This story was written for the fanworks challenge '101 ways to snog en route to a colony' to celebrate GWAddiction's two-millionth hit, which was organized by Psyche and Dracostella. It was archived under Snog 27.
Moonage Daydream
—
The silence in space was deafening.
She stood still, feet planted apart, held down to the ship's hull by magnets. Wrapped in the safety of the astrosuit. Comforted by her steady breathing echoing inside the helmet. Mesmerized by the view.
The moon loomed before her. It filled her vision completely. Bright and bone-colored, fading into velvety black the stars could not penetrate. Lights flickered in tiny spiderwebs among the craters.
They flickered above the surface where the sunlight hit the scattered colonies. She stretched out her hand. So many of those little wheels fit into her palm.
. . . . .
They let their lips linger a little longer as they resigned themselves to the end of their kiss. Yet neither of them wanted to be the one to end it. A small sigh escaped her, mirroring his dizziness. A passionate kiss shared in near zero gravity caused light-headedness in more ways than one.
He opened his eyes as their lips finally parted to gaze at her. To admire her as she tried to hold on to the feeling a moment longer. She wore a serene smile.
She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever known. The way her eyelids fluttered for him was enough to make him feel grateful. Grateful that she would choose him to share herself with. Through everything, she hadn't turned her back on him. He felt lucky to say the least.
"Why do you keep frustrating me like this?" she mumbled.
"I'm afraid of commitment," he mumbled back.
She leaned back in her seat, shutting her eyes for a moment. "That doesn't sound like the Nichol I know. He never does anything half-assed."
They gazed out the window at the gibbous moon that seemed to move toward them.
"The ESUN wouldn't approve if they knew the procedure I skirted to get you that badge. Why not make it official?"
"Become a Preventer?"
"Why not? Space needs you."
He wasn't sure he wanted that kind of responsibility again, but he knew he might eventually cave in. Despite the doubt. Despite the possibility for regret. He was only human.
As usual, she saw through to his heart.
"Remember all those times you said you believed in me completely?" She shifted drowsily. "I'm telling you now, I know you can do this."
"And you base this conclusion on what?"
She smiled a mysterious feminine smile as her eyelids dropped closed. "You'll just have to trust me."
. . . . .
"Enjoying the view, Lady?"
She warmed hearing the deep voice in her ear, made tinny through her helmet's speakers.
"It reminds me of why I came to space in the first place," she breathed.
"Space is where dreams come true—the ultimate realization of all mankind's hope and passion and talent." His shadow appeared beside hers on the white hull. He sighed deeply. "My parents used to say that. Before they sent me to Earth to escape the Alliance. I never stopped believing it, even after everything we did."
Halos appeared around the colony lights through the moisture in her eyes.
"I used to dream about dancing on the moon—out on the lava plains and chasms with no one else around," she said. "Did you ever do that?"
"For real?" He laughed. "God, no. You could die out there."
You could die out there all alone and no one would find you for months. She would be alone again. When the few weeks expired. But this time, he would stay on the moon and she would go back home. To Earth.
Until the next time.
Its visage was truly awesome. From afar it seemed so insignificant. With nothing to separate them but the empty space, she was the insignificant one. The dark seas and white cliffs drifted by as they had unchanged for billions of years.
Some dreams still had a ways to go before they were realized.
He sensed her mood and amended: "But the earthrises were something else."
She found his hand and interlaced her fingers with his.
"I'd like to see that."
He smiled.
"You've got a deal."