The Portal on Shakespeare [a week later]

[momslilassassin]

A mattress had been bought for guests, the house had been scrubbed from top to bottom and then bottom to top, and Ben, even though he knew that Luke wouldn't care in the slightest, had stressed out about what they'd have for dinner for the last three days.

Now he was a half-hour early for the time his father had sent him for the portal, bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet.

He was excited and terrified in almost equal measure.

Sounds like a fun vacation, huh?

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[momslilassassin]

Ben smiled softly at him. "I love so much, Ender," he whispered, moving his hand just a little faster.

[endsthegame]

That was all Ender needed. He let go with a soft whimper, one of his hands clinging to Ben's arm.

[momslilassassin]

Ben leaned in to kiss him again. "Hi there."

[endsthegame]

Ender slid his fingers up into Ben's hair and kissed him back. And again. And again. "Hi."

[momslilassassin]

Ben smiled against his lips. "This is where I belong," he murmured.

[endsthegame]

Ender sighed softly, rolling a little to the side a moment later.

Because that would be more comfortable, flopping-on-Ben-wise.

[momslilassassin]

Ben wiped his hand on the side of the mattress, then went back to snuggling Ender again, enjoying the quiet calmness.

[endsthegame]

"Use tissues next time," Ender muttered into Ben's neck.

[momslilassassin]

"Yes, dear," Ben said fondly, kissing his temple.

[endsthegame]

Ender draped his arm over Ben's chest. "There you go," he mumbled.

[momslilassassin]

"Go to sleep, love," Ben said softly. "I'll be here."

[endsthegame]

"Okay," Ender murmured, kissing him on the cheek.

And zonking out. Look, one of them had spent the morning working hard.

[momslilassassin]

Ben watched him sleep for a while, still too keyed up to follow his excellent example just yet.

He was feeling much more sure about his choice to be where he was, though. This felt right, and learned enough to trust that feeling.

[endsthegame]

Ender slept for a few hours, as was his wont; by the time he awoke, the sun hadn't risen yet, and the village was entirely quiet but for the bugs making noise outside.

He rolled off Ben's chest so he could stretch without accidentally hitting him.

[momslilassassin]

Ben mumbled sleepy nonsense, but for once didn't wake up immediately himself. He turned over and curled into his pillow, falling back into a deeper sleep.

[endsthegame]

After a couple of minutes of watching him, Ender slipped out of bed. He pulled his pants on - and, remembering they had a guest - his shirt a moment later.

Then he took the stairs. He was hungry - he figured he could pass Luke by without waking him up.

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

Luke was up already, tinkering around in the kitchen. "Don't suppose you have hot chocolate around?" he asked. "I never really enjoyed the taste of caf."

[endsthegame]

"We do, actually," Ender said, walking past him to reach for one of the cabinets. "People from your galaxy always seem inordinately into stocking up on the stuff..."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

Luke smiled. "It's been pretty tough to find chocolate after the Yuuzhan Vong war," he explained.

[endsthegame]

"I know," Ender said with a little smile. "Ben always keeps some stocked."

He took a packet out of the cabinet and offered it to Luke. "Our cacao plants here are still young," he said, "but we brought some over on the ship."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"I grew up on a moisture farm," Luke said. "Your crop diversity is something my uncle would have been envious of."

[endsthegame]

"The original colonists had seed packets on their ships to make sure that if they survived, they'd be able to raise crops," Ender explained, opening the fridge so he could find Luke some milk. "Of course, due to weight limits, they couldn't bring luxury plants. Those have been our contribution... it just takes a while."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

Luke nodded, looking impressed. "We never did that, but then again, most of the planets we were fighting over were already heavily populated."

[endsthegame]

"It's different when you can afford an import economy," Ender said, passing the milk on to Luke. "Even now, the colony is isolated in a lot of ways. It has to be self-reliant, or it dies out."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

Luke made himself a cup of hot chocolate. "Yes, Ben told me about the difference in space travel between home and here."