post #28

[exopromptmeme]

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[fill] (baekhyun/kris) untitled (2/?)

[anonymous]

He doesn’t realise he’s stopped talking until Baekhyun’s hand searches for comfort and finds his in the dark.
Baekhyun’s fingers are cool and far too fragile in Kris’ overly large palm. It feels wrong and Kris’ chest constricts at the gesture. He doesn’t deserve Baekhyun’s trust and affection but he quickly dampens the guilt. It’s something that Kris has taught himself to do and Kris almost has it perfect this time.

Almost.

His lips still twitch when Baekhyun squeezes a little harder but he carries on anyway.
“The world is also orange. Orange like a smile.”

“Orange like a smile?” Baekhyun repeats in mild amusement and incredulity.

“Yeah,” Kris affirms with a nod that he makes purely out of habit, “a smile,”

He opens his mouth to continue but he’s stopped by Baekhyun whose hands have slipped out of his and come to rest upon his shoulders. Questions bank up in his mind but they clog in the back of his throat when Baekhyun doesn’t stop there.

Baekhyun’s hands move upwards to frame Kris’ neck as his thumb slides across his jaw. It’s timid and innocent but it still makes Kris swallow hard. His heart is hammering and it’s impossible to disguise how loud it is. He’s almost certain that Baekhyun will hear it if not feel it thundering in the pulse that beneath his fingers.

“Baekhyun?” he finally manages to garble but Baekhyun interrupts him again.

“Show me” is all he says, soft and barely audible, “show me yours.”

Kris’ heart shatters when he realises what Baekhyun is asking for but he indulges Baekhyun anyway. It’s torturous but Kris allows Baekhyun’s fingers to come up and trace the curve of his lips.

Baekhyun is tentative at first, making a soft swipe against his lips. Kris can barely feel it but he’s already trembling. And by the time Baekhyun’s fingers reach the corner of his mouth after brushing over the cracks of his bottom lip, Kris has his eyes firmly closed. Over time, his movements grow with confidence but Baekhyun is still slow as he tries to outline Kris’ smile using only his sense of touch.

Kris wonders if smiles feel any different to how they look and if Baekhyun would still be able to recognise his as he holds his breath.

Seconds seemingly stretch into hours but Baekhyun is withdrawing all too soon and Kris is left pretending that his heart doesn’t plummet when Baekhyun lowers his hands to pick at the gravel that lies between them.

“Your smile is still the same,” Baekhyun observes with a breathy laugh, seemingly sated after the exchange. “It’s still as awkward. And I bet it looks just as intimidating too,”

Kris doesn’t know what to say. He can’t bring himself to correct him. He just can’t admit that his smile is nothing like it used to be not when Baekhyun seems so satisfied with his little discovery. He can’t describe it as it is now; weathered at the edges and ripped at the seams having lost all of the light it once possessed.

Sometimes, dishonesty is justified, so Kris continues filling in the silence with a guilty conscience and even more lies.

“Orange isn’t just in a smile. It’s also in the leaves of autumn that line the streets and the banks of the river. They’re the leaves and the branches which have stood their time through the torrential rain of spring and the harsh heat of summer. Orange is optimism, it keeps us smiling, and that’s what the world looks like in orange,”

Baekhyun’s lips quirk up again as if he can see autumnal Seoul, dressed in amber and ochres, with his vacant eyes. But all that Kris is focused on is Baekhyun who is the origin of his guilt and the victim of his fraud. He can’t help but think how beautiful Baekhyun looks in this tragedy -- as breath-taking as he is heart-breaking.

*

The world ends without warning -- no closing statement, no alarm bells, no second chances and certainly no happily ever after. And, like how all stories begin, it happens on a day like any other.

The twelve had been in the same building, practicing for the opening of their first solo concert in Seoul. They were high strung and more than just afraid but nonetheless elated. A majority of them had been upstairs sweating through choreography whilst the vocal line was in the basement practicing their solos and fancy adlibs.