Chapter Text
“What are you doing out here?”
Simon doesn’t turn around when the sliding door opens. He stays in the lawn chair, facing the backyard and staring at the stars. “I don’t know. Why are you out here.”
“I just came out for something to eat and saw you sitting out here.” There’s the sound of footsteps and the quiet creak of a chair as the person sits down.
Simon was used to people just inviting themselves in his space and trying to talk to him. It seemed that most of the egos — people, housemates, whatever the fuck they were — didn’t know what personal space was.
He glances over at the guy beside him, taking note of the security jacket he had on and the dark bags under his eyes.
The guy sees him staring and holds out his hand, his expression weary. “I’m Dave. Torres.”
Simon takes his hand and gives it a shake before pulling it back, looking back up at the stars. “… Simon.”
“Yeah, I know who you are.” Dave settles back in his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him. “That Dark guy gave us a whole meeting about you.”
Simon sighs. He didn’t know how to feel about having all his business exposed without him. On one hand, it saved him the problem of having to tell the same story again and again to every person he met.
On the other hand, now he knew that people were talking about him behind his back. But that was nothing new.
“No sense of privacy here.” Simon grunts, almost sulking in his chair.
Dave huffs a tired laugh, rubbing his eyes. “Believe me, I know how it feels. They did the same to me when I arrived.”
“Yeah?” Simon glances at him again, his interest piqued. “… can I ask what..?”
“Long story short, it was the end of the world and you died when you slept. I was trying to get my friends and girlfriend to an island because I had a fever dream with a whale in the sky.” Dave blurts it out in a rush, probably just as tired of explaining it as Simon would feel. “And apparently it was all a podcast turned TV show.”
“… a whale in the sky?” Simon thinks the plotline sounds kinda stupid, but it was the guys life. So he couldn’t say that. “I got tricked by some eldritch fish god in a blood ocean to sacrifice myself.”
“… that’s kinda cool.”
“I almost lost my arm, the doc said. And my sanity.”
Dave hums beside him, scratching idly at the scar on his chest. He could relate, in a way, to what Simon had gone through. “Yeah, I was awake for almost 70 hours? Over? I don’t know, I lost track on the plane. I was seeing and hearing shit, and I think I was bleeding from my eyes at one point.”
Simon’s imagining something similar to the aircraft he took with his mom from Earth to Mars, but he feels like that’s not right. He didn’t know what year it was here, but they seemed a bit undeveloped compared to when he grew up.
“What the fuck is a plane?” Simon mutters, his brow furrowed.
Dave laughs before he realizes Simon is serious. He gestures vaguely with his hands, trying to word it so he understands.
Not that he knows how a plane works.
“Uh, it’s like… a metal tube with seats and wings. It just flies in the air but still on Earth and takes you to different countries and stuff?” He pulls out his phone and pulls up a picture, showing it to Simon. “Here, I can’t explain.”
Simon takes the phone and glances at it before giving it right back. He honestly didn’t care what a plane was. “Looks weird.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty weird, I guess.” He tucks his phone away and sits back, a quiet silence covering the both of them.
Simon crosses his arms and picks at the sleeves of his sweater, his brow furrowed at the night sky. He could see stars, but that couldn’t be right. All the stars had disappeared, right?
Hadn’t they?
"You don't have to be alone all the time."
"What?" Simon breaks his concentration on the sky, focusing on Dave. Dave looked mildly uncomfortable with his own words, but didn't back down.
"You don't have to be alone all the time." He repeats, shifting his feet on the concrete floor. "I just… noticed you don't really hang out with people and you sit by yourself. You don't have to do that-"
"I didn't ask for some life advice."
Dave shuts his mouth and sits back in his chair. That… was fair. He shouldn't have said that. "You're right. Sorry. I just don't want you feeling like you're…. cast out of the group."
"I don't. I prefer being alone." Simon's words are cold, clearly shutting down this whole conversation. He doesn't need a guy he just met telling him how to live his life.
"Yeah, that's what I thought when I came here, too." For some reason, Dave couldn't just stop talking about this. He felt a bit drawn to Simon, needing him to know what he wished someone told him when he arrived. "I thought I was fine all by myself, that I could keep things a secret from my girlfriend and my friend, but I couldn't. I was lonely and unhappy and bitter."
Simon could snap at him. Make some snide remark and successfully push him away, but he just bites his tongue and stares at Dave.
Dave holds his gaze steadily, looking just as tired as Simon felt. Simon's brow furrowed when his brain 'helpfully' pointed out how similar the two looked, moreso than anyone else in the house.
The silence is broken when the sliding door opens and someone walks out to join them — a woman, brown haired and wearing an oversized tshirt and a sleepy expression. "Dave?"
Dave turns, his expression softening at the sight of her. He reaches out, taking her hand when she grabs his own and pulls her in. "Hey. Sorry, I just needed some fresh air."
"Was it a nightmare again?" The woman sits on the arm of the lawn chair, letting Dave rest against her shoulder and hide his face in her long hair. Her fingers comb through his hair when he nods silently, humming in sympathy.
Simon feels something bitter curl in his chest at the sight. This must be the girlfriend Dave mentioned — something he wasn't familiar with at all. There wasn't a place for relationships on Eden and life on Mars was too far back to remember fully.
It was frowned upon to seek a relationship when you were too busy fighting or working for Father. You could only be assigned a wife for the sake of reproducing Sons.
Dave lifts his head and glances at Simon, gesturing vaguely between him and Katie. "Sorry. This is Katie, my girlfriend. Katie, this is Simon, the new house guest I told you about."
Simon straightens up when the woman's — Katie's — gaze focuses on him, stretching out his good arm to her silently for a handshake. Katie accepts it gingerly, still not used to living in a house full of people who look like Dave. "Nice to meet you."
Simon nods and pushes himself to his feet, making some excuse to leave the two alone on the patio. He ignores the glance Katie gives him on his way past, feeling an urge to escape.
Dave was the second guy who tried to connect with him. That engineer guy shared sandwiches and talked about his life, and now Dave was trying to get him to open up or some bullshit like that.
He didn't want to. If he let his guard down, if he tried to make friends or let someone in, he'd lose them. He always lost them.
Father had him kill his Brothers — his friends — for the Last Tree. His 'initiation', his first step towards earning the tile of The Butcher. Securing his place with Father and reassured that it was all for the sake of the Last Tree and the starlight, the homes they had lost.
His hands were bloodied. A man like him didn't deserve friends after what he's done to them.
A man like him didn't deserve a second chance for a life he gave up the moment he stepped foot on Eden.