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Minkowski hoped to god that no one walked in on her. Not that she was in a compromising position or anything-- she just really didn’t want anyone to see her struggling. She’d put on her holster hundreds, probably even thousands of times. Fairly easily too, seeing as it wasn’t one of the most complicated things in the world. To be fair, she did have one with three additional compartments down her leg and 6 different straps holding it in place. But still, she’d been doing it for so long, it was never a problem. Except every so often, the straps would get tangled and she’d spend a little more time than she’d like trying to get it on. She really, really hoped no one walked by.
“Minkowski!”
Fuck.
“God, I was looking for you everywhere. Anyways, I was thinking about the problem with the engine again last night and--” Lovelace stopped. “Are you good?”
Minkowski waved dismissively. “Yeah, yeah I got it. What were you saying?”
Lovelace shrugged and continued. “So I was thinking, if we cut the power to the auxil--” She grinned. “No really, do you need help?”
Minkowski paused as if she was thinking about it. “No, no I’m fine, really, I’ve just gotta get this one…” Her face scrunched in concentration as she failed to untangle one of the straps, accidentally knotting it with another strap instead.
“Fuck,” she said out loud.
Lovelace laughed softly, which was a rare occurrence these days and Minkowski might have thought it was beautiful, had it not been directed at her.
“Here, stand up, let me do it.”
For some godforsaken reason, Minkowski obeyed, getting up from the bench as Lovelace crossed the room and knelt in front of her.
“So, if we cut the power to the aux….” Minkowski said, prompting conversation to distract herself. Lovelace started untangling the strap that was lowest on Minkowski’s leg, deciding to work her way up.
“We could redirect that power to boost the engines.”
“But how would we keep the ship stabilized?”
As Lovelace tightened the first strap, Minkowski decided it would be a good idea to turn her face so that Lovelace couldn’t see her expression. Minkowski pretended to look around the weapons room despite the fact that she spent a good portion of her time in there and could probably tell you the full inventory with her eyes closed.
“Um, I was sort of hoping that it would sort itself out. Of course, Hera would have to pick up some slack and-- wow, you really fucked this one up.”
Minkowski sighed. “Lovelace, it’s really alright. You already did most of the hard part, I can finish it by myself. It’ll take me less than thirty seconds.” That wasn’t a lie, actually. Lovelace was taking a very long time to do something relatively simple, and Minkowski was getting increasingly desperate for her to finish.
“You know, Commander, it's okay to ask for help sometimes,” Lovelace said, teasing. When Minkowski finally looked at Lovelace, she was looking directly at Minkowski’s face rather than the holster she was supposed to be fixing. They locked eyes for a second before Minkowski turned away again.
“Just hurry up.”
Lovelace smiled. “Yes, sir.”
Lovelace turned her attention back to the final strap that wrapped around the top of Minkowski’s thigh. No matter how hard she tried, Minkowski could not possibly ignore the way Lovelace’s fingers brushed against the inside of her thigh as the other hand gripped Minkowski’s hip for support. She could feel herself turning red.
“Lovelace, I--”
“There, all done! That wasn’t so hard was it?”
“Uh, yeah... I mean, no” Minkowski managed to get out, despite the fact that her heart was beating out of her fucking chest. Lovelace got to her feet and absentmindedly swiped at the dirt on her knees. She gave Minkowski a shit-eating grin before turning to walk away.
“See you on the bridge, Commander.”