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PART 01. TALK TOO MUCH (WINTER, 2019)
We could blame it all on human nature; stay cool, it’s just a kiss, why you gotta be so talkative?
“Jisung, I am not going to some party that your boyfriend is hosting.” Changbin rolls his eyes, hands busy cleaning up his station. Jisung had been bugging him about the party all week - and hasn’t stopped today, the day of the party. Changbin isn’t much one for the party scene, or at least he isn’t one for Minho’s parties.
His friend/coworker/former-classmate pouts. Changbin loves cute things, has a tendency to try and be cute himself, but when Jisung pouts it’s so saccharine that Changbin just can’t take it. “Come on, Binnie,” He whines. The neon of their studio catches on the piercings in Jisung’s ears. “Just this once. I’ll never ask again.”
Changbin doesn’t believe that for a moment. Jisung will persist, and invite Changbin to every party in future. And Changbin will continue to say no. He is a creature of habit, and he does not habitually party. He would rather stay at home, with Gyu, and draw or make music. But Jisung won’t give up, like he hasn’t given up for the past three years.
Changbin sighs. He might as well, in hopes of getting Jisung to lighten up on the invites. “Just this once.” When Jisung’s eyes light up, Changbin throws a hand up. “Just once, Han Jisung. Never again.”
He has since come to regret saying yes to Jisung. He’s now sitting in Minho’s apartment, squished between a couple of Minho’s friends and playing fucking spin the bottle like the lot of them are high school kids, not university seniors and graduates. Or like he’s not a centuries old creature of the night. But whatever. Changbin thinks that spin the bottle is better than sitting alone in the kitchen while people pass in and out to get drinks. Kind of.
A pretty boy who’s name Changbin doesn’t know picks up the bottle. Changbin had seen the boy when he walked in, thought he was breathtaking, but had let himself be swept up by the crown instead of talking to the boy. The guy next to pretty boy nudges him, giggling and wiggling suggestive eyebrows.
Changbin can’t help but roll his eyes. Most of the people in the circle are drunk, and the two boys across from him are absolutely no exception. Drunk mortals baffle Changbin, no matter how pretty - so willing to succumb to the throes of irresponsibility and the will of their also drunk friends. Or maybe time has just made him forget how it feels to be so care-free and willing to let go.
Changbin watches as the boy spins the bottle, glass turning hypnotically. It starts to slow down dangerously close to Changbin - anxiety starts to coil in his stomach. He watches in mild horror as it stops in front of him.
“Ha!” The boy’s friend crows. “Get it, Hyunjin!” He now has a name. A pretty name for a pretty boy, Changbin thinks idly.
Hyunjin flushes, but grins awkwardly in Changbin’s direction. He clambers up, stumbling a little bit on his friends leg as he walks over to where Changbin sits on the couch. He crouches in front of Changbin. “Hi.” He says.
“Hey.” Changbin’s brain short circuits when the boy laughs.
“I’m going to kiss you now.”
Dumbly, Changbin nods. “Okay.”
Hyunjin kisses him. Suddenly, Changbin doesn’t regret letting Jisung drag him to this stupid party. It’s not like the kiss is particularly mind blowing - if anything it’s kind of sloppy, Hyunjin fumbling and laughing as his friend crows over the EDM pulsing in the background. But Changbin feels kind of besotted already, wanting to get to know this weirdly charming human. (Changbin presumes he’s human. But then again, there’s a lot happening, so maybe Hyunjin isn’t human after all.)
“Alright,” Someone coughs. Changbin pulls away, embarrassed. If he had any blood flow, he thinks he’d be just as red as Hyunjin is. The blush looks incredibly pretty on Hyunjin’s high cheekbones, Changbin can’t help but stare. The low light catches on his eyes just so, and, oh! His eyes flash green.
Maybe he’s less human than Changbin first thought. Self restraint flies out the window along with any last remaining shreds of dignity as Changbin grabs Hyunjin’s hand and pulls him up. The group has long since gone back to their game, so no one notices Changbin tugging Hyunjin away from their circle.
Jisung would be smug if he saw Changbin pulling a pretty boy away from a group. He thanks his lucky stars that Jisung has disappeared into the fucking void since they arrived. Minho’s apartment has an odd ambience; the light is all low and pulsing, casting shifting shadows over Hyunjin’s face. He’s laughing more than before, and he’s asking questions that Changbin thinks he might be answering, but he isn’t entirely sure.
Changbin hasn’t been affected by any alcohol - a perk of not having any blood to make the alcohol wreak its usual havoc - but he feels hazy and fluttery like he has been. He wonders if this is what he thinks it might be, if Hyunjin is someone he was always fated to meet. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking from an old romantic. The drink in Hyunjin’s hand never seems to run out, and he continues to drink more and lean on
Changbin more. The two of them have been talking and laughing for what feels like a small eternity. The kitchen that they found themselves in is quiet, save for their conversation and the small noises people make when they stumble in to get drinks or snacks.
“I’m a warlock. You’re a vampire, right?” Hyunjin is pulling faces at the lightbulbs when he breaks the lull in their conversation, skin shining in a way that really seems otherworldly as he sits on the counter.
“Uh, yeah.” Someone in the living room shrieks. “Have been for a while.”
“How long is a while? Like fifty years? A century?” The head tilt that Hyunjin employs makes Changbin’s throat close up a bit.
He’s leaning on the adjacent counter, looking at Hyunjin and ignoring the tingling in his left leg. Changbin shifts his weight to his other leg, not looking away from Hyunjin. The odd pins and needles subside. “Try five hundred years.” The look on Hyunjin’s face makes Changbin laugh. It’s a mix of shocked, confused and uttely unsurprised.
“I really...” Hyunjin swallows, pointing at Changbin in an inexplicably accusatory way. “Should have expected something like that. You seem old. We should all call you ajusshi.”
“What do you mean, old? You know what, I think we shouldn’t talk anymore. Tonight was great, Hyunjin, but I think Jisung needs me out in the living room.” Changbin pushes away from the counter, indignant at being called old by someone other than Jisung. He takes a step towards the exit, but is stopped by hands tugging at his hoodie again. It reminds him of hours ago, when Hyunjin first pulled him into the kitchen after Changbin took him from the games.
“Don’t go.” There’s an utterly devastating pout on Hyunjin’s lips.
Any words that Changbin might have been getting ready to say fly right out of his head, replaced by Kill Bill sirens and the sound of a thousand exploding suns. He can’t help but sputter. Hyunjin’s eyebrows are furrowed lightly, half of his bangs covering his forehead in a way that makes him look artfully disheveled.
Changbin couldn’t leave even if he wanted to.
His mouth is dry. “I think you’re drunk.”
Hyujin pouts even more. “I might be.” The fluorescent lights flicker. “Take me home, Seo Changbin.” If it were Jisung, Changbin would berate him for not using honorifics. But this is Hyunjin, the most enchanting drunk boy Changbin has ever met in his 500 years of life, and Changbin is utterly enraptured. Whipped, Chris might say.
But. Well. Hyunjin is here, and he wants Changbin to take him home, so who is Changbin to deny him?
They go back to Hyunjin’s.
***
PART 02: TEXT ME IN THE MORNING (WINTER, 2019)
When all the other boys just want your sex, I just want your text in the morning.
Changbin wakes up after Minho’s party with a raging headache. His eyes are dry and his mouth feels both fuzzy and sticky, gums irritated and teeth aching with the reminder that he hasn’t fed in a few days. The sheets are bunched up around his waist and shoulders, leaving his arms and legs out to the cool morning air. He shivers – less from the cool air and more from the discomfort his stupid mouth is giving him.
His jacket is missing - he’ll have to find it later, because it’s his nice denim jacket with the cool patches that Jeongin made him for his birthday last year. His hoodie is on the floor, next to his sneakers.
He blinks rapidly at the ceiling. He can tell it’s not his own ceiling, but it doesn’t really process in his brain that the fact that it’s not ceiling means that he’s not in his own apartment. He blinks again. Hyunjin. He’d dragged Hyunjin back to his apartment after they’d split from the rest of the party last night because Hyunjin was too fucking smashed to get home on his own, of course.
Clattering catches his attention. The door to the room he’s in is cracked open, letting in the smell of caramelised butter and sugar. Changbin buries his head under Hyunjin’s pillow. He’s vaguely embarrassed to be still in Hyunjin’s bed - Hyunjin was the one drunk off his ass last night, shouldn’t Changbin be making
him
breakfast?
He hauls himself out of (the ridiculously small) bed, hands tingling from the latent energy that fills Hyunjin’s apartment. Now that he’s surrounded by Hyunjin’s belongings, it’s blatantly obvious that he’s not human. The blatancy is less a show of non-humanness and more just the aura and energy that surrounds everything. Though Hyunjin’s home does look very witchy/demony/otherwise magically mysterious.
The apartment is small - the exact kind of apartment Changbin would expect of a mortal college student. From where he’s walking down the short hall, everything looks like organised chaos. Some books are scattered across the hallway. There’s a table with assorted
things
on it, plus a knife. Changbin elects to ignore it.
The closer he gets to the kitchen, the more audible Hyunjin is. He’s singing some song that’s been on the radio over the past few weeks. Changbin likes his voice. The kitchen is just as cramped as the rest of Hyunjin’s apartment - which makes it all the more easier for the smell of pancakes to fill the room. Changbin is secretly delighted. He loves pancakes.
When he steps full into the kitchen, he can see Hyunjin swaying over the top of the cooktop. His hair is a bit of a bird’s nest and his shirt is rumpled, but he looks serene as he cooks. There’s no sign of a hangover causing him any issues. Changbin supposes there’s probably a multitude of spells to get rid of hangovers.
His heart is beating fast. He’s kind of nervous to talk to sober Hyunjin - feels that maybe this version of Hyunjin won’t like him nearly as much as drunk Hyunjin did.
“Morning,” He says quietly. Hyunjin startles, turning abruptly with a plastic spatula in hand. He smiles when he sees Changbin.
“Good morning!” He’s awfully chipper for 9am on a Saturday. Changbin is endeared. “I made pancakes. Help yourself.”
Changbin does. The pancakes are just on the gooey side of perfectly cooked, tastier than the pancakes Changbin usually gets at Chris’s apartment.
“Solved your hangover already?” He says through a mouthful of pancake. It’s definitely not charming, but he finds he doesn’t particularly care how Hyunjin sees him. He’s pretty comfortable with letting Hyunjin see that he’s really a goblin.
Hyunjin laughs, eyes curved up sweetly. “Yeah. Would you believe me if I said I learnt the spell to cure them in my junior year in high school?” Changbin would. He nods.
The two of them chat over breakfast, nothing serious, but equally interesting.
It’s really nice. Changbin is glad he went to Minho’s party now, having gotten this potential friendship out of it. Not that he’d tell Jisung that, never in a million years. Jisung would be way too smug at winning.
***
PART 03: DIET SODA SOCIETY (SPRING, 2020)
Just shut up, that's when [s]he said it; [s]he told me, "Just shut up and drink your diet soda."
Changbin will admit it. He’s got the fattest, most embarrassing crush on Hwang Hyunjin known to man. The guy is too much for Changbin to handle most days, but he keeps going back for more every time he gets the chance.
It’s become something of a vice, this habit of going to cafes and diners and other restaurants with a boy he met at a party and has subsequently started making out with on a casual basis. They aren’t a thing, Hyunjin had made that very clear when he’d asked if Changbin wanted to do anything with him. He’s not in it for commitment, just some fun. He’d said that if Changbin was one to catch feelings, then this isn’t the arrangement for him. He didn’t want to break any hearts.
Changbin understood at the time, and he still understands now, but he has inexplicably started crushing on Hyunjin and is now far too invested in their friendship/pseudo-relationship to put an end to it so he can get over what could potentially cause him some kind of turmoil, or emotional injury.
Maybe the real tragedy isn’t the fact that Changbin is well on his way to falling in love with Hyunjin. Maybe the worst part of all of this is how much of a hit his bank account has taken due to their habit of going on maybe-fake-maybe-real-certainly-frequent dates. He’d like to think that the worst thing that could come out of all this is his bank account losing a small fortune. Well, Changbin doesn’t want for money anyway. 500 years has made his bank account pretty big.
And it’s not like Changbin has spent the last four months
just
sadly pining after Hyunjin, though! He’s kissed a few other cute boys too. Park Woojin from his dance class asked him out at the start of Spring, and it was nice, but everyone knows that Woojin is actually in love with Park Jihoon, so Changbin didn't let that go anywhere. They just went and got coffee together and ended up talking about their own crushes. Foreign exchange student Ding Zeren also asked him to see a film two weeks ago, which Changbin also said yes to. But it was casual. Didn't go anywhere. They just watched Spiderman and talked about music.
Because Changbin is kind of hung up on the guy he was never meant to get hung up on. Because he may be hundreds of years old, but he’s still a stupid gay idiot, and his heart decided to fuck him over.
He’s kind of, definitely, fucked.
“So, I told Seungmin that I wasn’t going to join his DnD game. Then he laughed, and forced me to make a character sheet. Now he’s coerced me into joining his campaign.” Hyunjin shoves a sushi roll in his mouth.
“You could have told him to fuck off, though?” The AC in the restaurant whirs. Hyunjin shivers, shoulder brushing Changbin’s.
His chopsticks clatter as Hyunjin turns to Changbin. “Don’t be an idiot, hyung. This is Seungmin we’re talking about. I could never say no to him. When he begs you to make a fancy fantasy character, and then says it’s because he wants to spend more time with you because you never hang out anymore, it’s impossible to say no.”
Changbin blinks. He doesn't really empathise - he’s gotten to a point in his life where he can say no easily, though he doesn’t often exercise such a skill. He’s usually saying no to Jisung when he
does
decide to say no. Changbin says as much, hoping that Hyunjin realises that he really can’t empathise.
His companion groans. “Ugh. It’s useless to talk to you about anything.” He’s frowning, but it’s not serious. Changbin laughs. There’s something so endearing about Hyunjin, something that just draws people (especially Changbin) to him. He’s like a magnet. Even when Hyunjin is calling him fucking useless, Changbin’s heart does weird flips.
“Tell me.” The sounds of other patrons fade back. All that Changbin can feel is the ease between himself and Hyunjin.
Hyunjin hums. “Tell you what?”
The AC keeps buzzing quietly. Changbin tosses a few sentences around in his brain, some dumber than others.
Tell me if you like me the way I like you. Tell me I might have a chance. Tell me why I feel like you’re the only person I can breathe around.
He decides to be simple, and not say anything dumb at all. “About this character.”
A surprised laugh leaves Hyunjin. “Okay,” He says. “Where do I start? He’s short…”
Changbin listens as Hyunjin talks about his character and the stats he rolled - Changbin doesn’t particularly care for DnD, but it’s Hyunjin, so he cares more than he would if any other person were talking about the same thing.
When Hyunjin pauses to shoves some food into his mouth, Changbin takes a moment to wonder if it’s natural for him to be so attached to this warlock. If it was just the natural progression of things for him. He thinks about the other immortals he knows that are his age or older - how disenchanted most of them are by things like love and fate.
He thinks that maybe, just maybe, if they met someone like Hyunjin, they’d feel just as young as Changbin does. Because he does feel so young in the face of his adoration for Hyunjin. He doesn’t even hope for the two of them to become more than what they are - he instead finds himself hoping to at least get to bask in Hyunjin’s warmth forever.
That thought - of Hyunjin’s warmth - follows Changbin around long after they part ways after their sushi date. He thinks about staying with Hyunjin when they’re apart. When he’s cooking dinner, he thinks about helping Hyunjin out with the smallest things. When he’s working in the studio, he thinks about sitting in the sun with Hyunjin as they work on their own things.
He thinks about Hyunjin.
The kisses that Hyunjin presses against his lips when the stars are high in the sky feel heavier now, pinned with some kind of hope that Changbin knows he needs to quash. But everything just feels so sweet - the dates are so pleasant. Hyunjin hands are so warm, his hoodies so comfy, that Changbin lets himself be fooled into the comfort of their pseudo-relationship.
Changbin sits on Hyunjin’s bed, sheets slightly messed up from them making out there a couple of hours ago. The light of the lamp casts harsh shadows on Hyunjin’s face as he studies. The glasses perched on his nose glint when he turns his head from laptop to textbook.
There’s something so serene about the scene. Something that looks like home.
Changbin changes the song that plays from his phone, instead humming along to the opening notes of Greyson Chance’s
No Fear
. It’s a song Jeongin had recommended to them both, and had immediately made its way onto their playlist.
Hyunjin nods his head along to the beat.
“You’ll distract me from work.” Changbin is startled by Hyunjin speaking. He’s speaking softly, voice only just audible over their music, but it’s not hard to hear him given the fact that they’re in his tiny dorm room.
“Since when have you cared about work?”
That seems so stump Hyunjin a little bit. “You’re right.” He shuts his laptop. He stretches, t-shirt riding up in a way that makes Changbin glance at his phone so he doesn’t have to look at the smooth skin of Hyunjin’s hips. He has some Twitter notification, and Jisung texted him about pizza night. “Shove over.” Hyunjin nudges Changbin closer to the wall. The single bed isn’t really big enough for both of them, but Hyunjin is like an octopus and latches onto Changbin in such a way that they
just
fit on the bed.
“You’re such a brat.” The fondness in Changbin’s voice takes away from the scolding. He finds he doesn’t really care. The arms around his waist tighten to a point where someone else might feel pain, but all Changbin feels is warmth and tingling.
A hand sneaks its way up Changbin’s arm, curving over his wrist to thread their fingers together. Hyunjin is an affectionate person, Changbin knows this, is very familiar with the behaviour that Hyunjin tends to show. But he still feels warm when their hands clasp together loosely.
He’s so entirely, utterly, completely fucked.
***
PART 04: HEART TO BREAK (SUMMER, 2020)
Even if I'll end up in shatters, baby it doesn't matter, gonna give you my heart to break.
“I’m in love with you.” Changbin says. His hands are shaking, but he’s confident. Hyunjin probably feels the same. Chris said he probably does. Changbin has some faith, is willing to take this chance to be
more
with Hyunjin. “I’ve been in love with you for a while. I know you said to avoid catching feelings, but… well. Here I am. Having caught feelings.”
Hyunjin blinks, surprised. He doesn’t look upset, so Changbin powers on. “Chris said you probably feel the same. As much as I love Chris, I don’t put much stock in what he says about others feelings. At least not like this. But I really want to believe what he says. I want to think that you might like me back, but if you don’t that’s fine!” He’s sweating. He’d planned all these words out last night, bent over the desk in the tattoo studio. And yet here he is, fumbling over his words like a fool instead of an incredibly dignified, centuries old vampire.
He’s so fucking embarrassing. He’s a romantic, and he’s so goddamn embarrassing that it almost hurts. He feels like he’s astral projecting so hard that he’s on Pluto.
“Changbinnie hyung.” Hyunjin still has that odd look on his face. Changbin is suddenly struck with the fear that everything Chris said was just to make him feel better, and that Hyunjin is about to let him down easy. “Seo Changbin, you absolute idiot. Come here and kiss me, or I’m going to run off and kiss Chris instead, just to spite you.”
Changbin blinks. “What?”
“Are you deaf?” There’s fondness in Hyunjin’s voice. Or maybe Changbin is projecting. “Come closer and
kiss me
.”
Kind of stumbling over his own feet, Changbin stretches up and plants a kiss on Hyunjin. He’s sufficiently stunned by how well this has gone. Over the months of holding hands and going on maybe-dates, Changbin didn't really think he’d ever get to this point, the point where his hands are resting on Hyunjin’s shoulders, and Hyunjin’s hands are holding his cheeks, and the two of them are kissing for more than a passtime when they’re bored.
He finds himself finally basking in the warmth of Hyunjin in a way that doesn’t feel like wishful thinking.
“Wait,” Changbin pulls away slightly, but is still well and truly in Hyunjin’s bubble. “Can you answer me?”
“I’m pretty in love with you too.” Hyunjin laughs, head thrown back and smile wide. “Idiot.”
“Yah,” Changbin pushes Hyunjin away slightly, but his hands are bunched in his t-shirt so he doesn’t go far. “Don’t be a brat.”
Hyunjin’s cheeks are red, eyes bright as he looks at Changbin. The amount of fondness that’s directed at him makes Changbin want to hide.
“Don’t break my heart, Hwang Hyunjin.” He sways them from side to side.
“I won’t.”
***
PART 05: WINDOW (SUMMER, 2021)
It's 3 A.M., I hope you're home, I wanna be with you, just let me in through the window.
“What would you do if I showed up outside your window?” Hyunjin’s voice is kind of static-y over the phone, but Changbin can hear the teasing lilt that is part of all their conversations.
“I’d probably call you stupid. Are you outside my window, Hwang Hyunjin?” Changbin moves his phone to his other ear as he walks over to the window of his apartment.
Hyunjin coughs. “Maybe.” He is. Changbin can see him, staring up at Changbin’s window like an idiot. “It’s 3AM, but I was in the neighbourhood.” Hyunjin has a key. Changbin gave it to him a month ago.
“Does that mean you were at Seungmin’s for game night?” Seungmin lives two blocks over, with Woojin and Jeongin. They have game nights where they play DnD every second Thursday, and Hyunjin is obnoxiously invested in their current campaign. And today is a second Thursday, which means Hyunjin
was
in the neighbourhood. Changbin feels a rush of fondness.
There’s a pause. “...Yes.” Hyunjin blinks owlishly up at Changbin’s window. “Game night ran late. Let me in and I’ll tell you all about it?”
Suffice to say, Changbin invites him in. He’s never been very good at denying Hyunjin anything, has he?
He doesn’t mind. Hyunjin is worth it.
***
PART 06: CINDERBLOCK GARDEN (SUMMER, 2023)
Let's take the worst and make it better, let's take this mess and make a home.
“Move in with me.” Hyunjin sets down a mug of coffee on Changbin’s dining room table. They’d spent the night together, sitting in Changbin’s bed and talking and drawing and just enjoying each others time. And now that it’s morning, they’re sharing some fruit and watching the city wake up from Changbin’s highrise.
Changbin has noticed that Hyunjin’s belongings have been slowly migrating to Changbin’s apartment - clothes in his wardrobe, a jacket draped over his couch, some novels stacked on his desk. A toothbrush in the bathroom. Hyunjin’s favourite snacks tucked away in cupboards. The familiarity with which Hyunjin putters around his apartment leaves something warm and tingly in Changbin’s chest.
He’d spent weeks thinking about asking Hyunjin to move in. Considering the fact that they’ve been together for nearing 4 years, he thinks it’s definitely time to pose the option to his questionably better half.
Hyunjin squints at Changbin from where he stands across the table. “Could you repeat that?”
“Move in with me.” The song playing switches.
The laugh that Hyunjin lets out is music to Changbin’s ears. “Okay. I’ll move in with you.”
“Cool.”
“Cool.” Hyunjin echos, smiling brightly. Too bright for Changbin to keep looking at him, so he looks down to his mug. “Oh, are you
embarrassed
?” Hyunjin coos.
Changbin
is
, actually, but he doesn’t want to admit it. “No. Never.”
“That’s such a
lie
. You’re so embarrassed! Baby Changbin, always so embarrassed. You’re cute.” The teasing does nothing but make Changbin feel more flustered. He swats at Hyunjin fruitlessly, trying to get him to stop teasing.
The teasing doesn’t stop for days. He teases as they move his things into Changbin’s apartment. He teases when he tells the others they’ve moved in together. He teases when his mother calls. He teases when they’re making dinner together, eyes soft and fond and sweet.
Changbin finds that eventually, he really doesn’t mind the teasing. Honestly.
***
PART 07: HANGING ON A HONEYMOON (SPRING, 2022)
I love it when you keep me up at night, lie away until we bathe in the sunlight.
The early morning sun casts the softest shadows on Hyunjin’s face. Changbin itches to draw him, but is content with sitting and watching the shapes form on Hyunjin’s cheeks. The playlist that the two of them have been curating over their time together is playing quietly from Changbin’s phone, filling the room with comforting familiarity and soothing white noise.
He feels light and airy, happy with where he is in his life. He has a steady job, and in his own business nonetheless. He has eight amazing friends. He has a comfortable apartment, and a happy family. And he has Hyunjin.
Wonderful, idiotic, charming Hyunjin. He’d rarely say it to Hyunjin’s face, but Changbin is so entirely enamoured by how at ease Hyunjin makes him feel. Being with him feels easier than anything else in the world. The thin (decorative) curtains flutter in Changbin’s periphery, breaking him from his thoughts.
Changbin looks around their room, full of knick knacks and trinkets and books, paper tacked to the walls and lights strung across the ceiling. Hyunjin’s hoodie is draped over the plush armchair they keep in the room. Changbin really needs to talk to Hyunjin about leaving his hoodies everywhere - because it’s not helpful for Changbin to always be tempted to bundle up in Hyunjin’s hoodies whenever he sees them.
He could bundle up, whenever, since mortal issues like overheating don’t bother him, but he knows that walking around in a massive hoodie in the tail end of Spring would seem odd and out of place. So instead he tucks the hoodie into their closet, hands grazing the clothes that they’ve collected.
He grabs a thin t-shirt and jeans. He’d planned to take Hyunjin out today, but after such a quiet morning, now he just wants to laze around their apartment. When he looks back at Hyunjin, he has a furrow in his brow, pretty lips set in a frown. The expression tugs at Changbin. Impulsively, he walks over and smoothes out the wrinkle between Hyunjin’s brows. Hyunjin twitches, but doesn’t wake up.
Changbin can’t help the rush of pure fondness that envelopes him.
Just getting to be here for something as simple as seeing Hyunjin asleep in their bed is perfect for Changbin.
He decides that he really doesn’t want to take Hyunjin out today. He’d much prefer to laze around, wrapped up in each other in their little bubble of an apartment.
Their kitchen is soaked in memories, sweet and comforting to Changbin as he collects everything he needs to make cinnamon toast. They’ve shared so many memories here - dinners alone, dinners with their families, game nights with their friends, new recipes attempted on days off. The warmth that radiates from every inch of their home is unlike anything Changbin has ever felt.
When Hyunjin shuffles out of their room, eyes squinted against the morning sun and sheet wrapped around his shoulders, the apartment feels suddenly more alive.
As wonderful as it was for Changbin to be reminiscing on his own, nothing beats the feeling of seeing Hyunjin floating around their home, the both of them living their lives together.
Changbin is so, so lucky.
***
PART 08: ANOTHER NIGHT ON MARS (AUTUMN, 2024)
This one goes out to my closest friends, the ones who make me feel less alien.
Hyunjin slings and arm over Changbin’s shoulder, smiling sweetly. Jisung grimances at them. “I regret inviting you to Minho’s party, Changbin.” Changbin stares pointedly at him, sitting snugly in Minho’s lap, arms around Minho’s neck. “Oh, shut up.”
The nine of them are all scattered around Seungmin’s living room as he sets up their weekly DnD game. Admittedly, Changbin still hasn’t joined in on any campaigns himself, but he’s content to watch and cheer and help Hyunjin.
Distractedly, Changbin runs his fingers over the embroidered
Hwang Hyunjin 00
that adorns the sleeve of the hoodie he’s wearing. He’d stolen the hoodie from Hyunjin two years ago, a relic from when Hyunjin was on the university dance team, and has worn it threadbare. It’s soft – feeling a little bit like home. Because really, home isn;t a place. It’s a feeling.
Somehow, Seungmin’s apartment feels like home, too. Maybe it’s less Seungmin’s apartment and more the people that fill it - Chris and Felix, with their energy and positivity. Minho and Jisung with their love and teasing. Seungmin and Jeongin’s jokes and pleas for attention. Woojin’s doting smiles and worry. Hyunjin.
Changbin can’t help but feel that he’s found the perfect family for himself - that he’s come to a place where all he feels is contentedness at his life. He’d never really expected to find such simple happiness, what with being cursed immortal. But he’s found this group of people that make him feel less other, that accept him into their fold with the ease of genuine love and care.
He’s so glad to have them. He feels so lucky, ironically blessed, to get to be part of their lives.
Even when they all gather to play DnD.
Chris has brought out the beer, handing cans off to everyone sitting around, except Changbin. He gives Changbin a can of lemonade. It’s small things like that - Chris remembering that he hates the taste of beer since it does nothing for him - that make Changbin feel like he belongs in the group. It’s so bare minimum, but Changbin finds he really doesn’t mind enjoying the smallest things so much.
“Okay, when we last played, Hyunjin was stuck in the Lair of the Enchantress…” Changbin lets Seungmin’s voice wash over him. The ambient excitement that fills the room is surprisingly calming.
Hyunjin’s arm is still around Changbin, even as he rolls his die, and he pulls Changbin closer as the game goes on. “Do I attack the monster or not?” He whispers.
“Your attack points are high - even if you rolled low you could get a good hit. Attack.” Changbin whispers back. They’ve become somewhat of a team over the years, much to Jisung’s chagrin.
Hyunjin rolls for attack, and gets a natural 20. Changbin pretends to be shocked.
He’s happy, being here. And he really wouldn’t change it for the world.