Ouroboros Spine Twinkle twinkle, little star

What did he think? She'd just had to go and ask. It was reasonable, of course. Perhaps even expected. But he knew there was one thing he couldn't say and yet, it seemed to be the only thing he could say. And it was a wild, penned-in sort of feeling that gripped him in those silent moments before he answered. He wanted to run away. He wanted, of course, to do nothing of the sort.

"Beautiful," he replied,

because he had to,

because he wanted to,

because she was.

Then they settled side-by-side.

Valiant looked up at the sky, too. The stars were beginning to shine bright and pretty, and it was a good distraction from the warmth of her beside him. It'd been so long since anyone had laid so carelessly close to him. He'd forgotten the simple comfort of it. He'd forgotten how electric it could feel.

"A shooting star," he breathed in the quiet between them, pointing his nose toward the trailing star — which promptly winked out of existence. "Make a wish," he said, turning a tiny smile on her.