Reverse Rivalry

The Stars Can Bear Witness

"You look like you're dying to kiss me," Skylar whispered into the languid, too serene dome.

Jale's eyes flickered from Skylar's lips that he didn't know he was even staring at, up to Skylar's dark eyes. The boy's head laid sideways on the chair. His hair was scattered over the surface of it, bristling against his cheek as he smiled at Jale knowingly.

Jale opened his mouth to refuse the statement but when Skylar's lips opened a little like a sensual curse his words lodged right back into his throat as if a sword pierced it. His mouth closed slowly as his eyes followed the movement, barely hearing the words from them.

"Just kiss me, why are you torturing yourself? Your nice guy act is bullshit with me Jale Kierson,"

Skylar lifted himself a little and leaned closer. The minor adjustment gave him a small advantage of height over Jale's sitting form. He moved even closer so their lips ghosted and a tremble so minuscule but corrosive went through him.

"You're a horny son of a bitch for me so don't fool yourself, love,"

Jale nodded absentmindedly at the debauched statement because he was, for Skylar, a whore.

How long has it been since their lips met? Some minutes? Why? He couldn't remember.

Skylar really had him wrapped into his perfectly made seductive web. Skylar pressed closer as if he was being tentative about it, urging Jale to do it himself, hellbent on tearing his mental block on having his way with Skylar anywhere he pleased out of his mind.

He was close to it. He really was. His train of thought was all warped when Skylar's nose bumped his and the boy whispered in a sensual cock hardening drawl.

"Come on, kiss me,"

"Hello young lads," Came a pleasant deep voice out of nowhere. It halted everything to a stop. Jale tugged himself away from Skylar's face as if he was drawn back by chains. He could hear the imaginary clunk of them slinking around his neck. He could feel a scalding annoyance from Skylar as he switched to acknowledge the source of the interruption.

"Welcome to the EarthShine Planetarium!"

The speaker stood some feet away on top of a podium. The dome was still dark but light illuminated the man on the podium solely. He looked middle-aged but his well-defined lack of wrinkles and skin betrayed that thought. He aged well with his silky dark hair perfectly slicked back with some strands moving about his face. His smile was wide as his almond-shaped eyes switched between Jale and Skylar's close figure.

His smile got bigger.

It seemed everyone was creepily smiling today. Jale shot a glance over to Skylar whose face had gone utterly blank. He stared at the man with ice-cold glaciers in his eyes. Jale sighed and turned in his seat slightly towards him again to touch the space between Skylar's eyebrows with his index finger.

"I'll kiss you many, many times after Skylar," he whispered.

"Every inch of your skin, I promise,"

Skylar's eyes slowly moved to him in a side glance then shifted back to the waiting speaker at the top. A small breath was released and his demeanour softened like spikes being withdrawn.

"Let's begin," the speaker stated. He moved to a machine at his right and started doing something Jale could barely make out then the whole darkness that was at the top of the dome came alive in a mind-blowing spiral of the universe.

It took a moment for Jale to even respond or process the beauty of the sky above him. He started, stunned into silence, even his mind went quiet with a strum of awe. He took in the blue, the gold, the shine, the wonder and the marvel of the cosmos.

It took his breath away and his heart thudded with a squeeze in his chest.

Jale felt like he had been plunged into a fantasy, only a familiar voice remained to anchor him to earth.

"You looked just like this when we saw the stars the first time,"

Jale pulled his eyes away and was met with another wonder, Skylar's smile. It was just as bright as the stars. His eyes were semi-reflecting the universe above them. Jale couldn't help but be mesmerised. No words left his lips.

"Stricken by the stars. You had been so taken with them. I still remember your sappy little face from the back of the group," Skylar chuckled.

"I understood you when I looked too. It was incredible,"

Skylar turned and looked up.

"I remember your small cheeks lighting up with red on that trip. I never saw the stars as impressive,"

He lifted his hand as the sky changed with a slow shift to the patterns in the stars.

"They tend to become dull if you stare at them far too many times. They become nothing but a blinking reminder,"

"A blinking reminder of what?" Jale asked seeming to snap Skylar back to reality a little.

Jale peered at the side of Skylar's face. His eyelashes fluttered. A small melancholy seemed to linger at the top of them, something rarely seen on Skylar Lain.

He tend to hold every emotion that made him vulnerable on the inside. There are many times he's heard Skylar called emotions weak, as if, feeling was a sin.

"Have you ever stood from the height of about half the Eiffel tower and gazed at the stars?"

"Ever felt so close to it you could just reach out your hands and hold them in your palm? Have you ever tried?"

"No, never," Jale replied. Skylar smiled a little as if he was reminiscing then it dropped.

"It's bullshit,"

"It's maddening, especially when they're your only comfort in the agonizing dark,"

"They're not as pretty as this,"

"They shine at you in mockery as you hold back your tears. They blink at you as if they're laughing at you for being so pathetic,"

"Coming up what you will see is the Great Galaxy in Andromeda. It is approximately 2.5 million light years from Earth. It is beautiful isn't it? A wonderful constellation," came the speaker from his podium.

Jale shifted his eyes to him forgetting he was even there. Skylar cocked his head to the side and gave the man a dull stare.

"It is," He responded. The speaker nodded and continued with a tense smile. Jale took a deep breath. He felt like his skin was crawling and the pit of his stomach clenched. Skylar's eyes turned to him and he felt compelled to look back.

They stared until Skylar spoke again. The galaxy shone above them.

"Have I ever told you I used to hate the dark?"

"I use to scream every time the lights in my " mansion" were cut off. I would cry and beg for someone to open the door. Anyone. Just open the door,"

"No one ever answered though. At some point, I realised, I had to open it myself,"

Author's Note

Hey guys. I assure you. I am trying to write this. I am so sorry for the short chapter and the long ass break I took but my writers block is slapping me sideways and I cannot figure out why but I may upload in short chapters like this until it clears! I think that's the only way I guess.