Work Text:
Wind glances up from his project when his back begins to ache. He stretches, and his spine crackles when he twists. Eugh. The display on the wall catches his eye, blaring an accusing number at him.
He freezes for a moment—it’s far later than he thought, according to the ship’s internal clock (and the crew’s schedule.) Now that he's paying attention, he notices how the comms to the bridge have gone quiet, and how the ship glides silently through space. No errant bangs or voices through the pipes means that pretty much everyone is likely in bed.
He thinks it's a bit strange how nobody came down to poke him into bed at a normal time, like they have before. Warriors in particular is prone to doing that. Maybe he just got tired and distracted. Wind certainly couldn't get after him for that.
He’s reluctant to put down his tools, but once he does, he can lace his fingers and stretch them above his head. A few joints in his hands pop.
After shaking his head hard as if to dislodge the foggy focus, Wind pulls off his goggles and turns around. Four is, predictably, still hunched over his own project at the worktable: it's a complex rewiring of a portion of the Depths drive housing, something that only a few people in the universe could even hope to do.
Normally, Wind would expect someone doing this level of detail work to wear an eyepiece of some kind, or even use a stabilizer for their hands, but Four is going at it without any of that. Whatever he needs, he probably has it stored in his head or wires. (Wind has walked in on Four welding things at odd hours of the night or day without a mask on. It almost gives him a heart attack every time.)
He's totally absorbed in his work, so Wind makes sure to approach from a position that Four can see him. He leans his elbows on the table and watches the work for a moment. He considers himself pretty good at what he does, and he can't even begin to puzzle this thing out. Some of those connections don't even look possible.
“Going to bed?” Four asks without looking up. A little wisp of smoke rises past his head, evidence of a small soldering bead. He tucks a piece of hair behind his ear with a thick gloved finger, and his earring there swings.
“Yeah, in a minute. I didn't notice how late it got. What's your power like?”
“Hm?” Four sounds distracted, like he hadn’t properly heard the question. “My what?”
Wind rolls his eyes. “Your battery. What's it at? Just because Wars found a replacement doesn't mean it's actually replaced, yet.”
The way Four pauses and then lets out a small sigh tells Wind all he needs to know.
“Come on, then,” Wind says. Four reaches for a tool, and Wind drags it just out of his reach. “The work will still be here in the morning.”
Four looks up, scowling, but Wind doesn't give in. Their eyes meet. Four's narrow further in a clear challenge.
But Wind is uniquely suited to win staring contests. He simply closes his second eyelids. They make Four’s face a bit fuzzy, but he can go minutes without blinking now.
Four… probably can, too, now that Wind thinks about it. He's a machine. His eyes are just very fancy cameras, and cameras don't normally need to be lubricated. Four’s might, but honestly, Wind wouldn't bet on it. Pretty much every alteration that Four has consciously made to his body—at least those that Wind is aware of—has been in the name of efficiency.
For the first time in his life, Wind might lose a staring contest with a landlubber.
He can't have that. So he stands up straight and crosses his arms. There's one way he may still win this fight. “There's a port in my room. We could… have a proper sleepover. Like kids? Watch a dumb net comedy until we both fall asleep.”
Four goes still for a moment, like he's thinking. Wind can't really read his expression with this filter over everything, but he's also not willing to drop it quite yet.
“Have you seen any of Graduate?” Four asks. “Dot likes it, but I haven't ever taken the time to watch any of it.”
Wind opens his eyes fully again and can't help but break into a grin. “My sister loves it, too! Yeah, I've seen a lot of it—oh, I know exactly what episode to start with—”
Four interrupts, a tiny smile on his face. There's a few spots of grease marking his skin. “Give me approximately three and a half minutes to wrap things up here. All right?”
“Hm… all right,” Wind agrees. “But only because I need to go grab a snack. Want anything?”
“No, but thanks. Don't bring food in here. I'll meet you out there.”
“I'll get the show pulled up!” Wind mock-salutes and rushes out of the engineering bay. There isn't a lot of space in his room, but Four is small, and Wind thinks he's personally going to black out as soon as he gets in the tank, so it isn't like he’ll notice.
Someday, he'll have to have an actual sleepover with Four and whoever else they can cram into his room. It'll be fun.