Stay With me.

Among the busy madness where people are rushing here and there, the English looking little blue house stood with triumph among all. Its dazzling color that never faded stood out between the ugly grey concrete making it a hot spot for artist and photographers. The couple that owns it moved away leaving the building to a pair of young Koreans that are moving to Britain. The teens thanked them for letting them own such a building while the couple thanked them for wanting to live in such an old building. The two teens moved in a week later with their belongings as they gasped at its beauty.

"It's wonderful."

"Yeah I know."

"But then won't we need to take care of it well?"

"You're making it sound like we're going to destroy it once we enter." The blonde eyed him.

"Well, maybe. But still, we better learn how to control ourselves here. They didn't throw us here for fun. They want us to learn how to be refined and independent." The brunette said with sarcasm.

"Blah blah, who cares? They won't see us anyway. So why not enjoy ourselves in such a foreign country? We should learn how to speak English first rather than learning how to be refined." The blonde teen said while trying to speak some simple English words with an English accent. The brunette laughed at him before he urged him to start moving their belongings in.

Both of they boys only brought a backpack and a small travelling bag enough to fit about a week’s worth of clothes. There wasn't much to bring since their "loving parents" gave them a reasonable amount of cash allowing them to buy their necessities in England. They're supposed to stay for two years but since looking at how antisocial they are, their parents decided to teach them how to be independent by letting them stay FOREVER. Their parents will supply them for another week’s worth of money before officially forcing them to get a job.

Well so much for pretending it’s a trip.

The two males slowly carried their luggage while trying to familiarize themselves with the place. The inside was warm and antique unlike the outside, cold and mysterious. The hallway was covered with faded black and white fleur-de-lis stretching from the living room to the kitchen. The kitchen was a very plain one with a combination of a stove and oven beside a checkered countertop.

On their left was a creaky and steep staircase that leads to a pair of bedrooms with a queen bed each. They wonder how did the old couple even climbed up the staircase with out tripping at night. The two boys hung their coats on the tall brass clothes hanger that stood sturdily beside them with a short shoe closet right beside it before carefully walking around.

Somehow, what catches Sandeul’s eye, or to be more precise his nose, is that the whole place smelt sweetly of Eucalypt wood, the brunette’s favorite.

⊙

“Wow look at this place. I can’t believe we’re living here.” Sandeul said while walking in circles in the living room. Baro went upstairs to unpack some of his items first knowing that he won’t have strength for it later. The living room was also covered with the same wallpaper but just a little faded. A golden fireplace was placed right in the middle of the wall facing the archway that connects the hallway to the living room. Right above the fireplace was a painting of a tree with pale green leaves.

Eucalyptus Tree.

“Hey Baro, come here for a sec!” Sandeul called for the blonde boy on the second floor. Baro then quickly stomped down the staircase loudly before walking into the living room. He wasn’t even done unpacking before Sandeul called for him.  

“What is it? You know how I’m not done unpa- whoa.” Baro said, stumped by the painting too. Somehow, that painting is tugging a faint yet deep memory in his mind.

“Looks familiar?” Sandeul said with a smile.

⊙

6 Years Ago

It was summer that time and somehow Sandeul ran out of his favorite eucalypt oil, which saves him from his insomnia problem. He dashed outside and drove all the way to a more deserted part of the city to see if the shop he buys it from is still open for business. He started to buy it from that shop for as long as he can remember since he doubts that the other shops won’t work as well as this one.

As he reached, he skipped like a kid on the small path leading up to the cottage-like shop, hoping that they have stock left. Behind the shop was grown with a big eucalyptus tree and a small bed of herbs.

“Welcome to My Little Garden! Ah, Sandeul-sshi. I was already expecting for you. Looking for eucalypt oil I guess?” The shop owner asks while flashing him a familiar smile.

“Bingo. And when did your grow that pot of pink flowers outside? I never saw it before.” Sandeul asks while looking around the herbs extract on the shelf.

“Oh that? A kind young man brought it here as a gift since he said the oil extract you use worked miracles for him.”

“Oh? So someone except for me knows the location of this place?”

“Why yes, and judging by how much he bought the last time, he should probably walk in…right now.” She looked at her watch before a knock was heard. A male in his early-twenties entered the shop with a smile, which shows his protruding teeth.

“And your calculations never failed you before?” Sandeul asks with amazement.

“Up until now, no.” She said with a smile before walking to the back of the shop to bring Sandeul’s bottle of oil extract. With the shop owner leaving makes two awkward boys in the shop within a distance of one meter.

“So, you’re here to buy eucalypts oil?”

“What else?”

“Well, what for then?”

“Insomnia.”

“Wait…you too?”

“What do you mean?”

“I have that problem too.”

“Wait… is your nickname Duckie Deul?”

“And is yours Squirrel Princess?”

“…”

“…”

“BARO!”

“SANDEUL!”

The two boys hugged each other with great strength. They never knew that they would meet their middle school buddies in a shop where they cure their horrible habits. They pointed at each other and started to talk about how much they’ve grown before the shop owner invited them to sit at the table at the back garden.

The aged tree stood sturdily in the garden sheltering the two boys from the radiant afternoon sunshine. The took their seats at the back of the shop and chatted all through the day collecting memories while enjoying the shop owner’s rare vanilla herb tea. They then promised to meet each other again at the same place.

“Did you calculate this to happen?” Sandeul asks while looking at the shop owner.

“Nope but I’m glad it did happen.” The shop owner said with a smile.

“Hey Baro.”

“Hmm”

“Let’s keep everything the way it is.”

“Well why not?”

The two boys then pulled the two antique armchairs on the side closer to the painting before sitting down. They were bedazzled as the leaned on the chair while looking at the painting. But within a few minutes, their eyelid starts to get heavy as their head leans on the side. During the whole flight to London, the boys didn’t even take a nap, which probably explains how they’re acting now. After a few more second of bobbing their heads, they finally slept while curling up in the armchair.

 A few hours later, Baro woke up first. He slouched around in the armchair not wanting to move since Sandeul hasn’t woken up yet. He turned around to his side and stared at how pretty his lover looks before focusing on the clock behind him.

Six…wait is that a six or seven…half past six…WAIT IT’S ALREADY HALF PAST SIX? He stood up while shaking the younger one awake to quickly change. They forgot that they don’t have anything except for clothes in the house, which means it’s time for grocery shopping. They quickly slipped on a jacket and called a cab through sign language while thinking about what they needed to buy.

The mall there was very different from the one in Korea, that’s for sure. They got lost for a bit even with the directory. After a few awkward moments with body languages, they miraculously made it to the grocery store. The place was packed with foreign people buying turkey and candy for tonight or tomorrow's party.

The two boys then started to blindly walk around the place with their eyebrows furrowed as they noticed the different type of items are on the shelf. One of the shelves was filled with rows and rows of candy and another one was filled with a variety of cereal. Everything looks so amazing with such a foreign and unfamiliar language surrounding the packing. The boys merely stared in amazement at how they have special packing’s since it’s the Christmas season and how they have a Christmas tree placed at the side of the store. Sandeul looks over to see Baro with his mouth as he kept repeating “woah” and “wow”.

“Look at you, you sound like a kid who got his first toy.” Sandeul teasingly poked him.

“You can’t blame me for that. This is my first time seeing this holiday being celebrated so grandly okay.” He jerks away before slapping the brunette’s finger.

Sandeul backs away while bursting out of laughter over how dumbfounded he looks. The blonde turns around and smiles to see how he is laughing so whole-heartily before realizing something. Either his skin looks so pale under the fluorescent lights or else it’s getting worse. He looks away not wanting to think about it before feeling like he forgot something.

And of course, Baro then remembers their objective before hurrying off to the meat section he saw earlier.  Sandeul trails at the back when he realizes Baro left him alone. He quickly caught up and right before Baro picked the meat, Sandeul points at what he wants to eat.

“Pish! Pish! I lurve Salmond” Sandeul exclaimed in his broken pronunciation while pointing at the freezer full of different meat.

Baro gave him an amused look and took the Salmon before walking off to get the vegetables. He knows very well that Sandeul hates vegetables so he ended up picking it himself. And when they were done, they each picked a candy to eat tomorrow as a treat before paying.

As they carried the groceries to the front entrance where they can get a taxi, Baro points at a bookstore at the far corner, indicating that he needs something there. They went in to buy an “English For Idiots” book for a cheap price, knowing that no one in that country needs it and how desperate the shop owner wants to sell it away. They do need to brush up on the new language or else they won’t be able to buy food for next week. They then hurriedly called a cab back looking that the skies are getting dark.

⊙

Sandeul somehow managed to crawl upstairs before collapsing on his bed while Baro was still organizing all the stuff they bought. They somehow bought three bundles of vegetables and only one fish for dinner. Talk about common sense from these two teens.

Baro ordered the brunette to take a shower while he cooks just in case he ends up falling asleep again. As he tried to create a very healthy and green dish with just one small fish, he suddenly heard a loud crashing sound from the upper floor. He took the closest item to him before dashing up.

Please don’t tell me he found a corpse. Please don’t tell me he found an insect. Please tell me he fell down. Please please please Baro prayed while slowly pushing Sandeul’s room door open. And well you can say Baro’s wish came true. Nothing scary except for Sandeul falling down. But the problem is that the bed is broken too.

“What in the world happen to you? And the bed too?” Baro asked while pointing at him with the thing on his hand.

“Well I was going to leave the bed when I suddenly wanted to try how springy the bed was…but I really didn’t expect it to break into a half…and by the way, stop pointing at me with our dinner. It’s the only edible meat left for our stomach.” Sandeul got up while touching his cheeks with pain.

Baro looked at the pitiful fish on his hand before realizing what he was doing. He quickly hid it behind his back out of embarrassment before urging Sandeul to take bath.

“And by the way, aaaaa---choo!”

“You okay, Sandeul?” Baro asks while staggering over to him.

“My nose was just itchy, don’t worry!”  He shrugs it off with a smile.

“You better be, and go bathe!” He urged again.

Sandeul lazily nodded before taking some clothes and trotted to the bathroom like a kid. Baro sighed like a mother while walking downstairs to quickly finish their dinner.

“Ahhhh finally done!” Baro exclaims while looking at the simple dish he made. The two plates were covered with leaves except for half a fish in the middle. It wasn’t the most appetizing dish he made but what can he do with such limited ingredients?

“You’re done?” Sandeul asks while running down. He was wearing a simple T-Shirt and sweatpants, just like a typical Korean teen. He quickly back-hugged Baro as he reached the dining table before seeing the food. Baro shuddered a bit at Sandeul’s sudden back hug before hearing the brunette complain.

“What is this~” He whines while lifting the plate of food. Sandeul have taste palettes of a five-year-old kid, so it’s trouble for Baro. He quickly took the fish in the middle while leaving the pile of greens on the plate.

“Sandeul you duck, come back here!” Baro screams as Sandeul tried to sneakily leave for the living room. The brunette of course sadly obliged as he sat back on the dining table.  He slowly picked up his spoon and slowly picked his fork before slowly eating one stalk of vegetable.

⊙

“I can’t understand a single thing at all.”

“Yeah me too.”

“Why aren’t there any Korean channels?”

“Because this is England, not Korea. Dumb.”

“…Hey Baro, since my bed broke down…can I sleep with you?” Sandeul asks while looking at the blonde male with puppy eyes. He knows that Baro hates sharing something he uses, especially something that concerns his beauty sleep but deep down somewhere in his mind reminds keeps reminding him that he has to change no matter what.

“Can I say no.” Baro answers with a straight face while continuing to flip through the channels.

“Pretty please?”

“Please with a cherry on top?”

“I’ll promise to eat all the vegetables.”
 

“I won’t take up a lot of space.”

“I’ll give you a kiss-“

“Deal.”

“AW YEAH! I’ll go move my stuff now~” Sandeul hugs the blonde the before dashing off into his room. Baro shook his head as he sees his friend disappearing behind the living room wall. Actually Sandeul has no need to move in and sleep with him since he can sleep on the extra mattress inside the closet but somehow, he insisted. And Baro knows perfectly why. Sandeul is afraid of the dark.

3 Years ago

“Baro, this your room?” Sandeul asks with amazement.

“Yeah, might be a bit messy but bear with it for a night or two.” He says with scratching the back of his head with embarrassment. He didn’t expect to have a sleep over with a 19-year-old friend especially since he never had an actual friend coming over before. He was too anti-social and nerdy back then to have someone like him except for Sandeul. But no one knows that this nerdy kid was VERY rich.

“Wow…it’s so cool to have such a big room by yourself. I have to sleep with my noisy younger brother at home.” Sandeul strolls around while complaining. Sandeul was also the nerdy kid with a rich background, just that no one knew. He slipped his bag on Baro’s bed before checking out everything he had in the room. He picked on his clothes, dropped some of his books and created a serious havoc and ended being forced to restrain himself.

“You, go take a shower.” Baro points at him as he cleaned the room with frustration.

“Okay~” Sandeul answers cheerfully before hopping all the way there.

They took their dinner later in the second part of his villa before taking a 5 minutes walk back to his room. And when they cleaned themselves for sleep, Sandeul hides in his own bed while Baro hid in his. Not even after one minute with the lights off, Sandeul started chatting again. They talked about all sorts of things like how did Baro piss their homeroom teacher, do they have an ideal girl till what ugly personalities they have. But once Baro stops to take a light nap, Sandeul quickly starts finding a new topic to talk about. This routine didn’t stop until 3AM in the morning.

“Sandeul-ah…can we sleep now? I’m really tired.” Baro plead the boy.

“Err… let’s talk about something else first!” Sandeul tries to continue to conversation.

“But I’m really really tired …” Baro answers with sigh.

“Then…can I sleep with you? I mean like can I sleep at the side of your bed or something? I promise I won’t touch you! To tell you the truth, I’m really scared of the dark…so please?” The brunette slowly confessed in the dark. He knows that he can’t see him but he’s got a feeling that the male heard him. 

“…Sure why not. It’s not like we are doing anything romantic. Not that I mean I want it or..or…uh” Baro answered awkwardly not knowing why was he stuttering. He felt like a 10 year-old finding out his private part is called a . And that’s really awkward.

“Really?! Well can you move a bit to your right and I’ll try to take as little space as I can.” Sandeul squealed before trying to find his way to Baro’s bed. As he got into the blonde’s bed, he couldn’t stop smiling as he felt the male’s protective aura around him.

In the morning when Baro’s mother came in to wake them up, she couldn’t stop laughing looking at the scene. Sandeul was hugging Baro’s waist and Baro was hugging Sandeul back, just like a couple. She never told them how were they sleeping since they somehow changed their position after she left.

⊙

“Since I have nothing to do…might as well go to sleep with that idiot.” Baro says as he turns off the TV. This is his first time sleeping with his lover after confessing a few months ago. He knows that he’s going to feel awkward than before but he can’t ditch him in his own room, he won’t be able to forgive himself if he did that.

Sandeul happily pulled the blonde into the room as he heard his footsteps. Sandeul has been waiting for Baro since just now for something he always wanted to do during a trip.

Take pictures.

“Come on, I want to a take a picture of us here. I need to update my SNS.” He said while pulling his branded camera out. Sandeul was always fond of photography since middle school, as he had no specific hobby except for gaming. He took up the new hobby after seeing some pretty pictures of the autumn scenery of England on the net. Within a year, he already mastered photography.

Sandeul pulls Baro for a seat on the bed before hugging him like a bolster. They both made a bunch of goofy faces while the brunette pressed the button. Soon the camera was filled with the two boy’s faces and a few pictures of the Christmas atmosphere in London. Sandeul turned the camera over while he continued to back hug his lover. He rested his chin on Baro’s shoulder as his hands that are holding the camera are stretched out in front of Baro’s face.

“Sandeul, can I go now?”

“No way~ let me finish checking all the pictures first. We might need to take some more if it doesn’t come out well.” Sandeul whispered into the older boy’s ear.

Sandeul knows that he gets ticklish when someone whispers into his ear. He kept his stance while Baro tried to wriggle his way out. Baro instead acted like a worm as he kept trying to break free. His neck shriveled and his shoulder came as though as it can block any of Sandeul’s next attack.

“All done~You can go now!” Sandeul said in excitement while letting go.

Baro bursts out in laughter once Sandeul let go. He couldn’t hide his laughter about the fact how Sandeul was whispering to his ear. The brunette instead rolled off to the corner of the bed to get his gadgets. On his way there, he suddenly realize he forgot to do something before rolling back. Baro then tensed up again when he felt Sandeul’s breath close to his ear.

“Your kiss~” Sandeul left a small kiss on the blonde’s cheek before going back to his business.

Baro’s face started to heat up as he lightly touched his cheek. That part felt especially warm and fuzzy once he thinks about Sandeul again. He can feel his head start processing very slow about how is that kiss his. Kiss? Wait why kiss? Oh crap that kiss. Out of everything I could agree, I agreed for a kiss. What on earth is wrong with me Baro mentally slapped himself. He wanted to be the first one in the relationship to kiss the opposite, but Sandeul beat him in doing that again.

He can’t understand why is he so important for him to be the “male” in their relationship. Why can’t he just accept the fact that there can be two males and it’s fine who takes the first step. Why does he want to keep treating Sandeul as a frail little girl when he can’t even take the first step. He just sat there while scratching the back of his head thinking what’s wrong with him.

Why am I even worried about this? I have other things to be frustrated about like….Sandeul? NO NOT SANDEUL ANYTHING BUT NOT SANDEUL, he slapped his cheeks when that thought came across. He turned around and looked at the innocent brunette sitting beside the bed fiddling around his gadgets before blushing, again. And why was he blushing? He had no idea himself.

This kid…is really something. Baro shook his head in astonishment before Sandeul turned back. The blonde hastily turned his head to another direction so that he doesn’t create unwanted attention. He’ll end up failing at creating an ad-lib for his reaction if Sandeul does end up coming towards him.

The two boys huddled up under the blanket trying to keep themselves warm as they whispered to each other. The room wasn’t dark with the curtains open and the city light literally beaming through it. The room smelt heavily of eucalyptus oil, which probably can cause nausea to a passer-by but the boys somehow are enjoying it instead. They kicked under the covers with one of their foot peeking out time to time until someone start screaming over how cold it is.

It was 15 minutes to Christmas and they want to start the special holiday by looking at each other, not lovingly but instead, with goofy faces. They wanted to feel unique, in a way that no one will even think of doing. In the meantime, they chatted about stupid things, as expected, and giggled like little kids at a sleepover. They feel like their inner-child has taken over them, making laugh at the tiniest thing and be surprised over the simplest phenomena.

Baro was cackling away like Sandeul because of the dumb joke during middle school before he slowly calmed down. He looks at the brunette with sudden fascination, as though as he met him for the first time. He took up his hand and slowly traced the tiny, fine wrinkles close to his eyes when he laughs down to his warm pink cheek that flushes like spring. He’s beautiful. A masterpiece. An angel fallen from the sky. And Baro would have done everything he could to keep him for himself. Sandeul was Baro’s one and only treasure and he couldn't imagine sharing it with anyone.

Sandeul was giggling like a little kid before he felt his touch, his hands were cold, just like what Sandeul predicted. He lightly covered his hand above his before a small smile creep up his face. He likes it how Baro touches him like that, or to be exact, like there’s no tomorrow.

Suddenly, his attention shifted to the window, something small and pure caught his eye, something what Sandeul has wanted to enjoy with Baro together.

“Baro look! It’s finally snowing!” Sandeul exclaimed while climbing off the bed.

His bare feet shivered a bit coming in contact with the floor but it soon got replaced with the excitement that the brunette can contain no longer. He leaned on the windowsill while tipping-toes before pushing the foggy glass open. A cool gust of air gushed in but Sandeul couldn’t care less, because finally, his one very wish has come true. He got to see the first snowfall in London with his lover.

Baro slowly walked over while shivering slightly before giving Sandeul a back hug at the window. His head rests right on his shoulder while admiring the snow too. His left arm s around Sandeul’s waist and the other arm held onto his right arm, stretching it outside the window to feel the snow. Sandeul’s palm, which is slightly smaller than Baro’s, overlapped on the blonde’s one as snow slowly fell into their bare palms. Sandeul was beyond joy, seeing how they slowly float into their hands before slowly melting. And Baro couldn’t be even more happier than seeing him happy.

“ This is wonderful.” Sandeul whispers.

“And enjoying this with you is even more wonderful.” Baro whispers back.

They stood there frozen for a few minutes, as though as time has stood still for them. They both blankly looked at the pure snow while enjoying the first few minutes of Christmas before a small tear slips down Sandeul’s eye. Sandeul’s lip was trembling, and he was trying his best not to start shaking while Baro hugged even tighter.

“I am so happy right now.” He tries to say without sounding like he’s about to cry.

“I know and it’s okay. I’m here.” The blonde answers back with a soft shush.

“And Baro, thank you for spending it with me. This was my very last wish.” Sandeul continued as he slowly turned around to face Baro.

Baro couldn’t say anything. His voice was stuck in his throat. He was afraid that he might break by the next sentence. He slowly took his finger and wiped the tear on Sandeul’s face away and nodded quickly, wishing that it helped in anyway. And when Sandeul want’s to get closer to whisper something, he almost collapsed on the ground as his legs literally gave up on him. Baro freaked out and carried him to the bed before closing the windows. Sandeul’s body temperature reached to a serious level and Baro wanted to call the ambulance desperately. He doesn’t even know what’s the number and how’s he going to communicate before he heard a faint beg.

“Baro, stop. Just come here and accompany me.”

“No I will not. Sandeul, we agreed that we’ll go to the hospital if something happens.”

“Please Baro. There’s no use already. Just come to the bed and sleep with me.”

“But Sandeul there’s still a way-“

“Please, I beg you Baro.”

Baro stopped in his tracks and stared at Sandeul. He looks tired, frail, vulnerable, and helpless. He slowly climbed on the bed and faced Sandeul while holding onto his hand. How much energy did he force out of himself today? He knows his body can’t take it. Baro then quietly slips into the bed with Sandeul before caressing his cheeks. He knows it’s going to come soon, but he didn’t know it was this fast. His parents don’t even know. They did so much to trick his parents so that they can have one year alone. They said he had a year. One ing year and he couldn’t even survive a day.

“Baro?” He voice as soft as a wind.

“Hmm?” Baro choked back.

“I’m sorry I can’t celebrate Christmas with you.” Sandeul says with a faint smile.

“It’s okay Sandeul, you don’t have to be sorry. You can and you will celebrate it with me.” He croaked back.

“ We didn’t get to sing carols-“

“Stop Sandeul. It’s fine.” He urges him.

“And look at the streets-“

“Sandeul please stop.” Sounding even more desperate with tears streaming down his face.

“And take more pictures-“

“Sandeul will you ing stop. I don’t want to hear anymore. You will survive tonight and we will get to see everything and sing carols” Baro answers this time as he held Sandeul close to him.

 Sandeul glanced at Baro once more before snuggling himself more into his hug. He is thankful enough to be able to meet Baro again. He is thankful that he can be his lover. He is thankful that he can see the first snow with him. He is thankful that Baro is beside him now. He is thankful that Baro appeared in his world. And he wouldn’t ask for nothing more.

“Baro, stay by me?”

“I will.”

⊙

A/N: idk anymore. merry christmas guys! 

main pic:http://choiseunghyunn.tumblr.com