tp5 kippei and shinji

[shattermelt]

Apparently Shinji wanted to go for a walk. Kippei wasn't sure if that was all he had in mind, or if there was some kind of purpose behind it, but he figured it didn't matter much. A walk would be nice. It had been a long day, and a chance to relax and spend time with Shinji was always welcome--it didn't really matter where they went.

He paused for just a minute outside the door when he got home, because no matter how many times he did this, he never got over the fact that Shinji was actually waiting for him, there, every day. As soon as he went in. He couldn't help taking a moment just to realize how amazing that was before he actually opened the door, smiling as he went through.

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[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"I guess..." Shinji flexed his fingers, then stretched a little, cracking his back and sighing in relief. God, he was full of knots and had a league of butterflies in his gut.

"I worked hard today. My hands are sore. I think you should kiss them better tonight...but not here because we have to get on the shuttle now and I dont want people to get curious. Has to be a secret..." He tugged Kippei onto the shuttle headed for Brown and they blended in well enough with the evening crowd headed for the Casino, just as he had planned. He pushed Kippei down into a seat at the back of the carriage and sat close, watching Kippei a little dubiously, at a loss now for what Kippei might actually think about this. He really didn't want to be broke, with a ship he wasn't sure he could fly and a boyfriend mad at him for building it.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"Mmmm..." Kippei captured his fingers and kept them as they boarded the shuttle, but he did refrain from kissing them. Has to be a secret? He was pretty sure it was kind of too late for that. If people had been paying attention, they would know that Shinji had moved in with him and they could guess the rest of it, whatever they saw or did not see.

Maybe Shinji didn't mean them. He tilted his head curiously at Shinji, who was looking doubtful and worried again. Something was up, then. Not just a walk. He rubbed the back of Shinji's hand with his thumb, soft and reassuring.

"What has to be a secret?"

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough that actually made his fingers feel a little better. He blinked at first, surprised, then just smiled and relaxed and settled in for the shuttle ride.

"It's a secret." It has to be. Because if anyone found out what he had done every other nation would want his head on a platter. So not thinking about that right now.

"Was work okay?" Mundane conversation was the name of the day.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei watched him silently. So, the secret was a secret. Okay. He let it go, for the time being, Shinji's obvious discomfort with the matter making him unwilling to press him on it. No doubt Shinji had reasons for not discussing it.

"Work was fine," he said absently, his mind still working at the puzzle of the secret. A secret like that had been a secret? A sudden connection made in his mind, Kippei glanced sideways at him.

"Does this have anything to do with you sneaking out of Inanna's while you were supposed to be recovering?" he asked idly.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji stared at Kippei, amazed he had remembered that. It didn't seem the odd sort of thing to be remembered, but Kippei had. It made him smile, just a little, and wonder what other little things Kippei remembered.

"Yeah. It has everything to do with that." He smirked then, because even coming home to get Kippei, after the test runs, had been hard. He hadn't wanted to leave it alone for even that long. It was beautiful...in a mechanical way, which was the fastest way to get Shinji's heart pounding short of putting one Tachibana Kippei anywhere in the vicinity. The thought of Kippei in it was enough to give Shinji a hard on.

"You better like it."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei blinked at him, the only sign of his startled confusion. He better like it? Something Shinji wanted to show him, then. A surprise, and he realized, something for him.

That was an incredibly strange feeling.

"I will," he said simply, if only because it was Shinji's and Shinji was still alive and hadn't killed himself finding or making or doing whatever it was. Knowing Shinji, probably making something. Kippei studied him out of the corner of his eye.

"You sneaked out to do something for me?" he asked, slightly disturbed. "What if..." And he didn't know how to say that without sounding ungrateful, but it made him shudder to think of something happening to Shinji because he'd pulled a stunt like that doing something for Kippei.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji laughed hard at that, tugging Kippei closer and nuzzling against his throat, a happy sound coming from the back of his throat.

"I didn't actually do anything that day, I just went and asked someone something and you guys got all badass pissed off on my arse. You shoud have been nicer, I was doing something for you."

Actually, it had really annoyed him that they got so upset over it...but it had also made him feel important, and that was good too.

"I wouldn't do anything dangerous because you might do something stupid then."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"Damn right I would," Kippei mutters, and he even knows it would be stupid, but that wouldn't be enough to stop him from doing it. If anything happened to Shinji...

"You could have told us, what you were doing. At least in general." The frown was puzzled, now, thoughtful as he tried to figure out what Shinji could have been doing for him that he would have wanted to keep a secret.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"No I couldn't," Shinji siad immediately, decisively. It had to be a secret; no one could know. Especially until it was built. Even now, they played a risky game.

The shuttle came into Brown and Shinji damn near leapt off it in his eagerness to take Kippei to see it, his fingers still wrapped tight around Kippei's, his free hand shoved in his pocket and wrapped around the key as he stalked toward the hallway that led to the shipbuilders.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei was bemused, willing to take Shinji's word for it but more puzzled than ever about what they were going to see. It sounded... important, somehow, as if it were more than just a surprise, more than just something for him, but something serious.

It made him smile faintly all the same, catching Shinji's enthusiasm for whatever it was, the feeling of anticipation. "I can't believe you did something for me," he murmured, still slightly surprised that Shinji had thought of doing it at all. Whatever it was. He really wasn't used to people doing things for him. It felt weird.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

He'd done something for him alright and if Kippei freaked and destroyed it and kicked him out, then he was back at square one, with nothing but the rent to pay on his little hole down here in Brown and not a cent and a destroyed heard and fuck that was a pretty scary thought. His hand shook a little as it clung to Kippei's, suddenly, irrationally refusing to let go.

He was hoping that since there werent any signs on the outside, that Kippei wouldn't recognise the shipbuilders, since it was dark and Kippei didn't know Brown that well, but maybe he knew those sorts of things, Shinji wasn't sure. Either way, he pulled the key out and opened the door, tugging Kippei in, leading the way through the dark, down to a small worshop through the back, positioning Kippei, then leaning up to kiss him on the side of the neck.

"I love you. You better remember that." And then he took a deep breath and turned on the light.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Shinji seemed worried, anxious even, and it was making Kippei uneasy. He couldn't figure out what Shinji would have to worry about, and he hoped it wasn't anything really, really bad. Shinji's hand in his made him feel slightly better, so he held on tightly as Shinji tugged him in through the darkened door.

Kippei didn't recognize the place, but that wasn't all that strange, since he didn't come down this way very often. It looked like a mechanical shop of some sort, so it made sense that Shinji would be familiar with it.

He found himself almost holding his breath as they went inside, and the words only made him more worried, because of course he remembered that, and what had Shinji done if he was afraid that Kippei wouldn't? And then Shinji turned on the lights.

"Jesus," he breathed, staring. "What IS that?"

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"A ship...well, a fighter really," Shinji said softly, breathing out slowly himself. God, he was terribly pleased with himself. Kikumaru had even painted her, sleek black with the dark red stripes of Fudomine around the elongated tail. It looked a little like a fish, and moved like one, the whiplash movement of it able to move it in space like nothing else, giving it superior movement to anything else thanks to its extremely advanced calibration. But that wasn't the best part.

"A fighter," he murmered, moving closer and wrapping his arms around Kippei's waist, holding the real fighter; the real pilot for his baby. "It's a fighter, with instincts,and its made entirely from products only found on one planet." Our home; its made from our earth.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei stared at it; he wanted to look sideways at Shinji and ask him what and how and why and all kinds of things, but he couldn't take his eyes off the ship. A fighter, painted Fudomine colors, and it was like nothing he'd ever seen. Damn. Just damn.

"You..." He was going to say, you found this? But that wasn't it. This had never existed, no one had fighters like this. Shinji had made this. This must have been what Shinji had been working on the last few weeks.

"You made this?" he whispered finally, his voice tinged with awe as his eyes tracked over the smooth lines of it, checking and reading and evaluating it. It looked sharp and slick and hot, and Kippei's fingers itched to touch it, to fly it.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"You said...you were just a pilot..." Shinji murmered, remembering, and watching Kippei knowingly. He so wanted to fly it, and he was damn well going to get to, as soon as they got it to Fudomine's docking bay and under lock and key.

"I wasn't going to let you go back out anywhere in those stupid pieces of shit they call fighters on Fudomine. I wanted...I wanted to help you, and I knew I could do this so I did. It's the best there is. It's better than a Rikkai fighter, and while its not stronger than a Hyoutei fighter...we dont have anything stronger than what they have to build it from...but they can't hit us. This ship immediately dodges anything that comes at it. Like the cat." That was the best bit. He hadn't been sure it would work, but all the tests they had run were successful. They hadn't been able to beat the instant reflexes of the system.

"Now you can be both. The Ambassador, and the pilot."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei could tell by looking at it that it was better than a Rikkai fighter, and light years beyond the current Fudomine ones. If it could do what Shinji said, it was probably better than anything else out there. He wanted, god, he wanted to fly it.

Shinji's words brought him back to earth with a solid thud. He sighed, a slow deep breath and exhalation. "I'm not a pilot anymore, Shinji," he said quietly. "I mean I am, but I'll never fly for Fudomine again. Unless by some miracle they find someone else who wants to do this job, here." His mouth twisted in a slight grimace. That wasn't going to happen. All they had were diplomats, and Fudomine couldn't risk sending one of them to a place like this again, unless something in the political situation changed drastically.

He took a deep breath and studied the ship again, looking at it this time with less of a pilot's eye and more of a strategic one. It didn't really matter if he never got to fly it himself, as long as they could give the rest of Fudomine's pilots the edge they so desperately needed. "You said it's made out of parts from one world... what world is that?"

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji eyed Kippei carefully, seeing him deflate a little and start acting like the stupid Ambassador again. He didn't bother pointing out that he owned, wholly and completely, that ship, and if he had to threaten to give it to Rikkaidai to get them to let Kippei into it then that was what it would take, but Kippei would fly it, first, foremost and always.

"Fudomine."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei did stare at him then, finally tearing his gaze from the ship and looking over at Shinji.

"What?" That... didn't make sense. Kippei didn't even know how that was possible. The war torn planet was as low on resources as it was on everything else, and how could he possibly have built a fighter that looked like that, using materials from Fudomine alone? "How?" he demanded. God, if that was true... Shinji had just handed him the first real chance Fudomine had ever had in this war.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji just shrugged, a little annoyed that Kippei didn't believe him, but he wasn't actually surprised since no one had ever managed to make anything out of the resources on Fudomine; had always imported from the other plantets. But that was the problem; Fudomine's resources were not naturally as good as others but you could combine them, to make something better. The availability of other substances had always been taken for granted, and no one had bothered to sit down for long enough and think about it.

"You just have to mix things the right way...and then forge it the right way...I wasn't sure it could be done, but Kikumaru did it." He spoke softly, almost afraid of what Kippei might say next. "It wouldn't have been any good, if we couldn't make it at home using what we have."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei nodded. That was true enough. Still amazing. He chuckled softly and leaned down to kiss him, a hard kiss on the mouth to say thank you and I love you and god, you're amazing. He whispered the last part aloud into Shinji's hair as he hugged him tight in some crazy kind of relief.

"You are amazing." Just incredible, that he had thought of this and done it and done it so spectacularly. Something tight in his chest that he hadn't even known was there finally relaxed, some small knot of worry or tension. He put it aside to examine later, since he was quite sure he didn't want to discuss it with Shinji.

"When can I fly it?" he asked, some of his anticipation returning, because maybe he would never fly for Fudomine again, not in combat, but this ship was Shinji's and Kippei could fly it here, just for the hell of it. Shinji had built him a fighter. He couldn't get over that. And a sexy perfect awesome one at that, with Shinji's fingerprints, literal and metaphorical, all over it. He wasn't sure he could fly it without creaming his pants.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji finally relaxed, because Kippei liked it. And said he was amazing. A faint blush dusted Shinji's cheeks, which he hid against Kippei's shoulder, stealing peeks at the ship, still amazed Kikumaru had built it so well, and that it all worked just like he had thought it would.

"It has to pass an official check...Kikumaru is arranging it through Seigaku. Figured they were least likely to tell the world about it, so to speak. That's first thing in the morning. After it passes, Kikumaru will deliver it to the Fudo-dock, where I should have by then installed a new security system...with your permission, which you will give me, and then you can take me for a joyride." Not that Shinji thought Kippei would pay him much attention once he was in the pilots seat, but he wanted to watch Kippei fly from right behind him.