Hongbin turned to face him. Hakyeon was standing at the door with a tray in his hands, with two steaming cups on it.

            Hongbin didn’t know what to say, so he told him that.

            “I don’t know what to say.”

            “Not a lot of guests get to come up here and see this. It’s kind of like my private study, I come here a lot. It’s where I relax, when I can. Isn’t it pretty? I can sit here and watch the stars move through the entire night, with no one to bother me. I haven’t even brought Sanghyuk up here yet.”

            Hongbin looked back out the opening. Somehow he felt warm, knowing this was a special thing that he was getting to see. He inhaled, and then let his breath out slowly.

            “It feels like the tree is breathing with you, doesn’t it? Every tree has a sort of center, where the energy that it takes to grow itself tall and strong is stored. This room is right under my tree’s center, so the whole room will feel like it’s alive simply because it is.”

            Hakyeon put the tray down on one of the small tables and walked over to the edge of the balcony, placing his hands on the railing. His face was soft, with the backlight from the room as well as the pale light that filtered through the leaves above, a multitude of colors because of the setting sun and the rising moon colliding all on the same person standing before Hongbin.

            His brain ran through a whole bunch of words, shuffling through them and dismissing the ones he didn’t think worked.

            “Beautiful” was the one that came to mind, and it wasn’t until a second later that Hongbin realized he had said it out loud. Immediately he wished he would swallow the words straight back into his mouth. But he couldn’t do that now, so. He could feel a flush rise on his cheeks and feel his face heat up. He looked at the floor, and then the wall, and then back to the floor, and then his hands, which he clasped together in front of him.

            The room was silent, except for the quiet sound of leaves that Hongbin could barely hear over the pounding in his head. Why’d he have to go ahead and open his mouth? Ugh, he probably had make Hakyeon uncomfortable, should he apologize? Was he making it awkward? It was probably awkward. He finally raised his head and looked across the room at Hakyeon, who was staring over at him. Hongbin would’ve immediately looked away again if not for the look on the elf’s face.

            It was a whole lot of things at once, and Hongbin couldn’t pick out all of them. His eyes were glistening, and his mouth was barely open, and he was staring at Hongbin, who could feel his ears warm up, and he prayed that he looked more collected than he felt. He meant what he said, he really did look beautiful, still emanating that kind of light that Hongbin had only ever seen on Hakyeon, that Hongbin had decided was just him.

            It was still silent, and Hongbin started to fidget, wondering what to do next. Apparently he didn’t need to think too hard about it, because Hakyeon started walking towards him, and he didn’t move, holding his breath. As Hongbin watched him come closer, part of him kept thinking about the shine of the lights on the elf’s skin, and the way that his eyes were wide and dark, kept thinking about how his neck dipped perfectly below the slipping edge of his shirt, kept thinking about the way his lips were slightly parted, kept thinking about the way that he was looking at him. Hongbin thought about how each part of him was moving in a single way, so smooth that he almost looked like he was floating, but Hongbin felt like he was the one who was drifting.

            Hakyeon was right in front of him now, looking about eye to eye with him.

            Hongbin said it again, quieter this time.

            “Beautiful.”

            He watched as Hakyeon’s hands moved from his sides, and then felt the warm touch against his face. His mind started to move too fast, and his head reeled. What was he supposed to do here? Hakyeon was looking at him intently, and then his face softened and he shifted back a little bit, hand slipping down to Hongbin’s shoulder. Hongbin let out a little breath he didn’t know he was holding, in a way both grateful and disappointed. Hakyeon smiled at him.

            “I don’t think I’m the beautiful one here.” He stepped back from Hongbin and turned around. “Come on, the tea’s getting cold. I want to show you somewhere after we’re done.” Hongbin just dumbly nodded, and directed his feet to move him over to the table Hakyeon was sitting by.

            He was relieved that things didn’t seem to be awkward, and it just took him a few moments of silence and drinking some of his tea to clear his head enough to respond back to Hakyeon talking more about his tree, and telling him some story about showing Taekwoon the room they were in. Hongbin relaxed, and everything appeared to return to being casual. He couldn’t completely shake the picture of Hakyeon standing so close to him out of his head.

            When they finished the tea, Hakyeon stood and offered his hand to Hongbin, who grabbed it to pull himself up, standing and then that part of his mind thought about how soft Hakyeon’s hand was, and how steady it was, and Hongbin loosened his grasp and let go of the elf’s hand. Hakyeon didn’t seem deterred, and gathered up the cups, leading him to the door.

            “Come on, it won’t be the right light for much longer!” He called behind him, nudging the door open with his hip and descending the stairs, and Hongbin followed him. The stairs seemed to reach on forever, and when they reached the bottom he was grateful. Hakyeon went over to the kitchen and put the dishes in the sink, before going back past Hongbin down the hall towards his room, tugging at Hongbin’s hand to bring him along. He opened the door and crossed the room, going over to a door that Hongbin had apparently not noticed the first time around, and pulled it open. As he approached, Hongbin could see that it lead to outside, to a path that stretched towards the forest.

            Hakyeon ushered him out the door, closing it behind him. Hongbin was still, taking in a second to just look at the sight in front of him.

            Being on the same level as the forest floor had a completely different feeling as compared to higher up. When he twisted his head, he could see the deck far above him. The path was just dirt, well worn. He noticed that Hakyeon was already going, and he ran a few steps to catch up to him. As they neared the main forest, Hongbin could hear music and voices, in the same melodious words that Hakyeon had used earlier, talking to the waiter in the restaurant. The lights shifted from being vague shapes into being lights hanging from branches, some climbing up tree trunks, some white and some in different soft colors. The elves here were much more colorful than the ones in the city, and more active. Hongbin felt one tug on his hand, knocking him off balance, before another hand caught him and swept him into a spin, pushing him back into the throng of elves, who all started to laugh, and different hands pulled him in different directions, all as part of one movement, not forceful but firm and directing.

            For one of the first times in his awkward life, he felt surprisingly graceful, even though he wasn’t doing anything. The laughter was infections, and he grinned, just letting everything move with and around him. He felt one pair of hands being particularly grabby, and fell forward into a more familiar pair of arms, looking up into a wide smile on a tan face, and he felt himself being pulled up and closer, and then Hakyeon began to move, guiding him in a steady-paced dance, that went both against and with the music that was playing around them. Hongbin felt like he almost stepped on his feet sometimes, but the elf would always move just right so that he didn’t. Something in him wanted to let go and watch Hakyeon dance on his own, but the rest of him wanted to stay right where he was.

            He didn’t notice them drifting away from the crowd, until he felt Hakyeon pull back and stop the movement. Hongbin almost fell, but Hakyeon’s hand had stayed put with his, steadying him.

            Hakyeon laughed.

            “Having fun?” Hongbin just grinned back at him.

            “Yeah.”

            Hakyeon’s hand was still firmly holding his, as he started pulling him along again, and this time Hongbin kept up with him.

aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

this was rly hard to write bc i couldnt decide how fast i wanted things to move so i slowed them down and i didnt like that so i changed it

anyways this is what came out

THINGS ARE GETTING SO FLUFFY

i still dont know how to write romance but i got to go into detail about how beautiful hakyeon is so that was nice

i might even get another chapter done by tonight? i'm on kind of a roll but i needed somewhere to break this chapter up so i decided on here

um yes thank you for reading and subscribing!

~Win