"Have you ever wanted to travel off Earth?"
Two cocked her head. She and Nos were lying on the floor of their observatory, the tops of their heads together. They had been stargazing in silence.
"Well, I... don't actually know."
"How's that?"
"We hadn't made contact with other intelligent life until the war, so it's not something a lot of people thought about. After the war, everyone was mostly focused on rebuilding, but since we were being annexed into the Galactic Alliance, space travel was sort of... provided? That's a weird way to put it; it was just suddenly accessible. I know I left, but... I wouldn't say it was because I wanted to. I hated pretty much every moment I spent away from Earth up until... well, you know. But I hated Earth then, too."
Nos hummed. "Life wasn't fair to you. There are a lot of worlds out there that you'd really enjoy. I've been thinking about it lately, and... I haven't been comfortable with this before, but it's not right. If you ever want to travel off planet, I hope you will. There are so many incredible places to visit and explore and I want you to live your fullest life. I don't want you to stay here just because I have to."
Two reached up, feeling from the top of Nos's head down to his cheeks and holding his face. "That's dumb."
He huffed and she felt him frown. "Thanks."
"If I wanted to go, I would. The reason I haven't is because I don't want to." She shifted, letting go of his face so she could roll onto her front, propping herself up so she looked down at him. "I love my gardens, my home, my family. My job is perfect, my friends are great. I love everything about my life. And ‒ " she planted an upside-down kiss on his lips " ‒ you're an integral part of all that. I appreciate the thought, but I'd never go somewhere you couldn't follow, Nos-4-a2."
Nos stared up at her. He held her gaze for a while before reaching up and guiding her face down toward his. Why did he ever worry about her? She laughed and held his face again, melting into something longer, slower, warmer. He'd never heard anything so humbling ‒ he couldn't imagine a better life sentence.
A/N: This... is uncalled for... but I kept having this thought when I was writing this and I wanted to draw a quick sketch to post along with it! However, I'm in Chicago at the moment and can't drum up the motivation, so I'll leave you with this:
Years later, Nos-4-a2 would think about this moment while sitting in his wife's gardens under the cool shade of a wisteria tree, gently brushing errant petals off the headstone and speaking softly because he knew that even if she wasn't with him, she never meant to leave him behind.