Flight Club Shed [Saturday Afternoon]

[bridge_carson]

Bridge is practically bouncing as he leads the way to the flight simulator.

"So remember yesterday when I said I had a mission?" he says to Xander.

[ooc: for soldtoarmenians]

Comments

[soldtoarmenians]

"Was this in the common room, or later on last night? Because those were probably different missions."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"In the common room," Bridge says. "I'd like to think I *accomplished* the second one."

[soldtoarmenians]

"Well, the full case reports still need to be typed up, but preliminary summaries would seem to say yes." Xander nods seriously.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Good," Bridge says just as seriously, taking out a set of keys as they reach the flight club shed. "Anyway..." he says, unlocking the door. "The other mission."

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander eyes him. "You've got a space shuttle hidden in here? Or just a really big catapult?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"No," Bridge rolls his eyes. "Flight simulator. Anakin said we could use it. I know it's not quite as good as the real thing, but SPD kept ignoring my requisitions for a shuttle. Even though I filled out the proper forms and *everything*," he grumbles a little.

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander's staring through the door, then back at Bridge, then through the door, like he can't decide which is more awesome.

It's not actually a hard decision, but the flight simulator does come a close second.

"You filled out requistions?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Bridge grins, and blushes a little before pressing a button to open the hatch to the flight sim. "After you," he waves.

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander grins and crawls into one of the seats, looking like a kid in a really hi-tech candystore.

Not that he has a clue what any of it does; he's never been the kind of guy who thought he could actually be a pilot or an astronaut. He's just the kind of guy who can name episode titles for Galaxy Quest and Mister What and still adds 'but IN SPACE!' to the end of sentences whenever the subject of acidic mud-runs comes up.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Don't forget to strap in," Bridge says, fastening his own safety buckles and then closing the hatch. He's programmed the sim to emulate a standard SPD shuttle, since that's what he's most familiar with. "Joystick- not dirty," he points. "Fuel gage, sensors, shields, weapons, radio," he continues, pointing to each in turn.

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander watches Bridge, since God knew what you might be expected to do with safter belts OF THE FUTURE, but it looks pretty straightforward, so he does the same thing, then looks at the controls. "This is...reallyreally cool."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"You really think so?" Bridge asks, a pleased smile lighting his face as he flips a control and the screen lights up to show an image of the Earth and a field of stars.

[soldtoarmenians]

"Dude," Xander says in tones of both wonder and affectionate disbelief as he points at the screen. "Space." He waves a hand around the cockpit. "Ship."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Yeah." It's probably not actually physically possible for Bridge's grin to get any bigger than it is now. The existence of space travel is something he's always kind of, well, taken for granted. So seeing Xander's reaction is... different. Good different.

"It's a transport shuttle, so it's not really designed for speed," Bridge says a little apologetically, pulling up on the controls to start them moving.

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander snorts, and repeats what he just said: "Space. Ship. And okay I get that it's not really out in space but... Lack of speed is so not a complaint."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge lets go of the joystick with one hand and reaches over to grab Xander's. "Here," he says, placing Xander's hand on the stick but not letting go quite yet. "You try."

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander eyes their hands on the joystick and grins. "Are you sure about the not dirty?"

He pulls back on it.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge smirks slightly. "Maaaaybe."

The ship tilts upward slightly, and moves forward.

[soldtoarmenians]

"Whoa, that's--" Xander grabs the arm of his chair with his other hand. "Really realistic. Well, considering I've never been in space I don't know what it's really like, but it's really like I always figured it would be."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"It is a pretty accurate simulation," Bridge says. "To level it out, just do... this," he tilts the joystick to the left. "There."

[soldtoarmenians]

"Ohhh-kay..." Xander actually kind of gets the idea, though he overcorrects and has them rolling forward and a little left-down.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"See?" Bridge says, "Not all that-" there's a slight pause as he considers word choice "difficult." Because really, for a first try *ever* at flying a shuttle, a little overcorrecting the flight path isn't a big deal.

[soldtoarmenians]

"Was that a 'coming up with a kind phrase' pause, or a 'coming up with an alternate not-dirty phrase' pause?" Xander asks conversationally, correcting them again and ... more or less... getting it right so they're level and 'moving' forward.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Um, the not-dirty one," Bridge admits with a bit of a snicker.

[soldtoarmenians]

"Yeah, we were pretty much lost on 'joystick' - everything was downhill from there," Xander tells him. And then... he's just sort of staring at stars. He knows they're not real stars, but it doesn't seem to matter, because they're right. out. there. Just on the other side of the windos that aren't real windows.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

And Bridge is quiet for a moment, just watching Xander watch the stars.

"Whatcha thinkin'?" he asks, finally.

[soldtoarmenians]

"That nobody's ever done anything like this for me before," Xander answers. Also, "wow."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge blushes. "I'm just glad I could," he says. Because Xander's expression as he looks out at the view on the screen? Totally one of the Best Things Ever.

[soldtoarmenians]

"Well," Xander corrects himself, "there was the one time I thought Willow set a house on fire for me? But we were seven. And in retrospect I'm thinking possibly it was just a coincidence. Also this is, believe it or not, cooler than firetrucks."

He turns his face away from the view and looks at Bridge. "Also, I love you. A whole hell of a lot."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Love you too, you know," Bridge says, looping the ship so that they're now facing away from Earth.

[soldtoarmenians]

"I do, yeah." Xander looks back at the screen and then at their hands, still wrapped around the control together. "So where're we going?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Thought we'd do a tour of the solar system, if that sounds okay?" Bridge asks.

[soldtoarmenians]

"That still includes Pluto, right?" Xander asks, tightening his hand on the joystick and grinning again.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Yeah-huh," Bridge says. "Even if it's not technically a planet."

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander sticks out his tongue.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge sticks his tongue out in return. Because he's mature like that.

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander makes a note to goose him the second his hands aren't busy taking them into space. Because he's mature like that.