Space Man

What Happened

Xisuma pov

I was honestly so truly confused. He ended up crying himself to sleep with his head buried in my chest, his grip on me never loosening. I tried my best to soothe him, running my hand gently along his back and murmuring soft reassurances, even though I had no idea what had brought him to this state.

Just before he drifted off, his voice broke the silence, barely above a whisper. “I’m sorry,” he murmured, the words so quiet I almost missed them.

“Sorry for what?” I wanted to ask, but before I could, his breathing evened out, and I realized he’d fallen asleep.

My confusion only deepened. Sorry? For what? What could he possibly be apologizing for?

I laid there, carefully holding him, my arms instinctively protective around his trembling form. My mind raced, trying to piece together the puzzle of his actions. Whatever was weighing on him, it was eating him up inside, and it made my chest ache just thinking about it.

For now, though, I decided not to dwell too much on the questions. He needed rest, and he needed to feel safe. And if holding him like this helped, I wasn’t about to move a muscle.

I heard my communicator go off a few different times probably XB and beef waking up and replying to my text message As I carefully shifted to grab my communicator, trying not to disturb Keralis, I saw that I had multiple notifications. XB and Beef had finally woken up and replied to my earlier message. I noticed that XB had added me to a group chat with himself, Beef, Etho, and Ren. That was unexpected.

The conversation had already started by the time I opened the chat:

Beef: Where’s Keralis? Did you find him?
Me: Yeah, he’s here. He came into my room last night. He’s asleep now.
XB: Thank Void. We were all worried when we couldn’t find him.
Ren: Mom and Dad reunited! But... wait, how is he?

I hesitated before typing my response, unsure of how much to share.

Me: He’s been crying. A lot. He didn’t say why. I don’t know what’s going on, but something’s wrong.

The chat went silent for a few seconds before Ren was the first to respond.

Ren: Oh, mate... I’m sorry.
Me: Sorry for what? What happened?

That’s when Beef decided to explain.

Beef: So, uh, here’s the thing... yesterday, we had a bit of an intervention.
Me: For who?
XB: For Keralis.

I frowned at the screen, reading their words again to make sure I understood correctly.

Me: An intervention? Why?
Beef: Because for weeks, you’ve been doing everything you can to show you’re trying to fix things, and he’s been cold as ice toward you. We thought it was unfair.
Ren: He was being mean, mate. Like, unnecessarily harsh.

I blinked at their messages, torn between disbelief and concern.

Me: Okay... so what happened?
Beef: Well, we kinda chewed him out for it.
XB: It wasn’t just a talk. It was a full-on fight. A big one.

I stared at the screen, trying to picture what that could have looked like. The idea of Keralis, Beef, and Ren yelling at each other felt almost surreal.

Me: A fight? Over me?
Etho: I was there. It was bad. Keralis was crying out of frustration by the end of it. Beef was the final straw before he stormed off.

The knot in my stomach tightened as I read Etho’s words.

Me: What do you mean?
Beef: He said something about how he wasn’t sure how to fix things with you and how he didn’t know how to stop being angry. I might have pushed too hard, and then he just... left.

I stared at the messages, my chest tightening. Keralis had been carrying all of that around, and none of us had known.

Me: So he ran off because of the fight?
XB: Yeah. We didn’t know where he went. We were worried, but I guess he went to you.

I glanced at Keralis, still curled up against me, his face peaceful now in sleep.

Me: He didn’t say anything to me. Just cried and apologized before passing out. I’m still confused.
Ren: Mate, he probably doesn’t know how to say what he’s feeling. He needs time.

I sighed and put my communicator down, staring at the ceiling for a moment before looking back at Keralis. The weight of their words settled on me. Whatever had happened yesterday had pushed him to his limit, and now he was here, seeking comfort without knowing how to ask for it.

I would give him that time, even if I didn’t fully understand yet.

I set my communicator down on the nightstand, the relentless chiming of the group chat continuing to fill the room. I couldn’t bring myself to reply anymore. It felt like too much to process right now. Instead, I glanced at Keralis, still asleep, his breathing slow and steady against my chest.

Without thinking, I leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on the top of his head. The action was instinctive, not something I’d normally do, but it felt right at the moment. He shifted slightly, but his grip on me didn’t loosen, and I settled back into the bed, holding him closer.

I didn’t know how to feel about what the others had said. They seemed so sure that Keralis had been overly harsh or cold toward me, but I didn’t see it that way. Sure, things had been strained, but... hadn’t I earned some of that? Wasn’t it natural for him to be upset after everything?

I sighed quietly, my fingers tracing idle patterns on his back as I stared up at the ceiling. Maybe I’d been too focused on proving myself, too busy trying to fix things to really notice how others were perceiving us. Or maybe they were just seeing something I couldn’t.

Either way, it didn’t change the fact that he was here now, clinging to me like he needed something solid to hold onto. And for now, I could be that for him. Whatever had happened, whatever was weighing on him, we’d figure it out. Together.

Eventually, I shifted slightly, adjusting my grip on him—not like he was a fragile piece of glass, but with care born out of love. It was instinctive, a quiet acknowledgment that he needed this, and, maybe, so did I.

His breathing was steady now, his earlier distress faded into the soft rhythm of sleep. I rested my cheek against his hair, the faint scent of his cologne still lingering. My mind wandered briefly to the fight the others had mentioned, the confusion of it all still gnawing at the edges of my thoughts.

But those worries felt distant, muffled by the warmth of the moment. I let myself relax, my own breathing syncing with his, the steady rise and fall of his chest a comforting presence. Sleep came quicker than I expected, wrapping me in a quiet sense of peace I hadn’t felt in weeks.

Holding him like this, I realized just how much I wanted things to be okay between us. Not just for him, but for both of us. And for the first time in a while, I let myself believe that maybe they could be.