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tunastime · 1 year

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Stretching Endless Night

BdoubleO is the pilot of LTS-143, on its way from the Meridian to the Prometheus, two space stations a week's flight apart. On board with him is his friend and life partner, Etho Slab. It's supposed to be a quiet journey, with few problems, and little to do besides pace around and play cards.

This is not the case.

(so...about that ethosweep + first chapter of the space au promise I made. well, here you go! also, huge shout out to @oh-snapperss for being my enabler <3)

Two days after launch, Etho asks him about the timeline again. He says:

“So how long was it again?”

And Bdubs has to bite his tongue lest he say something to tick Etho off.

Instead, Bdubs leans back in his chair, away from the control panel, to where he can see Etho sitting next to him. Etho tosses something—a coin, a piece of metal, Bdubs can’t be sure—into the air, and Bdubs watches it drop back into his hands. He turns back to toggle a button.

“Seven days,” he says, shifting in his seat. “Six and a half if we push it.”

Etho hums thoughtfully for a moment. It seems to sate him.

It’s strange, Bdubs knows, when he turns back to face the twinkling expanse in the front shield of the ship, that they’re even here. Three days ago, Bdubs’ feet were planted firmly on the artificial grass and gravity of the space station, with no intention of going anywhere, and not certainly with the likes of Etho. He startles. No. That’s not what he means. He trusts Etho with his life—a lot more than just his life. But Etho wasn’t a space guy. He didn’t travel. He didn’t walk. He stayed in and kept to himself and his projects and made the ship better on the inside, not the outside. He was reclusive. But now he was wearing a grey flight suit that looked a little too good on him. A big 02 emblazoned on the back. His name stitched in fine letters on the front. Bdubs sighs, swiveling his seat around.

“At least it was a smooth takeoff.”

“We’ve had worse,” Etho says, nonchalantly. He’s still tossing that coin, watching it flip into the air and back into his hand. Rhythmic. Bdubs eyes stop following it to circle the crescent shaped room. It’s not a small space, either. Along the wall are more panels, displays, and two other seats unused.

Bdubs rises, trying to will his blood to flow back into his legs despite the lackluster artificial gravity onboard. He shakes them a bit before he steps down the platform and into the greater room. It’s his ship. He’s not a captain—not even close. But the 01 on his back means that he’s responsible for it running in order—and getting back in one piece. He’d gone through the safety protocols, he’s run the necessary courses. He’d been the one to get Etho out of bed two mornings ago when he’d been running late for final checks, for god sake.

Bdubs narrows his eyes at him when he looks over.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Etho eyes him back. “The test flight?”

Oh. Bdubs sighs, turning back around. He waves a hand in Etho’s direction, as if trying to dismiss the accusation all together.

“That was one time!” he tries. Etho hums.

“Yeah, and we almost crashed—”

Bdubs whips around to look at him again, pointing a finger in his direction.

“You almost crashed us.”

Etho huffs, his expression smug.

“Not true.”

“Sure, alright,” Bdubs rolls his eyes. “You’re the worst.”

“Hey, you keep bringing me along.”

Yeah. Okay. Etho was right.

And now the man, his friend, best friend, his partner, slept above him in the bunk and ate his share of the first ready-to-eat meal they had together. It was a quiet sort of solitude in space. One that became too much if you faced it alone. But he wasn’t alone. He had Etho. He always had Etho.

“Where’re you off to?” Etho says, leaning his head back to watch him. Bdubs shrugs.

“Dunno,” he says. “Figured I’d find something to do.”

“What about a round of cards?”

“What do I get if I win?”

“Uh…” Etho frowns. Bdubs realizes he isn’t wearing his mask, at that moment, and. It’s not like he hasn’t seen his face but, it’s special, somehow. He feels something well up in his chest. He smiles back at him, letting that something bubble up into a laugh when Etho says: “How about my chocolate pudding? If I get it in the next ready-meal.”

Bdubs sticks his hand out.

“Deal.”

Etho takes it. Deal. After a beat of silence, making their way into the kitchen, Etho asks, with no particular leaning toward an answer:

“So how’d we end up doing this anyway?”

(We as in Etho and Bdubs–a hardware engineer and a software engineer. This as in the transfer to the Meridian for a four month project Bdubs was spearheading. There had come a point where his work on the Prometheus was overlapping with that from the Meridian. Tango had made a few calls, and suddenly there was a reassignment and training modules and choose a second in command and STS-143 and Etho smacking the hull and saying “well it does the space-ing” and it being called the Spacer, under their breaths in the back of meetings. It was BdoubleO- 01 on his flight suit and finally lifting off and now he was here, playing cards, sitting cross-legged in front of Etho, whose tongue was caught between his teeth as he shuffled.

Bdubs is praying he isn’t going to cheat this time.

But he knows better.)

(read the rest on ao3!)

#ethubs #ethoslab #bdoubleo100 #hermitcraft #hermitshipping #kind of? it's an alternate universe clearly #spacer au #affectionately known as the spacer to monolith #laurie helped extensively plan this it would not be possible without her <3 #thank you laurie and thank you honey and ghost for helping with the science and thank you shep for reading <33 #this is just chapter 1! there is so much to come oml #text #fics #SENAU

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