The surrounding area was a mixed hue of blues, purples and blacks. Despite this, mainly black blanketed it, turning the sky nearly pitch black. Save for the stars jeweling it, there was hardly a speck of light. Among said stars were short, dimmed lights of blue and yellow. The former remained mostly quiet while the latter chattered on endlessly, his dribble making barely any sense at all.
The two had spent a great deal of time in that dark, cold void. Denial was evident at first, but slowly Wheatley had come to accept the fact that he would likely never escape this punishment. As such, his usual talkative demeanor had vanished. Now he did a whole lot less talking and a lot more thinking. Obviously he couldn't defy his programming by shutting up completely but considering how much less he had to work with than usual there wasn't exactly much he could create moronic ideas out of.
On occasion though, he would find himself inspired by the Space Core. So inspired in fact that he would begin to get ideas again. No, that wasn't quite the word to describe it. Although they appeared much like the other files in his databank did, a faint tingling erupted in his emotional processors. Not a bad one, as though he had done something wrong, but rather a warm feeling. Perhaps... happiness? Possibly.
Although he was not expertly educated in this department of emotion, his suspicions fell upon the fact that he was probably fond of the little maniac. Wheatley wasn't exactly sure if he could feel any form of romantic attraction, but he had decided to quit questioning it and just go with the flow.
On this particular day, the two had happened by a pale yellow planet dressed up in lovely rings of many shades and hues. Space Core squeaked in excitement as he recognized it.
"Hey! Hey hey hey! Saturn! Loooook! Saturn!" he hollered. The core picked up speed as he began orbiting his companion excitedly, rolling and spinning. His eager squeals and chipper mood had suddenly given the Brit what he considered a brilliant idea.
He was aware that in human culture, a popular method of conveying affection was to request your partner's hand in marriage. He feared this tradition couldn't be properly fufilled on account of neither of them actually having hands, but he would have to make do.
"Hey, Spacey. Spacey, listen." Wheatley called. The core quit his incessant claptrap momentarily. "So I was thinking, I've g-"
"Is it about space?" Space Core interrupted.
"What?"
"Are we gonna talk about sp-space!?" he asked. Wheatley blinked quickly, a metallic clinking sound created by the fast movement. He thought it over for a moment before nodding his face plate.
"Uhh... Sort of, yeah." he replied, if only to capture his friend's attention for a small while. In response, the little ball of joy squealed. He stared at the blue core expectantly. "Anyway, as I was saying, I have a proposition for you. See those rings over there?" he asked, motioning toward Saturn's rings with his handlebars.
"Ye-yeah! Rings!".
"Yes. Rings. Well, what if... what if you could have them?" he asked. The yellowish core looked him over quizzically. "Metaphorically speaking of course, because I can't quite literally reach up and grab them. What with the lack of hands and.. ah, lack of ability to take hold of them even if I hypothetically did have hands." he rambled. Quickly realizing he was getting off topic and losing the other's attention he corrected himself.
"B-But, anyhow, what I'm saying is nobody's exactly claimed ownership to Saturn's rings, right? Nobody on Earth can have it, because they already have, well, Earth. And no one lives there either. We don't exactly have a planet anymore, so I figured, isn't it basically free game for us?". The other core nodded excitedly at the thought of having his own planet, or at least part of it.
"Right! That's how this'll work. I give you the rings, or, or! We share them. One half for you and one half for me. Then the rules say we have to be together forever. And since we're clearly going to be stuck here for the rest of eternity, I thought, 'Why don't we get a jump start?'." he finished. Before the last of his words had left his speakers Space Core was nodding in approval.
"Yeah! Okay! Space rings for you and me! Yes yes!".
"You accept?" Wheatley asked. Once again the core confirmed his answer as being on the affirmative. "Wow... okay! Brilliant. Went just as well as I expected."
Soon afterwards they fell into a discussion of all things space related. Wheatley couldn't remember enjoying a conversation with the little core more so than that. In the back of his thought processor her couldn't help but wonder if he actually even loved him or if Space Core was simply infatuated with the thought of metaphorically owning a piece of space. Either way he was content as long as he was guaranteed an eternity with him.
