Work Text:
Robert sat in silence, staring into the middle distance.
They'd brought him back to one of the FOBs, put him in a tent and told him to sit tight. They phrased it like it was for his protection, for his benefit, but he knew what all this was.
He was being imprisoned. Sequestered away until they could summon him to a court martial, and from there it would be a one way trip to the deepest hole they could find. At that point, with nothing else to do, he'd fallen asleep.
He'd already made up his mind. When they came for him, he wouldn't resist. He'd go along quietly, and he'd accept whatever they threw at him.
Maybe if he did, they'd honor his requests. There were only two, really. The first was simple: Don't take away the prosthetics. He'd spent four years in that damn camp without them, and he wasn't eager to go the rest of his life as a triple amputee.
The second was perhaps even more simple, if even less likely to be honored than the first one: He wanted Corax to be allowed to visit. Even if they had only known one another for a short time, he'd been the best thing to happen to Robert in years, and even if Corax decided that he never wanted to see him again, Robert wanted him to know the door was open.
He doubted they'd even consider the idea, but still, whatever he could do to gain favor with those who would decide his fate, he'd do it.
However, before he could spiral too much further, the tent's flap swung open, sound of the whistling wind and pouring rain leaking through.
Corax, a modified SLDF issue raincoat swathing his snow white avian features, entered the tent. His eyes looked to Robert, and he smiled - a rueful, sympathetic smile, to be sure, but Robert also saw hope... and a deep, genuine concern that can only have come from one emotion.
"Robert," he breathed happily. "You are awake. Thank the Great Father," he said, walking over and putting a caressing hand on Robert's face. "I was so worried... I... you slept so long I was..."
Robert smiled, a sad, tired thing matching Corax's own. He leaned into the touch, bringing up a hand of his own to trap Corax's.
"Nah, Birdie. You ain't gonna get rid of me that easy." For a moment, the spark was back in his eyes, until the reality of the situation crashed down upon him once more. "So," he said, "I assume they sent you to soften the blow?"
"What blow, Robert?" Corax asked, confused, though even the confusion could not entirely take the smile from his face.
The sounds of battle can be heard off in the distance, as titanic things crash and thump and buzz with deadly energy, somewhere. Somewhere that couldn't matter in the least to Corax. Not right now.
With every distant explosion, every thump of artillery firing, Robert flinched, but still, he managed a small, self-deprecating smile.
"C'mon Nevermore, I ain't stupid." He gestured to himself. "The court martial? Or have they just decided to throw me in Danforth and ditch the key? You and I both know what I did back there. They don't just let people like that go. They don't just let people like me go."
"There is no court martial, Robert," Corax said confusedly, shaking his head. "Nor will there be any cell in Antarctica awaiting you. Fort Danforth-Lake is for crimes committed with intent. Yours was not."
Robert chuckled at that, dry and sour. "Does that make them any less dead? Does it bring the end of the war any closer? I had ought to be locked up for that shit, Nevermore. I'm obviously fuckin' dangerous, look at me! One knock on the head and I turn into a lunatic!"
"Perhaps. But it was not your fault," Corax said. "You were not in a fit state of mind to realize what you had done. And besides," he said. "Coen City was already cut off from communication. The Word will have no idea what occurred."
Robert sighed. "Why don't you get it?" he asked. "I cut my way through that city for three fucking days, Corax. We'll be lucky if "my head on a silver platter" isn't a part of their surrender agreement."
"Three days? You were not in the city for three days, Robert..."
Robert looked at him, slack-jawed. "Wha- that doesn't make sense. I- I remember the nights, I remember them, and I-" He trailed off, head dropping briefly, before he looked back up at Corax. "Guess I really was screwed up, wasn't I?"
"You were not in your rational state of mind, Robert. Things such as perception of time can be tenuous at best in such a case. As is seeing hallucinations..." he chuckled, before smiling slyly. "Was I at least naked in these hallucinations?"
Robert groaned with exasperated amusement, and put his hand over his eyes. "No, you weren't. Tormenting me with guilt over my actions, and you couldn't even bother to give me a strip tease," he smiled genuinely. "Hallucination You was awfully rude like that."
"Mmmm... He does sound dreadfully rude. But if Hallucination Me was so rude, as opposed to polite and flirty... and also not naked around you at every opportunity, well," Corax paused, moving to sit next to Robert and wrap his arms around him, "you really should have known it was not me," he chuckled, softly kissing Robert to punctuate his half-joke. "But," he said, becoming somewhat more serious, though still warm and happy, "I am simply glad you are awake. Let me get you some breakfast, quiaff? It would not do for you to wake up so early and not eat breakfast. Stay here, love, I will be back," he said as he stood up. "I will not be long."
After donning the raincoat again, Corax left the tent - blushing hard under his feathers, and desperately hoping Robert hadn't caught his rather personal slip of the tongue.
After Corax left, Robert sat in the silence of the tent, stewing over what Corax had told him. He wasn't being court-martialed. Does that mean they're keeping it a secret from Birdbrain? Keeping it secret from Melissa? Robert knew she'd never stand for it, if she knew. For that matter, why is Corax being so... kind? After all, he saw what I did with his own eyes, and yet here he is, making flirty jokes and calling me...
Calling him...
Oh.
Oh.
But that can't be right.
Shaking his head, Robert put the thought out of his mind. It would do him no good to worry about it more. Instead, he would simply enjoy the presence of that remarkable bird-man, while he still could.
There was a good few minutes for Robert to think, alone by himself. He could hear the rain outside. It was steady, but not light. It was a presence there, at the edge of his thoughts. The wind, too. Not overly strong, not enough to pose a risk to the myomer-secured tent he was in, but enough to make the rain go just a little sideways. Kinship FOB had been built in and around a civilian big box store, long since abandoned from the fighting, but with a large enough internal volume to house 'Mechs, combat vehicles, and more, even with much of the industrial shelving still in place - and fully stocked, to boot. Even the deli and small restaurant inside were intact - the civilian workers happy to keep doing their jobs for pay.
And so, sitting and looking over the furnishings of his tent, Robert reflected that probably every quarters, every tent had these incongruously luxurious fittings and amenities. Most importantly, with the enormous parking lot now holding the FOB's sea of tents, it meant solid, dry ground inside the tents. No wet mud soaking every floor, at least not nearly as much as there might otherwise be. All in all, it was... Strangely comfortable for such a base. It felt as warm and cozy as such a thing could be.
Robert smirked, talking to a man who had been dead for 50 years, or maybe to himself. "Damn sight better than the tents on Rollis, eh? wet as shit, mud up to our knees, and dear god, the smell." He chuckled again, before sighing. He was still unsure how exactly this was supposed to work. After all, what decent army takes a psycho and puts them in a nice comfy tent in a FOB? Perhaps Corax had used some kind of pull, being Birdbrain's "brother", and gotten him out of the execution or court-martial he knew should have awaited him. He sighed again.
Robert thought about Corax, about the flustered gait he'd taken as he fled the room - after slipping up and used that word. Would he like to hear that word again?
Yes, he thought. Yes, I would.
Robert groaned, flopping back on his bed in exasperation. Of all the damn fool things, he'd actually gone and fallen in love.
It was only a minute or two more before the sound of the flap opening came again. The sounds of the rain, and the battle off in the distance, had yet to cease. Corax walked in again, carrying a covered tray. Even with the short distance from himself to the tent flap, Robert could smell whatever was inside, and it smelled delicious.
"Here, Robert," Corax smiled as he walked over. "I have found you some breakfast. Hopefully it will be satisfactory."
"Nevermore, you got it for me," Robert said. "It could sautéed rat and I'd ask for seconds." He opened the tray, dipping his head low to smell what was inside, and was confronted by quite the sight. Blueberry pancakes, utterly fresh and divine. Eggs, done perfectly. Biscuits, fluffy and flaky. Bacon and sausage, cooked just right. Fruit, somehow still fresh and glistening. To Robert, the smell was like mana from heaven.
But it wasn't until Robert saw the drink on the tray, that same purple-and-blue-swirl and red-sparkle tea - Corax's special tea, he noted automatically - that the mental double take hit him like an Ultra AC/20.
This couldn't have been made by the mess tent.
Robert smiled into the food, soft and private. "Just down to the mess tent, eh Birdie?" he asked as he took a sip of the tea, closing his eyes and letting it coat his raw throat. "So," he continued. "What have I missed, while I was busy losing my mind?"
Corax sat next to Robert, explaining the events of the past day and half. It took him around forty-five minutes. He spoke of clearing the landing zones, the first confirmed KIAs, Commander McEvedy's brief arrest and new reputation, and finally the super-heavy drones and the orbital bombardment that thinned their numbers.
"... And in any case," he finished, "The noises you hear are those drones. It seems one is going for the city, one may be moving towards us here. But I am told the new reinforcements have helped turn the tide somewhat."
Robert hummed, drinking down the last of the tea. He sat back, and brought a hand up to rub at his chin. "So that's the score, eh?" he sighed, rubbing his eyes. "You know," he said, with a sad smile. "Even after all this, it kills me not to be out there."
"Well, out there may end up being here, if the delaying actions did not buy enough time..."
Robert sighed. "Still, not quite the same. I've been running with my boys for near-on forty years now, Nevermore. Doesn't feel right that they're out there fighting without me." He took one last last bite of the food. "Not to say that Chang isn't capable, because I know he is. But still..." he chuckled. "Well, my name's on the company, after all. Feels like I'd ought to be there."
"I can understand that desire," Corax said, sympathetically. "But I also have a conflicting desire of my own..."
"Oh," says Robert absentmindedly, "What's that?"
Corax pauses, then seemed to decide on something, making some kind of choice. It was audible in his next words, and felt in his touch as he took Robert's hand, and held it gently.
"I do not want to see you injured or hurt or worse; I want to be by your side in battle. I do not want to go my separate ways with you when this is done; I want to share my life with you. I do not want to be without your presence in my life, ever again... I..." he paused.
"I want to say that I love you."
At first, Robert didn't react, simply nodding along to the words. However, as their meaning reached his ears, his face went slack, eyes blown wide in shock. "You- I, you..." he pointed to himself with his free hand. "Me?" In his eyes were a mix of hope and dread, excitement and terror, love and fear. His trembling hand raised to cover his mouth, as if to trap any more words inside.
"Yes, you Robert. I love you," Corax says, as if to drive the point home to Robert - and to himself. His hand softly came up, to move Robert's own from his mouth. He leaned in to Robert, and kissed him; a long, slow, loving kiss, quite different to the ones they had shared before. It felt as though it lasted forever, as Corax's arms surrounded Robert in warmth and strength.
For a moment, Robert almost resisted. Memories flashed in his mind: blood-stained blond. The taste of a bloody kiss. Pearl-white teeth soaked in crimson red. A body far too broken for any healing. However, the moment passed, and then Robert leaned into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Corax. The pain was not gone, nor would it ever be, but it was soothed. Soothed by soft touches and warm tea, honeyed words and home-cooked meals.
As they separated, the words finally left him, as if bursting from a damn.
"I love you too," he whispered, urgent and low, like he would die if he didn't say them that very instant. "I love you so much."
Corax looked at Robert, his eyes reflecting his emotions - happiness, love, even disbelief, mixed with desire, and lust, and fear, and caring, and a dozen others besides. Tears began to matte the snow-white feathers of his cheeks."I love you too," he whispered, just as softly. "And I always want to be with you..."
"Goddamnit," Robert said, eyes misty. "You're gonna make me cry." He clung tighter, burying his face in Corax's shoulder.
"Then cry, my love, if you need to," Corax said, holding Robert closer and closer until the larger man was fully in his smaller avian lap.
Robert, after a moment of hesitation, leaned into Corax and let his tears flow, holding onto Corax's flight suit for dear life as he sobbed. Corax let Robert cry, holding him and keeping him warm.
It would be quite a while before either came back up for air.