Al-Haytham didn't know how long he'd been staring at his empty, lusterless Vision. Minutes, hours? He hated to admit to any weakness, but in quiet moments when the Astral Express was making its jump between star systems was just long enough to dwell far too much on these sullen thoughts. He had no memory of his home, of the people he'd known, any of it. Just a vague sense that he could answer questions that had nothing to do with him despite how lonely it made him feel. He hated that word. It tasted like acid on his tongue, like he wasn't strong enough to face the fact that he likely could never return home. That he couldn't cope with it, as if he hadn't been. From the Stellaron Hunters to one of the Nameless, he simply went wherever the wind took him, it felt like.
While everyone else had long since fallen asleep, Al-Haytham was largely alone in the parlor car, and he was fine with it. That was, until the telltale whoosh of one of the entryways sounded and he knew he was no longer alone, glancing to see Dan Heng. The other balked when he realized their navigator was also awake, but resumed his stride towards where Al-Haytham sat and did so without much reconsideration. The conversation ebbed and flowed, nonsensical pleasantries and littered small talk that flowered, leading to them gazing out of one of the windows to study the stars.
Really, he shouldn't have. Maybe it was tiredness that influenced him, but when Dan Heng turned to remark on the constellations of the particular star system they were in, Al-Haytham felt all reason fly from view and become abandoned when he captured the younger's lips with a kiss. It was too impulsive, but they had grown too close, too comfortable, especially when the spearman had been the reason behind him joining the Astral Express in the first place. Too kind, too open, despite seeming like anything but--
"...Sorry. I probably shouldn't have done that," the Akkadian murmured with a forced laugh.
