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The long and bright days of Amphoreus mean that when the night hits, when their sun is finally restored, the stars are beautiful. To many of the locals, they form an omen of doom, a mark of the fall of their civilization. To Caelus, they are awe-inspiring.
Constellations exist in the Amphorean sky that exist nowhere else in the universe, formed inside the simulation by its own unique stars. That means, of course, it's a prime excuse to drag Dan Heng out to see them as a "research mission." Caelus reasons they're a once in a lifetime addition to the Data Bank, and judging by the look on Dan Heng's face he agrees.
Their time left on Amphoreus is limited, he knows. The Era Nova is rapidly approaching, now that all the Coreflames have been claimed, and soon they'll all go to sleep until it's time. But, well… he wants to spend more time with Dan Heng first, now that they're finally reunited. Nobody can blame him for that.
"It's not often that you're so willing to come with me," Dan Heng says. "Was there a reason?"
"There's supposed to be a meteor shower tonight," Caelus replies, peering up at the stars. Not a streak in sight yet. "I thought it would be nice to finally see one."
He's pretty sure the other reason for his presence can go unspoken at this point, just like the whole Thing with a capital T they've got going between them. It had been there before their separation, yes, but now afterwards it had grown so much stronger. Dan Heng looks at him like he's hung the stars in the sky. Caelus looks up at Dan Heng's new golden pupils, the same gold as Caelus's own eyes, and thinks he might not even need the stars when he has those to gaze at.
(Caelus is pretty sure March is incredibly tired of the two of them dancing around each other like this. He's just… okay, he doesn't want to ruin it. That's it. He'd be happy to just keep doing this if it meant he got to keep being around Dan Heng.)
He brought a picnic blanket up to the top of the hill they're watching from, and he lays it down on the grass to have a place to sit somewhat comfortably. Dan Heng would probably be more comfortable on the bare grass, and he's free to sit there, but not all of them can hold the Coreflame of Earth. Caelus is way more comfortable on the blanket, thank you very much.
By the time Caelus spots the first streak in the sky, they've faded into a comfortable silence, and Dan Heng has been alternating between taking pictures of the sky and sketching out the outlines of constellations in the notebook he'd brought. Caelus has been happy to just exist together, feeling the warmth from the body next to him, resisting the urge to rest his head on Dan Heng's shoulder.
He bumps Dan Heng's arm when he sees it, pointing up into the darkness. "Look! Finally, there's one!" The meteor streaks across the sky, faint but visible. Caelus traces it with his finger until it fades to nothing.
"The early minutes of a meteor shower like this are often slow," Dan Heng says, eyes on the stars, pencil stilled in his hand. "I wouldn't be surprised if it took a while for the densest period to begin, or to even see another."
"Then we should figure out something to do while we wait," Caelus says, moving to stand up. He holds out a hand to help Dan Heng up. "Dance with me?"
When Dan Heng looks up at him, raising an eyebrow, Caelus just smiles. "It's the last night we have before we go to sleep for who knows how long. Humor me a little bit, okay?"
The corners of Dan Heng's mouth quirk up. He takes Caelus's hand gently in his own, mindful of the sharp-tipped gauntlet he wears, and stands as well. "With what music, then?"
"As a certain someone I know might say… 'the sounds of the wildlife are music enough.' Or something like that, I guess."
To the untrained eye, Dan Heng might look mildly happy. To someone who actually knew him, that was the equivalent of a beaming grin. "I suppose you can tell that someone that he has good taste, then."
"Hey, Dan Heng, you have good taste. Did you ever learn how to dance or are we just going to figure this out?"
Dan Heng laces the fingers of his ungautleted hand through Caelus's, and gently rests the other on his shoulder. "As the one of the two of us that formerly had control over time, could you tell me if there's a better time than the present to learn?"
Caelus makes a face like he's thinking. It's a bit hard to do that when the only thing he can think about is the feeling of Dan Heng's fingers. "Mmmmm, don't think so. You might want to ask March to be sure, though."
"I'm sure she'd agree."
It turns out neither one of them can really dance. They step on each others' toes repeatedly. Caelus nearly trips on a wandering tail three or four or maybe five times when it tries to wrap itself around his leg, hastily pulled back by an apologetic Dan Heng. They fumble through the lack of music to keep them in step. Still, though, when Dan Heng guides Caelus into a clumsy turn, he thinks it might be one of the best nights of his life.
Eventually, through all the stumbles and the resulting laughter, they manage to fall into a rhythm. It means Caelus can stop spending so much time staring down at their feet and instead he can look up at Dan Heng, dark hair haloed against the moonlight. He's beautiful, Caelus thinks, not for the first time. Quietly, he flicks his eyes down to Dan Heng's lips, and when they reach his eyes again Dan Heng is staring back at him.
It's the same look that he'd seen when Dan Heng pulled him out of the memoria tide, something he can't quite name but something that looks quite a lot like something Caelus might call love.
Caelus moves his hand from Dan Heng's waist before he can even really think about the motion, sliding it up towards his face to brush a thumb against the tiny scales on his cheek. He watches as Dan Heng leans into his hand, whether consciously or not. Dan Heng's feet still before Caelus can even really process it, and he tries to step forwards only to end up crashing directly into Dan Heng.
"Caelus," he hears, "are you alright?"
"Yeah," he breathes out. "Yeah, I'm fine." And I really want to kiss you, I think.
The stars twinkle in the sky above. Dan Heng's notebook rests on the edge of the picnic blanket, forgotten, his pencil nestled between the pages. Caelus stares at Dan Heng and makes a choice that he prays he won't regret later.
"Dan Heng, can I kiss you?"
Caelus feels more than hears the breath hitch in Dan Heng's throat. For a second, they simply stare at each other. Dan Heng nods, wordless.
So, of course, Caelus pops up onto his tiptoes and kisses Dan Heng.
He's not sure what he expected, honestly. Dan Heng is warmer than he would have expected. His lips are soft. He also isn't kissing back, and it takes Caelus a second to process that. He breaks free and leans back.
"What's wrong? Nobody ever taught you how to kiss?"
Dan Heng blinks back at him, wide eyed. "I… ah…"
Ah. Not clueless, just dumbstruck. Caelus smiles at the knowledge that it took one kiss to reduce one of the smartest people he knew into a stuttering mess. (Not that he'd be any better. He's not one to judge.) "Do over, then?"
Dan Heng doesn't answer him. He just leans forward, and that's a good enough answer for Caelus.
It turns out to be much easier to kiss someone when he doesn't have to lean up to reach him properly. It also turns out to be much more interesting when it's mutual. Caelus thinks it might steal the breath from his lungs, which might be a lot more dangerous if he wasn't dubiously immortal right now. Still, demigod or not, he has to breathe eventually.
He pulls back and Dan Heng tries to follow him, eyes still closed, leaning forward with a noise of discontent in the back of his throat. His tail wraps itself around Caelus's waist, holding him in place, and Caelus laughs, holding his dragon back with a hand. "I have to breathe," he says, and it's as if Dan Heng processes the past several minutes all at once and snaps back to reality in an instant.
"Ah. My apologies," he says, and Caelus notices his cheekbones and the tips of his ears are flushed pink. "I did not mean to… get carried away."
"No, that was great. Perfect, maybe. I…" Caelus pauses to take a breath. "Look. I've liked you for a really long time. Maybe since the day I woke up for the first time to see your face. I don't think I could go into Era Nova without at least letting you know, after all we've been through."
"I wish I had known sooner," Dan Heng murmurs, staring at Caelus. "Maybe then I would not have waited for so long."
Behind him, up in the darkness of the sky, Caelus watches a shooting star streak past, and makes a wish. Please just let this last forever.
Then, of course, he realizes what seeing another meteor means, and remembers instantly what they were actually here to see.
"Oh my god, Dan Heng, we forgot about the meteor shower. Is it time yet?"
They sit together on the picnic blanket for the rest of the night, watching the stars streak by overhead, notebook resting forgotten on the grass. Caelus leans back against Dan Heng and wonders how it took him this long to get this lucky.
Tomorrow, they'll both go to sleep for a very long time. He hopes, at least, they can rest together.