What makes us interesting is our secrets ...

[twelve_not_fourteen]

In a galaxy full of space fairing captains who know their ships, Han stands out among them for being obsessive. From the moment he first sat in the pilot seat, before he could even call the ship his own, he’s been studying it.

He remembers what parts he’s replaced over the last two years and when. And he’s got a fair idea of what’s running down on him, though even the best mechanics can’t foresee every breakdown before it happens … especially not on a ship as persnickety as the Falcon. Han knows which of the hidden panels in his ship screech when you remove them. He could even tell which pads on the walls have a crack on them or what square on the holochess board has a chip on it.

He knows his ship.

However, even for a man who knows his ship as well as Han does, it’s hard to pick out some things. In this case, the something in question is an … optic? Some sort of camera? It’s by chance that he even notices it at all, considering the thing is hardly bigger than the size of his thumbnail and tucked into a grove were some power lines are running. He just happened to catch it out of the corner of his eye while walking up the ramp ...

It makes him wonder when did it get there? Who would have placed it there? The location doesn’t suggest they want to find any of the secret compartments of his ship as much as see who is going in and out. Odd. Does he know anyone who would want to watch every single person who came aboard the Falcon and left? He can’t think of anybody who would.

Anyway, he takes the camera over with him to the small section of the ship that he’s allocated to be the lounge and takes out his phone. He shoots a picture of the small camera in his palm and sends it to the only person he can think of that would be able to offer him any thoughts at all on the subject; the spy who has captured much of his attention of late.

The text that accompanies the picture reads:

Do you know what this is?

Comments

[red_room]

"If you need help finding a way out....you know I'll help you look, right?" No gimmick, no price. She's speaking from one friend to another, the concern on her features not leaving her face just yet.

She can only imagine what he's going through. She'd have had a breakdown if she'd been separated from her world with all that's been going on there. With the people who need her. Depend on her.

"Or are you still trying to repair the ship?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

He had a mind to be somewhat guarded around Natasha. She is in the business of finding out people's secrets and he's in a business where keeping them is sort of important, but ... he senses that her concern for him is actually genuine and it makes him lower his defenses.

"Still making repairs." He admits. "I landed with almost nothing except for the Falcon itself. Raising capital for parts and fuel has been taking a while. Got something lined up that I think is going to help that part, though."

[red_room]

"That's actually a lot less of a problem than 'I"m stuck here' would be." Natasha observes, nodding along with Han's explanation of what all has been going on.

"And by that I mean, money is one obstacle, but having no doorway or path back home would be much more difficult to work around."

Were that the case, the only course of action would be to take stock in unsavory nexus Magic Users and Natasha doesn't trust those one bit. She's seen enough Weird in her life to be immediately mistrustful of anything supernatural until proven it is otherwise not to be considered a threat.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"I'm a one problem at a time kind of guy." He murmurs and this not an easy situation to unravel.

"The fact that the falcon needs maintenance is my first problem. How to be able to leave and get back is something I haven't even begun to start thinking about."

It was the easy thought, at first, to get the ship fixed and get home. And yet, the longer he stays here in the Nexus, the more reasons he's finding to want to come back. Now it's not enough to get home. It's made his situation a lot more complicated.

[red_room]

"I'll keep an ear to the ground."

Natasha doesn't have limitless free time to investigate for Han, but she can certainly check her sources and see if there's any low hanging fruit on the grapevine to snag for information.

Plus, now she has to go sopping for better cameras to hide. So really she'd be hitting two birds with one stone.

"We'll get you home."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

The fact that she's willing to put any effort in at all is a good thing. Han thinks, anyway.

He'll not meditate too deeply on the fact that she didn't hesitate to offer her help on something that was going to separate the two of them faster, because he ... well, maybe he's projecting, but he hopes that maybe it's because she realizes more than others how badly he's homesick.

The Captain thought for sure that he saw some genuine glimpses of concern for him in her desensitized facade. "It means more than you know." He murmurs finally. What the 'it' actually is? That's for her to decide.

[red_room]

Han can hardly be a shipper if he doesn't have a working ship or access to move things around. It's a practical problem with a practical solution. And besides, it may be separating them now, but Natasha doesn't seem to think much of this. Because--

"The sooner you get back to work the sooner you can pay me back that dinner date you owe me." There's no doubt in her mind that Han will come back.

If he doesn't she'll understand, more than he'd like her to more than likely. She didn't grow up under a rock, so she has some idea of what his life could be like. But she also knows that things like this are hardly set in stone. She's seen proof of it already here in the Nexus.

"Anyway, I don't see too many other suspect places. You always leave your ramp down for strangers to go sticking things on board?" He raises an eyebrow once more. "I mean, I get that the ship's empty now, but still."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

He can't help it. All the posturing he feels like he has to do for the sake of impressing her falls away when she mentions that he owes her dinner. He can't help but smile. That's an outstanding debt he owes that, for a change, he's going to be happy to pay back.

"I do owe you that." He says with a slow and thoughtful nod. "Guess this means I'll have to stop loafing around and start getting to work. Wouldn't want to keep you waiting too long for something like that."

At he mention of the cameras, he will glance around the ship vaguely. He may not have even realized how much of sending Natasha the message about the cameras had to do with him just wanting an excuse to talk to her again and better yet, be around her. Really, he doesn't need her here to comb through the ship for cameras that may or may not be there.

She raises an interesting point, though. One that actually further makes her the more likely suspect by his line of thinking. "I'm not going to say it's impossible, but it's not likely that I left the ramp down long enough for someone to have snuck on and off without me noticing." More likely it would have been placed by someone he invited ...

[red_room]

Of course she's the most likely suspect. The question isn't whether or not Natasha planted the device. At the end of the day, the question is why.

At least, that's what Natasha would say. She hopes there's at least a little suspicion that she's to blame for this. She's hardly had more than a moment alone on his ship anywhere, when could she even have found time to.

Though if she'd had time to plant it, he wouldn't have found it so easily. Of this she is certain.

"I'm sure a guy like you can do some kind of heavy lifting." She quirks an eyebrow, the side of her mouth twitching into something close to the start of a smile.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

There's no question that Han can work hard when he's got his mind set on something. Conversely, it can be awfully hard to get him motivated to something he doesn't want to do. Leave it to the practiced card player to be boom or bust in things pertaining to his life.

"It's a pretty strong back, darling." He says and it's clear the smile hasn't quite left his eyes yet. "Since we could turn over this ship all day and not potentially find anything, maybe we should do something a little more interesting."

"I'd love a better look," not so innocent pause here, "... at your ride."

[red_room]

"I bet you would." Natasha rides that double entendre all the way back to the ramp is the slight sway to her hips as she walks is any indication.

The bike is sleek, black and even without understanding Terran designs altogether built for speed. The way it hugs the ground, forces the rider to lean forward to be more aerodynamic. Natasha flips the kickstand up in the same motion as she swings her leg over the bike and gets settled. The engine roars to life at her command and she gives Han a tiny smile from where she's sitting on the bike, leaning forward to rest her forearms on the grips.

"Like what you see?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

She might have noticed that Han is rarely ever the first person to start walking somewhere. Often, it's because he doesn't like having his back to people - he does hang around in shitty crowd back home, after all. There's an obvious benefit, however, to letting Nat take the lead when they're going somewhere.

He's not sure that he would ever tire of this vantage point.

It would be a lie to suggest that Han, when they were theoretically 'looking at the bike', wasn't eyeing the woman on it as much as the machine. Oh, he glanced at the bike, sure. It resembles a speeder enough that he thinks he might even be able to figure out how to ride one. If someone was to leave a vehicle like that in his care for a couple of hours.

He finds his eyes increasingly drawn to Natasha, though. And he knows she's at least indulging his attention on some level when she takes that forward lean. "Oh yeah. I like what I see." He murmurs, with a subtle nod of appreciation. "The bike's alright too."

[red_room]

This sadly isn't the sort of bike meant to hold more than one person or Natasha would offer to give him a ride. The idea of him riding bitch seat makes her grin entirely too pleased with herself.

"It's my preferred way to travel." Light, fast, small with incredible maneuverability. Great for getting into (and out of) tight and otherwise dangerous situations. Though, this one is in much better shape than the bikes she usually ends up using. Those usually end up getting wedged between cars, thrown--thanks a lot for that Rogers-- or otherwise ditched when they become inconvenient for taking down the Bad Guy of the day.

No, this beauty is Natasha's for personal use.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Oh, it's a damn shame that it's not. If she offered, he wouldn't hesitate to take the unmanly seat. He's made himself look way more foolish for the sake of getting close to someone before. And for Nat? It would be so worth it.

"It looks like it would perform admirably." He offers. Not that he has much of a frame of reference. He starts walking around the vehicle to get a better look, at one point, crouching to get a better look at the components he can see - which is ultimately not that many, because sportbikes tend to have panels that cover the parts.

"Do you do the maintenance yourself?"

[red_room]

Natasha shakes her head, tossing her hair out of its spot behind her ear once more. Her smile is easy and she shrugs slightly.

"No. I know--it's horrifying that there's something I can't do, right? I don't have the time for it. I could probably make emergency repairs if I flat out HAD to, but with my skillset I'd just as soon steal another vehicle than waste precious time I need to be getting the hell away trying to fix whatever it is I'm riding at any given time."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"It's downright shocking." He murmurs with a smile, taking a moment to glance into her eyes, from his still crouched position. There's so much to admire about Natasha that sometimes it's easy to miss how pretty her green eyes are.

"You should let me do the work on it for you." Han says as he brings himself up to standing. "When you need it worked on that is."

[red_room]

"I'm sure. I've been known to be incredibly shocking." It doesn't occur to her until after she's smirked that he actually doesn't know that is a very real part of her combat capabilities.

Which honestly just makes her laugh softly and shake her head again.

"Do they make bikes that still touch the ground where you're from?" Her voice is light, teasing, and airy. "Can't imagine the inner workings of a combustion engine would be that different between universes though..." If it's combustion. It might be space snot for all she knows.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

What does he really know about Natasha other than the fact that she's unbelievably good looking and she's an earth spy? Only what she's told him so far and honestly, it hasn't been all that much. Doesn't mean he wouldn't listen if she offered more, but he's not holding his breath for that.

"Nat, I can fix a malfunctioning hyperdrive in space with the scraps I have on my ship for parts." He says with a not so modest shrug. "One night with an owners manual and I'd have your bike pretty well figured."

[red_room]

Natasha has to wonder how much of that is talk and how much of that is talent. She leans forward even further and shoots a mischievous grin the Corellian's way that makes her eyes shine.

"That's a wager I think I can get behind. Give me your phone, I'll download it for you."

One night?

Hey if it means someone else is doing routine maintenance on her baby, then it's one less thing she has to worry about. Plus, she's legitimately curious.

"What are we betting for?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Han hands over the phone and looks completely unconcerned by this challenge. Not that he'd probably be showing much of reaction if he was, but seriously, the man isn't worried in the least about failing in this endeavor.

"The first things that come to mind are five minutes of honest answers or a massage." He says with a thoughtful tilt of his head. "But if there's something you've got in mind, I'm open to suggestions."

"What do you want me to do? Oil change, filters cleaned and an inspection of the rest?"

[red_room]

"And if you can't? What do I get?"

It honestly amuses her that he looks at Natasha and thinks 'she probably gives great massages'. Hers tend to be especially deep tissue. Or shock therapy. The first request is a very smart one, on his part. One she's not sure she wants to agree to.

"Also, no way. Three questions. Honest answers."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

He was trying to think of bets that would go either way, but he neglected to consider the fact that everybody from earth seems to be a Han Solo expert. At least he's well known somewhere. That ought to count for something, right?

"Three questions? What are you a genie? I want to be able to have a discussion." He says holding back the urge to roll his eyes at her. "How do I know you're not going to give me lame answers?"

At her question of what she should get, he gives her a very bemused look. A look that says 'there's no fucking way, sweetheart', but after a moment he acquiesces. Might as well humor her in the fact he could somehow lose this bet, otherwise, who knows, maybe she won't take it. "We're still negotiating terms. What would you want from me?"

[red_room]

"Didn't think they had Aladdin in your neck of the woods." She's impressed with Han's absorption of Terran culture. No doubt thanks in part to the time he spends with those boys.

"You are wise to carefully negotiate the terms, however." She smiles sweetly, glad he doesn't assume she'll play fair when it comes to herself. other people might be offended, Natasha just laughs. "Maximum of three topics asked about. Five minutes total discussion owed."

He won't have to worry about her sabotaging the bet, either. Because really she wins either way. Free muscle to tend to her ride, or...whatever she can get out of Han if he can't do it. Speaking of...

"Something of equal value, obviously."

Disney jokes, because is there anything they don't own yet?

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Han absorbed culture like a sponge long before he found himself stuck in the Nexus. Predominantly it manifests itself into interpreting (and sometimes speaking) other languages, but it's extended beyond that. Han has always picked up on things people don't expect him to see.

And yeah, twenty-something-year-old males from different galaxies talk about the strangest things.

"That sounds fair."

It's good to know that she realizes she's winning here even if she's losing. Han is a good mechanic and eager to prove himself as useful and/or continuing to be worth hanging around.

"Do I get to know what you think is an equal value to you or am I taking this bet on blind?" He's probably confident enough that he would take it not knowing what she had in store for him if he lost, but he'd love to know. There's always the chance that she might want something he'd be inclined to offer her without coercion and in that case, maybe he would just do whatever it is for the hell of it sometime.

Sorry, Natasha seemed to go quiet on me the last couple of days.

[red_room]

"I'm not sure how much my honesty is worth to you." Natasha admits, shrugging her shoulders with a casual toss of her hair just for added flair and style. "Might mean a lot more to me than it does to you."

Which is why leaking all of her files a few years ago (as well as all the files on HYDRA and everything else in the SHIELD database) meant as much as it did. Giving up her secrets. Her secrecy. Her lies.

Sometimes, it felt like those were all she had.

And now...
'
"You can't really take me for a joyride in either your ship or the speeder that's rusting away out back, so."