd never get to hold him while they slept, or call him back to bed when he got up for a snack. He'd never hug him, never smile with him, never kiss him again and the solidity of that knowledge tore at him like a knife, and for a moment, for just a brief second, he wished it would kill him like it killed his lover. 

Myungsoo had no idea how long he stood there, sobbing in the arms of his best friend, and he had no idea how he wound up in his seat as people stood up one by and shared their stories about Dongwoo, and what a difference he'd made in their lives. Not a single negative thing could be said about the boy, and Myungsoo found that it made it even worse for him. Why was someone to irrefutably perfect taken away? It made no sense - it wasn't fair.

Eventually, nearly everyone had spoken, save for Myungsoo who couldn't find his voice amongst his muffled sobs and shaky breaths, and it was time to return home.
As the six remaining boys drove back to their dorm, no one spoke. Myungsoo refused to eat, and he retreated into his room, pulling out the photo album he'd made of Dongwoo during the course of their relationship, and he slowly added the autumn photo into the back of the album with shaking hands. Fresh tears spilled over now as he stared at the picture, heart aching unbearably. 
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but that doesn't mean anything when the words were are left unsaid. There were so many things Myungsoo longed to say to Dongwoo, so many things he wanted to tell him, so many I love you's left to give, but he'd never get the chance again, and with that knowledge in mind, he climbed into his bed with clothes still on, not crossing over to Dongwoo's side, which would remain cold forevermore. 

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I feel like this needs more...but I'm at a loss so..heh. I've been away from writing angst for too long so I'm back before I post a killer Dongsoo fluff fic, and by killer I mean like it's 8k and I'm not done yet. Anyway...thanks for reading^^