Astronomy (of Us)

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Sapnap smiled at Warren, his younger brother returning it readily as they shook the boxes in each their grasps. Their father took them to the store a couple hours ago, mistake or blessing number one, and now they were seated criss-cross applesauce on the living room floor. LEGOs jangled in their clutches, plastic bricks hitting and clicking around in the box. Summer sun flowed all around them and magnified the aroma of spices in the kitchen to intoxicating and heady levels.

Last night, as dinner was being plated by their father at the stove, their mother was filling cups of juice and iced tea at the table. Her two boys were squawking and bouncing up, down, up, down, all around. The woman placed a child's fork on top of a napkin she knew would be ignored. The dinner being prepared involved an elaborate sauce that her little ones would have no issue with smearing across their boyish fingers and fatted cheeks.

She glanced back from her handiwork of a nicely set table to Warren and Sapnap. The two of them were now enraptured in spinning with each other, hands clasped and arms in a long, infinite x as they twirled, wild and free. It could go south so many ways, with one of them letting go or another's grip suddenly slippery, but their mom only smiled. She was keen to let them continue, but she wouldn't dare address exciting news any closer to bedtime."Sapnap, remember how you started 1st grade last year?"

Sapnap hiccuped a giggle, still swirling like a pinwheel with Warren's giddy laughter the chorus of their song. "Yeah!"

"You'll be going into 2nd this year, isn't that exciting?"

A sharp crescendo erupted, Sapnap forgetting about his brother completely as he loosened his hands from Warren's and turned to face his mother. Warren's untamed screech had their father sticking his head out from the kitchen, brow raised and apprehension lining his forehead. For a moment, everyone forgot how grown Warren was. He clambered his way back to standing without help. He gazed at an elbow the floor had rubbed raw before flicking back to Sapnap with a grin continuing to lace his face. He was no infant, not any longer. His smile had only quivered for the count of three milliseconds.

When everyone stopped staring at Warren and the spotlight was back to Sapnap, he nodded furiously and slid into the seat of his father's chair. It framed his small body humorously, the wood of it standing out sharply against his skin and the size of it ludicrous for his adolescent bones.

"Warren will be starting school with you, too."

Warren dropped his jaw open, little teeth shown alongside the awe on his face, "I get to go to school with Sappy?" He hopped up and down, the gape on his lips turning upward to excitement.

"Yes, you get to go to school with Sappy."

Warren looked as though he'd combust and Sapnap had this enormous grin. How amazing would it be, to point the classrooms to Warren, tell stories so much more grand than his younger brother could fathom and hear of how it felt to be a kindergartener again? Sapnap was sure it'd be great, even if it meant his summer vacation was relentlessly coming to an end.

Now, though, Sapnap and Warren had just a couple more inhales and exhales before their backpacks would be stuffed full of the thick, beginner's pencils for Warren and the simple black notebooks Sapnap picked out for himself. Ma let him get a new backpack, the one decorated with vibrant clouds, the kind out of a dream, now passed down to Warren. Sapnap's bag was black now, too, perfectly matching his woven bracelets and the four identical pairs of shorts his father allowed him to get.

Sapnap's mom had knelt to his level in the clothing store. "Wouldn't you like other shorts, Flames?"

"Nuh uh!" Sapnap shook his head, the hair his father was also allowing to happen, bangs wild and the strands of it long enough for a short braid, kicking up in the atmosphere. He was growing it out so he could tie it up in a bun like his mother's. He saw no issue with such a thing, and his father refused to provide him one.