the stars above us

Oneshot

While on patrol, Arashi couldn't help but notice how everything shone like well-polished steel, reflecting her face on every surface and warping it beyond measure.

She loathed patrolling the laboratory quarters of the spaceship, the mirror-like surfaces a mockery Arashi did not really need. Still, her duty was not to stare at the mocking reflections, but to make sure no one was breaking the curfew. That was simple, though, when in the laboratory quarters: few people wanted to mess around with the experiments that allowed life to flourish and thrive in the spaceship, but she still patrolled, walking the spacious hallways, ignoring odd sounds from behind closed doors. Sometimes, it felt a bit like a video game from old, from before the space colonization of the 24th century.

Outside the large windows, space slowly moved around the ship, and she stopped her walk, one hand touching the protective glass. Arashi knew it wasn't an actual window: glass was easily breakable, so this image she stared at was a live camera feed that was transmitted, just to give the people a way to not feel stuck beneath tons and tons of metal. It felt impossibly lonely, all by herself, with just the camera feed of the outside to keep her company.

Passing a hand through her short hair, Arashi kept pacing slowly, walking through the five hallways of the laboratory quarters mindlessly, counting down door numbers to keep herself awake. She wished she wasn't there, though, but she had lost on the rock-paper-scissors decision for their in-unit decision.

When she heard hurried steps, she paused, looking around and seeing no one. Frowning, Arashi kept walking - and then she was promptly slammed by something. Stumbling, she looked back, and found Anzu burying her face in Arashi's back, arms wrapped around her waist.

"How did you know I was here?" Arashi asked, instead of a greeting, and Anzu did not reply. Arashi moved gently around Anzu, so that they would be face to face whenever Anzu deigned herself to look up, arms around her shoulders.

"Ritsu was sleeping in the corridor near the school quarters." Anzu muttered, and Arashi could feel a headache building. "I woke him up, set him on his path, and asked him where you'd be."

"Mmmh." Arashi said, holding Anzu a little longer. "So, how did your test go? I didn't think it'd go so far into the night."

Anzu had been gunning for the captain test, the only thing that separated her from getting a crew of her own to go on space dives. Arashi had helped her study for it, had decorated tables of time that could be safely spent in the different spacesuits, the gravity of the surrounding colonies and how their suns affected their trajectory, and so many other little details Arashi felt she forgot as much as she had learned.

Anzu, however, did not forget even one detail, slowly but surely building herself up to ace the mock tests she did until Arashi couldn't help but feel like the tests maybe were too easy, or maybe Anzu was studying too much.

The test had been earlier, divided into a theoretical part and a practical part (run in a VR simulator chamber so that no students could actually die); Arashi had taken her to the theoretical around ten, had kissed her knuckles and promised she'd pick her up after the allotted time.

Then, of course, the time had somehow ran past its scheduled time, and Arashi had to patrol. She'd tried to get the school quarters for patrol, but she failed, and now here they stood in the middle of the laboratory quarters, Anzu with her face buried in Arashi's chest. She patted her girlfriend's back, and wished she wasn't wearing the gloves the council made her wear as part of the uniform.

Anzu murmured something, low enough that Arashi didn't hear it, and Arashi frowned.

"If you failed, there's always a retrial on the next cycle." Arashi suggested as nicely as possible. Anzu rose her face, and there was a shit-eating grin stamped on her lips. "You passed?"

"With flying colors! You're staring at captain Anzu now!" She chirped, and Arashi held her tightly, spinning both of them around as Anzu laughed. They kissed when the spinning got too much, and promptly fell to the ground in a mess of limbs.

She hoped there was no one manning the cameras today, but part of Arashi couldn't care enough about it.

When they separated, there was a lovely flush to Anzu's face, and she put a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"So, can I patrol with you tonight?" Anzu asked, and Arashi nodded. The two untangled themselves from the ground, dusting themselves before rising up. "I promise I won't bother."

"Are you kidding? This is so boring, having company will be nice." Arashi kissed her for a moment, fingers intertwining. "Come on, I'll show you the plant lab, they've got flowers blooming."

Anzu's eyes shone, and Arashi did not feel as alone anymore as she took her girlfriend to the laboratory in question.