Rubber and Glue

Date/Timing: 9 January 2019
Setting: commercial airliner over the Pacific Ocean
Built up from this scrap.
.
Chuck stares vacantly out at the Griet-blue horizon, twisting her braid, and swallows another sob.
"You okay?" asks Sergio.
Didn't do a very good job, then, what a surprise.
Chuck wipes her eyes. "Separation anxiety."
"Littlest Hansen said some pretty nasty things."
"It hurt but I can't tell how much it hurt and I'm all muddled up and I can't tell how much is the stupid anti-seizure crap and all I want is Pietr because—because—"
"Oh, Monkey, I'm sorry."
"—and it's so /stupid and I /hate being this clingy but all I want is clingy and I want want want to hope he cares this much but—who'm I kidding—I'm not worth that much and, besides, he's married so he's already got someone to miss him this much." She takes a shaky breath.
Sergio wraps an arm around her shoulders.
They slump and she deflates against his side.
""Omigod!""
Sergio sits bolt upright. "What is it, Cait?"
Caitlin flails down the aisle, waving her tablet. "Look look look! His brain!"
Chuck flicks her eyes over the screen. Her heart drops.
Sergio squints at the tablet. "What'm I looking for?"
"We're sliding right off him," Chuck mumbles.
"Exactly!" crows Caitlin. "While he's Drifting, the bonds are nice and tight—as good as they can get, really—but as soon as he's disconnected, it's like nothing ever happened. Snaps back like a rubber band. Almost. Close enough. There's probably /some resid—"
"What does that mean, Eleven?"
"Means he doesn't attach to partners like most people do," Chuck says flatly.
"Or at least not as quickly as most people do," amends Caitlin. "It hasn't been a /week since he started Drifting and about a dozen handshakes. We can't rule out delayed action yet."
"So we'll be paying very close attention to him and Littlest Hansen, then." 
"Yep! I can't—"
The plane bounces over some turbulence.
Sergio grabs Caitlin's arm, keeps her from landing atop the person across the aisle. "You'd better go sit down."
"But—" 
Sergio takes her hand. "I can't wait to hear all about it when we aren't running the risk of you hurting yourself." 
Caitlin sighs heavily—remembers the tablet. 
Sergio offers a first class-ward nudge. 
Caitlin lurches into motion and staggers back toward her seat, muttering the whole way.
Chuck digs her fingernails—still too short, dammit—into her palms.
"I'm so sorry, Monkey," Sergio says quietly.
"Whatever," Chuck mumbles, folding herself up small and losing herself in sky and cotton ball clouds.
Category:Ficlet
Category:Skeleton Key
Category:Chuck D
Category:Chuck D's hair
Category:Chuck D (ficlet)
Category:Chuck D is clingy
Category:Sergio
Category:Sergio (ficlet)
Category:Chuck H
Category:Chuck H (ficlet)
Category:Voslings (mention)
Category:Griet (mention)
Category:Pietr (mention)
Category:Caitlin
Category:Caitlin (ficlet)
Category:Chuck D self-harms
Category:Ficlets with images