📚Color of stars

Hazel has something special to show Daichi.

For Coelunes April 2023 prompt: Wish upon a star

Characters: Daichi/Hazel, Marilynn

Warnings: N/A

Wordcount: 1,623

Vibe: gay people (except friendzoned because daichi is silly) and fridge horror kind of

its not gay if you look at the moon

some hazel backstory teehee….. i’d like to think they’re highschool seniors here given the timing (so pre-incident but pretty close to it)

[daichi voice] surely this won’t have any future implications or anything

---

“And remember we’re holding a science fair over the weekend! I’m sure some of you have been preparing already, but those who aren’t entering should come to show some support!”

Riiiiiiiiing.

Daichi got out of her seat and headed to join the stream of her classmates leaving for the day. From there, she strayed away from the crowd and made her way to the usual meeting spot to wait.

5, 10, 15, 30 minutes… Daichi sat alone. She knew he was at school today – she’d seen him in passing. But he didn’t join Daichi for lunch, which she had just passed off as him using his free time to fine-tune his project.

But…

“Oi! Antlers!”

Daichi was snapped out of her train of thought by the familiar voice, though it wasn’t quite the familiar voice she had hoped to hear.

“…What do you want?” Daichi huffed, making it apparent she didn’t have much patience for the person who approached her.

It wasn’t someone she knew well – she didn’t even know their name. They’d call her Antlers, but they soon learned any attempts to truly pester Daichi fell flat.

It was more of a mutual connection.

“Dunno how long you’ve been waiting, but your crazy friend isn’t here. He straight up just left in third period after getting into a fight with the teacher.” they said, kicking their legs.

“It was kind of sad seeing you waiting for that long.”

Daichi sighed.

“Alright.”

She gave the other student a nod before heading off on the sidewalk she’d normally walk with him.

This kind of thing had been happening more lately.

He’d been more irritable, a certain group of students would take advantage of it and push him more and more until he lashed out, and he’d been talking to Daichi less and less.

Daichi was worried, because despite everything he’d never miss walking home with her. Maybe it was time to confront him about it all.

The walk home felt especially lonely, with the days becoming shorter. It was almost too quiet, with the silence occasionally being broken by the noise from distant rocket launches.

She eventually found her way to the ever familiar house where he lived, and placed a firm few knocks on the door.

There was a bit of a wait, but, as per usual when she visited on her own, Daichi was greeted by his mother, Marilynn.

“Oh…! I didn’t expect to see you, Daichi.” she said, seeming a bit shocked to see her.

“I was told Hazel ditched today, but he didn’t say anything to me… I figured I’d check in.”

Marilynn paused.

“He’s… not doing very well. But… I’m sure he’d appreciate you coming by. He always does.”

“Alright, thanks. I’ll see how things are going.” Daichi said with a concerned smile, as Marilynn let her in.

The wooden stairs of the house creaked as Daichi ascended to the second floor, and she had to duck a bit to make sure she didn’t hit her head or scrape the ceiling with her antlers – though marks from the past were still present.

With a soft knock on the bedroom door, Daichi cracked it open.

“Hazel? You in there?”

“Where else would I be.”

His voice was deadpan, though a bit moreso than usual.

“What… happened?!” Daichi started, but her voice quickly became sharp with surprise when she entered the room and saw the large bruise on Hazel’s face, complimented by a tissue stuffed up his nose slightly stained with blood..

“You… I… I was told you got into a fight with a teacher, you didn’t ACTUALLY physically fight them, did you?!”

“Long fucking story.” Hazel groaned.

“The nose is only tangentially related, if it matters. Either way, I’m probably getting expelled.”

“Hazel…” Daichi murmured, sitting on the side of the bed Hazel had her face buried in.

“It was philosophy, wasn’t it?”

“Of course it was! It’s always them! I get called a lunatic by peers enough already, last thing I need is for some geezer to do the same because I know more than them.” he huffed, gesturing wildly as his face remained smothered in the pillow.

“I don’t get it.”

“Don’t get what?”

“When you say things about Lunaries and shit, people take you at least a bit seriously. I’ve only ever been seen as some cosmic weirdo who couldn’t let go of his childhood idealism. Even if I’m right.”

“Yeah, but you’re the one who taught me everything I know! If we didn’t spend as much time as we did researching together…”

“What, then you’d end up like me? Someone with a shadow they can’t live up to constantly looming over them?”

Daichi recoiled back a bit, as Hazel’s words stung unexpectedly.

“Hazel…”

There was a mutual silence between the two friends, one that went on a bit too uncomfortably long.

“I’m sorry. I’m having a bad day. A bad week, even.” Hazel sighed, finally unmuffling his face from the pillow and turning onto his side.

“Wanna see something cool to make up for it?”

“What?” Daichi responded, cocking her head.

“Since I’m probably getting kicked out of the science fair, it’d suck to let my work go to waste.” Hazel said, gesturing towards a large box covered with a blanket in the corner of the room.

“Ooh, right! I was excited to see what you put together. I can help carry it down, if you’d like!”

In a welcome shift of tone, Hazel smiled.

“That’d be sweet, yea.”

With Hazel carrying a medium box and Daichi doing the heavier lifting, the two friends made their way downstairs and towards the door to the backyard. It already looked like it was night out, and Marilynn was reading on the couch.

“Oh! It’s nice to see you perked up a bit, Hazel.” she said with a warm smile.

“Where are you two headed? It’s already dark out, so I wouldn’t stay out too long.”

“We’re just headed down to the river for a bit, I promise we won’t be too long.” Hazel said with a nod.

“Alright, be safe! And don’t get into any trouble!”

“We’ll try!” Daichi said, as the two of them walked out the door.

Through the garden and down the hill, the moonlight from Lunaires illuminated the surroundings well enough for the two to see until they got to the river, which glowed a brilliant aqua color in the dark.

“Alright!” Hazel started, setting his box down on the ground and grabbing some things from inside, wasting no time to start fastening them together.

“Dai, can you fill that tank with water from the river until it’s full?”

“You mean the… water cooler bottle you stole from school?” Daichi replied, snickering.

“Look, a liquid tank is a liquid tank! If I had a budget for a proper one, I wouldn’t be stuck doing shit for a science fair.”

“Fair enough!” Daichi smiled, before proceeding to fill the cooler bottle with the fluid from the glowing stream.

By the time the bottle had been filled to its max, Hazel had already finished setup on his end. It was a bit of a struggle for both Daichi and Hazel to carry the heavy bottle into position, but with a thud, the two got it positioned in the strange device Hazel had assembled.

“So… what’s it gonna do, anyways? You’re not planning on exploding the whole riverbank, are you?” Daichi asked curiously, as Hazel started assembling together some wires.

“Not this time.” he replied with a laugh, before eventually stepping back and grabbing what appeared to be a TV remote.

“Here, just watch!”

Though Daichi was a tad concerned, she was also brutally curious. She stepped back with Hazel, and eventually sat back on the slope – prickly dry grass poking her a hit.

Hazel muttered some things to himself, before positioning his finger to press the menu button on the remote. Then…

“Clear!”

With a firm press of the remote, sparks flew from the odd device. And, with a burst of compressed air, the bottle and some attached parts took off into the air at impressive speeds.

“Hazel, I don’t wanna be rude, but… was that all ready just for a glorified bottle rocket?” Daichi asked, cocking her head.

“Of course not, I’m not an amateur.” he replied with a smirk.

“Make a wish, and hold it for a bit.”

“What?”

“You’ll see!”

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes passed. The two friends waited in silence, with bated breath as to what was next. Until suddenly…

From what appeared to be just above Lunaires in the sky, a burst of streams of glittering rainbow lights – almost like shooting stars, but notably more eye-catching.

They swirled like ribbons around Lunaires, before petering out into a finer glittering snow.

Daichi’s mouth was agape, and she was at a complete loss for words.

“Pretty neat, huh?” Hazel said with a smile, nudging Daichi with his arm a bit.

“That’s the closest I can get to Lunaires for now… I know we’re not kids anymore, so it’s a bit silly, but my wish…”

“Your wish?”

“My wish is to truly make it there. Even if I have to make my own shooting stars, I know one of them can grant it.”

“Honestly, if anyone could do it…” Daichi said, pausing.

“I think you’re the only person who could ever figure out how to get to Lunaires.”

“So, Dai,” Hazel said, turning to his friend.

“What didja wish for?”

“Hmm…” Daichi paused for a moment. Admittedly, she kind of went blank for the whole wait between the launch and outcome.

“Well… if it’s just the two of us, I think I’d want to put in my wish for your dream too.”