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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[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.

[momslilassassin]

"Wow, the soda didn't even explode," Ben said. "I'm impressed."

And oblivious to Ender's blushing.

[endsthegame]

"I wouldn't put it past Tony to rig something up for it," Ender said. Really, the amount of times Ben's obliviousness had saved him...

He was over it by the time he was done with the soda, and set it aside. "It's yours, if you want to go back to our inferior Terran sodas."

[momslilassassin]

"Maybe just once," Ben said, grinning, "so I don't insult your culture."

[endsthegame]

"My culture and I thank you," Ender said, offering him the bottle.

[momslilassassin]

"I'd mock your culture about the weird color of your sodas but we drink blue milk," Ben added, taking a sip.

[endsthegame]

"Blue milk?" Ender asked. "You've been holding back on me."

[momslilassassin]

"It's mostly an Outer Rim thing," Ben explained. "They add additional nutrients to the milk to make up for the lack of them anywhere else, and it turns the drink blue. Dad drank a lot of blue milk on Tatooine."

[endsthegame]

"Are you sure that's not an old wives' tale, meant to obscure the presence of hard liquor in your milk?" Ender joked, lightly. "Ingenious, though. The ways we find to survive."

[momslilassassin]

"Well, it was Tatooine, so I wouldn't be surprised," Ben admitted. "I bet if you look it up, you can find which vitamins were included. Feel free to steal the idea if you need them on Shakespeare."

[endsthegame]

"I'm sure the chief xenobiologist would be happy to have that kind of information," Ender said, "Seeing how different the flora and fauna on Shakespeare is."

He pulled some clothes out of the box, including the infamous blue sweater.

[momslilassassin]

Ben didn't perk right up seeing that sweater. Really.

...shut up.

"Have you come up with anything out here that might help you there when you go?" Ben asked.

[endsthegame]

"I have a few ideas, but it's the experts who can determine if they're workable, and how," Ender said, neatly folding one of the sweaters. "Not me."

Tony was not much of a folder.

[momslilassassin]

Ben climbed up onto his bed and rested his head on his elbow to watch. "Is 'living in a hole' one of the options?"

[endsthegame]

Ender tossed the first sweater into his wardrobe. "It's not really at the top of the list," he said. "Being that I'm neither dumb nor paranoid."

[momslilassassin]

"Two traits I've started to appreciate more and more as we travel together," Ben replied, smiling.