Private Two Peas

[James Lanvarok]

​

James shoved open the refresher door with an unnecessary amount of force. Sweat pouring off his forehead, he stood in the doorway and looked at Lori, bent down, arse in the air, over the navicom. He jerked back, slammed the door shut and crept very not subtly past her. Fumes permeated the air, split by the beep of the ships equipment. Outside, stars dotted the abyss of space sparsely, surrounding the ship in it's little pocket.

James had been living there with Lori for the past few weeks.

Just the two of them, James and a hot girl who had a massive crush on his gay best friend. Poor Sebastian. It must have been so weird for him. It was just a shame Lori liked him and not James. Must have had something to do with Sebastian being six foot two.

Yeah. He bet it was that.

Sliding away from the door to the refresher, he walked clumsily past Lori as she tinkered with the navicom. Lip turning up, he grumbled in frustration. Resetting courses on the navicom was his job, damnit. He huffed, pulling his feet past Lori, his eyes on her backside the whole time. Pulling them away, he ran to the cockpit and check their course. Lori had reconfigured all the functions, now they were wibbly wobbly and not smooth. Hand on the terminal, James groaned loudly, spun around and snapped.

"What the kark have you done to my navicom?!" He shouted.

"You've karked up the functions and made them jagged, we'll be flying in zig-zags like this!" Huffing, he stared at the chart on the screen, angry and invalidated.

"Dumb queen," he slurred.

Lori and James hadn't exactly got along since taking off. Both of them were hot-headed and had a mean stride, and it didn't help that Lori had a nice butt. Staring, James stormed over to Lori and threw himself down, snatching the navicom's hardware from her.

"Get your arse back in the pilot's seat and let me fix this!" He shouted, "uuughh fffuuugg," growling, he muttered incoherent profanities and all manner of derogatory remarks as he lay the navicom in his lap.

Picking up his soldering iron, he went about reassembling all the wires Lori had karked up. Sebastian had explicitly told him on multiple occasions not to tell Lori that he didn't like girls, and James had respected that, so far anyway. He kind of wanted to tell her just to make her upset, but didn't. Lori and Sebastian had rekindled their friendship since James and himself had defected to the Rebels, so James didn't want to ruin that. Soldering iron in hand, he reconfigured the ends of the wire and breathed in and out, turning around occasionally to stare at Lori.

She had configured the functions of the navicom the wrong way, but he was really just mad because she liked Sebastian and not him. It wasn't fair.

[member="Loreena Arenais"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

[member="James Lanvarok"] was always slamming doors. It was as though he always had to announce his arrival or something. But it was more annoying than anything else. And after these few weeks, Lori had discovered that ignoring his antics was the best way to get under his skin. And given James' constant bad mood, that was exactly what he deserved.

Among other things....

James wouldn't of even lasted more than a few days on her ship, had it not been done as a favour for Sebastian. First a friend, then an enemy, only to once again become her friend; Lori just couldn't hate her first crush for long. Afterall why wouldn't he of given her up to the Sith completely if secretly he didn't want her to be caught? Both of them knew what would of happened if she was. More than likely she'd of been held in prison or enslaved to someone with a personality like James had. Lori just cringed at that idea.

Her thoughts were interrupted as James started yelling at her again. He was always yelling at her. It was as though he didn't understand the concept of loud voices in small spaces. But maybe he liked to hear the sound of his own voice.

"Excuse me? YOUR navicom?" Lori half wondered if he was on something. Or was he drunk? As he took the navicom away from her, she sniffed the air to check and see if there was alcohol on his breath.

But then he made a big mistake. James tried to give her an order! "Listen here jerkwad, this is MY ship. I am the Captain. NOT you! So you don't give the orders around here, I do! I triangulated that course on PURPOSE! How else can we thwart the Empire, huh?!" Lori rolled up her sleeves and then stepped into his personal space, glaring at him. The soldering iron was a viable weapon, but she was quite certain that he wouldn't use it on her. "If you keep this up then you're going to spend the rest of this venture locked up in the cargo hold. Or worse...."

Lori just stared him down while she reminded herself that she was doing this for Sebastian. And as the Captain of her own ship, she couldn't let someone like James walk all over her or humiliate her. Thank the Force there was no one else on board.

 

[James Lanvarok]

James wasn't drunk, he was just an arsehole.

The navicom in his lap, he looked up at Lori, his eyes, wide, icy blue and terrifying. He raised his eyebrow, scoffed and cocked his head forward. He knew it was her ship, but that didn't mean she knew better. As Lori stepped into his bubble, he put the navicom and stood, the soldering iron in his hand.

"That doesn't mean you know how to navigate around a star destroyer," he shouted, turned away and grumbled, "ugh, damn queen, I should be in charge," he folded his arms and huffed, hoping Lori hadn't heard him.

If it was his ship he would have made Lori stay in the kitchen where she belonged. As she yelled at him, James just stared, his bottom lip hanging open. He winced slightly as she assailed him, anger rising into his head. He knew he couldn't be too rude to her, or else Sebastian would be mad at him, but she was pretty and he was lonely and being around her just reminded him of that. Eyelids lowering, he took in Lori's orders, his chest heaving up and down as his blood boiled. He looked at the navicom, then at Lori, exhausted by the thought of even bothering to talk to her.

She was right.

Triangulating the course was their best chance of evading the Empire's ships, but James didn't want to admit that Lori was right and he was wrong.

"Their ships are positioned in a sparse pattern, if we fly straight we'll miss them," he slurred, "a triangulated course will lead us closer to their ships and risk bumping into one," he snatched up the soldering iron, sat down and continued to reconfigure the navicom's wiring.

Then Lori shouted at him again.

As she leaned over him, James recoiled, his eyes fixed on her boobs. They jiggled a little as she yelled. His eyes started to close and he swallowed, tensing up all of a sudden.

"You gonna come into the cargo hold with me?" He perked up and smiled, inhaling as he laughed.

[member="Loreena Arenais"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

[member="James Lanvarok"] was slightly taller than her when he stood. And every part of him screamed of challenge, defiance and hate. Why did he hate her so much? She didn't dare ask, most especially during moments like this one. Instead she just clenched her hands into fists as James continued to get a rise out of her. Oh yes, she heard what he had said. "You'll never be in charge of my ship. Not while I'm alive." Lori didn't yell. Instead she just kept her voice calm and quiet. Yelling wasn't always helpful as some people tended to tune that sort of thing out. James seemed to be the type to tune out almost everything that she said as though she was just some silly girl.

Seconds later he was sitting back down again, contradicting her like always. "James, I have been in battles against the Sith Empire, I know what types of formations that they take and they aren't just some random scatter. There is a pattern and a method to their formations. Flying straight through would only attract their attention and we don't want their attention. We're not being sent as decoys. So we do it my way."

Oh but then she caught James staring right at her chest. It wasn't as though he could hide it, given that they were close together. His remark, followed by that annoying laughter of his only caused Lori to barely contain her anger. "That does it!" She snatched the soldering iron from his hand and threw it aside before grabbing him by the mop of hair on his head. "Come on!" She didn't give him time to answer, instead she just started dragging him down to the cargo hold, her anger fueling her strength. Once there, she pushed him in front of her and then gave his rear a swift kick. "You're staying in there until I say otherwise, got it?!" Not giving him time to answer, Lori shut the door and locked it. James needed to cool off. They both did. She stomped her feet on her way back to the cockpit.

However did Sebastian become friends with him? Or was this some cruel joke? James was lucky that she wasn't some Sith, otherwise he'd probably be dead.

 

[James Lanvarok]

Lori grabbed James by the wavy mop of hair on his head, just like the boys at the Imperial naval academy had done every time they had shoved his head in a refresher. He didn't fight it, instead, he cowered down and flailed his arms around.

"Owieowieowieowie!" James cried, stumbling after Lori as she dragged him, "ahh! Feck!" He shouted, flailing his arms around.

Lori dragged him to the cargo hold, threw him in the door and gave him a swift kick to his backside. James shouted, stumbled in and turned around, "can you at least bring me some food?!" He called out, but it was too late, Lori had slammed the door in his face.

James froze. Standing in darkness, he whimpered slightly. His top lip turned up, he slumped his shoulders, sighed and dragged his feet over to a crate, then threw himself on the floor. Why did this always happen? Why did people always tell him what he was doing wrong and not what he was doing right? Huffing, he brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around, disappointed in himself for not being able to cart the hyperspace route properly and spurned by Lori's dislike of him.

It wasn't his fault he had got angry. She should have been nicer to him. Shoulders slumping, James buried his face in his knees and breathed in.

A good portion of an hour passed and he heard the security console of the cargo hold beep. Pulling his head up, he saw Lori standing in the doorway. A pause followed. James recoiled into the crate and shifted his eyes to the side, his bottom lip hanging open. Chest deflating, he sighed and raised a hand to scratch his head.

"I'm sorry," was all he said, "I didn't mean to talk to you like that, I was just pissed off," he slurred.

James groaned. He was fortunate Sebastian was as kind a person as he was, or else he would have discarded their friendship long ago. He hung his head and smirked, wondering what Lori would think of how Sebastian and himself met. It was a charming tale of chitposting and many nights playing holo-games. The truth was, James spoke to Sebastian exactly how he spoke to Lori, but Sebastian didn't mind because it was just his manner, he didn't actually mean all the chit that came out of his mouth.

James sighed, "I really like you Lori, I just... didn't know how to say that properly," he shook his head and looked at the ground.

[member="Loreena Arenais"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

After throwing [member="James Lanvarok"] into the cargohold, Lori spent her time sitting in her chair in the cockpit. She had never had to punish someone before, let alone someone her age. It was....weird. But it was all a part of being a Captain of her own vessel. Her mentors would have told her as much. If they were around.

A half hour had passed and still Lori just sat there going over the situation in her mind. Of course she couldn't exactly keep James in the cargohold. Sebastian would hear about it and then she could end up losing him as a friend again. And besides, she needed James on this trip. Flying Jaster's Sparrow was a two man job.

Finally she got to her feet. James had asked for some food earlier, so Lori headed down to the kitchen and grabbed a bag of crisps. Then she made her way to the cargohold. After taking one more moment to brace herself for a barrage of insults, she unlocked the door and had it open.

But she couldn't just walk in. Instead she just stared at James while he sat there like someone's pet that behaved badly. Moments later she was taken aback as he apologized? Did he really? That sure mustn't of been easy for him. Lori walked over to him and sat down beside him, resting her back against the crate. Maybe he'd get a better attitude this way, if they were on equal footing. Sometimes that was the best way in dealing with people that were confrontational. That was one of the first things that she had learned from one of her mentors. Only now had she had to put it into practice.

And just as Lori was about to respond to his comment of being pissed off, James had to drop a bombshell on her. Did he just say that he liked her?! Really liked her?! Well he certainly had a funny way of showing it. "How can you like me when you don't even know me? We haven't even known eachother for long and...." She was almost speechless. Lori handed him the bag of crisps. "Here I brought you something to eat."

 

[James Lanvarok]

Slumped up against the crate, James looked at Lori, his icy, blue eyes widening when he saw the bag of chips in her hand. He jerked up. Bottom lip hanging open, he stumbled as he clumsily pulled himself to his feet. He brushed dust off his jeans and reached out, then hesitantly took the chips.

He smiled as he tore them open, then shoveled a handful into his chubby mouth, "thanks, Lori," he slurred, his words muffled by chewed up chips.

James ate chips and stared at the wall of the cargo hold, when Lori asked him how he could like her in that way when they had only just met. James lost his appetite all of a sudden. He froze, mouth hanging open and a chip in his hand. Did that mean she didn't like him back? Breathing in and out, he slowly turned around to face her, his brow creased in uncertainty and fear.

"I think you're pretty, that's all," he shrugged, "so it sucks being around you when you don't think the same, that's why I was mad," he admitted, sinking into his collar. His brow furrowed slightly and he glared, his frustration building up again.

"Don't lose your cool again, dude, this might be your last chance," he thought to himself, sighed and closed his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose, looked down and collected his thoughts.

He wiped cheese onto the sleeve of his flannelette shirt, "I was thinking if we got to know each other better I might like you in other ways as well," he scratched the back of his head, his face covered in cheese from the chips. Raising his shoulders, James recoiled into his collar and looked at the ground, eyes shifting. His heart pounded. Sweat gathered on his forehead, which he mopped up with his sleeve, all the while taking long, deep breaths as he waited for Lori to answer.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Well at least [member="James Lanvarok"] liked the crisps. That put him in a better mood at least. Lori'd have to remember that for the future.

After a moment he answered her question. For a split second she thought that he'd fly off the handle again. Yet he didn't. Instead he just explained himself a little more. Not that that made things any easier.

Lori got to her feet. She didn't want him to be looking down or towering over her. At least he didn't run and lock her in. That'd be embarrassing. Being at a near equal height, she hoped that it'd intimidate him enough into not doing something stupid.

"But James, we're on a mission, not some social call. I'm not really thinking about a whole lot else. There's time for that later, you know? That's why I may seem a bit ...standoffish. It's nothing to do with you. I just....wanna get this done. And during that time...we probably will get to know eachother more. It's kinda hard to escape that given that we're in such close quarters."

Of course his anger did intimidate her somewhat. She wasn't sure of when he'd explode next.