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Ricky and Noel were happy. They were sitting in Ricky’s backyard, leaning up against a tree, watching the stars, Ricky’s head resting on Noel’s chest, listening to his heartbeat, Noel running their fingers through Ricky’s hair, listening to music on Noel’s phone with one earbud in his ear and one in Ricky’s (although they weren’t actively listening to it), neither of them thinking about anything except what was going on in this moment.
Suddenly, Ricky looked up and tapped Noel on the shoulder.
“What is it?” asked Noel.
‘I love you,’ Ricky signed.
“I love you too, my shooting star.”
Ricky smiled. He loved that nickname. He reached out and grabbed Noel’s hand- the one that she wasn’t using to play with his hair. Then they went back to looking at the stars.
“The sky is beautiful tonight, huh?” Noel whispered. He wasn’t exactly sure why he was whispering, though. Maybe it was because this moment was perfectly peaceful and they didn’t want to ruin the peace by talking too loud, or maybe it was because Ricky looked tired and she didn’t want to disturb them.
Ricky nodded. The sky was gorgeous. There were so many stars out tonight, it looked as though someone had sprinkled the sky with glitter. He and Noel certainly picked the right night to stargaze.
Even though neither of them had really been paying attention to the music that Noel had on shuffle, the next song that came on made Noel gasp. Ricky gave them a questioning look.
“Ricky, it’s our song!” Noel exclaimed, still whispering for a reason that was unknown to either of them. “Whenever I listen to this song, I always think about you…about us.” Then she started quietly singing along.
The song in question was Reel Around the Fountain by The Smiths. Ricky had listened to that song a few times before, and he liked it. Listening to the lyrics again, he was more than flattered that it made Noel think of him. They couldn’t listen much, though, because they were quickly starting to doze off. He’d been basically half asleep for quite a while now, but now, hearing his beloved boyfriend sing their song so softly and so sweetly while playing with his hair, his eyelids seemed to grow heavier by the second. They tried to stay awake until the end of the song because of how excited Noel was about it, but the drowsiness overcoming them was too much, and only about halfway through the song, they’d fallen sound asleep in Noel’s arms.
Noel didn’t notice this, however, until the end of the song. They sang the final note, and then said, “Pretty great song, huh?” And when they didn’t get a response, they looked down at Ricky and realized that he was asleep. Noel laughed a little, turned the music off, and gingerly took Ricky’s glasses off of his face for him, being very careful not to wake him up. Then he set the glasses down next to him and planted a soft kiss on the top of Ricky’s head.
“Sweet dreams, shooting star,” he whispered.
From then on, Noel was completely still and silent, except for her one hand with which she continued to run her fingers through Ricky’s thick hair. They looked so peaceful like that, and he didn’t want to do anything that might risk waking them up. He was afraid of even breathing incorrectly, but it was worth it. It made him a little sad that he was eventually going to have to wake them so that they could go inside.
But then they thought, says who? There was absolutely no valid reason why they couldn’t just sleep out here, under the stars. It wasn’t like it was going to rain overnight or anything. And Ricky was already asleep and comfortable, Noel might as well join him. So they leaned their head back, closed their eyes, and drifted to sleep with one hand resting on Ricky’s head.