gossamer webs of dying stars collect in a blurred night sky, intersecting highways of constellations peek from behind the lilac clouds.

“huang zitao, are you awake?”

blink, blink.

“i am now,” he blinks a bit more, eyelashes softly fluttering. “kim jongdae.”

nighttime waves through his misty windows, but one is open, and zitao guesses that’s the one jongdae crawled through. he is on top of him, now, feline smile on his thin lips.

“i have a surprise for you,” is all jongdae leaves him with, stirring sheets and blankets as he races eagerly from bed back to window. darkness beckons him in the outside world, but the current dim in his bedroom seems more enticing at the moment.

but jongdae always wins over reason in zitao’s heart.

zitao kicks off his panda slippers and pulls on a hoodie, follows jongdae to the window. he looks down, sees black. but when he looks up, all he sees is jongdae’s eyes sparkling with pure excitement.

“what time is it?” zitao asks, quietly, leaning on the sill of the window.

“about three in the morning,” jongdae answers with another cat-like smirk and climbs out the window, into the opaque oblivion in front of him.

zitao’s room is on the second floor, so they have to climb down. in previous midnight escapades, jongdae noticed a vine of some sorts that extended from the ground straight to zitao’s window, and so that is what they trust their lives on. they don’t want to wake zitao’s parents by using stairs.

with a quick breath and a timid, “you can do it,” from jongdae on the ground, zitao slides down the grassy vine. jongdae switches on a flashlight.

“where was that when i was risking my life climbing down my house?” zitao frowns, but jongdae laughs.

“i would’ve caught you if you fell, you know,” jongdae reassures, taking zitao’s hand and leading him through the dark. zitao doesn’t argue verbally, knowing that jongdae would probably break under zitao’s muscular stature, but humors jongdae’s intentions.

cicadas and crickets sing with all their little insect hearts can muster, the only sounds other from jongdae and zitao’s slow, deep breaths. jongdae seems determined, and zitao kind of wants to kiss him right now but figures he should wait until he learns what the “surprise” is.

“you know that one time you wanted to go to that fancy dinner?” is what jongdae says, out of all things to bring up.

zitao huffs lightly, “yeah, but all the reservations were booked up because you forgot to book one on the one day we were both not busy. it’s ok, jongdae, i forgave you a long time ago.” he now kind of feels like the other has ruined the mood, since disappointment is not really his thing at three in the morning.

jongdae stops, and his shoes squeak a bit in the damp weeds underneath his feet. zitao stops, too.

“close your eyes, zitao.” jongdae squeezes zitao’s hand a bit more than necessary.

zitao does so, and his mind starts thinking all sorts of things because wow, is that nice restaurant open at this time of day did jongdae get a reservation but it doesn’t sound like the city so what is going on-

“welcome to restaurant à la kim jongdae.”

zitao opens his eyes.

they are on a hill, and it is starry above them. a blanket lies in front of them, and a stone ledge is in front of that. there’s a floral tea set lying on the stone.

zitao blinks a bit more.

“well, not really restaurant but i made tea because i know you like tea but i thought it was fancy and we could just sit and watch the stars or something because there’s supposed to be a meteor shower and i didn’t know if you thought that was cool or whatever but-”

jongdae quiets when zitao kisses him. rambling is a common theme when nerves are involved.

“you’re so ing cute,” zitao grins, and then plops down on the blanket criss-cross.  “what kind of tea are you offering, restaurant à la kim jongdae?”

“uhh,” jongdae is still getting over the kiss. “i don’t really know. i think it’s fruity but i just bought the box because it looked cute and i thought you would like it,” jongdae is almost blushing.

“what time does the meteor shower start?” zitao asks, pulling the hood over his ears.

“soon, i think,” jongdae guesses. his memory isn’t really that great. he takes the tea, which is kind of cold because even though it’s summer all it has done is rain, rain, rain, and pours it into two tea cups. “i borrowed the tea set from my mother, just so you know. i didn’t steal it or anything.” jongdae says, plainly.

“i would’ve guessed,” zitao nods his head in thanks when jongdae hands him the porcelain cup. it’s decorated with rose designs, a thorny stem painted intertwining the handle.

jongdae positions himself on the blanket so he can see zitao but also the sky. he sips the tea, which is a bit too strong for his taste.

zitao cautiously drinks the tea. his nose scrunches a bit. “that’s really....strong.”

“sorry.” jongdae sighs, throwing the remaining liquid of his tea into the bushes. “i just wanted something warm to hold when it was going to be so cold, i didn’t know how long it would take us to get here.”

he’s mad at himself, zitao knows. he takes another sip of the tea, anyways. “you can hold me.”

jongdae looks over at zitao, eyes full of starlight and innocence. he didn’t really have to look at the stars. zitao’s radiance was enough.

zitao puts his cup down and scoots over to jongdae, lets jongdae wrap his thinner, smaller arms around him. his heart beats a little faster. “so, can i add, ‘the tea party under the stars,’ as one of my favorite dates?” zitao smiles.

jongdae scoffs, “i’m sorry i’m lame, i tried to be romantic but i can’t make tea and i don’t even know if the meteor shower is going to happen. i could’ve gotten the date wrong, for all i know.”

“don’t say that,” zitao puts his head to jongdae’s chest.

it’s silent for a minute or two.

“jongdae, look!”

light streaks across the sky, lines of shining white dashing downwards. they come and go as quickly as they begin. crashing swords of the cosmos appear and empty from the sky in seconds.

jongdae wants to take in the beauty of it, but something distracts him.

zitao’s mouth hangs open in awe, his eyes are the biggest he’s ever seen. the dark circles under his eyes even seem to be brighter.

it ends. zitao gets up wildly.

“that was amazing!” he shouts, and it echoes but neither of them really care.

jongdae is still smiling.

“i’ve never seen anything like it,” zitao breathes deeply, blond hair exposed by the wind tugging off his hood. it’s messy, he looks tired but dazzling. “thank you jongdae,” zitao crashes back down to the earth to hug jongdae tight.

“thank you,” jongdae whispers into his ear. the blanket is wrinkled and dirty, but they’re still sitting on it, embracing.

“for what?” zitao laughs, still out of breath.

“you’re more beautiful than the stars, huang zitao.”

zitao rolls his eyes. “that was so cheesy.” he pulls back to kiss his boyfriend. he’s a little dizzy. their breaths are uneven, but matched. “i love you, you know. but i won’t finish that tea.”

“that’s perfectly alright with me,” jongdae kisses him again.

they were cold, but neither of them really cared, because they were together under the stars.