Hamilton Oneshots

Stars // Leebury

Charles's hands ran across the wood of his porch. It was grainy, rough, and waiting to give splinters at the wrong move. He stared at the telescope, wondering if he should set it up. No, not until Samuel got there. His mind rang with Samuel rambling about the different constellations. He looked up at the sky, it was dim while the sun was still setting. The stars began to show themselves, glowing against the darkening sky. Charles looked towards the sun set, he preferred watching the sun over the stars, but Samuel loved the stars. So, they compromised, they sat as the sun set and waited until the stars showed themselves. Charles ran his hands on the porch again, just waiting for the stars to finish revealing themselves. The telescope was left, all the plastic caps on, pointing towards where the North Star was when it was last in use. The sun disappeared over the horizon and the different twilights came over head. Charles had memotized each one, civil, nautical, and astronomical. The light was still around, but the sun wasn't. He could see normally in civil twilight, everyone could. It was when nautical twilight, the street lights came on. Samuel loved astronomical twilight, that was when most of the stars started to appear. Charles leaned on the wall and thought about the smile on Samuel's face every time the stars filled the sky. He would show him the different constellations, ramble all night about them, and Charles would listen. The astronomical twilight ended, leaving only artificial lights luminating the world.

The telescope was still untouched, Charles made a mental note to put it away soon. Samuel wasn't going to use it anytime soon, why bother keeping it. Charles grabbed the railing tight in his hands. He had to remember that it was Samuel's fault.

Charles worried when Samuel wasn't out, setting the telescope by the time astronomical dusk hit. He rushed in, seeing Samuel kissing George. He was frozen as Samuel turned and saw him. Charles tried to hold the tears back, it wasn't as easy as all of the romance novels made it seem. Samuel stood up and held out a hand to try and stop Charles from leaving.

"I didn't mean-"

"For me to notice, huh?" Charles asked as he walked into their... his bedroom. Samuel followed and held his arm gently.

"I didn't mean for it to happen."

"But it did." Charles dug into his pocket and threw something onto the bed. Samuel glanced at it and gently took it. It was a wedding band, adjusted to fit him prefectly.

"Queen Cassiopeia is supposed to be visible tonight and tomorrow," Charles said. Samuel looked up with tears brimming his eyes.

"You wanted to see the stars outside of the city," Samuel said, choking up on his feelings.

"Just go, pawn it or whatever, just go," Charles said. His arms held themselves tightly as he walked back outside to the porch.

And now, Charles was crying, wondering if Cepheus ever felt such pain when his wife was cast in the sky. He just headed back inside and sat himself at his bed. Far too large for him now.