Chapter Text
= = =
When it rains we wonder, is there someone up there crying? When thunder strikes are they angry at the world they reign down upon? Why can the sun be happy but the rain can't? Who says the rain cries tears of sorrow? Human's cry when they laugh and smile when they're sad.
There's a childlike playfulness in the presence of Rain. When the secret things people love appear in umbrella patterns, when the children come out to play in the puddles, when the world holds its breath for a brief moment. It's quiet except the sound of rain as it falls to the earth.
Time doesn't control its existence. Nothing can. Life flows and ends in all the ways it is destined to do so whilst the rain comes and goes in an unending dance.
Humans write endless poetry about the water that comes from the earth and returns to the sky in a reciprocal need for eachother. The very first lovers. Giving and taking like their lives depend on it. Because they do.
Do the lovers ever visit eachother? Rain touching the flora that he grows, Earth breathing the air that she holds. When one is asked to imagine them together, what do they see? A human? A body? An intangible presence? Why not all three.
With existence comes spirit. Not a heart that beats but a soul that travels. In every part of existence floats those spirits, watching, holding, listening. When the dew comes out to play he's frivolous and careless, leaving glitter in his wake. When the fire comes alive she's bold and fluid, pushing the limits of her form.
When the rain arrives, he's not sad and quiet. Rain is loud and he's childish in every sense of the word. Finding the biggest holes for the best puddles and painting droplet art on the windows. Rain witnesses calamities and holds himself ready for when the new seeds are planted.
It takes a different kind of human to hold the remains of the earth and decide to rebuild it. Humans are an incredible thing to Rain. They tie themselves up in eachother's lives, finding comfort in the company they pick and choose throughout every stage of the short life they live. There are very few days when Rain is sad. When he is, it's not because the world is falling apart, that's a destiny written since the beginning that he is fated to witness. Instead his sorrow seeps through when he sees a human on their own. Lost in the world without anyone to hold and dance with.
Why does it hurt so much to see the loneliness? Maybe because Rain sees how easy it should be to get out of. Everyone seeks company and yet it's so hard to find in one place. Centuries have passed and Rain has never settled anywhere. The world is vast and he has yet to see it all in the time he has existed. Spirits don't grow or change, they aren't born and they don't die. They simply exist. Never with another.
These days Rain spends his time in a tiny region three hours south of Seoul. Where farmers are the majority and very few people come and go. There's nothing special to bring new people in, and enough to keep those who live there put. The farmers are kind and appreciate Rain's presence. Just once he wishes he could try the taste of the crops that come to fruition.
In that small region everyone has crossed everyone's paths. There's two schools, one hospital and one supermarket. Children are raised together, adults work together, retirees relax together.
Everyone except one family. It's been a few months and occasionally Rain spots their unfamiliar faces. Early in the mornings or in the middle of the night. No one ever visits and they never leave. The family has a young boy who intrigues Rain like no human has for incalculable years. He always wears a mask, carries a cane covered in stickers and always hides when the rain comes. The only time he ever leaves the house is to go to and from a another small building that looks like a type of medical centre. He has no friends and he doesn't go to school. Maybe he's too old for school, Rain doesn't know how to tell.
The boy rarely does anything interesting at all. Yet he ignites Rain's desire to learn and explore. So he's stayed here longer than he normally would.
Occasionally when the weather is clear he pulls the curtains open and Rain can watch as he types away on his laptop whilst curled up in bed with a small dog that Rain first mistook for a cat. The only time he leaves is when his parents call him to eat. What a boring life to live. Why would anyone do that when Rain knows how many possibilities exist in the world.
The boy is the loneliest human he's ever seen. If he doesn't want friends, why does he cry most nights? Why does he sit on his balcony some days and watch the seniors walk home from school? Why does he listen to music that holds a wilful longing for connection?
It's right there! Rain wants to say. If only he stepped outside and saw it. Why won't anyone tell him that?
Rain can't. He can't say anything. All he can do is watch and hope. Hope that someone finds this lonely human and offers a friendship.
- - -
Spring days. Where the sun is warm enough to lay in but the air is cool enough to wear a cozy jumper. Where misty rainfall brings children out in herds searching for rainbows and picking out cute raincoats to adventure in. The season of life.
Not for this boy. This boy hides in his wardrobe like he does everytime the sun hides too. When Rain sits too close he hears the chants,
"Rain Rain go away, come again another day."Why does it hurt so much that this tiny life out of the entire world doesn't like him? Not just dislikes him; is scared of him. Especially when all Rain wants is to be his friend.How unfair that all he wants is to see the boy dance in the rain, and all that boy wants is to run away.
Would it be different if he wasn't Rain? If he was a boy too. One who had a cute smile and a bright energy. Someone who could ask the boy what he is reading and why he spends so much time inside.
Existence is a fragile thing. Insignificantly significant in so many ways. Rain exists whether he does or not. Rain without life will continue to rage on. But what is a lifeless storm? What is a rain cloud with no one there to guide it? How can one dance in a place with no music?
Rain wonders what it would be like to say hello. To give himself a name. To smile and have someone smile in return. An essence he can't grasp in this intangible form. But to be human is to die, is it not?It's a life sentence to be born into a body. To gain life, he has to promise that he will lose it again someday.
As a spirit he has none of those things to worry about. He can outlive the oldest trees and not have to worry about an end.
But those trees live a life he has only ever been able to observe. Growing tall and strong, with the knowledge that they will wither and decay. Until the day they die they give and take, breathing in the old and allowing the new. They are hugged and held by the earth and the humans around them. They speak and someone listens. Rain doesn't know the feeling but he wants it.
Would the boy listen? He seems like a good listener. Would they hug? He has a warmth to him. Could they speak? He has a voice that's like honey when he sings to his music in that confined space.
Oh to be human.
- - -
How is it march already?
Taehyung lays in bed staring at the date, hoping if he stares for long enough this day will pass and so will the next. Nothing special is going to happen today. Just like everyday. His eyes flicker to where his laptop's tiny blue light blinks as it sits on charge, waiting for his attention.
First he grabs his phone and goes to the KMA website to see what the forecast for the day is. A breath sits in his lungs until it loads. No rain. Just an overcast sky and some mild frost. Tomorrow tells a different story. 60% chance of rain. His first instinct is to cancel the appointment he has tomorrow even though he knows it will upset his dad.
When he finds enough energy to pull himself out of bed he wanders over to his desk where last night's poems are scrunched up. He uncrumples one piece, reading over it briefly with a scowl.
"Bullshit." He snarks, chucking it to the rubbish bin that's beginning to overflow. Faintly he can hear the tinkering down stairs that tells him its almost time for breakfast. He wobbles around the room without his cane as he searches for something to wear. Eventually he settles on something cosy and warm. Some light peeks through the bottom of his curtains. It pulls him closer, fingers grasping the cold material to pull it open. When he pulls it back a scream erupts from his lungs. His whole body tears away from the glass door until he crashes into his bed.
Sitting on his balcony edge is a boy with pastel pink hair and a cheery grin. He wears plain white clothes that look loose and comfortable - a strange thought to have as Taehyung blindly searches for his phone and tries not to hyperventilate. The second he turns away that person knocks on his window. Just as he grabs it and goes to call for help he hears,
"No wait! Don't hide! I want to say hello." The boy's voice is vivid yet soft in a way that washes Taehyung with a contradictory comfort. Why is there someone on his balcony? And why is he hesitating to call? Thankfully his dad didn't hear his scream so no one appears on the otherside of his door. All Taehyung can do is sit frozen, staring at this strange person still patiently waiting to be let in.
"Who the hell are you?!" He decides to shout through the window. Because why not let the curiosity bite.
"I'm Rain." The boy simply says. A stupid name that makes Taehyung scoff and bite back angrily,
"Go away! I don't like rain!" Whether he means the person sitting across from him or the clouds that are gathering somewhere above, he doesn't care. He doesn't like being scared awake and he doesn't want to talk to this weird stranger.
"But you might like me." Insists the boy as he stands and approaches the glass door. Taehyung tenses up and pulls further away. "Please, can we talk?"
"What about?" Taehyung hisses a little nastier than he probably should. The echo in his ears is beginning to cause it's own panic, fingers curling around his shirt and pulling it loose. One, two, three, four, hold...
"About anything. I just really wanted to meet you. I want to be friends." What is wrong with this guy? He's acting like a childish middle schooler who's swooning over a fleeting crush. Taehyung just laughs at the sheer stupidity. The last thing he sees before he tears his curtains closed again is the boy's confused eyes, unimaginably bright, full of light flickers, yet such a deep grey that appears black. The outline of his pupil is barely visible against the darkness.
No rain today.
But a 60% chance tomorrow.
= = =