Work Text:
A glittering green gemstone sat on his desk, innocently shining as Aventurine looked at the gemstone that his name was taken from.
Repaired as if it was never shattered by his hands, never grounded to dust. Shining just like the day he joined the Stonehearts.
He did his job for the IPC. Gambled all that he was for them. Destroyed his own Cornerstone to gain a foothold into Penacony for them.
But after all was said and done, they saw it fit to keep him on the payroll. To keep him working for them.
What other choice was there than to take it?
The only “reward” for everything he went through on Penacony were the nightmares.
The first night after escaping Nihility was one of the worst nights he had in a long time. Waking up drenched in sweat, covered in torn bedsheets, hands bleeding from where his nails had dug into his skin, throat raw from screaming at Nothing.
Each night after that was the same, waking up sweaty from utter despair. Each time he closed his eyes, tired from the day's work, Aventurine wondered if finally he'll be able to sleep peacefully. It was a gamble that he always lost night after night.
Only if she stayed the night did it subsided, giving him a brief respite from the terrors. But when the smell of her perfume finally faded away from his pillows, the terrors came back with renewed strength the following night. With both Belobog and Penacony under her purview, Topaz had little time to spend aboard the IPC ship where he currently stayed. Not that he could selfishly ask her to stay with him anyways.
The treatment from the Doctor of Chaos helped. It rooted him mentally to reality once more. To the world of the living instead of that place with black and white waters. The terrors that came whenever he shut his eyes had vanished, steadily, over time.
It helped enough for him to do the work the IPC required of him. Everything was going smoothly once more. He was doing fine. It was back to business as usual for Aventurine.
But there was only one person who didn't fall for his bluff.
His cocky smile. His exuberant cologne.
His sweet whispered words as they laid in bed together.
No matter how flashy and normal he acted, Topaz knew he still kept one clutched hand out of sight. That the place he went to after being cut by an Emanator still affected him even after treatment.
The realization struck her as she watched him one evening from afar in the mess hall. It was so obvious that she couldn't believe how she didn't see it sooner.
He ate alone. Not that unusual for him when he wasn't busy chatting up potential “friends”. But it was the little movements he made that signaled to her that something was up.
His eyes that usually roamed around the room either looking for her or for anyone that might be useful to him as a friend were now rigidly staring at the silverware of the employees in the mess hall, his head whirling at the sudden harsh sound of a carving knife against the ceramic of a dinner plate.
His choice of seat she realized didn't face the windows that gave a glimpse to the boundless sea of stars outside. Instead he kept them to his back, watching over IPC grunts and the drab interiors of the IPC ship instead.
And as she knew for herself, his bedroom lights were dim but always on in the night, never letting true darkness fall.
Maybe he wasn't even aware of these little yet significant decisions he had made.
But she was.
The person who instantly casted her vote to save him from expulsion, possibly worse.
Topaz saw it all. And she had enough.
It was time for her to do something about it.
“Meet me at Meeting Room 31 in five system hours. Clear your schedule for at least two system hours.”
Aventurine woke up to an oddly formal text from Topaz. Only in public did she keep up the impression that the two of them were nothing more than coworkers and fellow Stonehearts. Their private messages were usually much more informal, the two of them sharing pictures of Numby and the cat cakes he had. The morning text puzzled him. They weren't assigned any work that required their cooperation. So that left the only thing that she wanted to talk to him about something serious and he had a feeling he knew what it was about. But for her, he could handle talking about it.
For her, he could clear out his whole day and night.
At the appointed time, he waltzed into Room 31, finding Topaz and Numby waiting for him sitting on a… red couch. The rest of the room had the usual IPC meeting room necessities but a couch wide enough for someone to lay down stood out like a sore thumb.
“Hello Topaz.”
“Hello Aventurine.”
They greeted each other as he closed the gap between them with Numby squealing and wiggled in excitement the closer he got.
“Hi to you too Numby,” Aventurine chuckled, fishing a gold coin out of his pocket and tossed it over in a wide arc, which they caught in their mouth with a jump.
“That shouldn't be in one of these meeting rooms, Topaz,” he told her, nodding towards the couch, forgoing any pleasantries and getting right to the point of the meeting.
“I had a few of my subordinates bring it in here. The couch is for later. But for now there's something that you should try instead.”
She paused briefly, giving him an almost nervous glance. “You haven't exactly been yourself since Penacony so I thought I should help you out,” she explained.
He raised an eyebrow, knowing what she meant by that as well as signaling her to continue.
She raised Numby by their belly, their legs moving in circles in the air.
“Namely by some trotter therapy.”
“Trotter… therapy.” Aventurine repeated the words back to her.
“Whenever I'm having a rough day, I find that spending some time petting Numby makes all my worries go away. So, in the interest of cheering you up, I want you to give it a try.” Finishing her sentence with a snap of her fingers, Numby disappeared and reappeared a second layer in front of Aventurine. They let out a little chirp and sat on their hind legs, waiting for him.
“Don’t be shy. Hug them.”
At her insistence Aventurine knelt it down and after a moment of hesitation, grabbed Numby as gently as he could and hugged them. Numby's small frame made it easy to wrap his arms around their round body. It did feel strangely satisfying to do, almost as if he were hugging a warm pillow. Copying what Topaz did earlier, he shifted his grip and lifted them up in the air, holding them out so their stubby legs wouldn't hit him in the face. Numby wiggled and grunted but didn't seem to mind it that much.
“Numby doesn't let anyone touch them, you know,” she said with a hint of pride as she watched them from the couch. “For some reason they're afraid of Lady Jade though.”
“That snake of hers could eat them whole if it felt like it,” he replied, putting Numby back down on the floor and started to give them some scratches behind their ears. He's given them a few pats here and there but now that he's paying more attention, he realized how soft they truly were. If that was common for a Warp Trotter he couldn't tell. Even after listening to hours of Topaz presenting facts about Numby and Warp Trotters in general; the only thing that mattered to him was that they both were cute in their own way to him.
“I have a few ‘Numby petting’ vouchers that I offer as work incentives for my subordinates and here you are freely touching them,” Topaz mused.
“I'm starting to see why you would, it is nice getting them pets. The cat cakes I have aren't quite as willing to be petted.” He remembered that Topaz mentioned that Numby liked getting scratched under their snout and he did so, which made Numby start to lean into his touch, letting out soft noises of enjoyment.
After a few minutes Numby suddenly took an interest in the pockets of his coat, burying their snout and sniffing around, tickling him.
“What are you- oh. Is this what you want?”
From his pocket Aventurine took out one of his personal gambling chips, a round light green piece of a high quality mixture of clay and metal with gold engravings. The squeal of happiness that Numby let out told him he was right.
“Those would fetch a high price for any ‘Aventurine Fanclub Members’,” Topaz commented.
“Oh? So you'll want a signed poker chip from me then?” he teased, handing the one in his hand to Numby while he took out another one and tossed it across the room to Topaz which she caught.
“Shut up,” she told him but pocketed it all the same.
Aventurine spent some more time petting Numby, realizing that at some point he was smiling. The Trotter Therapy came to an end once Numby decided they had enough and after a quick nuzzle of their snout against Aventurine’s hand, they once more disappeared and reappeared next to Topaz.
“How do you feel?” she asked him, gently patting Numby on the back for doing such a good job.
Aventurine mulled the question over. “Better. More relaxed. Wouldn't have minded it if it lasted longer.” He did feel as if a small weight was lifted off his shoulder after that trotter therapy session.
“Now for the second half.”
She stood up and sat back down on the couch, moving towards the right side and further back so her knees were right up against it. Topaz took a second to collect herself then patted her thighs and nodded to them.
“Come here.”
Aventurine blinked. It took him a few seconds to understand what she meant and to finally realize why the couch was here in the first place.
She was going to give him a lap pillow.
Even though he was blessed by Gaiathra Triclops herself, Aventurine couldn't help but feel really lucky at this moment.
It was a lap pillow from Topaz after all.
Topaz let out a dismissive noise as if she knew what he was thinking.
“Yes yes I know. Just come here already,” she said, rolling her eyes.
He walked over to her and sat next to her on the couch, back turned to her. After a nod from Topaz to go ahead, Aventurine slowly laid down on the couch and rested his head down against her thighs. It was different from a normal pillow but still comfortable to lay his head against. He looked up at Topaz and his lips curled up into a smile.
“None of your usual comments, Aventurine. This is for relaxation purposes only.” Topaz's sharp voice cut through his train of thought.
“Wow, I'm feeling relaxed already,” he sarcastically remarked.
For a few minutes they sat in silence, Topaz simply observing Aventurine while his eyes wandered around the room, looking back at her every so often.
“Do I have something on my face?” he finally asked.
“You haven't been sleeping well," she quietly murmured, gently tracing the outlines of darkening circles underneath his eyes with her index finger.
Aventurine scoffed.
“Topaz. We work for the IPC and we're Stonehearts. Stress is nor-”
“It's not normal IPC stress,” she interrupted, continuing in a softer tone. “You haven't left this ship since Penacony. At least as far as I know.”
Silence grew between them once more but didn't linger for long.
“Relax. It's only me here.”
Aventurine realized his hands had closed, his fingers unable to grip the smooth fabric of the couch and were clenched into fists.
“Do you still have nightmares?” Topaz ran her fingers through his hair, softly pushing aside his bangs.
“No.”
The look Topaz gave him told him that she didn't believe that answer. He sighed and told her the truth.
“Nothing vivid… like before. Just an overwhelming sense of fear and hopelessness wakes me a few times during the night. I can deal with that much.”
Topaz continued to brush his hair as she spoke.
“Are you really going to spend the rest of your life without looking at outer space ever again? Or constantly jump at harsh sounds of metal?” Her tone was gentle and sympathetic.
He had a comment about how he could simply use holograms for work instead ready on his tongue but the words never left his mouth. Her words brought a spotlight to the actions he tried to convince himself as normal.
“No I won't. But what am I supposed to do? Call the Doctor of Chaos again? This is just a minor annoyance compared to before.”
“You have me. We can talk. I can do whatever I can to help you.”
“I don't want to bother you with this.” The words left his mouth a bit too sharp and he winced as if he cut his own tongue against them. Half mindedly he wondered if this is what Sunday felt from what he learned happened after he was sent to Nihility, wanting to protect others by taking on all the risk by himself.
“You kept others away with your flashy showmanship and yet you let me in. It's too late to take that back now,” Topaz said, her hands now on his cheeks as she turned his face towards him. If his comment hurt her she didn't show it.
“If you didn't want help, you wouldn't have come here. But you did. You petted Numby like I told you and here you are on my lap. You don't need to hide anything from me. If you want to pet Numby more just tell me. If you want to lay your head in my lap again, I'll fit you in my schedule. Just let me help you.”
“You're worth so much more than my ‘Topaz’ Kakashava,” she whispered lovingly, holding back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes.
Aventurine felt his heart ache at both the sight of her teary eyes and for realizing how foolish he was for not wanting to rely on the one person that could trust and love with all his heart.
“You called my bluff Jelena,” he whispered back, cupping her cheek with his own hand.
“Fine. I'll show you the cards I was dealt and we'll play them together. Helping each other until the deck is finished.”
With that he leaned his head up and their lips met. A wordless apology from him and an unwavering acceptance from her. It was a sharing of love from their hearts to one another, a promise that no matter what, the two of them united would get through it all.
Once they broke the kiss, she guided his head back down into her lap.
“Do you think you can go to sleep like this?” Topaz asked.
Aventurine nodded. She tapped her phone and slowly, the lights on the room started to dim. She could feel his body stiffen the darker the room became.
“It's okay. I'm-” She stopped to correct herself as Numby made their presence known by gently laying on Aventurine’s stomach. “We're here for you. Nothing bad will happen to you,” she quietly promised, reaching for his hand and entwining her fingers with his.
“Go to sleep.”
Aventurine slowly closed his eyes, keeping his mind focused on the warmth of Topaz's hand, his one lifeline of comfort, as he gradually fell asleep.
For a split second, when Aventurine opened his eyes again and saw pure darkness, fear gripped his heart. But he remembered that his fingers were intertwined with Topaz's, a sign that he wasn't alone and the fear faded just as quickly as it came.
Noticing he was awake, Topaz controlled the lights to grow brighter at a slow pace to ease them in from the darkness. Aventurine lifted his head off Topaz's lap and sat next to her.
“I haven't slept that well in a while,” he yawned, stretching his arms out.
“It was just a short one system hour nap. I was slowly losing feeling in my thighs at the end though,” she said while rubbing them. “I didn't want to accidentally wake you up by moving.”
“Thank you Topaz, I mean it.” he said softly, wrapping an arm around her.
“Don't mention it, I'm here to support you,” she said, leaning against him. Numby appeared from under the couch, having warped off Aventurine during his nap. They squealed, obviously displeased to have been left out of the conversation and hug.
“And Numby too,” Topaz chuckled.
The three of them enjoyed a moment of quiet together.
Then his lips curled into a smile and Aventurine leaned over, patting her thighs with his free hand. “Wouldn't have needed the Doctor of Chaos if we did this earlier,” he whispered with a toothy grin.
“Aeons Aventurine, we were having a moment!” Topaz groaned, brushing his hands away and got up off the couch on her feet, a light blush on her cheeks.
“Well, I'm glad to hear that but we should get going. We both have work to do,” she said as her phone started to sound off as various pings and notifications came through one after another.
Aventurine reluctantly got up to his feet as well.
“I bet tonight you'll sleep comfortably,” she said, casting a glance at him, already busy organizing the tasks she had to work on with her phone.
“What's your wager?” he asked, a sly smile on his lips. Topaz put her phone away and took a moment to think about it.
“If I'm right… then the next time our days off align, I'm taking you to my personal ship. There's so many more cuddly critters for you to meet and pet,” she said with a fond sigh.
“And if you're wrong?” Aventurine asked, wondering what she would risk for making a claim like that.
She paused at the door, smiling back at him.
“I won't be.”
With that Topaz turned around and left, Numby following after her with a chirp as a goodbye. The clicking of her heels slowly faded away, leaving Aventurine standing there alone, impressed.
“My confidence must be rubbing off on her...”
When the workday was over for him, he retired to his room to sleep. For the first time in a while, the lights went completely dark as he fell asleep without worrying what would greet him in his dreams.
A warm smile. Indescribable yet cute noises of a Warp Trotter. The sensation of another's hand on his. A heartfelt promise.
This time peace and hope greeted him from his slumber.
Topaz was right.
He was able to sleep comfortably again.