Work Text:
"Ahh--" muttered Phos as they laid down on the floor as soon as they stepped into Rutile's workplace.
Another rough session of work was over, and now, both Phos and Antarcticite were taking a short break to get resources, and fix each other up if needed, before heading out again to do more errands.
Antarc was always fine, and barely needed any help with fixing themself. Even if they cracked, it usually was a minor dent that they could easily fix by themself.
Meanwhile, Phos always needed some assistance with fixing themself up. As more snowy days passed on, Phos eventually learned how to do that without any help, but they still appreciated Antarc helping them in some way or another, even if some minor scolding was involved.
By spending all this time with Antarc, Phos eventually learned that even if Antarc would tease or scold Phos, they actually deeply cared about Phos. They would do all this in hopes of teaching Phos how to become stronger and more efficient, in their own way.
Antarc and Phos at the beginning didn't really get along, but now Phos thought that they were finally close to each other; close enough where they were able to look after each other without any hesitation, which made Phos happy.
"Hey now, what are you doing?" asked Antarc as soon as they were done getting some little things from the workplace's shelves.
"I'm tired," quickly responded Phos, still with their face planted on the cold ground.
Antarc sighed. "You always say that."
There was a pause after that, but Phos finally replied. "...I know."
After that, Phos slowly raised their head and looked at Antarc who was in front of them. They're always working and thinking about others, thought Phos to themself as they quietly observed the other gem.
"Well...are you staying there?" remarked the other. Phos quietly grunted, but quickly got up from the floor, and was now standing at the same height as the other.
Phos couldn't help but simply stare at Antarc.
"...Is there something you want to say, Phosphophyllite? We must continue our work, we don't want to disappoint Sensei."
Antarc was right, disappointing Adamant didn't sit well with Phos, but especially to Antarc, so they worked as much as they could for them. But...
"Oi--Can't we--” Phos paused as soon as Antarc's face switched to a more confused look, but Phos kept going as soon as they looked away and avoided looking at Antarc's eyes, "...can't we take a break..? Like...a long break and relax all night?"
Antarc's face showed disagreement now, and they looked ready to say something against Phos' idea, but the latter continued as they waved their arms. "Wait wait wait! I know work is important and...I don't want to disappoint Sensei either but...Sensei wouldn't want us to be tired, would they? So..."
Phos wanted to say more but, they weren't sure how to explain their current thoughts to the other, so they simply ended their argument there and awaited Antarc's response, hoping they could both rest...not only for Phos' own sake, but for Antarc's as well.
"...Fine." Antarc put away all the materials they collected from Rutile's collection earlier, and sat down on the operation bed. "But...only this time."
Phos brightened up and quickly sat next to Antarc on the operation bed. Both of the gems were now sitting quietly on the bed, but Phos wasn't exactly satisfied, and still wanted to do something, but sadly, wasn't sure what to do.
Phos decided to break the ice and start a new conversation. "Sooo...what do you do when you're taking a break..?”
"Collect materials to use later, sit down to relax, and think about work, I suppose," said Antarc.
That isn’t taking a break… thought Phos.
"H-Huh..." was all that Phos managed to say after that. They were really surprised from how Antarc was truly dedicated to their work and Sensei-- "AH."
When Phos suddenly gasped, Antarc got startled and looked at the other. "What is it?"
"What about Sensei? Don't you go and do something with them sometimes? Like what about that yearly--" Phos was immediately interrupted by Antarc grasping Phos' shoulders.
"Don't bring that up, Phosphophyllite." said Antarc with an extremely serious tone.
"But--"
"No."
"But wait, I wanna know..!" Phos got up from the bed and was now the one grabbing onto the other's shoulder.
While it wasn’t obvious from their expression, Antarc must have felt flustered because they couldn't look at Phos anymore, which was really rare.
From that, Phos let go of Antarc's shoulders and simply stood there. "I'm just curious! What even is that? You go up to Sensei and then...they hold you? Does that have a name? Wait...one time Dia did that with me while I was crouched...sort of? Wait--is it even the same thing..?”
As Phos rambled further to themself, Antarc got even more flustered and tried stopping Phos from talking any further. “D-Does it even matter? It’s simply a thing I do with Sensei every year, and that's it.”
Phos came back to planet Earth and replied “It does matter! You looked happy while you two were doing that..!” Phos paused and their voice turned softer. “You should look like that more often…”
Silence came back to the room and the two didn't know what to say and do. Phos turned their gaze to their own feet, once again, trying to avoid eye contact with the other gem. The younger gem was starting to regret speaking up about their feelings, especially not knowing how Antarc reacted from that.
Suddenly, an idea popped up to Phos, and while they weren't exactly sure if it was the best idea, they thought it was better than this weird silence.
“What about if...you did that “thing” with me?” shyly proposed Phos, who was still looking down.
There was a long pause before Phos heard Antarc speak up “...Ha?!”
Finally, Phos looked up. They needed to see what their friend’s reaction was aside from a gasp and...Antarc simply looked surprised.
“Well...can I? Or is it restricted to Sensei only--” Phos grunted loudly as they covered their face from embarrassment. “Ugh--! Nevermind, I shouldn't have asked this, I'm so sorry, ahh...”
Silence filled the room another time, and Phos could feel even more tension than before this time.
“Fine,” said the other.
“Huh?” Phos removed their hands from their face, and looked at the other gem.
With their usual serious look, Antarc continued. “I said, fine. We can do it.”
Phos, to say the least, was baffled. They couldn't believe they actually agreed to this. But in a way, Phos thought that perhaps Antarc agreed to this so that they would never speak about this ever again...too bad Antarc was friends with Phos because they would never forget something like this, especially due to being something precious to a dear friend.
“Alright! Well uh--how are we going to do this?” Phos asked Antarc.
“I'll go towards you, and you'll embrace me.”
“Ok. But, please don't jump onto me like you did with Sensei. I'll break if you do that.”
“Yeah yeah…” Antarc sighed and got down from the operation bed they were sitting on.
Phos moved a couple steps away from Antarc, and waited for the other, but they weren’t exactly moving from their spot.
“Uh...Am i doing something wrong or--” asked Phos confusedly.
“You need to open your arms,” quickly explained Antarc.
“Ah, okay.” Phos opened their arms as they said that.
Once again, Antarc didn’t move as soon as Phos followed Antarc’s instructions, but they waited, this time saying nothing. They knew this time they were alright, Phos was slowly remembering how Antarc and Sensei were doing...this thing.
Antarc finally started walking up to Phos, but stopped right a single step in front of the younger gem. Antarc was now pretty close to Phos, and while they usually wouldn’t get embarrassed over something like this, for some reason this time they were. Perhaps, the fact the younger gem was directly staring Antarc’s eyes made them nervous, but for now, Phos couldn’t explain why they felt like this, and simply let this happen.
Antarc must have noticed that, of course they have, they’re smart. Sheesh, this is so embarrassing... thought Phos, as they kept waiting.
Their thoughts were interrupted when they realized that Antarc finally embraced them.
“Ah,” gasped Phos. While they were expecting this, they were still quite surprised, and blanked out.
“Well?” quietly said Antarc.
“Wh--”
“Are you just going to stay with your arms open?”
“Huh--Ah! Ok..”
Phos slowly, and hesitantly, embraced Antarc back. Even if Phos was the one who proposed this idea, they weren’t sure how to feel right now. They weren’t exactly sure why this simple action made the gem so nervous yet...feel at such ease.
Phos couldn’t tell what Antarc’s expression was since their face was gently laid onto Phos’ shoulder, but they really hoped that Antarc was now smiling.
The gems kept hugging each other for what felt like a very long time to Phos without saying any words to each other. There were a couple of times where Phos considered saying something, but for once, they actually enjoyed this silence they were sharing together, and decided on doing nothing.
Suddenly Antarc broke the hug and stood in front of Phos. Their expression looked the same as before, but Phos decided to not worry too much about that.
“You forgot to pat me,” said Antarc, officially breaking the silence.
“Wha--HEY. W-Whatever! I’ll get it right next time!” exclaimed Phos without thinking.
Antarc was taken aback from Phos’ comment; Phos didn’t really understand why at first, but quickly understood and got flustered.
“A-Ah--it’s ok--just kidding! Ahaha..!” Phos tried laughing it off and turned around, avoiding Antarc’s icy stare, but the other interrupted them.
“It’s alright.”
“...Hm?” Phos looked back confused.
“It’s alright, I said,” repeated Antarc as they started walking out of the room.
At that moment, Phos swore they saw Antarc smiling as they were turning around to leave.
“W-Wait, hey! Don’t leave me here!” Phos ran towards Antarc.
Phos quickly caught up with Antarc, and kept asking more questions to the other gem, who refused to answer any of them or would simply dismiss them with a small noise.
While this wasn’t what Phos was planning, they were truly enjoying this real break they were sharing together, and hoped the other one was enjoying it as well.
Although Phos had no way of knowing this, Antarc was actually truly enjoying this moment. Even after that quite embarrassing scene, they still felt almost the same happiness they feel when they’re around Sensei.
Perhaps, Antarc found a new person they truly cared about, and one who cared back about them too.