Mel was over the moon that they finally had an opportunity to have actual privacy. She could only pretend to get actual firewood with Jordan so many times.
And yeah, okay, maybe this base was less about their relationship and more about the entire group unwinding and cleaning up, but still. Mel was grateful nonetheless.
She and Jordan were cuddling on the bottom bunk, her head perched on his chest as she drew little hearts on his chest.
"You are so not like the other guys," she said, drawing a big heart over his heart.
"That so?" Jordan asked. "What were the other guys like?"
"Not as funny or handsome as you, that's for sure," she said with a bright smile, looking up at him.
Jordan chuckled, brushing a stray hair away from her face as he looked down at her.
"I guess it's fair to say you're not like the other girls too," Jordan said. "But that's also not fair, because you're literally from another world."
"Maybe I'm an angel sent here to be with you," Mel teased.
"Then I'd tell you you're out of this world," Jordan teased back with a grin.
Mel laughed and rolled her eyes, rolling over so that she'd be laying on his chest instead. She laid her arms across him and perched her head on top, her face inches away from his.
"Do you tell all the girls that?" she continued to tease.
"What other girls?" Jordan asked. "It's just you and me right now."
"Oh my gosh. You are so full of pick up lines. How do you think of all this?" Mel said with a giggle.
"Well, to be honest, pick up lines are cheesy and all, but they hardly ever work," Jordan said with a small laugh.
"Lies. You had me at 'hello,'" she said with a bigger smile.
"Well, you'd be the first," Jordan said with a little laugh. "But thanks."
Mel held his eyes, leaning her head down to the side. "All jokes aside... I really do think you're not like the other guys," she said. "And I'm surprised that you're not already taken. Lucky me?"
"I could say the same about you," Jordan said. "I'm surprised you're still single yourself. Was the pond really that small back on earth, or was it just that nobody saw what I see?"
Mel giggled over his words, but she knew what he was really saying. And she thought it would be good to have this conversation anyways.
"Not really a pond. More like an ocean," she said with a little shrug. "But you know what they say. There are always bigger fish to catch, and it looks like I caught a big one."
Jordan laughed.
"Is that just because I'm tall?" he asked.
"No, it's because you have a big heart, silly," Mel said as she leaned in for a quick kiss, making a loud "mwah" sound.
Jordan giggled.
"Have you ever gone fishing?" Jordan asked.
Mel raised a brow. "No, why?"
"Well, I just think it's funny you used a fish analogy. I grew up in a fishing town," he said. "On an island in the west. I grew up spearing fish by the cove and diving down to the reefs... it was a really beautiful place. Sometimes I really miss it, being so far from the ocean."
For some reason, this caught Mel off guard. She obviously knew Jordan enough to understand his background, but he hadn't gone in this kind of detail during an intimate moment like this yet. She found it endearing, though.
"What's it like over there?" she asked.
"In the isles?" Jordan asked.
"At home," Mel answered.
Jordan hummed, and at the mention of the word 'home' there was a wistful look in his eyes as he looked up at the bunk overhead.
"It's a much slower pace of life," he said. "I don't know how to describe it. It feels so much simpler. Peaceful. Everyone in the village knows everyone, and it's like you're all family."
"If you could, would you go back?" she asked.
"I think I would," Jordan said. "But... I also don't know. Life looks so different, now. It has ever since I had to run away. It's hard to imagine it ever going back to what it was like before."
"Yeah..." Mel laid her head flat against his chest again, doing him the service of pushing her hair out of his face. "I'm sorry you can't go back. That must be awful."
"Well... I guess that makes two of us," Jordan said softly. "Misery loves company, or whatever people say."
"I've never liked that phrase. Why be miserable together? That sounds miserable," she said.
"Hmm," Jordan said. "What would be better?"
Mel thought through this for a brief second. "Love loves company?" she said with a little laugh.
"People love company?" Jordan suggested. "But. Hm. I guess some people are hermits. Love loves company works."
"I certainly love your company," Mel said as she poked his side.
"And I love yours," Jordan said softly, poking her arm.
Mel beamed, settling into his chest again. A brief silence filled the air between them.
"So I was thinking... others might think that we're a couple," she said, ending it there to first gauge his reaction.
Jordan looked down at her with slightly raised brows but a slight grin.
"Unsurprising seeing as we spend a lot of time together," he said.
"Right, yeah. And I know we're like, only seeing each other anyways. So I was wondering... well..." She looked up to him unexpectedly.
"Do you want to make it official?" he asked with a growing smile.
Mel beamed. "I thought you'd never ask."
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