be honest are you crying about the commercial with the kitten in it and Magnus mayhaps???
4. be honest are you crying about the commercial with the kitten in it
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If there was anyone you didn't want to run into on your midnight run around the moon, it was your boss. The only thing that could possibly be worse than just running into your boss on your midnight run (while you are, notably, not wearing a shirt and also incredibly sweaty) is running into your crying boss on your midnight run.
And yet, here Magnus was.
The stars were bright up here on the moon, much brighter than they ever were planetside. Even through the glass dome that covered the quad, there was just enough light to run in without having to turn any lights on. It wasn't nearly enough to know exactly what was going on, but Magnus had been around here in the day enough times to know where he generally wanted to go.
But if anyone asked, he screamed to give the Director the satisfaction of thinking she got the jump on him, not because he hadn't seen her in the dark.
"What the actual hell are you doing?" the Director asked. Magnus, who had flung a knife towards her, felt a little bit embarrassed. Not that he'd ever admit that.
"Do you, uh, do you have my knife, or-?"
"Here," the Director said. There was a soft thud against the ground and a few balls of light popped into existence, hovering a few feet off the ground. Magnus blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to it. When he finally got used to it, the Director was yanking his knife out of the nearest tree.
"I meant to do that," Magnus said as she got it loose.
"Of course you did," the Director said, sounding like she didn't believe him in the slightest. She handed the knife back over to him and pretended not to watch him drop the other two knives he had with him while trying to put it away. He didn't know if it'd be more mortifying if she did say something, but her standing there awkwardly wasn't helping in the slightest.
"So, uh," Magnus said, standing back up. He had dirt stuck to his knees from where he had knelt down but the Director didn't comment on it. Her face was drawn tight and her eyes were brimmed with red. She looked... awful.
"You look awful," Magnus said.
"Thanks."
"No, I mean-!" Magnus groaned, rubbing his face with his hands. Great, now there was probably dirt on his face too. "You look... sad. Are you good, or...??? Did I interrupt something?"
"I-"
"Be honest," Magnus said. "Were you crying about the commercial with the kitten in it?
"Was I what?" the Director asked. And then, as she realized what he meant, "the Fantasy ASPCA one? With all the kittens stuck in the cages?"
"Yeah," Magnus said. "I cry about that one all the time, there's no reason to be ashamed-"
"I wasn't crying about the Fantasy ASPCA commercial, Magnus," the Director said.
"But you were crying?"
"Fuck," the Director said. "No, I wasn't."
"I'm pretty sure you were crying," Magnus said, bouncing on the tips of his toes. "D'you wanna talk about it?"
"That would be- unprofessional of me," the Director said. "So no, but thank you."
"Directoooor," Magnus said sweetly. The Director had the gall to roll her eyes at him.
"Magnussss," she said back, in the same tone. "No. I'm sorry, but no. I'm not actually that sorry, that's a lie. Listen, hey-" Magnus struggled to keep a laugh down. "What are you doing? You have training tomorrow."
"You're training us!" Magnus said.
"Fuck," the Director said again, with much more feeling. "You're right. Magnus, as the person who's training you tomorrow, and also as your boss, I command you to go to bed. Now, preferably."
"As the person you're training," Magnus shot back. "I command you go to bed."
"That's- that's not how this works," the Director said, but she was smiling now, so Magnus felt accomplished.
"Well, then we've reached a stalemate," Magnus said. The Director huffed, looking notably less awful than before. She turned and took a seat under the tree Magnus's knife had hit. A few of her joints popped as she slid to the ground. She patted the ground next to her and Magnus took her up on the offer, sitting down too.
The night sky was bright and the real moon was waning away, almost at another new moon stage. The Director set her staff at her feet and looked up, closing her eyes. The stars above their heads twinkled.
"I feel like there used to be more stars," Magnus said.
There was a beat before the Director responded,
"Growing up can make everything else seem a little smaller."
"True," Magnus said. He let his eyes slip close as well. Behind his eyelids, a small, skinny kitten stared pleadingly back out at him. "Well, now I'm thinking of the Fantasy ASPCA commercial."
"It really pulls at your heart, doesn't it?" the Director said.
"I just wanna help all of them!" Magnus said, already feeling close to tears himself.
"It's quiet time," the Director said. "Shh."
Magnus let out a little breath of annoyance but shut up all the same. He opened his eyes to look up at the sky again.
He didn't feel any more grown up than a minute ago, but he could have sworn there were a few patches of stars missing.
