Rhys' feet hurt.

He wasn't used to so much walking in one go as it was, but being dragged through Pandora's desert wastelands was doing his feet no favours. If he'd known he was going to be kidnapped and marched for miles, he would have chosen boots to wear that weren't new and didn't need breaking in.

"Alright, I can't take it any more. I'm sorry, Fiona," and she looked up from where she was sitting a few feet away from him, warming up by the fire that burned into the darkness, as he began to pull one of the boots off, "but if I don't take these things off my feet now, I'm gonna die-"

"Who knew the worst part of this kidnapping would be having to look at those socks more than once?" Fiona muttered darkly as she grimaced and dramatically tore her gaze from Rhys' direction.

"Oh-my-god, ohmygod, ouch."

"Don't even think of asking me to carry you," Fiona told him as she watched him gingerly place his socked feet on the ground, "you only have yourself to blame for insisting on wearing such crimes against fashion. And please, for the sake of us all, don't take the socks off."

"I'd almost forgotten how warm and caring you are, Fiona."

The campfire crackled and spat embers into the night air. The temperature had dropped significantly, so their strange captor had built a large fire before heading off in search of more dry wood for it. Clearly the guy needed them for something, Rhys thought as he stared into the flames, otherwise he could have just left them in the middle of the desert to die. But... he'd left them alone now? When they could just... bolt away?

Well, bolt was probably the wrong word for it - Rhys wasn't entirely convinced he could even walk at this moment in time. He scanned the dusty horizon anyway, maybe if they could get somewhere where they could hide...?

"Rhys."

"Hmm?" He tore his gaze from a promising-looking pile of rocks far in the distance, to where she was sitting, huddled up close to the fire and its warmth. She had an odd expression on her face as she met his eyes and Rhys suddenly felt somewhat disarmed. A very scrutinising gaze - it was almost like she was trying to see into him.

"Why'd you do it?"

Rhys blinked at her, uncomprehending. "Uhh, I've done a lot of things in my life, Fi. Why did I choose to work for Hyperion? Why did I come to meet you in the desert after everything that went down? Why did I think I could take on Bryan Davies of all people in the ice cream-eating contest back home that time?"

"Back in Old Haven," Fiona said quietly and she looked so oddly pensive, an expression he couldn't say he'd ever seen on her face before. "When we were trapped in the room with the murder-bots and... you went with my plan. When you had another, admittedly better plan - and that's the only time I'll admit that, because let's face it, the person responsible for that plan was the worst, and-"

"Are you rambling? You're rambling," Rhys half-smiled at her because that was normally his territory and the role reversal was kind of sweet. "But, I've already told you why."

"You gave a half-assed answer to that guy before the tyre blew up," she said dryly. "I guess... I'm not really understanding why. Your literal hero handed you a plan on a plate."

Rhys shrugged as he carefully shuffled a little closer to the fire - the air felt a little colder tonight. He leaned back onto his elbows and pointed his feet toward the fire. "You're the last person who needs reminding how awful Jack was. Yeah, I admired him, like, a lot. But, you know what they say - never meet your heroes." He barked out a laugh. "Literally the first thing he tried to do was strangle me to death. Somehow, giving the guy control over the murder-bots seemed like a very bad idea."

"Huh, yeah, that's... fair." Fiona stared into the flames and Rhys saw the reflection of them dancing around in her eyes. Somehow it made them look even nicer. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you didn't."

"Yeah," Rhys continued quietly, "plus, he wanted access to my sub-systems." He hesitated and watched an ember float back down from where it had been spat into the air. "Some... stuff happened. Later on, I mean. We'll get to it at some point, I suppose. Anyway. Makes me even more glad I said no." He shuddered and grimaced. "Dread to think about what could've happened if I'd allowed him access."

"Mmm." Fiona pulled her knees toward her and hugged them. "So," she began slowly and softly and Rhys almost had to strain to hear her, "it was more about... not trusting Jack."

Rhys stared at her unreadable expression that she half-hid in the arms wrapped around her knees, and had a strange feeling he'd misspoken somehow.

"Well... yeah," he blundered on obliviously, feeling rather lost. "I mean, would you? The guy murdered thousands, millions of people, threw executives out of airlocks for fun, I mean-"

He saw something shift behind her eyes as she buried her face further. The penny dropped.

Oh.

"But, uhh," he stumbled, sitting up to face her. He hesitated for a split-second, before throwing caution to the wind, and shuffled a couple of feet toward her, closing the gap that felt like a chasm at that point. "It-it wasn't just about that. I mean, I turned down an actual, legitimate plan for your... hasty, terrifying ghost of a plan."

"Aww, Rhys," Fiona sat up and placed a mocking hand on her chest, "that is just the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."

"Do you always revert to sarcasm when people haven't finished explaining themselves?" Rhys asked her, glaring at her witheringly and pouting in disappointment. "My point is, I went with your 'plan' because... Because, even though I literally had no idea what you were going to do, I-I knew we'd be ok."

She sat up a little straighter and he had a much better view of the reflections in her eyes from here. The warm yellows from the flames complimented the soft green that he'd become so accustomed to all those months ago. Rhys felt a warmth in his face that had nothing to do with the fire nearby.

"Y'know?" Rhys continued, gesturing into the air. "Even though we hadn't even known each other for that long, you'd already dragged our asses out of the fire so many times. I was only even alive at that point 'cause of you. I just... knew you knew what you were doing. So, I trusted you'd get us out of another sticky situation. No reason to believe otherwise, right?"

Fiona stared at him for a long moment, in which Rhys almost didn't dare blink. Then, the smallest smile from her and he silently let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Rhys smiled back warmly. "I mean, put it this way. If I'm ever gonna be trapped in a room full of murder-bots again, I hope it's with you. Uhh, not-not that I hope we're ever trapped in a room with murder-bots again, but if we are, and not just 'cause I'd probably need my ass saving again- look, point is, I trust you. Even... even after everything that went down. I dunno." He sighed as he stared into the flames. "I can't explain it, I just... do."

There was another lengthy silence and Rhys suddenly found he couldn't meet her eyes. It was broken by Fiona softly exhaling through her nose and he looked across to her, wondering how she could possibly have been pissed off by that, but, to his surprise, she was smiling. He felt an odd weight he hadn't noticed before lift from his shoulders.

"... Thanks, Rhys."

"Can I just say, though," he said, laughing suddenly, "when you pulled out that flash grenade and waved it at the drones, I thought we were toast."

Fiona snorted loudly and Rhys loved the sound of it. "Yeah, alright, I was doing some of my finest 'winging it' work at the time."

"How'd you even know there was a ladder there?"

"Saw a button on the floor," she said nonchalantly, shrugging, "after I kinda figured the Atlas brainiacs wouldn't possibly have designed a room that permanently trapped anyone who tried to activate Gortys. I know you corporations can be a bit..."

"Careful..."

"Evil, murderous, dense, fond of building murder-bots-" Fiona grinned as Rhys rolled his eyes dramatically. "Anyway. Kicked the button after I very intelligently stunned the bots so they wouldn't know what we were doing, we survived - so, great plan!"

"You got me, too," Rhys said dryly, "I was seeing stars for minutes."

"You're a grown man, Rhys, it's your own responsibility to not look directly at the explosion."

"I'll remember that for the next time we're trapped in a room with murder-bots," Rhys grumbled, before his face broke into a grin. "We did wing it pretty well though, huh?"

"'We'?" Fiona smirked at him. "If I'm remembering right, I was the one doing all the winging. You... were also there."

"I resent that, Fiona. I'd be perfectly capable of winging it even now. When me and Vaughn first landed on Pandora, I did so much winging that I could've taken flight."

"Right," Fiona snorted again, clearly skeptical. "Well, if that's the case then, I officially nominate you to wing it out of this situation. As fun as being kidnapped and held at gunpoint is, it's kinda messed up my plans for the next few weeks."

"Umm, sure!" Rhys' eyes went very round as a result of something that definitely wasn't panic and sudden terror. "Yeah. Awesome. I... I can absolutely do that. Uh-huh. Just you wait."

"I'm waiting."

"Wh- at least give me a minute here-"

"The whole point of 'winging it' is that you make it up as you go."

"Alright, fine, the next time we're in mortal peril, I'll get us out of it. And!" Rhys exclaimed, sitting up and pointing at her, "you absolutely, one hundred percent, haveto go with me on whatever plan I come up with."

Fiona reached out and batted the offending finger away, prompting Rhys to very maturely stick his middle finger up at her.

"Unless I think the plan is completely stupid," she said matter-of-factly.

Rhys opened his mouth comically before snapping it shut and narrowing his eyes at her. "Uhh, no. Nope. That's not part of the deal."

"Rhys. If you... I don't know, decide that we just have to take off into the middle of the desert with some ridiculous idea that we might be able to outrun a guy with a gun-"

Rhys had the good grace to look offended. "I wouldn't do- yeah, alright, that's exactly something I might do."

"No water, no supplies, no shelter, no way to contact anyone-"

"Alright, alright, I get it. You've had a lot more practise at it than I have." He turned toward her fully and stared at her. She stared right back, the corners of her mouth twitching. "But you have to promise me, Fiona, that you'll stick with me on whatever genius plan I come up with. You promise?"

"..."

Rhys pouted, half-hoping she'd find it adorable and cave in. He held his metal arm out to her and extended his pinky finger, raising an eyebrow as he did. Fiona blinked at it a couple of times, before pretending to sigh dramatically. She shuffled slightly closer and wrapped his pinky finger with her own. Rhys beamed at her.

"I just got us both killed, didn't I?" Fiona said dryly, though she was smiling.

"Yeah, that's the most likely outcome, here."

Fiona looked up suddenly, then cast her eyes around the vast Pandoran desert, narrowing her eyes as though searching for something. She then shuffled even closer to Rhys until their legs were almost touching. He felt the warmth radiating from hers and a pleasant jolt shot down his spine.

"Alright, so," Fiona whispered conspiratorially and comically loudly, "this guy clearly has an agenda. Until we know what that is, I think we'll be ok."

"... Ok?" Rhys whispered back, just as loudly. "And... why are we whispering? The guy's not even here."

"He could have ears everywhere, Rhys," Fiona whispered dramatically and it was Rhys' turn to snort. "Oh, shut up, let's just assume he does 'cause it's safer for us that way. Point is, we have a bit of time to think up some good winging-it scenarios. So, get thinking, hotshot."

"I'll do that," Rhys deliberately nodded at her in an exaggerated manner, feeling as though he was in some sort of bizarre stage play, "but, since we're not winging it and escaping right now, I'm gonna get some sleep."

"Yes, good," Fiona whispered excitedly, "sleep will help fuel the two brain cells you have."

"Did I ever tell you exactly how much I missed you? So much, Fiona. The daily insults used to be the best part of my day."

He turned to lay on his side facing the fire, hoping his feet would at least feel a little better in the morning. The hard-packed sand offered little in the way of comfort and Rhys began to fantasize about the feather bed he was going to treat himself to once this ordeal came to an end. So many feathers. King-sized and just absolutely stuffed to the brim with feathers. He could put it on the expenses. What use was a CEO if he didn't sleep well at night?

"Just so you know," Fiona told him quietly, "if you start snoring, I'll pour sand onto your face."

Rhys twisted onto his back so he could look up and send her an unamused glare, and the top of his head brushed against her thigh.

It was... alarmingly comfortable. Pleasantly warm. Rhys felt his face grow warmer.

Fiona smirked down at him. "Actually, maybe this will help..."

She took her hat off and gently placed it over Rhys' face.

"Oh, much better," he heard her say, laughing, as his vision suddenly went dark, "now I don't have to put up with your snoring or your face."

Rhys made a noise that definitely got across just how offended he was right now, but then, actually, the darkness provided by Fiona's hat might actually help, he begrudgingly admitted to himself. He'd found it difficult to sleep when the night skies were so littered with stars and Elpis itself was a sizeable source of light.

And... the hat smelled of shampoo. Her shampoo.

They'd been stuck in the desert for over two days, now.

How the hell did it smell so... like that?

Rhys was suddenly and overwhelmingly glad his face was obscured because he was pretty sure local bandits would be attracted to the glowing redness that his face was definitely throwing out right now. He placed a possessive hand on top of the hat in case Fiona tried to take it away because nope, that really wouldn't be good at all.

"Yeah, I'm gonna borrow this," he mumbled through the hat and sure, that was definitely the octave his voice normally spoke in, "works both ways, 'cause now I don't have to look at you, either."

"A win-win situation for us both, then."