nufuli rested her head on leo's shoulder, a calming wave of peace washing over her (and, she hopes leo too).
"look," leo exclaims, though quietly as to not overly disturb the peaceful silence between them. "there's constellation- over there."
nufuli looked up to where she was pointing and immediately recognized the constellation. "which is it?" leo asked after a while, genuine curiosity in her voice.
"it's cassiopeia," nufuli says without hesitation, but instantly regrets it to a mild degree. "it- it's named after andromeda's mother, from greek mythology."
leo makes a small, interested sound. "that's neat," she says in that voice that makes her sound like she knows what she's talking about when she really doesn't but doesn't want to ask about it.
nufuli recognizes it immediately and the small, giddy feeling in her chest drags her lips into a soft smile. "it's from the story of perseus- y'know, the guy who decapitated medusa. andromeda was a princess who was meant to be sacrificed to a sea monster, but perseus saved her and they eventually got married. cassiopeia w-" she paused.
leo wasn't looking at the constellation anymore.
she was looking at nufuli.
"go on," the leopard hybrid said softly, but the look in her eyes gave it away that she knew what she was doing.
"i-" nufuli looked away. leo's eyes were almost hypnotizing in a sense- the flicks of rich brown in the gold more obvious against the night sky. they were eyes that were hard to look away from.
leo tilted her head, like a curious kitten sizing up her prey. "what's up, nuf?" she questioned, leaning a little forward and nufuli had to physically stop herself from letting out an embarrassing squeal. "you're staring at me."
"n- nothing.." she murmured, attempting to spare a glance to her friend without getting obsessed all over again. "and you were the one who started staring at me first!"
leo chuckled softly, hand landing on nufuli's and threading their fingers together. she didn't say anything, and just stared back up at the stars. reluctantly, nufuli followed her gaze.