HOPELESS FOUNTAIN KINGDOM → TWILIGHT WOLF PACK

paul lahote

thank u to whoever sent me cute lil messages u guys r so cool & i love u !! :~)

—

"What do you mean, you've never stargazed before?"

Paul said the words like they were an incurable curse, standing up from his spot on the couch and waving his hands in the air—the full theatrics. Y/N looked up from the TV with a cocked brow, staring at him for a moment with a brownie halfway to her mouth.

"Well," she began, putting her brownie down onto the plate in front of her and brushing the crumbs off her fingers, leaning back into the couch cushions in Paul's living room. "You see, where I'm from, there's so much light pollution that you can barely see the moon when you look up, let alone the stars."

Paul stared at her, and she felt the strong sense of betrayal radiating off of him in waves. She bit her lip to keep back her laughs as he placed his hands on his hips, his eyes narrowing at her as he thought for a moment.

Prior to Paul's outburst, they had been laying on his couch for the majority of the night, going through as many seasons of Game of Thrones as they could before either one of them succumbed to the unyielding clutches of sleep. Y/N wasn't entirely sure what exactly it was that possessed her to bring up her experiences with stargazing—or lack thereof—but it had set Paul off onto an excited spiral.

"This is... not right," Paul finally huffed, reaching over the couch to grab the sweater he had balled up on the ground and throwing it at her face. "Put that on, sweet-cheeks, and get ready for the experience of a lifetime."

"Paul," she grumbled, but tugged the massive sweater on over her head anyways. "I don't see what the big deal is! They're just stars. Little fire balls in the sky. I see them all the time on TV."

"I can't believe these words are coming out of your mouth right now," Paul groaned, stalking forward and cupping her face in his hands, smooshing her cheeks together—he knew how it irritated her. "They're stars, baby! Huge masses of hydrogen and helium, just chillin' in our sky. And we can see them. Look at me and tell me that isn't fuckin' cool."

She couldn't, truly, because one look into Paul's wide obsidian eyes told her that she couldn't hurt his feelings like that. For some reason, Paul decided to store his passion into the stars, of all things. It was strange to her, for it was the last thing she expected Paul to take an interest in, and yet here he was.

He shook his head at her. "You're not gonna understand until you see for yourself," he said, holding his hands out in wait for her to take. "Come on, baby. Let me show you the sky."

Y/N didn't hesitate to take his hands, letting him hoist her up into his arms in a way that she was all too used to, her arms going around his neck, facing one another.

"I promise," Paul said, leaning forward to peck her lips softly. "You're gonna love it."

Y/N didn't protest as Paul carried her up the stairs to his storage room in the attack, moving aside a few dusty boxes with his foot before setting her down in front of the window, reaching behind her to crack it open as far as it would go.

Paul stepped back to let Y/N walk forward, sticking her head out of the window and looking up at the sky. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but once they did, she was blinking up into a sky full of twinkling lights.

"Oh," she said softly, and behind her, Paul snorted. "That's pretty."

Paul tugged her back from the window so he could take her place. Y/N stared at him as he stuck his leg out the window, soon his whole body following as he hoisted himself up. Within seconds, he disappeared.

"Paul." She looked back out the window again, hands braced against the window sill as she tried to see where Paul had somehow managed to disappear to. "Where'd you go?"

"Up here." Y/N looked up at the sound of his voice, jaw dropping as she saw him perched on the edge of the roof, holding out a hand with a cheeky grin. "Come on up, sugar. The views amazing."

Once Paul had managed to convince her to get up on the roof, she sat herself between his legs, her back to his chest and his arms locked firmly around her waist, lest she fall to her death.

"I don't think I've ever been up here," she said, staring up at the twinkling sky in awe, her hands resting over Paul's. "But you're right—it's beautiful."

They sat in silence for a moment, Paul trying to work up the courage to say what he wanted to say. Y/N was the distraction, though, her eyes twinkling like the stars above. She looked so immersed that Paul couldn't bare to speak up. But somehow, he found the courage.

"When I was little," he began gruffly, clearing his throat. "My mom used to take me up to our rooftop, and teach me how to find constellations. My dad doesn't like heights, so I could never come up here when I was younger."

"Can you show me?" Y/N asked quietly, leaning back and looking up at Paul. "A constellation, I mean. I could never figure them out."

Paul laughed, turning to press a kiss to her forehead. "Sure, babe, I'll show you," he said, taking one of her hands in his and lifting it. "Okay, you see that star over there?" He moved her pointed finger so that it rested over a star slightly brighter than the rest. Y/N nodded. "That's Sirius."

"Like Harry Potter," Y/N said excitedly, and Paul snorted.

"Yeah, like Harry Potter." He moved her hand to a star a few ways away from Sirius. "And you see that one over there? That Betelgeuse. If you follow it—" He traced an outline of stars. "—then you'll see Orion."

Y/N marvelled at the sight, her heart swelling at the joy in Paul's voice. She could tell just how much this meant to him, and she didn't think she could be any happier that he chose to share it with her if she tried.

"So, by logic," Y/N began, moving their joint hands on her own, tracing a line of stars. "If that's Orion, then this is his belt?"

"Yeah," Paul said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "That's Orion's Belt."

Smiling to herself, Y/N squeezed Paul's hands, her insides feeling light and airy. "Next time," she said, missing the look of surprise Paul sent her. "I'm gonna show you a constellation."

"Next time?" Paul questioned, and Y/N leaned her head up to press a kiss to his jaw.

"Yeah—I think this should be a tradition, if you don't mind."

And that was the best thing Paul had heard in a while, his head leaning down to kiss Y/N, unable to keep himself from smiling into the kiss. He hadn't felt this excited to stargaze since he was with his mom.

"I'd like that."