Crewmates (Switch/Apoc)
Continues the story set up in Invitation, Unplugged, and Introductions.
Switch/Apoc.
Enjoy. :-)
*~*~*~*~*
Crew Mates
They’re not so bad.
The crew.
They’re basically just a bunch of guys. Even the ones who are female.
I play cards in the Mess with Glitch and Cypher, Trinity and Switch - rummy and twenty-one and poker, but without any chips. Sometimes I forget I’m working with women on board, but then someone’ll make a comment - ‘beat that, bitch’ or something - over a particularly good hand, and the girls will lock eyes across the table, like they’re each the only person in the room who can really understand the other one.
Sometimes I wonder if they’re dating each other - but that could just be the haircuts, or the body language that says they probably didn’t bother with ‘femininity’ even before they were unplugged.
God knows they must be sleeping together - if only for warmth. This place is damn freezing. Glitch says that they can’t heat the ships because the sentinels - scary bastards, hope I don’t meet them any time soon - have crazy heat-sensors, and they’d be all over us if we were keeping things warm enough to be comfortable. I huddle under my blankets at night - all three of them - and I’m still cold.
“Meh. They’re both frigid,” Cypher comments, one afternoon, tossing an ace into the discard pile.
I catch Dozer rolling his eyes. Apparently this is a familiar line.
“What he means,” Dozer explains, as if it weren’t perfectly clear already, “Is that they aren’t interested in him.”
“Do you see them sleeping with anyone else?” Cypher counters. “Your go.”
“Other than each other?” Dozer takes a card off the top of the deck, glances at his hand. “No. But, one, that could just mean they gay. Or, two: I’m married, Glitch has daughters their age, and Morpheus doesn’t sleep with his crew members. Never has. Besides, he’s got Niobe.” Dozer shrugs, discards the two of spades. “Which means you're the only one available.”
“And him,” Cypher points out, nodding at me.
“He’s new. They're not interested. Go ahead, Apoc.”
I pick up Dozer’s discarded two, and lay down again beside my matching heart and club.
“Thanks for that,” I say to Dozer, allowing myself to gloat, just a little.
“Bastard,” Dozer pronounces, companionably.
I smirk.
I think about the girls - not that I’d ever risk calling them ‘the girls’ out loud. Not with either of them in earshot, anyway - and decide that ‘frigid’ isn’t the term for either of them.
Trinity might be distant and professional most of the time, but there’s a warmth to her that you can’t miss. And Switch... cold isn't the word. I swear there’s a fire in her, for all that it’s banked and buried deep. It sparks in her eyes, sometimes, a look that says “One step closer, and I'll burn you.”.
I remember, back when I was thirteen, passing my hand through the flame of a lighter and sucking my fingers when the heat was too much. I must’ve ended up burning myself a dozen times, but I kept going back to it. I just couldn’t leave it alone.
*~*~*~*~*
Sparring Partners.
Comments? :-)
Switch/Apoc.
Enjoy. :-)
*~*~*~*~*
Crew Mates
They’re not so bad.
The crew.
They’re basically just a bunch of guys. Even the ones who are female.
I play cards in the Mess with Glitch and Cypher, Trinity and Switch - rummy and twenty-one and poker, but without any chips. Sometimes I forget I’m working with women on board, but then someone’ll make a comment - ‘beat that, bitch’ or something - over a particularly good hand, and the girls will lock eyes across the table, like they’re each the only person in the room who can really understand the other one.
Sometimes I wonder if they’re dating each other - but that could just be the haircuts, or the body language that says they probably didn’t bother with ‘femininity’ even before they were unplugged.
God knows they must be sleeping together - if only for warmth. This place is damn freezing. Glitch says that they can’t heat the ships because the sentinels - scary bastards, hope I don’t meet them any time soon - have crazy heat-sensors, and they’d be all over us if we were keeping things warm enough to be comfortable. I huddle under my blankets at night - all three of them - and I’m still cold.
“Meh. They’re both frigid,” Cypher comments, one afternoon, tossing an ace into the discard pile.
I catch Dozer rolling his eyes. Apparently this is a familiar line.
“What he means,” Dozer explains, as if it weren’t perfectly clear already, “Is that they aren’t interested in him.”
“Do you see them sleeping with anyone else?” Cypher counters. “Your go.”
“Other than each other?” Dozer takes a card off the top of the deck, glances at his hand. “No. But, one, that could just mean they gay. Or, two: I’m married, Glitch has daughters their age, and Morpheus doesn’t sleep with his crew members. Never has. Besides, he’s got Niobe.” Dozer shrugs, discards the two of spades. “Which means you're the only one available.”
“And him,” Cypher points out, nodding at me.
“He’s new. They're not interested. Go ahead, Apoc.”
I pick up Dozer’s discarded two, and lay down again beside my matching heart and club.
“Thanks for that,” I say to Dozer, allowing myself to gloat, just a little.
“Bastard,” Dozer pronounces, companionably.
I smirk.
I think about the girls - not that I’d ever risk calling them ‘the girls’ out loud. Not with either of them in earshot, anyway - and decide that ‘frigid’ isn’t the term for either of them.
Trinity might be distant and professional most of the time, but there’s a warmth to her that you can’t miss. And Switch... cold isn't the word. I swear there’s a fire in her, for all that it’s banked and buried deep. It sparks in her eyes, sometimes, a look that says “One step closer, and I'll burn you.”.
I remember, back when I was thirteen, passing my hand through the flame of a lighter and sucking my fingers when the heat was too much. I must’ve ended up burning myself a dozen times, but I kept going back to it. I just couldn’t leave it alone.
*~*~*~*~*
Sparring Partners.
Comments? :-)