It was nice, Woody thought to himself, to get away once in a while. Just him and the guys, no responsibilities, no toys running up to him wanting to know where the batteries were, and if Woody could untangle their cords, and where their other hot pink stiletto heel was.

No womenfolk of any kind, in fact, not for miles. No Jesse, No Bo Peep, not even a single sheep.

Buzz had asked him about the sheep once, and Woody had just shrugged and said that there were some toys as came with karate chop action, and others as came with other types. Buzz said his cowboy accent got thicker when Woody was talking about strange Earth customs.

Woody was in a tangle with Buzz in front of the campfire where Andy had thrown them down while he roasted marshmallows with his father, arm over Buzz's chest and boot jammed under Buzz's far knee.

At first they stayed that way because Andy was sitting right there and they were professional toys, even though Woody thought he'd seen the corner of Buzz's eye twitch when Woody's other hand got caught under the small of Buzz's back.

But even now that Andy was out cold, head back against the log at a bizarre angle and snoring like a chainsaw, they hadn't quite moved yet. Woody just stayed where he was, staring up at the stars, so different than the ones they counted out of Andy's window on late summer nights. There seemed to be more and more of them as the fire died down, some of them blinking, others only visible out of the corners of Woody's eyes. So many of them, more than there were marbles under Andy's bed.

It made Woody feel tiny, but in a good way. In a safe way. He wondered if real cowboys felt that way when they looked up, stretched in front of a campfire. He bet that being a real cowboy was fine, spending your nights under the stars and your days on a trusty steed with a pistol that wasn't made of felt, and spurs that really jangled when you strode into the saloon that wasn't made of cardboard and tipped your hat to women whose hair didn't grow when you twisted their right arm.

Probably real cowboys wouldn't have their limbs all tangled up with a spaceman, though.

"Woody." Buzz's voice was close to Woody's ear, startling him out of his thoughts and making him blurt out the first thing that came to mind.

"There's a snake in my boot!"

"That's great," Buzz said dryly.

He didn't say anything else for a few moments, and Woody turned his head enough to see that, through his plastic helmet, Buzz was looking at the stars too.

"You think…" Buzz's chest didn't move under Woody's palm and his breath didn't fog his helmet, but Woody knew a sigh when he felt one. "You think there really is a homeworld out there somewhere?"

"Well, Buzz," Woody said, looking back up, "there's a lot of things up there. So I suppose there might be a planet, somewhere, that has real spacemen."

"Intergalactic space travelers," Buzz corrected him, but his voice was distant. "If there is, then there must be a real Buzz Lightyear, somewhere."

Woody didn't say anything right away; instead he turned back to watch Buzz's face through his helmet. The helmet had its share of nicks and scratches, including a doozy from when Andy had sent him down the banister last month. But the helmet meant that the paint on his head was just about mint, the dying fire tinting the glossy blue of his eyes orange and distant.

Just like he thought being a cowboy would be fine, Woody realized suddenly that Buzz probably thought the same about being a spaceman, only Andy wasn't likely to take a vacation to the moon any time soon.

Even though there was nothing inside Woody's chest but Polyfil, that made it hurt just a little.

Woody shifted his hand the quarter-inch to press Buzz's helmet release, and when it slid back with a smooth whoosh (Andy's mother really was a master to have gotten rid of all the gum residue), and Buzz turned to meet Woody's eyes with a faint confused crease between his permanently cocked eyebrows, Woody smiled.

"I bet he's a real jerk," he said, "since you were when you thought you were him," and then Woody leaned forward just enough to press their lips together.

Buzz's lips were cool, since his helmet had absorbed the heat from the fire, and sort of stiff, but that was to be expected out of an action figure, even one whose head was painted lavender. Maybe they looked just as silly as the Barbies that Molly was just getting old enough to make kiss, but it made the ache in Woody's chest fade, and was very much worth the way Buzz stared at Woody, blinking, when he pulled back.

"Buzz?" Woody asked.

"I'm a member of the universe protection unit!" Buzz blurted, then looked away and cleared his throat. "I mean…I bet you were a jerk before you realized you weren't a real cowboy."

Woody let his head click back against the ground. If his hair weren't made of plastic, the rock under it would probably be uncomfortable. "Who says I ever realized that?"

"Hmph." Woody's eyes were on the stars, and he heard the whoosh of Buzz's helmet flipping back into place. "I bet real cowboys don't go around kissing their best friends."

Chuckling, Woody thought about telling Buzz that last weekend Andy had left him on the couch overnight and Andy's mother had watched a movie where cowboys had done exactly that, but then decided that maybe that would be a little much for any action figure, even one whose head was painted lavender.

Yes, sir, Woody thought, watching stars wink out of the corners of his eyes, being a real cowboy must sure be fine. Especially a cowboy with a best friend.