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[marineris]

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[donkeyballs]

"I think you could try to give me a run for my money," he said, smiling broadly at her as he settled into the chair - close enough that their arms brushed each other.

He started dealing the cards out.

"Look, if you have a better idea, I'm all ears."

[marineris]

"I said dealer's choice, didn't I?"

So she's not going to complain. His arm brushes hers, and she leans into the contact.

"Want to bet something?"

[donkeyballs]

He chuckled as he dealt the cards out, then put the stack of them down on the tray table in front of him, leaning a little into her.

"You Anna make a bet over go fish? Yeah, alright. Why the hell not. What're your stakes, Gunny?"

[marineris]

Bobbie takes the cards and shoots him a smile.

"If I win, you buy me a nice bottle of gin when we get to Titan. If you win, you can pick whatever you want."

Christ that last typo of mine

[donkeyballs]

"Whatever I want, huh." He pretended to muse over it for a minute while he looked at his cards.

"Alright, you're on. Got any nines?"

EMBARRASSING!!!

[marineris]

Hopefully she's not going to regret that offer.

"Nope. Go fish."

Just throw me in the trash tbh

[donkeyballs]

He drew a card, making a low thoughtful noise as he pulled out a pair of fours and set them down.

He was trying not to think about 'whatever you want'. He really, really was. A bottle of gin, there, done. Nothing else to consider. Except that he was considering other things, and was considering them far too closely, really, to pay full attention. So by the time they had got to the third round, he tuned out for a few seconds, somewhere else entirely, and missed what she asked for.

"Uh- sorry, gunny, what did you want?"

Re: Just throw me in the trash tbh

[marineris]

"Threes?"

She smiles teasingly, nudging him in the side. He's clearly not paying attention.

"Something on your mind, sailor?"

[donkeyballs]

"Uh - Right, yeah. Here you go." He handed her the three that was in his hand, then hummed low and kept his eyes on his cards.

"... Just thinkin' about that gin, I guess."

If Gin meant 'whatever you want', then sure, that was close to accurate.

[marineris]

"Yeah?"

She takes the card, rearranging her hand and then peeking back up at him.

"Gin can't be that complicated."

[donkeyballs]

He let out a snort of a breath.

"You ain't had decent gin, if you believe that. The gin itself might not mean much but indulgin' in it sure does."

He tilted his head, but his eyes didn't rise of his cards. "Queens?"

[marineris]

She slips the card from her hand and offers it to him.

"You're a crap liar, Alex."

[donkeyballs]

He looked up at that, obviously surprised, and he felt the slight heat around his collar again as his eyes dropped.

He took the queen, carefully slotting it into his hand, chewing over his next words.

"... Not sure what you want me to say, Gunny," he admitted after a little while. "I thought I was losin' you for good. It's hard not to keep comin' back to that."

Or coming back to all the things that made him realise.

[marineris]

Bobbie considers that, studying him for a moment. After a second's hesitation, she reaches out, brushing her fingertips against his cheek.

"Hey. We made it, yeah? We're okay."

[donkeyballs]

He let out a breath, nodding, too aware of the skin of his cheek, of the light touch of her fingers.

Christ, he was an idiot.

"Yeah." He swallowed, nodded, then forced his eyes to meet hers, a little sheepish, a little sad. A little searching. "I know. Just have really been able to get my heart to relax about it, yet."

[marineris]

He doesn't pull away, so she doesn't, either, shifting her hand to cup his cheek.

"The game's not doing the trick, huh?" She's better at compartmentalizing, she thinks. She was trained for it. No point in dwelling over what could have happened when there's plenty to deal with in the present. Alex isn't like that, though—he has a big heart, and though it's one of the things about him she finds herself drawn to, she knows things hit him harder.

Bobbie lets out a breath, her voice softening. "I'm not going anywhere. Promise."

[donkeyballs]

He leans into it, subconsciously, as if she's drawing him closer. He can feel his heart flutter a weird beat, and tries to tell it to calm the fuck down, to no avail.

"Sorry," he murmurs, feeling almost like he's letting her down for dwelling on it, and he feels almost ashamed, by how much her words mean to him. "I'll be alright, Gunny. Just- gotta let myself catch up to believin' it."

[marineris]

He's not letting her down, and she's not entirely sure why he's apologizing. She's suddenly very aware of their proximity, and even more painfully aware of how much closer to him she wants to be.

"What can I do to help?"

[donkeyballs]

He lets out a long breath, the fondness ebbing through even his nervousness, and he offers her a small smile, and reaches up to carefully brush a strand of her hair back behind her ear. If his fingers lingered as they brushed their skin--

"You having made it is already more than I could ask from you, Gunny. For a second there, I - I don't think even the flotilla blowin' up would have even reached me. You were all I could see."

[marineris]

She closes her eyes, savoring the contact, leaning forward without realizing she's doing it. Just being here alone with him, the rest of the ship quiet, is filling her with a contentment so strong she can't remember the last time she felt something like it.

"I wouldn't have made it without you."

[donkeyballs]

He hadn't pulled back, fingertips still resting gently against her chin, the half limbo state where he knew he needed to pull away, and yet - yet he really couldn't.

Me thought about how he should reply for about two seconds, and then he was moving, before he could either speak or think too hard. He let his hand cup her jaw and then pull her a few inches closer, pressing his lips to her with a quiet longing need.

[marineris]

His lips meet hers, and the only coherent thought she can manage is finally. She drops the cards to the tray, tangling her now free hand in the fabric of his jumpsuit as she kisses him back, heart hammering. It feels so natural, so right, that it's easy not to think, and easier still to deepen the kiss.

[donkeyballs]

He wasn't sure what he's been expecting. A laugh, maybe, a gentle shove and a raised eyebrow and a wry comment. Not this. Not an answering need to his, not the sudden spike in his own heart rate as returned the kiss with a quiet fierceness.

Relief spread through him instantly, the warring parts of him arguing about how he was too old, too boring, too much of a friend to be anything else suddenly disappearing. His heart slammed with yearning against his ribs, and the hand that had been resting on her jaw slid back into her hair, gripping the back of her head as he held her harder against him, the groan low in the back of his throat as he gave in, completely, to what he's been trying to deny he'd wanted this whole time.

[marineris]

The groan sends a shiver straight down her spine, and she presses closer, one hand sliding into his jumpsuit, fingers brushing against his collarbone. She'd been dismissing this out of hand for too long—because of distance, and because they had no idea when they'd see each other again. Snatched conversations on the way to the ring had been as good as they could get, so there was no reason to bring it up, especially not when things were such a mess with Talissa. Now none of that seems to matter. It all seems so silly compared to the affection overwhelming her, and the desperate need to get closer.

one day they'll have a first kiss that doesn't involved grave bodily harm

[donkeyballs]

She's getting closer, alright, but that also means she's leaning out of the chair, and he can feel more of her weight shifting onto his chest. It takes a lot to get his brain to process the fact that he didn't exactly want her falling out of the chair and hurting herself again. He also really, really didn't want to stop kissing her. At all. Ever, if he was honest. So that only actually left him one option, and that was to stand up - pressing into her as he did so, pushing her back down onto the chair where she needed to be.

He did break the kiss, but only so that he could breathe, and in a low rumbled drawl murmur, "Careful, Gunny."