Work Text:
Traveling the cosmos was no easy feat, but for Argenti it was worth it. He managed to witness the beauty of the universe first hand, served to him on a silver platter, even if his goal was nowhere in sight to be seen. The destination was important of course, but so was the progress to get to it, and thus the knight of beauty made sure to pay attention to everything around him, no matter how small or big, how insignificant or impactful.
Speaking of impactful.
As he was putting auto-pilot on his ship, getting ready to stop the travels for the night, feeling the fatigue of his day washing over him, a bang was heard from right on top. Alerted, he grabbed his spear and rushed above, to the small balcony area his ship held for nights when the stars shone the brightest and he couldn’t contain himself inside staring. Once he arrived there, Argenti widened his green eyes as he noticed someone lying face flat on his balcony’s floor, groaning as a hand was trying to find the discarded cowboy hat that was several meters away.
Tilting his spear at an angle, Argenti placed it against the wall and approached the individual making sure to grab the discarded hat, squatting down to lift his head up gently by the chin. As he did, his eyes locked with a pair he hadn’t seen in a long time, black with irises that reminded someone of a gun’s trigger, making them feel like a hunted target. Helping his surprise visitor to sit up, pushing his back against the railing of his balcony, Argenti dusted off any rumble on the black ornamented cowboy hat and placed it on top of the guest’s head.
“You look as stunning as the first time I laid my eyes upon you, such a surprise visit from you is a rarity. To whom or what do I owe the honor of seeing you again, Boothill?” the knight asked, tilting his head with a charming smile, some of his red waves brushing against his cheek.
“Ugh, fork me… To whatever motherfudger decided to give me a gosh darn mission without a landing destination or a pick me up. Thank luck I guess, fudge if I know.” Boothill, the galaxy ranger and surprise visitor rolled his eyes, moving the targets in a circular motion inside his eye sockets with evident irony. “Also, lay off the compliments, I know I look like a complete stick… Stick? St- OH FORK MY LIFE!”
Blinking, in utter confusion, Argenti chuckled, raising the back of his palm to partially hide his lips as he did. “Is that a new speech pattern you picked up during your travels these days? I must say, I didn’t expect such linguistics from you Boothill, but I must say it suits you quite well. It compliments your facial structure quite well, even if it tenses your muscles slightly more than your usual mannerisms.”
“You… You son of a nice lady, go fork yourself.” A pained groan came from the ranger, his mechanical arm reaching for his leg as he tried to pull it up. “Darn… This hurts more than what I accounted it for.”
“Well, thank you very much for believing my mother was a nice lady, I will attest she was wonderful as a mother and as a woman. Quite an example on how we should treat others, if you want my unfiltered honest opinion dearest.” Eyeing Boothill’s leg, Argenti hummed and stood up, picking the cowboy in his arms, causing him to yelp and hold his hat in place, obviously not in the mood to lose it again.
With steady steps, and ignoring bluntly the complaints coming from the ranger, Argenti brought him in the spaceship, inside the room behind the balcony doors; his bedroom. It was quite impractical to have your bed chambers located at the top of a ship, Boothill looked around curiously though, feeling the softness of a pillow under his head and noticing that he was placed to lay on a double bed. It smelled of roses, the bedsheets were white underneath, with red oversheets and pillowcases, the combination of the nice smell alongside the plushiness of the pillows under him made Boothill close his eyes and relax. He knew it wasn’t in his best interest to rest, but he also couldn’t help how tired he felt.
As he did relax his body, a sharp pain shot through him, causing his eyes to open fully and his head to jolt backwards with a sharp breath and a twitch of his knee upwards. “HOLY FUDGE, WHAT ARE YOU-” Boothill glanced at his leg, where he saw Argenti, free of his armor with merely a black turtleneck and his gloves from his waist up inspecting his broken mechanical limp. “You ugh, tell someone before you start twisting their leg!”
“Apologies, I wanted to take a closer look at it.” A kind smile broke upon the knight’s rosy lips, looking ever so kindly at the cowboy laying on his bed. “It seems that some of your artificial nerves and tendons are cut, and the knee joint is dislocated, the impact must have really hurt you if your leg is in such condition. Is there anywhere else you feel pain, or discomfort? If so, please let me know, and I will see to it.”
With confusion written all over his face, Boothill laid his head back down and exhaled loudly, relaxing his leg as much as he could under the other’s watchful gaze. He glanced over at Argenti, taking in the seer care and kindness the man showed on his face as he twisted and inspected the limb, ignoring the ‘curses’ that came out of the ranger’s mouth; or at least the ones that tried to. Soon the knight was on his legs, opening a drawer and pulling out a small case of repair tools.
For what reason would the knight repair him? Boothill didn’t know.
Argenti had done this every time they met and something was wrong with his external parts, he was used to it by now… But he’d never ignore how dedicated the knight looked, how much he actually gave a damn about the cowboy’s wellbeing, a rarity in his profession. It reminded him of a simpler time, kinder days, when he wasn’t the one laying on a bed with a broken knee, when it was just a little girl with a scrape from trying to run instead of walk.
“Boothill, does it hurt anywhere else, or should I go ahead and repair-” the knight cut himself off, noticing the ranger frowning. “Dearest what happens to be the matter? Why is a frown decorating your gorgeous face? Is the pain that intense? If so-”
“No. Quit your yapping.” He hated how that sounded, how weak and soft his voice came out, his it broke after a simple ‘no’. “Just… Just fix me already.”
He ignored the sparks that lit a fire all over his body, how his spine burned badly and wanted to coil as Argenti fixed his nerves and tendons. He wanted to kick, but he only buried his heels in the mattress, gritting his teeth and pushing through. He had managed to survive his whole body replacement progress, he had felt worse pains than this, and yet it burned so so badly. But the clenching in his chest hurt more, as his mind drifted to when he was the repairman, with bandaids and rubbing alcohol, shushing a crying little girl with farm tunes and his tapping boots against creaking wooden floors.
“Dearest…” Argenti reached up, swiping his gloved thumb over Boothill’s cheekbone, gathering up some tears that had escaped. “Am I hurting you? If so-”
“I said quit yapping and fix me, fork my pain, I just want my leg working ya get me?!” Boothill barked, not wanting to but also not managing to restrain the bubbling anger that boiled in the middle of his stomach. “Sorry…” he followed up with a mumbled apology, reaching one hand up to press his hat harder down on his head, covering his eyes behind it. “Keep going.”
Not wanting to upset the galaxy ranger any further, Argenti nodded and continued with his repairs, while also humming a classical music track that he was previously playing. The ship came to a stop, signaling that his auto-pilot had finally reached his requested destination, and that was evident by how bright the stars shone from the balcony doors, decorating the planet below like a sparkling blanket. But Argenti didn’t pay them much attention, merely a simple glance, focusing on repairing the knee he was tending. It didn’t take long, and that was indicated by Boothill’s relaxed exhale when Argenti stopped twisting bolts and cauterizing iron inside his limp leg. The cowboy moved his leg a bit, up and down, knee up and folded, he even stood up and twisted it slightly, feeling some resistance from the new bolts but it was almost as good as new.
“Thanks Rosey, I appreciate it, really.” Boothill tilted his hat forward, tipping it towards the knight's direction, who grinned so sweetly it made the cowboy chuckle. “What's up with that sappy look on yer face?”
“How can I not, when I can finally hear your voice in all of its glory and not be hindered with pain or strain.” Standing up as well, Argenti removed his gloves that were soiled with oil, folding them and tucking them away to a basket with laundry, he stored his tools away and returned to Boothill, cradling his face with his naked palms. “My brave cowboy, what else can I do for you?”
Gasping at the contact and the warm hands enveloping his cheeks, Boothill leaned in to the touch and hummed. “Well, fork me, I forgot how warm your hands are.” Grinning with his shark-like teeth, the cowboy chuckled and looked at the knight. “Gotta ask though Rosey, the fudge is up with the bedroom up here? You likin it moody or what?”
“Oh! Well if you must know.” With a grin, almost as bright as the stars themselves, Argenti guided the ranger outside, dropping his hands from his face to hold the other pair. He then freed one of them, simply to gesture at the marvel that were the stars around them. “There is beauty all around us my dear cowboy, in everything we gaze upon even a speckle of beauty can be found, for it is Idrila’s wish for the world to be beautiful, and thus it shall be.”
“Beats me with all that beauty bullstick, ugh, speak normally for once.” Rolling his eyes, Boothill couldn’t help but observe that some stars started twinkling and then falling. “Huh, you stopped here for this?”
“A falling star is a rarity, a star shower though is a real marvel to behold. Such is fate, everbinding, that brought you here to me tonight, for us to observe the beauty of the cosmos.” Argenti’s green eyes sparkled, as if the stars reflected themselves in them, his one hand holding Boothill’s in it tightening its grip. “So I have my bedroom near the top of my ship, always willing to risk my life if I am to see the fleeting beauty of such moments in the universe.”
“Hah… Well, would ya look at that, I can actually understand ya for once.” Boothill walked to the railing, leaning against it with his waist pressed on its top, his heels resting against one of the bars. “It’s pretty alright, my lil girl would have loved to see this. Personally, not for me, but I can appreciate it if you can.”
Argenti spotted Boothill leaning his head back, supporting his hat on his head and letting out a long sigh from between his lips. He approached the cowboy, standing next to him, brushing shoulders and locking eyes. They smiled at each other, a loving smile from the knight of beauty, and a toothy grin from the galaxy ranger. The stars zipped through the atmosphere, bursting in timely intervals in puffs of smoke and sparkles, they reminded Boothill of bullets buzzing through the air only to explode into nothingness. His mind started racing, but it stopped once Argenti cupped his cheek in one of his hands, making him look at him instead of the stars.
“Tonight’s view is quite exceptional, truly magnificent. In fact, aren’t I blessed by Idrila herself, for I got a falling star right besides me. It is a pity that the circumstances aren’t ideal for either of us, for I know my star will depart soon. Isn’t that right, my dearest ranger?” Argenti silently asked the question, pressing his forehead against Boothill’s, feeling the cowboy taking a sharp breath from the tingling sensation of their touch.
“Mmm, ya know it sugar.” With a deep chuckle, the ranger pulled back a bit with a wink. “But hey, before I ask you to drop me off at the nearest planet, care to do me a solid real quick?”
“Oh but of course. Whatever you wish for is my command, as long as it is in my noble hands to fulfill it.” Argenti was about to keep talking, but he was grabbed by the cheeks, making him drop his hands on the dips of Boothill’s hips. “What do you wish for upon these falling stars?”
“For you to do what you did last time before I left. Can ya do that? Or will I have to do it myself?” With his shark teeth in full display, Boothill leaned in, ready to get what he wanted one way or another.
The knight also leaned forward, meeting a pair of lips against his, smothering them with a kiss. Once it broke he pulled Boothill closer, flushing their bodies together as he initiated another one, and another, and one more. He knew that the ranger would have to depart, sooner or later, but since it was in his hands Argenti would prefer if it just was later.