Archive of Our Own ^beta

moon

“Have you ever thought what Earth must be like?” Myungjun asked him one day.

Dongmin, who had been responding to a work request, looked up from his cellular device. Then he glanced out into the sky, past the artificial lights of the dome. He could not see Earth. Not from this vantage point, anyway. There were places where the Earth was visible, but he and Myungjun were not currently positioned properly to see it. 

“One day there might be tourist visits to Earth,” Dongmin assured him. “We can go on one, if you’d like.”

“You seem rather indifferent.” Myungjun raised his eyebrows and prodded Dongmin.

Dongmin shot him what he hoped was a sweet smile. “It’s because everything I need is right here.”

“Oh, gag me.”

“Sure,” Dongmin said, and Myungjun grinned mischievously. “But, honestly, I’ve read enough about Earth to know that perhaps one day I’d like to visit. When it isn’t so hostile to human life. As of right now, I’m unwilling to risk my life in order to visit sights I can simply view on a screen.” He tapped his palm, where his phone was implanted. “I have this. I’m fine with not seeing Earth in person.”

But Myungjun did not seem so convinced. He frowned, staring down at his own hand, where his own phone was, and muttered, “It isn’t the same at all.”
“What’s with this fascination of Earth so suddenly?” Dongmin asked, returning to his work inquiry. “Did you watch something about Earth?”

“I was thinking about your– god, put your hand down, nerd.” Myungjun lowered Dongmin’s hand for him, effectively closing out the work request. Dongmin wasn’t too mad about that; he was a workaholic, but he would give up his job in order to be with Myungjun. He loved Myungjun far more than he had ever loved work.

“Your time-traveling device–”

“Dimension-traveling,” Dongmin corrected.

Myungjun nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, that. That thing. You can use it to visit Earth, can’t you?”

Dongmin pursed his lips. “I can use it to visit alternate realities. Some of these realities might have a functional, habitable Earth – others might be like our reality, where we’ve moved to the Moon so we can continue to sustain human life.”

“You really can’t travel through time with that thing?” Myungjun asked, which wasn’t at all in line with their initial conversation. Dongmin didn’t really like being sidetracked.

He took Myungjun’s hands in his own, admiring his long fingers briefly before kissing those same fingers, pressing them ever so slightly against his lips. Then he looked up at his boyfriend, who was now smiling brightly.

“I cannot,” Dongmin murmured. “And even if I could, I would never do so. Traveling through time means I will not experience you right now, as you currently are. And I love you too much to find another you.”

“Mm, I’ll still be the same me if you travel through time,” Myungjun assured him. “You could go forward and let me know if I’m still hot as an old man. You could tell me how wrinkly I am, and then I’ll know where I need to start applying more sunscreen.”

Trust Myungjun to take his sweet confessions of love and adoration and turn them into a slight mockery. Dongmin honestly loved him for it. He loved him for a lot of things. Ever since they had met, Dongmin had been taken by Myungjun. Sometimes, he could hardly believe Myungjun had deemed him worthy enough to date, but he was appreciative, all the same. He couldn’t imagine continuing a life without Myungjun by his side.

“Sure,” Dongmin responded, and he kissed Myungjun’s hand once more before releasing him. 

Just in time, too, for someone noticed Myungjun at that second. A young girl, with her hair in pigtails, dragged her friend to Myungjun, asking for his autograph and gushing at how handsome he was in person. She had been to many of his concerts, she told him, and wanted to go to more.

Myungjun’s switch to his idol persona was interesting to witness. Dongmin didn’t mind being pushed aside and delegated to the background, for he had the chance to see his fiance in action. Myungjun took a photo with her and offered her a handwritten signature, along with one of his small photocards – Dongmin had thought those only came with albums, and so once the girl was sent on her way, he took his rightful spot back by Myungjun’s side and instantly pulled those photocards out of Myungjun’s hand.

“Why do you have these?”

“For that situation,” Myungjun said smugly. “It’s always nice to be able to hand something to fans. Most of them don’t have pens and paper they carry around for autographs, so it’s nice to give them something physical.”

That was true. Their society was one that remained heavily reliant on technology. Handwriting was a thing of the past, though Myungjun had adopted physical signatures as his own personal trademark. It was a rare thing for an idol to do, but the fans seemed to enjoy it and Myungjun had practiced his handwriting and could now write with such ease and such grace. Dongmin did like his hangul very much.

“You’re sweet,” Dongmin said, and he handed the pack of photocards back to Myungjun, though he kept several for himself.

Myungjun smiled. “You should take those with you when you travel to Earth,” he urged. “Give them out to people in that dimension and let them know they can also be my fan.”

“I think that will get me in trouble. We do have a ‘no-interaction’ policy, you know, so as to not disrupt the flow of the universes we step into. Besides, so far all of the realities I’ve traveled to have been devoid of people.”

“Boring.” Myungjun sighed and took Dongmin’s hand again. Dongmin quickly pocketed the photocards he had stolen. “Find one with people in it. Better yet, find one with me in it. Except don’t fall in love with my other self, because then it’ll get complicated and I might get jealous.”

“It’s actually unlikely I’ll find you,” Dongmin assured him. “The circumstances for one to be born are rare – everything has to align just right. I mean, obviously alternate dimensions are limitless, so there’s bound to be many of you out there, but there’s bound to be more universes without you. Unless I develop a way to find you, specifically, not just a Kim Myungjun but the Kim Myungjun, the one who shares your blood and DNA and brain chemistry and physical–”

“Hey, do you want to go home and have sex?” Myungjun interrupted.

“You’re just trying to get me to shut up.”

“It worked.” Myungjun blew Dongmin a kiss. “Take my photocard to Earth, if you can’t take me, alright? I can experience it that way, at least.”

Dongmin smiled, but still felt the need to explain, “You won’t experience it at all. This photocard isn’t–”

Myungjun kissed him suddenly, deeply – which was exactly what Dongmin wanted, anyway.