from august to december

chapter thirty six

the sun was already setting when yuri and eden had finally gotten matio to stand up and change his clothes.

the dark haired swept the broken pieces of the mirror in the bathroom away without a single comment.
the black haired opened all of the blinds together with the windows in the house without a single comment either.

"matio?"
matio nodded with a weak motion and tapped over to the en-suite bathroom in his bedroom.
"do you wanna talk about what happened?"

the assistant froze. it felt like he was living through the moment again.
he could feel his heart being ripped out again, even though he felt like when it happened for the first time, it was gone.

but he couldn't bring himself to say anything back to eden.
and the other understood.

"it's okay. i just wanted to say that you're going to be okay again. now you can move on."

the black haired had a way with words, his smooth and delicate voice made everything sound so much better than what it actually was like.
and so, matio could even smile a little for a split second.

he turned around.
"thank you, eden."

and with that, he disappeared in the bathroom. the next thing that was heard was water splashing.
the younger sighed heavily before starting to tidy up a little.

-

it was as dark outside as it had been in matio's house when they got here when they were finished.

the assistant had eaten something, he was washed up, his house had gotten some fresh air and his bedsheets were changed.

both of the men plopped into their car seats.
yuri mustered eden from the side.

"hey, can i ask you something?"

he started the engine and the road in front of matio's house was illuminated by his headlights.

eden hummed in response, placing his head against the window of the car and closing his eyes.
he was really exhausted and didn't even have the energy to speak anymore.

maybe it was already too late to ask.
so yuri held back.

"you know what, nevermind, let's just take you home."

the black haired shifted in the passengers seat and turned his head to look at the other.
"did you want to go somewhere?"

yuri chuckled in return while gripping the wheel tighter.
"yeah, but i already took the different direction, and you're tired so," he answered, shrugging his shoulders.

"never too tired for a date," eden whispered, looking at the older's face from the side.
his eye bags were deep, even deeper than he remembered last time. and he had gotten thin.

thinner than last time.

suddenly, yuri coughed.
it was a wet and disgusting cough, coming from deep inside his lungs.

he cleared his throat.
"so do you wanna go look at the stars, then?"

both of them laughed and eden hit yuri's shoulder.
he already forgot about his concerns, the dark haired looked very healthy to him, there was nothing wrong with him.

after a relatively silent fifteen minute drive, yuri parked the car at the side of the road next to a huge field where the stars were even brighter than eden remembered.

it was a full moon tonight, making his pale skin glow and caressing the curves of his gentle face.
"man, i wish i would've taken my pencils with me, this could've been an amazing drawing," yuri giggled as he watched the younger lift his head to stare at the stars.

he returned the sweet laugh and suddenly reached for the other's hand.
they locked their fingers into each other, moving closer to one another.

they could smell each other's familiar fragrances.
"hey, do you remember this one time-"
"where we gave the stars names?"

yuri nodded enthusiastically.
"i think i see the same one again," he lifted his index finger to point at one of the stars in the sky.

it was big and it shone onto their faces like it wanted to tell them something.
as if it stood out from all of the other stars.

"december, right?" eden asked.
"yes, we called it december."

both of them smiled at the same time and eden rested his head on the others shoulder.
yuri just let it happen, he was so relaxed in that moment with eden.

"why did we call it december again?"

the dark haired let out a huff.
"your birthday is in december," yuri stated with a light chuckle.

eden let his head fall back in laughter, but he collected himself quite quickly.
"then did we call one august as well?"

yuri hummed.
"i just can't find it right now, it looked similar to yours, i think it was a little smaller."

"do you think i'll ever see it again?" eden said suddenly with a worried voice, he furrowed his brows and snuggled deeper into the other's shoulder.

"of course are you gonna see it again, when you need it the most."
"when you're gone?"

the dark haired placed his heavy head on top of eden's and swallowed the huge knot in his throat.
"when i'm gone, i'll promise you to come back as this star and shine every night when you miss me."

the younger smiled like a little child, but that smile faded from his face as soon as it appeared.
he felt his heart sink in fear.

"but you're not gone right?"
"no, i'm not leaving you here alone."

and so, with no other words, they looked up and counted the stars. it was cool, september had definitely start to hit and made the air drop a few degrees.

time flew and before they knew, half an hour had passed and eden nearly fell asleep while standing up.

so, they decided it was time to go back home, but yuri seemed tense the entire time he drove.
his movements were stiff, as if something serious was bothering him.

but eden was soundly asleep on the passengers seat, so he didn't even notice the blurry eyes of the other or the shaky feet as he stepped on the gas pedal.

when they were home, yuri softly shook eden's shoulder to wake him up and erased all signs of sadness in his eyes.

"hey, we're home," he whispered and pressed a soft kiss to the other's forehead which made him stretch as he woke up.

he smiled through tired eyes.

"i love you," was what he voiced out as he opened the car door and crossed the street to his apartment complex.

he didn't even wait for yuri to say it back. he didn't have to hear it anymore. he knew, the way his eyes glowed when he looked at him, how his muscles relaxed when eden was around or how he didn't fidget with his rings on his fingers anymore.

but nonetheless, yuri said it back, more or less to himself.

"i love you too."

and he hated the fact that time flew so quickly and he would have to leave soon.