Sunlight flickered through the canopy of leaves casting Seunghyun's shadow forward in a large broken way. His feet, now past sore to the point of numbing pain, trudged forward past a fallen log he was sure he'd already passed. The sigh that left his mouth was more helplessness than frustration, he had already ranted at himself for taking the "off the beaten path" trail and getting himself miserably lost. He had no sense of direction even on his best days and all the "Man versus Wild" Discovery shows couldn't help to guide him out of this mess he created.

He sat dejectedly upon the log and toed his foot down into the ground. His water bottle was long gone and any food he'd brought along was consumed before he began this treacherous hike of his. Maybe he shouldn't have made that bet with Youngbae, he knew that he wasn't a nature person, but there were girls and one-too-many shots, and he had his pride to defend after-all!

A miserable pout crossed his features and he wiped the sweat starting to drip into his eyes away. Branches crunched and he whipped his head upwards. He hadn't even thought about there being animals out here but the fast pounding of his heart told him he should have.  He was in a nature park, in the middle of ing Seoul, what wildlife could possibly be dangerous enough to harm him? This rational train of thought did not deter him from breaking out into a cold sweat or from inching off the log slowly. What it did deter however, was his ability to move his body and think at the same time, as his foot sidled over the log it caught on a still attached branch and had him sliding over himself and onto the damp earth below. His John Galliano shirt was now ruined with a large dirt stain was his first thought, the second, was that the boy slipping past the green leaves looked breathtaking.

Seunghyun scrambled upward dusting off his clothes in haste. He realized he probably looked like a sweaty hobo at this point, or a lost person, which he was. He was just seconds away from saying hello to the boy, although on closer look he appeared to be around Seunghyun’s age, when, and this is just his imagination working, he disappeared. Seunghyun blinked. Then he blinked again…and again.

Yes, the boy had disappeared. He chalked this up to his loud rumbling stomach and hydration. Of course when he turned his head and the boy was standing right there, right there as in too close, face dangerously close to his, with wide gold and green and brown –and was that red? – colored eyes, peering at him, he chalked that up to himself going insane.

He gasped, half flinching in fright and half in fascination, as long bone thin fingers touched his cheek. Luckily the skin contact was warm, otherwise he would think he had encountered a vampire (his recent week long vampire movie marathon probably wasn’t helping his mind function at this point).

“Hello.” Seunghyun was almost positive he had just heard the sound of bells or maybe sunlight – or what he’d imagine sunlight to sound like.

“Uh…” He blinked in confusion not sure what to do let alone say.

“Are you a human of a different dialect?” The boy…or vampire…or something began speaking in a language, several actually, that he did not understand. He was sure he heard some English in there but since his English consisted of cuss words and “gangster” rap he wasn’t sure.

“Wait, no, stop, I understand Korean.”

The grin that accompanied his answer had him blinking back tears quickly. He was in the presence of a god—definitely a god or maybe a ghost or alien or fairy.

“You can call me Jiyong. What should I call you?” His ears continued to ring with bells and he fought to form coherent sentences now. His senses were being bombarded, the boy, Jiyong, was gorgeous. If his eyes weren’t holding his attention it was the vibrant color of his pink and blue hair (he thought it was pink and blue but somehow he knew it was colors that he couldn’t describe in any words he knew). His skin was translucent reflecting the fading light of the sun and casting colors that skin shouldn’t hold along its surface. He was clad in what appeared to be leaves and no matter how he moved the leaves didn’t tear. “Oh…are you one of the child-like humans?” Seunghyun blinked and was still met with eyes that had him swimming. Jiyong shifted backward, a movement that was liquid water, and brought his bony hand to his hip, he looked haughty and impatient now.

“What…? No…I’m…My name is Seunghyun.” 

Jiyong remained silent reminding Seunghyun of the quiet that comes when someone sits and listens, not to people or things, but to everything around them.

“I’m sorry…this…I’m hallucinating. Or I hit my head falling off the log and am dreaming now. This isn’t real.”

Jiyong’s mouth quirked into an amused smile and his hand came up to claim Seunghyun’s.

“Amusing. You humans always say that. But who can say what’s real or unreal?” With a sudden tug, that seemed impossible with the way Jiyong looked, like brittle bones and ancient paper, he was pulled along. “It’s okay I’ll forgive you for being like all the others because you’re pretty. One of the prettiest I’ve seen.” And the look shot towards him sends a chill down his spine, it wasn’t quite feral, but the hinted ‘I might eat you’ was there.

He trudged behind Jiyong not sure where they were going, at times he thought they were nearing normal hiking trails and at others he was fighting past undergrowth and branches at every turn. Jiyong seemed nonplussed by it all, his feet gliding over branches and leaves without leaving impressions behind, while Seunghyun tromped along like an elephant, he felt like one next to Jiyong.

He finally felt brave enough to ask, “Where are we going?” but when no answer came he shrunk back, trying to pry his fingers from the ones holding onto his tightly. Tapered fingers slipped between each of his and clutched tighter, almost bruising, and he realized if they wanted to they could crush his to fine powder.

“We’re going here and there. Are you afraid? Don’t be, it’ll be fun I promise.” And Jiyong’s irises flashed his way all kaleidoscope in color and just as dizzying, lithe frame stopping suddenly and making Seunghyun run into his back. Jiyong turned suddenly and was in his space bubble once more, nose pressed against his staring intensely at him. “Gosh, you are pretty, I’m glad I followed you.”

Seunghyun didn’t have anything to say to any of that so he stayed quiet. He blinked and Jiyong chuckled, it was a light thing, crinkling his eyes until they were slits and heaving his sides and pressing his rib bones against thin skin. “You look so confused. Like the pixies do when I steal their gold dust. Ah, I like you.” And quickly before Seunghyun could process Jiyong pressed a kiss to his lips. It felt like raindrops and lily petals.

Jiyong once again moved away slinking forward and pulled him into a clearing that was not there a moment ago. Seunghyun was still reeling from the brief contact of lips. His tongue flicking out over his bottom lip to feel what he thought was powder.

Jiyong let go of his hand and Seunghyun felt the air whisk past through the empty spaces like they were letting out a sigh of goodbye. He moved to follow after Jiyong but Jiyong shook his head eyes alight with something he couldn’t name. He brought one spindly finger to his lips as if to say watch and be quiet. It wasn’t like Seunghyun could do anything else anyway.

Jiyong stepped forward into a patch of fading sunlight, the orange and dusky red hue extending across the field and lighting the white lilies covering the area in color. And the light seemed to seep into his skin creating a shimmery effect where he faded in and out of the sunlight. Seunghyun couldn’t tear his eyes away, Jiyong danced, a thing of living color, of living sunlight and fire, and Seunghyun took a step forward trying to say something, anything. Jiyong stopped dead in his tracks and eyed him briefly, with a touch too his lips he smiled wide, “Come see me again, Seunghyun.”

The sun dipped down and dusk settled in and Seunghyun blinked in confusion. When his eyes opened again Jiyong was gone and he was back at the beginning of the nature trail before he’d attempted his long and arduous hike, with just the taste of powder on his lips and the memory of a boy who danced with light.