Chapter Text
Tap tap tap.
Rain. The rain of District 13–of all of the names they could have chosen, they chose that?—never seems to stop. It’s always snow or rain or thunder, like the planet is cursed by the gods.
Tap tap tap.
Wifies toys with the metal bands on his wrists, buckling and unbuckling, checking he had enough arrows, making sure the shields that sprung with a click of a button were working.
Tap tap tap.
Wifies loved the rain. Usually. Not here though, here it fell down in unrelenting sheets of water that soaked every inch of his skin, no matter how tight he wore his armour.
Tap tap—
“Wifies!” Dean yelled, crossing his arms, “Are you even paying attention?”
“Yes!”
“Really? Then what did I just explain to everyone?” He said, spreading his arms across the table, where most of the rebels and exiled were seated.
“We’re going to storm the Northern Council, but before that we need to…” he rattled off the list of instructions that Spoke had strategised, and after proving his innocence, turned back to the window.
Couldn’t it have snowed instead? In the Northern Council it always snowed, that was the one thing he liked about the place. A fresh start, is what his mother whispered in his ear every time they saw the approaching storms back on his home planet. Before Lettuce and his gods-damned law destroyed everything.
Revenge, that was what he wanted. Not the false pretence of justice everyone else was fighting for, no. He wanted to see the caracal’s blood spill. Everyone else’s safety was a mere bonus.
Would he give up his new-found companions for the death of Lettuce?
Cough.
The thought was left unfinished as blue-green eyes met purple, the latter colour being Wifies’.
The person raised an eyebrow, those magnificent eyes sparkling with amusement as they tilted their head towards the very one-sided conversation happening at the table. Focus, they almost seemed to say.
Wifies obeyed, but racked his brain for the person’s name. They looked familiar, Wifies was sure he’d notice them around somewhere, considering the base was fairly new and the stranger was rather striking–what?
They had what would be ordinary brown hair, if not for the brightly dyed orange, yellow, blue, and green streaks running down the side, and those magnificent eyes, and their armour strangely reminded him of a parrot–ohhh.
Yeah this guy’s name was Parrot.
If Wifies remembered correctly, Parrot was from some outer rim planet…nope he couldn’t remember which, and he wanted to smash his head in for it.
“And that’s it. I’m gonna assign you partners now if there are no questions,” Spoke said, grinning.
Wifies almost startled, before realising he was supposed to have been paying attention.
“Great! Wifies, you’re with Parrot.”
What?!
Parrot’s gaze meets his again, and they both smile, although Wifies finds something odd in Parrot’s expression. Huh.
Regardless, from what Wifies had heard about the man, he was an excellent commander and was one of the best they had. Their mission–whatever it was–should be smooth sailing with two brilliant minds working together.
Spoke finished listing partnerships—Wemmbu got paired with Flamefrags, he definitely wants to see how that goes—and they were all dismissed.
Wifies walks out, sees Parrot walking away, and jogs a bit to reach him, catching his arm. “Hey,” he says, suddenly a bit tongue-tied while being face to face with this pretty strategist.
His mouth was dry too. He cleared his throat.
Parrot raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“So, uh, I didn’t hear when we were supposed to leave during the meeting.”
Parrot laughed a bit, but Wifies didn’t see any humor in his eyes. What was that, arrogance?
“And did you miss the entire mission brief too?”
Wifies was about to defend himself when Parrot spoke again, “Everyone said you were one of the best. I thought I’d finally have some competition. Apparently not,” he said, with a smirk. Like a sort of you’re nothing to worry about look. “I’m disappointed.”
Wifies straightened a bit, “I don’t know what everyone’s told you, darling,” —what was that?— “but I’m one of the smartest in the galaxy.”
Parrot gave a huffed laugh.
Was Parrot one of those lucky people that got where he was by charm and wit and didn’t have to work a day in his life? When Wifies was still paying attention to the meeting, he’d noticed everyone was treating Parrot with a bit more respect than what Wifies thought necessary. He knew his brains had made Parrot famous in the rebellion. Give anyone that kind of reputation that young, and yeah—it goes straight to their head.
Wifies held in a sigh.
Of course as soon as the galaxy sent him a beautiful boy it turned out to be some cocky, self-important son of a–
“We leave next rotation,” Parrot interrupted, rolling his eyes. “The launch window should open within the cycle, but Theo wants to make sure we’ll be safe.”
Wifies blinked. “Uh, thank you?”
“No problem,” Parrot huffed, then turned on his heel and left.
So this was who he was going to be working with.
He was tempted to bash his head into the wall.