Work Text:
Cooper had never thought that the rank system was applied to titans too in the militia. He had never cared much about his own rank either; the fact that he was a pilot was already satisfying and very suitable for him.
But there he was, in the workshop for titans, accompanying BT because of pure boredom — he didn't have anything to do — and helping a trainee technician to sort data files of all titans attached to the base in alphabetical order.
He didn't read much since he wasn't really interested in their maintenance and repairs history. But when it came to BT’s profile, Cooper stopped to take a look at the information.
BT had done a lot for him, especially on Typhon and other first missions, helping to navigate through hard moments of being a pilot. BT also had learnt his whole biography, habits, and typical behavioural responses to any type of thing and continued collecting data.
“It would help to maintain better communication and contact between us, which is especially valuable in unexpected extreme situations,” BT explained once, and it was quite reasonable, as were most of his decisions in general. To know all the pitfalls of your partner was indeed essential.
That's why Cooper was finally exploring the document attentively.
>Full name: Bravo-Tango-Seven-Two-Seven-Four
> Serial number: BT-7274
>Unit type: Vanguard-class titan
>Affiliation: The Special Recon Squadron
>Pilot: 1. Tai Lastimosa (KIA)
2. Jack Cooper
That was definitely the most boring thing ever to read, as there was nothing except keywords for sorting and searching for information in a big list of titans.
Jack also skipped some unnecessary parameters such as weight, height, and the main material that BT was built of.
>Created: [access denied]
Cooper couldn't help but chuckle as the most interesting part was, of course, hidden from the eyes of simple workers.
That was something he was curious about, but even BT himself didn't tell him anything. No wonder — Vanguards, after all, was a top-secret militia project, and the fact that the IMC was still struggling to recreate militia-exclusive titans justified those measures of caution.
Jack sighed and went further, wishing to know that secret. Unfortunately, it wasn't the time he got lucky.
>Rank: Captain (equivalent rank as Tai Lastimosa)
Rank, huh?
That meant that BT—
“You're a captain?!” Jack exclaimed in shock, with his voice rising a little bit, while the senior mechanic was fixing the wires near the joint of the titan’s left hand. The man gave a laugh, while the trainee was quite surprised, just like Cooper.
BT answered simply and shortly, and a note of confusion was definitely present in his voice:
“Yes, I am.”
Jack huffed.
“W-wha– Why didn't I know? Why didn't you tell me that you're a captain?”
“I thought you were quite adequate to read my file after being assigned to pilot duty." BT’s words were roasting — it made Cooper feel stupid and unserious, especially because his moment of stupidity was exposed to other people, and the titan generally sounded disappointed and displeased by the lack of attention to his datafile.
There was also a note after the main information. Cooper gave it a look.
>Upd: rank saved after being transferred to another pilot due to sufficient experience and reasonable combat and leadership skills
“Huh, they even saved your rank after … uhm–”
Somehow it was a hard thing to say. Lastimosa died a long time ago; it had already been more than a year, actually. Still, it was uncomfortably wrong to pronounce.
“I am aware, Cooper.”
Great. So BT was actually a captain, and Jack was… just a pilot?
BT was really higher than him. Not that Jack minded; it was just surprising.
“Wait, does it mean your decisions are a priority compared to mine?”
“Yes, indeed,” said the titan proudly.
“Not really, Coop,” said the senior technician, spoiling BT’s plans to tease his pilot by spreading small misinformation as an act of revenge for Cooper's annoying last week's jokes on the mission.
That was the thing that BT had learnt from his pilot, and he quite enjoyed his strange tendency to be engaged in such friendly word fights. Truthfully, it was concerning in the beginning, but Jack's reaction was always encouraging; his giggling and praising made BT think that there was nothing wrong if his pilot enjoyed his actions.
A displeased noise from the titan told Cooper everything, and the senior technician continued:
“The thing is the pilot's word is always final, even if a titan is somehow senior in rank. But without a pilot, a titan is in charge of, I dunno, a bunch of grunts.”
“Oh, I see,” answered Jack, and the amused smile was present on his face when BT’s bright blue optics crossed with his pilot’s eyes. “Still, I can't believe nobody told me that.”
“I may suspect that nobody thought you did not know it,” said BT, which totally meant nobody thought you were so incompetent and inattentive. Cooper chuckled and continued reading the file, forgetting he was supposed to help the trainee.
“Sorry, sir, my mistake. I promise I'll do better.”
There was a list of BT's completed missions, maintenance stuff, and comments on his personality that Jack couldn't just skip. There sure would be something that could be used as a friendly tease in the near future.
Both technicians laughed, and the titan blinked, seemingly unimpressed by humans’ antics.
If BT were a human, there would be a nice time to say the I-hate-you line, but BT was a titan with his own way of expressing.
“I predict you will be insufferable for at least a week."
There was clear annoyance in his low robotic voice, which Jack adored so much. He couldn't help chuckling.
“Sorry, oh captain, my captain!” Jack hummed, and a small, shy smirk appeared on his face, and his eyes lit up with warm amusement.
Jack already knew he would probably be a little annoying, but, in his opinion, it wouldn't hurt BT to tolerate some jokes, would it?