That was the first time he called the engineer that. And he simply turned around, following the others, leaving the stunned blond behind to bat his fan-like eyelashes after him. The one it somehow wasn't so unpleasant to keep an eye on anymore.

Carefully setting Anhel back on his feet, Rory said, looking somewhere past his head into the shadows of the cave:
- Watch your step, Flower Boy.
He surprised himself with the nickname. It had slipped out on its own, quiet and without malice.

Rory noticed things he somehow hadn't seen before: long, fair eyelashes, a dusting of freckles across the bridge of his nose and cheeks, and the fathomless blue of his eyes, which held not just fear but also a kind of childlike, pure astonishment. He'd never been this close to him to see it all.

He caught him mid-fall, and the engineer ended up in his arms - light, warm, his nostrils flaring with shock.

And during the next shift, while mining morkite, Anhel slipped again. Only this time, Rory was ready, because he was watching him. More intently than the rest of the team, who were managing just fine without his help.