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Nick and Garrett had defeated the kaiju. It was cause for celebration but Ty’s sulky expression was ruining it for Nick. He understood why is friend was pissed. Gipsy was his baby but orders were orders and you didn’t disobey the Marshal without repercussions.
He walked away from the celebrating masses, heading for his quarters when Kelly Abbott stepped into his path, shirt sleeves still rolled up all those distracting tattoos on display
"So I heard the mission was a success" Kelly grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"So you do leave the lab" Nick joked. "Thought all you sciency types just sort of lived in there."
Kelly stared up at the ceiling as if in thought “Hmm, well it’s been known to happen. One time Owen and I didn’t leave the lab for a few days. It wasn’t very fun. Owen isn’t much fun at lab slumber parties, or in general”
Nick chuckled “So I’ve heard”
"So…." Kelly plucked at his shirt "I don’t know if you realized, but I sort of asked you out back there in the lab."
"Oh" So Nick had not hallucinated that the garbled words was Kelly asking him out.
"Right, so I was thinking we could get something to eat in the city? Maybe a bit later?"
"I…I don’t know if that’s a good idea" Nick heard himself say "I should probably stick around here. Don’t know if another kaiju will come through the breach. They’ve kind of been doing that more frequently lately." he finished lamely.
Kelly’s blue eyes..or were they grey… they kind of looked different in this light, lost some of it’s sparkle and he sighed “It’s ok if you don’t want to. I mean I just kind of sprang this on you and I didn’t even ask if you were into dudes…”
"I am!" Nick blurted. Jesus O’Flaherty way to be smooth "I mean i’m an equal opportunist but I dig guys too and alrighty then I’ll just shut the hell up now"
Kelly laughed, a full belly laugh “That was equal parts sad and hilarious”
"I blame your tattoos"
"Oh?" Kelly cocked his head to the side "How so?"
"The’re distracting as hell" Kelly grinned and Nick felt his heart speed up a bit. Damn, that smile did wonders for an already attractive face.
"Soo ohkkk then" Kelly sing songed "Do you Nicholas O’Flaherty want to be distracted by said tattoos while stuffing our faces on some yummy deliciousness at Mako’s? No excuses. Just say yes. You could die out there anytime. Don’t you wanna go out knowing you had a piece of this lovely nerd ass?"
Nick almost choked on his laugh “Wow! that was…”
"Impressive? Bold? Weird as hell?"
Nick nodded “All of the above”
He supposed Kelly had a point. When was the last time he’d even been on anything resembling a date? And years of pining after his best friend did not count. He had gotten over that infatuation and he deserved to have some fun. Tomorrow could truly be his last day on this earth for all he knew.
"I accept your offer, on the condition that i can ogle your tats as much as I want"
Kelly stepped closer to Nick and smirked “Well, I’ll have you know that these tattoos were made for leering, so feel free”
Nick held his breath, was Kelly making a move to kiss him? But before he had even formulated the thought, the scientist began walking backward “Seven o’ clock on the dot Nicko. Don’t be late!”
Nick stared as the man kept on walking backward as he waved, almost knocking into some pilots who were in the middle of the hallway chatting. Nick shook his head and smiled to himself. just what had he gotten himself into?
***************************************
Kelly made his way back to k-science in high spirits. He’d snagged himself a red head for a date and wasn’t that just something? they were just so rare.
He hummed some nonsensical tune as he surveyed the lab. Owen was nowhere in sight and Kelly was beginning to think the man was avoiding him. You accidentally fling some kaiju insides on a person and they get all uppity about it.
Kelly’s eyes fell on the portion of kaiju brain floating in the glass jar. Owen and Burns had strictly forbidden him from testing his theory that they should try drifting with the thing to see what information could be gleaned. He looked down at his watch, he had a good few hours before his date and Owen was no where in sight.
"To do or not to do?" he muttered as he stroked his contraption that would link his brain with that of the kaiju’s "To do!" he decided as he strapped the thing to his head and powered it up.
One minute he was waiting to see if the connection would actually be made and the next he was thrust into the mind of the kaiju. Holyyy fuckiiing shit!
As images of the creatures swept before his mind and Kelly was in awe of what was unfolding as he connected with the kaiju. It wasn’t long before he felt like his brain was ready to explode and his body began to shake uncontrollably.
The next thing he knew Owen was yanking off the helmet and scowling down at him, where he’d fallen to the floor
"You idiot! What have you done" The man yelled
Kelly blinked up at Owen “Uhhh i did a thing. A thing that worked Owen!” he was too excited to care that Owen was pissed or that his nose was bleeding.
“You successfully drifted with a kaiju?” Owen did not hide his skepticism
"Yes!" Kelly struggled to get up from the floor "Whoa" He held out his arms to steady himself as he almost toppled over. "We have to get Burns! I learnt some things about the kaiju that are very useful to us"
Kelly just plopped back down on the ground, as standing right now was a bit of a feat. As Owen moved away to go get Burns he thought briefly that maybe a few hours before a date probably had not been the best time to try something this risky. Maybe Nick was right, he was the Mad Hatter in this place.