“Stop Ryeowook,” Kyuhyun whispered against his ear, pressing the struggling boy’s back against his chest. Both of his arms tightened around Ryeowook’s shaking shoulders to keep him safe. “You can’t get any closer.”

“Then you do something to stop him!” he cried, tears dripping to the elevated floor. Ryeowook hugged the other boy’s tense arms, head lowering. “Please do something Kyu…”

He bit his lip, eyes flitting up to the shadowed figure dangling precariously over the metal railing. The person slackly gripped the horizontal pole, feet plants slightly apart on the inch wide concrete lip. Every few seconds his body would sway forward and then come back again, just like a whipping flag.

“How are you doing out there?” Kyuhyun asked meekly, looking over the top of Ryeowook’s head.

Mir glanced back with his pale, sickly face flashing in the gray skied afternoon. Where had the sun gone? “I’m fine,” he replied easily, hollowly.

“A-Ah…,” Kyuhyun muttered awkwardly, not sure what else he could say. His heart was beating rapidly against Ryeowook’s backside and he hoped it was obvious he was trying to control the situation.

The crying boy looked up at Mir, writhing in Kyuhyun’s arms again. “Please Mir,” he whimpered, “please talk to us! You’re going to get hurt just come back to the other side!”

“I wanted this.”

Ryeowook blinked, eyes widening at the response.

“I used to want this. Before I repressed everything,” Mir coughed, body shuddering at the force of it, “I thought if I inflicted enough pain on myself…maybe my parents wouldn’t want to hurt me anymore. Maybe I could hurt myself so they would be happy.”

Kyuhyun pulled Ryeowook closer, afraid his hold would loosen from the shock of Mir’s words. “Calm down,” he murmured, lips touching the smaller one’s jaw, “stay calm so you can listen to his story.”

Ryeowook nodded slowly, trying to still the violent tremors.

Mir laughed shallowly, “I don’t want to die! I really don’t…,” he insisted, “I just wanted to be free. They wanted me to be free too…that’s why they pushed me down that staircase, right? I bet in their own twisted way they were looking out for me.”

“You’re speaking in past tense,” Kyuhyun remarked as gently as possible, “You’re in the present, aren’t you?”

“But Taemin told me to keep digging,” he breathed unevenly, “he told me he needs me to be in the dark. I can’t let him be alone…I can’t—”

“—why are you listening to someone who wants you to feel pain?”

Mir stiffened, fingers abruptly tightening around the railing.

Dongwoon was panting, holding himself against the side of the staircase. Sweat covered his body, t-shirt sticking to him. Ryeowook breathed a sigh of relief, weight leaning back against Kyuhyun. “You’re here,” he said, smiling miserably.

“Yeah,” Dongwoon nodded before taking careful steps towards Mir. “Are you listening to me Mir?” he called as thunder rumbled in the sky. “Someone who would let you fall alone like this isn’t looking out for you! He doesn’t care! He left the academy for who knows where this morning!”  

Mir his lips, eyes trailing down towards the far away cement. “He has my heart though…he wouldn’t waste so much time with me if he didn’t really care!” he shouted, voice cracking at the very end.

Then, oh-so softly, a familiar, fragile tinkling floated towards him. It followed a dainty beat that made his heart ache with nostalgia. Mir closed his eyes, tears and sobs choking his expression. A wail was drowned out as lightning cut the sky and rain flooded the earth.

Dongwoon set the music box down, closing it silently. It had been an accident when he found out the significance of the instrument. The wind had blown open one of Mir’s notebooks to reveal a half written letter to Taemin talking about it.

When he had gone to the boy’s room, he found the music box sitting on the table without as much as a letter. It hadn’t taken more than that for Dongwoon to snatch it up.

Slowly, he came up behind Mir, protectively covering his rain drenched hands and leaning over to rest his forehead upon one shaky shoulder. “I once heard from Yesung-hyung…,” Dongwoon moved his hands up, following the sloping lines of Mir’s waist, “that when it rains, angels are crying,” he came full circle, arms tightening around the starved boy’s abdomen, “please don’t let them cry for you too.”

He lifted him over the slick railing, falling to the ground. Mir curled into his body, crying silently now. They soaked through Dongwoon’s shirt, warm and real. “Thank god,” he breathed raggedly, pulling Mir closer and closer, never meaning to let go. Dongwoon lowered his head, eyes closing to quell the tears daring to fall.

Kyuhyun kept his arms around Ryeowook, gazing at the scene before him. The small boy clinging to him was too far gone in emotions to see what was going on – to accurately sight the precise state of things.

But not Kyuhyun, he was very aware.

He was thinking over everything, even as he continued comforting Ryeowook. On that rainy afternoon, Kyuhyun had witnessed something spectacular. He never knew it was something so breathtaking. Sometimes, in movies, he would see the characters fall in love at first sight. Or they would become attracted over time and turmoil.

Yet he had never seen what it was like for, dare he say it, soulmates, to find love. They were on a completely different level. It was more captivating than any perfectly set movie scene or any old couple confessing affection.

They were…

He leaned away from Ryeowook, gently tilting the tear streaked face up to his own. What if we fell in love?

“W-What is it?” he mumbled, face crumpling for no real reason.

Kyuhyun simply shook his head, and pushed Ryeowook back towards his chest. “Your friend is safe, be happy.”

“I am,” he assured, swallowing empty sobs, “thank you Kyuhyun…thank you so much.”

Yeah…what if we fell in love?