Chapter Text
Beep beep beep beep!
A large palm hit the top of the ringing alarm clock, earning a muffled grunt of acknowledgement. There was no excited wide awake jump out of bed, no ‘good morning city’ bellowed from the window, no good morning jumping jacks. He was like a bear coming out of a deep hibernation, slow and extremely sluggish. After all, there was nothing motivating him to get up today other than his shift at the construction site. Even with the three cats curled up in the empty space on the bed, Emmet couldn’t shake the unnatural loneliness each morning this week had brought him.
There was no morning hugs, no sleepy kisses, no need to tell Benny his morning breath smelt gross and to push him off for work. There was no need because he wasn’t there. Even the bad mornings where Benny would wake up to one of his panic attacks would have been comforting for Emmet right about now, not that he wanted Benny to experience that pain, but because it meant Emmet knew he could be the one to keep him safe and calm him down. Now that Benny was gone, way too far out of Emmet’s reach, it just didn’t sit right with him at all. Good or bad, he wanted to share these mornings with those sleepy eyes and those freckles arms that pulled the construction worker in so tight. After being alone for twenty two years, it was hard to adapt when the only person to really appreciate you was gone from your daily life.
Emmet couldn’t say he didn’t see it coming. They both knew it was bound to happen. Ever since the night Benny barreled in the door with the fantastic news that he was healthy enough to get his job back they both knew this was going to come further down the road. Emmet just wasn’t sure that it would be so soon. Benny had been an astronaut for years in the past before his accident, he chatted about it idly over many of their dinners among various other activities. Emmet knew how important it was for Benny to get his job back, to be able to return to the place he loved most. That didn’t mean Emmet liked the idea of being so far away, as selfish as it had seemed. Even despite never having to deal with any kind of relationship being long distance before, Emmet knew this took the cake on any distance with a relationship. Not many could say that their boyfriend or date mate was off the planet.
There was no jealousy or resentment behind Emmet’s sore spot on the topic; rather he was full of worry and concern for Benny’s mental health. Multiple times Benny would act all tough and brave, chest puffed out like he could take on the world, only for him to bite off more than he could chew and then not ask for help. This is what worried Emmet because of Benny’s track record, would the blue engineer ask for help if he needed something or would he merely take it silently and potentially compromise their entire mission? It was easy to say on paper what was right and wrong, but in the heat of the moment Emmet wasn’t sure Benny could hold himself together if a time of crisis struck. Holding his breath, he silently prayed it never would come to that. He covered his eyes in the bend of his elbow, dreading any situation that would come with that kind of scenario. It was too early for this.
Beep beep beep beep!
The snooze alarm was quickly disabled by another firm palm and now it was time for Emmet to truly get up out of bed. If he wanted to keep this job he would need to actually show up on time. He was already skating on thin ice this week, and with Benny not home Emmet really did not want to stay at home either. Nothing could erase the emptiness after four years of living together; four years of finding textbooks scattered around as Benny napped half on the couch, four years of forgetting who’s turn it was to feed the fish, four years of Benny never touching a single dish and simply spraying them with Febreze to eliminate any odors as if Emmet wouldn’t notice. As an engineer, Emmet honestly thought Benny would be smarter than to spray the surfaces they ate on with spay, but then again Emmet had been witness to Benny wrapping their bowls in tinfoil so he could enjoy cereal without needing to wash the bowl afterwards. As irritating as it was, it was ingenious. This was some next level laziness; Emmet had to hand it to him.
Once the coffee pot was set, Emmet carefully thumbed over his chin. Thankfully there was no stubble, meaning that he could pass on this morning’s shower which would leave him an extra ten minutes to put fresh food and water in the cat’s bowls before going over to feed the fish in the tank. It was lovely having so many pets, even if the cats had come from Benny’s sporadic need to adopt what he called ‘broken animals’ or animals that Benny knew were injured and would never get adopted otherwise. The fish, however, were a completely different story.
It had been one of their first dates and they had gone to a fair, one of which Emmet had spotted one of those games where you toss the balls into the glasses to win the fish. Benny compromised with Emmet that if they went on a few rides together, despite Emmet’s fear of roller coasters, he would win Emmet as many fish as he wanted. Of course Emmet never expected to come home with ten fish, but he also never expected to feel so heartbroken when one by one all the fish passed within the first week of ownership due to their poor keeping at the fair. To Benny the only possible solution was to buy Emmet all new fish, fish that often got fed twice their normal amount due to their owner’s forgetfulness, meaning they had grown quite big and fat over the course of time.
Any and all fond memories were cut off as the coffee pot made a faint beeping, letting Emmet know it was ready to be served. It was such a waste to use this coffee maker when he only drank one cup in the morning from home, but it was such a habit to pour them both a mug that when Emmet realized he would be eating morning breakfast only with Planty he felt a bit reluctant to pour the extra mug down the drain. Planty really shouldn’t drink coffee, Emmet reasoned, before picking up Planty and his mug in one hand and the TV remote in the other. Hoping for some sort of news coverage on the mission Benny was on, Emmet was both unsurprised and disappointed when there was no segment but instead a ten minute discussion about a local ice cream stand hosting a new flavor of ice cream. One careful gaze at the clock told him it was time to go fetch his car keys and get ready for work.
Driving in to town was easy. He was programmed after all to turn on the radio, sing to whatever Top Forty songs were on the waves that mornings commute, and drop off his dry cleaning before entering Larry’s coffee shop. Well, Larry hardly owned the place but he worked there enough to be the face of the company. Emmet was positive that beneath his scowl that Larry really loved this place and that’s why he was there so often, not because he needed to be there. Still, per usual, the line stretched nearly out the door. It wasn’t until Emmet got to the counter and was hands his morning usual without even ordering that something unusual had taken place. Giving Larry a confused look, the barista gave a soft sigh.
"It’s been paid for, now please, you’re holding up the line."
Baffled and confused, Emmet decided to shrug it off and continue on with his way to work. There was no point in arguing with Larry over a cup of coffee. Free coffee was free coffee right? Maybe the person before him was just really generous and paid for his coffee. Yeah, that sounds plausible. It’s not like anyone he was close with really lived in Bricksburg, sure he had friends and knew just about everyone in town by first and last name, but nobody was extremely close to him. Even after TAKOS Tuesday things immediately returned to normal, minus out the two weeks he dated Lucy only for them to mutually realize that the relationship wasn’t going to work. It wasn’t long before she had gone back to Batman, which admittedly left Emmet a bit bitterer than he tended to admit.
Finally it was time to punch in, grabbing his helmet and putting his employee numbers down on the touch pad. Work was, well it was work. It was hardly Emmet’s first job, and he was positive it wouldn’t be his last, but of all his previous jobs this was his favorite. The work was easy, well easy to follow anyways being that he was given straight forwards instructions as to what to do for the day. Sure it was easier said than done but it was how he preferred to work.
Work went by fast, too fast for Emmet. It was the one time during the day where he couldn’t let his thoughts bother him, any worries were left at the door and there was no worry of someone else like Gail taking his baggage by mistake. Everyone had their own baggage, but it was easiest to say that Emmet carried the most. The drive back was quick, no traffic despite it being the typical five pm rush of everyone just getting out of work and commuting home. Still, there was no rush when Emmet was doubtful that he would hear from Benny tonight.
Kicking off his shoes upon entering their apartment, Emmet made a beeline to grab some chips from the kitchen before sitting on the couch. Knowing the space was unoccupied by any napping spacemen, Emmet slouched back into the couch, fist full of chips in one hand with the TV remote in the other. He was too tired to try and talk to Planty, too sad to really pay attention to what was on TV. Wiping one hand on his pants to get rid of any crumbs, the bag was soon ditched to the floor in favor of a nap. Lord knew he wanted to sleep the next three months away, if only that would make Benny come home any faster.
Out like a log, it wasn’t until a vibration against the coffee table sent one of the cats skittering from its resting place did Emmet fully wake. A text? Nobody texted him, everyone had his number but the only one to text him was-! Cutting off his own thought, Emmet sprang up from his slumber, grabbing at the abandoned iPhone and quickly swiping the lock screen to see that little ‘1’ bubble over the message icon. That alone built up his excitement.
Benny: Hey, Emmet! Do you have a minute to get on Skype?
The text made his heart flutter, causing him to grin cheek to cheek. Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh my g-o-s-h! It was the first time all week since Benny had left that they finally could speak, which felt way longer being that Benny had to leave an additional week early to his launch date to be in quarantine. Watching the Skype logo load was torture, taking what felt like years before finally he heard a little chirp seeing that Benny was trying to call him. Pressing accept as fast as he could manage, chocolate eyes widened as Benny’s face came into screen.
Freckles washed out by the webcam and lighting, Benny had his phone stuck to the wall to prevent it from floating off, much like the other objects were doing in the background. This also left Benny’s hands free to move as he spoke, being one to talk with his hands. His two toned hair had been trimmed, Emmet noticed, his once blonde curly locks now trimmed to show off those naturally brown buzzed sides. He was sure it hadn’t been Benny’s idea and most likely an attempt by the higher ups to make Benny look slightly more professional when dressed up. Everything about this was magical for Emmet, more than he could have ever hoped for despite Benny not even saying a word yet.
"Hello there, handsome stranger" Benny winked, trying to make Emmet laugh. "But no, really, Emmet! It’s so great to finally hear from you!"
Benny’s grinning face soon shifted to one of confusions, unsure why he could see Emmet on screen but unable to hear his voice. After checking his own settings, Benny soon realized that the hangup was on Emmet’s end, not that he was surprised.
"Emmet, hey, Emmet, dude your mic is off! You gotta turn on your mic or I can’t hear you!"
Fumbling around Emmet managed to turn on his mic, only to disable his can which earned another squawk from Benny until all technical issues were resolved. There was a small pause, the two of them just taking in finally getting to see each other after what felt like so long. It was Benny who finally broke the ice.
"Hey, Emmet, did you get my SnapChat I sent earlier?" Benny asked, noticing that Emmet shook his head. "You can look at it later; I just want to talk with you right now." Emmet gave a little nod in response, not even sure where to start.
"Benny, I’ve missed you so much, it’s so weird having to wake up without you curled up in bed. I always instinctively look up to see if you’ve hit the ceiling or are off with the cats and it just… Oh Benny, I don’t want to worry you with how lonely I’ve been. I just wanna hear about you. Tell me about what’s you’ve been up to! You must be suuuuper busy!" Benny grinned back, Emmet melting at that toothy grin even if Benny was missing a tooth.
"Well, I can’t give away all my secrets, Mr. Brickowski, but I can assure you things are going smooth as can be. Smooth like when you pet with the grain on the cats fur. Speaking of cats, are they all okay? Did Huston fall or anything?"
Huston is one of Benny’s three cats. Huston was the oldest, black in color but missing a front leg. It usually caused him to fall off various objects and not stick his landings. Hale-Bopp was a gray and white cat, more antisocial than the others and mainly only made himself present if food was left out in the open. Last was Amnesia, a cat formerly named Vega but Benny often forgot what he had named the orange lil fella. Amnesia was Emmet’s favorite based off color alone.
"Huston’s fine, just taking over all the places where you sleep is all. I wouldn’t be surprised if you came back and there was just black fur all over your side of the bed. But enough about the cats, Benny, stop dodging and let’s talk about you. You can’t expect me not to be curious with you so far away!"
Finally Benny broke a little, deciding to be more open about his duties on the ship. “As engineer, it’s my job to make sure everything’s running smoothly. Hey, Emmet, take the phone with you and go into our room.”
"Benny, I don’t think this is a good idea, aren’t you sorta in public?"
The noise of embarrassment from the other end of the Skype call could be clearly herd throughout the shuttle, causing some of the other astronauts to look over. Feeling his face heat up, Benny quickly combed his hair with one hand, trying to take an unnoticeably deep breath to get himself under control.
"Emmet, I wasnt implying that at all! Oh my goodness, just go into our room before I hang up!" Face notably as red as his crew mates suit, Emmet listened to the instructions still unclear to Benny’s motives. Fidgeting with his shirt collar a thousand thoughts rushed through his head. He was zoning out, lost in thought, until Benny’s voice hit his ears.
"What I wanted you to do was go to my bookshelf and lift up the globe. Beneath that is a schematic of the ship I’m on. You know, the schematic you almost rubbed Dorito powder on."
"Ohhh!" Emmet’s voice rang as he put the phone down to gently pick it up. It gave Benny a nice view of their ceiling, all the constellations of glow in the dark stars still stuck up where he had left them. "Benny I got it let me open it out on the bed so I can see the whole thing." Spreading the schematic out and then holding the phone’s camera to make sure he had the right one, Emmet soon flipped it back to see Benny’s smiling face as he made himself comfortable on their bed.
"Yep that’s the right one! Now if you’re done assuming that we are going to have phone sex I’m going to explain to you about the ship." Getting a nod from Emmet was Benny’s cue to start up. Benny explained the whole ship top to bottom, answering every question Emmet could think of along the way. He described why the front was shaped as it was how they moved through the stars; the only thing he left out was why he was there in the first place. Unfortunately his long explanation was starting to peak into the late hours of the night.
"Benny, I really don’t want to hang up, but it’s almost one and I have work in the morning." Benny quieted down from his excited chatter to look both ways, noticing that nobody was really paying attention to him anymore. Blowing a little kiss to Emmet and saying goodnight Benny ended their call and signed off. He had to charge his phone anyways and get some sleep before it was time for him to get back to work as well.
Emmet cleaned the schematic off his bed, carefully tacking it to a free place on the wall before getting into his pajamas. Climbing into bed, Emmet remembered to open his SnapChat, seeing various silly selfies Benny had sent him through the day. Pictures of him and his pals playing catch with apples in zero-g, pictures of him drinking water droplets out of the air with a straw. It was the newest picture that made Emmet feel warm from head to toe. Last but not least was one Benny had sent moments after their call, just a dim lit selfie that had the text “sweet dreams” on it. Emmet could see that Benny was tired, sleeping exactly as he did when he often found him napping on their couch. It was comfort enough to know that Benny would be safe tonight, giving Emmet the ease to nod off finally as well, phone in hand and prepared to take on tomorrow with new found optimism.