The second shelter was easy to get to, with stairs hewn into the rock up to a flat shelf. He went through the inventory automatically, keeping his mind steady on sorting and counting and organizing. Step by step, down the list. Second shelter finished, one more to go.

Ravi focused on purging his thoughts. All that mattered was the crunch of sand under his boots, carrying him closer to the next goal. Never mind the sound of Lio in his wake. No more thinking about him. Just the rocks, the desert, and quiet.

A tiny raindrop landed on his nose and broke his reverie. Ravi halted sharply and craned back to look at the sky. A screen of pearl white clouds had devoured the blue, and patchy sunlight dappled the rock. Definitely not part of the plan, and not listed anywhere on six different weather casts. He called in a weather warning to the rest of the crew. "Opalina, listen up!" He spoke into the holowatch, opening all lines. "We need to move quickly. If it starts really raining, get to the nearest high ground shelter, even if that means doubling back." One by one, the pairs replied back in the affirmative.

"Can't fucking believe this," he muttered. Tiny, dark spots speckled the sand ahead. It was misting now, a fine spray that sparkled on the rock walls.

"Rainbows!" Lio chirped behind him.

Ravi glared at the effect of the mingled sunlight and mist. Rainbows meant water, and water in a slot canyon was not their friend.

"Um," Duhar's voice crackled from his holowatch. "Does this count as raining?"

Ravi was about to tell him to keep hiking and get out of the canyon when a fat droplet splattered his boots. He blinked frantically and opened all crew lines again. "Yeah, this is about to be real shit. Get to shelter. Missive me as soon as you're in a secure spot."

Five more steps, and the air around them was darkening. He dared a glance upward to see that gauzy white had turned a menacing dark grey.

"Oh." Lio said faintly. "Not rainbows."

"C'mon. We're closer to the third shelter than the second by now." He trotted down the trail, watching his footing. Lio kept right on his heels, scampering over the uneven dips in the sand. Ravi banged his shoulders a few times looking up at the sky as they jogged, but he kept moving. Those clouds were bruising dark, the kind of swollen purple that flashed a warning.

The weather didn't hold off a second longer. The wind rose up, and the rain slammed down. Curtains of rain stormed through the canyon, blurring his vision. If he'd been anywhere else, it wouldn't have been so terrifying, but they were standing in the middle of a rapidly flooding death trap.

Ravi plowed through the percussive downpour, churning sand into mud. Water ran in rivulets down the sleek rock walls and puddled in the canyon. The trail twisted sharply, and he sloshed through water up to his ankles and rising. The third shelter was supposed to be close, but all he saw was steep, slick rock, with no way to climb any of it.

Rivulets became miniature falls. His uniform was soaked, the pack waterlogged and heavy on his back. The water clattered off of rock and hissed in gathering pools on the sand. The trail wasn't a trail anymore, but a swelling creek. High stepping through the muddy water, it swallowed up to his knees now.

Ahead, the gap straightened out, and metal glinted through the rain. Handholds. Steel bars drilled into the rock face ahead, forming a ladder straight up one of the cliffs.

"Lio," he shouted back, "That's it!"

"Holy fuck!" Lio bellowed, and Ravi swung around to see him pointing at a stream of water cresting over the opposite cliff edge and plummeting to the canyon floor. In the space of a single breath, the stream turned into a full-blown waterfall, carving down over the rock.

Ravi didn't spare another glance. He lunged toward the ladder and flung himself up as fast as he could, clutching at the slippery bars. Lio stayed right on his heels. The third shelter was a shallow cave, and Ravi had to cram the supply pack under his head and wedge his back against the anchored boxes to make enough room. Lio scrabbled up behind him, gasping.

"First Goddess, we almost just—"

"Are you alright?" Ravi curled as far back as he could to give Lio space to shift away from the edge.

Lio crawled closer, swiping water from his eyes. "Yes. Fine. Just a bit rattled."

Two missives from the rest of the crew. Yorune and Duhar had made it to a shelter, as had Jossen and Aziri. Ravi's jaw and throat ached as he watched the terramap. The twins were still on the move, but already on higher ground. Teres and Rosareen's tracker wasn't showing up at all.

Lio stared at the map illuminated between them. "Are they—"

"Give them a minute," Ravi said tersely. He could barely breathe. If something had happened to any of his crew, there was nothing he could do to help. He'd thrown them into a disaster with no means of rescue.

"Com!" Teres' voice crackled from his holowatch. "Terramap's not working, and we don't know where the shelter is—"

Ravi rolled onto his stomach, adrenaline and anxiety sizzling up his spine. He let none of it into his voice. "You're okay, Teres." Their tracker mark flickered in and out on the map, but he only needed to see it for a second to know where they were on the route. "Keep going forward. You're close to shelter. The trail swings to your left—"

"Okay, I think I see that—"

"Good. Get around that corner. There's a big rock shard ahead, and there should be a way up to right behind that."

All that came through were sloshing footsteps and static. Then, "Yes!" punched through the line. "We see it! Climbing anchors!"

"Good work," he croaked. A minute later, Teres and Rosareen were both shouting into the line that they'd reached shelter. A missive from Orvaska popped up, affirming he and his sister had reached safety too. Every muscle gave out at once. He closed his eyes and slumped into the ground, his heartbeat pounding against the rock, guts trembling. Any one of them could have died.

"Hey." The word was soft, and followed by an equally gentle hand moving in a slow circle across his back. "We're okay. Everybody made it."

"Barely," Ravi bit out, not lifting his head. "Goddess, Gadsen was right, I can't build from the ground up, I don't know what the fuck I'm—"

"Ravi." Lio's hand slid from his back to the nape of his neck. "This isn't your fault. It was a freak Fennec storm, and everyone is fine. And you're a great com."

He pushed up onto one elbow and Lio's hand slipped away. The right move was to let it go, but instead he caught it in his own, twining his water-logged fingers with Lio's. Little Goddess, no one had any right to be so beautiful in a mud-stained jumpsuit. Ravi held his hand and his gaze, until it felt like he was falling forward, pulled in by Lio's knowing, jewel-bright eyes. He was far too close, close enough that they were trading breath, their hands tangled against his chest. Lio's lips parted, his breathing went shallow, and Ravi almost gave in.

"I—" Adrenaline was wiping away his better instincts. He fumbled his hand loose and shifted back sharply enough that one of the crates jabbed him. "Gotta check in with the crew."

Lio exhaled. "Good idea," he said, and closed his eyes. His long eyelashes trembled against the amber of his cheeks, and Ravi's mouth went dry. The things this man could do to him without even touching him were dangerous.

Groping for his fucking misplaced professionalism, he glared down at his holowatch and cleared his throat before opening the lines to call in the Opalina crew.

"Alright, everyone, listen up—" As soon as he spoke, so did everyone else, launching an incomprehensible tumult. Apparently, he wasn't the only one wound up.

"Let's just—Opalina—" This was ridiculous. "Quiet!" he bellowed, and someone let out a squawk like a malfing chicken bot. But at least they all shut up. Ravi took a breath and smoothed his voice to perfectly even. He went through each pair, asking about injuries and logging locations on the terramap. Sister goddesses be praised, no one reported anything worse than a few scrapes and bruises.

"This is so exciting," Yorune said, when he'd finished.

"You're on my hair!" Rosareen and Teres sounded as if they were having a shoving match.

"Uh, if we're gonna be here a while, can we eat some of the stuff we brought?" Duhar's hopeful voice piped over the squabbling.

Ravi scrubbed a hand down his face. "Okay. Here's the deal. We can't move until the water clears out. Even if it stops raining, sit tight. I'll tell you when to leave shelter. And yes, in the meantime, if you need any of the items in the supply packs, use them. But this isn't time for a snack feast."

"Duhar," Aziri coughed loudly.

Orvaska's voice rumbled over the lines. "How's your back, Aziri?"

"Missive if you need anything or your situation changes," Ravi called, and hastily closed the lines down before they started shrieking at each other.

"Goddess, we're such an elite crew." Lio grinned and sat up as far as the low cave ceiling would allow. He twisted away to wring out his hair.

"You've got personality, I'll give you that," Ravi muttered. Even though it was torture, his gaze traced the way Lio's uniform clung to his back. It was soaked to near translucency, hugging every curving muscle and the long valley down his spine.

A responsible, respectable com would not be aching at the sight of him. A responsible, respectable com would not be imagining pulling his recruit closer and kissing him. A responsible, respectable com would not still be helplessly staring when said recruit turned around and caught him looking.

Lio smiled at him, and Ravi's heart tripped in his chest. He was doomed. Far too late, he shifted his gaze to the cave roof. It was a monumental task, ignoring the way Lio settled against the rock near him.

"Who's Gadsen?" Lio asked.

The question jolted him enough that he flinched, and when he peeked at Lio's expression, he knew it hadn't gone unseen. He swallowed, too much rust in his throat. "I, uh, he was my old com. At my previous unit."

"And he said you couldn't start a new crew, did he?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, he's clearly an idiot," Lio grumbled. "And wrong."

Ravi laughed bleakly. His stomach coiled tight when Lio moved up on his elbows to lean closer. His heart strained in two different directions. He rolled onto his side to gaze up into Lio's face. "Listen," he started, forcing himself to say it all before he lost the willpower. "I can't do this."

He could see on Lio's face that the recruit knew exactly what he was talking about. His eyes were hungry. "Why not?" he asked, gently.

"I lucked into this com position. If I get reported for crossing the line with a recruit, I'll never get another chance to lead a crew."

It didn't put Lio off the way he needed it to. Instead, he ran a forefinger down the side of Ravi's open palm. So good to have his touch again. Even barely-there contact made him shudder.

"No one on the crew would begrudge you a bit of indulgence, if they were to find out," Lio murmured. "You'll win them over, I can already tell. And they'll be loyal to you, not some commander in the ziggurat who's written them off for years. Nobody will report you for anything." His hooded eyes wandered across Ravi's face, gaze brushing his lips. He could feel the kiss that was coming. Desire built like a thundercloud in his chest.

If Lio wanted him, he could get him. He was too lonely to hold out on his own. Part of him wanted to be caught, but it was like the first night, with a warning he wanted to ignore circling in his head. He had to make Lio understand before he lost control completely. 'I've...I've been in this sort of thing before. Gadsen wasn't just my com," he whispered. He swallowed and forced the rest of the words out. "It...it really fucked me over. And it hurt. So much. I can't let that happen again."

"Oh." Lio's voice went faint, and he flopped onto his back. "I'll...I can keep that in mind." He seemed to realize their shoulders were touching and squirmed away a bit. Loss shredded through Ravi's heart, but he weathered it. If the denial of an almost-kiss could make him feel this way, it was all the better he didn't give Lio more of him to hurt. One stupid, incredible night had him teetering on the edge of flinging aside everything he had supposedly learned.

He put his back to Lio, curling toward the dusty supply boxes. It stung right now, but he knew he was saving himself worse pain later. The rain eased and dwindled, but the waterfall continued to surge into the canyon.

When Lio dozed off, Ravi leaned over him far enough to see the newborn river below, slithering between the rocks, its surface webbed with white foam. He watched the flowing current. If he was lonely, it didn't mean Lio was his answer. It meant he couldn't wait too long to go look for the things he wanted. Something more than a bit of indulgence, or a fun night. Wait too long, and whatever, whoever was out there might rush past him and disappear.