WHO: Space!Gansey and Space!Blue WHAT: Blue and Gansey get trapped in a storage room in the cargo hold, and realize they should stop doing this dance around each other and kiss already. WHEN: Thursday, February 22 WARNINGS: None! STATUS: Complete
If Blue was being honest, it wasn't just a weird couple of days. It had been a weird couple of weeks, months, years aboard V.A.L.L.O. Sure, having a group of people—including Ronan Lynch—come flying in on their own fleet of ships claiming to be from Vallo (the magical island not the space station) was exponentially strange, but somehow she expected it. Her life, the moment she was thrown into space, had been so unbalanced with what she knew of reality. The years floating between planets and star systems and whatever other intergalactic bullshit she had seen was surreal. So this was nothing.
But being told her and Gansey were married in this other Vallo, and in fact had been dating for quite some time prior to that, had rocked Blue's little world.
It didn't help that she had intentionally asked for his assistance to get supplies from the cargo bay for the kitchen, when she should have asked someone else. This gave her time to process their whatevership that was happening. Aggressive flirtation, angry crush. Everytime she felt herself swoon, which was so much, she would ask someone in her pod to throw knives at something until she felt less swoony.
She wasn't supposed to like Gansey, but there had been a pull from the first day that she couldn't ignore. And then he started wooing her. Or she guessed it was wooing, with the small little gifts he would tuck away from missions and present to her as if he wasn't making a big deal (it was a big deal to Blue.) The way she felt relief when he made it back from those said missions. When she couldn't wait to tell him about what they made for dinner in the mess hall, or cross his path in the barracks, or pretend she wasn't listening to him talk to the rest of his squadron about some historical fact he had picked up. Silly, ridiculous things that, well...
Maybe being married wasn't completely out of the question in another life. But she couldn't think about it now. They had bags of non-perishable goods to haul out of the cargo bay. After she stopped staring intently at Gansey.
"They're in the holding corner over there," Blue pointed at one of the open doors where the crates were stacked as they approached. "We just need to get in there and find the one labeled—" Blue looked down at her data pad "Q47-L002? They need a better system for labeling these things I swear."
When Gansey had come to her to ask for help, he had lept at the opportunity.
Then he’d taken a second, evaluated the situation, and been even happier. She was asking him to carry heavy things. If you’d asked him about this sort of situation a month prior, Gansey likely would have guessed she was pranking him because hse was too stubborn not to do it on her own.
But things had changed in the last few days, Ronan arriving had been a delight, and strange, and everything felt different. “Q47-L002, got it.” He rattled off the numbers so he’d remember them as he moved forward, towards the storage room. But he wasn’t all business - he was grinning, just a little - and his step had a distinctive pep to it. He tried not to make it too obvious as he looked over his shoulder at her, “Are these standard provisions for the week or are we delving into our extra stores for ah- all of our new arrivals? Have you had any unusual requests?”
He reached the cargo in question and started scanning for the appropriate numbers. “I imagine they’re not used to space food.”
Oh God, Gansey was being disgustingly attractive. Blue would get so mad when he was excited, when he seemed to walk with confidence and exhilaration for the task at hand. She had found it so adorable—a stupid word she was using now to describe her feelings toward Gansey, which she also hated—and couldn't help herself but be drawn into whatever he was doing or saying. She knew her face was doing that thing, where she had to overly force herself to look mad because she was trying to hide a ridiculous smile. No wonder Gansey probably thought she hated him.
How did they ever get from this weird, sorta-flirtation to married?
"Extra. I think La Croix was going to consult with one of their people to try and get them to offload cargo to help, but we're going to make provisions stretch. Make simpler meals. We don't know when we're going to dock again, and if we're going to follow that energy signature..." Blue shrugged with one of her shoulders.
A noise that sounded suspiciously like footsteps came from behind her, and she turned. But there was nothing, no one. Just her and Gansey. She frowned and scooted closer into the storage room. Space was going to make her go insane, she decided.
"How long do you think they're going to stay?" Blue asked. Which meant she was really asking:How long do you think Ronan is going to stay? and What other weird things do you think he's going to tell us about our lives? "Because if they're going to start claiming the things we've done then—"
Blue didn't have time to finish that sentence as the tell-take warning klaxon went off and the tiny storage room, that they had inched into to find the appropriate box, went immediately dark. The door had closed behind them.
He’d started off cheerful. A little worry creased his brow with the idea of the newfound visitors leaving, after he’d been away from Ronan for four years as it was. To think of them leaving already was enough to make him frown, but then there were alarms and Blue was making some adorable noise under her breath that might’ve been swearing but was still cute--
Focus, Gansey. Now clearly was not the time to be thinking about how cute Blue was. Especially given that she just stepped on his foot and he had to smother a noise. It was pitch black in here, and he already bumped into a crate as Gansey tried to figure out the layout from the few seconds he’d stepped inside. “Low crate here,” His hands moved over it, and then to the next stack, a little higher. They didn’t have a lot of empty room to shuffle, but his hands went to his regulation cargo pants.
“Ah ha-” His hand curled around a small object in one of his pockets and he held it up, clicked the button, and looked triumphant as very dim light filled the small cargo space. “I knew this would come in handy someday.”
Blue was no good in the dark. Even knowing full well she stepped on his foot, she couldn't apologize because she was nearly falling backwards onto the low crate. The room felt too small to hold this many boxes, and she didn't want to stumble around forever. She caught herself on the edge and just went still, until Gansey procured a small light.
She squinted and leaned in to his space. "How do you happen to have everything you need for every random situation in the pockets of your pants?" Blue knew that was a rhetorical question, obviously. He was special, remarkable, annoyingly perfect. His pants were probably secretly Mary Poppins' carpet bag, and he was hiding magic all along. Blue refrained from throwing both of her hands into his pants to find out what else he was storing. Which made her instantly blush and lean away from the light so he couldn't see.
"Okay, so now what?" Blue asked with a huff. "There's no keypad from the inside. This door is supposed to stay open at all times. God, who invented this?" She sounded frustrated now, because she was realizing they might be trapped in here for hours. Days. Forever. Blue was being hyperbolic, sure, but she had never been so aware of how close Gansey was until right now, and there was no room to get away and breathe.
Grabbing his hand, she forced his fingers to click the button again to shut the light off. "Save the battery." But she didn't let go of his hand.
“You know, people always tell me they bet I was a great boy scout, but I wasn’t actually one at all.” His parents hadn’t allowed it, instead insisting on chess practice, debate teams, and later rowing. He’d made up for the lack of it and his own desires to explore by going off on his own, so really, they probably hadn’t made the correct choice there. “You learn to keep a lot of things on you when you go backpacking through Europe. Or more recently, traipsing around on unknown planets and in space.”
Gansey had to stamp down the urge to click the light a few more times before he just pocketed it again, and only refrained because of Blue’s presence and not wanting to flash light in her eyes multiple times over. He reached around to find a seat on one of the crates, next to her.
Probably a little too close, but he hoped she would be forgiving given that they were both stuck here. “Adam knows my schedule. If I’m missing for more than an hour or two, he’ll get Ronan and they’ll search for us.” Gansey was so matter-of-fact certain of that, of his friend’s loyalty, that there was no waver in his voice over it. He glanced up, even though he couldn’t see anything. “There’s probably still a vent in here, so we should have constant oxygen.”
"And we won't starve," Blue supplied helpfully, gesturing in the dark to the crates and realizing he probably couldn't see what she was doing she put her hand back down. Accidentally on Gansey's knee, before abruptly pulling it away. Why, suddenly, was everything she did somehow make it so she was touching Gansey? Undeniable urges? Her body and mind feeling the pressure of the knowledge of other Vallo and just giving in? She squeezed her hands into fists in her lap because that would surely prevent her from doing anything untoward—a word she had picked up from Gansey, who had never been untoward to her.
"But if they end up searching for us, Adam doesn't know you came to help me. It might be longer," Blue said, her heel hitting the side of the crate. The dark, claustrophobic space was making her feel anxious. And now she was worried that this momentary lock-in with Gansey was karmic. The other option was that it was more malicious, and that was not a thought she wanted to entertain.
Blue sat in awkward tense silence, turning over his comments about boy scouts and traveling; things Blue didn't get to do, not really. Space continued to feel the same to her. She nudged Gansey's foot with hers, since they were sitting so close.
"I know when you said backpacking through Europe it wasn't like that stupid gap year thing all the boys at Aglionby do. But if we ever get off this space station, I'd maybe like to go. With you. I've never been," Blue said, before adding in a rush. "Or alone. I could go alone too, and you could just give me the short list of things worth seeing and not looking like a tourist."
It was likely a good thing Gansey couldn’t feed on her anxiety, because she seemed to be the one thing keeping him from being nervous in the small, closed space. He already knew that he did not mind when she touched him, and the moment her hand was gone, he craved it back. “So, food and oxygen is covered.” It was probably a good thing she couldn’t see his lopsided little grin, too. “And the company is nice. That’s good.”
He made himself a little more comfortable on the crate and then bumped her foot right back, but kept his close, just touching her own. It was grounding for him. “Adam’s smart and resourceful and I’ve never known Ronan to give up on things he cares about easily. I doubt it’ll be long.” Of that, he was positive. Gansey could be so anxious and unsure of a lot of things, but his friends were not one of them. But then Blue was talking about wanting to go backpacking with him through Europe and his brain was shorting out at the idea.
“You want to-” He croaked the words, then cleared his throat and tried again. “Um. Yes, that’d be great. Very great. I know a lot of good historical spots that aren’t the tourist traps people visit. I think you’d like Latvia - it’s bright, colorful, has a lot of character. I only got to spend two days there but it was my favorite.” Were his palms sweating now?
Blue nodded, then nodded again, sensing the building anxiety between Gansey. Was it because he was thinking of something—or someone—else when he traveled to Latvia? Was he imagining Blue with him? Was she mentally drawing hearts around Gansey's name in her metaphorical diary? It felt so stupid to be like this, to pretend they both didn't acknowledge Ronan talking about kissing and marriage and all these things that had never happened here. Years ago it felt like they were hurtling toward something only for Blue to panic and push it far away.
But magnets, fate, and other universally connected things seemed to keep drawing them back together. God, she hoped this wasn't Adam or Ronan's doing by trapping them in here. Conspiring to hook them up was next level.
She huffed again. Kicked at his shoe, again. "I'd like to go. Maybe you take me on our honeymoon," Blue said, frowned, then tried again. "Not here. Like back in the other Vallo. Where Ronan says we're married. How did we even get married? I'm fundamentally against the institution of marriage. Maybe I was cloned. Or brainwashed or—" No, no she was saying the wrong things, she could feel it.
"We don't even date here, Gansey. We haven't even, you know." Kissed, she meant kissed, but she couldn't even say it. "I don't know how we get from one to the other." Blue was quiet, maybe for a second too long before the next part came out softer, and less frenetic than before. "But it seems like it could be nice."
Gansey felt like his brain was shorting out by the speed that Blue was going on about their marriage. Or maybe it was just the marriage in the first place. It was a rollercoaster of emotions where he got excited at the idea - at her bringing it up in the first place - and then deflated just as quickly when she said it was likely brainwashing. Ouch.
He winced in the darkness and was suddenly glad for the pen light being off so she couldn’t see it.
By the time she circled back around, his heart was beating a million miles a minute. Nice. It felt like it was nicer than nice, to him, but right now? He’d take nice. It felt like he’d moved forward a million steps with that one word. “Usually, people try for going on a date or spending time together, before jumping straight to marriage.” He could bring a little humor while his cheeks were flaming in the darkness, it helped hide his embarrassment.
Even though she was sitting next to him, right there, sharing space, it still made him feel more bold than he’d ever felt before on this ship - which would be his excuse later when he flopped down on Adam’s bed to groan in agony after she laughed him out of this locked cargo bay. “I’ve imagined it a lot over the years, with you, and it’s always seemed nice. Better than nice. I’ve never imagined anything nicer, than being with you.”
Realizing that Gansey was going for abject honesty while they sat here, Blue started to feel bad that she was trying so hard not to give in. To not take stock in what he was saying. She knew he liked her. She liked him, and couldn't remember a point when she didn't. But it always felt like the wrong time, like one day they were going to leave this space station and go back to Henrietta where everything that kept them apart was waiting and would force them apart again.
But it kept not happening, and so now she was here listening to Gansey say things like I’ve never imagined anything nicer, than being with you and she was gone. So stupidly, utterly gone. Why had she spent so much time pushing him away? "Definitely, definitely better than nice," Blue said, as she turned her face toward him. Or at least where she assumed where his face was. She was leaning in, in, in for a kiss—and was he leaning in too?—until her mouth hit his chin in an absolute miss.
The embarrassment of not actually reaching his mouth was worse than the fact that she was even trying to kiss him at all. Blue jerked back abruptly, and in an effort to fill the silence with something, she blurted out, "I lied to Ronan. I do want you to. Kiss me, that is."
Oh. Gansey jerked back at the same time, not having expected Blue’s lips to touch him. But there they were, on his chin, and he immediately felt his own hot sear of embarrassment for not realizing that was what she was doing. But then he scrambled a little, in an attempt to fix it, his hand reached out to snag her and not let her pull away any further.
Well, she still could, because he was relatively certain despite their size differences, that she could kick his ass a hundred different ways if she wanted to. Gansey felt with his fingers, and brought them up to her chin, where he could stroke the soft skin there with a gentle feather-light touch. He didn’t want to spook her.
But oh, how he wanted to kiss her. “Ronan says we shouldn’t. He was adamant about it, actually. But-” He was willing to not listen to Ronan this time, even if it could go badly. Worth it. “I wish you could be kissed, Blue, because I would beg just one off of you. Among all of this.” The crates and crates worth of food provisions would keep their secrets.
With Gansey's hands on her chin, and her sight still masked by darkness, everything felt overwhelming. Every sense left was on fire, and if Blue was sensible—which she was on a usual day, but this was not a usual day—she would pull away. But she couldn't deny the way her stomach was twisting into delicious knots, and she wanted Gansey to touch her more, hold her closer, kiss her and not have to beg for it.
She reached out to hang on to him, as if the darkness was going to make her float away. She needed some grounding, and Gansey was the best (and only) one who could keep her here.
"If something terrible happens when we kiss, I'm blaming you," Blue said, using Gansey's touch and her hand on his shoulder to direct her mouth to brush against his, not missing on the second try. If something terrible was going to happen, now would be the time. But she could still feel him alive and breathing, solid underneath her grip, soft where their lips touched. He was warmth with a hint of mint, and it felt right. Like they were always supposed to be doing this.
The kiss was chaste and brief, because Ronan's caps lock had been stamped into her subconscious. But now she could rub it in his face that they kissed and it was fine. Nothing to worry about. Maybe. "Gansey?" Blue asked in a small whisper. To make sure he was still with her.
He was still alive, but who was to say he was still breathing? The wind was knocked out of Gansey with the first (second?) touch of Blue’s lips, and he was almost certainly not actually breathing. Breathing might break the spell. Breathing would mean that he would need to move, to do anything that might change the course of this kiss.
It felt right. The sort of thing that books and movies had always said it was supposed to be, but like nothing he’d ever felt before. Like this was his destiny.
Even though it was chaste, he still felt like a teenager all over again, and Gansey’s face was flushed in the darkness as he pulled apart. But he didn’t remove his hand, just kept it there, touching. “Still alive.” A pause, and then he let out a little incredulous laugh. “I think, anyway. I might be dreaming.” If he was, he never wanted to be woken, as then he’d be brought back to reality.
Gansey let his hand drop from her face, and leaned away to give her more space. “That was very nice, Blue Sargent, thank you.”
"Not dreaming," Blue corrected. Because if this was a dream, then it was a shared dream which meant that Gansey could see other dreams of hers and she was not about to spill that brutal truth to him: that she had dreamt this too. Kissing Gansey was not just an active idea but a passive one. All these little moments where she would do things, or say things, or think things and always somehow Gansey was slotted in there, illogically or logically, it didn't matter. She wanted more real moments with him.
Except her face scrunched up when he thanked her, and she made a small noise of disapproval. "No, we're not doing that. You're not thanking me like this is a one time time thing," Blue said. She knew that Gansey might think it was a one-time thing—Blue had no intentions of getting stuck in storage rooms with faulty locks any more—but the kissing? No, that was now going to be an all-the-time thing.
"I can make it nicer," was all Blue managed out before she was pulling him in again to kiss him. If Adam and Ronan didn't find them right away, well. There were worse ways to spend the afternoon.