Asunder

Chapter 27 - Beautiful

Why is it such a familiar feeling? Why do I feel like I've been here once before? In the midst of his art, of his soul shining brightly in the room.

I must've seen this before. I must've felt this before. Maybe when I first saw him. A freeing, an unleashing. Nothing hides, nothing shies away, and this space becomes wall-less and limitless, becomes filled with all that is beautiful.

Beautiful. That's the only word coming close enough to the way he's dancing. It's like he's crying, or laughing, or singing. It's like everything of his is finally here, and I only get to see a glimpse.

But a glimpse is enough. I'm not sure if I'm breathing as I watch him, witness him bending the air, flying free, every movement flickering with emotion, in flawless lines. He's lost, he's lost in this feeling, in between his moves and the lyrics and the music, and I get lost with him.

His body mourns bitterly, revealing, bit by bit, a truth so strikingly blue that I begin to cry. But I hold myself back, if only not to distract myself from him.

This side of him... I've never seen it before. And I never want to forget this truth. I haven't known him before this. Before the sadness in his eyes, in every wave of his body. He is living, breathing emotion. Music. Art. And it's unlike anything else under the sky.

Beautiful. That's what he is.

He gets on his knees, back on his feet, pulls at his chest as if to feel his heart. Everything is laid bare in precious reveal, in a secret so grand I'm afraid to move. To break this. And he spins with the music, climbing onto the crescendo, mouthing the words unconsciously. Breathing the music in, exhaling himself out.

And when the movements becomes as simple as they started out to be, bare and vulnerable, I can't feel the floor beneath me. I can only feel him, falling back onto his knees. I lean towards him, every inch of my own body mirroring the pain in his. In his eyes.

And the music stops. He blinks, and stands slowly. A heavy tear falls onto my cheek.

"That's it," he sighs, not glancing at me for a split-second. I wipe at my face, even as more tears threaten to spill. And I can't bring myself to smile. I am beyond that. This was beyond that.

He speaks in a way I've never heard before. Except for a few midnights on my balcony. "The... the first song was one that I'm learning in class, for hip-hop." He still won't look at me. I rise to my feet. "And this second one was more of my own... thing. It's weird. I took some stuff from watching my friends doing ballet, and other guys doing modern and contemporary." I take a step closer to him. "It's all mixed up, but... that's..." his words trail off into the air, and his gaze loses its way on the ground.

I push off my heels to run, and throw my arms around him.

"Sky..."
His arms slowly wrap around me. 
"That was the most beautiful gift." I try to control my shudders, pressed here against his chest. "Thank you, until infinity, for showing me."

I raise my hands to press to my eyes, but he doesn't let go. He only pulls me in closer. "I could show you everyday," he offers, and it's so earnest and blue, so true to him that I can feel it. And that more tears well up in my eyes.

This time I can't contain a sob hidden under a laugh. The room is so quiet after his dancing, his confessions still hanging in the air in ghost traces of his movements. My fists grip his shirt. "I would ask to see it again, but" I sniff, "I'm already a mess as it is."

I feel a kiss pressed to the top of my head. A wave of emotion travels throughout me, something unplaceable. Something clicking into place.