and the stars will be their guides (hermitcraft space au)

city (eleven)

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~ promise me you'll stay here, you and i can lay here until the end of time ~

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TWs: None

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"What the heck are you doing?" Etho wakes up to Beef whisper-yelling. Still mostly asleep, he groans and buries his head into the warmth next to him. 

His head shoots back up at hushed snickering. Bdubs and Gem are standing in the doorway, taking pictures with Bdubs' camera. Etho glares and then flushes as he realizes that Beef is right there, and that the warmth he's been lounging in is from Beef. Is Beef, rather. 

Still, as embarrassed and flustered as he is, Etho doesn't want to move. He wants to stay here forever, with his head wedged in the space between Beef's chin and shoulder, sleeping and occasionally talking idly. He wants to press gentle kisses to Beef's neck and revel in the small sounds he's sure his friend will make. He wants to say 'I love you' over and over and over. 

Instead, he gets up and stretches, making sure to glare at Bdubs and Gem every time they so much as giggle.

"So, what are you two here for?" asks Beef. "It better not be just to make fun of us for accidently cuddling because we fell asleep while sitting next to each other." 

"Uh-huh, that's definitely what happened," Gem says, a smirk painted across her face. 

Beef and Etho elect to ignore her. 

"Oh yeah!" Bdubs exclaims. "I was here to announce that we've landed on a planet so Doc and Tango can repair the engine that broke, and X said we can go and walk around if we want to. Gem just saw me watching you two be adorable and decided to join me." 

Gem, who had been pouting about not getting a reaction out of Etho or Beef from her previous statement, grinned and nodded. "Yep! Good thing I was passing by when I was! I would've hated to have missed this." 

"I'm sure you would've," Beef muttered under his breath. 

Bdubs ignored both of them. "C'monnnn," he said, bouncing on his heels. "I promised Doc and Tango that I'd keep them company!"

***

The city that the Hermit-Craft had docked at was probably the most beautiful city Etho'd ever laid his eyes on. It was called Maroon City, and it was made up entirely of red-roofed buildings, all on a backdrop of stunning teal hills. After a brief warning from Xisuma that this was an alien city and to be careful, Etho was off to explore.

Standing on the side of the white-brick street leading from the docks, Etho didn't know where to begin. Which direction would a market be in? He figured near the center of the city, so he walked straight forward and into the shadow of towering adobe buildings. 

The architecture in this city was truly impressive. Etho wasn't quite sure where the inhabitants of this planet managed to get brown mud, considering the surface of the planet was teal and purple, but it made for some beautiful buildings when pared with the maroon tiles of the roofs. Some of the more expensive structures were made of the same white brick of the roads, with golden highlights around the windows, doors, and roofs.

Along the street, Etho came across some rickety wooden market carts. They were scattered around everywhere, and Etho made sure to check all of them, just in case they had a pretty trinket he could buy for one of his friends. (He'd been supplied with E-NOTES by Xisuma earlier, which were only acceptable currency for aliens when in a big docking city like this. He also had some leftover alien currency that he could spend if he ran out of E-NOTES.) Only after he'd scanned over all of the wares of a market cart would he continue to the next.