Work Text:
Stanley dumped his rather large duffel bag in the hallway and let out a sigh of relief, breathing in the familiar scent of home. He was happy to be home again. Well, although this was Xeno’s apartment, he called it home anyway. He had missed spending time with Xeno. Stanley didn’t even know he could miss the smell of hair product and the endless scientific blabbering. He really looked forward to spending a night of quality time with him. After all, there are so many feelings that just cannot be conveyed through a video call.
He carefully opened the door to the combined living room and kitchen, and slowly moved through the apartment, wanting to surprise Xeno. Although there were signs of life in the living room, such as a cup of tea that Xeno had made and forgotten to drink because he obviously had had more important things to do, the other half of his soul was nowhere to be found.
However, from the corner of his eye, Stan could see a familiar silhouette with perfectly coiffed hair moving on the balcony, through the sheer curtains that created a veil between the outside world and their apartment.
Stan carefully approached the sliding door to the balcony, trying to shove it open while trying to make the least possible sound. Not that it would have helped because Xeno was absorbed into his newest hobby: focusing deeply on his new telescope.
“Did you take your work home with you again?”
Stanley’s grunting voice shattered the nightly silence on the balcony, and Xeno’s body shook up in surprise at hearing the all-familiar voice he heard in his dreams so often, but tried to regain his composure.
“You’re finally home again, and this is how you greet me?” Xeno smiled.
“Are you trying to look at the stars? When you’ve got me?” Stan walked up to the balcony where Xeno was looking up at the night sky through the lens of a rather expensive-looking amateur telescope.
Xeno didn’t bother to pull away from the scope. “Not the stars, actually. I’m trying to find some clusters.”
“They are part of the Messier objects. Since today is a clear day, it should be easier to see them.”
Stan grinned, lighting his cigarette and inhaling deeply, blowing a ring of smoke into the air. “I’d like to see a different messy object.”
“Okay. I’ll show you one.” A smile appeared on Xeno’s face as he stepped to the side, leaving room for a baffled Stanley at the telescope. Was Xeno ignoring the masterful pun he just made?
Stan peered through the telescope, and grinned to himself at how this was the opposite from how he would usually use a scope. In the middle of the pitch black night, surrounded by shining stars, he could see a thing that he could only describe as a strange, foggy cloud between the stars. The strange fog was red, with a blue center. He had no idea what he was looking at, but the colors were strangely enticing, drawing him in.
“This one is actually the first on the list. It’s called the Crab Nebula. It’s beautiful… almost as beautiful as your eyes.”
Hehe. Smooth. Stanley had to admit, the thing looked kinda impressive. He didn’t remember the exact terms, although Xeno had told him before, and his brain could use a refresher. He didn’t know what to say but just kept looking at the heavenly body, observing it and taking in all its different colors.
Xeno grinned. “It’s the remnant of a supernova.”
The other man could talk hours and hours about the stars, astrology, space and anything inbetween. Although Stanley sometimes did not understand a thing of what Xeno said, he would listen on and on, until it got too much for him. But seeing the happy shimmers in Xeno’s eyes as he talked about his expertise was a true delight.
The spectacle in the sky made Stanley vaguely recall something from the depths of his memory, something Xeno once told him. At the end of their life, stars would explode into a supernova. The sight he was looking at were the ever expanding remnants of the gigantic explosion of a dying star, its body torn and bursting apart, spreading across the galaxy, and on display for all to see in the most beautiful colors he had ever seen.
What was he looking at? The birthplace of stars? The place where they go to die? The universe could both be ruthless and beautiful at the same time with its eternal cycle of death and rebirth. The beauty in destruction, knowing that this scattered dust could be the beginning of a new spark of light. And at the same time he understood why Xeno loved this so much.
Stanley took a moment of silence, while the realization dawned onto him.
“It’s… beautiful.”
“Right?” A smile played at Xeno’s lips. For once, his eyes did not show the darkness hidden within him, but reflected the spectacle above. It made him look… innocent, for once. Stanley didn’t want to admit it but he was pretty darn cute. The truths of the universe flowed out of Xeno’s mouth, into Stan’s ear and out the other, while his blue eyes lit up watching him talk about his favorite things. His brain was overcome with the adorable shining lights in those usually dark and lifeless eyes, the only thing on his mind his desire to gaze deep into them.
Xeno’s sentence was interrupted by two beautiful lips, fierily eating the words from his mouth. Stanley’s strong arms embraced him, leading him to the deck chair on the side of the balcony. His hands pushed underneath Xeno’s turtleneck, exposing his pale stomach to the night sky. Xeno’s back arched into the soft cushions of the chair.
“S-Stan… not here… people will see us.” Xeno shivered as the cold fingers touched his warm skin.
“Don’t worry. I’ll warm you right up.” Stanley grinned. “Maybe I want them to see us… maybe I just want to show you off…”
“And if they don’t want to look, it’s their own damn fault for not closing their blinds.”
He quickly unbuckled Xeno’s belt, and started moving down his slacks and underwear, until he was sitting naked from the waist down on the deck chair.
When his hand felt between Xeno’s legs, he felt something he had not expected. Something hard and round. A pinkish rounded diamond protruded from between Xeno’s ass cheeks – was it what Stanley thought that it was?
Stan smirked. “What’s that, huh. Acting like a good housewife, but secretly you’re a kinky piece of shit.”
With Xeno, Stanley always knew to expect the unexpected, but he had not expected him to be wearing this. He didn’t even know if Xeno knew when he was coming home but the love of his life was already stretched and prelubed.
Xeno opened his legs, allowing Stanley to carefully pull out the small plug and toss it aside on the balcony. Lube dripped from his slightly stretched hole.
Stanley laid Xeno with his back on the deck chair, spreading his legs slightly, and aligning the tip of his dick with Xeno’s wet hole, softly pushing inside and stretching the soft walls around him open.
Xeno was desperately trying to hold back his moans, but failed and let out a loud whine as Stan hit a particular spot inside him.
“S-stan! They will hear us. Let’s just go inside.”
Stanley grinned, enjoying the panicked look in Xeno’s dark eyes. “I’m Stanley fucking Snyder and I don’t give a damn.”
He removed the hand Xeno was holding in front of his mouth.
“Are you afraid they’ll hear your elegant moans?”
Xeno opened his mouth again, maybe to yell at him again to think of the neighbors, but Stanley didn’t care about his protesting whimpers anymore and pressed his lips on Xeno’s, stifling the whining noise with a wet kiss.
Stanley grinded his hips against Xeno’s ass, driving into him harder, and panting above him as Xeno hungrily swallowed his cock whole with his wet and warm hole. Xeno let out labored breaths as Stan’s hips bucked into him. Every single thrust made him gasp as Stan’s cock hit his sensitive spots. How much he tried, Xeno couldn’t stop moaning, as if he was challenging his knight to make him scream out for real.
Seeing Xeno whine below him turned on more and more. Stan made sure to thrust extra deep, forcing him to cry out louder, shredding the nightly silence with moans that were far from elegant.
He felt Xeno’s body tense below him, squeezing around his length and shooting a white trail over Stan’s shirt and his pale stomach before Stanley felt his own cock pulse, seed leaking out between the warm walls. Fuck. He had missed this so much. He pulled out, throwing an admiring gaze on the fluids leaking from Xeno’s ass, onto the chair. They’d have to clean that up the next morning.
Stan flicked his lighter, and took a long drag before exhaling, blowing whisps of smoke across the balcony. He knew Xeno below couldn’t complain because he was out of breath, exhausted and trying to regain his composure. Among his winded breaths, Xeno could utter a single whisper. “…I love you.”
Rays of sunlight hit Stanley’s head through the see-through curtains. He was laying on a soft bed, his head resting on a fluffy pillow. As he rubbed his eyes, the events of last night played through his brain. Especially the faces Xeno had made, and the warmth of his body against the cold chair.
The morning felt strangely tranquil. Waking up without the expected adrenaline he was used to was uncanny, almost if he had to get used again to what would be his new routine for the coming weeks.
As he lifted his legs over the edge of the bed and stretched the rest of his body to wake up his muscles, he picked up the smell of freshly brewed coffee. Following his nose, he found Xeno in the open concept kitchen.
He was already wearing slacks and a neatly ironed snow white dress shirt, sleeves elegantly rolled up, protecting his clothes with a dark blue apron, decorated with dangerous looking lab safety symbols around big letters that spelled out ‘Beware! Scientist cooking.’ Stanley had once given it to him as a gag gift, but Xeno had been wearing it more than he had expected. It had become quite useful during his cooking endeavors. Food science is also science after all, and science was elegant.
Xeno’s attention seemed to be fully focused on the eggs, his hands were busy stirring the pan with a spatula, turning the contents into a soft scramble. Stanley couldn’t resist the urge to slowly sneak up to him from behind while his guard was down. Stan’s nose caught the scent of that ever familiar cologne, mixed with a mist of hair product. He quickly pressed a kiss on his soft, cleanly-shaven cheek, while Xeno flinched and shook up from the sudden touch. “Stan!” After a few seconds, he regained his composure and looked Stanley in the eye while laying the kitchen utensils down on the counter.
“Want some protein, my knight?”
An amused smirk appeared on Stanley’s face as Xeno shoved a large omelet on his plate. Xeno even carried himself with flair at breakfast, doing what he loved: making things for the people he loved with nothing but perfection.
Stan realized he was just in his boxers and dog tags, underdressed compared to Xeno, but the latter probably didn’t mind that much as Stan could see his dark eyes trailing over his chest.
The surface of the omelet was a perfectly even buttery yellow. He chopped off a bit with his fork – Xeno always wished he would use a knife for that, but Stan preferred the more practical side of things.
The omelet slid soft and smoothly over his tongue, revealing the melty cheese inside as he chewed it. He had to admit, for someone who had a slight obsession with weapons of mass-destruction and with all that talk about becoming the world’s first science dictator, Xeno sure made some crazy good omelets.
Xeno took the chair across the table, and started buttering his toast. He took a sip of his coffee, which was just like his soul – pitch black with a spoonful of sugar.
“The weather forecast is good tonight. Do you want to go stargazing again?”
He looked at Stanley’s face as the latter took another bite of his omelet.
“We could go to a park somewhere. Somewhere secluded? I can take my older, more portable telescope with me. Just you, me, and the night sky.”
Stanley smiled. More of that nerd stuff, huh. He had some days off anyway and it wouldn’t be bad to see more of those shining dark eyes, reminding him of days long gone.
“Maybe you would be interested in the Cigar Galaxy?” Xeno’s lips curled.
He grinned.
“I’m in.”
The night sky was dark. A lot darker than he remembered. Stretching far and wide, going on forever, as if it could swallow everything. But in the eternal darkness many pinpoints of light could be seen, shining like diamonds on a black velvet dress.
When they first woke up in this stone world, they were only wearing the night sky around their warm bodies. It has been a long time ago since they gazed at the stars together – to be more exact, over 3700 years, and the world has changed so much. Their faces scarred by dark markings across their skin – but on the inside, they are still the same.
“The stars look … different today.”
“It’s been a long time. Their position in the sky has shifted over the ages.”
“It’s like there are more of them. And they’re brighter. I didn’t know there were so many stars.”
“The absence of artificial light makes them look brighter. After all, the only light pollution in this world is the one we bring to it.”
There wasn’t enough light on the balcony for Stan to see the expression on Xeno’s face, half covered in darkness, but he was sure he was feeling utterly content.
“Ideal for stargazing.”
Stan’s lips trailed over Xeno’s forehead, resting at the center where dark, rough scars crossed paths.
“We will make it as dark or bright as we need to.”