The Sun and Space

Gabriel leaned over the railing atop Lijiang tower, his eyelids slipping shut over his dark umber eyes. He could feel his hands tense as he gripped the bars, knowing if he was any stronger he could bend the bars in the opposite direction. His body felt heavy as he slumped against the metal, his thoughts escaping him as he fell into a trance.

The trance started as a tingling in his fingertips, his mind like a gentle breeze against wildflowers in a field. His thoughts wandered like a person lost in that acre, content and at ease. Though, his mind continued to ramble, the breeze turning into gusts of harsh wind. Just as the yellow petals bloomed, they began to wilt against the quickening wind; the tingling altered into a burning that flared into a fierce inferno in his chest, and the stems of every flower in that field were broken, every petal ripped from its pistil. The person who aimlessly wandered was now sprinting to find a way out of this endless storm of wilted blossoms and disastrous winds.

Gabriel's eyes shot open at his imagination's doing, his knuckles white and palms sweating from how tightly he held to the bars. The rude awakening caused his fiery heart to beat rapidly and his eyes to scan over his arms. The inferno in his chest lessened as he regained his senses, and more importantly the feeling in his hands. His fingers pried themselves from their curve around the railing as he breathed out. Half of him expected smoke to release from his charred lungs along with his hot breath.

Jack watched as Gabriel stood up straight with shoulders stiff as a board. He witnessed the way he tipped his head back towards the sky so he could gaze upon the beauty of space while he felt the weight of the sun crush his chest. All Jack could do was watch. As he took a few steps forward, he gripped a golden ring in his hand. The ring was the same color as the beams that radiated from Gabriel's entire being; the sun only made him more beautiful no matter how much it burned and constricted him.

Jack's mind was just as scattered as the stars that Gabriel was captivated by, his own senses beginning to become a blur. He couldn't feel his face as he grew closer to Gabriel. His eyes clouded with images of scenes of a gray sky, Gabriel nowhere to be found. He could only see the vast emptiness that would be if he didn't exist. No stars, no beautiful combustion of rays that made him the person he is, nothing.

Jack awoke to feel heat on his cold face. Gabriel was looking at him with eyes that saw straight through his freezing atmosphere. He was space and that man was his sun. Jack opened his arms as he stood opposite of Gabriel. This day was the day that the sun was engulfed by space, its tears putting out its own fires.

Jack wrapped his arms around Gabriel's neck and beckoned him down to his level just as he felt strong arms slip around his waist and pull him closer. Leaning in, Gabriel exhaled as his hands laid Jack's hips, his grip tightening as their eyes met. Ice blue met dark umber as they stared into each other's eyes, looking for reasons not to leave the embrace they had. Tears fell from Gabriel's eyes as he looked into the oceans that were Jack's, yet his face never contorted with pain or unhappiness.

Cold lips that were about to speak pressed deeply into the warmth that was Gabriel's- The Sun's. Words would never hold truer than a kiss that could pulls the tides or an embrace that could quake the earth. Without a word exchanged, Space took the Sun's hand and slid the golden band onto his ring finger.

“I promise.”