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After a long day, the sky rested before them.
Jisung thought the colors of the sunset were brilliant. They bit the skyline in red fire and mixes of bright orange and yellow. From so high up, the city didn’t seem so loud—it was almost perfect.
Almost.
He sat on the skyscrapers edge and watched the sky fade from the day, and melt into the arms of night.
“I like this,” Jisung heard a soft voice from next to him. He didn’t have to turn his head to know Donghyuck was smiling, it was obvious in the ease and delight of his tone. Jisung smiled too.
“The view’s nice.”
At these words, he turned to look at Donghyuck.
The infinite sky was a potent halo floating around Donghyuck’s head, lining him in an untouchable glow. His cheeks showed the masterpiece of the sky—a golden wonder Jisung wanted so badly to reach out and touch. Donghyuck’s nose was touched in pink, whether from the cool chill of the air or from a gentle graze of the peachy sky, he didn’t know.
Either way, Jisung hummed in agreement. He thought the view was nice—gorgeous even.
Adrenaline spiked in him as Donghyuck caught him staring, yet he didn’t pull away his gaze. The grin rising on Donghyuck’s lips was so familiar it almost ripped his heart to shreds. The way their eyes connected pierced his core and burned him, starting at his cheeks.
Jisung smiled in return before quickly turning away.
“What does pink mean?” Donghyuck asked, voice soft as it floated through the wind. He tilted his head to look at the other man quizzically, but he could see Donghyuck was being sincere.
“Pink what?” Jisung countered easily.
“Your hair,” Donghyuck said, “it’s pink right now, and actually, it’s like that a lot.”
If Donghyuck's tone wasn't steeped in curiosity, Jisung would've thought he was being made fun of. Even so, Jisung thought he was going to implode from embarrassment. And this feeling only expanded in his chest as Donghyuck swung his legs up onto the ledge—criss-cross—to completely move and face him, “You said your hair changes color depending on your mood, right?”
He silently cursed the universe for giving him such a useless ability as Spider-Man.
Before he met Donghyuck, he had thought it was just a fun, slightly embarrassing addition to his new and improved body, but after learning that Donghyuck could turn invisible at will, all positive thoughts towards his hair changing abilities had faded. Of course I ended up with this, of all things. If anything, his hair changing colors had done nothing but cause him more problems, which is exactly what it was doing for him at that moment.
“So what does pink mean?”
Jisung thought of their past few weeks together, full of catching criminals, but mostly of showing Donghyuck all of his favorite spots in his city. There'd been enough time to try Jisung's favorite boedga sandwich (Donghyuck approved), comic store, video games, and now, his favorite spot to catch a glimpse of the stars.
So the question caught him off guard. He thought the answer was obvious when the color of his hair perfectly matched the blush against his cheeks whenever he was with Donghyuck, but Jisung didn’t mention that. Instead, he felt as if he were backed into a corner.
“C’mon Jisung,” Donghyuck said through an over-exaggerated pout. And Jisung could feel his cheeks reddening as Donghyuck leaned in to plead some more, “you can tell me.”
With the way he was sweating, no one would believe he was the infamous web-slinger.
“It just means I’m happy.” Jisung slightly stumbled over his words as he spoke.
And, suddenly there was a light twinkling behind Donghyuck’s eyes like nothing Jisung had ever seen before. “I’m happy when I’m with you too.”
He could hardly contain himself then. Jisung so badly wanted to reach out for Donghyuck. In what way, he didn’t quite know yet, but he wanted. Bad. There was so much honesty in Donghyuck’s words, Jisung almost didn’t mind that it suffocated him a little. Almost.
All of this startled him a little as it was unusual for him to see Donghyuck like this—so soft.
Jisung was used to the Donghyuck that scattered himself in the wind and steeled himself against the world with an iron gaze or a joyous laugh. But this Donghyuck, the Donghyuck right in front of him and maybe an inch too close, was something else.
They sat in silence for a little longer before Donghyuck spoke again, “I’ll miss it here.”
“Yeah.” Jisung said. The awkwardness of the response was cut by the chuckle to come from Donghyuck.
“Yeah…” Jisung continued, softer, “I’ll miss you too.”
These last words left his lips so hushed. Jisung felt like he would curse something if he spoke too loud. His heart felt as if it would explode at any moment.
Donghyuck just smiled a little in response, and Jisung swore he heard a part of him begin to crack. Or maybe that was his own bones beginning to bow.
There was peace in the city now. They had saved the day, as they always do, yet something in Jisung felt incomplete.
“What will you do once you…” Jisung croaked, “go back?”
He felt a welcome weight against his shoulder as Donghyuck nestled there. The tips of Donghyuck’s hair tickled his chin and caused him to shiver slightly. The warmth of his friend felt so whole, it almost felt like forever. Almost.
And just like that, the fragile thing within Jisung crashed under the weight of an instantaneous grief, and he cracked some more.
“I don’t know.” Donghyuck answered.
The oranges in the sky began to burn against navy and plum. The sky was beautiful, and Jisung pretended he couldn’t tell Donghyuck was crying. The endless wetness melted into his sweatshirt, but he didn’t mind.
“I don’t know,” Donghyuck repeated, only this time his voice filled with a melancholy that mirrored Jisung's own. He wrapped his arm around Donghyuck and pulled him impossibly close. “I guess I’ll do what I always do. Be everyone’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.”
Then a pause before he spoke again, “Just me.”
Again, he heard a crack resonate within them. Jisung understood him entirely. The endless feeling of taking on the world alone never seemed to leave. It had led him to one too many restless nights, but he hadn’t felt that in awhile, not with Donghyuck so close.
But it was inevitable that they would be forced apart, for Donghyuck wasn’t tethered to this universe in the same way Jisung was.
“You’ll still have me though,” Jisung said, trying to keep too much emotion out of his voice. “Maybe not in the same way, but you’re not alone.”
Donghyuck lifted off of Jisung’s shoulder for long enough to lean up and place a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, I needed that.”
Jisung nodded slowly as his brain processed the brush of lips. He looked down at the lack of space between them, then to Donghyuck’s lonely hand that rested on his thigh, and wondered how he would even manage to hold it.
Maybe if he reached out to touch, the last drops of sunlight would stream through his fingers, and he would be grasping at nothing. Or maybe he would find himself touching something far more tangible and real.
He didn’t know, but God he wanted to find out.
Jisung finally edged his own hand towards Donghyuck’s, and he waited with bated breath as their fingertips brushed against each other. His heart seized when Donghyuck reciprocated without sparing him a glance—intertwining their hands so easily, as if this was how they were always meant to me.
“I don’t want to say goodbye.” Donghyuck whispered as they watched the sky become almost black.
It was then that the last part of his heart that had been holding on, finally broke.
Jisung let out a bittersweet chuckle and squeezed at Donghyuck’s hand. He lifted Donghyuck’s hand—that which was pressed into his own—to his lips and placed a chaste kiss there.
“Then I’ll just say this:” Jisung spoke through a closing throat. “Until next time, Hyuck.”
After a long day, the sun sank deep into the fold of night. And for the last time, Jisung rested against Donghyuck.