Work Text:
“That,” Hiroto said calmly, pointing straight up into the warm evening air, “is the Summer Triangle. It’s made up of three of the most prominent stars in the night sky: Vega, Deneb, and Altair.”
Ryuuji looked to where his friend was tracing lines between the stars. He loved stargazing with Hiroto. He found it endlessly fascinating that so many stars existed in the night sky; they were so tiny, billions of little pinpricks peeking through the blackness, spread out across infinity. How sad, he thought, that humans were so minuscule in such a vast universe. Hiroto glanced over at him, his smile soft.
“Every star may look small, but each one has its own story,” he said knowingly. Ryuuji turned toward him in surprise, but Hiroto was already gazing back up at the sky. “For instance,” he continued, “the stars of the Summer Triangle are actually part of a love story. Altair represents Hikoboshi, a cowherd, and Vega is Orihime, the daughter of the King of Heaven. The King loved his daughter’s weaving, but he knew that she was lonely because she spent all her time on it, so he sent her across the river of the Milky Way to meet Hikoboshi. The two fell in love and married, but Orihime no longer wove for her father, and Hikoboshi let his cows wander around the sky. The angry King couldn’t let this go on. He wanted to put an end to their relationship, but, seeing how this devastated his daughter, he decided to only let them meet one day a year.”
“Wow…” Ryuuji murmured, staring in awe at the glimmering stars. Maybe it was his imagination, but they seemed brighter than they’d been before. It filled him with a strange sense of longing that he couldn’t quite place.
“Which day is it?” he asked, still gazing up at the triangle.
“Hmm?”
“On which day can Orihime and Hikoboshi meet?”
Hiroto turned to look at Ryuuji once more. “The seventh day of the seventh month,” he replied, his eyes gleaming in the starlight.
“Ah… Ah!” Ryuuji gasped and turned over on the grass, meeting Hiroto‘s gaze. “That’s…”
“Today.”
Ryuuji felt his face warm up as he watched Hiroto’s unfaltering smile. His twinkling blue eyes always seemed to glow; they were icy, but not cold. As he looked into them, he could swear they reflected the light of every single star. He cleared his throat.
“It’s sad,” he said quietly. “I feel bad for them.”
Hiroto hummed thoughtfully. “Space is incredibly cold, but if you take the time to learn about the stars, you can feel their warmth – even from Earth. It makes you think… What if you only had one night to see the person you loved?”
Ryuuji swallowed hard. “I would… Want to…”
“Kiss them, right?”
Hiroto slowly leaned over, his hair tickling Ryuuji’s cheek as he hovered above him. Ryuuji held his breath; in another moment, Hiroto’s lips were on his. They were warm, and Ryuuji was leaning up on his elbows, tilting his head into the kiss before his mind even realized it. They broke apart after just a few seconds, and when Ryuuji breathed in again, his lungs felt fuller than they’d ever been.
“If it’s only for one night,” Hiroto said softly, still hovering inches away from Ryuuji’s face, “they’d probably do it again… Don’t you think?”
Ryuuji blinked a few times, trying to bring his vision back into focus. He didn’t answer, but his gaze dropped to Hiroto’s mouth. This time, he drew in a big breath, and let every molecule in his body melt into Hiroto’s lips when they touched. He felt the Milky Way washing over his skin, miniature comets dashing briskly through his veins. His eyes were closed, but everything was light.
When they parted, Hiroto was looking at him with a smile that matched his piercing eyes, and Ryuuji could feel his heart pounding.
“It’s just about midnight, isn‘t it?” Hiroto mused aloud. He suddenly stood up and offered Ryuuji a hand.
“Y-yes, probably,“ Ryuuji stammered, taking it and getting up himself. His heart was still racing, and although the night had grown cool, his face was hot. “I suppose… We should head home.”
“I think so.”
Hiroto laced their fingers together, squeezing Ryuuji’s hand in his own. “After all,” he said fondly, gazing up at the sky, “Hikoboshi and Orihime may just have one night, but you and I have all the time in the world.”
Ryuuji watched him with his heart in his eyes, and a smile finally grew across his mouth, crinkling his nose and rounding his cheeks. When Hiroto met his gaze again, Ryuuji leaned forward and placed one more fleeting kiss on his lips, and he felt like maybe all those stars up in the sky weren’t quite as tiny and far away as he’d thought.