Work Text:
“Sorry, your card could not be recognized.”
Jay gritted her teeth. “Listen you stupid thing, this card worked five minutes ago when the cashier at the flower store told me my account was double overdrawn. But now that I’m trying to deposit my paycheck it’s mysteriously broken?”
The machine blinked -- a little green light completely devoid of personality but which still managed to mock Jay and everything she stood for. There was a whir, and her card slipped out through the slot like a kitten’s tongue. She pushed it back in with both hands and pounded in her PIN code again.
“Sorry, your card could not be recognized.”
“Fine,” Jay grumbled. “I’ll just go inside and give it to a real person. There goes five credits in ‘manual processing’ fees! I hope you’re happy!”
The light blinked again, red this time. It ejected the card again and Jay snatched it moodily. There was a noise that sounded like a cough, and the paycheck stuck out of another slot. She grabbed that too, gave it a little yank, and the paper tore in half.
“Seriously?” she yelled. “Have a heart, you heartless machine! I didn’t slave away in the cobalt mine all day not to get paid for it!”
She punched the machine, and then yelped in pain because it was made out of metal and her fist was only made out of weak flesh. She flapped her hand around until the pain was a little more tolerable, then slumped against the machine and slid to the floor.
“I’m going to have to go back to the mine now and get a new check,” she mumbled to no one in particular. “Biveluse’s gonna go nuts at me. He’ll say I’m lying. I guarantee I get a pay cut for this. Ugh.”
Something in her pocket vibrated. She pulled out her phone. A calendar reminder entitled “SHE’S FREEEE” flashed back at her.
Jay bit her lip. “No time.” She’d have to figure something else out — she didn’t want to be late and keep Akko waiting. She wrenched the other half of the check from the machine, and started off toward the hospital.
“Akko!” Jay cried. “I’m here to spring you from the evil hospital!”
There was a giggle from the other side of the curtain, and Akko’s wonderful voice fluttered through. “It’s not really springing if they’re discharging me, is it?”
Jay’s heart swelled at the sound of her voice. “Yeah, well, they were keeping you locked up! You can’t convince me otherwise! I’m here to rescue you, let’s go!”
Akko giggled again. “Give me a minute, sweetheart, they’re taking out the IV and I know how much you hate needles.”
“Oof, yeah, thanks!”
Jay turned away, leaned on the doorframe, and whistled for a couple of minutes. She watched a nursebot rumble down the dimly-lit hallway, occasionally bumping into a crate or an IV stand. Her face contorted in amusement, but she forced herself not to laugh — it wasn’t really funny that the hospital had to keep the lights low to save money.
She turned back when she heard the curtain move, and found herself nose-to-nose with Akko. “Ahh! Surprise attack!” she yelped playfully before giving her wife a kiss.
Akko smiled, and then craned her neck to look around Jay. “Where are Sunil and Evan? Are they waiting in the hallway?”
Jay frowned. “Well… Sunil’s visiting his parents — you know how they won’t take no for an answer — and Evan’s in Anglyvin visiting his other other girlfriend — you remember Ylaia, right? She got injured in combat.”
Akko looked down. “Oh. I guess they won’t be around for a while, then.”
Jay shifted awkwardly. “They both send their love, though! And besides, I was thinking it’d be nice to do something just the two of us, yknow?”
Akko lifted her head, and though she was smiling now, Jay could still see traces of disappointment in her face. “That sounds great. Let me just change out of this hospital gown and we can go, alright?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Soon, the two of them had left the building and were walking down the main road. It was late evening, and quite dark out at that point. The streetlights provided a serene ambiance, and the street was practically devoid of cars and other people. Jay could just make out the top of the spaceport over a ridge in the distance, and there was a low roar as a ship took off into the sky.
“So, where are we going?” Akko asked, breaking the silence.
Jay fidgeted. “Well… I was planning a surprise date for us after you got out of the hospital. But the fu- fricking ATM ate my paycheck, so I kinda came up with something a little more budget.”
They turned off the road, and headed into an open field. The streetlights faded away behind them as they walked, and soon they only had the starlight to guide them.
Jay stopped. “Alright. Surprise!” She gestured to a patch of grass, where a couple of pillows lay. A cup with flowers in it rested between them, which Jay picked up and presented to Akko. “For you, m’lady.”
“Thanks, sweetheart.” Akko sniffed the flowers, and visibly suppressed a gag.
Jay deflated a bit. “Yeah, uh, they’re nothing fancy. I kinda got them by the side of the road.”
“They’re lovely,” Akko kissed Jay on the cheek, prompting the latter to blush. “Thanks for arranging this.”
The two of them laid down on the grass, hand-in-hand, looking straight up into the star-speckled night. They were quiet for a few minutes. Jay hoped that Akko was enjoying the view, because internally she was still on edge thinking about her paycheck, about next month’s rent, about Akko’s hospital bills…
Then she saw something that immediately quieted those thoughts. Up above, quite far out, there was an arc cut into the dark backdrop of the night. A shooting star.
"We're gonna be there, someday."
Akko shifted beside her. "Say what?"
Jay smiled, and pointed up at the shooting star. "I had a dream. A few months ago. We were up there. Not in a UL craft -- actually riding a shooting star.”
Akko laughed gently -- the sweetest sound in the whole world, one that made Jay feel like she was melting into the ground. "We were up there, huh?"
“Yeah! Did you know they're not actually stars, they’re big chunks of ice?”
Akko propped herself up on one elbow. “Is that so?”
“It's true, I read that once!” Jay continued excitedly. “When a shooting star goes near an actual star, it heats up, so it’s melting super slowly as it flies through space. The pretty trail it leaves behind is mostly dust that comes loose as it’s melting.”
Akko nodded along as Jay was talking. “Mmhmm.”
“It’s so cool to think about! You wouldn’t think it but their beauty comes from the fact that they’re constantly crumbling. It’s just so wild that there are these big space rocks that smear themselves across the sky with no purpose other than for us to watch."
"That is pretty neat. Sounds cold if it's made out of ice, though.” Akko rolled over on her stomach. “What was I wearing? I have to make sure I'm prepared for when it happens."
Jay grinned -- and then faltered. "Uhhh well… Actually, I'm not sure what you were wearing. I can't really picture what you were doing exactly. But I know you were there, because I was there, and what in the world would I be doing up sightseeing in space without my lovely wife?"
Akko snorted. "What about Evan and Sunil? Were they there?"
"I don't think so, but come on, Evan’s afraid of heights, there’s no way he’d come with us. Besides,” she added, frowning, “maybe this was an only-married-people-allowed trip.”
“Still pissed that they don’t want to get married?”
Jay scrunched up her face. “I don’t get it. They say they love us. What’s the point of not making it official?”
“Sunil’s parents don’t know he’s polyam, remember? He’s really afraid to tell them. Besides, he’s said he’s not ready for the commitment. Evan’s probably the same.”
“Why not? What are they waiting for? It’s not like -” (she squeezed Akko’s hand) “i-it’s not like there’s all the time in the world.”
Akko was silent. Jay rolled onto her side and studied her wife’s face. It was still the same face she’d fallen in love with when they’d met five years earlier, but it had aged prematurely. There were lines tracing her features, her cheeks were shallow, and her eyes looked so, so tired. She felt a pang of guilt at saying that — it probably wasn’t something Akko particularly wanted to think about right now.
“Hang on, I think I'm remembering what you were doing in my dream." Jay sat up and rubbed her temples. "There was someone there who felt like family -- that must've been you. But I think I was kind of annoyed at you in the dream -- you must've dropped my toothbrush in the toilet again.”
"Hey!" Akko sat up and playfully slapped Jay's leg. "That happened once!"
Jay snickered. "Your outfit's coming back to me now… You were wearing a suit -- real snazzy but like ridiculously retro. And you had a top hat — I could tell we were in low gravity because it kept floating off your head."
"Wow, really? That doesn't sound like me at all." Akko looked down at the faded sundress she was wearing, and tried to smooth out a wrinkle with her hand. "And I don't know how future me is affording an old fashioned suit."
"Maybe it’s not your usual style, but you'd look beautiful in literally anything.”
Akko chuckled, but it had less volume to it than before. Her hand slipped out of Jay’s, and she started twirling a strand of hair around her finger. “Yeah?” she asked, after a pause. “Even with my hair starting to fall out?”
Jay frowned and sat up. She reached for Akko’s hand and pulled it away from her head, causing the strand of hair to snap off. Akko looked away, but Jay watched it fall, fluttering briefly in the air. Then the breeze caught it and it dissolved, scattering away like dust.
“Yeah,” Jay breathed. “You’ll always be beautiful to me. Your hair is gorgeous, but it’s not what makes you beautiful — nothing can take that away from you.” Her jaw set. “And… and if you decided that you wanted a vintage suit, I wouldn’t stop until I could get you one. No matter the cost.”
Akko looked back at Jay, her eyes visibly wet but a smile on her face. She kissed Jay again, and laid on her back. “I hope your dream comes true. It sounds nice.”
Jay just watched her for a bit, and then laid back down herself. “Yeah. Me too.”
There was a buzzing noise, louder and closer than the chirping of the bugs. Jay frowned, and pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket. A calendar reminder flashed back at her and she groaned.
“Something wrong?” Akko asked.
Jay was silent for a moment, and then stood up. “No… well yeah… I’ve gotta go back to the mine to get a new paycheck from Biveluse before he leaves, and I can’t wait until tomorrow because PoIfeg is being an as- a butthead about the utilities bill.”
Akko nodded. “That’s rough. How about I come with you? I need to talk to Biveluse anyway and see if I can come back to work.”
Jay blinked. “What? Y-you just got out of the hospital. You’re doing chemo. You can’t work!”
“I have to, sweetheart. You, Sunil, and Evan combined don’t make enough money to cover rent, food, and my chemo. It’s not ideal, but I have to.”
For a moment, Jay could only gape. Then she balled her hands into fists and started trembling in anger. “This f- this h-... this fucking sucks!”
Akko stood up and embraced her wife. “I know,” she murmured. “I know.”
Jay let herself be hugged but didn’t return the favor. She looked up, and glimpsed the shooting star again. A memory floated back to her of her mother, long ago, telling her that people used to make wishes on shooting stars. She turned this idea over in her mind, nodded a little, and made a wish. She wished she didn’t have to be constantly afraid; wished that there would be an end to the instability plaguing her life. She wished there was someone like a guardian angel looking out for her and her loved ones — someone who’d make sure they were all safe and happy.
She knew it was nonsense, really. She knew these hopes were just like dust in the sky — pretty but ephemeral. She took one last look at the star, then linked hands with Akko, and headed off toward the cobalt mine.
(Millions of miles away, on a hunk of ice hurtling through space, a demon lay resting on his back. A distant thought prodded him in the head, and his eyes flickered open briefly in surprise. Who could be reaching him out here? He sighed, rolled onto his side, and closed his eyes once again. Just five more decades, please. Then he’d look into it.)