Bay opened the door to get back into the room, only see Luca struggling to sit up in the bed.

"Hey, woah, slow down there dude, I brought you dinner."

"I don't want dinner Bay. I'm going back to my own bed, I don't need to be fucking nursed anymore."

Bay put his hands on his hips and summoned his best pissed off parent face, "Would you just eat the goddamn mac and cheese I've brought you?"

Luca flicked his eyes up but stopped trying to climb out the bed.

That's right bitch. No one can say no to mac and cheese.

"Fine. But I'm lying on something," Luca huffed.

"Yes you are Luca, it's called a bed."

Luca gave Bay a withering glare, "No you idiot, something's sticking into my back."

Bay put the dinner down on the desk and went to help Luca prop himself up, which involved a rather awkward moment of Bay wrapping his arms around Luca's torso and pushing.

"My Top Gun DVD!" Bay exclaimed as he fished the plastic case from underneath Luca. "Geez were you lying on that all night? Sorry Dude!"

Luca flared his nostrils at him.

"I must have left it there from watching it in bed. God I love this movie, so freaking iconic, you know that scene with the volley ball and..."

Did I just suggest to Luca Jeong that I watch the half naked men volley ball scene when I'm in bed?

Kill me.

Kill me now.

Bay fingered the DVD box gingerly willing it not to look like potential porn in disguise.

"So...about that mac and cheese huh?"

Luca ate in silence, it was probably for the best. Bay didn't know if his fractured self esteem could take any scathing comments at that point.

After he was finished, Bay threw the paper plate in the trash and stretched, letting out a groan as his bones clicked. Sleeping with Benji had not been comfortable, the bunks weren't that big and Benji moved like he was recreating scenes from the Karate Kid in his sleep.

"I'm sorry," Luca said quietly.

Bay turned to him, surprised.

"For taking your bed," Luca explained, still not making eye contact.

"Ah dude no worries! I'm out most of tonight anyway; we've got a flight at 0100 hours."

"With Benji?" Luca crooked an eyebrow at him.

"In Ibis, yes." Bay smiled, "Jealous?"

Luca frowned violently and Bay realised what he had just said,

"Of Benji flying your baby I mean! I mean it's just...it's not like you ever let Brent fly Ibis."

Smooth Pereira. Real smooth.

"Brent's an idiot," Luca muttered.

Bay beamed at him, "Well that, my friend, we can definitely agree on! You know he tried to give me a wedgie today, like an actual high school style wedgie because apparently I 'looked at him funny'."

Luca flicked his eyes up darkly, "What happened?"

"Aziz stopped him," Bay grinned. "Ibis team stick together."

Luca's lips did the curving, could that be a smile? thing they did sometimes and Bay felt the warm glow in his chest again.

***

The next day, Luca went back to his own room. Bay walked with him, just in case the other man had a relapse or something.

The day after that, Bay realised he sorely missed flying with Luca. Benji was a great pilot and it was super fun being up in the air with one of your best friends but there was just something graceful about the way Luca flew, something so calm and in control.

The way Luca would sit there not talking whilst Bay attempted to make him crack a smile with his fiftieth Star Trek joke of the night.

The way Bay caught Luca staring when Bay would run his finger along the glass of the display screen, the bright lights following it.

Luca was thankfully coming back to Ibis that night though. He hadn’t had any Nectar in his system for forty-eight hours and Luca had even promised Benji (If a grunt could be counted as a promise) that he would stop going up so much.

Bay couldn't understand why Luca pushed himself so hard anyway. All pilots seemed to have that innate desire to succeed that made them so goddamn hot-headed and cocky at times, but there was a line, and orange veins? Those crossed the line.

"Mikos Base this is Ibis Jeong, online and ready to lift."

"Welcome back Ibis Jeong. This is Zach in Mikos Base, you are cleared to lift. Bet you can't wait to get back in the air."

"Roger and affirm that Mikos Base, how long am I up there today?"

"Command's giving you an hour's flying today Ibis, short leash on the Teams tonight I'm afraid."

"That's alright, I'll take what I can get. Ibis lifting."

Bay glanced over at Luca. The guy looked so damn blissful to be back in the cockpit. It was just where Luca belonged, up cruising among the stars, above everyone else...with Bay at his side.

Maybe the last part was a little bit of creative license and wishful thinking on Bay's part.

"The systems online and ready Bay?" Luca asked, flicking his eyes sideways as if he knew Bay was shamefully staring at him.

"Er...yes all systems online Captain," Bay cleared his throat

"Luca," Luca stated.

"All systems online, Luca," Bay grinned at him. He knew Luca was well aware Bay called him 'Captain' because it sounded cool, not because Bay was actually respectful of rank.

Aziz wasn’t in the back that day because they were just doing some systems testing round the Base, which was kind of Bay's division and he really should have been paying attention.

Then again, it had been a while since Luca had been lucid enough to talk to.

"So did you hear Merit and Benji are totally dating now?"

Luca gave Bay a look that summed up just how pertinent Luca believed that information to be to his life.

"Yeah!” Bay continued, undeterred, “I mean I never thought it would happen because all the examples I can think of where the guy's gone after the unattainable girl haven't ended well. Although, admittedly all those examples were me, and in High School."

Luca gave Bay another look, although it was more amused this time.

"I tried to shoot Aziz!" Bay blurted out because he was never really good at conversational continuity.

"What happened to 'Ibis Team stick together'?" Luca asked, his eyebrows raised.

Bay laughed, "Oh it's totally okay, he asked me to! And I missed anyway. Big surprise."

Luca sighed, "If you want to become a better shot Bay you should do some target practice."

Bay glanced out the cockpit. They were hovering 300 feet above the blinking lights of Mikos Base.

"Ah no,” Bay shrugged. “The target range is always too busy. Apart from when I shot Aziz because Lily had glared at anyone who approached. But yeah, normally loads of the big weapons guys hang out there and shoot things...and actually hit them."

"Afraid you'll get bullied again?" Luca smirked.

"Kind of," Bay murmured balefully.

Luca stopped smirking and narrowed his eyes. "Jesus Bay, you've got to stop accepting that you're a failure."

"Hey!" Bay cried out, because 'poor shot' yes, but he had never actually admitted to feeling a 'failure'.

Luca rolled his eyes, "Concentrate on the systems Bay."

Bay pouted in response and then proceeded to run his finger along the display whilst watching the pretty sparks of lit up letters and numbers try to follow it.

He could feel Luca staring at him.