Chapter Text
"caelus."
dan heng’s voice cut through the fog that obscured the mind of the trailblazer, snapping him back to reality. the stellaron given human form looked up, his gaze distant and preoccupied, glazed with a haze of strange weariness. caelus had seemed oddly exhausted for quite some time now— and whenever dan heng attempted to hold conversation with him, as he was doing now, the trailblazer seemed to grow withdrawn.
"did you even hear what i asked?" dan heng inquired, his tone gentle but exasperated, concealing his mild concern, though his blueish-grey eyes, deep as the ocean, expressed naught but warmth that contrasted his usually stoic expression. caelus rubbed at his eyes, mumbling an apology.
"sorry, dan heng…" the trailblazer responded exhaustedly, pulling his legs up as he sat on the chair, propping his chin on top of his knees. "could you repeat yourself one more time?"
dan heng sighed, looking away, his eyebrows furrowing as he began to think. "it was nothing particularly important. if you’re this exhausted, you should be heading to bed."
"aw, but i like hearing you talk…" caelus said with a small frown, pouting a little. he really did enjoy listening to dan heng’s long-winded rambles, exhaustive in detail as they were. dan heng merely looked back at the trailblazer, mildly confused at the face he was making.
"there’s always tomorrow, caelus." dan heng sighed softly, knowing how oddly stubborn the trailblazer could be. the drinker of the moon was so, so completely clueless as to how caelus really felt for him— it tore at the conscious star’s heart sometimes like a feral beast, driving its claws and fangs deep into the pulsing flesh of his soul, his living core. the look in dan heng’s eyes was devoid of the love caelus sought— he only divined the care of a friend, when he wished they could be more. the thought made the living star’s chest ache.
"i guess so…" caelus agreed begrudgingly, much to dan heng’s surprise. caelus always had some sort of witty response to dan heng’s suggestions— it really wasn’t like him to agree so easily. "i’ll be off, then. see you tomorrow morning." without a word, caelus stood, slowly walking back to his cabin with an unsteady gait.
dan heng watched him go, silently noting how he seemed to be almost off-balanced as he walked. he looked away once more, stormy-sea grey eyes returning to his book for a few moments as caelus closed the door to the passenger cabins behind him.
the moon-drinker silently turned a page of his book, eyes glossing over the familiar chinese characters as smoothly as water flowing across river rocks. caelus had picked up quite a bit of reading material for him on the xianzhou luofu; he still had quite a lot of stories to get through.
as dan heng read, he began to think. as he idly turned another page, his thoughts once again lingered on his close friend. he had been acting very, very off lately. it just didn’t add up— his sleep schedule hadn’t changed, nor had his self-care habits, and yet with each passing day the living star grew more and more dim. the imbibitor looked away from his book, silently flipping the bookmark in between the pages to save his place; standing shortly after and walking over to the passenger cabins.
the dragon stopped before the conscious star’s door, knocking once, twice, thrice. no response… but it seemed like the door was unlocked. dare he risk it…? it seemed almost like an invasion of privacy— then again, caelus had barged into his room multiple times without knocking. he steeled himself, silently sliding the door open…
oh. how anticlimactic. caelus was already asleep, his blanket wrapped tightly around him. he twitched every now and then, and dan heng couldn’t help but wonder what he was dreaming of. perhaps the star’s dream was of him and march, traveling through the inky void of space, forging a path where no others dared to tread.
with a small smile, dan heng closed the door behind him, leaving the star to his dreams.
~
fin. chap 1