adventures in vents

Two weeks had passed since Darcy came to join the crew, and Miles still wasn't sure what to make of her. He supposed she was civil with him, but she would glare at him if he ever got too close. He once made the mistake of reaching over her shoulder to flick a switch on the control panel when she was standing by it. The slap on his hand was probably well deserved.

By the end of the two weeks, however, he felt like Darcy may have been letting the tough act loose a little bit. Around him, anyways. She avoided the rest of the crew, but she was hard as stone around them. When she and Miles were in the engine room together, at least she wasn't getting snippy with him anymore.

It was kind of nice to have a mechanic around. Miles knew his way around mechanical work, but as an engineer, he mostly focused on drawing up plans and testing them out. Having a mechanic who was an expert in working with the tools and could follow his plans without questions definitely sped the process up for him. Even if they were never friends, at least they could work together.

As the ship cruised, Miles took a quiet opportunity to take a nap. He had his room, but he also had a few cushy pillows for the floor when he didn't feel like going up there. He was just starting to doze off with a cap over his face when someone suddenly took the cap off. He blinked a few times as his vision adjusted to the light, and he saw Darcy looking down at him.

"Huh?" he grumbled. "What, is something wrong?"

"There's something up with the vent," she told him. "It's making a weird noise."

"Oh," Miles said, sitting up.

He sort of awkwardly looked at Darcy, wanting to ask her about it but not wanting to set her off. She seemed to figure out he was on his tiptoes, so she sighed and sheepishly explained.

"It's this buzzing noise," she said. "I guess... I can't figure out the problem. So I need your help. Or whatever."

"Oh, sure."

Miles was surprised to say the least. Darcy never asked for his help. Sometimes he offered it, but she never asked. It seemed like she was swallowing her pride to ask him now.

"I know the one," he told her. "We always have problems with it. The buzzing is from the fan getting stuck. It's not really an error so much as a shitty part we can't find a replacement for because it's outdated and none of the new ones fit. Can you get me the mat, please?"

She nodded and set down the wheeled mat they used to work while on their backs, underneath things or in cramped spaces like the vent. Miles rolled back to the end of the vent and saw where it turned to go vertical. Sure enough, the fan was struggling to move. He tightened one of the bolts, then smacked it with the butt of his wrench to get it going smoothly again.

"Do you need to oil it?" Darcy called from outside.

"Uh, yeah," Miles called back. "Good idea. Can you hand it to me?"

He felt her put the can in her hand so he could oil the fan, but suddenly the fan started whirring way faster than before. Miles cursed as his fingers got pinched between the blades.

"You okay?" Darcy asked.

"Yeah, looks like someone decided to boost the jets without announcing it," Miles grumbled. "I wonder who."

He rolled back out from inside the vent, taking a deep breath as he sat up. Darcy handed him a clean rag to wipe the grease off his face. It looked like she was smiling, but she stopped as soon as Miles looked at her.

"If you run into that fan issue again, just tighten the bolt and smack it to get it going again," Miles said.

"Okay."

He got up to get out of her way, but surpringly she followed him back to where the pillows were and sat near him. Not too close, but closer than she'd ever been. It seemed like maybe she wanted to talk, but Miles wasn't sure what to say to her.

"You squint a lot," she said after a while. "Have you ever gotten your eyes checked?"

"Uh, yeah," Miles said awkwardly. "Once or twice."

"I think you need glasses."

"So does my doctor."

He reached into his shirt pocket and took out a pair of wire framed round glasses. When getting them, he hadn't thought much of it. He only had enough money for the cheapest frames, but when he got back to the ship the entire crew started to laugh at him. They said he looked like a dork, and they got a kick out of breaking the glasses or hiding them so Miles couldn't find it. At some point, he just decided to stop wearing them.

"You're dumb," Darcy told him. "If you need glasses, you should wear your glasses."

"I can see fine," Miles shrugged. "It's just reading and working with small parts that gets tough, but I manage just fine."

"I still don't get why you don't wear them."

Miles checked over his shoulder to make sure no one was coming down before putting them on.

"They say I look dorky," he said. "So they give me a lot of shit for them. I don't care what they think of me, but the teasing can get tiring."

"I think they look fine," she said. "They suit you, honestly."

Miles smiled as he took them off, and she gently punched his shoulder.

"Don't get weird about it," she warned. "I just said you look like a guy in glasses."

Despite the light smack, it felt more playful than genuinely aggressive. Miles tucked the glasses back into his pocket. Her not-compliment was nice, but he'd gotten used to avoiding the glasses. She was quiet a little while before speaking up again.

"You seem normal," she said.

"Thank you."

"How'd you end up with these assholes?"

"I didn't have a lot of other options," he admitted. "Daniel was my neighbor when we were kids. He had a ship and was ready to leave, and I knew I was probably as good as dead if I didn't take the opportunity to go with him."

"Good as dead?"

"Yeah," Miles said. "Don't mention it to Daniel, I guess. He likes to tell people he was raised on Holenn. You know, that forest planet? We're from Vexa."

"Vexa," she repeated in surprise. "I didn't know people still live on Vexa."

"They don't," Miles said. "Not anymore, at least. The planet was so devastated by nuclear warfare that it doesn't sustain life anymore. But I still lived there until I was fourteen. A bomb killed my parents when I was pretty young and destroyed my house, so I was a street kid. Daniel's parents were rich, so when they died and he got his inheritance he spent it on this ship. I hopped on the ship and left. A week later, the last nuclear bomb hit and wiped out what little life was left."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay," he shrugged. "Can't linger on the past now. If any positive came from it, I have pretty thick skin and I don't waste time trying to be better than anyone. I'm just glad to be alive."

Darcy was quiet for a bit. Then she settled more comfortably in her seat. It was nice to see her let her guard down a bit. When she wasn't looking like a hissing cat, she was actually quite pretty. And Miles could acknowledge that she was brilliant.

Two days later, they landed on Gorvin. It was small, but it was completely covered in urban high rises with speeders zipping from building to building. Gorvin was considered one of the luxury planets, despite only being a moon. Only the most privelaged lived there, and many tourists came to see the bright lights and nightlife. Daniel stopped there pretty often to make deliveries, both of their luxury foods and cryopane imports were in high demand.

Usually when they landed, Daniel was the one who took control of business. Miles would give the ship a check, but the rest was up to him. Darcy had been glued to the window since they got near Gorvin, and when they landed, she was to distracted to be much help to Miles with the checklist. He didn't bother her about it. It was the first place they had been since leaving her home planet.

When he was done, he wiped his hands off on a rag and went up to stand by her.

"Are you going to go explore?" he asked.

"Can I?"

"Of course," he said. "You can do whatever you want. I actually like Gorvin, there's a few spots I like visiting. There's some good street food on the lower floors, and theres a nice pub on floor 824 that has this really interesting smoky drink."

She seemed interested and like she wanted to ask him where else to go, but got a little embarassed about it.

"Do... you want me to take you around?" Miles asked carefully. "I know my way decently well."

"Yes, please."

Her answer surprised Miles, but he just smiled and nodded. He was happy to take her on the tour. Maybe they could even be friends.