One And Many Romances

Astra waits outside the cinema for A-Vis to arrive. They had already gone inside to get the tickets for the movie, and were now just waiting in the nice winter weather. As always, Astra is dressed for much warmer weather than what it is due to their own internal starlight heat, so they’re dressed in a casual t-shirt with a frog motif and high-waisted slacks, while snow is gently falling around them. Luckily the snow-fall is no longer as bad since he and A-Vis, Signal, and Kairos stopped the Rokkr from causing the Ragnarok, so that’s a plus.

Astra stands holding the tickets to the interesting-looking rom-com they found, while looking for the unpleasant-looking minivan A-Vis drove in on their last date.

It doesn’t take long to see the unpleasant minivan, which briefly parallel parks, letting A-Vis unfold his way out. He’s actually dressed a bit unusually for him, wearing a light blue hoodie and a pair of jeans. “Hey Astra!” He runs over. “Uh, Gretchen told me I was dressed like, uh, a corporate stooge, so she said I should wear this instead. Do you like it?”

Astra smiles when they see him. “Hey Johnny! Yeah, looks really good, it’s rare to see you in casual clothes. I like it. Oh, is it ok for me to call you Johnny or would you prefer A-Vis still?”

Johnny blushes. “Uh, yeah! Calling me Johnny sounds great! I’m a little not used to it from people on Big Team, but that’s not a bad thing. Since you bought the movie tickets, I wanna be the one to buy you the snacks. Anyway, what movie did you get?” Astra can tell that he’s already looking at the tickets to see, though he’s trying to be subtle.

“Yeah, so I was thinking about what movie to watch, cuz I’m not sure what we’d want to see together. I was thinking action at first, but that’s already a lot of what we do together on Big Team, so then I saw the trailer for this cute rom-com movie that just came out. It’s about this young guy trying really hard to get the interest of his classmate, but he’s too shy to actually tell him what he wants. A classic ‘just tell him you like him’-movie. Plus it’s gay.” Astra emphasises the last point by wiggling his eyebrows. “It’s called ‘Will He, Won’t You’.”

There’s more blushing from A-Vis and he nods. “Uh, cool! I-I’d love to watch that! I, uh, I don’t think I’ve seen that many gay movies, to be honest. Except when Grace was out of the room...Sorry, that’s unrelated.” He shakes his head. “Um, Astra, I was wondering. What do you think you are? Like...sehhhss...seeahh...r-romantically.” He’s very visibly playing with his hands as he asks this and avoiding eye contact.

“Like, um, who am I attracted to, like gender-wise? Oh, uh,I think I like this one label you use on Earth, pansexual, which describes me well.” Astra tries to make eye-contact again, but doesn’t try too hard when he sees it doesn’t work. “Why do you ask?”

“I guess I’ve just been thinking about it a lot. I never really did before, and I was wondering what it was like for you. But, I guess it’s really different for you since you have genders like...uh, the middle of a star? I mean, I’m just a boy. I think. I tried out using they when I was a superhero just to try and hide my identity better, but I don’t know how I felt about it.” He scratches the back of his head. “Did you have to, like, think about it a lot or try to figure it out or anything? Or did it just kind of come to you?”

“Bit of both, I think? Like, this time around it was easier, but when I first figured out my gender it did take a while. But also, the gods back home don’t really assign genders to kids when they’re born like a lot of mortals do. So it’s more about figuring out *just* what you are, rather than *also* figuring out if you’re also not what you have been called all your life.” Astra puts a finger under their chin in a thoughtful pose. “So if I had to come up with some advice, it would be to start from scratch? Like as if having been called a boy your whole life didn’t matter, and it was totally up to you to figure out or choose how to best call it and such.” They shrug. “But yeah, it can be tough.”

“It’s all so much more complicated than it seemed.” Johnny sighs. “Not bad I don’t think. Just...complicated. Maybe I should boogle some stuff. Uh, anyway, what kind of snacks do you think you’d like! I always get a small popcorn and soda because I want to keep my caloric intake at the proper level for my body-uh, I’ve got a military nutritionist, most AEGIS agents do. But sometimes I cheat and get sour gummy worms too.”

Astra giggles. “Nice, good to cheat for a treat every once in a while. Um, are you sure you want to pay for the snacks? Like, all of them?” They look slightly worried, but still carrying a bright smile. “Because after that regeneration, I’ve been feeling a lot more hungry from time to time, so I was thinking of getting a lot of snacks. Like a lot. Like a really lot. Like popcorn, corn dogs, chips, jelly beans, churros, the largest soda they got, and now that you say it, sour gummy worms sound good too.”

“Uh...” Johnny visibly does some mental math, also counting on his fingers. “Yeah, yeah, I can do that! I’ve been saving up my allowance between dates, and since you paid for the tickets, it’s only fair! If it’s too much, I’ll say. I’m figuring out what to get all the Ruelles for Hanukkah. Mrs. Ruelle said to only buy everyone one gift for the last day, so I’m going with that. She’s handling the rest. Gosh, I don’t have much time. Uh, would you want anything for any of the winter stuff?”

“Oh, uhh, no thanks. I mean, I wouldn’t say no to anything, but I’m not expecting anything or want to pressure and stuff. I’m just going home to my moms, so we can celebrate the sun becoming brighter again. It’s a big deal for us, since ya know, my mommy controls the sun. We just have a lot of good food and play games, there’s not really any gift-giving.” Astra then visibly gets an idea as their smile widens and blush grows. “Though, there is one thing I might want. I won’t say what it is yet, I want to see if you can guess. Hint: I’ve already given you one of them, and it doesn’t cost any money.”

Johnny visibly thinks about it. “Huh. I guess that’s...oh. Oh! Uh, um, well!” His face is very very red now, and he stiffly turns on one leg. “SO IT’S GONNA TAKE THEM A WHILE TO GET ALL THAT FOOD LET'S GO IN AND DO THAT MAYBE WHILE I THINK ABOUT THINGS!”

With that, he marches awkwardly into the theater, moving quickly to get in line for the snack counter.

Astra giggles and follows Johnny inside. As they stand (or float in Astra’s case) in line for the snacks, Astra adds even more snacks to their mental list of things they want.

Johnny is at the food counter, slowly going down the list of what he remembers. The bored teenager behind the counter is glancing back at his dry candy and popcorn machine. “Not sure I’ll be able to get you actual cooked food, dude.”

“Uh...um...hm. Are there any, um, restaurants nearby?”

“By company policy you’re not allowed to sneak any outside food into the theater.” She says it all as a single long sigh. Johnny looks awkwardly unsure of how to proceed.

“Aww, that sucks,” Astra scoffs, “but it’s ok, just get me some extra popcorn then?”

“Yeah, of course!” Johnny buys a bunch of candy and soda and two large buckets of popcorn for Astra. While struggling to carry them, he leans over to him and whispers. “Uh, hey. If you wanted we could...um...we could maybe...uh, try and...tryandsneaksomefoodinfromoutside?” He is very visibly nervous.

Astra grins. “Hey Johnny. It’s really cute that you want to break some rules for me, but let’s do it another time, ok? Today let’s just have fun watching the movie, and then...” Astra ponders if they should raise the point about Sapphire’s confession already now, but decides against it. They don’t have the time to have the discussion now, and he doesn’t want Johnny to worry by making it seem too vague and ominous. “...and then hang out. We can have some more food afterwards, right?”

“That sounds great! Okay.” Johnny will carry all of the popcorn and candy into the theater and find some nice seats in the middle. “Whenever I go to the theater with anyone, I have to be the one to find seats since I can see in the dark.” He then slowly hands over a small mountain of candy and the two buckets of popcorn.

“Thank you!” Astra says receiving the snacks. “And that’s really cool. I can also kinda see better in the dark than most, ya’know, being the child of a goddess of thieves and all, but I don’t think I’m anywhere as good as you. It’s super impressive how you can see all of these things others can’t.”

“Ah, jeez.” They can tell Johnny is blushing again, and he scratches the back of his head. “It’s nothing special. It’s just weird moon boy biology. Though, I’ll admit, I still kinda wonder...you know, why I’m like this.”

“Like what? Like absolutely precious?”

“Nnneeeeehhhyyyy, you can’t just...noooo!” Johnny covers his face, but you can see him smiling behind it. “That’s no fair! I don’t know how to flirt back! Uh...you...you’re cute! So there! Ha!”

Astra just smiles contentedly as they blush. “Thanks.”

“Oh, the movie is gonna start soon, let’s practice flirting with each other some more later, ok?” They whisper.

“Y-yeah!” Johnny will sit back, eyes on the movie and paying close attention. Astra can hear him rip open his sour gummy worms and sip from his soda, but otherwise he goes very quiet.

The movie starts and both Johnny and Astra become quickly enraptured. The main protagonist is endearing and hilarious, and his crush on the love interest is so adorable that ‘aww’s could be heard throughout the theatre several times in the movie. The love interest as well is clever and quirky, and shows just enough growing interest in the protagonist that his attempts don’t become old. And of course, eventually he manages to confess in the climax of the movie after all his friends and other side characters help him out, and the movie ends with them happily together.

——

As they leave the theatre, it becomes clear that Astra did actually manage to eat all their snacks. They are smiling at Johnny. “So, what do you think? Did you like the movie?”

Johnny has been using some napkins from the concession stand to dab his eyes and blow his nose in, having started crying a bit at the end of the movie. “Yeah, it was really sweet and romantic, and the end where they got together was just...so beautiful!” Astra might get the feeling that Johnny isn’t hard to make cry, moviewise.

“It was! Gosh, it was so cute.” Astra can’t stop smiling.

“Hey, you wanna find a place to sit down and chat about the movie, and some... other stuff... maybe? Like maybe that café over there?” Astra points down the street, to a little cozy café. He looks just a bit nervous.

“Uh...” Johnny sniffs. “Uh, yeah, sure. You still hungry? ‘Cause I can order you some more food while we’re there.” He turns and starts walking towards it.

“Mmm, just a bit.” Astra giggles.

——

Astra and Johnny are sitting down at a small table in the café. A large club-sandwich and an iced coffee had been ordered and are now sitting in front of Astra.

“... and then the bit with the skateboard, gosh that was so good!” laughed Astra, reminiscing about the movie.

“Yeah, I really liked that too! I’ve never tried skateboarding, but I always thought it was really cool when I saw it on TV.” He thinks for a moment. “Hmmm...I wonder if I could be a skateboarder...my center of gravity is really high. And I don’t know if any of my joints really count as elbows or knees anymore, so I don’t know where I’d put the pads...” Seems he’s gotten distracted by dreams of being an X-treme athlete.

“Well, I’d love to see you skateboarding. I think there’s some places in the city where we could go and check it out.”

Astra fiddles with their glass of ice-coffee. “Umm, hey Johnny, can we talk about something?”

Johnny looks over, immediately getting worried. “Yeah. Do...do you wanna break up already? Is it because I haven’t kissed you yet? Because I’m working up to it, I promise!”

“What?! No no no! Not at all!” Astra lays his hand on Johnny’s. “I really like going out with you. It’s, um, kinda more about, uh, clarifying our relationship, I guess?”

“Oh.” Johnny looks a little less nervous, but not completely. “Okay. I guess I must like going out with you too, ‘cause the idea of stopping was something I didn’t like. And I’ve had a lot of fun on both of our d-dates.” He sighs. “But yeah. I guess we should, like, figure out if we’re...I dunno, boyfriend and...boyfriend?”

“Hmm, I guess I’d prefer ‘sweetheart’, since I’m not really a ‘boy’. But I’d love that, yeah, if I could call you my boyfriend?” Astra blushes with a warm glow. “But it was more about, umm... are we monogamous? Like, do you want us to be? Cuz, I’ve been thinking we could be polyamorous and stuff?” Astra bites his lower lip in anticipation.

Astra can see a look of confusion on Johnny’s face. “Uh...hang on, I need to use the bathroom.” He’s absolutely certain he’s stepping away to boogle the words they just said. After a moment, he comes back. “Okay, uh, wow. I never...I never thought about that.”

“Oh, that’s ok.” Astra sipped nervously at his ice-coffee. “Sooo, what do you think now? Do you need time to think, maybe? Cuz I want to be sure that you’re sure, you know? I’m ready to wait as long as you need.” Astra hesitates for a second before deciding that it was better to be honest and clear with Johnny. “And so is Sapphire. Cuz that’s kinda why I ask, she, uhh, kinda confessed to me.” Their eyes flick back and forth from meeting Johnny’s.

“Wait, she-...wow. There’s a lot of people who like you. I guess that makes sense though.” Johnny pulls a leg up to his chest and leans on it. “I guess...people talked about it a lot. But not in a good way. They were always talking about Jodys and how ‘oh, your wife is back home with Jody’. Everyone was bad there. The wife was bad, Jody was bad...and usually they acted like the husband was bad too. Nobody ever talked about it like...on purpose. Or a good thing.”

“Oh, gosh.” A moment passes. “Um, excuse me a second, need to use the toilet.” Now it was Astra’s turn to step away and boogle some terms, specifically who the heck Jody was. Returning back, they sit back down. “Oooohh, ok, ***gosh***. Well, if it helps, it was never talked about as a bad thing back home, you know, unless everybody in the relationship didn’t agree. Which, you know, is why I’m asking.”

“Yeah, yeah, that makes perfect sense.” Johnny bites his knee, rocking back and forth slightly as he does. “I feel like...I feel like it wouldn’t make sense to say no. Because it was your idea to date me in the first place. But I’m also sort of scared.”

“Oh, no no no! You can say no!” Astra hurries from their seat over to Johnny’s side to hug him. “Hey. Listen, Sapphire is cool and all, but she only wanted to confess her feelings, she was ready for me to not reciprocate. Besides, she has Maria, and Elena, and the Luminaries, and... EliZe maybe? I think? I just felt it might be fun to date her too, but not if you’re scared of...” Astra pauses. “Um, what are you scared of?”

“I dunno, I just...hang on.” Johnny takes a deep breath. “I’m scared of...I’m scared that you’re going to decide I’m not fun anymore, but I don’t think that’s the biggest thing. I don’t think I’d be too sad if we changed back to being friends. But I think...” He pulls his other knee up and puts his plastic cup full of lemonade between his knees so that he can suck from the straw without having to extract himself from Astra’s hug. “I think that...I think that I’m scared people will think that I’m less of a man?”

“Aww, Johnny, of course people wouldn’t think so. At least, I can guarantee everyone on Big Team wouldn’t. I mean, a lot of them are poly too, and I’m sure none of them subscribe to the idea of a masculinity dependent on monogamy.” Astra gives the tiniest of pecks on the top of Johnny’s head. “And hey, as I said, if you need time to think, I’ll give all the time in the world.”

Even though Johnny is sitting, Astra needs to float in the air to reach the top of his head. Johnny slowly unfolds himself, awkwardly slurping the last of his drink. “Mmmh...you know what? I think...I think I’d be okay with trying it. As long as we...we keep talking about stuff. And we, like, go on dates by ourselves.”

“Yeah, of course. Always. I’d love more dates with you.” Astra smiled nervously. “Oh, and of course, if we’re trying it out, you could go on dates with others too. I think it’d be cool for them to also see how amazing my boyfriend is.”

It’s obvious from the way Johnny’s eyes widen and his pupils briefly dilate that he hadn’t considered that aspect of it. “Oh. OH! I, uh...yeah. I guess so, huh. Wow. I hadn’t thought of that. So, uh...do you think our date is about over? ‘Cause I really enjoyed it.”

Astra looks over to their half-eaten club sandwich, previously forgotten because of the serious conversation. “I think we could continue the date a little longer, right? So we don’t end on such a serious note. Cuz I’ve really enjoyed it too.”

“Oh, okay! That’s...yeah, that’s good. ‘Cause I can prepare for...for stuff. Like, a little more.” Johnny goes to get another cup of lemonade before joining again. He’s mildly flapping his hands and clearly a little anxious, but also ready to get back to a lighter topic.

Astra was sitting back down on his chair, enjoying the remainder of his club. “Sooo, I heard Nat went to AEGIS training? That sounds cool.”

“Yeah!” He very visibly brightens up and begins talking at length about how Nat trained with someone in AEGIS who’s worked with people with sound powers for a long time. This eventually moves to him talking about his own training regiment and complaining about his trainer and how he grew up with her.

Astra listens attentively, realising how happy they are that Johnny can talk freely about his past now that he doesn’t have to hide it. They smile brightly as they curiously ask him about various things.

Johnny is more than happy to talk about his experiences with AEGIS, though some of what he says is probably scarier than he realizes. He talks about relatively normal sounding things, like how he and the other kids would fight, but then mentions being put in a professional headlock by an older kid as a toddler. He talks about it all with an obvious fondness and reverence though.

Astra nods and giggles. They do think some of what Johnny says sounds concerning, but it’s not like they can do much about it. Mostly they just enjoy his stories.

Eventually, once Astra has finished his food, Johnny looks at his watch. “Uh, hey, before I call Mrs. Ruelle to pick me up again, I wanna do some Hanukkah shopping, and I...it’ll be a little embarrassing letting you see how bad I am at shopping. So are you okay with me getting going?

“Of course. Thanks for the date, I had a really fun time. And, um, I’ll keep you in the know about what, if anything, happens with Sapphire, ok? But yeah, hope y’all have a happy Hanukkah!”

“Okay.” Johnny wobbles back and forth on the balls of his feet before bending halfway over and kissing Astra on the lips. It’s very amateur, he flares his lips like a fish and makes a noisy popping sound as he pulls back. “THANKSITWASREALLYFUNHAPPYHANUKKAHBYE!” With that, he bolts at top speed.

Astra stands wide-eyed and silent for a few seconds afterwards, before bursting into a bright and radiant blush and giggling smile. “Yeah, see you~,” he says quietly, as Johnny is already way too far gone for him to hear even if he yelled.