Work Text:
Alright. Once more.
"Key to the left. Green button - on. Handle... thingy - handled-"
"'Handle thingy'?"
Fiona grimaced in annoyance and rolled her eyes as Rhys' head poked up through the hatch of the makeshift spaceship, behind her. She turned awkwardly in her seat, ready to flash him with her irritated glare, only to see an infuriating smirk of amusement pasted on his face as he climbed the ladder toward her.
"'Handle thingy'. Good to know we're in safe hands, Fi. Remind me when you got your pilot's licence?"
"It's funny you say that, Rhys," Fiona said lightly, throwing him a sickly sweet smile. "You were the one Scooter was plumping for to fly this thing. How is the wrist doing, anyway?"
"Oh, y'know-" Rhys pulled himself up into the seat next to her, limbs everywhere as he threw his legs into the small space between the seat and console to her right, "nasty sprain. But I'm sure it'll heal up soon." He cheerfully wiggled his metal hand around and winked at her. "After we get this tin can back here."
Fiona snorted and turned back to face the ship's console again, missing Rhys' little smile at the sound of her snort.
He loved when she did that. Super unladylike, endearing and very Fiona.
"What are you doing up here, anyway?"
"Practising," Fiona mumbled, eyeing the various buttons, dials and handles that made up the console.
"Again? Fi, it's like, two-am." Rhys glanced across at her to see her laser-focused stare pointed at a particularly intimidating button. The two were sitting - well, more lying down, since the ship was parked with its nose pointing toward the sky - facing the metal, grey roof of the warehouse housing said ship. "We got a couple of weeks before we leave, anyway."
"I can't fuck this up," she said quietly.
"And you won't!" Rhys exclaimed with such cheerful enthusiasm that Fiona looked at him in surprise. "Well, until you fall asleep at the wheel. Sleep deprivation is no joke, Fi," he said sagely as Fiona rolled her eyes and looked back at the console.
"Scooter has coffee," she said shortly, shrugging, and Rhys barked out a laugh.
"That motor oil that Scooter calls 'coffee' couldn't even perk up a, uh, someone who's already super perky."
"I'm pretty sure it actually does contain motor oil," Fiona said matter-of-factly, getting a small kick out of Rhys' horrified expression - well, it was entirely his own fault for even trusting Pandoran coffee in the first place.
"Wait, Rhys, why are you awake, anyway?" Fiona narrowed her eyes accusingly. "You, who preaches about lack of sleep."
"Two words!" - and Fiona was convinced she actually saw Rhys' face turn green. "Skin. Pizza."
Right. Rhys had, uh, collected? Scraped up? Vasquez's face only a couple of days ago. The group had been mildly alarmed when, on Rhys' return to Hollow Point, they had offered him a slice of pepperoni pizza and he had violently ejected himself from the building.
"I can't get that image out of my head," Rhys said, haunted, staring out of the windscreen at the warehouse ceiling. "Pizza is ruined. Pizza, Fiona."
"You have my sympathy," Fiona said somberly, without quite managing to hide the smirk of amusement.
Again: Pandora.
They fell into a comfortable silence. Fiona turned her attention to the ship's console again. She had Scooter's instructions written down, she'd practised countless times, now. But, how could that prepare her in any way for actually flying the thing? Driving the caravan on Pandora's pothole-riddled roads was one thing. She'd never tried launching it into space before.
Well, apart from the time, just after Felix had taught her to drive, she'd accelerated it up a ramp while out with Sasha, who had screamed and giggled with delight. Felix had not been amused as the caravan crunched back onto the poorly paved road. Sasha had wanted her to do it again.
Worth it.
"You're really worried about this, huh?"
Rhys' tone was so soft - Fiona glanced across at him and felt her usual mental wall of defence lock itself into place in her mind. His expression, though, filled with genuine concern and damn, if her initial assessment of him when he'd flung himself into her life had been so wrong.
She exhaled, letting herself melt into her seat. "Yeah. It's a lot, you know?"
Rhys made a noise of agreement. "I'm about to go undercover and steal from my former employer, who has definitely been trying to kill me for several weeks now." He smiled as Fiona chuckled.
"Yeah. Fair."
"Well, uh, how about this?" Rhys shifted in his seat and pointed at the console. "Walk me through it." He shrugged as Fiona raised a sleek eyebrow. "Y'know, maybe it'll help, in the heat of the moment. Mind goes blank- BAM, there I am with the very knowledge you need, saving the day in style."
Fiona blinked at him as he raised his eyebrow confidently, and again rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she was smiling.
"Fine. Here." She handed the roughly scrawled sheet of instructions to Rhys, who scoffed as he read it.
"Not exactly a Hyperion certified owner's manual, is it?"
"There's not exactly much of a market for flying caravans, Rhys. Just follow the damn thing, I'm the one doing the heavy lifting here." She side-eyed him, smirking. "Mentally and physically."
"There an ejector seat button in here?" Rhys asked, pout-glaring at her, earning another snort. "Alright, Fi. Fly this thing."
"Alright. Key to the left. Green button-"
"Ignition."
Fiona side-eyed him again. "Ignition - on. Then, the, uh, handle... thingy-"
"Steering lock."
"I'm sorry, Rhys, I'm sitting in the wrong seat, would you like to drive this thing?"
"Oh- oww- my arm-" Rhys gripped his metal wrist and twisted his face in faux agony. Fiona responded by swatting his human arm and that really did make him "oww!"
"How do you know about all this stuff, anyway? I know you're a hacker nerd, but I didn't know it extended to space ships, too."
"I am an experienced pilot, Fi!" Rhys jerked his thumbs toward himself, smiling arrogantly. "And by that, I mean that I made a ship out of cardboard and pretended to fly it."
"What an adorable childhood."
"... Sure. 'Childhood'."
Fiona snorted again and Rhys went warm with happiness. Who cared that they were preparing to fling themselves to their death? He looked over at her as she once again looked over the controls and - gods knew what overcame him, but he reached across with his human arm and gently covered the back of her hand with his as she reached toward one of the buttons.
Fiona stalled. "What- what are you-"
"Muscle memory," Rhys said softly, staring at their hands. She hadn't pulled or jerked away. He cleared his throat as his cheeks went warm. "It'll, uh, be easier to jump in and help if I know where all the buttons are."
Fiona's pulsed jumped as he gently laced his fingers between hers. Pull away? Slap him? Find the ejector seat button?
"Alright," he said, almost painfully softly, "from the beginning."
Neither of them could look each other in the eye. Both stared at their interlocked hands as Fiona tried to remember simple things, such as which button came first, what day it was, had he always had that little scar on the back of his pinky finger knuckle... ?
"Umm. Button."
Rhys exhaled a laugh. "Uh, I think- this one?" He gently guided her hand toward the green button and, as she extended her slender index finger to push it, he did the same. Fingertips touching.
Moments passed while they just held there, unable to make eye contact and absolutely unable to see how warm and red they had each gone.
And then there was suddenly an almighty clang of metal from Scooter's workshop, followed by several unrepeatable Pandoran curses. The trance broke immediately.
"Welp-"
"Oh, look at the time-"
"The ship will still be here tomorrow-"
"Yep, this is a tomorrow problem-"
And both scrambled to leave their seats at the same time, which was never going to end well-
"Oww!"
"Fuck- Rhys! Goddammit-"
"That was you!"
Rhys pout-glared as he rubbed the sore spot on his head, and it was matched with Fiona's grimace as she felt at the new lump on her own head.
"Well, this was fun, thank you once again, Fiona," Rhys grumbled as he swung his legs out from under the console, and began awkwardly clambering for the ladder. "At least you knocked the nightmares outta me, I guess-"
"You're welcome." Fiona grinned cheekily as Rhys' threw one more glare in her direction as his head disappeared from view, climbing down the ladder and grumbling the entire way.
Fiona smiled as she relaxed back into the seat, head still hurting, pulse still quicker than normal. Hand still tingly where his had been.
She would wait for Scooter to leave before climbing out of the ship. She wouldn't want him to suspect anything was going on between her and Rhys, after all.
... Right?