Title: Splitting Wishes

Plot: Star light, star bright…

But there was always that same question, wasn't there? That question of what to wish for, what to really want at that particular moment.

And, yes, a part of me did still wonder, did still toy with the same question over and over again. Was there, could there be, more for me to want, something better to search for?

But no. At this moment, there was nothing else I could ever want, nothing better than what I already had in front of me. This was it. I had run out of wishes.

In the dark, I could only hear Connor's breathing, soft and slow, his breath cool against my neck, serving as a constant reminder of his being here. My breaths echoed his perfectly, inhale after inhale, exhale after exhale, as if in answer of them.

His arms were warm, comforting, around me, wrapped gently around my waist. Connor would never hurt me, I knew that, he cared far too much to let himself even come close to it. He was afraid even to reach the limit, much less to ever go past it.

I leaned slowly back against him, laying my head on his shoulder from where I sat in front of him, taking the time to nuzzle my head against his shoulder, stopping to take in the smell of him, fresh but at the same time rich, almost woodsy.

He let out a long, contented sigh in response, his chest rising and falling accordingly under me, adjusting his arms around me until he was holding me tightly against him.

I felt a light nudge, a shift on his part, meant to get my attention, before he turned his head slowly toward me, waiting by my ear for just a moment before saying, almost in a whisper, "Make a wish." His free hand pointed to the window in front of us, a lone, bright star streaming down the middle of it.

A small, happy laugh escaped me as I watched it, tail trailing behind it, disappear behind a nearby building, feeling amazingly like a kid again as I lifted my head to try and see it come out on the other side, getting my hopes up only to be disappointed when it failed to reappear.

"I was too late," I heard myself say, almost sadly, turning to look at Connor, who smiled sympathetically down at me, reaching over to smooth back my hair, gently stroking my temple with his thumb. "Better luck next time, yeah?"

I nodded in agreement, managing a laugh as I turned on my side to face him, resting my hand on his chest. "Yeah." The word came out as a sigh, sad but still unbelievably hopeful. "What did you wish for?" I asked, lifting my head from his shoulder, suddenly interested.

He shook his head, taking a minute to grin back at me, a certain playfulness having been revived in both of us after our drowsy evening together, just sitting in the dark, actually quite content with just watching from our window as the world went by.

My hand moved to his collar as I started to plead with him, almost to the point of begging. "Oh, come on, Con, please?" I noticed the disappointment in my voice, as if this one little thing, something as simple as knowing what he'd wished for, meant the world to me, gave me reason to be here. Because, yes, in a way, it did, somehow I thought that this was extremely important to me, like my life depended on it.

There was a part of me who knew that it was probably nothing important, just something stupid Connor had come up with at the last possible minute, but there was another part of me as well, a bigger, stronger part, that had high hopes that it was something more.

"If I did tell you," he started, almost reluctantly, as if he didn't want to fight me anymore, simply wanted to just give in already. "Well, then it-it wouldn't really be my wish anymore, would it? I mean, it-" "Connor?"

His eyes grew wide, as if he was afraid of what I might say, his arms gradually tensing around me, his body almost unnaturally still under mine as he awaited my reaction. He opened his mouth to say something, before I stopped him, putting a finger to his lips to silence him, stop him from debating it any further. "We could always share it," I suggested, throwing in a little shrug as if it meant nothing, was nothing, to either of us, like the mere thought didn't thoroughly thrill us both. "I mean, there aren't any rules against that sort of thing, are there? And then, it'd be our wish."

He nodded, the action slow and sure, barely noticeable in what little light there was. "Our wish," he repeated me, quietly, as if to himself, apparently liking the sound of it as much as I did.

I smiled back at him, running my hand gently over the side of his face, my fingers carefully tracing his cheekbone, down his jawline, stopping once more at his collar, the fabric soft and supple under my touch. I felt his arms settling down around me again, the strength with which he had been holding me before now returned to him. "So what was it?" I tilted my head toward him, watching him intently as I waited for an answer.

He took a deep breath, as if to prepare himself, letting me know that that part of me had been right, that this was indeed something more than just a half-joking whim, it was the one thing that, as of right now, he wanted more than anything. And that I was now determined to give to him.

"I um-I wished for-I wished that this could last," he said softly, quickly, as if in a hurry to get it over with, almost as if he was ashamed of what he was saying, his arms ready to let go of me at any given moment lest I reacted the wrong way.

A smile slowly spread across my face as I walked my fingers lightly over his chest, stopping every once in a while to feel along the small ridges, gentle creases of muscles that could be felt through his shirt, finally resting my hand at his neck. "This, as in you and me?"

There was a slight pause, barely long enough to notice, before he gave a nervous laugh, not at all forced but still sounding like it. "Yeah," he answered, in a whisper, even though we both knew he didn't need to. Just one look at him would've been more than enough, told me all I needed to know, answered any question I may have still had.

"Out of all the things you could've wished for," I started, my voice thick with realisation, heavy with a type of understanding that hadn't been present before, as it finally occurred to me just how much I meant to him. I was his everything, for him there was nothing else, nothing came above me.

"I chose you," he finished for me, watching me intently, waiting patiently for a reaction of any kind, either good or bad. And something in me knew that he would wait forever, as long as it took, so long as he got an answer from me, hopefully for the better.

I let my eyes meet his, holding them there for just a moment, unable to tear myself away, somehow being drawn in by him. "You didn't need to," I told him quietly, searching his face for some emotion to go by, something to tell me how that had affected him.

He smiled, a small, hopeful smile, a smile that filled me with relief that he hadn't taken it the wrong way, a smile that urged me to go on, erased each and every doubt from my mind.

I leaned in closer to him, tilting my head ever-so-slightly, waiting until we were only inches apart before saying, in what might as well have been a whisper, soft and breathy as it was, "You already had me, Connor."

My lips met his, and he reacted almost immediately, every part of him seeming to relax under me, his arms pulling themselves tighter around me, as he freed a hand to run it gently over my arm, bringing it to a rest at my thigh, almost as if this was exactly what he had been waiting for all along, a sure sign of what I wanted, what I was willing to accept.

I moved my hand to the back of his neck as we kissed, tangling my fingers in his hair, every now and then giving a gentle tug, pushing him away just for the satisfaction of seeing him come right back, before pulling away from him, only to curl up against his chest again, propping my knees up against him.

He let out a deep breath, smiling happily to himself as he absentmindedly stroked my thigh, absorbed by his own thoughts, having long since slipped off into his own little world by now.

I laughed, quietly, the sound of it barely audible even in the absolute silence that surrounded us, before pressing my lips gently against his neck, offering him a smile when he turned to look back at me. "You got your wish."

A hint of amusement flashed in his eyes, but there was a deeper glimmer of contentment as well, a twinkle of happiness with how it had all turned out in the end. His smile grew wider as he shook his head. "No, I didn't." He stopped to run his hand along my cheek, waiting before finally saying, softly, slowly, "We got ours."

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