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Stanley Snyder had never been afraid of anything. Even staring down the barrel of a gun, Stanley never flinched. He had no reason to. His skill and ability gave him the boost he needed to come out on top in any given situation, even if it was just by a hair. Sure, Stanley was a natural talent, but he couldn’t take all the credit for his outstanding performance. After all, his skill wasn’t crafted and honed in a vacuum. Xeno was the one that helped mold Stanley into the titan of a man he was.
They had always been Xeno and Stan, a duo. You would think that a prideful man like Stanley would be insulted having his success be tied so closely to someone else, but Stanley liked it that way. Not only was Xeno the only person Stanley thought worthy of sharing the spotlight with, but Xeno accentuated Stanley’s invincibility. His skill combined with Xeno’s intellect made him feel more powerful than ever. He could exist without Xeno and vice versa, but Stanley couldn’t imagine why he would ever want to.
That was to say that Stanley Snyder was a very courageous man, but it was only after the petrification that he had come to know true fear. Fear at the hands of entities that would jeopardize his and Xeno’s lifelong partnership.
The first time Stanley ever felt truly panicked was when the junior science brigade had taken Xeno. There was no way that the kids would harm a hair on Xeno’s head, but not having Xeno with him and knowing that he was being used as a pawn rocked Stanley to the core. He knew that he would get Xeno back, and he did, but it was a very close call. Their reunion was tense and brief due to the incoming petribeam, but Stanley felt a hell of a lot better knowing that Xeno was by his side again.
The second time Stanley had been met with fear was when he was revived for the moon mission. He had been happy to see that Xeno was alive and well and had been treated fairly by Senku and co., but one close examination of Xeno’s face sucked all the joy out of his homecoming and made his stomach turn. Bringing his hand up to caress Xeno’s face, Stanley had thumbed over wrinkles that had begun to crease Xeno’s soft skin.
Xeno was getting older. Stanley was getting older. Sure, they were relatively young, but he had only just realized in that moment how much time had gone by. How much time he had wasted and was still wasting.
He and Xeno couldn’t live forever. Petrification helped, but it could only prolong the inevitable. Stanley had lived for nearly four thousand years and could live another thousand more, but one day he would find himself leaving Xeno behind or being the one to get left behind. Stanley didn’t even want to think about which one was worse.
This wasn't the same fear he felt the first time when Xeno had been taken, it was more of an impending doom. As sense of dread that something was catching up to him and there was no running from it. He was afraid, not of death, but that he would run out of time. That they would run out of time.
That same night, he had decided to tell Xeno he loved him. Not in their usual unspoken way, but in a true and honest declaration. They laid together side by side in their tent. It was late, Xeno had stayed up like he usually did to crunch some numbers and Stanley insisted on staying awake with him to keep him company. Xeno leaned his notebook against his legs, sitting cross-legged on their makeshift bedding as he scribbled with his charcoal pencil. Stanley laid down next to him, toying with the threads of their blanket as he worked up the courage to speak up.
“Xeno,” Stanley said in a low tone, not wanting to disrupt the silence too much.
“What is it?” Xeno asked, his eyes never leaving the page.
There was a beat of silence. Stanley licked his lips and sucked in his breath. “I love you,” he breathed out, hitting his mark.
“I love you, too,” he replied hurriedly without hesitation.
“Xeno,” Stanley said again, more sternly this time. Tears began to creep into his sight as his chest tightened with longing. “I love you.”
Realization hit Xeno as he paused his work and slowly turned to meet Stanley’s gaze. He placed a gentle hand on Stanley’s head. “I love you, too,” Xeno said earnestly. And Stanley didn’t doubt him for a second.
But their statements of love didn’t quell Stanley’s dread.
The third time fear got the better of Stanley was when he took his first steps on the moon. It wasn’t the fact that they may have had to fight an alien that scared him. It was the fact that he was on the goddamned moon that got to him.
It was the moment he and Xeno had always dreamed of, Stanley on the moon with a ray gun in hand, soaking it all in, and Xeno back on Earth in the control room, talking him through it every step of the way. But things didn't go as they originally envisioned them to and it wasn’t the aliens that changed their perspective.
This moon mission was accomplished with not just the two of them, but with the help of people they had come to trust. After Xeno had spent his entire life feeling isolated by his peers, he finally had people to share his accomplishments with other than Stanley and Stanley couldn’t be more proud of him. It was an amazing feeling, to be a part of something greater than themselves, but it did nothing to help his anxiety.
Being on the moon put the fear of God in Stanley. He was on a whole nother world. He had traveled all over the world and witnessed sights most people would never get to see in their lifetime, but nothing awed him more than the striking greens and blues of Earth as he gazed at them from the white rock. Its beauty was incredible, but the stillness and quiet of the moon chilled him. It was too quiet and the ambience made his hair stand up on end. There was too much open space and nothing to hide behind in case of danger.
The last thing any of them wanted to do was engage in combat, but Stanley couldn’t help but think of the possibility that they might have to. It was the reason he was sent there anyway. Stanley would fight if it came down to it, but for the first time in his life, he had entered a battle he didn’t think he was mentally prepared for.
Stanley had thought that with all his experience with traveling during his service, the moon would be a cake walk. He couldn’t have been more wrong. He was a world apart from everything he had ever known and on a battlefield no human had ever engaged in. Everything was so big and Stanley had never felt so small.
For the sake of the mission, Stanley put his fear on the back burner, but it was there at the back of his mind, eating away at him. And in this moment of fear, all he wanted was Xeno.
Xeno was familiar. He was safe. He was someone that Stanley could lean on and come back to when things were too much for him. He had traveled on a rocket to space and walked on the moon, something that people would kill to experience, and the only thing he wanted was to be back home with his best friend. His partner. The love of his life.
Stanley decided in that moment as he gazed at Earth that he would marry Xeno. The first opportunity he had once he got back, he would ask Xeno the question he should’ve asked him three thousand and seven hundred years ago.
It had never been the right time. They were either too young or too busy with their careers for Stanley to ever say anything. They would go weeks or months without talking. The lack of communication didn’t take away from their bond, and if anything, that’s what Stanley loved most about them. But that also meant there was never time to talk about what really mattered. It was almost comical how Stanley thought it was the perfect time to pop this on Xeno after the world as they knew it had ended, but what a better world to ask him in than one they had a hand in rebuilding.
After the medal ceremony, there was a gigantic celebration with tons of food, booze, and entertainment. Stanley never cared for celebrations. Although the occasion called for a party, he had more important matters to attend to and the festivities were only getting in the way of his plans.
Everyone and their mother wanted to talk to the great Doctor Wingfield about the moon mission from the perspective of the control room and Xeno, the cocky bastard he was, was basking in the glory. However much it was frustrating that Stanley couldn’t have Xeno to himself, he was happy that Xeno was finally getting the praise he deserved.
With a Xeno-brand cigarette lit between his lips, Stanley wandered into the nearby trees to try to get away from all the noise. But it wasn’t long before his ears pricked up at the sound of footsteps coming from behind him. “Thought I’d find you here, Stan,” Xeno smirked.
Stanley abandoned his freshly lit cigarette, tossing it on the ground and extinguishing it with his dress shoe. He hated to waste one, but the last thing he needed during his proposal was a cloud of smoke in Xeno’s face. “Tired of those schmoozers already?” Stanley smirked. “They’re on you like flies on shit.”
Xeno chuckled. “Jealous?”
“Never.” He could never be jealous of Xeno’s admirers because at the end of the day, he had something they could only dream of having.
Stanley wrapped his arms around Xeno, hugging him tightly. Xeno hugged him back with the same desperation. It was there again, those unspoken words and feelings that swirled between them. Decades of affection and adoration. Stanley would do anything for him. Take over the world, travel across continents, go to the moon. He would do it all over again, if only Xeno said the word.
He held Xeno in his arms and took a minute to really look at him. Soft black eyes stared up at Stanley with, they hadn’t changed since the day they met. He could stare at them all day if he could.
“Stan?” Xeno asked, giving him a curious look.
“What?” Stanley replied.
“Is something wrong?”
“No.” He brought a hand up to Xeno’s face and caressed his cheek. “Why do you ask?”
Xeno chuckled, placing his own hand over Stanley’s. “You’re looking at me funny. Is there something on my face?”
“Xeno. We’re going to die someday, aren’t we?” he asked.
A concerned frown grew on Xeno’s face, an expression he rarely wore. “I thought you were supposed to be invincible, Stanley,” he said.
Stanley wanted them to be Xeno and Stan forever. When their time was up and the world kept spinning, Stanley not only wanted them to be remembered for their accomplishments, but also for their love. He wanted everyone to know that when the work was done, they came home to each other and no one else.
“It can only get you so far,” Stanley said. “Marry me, Xeno.”
Xeno froze, a bit taken aback, but he didn’t push Stanley away. “What brought this on?” he asked, a tinge of worry in his voice.
“We’ve been going at this for over three millennia,” Stanley answered. “I think rings are long overdue.”
Xeno wasn’t convinced. “Three millenia, but you’re still afraid to talk to me. What is this really about?”
Stanley heaved a heavy sigh. He could go blue in the face talking about his feelings. There was so much he could say about what he felt, but the root of the problem could be explained with one simple line. “I just don’t want to lose you Xeno,” he admitted.
“Stanley…” Xeno shook his head. “I’ll marry you, but I don’t need that and I don’t think you do either. Marriage isn’t going to prove anything to me or you that we don’t already know. Everyone knows that. I know that. You don’t need to give me a ring or go out of your way to try to romance me to show that you love me.”
“I just…” He sucked in a hurried breath. “I feel like I failed you somehow. Somewhere along the way, I got too comfortable. One day, I’m gonna be pushing up daisies and I’ll have died knowing that I took you for granted. That’s what this is about.”
“I’ve never once felt that way. If anything, I’ve taken you for granted.” Xeno took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. “I went seven years without you, Stan," he said mournfully. "In that time, I realized that I had gotten so used to you always being there by my side that I couldn’t do it without. I didn’t want to do it without you.”
“Xeno—“
“Don’t,” Xeno stopped him. “As terrible as you and I feel, our guilt does nothing but inhibit our progress. It doesn’t matter anymore. It doesn’t matter who has taken who for granted and how many years we feel we’ve wasted. We’re still living and breathing and as long as I’m alive, I’ll spend every second showing you how much I love you to the best of my ability, no ring required.”
Tears began to prick Stanley’s eyes. He tilted his head down an inch and fanned his eyes to prevent his mascara from running. “Jesus, man. I think that was the cheesiest one yet.”
“It was good though, wasn’t it?”
Stanley planted a kiss on Xeno’s forehead, leaving a red mark right in the middle of the X. He laughed as Xeno crumbled his sleeve into his fist and tried to rub the mark off, the lipstick staining his white coat.
“Sorry if I got your hopes up with all the death stuff. You can’t get rid of me that easily,” Stanley joked.
Xeno exhaled amusingly. “I’m glad you told me,” he said. “So, to get back on topic, I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to getting married, but I have one condition.”
“Shoot.”
“We have to have a big, extravagant wedding.”
“What?” Stanley said incredulously. “You, Xeno H. Wingfield—“
“Soon to be Wingfield-Snyder,” Xeno interjected.
“Snyder-Wingfield,” challenged Stanley.
Xeno frowned. “Why does your name get to go first?”
“Rolls off the tongue.”
They held each other’s gaze in a wordless standoff before Xeno conceded with an eye roll. “It’s not like we need last names in this world anyway,” he said.
“You, of all people, want to have a big wedding?”
“Think of all the free food, beer, and gifts we’ll get. Not only that, but we’ll get to rub it in everyone’s faces that we have something they don’t.”
Stanley smiled. “And what’s that?”
“A bounty of free stuff?” Xeno said, stating the obvious. “Were you listening?”
He was prepared for Xeno to say another one of his cringy lines, but Xeno was chock full of surprises. A sigh passed through Stanley’s smile. “You’re unbelievable,” he said lightheartedly.
“This is what you signed up for,” Xeno quipped. “Anyhow, I still have hoards of people that want to talk to me about my work. I don’t want to keep them waiting. Won’t you come with me?”
“What do you need me for?”
“I sent a group of astronauts to the moon, one of which is my new fiancé. Can't I get cash in on bragging rights?” He took Stanley’s hand and began pulling him back toward the party.
Stanley let himself get dragged, mesmerized by the word fiancé. It had a nice ring to it.