adventures in vents

Darcy stomped up to find Jimmy and give him the cleaning kit, basically shoving it into his arms. He arched an eyebrow and smirked slightly.

“In a big hurry to get back downstairs?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s where I work,” Darcy replied.

“Right. After last night maybe you’ll be promoted to ship’s spy.”

“I’d rather not. I’m a mechanic, not an agent of espionage.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Jimmy chuckled and Darcy turned away, rolling her eyes.

“Doubt it takes much,” she muttered on her way out. She rounded the corner and ran into Daniel, unnerved when he actually smiled at her instead of just glaring and continuing on his way.

“Darcy, I was hoping I’d run into you. I didn’t get a chance to tell you that you did a good job with Moffett.”

“Yeah, great.” Darcy started to walk past him but to her annoyance he turned to stroll along next to her.

“You know, if you ever get tired of being stuck down there in the engine room you can always come up to the cockpit,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind giving you some flying lessons. You could get away from Miles for a bit. He’s such a drag.”

Darcy narrowed her eyes. “I like the engine room just fine, and you should lay off Miles.”

“He complains too much,” Daniel said dismissively. “You should’ve seen the bitchfit he had while you were at Moffett’s party.”

Darcy frowned. “What do you mean?”

“He was hogging the magnifier lens, being all sulky and yelling at us about you. Sometimes I wonder why I even keep him around.”

“Because your ship would fall apart without him,” Darcy said irritably.

“Whatever,” Daniel shrugged. “I’m not really interested in talking about Miles. We still have some stops to make while we record what the bug picks up on Moffett. We’re going to Edara next. It has an ocean and most of the buildings hover, with a network of walkways. That way you pretty much always have a view of the scenery. Most people think it’s a romantic place. I’d be happy to show you around once the job is done.”

“Have you started sampling your own cryopane?” Darcy asked, glaring at him. “Why are you trying to be friendly all of a sudden?”

Daniel flashed her what she assumed was his signature girl-catching smile, but she kind of wanted to kick him in the shin.

“Any guy would want to be friendly after seeing you in that dress.”

“You’ve seen me for over three months,” Darcy said flatly. “Ever since I joined the crew.”

“Yeah, well. No offense but I’m used to seeing you in your mechanic clothes and hanging out with Miles. I didn’t realize you were hiding a femme fatale behind the nerd stuff.”

“Which part of that wasn’t supposed to offend me?” Darcy muttered.

“Just don’t feel too shy to come up and hang out. The cockpit is more comfortable than a makeshift bed in the engine room, if you’d like those flying lessons. Or anything else I can offer.”

Darcy snorted. “Look, I need to get back to work. You’ll just have to play with your cockpit by yourself today.”

She marched off, exasperated with everyone. She burst back into the engine room to find Miles laying on the wheelie mat, most of him hidden inside the vent.

“I know the fan is fixed by now,” she said, kicking the door closed behind her.

“I dropped the wrench. Gotta find it before I can fix it.” Miles’s voice sounded muffled and dull from inside the vent. Darcy strode over, hooking her foot under the mat and pulling it so that Miles rolled out. She put her hands on her hips.

“You can’t just act weird around me forever,” she said.

“I’m not acting weird, this is how I always am,” Miles replied, trying to scoot back inside the vent.

“It is not how you always are.”

Darcy pulled on the mat again.

“Darcy, I need to fix the fan.”

“To hell with the fan! The other guys are being nice and flirty with me and it’s freaking me out and you’re acting like a mope.”

“I’m not—“

“Daniel said you yelled at them last night,” she interrupted. “When I was at the party.”

“They were just being jerks like always,” Miles mumbled, escaping yet again into the vent.

“So, you were defending my honor or something?”

She kicked his foot lightly when he ignored her. “Miles!”

Fed up, Darcy leaned down and forcibly yanked him out of the vent. There was a faint thud and Miles cursed. He tried to get away from her but she sat on him so he couldn't roll away again.

“Darcy—“

“Were you jealous?” Darcy demanded. “When Moffett kissed me? Is that what you meant when you said you felt like you’d never be happy? Because you think I’m going to run off with Moffett, or start hooking up with Daniel or something?”

“Maybe not them specifically, but you—I mean, I wasn’t jealous,” he said quickly. “I can’t be jealous, it’s not like we’re together. We’re friends. And you can do better than the guys on this ship. It’s your life and you can do what you want, I can’t stand in your—“

Darcy grabbed Miles’s collar and pulled him into a kiss. He froze and when she let him go he almost hit his head again falling back with a stunned look on his face. When a few moments passed and he just kept looking dazed Darcy started to wonder if she’d been wrong, her face getting warm. She’d probably misread the whole thing; who’d really ever be jealous over her?

“Forget it,” she said quickly, starting to scoot away from him. “That was dumb, I’m sorry.”

“No, Darcy—wait.”

Miles caught her arm before she could stand all the way up and she squeaked as she fell back, practically sitting in his lap. Her face was still red but she threw him an exasperated look.

“Miles, what the hell?”

He just looked at her for a second, then he caught her face in his hands and kissed her. This time she was the one who was surprised, but she got over it pretty fast and kissed him back. It wasn’t very comfortable with both of them sitting on the little mat, but she didn’t really notice until the mat rolled slightly and they almost toppled over. They drew apart slightly and looked at each other as Miles kept them from falling over in a heap.

“I don’t like Daniel,” Darcy blurted. “And I didn’t like Thane Moffett either. And they only liked me because of that dress.”

“The dress got their attention but it’s not the reason they’re into you,” Miles said.

“Sure it is,” Darcy said. “I know I’m nothing special. I have these dumb freckles on my nose and I’ve never seen anything interesting and I’m not pretty like Violet or—“

“I like your freckles,” Miles said, frowning. “It’s like you have tiny stars on your face, and they stand out when you do that little scrunching thing with your nose when you’re concentrating really hard. And you’re way beyond pretty. And you’re smart, and fun.”

Darcy felt her face turn crimson. She realized there was a little bruise forming on Miles’s forehead from when she’d pulled him out of the vent and grimaced slightly.

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean for you to hit your head. That’s probably why you’re saying all this stuff.”

Miles made a sound between a snort and a laugh. “Darcy, I’ve been wrapped around your finger for weeks. It’s not a product of head trauma.”

“Oh,” Darcy said softly, tugging at her jacket sleeve. Mikes cleared his throat, looking a little flustered.

“Um. Listen, Darcy, I meant it when I said you could do a lot better than anyone on this ship. If this was just like a heat of the moment thing, I won’t hold it against you or anything. I don’t want to be like those other assholes upstairs, so if you tell me to get lost, I will.”

Darcy rolled her eyes, but she was smiling slightly. “Why would I do that? Daniel said we’re going to Edara next and apparently, it’s supposed to be romantic. I can’t explore a romantic place all alone, can I?”

“No, I suppose not.”

“Daniel offered to show me around, but I’d rather see it with you. I’ve never seen an ocean before, but it seems pretty special. You wouldn’t leave me to share that experience with Daniel, would you?”

She gave him her best big, imploring eyes and he cracked a smile.

“I would never,” he promised.

“Good. And since I know that stupid fan is fixed, you can stop hiding from me in this vent and come to the pillow kingdom instead.”

“Yes, ma’am.”