![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
perpetual_motionTitle: Untitled “Sky Captain” Fic
Author: Perpetual Motion
Webpage: www.geocities.com/iwannabedonna
Fandom: “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”
Pairing: Dex/Joe
Rating: G
Summary: Frankie talks to Dex. Dex talks to Joe. Polly knocks on the door.
Archive: WWOMB, my site, my lj, the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
skycaptainslash archive, if there is one.
Disclaimer: So not mine. They belong to whoever. It’s all lies, fallacy, and a little wishful thinking.
Author’s Notes: Do you know why I don’t give in to plot tribbles? Because giving into one usually means giving into more. I gave in once, and now I’m here again with “Sky Captain” fic. Sigh. Oh, well, at least I wrote something. And I like it.
Untitled “Sky Captain” Fic
By Perpetual Motion
After being underground for the better part of two weeks, Dex likes to walk around the airbase and just breathe air that doesn’t taste like dirt. He sits near the edge of the base and looks down. They’re over water, way over water. There’s a bit of loose tarmac next to him. He pries a small piece up and throws it over the edge. He can’t see where it hits the water.
“Destroying my landing strip, Dex?” Frankie smiles down when he looks up at her. “I should have you put down fresh tar for that.”
Dex smiles and stands up. “You know I would.” He looks out over the water again and squints. “Where are we?”
“About a hundred miles from the coast.”
“Which coast?”
“Pick one.” Frankie smiles again and switches the subject. “Joe says you did a good job on TotenKopf.”
“I just got loose, is all.” Dex shrugs like it’s no big deal. “It wasn’t too hard once the robots left me alone.”
“He also says that you left him a map.” Frankie watches Dex blush and little and has to remind herself that this is not a man she wants to sleep with. No matter how cute he is when he gets modest.
“Just part of a map.”
“But the coordinates were on it. You left him what he needed.”
Dex quirks his mouth and raises his eyebrows in a ‘what’s going on’ expression. “What’s up, Frankie?” They’re old friends, since Naijing, and he knows that he can just ask her straight out.
Frankie looks out over the water when she answers. She’s going purely on instinct and Joe’s reaction. If she’s wrong, it could do some damage. “Joe seemed very adamant to get you back.”
Another shrug, this one with a little flair, “I’m the best machine guy he’s got.” Dex grins. “He loses me, he loses the only guy who can keep up with what’s where in the warehouse.”
“I don’t think that’s it.” Frankie looks at Dex again. She watches him until he looks away and starts scuffing his toe. Dex isn’t the type to look away unless he’s very distinctly uncomfortable. Frankie figures she might as well just connect the dots the way she sees them and find out what kind of picture is really there. “You’re not getting along with Polly. I’ve watched you around her since you all got back here, and you’re polite and patient, but you don’t seem overly interested in keeping up relations with her.”
“I don’t like reporters. They ask too many questions.”
“And you’re very private about your work to outside people.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re very protective of Joe.” Frankie watches Dex cross his arms and knows she’s scored a hit. “And he’s very protective of you.”
“I’m his best machine man. We’re friends.”
Frankie raises an eyebrow. “You don’t have to tell me. I’ve seen the way you are with each other,” she pauses for the sheer effect of it, “even when I’m not supposed to.”
“I-what-I-“ Dex’s face is paler than usual, and he grips his own biceps with enough pressure to make his knuckles white. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Frankie.” Dex can outright lie better than anyone expects him to be able to. He’s wide-eyed and fresh-faced, but he also works for the Sky Captain.
“You’re forgetting you’ve never been any good at lying to me.” Frankie takes a step closer so that she and Dex are nearly nose-to-nose. “Dex, darling, you know I don’t care one damned bit who does what with whom as long as the job gets done. I just want you to know that if you want to do it with Joe you best be sure pretty little Polly Perkins knows that he’s not up for the taking. She’s a bit obtuse when it comes to seeing Joe for what he is.”
Dex is a bit confused. “Are you saying I should steal Joe from Polly?” He can’t believe he’s hearing this. He’s always known that he and Frankie ran in a similar direction when it came to finding people attractive, he just never thought they’d *talk* about it. It’s to dangerous to talk about.
“You can’t steal what’s not hers.” There’s a shout, and Frankie glances over her shoulder. She’s being summoned. She looks back at Dex. “Talk to Joe.” She says it so that Dex will know that it is an order. She turns on her heel and walks across the deck to see what the trouble is.
Dex stands very still for a few seconds. He’s working out what he’s been told. He’s working out what to do about it. He is a man of action, as much as he stays away from it. He squares his shoulders, shoves his hands in his pockets, and aims himself in the direction of Joe’s quarters. If he doesn’t talk to Joe now, Frankie will talk to him as soon as she’s done on deck, and then there’d be real trouble.
Joe’s door is open when Dex arrives, but he knocks once on the frame out of politeness. “Hey, Cap’n.”
Joe looks up from a map he’s marking on and smiles at Dex. “There you are. I was just going to look for you.” He beckons Dex over with a crooked finger and points to the map. It’s a map of their base. “I was thinking since most of the base got smashed to bits, maybe it was time to do all that remodeling you’re always harping about.” He looks up when Dex doesn’t say anything and sees the way his eyebrows are pulled in tight. “What’s the matter, Dex?”
Dex clenches his hands in his pockets. “I was just talking to Frankie upside, and she…insinuated…something.”
“Oh, surely not.” Joe smirks.
Dex can’t help but smile back. “Yeah, well, she did, and I want to talk to you about it.” He’s getting nervous as he gets ready to talk, and he wonders if he’s going to start stammering like he used to when he first met the wondrous Sky Captain and got offered a job. “She told me to make sure Polly knew that you weren’t for the taking.”
Joe’s pencil slides across the map, leaving an uneven squiggly line that bisects half the warehouses on base into puzzle pieces. He looks down at his error, then looks back at Dex. “The door.”
Dex walks over and closes it. When he turns back around, Joe is almost directly behind him. He just waits for Joe to say something first.
“I kissed Polly on that rocket ship.”
That was not what Dex was expecting him to say. He raises his eyebrows. “Okay.” He wonders where this is going. He wonders if Frankie was wrong. He doesn’t ever remember Frankie being wrong before.
“I thought, maybe, since I was about to die, I should kiss her because it was what she expected.” Joe scratches the side of his neck and pins Dex with a look. “You remember the time you blew the back wall out of Warehouse 3?”
Now Dex is completely confused. He’s not sure what Joe kissing Polly and his destroying Warehouse 3 has to do with…oh. “I remember you pulling me out of there before I got toasted.” He also remembers the kiss that Joe laid on his forehead and his murmured pleas to be okay and hold on. When he woke up in the infirmary three days later, Joe’s hand had been on his arm. They’ve only spoken of it at length once, and it had ended with a brief yelling match and one hard kiss from Joe to Dex. Dex had thought about that kiss for weeks but never said anything. Joe could only be pushed so far.
Joe nods and touches Dex’s arm. “I did.” He leans in a little and watches Dex get a little antsy. “Do you remember after that?”
“You kissed me.”
“Yeah.”
Dex can feel Joe’s breath on his face. Joe’s fingers on the sleeve of his coveralls feel like they’re burning straight through. He swallows hard and wishes he had a piece of gum. Frankie didn’t have a supply on board when he got here. “I didn’t think we’d ever talk about it again.”
“I didn’t either,” Joe leans in a little further, “but then you went missing, and I got that same feeling that I had when I saw the back of Warehouse 3 go sky high.” His fingers curl around Dex’s arm, and he kisses him very lightly on the mouth.
Dex kisses back for just a moment. He makes himself pull away. “This isn’t-“ He’s cut off when Joe puts a hand over his mouth.
“Don’t say ‘isn’t’. Don’t say ‘can’t’. Don’t say ‘won’t’. We’ve ignored it for a very long time, Dex.” Joe watches Dex nod in agreement. “Do you want to stop ignoring it?”
Dex thinks hard about that for a minute. If they stop ignoring it that means things will get more complicated. If they leave it alone, they’ll go one like they have been and everything will be smooth. Dex remembers when Joe offered him a job. He was promised a life of adventure and excitement and complications. It had sounded great then. It sounds really great now. Dex nods again, and when Joe takes the hand off his mouth, he takes the initiative and kisses Joe first. Just as he’s really starting to enjoy it, there’s a knock on the door.
“Joe, are you in there?” It’s Polly.
Joe makes a face to Dex that’s half-pained, half-amused. He slides around Dex and points him to the table to sit down. He does. Joe opens the door. “Hello, Polly.”
“Hello, Joe.” She flips her hair and smiles sweetly. “Have you eaten yet? I was just going to the mess for lunch.”
“Dex and I are going to get someone to bring us down something. We’re going over some plans.” Joe glances over his shoulder and sees Dex erasing his haphazard line from the map. “We’re going to build onto the base since so much of it took damage.”
Dex looks up from the map and gives Polly a grin. It’s possibly the first real one he’s given her since getting off of TotenKopf. “Hello, Polly.”
She nods at him. “Hello, Dex.” She looks back at Joe. “Sure I can’t interest you in a bite?”
“We’ve got it covered.” Joe smiles at her one last time and closes the door.
Author: Perpetual Motion
Webpage: www.geocities.com/iwannabedonna
Fandom: “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”
Pairing: Dex/Joe
Rating: G
Summary: Frankie talks to Dex. Dex talks to Joe. Polly knocks on the door.
Archive: WWOMB, my site, my lj, the
skycaptainslash archive, if there is one.Disclaimer: So not mine. They belong to whoever. It’s all lies, fallacy, and a little wishful thinking.
Author’s Notes: Do you know why I don’t give in to plot tribbles? Because giving into one usually means giving into more. I gave in once, and now I’m here again with “Sky Captain” fic. Sigh. Oh, well, at least I wrote something. And I like it.
Untitled “Sky Captain” Fic
By Perpetual Motion
After being underground for the better part of two weeks, Dex likes to walk around the airbase and just breathe air that doesn’t taste like dirt. He sits near the edge of the base and looks down. They’re over water, way over water. There’s a bit of loose tarmac next to him. He pries a small piece up and throws it over the edge. He can’t see where it hits the water.
“Destroying my landing strip, Dex?” Frankie smiles down when he looks up at her. “I should have you put down fresh tar for that.”
Dex smiles and stands up. “You know I would.” He looks out over the water again and squints. “Where are we?”
“About a hundred miles from the coast.”
“Which coast?”
“Pick one.” Frankie smiles again and switches the subject. “Joe says you did a good job on TotenKopf.”
“I just got loose, is all.” Dex shrugs like it’s no big deal. “It wasn’t too hard once the robots left me alone.”
“He also says that you left him a map.” Frankie watches Dex blush and little and has to remind herself that this is not a man she wants to sleep with. No matter how cute he is when he gets modest.
“Just part of a map.”
“But the coordinates were on it. You left him what he needed.”
Dex quirks his mouth and raises his eyebrows in a ‘what’s going on’ expression. “What’s up, Frankie?” They’re old friends, since Naijing, and he knows that he can just ask her straight out.
Frankie looks out over the water when she answers. She’s going purely on instinct and Joe’s reaction. If she’s wrong, it could do some damage. “Joe seemed very adamant to get you back.”
Another shrug, this one with a little flair, “I’m the best machine guy he’s got.” Dex grins. “He loses me, he loses the only guy who can keep up with what’s where in the warehouse.”
“I don’t think that’s it.” Frankie looks at Dex again. She watches him until he looks away and starts scuffing his toe. Dex isn’t the type to look away unless he’s very distinctly uncomfortable. Frankie figures she might as well just connect the dots the way she sees them and find out what kind of picture is really there. “You’re not getting along with Polly. I’ve watched you around her since you all got back here, and you’re polite and patient, but you don’t seem overly interested in keeping up relations with her.”
“I don’t like reporters. They ask too many questions.”
“And you’re very private about your work to outside people.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re very protective of Joe.” Frankie watches Dex cross his arms and knows she’s scored a hit. “And he’s very protective of you.”
“I’m his best machine man. We’re friends.”
Frankie raises an eyebrow. “You don’t have to tell me. I’ve seen the way you are with each other,” she pauses for the sheer effect of it, “even when I’m not supposed to.”
“I-what-I-“ Dex’s face is paler than usual, and he grips his own biceps with enough pressure to make his knuckles white. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Frankie.” Dex can outright lie better than anyone expects him to be able to. He’s wide-eyed and fresh-faced, but he also works for the Sky Captain.
“You’re forgetting you’ve never been any good at lying to me.” Frankie takes a step closer so that she and Dex are nearly nose-to-nose. “Dex, darling, you know I don’t care one damned bit who does what with whom as long as the job gets done. I just want you to know that if you want to do it with Joe you best be sure pretty little Polly Perkins knows that he’s not up for the taking. She’s a bit obtuse when it comes to seeing Joe for what he is.”
Dex is a bit confused. “Are you saying I should steal Joe from Polly?” He can’t believe he’s hearing this. He’s always known that he and Frankie ran in a similar direction when it came to finding people attractive, he just never thought they’d *talk* about it. It’s to dangerous to talk about.
“You can’t steal what’s not hers.” There’s a shout, and Frankie glances over her shoulder. She’s being summoned. She looks back at Dex. “Talk to Joe.” She says it so that Dex will know that it is an order. She turns on her heel and walks across the deck to see what the trouble is.
Dex stands very still for a few seconds. He’s working out what he’s been told. He’s working out what to do about it. He is a man of action, as much as he stays away from it. He squares his shoulders, shoves his hands in his pockets, and aims himself in the direction of Joe’s quarters. If he doesn’t talk to Joe now, Frankie will talk to him as soon as she’s done on deck, and then there’d be real trouble.
Joe’s door is open when Dex arrives, but he knocks once on the frame out of politeness. “Hey, Cap’n.”
Joe looks up from a map he’s marking on and smiles at Dex. “There you are. I was just going to look for you.” He beckons Dex over with a crooked finger and points to the map. It’s a map of their base. “I was thinking since most of the base got smashed to bits, maybe it was time to do all that remodeling you’re always harping about.” He looks up when Dex doesn’t say anything and sees the way his eyebrows are pulled in tight. “What’s the matter, Dex?”
Dex clenches his hands in his pockets. “I was just talking to Frankie upside, and she…insinuated…something.”
“Oh, surely not.” Joe smirks.
Dex can’t help but smile back. “Yeah, well, she did, and I want to talk to you about it.” He’s getting nervous as he gets ready to talk, and he wonders if he’s going to start stammering like he used to when he first met the wondrous Sky Captain and got offered a job. “She told me to make sure Polly knew that you weren’t for the taking.”
Joe’s pencil slides across the map, leaving an uneven squiggly line that bisects half the warehouses on base into puzzle pieces. He looks down at his error, then looks back at Dex. “The door.”
Dex walks over and closes it. When he turns back around, Joe is almost directly behind him. He just waits for Joe to say something first.
“I kissed Polly on that rocket ship.”
That was not what Dex was expecting him to say. He raises his eyebrows. “Okay.” He wonders where this is going. He wonders if Frankie was wrong. He doesn’t ever remember Frankie being wrong before.
“I thought, maybe, since I was about to die, I should kiss her because it was what she expected.” Joe scratches the side of his neck and pins Dex with a look. “You remember the time you blew the back wall out of Warehouse 3?”
Now Dex is completely confused. He’s not sure what Joe kissing Polly and his destroying Warehouse 3 has to do with…oh. “I remember you pulling me out of there before I got toasted.” He also remembers the kiss that Joe laid on his forehead and his murmured pleas to be okay and hold on. When he woke up in the infirmary three days later, Joe’s hand had been on his arm. They’ve only spoken of it at length once, and it had ended with a brief yelling match and one hard kiss from Joe to Dex. Dex had thought about that kiss for weeks but never said anything. Joe could only be pushed so far.
Joe nods and touches Dex’s arm. “I did.” He leans in a little and watches Dex get a little antsy. “Do you remember after that?”
“You kissed me.”
“Yeah.”
Dex can feel Joe’s breath on his face. Joe’s fingers on the sleeve of his coveralls feel like they’re burning straight through. He swallows hard and wishes he had a piece of gum. Frankie didn’t have a supply on board when he got here. “I didn’t think we’d ever talk about it again.”
“I didn’t either,” Joe leans in a little further, “but then you went missing, and I got that same feeling that I had when I saw the back of Warehouse 3 go sky high.” His fingers curl around Dex’s arm, and he kisses him very lightly on the mouth.
Dex kisses back for just a moment. He makes himself pull away. “This isn’t-“ He’s cut off when Joe puts a hand over his mouth.
“Don’t say ‘isn’t’. Don’t say ‘can’t’. Don’t say ‘won’t’. We’ve ignored it for a very long time, Dex.” Joe watches Dex nod in agreement. “Do you want to stop ignoring it?”
Dex thinks hard about that for a minute. If they stop ignoring it that means things will get more complicated. If they leave it alone, they’ll go one like they have been and everything will be smooth. Dex remembers when Joe offered him a job. He was promised a life of adventure and excitement and complications. It had sounded great then. It sounds really great now. Dex nods again, and when Joe takes the hand off his mouth, he takes the initiative and kisses Joe first. Just as he’s really starting to enjoy it, there’s a knock on the door.
“Joe, are you in there?” It’s Polly.
Joe makes a face to Dex that’s half-pained, half-amused. He slides around Dex and points him to the table to sit down. He does. Joe opens the door. “Hello, Polly.”
“Hello, Joe.” She flips her hair and smiles sweetly. “Have you eaten yet? I was just going to the mess for lunch.”
“Dex and I are going to get someone to bring us down something. We’re going over some plans.” Joe glances over his shoulder and sees Dex erasing his haphazard line from the map. “We’re going to build onto the base since so much of it took damage.”
Dex looks up from the map and gives Polly a grin. It’s possibly the first real one he’s given her since getting off of TotenKopf. “Hello, Polly.”
She nods at him. “Hello, Dex.” She looks back at Joe. “Sure I can’t interest you in a bite?”
“We’ve got it covered.” Joe smiles at her one last time and closes the door.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2004-10-01 10:24 am (UTC)Damn. What a beautiful synesthetic image.
“Which coast?”
“Pick one.”
*sporfl*
Frankie watches Dex blush and little and has to remind herself that this is not a man she wants to sleep with.
Oh, but she *does*! And we *want* her to! Dear gods, am I advocating *het*? *rushes for thermometer*
Another shrug, this one with a little flair
I'm not sure how one shrugs with flair, but if anyone could do it, Dex could.
“Dex, darling, you know I don’t care one damned bit who does what with whom as long as the job gets done. I just want you to know that if you want to do it with Joe you best be sure pretty little Polly Perkins knows that he’s not up for the taking."
You write a *lovely* Frankie.
“You can’t steal what’s not hers.”
Ooh, burn! Love it.
“I was just talking to Frankie upside, and she…insinuated…something.”
“Oh, surely not.” Joe smirks.
Not Frankie. No, never!
Joe’s pencil slides across the map, leaving an uneven squiggly line that bisects half the warehouses on base into puzzle pieces. He looks down at his error, then looks back at Dex. “The door.”
Yes, yes, *yes.* This conveys everything we need to know about Joe's feelings toward the situation without you having to tell us anything. And the puzzle pieces image is gorgeous.
He wonders if Frankie was wrong. He doesn’t ever remember Frankie being wrong before.
Hah! No, Frankie wouldn't ever be wrong, would she?
He swallows hard and wishes he had a piece of gum. Frankie didn’t have a supply on board when he got here. “I didn’t think we’d ever talk about it again.”
And, again, you've said so much about Dex's current state of mind and general state of resignation, just by talking about chewing gum.
“Don’t say ‘isn’t’. Don’t say ‘can’t’. Don’t say ‘won’t’.
Don't know why, exactly, but I just *love* this bit.
He was promised a life of adventure and excitement and complications. It had sounded great then. It sounds really great now.
Oh, boy! Complications! Boys are so weird.
“Joe, are you in there?” It’s Polly.
No! Go away!
since getting off of TotenKopf
I love that TotenKopf is a location, as well a person. I am the disembodied CGI head of Laurence Olivier! Bow to me!
“Sure I can’t interest you in a bite?”
“We’ve got it covered.” Joe smiles at her one last time and closes the door.
I don't know, man. This is technically their first date. Isn't it a bit early for biting?
Eee! Fic from Perpet! I'm going to throw myself at your feet now. That is, if you don't mind. This little fic is absolutely lovely, though I would love it even more if you found a title for it. You rule. A lot.
no subject
on 2008-01-29 01:38 pm (UTC)LOVE.
no subject
on 2008-01-29 07:17 pm (UTC)