Chapter Text
the orders had been clear.
you will ensure that favourable weather follows the specified individual.
it was simple enough at first, engineering the sunshine to brighten your days. there were occasions when the choice of rain had been inevitable, but jaehyun made sure it precipitated on days when you could stay home, days when it wouldn’t affect your plans.
he didn’t know why you were so special to the committee of the stars, but he wasn’t in a position to argue. it was something about how your existence was bright, and he was only employed to keep it that way.
in fact, he’d been doing a fantastic job — until he started caring.
it should have been easy. learn the individual’s basic routine, and make weather patterns to follow it. but jaehyun started to notice the smaller, more intimate details about you: how your hand rubbed the back of your neck when you were nervous, how you hid your smile behind the same hand when you laughed a little too loud.
and jaehyun would rather die than admit it, but it was cute. you were cute and only grew cuter as each day passed, all the more interesting as he picked up your conversations and hobbies and habits.
you were probably the closest thing jaehyun had to a friend. and you didn’t even know he existed.
representatives had drilled it all into his head: in the end, they’re just human. do not interact.
jaehyun knew he would outlive you, but he didn’t understand why he couldn’t enjoy your presence while you were still around.
he received his first warning when you were a freshman in college. you went on a date, nothing extravagant, but you looked happy. so happy that you went on a second and a third date.
jaehyun knew that getting involved was dangerous, so he didn’t. but he sulked. it rained for a week straight. your town was on the verge of flooding before he was reprimanded. a month off work to cool down and ‘forget’ about his emotions.
he disconnected for several years.
in the summer after your graduation, jaehyun received his second warning. the person you had been dating for the last three years no longer treated you well. you’d leave their place every night, without fail, in tears. and every night, jaehyun got a little bit angrier.
he’d tried to fight it off, to follow the sky controller code of being an emotionless operator. but wasn’t watching you upset every night breaking code too? jaehyun thought his job was to keep your demeanour bright, so he intervened.
lightning struck, closer to your partner than intended — endangering you in the process. the representatives arrived quickly, extracting jaehyun from the situation.
one more mistake, and you’ll never see them again, they promised.
you were now two years out of college. and jaehyun only had one mistake to last the rest of your life. he didn’t know what happened to failed sky controllers; he didn’t want to find out.
tonight, he watched over your date in the park, keeping the air warm but the breeze strong enough to keep the bugs off you. you were with the same (stupid) person you were with in your freshman year. jaehyun clenched his fist, hearing the two of you murmur sweet nothings at each other.
it was only a matter of time until one of you got upset.
to nobody’s surprise, it was your partner. mad because you had to work the following weekend, instead of spending time with their (by choice) unemployed self.
jaehyun went on alert as their voice rose, seeing you tense in fear. you got quieter as they screamed vulgarities at you, your gaze dropping to the ground. the wind picked up, rain starting to fall as jaehyun grew more frustrated. how could someone treat you like that?
when they started walking towards you, thunder clapped, lightning striking a car parked at the edge of the road. the tires blew, rubber flying across the street.
oh no. jaehyun attempted to correct himself but failed to calm the situation.
lightning struck again. your partner ran off, clearly caring more about the car than you.
as the distance grew between you and them, the wind settled down, the rain calming to a drizzle. jaehyun turned to face you.
you were backing away from the area, both fear and intrigue written on your face. lightning wasn’t supposed to strike the same place twice.
your features enamoured jaehyun. he’d never seen you like this before — he’d never let himself get this close. you were exactly as he’d thought from afar: beautiful.
he wished that you could see him. he wished that he could comfort you and tell you that everything would be okay. but he didn’t know how to do that. because he wasn't anything like you.
he watched as you gathered your belongings, hoping that you wouldn’t decide to return to your partner.
jaehyun watched you leave the park with a bittersweet smile on his face. he was not surprised when he received the message: this is your third warning: simulation failed.