No Man Can Live Forever, Except He Who Possesses The Heart Of A Star

"Homesick?" Tyler asked quietly, voice shattering the natural silence of the empty field.

Mini huffed a reply, shrugging his shoulders dismissively. He came to a stop a few feet behind him, pausing mid-step and just let his eyes wander over his friend's form. Tyler was hunched over his telescope, eyes never straying from the sky- which was to be expected- but Mini still felt as if he held all of his friend's focus.

Tyler sighed, his breath instantly fogging up in the cold air and Craig took a few steps forward- closing the distance between them. "I know I would be," he mumbled and Mini snorted a laugh, glancing across the field.

"You would never get the opportunity, Tyler, because you would never actually leave. How can you be homesick if you're always home."

"Home is metaphorical thing, it is not a place but a feeling and we are not having this argument again, dammit. I'm just... I just don't know why you left," he declared, fiddling with the focus on his telescope. Craig ducked his head and sighed, making sure to avoid looking up at the stars. It seemed like such a simple question, in theory- but it really wasn't.

Home- to Craig- was lonely; It was cold, dark and eerily silent.

That's why he couldn't truthfully say he missed it, for Earth was so much warmer and filled with life. So much different from the life he used to live amongst the stars, but Tyler just never seemed to understand, no matter how many times Craig explained it to him. He was blinded by his own infatuation with the stars, not realising that there was a live one standing right behind him.

"You know why I left," Craig reminded him and Wildcat sighed, nodding his head slowly.

"Yeah, I guess... You know... It's kinda late. You should probably head back to the dorms, before you get locked out for the night. I'm just gonna finish up here." He replied and Mini rolled his eyes, refusing to be ordered away. Instead, he just shuffled forwards and settled himself against Tyler's side.

"I know you Tyler, you'd much rather sleep in this field- under the open sky- than be tucked away under a constricting roof. So that's a lie, you won't even try to come back to the dorm. And while I may not miss home all too much, I do miss all of the space I used to have, so I'll stay," Craig admitted and he forced himself to look up at his family.

They fell silent for a moment, but it didn't take long before Tyler broke it. "... Did- did you just make a fucking pun?" He snorted, shaking his head and Craig tossed him a wry smile.

"Accident, I swear."

"Sure."

Mini grinned, but his mind was desperately trying to memorise the sound of Tyler's laughter. He wanted- needed- to turn his head and actually watch the glow of happiness that surrounded his friend; but staring wasn't polite- so he'd been told- and he knew he wouldn't be able to pull his gaze away once he succumbed. Instead, he let his eyes trail over the expanse of stars that covered the sky above him and bit his lip.

"What were they like?" Tyler whispered, his words hanging in the air between them and Mini sucked in a harsh breath.

"I... uh. I only knew a few personally, everything else is just stories. Gossip and hearsay..."

"Anything, tell me anything. I don't care, Craig, please."

"Oh, uh. They're..." Cold " Bright and..." Withdrawn "Warm." He offered, shuffling his feet. "Over there, can you see Rigel?"

Wildcat huffed a quiet laugh, tossing Mini a small smile as he turned his eyes to look at the bright, blue star. "Yeah Mini, pretty hard to miss, since it's the brightest star and all."

"Shut up, asshole," Craig murmured, but there was no heat behind his words. He paused for a moment, before slowly sinking to the floor and tucking his legs under himself- leaning back on his palms. He tilted his head back slightly to watch Tyler, an eyebrow raised in an unspoken challenge and just waited for him to crack. Tyler watched him for a moment, before sighing in defeat and dropping to the floor with a heavy thud.

Mini grinned in triumph and Wildcat flipped him off.

"Well... uh. I heard that he was a giant asshole, like real dickhead," Mini replied, a smile evident in his voice and Tyler snorted.

"I knew it," he replied and suddenly Craig was overwhelmed with the want to lean over and rest his head on Wildcat's shoulder. Because, it hurt reminiscing about his family as if everything was fine, when he was the one who left them in first place.

He was the one who fell.

He was the one who landed somewhere in the UK, completely and utterly lost. Stranded somewhere so alien to him, even more alone than what he was when he was 'home', regretting everything.

"Mini..." Tyler began, voice so quiet that Craig could hardly hear him, "what were you like? You know, up there?"

Mini swallowed hard, his mouth suddenly dry, "Uh..."

"I know you don't like it up there... and it's not like I have any right to argue with you about it. I'm a lump of human flesh, who's never been to space before and you're... you're made of stardust. So..." Tyler mumbled and Craig waited, biting his lip hard enough that if he were anyone else, it would probably draw blood.

"So... I understand if you don't wanna, like, talk about it. But, I really do want to know more about you Craig."

Mini sighed and glanced over at Tyler, "You want to get to know me Tyler, because I'm the only link you have to space. This isn't about me, it's about the stars- like it always is for you," He muttered, stifling a yawn, "but that's okay, I guess. We each have our own obsessions, can't blame you."

Wildcat shook his head, sitting up straighter as he twisted his upper body to face Craig, "No, the space stuff, that's just a bonus. I know I get pretty oblivious to the world sometimes, but that's because the idea of space has been drilled into me since birth. Ever since we, the Earth, learnt that you guys existed, everything things been about space and the stars."

He paused for a moment, clenching his jaw and lowering his eyes to the floor. Craig waited patiently, knowing that Tyler needed time to sort through his thoughts.

"I want to get to know you, because I think this could be something, we could be something. Not just because you're a star, but because you're funny and cute. You make the weirdest faces and you're just so beautiful. I like you, Craig and I want to get to know you." Tyler replied and Mini smiled softly.

"Okay... I like the sound of that," he whispered, shuffling close to Tyler to press his side against the warm line of Wildcat's body. He gave into the want and rested his head on Tyler's shoulder, sighing softly.

"It's selfish, but I'm glad you fell." Tyler whispered and Craig let his eye slip closed.

"I'm glad too, best decision I've ever made,"