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The stars were pretty tonight, weren’t they?
Honami stepped out onto the balcony of the castle, her hands gently holding onto the railing as she stared up at the night sky above her head. It was the later hours of the night, the sky having abandoned its previous blue cloak in exchange for one that enveloped it in a darker shade to enfold the world in its comforting darkness.
(Well, sometimes it was comforting. Honami could recall a number of nights where it was more suffocating and eerie, but that was a story for another time.)
The dark blue canvas was splattered with small, yet bright stars that danced across the nighttime ballroom, not hanging onto a single care in the world as they danced the night away. The moon shone brightly, illuminating the kingdom and giving it an almost magical feel to it. It was nice.
Staring up at the night sky overhead, Honami would study the placements of the stars as if it were a painting, making sure that she wasn’t looking over any little detail. Reaching a hand up to the night sky, she’d trace the pathway of the stars with her finger.
They formed a constellation. Ursa Minor, Honami could tell. It was pleasant, being able to stargaze like this.
Even if it was a little lonely.. it gave the princess time to think about the things that’s happened so far, the people she’s grown to care about, and the things that drown her in stress. However, she’d sometimes wish that the last one wasn’t as common as it usually was.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
The sound of footsteps would pull Honami out of her thoughts, prompting her to look behind her and at the opened door leading to the balcony. Just who else was awake at this hour of the night? Was it one of her siblings? An assassin? Whatever or whoever it was, Honami couldn’t identify who it was walking down the hallway and towards the balcony where she was. Her body tensed up, just about ready to try and shove away whoever it was that could be heading over to h-
“Ah, Princess Mochizuki?”
“Aoyagi-Kun..!”
Emerging from the shadows of the darkened hallway, a familiar knight with two-tone hair would step out into the light of the moon, an expression of what seemed to be surprise (or at least, some sort of surprise) present on his face. Relieved, Honami eases up at the sight of the other and smiles apologetically at him, “I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else..”
“It’s alright, I didn’t mean to scare you like that. I was patrolling the grounds since I thought I heard something..” Toya responds, shaking his head. With a reassuring nod, Honami’s gaze on the knight would linger for a little while longer. The moonlight reflected off of his armor, adorned with slash marks and dents. It’s clear that it had definitely seen better days.
The stars above shed just enough light to allow Honami to also see his expression properly. Although it was neutral, Honami could recognize a sort of relief sparkling in his eyes. It was a sort of relief that he often held in his eyes whenever the two of them were together.
Toya actually looked.. really pretty in the moonlight like this.
Wait, what?
Honami blinked once, twice before turning her gaze away from him and towards the ground. She could feel her face heat up mere seconds after the thought surfaced in her head. With red dusting her cheeks and the tips of her ears, she attempted to turn her attention away from the other and back to the stars above.
Taking note of the others embarrassment, a twinge of confusion would appear on Toya’s face. He took a few steps towards her, a mix of uncertainty and worry lacing his tone. “Is everything alright?” He asked, his head tilted slightly to the side.
Great, now she’s gone and worried him..
Shaking her head no, Honami tried to avert her attention from the redness across her freckled face, and spoke up. “Sorry, Aoyagi-kun. It’s nothing.” She looked back at him with another apologetic smile, before quickly looking back at the night sky lest she started staring at him again by accident..
A brief ‘hm’ could be heard from the boy as he took a few steps closer towards Honami until they both stood side by side against the railing. Seeing the other take a place beside her, Honami would turn her head just enough to look over at Toya, who would look back at her.
Once more, the two would lock eyes with one another underneath the light of the moon and stars, unsaid words closing the distance and creating conversations that didn’t need to take verbal form. It was almost funny, in a way- regardless of their statuses, it felt like the two of them had grown close enough to understand one another to an extent where sometimes, they didn’t need words.
“You really are beautiful like this, you know that?” An unsaid thought the two of them unknowingly shared.
However, it took them both a second to realize they were staring at each other. Again.
Upon this realization, both of them quickly averted their gazes elsewhere to hide their reddening faces. Honami had her hands over her face, coming in contact with the warmth that had exploded across her cheeks. Toya hovered his hand over his mouth, hiding it from view. If Honami were to steal another glance at him, she could see a hint of red dusting his cheeks, too. It would stay that way for a while.
“If I may ask..” Toya was the first to break the silence in hopes of saving both of their graces right now. “What brought you out here, at this hour?” He tears his gaze away from the ground beneath him and turns his attention to the night sky above. Regaining her composure (even by a little bit), Honami would collect her thoughts and turn her attention back to the sky as well before responding to the knight.
“Well.. tonight seemed like a nice night to stargaze.” While that wasn’t technically a lie.. it was a good part of the truth, just not the full thing. Honami didn’t want to worry him again. The rest of the truth lay within the fact that she couldn’t sleep again tonight, and she had turned to the stars once more. It wasn’t too uncommon for her nowadays.
The knight nods in understanding, resting his arms on top of the railing.
“May I have permission to join you then, Princess Honami?” He asks, his tone unwavering yet polite as it always was. With the beat of silence that follows;
“Of course.” Are the two words that break it once again.
Nodding a ‘thank you’, the two of them would stare up at the stars overhead, not sharing many words as the seconds slipped through their hands and the night continued on without a single wish remaining for tonight. At some point, Honami reached her hand up to the sky again and began tracing over a constellation once more.
Curious, Toya would look extra closely at the stars above them, too. Unlike the princess, however, he didn’t have much knowledge on astronomy- so, he found himself tracing over random stars that formed no particular shape with his finger, simply going over whatever sparks of light he could find scattered across the nighttime ballroom.
At some point though, their hands ended up knocking lightly against one another, having followed their separate paths to reach the same star.
“Oh-!”
A look of brief surprise would appear on both of their faces as their eyes laid upon their hands, now side by side and reaching out to the stars that were just out of their reach.
Instinctively, Honami would lower her hand from Toya’s and take a few steps back, multiple apologies beginning to tumble from her mouth. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to- I’m so sorry about this..”
Honami could feel a hand intertwine with her own, causing her rambling apologies to come to an abrupt halt. The foreign warmth had taken her by surprise, but.. That wasn’t saying that she didn’t welcome it.
“You don’t need to apologize, Princess.” Toya would insist, looking at Honami with an almost pleading look in his eyes. “You have no reason to.”
Honami stares up at him, and Toya stares back. Blue eyes that are filled with stars meet gray ones that hold not a single trace of cloudiness in them, no matter how much Honami could scan them for a hint of negativity. They were gray yet clear, free of any regret or uncertainty that would dare try and taint them at this moment.
Everything the knight was saying at this moment, he meant wholeheartedly and without a single doubt present in his voice or heart. Toya always meant the words he would tell her.
Honami appreciates that about him. She appreciates that she can trust him.
Moments later, the knight’s hands break away from the princesses’, seeming to have realized what it was he had done so impulsively once again. A part of Honami would be lying if she said that she didn’t miss the warmth that came from the knight’s hand intertwining with her own, but she did her best to make sure it didn’t show on her own expression.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean-” He sighs with reddened cheeks, turning his attention back to the entrance he had come from. “I should return to the knights quarters.” He turned on his heel, walking rather quickly towards the entrance and back down the path he came from. Just behind him, a request could be heard.
“Ah, Aoyagi-Kun-!” Honami’s hand reaches out for a moment, before drawing itself back as the split-haired boy turns to face her with a confused expression evident on his own face. “If it’s alright with you, may I walk with you there? I myself should probably get to sleep too.” She offers. A kind smile graces her face as the moonlight shone down on her, only making her seem even more ethereal from where Toya was.
God, she really was pretty.
Not taking account of the redness on his face becoming just a little bit brighter, Toya nods, offering a small smile of his own. “Of course.”
“Thank you.” With a small bow, Honami would take one final look at the night sky before quickly walking next to Toya, accompanying him as the two of them descended back down the darkened hallways and back to their respective rooms.
Honami really did appreciate Toya’s company, and she only valued that company even more for the little moments they spent together.
And Toya agrees, because it’s within these little moments that he truly knows he can trust Honami, too.