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That night, the wind was soft and silent. Smooth, languid patterns rippled amongst the foliage and tenderly twisted the blades of grass back and forth. Everything was bathed in a calm, deep blue, the only light coming from a few windows left open, the bright white establishing a deep cut through the dark. Even the obnoxiously bright neon lights from the casino were, for now, turned off.
Two figures sat together in the grass. In any other place, they would have stood out - distinctly colored uniforms, heavily styled hair, deep circles underneath their eyes - but the gentle orchestra of the night swelled in such a way that dulled them just enough to look normal. Their breathing was slow and methodical, almost in sync, and their hearts beat firmly enough in their chests to reassure them that they were both still alive.
Her hair fell in complicated twists down her back. She never really let her hair down for anything other than sleep and showers, but the world around her felt like it was begging her to relax. Grass prickled at her pale thighs, and she could feel how damp the dirt was beneath her, but she stubbornly stayed as still as she could, determined to hold on to what little peace the world was giving her tonight.
He was sitting cross-legged with his arms behind him, propping him up like a lawn chair. His palms burned as they were attacked by tiny sharp rocks, but he had felt much worse, so his face was relaxed. The soft glow of the moon above him washed out his features until he looked almost… happy. Younger and fresher, more ready for the hardships ahead.
Both of their eyes were trained on the sky. What wasn’t obscured by the tall, daunting silhouettes of the cage was a glowing tapestry woven with threads of purple, blue, and white. Clusters of stars twinkled, so full of life’s promises that they would surely never stop shining, and cast such vivid reflections in the pair’s eyes that it created entirely new solar systems within their retinas.
The silence between and around them was comfortable. Nothing was moving except for the galaxy, and that was exactly what they needed. For the first time in recent memory, both of them were content.
Maki didn’t want to break the silence. She was already a quiet person, but this was different. It had been almost an entire hour without bickering between them. Even though she encouraged it most of the time (and obtained some sick sort of satisfaction from calling him names), it was mortifying to her how much more she enjoyed being kind to him.
“Maki-Roll?”
She stirred. It would be so easy to slip back into her shell, to close the shutters and hiss any passerby away. It was safer to plaster newspaper on windows and hang up giant signs in the lawn with crude print that said “KEEP OUT” than it was to stay outside. It was dangerous to do anything but hide.
Kaito had turned away from the sky and had his eyes trained on her. They were kind eyes, ones that were easy to read.
She bit back the malice rising in her throat and managed a tilt of her head.
“What do you think is up there?”
They both stared back up at the stars.
A small gust of wind ruffled her hair as she responded. “Shouldn’t you know that?” Her voice was barely audible and her eyes hurt, but she continued to stare.
“I know some of it,” Kaito whispered. “But I know that I can never know all of it.”
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. The words disintegrated in her mouth before she could say them. “Oh.”
“Like… here,” he said, using his hand to scoot himself closer to her. On instinct, she flinched away, fingers immediately fumbling for a knife that wasn’t there. She went a deep red, throat drying from embarrassment, but it was like Kaito hadn’t even noticed. He put a large, calm hand around her wrist and pointed it at the sky without a second thought.
Maki could do nothing but blink in surprise. Was he not upset at all by how close they were? His cheek was scratching the top of her head and her hand was right by his own, but his heartbeat was regular and his body temperature was as hot as it usually was.
“See that one?” Her finger was pointed up at the vast expanse of light before them, and she felt she could almost touch it. “That one is just a normal star. I think.”
“Why are you showing me it then-”
Her hand was swiftly brought back to reality, away from the beautiful fiction of space, and she became viciously aware of how small she was compared to him.
“Stars are… it’s hard to explain. They’re really cool. It’s like, all this dust and gas all swirled together so fast and got so hot that they formed something entirely new-”
Almost immediately, his voice faded into the background of Maki’s mind as she watched him talk. All she could hear was faint excitement as she stared and stared and stared at his eyes. They were glowing like disco balls, reflecting the things he loved the most, wrinkles crinkling softly underneath them as his grin grew wider. His eyebrows pricked downward, making him look almost manic as word after word tumbled from his lips.
His lips.
Maki watched them move with fascination. How could he talk so much and say literally nothing of worth at the same time?
She shook her head. No.
None of it was worthless. The amount of glee on his face should have told her that much. He was glowing underneath the spotlight that the atmosphere cast on him, and she could only watch from outside as he fulfilled his dream of burning brighter than a star.
It took her a few more seconds to realize that he was saying her name.
“Huh? Oh. Sorry,” she mumbled.
His smile faltered and he lowered their hands. “Were you listening?”
Maki’s face felt like it was on fire. The spotlight had set it on fire.
Kaito smirked and rolled his eyes. “Jeez, Maki-Roll, at least pretend to ca-”
She used his hand to propel herself forward, gripping on it with all her strength, and allowed the other to pull him by his jaw so their lips met. His words melted on her mouth, and his entire body stiffened.
Immediately, Maki wrenched herself away and turned to stare at the ground, eyes searing holes in the dirt. “Sorry.”
It was quiet. Very quiet. Nothing moved. The wind had stopped. The lights in the dormitory had been turned off. All Maki could feel was her heart pounding violently against her ribcage.
The moment he started talking, she screwed her eyes closed. Tears were on their way, she was sure of it, and she’d rather die than cry in front of someone like Kaito.
“Yeah, uh, and… a lot of stars, they, uh, they live for billions of years, so it’s like, the sky we’re looking at today is almost exactly the same one someone else was looking at thousands of years ago…” His voice was shaky and unsure, deeper than usual, and slower.
Maki didn’t look up. She curled her fists around clumps of grass and tried to anchor herself to reality. In reality, that kiss was a mistake. In reality, she would never talk about it again.
She felt him at her side. Her hair softly curled in the wind, lightly tickling her skin. When Kaito spoke again, her stomach twisted into knots.
“Maki…”
He reached for her arm and she didn’t let him touch it. “No.”
Eyes open now, Maki glanced back at Kaito. His hand was suspended midair, fingers slowly curling into a fist, and his lips were pursed. After a very quiet moment, he loudly cleared his throat and turned back to look at the sky.
It was just like it was before. Nothing had changed.
The silence between and around them was tense and long. Maki swallowed thickly and let go of the grass, knuckles red, preparing to leave and never think about any of this ever again.
“Philosophers thousands of years ago somehow knew about the solar system. Most people barely knew that the Earth was round.”
Cursing internally, Maki squared her shoulders, ready to listen this time.
“I think… that everyone should try to understand space. At least a little. It is pretty hard to understand, though. I don’t... really…” Kaito trailed off, breaking his eye contact with a particularly large star and looking down at Maki, who was shrouded in his shadow.
They searched each other's faces. Both concluded that neither of them had ever looked that serious before.
“I think that… maybe everyone is up there, watching us…” With each word, Kaito grew closer and closer to Maki, fingers beginning to brush her jawline. “I hope Shuichi knows that Kaede is there…”
Maki sighed, low and almost silent. “Enough about Shuichi. He isn’t here.”
Their noses were inches apart. Kaito nodded slowly. “Yeah… yeah, you’re right.”
His hand was shaking as it touched her cheek, as if he was afraid he’d scratch the surface. Closing her eyes, she wet her lips with her tongue and leaned forward.
Kaito stopped her with a thumb to her mouth. Her eyes fluttered open, blown wide with confusion. His breath was hot on her face.
“Maki, I… I know I’m stupid, so I just… want to make sure you want this.”
She felt her insides melt and tears once again spring up in her eyes. “God, you 𝘢𝘳𝘦 stupid. Of course I do.”
“Oh. Okay. Good.”
Their bodies fell flush against each other underneath the silver of the moon. Wind ruffled their hair into each other’s eyes, but neither of them paid any attention to anything that wasn’t the kiss. Stars above twinkled brighter than seemed possible, and not even the cage was able to fully contain the light pouring down from the sky.
Kaito pulled away first, catching his breath, eyes still closed tightly. Maki stifled a laugh after noticing how deep he was scowling and how red his cheeks were.
“Okay,” he mumbled, opening one eye like checking for intruders. After assessing the situation, he put his head in his hands, spreading his fingers through his hair. “That was dumb.”
“You’re dumb.” It came out so easily. Second nature.
He chuckled darkly. “Yeah.”
The two of them sat together, knee to knee on the grass, looking up at the stars as they slowly waned in and out of sight. The wind was picking up, hair obscuring their vision and grass rippling more violently. It was almost certain that no one else on campus was awake at this hour - the sky was showing the first signs of sunrise. Their shadows mingled together on the ground, forming a single amorphous blob.
One idiot found the other’s hand, and there they stayed, convinced the other was stupider.