[ it takes her four days to come to a decision. it takes her another three days to work up the courage to go and see him. though she doesn't exactly see him at first. she's got work, so she spends the majority of her day with gipsy. it leaves her sweaty, covered in grease, and a general mess.
there's a locker room in the shatterdome where alison keeps a spare change of clothes for when things like this happen. but instead of using the showers there, she grabs hers clothes and steals away into the hallways. earlier she'd charmed one of the younger clerks into telling her which room tendo was staying in, so she heads there.
it's empty when she gets there, which suits her fine. she dumps her bag that's really almost more of a messenger bag than a purse next to the bed and heads into the shower. the nervous butterflies have started up in her stomach again. it's not that she's nervous about telling him that she's ready to fight tooth and nail for them--she's pretty sure he's going to be thrilled with that part. it's the other stuff, the explanation of why she stumbled so hard, that makes her fretful. she knows what to say, but that's because she's spent the better part of two days rehearsing it in her head.
she keeps on repeating the words over and over in her head as she lets the nearly scalding water wash away the dirt and grime. she repeats them silently to herself as she dries off when she's done and as she opens the door of the tiny bathroom to the bedroom it's attached to and--oh. ]
[ He walks into his bunk and he sees her messenger bag, hears the shower running and has to sit down.
He's not ready for this. He's missed her a lot but he hasn't really gotten around to processing his own feelings on things, has managed to throw himself so easily into his work that he hasn't had time to think about how much it hurts to look at the whole equation that includes him and her and his best friend and not know how the numbers are going to fall.
He's not going to lie: he's thought about leaving. He'd told her he wouldn't and he really doesn't know if he could, but he thinks sometimes, in the dead of night that maybe they dove into marriage too soon. Maybe this was long-time coming, it had been Yancy and her first, after all ( Brad doesn't count, Tendo knows he was a rebound ). Maybe, maybe, maybe. ]
Hey.
[ He should be happy. Alison's here and he'd told her to think about things before coming to talk to him, but he'd seen how Yancy had hightailed it out of LOCCENT, can only surmise that his best friend already knows, it's not like Yancy Becket is slow, he would have seen the missing ring on Tendo's finger.
( God. It's me, it's Tendo. I need some advice. What do you do when you can't bring yourself to get angry at a betrayal because your love for two people is just too strong? )
Well, if you're Tendo Choi, you let your face fall into your hands. No, fuck you, he's not crying. And if he is, that's no one's business but his and Alison's because she's in the room with him. ]
[ all thoughts of launching straight into her prepared speech leave abruptly as he puts his face in his hands. completely ignoring the clothes in her bag, alison tucks her towel more firmly around her and moves to his side. she hesitates for just a moment before leaning against his side and rubbing small circles on his back with her hand. ]
I'm sorry. I'd have called first, but this just seemed easier. [ her voice is a soft murmur--this whole moment feels as fragile as spun glass. like if she speaks too loud everything will shatter.
she leans her cheek against his shoulder and breathes in deeply. right now, the last thing she wants to do is say something wrong and make him feel even worse. but there's so much she needs to say that she feels like she's going to explode. ] I love you. I love you more than I ever thought I could love someone, and the enormity of that... it scares the shit out of me, Tendo. [ she sucks in a shaky breath and closes her eyes. ] But I want you, this, us--I want to work it out more than I want anything else in the world.
[ as she speaks, the hand that's resting on his back curls into a lose fist around the fabric of his shirt. it's a nervous gesture. right now, alison feels like she's going to puke because this isn't what she'd planned on saying and he's a mess and she doesn't want to make that worse. ]
I'm sorry. I don't know if that helps, but it's where things stand with me.
[ He won't lie, to hear her tell him that she loves him that she wants them to work, that this is how things stand for her -- it lets him breathe. Because it's like he hasn't been breathing lately.
Tendo looks up from his hands, feels the way her fingers are fisted on the back of his shirt and he can't say a thing, wouldn't know what to say, really. If she'd decided otherwise he would have gladly let her go, because if she had to leave him for someone else, he'd be glad it was Yancy. Yes, the guy who is supposedly his best friend, someone who shouldn't have done this, but nobody's a saint, at least he'd know Alison would be in good hands.
He wraps his arms around Alison then, his head pressed against the towel wrapped around her, his shoulders shaking because he loves her a whole damn lot and it hurt to walk away but when you love someone set them free, right? And if they come back. Well. ]
[ It's been a week since Raleigh Becket went missing from his hospital room and dropped off the map. It's been two since the Marshal pulled back his resources, dropping the search dead in the water. If the boy doesn't want to be found, he won't be found but Tendo suspects that Pentecost already knows where the kid is. He just isn't telling anyone else in case somebody gets it into their heads to force him to come back.
He's up on one of the elevated catwalks, a cigarette in hand, the sound of maintenance filling his ears. He started smoking again after Yancy Becket died, threw out the patches that he hadn't used, because it's not as if the goddamn mother hen of the PPDC was still around to give him grief over his one vice.
He smokes reds. The hard stuff. It keeps him grounded. ] If you're going to tell me to stop smoking, fair warning, I won't.
[ He looks over at Alison and offers her a wan smile. ] Fresh pack. Flown all the way in. Be a waste not to use them.
[ guilts been eating alison up inside for the past week. she's been agonizing over whether or not the decision to help raleigh escape from the hospital was a good one. it was probably best for the kid--he was a wreck and the hospital wasn't helping. if anything, alison would say it was hurting. and being around the ppdc was just going to do the same thing. she'd dipped into savings to get him some clothes, some cash, and a prepaid cellphone with her number and tendo's programmed in. she's texted him a few times in the past week but so far, no reply.
alison is desperately hoping he's not dead in a ditch somewhere.
she hasn't told tendo about her little adventure with raleigh yet. she's pretty sure the marshal knows, if the look he gave her yesterday is any indication. and it's not like it's hard to figure out. she visited him, he went missing. there were probably security cameras that picked up the whole thing. it's not until she finds tendo smoking on one of the catwalks that she finally screws up the courage to let him know. ]
I don't mind. [ is not what she wanted to say, but probably needs saying. though she vastly prefers the smell of cigars to cigarettes.
she shakes her head slightly as she looks out over all the bustle. ] Wasilla. He was in Wasilla six days ago. [ there's no grease under her nails for once, so she indulges in a nervous tic she thought she left in childhood and bites at her thumbnail. ] We could probably track him down, if you want. But he's not--I don't think sticking around or forcing him to come back would be a good idea.
[ He takes a drag from his half-smoked stick and kills it on the rail before slipping it into the empty first pack that he keeps around to collect the butts in. It's a habit from his days as a cadet in Kodiak working on the proving grounds as a junior j-tech. Pilot or not, the instructors at the Jaeger Academy were hardasses who were particular about keeping them all in line You're free to smoke but your work stations are to be treated like your personal space, so if you shit in your space then what you are is disgusting.
He'd had a suspicion that she might have known something about the kid's disappearance, and when he walks over he reaches out to cup the back of her neck with the hand he didn't hold the cigarette with before he presses a kiss to her forehead.
She looks a little bit sick with guilt and worry. ] I think that the kid needed space, and he wasn't going to get it here.
[ They are the hardest words he's ever had to say because Raleigh's older brother was his best friend and Yancy's gone, buried at the bottom of the Pacific because the ocean was too greedy to give his body back to them. ] I want to believe that he'll come back, but the chances of that are slim.
[ He notes then how she continues to pick at her nails and feels his heart go out to her. ] Hey, hey. [ He takes both of her hands in his. threads his fingers through hers and watches her face, his voice soft, gentle. ] None of that, gorgeous.
If you need to hold onto something, hold onto me instead.
[ she can't help but smile when he laces their fingers together and says that. it's just so corny. she's got no idea how he can say it and make it sound like more than just a cheesy line, but somehow he does. ]
How can I resist an offer like that?
[ she unlinks their hands just so she can wrap her arms around tendo's middle and rest her head on his shoulder. it's nice to just be held for a little while. the past few weeks have just been awful. between yancy dying, worrying about raleigh in the hospital, worrying about raleigh out of the hospital... well. alison's ready for a break from the gloominess that seems to envelope everything recently. ]
He's got a phone. He's got our numbers. Maybe he'll call when he's got his head on a little straighter.
[ she doesn't really believe it, but she can't help but hold on to the hope that maybe someday he will. who knows if holding on to that hope will be a bad idea in the long run. who cares. right now, she just needs to hold onto it to keep herself from worrying too much. ]
[ it's tendo who calls naomi up at about two in the morning when alison's contractions start. he calls her because he says he can't drive, he knows he's the man of the house, but his girl has just gone into labor naomi, send help and if she wonders why he hasn't rung the beckets, it doesn't occur to her until later when both boys are marching down the hall. (her daughter's curled up in the couch that comes with the private room that alison's in, because there was no time to call a sitter and no way was she leaving a seven-year-old alone in the house. )
so the boys go in to check on the lovebirds and the latest addition to the nest. she slips back in a half hour later when they finally leave, dragging tendo by the back of his shirt. just need to celebrate, raleigh grins and she smiles back and says just go.
she peers into the room to find little yancy curled up with her aunt alison on the bed, cooing over the new little bundle of joy. ] Al, the Beckets just kidnapped your husband.
[ childbirth is a simultaneously easier and harder than alison was expecting. it's easier because she has a blessedly short labor and it's harder because apparently her husband can't keep his shit together when she's in pain. sometime when she's not so tired, she's probably going to laugh at him for freaking out the way he did. and, you know, it's probably a good thing that naomi didn't call the boys because then she likely would've had to deal with freaked out beckets not being allowed into the room while she screamed as well as a freaked out husband. ]
Good. That means he won't be hovering around me anymore. [ alison could really use some downtime. and a nap. taking a nap sometime soon sounds like a good idea. ]
[ she's closing the door behind her when alison asks if she wants to see the baby. she hasn't yet, so the smile on her face is a definite yes and if she tosses ali a sympathetic look, it's only because she knows what going into labor is like. ] Someone's a handsome little boy.
[ her hand comes to rest on little yancy's back and her little girl scoots over to make room. naomi doesn't miss the look of a kid ready to drop off though, so she kisses her daughter on the forehead and banishes her to the couch. if yancy gives her a mutinous look, it's ruined by the yawn that just drives naomi's point home. ]
You look totally beat, Ali. [ that's a small, commiserating laugh ] Who knew Tendo could be such a girl.
I did. [ it's said with all fondness and amusement. she loves tendo with all her heart and soul, but she really didn't expect him to be any help when she gave birth. pacifism and protective instincts don't really mesh too well, after all.
she yawns, and thanks to the little boy in her arms she can't really cover it up. ] Mm, sorry. I probably feel about ten times as tired as I look. Apparently pushing something the size of a small watermelon out of a very small hole is exhausting work. Who'd've thunk it?
[The whole fucking point of the Jaegers is to protect people. To save lives. And that--didn't happen that night. It started with a boat of ten fisherman that they dropped because the kaiju took them off guard and there's no coming back from there and it just kept coming at them, driving them back back back until they're not protecting the miracle mile anymore, they're fighting a battle on two million people's doorsteps and once it gets to this point, it's all just collateral damage.
The Shatterdome is destroyed. Half the techs are gone. Tendo is gone. Just like that. And what's worse is that the Becket boys have no idea if it was Gipsy or the kaiju that took them out. In the middle of the fight, they were fighting to stay alive, to kill this son of a bitch, they weren't thinking about the buildings they ran into until it's over, it's dead and their home, their crews, their best friend are all dead too.
Afterwards, it's just clean up. Burying their dead, salvaging what they can. The Anchorage Shatterdome isn't going to reopen, they're relocating down to Vancouver and that makes sense, but it still feels like the final nail in the coffin. Like they failed to save their home and their friends and there's no making it right ever.
Raleigh and Yancy keep fighting because that's what they do. They're Rangers and Gipsy more or less escaped the fight unharmed. No worse than usual and it's easy enough to repair her. And Alison survived the attack too, though fuck knows how, he's never asked her. He saw her at Tendo's funeral for a brief moment, knows that she stayed with them during the move but hasn't really seen her or tried to find her because there's just. Too much there. Too much history. Too much like he killed her chance at happiness because fuck man, Tendo was so over the moon for her, they would've been great together.
And maybe he should've predicted that it'd all come to a head someday. He just didn't think it'd be like this. It starts with the one year anniversary of Knifehead's attack, when the Shatterdome gathers together and they all drink to their fallen comrades and maybe Yancy has one too many or it's just grief and guilt and old lust coming to the surface but he finds himself stumbling down the hall with Alison and how they actually get to her bunk seems to be a fucking miracle since they don't seem to stop kissing or touching or trying to strip off clothes the second they leave the gathering.
He's maybe the worst person in the world, killed his best friend and then slept with the girl of his dreams, yeah you're a real class act, Yancy Becket.]
[ knifehead is a nightmare come to life. alison's fairly open about the fact that she lost family to trespasser. they were killed somewhere around day three or four of its rampage and it's what drove her to join the ppdc. ( well, that and her minor weapons obsession. ) so seeing a kaiju rip through her new home is really difficult. especially since it kills tendo.
of all her friends in the shatterdome, tendo is the one she was probably the closest to. and not just because they'd dated. if you can call going on one date and sleeping together "dated." the two of them just clicked really well. better than she clicked with almost anyone else in their group of friends. he was easy to talk to and they shared a sense of humor. it would've been very easily to fall in love with him. and it's probably because he was over the moon for her and agreed to go to dinner with her that she's still alive.
she'd still been in his bunk, half-awake when they were told to evacuate. she'd gotten dressed in her skirt and one of his shirts with his blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and tromped out into the snow. it wasn't until later that she learned tendo had refused to leave his post even though it looked like loccent was going to be hit. he'd had a job to do so he was going to do it and try to keep the alarms going for everyone else. it was stupid, and self-sacrificial, and so very him that alison spent a large part of the month or two after knifehead angry at him.
the rest of the time she was withdrawn. the once friendly and open girl closed herself off. the loss of so many coworkers and friends was the straw the broke the camel's back. it wasn't enough to just keep people at arms length anymore. she didn't talk to hardly anyone, pushed people away, and justified it by saying it meant it wouldn't hurt when the kaiju took something else away from her.
except she's an extrovert and naturally friendly so it takes maybe nine months before she's so fucking sick of it all that she says fuck it and starts talking to people again. though she doesn't really strike it up again properly ( you know, if you squint and tilt your head ) with yancy until the anniversary of knifehead. when they tumble into bed. she's not really that drunk and she's pretty sure yancy isn't either. which is both a good thing and a bad thing. it's a good thing because it means they'll probably be able to talk about this like rational adults and maybe do it again. it's bad because she gets the feeling yancy would like to blame this on the alcohol and grief.
he's also very obviously guilting himself. alison knows that expression well enough. it's surprisingly similar to his "i'm worried about you and about to mother hen the shit out of you" expression.
alison pushes herself up so she can look him in the eye and raises an eyebrow at him. ] I can practically hear you beating yourself up. Cut that shit out.
[He doesn't actually expect her to address it, can't they just go take a shower, separately and go back to the lives, he'll go back his bunk and they won't... talk about this. Logically, he knows that Tendo and Alison were really not an item before Tendo died but it still feels like he's betraying his friend by sleeping with her.]
Alison... [Yancy sighs and moves to sit up in her bed.] Maybe I should just go then.
[ leaving just won't do. alison puts a hand on his shoulder to push him back down as she moves to straddle him so he can't get up without taking her with him. and then she gives him a hard stare because really, yancy? this is how you react to some frankly amazing sex?
okay, it's kind of understandable given the fact that they both miss tendo a whole lot. but still. this just ain't right. ]
If you don't think that he would want his brother and his girl to find some kind of happiness, you didn't know him at all.
[ In about two weeks' time, Naomi Sokolov will walk down to the mess up to where Raleigh Becket and Tendo Choi are debating over who gets to eat the last bagel and ask the kid if he'd be okay to babysit little Yancy Sokolov on a Thursday night because she has a date.
( But let's not get ahead of ourselves. )
It's really early in the morning on a Saturday and Tendo's watching Alison tuck Naomi into their couch, the remains of what was supposed to be a girls' night in drinking a huge factor in what Tendo is pretty much sure is the last time he ever wants to see one of his good friends cry like that.
He's waiting by the door, arms crossed over his chest as his wife clears up the coffee table a little, a half-drunk bottle of tequila in one hand, an ash tray in the other. ] If he wasn't my best friend with a whole world of hurt on his shoulders from stupid, fucking Knifehead, I'd actually suggest that you use him for target practice for those new upgrades.
I might do it anyways. Or at least slap him upside the head until he gets a clue.
[ if clue bats were a real thing, alison would have hit yancy in the ass with it a long time ago. she really loves him. he's one of her best friends and her family in all the way that matters. but sometimes he is such a dumbass. it makes her want to rip her hair out.
especially when it ends up in both naomi and alison's front room a mess. the bottle of tequila and the ashtray both get stashed in the kitchen, and then alison tugs tendo into their bedroom. no need to have this conversation somewhere where it might wake naomi up. ]
[ he's not a meddling mother hen like how yancy used to be, but damn if he hasn't picked up a thing or two because someone's got to balance out the stupid that yancy can be sometimes. ]
Yeah, I am. [ he sighs. ] It just seems to unnecessary, you know, babe. Because it's not like he isn't even the slightest bit in love with her -- tell me I am wrong about this and I will eat my nicotine patch.
[ he slumps onto the bed and lies back, mouth in a frown and eyes staring at the ceiling. softly, he goes: ] Would serve him right if Mimi decides to move on. [ he doesn't really believe that. doesn't think it'd make anyone happy because if the whole goddamn PPDC knows that becket and sokolov are dancing around each other forever like a pair of cranes... he drags his hands over his face. yancy, you dumbass. ]
[ she crawls onto the bed after him, resting her head on his shoulder. ]
You're not wrong. [ even a blind man could see that yancy's madly in love with naomi. naomi gets a pass on not realizing since she's spent so long thinking he would only ever be a father to their child, not a lover as well. ] But you and I both know that Yancy wouldn't know love if it danced in front of him naked.
[ alison's just as frustrated as tendo, really. it sucks just sitting by and watching the two of them dance around each other and cause all kinds of heartache. ... but what if they didn't have to just sit around? ]
You know what we should do? We should play matchmaker.
[Raleigh Becket is not-- he's a little-- not, okay he's pretty drunk. He won't admit it, but he is because he's a fucking lightweight to begin with and one can only have so much shitty beer in five years and none of it was nearly enough in one sitting to get him anything besides mildly buzzed and he might have saved the world, might have closed the breach, might have nearly died in the process but he's just like a sixteen year old girl sometimes.
Right now it's because he's pretty sure he's in love with Mako but also pretty convinced right now that they're never going to date because she's never given him any indication otherwise.
It's been like six months since Pitfall but drunk Raleigh's brain doesn't care about that right now.]
I love the blue streak in her hair. It's awesome. It's hot.
it's wonderful is what it is and that was already in my autofill haha
[ raleigh's always been a hilarious drunk. he's an even more hilarious drunk when he ends up with his head in alison's lap and starts rambling about how in love he is with his co-pilot. who isn't stupid but really needs to open her eyes a little more because the two of them are mad for each other and apparently they're the only people who can't see it.
but that's a conversation for a time when alison isn't laughing at drunk raleigh and petting him.
i mean--running her fingers through his hair. ]
You've got it bad, puppy. Next thing you know you're going to be waxing poetic about her cardigans.
[Oh that hand in his hair is nice-- wait, what did she just call him?
To be fair, it's perfectly logical that he and Mako are taking this slow. Because she just lost her father figure and she's grieving and they kind of got to know each other really well in about thirty six hours, that slowing down afterwards actually seems nice.
He just. Really wants to kiss her. And maybe get a little boob grab in, is that so much to ask.]
I'll even do it in French. Je t'aime tu sweater, Mako.
[Yeah, that's not... really a good sentence in French but A for effort, Rals.]
[ he's in her phone as ANNOYING LABRADOODLE, he really should've expected to be called puppy sooner.
and for the record, it's really hilarious when he starts trying to talk in french while he's drunk. so hilarious that alison is having a really, really, really hard time trying not to laugh at him and his inability to pronounce anything. ]
Only you would compliment someone's sweater instead of something normal like their eyes or their hair.
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because i can never resist making up
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there's a locker room in the shatterdome where alison keeps a spare change of clothes for when things like this happen. but instead of using the showers there, she grabs hers clothes and steals away into the hallways. earlier she'd charmed one of the younger clerks into telling her which room tendo was staying in, so she heads there.
it's empty when she gets there, which suits her fine. she dumps her bag that's really almost more of a messenger bag than a purse next to the bed and heads into the shower. the nervous butterflies have started up in her stomach again. it's not that she's nervous about telling him that she's ready to fight tooth and nail for them--she's pretty sure he's going to be thrilled with that part. it's the other stuff, the explanation of why she stumbled so hard, that makes her fretful. she knows what to say, but that's because she's spent the better part of two days rehearsing it in her head.
she keeps on repeating the words over and over in her head as she lets the nearly scalding water wash away the dirt and grime. she repeats them silently to herself as she dries off when she's done and as she opens the door of the tiny bathroom to the bedroom it's attached to and--oh. ]
Hey.
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He's not ready for this. He's missed her a lot but he hasn't really gotten around to processing his own feelings on things, has managed to throw himself so easily into his work that he hasn't had time to think about how much it hurts to look at the whole equation that includes him and her and his best friend and not know how the numbers are going to fall.
He's not going to lie: he's thought about leaving. He'd told her he wouldn't and he really doesn't know if he could, but he thinks sometimes, in the dead of night that maybe they dove into marriage too soon. Maybe this was long-time coming, it had been Yancy and her first, after all ( Brad doesn't count, Tendo knows he was a rebound ). Maybe, maybe, maybe. ]
Hey.
[ He should be happy. Alison's here and he'd told her to think about things before coming to talk to him, but he'd seen how Yancy had hightailed it out of LOCCENT, can only surmise that his best friend already knows, it's not like Yancy Becket is slow, he would have seen the missing ring on Tendo's finger.
( God. It's me, it's Tendo. I need some advice. What do you do when you can't bring yourself to get angry at a betrayal because your love for two people is just too strong? )
Well, if you're Tendo Choi, you let your face fall into your hands. No, fuck you, he's not crying. And if he is, that's no one's business but his and Alison's because she's in the room with him. ]
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I'm sorry. I'd have called first, but this just seemed easier. [ her voice is a soft murmur--this whole moment feels as fragile as spun glass. like if she speaks too loud everything will shatter.
she leans her cheek against his shoulder and breathes in deeply. right now, the last thing she wants to do is say something wrong and make him feel even worse. but there's so much she needs to say that she feels like she's going to explode. ] I love you. I love you more than I ever thought I could love someone, and the enormity of that... it scares the shit out of me, Tendo. [ she sucks in a shaky breath and closes her eyes. ] But I want you, this, us--I want to work it out more than I want anything else in the world.
[ as she speaks, the hand that's resting on his back curls into a lose fist around the fabric of his shirt. it's a nervous gesture. right now, alison feels like she's going to puke because this isn't what she'd planned on saying and he's a mess and she doesn't want to make that worse. ]
I'm sorry. I don't know if that helps, but it's where things stand with me.
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Tendo looks up from his hands, feels the way her fingers are fisted on the back of his shirt and he can't say a thing, wouldn't know what to say, really. If she'd decided otherwise he would have gladly let her go, because if she had to leave him for someone else, he'd be glad it was Yancy. Yes, the guy who is supposedly his best friend, someone who shouldn't have done this, but nobody's a saint, at least he'd know Alison would be in good hands.
He wraps his arms around Alison then, his head pressed against the towel wrapped around her, his shoulders shaking because he loves her a whole damn lot and it hurt to walk away but when you love someone set them free, right? And if they come back. Well. ]
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:'(
[ It's been a week since Raleigh Becket went missing from his hospital room and dropped off the map. It's been two since the Marshal pulled back his resources, dropping the search dead in the water. If the boy doesn't want to be found, he won't be found but Tendo suspects that Pentecost already knows where the kid is. He just isn't telling anyone else in case somebody gets it into their heads to force him to come back.
He's up on one of the elevated catwalks, a cigarette in hand, the sound of maintenance filling his ears. He started smoking again after Yancy Becket died, threw out the patches that he hadn't used, because it's not as if the goddamn mother hen of the PPDC was still around to give him grief over his one vice.
He smokes reds. The hard stuff. It keeps him grounded. ] If you're going to tell me to stop smoking, fair warning, I won't.
[ He looks over at Alison and offers her a wan smile. ] Fresh pack. Flown all the way in. Be a waste not to use them.
8C
alison is desperately hoping he's not dead in a ditch somewhere.
she hasn't told tendo about her little adventure with raleigh yet. she's pretty sure the marshal knows, if the look he gave her yesterday is any indication. and it's not like it's hard to figure out. she visited him, he went missing. there were probably security cameras that picked up the whole thing. it's not until she finds tendo smoking on one of the catwalks that she finally screws up the courage to let him know. ]
I don't mind. [ is not what she wanted to say, but probably needs saying. though she vastly prefers the smell of cigars to cigarettes.
she shakes her head slightly as she looks out over all the bustle. ] Wasilla. He was in Wasilla six days ago. [ there's no grease under her nails for once, so she indulges in a nervous tic she thought she left in childhood and bites at her thumbnail. ] We could probably track him down, if you want. But he's not--I don't think sticking around or forcing him to come back would be a good idea.
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He'd had a suspicion that she might have known something about the kid's disappearance, and when he walks over he reaches out to cup the back of her neck with the hand he didn't hold the cigarette with before he presses a kiss to her forehead.
She looks a little bit sick with guilt and worry. ] I think that the kid needed space, and he wasn't going to get it here.
[ They are the hardest words he's ever had to say because Raleigh's older brother was his best friend and Yancy's gone, buried at the bottom of the Pacific because the ocean was too greedy to give his body back to them. ] I want to believe that he'll come back, but the chances of that are slim.
[ He notes then how she continues to pick at her nails and feels his heart go out to her. ] Hey, hey. [ He takes both of her hands in his. threads his fingers through hers and watches her face, his voice soft, gentle. ] None of that, gorgeous.
If you need to hold onto something, hold onto me instead.
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How can I resist an offer like that?
[ she unlinks their hands just so she can wrap her arms around tendo's middle and rest her head on his shoulder. it's nice to just be held for a little while. the past few weeks have just been awful. between yancy dying, worrying about raleigh in the hospital, worrying about raleigh out of the hospital... well. alison's ready for a break from the gloominess that seems to envelope everything recently. ]
He's got a phone. He's got our numbers. Maybe he'll call when he's got his head on a little straighter.
[ she doesn't really believe it, but she can't help but hold on to the hope that maybe someday he will. who knows if holding on to that hope will be a bad idea in the long run. who cares. right now, she just needs to hold onto it to keep herself from worrying too much. ]
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[ it's tendo who calls naomi up at about two in the morning when alison's contractions start. he calls her because he says he can't drive, he knows he's the man of the house, but his girl has just gone into labor naomi, send help and if she wonders why he hasn't rung the beckets, it doesn't occur to her until later when both boys are marching down the hall. (her daughter's curled up in the couch that comes with the private room that alison's in, because there was no time to call a sitter and no way was she leaving a seven-year-old alone in the house. )
so the boys go in to check on the lovebirds and the latest addition to the nest. she slips back in a half hour later when they finally leave, dragging tendo by the back of his shirt. just need to celebrate, raleigh grins and she smiles back and says just go.
she peers into the room to find little yancy curled up with her aunt alison on the bed, cooing over the new little bundle of joy. ] Al, the Beckets just kidnapped your husband.
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Good. That means he won't be hovering around me anymore. [ alison could really use some downtime. and a nap. taking a nap sometime soon sounds like a good idea. ]
You want to come see the baby?
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[ her hand comes to rest on little yancy's back and her little girl scoots over to make room. naomi doesn't miss the look of a kid ready to drop off though, so she kisses her daughter on the forehead and banishes her to the couch. if yancy gives her a mutinous look, it's ruined by the yawn that just drives naomi's point home. ]
You look totally beat, Ali. [ that's a small, commiserating laugh ] Who knew Tendo could be such a girl.
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she yawns, and thanks to the little boy in her arms she can't really cover it up. ] Mm, sorry. I probably feel about ten times as tired as I look. Apparently pushing something the size of a small watermelon out of a very small hole is exhausting work. Who'd've thunk it?
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[The whole fucking point of the Jaegers is to protect people. To save lives. And that--didn't happen that night. It started with a boat of ten fisherman that they dropped because the kaiju took them off guard and there's no coming back from there and it just kept coming at them, driving them back back back until they're not protecting the miracle mile anymore, they're fighting a battle on two million people's doorsteps and once it gets to this point, it's all just collateral damage.
The Shatterdome is destroyed. Half the techs are gone. Tendo is gone. Just like that. And what's worse is that the Becket boys have no idea if it was Gipsy or the kaiju that took them out. In the middle of the fight, they were fighting to stay alive, to kill this son of a bitch, they weren't thinking about the buildings they ran into until it's over, it's dead and their home, their crews, their best friend are all dead too.
Afterwards, it's just clean up. Burying their dead, salvaging what they can. The Anchorage Shatterdome isn't going to reopen, they're relocating down to Vancouver and that makes sense, but it still feels like the final nail in the coffin. Like they failed to save their home and their friends and there's no making it right ever.
Raleigh and Yancy keep fighting because that's what they do. They're Rangers and Gipsy more or less escaped the fight unharmed. No worse than usual and it's easy enough to repair her. And Alison survived the attack too, though fuck knows how, he's never asked her. He saw her at Tendo's funeral for a brief moment, knows that she stayed with them during the move but hasn't really seen her or tried to find her because there's just. Too much there. Too much history. Too much like he killed her chance at happiness because fuck man, Tendo was so over the moon for her, they would've been great together.
And maybe he should've predicted that it'd all come to a head someday. He just didn't think it'd be like this. It starts with the one year anniversary of Knifehead's attack, when the Shatterdome gathers together and they all drink to their fallen comrades and maybe Yancy has one too many or it's just grief and guilt and old lust coming to the surface but he finds himself stumbling down the hall with Alison and how they actually get to her bunk seems to be a fucking miracle since they don't seem to stop kissing or touching or trying to strip off clothes the second they leave the gathering.
He's maybe the worst person in the world, killed his best friend and then slept with the girl of his dreams, yeah you're a real class act, Yancy Becket.]
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of all her friends in the shatterdome, tendo is the one she was probably the closest to. and not just because they'd dated. if you can call going on one date and sleeping together "dated." the two of them just clicked really well. better than she clicked with almost anyone else in their group of friends. he was easy to talk to and they shared a sense of humor. it would've been very easily to fall in love with him. and it's probably because he was over the moon for her and agreed to go to dinner with her that she's still alive.
she'd still been in his bunk, half-awake when they were told to evacuate. she'd gotten dressed in her skirt and one of his shirts with his blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and tromped out into the snow. it wasn't until later that she learned tendo had refused to leave his post even though it looked like loccent was going to be hit. he'd had a job to do so he was going to do it and try to keep the alarms going for everyone else. it was stupid, and self-sacrificial, and so very him that alison spent a large part of the month or two after knifehead angry at him.
the rest of the time she was withdrawn. the once friendly and open girl closed herself off. the loss of so many coworkers and friends was the straw the broke the camel's back. it wasn't enough to just keep people at arms length anymore. she didn't talk to hardly anyone, pushed people away, and justified it by saying it meant it wouldn't hurt when the kaiju took something else away from her.
except she's an extrovert and naturally friendly so it takes maybe nine months before she's so fucking sick of it all that she says fuck it and starts talking to people again. though she doesn't really strike it up again properly ( you know, if you squint and tilt your head ) with yancy until the anniversary of knifehead. when they tumble into bed. she's not really that drunk and she's pretty sure yancy isn't either. which is both a good thing and a bad thing. it's a good thing because it means they'll probably be able to talk about this like rational adults and maybe do it again. it's bad because she gets the feeling yancy would like to blame this on the alcohol and grief.
he's also very obviously guilting himself. alison knows that expression well enough. it's surprisingly similar to his "i'm worried about you and about to mother hen the shit out of you" expression.
alison pushes herself up so she can look him in the eye and raises an eyebrow at him. ] I can practically hear you beating yourself up. Cut that shit out.
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Alison... [Yancy sighs and moves to sit up in her bed.] Maybe I should just go then.
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[ leaving just won't do. alison puts a hand on his shoulder to push him back down as she moves to straddle him so he can't get up without taking her with him. and then she gives him a hard stare because really, yancy? this is how you react to some frankly amazing sex?
okay, it's kind of understandable given the fact that they both miss tendo a whole lot. but still. this just ain't right. ]
If you don't think that he would want his brother and his girl to find some kind of happiness, you didn't know him at all.
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( But let's not get ahead of ourselves. )
It's really early in the morning on a Saturday and Tendo's watching Alison tuck Naomi into their couch, the remains of what was supposed to be a girls' night in drinking a huge factor in what Tendo is pretty much sure is the last time he ever wants to see one of his good friends cry like that.
He's waiting by the door, arms crossed over his chest as his wife clears up the coffee table a little, a half-drunk bottle of tequila in one hand, an ash tray in the other. ] If he wasn't my best friend with a whole world of hurt on his shoulders from stupid, fucking Knifehead, I'd actually suggest that you use him for target practice for those new upgrades.
[ He exhales a heavy sigh. ]
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[ if clue bats were a real thing, alison would have hit yancy in the ass with it a long time ago. she really loves him. he's one of her best friends and her family in all the way that matters. but sometimes he is such a dumbass. it makes her want to rip her hair out.
especially when it ends up in both naomi and alison's front room a mess. the bottle of tequila and the ashtray both get stashed in the kitchen, and then alison tugs tendo into their bedroom. no need to have this conversation somewhere where it might wake naomi up. ]
You're really upset about this, aren't you?
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Yeah, I am. [ he sighs. ] It just seems to unnecessary, you know, babe. Because it's not like he isn't even the slightest bit in love with her -- tell me I am wrong about this and I will eat my nicotine patch.
[ he slumps onto the bed and lies back, mouth in a frown and eyes staring at the ceiling. softly, he goes: ] Would serve him right if Mimi decides to move on. [ he doesn't really believe that. doesn't think it'd make anyone happy because if the whole goddamn PPDC knows that becket and sokolov are dancing around each other forever like a pair of cranes... he drags his hands over his face. yancy, you dumbass. ]
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You're not wrong. [ even a blind man could see that yancy's madly in love with naomi. naomi gets a pass on not realizing since she's spent so long thinking he would only ever be a father to their child, not a lover as well. ] But you and I both know that Yancy wouldn't know love if it danced in front of him naked.
[ alison's just as frustrated as tendo, really. it sucks just sitting by and watching the two of them dance around each other and cause all kinds of heartache. ... but what if they didn't have to just sit around? ]
You know what we should do? We should play matchmaker.
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idk what this is excuse me
Right now it's because he's pretty sure he's in love with Mako but also pretty convinced right now that they're never going to date because she's never given him any indication otherwise.
It's been like six months since Pitfall but drunk Raleigh's brain doesn't care about that right now.]
I love the blue streak in her hair. It's awesome. It's hot.
it's wonderful is what it is and that was already in my autofill haha
but that's a conversation for a time when alison isn't laughing at drunk raleigh and petting him.
i mean--running her fingers through his hair. ]
You've got it bad, puppy. Next thing you know you're going to be waxing poetic about her cardigans.
ashbdfa i say this a lot apparently
To be fair, it's perfectly logical that he and Mako are taking this slow. Because she just lost her father figure and she's grieving and they kind of got to know each other really well in about thirty six hours, that slowing down afterwards actually seems nice.
He just. Really wants to kiss her. And maybe get a little boob grab in, is that so much to ask.]
I'll even do it in French. Je t'aime tu sweater, Mako.
[Yeah, that's not... really a good sentence in French but A for effort, Rals.]
you do indeed
and for the record, it's really hilarious when he starts trying to talk in french while he's drunk. so hilarious that alison is having a really, really, really hard time trying not to laugh at him and his inability to pronounce anything. ]
Only you would compliment someone's sweater instead of something normal like their eyes or their hair.
i just write a lot of weird shit okay
y you do
dont judge me!!
never
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