For You, For Her
Little self indulgent first kiss thing between OCs. Lovita belongs to @grumpys-blank-worddocument. Art credit also goes to AJ.
The light in the electro-lantern flickered. Hyram reached over and gently tapped the lantern’s casing, coaxing the batteries to provide a little more power and keep the bulb stable. Percussive maintenance worked wonders more often than not, even to the point where the techpriests the tanker knew followed it as a matter of practicality as much as any of their more esoteric rituals and maintenance practices. The lantern flickered once more, as if to protest being struck, before the light grew stronger and stabilized. Hyram watched it for a moment longer, just to make sure the little machine spirit wasn’t trying to trick him. When it failed to resume its flickering, the tanker turned his attention back to the data slate on his desk.
Hyram didn’t get letters often. There were few outside his regiment that he spoke to, or cared enough about him to actually write. He didn’t even need all the fingers on his hand to count them. All three, so far as he knew, were still back home on Venturia. Tonight’s reading was from his sister. She wrote to him most frequently, usually three or four times a month on average. Of course some of that frequency depended on when and how often Hyram was able to get a break between things to write her back.
The data slate winked on with a plaintive hum. It seemed all the machine spirits were taking issue with being used tonight. Hyram couldn’t necessarily blame them. The blizzard outside was enough to make anyone grumpy. Were it not for the fur-lined coat he wore and the space heater working overtime in the corner of the tent, he would be throwing a fit too. Hyram let it warm up for a moment before opening Emillia’s letter.
Dearest brother, I hope this finds you well.
Hyram smiled. He could hear Emillia’s voice in his head as he read what she had written. They hadn’t spoken face to face in over a decade. Not since he had joined the Astra Militarum. She had been eleven back then, but he could imagine what she would sound like as a grown woman now. It was one of those things he just knew.
Your last letter left me in a state of worry. I don’t know what a knight-desecrator is, but it sounds terrible. If you truly managed to destroy one, then I suppose the Imperium is better off for it.
“You have no idea.”
Imagining you face off against something so horrible is just… Mother and I both worry. She is doing well, by the way. You asked in your previous letter. The doctors said there is no more sign of the disease in her. We are all elated and she is slowly gaining her strength back. She will still need to go back for periodic monitoring to make sure it does not return, but we are hopeful. The Emperor has truly blessed her in her healing. But back to the point, if you are well enough to keep writing after facing such a monster, I suppose we do not need to worry so much.
“Prayers are always welcome though.”
On a lighter note, how is Lovita?
Hyram could hear Emillia’s smug tone through her written words, and could imagine the knowing smirk gracing his sister’s face as she wrote them.
You did not mention her in your last letter. Is she still around? Are you still seeing each other?
Hyram snorted. “Maybe that’s because I wrote the last letter from the medicare’s tent,” he said. “And seeing each other is hardly the way I would describe it.”
Even as he said the words, there was a strange pang in his chest, as if he wanted it to be true. There was no denying that something existed between the two of them. Hell, even the rest of his crew were doing their best to get something to happen. That made Hyram feel guilty. Lovita had done her best to express interest, but he had purposefully ignored her, telling himself he wasn’t worth her time, she could do better with anyone else, that he didn’t deserve her. All because of the way he felt about himself, his past, and his own perceived shortcomings. Was he wrong?
I hope you give her a chance. Not just because I think dating someone would do you some good, but because I think you deserve a chance at happiness in this life, Hyram. Even if it is only fleeting. I do not know how long the God-Emperor will keep your paths crossed. I do not know if you know. But I know that if there is anything there between you at all, you owe it to her and to yourself to try.
“You owe it to her…”
The last words died on his tongue as he read and reread them. Hyram’s brow furrowed as emotions warred within his breast. He could agree with the first part. Hyram wanted Lovita to be happy, and he would do anything he could to see her smile. Hearing her laugh had become a bright spot in his life, something he chased after more often than he would care to admit.
But did he owe it to himself?
His father sprung to mind, and the guilt and rage of that night that saw Ezekiel Barrus’ life extinguished at the hand of his eldest son. Hyram’s intentions had been good, but there had been enough spite in his actions that night to render him guilt-ridden since then. Over fifteen years later, and he had been unable to wash the blood from his hands. He hadn’t even been able to disguise it with the blood the Astra Militarum expected him to shed. So instead, he had convinced himself he wasn’t deserving of happiness, and had worked to deprive himself of everything and anything that could possibly grant it.
Including Lovita.
Hyram placed the data slate down. His sister’s voice continued to ring in his head as he skimmed through the rest of what she had written in the letter, but he was no longer focused on what she had to say, as if it had absorbed too much new information at once and needed to blot out everything else to give him a moment to process.
You owe it to her and to yourself to try.
Maybe Emillia was right.
+++
The stench of blood and antiseptic mixed with the scent of mud and wet earth. Hyram pulled his jacket tighter, as if the rain pouring from above hadn’t already soaked through every layer of clothing he wore. It wasn’t the rain that caused him to seek warmth. Hyram had been cold and wet before. He would be cold and wet again. He was used to it, and weathered the discomfort as well as anyone in the Astra Militarum. No, the pulling of his coat had nothing to do with the weather and more to do with the nervousness he was feeling.
Hyram stopped a junior orderly struggling through the mud with a trolley laden with supplies. Boxes of syringes, bandages, clotting powder of dubious value now that it was as soaked as the orderly was. The trolley’s wheels had gotten mired down in the mud and the orderly was struggling to free it and get it moving again. In exchange for his aid in freeing the stuck trolley, Hyram received from the orderly the information he needed. He made his way down the row of tents, turned left at the first intersection, and continued along until he found a long tent of drab green fabric with the word RECOVERY stenciled in yellow paint over the entrance flap.
Hyram stepped inside.
The smell of antiseptic doubled in his nostrils, and the sound of the storm was replaced with the groans of the injured and the patter of rain on the canvas above. It took a moment for Hyram’s vision to adjust to the dim yellow light seeping from glow globes hung at intervals along the tent’s support poles.
The wounded and convalescing were placed on cots and arranged head to head and foot to foot. White sheets provided warmth, though some had heavier blankets given to them by sympathetic squadmates or families following in the regimental trains. The cots were arranged in a grid pattern, with avenues up and down and across at intervals that allowed medicae and nurses to pass and minister to those under their care.
“I’m sorry, sir, but visiting hours for the patients has ended for the day.”
Hyram turned to find a short man in a nurse’s apron standing beside him. He was balding, with thick spectacles perched on the end of a pointed nose. The name tag pinned to his chest read Klawskinni. One of Klawskinni’s hands clutched a clipboard close to his chest while the other adjusted his glasses, as if trying to bring Hyram into better focus.
“Yes, I know,” Hyram said, his gaze going back to scanning the tent.
“Visiting hours resume tomorrow morning at 1000,” Klawskinni said. “You can visit your- hey, wait! Sir!”
Hyram strode past the man, ignoring his pleas to wait and slow down. Klawskinni did his best to keep up, but the taller man’s strides were longer and carried him farther faster. Hyram did not care. He had seen who he had come for.
Lovita stood up from the bedside of a trooper with bandages wrapped firmly around the left side of his head. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she heard Klawskinni’s frazzled tone. “Sorias?” she called. “What is the matter?”
Then she saw the tanker coming towards her, and her eyes widened. “Hyram? Hyram what are you-”
The rest of the sentence caught in her throat as Hyram pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers. Lovita’s eyes went even wider, surprise written clear across her face, before she melted and kissed back. She almost threw her arms around Hyram’s neck before she remembered where they were.
“Hyram!” Lovita stammered, pulling back just enough to look up into his eyes. “What was that for?”
Hyram swallowed breathlessly, suddenly aware that he may not have thought this course of action through entirely. “I, uh… Because I wanted to.” Hyram glanced around, acutely aware that some of the patients were looking at them. A few had knowing smirks on their faces. One gave him an enthusiastic double thumbs up.
“You wanted to?” Lovita raised an eyebrow. “Hyram this is hardly the time or place.”
“I… I know…” Hyram felt color rush to his face and fought to keep embarrassment from rising any farther. “I’m sorry.”
Lovita looked up at him for a moment longer. Then she smiled and placed a hand on his cheek. “You are a wonderful, silly man, Hyram Flint.” The hospitaller went up on her toes to reach his lips and kiss him again. Someone on the far side of the tent gave an obnoxiously cheerful whoop. Lovita let the kiss linger before coming back down. “And my shift ends in an hour.”
“An hour.” Hyram repeated, still blinking owlishly at her. Then he smiled, an honest smile full of more warmth than any Lovita had seen on his face before. “Alright then. I’ll meet you back here in an hour.”
“Good,” Lovita said. “Because I am quite interested in seeing what else you might want to do after that kiss.”
7 notes
·
View notes