space boy; muke

ix

Luke arrived at Michael's house a short time later, and could see Michael upstairs through the window. He went and rang the doorbell, which was quickly answered by the purple haired boy.

"Hey, Luke." Michael greeted him with a smile. "Come on in." Luke entered the home, which smelled like beer and home baked cookies, and looked over at Michael.

"Thanks for letting me come over tonight, and I'm really sorry that I'm early." Luke said, running his hand through his hair. "Was it alright that I came over earlier?"

"Yeah, it's fine." Michael nodded. "Why so early, though?" Michael looked concerned, as if he somehow knew Luke had snuck out to come over. Luke was debating on telling Michael the truth or not- should he admit to climbing out his window, or should he lie and say his parents were alright with him going over a little early?

"Oh, I asked my mum, and she said I could go over as early as I wanted to, if it was alright with you." Luke said, hating the fact that he had just lied to Michael.

"Alright, well my telescope's already up in the back, do you want a snack before we go?" Michael asked. "We've got some granola bars in the kitchen."

"Sure." Luke smiled, agreeing to the first food he had eaten since lunch. "Can I meet you out there?" Michael nodded, directing Luke to the back door. Despite being as late in the year as it was, and how dark it had gotten, it wasn't all that cold, outside when Luke got into the backyard.

Luke looked up at the sky, and the stars were littering the sky like little freckles. There was virtually no light pollution, which made the spectacle even more breathtaking. He had never realised how many stars were visible from here in the first place, let alone tonight.

"Y'ready?" Luke heard Michael ask from behind him. He turned around to see Michael bundled up in a jacket and a beanie, with an armful of granola bars, a flashlight, and several books with stars and planets on the covers, and a blanket flung over his shoulder. Luke couldn't help it, he started to laugh. He felt really bad about it, especially when he saw Michael's face fall.

"I'm not laughing at you, Mikey, I'm laughing at all the supplies you brought. Do you normally do this?" Luke gestured to the armful of goods.

"You've gotta be prepared." Michael smiled, his face lighting up. "Now, are you ready?" Luke nodded in response, ready to start learning about stars. "Alright, let me lay down the blanket, and we'll start." Michael said, putting everything on the ground, and spreading out the blanket. Luke wandered over to the expensive looking telescope, and looked into the eyepiece. He was surprised to see as may stars through the viewfinder as he did, there were so many little bight dots twinkling in the sky.

"What do you see?" Michael asked, now suddenly behind Luke, whispering in his ear. The feeling of Michaels breath on his neck made Luke shiver, he didn't expect the purple haired boy to be as close as he was.

"I see stars." Luke said.

"Here," Michael said, bringing Luke to lay down on the blanket with him. "You see that really bright star right there? That's Polaris, the North Star. It appears to stay stationary in the night sky, while all the other stars move around it. People often use it for travelling without maps, to point them North. And if you look around Polaris, you'll stat to see the shape of the Big Dipper." Michael took Luke's hand, and led his finger over it in the sky. "And the Big Dipper s actually part of another constellation, Ursa Major, or The Great Bear. Ursa Major is a hard one to see, because the idiots who named the constellations clearly didn't know what a bear looked like, so it looks more like a box with legs, but there's also Ursa Minor, which is The Little Bear. It's got a dipper in it's back as well, so if we look right over here-" Michael took Luke's hand again, and directed it a little further overhead, and slightly to the left. "That's Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. Do you see it?"

"I do." Luke said, amazed at how much Michael had already taught him. "They're beautiful." Like you, Luke thought. Just like you.

-an: THE FLUFF IS HERE! be prepared for some more-