Work Text:
"I don't get it. It's just space dust, right?" Stan asked as he melted into the couch in Xeno's garage-turned-lab. He had fallen over the back of it at some point during the sweltering summer day and slipped down, so that his shoulders were where his butt should be and his knees bent over the back. The world was upside down to the blond and frankly, he liked it better this way. At least when he glanced over at the hand-made thermometer Xeno had made and set on his shelf, the numbers didn't elicit the same nausea-inducing feeling. Though, the sweat that clung to his skin made the frustration linger.
"You're looking at the pillars of creation! This is what we were born from: space dust. Trillions and trillions of specs all smashed together with cosmic violence, turned molten, and cooled into the sun, the planets, and eventually, us." Xeno jumped up on the coffee table cluttered with his clear-shell laptop displaying a supposedly famous picture of... an orange splotch. Screws, metal bits, and wires all skipped with Xeno's fathomless energy even in the desert heat. "It's like looking at a newly birthed baby and realizing that you grew from that too."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Stan brushed off Xeno's excitement. The afternoon was too humid for this kind of talk. He could feel annoyance brewing in his veins and took that as a call to action. A small, tan hand rustled through one of the pouches on his hip, looking for something specific.
Among the plethora of lollipops- spanning the entire rainbow with sugar blended like water colours- his fingers latched onto what he was rooting around for. A marble sized candy with papery wrapping. He pulled out his prize and examined the odd lettering printed on it. His dad had brought him back some candy from his latest overseas assignment, and this was the last piece he'd been holding onto.
"You're not even listening, are you!?" Xeno fumed, stomping his foot on the abused wood, lacerated with cuts from his hand saw and pockmarked with holes left behind by drilling atop the table. Everything jumped to the beat of his shoe slamming into the surface. His hands were twisted into fist beside his hips, despite the fact that a scrawny kid like him likely never even threw a punch before.
"No, not really," Stan admitted. His fingers pulled at the ends of the wrapper, watching how it pirouetted in the air while unwrapping for him. "All that science and history stuff is boring. I don't care about it."
The paper wrapper straightened under the pulling force, allowing his treat to sit atop it like a trophy on a shelf. Stanley could feel his mouth fill with saliva just eyeing the sweet morsel. Stan opened his mouth wide and tilted the wrapper, allowing the candy to roll off it and into his mouth below.
A hand shot out and snatched it mid fall. Before Stanley could even vocalize his surprise, the candy was shoved into Xeno's mouth. His small, triangular eyebrows were pinched in a look of disapproval and resentment at being ignored.
"XENO!" Stan scrambled against the couch he had created a crater in. He twisted, kicked, and clawed before launching himself at the small frame of his traitorous friend.
Stanley wrapped his arms around his friend's legs– the oversized pants crushed in his arms– and he tackled Xeno to the floor, both of them grunting in pain as the cold embrace of concrete comforted their fall with stiff finality.
"GIVE!" Stan shouted, sticking his hand out like one would to a disobedient dog.
"No! You don't deserve it."
"That candy is from my dad, GIVE IT BACK!"
Xeno stuck his tongue out- now tinted green with the sour dusting of the sweet.
Stanley grasped Xeno by the sides of his head and acted upon impulse as he brought their lips together. He shoved his tongue into the opening of Xeno's mouth, slack with shock. He instantly located what was left of the candy, already stripped of the outer shell. He lapped at it, pressing it against the top of Xeno's mouth and rolled it towards their teeth.
Something electrocuted Xeno's mind, forcing him into action. While one hand pressed against the rough grain of the ground, his other latched onto the blue button down shirt that adorned his friend. The fabric creased into furious waves between his fingers.
His own tongue curled, wrapping around the advancing candy. The two of them fought for the sweet, for their point of view to be acknowledged in their argument, and most importantly: to beat their friend and claim victory and a right to gloat.
Despite his bid for control, Xeno was losing to the talented tongue, strengthened from lapping at lollipops all day. In a last ditch effort, he bit down on the intruding tongue, forcing his friend to recoil. The hands that held his head tensed, fingernails digging into his soft cheeks.
Stan's tongue retreated back to it's own home, but not without a plan. The blond pushed their faces together and puckered his lips, leading Xeno's to do the same. He sucked at the swollen skin, willing his friend's chubby cheeks to collapse. The candy shot from his mouth and filled the airless vacuum in Stanley's own.
Stan broke the kiss and smiled with success decorating his lips. A toothy smile shown down towards the boy who was a mess under him. Between the white ivory of his smile, Stanley showed off the small pebble of candy he had won back. He quickly closed his mouth and enjoyed the last of his sweet.
"One - Zero, Xe," he proudly announced. "Better luck next time.
Xeno wiped a hand across his mouth, hiding a deep blush that stained his cheeks. The molten summer air was impossible to breathe in and his lungs felt like they were on fire. He couldn’t calm his racing heart. All he could do was look up at his nonchalant friend who was more put off by his candy being stolen than what had just transpired. The young scientist couldn't help but wonder what exactly was encompassed in the challenge that 'next time,' promised.