Authors note: This one-shot is an AU where Astro and Reno have decided to run away in fear of facing homophobia and/or transphobia should either their relationship or the fact that either of them is trans (because yes nonbinary people are trans, thank you) be found out. I'm not sure if I wanna continue this, but if I do, I may take this chapter down and re-upload it as a separate fic, just FYI. Thanks for reading!
Out amongst the trees under the vibrant blue sky and burning hot sun, there was silence.
The trees moved not an inch while the grass remained still.
All of this though, was before there were sounds of chirping birds with an incoming breeze finally able to move the trees for just a moment.
It had been a few weeks since Astro and Reno left.
It started back in December of the year before when Christmas was coming around, and Astro had met Reno in his lab with talks of leaving Metro City for good.
At first, he was hesitant, but after being made aware of the dangers that could arise should others find out about their relationship, he quickly changed his mind and was with all hands on deck, eager to plan a way to escape.
For now, many months later, they were in a forest, though their goal is to be somewhere they found to be called Lennox Hills.
The two of them were lying around on the ground, with Reno slowly opening his eyes to see the blazing sun pierce them, which quickly alerted him to sit up.
In a panic, he looked around to see where Astro was.
And to his left, there they were.
Lying with their face in the dirt, he suddenly remembered what had happened the day before.
Astro had tried to climb up a tree to see how much more the two would have to walk to finally be out and reach the next city.
But, they didn't wanna fly up and see, that, of course, would bring unwanted attention and, pose a great risk in general.
And so off they went, up each tree branch, trying to be careful and not fall.
However, ironically, when they made it to the final branch, it snapped in half and down towards the ground Astro went.
Thankfully Reno saw them and caught them in just enough time, but after that, it was apparent they were too spooked to try again on another tree.
In fact, after that would've been fall, they decided to call it a day and go to bed.
And Reno didn't blame them, so he decided to take it upon himself and look.
Surprisingly, they both actually weren't that far away.
Perhaps another week of slowly moving and they'd both be finally out, and from there it'd be the constant motel hopping with trips to the local fast food joint sprinkled in.
It seemed to him that it was the afternoon, but to be sure, he brought out his watch and gave it a quick glance, and sure enough, it was 1:17.
He let out a sigh and leaned back, resting his head on a tree before looking over at Astro again.
He was surprised they actually found a way to dye their hair.
It was a pastel shade of pink, and he couldn't help but look at it in awe for the time being.
"We uh... should really get going..." He said, gazing up at the sky for just a moment.
"A—Astro...?" He walked over to them and shook their shoulder.
"1200 Ants, we gotta get moving. We're almost out."
With confused eyes, Astro slowly woke up to seeing Reno towered over them.
"R—reno? You okay?" They replied.
"We need to get going."
"Oh. Um. Alright... gimme a sec."
Reno nodded and walked away to let Astro stand up and stretch to wake themselves up.
"Can't believe I fell out of that thing," they looked up at the tree from yesterday.
"Haha. You took quite a fall too, in fact, if I didn't catch you, you probably would've gotten your head stuck in the dirt."
Astro looked back at Reno, almost laughing, "at least I had a good snooze."
…
A good hour was spent walking towards a new location, inching them ever so closer to the next city nearby.
"Oh no, this is meant to stay, though I can re-bleach it and try a different color out."
"Huh. Interesting."
"I'm surprised you didn't follow suit, you don't think anyone's gonna recognize you?"
"Mmm no, I just... I think maybe I'm just too lazy," Reno adjusted the strap on his bag to be more towards his neck instead of resting on the edge of his shoulder.
Astro stopped in their tracks and turned around to face him.
"Well, if you're not gonna change anything, then at least fix your hair," they waited for Reno to walk towards them before they reached over, ran their fingers through his hair and sighed.
"You always leave your hair a mess, but congratulations, it's actually come in handy," they looked at him sarcastically before pulling their hands away and giving him a kiss on the cheek.
Reno facetiously rolled his eyes in response "Gosh Astro, you really are something..."
"And what? You're not?" They raised an eyebrow.
"Hgnnn, you're lucky you're attractive." He jokingly mocked
"Hey, you take that back, Savage!" They pointed a finger.
The two erupted into laughter, trying to keep their walking pace up, since they weren't exactly where they needed to be just yet.
"How far do we have to go? I feel like we've been walking forever..."
"Ehhhhhh, not too far... I'd say maybe in about... a hundred... something...steps..."
Astro sighed, "can we at least take a break, I think my legs are giving out..." they staggered behind Reno.
He turned around, "you want me to carry you?"
"Oh no no, I couldn't possibly ask that of you..."
"No, it's fine, really! You can just rest your arms on my shoulders."
They gave it some thought and thus ultimately decided to oblige.
Finally catching up to Reno, Astro let him get into position so they could get up and piggyback ride him, giving their legs a well-deserved break.
"You okay up there?" He asked.
"Mmmmhmmm..." was all Astro could respond with, as for some reason they felt being held by Reno in such a way meant it was the perfect opportunity to have a quick nap.
He shook his head with a chuckle and continued his trek to where they needed to be.
…
"And you couldn't find anything?!"
"I'm sorry, Doctor, but—"
"But what?! Astro is missing. He and Reno have both been gone for a whole month! If you can't find him I'll..."
O'shay was in Tawashi's office, obviously unhappy over the state of his investigation to look for Astro.
"I'll look for him myself! With my own team, even if it kills me!"
"Doctor, while I understand your concerns quite a lot, you're failing to realize we have many other problems to deal with, we can't devote all of our time to something like this..."
O'shay sighed, sitting down in a nearby chair in udder defeat.
"I just don't know why'd such a thing happen?"
"I'm not so sure either, there's little to no evidence provided, and we've interrogated all suspects and whiteness, nothing."
"That is very strange, but what's also weird is—"
"Reno quit his job at the Ministry of Science?"
"Yes! And then they both left..."
Tawashi sighed, "I dunno Doctor; I'm not here to jump to conclusions, but maybe they decided to leave to go date each other, just an educated guess."
"Oh heavens no, that couldn't possibly be it— I mean you saw him... around... Brianna..."
"Well, you know how the kids are these days, it's all about 'bisexual' and 'absorbgender' —I don't understand this shit, honestly. It's all bogus."
"I'd hope you're right, I don't know what I'd do if he came to me with something like that..."
All Tawashi could do was flip a page in the case file he was reviewing as a response, as he was unable to think of anything to say.
…
"You know... looking back, it was actually more difficult than I thought to deal with being misgendered. It was like... I wanted to correct them, but... I couldn't, so I would just lowkeyseethe, but like highkey be sad because dysphoria is a frickin' bitch," Astro looked over at Reno.
"Oh really? That sucks bud, I'm sorry..." he put an arm around them out of sympathy.
The two of them had finally made it to where they needed to be and were having an evening chat on the ground by yet another tree.
The sun was starting to go down as the once vividly blue sky was now becoming hues of yellow, orange and, red.
The breeze was picking up more, and thus the sound of moving trees became louder with general animal noises creeping in.
Astro let out a sigh, reflecting for a moment on everything that's happened so far.
Slowly their past memories brought upon anxiety, something Reno took quick notice of.
"Astro? You okay?"
"I... I just... I dunno— I'm scared."
"You wanna... talk about it..?"
Astro gave it some thought, then nodded.
"I... I'm worried... you know..."
"Hmm?"
"What if we get caught? What if we have to go back? I can't stand hearing my old pronouns, and I... I don't like having to deny I don't love you— because I do! And it just... I'm... anxious."
They started tapping their heels together to try and offset the stress, but it seemed to do them no good.
All they wanted to do was cry.
"Oh, Astro..." Reno slowly rubbed their back, "You are a fucking champ, you know that?"
"Hmmm?" They looked at him confusingly.
"I mean think about it— we've made it all this way! And who's idea was it to leave anyway? It wasn't me... and besides, I'm here, and I'm going to protect us, because I love you too, okay?"
"Y—yeah..." they choked.
"It's okay, I'm right here, and no one else is..."
He gave Astro some space to cry in peace before intervening to comfort them.
"Estarás bien, mi amor. Ssh ssh ssh..." ["You'll be fine, my love."]
A good cry later, and Astro was sitting beside Reno with their hand resting on top of his as they both looked up to the now black sky.
"The sky is just... so pretty," they commented.
"Eh, it's alright— I think the stars make it better, though."
"Mmmm, agree to disagree? Because I like both: stars and no stars."
Reno chuckled, "okay... agree to disagree."
He rested his head on top of Astro's and sighed, his eyes becoming much more tired.
"Guess all that walking has finally caught up to you, eh?" They snickered.
"I... guess so..." He yawned.
"Hmmm, tell you what. You go to bed, and I'll be lookout tonight, since I did all my sleeping during the day."
"You sure?"
"Mmmhmm! You look really tired, so I think it's only fair."
Reno thought it over and decided to agree, slowly transitioning into a sleeping position to call it a night.
"Goodnight," Astro smiled.
"Nnnnnnnight," Reno slowly closed his eyes.
They instinctively decided to gently run their fingers through his hair while still looking up at the sky.
They knew there was a lot more in store ahead for the two of them.
But were they ready to handle it?
Abso-fucking-lutely.