High Energy Collision [Completed]

Chapter 9 - fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars

Plan was lying on his back on the floor of the corridor between rows of seats and looked up at the artificial night sky above him.

While the experience didn't compare to sitting outside in a warm night, listening to the sounds of nature and looking up at the sky, it was good in a different way. The planetarium could stop and advance time, zoom in and out, and even show 3D images of planets and galaxies that made Plan feel like he was flying through the universe, searching for answers.

He had never been to anything like a planetarium before, and he was very happy he had accepted the stranger's invitation for tonight.

His worries about the girl had proven to be unnecessary, too. She had only quickly shown her classmate how to operate the system, then she had returned to her work next door – she had even taken Tio with her.

Originally, Tio had insisted that he would wait in the car – but Plan had had pity with him. He knew how it felt like to be the one having to wait in the car for the more important people, or something similar at least. He didn't even want to count how many afternoons he had spent working in the garden under the heat of the sun, while he could hear the director's kids and their friends scream and splash happily as they were playing at the pool together.

"Is there an auto play program?"

"Sure. But do you really want to watch that? It's probably painfully trivial to you."

Plan sighed.

He didn't care how trivial the program was.

"You have been operating the machine this whole time," he was actually impressed how fast his mysterious friend had picked up on how to operate it. "Come here and watch it with me."

*~*~*

If someone had told Mean at the beginning of this evening that sometime after midnight, he would be lying on the floor in the empty planetarium with another boy watching artificial stars, he would have laughed and called them crazy.

Yet here he was.

He still felt warm and fuzzy inside when he thought about Plan's voice calling him to join him on the floor and watch the program together.

It had been unexpected and sweet for Plan to make a move, all on his own. And like earlier in the evening, it had only happened once Mean had kept his distance.

Seeing Plan hit it off with Tio effortlessly had hurt, even though their common interest in farming was a logical explanation.

But there had been something more to it, he could feel it. Something that had made Plan feel pressured to keep his guard up around him, that hadn't been present with Tio.

The optimistic part of Mean hoped it was because Plan was more interested in him – the same way he himself often had his tongue tied when he was interacting with someone he found attractive.

The pessimistic part feared that Plan just liked Tio better. Maybe he should have suggested the two of them to become friends instead, if they had so much in common.

These dark thoughts couldn't explain away the fact that it was him, not Tio, who was currently lying here next to Plan.

Mean was caught between watching the program exploring the origins of the universe and watching Plan's captivated face in the dark twilight around them. His silver hair and the white uniform shirt seemed to glow in the artificial starlight, his facial features appeared so soft that Mean needed to force himself to keep his hands to himself and not caress the smooth cheeks of the boy next to him.

He felt the urge to reach out and touch him just to make sure he was still real, and not a holographic projection by the planetarium itself, or a figment of his own imagination.