There were some times when TaekWoon dreamed of what he believes were his – and HakYeon’s – past lives. Of course, HakYeon was there. He hadn’t changed. Still that warm, bronze skin. The ever-present sunshine smile. Sometimes his hair color changed between dreams from chocolate brown to jet black to copper. Sometimes they were walking hand in hand in public, minds on each other and paying no heed to anyone around them. Other times, they could only manage to barely brush elbows while standing on the train to somewhere.

TaekWoon wondered if this was normal, if maybe in a past life, he also dreamed of his former lives. For instance, in the life HakYeon had told of when TaekWoon already had a family, after finally meeting HakYeon, did he realize their timeless destiny? Did he try to keep HakYeon close and end up discarding his established home? Did he end up passing on without even telling HakYeon that he knew?

Did he know? Did he ever know like he did now?

< Let’s meet > HakYeon texted immediately, when TaekWoon brought up his thoughts to him. < I’ve been thinking about this, and I wanna talk to you >

TaekWoon didn’t think HakYeon would so suddenly show up at his dorm door right after TaekWoon finished reading the text message, just as he and JaeHwan were about to go to the rec center. HakYeon stared blankly at the two.

“Eh? Where are you going?” HakYeon asked.

TaekWoon was too dumbstruck by HakYeon’s presence that JaeHwan had to respond. “Yoga! Every Saturday morning, to make sure our TaekWoonie doesn’t get out of shape.”

“Ohh? HongBin doesn’t go?”

“Pshh, no. Says it’s so not manly of him. Just because we’re the only guys in the class doesn’t mean it’sss… nnnnot manly. You ready to go?”

The stretch happened. It hadn’t happened in a while, so TaekWoon was a little caught off guard, but in the middle of JaeHwan’s sentence being deformed, he saw the trees sway the slightest bit. Even more blatantly obvious was how HakYeon’s attire morphed from a T-shirt and jeans to active wear. TaekWoon glared at HakYeon, but the god just cheekily smiled back at him.

As JaeHwan energetically led the way, loudly singing some nonsense song along the way, TaekWoon whispered to HakYeon, “What would you have done if the hall monitors caught you?”

“They didn’t catch me,” HakYeon replied. “I ran quickly.”

TaekWoon’s disapproving scowl was rewarded with a cheek pinch and a coo. It’s not that TaekWoon was upset or displeased about seeing HakYeon unannounced; of course, it was the opposite, TaekWoon shyly latching to the hem of HakYeon’s shirt as they crossed the campus.

TaekWoon and JaeHwan took their usual spot on the side of the room, HakYeon perching just behind them. To say TaekWoon wasn’t amused at the overall experience would be a lie; hearing HakYeon comment about how it was the first time he’d ever seen JaeHwan so quiet (a slight smirk from the subject in response because the class had already started, and they were supposed to be focused on their breathing) and seeing HakYeon struggle to keep up with the class would have made him burst out laughing. If he could, anyway.

“With as lean as you are, I expected you to be in better shape!” JaeHwan commented.

HakYeon had sweat running down the sides of his face, his hands propped on his hips as he tried to catch his breath. “That was not yoga. That was some North Korean military version of stretching.”

JaeHwan burst out laughing, and he looked down to bring TaekWoon into the teasing, but at the sight of TaekWoon sitting limply against a mirrored wall, long, thin breaths barely passing through his lips, the loud friend immediately switched to serious mode, crouching down until he was eye-level with TaekWoon. HakYeon didn’t miss the transformation and stepped forward in concern.

“I’m… okay,” TaekWoon wheezed out instantly, raising a hand. “I just… need to catch my breath.”

“Are you sure?” JaeHwan demanded. “Do you want me to carry you?”

That brought some life back into TaekWoon. “Absolutely not!”

“When was your last transfusion?”

“I scheduled one for later today.”

“You bingo! Why did you go to class today if it was already time? HongBin is gonna yell at me now!”

HakYeon looked from TaekWoon to JaeHwan in confusion. “Transfusion?”

“Blood transfusion,” TaekWoon said simply. “Just one of the things that keep me alive.”

HakYeon frowned at the wry smile that spread on TaekWoon’s face from his last comment. “Do you want me to take you?”

“No, no. It’s really boring. You wouldn’t want to go. Literally, all I do is lay down for about an hour. Sometimes, I even fall asleep. You can’t even go in the room, so you’d have to sit in the waiting room for that long.”

Smiling, HakYeon replied, “I’ve waited for longer. I’ll go with you. Now, are you sure you don’t want us to carry you out?”

It’s safe to say both HakYeon and TaekWoon were glad to see the new state of post-transfusion TaekWoon, walking easily on his own with a faint flush coloring his normally pale cheeks.  When HakYeon extended his hand, TaekWoon hesitated for the slightest bit before shyly reaching out to take it.

“What did you want to talk about?” TaekWoon finally asked.

The two had parked themselves at a nearby coffee shop. HakYeon was thrilled that TaekWoon was hungry, for once, and they stepped into the first place they found, partly because it had coffee, partly because it had delicious-looking pastries. The demolished remains of a waffle sat on the table between them, and they were left with slowly sipping the remains of their drinks. HakYeon was more interested in watching TaekWoon with his chin propped between his hands in the shape of a V.

HakYeon’s eyebrows perked up. “Oh, yeah! So here’s the thing…” He sat up, and TaekWoon took that as a cue to sit up straight, as well.

“You brought up how, first of all, you saw our past in your dream, when and how I died in clear detail. And ever since then, you’ve been seeing our past lives. Even before we properly met, you could see when I would bend time to fix the present. But what’s interesting about it…” HakYeon leaned over the table for added dramatic effect. “This has never happened before.”

“Eh?” TaekWoon felt his fragile heart skip a beat. “You mean I was never aware of these things before? Even after meeting you?”

HakYeon nodded. “Each life, we were always strangers. You never second-guessed my existence, never noticed anything weird about me or our relationship. No vivid dreams. Nothing.” TaekWoon fell silent, so HakYeon pressed on. “I’ve been trying to figure out what’s so different about this life. It’s not like I changed what I’ve been doing. There have been other lives where I bent time even more just so our paths could run together. And you’ve had similar lives to this one, so I can’t peg it on you, either.”

“What does this mean, then? Why is it changing like this?”

“It’s just my futile hope, but… Maybe this sentence is finally ending. Maybe that phrase, ‘for all eternity’, isn’t literal. I mean, I can’t even come up with a number for how long we’ve been living like this. Maybe Fate or someone else is getting bored of seeing the same thing over and over again, so they’re finally cutting us some slack. The faster I keep moving Time forward, the closer it gets to Earth’s inevitable end. Then who would they get to bully around?”

TaekWoon let the last bit fly over his head. “What are the chances of that, though? Would any of the others really do that?”

Shrugging, HakYeon sat back and crossed his arms. “I don’t know if they’re being so generous or if they just forgot about us, in general. I’m just being conceited. But you can understand where I’m coming from, right?”

“I guess… But with my condition, what if…”

“What if you randomly drop at any time?” HakYeon reached out to grasp TaekWoon’s hands. “That’s what I’m afraid of, too. I find it peculiar that this would start happening in a life like this. Maybe it’s a test. Who knows? So maybe, just…” He let out a scoff, shaking his head. “Just… be careful. Try not to die.”

TaekWoon grinned despite himself. “Of course.”

HakYeon had already drifted off to sleep, his elbow propped up on the sofa in TaekWoon’s living room to support his head. TaekWoon was laying sideways across the sofa cushions, watching HakYeon as he dozed. Slowly, he reached out to softly rest his hand on HakYeon’s arm, but HakYeon didn’t stir. The skin beneath TaekWoon’s touch thrummed gently, his chilled fingertips slowly seeping in the warmth.

Feeling his fragile heart flutter, he pressed his other hand to his chest. Inside, it continued to beat steadily. He hoped it wouldn’t falter anymore.