One week, six days, Before

{Nightingale}

When it came to be what felt like the middle of the night and my legs felt like lead beneath me, Star tugged on my sleeve. "Do you think this is a good spot to stop for the night? We can take shifts sleeping in case anything attacks. I'll make dinner too for the night."

I gratefully slowed to a stop. "That's a brilliant idea. Do you have enough food for both of us?"

He lit a ball of light in his hand and slung his backpack onto the ground to rifle through it. "Yeah, we may have to eat slightly smaller portions, but it won't be drastically different. Which would you rather eat today: rehydrated pasta, or broccoli cheddar soup?"

"Maybe we should eat the pasta first since the soup would probably eat up a lot of our water supply," I told him as I sat down on the damp stone floor across from him.

He hummed his response and extracted a packet of dried pasta with marinara sauce. He removed a water bottle and allowed the pasta to rehydrate before opening it up. Steam billowed from the makeshift bowl, and he searched through his backpack for something to eat with.

"I have a spoon, but I only have one. We can take turns and share." He grinned. "Unless you'd like to eat with your hands, of course."

So we ate, and we took turns with the spoon. I counted the spoonfuls I took in order to make sure I wasn't taking more than Star; that felt rude, considering it was technically his pasta.

I passed the spoon to him again. "So what are you looking forward to once we get back?"

He chewed thoughtfully. "Having a routine will be nice again. I can't wait to show you around Solar Works, too. Don't you think that'll be fun? After all these years of fighting and getting to know each other anyway, we finally get to live in the same building."

I laughed and rubbed my eyes. "We can dream, I guess. You don't think it'll get annoying to have me around? We are enemies, after all. I think you're going to get tired of being outshone by me all the time."

"Ha, yeah right." He lit a ball of light in his hand. "I'm practically famous now. You'll be living in my shadow, not the other way around. Better get used to that, Mr. Perfect-At-Everything."

He passed me the spoon, so I scooped out another bite of the pasta. One. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Another bite. Two. "Look, all I want is to stop fighting you all the time. If that means I have to pretend to be the lesser of the two of us, then so be it." Another bite. Three. I passed the spoon back.

Star rolled his eyes. "Hm. Whatever." He took a bite of pasta before rubbing his hands together and laying on his side on the floor. He scooped another bite and said, "I have an idea. Why don't we tell stories? That could keep us occupied for a while."

"But I don't have any stories," I argued.

He huffed and waved his hand at me. "That's such a lie. Everyone has stories."

"I really don't," I said nervously. "Every day is kind of the same on Pluto. I just...don't have that many interesting days, I guess."

"You lived with a madman for seven years and you don't have any stories?" he asked doubtfully. "What about from when you were a kid? Surely you've got a couple of family jokes or something. I've got some funny ones from the orphanage, like once I accidentally shaved my head. Things like that." He read my expression. "Nothing? Ugh, you're so boring. This is why you need to go on more adventures with me."

"Hm. Maybe I do."

"I'll tell a story: the day I figured out I had powers, and that my guardians realized that I was probably a Protector." He cleared his throat. "The week started out horribly. Trauma, death, et cetera. The whole nine yards. Anyway, my powers weren't very strong at the time, so I actually just figured that the lights of the room were reflecting weird or something. Eventually, I was shaking up a glowstick, and I handed it to my friend so that he could put the connector piece on so we could wear it as a bracelet. Except that when I handed the glowstick to him, it was a dud."

He chewed on another bite before continuing. "We thought it was weird, but we didn't think much of it until it happened again. Now, my friend just kind of rolled his eyes and said, 'Stop handing me duds, Abeo.' And I said back to him, 'They weren't duds when I was holding them.'"

"You stumbled across your powers because of glowsticks?" I asked, amused.

He laughed. "Yeah. Anyway, eventually we figured out that I was the one creating the glow, not the dud glowsticks. It wasn't the origin of my powers, but it was when I first noticed them." He nudged my leg. "What about you? Surely you at least have a story about discovering your powers."

"Well," I said timidly, "we went out for ice cream, my brother and I."

"And?" he pushed.

"And...we went to the park. And we threw a frisbee back and forth. And I practiced with my shadows a lot that day because I thought they were cool."

He sighed. "What happened to your sense of drama?"

"I did tell you I don't have any stories. It's your fault for not listening."

He hummed and seemed to give up. He tried to pass the spoon back to me, but it looked like there were only a few bites left, and I didn't want to be the one to eat them in case he was still hungry. I told him I was full, so he finished the meal.

"Do you have any entertainment ideas?" he asked.

"Wait, I didn't mean that I didn't like stories. I just don't have any to tell. I would still be happy to listen to yours, if you're okay with sharing them."

A/N: I fear this is where I ended this one, though I did plan out the whole plot. Let me know if you'd like to see more done with any of these story snippets!