‘Kiss me and you will see stars. Love me and I will give them to you.’

“How many stars are there?” She wants to know.

He looks impulsively at the sky unfurled above them, with a million and more stars spilled across it like freckles.

“A million and more.” He answers, and traces the constellation Draco with his fingers. He’s never gotten why it’s called dragon. It looked more serpentine than draconic, so he’s chalked it up to making it sound more dignifying.

“A million and more, huh. That’s a lot of stars.”

“And I’m pretty sure I’m downsizing it. There are probably a billion stars littering that sky up there, maybe even a trillion. Ten trillion.”

“Ten trillion.” She echoes, as if contemplating the phenomenally large figure. Then she holds up her hands, like small white birds, and cups them together. “Then I want a handful.”

“Of stars!?”

Nod.

“Well, you can’t. Stars are gigantic balls of plasma light-years away from us. You’ll be crushed by them.” He adds rather firmly.

“Okay.” The girl doesn’t uncup her hands, though, just smiles at him, and for a moment, he swears he sees stars glittering in her teeth. “Then can I take the concept of stars?”

He’s probably the only person in the world who would’ve understood the sentence. Lucky her. “The human romanticist one, I presume?”

Nod.

Sigh. “I guess it’s okay. You’ll have a handful of tiny, twinkly things.”

“Ten trillion.” Pause. “The universe won’t mind just a handful.”

“No.” He agreed. “It wouldn’t be as petty as that. But what are you going to do with them?”

Another pause.

“You could wear them in your hair, I suppose.” He begrudged her an answer (and to his own question, too), seeing as she wasn’t providing him with any. The stars, the boy reasoned, would look rather pretty hanging and twinkling among her night-dark locks, loose and wavy. Beautiful, even.“They would look—“

“Give them to you.”

He liked to think his response had been a sophisticatedly eloquent one:

“Huh?”

[keyword: think.

Oh, reality. Thou art a cruel bitch.

“If I had a star for each thing I love about you, the entire sky would be in my palm.” She says, brow furrowing. “At least, that’s how I think it goes. It’s cheesy, but if fits. Especially with your astronomy and my horoscopes. It’ll just have to be a tiny bit of the sky, though. The universe gets touchy if you take all of it.”  

[His heart stops]

“And,” The girl adds thoughtfully, finger tapping her chin. “It would be awfully selfish to deprive the stars from the sky.”

[and starts to beat again]

“The sky,” He agrees. “Would look rather ugly without them.”

“And the stars would look too ugly if they weren’t spread out.”

“Okay, then. One more question.” He taps the bridge of her nose, where it crinkles when her brow furrows.

“Shoot.” Like a star.

“What am I supposed to do with a handful of tiny, twinkly things?” He wants to know.

She laughs, uncups her hands, and lets the stars pour over his head and into his lap.