Aboard the Jade Shadow [Tuesday, Fandom time]

[momslilassassin]

Ben was grabbing a quick snack as he waited in the galley for his father to finish docking the ship on the first human-majority planet they'd seen in months and taking the chance to catch up on more reading about the Aing-Tii Monks. As soon as they restocked their supplies and checked for physical mail (Ben hoped that Tony's package would catch up with them here), they'd be heading into Aing-Tii space, which was a challenging enough flight that Luke Kriffing Skywalker looked slightly apprehensive about it.

Ben stopped being nervous by remembering that if Jacen had been able to do it, Luke would be able to do it better.

...it had never been said that Ben could not be very petty if the occasion called for it.

[OOC: Open for calls, texts, visits from the boy who's in space with him, care packages from home full of YA gay literature...]

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[endsthegame]

Ender reached back and pulled his hair together. He did come up with enough for a small ponytail. "I think I'm going to pass on that option," he decided, dropping it.

[momslilassassin]

"Sparkly barrettes?" Ben tried.

[endsthegame]

"Just because you aspire to be like your princess aunt doesn't mean you should start projecting on me," Ender said, poking around for a snack. "I'll be gone for about an hour or two. I promise not to get lost."

[momslilassassin]

Given how cooped up Ben was feeling, he wasn't going to begrudge Ender some alone time. "Take the extra comm just in case," he said. "Are you going to find the post office, or should I?"

[endsthegame]

"I'll bring back whatever Tony sent over," Ender said, and popped the snack in his mouth. "Unless you want an excuse to go for a stroll, in which case you can just tell Luke you're getting it."

[momslilassassin]

"Nah, I'll supervise Dad in correct snack food allocation," Ben decided. "Any preferences? Crunchy, salty, still moving?"

[endsthegame]

"Anything decent," Ender decided, pushing away from the storage end. "I think we wasted all the genuinely edible stuff on that farce of a holiday we call your birthday."

He went for the door.

[momslilassassin]

"At least I didn't make you wear a festive hat!" Ben called after him.

[endsthegame]

Ender waved that away, then made his way off-board.

By the time he got back, some two and a half hours later, his hair was back to almost-but-not-quite military trim, and he was being followed by a droid with a very large box. "Ben?" he called. "We've got mail."

[momslilassassin]

Ben had taken time to get a trim himself--so he was still shaggy, but fashionably so. For this planet's ascetics, anyway. "Did Tony mail himself?" he blurted.

[endsthegame]

"No, but I think he got most of my wardrobe," Ender admitted, poking through the list of contents glued to the top of the box. "And large quantities of Mountain Dew. But the stuff at the top is mostly yours, according to this, so you can do the honours."

[momslilassassin]

Ben wondered why he had a sudden bad feeling about this as he opened the box--and saw his, erm, cookbook.

"Stang."

[endsthegame]

"Did something get wrecked?" Ender asked, shooting him a vaguely confused look.

[momslilassassin]

"No," Ben said, shoving the book under a box of tissues--thanks, Tony--and blushing hard.

[endsthegame]

Ender squinted at him. "...Going by that look, it's pornography," he said, "Clearly Stark underestimates the force that is the internet."

THANK YOU, ENDER.

[momslilassassin]

Ben wondered if he could knock himself unconscious on a bulkhead.

"Thanks," he mumbled, turning brick red.

[endsthegame]

Ender reached into the box and pulled out a bottle of Mountain Dew. "I'm really not going to give you the 'it's perfectly natural' speech," he said, "Because I am not sixty years old, regardless of what I'm accused of behind my back."

And because he wasn't going to linger on 'porn and Ben' for too long if he could help it. "Anything else important in there?"

[momslilassassin]

"Thank the Force for that," Ben replied. "It'd be awkward enough getting that talk from Dad. Um, looks like stuff from our room, mostly."

[endsthegame]

"And more Mountain Dew," Ender said, putting another bottle down. "...and tissues."

[momslilassassin]

"Probably in case the Mountain Dew spilled," Ben offered.

[endsthegame]

"Uh huh," Ender said, and didn't comment on the bottle of lotion that came out next.

That part of the mental map firmly had 'thar be dragons' written on it, lest his sanity venture off the edge of the world and plunge-- okay, bad metaphor.

[momslilassassin]

"My hands get dry in recycled air," Ben mumbled, blushing.

[endsthegame]

"I didn't ask," Ender said, feeling rather happy that his own complexion didn't tend towards blushing as much as Ben's. "But I'm sure we can find toiletries somewhere else."

...Mostly didn't tend towards it. Oh, look, was that more Mountain Dew?

[momslilassassin]

"It was nice of Tony to think of us," Ben said, turning away to try to find someplace to hide the book.

[endsthegame]

"Extremely so," Ender agreed, twisting the cap off of the bottle. "He even respects the needs of a Terran lost in a universe that doesn't even know the word 'coffee'."

Taking a drink meant that 1) Ben couldn't see he was vaguely red, and 2) he had some time to tell himself not to think about certain details about Ben he was more aware of than he'd like.