Work Text:
you sat there watching the meteors without much interest. it’s almost been a year since you and a small group of people signed up for an expedition to space in research and attempting creation of life on the closest planets in the solar system. you and a few members were assigned to venus.
as excited as you were when being accepted for the expedition, you know there were a few things you were going to miss on earth. for starters, you obviously were going to miss your family and friends. yet out of everyone while in space, you realized that you missed your lover the most. your lover who you’ve been happily married for a little over the year.
you met in university when you were studying astrology and they were studying architecture and the rest was history. together, you lived a comfortable life with little to no interruptions. you both have stable jobs and supported one another when it came to hard decision choices. the ideal life of marriage.
so when you wanted to tell them about the sign-ups for a three-year expedition, it only made sense that you were nervous.
you had arrived home early one day and brewed a cup of your favourite coffee and their favourite cup of tea. in your mind, you replayed your words over and over, thinking of different scenarios of how they could respond. you didn’t enjoy any of them.
they arrived home, surprised to see you sitting in the kitchen, fidgeting nervously with a practically empty mug of coffee in your hands and a still warm cup of tea. worriedly, they asked, “is something wrong? what happened?”
taking a deep breath, you gestured for them to take a seat with the cup of tea in front. “so,” you started out slowly. “i want to do something a little crazy.”
for the rest of the evening, you talked it over while eating dinner, and in bed, when they kissed you before going to sleep, your head felt lighter and you slept better that night.
“you sure this is okay?” you asked for the nth time, not tearing your eyes from your bright laptop screen. you had filed the application and had checked everything at least three times. all you had to do now was click the submit button.
“love,” they chuckled softly. you felt as if something was causing your chair to lean back a little. you didn’t have to look back to see your lower resting their elbows on the headrest. “we’ve gone over this so many times - take the chance. we only live once after all. and even if you don’t get in, at least you tried, right?”
suddenly, your chair was tilted back even further, not far enough for you to fall, but enough for you to grin at the sight of your lover’s upside down smiling face. you nodded. “yeah.”
allowing your chair to move back to its upright position, you leaned forward and reached out to grab the mouse. moving the cursor over the button, you took a deep breath.
you clicked “submit.”
a year had passed since you sent in your application, and after a few months had gone by, you received an email.
confused, you took a sip of coffee before clicking to see. as if part of a common comedy trope, you spat your coffee back into your cup. “babe, come over here!” you screeched, slamming your mug on your desk so hard, you almost thought one or the other cracked.
The sound of socked feet running and sliding down the hallway was heard almost immediately and you spun around in your chair to face the doorway where your lover slid in, a bewildered expression on their face. “love? is something wrong?” and that’s when you realized how your tone of voice sounded. too late now, you supposed.
in fact, your smile seemed to widen even more at their confused fact. the way you were grinning most likely made you appear a little ridiculous, but you were too overjoyed to really care. instead, you happily shouted, “i got accepted!”
it took a few seconds of processing when they broke into a wide smile as well. “Seriously?!” they practically shouted which only fueled your overflowing excitement.
“seriously!” you jumped up from your chair and launched forward to grab them into a hug.
together, you spent the rest of the day celebrating by binge watching your favourite movies followed by going to a favourite restaurant.
another year has passed and during those months, you physically and mentally began to prepare yourself for your three-year long expedition to create life on other planets. still, even after a year of preparation could not make you any less nervous before boarding.
“you sure this is going to be fine?” you murmured as you stared at the rocketship outside the window. your heart was thumping so rapidly in your ears, you wondered if anyone could hear it. “i can always quit now-” you were suddenly interrupted with a familiar sensation pushing against your lips.
you were left blushing as your lover slowly pulled away with a wide grin on their own face despite you seeing the tears forming in the corners of their eyes. “i told you, it’s fine. so don’t worry about me, okay?”
they hugged you, and as you hugged back, you idly wondered if you would remember the warmth and safety when you can back. If you came back.
raising your hands, you gently wiped away the unshed tears. “hey… hey, look at me.” you murmured, catching their attention. as they looked into your eyes, you felt as if you were in a cliche scene in a movie where the two lovers were about to part ways. “don’t cry anymore, ‘kay? we’ll surely see each other again when i come back. so stop crying for me.”
with a sniff, they nodded and you gently, you pressed your foreheads together, breathing in each other. savoring the warmth before you left.
there was a cough from behind and you pulled away to see someone shifting awkwardly. “sorry to interrupt, but… we have to be boarding soon.”
“oh, right.” you laughed albeit awkwardly, upset that you had to leave so soon.
they started towards the rocket and you began to follow them with your luggage when you paused. quickly, you left behind your bag and backtracked towards your lover, pressing a quick yet sweet kiss on their lips. it was so sudden that they were momentarily stunned before their face turned red.
“don’t forget about me.” you whispered before hurrying back to the person who was surprisingly waiting for you by your luggage.
and now you were here in space for the past year. only two more years to go. “you can do this.” you always told yourself in the mirror before leaving for another day of work.
thankfully, you have made friends with some of the crew during your time together so you didn’t go completely mad lacking socialization. you’ve made and lost friends with those who stayed and those who decided to leave.
your closest friend was the same person who you met before boarding. you learned their name was blair and they were only a few years older than you. one day, while working, when you asked them why they decided to go on this expedition, blair softly replied, “no one i knew was going to miss me. so why not take the chance?” you didn’t push the subject after. it wasn’t your place to ask.
checking the current time, you decided it would be best if you went to bed now. it’s going to be yet another long day tomorrow.
☆.･.･:★:･.･.☆
a few hours later, you woke up to an electronic signal beeping beside your bed. it took only a few seconds of regrestating when you sat upright. that beeping could only mean one thing.
leaning towards the special device the captains of the expedition have given you and the rest of the crew which allowed you to communicate to those on earth. there were times you could see your lover on the hologram screen, but considering everyday life, those times were scarce. for now, you tried to savour those moments, for just seeing and hearing them was enough to motivate you until next time you could screentime.
pressing a button on the device with your fingers, a long message appeared. you sighed a little before grinning nevertheless. no video call today, but at least there was still something from your lover.
as you scrolled down the screen reading and rereading every work thoroughly, there was a knock at your door. you stood to open it when you remembered you were still wearing pajamas. “just a minute!” you called, hurrying to slip into something presentable and comfortable.
with a self-satisfied smile, you hurried to open the door, a bit worried that you hadn’t kept whoever was waiting for too long. “sorry for the wait!” you apologized as you opened the door to reveal blair waiting patiently. “oh, hey blair. sorry about that.” you scratched the back of your neck sheepishly.
“it’s fine.” they waved a hand in the air nonchalantly. “besides, you probably just woke up, right? or did i wake you up?” they bit their lip in worry.
“i was awake for a while now.” you admit with a shrug and a laugh. “but hey, at least you motivated me to actually get up. speaking of which, wanna go get breakfast now?”
they replied with a nod and a “sure.” and with that, you shut the door behind you, and together, you went off in search of a meal to start the day.
☆.･.･:★:･.･.☆
a little bit later that day, you and an assigned partner, who sadly wasn’t blair, were gathering data from other crewmates locations on different planets. so far, you were receiving the current temperatures and a basic summary of findings. you watched as the constantly changing numbers on the hologram screen, writing down any numbers that repeated.
“mars is -45°C, mercury is 400°C, jupiter is -121°C,” you muttered under your breath, looking up occasionally to jot down the information.
in the corner of your eye, you noticed your co-worker (could you call them that?) appearing a little tense and extremely focused as they note down the information. you were about to open your mouth to start a conversation when you decided against it.
they were focused and you can as well. for the rest of the time, you continued working in silence until someone came to notify the both of you that dinner was ready.
☆.･.･:★:･.･.☆
with a flutter of your eyes, you slowly took in your surroundings. everywhere was a dark shade of blue and there little bright specks shining of red, yellow, blue, and white.
“it’s beautiful, isn’t it?” an all too familiar voice asked from behind you and you turned around to see the sight of your lover with a warm smile.
you were about to respond when you noticed their hair flapping strangely in the breeze. as if the wind was blowing upwards or…
looking up (or down on one’s perspective), your eyes widened as you realized that the both of you were falling, the starry ground becoming increasingly closer and closer.
you would have let out a screech of terror when warm arms pulled you in close while the owner of them laughed without a care in the world. “why aren’t you panicking?!” you shouted against the strong wind.
“it’s okay! just trust me and relax!” they laughed into your ear as if everything was fine. as if you weren’t falling from the sky. as if you weren’t going to probably, no definitely going to die upon hitting ground.
but strangely enough, you fully trusted them.
wrapping your own arms around them as if you were a vine, you squeezed your eyes tight. it took a while due to your still being tense, but eventually, every part of you was as calm as a lake.
you didn’t notice it, not immediately, but it slowly dawned to you that you were falling, while not stopped completely, had slowed down. looking at the ground (or is it still the sky?), you noticed the starry distance slowly becoming closer. a part yoo you felt that should be scared. yet shockingly, you felt uncaring at the idea of hitting the ground.
“cool isn’t it?” a warm voice had snapped you out of your thoughts. too fascinated to speak, you just nodded. with a fond smile, they leaned forward to press a small kiss on your lips.
☆.･.･:★:･.･.☆
as if any worse timing could have happened, a beeping noise woke you up from your dream. with a groan, you rolled over to face the direction of the sound of the sound. tiredly, you pressed the button and read the message, blinking owlishly. your eyes widened and you quickly slid across to answer.
an all too familiar face popped up and you felt your heart melt a little. “hey.” they smiled, brushing their hair out of their face.
“hey.” you smiled back. despite being light-years apart, you would only feel lonely if they didn’t exist in the same universe as you.