Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Akmazian is pretty sure the first time Ryan really saved his life was after the trial. Sneaking himself back onto EOS 10 was going to be tricky enough. Would have been nigh impossible without the alliance uniform. He’d pulled it on in the Silent Storm while still on Earth. From pictures he’d seen on of the Admiral he’d guess they were a close size but the uniform wouldn’t help if it fit badly. He felt stiff in it. He hadn’t been in his own Alliance uniform since before he’d become a spy. Wouldn’t be much of a spy if he’d swaggered around with Alliance insignia all over him like neon lights. Fit well enough, though. He tried not to think about the Admiral. If he did he’d rip the uniform off in shame and guilt. He swallowed, breathing deeply to settle himself.

He’d returned to where Ryan stood in the cockpit, hands clasped behind his back as he stared out the viewing glass, almost a military pose, in his own alliance uniform. Akmazian was surprised to find him still there, he had a wake to get back to after all. No reason to hang around on an illegal ship. Ryan turned as he heard Akmazian approach, eyes sweeping over his father’s uniform, Akmazian saw him swallow and the small shake of his head that threatened to shake loose his gelled hair, a pink lock loosening to stick up slightly from the rest. Part of a cow lick Akmazian knew Ryan had but that he was currently trying not to think about. Ryan in uniform was distracting enough. Those thoughts were only in the back part of his brain, a distraction to reign in the thought process about the position he’d put Ryan and the Admiral in enough to keep him doing what needed to be done. He used the attraction to hold himself steady.

Ryan very studiously looked away from his father’ s uniform to Akmazian’s face, gaze focused enough that it was obvious that he was also trying not to think too much about the current circumstance he was in, rubbing his thumb up and down his forearm and the inside of his elbow, over the fabric of his uniform nervously.

“I don’t suppose you can tell me your plan to get back on EOS 10?” his smile was rueful and kind of fake. Akmazian was far better at the false bravado, smirking back at Ryan, playing the game, used to this.

“Not much to it Darling, waltz in looking like a pretty little Alliance officer and then drop back off the radar. Easy-peasy, long as the Saucier can keep up his end of the plan.”

“Do you really think trusting Levi with a delicate operation is wise?” Akmazian grinned wider.

“You worried about my safety, Darlin’? I’m touched.” Ryan rolled his eyes.

“I dislike you.” He then stepped up to Akmazian, straightening the lapel on the uniform as the lock of pink hair finally freed itself and hung over his forehead. Akmazian very deliberately kept his gaze fixed straight ahead, over Ryan’s shoulder as the shorter man pulled out the shoulder’s of the uniform to sit it straighter on Akmazian. He stepped back, looking over Akmazian one more time. ”Try to get in a shower before getting back on the station; it’ll help with the disguise. And try not to die.” Ryan advised, heading for the exit.

“Aw, Darlin', you do care.”

“Shut. Up.” Ryan didn’t even look back but Akmazian just laughed.

Getting back on EOS 10 went smoothly. He hadn’t managed a shower. Honestly he couldn’t really remember the last time he’d had an honest to god shower. It wasn’t a readily available commodity for the fugitive. He banished the thought that wondered if using the pity card would convince Ryan to let him visit his quarters more often for such a convenience. He didn’t need the distraction of a fantasy of Ryan in the shower that came with it while trying to sneak onto an intergalactic, alliance-controlled travel hub. Although that was certainly something to think about later.Levi was surprisingly smooth when he needed to be, demanding the attention of the security officers at the station with his rank, actually managing to pull off a royal aura as he pulled himself to his full height, having donned his left over royal robes instead of his regular EOS 10 uniform for the event. Smooth mighta been the wrong word. Maybe just attention demanding. Either way he was good at it at least. Although his dramatics and dedication were appreciated, they ended up largely unnecessary. One look at the alliance insignia and the guards hadn’t even looked at his face. The uniform alone would have probably got him on the station without Levi’s help. No use in disappointing the little bugger though.

“Look here,” Levi started, loudly, commandingly, “This is my guest, that I have royally summoned to visit me AND he is an Alliance office, there is no reason to on either side of this for you to be so stiff. You are being inhospitable to my guest!” Akmazian was pretty sure the bored officers waved them away so that Levi’s shrill voice would stop. He didn’t blame them. Wouldn’t help though. According to the plan, Levi spent several minutes graciously and effulgently thanking the officers, blocking the flow of incoming visitors to EOS 10 while Akmazian negotiated quickly for his ship be transferred to an unused docking bay as he would be here for an ‘unspecified’ amount of time and Levi demanded privacy for the belongings of his royal guest and then unobtrusively slipped into a maintenance shaft that would lead him back to his cargo bay. A guard’s yell of, “Fucking move it, dishwasher!” ringing in his ears as Levi continued to annoy (distract) the guards, apparently correcting them on his promotion with quite a lot of huffing.

The uniform would have definitely been enough.

Chapter Text

Akmazian wasn’t sure whether Ryan had really saved his life or Levi’s after the fiasco with the Orchid, which Akmazian had heard about afterwards, because he had been stuck in the fucking maintenance system for Twenty. Four. Hours. Not counting a small reprieve when they had finally, FINALLY, made it to the upper docking pylon, Levi and the Oracle tumbling out into the middle of a group of Alliance security officers. Akmazian had luckily been in the rear of the party and able to catch himself in time. Levi had shoved himself and the Oracle back into the shaft, throwing unconvincing excuses around as the officers stared at the saucier in resignation, most knowing him from the kitchens.

Based on Levi’s declaration of, “showing the revered oracle a good time in the way of my people” and the Oracle’s prophecy that one of the security officer’s “meet the soul of his superior” Akmazian was pretty are the officers decided they DID NOT WANT TO KNOW, and just allowed Levi to go back the way the he had come. Akmazian respected their collective decision of ‘not my problem’. He sincerely wished he could do the same. After that, and threatening to kill Levi as soon as they were out of these fucking maintenance shaft maze at least six more times, Akmazian saw a familiar shaft and quickly headed for it. Luckily Ryan was alone.
“Hello, Darlin. Good to see you’re safe and all in one piece, Dr. Dalias.” If he hadn’t been stuck in a cramped space for twenty-four hours he would have been laughing his lungs out at the way Ryan jumped, smacking his forehead on the interface screen he was looking at. Ryan quickly recovered though, looking around the room for Akmazian. Levi squeezed into the space next to the space terrorist.

“Dr. Dalias, hello! Up here!” He waved as Ryan finally looked up, Straining to see them through the slats of the vent in the ceiling.

“Levi? Akmazian?”

“Oh doctor, how nicely to see you again.”

“Wha-…what on Earth are you all doing in there?”

“Well, Dr. Dalias, I would love to explain but we’ve been stuck in here a while and if you could let us out it would be much appreciated and then Levi here,” He squeezed the back of the alien’s neck harder than necessary, the Saucier flinched, opening his mouth to argue, Akmazian talked over him, “can tell you all about this little misadventure.” Ryan nodded, looking down and back around for something.

“My eyes are up here, doctor.”

“Haha.” was Ryan’s monotone response before he grabbed something out of Akmazian’s sight and then wheeled over a hospital bed, taking care to lock the wheels before climbing on top of it to reach the vent and work it open with something metal that Akmazian still couldn’t see very well.

The vent gave suddenly. He crashed out, falling flat to the floor in the middle of an infirmary, narrowly missing the metal edge of the hospital bed Ryan still stood on. He was pretty sure that Levi and the Oracle landing on top of him did the same damage the bed would have though. He was up in a second, ignoring the pain in his ribs and back as he pulled his blaster on Levi.
“You stupid-“ He froze, blaster pointing at Ryan’s chest. Ryan was giving him a very disapproving look. Akmazian glared back, peering over to see Ryan’s shoulder to see Levi, hiding behind the Oracle who seemed as serene as ever as she cheerfully remarked,

“Savagery.”

“What are you doing?” After a day spent in small tunnels, Ryan’s calm and even tone was infuriating. Akmazian didn’t look away from Levi.

“Well, I promised to kill this kitchen boy parading as royalty as soon as we got out of our predicament and I always keep my promises, really best if you just get out of the way, Doctor.”

“Usurper, save me! My skin is to delicate for life or death situations!” Ryan didn’t bat an eye at Levi’s plea.

“Shut up, Levi.” The Oracle giggled, humming slightly as she turned to Levi,

“Royal end will come with dark and pleasantly musical.” Levi blinked at her. “Is that a good thing?” Akmazian stepped forward aggressively, that damn Saucier was gonna get what was coming to him. Ryan stepped forward to meet him, arms out stretched, chests almost touching, to block him.

“My eyes are down here.” Akmazian finally looked down at Ryan, meeting his determined, violet gaze. Ryan held him there with his eyes as the doctor addressed the Saucier.

“What happened, Levi?”

“Oh now, the Usurper wants me to talk. Probably so he can steal more from me like-“

“Levi!”

“We went through the maintenance tunnels to reach the upper docking pylon. We were concerned that you and Nurse Johns would be unsafe. We thought you might need…backup.”

“That was yesterday evening. It’s 2100 hours. The Orchid isn’t even docked at EOS 10 anymore, its headed back to Earth. Missing its captain but still…mostly…intact.” Ryan hesitated on the last part of his sentence. “Why were you still in the maintenance tunnels?” Akmazian growled, breaking eye contact with Ryan to glare at Levi again.

“Because kitchen boy got lost and almost got my cover blown and now I aim to do something about it”

“I’d like to see you try!” Levi yelled back as he cowered behind the Oracle again. Akmazian tried to shove past Ryan.

“I am gonna rip your little head -“ Ryan shoved him back and Akmazian was more than a bit surprised at the shorter man’s strength as he forced Akmazian back, pinning him against the infirmary wall and pushing his blaster down towards the floor as he cut him off,

“Levi, you’ve been missed in the kitchen’s you should probably check in someone tries to move in on the Saucier position and I’m sure your guest could use some rest. You should both go.” Akmazian was trying very hard to focus on his murderous goal rather than the way Ryan was pressed against him, unyielding.

“But Dr. Dalias what if I contracted something in the maintenance tunnels? I demand a thorough examination and a tetanus shot.”

“ You don’t need a tetanus shot, Levi.” Ryan gritted out, still fighting with Akmazian, who was trying to raise his blaster high enough under Ryan’s arm to get off a shot at Levi.

“Give him a second and he’ll need more than that.” Akmazian growled.

“I don’t think this is the safest place for you, Levi. You can schedule and appointment with me after you've made sure no one has staged an uprising in the kitchen.” Ryan gave up using his hands and blocked Akmazian’s blaster with his full body, physically pressing the man harder into the wall to pin his firing arm between them. Akmazian growled again, Ryan ignored the rumbling against his own chest. Akmazian tried very hard to ignore the warmth of Ryan against him, struggling against the smaller man, trying to gain some distance and with it some perspective. He was very unsuccessful in both areas. Ryan was surprising squirmy and dexterous. He tried not to think about that either.

“Perhaps you have a point, Dr. Dalias, you’ll need the to get a kit together to test for anything I could have contracted and I am worried about what may have transpired in the kitchens. Goodbye for now.” Levi finally scampered out the door, towing the Oracle behind him as she waved at Ryan, into the main, bustling part of the infirmary, door hissing closed behind them. Akmazian glared down at Ryan, breathing hard. Little bugger was strong, dammit.
“You’ve made me break a promise, Dr. Dalias.”

“I promise not to let, Levi tell all your smuggling contacts how soft you’ve gotten.” Ryan snarked as he stepped back from Akmazian, watching him warily as though worried he’d bolt after Levi. Akmazian holstered his blaster, stretching his fingers after having them crushed between the two of them, other hand sliding off Ryan’s hip as he moved away.

‘Now you say that all sarcastically, but it is a serious concern.” He was starting to notice the pain in his ribs (he was pretty sure the Oracle’s elbow had single-handedly cracked one) and was not looking forward to the trip back to the cargo bay. He was so over maintenance shafts. He hadn’t eaten since before the thing with Oslo. He told himself that his ordeal over the last 48 hours was the only reason Ryan had been able to overpower him and tried not to wish Ryan was still pressed against him, holding him down. Ryan eyed him critically.

“When was the last time you slept?”

“Careful, Doctor, I’ll start really thinking you care.”

“Akmazian, I literally almost got court-martialed for you, testified about your innocence, got my father killed trying to prove that innocence, and illegally helped sneak you back onto EOS 10. I have since continued to try and help you find ways to prove your innocence and uncover the conspiracy in the alliance, which has, in the past twenty-four hours, required being implicit in the death of an Alliance Captain. On top of that I am a doctor, whose job it is to literally make sure every being on this station is healthy and medically cared for. Even hidden fugitives. If all of that doesn’t prove that I care about you I really don’t know what will. And no, that doesn’t mean I will let you kill Levi, I’ve put far to much time and effort into keeping him alive at this point.”

Ryan looked angry which was…rare. His ability to remain calm in tense situations was something that Akmazian had admired since they first met. Also, death of an Alliance Captain? Akmazian for once, didn’t know what to say. His usual bravado had disappeared about fifteen hours into the maintenance shafts.

The reminder of everything Ryan had gone through to help him weighing heavily in his gut. He had hoped the cat might…negate some of the bad he’d done on Ryan’s life. But that was stupid, of course. A pet wasn’t going to fucking fix anything. He looked at Ryan and tried to come up with something to say, to lighten the situation. Nothing came. So he pulled out his camera and shot a picture of the doctor, pink hair sticking up in stress, bags under his eyes, scrubs falling off one shoulder after their struggle. Ryan stared at him, baffled.

“What the fuck?” Akmazian grinned at him, pulling his hood and cape straighter around himself.

“Its normal.” He slid out the door, leaving Ryan sighing deeply behind him, running a hand through his bright hair.

Chapter Text

He tracked down Jane a few days later, after some rest and food in his still cold and lonely cargo bay to get the full story of what happened on the Orchid. There were some holes in her story but it was Jane. He couldn't have expected a story without embellishments. He rolled his eyes at her account of Ryan being immune to the artifact. The good doctor probably hadn’t even looked directly at the thing. After that Akmazian’s life went back to tracking down leads and avoiding Ryan, trying to minimize the damage, hoping distance could heal the doctor’s life from some of the wreckage Akmazian had triggered. 

The third time was a toss up of if the doctor had tried to kill him or save him, though the good doctor probably wasn’t aware of either fact. Honestly the only thing that saved Akmazian from  death had been the Silent Storm. Later he figured that it was probably for the best. Giant pine tree taking over the station and slowly digesting him probably would have been worse than the oxygen deprivation in the long run. Repairs had slowly been going on throughout the main systems of the cargo bay such as the AI speakers and interface for about a week, signaling that Akmazian may have to find a better hiding place soon. Due to this his men were off the station at the time of his near death, keeping his smuggling ring going and looking for more secluded places to move their base of operations to.  

Akmazian, back from a following a lead, never even noticed a problem till he was almost dead. He’d been awake for three days straight and it was all he could do to stumble off his ship, and roll out the sleeping pad before blacking out on it in a deep, exhausted sleep. He never heard the evacuation sirens when the AI started the recorded message guiding crew members to evacuation pods. 

He did however, wake up gasping, throat constricted. He scrambled up to his knees, banging his side on a metal container, one hand grasping at his throat while the other automatically went to his blaster, eyes darting for the source of his distress. 

“Akmazian.” he was pretty sure the disembodied was the Interface. “Life support is down. Please enter the Silent Storm. He leaned against the metal container throat constricting and muscles spasming.  “Why are humans so stupid?!! Akmazian, get in your ship, NOW!” He forced himself to straighten, dragging as he tried to run to the Silent Storm, lack of oxygen paralyzing his muscles. He was suddenly grateful he had fallen asleep so close to it. He ran onto the still open ramp and slammed the control with one fist, stumbling towards the controls, vision fading in and out of a hazy black, shapes blurring. 

He couldn’t speak as he made a lunge and hit the front of the control deck. He tried to focus and was pretty sure only habit had him hitting the right sequence to start the ship. He heard it power up as he slid to the floor, throat still constructing around nothing, lungs blazing. Akmazian was on the edge of consciousness when he finally took a breath and found air. He gasped, laying there in a daze as he panted before his breathing slowed and the spots left his vision. 

He stayed laying not the cold metal of the deck, grill digging into his back, wishing he hadn’t come back to EOS 10 today. Eventually he heard the beep of an in-coming transmission. He hauled himself up, using the deck as leverage, every muscle still burning. He hit accept. 

“You can come out now, Ryan has life support back on.” The EOS 10 interface chirped happily. 

“Uh…huh.  And why did Dr. Dalias have the life support off?”

“To stop the tree from devouring the station and killing us all, duuuhhh.”

“A tree? He turned off life support for a tree?”

“IT WAS BREAKING HOLES IN ME!” The voice turned dreamy, “Ryan saved me.”

“Uh…huh. One more question for ya, darlin’”

“Uggghhhh, what?”

“How long you been sentient?”

Chapter Text

Akmazian was overdramatic because it was funny. Honestly, though, how else was someone on the run and generally considered to be a galactic terrorist while running a galactic smuggling ring supposed to get their kicks? Besides it added to the air of mystery. Akmazian got threatened with being blown up at least every other day, he was entitled to some dramatics.

It helped keep darker thoughts at bay. The faster he spoke, the faster he moved, the more information he gathered, the closer he was to clearing his name and bringing to light the conspiracy in the Alliance. It threw people off, too, either they underestimated him or it let him distract them. No matter how fast he moved though, the universe didn’t always move with him. There were slow hums to creation and timelines that he couldn’t force to move faster like he could himself.

Now was one of those times. He had a meet-up for information in two days and all his men were off on smuggling missions at the same time. There was nothing for him to do to move anything forward. He paced the Silent Storm, restless energy and jumping thoughts that threatened to slow into lanes that were far more introspective than he could handle. His hands itched with the desire to turn the ship towards EOS 10. He balled them into fists, scraping nails across his palms. The metal of his prosthetic screamed with the scrape of metal on metal. His human nails pulling harsh red marks across the skin.

The cargo bay he’d used for so long was in use now, the breaches in the outer hull had been repaired and the captain had reopened the abandoned parts of the hub a week prior. He was living in the Silent Storm now. Nowhere to land for respite. It stung more than he expected. It had been somewhere he could let his guard down a little. Especially knowing that the now-sentient Interface had helped conceal his presence. He bit down hard on his lip in an effort to keep a snarl from twisting his face despite being alone. Dwelling on the loss wasn’t helping.

He refused to consider whether being farther away from people he’d come to trust is what bothered him. It had just been nice to be floating in space constantly was all. He’d always known that eventually EOS 10 would no longer be a viable hideout for him and his men. He continued pacing, ignoring the ache and shaking in his legs and the exhaustion blurring the corners of his vision. He’d lost track of how long he’d been awake. He couldn’t sleep. If he didn’t stop moving his thoughts would catch up with him and he wasn’t in the mood to end up hunched on the ground clawing for something to ground him from his thoughts.

He hummed as he paced back by the ship’s control panel again for the millionth time and paused. He stepped backwards to see a light on the communications board. Cautiously he sat down, leg jiggling from all his nervous energy. It was a secured, encrypted, scrambled line. Whoever was on the other line, the call couldn’t be hacked. He accepted the call. A head of pink curls filled the screen, Ryan’s violet eyes blinked at him slowly. He checked the time. What on earth was Ryan doing up at 0300 hours? He stared back at the doctor a bit too long before gruffly startling into speech.

“Ain’t it a bit late for you to be up, Dr. Dalias?” He drawled. Ryan smiled slowly and Akmazian’s heart stopped for longer than seemed medically healthy. How long had it been since he had seen Ryan smile?

“Yeah, probably,” Ryan agreed. He was sat in a chair, knees pulled up to his chest with the chair moving slowly with his movements. One hand was out of sight, presumably resting on the table next to his comm unit. The other was wrapped loosely around his ankle. His hair looked fuzzy, as though just dried from a shower. The picture was a bit staticky, the connection not as clear as Akmazian wished it was.

“What are you doing up so late, Darlin’?” Ryan shrugged, shoving a hand through his curls. They stood up straight from his head as his hand dropped and he shrugged.

“Got back late from the infirmary. Couldn’t sleep.”

“So you gave your favorite falsely accused fugitive a call? Aw, Darlin’ I’m blushin’.” Ryan rolled his eyes but Akmazian could see an almost hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. His own grin widened in response.

“Well, I thought, who else would be up an ungodly hour and the options were Jane, who is probably doing something illegal that could be classified as destruction of Alliance property, or the scoundrel of the universe, who was probably smuggling something illegal. Looks like I was right.”

“You chose smuggling over destruction of property?”

“Well, do you want to be involved in what Jane is probably up to?” Akmazian grimaced. The nurse concerned him. Didn’t make him feel threatened necessarily but she was…unpredictable at best.

“All right, all right. Point taken.” He put his hands up in mock surrender.

“Besides, I’ve already taken the fall for you once, at least if it happens again I know we’ll go down together.” Ryan’s tone was teasing but when his eyes met Akmazian’s there was a tense quality in them that Akmazian knew well. He felt it himself almost constantly. Ryan continued, the beat between his words a little too long. “If I’d gotten caught with Jane she’d throw me under the bus without a second thought.” Akmazian chuckled and for the first time that night he took his hand off his blaster, removing his thumb from the worn, smooth metal, flicking the safety back on before throwing his legs up on the console next to the screen and putting his arms behind his head as he settled into the chair.

“Well, what are you looking for from me then, Darlin’? A bedtime story? I’ve got some good ones.”

“Somehow I feel like your version of a bedtime story would be more about how a brave terrorist saved the day.” Ryan rolled his eyes. Akmazian looked hurt.

“Those are the best kind of stories, Dr. Dalias.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ryan was smiling again as Akmazian laughed. This was something that he could spend time on.

Chapter Text

It has been….months since Akmazian has seen Doctor Ryan Dalias in person. He tries to think back to when it had to have been but can’t seem to grasp a precise date in his mind as he completes the Silent Storm’s landing sequence. He had to think fairly hard to remember how the sequence went. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been on solid ground either. 

The cargo bay door hissed as it depressurized and began to lower. His right knee tried to give out as he stood; it hadn’t been right since some alliance peon had stabbed a piece of rebar through it about six months back. He took a moment to let his body settle into the standing position, metal forearm braced against the wall. 

After a few measured breaths, he headed for the ramp, ignoring the twitching of his fingers on his non-metal hand. He could already see the top of a head with curly pink hair bobbing towards him. Another head raced past the first, straight hair, black and blue, dragging another head of brown hair close behind. Jane skidded to a halt in front of Akmazian. 

“Wow. You look BAD.”

“Jane!” Ryan snapped behind her. 

“What?!” Jane turned back, rolling her eyes. “He looks like he got trampled by those extinct gray things from earth with long noses.”

Ryan’s nose wrinkled as he crusted the lip of the ship, a nondescript navy blue duffel bag slung across his body. He wasn’t wearing scrubs. Akmazian didn’t think he’d ever seen Dr. Dalias in anything but scrubs before.  “An elephant?” Ryan spoke to Jane even as he actively looked towards Levi, who was edged partway behind Jane.

“You aren’t going to shoot, me are you?” 

“Not today, Saucier” Akmazian answered, after taking a second to consider it. He grinned at his own word choice. Levi sniffed, back ramrod straight. 

“I’m the Sous Chef now.” 

“Oh is that why they let you off the space station?”

“The two things are not related. But yes, my status as a political refugee was secured. My asylum claims were finalized. I may now leave EOS 10 for…” He glanced back at Ryan. “Supervised leave.” Akmazian raised his eyebrows, grin already in place, mouth half open to make a joke at the deposed prince’s expense. 

Ryan brushed past him, arguing with Jane as they entered the ship. His hand landed on Akmazian’s elbow, a gentle squeeze, and then a drag along his bicep as Ryan moved up and past him. The arm may have been metal but Akmazian swore it was burning.  He cleared his throat. 

“Good for you,” he said lamely. Levi stared at him. Akmazian jerked past him, ducking his head out into the atmosphere of the small moon to make sure the three hadn’t been followed and pushed Levi up the ramp ahead of him on his way back in, steering him until he was past the hinge of the ship’s ramp before moving past him, ignoring Levi’s huff of “Why I never!” 

He dodged Jane as she threw herself on top of Levi while chanting “VACATION! VACATION!” at the top of her lungs. Levi staggered under her weight but grinned at her enthusiasm and joined in the chant. Akmazian rolled his eyes, lips twitching as he started the take off procedure for his vessel.

“What, not even a hello?”

Akmazian started, a hand reflexively going to his blaster, eyes wide. Ryan, leaning on the back of the copilot chair, ankles crossed, duffle back at his feet, and violet gaze following the movement of Akmazian’s hand, looked completely relaxed. Akmazian aborted the instinctual movement and dragged his had through his locs instead. 

“Didn’t want to interrupt yours and Nurse Jane’s very important discussion about the aggressive instincts of extinct species. Sounded important.” His grin felt strained. It’d been a while since he’d had to fake anything for anyone. It seemed harder than it had been before. Ryan’s wide smile, however, was one of the most genuine expressions Akmazian had ever seen on his face. It made his chest feel tight. Ryan glanced down a little, then back up through his lashes. Akmazian couldn’t breathe.

“Still. Fourteen months. You’d think that’d warrant something.” 

“You want a hug and a kiss, Doctor Dalias? You know you can always just ask.”  Ryan rolled his eyes and Akmazian felt so very, very grateful for the familiar look of intense exasperation on the alliance doctor’s face. Then Ryan stepped forward, towards Akmazian, bends down, and wrapped his arms around the fugitive. Akmazian started shaking. He could feel it in his whole body. He couldn’t even wrap his arms around Ryan. Who smelled clean and soft and was so very warm. A warm, quick pressure at his temple. A whisper by his ear as Ryan pulled away,

“You know you can always just ask, Akmazian.”  As Ryan detached from him a squeal so loud Akmazian and Ryan both winced, echoed throughout the ship.  

“I KNEW IT!!!” Jane grabbed Ryan by the elbow and dragged him towards the bunks. Ryan shot Akmazian a rueful smile as Levi helped shepherd the doctor along.  Akmazian clears his throat and turned back to his ship. They should really be going. There would be an alliance patrol by here soon. It wouldn’t do to get them all caught. 

Two days later they landed on a planet in the outer rim. Mostly uninhabited, unless you counted the talking bugs. They mostly ignored the four tourists though. Akmazian landed them in the cover of the giant ferns that covered what land there was by a lagoon with a waterfall that fell into a large pool that in turn ran to the ocean about a mile away. The water was a deep blue green, tranquil and gorgeous. 

And then Jane and Levi completed double cannonballs in a race to be the first one in. “Prepare to be JANED.” The nurse yelled, as she bodily picked up Levi and threw him across the pond. Levi looked like he had just realized how possibly out of his depth he was as he shrieked, “This is terrible! You are a barbarian!!!” and tried to swim away from Jane. Akmazian felt for the guy. 

He turned back to the hull of the Silent Storm, tweaking a few more ferns to make sure it was completely camouflaged on the planet’s surface. He felt eyes on him and turned to see Ryan, hair free of gel, like it had been since he’d picked him up, a bit frizzy from the humidity, with his head tilted to one side and a half smile pulling at his lips. He held out a towel to Akmazian and jerked his head towards the waterfall. Akmazian accepted it and followed him.

Ryan turned to walk towards the others and Akmazain dropped the towel, surging forward and grabbing Ryan by the waist, he swung him off his feet and charged into the water. 

“Hey!” Ryan’s cry was cut off as Akmazian dragged them both underwater kicking towards the waterfall. Then he realized his mistake. In seconds Ryan was out of his hold had launched towards the surface before suddenly, his feet were sliding lightly along Akmazian’s back as though he was using him as a surfboard. Akmazian laughed in surprise, forgetting he was under water and a large stream of bubbles rose to the surface from his mouth. 

He rolled out from under Ryan and aimed for the surface. He gasped in air and wiped the water from his eyes just as Ryan launched a splash at him and then he was sputtering as a weight hit his back and Jane heaved herself up to sit on his shoulders. Levi was doing the same to Ryan. As the water drained from his ears her could hear Jane.

“Prepare to get JANED, chicken.”

“I don’t know what a test of strength and balance has to do with a delicious farm animal but I assure you I will not be the one getting Janed.”

“Just try to push me off, chicken!!” Ryan’s wry smile was replaced with determination as the doctor met Akmazian’s eyes and Ryan looped his arms around Levi’s legs. Akmazian chuckled darkly as he did the same with Jane. 

“May the best person win,” he told Ryan, and got a flash of teeth in a sharp smile. When the sun went down Akmazian didn’t know what the final score was, but his face hurt from smiling and that was better than hurting from another war wound any day. 

They stayed on the quiet planet for three days and the trip to drop them off was much faster than the original trip to the planet. He and Ryan had decided not to repeat anything for safety and the security of their mini-vacation. He couldn’t sleep that last night with them on the Silent Storm. Not that he had slept much most of this trip. He was too worried they’d be caught. That Ryan would be hurt by him again, somehow. That news of somewhere he needed to be to prove his innocence or keep his smuggling ring going would come through. It was all quiet though. Everything was fun. But the itch in his shoulders wouldn’t fade. Just got worse as the days went on. 

The night before he dropped them off he roamed the ship restlessly, trying to keep his pacing quiet. He could hear both Levi and Jane snoring from where they were tangled up in a single cot. His thumb repeatedly stroked his blaster. Eventually, he sank heavily into the pilot’s chair, staring out into space through the viewport, absentmindedly. After a few moments he pulled the blaster out of its holster, swung his feet up and onto the co-pilot’s chair, and held it in both hands across his lap, still stroking it intermittently. 

He was so tired. All he wanted to do was sleep. The exhaustion was like a haze across his thoughts and senses. It impacted his ability to make decisions that would benefit him and his men. It could lose him a fight. He knew all of this. Listed it off as reasons to himself that should convince him to try to sleep. But he didn’t care about any of it. He just wanted to sleep because his whole body hurt and his eyes were red and reality didn’t feel like reality. He looked down at the blaster in his lap, vision swimming a bit, and stroked three fingers down its length. He lifted it slightly off his lap, gaze fixed, mouth opening slightly, straggling exhausted brain repeating one thought over again. I just want to sleep. It was desperate and he didn’t hear how his breathing got heavy until it was almost sobs. He couldn’t even feel the shaking and rushing in his chest all he could think was that single thought as he slowly brought the blaster up closer to his face. 

“Akmazian?” He didn’t hear the quiet, guarded whisper. He didn’t even notice when the blaster was taken gently out of his hands. He could barely see anyway. He was so tired and everything hurt and nothing was real. He closed his eyes, shaking his head. He felt pressure against his head but he didn’t realize that he had stood up and begun walking. He noticed the sensation eventually but by the time he could identify the feeling with the meaning in his brain, he was horizontal, with a warm weight settled on top of him. A hand slid through his hair at its roots and gripped gently. A secure hold. Something he could focus on. 

“Sleep.” The voice was clearer than before and seemed familiar. There was a warm pressure at his temple and Akmazian didn’t remember anything else. 

The next morning when Levi, Jane and Ryan departed the ship, Ryan squeezed his arm again as he left. Once they were out of sight Akmazian deliberately took his hand off his blaster, closed his eyes. Breathed deeply. Remembered Ryan’s smile. Breathed again. Thought about the times Ryan had called him over the last year. How many nights they’d stayed awake, listening to each other talk about nothing. Breathed deeply again. Remembered Ryan telling him he “better not miss their appointment in two days” with an ironic grin. He opened his eyes and turned back into his ship. It was about damn time he cleared his name. 

Chapter Text

This is not how Akmazian had wanted to return to EOS 10. He grimaced as a blaster bolt burned into the plastic of the desk he was currently crouched behind. The Alliance guards that had turned on the other Alliance guards as soon as Admiral who-the-hell-ever had confronted them over being traitors were definitely winning this shoot out. This plan had been shit. Who had even come up with this plan? Oh yeah. The Alliance Admiral whose fingers Akmazian could just see twitching from around the side of another desk. Akmazian’s plan would have worked. Akmazian had GOOD plans.
He growled in annoyance as another blaster bolt burned away even more of the edge of the desk, and he leaned away from the heat before forming his metal hand into a fist and slamming it into his bum knee as hard as he could. He gasped at the pain, but the joint unlocked and he stretched it out as he took stock of the room. Two of the non-traitorous Alliance guards who had accompanied him onto and through the station were cowering behind a file cabinet that was leaning against the wall in the corner. Along with the Admiral, who may or may not have been dead at this point, twitching fingers wasn’t much to go on, there were three other bodies of Alliance guards scattered around the room.
And then of course, there were the actual traitors, four of them, all huddled near the opposite door, making cover fire for each other as they used various furniture to create their own barrier.
The office they were in was a few halls away from the Med Bay on one side and Food Court Delta on the other side. It was…very exposed; a civilian could walk by or in at any moment. Akmazian risked a glance at the console beside the desk and immediately had to duck back down as one of the soldiers took a pot shot at his skull. A very wide pot shot. Akmazian rolled his eyes. Honestly he probably hadn’t even needed to duck. These guys were shit shots. However, the blaster shots seemed to have stopped and he could hear the murmur of low whispers even though he couldn’t make them out. That wasn’t good. Giving them time to strategize was not good. He scooted over closer to the console.
“Interface,” he muttered, then quickly, “don’t respond, I don’t want them to hear ya. Can you quarantine this section or something? And let Ryan know there’s injured incoming.” Akmazian tried not to think about how since he’d requested the Interface not respond he had no way to know if it had decided to help him or not. It’s not like it was particularly worried about the creatures in its care since it had Awoken. He was pretty sure the only thing keeping it from killing them all was the good Doctor. He’d just have to pray it was feeling cooperative. Pray to…Ryan, apparently. Ha.
He jumped up and sent several shots towards the renegade Alliance officers. He caught one who had been standing up, looking like they were edging towards the side of the room. The bolt hit the guard square in the chest and they dropped, and the two Alliance officers behind the file cabinet jumped out with a yell as Akmazian’s third shot clipped another of the traitors along the side of the head, the force sending her sprawling onto the floor behind their makeshift line of defense.
Just as the shots started blazing and two of the assholes across the way dropped, Akmazian heard the tell-tale woosh of the door behind him opening. He glanced back and took a blaster shot to the forearm for his trouble. He barely felt it. His mouth dropped open. Standing in the door, med-kit slung over his shoulder and determination in his eyes, stood Ryan Dalias. His eyes didn’t even meet Akmazian’s as he took in the room. He immediately started walking forward, toward one of the bodies on the ground. Akmazian swore.
He grabbed Ryan around the waist and pulled them both behind the desk again, landing on his back with a grunt as Ryan landed on his chest, elbow digging into his lung, three blaster shots burning three holes into the wall behind where Ryan had just been.
“While I appreciate the backup, Dr. Dalias, it won’t do any good if you get yourself shot.” He wheezed, trying to sound smooth while holding a struggling Ryan, who was still trying to crawl out from behind cover and managing to repeatedly smack his elbows into Akmazian’s ribs.
“There are people DYING, Akmazian.” He hadn’t heard that righteous anger in Ryan’s voice in a while and he tried to ignore the way his heart skipped several beats. That was probably not healthy. Akmazian grunted and flipped them, holding Ryan down with his metal arm across his chest and pulling Ryan’s chin down with his other hand, blaster set gently on the floor by Ryan’s head.
“Ryan.” He waited till Ryan was looking at him, peeking over to check that the Alliance guards were still pinning down the soldiers across the room. Then he met violet eyes and moved his hand from Ryan’s chin to tangle in his pink curls, meeting his eyes and then pressing his lips to the doctor’s forehead. Once. Twice. “I know, Doctor, I know. And as soon as I can I will help you get them patched up and safe. But you CANNOT HELP THEM if you get shot. Let me help you. Work with me.” Ryan’s gaze hadn’t wavered from his, he nodded, Akmazian’s fingers still tangled in his ringlets. Akmazian pulled away, sitting up into a crouch, pulling his blaster back into his grip and helping Ryan up into a similar stance.
He took stock of the situation: the guards on his side were back to being trapped behind the filing cabinet, one sporting a graze above his eye as they tried to avoid the angled shots from the two still standing across the room. The admiral was the closest body, across a small gap and in front of another desk. Akmazian waited until the two across the room ducked behind their cover and there was a breath of reprieve before darting across the space to the other desk and then laying down cover fire as he beckoned Ryan towards him and they both dragged the Admiral behind the desk.
He smiled grimly as he caught another of them in the arm. They dropped their blaster, screaming. Ryan was crouched, running a scanner over the Admiral and administering something as the two guards who had been blocked in the corner made their advance now that there was only one blaster in use across from them. Until the man picked up his fallen friend’s blaster, Akmazian stood up fully, firing multiple shots, all of them missing as the lone traitor ducked back behind his cover.
The two guards spread out, surrounding the man with Akmazian at point, now that there was only one to contend with. The man kept trying to glance over the barricade and each time they all fired off shots as they began approaching. Akmazian saw a flash of pink in his peripheral and cursed to himself. Ryan was in the open, tending to another of the fallen Alliance officers.
Just as he started to turn his head to order Ryan behind cover, the man behind the barricade stood up, firing two shots, for a moment Akmazian had a wild thought that this guy was the worst shot considering the blasters weren’t pointing at ANYTHING. And then he realized how untrue that was. His body was moving before his brain figured it out, he ran and swung around a desk to face Ryan. The doctor looked up, hand still hovering over the body with a scanner, eyes going wide.
Then all Akmazian could feel was burning. His back was on fire and he couldn’t breathe and he felt like he was maybe leaking? He couldn’t move, all his muscles were locked but he could distantly hear the thud of a body behind him. He very much hoped it was the goddamn piece of shit that had tried to shoot Ryan. He was still looking at him, one hand moved towards Akmazian, and then down out of sight. It reappeared, something dark on it, dripping off his fingers. Akmazian grit his teeth and swung around, blaster still ready.
Behind him the two alliance guards were kicking a blaster away from a humanoid form whose head was no longer completely attached to its body. Akmazian was suddenly very grateful. Behind him he heard Ryan address the Interface and then, very suddenly, Akmazian didn’t hear or see anything.
When Akmazian came to, he was lying down on a softer surface than he’d experienced in a long time. He felt more rested than he had been in years. He also had a goddamn tube down his throat that he was kind of choking on. He cracked his eyes open. No one was in the room with him, so very carefully, breathing through his nose, he pulled the tube out, coughing out fluid with it. He gasped once it was out, panting into the cool air. He tried sitting up and it was…painful…but not impossible. He’d had worse. He couldn’t quite swing his legs over the side of the bed so he just looked around.
He was in a fairly nondescript med bay room, wearing an uncomfortable paper gown. The door swung open and Jane Johns bustled in, scrubs rumpled and a manic look in her eyes.
“Oh good, you’re not dead. Here.” She shoved a cup of water at him from off the tray she pulled in behind her. “I mean. I figured you weren’t, but Dr. Urvidian may or may not have been coming off a relapse when he operated on you. And I’m not sure he wouldn’t just kill you for fun anyway. He’s been weirdly protective of Ryan lately and I can’t decide if he’s blaming you or Dr. Dalias for both of you almost dying. And I could totally see him letting someone die of ‘complications from surgery’ if he hated them enough—”
“Where is Ryan?” Akmazian had taken the time while she was rambling to drink enough of the water to make sure his throat was less dry when he spoke. He was amazed and fairly proud his voice hadn’t cracked during the question. He also wasn’t sure he’d be able to speak again; his throat felt like glass. Jane slowed in the process of checking all his vitals, meeting his gaze steadily.
“Ryan was…temporarily relieved of duty and banned from the Med Bay by Dr, Urvidian.” He could feel his eyes widen.
“Why—” His voice broke. He swallowed with a struggle and tried again. “He assisted with the completion of a sanctified Alliance bust. Why is he being punished?”
“Oh he’s not. Not by the Alliance anyway, he just wouldn’t stop acting like a panicking civilian so that Urvidian could operate on you and stop you from dying; he made him leave ‘til he could get his shit together.” She glanced at him from the corner of her eye as she turned off one of the machines and placed a bundle of fabric on the corner of the bed. “His quarters haven’t changed.” She turned to leave then, throwing a “you’re still recovering, so don’t do anything I would do. And be back for your post-op at 2200” over her shoulder as she towed her cart out behind her. Akmazian reached out to the pile of fabric, hands shaking, to sift through them and find fairly generic clothes. And a brown hood. He grinned.
Ryan’s door wasn’t locked and opened immediately. Akmazian slouched in slowly. Moving was hard and he could only sorta feel his legs. He was mostly running on the hope that Jane wouldn’t have actually let him out of bed if it hadn’t been at least moderately safe for his health to do so. The door closed behind him as he slowly pushed the hood back. Ryan was sitting on the very edge of his bed, hands gripping his hair, that looked much too long for Alliance regulation standards now that Akmazian could pay real attention to it.
Morpheus was pressed up against Ryan’s thigh on the bed. His green eyes taking him in as he entered. The purring got louder if that was possible. Ryan looked up as the door opened and closed, his eyes were bloodshot and his scrubs were stained. His mouth opened slightly at the sight of Akmazian.
“Hello, Darlin’.” Akmazian knew he was smiling softly; he couldn’t quite help himself as he stared at Ryan. Ryan seemed frozen a moment more and then his body was pressing Akmazian back against the door, gentle but desperate, and then there were kisses on his throat and Ryan’s face was buried in the same spot, his arms twined around Akmazian, palm pressed flat against his spine, oh so carefully. There were hot breaths puffing across Akmazian’s jaw. Akmazian forced his stiff arms to curl around the man in his arms. One arm grasped Ryan’s shoulders, the other slung low around his waist, Akmazian let their weight rest on the door behind them as his face landed in Ryan’s curls. He never wanted to move.
“The Admiral survived to testify. You’ve been cleared of all charges as a gesture of goodwill by the Alliance.” Ryan spoke after several moments, hands spasming momentarily against Akmazian, as though trying to hold him tighter. Akmazian’s breath released and he almost hiccuped at the suddenness of his own reaction. He gripped Ryan as tight as his still-healing body would allow, smelling the sweat and shampoo from Ryan’s hair. For the first time he could remember in years, Akmazian felt like he could breathe.