"I know it's not quite as nice as the guest quarters, but I hope you'll like it here."
Audrey didn't have a lot of belongings to pack up, mostly just some spare clothes and a few trinkets she'd picked up along their travels, but Seymour had still offered to help her with carrying her things over.
As she stepped through the door and heard it slide shut behind her, Audrey paused to take a deep breath and let herself savor the moment. She could still hardly believe it was real, but there she was in her new green shirt with the ship's logo and her name stitched in. No longer a guest, but someone with her own quarters where she really lived.
Of course, it hadn't exactly occurred to either of them that she would be assigned to share Seymour's quarters. Though she supposed it did make sense. They were working in the same part of the ship now, and he had been living in a double-room by himself before.
Setting her suitcase down against the wall for the moment, Seymour decided that even if it was a fairly small living arrangement, the polite thing to do would be to show her around. Taking a few seconds to make a hasty attempt to clean up, he started at the small table in the corner, which he'd been using combination of a desk and a place to plug in a few appliances.
"So, um… we don't get a replicator in the staff rooms, and they took my hot plate away after I kinda had a mishap that set off the sprinkler system, so we have to go to one of the dining halls for meals. But I've got an electric kettle if you ever wanna make some tea or anything, and there's a little fridge here with a couple snacks that you can help yourself to."
Audrey stepped closer to get a better look at the clutter covering the table. These quarters might be less luxurious, but there was something very homey about seeing all the signs of Seymour living there. Not at all like the perfectly clean and tidy room she'd stepped into her first day on the ship. She hoped it wouldn't be long until it felt like home to her too.
"I'm sorry you don't have the room to yourself anymore because of me." She said, though she was somewhat distracted by reading over some of the papers to see what he'd been working on. She knew he did most of his work in the lab, but it would be nice sitting there with him if they wound up with data they needed to go over after hours every once in awhile.
"I don't mind. I think it'll be nice having company." He responded cheerfully. Since Audrey was reading, he decided to finish helping her move her things, and he picked up the suitcase again. After he pulled back the two curtains hanging across one of the walls, he hesitated, realizing he wasn't sure where exactly he should set it down. "Would you rather go on top or bottom?"
Audrey quickly spun around, and saw him standing next to the pair of beds built into the wall. The upper one appeared to be untouched, while the lower bed had a rumpled quilt and a few of Seymour's botany textbooks scattered about.
"I've been sleeping on the bottom bunk, but I could move my stuff if you'd rather go there." He offered.
Audrey shook her head, and she came over to help him push her suitcase onto the higher bed. "That's alright, you can stay there. I'll take the top one."
As she began to climb up to get a better look at where she would be sleeping, Seymour let out a small breath of relief. Though he would gladly agree to whatever would make her happy in their room, he also tended to get a bit nervous about the idea of combining someone as clumsy as him with heights.
Though there wasn't a lot of space for the beds, Audrey found there was just enough that she could sit up without having to bend her neck. Though it was still early in the day, she started to imagine what it would be like when it came time to sleep. Letting her mind wander just a bit further, she ran hand from one side of the bed to the other and considered whether there could be enough room for two people to cuddle up together. It would be a bit of a tight fit, but it should be fine as long as they stayed close. Especially if it was someone on the smaller side. Someone like-
"Is the room temperature alright?" Seymour asked, abruptly pulling Audrey out of her thoughts. "I know Areole tends to be warmer than Earth. I could turn the heat up if you'd like."
"That's okay. I think it's comfortable like this."
It was a little cooler than she was used to, but nothing an extra blanket at night couldn't fix. Honestly, she rather liked that the ship didn't tend to be as warm as it could get back where she'd grown up. It gave her a good excuse to get dressed in full sleeves and longer skirts, and other things that would have been too stiflingly hot to wear even if she didn't have to consider what visitors to the planet were expecting to see. Besides, she was hoping she might eventually have a good reason to be used to living in these temperatures.
As her mind once again wanted to wander towards just how nice it would be to spend the chillier nights cozied up with a certain crewmate, Audrey distracted herself by flipping her suitcase open so she could start to unpack a few of the things she'd brought with her. She would put her clothes away later, but sitting on top of them were the few trinkets she'd decided to buy in a couple of the ports they had already stopped in. Though she knew not to go around spending too much of her money in souvenir shops, she had decided that it was alright to treat herself occasionally, and her favorite things to collect had become the little plush versions of local animals that were often sold when she went on the nature tours.
She sometimes wondered if she should be embarrassed to be collecting toys at her age, but Seymour didn't look bothered by it, which gave her the courage to arrange them all so they were sitting against the pillow.
Starting to climb down again, she found herself wondering what she would be able to add to her small but growing collection once she arrived on her friend's homeworld. She had read plenty about the plant life, but that didn't mean that there wasn't a lot more to learn.
"Seymour, what kind of animals were there where you grew up?"
"Well..."
Though he could clearly remember what kinds of creatures he saw the most often while he was living in his basement, he thought that he probably shouldn't mention rats and cockroaches if Audrey was hoping for a pleasant story. Instead, he tried to think over the limited number of less-unpleasant animal life in the area.
"There were a kind of bird called pigeons. They mostly liked to hang around the local diner, and they'd all rush to gather around you if you dropped any food for them. And sometimes you'd see someone with a dog for a pet when they'd take it out for a walk."
"What're those?"
"Well, they're…" He decided it would be easier to show her, and pulled out his communicator screen to look up some images. While he liked dogs, the people on Skid Row sometimes tended to favor the intimidating ones to help keep themselves safe, and he decided to find a picture of a smaller and gentler looking breed. Settling on a picture of a cocker spaniel, he then handed the screen over to Audrey. "There's a lot of different kinds, but here's one way they can look."
Audrey immediately lit up with one of the brightest smiles he had ever seen from her.
"Oh, that's precious! It looks so soft!"
Seeing how delighted she looked, Seymour considered suggesting that they could get one if she wanted. The captain usually allowed pets onboard, since it was considered good for morale during times when they wound up spending weeks out in the darkness of space. Hopefully, they would be able to find an adoption center somewhere with some animals from Earth, or at least be able to put in a request to have one brought over. Though after just a little more consideration, he thought that it wouldn't be fair to keep a dog in such a small room. He'd always felt bad that the ones on Skid Row didn't get to have a yard, or even a safe park somewhere for their owners to take them. The ship would almost certainly be a nicer place to live, but it still wasn't the same as being able to run around outdoors.
But even if he couldn't offer that to her now, he did have something else he had been eagerly waiting to show her.
"Whenever you're done unpacking, would you wanna head to the lab? I had something I was hoping to talk to you about."
Audrey nodded, experiencing an unfamiliar but very pleasant feeling of self-worth. This room and the botany lab were both her place now, and he really wanted her there. It was amazing just how good it felt.
"Sure, I can be ready soon. Which projects are we gonna be working on?"
"Well… actually it's not exactly something to work on. It's sort of a surprise."
Seeing the half-excited and half-nervous look on her face, Audrey was more intrigued than ever, and she rushed to finish putting her few belongings away quickly.
Living on Earth someday had been Audrey's dream even before she set foot on the ship. And the more time she spent there, the more that dream had shifted into living on Earth with Seymour. And now that she knew nothing was going to force them to separate, she couldn't help but think that it seemed just a little more possible now. She'd stopped trying to deny to herself that she liked him. She liked him a lot. And maybe it was the desperation for someone to see her as a person and not just a dancer talking, but the way he looked at her sometimes had her starting to think that he liked her too.
But after spending the entire walk to the lab wondering why he might have prepared a surprise for her, and knowing perfectly well what she was hoping he would want to tell her, Audrey had to squash down a wave of disappointment when she and Seymour stepped through the doors, and she saw that nothing looked particularly different.
She didn't know what she was hoping to see, exactly. Maybe a table with a candlelit dinner with some petals strewn about, or even a picnic waiting for them on the floor. She told herself she'd been spending too much time reading about his species' courting rituals lately. She was letting her hopes get too carried away. Seymour would probably rather arrange roses and eat fancy dinners with a nice Earthling girl.
Forcing herself to sound chipper, she turned to Seymour and asked, "So, what did you want to show me?"
"Just one second…" Seymour fiddled with the controls on the wall panel for a few moments, until he'd gotten the lights dimmed to a lower setting.
Carefully making his way around pots and tables in the dark and only stumbling over something a few times (he may not have fully thought this part through), he eventually managed to lead Audrey over to one of the work stations, where a plant was covered by a small dome.
Audrey quickly recognized it as the area where he always hid whatever he was working on when she came in. She soon forgot anything else she had been worried about and lit up with an excited grin.
"You finished the new plant you've been working on!"
Seymour nodded, briefly looking up to meet her eyes with a smile of his own. He started to reach out to remove the covering, but found his hands shaking and pulled back again. He'd been really looking forward to the moment when he finally got it right so he could show it to her, but now that the time had arrived, he was finding it more nerve-wracking than he thought it would be.
Seeing him hesitate, Audrey tried to assure him, "I'm sure it's wonderful. I've never known anyone better with plants than you."
Seymour wasn't sure whether her faith in him was making him more or less anxious. He didn't know what was the matter with him. He'd brought her all the way down here and now he couldn't even show her the reason why.
"Is everything alright?" Audrey reached out to place a hand on his shoulder, her voice as gentle and patient as ever. Seymour pulled his eyes away from the still-hidden flowers to look up at her.
"I just really hope you'll like it." He admitted. "I've sorta been making it for you."
"For me?"
He nodded, eyes trailing down to the floor again.
"It's just… I never had anyone who cared much about me back home, or even really noticed I was there. At least until the alien plant came along, but that was still just about the big story, not 'cause any of them really cared about me. And then I got on the ship, and…" Words were coming easier now that he'd started, but he still tried to think as carefully as he could about how to say everything the right way. This was important, and he didn't want to mess it up. "And I thought I was even less likely to make any friends, 'cause people only stay here for a little while and then they're gone again. But then I met you, and I don't know why you like spending time with me so much, but I'm glad you do. I knew it was gonna hurt when you left, and I wanted to make something I could give you when you had to go, so that maybe you wouldn't forget me. But now you're staying, and I'm so, so happy you're staying, because I'd miss you so much that I don't think the ship would ever stop feeling empty without you."
"Oh Seymour…"
Audrey sounded on the verge of tears, but he could see her smile even in the dark, and it seemed that she was happy. After a deep breath, he took a moment to wipe his damp palms against his shirt, then finally reached down to pull the covering off the new plant.
Immediately, the space between them was filled with a soft glow. Suddenly feeling absolutely breathless, Audrey reached out to touch the plant that sparkled in the dark, a multitude of little white blossoms blinking on and off.
"I-I remembered how you liked the baby's breath, since you said it looked like seeing the stars. I thought I could make it look even more like the stars for you, so I've been breeding it with the bioluminescent flowers from Areole. It took awhile before it would grow without all the branches around it, but…" He had hoped she would have said something by now, but she was utterly silent, and his heart was starting to pound. "Do you like it?"
Though it took a lot of effort to tear her eyes away, Audrey quickly found it just as mesmerizing when she saw the lights reflecting off his glasses while he looked at her anxiously, as if making sure she was happy was the most important thing in the world to him. She realized then that it didn't matter what any book said an Earthling would do to express their affections for someone. In his own, perfect, Seymour way, it was clear as day what place she held in his heart.
Audrey leaned in first, but he responded just as eagerly. Before she knew it, she was in a warm embrace, his nose pressed against her cheek as her lips met his.
She could tell a few seconds in that he'd never done this before, and the thought made her heart leap even more than it already was. Somehow, in all the places she could have wound up in all the vastness of space, she had found her way to this perfect spot and this perfect moment. And most importantly, she'd found her way to Seymour. Shy, sweet, caring, wonderful Seymour. Her Seymour. The man who loved her so much he had given her the stars.
When she finally, reluctantly had to pull away, neither wanted to stop holding the other close, and she let her forehead softly rest against his. She feared that if she said anything, the moment would prove fragile enough to shatter. That he might start to regret it, or even that she'd wake up and realize it was all a dream.
Even as thoroughly speechless as she had left him, Seymour was still the one who gathered his thoughts enough to speak first.
"Audrey… would you go on a date with me?"
She let out a noise of relief, somewhere between a sob and a laugh.
"Sure."