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“Psst!”
A slight stirring.
“Psst! Sunny!”
A groan and a shift.
“Come on, wake up!”
Sunny opened his eyes with another groan, this one significantly longer and more irritated. He shifted in place to glare at whatever inconsiderate nuisance had disturbed his blissful slumber with their whisper-shouting, intending to give them a piece of his mind.
His frown significantly lessened, however, when he had finished turning his head and found himself staring into the contactless eyes of his girlfriend, Aubrey. In contrast, her own expression seemed rather excited, with some traces of that familiar sparkle from her younger years being visible to Sunny. She at least had the courtesy to look a bit sheepish as well when she took note of Sunny’s less-thrilled state.
Because he was a worldly and magnanimous person (nothing to do with how it made his pulse accelerate to see a happy Aubrey), Sunny decided not to give her a piece of his mind after all, electing instead to just state the obvious. “Woke me up. On purpose.”
“Sorry,” Aubrey replied. She leaned in and placed a peck on Sunny’s lips.
“Forgiven.” Sunny reciprocated with a quick kiss of his own before asking, “What’s going on?”
“I was having trouble falling asleep, I guess. I was hoping that we could do one more thing before I have to go back to Faraway tomorrow,” Aubrey answered. Glancing away for a moment, she looked back at Sunny and asked, “Would you be willing to go stargazing with me?” She paused. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, I just thought that it might be a fun, sappy thing to do...”
Sunny sat upright upon hearing this proposal for a romantic outing. He was quick to assure her, saying, “Sounds great. I’d be happy to.” He stopped to think on it as Aubrey got up and started preparing to go outside. “There’s that park a few blocks away. Could probably get a decent view there?” he suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” Aubrey said with a smile. Sunny felt himself grow a bit warmer seeing it.
A few minutes later, both of them had successfully snuck out of the apartment without waking Sunny’s mother. They left the building and headed towards the imaginatively-named Nearby Park, hand-in-hand. Sunny enjoyed the relative quiet and lower temperatures of the nighttime city, though that didn’t contribute as much to his good mood as the girl next to him. A shared glance and smile between them assured the boy that Aubrey felt just as happy in that moment.
After a few minutes, the couple arrived at the park. Significantly larger than the one back in Faraway, this park had multiple dedicated walking paths, a few small hills, and an artificial pond. It unfortunately lacked any hidden nooks that could serve as something comparable to the old hangout spot, but Sunny and Aubrey still enjoyed the scenic environment enough to have walked through the area a few times in the past.
Rather than taking any of the set walking paths, Aubrey took the direct route and marched in a straight line up the nearest hill, forcing her boyfriend to keep pace on the incline. They quickly reached the top, where a pair of oak trees provided good coverage for anyone who might want to rest up there during the day. Having found a spot far enough from the branches and leaves, Aubrey sat down, with Sunny quickly following. The pair leaned against each other to get comfortable, and then looked at the sky.
The sky which was black as ink, with virtually no observable stars in it whatsoever.
Sunny pinched the bridge of his nose in embarrassment and annoyance. “Right. Yeah. Light pollution,” he muttered to himself. With their attention focused on each other and their direct surroundings during the walk over, the couple had ended up doing that oblivious city-dweller thing where nobody bothers to actually look up.
“Oh my God. I’m such an idiot,” Aubrey bemoaned while covering her face with her hands. “Could’ve seen it when we got to the park if I wasn’t so focused on the hill. Or if I’d checked when we got outside the apartment. Or if I’d just looked out the window before waking you up in the first place!” she yelled.
Aubrey’s self-directed rant was interrupted when she felt the warmth of Sunny’s arms wrapped around her in a hug, as well as a kiss on her neck. She lowered her hands so that she could see her boyfriend, though his affectionate actions were giving her a blush that made it difficult to look directly at him.
“Didn’t notice it either. We can both be idiots,” he said. His girlfriend let out a chuckle before he continued. “Being with you is nice. Even if we didn’t get to see what we came for.”
Aubrey sighed. “Yeah. We could’ve just cuddled or something back at the apartment if that’s all it was, though.” She paused, and seemed to grow visibly flustered. “I-I mean, I’m not saying that cuddling is worse, or- um- or less important. I like it, ‘cause I like you, and I- I, um,” she rambled for a moment before Sunny squeezed her a bit tighter as reassurance that she hadn’t said anything insulting. Aubrey sighed again. “I dunno. I guess I’m just disappointed,” she said.
Sunny nodded. “It’s okay. Can figure out something else to do for later,” he said. He let a moment of silence pass between them before asking, “Wanna sit out here for a bit?”
Aubrey nodded, though she stood up after, forcing Sunny to release her from the hug. He stood as well, and let her take him by the hand again as she walked over to one of the oak trees. She sat down, back against the trunk, and pulled Sunny down to sit on her lap before wrapping her own arms around him. Sunny felt his own face starting to warm up, but didn’t complain. He felt the smile on Aubrey’s face as she pressed it against the side of his head.
The two sat there in comfortable silence for some time, though several ideas were going through Sunny’s head as he thought on how he might make another night like this actually work.
Two weeks later, Aubrey had come to visit again. The couple enjoyed a wonderful day together, having spent time catching up on recent events, playing video games, studying (though only a bit, since these visits were supposed to actually be enjoyable), going out for dinner together, people-watching, and so on.
They also kissed several times, but that’s a given.
It was now late in the evening. Sunny’s mom had gone to bed after making the two youths promise that they wouldn’t stay up too late. The couple spent some time after that chatting in Sunny’s room, discussing riveting topics such as Kel’s recent attempt to create ‘Ultra Joe’ by adding three separate energy drinks to the original soda. Eventually, Sunny stood up and looked at Aubrey directly.
“Wanna show you something. Follow me?” He held out his hand.
Aubrey blinked in surprise, but accepted and grabbed his hand after a few seconds. “Okay. What is it?” she asked while following him out of his room.
“Surprise,” was all that the boy said as he led her out of the apartment.
The two of them went to the elevator, and Sunny hit button to go up, contrary to Aubrey’s expectations. The two of them stepped out onto the roof. The apartment building that Sunny lived in wasn’t the tallest one, though Aubrey could still see some of the park from her current position. She could also see the sky, which was still the same void-color as the last time she spent the night here.
Looking at her more immediate surroundings, Aubrey noticed that the roof was mostly the standard concrete eyesore that one would expect from a city rooftop, with an unusual exception. On one part of the roof, taking up a space somewhat larger than Sunny’s room, was a flat-topped shelter of some sort. It looked a bit like one of those little pavilions you would see at a fancy garden or next to someone’s private pool, being a square roof held up by four corner posts. Notably, she couldn’t see inside it, as all sides of it had tarps draping down from the roof. The only thing that she could really tell was that there was a light on inside, as some of it was leaking out from the base and corners.
Sunny walked towards the shelter. “Pretty sure the people who had this building made wanted a terrace or something on the roof,” he said as he reached it. “Guess they gave up on that idea. This thing’s still here, though.” He pulled at the corner of the tarp to make space for an entrance. “Come on in,” he invited.
Though she was a bit confused as to what was happening, Aubrey shrugged and entered the shelter. Stepping inside, she noted that a decent amount of the concrete ground had been covered with picnic blankets of a familiar style. The center of the floor was occupied by a substantial pile of stuffed animals that Aubrey remembered Sunny owning years ago, with a few actual pillows thrown in for good measure. An electric lantern sat to the side of the pile, lighting the area up. Aubrey noticed that there were some small objects suspended from the ceiling, which was itself speckled with some design, but she was distracted from examining them as Sunny pulled her towards and into the plush pile.
Both of them fell next to each other with a slight whump. Aubrey, not used to being the one getting led and pulled around like this, couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer. “Come on, Sunny. Are you going to tell me what we’re doing? Is this because of what I said in the park about cuddling?” she asked.
Sunny gave her a smile and responded, “Kinda. Some of the other stuff that you said then was important too.” He pointed towards the ceiling with one hand and reached to turn off the lantern with the other. The room grew significantly darker, though there was still a slight glow coming from above.
Her curiosity piqued, Aubrey looked up.
She saw stars.
Well, not actual stars. A second’s worth of looking clued her in to that much. Some were the five-pointed versions generally seen in fiction, while others were the more generic, if accurate, dots. They covered the ceiling of the shelter, hundreds scattered about in ways mimicking the night sky. Though they were different shapes and sizes, all of them faintly glowed, collectively producing enough light to still make out some of the details of her surroundings.
As her eyes trailed across the canvas above, Aubrey noticed even more details. Some of the stars had lines drawn between them that also glowed, seeming to imitate how constellations are drawn out. The Big and Little Dippers were easy enough to identify, as was Cygnus’s cross-shape. There were others that she couldn’t identify, and others still that she was pretty sure weren’t actually real, like a desk, a flower, a spoon, and a stylized bunny head.
Noticing some other color bleeding in, Aubrey saw that, between and behind some of the clumps of stars, there seemed to be colorful nebulae as well. Rather than the plain white of the stars, these glowed various shades of blue and purple, with bits of green and orange mixed in.
Having been well and truly awed at this point, Aubrey tore her gaze from the ceiling to look at the boy next to her, who was staring back with an expectant look on his face. “I- I don’t... This is-” she stammered out. “Did you...?”
“Bought stuff from the arts and crafts section that glows in the dark,” the boy said. He pointed to a clump of the bright dots on the ceiling. “Stickers.” His finger moved to the drawn line of the Big Dipper’s handle. “Paint.” It moved again to one of the nebulae. “Also paint.” He pointed once more, this time to one of the suspended objects that Aubrey hadn’t really looked at due to it not glowing. “Papier-mâché. Not stars, but I was feeling creative.”
Aubrey looked closer, and saw that it was a sphere that had been painted to look like Earth. Sweeping her gaze across the room, she saw that the other planets had been similarly added. Looking closer, it seemed that a toy figure of Captain Spaceboy’s ship, the Mercury Retrograde, had been included too. It also seemed that Pluto had a serious-looking face drawn on it as well. Aubrey had some faint recollections of some of the stories that Sunny had told her about his dreams, but was too busy taking everything in to really think on that.
“Spaceboy’s ship is plastic. Didn’t make that,” Sunny helpfully provided.
Managing to get her thoughts and words more-or-less under control, Aubrey spoke. “Did you do all of this for me?” she asked. Her face was growing red at the thought.
Sunny glanced away for a moment. “Got on a creative streak after starting. Hoping I might be able to do something else with it after. Maybe take pictures of it... but yeah.” He looked back into Aubrey’s eyes. “Made it ‘cause you wanted to see the stars.” He seemed to immediately grow bashful again, adding, “Also means we can technically cuddle at the apartment at the same time.”
Due to the severity of her blush, Aubrey was having a great deal of difficulty feeling her face at this point. She repeatedly looked back and forth between the mural and the boy who made it, struggling to get words out. After a few moments of this, her brain seemed to flip a switch that looped her back into tranquility. Taking a deep breath, she leaned towards the boy who was laying down next to her.
She gave Sunny a kiss on the lips. “Dork.” Another kiss, this one on the cheek. “Dork.” One on his nose. “Dork.” One on the scar over his right eye. “Dork.” Another planted on his neck before Aubrey backed away for a moment. Looking him over, Aubrey could see that Sunny had a blush and a smile on his face that were both quickly growing in intensity. She reached her arms around her boyfriend and pulled him in before locking lips again.
Aubrey subsequently did her best to speak between the kisses that she exchanged with Sunny, though it took some time. “You can’t.” Their legs intertwined. “Do all of this.” Her left hand met his right. “To a girl.” Her other hand cupped his chin. “At once.” They rolled over in the plush pile. “It’s not fair.” She felt his mouth start to open during the next kiss, and her tongue happily accepted the invitation.
After an indeterminate amount of time spent making out, the couple were lying down together, exhausted but content, in the plush pile. Sunny had wrapped all of his limbs around Aubrey, and his face was nuzzled into her neck. Aubrey, in turn, had both of her arms wrapped around her Sunny and was running her hands up and down his back.
“So we agree that I’ll custom-make you the most realistic, quality Spaceboy costume you’ve ever seen for Halloween?” she asked.
“Mmmmm,” Sunny hummed into Aubrey’s neck, holding her a bit tighter.
“Good,” she replied, “I don’t want to be the only one of us who’s getting extravagant gifts.” She planted a kiss on Sunny’s cowlick. “You deserve nice things too.”
They continued to rest there, Aubrey looking up at the stars, and Sunny resting in the warmth of something that he thought was even more beautiful. After a bit, he turned his head so that he could examine his own handiwork and so that he could be heard when speaking.
“This is pretty nice right now,” he said.
Aubrey held him a bit tighter and smiled.
“Yeah. It is.”