Wooot woooot! First day of Shiptember! :D
I can't really think of anything to say in this A/N, so enjoy this little drabble, if you will:
"You always said you wanted to be an astronaut, right?"
Her voice took me by surprise and I looked towards her, blinking.
"Huh?"
"Your room," she said softly, "it's full of pictures from NASA and stuff."
"Hmmm," I agreed, "but it doesn't look like there'll be time for that."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
Sam's fingers were threaded through mine as our hands rested on the grass, which was a little damp from the rain earlier. She had her legs tucked into herself slightly and her back rested against a chestnut tree that casted a shadow in front of us from the moon behind.
I only vaguely realised that this is where we had sat while waiting for my ceremony to finish a couple of months ago, except then the sun was setting and casted Amity Park into a golden and orange hue. Now, it was either complete shadow or glints of reflected moonlight we could see (that and the glows of the scattered lamp posts, office windows and headlights). Any closer to the town and the sky would be drowned and suffocated in light pollution, and it was me looking at the stars and thinking this that I came to the realisation that this is what encouraged Sam to ask that question.
All the constellations for this time of the year were visible and I went through their names in my head, mouthing a few as I recalled some of the harder ones as well. Sam caught onto what I was doing (she always does anyway) and used her free hand to pat me on the shoulder.
"Are you looking at that one?" she pointed and I tried my best to look from the same angle as her, "Hercules?"
"No," I replied and moved her hand a little to the left, until it rested on a smaller constellation a small distance beside, "that one."
"I can't remember that one's name," she said with a small frown.
"It's called 'Lyra'," I told her and wrapped my arms gently around her stomach.
"Oh! That's right, Lyra. The harp, right?"
"I think so."
Silence fell after that, but she glanced at me warmly more than a few times while we didn't talk. The night was quiet, a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of the day. I tried my best to absorb and take in every second of this time we were spending together; you can never know when you'll next be fighting for your half-life against something like an all-powerful ghost overlord that has been hidden away for thousands of years. I could tell, just by the way she didn't completely relax her shoulders, that she felt the same way. Moments like this would be rare for any regular school kid that has homework and maybe a part-time job to juggle, but for me they were even rarer.
"But, you know what?" I said, still looking up.
"What?"
"I was actually talking to Mum and Dad about this whole astronaut thing a couple of days ago and they said that they'd take me to NASA headquarters sometime. Just to, you know… look around."
"That sounds great, Danny."
"Yeah."
We kissed then, gentle and long. Her hands found their way to mine again and I felt her smile.
I spent the rest of my sleepless night tucked away in bed with a thought about how we, as humans, could spend our whole lives looking up and dreaming about places we'd never go, while what we will truly find happiness in pursuing is really down here.
I just needed to balance the two.