A Book of One-Shots

The Right Hands

A/N: Haha I'm gettin' into this fanfiction stuff aren't I? Oh dear. Have some Zoethian, friends.

~

“Zoey?” Rythian calls out, hoping for a reply this time.

“Oh, hi Ryth!” Zoeya’s head appears from around a corner and she smiles when she realizes she’s startled Rythian.

“Scared ya?” She laughs before disappearing back the way she had come. Rythian shook his head and chased after her. He found himself in Zoey’s “laboratory,” which was really pretty messy at the moment, with scattered parts everywhere. He shivered slightly, but pushed away the nasty memories surfacing.

Zoey glanced over her shoulder, somewhat surprised he had come this far into her lab area. Usually he’d just wait for her to finish whatever she was doing, or perhaps call her out of the lab to talk. She turned back to the jetpack she had been working on, which had been quite unsuccessful.

“Need a hand with that?” Rythian appeared by her side, leaving her speechless for an instant.

“Uh, yeah. It keeps sputtering and just,” she made wild hand gestures as she tried to explain the many times the jetpack had failed and she had fallen because of it without letting him know she had hurt herself multiple times in the process. He wouldn’t like that.

Rythian chuckled before grabbing one of the wrenches on the work table.

“Well you see, a loose bolt can cause a lot of problems…” To her amazement, Rythian began working diligently on the jetpack. He explained what had gone wrong, and she took mental notes as she watched in silence. Eventually, she found herself standing and he had at some point sat down on the stool she used. Grabbing a box, she sat and watched Rythian.. tinker. It was awesome and wonderful and she had to wonder what it was all about.

Rythian sighed and set the wrench down, satisfied with his work. He stood and looked at Zoey, who looked like she might just burst with absolute joy. Instead, she leapt up from the box she had been sitting on and hugged him tightly. He returned the hug after a moment of hesitation.

“Thank you thank you thank you!” She lifted up the heavy hunk of metal and slipped the straps over her shoulders. With the click of a button, she rocketed into the sky, screaming things like: “This is awesome,” and “Rythian you’re the absolute freaking best!” His smile became wider and wider beneath his mask.

Eventually she landed, hair a mess and cheeks pink. “That was amazing!” She slipped off the jetpack. “But… I thought you didn’t… y’know, like, science isn’t your thing?” She looked at him questioningly.

“Well, you’re right. I’ve had some bad experiences with science, and I know it’s dangerous,” he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “But in the right hands, it can be good, and safe.” He looked to her. “I’m pretty sure your hands are the right ones, anyways.”

She let out what can only be known as a squeal and hugged him once more, which he returned without hesitation this time.