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psychosistr · 5 years ago

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FOWL Facets- Chapter 5

Summary: While their hostage is a bit more cooperative now, his mouth still lands him in trouble with Domino and Loony. At least the two of them can have a good laugh about it and fondly remember how they nearly gave the real Steelbeak the same treatment!

Notes: Time for some backstory that DOESN’T involve Liquidator xD

-First Chapter-

Their prisoner had apparently learned his lesson about mouthing off to the F.O.W.L. agents. He was more direct with his instructions and gave them less attitude in hopes they wouldn’t shock him again.

They still shocked him again. Repeatedly.

Domino, Loony, and Gandra got into a fairly easy routine when it came to dealing with the captive melanite: Loony would tie him up with one of her arms (or her leg at one point because she was bored and wanted to mix things up). Gandra would give him a mild jolt with her hand to re-stabilize his body and allow him to wake up. Domino would ask for their next heading. Then, at the end, Gandra would shock him again to destabilize him once more. They continued taking turns guarding him, just like before, keeping two people in the room at all times while the third gem went to the control room to make sure they were still on course.

By the time they’ve almost reached their destination, it’s Loony and Domino’s turn to guard him while Gandra steers the ship. The melanite told them that the next set of instructions were shorter, so they’d need him awake. To make things easier on all of them, Domino keeps a communication line open with Gandra to relay the directions while Loony keeps their prisoner firmly tied up.

“Just passed the three islands.” Gandra says through the speakers in Domino’s watch. “What’s next?”

Domino looks to their captive expectantly. “Give us the next direction…and it had better be the last one.”

“Relax, bright eyes.” The melanite rolls his eyes a little, but keeps his tone from getting too snarky. “Hang a left and head west- you’ll know when you’re in the right place.”

“For your sake, you had better hope we find it sooner rather than later.” Domino gives their prisoner a warning glare before relaying the information to Gandra. “Turn left and head west. Keep an eye out for anything that looks remotely suspicious in the water.” After hearing the star-sapphire’s confirmation, he returns his attention to the rooster. “Did your ‘acquaintance’ leave you with any instructions for the exchange?”

“Just two.” The melanite meets the loon’s red-eyed gaze unflinchingly, despite knowing that the threat of shattering him at any moment was still a very real possibility. “First: You gotta bring me out in one piece.”

“Only one piece? That’s doable.” Domino smirks when he sees the brief look of nervousness cross the melanite’s dark eyes before being covered up.

“Second: He mostly just wants t’ talk to YOU.” The melanite manages to keep his voice calm and level, even with the snowflake obsidian’s expression promising pain in his very near future. “Ya gotta leave the star-sapphire on the ship, but he said you can take your spine-” He doesn’t get the chance to finish his sentence, as he’s suddenly struck across the face in one direction by a white-barrier-gloved fist, and then immediately struck back the other way by a gray-gloved fist from his other side. “?!”

He’s about to ask what he did to deserve such harsh treatment, when the gray-gloved hand stretches around and grabs him by the back of his head. He’s forced to face Loony’s decidedly UNhappy face directly in front of his own. “I’m not ANYONE’S spinel, thank-you-very-much!” The arm binding the melanite begins to constrict and coil around his body even tighter, squeezing it like a boa constrictor. “I’m my own gem. Nobody gets to own me.” She continues squeezing the wide-eyed melanite’s body until it disappears with a poof, leaving his gemstone behind on the seat. Looking at the stone, her earlier anger fades away and she gives Domino an apologetic frown. “Whoopsie-doodles. Sorry, Dommy- I got a little carried away…”

“It’s fine, Loony.” He holds his hand out above the black stone and a white translucent bubble appears around it, allowing him to pick up the gem while keeping it contained. “I was about to shoot him, anyway.”

“Oh, goodie!” The other loon’s words are enough to restore the spinel’s cheer, making her giggle. “Hey, remember the first time Steely called me that and you nearly shot HIM for it?”

“Vividly.” He answers with a quiet chuckle. After all, how could he forget the first time he met the loud-mouthed melanite and everything they went through over the course of their first few missions?

It had taken Domino and Loony a week to reach the rendezvous point. They’d had to “borrow” a ship, fly through three asteroid belts and the debris of a broken planet, and been forced to walk for two days after crashing their ship too far from the appointed coordinates. All of this just to make sure they arrived promptly to meet Domino’s new partner.

The least the clod could do was show up on time.

With a glare that was becoming more irritated by the second, Domino pulled back his sleeve and checked his watch for what must have been the twentieth time since they’d arrived.

EIGHT HOURS. Domino and Loony had been waiting EIGHT HOURS for his new partner to show up.

To be fair, to most gems eight hours was a pretty insignificant amount of time. However, with the day (day/week/month/year/CENTURY) that Domino had been having, he was hardly in the mood to be kept waiting. What made matters worse was the fact that he had nothing to distract himself from the passage of time, so all he had to do was check his watch and look up at the sky. Loony had at least found her own entertainment in chasing around the small, colorful organic creatures that popped up from holes in the ground nearby, but that was hardly the sort of thing Domino could find enjoyment in. Seriously, he didn’t even have any data pads to read or a communicator to call F.O.W.L. for a status update on his new partner’s whereabouts, or ask what kind of gem it was, or-

He noticed something shiny break through the clouds, descending rapidly towards their location like a shooting star. He nearly mistook the object for one, too, until it slowed down enough to let him see the pronounced but rounded point on the front and the sharp, angular protrusions on the back were all actually just part of a gleaming golden ship that managed to shine and sparkle even in the low light of the planet with nothing but the stars and two moons available for illumination.

The flashy (and honestly a bit gaudy) ship landed less than ten feet away from them, causing a strong rush of air that nearly blew Domino’s hat off of his head. Keeping one hand on his hat to save himself the hassle of retrieving it later and the other in front of his eyes to shield them from the wind, Domino squinted at the mass of gold as it landed on the ground.

The air settled after a few seconds and a hatch on the side opened up a minute later. A tall silhouette stood in the lit opening, the lights making it hard to get a good look at what kind of gem it was. “Hey, you’re with F.O.W.L., right?”

“Depends on who’s asking.” The loon squinted up at the figure, trying to discern any details about the new comer.

“Oh, a wise guy, huh?” The person on the ship asked sarcastically. “Come on, snowflake, we got work t’ do.”

Domino scowled at the nickname. He’d been called so many names because of his gemstone- people loved to joke about how fragile obsidians were- and, while he’d gotten used to it and proved the hecklers wrong many times (usually by shooting one of them in the face) he still didn’t enjoy the teasing. Whoever this gem was, he was making a horrible first impression-

“What-?!” Domino was startled by a black, diamond shaped platform suddenly appearing under his feet and lifting him up towards the ship’s entrance. He barely managed to keep his balance, his look of surprise turning into an offended glare when he was brought up eye-level with the ship’s owner. “……”

Finally getting a good look at the other gem, Domino took in his new partner’s appearance properly: A black ball-cut melanite that looked like a rooster in a tailored suit with a large red comb, green tail feathers, and a metallic beak.

Oh, great- a GARNET. Every garnet that he’d been forced to interact with in the past had been stuck-up, spoiled, upper-crust elites that looked down on “lower-class” gems as if they were all mere pebbles by comparison. They pretty much always had a superiority complex and treated gems like Domino and Loony as if they were either cannon fodder or servants. Domino was already mentally cringing at the thought of having to work with the other gem.

“Quit with the starin’, red eyes.” The melanite told him with a roll of his own dark eyes as the platform roughly deposited Domino in the ship. “I already told ya, we got work t’ do and we’re runnin’ behind, so move it.”

“My name is Domino.” He continued to glare at the obnoxious garnet. “And maybe if YOU weren’t EIGHT HOURS LATE, we wouldn’t have to rush.”

The rooster wasn’t even remotely bothered by the loon’s hateful look. He merely rolled his eyes. “Oh, I’m SO sorry, I must’ve lost a few hours goin’ across the galaxy line.” That was possibly the most sarcastic, least apologetic apology that Domino had heard in his entire life. “Now, if you’re done snappin’, short fuse, we gotta go.” He pushed a button by the hatch and the door started to close.

“Wait.” Domino raised his hand, making a white barrier shaped like a rectangle appear and block the door’s movement. Before the melanite could ask him what he was doing, he cupped a hand by his beak to help with the volume of his voice. “Loony! Time to go!”

“Comin’, Dommy!” The spinel called back before her hands suddenly stretched up to the doorway and she pulled herself inside, Domino allowing the door to close once she was fully in the ship. She saw the melanite and gave him a bright, excited smile as she took one of his hands into both of her own, shaking it vigorously. “Hiya! My name’s Loony Toony, but my friends call me Loony! What’s your name?”

“..Steelbeak…” The taller gem answered after a moment of confusion, staring at the stretchy, smiling gem. “Didn’t know there’d be two of ya…”

“We’re a packaged deal.” Domino explained to the confused rooster. “Where I go, Loony goes.”

“Oh..” Steelbeak finally managed to free his hand from the prolonged and overly enthusiastic handshake, taking a moment to flex his fingers. “High command didn’t say nothin’ ‘bout it, but I can deal with it. So, she your servant or-?” He ducked, barely avoiding a gunshot aimed right at his face. “Hey, what’s the big idea?!” He glared at the snowflake obsidian and the pistol in his hand. A gray-gloved hand punched him in the back of his head before he got an answer. “Yeow!” He rubbed at the sore spot, shifting his glare over to the spinel this time.

“That’s rude!” Loony told him, putting her hands on her hips while she was stretched up to be slightly taller than him. “I’m Dommy’s FRIEND, not his servant!”

Steelbeak was about to say something else, but a white barrier forming a small bubble around his beak stopped him. “Let’s set a few things straight, right here, right now.” Domino grabbed the melanite by his bowtie using a white barrier-gloved hand and roughly yanked him down so that he could look him in the eyes properly and more easily press his gun to the side of the rooster’s head. “Loony is her own gem. She doesn’t take orders from me, and she certainly won’t be taking any orders from you. And that goes for me, as well: I am here on High Command’s orders as your PARTNER. I’m not some disposable amethyst for you to throw to the front lines and sacrifice. I’m not a pearl you get to boss around. If you even try talking down to me or Loony, you will disappear before you have time to blink. Are we clear?” The barrier dissolved with a snap of his fingers, his gun disappearing momentarily to allow the action.

“Wow, touch-y.” Steelbeak’s sarcastic tone was back the moment his beak was free. “Can’t a gem ask a question without gettin’ his head blown off?” He stood back to his full height, fixing his bowtie once the shorter gem let it go. “If you’re done bein’ all sensitive and offended over everythin’, we gotta go.” He began to walk off, presumably towards the cockpit, not sparing them a glance as he spoke. “And for the record, snowflake, I don’t really care what the deal with you and stretch is- I was just askin’ ‘cause I felt like it.”

Domino understood in that moment that working with Steelbeak was going to be one of the most mentally frustrating and exhausting things he would ever do in his life- a fact that the rude melanite would go on to prove time and time again as they spent the next few decades together on a series of missions assigned to them by High Command.

To the rooster’s credit, though, he was very strong and extremely competent in the field. The two of them made a surprisingly good team in battle with Steelbeak using his ability to quickly lift and maneuver them to better vantage points while Domino’s barriers protected them from enemy fire, leaving them both free to gun down the enemy from a secured and steady location. He was still generally rude and unpleasant to be around, but Domino managed to ignore that part about him as long as he could avoid being around him anymore than what was necessary for work.

Unfortunately, the fact that they often took Steelbeak’s ship on missions meant that certain interactions were unavoidable. One particular case-in-point happened a little less than a year into their partnership when the “Lucky Star” (which he still felt was a pretentious name for a spaceship) suffered some damage after a narrow escape on their last mission. While they’d managed to shake off their pursuers fairly easily thanks to the melanite’s piloting skills (yet another thing he had to give the taller man credit for- his flying maneuvers and intuition behind the controls were both top-notch), the damage to the power crystals meant that they had to stop off on a moon a few billion lightyears from homeworld for much needed repairs.

This led to Steelbeak lying on his back with the upper half of his body under the ship’s power converters. “Uggh, would ya look at this mess?” He complained, though it was mostly to himself. “The stabilizer’s trashed…gonna need a new one..” He ripped something out of the machinery and slid out from underneath the large converter. Looking around to the only other two gems on the ship, his eyes landed on Loony. “Hey, doll,” He tossed the metallic object he’d pulled out of the machinery towards the spinel. “Grab me another one o’ those from the supply closet- top shelf, on the right.”

Loony caught the object with ease, but she gave Steelbeak a confused look over the nickname. “My name’s not ‘doll’- it’s Loony, remember?”

“And we’ve been over this before-” Domino said while looking down on the melanite with a warning glare. “-she is not a servant. You’re not allowed to give her orders.”

Steelbeak rolled his eyes, the snowflake obsidian’s glares working about as well as they usually did on him (which was not at all). “Not this again…” He didn’t bother getting up from his spot on the floor, but he did counter the glare with one of his own. “Look, short fuse, I know ya got hang ups over your whole ‘we don’t take orders from you’ shtick, but you’re forgettin’ one thing: This is MY ship-” He gestured around them with one hand to the ship as a whole. “-and I ain’t a friggin’ chauffeur! You two wanna keep gettin’ free rides outta me, then ya gotta pull your weight around here.” He held up one finger when he saw the darker bird’s beak begin to open, already predicting what his protest would be. “And before ya say anythin’, it ain’t got nothin’ t’ do with ‘rank’ or ‘class’, or whatever ‘cause I DON’T CARE ‘BOUT THAT JUNK. I’d be tellin’ ya the same thing if you were sapphires or garnets- shoot, I’d even tell White Diamond t’ get off her lazy butt and do some work for a change if she was here!” He got back down under the power converter, waving his right hand in the general direction of the tool box located right next to Domino. “Now, ya can either spend a few years tryin’ t’ hitch a ride back t’ homeworld on a comet, or take five seconds t’ hand me a 155 micro-inch laser cutter so we can get there in a few days- your call, red eyes.”

Domino seriously contemplated shooting him in that moment (not that it was the first time he’d considered doing so), but he had to, reluctantly, admit that the loud-mouthed melanite had a decent point.

“Fine.” The requested tool (though he wasn’t entirely sure if it was the right one or not) was tossed so that it landed on Steelbeak’s stomach rather than placed neatly in his outstretched hand. “Though it wouldn’t kill you to say ‘please’ once in a while.”

Even with his face hidden under the machinery, Domino could practically HEAR the smirk in the other gem’s voice as he grabbed the laser cutter. “I dunno, snowflake- it might.” The nickname earned him another glare that likely would have had the same effect even if it was actually seen by the other gem.

“It’s Domino.” He stated for what had to have been at least the hundredth time, as he always did when that nickname came up.

Once they actually got back to homeworld and started interacting with other gems again, Domino learned that Steelbeak’s words held quite a bit of truth to them. He really didn’t care about a gem’s rank or purpose. From the lower class warrior rubies and quartz soldiers, to the servant-grade pearls and peridots, all the way up the chain to the commanding elite emeralds and his fellow garnets, he ultimately treated all of them the exact same way. Granted, the way he treated everyone was RUDE (High Command being the only obvious exception to his attitude), but it was at least a little reassuring for Domino to know that the melanite really didn’t view him or Loony any lower than he did any other gems in the universe.

While that fact helped ease his tension a little bit, there was still one thing that continued to rub him the wrong way- something that became increasingly harder to ignore until it finally reached a boiling point.

They had been sent out on another mission to a far off planet. It was a standard “wipe out the inhabitants and claim the planet as a base for F.O.W.L.” assignment. Everything had been going well until one of the creatures had revealed his race’s ultimate, last-resort weapon- a series of explosives buried deep within the planet. The bombs had gone off before they had time to get away. The pair ended up falling into a crevice that quickly filled over with rocks and debris, unintentionally leaving Loony up top before she could stretch down to reach them.

Reflexes guiding both of them, Steelbeak summoned one of his black diamond shaped panels below them to slow their descent into the bowels of the planet while Domino formed a white dome-shaped barrier above them to keep the quickly growing pile of rubble from crushing them. Their combined efforts worked in keeping them in place and alive, but it also left them stuck in place, forcing them to either wait and see if an opening presented itself or if someone was able to dig them out since the rubble above was too heavy to be pushed back up out of the hole and there were no tunnels visible nearby to offer them a way out.

“Well, ain’t that just SWELL.” Steelbeak said sarcastically while waving his hands in indication of their surroundings.

“You just HAD to take your time tormenting those last few survivors, didn’t you?” Domino’s voice was equally sarcastic, though his tone was laced with more annoyance than his partner’s.

“Oh, gimme a break...” Steelbeak rolled his eyes, leaning back against the white barrier behind him with his arms crossed. “How was I supposed t’ know they rigged this rock with a buncha crazy suicide bombs? I mean, who DOES that, am I right, snowflake?”

That was it. That was the last straw.

The rooster let out a startled yelp when he was suddenly grabbed by his collar and yanked down harshly to be eye-level with a pair of VERY angry red eyes. “My..name..is..DOMINO!” He snapped at the taller gem, years of pent up frustration finally surfacing. “Not red eyes, or short fuse, or stripes, or wise guy- and definitely not snowflake!” He tossed the larger gem to the ground (well, to the black panel below them) with ease, allowing him to look down on the melanite properly. “It’s been 100 years now and I’ve told you thousands of times! ‘Dom-i-no’, it’s not that hard to remember! Honestly, at this point it’s almost like you’re doing it on-!” He stopped, blinking twice as the anger in his eyes suddenly changed to realization. Oh stars. It all made sense now. ��You are doing it on purpose..” He said slowly, crouching down so he was next to the other gem as he began to sit up. “You’re actually trying not to remember my name.”

“……” Steelbeak didn’t say anything to the accusation at first, but the way he avoided eye contact with the shorter gem was answer enough. “Not much point rememberin’ your name if you ain’t gonna stay.”

Now there was a statement that certainly got Domino’s attention. “Why wouldn’t I stay?” He shifted from his crouching position so that he was now sitting in front of the melanite. It wasn’t like they had anything else to do while they were waiting for a way out- he might as well get comfortable.

“I don’t do well with ‘partners’. I’m more of a solo-act, ya know?” Steelbeak shrugged with a heavy sigh, sounding like he’d had this conversation before a hundred times (maybe he had). “But every few hundred years, High Command insists on stickin’ me with some new gem, sayin’ ‘try and make this one work’, but it never does. They either do somethin’ stupid and go gettin’ themselves broke, get on my nerves enough that I throw ‘em out the airlock, or I get on their nerves enough that they transfer somewhere else first chance they get.”

Domino cocked a brow, his curiosity piqued. “How many partners have you had?” The thought of going through enough partners that you’d become used to essentially working solo was foreign to Domino. As an obsidian, he was originally intended to be part of the general labor force and work in large groups of his own kind. Then, as a F.O.W.L. agent, he’d only ever had one partner before, and they’d been together for nearly ten thousand years- not to mention the seven thousand years he’d had Loony around.

“I dunno…five…six hundred, somethin’ like that..” He answered so casually despite the loon staring at him in pure shock. Five or six hundred? How was that even possible?! “They all go away eventually, so learnin’ their names just wastes time. It’s like….” Steelbeak drummed his fingers on the panel below him, trying to find the right words. “Ya ever had a pet?”

Domino almost said no, as he himself had never actually “owned” one. But, after giving the question some thought, he supposed that assisting in the day-to-day caretaking of the various small creatures that both Loony and his previous partner brought home with them over the years somewhat counted. “Kind of.”

That seemed to be enough for Steelbeak to continue with his analogy. “Well, if ya got an animal livin’ with ya, at first it’s just some stupid little thing runnin’ around your place needin’ ya t’ do stuff t’ keep it alive. Then, suddenly, ya go an’ give it a name and everything changes- it ain’t just some random animal no more, it actually means somethin’ to ya. Ya get attached to it.” He began to look frustrated the more he spoke, moving his hands in a way that Domino had begun to realize was somewhat of a nervous tic for the larger bird. “Then BOOM! Next thing ya know it runs away or gets itself killed or tells ya you’re nothin’ but a worthless bucket of slurry and no one’s ever gonna like you anyway, so why bother-?!” He caught himself, realizing that he’d gotten out of the simile somewhere, so he lowered his hands back down to his lap and tried to cover his slip with one of his usual sneers. “So…yeah..it’s easier if ya just don’t bother namin’ ‘em…that way you don’t go gettin’ attached…it just make sense…”

Domino…really didn’t know what to say to that for a while. While he didn’t like that he was essentially the pet in that comparison, he could understand where the other gem’s attitude stemmed from a little better now. The idea of going through that many partners in a relatively short amount of time was still hard to imagine (seriously, in the time that he’d been with just one partner, Steelbeak must have gone through at least two or three hundred), but he could see the impact it left now: He could see the guarded posture, the distant look in his eyes as he even now tried to avoid the loon’s gaze, and the walls he was trying to cover up with snide comments and sarcastic quips. He could see it all now.

“Well, I’m not one to crack under pressure.” His simple statement was enough to make Steelbeak glance back over to him, if only just a little. “I can handle myself in a fight just fine, so unless it’s an enemy that can destroy an entire planet, then I won’t be taken down that easily.” The corner of his beak lifted slightly when the taller gem turned his head to look at Domino properly. “I also doubt you’d be able to throw me out of the airlock- I’d just put a barrier over it.” He saw the corner of the other bird’s beak shift a little as well, looking close to a smile before he could stop himself. “And I’m certainly not the type to run from a challenge.” He smirked, trying to come off as challenging but the usual aggravation he would have in his eyes was replaced with something closer to understanding.

Steelbeak seemed to be at a loss for words for the first time since- well, since Domino had known the normally talkative gem. After a few seconds, though, a few simple words left his beak. “A hundred and ninety-nine years.” At a curious tilt of the loon’s head, a silent prompting for more, Steelbeak elaborated on his statement. “That’s the longest I’ve ever had a partner stick with me. You beat that record, and I’ll think about rememberin’ your name. Deal?” He extended his hand towards the other gem, giving one of his usual cocky smirks but with something a bit more sincere showing in his eyes and the way he carried himself.

A small white barrier appeared around Domino’s hand like a glove before he shook the offered hand. “Deal.” He narrowed his eyes warningly, not letting go of the other bird’s hand quite yet. “But you have to stop calling me snowflake. I’ll tolerate the other nicknames until you remember to call me Domino, but if you continue using that one I cannot guarantee your safety.”

Steelbeak blinked in surprise as the other bird finally let go of his hand. “What’s wrong with snowflake?”

“Oh, don’t play dumb.” Domino waved him off, the white barrier dissolving to expose his hand again. “I know you’re only doing it to make fun of me and I won’t tolerate it.”

“Huh?” Steelbeak only looked further surprised, and now confused, by the obsidian’s words. “I call ya snowflake ‘cause you’re a snowflake obsidian-”

“Yes, yes, and I’m ‘fragile’, I get it! I’ve heard all the jokes a thousand times already: ‘Obsidians are so delicate!’ ‘Obsidians are just dark glass!’ ‘Obsidians are so disposable- they’re practically made to be broken!’ ” Domino scowled, holding his head as he closed his eyes for a moment. He seriously hated all of those stupid, juvenile jokes. If he heard one more, he would-

“People actually say that?” The genuine confusion in the melanite’s voice startled Domino right out of his thoughts.

“Huh?” He lowered his hand so he could look at the other gem’s face properly. He was surprised to see that the confusion written across Steelbeak’s face matched his tone perfectly. “The elites say it all the time.”

Steelbeak’s confused expression turned to a scowl that could have rivaled Domino’s a moment ago. “Ugh, do NOT get me started on those good for nothin’ snobs! I can’t stand those jerks!”

Those words surprise Domino yet again. “But..you’re technically an elite, aren’t you? You’re a rare, high-ranking garnet in White Diamond’s court.”

Steelbeak rolled his eyes, making a gagging sound as if the very idea disgusted him. “Not by choice- I try t’ limit my time around those over-polished rocks t’ almost nothin’. Those buckets of slurry got everythin’ handed to ‘em the second they popped outta the ground- they didn’t earn any of it and wouldn’t know a decent gem from a mud ball! They take one look at your gem and think they know EVERYTHIN’ about ya.” He jerked his thumb upwards in the direction of the planet’s surface high above them. “That spinel ya got with ya-”

“Loony.” Domino corrected automatically, though it didn’t stop the other bird’s speech.

“-she’s supposed t’ be a ‘playmate’, far as those elitist jerks are concerned, but she’s got a punch that’d put any amethyst or topaz down with one shot! And you-” He gestured now to Domino- specifically to his gemstone. “You’re an obsidian! You came out of a friggin’ volcano! Just to be alive, ya had to climb out of something that would’ve melted down most of those ‘elite’ gems and be smart enough to get out of there without fallin’ in another lava pit. Obsidians ain’t fragile, they’re sharp- both ways.” He pointed to one of the white spots in Domino’s gem. “Plus you’re a snowflake obsidian, on top of that! Those white spots ain’t just for lookin’ good, they’re made of quartz- so that means you got the sharpness of a regular obsidian PLUS the strength of a quartz soldier.” He lowered his hand, feeling that he’d more than made his point. “If anyone calls YOU fragile, then they deserve whatever ya shoot ‘em in the face with.”

To say that Domino was taken aback by the other man’s words would have been a gross understatement. Never, in his entire life, had he heard anyone describe his gem type in such a positive manner- least of all someone who, by all rights, would be considered an elite according to the diamond’s hierarchy.

What made the other’s words all the more meaningful was how ACCURATE they were. He could still remember the day he was forged: How he’d come out of the volcano and just barely avoided stumbling out into the lava below. How he’d had to climb out of the steep terrain while a couple of the weaker or more careless gems fell to their doom. How those gems screamed in agony and how some tried to grab onto him for support, or climb over him to save themselves, or even attempted to forcefully drag him down with them. How he’d fought for his right to live and climbed all the way to the top so he could see the sky for the first time. And how he’d navigated his way through the streams of lava down the side of the mountain to find the gem base set up miles away, only to instantly be put to work with no regard for what he’d endured to get there.

He hadn’t thought about it before because it was how all obsidians came to life, but Steelbeak was right in his assessment. Domino survived because he was strong enough to live. He continued to survive because he was intelligent enough to keep himself alive. Thinking about it that way, being a snowflake obsidian sounded like something to be proud of-

“Wait..” Once again realization dawned on him. “When you call me snowflake..is that your attempt at a compliment?”

Steelbeak looked away from the shorter gem’s inquisitive gaze once again, absentmindedly scratching at the feathers on his cheek with one finger. “I mean..if ya wanna take it that way, sure…whatever keeps ya from shootin’ me…”

Huh…

This man continued to surprise Domino in new and intriguing ways. Perhaps being partners with him wouldn’t be as bad as he thought.

They’d eventually been dug out by Loony, who’d had the idea to use even more explosives to blast away the rubble long enough that Steelbeak could raise their platform out of the hole while Domino’s barrier took on a more pointed shape to help push the debris away when it came back down. Their job was essentially completed after that and they returned to Steelbeak’s ship as usual, neither of them bringing up what they’d discussed beneath the planet’s surface but both certainly feeling a shift in their dynamic.

Things had begun to change between them gradually after that day. While Steelbeak was still rude and sarcastic, his attitude was more joking than insulting as it had been before. Also, now that he knew why the other gem resorted to nicknames, Domino felt less offended over hearing them constantly, which ultimately led to fewer fights between them. Around 150 years into their partnership, he noticed the nicknames “Dee” and “Dom” making their way into the lineup (Loony also got “Loons” added alongside the usual “stretch”, “doll”, and “super stripes”), a sign that Steelbeak was starting to remember his name even if he wasn’t saying it out loud yet.

Then one day, after they’d returned to homeworld following a decade-long mission on the other side of the galaxy, the two had stayed with the ship while Loony went off to go see a friend and the dynamic between them shifted yet again.

Steelbeak had been doing some minor repairs to the Lucky Star, mostly just buffing out some dents and welding together some minor tears in the hull. While he was welding a particularly deep gash on one of the wings, he blindly waved in the direction he’d left the toolbox a few feet away. “Hand me that laser cutter, would ya?”

Domino kneeled down to better reach the item in question. “The 155 or the 240?” He’d gotten more familiar with the various tools and methods of repairing the ship over the years- he’d even gotten better at flying on the odd occasion Steelbeak felt like letting someone else touch his precious vessel’s controls. It had been an interesting learning experience for the loon, seeing as his previous position was more focused on maintaining one of F.O.W.L.’s northern planetary bases and coordinating missions from there rather than flying all over the galaxy for different assignments like his current job.

“The 155 oughta do it.” Steelbeak said, holding his hand out expectantly. Once the correct tool was placed in his hand, he turned it on and got to work. “Thanks, Domino.”

A standard, generic reply had almost left the snowflake obsidians beak…until his mind registered the second word that had been said.

Domino.

Steelbeak had just called him Domino.

Not snowflake, or stripes, or red eyes, or wise guy, or short fuse.

Not even Dom or Dee.

He’d called him Domino.

With anyone else, he would’ve assumed it was a slip of the tongue. Steelbeak, however, was not one for letting his words come out so carelessly, despite what some gems might think. He’d said the loon’s name on purpose.

Pulling back his sleeve to check his watch, he took note of the date and couldn’t stop the smile that effortlessly formed on his beak if he’d tried: It was 200 years to the DAY.

Craning his head to get a better view of the taller gem’s face from his spot beside the wing, Domino saw the smile on Steelbeak’s face. How long had he been waiting for a chance to say the other’s name? Knowing him, he’d probably been looking for the right moment all day.

Leaning against the ship’s wing, Domino gave the only reply that seemed fitting in that moment. “Anytime.”

Steelbeak glanced away from his work, their eyes meeting, each with a knowing smile on their beaks. They both understood the meaning behind that single, simple word:

Anytime Steelbeak needed something, Domino would be there, and Steelbeak would do the same in return. They were partners now, and neither of them were planning on going anywhere anytime soon.

“Hey, Domino, think I found what we’re looking for.” Gandra’s voice says through the speakers on Domino’s watch, bringing him back to the present.

“Right, we’ll be there in a moment.” He replies before nodding towards the door while looking at Loony. “Shall we?”

“Yep! Let’s go save Steely!” Loony says with a smile, already jumping over to the door.

Domino follows behind her, glancing down at the bubbled gem in his hand. They were going to get Steelbeak back. They would not fail. They couldn’t.

After all, he’d promised to be there anytime his partner needed him..and he would not break that promise, now or ever.

<-Previous Chapter Next Chapter->

End Notes: This was another chapter that I had a lot of fun writing :) Getting to show the progression of characters’ relationships is something I always enjoy!

My favorite moment was definitely the one where they were essentially caved in together and Domino got the chance to see that, despite his cockiness and own personal insecurities, there was something worthwhile inside of Steelbeak that just needed some patience and understanding to be brought out.

#darkwing duck #ducktales #dt17 #FOWL Facets #Steelbeak #Dominic Domino #gandra dee #Loony Toony #steeldomino #not my oc #100 follower giveaway!

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