Underneath the clear, crisp, starry sky outside Walkerville Elementary, twin tents sat pitched in the grass on either side of a small magical school bus. The excursion was over for the day, and it was too late to drop everyone off back home, so the students were simply camping out on the lawn of the school they had just saved from being crushed by a huge meteorite.

Most rested well, content in a job well done and not thinking much of the task, especially since this class was used to performing daring rescues and feats no one would ever know about, but something about this one just hit differently to one black-haired boy. Carlos Ramon was not asleep, and carefully stepped over a lightly snoring Ralphie as he snuck his way out of the boys' tent. He needed to clear his head.

Closing the tent flap behind him, he turned his eyes skyward and began meandering on autopilot, drifting towards the baseball field. To think, right now, if Dorothy Ann hadn't happened to discover that meteor, if the class hadn't listened to her and actually discovered the incoming threat, this very moment wouldn't be so peaceful as it was. Right now, a giant space rock would be cratering into the school, demolishing it and impacting not only the lives of everyone in his class, but everyone in the entire school, including their teacher. Everyone in Ms. Frizzle's class might have been split up to go to new schools, never to see one another again. They would certainly never see their beloved teacher again. So many people would have been effected, and it all could have been the reality if not for that one small chance that one small class of kids had taken action.

Coming to the bleachers, Carlos noticed something in his peripheral vision and glanced down, surprised to find he wasn't alone. Likewise, the spectacled ginger boy he met gazes with had turned to look at him in equal surprise.

"Arnold?" Carlos questioned the party already sitting, "I didn't even notice you were gone too. What are you doing out here?"

Rubbing the back of his head shyly, Arnold glanced away and admitted, "Stargazing. I just can't stop thinking about...you know."

Silently, Carlos' lips thinned. Stepping up onto the bleachers, he opted to come sit beside the other boy. "I know."

"You too?" Arnold sounded surprised again that someone else would have had the same problem bogging their mind. Usually he was the only one worrying. "What part's bothering you? The fact that this was quite literally the single most dangerous thing we've ever done and could barely even qualify as a field trip?" The timid boy hugged himself as he stared at the inky sky, wishing he'd had their class lizard with him to pet in comfort.

"Well, kinda," Carlos hemmed, turning his eyes upward as well. "It's not so much the danger part that gets me. More like...this was big. Way bigger than us. If we hadn't managed to stop that thing, it wouldn't have just been us that suffered for it. Things don't usually go outside our class, y'know? This would have changed like...everything."

A grim silence.

"Thanks. I hadn't even thought of all that," Arnold replied grimly, squeezing himself harder.

"Sorry." It was Carlos' turn to glance away, not meaning to be a downer by voicing his thoughts. He shouldn't make it any harder on Arnold.

Blinking to get such a simplistic, withdrawn response from the boy who was usually so outspoken and unflappable, Arnold turned his head back towards Carlos. It looked so wrong to see the Hispanic boy giving the grass such a glum expression.

"No, I mean..." Arnold hurried to correct, "I-I didn't mean anything by it, honest. I'm sorry. It's just...you're right. I feel even more useless knowing I could have ruined the lives of half of Walkerville. At least you were able to do something about that meteor."

Blinking in turn, Carlos' head lifted in some perplex. "What are you talking about, Arnold? How would you have ruined anything? I was the one out in the space pod. And what I tried to do didn't even work. Saving the school was probably the biggest thing I'll ever do in my life already, and all I did was get Ms. Frizzle and me wedged in that rock like a door nail." Slumping, he placed his chin in his hands in shame. "I totally choked it."

"Are you kidding?" Arnold half-exclaimed, "At least you actually did something! How were you supposed to know the space pod wouldn't be able to pull that meteor off course? All I managed to do was tell you not to go alone! I couldn't even muster up the backbone to be the one to go with you. If there was ever a time to choke when it counted, that was it."

Matching Carlos' dejected posture, he too let his chin fall into his palms. He'd managed to force himself to do daring things in the past. He loved his school and the life he had surrounding it too, even if the magic part of the class field trips could be rather terrifying. Why, when the stakes had been so high, had he only been able to express safety concerns? Why couldn't he have acted as bravely as Carlos? "I may as well have stayed home today for as much as I contributed."

Sending his eyes sideways to see Arnold's now closed in his own bout of shame, Carlos held another moments' silence before sitting up a bit and offering, "Well, for what it's worth...I'm really glad you spoke up."

Eyes opening, Arnold looked at the other, silently expressing his doubt and questioning.

Nodding, Carlos confirmed, "That's something I like about you. You never forget the people you care about. And by making sure we were safe on our mission, you definitely helped protect the rest of Walkerville I know you love, too."

At such a bold compliment, Arnold couldn't help his cheeks tinting. He definitely didn't deserve such praise.

"Yeah, well," he argued, "Something I like about you is, you're never afraid to do what it takes. You take the chance, whether it ends up working or not. You're not afraid to make mistakes and get messy, just like Ms. Frizzle always says."

Carlos' brow went up a degree at such an adamant rebuttal.

Hearing no retort, Arnold was emboldened and placed his wrists on his hips as he faced Carlos a bit more. "And who says that was the most important thing you'll do in your life, huh? You're confident! You're fearless! No matter what you do, you're gonna be great!"

With a huff, he folded his arms crossly, firmly believing Carlos had no right to feel down on himself.

Carlos didn't know what he was feeling, but part of it was definitely stun. Arnold didn't speak so curtly often. Something in Carlos' ribs was stirring, and it settled into something like a blend of gratitude and inspiration. Dare he say, he almost felt like his face was in danger of flushing. Unlike Arnold, such a thing was rare on the black-haired boy.

"Wow, Arn. That's some pep talk. You really mean that stuff?"

Faltering, Arnold shrank a little, realizing he'd quite probably gotten carried away with his words. "Er...well, yeah. You always jump in ready to do pretty much anything. So long as you end up happy, I'd say that's the most important thing, and you've got your whole life ahead of you to find something that'll beat out that meteor."

Head tilting slightly, Carlos let a loose, wide smile spread on his lips. Arnold was sweet. It was obvious the words were earnest as well. They actually made Carlos feel more at ease. Right. He hadn't peaked in fourth grade. He wouldn't let himself.

Determined not to let Arnold brush off his own encouragement, Carlos pressed, "You too, though. So you didn't jump out of the bus and super smash the meteor like a comic book or whatever. You were still brave enough to go help us stop that thing. You're a plan guy. You're smart. Heck, you're probably gonna grow up to be some...genius rock scientist lawyer guy..!" Shrugging, he then swirled his hands in attempt to illustrate the most promising career passions he'd seen from the other boy.

Seeing Arnold shy further away, clearly not buying the kind words as readily as he sold them, Carlos insisted, "I mean it, Arn. Don't get hung up on how much you do on what trip. You've done plenty. You're the kid who fought a T-Rex single-handed to protect his whole class from becoming dino chow..!"

Folding his hands between his thighs, Arnold's shoulders hunched as he relented, "Maybe..."

"Speaking of," Carlos recalled, "I was really worried about you on that trip. Phoebe too, but like...thinking some heartless monster had just gobbled you up..." He put a gentle hand on Arnold's shoulder. "It boiled me. And I was really happy to see you alive. Probably like you were when I made it back to the bus with The Frizz, right? I really am glad you spoke up, even if you weren't my mission partner."

Cheeks flushed again, Arnold fidgeted. "Well, I guess so...maybe. But I was just so worried that...I mean I didn't want to lose you, and...not like losing anyone wouldn't have been terrible but...it's just..."

Seeing Arnold on the cusp of losing himself in a ramble of justification, Carlos lowered his hand to take one of Arnold's, resting their joint palms on the spectacled boy's thigh.

"I get it."

Effectively stilled, Arnold drilled the ground with his eyes for a good several seconds, just absorbing the conversation and realizing that aside from the tension he felt over Carlos tenderly taking his hand, he actually felt soothed. He didn't feel nearly so bad about what he had or hadn't done during the mission to save the school. Slowly, his eyes slid back up to the clear night sky. Yeah. They had stopped that meteor, as a team, and that was all that mattered.

"Thanks."

"You too."

Another small lull before Carlos took a deep inhale and decided he'd had enough of being mopey. He preferred being the mood lifter in the room.

"You know, if anyone else had had leftover thoughts about all this, I'd have guessed maybe DA'd be out here. But I guess she's got a right to feel satisfied with a job well done more than anything. Still not looking forward to the 'I told you so's tomorrow. Haha."

A small, soft snort. "Maybe. It'll be worth it, though. Who'd have guessed her compulsive sky watching would be so handy? Maybe we should consider it too."

Now Carlos chuckled. "Nah, I just don't think tracking space junk is in the tele-scope of my abilities...get it~?"

More strongly than he meant to, Arnold giggled. "Carlos..!" It was hardly a displeased call of the others' name. More reflexive. As Carlos beamed back at him, Arnold got ahold of himself and noted, "You know? I think that might be the longest you've ever gone without cracking a joke."

Giving his own snort, Carlos returned, "Probab-ly. Must be something wrong with my...gag reflex..!"

Rolling his eyes and shaking his head fondly, a sense of normalcy settling in, Arnold then felt his eyelids drooping as he weakly granted, "It's okay to have feelings...but I'm glad you feel punny again. It's comfier that way."

Sleep definitely appeared to be catching up to the ginger now that the air felt as clear as the sky above. Drooping, he automatically sagged against the other boy, his head softly nestling on Carlos' shoulder.

Appreciating the sentiment, Carlos then watched Arnold sink fast into a sleepy stupor. Weakly wiggling his shoulder, he asked gently, "Hey, Arn..? You ready to head back..?"

"Mmm, yeah...hit the sack..." Arnold confirmed in little more than a vague mumble. He was fading fast, and by the end of his short sentence seemed all but gone.

Feeling the contagious effects of a slumbering atmosphere, Carlos found himself yawning grandly. He was feeling mighty at peace himself, and he didn't really want to disturb Arnold if he was going to find sleep so easily now. Getting to the tent wasn't that important.

Wriggling slightly to adjust himself comfortably, taking one last look to the stars for the night, Carlos tilted his own head to rest his cheek in a bed of Arnold's soft, springy hair. Between them, their hands were still linked, and Carlos gave Arnold's a self-securing squeeze, just glad he had a classmate he could open up to like this.

It was impossible to say whether Arnold was conscious or not, but as he drifted off, Carlos felt a feeble returned squeeze from the ginger's palm.

Quietly from the shadows, a tall, frizzy-haired woman approached the bleachers with a thick blanket draped over her crossed forearms. A fond smile was on her lips as she came to wrap this blanket around the pair of her students.

"Rest well, my little shining stars," Ms. Frizzle hushed to the boys, "It's certainly a rest well-earned." Since Carlos had expressed some surprisingly existential worries while piloting that space pod with her, the teacher had kept an eye on the boy, just in case he'd needed to talk more in depth on the topic. Seeing him and Arnold reach out and support each other, however, she couldn't be prouder. Her class made her proud every day, but today had just been something special.