Stars [Memesfor1]

Comfort

         Most of the crew left after Joocie was pushed into the lava pool, but Meme stayed behind. He needed answers, and he wasn't going to get them by leaving Socks.

"Socks?" He asked tentatively, causing the orange astronaut to jump. He had been staring at the lava pool as if Joocie would leap out of it and get his revenge.

Stop thinking about that, Meme thought, closing his eyes.

"What do you want?" Socks asked, voice hoarse. Meme died a little inside at his cold tone.

"Are you... are you okay?" Meme winced at his pathetic tone. He had really thought Socks killed Muffin during the meeting, but what Tbh said made sense. But he couldn't imagine what he would have felt if he was accused and Socks turned on him.

He remembered the look on his face. Hurt and betrayed in so many ways. But there was something else under his gaze Meme couldn't pinpoint.

Socks was such an unusual person; Meme felt he could know him for years and never learn everything about him.

"Oh... I'm fine." Socks said, clearing his throat and turning around. "Why do you care?"

Meme wilted a little. "Because you're my friend," he answered honestly.

Riiight, an inner voice that sounded suspiciously like Blaza's said doubtfully. Meme willed it to shut up.

Socks looked away again. "Aren't you worried if I'm some impostor?"

That stung, but he kind of deserved it. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't believe you earlier."

"Whatever. At least you know now that I'm not out to kill you." Socks was sitting now, legs dangling precariously over the churning lava.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else," Meme suggested, beginning to fidget with his hands nervously.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Back to the individual rooms. It's almost dark anyway, and we don't want a repeat of last night. We could watch a movie or something."

Socks continued to stare into the lava. "Why should I distract myself? I need to stay alert. No, I can't sleep or watch a movie. Who else might die if I do?"

Meme walked over to Socks, sitting down. "What happened is not your fault. You'll be better for the crew well-rested."

Socks looked Meme in the eye, and for a moment his guard broke and Meme could truly see what he was feeling. "But I should have been there for them," Socks whispered. "It's my fault Dino and Muffin died, my fault Joocie was ejected, and my fault the crew is so broken."

Meme grabbed Socks's hands. "It's not your fault. Instead of feeling guilty, you need to step up and help find the impostor. The only thing you can do to make this worse is give up, but you'd never do that."

Socks's gaze drifted down to where Meme was still grasping his hands. Meme cleared his throat, flustered, and rose to his feet. "And you can't do that like this. You need to relax."

Socks caved. "I guess." He was still not quite meeting Meme's eyes.

"Good. Let's go," Meme said.

-0-

"Really? Is 'it' the right movie to watch, considering we're kind of in the middle of our own scary murder catastrophe?"

"What, too scared?" Meme teased. Socks snorted. "Of course not, just pointing out the obvious."

"Sure," Meme said. It felt natural teasing Socks like this.

They had left for Socks's room and had been puzzling over what movie to watch for the last half hour. Apparently movie taste was one of the things on the already long list of things they disagreed on.

"Fine, we'll watch 'it,'" Socks said with a huff. "But don't complain to me when you get nightmares."

"Who's getting nightmares?"

Socks sighed. "I don't know why I agreed to this."

Meme grinned. "Let's just watch the movie."

It was a mistake. Meme wasn't getting nightmares (so he said to himself) but at one scene he found he had clutched Socks's arm out of terror. Definitely not blushing, he let go and continued to watch the movie though he wasn't really paying attention.

Thank goodness it's dark in here and he can't see my face right now. Stupid face.

Socks paused the movie. "You okay?" He asked. The question was nonchalant, but his eyes betrayed his worry.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine."

Socks paused to look at Meme a moment longer. They held eye contact for what felt like an eternity, then Socks unpaused and looked back at the movie, facing away from Meme.

Meme sighed and finally admitted to himself this wasn't just him feeling tired. There was no denying the connection he had felt just then. Maybe they had gone slightly back to normal, but that wasn't really how he wanted it to be, was it?

Maybe he had fallen, just a tiny bit, for Socks.

Stupid feelings.

Meme felt his eyelids begin to droop. Socks was still watching the movie. Might as well fall asleep...

-0-

Socks was startled by a weight on his shoulder. Looking over he saw Meme's head had rested there and he had fallen asleep, a peaceful expression on his face.

He smiled softly to himself, feeling warm and fuzzy all over. Turning off the movie, he rested his head on top of Meme's and let himself fall asleep as well.

As he was drifting off, Socks couldn't help but realize how perfectly they fit together, and how he wished he could stay like that forever.

-0-

910 words