Work Text:
Something is off.
Things are rarely not off on their dingy spaceship, but this time it feels worse than a blinking dashboard light or the bathroom door not unlocking. Significantly worse. The past three hours have been mostly uneventful, with only him and Kevin on board, coming back from an interplanetary delivery. Smooth sailing, as smooth as it can be, anyway. As the medic of the team, Aaron is the part of nearly every expedition, no matter how small the task or how short the distance is. There is always potential for something to go horribly wrong. The rest can mostly hop on and off as they like, even if Aaron has some strong opinions about it.
Deliveries are less exciting than fixing jobs. They don't require the whole team to come too, so it's always a gamble who has to come with Aaron. Aaron swears Kevin loses on purpose sometimes, but he never asks. Kevin is probably one of the better options to be stuck on a spaceship with for a few hours.
As much as everyone tries to make him into an extension of his brother rather than accept him as his own person, Aaron unfortunately doesn't have any of Andrew's spaceship mechanic skills. Nothing is blaring red yet, so Aaron takes it as good enough sign to go fuck off in rest area for an hour or two. As long as they're moving forward, it's not his problem.
Kevin is curled up on one of bunk beds with a book, either not noticing something is about to go horribly wrong or just not caring. Since they travel alone so much, Aaron got into the habit of lying down next to Kevin with the excuse to see what he's reading, but really, they always end up cuddling no matter how much Aaron internally fights it. It's not exactly totally-platonic-we're-friends cuddling, but it's not madly-in-love-with-you cuddling either. Aaron doesn't necessarily needs a firm label on it, he's just happy to be there, mostly. Others will take the job of assigning them a set relationship dynamic anyway. Still, it's probably the first time he's experiencing that kind of intense connection with a guy, and it's fucking with his head a little.
"Has anyone even checked this heap of garbage before sending us off?" Aaron asks after he climbs on the mattress, one of Kevin's arms immediately bringing him closer.
"Do you think they want to get rid of us that badly?"
"Something is not right."
"Nothing ever is."
"No, I mean— This thing will blow up into pieces because of a faulty wire level not right."
Kevin furrows his brows and closes his book. "What makes you say that?"
"I don't know. We're moving wrong. The ground shakes more than usual. Sixth sense."
"I can go take a look." Kevin is no mechanic, but he has probably still picked up more of how to do that stuff than Aaron. "For our sake, I hope your gut feeling is wrong for once."
Aaron follows Kevin through the corridor and looks over his shoulder as he presses a few buttons in the main room and looks over what wires and cords he has access to. Aaron would be clueless if asked to do the same, but Kevin stays awfully quiet too.
"Everything looks fine on the surface." Kevin shrugs, already turning away to return to his book. His hand brushes against Aaron's.
"Yeah, let's just… Whatever." Aaron takes Kevin's hand. He says nothing else.
They settle on the bed without admitting they want to snuggle. Kevin picks up the abandoned book, but he's not really reading, merely flipping the page when he remembers he should be pretending right now. Aaron lies down pressed against Kevin's side, face in the crook of his neck. He doesn't know what to do with his hands. His palms burn when he tries touching Kevin.
Once Kevin puts the book down it's over. They twist into a less uncomfortable position, cocooned together despite the spaceship's heating still working fine. Aaron feels like his head is underwater, but he breathes in deeply. It's not anything special, of course it isn't. And yet, Aaron doesn't know where he ends and Kevin begins.
Aaron realizes they can never be truly alone. There's always someone there, either behind the door or in the next room. If they got caught holding each other like that, Aaron would ship himself to the nearest galaxy and never come back. Maybe having so many gigs with Kevin isn't so bad at the end of the day. He doesn't have to worry about an extra set of eyes watching them in the dark.
The lights in the room are dimmed. Kevin gently brings Aaron's face to his own, so close their noses brush. A set-up like this is begging for a kiss, so naturally they try to close the gap, closer, closer—
The most obnoxious alarm sound Aaron has ever heard in his life rings through the entire spacecraft. Panic settles deep in his gut as they scramble off the bed. If the shaking was subtle then, it's hard to stay upright now. There are no red lights, thankfully, but the noise makes it hard for Aaron to think clearly. Okay, so maybe they are trapped in space in a metal box that might or might not explode. Or something.
"Check the controls for warnings, I'll try to send an emergency signal." Kevin runs off in the opposite direction of the control room before Aaron can protest. Considering he never handles the more technical stuff, he doesn't know what to exactly look for. Well, the display warnings should be pretty easy to spot. What to do about them? Not so much.
Five symbols blink at Aaron right as he looks at the control board. Right. He may not have experience in fixing spaceships, but he has worked under stressful conditions before becoming the crew's medic. There was a never a time in the human history when having others rely on you to save their life wasn't stressful. He can handle this.
He identifies the first symbol as fuel leak. Probably. That's what it looks like to him. The next two are a mystery. Temperature. Impact.
In short, they're fucked either way.
Aaron is trying to come up with something he could do without possibly causing more damage as the shaking continues. He's pretty smart, so he should've seen it coming when he entered the room — there are some smaller spare parts and tools stored in boxes above his head (you really have to utilize every inch of space when your spacecraft isn't one of those huge luxurious ones). A disaster waiting to happen, if literally everything else wasn't already going to shit.
One of the boxes falls down. Aaron realizes a second too late. It's loud, he can barely see what he's clicking, he doesn't even register the clamoring at first. He watches the piece of metal that's probably one of the spare parts fall in slow motion. It only hurts for a split second.
"…Aaron, I swear to the stars, if you don't open your eyes right now, I'll fucking—"
If anything could bring Aaron back from the dead, it would probably be Kevin's rambling, if only to tell him to shut up. He's probably not dead, but it's eerily quiet now. Kevin is kneeling on the floor with a first aid kit open. Aaron has to focus really hard to connect the dots.
"Did you…? Are they…?" Full sentences are hard.
"Yes. You're safe now." Kevin visibly deflates, finally able to relax a bit. "Got it under control. We're stabilized, but we can't move. They're coming to get us."
"Alright." Aaron doesn't ask for more details. All he cares about is that they're not going to be stuck here forever. "The irony of bringing a medic to have him almost die. Hilarious."
"Don't. Not— Not you too."
"Sorry." Aaron sits up and lets Kevin give him a tight hug. "I know you were worried, but it's probably a concussion at worst. Wait, am I bleeding? Was I bleeding?"
"No, but you scared me enough without that. Are you cold? Every system is basically down."
"I am."
Getting carried back to the bed is the last thing Aaron expects, but it's strangely pleasant. Would picking up where they left off too weird? Is his brain just scrambled now?
Kevin wraps a blanket around them and holds Aaron close. "Better?"
Aaron relaxes as much as he can and concentrates on the warmth. "Yes."
Do they talk about the almost-kiss? Is the cuddling more acceptable now that they're technically huddling for warmth? What is acceptable after being hit on the head with a scrap of metal inside of a spaceship that is failing in every conceivable way, actually?
The familiarity of the touch eventually wins over the awkwardness. Aaron sometimes wishes he could crawl into Kevin's skin and stay there. Have him even closer, in a way that touching, kissing or having sex don't satisfy. That doesn't mean he doesn't want the kiss, though. He's probably owed as much after nearly dying.
"We really should start bringing a mechanic all the time." Aaron wants the kiss so much it makes him feel pathetic, but he'd rather have a hammer fall on him than actually talk about his wants out loud.
"They never listen when I say that." Kevin shifts so they're facing each other. No interruptions now, hopefully.
"Maybe they will now." Foreheads pressed together, eyes closed. Aaron can feel how fast Kevin's heart is beating.
Kevin leans in first, Aaron follows. Isn't it what he always does? He leads and some follow, or at least that what Aaron sees. It's not a kiss like the ones Aaron hears about everywhere; their lips brush, he accidentally hits Kevin with his knee, it ends after what feels like a few seconds.
They try again. This time Aaron takes the lead, it's not like he hasn't kissed people before. He's just stressed and tired. Maybe losing his mind a little, too.
The second attempt is much better, it can actually be called a kiss now. They go slow, Kevin holds his face, and everything feels scalding hot despite how cold the room is. He wants more, so much more, as much as he can get.
"This okay?" Kevin asks when they finally take a break to breathe.
Aaron nods and kisses the corner of Kevin's mouth. "How long do you think it'll take them to get to us?"
"Maybe two hours?"
"Want to show me what else you can in those two hours?"