#bllover4lif

“Take a guess.”

You turned to see if you could tell what he was looking at, but didn’t see anything strange. The sky was beginning to shift from reds and oranges to dark shades of blue. The moon was a sliver in the sky, almost new. The skies were clear, not a cloud to be seen. The ocean was pretty, the waves rolling onto the sandy beaches below, but it didn’t seem as though there was anything strange or different about it.

“Uhh…” you trailed off.

Oliver snorted. “Take a closer look.”

You did, eyes flicking across the horizon, truly trying to figure his puzzle out. Surely he wouldn’t drag you into the forest for no reason but to watch the ocean, or the sunset. A couple stars were beginning to peek out through the darkening sky and you pulled your eyebrows together. “The stars?”

“You may be a bit slow, but I knew you’d get there eventually,” he teased.

“Stargazing?” You looked up at Oliver with a surprised smile, but his eyes were trained on the open sky in front of him. “I didn’t know you were into that sort of thing.”

“Of course I am,” he huffed. “They are fascinating, from a scientific standpoint.”

You hummed in agreement, knowing there likely was more to it than that, but didn’t want to push him if that was where he wanted to leave it.

The two of you sat and watched as the sun finally set, sinking the world around you into darkness. Far off was Black Headquarters and the homes of Clover Quarter, the distant lights unable to beat the sea of stars that shone through the night sky. You couldn’t help but watch in silent awe. It wasn’t that you hadn’t seen the night sky of Cradle before, but the pure inky black sky filled with millions of distant stars filled you with wonder. It was incomparable to the smoky skies of London, only the brightest of stars poking through the smog.

“I had a telescope as a kid,” Oliver said, breaking the silence. You perked up at the comment. Oliver didn’t talk about himself much, or his past, so you sat still, urging him in your mind to continue, unwilling to say something and have him change his mind. “I would chart the stars, how they changed with the seasons.” There was a rather long pause and you thought he was finished, but he let out a long breath and started again. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over how different they are. I don’t have the time to chart them now, but I like to do it in my mind. No constellation is the same here. Maybe some of the stars are shared, but it’s hard to tell.”

You slipped a hand out of the blanket to set it on his knee, gently rubbing a circle into the fabric of his pants. You hoped it was as comforting as you meant it to be, but he slightly stiffened and his hand began to slip away from your side. You stilled your movements, about to pull back and apologize, but he interrupted you.

“It’s starting,” Oliver said, tone filled with uncharacteristic excitement, his hand moving back to clutch you tighter to his side.

You turned back to the stars, just in time to see a streak of light shoot across the sky, close to the horizon. Your mouth fell open and you were about to ask if he had seen it when another one flashed, this time higher in the sky. Anxiously, you waited in several minutes of silence until another went by.

“Oliver, there’s so many shooting stars!” you gasped, bouncing slightly.

“It’s a meteor shower,” he corrected. “I heard someone in town mentioning there being one tonight.”

You waited anxiously for the next one to go by, keeping your eyes open as long as you could without blinking, in case you missed it. As soon as you glimpsed one, you closed your eyes tightly, bringing your hands up to mesh your fingers together in a silent prayer.

“What are you doing?” Oliver asked, amused.

“Making a wish,” you said. You peeked over at Oliver to see him giving you a patronizing half-smile. “Aren’t you going to make one?”

“Making a wish on a meteor is childish,” he said with a snort.

“Oh, come on, Oliver.” You shifted to face him better, bringing your hand back down to his leg. You held onto his knee and shook it playfully. “Surely even you have a wish you would like to make. Tell me, what would you wish for?”

“Isn’t the whole point of making a wish not telling others, or it won’t come true?” He brushed your fingers off of his lap with his far hand, moving them away from his knee but holding fast to your hand instead. He rubbed his thumb back and forth across the skin on the back of it, tracing out symbols you weren’t sure were words or nonsense.

“I suppose that’s true,” you sighed, slumping a bit.

Oliver cleared his throat and leaned down, whispering a few inches from your ear, “Besides, I don’t need any wishes on falling stars to make my dreams come true. I already have everything I want.” You could feel a goofy grin spreading across your face at the rare confession. You leaned into him and he held you closer to his side, his hand sliding up from your hip to your waist.