Ship/Member: wonwoo/minghao Major Tags: major character death (implied) Additional Tags: space — the final frontier, loneliness at the end of the world, apocalypse, loosely based off the silent sea (which i binged yesterday), grief and mourning Permission to remix: yes ofc!! tag me too!! WC: 571
[going to try and go for five of a kind!! (5 different AUs)]
***
If the dead are watching, I want them to see us writing, dancing, singing, painting. I want them to see that we still reach out to each other. - Richard Siken, Black Telephone
***
The world is ending when Wonwoo wants to save it.
Minghao laughs before he realizes Wonwoo actually means it. They’re sitting on an edge of a dune, shoulder to shoulder, bangs ruffling in the dusty breeze.
“Sorry,” Minghao giggles, looking Wonwoo up and down. They’re both spindly in different ways. Wonwoo wheezes going up stairs, and the slightest of gales could knock Minghao over. “You and what army?”
“Not like that,” Wonwoo scowls, pushing Minghao over. There’s a smile threatening his lips though.
The dirt is rough. It digs into Minghao’s hands, searing a reminder that they don’t have much time left. They never did.
Wonwoo looks up to the moon. “They’re sending me up there, Minghao.”
Minghao’s breath catches in his throat, seizing his lungs. No. He thought that if they didn’t have time, they’d at least have each other, and that would have to be enough. But now —
“I’ll come back,” Wonwoo says quietly, head tilted up to the sky. “You deserve a better world than this.”
It’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever told Minghao. He believes him.
And so Minghao waits.
Sometimes he gets too angry to take Wonwoo’s calls. You left me all alone. First, he’d say it as a joke. Then it began to morph into something too tangible and real. Too painful to leave festering out in the open like that. Their calls would become quiet after that.
Sometimes he wonders if Wonwoo has eaten. If he’s taking care of himself. If he’s any closer to coming home.
He watches as Balhae Station goes dark. Hundreds and hundreds of crew members, each with their own tiny little universe of people that cared about them — gone. Just like that. No one knows what happened there. If they do, no one will tell him.
Minghao spends the next five years of his life glaring up at the moon. You said you’d come back.
He finds the message later, deep into his digging. Minghao’s fingers shake when he realizes who it’s from. Then he laughs. From joy and from fear and from recognition. There’s a deep, terrible ache in his heart. It’s been five years, and Wonwoo still manages to have the last word.
When he comes across an encrypted file, Minghao doesn’t think twice about what the password could be.
It opens. Minghao buries his head in his hands and lets himself grieve. Just for a moment. The world is ending regardless.
I wanted to show you this, Wonwoo says, the way he appears in Minghao’s memory.
Wonwoo is just as beautiful to Minghao as the day he left.
If you had known what we were doing here, would you have come?
Minghao traces his fingers over the holo-screen. If he knew what a body of water actually felt like, maybe this would be what they called drowning.
“I would have.” Minghao’s voice does not waver. “I would not have left you.” So if Minghao couldn’t protect Wonwoo from the horrible things he had to do, Minghao could at least hold Wonwoo tight after the fact, to kiss everything away. Strip him of his guilt and share the burden. Hand in hand, heart to heart.
Isn’t that what it meant? To not be alone?
Wonwoo’s last words, melancholy and gentle, echoing through time. An apology for something Minghao’s long forgiven him for. I wanted to show you the sea.
[FILL] what will they say about us?
Major Tags: major character death (implied)
Additional Tags: space — the final frontier, loneliness at the end of the world, apocalypse, loosely based off the silent sea (which i binged yesterday), grief and mourning
Permission to remix: yes ofc!! tag me too!!
WC: 571
[going to try and go for five of a kind!! (5 different AUs)]
***
***
The world is ending when Wonwoo wants to save it.
Minghao laughs before he realizes Wonwoo actually means it. They’re sitting on an edge of a dune, shoulder to shoulder, bangs ruffling in the dusty breeze.
“Sorry,” Minghao giggles, looking Wonwoo up and down. They’re both spindly in different ways. Wonwoo wheezes going up stairs, and the slightest of gales could knock Minghao over. “You and what army?”
“Not like that,” Wonwoo scowls, pushing Minghao over. There’s a smile threatening his lips though.
The dirt is rough. It digs into Minghao’s hands, searing a reminder that they don’t have much time left. They never did.
Wonwoo looks up to the moon. “They’re sending me up there, Minghao.”
Minghao’s breath catches in his throat, seizing his lungs. No. He thought that if they didn’t have time, they’d at least have each other, and that would have to be enough. But now —
“I’ll come back,” Wonwoo says quietly, head tilted up to the sky. “You deserve a better world than this.”
It’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever told Minghao. He believes him.
And so Minghao waits.
Sometimes he gets too angry to take Wonwoo’s calls. You left me all alone. First, he’d say it as a joke. Then it began to morph into something too tangible and real. Too painful to leave festering out in the open like that. Their calls would become quiet after that.
Sometimes he wonders if Wonwoo has eaten. If he’s taking care of himself. If he’s any closer to coming home.
He watches as Balhae Station goes dark. Hundreds and hundreds of crew members, each with their own tiny little universe of people that cared about them — gone. Just like that. No one knows what happened there. If they do, no one will tell him.
Minghao spends the next five years of his life glaring up at the moon. You said you’d come back.
He finds the message later, deep into his digging. Minghao’s fingers shake when he realizes who it’s from. Then he laughs. From joy and from fear and from recognition. There’s a deep, terrible ache in his heart. It’s been five years, and Wonwoo still manages to have the last word.
When he comes across an encrypted file, Minghao doesn’t think twice about what the password could be.
It opens. Minghao buries his head in his hands and lets himself grieve. Just for a moment. The world is ending regardless.
I wanted to show you this, Wonwoo says, the way he appears in Minghao’s memory.
Wonwoo is just as beautiful to Minghao as the day he left.
If you had known what we were doing here, would you have come?
Minghao traces his fingers over the holo-screen. If he knew what a body of water actually felt like, maybe this would be what they called drowning.
“I would have.” Minghao’s voice does not waver. “I would not have left you.” So if Minghao couldn’t protect Wonwoo from the horrible things he had to do, Minghao could at least hold Wonwoo tight after the fact, to kiss everything away. Strip him of his guilt and share the burden. Hand in hand, heart to heart.
Isn’t that what it meant? To not be alone?
Wonwoo’s last words, melancholy and gentle, echoing through time. An apology for something Minghao’s long forgiven him for. I wanted to show you the sea.