Work Text:
The click of Ruan Mei's heels echoed throughout the Seclusion Zone. The unusually empty zone of the Herta Space Station seemed even quieter than usual. Typically, when she'd come down the elevator, one or two of her critters would crawl over to her, but today, no one.
"Munya!"
The sound of one of her critters, a failed experiment from not long ago echoed in her mind.
Usually, she'd pay no mind to them, allowing them to simply exist as she conducted her research and did her work, but in their absence, she felt strange.
She shrugged off the thought and entered her office, and as the doors opened, she could hear the faint sound of music coming from a distant room, along with the chanting of "Munya!".
Naturally, her curiosity brought her to investigate the origin of the out-of-place sounds, and there she found Caelus, a person who's become more recurring in her life, dancing, and singing with her critters.
As she stood in the doorway, he seemed to not have noticed her yet, continuing to dance and play with the critters until the song had ended.
With the song ending, the critters began jumping up and down, letting out a flurry of excited and eager "Munya's!"
"Okay, okay, be patient..."
Caelus said as he turned his attention toward the radio and as he was tinkering with it, saw Ruan Mei watching from the corner of his eye.
His eyes widened and he quickly settled on a calm, relaxing song that the critters seemed to enjoy, a murmur of satisfied "Munya's!" coming from them.
"Oh, hey Ruan Mei."
Caelus said casually, smiling nervously, glancing back at the critters before looking at her with the same smile.
"I hope you don't mind me being down here in the Seclusion Zone, I didn't have the heart to break my promise to these lil' guys."
He said, standing up from his squat in front of the radio and walking over to her.
"You... made a promise to them?"
Ruan Mei questioned him, her eyes moving from Caelus's to the critters who seemed to enjoy the smooth jazz Caelus had turned on the radio for them.
"Yeah, before I left last time I promised that I'd come back."
He said, chuckling as he tugged at his collar out of embarrassment.
"It's kind of dumb, but I like seeing them happy. It's like taking care of a bunch of pets, and I love pets."
Caelus said, smiling before seeming to realize something.
"Oh, wait, you probably have work to do, right? I should go now."
He ushered, moving to say his goodbye to the critters.
"Wait."
Ruan Mei's voice was stern, and as he looked back at her with a curious expression, she sighed.
"You can stay, I'm quite intrigued by your relationship with my experiments."
She said, before turning around and walking out of the room.
"I'll be back with pastries, for me and you."
"..."
As she left the room, Caelus turned his attention to the critters slowly gyrating.
"You guys like this kind of music?"
"Munya..."
He nodded, moving to take a seat on a nearby chair and letting out a deep breath.
As the music relayed to his ears, he felt a small smile spread across his face as he closed his eyes.
"This is nice."
He uttered to himself, thinking happy thoughts.
He thought, this song was something he'd think Ruan Mei would listen to, is that crazy? He always saw Ruan Mei as someone who enjoyed jazz, although she never expressed any interest in jazz or music as a whole.
Caelus always had connected her sweet tooth with many, many other assumptions he had made about her, like how he believed that she would like birdwatching.
Recently, Ruan Mei had been calling him over, asking him to perform tasks for her, or maybe to fulfill a quick request she had made, which he was happy to do for her.
As long as he didn't have to fight an Emanator again... or at least a clone of one.
As he indulged himself in his thoughts, he heard the doors to the room open and opened his eyes to see Ruan Mei standing there with two small plates, one in each hand.
"Please, take one."
She said, holding one of the pastries out to Caelus.
He gently took the plate from her hands and nodded thanks to her.
He looked down and saw a croissant, which appeared to be covered in a chocolate coating, topped off with some powdered sugar.
Where she got such a pastry, he did not know, but he did know that it looked tasty.
He slowly picked up the croissant, inspecting it briefly before taking a bite out of the pastry.
"Do you like it?"
Ruan Mei questioned him, watching him with a small smile on her face as she watched his facial expression change.
Caelus's face morphed into what one could describe as a child's joy.
"It's amazing! Did you make this?"
He said, beaming with energy toward her, to which she noticed bits of chocolate coating stuck onto his cheek.
"I did, thank you, I'm thrilled that I was able to please you with my baking."
She said, closing her eyes, suppressing a blush, although, Caelus saw the slightest pink hue on her face for only a moment.
He smiled at that, chuckling.
A brief silence followed as Ruan Mei made herself comfortable in the chair next to his, watching intently as the critters slowly 'danced' to the relaxing melody.
"They're quite strange."
She commented, taking a bite of her own pastry, a croissant topped with fruits and powdered sugar.
He looked at her for a moment, before refocusing his attention onto the critters before them.
"I think they're fascinating, in a way, they all seem to represent someone I know."
Ruan Mei chuckled, remembering the time Caelus had discovered a 'Ruan Mei critter' during his time nurturing them, by her request.
Her eyes moved to find the very critter that represented her, and her eyes quickly landed on a turquoise-shelled critter, moving in melody with another critter, whose shell represented that of a trash can.
She smiled, watching the two critters, letting out a hum.
Caelus noticed this and followed her gaze, beginning to watch the same two critters.
"They're a lot like me and you, aren't they?"
He mentioned, his voice only a whisper so as to not disrupt the mood.
Ruan Mei watched as the turquoise-shelled critter snuggled up to the trash can critter.
"Yes, they are."
...
Ruan Mei found herself struggling to focus on her research, her eyebrows furring as she swiped on her tablet.
Recently, she and Caelus had been spending even more time together than usual, and most of their time together was spent with the critters, observing them, listening to music, and just enjoying each other's presence.
She found her typical stoic demeanor begin to falter much more often, even Herta mentioned that she seemed to be a lot more expressive than usual.
Emotions, something that is beyond her research.
She'd questioned them before, she could express the most basic of them, but beyond that, they were unknown variables to her.
Questions came to her, and she had no answers.
Ruan Mei tried, and tried to understand her feelings at the moment, what was she feeling? Why was she feeling this way?
And despite her genius, her mind came blank, with nothing more but further questions.
A groan escaped from her lips, as she set down her tablet on a nearby table.
She made her way over to the room where the critters reside and sat down in one of the two chairs in the room.
She saw the radio that Caelus would play his music on resting on a nearby counter, and turned it on, adjusting the knob slowly.
As a familiar jazz tune filled the room, the critters seemed to awaken from the sound, groggily "Munya's..." escaping from their mouths.
She sighed, sitting back in her chair, and closing her eyes.
She felt some of her worries disperse, though she could sense that something was missing.
Typically, she'd find this relaxing, the hum of "Meow's... and "Munya's...", the soothing music, and-
-And him.
Her eyes slowly opened, surprise apparent in her expression.
She sat up in her chair, her eyes slowly moving to the empty chair to her right.
Her fingers traced the soft cushioning of the chair, an unfamiliar sense of longing she felt.
Though this was something she'd never experienced, or understood for herself, she could tell what she was feeling, a peach hue falling over her face.
She was no idiot, after all.
In his absence, it was like something was missing from her life, an integral part of her being gone.
Ruan Mei could not believe herself, she was acting totally out of line.
She put both her hands on her lap, she felt embarrassed at the prospect of what she was experiencing.
Was it so embarrassing, though? Isn't this a human emotion?
Ruan Mei had always questioned emotions, feelings, and human connection.
Although she never got any answers, Herta always told her that she had better things to worry about.
But now, did she?
After all, this is what being human is like, right?
Ruan Mei's mind flooded with questions, and as the music came to a slow stop, she was snapped out of her thoughts.
Behold, a crowd of her critters had surrounded her, some snuggling up against her leg, others opting to just stare at her.
A murmur of "Munya's" and "Meow's" escaped from them, seeing their creator in such a state probably raised some concern among them.
Though she did not understand what they were trying to communicate to her, she knew Caelus would, though.
The mention of his name caused her to blush, making her feel as if she was some smitten schoolgirl.
She quickly stood up, being mindful of the little critters who surrounded her, carefully leaving the room.
As the doors closed behind her, she let out a deep breath.
...
She mixed the batter in the metallic bowl with a newfound strength, as she slowly added ingredients to the gushy substance before her.
She did not know what exactly brought her to do this, to begin baking a cake, but something in her heart told her to do so.
And her heart didn't tell her much these days, so she just went along with it.
With this question arising, her heart spoke once more, giving her the answer.
She stopped for a moment, placing a hand on her chest, her expression morphing into one of embarrassment once more.
She quickly shook this thought away, denying the answer her heart had given her.
Slowly, the batter had become a cake, a two-tier stacked fluffy vanilla-flavored cake.
Ruan Mei smiled at this, appreciating her work for a moment before beginning to apply a white frosting onto the cake, making sure to be exact with the icing she applied.
At the moment, you might've thought she was a master baker at work, with how precise her application of icing was, with how every sprinkle she applied seemed to go exactly where it was intended.
Not before long, a cake that resembled both a turquoise-colored critter, and a trash can critter on top of one another was finally complete.
She looked at the cake with a smile, putting her hands on her hips as she admired the fruit of her hard work.
The bottom layer was the trash can critter, with grey sprinkles in the shape of Caelus's face dotting the edges of the cake.
Meanwhile, the top layer was a smaller, turquoise-colored critter, with blue sprinkles in the shape of Ruan Mei's face dotting the edges of the cake.
It was perfect, Ruan Mei thought to herself.
Something you'd see on those websites that offer cake recipes, what would she name this cake? The Ruan Cae cake? She liked that name.
Yes, the Ruan Cae cake it was.
Carefully, she moved the cake to the critter room and rested it on a table.
A hum of curious "Munya?'s" and "Meow?'s" alike came from the critters to Ruan Mei's pleasure.
"You'll see soon."
She said, finding herself speaking to the critters as if Caelus would.
Ruan Mei smiled at that.
As time passed, the room gradually became more decorated, with party streamers in colors that matched the cake hung behind the table on which it sat.
Warm white lights hung around the ceiling of the room, along with some golden lights, too.
As Ruan Mei lay the last set of lights up onto the ceiling, she slowly climbed down from the ladder and set it aside.
She looked around the room, satisfied with her decorating.
The critters looked around, marveling at the sight.
She chuckled at their behavior, imagining Caelus making the same expression.
Speaking of, she left the room and pulled out her phone.
...
Ruan Mei
Caelus, are you free at the moment?
She waited a moment, anxious before her worries were soothed as she saw him typing up a response.
Caelus
Yeah, I just got done testing Herta's simulated universe, why?
Ruan Mei
I wanted you to come down to the Seclusion Zone, I have something I want to show you.
Caelus
I'll be down there soon, just let me finish up with what I'm doing.
Ruan Mei
Okay, I'll be waiting.
...
Ruan Mei hadn't felt nervous about something in ages, it was something completely foreign to her, much like many of the other emotions she was feeling.
She twiddled with her thumbs as her hands rested on her lap, she stood in front of the elevator to the Seclusion Zone with an unfamiliar shakiness.
Time passed, and she eventually saw the elevator for the Seclusion Zone begin to come down.
With this, she quickly gathered herself, defaulting to her usual demeanor.
As Caelus stepped out of the elevator, he was greeted with the sight of Ruan Mei waiting for him.
"Oh, hey, I didn't expect you to be waiting for me. You always said waiting around idly was a waste of time."
He said, smiling nervously as Ruan Mei's expression did not change.
"I did, but today is different. Come with me."
She quickly spoke, beginning to walk toward her office as she waved him over.
He quickly matched pace with her and found himself walking beside her.
"So, what did you need me for today? We've been hanging out a lot more recently, but you..."
Caelus spoke but was quickly shushed by Ruan Mei placing a finger over his lips.
"You'll see."
Is all she said, and as she retracted her finger, he simply nodded.
The two walked past her office, and Caelus could quickly tell where she was leading him.
"To the critter room? Did you just want to hang out again?"
Ruan Mei briefly blushed at his words, though her expression did not falter.
"Well, I wouldn't say that..."
She said as she stopped right in front of the doors to the room.
"I insist, you go in first."
She said, turning around to face Caelus and stepping out of the doorway.
Caelus, slightly curious as to why she was acting rather strange today, shrugged and walked into the room.
To that, he was greeted with the decorations and lights Ruan Mei had set up for him, his eyes looking around with awe.
"You... did this for me?"
Caelus questioned her, turning around and seeing the slightly flustered Ruan Mei walking into the room behind him.
"Yes, I did."
She said, not meeting Caelus's eyes.
He turned back around, noticing the cake that rested on the table next to the radio.
He recognized what the cake was supposed to be, the two critters he and Ruan Mei had taken an interest in.
"I'm..."
Caelus couldn't say a thing, he was still surprised that Ruan Mei had gone out of her way to do this for him, but why?
"You don't need to say anything, I know what you're thinking."
Ruan Mei began, swallowing her words as she thought of what to say next.
"I'm doing this because... I wanted to see what it was like to be like the critters."
Ruan Mei's words confused Caelus, turning around to face her.
"What do you mean?"
He questioned, tilting his head slightly.
Ruan Mei's blank expression did not falter, though Caelus noticed the blush that spread onto her cheeks.
"I wanted to dance just like the critters, with you."
Caelus chuckled at her words, leaving Ruan Mei flushed.
"Do not laugh at me, I'll warn you, this is only in the name of research, of course."
She quickly said, making an excuse when Caelus hadn't even said anything yet.
"Sure then, I'd be happy to dance with you, in the name of research, of course."
He echoed her words, giving her a small smirk.
"Well, then."
She walked up to the radio, quickly turning on the song they'd become so familiar with recently.
She turned around and maneuvered around the critters to Caelus, who stood in the center of the room.
He held out both of his palms, and Ruan Mei looked him in the eyes, before quickly looking away and moving her hands to intertwine with his own.
Slowly, they moved in circles, the pair closing their eyes as they got used to each other's rhythm.
Their feet moved in tandem, their bodies felt like one in the moment, such a strange sensation, Ruan Mei noted.
Slowly, she found her head resting on his shoulder as they gradually grew closer as the song continued.
The two were silent, though the dance told them everything they needed to know, giving each other answers to each of their untold questions.
Ruan Mei slowly opened her eyes, a small smile spreading on her lips.
With her head against his neck, Caelus rested his head onto hers, the two enjoying each other's touch.
"Is this research... to your expectations?"
Caelus questioned Ruan Mei, to which she laughed.
"It is, thank you for asking."
She quickly replied, as they continued to move in tandem.
Along with them, the many critters in the room danced together too, each finding a partner of their own.
Notably, the two in which the cake Ruan Mei had baked earlier danced together, their motions mimicking the ones Ruan Mei and Caelus made.
As the song began to end, Ruan Mei pulled herself from Caelus's warmth to meet his eyes.
"There's just one more thing I need for my research to be complete."
She said, her expression unchanging, though Caelus could see the corners of her lips begin to tug upward.
"And what may that be?"
He questioned her, fully knowing the answer.
With that, Ruan Mei licked her lips, before standing on her tippy toes- even in heels, to meet Caelus's own.
Research - A Critter's Dance - Complete.
...
BONUS
Caelus took a bite of his section of the cake, grey frosting getting onto his cheek.
As he chewed the soft cake, he found himself very satisfied with the taste.
"It's amazing, you're a great baker, Mei."
He'd say, referring to Ruan Mei by her new nickname.
"Thank you. I'm sure this cake will be a hit across the galaxy."
Ruan Mei stated, taking a bite of her own section of the cake, licking her lips to clean any excess frosting that may have gotten onto her.
"What do you mean?"
Caelus questioned her, to which she giggled.
"I posted the recipe online, I dubbed it, the Ruan Cae cake."
She said proudly, looking at Caelus sitting in the chair next to her with a proud smile.
"The Ruan Cae cake?"
Caelus echoed her words, amusement in his tone.
"Yes, the Ruan Cae cake."
Ruan Mei said, moving one of her hands to wipe off the white icing that had gotten on Caelus's face with her thumb.
Caelus smiled, sighing at Ruan Mei's behavior.
"Well, I'm sure people will love the Ruan Cae cake."
He assured her, before giving her a smirk.
"You know, you missed a spot, maybe you could lick it off."
He teased, but to his surprise she was already leaning over to him, her mouth slightly open.
"I DIDN'T ACTUALLY MEAN IT!"