Pairing: Palomington (Palomo/Washington)
Warnings: Language, Broken Bones
Agent Washington was the prettiest person Palomo had ever seen in his life.
Palomo watched as Wash smiled briefly at something Donut said. The rugged, handsome blonde almost never smiled, but when he did, the sun shone. Well... Not literally. They were in an underground cave. But figuratively, yeah, Wash's smile could light up a room.
Agent Washington was the prettiest person Palomo had ever seen in his life.
Palomo watched as Wash smiled briefly at something Donut said. The rugged, handsome blonde almost never smiled, but when he did, the sun shone. Well... Not literally. They were in an underground cave. But figuratively, yeah, Wash's smile could light up a room.
Palomo found himself distracted by Wash's face, as he often was. Wash was standing off to the side of the training room, talking to Donut and Sarge. They were all under strict orders from Lady Bones to keep their activity to the minimum for at least two more weeks.
Everyone else on the other hand, was forced to keep training. Kimball had been furious that they had all snuck off to rescue the captives. She was pleased that they were back and relatively alright, but she was pretty pissed about the lack of permission thing. So her solution was to force them to work. Hard.
Captain Tucker had let up on them now that Wash was back. He definitely didn't go easy on them, but training was less painful than it had been before. Palomo guessed that Tucker didn't really want to be here either.
"PALOMO, PAY ATTENTION," Captain Tucker bellowed at the top of his lungs from across the room.
Palomo was snapped back to reality. He had almost forgotten that he was standing in the middle of the training room floor. He was supposed to be practice fighting Smith. But judging from the fist that was flying toward him, he would be getting beat up by Smith instead.
The jab to his stomach confirmed his theory.
Palomo doubled over in pain. Smith easily kicked him in the side of his head from there, barely even needing to lift his leg above his own waist. Palomo was knocked to the ground, his ears ringing faintly.
Smith backed off as Palomo struggled to stand up. He attempted to throw a slow, clumsy punch at Smith, but it was easily batted away. Even Smith seemed half-hearted in the humiliating fight. Nobody was really buying it.
"Come on you fuckheads! Do something!" Captain Tucker stood next to Wash with his arms crossed. For some reason, Washington didn't look too happy.
Smith sighed, then whispered a barely audible, "Sorry about this." Palomo barely had time to brace himself, before Smith's foot was firmly planted on his chest, knocking him to his ass.
Tucker practically growled as he stomped up to the pair. "Go away Smith. Palomo needs a new partner."
Smith stared at Tucker for a moment, then slowly walked away. Tucker motioned for Palomo to stand up. He scrambled to his feet, trying to ignore his sore tailbone.
Tucker moved to a fighting stance and Palomo took a step back in surprise. He had seen Tucker fight and he definitely didn't want to get that up close and personal with his captain. He glanced over his shoulder hesitantly, as if he were looking for confirmation that Tucker was actually allowed to do this.
Donut and Sarge were exchanging worried glances. Wash was frowning deeply and Simmons was talking hurriedly to a bored looking Grif. Jensen, Smith, and Bitters were all watching intently.
A smack to the side of his helmeted head brought his attention back to Tucker.
"Keep your eyes on me, Palomo."
Palomo sighed, almost dreading the upcoming fight. He was about to get into position, when Tucker's fist connected with his visor. Palomo stumbled backward in surprise as his helmet was knocked into his nose, starting up a steady flow of blood.
Great. Now he had to worry about drowning in his helmet too. Drowning in your own blood while your captain beat the shit out of you. What a way to go. Wait... Actually that sounded pretty badass.
Palomo's badass level went down by at least ten points when Tucker kneed him in the codpiece. That was a low blow. Literally.
As he bent over in pain for the second time that day, Tucker easily pushed him back. Palomo squawked and kicked out in surprise at Tucker's dirty fighting. He fell once again, but not before he managed to trip Tucker.
His captain lost his balance and stumbled forward in an attempt to stay upright. Unfortunately, this landed his heavily armored foot on Palomo's gloved right hand.
Tucker quickly jumped away when Palomo yelped in surprise and pain. He had felt a couple of things crack.
"Shit dude, did I just break your hand?" Tucker sounded astonished.
Palomo bit his lip and shook his head, glad that nobody could see that his face was scrunched up in the effort of not making any noise.
Shaking his head, Tucker reached out a hand. "Let me see it."
Palomo just pulled his aching hand closer to his stomach. "I'm fine, honestly. Can we just keep going? Kimball said that we needed to-"
Tucker sighed and Palomo could practically see the frown that he had on under his helmet. "Shut the fuck up, Palomo."
"Tucker, I think that's enough for today. I'll take him to see Lady Bones," Agent Washington said from behind Palomo. He tilted his head back to see Wash staring down at him with a worried expression. Palomo could feel his face go red.
The captain nodded and stepped away, hopefully to go yell at one of the other lieutenants. But he didn't. Sometimes Palomo found it unfair how much Tucker concentrated on him.
Washington helped him stand up by pulling on his armor. "Can you walk?"
Palomo just nodded, feeling a little bit flustered. Was Agent Washington actually paying direct attention to him?
"Come on then." Wash smiled and put his hand on Palomo's back, guiding him out of the room and into the mostly empty hall. Unfortunately, or fortunately in this case, the hospital was a long walk from the training room.
They were silent for a long time. Palomo was trying to think of something to say, but he had no idea what to talk about. Wash seemed fine with being quiet, but it felt almost awkward to Palomo. He decided that he had to say something before their time together was up, so he opened his mouth and said, "Whoa, I'm dizzy."
Palomo was practically kicking himself. It was true, but he didn't want to say anything about it. Ugh, this was so embarrassing.
Wash stopped walking and sat down right there in the middle of the hallway, his back to a wall. He patted the spot next to him. "You can sit down until you feel better."
Palomo sighed in relief and ungracefully thudded down next to Washington. In an afterthought, he pulled off his helmet and wiped at the drying blood under his nose, rubbing slightly up against his aqua septum piercing. The flow of blood had, thankfully, stopped. It still hurt, but not as much as his hand.
Suddenly, Palomo realized that Wash was staring at him. He raised his eyebrows at him, but didn't say anything. Wash seemed to get the point and actually fucking blushed.
"Sorry, I just don't think I've ever seen you with your helmet off before," Wash explained, rubbing at the back of his neck.
"Oh, uh, I guess now you have!" Palomo grinned at Wash, who smiled back. He almost felt proud of his achievement of getting the stone cold ex-freelancer to smile.
Wash pointed at his broken hand, which Palomo was cradling close to his stomach. "Is your hand alright?"
Palomo nodded. "It's fine. Doesn't hurt at all!"
Washington just gave him a long, blank stare. Palomo shrugged. "Okay maybe it hurts a little bit. But only a little!"
Frowning, Wash shook his head. "That was irresponsible of Tucker."
"It was an accident," Palomo pointed out nervously.
"I know it was. Still, he should've left you two alone. I thought that you were doing fine with Smith." Wash said, rolling his eyes at the thought of his friend.
Palomo couldn't help but snort. "Are you crazy? Smith was kicking my ass! I'm the worst on the team, Bitters is better than me for fuck's sake."
Wash gave him a confused look. "Do you really think that?"
Palomo looked away, refusing to meet Washington's gaze. "Captain Tucker certainly thinks so."
Wash shifted closer to him until their shoulders were bumping together. "You know, when you guys recused me, I was in total shock. Not only had all of my friends become captains, but they had a whole team of strong, capable soldiers. It was pretty weird to see Smith following all of Caboose's orders and Simmons being able to talk to Jensen and Grif actually telling Bitters off for not being prepared. But Tucker, he was trying the hardest out of everyone. That's what he doing now. Trying. He doesn't really mean what he says. He just wants to be done with this."
Looking back up at Wash, Palomo scrunched up his nose. "Yeah, I guess so."
Wash paused. "But don't be afraid to kick Tucker in the junk. Or you could get me to do it. Sometimes he needs to be reminded that he's not God over you guys."
Laughing at the idea, Palomo nodded in agreement. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."
"He totally deserves it, he wasn't fighting fair. He already did it to you," Wash mused as if he was actually considering it.
Palomo stared at him wide-eyed. "You wouldn't dare. He'd kill you!"
Wash shook his head. "Nah, Tucker's scared of me. Plus, I've killed a man with this thumb." To prove his point, Wash gave Palomo a thumbs up.
Giving him a look of doubt, Palomo shook his head. "There's no way, that's not physically possible."
"Yeah. Everyone seems to say that a lot."
Palomo smirked and stood up, tucking his helmet under his arm. For some reason, he didn't really want to put it back on now. "I'm feeling better, we should probably keep going."
Wash made a noise of agreement and got to his feet. They started walking down the hallway once again, in a comfortable silence.
The doors to the hospital were wide open, which was good. Sometimes they would be closed and you would have to tough it out until they opened again. There was a medic standing out front holding a clipboard and staring at it intently.
They walked up to her and Wash started to talk, "Hey, we think that his hand is broken."
She grunted, but didn't look up. Wash and Palomo exchanged confused glances. Wash tried again. "Um, hello?"
"What?" She finally tore her eyes away from the papers, looking pissed. Even Wash knew to tread lightly.
"Can you help us? Palomo hurt his hand in training."
She sighed as if she hated her job, then grabbed Palomo's broken hand, pulling him forward. Palomo whimpered as she yanked off his glove roughly. After a moment of staring at it, she nodded. "Yep. Definitely broken."
Palomo jerked his hand away from her, snatching up his glove with his good hand. They both stared at her, expecting her to say something else.
She didn't do anything, instead she just looked back down at her paperwork. Palomo frowned, then shrugged at Wash, who looked pretty exasperated.
"Excuse me?" Wash prompted, obviously trying not to sound annoyed. It didn't really work.
She looked up and sighed again. "Come with me." She motioned to Palomo. When Wash tried follow, she stepped on his foot as she shooed him away. Wash mouthed 'I'll wait' to him as he was herded away.
One cast, two x-rays, and three hours later, Palomo stepped out of the hospital completely exhausted. Both his hand and nose had ended up being broken. To his surprise, Washington was sitting on the floor, legs crossed and his eyes closed. It took Palomo a minute to realize that he was asleep.
Palomo nudged Wash with his foot gently. Wash jolted awake, making Palomo jump at Wash's reaction. "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"
Wash clambered to his feet, bleary eyed. "Not your fault, just habit. How'd it go?"
Fiddling with his cast, Palomo shrugged. "Fine, I guess. I have to keep this thing on for at least four weeks. Then I need to have it taken off and a new one put back on for another two weeks. Six weeks total."
Wash winced, looking sympathetic. "Let me guess, no training until that's up?"
Palomo nodded, then sighed. "You got it. By the way, you didn't need to wait out here for that long."
"I wanted to wait for you and make sure you were alright," Wash admitted, giving Palomo a sheepish smile.
"Oh." Palomo stared at Wash, hesitantly returning the smile. Was Wash... Flirting with him? He was pretty sure that he wasn't, but Palomo couldn't help but get his hopes up. "Uh... What time is it?" Smooth, Palomo. Very smooth.
Wash glanced at a plastic clock hanging on a nearby wall. "6:45. Dinner started fifteen minutes ago, you wanna go grab something to eat?"
Palomo nodded, probably too enthusiastically, but he didn't care. He was hungry and slightly confused if Wash was asking him out or not.
Gesturing for Palomo to follow him, Wash started walking. "Sorry I fell asleep, I totally didn't mean to do that."
Laughing, Palomo shook his head. "No, it's okay. I'm amazed that you actually stuck around for that long. You're dedicated."
Wash glanced over at Palomo and smiled back, his eyes almost gentle. Palomo was about to say something else, when his helmet slipped out from its spot under his arm. Wash came to a halt as Palomo bent over to pick it up.
"Sorry, this cast makes it hard to hold things." Palomo straightened up and Wash was noticeably closer to him. Like, their chests were almost touching. He would've taken a step back, but he was already hitting up against the wall. Suddenly nervous, Palomo managed to stutter out, "Uh Wash? W-What are you-"
Then Wash pressed their lips together softly and Palomo practically melted. Wash was fucking kissing him and Palomo had no idea how to react. His lips were slightly chapped and his stubble scratched along Palomo's face and the position was slightly awkward because Palomo was still in armor and Wash wasn't, but it was still the best feeling Palomo had ever felt.
Wash broke the kiss, looking slightly nervous. "Um, sorry, I uh..."
Palomo stared at him for a moment, then threw his arms around Wash's neck, pulling them back together. Wash seemed surprised, but Palomo could feel his smile against his lips. Trying to keep a lid on his excitement, Palomo pulled away, giggling quietly as Wash went slack-jawed.
"I'm supposed to be the one who kisses you," Wash pouted.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize there was a set of rules on the topic of making out," Palomo teased, rolling his eyes.
Wash snorted and shook his head. "Come on, you dork. They'll be wondering why we're so late." He turned toward the direction of the mess hall and took off without him.
Grinning, Palomo jogged to keep up with Wash's long strides. They quickly reached the mess hall at their fast pace. Nobody paid the pair any attention as they slipped into seats at their usual table.
Felix was telling the rest of the group about something they obviously didn't care about. "-So, my attractiveness is more of a curse than a gift because, like, everybody wants to bang me. Like, everybody. But the problem is, I'm not into that, but... Hey Wash, hey Palomo. Where were you two, making out in a broom closet?"
Palomo felt his cheeks warm up, he hoped that his embarrassment wasn't as obvious as it felt. Luckily, Wash could lie smoothly. "Nah, Tucker accidentally broke Palomo's hand, so I helped him go to the hospital."
Felix's eyes went wide. "Jesus Christ, really?"
For proof Palomo held up his right hand. Jensen immediately perked up at the sight of his aqua cast. "Oh! Palomo, can I sign your cast?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Jensen had pulled a red pen out of nowhere and scribbled 'Get better soon! Love, Katie!' on his arm.
Apparently, Caboose saw the opportunity as one for drawing, because, without asking, he grabbed Palomo's hand and drew a mantis-class assault droid on the cast with a blue crayon. Palomo frankly had no idea where Caboose had seen a Mantis, they certainly didn't have any at the Rebel base.
Wash handed Palomo a tray of food. Apparently, he had gotten them both something to eat. Palomo hadn't even noticed that he was gone. As he sat back down, he reached under the table and grabbed Palomo's good hand.
Felix shot them both a knowing look. For someone who didn't really like sex, he sure clued in on relationships easily. The other week, he had unintentionally outed a couple of girls by mentioning it in passing, as if it were obvious they were together.
Instead of keeping his mouth shut like a normal person, Felix started grinning like the Cheshire Cat and went, "Awww! You two actually were making out, weren't you?"
Everybody at the table was suddenly staring at them with various expressions of shock. Palomo squirmed uncomfortably in his chair and kept his eyes glued on his food. Palomo felt Wash kick an oblivious Felix as hard as he could.
Felix jumped and actually squawked. "Hey, what the fuck was that for?"
Wash looked Felix straight in the eyes and calmly said, "I have no idea what you're talking about. You must be going crazy."
Felix grumbled unhappily, but took the hint and shut up for once, looking sullen. It wasn't long before he resumed talking though. "As I was saying, this chick was being super clingy and shit and she was talking about a foursome, so I ended up having to pretend I was going to the bathroom, where I jumped out the window and then that's when I got mauled by stray cats..."
Palomo stopped listening to Felix's story when Wash started whispering to him. "You okay?"
Palomo nodded, then whispered back, "Yeah, don't worry."
Felix must've noticed them talking, but he was obviously hesitant about saying anything now, so he just eyed them in frustration as he talked to the rest of the group. Thankfully, nobody else noticed or cared.
Rubbing at his cast, Palomo added, "My hand hurts though."
Wash frowned, looking unhappy. "You know, I'm still mad at Tucker about that." Wash's eyes lit up as he seemed to get an idea. He turned to Felix and interrupted him. "Hey, where's Tucker?"
Felix glared at him. "Training room, I think."
"Thanks." Wash stood up abruptly, abandoning his food completely. He started to walk out of the mess hall and out of curiosity, Palomo followed him.
Jogging closely behind Wash, Palomo didn't even bother asking where they were going. He assumed that it had to do something with Tucker, which he was honestly slightly worried about. So he kept quiet and lingered outside the training room as Wash went in.
Palomo watched from the doorway as Wash tapped an out-of-armor Tucker on the shoulder. Tucker turned away from the punching bag he was beating up. They exchanged a few words and Tucker looked worried. Wash's back was facing Palomo, so he couldn't see his expression.
Tucker suddenly looked scared. Palomo only had a second to wonder why, when Wash's shoe connected with Tucker's junk. Palomo couldn't help but grin as Wash turned around and gave him a thumbs up with the same thumb he had supposedly killed someone with.
Agent Washington was the prettiest person Palomo had ever seen in his life.
