Painted Blue (JOOKYUN✔️)

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Minhyuk, rail thin and brighter than the stars. Kihyun, pinched and chirpy beside him. Jooheon, stained and quiet on the back end. Hoseok watches each approach, knowing no face but the one that hides in the shadows.

He listens as they speak, the words twining to create a portrait as they grow nearer. "...finish one last corner of the sky. Jooheon, you can work on it, since you've always got your head in the clouds."

"I'm so excited for the kids to see it. Getting paid is great and all, but the mural is gonna look amazing when it's done, right Jooheon?"

Changkyun isn't at the counter right now, and Hoseok wonders if he should turn the trio away before the younger can spot the object of his affections. But all in one clouded rush, the darker cashier returns from his break, a content smile on his face as if ready to let it slip at any moment. His dark eyes are on the floor, and Hoseok's are on him. Neither man moves when the trio reaches the counter, all expecting to order quick drinks before returning to their work down the road.

Changkyun's eyes lift first, finding a short man just before him, a taller beside him. They hide a pair of broad shoulders behind them, and Changkyun doesn't question their lingering figure. He feels a frown tug his features down as he notices speckles of color staining the faces of the two men, like streaks of war-paint. Changkyun wonders what the colors look like outside of this black and white film lain over his eyes.

Hoseok parts his gaze from his younger friend abruptly, noting that Jooheon is still staring hard at the tiled ground behind his partners. "What are we having today?" Changkyun's voice is rough, months of tears thickening it almost permanently. Sometimes he considers going mute, so he doesn't ever have to hear his own words again. Unfortunately, he hasn't taken this idea too seriously yet, and it leaves him exposed to the wild lying just before him.

Jooheon, with ears so attuned to Changkyun after years of love, loss, and words spoken endlessly, could never miss the natural gruff behind the younger man's tone. He recognizes it immediately, and pushes between his friends with wide eyes.

His hair is longer, tickling the brow above his onyx eyes in a natural brown rather than the stunning blonde. Changkyun takes one long moment to recognize him, blue smeared across his cheek and down his shirtfront. Blue. A color Changkyun can finally witness.

"Jooheon," he breathes out. He does not know what to do. What to say. Where to look. He's trapped beneath the layers of pitch that Jooheon's eyes carry. He's pressed between the panes of glass in a display case, and he cannot escape. He doesn't want to.

It's taken Jooheon seventy-seven days to realize; he should have never given Changkyun the chance to do just that. Now they are both stuck here in the slowly draining moment, connections dripping onto the floor as they wait. For what, neither know, but something must happen before it ends. Someone must speak.

Someone needs to blink.

Hoseok stands in his place, his own dark eyes burning as his gaze bounces off the pair like drops of rain against the pavement. He doesn't know which to look at longer, but he finally pauses when he catches the tears that stain Changkyun's cheeks.

Changkyun has moved on. Hoseok knows it, the younger has said it so many times. But those tears mirror the blue that drips down Jooheon's skin soon enough. Tears mar both men's faces until Hoseok isn't sure who he's looking at any longer.

Changkyun has moved on. It's the final lie Hoseok can tell himself before Jooheon's lips part and he finally speaks. Blue, dark, light, and vibrant. Every shade, volume, and depth. Jooheon's words are in color, and Changkyun is wandering down the path they paint between them.