FIC: "Join Me Soon" Joe/Dex
Title: Join Me Soon
Author: Fearless Jones
Fandom: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Pairing: kinda implied Joe/Dex
Disclaimer: These characters are not my own. I'm just borrowing them and no money is being made.
Notes: This could sort of be seen as a continuation of "Supra Genius" if you really squint. There might even be a sequel to this one, who knows. The title comes from a Morphine song. Sorry if this sucks, but I've been working on it at night when I'm done working at my tiring and crappy job. :)
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The air is crisp on this perfectly autumn day. The sun is high in the sky, and the steady rumble of half a dozen aircraft engines can barely be heard upon the ground.
Dex stands, his posture relaxed, on the smooth black landing strip he expects Joe on at any moment. He tilts his head up and squints, one dark eye slightly narrowed to the blue sky above, one nearly closed. He appears infinitely at ease. However, anyone who knows him--particularly the team watching from the hangar--can see that he's harboring about twenty different doubts and worries. Among them is whether or not the latest and most vastly imaginative weaponry to spring forth from Dex's labs is up to Sky Captain's high standards.
Dex waits and breathes deep, not moving. He briefly considers running back to the hangar to check on Joe's progress, but ultimately decides against it. Suddenly, a thick gray blanket of clouds creeps up to darken the sun. In that moment, he opens both his eyes wide to see what he knows is Joe's plane, which is still just a clearly defined speck in the sky. It takes Dex nearly a full minute of visual tracking to realize that, yes, the aircraft is moving towards him and not away from him. The growling of the powerful approaching engines is something that cannot be mistaken.
The massive plane wastes no time as it coasts closer and closer to the ground. It hangs in the air as it nears the earth, smugly defying gravity as its pilot works the complex controls with a deft hand and a smile to match. When thick black wheels finally come to a rest on the runway only yards away from Dex, the aircraft seems to sigh along with him.
Joe is visible as he sheds his goggles and his safety gear, and he becomes even more visible as Dex trots toward him with a small smile and a poorly-hidden glint of unbridled schoolboy excitement in his eyes.
"How'd it go, Cap?" he asks eagerly as Joe jumps off one wing and down to ground level.
"Horrible, Dex. I'll never use another one of your inventions again." He says it solemnly, and with a straight face, though his eyes never leave the gloves he's entirely too busy removing.
Dex pauses. His smile falters, and then fades. He abruptly runs one of his hands through his perfectly slicked hair as he looks questioningly and almost with contempt at the airplane before them. Joe hesitates, then glances up at his friend from the corner of his eye and waits for their gazes to meet. A second later, they do.
"Don't kid me like that, Joe. You know I've been waiting all this time for you to tell me what you think." Dex scowls as he says it, but knows that he could never stay mad at his man who is his idol.
"Sorry, Dex," Joe says, genuinely contrite, "But you know I could have told you what I thought while I was up in the air. That's why we have the radio. Right, Genius?"
Another small smile finds its way to Dex's lips as he hears Joe call him by the nickname he alone created for him. It nearly becomes a full-blown smile, until he remembers his lab team, nervously observing their every move.
"Right," he responds, dropping his gaze and getting back to business, "But I didn't want the radio to be a distraction. I wanted you to focus on the way the new system felt, either good or bad. I want to know what you really think, Joe."
"Well," Joe smiles as he looks over the clipboard Dex hands him, "Aside from being extraordinarily impressed by everything, I'd have to say that the new defenses felt smooth and worked perfectly. I don't know how you do it."
Dex suppresses a rather undignified impulse to blush as he fishes around in his pocket for an un-chewed piece of gum to keep him busy.
"You know I read a lot of comic books, Cap."
Joe nods, fully aware of that fact. "Yes. Perhaps I should grant you an allowance for comic books. They've certainly done their part to help fortify the Flying Legion."
"That'd be great, but," He pauses, glancing in the direction of his eager lab team, "I—that is to say the team and I-- really want to go over the test run data with you. I'm--we're--itching to know how the whole thing went, from start to finish."
For a minute, Joe doesn't say a thing. Instead, he breathes deep as he loosens the zipper on his jacket, and then tilts his head back to squint at the fluffy abundance of clouds he so recently visited.
"It's a nice day, isn't it?" He asks, somewhat wistfully.
Dex stares at Joe, his gaze baffled, his mouth slack. He searches Joe's handsome face for a sign, but finds none. He searches the sky for answers instead.
"It is, Cap," he says, his head craned back to find whatever's caught his friend's attention. A minute later, he gives up trying to find Joe's line of sight and settles for watching the mysterious movement of birds flying low in the sky.
They stand this way for longer than necessary, their faces turned to the sun, their thoughts unspoken. Then they stand for a while longer, until Dex begins to worry that the others on the base might be wondering about the both of them.
Suddenly, Joe breaks the silence. He does so with an air of confidence and his voice seemingly dipped in an odd note of persuasion.
"Wouldn't you rather take another test run with me?" he asks, not quite looking at Dex. "In the interest of science?"
Dex considers the invitation, half elated, half disappointed that real life should interfere with something so classically comic-book-level romance.
"It's the middle of the day, Joe," he points out. "There are more tests to run and paperwork to fill out. Besides, you have an interview with Polly at three o'clock."
Joe lets loose a small sigh before he moves. His eyes are sharp and full of good-natured mischief when he finally turns them on his friend.
"Sounds like perfect flying conditions to me. How about it, Dex?"
Joe raises an eyebrow pleadingly, and Dex finds himself biting his lip.
"Well," he says, and nearly gives in, except for the troubled glance he sends in the direction of the large gray hangar.
"Will it help if I look angry with you?" Joe asks as he observes Dex's discomfort. "They'll think we're working out a glitch in one of your inventions."
Dex frowns briefly. The implication that his latest achievement could be anything less than functional doesn't sit well with him.
"Nah, when we get back I'll just tell them you couldn't figure out how to work the controls."
Joe's smile is wide as he signals a maintenance crew over to his battered and beloved plane.
"Fine then, Genius. Go suit up. I'll be refueled and ready to go when you get back."
Dex nods quickly, eager to obey. The sky is calling, after all, and science, too. He turns on his heel, entirely willing and ready to don something less laboratory and more appropriate for a flight with his friend, the celebrated Sky Captain.
He takes fewer than a dozen steps before Joe's voice calls out to him again.
"And get rid of the gum, Dex. You'll either choke on it or I'll be cutting it out of my hair...again."
A grin plays across Dex's lips before he can even begin to think of hiding it.
"Yes, sir," he calls, not quite looking back.
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"And you my future constellation Climb up here in the sky with me.
Leave your world and come to me. I'm closer to you than I seem." – Morphine "Like a Mirror"