Charlie returned once again to see the world turn dark. To see the children end their play to go back home. To see its nocturnal creatures wake up and move around. And most importantly, to see the sunset for the umpteenth time.

The sky was filled with shades of hollow blues and stark oranges, the colours staining the clouds, trees and stones alike. In some patches, they layered over one another and in others, they cancelled each other out— leaving various hues of grey. It had fewer clouds today, letting the sun be easily seen, shining in its blazing radiance. 

Beams of sunlight were visible as they shined upon Charlie, light reflecting off of their ring. With darkness successfully conquering the area, they turned to get up and froze at the sight of the unexpected viewer.

Once again the man, Rake, tensed up— seeming surprised despite there being no indications that he just arrived. Charlie did nothing but stare back as they felt the chill of the windblown at their skin, even though the brown jacket and the white undershirt. And that silence remained for a count of one. . . two. . . three seconds.

"Hey," Rake said tersely, tension still in his shoulders though well hidden by his trenchcoat. Despite hesitantly, he stepped forward when he received a reply.

"So, we meet again, Charlie," He smiled, not yet taking a seat.

"It seems so," They said back. "What are you doing here?"

He laughed a little before answering. "Freedom, more or less." It wasn't exactly the answer the angel was expecting but it was justified— having a limited lifespan would always to impossible to escape. It once again reminded Charlie of how peculiar this one was. They liked that.

"You're welcome to sit, it's not like I own the earth." Charlie patted the ground next to them. He jokingly bowed before taking his place.

"So what do you around here?" Rake asked after a moment of silence. Charlie fiddled a little with the cuff of their shirt.

"Nothing of importance."

He looked over for a moment before smiling. "I guess we all have our secrets." Not knowing how to reply, Chalie simply remained quiet. Not because he was wrong— quite the opposite— but rather because Charlie had so many things they couldn't utter to the living soul.

"This place is beautiful, isn't it?" He started again, seeming to not want this conversation to die yet.

"Quite," Charlie said, relaxing at the change of topic. "Especially this town." Rake's attention piqued at that.

"Really? And why is that?" They smiled a little.

"The quiet of this town, in the night, is astonishingly beautiful," they started, fingers abandoning the ring on their other hand. "The purity of everything comes alive and just breaths vigour into everything. It's just so freeing." Rake's attention was fully on them as they spoke, a smile never leaving his face.

"Ah, I know how you feel. I like here more than the city as well." After that, they fell into a comfortable silence.

The night was similar to the one before— just the two of them in what seemed like their own temporary world. Cricket jumped around while making noise from random angles. Tiny creatures rustled around in the grass. A lizard crawled onto Rake's trenchcoat, giving him a heart attack as Charlie picked it up. 

"How can you hold that!" Rake exclaimed, slightly out of breath from his panic. He stood a distance away as Charlie played with the reptile, softly laughing at him.

"Come on, he isn't that bad," They said, the lizard snuggling into their hand— Rake cringed at the sight.

"You're crazy."

"Are you pouting?" Charlie noticed, teasing him in the process.

"Am not!" He softly frowned, internally aghast at the very thought.

"Sure sure–" Charlie waved off. "–do you want to walk around a little?" Though relaxing a little at the offer, he continued to eye the creature in Charlie's hand. After giggling a little at his antics, they returned the lizard to the grass before getting up.

"Now I'll go," He finally answered. Charlie dusted off their black pants before going over to Rake.  A fond look graced their face as Rake looked into the grass with distaste. 

"Ready?"

"Huh? Yeah." He looked up from the grass and began to walk, Charlie easily keeping pace. 

They walked past familiar sights in silence. More leaves covered the young trees and flowers were sprinkled in between the plentiful blades of grass. Dogs and cats came out once more and stealthily walked amount the shadows, purposefully avoiding the orange glow of the streetlights.

"Do you usually do this? Walking around here, I mean," Charlie asked, breaking the silence. Rake turned to them.

"Not really." They shrugged. "Didn't really have the time or energy before." He got a simple ah as a response.

The talk returned to nothingness as they continued despite Rake clearly having some to say. It wasn't particularly hard to ignore but the angel wanted to know what it could possibly be that he of all people, could be hesitant.

"What's the matter?" Charlie queried, tilting their head. The question seemed to make him choke on his saliva before halting, Charlie stopping in concern and curiosity.

He turned his head as he ran his fingers through his curly hair. He looked embarrassed, putting it lightly. He swallowed repeatedly as he looked for words. His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. After realizing how he was acting, he groaned while rubbing a hand down his face.

"What am I doing," He sighed. "So, are you a boy or a girl?"

. . .

. . .

. . . 

"Good question."

"What!?" And with that Charlie burst out laughing while simultaneously trying to calm Rake down.

"No no no–" They breathed out, their laughter coming to an end. "–it's that I don't know, or rather I just don't have one." With widened eyes, Rake looked at them before sighing for the umpteenth time.

"You're lucky that you're cute." 

"And if I wasn't?" Charlie smiled.

"Impossible, so don't even entertain the thought." He batted at the hair that fell in front of his face. "So you're non-binary, huh?"

"It seems so." He seemed not at all confused and actually quite relieved by the answer, for whatever reason. 

The sky had lessened in clouds, despite being blanketed with them only hours before. But unlikelihood irrelevant, it gave way to the full view of stars sans the few wispy patches that still remained. Constellations became clear and bright, bringing a thought to Charlie's mind.

"Hey," It immediately gained the other's attention, getting a soft hum. "I want to see your face." He turned in mild confusion but complied none the less. 

"Your freckles make constellations." Their jocund tone did nothing help the mild embarrassment that crawled onto his face at the remark.

"Really?" He kept his voice steady. "Which ones?" Without hesitance, they lifted their hands softly held onto the side of his face— the small height difference causing no difficulties— before listing the clusters and their positions. 

"You have Andromeda on your nose," They started fondly, finding comfort in the man's warmth. Rake softly hummed at each in acknowledgement; internally thanking himself for remembering a few. 

"Camelopardalis here," They said, lightly tapping at a spot near the start of his left eyebrow. 

"Canis Major–" Along his cheekbone, "–Canis Minor." Lining the arch of his lip on the right side, a little way below its major.

"Lepus and. . . Carina are very near— almost intercepting the other," They were placed on the other side of his face, on his cheek. 

"And here's Pictor," They lulled, rapt eyes meeting brown ones as their lithe fingers traced below one. Eyes could reveal so much yet so little if desired. Charlie's showed its curiosity and interest in full while Rake's wasn't so cut and dry. Inside them lingered a calm grief and silenced longing, among other suppressed emotions. There was just so much within his gaze.

"Your eyes are so full," Charlie said at last, having hushed a little while ago. This brought Rake out of his trance enough for him to ask how. 

"So filled with. . . emotion. It's to be expected, I guess. But even so, you hold a kind of heaviness to were I can't but wonder–"

"So is life," He interrupted, pulling his face away from Charlie's hand, leaving them surprised.

"Did I do something wrong?" They tilted their head in something near sadness. It was until he stepped away did he answer.

"It's getting late, we both should go home now." In an instant, he turned distant and defensive. In an instant, he truly became a stranger. It filled Charlie with a kind of. . . guilt. And a dull yet large fear of them never seeing him again.

"I still have your trenchcoat," They said quickly. "I'll return it to you the next time we meet." He smiled—forced— and agreed before walking off with a simple goodnight.

Even if they wished to, and they didn't, they could do nothing but watch with melancholic eyes as he walked out of sight— the pitch-black trenchcoat meshing with the shadows. A pensive mood crept in as they were left alone under the stars. 

Endless questions quietly ran like water under a building's foundation. But seeing as they had no choice but to wait till they met again, they continued on with their nightly trek. With the wind blowing through their hair once more— a portion being blown off their shoulder — they looked up at the sky. No matter how hard they looked, it seemed as if the stars had dimmed.