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Caleb was always perturbed by Ray.
He never went outside, preferring to stay inside more than not. Every invitation to go out to the bars, a work barbeque, and get together was passed. Ray rather stayed inside to himself, playing games. But whenever Caleb looked, Ray was always staring out a window to the sky, almost longingly.
And Caleb had no idea what was up with the man.
And it worried him because over the course of the years they worked together, since Ray came along, Caleb had started to develop feelings for him. It started off as Ray mocking him during AHWU’s about the community hunter stuff, and it grew into them crawling over each other and even eating each other’s food. So of course Caleb was worried about Ray.
The day was almost over when Caleb went to put a plan into motion.
“Hey Ray, what are you up to tonight?” Caleb casually asked. Ray spun his chair around to face him after taking off his headphones.
“Probably not much. Go home, eat some takeout. Play some games.” He replied nonchalantly. Caleb stared at him for a few before breaking out into a smile.
“Great! Do you mind if I come over then? A bunch of others are going out tonight and I don’t feel like going, but I don’t want to be alone, you know?”
Ray was silent for a few before he quickly glanced outside and to the sky. Caleb caught the movement before Ray turned back to him.
“Sure. I don’t see why not. But we aren’t going to do anything sporty. My house, my games.” Ray joked. Together, they finished packing up the equipment they Ray used that day and piled into Caleb’s car, driving off to Rays. The ride was silent, with Ray just looking out the window lost in thought.
It was no time until they reached Rays apartment, only a few short minute away. They went in and Ray went to the phone to order some pizza delivered – the two settled on pepperoni and bacon. It didn’t take long, only 10 minutes, before it came and the two sat down playing Battleblock Theater. Caleb chose the cat head shape while Ray went with the star shape.
The two focused on the game before Caleb started to watch Ray more out of the corner of his eye rather than the game. Ray seemed disinterested in the game, which set off red flags in Caleb’s mind. He paused the game and turned to look at Ray.
“Everything okay man?” he ask softly, reaching out and placing a hand on Ray’s shoulder. Ray tensed before relaxing and even falling into Caleb’s embrace. Eyes wide, Caleb wrapped his arms around the other man. Ray brought a hand up to Caleb’s back and hugged him tight, clutching at his shirt a bit.
“I’m just…so tired.” Ray mumbled into his shirt. “And I miss it so much.” Caleb rubbed Rays back and hesitantly rested his head on top of Rays.
“Can I ask…what exactly do you miss?”
Ray pulled back, his eyes tired. He pulled his glasses off to rub at them and sat them on the table. Caleb furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, having thought that Ray needed them to see.
“You see….” Ray started, standing up and going around to close the curtains and turn off the lights, “I’m actually older than I say I am.” He said softly as he came back to sit in front of Caleb.
“I’m older than a lot of the stars in the sky.”
Confusion flashed through Caleb, and a frown came to his face.
“What do you mean, Ray?” he inquired. Ray sighed and grabbed Caleb’s hands.
“Please don’t freak out.” He muttered to himself and closed his eyes. Caleb was unsure of what Ray was doing until a faint glow started to emit from their clasped hands. He gasped as it became brighter and brighter, until a small white orb was floating just a few inches above their clasped hands.
“I created the stars in the sky. Each and every one. From the individuals to the collections of constellations. I have for a long time now.” He whispered, letting go of Caleb’s hands to hold the small orb – a star Caleb now realised – into his own. A smile at last made its way over Ray and Caleb’s heart fluttered. It was beautiful, especially in the glow.
“How do you do it?” Caleb asked after a moment’s silence. Ray was startled at the question, looking up at Caleb with wide eyes.
“You’re not…afraid or anything?” he asked. Caleb shook his head and grabbed one of Ray’s hands again, missing the warmth.
“I’m not. You can’t get rid of me that easily.” He teased, getting a small laugh out of Ray.
“Well, stars are hard, yet easy. The better ones come from some kind of emotion – friendship, adoration, love.” Ray paused, quickly looking at Caleb’s eyes before back down to the clasped hands. “I can just take what I see and pull on it, creating an energy from it until it takes shape. Then at night I’d release it into the sky where it wold settle and grow, and eventually creating its own solar system and what not.” Ray explained, looking out the window now. He got up and pulled Caleb with him, the other still held the star.
The sun was starting to set on the horizon and the first stars were starting to appear.
“I like to make constellations of people that are close to me.” He further explained.
“Does anyone else know?” Caleb intervened. Ray laughed and told him to wait till the sun was down so they could see more stars. They settled on the floor, Ray with the star in his hand and Caleb’s arm around him. The darker the sky got, the more stars appeared.
“There.” Ray suddenly said, pointing to an all familiar constellation.
“Ursa Major?” Caleb asked. He went through his brain to see if there were any connections to the constellation he knew of.
“To make it easier, you know him.” Ray inputted. Caleb sighed, thinking harder. Ursa Major was the big dipper, and it was the sign of the big bear –
“Michael knows.” He stated suddenly, laughing and looking back up at the constellation. Ray nodded and concentrated on the stars. Very faintly, Caleb could see the lines connecting them and an even fainter outline of a big bear.
“That’s….really amazing Ray.” He whispered, looking at Ray’s profile. Ray turned his head to look at Caleb too.
“You’re the third to know.” He whispered. The star in his hand started to shine brighter and Ray held it up to his face, its glow illuminating his features beautifully to Caleb. Ray smiled and it flew off through the window and into the sky. There was nothing for a few moments until a bright flash went off in the sky.
“There you go. Star Caleb is all set and going.” Ray spoke.
“You said you used emotions to make stars. What did you use there?” Caleb had to ask, the question burning inside him since Ray explained it. A squeeze on his hand was felt before the words were spoken.
“Love.”