Chapter Text
“Shen Yuan have mate, question?” It’s just him and Rocky talking in hushed tones while Ryland sleeps.”
“...Yes.”
“What Shen Yuan mate like, question?”
“...An utter crybaby. Clingy and pathetic. A lot like Ryland, actually.
…Kind. Despite it all. He deserved better.”
If this confuses Rocky, he doesn't show it, and simply tilts his carapace in understanding.
“Rocky have mate too. 🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶. We together 186.9 years.”
Holy shit. Shen Qingqiu may have technically been an immortal, but he still hadn't wrapped his head around such scales of time.
“That's a long time.”
“...Is not enough.” Five years before Binghe had turned seventeen hadn't been enough, either.
“...I get it.”
They sit in silence for a bit after that. Kindred spirits.
-
“Hello, earth! Plan is like fishing! We make long, long chain, then send into Adrian atmosphere to collect sample.”
This did not seem like a good idea. But he didn't really have any better ones for Ryland and Rocky, so.
If they died out here, it would only mean the extinction of their entire solar system. No biggie.
And it's not like it meant anything to him, anyways, as he and his husband did not live in a world with a solar system.
“Ready?” Rocky asks.
“As I’ll ever be.” Ryland replies.
“Ready too.” Shen Qingqiu added, even though no one had asked him and he wasn't really doing much here except providing moral support. Honestly, sometimes he felt like he was third wheeling them.
-
He watched in horror as Ryland fell off the hull into the void of space.
Binghe, falling. Binghe’s desperate, sobbing pleas as he’d impaled himself on Xiu Ya just to get closer to his master. The feeling of Binghe’s robes on his hands that had lasted less than a split second as he'd pushed him into the abyss.
He watched in horror, paralysed as the ship spun frantically and Ryland’s head hit the display screen. As Rocky had burnt from an atmosphere far too cold for him as he'd painfully dragged Ryland the length of the ship.
Never able to do anything but watch as everyone you love gets hurt. Never allowed to interfere.