Seth ran a hand through his hair as he sighed. Today was not going to be his day.
He shot a longing look towards his lab, his overcoat hanging on the hook so lonely and all he wanted was to jog over, take it off the hanger and pull it on.
He still remembered when he'd just started and he finally got his own set of labcoats with his name printed on them and everything, right under the NASA logo. He'd been so proud. His parents had been so proud too.
But today was a team building day and he wasn't feeling it. He liked most of the other scientist working in his department, but he was used to working alone the majority of the time. Team building days were very typically NASA, but just not for him. But he could hardly tell his boss 'no' because he was an anti social nerd. The whole point of these days was to prove to the Astronauts and other staff that they were indeed just normal people like themselves.
With a groan he grabbed his bag as they had been told to bring sports gear and headed outside, his feet dragging behind him.
It wasn't that he didn't like sports. Heck, in his free time he loved to go jogging and work out, which most people didn't realise until they saw him without a shirt on.
It was more for the fact that all the jock boys managed to get teamed up together and it felt like high school all over again.
Seth was up next for a rope pulling battle and he took his place, only to find out his partner had disappeared, or more likely thrown the towel into the ring. He clenched his jaw as the two astronauts had already taken their place on the other side and were telling him he should take on the challenge. He wasn't just about to back down and even though he'd probably end up embarrassing himself, at least he'd go down with pride. But as he reached for the rope, he heard a low chuckle behind him. Looking up and nearly head butting the other man in the process he took a small step back.
"Dr. Rollins, right?" the man's low voice rumbled as he grinned, a little too cocky for Seth's taste as the scientist brushed his shirt from invisible dust and regained his posture.
"Yea, just call me Seth, it's fine. You're Reigns, right?" He knew most of the guys' profiles as he worked on the special suits they wore and they had to be personalised into the small details.
The big Samoan grinned a little wider before nodding, raising a large hand to give Seth's shoulder a hard pat. "Yea, Roman's fine." Giving him a wink which made Seth frown. Was this astronaut friendliness? He'd never been on a sports team or had a lot of guy friends that weren't scientists.
"Looks like you can do with a team-mate?" the guy offered and Seth, although he wanted to, couldn't really turn him down when he looked at the two buff guys eying them impatiently on the other side.
Giving him a small nod, Roman returned it but seemed much more cheerful than the scientist. Grabbing the rope, but letting Seth take the lead before one of the guys came over to play referee.
They lost in the end, but Seth saw the mildly impressed and surprised look on the astronaut's face as it had been close. "Thanks." He'd huffed before joining his awkward team of researchers again for the rest of the day.
After team building day, normal life went on and Seth was a little more pleasant to be around. Wrapped up in his test results, jotting down notes in his logbook, he only realised someone was waiting to be noticed when the person cleared their throat.
Seth nearly dropped his pen and looked up bewildered, his brown eyes meeting with steel grey. He swallowed and put the pen down firmly, tilting his head a little. "You startled me," he stated a little annoyed, his voice shooting up a notch before he pressed his lips together again.
"Yea, I can tell," the darker man said clearly amused with the scientist. Taking a second, seeing Seth's frown turning deeper and he cleared his throat again. "Right. Uh we were doing some test scenarios today, but this piece here kept getting in the way…?" he pointed to a part of the test suit he was still wearing, his voice a little unsure near the end and it gave Seth a little more confidence. This was his expertise after all.
"So what? I'm not your personal seamstress." He blurted out defensively, not sure why this guy was pushing all his buttons since that stupid team day, but it was making him more uncomfortable by the minute.
It was Roman's turn to frown now. Shifting a little, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his chin up slightly. To his surprise the lab rat seemed to match his posture instead of cowering away, which most people did when he tried to intimidate them. Interesting.
"Look, I know we're like night and day, but I figured since it's still a prototype we might be able to learn from each other. You do all the theoretical stuff, right?" he waved his hand around to the lab around them with a roll of the eye, as if to say he had no clue what was happening here. "And I come in to do the practical work. And I'm telling you this isn't working. Can't we improve it together?" Raising his eyebrows and dropping his arms now, as he really would like to come to a solution together as the straps had been annoying the hell out of him during the assignment and he didn't like to mess up in front of the bosses.
Seth opened his mouth, but closed it again. Still having his arms crossed over his chest firmly, thick eyebrows knitted together in a frown as he stared at his notes for a moment before looking back up at Roman. "Are you serious? Nobody's ever come to me directly to discuss the suit." He said a little softer, as it felt kind of nice not to hear indirect results that others had written down and shaped their own way. The Samoan nodded, a little smirk finally tugging at his full lips again and it annoyed Seth and excited him at the same time.
"…..And that's why I thought it would be a good idea, you know? Since the material is made out of-" He stopped rambling and looked up surprised to the man next to him as he waved his hands in front of his face.
"Look, you're the brains here. I don't know what all of that means. 'M just saying the position of these bits isn't practical." Roman stretched out a finger to point at the drawn design of Seth's prototype and then at his own body.
"When we have to move around it gets all wonky and doesn't sit right. We were training on replacing a damaged shell and it took me so much longer than usual." Roman frowned thinking about it again as he hated not being able to give all he had.
Seth nodded slowly, eyes watching the other's body for a second too long as he quickly went to his notes and scrambled through them. Roman slowly smirked and slouched in his seat a little more.
It was passed working hours, but they'd had a few of these little meetings now. Roman telling Seth how his design wasn't working for him and ideas how to improve it. Seth trying to work out a better way to still include all the things they needed but in a more practical way.
Roman was one of the astronauts they trained to be the muscle on board. The guy that could fix things quick and knew what to do in potentially dangerous situations. He liked to call Seth 'Brains' and tried bringing Chinese food into his lab the other day. Seth nearly had a heart attack, but thanked him after quickly guiding him into the scientists office to eat it where it could not harm his experiments.
The young scientist often wondered why Roman had made the step to approach him about the suit. Or even at the team day. But another voice in his head told him to shut up and appreciate the help. In the name of science and all that.
"Yo, Rollins,"
Seth looked up from the microscope to see AJ standing in the doorway of his lab. Her sarcastic voice and dry remarks always making his day a little brighter. "Hey," he said as he wondered what she needed, sitting up a little more straight as he adjusted his glasses.
She motioned to the offices where the entrance to their labs and general domain was.
"Your boyfriend is here," she said dryly, but a smirk tugged on her lips before she turned on her heels and disappeared again. Seth felt his face heat up and frowned, getting up all flustered before he tried to calm himself down. It was just AJ. She always tried to get on everyone's nerves.
He hung away his labcoat as he entered the office space and saw Roman standing in the doorway looking a little lost. The man usually not coming here until after everyone else had left as you weren't really allowed into the lab without clearance from above. "Hey, hi." Seth muttered as he walked over quickly, looking around and just finding AJ staring at them from behind her computer. He blinked at her before looking at Roman, who quirked an eyebrow at the little woman. Soon he turned his attention to Seth and ignored her al together, but Seth still felt her stare burning in the back of his head.
"Hey, they're doing a launch tomorrow morning. Real early and all, but I thought you might wanna go see?"
Seth felt his stomach swirl, thinking it was sweet and strange that Roman had remembered the detail of Seth telling him he'd never seen a launch live. The scientists usually weren't needed there and most of them rather stayed in their labs, analysing the events afterward.
When Seth didn't answer straight away the slightly taller man seemed uncomfortable with the prolonged silence and started talking again.
"….Cos, you know they're planning on dismantling pad B over summer, with the new project and all? So it might be a last chance to see it in action. I thought-" He stopped mid sentence as Seth touched his arm lightly, looking at the scientist surprised and a little bewildered.
"Yea, I'd love to." He said softly, earning him a smile from the Samoan who reached out to ruffle his messy hair.
"Cool," the astronaut said as he nodded and seemed to need a second to remember what he was supposed to say next.
"Right uh, let me give you my number so you can tell me where you live. I'll come pick you up, okay?" The way he spoke in a more hushed voice did things to Seth he wouldn't even admit to himself. Shaking it off as AJ was still staring at them and obviously listening too.
He handed his phone to the guy and Roman entered his number before handing it back with a smirk. "Ok see you later, doc." He said before raising his voice a little and waving at AJ, "Bye," he chuckled which earned him a death glare, but the astronaut didn't seem to mind as walked out of their office again.
Seth had been surprised when Roman had driven his truck around the NASA property instead of onto it. The Samoan saw the discomfort on the other's face at the realisation and chuckled, patting his leg.
"Don't worry, we're doing nothing illegal. They don't want us at the actual launch and it's boring anyway," he waved his hand dismissively as his eyes were still fixed on the road ahead. "But one of the older guys once took all of us new Astro's out to this place to watch a launch and drink a beer. It's good."
Seth relaxed a little as he nodded, rubbing at his eyes as it was barely 3AM and still dark outside.
Florida was hot as ever and Seth sighed as he felt himself getting attacked by some mosquitoes the moment they got out of the car. He watched Roman, who didn't seem to have any trouble with natures less pretty side, as he opened the latch of his truck so they could sit in it. Laying out a blanket and handing Seth a bottle of gatorade with an apologetic chuckle. "Sorry, s'all I got." He muttered and Seth shook his head, joining him in the back of the truck as they sat side by side.
"It's still gonna be a little while," Roman said as he checked his watch for the time and eyed the younger man. Seth just nodded and suppressed a yawn, giving the other a small smile.
Waking up with a start, the scientist felt something warm against his cheek. Groaning as he felt his back hurt a little from the weird position he was in, he rubbed it a little, only then realising he'd been asleep, leaning against Roman's arm. He was about to apologise as he felt his face flare up, but as he opened his mouth he stopped himself.
The other man was peering up at the sky, which was still dark but showing signs of morning far off. Roman had a deep frown etched into his features, something Seth hadn't seen very often before. It only took him a small moment to realise what the other must be thinking about. There were many stories about projects going wrong not because of technology, but because of human fault. The fact people went crazy in space was no secret, although NASA did their best to cover everything up that they could. He saw the other clench his jaw tight, saw the strain in his handsome face that was usually so carefree or so smug Seth wanted to plant his fist in it.
Reaching out he touched the other's arm lightly, the skin warm to the touch and he left his hand there. Roman turned to look at him and gave him a small apologetic smile. The night sky making the other's eyes stand out even more as they were almost silver against his dark skin.
"Are you scared?" Seth asked softly, his voice cutting through the silence even though there was sounds of nature all around them.
"Only a fool wouldn't be," Roman answered a bit too political correct and Seth almost whished he heard the usual confidence and smugness in his deep, baritone voice.
"It's just you up there, you know? Not everyone is ready to come face to face with their soul." He whispered softly, eyes looking back up at the sky again.
Seth huddled a little closer, resting against the other again and Roman wrapped an arm around his shoulders loosely. He could hear the other's steady heartbeat as he rested against his broad chest.
"You wont be alone," Seth said softly, but tried to sound confident. Looking up to meet Roman's eyes when he felt the other look at him. He saw confusion on the other's face and it made him smile a little bit. "I'll be there with you." He said with a nod, leaning up to touch foreheads with the other man, who'd closed his eyes now and finally had a smile tugging at his lips again.