a sense of wonder (only slightly used)

Morgan & Adam in Season 2 💜

“Grace says he would like half of dome to be water.”

“Oh, is necessary for humans to have large amounts of water question?”

Small Eridian equivalent of a sigh. “No. Not needed for life. In fact Grace will die if he falls in water and does not get out.”

“Tell him we give him water in containers that won't kill him. Lots lots lots of water on Erid for Grace to drink.”

“No. Grace say he want water on ground. Also want it with excess sodium chloride compound so it will be unhealthy for drink.”

“Grace want this liquid for celebration.”

“Of course.” They scan it. “You have wrong liquid. This contain compounds which are poisonous for humans.”

“Yes yes yes. Grace say humans like feeling of being slightly poisoned.”

i’m an astronaut, you’re the moon

and the two of them are polite afterwards but they keep making little comments about how lucky buck is (as if it's lucky that theo lost his parents. as if it's lucky that buck had to see two friends die in front of him), how he needs to treasure theo (in a tone of voice like they don't think buck has ever known how to treasure anything properly in his life). in every single word, every interaction, buck can feel it unspoken in the air: it's not fair. it's not fair that you have him. it's not fair that you get--

they can't ever quite look directly at theo. they look at buck even less. buck doesn't protest when they both cut the trip short early. he scoops theo up after the door closes behind them, presses his face into his hair.

'they seemed sad,' theo comments, a little curious, a little empathetic. plenty of people have talked about how much theo reminds them of buck. buck has told plenty of people about how much theo reminds him of connor and kameron. his parents saw none of this.

buck rocks theo a little in his arms. 'they are,' he agrees. 'but not because of you, bud.'

theo nods, like he trusts buck's word implicitly. 'okay,' he says. then: 'are they coming over again?'

'do you want them to?'

a little hum, then a woosh as theo flies his toy plane through the air. he doesn't like toy cars yet. his parents brought him a set of car figurines, then looked at buck accusingly when theo had burst into tears when he saw them, as if buck hadn't told them about the accident already.

'nuh-uh,' theo says, and the easy way he says it makes buck smile, despite everything.

'okay,' buck says. 'then i don't think so, spider-man. because we're a package deal, right? united front.'

and buck looks at her and maddie shrugs and smiles and goes 'daniel was-- you looked alike, yeah, but you two had very different personalities.' she looks over at their kids for a moment, and then: 'they both have that little scrunched-up serious look, when they're trying to decide on something. it's uncanny.'

buck listens to her, and goes: 'oh, i didn't know.'

and maddie says: 'yeah, because jee is her own person. i never wanted to make her feel like anything less. it just-- it surprised me, at first, when mom and dad played with her so much, and never commented on how she also picked out all the red skittles from a bag first.'

the two of them sit with that for a bit, and then maddie sighs. 'sometimes i think-- they loved daniel, they really did. but it's been three decades, and i wonder if they still love him, or just the space he left behind.'

buck looks at the way jee is playing with theo, solemnly teaching him how to play with her barbies, and wonders if there had been a world where daniel played with him with that same little-kid seriousness, the kind that maddie never really could give him, because she'd been so much older than him.

'hey,' he says, nudging her in the side. 'you still love him. that means something.'

'you think?'

but what is love if not a sign of god's presence?