WHO: Dixon Albatroz & Star WHAT: A late night talk WHEN: October 18th WHERE: b52, cockpit WARNINGS:N/A
The flash of light made Mina freeze, but it was ultimately the roaring outside that made her heart stop. Her little hands gripped tightly at the pillow. She had promised herself to be brave, that she could sleep this night by herself.
By the next lightning strike Mina was knocking on Zack’s door. There was no response other than the rumbling of thunder that had the walls trembling. She clutched at her pillow tighter and tried again, tiny fist tapping insistently against the door.
It opened a few moments later, revealing Zack with rumpled hair and clothes and another one of his frowns. Lightning struck again, turning his figure into a silhouette, but she jumped into his arms anyway. His chest rose and fell with a sigh, rumble of thunder traveling down his ribs and her cheek. “Again?” he asked, and she nodded, face pressed against his chest.
He shut the door behind them and led Mina to his bed, hefting her small frame onto the sheets and scrambling onto it himself. “Go to sleep already,” he said, swaddling her with the blankets and sheets around them. “It’s only a storm.”
“But,” she tried not to sniffle as she clutched onto the sheets, “mom and dad haven’t come home yet. They said they would be home tonight.” She blinked up at Zack, her eyes the only thing peeking through the conglomeration of blankets and pillows. “What if they don’t come back?”
Zack was silent, unsure if he wanted to pursue this line of conversation. He didn’t, so he reached over to ruffle her hair and push her head down to the pillow. “It’s fine. I’m here, aren’t I? I’ll stay awake and keep you safe, so sleep.”
“You promise?” she asked, and he nodded.
“I promise.”
The sudden jolt caused her to sit up wide awake. Her hands had already ghosted over the control panel as her eyes shot open, skimming through the radars and other screens. There was nothing and it was only once this registered that she felt her body relax.
Her fingers combed through her bangs as her palm remained pressed against her forehead, and then she looked to her right and saw her copilot sitting there. Dix sat back against his seat, watching the radars as he blew across the top of a mug.
Eventually his eyes flicked over to meet hers and he set the mug down next to Star. It was hot chocolate. Nothing he would ever drink himself. “I know you have a lot of beauty sleep to catch up on, but if you’re going to sleep behind the wheel then you may as well switch shifts with me,” he drawled, now turned to face her.
Her fingers reached out to grab the mug. It was still hot, but the smell alone was enough to bring her some comfort from home. She grinned up at her brother. “Thanks,” she said, because she was raised with manners. Her eyes drifted back to the radars. “We’re just orbiting.” Star shrugged. “Besides, I could’ve sworn I closed my eyes for just a second. How long have you been here?”
“About half an hour,” he replied. In truth it was perhaps half of that at most. Dix had been passing by when he noticed Star’s head tucked against her crossed arms, and after settling in this had been his second time reheating that mug of hot chocolate. Nothing worth sharing. “How long until we switch?”
Star took a quick glance at the watch on her wrist. “Another hour?” She took a sip of her hot chocolate, smiling as she felt the hot liquid warm her bones. “I’m up now, promise I won’t fall back asleep. You can go back to the room if you want.”
Dix shrugged, a slight movement of his shoulders. “Nah, nothing better for me to do.”
Her eyes shifted away from her brother and back towards the window. She rested her head back on her seat. By now she had decorated her station (much to Castor’s dismay) and felt the comfort of the plush pillow at the headrest.
There was a long silence between them. It wasn’t awkward. Dix and Star didn’t always argue. Sometimes they simply enjoyed each other’s silent company. However, it was rare to catch her brother alone.
“Do you miss home?”
He couldn’t remember the last time he had visited their home. It was before he ran away to enroll into the RAC, nearly a decade ago. Their house had been wide, spacious, and lavishly decorated—an image that the rest of Mars was not, which was loud and raucous like his sister who somehow managed to bring some of that into their hushed childhood rooms. “No,” he answered. “I don’t. You do?”
A frown pulled on her lips, but she kept her eyes focused ahead. Her arms wrapped around her legs as she pressed them towards her chest. “Sometimes, I guess.” Star grinned over at her brother. “But I like it out here too. No way you’d get a view like that,” she motioned with her head towards the stars, “back at home.”
There was another pause. “Do you miss racing?”
“Sometimes.” Racing provided a daily thrill that was hard to match. Piloting an entire spaceship was more about responsibility and consistency, such as maneuvering through the dead nights such as this one. Bounty hunting had its own charm to it though.
After a pause he added, “Mostly the guys.” Ronnie, Lys, Jori—even that dumbass Rocky who never stopped angling after Star once he brought her onto the scene. He cast his gaze from the expanse of stars to his one, eyebrow arched. “Did you ever sleep with Rocky or that other kid, Cody?”
“WHOA!” She nearly spat out her chocolate. “What’s with the accusations?!” It took her a moment to regain her composure. “No, of course not. Cody’s like my friend. I mean him and Noa. We were like the three musketeers—the three amigos. No way. I mean, Cody’s cute, but he’s my friend and I like him being my friend.”
Somewhere, deep in his thoughts, Dix wondered if it was his doing that engineered this response to anything overly sexual in nature without fail. The corners of his mouth quirked upward. “I sleep with plenty of my friends,” he pointed out. No one on the crew, because they weren’t really friends, but that was beside the point.
“Do our parents still give you shit,” he asked, easily switching from the previous topic to asking about their family again.
Star was quiet for a bit. “Remember how dad gave us cards so we wouldn’t have to worry about paying for anything. Just a swipe of the card and that was it.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “I still have mine and well.. I haven’t run out of woolongs so I assume they’ve been filling my account. I don’t really want to bring it up to them though.”
She misinterpreted his question; he had been asking whether their parents still gave her trouble over, well, everything. Everything besides what she spent their money on, apparently. So that was how she afforded some of her things, he mused.
His younger sister turned to look at him and asked, “Wait, you switched topics before I could ask— have you slept with Ireland then?”
No. “Yes,” he said instead. “We’re in a very committed friendship. Don’t tell anyone though; he’s too shy to admit it.” Too far of a stretch. Ireland would probably tell everyone the extent of their friendship if they bothered listening; he probably already did, so Dix redacted, “People wouldn’t understand.”
Star squinted her eyes. “I’m pretty sure friends don’t fuck.” There was a pause filled with uncertainty. “Have I been doing friendship wrong all this time?”
“You can do friendship however you want. That’s what friendship is all about,” he replied, waving his hands in an arc in front of him. “Rainbows and sparkles, the good shit.”
She nodded quietly to herself, taking another sip of her hot chocolate. “Guess you’re right.” She gave Dix a glance. “I promise I won’t tell anyone about you and Ireland.”
“Thanks,” he replied, and shot back with, “I can't promise I won't tell anyone about your lack of game.”