"Johnny!"

A sharp breeze swept through the night, curling through the thick forest to the large post-modern structure, rising to the balcony atop and playing briefly with the hair of a smallish figure. Johnny rested his head on his folded arms and looked longingly at the stars burning through the blackened sky from millions of miles away. He sighed, and his name reached his large inhuman ears once more.

"Johnny!"

Nijubu stepped through the sliding door onto the balcony, a rush of air flowing around his face.

"There you are. Your supper's getting cold."

No answer.

"Do you plan on eating by yourself again tonight? The guys have been wondering about you, ya know. Hell, half of us haven't even laid eyes on you this week."

Still nothing. Nij stared at the back of the catboy's head for a while before the angel walked up and joined him, head on arms alongside. It was a while before either of them spoke.

"You ever wonder about it, Nij?"

Nij tilted his head slightly to gaze at Johnny.

"Hm? About what?"

"The Universe. You ever wonder about it?"

"Well, I...guess so. I dunno. I can never look at the stars without thinking of them as balls of gas and nitrous compounds bursting in and out of existence across billions of years of infinite time."

"Hm."

Silence. Johnny spoke again.

"I always look at the stars as beings of endless fire, journeying through the eternal void in an effort to change the Universe. And you know what?"

"What?"

"They do. They seek to set the Universe aflame, but fail. But if it's any compensation, they succeed in becoming nearly endless points of light across the sky. They seek to make themselves known, to be individuals and to change their world alone, but end up unwittingly banding together and burning themselves across the memory of every man and beast upon the planet. They are born alone, and end their lives forever brothers in arms, eternally connected to each and every one of their brethren across the shadow."

He lapsed into silence.

"Johnny?"

He tilted his head to stare at Nij, mirroring the angel beside him.

"Yeah?"

"That was beautiful, man."

Johnny blushed deeply.

"Shut up."

"No. I'm serious. I never knew you were that deep, man."

Nij returned his gaze to the night sky before continuing.

"You're probably smarter than...well, all of us put together."

A light smile covered Nijubu's face as he stared ahead, and Johnny blushed again and looked away. This time, he was smiling, too.

_________________________


The heavy wooden dining table took up most of what little space there was in the dining room. A large frosted glass ceiling lamp was hung overhead, giving the room a single area of light in an otherwise muted atmosphere. Nevertheless, the room of four boys was boisterous beyond what should be considered normal dinner etiquette. They grew quiet when Nijubu and Johnny walked downstairs to join them.

"Hey, Johnny! Where you been, man? I thought you were taking a vacation in Yoka, or something."

Johnny glanced sidelong at grinning Jeremy as he sighed and took his seat. Nij spoke up before the cat boy could.

"Don't tease him, Jerry. We had a chat on the balcony and worked everything out, so pass me the damn lo mein noodles before they freeze over in the next ice age."

Jeremy was bemused, but his countenance soured quickly as he reached for the take-out box.

"Here. You don't have to get all uppity about it. I was just kidding."

"Er, sorry, I've been a little out of it myself lately. We both have."

Nij smiled and gently nudged Johnny, who was staring down intently at his sesame chicken. When he got no response, he tried again.

"Stop it," he replied quietly.

"Hm?"

"You don't have to protect me. I'm not a child, you know."

"What? I...I didn't mean to—"

"Then good, don't."

Nij deeply furrowed his brow, but thought it best to keep quiet and leave bad enough alone. The others apparently thought the same, and a few moments passed in nearly total silence, broken only by the occasional sound of utensils. Nijubu spoke up again.

"Hey, Stu, did you happen to see my angel wings when you gathered the dirty laundry yesterday?"

The boy in the cap looked up from his plate momentarily.

"What? You mean those costume wings you like to wear?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Yeah, I washed them with the whites, man. They were starting to look grimy."

Stuart returned to his food as Nij sunk into mortification.

"You WHAT?!"

The other five at the table jumped.

Nijubu practically threw his chair over as he leapt up and ran to the condo's laundry room.

"Psh, what's his problem?" asked Matt. "I mean, you'd think he's a little crazy, someone his age still playing angel."

"I think you just answered your own question," Jeremy replied.

"No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities. Christian Nestell Bovee."

The other four turned to stare at Johnny. He shrugged, and went back to eating. The others joined soon after.

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