Among the Stars

Five

A/N: Chapters will probably be longer from this point on :)

A year later, Milo had long ago moved to a seat on the other side of the classroom and his daily life didn't include Rei anymore. Life had become more peaceful and a bit less lonelier as well for Milo, as he had found some acquaintances in his other classmates. Rei seemed as alone as ever, even though Milo didn't really like to think about it. Hell, he preferred not to think about the mysterious boy at all, since all he did was make Milo doubt his social skills.

They never would've spoken again, if not for fate (or something else Milo didn't believe in) in the form of their new teacher deciding it would be a good idea to give the class a practical assignment. It had something to do with space and wouldn't have been so bad if they wouldn't have had to make their own pairs. Of course, every single one of the classmates Milo got along with, had already chosen someone else to work with, causing Milo to stay left behind.

Cautiously he looked around the room to find the only other person who hadn't found a teammate yet and decided it was his lucky day. The only person left besides himself, was Rei. The boy even had this mystic light from The Great Moon shining upon him, as if this was its way to tell Milo this was meant to be.

Milo felt like he had just arrived in his worst nightmare, but tried his hardest not to be too hard on Rei. For all he knew, maybe Rei had changed over the past year and there was also this slight chance that Rei did feel just as lonely as he did, but just never showed it. Rei had always been good at hiding his feelings and thoughts after all.

As a sign of recognition, Milo locked his eyes with Rei's and saw for the first time since they knew each other that the boy had a purple shimmer in his dark brown eyes. It may just have been the light, but it caused him to look away nevertheless, as he had suddenly gotten shy at the eye contact, feeling it was too personal. Nonetheless, Rei walked his way, even wearing a slight grin.

"If this was another plan of you to become friends with me, I have to apologise, it won't work." Rei stated sternly.

"No way this was my plan, I would even rather work on my own than with you." Milo flinched when he realised he was probably being too harsh to Rei.

"That's not what I meant!" he added quickly.

"Don't worry about it." Rei told him.

Before Milo could reply, he was interrupted by the voice of their teacher, telling the class the what and how of the assignment. They had to build a solaris, a basic out-of-date signal receiver, with attributes they could find at home. It wouldn't be able to receive any signals nowadays as no one was using this kind of old fashioned way of communication anymore.

Milo was eager to start this project, like most of the other kids in their class, but no one's enthusiasm could compare to the kind of facial expression that was showing up on Rei's face. His eyes were sparkling with excitement, his mouth a bit agape and turned up in a small, genuine smile. This was a sight Milo never thought he would ever see, but it pleased him in a kind of way.

The two of them had agreed shortly to go over to Milo's home after class to start working on the project. As soon as they left the building, they spread out their wings and flew wordlessly towards the indigo sky. Milo had seen them a couple of times when they were changing for P.E., but it had never struck him just how beautiful Rei's wings actually were. When the light of the sun reflected on it from just the right angle, Milo could make out spurs of purple on the otherwise completely pink wings and if he would have lived on earth, they would have reminded him a bit of those of a butterfly.

As they flew over the picturesque landscape, Milo fixed his attention on his classmate flying besides him. It seemed like Rei's mind had drifted off as he was staring into the distance and Milo wondered once again if Rei really never minded being on his own, if maybe he just had a very lonesome personality. Maybe he just didn't like company at all.