Jongin stands in front of two graves, lovingly staring at the letters carved onto the tombstones.

“I haven’t known the both of you for a long time, but I want to thank you for the love and care you’ve both given me.”

He does not bother to wipe a lone tear that falls down his face. It lands on the flowers placed at his feet and he smiles happily despite the tears in his eyes. He sighs and stretches his arms, never once removing his eyes from the graves. He looks around and snorts, not at all surprised at the fact they were laid to rest on a hill overlooking the ocean. Typical. They always told him how they had soft spots for open fields and flowers. He sits down in front of the graves, his chin resting on his palm as he hums to himself.

He never really got moments of peace like this. Not for a while. They were laid to rest a few years ago, he had not bothered counting because it saddened him to think of them gone. But his life has happier moments now.

He can already sense the two figures standing near him, attempting to sneak up on him.

“I know you two are there!” Jongin shouts without bothering to look over his shoulder.

“Aw, that’s no fun!” One voice whines as the other laughs.

“I told you that you’re loud, Kyungsoo.” The other voice teases and Jongin can hear Kyungsoo slap his arm.

“Oh please, I have better sneaking up skills than you do, Kris.”

Jongin rolls his eyes and decides whether or not he should get up.

“It’s rude to face us with your back while we talk to you.” Kyungsoo snorts.

“Who taught you that?” Jongin turned around and grin.

“You did, papa.” Kris sticks out his tongue and flashes a grin with two missing teeth.

“Glad you two listen to my advice.” Jongin sticks his tongue back at him.

“Were you talking to the stones before we got here?” Kyungsoo scrunches up his small face and tilts his head.

“No, I was talking to the ones who were laid to rest here.” Jongin shoots him a look before he opens his arms wide for a hug.

His two sons immediately run and collapse into his hold, laughing with delight as their father showers them with kisses. They were not his biological children, but they were still his nonetheless.

“Papa, we’re big kids now, you can’t kiss us like that anymore.” Kyungsoo huffs.

“You’re nine, what do you mean I can’t kiss you?” Jongin asks flatly.

“Kissing is gross.” Kris giggles.

“You’re seven. You hush too.” Jongin growls playfully and tickles them.

“I’m gonna tell on you!” Kyungsoo squeals.

“To who?” Jongin snorts and nuzzles his face into Kris’s brown hair.

“To the people in the ground.” Kyungsoo nods towards the tombstones.

“Oh no, then I’ll be in super trouble!” Jongin groans dramatically.

“Uh oh, super trouble?” Kris and Kyungsoo gasp together, looking scandalized.

“Yup, those two are Mr. and Mrs. Do. I guess you can say they’re like my second set of parents.” Jongin words it carefully, watching his sons’ faces. “They took care of me for a while and helped me raise you two.”

“Oh so they’re like the ones you named us after?” Kris taps his chin in thought.

“Yes, exactly.” Jongin nods and smiles.

“Can you tell us the story about them again?” Kyungsoo’s face lights up, staring at his father in adoration.

The DOLL smiles sadly to himself before nodding. He tells them of the lonely doll maker and the handsome businessman that fell in love in a little doll shop. He tells them of the magic that the doll maker possessed. How he made people happy but himself. But the businessman changed that. He brought hope for another chance at love. How Kyungsoo became ill and Kris takes care of him.

But he lies.

He says they get a happy ending where they run off to the ends of the earth as lovers. Where they get married in front of a beautiful sunset. He doesn’t tell them that Kris became devastated at the circumstances. How Kris hated him for months. How he became depressed and isolated himself. Jongin had even became frightened when Kris had told him he forgave him.

Jongin watched him become what Kyungsoo became in those lonely five years in less than twelve months.

Jongin watched as Kyungsoo was removed from his comatose state, so that he and Kris could have their one final reunion.

Jongin watched as they cried, holding each other close.

Jongin watched as they declared their love for each other, promising to never leave one another.

Jongin watched as they had their first and final kiss.

Jongin watched as they held hands and the life in their eyes began to fade.

Jongin watched as they passed away.

He saw the both of them glow blue, most likely due to Kyungsoo’s ability. He could see the smiles on their faces despite the fact that they were going to die. It was a beautiful moment. Bittersweet one would say. He watched them fade away, and in their place, was a bed of flowers. He never truly knew how far Kyungsoo’s powers could go, but to say he was amazed was an understatement. The happiness that surrounded their bodies had made their way into him, settling in his heart. Though they were no longer with him physically, he still felt their love every day.

It was rather hard explaining that to the doctors though. So he had immediately left the hospital with the flowers all bunched up in his arms while multiple nurses ran past him to find their missing patients. He had given the flowers to Kyungsoo’s parents, despite it taking a while to find them, the flowers did not wilt. Jongin had been unable to find Kris’s parents, believing that they must have been lost in the crisis of the drastic population decrease.

He was still trying to find their resting place to this day.

“Will you ever see them again?” Kris looks up at him with his large brown eyes.

“Someday.” Jongin hums and holds them close.

Kyungsoo is quiet, not sure to ask his father if he saw the two men dancing by the shore that looked oddly familiar.

When you love somebody
They’ll always leave too soon
But a memory, a memory
Can make a flower bloom

and that concludes Artificial Happiness folks. consider this ending to be the happier of the three i was thinking of doing because the others were in fact quite dark and depressing. i felt like krisoo needed their first kiss before leaving this world. thank you all for your upvotes, subscribes, and comments. keep out for some more krisoo stories in the future! but for now i will be focusing on my krishan story (: once again, thank you! love u all