white lips, pale face (1/1)

Chanyeol stares down at the small labeled bottle laying on the table, taking measured sips of bitter coffee and leafing through an old magazine that he’s probably read from cover to cover half a dozen times already. His thoughts stray to a question that seems to plague everyone’s minds, a mystery he has yet to figure out. It makes no sense, after all, the fact that he has to take these pills before work every day, just so he could operate an airplane with one hundred percent vision. It’s not his fault that he was born seeing half the spectrum, just like everyone else, and it’s not his fault that he hasn’t found his soulmate yet, either.“When you touch your soulmate for the first time, you’ll be able to see all the colours. Until then, you’ll only see one half of the spectrum, and they’ll only see the other half.”, everyone had told him from a very young age, when he’d wondered why he couldn’t see the colours of leaves falling from a tree in mid-October, or the flames of a cigarette lighter his father used, or the sun’s rays in summer.So he takes these pills and they give him a sense of how it could be- to see the entire spectrum. But the missing half is pale and dull and not at all as vibrant as his friends have told him- the yellows are not blinding and the reds don’t remind him of warmth, and he can barely make out greens at all, as they’re in the very middle, always different for everyone.  The window is open and he can see a clear, blue sky, and it immediately makes him perk up. He’s always loved the sky, always liked to stare up at it from the grass of his parents’ backyard, watching puffy clouds make their way across and hoping that, one day, he’d be able to do the same; the sky has always been a source of wonder, a seemingly endless space to roam and explore. He’d known, ever since he’d first watched a flock of birds spreading their wings and dashing off into the unknown… that he wanted to fly when he grew up.   And that’s exactly what he did.-x-“This new flight attendant is driving me crazy.”, Jongdae complains from his seat in the cockpit, already strapped in and ready for takeoff, even though they haven’t gotten the go-ahead just yet. He groans and stares up at the many buttons in front of them, the leavers and flickering lights, and looks at Chanyeol with a bored expression adoring his features when said flight attendant opens the door to peek his head inside.The boy is short, with light hair and a button nose, and he looks no older than the two of them, though the navy blue uniform does give him a sort of professional image. His tie is a dull sort of red, almost as if it’s been washed too many times and the colour has all but faded away.“We’re good to go.”, he says in a small voice, as if he’s afraid to speak up, and Chanyeol absently notes that there is a rather prominent stain on his pants, probably spilt coffee or something like that. He remembers Jongdae complaining of spillage a few minutes ago, though he hadn’t really been listening carefully.Chanyeol gives him a thankful smile and a nod, and the boy takes it as his cue to leave, slamming the door shut behind himself and making the two men jump in surprise.“What did I tell you…”, Jongdae shakes his head.-x-Somewhere near the middle of their flight, which is going very smoothly if he does say so himself, Chanyeol begins to blink as his missing colours start to dim more and more with every passing minute. He chances a glance at the small clock on the dashboard, and suppresses a groan when it hits him that the meds are starting to wear off, heart rate picking up slightly due to the realization. f his colours fade, he’ll be at risk of compromising the flight; most of the buttons are coloured, and the airport runways are littered with lights and signs, and the radar is blinking at him in a quickly-fading red.He frowns at the window and takes a deep, steadying breath, before glancing at Jondgae.“Take over for a bit.”, is all he says, and Jongdae hums in acknowledgement, his eyes trained on the controls.Chanyeol bursts through the small door and greets passengers with a fake, tight-lipped smile and small bows, staggering towards the back where they have a medicine bag for emergencies. The flight attendants look at him funny when he passes by, stubbing his toe on seats and nearly tripping in his haste to get the meds again, blinking rapidly and cringing a little as the colours fade completely away, leaving him with hues of greys and blues and purples only. He runs into someone and barely manages to stutter out an apology before a hand is waving in front of his face.“Are you okay?”, the flight attendant, the one that Jongdae had been complaining about, asks him in the same quiet tone he’d used earlier. Chanyeol manages to read his nametag- ‘Byun Baekhyun’, it reads- before the gold fades into white and a whimper escapes between his lips as he tries to shove past the boy and get to the bag of supplies.He manages to get to it a few moments later, shouldering past a very confused looking flight attendant who follows after him immediately, but the needed medicine isn’t there.“Where’s the spectrum medication?”, he asks, voice unusually high-pitched and breathless, hands rummaging wildly through the bag even though he knows there’s nothing to find in there.He’ll get fired for this. They barely even gave him the job, saying he’s a liability, that they need full-spectrums only, that the meds were unreliable at best, hazardous at worst. And they’re right, he thinks, holding his head in shaking hands and suppressing the pressure threatening to spill over his eyes. He’ll never be able to fly again. The sky will be as distant as it had been when he was younger.“Hey-“, Baekhyun calls out, kneeling down in front of the taller with his eyebrows knitted in worry and a hand reaching out but never quite reaching Chanyeol’s shoulder, as if he’s afraid to touch.  Chanyeol lets out a humorless laugh and looks at the ground, wallowing in self-pity and frustration.“It’s okay, just-““It’s not okay!”, Chanyeol snaps suddenly, surprising the both of them. The other boy looks down at the floor and bites his lower lip, which remains gray no matter how hard Chanyeol wills himself to see its colour. He sighs and reaches out, meaning to pat the boy on the shoulder as an apology, because he’s really not as bad as Jongdae made him out to be- to be honest, he’s actually quite kind- but Baekhyun moves his hand at the same time, and their fingers brush momentarily.Chanyeol jumps back like he’s been burnt, staring up at the other boy with wide, terrified eyes and his mouth probably hanging open in a very unattractive manner. But he can’t think about that right now, because Baekhyun is biting his lip again- his pale, pink lip, which turns darker as the moments pass like hours. His tie is crooked and red, deep crimson, with white stripes, and his shoes are dark brown with cream-coloured laces.“You-““You’re my-“They stare. For what feels like hours, they just stare, eyes flying across the room frantically, taking in all the new colours. When Chanyeol blinks, he sees an explosion of reds and yellows and oranges, like the fireworks he could never fully appreciate but is absolutely in love with right now.“The sky is beautiful.”, a small voice says, earning his attention.Chanyeol nods, still staring at him.It really is.“Your cheeks are pink.”, he announces, as Baekhyun turns his gaze towards the floor once again.The boy huffs and looks up at him again, “So are yours.”His hair is light auburn, and his eyes are a honey gold shade that no amount of medication could ever replicate, and Chanyeol suppresses the sudden, intense urge to move impossibly closer and see everything in detail. A laugh escapes him then, overwhelmingly loud and altogether not loud enough to express his relief, his happiness, his gratitude.He’s twenty three years old, and he’s found his soulmate in the sky, and he won’t have to stop flying forever.-x-“You’re so beautiful.”, Chanyeol mutters into the space between their lips, swollen and red and glistening with the remnants of their many kisses, and he runs long fingers through soft strands of hair, earning a low hum of approval from the boy in his arms.Baekhyun presses a quick kiss to his nose, embarrassed at the words and too shy to accept them, even though they’re undeniably true, with his cheeks dusted a light pink and his slender arms wrapped around the other’s neck. They’re pressed together completely, with him sprawled out on top of the taller, head pressed to a warm chest that rises and falls rhythmically, soothingly.He picks at the back of Chanyeol’s blue sweater absentmindedly, content to keep quiet and not disturb the peaceful morning silence settled around them.“Do you wanna go to the park?”, Chanyeol asks him suddenly, grinning as the other nods in reply.The leaves had started to fall a few days ago, and it’s his first time seeing them in a colour other than grey, and every time he notices a particularly pretty one, he’ll give it to Baekhyun so they could save them inside a plant-pressing book. It’s childish and silly, and Chanyeol’s smile is enough of a reason for him to agree to go out in the cold weather any day.They sit under a tree, Baekhyuns hands held tightly in the warmth of Chanyeol’s own, much bigger ones because he gets cold easily, and his pale skin always turns into an angry red from the biting chill. The taller teases him for his puffy cheeks and runny nose, but he still kisses the scowl away from Baekhyun’s face as soon as it comes, replacing it, instead, with a wide smile and crescent eyes.