A tiny, dirty jingle rang through the radio-static filled air, making its way over to the ears of a certain server who immediately glanced over at the sound. He walked over to the dingy door, his shoes echoing on the grimy linoleum floors.

“Hello,” he said to the customer, “may I assist you in seating?”

The tall man looked down at him and snorted. “Do I look like some kind of elder to you, kid? I’ll seat myself.”

“Yes, sir.” The boy looked away as the man spat onto the floor, only adding to the filth.

He followed the man to the very center of the diner where he sat down with a heavy thump on the seats. There were a few judgemental glances from customers nearby, but he went ignored overall. The chair squeaked as he adjusted in his seat and then beckoned the boy over. The boy followed his command and came up readily.

“What can I get for you?” he asked.

“What’s your house special?”

“Fried green beans and chicken,” the boy replied after a moment of thought.

“I guess I’ll have one of those then. And then…” the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pool of coins that he counted meticulously. “How much is it for water?” he questioned.

“Water will be two dollars, sir.”

He scoffed and sniffed. “No one’s got that kind of money anymore. Just get me a beer.”

“Okay,” the boy said as he scribbled the order down, “your food will be out shortly; please enjoy your stay.”

Tearing the note off, he tucked the small scratchpad into his back pocket and the pencil on his ear as he rushed to the kitchen. He swung the kitchen doors open and clipped the order up immediately.

“One house special,” he announced as he pulled out a large box of beer bottles from under a counter.

The cook looked away from the sizzling globs of mystery meat on his pan to glance over his shoulder. “Another special? People seem to have quite the appetite today,” he chuckled. “You’re doing a good job selling them, Sungyeol.”

Sungyeol smiled with a humorless chuckle. “More like people are excited at the vegetables.” He popped open a bottle and poured half of the contents into a grimy cup. “Green beans aren’t delivered every week, you know.”

“Believe me, I know,” the cook laughed. He reached for the opened box of canned green beans on his side, dumping them into the pan with the fatty hunks of meat. “This will be the last order of your shift, by the way.”

Sungyeol looked up with surprise and excitement. “Really? You would cut my shift in half?”

The chef looked over his shoulder with a smile. “Sure. Yeoreum said she’d take over.”

“She… she did?” Sungyeol raised an eyebrow. “Why would Yeoreum willingly take half of my shift?”

The back door opened with a loud bang and Sungyeol’s younger sister came strutting in. She gave him a sideways glance and a half smile and said, “Because today is your anniversary, stupid.”

Sungyeol broke out into a grin and ran to give his baby sister a bone-crushing hug. “You’re the best, Reummie!”

She laughed loudly as she brushed her stray strands of hair back into her bun. “Well, that’s old news already,” she joked. Pulling the cup of beer out of her brother’s hand, she continued, “You better get a move on if you don’t want to keep your guy waiting outside. I’ll finish up your table.”

“He’s here already? Shoot, then I should get going.” He gave his sister a peck on the forehead and hugged the chef before heading out the back door. “Bye Yeoreum; bye dad!”

“See you later, oppa!” Yeoreum called as he dashed away. She shook her head as he vanished. “He’s reckless,” she muttered.

“He’s your brother,” her father said, plating up a pile of unidentifiable meat. “You’re just as reckless as he is.”

She laughed through her nose, the breathiness nearly silent in the midst of the crackling pan. “Hard to be reckless when we’re cooped up in here.”

“Myungsoo!”

A tall boy with jet-black hair turned at the sound of his name, his eyes lighting up as he saw his boyfriend bounding towards him. The sound of his footsteps crunched in the damp alleyway, echoing off the graffiti stricken cement walls with a certain lightness.

“Yeol!” Myungsoo exclaimed, opening his arms for a large hug.

Sungyeol ran into his arms excitedly, planting a large kiss on his lips. Myungsoo set him down with a light-hearted chuckle, adjusting the gray beanie on his boyfriend’s head.

“Happy anniversary,” he said lovingly.

Sungyeol smiled as he played with a few strands of Myungsoo’s hair. “How many years has it been now?”

“Don’t know,” Myungsoo sang playfully as he pulled Sungyeol’s body towards him. “I lost count after five.”

Sungyeol pouted playfully. “What’s this? My boyfriend is so dumb he can only count up to five?”

With a scoff, Myungsoo landed a light punch on his arm. “Just for that, I’m not giving you your anniversary gift.” He pushed Sungyeol away lightly. “You don’t deserve it anymore.”

“Aw, but I waited a whole year just to get this anniversary present!” Sungyeol pouted childishly. “Don’t you think I deserve a gift after another year of putting up with you?”

“I think I should be asking you that question,” Myungsoo chuckled, reaching into his jacket. “But I guess I could go easy on you for once…”

Sungyeol’s eyes lit up as Myungsoo pulled a worn down book from his jacket, the pages yellowed and the cover torn. “Is that…?”

“A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” Myungsoo replied with a smile. “Shakespeare’s one of your favorites, right?”

Sungyeol nodded gleefully, tugging on the sleeves of his plaid jacket in anticipation. “Where did you find that?!” he asked. “I thought those guards had burnt down all the libraries.”

“Well, you can count on me to scour the junkyard for anniversary presents,” Myungsoo laughed. “Took me months to find it, I swear. I was ready to give you one of those tin can flower vases before I found it.”

“You searched a junkyard for me?” Sungyeol asked in disbelief. “I can’t believe-“

“Hey,” Myungsoo interrupted gently, “anything for my literature crazed boyfriend.”

“I am not literature crazed,” Sungyeol defended weakly. “I’m just… fascinated.”

Myungsoo snorted. “Sure; if risking being put in jail to read books is just fascination then I must be a wanted criminal.” He laughed at Sungyeol’s dismissive face and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Don’t hate me, baby – I just don’t understand how you got so… fascinated by literature when there’s barely any around to begin with.”

He handed the small book to Sungyeol, watching in pride as he took it and caressed the cover carefully. “It’s in such beautiful condition,” he awed. “This is so amazing, I-I don’t even know how to thank you for this.”

“Well, you could start by giving me my anniversary gift,” Myungsoo said slowly, tiptoeing closer. “Because I expect that you have one.”

“Of course I have one,” Sungyeol winked, reaching into his jacket pocket. From it, he pulled a small, flat, silver wrapped circle that was no larger than his palm. “I had to save five months of tips for this.”

Myungsoo’s eyes glistened as he edged closer. “Is that… chocolate?”

“Mm-hm!” Sungyeol nodded happily. “Just for you! I even got the fancy one with the minty filling. Took me so much money.”

Myungsoo chuckled as he took the small gift and placed his hand in Sungyeol’s. “You’re the best, babe. You know that?”

“Oh, no – after years of you telling me that I’m the best, I obviously still don’t know that,” the taller teased, swinging their hands back and forth as they walked down the alleyway together. “You’re going to have to tell me for a few more years.”

“That also depends on how great your presents are,” Myungsoo responded matter-of-factly. “After all, bad presents don’t make you the best.”

Sungyeol pouted. “That means I’d have to spend so much money! Maybe I could just search the junkyards like you do and find something that you just so happen to love.”

Myungsoo snorted. “Unless you find food or kittens in the junkyard, I highly doubt it.” He brought Sungyeol’s hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it gently. “Besides – you’re the only gift I need year after year.”

Sungyeol smiled at him appreciatively, not bothering to try and hide the warm glow that lit his cheeks. He leaned down and kissed his cheek with a noisy peck, delighting in the disgusted sound Myungsoo made.

“More kiss, less spit!” the younger chastised, wiping his cheek.

Sungyeol teased, “You know you love it though!” He grinned as they exited the alley and stepped onto the cracked sidewalk. “We should do something,” Sungyeol decided, turning right. “You know, before the city curfew hour.”

“We could always stay out after curfew, you know,” Myungsoo said coyly, his eyes searching for any nearby guards.

“As fun as that sounds, I have to actually be home tonight. Daeyeol needs me to be in his video project.”

“For what? Today is our anniversary. Can’t he just use Yeoreum or something?”

“No - the script calls for a dashing young man. And I obviously cannot be replaced.”

Myungsoo rolled his eyes. “You may be young, but you’re not dashing.”

“How rude.” Sungyeol pinched Myungsoo’s arm. “But I really do want to do something before curfew comes and the night patrol is out and about.”

“Let’s find a nice place to eat my chocolate,” Myungsoo suggested, swinging their hands. “That would be pretty perfect.”

“Maybe for you. But I don’t have a super expensive piece of chocolate to eat.”

“But you have the book I got you.”

Sungyeol sent a glance to the small book in his hand and grinned. “That’s true… Let’s go find a place where you can eat your chocolate and I can read my book.”

“That sounds perfect.”

After many minutes of mulling about, the two had settled underneath an old, gnarling tree whose leaves were greying and branches were long and drooping. It was a tree that the weight of the world seemed to crash down upon. Sungyeol had named it Atlas.

The ground was a little dirty to lie on but it didn’t really matter to them. It was a small, secluded tree behind many buildings. It was shrouded from the business of the streets in a little corner near the bakery at the edge of the city. Or at least, what was left of the bakery.

They frequented this tree many times during the course of their dating, and now on their anniversary was no exception. This tree named Atlas was held dear in their hearts. And now, resting next to it on their anniversary, it felt fresh yet nostalgic at the same time.

“Stupid Lysander…”

Myungsoo lifted his head from Sungyeol’s lap to peek at the book. “Who’s Lysander?” he asked.

“An idiot.”

“And he is an idiot because…?”

“Because he falls in love with Helena,” Sungyeol exclaimed as he almost threw the book on the ground. “This is so frustrating! He and Hermia are eloping and then Puck comes along and screws everything up.”

“So isn’t that more of Puck’s fault and less of Lysander’s?” Myungsoo asked, drawing circles on Sungyeol’s thigh.

“No, I still blame Lysander. He’s the root of this entire problem anyways.”

Myungsoo yawned, shielding his eyes from the bright golden sun. “Well, can’t really be helped, can it?”

“Puck is such a jerk,” Sungyeol said, flipping through the pages of the book. “Oberon too, for that matter. Why are the fairies so… so…?”

Myungsoo yawned, turning to nuzzle his nose into Sungyeol’s stomach, which made the other giggle. “Mean?” he finished.

“Yeah,” Sungyeol agreed with a light chuckle. “They’re definitely mean to Lysander and Demetrius. I feel mostly bad for Hermia and Helena though; their friendship is practically broken.”

Myungsoo laughed as he stretched in his awkward position. He wrapped his arms around Sungyeol’s torso. “Whatever you say, baby,” he mumbled.

Placing the book down, Sungyeol the younger’s hair with a soft smile and leaned down to kiss his forehead softly. “You sound tired,” he commented.

“I spent nearly all night scouring a junkyard for that dumb book,” Myungsoo replied sharply, yet the drowsiness was still evident in his voice.

“You should take a nap then.”

“Can’t. It’s too quiet.”

“What do you suggest?”

Myungsoo glanced up at him with a smile of mischief that Sungyeol knew too well. “Read to me,” he stated.

With eyebrows raised, Sungyeol said, “Read to you? My dumb book? Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Myungsoo nodded. “Your boring book should put me out like a light.”

Sungyeol rolled his eyes, but he picked up the book anyways and began reciting the words on the page in a gentle voice.

“Now I but chide; but I should use thee

worse,

For thou hast given me cause to

curse.

If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,

Being o’er shoes in blood, plunge in the

deep,

And kill me too.

The sun was not so true unto the day

As he to me. Would he have stolen away

From sleeping Hermia? I’ll believe as

soon

This whole earth may be bor’d, and that

the moon

May through the centre creep, and so

displease

Her brother’s noontide with th’

Antipodes.

It cannot be but thou hast murd’red him;

So should a murderer look – so dead,

so grim.”

He stopped after reading Hermia’s small monologue and snuck a peek at his boyfriend who, as predicted, was snoozing away peacefully. It hadn’t even taken thirty seconds for him to knock out. Sungyeol only laughed to himself as he leaned back on Atlas. Perhaps he could shut his eyes as well. But only for a little while.

Myungsoo had jarred awake to the sound of sirens in the distance. As he looked around, he realized that he was still under Atlas, but the sky had darkened and a sliver of silver moon hung in the sky.

“,” he cursed. “Lost track of time.”

Sitting up, he rubbed the twigs out of his hair as he realized that Sungyeol had fallen asleep as well, his cheeks meeting the soft dirt. He shook him awake abruptly, feeling slightly apologetic as he watched Sungyeol stir.

“Yeol,” he muttered sharply. “Sungyeol get up; we stayed out past curfew.”

Those words definitely got the older awake because he sat up immediately. “What?!” he hissed. Sungyeol took in his surroundings and the look of panic slowly began creeping into his eyes. Even in the dim lighting of the moon, Myungsoo could see the fear.

“Oh, no,” Sungyeol whispered. “How late is it? , I should be home already. Myungsoo, we need to go–”

Myungsoo hushed him, urging him to keep his voice down. “We don’t even know if we’ll be able to make it back to your house with these night guards out. The night patrol guards are the worst.”

“We need to try,” Sungyeol insisted, standing up and tucking his book into his jacket. Adjusting the knit beanie on his head, he added, “It’s better than sitting around and waiting to get caught.”

Myungsoo nodded as he stood up as well, dusting off his legs. “Let’s go.”

Taking each other’s hands, they inched slowly away from the tree and to the alley they had come from. They moved along the bakery’s crumbling brick wall as quietly as possible, too afraid to make a sound. The noise of the city streets got louder as the neared the end of the alley. Myungsoo was about to step onto the sidewalk when Sungyeol pulled him back harshly, gripping his body firmly and covering his mouth.

“Wait,” he said, pressing his back against the wall.

It was seven long seconds before a tall, dark figure appeared in front of the alley’s entrance. Looking around, the honey brown haired man gave a long sigh before scuffing down the sidewalk again, muttering something about unclean cities. Once he was long out of sight, Sungyeol let Myungsoo go with a panicked breath.

“Crap that was the captain of the guard,” he hissed.

“How do you know?!”

“That guy had the captain’s color band around his forearm. He was too close to catching us. We’re never going to be able to sneak back on the streets.”

Even in the darkness of the night, Sungyeol could see Myungsoo’s small smile. “I believe that limits our travelling choices to rooftop, then?”

The elder nodded and the two raced back to Atlas. It only took them a couple seconds to scale the rough tree and quietly step onto the bakery’s roof. The shingles clanked beneath their feet gently, and they lightened their steps more so that they would be silent. Getting caught this late at night would result in terrible consequences.

Myungsoo wished he remembered the last time the city had been lit at night but that was a memory as distant as the moon. He was a small, small child when the government had decided to shut off electricity after the sun went down. Citizens weren’t allowed to be on the streets after sundown otherwise they would be publicly beaten. Guards always roamed the streets with flashlights that shone too bright. Myungsoo had a couple run-ins for experience.

But here on the rooftops, the guards seldom checked. It was almost a neglected area to check and they had never been caught on the roofs. It made for a safe escape route for the two of them and many, many others.

“I wonder if it’s safe to get back to my home like this,” Sungyeol thought aloud.

Myungsoo shook his head firmly and grabbed onto Sungyeol’s wrist. “No,” he said. “You’re house is on the same block as the military headquarters. It’s not safe. Let’s head to the base and sleep there. You are not going back to your home in these conditions.”

“Myungsoo, my family–”

“They’ll be fine as long as they follow the rules and they’re rule-followers, right? Everything will be okay. It’s not like this is the first time.”

Sungyeol pressed his lips into a line. “This may not be the first time but I told them I would be returning home.”

“You can call your family and tell them that we fell asleep at my house.” Myungsoo tugged Sungyeol’s wrist a little, and said, “Let’s go now, yeah? The guards will catch us if we stay up here too long.”

After a moment of hesitance, Sungyeol made a noise of agreement and lead the way for them both. Hopping from roof to roof in complete silence had come with years of practice and precision and they had travelled well away from Atlas in just a few minutes. Their feet moved swiftly and silently across the slanted roofs. It felt somewhat strange running around like this is in their normal clothing and not their recon clothes, but it was something they dismissed simply.

It wasn’t long before they head a slow, soft but piercing whistle fill the air – the sound of the rebels.

Sungyeol halted in his tracks and waited a total of four seconds before bring his fingers to his mouth and replicating the whistle. Short moments later, a figure dressed in black slowly came into view.

“Sungyeol, Myungsoo!” it whispered. “You two aren’t on recon duty tonight, are you?”

“No,” Myungsoo replied. “We just… overslept. But we’re heading to the base now; staying there for the night.”

“Alright,” the dark figure spoke. “Just be careful. The guards seem to be restless tonight.”

“Thanks, Joon,” Sungyeol responded, his voice barely above a whisper. “We’ll keep a look out. Is anyone at the base right now?”

“Yeah – a bunch of people are there. And Woohyun, of course.”

“Is Hoya there with him?”

“Yup.”

“Well, .”

“No! If we don’t strike now then when will we?! Haven’t we been biding time for too long?”

“The longer we bide the harsher our blow is. That’s the way it is and that is the way we’ll do it. We do not attack until plans have been made and I have approved it.”

“Plans have been made! They’ve been made for months!”

“And I rejected them! They were amateurish!”

“…Are you calling my plan of attack amateurish?!”

“I am – yes! Maybe if you came up with a better ambush plan we could actually do something for once!”

“At least I’m coming up with plans! While you do what – sleep?! Listen to yourself, Woohyun! Don’t act so proud!”

“I could say the same thing to you! What makes you look down on me so much as your leader that you deny everything I say?! Are you so arrogant, Hoya?!”

“I am not arrogant! I am trying to achieve what this group was made for! What’s our purpose if we don’t try anything?!”

“We will try things; but now is not the time for new things. We don’t have time for experiments! We have to plan every last detail to perfection and then execute it accordingly. If that cannot be done then our movement will be laughed upon!”

“All I’m asking is to start doing something! We haven’t done anything since last year and–”

“And do you remember what happened last year?! Sunwoong-hyung died.”

“But he died with his hopes and dreams rested on us and we’re doing nothing! We haven’t done anything since he died. The government thinks we’ve disappeared. It’s time to remind them who we are! Respect Sunwoong-hyung’s wishes!”

“I am respecting his wishes! As leader, I’m trying–”

“Don’t call yourself a leader, Nam; you’ll never be a leader like Sunwoong-hyung was.”

Sungyeol and Myungsoo outside of the opened door awkwardly, giving each other glances as they listened to their leader and his right hand man bicker over meaningless things. Sometimes Sungyeol wondered if they argued for the sake of arguing.

They had only wanted to come ask Woohyun if there were futons to spare for them to spend the night, but Woohyun and Hoya had been arguing intensely ever since Sungyeol and Myungsoo had arrived, the two of them making aggressive hand motions to a map on a table they stood by and getting in each other’s faces. The hard anger in their eyes were as apparent as day. Not a single one of the rebels remembered a time when they got along. Their argument echoed along the high metal ceilings of their rebel base and thickened the air with tension. Even the people currently planning attacks and designing weapons were in a stark and bitter silence.

“They’ve been like this for an hour and a half. Maybe even more.”

Myungsoo turned to his left, surprised to find Dongwoo – one of the older rebels of the group – standing and speaking.

“Hyung,” he said. “When did you see us come in?”

“Since you guys dropped down from the entrance from the ceiling?” Dongwoo responded with a small, amused smile. “Those two idiots’ fight may be distracting, but you two aren’t exactly the most graceful when it comes to landing either. Work on that.”

“Yes, sir,” the two of them said. Dongwoo was of much higher seniority than the two of them and his opinion was one of the most respected ones of the entire compound. He didn’t like to speak up much but whenever he did, he was either making a point or correcting someone else. He used to talk more in the past, but times were different then.

“Anyways, what are you two doing here?” he asked. “I thought you two weren’t coming in for recon duty tonight.”

“We’re not here for that,” Sungyeol assured. “We were spending the day together and fell asleep under Atlas and… well, we woke up after curfew and decided it was safer to come back here than home.”

Dongwoo broke into a grin. “Why didn’t you just say so? There are always more than enough futons here. Come on, I’ll you myself.”

Together, they followed Dongwoo down a few hallways and into a large, spacious room where many futons lay on the floor. Some sleeping bodies occupied a few of the futons, but it was mostly empty.

Their base was mostly a warehouse. It was old and abandoned but that didn’t mean that guards still didn’t search it from pure curiosity and suspicion. When the group had first been made, they only occupied an isolated room of the warehouse. But now that the rebels had grown by tenfold, they had burrowed under the warehouse to make their own small underground network. It was only accessible through a loose panel in the warehouse and not one guard had thought twice about the chance that there was a rebellion at work underground.

“Thanks, hyung,” Myungsoo said, taking Sungyeol’s hand as he lead him towards the corner of the room. “We’ll sleep well.”

“Make sure that you do,” Dongwoo said with a smile before turning to leave.

Myungsoo and Sungyeol fell onto the futons with a flop, sighing in relief that they had made it to the base safely. There had been a close call with an inexperienced, but luckily they were able to get away easily.

“So much for a perfect anniversary,” Sungyeol whispered. Myungsoo would have assumed he was upset if not for the small smile gracing his face.

“Hey,” the younger said, wrapping his arm around Sungyeol’s body, “I still thought today was pretty great. Maybe not too extravagant, but I still liked it.”

Sungyeol giggled. “Yeah, today was pretty great. Thanks for the book.”

“Anytime,” Myungsoo replied, kissing Sungyeol’s neck lovingly. “Maybe I’ll take you to the junkyard with me so you can find your own books.”

“As great as that sounds, I think I’d rather not scour junkyards around in the dark. But thanks for the offer.”

Myungsoo opened his mouth to speak, but the sound of a door violently slamming shut interrupted him. Angry footsteps were heard down the halls and then the clear sound of someone stepping up rungs of a ladder.

“Woohyun,” Sungyeol said.

“Stormed out again.” Myungsoo nodded. “I don’t get why he and Hoya just don’t get along.”

“Hoya’s been grilling him harder than ever since… you know – his break up with Dongwoo.”

Myungsoo only sighed through his nose and smiled at Sungyeol. “Well, I’m glad we’re not like that, at the very least. We’ve been happy for… how long?”

“Don’t know – I lost count after five,” Sungyeol laughed.

Myungsoo laughed and hit his shoulder playfully. He pulled Sungyeol’s body closer, tangling their legs together on the worn futon. “You know,” he whispered, “it’s still not too late for a last minute celebration. The day hasn’t exactly ended yet.”

“Is that so? And what might your idea of a last minute celebration be?”

With a coy smile, Myungsoo pulled out the small square of chocolate that Sungyeol had given him earlier. Unwrapping it, he held it up temptingly. “I still have that chocolate.”

Sungyeol grinned at him as he leaned over to rest his head under Myungsoo’s chin. “I would like to take up that offer.”

Myungsoo placed the corner of the square in his mouth and waited patiently as Sungyeol leaned up to bite of the other corner.

“Still sweet as ever.”

(A/N) ;

hello ! this is the very first chapter of immortals! I decided to kick off this adventure with some sweetness and i hope you enjoyed! hopefully some background details have been vaguely explained and you're still interested for more ;] so stick around! can't wait for you guys to see what I have in store~! myungyeol loveee <333 any questions or comments? please leave them down below! ^^ i would really love it! and subscribe if you're interested and upvote if you're pleased! ^^ that's enough of my rambling... 

-- quinnie --