#teasing prompts

Tsawl Pamtseo Tsko Kllte - a large musical instrument that stands on the ground

tawtute - demon

nantang - viperwolf

skxwang - idiot

angstik - hammerhead titonathere

TSU'TEY POV

Every respectful Omaticayan man starts his day off with a morning hunt to soothe their hunger and provide for their clan. Tsu'tey is no different.

This time around, he's limping to the riverbank to have a nice bath and ease his aching shin with hot water and a message– because clearly, he's underestimated your strength.

As he lathers himself up with herbs, he realizes how he's underestimated you. You, with your strange tawtute words, four fingers, and hairy forehead. The attitude that carried itself so effortlessly and dripped off of your every move and every word made him want to stick his head into a nantang nest.

After the forced apology deep in the forest, and after discoverşing Reytan's efforts of courtship, the following week has been torture. He feels the tiredness and ache drip off his firm muscles with every brush of the makeshift loofa JakeSully weaved for the people. As much as he hated to admit, the strange sky-demon inventions sometimes worked well. He still looks at it with distaste though, even after using it countless times and having made a habit to demand a new one every two weeks.

As the thing brushes against his arm, he thinks back at the last few days and the utter agony of arguing with you incessantly. He was familiar with you now, though the familiarity consisted of arguing and bickering about the most insignificant topics. He passed it off as tawtute arrogance first, but you were adamant about proving you were no longer one of them.

The ball of woven silk glides onto his chest smoothly, and his heart picks off at the thought of your smart mouth. Why was it that you had an answer for everything? Why were so adamant about going against his commands? 

He huffs, closing his eyes and throwing his head back as the water runs down his chest to his abs. It was only yesterday you fought about where the musicians were to be seated in the upcoming hunting festival.

"They should be in the heart of the fun, not up at some pedestal!"

Tsu'tey groans, gritting his teeth. "Why be in the middle? That is stupid and distracting. The people dance in the middle! If we put Tsawl Pamtseo Tsko Kllte in the middle, you will bump into it."

You ignore Jake's weak 'G-guys, I'm sure there's an alternative.' and roll your eyes. "How in god's name do you accidentally bump into a gigantic flute?"

Tsu'tey's face contorts in annoyance. "I refuse to answer your unnecessary questions, tawtute."

You clench your fists."They're rhetorical, you jerk.”

The lingering traces of your gritted voice carry a smirk to his lips– one of many 'fights' he's had with you after his so-called apology. It was easy to anger you; at first, you pushed his buttons just as much as he pushed yours, but after your relationship got into a rhythm where he said something and you made it your mission to counteract it, he started enjoying the strange arrangement. Especially seeing your flushed face and large eyes, peering up at him between your dark lashes. You would always march right up at him with clenched fists and a quip dripping from your tongue, and in those moments, he imagined harshly grabbing your face and pulling you into a heated kiss until your breaths became one.

He groans into the open air, the loofa brushing against his hardening cock ever so gently. He grits his teeth and squeezes his eyes shut to calm his urges–his instincts that light a fire inside his abdomen and make him act unlike a respectable man. 

No, ever since you looked at him with those fearful, haunting eyes he ceased to be a respectful man. Those very eyes that slowly became unwilling and sparkling with mirth.

Yearning for a dream-walker mate was never in his plans. He supposes you were one of the people now, but you despised him. Especially after he masked his attraction with spiteful insults.

Then, of course, there was that skxwang who was shamelessly courting you.

Tsu'tey remembers Reytan as a bright kid who was eager to learn how to hunt the biggest plays and where to filet his fish first to appeal to the softest meat. Not as an adult Omaticayan man ready to court a woman and settle down into domestic bliss - with you, no less. 

Reytan would have it no other way, Tsu'tey realized. This past week, his pathetic courting attempts worsened– Tsu'tey could laugh. You didn't enjoy angstik meat, nor did you like scaling through trees as a means of spending time together.

What a failure, surely Tsu'tey could have wooed you much easier. It seemed as though you just needed some affection— some attention and cooing. Tsu'tey smirks, he would turn you into a stuttering, blushing fool if he so wished.

At least that's what he says to soothe his ragged ego. After being saved by you, almost losing his position as Olo'Eyktan, and having to deal with the tasteless fruits of his injuries, his pride is in the depths of Eywa, and pulling it back has proven to be painstakingly difficult.

After rubbing his body clean and ignoring his hardening cock at the thought of you, thoughts he's done his best to deny while his Na'vi instincts buzzed his entire body, he carefully steps out of the boiling water. Glancing around, he quickly gets dressed and makes his way to Hometree in undignified haste.

Like every morning, the people are in a scurry to start their morning duties; the stomach-grumbling scent of fresh fruits and the fumes of sizzling meat; mates scrambling after their little ones to calm them down and perhaps convince them to wear their clothes properly; teenagers rubbing their eyes to rid their tiredness and aching bodies. 

The atmosphere is as lively as always, accompanied by the chirping and squawking of neighboring birds. The chatter resonates around the large community and beautifully accentuates the morning beat of drums and strings.

People greet Tsu'tey as he walks, but he's a man on a mission. His stomach gurgles in warning, and he has no choice but the start a jog fueled by nothing but his hunger. He spots Jake and Neytiri amidst the morning chaos, with Jake trying to weave a new armband and Neytiri sharpening her bows. They're chatting animatedly as they work. Stopping next to Jake, when the man offers him breakfast, he fights the urge to grab his face and kiss his strangely thin lips. 

"Someone's hungry." Jake chuckles, abandoning his poorly done weaving.

Tsu'tey grunts, shoving fruits into his mouth. "I hunted this morning."

"I see."

"The forest becomes prosperous when the cycle reaches hot temperatures." Neytiri chimes in, looking up from her skilled fingers making quick work of the piece of wood.

"Oh, so it's summer now?" Jake asks.

Tsu'tey and Neytiri look at each other. "What is that?"

"Never mind," Jake shakes his head, then picks up his weaving again when Neytiri throws him a look.

Zeir and Takuk soon join their circle of calm conversation and sharing of food. Tsu'tey feels himself relaxing in the calming atmosphere brought on by his trusted aides—something he needed after weeks of stress and restrained sexual desires. He distracts himself by starting a weaving of his own as well but soon realizes it's a pattern you adorn yourself in. As the thoughts of offering the piece of cloth to you surge in from the depths of his heart, his hands start to shake.

Your smell follows the panic, and he realizes you're near. The unfamiliar stench that accompanies you is enough proof that Reytan will follow in your wake and fuel the anger building inside of Tsu'tey.

"Morning party people," you stand next to Neytiri and thank her when she offers you a leaf of food. "Reytan was showing me good hunting spots. I had no idea we had a literal waterfall."

Your eyes sparkle as you dig into your food, completely oblivious to Tsu'tey's thumping heart that demands your attention. How dare you.

Reytan is quick to add on, and Tsu'tey just now realizes he's also here. "Yes, it is quite a young one."

Neytiri and Takuk are quick to join the conversation about Eywa's gift, but the only gift Tsu'tey can think of is the one being weaved unconsciously between his fingers. You're avoiding his gaze and infuriating Tsu'tey for no apparent reason.

Reytan looks at you. "I can show you other places if you want."

You smile. "Of course, I'd love that."

Tsu'tey almost snarls.

The grip on his weaving tightens and the pointed drums of wood are dangerously close to his skin.

"I am glad we are spending time together," Reytan shyly looks down, tail twitching.

You chuckle. "You're a good friend."

Tsu'tey pricks his finger. It was inevitable and strangely grounding. He feels the sting of the sharp tool imprinted on his cut skin. Deep crimson pools on the tip of his finger and slowly drizzles down his veins. With a hiss, he puts the digit in his mouth.

"Tsu'tey!" you gasp, and swat at his hand. Embarrassment causes him to lower his ears and purse his lips— he was getting jealous over a vrrtep and this notion caused the stinging burn on his finger to worsen. His collected and menacing persona was broken by a mere demon– only children got hurt like this. He was supposed to be Olo’eyktan. 

His tail trashes behind him but he does nothing to control it. He needs to make his anger evident. Needs to protest against your will to help him. He doesn't need anyone's help.

You tut at the small cut. "It's small, I'll bandage you up."

"No-"

"Brother, go and get treated. We have an important hunting day tomorrow."

Unfortunately, Jake is right. Grumbling, he follows you into Mo'at's kelku and doesn't glance back at the sullen Reytan watching you walk away.

READER POV

While the kelku is otherwise empty, the intense gaze Tsu'tey has on your face makes you feel suffocated. With a thumping heart and a flushed face, you gently apply a bead of paste with nimble fingers on the small cut.

The silence is loud, filled with your thoughts.

The past week Reytan has been diligently courting you, and you were diligently rejecting his advances. The countless 'no's' and the 'please, I see you as a friend' repeated to the younger man inevitably caused the feelings inside of him to diminish. 

However, they were not completely gone. They would never be fully gone unless you mated with another man, or he was to find someone else, you realize. And as you think this, you glance at Tsu'tey, feel your heart drop, and then swear under your breath.

It wasn't that you didn't consider Reytan, you truly tried. But trying wasn't enough. The attraction you've had for Tsu'tey was undeniable, and seeing the man almost every day made your urges almost impossible to ignore. 

After his apology, you've fallen into a strange rhythm of friendship(?) with the man. You had love for him, this was a given. Did he have love for you? Maybe sometimes when you weren't being particularly nit-picky. He rendered you speechless every day—with abstract strategies, insults with absolutely no filter towards clan members he has distaste, and the way he simply looks.

Determined to argue with him on everything and push his buttons, you had to simultaneously fall prey to his eye contact. Tsu'tey liked to hold intense eye contact, as he was doing now and staring at two gaping holes on your head. You were entirely too focused on his finger, but how interesting could a finger be? Surely not more than him.

No sooner than you could say 'it could be much worse', your stomach takes the reins into her own hands and thunders. The waterfalls were quite mesmerizing, and as you dumbly admired falling water for almost an hour, you neglected breakfast. The gurgling noise breaks the serene quiet of the kelku as you apply a darker ointment around the edges of his finger.

Tsu'tey doesn't say anything, but it's no doubt he heard. If he didn't, your stomach reminds him again. Watching his ears flicker is a giveaway that he's picked up the abominable sound and itching to comment on it. When it happens again (bless your poor heart, was this punishment for the pranks you have been pulling on Jake during your hunting parties?).

Tsu'tey snorts. "Are you okay?"

"Shut up," you grumble, or gurgle.

Tsu'tey cackles, slapping his knee with his uninjured hand. Would a prick even count as an injury, after nearly dying? "Eywa! I thought it was going to rain. I was about to warn the others!"

"Just...shut up." you hiss through gritted teeth, unable to hold your smile at bay. Fuck, as if a stomach gurgle wasn't embarrassing enough, it had to grace your day in front of Tsu'tey.

With tears in his eyes, Tsu'tey's laugh booms around the space. The raspy timbre bubbling from deep within his chest tickles your ears—he laughs with his entire body, chest bobbing and eyes crinkling. Your heart takes flight and flutters around Tsu'tey's laugh before landing right on the left side of his chest.

It was inevitable, his laugh was contagious. "Not another word from you." you giggle.

Tsu'tey gives you a pointed look.

"Speak for yourself." he cackles, his head careening towards your stomach. With his eyes shut and face pinched, he doesn't realize he’s digging his head into your navel and causing you to squirm.

Having never touched his firm skin lest you count saving his life, you merely freeze and hope intimacy is common amongst Na'vi.

Tsu'tey's shoulders stop bobbing. With no warning, his body becomes slack and hot under your soft touch—merely his forehead grazing against your navel. You can feel him take a deep breath when his chest expands and his nose almost flutters.

Short-cutting is an understatement. The soft breath Eywa lets out amongst the sunny afternoon rustles the intricate chimes hung loosely outside the half-opened flap. The breeze peeks inside to rush across your skin gently, to softly raise the hair until it prickles like needles. 

Tsu'tey raises his head, and in doing so, lights fires inside you when his braids tickle your stomach. The beads in the skilled weaving of his hair chime in warning to Eywa—almost butting heads, and the reward is ear-ringing silence.

His eyes slowly roll up, until they settle on you. You think he's lit up from the inside when his freckles glint and eyes glow. He makes it hard to look away as if he's daring you with his intense gaze. You can't, anyways.

Your tail mimics your heartbeat beautifully, swaying from side to side with unintentional thumps on the wooden floor. You watch Tsu'tey's eyes turn half-lidded and hazed as he observes you. The intimacy is settling around your bones and enhancing his irresistible pull. As though he's testing the waters, pushing to see how much you'll let him until you pull– his tail gently wraps around your thigh. Your breath hitches because it's possibly the softest thing you've ever felt, like velvet or fresh grass after fruitful rain.

He pulls you forward until you have no choice but to hold onto his shoulder for support, then look down at him with wide eyes. Your heart beats throughout your entire body as the waves of pleasure run through your veins in deep crimson. 

Cursing his large eyes, you struggle to catch your breath. His hand slowly settles on your hip– Tsu'tey touch is soft and never what you've imagined it to be. He's a callous man with sharp edges that stab if you try your luck, but the man gazing up at you with lidded eyes is nothing but. He's beautiful and warm, you relish.

"Vrrtep..." he breathes a secret whisper, like a reminder. But it does nothing of the sort. Guiding his other hand on your other hip, he can now steer you however he wants and you'd probably let him take the reins with no protest. He mindlessly pulls you again until your knees bump against each other. He's clinging onto you which is an obscene scene. Especially when he was itching to get away from you last week and on his deathbed. Succumbing to his mindlessness, you lean forward when he urges you with the tightening of his tail.

"Tsu'tey, are you okay?"

Jumping away from Tsu'tey in panic, you scramble to gather yourself and the medicinal tools scattered about the floor. Jake struts into the marui with large steps and surveys Tsu'tey. You don't know what he sees because you refuse to look, but it must be something interesting enough to pull out an awkward chuckle from his lips.

Standing straight with heaps of objects clutched in your shaking hands, you struggle to keep your composure. "He's all patched up...I need to go water the uh, waterfalls."

Quickly running out of the kelku causes a gust of cold wind to hit your face and realize the severity of the situation. If Jake hadn't interrupted you, what would he have done? What would you have done?

His lips were right there, and if you had leaned in just an inch-

Stopping your sprint, you kneel to your hunches and hold your head. You've mindlessly run into the forest, hoping to escape your feelings, but they're attached to your heart with a mighty strong grip. You huff out a breath, then stand up. Starting a slow walk, you think about the past month with these new revelations.

Tsu'tey's always been indifferent but the ache of being ignored dulled after two weeks, then merged into hatred. The thin line between aggravation and romantic feelings blurred—well, you don't know when or where, but it did. 

Perhaps your feelings stemmed from the admiration you've had for him or the hidden fantasies you entertained every night with your hand between your legs.

Literally fell. And it was not a pretty landing, with them caught off-guard as they were. They rolled and landed in a tangle, and any benefit to not being the one on the bottom was negated by the fact beskar armor was hardly any softer than the ground.

“Well, that was fun,” Rass wheezed as she rolled off him.

Kina snorted and rubbed a banged elbow. “Weird definition of fun you’ve got. Still in one piece?”

Rass sat up and shook his head. “Feels like it. You?”

“Think so.” A few things ached as she got to her feet, but nothing was broken. She offered him a hand up, then stumbled when the weight made her feet sink into the sandy ground.

Rass caught her arm to steady her. “Careful. You see where my helmet got to?”

Kina shook her head. “Prob’ly the same place as my blaster,” she muttered. She’d dropped it on the initial collision with the ground.

“Great.”

They set about looking for the missing gear, but Kina was quickly distracted by examining the surroundings. There were metal walls, despite the sandy floor. Openings four or five meters overhead--couldn’t tell if they were windows or holes--let in enough light to see. Sort of. And another meter above that was the ceiling and the hinged grate that had dumped them in here.

There was a muttered oath in Mando’a from across the space, followed by something more successful-sounding before she could ask Rass how it was going. “So, there’s good news and bad news, which do you want first?”

Not my favorite sentence. Kina pivoted to face him. “Surprise me,” she deadpanned.

“Good news, found our stuff,” Rass said, holding out her blaster as he joined her. “Bad news, if the state of my helmet is anything to go by, that probably doesn’t work right now.” For emphasis, he held up his helmet and shook it, a fine rain of sand falling out. “It’s all jammed in the visor and everything.”

Fan-kriffing-tastic. Kina looked over her blaster, blew off grit, tried to fire it into a sand bank. Nothing.

“Damn,” she muttered as she returned it to its spot at her hip. She’d need a workbench, and probably time to completely strip it down, to get it working again. “Guess we should work on gettin’ outta here.”

“Yeah, got any ideas?” Rass brushed sand out of his hair as he looked over the space.

Kina glanced at him. “Jetpack?”

“Busted on landing.”

“Of course it did. “She sighed. Shae owes me big for this. “Then we start looking for a door.”

“Right.” They’d only been at it for a minute or so when Rass broke the silence again. “So, d’you think this was for us, specifically, or just a general ‘no peeking’ kind of trap?”

Kina snorted. “Assumin’ Shae’s intel was good-”

“Jekiah double-checked it himself.”

“Right. Then they’re actually here and our landing was way too easy.” She rapped on the metal wall. Solid, no echo here.

“So why wasn’t there an alarm when we hit it?” Rass countered, running a hand over the wall a few meters away. “Or Heta or Ri’kan or whoever’s in charge here waiting to gloat?”

“Could be a silent alarm,” Kina said, pausing as her fingers caught a seam where there shouldn’t be a seam. “Or maybe we just missed hearing it in the bustle of, y’know, falling. They might be on their way right now.”

“All the more reason to get out of here. Be really fun to catch them off-guard,” he grinned.

“On that note, I think I found something.” The misplaced seam traced out a square. Not a full door, but a maintenance hatch maybe. Big enough to climb through. If they could get it open.

“Let me see.” Rass joined her and after a minute of looking, they were able to determine there were no controls on this side. He studied it an extra moment. “Should be an access panel...”

“Maintenance hatch for the maintenance hatch?” Kina said glibly.

“Something like that,” he laughed. “Place this remote you gotta be prepared, right?” The panel popped open under his hand even as he spoke. “Gotcha.”

It only took him a couple minutes’ fiddling before the hatch hissed and popped open a fraction.

“My hero,” Kina teased, nudging the hatch to widen the gap. 

“I’ll accept accolades once we’re free and clear,” he riposted. peering into whatever lay on the other side of the opening. “Huh, dark in here...”

“Need me to hold your hand, Hero?” she smirked.

“Only if it’ll make you feel better, Spike,” Rass shot back with a grin. “Doesn’t appear to be anyone lurking, though, so let’s give them a little mystery of their own.”

Kina climbed though the hatch to keep an eye out while Rass set the wires right and closed the access panel before joining her. She pushed the hatch closed until she heard the lock engage as he crept a few paces down the hall--tunnel?--to scout out the intersection.

“You have anything besides that?” he asked softly, tipping his head toward her jammed blaster. 

“I mean. My scattergun, assumin’ it’s not busted. It’ll do in a pinch, even if it’s not all that quiet. Why, d’you have eight extra weapons hidden in your armor you can share?”

Rass huffed a quiet laugh as he peered around the corner. “Three, actually, and not sure how hidden, but I appreciate the vote of confidence.” He flashed a grin, the amusement in his brown eyes visible despite the dim light as he tugged something free of his boot and passed it to her. “I can hear voices; better you have something a little more versatile than a scattergun.”

“Thanks.” Kina palmed the holdout blaster--probably a little small for him, but a good fit in her hand--and briefly considered making a smart comment about Mandalorians and sharing weapons. The only reason she didn’t was picking up on those voices he heard.

They were moving closer, a patrol most likely. Or someone coming to check what they caught in their trap. Kina and Rass pressed further back in the shadows, an awkward-fitting niche between the wall joint and an equipment shelf, weapons in hand though using them would be a last resort. Better to leave no sign they were here as long as possible.

“...said the alert tripped, so they fell for it.”

“He want us to check on it?”

“Not yet. They aren’t goin’ anywhere, and he  wants to arrange a surprise in case they try anything when we open the door.”

A snort as the patrol--Varad by their armor--passed. “Prob’ly the smartest thing he’s done yet. Say who we caught?”

“The Alliance commander and one of the brothers.”

Another snort. “Of course. Stars forbid Shae Vizla get her hands dirty when her lackeys can do it for her. Still, more than we expected to catch. I see why Joram wants to be prepared...”

They moved out of hearing without noticing anything amiss.

Some patrol, Kina thought with a dark smile. She lingered, pressed in the small niche with Rass--playing it safe, obviously. They didn’t even pick up on two people hiding a meter and a half away. At least between the patrol’s ease and the conversation it seemed their escape was unnoticed. So far. No one was on alert.

“I vote that way,” Rass said in a whisper, gesturing down the tunnel the patrol had come from as he held her gaze and eased out of their niche. “I think we’re good, Commander.”

“Right. And I second the route choice.” Her fingers curled around the blaster grip and she scanned the tunnels. “We should see if we can find a security hub or somethin’.”

Rass nodded. “I’d kill for a layout of this place, and that would be our best bet for finding one.”

“Not gonna find anything if we stand around,” Kina said, rolling her shoulders and starting off cautiously down their chosen tunnel.

They got lucky--not far down the dank passageway was a short flight of stairs up to what was clearly a security office. It was empty and dark, not in use by the Hidden Chain for whatever reason. It was also secluded enough Kina risked turning on the lights.

Rass tried to start up the computers, to no avail, and glared frustration at them for a moment before handing Kina his blaster rifle. “Hang on a minute...” 

She stuffed the holdout in the back of her belt in order to take it.

Rass disappeared under the desk and a few second later she heard the unmistakable sound of someone hotwiring electronics.

“Is that even gonna work?” she asked.

“Should, there’s just a couple bad--ow!--connectors. Probably why they aren’t using this room.” He was quiet, focused, for a moment, then, “Can you check the wires and try turning this one on? Should be good go.” A hand reached up to slap the far right end of the desk.

“Sure.” Kina rested his rifle on the desk, one hand loosely curled around the barrel as the other checked wires and powered up the computer.

The flickering light of it coming to life distracted her just long enough she didn’t pick up the flash of red and white armor outside until just a little too late. She kicked Rass’ ankle in warning even as the Dar’manda scout stiffened at the sight of someone in a room that was supposed to be unoccupied.

He burst in, blaster raised.” Weapons on the floor, now!”

“Alright, alright, what’s the rush?” Kina flinched as if caught off-guard, then made a show of sliding the rifle on the floor and kicking it away--out of sight behind the desk, where Rass could reach it.

“And the pistol!” the scout barked, taking a step closer for emphasis.

Kina glanced down at the blaster on her hip and gave an exaggerated shrug.  “Thing is, that one’s sentimental, and it’s busted right now.” She paced sideways a couple of steps to keep his focus on her. “I’d just as soon hang on to it, if you don’t mind.”

Rass shifted carefully, quietly, to reach for his rifle.

“Thing is, I do mind,” the scout said, a sneer in his voice. “Field Marshal might want you alive, but I will shoot you if you don’t drop it and kick it over, now.”

“Oh, fine,” she sighed, and made a show of slow and exaggerated movement to withdraw the blaster and set it on the floor to kick over.

The second the scout’s gaze dropped to the skidding blaster, Rass rolled out from under the desk and shot him.

“Good aim,” Kina said with a grin, eyeing the trio of center-mass kill shots. 

“Thanks.” Rass accepted the hand up she offered, then nudged the dead scout with his boot. “Looks like that’s another one you owe me,” he said, singsong, through a crooked smile.

“However shall I survive this debt I’m racking up?” she deadpanned, unable to fight a smile of her own..

“With my help, apparently.” Rass was still grinning as he moved to the computer terminal and started looking for the schematics they needed.

“Hey, I saved your ass from Ri’kan,” she shot back, retrieving her blaster. “We’re square on one of ‘em.” She grabbed the dead scout’s arm and dragged him out of easy view. “We’ll hafta work out something to settle this one.”

“Guess we will. Ah, there you are.” Rass pulled up and downloaded the layout.  “Guess we’re also on a tighter count before they realize--”

The dead scout’s comm crackled. “All patrols report in! The maalraas slipped the net, we need to lock them down immediately and locate their ship!”

Kina and Rass looked at each other.

“Time’s up.” Rass pushed away from the desk.

“Yeah.” Kina couldn’t help a faint smile as she watched him close down the computer. There was dust streaked on his face from crawling under the desk, combined with still sand-tousled hair. It was kind of adorable.

He turned abruptly enough to catch her staring. “What?”

She shrugged and winked at him. “You’re cute when you’re all disheveled.”

“Heh, thanks.” Rass passed her a copy of the schematics. “I’d say the same, but you actually aren’t all that disheveled.”

“So... I’m just cute?” Kina teased with a grin.

He just cleared his throat and arched a brow as he headed for the door. “Think they’ll find the shuttle?”

“We did land a good bit away,” she said, letting the other topic slide. “But if they know we’re here and are determined... fifty-fifty odds?”

“Yeah, that sounds right.” Rass checked the schematic. “We should see if we can find out what they’re after here, if there’s any hint to Heta’s new base, so we’re not leaving empty-handed.”

“Intel’s better than nothin’.” Kina started down the steps, gaze fixed on the doorway they needed, watching for any other patrols. “But they’re gonna be on the lookout for us now, so it’s gonna be harder to do unseen.”

“You know I love a challenge,” he said with a laugh.

“Don’t all Mandalorians?”

“Good point.”

They’d reached the door and lapsed into silence as they stepped back back into the tunnel. There was no sign of any patrol, so after a confirming glance at the schematic, they continued along that path. A left turn at the next intersection had them skirting the heart of this place without getting too close until they needed to. In theory, anyway.

“Looks like the comm room is near the front entrance,” Kina murmured, keeping her voice low despite the empty tunnel.  “Check there for any intel like flight routes or shipping records, then if we think there’s time we check out what what they’re doing?”

“Right behind you, boss,” he returned, just as quiet, gaze back the way they’d come.

“Not the boss,” she said. “We’re partners.”

Rass whipped around to face her, and she caught the flash of his grin in the dim light. “I’m touched,” he teased in a whisper.

Voices around the curve precluded any snarky response from her. There weren’t a lot of options for hiding here, especially since the Hidden Chain was on alert, so they each pressed against a protruding wall joint on opposite sides of the tunnel and waited.

“...can’t get far, not with how many we have.”

“No? Look how well they did on Ruhnuk. How long they went unnoticed.”

“But we’re on guard, and Joram’s got double watch on comms, doors, anywhere they might go-”

The pair drew level with where Kina and Rass waited and barely had time to register their presence before a blaster shot each made them not a problem. They dragged the bodies--Varad, again--as out of sight as they could before pressing on.

It was good they had the warning of overheard conversation--there were two Dar’manda outside the comm room and four inside. Not a hard fight, but definitely one that went better prepared.

“Get lookin’,” Kina waved Rass toward the console as she pulled out a medkit. She scowled at the scorch marks on her duster and tugged free a bacta patch to slap over the blaster burn grazing her thigh. Bastard put holes in my favorite coat.

“You alright?” Rass asked at her quiet hiss of pain as the bacta kicked in, half-turning the watching the comm search.

“Yeah. This won’t even slow me down.” She stuffed everything back in the kit, stowed it at her belt. “Just stings setting in. Anything good there?”  There was the faintest hitch to her step as she joined him and she really hoped that went away quick.

“Y’know, it’s weird, there isn’t a lot.” Rass gave the slowly scrolling data his full attention again. “You’d think they would be in touch for updates or something at the least, but there’s barely any outgoing transmissions. Almost like they were trying to hide it or not doing anything worth sharing, which doesn’t fit the intel we got on this place.”

“Hmm.” Kina had to agree; the paltry amount of information scrolling by didn’t match the intel profile. A kernel of unease  settled in her gut. “Maybe it’s something Heta doesn’t want the Hidden Chain knowin’ about til it’s done?”

“Maybe.” The skepticism was plain in Rass’ voice.

Even as they tried to puzzle out an explanation, the floor trembled with a distant, muffled explosion. Both heads instinctively swiveled toward the sound before sharing a look.

“That would be them findin’ our ride,” Kina sighed.

“Probably.” Rass tossed her a grin. “Even when you’re not behind the controls you’re a menace to shuttles.”

She rolled her eyes and lightly punched his arm. “Least I didn’t crash this one. You gonna download what ya found or not?”

“Hardly seems worth it...” His brow furrowed as he looked at the data again. “I guess we should. In case it’s one of those things where it seems useless until you pair it up with something. Like a cipher.”

“Do it fast, then. Now that they’ve destroyed our shuttle, they’ll be lookin’ even more in earnest for us now. We gotta check out the core to see what the hell they’re doing”--even more of a mystery with the underwhelming logs--”and then find the hanger.” A smirk. “Assuming you’re up for a bit more space piracy?”

Rass laughed. “Always.”

The schematics showed a maintenance crawlspace where they could get eyes on the main rooms while being safer from discovery. And there was a hatch in a room just down the hall from them.

“I’ll fit better, gimme a boost,” Kina whispered when they reached it, studying the small grate half a meter over Rass’ head. “You can keep an eye out for trouble, since we’re attractin’ that like mynocks today.”

He nodded and squared up to give her that boost. “Watch out for sensors, they’re paranoid enough have ‘em in there.”

It took a minute to work the grate off--checking for surprises as she did--and another half of one to scramble in without making too much noise. She’d memorized the route before coming in, so the only thing that slowed her was keeping an eye out for sensors or mines. She had a nifty gadget courtesy of Oggurobb’s team that could blank them out, but she had to spot them in time.

She wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted her when she reached her goal.

There was nothing remarkable in the room she could see. No equipment, no cache of artifacts being catalogued, no mad scientist’s lab turning out super soldiers or juiced up beasts. Just a mostly-bare room with small pockets of Varad and Dar’manda settled in the corners like predators, and a raised walkway around half the perimeter supporting a few more. 

Alarm belles went off in the back of her head. This didn’t add up. Something was up here, something the intel missed. I have a bad feeling about this...

That bad feeling crystalized, the pieces clicking when Kina shifted to the next grate and took in the other room that was allegedly the heart of the operation. It looked much the same as the first, but she could make out the telltale edge of maglock floorplates, and the Dar’manda on the walkway had a trio of the sonic disruptors like Ruhnuk.

Oh, Caraya’s kriffing moons. Kina scuttled backwards enough to get turned around and head back to Rass. She didn’t risk comms until well away from the grates. “Rass? Start working up a quick route to the hangers, it’s time for that space piracy and a daring escape.”

“I need a minute!” He sounded out of breath and the blaster fire in the background made Kina pick up her pace--much as she could, anyway.

Still, by the time she made it back, silence greeted her rather than the cacophony of a gun battle. “Still alive?” she hissed over comms, and her heart did a weird little skip at the brief delay before an answer came.

“Despite their best efforts. You back?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, gimme a second...” There was a grunt and the access grate swung free, Rass’ head framed in the opening. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“I know, small galaxy,” Kina said drolly. “Help me down?”

“Sure.” She didn’t miss the way his jaw tightened as he did, though. Or the half dozen extra blaster scorches on his armor. Or the dead Varad and Dar’manda in the doorway.

“I see what you mean about best efforts,” she muttered. “You okay?”

“For the most part,” Rass said with a shrug. 

Kina saw the pair of blaster burns along his bicep and snorted. “That being the exception? C’mere, it’ll be faster if I patch it up.”

“What’re you in such hurry for all of a sudden?” he asked, sitting without protest to let her take care of his arm.

“This is a trap,” Kina said. She dug out a medkit and scowled at his arm. “Stars, one of them got you good.”

“It’ll be fine. And, I mean, we hit a trap in the first thirty sec-”

“No, the whole thing is a trap,” she cut him off. She shared what she had seen as she smeared bacta and smoothed synthskin over his wounds, concluding,  “There’s no operation, no deeper purpose to this place. Somebody planted intel--someone good if they managed to fool your brother--to make this look too juicy to pass up and sat back to see if they snagged Shae or some of her highly trusted allies.”

“Would explain why the comm logs were so light,” Rass mused, one corner of his mouth twitching as she smoothed the last edge of the synthskin. “Thanks “

“Welcome. Also explains why we’ve only seen Varad and Dar’manda, doesn’t it? Since they’re the muscle and the cannon fodder.” Kina shot a pointed look at the bodies on the floor.

“Bet there’s an Ashaad in charge.” Rass pushed to his feet. “Or maybe Ha’rangir if they want the glory.”

“‘Cause that would go over well with Varad,” Kina drawled, moving to check the dead for anything useful.

He snorted. “Look who’s gettin’ a head for Mando politics.”

There’s two words that’ll never feel like they belong together.... She finished her investigation--handful of credits and a spare blaster pack--and cocked her head to watch him study the schematic.

Rass finished just a few seconds later. “Okay. Got a good route to the hanger. But you realize that’s prob’ly the most heavily guarded part of the whole place. They know we have to go there to get out of here.”

Kina’s grin in return was sharp, dangerous. “But I’m a sneaky little chakaar. I’ll figure somethin’ out, soon as I see what we’re up against.”

“Oh, this I gotta see,” he said with an even bigger grin as they started along the route.

They didn’t run across any patrols on their way, and Kina wondered if that was just luck or the full force being pulled to guard the hanger. There wasn’t any evidence of the latter, when they reached their goal; there was a healthy scattering of Varad and Dar’manda, but not an overwhelming force.

Rass nudged her with his elbow and nodded toward the control room, where a beefy figure in gold armor stood at the window. “Ha’rangir,” he mouthed, arching one brow significantly.

Kina nodded in return and tugged him back. “There’s enough shadow I think we could sneak to that one,” she whispered, pointing to a shuttle two-thirds of the way down the far wall. Unlike some of the others, the ramp was down. “Should be able to get it fired up and outta here before they can stop us.”

“Good plan. One problem--I didn’t pack my stealth belt for this trip,” Rass said with a shrug and half-smile.

She clicked her tongue in mock reproof and grinned. “Lucky I’m here, then. Given how much my line of work relies on sneakin’ around, mine’s souped up. Haven’t tested yet, but I’m pretty sure if we maintain contact and don’t stress it too much, it could hide both of us for a trip.”

“Pretty sure, huh?”

“What’s life without a little risk?”

He huffed a quiet laugh. “Better than nothing, I guess.  You thinking piggyback ride? Holding hands?”

Kina smirked. “Latter would prob’ly work better. Or you could just hold on to my arm. Long as we’re touching it should work.”

“And if it doesn’t, I’m pretty sure we can take these guys.” Rass shot her a grin and then rested his hand on her arm, loosely grasping just below her elbow.

Kina grinned back and toggled on stealth. It took an extra second to hide them both, and she could feel the generator hum against her hip with the strain. But it worked. And it held when they moved, very slowly, through the doorway and toward their goal. The stealth field flickered adjusting to the shadows and Kina bit her lip.

It was a strange balance; the urge to go fast and get this over with so they didn’t stress it too long versus wanting to move slow so they didn’t stress it too much. They crept past a pair of Varad, a Ha’rangir, a Dar’manda.

Kina’s boot caught on the edge of the boarding ramp and the resulting stumble almost broke their connection. The heat of the overworked generator seeped through her clothes. The second they were were out of sight aboard the shuttle she flicked it off. She’d almost swear it let out a whine of relief as it powered down.

“Hardly believe that worked,” she muttered.

Rass back a smile as he headed for the cockpit. “No confidence in your gear, Commander?”

“Oh, plenty, or I wouldn’t have made the suggestion. I just also know its limits and we were pushing pretty close.”

He tilted his head in acknowledgment, gaze on the controls as he fired up the shuttle. 

Or, tried to. “Haar’chak!”

Kina turned at the softly growled oath to give him a questioning look.

“It wants an authorization code to begin startup,” Rass said with a grim smile. “Three guesses where we’re likely to find that.”

“Over with tall, gold, and beefy?” she deadpanned, looking toward the control room.

“That’s be my guess.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, dislodging a fine rain of lingering sand. “No way we get over there without fighting everyone in the hanger.”

And that would give time for an alarm to be raised, bringing more troops from other parts of the trap. “So we don’t.” Kina started for the for the ramp. “I’ll go solo.”

“You sure that’s  good idea?” Rass cleared his throat. “I know you’re good an’ all, but-”

“I’m not plannin’ to fight them, Rass,” Kina grinned. “Though it’s sweet you care. ‘M gonna sneak in and then...” she checked her bracer. Two left. “I have a tranq dart with Goldy’s name on it.”

Rass smirked but there was definitely a flicker of relief in his eyes. “Nice.”

“For the record, I could take tall, gold, and beefy in a solo fight, but I think swipin’ what we need from under his nose and makin’ a daring escape will hurt more.”

He nodded. “You’re not wrong. Better go quick, before they start wondering too hard why they haven’t seen us for a while. Be careful.”

“Right.” The stealth generator was still a touch warm, but didn’t offer serious complaint when she fired it up just for her.

Kina made her way down the ramp, across the hanger, and up to the control room. She did have to dodge clusters of troops as she went, mostly Varad with a sprinkle of Dar’manda. The walkway up to the control room was guarded by a large group of Ha’rangir and she all but held her breath edging past them.

Goldy was alone in the control room, now seated with an eye on the computer panel, a wicked looking vibroblade across his knees. Kina was pretty sure she glimpsed a krayt dragon tooth fragment hanging off the hilt. The urge to put a scattergun round in the man’s back was overwhelming but she restrained herself. A tranq dart to the neck would have to suffice.

She waited until he finished a conversation demanding status updates before firing the dart. It struck true and a moment later Goldy was slumped in his chair, out like a light. Kina shuffled through the computer files until she found the code they needed.

She transmitted it to Rass, got a hissed ‘Great, but I’m not starting up ‘til you’re back’ in reply, and made her hasty exit just as Goldy started to stir. She probably moved a little faster than was wise on her return trip, made movements or noise the stealth field couldn’t completely hide. Still, nobody noticed her until the last pair of Varad between her and the shuttle.

Kina heard the grunt of raised suspicion as she slipped past and picked up the pace. Even if it made the stealth field fuzz out. She darted up the shuttle ramp.

“I’m in, go!” she hissed toward the cockpit, then spun to watch the door while Rass got the shuttle moving. The first attempted boarder get a chest full of scattergun rounds. The second got a blaster shot to the throat.

The shuttle rocked as it lifted off and Kina flung a thermal detonator at the knot of Hidden Chain headed for the ramp. The explosion--and their attempts to avoid it--cleared things enough she could close the door and retract the ramp.

“Gonna want to strap in!” Rass hollered and Kina scrambled for the nearest seat as the shuttle spun to head out the gaping cliffside hole that was the hanger  ‘door’.

They cleared the opening and Rass almost immediately jerked the shuttle left to avoid a turbolaser bolt, then back on course to avoid the cliff face.

“You crash this thing, I am never letting you live it down,” Kina warned with a gloating smile. And she’d have fun with it, too.

“All the incentive I need,” Rass shot back as the shuttle leveled out. It dipped to dodge another turbolaser bolt, then they were clear and he started punching in hyperspace coordinates. It wasn’t until starlines stretched into hyperspace that either of them relaxed.

Kina moved up to slouch in the co-pilot seat. “Well. That was fun.”

Rass snorted a laugh. “You have a weird idea of fun.”

“Makes us a perfect match,” she teased. “Oh. Here.” She held out the holdout blaster. “Thanks for the loan.”

“Welcome.” He took the blaster, stowed it back in place. “Glad I had it to offer.”

“Heh, me, too.” Kina chewed her lip in thought a moment. Hers would be a pain to fix, but that was a problem for later.  “You think there’s anything worthwhile in those logs you grabbed, or was this whole thing a bust?”

“We can let Jek and Mandalore figure out if the logs are worth anything,” Rass said with a shrug. “But either way, I wouldn’t call it a bust.”

The grin he tossed her made clear why, but Kina had never been one to let a golden opportunity pass by. “Yeah?”

“You owe me one now,” he smirked.

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t fight a smile. “Not for long, way things’re going.”

“You planning on making it two?”

This time she punched his arm. “I meant we’ll prob’ly wind up even again sooner rather than later, and you know it.”

They may have fallen into a trap, but on the bright side, they’d worked together well getting out of it.

She grinned at the suggestive tone. “I’ll bet. I’d probably enjoy your brand of excitement a lot more, too,” she purred, heart racing as she leaned in to kiss the corner of his jaw.

“Careful, sweetheart, or we’ll walk into a wall,” he murmured in a tone that approached a growl.

“Walls have their uses.”

“Must you?” Nate sighed before Mason had a chance to reply, probably pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I mean. Yeah,” Kasey said. “Call it relief things went off without a hitch.” She was really tempted to pin Mason against the wall and plant one on him. Just to further ruffle Nate’s feathers, of course. She was pretty sure Mason wouldn’t care about the motivation, just the end result.

Nate looked neither amused nor convinced by her--admittedly flimsy--reasoning. “Mason, can you go see where Adam and Felix got to?”

“Just ask them,” Mason retorted. “Isn’t that what the goddamn radios arefor?”

“But I’m asking you,” Nate said with a small, implacable smile.

Mason muttered a curse, shot Nate a defiant look, and slid his hand up in Kasey’s hair to guide her in for a kiss. A good kiss, deep enough to make them stumble and her fingers dig into his shirt.  “See you in a bit, sweetheart.” And he was gone.

Kasey was still catching her breath--and her senses--when Nate fell in step next to her.

“You two have formed quite the connection,” he said, studying her with that same faint smile.

She smirked at the unintentional innuendo. “Makes for some good times, yeah.” A brow arched in his direction. “But I thought you didn’t approve of connections like ours.”

Nate shook his head. “I don’t approve of the degree to which it manifests in public spaces, but the connection itself is a good thing. I’m glad the two of you have found someone you care about-”

“Whoa.” Kasey came to an abrupt halt , one hand up to cut him off, a faint, odd twist worming through her chest. “It’s sex, Nate. Who said anything about care?”

“Kasey.” His smile had shifted, ever so subtly, to being more of a smirk. “Your heart is beating much too fast for being close to someone you don’t care about.”

She snorted, her heart pounding(again). “That’s called arousal. I know you’re a little rusty on the concept, but it is in fact still an emotion.”

“I’m aware.” He studied her, still smiling. “My point stands.”

“That point being...?” 

“You have feelings for Mason.”

“Yeah, sure,” Kasey conceded as sarcastically as possible, not entirely sure why she felt such a need to throw him off. “Those feelings being incredibly turned on and wanting to rip his clothes off so he can pin me to my bed while we do things to each other that can’t be discussed in polite company.” She flashed an equally sarcastic smile and started walking.  

Nate did not seemed fazed. His faintly smug smile didn’t falter, and she could feel his warm brown gaze on her even without looking back.

“Regardless of the details,” he said smoothly--and not looking at all like he believed her when she glanced over her shoulder--”I am glad for both of you.” 

“Coulda fooled me,” she baited, pivoting on one heel to face him.” You give more scoldings than a school marm.”

“I may object to your apparent readiness to disrobe in Warehouse common rooms,” Nate corrected, shaving his hands in his pockets, “but on the whole I’m happy about your relationship. It’s good-”

“Again, not a relationship,” Kasey cut him off. “We just like seeing each other naked.” She didn’t know why that was so hard for him to grasp.

She didn’t know why it bugged her so much that he couldn’t--or wouldn’t--grasp it. Like he knew something she didn’t.

Nate shrugged, not arguing the point. “You’re good for him, Kasey,” he said instead, and it hit like a punch to the gut. “And while I didn’t know you as long before... whatever you have started, he seems to be good for you, too.”

Yeah, sex’ll do that for you, she thought sarcastically, but for once bit her tongue. “Guess we’ll have to be careful about that ‘all good things come to an end’ deal, huh?”

He studied her with obvious warmth. “If it ends, I don’t think it will be Mason’s choice.”

--Fucking hell, why did hearing it in words make her chest tight?--

Nate smiled again, caring rather than smug. “I’ve met very few people as loyal as him in my life, and none moreso. I think even if you weren’t part of Bravo now, this connection might last longer than you think.”

Kasey floundered for a moment, and her muttered “Guess we’ll have to wait and see” was far from her usual level of witticism. She shoved her hands in her pockets as she turned to follow Mason’s path out to meet the others.

“I guess we will,” Nate said, falling in step behind her.

He was probably still smiling.

“Lucky you, then,” Mason shot back. He surveyed the stacks dotted on the table and her desk. “Awful lot going on, I thought this one was straightforward.”

“I do have other cases, Mason,” she said, gathering her hair up in a messy bun when it slid in her eyes one time too many. “Y’know, for my other bloody job. The one for you is-”

“Alveres? Here.” Adam stepped into the office, plucked the required folder from the top of a stack on her desk--rather than the table she’d been checking--and held it out.

Of course it was there. “Thanks.” Their fingers brushed as she took it, and Mallory grit her teeth against the way the touch made her chest clench.

Adam swiftly let his hand fall and cleared his throat. “If you devised an organizational system for... all this, Detective, you wouldn’t lose important files.”

She huffed. “It wasn’t lost-” I knew it was in here, just not precisely where. She shook her head, teeth gritted for irritation reasons now. “Let’s just... get this done. It shouldn’t take long.”

“Let’s,” Mason drawled, slouching against the wall and toying with an unlit cigarette.

“You light that in here, I kick you out,” Mallory warned. Normally she wouldn’t care, but, “There’s too much damn paper right now.”

Mason looked between her and Adam, smirked, and started reaching for his pocket.

“Mason. Don’t.”

It was an order and a request all in one, and he was acquiescing even before Adam turned to give him a stern look. “Fine, fine. Your show.”

“Thank you.” Mallory flipped open the folder and started going over what they knew, what they needed from Unit Bravo for this one, trying to ignore the festering irritation over Adam’s remark.

He’d been much more critical of many more things the first few times he was in her office. She didn’t know why this one was lingering. (Yes, she did.)

Adam headed for the door as soon as she finished. “We know what must be done. We shall inform the others and attend to it, leaving you to your...” his gaze swept over the stacks of folders around her offices once more. “...work.”

Mallory growled softly watching him leave, briefly distracted from her pique by his shoulders as he passed her. She was only human. As he kept reminding her. She bit the inside of her cheek as another scowl twisted her features.

“Don’t worry, Mallory, he likes you, too.” Despite the heavy sarcasm on Mason’s words, there was something in his clear grey eyes that made her feel incredibly seen. It was a supportive type of seen, cloaked as it was in a verbal jab. Even so, Mallory hated that feeling and folded her arms tight across her chest.

“Right, and next he’ll advance to pulling my hair to show it,” she snarked.

Mason shrugged. “Only if you’re in to that.”

Now her scowl was aimed at him. “Oh, for- We are not....” She huffed. “What makes you think I even care?!” 

He caught her gaze and held it, piercing and steady, as he leaned closer.  “Because your heart has been beating too damn fast to be standing close to someone you don’t care about, Detective.” 

Damn vampire hypersenses.

He straightened, twirling his lighter between two fingers, and smirked. “And so was his.”

There was a sparking click, the sharp scent of nicotine, and Mason was gone with a thin trail of smoke.

Mallory stared after him, arms still crossed, heart in her toes, and his words running circles in her head.

“And so was his.”

She lunged in his direction, and Liam’s surprise slowed his reaction enough they hit the button at the same time.

Just in time to block the chittering blue pyjack trying to make his escape. SJ let out a screech at being stymied and scrambled up a bookshelf to cling near the ceiling. He held one arm curled in protectively to his chest.

“Stole my precision welder,” Cam explained, huffing loose hair out of her eyes and glaring at the pyjack. “I need it to finish upgrading Rover, and I don’t want the little bastard to hurt himself.” She turned a pleading glance toward Liam.  “Help me catch him? Please?”

He laughed and gave what remained of her ponytail a teasing tweak.  “Sure, but you’ll owe me.”

“I can live with that,” Cam winked.

Even working together, it took another half hour to catch SJ, as well as several very strategic pincer moves and the destruction of a model ship Liam promised to help her fix. Cam gave a bark of triumph as she pulled the tool from SJ’s grip. She unceremoniously dumped him outside her cabin--”Go bother Vetra or something”--and closed the door. She shot Liam a grateful grin. “Thanks. That’s the last time I let the little mischief maker in here while I’m working.”

Liam chuckled as he helped her start straightening up. “Yeah, you’re welcome. But whaddid you expect, namin’ him after your brother?”

Cam paused to fix her ponytail, then tossed a pillow at him, striated blue and green like the sky over Voeld. “Shut up, Kosta.” The rest of her pillows went back on the bed without care how they landed.

Liam grinned as he caught the pillow and winged it back at her.

She dodged, snatched another off the bed, and arched a brow at him as she readied to throw. “Sure you wanna do that? Pillow fight with a sniper? I have very good aim.”

He crossed his arms and arched a brow right back. “Bring it, Ryder.”

The pillow hit him square in the face.

The second one caught his shoulder thanks to how hard she was laughing. Liam grabbed one up in each hand and charged toward her.

“Liam, no-!” Ryder’s protest dissolved into a giggle-fit as she made a half-hearted attempt to whack him again and fend off his attack. Liam bopped her once with each pillow, then wrapped her in a bear hug as they tumbled onto the bed. They lay there laughing themselves breathless, wrestling for the pillows until Cam gave up.

Liam pushed up to brace on his forearms, grinning down at her. “Just like your pyjack, being cute can’t save you from everything,” he teased. 

“No?” Cam shot him a mischievous smirk, eyes dancing. She snaked an arm around the back of his neck and pulled herself up to kiss him full on the mouth.  “How ‘bout that?”

Liam huffed a laugh, just managing to keep himself from falling on top of her with both the pleasant shock of the kiss and the weight of a whole-ass person hanging off his neck. “That’ll do it for me, but I dunno if you wanna try it with the kett or ahdi or anything.”

She giggled--God, he loved her laugh--and dropped back on the bed as she held his gaze. “You don’t, huh?”

“For starters, your boyfriend might get jealous,” he deadpanned, unable to hold back a snicker. She was so damn cute when she was being smug.

“Can’t have that,” Cam said playfully. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him down for another kiss. “You know you’re my one and only, Kosta,” she murmured, resting one hand along his jaw.

Liam grinned and lightly bumped his nose to hers. “Ditto, Ryder.” He kissed her again, for the hell of it.

“So,” she murmured, holding him close enough their foreheads brushed,  “assuming you don’t have precog abilities to know about my pyjack problems, was there a reason you were lookin’ for me?”

“Had some ideas for how t’ pass the trip to Eos if you weren’t busy-”

“Shit, Rover,” Cam muttered, but grabbed Liam‘s arm when he started to roll away. “It can wait.” Wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’d much rather do this.”

He chuckled. “Aye, aye, boss.”

She whacked him with the green and blue pillow again, both laughing as they went in for another kiss. The rest of the trip passed way too quickly.

----

“Just not the last... three times.” Poking the wampa might be dangerous--depending on how she took the comment--but Theron had always been a touch reckless.

Eisza made a sound somewhere between a growl and a snort. “...Maybe he’s been getting more practice. He always gets deployed as a sniper, last few missions I’ve done were close quarters and sneakin’ around.”

“So you’re rusty? That’s your argument?” Theron arched a brow.

“No, I-” She growled. “Maybe. I don’t wanna talk about it any more.” She eyed the datapad in his lap. “What’re you working on? I could use a good distraction.”

He shifted it away when she reached for it. “I don’t think this would be any help.”

Eisza narrowed her eyes and looked between him and the datapad now held off over the side of his chair.

Hell.

“What makes you so sure it won’t help?” she asked, scooching closer down the couch. She had that hunter’s look in her eye, and Theron cursed himself for giving her that distraction in the worst way possible--for him, at least.

Karma for that comment, he thought sardonically. “Just not something you need to bother with, Commander.” He grimaced as soon as the words left his mouth.

Her eyes flared with curiosity. “You’ve never been cagey about datawork before...” 

She’d scooted close enough that when she lunged to grab for the datapad, he didn’t have a prayer of getting out of reach in time. He still tried, resulting in Eisza half-sprawled across his lap as she let out a triumphant Ha! and pulled it from his grasp.

Theron made a grab for it, futile as he knew the effort would be. “Eisza-!”

She grinned as she batted his hand away.  “You really should know better by now.”

He groaned--exaggerated, but not much--and flopped back in defeat.

The first startled gigglesnort came only a few seconds into her perusing the screen. “An adventure holonovel? Not datawork?” she teased, pausing briefly to grin at him again.

If his brain had been working just a little faster, Theron would’ve said something witty and sarcastic to keep her attention on him. But it was stuck somewhere between prepping damage control and the fact his girlfriend was sitting in his lap, one elbow digging into his ribs, and nothing came to him in time.

Eisza read a few lines further and her brows shot up. “A romance adventure?!” This grin was wider, more predatory. “Agent Shan, I wouldn’t have figured you for the type.” 

“Yeah, well-” If his damn brain would work for five seconds so he could come up with a more eloquent retort that would be great. 

“Aw, you’re blushing,” Eisza cooed, tossing the datapad toward the couch and shifting to wrap one arm around his shoulders. “I like that look on you.” She kissed his temple.

“It’s not blushing, it’s plotting revenge,” Theron muttered, even as one arm instinctively settled around her hips.

She chuckled, leaning in close to murmur, “Not often I see you flustered-”

He kissed her. Mostly to shut her up, but there was a part of him that really liked the teasing glint in her green eyes. From the way her fingers dug into his hair, she’d either been anticipating that reaction or at least planned to enjoy it.

“IS this revenge for reminding y-”

“Shh.” Eisza kissed him, hard. “‘M in a good mood now, don’t spoil it.”

Theron chuckled into the kiss, his arm tightening around her waist. “Yes, boss.”

Finally, though, she pulled back and shot him a mischievous smirk. “So. About your taste in literature.”

He groaned. “Eis...” 

“Please, I’m hardly gonna judge you,” she snorted, running her fingers through his hair. “Can almost guarantee I’ve read trashier. It’s just very... not you, and I’m curious how that got started.”

“The way most hobbies do for people in my line of work. Got hurt, going stir-crazy on med-leave, friend gave me a couple holonovels so I wouldn’t get so bored I did something stupid--his words. Took a couple days before I caved, and the first one was a spy thriller I mostly read to see how much they got wrong.” He snorted. “They got a lot wrong. But it also ended on a cliffhanger--”

“The whole novel?! That’s evil.”

“Yeah. So I read the next one. And the next one. And before you knew it, new habit. My friend was very smug.”

“If he got you into something that helps you relax once in a while, I’ll bet he is,” Eisza said dryly. “Maybe I should meet this friend, learn his secret.”

“Don’t think that’s a good idea,” Theron shook his head, wincing at the mere thought.

Her hunter’s grin was back. “Now I really wanna meet him.”

“No.” Over my dead body. “So how’d you get into reading trashy romance?”

“Only so much a girl can do for fun on Tatooine, Theron,” Eisza said, giving him a look that said she was allowing the subject change but not forgetting. “I swiped ‘em from my aunt when she was done with ‘em. How’d you get over to romance from thriller?”

And they were back to this conversation being awkward. If she wasn’t sitting in his lap, he would be finding an excuse to bolt. “The spy in those thrillers got a love interest. Those parts at least were... better written, even if that’s not saying much. So when I finished that series, I... branched out.”

She gave him an inscrutable look. “Are you one of those who’s gonna want to... do stuff inspired by that kind ‘a book?”

His face was burning again. “No.”

“Mm, too bad,” Eisza said playfully, tracing a finger along his cheekbone.  “There’s things in a couple I’ve read that might be fun.”

Even as Theron stared at her, trying to find a snarky comeback, her comm beeped.

Eisza glanced at it--”Oh, Lana needs me”--and stole a quick kiss before she started pushing to her feet.

Theron didn’t let go, tugging her back into his lap. “Tell her you’re busy,” he growled, claiming her mouth in a kiss. “Got distracted.” Another kiss.

She laughed into it, her hands cupping his jaw. “You are a very good distraction....” she mumbled.

“And you” --kissed her again-- “are blasted good at what you do. To answer your question.” His thumb rubbed arcs against her cheek, tracing her tattoos. “You’re good at everything.”

Eisza stared at him a moment, tossed her comm on the table, and dragged him onto the couch with her to set about proving him right.