Bucket List- MashiKyu [A Treasure Fanfiction]

10. Sunset, Again

"How is he?" I ask the doctor.

I'm waiting outside of Mashiho's hospital room, debating whether or not I should go in and give him the good news. While I was waiting outside, one of the doctors in their white coats came by, and he started talking to me about Mashiho and his condition.

"He's doing unexpectedly well," the doctor says. "Most patients with CJD would've already started to experience their memory loss and dementia, not to mention a whole lot of other symptoms, but he seems to be doing well."

Unexpectedly well. That's new.

"Has he started to have memory loss and dementia?" the doctor asks me. "You spend a lot of time around him."

"Well..." I trail off. "Last Sunday, when we went to the flower festival, he told me he saw me the day before when it'd been three weeks since I last saw him. And then he said maybe it might've been a hallucination. And his personality seems a bit..."

"Off?" the doctor finishes my sentence.

I nod. "He used to always argue for his side, back when we were trainees and around debut. It was always the cutest thing to see him arguing... but lately, he just kind of gave up when we were arguing over little things. It wasn't arguing, really, more lighthearted than that."

The doctor writes this down on his clipboard, and gestures for me to go on in.

I knock twice on the hard wooden door, waiting for Mashiho to come and open it, as always.

Mashiho just barely opens the door, poking his head out. "Junkyu?" he asks.

I wave at him. "Hi!" I say.

"Why'd you come today? We didn't have any plans," he says.

I shrug. "No reason, I just felt like it."

"Should we do something today?" I offer, sitting down on his bed next to him. "Where's the bucket list?"

He reaches for it, sitting on the bedside table.

I take it from him and flip through the pages until I reach the bucket list. "We need some more ideas," I say.

He nods. "What should we do?"

"What time is it?" I ask.

He checks the clock on the wall. "It's 6:45," he says.

"We could watch the sunset again," I offer. "It's probably almost time."

He shrugs. "That works."

I pull my phone out and check when the sunset is. "Sunset starts at 7:13. Should we hang out here for a bit longer?"

"Sure," he says indifferently.

"Let's come up with ideas for next week," I offer.

He finds a pen on the bedside table, and we start looking on Google for more ideas or touristy attractions.

"How's everything with the group?" he asks suddenly.

"Huh?" I ask. "Oh, most things are good. It's nice to be done with busy schedules, so everyone can do what they want pretty freely."

He nods. Is that a hint of disappointment I see in his eyes?

"Oh, but we still miss you," I add quickly. "Ooh! We had some big news a week ago; I forgot to tell you."

"What happened?" he asks.

I smile. "Haruto and Jeongwoo got together."

"Oh?" he says, raising his eyebrows.

Since YGTB, other than us, Haruto and Jeongwoo have always been the other two who Treasure Makers ship. I've known that Jeongwoo liked Haruto for a long time, and Mashiho knew about Haruto's crush on Jeongwoo, so it was a perfect match. Since debut, Mashiho and I were both hoping for them to get together sometime.

We chat for a bit longer, talking about the group and what's been happening, until Mashiho stands up and says, "It's 7. Wanna go up to the roof?"

"Sure!" I say, taking his hand and walking up the stairwell with him.

He pushes the door open to the rooftop, and steps out onto the rooftop, waiting for me.

The sun's orange, slowly descending below the skyline. In the glow of the golden light, Mashiho's face is illuminated orange and gold, and he leans against the railing, holding my hand as we gaze over the city, watching the sun fall behind the horizon.

"It's even prettier than last time," I say.

He nods, but he's focused on watching the sunset. I turn away from him and watch the sun setting with him, and in the moment, all I can think of are the lyrics to Orange.

I feel like I'll go home while feeling regretful; I want to spend more time with you; Just like the sun goes down, it will rise again; I want to see you tomorrow again.

"It's really... beautiful today," Mashiho says.

"Mashi," I say, pausing. "I-"

"I love you, Junkyu," he says, still turned away from me.

"Hey, that's my line! What are you, a mind reader?" I ask."

He sighs, letting out a small breath. "I- I'm scared for our future, Junkyu. I know we can't get too used to it because I'm not gonna be around forever but we should at least m-"

"Make the most of it," I finish his sentence.

"Exactly," he smiles.

"Promise me this," I say. He turns to look at me, and I continue. "Promise me you'll never regret these moments."

"I promise," he says.

I lean over and kiss him again, and I'm reminded of the night I kissed him in the snow. I close my eyes and lose myself to him. The light of the gold sun setting and the sounds of the bustling city below us are drowned out by a small gasp that escapes from him. I laugh and pull away, looking him in the eyes.

"I love you too, my Mashi."