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It’s a hot, summer night, but someone was having some late night cravings. Deciding to visit the nearby convenience store that’s open 24/7, Aster left his room with nothing but track shorts and a short sleeved crop top on. He stopped at his door, wondering if he was a little indecent, but feeling too lazy to change into something else, he turned back around and picked up his coat, throwing it over himself as he left his room again and closed the door. He stopped at Astra’s as he finished pulling on his outerwear, knocking before opening. She was sitting at her desk playing League with dubstep music playing on her loudspeakers when she swiveled around to look at him.
“I’m going on a snack run, do you want anything?” he asked as he brushed over his hair, realizing none of his clips or pins were in. Not even his hair was braided.
“Yeah, could you get me a strawberry shortcake?” she requested.
Aster’s not sure if the convenience store sells those, let alone, how she planned to eat it all by herself. “Sure. And…” He didn’t know how to finish his sentence as he drew his eyes low and began picking at his coat sleeve.
From his periphery, he could see Astra nodding, supplying, “He’s already out.”
“Right. See you later,” he noted as he closed the door.
“Don’t be out for too long,” she suggested as she returned to her game.
Slipping on his sandals, Aster left with a mental shopping list of two items, and a time limit.
He’s never been to the local convenience store before. It’s the only one they have in Diamond City, but they have other stores like a bakery, a general store, a boba shop, and a lot of other cafes he can buy from, but they were all closed at this hour. In hindsight, he really should have visited the convenience store earlier, but he just wasn’t having any cravings then. The only reason he knew it existed anyways was because Ren always says that’s where he gets his snacks. So, you can imagine his shock when he found a familiar face behind the counter when he was ready to check in his items.
“Alban-senpai!?”
“Oh! Hey, Aster! Never seen you here before. Heh, you must be really hungry,” the thief now cashier? greeted with sunken eyes.
“Uhm, yeah. You work here?” Aster asked conversationally as he handed over his items.
“Well, I was actually the manager, but then Mysta came in, and now I’m back at square one, and since I’m the only worker here, I’m usually working all hours of the day. Mysta comes in to cover me sometimes. Usually after I’ve passed out from several days in a row. He says he’s still looking for more workers,” the cashier indulged as he completed the transaction.
“Oh, that’s good,” Aster replied. He honestly doesn’t know what to say in this situation. Thankfully, he could move on from this awkward conversation soon enough.
“Aster, you come here too!?” Ren beamed as he walked in, and suddenly Aster was feeling very self-conscious. Was his hair too messy? Was he showing too much skin?
He greeted the alien prince back, quickly taking to his side as they continued to talk. Once at the counter, Ren gave a simple greeting to Alban before returning to Aster. With both their items purchased, they left together, walking in whatever direction, when Ren suddenly stopped and went quiet. He was looking at the sky, and following his eyes, Aster saw a fleet of ships approaching. He turned back to read Ren’s expression, but he couldn’t find anything, so he turned back to the ships as they slowly encroached.
“What are you going to do?” he asked.
Ren hummed non-committedly. “I have to talk to them. They’re going to find my ship anyways.”
Aster hesitated to ask, holding onto his goodies even tighter, but he did anyway, “Do you… want any help?”
Ren smiled, but barely, as he closed his eyes and replied, “That would be nice, yeah.” He sounded nervous.
“Soo, what’s the plan?” Aster had already whipped out his phone and was texting Astra he was going to be out a while longer since he wanted to see Meteor. Bullshit lie, he knows, but she would believe it, thinking Aster wants to be a good big brother. He didn’t worry about Ren seeing since he was undergoing some nerve-wrecking stuff at the moment.
“Uuuh,” was all Ren could utter as he looked Aster up and down. He looked back at the ships, continuing, “You’ll be my personal attendant.”
That’s an odd title. “Like a-like an assistant? Or a secretary?”
“Yeah! Like that!” Ren was quick to agree.
They headed over to his ship, and sure enough, there were people that looked like Ren waiting for him, their ships surrounding his. He started talking to them, Aster standing beside him with their goods, when one of the other aliens approached him. She was saying something, Aster didn’t know what, and he looked at Ren for reassurance as he backed away from her. Ren gestured for him to get behind him, so Aster did without another word. They talked some more as Aster hid behind the alien prince, and the conversation seemed amicable enough. Then, another one of the aliens made… an obscene gesture Aster could easily understand. Looking at Ren, he was sweating bullets as he continued to avoid eye contact with the celestial, almost as if he was guilty of something, but Aster didn’t know what. Then he started thinking on his title, and it clicked for him just what Ren meant by that.
Throughout the rest of the conversation, while the alien prince felt like his family was beginning to back down from making a move against his claim on Earth, he felt an eerie presence growing behind him, and he didn’t dare to turn back to find out what it was because he had an idea. When his family left peacefully, he knew he had to face the music, but when he did, he was surprised to see Aster with his head down.
“Personal attendant, huh?” he suddenly spoke up, and Ren immediately knew he was not okay.
“I can explain,” he quickly reasoned as he backed away from the celestial, Aster moving closer to him. He bumped into his ship, and all he could do was stand there as Aster did with him as he pleased.
“Oh please do, I’m all ears. And all yours, apparently,” Aster demanded as he pushed the alien prince down to sit on the ground, deciding to straddle him. He pulled out his cuffs from his coat pocket to restrain the other to the leg of the ship, pressing his chest against his as he did so, and keeping his eyes half-lidded as he looked at him. “What would you like of me, your highness? Would you like dinner, a bath, or maybe… me?”
“Aster, please!” Ren begged. He didn’t want to break the celestial’s favorite toy, and he knew it was his favorite because he’d often see the other with his hand in his pocket, clicking something.
“Oh, did any of those sound interesting to you? Oh, your majesty, you don’t have to ask, just say it,” Aster suggested as he rested his hands on the alien prince’s shoulders.
Ren couldn’t say anything as he felt like his brain was frying. Maybe it was. “You’re so… hot,” he whined, and it was true. Everywhere felt like it was burning, and he didn’t know why. It was like Aster was burning through his clothes and burning his skin.
Aster gasped, before commenting, “So blunt, but that’s okay. Just relax, my prince, and I’ll take care of you.”
As the celestial wrapped his arms around the alien prince’s neck, he pleaded, “Aster… wait… I’m not ready…”
When Ren didn’t say anything more, Aster pulled back, and saw the alien prince passed out. He instantly teleported them to Ren’s dorm, Ren falling back as his head hit the pillows. The moment he plopped down on the bed, Aster realized the compromising position they were in, before hopping off. He left Ren’s snacks on his desk, and went back to pick up his cuffs from the ship. Once he was sure he had all his things, he returned to his apartment, blushing so furiously, he just hoped Astra wouldn’t see.