The pair gazed skywards once more, eyes taking in the endless spread of twinkling pinpricks arranged above them.

"They're lovely, aren't they?" Alonzo commented. When no answer was given to him, he propped himself up on an elbow and looked to his friend.

Munkustrap did not appear to have even heard him. His gaze was slightly vacant, and his mouth, though smiling, was moving as though he was talking to himself – it seemed that for Munkustrap, the world was currently comprised of himself, the stars, and whatever it was that he was talking about under his breath.

"Munk? Munkustrap? Hello?" Alonzo called, attempting to get his attention.

The only response he got was a murmuring noise. Leaning in closer, he caught a little string of words, almost poetic, although he could not comprehend their meaning.

"A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life…"

"That's pretty," he said, a little louder than he had intented. At his words, Munkustrap blinked, and shook himself, coming out of his trance-like state.

"What's pretty?"

"That… thing you were just saying," Alonzo said. "Star-crossed lovers something?"

Munkustrap laughed. "Oh, that. It's from a play – like Gus used to be in?" At Alonzo's nod of understanding, he continued. "It's about these two lovers whose families are fighting with each other. The line's talking about their love, and… I guess how their love prevails all, in a way."

"It does? That's good," Alonzo commented. "What does star-crossed mean, then? Is it something like… I dunno, they were brought together by the stars, or they met under a star, or something?"

Munkustrap raised an eyebrow. "Well, no, actually. The opposite of that. Star-cross'd means ill fated. Doomed, if you will."

"What do you mean?" Alonzo asked, frowning.

"When I said love sort of prevails all… They die, in the end of the story. They kill themselves, actually," Munkustrap admitted.

Alonzo sat bolt upright. "What? But – it's – it's love! They can't die!"

"Well, they do. They love each other so much that they die to be together."

"But it's talking about stars. Stars don't kill each other – they're nice! And very pretty," Alonzo added as an afterthought. "I'd have thought star-crossed would be like two stars coming together and making a new constellation. Something so that they could show that they were together. Or maybe cats like us doing that under them."

Munkustrap propped himself up on one elbow. "But what if the other stars didn't like it? Maybe it would be too different. Maybe… Maybe there wouldn't be room in the sky for a different constellation."

"But if they wanted it really, really badly… if they were in love, I think – I think that would be enough, in the end."

"Maybe." Munkustrap turned onto his back once more. "The stars are lovely tonight, though."

"So are – I mean, yes, they are."

"Lonz? What is it?"

"Nothing, Munk. Nothing at all."

Author's note

This is possibly the shortest thing I've ever written. Ah, well. Also, the beginning is supposed to be vague. Make of it what you will.

This, ladies and gents, is the first in my Insomnia verse. In this universe, my main pairing is… well, see above. Lonz can barely contain himself. And they are adorable together. I think I wrote my first draft of this sometime last year, when my English class was studying Romeo and Juliet, and we had star-cross'd pouring out of our ears. And then I dug it up and thought 'Why don't I post this?'

So I did.

Also, I apologise for a lack of updates on How to Save a Life. I've had internals and a lot of homework and stuff to do over the past two weeks, but it's the holidays now, so there should be more progress with HSL now. And that's my babble over.

~JV