Chapter Text
Keeho didn’t wake up well on his days off. Without his alarm to push him on Sunday mornings, he would doze and doze, sometimes for hours, into the afternoon. Between classes and work, he didn’t get too many opportunities to sleep in, but on Sundays, he figured he owed it to himself. Sometimes, he even challenged himself to see how long he could stay completely still— he was usually good until the sun, shining bright through his window, hit him square in the eye and drove him to close the curtains, but then he usually lay in bed some more and checked all his social media while he gathered the energy to walk to the kitchen.
Except this morning— this sunny May morning, on the cusp of summer— Keeho found himself unable to keep still because he woke up shivering, groping for his blanket and pulling it over his nearly naked body. It was cold in his room. Frigid, actually. He sat up, pulling his blanket around his bare shoulders. He’d been sweating when he went to sleep, in nothing but his boxers, so there was no explanation for the goosebumps he now had.
Keeho opened the window slightly, and hot air poured into his bedroom. That meant that the cold was coming from within the house somewhere— the AC unit in the living room, he thought suddenly, feeling a pang of dread. To get this cold, it would have had to be running for quite some time at full blast. One of his roommates making an expensive drunken mistake, no doubt— probably Jiung, based on overall level of irresponsibility, but Taeyang did have a track record of drunken nonsense at least twice as long. “Shit,” he cursed under his breath as he pushed his bedroom door open and stared out into the living room.
Past the couch, and the coffee table, and the left-on TV rolling the morning news on mute (god damn it, Taeyang), there was an unfamiliar boy sitting in front of the air conditioner, with no shirt on, and his skin was glowing. Keeho rubbed his eyes hard with the palms of his hands— holy shit, I’m dreaming. Or gone crazy. What on earth is this?
“Uhh… hi?” Keeho grogged out, not sure what else to say. Excuse me, but what are you?
His housemates were playing a trick on him maybe, that was the next plausible idea. But the boy wasn’t Jiung or Taeyang, that much was clear. He was smaller than any of them, slight and slender; his hair was a lovely blue-black, long and wispy around his soft face— and if Keeho’s eyes weren’t fooling him, his skin was glowing blue, like some sort of bioluminescent algae. The unnatural light pulsated and flowed and danced, as though whatever caused it was constantly moving inside of him.
The sound of Keeho’s first footsteps on the hardwood seemed to alert the visitor, and his eyes fluttered silently open— large on his face, framed with thick lashes, and his irises a breathtaking indigo with streaks and flecks of gold. His lips twitched up into a smile at the corners, or maybe more of a smirk.
“‘We come in peace.’ Isn’t that what I’m supposed to say?”
He had a nice sort of voice, though the sound had a shimmering, otherworldly quality to it, and his Korean was crisply and perfectly pronounced, as though by a robot. His statement was cryptic enough to give Keeho pause, at a loss for words, until the visitor finally got to his feet and Keeho realized, for the first time, that he was wearing nothing but Jiung’s kitty-paw-print throw blanket around his waist. Every additional detail of the situation confounded him more.
“What— what are you? And what are you doing—” Keeho shivered, suddenly conscious of being in nothing but his boxers, and stepped back into his room to grab the robe hanging by his closet. It was still refrigerator-cold everywhere in the house, and he could see that the AC unit behind the creature was turned onto its highest setting.
“I suppose, to you, I am an alien,” the boy mused, smiling that lovely, feline smile. “Among our own people, we are called the Kni’yeth. In your language, this translates to ‘the Enlightened Ones’.” He chuckled, the sound melodic. “Are you one of the humans that think you're alone in the universe?"
There's a glowing, blue, naked alien in my living room. Keeho simply wasn't sure what to do with this information. Truthfully, he always had believed that there was something else out there in the universe— but he wasn't curious enough to want to become a test subject. Certainly, if the being meant him harm, he would have attacked more quickly? Keeho was immediately conscious of his knees shaking, though in cold or anxiety, it was hard to tell.
"Can we— turn down the AC? It's really cold in here. Plus, y'know, my roommates and I pay for that?"
“Pay? What do you mean?” The alien pouted, actually pouted. It was the most human thing he could imagine. Keeho nearly laughed, though he forced himself not to, hoping not to offend his guest.
“Money. We pay money for that cold air. Do aliens have money?”
“You even need money for cold air? Money really is at the heart of everything for your society.” He spoke with awe, as though he couldn’t imagine what he was talking about. “In my home, my race works together as one. Everything is shared freely. No one goes without. But since I am a guest in your home, I suppose I’m obliged to play by your rules.” Obediently, he turned to hit the “off” button on the AC, and the fan inside immediately quieted. “I have so many questions. We know so little of your planet. Never did I think I might meet a human face to face— I mean, a human I didn't plan on dissecting.”
What the fuck. What the absolute fuck. The boy— the alien— was standing there and looking at him so earnestly, with his lovely, glowing purple eyes, waiting for Keeho’s response with that blanket slipping slowly down his hips—
From down the hall, Keeho heard Taeyang shout out of nowhere: “Why is it so goddamn cold in here?”
“Fuck. Come with me now ,” Keeho quickly grabbed the alien’s arm without thinking. Despite the chill in the air around him, his skin was feverishly hot to the touch, like a fresh mug of just-made tea. He didn’t make a fuss as he was dragged on back to Keeho’s room, and Keeho called out, “The AC went crazy! Don’t worry, I turned it off!”
“Your planet is a little warmer than I’m used to. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I suppose things work differently here,” he added timidly, with something like remorse in his voice, though Keeho barely heard him. Looking at him more closely was even more mesmerizing— his light was bright enough to dance on Keeho’s bedroom walls. He had perfectly smooth skin. Freckles like specks of glitter. Abs. How the fuck? He seemed just as intent to study Keeho up close, examining his eyes with great interest. Even when their noses nearly bumped, both of them were too enthralled to pull back. “What is your name?” the alien asked suddenly, a question Keeho wished he’d thought to ask first. “I think mine would be difficult to pronounce with this human physiology… Soul is a good approximation. You may call me that.”
This isn’t his real form, then? I wonder what he really looks like. He swallowed nervously. “My name’s Yoon Keeho. And I… I can’t believe you’re real.” He touched Soul again with a trembling hand, his face this time; when his skin was touched by Keeho's, it seemed to pick up sparks of his energy, manifesting as dashes of pink in his brilliant glow. They’d light up and then smolder out in seconds, like a bruise forming and then healing all at once, though Soul didn’t seem to notice or care about the changing colors. “I have so many questions, too. I’ll answer yours if you answer mine. It’s just… you’re a little… flashy. I don’t know how my housemates will react if they see you.”
Soul frowned, looking down at his nearly-naked body as though he’d only just noticed that he was giving off light. “That’s the energy of the stars inside me. It keeps me alive.”
The energy of the stars. This guy sounded crazy, and Keeho felt crazy for entertaining the idea, but then he took Soul’s hand again, hot to the touch and dancing with glitter beneath the surface. His very being seemed to crackle with energy. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. You’re really beautiful— I mean, the light is really beautiful.” He felt his ears burn at his fumble; it was too damn early for this.
“I’m really beautiful?” Soul repeated, meeting Keeho’s eyes again. If the statement made him feel any certain way, it didn’t show in his expression, and Keeho understood exactly why as Soul continued on: “I guess that’s a good question to start with. Every Earth language has this word, beautiful — the night sky is beautiful, a woman is beautiful, paint smeared on a paper is beautiful. The energy of the stars in my body is beautiful. What characteristic do these things all share?”
Keeho blinked. It was hard to interpret just what Soul’s question was. “I’m sorry— are you asking me what beautiful means?”
“Yes. Describe beauty to me.”
“Beauty is… well, I suppose it’s anything that makes you want to look at it. Something that pleases your senses.” Keeho smiled sheepishly. He certainly wasn’t equipped to teach language— while it was true that he spoke both English and Korean, he didn't think that he spoke either of them with much eloquence. But the look of enthrallment on Soul’s face, of dawning understanding, made him confident enough to continue. “Everyone has a different idea of what is beautiful, I suppose. I think that rainstorms are beautiful, but lots of people think they’re gloomy.”
“A word that means different things to different people?” Soul’s brows knitted together, perplexed. “It doesn’t make sense, logically. How do you know precisely what a person is talking about?”
“You don’t have an equivalent of ‘beauty’ in your language?” Keeho prompted, intrigued. Soul only shook his head.
“Humans are inefficient in so many ways.” His cat-like smirk came back all at once, and Keeho found himself smiling in response before he realized it. “I have so much to learn. Tell me everything while I’m here, okay?”
“How long will you be here? Are you only here to study human culture?” Keeho countered with a question of his own, his curiosity itching.
“I’ll be here until I’m not here anymore,” Soul said simply. Keeho didn’t have time to press, it seemed, because Soul’s attention had moved on. He’d noticed the stack of textbooks on Keeho’s desk and turned to pick one up, flipping through it with the utmost care, as though the pages might crumble between his fingertips. “You have so many books! How archaic. I’ve always wanted to see them for myself, but human artifacts rarely make it to us in one piece.”
“You really like it? It’s a music theory textbook. Nothing interesting in there, even for me.” Keeho chuckled at his own lame little joke, and Soul set the book down to shuffle through some of the other selections. The alien was so enthralled in looking at the pages, and Keeho was so riveted in waiting for Soul’s next question, that it took an extra second for them both to notice that the blanket around Soul’s waist had fallen to the ground.
Even his ass is cute. The realization made Keeho’s face burn, and he whipped around to open his closet. “Let me get you something to wear,” he offered quickly, feeling flustered. Soul was smaller than him, but he'd just have to find a way to make it work. “Then I’ll figure out how to introduce you to my housemates. I— definitely can’t introduce you without any clothes on.”
Soul laughed. Once again, the sound was pure music, and it gave Keeho a pleasurable shiver down his spine. “Humans are funny creatures,” he remarked simply, wrapping the blanket back around himself without urgency and getting shamelessly comfortable on the end of Keeho’s bed to read.
//
They were called the Enlightened Ones, and they had been around for billions of years, longer than any human or caveman. Of course, they’d started out just the same as all forms of life, just a glob of residual carbon material smeared on an asteroid, but their low-oxygen environment significantly changed the way they would evolve. (Keeho didn’t understand the specifics— hell, he was a singer, not a biologist.)
“We have done an impeccable job of keeping our own history,” he explained sagely, perched on the living room recliner and looking even smaller than he truly was in Keeho’s baggy Taylor Swift tour shirt and a pair of baggy jeans, rolled up a million times. Jiung and Taeyang’s jaws had both dropped upon seeing him, and Keeho had wanted to chime in, At least he’s not naked! “We have had electricity for thousands of years, and our computers are well ahead of all the technology that humans seem to have. Even so, we’ve been watching you with interest— evaluating all the ways in which your path has diverged from ours. It’s so fascinating.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Taeyang asked bluntly, casting another glance over at Keeho. A glance that asked, what the fuck. Keeho could hardly blame him: it was scarcely noon, they were both still in their pajamas, and suddenly they were being called to the weirdest house meeting that had ever been held.
“Our two species couldn’t be more different. Man is caught up with trivial things like money and land and war, but the Enlightened Ones are past such things. We work together. We share all we have. Our society has no crime or violence. Our evolution has allowed us to mine our sustenance from stars, so we have no need for agriculture, and many of us have dedicated our lives to the most noble cause of all: the pursuit of all worldly knowledge. My mental capabilities easily exceed any human’s, because my brain is much larger. It’s how I’m able to achieve a human form.” Soul smiled, not seeming to register the two pair of wide, round eyes trained on his every move. “That’s not to disrespect your culture at all. On the contrary, I’ve always been incredibly interested in life on Earth. I want to learn as much as I can while I’m here.”
Jiung and Taeyang looked at each other, now, like they were trying to silently decide what to do between themselves. It was Jiung who spoke up first, unsurprisingly: “I don’t know if I believe that you’re an alien. I mean… I gotta admit, the glowing is pretty impressive, but— what do you mean by achieve human form? Show us what you actually look like.”
Soul’s smile faltered at once, seeming almost sheepish, and Keeho felt a stab of pity when he saw the alien’s fingers curl nervously into the cushion he sat on. “It might make you uneasy, if I were to do that,” he said softly, blinking his round purple eyes in a way that exuded innocence. Maybe it was all a trick, but Keeho couldn’t help but buy it, even if his housemates didn’t. “But I’ll try to satisfy your curiosity. At least a little.”
He extended a blue hand, palm up— despite everyone’s reservations, the three of them all leaned in to get a better look, safe or not. Soul’s hand was quite small by human standards, with short fingers and well groomed nails. But before their eyes, things began to change: quickly and fluidly, like it was nothing, his fingers had extended to at least three times their normal length, becoming thin and bony like the legs of a spider, with small but pointed claws. Instantly and in unison, the three of then sprang back in alarm. Keeho heard himself cry out— but then he blinked, and the next thing he knew, Soul was running a perfectly human hand nervously through his own hair.
“I can do other things, too. My powers are developing all the time,” he continued on quietly, and Keeho couldn’t tell if he was imagining the hesitancy in the alien’s words. It was enough to make Keeho want to (foolishly) speak up and reassure him, but before he could come up with the words, Soul looked down at the water on the coffee table in front of Jiung, and a moment later, it zipped speedily across the wood surface as if dragged by a magnet beneath. It leaped up from the table, directly into Soul’s hand, and he wrapped his fingers easily around the cup.
Taeyang had still been silent thus far, but his eyes finally turned Keeho’s way when Soul reached across the table to give the drink back to Jiung. “Are you kidding?” he asked, with the slightest quiver to his voice. “You tell us you want a house meeting, and I think you want to bitch about the cleaning schedule or the grocery bills— but instead, you want to tell us that you found an alien?”
“Speaking technically, I found him,” Soul piped up, the corners of his lips twitching up again. Keeho had the feeling that Soul couldn’t keep things to himself very easily. “I landed in the ocean at approximately 3:22 in the morning and was washed ashore in the western part of the city. I disguised myself and determined the local language, but I still scared a group of inebriated young women outside on the sidewalk when I asked for help. Regretfully, I did not come here with Earth clothing.” His blue cheeks went purple, just a little, and it took Keeho a second to realize that he might have been blushing. How cute. “I began looking for an unlocked door, where I might find safety until morning, and that’s how I came upon this place. I was fortunate when Keeho agreed to be my guide while I stay on Earth!”
“You’re going to be his guide? ” Taeyang scoffed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Keeho— you can’t be serious about this!”
“You should remember to lock the door when you come home,” Jiung scolded softly, glancing at Taeyang. “You were the one who stumbled in at 1 in the morning and invited an alien in behind you.”
“You should call the police! Or— I don’t know, get in touch with some scientists!” Taeyang went on, glancing back Soul’s way with knitted brows. “We can’t harbor an alien here! What if he’s dangerous?”
Soul opened his mouth as if to speak, but Keeho cut him off with a desperate glance. He needed a moment to gather his thoughts into words, because— well, he’d had a couple hours to think on it, and no matter how he approached the issue, he came to the same conclusion. I want him here. “If I surrender him to someone— they’ll keep him like a prisoner and do experiments on him and shit. It’s not his fault he crashed here. That’s not fair. He’s been here all morning and he hasn’t hurt anyone. He’s just on Earth to study our culture, so… why don’t we let him? We’ll give him the information he needs, and he’ll be on his way once he has it.”
“I am dangerous, but I’m also non-violent,” Soul pointed out, in something oddly similar to reassurance. “I could have killed you quite easily in your sleep, if that had been my goal.”
“That kind of makes sense,” Jiung was the first one to speak after a long moment of silence, looking at Keeho and Taeyang in turn. “I don’t want to put an innocent person in harm’s way. He counts as a person, doesn’t he? It’s not his fault he’s scary.”
“Do you really think the police would hurt him?” Taeyang asked after a second, gaze fixed on Soul across the living room. His light danced dazzlingly on the wall behind him, ambivalent to the tension in the air.
“The police do unspeakable things to our fellow humans,” Keeho answered softly. “Why wouldn’t they hurt him? Look, as much as we might not like what he has to say— he’s right about everything . Humans fight over everything. We’re scared of things that are different from us. If we want to prove him wrong, why don’t we actually prove him wrong and do something selfless?”
Keeho’s argument was pulled completely out of his ass, which made him all the more surprised when Taeyang only let his head fall back against the backrest of the couch and covered his eyes. Jiung, on the other hand, announced his intentions to make tea, and asked if anyone else wanted some as he stood up.
“Tea? I’ve seen plenty of mentions of tea in Earth media, but I’m truthfully not sure what it is.”
“Oh, come with me! Keeho, he’s going to be so fun to teach! He’s like a baby!” Jiung cooed, taking Soul’s hand without even flinching. The inhuman warmth of his skin didn’t seem to faze him, and Keeho couldn’t keep from grinning as he watched Soul awkwardly hurry behind.
As far as “house meetings” went, that really hadn’t been a bad one.
//
Keeho had never felt like they were alone in the universe. Quite the contrary: he was the child who could never get enough sci-fi movies or conspiracy theories. His parents mostly rolled their eyes at his antics, but he had always believed. He almost wanted to snap a picture of Soul to send their way; his eerie blue light danced on the white kitchen walls, unfaltering, as he bit into a strawberry poached from the bowl of fruit Keeho was preparing for dessert. Pink juice trickled down his chin, and Keeho had to look away to keep from laughing. Soul had his surprisingly human moments.
“Only Earthlings would come up with something as extravagant as this,” Soul remarked, nodding to the radio on the counter. It was playing a classical station, some kind of Mozart— Jiung would know, he figured, he was the one who was always playing it in the name of concentration. “Just— irrelevant noises. For the sake of…”
“Beauty,” Keeho supplied, rinsing the knife and washing his hands. “All three of us are studying music. I’m a singer. Jiung wants to be a music teacher, and Taeyang is going to be in a band someday— he can play the guitar like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Singing… oh, yes. That melodic screaming that the humans do in your television broadcasts. I was never quite sure what to make of it.” Soul seemed amused, plucking a sliced lychee next. “And you’re a student of this technique? I’m very curious now.”
Keeho chuckled self-consciously— which was rarely a word that could describe anything about Keeho’s singing. He’d performed in all sorts of auditions and recitals, he’d been onstage ever since his elementary school days, but somehow, being expected to introduce his passion to Soul felt intimidating. He wiped his hands before turning the radio dial, finding the nearest pop station and hopping in effortlessly with BIBI’s husky crooning. He wasn’t warmed up, but thankfully, thankfully, he sounded decent. At least— until Taeyang threw open his bedroom door and met them with a glare— “Can you, like, stop for today? I have an exam tomorrow morning, and I’ve wasted too much time entertaining the alien that my housemate brought home. I really have to study, okay?”
Soul chuckled softly when Taeyang disappeared again. “Based on my limited knowledge— that seemed well-done. Thank you for the demonstration.” He paused for a moment, and then noted in amusement, “Your ears are turning red.”
“I mean, that really might be all I can show you,” Keeho tried to change the subject deftly, hiding how flustered he was feeling. “I’m really sorry that I couldn’t answer any of your big questions— but I don’t know if most humans could. I guess we’re not really as self-aware as you are… but I can get you more books at the library tomorrow.”
Keeho hadn’t realized how little he thought about the world around him, until he heard Soul’s rambling list of questions. What are the optimum conditions for human happiness? What determines a human’s value to society? What are the conditions that necessitate wartime? All of Keeho’s answers were so wishy-washy (“It depends” and “I don’t know”, alternating forever) that it made him feel a little bit less useful than he once had.
“Books are good. It’s a shame you don’t have more of them here for me,” Soul admitted, selecting a tangerine segment from the bowl next. “However, I’m beginning to think I was approaching this the wrong way. Maybe the way to learn about humans is to live like a human. Enjoy what humans enjoy.” Without hesitation, in full trust that it would be delicious, Soul popped the segment into his mouth, eyes fluttering closed and a quiet sound of pleasure escaping his throat. “I can’t believe how wonderful human food is.”
“What, stars aren’t tasty?” Keeho asked, grinning a little. Soul had answered many of his questions without hesitation, and yet he didn’t volunteer much about his own life. What do aliens enjoy? Do you live every day with nothing but these questions bouncing around your head? If you don’t have beauty, then what are the things that your people treasure?
“Stars don’t have a taste. They’re just stars. They’re energy,” Soul replied, and as if to accentuate his point, the magnificent light inside of him shifted and glowed brighter for a moment. He had a wistful sort of tone to his voice, and he peered outside into the approaching dusk. In Seoul, seeing the stars wasn’t a sure thing— and in that moment, out their apartment window, Keeho couldn’t make out a single one. “Hey,” Soul spoke up out of nowhere suddenly, “I know you said everyone has a different idea of beauty, but I want to know what things you think are beautiful. You could make a list. Then you can show them all to me before I have to leave.”
“Uh, I can try,” Keeho offered, feeling a weak stab of pity as he added, “I haven’t figured out how I’m going to take you anywhere, but I’ll figure something out. I promise. How long are you going to be on Earth, by the way? You never did tell me.”
Soul didn’t look his way, didn’t speak, just leaned against the counter and stared out the window. It was just the same as when he had asked before, an obvious dodge. Maybe he himself didn’t know? The idea came to Keeho all at once, and he wasn’t sure why that idea left him feeling so unsettled.
Several silent seconds ticked past. Rather than asking again, he opted instead to pass Soul a grape. “Try this one next. These are my favorite!”
“I feel spoiled. Now I know why humans are so obsessed with food!” Soul plucked the fruit delicately from Keeho’s fingers with a grateful smile. He popped the fruit into his mouth without hesitation, and Keeho found his gaze lingering on his lips as they swallowed up the green fruit— until the apartment door opened and Jiung came through, kicking off his shoes like they were filled with hot coals.
Keeho quirked a questioning eyebrow, and Jiung grinned. “My show! Tonight’s the finale episode,” he explained breathlessly, hurrying across the kitchen to the living room without bothering to change out of his waiter’s uniform. “They kept me late at work and I’m missing it right now! I need to see who ends up together!”
“What’s he doing?” Soul questioned curiously, looking up to Keeho with wide eyes.
Suddenly, Keeho grinned. To the alien, it probably looked like Jiung was headed somewhere urgent, when this couldn’t be further from the truth. “Jiung is a drama addict. The TV that we watched the news on earlier? It broadcasts people acting out made-up stories sometimes, and people find them interesting enough to watch. Sometimes they’re funny, or sad, or touching. Jiung loves romances—”
Before Keeho could even finish his thought, Soul was standing in the living room doorway, watching Jiung with an amusing curiosity. He’d even forgotten the bowl of fruit— his eyes were locked on whatever was happening on the screen, taking in everything.
“We sometimes intercept human signals such as these, but I’ve never seen them in such high quality,” Soul remarked, without even blinking.
“Well, do you want to go watch?”
“Really?” Soul’s eyes flashed to Keeho for just a second, and Keeho was absolutely taken aback by the adoration he found in that gaze. Shit, he was just imagining that, right? He had to be. Soul hurried into the living room without another word, making himself comfortable on the floor in front of the couch, leaving Keeho to trail behind with their abandoned snack. He’d share it with Jiung, then.
Keeho hadn’t been following this show - dramas weren’t really his thing - so he didn’t really know what was going on, aside from that the main girl loved the main guy but the main guy was betrothed to someone else. Keeho wasn’t sure how readily Soul could comprehend that, but the alien didn’t ask any questions for a change, thoroughly engrossed by the story. In the end, when the man presented the woman with two plane tickets and told her that he would go anywhere in the world to be by her side, Soul spoke up at last: “Isn’t wealth the most important thing for humans? Why is he leaving his wealthy parents for this girl?”
“Because love is more important than anything,” Jiung replied sagely, dabbing the tears from his eyes. “People do crazy, stupid things when they find the right person to do them with. I can’t wait to find the right person to make me crazy, too.”
Keeho grinned to himself, patting Jiung’s back without too much judgment. Privately, he couldn’t help but agree. Passion brought out the strangest tendencies in people— but as for experiencing it himself, he’d never managed to. He wasn’t oblivious to the occasional girl who vied for his attention, but even if she was beautiful, he’d never really felt much of a spark.
//
Waking up on Monday was a very different feeling than waking up on Sunday. Keeho’s alarm woke him up at 6:00 on the dot, and he groaned as he rubbed his eyes. He didn’t have any classes until 10, but he had made it a habit to get out of bed and jog, six days a week. Once upon a time, it had been miserable— but he’d stuck with it for months, and he’d gotten to the point where he felt lazy when he didn’t do it.
The sun was still hiding in the shadow of the city, the air likely cool; Keeho dragged himself out of bed and found his favorite hoodie and some athletic pants, socks and sneakers and his headphones, and he was halfway down the hall before he suddenly remembered: Soul. How could he forget? He peered into the living room on the way through, curious to see this glorious, terrifying being asleep on their sofa.
Soul was not asleep— in fact, it didn’t seem that he’d moved from the night before, stationed on the floor in front of the television. Awash with the light from the screen in the dark room, his blue glow was far less noticeable.
“Minhyuk, are you listening to yourself? You sound crazy—”
“What’s crazy about being in love with you? I know you can feel it too, every time we touch each other…”
It took Keeho a moment to realize what was happening: Soul was watching the drama on fast forward, able to process even their foreign language more quickly than any human could. And he’d been up all night, all night— just absorbing human culture, Keeho supposed, which had been his goal. His attention flickered back to the screen just in time to see the two male actors kiss, with one of them pressed back against the wall behind him.
“Uh… good morning.”
For the first time, Soul’s reaction wasn’t instantaneous. He turned slowly from the TV, as though waking up from a dream. “Good morning,” he responded somewhat slowly, rubbing his eyes. “Jiung showed me how to watch the dramas he’s recorded. I’ve been watching them to familiarize myself with your customs.”
“I can see that.” Keeho chuckled faintly, stepping behind him to grab the remote and turn the TV off. With the screen black, the room was suddenly much darker, and it became that much more clear: Soul’s light was not as bright as it had been the previous morning. He’d once glowed vibrantly, but after a day, it had mellowed to a gentle, unobtrusive glow that barely haloed around him. “You know, too much TV can strain your eyes. Doesn’t that human body of yours need sleep?”
“How could I sleep? I have so many questions.” Soul got to his feet surprisingly swiftly, eyes wide and round with curiosity. “Does every human enter into a courtship for mating and procreation?” His mouth turned into a little frown, comically serious. “What is the significance of kissing?”
Keeho was losing time from his run, but he couldn’t resist the urge to stay and satisfy Soul’s curiosity— those beautiful violet eyes begged him to. Skipping one day’s run wouldn’t hurt him, right? He would take the stairs instead of the elevator in the university building to make up for it, he promised himself. He led Soul to the kitchen, starting a pot of coffee and grabbing the cereal from the cupboard. “Okay, hold on, one question at a time! I’m still sleepy,” Keeho stopped him, unable to keep from grinning. “Humans pair off into relationships for way more reasons than just having kids. It’s more about love— finding a person you want to be with for the rest of your life. Not every human does, but most people at least try. And kissing—” It was funny; Keeho was usually shameless around his friends, but for some reason, talking about kissing with Soul made his ears burn again. “Kissing is a way to show love between people who are in a relationship. Usually, you only kiss the person you’re dating.”
“Why, though?”
“Why do you only kiss the person you’re dating?”
“No, why kissing?” Soul’s tone bordered on impatience as he sat at the kitchen table, accepting the bowl of cereal and milk that Keeho pushed over to him. He ate without hesitating (after all, he hadn’t tasted any Earth food he didn’t like), and the expression on his face showed that he was pleased with the sweet flavor. “Pressing your lips and tongues together doesn’t seem very healthy. You could be exposing yourself to all kinds of diseases.”
Keeho broke into a laugh, nearly spitting out the cereal in his mouth. Soul had a pretty good point. “Honestly? Humans have lots of nerve endings in their lips, so it feels really nice. I think that’s the reason,” he divulged, turning around to put the milk away. All the talk about kissing was drawing his eyes to Soul’s mouth, and for his own sanity, he had to stop looking. “Do you really not pair off into relationships, then? How does it work in your culture?”
“We selectively mate in order to ensure the success of our offspring,” Soul replied between bites of his breakfast. “Not everyone reproduces, only those with the most desirable traits.”
“Have you ever?” Keeho blurted the question out without thinking about it, without really thinking about the potential rudeness until it was too late. His cheeks instantly flared, and he quickly amended, “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that if it’s weird.”
Soul, on the other hand, wasn’t flustered in the least. “I haven’t. Have you?”
“N… No.”
“Back home, I have acquaintances and colleagues,” Soul continued on thoughtfully; he paused to take a sip of coffee, which made him wrinkle his nose and push the mug away. “People I work with and people I live in proximity to. But things like love are unheard of. Wanting to spend your whole life with a person, just because you inexplicably desire them? I like the way your kind thinks when it comes to matters of the heart.” He smiled, eyes glinting. “I’d like to go on a date with you, Keeho. I feel very positively towards you. I think I would enjoy myself. I saw lots of dates in TV dramas, but I don’t think it could compare to experiencing it.”
Keeho froze, nearly dropping his spoon back into his bowl. “A date…?” It was weird, because he was talking to an alien, but he could actually see the two of them on a date. In a restaurant, or at the movies, or holding hands while shopping— Soul bombarding him with questions the whole time, no doubt. “Where would you want to go on a date?” he asked, keeping his face carefully neutral despite the pleasant shiver he felt when he repeated the word.
Soul smiled softly, and answered without pause: “Stargazing.”
Keeho stopped eating, stopped talking, maybe even stopped breathing for a second as he looked into Soul’s eyes. That sounded perfect. A quiet, romantic spot, just them and the stars. Maybe they’d kiss beneath them. Was it ethical to kiss an alien in the name of alien science? Would Soul even want to kiss him? “Stargazing, yeah,” he answered as soon as he remembered that Soul was probably expecting words. “That sounds fun! We’ll go the next time the sky is clear.” Keeho had drained his coffee cup by the time he noticed Soul’s eyes drooping, and he chuckled softly. “Hey, you should sleep now. I’ll give you my bed, so you can have some privacy, okay?”
Before he headed off to class, Keeho brought Soul to his room and watched him get settled amongst all the pillows and blankets. The alien looked relaxed and at ease; he even buried his face in Keeho’s pillow and commented that it smelled like him, with a sleepy smile on his face that demonstrated that this was a good thing. Keeho did his best not to let it affect him too much, and tried to keep from smiling throughout the day when his brain would go back to the thought of the galaxy’s cutest boy, curled up in his bed.
//
Keeho was home from classes around dinnertime most days, even more eager than usual to take the bus ride home. He brought home a new batch of library books every day (mostly human history and art, which Soul found endlessly fascinating), and a different type of takeout— on Friday, for instance, he’d grabbed a pizza that they inhaled in record time. Soul ate just as voraciously as Keeho did, which only made him admire Soul more, nonsensical as it was.
Later that night, while Soul was poring over diagrams of the Egyptian pyramids and listening to the music that Taeyang and Jiung were watching in the background, Keeho approached him with butterflies in his stomach. As nonchalantly as he could, he made his proposal: “Seems like the sky is clear tonight. I know a good spot, if you really wanted to go— stargazing.”
Soul glanced up from his book in surprise, but the enjoyment in his eyes was obvious when he heard Keeho stumble. If you really wanted to go on a date with me, that’s what he’d nearly said, and it was preposterous to think about going on a date with an alien, but it still made Keeho’s hands sweat and his eyes dart to anywhere but Soul’s gaze.
“Of course I do! Of course!” Soul chirped, sounding more undeniably happy than Keeho had ever heard as he leaped off the couch to his feet. “Lead the way! Where are we going, anyway?”
“Hold on, hold on. We need to get a few things first,” Keeho instructed, grabbing the throw blanket off the back of the couch and slinging it over his shoulder to carry. To Soul, he bestowed the job of fetching four beers from the fridge and following Keeho out of the apartment and down to the elevator. Their building was twenty-five storeys tall, and they were going all the way up: past twenty-five, pressing the button labeled “R”.
The elevator spit them out in a dark maintenance room, with nothing but a square window in its metal door. Keeho opened the door and stepped aside, letting Soul be the first to step out onto the moonlit rooftop.
“Wow…” Soul tilted his head back to look up at the sky, the awe plain on his face. And the sky was beautiful, but that wasn’t what Keeho found his eyes drawn to; he was looking at Soul himself, standing in the dimly lit nighttime, looking washed out and pale with his glow fading. Beneath his natural glow, his skin was white like a porcelain doll, and it glimmered brilliantly under the moonlight.
“Space is so beautiful from Earth,” Soul spoke up softly, eyes falling on Keeho tentatively, as though looking for reassurance that he had used the word correctly. Keeho had to look away, busying himself with spreading the blanket on the ground at their feet. He sat first, and Soul followed— his body, vaguely warm, just centimeters from Keeho’s. “These are soda cans, yes? Taeyang taught me how to open one earlier today—” He picked one of the cold beers from the lineup and popped it open before Keeho could correct him, taking a healthy swig. The surprise was plain on his face, like with the coffee; still, Soul swallowed, his cheeks taking on the faintest, faintest tinge of violet.
“Space seems like it would be beautiful up close, too. When I was a little kid, I used to fantasize about being an astronaut and flying from star to star.”
“Stars are nothing special up close. Just bright,” Soul murmured, eyes turning back upwards. The starlight seemed to hit them differently than the lamps or the TV screen inside, and Keeho’s heart throbbed with desire. Is it just the novelty of him being so different? Is it just how cute his face is? Or does this feeling actually mean something? Keeho cracked a beer himself; a few quick swallows, enough to take the edge off his nerves.
“Soul?”
“Yes, Keeho?” Keeho couldn’t help but love the way the alien said his name. But even so—
“I think… your glow is beginning to fade.”
Soul looked down at his hand, his right fingers wrapped around the beer can, his left resting on Keeho’s knee. “I know it is. It’s due to lack of proper feeding. I’m not sure how much, if at all, human food is able to sustain me. Normally, I’m nourished by star energy— or rather, the energy of the fusion reaction between hydrogen and helium. Human food tastes delicious to me, but I don’t think it gives me what I need.”
Soul spoke so matter-of-factly, like he were the professor of some sort of science lecture. His words immediately gave Keeho a stomach ache. “You, uh… you should be going back at some point soon, then? Not that I don’t like having you. You’re great. But… how long can you go without feeding on stars?” He was sure he didn’t imagine it, the way the question made Soul stiffen, but Keeho didn’t back down. He had to know. “Where is your ship, anyway? Where did you land?”
Soul took a long time to answer— all the while, his eyes stuck on the stars, like they were speaking to him and he was listening intently. The moment was so tense with anticipation of something beautiful that Keeho didn’t dare break it. Finally, he looked down at his hands again, and then at Keeho, his eyes lovely and pained all at once. “That’s so complicated,” he said at last, shaking his head slowly. His beer can crinkled between his fingers as he fidgeted with it. “Keeho, aren’t dates supposed to be fun? I want to talk about fun things.”
From their first conversation, Soul’s speech was too even, too dictionary-perfect to be natural; now, for the first time, he detected a palpable dose of brattiness that made his heart twinge, because it meant that Soul was feeling something. He was learning so much, so fast, and really, Keeho thought that Jiung’s dramas had probably made the most difference. “I know you do, and I don’t blame you, but— I’m worried about you, that’s all. I don’t want something to happen to you here because we weren’t careful.” Feeling uncharacteristically bold (God, Keeho hadn’t been on a date with a guy in ages), he wrapped his arm affectionately around Soul’s waist and pulled him closer. “You feel a little cold, too…”
Soul set his beer can down on the ledge— empty, from the sounds of it— and Keeho thought for the first time that he should have explained to Soul how alcohol worked. He opened his mouth, about to warn him not to drink anymore (did alcohol even affect him?) when suddenly, he felt like something was nudging him to lean forward. No, pulling him forward. No— no, he realized when he saw the spark of satisfaction in Soul’s eyes, magicking him forward. “You feel a little warm,” Soul replied when they were nose to nose, a smirk playing on his lips, and then the next thing Keeho knew, they were kissing. Soul, who hadn’t known what kissing was that morning, was giving Keeho his first kiss as though it were nothing. His lips were so soft, even if they were a little cold, and they made Keeho shiver. Crazier still, he was actually sort of a good kisser— maybe a little too forward, with the way he slipped his tongue eagerly into Keeho’s mouth a few seconds in, but too much enthusiasm was probably better than not enough.
It was Soul who pulled back a moment later; the glow seemed to have reignited in his cheeks, pulsating with the rhythm of a racing heart. He’s blushing because of me. The thought made Keeho grin like crazy, and he was about to remark on it when Soul spoke up: “I want to talk about something else,” he requested again, almost a plea. “Let’s make this like a real date. Let’s talk about things that humans talk about when they’re in love.” He batted his eyelashes playfully and touched Keeho’s arm, offering almost as an example: “I can see the stars in your eyes. You look so handsome.”
Keeho had to laugh, kissing Soul on his impossibly soft cheek. “Thanks. You look amazing, too. You look better in that shirt than Taeyang does, if I’m being honest.” (Yellow made the gold in Soul’s eyes pop in the most mesmerizing way.) Sipping his beer again to try and seem casual, he steered the conversation back to somewhere more positive, more first-date-worthy: “I was thinking about taking a tape recorder to my classes with me tomorrow. That way you can hear some of the lectures. I felt really bad, leaving you here by yourself all day! You know, since I kind of feel responsible for you and all…”
“I would love that! I envy you, being able to go to a human university. It looks fun, in all the TV shows.” Soul was less interested in drinking, his attention fully invested in Keeho, his piercing eyes giving him chills. “Are you going to be a singer like the ones Jiung showed me? A K-pop star?”
Keeho sighed. In trying to make Soul more comfortable, he’d led him to opening his own can of worms. “Honestly? I don’t even know if I’m going to keep studying music next semester,” Keeho admitted, shrugging and letting his gaze drift to the stars again. “I’ve been singing and performing since I was young, taking part in competitions and all. It was kind of expected that I go on to study music, but I really don’t know if I want to study anything at all. University isn’t making me all that happy.”
Soul’s hand rested on his arm again, a welcome distraction. “What would make you happy?” he asked quietly.
“I’m not sure.” Admitting that to another person was hard— it made him feel pathetic, not to mention foolish. He was a good singer, everyone said so, and the best thing would probably be to keep his nose to the grindstone. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else in store for him, something that would really give his heart a reason to beat.
“Human lifespans are actually quite long, compared to most other things on Earth, or even my own species. You can expect to live for at least another fifty years,” Soul replied sagely. “You have time to change your mind. You have time to try and fail. Not all the time in the world, of course… but I don’t think you need to rush.”
“Do you know what you want to do?” Keeho asked, out of curiosity. “Are you going to be a researcher for the rest of your life?”
“It is what comes naturally to us. Gathering and organizing information. It’s a natural compulsion,” Soul answered, cryptic as always, his eyes unreadable. “But since I’m researching my favorite things, I don’t mind.” Keeho was strangely flattered by this, on behalf of his entire species; he opened his mouth and was about to say so, when Soul suddenly nudged him with his elbow and pointed back up at the stars. “Look! Do you see that? I think it’s an asteroid.”
Keeho looked back up to the stars quickly, feeling his heart soar right alongside the shooting star that streaked across the sky. Soul was probably right, it was more likely an asteroid or a meteor or some random piece of space debris— even so, he couldn’t keep from speaking aloud: “Make a wish. Humans consider shooting stars to be good fortune.”
“Okay!” It had to be nothing but silly superstition in Soul’s eyes, but he seemed to take the suggestion to heart. “I wish to stay with you for as long as possible. Like that?”
So precious . Keeho couldn’t keep from grinning. “Close your eyes and really focus on it,” he instructed softly. “Picture it in your mind. They say that’s the best way.” Of course, Soul obeyed without a moment’s hesitation, eyes fluttering closed, and Keeho seized the opportunity— he leaned in on his own this time, kissing first his top lip and then his bottom, savoring the moment and building anticipation before his tongue begged Soul’s lips to part. His little gasp, the absolute trust with which he yielded and followed Keeho’s lead, the fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt, it was all nearly enough to convince him that wishing on a star had some higher purpose after all.