SPACES. // Shawn Mendes AU

1 // love you goodbye

Chapter One - Love You Goodbye

athena's pov - june 2nd, 2020 - 07:00 am

The boisterous blaring of my clock woke me up from my peaceful sleep. I was about to hit the snooze button, when a sudden remembrance flowed into my morning brain.

Today's the day. 

My eyes opened wide in both excitement and anxiety, and I tried poking Shawn awake, only getting a groan as an answer. He tightened his arms around my waist and nuzzled his nose on my neck like an adorable puppy.

"Shawn, babe, come on, I don't wanna be late for this!" I giggled, trying to wriggle myself out of his arms.

He finally gave in and sat up on the bed, pouting at me. Ugh, such a cutie. It's been three years since we've been together yet I still gush about him like a fangirl. Shawn works as a journalist for the New York Times, and as boring as that job sounds, he is surprisingly quite a poetic guy. Occasionally he would go home with a romantic poem he had just written for me during his free time at work. I would slap his chest every time he does this cheesy act, but truthfully, I was melting on the inside. 

"I don't want you to go," Shawn complained. "Two years is such a long time."

I sighed. Two years is a long time indeed. I work as an astronaut for NASA, and I've been recently assigned for a space mission called Project Sagittarius, the first ever manned mission to Venus. This is clearly a very important mission, as it would bring out more information on the planet and make a groundbreaking change to history books. It took more than 10 years to plan out, considering tons of factors including the hellish atmospheric conditions there. Shawn has been very supportive about it, as it is a huge part of my life. Until, of course, reality started to hit him that we won't be seeing each other for two years.

"Don't worry about it too much, Shawn," I tried to reassure him. "We can send each other video messages, remember? NASA has been kind enough to let us do that." I leaned towards his face and gave a light peck on his lips. "Let's go get ready now."

Before I could even move further, he grabbed my face and started kissing me passionately. "I need to feel the taste of your lips," he mumbled between my mouth. "just one last time." He laid me down and hovered above me, showering my face with kisses.

"I love you so damn much," I murmured as I brought my lips back to his. 

"I love you more," he replied. By this time, the moment had turned steamier, and he lifted my shirt up to pepper kisses all over my stomach. I buried my hand in his hair as I hummed in response. His head went further down and he started caressing my thighs, gradually reaching onto the waistband of my shorts as my stomach tingled in anticipation. 

Of course, Mother Destiny decided that it would be amusing to made my day just a little bit crappy. Just as Shawn was pulling my shorts off my legs, my phone rang. 

I loudly groaned and sat up as Shawn did the same. I reached towards my bedside table and saw that it was my boss calling. I coughed and set my voice to the most cheerful tone ever. "Good morning Mr. Bates!" 

"Good morning, Athena," his raspy, typical old-man voice rang in my ears. "Ready for your first ever space mission?"

"Readier than ever, Sir."

"Good, you better be. A car will be waiting outside your apartment to escort you to the launchpad area in 15 minutes," he said before hanging up.

I placed my phone down and looked at Shawn, who stared back, eyes filled with disappointment. "Alright, babe, I'm really sorry for ruining the moment, but now we really should get ready."