AN: Hello, people! Here's a little something I wrote for my peoples on the TellTale forums. Thought I'd post it up here and AO3. Hope you guys enjoy!
"You know, you're not nearly as bad as I thought you would be. For someone who works for a soul-sucking company like Hyperion anyway." Sasha's teasing, sing-song voice sliced through the settled silence in the metallic hallway they were travelling down.
"H-huh? Oh, uh. Heh. Thanks. You too?" Fumbling words passed through Rhys' mouth. He didn't know what was up with Sasha today, but she seemed to have this certain...aura around her today. She seemed far more approachable than usual at least. The day was filled with flushed cheeks, obscured glances and stomachs filled with Rakks. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn up and down that she had looted a Hyperion® brand perfume(A'lure™. A'lure™, the only sure fire way into your affections heart is through their olfactory senses.) while they all had their backs turned.
"Woah boy. Sweaty palms, sweaty palms! Quickly wiping his hands on his pants (secretly of course) Rhys cleared his throat and tried to break the small lull in their conversation.
" Yeah, you're-" Rhys cleared his throat again, hoping that his voice didn't sound as whiny and crackly as he thought. "You're not so bad yourself! You're definitely more likeable when you don't have a gun pointed at my face." He flashed a crooked (hopefully flirty) smirk her way and put a little more "umph" in his steady gait.
"Hahaha. Still goin' through puberty there, huh? Might want to be careful there, Rhys. All you'd have to do it pack on a few more pounds and you'd be a spitting image Basonova!" A wry smile and dry chuckle met Sasha's exuberant laughter. He lightly shoved her shoulder in response to her ribbing and shook his head in exasperation at her seemingly unending chuckles.
"C'mon! It wasn't even that funny!" His words just made her laugh harder.
"W-w-where's your s-sense of humor, Rhys? That was p-pure comedy GOLD!" Her melodious "Melodious?" laugh came to an abrupt halt when a snort escaped from her nose. "Ah!" Sasha's bronze cheeks filled with blood and she stopped dead in the hallway. Hands quickly covering her mouth in abject terror, her horrified doe eyes met Rhys' shocked and mischievous ones. His grin could almost split his face and she could just *see *how long he was going to rib her for this.
"Well, well, well! What have we here, Sasha? Hmm?! W-was that a, uh. Hmm. What was it called?" Rhys' grin grew impossibly bigger when he caught Sasha's narrowed eyes with his. He wiggled his eyebrows in retaliation. "Ah. That's right! A snort! Who woulda' thought Sasha, the most refined-"He drawled his voice and did his best Vasquez impression. "-Charismatic and controlled of us...SNORTS!" Rhys dramatically placed both his hands on his cheeks.
"S-shut up! It's not funny! It's-it-it was just some stray air!" Sasha's cheeks were still scorching when she punched Rhys' arm.
"Ah-ouch!" He chuckled while rubbing the assaulted part of his limb. "I was just kidding!"
Sasha's glare intensified and her lips crunched up into a pout.
"What? C'monnnn, it's not that big of a deal! It's kinda' cute actually." A foreboding feeling settled in Rhys' stomach the moment those words escaped him. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! He tried to catch a glimpse at Sasha with his widened eyes and saw that she was moving ahead like nothing happened. "I don't think she heard me." He sighed and slumped forward in relief.
Another silence overcame them with nothing but the soft "clink"ing noise of their shoes hitting the metal floor.
"You...you really think it's cute?" Sasha's voice once again was the first to break the silence. Her tone was different this time around. He'd never heard her like this before. Mad? Sure. Cocky? Most of the time. Irritated? More than what he'd like. But this? Never. She sounded...bashful, almost coy.
"Well...Yeah. I mean it's, uh, kinda', kinda' adorable? I-I guess..." Rhys felt like smacking himself in his face with his metal hand. Wow, was he bad at flirting.
Wait.
Was he flirting? Was..was that what this was? "O-Oh, God! Does Sasha know? Has she been flirting back?!" How long has he been doing this? Rhys wasn't even sure he knew what was going on anymore!
"Adorable, huh?" His heart felt like it stopped in anticipation of where this conversation might be heading. "Would you consider meadorable, Rhys?" Her voice was back to the teasing mode it was in earlier and he had the distinct feeling that if he didn't answer the question correctly, he would be having one long solitary conversation with himself during the rest of their mission.
"Of course!" Rhys said, bass in his voice and false bravado laced through his words. "Prettiest woman in all of Pandora! Right here!" He moved his hands her way in a similar fashion of those hand models he saw on T.V. back on Helios.
His efforts were rewarded with genuine light hearted laughter coming from the now titled "Prettiest Woman In All of Pandora".
"Laying it on a little bit thick there, Rhys?" Rhys never saw her like this before either. She had a gentle smile and her eyes looked all the more bright, Illuminating her green iris' in a lovely way.
"Haha. You think?" He stretched his arm being his back and scratched a light itch. "Well, It's kinda' true regardless. W-well, I mean, it IS true. Not even a "kinda" about it! Y-you know you have really nice eyes right? Heh?" Rhys quickly backtracked and stumbled out a compliment when he saw Sasha raise her eyebrow at "kinda' true".
He offered her a cheesy smile when he noticed the corners of her lips quirked upwards just the smallest of bits more.
"You know what, Rhys?" It was Rhys' turn to aim a upwards brow at her direction. Lightly shoving him, Sasha placed one hand around the side of his head and placed a kiss on his flushed cheek. "You're better than what I thought. At flirting at least." Flashing a mischievous grin Rhys' way, she pushed him and propelled her way forward. Taking off on a light sprint.
"Well, c'mon slowpoke! Fiona and Athena need us to take out those turrets!" Rhys stood there dumbfounded. Shaking his head another giant smile lit his face.
"Hey! Wait up, you cheater!"