Ronan Lynch (alteridem) wrote in valloic, @ 2024-03-07 20:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, the raven cycle: richard campbell gansey, the raven cycle: ronan lynch |
Log: Gansey & Ronan (Space plot)
Gansey just breathed out a little sigh. “Remarkable.” It was. All of it was. He had gotten to test fly ships that Adam and Rocket were always tinkering with, and had flown back from a few scouting missions when pilots had been incapacitated in some form or another, but he hadn’t flown anything like this. Gansey touched on the leather seats as he walked through the common space, “How long did it take you to learn how to fly it? They made me go through six months of vigorous flight training to even be a backup and I had a little flight experience already.”
Well, with helicopters. But it counted!
Ronan leaned against a console and crossed his arms over his chest as Gansey wandered around the ship. He'd been proud of it already - especially considering it hadn't blown up or left them drifting somewhere in space. But seeing Gansey's wide-eyed appreciation made Ronan puff up a bit like a proud peacock. He smiled crookedly as he looked towards the pilot chair.
"How long? Fuck, I don't know. I just knew? I mean I dreamt it to work for me and I based it on driving a car." The flight controls even looked like the wheel of Gansey's beloved car at home. It seemed only right since he was borrowing the name. "And it's not like I had to clear any shit with NASA. I said I was going and I said I had a ship," he shrugged. His gaze snuck back to Gansey and his eyes were helplessly needy for praise. He was always needy for praise. "It's pretty cool though, right?
Gansey sucked in a sharp breath. “You are exceptionally lucky, Ronan. What if space didn’t agree with your methods?” Then he wouldn’t be here talking to Gansey, and Gansey wouldn’t get to see his best friend after years of being apart. He was glad for that luck, and Ronan’s clearly improved dreaming abilities. “But it’s very cool.”
He continued on through the ship without instruction, Gansey’s hand going over the metal plates and the smooth interior that reminded him of the Pig. “It makes me miss the Pig. Adam and Rocket have been building an experimental jet that they let me test pilot occasionally, but it’s much smaller. It helps scratch the speed itch, even if I’m not as bad as you are.” He ducked himself into the cockpit and took the pilot’s seat before Ronan could complain, and his eyes drifted to the console. “It also doesn’t have a switch that says ’don’t get shot’.”
"It's not as much luck anymore, old man. I actually know what I'm doing at least…sixty-five percent of the time," Ronan joked. His smile was pleased and more than a little smug. Gansey was a terrible judge of what was cool, objectively speaking, but he also possessed one of the only opinions Ronan gave a single fuck about, so it balanced out. He followed Gansey to the pilot chair with his eyebrows rocketing towards the ceiling.
"Wait. Did you say experimental jet? Sounds about as dangerous as the Pig, I guess. But if the Pig broke down, it wasn't a big deal." The wide window above the pilot's chair only showed them the hangar the Galactic Pig was parked in, but it wasn't hard to remember what it had felt like to look out at all that space. He resisted the urge to be a hypocrite and tell Gansey not to risk his life so casually. Instead, he nudged Gansey's shoulder. "Tell Parrish you want switches. What's the point of an experimental jet if it doesn't have fun switches?"
Gansey grinned - it was a stupid, wide thing, that held a little too much joy. He’d missed Ronan terribly over the years, this was the longest they’d ever been apart, and he had hated every minute of it. Adam wasn’t always the most forthcoming when it came to admitting the same, but Gansey knew he felt it too.
“You never know when you might need something with cloaking technology, or the ability to perform rescue operations in half the time, or something that can go where other jets can’t.” Gansey responded reasonably, all of the excuses they’d used while working on the jet. “I’ll be sure to put in a recommendation about the switches, but I can’t promise he’ll listen. Are things really good with you two back home? I’ve always wondered what the potential was there.”
Ronan sat on the pilot console, crossing his arms loosely over his chest. A small jealous part of him squirmed at the thought of Gansey and Adam building a jet capable of cloaking together. He was glad they were doing cool shit together, he reminded his stupid selfish brain. If Gansey still hadn't won over Sargent, at least he had Parrish to make him feel appreciated and safe to be his charmingly nerdy self.
"We're married and obnoxious about it so yeah. You could say things are good," he smirked. "Things are good for you too. With Blue." He dropped his chin to give Gansey a knowing look. "Matthew even had a boyfriend I didn't hate for a while but Vallo sent him home unfortunately." He didn't mention Noah. Ronan hadn't forgotten Noah, of course, but it hurt a little less to think of him now, years after he'd left Vallo. He didn't want to make Gansey hurt. He never wanted that. "Are you okay here? I mean, besides the jet building. You're in fucking space, Gans."
Gansey made a knowing little hum of agreement. “You’re obnoxious about most things, it would stand to reason.” It was still said affectionately, as he looked up to meet Ronan’s gaze. “It’s like that there, too?” He could've hoped that it wasn’t, that they’d had things a little more together on the ground than they did in space. Gansey had lost friends and colleagues, and knew that others had lost much more.
“I’m sorry to hear that. It’s the same here. But I’m good.” It was easier to poke around at the switches and steering wheel console than it was to look at Ronan and be reminded he’d have to lose this soon enough. “I’m a scout, so I get to go on missions and explore other worlds! Look for new planets, map the stars, learn new languages. It’s like backpacking around Europe but with aliens.”
"Damn, man. Don't sound too excited," Ronan grumbled, only half-serious. He couldn't help the sour stomach. Jealousy would always be his downfall. The worry that his loved ones could survive just fine without him - worse, that they could thrive - that would probably be a quiet whisper in the back of his head for a few more years at least. He liked to think he was better now than before at least. He didn't break anything or stomp off to get trashed. Instead, he lifted a foot to push the pilot's chair, making Gansey spin in a circle.
"Seriously though? It sounds good. Besides the shit that is happening right now anyway." He sighed, hating all of this. Stupid Brontisauruslov or whatever the fuck his name was and his stupid necklace. Though he supposed portal opening beasts and whoever created them were the real problem, but still. There was nothing he could do about that.
Ronan stood up, scowling. "You wanna see the rest of this thing? There's a game room."
Gansey squeaked out a noise of surprise when his chair suddenly started spinning, and he caught himself when he only was halfway. He floundered a little and leveled a look on Ronan he hadn’t gotten to level in a few years. Affectionate exasperation. But it melted away just as quickly as it flashed, and he just stared with something a little more serious. “It’s good. Okay. But it could be a lot better.”
A lot better if Ronan was here. He probably didn’t need to say it, but Gansey wanted to anyway, as it was the truth. “If you were here. For good, I mean. I know you have your own people to get back to, people that would miss you just the same as we do. But it’s a hope, right?” Ronan could change the subject and move them away from it, but Gansey would stay steadfast in that. He missed his best friend.
That also meant Ronan could ask him if he wanted to do target practice or go steal a jet and he’d probably agree right now, but it was best to not give him extra ideas. “Show me everything.”
Ronan breathed out. It did help to hear it, as stupid as that need was. He knew exactly how desperate he would be to keep Gansey if he was stuck in a world without him. He'd just watched exactly how awfully that could go. Thank fuck, Gansey was a better person and had Blue and Adam to guard him against his own self-sacrificing choices. Hopefully.
"Yeah. I swore to Matthew that I'd come home, but even then. It'll be hard to leave. I could dream you a copy of me?" he joked darkly, tugging Gansey out of the chair by his collar. "But I'd have to make him kind of lame so you didn't think it was an upgrade." He led the way to the game room, where a very familiar looking pool table sat. There were even board games in cabinets on the wall, because his loved ones were all goofy ass nerds.
Gansey winced at the idea, even if it was a joke. Half of him wasn’t even sure if Ronan did it right that they’d be able to tell the difference, and that was a little scary. But awe-inspiring in it’s own right. “Please, no. What would we do if our Ronan arrives next week? They’d hate each other. It would be a whole thing.” Adam might offer to bury him out back, it would be messy. “I can hold out hope for you. I want you to fix this for yourself, and get back to your family. Just know that you’re missed.”
He could get distracted by the environment to spare throwing more sap at Ronan, and Gansey let his hand trail across the familiar felt of the pool table he hadn’t seen in years. It felt nice under his skin. “We’ll have to grab everyone tonight for a game night. Do you have Catan on board? I’ve missed it. Adam usually beats me at all of the games we have here.”
"Relax, Dick. I wasn't serious," Ronan snorted. There'd been a time when he wouldn't even have been able to joke about making a copy of himself without worrying that he'd do just that without even realizing it. He'd grown since then. In power and in control, if nothing else. Maturity was still a crapshoot depending on the day. "But hey, you were gone for a day and I traveled through fucking space to find you so…you could say you're missed too."
Ronan's sappy vibes took a bit of a nosedive at the mention of Catan - or at least he used it as an excuse to be a butthead.. He gave a giant dramatic sigh and slapped Gansey on the back as he moved around the pool table. "I'd rather watch Parrish wipe the floor with you than hand over Catan first thing. You'll have to earn that one," he teased. "Maybe if you beat me at pool later."
Gansey beamed. There was something about being on the receiving end of Ronan’s full brunt friendship that could be occasionally overwhelming, but often incredibly worthwhile. And, selfishly, Gansey liked to be told someone came for him, because this group of friends he had were the only ones that often did. To know that Ronan dropped everything to dream up a spaceship for them-- well, it made his cheeks flush alongside that grin.
He wasn’t even bothered by the thought of Adam kicking his ass at whatever space board game they were playing - it was common enough and Gansey knew full well just how smart Adam was - he just had that dumb grin. He bumped Ronan’s shoulder with his own. “I have an hour before I’m expected to be anywhere. We could get a headstart in case you want to demand a rematch after I win?”
Gansey's doofy face made Ronan roll his eyes and smile in spite of himself. Literally no one would be shocked to learn he was a big fucking softie for his best friend, but he could pretend it was an abnormal occurrence of this abnormal situation. He tugged a pool cue out of a futuristic-looking alcove and handed it over to Gansey.
"Ooh," he said mockingly. "He sure talks big for someone who apparently has no game in this universe." His grin was crooked and fond as he moved towards the other end of the table. "I'll give you a freebie and let you break. Seeing as this is probably all the ball action you'll be getting for a while…"