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[raleighs]

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[raleighs]

Not... really. [He was irritated by her criticism but it wasn't because his male pride was at stake. It was because Raleigh doesn't like people standing on the sidelines and acting like they know better when they haven't proven themselves.]

I thought you were just all talk.

[dorothied]

[The look she gives him is a little too smug for the moment, doesn't fit well with them being tangled together the way they are, not if she wants to keep things - you know, platonic. But she can't help herself, like she couldn't help herself from goading him during their fight.]

You know better now.

[raleighs]

[They feed off each other, don't they. Goading each other and pushing each other further and further and it's the same kind of competition that drove him and his brother to being such great pilots too. It's not that he wants to beat her because she irritates him but because she inspires the best in him and he wants to impress her.]

Yeah. You pretty much rocked my world.

[dorothied]

[He says it with such unassuming honesty that it makes her breath catch, body reacting without permission and putting a blush on her cheeks. But honesty begets honesty.]

You too. [By being everything she didn't expect him to be, by looking up at her like that, by practically sending off the vibes of an over-excited puppy when they find their soulmate. Or something.]

[raleighs]

Yeah? [He sounds quietly pleased by that, her head's tucked at an angle that he can't really see her blush but he can kind of feel it and that brings a smile to his face that he can't tame.]

I didn't think that was possible for you.

[dorothied]

[Can't be tamed She pulls away with a small frown, because guess what she can't decide if that's honest or meant to be insulting. Ice Queen Mori, yeah, she's heard that before.]

What do you mean?

[raleighs]

[It's honest and not at all meant to be insulting because of it. Maybe Raleigh thought she was an ice queen kind of girl when he first met her, especially when she told him that she didn't think he was the right person for the mission but he doesn't anymore.]

You just seemed really hard to impress. You did tell me you didn't think I was right for the job, remember?

[dorothied]

[Does she? She's not sure she knows how to be warm. Look, here now: he's the main source of heat between them, his arms are wrapped around her, his clothes are more inviting, his smile is - his smile - he is the magnet. Not her.]

I didn't think it, at first. [She means nothing by it, it's an honest admittance.] You changed my mind.

[raleighs]

[It's really only around her that he lets his guard down enough to be warm these days. Anyone else and he's cold and distant and ignores them more often than not but it's Mako.

That's really all there is to say about it.

Raleigh smiles at her now, runs his hand up along her side for a moment.]

Glad for it. It would've sucked to have anyone but you in there with me.

[dorothied]

[That gesture, the simplest and smallest of gestures, probably done without thinking at all; it has her holding her breath for a moment, feeling the way it sends a shiver up her spine, spreads through her body like liquid heat, spreads goosebumps on her skin.

He should do it again. Or stop.]

The Drift would not have been as strong.

[raleighs]

[Raleigh hums in agreement, because she's right. For whatever reason, they work really well together, compliment each other in all the ways that they need it. He's a calming presence on her vengeance and she makes him think for a half second longer than he normally would, consider different possibilities.

It wouldn't have been the same with anyone else, but that's not all what he meant.]

I wouldn't have liked anyone else there nearly as much as you either.

[dorothied]

[Getting revenge was a calming presence on her vengeance, he was the balm that helped when she realised no revenge would ever return her parents to her, and no revenge would ever feel enough.

She looks at him for a silent moment, letting those words wash over her. She tries to think about him in the Jaeger with anyone else, and she doesn't see them both surviving. She doesn't see him struggling to get to the surface just because there's a future that he can now picture for himself. And to think, he almost didn't find that.

Gently, she lets her thumb brush under his eyes.]

It's a good thing you knew which buttons to push, then.

[raleighs]

[Raleigh closes his eyes when she does that, and because he's thinking of the same thing, picking up on the direction of her thoughts whether he realizes it or not. And no, he wouldn't have fought as hard to come back if it were anyone else in that conn pod with him.

If he stayed there, he would've seen Yancy again. Mako is the only person he has ever considered giving that up for.]

Why did you restore her? Instead of designing a new one?

wow i hate you for that one line

[dorothied]

[Shout to all my lost Beckets in the heaven, sorry for keeping him around for a little longer, suckers.]

Why design something new, when the original was already so good? [She shakes her head, as if the idea never once occured to her. Even if they had had the sponsorship and money for it, she would've still spearheaded the motion to restore Gipsy Danger instead. Telling him that it was because the Jaeger had called to her in the junkyard was ridiculous.

Telling him the other reason was...well. He could decide.] I thought she would need revenge just as much.

i hate you for this reply ;;

[raleighs]

[He lets out a quiet breath. Yeah, she did, didn't she. Gipsy was damaged just as badly as he was that night and he'd walked away from her, from the memory of Yancy because he couldn't deal with it, let them put her in Oblivion Bay and leave her there to rust.

And Mako brought her back. Mako saved her and gave her a purpose again. Of course it only makes sense that Mako pilot her too.]

Thank you. I know you didn't do it for me, but thank you anyway.

i knew you would 8)

[dorothied]

[It's true, she didn't do it for him. She did it for the Jaeger and for herself, mostly, recognizing their common history, the losses - the families ripped apart by kaiju near them - and fixed her up to prove to herself that she could be fixed as well.]

Everything can be fixed. [That he can be fixed, too. She didn't do it on purpose, not for him. But she doesn't regret the fact that her actions had an effect on him as well.]

We wouldn't have met, if I hadn't seen her in the Bay.

swallows sadness

[raleighs]

Probably not.

[And that would've sucked, there's no better way to put it. Yeah, the breach mission might've failed or gone entirely differently and the world would be doomed but Raleigh Becket wouldn't have met Mako Mori, would've just stayed on that wall and died there and that just sounds horrible in so many ways to him.]

I'm glad to have met you, Mako. Not just because of Gipsy or the Breach or any of that.

[dorothied]

[You don't have to spell it out. She knows - she knows as well as he does what could've happened if he'd stayed there, she's been in his head and he's been in hers. He would've died alone on the Wall, and she would've died getting in a Jaeger with someone before her moment, or died facing the apocalypse with just a gun.]

Me too.

[raleighs]

[He would've paid money to see her face down a kaiju with just a gun-- because it's Mako and she probably would've won. He smiles at her briefly, and shifts his weight around in bed a little because his stomach is starting to rumble.]

You think we should do breakfast at some point?

[dorothied]

Mm. [Like they're still in a Drift together, her stomach lets out a similar grumble. The sun would be starting to show, one thin line over the horizon turning the sky pink at this point, and Mako sits up in the bed, feeling reluctant to do so.]

Yes. [She runs her fingers through her hair, then - forgetting she's sharing a bed - does what she does every morning upon awakening, and stretches her arms above her head, pulling at the muscles of her back. To the left, to the right.]

Would you mind getting out? [Eating in the cafeteria, suddenly, just - no.]

[raleighs]

[Or it's just that time of day that normal people have breakfast. It's not all the Drift, is it? He kind of hopes not because that would feel like an excuse for what he feels for her and he doesn't want that. Doesn't want to try and explain it away.

He's attracted to her, and it's hard to hide that when she stretches like that, his eyes linger for a moment, and then, swallowing hard-- he looks up at her face.]

Not at all. We can eat in the Jaeger bay again?

[dorothied]

[Totally oblivious, she nods her consent and gets up out of bed. She's going to need her pants now, which are folded neatly over the back of a chair.]

It'll be weird, it's empty now.

[raleighs]

[It's little moments like that, when she doesn't even realize that he's looking that stays his tongue for a long, long time about what he feels for her. Because he thinks that she doesn't return the feelings.]

Might be peaceful too. Cause really no one else will be around.

[dorothied]

Good. [There will be no Jaegers around either. So if she breaks down, unintentionally, and sheds some tears where Gipsy Danger used to be, nobody but he will see it.]

Let's go.

[raleighs]

[And he won't tell anyone about it either if she does cry. He might even shed a few tears for Gipsy too, his old girl who's gone for good now. Raleigh climbs out of bed and moves to follow her, stretching his arms behind his back now as he walks.]

You know what I miss? Waffles.