Fall had finally approached, the leaves were crisp and orange; they fell heedlessly from their branches, landing on the dew- grass. Xiumin awoke in a cold sweat that morning, petrified as he recalled memories from last summer. 

He weakly got up from bed, cringing as his partner groaned from the sheets beside him. He cautiously tiptoed out of the room, his bare feet then pattering against the wood floor. He looked around the kitchen for a few moments until he found a stapler. (One that should’ve been in Junmyeon’s office.) Shuffling back the way he originally ambled, he came in contact with the sliding glass door on the backside of the house. He scowled, his chin wrinkling as he unlocked it, grabbing the white handle and heaving as he slid it open. 

Goosebumps erupted from his skin as he stepped onto the wet grass, stomping towards a tall maple tree with stapler in hand. He disposed himself in front of the trunk, glaring at the bark before he quickly bent down, picked up a leaf, and stapled it to the tree. His disposition remained the same as he stapled various other leaves to the sorrel timber. As he continued, he couldn’t help but clench his teeth. Tears welled in his eyes but he didn’t cease to continue stapling. His back ached from bending over so many times. 

“Mm,” 

A groan from the warm comforters sounded in a small bedroom, an older man feeling behind him for his bedmate. It wasn’t long until he noticed the weight of the bed was shifted uncomfortably, causing him to abruptly sit up in bed. 

“Minseok…?”

He sat for only a few more moments before crawling out of bed, scratching the messy hair on the back of his head. Upon walking down the hall and hearing no movement within the house, he began to sprint down the hall. 

“Minseok?” 

He felt a cool breeze when entering the kitchen, looking towards the open screen door. Outside was Xiumin by a tree in the backyard. He furrowed his brows as he walked outside, hearing distant sniffles and sobs from his partner. 

Hearing leaves crunch from behind him, Xiumin turned around to face the other. He knew he wouldn’t have gone unnoticed in his endeavor, but he didn’t really want to anyways. His face was flushed, tears streaming from his eyes and snot dribbling from his nose. 

Junmyeon said nothing as he immediately took the taller boy in an embrace, rubbing his lower-back as Xiumin began wiping his face on Junmyeon’s shoulder. He hiccuped and babbled to him in whispers, not letting up for even a second.

“I-I can’t… We c-can’t… Let the l-leaves fall, we can’t…”

Junmyeon tried hard to make sense of what Xiumin was stuttering to him, cradling the other as the cold breeze caused them both to shiver. He felt up the side of his hip, searching for his hand as he grabbed the stapler from him and dropped it hastily beside them, inducing the other to cry harder. 

Xiumin has small-cell lung cancer. Last summer, he visited a doctor and overheard him talking to his boyfriend of a few years, Junmyeon. He said that by the time all the leaves had fallen that autumn, Xiumin would be dead and gone.