Chapter Text
An Improvised Date:
“God damn it!” Rivet exclaimed as she threw a collection of tools to the ground.
This obviously wasn’t the first time that Rivet had done this, not by a long shot. Any mechanic worth their weight in anything could tell you that the frustration she was feeling was par for the course. For every time you fixed something, there were at least ten times you didn’t. The difference this time was that she was wearing an apron over a white dress while doing it.
Tonight was the night Ratchet and Rivet were meant to go cruising through the Omega-9 Nebula after having a nice dinner at Ray’s Original Nebula Bistro. However, it turned out that the modifications she had made to her ship to deal with the gas clouds’ specific ionized radiation had just stopped working.
“I checked, checked again, and checked a third time, but no one little hyperspace jump, and you’ve broken!” She shouted in frustration. “Son of a fat old horned toad! You piece of god damn speedel shit!”
The swearing and expletives continued as her anger burned hot. However, that anger soon devolved into sadness and shame. She had been planning this evening for so long, and now, instead of flying through a wonder of the cosmos with her boyfriend, she was yelling at an inanimate object outside a parking lot. It was maddening but also just very dumb. She felt really dumb.
Her ship’s cockpit hatch opened with her date, the heroic Lombax, jumping out of it. He was finely dressed in the tuxedo he had worn to dinner. It made him look distinguished, and Rivet had loved it. He walked over to Rivet, who was now on the ground leaning against the ship.
Ratchet looked down at her and saw the sorry state she was in. It was such a contrast to the wonderful smile he had seen her wear not too long ago on the dance floor inside. Her eyes were sparkling as they moved elegantly together in perfect unison.
“Hey, you alright?” he asked, concerned.
Rivet turned up to him with a dejected look on her face. “Peachy keen…” she said with equal parts sadness and sarcasm.
“Look, I know you said you wanted to fix it yourself, but is it fine if I have a look at it?”
The blue-and-white Lombax took a deep breath and sighed. “It doesn’t matter; the tools I have here won’t be able to fix it,” she explained. “The only way to fix it is if we were able to go all the way back to my workshop with the preparatory parts. Even then, I’m not sure we could do it.”
At that moment, Rivet looked entirely defeated; the fiery frustration that had caused her outburst was completely extinguished. She felt so worn out from spending the last half hour trying in vain to repair it. Now all she wanted was not to be here, not to have failed.
“It’s no big deal, Rivet,” Ratchet told her. “We can just go visit the Nebula some other time."
“It’s not that,” she countered. “I just. I just wanted this evening to be wonderful and perfect. This was the first time I was taking you on a date I came up with. I wanted to show you how “romantic” and “thoughtful” I can be, like the dates you’ve taken me on. I planned everything, and it was going so well, then it just had to all go to crap because I can’t fix something. It’s my passion, it’s what we Lombaxes are made to do, and I just can’t…”
Rivet’s face sank as her head tilted downward. Ratchet knew Rivet took great pride in her mechanical skills as he did; he knew this wasn’t just frustrating to her, it was humiliating. All of this meant so much to her, and it had blown up in her face because of a small technical issue. There was nothing more demeaning.
Ratchet wanted, no, needed to turn this night around. He contemplated for a moment, and he understood he shouldn’t just come in and be a knight in shining armor for Rivet, not now. If she was gonna feel better about herself, he needed to help her come up with something.
Suddenly, he got it; he realized what she needed to do. It was something that both of them were so good at, but somehow hadn’t considered. “Improvise,” he said, speaking his thoughts aloud.
“What?” she asked, confused.
“Improvise, we do it all the time, Riv. You just gotta think of something to replace what we were going to do,” he answered. “I’m sure you can do it.”
“Heh, you give me too much credit, Hotshot,” she self-deprecated with a laugh.
“Come on, we improvise all the time, during fire fights, when we were in dog fights with space pirates, and even when we’re doing mechanic stuff; you can’t tell me you haven’t used rubber glue when a fancy polymer was what you needed,” he explained.
“Figuring out something on the spot is a lot easier when it’s something you’ve done before,” she told him. “This whole thing is new to me.”
“You’ll be fine. One of my favorite things about you is how quick-witted you can be,” he assured her. He then placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’re gonna do great.”
The smile Ratchet gave Rivet was warm and filled with hope, which is what she needed. She couldn’t help but match his expression; his damn attitude was too contagious.
“Your damn smile is too cute,” she said while playfully hitting him.
“I can’t help it that you find me adorable,” he quipped.
Rivet let out a small giggle. She knew it was true. That face of his with vivid green eyes, soft cheeks, charming smile, and boopable nose would always be the death of her cynicism.
She then stood up and brushed herself off. She took off the apron she had been using to protect her white dress and cast it aside. Her mind then began to wonder what they should do next.
Her options weren’t all that limited. She still had a starship that could quickly travel to a number of nearby systems. The problem was picking something that might be able to make up for the journey she promised. All the knowledge of this region of space she had swirled inside her head as she struggled to decide. The female Lombax’s face then lit up as she remembered a place that would be perfect for a romantic visit.
“I got it!” she exclaimed. “The crystal falls on Eureka-6!”
“Crystal falls?” Ratchet asked, intrigued.
“Oh, you're gonna love this, Ratchet! It’s absolutely incredible!” Rivet said with excitement. “Oh, if we make it there in the next twenty minutes, we will be able to see it at sunset!”
“Wow, sounds cool-” he began to say, but stopped when he was pulled by the arm to the cockpit.
“No time! We gotta go!” she said as he was strung along.
The two Lombaxes then quickly got back into the ship. Rivet entered the coordinates and strapped herself into her seat. Once she got the okay from Ratchet, she launched the ship upward out of the artificial atmosphere created for the restaurant. She then flew the ship a fair distance away from the asteroid where they were. Soon, they were far enough into space for her to “hit” the faster-than-light drive.
The ship sped through hyperspace. Their destination was mere moments away. The energy that propelled them seemed much smaller than the rush Rivet was feeling. Ratchet saw it as the streaks of light shone in her blue eyes; she was going to show him something truly special.
After a few minutes, the ship exited hyperspace, and the planet Eureka-6 came into view. It was a gray, rocky world with only small oceans on its surface. To the untrained eye, it looked like nothing much at all, but to Rivet, it was exactly what she needed.
“We’re beginning our descent now,” she stated. “We’ll be on the planet’s surface in less than five minutes.”
The vessel headed toward the planet. Soon, the blackness of space was replaced by the light blue sky of the world. The ship cruised through the thin atmosphere with nothing to stop its speedy approach.
Finally, after a minute or so, they touched down on the surface. Through the window of the cockpit, Ratchet could already see part of a gorgeous sparkling rock formation. They were on a cliffside near a large body of water, with one of the cliffs having a descending structure of purple and blue crystals that mirrored the water it fell toward.
“Woah…” Ratchet said, amazed.
“Trust me, it’s better once we get outside,” she said, smiling at his awe. “Just got to do this first.”
Before either of them stepped outside, Rivet raised the small air shield the ship had. The planet’s atmosphere was barely breathable, so they would need the extra protection. The pair of them stepped out onto the rocky shores of this world. They walked toward the cliffside to get a better view of the falls. The crystals were twinkling because of the setting sun.
The majestic, shining light that reflected off the crystalline cliff was hard to put into words. The crashing waves below seemed to fall silent as they stared at the beauty of this naturally formed design. It boggled the mind how something like this couldn’t be handcrafted, but there it was, the large crystals made on this nearly lifeless planet.
“How did you find this place?” Ratchet asked, astounded by the wonder of it all.
“One time when I was fleeing some of Emperor Nefarious’ ships, and the ship I stole got damaged,” she explained. “I had to make repairs, and this was the only place I could land. I was stuck here for three days as I tried to fix the ship. I went for a walk near where I landed and found the Crystal Falls.”
“Wow, you must've been pretty dang lonely on that planet all by yourself,” he said, wondering what it could’ve been like.
“Trust me, I have been through worse. I was kind of used to being alone,” she told him. “Besides, you know as well as I do that once you have a mechanical issue to fix, time will just fly away.”
“Yeah, I get you, but still it must’ve been hard,” he expressed.
“Hey, I was alone a lot back then, but now I have you,” she said with a smile. “You’re this wonderful guy who’s made me feel so many amazing things. You made me feel loved, joy, and above all, not alone. You showed me what it’s like to have someone who really understands me.”
Rivet looked over at Ratchet, and he looked at her. The two of them smiled and closed the distance between each other. They held each other tightly, feeling the warmth of the other’s body. They felt connected and complete as the crystals shone, the waves roared, and they hugged.
They broke away from each other for a moment and looked into each other’s eyes. The eyes of the person who made them feel safe and loved. They then kissed passionately as both of their hearts soared.
Ratchet broke the kiss and looked at her with a smile. “Your improvised date kicks the ass of any planned one,” he said, jokingly.
“Way to sell your dates short, Hotshot,” she sarcastically replied.
“Eh, I never needed a plan to have a good time with you,” he admitted. “All I needed was you.”
Rivet laughed with a smile. “Yeah, that’s what I needed to remember,” she explained. “All I needed was you.”