Secrets

The Sun Cries to the Moon

"Bye," Jasper murmured to Calvin, who kissed him so close to the salutation that it nearly cut him off. Jasper kissed him back. "I'll be back soon."

Calvin fixed Jasper's hair for a close second. Jasper smelled like rain and vanilla and books and everything comforting. His breath was like roses brushing against his skin, the faint touch of thorns reminding him of Jasper's demons. His entire presence was a universe, forceful, and yet shy and subtle and just simply...there. He was just there, but marveled at by people when they looked at him, just like the night sky. They envied his expansiveness, the sparkle in his eyes, the exciting mystery behind a silent, terrifying wash of the cerulean blue speckled with beauty and wonder. His face and skin were soft as porcelain, mimicking the moon's dusty colorless hue, brightened by pale peachy tones and blood. Calvin's eyes locked onto Jasper's, wondering how the colors of the rainbow could be trapped in one person's set of orbs. His eyes started out black at his pupils. They broke out into a deep brown, like the soil in a rainforest, auburn hues finding a way into the mix. Splintering off from the beautiful brown was a milky coffee tone, like the mocha he'd had the day before, and yellow lines streaked through it. From that was green, the green of spring and the stripes adorning his shirt. Blue faded from the green, icy like snow, but somehow pushing out a warm feeling that made Calvin's heart wrench. Ringing around the color wheel was a strip of grey, warm and inviting, normal for every pair of eyes but somehow special all his own. Calvin's heart wrenched again, pushing against his chest.

Jasper's eyes told his entire story using color as its medium. The browns signified the normality, the deepest of the two representing the warmth of his family. From the brown went into the green, green like the numbers on a hospital monitor, green like the grass his father was buried under, green with his subtle envy of the happiness of children. The blue was his winter, the vice he felt in the years Calvin had abused him in school, the grief he felt when he saw his mother, blue like the tears in his eyes on so many occasions, blue like his favorite color.

Calvin bit his lower lip, deep in thought about Jasper, like he did for a total of at least three hours a day. He kissed Jasper sweetly, trying to smile on it. He let him go gently, toying with Jasper's fingers. "Okay. Remember your inhaler." He patted his cheek before stepping out Jasper's front door. "Love you."

"Love you too," he whispered.

Calvin flashed him his best smile, ran his thumb over Jasper's lips as his hand slipped away from his face, and walked off to the sidewalk. Jasper said a last-minute goodbye to him, and Calvin blew him a kiss. Jasper's cheeks pinked at this just slightly, and then he closed the door. He stood there for a moment, thinking about Calvin's eyes. They were so blue. They were his favorite color. So deep and light and friendly, cold and intimidating to others, but warm and loving to him. They exhibited flecks and streaks of yellow, breaking the blueness. His eyes were burned into his mind, bright in the darkness, illuminated by the sun, gazing at him and only him the way people who loved each other gazed. His heart fluttered. Calvin was the sun. His hair was bleached by it, his eyes were the sky it hung in, his skin was kissed by it. When he touched him it felt like the sun radiating heat on a sunny day. When he spoke it was the warmest tone. When he smiled it was beautiful, just like the sun.

Jasper sighed smilingly and made his way to his mother's doorway. He stood outside of it for a moment, and leaned on the doorframe. "Mom," he said softly. "Mom," he repeated a little louder, "it's time to get up. I have that therapy thing today."

"Again already?" his mother's drowsy voice slurred. "What time again...?" Her hand ran through her brown hair and then fell with a thump back onto the mattress. "Ugh."

"At nine," Jasper answered her. "It's seven forty-five right now."

Her head lifted off her pillow to look at him. "Look at you all dressed and waking me up. Did you have to grow up?"