Hijra [A few weeks later]

[momslilassassin]

Ben was catching up on emails from home--news about the Sith, the latest gossip from Jag and Jaina's corner of the galaxy and whatever Allana had gotten herself up to while being unsupervised (there was a lot of "it'd seemed like a good idea!!!" in her correspondence)--and then poking around scientific journals about advancements in reproductive technology.

You know. For no real reason. Cough.

He drank tea and really missed having those yummy red fruits around. He'd need to ask when they came back the next time he went to the market.

Comments

[momslilassassin]

"I didn't exactly cover myself in glory when we saw Alai," Ben whispered, "even though I know how you feel about me with as much certainty as I know how many fingers I have. You thought you knew how far you'd allow yourself to fall in this, and you underestimated my adorableness."

[endsthegame]

Ender snorted softly. "And your ego, apparently," he replied, though he wasn't disagreeing.

[momslilassassin]

Ben kissed Ender's cheek. "I wanted you to laugh," he said with a small smile. "It's me. I've got you."

[endsthegame]

"Now there's another misconception I had," Ender muttered, "thinking that sentence would only make sense while we were dealing with threats of bodily harm and drama every day."

[momslilassassin]

Ben kissed his nose. "We haven't had much of that recently, fortunately."

[endsthegame]

"I could live with that for a little while longer," Ender said.

He leaned forward just a little - to tug loose the laces of Ben's shoes.

[momslilassassin]

Ben smiled at him. "Getting more comfortable?" he guessed.

[endsthegame]

"If at all possible," Ender said, smiling as he opened up his own shoes and then kicked them off.

[momslilassassin]

Ben scooted back so he was resting against the pillows as he gazed out the window. "Oooh, fireworks."

[endsthegame]

Ender moved after him, stretching his legs out across the bed. "Beautiful," he said.

What hit the skies was a chaos of light and color, not a well-coordinated display; that just made it prettier, at least in Ender's eyes.

[momslilassassin]

"And my first instinct wasn't to think 'invasion' and reach for a weapon," Ben said, kissing Ender's cheek again. "Go me."

[endsthegame]

"But you didn't," Ender said, reaching for Ben's hand.

[momslilassassin]

Ben squeezed his hand in reply. "I think I'm finally accepting this as normal."

[endsthegame]

"One small step at a time, for both of us," Ender said, "But we've covered a not insignificant amount of ground already."

[momslilassassin]

Ben rested his head in its usual spot against Ender's shoulder. "We have," he agreed.

[endsthegame]

Ender kissed the top of Ben's head again. "Tell me about your side," he said softly. "What's going through your head?"

[momslilassassin]

"Kids," Ben murmured. "Wondering if we're ready, or if people are ever really ready."

[endsthegame]

"I think it's likely we won't really know what we're getting into before we get into it," Ender offered.

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded, kissing Ender's jawline. "I'm nervous."

[endsthegame]

"Me too," Ender said. "But I believe that's the natural state of being in the face of something this big."

[momslilassassin]

"And if that stopped everyone, there'd never be another generation," Ben replied.

[endsthegame]

"Exactly," Ender said. "Hundreds of billions of people have preceded us in this, and many more will follow us."

[momslilassassin]

Ben kissed him softly on the mouth. "Maybe not exactly on our same path, but still..."

[endsthegame]

"The physical part is not generally the most important," Ender said, sliding an arm around Ben's waist. He pressed another kiss to Ben's mouth. "It's worth it to be a family, I think."

[momslilassassin]

"I agree," Ben murmured, "but as far as I'm concerned, we're a family already."