Chapter Text
The morning before a spaceship launch was always stressful, and considering the fact that he was going to be living in a different planet’s orbit after that launch was even more stressful.
Phil gazed out the window of mission control onto the space shuttle that was going to be his moving van that afternoon, it’s metal that had been painted white and and orange, with its name painted in black on the side, the CANARY.
After the years of training he’s had and the multiple times he’d seen it before, it never stopped surprising him the sheer fascination that the shuttle could stir in his heart. Especially now, knowing that this was the last time he’d be seeing it on earth, soon the thing he’d be seeing out his window would be the incomprehensible void of space.
He heard slight footfall coming from behind him, the light sound of metal soles against metal floors.
“Hey Fit.”
“Ugh! Fucking foiled again.”
Phil turned around to look at Fit, one of the research group that he’d be living with in the space station for the foreseeable future.
“You would’ve had me if it wasn’t for those stupid iron toed boots of yours.” Phil said, a bit of a laugh in his tone.
“Don’t try to flatter me, old man.” Fit jokingly responded, walking up to Phil’s side, gazing upon the CANARY as well.
“Can’t believe that we’re going to be launched off into space on that.” Fit said a melancholy note in his words.
“I’d have hoped that you’d be able to understand how space travel works by now.” Phil turned to Fit.
“You asshole.” A smile on fit’s face, despite his obvious attempts to smother it.
“ At Least if everything goes well, we’ll be eating dinner in space.”
“Oh god, don’t remind me, having to live with you and Tubbo for over a year. Hand me a trash can.” A fake gag out of fit’s mouth into his elbow had Phil in peals of laughter, his eyes tearing up slightly.
“Glad you didn’t realize before now.” Phil said sincerely, wiping his eyes with the heel of his hand
“Nobody I’d rather be there with than you, man.”
“Awwww, Mate.”
A few small giggles before they both looked out of the window. At the CANARY lit from behind by the rising sun.
“I just hope it’s not boring.”
Phil breathed in and then sighed.
“I hope it is.”
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Docking into the space station had been a smooth event and now 2 months later, the mystique of living in space had been ground by routine into a feeling of boredom , Phil looked into the microwave oven holding his waffles, he heard naked feet slapping against metal coming up from the connecting hallway from the kitchen to their sleeping quarters.
“Morning, Phil.” He felt Tubbo come up beside him and yawn. “Did you make any coffee?”
The microwave oven beeped before Phil could respond.
“Ooo, Waffles.”
“Hey, fuck off those are mine!”
Phil hunched over the microwave oven when Tubbo reached over to it.
“Those are the last ones!”
“We need to eat them fast!”
“I want one, asshole!”
“There’s only two left!”
“Well I’m hungry.”
“Ok fine, I’ll let you have one.” A cheer. “If you put the stupid kiwis on it.” A groan.
“Fine.” Tubbo said as he turned and grabbed one of the plastic food trays and when he turned back, Phil placed one of his waffles on it.
Phil grabbed his own food tray and plastic utensils, placing his own waffle on it and walked over to the food containment unit grabbing the little clear plastic bags of kiwi, strawberry and an additional packet of maple syrup.
“I don’t know how they mange to fuck up kiwi’s so bad, so fucking sour and for what.” Tubbo grumbled from the neighboring room where they ate their meals.
Phil walked into their dining room. “You should complain when we get our monthly message in.” They always had the opportunity to get in contact with earth a bit after their second bimonthly resupply mission.
“I’m not that bitchy- Oh of course you grabbed the strawberries you fucking asshole.” Phil laughed as Tubbo leaned back in his chair, heels of his hands rubbing his eyes, Phil sat across from him, leaning across the table setting the kiwi baggie and maple syrup beside Tubbo’s waffle.
“Enjoy your waffle.”
“Bastard.”
Phil chuckled quietly to himself as he bit open the baggie of strawberries and dumped it all over his waffles, he watched the cut up fruit and their juices fill in the crevices of the waffle. He picked up his plastic fork and cut a piece of it off, eating it.
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After listening to Tubbo mumble insults and swears to his waffles for 3 minutes, when Phil had eaten 2 thirds of his waffle, he heard the sound of Fits heavy footfall entering the kitchen.
“Morning, Fit! Do you mind grabbing me and Tubbo some coffee?” It had become a tradition that whoever woke up last would make coffee for the whole table. He heard shuffling from the kitchen and heard Fit’s deep voice grumbling.
“You have a bad night, bro?” Tubbo said amused by Fit’s exhaustion.
Fit entered their dining room holding 3 small bags full of coffee and a granola bar, looking like he had spent the last night counting each star instead of sleeping. “Jackass.” Fit threw a coffee bag at each of them before sitting down at the head of the table.
When Phil and Tubbo had both started drinking from their coffee bags, Fit cleared his throat.
“I wanted to tell you both about something I saw last night.”
Fit interlocked his fingers on the table in front of himself.
“I swear to god that I saw something outside my bedroom window last night before I went to sleep.”
There was a beat of quiet before Tubbo leaned over to loudly whisper in Phil’s ear. “Fit’s gone fucking insane, let’s kill him.”
Phil ignored him.
“What do you mean by ‘something’ Fit?”
“Okay.” Fit took a deep breath in. “So I had just changed into my pajamas and then I decided to look out the window, and there was this really weird hole, at least I thought it was a hole, in the stars but then it fucking went up!” Fit explained it all in one single breath.
“Are you sure it wasn’t just a part of the station? Or maybe a piece of debris in the distance?”
“It wasn’t connected to the station! It moved too fast to be a piece of debris too.”
Tubbo injected. “Maybe a bit of the station broke off. But if that happened we’d be way more fucked then if something was outside.”
Fit spoke to the both of them. “I’ve been in the scanner room for the entire night, all the scans said that the ship’s systems are all okay and that no debris was anywhere near the ship, HOWEVER.” Fit pointed from Tubbo’s face to Phil’s face. “If it was a piece of debris or a piece of the station, it would’ve shown up on the scans!” Fit looked like he had solved world hunger.
“Are you sure? How big was it? Maybe the scanners wouldn’t show if it was too small?” Tubbo seemed to still be disbelieving.
“It was about as big as my head.”
“They should’ve picked it up then…” Tubbo seemed deep in thought.
“Maybe me and Fit should take a look at the actual outside of the station? That way we can see if any of the scanners are actually broken?” Phil spoke up. He did enjoy spacewalking.
“I could do scans periodically, so if I don’t scan you we’ll know exactly which one is broken.” Tubbo seemed content.
“I think seeing it with your own eyes would be the only way to put your mind to rest, Fit.” Phil looked at the heavy eye bags underneath Fit’s eyes. And then at the still unopened granola bar and coffee in his hands. “Although we should probably finish eating first.”
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After they had all eaten, He and Fit had gone to put on their spacesuits while Tubbo had gone to the scanner room, after changing into their spacesuits, Phil spoke into his communicator.
“Hey Fit.”
“I’m literally right here asshole.”
He heard it from outside his helmet and it echoed from his communicator as well, Phil barked out a laugh before speaking to who he actually needed to speak too.
“Hey Tubbo.”
“Hey Phil. Are you both already outside?”
“Nope.” Phil responded as he stepped into the airlock beside Fit. “I thought I’d be a good idea to check the comms before we did.”
“Hey just because one of the scanners may have broken doesn’t mean everything is broken!”
“Whatever you say, Mate.” As he watched the airlock doors close and it start its decompression process.
“Fuck off.” Phil and Fit chuckled to eachother as they faced the door to the vacuum of space and watched it open.
Phil loved to feel the zero-g gravity as he floated out of the airlock and into space, it was one of the main reasons he’d gone through with his space training although his botany research had been a very close second.
“Anyways Fit,” Phil spun around to look at Fit floating behind him. “I was thinking one of us could go one way around the station and the other goes the other way?’
“Fuck that, man. Are you trying to get us both to be the beginning of a fucking horror movie?’
“Would that make Tubbo the final girl?”
“I’d make an incredible final girl.” He heard Tubbo’s voice crackle through his communicator.
“Just get the fuck over here.” Fit grabbed onto the shoulder of his suit and dragged him along the east side of the station.
“We’re heading along the sensors on the outer edge of the Living Quarters, Tubbo.” Fit said straight to business.
“Scanners are picking you up.” Tubbo’s voice affirmed “I’ll let you know if they stop.”
“Alrighty then.” Phil replied as fit gripped the outside walls of the station, like an elementary schooler gripping the walls of the ice rink their first time ice skating.
After a few minutes of Fit crab crawling on the outside of the station and Phil Launching himself in frog hops along it aswell, they had arrived at the windows into their living quarters.
“Now which one of these is yours, Fit?” Phil said into his communicator as looked inside each of the rooms.
“The fifth window.” He heard Fits voice crackle through, He knew Fit was just at the first window as Phil looked inside his room.
“Damn Mate. Do you ever clean?” He said as peered at the clothes and books scattered on the floor.
“Excuse me! Was kind of busy last night, with the whole fucking living thing outside my goddamn window!” Fit exclaimed as they could hear Tubbo’s laughter in the background.
“Do you actually think it was alive?” Phil said as he looked above the window in search of the mystery object.
“I mean it probably wasn’t.” Fit said as he floated to Phil’s right, grabbing onto the bicep of his suit, “But it still freaked me out, Y’know.”
“Maybe space madness is already getting a hold of you.” Phil said as he looked into where he thought Fits eyes would be if not for the helmet. “Might want to clear that up before we leave.”
Fit made a noise like he was about to say something.
Hazy white light surrounded them. There was a feeling of pressure all around their bodies like someone had replaced space with the ocean. And then a pulling sensation into the source of light.
Phil could feel his hands slip from the metal of the station. The only thing holding him was Fits death grip on his spacesuit.
He could hear the static of his communicator as he grabbed Fits prosthetic arm. He could feel the moment that Fit lost his grip on the station.
Phil pulled Fit into a hug, and prayed that he would hear their voices again.