“The fridge is empty.”

Kris looks up from counting the coffee stains littering the kitchen table. “I'll go to the store and get something for breakfast.”  He presses a soft farewell kiss to his lover's lips and ventures out into the streets, clouds blocking the sun and threatening to shower the city in their tears. Kris thinks that he should have brought an umbrella.

***

Sector 18 was gone and so were Chanyeol and Kris. Sector 19 became their new home, more specifically an old run down motel in Sector 19. But it was cheap and vacant, because who really needed to go on a trip when the world was ending? So they took it and Kris eventually began to like it. He spent his nights and days intertwined with Chanyeol and it was like they were living in their own little heaven. A heaven that Kris knew wouldn’t last for much longer.

“Stop it,” Chanyeol whispered when their clothes were shed and he was encased in his lover's arms.

“Stop what”' Kris could barely even for a reply, let alone remember what he was replying to.

“Stop counting time,” Kris guessed that the order was meant for the both of them. Besides, he'd stopped counting sometime between Chanyeol blocking his sunlight and Chanyeol becoming his sunlight. He didn't say anything however, lowering his body down onto Chanyeol's and removing both their ability to count anything besides touches and kisses and s.

The next morning Sector 19’s Evacuation date was announced and Kris packed up to leave, feeling like he was uprooting his life all over again.

***

By the time Kris gets to the store, he knows he should've brought an umbrella. The weather is something akin to a torrential downpour and on his way out; he pauses to grab a newspaper from the stand by the door to use as a shelter on his way back.

He throws food items into his cart at random, it doesn’t matter much anyways since they only have three more days, and he lets his mind wander to months ago when the summer sun warmed his afternoons and he wasn’t constantly running out of time.

Those were the better days, but he’s thankful for what he has now. Especially since what he has is waiting for him at home with open arms and a soft smile that reassures him that everything will be okay.

***

Sector 19, Sector 20.

The days between Evacuations were growing shorter and with each chunk of land marked off on Kris’ mental map, his heart sunk even more. He couldn’t take much more of this running and they were almost out of places to go. The days have been filled with tension lately, tension that not even Chanyeol’s sunlight can dissolve because one night Kris accidentally let “I love you” slip and hasn’t heard it back.

As he packed his life into his single back pack for the third time, he began to wonder if this was even worth it; if Chanyeol was even worth it.

Kris thought back to his days before his big eyed sunshine, when he was okay with the Evacuations and life was simple. The memories made him bitter and resentful. Chanyeol probably didn’t love him, he was just a companion to drag around on this foolish quest to drag out life on a dying planet.

Perhaps it was the dread of the inevitable fate that caused these thoughts, perhaps it was the fact that Kris’ little ray of sunshine was beginning to dim too.

The blonde wasn’t an idiot, he could see the fear and uncertainty on Chanyeol’s face every time they boarded a train for their next destination. Chanyeol was as tired of running as he was, perhaps it would be best for both of them to just accept their future.

“Would you give up for me?” Kris asked that night. The last train out of town was scheduled for the next day, and they were all packed and waiting to go.

“Give what up?” Chanyeol’s voice is thick with sleep, finding too much comfort in Kris’ embrace to resist drifting off.

“This. Running away.” Chanyeol’s eyes open at that one and he looks at Kris with a mix of surprise and fear.

“You don’t want to run anymore?” Was the reply and they weren’t the words that Kris wanted to hear so he shut his eyes to the world and let himself drift off, ignoring the way Chanyeol’s heartbeat had sped up, showing no signs of slowing any time soon.

***

He pays and gets ready to go but the headlines catch his attention as they have a tendency of doing. Curious, he opens the paper, flips to the story. Another terrorist attempt; but this time the 'terrorists'  are half of Sector 29. They refused to leave, starting a protest in the streets. There’s more of those now, since the truth about Earth 2 had been leaked.

***

“Chanyeol” The brunette awoke easily enough, blinking away the dreamy cobwebs in his eyes before smiling at Kris, seeming to have forgotten last night’s conversation.

“Do you know what day it is?” Were the first sleep laden words that tumbled from Chanyeol’s plush lips, and Kris beged his heart to forgive the brunette right there and then and just enjoy what time they have left together, but his heart simply couldn’t.

“The day that the trains close down,” Kris replied, getting off the bed and grabbing his bag, ready to leave behind everything he knew once more.

“November 6^th,” Was all Chanyeol said, a small smile gracing his lips.

Kris was surprised. Chanyeol remembered a  simple thing like that? But bitterness soon overtook the pleasant shock. He was going to spend his birthday on a train, running away again. He could have spent it on Earth 2 with Chanyeol, living a happy new life.

 He didn’t acknowledge the brunette’s words, merely muttering a “Let’s go.”

***

The perfect life laid out for the citizens of Earth 2 sounded more like a dictatorship than anything, relinquishing all freedom for the safety and stability of a life that didn’t belong to you anymore. When Kris first hears the news it bothers him, but not as much as what he hears next. Earth 2 is covered by a large metal dome; there is no sun.

***

Kris was waiting at the station for Chanyeol, two train tickets in hand, nervously glancing at the clock that ticked away the minutes above his head. Chanyeol had run off to use the bathroom, despite Kris’ insistence that there was one on the train, and the train was bound to leave very soon. He could feel panic settling into his bones, weighing him down, and when the brunette finally showed up, a plastic bag in hand; Kris had to bite his tongue because Chanyeol nearly made them miss the train for a trip to the god damned convenience store of all things.

When Chanyeol simply smiled in response to Kris’ angered glare, he lost it. The second they took their seats on the train, in a car that was mainly empty except for a few people – why would anyone in their right mind want to go in the opposite direction of the Evacuations anyways? – he hissed out a venom laden “Do you even care?”

“About what?” Chanyeol’s eyes were innocent, but there was nervousness in them at the obvious anger in the usually calm man’s tone.

“About me, us, this, anything.” Kris waved a hand, gesturing to the air around him. “You want us to keep running for what? In the end, we’re going to leave Earth. We’re just wasting our time.” Kris could see the little ray of sunshine dimming with each word but he couldn’t hold them back any longer. He was so tired of running.

“I do care,” Chanyeol whispered, and his voice was soft and quiet for once, his head turned away to avoid Kris’ glare, and the older man nearly missed the words. “And it’s not a waste of time.”

 “It is for me,” The words looked foul in Kris’ mind before he said them, and tasted worsein his mouth when they left his lips, but that couldn’t compare to the look in Chanyeol’s eyes as they echoed in the space between them.

Chanyeol looked wounded, and Kris thought that even if he dragged Chanyeol onto an Evacuation Vessel himself and strapped him to a chair there, the brunette wouldn’t have looked at him with as much hurt. “I need it to be longer,” He said. “Our life here.”

Kris shook his head. “Your life here.” And this time a choked sob left Chanyeol’s mouth.

“If you think this is such a waste of your time,” His words were hollow, “Then just go.”

Kris stood, angry that it had come to this, that he had let it come to this, and glanced out the window. The train hadn’t started moving yet, he had time to leave. So he did.

Every step felt like a mistake, every part of his body screamed for him to go back to Chanyeol, to apologize. He stopped in front of the train exit, weighing his options in his mind, but he couldn’t think. The air suddenly felt too heavy around him, like he was drowning in it. His body finally moved of its own accord turning to the left and entering the washroom. He slammed the door shut behind him, and waited. He didn’t know what he was waiting for, but he couldn’t bring his feet to move, to leave the train. He could hear the rush of footsteps in the corridor, the slamming of the train exit, but still he waited; waited until he heard the whistle announcing the train’s departure and the sealing of his fate.

It was over, the choice was made, but the heavy weight around him was not gone. Kris walked back to his and Chanyeol’s seats then, mind coming up with all sorts of words that he could arrange into pretty apologies that might heal whatever wound was now between them, but they died on his tongue when he was faced with an empty chair, a plastic bag from the convenience store left in the brunette’s place.

Curiosity got the best of him and he peeked into it, discovering a dozen pink cupcakes and two twelve packs of birthday candles.  A small card sat atop the cupcakes, and Kris’s hands shook as he lifted it up to read the messy words scrawled there. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a better present, especially after everything you’ve done for me. I love you so much; thank you for giving me these extra few weeks with you on Earth. Happy Birthday, Kris, I know this isn’t the best one but I’ll make it up to you in the birthdays to come, I promise.’

If not for the need to figure out where Chanyeol had gone to drag him back to this seat and kiss him into oblivion, Kris thought that he might cry. After what he’d said to Chanyeol, the turn of events almost felt like a cruel twist of fate, a punishment for having stolen so much extra time. He ran up and down the train, searching for a tall brunette with a smile like the sun, but there was none to be found. Perhaps he’d hidden himself away in one of the other cars, never wanting to see him again.

By the time he got back to their own car, Kris felt numb. His eyes drifted to a man, sitting fairly close to his seat, close enough to have seen everything that went on between the two, and as a last resort, made his way over. As he got closer, he had to admit that the man was fairly good looking and quite young too. Everything about him was darker than Chanyeol, his skin, his hair, his eyes, and the comparison only made Kris’ heart hurt even more.

“Excuse me,” He asked when he was close enough, his voice unsteady, “Did you see my…” He had no idea how to finish that sentence, but the man seemed to have understood, as he shook his head with an apologetic frown.

“He left about a minute after you did, I think he was going after you,” The man responded and it became all too clear now where Chanyeol was.

Kris thought he was going to vomit, running back to the washroom to empty the contents of his stomach. The footsteps that he’d heard outside the washroom, the slamming of the door, they all echoed loudly in Kris’ head, all screaming the truth at him. Chanyeol had chosen in the end, to give up his escape for Kris, a choice that was all for naught in the end.

It wasn’t until another passenger knocked on the door that he left, picking himself up off the floor and returning to his seat. The man looked at him curiously as he returned. “Where is your friend?” He asked gently, as if he was afraid to say the wrong thing.

Kris was able to hold himself together for exactly three seconds before breaking down because Chanyeol was not his friend, he was the person that Kris would have spent the rest of his life with.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” The man moved closer, only hesitating for a few seconds before climbing into the seat reserved for Chanyeol. “What’s wrong?”

Kris wanted to yell at him, tell him it was none of his business and he didn’t invite him to sit there but the man was kind of pushy and the eagerness and concern in his eyes reminded him too much of the brunette who became his sunlight so he let him stay, let him wrap an arm around Kris’ shoulder when a tear finally escaped down his cheek.

“What’s your name?” The man asked after Kris has cried until he couldn’t any more.

“Kris,” The words were hoarse and choked, and although he really doesn’t want to speak any more, he decided that it wouldn’t hurt to be polite. “What’s your name?”

***

“You’re soaked,” Kris hears the comment the moment he steps through the doors.

“It’s pouring outside,” Is his only reply as he drops the bag down on the kitchen counter.

“Cupcakes?” Come the amused reply, along with the sounds of the plastic bag being crumpled.

“It’s a special day.”

Kris walks around the counter to wrap an arm around the shorter man. He’s tall enough to fit perfectly in the crook of his neck, and Kris can’t help but thank every god out there for giving him this, this ray of light in the midst of a rainstorm.

“Tao,” Kris says after a while, still holding the man to him. He doesn’t have a reason for saying the other’s name, it just tastes like cotton candy and laughter on his tongue.

Tao hums in response, and Kris hugs him tighter, never wanting to let go. It’s been 21 days since he lost Chanyeol, and Kris thinks that his heart will never heal, but that won’t stop him from taking any bit of happiness that he could get. If Chanyeol taught him one thing, it was to cherish all the time he had so when Tao took his hand on that train and asked if he needed a place to say, Kris said yes.

They arrived in Tao’s apartment, in a cozy little corner of Sector 30, and Kris was glued to the news, watching for any sign of the Evacuation of Sector 20. Five days passed and he heard nothing of Chanyeol, and in his heart he knew that he would probably never find out what happened to him. So when Tao found a crying Kris on his couch and kissed him as a small means of comfort, Kris let him. And one kiss turned to two and three and here they are, day 21, three days until the Evacuation of the last sector, and Kris knows that his heart will never heal, but somehow he got lucky and found a second piece of sun shine and it still hurts but he will not let this one go for the world.

Okay yes I realize that this is probably a really bad ending but you'll just have to take it as it is, maybe I'll continue this and fix krisyeol or at least show what happened to Chanyeol, idk