the perseids (threesomefic)
(the perseid meteor shower was a couple days ago. apparently it's one of the big ones. stella of the threesome is an amateur astronomer. you might be able to guess where this is going. :D )
There were, Val knew, some definite benefits in dating the people he was dating. Homemade chili, for one. Gossip from his former workplace, for another. (Val was man enough to admit that sometimes he took great pleasure from someone else's professional embarrassment and misfortune.) He liked the company and the teasing and the fact that Aidan was probably writing a song for him.
Whether or not "getting dragged out to the hinterlands to watch a meteor shower" counted as a benefit was still open for debate.
"At least it's not November," Aidan said from the backseat.
"Yeah, I'm not making you sleep outside for the Leonids," Stella added. The Leonid meteor shower was in November. Aidan would go with her to watch those as long as she didn't drag him out for the Geminids, which were in December.
Aidan was a warm-weather boy. It was just his luck, he said, to fall in love with a girl who liked to stay up to all hours in the freezing cold to watch astronomical events in the middle of nowhere.
Val, on the other hand, was from Michigan. He was familiar with cold weather. Which didn't necessarily mean he was in favor of sitting out in it to watch falling stars. But it was August now, and if he had to pick a month in which to let his girlfriend drag him into the middle of nowhere to look at the sky, August was definitely better than December.
Stella chattered about meteors and meteor showers and the Perseid shower in particular as they drove away from the city - and the city lights - and towards one of her favorite meteor-watching spots, which was in a state park. There was a blanket in the back of the SUV, just in case, along with Stella's telescope, a couple thermoses of coffee, a picnic basket of snacks, and two flashlights with red filters on them. Aidan had to be at work the next morning, so they couldn't camp overnight, for which Val was kind of grateful. He wasn't really interested in sleeping on the ground when he could sleep in a bed.
There were already a few people set up and waiting for meteors when Stella finally pulled off the park road. She took her telescope out of the SUV and walked off to find a good place to set it up while Aidan and Val got everything else and trailed after her.
"If I fall asleep," Aidan said, "don't wake me up."
"Can I tell Stella to?" Val asked, grinning.
"If you want to play Guitar Hero against yourself for the rest of your life, sure."
"You always kick my ass anyway. They have chairs." He waved a thermos at a couple of people who were sitting in what looked like folding pool chairs with the backs reclined almost to the ground. "Why don't we have chairs?"
"I could only find one." Aidan shrugged. "We got coffee and cake and Stella made me pack fruit. Who needs chairs?"
They'd found Stella by this point. She'd set up her telescope and was now peering into it, maybe to focus it or point it in the right direction or look for little green men on Mars. Val tried not to snicker at the thought of Martians waving at her from their planet's surface.
"Put the blanket there," she said, waving at the ground without looking away from the telescope. "I don't know if I needed to bring this. What time is it?"
"Ten-thirty," Aidan said. "Just about. Are we early?"
"Not really." Stella stood up and took a thermos from Val. She unscrewed the cap, sniffed it, sipped it, and made a face. "You didn't mark the black coffee," she told Aidan accusingly.
"You say that as if they're not both black," he said, smiling innocently.
Val took the cap off the other thermos and smelled it. There was definitely sugar in this one. He handed it to Stella.
"The show doesn't really get good until after midnight," she said, gesturing to the blanket, which Aidan had spread on the ground. "But we might still see something now. Sit." The boys sat. She dropped down between them. "Ok," she told Val, "scoot around this way, so your feet are pointing south. You want to look towards Perseus - that's where it looks like the meteors originate from, which is why they're called the Perseids."
"There," Aidan said helpfully, pointing at the sky. "That's... wait, that's not Perseus. What is that?"
"Look for Cassiopeia. You know Cassiopeia?"
"It's an M," Val said.
"Or a W, right. Over... where is it.... There." She waggled her finger. Val tried to follow the direction she was pointing, looking up and scanning the sky until he saw what he thought was the right constellation. It looked like a sideways M or a W, and he tilted his head to make sure.
"There ya go," Aidan said, flopping down on his back. He put his arms behind his head. "Perseus is to the right. Bring on the dancing meteors."
"I think we still have an hour or two until it starts to get good," Stella told Val. "We have to deal with the moon, but at least it's a good clear night."
They started in on the snacks and drank the coffee and talked about nothing in particular for a while, while a few more people showed up, someone yelled at someone else for waving their flashlight around, and Val started to wonder if this was going to turn out to be just some kind of late-night picnic experience, rather than an exciting meteorological event.
And then he saw one - a point of light zipping across the sky, a faint white tail fading behind it. It was followed by another, this one a little brighter but with a shorter tail. He must have twitched or made a noise or something, because Stella put her hand on his arm, whispered "Oh, it gets better", and kissed him on the cheek.
"Almost midnight," Aidan said quietly from Stella's other side. "Start counting."
Val lay back on the blanket to get a better view, counting meteors as they fell out of the sky. He could hear the occasional hushed conversation around him, but the people watching with him and Aidan and Stella were mostly silent. He counted meteors with trails and without, bright ones that glittered brilliantly as they swooped across the sky and ones that sparkled faintly, their swift movement the only indication they weren't just stars.
He stopped counting after thirty and just watched the sky, thinking about nothing except that it was like fireworks without the noise, like falling stars out of a fairy tale. Stella took his hand and twined her fingers with his, and when he turned to look at her she grinned at him and whispered "It's something else, isn't it."
"It's beautiful," he whispered back.
"Aren't you glad I made you come?"
"I didn't think I had a choice."
"You didn't." She grinned wider, leaned in, and kissed him quickly on the lips. "Now shut up and watch."
Val couldn't understand how Aidan could sleep through this, even knowing he'd seen it before. It had to be different every time.
They watched the meteor shower for what felt like no time at all but was in reality a few hours. A few of the people who'd also come to that spot to watch had left by the time Stella poked Aidan and told him to wake up - he'd actually stayed awake the entire time, he informed her loftily - and a few were still clearly settled in to keep watching as the three of them packed up their stuff and went back to the car.
"I didn't even use my telescope," Stella said. "It was such a good night for it, too."
"Next time," Aidan told her, yawning. "What did you think?" he asked Val.
"That was amazing," Val said. It was in fact more amazing than he had words to describe. He was at peace with himself and the universe and everyone in it. He felt very small in the grand scheme of things, and yet significant enough that the cosmos saw fit to put on a brilliant summer display for him and the people he loved.
"So you'll come with me to see the Geminids?" Stella asked, grinning. She lifted the back door of the SUV and gently slid the telescope in. Aidan followed with the blanket and the picnic basket, now full of trash and empty thermoses.
"December," he said.
"Maybe," Val said. Aidan rolled his eyes. Stella giggled.
"You'll both come with me," she told them. "We'll bundle up and sleep in the car. It'll be cozy."
"You're crazy," Aidan said.
"You know you love me."
"Yeah yeah."
"I do," Val said.
"Well I know you do." Stella kissed first him and then Aidan and then climbed in behind the wheel. "Come on," she said, "miles to go before Aidan can sleep."
Aidan nodded off in the back seat before they'd even gotten out of the park, but Val was too excited to sleep. He hadn't done anything except lie on his back and watch the sky, yet he felt completely energized. He thought he would go see the next meteor shower with Stella, winter weather or not. He hadn't expected to find peace at this particular celestial event, but that's what he had found, and he wasn't about to let the next opportunity pass him by.
Maybe trips to the middle of nowhere with his girlfriend and his boyfriend and the occasional stranger to watch meteors fall out of the sky was a definite benefit after all. There were, Val knew, much worse ways to spend an evening.
There were, Val knew, some definite benefits in dating the people he was dating. Homemade chili, for one. Gossip from his former workplace, for another. (Val was man enough to admit that sometimes he took great pleasure from someone else's professional embarrassment and misfortune.) He liked the company and the teasing and the fact that Aidan was probably writing a song for him.
Whether or not "getting dragged out to the hinterlands to watch a meteor shower" counted as a benefit was still open for debate.
"At least it's not November," Aidan said from the backseat.
"Yeah, I'm not making you sleep outside for the Leonids," Stella added. The Leonid meteor shower was in November. Aidan would go with her to watch those as long as she didn't drag him out for the Geminids, which were in December.
Aidan was a warm-weather boy. It was just his luck, he said, to fall in love with a girl who liked to stay up to all hours in the freezing cold to watch astronomical events in the middle of nowhere.
Val, on the other hand, was from Michigan. He was familiar with cold weather. Which didn't necessarily mean he was in favor of sitting out in it to watch falling stars. But it was August now, and if he had to pick a month in which to let his girlfriend drag him into the middle of nowhere to look at the sky, August was definitely better than December.
Stella chattered about meteors and meteor showers and the Perseid shower in particular as they drove away from the city - and the city lights - and towards one of her favorite meteor-watching spots, which was in a state park. There was a blanket in the back of the SUV, just in case, along with Stella's telescope, a couple thermoses of coffee, a picnic basket of snacks, and two flashlights with red filters on them. Aidan had to be at work the next morning, so they couldn't camp overnight, for which Val was kind of grateful. He wasn't really interested in sleeping on the ground when he could sleep in a bed.
There were already a few people set up and waiting for meteors when Stella finally pulled off the park road. She took her telescope out of the SUV and walked off to find a good place to set it up while Aidan and Val got everything else and trailed after her.
"If I fall asleep," Aidan said, "don't wake me up."
"Can I tell Stella to?" Val asked, grinning.
"If you want to play Guitar Hero against yourself for the rest of your life, sure."
"You always kick my ass anyway. They have chairs." He waved a thermos at a couple of people who were sitting in what looked like folding pool chairs with the backs reclined almost to the ground. "Why don't we have chairs?"
"I could only find one." Aidan shrugged. "We got coffee and cake and Stella made me pack fruit. Who needs chairs?"
They'd found Stella by this point. She'd set up her telescope and was now peering into it, maybe to focus it or point it in the right direction or look for little green men on Mars. Val tried not to snicker at the thought of Martians waving at her from their planet's surface.
"Put the blanket there," she said, waving at the ground without looking away from the telescope. "I don't know if I needed to bring this. What time is it?"
"Ten-thirty," Aidan said. "Just about. Are we early?"
"Not really." Stella stood up and took a thermos from Val. She unscrewed the cap, sniffed it, sipped it, and made a face. "You didn't mark the black coffee," she told Aidan accusingly.
"You say that as if they're not both black," he said, smiling innocently.
Val took the cap off the other thermos and smelled it. There was definitely sugar in this one. He handed it to Stella.
"The show doesn't really get good until after midnight," she said, gesturing to the blanket, which Aidan had spread on the ground. "But we might still see something now. Sit." The boys sat. She dropped down between them. "Ok," she told Val, "scoot around this way, so your feet are pointing south. You want to look towards Perseus - that's where it looks like the meteors originate from, which is why they're called the Perseids."
"There," Aidan said helpfully, pointing at the sky. "That's... wait, that's not Perseus. What is that?"
"Look for Cassiopeia. You know Cassiopeia?"
"It's an M," Val said.
"Or a W, right. Over... where is it.... There." She waggled her finger. Val tried to follow the direction she was pointing, looking up and scanning the sky until he saw what he thought was the right constellation. It looked like a sideways M or a W, and he tilted his head to make sure.
"There ya go," Aidan said, flopping down on his back. He put his arms behind his head. "Perseus is to the right. Bring on the dancing meteors."
"I think we still have an hour or two until it starts to get good," Stella told Val. "We have to deal with the moon, but at least it's a good clear night."
They started in on the snacks and drank the coffee and talked about nothing in particular for a while, while a few more people showed up, someone yelled at someone else for waving their flashlight around, and Val started to wonder if this was going to turn out to be just some kind of late-night picnic experience, rather than an exciting meteorological event.
And then he saw one - a point of light zipping across the sky, a faint white tail fading behind it. It was followed by another, this one a little brighter but with a shorter tail. He must have twitched or made a noise or something, because Stella put her hand on his arm, whispered "Oh, it gets better", and kissed him on the cheek.
"Almost midnight," Aidan said quietly from Stella's other side. "Start counting."
Val lay back on the blanket to get a better view, counting meteors as they fell out of the sky. He could hear the occasional hushed conversation around him, but the people watching with him and Aidan and Stella were mostly silent. He counted meteors with trails and without, bright ones that glittered brilliantly as they swooped across the sky and ones that sparkled faintly, their swift movement the only indication they weren't just stars.
He stopped counting after thirty and just watched the sky, thinking about nothing except that it was like fireworks without the noise, like falling stars out of a fairy tale. Stella took his hand and twined her fingers with his, and when he turned to look at her she grinned at him and whispered "It's something else, isn't it."
"It's beautiful," he whispered back.
"Aren't you glad I made you come?"
"I didn't think I had a choice."
"You didn't." She grinned wider, leaned in, and kissed him quickly on the lips. "Now shut up and watch."
Val couldn't understand how Aidan could sleep through this, even knowing he'd seen it before. It had to be different every time.
They watched the meteor shower for what felt like no time at all but was in reality a few hours. A few of the people who'd also come to that spot to watch had left by the time Stella poked Aidan and told him to wake up - he'd actually stayed awake the entire time, he informed her loftily - and a few were still clearly settled in to keep watching as the three of them packed up their stuff and went back to the car.
"I didn't even use my telescope," Stella said. "It was such a good night for it, too."
"Next time," Aidan told her, yawning. "What did you think?" he asked Val.
"That was amazing," Val said. It was in fact more amazing than he had words to describe. He was at peace with himself and the universe and everyone in it. He felt very small in the grand scheme of things, and yet significant enough that the cosmos saw fit to put on a brilliant summer display for him and the people he loved.
"So you'll come with me to see the Geminids?" Stella asked, grinning. She lifted the back door of the SUV and gently slid the telescope in. Aidan followed with the blanket and the picnic basket, now full of trash and empty thermoses.
"December," he said.
"Maybe," Val said. Aidan rolled his eyes. Stella giggled.
"You'll both come with me," she told them. "We'll bundle up and sleep in the car. It'll be cozy."
"You're crazy," Aidan said.
"You know you love me."
"Yeah yeah."
"I do," Val said.
"Well I know you do." Stella kissed first him and then Aidan and then climbed in behind the wheel. "Come on," she said, "miles to go before Aidan can sleep."
Aidan nodded off in the back seat before they'd even gotten out of the park, but Val was too excited to sleep. He hadn't done anything except lie on his back and watch the sky, yet he felt completely energized. He thought he would go see the next meteor shower with Stella, winter weather or not. He hadn't expected to find peace at this particular celestial event, but that's what he had found, and he wasn't about to let the next opportunity pass him by.
Maybe trips to the middle of nowhere with his girlfriend and his boyfriend and the occasional stranger to watch meteors fall out of the sky was a definite benefit after all. There were, Val knew, much worse ways to spend an evening.