Fic: Put Me Together, Make Me Better
Fandom: ReGenesis
Pairing: David Sandström x Mayko Tran (Dayko)
Rating: PG13
Spoilers: Set during season three.
Summary: A fun contest to boost morale turns into a bigger challenge than Mayko expects.
Author’s Note: I initially didn’t plan to write a Dayko piece for Halloween season, but this idea struck very randomly and was too adorable to ignore. It’s very sweet, simple, and I particularly enjoyed actually including Bob and Carlos as supporting players this time around 👻🎃
Put Me Together, Make Me Better
The competition had been Carlo’s idea, of all things.
Mayko couldn’t blame her co-worker for thinking up something to ease the tension surrounding the team. David had arguably calmed down after receiving the help for addiction that he’d desperately needed, but people still tended to walk on eggshells around him thanks to his short temper.
After work one evening, the main group – David, Carlos, Bob, and herself – picked up some decorating kits and pumpkins at the local market and then headed over to their boss’s loft. A simple Halloween-themed contest was the goal, which doubled as a potential form of stress relief. She often found it calming when she chopped up vegetables and assisted her close friend in his kitchen, so she figured it would be similar.
Her imagining of how it would go had been off.
The bioinformatics analyst stared, forlornly, at the mess of a gourd in front of her. It had started as a perfectly round pumpkin but was currently a disaster.
“Dammit,” she groaned, setting her knife down as she attempted to figure out what had gone wrong.
“You’re overthinking it, May,” David barely looked up from where he was working, entirely focused.
Like clockwork, the use of the nickname prompted a flush to blossom across her cheeks. While he wasn’t intentionally teasing her, he also had a knack for getting under her skin thanks to their complex history. “And I suppose you’re an expert at these kind of things?”
He glanced her way, a strand of golden-brown hair falling carelessly across his stunning blue eyes. A smirk tugged at the edges of his mouth at the sarcasm in her tone before he replied. “Hardly.” He turned the pumpkin he had around to briefly reveal a simple, unfinished design of a ghost. “What I’m doing is having fun. You should try it.”
“David, you’re cheating.” Bob frowned, pausing in his carving.
“I wasn’t! I was offering Mayko a bit of inspiration, that’s all.” David did his best to look innocent as he spun the gourd back to face him, but he winked in her direction before going back to utilizing a blade to etch out details.
She shook her head in amusement and then tilted her head to look at her mistakes from another angle. “Carlos, are there rules against using paint?”
“Nope,” her good friend offered her a gentle smile.
She took that as the initiative needed to grab some supplies.
“It’s not what I’d call perfect, but…” Mayko rotated her finished project, transformed into a black cat, to face the group for judgement a short time later. “At least it doesn’t look like a lump anymore.”
Bob chuckled quietly before commenting: “I like how you did the whiskers.”
She grinned and gave him a grateful pat on the shoulder. “I really like your witch too.”
“She’s based on Baba Yaga, but I couldn’t put in a lot of detail without a drill.”
“Now that would have been cheating,” David interjected, crossing his arms over his chest before looking over at Carlos, who had provided a traditional Jack-o-Lantern to the proceedings. “Well? You were the one to come up with this idea, so you get to judge.”
Without a beat, their resident geneticist pointed at Bob’s elaborate carving.
“I should have expected that,” NorBAC’s head molecular biologist grumbled, a slight pout crossing his handsome face that made him appear unquestionably adorable.
“Didn’t you just tell me that this was about having fun, not winning?” Mayko quirked an eyebrow.
“You should know by now to never listen to me.”
She laughed but then squeezed at his arm consolingly.
Bob and Carlos headed out not long after they all shared some spice cake that David had baked recently.
Mayko lingered and observed him as he shuffled around the kitchen while putting washed utensils away.
“You don’t have to stay, you know,” he peered over the silver-rimmed glasses that had replaced his usual contacts.
“I wanted to ask you something in private,” she explained, sipping at her coffee in a casual manner.
“Ah.” He completed his task and then plopped down into the chair next to hers. “What is it?”
“Did your father ever mention thinking that we were married?”
He nearly choked on the beer that he had started to drink. “What?!” he sputtered. “No! He never – why would you –“ he ran his hands haphazardly through his hair before inhaling to calm down. “Where did you get that idea from?”
“That night we all had dinner together: he assumed I was your wife. I didn’t bother correcting him because I knew his mind was already…” she stopped and fidgeted with a loose thread on her blouse before bringing her gaze back to his. “I didn’t want to make things worse.”
“You wouldn’t have.” David eyed her seriously. “In fact, he probably forgot all about it before taking the cab back to the center.”
She sighed, relieved now that the secret was out and sank further into her chair. “That’s for the best then. I was just curious if he ever said anything.”
He shook his head, clearly stunned at the prospect in the first place.
A small, internal part of her was disappointed, but she had her answer. She stood and then passed him the empty mug with a smile that didn’t fully reach her eyes. “I’ll be going, then. Good night David.”
“May…wait.”
She scurried off before anything further could be said.
She made it over to the front door all while mentally chastising herself, hastily wiping away unbidden tears and unaware of the fact that her companion was right on her heels.
Mayko squeaked in surprise when David’s fingers clasped at her elbow. He then whirled her back around in order steal a kiss.
She immediately lost the battle, relaxing into the hot, insistent claim of his mouth upon hers as he lifted her up and effectively pinned her between his lean frame and the wooden surface.
Talented hands weaved into her hair, yanking her closer so she could feel the planes of chiseled muscle beneath the thin fabric of his tee shirt.
A moan tore free when his lips eventually strayed and bestowed affection along the hollow of her throat. “David…”
“You didn’t think I was just going to leave that hanging in the air between us, did you?”
“Things are so different now. My leg.”
He silenced her excuses with another kiss, though it was far sweeter than their previous one. “None of that matters, I promise. I’ve always cared about you Mayko, and apparently even Dad could see it.” He chuckled ruefully, tucking a stray lock of hair back over her ear. “Please stay.”
She hesitated only a moment before nodding and surging forward to embrace him again.
The End
