A/N: Got another anon on tumblr asking for KumiWaki! This time, the prompt picked from the list was 'stars or space', so I went with some stargazing, bc I'm cliché at heart apparently.

This contains a microscopically small throwback to one of my other fics (When It Rains) but it's absolutely not necessary to read that first. All you need to know is that Wakiya has slept over at Rantaro's apartment before.

...There's also a blatant Metal Fight Beyblade/Beywheelz reference in here bc I can't help myself.

In The Stars

The streetlights have long since been lit up by the time Wakiya feels something close to exhaustion settling in.

At least it looks like Rantaro must feel the same, because as Wakiya watches, he spins on his heel before flopping onto his back next to the beydish. "I think," he says, catching his breath, "we should call it quits."

"Givin' up so soon?" Wakiya taunts. Sure, his hands are sore from gripping his launcher, and he doesn't really think he could lift his arms if he tried – but he can't let Rantaro know that.

Sprawled on the grass, Rantaro seems obnoxiously comfortable. His eyes are closed, arms splayed at his sides, hands still clutching Ragnaruk and his launcher. "It's almost dark," he points out.

Wakiya scoffs, feeling smug. "Yer just makin' up excuses 'cause ya can't win against me anymore." Still, the sun is a barely-visible sliver on the horizon, so he supposes Rantaro might have a point. Factually speaking, at least.

"I won against you plenty of times!" Without looking, Rantaro lifts his bey and points the face of it towards Wakiya, and there's just enough sunlight left to reflect off of the shiny surface. "Ragnaruk is a worthy opponent."

"If ya say so, Kiyama," Wakiya acquiesces. He's not about to admit how tired he is after their long string of battles, and he's especially not about to admit how close he came to losing that last one. Still, he turns around and sinks into a sitting position, his back to Rantaro.

As usual, though, Rantaro refuses to leave it at that. "You know it's true!" he argues, sounding indignant.

Tilting his head, Wakiya hums thoughtfully in response. "Maybe," he says at length, smug grin in place even though Rantaro can't see it. Behind him, he hears frustrated grumbling, along with a muffled ruffling that probably means Rantaro is tucking his bey and launcher back into his pockets.

Afterwards it's surprisingly quiet, except for the sounds of the river and the breeze through a few distant trees. Before Wakiya knows it, the sun slips the rest of the way down, leaving them with only the dim light of the streetlamps at the top of the hill. Time really did get away from him – especially so after the others left them to settle their rivalry (which they still haven't done, come to think of it).

"There are so many stars out tonight," Rantaro says, breaking the peaceful silence of the evening completely unprompted.

Worn out as he feels, Wakiya figures he better humor Rantaro in this – otherwise, he might keep bugging him about it, or fill the silence with something else equally annoying. So he tips his head back to take a peek up at the sky. "I guess so," he says, because there does seem to be more of them than usual. For around here, anyway. "Y'can see more than this from my villa."

"I didn't notice…."

"Ya just –" Wakiya bites his tongue before he can finish that with 'have to come back sometime,' and replaces it with a much better option, "– must not've been payin' attention."

"That's because I was too busy building your bonfire for you!" Rantaro growls.

A fist bumps into the center of Wakiya's back with no real force behind it, and he swats the offending hand away without looking. "Ours for us, ya mean," he corrects with a small frown. "That was team buildin'." Honestly, what does Rantaro take him for?

"'Team buildin'!' he says…" Rantaro grumbles in a very poor imitation of Wakiya. "You didn't even help! And you ate my food!"

Okay, now those aren't even valid complaints – just a little baffling. Twisting around so he can see Rantaro, Wakiya raises his eyebrows at him. "Yer still mad about that? They made ya another one! An' I left ya the onion."

Rantaro has his hands beneath his head, brows furrowed as he offers Wakiya a glare. "That's because you don't like onions," he says, sounding incredulous and irritated.

Unsure as to how that's part of the problem, Wakiya blinks at him. "Good thing you do, then," he says, facing forward again with his arms crossed. "Also, I did help with the bonfire – I lit it." He feels Rantaro land another empty punch against his back for that, and pushes the hand away again.

"That doesn't count," Rantaro protests, "that's the fun part!"

"Snooze ya lose." Wakiya tosses a haughty glance over his shoulder, catching sight of Rantaro still glaring at him. It's not his fault he got there first, after all.

"We weren't snoozing," Rantaro inists as he rolls over and pushes himself onto his knees in record time – apparently just so he can glare at Wakiya right-side-up. "We were deciding with rock-paper-scissors!"

In response, Wakiya spins around to face Rantaro so he can make sure his argument is also heard. "And ya took too long – I did ya a favor!"

Rantaro leans forward, pushing his nose into Wakiya's personal space. "No you didn't!"

"Yes I –" Wakiya's argument is cut off with an ill-timed yawn, and he covers it with the back of his hand. The pause this forces him to take is long enough for his exhaustion to catch back up with him, which he's sure all this arguing has only made worse. "Cut it out, Kiyama. I'm too tired ta argue with ya."

"Giving up so soon?" Rantaro quips, the corner of his mouth twitching a little – and then he's the one yawning, and Wakiya's never been more grateful that those things are contagious.

"Yer more tired than I am," Wakiya observes with a smirk.

Rantaro waves an irritated hand at him and rolls his eyes, obviously in denial. "I should be getting home anyway," he says as he stands up and dusts himself off.

Oh, yeah, it is awfully late isn't it? It's been fully dark for over half an hour by now, and when Wakiya checks his phone there's a text from Hoji asking if he or Rantaro won in the end. …Which reminds him that the only reason he's out so late is because of Rantaro in the first place. "Ya just had ta settle the score with me, and now it's dark out," he says, standing up and straightening his shirt.

"You're the one that kept insisting we battle again!" Just like that, Rantaro's up in arms again, with his hands on his hips as he shoots Wakiya another incredulous look.

That's a definite exaggeration. Rantaro is equally as guilty here, if not worthy of most of the blame – if he hadn't won those few times, Wakiya wouldn't have had to keep asking him for battles. As such, it's only fair he repay Wakiya, somehow. "Y'should walk me home, since ya made me stay out so late."

"I'm not walking that far," Rantaro, true to form, protests, "can't you just call a ride?"

"It's too late for that, by now!" Which, if Wakiya's being honest, is only a supposed truth on his part. He could probably get someone to come and collect him, and he could definitely walk home on his own, but for some reason the idea of sticking to Rantaro and pestering him is more appealing.

There's a moment of almost-silence while Rantaro supposedly considers, grinding his teeth around his lollipop. "Fine," he says, just when Wakiya's about to goad him some more, "come with me then! My dad can take you home…."

"It's the least ya can do for keeping me out so late," Wakiya says, squaring his shoulders and feeling sufficiently triumphant.

Already trudging away up the hillside with his hands stuffed in his pockets, Rantaro grumbles, "That's your fault, too, y'know."

Wakiya jogs to catch up to him, not willing to be bested in any aspect here. "You started it," he points out, once he's level with Rantaro, "I had ta finish it!"

Rantaro stops suddenly, and Wakiya hadn't realized he was so close until that almost causes him to trip over the other boy's feet.

"Why are you so stubborn?!" Rantaro asks, way too loud for this time of night as he rounds on Wakiya.

"Why are you?!" Wakiya fires back, leaning up so as to better glare into Rantaro's eyes. He swears he can feel the air crackling between them and wonders briefly where they're both still getting all this energy to argue.

Once he's sure his dark look has festered long enough, he turns away with a huff, and barely notices Rantaro mirroring him at the same time. How annoying.

There's nothing but begrudged silence as they walk after that, of course. Rantaro seems absorbed in his own thoughts, and looks less grumpy by the minute…not that Wakiya's paying attention, or anything! It's not like there's much else to focus on, though, aside from his own vague concern over whether he'll be able to get home tonight.

"You can even see more stars than usual in town," Rantaro says, breaking the peace with this observation again. He's walking with his head tilted backwards, craning his neck to stare at the sky.

"Yer gonna trip if ya keep walkin' like that," Wakiya warns him, out of the kindness of his heart.

"I know my way around this neighborhood just fine," Rantaro insists…and subsequently loses his footing over a crack in the sidewalk, hands flying out of his pockets as he pinwheels his arms to regain balance. He rights himself quickly enough, but the light of the streetlamps is sufficient for Wakiya to spot his cheeks flaring up pink.

"Told ya," Wakiya snickers. He'll never get tired of being right.

"Shut up," Rantaro grumbles, his ears soon matching his cheeks – which is awfully priceless and maybe even worth getting stuck out this late for.

…Well, Wakiya isn't eager to pick that thought apart, so maybe he better get the conversation back to where it started. "What's so interestin' about the stars, anyway?" he asks, taking a quick look up at the sky. They're glittering brightly, that's for sure, but how captivating can they really be?

"I was just thinking," Rantaro says, reaching up a hand to twirl his lollipop around in his mouth. "My dad told me this story once, that all beys came from a star that fell from space."

"An' ya believe that?" Wakiya scoffs.

Rantaro frowns and shrugs, any hint of his blush from a minute ago long gone. "Dunno," he says, a defensive note in his voice, "I always liked it, though."

"It's ridiculous."

"Okay then," Rantaro says, pulling to a stop and turning to face Wakiya with a challenge in his eyes, "where do you think the first beys came from?"

Now that's an unfair question. Wakiya's never really thought about it before – beys just are, and most of them are handed down or upgraded so often that tracing the exact origins would be impossible. He scowls at the ground while he thinks, and then glowers up at the sky, but neither of them offer any answers. "Someone just decided to make 'em one day, like people do now."

"Why do they seem so alive, though?" Rantaro presses, surprisingly passionate about this bizarre theory. "Like – the avatars? Where do those come from?"

The avatars? Like Wyvern? "So yer sayin' they're aliens," Wakiya says, to take his mind off of the baffling question. It's too late at night to be pondering over the origins of the beasts that seem to inhabit their beys.

Heaving a sigh, Rantaro faces forward and starts walking again. "Forget it."

Wakiya is more than okay with letting the conversation lapse again, after that – even if it's not very helpful in keeping him from wondering over the general existence of beys and their avatars.

"Those stars look kinda like a bey." Rantaro, meanwhile, is apparently intent on talking the whole way back.

Seeing as they're only a handful of blocks away from his apartment, Wakiya really tries not to humor him this time, but catches himself looking where Rantaro is insistently pointing regardless. "Where? I don't see anythin'."

"There!" Rantaro insists, tracing some kind of lumpy shape in the air with his finger. "See?"

Stepping closer to try and look from Rantaro's perspective, Wakiya plays connect-the-dots along with him and continues to come up empty. "No, I don't see."

"You have no imagination," Rantaro sighs, letting his hand drop back to his side and tucking his thumb into his waistband.

Wakiya scowls, because it's not his fault that Rantaro is pointing at stuff that doesn't exist. "I don't think this works like cloud gazin' anyway – ya can't just make stuff up. There's already constellations up there."

"Like what?"

Another unfair question – Wakiya never claimed he was an expert in this, after all. "Like…uh…."

"What's wrong with making stuff up if you don't know, either?" Rantaro asks, adopting an unnecessarily snobbish tone.

"Shaddup!" Wakiya yanks his phone out of his pocket and unlocks it, pulling up a search engine – he'll show that Rantaro. "I'll know in a second," he swears, tapping in a quick inquiry about constellations. He finds a labelled map for spring, taps on it, and squints down at the outlines.

"Find anything?" Rantaro barely gives him time to look it over before he's leaning in over his shoulder, trying to see for himself.

Nudging with his shoulder to try and dislodge Rantaro proves fruitless, so Wakiya gives up after a few attempts. He zooms in on the star map a bit, so as to better read the names of the constellations. "There's a dragon up there, apparently."

"Like Wyvern?"

"No – Wyvern is a wyvern, they're different," Wakiya explains, although he can't believe he has to do so for something this simple.

"Hm." Rantaro must stand up on his toes, or something, because suddenly he's pressed further over Wakiya's shoulder, reaching out to adjust the screen of the phone. "I'm still gonna call it Wyvern," he announces, in a show of blatant disregard for basic information.

Wakiya jerks his shoulder backwards, but all that accomplishes is causing Rantaro to grab his sleeve to avoid losing his balance. "Its name is Draco! And get offa me!"

Sinking back down onto the flat of his feet with a huff, Rantaro stops propping his chin on Wakiya's shoulder to stare at the sky. "So where is it?" he asks, squinting at the stars.

"Didn't ya just look at the map yerself?" Wakiya grumbles, zooming back out on the picture to see the full thing so as to better pinpoint where Draco is.

"You're the expert here," Rantaro says. It sounds almost taunting, somehow (which is great motivation for Wakiya, actually).

"Hmph." Glaring between his phone and the sky a few times, Wakiya finally manages to orient himself enough to spot what he's pretty sure is the dragon constellation. "It's around there," he says as he traces it in the sky.

"…You just gestured to the whole sky," Rantaro deadpans.

"I didn't, it's really long!"

"Sure, Wakiya."

"No – see?" Wakiya shows the phone's screen to Rantaro, following the line of Draco with his finger. "It's right between the dippers."

"And those are…?"

Wakiya sighs as he stops walking, forcing Rantaro to stop along with him. "Can't ya see for yerself?" he asks, holding his phone closer to Rantaro and pointing to the constellation map before gesturing straight up. He waits until Rantaro's gaze catches up with his finger and then shifts it around, following the line of the big dipper. "Right there."

Leaning in again, Rantaro's so close that his shoulder is pressed against Wakiya's as he peers up at the stars. He doesn't say anything for a while, so Wakiya outlines the dipper again.

"I see it!" Rantaro says at last. He's grinning up at the sky, now.

Wakiya has to look away from his face, feeling suddenly awkward and nervous for who-knows-what reasons, so he stares at the stars instead. "Y-yeah," he says, "and the little one is there." He points again, a bit further up than before, and connects the dots twice. Rantaro is nodding as he squints in concentration, which Wakiya supposes means he sees it, so he moves right along to the next one. "Draco's tail is right between 'em, and the head's kinda here…."

It takes Rantaro a minute or so of looking at Wakiya's phone and following his pointing, but soon enough he announces, "There's Wyvern!"

"I told you – it's a dragon," Wakiya reminds him, wearing an unimpressed frown that Rantaro doesn't see because he's too busy being starry-eyed over stars.

"What other ones are up there?" Rantaro asks, already walking away and still staring up at the sky as he goes.

If he keeps that up, he's going to trip again – maybe even fall this time – and Wakiya will just point and laugh and offer no sympathy. For now, though, he follows along, glancing down at his phone. He's only looking because he's also curious; the constellations are pretty cool, even if his present company is less than stellar. "I dunno," he says, "it's kinda difficult ta see them the farther inta town we get."

"Yeah…we're almost back, anyway, I guess," Rantaro says. He continues leisurely strolling along with his hands in his pockets and head tipped back.

Wakiya recognizes enough of the scenery to know that Rantaro's apartment is indeed right around the corner. When they get there, his dad will take Wakiya back to his big, empty house for the night…which suddenly sounds way less appealing now than it did earlier. The atmosphere in Rantaro's cramped apartment, Wakiya remembers, is somehow comparatively comfortable….

…Plus it's late, and he's not sure he remembered his key, and the staff probably aren't expecting him home at this point, so there might not be anyone to let him in anyway (although he sends a couple rapid-fire texts just to be sure), so really….

"Hey, Kiyama?"

Rantaro finally turns away from the sky to watch where he's going, and shoots a sideways glance at Wakiya. "Hm?"

"I changed my mind, I'm stayin' the night at your place."

"You can't just decide that without asking!" Rantaro says, taking his hands out of his pockets to ball them into frustrated fists. "Besides, you'll see me tomorrow for my party, remember?"

The implication that he wants to stay over just to spend more time with Rantaro is making Wakiya blush, even though it's wildly incorrect. "This isn't about you!" he insists, because it's not. "It'd just be inconvenient ta go home now."

"Geez you're stubborn," Rantaro mutters as he starts to climb the steps of his apartment building. "I don't know how Hoji puts up with you."

"He's better company than you."

"Stay with him, then!"

Well, Hoji is definitely way nicer and would never raise this much of a fuss – if it wasn't so late, Wakiya would do just that. As it is, though: "He stopped answerin' my texts! I think he fell asleep."

"Ugh fine!" Rantaro yanks open the door to the apartment building with excessive force once he's buzzed in, and pauses with his hand on the handle to shoot a glance over his shoulder. "You can stay."

Wakiya feels like he's won an important battle here, and grins accordingly. "O'course I can," he says as he waltzes through the open door, leading the way to the elevator.

"Make yourself at home, why don't you…" Rantaro grumbles, following despite his whining.

"Happy birthday, Kiyama," Wakiya says as the elevator doors chime open in front of them.

For some reason, it comes out as less of a smug sneer than he intended.

x

"What are you doing out here so late?"

Wakiya, sitting backwards at the picnic table, twists in his seat to watch Rantaro walk around until he's standing in front of him. Blond hair is a little ruffled with sleep, and he's wearing his pajamas and shoes, with a blanket around his shoulders.

"Thinkin'," Wakiya answers with a shrug. It's the simplest answer and also the most accurate. He's not about to explain that having everyone back together at his villa, gathered for his birthday is…nice. He's almost too excited to sleep, as childish as it sounds, just because he's never had so many people to celebrate his birthday with before. …How weird is that?

"You should be in bed," Rantaro says, even though he's sitting down next to Wakiya, tugging his blanket tighter around himself.

Wakiya raises an eyebrow at him. "An' you shouldn't?"

"I was."

"Go back, then."

"I saw you down here from the balcony," Rantaro says. He suddenly seems very interested in something in the pavilion next to them, peering all-too-intently into the darkness. "…Thought I'd come check on you."

Oh. Well. That makes a familiar warmth spread in Wakiya's chest, and he tries in vain to push it down. "Havin' a midnight snack again?" he quips, willing himself not to blush as he grasps for normalcy.

Rantaro rounds on him with a glare, although in the dark it seems less heated than usual. "You picked off my plate at dinner!" he complains, frowning. "If it weren't for Hoji, I'd never eat at all."

"Yer too dramatic," Wakiya says, because he really is – what's wrong with sharing some food here and there? "Anyway, if Hoji was with ya, why didn't he come down?"

For some reason, Rantaro's cheeks go all flushed at that. "He's…too lenient with you," he says eventually, "and you needed someone to make you go to sleep. You can't stay out here all night, y'know."

"Neither can you," Wakiya points out. A breeze rolls through just then, and he shivers. If that keeps up, he really will have to go in soon – but not before Rantaro does, and especially not because Rantaro tells him to. That would be something like admitting defeat.

Rather than respond, Rantaro stands up, and Wakiya is sure he's about to go back inside, but he doesn't. Instead he stays close, unwrapping his blanket to readjust and situate it until he can drape half of it around Wakiya's shoulders as he sits back down.

Wakiya clutches his side of the blanket, his face heating up, and he's plenty warm now. Rantaro is sitting much closer than before, too, pressing their arms together so they can easily share the blanket. He's doing an awful job of convincing Wakiya to come back inside.

…Wakiya isn't sure what he's supposed to do in situations like this, exactly. He has no choice but to let the conversation fall away, afraid anything he says will come out flustered. Chancing a glance over at Rantaro, he notices a fading pink tint to his cheeks as he stares up at the sky.

"Stargazin', Kiyama?" he asks, glad to have something to break the awkward-yet-not-uncomfortable silence.

"Yeah," Rantaro says, "you were right before. There really are a lot more stars here."

"Told ya," Wakiya responds, almost on automatic. He gives himself a minute to be absorbed by the reflection of stars in Rantaro's eyes before he tears his attention away and turns it upwards.

"Is Wyvern up there this time of year?"

Wakiya can hear the smirk in Rantaro's voice when he asks that – he knows he's only doing it to get a rise out of him, but damn if Wakiya is going to let him get away with that statement. "I told ya it's a dragon! That's not the same as a wyvern!"

His success is questionable, though, because Rantaro only laughs, good-natured and carefree. And he really must be tired, because then he drops his head to rest on Wakiya's shoulder, face still slightly angled towards the sky.

First the blanket.

Now this.

Wakiya is having one heck of a night, and doesn't know whether to be happy or embarrassed or both (both, probably). Sure, they've gotten friendlier recently, but this….

"Is it up there, though?" Rantaro mutters, still casual as ever despite his new pillow.

Wakiya won't be outdone in the 'can still make normal conversation' department. "I think it still is…."

Time to pull his phone out again – good thing he keeps it in his pocket at all times (unlike Rantaro, who's probably already lost his somewhere in his guest room). He searches for fall constellations this time, and finds a page on the same site he'd visited two years ago. A wave of nostalgia hits him when he notices that, but he pushes it away because he's already having enough feelings tonight, thanks.

"It is," Wakiya confirms, holding his phone up to the sky in Rantaro's line of sight. He pinpoints Draco's location again, noticing that it's a bit different than in the spring. There are definitely more stars around than were visible back in town, too.

"Cool," Rantaro says, cracking his jaw on another yawn, "it's way easier to see here."

"Uh-huh." Wakiya is suddenly very distracted by the way Rantaro nuzzles his cheek into his shoulder. He better not be settling down to sleep, or anything troublesome like that.

"What else is up there?" Rantaro's voice is almost a mumble now, and Wakiya wonders why he came out here at all if he's apparently so tired.

They carry on like that for a while, though, with Wakiya searching out a few constellations and Rantaro helping to find them via sleepy participation. Wakiya is too nervous to glance over and check, but he'd bet any money that Rantaro's eyelids are drooping as they talk, judging by how his responses have become scarce.

"Hey," Wakiya says, when Rantaro hasn't replied to one of his carefully placed verbal jabs in a few minutes. He shrugs his shoulder, peeking over at the other boy, whose eyes are very definitely closed. "Ya can't sleep here."

"Mm." Rantaro's eyes squint open, and he lifts a lazy hand to point at the time on Wakiya's phone. "Happy birthday, Wakiya," he mumbles, drifting right back off again.

It's going to be a real pain to wake Rantaro up fully to get him inside, but Wakiya suddenly can't bring himself to continue disturbing him at the moment.

…He must be getting awfully tired himself, because now he's stuck in memories of getting Rantaro's texts first thing in the morning on September the third every year previous. It's making him feel flustered and flattered all over again.

"Y'know," he whispers, once he's pulled himself together enough not to stutter, "…yer not so bad, Rantaro."

"…Hm…?"

"N-nothing! I said yer a pain, Kiyama!"

A/N: I'm sorry I write them beyblading so much, lol.

Thanks for reading!