Eyes
By Cristin Anne
Archive: Take it!
Disclaimer: These guys ain't mine. Wish they were, but they're not.
John sat on the bridge, bored. He'd stood watch for a while, played mind games, even concocted fantasies, most of them involving him and Aeryn. And while those were very engaging, it didn't change the fact that he had nothing to do, and was extremely bored. He'd had nothing to do for the past week - none of them had. They hadn't come across any populated planets, no emergencies, nothing. While he had been spending a lot of that time talking to Aeryn, right now he had bridge duty. And it was BORING!
"John?"
"Aeryn? Why are you up here? I can guarantee you there's nothing to do here," John stood up, sighing all the way.
"I was wandering around. I just ended up here. If you want me to go, I will." Aeryn turned around to leave.
"No, Aeryn, stay. We can chat or something. I'm bored out of my mind."
"Really. Are you sure I'm still talking to John then?" Aeryn grinned.
"Aeryn!" John hit her.
"You have the strangest expressions."
"I won't disagree with that." John flopped back down to the floor. "Care to join me? It's hard to look you in the eye from down here."
Aeryn sat down next to John. "Look me in the eye? Why would you do that?"
If it had been any other person, any other place, John would have been surprised. "It's a human custom. To show someone you're interested in what they're saying, that you're listening, you look them in the eyes when they're talking. It's considered rude if you don't. You also imprint more of their face into your memory. It's an ingrained thing from birth, babies do it to remember familiar faces."
"Oh. I guess Sebaceans do that as well, I've just never heard of it referred to that way. To imprint another person's face in your memory? I've never thought of that..."
"I bet you do it all the time, though. I know I do. When I was young, we used to play this game where people would close their eyes and have to describe the other person from memory. I was always pretty good at it. On Earth, it's a sign of how much you care for someone if you know their eye color," John said, staring out the bridgeport. They sat in silence, just enjoying each other's company.
"Your eyes are hazel..." Aeryn said breaking the quiet.
"What?" John looked down at Aeryn.
"Your eyes are hazel." She repeated.
"Yours are grey," John said, not even thinking about it. "Wait a second... are you saying...?"
"Your eyes are hazel," Aeryn said again, this time with a grin.
"Your eyes are grey," John said, grinning back at her. John put his arms around her and brought her into a hug. Aeryn didn't resist, and leaned into him. Together they stared out the bridgeport, letting new found revelations sink in.
"Crichton? I am here to take over for you... I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" D'Argo walked on the bridge.
John and Aeryn mutually separated themselves instantly. "No, of course not. Uh, I'll just leave you to this mindless tedium now," John spoke up hastily.
John and Aeryn stood up, and practically ran off the bridge. D'Argo stood and watched them go, shaking his head. He really didn't know what was up with those two.