#timmyxtecna

“Something wrong with your back?” Tecna asked when Timmy shifted beside her for the umpteenth time.

They’d been at their computers for hours, trying to work out a way to upgrade the ship so it could better handle inter-dimensional space travel.  Timmy sighed and rolled his neck a little, lifting his shoulders up and down.

“My shoulders actually,” he said on an exhale before attempting to reach around to press into the aching spot between his shoulder blades.

Tecna hummed sympathetically.  “Understandable,” she said.  “We’ve probably been sitting down too long.  You know, most healing professionals recommend a short break every hour during which you should stand from your desk and stretch out.”

“I don’t suppose taking a break now would work,” Timmy said, a touch of self-deprecation in his voice as he leaned back in his chair.

“Unfortunately not,” Tecna replied, before getting to her feet and making her way to stand behind him.  “But this might.”

Timmy jumped a little when her hands settled on his shoulders.

“You’re very stiff,” Tecna noted with a frown, as she slowly started to manipulate his muscles with her hands.

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” Timmy said, making an effort to relax under her touch.  It wasn’t unpleasant, far from it actually, but his and Tecna’s friendship had never been characterised by such casual touch like this and this was far from within his usual area of comfort.  “You’re giving me a massage?”

“Purely for therapeutic purposes,” Tecna said neutrally after a long pause.

“Right, right,” Timmy said before biting back a noise of bliss as Tecna worked a knot out of his shoulder.  “You’re pretty good at this, you know?”

“Thank you,” Tecna said, smiling even though Timmy couldn’t see it.  “Are your shoulders feeling a little better?”

“Yeah,” Timmy said, rolling his neck again with more ease this time.  “Much better.”

“I’m glad,” Tecna said, but she didn’t immediately pull her hands away and neither did Timmy move away.

Timmy twisted in his seat to glance up at Tecna, and her fingers tapped out a nervous rhythm on his shoulder.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Timmy.  Anytime.”

And feeling bolder than he usually might, Timmy swallowed roughly and said, “And if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, I’d be happy to return the favour.”

“What are you doing?”

Timmy always loved the little crease that appeared between Tecna’s eyebrows whenever she was baffled by something, but this time instead of smiling he schooled his expression into polite confusion as Tecna frowned down at their joined hands.

“Holding your hand.”

Tecna’s frown deepened as her eyes flicked between his face and her hands.  Still Timmy didn’t crack as Tecna asked, “Why?”

“Because I wanted to.  Besides, it’s what couples do.”

“We’ve never done it before,” she pointed out, even as she looked at the rest of their friends hanging out in the dorm.

Indeed she could see Musa ranting to Riven about something as she gestured with their joined hands, Stella and Brandon were sitting and talking quietly with their hands linked and resting on his thigh, and Bloom was hunched over Sky’s hand in her lap, pen in hand as she drew something on the back of his palm.

“It’s impractical,” Tecna said finally, though Timmy couldn’t help but notice that she hadn’t pulled away yet.  In fact she squeezed his hand a little tighter.  “How am I supposed to get anything done when I can’t use one of my hands?”

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Timmy said simply, starting to pull his hand away, but Tecna clung to it tighter.

“No,” she said, not looking at him.  “It’s fine.  I’m just saying for the record, no matter how nice it feels, it’s still impractical.”

Above the clouds and the atmosphere (say) Say the words and we outta here (outta here) Hold my hand if you feelin' scared (scared) We're flyin' up, up outta here Here we go, come with me There's a world out there that we should see Take my hand, close your eyes With you right here, I'm a rocketeer

Let's fly (fly, fly, fly, fly) Up, up, here we go, go Up, up, here we go, go Let's fly (fly, fly, fly, fly) Up, up, here we go, go Where we stop nobody knows (knows) Nah, I ain't ever been to space before But I ain't never seen a face like yours You make me feel like I can touch the planets You want the moon girl, watch me grab it See, I ain't ever seen a star this close You got me stuck by the way you glow