Work Text:
If Xeno counted his "blessings," he could put up three metal claws. One was that he could keep doing the science he loved so much despite his prior entanglements with the dark side. Second was meeting people he didn't know, as much as it would hurt him to admit he would come to care as deeply as he could now. And lastly...
"Like I was saying," Xeno said as he cleared his throat. "I find it quite elegant to see that Earth did not perish." His throat wasn't particularly dry, but he emphasized his cough. Walking by the seaside near their Science base, Stanley wondered if the harsh waters could wash down whatever uncomfortable feeling was inside his friend’s throat.
“I believe that’s my blessing,” Xeno added with a firm voice.
Stanley raised a brow.
The scientist, hearing no reply, elaborated, "Don't you find it fascinating? It has been 3,700 years since the petrification. Although, scientifically speaking, it would take a few billion years for Earth to die due to the Sun's red giant phase, this does not erase the possibility that anything could have happened during those years. Just imagine, Stan. An asteroid could have wiped the entirety of humankind (albeit petrified). Likewise, an exploding star near us could fry everything in sight because of radiation. And last but not least, the possibility of life out there invading us— Oh! Let me reiterate that. If we try to look at it from the most logical perspective, the identity behind Why-man is already supposed—"
They paused their tracks in synch. "What's up?” Stanley eyed Xeno’s back. The man was a few feet ahead of him. He stared at his friend’s folded arms on his back. “I didn't interrupt you this time," Stanley said in defense of himself.
The washing of waves onto their bare feet replaced the usual cricket noises one should hear after an awkward silence; it rolled calmly, but roared condescendingly. Stanley took a drag from his newly lit cigarette and exhaled the smoke freely along the sound of waves.
It was Stanley’s idea to take a stroll by the sea, a silent invitation to Xeno to watch the sunset with him. It took merely two or three seconds for Xeno to abandon his towering work desk. The hollow-eyed scientist took the lead and walked the two of them along the place as if he were the one who asked Stanley to come with him. They both had left their shoes somewhere on the side (along with Xeno’s long coat). They had rolled their pants up to their knees.
Stanley asked, "Why did'ya stop?"
"I was doing it again, wasn't I? I'm going off on a tangent."
After a short interval, "Right," Stanley sounded.
“My bad.”
“Just answer the question, man,” Stanley said after a snicker, his tone half-teasing, half-serious.
Stanley didn't bother interrupting Xeno for once because, ironically, the original question he posed was born of a conversation that went off on a tangent as well.
It went like this…
It began a few months ago when Gen asked Chelsea if she had enough money to spend for the week. While Ryusui was relatively generous in handing out Drago, people mostly earn their daily spending (salary) by doing work. And since the journey to find the raw materials for building the rocket was completed, Chelsea wasn't able to do much those days.
“Y’know what? I’m not sure, LOL,” Chelsea exclaimed, with an apologetic posture, but her expression and words said otherwise.
“Uh, shouldn’t you be more orried-way?” Gen asked with too much concern.
Chelsea stared at Gen for a while before producing a huge pouch from her equally huge breast pocket. Unprompted, she sat on the ground, which made Gen use all his brain power to figure out what she was doing.
“Lemme count my blessings for a bit," the geographer expressed, then counted the jangling coins in her pouch. Gen watched her do her thing without judgement, despite the oddity of seeing someone count coins on the ground without seeming to care about the world. When asked why she had so many coins, she said she preferred the feel of metal to paper.
"I get you so baaad!" Chrome, who was apparently also there, heard her and agreed, but then asked what a ‘blessing’ is. Patient Gen explained the word's definition, its religious roots, and its use in modern times.
“Yeah, basically, something you’re su—per thankful for!” Chelsea chirped in.
"Ah! Just like that medicine that healed Ruri?" Chrome asked.
"Ecisely-pray!" Gen affirmed.
Losing her coin count for the third time now, Chelsea turned her knowing gaze to Chrome and curled her already curled mouth further. "I knew it!"
"—Knew what?" Chrome asked, surprised by the rapid change in her energy.
“Chelsea dear, not again,” Gen said, shaking his head but not exactly stopping her.
She stood up and pointed a finger at Chrome, accidentally kicking the stack of coins on the ground; the three ignored the latter action. "You have a thing for Ruri, after all!" Chelsea had broadcast the thing when they de-petrified the Ishigami villagers, but since Gen shut her up and Chrome wasn't exactly on the same page as everyone, she couldn't dwell on the matter for too long. Provided the chance to love gossip, who wouldn't be an opportunist?
“Yeah, and so?” Chrome asked, confused.
Gen and Chelsea looked at each other.
“Why are you two suddenly silent?” Chrome blurted out.
“Well,” Gen began, slipping his hands into his sleeves. “You usually shrug it off, be clueless about it, or altogether ignore it, y'know? It's rare of you to admit it so irectly-day!”
Chrome replied, “It's not like it's a secret.” He paused and thought for a while, then continued, “I like her so bad that I consider the medicine that cured her out of that ‘pneumonia’ as my blessing.”
Chelsea went up to him and lightly punched his side. "How blunt!" she expressed. "But man, that's kinda hot of you!"
“It's one of Chrome's charms, my dear Chelsea,” Gen agreed, joining her and tapping the young scientist’s shoulder. “We can say that this earnestness would be Ruri's blessing, can’t we?”
“Huh? What are you two on about?” Chrome asked.
After giving Chrome a simple smile instead of a direct explanation, he pointed at the forgotten coins. He addressed his next words to Chelsea or Chrome, “Sometimes, it’s good for people to count their blessings well, so that they can appreciate them—is what I’m saying.”
“I don’t get it,” Chrome expressed.
“Ah! Totally forgot ‘bout that,” Chelsea said, scratching her head before returning to the coins and restarting her counting.
It was unclear who overheard them, but this whole conversation reached the ears of almost everyone in the Kingdom of Science.
Since then, the expression "Let me count my blessings" became an indirect way of telling someone you like them. Consequently, it evolved and also created the question, "Can you count your blessings for me?" as a subtle way to ask someone if they liked you.
(As for a certain capable gal, let it just be known that her question was answered back with: “One, and it's Science—10 billion percent.”)
---
And that was how Stanley Snyder found himself in their current situation. His friend, based on his answer earlier, was unaware of the expression. Still, it was worth the shot, he told himself.
He chewed on his toxic stick and felt its bitterness first on his tongue and then inside his chest. “’ Tis the taste of disappointment,” he mentally said to himself. Still, it was a very Xeno answer, and he adored the man and his answer nonetheless. Plus, the scientist wasn’t even aware of the nature of the question. It wasn’t the guy’s fault that he didn’t know the trend.
However, if there was even a tiny chance Xeno knew about it and he deflected his answer… now, wouldn’t that sting so bad? How laughable.
To hide his self-inflicted, freshly brewed hurt, Stanley toughened his expression and summarized Xeno’s answer. “So, your last blessing is that nothing changed, right?” That came out sarcastic. Stanley bit into his cigarette harder.
Xeno hummed, but not one of approval.
“What? Am I wrong, doc?”
“I mean—” Xeno stopped his mouth from uttering the next syllable and swallowed it back with another clearing of throat. “That’s true, too. But not quite accurate.”
“How so?” Stanley pretended to think for a while. “Ah, I get it. My wording’s off. He corrected himself, “You’re glad that we’re alive, or something like that.” As he kept a straight face, he also kept the conversation going as naturally as he could. He didn’t know where it was going and honestly couldn’t be bothered to be interested in it anymore.
Stanley was thankful Xeno was not facing him and was a few feet in front of him, because if he saw him now, Stanley couldn’t be so confident as to hide the bitter expression he was wearing.
Xeno nodded, then followed up, “Close, but not quite.”
Reflected in Stanley’s eyes was Xeno’s back. “Please don’t look back now,” he pleaded. “Then, please do enlighten me,” Stanley said coolly. “I swear if you look back now, I’m gonna flip out.”
And Stanley almost did a flip of the century when Xeno turned around without a warning, if not for the fact that they were walking in water. He would not like to get both of them wet, so, left with no choice, he also turned around and faced the opposite direction.
It was now Xeno’s turn to stare at his friend’s back.
“You’re upset.”
“No idea what you’re talkin’ about,” Stanley replied very quickly.
Xeno heaved a sigh. “Whenever you have to deal with someone incorrigible, you tend to grind your teeth together so hard that your words always sound suppressed. Just now, you found me incorrigible. Why?”
Stanley flinched as he denied it. “I just felt like wanting my face to face the opposite direction. The breeze is cool and all.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Fine, stay that way if you want. But will you listen to what I have to say next, Stan?”
“Huh?” Stanley tried to turn his head, but he felt the coldness of metal keep it in its place.
Xeno’s deep voice sounded, “You want your face to face that direction; commit to it. Can you do that?”
Xeno’s claws were extremely cold. Stanley gulped as he felt them on his cheeks. “Yeah… I can.”
“You asked me to count my blessings. I told you I have three. The first two, I already told you earlier. As for the last one… Ahem,” Xeno paused. “It’s a little bit difficult for me to put it into words. Give me a moment.”
“…” What was Stanley supposed to reply to that? He kept quiet and remembered puffing his cigarette with extra force.
“Let me put it this way,” Xeno began after a long, long pause. “What time is it, Stan?”
“I don’t know? Around 6 p.m.? The sun’s beginning to set.”
“Yes,” Xeno confirmed. “The sun’s setting; its incarnadine glow is dispersing throughout the sky now, and it is a waste you could not look at it, right?” To prove this, Xeno tightened his grip on Stanley’s head and kept his neck from moving, stopping the blond from seeing what he was describing. “But I can. I can see the sun slowly setting on the horizon, and I’m here to witness it! It’s elegant, Stan!”
“Xeno, I’m happy for you, but I would like it if you could move your freakin’ claws out of my head so I can see it too!” The whole point of watching the sunset together was supposed to set the romantic atmosphere. What was Xeno doing, exactly? Stanley could only digest the shallow parts of his friend’s great machinations.
“No!” Xeno bellowed. His unexpected reaction made Stanley drop his cigarette. The stick floated on water without even a sizzle, and Stanley watched the waves carry it off. “This sunset is not something that you get to see if I am going to count my blessings… Xeno paused. “If I am going to be quite blunt with you, Stan, why did you even invite me to see it today? You know I love stargazing more than seeing the sunset.”
Stanley stopped struggling and processed each word carefully. “Well, should I be offended or what? You just said it’s elegant.”
“It is. I used not to appreciate sunsets. But over the past few years, I have learned to appreciate them. Which is why I was wondering if someone told you I have been fond of them for a while.”
Stanley smirked. “How long do you think we’ve known each other? Of course, I noticed it.”
“I see,” Xeno said in a low voice. It had only been a week since Stanley was depetrified. Surely Stanley’s admission revealed something to him. After a deep inhale, he began, “These past few years, I learned to appreciate a significant number of things: cooking meals, drinking terrible wine, taking a late-night stroll…and most especially, watching the sunset—all by myself.”
“Xeno.”
Xeno ignored him and went on, “I wouldn’t be able to appreciate sunsets if someone was beside me. Do you know why, Stan?”
It took a few loud heartbeats for Stanley to reply, “Yeah?”
“Because that someone would not let me see how beautiful it is with their ever-elegant face distracting my viewing experience, wouldn’t let my mind wander too far while watching it with their voice calling out to me, ‘Xeno, you’re daydreaming again,’ wouldn’t let me feel the refreshing breeze on my skin with their bigger figure blocking it from reaching me.
As Xeno’s voice filled his ears, Stanley gulped for breath. What a strange feeling it was to have quivering metal claws on one’s face. He steadied them, gripping the other man’s gloved hands with his bare ones.
“So, as for my third blessing, I am thankful that Earth didn’t stop spinning yet when things went awry. And instead let me become aware of the overlooked. That I, for the longest time, actually had someone to share witnessing the sunset with.”
At this point, Stanley managed to break free from Xeno’s claws. He faced the scientist and leaned closer. “Xeno, you understand what you’re implyin’ right now? In case you weren’t awa—”
Soft lips pressed against rough, painted ones. It was a quick but deep kiss that washed the bitterness off his tongue, which reminded Stanley of the waves washing his dropped cigarette away earlier.
Reluctantly backing off, “Stan. I’d gladly count my blessings for you, you fool.” Xeno gasped.
Indeed, Xeno looked at nothing but the man in front of him. And Stanley didn’t let him look away either. He didn’t let the scientist’s thoughts wander, for their hearts were also closer than ever. Because of the high humidity, neither of them felt comfortable. However, neither attempted to create a gap and let the refreshing breeze pass between them either. Their lips reunited once more and let the moment linger before the Sun totally disappeared on the horizon.
Stanley didn’t see whether the sunset was truly bright that moment or whether Xeno’s cheeks were just that color. Truth be told, Xeno was right; he didn’t even get to enjoy the sunset as dusk soon arrived, leaving him with no answer—only a huge grin on his face and a hand that held his on their way home.
---
It was unclear who overheard them, but the whole conversation between the two friends reached the ears of almost everyone in the Kingdom of Science.
Since then, the expression “someone to share witnessing the sunset with” became a way for people to refer to their lover. Consequently, it evolved and also created the question, "Would you like to watch the sunset with me?” as a subtle way to ask someone out.