Blue Skies
Title: Blue Skies
Pairing: Jonghyun/Onew
Rating: PG
Summary: In which grass is purple, water is orange, the sun is red, and Jonghyun's job is to take care of weary souls.
inspired by the song '삐리빠빠' by narsha. from the music itself as well as the lyrics.
--
Jinki knew that Jonghyun was an enigma right off the bat. He knew that he was unreal, that he didn’t really exist but in this plane where Jinki got thrown to, and as Jonghyun circled Jinki with a scrutinizing glare on his features, Jinki tried to resist the urge to curl into himself.
The man’s hair was a soft gradient of brown to blond, his eyes a honey color. He had a sensual curl of his lips and his skin was fair, the black, backwards baseball cap on his head completely out of place from his outfit. A tailored black pea coat was on his torso, the sash of it accentuating his slender waist, his jeans a dark grey with some rips in the knees. If Jinki wasn’t so sure that he wasn’t in his own dimension anymore, he’d say this kid looked more like some fashionista on the street rather than… well Jinki didn’t know what Jonghyun was.
“You’re pretty,” Jonghyun said, and as he spoke his voice lilted, a pleasant tune to Jinki’s ears. His teeth were sharp, the canines looking like they could slash through metal easily.
Jinki didn’t give a response as he continued to stand still, allowing Jonghyun to appraise him.
The red sun high above looked like it should have been blistering but it was a mild climate, the light of it casting a faint red glow over the land. Where there should have been black shadows there was just a darker shade of red.
The only think black in this world were Jonghyun’s clothes.
But aside from the crazy hair, Jonghyun didn’t have much color to him to begin with. His skin wasn’t even a peach color, it was just… fair. White.
Jonghyun waved his hands about, mumbling to himself, the white of the gloves pristine but worn, like he never took them off. The look in his eyes was wild, he looked absolutely untamable and Jinki fidgeted slightly, fingers tugging on the long sleeves of his fuzzy sweater to distract himself.
“Are you the Grim Reaper?” Jinki asked, finally.
The man jumped, as if he were too involved in his thoughts and had forgotten about Jinki’s presence. Jonghyun tilted his head this way and that, before he got up into Jinki’s personal space, tipping his head back a bit so he could look into Jinki’s eyes.
“No,” Jonghyun said simply, the smile returning to his features once more.
Ah. Jinki didn’t know what to say to that. So he continued to stay still and Jonghyun continued to stand in his presence, his gloved fingers now tracing over Jinki’s chest.
“Do you know why you’re here?” Jonghyun asked, his voice still pleasantly lilting, like everything he said was amusing to him in some manner.
“I don’t know where I am,” Jinki tested the waters, feeling a soft breath escape his lips when Jonghyun pressed his index finger into his solar plexus.
“Strange,” Jonghyun said, pulling away from Jinki. “I know where we are.”
Jinki should have gotten annoyed, this man was like a roundabout of questions and answers with nothing specific whatsoever. But Jinki smiled, and chuckled, and Jonghyun once again got into his face, the gloved tip of his finger moving over Jinki’s lower lip. It was unbearably warm.
“Even if I told you…” Jonghyun’s head ticked to the side, an act similar to how he’d flip his bangs out of his face, but Jinki knew better. Jonghyun had a crazy tick. Not a need to flip his hair. Jonghyun giggled, taking Jinki’s hand and pulling him along. Jonghyun’s hands were hot, insanely hot, and Jinki wanted to let go, he felt like his flesh was burning - Jonghyun let go after a second, and looked down at the ground.
Jinki rubbed his palm against his thigh, the denim of his jeans cooling it a bit as they continued walking. He just followed Jonghyun. It was better than standing there in the middle of nowhere, right? Even though they were entirely in Nowhere. No buildings, no people. Some trees, an orange river with some strange looking white birds floating on the current.
“You might wonder how this is possible,” Jonghyun said, turning around and walking backwards, clasping his hands behind his back.
Jinki glanced around and took in his surroundings, and then looked back at Jonghyun. “Anything is possible if you have the will for it.”
Jonghyun lifted a finger, his sharp teeth glinting in the rays of the red sun, “Ah, so then what is impossible is achieved with lack of Will?”
“N-No,” Jinki shook his head. “Nothing is impossible.”
“This is Nothing, Jinki, and it’s very possible, very real,” Jonghyun said, spreading his arms wide. “Did you have the Will to achieve it? Or the lack of one?”
Jinki couldn’t reply, as they kept walking, the purple grass around them starting to grow shorter as they trekked up a hill to see an urban slice of civilization nestled in the middle of a deep valley.
Jonghyun stood next to Jinki with a smile.
“Do you have a Will, Jinki?”
“Yes,” Jinki answered without hesitation, and Jonghyun clucked his tongue as if he was disappointed with the answer.
--
“When people get tired, they come to me,” Jonghyun said, as he and Jinki sat outside of an estranged café with a waitress that had hooves for feet.
They were sitting at an iron table with uncomfortable wooden chairs, an umbrella in the center of the table, the parasol closed. Jonghyun had his black boots up on the table and his hands behind his head, the picture of relaxation, and Jinki just held onto the mug of - what he thought was - coffee, staring down at the pink liquid.
“Are you the sand man?” Jinki asked.
Jonghyun brought his boots down from the table so quickly the iron furniture rattled, and his elbow slammed on the table as he leaned forward to point a finger in Jinki’s face, his eyes wild and wide, “Are you?”, flying off of his tongue instantly.
Jinki jumped back, shaking his head, spilling some of his coffee. The pink liquid ate through the iron table and dripped down onto the green concrete, hissing as it came into contact with the warm surface.
“I erase things,” Jonghyun said, once he settled back in his chair.
Jinki pushed his coffee away from him, “Do you control History?”
Jonghyun shook his head, scratching the side of his nose with his gloved finger. Jinki wondered if it satisfied the itch.
“You just have to trust me,” Jonghyun shrugged, his head ticking violently to the side before he stood up and held out a hand to Jinki. “Do you have Trust, Jinki?”
“Yes,” Jinki answered immediately, taking Jonghyun’s hand. It was only a fraction cooler than before, and Jinki had to pull away after about three seconds.
Jonghyun shook his head and sighed, once again disappointed with Jinki’s answer, leading him away from the table down the green sidewalk.
--
They were in the meadow again, but on the other side of the strange town. Jinki was sitting, running his hands over the purple grass that felt like normal grass even though it looked so strange, and Jonghyun was lying on his back, staring up at the sky, which seemed to be the only thing with the proper color - blue.
Jonghyun’s clothes were still the only black thing in this world.
“Can you fly?” Jonghyun asked, an arm lifting up, his fingers wiggling as a white, fluffy cloud drifted over head.
“People can’t fly,” Jinki immediately replied, looking up towards the cloud.
“Can’t we?” Jonghyun asked, his grin hiding all sorts of secrets as he stood up and dragged Jinki with him, looking up at the brunet. “Can’t you?”
Jinki didn’t know. He’d never tried.
“I’ll show you,” Jonghyun whispered, like he was sharing a huge conspiracy with Jinki.
Their hands met and Jonghyun slid his gloved hands up Jinki’s arms, fire burning in their wake. Jinki hissed, the pain of the heat was uncomfortable, not quite as intense as the first time they’d touched, and Jonghyun’s hands moved to his shoulders before he enveloped the taller boy in a hug, chest to chest as he whispered in Jinki’s ear.
“Do you think we can make it to the sun?”
Jinki looked up at the red sun, the sun that never set, the sun that never allowed nights, the sun that was always hovering in the same spot in the sky.
“Do you have Curiosity, Jinki?” Jonghyun asked.
“Yes,” Jinki answered immediately, and Jonghyun chuckled as he lifted them both up into the sky, floating them back towards the city.
--
“Do you have Love, Jinki?” this time Jonghyun started with a question.
There were no nights, there were no clocks or dates or days of the week. Jinki didn’t know how long he’d been here. But he’d been here with Jonghyun and there would be long gaps of silence - hours, perhaps - and maybe that was when they slept. Jinki could never remember sleeping.
“No,” Jinki said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his pants as they walked down a yellow cobblestone street, Jinki reminded of a fairy tale he’d heard when he was younger. The buildings were perfectly symmetrical but plain, boring, with no doors or windows. He never saw anyone enter or exit these buildings.
“Why not?” It was the first time Jonghyun had ever carried on the conversation after one of his random but perfectly placed questions.
Jinki almost didn’t know how to reply.
“It wasn’t given to me,” he finally settled on, offering a small smile and a shrug. He was shy, he was a nerd, people didn’t seek him out for anything other than answers on the next math quiz.
“Love isn’t given,” Jonghyun skipped ahead of Jinki to turn around and walk backwards, his hands fluttering about as he talked, looking like the ringmaster of a circus. “It’s taken!”
“That sounds a bit rude, doesn’t it? To take love,” Jinki said.
Jonghyun blinked and stopped walking, and then abruptly threw his head back and clutched his hands over his stomach, doubling over with laughter. He eventually fell to the cobblestones from his madness, kicking his legs out and flailing around on the bright, uneven road, and Jinki felt slightly insulted to be laughed at so openly. He had gotten enough from the world he lived in before.
“I…” Jonghyun sat up, wiping the tears that had gathered in his eyes. His baseball cap had fallen off and Jinki was staring at the other boy, transfixed by the wings that were sticking out of the gradient locks. Jonghyun hadn’t noticed yet, as he shook his head and rubbed his face, trying to rid himself of the laughter.
“Why are you laughing?” Jinki asked, crouching down to be on Jonghyun’s level. It was obvious the other wasn’t going to be able to stand up any time soon.
“Why is the sky blue?” Jonghyun asked in return, tilting his head and smirking, one of his canines teasing his thick lower lip.
Jinki looked up at the sky, which was indeed blue in this off-color world. The grass was purple, concrete was green, coffee was pink, the streets were yellow, the sun was red and the water was orange.
Why was the sky blue?
“I don’t know,” Jinki answered.
Jonghyun reached forward and cupped Jinki’s face - his gloved hands were now a moderate temperature, warmer than normal but tolerable - and he pulled the brunet so close to him their noses bumped.
“That, my friend, is the correct answer.” Excitement laced Jonghyun’s words and it was the first time he hadn’t been disappointed in Jinki’s response to his strange questions, and being so close to Jonghyun, Jinki could see the flecks of red in his honey brown eyes.
It was unnerving, it was strange - it was just like the sun.
--
“Was I tired when I came to you?” Jinki asked as they sat on the edge of the riverbed atop lilac colored sand. His fingers were in the water and he was playing with a fish that resembled a cat more than any catfish he had ever seen.
“Exhausted,” Jonghyun answered. He was sitting Indian style next to Jinki, watching the other play with the fish cat, being oddly, relatively calm.
“Why didn’t you just let me sleep?” The fish caught the tip of Jinki’s finger and sucked on it, making Jinki giggle and pull his hand back.
“You’ve been sleeping your whole life,” Jonghyun shrugged and looked directly up at the bright red sun; Jinki followed his gaze, a bit surprised that it didn’t hurt to look at the celestial being. “People come to me when they’re tired. I wake them up.”
Jinki absorbed the words, looking back down at the water to find his playmate gone. He stuck his fingers back in the orange river anyway, swirling his fingers around and touching the bright, neon blue rocks that littered the bottom.
“What do you want?” Jonghyun asked, turning his gaze from the sun to Jinki, his baseball cap crooked on his head.
“To wake up,” Jinki said. To wake up from this nightmare, he added mentally.
Jonghyun let out a harsh bark of laughter, a sound that sounded more cynical than amused.
“Jinki, you are awake.”
--
The purple grass was softer than Jinki ever remembered, as Jonghyun laid him down on it and started kissing his lips. It seemed Jonghyun’s hands were the only warm part of his body; they elicited sparks everywhere they touched Jinki, but as soon as Jinki’s hands moved to Jonghyun’s body to map out the curves under the black clothing all he felt was ice cold.
Kissing Jonghyun wasn’t an option, it wasn’t a choice but it still flowed naturally. The other had been so calm lately, his crazy tick gone and his raucous way of speaking nullified.
It infuriated Jinki.
His hands cupped Jonghyun’s face and he took the cap off of the man’s head and trailed his fingers over one of the wings, the appendage shivering in response, Jonghyun’s eyes fluttering closed.
The wings were black, like Jonghyun’s clothes.
“How come the only black thing in this world is your clothes?” Jinki asked, his voice a soft whisper against Jonghyun’s lips.
Jonghyun’s eyes opened and he regarded Jinki for a moment, before glancing down between them.
“They’re not the only black thing,” Jonghyun said slowly, eyes moving back up to Jinki’s. “Your clothes are black, too.”
Jonghyun was right.
Jinki’s clothes were black as well.
His heart sank, and Jonghyun’s kisses tasted like ash.
--
Jinki tripped over a tree root as they walked down the green sidewalk. There were no trees in the city, but the root of one was cracking the pavement, growing out of ordinance with the world, a pastel pink color.
Jonghyun frowned at the anomaly and crouched down, reaching out with a gloved hand to touch it. The tree root jolted at the touch and it let out the more horrible noise Jinki had ever heard - it was screaming - and then it retreated back to wherever it came from, the only evidence of it being there left in the cracks of the pavement.
Clapping his hands together to dust them off, Jonghyun stood up and adjusted his pea coat.
“Something’s wrong,” Jinki said, eyeing Jonghyun.
Jonghyun tilted his head, a calm, moderated movement. “With?”
“You.”
Jonghyun smiled, putting his hands in the pocket of his coat and turning around, his head lowered as he spoke to the ground.
“That, my friend, is the correct answer.”
--
Jonghyun walked Jinki to the edge of town where the green concrete met purple grass that spread for miles, seemingly endless as the red sun beat down on them and cast maroon shadows over the pavement. Jonghyun stopped and Jinki stopped as well, looking at Jonghyun with a bit of trepidation; the other man’s smile was small, it wasn’t his usual boisterous smile, his hands in his coat pockets.
“Where are we going today?” Jinki asked.
Jonghyun shook his head and let his eyes look down at the ground, “I’m not going with you.”
Jinki felt his brows knit together, as he took a step closer to Jonghyun. The man’s wings fluttered anxiously as Jinki drew closer, and Jinki tried to understand what was happening.
“Why?”
When Jonghyun’s eyes raised to Jinki’s, they were so full of sadness and despair, just brimming with loneliness. Jinki’s heart clenched and he reached up to cup Jonghyun’s cheek before he could stop himself - Jonghyun’s smile grew a bit as he leaned into Jinki’s palm, his sharp teeth worrying his lower lip.
“You’re awake. My job is done.”
Jinki’s gut felt like it was being pulled in eight different directions suddenly, his body doubling over as he was lurched away from Jonghyun. Jinki’s arms shot out of their own volition, hands reaching for Jonghyun and Jonghyun merely shook his head as Jinki got pulled further and further away into the purple meadow, the grass tickling his ankles as Jonghyun’s gradient head became smaller and smaller until the city itself disappeared.
Darkness.
The red sun was finally setting.
--
“Yah, Jinki,” Kibum drawled, waving a hand in front of Jinki’s face as the senior sat at his desk, his cheek on the surface of the table, looking listlessly outside. Kibum huffed, never pleased with being ignored, as he stuck his index finger up Jinki’s nose - Jinki sat up, then, sneezing and waving his hands before the shock of his movements overturned his chair and he sprawled out on the floor.
Kibum rolled his eyes, crouching down next to his hyung. “Why were you sleeping? The class wasn’t that boring.”
Jinki shook his head, sitting up and gathering his books.
“I wasn’t sleeping,” the brunet said as he slung his bag over his shoulder and pushed his glasses further up on his nose. “I was awake.”
Kibum looked entirely disbelieving, but didn’t comment as Jinki left the classroom.
--
Jinki leaned against a tree in the park by his house, letting his bag fall off of his shoulder and thud to the ground. The grass was green, coffee was brown, water was clear. He tipped his head back and looked up at the sky, letting out a few breaths and taking them in slowly.
The sky was grey with clouds.
“Why is the sky grey…” he whispered to himself, closing his eyes and sinking down to the ground, his back to the tree as he hugged his knees to his chest.
Whistling and the sound of someone kicking a can reached his ears after a while, and Jinki rested his cheek on his knee, opening his eyes to see someone walking towards him. The park was deserted, it was late now, but this person didn’t have a care in a world, hands stuffed in their pockets as they whistled a careless tune, only stepping out of line on the sidewalk when they kicked the can in a stray direction.
Jinki could only see gradient hair when the kid stood in front of him, hands still in his pockets.
“Yah,” the stranger called to Jinki, and the brunet glanced up, surprised to see Jonghyun standing in front of him.
Jinki’s heart leapt into his throat.
“Am I asleep?” Jinki asked, glancing around for a second.
Jonghyun shook his head, crouching down, his head giving a tick to the right, a vein in his neck bulging a bit with the violent action. His smirk was sly, his teeth were sharp, and his eyes looked like the red sun.
“Jinki,” Jonghyun asked, as he finally pulled his hands out of his pockets.
Jinki stared at the other’s hands, marveling at the flawless skin, the slender fingers and the big palms. He had never seen Jonghyun without gloves. He looked up at the other boy to show he was listening, and Jonghyun leaned in close, his lips brushing over Jinki’s, the words a tune on the back of the wind.
“Why is the sky grey?” Jonghyun asked.
Jinki took a moment to think, his eyes looking at everything so familiar about Jonghyun; the wings on his head, the red of his eyes, the promise of his teeth sinking into flesh. His clothes were no longer black, they were a navy blue much like Jinki’s own school uniform, and Jinki let out a breath, pressing his lips to Jonghyun’s.
“I don’t know.”
He knew that was the right answer without Jonghyun having to tell him.
Pairing: Jonghyun/Onew
Rating: PG
Summary: In which grass is purple, water is orange, the sun is red, and Jonghyun's job is to take care of weary souls.
inspired by the song '삐리빠빠' by narsha. from the music itself as well as the lyrics.
--
Jinki knew that Jonghyun was an enigma right off the bat. He knew that he was unreal, that he didn’t really exist but in this plane where Jinki got thrown to, and as Jonghyun circled Jinki with a scrutinizing glare on his features, Jinki tried to resist the urge to curl into himself.
The man’s hair was a soft gradient of brown to blond, his eyes a honey color. He had a sensual curl of his lips and his skin was fair, the black, backwards baseball cap on his head completely out of place from his outfit. A tailored black pea coat was on his torso, the sash of it accentuating his slender waist, his jeans a dark grey with some rips in the knees. If Jinki wasn’t so sure that he wasn’t in his own dimension anymore, he’d say this kid looked more like some fashionista on the street rather than… well Jinki didn’t know what Jonghyun was.
“You’re pretty,” Jonghyun said, and as he spoke his voice lilted, a pleasant tune to Jinki’s ears. His teeth were sharp, the canines looking like they could slash through metal easily.
Jinki didn’t give a response as he continued to stand still, allowing Jonghyun to appraise him.
The red sun high above looked like it should have been blistering but it was a mild climate, the light of it casting a faint red glow over the land. Where there should have been black shadows there was just a darker shade of red.
The only think black in this world were Jonghyun’s clothes.
But aside from the crazy hair, Jonghyun didn’t have much color to him to begin with. His skin wasn’t even a peach color, it was just… fair. White.
Jonghyun waved his hands about, mumbling to himself, the white of the gloves pristine but worn, like he never took them off. The look in his eyes was wild, he looked absolutely untamable and Jinki fidgeted slightly, fingers tugging on the long sleeves of his fuzzy sweater to distract himself.
“Are you the Grim Reaper?” Jinki asked, finally.
The man jumped, as if he were too involved in his thoughts and had forgotten about Jinki’s presence. Jonghyun tilted his head this way and that, before he got up into Jinki’s personal space, tipping his head back a bit so he could look into Jinki’s eyes.
“No,” Jonghyun said simply, the smile returning to his features once more.
Ah. Jinki didn’t know what to say to that. So he continued to stay still and Jonghyun continued to stand in his presence, his gloved fingers now tracing over Jinki’s chest.
“Do you know why you’re here?” Jonghyun asked, his voice still pleasantly lilting, like everything he said was amusing to him in some manner.
“I don’t know where I am,” Jinki tested the waters, feeling a soft breath escape his lips when Jonghyun pressed his index finger into his solar plexus.
“Strange,” Jonghyun said, pulling away from Jinki. “I know where we are.”
Jinki should have gotten annoyed, this man was like a roundabout of questions and answers with nothing specific whatsoever. But Jinki smiled, and chuckled, and Jonghyun once again got into his face, the gloved tip of his finger moving over Jinki’s lower lip. It was unbearably warm.
“Even if I told you…” Jonghyun’s head ticked to the side, an act similar to how he’d flip his bangs out of his face, but Jinki knew better. Jonghyun had a crazy tick. Not a need to flip his hair. Jonghyun giggled, taking Jinki’s hand and pulling him along. Jonghyun’s hands were hot, insanely hot, and Jinki wanted to let go, he felt like his flesh was burning - Jonghyun let go after a second, and looked down at the ground.
Jinki rubbed his palm against his thigh, the denim of his jeans cooling it a bit as they continued walking. He just followed Jonghyun. It was better than standing there in the middle of nowhere, right? Even though they were entirely in Nowhere. No buildings, no people. Some trees, an orange river with some strange looking white birds floating on the current.
“You might wonder how this is possible,” Jonghyun said, turning around and walking backwards, clasping his hands behind his back.
Jinki glanced around and took in his surroundings, and then looked back at Jonghyun. “Anything is possible if you have the will for it.”
Jonghyun lifted a finger, his sharp teeth glinting in the rays of the red sun, “Ah, so then what is impossible is achieved with lack of Will?”
“N-No,” Jinki shook his head. “Nothing is impossible.”
“This is Nothing, Jinki, and it’s very possible, very real,” Jonghyun said, spreading his arms wide. “Did you have the Will to achieve it? Or the lack of one?”
Jinki couldn’t reply, as they kept walking, the purple grass around them starting to grow shorter as they trekked up a hill to see an urban slice of civilization nestled in the middle of a deep valley.
Jonghyun stood next to Jinki with a smile.
“Do you have a Will, Jinki?”
“Yes,” Jinki answered without hesitation, and Jonghyun clucked his tongue as if he was disappointed with the answer.
--
“When people get tired, they come to me,” Jonghyun said, as he and Jinki sat outside of an estranged café with a waitress that had hooves for feet.
They were sitting at an iron table with uncomfortable wooden chairs, an umbrella in the center of the table, the parasol closed. Jonghyun had his black boots up on the table and his hands behind his head, the picture of relaxation, and Jinki just held onto the mug of - what he thought was - coffee, staring down at the pink liquid.
“Are you the sand man?” Jinki asked.
Jonghyun brought his boots down from the table so quickly the iron furniture rattled, and his elbow slammed on the table as he leaned forward to point a finger in Jinki’s face, his eyes wild and wide, “Are you?”, flying off of his tongue instantly.
Jinki jumped back, shaking his head, spilling some of his coffee. The pink liquid ate through the iron table and dripped down onto the green concrete, hissing as it came into contact with the warm surface.
“I erase things,” Jonghyun said, once he settled back in his chair.
Jinki pushed his coffee away from him, “Do you control History?”
Jonghyun shook his head, scratching the side of his nose with his gloved finger. Jinki wondered if it satisfied the itch.
“You just have to trust me,” Jonghyun shrugged, his head ticking violently to the side before he stood up and held out a hand to Jinki. “Do you have Trust, Jinki?”
“Yes,” Jinki answered immediately, taking Jonghyun’s hand. It was only a fraction cooler than before, and Jinki had to pull away after about three seconds.
Jonghyun shook his head and sighed, once again disappointed with Jinki’s answer, leading him away from the table down the green sidewalk.
--
They were in the meadow again, but on the other side of the strange town. Jinki was sitting, running his hands over the purple grass that felt like normal grass even though it looked so strange, and Jonghyun was lying on his back, staring up at the sky, which seemed to be the only thing with the proper color - blue.
Jonghyun’s clothes were still the only black thing in this world.
“Can you fly?” Jonghyun asked, an arm lifting up, his fingers wiggling as a white, fluffy cloud drifted over head.
“People can’t fly,” Jinki immediately replied, looking up towards the cloud.
“Can’t we?” Jonghyun asked, his grin hiding all sorts of secrets as he stood up and dragged Jinki with him, looking up at the brunet. “Can’t you?”
Jinki didn’t know. He’d never tried.
“I’ll show you,” Jonghyun whispered, like he was sharing a huge conspiracy with Jinki.
Their hands met and Jonghyun slid his gloved hands up Jinki’s arms, fire burning in their wake. Jinki hissed, the pain of the heat was uncomfortable, not quite as intense as the first time they’d touched, and Jonghyun’s hands moved to his shoulders before he enveloped the taller boy in a hug, chest to chest as he whispered in Jinki’s ear.
“Do you think we can make it to the sun?”
Jinki looked up at the red sun, the sun that never set, the sun that never allowed nights, the sun that was always hovering in the same spot in the sky.
“Do you have Curiosity, Jinki?” Jonghyun asked.
“Yes,” Jinki answered immediately, and Jonghyun chuckled as he lifted them both up into the sky, floating them back towards the city.
--
“Do you have Love, Jinki?” this time Jonghyun started with a question.
There were no nights, there were no clocks or dates or days of the week. Jinki didn’t know how long he’d been here. But he’d been here with Jonghyun and there would be long gaps of silence - hours, perhaps - and maybe that was when they slept. Jinki could never remember sleeping.
“No,” Jinki said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his pants as they walked down a yellow cobblestone street, Jinki reminded of a fairy tale he’d heard when he was younger. The buildings were perfectly symmetrical but plain, boring, with no doors or windows. He never saw anyone enter or exit these buildings.
“Why not?” It was the first time Jonghyun had ever carried on the conversation after one of his random but perfectly placed questions.
Jinki almost didn’t know how to reply.
“It wasn’t given to me,” he finally settled on, offering a small smile and a shrug. He was shy, he was a nerd, people didn’t seek him out for anything other than answers on the next math quiz.
“Love isn’t given,” Jonghyun skipped ahead of Jinki to turn around and walk backwards, his hands fluttering about as he talked, looking like the ringmaster of a circus. “It’s taken!”
“That sounds a bit rude, doesn’t it? To take love,” Jinki said.
Jonghyun blinked and stopped walking, and then abruptly threw his head back and clutched his hands over his stomach, doubling over with laughter. He eventually fell to the cobblestones from his madness, kicking his legs out and flailing around on the bright, uneven road, and Jinki felt slightly insulted to be laughed at so openly. He had gotten enough from the world he lived in before.
“I…” Jonghyun sat up, wiping the tears that had gathered in his eyes. His baseball cap had fallen off and Jinki was staring at the other boy, transfixed by the wings that were sticking out of the gradient locks. Jonghyun hadn’t noticed yet, as he shook his head and rubbed his face, trying to rid himself of the laughter.
“Why are you laughing?” Jinki asked, crouching down to be on Jonghyun’s level. It was obvious the other wasn’t going to be able to stand up any time soon.
“Why is the sky blue?” Jonghyun asked in return, tilting his head and smirking, one of his canines teasing his thick lower lip.
Jinki looked up at the sky, which was indeed blue in this off-color world. The grass was purple, concrete was green, coffee was pink, the streets were yellow, the sun was red and the water was orange.
Why was the sky blue?
“I don’t know,” Jinki answered.
Jonghyun reached forward and cupped Jinki’s face - his gloved hands were now a moderate temperature, warmer than normal but tolerable - and he pulled the brunet so close to him their noses bumped.
“That, my friend, is the correct answer.” Excitement laced Jonghyun’s words and it was the first time he hadn’t been disappointed in Jinki’s response to his strange questions, and being so close to Jonghyun, Jinki could see the flecks of red in his honey brown eyes.
It was unnerving, it was strange - it was just like the sun.
--
“Was I tired when I came to you?” Jinki asked as they sat on the edge of the riverbed atop lilac colored sand. His fingers were in the water and he was playing with a fish that resembled a cat more than any catfish he had ever seen.
“Exhausted,” Jonghyun answered. He was sitting Indian style next to Jinki, watching the other play with the fish cat, being oddly, relatively calm.
“Why didn’t you just let me sleep?” The fish caught the tip of Jinki’s finger and sucked on it, making Jinki giggle and pull his hand back.
“You’ve been sleeping your whole life,” Jonghyun shrugged and looked directly up at the bright red sun; Jinki followed his gaze, a bit surprised that it didn’t hurt to look at the celestial being. “People come to me when they’re tired. I wake them up.”
Jinki absorbed the words, looking back down at the water to find his playmate gone. He stuck his fingers back in the orange river anyway, swirling his fingers around and touching the bright, neon blue rocks that littered the bottom.
“What do you want?” Jonghyun asked, turning his gaze from the sun to Jinki, his baseball cap crooked on his head.
“To wake up,” Jinki said. To wake up from this nightmare, he added mentally.
Jonghyun let out a harsh bark of laughter, a sound that sounded more cynical than amused.
“Jinki, you are awake.”
--
The purple grass was softer than Jinki ever remembered, as Jonghyun laid him down on it and started kissing his lips. It seemed Jonghyun’s hands were the only warm part of his body; they elicited sparks everywhere they touched Jinki, but as soon as Jinki’s hands moved to Jonghyun’s body to map out the curves under the black clothing all he felt was ice cold.
Kissing Jonghyun wasn’t an option, it wasn’t a choice but it still flowed naturally. The other had been so calm lately, his crazy tick gone and his raucous way of speaking nullified.
It infuriated Jinki.
His hands cupped Jonghyun’s face and he took the cap off of the man’s head and trailed his fingers over one of the wings, the appendage shivering in response, Jonghyun’s eyes fluttering closed.
The wings were black, like Jonghyun’s clothes.
“How come the only black thing in this world is your clothes?” Jinki asked, his voice a soft whisper against Jonghyun’s lips.
Jonghyun’s eyes opened and he regarded Jinki for a moment, before glancing down between them.
“They’re not the only black thing,” Jonghyun said slowly, eyes moving back up to Jinki’s. “Your clothes are black, too.”
Jonghyun was right.
Jinki’s clothes were black as well.
His heart sank, and Jonghyun’s kisses tasted like ash.
--
Jinki tripped over a tree root as they walked down the green sidewalk. There were no trees in the city, but the root of one was cracking the pavement, growing out of ordinance with the world, a pastel pink color.
Jonghyun frowned at the anomaly and crouched down, reaching out with a gloved hand to touch it. The tree root jolted at the touch and it let out the more horrible noise Jinki had ever heard - it was screaming - and then it retreated back to wherever it came from, the only evidence of it being there left in the cracks of the pavement.
Clapping his hands together to dust them off, Jonghyun stood up and adjusted his pea coat.
“Something’s wrong,” Jinki said, eyeing Jonghyun.
Jonghyun tilted his head, a calm, moderated movement. “With?”
“You.”
Jonghyun smiled, putting his hands in the pocket of his coat and turning around, his head lowered as he spoke to the ground.
“That, my friend, is the correct answer.”
--
Jonghyun walked Jinki to the edge of town where the green concrete met purple grass that spread for miles, seemingly endless as the red sun beat down on them and cast maroon shadows over the pavement. Jonghyun stopped and Jinki stopped as well, looking at Jonghyun with a bit of trepidation; the other man’s smile was small, it wasn’t his usual boisterous smile, his hands in his coat pockets.
“Where are we going today?” Jinki asked.
Jonghyun shook his head and let his eyes look down at the ground, “I’m not going with you.”
Jinki felt his brows knit together, as he took a step closer to Jonghyun. The man’s wings fluttered anxiously as Jinki drew closer, and Jinki tried to understand what was happening.
“Why?”
When Jonghyun’s eyes raised to Jinki’s, they were so full of sadness and despair, just brimming with loneliness. Jinki’s heart clenched and he reached up to cup Jonghyun’s cheek before he could stop himself - Jonghyun’s smile grew a bit as he leaned into Jinki’s palm, his sharp teeth worrying his lower lip.
“You’re awake. My job is done.”
Jinki’s gut felt like it was being pulled in eight different directions suddenly, his body doubling over as he was lurched away from Jonghyun. Jinki’s arms shot out of their own volition, hands reaching for Jonghyun and Jonghyun merely shook his head as Jinki got pulled further and further away into the purple meadow, the grass tickling his ankles as Jonghyun’s gradient head became smaller and smaller until the city itself disappeared.
Darkness.
The red sun was finally setting.
--
“Yah, Jinki,” Kibum drawled, waving a hand in front of Jinki’s face as the senior sat at his desk, his cheek on the surface of the table, looking listlessly outside. Kibum huffed, never pleased with being ignored, as he stuck his index finger up Jinki’s nose - Jinki sat up, then, sneezing and waving his hands before the shock of his movements overturned his chair and he sprawled out on the floor.
Kibum rolled his eyes, crouching down next to his hyung. “Why were you sleeping? The class wasn’t that boring.”
Jinki shook his head, sitting up and gathering his books.
“I wasn’t sleeping,” the brunet said as he slung his bag over his shoulder and pushed his glasses further up on his nose. “I was awake.”
Kibum looked entirely disbelieving, but didn’t comment as Jinki left the classroom.
--
Jinki leaned against a tree in the park by his house, letting his bag fall off of his shoulder and thud to the ground. The grass was green, coffee was brown, water was clear. He tipped his head back and looked up at the sky, letting out a few breaths and taking them in slowly.
The sky was grey with clouds.
“Why is the sky grey…” he whispered to himself, closing his eyes and sinking down to the ground, his back to the tree as he hugged his knees to his chest.
Whistling and the sound of someone kicking a can reached his ears after a while, and Jinki rested his cheek on his knee, opening his eyes to see someone walking towards him. The park was deserted, it was late now, but this person didn’t have a care in a world, hands stuffed in their pockets as they whistled a careless tune, only stepping out of line on the sidewalk when they kicked the can in a stray direction.
Jinki could only see gradient hair when the kid stood in front of him, hands still in his pockets.
“Yah,” the stranger called to Jinki, and the brunet glanced up, surprised to see Jonghyun standing in front of him.
Jinki’s heart leapt into his throat.
“Am I asleep?” Jinki asked, glancing around for a second.
Jonghyun shook his head, crouching down, his head giving a tick to the right, a vein in his neck bulging a bit with the violent action. His smirk was sly, his teeth were sharp, and his eyes looked like the red sun.
“Jinki,” Jonghyun asked, as he finally pulled his hands out of his pockets.
Jinki stared at the other’s hands, marveling at the flawless skin, the slender fingers and the big palms. He had never seen Jonghyun without gloves. He looked up at the other boy to show he was listening, and Jonghyun leaned in close, his lips brushing over Jinki’s, the words a tune on the back of the wind.
“Why is the sky grey?” Jonghyun asked.
Jinki took a moment to think, his eyes looking at everything so familiar about Jonghyun; the wings on his head, the red of his eyes, the promise of his teeth sinking into flesh. His clothes were no longer black, they were a navy blue much like Jinki’s own school uniform, and Jinki let out a breath, pressing his lips to Jonghyun’s.
“I don’t know.”
He knew that was the right answer without Jonghyun having to tell him.