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When the sun rises, the moon sets. When the moon rises, the sun sets. They give each other their spotlight— to be the centre of the land’s sky. The Sun and Moon constantly revolve around the same Earth on opposite ends.
Jisung passes through the door of Chenle’s room, carrying the said boy in his arms as the other continues to slur his words together. Jisung was careful with his actions not to hit their heads on the door frame.
“Jeez, how much did you drink?” Jisung asks as he lays Chenle down on his bed.
“Just enough, Jisung-ah,” Chenle replies with the semblance of a smug, but his dazed, curved eyes say otherwise. “I’m fine.”
Jisung simply nods as he brushes the hair out of Chenle’s eyes, noticing the red, puffy eyebags forming from their weeks of rehearsal. He fetches a bottle of water from their dorm’s fridge with his pouch filled with throat medication and places it gently on his nightstand as he turns on his lamp.
“You didn’t have to take those shots for me, you know,” Jisung says as he sits at the edge of the bed. “Now you reek of alcohol.”
“You’d be drunk out of your mind if I didn’t,” Chenle protests, sleepy, “I deserve a thank you.” Pouting his cherry lips.
Have you ever wondered if the Sun and Moon could meet each other? They’re always chasing after one another, yet they never seem to meet.
“Thank you.” Jisung complies, seeing the way Chenle’s smile widens.
“A hyung at the end would’ve been appreciated.” The other teases.
“Yeah,” Jisung shook his head, placing a light flick on the other’s forehead, “No.”
They giggle and smile at each other as they recall stories about younger and newer members of their group. To the small instances in their practice room, recording room, dorm or variety shows.
“I wonder if the hyungs felt like this before they left,” Chenle says as his laughter dies down.
“What?”
“Mark-hyung, Jeno, Jaemin, Renjun and Haechan-hyung.” Looking back at Jisung, “I wonder if they also felt this empty the night before their graduation.”
Jisung stops in his tracks. It’s been a while since he’s heard those names, but it still leaves a familiar sting in his chest.
“You’re not technically leaving,” Jisung prompts, “I mean, we’re still in the same group.”
“I know, but I want to be on the same stage as you.” Looking up at the moon through his bedroom window.
Jisung shifts his weight on Chenle’s bed, leaning forward towards the floor beneath him. He wonders if he’d be the same when it’s his turn to graduate, but who would he talk to? The people who were there with him— in the beginning— will no longer be with him at the end. Chenle would be in his group, possibly with Renjun-hyung, and he would be here alone.
Every 18 months, a solar eclipse is said to happen on Earth. “A solar eclipse happens when, at just the right moment, the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth”. You have to be at the right place and time to witness it.
“Do you think there’s a world where we could be together?” Chenle asks as he places his hand on Jisungs, still looking at the moon above him.
“I don’t know, maybe.” Jisung wonders if there is a world— possibility for them to be together, but it seems this reality is too far gone from that. “The closest would be the end-of-the-year performances, I guess.”
“What about just us?”
“Just us on stage?”
“Sure,” Chenle shrugs, “But I mean, just us in the car, the dorm, in bed,” Chenle said as he closed his eyes, smiling quietly. “Just us together, Jisung-ah.”
Jisung panics from what he heard— his body revolting away from Chenle, but his hand caught in Chenle’s grip. His attention caught in Chenle’s pleading eyes.
A solar eclipse is said to last from a few seconds to less than ten minutes. In that period, the Earth cools as the Sun and Moon come face-to-face.
He leans down, resting on his forearms as he cups Chenle’s face between his hand, watching the other confide in it. He wants it— a world where it’s just them. A world where he doesn’t need to worry if this stage will be the last. He doesn’t need to worry if this month is when Chenle needs to start packing. That, some world, he doesn’t have to worry if they’d become awkward and distant after not spending each day together. An alternate universe where Jisung wouldn’t have to wonder if he’d ever feel the same way for someone else. He wonders what if, what if they… but he never got to finish those thoughts. He could only have so many what-ifs until he realises that this is their reality, and no condition would change its course. He wants him— he wants Chenle so much, but it’s not enough.
“You should get some sleep.” He whispers as he watches Chenle flutter his eyelashes at him.
“Tell me a story,” He says, “For me to sleep.”
“Alright,” Jisung whispers, “Once upon a time, in a world far away, there lived two boys,” He starts as he rubs circles with his thumb at the back of Chenle’s hand. “One of them was older by a few months, but the younger was still way more mature,” stopping to watch the way Chenle’s shoulder jitters when he laughs. “And in their world where they were far away and on their own, they could do anything, so they did everything together.”
In the world Jisung imagines for him and Chenle, he tells him they’d go out and try new things every month— from pottery to decorating cakes or simply playing with legos. They’d go to all sorts of places and try out the food and arcades around the area until they were full and tired. In this world, they’ll perform on the same stage regularly, possibly with their hyungs too. Their days would end with them on the same bed, under the same blanket and in each other’s arms, only for the next day to arrive where they’d see each other’s horrible bed hair. They’d be happy— they’d be happy together.
It's a superstition that a great evil would come after a solar eclipse— igniting fear, but maybe the great evil was just time moving them away from each other. Fear for when they’d have to be apart again.
Jisung pulls the blanket over Chenle’s shoulders, watching the other boy’s body go lax. He’ll miss this, Jisung thinks— he’ll miss him, he’s sure. He then gives a soft kiss on Chenle’s cheek before heading out, but as he leaves, he hears a faint voice and a message that makes the air colder.
“Thank you, leader-nim .”