Chapter Text
The soft humming of the spaceship engines lulled Pebble to sleep as he curled up in bed all alone. The young man had spent most of the evening by himself since his companion had left to look for more missions.
Butch, that was his name, was a seasoned bounty hunter who had become somewhat of a mentor to him after the pair met in an unlikely manner.
The man had destroyed his motorbike during a double chase with an escaping target, leaving Pebble on his feet stuck in the middle of nowhere. He had followed him back to his spaceship fuming, screaming and throwing rocks at him. " You blew up my fucking bike! " The boy yelled.
In the end Butch agreed to repay him just to get him to shut up, and so Pebble had been following him around for about two months now to make sure that he would give him back what he owed.
He had to admit that the masked man was very intimidating at first; he didn't speak much, plus, he always seemed to have his mask on. How the hell did he even manage to do that? Didn't he need to eat or drink? Anyways one day, as he walked to the bathroom first thing in the morning, Pebble caught a glimpse of him shaving in front of the sink. " Huh? "
Startled, the man turned around with the razor still to his face. He must have been in his late thirties at least, with short dark hair and rugged masculine features. " How long have you been here? " His voice, not muffled under his heavy metal helmet sounded exactly like Pebble had expected it to. Like a deer in headlights the boy just stared at him in silence.
" ... I need to pee. " He then replied after a long pause.
Butch didn't seem too annoyed by his sudden discovery. It was bound to happed at some point, guess the logistics of hiding your face get kind of complicated when you're living in an enclosed space with someone for most of the time. " Well, go ahead. I'm not stopping you. "
Resuming his shaving the man looked away as Pebble awkwardly scooted behind him to reach the toilet.
*
Holding on to his bag Pebble looked around in disbelief.
The spaceship layout was tiny. Everything was crammed together and there was barely any space left to move around freely.
The large man barged trough the hallway grabbing his bag and throwing it over a small orange couch. " You're gonna sleep here. " Butch thundered from under his mask.
The vents on the ceiling did nothing to get rid of the stench of cigarettes that permeated everything. The command deck keyboards were grimy as fuck, and the constant beeping of monitors made Pebble almost go mad. Laying on the couch with a flimsy blanket over himself the young man stretched out his legs feeling his feet dangle off the edge. He kept tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep in such an unfamiliar environment.
Butch had warmed up some food for him then left the boy to his devices after locking himself up in his bedroom quarters.
Getting up with a sigh Pebble scratched his head and yawned, might as well snoop around while the big dog still slept. Barefooted he walked to the spaceship control panel; he could barely make out what the buttons did- that's how outdated it was. How cheap is this motherfucker? " What are you doing? " Almost jumping out of his skin Pebble turned around to face Butch who was still wearing his full suit and helmet. " I cant' sleep. " He replied.
" This place is a shit hole. You couldn't upgrade to a newer one if you wanted to? I tought a bounty hunter of your caliber must be swimming in cash. " The big monitor in front of them beeped and flashed pictures of their surrounding area. The ship was stationed outside of Earth-9 solar system and was expected to land at about nine thirty in the morning. That meant another eight hours in orbit for them.
"This ship was a gift. It has sentimental value. " " Huh, so you're a sentimental guy. "
Plopping himself back on to the couch Pebble looked at the bounty hunter helmet trying to imagine an expression under it. From his slouched posture he could guess that the man was probably still a little sleepy. " ... Guess I am. " The tone of his voice was neutral.
Curling up in his blanket as he watched Butch dial in some coordinates the boy yawned loudly. " Do you have any sleeping aids? I really can't fall asleep like this. "
Sleeping aids were commonly used by space travelers to adapt their sleeping schedule to whatever night and day cicle the planet they were currently staying at had.
Turning around to point at a shelf the bounty hunter then watched Pebble crunch down on a bunch of the bitter tablets. " You're gonna knock yourself out with those. They're not your normal dosage, I'm a big guy. " " That's just what I need then. All this beeping is driving me insane. " And just like that Pebble collapsed on top of the couch. Sleeping.
For a while Butch sat down at the control panels making plans for the day ahead, cheking the spaceship fuel levels and carelessly keeping an ear out to the radio chatter in the background. His new companion had been sleeping for quite a while now.
Looking down at him the sides of his visor lit up with information: Male, 19 years old, blood type A+, Earth-7 DNA traces, connections to the Bounty Hunter group Ranger7. Huh, that was a name hadn't heard in a while.
A sudden bolt of energy shook the ship almost knocking him out of his chair. Alarms started blaring left and right as the lights turned off and all the monitors turned red.
A ship, and a pretty big one, had just tried blasting them off the face of the universe- hadn't it been for the shields surrounding them they would have been a hundred percent dead.
Barely getting his shit together the man turned on the engines and blasted off trying to put some distance between them, all while trying to come up with a plan.
" BUTCH! WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE ALREADY! " A familiar voice blared loudly from the radio. Fuck.
The man had made a few enemies along the way, it was inevitable in his kind of profession, but shit, that was terrible timing.
He had caught the ire of some of the local pirates after he had killed one of their associates, but usually they had never wandered off that far from their turf. Something had changed.
Dodging more blasts for the bigger ship the bounty hunter almost flipped his upside down, then suddenly, after hearing a loud thump, he turned around just to see Pebble's limp body roll around across the deck. He cursed under his breath steering the ship just in time to avoid crashing into a cargo stationed nearby. A couple of space patrol ship had entered the chase and were now tailgating the pirate ship, their sirens blasting trough the receivers.
Quickly changing coordinated the bounty hunter felt another blast push the ship off the course, crashing it's side against one of the police's.
" I'LL GET YOU BUTCH! " The voice kept shouting. " I'LL GET YOU ONE DAY! "
In a last ditch effort to get away he pulled down the jump-teleportation lever.
Charges remaining: 2. Teleportation Conduit: now materializing.
The ship shrunk and disappeared in the blink of an eye, squeezing itself into a tiny, tiny wormhole.
When they came out of the other side everything was quiet.
Taking off his helmet the man took a big breath, collapsing into his seat with a sigh.
That was close. As his adrenaline wore off Butch tried to get his heart rate to slow down, taking off his gloves and flexing out his trembling fingers.
In a corner, Pebble still slept like the ground was the most comfortable thing.
Getting up he dragged the boy into his room, laying him on the bed he looked at the bruises on his arms and legs and the big gash on his forehead. He must have bumped into something.
" Can you hear me? " He called in hopes of waking him up. Grabbing a medkit Butch patched up his forehead with a big square bandaid, trying to keep his curly hair from sticking to it. It felt incredibly soft.
As he let go of him Pebble fell right back to bed, and with a disgrunted sigh Butch decided to just let him be. His vitals seemed fine, he would have woken up on his own eventually.
He wondered what kind of person would just carelessly walk into a stranger ship and hitchike through the galaxy, maybe he had forgotten how it felt to be so young and careless.
*
Stumbling over his own feet Butch knocked over a bunch of empty beer cans, cursing under his breath as he tried to sneak in quietly like a bull in a china shop.
Peeking from behind the cabin door Pebble rubbed his eyes wearily. " Butch? " The boy asked. " Are you back already? "
Startled, he turned around dropping whatever was left on the table. " Yeah! Shit. "
The bounty hunter got up and took his helmet off, he was the sweatiest Pebble had ever seen him and his hair was all stuck to his head.
" ... Are you drunk? " Pebble asked tilting his head. Running a hand through his hair the bounty hunter let out a sigh.
" I knew it! You're freaking drunk! " Running up to him with a shit eating grin he decided to tease the old man a little bit. " You went partying without me? Why? Scared I might steal all the chicks? " " I met some old friends at the bar. "
Grabbing something from his back pocket Butch handed him a currency-card.
" What's that? " Pebble asked looking at the piece of metal in his hand. " The missing 75.000 credits for your bike. " With his eyes widening in shock Pebble let out a deafening scream, jumping up and down his neck he made them both fell backwards to the ground. " Where did you find them?! " " I might have won a drinking contest... " Grabbing his face Pebble kissed him on the lips.
With his eyes closed his eyelashes almost touch his cheeks, Butch tought. Pebble kissing him didn't really register at first, his lips and hands slowly moving on their own, in his intoxicated mind it feeling good was all that mattered. He was incredibly touch starved.
Sitting up without parting their lips Butch held him into his arms, feeling Pebble's body squirm up against his, toned and smooth.
Shedding their clothes as they walked to the bedroom Pebble tip-toed to wrap his arms around the bounty hunter's neck, pushing him against the wall.
" You're so tall... " He whispered against his chest. " And your hands are so big. " They almost made his waist disappear. " Your dick too. "
" Don't rile me up kid. " The man warned him with a hiss.
For the first time Pebble had noticed the tattoo on his right bicep, a barcode with something that looked like a number sequence under it. He traced it slowly with his fingers, feeling the man's muscles tense as he did. " You have a tattoo? "
" Does it matter? "
" I'm just sayin'... " The boy had noticed a shift in his tone. " I won't ask about it again. "
Ending up face down on the bed Pebble felt every single hair on his body stand up as he heard the sound of a drawer open and close.
Butch got on top of him and grabbed his legs to spread them.
" Relax. I'm not gonna put it in your ass. " Muffled moans escaped Pebble's lips as the man placed himself between his thighs, he was hot and hard, helping him coat his own dick and balls with lube.
" Butch? " The knot in his stomach loosened when he saw the man bring his face next to his.
" What is it? "
" You won't regret this? "
" Won't you? "
" ... I won't. "
He turned around to meet his lips and never part them, even when Butch's hand stroked his cock driving him over the edge. Collapsing between the sheets he felt Butch grunt then shoot his load all over his back, panting against the crook of his neck.
" Just stay right there, I'll bring you a towel. "
With Pebble now sleeping next to him Butch stared at the ceiling in silence.
He was just pent up, no way he would have acted on it otherwise. Right? It was Pebble who kissed him anyways. It was all his fault.
With his goal now reached the two of them would have gone back to their separate ways. But did he want to? Did Pebble really want to?
Meanwhile he slept peacefully with a calm expression on his face, his lips parted, letting out soft breaths as his chest rose and fell. No way he could be mad at him for what happened.
Closing his eyes with a sigh the man tried to get some sleep. There was no way he could deal with the situation as it was, and he knew come morning he was going to have a killer hangover, but just having him by his side that night made everything a little better.