promptfic: u/j, enthralled

[sword_logic]

“You’re distracted,” Jolyon says, apropos of absolutely nothing.

Uldren jumps like he’s touched an Arc charge and goes back to his binoculars so fast, he might end up with a bruise on his nose for it.

“I wasn’t,” he says, much more coolly than he feels.

Jolyon snorts quietly.

“Wind’s picked up, but you didn’t say anything.” Uldren scrambles silently for a response, and as Jolyon finally rolls away from his scope to shoot an amused look his way, the search triples in difficulty. “Seriously. Are you good?”

“I’m fine,” Uldren replies, and it comes out brusquely enough that a furrow forms between Jolyon’s brows. “I’m fine, Jol. It’s nothing.”

Jolyon briefly rolls his eyes before settling back down against the scope of his rifle, but Uldren catches the faint smile that tugs at the corner of his lips and all of his resolve crumbles to pieces as he’s thrown right back to square one: the way the midday light of the Reef manages to filter into this cave and spill over his brow, the faint wrinkle of his nose as he squints through his scope, the precise curl of his hand around the grip. It’s less distraction, more that he can’t bear to look away. Jolyon is handsome, sure; every citizen of the Reef knows it. But like this, with his focused sharpened, with his body curled close to his rifle, the silent potential of deadly precision, he is something else entirely.

“Wind north-northeast,” Uldren finally manages, glancing at his sensors. “Target still not in sight.”