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justthehiddleswrites · 3 years

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Nice Shirt | Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Summary: After two years of being in a relationship with Tom, you start to question whether you are putting your own dreams aside for this relationship. You make a hard choice but is it the right one?

Warnings: Implied Smut, Drinking, Bit of Angst

2016

Tom couldn’t sleep after comic-com panels. The adrenaline pumped through him, and he couldn’t sleep for hours. He tried to convince Chris Hemsworth to go to the bar with him, but he begged off.

“You can talk to your wife any time. But how often do you get to bar hop in Philadelphia?”

“Nah, mate.” Chris responded. “I am absolutely wiped. But go have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Chris clapped him hard on the shoulder.

“Ehehehe.” Tom chuckled. “Of course. Brother.”

The two men parted with a hug, and Tom headed for his car.

“James…” Tom asked his driver. “Do you know any good bars?”

The man smiled in the rearview mirror. “How good?”

“The best.”

“I know just the place.”

You weren’t sure how you ended up at Frankford Hall, but here you were, beer in one hand, ping pong paddle in the other.

“Whoo!” you hooted as you beat the young frat guy on the other side of the table. “That’s how it’s done!”

Someone tugged on the back of your shirt, you spun wide, sloshing your beer. You weren’t drunk yet, but the buzz was flowing.

“JESS!!” you screamed. “You made it!”

You pulled your best friend into the tightest hug. She mumbled something against your chest.

“What?”

“I said…” Jess pushed off of you. “… we need to get some food into you.”

“Excellent idea.”

You linked arms and headed inside to order some food.

Tom reminded himself to thank James for the excellent suggestion. He never would have picked a biergarten for the night but with ping pong and authentic food. It hit the spot after a long day of photographs and signing photos.

“Hey!” a voice beside him cut through the din of the bar.

“Pardon?” Tom answered, turning to find you standing there.

“Nice shirt, Paul!”

“The name’s Tom.”

Your head ducked as you burst out into laughter.

“I was calling you Paul Bunyan. You know, the lumberjack. Plaid shirt.”

Tom glanced down, forgetting he had thrown on his well worn red plaid shirt.

“Oh, right. Eheheheh.” Tom gave a nervous chuckle.

The waiter plopped a plate in front of Tom. Bratwurst. Tom licked his lips and took a big bite, bits of sauerkraut falling to the plate.

“I like a man who can handle his sausage.” you flirted.

The waiter delivered your and Jess’s appetizers, laying the plates in front of you. Tom eyed your food while taking a big swig of beer.

“I like a woman with a big appetite.” Tom countered, turning on his stool to give you a once over.

“Good to know.” You licked your thumb after popping a bit of pretzel in your mouth. “How are you with a paddle?”

Tom choked on his beer. “I beg your pardon?”

You lifted your chin to the outside.

“Ping pong. What did you think?” You returned the favor of allowing your gaze to slide up and down his long lean body, lingering on some places more than others.

“No comment. Let me finish this beer and I will meet you out there.”

You grabbed your plates and headed outside.

“It is about time. I worried you got lost in there.” Jess grumbled as you shoved her food at her.

“Jess! You will never guess who I just ran into in there!”

Two Years Later

“What on earth are you doing?” Tom questioned as he viewed drawers opened and the closet door thrown ajar.

“Packing, Tom.” you sighed as you folded up shirts, deciding which ones to pack and which ones to leave behind. “That is what one does when getting ready to travel.”

“I thought we decided you weren’t going to take that job.” Tom sat down on the bed, jostling your suitcase.

Your hands gripped the once folded shirts.

“No, you talked to me for two hours about all the reasons why I shouldn’t move back to the States and then you changed the subject every time I tried to bring it back up again. But there was never any ‘we’ in this decision, Tom. I’m going.”

“Why?” Tom’s voice cracked. “I thought we… you were happy living with me here in London.”

You sighed as you shoved a couple pairs of boots into the suitcase. “I was.” Tom smiled a slight smile. “But I realized if I stayed here, all I would ever be is your girlfriend.”

“You make it sound like a prison sentence.” Tom mumbled.

“For me, it would be. I have dreams and goals of my own and no matter how hard I try, it would always be overshadowed by you. Or worse, pitied or given special treatment because of you.” You shoved the last of your clothes and pushed the lid down and struggled to zip the case closed.

Tom fidgeted with his hands in his lap.

“We could have talked about all this before you booked your flight. We can still talk about it, delay your flight.” His voice grew shrill. “We can make this work. Just don’t leave. Not like this.”

His hand slid over to grab yours. You sat down beside him, giving his hand a brief squeeze before extracting your fingers from his grip.

“My lectures start tomorrow.” A horn beeped. “That’s my taxi.”

Tom bolted to standing. “You can’t possibly be leaving now! Let me drive you to the airport. Something!”

You stood too. You rose on your toes. Your hands rubbed across the stubble on his chin and cheeks. Tom’s eyes squeezed closed at your touch and tears streamed down to your fingertips. You pressed your lips to his and sighed. Tom gripped your sweater like his life depended on it. The sound of the taxi honking again interrupted your embrace.

You squeezed his shoulders hard. “I need to go. I will call you when I land.”

Tom nodded. He grabbed your suitcase and carried it to the door. You reached for it, but he held on.

“Please reconsider. I love you.” Tom pleaded.

“I love you too. But I love me more.” You kissed his cheek. “I’ll call from Philly. Take care of yourself.”

Tom bit his lip in hopes to stifle his anguish. He released his grip on the handle as he nodded at you. You kissed his cheek and stepped out the door. He stood at the threshold until you waved from the backseat of the cab.

Tom gave a tight smile and a small wave until you disappeared into view. Once the door clicked behind him, Tom crumpled to the floor, his legs ceasing to function. Bobby trotted over to check on him, and Tom burrowed his head into Bobby’s soft fur.

He sat there for 30 minutes until his phone rang. He sent it to voicemail. It rang again. This time he turned the phone off and chucked across the foyer. He dragged himself to the couch where he lay until there was a knock at the door.

He jumped to his feet and ran to the door, hoping you had changed your mind.

“I’m so glad you—” he exclaimed as he flung the door open.

“Glad to see you too, mate. Why didn’t you answer your phone?” Luke responded as a disheveled Tom met him at the door. “What the hell happened!?”

Tom’s face fell. “She’s gone.” he croaked out as he fell against Luke.

Luke stood bewildered as he walked Tom back into his house and hoped to unravel just what had Tom in such a state.

Three Weeks Later

It was Tom’s first time leaving the house since you left. Luke made sure he had groceries and cleared his calendar of what few things were on it.

Tom had been planning a surprise vacation with you. Which Luke had to cancel. And now Tom sat in a corner booth of his favorite restaurant waiting for Benedict to arrive.

“Shall I get you something to drink?” The waiter asked as Tom ignored the menu.

“A pint. And keep them coming.” he grumbled, not bothering to take off his sunglasses.

“Are you sure that’s a wise decision giving your current emotional state?” Ben’s voice questioned as the waiter walked away.

“Why the fuck not? I am in mourning.”

“It’s been three weeks, Tom. You can not continue on like this. Your liver will never make it.”

“Want to bet?”

“Your GP would agree with me. Nice shirt, by the way. You’ve got a real brooding lumberjack vibe going on.”

Tom glanced down at the red plaid and tears welled in his eyes.

“That’s what she said the night we met.” Tom’s voice cracked.

Ben’s face softened at the wreck of Tom. “I didn’t mean to hit a nerve. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t know. I never wear the shirt any more. But I haven’t been doing laundry as much.”

“Or showering either.” Benedict takes an exaggerated sniff.

“Not helping, mate.” Tom shot daggers across the table.

“How can I help? I assume that is why I am here. Since you are not taking any calls.”

“I broke my phone chucking it across the room. Haven’t bothered to replace it.”

Ben pressed his hands flat. “You might want to get on that. Perhaps she is trying to call you. I was under the impression you were smarter than this.” He shook his head at Tom.

Tom perked up. “I hadn’t thought about that. Do you think she has reached out?”

“Well, you won’t know until you talk to her.” Tom’s eyes sparkled and sat up straighter. “There’s the Tom Hiddleston I know.” Ben smiled.

“Thank you, Ben. You are a loyal friend.”

“I’m your best friend. And I only want you to be happy. And as payment for my expert relationship advice, you are paying for lunch.”

“With pleasure.” Tom smiled for the first time in weeks.

Tom’s mood was short lived. He stopped by the store and replaced his phone. He listened to your voicemail from that day you left. And then nothing. Not a text, not a call. Radio silence.

“Hello, darling. It’s Tom. Sorry I haven’t called sooner. A bit of an accident with my phone. I would very much like to talk to you. To hear your voice. Call me, please. Any time, day or night.”

He sighed as he left the message and stared at the phone for the rest of the night. It didn’t ring.

Two Months Later

It was three months since you moved to Philadelphia and began your adjunct position at Penn. You only gained some semblance of normal in the past few days.

“And that is it for today.” You addressed the class. “See you on Thursday.”

The auditorium emptied quickly as students rushed to either their next lecture or something else to do. With a huff, you heaved your bag onto your shoulder and headed to your office on campus.

“Hello?” you answered your phone.

“Any word?” Jess’s voice asked on the other end.

“I told you. He doesn’t have this new number, and I lost his when my phone took a swim in the toilet.”

“Then email him.”

“If he wanted to talk, he would have called those first few days. He has moved on.”

“You are a stubborn ass. You just don’t want to reach out first and have to admit you made a mistake. That you still love him and still want him.”

“That’s not true. He’s busy. He has projects. He probably isn’t even in London right now.” you lied to yourself. You hated when Jess was right.

“Bullshit. You’re scared. Fine, don’t do anything and throw away the best thing that ever happened in your life.”

“Hey! This job is the best thing that happened to me. It moved me closer to you.”

“I would give up our weekly lunches to see you happy. Are you happy?”

You sat down silent at your desk. She was happy, she thought, right? That was the whole point of this. The move was meant to help her reach her goals. Everything felt hollow instead of empowering.

“Yeah, yeah.” you lied to Jess. “Of course, I’m happy. That was the whole point.”

“Still calling bullshit. Remember Jason is coming to pick you up for lunch tomorrow because I have that client meeting.”

“Thank you for reminding me. Bye Jess.”

“Talk to Tom.” she blurted out before you ended the call.

You laid your head on your desk and sighed.

The next morning dragged on. You loved teaching communication, but today your heart was somewhere else. Jess’s words weighed you down like an anchor.

“And what percentage of communication is communicated nonverbally?” you asked the class.

You scanned the room to find someone to call on. Out of the corner of your eye, you spied a red plaid shirt. Just like the one Tom wore at Frankford Hall years ago.

“Ah…” you lost your train of thought. You glanced again but couldn’t find the shirt again. “… yes?” you pointed at someone in the third row.

You spent the rest of the lecture searching the room for the owner of the shirt, but he had disappeared. You convinced yourself you imagined the entire thing.

“Let’s end class early. Enjoy it because it won’t happen again.” you announced.

The class cheered as they packed up for the day. You waited until the hall was empty just to double check for Tom.

“You are losing it.” you mumbled to yourself.

Tom convinced Luke he was ready to work again. Starting with some radio appearances in New York. Luke wasn’t convinced Tom didn’t have a hidden agenda.

“Are you sure you aren’t planning on taking a day trip to Philly to find her?”

Tom scoffed. “It’s over, Luke.”

Luke glanced at Tom askance but complied with the request. “Fine, but I don’t want to see a single story unrelated to these interviews in the papers.”

“Cross my heart.” Tom made an exaggerated “x” on his chest.

“I’ve heard that before.” Luke groused as he made the plans.

When Tom received his itinerary, he was grateful Luke left an entire day empty.

“You know me too well, mate.” Tom commented as he saw the handwritten note at the bottom:

Here is a good car rental company. It is just under two hours to Philly. Be safe and tell her you love her.

- Luke

Tom wasted no time to call the car company.

When he arrived on campus, it didn’t take him long to find your office. It was locked.

“Excuse me, do you know when the professor will return?” he asked a passing student.

“She is lecturing in Ames Hall. It's just down the corridor.”

“Thank you.” Tom took off.

He snuck into the back to the crowded lecture hall and listened in for a bit. He swore you glimpsed him. His stomach growled as he skipped breakfast to get on the road and he ducked out of the hall to get a quick snack.

As he headed back, he spied you outside your office. His heart leaped into his throat. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes in joy.

He stepped forward but stopped as a man approached you, and you threw your arms around him.

“Fuck!” Tom cursed as the two of you walked away. He collapsed on a nearby bench, uncertain where to go from here.

It was later in the day when Jason dropped off back at campus.

“Call him.” both Jason and Jess pleaded.

“Leave it be, you two. We have both moved on.”

“Is that why you swear you saw him in class today? Or that you haven’t even thought about dating since you got here?” Jess added.

“Goodbye you two.” You slammed the door and headed to pick up your things before heading home.

You noticed someone slumped over on a nearby bench. You stepped closer and noticed the red plaid shirt from earlier.

“Are you okay?” you inquired. “Tom?!”

Tom unfolded himself from the bench.

“Tom, it’s you! What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in London?” Tears pricked the corners of your eyes.

“I needed to see you. To talk to you. To explain why I didn’t call.”

You crossed your arms. “I’m listening.”

“I was so upset, I threw my phone and broke it. I left you a message but didn’t hear from you. I figured you might have moved on, but I was willing to take a chance. But I see I was right.”

“How long have you been sitting there? Are you talking about Jason?” You hooked your thumb behind you.

Tom sighed heavily. “So that’s his name.” He took your hands and held them tight. “I should have fought harder. I should have listened more. I am so sorry that you ever felt you couldn’t pursue your dreams with me by your side.” His thumbs ran across your knuckles.

You spied the tears falling down his cheeks. You opened your mouth to speak, but Tom cut you off.

“I want you to be happy. Whether that is with me or not. But above all, I want you to be happy. And if that means I never see you again, then so be it. But know I love you. I will always love you.”

“Tom—”

“Have a wonderful life.” Tom leaned forward and pressed his lips to your cheeks. “Give me a call if you are ever in London.”

Tom turned on his heel and walked away.

“WAIT!!!” you screamed, and he stopped and turned to face you. You ran to meet him. “Did you mean it?”

“Every word. I have never lied to you.”

“Jason…” Tom turned his head away at the name. You grabbed his chin to have him face you. “… is Jess’s long-term boyfriend. He picked me up to meet her for lunch.”

Tom’s eyes widened as the words sunk in. “So…”

Your lips curled into a smile and your hands snaked up his torso, gripping the front of his shirt. “Nice shirt, Paul.”

Tom smiled back. “The name’s Tom.”

“Well, Tom. I think we should carry on this conversation in my office.” You tugged him along. “I think your shirt would look amazing on my floor.”

Tom smiled as you shut the door. “I only want to make you happy.”

#tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston fanfiction #tom hiddleston fanfic #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston imagine #tom hiddleston angst

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orchestrators · 5 years

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The Second Farthest: Conclusion

Mara pulled up her starmap, and glanced about the region of space they were passing through. There seemed to be little to nothing out here in the deep sector. Apart from the relatively small black singularity which must have swallowed everything in the region a couple of billion years ago. Mara wondered why the Roverdendrom was even out here, and in studying its flight path she realized something. The Roverdendrom ship had traveled the farthest into the deep sector that a ship has ever flown. That excited Mara, and made her want to take it home even more.

Mara must have dozed off, because normally her ships proximity alert didn’t make her jump out of her skin like this. She looked about the cockpit, and found Aaron attempting to climb into his seat. A red light was flashing on her HUD, and a similar light flicked on and off on every screen of the ship. Mara ran her fingers through her curly locks and tied her hair up into a tight bun before snatching her helmet from its compartment.

“What the hell?” She said out loud.

“Hey, can you stop messing around and flip this ship over? We need to get plugged in there’s something coming!” Aaron shouted.

“Oh you want me to flip the ship huh? Alright, your choice.” Mara said, she clipped her helmet on and activated the ships flight systems to sync with her controls. The entire ship rolled, and Aaron collapsed into his seat.

“You are an asshole, you could have warned me.” He said.

“Yeah whatever just get yourself strapped and shut up.” Mara ordered him, clipping herself into her harness.

The alert on her screen and HUD looked like a small attache of ships that were on an intercept course with the delta squadron. Mara wondered why a small band of ships was after a cruiser in the first place. But she didn’t want to think about the motivations of the Yggrasilians, nothing they did ever made sense to her anyway. She established a squadron wide comm link, and loaded the first set of tungsten rounds into her starboard and port cannons. The ship was fitted with 6 Electromagnetic Pulse Rods in the main railgun, and she had no problem using them to clean up shop. Mara focused her viewfinder and reached into her jumpsuit for something.

“Is that, a, a flask?” Aaron asked.

“You bet it is, New Botanica spiced rum, from Euroso. Brewed in port Frankford, smuggled by me.” Mara boasted.

“You can’t drink alcohol on a flight mission. That’s ridiculous.”

“Have you ever been in a space battle before?” Mara said before taking a swig of her drink, “it’s not going to be pretty, so just keep everything on the ship working and we’ll be fine.”

“Fine, but I want a swig of that.” Aaron said.

“Ooh being assertive, there he is, alright pal lets get it done. Squadron Delta falling out of interplanetary keep it loose and use your hearts not your head. Lets light the bastards up.”

The bleeding lights around the cockpit began to shorten and wide, until eventually the ship came to a halt. Aaron craned his neck to see if he could find anything, but all he could see were distant and dim lights of stars. There was a reason this area of space was called the deep, very little light penetrated it. Every star was millions of lightyears away, and not a single solid object lay in the deep, apart from the Delta squadron, the Roverdendrom, and the Yggrasilians they were about to fight. A mechanical whirring noise began to vibrate to Aaron's right, and the starboard cannon launched a tungsten pellet the size of a cigarette out into the vacuum. Aaron could see the other ships around the Raptor’s Claw, including the sister ship, all firing into the distance. But he didn’t see any indication that anything had stuck anything else.

“What now?” Aaron asked.

“Give it a minute.” Mara whispered.

The silence was uncomfortable, the only thing making noise was Aaron, his breathing became heavy and he could feel the sweat building up on his forehead. Mara tried to ignore him, and focused on her targeting and motion sensor systems. She kept the tip of her finger on the control stick below her right hand, and kept her left thumb on the trigger of her port cannon. She was ready for what was coming, or at least she was as ready as she would ever be. She waited for the right moment, but it took longer than expected. A loud snap to her right sent a shockwave through Mara’s ears, she glanced over to see a crack in the glass. Then it clicked, Mara was no longer a person, she was the ship, and they had just hurt her. Without thinking, she bobbed the ship as a rain of pellets began to snap and crack off of the hull of the ship. Mara returned fire in short bursts, all while attempting to dodge the rounds fired at her. As quickly as it began, it had all stopped, the loud cracks dissipated and Mara pulled the ship still again.

Another long pause, and Mara knew she had hit at least two of them, her sensors detected that seventy seven of her one hundred and forty seven rounds had landed. She let a grin cross her cheeks, she was already winning. They were only a few lightyears from the accretion disk and the Roverdendrom, so Mara called for the squadron to start moving. The battle had been drawn out, and Mara felt they must be nearly finished, the Yggdrasilians were vicious, but not tactically smart. There were too many openings for Mara and the rest of her ships to land solid hits across the hulls of enemy ships. They were finished, she thought, the fight was over. That was until Aaron raised his voice.

“Something incoming on our position three Kilometers!” He shouted.

Mara spun the Raptor’s Claw about, and saw something massive in the distance, it looked like a large flat plate, with a pointed edge curving on the front and back. She couldn’t make out what kind of ship it was, she had never seen anything like it before. It was coming in quickly, and Mara acted with extreme prejudice. She ordered every fighter in the squadron to fire upon the ship, but it was already too late. The titan had already arrived, and began smashing into the other ships around Mara and Aaron. It ploughed its way through the squadron, not even taking a dent from any of the rounds fired into it. Its hull must have been incredibly dense, because nothing Mara did could stop it. She soon realized that she had to get away from here, away from that ship. She called all remaining fighters to follow her, and Mara pushed the ship farther into the deep.

“”What the fuck was that?” She said aloud.

“I, I don’t know, I don’t know.” Aaron stuttered.

“Your an engineer, figure it out, what could make a hull so thick it could do that?” Mara asked.

“I don’t know, I don’t know.” Aaron said again and again.

He was tripping over his own thoughts, it was horrific, the huge faceless monster appeared out of nowhere, and eviscerated everything. He could still see it in his mind's eye, the inconsiderate, unforgiving machine that nearly killed him. He swigged the Rum in his hands, spilling it down his chin. He was shaking, unable to wrap his head around what he just saw.

“How did it get so close to us?” Mara asked.

“What?” He said.

“God damn it are you even listening to me where did it come from how come we didn’t see it or hear it?” Mara asked.

“Th-the accretion disk, the black hole, its close. It could have used the hole to bend it’s interplanetary path directly to us w-without us seeing it.” Aaron said.

“Gog damn, get it together, we’re low on fuel, we have to regroup with the rest of the squadron.”

“M-mara, there is no squadron.”

“What?” Mara said, turning around to him. She looked into his eyes for the first time since this all began, she had hardwood brown eyes, he had only noticed now.

“They’re gone, there isn’t an interplanetary stream near us. They’re gone.”

Mara unbuckled from her seat and ran past Aaron to the aft of the ship, she was mumbling across multiple comm links, trying to establish contact with anyone. She threw herself to the engineering desk, and began composing a long range distress signal, acting on muscle memory alone. Aaron unclipped his harness, and shakily he stood, looking out at the stretched stars. He tried counting to ten, picking a color, or naming things in the cockpit alphabetically. None of it worked, he was still panicking. Where or how could the Yggdrasilians have built such a monster. What powered it? How did it function? All the things he wanted to know but couldn't ever learn, not that he was out here, on a simple rescue mission that failed.

“Delta squadron respond, delta squadron this is operation leader please respond.” Mara continued to repeat herself over and over, with the same confidence. “Delta squadron can anyone respond, making our way to the rescue sight please respond.”#

Aaron felt her voice drown into the background hum of the ship’s engines, and in an attempt to not disturb her, he sat back in his seat and remained silent. Mara’s demanding and authoritative voice boomed through the silence of the deep sector, calling for any and all that were left. But she heard nothing back, no one responded. It had been over an hour, and the ship’s reactor core was burning fuel faster than Aaron could compensate. So he powered the reactor down, and focused his energy on maintaining the ships life support and flight capability systems. Just in case they needed it, he also allocated power to a single EMP Rod on the belly of the ship, should the Monster of the Deep return. Aaron didn’t pay attention to Mara’s pointless transmissions, until he heard her voice crack. He glanced around his chair to see her, and her head was in her hands.

“Mike… Michael… please…” Mara said. She was crying.

“Mara, I think you should maybe rest, we don't know if Mike can h-”

“You shut it.” She yelled back at him, “This is my ship, I say what we do not you. He can hear me, I know he can hear me. So shut up.”

Aaron didn’t know what to say, it seemed that nothing could dissuade her from calling on all frequencies. Over time the ships lights began to flicker, and the engine powered down. The stars fell back to their original shape, and the ship slowly glided out of interplanetary. The autopilot flight stabilizers slowed the ship to a dead stop and the HUD in Aaron’s eye displayed a message:

Error Systems Critical

Arrived at destination

Fuel Critical

Engine Failure

Weapons Failure

Manual Controls Failure

Gravity Well Failure

Autopilot Failure

System Failure

Error__

_Error--

Er__or

E__-

The ship's computer blinked and the screen fell blank before him. The only thing displaying any information was Aarons HUD, but it was useless without the ship to interface with. He ripped the cables from the sockets behind his ears, and leaned forward, cupping his face in his hands. He pushed his thumbs into his eyes, and rubbed them as hard as he could. They had been in this ship for hours, and he had already been awake all day. It was a trivial thing to be annoyed about considering the situation he was in. He stood up, and sat at the window, leaning against the pillar of the cockpit. He listened to Mara’s voice become shaky and withered while she begged Mike to answer her. But no message came back. Aaron looked out at the accretion disk, where the cruiser was meant to be, they had made it, but there was nothing here. The event horizon was a few kilometers ahead, and there was no sign a ship was ever here. He didn't know what convinced him to do it, but he had a feeling. He pulled up an emergency propulsion lever in the captain's chair, causing the ship to shake and rumble as a small jet of energy expelled from the starboard side. The ship spun around to look away from the black hole before them, and trying his best to look through the confusing bends of light and space around him, Aaron saw it.

“Mara, Mara look.” He whispered.

Mara lifted her head from the table and fixed herself. She knew he had already seen her cry, but that didn’t mean she would leave any evidence of it on her face. She pulled her hair back behind her ears, and wiped her wet nostrils. Mara stepped over the now dead ship and looked through the cockpit window to see it. A long formidable space cruiser, with a reflective silver coat of paint, and the name printed in pearl white across the port side. It floated ominously, and had a ghostly presence. There were no lights coming from its windows, no flashes from its exhaust ports. The Rovendendrom was dead. Aaron and Mara couldn’t take their eyes off of the wreck, because it didn’t look wrecked at all, the ship didn’t seem to have any damage, any signs of fighting. Not even a scratch or a plate removed. It just stayed there, in a gentle spin, orbetting with them around one of the largest objects known to man in the immediate universe. The ship began to heat up, and Mara gave up on sending messages.

“We found it, at least we can say that.” Aaron said.

“Yeah, we found it alright.” Mara said.

“Do you think they’ll find us out here?” Aaron asked, already knowing the answer.

“No, they won’t. We have no way to leave a beacon. The only hope we had was if we could reach that ship, but we overshot the damn thing.”

Aaron paused, not knowing what to say next. Nothing really came to mind but one thing that he knew he shouldn't say, but he needed to say it.

“So is this it? We die here?” he asked.

“I guess so, but I’m okay with it if you are.” Mara said, her voice for once sounded soft.

“Yeah, I’m okay with it.”

Mara sat on the opposite side of the pillar to him mumbling about the heat in the cockpit. Aaron for some reason wanted to see his mission log one last time, and delete some of the notes for his after action report. He wiped out the negative things he had to say about Mara, there was no point in throwing her under the disciplinary bus anymore. Instead he just wiped the report from his memory, and glanced over the briefing again.

“Hey, did you notice the report said that the Roverdendrom has now officially traveled the farthest that any vessel has gone in space?” Aaron said.

“Yeah? So?” Mara droned.

“Well if I’m not mistaken, we passed the Roverdendrom, placing us further in the accretion disk, and closer to the event horizon.” Aaron said cheerfully.

“So we actually traveled the farthest?” Mara asked.

“Yeah we did. Looks like that cruiser there didn't make the cut. They’re second place.” Aaron joked.

“Ha, your right, idiots couldn't even make it this far into space. Ha ha.”

“Farthest ship my ass.” Aaron said.

“Yeah, more like the second farthest.” Mara laughed.

#short story #fiction #science fiction #sci-fi #sci fi & fantasy #writing #writer #writeblr #story #characters #character creating #character development #space #spaceship #Art #Drawing

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