whackadoodle engineer

“Hey, you asked.” Toby pouts. “We can stand five feet apart like a middle school dance.” 

“I offered dinner, not a date.” Happy sighs. “I changed my mind, I’ll get you a cup of jell-o from the cafeteria and we’ll call it even.”

“In that case, definitely interested now that the mystery’s gone. Super interested. Like, off the richter scale.” His heart jumps. Like he’s a tween seeing an ankle for the first time. No one ever showed him their ankles as a tween. “Churros and a stroll in the park and we’ll call it a deal.” He rests his chin on top of her head, because, you know, it’s warmer like that.  

“Gross, Doc.” She sighs. “I regret this already. Is the stroll in the park required? Churros are fine, but you’re not tricking me into a romantic stroll in the park.”

“No, you’re always going to be a mystery to me.” He can’t help the stupid, hapless, genuine grin that eats up his face as he sits down, shoulder bumping hers. “I don’t want naked unless there’s sexy times involved.” What he really wants to do is put his head on her shoulder, but he keeps his neck dutifully holding his head up. Freezing to death really can take a lot out of a person. “You don’t owe me.” 

“Physically.” Happy scoffs quietly. “We’re in a hospital. Not the time or place.” She hesitates before putting her head on Toby’s shoulder. “You saved my life. I’ll buy you dinner or something sometime. Not a date.”

“I’m not looking for any of those things.” Truth be told, he wasn’t going to mind a kiss of gratitude, but he knows who he’s dealing with here. He’s not expecting one. “You almost died alone earlier. I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to be alone again. I don’t think there’s a procedure for anything we do at Scorpion. Maybe the truth is I didn’t want to be alone either. That was terrifying, Happy. I said goodbyes out there.” 

“Not interested now the mystery’s gone?” Happy looks at Toby with furrowed brows. She hadn’t considered that, and it shows in her expression. She finally sighs and moves over a bit. “I’m not getting naked, but you can sit down, I guess. Come on.”  She meets his gaze. “Least I can do. Most I will do.”

“Hey! I take umbrage to that. Extreme umbrage.” He’s not glaring back though, even if it’s in his voice. It’s possible he can’t. She’s alive. It’s so much more than he thought they’d have. “Yeah, I know you’ll be fine.” Honestly, he doesn’t even have it in him to joke about that. “Hey, you, with the popsicle toes. I froze a little bit less than you.” 

“Congrats on your excessive umbrage.” She rolls her eyes. “Why are you here, Doc? Are you looking for a thank you or something? Kiss of gratitude? Thanks for your body heat. Good job. Frankly I don’t really know what the procedure is for being saved by your naked coworker so you don’t freeze to death.”

mechaniciq:

“ i’m fine, i’ve had worse. ”

“you kind of haven’t!” he’s well aware that he doesn’t know her entire life. as much as he’d like to know every detail about happy quinn, he doesn’t. but toby personally thinks it would be kind of weird if she’d had worse than literally freezing to death. one heartbeat. that’s what walter had let him know, in his ever infinite wisdom of good timing.

he thinks he will probably never be warm again.

“i will give you fifty dollars if you can name something worse than freezing to death.”

 Bianca sent Happy a grateful smile as the woman put the coffee mug in front of her, holding the mug with both of her hands. “ Yeah, it’s been quite busy but I still wish I could spend more time with you.” She never thought she’d want to spend time in a house with a dozen kids, but she found herself missing it a lot lately, hence the reason she was sitting in Happy’s kitchen currently. 

 “ Field trip?” Bianca asked with raised eyebrows, the image of kids running around and Toby trying to prevent them from breaking anything made a smile bloom on her face. “ I’m jealous now, I’d love a field trip.” Her words seemed sarcastic, but her tone of voice made it clear she was pretty serious. It’s been a while since she went out with them. “ How did Merriweather’s presentation go? How are things with Robert and the teacher, you told me about this assh– problem teacher giving him a hard time?” Bianca changed the swear, despite being foul-mouthed enough to make people around her roll their eyes she usually watched her language in the Curtis-Quinn household.

"Hey, you’re  busy. Nothing wrong with being busy. Hell knows we’re running around all the time taking care of stuff.” Not to mention so many kids. Happy loves her kids more than anything, but they’re definitely time-consuming. 

mechaniciq:

❝ Under different circumstances, this would be a pretty romantic spot. ❞

“I hate that. Under different circumstances. We’re here now. You and I can make our own circumstances. Sure, we might die, and yeah, it’s pretty abysmal, but who’s to say it’s not - okay, okay. It’s totally not romantic. It’s practically demonic.”

mechaniciq:

❝ If I told you a secret, would you be able to keep it? Really, truly you would keep it? ❞ happy

“Sweetheart, I’m your friend. Whatever you tell me stays between you and me. That’s a promise.”

Happy sighs heavily, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m regretting this already,” she half grumbles. “You know how I’m married? Yeah. My, uh, my husband is a member of Scorpion. And I’m kinda’ worried that if Toby finds out, he’s gonna’ kill him.” It’s painfully obvious she’s talking about Walter, but she can’t totally bring herself to say it out loud. “How do I keep him from, y’know. Killing him?”

“ Yeah, I know, Toby’s hugs are choking me,” Bianca breathed out a soft laugh, trying to ignore the burning of her eyes when Happy spoke, causing her to tighten her hold on the woman’s neck, closing her eyes. There wasn’t much adults– like, actually adults, not fake adults who didn’t know how taxes worked and couldn’t call the doctor on their own like her and her friends– in her life, Happy’s presence was something she often felt thankful for.

“ Sorry, it’s been a while since the last time I stopped by.” Bianca finally apologized when she pulled back unwillingly, not wanting to overwhelm Happy. She settled on the kitchen chair, listening to the silence. Finding the Curtis-Quinn household quiet was the rare, for they were a crowded family full of kids, someone always causing chaos– that someone were usually Merriweather and Lewis– and it felt strange, being able to just sit down and talk with Happy. “ Where is everyone?”

“He means well.” Happy’s just gotten used to it at this point, and she won’t admit it, but she’s fond of it too. Toby’s a reassuring and grounding presence in her life and has been since she’d first met him. He’d brought stability to the life of a single mother, and been a father to her daughter, the focal point of her world.