Work Text
Lalna squinted at the dim green glow of his digital watch. 2:31 a.m.. Xephos had said he would come to bed about two hours ago now. He huffed.In the past, this wouldn't have been a problem; he wouldn't have cared (as much) that the spaceman had decided to stay up late working. But, nowadays, Lalna found he never slept as well without him. What had started as simply sharing a bed to help soothe Xephos’ nightmares and anxieties from storms, was now a ritual that Lalna found himself also quite attached to. He may not ever admit it out loud, but he loved the cuddles they got to share. But now, Xephos was… somewhere, upstairs, which left him alone.Alone and unable to sleep. For over two hours.He grumbled to himself and swung his legs over the side of the bed. His housecoat was nowhere to be found, as was typical, so he pulled on his discarded lab coat instead. He poked his head out of the hole in the wall they called their bedroom. (Honeydew had been more focused on decorating the kitchen floor with crystal than building a proper bedroom, but Lalna didn’t care. The beds were situated right next to the smeltery and thus very warm, so he was satisfied.) Xephos wasn’t at the smeltery, nor was he fumbling around on the upper level in the chests or library. He wasn’t inside the base.Lalna chewed the inside of his cheek. There was only one other place he could consider, unless he had decided to take an impromptu trip to Sludgeland.He clumsily dodged the electric fence and climbed around to the roof. It didn't take long to spot the blue-haloed silhouette perched on the edge. Lalna approached slowly and loudly on purpose, hoping to catch Xephos’ attention before he accidentally startled him. He hovered next to the man, hoping to be noticed. However, Xephos was very clearly lost in his own thoughts. It took a sturdy tap on his shoulder to finally elicit a response. As expected, Xephos did startle at the touch, jumping slightly with surprise. Lalna gave him an apologetic half-grin.“Ah, Lalna,” Xephos greeted. He blinked slowly in that way that told Lalna his mind was far, far away. “Hey,” Lalna replied, rubbing the back of his neck absentmindedly. “You, er, said you were going to bed?” He left his statement vague as not to instill any pressure, but silently hoped Xephos caught his subtle request for him to join him.Xephos slowly blinked again, looking akin to a sleepy cat. “Oh. Yes, sorry, friend. I just got distracted.” He turned his head back to the sky. Lalna followed his line of sight to the very clear target of the moon. Lalna softened slightly. They had very recently discussed Xephos’ anxieties about Honeydew being away- the result of that encounter still made his cheeks burn with embarrassment. “Are you still worried about Honeydew? Don’t worry, Xeph’, he’s probably sleeping up there snug as a dwarf,” Lalna joked. But, Xephos’ distant expression didn’t shift and Lalna’s eyebrows furrowed. He sat down next to the spaceman and let his legs dangle over the edge of the Baked Bean Fort. Faraway, the mana pools in the lusher areas beyond glowed under the moonlight. “Xeph’?” Lalna prodded again after the silence continued.Xephos sighed and drummed his fingers on the edge. “I’m not worried about Honeydew,” he said finally.Lalna raised an eyebrow. “Well, then what’s wrong?” He lightheartedly leaned into Xephos, nudging him with his elbow. Xephos continued to not respond to his attempts to lighten the mood, which only made Lalna feel more uneasy. Even at the worst of times, Xephos usually made an attempt to smile at his jests. There was another pause before he finally spoke.“We’re never going to get past the moon, are we?” Xephos asked quietly. However, even as it was technically a question, he phrased it like an admittance of defeat.Lalna frowned at him. “Well, the moon was the goal, wasn’t it? Why would we need to get past-“
Oh.
Lalna swallowed thickly as the realization hit him. “You… you wanted to go home. Didn’t you?” Xephos’ silence answered him perfectly and Lalna felt a bitterness coil in his stomach. His throat tightened. Because he didn’t want Xephos to leave. Why would he need to leave, when all his friends were here? Lalna wanted him to stay here, with him, and Honeydew, and everyone else. He didn’t want him to go home.But, that was selfish and he knew it. It wasn’t fair to Xephos to be trapped here, even if Lalna wanted him to be. He probably had people that missed him- family and friends, a home. Of course, he would want to go back. Why wouldn’t he?Lalna fidgeted with his hands and contemplated getting up. He could feel his internal turmoil jading his judgement and the last thing he wanted to do was accidentally guilting Xephos with his own emotions.“I’m sorry. I’d probably want to leave, too, if I was in your situation,” Lalna said, trying his best to sound supportive. “I’d miss my home, too.”Xephos must have sensed his upset, even as Lalna tried to hide it, because his eyes widened. He shook his head quickly as he looked directly into Lalna’s eyes.“No! Lalna, I think you misunderstood…” Xephos trailed off as if trying to gather his words. He looked back at the sky. His eyes looked like stars against the darkness of the night.“Of course, I miss my home,” Xephos began quietly. “But…” he looked back at Lalna. “I could never imagine leaving Minecraftia behind, forever. Not now. Not after everything that’s happened.”Lalna swallowed again, throat still tight, but now for a different reason. “Oh.” He said softly, relaxing his shoulders, and suddenly very aware of Xephos’ fingers intertwining with his own. Xephos was staring at Lalna’s hand and Lalna had to wonder how he of all things could be interesting. He felt that familiar flip-flopping feeling in his stomach start up- the one that always presented itself whenever they got to do anything even marginally romantic. It was a feeling he’d gotten addicted to as of late.Xephos continued. “The truth is, I think I would only ever choose to go back permanently if I could take you and Honeydew with me.“Which I guess is why I’m upset… mostly because there were so many things I wanted to show you. So many planets and people and technologies…” he trailed off again, lost in thought, worrying his bottom lip.“I just… I wanted to show you the stars. The real stars.” Xephos finished. The stars might as well have been in Lalna’s eyes at that moment the way they were shining.When he finally found the ability to reply, Lalna’s voice came out nervous and giddy with excitement, and something else he was far too embarrassed to name.“We- we still could! We haven’t even looked at Mars yet, we could be able-“ Lalna stopped at the motion of Xephos shaking his head numbly.“There isn’t any technology here equivalent to what we would need to get to warp speed. I’ve looked,” he sighed. “Besides, I’m nowhere near smart enough to even attempt to replicate that sort of machinery. That wasn’t my job.”Lalna paused. Xephos didn’t often talk about what he did before he came to Minecraftia, but from what Lalna could guess based on his machinery skills, he hadn’t been an engineer for certain. Lalna looked at the sky.“We’ll figure it out, Xeph’, I promise,” he said gently. “You want to show me the stars? I’m gonna hold you to it,” he grinned. Xephos let out a small snort of laughter for the first time since their conversation had begun. Lalna’s smile widened.“C’mon. Let’s go to bed. I’m tired,” Lalna said as he leaned his head onto Xephos’ shoulder, letting a whine leak into his tone in hopes that it would coerce the spaceman. Xephos rolled his eyes and stood up, which Lalna considered a success. His freckles rippled with light as he stretched.“Alright. Let’s go to bed, friend.”