[Truth be told-- Raleigh fucking hated Chuck Hansen most of their time in the program together. Hated him because he was a self righteous prick with a loud mouth and a bigger ego and it was all about him and not the team and it didn't take that long for Raleigh's fist to find Chuck's jaw. They both got threatened with court martials after that, nursing bruised eyes, ribs and egos and making a silent pact to just avoid each other.
Which was a brilliant plan really-- until it came down to the wire and it was them against a whole squad of Kaiju and there's just something about saving a man's life and knowing that he saved yours too where you can't hate him anymore. How that turns into something more, Raleigh has no fucking clue. But they don't really talk about it, they just do it and sneak around and let it be what it is.
It means that when Chuck disappears on a mission, Raleigh can't grieve like he really wants to. People leave him alone well enough because they know that the two of them became sort of friends after that one night, and life's so fucking ironic isn't it. To be enemies and then friends and then lovers and no one knows what Chuck really meant to him because he can't find the words for it once he's gone.
Seven years later and Raleigh's less moved on and more like settled into what his life is now, which is paired with the program's newest and brightest, Mako Mori and they do a lot of good and kick a lot of ass together and she's really what keeps him sane most days, his best friend and sometimes lover too but she's too much of a professional to ever let it be more than just a night here and there and that's fine by him. It's just stress relief. He's in love with the past anyway, stuck on someone that's never coming back.
They're on a routine escort that goes so horribly wrong that Raleigh barely remembers what the word right means anymore. It starts with blown out tires, then gunshots, then their assignment is dead, then Mako's got a GSW in her leg and there's this man who isn't fazed by their return fire, or when Raleigh's fist connects with his face, over and over and it's like fighting a boulder, wearing himself down against an immovable force until Raleigh's on the ground, hurting in places he didn't even know he had.
And the mask comes off and he's sure for a moment that he actually just died because that's-- not possible.]
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Which was a brilliant plan really-- until it came down to the wire and it was them against a whole squad of Kaiju and there's just something about saving a man's life and knowing that he saved yours too where you can't hate him anymore. How that turns into something more, Raleigh has no fucking clue. But they don't really talk about it, they just do it and sneak around and let it be what it is.
It means that when Chuck disappears on a mission, Raleigh can't grieve like he really wants to. People leave him alone well enough because they know that the two of them became sort of friends after that one night, and life's so fucking ironic isn't it. To be enemies and then friends and then lovers and no one knows what Chuck really meant to him because he can't find the words for it once he's gone.
Seven years later and Raleigh's less moved on and more like settled into what his life is now, which is paired with the program's newest and brightest, Mako Mori and they do a lot of good and kick a lot of ass together and she's really what keeps him sane most days, his best friend and sometimes lover too but she's too much of a professional to ever let it be more than just a night here and there and that's fine by him. It's just stress relief. He's in love with the past anyway, stuck on someone that's never coming back.
They're on a routine escort that goes so horribly wrong that Raleigh barely remembers what the word right means anymore. It starts with blown out tires, then gunshots, then their assignment is dead, then Mako's got a GSW in her leg and there's this man who isn't fazed by their return fire, or when Raleigh's fist connects with his face, over and over and it's like fighting a boulder, wearing himself down against an immovable force until Raleigh's on the ground, hurting in places he didn't even know he had.
And the mask comes off and he's sure for a moment that he actually just died because that's-- not possible.]
... Chuck?