Meeting and Dating R.J. MacReady
(Not my gif)(Requested by anonymous)
- Life’s been quite the journey for MacReady: he’s hopped from place to place and job to job for a while now and with every passing year came a growing reluctance, or outright inability, to find himself a woman. Which is why it’s so fortunate that he didn’t have to find you; you were practically dropped into his lap….
- Due to a scheduling conflict, you found yourself arriving at the outpost months after everyone else on your crew: the men in charge of the team were adamant on having you be a part of it; the only problem being that you were already in the middle of an important project elsewhere.
- It took some back and forth but ultimately you were allowed to finish the work that you’d been doing in relative peace. Though it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows: immediately after you were done, you’d have to be on the next helicopter into Antarctica; meaning that the home you’d been absent in for over a year would only get to see you for a total of thirty minutes while you packed more of your things.
- And on top of that, what greeted you once you got to the outpost was an entirely male team: one whose members were either stand offish and somewhat misogynistic or surprisingly friendly; for one reason or another. But hey, you’d been through worse as a woman in the scientific field; this sort of thing wasn’t about to start bothering you now.
- The first person you befriend is Child’s, which; in the grand scheme of things, is somewhat ironic. He’s the one who explains the dynamics of the outpost to you and gives you your first real taste of MacReady’s reputation; at least the one he’d made on your friend.
“He’s an asshole.” he’d said, his eyes following him as he walked into the kitchen and reappeared with a beer in hand. He acted as if no one else was in the room, walking out without a word; either unaware of your gaze or completely apathetic towards it. “He keeps to himself so I doubt you’ll be seeing much of him.”
- Oh how wrong he’d turn out being….
- You technically met R.J. when you first arrived at the camp, but you choose not to let the three second gloved handshake you’d given him while balancing a duffle bag on your hip count as a “first meeting”. You hadn’t really talked to him much in the following days anyway so it was practically null and void.
- The second time you meet him takes place in the rec room while you’re playing one of the arcade games. He meanders through the room for a bit, scoping out the place and making sure no one is paying attention to him before he stops beside you and watches you play.
“You play on a lot of these back home?” he’d asked, glancing at you while you tried your best to hide your surprise.
“I did when I was a kid,” You replied and gave him a radiant smile. You only managed to play for a few seconds longer before you found yourself staring at a ‘GAME OVER’ screen. You laugh and turn back to him again. “Was never very good.”
- He quirks an eyebrow at that and you can see the corner of his mouth tilt up into the tiniest of grins. His eyes flicker back to the screen and he takes a swig from the bottle he’d been holding, shaking his head when you asked if he wanted to play. “Nah, go on ahead.” He’d said. And you did, this time managing to make it to the next level while the two of you stood in a comfortable silence.
“Looks like you’re getting better.” He’d smirked and without another word, walked out of the room for the night.
- That, of course, isn’t the last time you interact with him: in fact, that’s only the beginning. Your occupation called for you to leave the base quite often and since he was the resident pilot, you often found yourself all alone with him, miles away from any sort of civilization.
- The first few times are awkward but once he starts making a little conversation; or at least answering your questions with more than one word responses, things get a lot better. That being said: it was definitely a big milestone for you when he asked “why’d you do that” during one of your stories instead of remaining silent or humming in response; you actually thought you were hearing things.
- You form a sort of casual friendship, but with MacReady, a casual friendship can easily be considered a big deal. He’s pretty antisocial so the fact that he’s willingly spending time with you and seems to be enjoying your helicopter rides is nothing short of a miracle.
- But what really feels like a miracle are the times where you head up to his shack and ask if he’s ready, only for him to tell you that a storms gonna roll in and that its best for you to stay in. It’s then that he tells you to “pull up a chair and stay a while” and the weight of your relationship really starts to dawn on you.
- Your relationship takes a turn late one night when you’re woken up by a bunch of noises outside. Your paranoia gets the better of you and you find yourself wandering around the base camp in your pajamas, trying your best to get a look out of every window you can.
- You reach the kitchen and there he is. He’s hunched inside the fridge but straightens once he see’s you; glancing over your figure and focusing in on your widened eyes as they drift towards the window.
“I heard something.” You say quietly.
“I’m just getting some booze.”
“No, not you, something outside.” He pauses and listens, hearing nothing besides your quiet footfalls as you make your way a little closer to him.
“It’s probably just the wind …or the snow brushing across the building.” You don’t look convinced and he pauses for a moment before asking if you want him to go out there and look.
“There ever been anything up here before?”
“Nothing that could get in or would ever want to.”
- You relax a bit, sighing and rubbing your face as you speak: explaining how this place is so different from where you were before and how those noises would be someone or something trying to get in if you were there. You start to walk off with a quiet laugh, telling him that you guess your minds a little messed up as a form of an apology for bothering him.
- He interrupts you as you walk, mentioning how he’d been in the war and how if there was a noise there; it meant you probably weren’t gonna be around for very much longer. He tells you it’s alright and that you’ll get used to this place soon enough, an uncharacteristically sincere smile on his face.
“Thanks Mac.” You’d said, leaving the room with a growing awareness that your feelings for the man were really beginning to change.
- You share your first kiss a few months into your stay there. You’d been out in the wild for the past hour and were finally starting to pack your things up. You’d just placed some cargo into the back when you’d straightened up and noticed him looking at you while he leaned against the machine right next to you. You locked eyes and all of a sudden, you were both leaning in and pressing your lips together.
- The kiss begins to heat up …right before his radio sounds off and the crews voice comes in through the static, asking if you’re gonna be back soon and mentioning that there’s a storm coming. Just like that, the trance is broken and you both go back to your respective jobs.
- The start of the ride back is silent. You’re sat there unsure of what to think and contemplating what just happened while he periodically looks over at you whenever he can afford to.
- Finally, he asks you to say something and you swallow before you tell him that his “beard itches”. He’s quiet for a moment before he begins to laugh; you make a comment about how you think he got snow on you from it before your laughter joins his and the tension begins to fade away….
- There’s not a ton of Pda in your relationship. He’s a somewhat private person so he prefers to keep his affection to a minimum whenever other people’s eyes are on you.
- When he does touch you in public, it’s oftentimes affection that’s a bit more subtle and easy to miss: a hand resting on your back or hip while you’re walking or standing together, a loose grip on your bicep to keep you close while he’s speaking to you; things like that.
- Kisses pressed to the top of your head.
- Heated and passionate kisses. He has years of pent up desire living inside him and you get to be on the receiving end of all of it.
- Physical touch has never really been his love language … but he could have had you fooled with the way he wraps himself around you while the two of you cuddle. Let’s hope that you went to the bathroom before you laid down because once he’s asleep, there’s no escaping the bear hug (from behind) that he has you in, believe me.
- Laying with your head in his lap and his hand resting on the side of it. A lot of your affection is him reacting to something that you’re doing so things like this are pretty common.
- Whenever he’s sat down, you have a habit of standing behind or beside him, usually leaning against the back of his chair or on his shoulders. He’s grown so used to your presence there that it feels strange whenever you aren’t there; like he’s suddenly become more vulnerable or that there’s too much space there.
- “Baby” is his favorite thing to call you when the two of you are alone. It’s either that, your name, or some kind of rude term that’s been used affectionately.
- Speaking of: affectionate insults. The two of you are constantly calling each other names; it’s how he shows he really likes a person.
- Just sort of always being around each other. He spends a lot of his time waiting around for somebody to need his piloting skills so he’ll usually come and sit with you while you do whatever it is that you do.
- He’s the kind of person who knows the importance of just sitting and being quiet. Not every moment has to be filled with pointless chatter and with him, it isn’t. You’re capable of being silent without it becoming awkward and that’s something he’s extremely thankful for.
- Your boyfriends pretty antisocial so even when you’re capable of going out on dates, he’ll prefer just staying at home.
- That being said: he’s an absolute sucker for you so if you give him puppy dog eyes, he’s going to begrudgingly comply with whatever you ask him to do with you.
- When you arrived at the base camp for the first time, he would literally force himself to go into the rec room just so he could see you. He’d pretend as though he just happened to be there when you walked in or that it was completely normal of him to hang out in there but it absolutely wasn’t and everyone was confused by his sudden increased presence.
- Sneaking off to hidden away corners for a little alone time.
- Sitting up in his shack together. It gives the two of you a much more secure level of privacy, and a taste of what normal life can be like once you’re finished with your work in the camp.
- Let’s hope that there aren’t any emergencies in the middle of the night because the two of you have a habit of sneaking into each other’s rooms and facing your coworkers is going to be pretty awkward if you have to walk out at the same time in front of them. Although, his withering glare would probably stop them from saying anything; regardless of their surprise.
- Napping together. Getting him to sleep has sort of become your job since he’s honestly kind of incapable of doing it himself.
- Quiet early mornings spent in bed, wrapped up in his arms and gazing out the window at the bleak, white atmosphere of Antarctica.
- Whoever gets up first makes the coffee. It’s a little routine that the two of you have created and on occasion, it becomes a competition: both of you racing to be the first inside of the kitchen in the morning, wanting to be the one who pushes the little button on the machine.
- Curling up on the couch and watching vhs tapes.
- Playing chess together.
- Pouring him drinks. Whether or not you like your liquor is irrelevant, he can drink you under the table so it’s best if you don’t have a few glasses alongside him.
- Going to the bar together.
- If you don’t get the overwhelming urge to touch his hair then you are a stronger person than most. As for the normal people, he finds your interest in it rather flattering and takes pride in how much you like it; loving the way your fingers are always drawn to and playing with it.
- He often has trouble expressing his feelings, but rest assured, he really does care about you. It might take him a little while to realize just how much but that only makes the moment that he does that much sweeter.
- He’s definitely got a bit of a resting bitch face which makes every smile of his worth so much more. It also makes for adorable interactions with all your kid relatives since they’re all enamored with the “awesome” pilot and his ridiculously cool hair.
- Once you let him to act like your boyfriend, he’ll form a habit of making sure that you’re completely bundled up whenever you’re going out in the cold: either telling you to put on more layers or adjusting your clothes whenever his eyes land on you; somewhat pointlessly might I add. It’s a little thing that he does to show he cares; though it’s become a sort of nervous tick at this point.
- Massages and using your hands to warm each other up.
- Wearing his arguably stupid hat. The two of you lightheartedly argue about how cool/uncool it is all of the time.
- He always checks in on you when somethings happened or if he’s passing your room. He likes to know what you’re doing and if you’re alright before he carries on with his day.
- During the whole alien ordeal, he refuses to let you leave his side; unless he literally has no other choice. Your blood gets tested first, you’re the first to stand next to him, and you’re the one who’s forced to help him handle everyone else; even if you don’t necessarily agree with his way of doing things.
- After the two of you managed to make it out of the camp alive, he was honestly a little worried that you’d snap into the “I’m out of a confined space” mindset and go off in search of someone that you “didn’t settle for” so the fact that you were still choosing to him was a huge relief. And that relief was probably brought on by you moving some of your things into his apartment; oh the power of a newly cluttered bathroom.
- Helping him with the ptsd that will inevitable spawn from his experiences in the Arctic; and the trauma that’s probably already there from his time in the war.
- Fires become a sort of friend for him. It brings a certain sense of comfort and security so quite a few of your dates will involve it in some way; whether purposefully or not. Nights spent by the fireplace, campfires, bonfires, candlelit evenings; you’ve done them all and they’ve been thoroughly enjoyed.
- Trust is a very important aspect of your relationship. It’s hard not to put emphasis on it after what the two of you went through, but at least it’s beneficial to your relationship rather than harmful.
- He’s a pretty jealous guy but you would honestly never be able to tell. He’s more of a “I’m going to intimidate the guy while my girlfriend isn’t paying attention” sort of person so if the man you’re talking to has any motive other than just being your friend, he’s going to find out before it becomes an issue.
- Mac can throw a mean punch when he has to and if someone is bothering you, he considers it a point where he has to. He’s been protective of you for as long as he’s known you so don’t be surprised by his incessant need to look out for you.
- He’s pretty even tempered but when he’s under a lot of pressure, he can really snap. So, while the two of you don’t get into too many arguments, the ones that you do get into are either simple and clean or really messy.
- Depending on which it is, you either talk things out and solve the issue in a few minutes or one of you leaves so that you both can have some space and get your emotions under control. Once one of you is calm, you’ll call the other up or show up at their door and see if you can solve things; whoever was at fault offering an apology and the two of you finally making up.
- He almost never says the words “I love you” directly; he much prefers showing rather than telling.
- I feel like Mac is the kind of person who would be with you for forty+ years but wouldn’t want to get married. Like he loves you and wants to be by your side forever but he just isn’t interested in a holy matrimony.
