fictober 01: i need you.

sunny resisted the urge to make a face across the table at the imaginary illusive man sitting there, knowing full well it would come off as her making a joke of a serious situation. which in fairness, she did have a reputation for, but there was only so much a person could take of universe-saving-burdens before they cracked. hell, she wasn’t even the one who was in charge of the crew saving the universe, and sunny was stressed.

the lieutenant glanced over at tori, sat at the head of the mission table with her head propped up on both hands as she took in the bullshit that cerberus was insisting the crew take care of. it wasn’t even the illusive man himself this time- apparently he was too important for news of this nature. sunny couldn’t help the scowl that started to form at that thought- what he wouldn’t give to get a hand on that bastard.

a quiet cough pulled her from her thoughts, and he looked to his side to see thane staring at her with knowing eyes. more than once, sunny had bitched about the faceless head of the corporation, and the drell had listened every time and even agreed with a majority of the comments. sunny leaned into him and forced her face back into neutrality, keeping the commentary in her mind as the meeting dragged on for another few hours. by the time it was over, it was late into the artificial night of the ship and all members were dragging themselves off to bed, or to a quick meal before bed.

watching as victoria shuffled off to the elevator to go up to her deck, sunny debated on following her until tori caught her eye just before the doors closed. the commander gave him a tired smile, tucked both hands under her cheek to imitate sleeping, and a quick thumbs-up before the door closed, and sunny knew that to mean that she was going up to do some serious crashing in bed.

which left sunny to either go to her own bed in the crew quarters, or spend yet another night curled up with thane in life support control. it wasn’t a hard choice, and she easily caught up to the drell as he made his way down to the next deck. she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face into his back, effectively stopping thane where he was unless he wanted to drag sunny along.

“one would not regularly recommend sneaking up and grabbing an assassin trained from childhood,” thane said, putting his hands over hers, “but then again, you prove time and time again to not do anything regularly.”

“you are all so mean to me, and i haven’t even done anything. mean to me.” her words held no seriousness to them, and sunny smiled at the quiet laugh that escaped thane.

“how could i ever make it up to you, sunflower?” thane asked as he pried her hands loose from his midsection so he could turn to face him, and tilted sunny’s chin up to look down at her. she held his gaze for a moment before resting her head on his chest.

“beh. i just.. i need you.”

“rather straight-foward, are we?”

sunny’s head snapped up, and she stared up at him. for a moment, she thought she’d heard him wrong, but the faint upturn oh his lips proved that she hadn’t.

“my god, tori was right. i’ve corrupted you.” she muttered, pretending to be shocked and disgusted with herself, grinning when thane laughed again. “no, i just.. i think everyone could use a week of rest, but i feel like we’re barely getting a full night of sleep, let alone all that.” sunny sighed, and the pair resumed their walk down to life support control. thane said nothing in response, but the way he hooked an arm around her waist and pulled him close said plenty. sunny sighed and he leaned into the embrace, taking the quiet moment gratefully.

“should i expect you to sleep with me tonight?” thane spoke quietly as they neared their destination, and sunny snorted.

“the other option is i lay awake while that donnelly snores his teeth loose, so yeah, i would.”

“i can see why you’d rather not. i would assume i am a quiet sleeper, which certainly is better for sharing a room with.”

“okay but- you could read a dictionary and i’d be into it. love your voice.”

as the door to life support opened, and thane stepped in, he turned and smiled at sunny, “of that, i am well aware, sunflower,” he said, his voice low and sunny couldn’t help the shiver than ran up his back.

“you’re such a tease sometimes,” sunny muttered as he stepped into the room as well, and the door shut behind them.