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coral dragged black into navigation by hand. they were a bit confused as coral dragged them through the corridor and across the floor, but made no protests.
as soon as they finally made it to navigation, coral picked black up, plopping him back onto their feet and the ground to stand, before communicating something to white through a glare. black wasn’t able to pick up on what it meant, though, something about it gave off the impression of.. aggressive concern, for lack of better words.
white only stared out the window, his back to coral as he was looking at the stars.
then, they proceeded to walk out of the room, leaving black and white alone to themselves, the door to navigation closing right behind them.
he sighed, back still turned to the door.
“if you came here to kill me, then either postpone it or make it quick. i’m in the middle of working on these files for the council and i should be done within a few more hours or days.”
white stayed leaning against the window in the space between the command consoles with crossed arms, holding one arm out with a cup of coffee in hand, staying silent as he stared into the corner of the room. he had his hat tipped down, making sure to obscure his visor. which was the first of several mistakes he was about to make.
black made sure to take note of this before they continued concernedly and asked again.
“..White? are you doing alright? Coral didn’t explain anything to me, but you’ve been here for several days, and I wanted to know if you were okay.”
at that, he only stayed silent for a few moments. the silence dragged on, and for a moment, the flaming thrusters at the back of the ship were audible.
white tilted his head back up to look at them, hat no longer obscuring his visor. he was giving his usual deadpan look, but he looked tired, and like the only thing keeping him standing and animating the corpse that was his body was the cup of coffee he had in hand. “they thought i was overworking myself and were insistent that i take a break.” he paused, taking a shaky sip of his cup. it’d gone cold a long while ago while he was working. “i can’t do that yet.”
and from what black was able to gauge from that response, he excluded the “won’t” alongside that “can’t” . he had a frequent habit of getting overly immersed in his work and forgetting to take care of himself.
that was strike two.
their visor scrunched up in concern as he took a step towards him. white was usually very detail oriented, and the fact that he of all people missed his own shaking hands.. or was ignorant or even dismissive of his own shaking hands meant something.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“black, i. it’s fine.”
usually, black would be okay with him saying that it was fine. he trusted and respected white enough to know that he was able to take care of himself. but right now, he did not in fact look or fit the definition of ‘fine’.
not only did he stutter on a word, which was completely unnatural for him,
but white’s hands were shaky, likely from his midnight mingling rendezvous with multiple doses of caffeine. there was a heavy shadow underneath his visor, and black knew from days of waiting that it had been several days since white had entered navigation in order to complete ‘a few files’ the council had given him.
that was strike three, four, five, six, and so many more innumerable details that they were able to take note of.
an intervention was in order.
and so, an intervention was about to be put into session.
the shift in the atmosphere was tangible as black’s concerned expression dropped to a more stern one. their visor narrowed and they sent white a deadpan expression that was a mixture of “i’m not buying what you’re trying to sell me” and “you’re about to experience a world of aggressive care and you can do absolutely nothing to stop it.” , proceeding to cross their hands.
“How long has it been since you’ve slept?”
“..you’re going to be vehemently adamant and persistent about this, huh?”
he looked at him, maintaining their gaze and taking a step forward. “Yup.” they said, putting emphasis on the p.
“black, it’s fine. i. i’ve gone a multitude of days straight without sleeping. i can deal with it, and i’m still standing.”
“Still standing. Yeah. For now. Please, White, it's important for you to get some sleep. Your body needs it to function properly and your hands are shaking right now.”
white stayed silent again while black stood there waiting patiently.
“not yet. i still have a few more reports to go before i’m finished, and there’s a deadline the council wants our team to meet.”
it was their turn to be silent. black stood there, looking down at the floor, contemplating for a bit, before he brightened up and got an idea. “Alright. Fine.”
“What about a compromise then? We can stargaze or you can take a small nap, and I can wake you up so you can continue your work! Then when you have to get back to continuing your work, I can be here with you, sitting by your side if you’re alright with it.”
still leaning against one of the command consoles, he began weighing his options. he knew that there was no use trying to argue, and that he wasn’t going to be able to continue doing his work until black was able to make him stop and take a break.
regarding his options here, though..
black probably wouldn’t wake him up when he’d take a nap (damn mischievous caring bastard they were.) so that left a singular viable option left.
“..i accept your compromise. we can stargaze, but it has to be brief. you can keep me company as i work afterwards, too.”
they were unable to suppress their excitement, practically starstruck. he took rapid steps towards the command console, dashing towards it like some sort of shooting star. they hastily reached over for white’s hand before they caught themself, pausing, waiting for confirmation that it was okay.
white nodded, and they made sure to keep a soft but firm grip on white’s hand before almost instantaneously blitzing through the corridors (at which white let out a yelp, holding onto his hat and black’s hand with a death grip as he was dragged along, the other letting out a joyful maniacal laugh in the middle of his dash through the skeld), out of weapons, and over to the cafeteria.
they zipped around the cafeteria towards the window, while white had his hands on his knees trying to regain his composure and breath.
the lights in the cafeteria were dimmed, allowing black to bask in the starlight.
the stars shone brightly, their light illuminating black as he stared out into the vast expanse of space. it might not have been as colorful as a lot of the photos depicted, but that didn’t make it any less beautiful.
to black, even if he didn’t understand it all that well, space was.. breathtaking. in a literal and figurative sense. enormous, celestial objects that are possibly lightyears away with various different conditions, appearances, and the potential of harboring so many different life forms. a possibly infinite expanse with so much uncharted territory and diversity.
they felt.. starstruck, just trying to comprehend it all. it left them confused in the best way possible. he’s glad for the gravity regulators, because otherwise, he’d probably be floating and wouldn’t be able to get back down. (which was a nice and fairly accurate metaphor to describe the sheer, borderline inexplicable awe and emotion he was feeling right now, but white would probably correct him with that certain tone and look, ((fondness, he'd later realize)) stating, “..that isn’t how gravity works, you sappy lovable idiot.”)
it was so much different looking at the stars in space than on a planet. they remember white reading an astronomy book with them and something about why that is. it isn’t too clear though, and he’d have to ask how it works.
they turned around, the light of the stars still shining down on them, gently glowing down upon his suit and visor. from the looks of it, white was still in the middle of getting his breathing stabilized.
“Shoot. Sorry about that. Got overly excited..” they guiltily started.
white still had his hands on his knees. “..it’s alright. you don’t need to apologize for that. give a forewarning for next time, though.”
“ Next time? ” their visor lifted up in a mischievous smirk, guiltiness forgotten.
finally getting his breath and composure stabilized a little, he looked up, mind taking several seconds to piece it together, before white was able to process the implications of his and black’s own words.
the insinuations of what was in store for him based off of that expression they had on their face.
realization hit like a stray meteor crashing into the side of their ship.
he genuinely wasn’t complaining about it, as black’s company wasn’t that bad, (it was more than “not bad”. he enjoyed their company) but that look on their face alone was telling him that he just subjected himself to several nights of hell in the skeld. this night was not going to be an exception.
this was going to be a long or painful night.
then again,
they didn’t have to be mutually exclusive.
“ black.. ” he warned in a stern tone.
black had this look about him. that look. a malevolent, scheming, plotting, look.
they had their hands clasped together like a villain with some sort of crafty, convoluted plot, facing towards white, who was (internally spiked up in wariness) standing there and scrutinizing him.
the stars were still behind him, their light overtaking his visor coalescing into a glare of blue light as it narrowed in some sort of villainous smile, before black’s face went blank in surprise and shifted to something else.
(realization. an idea , white mentally noted instantaneously, beginning to sweat)
(a no good one at that, judging from their posture, hands, and how their visor was shifted.)
white caught the look on their face and leveled him with an intense glare, anticipating. for several beats, they were both silent, maintaining their exchange of intense gazes.
..before the immense silence was interrupted by a snort, and black’s visor broke away from its prior mischievous, malevolent gaze, losing all of its intensity before they began to break into a fit of maniacal laughter.
“Alright, alright, fine. I’ll cease.”
his gaze was less intense, but he still looked at black with a narrowed visor.
“you better do before you get desisted. ”
black laughed a little, patting the tiles within his vicinity gently. “I will, but c’mere for a second, will ya please? We were supposed to stargaze.”
he sighed in fond exasperation and with quiet, deliberate footsteps, he slowly made his way over before settling down next to black with his legs folded up against his chest.
letting himself be illuminated by the starlight.
letting himself get immersed in and admire the view they had of the stars.
“they’re.” there were so many adjectives and words he could use to describe them. the stars were so many things. mysterious, an incomprehensibly vast expanse filled with a myriad of different processes and galaxies. universes. entire multiverses.
it made him feel so.. small. made him question his place in any and all of it. simultaneously, it never failed to put him in such awe and amazement.
struggling to find the right words to describe it had been a common frustration with how emotions were so inexplicable at times. especially when it came to space and its various phenomena and spectacles..
“..captivating, aren’t they?” to him, it was euphemizing them. it was. inadequate. but it was still so fitting.
black and white continued staring at the stars, revering and enamored.
“Indubitably.”
there were so many different types of silences. contemplative ones, awkward ones, painful ones. but this was a familiar silence. a comforting one. even if only momentarily, the two of them didn’t have to worry about what someone else was thinking about them.
for a moment, they didn’t need to think or worry about anything.
for a moment, they were able to get away from everything, relax, and just gaze at the stars.
visor searching each prick of light, black perked up immensely from his soft, awe filled expression. he remembered a question he was going to ask white, for once. “Oh!”
the other broke away from the stars, looking at them and acknowledging their exclamation.
“Looking at the stars from space looks so different than on a planet. I vaguely remember something about atmospheric distortion and I was wondering if you were alright with explaining that again?”
white nodded. “it will differ from planet to planet because of several differing conditions, but essentially, the light the stars give off are going to be met with several different kinds of interferences. wind, water vapor, the protective atmospheres a lot of planets have, etc. albeit there’s a lot more to it than that, but those are a few basic factors.”
“I might not know much about it, but even little stuff like that is so cool to learn about. I love space!! Space is always so interesting. So. Vast and enigmatic and so terrifyingly beautiful.” black ran about his sentence excitedly, filled with awe and excitement for the stars. getting to know that he’d finally gotten his friend to take a break and get to spend time with him, even if only for a little bit, made him happy.
white watched them ramble, endeared. “since when did you gain an interest in space?”
(he didn’t mean it, of course, it was more of a teasing jab if anything. the two of them had been maintaining this routine for a while now.)
(stargazing with them was probably his favorite part of the list to tick off of the itinerary.)
the smile shifting his visor upwards transformed into a smirk. “My entire life, since getting this job and getting such a view of it, and especially since little miss Captain of the Skeld here wouldn’t stop passionately talking about it and piquing my interest on the subject.”
“little miss captain of the skeld? you know you could’ve just called me by my name, right?”
their visor narrowed in contemplation before their face turned blank and he got that mischievous look again.
“Ah yes, forgive me,” they stood up, bowing like a stage performer giving their standing ovation before lifting their head up with a sly smirk.
“ angsty noir detective. ”
“eye roll. if you’re making a jab at noir detective stories, you’re not one to talk, femme fatale. ”
at that, black began to cackle maniacally before sitting down and enthusiastically rambling about any and everything, as white sat there, listening to them attentively.
even after this moment was over,
they’d be able to find comfort in the permanence of each other’s company.
and they’d be able to find solace in knowing that they weren’t alone.
———————————————————————————--- — - -✩
his breath was shaky with rare laughs as he started, pointing at the perpetrator, putting emphasis on each word by jabbing his finger into the other’s chest, “alright, listen here you stars-damned asshole-”
black wasn’t doing any better. they were still reeling, giggling maniacally and struggling to catch their breath as white punched him jokingly, giving him a light tap on the wrist with his fist.
still laughing uncontrollably, they swatted his hand away. “I just-” they interrupted themselves, letting out a drawn out coughing wheeze of a laugh. “You-..”
“you’re insufferable.” black cackled a little, taking a moment to catch his breath.
“Mhm. You sure do look like you’re suffering right now.”
back in navigation, black sat there for a while, smug, seating himself in one of the nearby chairs, hand propping his head up, watching, as white began typing away at the command console and into the night. he made occasional chatter, jokes, and teases while white worked away.(one of which teases white threw his hat at them for, before retrieving it before almost immediately afterwards, tipping his hat down to make sure his face was obscured)
eventually, they fell asleep. white looked up from the console, taking notice of this, and put his hat on their head before continuing to work.
as soon as he finished up, white made sure to check that the ship was still on route to its destination before he got up from the seat. with quiet footsteps, he made his way over to black, who was sleeping away quietly.
he carefully wrapped his hand around their back while he put another underneath his legs and picked him up, making sure not to stir them from their sleep. from there, he walked and silently carried them from where they were in navigation to their designated sleeping quarters, which were right in front of medbay.
as captain, he had access to everyone’s files and was permitted to have copies of everyone’s identification cards on hand.
finding black’s room, with one hand supplying a firm hold on black’s body, he pulled out black’s identification card, swiping it against the card reader, and then swiftly input their four digit code.
(there was that code and a myriad of other things they had trusted him with. they were far too trusting of him. he really didn’t understand why black put so much trust in him of all people.)
the doors to his room opened up, and white walked in, making sure to keep his eyes locked on black and the objective he had set in his head. using their id’s copy to get into their room already felt intrusive enough, he didn’t need to intrude on what their room looked like too.
they were still fast asleep. he led black over to the bed, deliberate in each movement and especially deliberate as white began to gently set him down, letting them fall limp on their bed as white gently pulled the covers over him.
they fell asleep that night, left feeling happy and content.
as white swiped his card, input his code, and went into his own room and settled into his own bed,
so did he.