"Hey Berto, did you know that there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth? That's at least a billion trillion! Can you even think of a number so big?" Luca looks up from his astronomy book and through the tree branches above him in awe. He couldn't even count the stars right now. How big did the sky have to be to hold a billion trillion of them?

"And a black hole is created when big stars explode! Its...grav-i-ta-tion-al force is so strong that nothing can escape from it – luckily the closest black hole is about 10,000 light-years from Earth. That's really far!" Luca grinned when revealing each new bit of information, flipping to the next page for another one to point out in the sky.

"Mmm, really? Crazy." Alberto was looking at the stars above them, listening to Luca reading aloud from his astronomy book. He tried listening to the facts but couldn't understand them. Instead, he focused on the highs and lows of Luca's melodic voice. Luca could recite the alphabet 26 times in a row and Alberto would still listen.

Alberto stifled a yawn and blinked slowly. He shouldn't fall asleep, not now. That would make Luca think he was sharing boring information, which wasn't true! Well, Alberto could care less about the information. After all, it was Luca who he wanted to listen to, really...but still! He settled for listening with his eyes partially closed and shifted into a more comfortable position--one where he could watch Luca read and see his eyes light up with every new page he read.

"There's this thing called an e-clip-se where the sun gets covered up by the moon! Isn't that cool, Berto?" Luca glanced over and saw Alberto asleep on his back, ankles crossed and hands clasped behind his head. He looked...surprisingly peaceful. Luca had never seen Alberto not smiling or smirking in some way. This was a pleasantly strange sight. The slow rise and fall of his chest was somehow extremely comforting to Luca.

A sudden need to be as close as possible to Alberto washed over Luca. Feeling a little tired himself, he didn't try to resist. Luca set his book down with a bookmark on the page he was reading, then switched off the string lights above them. Suddenly the stars seemed much brighter as he yawned and rubbed his eyes.

Luca crawled the small distance between him and Alberto, lying down facing the other boy. He hesitated to get any closer, just listening to Alberto's deep breaths for a few seconds. The fishes in his stomach started to flip and jump when he scooted closer to wrap his arms around Alberto. The sleeping boy accepted the hug immediately and pulled Luca closer.

A small rush of heat to Luca's cheeks made him smile as he snuggled closer, inhaling the smell of salt and cedar. "Luca..." Alberto mumbled in his sleep and rested his chin on top of Luca's curls. Luca made no attempt to move. Instead, he listening to Berto's heartbeat to help lull him to sleep under the fish.