Most people didn’t relax when their exes hurled insults at them, but Matt Silva wasn’t most people. It was backwards, yes, but here he was doing it anyway. For one, he knew it would piss Lydia off even more, and for another it was... inexplicably comfortable. His defensiveness disappeared the angrier she became, and her words settled on him like his favorite jacket. Like a second skin. She shouted, and he just stood there, smiling blithely all the while.
He could almost forget all the turmoil and self-pity he was barely holding under the surface when she hit him with a particularly creative epithet. Somehow it was easier to accept these insults, the long ones especially, than the begrudging compliments, or – god forbid – the truth. To wear them with the defiance she anticipated and which came all too easily to him, even though Matt rarely committed himself to Han’s special brand of insubordination. But this was easy. She thought he was a neanderthal? Okay. He could be a neanderthal.
No one expected much of neanderthals. Or promoted them. Might as well lean into it.
It was a good plan, he thought. Getting her to take back the advancement she offered him on behalf of her brother saved him the trouble of having to reject it – or, more accurately, having to explain why he was rejecting it. It wouldn’t be hard to think of something believable for Daniel Morgan’s sake, and it was proving to be just as easy as it always was to infuriate Lydia until she forgot why she was mad in the first place and stormed off, only to pretend for the next six months that the conversation never happened. But getting her to that point was the least of his problems.
No, the problem was Gabe. None of Matt’s shit ever worked on Gabe. His best friend and co-pilot knew Matt better than Lydia did, in ways that couldn’t adequately be put into words. It was the kind of closeness that came with time, battle, survival – all the shared experiences Matt and Gabe only had with each other. Outside of his contently distant family, Gabe was perhaps Matt’s one close relationship that carried no overlap from their reincarnates, despite their common source. Sometimes that was a relief, but other times – mostly Lydia-related times – it meant no convenient Solo shield to hide behind. When Gabe heard about this latest debacle with Lydia, there was no way he was going to let Matt off the hook for any of it. That wasn't really something Matt wanted to think about right now, but for whatever reason, his mind drifted that way. Hard not to, when there was literally no good reason for him to reject a cushy promotion that would get both of them out of the field, because like hell was he ever going to leave Gabe behind.
… Oh, shit, Gabe. Matt’s smug smile nearly curdled, realizing something else. Gabe wouldn't be hearing about this from Matt first. He'd be hearing about it from Lydia, who had no doubt already arranged a ride back to the MTN with Gabe, giving herself the first opportunity to tell her side of the story to Leia’s one-time protégé before his best friend had a chance to clean up the story to make himself look better. Shit, shit, shit.
Matt was never going to hear the end of this. From either of them. Probably Freya and Lachlan, too.
The urge to stop thinking and continue being a neanderthal rose.
“Hey, take it easy, princess, it was just a question!” The ‘princess’ was a little much, he knew he’d long past crossed the line with it, but at this point he just couldn’t stop himself. An unhealthy blend of cockiness and self-destruction overtook common sense, and he’d continue pushing every single button she had until he finally hit the one that would get her to stomp right back down the boarding ramp. Regret would come later, when it was already too late. Just like it always did.
“You can’t really blame me for asking,” he added, taking an unwise step forward and tilting his chin up with a self-satisfied grin. One of their oldest arguments resurfaced, and he called back to it without a second thought, conveniently forgetting for one stupid moment that those days were gone, and that this was a button better left alone. “I know it’d solve a whole lot of your problems if you had me where you can see me.”