The last place Douglas wanted to be on a day off from flying was in the middle of an air museum, surrounded by aeroplanes. Martin had brought it up at breakfast, Arthur thought it was a brilliant idea, and Douglas had no choice but to tag along. As he and Martin looked at a B-57A tactical bomber from the Korean War era, he had to admit it wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it would be. His Captain's pace was glacial, and they had lost Arthur within minutes of entering, but Douglas was enjoying every minute of it. He was positive he'd never look at aeroplanes, even tired old G-ERTI, the same way.
Douglas wasn't surprised that Martin seemed to know a lot about every plane they passed. At each stop, he'd tell Douglas about the plane in more detail than the placard could ever hope to contain. Douglas had to wonder if this urge to know everything about every aeroplane was related to the fact that Martin had wanted to be an aeroplane when he grew up. He could picture a five year old Martin, auburn curls unruly and fanning out behind his head, running around his yard pretending to be this B-57A bomber.
He'd been doing well at keeping the blues away for the majority of the morning, but thinking about Martin as a child reminded him of his daughter, which then led him back to Helena and the divorce. He stiffened and sighed as the melancholy rolled over him like a bulldozer.
Martin could feel the shift in the atmosphere. He stopped mid-word and whipped around to face Douglas. "Douglas?"
"I'd been having a pretty easy time at forgetting about everything today. The museum, you, and even Arthur, have been wonderful distractions but it doesn't change the fact that I still miss Helena. I still need to find a new flat. I still have a daughter that doesn't want anything to do with me. It just hit me all at once."
"Oh." Martin shifted from foot to foot before deciding to speak to the floor. "I'd like to give you a hug. You look like you could use one. Would that be OK?" The words came out so fast, Douglas could barely understand them.
As much as he wanted to decline, he didn't want to hurt Martin's feelings especially because it was obvious that Martin thought it would make him feel better. "Actually, Sir, I think I would like that very much."
Martin froze. He hadn't really expected Douglas to accept his offer and now he didn't know what to do. Douglas recognised the panicked look on Martin's face, realised that his Captain wasn't going to do anything, and decided to solve the problem by embracing Martin. It took Martin a few seconds for it to register that he was wrapped in Douglas' arms, but then he relaxed into it. He refused to let himself think about how well his body fit with Douglas' or how Douglas had buried his nose in his hair.
They may have hugged a little too long, but Douglas didn't care. Martin's body pressed against his wiped all thoughts of Helena, his daughter, and the divorce out of his head. While definitely not the healthiest distraction, it was certainly better than listening to Arthur rattle on about how brilliant Skip was, how brilliant the phonetic alphabet was, how brilliant the breakfast buffet was, and most recently, how brilliant the old aeroplanes were.
"Hey, chaps!" Arthur came around the corner, scaring both men. They had already broken the hug, but were standing closer to each other than was probably necessary. Thankfully, Arthur hadn't appeared to notice. "Have you seen some of these aeroplanes? They are..."
"Brilliant. We know, Arthur." Douglas smiled at Martin. "Did you know that young Martin here is an expert on every single one of these aeroplanes on display?"
"No way, Skip! That's incredible!"
Martin started to blush. "I wouldn't say I'm an expert on ALL of them. We haven't even made it all the way through yet. What if they have something I've never seen before?"
"Shall we make a friendly wager? Sir?"
Arthur jumped up and down. "Come on, Skip! You can't possibly lose this one!"
"I don't know. What did you want to bet?"
"I'll bet you my pudding on the flight home that you do indeed know everything about every aeroplane they have here."
"And if I lose?"
"I get first crack at the cheese tray."
"That doesn't seem fair."
"You won passenger derby, Skip! Maybe your luck is changing. Besides, it's chocolate cake and it's really good! It's better than the cheesecake or strudel."
Martin thought about it for a minute. They always had cheese, but Carolyn rarely had cake on board, and chocolate was his favourite. Plus, he did know a lot about most aeroplanes. He might be able to win after all. "No. I'm OK with the cake."
Douglas smiled. He knew they had chocolate cake on board, he knew it was Martin's favourite, and he knew Martin would take the deal. He extended his hand and they shook on it, Martin hanging on for as long as he could without Douglas noticing and completely unaware that the other man was doing the same.