#ace writing

Mish dragged her hand over her face. Maybe if she ignored him, he'd go away. She squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the pillow over her head.

"ThunderGoat to DoomSquirrel. Come in, DoomSquirrel."

Mish ground her teeth together.

The simulated sound of static followed. "Bzzsstt. Come in, DoomSqui--"

Mish launched herself violently out of her cot, and made it to the door in three strides. She yanked the door open, and Riko fell in, in an ungainly sprawl. His lips were still pursed from having been pressed to the seam of the door. He was still wearing his med tech uniform. Dishevelled, as usual.

"Riko, if you're here to raid my stash of snacks again, I swear I will end you."

Riko rolled onto his back. Pressed his head against the floor so he was looking at her upside down. Prone, he pushed himself across the floor toward her. His wiry frame took up almost all the floor space.

"I'm hurt you'd think that's all I want from you. Maybe I'm here for a booty call. Maybe I need a friendly listening ear. Maybe--"

His hand rose towards her snack basket. She slapped it away, lifted the basket abruptly out of reach.

"Noooo..." he moaned with feeling. His splayed fingers followed the basket as she moved over his head and stashed it in the tiny alcove above the sink. He dropped his hands dramatically onto his chest.

Mish picked up her pillow from the floor and sank tiredly onto her cot.

"What do you want, Riko. My shift starts early. I really need sleep."

He rolled over, and raised himself on his elbows. His face split in a mischievous grin.

"This is better. Bring a towel." +++++++++++++++

He keyed a long sequence into the door pad, whistled a note that sounded uncannily like the unlock tone, and the door slid open.

It was the therapy pool. Glowing in the dark. Steaming gently. Empty.

She had never seen it empty.

Mish's mouth fell open. "Riko! How?"

He hustled her in, and the door hissed shut behind them. He giggled giddily.

"A couple of months back, I saw that the pool was due for maintenance. I tweaked the maintenance timelog so the system would think it would take twelve hours instead of ten."

"But the coma patients and the hydrotherapy protocols..."

"Two additional hours in a stasis pod isn't going to kill anyone."

Mish squealed, her hand over her mouth.

"I haven't swum since I was... since..."

"Since you were ten. You told me."

Her eyes wide. Delighted. Her eyes turned to the pool. She was vibrating with barely contained joy.

"Go."

"I'm going."

"Go, Mish."

"Give me a minute."

She took a deep breath. Then dropped her towel on the floor and started stripping out of her standard issue sleepgear to her undergarments.

Before she was done, Riko was streaking past her in his boxers. He let out a yodel that reverberated off the tiled walls and cannonballed into the water. Mish joined him seconds later, laughing wildly. +++++++++++++++

The only light came from inside the pool, casting luminous turqouise ribbons across the wall tiles. Steam hung in the air, moving slow.

Mish was on the edge of the pool, kicking her feet slowly under the water. Riko surfaced next to her, pushing wet hair out of his eyes.

"The water tastes weird. Why does the water taste weird?"

"Med gel," she said. "From the stasis pods."

"Yuck." Riko shuddered.

A long, companionable moment of silence. Vapour curled up from their skin.

"What's that?" she said, jerking her chin at a barcode near the inside of his elbow.

Riko looked down to where she was pointing.

"This? Ah, yes... First tragic loss of my young life. The barcode for NeuroPop gummies. No idea why they'd discontinue them.”

Mish rolled her eyes. "People were having hallucinations."

"That was the point of them."

"How about those?" She pointed out a little row of tiny food icons on the side of his torso, along his ribs. A little apple. A rice cake. A noodle cup. She couldn't see the rest around the curve of his ribs. Each one looked like it had been tattooed at a different time.

He looked. "These? First things I ate after each time I almost coded on the frontline."

Mish's face went still, but she didn't say anything.

Riko smile quirked. "My favourite was the Zenthian mandarin orange after shrapnel almost got me. Ever had one? Orange, not the shrapnel. I'd run through fire to have one again. The noodle cup is a close second--"

He saw her face. Redirected smoothly.

"Hey, show me one of yours."

"How do you know I have any?"

Riko flicked a drop of water at her. "You do."

"I do." She grinned. Peeled back the waistband of her shorts to expose a tattoo on her hip bone. An elegant line, like a reed, bending.

"A reminder to flex, not break."

Riko smiled.

She pulled her leg out of the water. Turned her foot so he could see the tiny x on the back of her heel.

"To remind me not to go backwards."

Riko rested his chin on one hand and reached out his other, tracing the x with a finger.

"Beautiful. And I have a snack barcode."

Her nose crinkled with her smile. "Without it, how would anyone know how much you cost?"

Riko laughed.

The water lapped softly.

Riko spoke first. "Hey, how are things with that doctor guy? The devastatingly good-looking one with the white temple streaks?"

Mish sighed. "Dr. Venn? Ended."

"No. I thought he was just your type. Distinguished. Mature."

"Whiny. Needy. Entitled."

"Ah."

She looked at him. "I heard Killi asked you out."

"Yeah, she did."

"She's cute."

"She is." Riko blew bubbles under the water line. Then thought better of it.

"We went out a couple of times. I felt bad to say no. Her eyes... that woman weaponises the way she looks at people."

Mish laughed. "Yeah, I've seen it."

"She started trying to unbuckle my belt after the second date. I told her my lab results were technically clean, but I was still itching."

Mish barked out an inelegant laugh. "So that's why that story's been spreading."

Riko chuckled. He went quiet.

"I don't think I'm built that way. For anyone."

Mish tilted her head, studying him. Something unreadable passed over her face. She made a noncommittal sound in her throat.

The silence stretched between them.

Then, lightly: "Not even for me?"

The silence changed. Took on a frozen edge.

Riko looked up slowly at her, stricken.

Mish grinned. "Look at your face. You've survived blasts and hallucinatory snacks, and this is what ends you? Weak."

Riko laughed with relief, his hand clutched over his heart.

"God, Mish."

Silence stretched comfortably between them.

Riko looked up at her again.

"Thank you."

She looked at him. "What for?"

"For... I don't know, really. For not... For not... steering it somewhere I couldn’t follow.""

She dripped water on his head. “Wrong coordinates for me too.”

He took her hand, put it against his cheek and leaned into it.

The moment ended gently. He pulled himself out of the water, sat beside her.

"Grav's been asking me when we're getting together," he said.

"Yeah, the girls in my unit have been asking the same thing. And Venn is still trying to get back. Annoying."

Riko shrugged. "I don't really care."

"I do." Mish swirled the surface of the water with a finger. "It's exhausting."

"Just ignore them." He wiggled his long fingers in the air, like he was waving away a bad idea.

Mish frowned.

"What if," she said. Riko angled towards her, and he watched the crease between her eyebrows smooth out.

She turned to him. "What if we... just... stopped denying it?"

Riko looked at her. A grin started spreading on his face.

"Let them think we're smoochy heart buddies? Let them think we're doing the boinky doinky?"

Mish made a face. "Nobody calls it that."

Riko pushed out his chest and thudded his fist against it. "That's because they have no poetry in their soul."

"Would you mind? It would save me so much... energy."

“Mind? I would love it. Takes me off the meat market. Plus, think of the fun: locking ourselves in closets, moaning rhythmically, knocking things around, coming out with stupid grins and fetchingly tousled hair--”

"Oh God, I am starting to regret this--"

A sound at the door. Both their heads whipped around.

The beeping of the keypad and a muffled curse behind the door. "It won't open-"

Both of them at the same time: "Shit."

Then Riko, hissing, "Go!"

They ran for their clothes and towels, scooped everything up and pelted for the side exit, their laughter edged with mild hysteria.

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This one's a standalone story featuring my OCs in a pretty whumpy story universe, but this specific story isn't whumpy at all. Genre-wise It's more fluffy? But it's particularly close to my heart, because it was through doing some research on orientations that I came to realise that not only is my OC Riko aroace, but I myself am too. Blew my mind and destabilised my reality for a while. if you're up to it, leave a comment! Even if its an emoji. I'll promise I will love it and try to eat it. Over and out ⚡️

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