Interstellar → Chris Beck

S O L 8 1

MAIA THREW HER deck of cards onto the table with a huff. Beck only laughed at her and gathered them up again.

"Are you up for another round, or are you finally gonna give up?" Beck asked her with a snide smirk on his face, shuffling the deck of cards in his hands.

The two had been playing multiple card games for the better part of two hours, all of which Maia had lost. Despite the fact that she was on a constant losing streak, Maia's competitiveness refused to allow her to quit playing and so she didn't. Beck was thoroughly impressed by her determination, yet he was also amused. She wouldn't stop, not until she won, though Beck knew there was a slim chance in that ever happening. Maia was among one of the worst card players he had ever seen, and had she been someone else he probably would've grown tired of playing and winning, but he enjoyed watching the way she got aggravated when she lost. He just enjoyed watching her.

"No," Maia said as she snatched the deck from his hands. "I'm not gonna give up."

"Then what are you doing?" Beck chuckled as he watched her attempt at shuffling the cards.

"Nothing," she grumbled as she gave up.

Beck raised a brow at her. "I swear, it's like you've never seen a deck of cards before, Maia."

"I hardly ever do, because my idea of fun involves tending to the systematic functions of this here spacecraft, but since that surpasses your level of expertise, Mr. Flight Surgeon, here I am," Maia remarked, the corner of her lips pulling into a smirk.

"You're a special one, Watney," Beck said with a smile. He reached out to grab the deck of cards from her hands, but she pulled her hands away.

"No, we're gonna play a game that I actually know and that I'm actually good at," Maia said to him as she began passing out the cards.

Beck shook his head in amusement as he realized exactly what game she was insinuating. "Really, Maia?" he laughed as he picked up his cards.

Maia smiled confidently and placed the remaining cards in the center of the table. "Problem, Doctor?"

"Not at all," Beck smirked. "I just hope you're ready to lose for the hundredth time."

"We'll see about that," Maia replied as she eyed the cards in her deck.

Johanssen walked into the kitchen several minutes later, a small smirk falling onto her face as her gaze fell upon the couple sitting at the table. She had noticed just how close the two had become as of lately, and although Maia still had yet to tell her anything regarding hers and Beck's relationship status, she knew something was going on between them. She could see it in the way they looked at each other, the way they acted around each other, and the way they spoke to each other.

"What's goin' on, guys?" Johanssen greeted the two as she moved to grab a coffee pack from the cupboards.

"We're playing cards," Maia told her, her concentration solely on the deck of cards in her hands.

"And she's losing," Beck followed.

"I'm not losing," Maia defended. "Do you have any sixes?"

Beck shook his head. "No, do you have any fours?"

"Fuck you," Maia grumbled as she practically threw her card at him.

Beck only laughed.

Johanssen snickered as she poured hot water into her thermos. "Odd way for a couple to spend their downtime, but I guess there really isn't much to do on a spacecraft, and the walls are thin, so that's not much of an option either. You could always do it in one of the airlocks, though I'm not sure if the seals would hold with all that action."

Beck and Maia stopped playing long enough to look at Johanssen, who had now made her way to stand at the end of the table, her thermos pressed to her lips.

"What is wrong with you?" Maia said to her.

Johanssen shrugged, practically gaping at Maia. "What? You think I don't know you two are. . .an item? I mean, every time you look at each other your eyes get so bright and it's cute, but it's also pretty weird."

Beck and Maia exchanged glances with one another.

"I think she's talking about your follow-up statement," Beck said to the sysop. "About the thin walls and the airlock."

"Oh!" Johanssen perked up. "I was mostly kidding. But we all know it'll happen sooner or later."

Maia shook her head and looked back down at her cards, while Beck simply blushed as he began to feel slightly embarrassed by the conversation.

"Go away, Beth," Maia said as she glanced back up at her friend. 

Johanssen looked at Maia from her spot behind Beck and winked before holding her fingers up in the air. "It's okay. I know when I'm not wanted," Johanssen said as she threw up three fingers, then five, and then two. "I'll leave you two lovebirds alone."

"Thank you," Maia smiled to her as she began walking away.

"By the way, your secret is safe with me," she told the pair before taking off.

Maia looked back at Beck, who was biting his lip as he peered down at his cards.

"So," Maia said slowly, attracting Beck's attention. "Got any threes or fives? Maybe a two?"

Beck let out a breath and placed his deck of cards down onto the table. "I'm done with this."

Maia laughed at him and ran a hand through her short hair. "Who's the sore loser now?"

Beck got up from his chair and rounded the table to meet her, wasting no time at all in delivering a kiss to her lips. He pulled away from her after several seconds, a smirk pulling onto his face as he pressed his forehead to hers. "Still you, Watney."