"Hey! Ivan!"

"You again?" Ivan grumbled, sitting up and running a hand through his hair. He'd returned to the clearing the next evening, and it seemed Alfred had the same idea, too, even though the kid hadn't brought his telescope or anything. Just a clipboard. "I was trying to take a nap."

"With your eyes open?" Alfred laughed. "Sure, right. Can I sit?" Alfred motioned at Ivan's blanket.

"Fine."

Alfred plopped down, stretching out his legs in front of himself and smiling. "Not drawing anything tonight?"

"No, not today. I spent many hours working on a commission earlier in the afternoon, so I am taking a break now."

"Oh, too bad. I was hoping you could teach me how to draw." Alfred pointed at his clipboard.

Ivan stared at Alfred with his best incredulous expression. "That is printer paper, you know. Do you not have a sketchbook or anything?"

Alfred tipped his head quizzically. "What?"

"How did you even know I was going to be here?"

"Well. I didn't. But you said yesterday that you come here a lot, so I thought there might be a chance..."

Ivan settled back down on the blanket, clasping his hands together and resting them under his head. "Forget it. I am not going to teach you how to draw. Why don't you just study the stars or something? Isn't that what you came here for in the first place?"

"U-uh, yeah." Alfred laid down next to Ivan to stargaze, both of them lying on their backs, violet and blue eyes searching the skies.

Ivan noticed Corona Borealis, the constellation Alfred had pointed out to him the previous evening. "What are your plans for this summer?"

For once, Alfred paused. "Graduation's not for a month. Well, thirty-two days. Not that I'm counting." He laughed, and Ivan smiled. Ivan had counted down the days, too, back in high school. "Just know it is going to go by faster than you want it to. Before you know it, you are going to be like me, wondering where all those loud class bells and disgusting American school lunches went."

"Are school lunches better in other places?"

Ivan chuckled. "I've always brought my own lunch, even when I lived in Russia. I moved here when I was eleven."

"From?"

"St. Petersburg."

"I was wondering. You have an accent."

"I know."

"No, I like it." Alfred sighed. "I used to really want an accent. Any kind. When I was ten, I would spend hours trying to sound like Daniel Radcliffe."

This got a real laugh out of Ivan. After a minute, he said, "You know, Alfred, if you want, I will try to teach you how to draw."

"Really?" Alfred turned to look at the Russian. "And I'll teach you constellations!" He looked back up, his eyes glittering in the starlight. He raised his right hand to the sky. "You can see Ursa Minor."

"Little Bear."

"Yeah." Alfred's voice sounded content. "The North Star is the tail of the bear. That's the brightest one in the constellation. They say it's four hundred and thirty-three light years away."

"But they don't really know, do they?"

"No, they don't. But I think it's like that with everything. None of us really have a clue about this universe." Alfred's voice was slowing down, and Ivan knew Alfred was growing sleepy. He felt a strange sense of happiness wash over him. Not the kind of happiness where he felt like skipping around and yelling out his good mood to everyone. The kind of happiness where he felt warm and secure, and at ease.

"Hey, wake up," Ivan muttered, knowing he was dangerously close to falling asleep himself.

"I'm taking a nap," Alfred replied in a Russian accent, mocking what Ivan had said earlier.

Ivan yawned, ignoring Alfred. "How far away do you live?"

"A few minutes' drive down the road. My house isn't far at all. Good night."

Ivan forced himself to stand up. "Do not go to sleep. I need my blanket."

Alfred opened his eyes. "Come on. I'm"—yawn—"perfectly comfortable here."

"Okay, then, I am leaving! If you don't give me back my blanket the next time you see me—"

"Are you coming here tomorrow?"

Ivan frowned. It would depend, really, on how he felt. But he didn't want to tell Alfred about his sickness. He chose to evade. "Tomorrow's Sunday. Shouldn't you get some rest for Monday? Can you afford to come out here tomorrow?"

Alfred sat up. "I can if you say you'll be here tomorrow."

Ivan's face turned red, but thankfully, it was too dark to tell. How did Alfred seem so calm and unflustered? Not that Ivan was flustered, but who just casually dropped lines like that? "I don't know. Anyway, you'll need to get rest tomorrow."

"Well, we can meet in the afternoon, then."

Ivan raised an eyebrow. "That's pointless. The stars won't be out."

"Right." Alfred stood, too, rolling up the blanket. "I forgot. Well, here you go. Until next time?"

"Yeah," Ivan replied, wondering how such a large detail could have slipped Alfred's mind. "Next time."

The next day wouldn't have been a good day to go stargazing, anyway. Rain rolled in around noon, and a steady drizzle continued until the evening, when it escalated into a storm. Ivan spent most of the day painting and working on his commission for Mathias.

He was in the middle of making some coffee when someone knocked on the door. Ivan poured himself a mug and hurried over to the door, his eyes flickering over the time. 7:38 PM. It was a little late for someone to be stopping by, but more unusual was the fact he actually had a guest. For a thousandth of a second, Ivan hoped it would be Alfred, but then he realized the kid didn't even know where he lived. He wondered why he'd hoped for such a thing, feeling ridiculous.

No, Katyusha stood in the doorway, closing her umbrella and leaning it against the side of the building. "Hi, sorry for stopping by unannounced. Can I come in?"

"Of course," Ivan replied, opening up the door and welcoming his older sister inside. He felt a momentary twinge of some strange kind of disappointment, but he brushed it away quickly. He was happy to see Katyusha. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry, but would it be possible for me to spend the night here?"

"You know you are welcome here any time," Ivan replied honestly. "But why? You are all right, aren't you?" He walked over to the kitchen counter and made his sister a cup of coffee. She liked hers with a splash of milk and some cream. They sat down on the couch with their drinks.

Katyusha giggled, looking a little sheepish. "Thank you, Ivan. I'm fine. Just... Elizaveta... she's..."

Elizaveta was Katyusha's roommate, and the co-owner of their café. Ivan had met her on occasion, and she seemed very nice. She'd tried to set him up with some guy, which was a little strange, but she was kind and a hard worker. "Is she okay?"

"She had a guy over tonight," Katyusha chuckled. "I told her I'd be out of the apartment."

Ivan laughed. "Well, that's fine. Have you talked to Natalya lately?"

"That girl," Katyusha sighed, "is a piece of work. Did you know she called me just the other day and asked me if she could start her own mafia? I think she got rejected by some guy and is now channeling all of her rage into consuming extra-large chocolate bars."

"Chocolate. That reminds me." Ivan stood up and walked over to the cabinet, pulling out a chocolate bar and returning to the sofa. He split it in half, handing one to Katyusha. They clinked their chocolate like it was champagne—a silly thing they'd done ever since they were children—and grinned at each other. "Cheers."

They stayed up late, talking about nothing in particular, just enjoying the company. There were few people Ivan loved as much as his sisters, and as he sat with Katyusha, he realized this more than ever.

In the morning, Ivan woke up early to watch the sunrise, but it was still raining. He couldn't go back to sleep, so he grabbed the novel he'd been reading lately and sat at the kitchen table. After a while, though, he just watched the rain, staring out the window. He was so spaced out he didn't notice Katyusha walk into the kitchen.

"Good morning," she said, startling Ivan.

"Oh. Hi."

"I'm going to head out now. Thank you very, very much."

"Come back whenever," Ivan replied, looking back out the window.

"Is this everything? That'll be twenty-two dollars and..."

"Thanks." Ivan handed the cashier the money and took his bouquet. He was buying flowers to paint a still life, and while fake flowers would be more practical and cheaper, probably, he could never resist stopping by the flower shop when he had a chance. He held his bouquet of pink and white carnations close to his chest, heading for the door, when—

"Hey!"

Ivan turned to see Alfred walking toward him, grinning.

"Hi," Ivan said.

Alfred pointed at the carnations. "Girlfriend?"

"Still life," Ivan said with a snort. "What are you doing here?"

"My grade is giving flowers to all our teachers," Alfred said, turning to scan over a row of bouquets. "The class president told me to pick some up. I don't remember which kind he wanted me to get, though..."

Ivan tapped a finger against his chin. "Well, what about daisies? Those are very nice. My favorite are sunflowers, personally."

Alfred raised an eyebrow. "I'll call him. What a coincidence seeing you! Are you doing anything? Do you wanna grab something to eat?"

Truthfully, Ivan wasn't feeling so well. "Ah, no, sorry. I'm not feeling great, so I think I am just going to head home."

"Well, we should meet up sometime!" Alfred was pulling a scrap of paper out of his pocket, scribbling something down on it. He handed it to Ivan, beaming. "Well, I'll see you! Bye!"

Ivan shook his head. Crazy weird kid. He opened his umbrella as he stepped out of the shop, glancing down at the paper.

Alfred had given him his phone number.