#key creates

It was the glimpses of his pink hair turning corners and the moments of feeling his warm brown eyes on you that kept you going. One foot in front of the other. One step at a time. Each one taking you a little bit closer to Dong Sicheng.

Three days ago a meteor hit the earth 14,395 km away from your house. Despite what you might have expected out of an apocalyptic situation, nothing about it felt panicked. It felt like an artist’s lucid dream or a computer simulation gone wrong. There was no destruction, no burning buildings, no death. Things had simply been misplaced. A carnival ride sitting in the middle of a city street. A jungle tree reaching for the clouds alongside a skyscraper. A fully intact zoo exhibit in the lobby of a hotel. But there was no one there to explore it. Except you.

Maybe that was why it didn’t feel real. Why should you be the last person to walk the earth? Why would it be you?

Kicking a pebble, you wrapped your hands around the straps of the backpack you had found sitting on the steps of the Roman temple in your backyard. The bag hung with a comfortable weight on your shoulders, a constant reminder of how different things were now. A yacht sat in the middle of the road, leaning slightly on a cluster of massive oak trees that had appeared in the location of what had once been a bank. A thick, metal vault door sat amongst the trunks and part of sign saying “Royal Bank of S-” was buried in the branches of one of the nearest oaks.

You kicked another pebble, this one bouncing loudly off of the yacht’s aluminum hull. A boy sat on the very tip of the yacht. He swung his feet back and forth, red converse sticking out against the white of the hull. Dong Sicheng.

But not really.

He smiled sweetly and waved at you before standing, brushing off his jeans, and walking to the back of the boat. And just like that, he was gone again.

You knew there was no use in looking for him here. Time and time again, he appeared then disappeared. Time and time again, he gave you nothing but a smile and a wave. And time and time again, you smiled and waved back.

The first time you saw him after the meteor was in a barn that had appeared across from your house. You had seen him through the open stables doors, gently petting the nose of a massive bay horse.

“Sicheng!” You had called, frantic and afraid. Afraid of being alone.

He had given the horse one more soft pat before turning and giving you his signature smile and wave.  In the moment, this had reassured you beyond belief.  He was safe. He was calm. You weren’t alone. But then he was turning away from you and was walking down the stables’ hall. Hands in the back pockets of his jeans, he had disappeared around the corner. And like a coiling snake, panicked had seized you once again.

You had barely had time to think before you were tearing into the barn. Horses had squealed all around you, huffing and stamping their hooves as they picked up on your fear. A flash of pink hair caught your eye. He was turning another corner. Kicking up dust, you had sprinted after him. Determined to catch him.

But he was gone.

Bias Moodboard Tag!!

Tagged by the sweetest gal @the-maskedlady

Photos of Winwin (from top to bottom) by cleancotton,  Nostalgia_kki, and Nostalgia_kki

Lyrics from Lil’ Love Song by Tash

You wouldn’t say you were friends. You couldn’t really. Moon Taeil was your co-worker, but he was your only co-worker so maybe he was more than that too. An acquaintance. Moon Taeil was your acquaintance. Well he started out as an acquaintance at least; now you might just know his darkest secret so maybe he’s more than that too.

Taeil was a man of happiness. Warmth and comfort radiated off of him in a mile-wide radius everywhere he went. Even after hours of work, when you felt like you would drop dead if you had to make even one more stupid latte, he would shoot you a cheerful smile and make everything better.

Maybe it started with the loss of his smile.

That’s definitely when you first noticed it.

The first day, or technically the second day, of the incident was when he didn’t show up to the café for his usual shift. Not that you really minded. It was so out of the ordinary you naturally gave him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was sick.

So, you did nothing.

Taeil returned to work on the third day, or technically the fourth day, of the incident. Except he wasn’t Taeil. This man was quiet and… fearful. This wasn’t Taeil. And yet right there on his nametag, in swirling silver letters, was the name Moon Taeil.

“I thought I was going to have to take over the entire shop all by myself,” you had joked, expecting a sheepish grin.

Except all you got was a small, broken, “I’m sorry.”

“I- wait what? Taeil no- I was kidding… Are you okay?”

Soft locks had cascaded over his eyes in waves of hazel and rich chocolate brown, concealing any glimmer of sadness you were yet to recognize.

You can only assume he had tried to smile at you but all you received was a small grimace and a “Yeah, don’t worry. Just sick.”

He definitely hadn’t been sick.

Work had gone on as usual after that. Only with less smiles and less happiness from your co-worker. But you didn’t reach out. You couldn’t. You didn’t know Taeil. You weren’t friends. You were coworkers. At least that's what you had told yourself then.

After days of saddened silence and fearful eyes. When Taeil stopped radiating warmth and comfort, and started radiating a sharp, untrusting cold. That's when you reached out.

You called to him while closing up after work, “Hey Taeil?”

The muscles in his back tightened in what you could only call fear. Though you couldn’t pinpoint what exactly he was afraid of.

Was he afraid of you?

“Are you okay? You’ve seemed a little down over the past few days,” You gave him time to respond, but when seconds turned into minutes you tried again, “I know we’re not all that close but it still hurts me to know that you might be hurting.”

Looking back, you know this is when it had started. When it had really started.

Although his back was turned to you, you still knew. You knew from the way his head dropped low, trying in vain to hide from your prying words. You knew from the way the muscles in his shoulders fought to keep his body from shaking. You knew from the way his hands rushed to covered his face.

You knew this is when tears had started to fall.

Out of instinct you had rushed to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder. Taeil had leapt from your touch as though your hand was a red-hot iron and had whipped around. Large brown eyes bore into your own with the terror of a cornered rabbit.

“Please don’t touch me.”

“I- I’m sorry I- I didn’t mean to…. Scare you,” None of his fear had diminished and he stared rigidly at you, “Did I do something to hurt you? What happened to you Taeil?

His eyes had then dropped to the floor with a glimmer of guilt, “No, you didn’t… I’m sorry. I just… had a really bad experience with… someone over the weekend.”

A moment of silence passed as you processed what the man said.

After which you had whispered, “Did someone hurt you?”

“No! No. No, I’m fine. It was just some… touchy girl,” His fear had then turned to anger as he glared at the floor, “She just went a little overboard. That’s all. Nothing a guy can’t handle.”

Words had rushed through your head a mile a minute, “You know it’s okay for you not to be able to deal with something right? Like, it doesn’t make you any less of a man. You’re human. You’re allowed to be hurt and need to lean on someone.”

But all you could bring yourself to say was, “You can talk to me if you want to…”

His scowl had still been overtly present, “I said I’m fine.”

“But-”

“I’m fine.”