minho

I stare up at the night sky. For the first time in a long time, my chest feels light. I'm laying in the grass, sandwiched by soft blankets, Jisung at my side, the stars glittering above us.

"Whoa," Jisung murmurs, the softest sound in the quiet of the forest.

"I know, it's beautiful." I point up. "Look, that star is so bright... no, airplane, never mind. But that one — no, airplane again."

He laughs and shushes me. "My love, I wasn't looking at the sky."

"Oh really?" I roll onto my elbow and kiss him. "Is this a better view?"

"Lovely." He holds the back of my neck — I feel his ring against my skin.

Our eyes meet. We smile and say "hi" at the same time.

"Whatcha thinking about?" I ask.

He shrugs. "The old days. Do you remember the way I loved you when we met? When I used to swear my love was the strongest love anyone's ever felt?"

"I remember."

"I was naive. Something has grown, either the love I feel or my capacity for it."

"You're saying your heart grew three sizes?"

"That would imply I was a grinch before I met you."

"You said it, not me."

He smiles and rolls his eyes.

"You're all cute and sentimental today," I say. "What's up?"

He's playing with my hair, twisting it around his finger. "How long has it been? Since Italy?"

I freeze up a bit. "A month or so, why?"

"The whole first-democratic-vampire-election thing got me thinking. They're gonna keep headquarters in that goddamn underground palace. I never want to go back there as long as I live."

"It's scary to look back on, huh? You were almost a sad sexy widower."

He laughs. "What the hell is sexy about being a widower?"

"The mourning."

He shakes his head, letting it go. "Don't say shit like that. It still feels like a nightmare."

"You ran from Paraguay to Italy, not knowing if I was going to die or not. I can see why."

"Does it still scare you?"

Of course it does. Aro — leader of the Volturi, ancient, omnipotent — looked into my eyes and told me I was going to die. For a second, I'd lost my precious life. There's nothing more terrifying to me. And that Jisung would have had to watch...

I shake my head.

It comforts me that my power put Aro on his knees. That I'd restrained him while Felix took his life. It's also entertaining that vampires — ones younger than me, even — are now aiming for his throne and how much Aro would have detested that.

"It doesn't scare me the way it used to," I say. "I worry about you more."

"Sometimes I... can't stop thinking about it. Standing in that room. The split second I knew you were going to die, that second before the army came through the roof — it was the most terrifying second of my life."

He looks up at me with the golden eyes I know so well. "My love... did you really think you had to go in alone? You didn't know Felix was gonna swoop in with an army — you were really going to bargain your life by yourself?"

I sigh. "I just... wanted you to keep living. The plan was a little half-baked but at least you wouldn't have had to pay for my crime."

"My life is your life, yours is mine. I'll give you my everything, a million times over."

"But trading your life for one that wouldn't make you happy — that's the wrong way to give me everything, isn't it? If everything I want is for you to be happy?"

He pouts. "It's annoying when you make sense."

"I'm sorry. I mean, for being annoying, but for everything else too."

"I forgive you. Of course I do. We made it out alive, didn't we? Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up, we were having a nice night."

"No, we have to keep talking about it. Otherwise it'll just stay a nightmare. Besides, it's still a nice night. I'm happy as long as I'm with you."

He draws me closer by my waist. "How happy?"

"What?"

"I've confessed everything I wanted to for today. Now you. Describe your love for me."

"Oh so you wanna get into it!" I roll him onto his back, straddle his hips. He laughs, looking up at me. "How should I do this? Which language? Or maybe numbers would work better than words."

"Ooh numbers."

"Numbers it is. I read somewhere online that a body has approximately seven to ten — to the power of twenty-seven — atoms. That's, like, seven billion billion billion. Now imagine..." I press kisses down his neck, across his chest. "Every atom in your body held a tiny universe. And within that universe, there was another billion billion billion atoms, except times a billion."

He's drawing slow circles on my back. "I think I know where you're going with this."

"I'm not done yet. Every single atom in the billions of galaxies in your atoms, has a universe in it. It just keeps going on and on forever. Beginnings and endings and the concept of space and time and matter are meaningless and incomprehensible, and only in this unlimited universe of ever-expanding space will I find a good enough comparison for the heights, depths and widths to which I love you."

He waits. "You're done?"

"Yes."

"A very sweet and long-winded way to say infinity."

"That's what I was going for. Except add immortality. And lawlessness. I dunno, I just love you a lot, Jisungie."

He wraps his arms around me. "My love" is all he has to say.

───

soooo this is the end... for real this time, i promise (unless i finish the haseong/shao/iseul prequel someone asked for hehe) 

ending on a minsung note feels appropriate since they were the start of this universe. it's kinda crazy to realize there aren't any more stories to tell with these characters. i've spent a lot of my recent life writing this story -- two years i think? -- and it makes me so incredibly happy, i don't think i'll ever truly be able to let them go

(also wanna share that according to my shoddy math, all 6 stories round out to about 275k words so.... that's the power of gay vampires ig)

before i go, i want to thank my editor moms, the long-time readers, the readers from the early days (i'm talking termagant era), the new readers, the casual readers, and the readers who choose not to show themselves. i love y'all ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤💖

but AHT AHT i'm not that easy to get rid of, i'm working on a story rn and it's um [unhinged caterwaul] something, so look out for that :D

oki bye !!