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It was a cold, dark January night. The moon was shining as bright as it could, dozing off every few minutes, its hat resting slightly askew on its head. Most of the residents living in the forest were fast asleep, even Doctor Owl with his three hyperactive children.
Key word, most.
Amidst the darkness of the midnight between the woods, a small lantern was trying its best to fight off the dark. The lantern was being held by a tall insect boy. Unfortunately, the light was so faint you couldn't even tell who he was. He was walking rushed with heavy steps, every breath he exhaled left behind a trail, his hands were shaking on the lantern's handle. Yet, he looked really determined to finish his trip to who knows where.
The air from inbetween the woods was a harsh, unforgivable gale, slamming the boy in the face full force. Even with his multiple layers of clothing, the cold still crept its way between them. The snow on the ground wasn't helping either. Every step he took, everytime he went with his legs through the snow, he could feel his boots getting more and more soaked.
He stopped behind a bush, careful as to not make a sound. In front of him was the meadow.
In the meadow, another boy sat on the ground. His lantern was resting beside him, its fire being put out a long time ago. He didn't need it anymore, as he figured the lantern couldn't help him get warm. All the light he could've possibly needed was already coming from the millions of stars dancing around the moon. Their glimmer illuminating the boy and the snow around him, the white coat on the ground shimmering.
The boy from the bush smiled widely, suddenly forgetting about his cold hands, about the wind in his face, even about his completely soaked boots. With a deep breath he started to run as best as he could through the snow to meet the other.
"Vendel!" The boy called, not caring if anybody heard him, not caring if anybody even was there to hear him.
Vendel turned, a giggle leaving him as he saw the state the other was in. Hair disheveled, his hat was crooked, and his face wore a lopsided smile as he opened his arms and landed on the space beside the other.
"Hey, Baltazár." He patted the other's back, his other hand taking his lantern and putting it next to his. "You're late." He smugly said.
Baltazár said something, but it was muffled by the snow.
"Maybe consider getting your face out of that before it falls off." Vendel lightly bonked his head.
The bee got up and sat cross-legged, swaying slightly from side to side. He looked up at the stars, his hair now gently moving. The gale becoming just a breeze on the meadow "Ahem. As I was saying," He glanced for a few seconds at Vendel, making his pause known. "I couldn't come any earlier because I wasn't *able* to find my lantern any earlier!" He defended himself. "It's all its fault!" He pointed hastily at the lantern across.
Vendel raised an eyebrow, looking at Baltazár with an expression the other couldn't quite tell what it was. "Really, now? Didn't I tell you to search for it yesterday?"
Baltazár almost choked with the air he inhaled. "I– I mean–" He tried to think up of something, failing. He huffed, crossing his arms and turning his head the other way. "I forgot you told me. Sorry." He mumbled.
"Huh?" The other held his hand up to his ear. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard that!" He tried to sound as innocent as he could. "Mind repeating the last thing too?" He snorted.
"Idiot!" Baltazár turned to face Vendel, smacking his head. "I'm trying to be honest here!"
Vendel simply just laughed, laughed so hard Baltazár could swear he felt warmth emanting from the other. His cheeks became even more red, as if the cold wasn't even there, as if they were inside. With a smile reaching his ears, he laughed too. Laughed at the stupidity of their argument. Laughed with joy hearing the other boy.
Their laughter eventually stopped, a silence making its way between the two. They both looked up at the sky, watching the moon, the stars, the clouds, all the things that seemed so close yet so out of reach.
The stag beetle bent his legs and rested his upper body on them, turning his head slightly to look at Baltazár. The bee didn't even notice the other's attention was redirected at him now, Vendel couldn't be more happy. The other looked so... pretty in the moonlight. He turned his head to look straight ahead, deep into the forest. It was dark, way too dark to even try decipher what was in front of him.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Nothing!" He jumped. He turned to look at Baltazár, the other boy staring at him with wide, curious eyes.
Baltazár snickered, "Sure, dude!" He rested his hand on Vendel's shoulder. "I'll believe that. Just this once." He smiled. Vendel cracked a smile too.
They both turned their heads back to the sky.
"Do you– Do you remember that one time I made a boat out of sticks and... and we chased it down the river?" Vendel asked, he was talking quietly, but the way nobody else was with them, it was as if he had yelled the words. Baltazár hummed, letting the other continue. "And, then we had to hide inside that tree?" The stag beetle chuckled softly.
"Yea, I do.." Baltazár took a handful of snow and played with it between his hands. "I remember how scared I was, being so far away from home and all that." He threw the piece of snow as far as he could.
"Really?" Vendel asked shocked. "But you didn't sound that way to me at all!"
"Well, maybe," He sighed. "Maybe I wanted to seem brave for you." He ducked his head, his face so red if it weren't that dark outside he would definitely look like a tomato.
Vendel widened his eyes. " Well– I–" He coughed into his fist. "You don't have... to be brave for me..." He looked the other way, for a split second doubting that he needed to continue. "I thought we agreed on it." He sighed, his cheeks also becoming a bright red. "We can act as natural as we can with eachother... Remember?"
Baltazár held his breath, he could hear his own heart thump in his ears. He scooted closer to the other, still refusing to look at him. "Yeah..." He exhaled shakily. "I do." He leaned slowly on Vendel's shoulder, unaware... scared of how the other will react.
But Vendel didn't pull away, didn't recoil back with disgust, didn't even flinch. If anything, Baltazár realized the stag beetle actually relaxed at the contact. It seemed that at this very moment the whole world had stopped, even the breeze itself seemed to dissipate. The only thing they could hear were eachother's breath and heartbeat falling into rhythm.
Vendel hesitantly raised his arm, putting it awkwardly on the other's shoulder. He squeezed it twice, almost as if he was asking for permission. Baltazár simply just leaned in harder, most of his body weight being supported by the stag beetle now.
The two stood there, heating up eachother with their warmth. Baltazár was fidgeting quietly with the snow beneath him, poking little dots into the thick white layer. Vendel saw it and reached with his hand to draw a smiley face, snow cracking while he dragged his finger.
The bee smiled, taking the other's hand into his own and shyly making a heart shape. He softly squeezed his hand. "Vendel?"
The stag beetle took a moment to respond, "Yeah?"
"Can– Can we keep this night a secret?"
"Why?"
"I'm scared." He breathed.
And Vendel understood the fear. The fear of being judged, the fear that their actions, as innocent as they were, were considered *weird* at the end of the day. Planning an outing with one of your closest friends, just to go out and watch the stars together at midnight, making sure there was no one who could see you. They have done stargazing countless times in groups, but it felt different this time, and they knew it was considered different.
Vendel simply sighed, and in one quick gesture, wrapped his arms around Baltazár. Holding him tight. Baltazár hesitated, but when he saw the other didn't back up, his arms snaked their way between them to hug him back. "I'm scared too." His voice not louder than a mere whisper. "But I have hope." They started rocking back and forth silently, the boys could feel themselves losing to the urge to fall asleep.
"I like.. you" The bee softly said. "Can you promise me something?"
"What... what is it?"
"That we can hangout more like this."
Vendel turned from side to side, feeling a mattress under him, his clothes were dry, even the sun was already up. He groggily sat up, rubbing his eyes. His throat was sore, and he felt a powerful headache forming. He looked around the room and his eyes landed on a very annoyed, but curious looking butterfly.
Vendel wanted to talk to her. "Pi–" He started, but that was all it took to send him into a coughing fit. And not a good sounding one at all.
Pihe, who was boiling water to make tea, got startled and instantly turned to look at the source of disturbance.
"Ah. So you decided to wake up."
"..HHey.." Vendel barely got out, his throat felt like it was being filled with needles. "What–" He coughed again. "What are you doing...here...?"
Pihe sighed as loudly and dramatically as she could, returning most of her attention back to the stove. "Well, I got woken up by Doctor Owl this morning, and he told me to take care of you." She watched the water boil for a bit. "He said you've catched a cold."
Vendel perked up. "I..." Cough. "I did?"
Pihe threw Vendel a pissed off look. "Yes. If you couldn't tell." She turned off the stove and took the kettle off of it. "He also told me he found you in the middle of the meadow with Baltazár." She poured the water into two mugs.
"He did?" Vendel whispered, distressed.
Pihe stood next to the mugs, watching them gain colour. "Yea. Look, Vendel." She turned to face him fully. "I'm not here to... speculate anything, but maybe a January night is not the best time to go... stargazing." She smiled playfully.
Vendel weakly chuckled, looking down. "Yea...That was stupid, wasn't it?" He ruefully whispered.
Pihe tried the tea to see if it was still boiling. "Don't worry about that." She said as she brought the mug back down, it was perfect. She took ahold of Vendel's mug as well and walked up to the stag beetle's bed. "Here." She handed the mug, taking a sit on the bed. Pihe looked at the mug, feeling her hands warm up. "Only me and Babóca know about this at the moment. It is still pretty early." The butterfly looked at Vendel. "We can keep this a secret." Pihe simply just hummed, turning back to her own mug of tea.
Vendel, who just took a sip, choked almost instantly. "What? Keep what?" He tried sounding shocked.
"I'm not stupid, Vendel. And trust me, Babóca is not either." Vendel made a confused sound. The butterfly simply turned slowly at Vendel, wearing a mischievous look on her face. "Plus, Baltazár sucks at keeping secrets."
"Oh god. Pihe, look I'm sor-" He coughed again.
"Vendel." She flatly said. "Don't be." She got up, making her way to the door. "I have to go get some more medication from Doctor Owl" She put her hat and scarf on, grabbing her bag. "Just make sure to drink the tea before it gets cold, okay?" She opened the door, looking behind at the stag beetle once more. "Everything will turn out way better than you think." She smiled, walking out.