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Planarcadia was not a sane place to be in.
Stelle, as chaotic as she was, was forced to accept that realization whether she liked it or not. Ever since they landed on this planet, it has been one thing after the other: crazy Masked Fools, insane streamers spreading Memetic Viruses, online flame wars, freaky cults performing a frontal lobotomy with the usage of Shuhu’s cells… Oh, and she was also stabbed. Again. Dan Heng was not amused.
Speaking of him: Stelle’s overprotective Dragon of a husband was glued to her side and refused to step away from her even for a minute ever since they defeated Fulwish. On one hand, she was glad that he cared so much about her. On the other – this situation was getting ridiculous. Stelle was the Galactic Baseballer! The Great Baseball Raccoon! She didn’t need constant supervision to keep her out of harm’s way!
“Hey, Dan Heng?” She began, feigned innocence in her voice. “Aren’t you worried that people are gonna gossip? This is borderline PDA, you know?” She referred to the way her husband was walking right next to her, almost joined at the hip. At this point he might as well put his arm around her waist and it would look less weird in public. Especially since, as far as the public was concerned – there was no official announcements or even mentions of Dan Heng and Stelle being in a relationship.
“So let them talk. Your safety is more important.” He answered matter-of-factly, almost ending the conversation there, before his gaze softened as he turned to look Stelle in the eyes. “We had too many close calls lately, Starlight. I merely wish to keep you safe.”
She was speechless. Damn it all, how was she supposed to argue against that?
“You’re not fair…” Stelle sulked, dropping her reservations as she pressed herself into Dan Heng’s side, leaning her head against his shoulder. She didn’t care how much that made it difficult to walk, she just wanted to get back at him in some way. “Fine then, mister protective Dragon. How about you back those words up with some actual PDA?”
Dan Heng’s face remained stoic. One would assume he wasn’t bothered by the comment, if not for the slightest hint of a blush and the way he narrowed his gaze, slightly averting it to the side. He was aware that people around them were beginning to whisper as they eyed the pair. Finally deciding that this wasn’t something worth making a fuss over, he firmly put his arm around Stelle’s waist as they kept walking side by side.
“No matter what, I’m just… I’m just glad that I can still walk alongside you like this.” He said quietly, noises of the street fading into the background as they lost their relevance to him. “Because every time we have a close call, I’m afraid that it’s going to be the last.”
“Dan Heng?” Stelle looked up at him, stunned at the sudden confession. As much as her husband has improved his communication skills over time, it was still very rare for him to open up like this. Normally she would say something along the lines of ‘I’m tough, you know? I can take it!’ or ‘It’s not like it’s the first time I was stabbed! I’m not going anywhere!’, but something told her that this wasn’t what Dan Heng wanted to hear right now. And even if he did, it wouldn’t help much due to how much these statements were repeated over the course of their journey, before, inevitably, things somehow went south. While Stelle could be described in many ways, ‘liar’ was not one of them and she wasn’t about to give out an empty promise she can’t actually keep.
Instead, she stopped walking and slightly spun, ending up face to face with Dan Heng. She put both her arms on his face and pulled him in, pressing their foreheads together. The Vidyadhara was startled by Stelle’s sudden movements for a moment, but quickly relaxed, closing his eyes as he leaned into her touch.
“What are you doing?” He asked quietly, his words only a gentle murmur.
“Letting you know that I’m still here.” She answered in kind. There was nothing more that needed to be said for now. The two lingered like this for a minute, before continuing their walk, ignoring the curious stares they were receiving from the passerby. They didn’t care to explain their relationship to anyone. Even if the Astral Express was now in a public spotlight, the time that Dan Heng and Stelle shared, belonged only to them.
And so goes on the journey of the two Nameless.