Sasuke yanks his seatbelt open and then he's floating. He kicks off the wall, zooming straight through the door with a little too much velocity. Damn it. He absorbs the impact with the corridor wall with both hands, aiming himself in the right direction. He knows in zero grav you're not supposed to move away from the walls and a good, solid handhold, but dragging himself hand over hand would be too slow. If the gravity reappears when he's floating -- whatever, he can pilot with a leg in a cast.
He can't pilot if the mechanic died of engine shrapnels to the face.
"Status!" he snaps when he reaches the machine room. The door's cracked open where it should be airtight and for a second he's sure he's going to come into a charnel house, bodies floating limply, red droplets orbiting them like tiny ruby moons.
"No need to yell, flyboy!" a voice answers from somewhere he can't see. His heart lurches and starts thinking about not hammering.
After a few seconds he finds a pair of feet sticking out from under a piece of machinery. He's very tempted to go kick them. Their owner sounded so unconcerned.
He snaps. "Would it kill you to use the interphone?"
"Right now? Yeah, kinda."
Sasuke pauses. ... Ah.
"Hand me the big twisty wrench, wouldya."
Sasuke clenches his teeth to keep from -- he's not sure what he would yell, but he would. He launches himself off the wall to catch the floating wrench, and then he flips in the air and kicks back. He sees the top of Naruto's face popping out of a grid, catches him looking and pretending not to be.
"Here." He holds the wrench out.
Naruto grins suddenly, in that way that always makes him wary. "Can't stick my arms out from over here. Gotta have to follow me underneath." And as Sasuke glares, he adds, "Ain't nothing wrong with a bit of honest motor grease, princess."
Irritated, Sasuke drags himself to the crack between wall and motor Naruto wedged himself in, and wriggles waist-deep in. It's a tight fit, borderline claustrophobic. Good thing you don't pilot a spaceship when you're scared of being locked in. He slaps the wrench in the mechanic's hands. "Here."
"Good. Now can you move higher and hold that piece for me? I don't know what genius forgot to make it magnetic but it keeps floating off on me."
If Naruto sounded mocking, or even just a little bit amused, Sasuke would go right back out and let him handle it, but he doesn't. He's... not extremely serious, not in the 'deep shit' way, but not teasing either. Sober -- a rare expression on him. So, Sasuke crawls up. He moves his arms up until they're framing Naruto's face, and he presses on the piece overhead.
In the process of not looking at his focused expression, he notices that Naruto's arms could have fit out to get the wrench just fine.
He's still thinking of explosions and critical system failures and bodies floating like they drowned and him being all alone in an empty ship, so even after the piece is soldered back in and Naruto has gone on to repair things he doesn't need a second pair of hands for, Sasuke stays, in the dark crawlspace with him. And he watches his sober face, and his steady hands.
"Better to stay where you can't be pinballed around, yeah," Naruto says as he works, so casual Sasuke knows he isn't, knows that he knows.
He finishes off his repairs and then the sparks die down and they're quiet together in the dark, so close they can feel each other's heat.
Afterwards Sasuke doesn't remember who kissed first.
NaruSasu - in space!! (they keep getting longer DX)
Sasuke yanks his seatbelt open and then he's floating. He kicks off the wall, zooming straight through the door with a little too much velocity. Damn it. He absorbs the impact with the corridor wall with both hands, aiming himself in the right direction. He knows in zero grav you're not supposed to move away from the walls and a good, solid handhold, but dragging himself hand over hand would be too slow. If the gravity reappears when he's floating -- whatever, he can pilot with a leg in a cast.
He can't pilot if the mechanic died of engine shrapnels to the face.
"Status!" he snaps when he reaches the machine room. The door's cracked open where it should be airtight and for a second he's sure he's going to come into a charnel house, bodies floating limply, red droplets orbiting them like tiny ruby moons.
"No need to yell, flyboy!" a voice answers from somewhere he can't see. His heart lurches and starts thinking about not hammering.
After a few seconds he finds a pair of feet sticking out from under a piece of machinery. He's very tempted to go kick them. Their owner sounded so unconcerned.
He snaps. "Would it kill you to use the interphone?"
"Right now? Yeah, kinda."
Sasuke pauses. ... Ah.
"Hand me the big twisty wrench, wouldya."
Sasuke clenches his teeth to keep from -- he's not sure what he would yell, but he would. He launches himself off the wall to catch the floating wrench, and then he flips in the air and kicks back. He sees the top of Naruto's face popping out of a grid, catches him looking and pretending not to be.
"Here." He holds the wrench out.
Naruto grins suddenly, in that way that always makes him wary. "Can't stick my arms out from over here. Gotta have to follow me underneath." And as Sasuke glares, he adds, "Ain't nothing wrong with a bit of honest motor grease, princess."
Irritated, Sasuke drags himself to the crack between wall and motor Naruto wedged himself in, and wriggles waist-deep in. It's a tight fit, borderline claustrophobic. Good thing you don't pilot a spaceship when you're scared of being locked in. He slaps the wrench in the mechanic's hands. "Here."
"Good. Now can you move higher and hold that piece for me? I don't know what genius forgot to make it magnetic but it keeps floating off on me."
If Naruto sounded mocking, or even just a little bit amused, Sasuke would go right back out and let him handle it, but he doesn't. He's... not extremely serious, not in the 'deep shit' way, but not teasing either. Sober -- a rare expression on him. So, Sasuke crawls up. He moves his arms up until they're framing Naruto's face, and he presses on the piece overhead.
In the process of not looking at his focused expression, he notices that Naruto's arms could have fit out to get the wrench just fine.
He's still thinking of explosions and critical system failures and bodies floating like they drowned and him being all alone in an empty ship, so even after the piece is soldered back in and Naruto has gone on to repair things he doesn't need a second pair of hands for, Sasuke stays, in the dark crawlspace with him. And he watches his sober face, and his steady hands.
"Better to stay where you can't be pinballed around, yeah," Naruto says as he works, so casual Sasuke knows he isn't, knows that he knows.
He finishes off his repairs and then the sparks die down and they're quiet together in the dark, so close they can feel each other's heat.
Afterwards Sasuke doesn't remember who kissed first.