This is Better (human!Winterwatcher)

six (august same year): in which winter turns sixteen and our heroes stargaze

Winter still isn't sure how Moon managed to get him, Kinkajou, Turtle, Qibli, and Umber to her old cabin for an entire week. In between sessions of worry about what his parents might think if they found out, he is ecstatic to be riding in the back of a dirty taxi, bumping along an obscure road with trees over his head and Qibli and Umber next to him. 

He unlocks his phone and flicks through Moon's messages again. Over the summer, he's missed her, missed the kind of deep conversations you can't have over text. The conversation consists mostly of landscape photos- Winter has enjoyed trying to look at new ways to see his familiar home, especially the pond where he loves to sit and draw. He's spent hours sketching Moon from memory, and he dreads Kinkajou's inevitable request to see his sketchbook. The photos Moon has sent to him are all gorgeous, if poorly composed, and, staring out at the trees around him, Winter knows he's approaching their location. It's been a long summer.

"Are you seriously looking at your texts from Moon?" Qibli asks, laughing, voice a half-whisper so he doesn't wake Umber. "Don't worry- we'll be there in about half an hour."

Winter scowls. He hasn't missed Qibli's invasion of his privacy.

"Oh," Qibli adds, "can I see your sketchbook? I'm bored."

"I'd rather you played that infernal game." Winter turns his phone off.

"My phone's dead."

"My sketchbook's in my bag."

"It's currently at your feet."

"I'd forgotten how observant you were," Winter mutters.

"What was that? Did I just receive a compliment from Winter himself?"

"Shut up."

"Please. I bet they're all drawings of Moon."

Why is Qibli so smart? Winter hands the sketchbook over; really, they're rather good.

"Well?" Did he draw something horrible and forget about it? He'd thought all the ones of Moon were just eyes or half a face.

"Buddy. Why?" Qibli, mouth clamped shut to stop himself from laughing, points out a tiny sketch, mostly smudged out, of a figure dabbing. 

Winter claps his hands over his face. "I spend way too much time on the internet," he says. "I'd forgotten about that." He must have drawn it absentmindedly.

Qibli snickers. "I thought I was only going to get to tease you about being head-over-heels for Moon, but you handed me this on a silver platter."

"What did you expect, with the quantity of memes you sent me?"

Umber stirs, settling his head against Qibli's shoulder, and Qibli's face changes. Winter almost smiles- he's missed their open affection.

~

Moon and Kinkajou descend from the cabin arm in arm, Moon's mother trailing behind them with Turtle trudging down the stairs alongside her.

Winter is suddenly nervous. It's been so long since he's seen her, and he isn't sure whether they're friends or dating or what because they sort of made out once but they were really really sleep-deprived and studying for exams together and then parted a couple days later without talking about it or telling anyone. Winter hasn't brought it up over text, but he can't stop thinking about the feeling of her lips on his. He resolves to ask her for some clarity as soon as they're alone- he refuses to spend any more time fighting his inhibitions for tiny victories. 

When the three of them get out of the car, Kinkajou launches right into a monologue of her epic summer at "the coolest camp in the universe." Winter carries his stuff up to the deck and feels as if the past two months are gone, and the six of them are back at boarding school again.