#binary stars

Y/N gets up from her mattress and sees Rocky and Grace, asleep, next to each other.

Grace had promised Rocky that he would watch him sleep, but twenty-four hours of nonstop testing in the lab had clearly knocked the scientist out.

She chuckles softly and heads out of the dormitory to the washroom. Just as she was about to step inside, she catches sight of something outside the cupola window in the lab.

Something beautiful.

She changes direction immediately, drifting instead toward the glass. Y/N sits down on the floor and just stares.

"A star system.." Y/N whispered to herself, resting her head lightly against the window.

She thinks about the time she, Grace, and Rocky have spent together on the ship—three years of waking life, though it sometimes feels like much longer in all the ways that actually matter.

Lab experiments, EVA missions, games, teasing, stories told by Rocky, and slowly learning each other’s worlds had become her entire reality without her even noticing.

Grace and Y/N had chosen to save Rocky instead of going back to Earth two years ago. At the time, it felt like something they both would regret in the future.

Now, neither of them could imagine choosing differently.

The distance to Erid wasn’t measured in light-years anymore. Just time. A few months. Maybe less.

After everything, the stars didn’t feel far anymore.

Just… quiet.

-

Grace wasn’t supposed to be awake. That was the first problem.

The second problem was that he had already left his dormitory, walked through two corridors, and ended up in the lab without any clear reason other than the fact that his brain had decided sleep was a suggestion and not a requirement.

The lab lights were dimmed.

Quiet.

Grace pauses when he notices her.

Y/N.

Sitting under the cupola window.

Not working. Not fixing. Not talking.

Just… there.

He doesn’t say anything at first. He should—He knows he should. Instead, he leans slightly against the doorway of the lab and just watches her.

There's a star system outside the window.

Distant. Calm. Indifferent in the way only space can be.

Grace realizes, vaguely, that he has stopped thinking about whatever excuse brought him here. That is mildly concerning. Even more concerning is the fact that he doesn’t really want to fix it.

He shifts slightly, making the floor creak under his Converse.

Y/N turns her head a little, just enough to acknowledge him.

"You're staring." She says.

"I am observing." Grace corrects automatically.

"That's the same thing."

"No, it isn't."

She hums softly, like she's not interested in arguing tonight. And that was unusual for Grace. Most of the time, she argues back. That should make him relieved—instead, it makes him feel... uncertain.

Grace steps into the lab properly now, slowly. He looks up at the cupola window, sitting down a short distance away from her without fully deciding to.

The stars are doing what stars always do.

Nothing.

Everything.

"...Couldn't sleep?" He asks.

Y/N doesn't look away from the glass. "Couldn't stop thinking."

“That is statistically inefficient,” he says.

A faint pause. Then she lets out a soft breath that might be a laugh if you squint at it.

“Yeah,” she replies. “I’ve noticed.”

Silence settles between them again.

Grace finds himself looking at her instead of the stars.

Her eyes.

The soft glow of the star system reflected on her skin.

'God you look so beautiful right now.' Grace thinks to himself, making the corner of his mouth curve up a little.

He shouldn’t be thinking that. But he is.

Outside the cupola, the star system drifts slowly across the glass. Beautiful in a way that makes him feel slightly irrelevant.

"It looks like it's breathing." She says quietly.

Grace follows her gaze. "It is not." He replies.

"I know."

Another pause. Then, softer:

"But it feels like it is."

Grace opens his mouth to correct her again, but stops. Closes it—he doesn't have a better answer.

He leans back slightly, resting his hands on the floor behind him.

The lab feels too big suddenly, or maybe he just feels too small.

Y/N is still watching the stars.

Still calm.

Still completely unaware of what she was doing to the internal stability of Ryland Grace's entire thought process.

He should leave—that would be the logical choice. He does not move. Instead, he says the first thing his brain offers him.

"It's a binary system."

Y/N sighs immediately. "I knew you were going to ruin it."

"I am not ruining it."

"That's different."

"It really isn't."

Grace looks back at the window, and the stars continue their slow orbit. Beautiful. Predictable. Completely indifferent to the fact that two humans are sitting here pretending they are not affected by them.

"...It does look like dancing." He admits, quieter now.

Y/N turns her head slightly towards him. "Yeah." This time, she doesn't argue.

And Grace realizes, with an almost inconvenient clarity—he didn’t come here to observe the stars.