Constellations
"Hey. Look, over there."
He looked where she was pointing, but just saw millions of tiny dots filling the sky.
"What is it?"
"You don't see it?" She turned her face towards his, her eyes shining. "Look again, it's right over there." He tried to look, but found himself lost in the many other things filling the dark night; the velvet curtain above him was dotted with more stars then he could ever count, cricket song surrounded them, and the presence of a warm hand enclosed in his own made it impossible to get rid of the stupid grin on his face.
"You're just gonna have to tell me."
"Rumble!" Scootaloo sat up, pulling him with her. "You can't just give up!" She peered at the astronomy book on her lap, flipping through pages. "See, right here. Pegasus." Rumble glanced down at the open book, seeing a star chart with the outline of a constellation printed on it.
"I thought 'astronomy was for eggheads'." He made air quotes, smirking at his companion. She looked back up at the stars.
"It was." Scootaloo adjusted herself on the picnic blanket so she was sitting cross legged. "Until I found out how awesome it is. Now look." She grabbed the sides of his face and guided his head until it was pointed in the right direction. "See that bright star there?"
"Yeah."
"Now follow my finger." She traced the outline of the constellation. "Do you see it now?"
"Yeah, I think so." Rumble thought it looked more like a trigonometry equation than a pegasus, but that was just his opinion. He glanced back at Scootaloo. Her violet eyes were still gazing upwards with rapt interest. The longer he looked, the more they began to look like stars themselves. Tiny pinpricks of light reflected off them, swallowed by the darkness.
"What's wrong?" Scootaloo lowered her gaze to his face. "You're weirdly quiet tonight." Rumble shrugged.
"Nothing's wrong. This just seems too good to be true." He tightened his grip on her hand. She closed the astronomy book and set it aside.
"I know what you mean." She laid back down on the blanket, gesturing to the sky. "I mean, just look at this."
"That's not what I mean, you goof." Rumble lowered himself down next to her. "Yeah, that's amazing, but you know what's even better?"
"What?" Scootaloo smirked, already knowing what he was going to say.
"You."
"Gross." She stuck her tongue out cheekily. "Could you get any mushier?" Rumble was silent for a moment.
"Yes." He grinned. "Dear, sweet Scootaloo-" The boy was cut off by a loud groan.
"That was a rhetorical question." Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "I would never actually question your cheesiness."
"Why thank you." Rumble held his hand up to his chest. "I take great pride in my cheesiness." Scootaloo snickered.
"Yeah, you've proven it to me more than once."
"You're welcome." He turned onto his side. "But I'm serious you know. This past six months have been..."
"Pretty freakin' awesome." Scootaloo mirrored his position. "And you wanna hear something funny?"
"What?" Rumble still had that stupid grin on his face. The girl glanced at him before looking away.
"I'm not even tired of you yet."
"Good to hear." He chuckled. "Quite surprising, after knowing each other for so long."
"Yeah, but we never really hung out before we graduated high school." Scootaloo patted his cheek, sticking her tongue out. "But you should still be honored."
"Obviously." Rumble reached out and ruffled the girl's magenta mop of hair. Scootaloo ducked her head away and grabbed his hand, threading her fingers through his.
"But jokes aside, you know how much you mean to me, right?" She peered up at him, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. "I know that sounded really dorky and if you tell anyone I said that I'll kick your teeth in."
"I wouldn't expect anything less." Rumble glanced into her star-speckled eyes again, laughing. "Got a reputation to keep up, right?"
"Yep." She rolled onto her back again, still gripping his hand. "What would people say if they knew I'd gone soft?"
"Dunno. Better not risk it." Rumble mirrored her position, staring back at the dark sky. "Hey, look over there!"
"Where?" Scootaloo's eyes followed the direction he was pointing. "I don't see anything over there."
"Look harder." He grinned as she reached for her astronomy book. "You won't find the constellation I'm talking about in there."
"What?" She looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"Because I made it up."
"You can't just make up a constellation. That's not how it works." Scootaloo rolled her eyes, trying to hide her smirk.
"Too bad, I just did." He pointed at a small cluster of stars. "Look." His finger traced a shape among the pinpricks of light.
"I just see a blob." The girl squinted, trying to decipher a shape before looking back at her companion. "That's not very creative."
"Well, it may just be a blob, but it's our blob." He paused, waiting for her reaction.
"That's stupid." Scootaloo glanced at the cluster of stars again. "But... Sweet. Just like you."
"Be still, my beating heart." Rumble's laugh rang through the silent night. "Scoots, you really have a way with words."
"I know." She batted her eyelashes exaggeratedly. "It's one of my many talents." The boy smiled, rolling his eyes. A light breeze blew past them, ruffling their hair and causing Scootaloo to shiver.
"Cold?" Rumble sat up on the blanket, holding out his arm. Scootaloo pushed herself up alongside him and snuggled into his side.
"Thanks." She paused. "Also if you tell anyone about this-"
"I know, you'll give me a black eye." He chuckled. The petite girl nodded, glaring in a very non-threatening way.
"Exactly." She lifted her gaze upwards again, her magenta eyes scanning the sky. Rumble was once again lost in them. They were filled with curiosity, and were always searching for things they couldn't see. They seemed to contain the whole galaxy; Rumble remembered his grandma telling him that "eyes were the window's to a person's soul", and the words echoed in his head.
"Rumble?" Scootaloo's voice pulled the boy from his thoughts. "You okay?" He realized he had been gazing at her the whole time.
"Heh, yeah." The dumb smile returned to Rumble's face. "Hey Scoots?"
"Mhm?"
"I love you." He closed his eyes as she leaned closer into his side.
"I love you too, Rumble."
The crickets continued to chirp, creating a soft background noise to the otherwise silent night. The stars twinkled from above as the darkness settled around the young couple. Rumble sighed contently, the words of a long-forgotten poem he had once read drifting through his mind.
She had stars behind each eyelid,
And a galaxy in her soul,
That drew people to her endless heart,
Like the pull of a black hole.
Author's Note
Because there's not enough humanized Rumbaloo. And by 'not enough' I mean barely anything.
