fade to grey
Summary: There are different ways of seeing, different ways of loving.
Char/Pair: Baro/Jinyoung
Genre: (hinted at) romance/slash, fluff, drama
Rating: G
A/N: This was for kantamu, over at melodicword. My awesome prompt was 老鼠爱大米
For reference, Baro is Sunwoo and Sandeul is Junghwan ^^
Clouds cover the sky, but Sunwoo can't stop himself from smiling. He pedals on his bike, looking to the side for the right house. Forty-four, forty-five, forty-six... ah. Sunwoo stops and gets off his bike, parking it on the side of the street.
He picks out a potted plant, full of marigolds, from the case attached to the back of his bike. Still smiling, he opens the gate of number forty-seven and then knocks on the front door.
It's a few seconds when Jinyoung answers the door. Sunwoo smiles even more, though he knows that Jinyoung can't see it.
"Sunwoo?" says Jinyoung, blinking. "Is that you?"
"Yes," says Sunwoo. He beams and grabs Jinyoung's hand without a word, and then leads him to Jinyoung's own front garden. He places the plant on the top shelf of one of the racks.
Jinyoung chuckles from behind him. "You should let me know when you're guiding me somewhere," he teases. "I was lost for a moment."
"You should be used to it by now," Sunwoo teases right back. "I've been doing this since the beginning without saying a word."
"And you still scare me." Jinyoung laughs. Sunwoo doesn't need to see him to know that Jinyoung looks beautiful.
Sunwoo adjusts the other plants on the shelf-the plants he's brought here before-and then turns back around to Jinyoung. He touches his shoulder, gently.
"I'll be back later, okay?" he says.
Jinyoung smiles at him. It's ten times better than the sound of his laugh.
"You always are."
**
In the afternoon, after Sunwoo's made all his stops-being a gardener is fun, but delivering the plants is even more fun-he stops by Jinyoung's house again. He knocks on the door. It opens in an instant, as if Jinyoung's been waiting for him.
"Sunwoo, it's you, right?" says Jinyoung. "I'd feel stupid if it isn't."
Sunwoo bites back a laugh and says in a deep voice, "No, it's the mailman."
Jinyoung's cheeks flush pink, although Sunwoo doesn't know if Jinyoung knows this. "Oh," says Jinyoung, frowning. He bites his bottom lip. Then a look of recognition passes over his face, and he reaches out hesitantly to whack Sunwoo on the arm.
"Sunwoo! That is you, isn't it?"
Sunwoo laughs this time. "How did you know?"
"I have a mail lady."
"Oh." Sunwoo blushes this time, and is glad Jinyoung can't see.
"So," says Jinyoung, coming with him outside and letting Sunwoo guide him to the bench in his small garden. "What do you have for me today?"
Sunwoo smiles. He always has something for Jinyoung when he's done work.
"I went grocery shopping," he says. "And I bought apples."
"Apples!" Jinyoung's face positively glows. Sunwoo knows Jinyoung loves apples. Not the taste or the texture, but the smell, the feel.
Sunwoo pulls out an apple from his jacket pocket and places it into Jinyoung's hands. Jinyoung delicately brings it up to his face, and inhales deeply.
He turns to Sunwoo, and even though Sunwoo knows he can't see him, he feels that Jinyoung is looking right at him.
"Thank you, Sunwoo," he says.
**
Sunwoo stops at Jinyoung's house in the morning again, like he always does. He brings out the marigolds once more-Jinyoung loves marigolds, he knows-and knocks on the door.
Like always, Jinyoung opens up.
"Sunwoo," he greets, with a small smile on his face. Sunwoo doesn't think he's seen anything better.
"Hi Jinyoung," he says, almost shyly. He takes Jinyoung's slender hand and leads them outside, and places the plant in the garden before settling down on the bench. He doesn't say anything, suddenly too aware of himself.
Jinyoung turns to him, empty eyes gazing into Sunwoo's. "What's wrong?" he asks. Sunwoo thinks it's amazing that even though Jinyoung can't see, he just knows.
"Nothing," says Sunwoo. He blushes when Jinyoung moves in closer, to feel him better.
He clears his throat and reaches into his jacket pocket. It's the apple he's supposed to give Jinyoung this afternoon-he only brings flowers in the mornings-but he knows that it hardly matters. "Here," he says, putting the apple in Jinyoung's palm.
Jinyoung brightens up and feels it. "Is it an apple?" he asks eagerly, almost like a little child. "It is, isn't it?"
Sunwoo nods. Jinyoung doesn't see, of course; but he puts his hand in Sunwoo's and lets him feel the apple as well. Their fingers intertwine, nothing in between.
**
It's the afternoon, and Sunwoo can't help grinning as Jinyoung goes around in his tiny garden, stepping on the grass carefully and smelling each potted plant, his face lighting up each time he recognizes the plant.
"Gardenias!" he exclaims when he sniffs a plant Sunwoo had brought him when Jinyoung had gone through his gardenia phase. Jinyoung continues sniffing along the gardenias, until he comes to a bushel of flashy purple flowers. "And... petunias?"
"Yep," says Sunwoo from the garden bench.
Jinyoung tucks his hair back and moves to the next row. Sunwoo admires the way his long eyelashes close over his eyelids, the way the sun shines all around him.
"Chrysanthemums, poppy, and... what's this?" Giggling, Sunwoo reaches his hand out to the shelf, feels around before his hand closes around something round and small.
"An apple?" he says. "Sunwoo, what's an apple doing in here?"
Sunwoo laughs. "I just wanted to see if you could find it."
"Well I found it all right!" Jinyoung turns to him. He seems to consider his surroundings. Then, before Sunwoo realizes it, an apple is sailing through the air and hits him right on the cheek.
"Hey!" he says as the apple falls and rolls to the ground. Rubbing his face, he looks to the apple, bewildered, then back to Jinyoung. "How did you know I was here?"
Jinyoung grins. "I could smell you. Stinky." He waves a hand in front of his nose.
Sunwoo runs toward Jinyoung and throws him over his shoulder. Jinyoung shrieks, and, laughing, Sunwoo runs around the garden with Jinyoung against his back.
**
Sunwoo is biking home midday when he passes Jinyoung's house, and he suddenly has a brilliant idea to bring Jinyoung out to lunch. Grinning to himself, he turns and rides back to Jinyoung's house, then hops off and knocks on Jinyoung's door.
Jinyoung opens and looks like he's about to speak-then he catches a whiff of the air and says, "Sunwoo?"
"It amazes me how you can do that," says Sunwoo, chuckling. He takes Jinyoung's hand and brings him outside. "Come on. I was thinking we could go out together today."
"Together?" Jinyoung looks eager.
"Yeah," says Sunwoo, nodding. He walks to his bike, still holding onto Jinyoung, and then props him backwards on his seat. "Hold on," he tells him, and then gets on the seat from the front. He feels Jinyoung's back lean against his. Sunwoo's neck feels warm from the touch.
He pedals all the way to the edge of the city, where there's less traffic and more scenery. Even though he knows Jinyoung won't be able to see any of this, he knows that Jinyoung will sense it. Will smell it.
He helps Jinyoung off the bike and then leads him to a small cliff, surrounded by stone rails. He guides Jinyoung all the way to the ledge.
"We're overlooking the forest," he says. "The trees and the valley and the rivers. The sun's in the light blue sky, and birds are flying in the distance."
"Wow," says Jinyoung, leaning out a little, almost like he's trying to take all of it in with what he can.
"It's beautiful," says Sunwoo. He rests his hand on top of Jinyoung's, on the rail. "I wish you could see it."
Jinyoung turns to him, and smiles. "It's okay," he says. "I have you to see it for me."
**
Sunwoo is late this afternoon, but it's okay because he's late sometimes anyways. He knows Jinyoung always knows when he's late-but he never minds. Sunwoo doesn't know why. But it makes him like Jinyoung even more, anyways.
He sees Jinyoung already out on his porch, waiting for him. Beaming, Sunwoo considers calling out to him, but then decides not to. Jinyoung will have to cross the street then, and Sunwoo doesn't want him doing that.
But his bike tire skids a little too quickly on the pavement and Sunwoo hears Jinyoung call out, "Sunwoo? Is that you?" He gets up from his bench and runs out, pushes his gate open, and into the street.
"Get back!" Sunwoo wants to call out, but he's too fixated on Jinyoung. Jinyoung seems to be coming toward him slowly, and he's holding something. Sunwoo glances down at Jinyoung's hands. He's holding an apple.
Then at that moment, everything seems to stop-
-time freezes-
-and a car appears out of nowhere and hits Jinyoung on the side.
Sunwoo wants to scream, "No!" but it's too late.
**
Sunwoo rushes Jinyoung to the hospital along with the other people who had seen the accident on the road. Distraught, Sunwoo stays in Jinyoung's room for only a few minutes before he runs out. He can't bear to see him in a hospital bed.
He runs and runs and runs until Sunwoo doesn't know where he's running anymore, and ends up back on the cliff. The cliff that he had taken Jinyoung to, a couple of weeks ago. With nowhere else to turn, Sunwoo drops to his knees and prays. His words get mixed in with his tears.
If only there's some way for Jinyoung to survive, he thinks, as he cries. Some way for him to live. To see.
**
The boy is coming conscious. The young doctor rushes to the boy's bedside and takes the cover that had been over his eyes.
The boy opens his eyes, and then blinks, once, twice. The doctor's face comes into view.
"Jinyoung?" says the doctor, kindly. "Can you hear me? How do you feel?"
Jinyoung blinks again, for a third time. "I can... I can see," he says, awed. He looks into the doctor's face. "I can see."
The doctor looks just as surprised as Jinyoung feels. But then the doctor smiles. "This is a miracle," he says. "You can see."
"I can see!" Jinyoung exclaims, almost laughs. He looks down at his hospital gown, the bright sunlight outside, the doctor's face beaming down at him. "I can see!"
Then he sobers. "Where's... Where's Sunwoo?"
"Who?" says the doctor.
But before Jinyoung can repeat his question, the door opens and a woman pops her head into the room.
"Junghwan?" she says to the doctor. "This has been left out at the front door. It had this patient's room number on it."
She's holding a small cage, with a small tag. In the cage is a snow white mouse.
Jinyoung gets up from his bed, and, ignoring Junghwan's exclamations for him to get some rest, takes the cage from the woman's hand. The woman leaves. Jinyoung bends down and looks at the mouse. The mouse runs over to him and twitches his nose.
"Hi," Jinyoung whispers to the mouse.
Junghwan comes to Jinyoung from behind. "You should get back into bed," he tells him, though smiling.
Jinyoung looks up at him. "Can I bring this with me?" he asks, holding up his cage.
"Of course," says Junghwan. He helps Jinyoung back to the bed and puts the blankets on. Then he rests a hand on top of Jinyoung's, lingering a little too long.
"Call me if you need help, okay?" he says to Jinyoung.
Jinyoung looks up at him, beaming. "Okay."
Then he smiles down at his small white mouse.
**
Sunwoo smiles back.
Char/Pair: Baro/Jinyoung
Genre: (hinted at) romance/slash, fluff, drama
Rating: G
A/N: This was for kantamu, over at melodicword. My awesome prompt was 老鼠爱大米
For reference, Baro is Sunwoo and Sandeul is Junghwan ^^
Clouds cover the sky, but Sunwoo can't stop himself from smiling. He pedals on his bike, looking to the side for the right house. Forty-four, forty-five, forty-six... ah. Sunwoo stops and gets off his bike, parking it on the side of the street.
He picks out a potted plant, full of marigolds, from the case attached to the back of his bike. Still smiling, he opens the gate of number forty-seven and then knocks on the front door.
It's a few seconds when Jinyoung answers the door. Sunwoo smiles even more, though he knows that Jinyoung can't see it.
"Sunwoo?" says Jinyoung, blinking. "Is that you?"
"Yes," says Sunwoo. He beams and grabs Jinyoung's hand without a word, and then leads him to Jinyoung's own front garden. He places the plant on the top shelf of one of the racks.
Jinyoung chuckles from behind him. "You should let me know when you're guiding me somewhere," he teases. "I was lost for a moment."
"You should be used to it by now," Sunwoo teases right back. "I've been doing this since the beginning without saying a word."
"And you still scare me." Jinyoung laughs. Sunwoo doesn't need to see him to know that Jinyoung looks beautiful.
Sunwoo adjusts the other plants on the shelf-the plants he's brought here before-and then turns back around to Jinyoung. He touches his shoulder, gently.
"I'll be back later, okay?" he says.
Jinyoung smiles at him. It's ten times better than the sound of his laugh.
"You always are."
**
In the afternoon, after Sunwoo's made all his stops-being a gardener is fun, but delivering the plants is even more fun-he stops by Jinyoung's house again. He knocks on the door. It opens in an instant, as if Jinyoung's been waiting for him.
"Sunwoo, it's you, right?" says Jinyoung. "I'd feel stupid if it isn't."
Sunwoo bites back a laugh and says in a deep voice, "No, it's the mailman."
Jinyoung's cheeks flush pink, although Sunwoo doesn't know if Jinyoung knows this. "Oh," says Jinyoung, frowning. He bites his bottom lip. Then a look of recognition passes over his face, and he reaches out hesitantly to whack Sunwoo on the arm.
"Sunwoo! That is you, isn't it?"
Sunwoo laughs this time. "How did you know?"
"I have a mail lady."
"Oh." Sunwoo blushes this time, and is glad Jinyoung can't see.
"So," says Jinyoung, coming with him outside and letting Sunwoo guide him to the bench in his small garden. "What do you have for me today?"
Sunwoo smiles. He always has something for Jinyoung when he's done work.
"I went grocery shopping," he says. "And I bought apples."
"Apples!" Jinyoung's face positively glows. Sunwoo knows Jinyoung loves apples. Not the taste or the texture, but the smell, the feel.
Sunwoo pulls out an apple from his jacket pocket and places it into Jinyoung's hands. Jinyoung delicately brings it up to his face, and inhales deeply.
He turns to Sunwoo, and even though Sunwoo knows he can't see him, he feels that Jinyoung is looking right at him.
"Thank you, Sunwoo," he says.
**
Sunwoo stops at Jinyoung's house in the morning again, like he always does. He brings out the marigolds once more-Jinyoung loves marigolds, he knows-and knocks on the door.
Like always, Jinyoung opens up.
"Sunwoo," he greets, with a small smile on his face. Sunwoo doesn't think he's seen anything better.
"Hi Jinyoung," he says, almost shyly. He takes Jinyoung's slender hand and leads them outside, and places the plant in the garden before settling down on the bench. He doesn't say anything, suddenly too aware of himself.
Jinyoung turns to him, empty eyes gazing into Sunwoo's. "What's wrong?" he asks. Sunwoo thinks it's amazing that even though Jinyoung can't see, he just knows.
"Nothing," says Sunwoo. He blushes when Jinyoung moves in closer, to feel him better.
He clears his throat and reaches into his jacket pocket. It's the apple he's supposed to give Jinyoung this afternoon-he only brings flowers in the mornings-but he knows that it hardly matters. "Here," he says, putting the apple in Jinyoung's palm.
Jinyoung brightens up and feels it. "Is it an apple?" he asks eagerly, almost like a little child. "It is, isn't it?"
Sunwoo nods. Jinyoung doesn't see, of course; but he puts his hand in Sunwoo's and lets him feel the apple as well. Their fingers intertwine, nothing in between.
**
It's the afternoon, and Sunwoo can't help grinning as Jinyoung goes around in his tiny garden, stepping on the grass carefully and smelling each potted plant, his face lighting up each time he recognizes the plant.
"Gardenias!" he exclaims when he sniffs a plant Sunwoo had brought him when Jinyoung had gone through his gardenia phase. Jinyoung continues sniffing along the gardenias, until he comes to a bushel of flashy purple flowers. "And... petunias?"
"Yep," says Sunwoo from the garden bench.
Jinyoung tucks his hair back and moves to the next row. Sunwoo admires the way his long eyelashes close over his eyelids, the way the sun shines all around him.
"Chrysanthemums, poppy, and... what's this?" Giggling, Sunwoo reaches his hand out to the shelf, feels around before his hand closes around something round and small.
"An apple?" he says. "Sunwoo, what's an apple doing in here?"
Sunwoo laughs. "I just wanted to see if you could find it."
"Well I found it all right!" Jinyoung turns to him. He seems to consider his surroundings. Then, before Sunwoo realizes it, an apple is sailing through the air and hits him right on the cheek.
"Hey!" he says as the apple falls and rolls to the ground. Rubbing his face, he looks to the apple, bewildered, then back to Jinyoung. "How did you know I was here?"
Jinyoung grins. "I could smell you. Stinky." He waves a hand in front of his nose.
Sunwoo runs toward Jinyoung and throws him over his shoulder. Jinyoung shrieks, and, laughing, Sunwoo runs around the garden with Jinyoung against his back.
**
Sunwoo is biking home midday when he passes Jinyoung's house, and he suddenly has a brilliant idea to bring Jinyoung out to lunch. Grinning to himself, he turns and rides back to Jinyoung's house, then hops off and knocks on Jinyoung's door.
Jinyoung opens and looks like he's about to speak-then he catches a whiff of the air and says, "Sunwoo?"
"It amazes me how you can do that," says Sunwoo, chuckling. He takes Jinyoung's hand and brings him outside. "Come on. I was thinking we could go out together today."
"Together?" Jinyoung looks eager.
"Yeah," says Sunwoo, nodding. He walks to his bike, still holding onto Jinyoung, and then props him backwards on his seat. "Hold on," he tells him, and then gets on the seat from the front. He feels Jinyoung's back lean against his. Sunwoo's neck feels warm from the touch.
He pedals all the way to the edge of the city, where there's less traffic and more scenery. Even though he knows Jinyoung won't be able to see any of this, he knows that Jinyoung will sense it. Will smell it.
He helps Jinyoung off the bike and then leads him to a small cliff, surrounded by stone rails. He guides Jinyoung all the way to the ledge.
"We're overlooking the forest," he says. "The trees and the valley and the rivers. The sun's in the light blue sky, and birds are flying in the distance."
"Wow," says Jinyoung, leaning out a little, almost like he's trying to take all of it in with what he can.
"It's beautiful," says Sunwoo. He rests his hand on top of Jinyoung's, on the rail. "I wish you could see it."
Jinyoung turns to him, and smiles. "It's okay," he says. "I have you to see it for me."
**
Sunwoo is late this afternoon, but it's okay because he's late sometimes anyways. He knows Jinyoung always knows when he's late-but he never minds. Sunwoo doesn't know why. But it makes him like Jinyoung even more, anyways.
He sees Jinyoung already out on his porch, waiting for him. Beaming, Sunwoo considers calling out to him, but then decides not to. Jinyoung will have to cross the street then, and Sunwoo doesn't want him doing that.
But his bike tire skids a little too quickly on the pavement and Sunwoo hears Jinyoung call out, "Sunwoo? Is that you?" He gets up from his bench and runs out, pushes his gate open, and into the street.
"Get back!" Sunwoo wants to call out, but he's too fixated on Jinyoung. Jinyoung seems to be coming toward him slowly, and he's holding something. Sunwoo glances down at Jinyoung's hands. He's holding an apple.
Then at that moment, everything seems to stop-
-time freezes-
-and a car appears out of nowhere and hits Jinyoung on the side.
Sunwoo wants to scream, "No!" but it's too late.
**
Sunwoo rushes Jinyoung to the hospital along with the other people who had seen the accident on the road. Distraught, Sunwoo stays in Jinyoung's room for only a few minutes before he runs out. He can't bear to see him in a hospital bed.
He runs and runs and runs until Sunwoo doesn't know where he's running anymore, and ends up back on the cliff. The cliff that he had taken Jinyoung to, a couple of weeks ago. With nowhere else to turn, Sunwoo drops to his knees and prays. His words get mixed in with his tears.
If only there's some way for Jinyoung to survive, he thinks, as he cries. Some way for him to live. To see.
**
The boy is coming conscious. The young doctor rushes to the boy's bedside and takes the cover that had been over his eyes.
The boy opens his eyes, and then blinks, once, twice. The doctor's face comes into view.
"Jinyoung?" says the doctor, kindly. "Can you hear me? How do you feel?"
Jinyoung blinks again, for a third time. "I can... I can see," he says, awed. He looks into the doctor's face. "I can see."
The doctor looks just as surprised as Jinyoung feels. But then the doctor smiles. "This is a miracle," he says. "You can see."
"I can see!" Jinyoung exclaims, almost laughs. He looks down at his hospital gown, the bright sunlight outside, the doctor's face beaming down at him. "I can see!"
Then he sobers. "Where's... Where's Sunwoo?"
"Who?" says the doctor.
But before Jinyoung can repeat his question, the door opens and a woman pops her head into the room.
"Junghwan?" she says to the doctor. "This has been left out at the front door. It had this patient's room number on it."
She's holding a small cage, with a small tag. In the cage is a snow white mouse.
Jinyoung gets up from his bed, and, ignoring Junghwan's exclamations for him to get some rest, takes the cage from the woman's hand. The woman leaves. Jinyoung bends down and looks at the mouse. The mouse runs over to him and twitches his nose.
"Hi," Jinyoung whispers to the mouse.
Junghwan comes to Jinyoung from behind. "You should get back into bed," he tells him, though smiling.
Jinyoung looks up at him. "Can I bring this with me?" he asks, holding up his cage.
"Of course," says Junghwan. He helps Jinyoung back to the bed and puts the blankets on. Then he rests a hand on top of Jinyoung's, lingering a little too long.
"Call me if you need help, okay?" he says to Jinyoung.
Jinyoung looks up at him, beaming. "Okay."
Then he smiles down at his small white mouse.
**
Sunwoo smiles back.