A Preference for Rare Pairs

“Damnit, GB, don’t—”

Francoise didn’t even flinch at the now familiar sound of a body hitting the ground at high speed. Even the stream of Sicilian invective that followed didn’t get more than a slight frown – and did her voice really get that shrill or was it just Jet?

Instead, she focused on carefully preparing a mug of tea. She’d already broken three cups over the past day, not to mention the crushed doorknob; she wanted to avoid breaking anything else due to her not being used to Junior’s strength. She just really needed a little calm and quiet to get used to this, but…

Another crash echoed in from outside, closely followed by Jet yelling, “It’s not that hard! Ease up on the thrusters!”

She loved her boys, she really did, but ‘calm and quiet’ would never describe most of them.

By process of elimination, they’d quickly figured out that Albert had ended up in Ivan’s body. Ivan, who had just started his two-week sleep. Ivan, who was now sitting in Joe’s body, staring at his own unconscious form.

Ivan had to wonder if this was how the others felt when he was asleep during an emergency.

Idly, Ivan flexed Joe’s hand, watching the long, adult fingers curl and straighten. Technically, the situation wasn’t an emergency. Inconvenient and uncomfortable, yes, but nothing they couldn’t live with for a couple weeks.

“Ivan?”

Inconvenient and uncomfortable and very slightly creepy. Ivan looked up into GB’s face and saw Junior’s patient gaze looking back. “It’s time for dinner.”

Ivan nodded, carefully standing up and slowly left the room. Junior stayed close, but let him walk on his own.

“I hate you.”

Pyunma hid his smile, easy to do with water weighing Jet’s hair down over his face. “Uh huh.”

“I fucking hate you. I can’t believe you talked me into this.”

“Just come here.”

If anything, Jet’s look darkened even further. But he still sloshed through the water until he and Pyunma were chest to chest. Pyunma just wrapped his arms around Jet’s waist, tucked under his wings. “Ready?” He waited for Jet’s terse nod before letting both of them fall backwards.

Jet jerked as soon as they were underwater, his wings flaring in panic. Pyunma tightened his hold, gently stroking what skin he could reach. “I’ll keep you up. Just focus on moving.”

The words must have been understandable even through the water because Jet blinked at him through the waving mass of his hair. He was still for a moment before he spread his wings, the red of his feathers even brighter against the iridescent blue of Pyunma’s scales, and slowly, carefully, figured out how to swim again.

GB woke to the sounds of a camp already active, despite the dim light telling him just how early in the day it was. The morning chill manifested in the icy cold touch of the basin he slept in, despite the nearby campfire, and he surged over the side as soon as he registered it. He plucked a stray leaf out of his chest as he shifted into his default form and looked about the camp as soon as his eyes reformed.

And immediately had to protect said eyes when Jet took off a few yards away, kicking up sprays of sand with the first few sweeps of his wings before he caught the wind over the lake. Further down the beach, Geronimo sat feeding Ivan, and Pyunma could just be seen floating in the water. GB let his gaze wander over the lake, taking in the tranquility, until he felt a presence at his side. “You don’t get scenes like this in the city.”

“No,” Chang agreed. GB leaned into him, soaking in the warmth the shorter man emanated. He glanced around, checking for their unaccounted teammates, and found them still asleep on the far side of the fire. “Should we wake them?”

“No.” The flames in Chang’s eyes glowed faintly as he looked up. “We don’t know when Dolphin will be back from feeding, so we might as well let everyone rest up. Besides,” he added, sounding more chipper, “it looks like there’s good fishing in this lake.” He pulled away, ignoring GB’s protest, and spooned a mug of soup from a pot buried next to the fire. “Now, go enjoy the morning.”

GB laughed and looped his free arm around Chang’s shoulders in a quick half-hug before he let himself be shooed away. Chang’s cheerful humming followed him as he joined Geronimo and Ivan. Geronimo gave him a nod in greeting when he sat in the sand next to them, while Ivan blinked at him through his fringe. ‘You’re in a good mood.’

“Yes, well.” He tilted his head back, let the breeze run over his face, and watched Jet loop through the perfect blue sky. “It really is a lovely day.”

(Tumblr post)
 

28

Sun

That first day, 008 found 002 stretched out on Mr. Kozumi’s deck, one hand up to the sky. “Are you okay?”

"Yeah, just getting used to the light."

24

A Vespa Scooter

“Jet, a scooter does not have a ‘bitch seat’, and,” Albert said, pinching the bridge of his nose, “even if it did, I wouldn’t ride on one.”

College AU

“Can I borrow you notes during lunch?”

Jet dug around in his bag, purposefully bypassing the notebook full of sketches of Professor Heinrich instead of linguistics notes. “Sorry, man, I left them in the dorm.

Wild West AU

Albert leaned against the jail bars, staring at his hungover friend. “Do I want to know what you were doing up the water tower?”

“Al, I don’t even remember what I’m doing in New Mexico.”

35

Flowers

On their first date, Junior gave Francoise a small bundle of larkspur. She ran her fingers over delicate blossoms and gave him a teasing smile when she asked, “No roses?”

“I didn’t think we should pretend we would stay with tradition,” Junior told her.

47

Thieves AU

Albert held his head in his hands, listening to the security alarm over his headset. “I said to wait until Joe and Francoise ran the distraction.”

GB’s cheerful, “Not to worry, Albert, this is just a momentary issue,” did nothing assuage Albert’s exasperation.

Unknown Prompt

“Do you ever miss being that age?” GB asks, an edge of wistfulness in his voice as he watches their younger teammates on the beach.

Albert leans against the porch railing next to him, two glasses of wine in his hand. “Not if if meant I had to relearn everything I know now,” he says, his shoulder pressing warmly against GB’s.

There's Not a Word Yet (Soulmate AU)

25 Broship

Jet flinched as Junior gently took his arm, fighting the instinct to pull away, to protect himself. Junior cupped the back of his head for a moment, forcing the younger cyborg to look at him. “You’ll be all right,” he said, and went back to removing the piece of shrapnel bisecting his own name.  

27 Broship

“It’s an actor’s sleeve,” GB explained, holding out the bundle of fabric. “We wear them when we’re playing roles that need our name marks covered.”

Slowly, Jet took the sleeve from him, accepting it for the apology it was.

Other

Adoption AU

Hilda beckoned Albert to her side, not looking up from the cradle. Albert joined her, carefully dragging his finger down Ivan’s cheek.

“Welcome home, Ivan.”

9x13 - Angst

Before they left Tokyo, Joe stopped by the playground again. He sat on the swingset, turning the wooden rabbit over and over. If he concentrated, he could almost smell fresh bread on the wind.

0010 + and - - Before Black Ghost

“You should’ve packed the spare tire,” his brother sang from where he was stretched out on top of the car.

“Shut up and help me flag down this car.” He stuck his hand out, thumb up, as the black car approached. 

“You want me to what?” Junior asked, not quite thinking he’d misheard

“Throw me,” Joe repeated, pointing up and over his shoulder. Out the window, Junior could see – and thankfully couldn’t hear – Francoise and Pyunma yelling up at where GB and Jet looked to be playing keep-away with a volleyball. Knowing them, they were just out of reach.

The logic behind Joe’s request was suddenly very clear.

Junior considered. Even with their enhanced durability, Junior’s strength could still easily hurt his fellow cyborgs. Joe knew that, and still asked.

“Alright.”

The birth certificate proclaimed that Vincente Esposito was born to Francesco Esposito and Gracia Caro Palomo February 2^nd, 1942. It wasn’t hard to figure out whose it was – aside from the birthday, Jet’s current legal name was Vincent – but Pyunma couldn’t think of any reason Jet would hand him a copy of his original birth certificate out of the blue. The flyer scowled at him, waiting for some sort of reaction.

“So what’s this for?”

Jet ducked his head a little, his scowl deepening. “It’s stupid.”

There was a note of uncertainty in his voice, mostly hidden under the irritation, that you wouldn’t notice if you didn’t know him well; Pyunma’d heard that note too often to miss it. “It can’t be that stupid if you bothered to hunt it down. How’d you get the hospital to give you a copy?”

“Said it was my grandfather’s.” Jet relaxed slightly and shrugged. “I don't know, I guess I want someone to know. And you won’t make a big deal out of it.”

Translating that from Jet-speak turned it into a pretty big declaration of trust. Pyunma accepted it with a nod. “Alright. Tell me.”

“Dinner is served,” Jet announced, already digging through the bag as he walked into the kitchen. “What do you want to start with?”

“Egg drop soup?” Pyunma hazarded; he’d been dragging his things into the bedroom when Jet placed the order, so the contents of the delivery bag were a mystery.  All the same, Jet passed over a container of soup with a grin before unloading everything else onto the floor in front of the couch. “We’re going to need to get a table at some point.”

“We need a bed first.” The matter of fact statement was delivered with a light leer before fading into something a little more serious. “The air mattress isn’t bad, but my friend’s gonna want it back eventually.”

“You could’ve gotten a bed.”

“Yeah, I guess. It’s just…” Jet glanced away, fiddling with his chopsticks. “It’s ours, right?”

Which… yeah, Pyunma knew where Jet was coming from. When he was accepted to Columbia, moving in with Jet rather than living in the dorms had seemed like an obvious idea. The time in between was too swept up in the details of moving between continents for the idea to settle too much, but now, sitting in the nearly empty living room, the fact that it really was theirs was settling in. No more only seeing each other at Prof. Gilmore’s or in flying visits between countries.

Pyunma put the soup to the side and pushed himself up. “How comfortable is the air mattress?”

Jet made a garbled noise around the eggroll in his mouth before hurriedly swallowing. “It’s pretty good. Tired from the trip?”

“Nah. Just figured we don’t have to wait until we go furniture shopping to break in our place, and we never have much luck with couches.”

(Tumblr post)

Jet woke up with a start, blinking up at Prof. Gilmore and Pyunma’s concerned faces hovering above him. He took a minute to unscramble the mess of sensor afterimages in his head before he said, “The new sensors are pretty strong.”

Tension eased from Gilmore’s shoulders at the statement, and he patted Jet’s shoulder. “We can adjust the sensitivity until you get used to them. Come down to the lab when you’re feeling steady again.”

As Gilmore clambered to his feet, Jet looked up at Pyunma. “Why am I in your lap?”

“You fainted. Straight into my arms.” The tease has a sympathetic edge to it; Pyunma’s own sensor upgrades had gone haywire before. “If you wanted my attention you didn’t have to go to such extremes.”

“You’re face is extreme,” he muttered, snuggling back into Pyunma’s lap and closing his eyes.

“Not gonna get up?”

“Nah.”

The rain was sudden, a few minutes of distant thunder the only warning before a sudden torrent unleashed and 002 said, “Hey, stop the car.”

004 glanced over; the other cyborg had sat up from his sullen slouch in the passenger seat and was staring out the window. “Something wrong?”

“I just want to get out now.”

He could understand that; they’d all been spending a lot of time outside since they’d escaped, but still… “We’re in the middle of a thunderstorm and you want to stop and feel the rain?”

002 finally turned to glare at him. “It makes me feel normal, okay?”

It took a moment, but 004 did remember. Back during the tests, 002 had always complained that the rain muffled his sensors and made it harder to fly. But if they weren’t fighting for their lives right then…

He pulled over.