*note: starts back to the park.

 

"I'll be back in an hour." Jonghyun mouths back, and his wings appear, the area around the tree is deserted and nobody sees the scheduler fly up and disappear in the sky.

 

Jaejoong watches Minho looking up the horizon before he too disappears.

 

Jonghyun arrives at a children's hospital, a cancer patient has been fighting for her life since she was two years old.

 

"Are you an angel?" The 10 year old girl asks when she sees him.

 

Jonghyun doesn't say anything. He holds up his hand for the girl to take it.

 

"Is it my time to go?"

 

"Yes."

 

"I don't want to go yet!!! I want to stay with my mommy and daddy!"

 

This is when Jonghyun uses most of his powers to take the souls of the living. When they aren't prepared to leave, oftentimes Jonghyun would have to force them out of their physical body draining him of his own energy.

 

"Let's go, Hyunah. You'll see them again in the future."

 

Jonghyun doesn't, wasn't supposed to, speak to humans when he fetches them but somehow, he's been talking to them more and more whenever he takes them.

 

"I really want to stay longer..."

 

"You're running out of time Hyunah." Jonghyun grabs the child's hand, the girl struggles from the scheduler's grip. Jonghyun hugs her with his enormous wings. Hyunah cries as she fights to live more.

 

Hyunah's parents watch as their child convulse, her heart rate rising up and down, beating twice than normal. Doctors rush inside the room, nurses shove her parents to the side hoping that their daughter will live.

 

"MOMMY!!! DADDY!!!" Hyunah screams. She watches as her own mother slumps to the ground, clinging to her husband when the doctors tell them the news. The heart line went flat and Hyunah has lost the battle.

 

"Hyunah, let's go!"

 

"I don't want to go with you!" The child, though young, is obviously strong (now that it's only her soul confronting Jonghyun, not her cancer-stricken body)

 

"You have no time!" Jonghyun tells her and grabs her tighter, Hyunah throws her body around. "I'm sorry for this Hyunah." His own words surprise him. He uses this method all the time and he never apologizes. "I'm sorry, this will hurt."

 

A flash of light rushes from Jonghyun's hand that's holding Hyunah, the child screams when the said light enters her. It's used to paralyze souls so that schedulers can take them to The Gate peacefully. But this also takes a lot of power from a scheduler, and to someone like Jonghyun who has spend so much time with Minho, he has grown weaker.

 

He pants as he carries Hyunah on the sky. The little girl is heavy, so is his heart. He feels bad that at such a young age, he has to take her soul to The Gate. He flies faster and higher, reaching to his limit. He can't run out of time. The gate will close and Hyunah will be left wandering the human world in search for a physical body.

 

Ghosts.

 

As humans call them.

 

Wanderers.

 

As schedulers call them.

 

Jonghyun never let his scheduled humans become wanderers. Even before, even without meeting Minho yet. He used to tell his comrades that when souls become wanderers it kind of makes them unworthy of their jobs so he makes sure he takes them to The Gate.

 

Jaejoong greets him when he reaches his destination. Jonghyun ignores him and runs to the Gatekeeper. He takes Hyunah there, pants as he runs. He touches the little girl's face and light comes out of his hands again, but this time softer, lighter. As if a sort of melody gushing out his palms. The little girl wakes up.

 

"Where am I?"

 

"You're almost there." Jonghyun smiles, "Listen to that man,"he points to the Gatekeeper, "He'll tell you where to go. You're a good kid, I'm sure you'll go to where rainbows and butterflies are abundant. Where the sun never sets, and there are smiles on everyone's faces." The scheduler stands, Hyunah grabs his hand, "Will mommy and daddy be there too?"

 

"Maybe." Jonghyun doesn't look at the girl's eyes and simply walks away and leaves her there.

 

He prepares to leave again, his wings appearing on his back, Jaejoong grabs his hand.

 

"You're not going back there!"

 

"I need to be there! I need his life energy!"

 

"You have more than enough!"

 

"I need more!"

 

A strong hand slaps Jonghyun across the face, "This isn't how it works! Your playful attitude will cause you this! See how exhausted you are!? You are losing OUR energy and you're becoming more human. Just stay here."

 

Jonghyun averts his gaze from Jaejoong, "He doesn't want to forget. If I need to get all of his life energy just so he won't wake up with amnesia if he decides to live, I will." The younger pushes Jaejoong, and flies back to the park.

 

He flies faster, faster than what he did when he was carrying the little girl never mind the pain, the exhaustion. He wants to go back to where Minho is.

 

-----

 

He reaches the park, too exhausted to walk back to their spot. He heaves, and pants as he catches his breath.

 

"Jonghyun!" He looks at Minho running fast to him.

 

"Take me home... Please..."

 

Minho opens the back door of the car and Jonghyun climbs in. The human tells him to wait, he nods and Minho runs off.

 

"You're coming with me."

 

It's Jaejoong, he grabs Jonghyun out. The younger is too weak to struggle and passes out. The older scheduler flies away carrying Jonghyun with him.

 

Minho returns immediately to find his car door open, a single black feather is on the seat. He looks around the parking lot, and sees no sign of his scheduler.

 

"He'll come back..." He assures himself. He takes the feather and keeps it in the glove compartment and drives home.

 

-----

 

Jonghyun wakes up and finds Jaejoong beside him, he's surrounded by a boring white light, lying on a boring white grass.

 

"I need to go back to him!" He yells, Jaejoong sighs.

 

"I know, I understand but come on. Stay here for a while. You need Our energy, you can't be too weak if you'll let him live again."

 

They stay quiet for awhile then the older speaks again, "You really want him to live, right?"

 

Jonghyun nods, "You weren't like this to me when you had to fetch me, yes?"

 

"Yeah. I came to your room every night when you slept. For 2 weeks I'd hear you snore it got irritating. I never showed myself to you, maybe because I knew you'd never choose to live. You had nothing to live for."

 

"Yeah. Would have chosen to become a scheduler anyway."

 

Jonghyun smiles bitterly. He lied to Minho, he remembers about his past life even when he chose to be a scheduler. It's against the rules but he asked Jaejoong to tell him about himself when he was still alive. It was his last request for him before he died.

 

"I'll go with you, but will you promise me one thing?"

 

"What is it?"

 

"You told me I won't remember anything when I become like you..."

 

"Yes."

 

"Tell me all you know when I get there."

 

"I can't."

 

"I am a nobody.No one will remember me, I won't remember anyone but no matter how lousy my life was, it's my own. Please?"

 

"Alright."

 

"You promise?"

 

"I promise."

 

Even until now, nobody knows of what Jaejoong did to Jonghyun. He's the only one, as they know, who still remembers a few of his memories.

 

"Why didn't you ask Yunho for your memories?"

 

"I don't know. I don't remember anything anymore." Jaejoong tells him straight up, "Maybe we all have our own sad story. Maybe I was an . Maybe I was a loser. I have no idea. Maybe I was too detached from the world to let go of it easily. Maybe I was happy and I lived without regrets. Happy enough to leave it all behind."

 

"I'm getting too much of Minho's energy, he'll be one helluva scheduler if he decides to come with me." Jonghyun laughs a little so does Jaejoong.  

 

It's a complicated yet easy process.

 

If the human chooses to live, the memory stored in a scheduler will be given back to the human and he will wake up normally with amnesia. He will forget the encounter with the being and he will live, until it's time for him to go again and the second time he won't have a choice. He will just be taken to The Gate. He won't be a scheduler like them.

 

If one decides to be a scheduler, all his stored human energy will be transferred back to him, devoid of memories and will be converted as his own power. He loses his humanity as time goes by because the conversion takes a long time to process.

 

This is why Jonghyun gets weak when he fetches a human soul, as Jaejoong tells him, he still has humanity in him, add that Minho's humanity is in him as well.

 

"I'm flying back down."

 

"He's not home."

 

"Where is he?"

 

"On the beach. He's been there for two days already. Almost two days."

 

"What day is it?"

 

"Wednesday. 3 am."

 

"I'm going."

 

"There really isn't anything stopping you?"

 

Jonghyun stands up, "Nothing."

 

"Come back here even for a while whenever you have somebody scheduled, which of course you do have on Friday. Staying with him for too long is dangerous for you."

 

"If you promise not to follow me around too much."

 

"Fine. I promise. But I'm still watching you."

 

"It's a deal."

 

-----

 

"Minho..."

 

The human doesn't stir, he shifts to his side and turns away from the window.

 

"Damn this kid." Jonghyun picks a small rock from the window and throws it to the sleeping human, "Minho!"

 

"Damn it, Onew..." Minho covers his face with a pillow. Jonghyun walks over to the bed and pushes Minho off of it with a strong kick.

 

"WHAT THE---!? J-jonghyun!? What are you...? Jonghyun!" Minho scrambles up to his feet and runs to the scheduler and hugs him. Jonghyun pushes him off immediately, "Minho! No!"

 

"I'm sorry! I was just..." Minho hugs him again, Jonghyun feels a slight sting on his skin but this time he doesn't stir, he just lets Minho hug him like that.

 

"Damn you, where did you go? I was worried sick..."

 

"If you're not yet dead that means I'm still around."

 

" you." Minho releases from him, "Oh, I'm sorry..." The human finds a slight burn on the crook of Jonghyun's neck where his face touched, "I'm sorry."

 

"It's okay..."

 

Minho sits back on his bed, "It's 5 in the morning, what will I tell them when they find you here?"

 

"Then I'll come back later."

 

"I want you here now." Minho scoots to the side, giving room to Jonghyun.

 

"Tell them whatever. You're good at making excuses." Jonghyun laughs, the door to his room suddenly bursts open with Key holding a broom, Taemin a frying pan and Onew a frisbee.

 

"Really, a frisbee?" Minho asks, surprise overtaken by the chosen weapon of the oldest.

 

"It will come back to me after I throw it away!" Onew tries to explain, Key nearly grabs the frying pan from Taemin to whack his boyfriend's head, only if the maknae didn't pull it away from his umma.

 

"It's not a boomerang hyung." Taemin tells him with a smile.

 

"Tell me what you guys are doing here." Minho tells his friend, Jonghyun still standing in front of him.

 

Key composes himself and leaves the broom on the side of the door, "We heard voices and screaming, I thought someone came to attack you."

 

Jonghyun laughs, "He's a giant. He can defend himself."

 

"When did you arrive Jonghyun?" Onew changes the subject, the scheduler looks at Minho for help. The human doesn't speak, a retaliation for the 'giant' remark.

 

"Just arrived."

 

"How? There aren't buses or trains at this hour. It's too early! And besides, how did you know this place?" Key interrogates him further.

 

"I called Minho earlier and asked for directions. My friend drove me here."

 

"Where is he now?" Taemin asks a follow up.

 

"Went further north. I hitched a ride since he's on his way to his family's resthouse too."

 

"Okay. Well, we'll leave the two of you now." Key winks then pulls his companions out of the room.

 

"Wow, didn't think they'll buy that. You knew they were coming?"

 

Jonghyun shakes his head, "Didn't feel them immediately."

 

Minho his head to the side with a raised eyebrow, "Why not?"

 

"You ask too much. Go back to sleep. "

 

"I don't want to."

 

"It's too early Minho. Go to sleep."

 

Minho lies on the bed and moves to one side, "Lie beside me and I will."

 

Jonghyun moves to the bed and lies beside him, "Now go to sleep."

 

Minho moves closer and lies on his side, "Can I hug you?"

 

"You want me to burst into flames?" Jonghyun half-jokingly asks, Minho just smiles.

 

"Can I?"

 

Jonghyun covers his entire body with a blanket, "You can, but like this. Don't get in contact with me with skin on skin. OKAY!?"

 

"Yeah. Okay." Minho puts his arm over the scheduler's covered body, and lies his head on Jonghyun's chest.

 

"You smell like spring, Jonghyun... You smell like spring." The human mumbles then silence. Then soft snores. Minho has fallen asleep.

 

"I am not a spring... I'm a fall... Or a winter. Never the summer. Never the life... Only death." Jonghyun whispers as he watches Minho from under his eyes.

 

-----

 

"Wake up you two!"

 

"Get out of here..." Minho mumbles to whoever barged inside their room, and throws whatever he could to the intruder.

 

"It's a wonderful day! Let's go Minho! Jonghyun!"

 

The scheduler doesn't stir, instead covers himself with the blanket. He didn't actually sleep but he hates the sun when it shines so brightly on his face after too much darkness.

 

Minho sits up and glares at Onew, "I swear to God, get out of here!"

 

"Fine! We'll see you at lunch!" Onew backs away and closes the door. Minho still hears Onew's audible excuses to Key saying that he still wants some alone time with Jonghyun and stuff. Although it's somehow true.

 

Minho lies back on the bed and pulls Jonghyun's covered body to him, locking the scheduler by the waist.

 

"Good morning..." The human's voice is husky.

 

"Good morning to you too." Jonghyun tells him from under the covers.

 

"Jonghyun?"

 

"Hmn...?"

 

"Can I ask you something?"

 

"Anything."

 

Minho hesitates, Jonghyun waits.

 

"No. Nothing. Forget about it..." Minho buries his face against the back of Jonghyun's neck. It's covered but the breath of the human feels hot on the scheduler's.

 

"It would be impossible anyway..." Minho continues, his nose moving against the blanket, as if playing with Jonghyun's hair.

 

"I wouldn't know if you wouldn't tell me."

 

"Let's just stay like this for a while, please?"

 

Jonghyun doesn't answer, he slips his hand from the blanket and hold Minho's tighter, pulling the human closer to himself. He immediately releases him and keeps his hand under wraps again, "Yeah. Sure Minho..."

 

Minho feels for Jonghyun's hand under the blanket, when the human finds it, he holds it, blanket included.

 

He closes his eyes and tries to go back to sleep.

 

Jonghyun... Can we not pretend anymore?*note: starts back to the park.

 

"I'll be back in an hour." Jonghyun mouths back, and his wings appear, the area around the tree is deserted and nobody sees the scheduler fly up and disappear in the sky.

 

Jaejoong watches Minho looking up the horizon before he too disappears.

 

Jonghyun arrives at a children's hospital, a cancer patient has been fighting for her life since she was two years old.

 

"Are you an angel?" The 10 year old girl asks when she sees him.

 

Jonghyun doesn't say anything. He holds up his hand for the girl to take it.

 

"Is it my time to go?"

 

"Yes."

 

"I don't want to go yet!!! I want to stay with my mommy and daddy!"

 

This is when Jonghyun uses most of his powers to take the souls of the living. When they aren't prepared to leave, oftentimes Jonghyun would have to force them out of their physical body draining him of his own energy.

 

"Let's go, Hyunah. You'll see them again in the future."

 

Jonghyun doesn't, wasn't supposed to, speak to humans when he fetches them but somehow, he's been talking to them more and more whenever he takes them.

 

"I really want to stay longer..."

 

"You're running out of time Hyunah." Jonghyun grabs the child's hand, the girl struggles from the scheduler's grip. Jonghyun hugs her with his enormous wings. Hyunah cries as she fights to live more.

 

Hyunah's parents watch as their child convulse, her heart rate rising up and down, beating twice than normal. Doctors rush inside the room, nurses shove her parents to the side hoping that their daughter will live.

 

"MOMMY!!! DADDY!!!" Hyunah screams. She watches as her own mother slumps to the ground, clinging to her husband when the doctors tell them the news. The heart line went flat and Hyunah has lost the battle.

 

"Hyunah, let's go!"

 

"I don't want to go with you!" The child, though young, is obviously strong (now that it's only her soul confronting Jonghyun, not her cancer-stricken body)

 

"You have no time!" Jonghyun tells her and grabs her tighter, Hyunah throws her body around. "I'm sorry for this Hyunah." His own words surprise him. He uses this method all the time and he never apologizes. "I'm sorry, this will hurt."

 

A flash of light rushes from Jonghyun's hand that's holding Hyunah, the child screams when the said light enters her. It's used to paralyze souls so that schedulers can take them to The Gate peacefully. But this also takes a lot of power from a scheduler, and to someone like Jonghyun who has spend so much time with Minho, he has grown weaker.

 

He pants as he carries Hyunah on the sky. The little girl is heavy, so is his heart. He feels bad that at such a young age, he has to take her soul to The Gate. He flies faster and higher, reaching to his limit. He can't run out of time. The gate will close and Hyunah will be left wandering the human world in search for a physical body.

 

Ghosts.

 

As humans call them.

 

Wanderers.

 

As schedulers call them.

 

Jonghyun never let his scheduled humans become wanderers. Even before, even without meeting Minho yet. He used to tell his comrades that when souls become wanderers it kind of makes them unworthy of their jobs so he makes sure he takes them to The Gate.

 

Jaejoong greets him when he reaches his destination. Jonghyun ignores him and runs to the Gatekeeper. He takes Hyunah there, pants as he runs. He touches the little girl's face and light comes out of his hands again, but this time softer, lighter. As if a sort of melody gushing out his palms. The little girl wakes up.

 

"Where am I?"

 

"You're almost there." Jonghyun smiles, "Listen to that man,"he points to the Gatekeeper, "He'll tell you where to go. You're a good kid, I'm sure you'll go to where rainbows and butterflies are abundant. Where the sun never sets, and there are smiles on everyone's faces." The scheduler stands, Hyunah grabs his hand, "Will mommy and daddy be there too?"

 

"Maybe." Jonghyun doesn't look at the girl's eyes and simply walks away and leaves her there.

 

He prepares to leave again, his wings appearing on his back, Jaejoong grabs his hand.

 

"You're not going back there!"

 

"I need to be there! I need his life energy!"

 

"You have more than enough!"

 

"I need more!"

 

A strong hand slaps Jonghyun across the face, "This isn't how it works! Your playful attitude will cause you this! See how exhausted you are!? You are losing OUR energy and you're becoming more human. Just stay here."

 

Jonghyun averts his gaze from Jaejoong, "He doesn't want to forget. If I need to get all of his life energy just so he won't wake up with amnesia if he decides to live, I will." The younger pushes Jaejoong, and flies back to the park.

 

He flies faster, faster than what he did when he was carrying the little girl never mind the pain, the exhaustion. He wants to go back to where Minho is.

 

-----

 

He reaches the park, too exhausted to walk back to their spot. He heaves, and pants as he catches his breath.

 

"Jonghyun!" He looks at Minho running fast to him.

 

"Take me home... Please..."

 

Minho opens the back door of the car and Jonghyun climbs in. The human tells him to wait, he nods and Minho runs off.

 

"You're coming with me."

 

It's Jaejoong, he grabs Jonghyun out. The younger is too weak to struggle and passes out. The older scheduler flies away carrying Jonghyun with him.

 

Minho returns immediately to find his car door open, a single black feather is on the seat. He looks around the parking lot, and sees no sign of his scheduler.

 

"He'll come back..." He assures himself. He takes the feather and keeps it in the glove compartment and drives home.

 

-----

 

Jonghyun wakes up and finds Jaejoong beside him, he's surrounded by a boring white light, lying on a boring white grass.

 

"I need to go back to him!" He yells, Jaejoong sighs.

 

"I know, I understand but come on. Stay here for a while. You need Our energy, you can't be too weak if you'll let him live again."

 

They stay quiet for awhile then the older speaks again, "You really want him to live, right?"

 

Jonghyun nods, "You weren't like this to me when you had to fetch me, yes?"

 

"Yeah. I came to your room every night when you slept. For 2 weeks I'd hear you snore it got irritating. I never showed myself to you, maybe because I knew you'd never choose to live. You had nothing to live for."

 

"Yeah. Would have chosen to become a scheduler anyway."

 

Jonghyun smiles bitterly. He lied to Minho, he remembers about his past life even when he chose to be a scheduler. It's against the rules but he asked Jaejoong to tell him about himself when he was still alive. It was his last request for him before he died.

 

"I'll go with you, but will you promise me one thing?"

 

"What is it?"

 

"You told me I won't remember anything when I become like you..."

 

"Yes."

 

"Tell me all you know when I get there."

 

"I can't."

 

"I am a nobody.No one will remember me, I won't remember anyone but no matter how lousy my life was, it's my own. Please?"

 

"Alright."

 

"You promise?"

 

"I promise."

 

Even until now, nobody knows of what Jaejoong did to Jonghyun. He's the only one, as they know, who still remembers a few of his memories.

 

"Why didn't you ask Yunho for your memories?"

 

"I don't know. I don't remember anything anymore." Jaejoong tells him straight up, "Maybe we all have our own sad story. Maybe I was an . Maybe I was a loser. I have no idea. Maybe I was too detached from the world to let go of it easily. Maybe I was happy and I lived without regrets. Happy enough to leave it all behind."

 

"I'm getting too much of Minho's energy, he'll be one helluva scheduler if he decides to come with me." Jonghyun laughs a little so does Jaejoong.  

 

It's a complicated yet easy process.

 

If the human chooses to live, the memory stored in a scheduler will be given back to the human and he will wake up normally with amnesia. He will forget the encounter with the being and he will live, until it's time for him to go again and the second time he won't have a choice. He will just be taken to The Gate. He won't be a scheduler like them.

 

If one decides to be a scheduler, all his stored human energy will be transferred back to him, devoid of memories and will be converted as his own power. He loses his humanity as time goes by because the conversion takes a long time to process.

 

This is why Jonghyun gets weak when he fetches a human soul, as Jaejoong tells him, he still has humanity in him, add that Minho's humanity is in him as well.

 

"I'm flying back down."

 

"He's not home."

 

"Where is he?"

 

"On the beach. He's been there for two days already. Almost two days."

 

"What day is it?"

 

"Wednesday. 3 am."

 

"I'm going."

 

"There really isn't anything stopping you?"

 

Jonghyun stands up, "Nothing."

 

"Come back here even for a while whenever you have somebody scheduled, which of course you do have on Friday. Staying with him for too long is dangerous for you."

 

"If you promise not to follow me around too much."

 

"Fine. I promise. But I'm still watching you."

 

"It's a deal."

 

-----

 

"Minho..."

 

The human doesn't stir, he shifts to his side and turns away from the window.

 

"Damn this kid." Jonghyun picks a small rock from the window and throws it to the sleeping human, "Minho!"

 

"Damn it, Onew..." Minho covers his face with a pillow. Jonghyun walks over to the bed and pushes Minho off of it with a strong kick.

 

"WHAT THE---!? J-jonghyun!? What are you...? Jonghyun!" Minho scrambles up to his feet and runs to the scheduler and hugs him. Jonghyun pushes him off immediately, "Minho! No!"

 

"I'm sorry! I was just..." Minho hugs him again, Jonghyun feels a slight sting on his skin but this time he doesn't stir, he just lets Minho hug him like that.

 

"Damn you, where did you go? I was worried sick..."

 

"If you're not yet dead that means I'm still around."

 

" you." Minho releases from him, "Oh, I'm sorry..." The human finds a slight burn on the crook of Jonghyun's neck where his face touched, "I'm sorry."

 

"It's okay..."

 

Minho sits back on his bed, "It's 5 in the morning, what will I tell them when they find you here?"

 

"Then I'll come back later."

 

"I want you here now." Minho scoots to the side, giving room to Jonghyun.

 

"Tell them whatever. You're good at making excuses." Jonghyun laughs, the door to his room suddenly bursts open with Key holding a broom, Taemin a frying pan and Onew a frisbee.

 

"Really, a frisbee?" Minho asks, surprise overtaken by the chosen weapon of the oldest.

 

"It will come back to me after I throw it away!" Onew tries to explain, Key nearly grabs the frying pan from Taemin to whack his boyfriend's head, only if the maknae didn't pull it away from his umma.

 

"It's not a boomerang hyung." Taemin tells him with a smile.

 

"Tell me what you guys are doing here." Minho tells his friend, Jonghyun still standing in front of him.

 

Key composes himself and leaves the broom on the side of the door, "We heard voices and screaming, I thought someone came to attack you."

 

Jonghyun laughs, "He's a giant. He can defend himself."

 

"When did you arrive Jonghyun?" Onew changes the subject, the scheduler looks at Minho for help. The human doesn't speak, a retaliation for the 'giant' remark.

 

"Just arrived."

 

"How? There aren't buses or trains at this hour. It's too early! And besides, how did you know this place?" Key interrogates him further.

 

"I called Minho earlier and asked for directions. My friend drove me here."

 

"Where is he now?" Taemin asks a follow up.

 

"Went further north. I hitched a ride since he's on his way to his family's resthouse too."

 

"Okay. Well, we'll leave the two of you now." Key winks then pulls his companions out of the room.

 

"Wow, didn't think they'll buy that. You knew they were coming?"

 

Jonghyun shakes his head, "Didn't feel them immediately."

 

Minho his head to the side with a raised eyebrow, "Why not?"

 

"You ask too much. Go back to sleep. "

 

"I don't want to."

 

"It's too early Minho. Go to sleep."

 

Minho lies on the bed and moves to one side, "Lie beside me and I will."

 

Jonghyun moves to the bed and lies beside him, "Now go to sleep."

 

Minho moves closer and lies on his side, "Can I hug you?"

 

"You want me to burst into flames?" Jonghyun half-jokingly asks, Minho just smiles.

 

"Can I?"

 

Jonghyun covers his entire body with a blanket, "You can, but like this. Don't get in contact with me with skin on skin. OKAY!?"

 

"Yeah. Okay." Minho puts his arm over the scheduler's covered body, and lies his head on Jonghyun's chest.

 

"You smell like spring, Jonghyun... You smell like spring." The human mumbles then silence. Then soft snores. Minho has fallen asleep.

 

"I am not a spring... I'm a fall... Or a winter. Never the summer. Never the life... Only death." Jonghyun whispers as he watches Minho from under his eyes.

 

-----

 

"Wake up you two!"

 

"Get out of here..." Minho mumbles to whoever barged inside their room, and throws whatever he could to the intruder.

 

"It's a wonderful day! Let's go Minho! Jonghyun!"

 

The scheduler doesn't stir, instead covers himself with the blanket. He didn't actually sleep but he hates the sun when it shines so brightly on his face after too much darkness.

 

Minho sits up and glares at Onew, "I swear to God, get out of here!"

 

"Fine! We'll see you at lunch!" Onew backs away and closes the door. Minho still hears Onew's audible excuses to Key saying that he still wants some alone time with Jonghyun and stuff. Although it's somehow true.

 

Minho lies back on the bed and pulls Jonghyun's covered body to him, locking the scheduler by the waist.

 

"Good morning..." The human's voice is husky.

 

"Good morning to you too." Jonghyun tells him from under the covers.

 

"Jonghyun?"

 

"Hmn...?"

 

"Can I ask you something?"

 

"Anything."

 

Minho hesitates, Jonghyun waits.

 

"No. Nothing. Forget about it..." Minho buries his face against the back of Jonghyun's neck. It's covered but the breath of the human feels hot on the scheduler's.

 

"It would be impossible anyway..." Minho continues, his nose moving against the blanket, as if playing with Jonghyun's hair.

 

"I wouldn't know if you wouldn't tell me."

 

"Let's just stay like this for a while, please?"

 

Jonghyun doesn't answer, he slips his hand from the blanket and hold Minho's tighter, pulling the human closer to himself. He immediately releases him and keeps his hand under wraps again, "Yeah. Sure Minho..."

 

Minho feels for Jonghyun's hand under the blanket, when the human finds it, he holds it, blanket included.

 

He closes his eyes and tries to go back to sleep.

 

Jonghyun... Can we not pretend anymore?