◑ 𝐓𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 ◐

prologue

It was one of those nights.

One of those nights where rumination got the best of you and all you could do is listen to your brain overthinking about everything you did, how you mean nothing, and which failures best define you. Somehow, it felt as if you've been laying on your bed in this state for days when in reality it's only been three hours. Amazing, how you couldn't stop your own mind from spiraling into an abyss.

You clenched your jaws, trying to stop the streams of hot tears from falling down your face. It didn't work. Now you were staring at the ceiling, overthinking about your worth, and crying.

Great.

Turning over on your side, you glanced at the clock and realized that it was already 2 AM, thankfully not on a school day. Your phone was right next to the clock, and you stared at it absentmindedly.

'...he would probably be up right now,' you thought as you reached for it, scrunching your nose a little at the bright screen.

You sat up and took a few deep breaths to steady yourself before scrolling through your contacts and calling the boy. It only took a few rings for him to pick up.

"Hello?" A familiar voice. It put you at ease somehow.

With a strained laugh, you said, "Senku? What are you up to?"

"...I'm drafting a blueprint for a machine to take off and add on hydrocarbons to organic materials." 

Scritch, scratch. The sound of his pen and the flipping of pages were soothing to hear. Senku went on about how his new machine would work, and you drowsily listened, barely understanding any of it despite taking a chemistry class at the moment. But, it didn't matter--it got you to stop thinking, and that was enough.

Suddenly, you heard the sketching of his pen stop. It sounded like he was shifting in his seat, and you waited for him to finish adjusting his position.

"So, what's tonight's talk about?" he questioned. He didn't mention how he knew you were calling because you were having a bad night, and he didn't say anything about you bothering his work. It became some sort of routine for the two of you. Him staying up to do science and you staying up to get your mind off yourself. You could trust him with distracting you no matter how late it was.

"Do--" you paused, thinking of which of the hundreds of topics to bring up"--you believe in soulmates?" You cringed at yourself, expecting the conversation to be cut short; Senku, you thought, would say something about how love is simply a chemical reaction and that fate or soulmates didn't exist. However, you heard something quite unexpected.

"I think it's quite possible," the boy hummed. "Whose to say you're not attracted to someone because of destiny?"

"Oh? I didn't think you would say that and say it's just gibberish," you said with raised eyebrows, amused. 

"I can believe whatever. There's no way to prove that souls exist to begin with, but it doesn't hurt to fantasize."

"Right?" you beamed. "That's what's so interesting about it! I mean, it's not a great theory if we go by Karl Popper's falsification theory since we can't disprove it, but it's still so intriguing! What if we do have soulmates? Moreover souls? How do you comprehend that there's another unknown object inside of you that makes you, you?" 

On the other end of the line, Senku closed his eyes and smiled as he listened to your rambling. Don't get him wrong, it wasn't like he was glad to listen to you talk--you did enough of that at school when you were all social and loud like another certain idiotic friend of yours--but he was happy to know that your mood seemed to have lifted. He didn't know what sorts of things you were going through to call him for comfort in the middle of the night, but if that helped you, he would do it all again.

An unexpected comment snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Senku, do you remember those dolls of us we sent to space?"

The boy recalled back to that time and chuckled.

"Of course I do. It was our first successful rocket launch. Interestingly, if they haven't been broken apart yet, they should be orbiting above Japan right now."

"Really?" you gasped, looking out your window even though you knew you wouldn't see it with just your naked eye. "That's oddly bittersweet."

"How so?" the boy hummed.

You yawned a little before saying, "They're all alone in space right now, just orbiting the Earth endlessly."

"Kukuku, you're thinking so negatively. They're mere dolls made of fabric. They don't feel lonely. Plus, there's four of them to keep each other company."

When you answered with silence, the boy sighed. 

"We can try to retrieve them when we go to the moon."

Now, you weren't stupid. You knew Senku wouldn't approximate the timings of the launch just to get dolls that might not even be there. Nevertheless, a warm smile crept up your face.

"So our deal to go to the moon is still on?" you mumbled jokingly, getting drowsy.

"I wanted to go to the moon anyway. One more passenger in my spaceship won't hurt."

Another smile.

"Well, then we better go to the moon and come back safely," you murmured. "Though I'm sure we'll manage if it's you."

"As if there'd be a millimeter of a chance of me messing up. And if I do, I'll find a way to keep you safe."

You raised your eyebrows at this before laughing. "You're suddenly becoming really endearing, and it's scaring me," you teased as you sunk into your bed.

"Shut it, moron," Senku snickered. "Now go to sleep. Your voice is beginning to annoy me."

"Yes, yes. My angelic voice is just too much for you to comprehend," you said as you rolled your eyes. "Goodnight onion."

"Onion-" Senku stopped and sighed. "Whatever you say (y/n). Goodnight."

He ended the call after hearing a hum and stared at his desk. The sudden silence felt odd, so he decided to look through his telescope for a bit. He positioned it toward the moon and examined all the craters, lines, bumps. 

You see, Senku loved the moon. Ever since he was a kid, his goal was to walk on the moon. But now, there was another reason for him to love it.

"To the moon and back," the boy murmured, letting a small smile form on his lips.

To the moon and back.