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The high grass tickles Penny’s legs as she makes her way up to higher ground. The dark of the night makes it hard to see anything at all. She holds onto Maru’s hand and trusts she’ll lead her through the right path. She knows this better than Penny does, after all.
It’s well past midnight and Penny can’t believe Maru convinced her to sneak out of her house without even really giving her a reason why. She prays Pam won’t wake up in the middle of the night and notice she’s gone. Yoba knows the last thing she wants is to give her mother something else to worry about, even if said worry were to last a couple hours at most.
They try their best to not make noise, but they can’t help the laughs and chattering. They tell each other to be quiet, shushing the other one when she gets too loud, but turning back into giggling messes just minutes afterwards.
Up in the mountain the night sky looks so clear. Maru asks Penny to wait for her a couple moments and sees her walk into her house before looking up at the sky. The stars glow brighter than they’ve ever done, and Penny feels them closer than they’ve ever been. They look much more beautiful, too. The most beautiful they’ve looked in her entire life. Perhaps it’s because now she gets to watch them by her best friend’s side.
Maru comes back to her carrying a bag. She takes from it some sandwiches and a couple blankets so they won’t get stained, or at least so Penny won’t stain her pleated yellow skirt with dirt. Maru cares little about her own clothes, since she’s always getting stained with oil, anyway.
They sit by each other’s side in silence. Penny is smiling to herself and she doesn’t need to look at Maru to know she has the exact same grin on her face. She reaches out for Maru’s hand and she doesn’t hesitate to reciprocate, holding it tight.
The world seems to stop for the two of them as they quietly enjoy the hum of the night. For a few moments they’re allowed to be themselves and no one else. There’s no one there to yell at them for making a mistake, there’s no one there to rush them to get to an unattainable finish line, there’s no one pressuring them to do better and work harder, there’s no one asking questions every single minute that they just must answer right now, there’s no one making them feel guilty for daring to exist in the same space as someone who feels much more worthy of them.
Just for a few moments it’s the two of them. Maru and Penny. No further expectations. Nothing else they should be.
“Penny, look! This is what I wanted to show you!”
Penny watches with parted lips as they make their way flying to them. The countless nights she spent reading about them as a child don’t stop her from looking at them as if they were magic specks of light, nature’s little bright miracles, instead of simple fireflies. No picture she has ever seen, no matter how detailed, could ever compare to what she’s looking at right now.
She holds out a hand and lets a firefly land on her fingers. Penny makes a wide smile at Maru and she sweetly smiles back.
Maybe Pam can wait a little longer at home, after all.