#also petition for their ship name to be sphere (sphr)

[the-writer-nerd-ro]

If you want me to stop writing Sara Pena and Hunter Richardson you have to pay me 'cause I have my next two fics planned out and I doubt I'll stop there, either

Hunter Finally Plans The Perfect Date

Hunter Richardson was no longer sure if she could count. Mathematically, this was her third date with Sara Pena, unless you counted the party where they met as a date, then it was the fourth. But their first proper date had mainly consisted of Sara talking about her freelance party business, SaraPenaPartyForHire, so maybe this was only their second date.

But whatever it was, it absolutely had to be perfect.

This was the first time Sara Pena had ever visited her here. Hunter hadn't had a lot of girls visit the funeral home, where she lived in a little upstairs area that had a shower, a futon, and a microwave. Once her other dates had found out her idea of a romantic picnic was spreading out a quilt in the cemetery they had ended things.

Not Sara Pena, though.

“It’s so beautiful here.”

“You don’t think it’s spooky?” Hunter asked, impressed and amused.

“No, it’s lovely. There’s so much love here, all these people who were cared for enough to be buried and memorialized here, the flowers on the gravestones, the fresh cut grass… It’s so beautiful that so many people care so much for their loved ones. I think it would be nice to die knowing you were that cared for.”

“You are,” Hunter said without thinking.

“Hm?”

“I mean, I’m sure there are a lot of people who care about you. A lot of people who would leave flowers on your grave.”

Sara reached out and took Hunter’s hand. “At least one.”

Hunter flushed. “Yeah… At least one.”

“Thank you for planning this date, H.”

“Thank you for agreeing to it. Most girls don’t want to go on a date to the cemetery.”

“Why? It’s so romantic. It’s just like in my favorite rom-com."

“What?” Hunter had never seen a rom-com where the couple went on a graveside date.

“Oh! You’ve never seen Elizabethtown?”

“Sara, I doubt anyone has ever seen Elizabethtown.”

“That’s not true, it spawned the phrase manic pixie dream girl. Orlando Bloom is in it.”

“I don’t know who that is.”

“Oh my god, Hunter we have to watch it. And then all of the Pirates of The Caribbean movies.”

“I suppose you have a copy?”

“I have three copies, two at home and one on my phone. We can watch it when we get done eating.”

“I think it might rain,” Hunter commented, another mark against her perfect date.

“That’s okay, you live over there, right?” Sara asked, pointing at the funeral home.

“Uh, yeah,” Hunter said, seeming embarrassed.

“Well, you know what they say.”

“What do they say?”

“Home is where the funerals are.”

Hunter burst out laughing, “Yeah, okay, we can watch the movie at my place after we eat. I don’t want you walking home if it starts raining, anyways.”

“Oh, I like walking in the rain. But if you don’t want me to today, I won’t.”

They finished lunch, gathered up their things, and headed inside the funeral home to Hunter’s squat little loft. There was a camera on a peg by the door, as well as a corkboard with some of the pictures Hunter had taken and sketches she had drawn, mostly of the cemetery. In the corner, there was a card table with a microwave, a lawn chair, and a mini fridge.

Hunter sat down on the vintage-looking floral print futon and patted the seat next to her. Sara looked shocked.

“Sorry, I know it isn’t much. There’s a bathroom with a shower, though. And a closet.”

“How long have you lived here?” Sara asked, without an ounce of condescension.

Hunter shuffled her feet, mortified. “I took over this place from my parents when they died, and I only really had enough money to keep the business afloat or keep the house, and, well, I needed a job and like you said, people need to know their deceased loved ones are cared for, so I kept the business.”

Sara crashed onto the futon and flung her arms around Hunter.

“I was right about you,” Sara said.

“Yeah?”

“When we started dating I knew you were someone who cared so much about the people you loved. And I was so happy you chose me to be one of them. I still am.”

A sob grew in Hunter’s throat as she melted into Sara’s arms.

“A lot of people think I don’t care about anything. They think I don’t feel anything.”

“It sounds like a lot of people don’t deserve you, hun,” Sara said, rocking Hunter back and forth.

“I feel like I don’t deserve you,” Hunter admitted, glancing around at her living situation.

Sara must have noticed that. “Well, I can tell you for a fact we deserve each other. And hey… I don’t want you to stay buried here. How about you move into my apartment? It’s got windows. And a bathtub. And real kitchen.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s actually a pretty nice kitchen, too.”

“No, I mean you really want me to move in with you? We’ve only known each other for like, a month.”

“If you’re not ready, that’s okay, I’m not going to rush you. But I know exactly what I want, Hunter.”

“What do you want?” Hunter asked, intoxicatingly close to Sara’s lips. They hadn’t kissed before, they hadn’t even spent a night together, moving in was such a big, irrational, inviting step.

“I want to hold you like this every night, and wake up and start the day with you every morning.”

Sara didn’t seem to be worried about rushing things. She was always so sure of things, her confidence and passion were two of the things Hunter loved the most.

For a second, Hunter was only sure of one thing, and so she leaned in and kissed Sara Pena without another moment’s hesitation. Sara kissed back, emboldening Hunter even further.

“Okay, let’s do it.”

“We’ll hold off on the movie for now, I’ll help you pack and when the rain lets up we can head over to my place.” Sara stopped herself, a beaming smile taking over her face, “Our place.”

Those two words filled Hunter with the same confidence Sara must have felt. It didn’t matter if they’d been on three dates or three thousand, all that mattered was they were together. And so together they would be.

[the-writer-nerd-ro]

Back on my bullshit (Writing Sara Pena and Hunter Richardson fics)

I actually based part of this on my own relationship, I'll say which part in the tags if anyone is interested lol.

This fic is chock full of headcanons and most of them are my own but one of them is a widely overlooked detail from Hunter's generated bio because everyone was too focused on the fact that she was a vandal

You can find my other fics by clicking on most of the tags below I am too tired to link them

When I look at the stars I feel like myself

It was ten o'clock at night and Hunter Richardson did not want to be at work. But people die at all hours of the day and some of those people have wealthy families who insist on having their funerals planned pronto.

In between a dull discussion on coffins and floral arrangements, Hunter was texting her girlfriend.

Sara Pena had gone out for a late-night walk, so Hunter was swinging wildly between being jealous that she couldn't also be there instead of in a business meeting and being worried about Sara's safety. Of course, Sara was more than capable of taking care of herself, but Hunter was still always worried.

SP: The sky is sooo pretty tonight. Wish you were here :-(

H: Me too

H: Send a pic

"Excuse me, are my father's burial wishes boring to you?"

"No ma'am, sorry, just dealing with a personal emergency." That wasn't technically a lie, missing Sara Pena always felt like an emergency.

"Fine. Let's get back to the matter at hand."

They proceeded to talk about different types of coffin wood for the next 30 minutes. The only reprieve Hunter had was when she glanced at her phone and saw a pitch-black image.

SP: That's the best I could do sorry bb (^_^;)

Hunter almost snorted, but since she was about to seal the deal and get to go home she managed to stay silent.

Finally, she dragged her corpse onto the bus. When it wasn't dark out she usually walked home, but she did not have Sara's confidence about walking alone at night. When she got the chance, she took one more look at the blacked-out photo.

"Hm…."

She downloaded the photo, clicked edit, and fiddled with the brightness until small white pinpoints of light appeared. Then she saved it and attached it to a text back to Sara.

H: Fixed it

SP: Oh, yay! Are you gonna be home soon?

H: Yeah I'm on the bus

SP: I'll stay up, cya soon (^3^)/～♡

Hunter stared fondly down at her phone, ignoring the real sky outside the bus window, preferring Sara's shabby attempt at photography. She made the terrible photo her lock screen -Sara was already her home screen- and put her phone away since the bus was pulling up to her stop.

Sara was eagerly waiting for her when she got inside.

"Have you eaten yet? I made popcorn."

"Sounds perfect," Hunter said, exhausted after a long day.

"Sorry I couldn't have taken a better photo for you, I really wanted to. It was just so beautiful tonight."

"I didn't know you liked stars that much," Hunter remarked before taking a handful of popcorn. It was a little burnt, but Hunter didn't care.

"Yeah, stars make me think about life and my place in the universe. Sometimes they make me feel small but in the grand scheme of things I'm lucky to be a speck in a galaxy so large and majestic."

"That's how I feel when you spoon me," Hunter said, a rather lame response to the profound statement Sara Pena had said, but apparently the correct response.

"Well, then, I am lucky to be your starlight."

"And I am lucky to be your speck."

Hunter spent the whole next day thinking about that conversation, especially whenever she had to open her phone and she saw the photo she'd edited for Sara.

"We can definitely do better than that," Hunter finally decided, a plan cementing itself in her brain.

She had to wait a little while for her plan to fall into place since she spent most evenings either at work or with Sara. By the time a window of opportunity opened, Sara had probably forgotten their star chat entirely, but Hunter didn't forget things very easily.

Opportunity struck when Sara was hired to work a party. Her business, SaraPenaPartyForHire, catered to awkward party hosts who were desperate for overly-confident extroverts who would liven up their party. Sara fit the bill perfectly. Hunter, who spent most of her days talking to corpses and mourners, did not fit the bill at all.

Still, Sara always invited her, and sometimes Hunter obliged. But that day she had a perfect reason to say no.

"I'm working late," Hunter lied.

"Again?" Sara practically pouted.

"Sorry."

"It's fine, you'll just have to come to the next one."

"I will," that part was not a lie.

Once Sara was satisfied, Hunter got to work. She had to call in a favor or two to set her plan in motion, but the main part was actually extraordinarily easy.

She went up to the roof of the funeral home and waited for the sun to set.

Once it had, she pulled out her professional camera and began to photograph the sky.

Photography was still only a hobby for Hunter, but she'd taken every class she could on the subject and had hung onto her camera like it was solid gold. She'd met some people during those classes, and one of her colleagues was going to help her edit and print those photos so that she could make a framed collage.

This plan of hers only worked, of course, if she could get good photos of the night sky. If she could only get photos as good as the one Sara initially took then it would be a waste of time and money.

Fortunately, the night was clear and her hands were steady, so the photos turned out pretty good. Maybe she still needed a few more classes, but the photos were at least good enough to hang up in their apartment, and that was enough.

Hunter barely got home before Sara did, quickly hiding her camera when she heard the door open.

"How was the party?"

"It would've been better with you. How was the cemetery?"

"It would've been better with you."

Sara beamed.

"Did you eat at the party? I was going to make some ramen."

"Mmm, ramen."

While Hunter cooked, Sara chatted about what went down at the party, the music that was played, the people she danced with, and the outfits she planned to copy in the future.

And as Sara talked, Hunter imagined how excited she would be to receive her present.

The next few days, whenever Hunter had a spare moment she spent it assembling. The touched-up photos were beautiful. She selected four of the photos to frame, and as a finishing touch took a white paint pen to the black picture frame, writing the phrase "Lucky to be your starlight" on the top and "Lucky to be your speck" on the bottom.

Then, she just had to arrange the perfect time to present it.

H: Are you working tonight?

SP: Nope! Are you?

H: No, do you want to do date night?"

SP: Yeah! Where do you want to go?

H: Maybe we could get takeout and stay home?

SP: Oooh cozy, I love it. I'll pick something up after work.

Sara worked a series of part-time jobs when SaraPenaPartyForHire wasn't blowing up. This latest job was pretty close to a pizza place they really liked. So, with the date set and dinner squared away, Hunter just had to wait.

When Sara got home with their pizza and cheesy bread, she was surprised to find Hunter in the living room holding a beautifully wrapped gift.

"H? What is this?"

"I made you something," Hunter said, trading Sara for the pizza.

Immediately Sara tore into the gift, her eyes wide and sparkling like the stars she loved so much.

Sara gasped. "Oh, Hunter, these are beautiful, did you take these?

"I did. I wanted you to have a nice picture of the stars since you love them so much."

"I do love them," Sara agreed, reading what Hunter had written for her. "But I will never love all the galaxies in the universe as much as I love you."

Hunter set down the pizza, and Sara set down the stars, and soon they were holding each other. And when they were tangled up, so close that two forms became one, they were so much more than just specks in an uncaring universe. When they were together, they were the universe in all its glory.