[Sometimes when the weather changes or he just sleeps on it wrong or it's just a bad day, his shoulder kills him. His right leg hurts too sometimes, is stiff in the mornings but it's not as bad as his left shoulder. Sure, he was on the side of the Jaeger that lost a limb in Pitfall too but he didn't lose a co-pilot, wasn't forced to carry the weight of the Jaeger by himself, and the damage wasn't as extensive because of it. He didn't walk away from it totally unscathed, sure, but it's nothing like the mountain he had to climb after Knifehead stole his brother. His body didn't want to recognize that it still had his left arm then.
Still doesn't, if you ask him. Raleigh feels older than he really is. He's twenty eight, not eighty, even if he guards his arm on days like today because if he moves it, it hurts more and he's really not a complainer. He doesn't sit around and bitch about how much his shoulder hurts, he just takes it in silence.
Still, it shouldn't even surprise him when Mako comes up behind him, because she always knows everything, tells him to lay down on the bed, she knows it hurts and she wants to help. When he does and she starts to dig her fingers into his shoulder, he can't help it, he groans and it's just pure relief.]
[ Mako knows, because she feels it too. It's the ghost of the aches that Mako feels, and she can't quite explain why. But she knows it's Raleigh's when he's favouring his shoulder, when he's quieter and more subdued than usual. Her lover bears pain in silence and solitude, and she understands it better than anyone else.
So she tells him to lie back and she gives him a good, proper massaging, kneading and easing out the knots of tension, rubbing over the aches with a gentle, but firm deliberation. She finds where it hurts and she soothes it out, mindful of the sensations she draws out of him. Her hands ease over sore muscles, tracing over the angry scars of his biceps, and her heart aches for him. She knows the story behind each and every one of them, and it's days like this where she shares his pensiveness. ]
[Raleigh's nodding into his pillow, taking a deep breath like he's trying to stave off tears, before he looks over his shoulder at her. Whether it's tears of pain or loss, it's not really clear. What she's doing feels good, is helping with the pain and the tension in his injured shoulder and he knows that she's sharing the pain with him. That it echoes through their connection and maybe it's not as intense for her, but she still feels it.]
[ Mako doesn't say a word, and works on his back, loosening muscle and easing tensions, massaging the pain and drawing it down to a manageable level. Today is not a good day to be happy; Raleigh is in a mood and Mako is affected, sharing his grief and his aches in many inexplicable ways.
She kisses his shoulderblade, deft fingers working down his spine. She smiles, briefly. ]
[He doesn't really like knowing that he's bringing her down with him, because she deserves better than that, she deserves to be happy all the time. After everything she's been through, he wants nothing more than to make her happy.]
[ He does make her happy. He makes her very, very happy; but they need to share more than that, don't they? For better or worse, in sickness and in health, they're together for all of it.
She pauses for a moment, then smiles briefly, deciding to inject a little humour into their little session. ]
[No one makes him smile like Mako does. She's really the only one who's ever been able to reach in and pull him out of himself because she didn't have time for that shit, and she's perfect and amazing and he really could write a sonnet about her if he tried hard enough.]
It won't rhyme. And it might not be in English, is that a problem?
[ Is it a problem, he asks. It's not much of a secret that Mako's weak for when he speaks in French, or in any other language that's not english. The first time he sang to her in french, she'd pretty much kissed him senseless -- remember?
She massages the small of his back now, taking her time with him. ]
Only if you have no problem with not being able to walk straight for a week after that.
[Oh yeah, he remembers. That was the night she made an honest man of him too. Her hand on his back feels really good, helping to relax sore muscles that have been tight and tense all day long.]
You'll just have to give me another massage if that's the case.
[Raleigh reaches out to smack her thigh, like he wasn't thinking that at all and she's a dirty pervert for suggesting it. But it's really not like he'd turn one down, so maybe he's a dirty pervert too.]
[ Oooh! Mako squirms under that smack and nudges against him, the black cloud that had hung over them earlier momentarily dispelled in the face of such humour. They can be dirty perverts together -- not that it's wrong, especially when they've been together for awhile, right? ]
Where, like your hips? [ she reaches to squeeze his hips playfully. ]
[Raleigh squirms away from her hands, rolling off his stomach to rest on his side, facing her. He appreciates the massage, and his muscles are maybe as happy as they're going to be for a while and that's okay. He's reaching for her, drawing her in close. It's good to laugh and tease her but he just doesn't have the energy to keep it going for very long today.]
[ No, they can just bask in each other's presence today -- that would be useful, wouldn't it? reveling in their shared connection, renewing their bond with each other. Even if they don't drift together anymore, the bond remains unbroken and undimmed.
She moves to lie on her side facing him, tucking a lock of her hair thoughtfully behind her ear as she shifts closer to him, tangling her legs with his. ] Feeling better?
[He'll be okay, in any case. He just wants to lie with her for a while, rest his forehead against her shoulder and be reminded of the fact that this beautiful, amazing woman is with him and be content with that.]
[ Mako blinks, her smile fading. She's wrapping her arms around him, holding him close to provide comfort, appreciating the feel of having him in her arms. ]
[That just makes him sigh quietly, squeezing her fingers tight. He wants her to be happy all the time, she deserves that much after everything and he isn't going to stop feeling guilty for his somber moods, for the times when he's just down and he brings her down with him because their connection is that strong.
Nevermind that Mako isn't immune to those moods either, that there are days when she misses her sensei and other days when she's angry with him and Raleigh feels that echo through the Drift too.]
You make me feel all sorts of things, Raleigh. [ Mako tells him -- pressing her forehead against his and nuzzling sweetly, softly tender. She smiles, because she wouldn't want it any other way. She knows she affects him too, whether she's sad or angry, and she murmurs. ]
You endure the same with me, too. Why should I not be sad when you are? [ For better or worse, always. She tucks her head under his chin, settling to press her lips against his neck absently. ]
[The way Raleigh curls into her, it's like he's just trying to meld into her, to be one person again in two separate bodies. He sometimes wishes that they could have a pons of their own, just to keep in the garage and they could Drift whenever they wanted, just for the sake of it.
But then he's pretty sure they'd also never come back out.]
[ Mako accepts him when he tries, taking him into her with a generosity and a tenderness that he could feed off of. He needs her today, he needs her to get himself out of this mood, and Mako's not about to push him into doing it. He has to do it himself, and all she can do is to be here for him.
Stroking his back gently, deliberately, she smiles. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a pons of their own? They would probably starve to death from the reluctance to leave their shared space, but wouldn't it be worth it? Mako wants to be inside him, with him again, and her hold on him tightens. ]
I love you too. Let's go on a trip soon, just you and me. Six months, or a year, let's see the world again.
[This is exactly the same kind of velcroing behavior that pilots are none for. Odd that it's happening years after their last Drift, when it used to be the first forty eight, maybe seventy two hours or so back during the war. But then, no pilots have survived together as long as Raleigh and Mako have, just living together and not Drifting, so who really knows what the lasting effects of it are on them.
A trip sounds nice. Sometimes Raleigh gets this itch to move on, to go somewhere else, to see something new, like he's never really content with staying in one place for too long.]
We could start in South America this time. Go hiking in the Andes. Road trip all the way back to Mexico.
[ It's a dangerous behavior, she knows -- there are so many things they don't yet understand about it because pilots die off too quickly for any researcher to be able to come up with any viable data, and she's given up trying to analyse it.
No, this is much better -- they live their lives, not obsess it, and force themselves to back off when it gets too intense.
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[Sometimes when the weather changes or he just sleeps on it wrong or it's just a bad day, his shoulder kills him. His right leg hurts too sometimes, is stiff in the mornings but it's not as bad as his left shoulder. Sure, he was on the side of the Jaeger that lost a limb in Pitfall too but he didn't lose a co-pilot, wasn't forced to carry the weight of the Jaeger by himself, and the damage wasn't as extensive because of it. He didn't walk away from it totally unscathed, sure, but it's nothing like the mountain he had to climb after Knifehead stole his brother. His body didn't want to recognize that it still had his left arm then.
Still doesn't, if you ask him. Raleigh feels older than he really is. He's twenty eight, not eighty, even if he guards his arm on days like today because if he moves it, it hurts more and he's really not a complainer. He doesn't sit around and bitch about how much his shoulder hurts, he just takes it in silence.
Still, it shouldn't even surprise him when Mako comes up behind him, because she always knows everything, tells him to lay down on the bed, she knows it hurts and she wants to help. When he does and she starts to dig her fingers into his shoulder, he can't help it, he groans and it's just pure relief.]
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So she tells him to lie back and she gives him a good, proper massaging, kneading and easing out the knots of tension, rubbing over the aches with a gentle, but firm deliberation. She finds where it hurts and she soothes it out, mindful of the sensations she draws out of him. Her hands ease over sore muscles, tracing over the angry scars of his biceps, and her heart aches for him. She knows the story behind each and every one of them, and it's days like this where she shares his pensiveness. ]
Better?
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Thank you.
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She kisses his shoulderblade, deft fingers working down his spine. She smiles, briefly. ]
What for?
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Being so great? How about that?
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She pauses for a moment, then smiles briefly, deciding to inject a little humour into their little session. ]
I accept sonnets proclaiming my greatness.
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It won't rhyme. And it might not be in English, is that a problem?
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She massages the small of his back now, taking her time with him. ]
Only if you have no problem with not being able to walk straight for a week after that.
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You'll just have to give me another massage if that's the case.
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A massage where?
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Whatever's sore, obviously.
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Where, like your hips? [ she reaches to squeeze his hips playfully. ]
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Something like that. Come lay here with me.
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She moves to lie on her side facing him, tucking a lock of her hair thoughtfully behind her ear as she shifts closer to him, tangling her legs with his. ] Feeling better?
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[He'll be okay, in any case. He just wants to lie with her for a while, rest his forehead against her shoulder and be reminded of the fact that this beautiful, amazing woman is with him and be content with that.]
I'm dragging you down with me, aren't I?
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What do you mean?
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[Raleigh scoots in a little closer to her, half nuzzling her as he does.]
I'm sorry.
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Don't be sorry; I love you. [ She smiles briefly before twining their fingers together. ] I don't want to be happy without you.
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Nevermind that Mako isn't immune to those moods either, that there are days when she misses her sensei and other days when she's angry with him and Raleigh feels that echo through the Drift too.]
I don't want to make you sad though.
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You endure the same with me, too. Why should I not be sad when you are? [ For better or worse, always. She tucks her head under his chin, settling to press her lips against his neck absently. ]
I want all of you. Not just your happy moments.
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But then he's pretty sure they'd also never come back out.]
I love you. So freaking much.
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Stroking his back gently, deliberately, she smiles. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a pons of their own? They would probably starve to death from the reluctance to leave their shared space, but wouldn't it be worth it? Mako wants to be inside him, with him again, and her hold on him tightens. ]
I love you too. Let's go on a trip soon, just you and me. Six months, or a year, let's see the world again.
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A trip sounds nice. Sometimes Raleigh gets this itch to move on, to go somewhere else, to see something new, like he's never really content with staying in one place for too long.]
We could start in South America this time. Go hiking in the Andes. Road trip all the way back to Mexico.
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No, this is much better -- they live their lives, not obsess it, and force themselves to back off when it gets too intense.
She smiles at his comment. ]
Don't forget Asia too.
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[But he's smiling too, turning his head to briefly touch his lips to whatever part of her he can reach. It's her arm, for the record.]
I've never been to India. Let's start there.
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