Chapter Text
Retirement would change everything.
Astra wasn’t ready for that change. It’d taken her long enough to get acclimated to the Legends. Now she was going to have to follow the future she had ahead of her on Earth, away from all of her friends.
Well. Not just her friends, now. She looked over at Behrad and Nate chatting excitedly, though about what, she wasn’t sure. Behrad turned and caught her eye, flashing her a smile from across the room. Her heart sped up, but there was a heavy weight in her stomach.
There were going to be some changes she couldn’t control. This, however, was entirely in her hands.
Her key trick had made it so they’d still be able to see each other. Making a way to keep her friends close had been brilliant. But that didn’t really fix the “trying to date someone twenty-five years in the future” problem.
They couldn’t even travel through time to see each other. Astra knew that she and Spooner could make it work, but friendship was one thing. Boyfriends took much, much more effort.
It wouldn’t be too hard to end things. After all, they had been together for less than a week. Nevermind that she’d had a crush on him for an embarrassingly long time.
Seeing Behrad come up to her with his key, grinning, gave her cold feet. Astra grinned back at him, even though she knew neither of them would like the conversation she was about to start.
“So, everyone says long-distance relationships suck,” she started.
His grin fell, as he took on a more serious expression. “Are you breaking up with me?”
Astra was almost happy she didn’t have to beat around the bush. The hurt in his eyes certainly didn’t spare her much, though. “I mean, we’ve only been together for like, two days.”
Behrad sighed. “Time is so weird.”
She wouldn’t argue with him there. Those two days had been a whirlwind of emotion. Partly because of the chaos of the Fixed Point, then Gideon nearly getting killed and having to handle their clones. Now everything they’d known was about to be ripped away from them.
But this relationship with Behrad, no matter how short, had been an adventure of its own. Dating someone was a whole set of new experiences. And he was a sweet, handsome guy.
If she hesitated now, she knew she’d never get it over with. Come on, Astra , she told herself. A break-up is not the hardest thing you’ve had to face.
“How practical is it, really?” Astra asked. “Maybe when we were both Legends, but a relationship when we’re in two time periods is an entirely different story.”
Some part of her wanted him to argue back. That they’d figure it out, or that time didn’t matter. Even if it did.
But Behrad took a half-step back. “Yeah. And, uh, becoming the future president of the United States is a full-time gig. I get it.” He smiled, but it didn’t really reach his eyes.
“Yeah,” she agreed quietly. Astra really didn’t want to hurt him. The whole reason she was doing it was so that neither of them got hurt. Saying goodbye forever, never seeing each other again, would be so much worse. “And we’re still friends, right?”
“Totally!” There was no hesitation before he answered. “We can still hang out. It was just two days. We can be totally casual about this.”
That was reassuring. She didn’t need Behrad hating her. Even worse, she didn’t need either Zari side-eyeing her for an eternity of post-retirement hangouts.
“Just friends, then,” Astra said. It was better to be boyfriend-less and still have friends than to have no friends at all.
Retirement would change everything. But maybe she’d saved herself some heartbreak down the line.