Jack refused to believe it. Who had this much bad luck anyway? Well, this kid apparently, he answered his own question, as he found Rhys with another gun trained on his stupid idiot face.

The wielder of the gun, the same assface as last time, seemed a lot more competent this time around. At least he had figured out where the trigger was on this one.

There wasn’t much Jack could do without Rhys’ consent. And he wouldn't get him to consent to anything that would get his little friends in danger. So Jack sauntered along behind Rhys, as he was being marched down a hallway into the center of what Jack gathered to be an abandoned Atlas facility.

After making the pleasant discovery that he actually knew assface from his past, he found the kid in even deeper shit than before and started to question what Rhys had done to anger the powers of fate.

He didn't complain too much, because he at least got to spend quite a nice few minutes murdering their shared enemies with flying drones.

He had also, in the process, managed to get the kid to let him in deeper.

He wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that, but he sure as shit knew how Rhys felt about it. And how he felt about pretty much anything else.

It seemed like the deeper access to his subsystems also allowed Jack deeper access into Rhys’ psyche.

Where before he only got the surface thoughts that were more or less directed at him anyway, he now got everything. Or at least so he assumed. Either way it was enough to make him want to ram his face into a wall. Who knew there would be so much mundane shit going on in the kid's brain?

It made their mental conversations a lot harder, with Jack having to deal with what felt like twelve different thoughts at once.

---

 
They were on the move again. In the girls' caravan on the way to the next Atlas facility.

After making a complete ass of himself, Rhys excused himself and climbed to the top of the moving vehicle, Jack following suit.

“Kiddo, we gotta talk.”

Rhys turned his head towards him and made an inquisitive noise.

Jack felt a slight pull in his chest, where he could sense the kid’s mistrust, but for the first time in the last few hours it was quiet. He closed his eyes and with a sigh, took a moment to appreciate the blessed silence-

Weird. Whatdoeshewant?Whatsupwithathena?Dotheyknoweachother?Ithoughtsheonlyhatesatlas?Orisiteverybigcorporation?Didjackfuckwithherpersonally?Whataretherobotsdoinguphere?Dotheygetcold?

“Rhys!”

Rhys cocked his head his eyes not leaving Jack’s. Whatintheactualshit-

“Are. You. Aware. That I can actually hear everything that’s going on in your head right now?”

Rhys’ eyes narrowed. Ohshit.Howlonghasthisbeengoingon?Whathasheheard?Iknewmindreaderswereaseriousproblem!Suckitryan!Ohnowhatifheknows?Wellshithealreadysawthedreamsowhatcouldpossiblyhappen?Thatdreamwasprettytamecomparedtosomeoftheshityouthink!Argh. Stop. Ifyouthinkaboutitnowhewillknow. You don’t want him to know. Just stop thinking. Stop thinking. No, don’t think about that.

And just like that Jack’s entire vision filled up with dicks.

“Kiddo, whatever you’re doing. Stop it.”

“Oh shit. I’m sorry. I just-”

Ohfuckheisprobablygettingallofthat.Ohnojuststopitstopitnow!

The pictures in his head vanished for a second only to come back with a vengeance. Apparently Rhys was now rethinking every single naughty thought he’s ever had, flickering in and out of Jack’s vision, every one only staying a fraction of a second.

Jack was now seeing an unrelenting flood of images, some hot, some strange, some impossible, and hearing his own thoughts, and the kid’s thoughts, both conscious and subconscious, as well as the kid’s actual talking. He felt like his brain was gonna explode. He felt a hot wave of shame rise up and it wasn’t his, it was Rhys’, goddammit.

Handsome Jack didn’t beg. For anything, ever, in his entire life. He voiced his wants and complaints in a dignified and vaguely threatening way and-

“No! No! Stop it! Please! Make it stop!” His hands went up to his hair, in a futile attempt to keep his head from feeling like up was bursting, as he tried not to drop to his knees.

The pain continued for a few seconds, before the feeling in his stomach twisted and turned sour, kinda like regret but not quite, and dammit, it still wasn’t his own.

And then everything stopped. The noise in his head vanished abruptly. Replaced by a gentle humming, both from Rhys’ actual throat and in his mind. The mental version sounded very different from any sound he’d ever heard Rhys produce and if he’d had the patience to actually think about it, he might have assumed that it was a memory of a mother or a sister.

But as it is, he was just glad that it had stopped. It was over and he slid down the rest of the way, now sitting a few inches above the roof of the caravan. He took his hands out of his hair and let them rest at the sides of his face, looking up at Rhys. “How about we don’t ever do that again, huh, cupcake?”
Rhys’ mind went blank for a second as he focused on listening. Jack felt him process his words, before he nodded and went back to humming.

---

Rhys had been quiet the rest of the ride. Focusing on fixing the drone, he had lovingly named Dumpy, after Jack gave it to him.

When it was Rhys’ turn to drive, he concentrated on nothing but the road in front of him and whatever song he was currently humming under his breath.

Jack didn’t get much thoughts from him at all and only the occasional feeling of frustration at his inability to fix Dumpy’s voice modulator or happiness when the drone flew again and when he was humming a song that would evoke the occasional flashes of images of faces and places Jack had never seen before but was sure meant something to the kid.

Jack appreciated it. Really, he did. So much so that he considered not immediately strangling the kid to death at the first chance he got.

---

Over the few days they’d been on the road, Jack had taken some time to focus on his connection to Rhys’ thoughts and figured out a way to suppress the bulk of it, only letting the strongest thoughts through. It was still more than before, but it was manageable now.

He flickered into existence to the sounds of running water. He turned around to find Rhys naked and wet, hand at his forehead, and swearing at the faucet.

They didn’t ever stop driving. At least not for long. They didn’t have the time. Not with Hyperion on their heels.

But at least the caravan had a convenient bath tub with an inconveniently placed faucet. They didn’t use it much, because they didn’t exactly have unlimited amounts of water, so it was really an unlikely coincidence that Jack would pop in exactly when Rhys was taking a bath, but apparently that was his life now.

Jack took the time before Rhys noticed him to take in the full extent of the tattoos that were usually covered. The twin scars on Rhys’ chest were almost lost under the ink. Jack thought they looked vaguely familiar but he didn’t have time to ponder that thought as Rhys let out a startled yelp when he noticed him.

Jack glanced down through the clear water and got ready to make a snide comment but he got interrupted before he got that far.

Holy f- Oh shit! Oh no!

Rhys’ hands flew down to cover his crotch. Jack felt his fear, shame, and dread boiling in his gut and saw it plainly on Rhys’ face.

Fuck off.

Welp, something was wrong and if memory served this would be over quicker if he tried to help.

Jack sat down across from Rhys in the tub, legs sticking out the tub walls, but not caring about that. “What’s up?” he asked, his voice tense from the fear he felt radiating off of Rhys.

Leave. Go away. I don’t want you- You can’t-

Jack felt his body go hot and cold at the same time. Both of their bodies he assumed. And something tight coiled in his gut. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to puke or cry and he had no idea what he was actually feeling about this situation. Completely overrun by the kid’s feelings, he couldn’t keep the concern out of his voice. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Rhys wouldn’t meet his eyes, his breathing became faster and instead of an answer he got a choked off whine. He saw something wet in Rhys’ eyes and felt full blown panic grip his heart.

“Hey, hey. It’s- it’s okay. It’s fine. I- I assume it’s fine.” He hated the tremor in his voice but he was pacified by the fact that it wasn’t caused by his own fear.

No. Can’t. He can’t see. Not him. Anyone but him.

At that Jack could actually feel his own hurt over Rhys’ fear for a second before it got drowned out again.

“Can’t see what? Rhys? What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Are you dying? You feel like you’re dying? Please let me help. Can I help?” Jack noticed he was babbling, but the sudden fear had hit him hard and he couldn’t stop himself.

He’ll judge me. He’ll never respect me. He’ll kill me. He’ll make me kill myself. Can’t.

He wanted to calm down, but that wouldn’t happen if the kid didn’t calm down. “What? Why would I kill you? I- I wouldn’t. I can’t. Did you forget? You die, I die. I wouldn’t hurt you. It’s okay. It’s fine. Really, it’s fine. I won’t hurt you. I don’t even know what could be so bad. There’s- there’s nothing that would make me hurt you.”

It seemed to calm Rhys down. He took a few deep breaths. Jack felt the fear fading, something still stinging in his chest.

It took him another few moments but eventually Rhys moved his shaking hands away from his crotch and instead clutched them in front of his abdomen, all the while resolutely staring at the same spot on the floor.

Jack looked down at the decided lack of dick for a few seconds. “That is different than your dream.”

He felt the fear slamming back into him full force and saw the kid’s entire body shaking.

Well, wasn’t this just a shitshow.

He leaned forward to put his own shaking hand against Rhys’ cheek. Or he would if he could. As it was, it was just kinda hovering there. “Hey, look at me, kiddo.” He forced a smile on his face and on his voice, despite the lingering fear. “It’s fine. It’s okay. I don’t know what your problem is here. Well, I know what one of your problems is. But there’s no way in hell I’m gonna think less of you for that.”

He tried to move even closer and pull him into a hug. Failing, of course, but he still stayed there, phasing halfway through Rhys’ body, and staying silent for a minute.

“So, you’re-”

… Trans.

“Yeah, I figured.” Jack hesitated a minute, before he added “Sorry I found out like this. That couldn’t have been too pleasant.”

A startled laugh wracked Rhys’ body, but Jack felt no real joy or humor behind it.

They sat there for a while. After a minute Jack started humming the song he’d heard from Rhys, as best he could, and didn’t stop until he felt Rhys’ emotions return to a more normal level. Or as normal as it got after a confrontation like that.

A dry chuckle wrenched itself from Jack’s throat and he shook his head minutely. He felt the blood drain from his face and heard Rhys’ breath hitch, so he made sure to clarify as soon as possible. “I don’t know if it’s even possible for me to have a heart attack in this form, but you almost just gave me one over not having a dick.”

Rhys’ entire body twitched with the huffed laugh startled out of him, this time he felt a lot calmer. They stayed like that for another few moments before Jack slumped backwards into the tub, completely exhausted.

---

Jack found himself in the same office from before, where this time Rhys was standing at the window looking out over Elpis, his back turned to the room.

“Rhysie!” Jack called out.

Rhys flinched and spun around. “Where’d you come from?”

Jack huffed out a laugh and walked over to Rhys. “I never leave.” He put an arm around Rhys’ shoulders. “We’ve talked about this.”

They weren’t in the caravan, and really Rhys had no business being quite so solid under Jack’s hands. Or rather Jack’s hands shouldn’t have been able to touch him. Either way, Jack knew where they were.

“Another dream, huh?”

“I guess,” Rhys said.

“Noice.” Jack leaned down to press a kiss to Rhys’ lips, his hand wandering down the man’s body, tracing the lines of his stomach through his shirt, on the way into his pants.

He was swiftly stopped when Rhys caught his wrist. “D-don’t. I- uh...”

“Huh?” Jack felt something cold creeping up in his chest. “Oh, for f- Is this about what happened this morning? Because you really shouldn’t let that put a damper on our relationship.”

“But I-”

“No no no no no. No buts!” Jack was pretty sure he didn’t technically have a heart and still he could feel something in his chest that was just about to burst. He withdrew his wrist from Rhys’ hand and brought his arms up around Rhys’ shoulders, pulling the kid close to his chest in a tight hug. “It’s fine. You’re fine.” He nuzzled his face into Rhys’ hair and pressed some kisses to his jaw.

The kid took a deep breath and Jack could feel him calm down.

Jack’s hand traveled down towards its previous destination and was stopped once again.

Jack cut Rhys’ rambling short with a click of his tongue. “I know. I already know. It’s fine. You’re fine.”

“I’m... fine,” Rhys repeated, sounding not quite sure about that.

“There you go. That’s the stuff.”

“But I can’t- I don’t have-”

Jack’s hand came up to cup Rhys’ jaw and he turned the kid’s face toward himself. “Hey, look at me, Rhysie. I have like unlimited powers in here, okay? It’s like lucid dreaming but better.” Jack turned his forearm into a crab claw with a single thought. It was kinda freaky and a very weird feeling but still he waved it in front of Rhys’ face to make a point.

Rhys tried to duck away from the claw in his face. “Can you maybe not do that? That’s really weird.”

“Yeah, it is,” Jack agreed with a wry grin. “My point, however, is that as long as we’re here I can make everything you want a reality. Or… not… I mean, it is still a dream... So, what’s it gonna be? I could potentially put anything you want in your pants. Sky’s the limit. Do you want a crocodile in your pants? ‘Cause I could put a crocodile in your pants.”

“Please don’t put a crocodile in my pants. And please turn your hand back.”

“Alright, no crocodiles. Duly noted. But like… Dicks? No dicks?”

“Well, I do prefer having a dick over not having a dick...”

“Dicks it is.” Jack waved his, once again human, hand over Rhys’ crotch. He strictly speaking didn’t have to do that, but he was all about that dramatic effect.

Rhys tentatively pushed his pants down to reveal his newly acquired, or technically regained if one were to count the previous dream, currently flaccid dick.

“Okay, listen.”

Rhys seemed to be preoccupied with poking at his dick and giggling when it moved.

“Rhys?”

The kid’s head snapped up and he had the decency to look mildly embarrassed.

Jack shook his head at the kid’s antics. “Listen, this weird, uh, connection is still there and I can feel that you’re not about this right now.”

“I. uhm-” Rhys looked back and forth between his dick and Jack’s face. Clearly he wanted to argue for argument’s sake, but couldn’t actually come up with anything. It wasn’t like he could fool Jack.

Jack turned halfway away from Rhys and patted his shoulder. “You have fun, or whatever. I’m just… gonna go. Now. Bye.”

He made a conscious effort to withdraw from Rhys’ mind until he found himself looking down at the kid’s sleeping form, a faint smile on his face.