Junmyeon lives in a tiny house in a little forest. It takes less than five paces to get to the lake that wraps around his house. It's surrounded by little redwood trees or maybe they're pines, he doesn't really know. It's snowing in flurries without a breeze. Which isn't odd for this time of year. Or the next time or even the time after that.

He goes on his little track from the house to the lake. This is what he loves most about his lonely days with the trees and ice. The skates touch the ice and everything slows down and the snow falls perfectly around him. It's not cold like he knows it should be, but that might be because he's bundled in proper winter gear. Complete with pleated scarf that doesn't move in the flurries of snow.

He can smell the fresh snowfall, it's so overwhelming. Everyday it's like this and he's in love with it. But on top of the hypotinzing smell of snow is the smell of gears winding up. He can here them purr to life and click into place under his feet. When the light melody of music starts he stands straight. Puffs his chest out a little and gets ready to do what he loves.

The melody is short. It goes just long enough for Junmyeon to skate forward. He spins and spins and spins and it's perfect, the ice doesn't make a sound when his skates cut through it. Off in the distance he can hear a little kid laughing. He smiles but it goes unnoticed by anyone. The melody comes to a abrupt stop and Junmyeon stills on the ice. Doesn't dare to even breathe.

Suddenly he's being shaken and the world goes sideways. He doesn't move off the ice track though. His heart drops because what if someone drops him? He knows he'd shatter into a million pieces that not even the shop keeper could put back together. He's face-to-face with the giggling kid from before, he's sure of it.

The kid's big hand taps the glass and Junmyeon closes his eyes. He braces in case she drops the delicate and old glass collectible. Suddenly a soothing voice comes and saves him like usual.

"Put that down. It's not for sale." The voice says and Junmyeon already knows who it is. He opens his eyes to see if he was right, he was. Its the handsome shopkeep and maker of all of Junmyeon's neighbors. The shopkeep gently removes his home from the child's hands and sits it back on the shelf. "We have a strict you break it, you buy it rule." He says and looks at presumably the mother.

She says something but Junmyeon doesn't get to hear it. Suddenly he's being rewinded and he backtracks into his tiny house. The gears go quiet and he can't see the snow settling on the ground. He misses it already.

Junmyeon stares at the handsome man sitting at a work desk across the little shop. There's tools scattered everywhere and Junmyeon can see little figurines on little stands on the desk. There's a bag of fresh white snow sitting closeby. The shopkeep is hard at work again making the snow globes he cherishes so much.

Each one is unique. Junmyeon's neighbor to the left is an elk that's been painted gold. This one is stationary unlike him but it's still pretty in it's own way. Junmyeon's neighbor to the right is a couple in matching outfits dancing together. They wind up, just like him, and twirl around in the snow. Junmyeon especially likes watching them.

Junmyeon sighes and pushes closer to the glass wall blocking him from the man. It's disheartening to be trapped in here all the time, an endless winter. He's in the dark corner of the store where the shopkeep is highly unlikely to spot him moving off his track. He seldom ever does this, it feels wrong. But the man is just so handsome and nice.

Junmyeon can really appreciate the man's passion for all things snow globe. Junmyeon was one of the man's earliest creations, back when he was still learning. That's why the metal platform that Junmyeon is attached to is rusting. The once vibrant gold is turning a dingy brown but gold still peeks through. Junmyeon can see it when he looks down and out of the glass.

Junmyeon is suddenly awaken by the grinding of gears. Then he's up and out the door and on the ice. He peeks up and it's the handomse man that is smiling down at him. His deft fingers wind and wind and wind Junmyeon up until the gears finally click. It sounds rusty on the gears too and Junmyeon worries a little.

"Let's see how well you work." The man says and it echoes in the empty spaces inside Junmyeon's globe. The man's fingers slip off the winding mechanism and Junmyeon starts to skate. He spins and spins and spins and never gets dizzy. He does a small figure eight to the edge of the lake then back to the center. Never veering off track, can't with all eyes on him.

He comes to a stand still on the ice and waits for the verdict. "You're getting so old." The man says and Junmyeon's heart shatters. Old things don't get to survive for very long. Old things get trashed or sold or put in boxes and stowed away. Junmyeon's seen the man do it to the even older globes that are completely broken down. He just wisks them away and Junmyeon always hears smashing glass.

He panics. He can't let the man get rid of him. He enjoys skating too much. He enjoys his little home with the little trees and the perfect lake for skating. Loves the snow and the way it reflects back against the glass. He loves all the hardwork and detail the man put into him. He panics and doesn't think about his next decision.

He steps off his track, the gears protesting with a shattering click. He moves slowly towards the glass and when he gets to it he touches it. It's cool under his hands but he can't smile. He's old now. This man is going to destroy him and then he'd be no more. He wouldn't be able to skate anymore.

The man looks striken and almost drops him. Junmyeon thinks he's going to shatter but doesn't. The man catches him and sits him back on the shelf. The tall man gets eye level with him in the globe and Junmyeon blinks back at him. Junmyeon needs to show the man he's not old or broken. So he waves both hands at the man.

"You're alive?" The man asks and sounds like he's panicing too, a little. Junmyeon nods his answer cause he doubts the other can hear him. The man looks deep in thought for awhile before speaking again. "Have you always been alive?" He asks. Junmyeon nods and steps back.

Junmyeon finds out the man's name is Wufan. Wufan just calls him prototype because Junmyeon can't tell him his own name. Wufan now has Junmyeon sitting on his workdesk. Wufan likes to talk while he puts together more snow globes.

"I was so proud of you when I first made you." Wufan smiles down at him. Junmyeon had climbed onto the roof of his house to be closer to Wufan. The other is so much more handsome upclose like this. "My biggest achievement. My first working creation." Wufan seems swelled with pride. 

"I wonder if all the other figurines are alive too." Wufan looks at him for an answer. Junmyeon has never seen any of the others come to life, so he shakes his head. "I wonder why you are." Wufan hums and goes back to work on his new globe. 

This one sits on a bronze bass with fancy swirls and lines of black. He remembers it was a specific comission for someone fairly wealthy. The glass is polished and new. This one is going to be a grand masterpiece and probably be worth a lot of money. Wufan seems to really be enjoying making it.

"This one's going to have a ballerina in it." Wufan says and holds the little figurine up for Junmyeon to look at. It's hand painted and hand made. The dress is pink as are the shoes and the ribbon in the hair. The face is beyond beautiful, perfectly painted with shadows and blush and lipstick. Gorgeous. Junmyeon gives him a thumbs up and Wufan smiles.

They continue on like that for a while. Junmyeon watching as Wufan works and sales the other globes in the small alley store. Wufan seems to have no quelms selling them since Junmyeon confirmed none of them were living. Wufan said he'd feel guilty even if they were sold to people who would take good care of them.

Wufan has been asked multiple times if he's selling Junmyeon. Junmyeon just stands in the middle of the ice lake and prepares himself in case this is the day Wufan says yes. But he doesn't and Junmyeon lives to see another day and another new globe being made.

One day Wufan frowns at him as the gears grind more than usual. The track Junmyeon travels on keeps stopping mid-spin. He hates this getting stuck in some weird limbo.

"I need to repair your parts soon." Wufan says looking disappointed. Junmyeon gets off the track but it takes alot more work than usual, his skates not cooperating anymore. That just makes Wufan's frown deepen and Junmyeon to get teary eyed.

One day the gears don't even turn. Wufan winds and winds and Junmyeon waits and waits. But nothing. The gears don't make a noise, not a grind or a grunt or a click. His mechanisms are failing probably from rust and age. He really is getting old and Junmyeon gets more and more scared everyday.

Wufan tilts his home globe on its side. Junmyeon fumbles over but gets to his feet and presses against the glass to see what the other is doing. Wufan takes a screwdriver and starts unscrewing the little screws that keep the cover over the gears in the globe's base. 

Wufan sits all that to the side and turns on the little flashlight on his forhead lamp. "Nothing but rust." He can hear Wufan say, Junmyeon was right. He's getting older everyday that passes, his gears less and less greased.

Wufan tells him that tomorrow he is going to disassemble everything and replace it with new parts. Junmyeon wonders what that will do to him.

As Wufan starts taking out parts that need to be replaced, Junmyeon can feel himself stiffening. He's on his track because Wufan asked him to stay on it. So he can see if he works with the new parts. Junmyeon is so infatuated that he would never disobey his creator.

The more Wufan disassembles the worse the pain in Junmyeon's chest gets. It starts in his legs, he can't move them anymore. Can't flex his toes. Then it moves into his hips and he can't bend over anymore, almost like when he was brand new and ramp-rod straight. It scares him and he wants Wufan to stop but he can't get his attention.

Soon Junmyeon can't feel his arms or his hands. And he starts to cry real tears for the first time ever. If this continues he'll never be able to skate again. He'll never be able to listen to Wufan's low voice into all hours of the night or watch his work. Won't get to see the new ballerina globe get winded up for the first time.

He tries shaking his head hoping Wufan will see the movement and stop removing vital parts of his globe and his life. Maybe he will see but it'll be too late.

Wufan must see the movement because he stops. He peers in at Junmyeon and looks startled. Junmyeon's tears haven't ceased, if anything they've gotten worse. It hurts so much more than he'd imagine getting old would. He's malfunctioning and he's terrified because everything is in and out of focus now.

"Oh my god!" Wufan yells and it sounds louder than usual. "What's happening?" He asks and looks just as frieghtened as Junmyeon does. "Was I hurting you?" He asks and frantically tries to realign all the pieces he removed back into their place. He quickly screwed everything back and sat Junmyeon upright again.

Wufan winded and winded and started to cry too. Junmyeon had stopped moving all together. 

Wufan keeps Junmyeon on a shelf above his workdesk. He doesn't make snow globes anymore. He's refunded all the comission money and has closed shop. He can't bare it anymore.

He can't stand to look up but does anyways. Junmyeon is perfectly poised ready to skate on the lake as usual. He looks as elegant as he did when Wufan first made him. Except now his eyes are always looking right at Wufan. They're lifeless and Junmyeon's tears are permanent on his cheeks now. It kills Wufan inside.

He had killed his first ever globe. He had killed a living, breathing person. He destroyed the one thing he was most proud of and cherished more than anything else in the world.

Junmyeon doesn't skate anymore. Wufan knows he could fix the broken globe and make Junmyeon skate again. But it just seems pointless because what are the chances Junmyeon will come to life again? It'd just break Wufan's heart more to see a lifeless figurine skating mechanically around a refurnished snow globe.

Junmyeon's face looks so sad and desperate. Wufan wonders how long Junmyeon was trying to get his attention, when he was taking him apart. Wonders what it felt like to have your lifelines yanked out. To have your entire being freeze up again. Wufan wonders how much pain he put Junmyeon through.

He'll never know. He'll never know how much the little skater loved him and was absolutely proud of everything Wufan ever made. Especially himself.