Mitch was sitting in Teddy's office. Teddy was behind his immaculate desk, frowning. So far, so usual.
"Everything's alright with the Hermes crew. They're slightly behind on their experiments and two of the bedrooms can't be used at the moment, but otherwise, they're fine. Watney's recovering well, according to Dr. Beck's report," Mitch said boredly. He wasn't supposed to give routine status updates like this, he had people working for him for that, but he didn't have anything else to do, and he liked riling Teddy up by appearing in his office and not leaving.
Teddy nodded and aligned a ruler with his mouse pad. "Good," he said. Everything about Teddy was spotless, and neat, and his room was the same.
Mitch had a fantasy of sweeping everything off Teddy's desk and having him on it, making a mess of him and getting that annoyingly perfect, controlled façade to fall.
He tried not to think about that fantasy too often, especially when Teddy was right there.
Teddy got up and sighed.
"Where're you going?" Mitch asked.
"Meeting," Teddy said curtly.
"Oh, right," Mitch said. He sighed. "They've become so boring since Watney's back on Hermes."
Teddy opened the door for him. "They're on a spaceship that was designed to get a check-up much sooner, and they'll be on that ship for a while. Let's hope the meetings stay boring."
Mitch wished he'd be able to disagree with Teddy like he usually did, but on this matter, he really couldn't.
"What the hell do you think this is? The public is at my throat! They want to know what's going down on that spaceship and they want to know it right fucking now!" Annie said.
Teddy rubbed his temples. "Annie," he said. "We've been keeping them informed."
"What else do they want?" Bruce asked.
"Pictures, videos, personal messages!" Annie said, throwing her hands up. "The story of Watney's still going on, the press have been getting wind of some of the equipment failures –"
"There's been no serious damage, everything is fine," Mitch said.
"Oh yeah?" Annie said. "You wanna go out there tell those sons of bitches that? You know how fucking complicated all of that shit sounds, the press think that any moment Hermes could blow up and everybody'll die!"
"That's their problem," Bruce said.
Venkat sighed. "Annie, we understand, but what do you want us to do?"
"Get me a personal message from the crew for the public, stating that they're fine and dandy and having the fucking time of their lives, that's what! Preferably one by Watney himself, he's the public's fucking darling, brave hero who survived an impossible blah blah blah."
Teddy sighed. "Alright," he said. "Make it happen."
Mitch couldn't help but stare at him. He'd really like to get Teddy's hair into a mess, tousling it and running his hands through it again and again. He imagined it would feel nice and soft between his fingers. He got up. He definitely could do with some fresh air. "See you all later," he said. "I've got – stuff – to do."
Everyone left the room one by one, until only Venkat and Mindy were left. Mindy let out a breath. "That was intense," she said. "We'll better see what we can do about that message."
"Yes," Venkat said distractedly. "I'll go talk to CAPCOM now. See you later, Mindy."
Mindy nodded. "Bye," she said. Then her gaze was drawn to the chair in which Mitch Henderson had been sitting a minute ago.
Mindy was observant. She'd noticed Mark Watney was alive. She was good at spotting things. And even though she was utterly and hopelessly outranked at all these meetings and had no idea why she was still required to attend them now that Watney was aboard Hermes, she was good at reading people. She was shy, and didn't speak a lot – or at least she had been shy for most of her life, until her promotion/demotion to space paparazzi, so she was used to quietly watching others who had no idea how obvious they were.
Well. It was none of her business, and she had work to do.
"We've got that message from Hermes you have been waiting for, Watney's sent it for the press to know they're okay, apparently, as requested," one of the CAPCOM people said.
"What is it?" Teddy asked impatiently.
"Uh, um," the guy said.
"What?" Annie barked. "I need something to give to the press. They're tearing me apart! They're sick of technological babbling, they want something the public can understand! Is everyone too fucking stupid to get that?"
"I – I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean," the man said. "It appears to be – I think it's the lyrics to 'Good Times' by Chic?"
Annie said, "Fuck Watney, fuck that crew, and fuck disco!" She buried her head in her hands, which muffled the rest of her swearing.
Teddy coughed. If Mitch hadn't know that Teddy had no sense of humor at all, he'd have though the director of NASA was hiding a laugh.
Teddy carefully aligned his laptop with the edge of his desk. Mitch watched him with some fascination. It was weird – Teddy was so tidy, so obsessively neat, but all Mitch wanted to do was mess up his immaculate suit, his hair, his calm expression. He wanted to get Teddy out of that suit, and to tangle his fingers in Teddy's hair, and to see him flush and gasp and he really, really had to stop thinking stuff like this. He didn't even like Teddy. He really didn't. Honestly.
Teddy straightened his tie, and placed his pens parallel to each other and his mouse pad. He looked up briefly. "Are you alright, Mitch?" he asked.
Mitch tore his gaze away from Teddy's hands. "Yeah, sure," he said. "Just wondering what to do about Hermes's reactor."
Teddy nodded. "Let's hope they'll be able to fix it with the instructions provided. They're a good crew. The best. And Watney's fixed all kinds of things. They can improvise."
Mitch leaned back in his chair. "You don't like it when people improvise."
Teddy gave him a sharp look, then shook his head. "No," he admitted. "But there's a reason I'm the director, not an astronaut."
"That reason being that space food makes you feel worse than the vomit comet does. At least that's mine," Mitch said.
Teddy apparently allowed himself to lose his composure for a second and smiled a small smile. Mitch considered it a success.
Bruce Ng hadn't been doing this new job for that long. Unless there was someone out there who considered two-and-a-half weeks 'long'. He liked it, though. It was better than most of the jobs he'd had before, and people were nice, and it was NASA, which made for a great pickup line. Until that point where he had to admit that he wasn't an astronaut. But still, sometimes it worked. At least better than in college, when the best he'd been able to do was bragging with his science-competition trophies.
Anyway, he liked his job, which was why he went along for drinks after work. Annie Montrose had invited him, and you didn't say no to Annie. He'd learned that quickly after he'd watched her make a tech guy cry on Bruce's first day.
Annie wasn't just bossy and beautiful, she could also drink most of them under the table, despite probably weighing twenty kilos less than the skinniest of them.
"Fuck!" Annie said, slamming her empty shot glass on the table. "Someone get me another three!"
About five guys jumped up and ran over to the bar. Annie leaned back and grinned at Bruce. "Good of you to come along, Bruce," she said. "You having fun?"
"Yeah," he said obediently.
She laughed. "Have a couple more drinks. We're all getting drunk tonight!"
"It's a Wednesday," Mitch said from next to Bruce. Mitch was a pretty cool guy. "We have work tomorrow." He didn't actually seem to care much, because he finished his fifth beer right after speaking.
"That's the good thing about working in media relations," Annie said. "PR people don't have to do much aerophysics, or whatever it's called. You can talk to reporters with a hangover."
Mitch laughed, and got up to get another beer.
Bruce turned to the guy sitting next to Annie, who kept aligning his glass of water with Annie's shot glasses. He hadn't spoken much.
"Hey," Bruce said. "Who're you?"
The man smiled, though he didn't seem to be very good at it. "I'm Teddy Sanders," he said.
Bruce nodded. "Heard of you. Didn't you just get promoted?"
Teddy nodded.
Annie laughed. "Teddy'll be director of NASA someday, mark my words."
Teddy shook his head, but he was smiling.
Mitch sat back down with them. "We're not gonna have a fun time when that happens," he said.
Annie shot him a disapproving look and emptied one of the glasses a guy put down in front of her. "We can be a team. Ruling NASA together," she said. "It'll be awesome."
"I'd like to see that," Bruce said, laughing.
"You will, my friend, you will," Annie said. "Then we can go to proper bars, 'cause we'll have money."
"If the government doesn't defund us first," Teddy said, and Bruce laughed.
"Let's pray that doesn't happen."
"We'll have to ask Venkat," Mitch said. "He's got a lot of gods to pray to."
He'd emptied his sixth beer and was swaying slightly in his seat.
"Venkat's such a spoilsport," Annie pouted. "He just had to leave at half past fucking eleven, didn't he?"
Mitch grinned. "Venkat's alright," he said. He put his head on the table. "Think they'll let me sleep here?"
Teddy said, "No."
Bruce got up. "I think I'll have to go, too, though. Tomorrow will be terrible, anyway."
"Exactly!" Annie said. "So you might as well stay."
"Sound logic," Bruce said. "But sorry, I'm leaving."
Annie very maturely stuck out her tongue at him.
"I think I'll go as well," Teddy said, taking his coat. He hadn't had a drink.
"You suck," Mitch slurred, looking up.
"I think you should take a taxi now, Mitch," Teddy said.
Mitch grumbled something and put his head on his arms.
Teddy took his arm and pulled him up. Mitch didn't protest. "Come on," Teddy said.
Annie cursed. "Alright, then, leave me all alone with those guys," she said, pointing at the few of their colleagues that were still there. "They're fucking boring."
'Those guys' didn't seem to mind, being too enraptured by Annie paying them any attention, even if it was very little.
"Sorry, Annie," Teddy said, pulling Mitch towards the exit.
"See you tomorrow. Well, later today," Bruce said, following them.
"Fuck you!" Annie yelled after them.
Bruce rather liked Annie.
The cold air outside helped sober Bruce up. There was a taxi waiting at the curb, and he was tempted just to get into it, but he threw a look at Mitch, who had fallen asleep standing up, leaning against Teddy's side, and decided that he was in greater need.
"We should get him into that taxi," Bruce said to Teddy.
Teddy nodded, shaking Mitch's shoulder. "Mitch," he said. "Wake up. You've got to get in the taxi, okay?"
"No," Mitch said. "I wanna stay here."
"You can't," Teddy said, leading him over to the taxi.
It took Bruce and Teddy several minutes and quite a lot of money to persuade the driver to even take Mitch. Teddy helped Mitch, who was whining, get into the back seat.
"You're going to be okay," Teddy said, but Mitch had already gone to sleep again.
Bruce glanced at Teddy, who was watching the taxi drive away with a strange look in his eyes.
"So," Bruce said. "You and Mitch are friends?"
Teddy shrugged. "No," he said.
"Oh," Bruce said.
Teddy shrugged again. "He doesn't like me much."
Bruce watched Teddy's hunched posture and his sad eyes, feeling quite sorry for him. He thought about how nice Teddy had been to Mitch, and how carefully he'd put him into the taxi, and wondered how long Teddy had been in love with him by now, and whether Mitch had noticed.
Mitch knocked on Teddy's office door.
"Who is it?" Teddy called from inside.
"It's me, Mitch."
Teddy was silent for a moment, then called, "Come in."
Mitch couldn't help but stare once he'd stepped into the room. Teddy was obviously still in control, his desk neat and his suit perfect-looking, but his eyes were red and there was a glass of scotch on his desk, perfectly aligned with his pencil tin.
"Teddy?" Mitch asked. "What happened?"
Teddy got up and looked out the window, then turned back around to face Mitch. He looked so tired, Mitch felt a pang of sadness for him.
"My mother just died this morning," Teddy said quietly.
Mitch froze for a second. "I'm sorry," he said automatically.
Teddy didn't look him in the eyes. "It's alright, it wasn't unexpected," he said. "She was old." He cleared his throat.
"It's still terrible," Mitch said.
Teddy looked down. "Yes," he said, voice breaking. "I suppose –"
Mitch hugged him. He hadn't thought about it, but he'd never seen Teddy so vulnerable, so helpless, and it was absolutely heartbreaking. For a moment, Teddy didn't do anything, but then he relaxed into Mitch's arms and rested his head against his shoulder. Mitch wondered when Teddy had last been hugged.
Mitch didn't know how long they'd been standing there, but they broke apart when there was a knock on the door. It was definitely one of Annie's knocks, sharp and impatient, punctuated by a "Fucking let me in, Teddy!"
"Go home and get some rest," Mitch said, despite knowing that Teddy would never put his own wellbeing above his work.
Teddy shook his head. "I'm fine," he said.
Mitch put a hand on Teddy's shoulder, then left the office to let Annie, who was scowling and clutching a report, come inside.
"Everything on Hermes is working as well as can be expected considering it hasn't had a check-up," Mitch said. "The crew are fine."
"Why're we having this meeting, then?" Annie asked.
"Because we don't know how long it's going to stay this way," Venkat said.
"Are you saying I have to prepare myself for the shit storm that's going to hit us if they all die?"
Mitch groaned. "Annie, come on."
"What? I'm the one who's gonna have to deal with the vultures!"
"We need to consider all outcomes," Teddy said. "Hopefully, everything is going to work out."
"They've been having problems with the reactor," Venkat said. "So far, they've been able to fix all of them. They're good at improvising, and they're astronauts. They're clever, they're not going to give up."
"I know," Mitch said. "Can you still pray to all of your gods, Venkat, just in case?"
Venkat smiled. "Don't worry, I'm on it."
Mitch gave him the thumbs-up.
Annie leaned back in her chair and stretched her neck. "So, there's nothing we can do to ensure they'll be safer? Nothing I can tell the press we're working on?"
"We've got people working on solutions to problems that are likely to come up, especially relating to the reactor," Teddy said. "Other than that, not really, no."
"Fucking fantastic," Annie said. "You know, I wish you guys had to deal with the press for just a day. You'd worship the fucking ground I walk on."
"Annie," Mitch said, smirking at her teasingly. "All of NASA does that anyway."
Annie smirked back. "They better," she said. "That it? Because I need coffee."
Teddy nodded. "Just remember, we need to stay prepared. We mustn't think that now that Watney's on board Hermesh
Hermes everything is going to go smoothly."
"It's another 128 days until they get back to earth," Venkat said. "Once they're home, I'll invite you all for drinks."
Annie snorted. "Right, and then leave before twelve, as always."
Venkat laughed. Annie got up and left the room to get her coffee while Venkat glanced at Mitch and Teddy. They both looked lost in thought. "See you later," he told them.
Teddy barely reacted, Mitch mumbled "Bye." Something had to be bothering them. Venkat frowned. Hopefully they'd sort it out, no matter what it was. He sighed and decided to follow Annie's example and get himself a cup of coffee.
In the meeting room, Mitch hesitantly looked at Teddy. "You okay?" he asked.
Teddy jolted and looked up at him. "Yes," he said. "I'm fine."
"You look – very tired," Mitch said.
Teddy nodded. "It's still stressful. I'm worried that something might go wrong with Hermes."
"It'll be fine," Mitch said, knowing it was an empty promise.
"Yes," Teddy said distractedly. He cleared his throat. "Mitch?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for – the other day, when –"
"You're welcome."
Teddy ran a hand through his hair. It was still perfectly neat. "Right," he said.
"Are you sure you're fine?" Mitch asked.
Teddy nodded.
"Liar," Mitch muttered. He wished he could hug Teddy again to tell him he was right here, but that wouldn't go over well, he thought.
Teddy smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. "You shouldn't concern yourself with my wellbeing."
"Yeah, well, it's hard not to," Mitch said, and it took him a second to realize how stupid he was. He should just keep his mouth shut. Teddy didn't even like him, and who could blame him for that? Mitch knew that he was kind of a dick most of the time, especially to Teddy.
Teddy stared at him. "What – what do you mean by that?"
"Nothing," Mitch said, turning to leave.
Teddy, in an uncharacteristic show of emotion, grabbed Mitch's arm to stop him. "Wait," he said. "Don't go yet."
Mitch kissed him. For a moment, he was sure Teddy was going to push him away, but he wrapped his arms around Mitch's waist instead and parted his lips with a little gasp, and Mitch finally, finally got his chance to mess up Teddy's hair, and his suit, and –
Teddy pulled away. "We're at work," he said.
Mitch groaned. "Teddy," he said. "Honestly, have some fun. What is wrong with you, come on."
Teddy looked at him with wide eyes, and for a second he seemed genuinely uncertain what to do. Then he stepped back and straightened his tie.
"We – shouldn't be doing this," he said, and left.
Mitch dropped into one of the chairs around the meeting room table. His mind was completely blank, and he felt numb, but he could still taste Teddy's lips.
Venkat Kapoor was happy at NASA, at least for the most part. He'd been there for a few years now, and it was a demanding job, but he liked it.
At least generally.
Right now, he didn't like it at all, but that wasn't NASA's fault.
"Fuck this shit!" Annie said. "Fuck it! Fuck you all!"
Venkat put his head in his hands. They were having lunch in the canteen, which was actually fairly good. Only he didn't have time to eat, because Annie was cussing out Teddy and Mitch. Bruce and Venkat were sitting there, feeling uncomfortable.
"Annie," Venkat said. "Bruce is going to move to Pasadena next week, let's not ruin his last couple of days."
Annie crossed her arms. "Don't fucking tell me what to do, Venkat," she said. She glared at Teddy and Mitch. "Can't you two get it together just for this weekend?"
"What's the matter?" Bruce asked confusedly. "What's this weekend?"
"Annie's birthday," Venkat said.
"Oh, right," Bruce said.
"You'll all be there," Annie said.
Venkat and Bruce nodded, but Teddy and Mitch remained silent.
Annie cursed and drummed her fingers on the table. "If you two don't make it up, you won't have another peaceful nanosecond. Nobody ruins my birthday party. Nobody fucks with me."
"Don't stress, Annie," Mitch said. "I'll be there. No one wants him at parties, anyway."
Teddy ignored him.
Annie exploded. "Fuck you!" she said, so loudly that people around them turned to watch their table. "Are you high school girls, or what? Can't you act like goddamn grown men for a second?"
Teddy and Mitch stayed quiet.
Annie got up. "You know what? I've had it. Men, seriously! Just fuck it out, will you? It's feelings, not fucking rocket science!" She stalked off, the majority of people in the canteen watching her, obviously torn between amusement and admiration.
Venkat sighed.
"Annie's great, but I hate her sometimes," Mitch said.
"You can say that again," Teddy said.
Mitch threw him a surprised look. Teddy shrugged.
Bruce just seemed more confused than in the beginning. "So, what are you two mad at each other about?"
"Don't ask, Bruce," Venkat said. "Just don't ask. No one knows."
Mitch crossed his arms. "Just 'cause Teddy's got that stick up his ass and never supports any risky missions –"
Teddy ran a hand over his face and aligned his plate with the edge of the table. He didn't say anything.
"Mitch," Venkat said. "Stop it."
Mitch huffed, but nodded.
Venkat sighed once again. He was at a point now where he was actually hoping that those two would follow Annie's advice to 'fuck it out', otherwise no one at NASA would have another enjoyable moment at work until the day one of them finally retired.
Mitch was aware that Teddy would be pissed off, but he rang the bell anyway. Teddy opened the door and looked at him with disapproval.
"We're not at work," Mitch said, trying to not sound too hopeful.
Teddy stared at him for a couple of seconds, then let him in.
"What are you doing, Mitch?" he asked once they were standing in the hallway. "Why did you come here?"
"To do this," Mitch said, feeling ridiculously cheesy, and kissed Teddy.
It was even better than earlier, slower and warmer, and Teddy made a sweet little noise in the back of his throat that only made Mitch want to kiss him more, but he took a step back regardless. He had to ask, to make sure Teddy wanted this, to not make him feel like he had to do anything.
"Are you – I mean, are you sure you're okay to do this? You've been stressed lately –"
"Mitch," Teddy said with endearing strictness. "We're not high-schoolers on our prom night. I've decided what I want. And I'm always stressed."
Mitch kissed him again, and this time they didn't break apart, so Mitch took the opportunity to loosen Teddy's tie and pull open the collar of his shirt to suck hungry, wet kisses beneath his jaw.
Teddy pulled him into the living room and onto the sofa, and Mitch barely had enough time to notice that Teddy's house was exactly as tidy and perfectly arranged as he had imagined it to be, before he got distracted with the buttons of Teddy's shirt.
Teddy gasped when Mitch finally got his hands onto his skin, running them down Teddy's sides. Teddy actually laughed and Mitch grinned up at him. "You're ticklish," he said, delighted by the fact.
He helped Teddy get out of his shirt and let his hands wander down Teddy's chest over his ribs and down to his belt, playing with the buckle. Teddy gasped into their kiss and pulled away, and Mitch immediately let go of him. "Sorry," he said. "Too fast?"
Teddy was looking at him, his cheeks flushed and his hair messy, and he was perfect, Mitch couldn't have dreamed him better.
"N-no," Teddy said. He seemed to search for words and Mitch couldn't help but press another quick kiss to his lips.
"What – I mean, how –" Teddy trailed off and grimaced, obviously not liking the feeling of helplessness that left him unable to form complete sentences.
Mitch laughed and climbed into Teddy's lap, running his hands down his back, feeling his hot skin, Teddy's chest against his, and kissed him again. "Whatever you want," he murmured against Teddy's lips, and felt him smile.
Mitch was woken up by the alarm. It didn't sound like it usually did. He reached out anyway in order to hit the snooze button like he always did, but the alarm clock wasn't where it was supposed to be. He groaned, and opened his eyes, and he was in Teddy's bed. Shit. Shit. Also, amazing and great, but scary.
Teddy was sitting on the other side of the bed, watching him. They looked at each other for a moment. The alarm kept beeping.
"You should probably turn that off," Mitch said.
Teddy nodded and turned off the alarm, but didn't move otherwise.
"Right," Mitch said. "So."
"So," Teddy said weakly.
"I had fun," Mitch said as cheerfully as he could.
Teddy actually blushed. He looked cute in the morning, Mitch found, with his hair sticking up weirdly and his sleepy eyes.
"Yes," Teddy said. "Uh, so did I."
"Good," Mitch said, meaning it. He would've been angry with himself otherwise. He caught Teddy stealing a glance at the clock.
"You've got some exactly timed morning routine and you're two minutes behind, right?" Mitch asked.
"Three now," Teddy said. Maybe it was Mitch's imagination, but he sounded slightly apologetic.
"That's okay," Mitch said. "I should go anyway. I'll see you at work." He got up and started looking around for his clothes, then realized most of them were probably still in the living room.
"If you want a shower, or breakfast –" Teddy said.
"I'm fine," Mitch said. "See you later."
He let himself out.
Teddy was avoiding him, Mitch was sure. They hadn't seen or spoken or emailed each other at all in the last four days, which hadn't happened once in the past six years.
There was a meeting today, however, so they were bound to run into each other.
Teddy didn't look at him during the meeting, and he didn't address him directly either, which was just ridiculous. So afterwards, Mitch said, "Could you stay for a minute, Teddy?"
The others were leaving, and Teddy finally looked at him, he looked hesitant. "Annie forgot the report," he said quietly, aligning Annie's binder with the edge of the table. Mitch caught his hand and interlaced their fingers. Teddy looked at the floor. "This isn't a good idea, Mitch," he said.
"I think it's a really good idea, to be frank," Mitch said, putting the fingers of his free hand under Teddy's chin to be able to look him in the eyes.
Teddy sighed, but he didn't pull away, so that was something. "This is work, we shouldn't be discussing it here –"
"It's not like I just run into you all the time," Mitch said. "You've been avoiding me. Got to make the most of the opportunities. Remember what Annie said, about it not exactly being rocket science?"
"That was years and years ago," Teddy said. "I'm old now."
"You're not old. You're barely older than me."
"I'm grey," Teddy said, pulling a face. Mitch tried in vain not to find it adorable.
"It suits you." And it did. Teddy really was rather good-looking, and also hopefully going to run out of excuses not to get close to Mitch soon.
"And rocket science is easy."
Mitch chuckled and squeezed Teddy's hand. "I know you must be terrified, this being pretty much the definition of 'risk' by your standards, I'm guessing, but –"
Teddy kissed him. Mitch had not expected that. It took him a second to realize what was actually happening. Then he wound his arms around Teddy's neck and decided to postpone the talking, instead contenting himself with exploring Teddy's mouth and stroking his hair, eliciting a sigh, and –
"Fuck!" someone said.
Mitch turned around. Annie was standing there, mouth agape, eyes wide. "Fuck!" she said again. "What the fuck is going on here?"
They jumped apart, staring at her in horror.
"Nothing," Teddy managed to choke out. He wasn't very convincing.
"Shit!" Annie said. "Sorry, I'm gonna go. I didn't – sorry. I'm leaving now. I just wanted to get my report." She picked it up from where she had been sitting during the meeting. Mitch saw her mouth shit once more.
"Right," Mitch said.
"It's alright, Annie," Teddy said composedly.
"I'm not gonna tell anyone, if that's what you really want to know," Annie said. She walked out the door, but before Mitch could even breathe a sigh of relief, she'd already poked her head back in and smirked at them.
"I fucking knew it."
Annie Montrose was young, and determined, and capable. And very prone to swearing, which did not endear her to her superiors, but certainly to her colleagues.
"This is shit," she said. "You'd think fucking NASA would host better staff Christmas parties. When I got this job, I thought it'd be cool, you know. Hanging out with nerds all day. Trying to keep the press down. Getting coffee for assholes even though I've got a master's degree in Media and Advertising. Even if you fuckers here look down on that and anything that's not fucking quantum physics or shit like that."
Her colleagues laughed. They thought she was funny and non-threatening because she was on the same level of management – level zero, as they liked to call it – as they all were, and PR to boot. Annie didn't mind. In fifteen years, or twenty, she'd be director of media relations of NASA. She knew that, because she had put it on her to-do-list, and the shit on that list got done, she made damn sure of that.
"I know, this is so bad," one guy said. Annie didn't know what his job was, but she vaguely recalled his name being Mitch. He was hot, but not her type. No one here was, they were the hugest nerds she'd ever met. And she'd had a boyfriend in sophomore year of high school who had been vice-president of the mathletes. She pulled a face just thinking about that guy.
"Well, at least we're getting one, and there's free cookies," Venkat said diplomatically. Venkat was nice. Too nice for Annie's taste. He never swore.
Someone else stepped up to them. It was Teddy Sanders. He was overworked, and calm, and collected, and had about five sticks up his ass. Annie sighed. He'd shoot through the ranks, that much was obvious, not for the same reasons Annie herself would, but because he was careful and risk-averse and a fucking workaholic if there'd ever been one.
"Teddy, these are Venkat and Mitch," she said, having to introduce the others by virtue of being the only one to have met all of them. "Mitch, Venkat, this is Teddy. I don't know his job. Something nerdy. He's been here for like half a year and already he's worked more than I have in two."
The men all nodded at each other. Annie grimaced. None of them had any fucking social skills at all.
"How're you liking the job at NASA, Teddy?" Venkat asked.
Teddy shrugged. "I enjoy it. It's very interesting."
"Interesting?" Mitch snorted. "It's NASA. It doesn't get much cooler. Well, this is overlooking the terrible Christmas parties."
Teddy threw him a rather cool look, but didn't say anything.
Mitch grimaced. "You're one of those, then," he said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Teddy asked.
Annie took a sip of her shitty mulled wine and grinned. She liked this kind of thing, but Venkat next to her seemed pretty uncomfortable.
"The ones who aren't here for the fun."
"Of course I'm not here for the fun," Teddy said. "I'm dedicated to NASA's goals."
"Yeah, so am I," Mitch said. "Only I'm fun, and you seem not to be."
Teddy raised his eyebrows, then nodded at Annie and Venkat. "I'll see you around," he said, leaving.
"Mitch," Venkat said. "That was not necessary."
"But it was hilarious," Annie threw in. Venkat glared at her and she shrugged in response.
Mitch grumbled. "I hate those types," he said, and left to get some of the free cookies. Annie didn't warn him that they were shit.
Venkat sighed. "I give it a year until they crush on each other hopelessly," he said then, half-grinning.
Annie looked at him. He was going up in her opinion quite a lot.
She grinned as well. "What? Teddy and Mitch?" She laughed, even though she could tell where Venkat was getting the idea from. But those two were not the kind of guys who'd get their shit together and sort it out. "I give it, like, twenty," she said.
Hermes was going to land in four days, and Mitch felt like he hadn't slept in – a really long time. He was leaning against one of the windows in Teddy's office, dangerously close to nodding off, while Teddy was speaking on the phone to someone important. Probably the president. Mitch didn't care. He wanted to go home, preferably take Teddy with him, and just sleep. Honestly, literally, just sleep.
Teddy put the phone down and slumped over his desk. Well, by Teddy's standards. By Mitch's standards, he bent his head very slightly.
Mitch stepped towards him and put a hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles. "You need to go home and get some rest, Teddy," he said. "It's no use tiring yourself out now, the actual day will be stressful enough."
Teddy looked up at him. "What if it goes wrong? It'll be my fault."
"It's not going to go wrong, everything will be fine," Mitch said. "And it wouldn't be your fault."
He could tell Teddy didn't believe him. He stared straight ahead, his eyes empty and red from lack of sleep.
"It's going to be alright," Mitch said. "And we can't do anything right now."
"I know," Teddy said. "That's the problem."
It was all fine. Hermes had come home safely and the whole world was cheering. They'd done their press conferences, and made their statements, and proclaimed the entire thing a great step forward for all of mankind.
They were tired.
"I fucking hate this," Annie said with a happy smile. She'd loved the press conference, finally being able to give the public great news for once.
Venkat was clutching a cup of coffee. Sometimes, working for NASA really took Mitch back to being a student, at least in regard to coffee consumption.
Bruce was drawing a wobbly rocket on a note-pad. Mitch chalked that up to sleep-deprivation.
Mitch himself kept watching the door. Teddy was on the phone with the president, but he'd be back soon, hopefully.
"I wanna sleep," Bruce said.
"We all do," Venkat said. "Let's just wait for Teddy, then we can go home."
"Fucking finally," Annie said. "I haven't been in my apartment for a fucking week."
"None of us have," Venkat said.
"Yeah, but I don't care about your sleep, only mine," Annie said, rubbing her eyes.
Bruce glared at her, but was obviously too tired to say anything.
The door opened, and Teddy stepped in. "Everything's fine," he said. "The president is very happy with us."
"Yay," Annie said monotonously.
Teddy shrugged and straightened his tie. "We should all go home," he said. "Tomorrow will be a very stressful day."
"I wonder what that'll be like," Mitch said.
Teddy smiled at him. Mitch smiled back. Smiles at work, Mitch thought. Definitely a good day, despite the tiredness.
"Right," Bruce said. "I'm going. If I can make it into a car without falling asleep on the way outside."
"Me, too," Annie said. "Good work, we're fucking awesome."
"Thanks," Venkat said. "I'm going home as well. I haven't seen my wife in days."
"Bye," Mitch said. "See you tomorrow."
Venkat nodded and left.
Mitch turned to Teddy. "Hey, you alright?" he asked.
Teddy was pale. The rings under his eyes were pronounced and he looked like he could have gone to sleep right there in the meeting room. His suit was still perfect.
"Yes," he said. "Just a little tired."
Mitch took Teddy's face in his hands. This was work, and he had to be careful, but he wanted Teddy to smile awkwardly, to look at him strictly, and to tell him that they had to be discreet. And there was hardly anyone still here, anyway.
"Let's go home, Teddy," Mitch said, as gently as he could. Teddy wasn't easy to deal with when he was even more hopelessly overworked than usual. "I'll make you food, and we can get some sleep, okay?"
To his surprise, Teddy nodded wordlessly, got up, and pulled on his coat. "What food?" he asked.
Mitch couldn't stop himself from smiling. "Anything you feel like, sound good?"
"Perfect," Teddy said, yawning.
"Teddy?" Mitch said later that night, nestling closer into Teddy's side. They were curled up in Teddy's bed. It had happened without comment, and seemed perfectly natural, as if they had been going to sleep this way every night for years. Mitch had really liked finding out that Teddy was apparently cuddly. He grinned into the dark. There were a lot of little things he'd get to find out now.
Teddy mumbled something, half-asleep already, and caressed Mitch's hair. "What?" he whispered.
"It was me," Mitch said. "That sent the Rich Purnell maneuver to the Hermes crew."
Teddy laughed quietly. That sounded very nice. "I knew it was you from the moment it happened," Teddy said.
Mitch shrugged. "Well, you've got proof now. I've admitted it." His heart was hammering against his chest.
Teddy kissed him. Very, very nice. "Mitch," he said. "I haven't wanted to prove it in a long time."
Mitch smiled. "Good," he said, pulling Teddy closer.
Teddy smiled, his face illuminated by the moonlight shining in through the window. It wasn't one of those weak, tightly-controlled, PR-conscious smiles, but a real one, wide and happy.
"It really is," he said.