3/25 Soumomo Week Day 4 - First
"The stars sure are bright here," Ai whistled, halting at the door of the bus. They were returning from a practice meet in a rural community - far away from the city lights that dimmed the constellations back home.
Sousuke gave a noncommittal glance upward, "they're just stars."
"Oi, are you two planning on riding back with us?" Rin called from the bus.
"Yes!" Ai hurried onto the bus. Sousuke followed with a sigh.
They situated themselves on the bus as usual: Sousuke took a window seat and promptly put in headphones. Rin tossed his bag to an empty seat and sat beside him. Across the aisle, Momo had taken the other window seat. Ai plopped down next to Momo, hugging his bag to his chest.
Sousuke let his mind drift to the beat of his music for a few minutes until a yelp broke the tired calm of the bus.
It was Ai who had screamed - because Momo thought it would be hilarious to shove the handful of fireflies he had caught outside the school right under Ai's nose.
Rin put on his resting bitch face and took charge, removing Momo from his seat and tossing him to Sousuke. The captain sat down beside Ai and hugged him, mumbling soothing words into his silvery hair.
"Aww come on, it was just a joke!" Momo groaned, annoyed to be ejected from his window seat.
Rin's head whipped around, "you should know better by now." He returned to comforting Ai, "oh, and toss those bugs outside," he added as an afterthought.
"No way!" Momo protested, clutching his precious fireflies.
Rin sent Sousuke a look that said, "deal with him."
Sousuke opened his hand and gestured for the bugs. "Momo." His tone left no room for negotiation. The redhead passed over the fireflies which Sousuke tossed out the open bus window.
"I worked hard to catch those," Momo grumbled, slouching into his seat, arms crossed, eyes scowling at the floor.
"I'm sure you did," Sousuke replied, disinterested.
"I didn't mean to scare Nitori-senpai. It's not my fault he's afraid of bugs," he muttered.
Sousuke removed his headphones to better hear the animated first year, "you'll still need to apologize when we get back home."
"I know," he sighed, "it's just...fireflies are like...stars you can hold, y'know? They fill up the night with their own little constellations - and you can catch their light. At least until some mean upperclassman throws them out a window."
Sousuke blinked, what were these kids' preoccupation with stars. They were impossible - light years out of reach. Why look up to something unattainable?
"You owe me a firefly when we get back," Momo huffed, sinking farther into his seat.
Sousuke weighed his options, on one hand he could go bug hunting, or maybe…
"How about instead of that we go to the roof of the dorms and look at REAL constellations?" He hoped Momo's bizarre interests would be piqued.
"You would do that?" Momo's eyes glowed like two miniature suns.
"If it means I don't have to catch a bug…"
"Then tomorrow night we can go stargazing!" Momo cheered, mostly to himself.
Sousuke shrugged, and Momo took that as permission to chatter more - about space, about bugs, anything that triggered his fancy.
But about a half hour into the ride Momo began to grow tired. He slowly went from bouncing in his seat to leaning against Sousuke as he always did.
"Y'know why they blink their lights?" Momo asked sleepily, " it's because the males are trying to attract a mate."
"I see," Sousuke commented.
"Bugs are so cool," he mumbled, heavy head bobbing to finally rest against Sosuke.
He shifted slightly, allowing Momo to rest his head more comfortably in the crook of his shoulder. The redhead's arms coiled around one of Sousuke's as they always did, clinging to him like a koala.
"Did you know….stag beetles are nocturnal?" Momo mumbled, making one last valiant effort against sleep.
"You've mentioned it," Sousuke chuckled. He watched Momo's scrunched forehead go lax. The boy sighed, struggling closer to Sousuke's warmth before he fell asleep. Sousuke replaced his headphones and started out at the blur of scenery, comforted by the quiet and the small boy clinging to him, who would, inevitably, be drooling on his arm by the time they returned to Samezuka.
As promised, Momo dragged Sosuke to the roof to look at the night sky.
Light pollution clouded some of the dimmer stars, but overall still left a stunning view.
"Oh boy! This is awesome! Way better than some bug!" Momo pranced around the roof looking up, making Sousuke tense when he ventured too close to the edge for his comfort.
"Hey, Momo...you should come stand by me, tell me about the constellations," in truth, Sousuke didn't care about them, but if it kept Momo still, and happy, he didn't mind. A part of his boundless energy was contagious, intoxicating, even.
"Ok, so this one over to the left is the slime mold, cause it really just looks like a blob, oh and there's this other one called the luna moth, but my favorite constellation is of course, the mighty stag beetle!" Momo gestured to a set of stars that didn't really resemble anything, let alone an insect.
"Uh, Momo," Sousuke said gently, "none of those are actually constellations."
Momo deflated, "yeah, I know," he sighed, "Nitori-senpai tried to show me a couple, but I wasn't really listening."
"Maybe we could just look at them…" appreciate nature? Sousuke didn't want to say something so lame, not in front of a first year.
Luckily, Momo caught on. He stood close beside Sousuke, and for a few minutes, all they could do was stare in silence.
The stars reflected in Momo's eyes, always burning with unrestrained brilliance, as though a child could contain a cosmos. A small part of Sousuke couldn't deny his jealousy - when Momo always seemed bright and he had let himself be succumbed in gloom.
Until…
Momo was tugging his arm again, gesturing wildly to another made up constellation. He smiled up at Sousuke, light washing over a shade. Sousuke wanted to bask in it.
Like stars against the vacuum of space. Maybe Momo could bring out the specks of light within him.
They had to return inside; curfew came in just a few minutes and neither wished to deal with the consequences. Momo took his hand almost subconsciously, pulling his senpai into the stairwell, but he paused, just for a moment, to take a final look at the sky.
"Yamazaki-Senpai! We have to go!"
A vague smile on his lips, he complied.
It wasn't the first time Sousuke Yamazaki had gazed deeply up at the stars, but it was the first time, in a long time, that he had found them beautiful.
Tomorrow's prompt: Underwear (no fic for this, I'll be posting a drawing on tumblr under "Keep Calm and Chetette")