clegan meet-cute in a cave? 🦺 ⛑️ follow me...
John is an aerial firefighter - he saw a Canadair doing water drop demonstrations on Lake Michigan once as a child and the moment he could he left home to become a pilot. During the winter he mostly works with extraction teams to help people stuck in the mountains.
Cue one Gale Cleven, currently researching geothermal physics for astrobiological applications (question: Could There Be Bugs on Stars? The Yellowstone Caldera might help you find an answer!), he's not a clumsy guy, but as he's hiking around the unstable ground it suddenly collapses under his weight, and he gets buried in an underground cave (which is obviously representing his internalised homophobia). Because he's Always Prepared & there is a buddy system he manages to call for help, but the only thing to be done is to sit still and wait until it arrives.
Bucky's on shift that day, because of course he is. He's transferred to Wyoming because he's had a brief stint dating A Park Ranger & though the relationship was short-lived in the meanwhile he managed to fall in love with a state that has more sky than people. Coincidentally, he's also the helicopter Designated Driver, and now he's the firefighter tasked with keeping Gale company as the team tries to dig him out.
Gale is a Grown Man, but he doesn't Do Well with really dark, claustrophobic spaces (childhood trauma anyone?) & John "I Am At My Best When Others Are At Their Worst" Egan immediately clocks it, he gets really low on the ground, he says Alright, buck? — My name is Gale — Not today, you're Buck, now. I'm John, I'm coming to get you, OK? He turns around and asks can you harness me? He feels like he needs to do this himself.
As he crawls towards the small nook where Gale is, he says control your breaths, it's all good, we're all good. Are you hurt? — Just a scraped elbow, I think — You wearing a helmet? — Yes, of course — What a good boy, work safety first. Gale thinks if he manages to get an erection trapped underground then maybe he really did hit his head. John, ignoring Gale's Current Condition, talks to him like a spooked horse which Gale finds both insulting and idiotically, actually calming.
As John gets closer, he sees Gale's cold-flashlight, he asks: What were you even doing here? — Research. Bucky hums, Are you a scientist? — Yes — OK, good because I feel like our chemistry really needs to be studied and Gale almost gives himself that concussion he doesn't think he has.
Once Bucky manages to reach him he secures the area but for some Fortuitous Reason (me, I am the reason, and hydrogeological instability, too) the passage he just went through collapses behind him. Oh, fuck — Hey, no, no, it's alright. I'm still tied, see, they're coming to get us — OK. Gale doesn't like feeling helpless so he says What can I do? — Nothing, just sit there and be pretty, I'll check your cuts — OK. Bucky gives them a once-over, they're surface level but they're going to sting like a bitch once they're going to apply the antiseptic.
He says Well, what are you guys researching on? — Microbial Communities in the Solfatara Plateau, but I'm a geophysicist, I'm mostly assisting the biologists — So, no rock-licking? — Why would I be licking rocks? — You're the scientist — Those are geologists — Now you're going to tell me astrology and astronomy are two different things! Gale laughs, his heartbeat is slower, he exhales, Bucky smiles, his receiver crackles to life and he answers, he says they're both fine and waiting, Alright Bucky, ETA 35 minutes to an hour, how're the optics? — Ventilations alright, we'll keep the chatter to a minimum — Understood, hang on tight. Over.
Bucky? — 's my nickname. I've a lways been Bucky. Gale raises his eyebrows, John shrugs, a bit sheepish, like he's been caught doing something he shouldn't have done. He sits down, pats the ground in front of him, It's going to take a while, he says, They must be waiting for an excavator — OK — So. What made you choose geophysics? — Shouldn't we preserve oxygen (they should but this is my world where I can bend physics at my will to make them fall in love) — It's alright, airflow's not blocked, go on. Gale sits down, his back is starting to hurt.
My dadd- my father. He worked all his life in the oil-fields, I, uh, I always wanted to know, I guess. What made them, how... I was curious about the inner mechanisms of the Earth and the System around them. The plan was to find a job for the company my father worked for, but... he pauses, the fright is one thing, being buried in a cave is another, but what can he tell this factual stranger? Is it OK to talk about his father's illness? His gambling, his vices? Is it OK to tell him about his mother's heartbreak, her leaving, him staying, taking care of a man who was once larger than life now reduced to his most human components? The resentment? The one night he spent sleeping outside watching the stars and wondering if the same suffering happened so far out there? The fascination with always finding an answer? The Universal language of mathematics? John looks at him, blue eyes a bit squinty, his cheeks are streaked with dirt and Gale imagines he mustn't be much better. In the end he says: I wanted to know. I guess, I just wanted to know.
That's cool, John says, I've always wanted to be a pilot — Yeah? — Yeah, I'm from Wisconsin, we often saw DC-10s getting water from the lake. I was obsessed with them — Why Wyoming, then? — Love makes you do crazy things, Buck. Dated this guy for a while (Gale startles, John doesn't notice) and he worked here. Came for him, stayed for the park — You don't miss the lake? — Sure, miss my mom, my sisters, too. She doesn't really... she's not really happy about my career choices, she says it's too dangerous but - he shrugs, again, there is more to it but like Gale he's not saying it (not yet) — Your dad must be proud of you, though, researching... — Microbes — Right, of course. Microbes, you from Wyoming? — Not originally, I was raised here — It suits you — Wyoming? — Yeah, you look like a real cowboy, Buck — Still not my name.
They talk more: Gale's research, his best friend's getting married next June, Bucky tells him he was this close to adopting a dog before remembering firefighting shifts aren't pet friendly, but he's got a fake plant next to his coffee machine and that's enough. Gale tells him about extremophile habitats and tardigrades, which are not really His Thing, but he finds them charming. Bucky asks if he's seen the latest Love Island episodes and Gale says he doesn't even know what that is, so now John has to explain it to him, in great detail. Gale tries not to laugh too hard but it's almost impossible, and Bucky sees him smile and he's gone. He was already halfway there when Gale was telling him about the possibility of life on Europa (the moon, not the continent), but the gummy smile & the apples of his cheeks take him out, he was never going to survive.
As Bucky starts to say something (it was going to be stupid, a bit silly, he doesn't even know what, just to keep the conversation going) there's movement, the Earth readjusting itself, the walls of the cave inch closer and Gale winces, Bucky nudges his knee against Gale's shins It's OK, it's... We'll get out of here — Do you actually believe that? — I'm betting on it, even — You a gambler? — On occasion. Like, I'm betting you in no more than ten minutes we'll be outta here — Yeah? What're you going to get if you win? — How 'bout a coffee? — Huh? — If I win you'll buy me a coffee — I Before he can answer Bucky's receiver buzzes to life We're getting closer, Bucky. Hide your faces.
They get out. Gale makes sure they never get a coffee.
