"CL-roo."

       Chaerin mumbles incoherent words in response, the sounds barely coming out of her still dead-asleep throat. She turns her whole body into the bed.

       "I have a request," Dara says, kissing Chaerin lightly on the temple to wake her up. Chaerin grumbles and raises her eyebrow, her eyes still closed. A teasing smile lights her lips.

       "I have a request too," she replies cheekily. Dara laughs to herself, sitting on top of Chaerin and looking down.

       "Oh?"

       "Mm-hmm." Chaerin nods into the pillow.

       "What is it, Baby Rin?" Dara asks, leaning down and putting her hands on either side of Chaerin's head. She tilts her head in question even though Chaerin can't see it. Chaerin lightly smiles.

       "Kiss me right there again, please," she says cutely, pouting. Dara laughs out loud, nodding and leaning down to press her lips on Chaerin's temple once more, this time lingering a little longer. Chaerin sighs contentedly.

       "So, what's your request?"

       Dara moves her lips close to Chaerin's ear.

       "I want to fly with you," she whispers before sitting back up and watching her love intently. Chaerin opens her eyes and peers at Dara curiously.

       "What do you mean?"

       Dara smiles slyly. "Up to the skies. I'll take you and you'll take me." Dara's eyes pierce Chaerin's heart like never before.

       Chaerin grins. She thinks it's the best idea she's heard in a while.

       They're putting their shoes on at three in the morning when Chaerin realizes something.

       "Wait..."

       Dara hums in question but doesn't look up from her shoelaces.

       "Ssantokki, you have one wing," Chaerin says flatly. Dara nods, not fazed.

       "Yes I do."

       "And I have tiny wings."

       "Well, they're not that tiny," Dara shrugs, looking up at the standing Chaerin from where she's sitting on the ground.

       "I can't fly two people, Dara," Chaerin protests. Dara sighs, a goofy smile lighting her lips.

       "Chaerin, you just said so yourself. I have a wing. My one huge wing plus your two small ones equals enough to carry two people," Dara explains slowly, her face almost red from trying to keep herself from laughing.

       "But I–"

       "Bom and Minzy already said it was okay," Dara points out.

       "What? You told them before you asked me?" Chaerin is surprised to some degree. She feigns hurt. Dara laughs.

       "I didn't want to ask you and get you excited and then find out it wasn't possible," she chuckles. Chaerin sighs, giving in.

       "Okay, then. If you say so. If we spiral out of control and crash into a barn, it's your fault," she warns.

       "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come on! Let's go." Dara pecks Chaerin on the cheek with her lips before quickly pushing Chaerin out the door and following closely behind.

       "Go go go!"

       "Are you sure about this?"

       "I'm sure about this."

       "Really?"

       "Really."

       "I don't want you to get hurt."

       "Chae, remember when you said that word, 'okay'?"

       "I say that word a lot, but yeah I guess so?"

       "Well that meant that you agreed to this. So let's do it."

       "But Dara, I don't want you to get hurt."

       "I'm not gonna get hurt. You just gotta hold on to me and I gotta hold on to you. We rely on each other now, CL-roo."

       "But we don't ha – AAH!"

       They shoot off the ground and you can almost hear Dara laughing over Chaerin screaming.

       Eventually, Chaerin's shrieks transition from screams of fear to shouts of joy. Dara laughs all the way up.

       Their wings take control instinctively and they keep going up and up, holding on to each other for dear life (and just because they love each other). Both of them stop making noises when they pierce the clouds.

       The moon glows and casts rays of light across the sky, reflecting in the air across clouds and empty space, creating a beautiful array of soft, colorful mosaics. It's like a beautiful day in spring with the sun out, but softer, less harsh, more calming.

       Dara and Chaerin both fall into silence and their wings quietly flap to keep them above the clouds and moving forward through the heavenly scenery.

       "It's like nothing I've ever seen before," Chaerin whispers. She brings Dara in closer to her. Dara nods, mesmerized by the view.

       They can't hear anything up here. It's absolute, bliss, calm, serene, silence.

       "Chaerin, it's past midnight," Dara mutters suddenly.

       "I know, it is way past midnight, Dara."

       "So do you know what today is then?"

       "...it's our one-year anniversary, isn't it?"

       "Yes. Yes it is."

       Suddenly Dara is crying, just like that. Chaerin tightens her hold around Dara's torso and their wings stop pushing them forward, instead just keeping them hovering in one place. The black and white feathers work together in perfect coordination. Chaerin looks down at Dara, who is burying her head into Chaerin's shoulder. She smiles affectionately.

       "Hey, why are you crying? Don't cry. I cry when you cry."

       "I've never had an anniversary with anyone," Dara sniffs. "It's a weird feeling. I feel...grounded. Is that weird? We're flying above the clouds right now, and I feel grounded."

       "It's not weird. I know what you mean, I've never had an anniversary either. We both came out of very pathetic holes, if you ask me." At Chaerin's words, Dara chuckles in spite of her tears.

       "You saved me. How am I supposed to return that?"

       "My love, you already have. You saved me."

       They touch foreheads and their noses brush against each other. They can hear and feel each other breathing and they can hear their hearts beating and right then and there, everything feels right.

       "I love you."

       "I love you too."

       They hug each other like they never quite have before, and they stay up in the sky for a long while (but neither of them bother to keep track).

       At some point, they arrive back at home and settle down on the bed together. She's her hair and smiling lovingly and she's looking at her with the deepest, most beautiful gaze in the world. And somewhere along the way, it snaps into clarity like it never really did in the past year they've been together. And she realizes for the millionth time again but this time a million times more deeply.

       She loves everything about her.

       Her eyes, her skin, her lips, her hair, her arm, her leg, her scent, her wing (god, those wings). Her pain, her suffering, her happiness, her laughter. Her.

       She holds her in her arms and just lets it all sink in.

       She is my angel. And she is perfect.