Chapter Text
It was difficult not to be nervous before testing, not because anything could really go wrong but instead because it would succeed. Vina was drift compatible with someone she had only met a small number of times. But they had sparred ‘so well’ against each other the Commander had decided they would be paired.
Of course she had been run through the whole thing beforehand, how the pons worked and what a neural handshake was. The most difficult thing to do was not to ‘chase the rabbit’ as told by Rehua, who had patted her shoulder and marched off as if nothing was wrong. As if she wasn’t about to have her brain connected to a stranger and have them become one consciousness. She kept up her usual bravado regardless, it was the easiest way to keep her feet moving even though she wanted to turn around and run the other way.
When the government of Outset, had knocked on her doorstep to have her work in the Jaeger Pilot Program sure she was surprised. Outset was one of the largest nations, the fact that their scientists had chosen her meant that she was the right person for it. Even though it didn’t feel like it, it felt more like she was a creature that had been dumped in an environment she wasn’t supposed to be in.
Regardless she had to keep moving forward, past metal shutter doors and into the chamber. A small but well rounded room where they were to be ‘drifted’ or whatever it was called. She had stopped paying attention around the time she had been told that she would be allowed to pilot giant mechs. The idea of fistfighting giant aliens with a giant mech called a Jaeger was probably the thing that had caused her to sign up.
In the room was two chairs set up on either side of a table covered in machinery, the pons they would be using sat on hooks among the wires. She took the chair on the side of the room she had entered into, picking at her nails or hair while she waited.
Oran was extremely nervous. Not only was he supposed to be drifted with a lady who had kicked his ass the first time they met but if he didn’t do well would they kill Gorgamungar? The only friend he had ever had for most if not all of his life after hatching the small kaiju over thirteen years ago.
The only other kaiju, well, half kaiju, in the facility was Rehua, who was also the person to introduce him to his new job. Explaining in detail what he was and wasn’t supposed to do, rules and advice that sounded simple but wasn’t. Don’t chase the rabbit, keep your mind empty, and don’t panic when the drift starts. Things that would be easy if only they didn’t go against how he had lived for all of his life. The metal and flesh kaiju had patted his shoulder, told him ‘good luck’ and pushed him in the direction of the chamber.
The fact that he had been brought onto the project at all baffled him, a bunch of government people showing up at his door gave him a heart attack. At first he had assumed they were there to kill Gorgamungar, though instead they had offered him a job. His education in biology and animal behavior had apparently made him the perfect person to pilot what they called a ‘Jaeger’.
He was supposed to work with someone more based in physical fighting, so that they were in equal parts able to kill kaiju and study them. Except his supposed co-pilot and drift partner had beaten him within seconds of them starting the spar. And though any normal pilots were supposed to be near equal in skill she far outmatched him, yet the Commander had already decided.
The worst of it was that although he knew how the drift would work he was still scared, knowledge was not helping him. What if she was the most embarrassing moments in his life? Like the many times hes fallen up the stairs or broke plates when trying to help his mother do the dishes. What if she though he was a complete loser and wimp and decided she would never be willing to pilot with him?
There was so many things that could go wrong that when he finally opened the door his hands were shaking. He felt like he was going to cry, and did his best to hide his eyes behind his oversized bangs. Taking the seat opposite from Vina, both waited anxiously for the scientist to arrive.
What took mere moments felt like hours for the both of them, before finally the scientist who was supposed to set up their pons and vital monitors appeared. Adjusting the headsets as necessary on them until the monitors all fit whatever the scientist decided they needed to be.
Though both participants were nervous they stayed in their seats, one trying to play off her nervousness and the other on the verge of bawling his eyes out. Once everything that needed setting up was, the scientist stepped out and a voice crackled over the speakers. Instructing them as the first test for drifting began.
-
Oran and Vina had been pilots for nearly two years, their mech Bluebird, sat well cleaned and fixed from their last battle. Together they ate lunch atop it’s helm, watching the pilots of Revolution argue over something on metal platforms near their own mech.
“What do you think they’re arguing about?” Vina hummed, splitting her sandwich in two and handing half over to her partner who happily took it. He ate it greedily, and in return passed her half of his own sandwich which she took without hesitation.
“The efficiency of the electrical wiring probably,” Oran guessed, finishing off the sandwich half he had been given and starting on his fruit. A small amount of his pear slices were passed to his partner, who already had an outstretched hand for them. She had no clue how the wiring in the mechs worked but their fellow pilots sure did, and they argued about it often. The four of them got along well, though those two had variety of arguments linked and unlinked.
Knowing this information, the Bluebird pilots had quickly learned that they could have a meal and a show if the others were near. Every once in a while Rehua joined them in what they had started to call ‘pilot watching’. Where the two of them watched the people working on the mechs or the other two pilots in their day to day from a vantage point.
“You should throw something at them,” her boy nodded sagely, handing her some of his grapes as she passed him some of her crackers. She nodded with him, taking one of the round purple fruits to toss in the air before catching it and eating it.
“Do you think if I hit Baldric’s head with something metal it would make a funny noise?” His captain pondered, to which he cackled at the thought of what sound it might make. The generic metal pipe sound was the first that came to mind, making him giggle harder.
They laughed together for a moment, taking several minutes to calm down and resume eating their lunch. By the time they had finished, their fellow pilots had still not stopped arguing over whatever. Gorgamungar had joined them by then, the small kaiju snuggling up to Oran’s side as if he was the size of a cat. Though he was almost three times the size of a cow, Vina had theorized that kaiju had the mind sets of any large dog.
“Oh wait! What if you sent Gorgamungar to annoy them?” Vina suggested, said beast perked up at his name but stayed at his master’s side. Bright blue tongue lolling out to slobber over the tops of her boy’s work coveralls he was stuck in.
“Do you wanna go say ‘hi’?” Oran baby talked the kaiju, rubbing aggressively at the sides of his face as the beast rumbled in return at him. Then took a left over piece of cracker and tossed it onto the metal walkways near the other two pilots.
Gorgamungar went running after, crashing into the arguing men and distracting them long enough for the Bluebird pilots to slip away. Laughing all the while as they made their way back to their dorms, jokes and stories carrying between them without pause.
-
Drifting was an odd feeling, one moment your only one person and the next it’s as if you’ve been alone all your life and have finally met someone else. Being known so wholly and utterly was an odd feeling that both of them had taken many tests and drills to get used to. As the first pilots of their branch, they had no one else to ask about what was normal and what wasn’t. They had to decide on their own what it meant to be linked, two lives made into one living being encased in tons of steel.
At first it had been awkward, how do you breach the gap of ‘hey so I know we just lived through the entirety of each others lives but do you wanna go get lunch?’. Living through another persons pains, happiness, sorrows, mourning, and very existence was something. But when they were linked it was as if there was no need to talk at all, communication was possible just through a simple thought.
It had been Oran who had reached out first, bringing a few small handmade cupcakes to her. As they had sat eating them the discussion had started choppily, a simple talk about baking. Until it had gone from baking to science to food preferences to piloting their mech, before they knew it they had become inseparable.
-
Announcer voice: AND NOW FOR WHAT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! SMUT.
Bc Baldric and Tannhauser need anger management somehow ;]
It started off simple, they acted as if they hated each other, anger was easier then admitted anything. So they yelled and they fought, over anything and everything as long as they were letting off steam somehow. But after their first drift it was hard to ignore it, the almost electric feeling that had ran up their spines the moment it had settled.
The technology to link was available for them at all times, that way pilots could train as much as necessary. This was one of those times, where a short scuffle about a mistake made during a battle with heat still running through their veins had pushed them. They found themselves at the training sphere, where they could drift together and then run preprogrammed simulations. Both of them too distracted to think their decision through, there was a reason why emotions were to be put aside when drifting.
It knocked the wind out of Baldric, the feeling of passion that flooded his mind and left nothing untouched. Tannhauser fared no better, a curling mix of emotions made something burning grow in his stomach. Not for the first time they realize their mistake too late, too late for either of them to deny what they’ve done or that they aren’t ready to walk away.
Baldric moves first, out of his seat and in Tannhauser’s in a moment’s notice, pon still wrapped around the base of his neck. It’s connection to his partner made his intentions clear as day, the other man’s hands already bruising his hips the moment he’s in range. Panting desperately through the fabric over his face the desert wanderer didn’t resist having his shoulders shoved against the back of his seat. The force of it rattling the small metal cage, but neither spent any time to remember if the room sealed.
The link made it feel as thought they were burning alive, the press of hands mirrored on their bodies. A phantom sensation of pressure on Baldric’s shoulders was enough to drive him forward. Flinging off his protective pilot helmet and tearing down Tannhauser’s mask to smash their lips together angrily.
Teeth and lips clashing hungrily, desperately, as they have done with almost everything. With something not quite anger but not quite love, the want to hurt since both knew that better then gentleness. Rough movements as Tannhauser struggled opening their body suits for training, prosthetic hands not built for grabbing small things like zippers. Baldric swatted his hands away, easily pulling the garment off the other’s shoulders and his own done to his hips.
It took no time for them to get lost again, one being in two bodies that couldn’t decide how it felt to have four hands and one mind. Too busy trying to become one to think anything over, the press of skin on skin not enough for them.
In a shuffle of movements Tannhauser was leaning backwards to allow Baldric to fit their legs together like a puzzle. Clothed croches slotted together so that the metal man could rut desperately against his partner. Sending waves of pleasure through the both of them, bursting through their link as spots in their vision when the feeling overwhelmed them.
He wasted no time in mouthing at the others jawline, gnawing gently at the exposed gums and acid burned skin. Earning a shudder from Baldric that was mirrored on his own body, phantom mouths kissed at his own scarred jaw. Though he wasn’t doing it consciously, he could hear himself muttering as he worked, praise slipping from between his lips. Above him there were moans, on rhythm with the hurried rocking between them.
Neither were willing to take the time to fully take their clothes off, let alone the seconds it took to simply pull down their boxers. Contact through fabric was enough, Baldric was willing to deal with the slight discomfort of wet fabric. This repeating pattern of blowing of steam while linked had made them both much more intimate with discomfort. And the awkward walk back to their dorm as their cum rapidly cooled in their boxers and body suits.
But for now they were caught up in the madness that came with being linked, losing themselves in pleasure that shouldn’t have been as good as it was. Pathetic rutting and stuttered groans, the clattering of metal as they moved entirely ignored.
Neither lasted very long, Tannhauser cumming right before Baldric, the spike in pleasure like a shock to his veins. Freezing him in place, too overwhelmed by the sudden climax to properly think let alone ease the tension in his muscles. As the metal man arched beneath him, hardness firmly pressed into his own, giving neither any relief.
Once their veins finally cooled and their anger fueled passion had faded, they were left tired and in need of a shower.
Slowly but surely, they picked themselves back up, though struggled to reclothe themselves in their drift suits. Deft fingers zipping up the back of Tannhauser’s suit before his partner moved to put his helmet on. In that time the metal soldier shut off the drift simulation and removed their pons, the connection between them resuming it’s static state.
“So, how do you feel about-”
“Shower first.” Baldric interrupted, already knowing what the other was about to say even without them being drifted.
“And then I get to fuck you?”
“Shower.”
-
“Vina, I wanted to ask you something.” Tannhauser acknowledged, watching as she wiped off the makeup she had worn for the day. Off to the side Oran was putting on moisturizer, sat on the side of their shared bathtub.
“Go ahead, bud!” She invited, tossing the makeup wipes and moving on to tie her hair up and out of her face. Once she was done with her several feet of curly stark white hair she moved over to her Jaeger partner and tied his as well.
“What do you experience when drifted with Oran?” The prosthetic limbed man queried, Vina and Oran moved in sync as they went about their nightly routines.
Though they had different habits they stepped around each other as if in a drawn out dance that they had practiced for years. It felt almost like they were still drifted together, working as one being in fluid movements. The soldier could almost call watching it as awkward, as if he was seeing something uncanny or attempting to be apart of something he wasn’t supposed to.
“I- well, it’s hard to explain.” She struggled, the words for the experience were exactly words as it was feelings. Images and emotions that weren’t hers but were at the same time, knowledge that left her the moment they were unlinked.
“Kinda feels calming,” Oran noted, freckled face scrunching as he thought it over. Though Vina seemed to agree with him, humming her agreement as she applied patches below her eyes.
“Yeah, like having a tensed muscle and suddenly you’re able to relax,” she explained further.
“You don’t… feel anything intense?” Tannhauser prodded, his own experiences with Baldric had caused him some worry about drift effects.
He could understand emotions getting out of hand, being inside and a part of someone else’s mind was bound to mix strong feelings. But pleasure was another thing entirely, and the intensity of it when they were linked was startling. If their fellow pilots were experiencing similar things perhaps he could brush it off as some odd effect that the drift technology had.
“Now that you mention it…” she trailed off, seemingly shocked by something that had occurred to her. The answer instead came from Oran, who had seemingly come to the same realization about their link.
“We’ve never really had any moments of ‘intense emotions’, huh.” The youngest pilot mumbled, almost just to himself with how he seemed to be contemplating it.
“Hmm… when we were in trouble, with that one kaiju who had the saw mouth.” Vina pointed out, the fight that had taken weeks for both pilots to heal from and for Bluebird to be repaired. “That might have been the only time.”
“That was really scary.” Oran shuddered at the reminder, and Tannhauser took a moment to mourn his peace as realization dawned on him.
“Not that type of intensity,” he hesitated to explain, though the blond was the youngest he was supposedly an adult. But it was Vina who understood him first, whatever reaction he was expecting didn’t happen, instead she burst out laughing.
“Tanny, first off; to be honest even if that does cross my mind the drift just- i don’t know… erases it? I guess is a good way to explain it. Second; Oran’s asexual, he’d have to be the one to cross the line and he doesn’t want to so it’s not happening.” She leaned against the sink counter, pausing her routine to give him her full attention. “We’re in each other’s minds, it’s kinda important that we respect each other’s boundaries and way of life. Are you and Baldric having trouble with your drifting? Seems a little odd that if it’s some kind of side effect only you guys are experiencing it.”
“You guys are having sex?? While drifted?? But- that- no wonder you guys are always acting so weird around each other,” Oran rambled.
“Oh shit, is that what you’re doing?” Vina laughed, a stark difference of amusement to her piloting partner’s shocked expression.
“Am I weird?”
“Absolutely.” “Aren’t we all?”
-
The kaiju advanced quickly, four legs moving in sync like a dog though it’s head resembled that of a shark. It wasn’t allowed to get far, Revolution’s right arm split open to form it’s cannon accessory to fire at the monster. The first shot took out it’s front legs, toppling it and sending it sprawling across the ground, crashing through the parking lot. Any attempts to get up was cut short as Bluebirds rifle canon fired a shot through it’s head from several miles over.
She was drawn back into her own fight, easily tackled by a larger kaiju that had a crab like appearance. Revolution acted quickly, the top half of her form disconnecting major links as her feet set down anchor for balance. This allowed Tannhauser free movement which he took to follow the moving target, with Baldric taking control of canon fire.
Rapid shooting of explosives that slowed the kaiju down and allowed Bluebird to disconnect her arms into two main forms again. Her wing arms moved backwards, jets put on full power to move forward at max speed as she equipped her sword accessory. A well practiced dash into a long jump brought her high into the air, letting her soar down to spear through the kaiju on her sword.
“You boys alright?” Vina’s voice crackled over their coms, Bluebird herself turning to face them once her sword was removed from the beasts skull. Blue blood poured from the metal, the smooth edge of it cutting cleanly though thick armoured hide.
“It barely scrapped us.” Tannhauser boasted, drawn from looking over the giant corpse to turn to the other Jaeger.
“Right leg is shot.” Baldric deadpanned, earning an incredulous shout from his partner and a noise of concern from Oran.