Bobby isn't quite sure why he loves the stars so much. He just does.

As a child, he would read books about the billions of tiny golden lights that dusted the inky black sky. To Bobby, the stars were his friends. When he was alone, he would wait by the windowsill, watching the sky melt from oranges, reds and fiery yellows, to soft black, indigo and blue. He'd wait until the stars appeared one by one, dotting the never-ending sky like specks of paint decorating an empty canvas.

Bobby swore to himself that he would become an astronomer someday. He wanted to map out the stars. He wanted to reach out and shake hands with his tiny little heroes that provided him his careful little sanctuary.

Bobby was convinced that he was in love with the stars.

It had always just been him in his little fantasy world and he was content with it. He didn't need to open the door to anyone else. His doors had been closed and locked since the very beginning.

Until he met a certain someone.

The fateful encounter happened while Bobby was on his way home from university.

He was bundled up behind layers of scarves with a beanie perched atop his head. His eyes were fixed on the frostbitten pavement of the sidewalk. He found the ground more fascinating than the mindless, dead stars that shuffled aimlessly past him.

He was so deadset on getting home that he almost missed the lonely figure of a boy with a bare hand wrapped around the snow covered chain of a swingset.

In fact, Bobby didn't know what had prompted him to look up for the first time in a while, but he did. 

The boy stood out amongst the crowd like the north star amidst a constellation. He was breathtakingly beautiful and Bobby had to stop and wonder if this was a person or a star that had stepped out from the sky to come greet him.

There was just something about this person that was just so incredibly sad. Bobby felt like a simple touch would cause the boy to shatter and the thought was heartbreaking. 

He was so cold and so still. Like an ice sculpture that was so carefully crafted, it glinted like diamonds under the sun. 

Bobby found himself taking the swing right next to the pretty little star but the boy didn't even spare him a glance.

It took a while for Bobby to get the brilliant boy to speak to him, but he did. He quickly found out that the boy went by the name Hanbin. He also found out that Hanbin was just a year younger than him and that the younger loved to write. His pencil worked magic on paper and Bobby found himself falling more and more in love with the tiny little star that was so far away from home.

Bobby thought the way his hand trembled a bit as his pencil glided effortlessly down a piece of paper was adorable. He thought the way Hanbin's eyes flitted across the words was captivating. When Hanbin wasn't satisfied with something, his nose would scrunch up in disapproval and Bobby wanted nothing more than to give it a little poke and feed him hot chocolate.

Hanbin became his precious little star.

Bit by bit, Bobby was able to watch his seemingly hollow speck become something so bright and brilliant, it dazzled him.

Every day, he learnt something new about the sad boy that he had met at the park. For example: Hanbin was scared to death of bugs.

Just seeing one of those creepy little things would send Hanbin into a frenzy. He would always tell Bobby to go get rid of it and Bobby could do nothing but comply. After all, he would do anything for his stars and Hanbin was no exception.

Hanbin was surprisingly clingy. He never let go of Bobby, no matter where they were. It was like he was trying to hide; to escape from something. Bobby would hold him tight and kiss his hair, telling him that things would be okay. Hanbin never believed him, but the sweet gestures always calmed his laboured breathing and panicked coughing.

Hanbin liked talking. On the second week of their newfound friendship, Bobby and Hanbin were walking together, their footsteps creating a rhythmic tapping sound as they walked on the pavement. Hanbin was still a bit tentative and shy around the taller, but he would speak from time to time and Bobby was always listening. Hanbin talked so much that he would quickly lose his breath and they would have to stop every now and then to wait for Hanbin to get his breath back but Bobby was patient. He adored Hanbin so much.

Hanbin loved creating. He was creation personified. He painted pictures with his words; crafting exquisite sentences out of vowels and sounds that sounded like enchantments to Bobby. Hanbin wrote poems, stories, songs; anything to get his mind off of his problems.

Sometimes he'd send them to Bobby or recite them to the older and he would always ask Bobby for a second opinion. Bobby always provides, even though he can barely find flaws in any of Hanbin's work.

They were all polished to perfection and so lovingly crafted. Bobby could picture Hanbin by the windowsill in his room, his brows furrowed as he tries to come up with a new combination of words. His pencil balanced carefully in his slender fingers while a notebook lies on his lap with its pages spread and pencil marks cluttering the paper.

Hanbin liked the sound of violins. He didn't know how to play, but he always wished that he could learn Whenever Bobby laid eyes on the stringed instrument, Hanbin tended to go on long lectures about the violin. From its wide range of sounds to its beautiful high notes, he simply couldn't get enough of the simple wooden instrument.

When Bobby bought him a violin for his birthday, the younger had been overjoyed. Hanbin had thrown his arms around Bobby, absolutely ecstatic with his present. Hanbin plucked at the strings with careful tugs while Bobby watched, transfixed by the younger boy's every move. 

"Will you play with me?" Hanbin asked, turning his hopeful gaze onto Bobby as the older chuckled and brushed a strand of hair from Hanbin's forehead.

He ended up buying a violin for himself too. He and Hanbin sat on the floor of Hanbin's bedroom where the two watched Youtube tutorials on playing the violin. They definitely weren't the best players in the world, but to Bobby, Hanbin's shaky violin squeaks sounded like an orchestra playing in a wide auditorium.

Despite Hanbin's thin frame and forever wavering fingers, he was strong. He was incredibly capable of taking matters into his own hands. He was forever calculating, analyzing, delving through the facts and Bobby was always impressed with every thought that spilled from Hanbin's lips.

"Who do you think invented pills?" Hanbin asked Bobby one night while they were laying in a field together, their backs pressed against the grass and their eyes fixed on the twilight sea that rolled in waves miles from where they were.

"Why do you ask?" Bobby asked, rolling onto his side just in time to see the small quirk in Hanbin's lips as the younger of the two smiled.

"They taste funny," was Hanbin's only reply as the older carefully intertwined their fingers while their hands rested on the soft, dewey grass.

"I know."

Hanbin was the strongest person Bobby knew. He persistently moved forward; dodging every obstacle as gracefully and powerful as a shooting star blazing its way through time. But like all shooting stars, they end up crashing; their glow slowly flickering away and fading out, as if their existence meant nothing besides the one fleeting wish that people forced upon them.

Perhaps that's why stars fall, Bobby would think to himself as he gently ran his fingers through Hanbin's soft, brown locks. They are weighed down by the amount of hopes, dreams and expectations that selfish people greedily ask for and the stars can do nothing but comply until the whole world is balanced on their shoulders.

Bobby was slowly being pulled away from his own world and being brought into Hanbin's but he wasn't afraid. Hanbin's world was just as starstruck as his own; if not more. Everywhere Bobby turned, he could only see the stars; the galaxy; the world. 

His hold on Hanbin's hand tightened. He didn't want his only comfort in a sea of monsters to be swept away. Hanbin had been lost before. He'd been replaced, torn apart, forgotten and Bobby promised he would stay until the end of their little infinity.

Tears dripped down from Hanbin's cheeks like liquid moonlight and Bobby leaned forward to gently brush his tears away with the pad of his thumb, a small smile on his face.

"Hanbin?"

"Hm?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

And as he lay beside Hanbin, he thought of dying stars.