The World Underneath

A sound like static cracked through the air.

Namjoon looked up. A familiar face blinked into view. The same face. On every screen. Jungkook.

There was a far-off look in his eyes. His eyes, that-now that Namjoon had a chance to really see-were a bright lilac color.

Contacts, probably. They looked unnatural. Almost luminous. The kind of detail that sold well on movie posters. Soft enough to suggest vulnerability, strange enough to hold interest. They caught the light with every blink, too perfect to be real.

Namjoon didn't remember what color Jungkook's eyes had actually been. Brown, maybe. Dark

The boy Namjoon met had a certain looseness to him, a kind of easy energy that buzzed in his bones even when he was still. A gentleness in the way he carried himself.

That boy wasn't here.

Namjoon couldn't look away.

[unedited & crossposted]