Work Text:
Silco has no problem working in dark, dangerous crevices the size of a coffin. He just hoped he wouldn't end up dying in one.
Looking back, he's aware now of how casually he ignored the warning signs. Too busy in his own head after he'd caught himself staring at Vander. Again. Poor guy had only lifted the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat off his brow, but Silco was lost in the sight of the happy trail. It's not that such a vision that confounded him but his reaction to it. Too flustered and embarrassed to heed any mind to the rumbling above him. By the time he felt the shift in the stone it was too late and everything happened too fast. The tunnel caved in all around him. The last thing he saw before being entombed in darkness was the horrified helplessness on Vander's face as he reached out to Silco.
And now the dust has settled leaving nothing but an erie stillness. And Silco is left alone realising how truly fucked he is.
"Silco! SILCO!!" He can hear Vander's cries through the ringing in his head, his ears… everything. As solid as those helmets are Silco has found their limit the hard way. "Can you hear me!" Vander calls out again. Desperate.
"I'm alright!" The dust scratches Silco's throat with every breath.
"Hang on we're gonna get you out!" Felicia joins in.
"Leave him!" The foreman barks across the commotion. "He's as good as dead. Not worth the manpower!" Figures a Piltie would leave him to rot. His bitterness for being lumped into glorified guard duty is palpable.
"We know he's not!" Felicia roars at him.
"He'll be dead before you make it halfway up the elevator shaft! You'll just be recovering a corpse! And that's time and money we don't have for someone who is replaceable!" The foreman screams.
"Fine! Prove to your superiors how unreliable you are with the small team you have. No sweat off my ass if they drag you deeper into the fissures!" Felicia snaps back and what follows are several moments of silence. Silco doesn't need to be there to see how red in the face the foreman is getting.
"Let's see if we can get some extra hands from the northern tunnels before he suffocates." The Piltie concedes. Barely.
For a moment the thought of being alone wells like dread in the pit of his stomach. Silco stops himself from begging anyone to stay. As if he would disappear into the darkness the moment everyone turns their back.
"I'm not leaving Silco." Vander's voice sounds closer than ever. "I'll stay here and start clearing some of this rubble I can move." The conviction is a comfort.
"Got it. Hang in there, Silco!" Felicia calls out.
"I promise not to go anywhere..." Silco jokes back. What else can he do?
"Are you hurt?" Vander's concern cuts through the sound of turning cogs and straining cables as the old elevator lifts most of the miners out.
"Got conked in the head a little but other than that I'm in one piece."
"OK, let me see if I can…" Vander trails off and suddenly once more the rattling within Silco's tiny pocket start to scrape and crumble.
"Stop!" Silco cries out trying hard not to let the panic get to him as his confined space just becomes a little smaller. "Careful! You don't need to be making this any more cramped!"
"Sorry!" Everything stills once more. "What's it like on your side? Do you have any wiggle room?"
"More snug than wiggle."
"Define snug?" Vander's honest questions come off as ridiculous enough to make Silco feel irritable.
"I dunno, Vander! I'm not having a party here any time soon!" Silco huffs, failing entirely at not being irritable.
"Aw. No fancy drinks with tiny colourful umbrellas?" As if water off a duck's back, Vander eases the tension at least enough for Silco to let a chuckle out. It felt… relieving.
"Nah. It's all on the rocks." He sighs, resting his head against the stone in comical defeat.
Vander lets out a shameless laugh and the sound gives Silco goosebumps. He loves stealing a glance at the way joy travels through Vander's body and loves that it's him that did it. He feels almost proud about it. Silco can almost picture him doing it now and something in his chest tightens.
"Already sounds better than the local we got… You have to walk in apologising just for wanting a drink!" Vander bemoans. The sorry state of the one place miners can unwind is a common topic with him.
"Gods, remember when I suggested to at least put some music on? Brutal." Silco huffs in wholehearted agreement. That place is such a dreary hole, dimly lit to hide the stains but nothing in the world can cover the stink of old kitchen grease that stick to the walls.
And yet he'd give anything to be there right now. Hunched over his drink, whispering eager schemes and watching Vander's eyes glint with fire. If he got out of here he promises himself to never take such a thing for granted again.
"When we get our own place we're gonna have a big jukebox." Vander breaks Silco's derailing train of gloomy thought. "Give everyone a chance to pick and the music will never stop."
"We…? Our…?"
"Of course! We've been a team so far, right?"
"I've never been good with charming crowds and pouring drinks…"
"Oh you'll have your hands full running the city!" The way Vander talks about their dreams so casually makes it sound almost inevitable.
"You have this all mapped out, I see..." He leans further against the stone. Too cold and hard for it to feel like Vander but Silco makes do.
"Well what were you picturing? Where did you see yourself down the line? You can be a little selfish, I wont tell anyone."
Silco's chest feels tight again. Is he supposed to be selfish now? When he's so close to dying? He can't imagine being that cruel to Vander. "I don't think I can…"
"Start with something small."
"Having one of your broths again."
"Really? Felicia always complains that they're too thick."
"To me it's perfect." Silco found little joy in always being so hungry. But there's something in Vander's dishes that feels like an experience. Silco rubs his eyes raw at the thought of never getting the chance to eat another dish. To see Vander's proud little smile whenever he relishes every spoonful.
His headlamp flickers again, the erratic light sputters pathetically and dies out. The darkness is so sudden, so black, that it startles Silco enough to throw him off. He tries to calm himself. Not even his eyes can get used to such a void. "Vander??" He calls out as if by instinct.
"I'm right here!" Vander reassures him. "Everything alright? What happened?"
"My light's snuffed it…" It's so dark. Silco can feel that fear being fanned by just how dark it is. Makes Silco feel bleak. Numb.
"You've never been one to be scared of the dark."
It's true, hiding in the shadows has always been one of Silco's most useful assets to stay alive. But there's no light here to cast those shadows, nowhere to hide. "I'm going to die and I won't even see it coming…"
"You'll be out of there soon I promise!" Vander's encouragement comes off as childish in the midst of such darkness.
"How about making a promise you can keep?" Silco tries to laugh but it comes out bitter. "Will you light a candle for me? I can embrace dying but the thought of not being remembered scares me."
"We're getting you out of there!"
"You heard our beloved foreman. I'm replaceable."
"Not to me." Vander cuts him out. Drawing Silco's attention drawn from the darkness around him. "This might not be the right time… But there's something I've been keeping secret and I want to share it with you."
Silco holds his breath.
"I love you more than anyone in my life…" Vander confesses.
Silco feels winded and covers his mouth to hold back a gasp. But his tears come all the same. It feels so good to hear Vander choose him. Looking back now, spending so many years too scared to find out makes Silco feel like a fool.
The rumbling picks up again and this time, instead of panic, there's a sense of acceptance and a fatalistic sense of confidence. "My heart was yours till the very end, Vander." Vander having to live with such knowledge makes it sound closer to cruelty than mercy... "think of me when things are bad and know that you were deeply loved." But the thought of dying without letting Vander knows how he feels pierces him painfully. The distant shaking is getting louder and his little chamber is getting smaller. He huddles up. Pulling in his knees. "I'm glad it's me here and not you, I'd miss you more than anyone in my life." Silco chokes out.
"Oh fuck this!"
"Vander, what are you doing?!"
"Either we die together or not at all!"
Silco hears the sound of rocks scraping together and feels the dust and debris bounce off his helmet. Vander's lifting one of the heavier stones, crushing the little ones above making enough room for light to begin spilling across the ground. He can hear Vander's grunts turning into full on yelling from the strain of lifting what sounds like the weight of entire fucking fissures. Silco doesn't need much room and the moment he can he dives towards the light. Every second he's crawling through the opening stretches like a tunnel. But he makes it and Vander drops the stone, sealing the gap for good. Causing the tunnel to collapse even further until even the pebbles settle once more in silence. And so does the dust. The only movement coming the two figures holding each other.
Vander leans back to get a good look at Silco with visible worry. "You alrig-?"
Perhaps Silco got a bit too used to the darkness because Vander's eyes are shining brighter than he's ever seen them. Hells, just the mere sight of him has Silco lunging at Vander with a desperate urge to finally feel his warmth. Wrapping his arms around behind Vander's neck he pulls himself into a kiss. Vander doesn't miss a beat, even with his hands still strapped to his metal gloves he wraps them gently and kisses Silco back. But the momentum has them falling back, Vander lands on his arse with little grace but Silco falling on top of him leave him winded. Not too winded to laugh, though. There's those goosebumps again, but now Silco can do something about it. His kiss is deeper this time, stealing a moan from Vander. Both of them so lost in the taste of each other that they don't even notice the elevator coming to a halt.
"What in the sweet hells did we miss?!" Felicia's loudly amused voice cuts through the moment. She's straight up cackling.
"Unbelievable!" The Piltie guard is red in the face "Waste of time and resources!"
"You took initiative, sir." Vander got to his feet, a huge figure somehow manages to make himself nonthreatening when he wants to. "I was just driven to help thanks to you."
"Howsabout a drink on me… sir?" Silco joins in "As a thank you for saving my life."
"I'll hold you up to that." Works a charm. Insecure fools are easily buttered up. "Now get to work, you two have a lot of catching up to do."
The two steal a glance at each other, shamelessly grinning. "Oh yes we do." Silco agrees.