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celestialspecial · 7 months

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Expanding Galaxies - (Pt 6)

You stood on the balcony to your room, admiring the clusters of stars that painted the night sky. The sun had already set, painting the horizon in a wide array of purples, oranges, and pinks before fading into the deepest navy.

A far off sound of calling birds and various ambient noises from the waterfalls around you sang out in a brilliant chorus.

A cool breeze blew through the air making you shudder, rubbing your shoulders for a hint of warmth. To be fair your outfit wasn’t quite suited for a nighttime stroll.

The gala to celebrate successful exchanges and encourage new ones was tonight and a fanciful dress had found it’s way to your bed. It was never something you’d have ever picked for yourself and yet wearing it tonight felt right.

Gossamer tulle in the palest blue spread over your shoulders, spilling forward to gather at your waist, held by delicate braided silver ropes that reminded you of tree branches reaching outward.

Little was left to the imagination as your chest was nearly exposed save the tender fabric barely concealing your breasts. A slit cut gracefully up one leg, the rest hidden by the waterfall of fabric pooling to the floor.

But your favorite part had to be the rivulets of crystals dotting along swaths of the material, catching the light this way and that. The night sky made manifest on your gown.

A section of your hair gathered in the teeth of an opalescent comb, just enough to keep stray hairs from your face.

Another gust of wind had you shivering and backing away from the balcony just when a firm single knock sounded on your door.

Closing the entrance to your balcony, hoping to stave off the chill and gather as much warmth into your room before nights end, you slowly made your way to the noise.

The wind was no longer chilling you but the tingling running through your body at the sight before you was prominent nonetheless.

Billy stood before you, cloaked in the deepest navy. Like the sky, you thought. Lush velvet with satin black piping and two opal cuff links, similar to your hair comb.

His dark hair appeared almost an inky black as it was slicked back, matching dark scruff hugged his jaw appearing a little less ‘clean shaven’ than you were used to.

His dark eyes roamed your body hungrily. Pupils lost in a sea of inky blackness and you swore you could feel each body part light up as his gaze traveled over it.

“You look…” his eyes finally returned back to your face to hold your attention, “transcendent.”

The heat rose in your cheeks and surely you could feel the warmth extend to the front of your very exposed chest. Hoping he didn’t notice, you smiled up at him, fiddling with a piece of the silver rope before accepting his outstretched arm.

“Shall we?”

You’d never been to a gala on earth but you were sure they couldn’t compare to this.

Packed to the brim with xiadians and humans all clothed in fine fabrics and covering every hue of the rainbow, even a few others that toyed with your eyes in a downright alien way.

Tables of fresh cut fruits glistening under candlelight, baked goods with their sweet aroma wafting into the air. Meats and seafoods, some recognizable and others completely foreign.

Chalices of dark sour smelling liquid and flutes of bright pink bubbling mixtures were passed around. You noticed only the xiadians seemed to be gravitating towards the foul smelling drink.

Music rang out and a large dance floor was filled with groups walking, chatting and dancing. The music you recognized, songs you had heard in earth, orchestral tunes that made your heart ache thinking of home.

As a servant passed by Billy grabbed two glasses of the sparkling pink flutes and handed one to you. It felt like an icy cloud soaring over your tongue, fizzing in the back of your throat.

“So what is-“ you inclined your head towards the goblets a few more xiadians grabbed and tossed back heartily. “That?”

Billy swallowed the rest of his own drink, his dark eyes returning to yours.

“It’s zhelaris ale. Incredibly strong and incredibly terrible.” He winked at you. “But xiads…well let’s just say it takes a lot to get us drunk.”

Your eyes drifted back and forth to the beautiful gowns and the dance floor. You’d never been a skilled dancer but something inside your cells seemed to hum with the tune being played.

This wasn’t missed by Billy, who set his glass onto a passing tray. Gently taking your own empty flute and placing it on a nearby table.

“Would you like to dance?”

Heat rose in your face, first excitement soared through your veins then a telltale bashfulness at the chance of potentially looking like a fool.

“I would, but…”

His one eyebrow rose, gaze encouraging you to continue.

“But, I’m afraid. I haven’t dance, at least not like this…in a very long time.”

“Well the good news is it’s a lead dance. So all you need to do is follow me and my steps.” The worry must not have completely left your eyes because his thumb was there at the side of your mouth, brushing your skin softly.

“If you should not enjoy it or wish to continue we don’t have to.”

He held his hand out to you, letting your own fingers drift against his, his warm skin tingling against your own.

Slowly guided out to the dance floor, the fabric of your dress skating along the marbled surface behind. A firm hand resting against your waist. The soft touch of his thumb resting against your bare skin where the dress cut off.

The music struck up a melodic tone, and then you were moving. It resembled enough of a waltz for you to catch on. Thankfully Billy was enough of a good dance partner that following his lead came naturally.

Whirling and twirling past other couples, the swell of the music capturing you both in a vivid haze. The candlelight danced across his face, you could’ve sworn you saw blue sparkle in dark eyes as the next cascade of shadow fell over you.

How your feet kept pace you didn’t know but the notes sped up then reached a crescendoed peak before a final dulcet tone rang out to signify the songs end.

Laughter and clapping actually spread through the onlooking crowd and dancers. You smiled up at Billy, his own expression one of pure enjoyment.

Playfulness danced in his eyes, and you noticed his hand hadn’t left your waist. A moment later another song began, one much more different.

Slower, thicker, deeper. A rolling melody with the steady undertone of drumming. The beat seemed to coalesce with your own heart.

You felt your partners hand grip yours tighter. More xiadians took to the floor, it was clearly a song that they knew.

Eyes widened and heat rising to your face as you glanced around.

“Billy, I-I don’t know this song.” How to dance to it, how to move…there was a roiling in your stomach.

The tempo was all consuming, ancient. It reminded you of Billy. Feeling the weight of his stare on you before he leaned in close to whisper, his breath ghosting over the shell of your ear.

“Just follow my lead.” Trust me. An unspoken phrase.

Your chin dipped with a quick nod and then you were off. The rhythm would grow and fade in a sensual flare.

The movements were much more fluid, there was an indescribable feeling that prickled over your skin with each new motion and gesture.

Did the other humans feel it too? You wanted to look at them but your eyes couldn’t be torn from the face before you.

A being carved of rock and energy and shadow and power. Smooth, calculated, a predator stalking its all too willing prey.

And his eyes…his eyes no longer black but an unearthly blue. The thunderous muscle in your chest beat a rapid tattoo as the music began to pick up.

Spinning, the room around you blurring, fingertips digging into the soft velvet on his shoulders.

Was it the drums or the blood pounding in your ears? Ritualistic- a carnal beat. This dance unlike anything you’d ever seen or felt before.

Peaking higher and higher, the trill of singing notes whistled in your mind as your head felt like it was filled with the fizzing pink liquid.

His grip on you remained tight, guiding you through each new loop, swirl and dip. Gliding and you could swear your feet hadn’t touched the ground.

The song reached its climax and in a rush of movement, hands hoisting you skyward as you leapt up in a final display.

In that weightless moment you could see others also being lifted as part of the dance in your periphery.

Then held aloft for another second before Billy lowered you steadily and slowly. Your body pressing and grazing against the entire length of his own.

It sent ripples of pleasure tingling through your body. His forehead rested against yours, strands of his hair tickled your skin as you could breathe deep the scent of him.

When you looked once more his eyes were again their original deep brown.

Realizing the both of you were panting Billy lead you from the dance floor and off to a less busy alcove by the drinks. Your chest seemed to buzz with frantic energy. Had it been the deepest parts of your soul those drumbeats had reached or something else?

It was dim in the hidden corner you two had retired to, yet your eyes didn’t dare drift open fully. Letting your hand skim along the side of his suit jacket, then shifting it underneath.

You feel Billy tense under your fingertips, hard muscle, a breath stopped short in his throat. It felt good, having just a moment of power over him.

Your other hand reached up to join underneath his coat. Splaying against the silk of his shirt. It rippled and cascaded in colors reminiscent of an oil slick.

Pulling him deeper into your hiding place. Music played on, close but also so far away. You needed his mouth against your own. To taste him after that dance, had it affected him as it had you?

Feeling your tug Billy leaned in closer, legs coming in close as you pressed yourself further away from the crowd beyond.

His mouth against yours made your head feel dizzy. Light and heavy all at once.

Maybe it was the dancing, maybe it was the drinking maybe it was everything but you couldn’t suppress the giggle building in your chest as his stubble brushed against your own jaw.

“What’s so funny?” The delicious scrape of his trimmed beard pressed to your flushed skin.

The way his brown eyes glimmered in the lowered light of the evening. Soft and wicked.

“Do you ever not feel weird about this?” He always seemed so confident, like he was destined to be here and you were a laughable mistake.

“I mean, to me you’re a spaceman.” The laughter rippled through your body at the awkward statement.

“A man of the stars?” His own mouth was pulled into a grin as he placed another kiss along your neck, tongue darting out to tickle the shell of your ear.

“Starman.” Your fists gripped into his jacket, knuckles going white. If you held onto him tight enough perhaps you wouldn’t topple over the side of the planet and its weak sense of gravity.

“I suppose that is what I am.” Your lips met again, his hot mouth working against yours until you didn’t need to open your eyes to see stars.

When he pulled away and you could breathe once more a memory crossed your mind.

“My dad used to love a movie called Starman. It was very old, even to him, but I remember watching it. Thinking how when it was made it was considered outlandish and sci-if.”

Billy watched you recall this moment, eyes scanning your face as if he could read each thought from the minuscule muscle changes .

“It was about aliens?”

“Yes. An alien, well- he comes to earth and has to figure out how to get home.” The heat in your cheeks wasn’t just from the kiss now.

How he watched you, intently listening as if hanging on every word. You’d never had this much undivided attention before in your life. Maybe that’s why you felt so uncertain to continue.

“And does he…get home?” His hand had moved to press against your wrist now. Pulse fluttering under his thumb. The digit soothingly caressing against your skin.

“Yes.” Your lips parted, tongue licking the bottom one before continuing. “But not before he falls in love.”

You didn’t know it was possible, but his dark eyes grew brighter. A flash of blue then that familiar blackish brown, lit up from something within.

“With a woman from earth.”

All you could do was nod your head. The marble column pressed into your back, you could feel a film of sweat along your spine.

If you had blinked you would’ve missed the faint twitch of his lips into a subtle smirk. Quick, but not teasing. No. More telling if anything.

“It seems the writers were ahead of their time with that one.” His hand unpinned your wrist, grazing along the fabric of your skirt, skimming tauntingly against your bare thigh.

You made a noise from the back of your throat and his hand ceased all movement. Any sign of light in his eyes was replaced with a darkness that gobbled up all the remaining brightness.

You wanted to say something, anything, but the words died in your throat. The heaviness of his hand, warm and present against your thigh. Fingers just brushing the inside enough to make you want to squirm.

“And this Star man, he goes home. And never sees her again?” You swallowed thickly. In truth, yes that is exactly what happens. Why did it make your chest feel tight?

Billy was on top of you now, your chests bumping against one another with each breath. Agonizing how you could smell him, his taste still on your lips. How were you to form a coherent thought when all you wanted was for him to tear this dress off of you?

“He does. But he-“

“He?”

“Gives her a gift.” His lips parted in a gentle “ah”. Waiting. He knew. You KNEW he knew. But he was waiting for you to say it. “A baby.”

“Is that so.”

With that you surged forward, fingers clasping into his hair, nails scratching against his scalp pulling him into you. Lips devouring each other like it truly was your last night here.

He groaned as your nails grazed down his neck, tugging at his collar. He stepped forward pinning you firmly against the column and you could feel his excitement pressed to your thigh.

His fingers drew up and parted your skirt, until they found their mark. You moaned, pressing your face into the crook of his neck. Hand fisting into his dress shirt as his fingers delved between your legs.

“Billy”

“Do you want me to do that?”

Your reply was a garbled nonsense of words and noise.

“Do you want me to give you a baby?”

Your mind wanted to battle, to say no- not yet. To remind him it wouldn’t be yours. Not to keep. That as soon as that happened he’d be gone.

That it was all moving so fast and yet not fast enough. The blood was pounding in your ears. You were helpless and hopeless in the worst way.

And yet you knew resistance was futile.

“Yes.”

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celestialspecial · 1 year

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Expanding Galaxies (Pt 5)

The weeks seem to blend together. Had it been a month or two? Maybe three. You remembered on earth reading romance novels to quench an unmet thirst, never for a second thinking there was any fact to their fiction.

Yet here you were, filled with an undeniable ache for Billy. Each passing day and time you’d see him an unknown longing seemed to grow inside you.

Loving each moment with him and knowing deep down it wasn’t to last. That you were both here for a reason and soon, maybe sooner than you knew- that reason would be fulfilled. Or even if it wasn’t…you’d both be shipped back to your respective planets.

The thought made your throat feel dry. An undeniable pit in your stomach. With each comforting touch from Billy and every delicious kiss that had you yearning for more.

Some kisses were chaste, hastened by events one or both of you needed to attend. Some kisses were longer, slower, passion filled that sent sparks zinging from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.

There had even been a few nights of exploratory wandering. Mostly his insistence to focus on you alone. Each time seemingly cut short even as you’d occasionally lay in one another’s arms.

Staring out the open windows and balcony doors at the star speckled sky, listening to his breath. Feeling the steady rise and fall of his chest, straining to stay awake just a moment longer.

When you’d fall asleep like clockwork you’d find your eyes blearily blinking open and realizing you were alone in your room again. Billy having snuck back into his own at some point when you’d dozed off.

Each moment felt precious, grains of sand in an hourglass counting down.

You’d heard a few more couplings had been successful. It made your throat feel tight. As intimate and loving as you two felt there still seemed to be a barrier that you hadn’t broken through yet.

Maybe you never would and that was something you’d need to become ok with. But with each passing day and how effortlessly the conversation flowed. How deeply you felt a connection that seemed only of fantasy before.

Billy stared out at the open sky by his bedchamber, millions of stars and galaxies staring back. What was it they said about looking into the void? Sometimes it looks back.

“Are you going to say anything about it or am I going to have to keep talking about militia and technical tactic?” Frank’s voice echoed around the room. The communication screen open, giving him a blank view of Billy’s bed.

Billy turned from the balcony and walked back into frame so his longest and oldest friend could see him. A reassuring smirk as he sat in the edge of the bed.

“There, ya happy?” Billy’s arms outstretched in mock reassurance .

“You look different.”

“How?” Cut and dry. Attempting to cover up any sign of something being amiss.

“You look well rested”

“It is a paradise planet.” At that frank raised an eyebrow at his friend, discernment etched over his features.

“How long have we known each other, Bill?”

“Too long, apparently.” Running a hand over his face Billy sighed.

Frank and him had been close for years. Working together, fighting together, they knew each other inside and out. Maybe more than Billy cared to admit. Frank was the brother he never had and could read him like a book.

“You’ve been there nearly three months. I assume you’ve met your human?”

He said it so easily. Billy was almost envious how detached his friend made it sound. Human. Nothing more. A trade.

But it was so much more than that. And because of that it felt so much more complicated than he’d ever thought it’d be.

Frank picked up on his friends internal struggle easily.

“Bill? Everything alright?”

Rubbing the bridge of his nose Billy shook his head. Looking back up to his friend with a weary smirk.

“No. I don’t think it is.”

You’d walked the grounds with a few of the other girls you’d become acquainted with. One girl, Eliza, even was from New York as well. It felt nice, to have some friendly faces, besides Billy.

It made you feel more grounded. Knowing these girls were also human. Would also return to earth at some point. People, that if you chose to, you could reach out and speak to once returning home.

“I heard their coupling was successful and he just left in the middle of the night.” One of the girls, Lor, said. Eye shifting to note a passing human girl who turned to walk up the steps to a spa like facility. “Just up and gone as soon as they have confirmation.”

You couldn’t deny the twisting in your stomach. Until Eliza spoke up, taking one of the blue colored fruits in her hand and turning it over before responding.

“What about Abigail? She’s supposedly a little over a month along and her Xiadian match is still here.”

At that Lor rolled her eyes.

“He’s clearly waiting until the 2nd cycle to make sure it keeps before wasting all that time traveling back home to Xiad. They don’t see us as any better than cattle.”

You found yourself twisting the hem of your skirt, praying it’d create something to distract you from this upsetting conversation. Thinking of Billy only seeing you as a means to an end hurt more than you cared to admit.

“I think you’re being harsh.” Eliza quipped biting into the fruit and wiping the side of her mouth.

“I’m being realistic.”

“You’re just jealous you didn’t get the hot one.” Eliza laughed nudging you on the knee.

A few of the other girls giggle as well. A deep red hue spread across Lor’s face as she turned away, a clear huff escaping her lips.

“There’s going to be a gathering tomorrow evening. A celebration of our time being here. For the successful couplings and to….inspire more?” Eliza grinned up at you from her seat. “Will you be going?”

You shrugged, smoothing down the front of your skirt. You’d only heard about this a few days ago and honestly some type of dance or ball didn’t seem all that appealing to you.

“Well I for one want to drink something other than that awful fertility drink they’ve been forcing down our throats since we got here.” One of the other girls chimed in, before glancing over to a gathered group of xiadians.

They began to congregate holding drinks of their own talking and laughing. You heard another distinct laugh.

One that had you craning around to get a better look at them. Then you heard it again.

Billy’s laugh. You could recognize it easily. Then you saw him. Chatting with a few other xiadians in their leisurely attire. You couldn’t help but watch him, each minuscule muscle movement in his face.

How his eyes crinkled when he smiled. You felt a blossoming in your chest and you wanted to curse yourself for feeling like a silly schoolgirl.

But in the next moment, as if suddenly aware he was being watched, he looked over to you.

The girls you were with noticed as well. Lor still refusing to pay attention to you and the others. Before you could manage a weak wave Billy began walking towards you.

His long legs carried him away from his people and over to you in a matter of seconds. Standing above you he manageed a polite smile to your friends before extending his hand.

“May I steal you away?”

You’d only nodded, trying to reign in your eagerness as he pulled you upwards and nestled a reassuring hand at your lower back, turning away from your fellow humans and down a winding garden path.

You ventured a short glance back at the girls and caught Eliza smirking at your receding forms.

The vibrant blue of the sky above reminded you of home. Of days at the beach or walking in the woods when you were younger. How long ago those days seemed.

Following in step alongside Billy, the both of you moving in silence, an occasional call from a brightly colored bird-like creature nesting in a nearby fruit tree.

Trying to ignore the tension drawing out between the two of you.

Venturing a quick glance at his face, gauging his expression and what could possibly be going on in his head.

You’d never felt this anxious in his presence before, your tormenting thoughts and scathing remarks from Lor and a few of the other women sticking in the back of your mind.

“Are those women your friends?” He managed as you turned a corner, the small pathway spilling open to a larger garden. Giant blooms unfurled to show petals graced by drops of dew.

A stone bench sat off to the side in perfect view of all the various flowering plants, cradled between two large trees that resembled willow trees. Long layered fronds dotted with blues and greens.

A reassuring warmth on the small of your back, finding yourself guided towards the bench, taking a seat, eyes closed in a moment of relaxing bliss.

Choosing to focus for a moment in the scent of the breeze and the quiet rustle of the swaying branches

“They’re…someone to talk to.” Eliza was the closest thing to a friend but even so it felt weird to connect under such bizarre circumstances. His eyebrows drew together in thought pausing for a moment .

His jaw worked, throat bobbing as if he wanted to say something but wasn’t quite sure how to begin. You saved him the drawn out pause before continuing your own thoughts.

“This planet is so beautiful and yet…it often feels so lonely.” You didn’t dare meet his eyes as your own gaze remain fixated on your feet but you could feel the heat of his attention on you.

“Even with me?” The question caught you off guard, and you felt your heart twinge, guessing what answer he wanted but unable to deny the truth spilling from your lips.

“You are temporary, Billy.” His shoulder twitched ever so slightly, he rolled it back caught off guard by the blunt response. You were right, you both knew it.

The silence drew out between the two of you. You could tell he wanted to speak more but instead you watched as his hand slid gently over to your knee, heat sinking into the skin, warmth seeping into your bones it felt like.

You felt your very essence begin to calm, peace washed over you in a way only he was capable of.

It soothed and terrified you. Listening to the other women talk about your very real situations and if you were being perfectly honest, it scared you how drawn you felt to him.

He held a hand out before him, focusing gently and you watched a series of twining plumes of smoke detach from him effortlessly.

They seemed to dance in the air around his outstretched fingers. Curling effervescently, lazily drifting upon the air.

Your mind thought mist or smoke but there was a tingling in the air, a spark of something inhuman about it. No those words were too plain to describe the aether before you.

“I used to hate this.” He spoke softly and solidly, eyes never moving from the twirling plumes. “Having this…they call it a ‘gift’, but it never felt like it.”

You studied him, eyes drifting between him and the dazzling aether before you.

“What’s it called?”

At that he finally looked at you, eyes softening before glancing back at the dissolving wisps.

“It has many names, but they all condense down to ‘darkness’. Night flame, aether, power. It was what my race all had at one point.” His voice seems to drift off as you watch the last of the darkness disappear, either into the air or return back to him.

“Does not every Xiadian have the ability to conjure it?” His head shook, gaze still lingering upon his now bare fingertips before resting his hand back in place on the bench.

“No. It’s now very rare to find among us. It started dying out hundred of years ago, first steadily then rapidly. We’ve exhausted so many of our resources trying to find solutions, or even just a reason it was happening at all.”

It took him just a glance at your face to read your mind and continue on.

“It’s purpose, as I’ve come to understand, is a power source. It connects one to…what would humans say? Your Gods? It was said to be our link to higher beings, those who created us from nothing but dark matter and wisps of stardust.”

“Do you use the power? When you’re back home I mean?” It felt like so much to wrap your mind around. Some days it was easy to forget xiadians were aliens. They looked like men, talked, ate, drank.

But this, this reminded you that there was a barrier between the two of you.

“It provides me energy, strength, and when I tune into it I’m able to find wisdom and solutions I might not come to as readily without it. It’s…hard to describe exactly.” His brows furrowed once again as he searched for words.

“It’s like returning to my true form, to be one with the energy that exists in all living things. To move beyond this solid form and access information that not all can.”

“That’s how your race was able to grow so advanced, far beyond humans and many others isn’t it?”

The amused look he gave you sent a shiver through your body, electricity darting to your fingers and toes.

“You’re remarkably intelligent you know that?”

“I like to think I’m above average.” You mused, fingers picking at a loose bit of stone on the seat beneath you.

At that Billy stood, eyes scanning the garden clearing before gesturing for you to follow.

“Come, I have something more to show you.”

The front of the building stood broad and tall, splashes of double sunlight licked the edges of the marble columns.

Verdant vines clung to a few of them, wrapping intricate patterns from top to base.

You’d been here several months and still hadn’t traversed this part of base you inhabited.

The flowering plants and towering waterfalls that reached to the sky and seemed to encase every detail in pure flowing water.

The buildings here, while beautiful, hadn’t been your first choice to traverse. You lived in New York. There were buildings there, different but made of stone and brick and metal.

Here the sky was open, the scents lush and fragrant, natural beauty abounded and you had intended to drink it all in before returning home.

Your hand remained nestled in his as Billy guided you through the heavy doors and across an empty lobby.

The gridded floor shone as streaks of light broke through the windows.

Down a corridor and through another set of doors and the breath had become trapped in your throat.

Before you was a vast, large room. The closest thing back home in your head that compared were pictures of ornate cathedrals, 3 school buses high with domed ceilings.

Buttery rays of light cut through the open space from multiple windows dotting the walls.

But what truly sent your heart racing was that among this cavernous building lay multiple carvings into the walls.

Resting upon those carvings were rows and rows of what appeared to be books.

Floor to ceiling, not aligned on shelves like a cookie cutter library. No, these carved inlets were organic in nature.

Forming all sorts of shapes and patterns, almost like a beehive.

Of all sizes and forms, old and new, elaborate and simple. Books. Covers with illustrations, some bound in leather, others in fabrics.

“Billy” your eyes were the size of saucers, taking in each and every inch, lost in wonder and barely able to form words.

You had previously talked to him about your bookstores back home.

How on occasion, when a rainy day called for it, you'd find solace within those stores.

The city was loud and busy and chaotic, but books silenced the noise. You’d read stories of fantasy, of war, of magic and love.

Xiadians, unsurprisingly, were also drawn by knowledge, stories of intrigue and tales of passion.

You had laughed when he shared this, for two races light years away there were similarities beyond just genetic markers.

But this library, it blew everything you’d ever seen before out of the water. You could reside on this planet for multiple lifetimes and never make a dent in the books it held.

“Ciazed is in a neutral zone. Not belonging to one star system specifically or the next”

“Like in Star Trek” you gave him a sideways grin, elbowing him in the ribs playfully.

“I don’t know what that is.” He smirked back at you before continuing, “because of this planets placement it has been deemed safe to hold multiple records and writings from a vast array of other alien races.”

You felt breathless looking around and thinking of all the stories begging to be told, but you also found yourself admiring Billy’s own expression.

Enthusiasm and wonder danced behind his eyes as he scanned the many alcoves and hand carved shelves. Stepping further into the building and meandering over to one of the many books.

You followed behind him, looking over his shoulder at all the many multicolored spines and decorated surfaces.

“Pick one,” he encouraged, a breathy whisper along the shell of your ear. His hands gliding to rest along your hips.

Feeling the heat grow in your cheeks ever so slightly as you traced your fingers along the ridges, letting your intuition guide you.

Eventually there was a a deep purple book, bound with golden circlets along the top and bottom, beautiful and mysterious.

You managed to wriggle it free from between the other records, placing it onto Billy’s waiting hands before you.

Meeting his eyes at last, his gaze was downright devious, playful and did you detect a hint of smugness?

Watching him move to a nearby slab of polished stone, he opened the book and laid it out before the two of you. The whirls and twisting of the writing within was astounding.

It reminded you of hieroglyphics, but decidedly more complex.

You couldn’t hide your disappointment at the fact that in reality most of these books you wouldn’t be able to read.

“What’s it say?” You urged him on, eager to know what it was exactly you were looking at. “What race is it from?”

Billy swiveled around, leaning his back against the carved stone so that you could move closer to the book.

Taking in the detailed alien writing and wishing desperately that you could decipher it.

“It’s Xiadian. A book of stories that are often told to children.” You looked up at him then back at the open pages. How it had called to you, in a not dissimilar way that Billy also called to you.

You didn’t know how long the two of you roamed the halls of the hidden library. An hour, maybe two, perhaps even three.

You’d darted between stone shelf to shelf, grabbing multiple books and records that caught your attention. Asking Billy to identify each and every one, to read a page or two to you.

It was fascinating, to feel like you had so much knowledge at your fingertips.

To see and read first hand experiences and literature from species you hadn’t previously known existed.

You could keep going and going but you noticed Billy plopping into a seat on a plush coated sofa taking a breather from following you constantly.

You moved onto the seat next to him, allowing you both a moment of reprieve.

The knowledge at your fingertips was intoxicating. To finally feel like you weren’t at the bottom of the solar system felt enticing.

“Thank you. For showing me this.” A tempered gesture to the expanse of books laid out on multiple tables.

You pushed a stray ringlet of hair behind your ear, bashfully looking up at him. “I was already aware of how little I knew about the universe but seeing all of this…makes me feel a little less insignificant.”

His depthless eyes remained transfixed on your face. His expression unreadable to you. Until he pushed up from the couch, a large hand moving to cradle the side of your face. Rough fingers caressed the underside of your chin.

“You could never be insignificant.”

#expanding galaxies #billy russo x reader #billy russo #the punisher au #the punisher #marvel fanfic #alien!billyrusso #billy russo the punisher #billy russo edit #billy russo x you #billy russo x female reader

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