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At seven, Hanbin watched in awe as Jiwoong guessed his card correctly.
The joker, it was supposed to be funny, he was supposed to make fun of his hyung.
"You’re so cool, Hyungie,” is what he says instead, making Jiwoong blush and giggle.
“I have decided. I will become the greatest magician ever when I grow up!” Jiwoong says in his high-pitched but super serious voice and Hanbin only nods because obviously Jiwoong could do anything.
Jiwoong was cool and pretty and, to Hanbin, practically magical.
At sixteen, the tricks were less impressive to everyone else, but never to Hanbin.
Mostly because Hanbin was easily entertained and he loved the way Jiwoong's eyes sparkled whenever he pulled some crap Hanbin didn't care for.
The biggest reason definetly was that Hanbin was very much infatuated with his hyung.
(Teenage crush, first love, Childhood friends, Love of his life etc, etc,. Yes, all those fictional tags together attached for Hanbin on the same person. Maybe that too was the magic of life. Hanbin not having to live listless, searching for "the One" and all that Love Island type of Bullshit.)
At twenty-four, Hanbin almost bawled his eyes out while Jiwoong laughed heartily, producing a ring box from the very unhygenic box that he apparently produced out of the table napkins he had stuffed into his mouth.
Very predictably, Hanbin did say yes and refused to kiss his hyung cause he is not getting that dusty napkin soaked tongue in his mouth.
(He made up for this profusely later that night while rimming his hyung's hole because Hanbin is a hypocrite ,obviously.)
At thirty, Hanbin stares at the gaint pile of balloons.
He breaks out laughing as he see his hyung's eyes water up. A failed trick. The ballons were supposed to turn to rose petals once Hanbin had entered their home.
A grand welcome to a new phase in their life. Instead, Jiwoong's dehydrayed flower and disappearing balloons were replaced to lower quality shit by his supplier.
Or something like that, really Hanbin was more focused on the little furrow of his hyung's eyes as he fussed with Hanbin's finger while explaining what went wrong.
Later, he did make Jiwoong individualy pop each of the 978 balloons (How the hell did Jiwoong manage to even inflate them in the first place?) because he is a sadist. Obviously. Taking pictures and listening to the You could help too, you know? mutterings of his hyung, with the big pout and the side eyes directed at Hanbin while the younger was throughly enjoying the view of Jiwoong's ass bending down again and again to dismantle his creations.
The day Hanbin turns forty-five, the greatest question for him as he pulled at the weeds while wondering, was how the bunch of passion flowers had managed to grow despite nobody ever planting them near the edges of Jiwoong’s grave.
He winced a little while standing up, his back troubling him more and more as time went by. Surely if his hyung was here he would have beamed at Hanbin. Maybe said something endearing like We are now in the same age bracket bone density wise, Bin-ah!
He stared at the stupid flowers swaying (Like his hyung did, tipping on his toes whenever he had something to show) before the stupid headstone and its stupid inscription:
My greatest magic trick was, in fact, being able to bag the love of my life.
He laughed wetly. His hand, clad with the pair of patinum rings on his left ring finger, tightening in his pockets when the wind scattered the flowers into petals, sending them straight toward him: one settled gently over his cheekbone.
His birthday present from the beyond? The thought tickled the edge of his heart painfully. He sniffed because of course his magician never did reveal his ways.
Idiot.
Hanbin lets out a laugh when a very sudden gust of wind rattles the dead leaves and dust scattered around straight towards him again. A bunch of them sticking to his hair and clothes as if retaliating for calling his hyung names.