unforgiven ➽ a Halilintar-centric fic

Taufan ✦ a headful of clouds

In the midst of a TAPOPS base, Taufan screamed in frustration when his avatar met an untimely fate in a pot of boiling acid. He raised his arms, the controller sliding off his hands until it was caught by a cushion of wind.

Surrendering to his less-than-average video game skills, he slumped down in the couch, completely ignoring the nasty glances the passing cadets in the common room were shooting his way. He can't blame them – he's been hogging their only TV for hours and screamed at every minor inconvenience, but he'd be lying to himself if he said he cared.

He stifled a yawn into his palm, moving to quit the game and calling it a day, but a newcomer sat themselves directly next to him, jostling the couch with their bodyweight.

Taufan raised an eyebrow at the familiar figure, who was already reaching for the spare controller. "Did you run away from your babysitter?"

Boboiboy rolled his eyes, plugging the controller into the console. "Hardy har," he replied dryly, leaning back into the couch. "Dad's here in TAPOPS to discuss stuff with your Commander, so I tagged along because I got sick of Fang trying to drill all the handbooks into my head."

"Damn," Taufan muttered. "Sounds like a whole nightmare."

The brunet shrugged. While TAPOPS was the only branch in Sunnova that had humans in their staff, Boboiboy and his father were exceptions as they resided directly in main headquarters. It was rare to see them outside of missions and Sunnova.

Boboiboy looked around. "Speaking of, where's Gempa?" He turned to Taufan. "I haven't seen him on my way here, either."

"He's on an expedition," Taufan said. "Though he should be back any day now."

"Oh wow, busy guy." Boboiboy tilted his head. "What about you? Are you on a break?"

The wind elemental scoffed. "Me? No." He pressed buttons on his controller and tapped into the game screen. "I didn't like any of the missions listed. They either take too long, are too complicated, or they're diplomatic treaties that need me to sit in a stuffy meeting room for weeks. Ugh."

At that, Boboiboy frowned. "How are you still Lance Corporal?" he quizzed, genuinely curious. "Don't you have a certain quota to maintain before you get demoted? How many missions did you even take this month."

Taufan blew a raspberry. "One!" He grinned. "They only made me Lance Corporal because it's good PR, and they can't demote me or the press will be on their tails."

"PR?"

"You know Vargoba? Retak'ka? All those high-profile villains out to conquer the galaxy?"

Boboiboy nodded.

"Well, I'm half the reason why they're rotting in jail instead of sitting on some blood throne." He scoffed. "No matter how much the higherups don't like it, they can't fire me without a really, really good excuse. Not like Gempa would let them, anyway."

"You sound like you don't want to be here."

Taufan's grip on his controller steeled. "What can I say?" he said through gritted teeth. "Not everyone has a father like yours to protect you every step of the way." He fixed his eyes on the moving screen, selecting his character.

Boboiboy mirrored his silence, instead choosing to focus on his avatar instead of pursuing the topic.

They got through some relatively simple levels, failing only because of their subpar skills in video games. Neither of them had the luxury when they were younger, and nowadays there was rarely time to indulge themselves in their interests.

The screen flashed red as Taufan's character fell into a chasm of man-eating plants. Rather than continuing and starting over, he set his controller onto his lap, frowning.

"Maybe being fired isn't such a bad thing," he murmured, surprising the younger, who died to a falling stalactite. "I mean, I could finally go home to Tok and Hali, and I don't have to deal with anymore stupid paperwork."

That gave Boboiboy pause. Taufan and Gempa never talked about their lives outside of TAPOPS. He'd assumed that Gempa was just cautious from leaking personal details to prevent their enemies from getting hold of them, but in reality he was a mere workaholic to the point where he completely forgot about home.

"I joined TAPOPS for adventure and thrill," he said wistfully, "but it wasn't worth trading time with my family for. Time that I'll never be able to make up." He ran a hand through his hair. "I should've stayed home and never come to space."