Axel stopped him with a soft sound, faintly audible above the constant low grind of the engines around them. Theo turned back, but the pilot was still avoiding his eyes. His hand was clenched around the wrist of his attachment, knuckles bone-white. “Hey, listen. I know I joke around a lot, but this shit is serious. This mission Park is on, it’s nothing to take lightly. People are gonna get hurt whichever way it goes. People already have. Just make sure you’re not one of them.”
Theo opened his mouth to respond, but Axel had already hit the panel to slide the door shut between them.
Thus, Theo found himself gaping at a cartoonish illustration of an ice cream cone with inexplicable cat ears.
*
By the time Theo made it back to the bridge, Jun was standing at his console, barking orders while multiple screens flashed information so quickly it made Theo dizzy just to watch.
“I want engines running at half power even after we dock. We’re getting off this rock the second bay doors are shut behind us. And, Marco, I need you to— What are you wearing?”
Jun turned to face Theo and froze, brows thundering down ominously even as his mouth hung open with surprise.
Marco’s voice rang out through the coms in the sudden quiet of the bridge. “I don’t—like, shorts? And a shirt? Why, Captain?”
Rubbing a hand over his face, Jun erased his shocked expression and replied, “No, not you, Marco. Go check our fuel supply, and see if you need to make a crystal run while we’re planetside.” His eyes narrowed at Theo as he made a sharp gesture to his body. “You. What is that?”
Theo glanced down at his new Outlier apparel, and then struck a pose to best display the outlandishly close-fitted trousers. Jun’s attention fell immediately to the exposed strip of skin just above the low-slung waistband. “I’m dressed to accompany you. Incognito. I appear just as any other Outlier, wouldn’t you agree?”
Boom remained focused on snapping metal cuffs onto her forearms that connected to the metal lines embedded in her hands. The click-buzz-click of each connection was hypnotically rhythmic. “Yeah, maybe. Until the second you open your mouth and a bouquet of roses falls out.”
It was impossible to tell if the statement had been meant as an insult or a compliment, so Theo chose to hear it as a compliment.
Life was better that way.
Jun continued to scowl in his direction, scanning over Theo’s entire outfit but repeatedly returning to the exposed sliver of hip on display. “Where did you get all that?”
Axel’s tapping at his console doubled in speed as he studied his screen as if his life depended on it. Jun’s scowl proved ineffective when it was aimed his way, so Jun turned it back to Theo. Theo tried not to think about what Axel had said about his new trousers attracting snarly gentlemen.
“You’re staying aboard,” Jun ordered. “I can’t have you walk around like that.”
It had been fun, at first, to make Jun frown and grouch about his outfit, but now, Theo was done. He wanted to taste fresh, uncirculated air. He planted his hands on his hips, ignoring the way Jun sucked in air through his teeth as his sweater rode up. “Don’t be ridiculous. Why not?”
Jun made a broad, sweeping gesture, indicating Theo from top to toe. He sounded a little strangled, voice strained. “You’re too pretty.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet, Captain!” Marco piped up from the coms.
Axel snickered and Boom rolled her eyes in response, the pair of them continuing to work at rapid speed at their consoles. Boom’s augmented fingers moved so quickly they blurred when Theo attempted to follow the motion.
Jun’s ears turned scarlet, to Theo’s delight, as he scrambled to save face in front of his sniggering crew, his tough facade crumbling away. “No, I mean. Yes, you are, but— It’s not safe. You’re not safe, like this. I need to focus on the job, and I can’t be distracted watching you.”
The new trousers made Theo hyperaware of the sway of his hips as he cocked them coquettishly and twirled a lock of hair around his finger. “You think I’m distracting, dressed like this, Jun? Apologies. Captain Park?”
Boom jostled Theo out of his pose as she squeezed between them to get to the other side of the console. She grumbled low, “I’ll take your apologies for, once again, subjecting me to the painful experience of witnessing Park attempt to flirt. It’s like watching him try to land a ship. Just pitiful and jarring.”
Jun snatched one of the small metal devices she held out in her hand, ears still glowing. “I’m not— Shut up, Valdez. I can land a ship just fine.”
Axel leaned heavily on a button that caused a harsh buzzing sound to fill the bridge for several seconds. “False.”
Marco shouted over the coms, “Most of a ship, yeah,” while something whirred in the background. “You leave the rest in pieces on the runway for me to pick up and tack back on later.”
Theo watched as Jun unfolded the device and held it tight against his skull behind his ear until there was a muted click. Then he let go, but the device remained attached to his head, softly glowing around the edges. “All of you. Shut up. Focus on the drop. There’s a reason they brought us out to the Wastes, and it wasn’t to shake our hands and buy us a beer.”
Grabbing his shoulder to turn him to the side, Theo peered up at the device behind his ear. “What’s that? Can I have one? It would be exceptionally diverting to use Restricted tech, I should imagine.”
Jun shrugged him off, but he leaned down to remove the device and hold it out on his palm. “Auto-coms. Keeps us connected to the ship, so we can, unfortunately, hear Axel while we’re planetside.”
Theo snatched it off his hand and held it behind his own ear, waiting for the click.
Nothing happened.
Jun took it back with
