“Where are we going, Hyung?” Zelo whispered, slipping past the last few nurses and out into the darkness, following Yongguk to his car and into the passenger side.

The clock on the dash showed just past midnight when Yongguk started the engine, pulling out of the passenger side.

“Just somewhere.” Yongguk smiled, reaching over to ruffle Zelo's hair. “You'll like it.”

“What if you get in trouble again, Hyung?” Zelo asked, his bottom lip pulled between his teeth. He watched Yongguk with worried eyes as the elder pulled out of the hospital and started towards the center of the city.

Yongguk chuckled. “I won't. We'll have you back in like four hours, no one will know you're gone.”

Zelo didn't say anything to that. He pulled his feet up onto the seat and wrapped his long arms around his legs, head resting on his knees while he looked out of the car window. The small buildings turned into skyscrapers. The trees turned into concrete and bus stops. He sighed, turning to look at Yongguk.

The driver focused on the road, not paying attention to the younger boy's gaze on him. He hummed a tune softly to himself, something that he'd had stuck in his head for a few days, and didn't speak again until he pulled into the parking lot of the tallest building in the district.

At midnight, the mall was closed, deserted. Yongguk didn't seem to care, though, as he parked the car and killed the engine. “Come on, Zelo. We're here.” He called to the boy in the other seat, shutting his own door after he pulled himself out of the car.

Zelo got out the other side, stretching his muscles as he looked up at the huge building. They had parked in the back, near a sign that said 'No Parking.' Zelo didn't bother menitoning it.

“What are we doing at the mall, Hyung?” He asked, instead, following Yongguk up to one of the big metal doors.

“We're going inside.” Yongguk told him, pulling open the plastic cover to the digital keypad. He punched in a few numbers and the red light flashed to green. The door unlocked with a loud click and Yongguk swung it open, motioning Zelo in before him.

The darkness crawled in all around them inside the hallway. The door shut, leaving them in complete darkness. Yongguk could feel Zelo's hand reaching out and finding part of his shirt to grab hold of. The sounds of shuffling were heard for a moment and then a light flipped on.

Yongguk held out his cellphone in front of them, letting the light from the screen illuminate their path. “Just keep walking straight, Zelo.” He whispered to the boy.

Zelo nodded, his fist gripping tight to the strap of Yongguk's bag. The hallway seemed like it would never end as they slowly made their way down in. Finally, a door appeared out of the darkness. Yongguk pulled a key out of his pocket and shoved it into the lock.

“I..uh..I work here..” Yongguk whispered quietly in response to Zelo's curious expression. He pushed the door open and peeked out, finding an empty mall.

He pushed Zelo lightly out the door and into the store. Yongguk worked in a skater shop on the fourth floor, where they'd parked in the parking garage. He wrapped his arm around Zelo's wrist and pulled him along through the store. A metal gate blocked them off from the rest of the mall. Yongguk turned the light on his phone off and sent a text.

A few minutes later, a security guard came by and unlocked the gate. Yongguk mumbled a thanks to the man and slapped a wad of money into his hand. The guard looked at Zelo with a raised eyebrow and shook his head.

“Last time I'm sneaking you in here, Bang.” The man told him, leaving to go finish his job.

Through all of this, Zelo said nothing. He let Yongguk's gentle grasp on his wrist lead him through the deserted building to an elevator. Yongguk pushed the button before finally turning to speak to Zelo.

“Since you like the stars so much, I thought you might want to get a little closer to them.” The smile playing at his lips made Zelo tilt his head.

Recognition lit up in his eyes and his entire face lit up with it. “Hyung...are we going to the roof?”

Yongguk nodded, full on grin now in place on his face. His fingers slipped from around Zelo's wrist to tangle together with the boy's fingers just as a ding announced the arrival of the elevator.

“You always know just what to do...” Zelo's mumbled words were lost in the shuffle onto the elevator. Yongguk grinned down at him, fingers still tangled together, and pressed the button for the top floor.

Silence fell between the two while the elevator moved up, floor by floor, spotting the silence with little dings as they passed each floor. Yongguk stared at the little dial above the door, watching the number steadily grow higher until it stopped on the highest floor. The machine lurched forward and the doors flung open.

Yongguk steadied himself and tugged Zelo out of the elevator, leading him once more down the dark, deserted hallway. This time, they stopped at a grey door. Yongguk flipped open another keypad beside it and punched in another set of numbers.

A loud beep rang through the corridor and the door swung open. Yongguk went through first, taking the steps upwards. One flight of stairs and another door. This time, another key. Yongguk unlocked it and pushed it open. The hinges made a screeching, mostly rusted shut.

“No one's been up here in a while..” Yongguk muttered, pulling his bag up on his shoulder and holding his hand out for Zelo once more.

Zelo took his hand and followed Yongguk out onto the roof. Soft pebble crunched beneath his feet and wind whirled around him. He tugged his jacket tighter around himself, zipping it up.

“Come this way, Zelo.” Yongguk called to him, no longer whispering. He started walking away from the door they'd just come from and towards the edge of the building. Zelo followed after him, taking Yongguk's outstretched hand.

The concrete barrier between them and the near eighty story drop came up near to his waist. Both boys took hold of it and leaned over, looking at the drop before looking out at the city before them, and up into the sky.

“The city lights almost look like stars from this high up.” Zelo spoke.

“This is the tallest building on this side of the city.” Yongguk pushed away from the ledge, walking back a few steps to sit on a block of concrete that seemed to cover some kind of piping. He leaned back on his hands and watched Zelo.

Warmth filled his heart at the sight before him. Zelo, blonde curls flying away in the wind, jacket wrapped around his gangly body, smiling from ear to ear as he looked up into the sky. Yongguk allowed himself to smile as he watched the boy, making sure he didn't start leaning too far over the barrier.

After a long time and a long silence between the two of them, Zelo walked over to take a seat next to Yongguk. “Ever since I was really little, I always liked the stars.” Zelo pulled his knees up to his chest, staring up into the sky.

They could see the stars nearly perfect from that spot, all the lights on the building out and all the rest too low to the ground to affect the stars so much. Millions of little lights sparkled in the sky.

“Why?”

Zelo didn't look away from the stars, reaching out with one hand up towards the sky, as if he were reaching for the stars, trying to grasp one of them in his hands.

“I got lost in the woods once when I was seven.” Zelo spoke softly, looking up at the sky. “I was visiting my grandparents in the country and I had run off without Daehyun. I was gone for hours, until it got really dark, but I couldn't find my way out of the woods.”

Yongguk looked over at Zelo, watching the boy's arm drop back down to his side. Zelo sighed and kept speaking.

“I met a boy. He found me crying at the base of a tree.” Yongguk his lips as Zelo continued to speak, imagining a crying seven year old Zelo hiding in the dark. “He told me 'Dont cry, little one. Don't you see the light?' He pointed up at the sky, at the stars. 'Don't you see that star? That one right there...'”

Zelo reached up into the sky once more and pointed at a certain star, shining brighter than all the rest.

“The North Star.” Yongguk's voice was barely a whisper as he named the star Zelo pointed at.

Zelo nodded. “'As long as you keep your eyes on that light, the you'll never be lost.' Is what he told me. And he was right.” Zelo looked away from the stars and down at Yongguk. “He held my hand and together we followed the star all the way back to town.”

Zelo paused and laughed for a bit, leaning back on his hands. Yongguk pulled his legs up under him, pulling his bag off his back and sitting it beside him.

“Back then, I used to think that boy was one of the spirits from the forest.” He paused, glancing sideways at Yongguk, who chuckled a bit. “Don't laugh at me.” He pouted. “I was seven, I was allowed to believe in magic back then.”

“You're never too old to believe in magic.” Yongguk pushed himself up off the concrete seat and walked back out into the middle of the roof, turning to look at Zelo. “Magic is all around us, all the time. We just refuse to call it that.”

“What do we call it instead?” Zelo asked, smile on his face, playing along with Yongguk's comments.

Yongguk laughed and looked up at the sky. A droplet of rain splattered against his face. “Science.” He responded, one drop of rain followed by another and another and the rain began to fall, drenching them both to the bone.

Zelo squealed, jumping up to find cover under a ledge. Yongguk laughed, shaking his head. He stretched his arms out by his sides and spun around in the rain, making himself dizzy.

“You're crazy!” Zelo yelled after him.

Yongguk laughed, stopping, hair sticking to his forehead. He held out his hand to Zelo. “A little rain won't hurt anybody.”

Zelo shook his head, staying firmly planted under the little metal slat that made his roof. Yongguk wouldn't let him go, however. He ran over to the boy and grabbed his hands, pulling him out into the rain.

Within minutes, Zelo and Yongguk both twirled and danced around in the rain, completely drenched, laughing wildly with each other. Yongguk looked at Zelo, watching him jump into a puddle and spin around, arms wide open like he'd done earlier. He grabbed Zelo by the waist and took one of his hands, spinning the two of them around in circles before a loud crack of lightening and thunder lit up the sky.

Yongguk stopped dancing, though his smile didn't fade. He grabbed Zelo's hand, swiped his bag back up, and ran for the cover of the stairwell. Still laughing, both the boys pushed through the door and into the stairwell. The door slammed behind them, only the dim, flickering light above allowing them to see.

Yongguk ped his bag, pulling out a towel. “Dry off...we don't need you getting a cold.” He smiled, dropping the towel onto Zelo's head and drying the water off him. He pulled out another shirt and stripped off his wet one while Zelo's head was still covered with the towel.

He shoved the wet shirt into the back and looked at the time on his phone. “We need to get you back to the hospital before anyone notices you're gone.”

Zelo nodded, taking Yongguk's hand when the elder offered it, and running back down the stairs with him, sliding on rain-slicked shoes once they hit the door and fell into the hallway.

“Who's there!” An unfamiliar voice called out, a flashlight shining at the other end of the hallway, just around the turn.

“Hurry!” Yongguk hissed, fingers tightening around Zelo's as he pulled the boy up and the two took off running down the hall.

They could hear the security guard behind them. Yongguk looked back, just before the ducked into the nook where the elevator was. He peeked around the edge of the wall, finding an old, fat, balding security guard just turning the corner.

Zelo smashed the button, glancing over at Yongguk with panic in his eyes. Yongguk simply laughed, havign the time of his life. The elevator gave a loud ding and the security guard screamed. Yongguk pulled Zelo into the elevator, pushing him back against the wall and twisting to press the button.

Once the door shut, just as the security guard turned the corner to catch them, Yongguk fell apart laughing once more.

“It's not funny!” Zelo pouted. “What if we got caught just now? We could have gotten in trouble! You could go to jail!”

Yongguk took Zelo's hands in his own and gave a smile. “But I didn't get caught. And I'm not in jail. I'm here. With you.”

The words caused Zelo to pause and stare at Yongguk with widened eyes. His confusion melted into a smile as the pounding in both their hearts faded.

When the elevator gave out a ding and lurched to a stop at the fourth floor, Yongguk peeked out and saw nothing. Their hands intertwined, Yongguk led Zelo back to the store, slipping under the metal gate and locking it back. The commotion of security guards could be heard in the distance as they slipped out of the mall and back into the car.

Guys, another author note here to tell you THANKS! For reading this story. For liking it. Comments and upvotes are always welcome, make sure to subscribe if you haven't so you can make it to the end of this fic! However right now I'm about to do some SHAMELESS advertising. I've got this Roleplay that I've had for like 3 years now. I stopped doing it, even deleted the page for it earlier this year. However, it's back up and running and completely revamped (no pun intended) so please, if you like to RP, check it out! Extremely active and tons of characters open. If you don't RP, then why not give it a try. IT's super fun! Here's the link for anyone interested! Jaenueng School for the Gifted