Interstellar

Polaris

Po•lar•is [poh-lair-is]

(n.) Polaris, the designated alpha star to Ursa Minor, which is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star, is the brightest star in the constellation of Ursa Minor. It is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star.

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We stood in the stairwell and simply looked at one another.

I could tell he had something on his mind, though, I couldn't waste any more time worrying about whatever the hell it was he was thinking about, I needed to get my thoughts out in the open as soon as humanly possible.

"Steve, I- I know it's only been a few days now that we've been doing this but I was thinking maybe it'd be fun if we changed it up a bit," I proposed.

"Changed it up a bit how, exactly?" he returned, an eyebrow raised at me.

"Well, I don't know, maybe we could sneak out of the building a-"

"N-"

"But, Ste-"

"Bucky, no. We can't. We-"

"Of course we can, Steve," I said, louder than I should have. I walked somehow closer to him until I was only inches from his face. "Steve, we can do whatever we want," I whispered, smirking. "So long as we want it bad enough."

He started to blush at my words and I couldn't help but wonder what it was about what I'd said, or how I'd said it, that had gotten him so flustered. God, he was so cute.

"I don't know, Bucky, it's real dangerous," he replied after regaining his composure.

"But doesn't that make it more fun?" I asked, a smile growing on my face. "I mean, c'mon, we can at least try it... just this once. What d'ya say?"

"Just this once," he said.

Without thinking, I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, excitement roaring through my veins. "You won't regret this," I told him.

We made our way down the stairs and across the hallway as quietly as two excited teenage boys possibly could. Eventually, like nothing, we were outside and on the New York City streets.

Running carelessly across the sidewalks, making our way through what was normally packed with people, we laughed and pushed each other and just had fun.

I would shove him forward and he would stop in his tracks, quietly cursing me out (like that would change anything). I would gently push him and pull him every which way, making him groan out in annoyance or whatever, but the hell if I cared. I knew he was having fun.

Soon, we reached some random shop and stopped for no good reason. He looked at me, again, like he wanted to say something, but never actually did.

"Why're we stopping?" I asked, attempting to break up the silence he had created when he hesitated here.

He shrugged. "I dunno, just sort of felt like it, I guess."

I chuckled and looked up at the sky I'd grown so familiar to watching at this hour of the night. "You know, the view isn't as good from down here," I pointed out.

"Yea," he replied. "All the skyscrapers and lights block out all the good stuff."

"Guess you're right," I added, looking at him despite the fact that his eyes never fell from the seemingly barren sky.

"Though, there's that one," he told me, pointing, "just there."

I looked again, my eyes going directly to the one he was talking about, probably because it had bee the only visible singularity across the entire black canvas that had been the cloudless sky that night.

I remembered that bright star from The Little Dipper, though the rest of it's so-called neighbors weren't even visible from where we stood. I suppose that's one thing about this little journey that isn't exactly leaning in my favor. Another, being that there's so much space out here... I much prefer the intimacy of the crammed apartment building roof set-up.

I smiled to myself, thinking about the simplicity of all this.

"You glad you gave in?" I asked.

"Hmm?" he hummed, pulling his eyes from that single star to look into my eyes.

"Roaming these streets," I repeated. "Are you glad you grew a pair and decided to break the rules a little bit?"

He laughed. "Hey!" he replied, pushing me unexpectedly.

"You little!" I lunged at him and picked him up, throwing him over my shoulder and running down the street with him. He kicked and punched and flailed, begging me to out him down, but I refused.

The moment we reached the park we went to everyday, which, somehow looked much more ominous at night, I dropped him and ran into the grass.

I watched him rise to his feet and dust himself off, beginning to look around for me, as I'd hidden myself behind a rather large tree.

He didn't dare call out my name, as he knew as well as I did that anyone could have been roaming the streets at night with the potential to recognize us and tell our parents in the morning.

I watched him eagerly as he approached me slowly. I felt my breath hitch as I retreated behind my tree and waited for him to make his way around.

I heard a crackle to my left, but I knew it wasn't him... it couldn't be, as I had just seen him on the right.

I caught his eyes in the dead of night as he rounded the right side of the tree. I grabbed him and held him close to me, spinning us around so that his back was against the tree and my body was pushed against his.

I covered his mouth with my hand, my other at his waist and my face against the back of my own fingers, those that had been ever-so-delicately placed over his lips. "Shhh," I whispered as subtly as I could.

I felt his breathing quicken as his breath hit my hand below his nose. Hell, his heart was racing and I could feel it through his chest. Perhaps he was just unaware that I had heard something.

"It's alright, I just thought I heard something over there," I informed him, motioning in the other direction.

I felt him smile beneath my hand. I moved it away. "Buck," he chuckled. "That was me. I threw a stick to distract you so I could scare you, ya goon."

I felt my eyes grow wide and my mouth hang open. "You're such a punk," I told him, reluctantly backing away from him.

"Yea, well, I'm a punk who needs his sleep," he started. "Maybe let's head home?"

"Alright, let's go."