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Lew looked up from his study notes. There was a shadow in the doorway where he’d left his door open, letting the faint sounds of celebration drift in from the outside.
“Who’s there,” he called, beginning to stand up from his desk. His tail began to spike in anticipation a moment before the shadow disappeared and Beckett stepped into view, his broad frame silhouetted against the bright hallway light.
“Hey,” the young wolf said as Lew relaxed back into his chair, fur flattening. Beckett put a paw up on the door frame, leaning slightly on it. “Still studying?”
“Um.” Lew blinked, eyes adjusting to the backlight. When had night fallen? “Come in, I can’t see you.”
Beck stepped forward, into the darkness of Lew’s room. His curtains were open to the darkening evening sky, deep and far-reaching and alit with streaks of clouds reflecting the sunset. There was just enough light coming in from the open door to read the next sentence in his book.
“Better?” In the dark, Lew could see him more clearly. He eased himself into a spare chair next to Lew’s desk. He looked thoughtful.
“Thank you.” He plucked his bookmark from where Beck had begun to fidget with it, and placed it in his book. Baby blue, ribboned, a gift from his mother. The book snapped shut. “It’s festival night…you’re not out celebrating?”
The wolf was certainly dressed for it, in a loose-fitting plain shirt and the cargo shorts that Lew so knew him for wearing. In contrast, Lew still had on the collared white shirt from their school uniform, buttoned all the way. He hadn’t bothered to change after his last class.
A loose eraser found its way into Beckett’s paws next. “Said the pot to the kettle. It’s festival night…and you’re inside, studying?”
Lew could only smile. “Touché. But I heard Suvi invited you to go with her in Animas today. It’s not like you to stand her up.”
“You heard that?”
“Of course I did, I sit behind her! You know, I am a cat, I do have ears…”
Beckett was quiet for a second, turning the eraser over in his paws. “I told her I couldn’t. I guess you didn’t hear that part.”
Because he’d left right after. Nobody ever wanted to go with him, year after year, so he’d stopped caring. If Beckett wanted to go, then he could. That was no business of Lew’s. But why would he turn her down?
“Suvi’s a nice girl,” Lew ventured.
“She is. There’s only one person I want to go with, though, and it’s not her.”
“Aw, did you ask her? The other person?” He propped his chin up on an arm, gazing sideways at Beck, whose gaze shifted away from him in turn.
“Uh. I didn’t.” Lew’s tail flicked in interest. He watched Beck’s eyes track it in the dark.
“Well, she’s certainly not in here ,” he said, an eyebrow raised. “You should go find her!”
Beckett cleared his throat and set the eraser down, and for a moment Lew thought the wolf would heed his words and walk out the open door. Instead, he crossed over to the window, slid it open and began to clamber out.
The legs of the chair scraped across the floor as Lew pushed himself back from his desk. “Now what are you doing?”
“Come on, scholar…” Beckett turned back, a budding grin on his muzzle. “Take a break from the book and let’s enjoy the view for one night.”
Lew could taste the air himself, fresh and cool and full of song and dance and cheer. Maybe it was the gleam in Beckett’s eyes, or the allure of the cool air, or something else on this midsummer festival night, but he rose to his feet and followed Beck to the windowsill, heaving a sigh as he did so.
“Better be a good view,” he muttered, hiking up his pants and accepting Beckett’s outstretched paw through the open window. It was warm and strong, pulling him through, steady the whole way. Beckett’s other paw found itself on his waist partway through as a gentle support, warm on his body to the crisp night air on his nose.
“We can sit,” Beck said, settling down cross-legged and patting the rooftop next to him.
“Okay.” It was spacious out here, far more than Lew had expected. It did slope, but not alarmingly so, and the shingles, while slightly uncomfortable to try to sit on, were texture enough to keep from sliding.
He set down next to Beck, leaning back on his paws and stretching his legs out. After a second, he unbuttoned his shirt as well, letting the cool breeze ruffle his fur. The horizon stretched on forever. The sounds of the festival were so far away. For all he knew, they could be the only two to exist tonight.
“To tell you the truth…” Beck spoke softly, as gentle as the wind caressing his chin. “I wanted to go with you.”
“Me?” Lew struggled to reconcile the confession with…everything he thought he knew. About himself, about Beck. Admittedly, perhaps he didn’t know much about the latter. “Why?”
Beck’s arm brushed against his, fur on fabric. It was still warm to the touch. “Why wouldn’t I?” he said simply. “Went looking for you, actually, and when I couldn’t find you, I knew you were still inside. So I came to get you.”
“Why?” Lew repeated. “You could be down there, having fun. I’m just…” Holding you back. Weighing you down.
“And miss the view?” Beck cocked a little smile at him, playful but sincere, and the unsaid words fizzled away on his tongue.
Lew swallowed, mouth suddenly dry, and followed Beck’s gaze forward into the horizon, where the painted sunset was beginning to turn to the hues of the night, darkening blue and twinkling with all the stars of the sky. It truly went on forever. This moment could go on forever.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Beck murmured. Like everything else about the wolf, the points where their fingertips touched on the rooftop were warm. And despite their altitude, the cool night air on his bare chest, the rest of Lew’s body began to feel warm as well, sitting next to Beck in the silence.
“Thanks,” he whispered, suddenly feeling very small under not just the expanse of the night sky above, but the weight of the kindness and thoughtfulness that Beck was showing him as well. “You…were right. This is one hell of a view.”
And unbeknownst to Lew, as Beck watched him relax, eyes up in awe to the night sky and head and shoulders bathed in the fading colours of the sunset, the wolf smiled a smile of his own, slight and tender and meant for nobody but himself to see.
“Yeah,” he agreed, watching the stars reflected in Lew’s eyes. “Sure is.”