Work Text:
"You know," Reese said conversationally, "when you called me the brawns of this operation, I thought you were making a joke."
Finch froze. Quashed down an instinctive urge to push past Reese and off the ship, because he'd known from the start that eventually he would figure it out, he wasn't stupid, and he still had layers of secrets beyond this one to protect his past.
Besides, it wasn't as if he could really leave the ship, now was it.
Reese took advantage of his stillness to take hold of Finch's hand, to push his sleeve up to the elbow and trace the well-hidden seam in the synthetic skin, necessary for physical repairs and maintenance. "So is the limp psychosomatic, or an affectation you programmed in?"
"I have to sacrifice something to be able to travel past the usual limits of wide-band uplink," Finch said stiffly. "Lower mobility encourages people to underestimate me, and feigning injuries lowers suspicions. And they weren't too far from the truth, after all."
Reese raised an eyebrow. "I take it you weren't the typical popped-in-from-birth shellperson."
Finch snorted. "There is very little about me that is typical, Mr. Reese."
"So I'm learning." Reese finally let go of his arm and stepped back, and Finch pushed his sleeve back down, telling himself he'd run a diagnostic later to determine why the sensors still faintly registered his touch.
Finch turned back to his screen, but gave up all pretense of using the keyboard as he pulled up information on their latest Number on the monitors. "So what gave me away?" he asked.
"I've spent my share of time on brainships," Reese said. "You've done an excellent job of disguising it as a regular ship, but you're just a little too erratic at the controls. The lights, the doors... like you're trying to imitate what it's like to switch things on and off manually instead of via uplink."
It was Finch's turn to raise his eyebrows. "From that alone?"
Reese smirked. "That was just the most obvious hint." He turned to leave, patting the panel by the door on his way out.
Somehow, that touch lingered in his senses even longer.