Taking steps
Taking steps
Diclaimer - I do not own any of these characters. I only get the use of my creative ability out of this.
Falco sat behind the wheel of the tranport, his hands gripping the wheel tightly. He looked over at his passager concerned, the guy had been staring out the window the whole trip, not saying a word, that bothered the bird. Falco looked back out of the windshield, over the line of other vehicles infront of him. He sighed a bit, reached over, and rubbed his companion's shoulder a bit. When his companion didn't stir, Falco put his hand back on the control wheel of the transport and sighed again.
"Fox," Falco said, "you wanna talk about it?"
"Just wondering how wrong I may have been about him," Fox said as he turned to look at Falco, "and a lot of things."
Falco nodded, "Yeah, I have been thinking about what I have been wrong about to."
Fox sighed as he turned and looked out the windshield to the traffic infront of him and Falco. He had not been flying for a month now, taking leave that he had accumalated since the start of the Andross war. He had asked Falco to take leave with him, feeling he may need a friend close by. All that they had been doing lately was traveling across their home planet, in a transportable residence.
"All the comforts of home," Fox said aloud.
"From bed, to kitchen, to bath," Falco followed.
"To the receiver for vidphone conversations with family or friends," they finished together.
"Thank you for disconnecting that by the way," Fox said continuing to look out the window.
"No problem," Falco responded, "I know I hate to be interrupted on vacation."
"Falco," Fox looked at his friend and started to ask, "you attracted to Crystal at all?"
"What," Falco started blinking at the out of the blue question, "kind of question is that?"
"Nice evasion," Fox said chuckling.
"Thank you," Falco said with a smile, "Best evasions in space and conversation," he glanced over at Fox and added, "next to you that is. Seriously though, why the question?"
"Well," Fox said resting his head against the top of the seat, "I don't think I am. I thought I was. I mean she looked beautiful when I first saw her, but lately..."
"Lately the beauty hasn't changed, but what you feel about it has," Falco said, looking to the fox then back to the traffic infront of him, "It was like that for me being in the gang. At first, yeah it was great. The thrill, the money, the reputation all had it's luster. After seeing it for a good long time though, the luster was just it. Something else that looked shiny and new, but cost you more than what other people were willing to pay. I don't mean in money either. Crystal is similar in that, yeah she looks nice and is a good friend, but do you want to really be close to her. I mean our in all of our lives, we have seen and done somethings we aren't proud of. I have killed so many, so many that may have viewed other things or people as beautiful, and nice. I don't think I personally deserve someone like Crystal."
"Somethings are just to nice to hold," Fox said, "then you wander if the niceness of it will be enough to satisfy you all the time, when you have felt you did so much to tarnish who you are."
Falco nodded, taking an exit off the main lanes, down into one of the city they were passing. He parked the transport in the lot of a restaurant, turning off the power, and relaxed against the seat. He seemed to be thinking about something, and noticed that Fox was doing the same. He looked over his companion, noticing the way Fox looked now. The vulpine was still handsome, but the lines of worry and being unsure had crossed his features. The eyes of the fox did not look as confident, and he slouched forward a bit as he sat in the passager seat beside Falco. Falco then looked into his own reflection in the windshield, noticing he looked very similar to Fox in his own way. He closed his eyes and sighed a bit, as he rubbed the bridge between his eyes.
"Fox," Falco said, getting his friend's attention, "why did you ask me to come with?"
"Honestly," Fox said with a sigh, as he leand back into the seat more, "I needed someone with me who would let me mope, not take pity on me, and tell me when I am being pig headed, or possibly beating myself up to much. Someone who was going to be a true friend rather than someone who loooked up to me."
Falco smiled a bit, "Wow, bet that took a lot to say."
Fox chuckled, "You don't know how much, but it is true."
"You know this sort of sounds like all the other female admires you had, but a bit more...," Falco said, then pausing as he tried to think of the word.
"Ahead of the game?," Fox supplied helpfully.
"That works," Falco said nodding, "you think there might not be something else going on there?"
Fox tilted his head in thought, and sighed as he closed his eyes. He nodded as he bit his lip lightly. Falco, had seen Fox like this a good many times during this trip. The vulpine would bit his lip, then close his eyes, trying to shut the world out, as he let himself cry for a few minutes. The bird had always done nothing but let the fox have his moment, today though he felt that maybe Fox needed something different. Falco reached over and pulled Fox into a hug, that the vulpine let himself go into. The bird, rubbing his friends back as Fox cried into his shoulder, letting out quiet trembling sobs. Fox wrapped his arms around Falco and hugged his friend back, as his crying quieted. He smiled at the bird as he wiped his eyes and matted facial fur.
"Thanks," the fox said, "I feel better now."
"Anytime," Falco said back, "Hungry?"
"Yeah," Fox said nodding, as he smoothed out his fur, "I am a little."
In the restaraunt, the two companions were quiet, trying to ignore some of the whispers around them. The waitress seemed smart though, she treated the fox and bird like any of her other customers. She had even gone to the point of asking for one of the patrons to leave them alone, when said person had tried to ask for an autograph. Fox didn't eat as much as he thought he was able to, getting the food put into a container for later. Falco, didn't seem to be as interested either, and did the same. The waitress nodded and went quickly to get the containers, coming back and putting the food in the containers for the two, and handing them the check with an apology for the people around them. The two friends thanked her, paid for the bill, and left a sizeable tip for the waitress, before leaving. The two got back into the transport, this time Fox behind the wheel, leaving Falco to sit in the passager seat. The two friends remained quiet as they got out of the city, Fox concentrating on the road, not saying anything until about an hour out of town.
"You never asked," Fox stated, "How come?"
"I think I know," Falco said as he picked up the CD case beside him, flipping through it, "but it's up to you to tell me really, and when."
Fox nodded, took a deep breath, and said "Well, it's not like I'm not attracted to females..."
Falco stopped flipping through the case and looked at his friend, he knew he had to be patient, as this was Fox's admission. He knew that Fox needed to feel comfortable with saying what he had to say.
"I am," Fox continued, "just never really thought about being intimate with them." He shrugged, as he looked over at Falco, seeing he had the bird's attention. "I have had thoughts about being intimate with males, never acted on them after the academy. Before you ask, yes I did with a few friends at the academy. It seemed kind of expected for such things to happen."
Falco just nodded, as Fox turned his attention back to the road. He pulled out a disc, setting the rest of the music selection aside.
"Have you ever tried to be with a female?," Falco asked.
"Once," Fox answered, "Shortly after the academy, before I met Fala. She was pretty, and older than me. I was new to the whole field, and felt that my uneasiness was just because I was new to the expierence. Never thought it was because I didn't really want to be with her."
"Never realized till later huh?," Falco asked, receiving a shrug in response, "So you are saying you are gay?"
"Maybe," Fox said, "I am still unsure. I mean yeah I do have thoughts about being intimate with guys, but I still find females attractive."
"Just not in the same manner as guys," Falco said.
"Yeah pretty much," Fox said, then looked at Falco for a second, "Sound wierd to you?"
"No," Falco said as he slid the disc he had been holding into the transport's disc player, "Just because you attracted to the one side, does not mean you no longer appriciate the beauty of the other. I mean, I look at guys a lot. I've even been intimate with some of them. I've been intimate with a good number of gals, but it doesn't take being intimate with one or the other to appriciate the attractiveness."
Fox nodded as he turned his attention back to the road, letting his mind drift a bit. He kept thinking of all the opportunities he may have had to be with Fala, Crystal, or other females who came into his life at different times. Each time though he felt uneasy, like it just wasn't right for him. Crystal actually had got into a fight with him about it one time, trying to get him to admit to it, but Fox wasn't ready then. He then started to wonder about Falco a bit, and if he...
"Before you ask," Falco said from where he was stretched out in the passager seat with his eyes closed, "Yes I have had such thoughts, and yes I have tried being intimate with males outside of the gang and the academy. Yes, I have thought about you and I, and yes I would, but don't know how it would work." He opened his eyes and looked at Fox. "Answer any questions you might have had?"
"Well all except one," Fox said, "when did you become a mind reader?"
"Since," Falco started, "that was logically going to be the next set of questions."
Fox nodded as he continued to control the transport, relaxing a bit as he saw no other vehicles around or close by his own.
"However," Falco said as he started to sitting up in the seat, the back of the seat adjusting automaticly, "I think that you should be looking for someone else to be with, instead of me. I think you know who to."
Fox nodded and sighed, he bit his lip lightly again as he pulled off to the side of the road. He closed his eyes, and sighed as he felt Falco's arm around his shoulders. He blinked back a few of the tears, feeling some of them sliding down over his cheeks.
"Will you go with me?," Fox asked, "I don't think I could go there alone, not after what I had done to him. Besides, I doubt he will be interested in me. I mean yeah we were close in the academy, but now..."
Falco nodded, as he rubbed Fox's arm, "Sure, I'll go with you. We, however, are only taking one ship. If you can't drive a transport properly, with how you are feeling, then you are not going to be able to take the an arwing."
"We'll have to take a two person ship then huh?," Fox asked rhetorically, "Been a while since I was in one of those."
"Been forever since I flew one," Falco said with a smile, letting Fox sit up again, "How do you think our reception will go?"
Fox looked over at Falco, as they were led to a cell.
"This was a little better than what I expected," Fox said with a smile.
"Yeah," Falco agreed, "The warning message was the biggest surprise."
"In here," a guard leading them said as he opened a cell door.
Fox and Falco were pushed into the cell, and the door was slammed shut. Fox waited until the gaurds left before sitting on one of the beds, holding his head in his hands. Falco walked over to him, rubbing the fox's shoulders.
"You holding up ok?," Falco asked concerned.
"Trying to," Fox admitted with a slight smile, "you were right, I would not have been able to go this far if you had not been here. I would have turned and started to fight, and head back home."
"Glad I am here then," Falco said with a smile as he sat beside Fox, pulling the vulpine to lean on him.
"Aww, isn't that cute," a rich deep voice said.
"Hi Panther," Falco said, not bothering to move him or Fox, "Wolf around?"
"What would want with him?," The black cat asked.
I came to s.." Fox tried, "Came to..."
The panther raised an eyebrow as he saw the vulpine turn away and into Falco. The bird, hugged the fox gently and looked to the cat.
"He came to see Wolf," Falco said, "about something important."
"Is he.." the big cat started to ask.
"He'll be fine in a couple," Falco said, "could you..."
Panthera nodded "Wolf is not here, but he will be back later on in the day."
The big cat turned and walked out of the prison area, grabbing a gaurd on the way out and pushing him up against the wall.
"If anyone but Wolf, Leon, or myself distrubs those two, I will hold responsible, and gut you myself. Got it?," the panther said, obviously angry.
The gaurd nodded, shaking in his suit, blinking to himself as the panther left. The gaurd made sure no one came to the door, even when he heard the barely audiable sobs coming from the cell where the fox and bird were.
Wolf glided into the hangar with ease, the patrol doing wanders to help clear his mind. His thoughts lately had become a bit clouded, since the Apraoid invasion. Corneria had stopped sending people out to get him, more of the smugglers had been offered legit trade rights and routes. His space station was still his, but was slowly changing from haven to hang out. He was even more worried when he saw Panthera standing waiting for him, a look of annoyance and anger on the cat's face.
"We have a guest," Panther informed Wolf, "but I think you should hear what I observed before you go see him, privately."
Wolf blinked his remaining eye, and motioned for the cat to lead on. He noticed that as he walked into a private sideroom, that Leon was sitting there. The lizard looking down at the floor in thought. That worried Wolf a little more, he looked between the two, getting a little angry.
"Ok," Wolf said, "what is going on here?"
"Fox is here," Panthera said, his voice sounding a little more angry.
Wolf paused and looked to Leon, causing the lizard to look up at him.
"Physically he is fine," the lizard started, "however something has either been waying on him, or something has happened to him. He seems to be on the verge of breaking down."
"And of all places he came here," Wolf said.
He gritted his teeth as he turned and threw a chair at one of the windows. The chair's impact caused the window to shake violently, as wolf suddenly ran up and kicked the chair into the window hard, catching the object as it bounced back at him. Wolf then raised the chair above his head and finally managed to throw it out the window, where it fell into the station, crashing to the floor, managing to scare some of the people around. Wolf then took a deep breath and turned to the lizard and panther.
"Take me to him," the lupine said, his body still shaking in anger.
Falco looked up as he heard footsteps approach, wondering if it was Lenni coming to check on Fox again. The lizard having been called, as the vulpine had passed out a few hours ago. He saw it was Wolf coming into view, and it actually caused him to sigh in relief. He continued to pet Fox, even as Wolf opened the cell and came in.
"How long?," Wolf asked.
"About two, maybe two and a half hours," Falco said.
"Mmmph," Fox started as his body squirmed on Falco's lap.
"Easy Fox easy," Falco said as he petted the vulpine, "you're safe."
Fox swallowed as his eyes opened and looked around. He didn't see Wolf at first, but sat up quickly when he did.
"Easy there pup," Wolf said to Fox, "don't move so fast, or you might pass out again."
Fox nodded mutely and looked down at his feet, as he gripped the bed.
"Come on Fox be polite at least," Falco said as he rubbed Fox's back.
Wolf noticed that Fox seemed to relax a bit at the touch, and the vulpine slowly moved his head to look at Wolf.
"H-hi Wolf," Fox managed to croak out.
"Hi Fox," Wolf said calmly, "Why have you come here?"
"Came to apolo...," Fox started to say.
"Aplogize?," Wolf said in a sudden growl of anger, "Save it! You cut out my eye Fox!"
Fox slammed his back into the wall behind him, reaching out to grip Falco's hand.
"You feel sorry for me?!," Wolf asked angrily, "Just because I helped you out?! Is that it Fox?!"
"N-no," Fox tried to get out, his eyes tearing up again, "I-I wanted to say I was sorry before this all happened. I-I..."
"I I," Wolf started to roar, "Spit it out you coward!"
Falco had enough, he stood up quickly, and used his momentum in an uppercut that sent Wolf to the entrance of the cell, on his back.
"Coward?!," Falco yelled, "You call him a coward?! You, who had attacked us several times when we were weakened! We turned you back on your tail each time you did attacked us! You ran away from us, and you have the nerve to call him a coward?!"
Wolf sat up a bit, looking at the bird who managed to get a really good shot in on him. The lupine slowly got to his feet, noticing that Panther and Leon had not moved, so maybe they agreed with the bird a bit. He wiped his mouth and noticed some blood, he blinked a bit surprised, and looked at Falco.
"Good shot," Wolf said as he wiped his hand on the leg of his flight suit, "So your friends have to stand up for you to?"
"Falco has been trying to help me for a couple weeks now," Fox said getting up, "he didn't need to. He's been there beside me though, never turned away from me a lot of times that he could have." The fox sighed and looked Wolf in the eyes again, more of the old Fox showing through. "I may have acted cowardly that time, and me being sorry might not fix it, but it's all I can really offer Wolf. Unless you want to take out my eye also."
"No," Wolf said shaking his head, "I don't want that. What I want though is to know what else brought you out here."
"You want me to stay Fox?," Falco asked resting a hand on the vulpine's shoulder.
"No," Fox said, "I'll should be fine now, thank you."
Falco nodded, and turned to Leon and Panther, "Hey guys, you haven't showed me around have you?"
The lizard and panther shook their heads, looking confused for a second, but quickly got it and started to act as tour guides for the bird.
"He your lover or something," Wolf asked trying to get a rise out of Fox a bit.
"Not yet," Fox answered sincerely, making the lupine pause and look back at him, "well I've just been thinking about a lot of stuff, including of how I really feel, or felt about certain things and people."
Fox sat down on the bunK, that acted as the bed in the cell, setting himself back against the wall, looking up at the lupine.
"I always thought of you as a traitor Wolf," Fox said calmly, "it wasn't until the Aparoid invasion, that I started to wonder if I was wrong. Before that though, I thought maybe it was my fault for what I did to your eye. I just wished I could have gotten up the nerve to approach you about everything before the Aparoids came."
"And even now you still need someone to help you do it," Wolf said rubbing his jaw a bit.
Fox nodded, he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, before opening his eyes to look at Wolf again.
"You know I really cared about you to," Fox said smiling, "we were close friends, were we not?"
Wolf nodded, as he leaned against the doorway of the cell. He closed his eye, taking a deep breath himself.
"I'm sorry Fox," Wolf said as he looked back at the vulpine, "but I am not going to say all is forgiven. Granted we could be friends, but I doubt I could be anything more than that." He raised his hand as he saw Fox was about to speak. "I know that was part of the reason for you coming out here. Listeaning to your words, made it obvious. The past feelings we had for each other were great. I loved you very much. I know you felt the same way."
"I wasn't going to deny it," Fox said, "I was going to say, that while I would have liked for it to happen, I really didn't expect it to."
Wolf nodded, relaxing against the frame of the doorway a bit more. His ears flicked as he heard Leon, Panther, and Falco on their way back.
"So what now?," the lupine asked.
"I don't know," Fox said honestly, "I'd like to keep in touch. You were a wonderful friend and sometimes lover Wolf. You were a great ally during the invasion, and I would hate to make an enemy of you again."
"You sure you want to go back to military life?," Wolf asked, hearing the footsteps get closer.
"It's all I've known Wolf," Fox said with a shrug, "probably all I am going to know, but I have been thinking about it and I am not so sure anymore."
Wolf nodded as Falco, Panther, and Leon walked the rest of the way to the cell. He looked at Falco, and his two crew members before turning back to Fox.
"Well," he said, "you two aren't prisoners here, up to you if you want to stay or not for awhile."
Wolf turned and left, followed by his two crew members, leaving Falco and Fox by themselves.
Fox looked at Falco and smiled, "He's not the one Falco. There is to much history between us, and a good bit of it bad."
"I'm sorry Fox," Falco said sincerely, "you want to go home or stay here a bit?"
"No sense in staying here," the fox said a little sadly, "let's go to Coneria."
"To continue our trip?," the bird asked.
Fox shook his head, "No, let's do something else."
"Like what?," Falco asked.
"What would you like to do?," Fox asked with a smile.
Falco just grinned, as they made their way to the hangar. A plan forming in his mind.
Three weeks later.
Fox cheered with the rest of the corwd, as it rose to it's feet. The stadium was packed with cheering, screaming, yelling, and shouting fans as the sport played out. The sport was called Four Circle, and it resembled something akin to soccer. There were two teams, eight mainfield players, and four goalies. The object was to get the ball through one of the hoops, by foot, head, or fist. The hoops were different sizes, which also meant different points. The biggest was worth one, then next biggest, worth two, the next in line worth four, and the last worth five. The players had to move the ball by foot, however they could try use their heads, or first to travel the ball if it was already in the air. There were four periods in the game, each lasting for twenty minutes, non-stop, except for when a player was injured. There were four break periods, each lastin two and a half minutes. Right now the team in red were ten points ahead of the team in blue, which had just scored a goal against the red team for five points.
Fox turned to Falco and smiled at his friend, seeing Falco was enjoying himself as well. The fox and bird sat down, as everyone else sat down around them.
"This is great," Fox said hoarsely, "never though watching sports could be this much fun."
"That's because you have to go to a stadium to get the full effect," Falco said, "Or have a house party when the game is on the viewer."
Fox nodded, and looked out over the field as the players entered into their last break. He smiled and leaned over to Falco and hugged him gently. The bird looked a bit surprised, but hugged the fox back with a bit of a nervous smile.
"What was that for?," Falco asked.
"For defending me against Wolf," Fox started, "for the game, for just being there."
"No problem," the avian said with a smile, "it's what friends do."
"Falco," Fox said quietly, "I know you said that you might not want to, and it might seem kind of sudden. You see, after you stood up to Wolf for me, it got me thinking of you, and all you have done for me. I asked myself what I have done for you really, and well..."
"Fox," Falco said, leaning over and putting an arm around his companion, "you asking me to go out with you or something?"
Fox bit his lip nervously, and his ears turned red a bit, before he nodded. He then leaned over, and nuzzled under the bird's beak affectionately.
"I think for now the asnwer is yes," Falco said as he rubbed Fox's back, "but if things start to affect the way we work together to much..."
"I know," Fox said with a sigh, "I know."
Falco was smiling as he walked down the corridor of the Great Fox, today was a good day after all. He had just finished making adjustments to his arwing with Slippy's help, things were quiet, and he was going to see Fox. It had been two weeks since the bird and fox had started going out, and it seemed to be working. No one seemed to really notice, even though Falco and Fox had been walked in on a couple of times hugging or kissing. Fox seemed to be coming more out of his own personal shell, that he had put himself in since the end of the Aparoid invasion. Falco also had admitted to Fox a couple of days ago, he had started to fall for his boyfriend.
Fox though he made some progress on coming out of the emotional shell was still a wreck. He couldn't pilot at all it seemed anymore. He didn't like picking up guns, he actually stayed in his room a lot and read. Everyone seemd to give him a wide berth, until for about three days, Fox slipped further and further into depression. That in and of itself was no problem, but the incident that it had led to last week though that still made Falco shudder.
***
Falco walked into the dark room, the only light coming from the hall, where medics and gaurds stood.
"Fox...," Falco called quietly, "Fox, come on talk to me buddy."
"In here," a choked almost sobbing voice called out from the bed room.
Falco walked in slowly, hands in plain view, gasping as he saw fox sitting on the floor. Fox was sitting, naked, his knees to his chest, arms hugging his legs. Part of the fox was illuminated as he was holding a small lazer torch in a hand, the torch pointed away from him. The vulpine's for trembling with quiet crying. Falco, took a breath and prepared for the worst as he kneeled down and laid a hand on Fox's shoulder, thankful when the vulpine looked at him with two eyes instead of one.
"Want to talk about it?," Falco asked, his hands rubbing Fox's arms.
"I deserve the same punishment Falco," Fox said tears streaming from his eyes, "I helped make him the way he is, by doing that to him. I.. I..."
"No Fox," Falco said shaking his head, "that would not help anything. You'd just damage yourself and make things, probably worse for him by doing that. Wolf is the way he is, because he chose to be that way in the end. He's not really a bad guy anymore, is he?" At Fox's headshake the bird sat down fully. "And do you think he'd really want you to do that?"
"No," the vulpine said, "He... he said he would not want me to go through that."
Falco nodded and held his hand out, waiting. Fox sniffed as he looked at the lazer torch, flicking it off before handing it to Falco. The bird sighed as he set the torch aside, and began to rub Fox's back. It seemed to calm Fox down a lot when he did that.
"I kept thinking about my dad," Fox started to say, "how he was betrayed. Then I thought about how I betrayed Wolf, and I couldn't help but feel that maybe I was no better off, than Pigma." He sniffed and rubbed his nose on his arm, before looking at Falco. "I don't think I can go back out there anytime soon. Everytime I put on the flightsuit, my body just starts to shake. Then my stomach begins to knot, I start to sweat, and... and.."
"Shh shh," Falco said as he hugged Fox, feeling the vulpine sob against him, "It's ok Fox. It's ok, you don't have to go out there right now. I don't expect you to, and I doubt any will really." He waited until his friend calmed down, before having Fox sit up. "How come you are in here naked?"
"I don't have anything but flightsuits in my closet," Fox explained, "Never had a use for civies unless I was on leave and I just usually bought and tossed. I don't really have anything except the pajamas that Slippy got me as a gag gift."
Falco got up slowly and went over to the closet and pulled out a set of flannel pajamas that were black and had red chili peppers over them. He chuckled lightly as he brought them over to the fox, who looked up and smiled slightly. Falco had noticed, that Fox smiled more for him lately than anyone else.
"You said you were hot huh?," the bird asked.
"Let me guess," the vulpine said as he put the garment on, "you said the samething didn't you?"
***
Falco, was still smiling when he walked into the quarters he and Fox shared now. The fox had shown a lot of improvement since the arrangement. The vulpine was in the bedroom reading, laying on his side wearing the chili pepper pajama bottoms. That made Falco smile, as Fox wore those a lot now when they were in private quarters, sometimes with the shirt, but mostly without. He walked into the bedroom, giving Fox a hug, making the vulpine smile and lean into him. Fox moved his legs, to let the bird sit down, as he slid a bookmark into the book he was reading.
"So," Falco started to ask, "how did your session go today?"
"Well," Fox said, "They got me into a cockpit, before I almost lost my lunch. I stayed in it for like thirteen minutes before they let me out of it. I couldn't stop shaking, till like five minutes after getting out of the seat."
"It will take time," Falco said, "just have to be patient and keep trying."
Fox sat up more, reaching out and pulling Falco close to him, hugging the bird tight. Falco smiled and wrapped his arms about the vulpine, sighing happily as he felt the warmth of Fox's body against his own. He rubbed his beak along Fox's cheeks, and muzzle as he felt Fox undo the openings to his flight suit. He smiled, pulled his arms out of the suit, as the vulpine started to tug the garment off the bird, revealing the blue feathers beneath. Falco then slowly stood up as his clothing was tugged further down his body, revealing more of him, even as he stepped out of the spacer boots he had to wear. Fox grinned as he looked over the handsome avaian infront of him, murring lightly as Falco reached for the waistband of the pajama pants, pulling them down and off slowly.
"Falco," Fox said getting the bird's attention, "I love you."
"Love you to Fox," Falco said as he moved over the vulpine.
They touched beak to muzzle, as their bodies touched, and held one another. Fox then lapped at the side of Falco's beak, causing the bird to open his mouth, accepting the fox tongue moving inside of his mouth. Fox shivered, as he felt the bird tremble over him, as they shared this version of a kiss. Both closed their mouths, ending their kiss, and touched foreheads together, as they held one another close. Falco chirred lightly, as he felt Fox move under him, the fox pressing and grinding his sheath against the opening that hid the avian's shaft. The vulpine moved his muzzle and nibbled at Falco's neck, as he continued to grind his swelling sheath to the mound of Falco's groin. The bird's shaft hardening inside, and slowly starting to slip out against Fox's sheath. Fox groaned, as he felt Falco's wet bird met slid out and over his shaft, as the fox's sheath started to get pulled back by the grinding between the two. Falco started to slide his legs to the outside of Fox's, when he felt the vulpine stop him. The fox's legs pressing the bird's legs closed, then slowly moving up to wrap around Falco's waist. Fox smiled up at the bird, rubbing the sides of his face. Falco smiled down at Fox, before laying himself down over the vulpin hugging him close.
"You want to tonight?," Fox asked quietly, his hands moving over the feathers of Falco's back gently.
"I would like to," Falco said looking at Fox's face, "Would you like to?"
Fox nodded with a smile, as he felt Falco shift, drawing the fox's legs up on the bird's shoulders. Falco leaned over Fox, nibbling under the vulpine's neck, as his hands slid along Fox's sides. Fox smiled and shuddered under the bird, arching up against Falco, his body ready to be taken...
It was at that time, that a redlight on the ceiling flashed, followed by a high pitched sound that filled the room. Both fox and bird groaned, rolling off each other.
"I'll be back," Falco said, getting dressed, and kissing Fox, "I promise."
Fox nodded and sighed, pulling his knees to his chest as he watched Falco dash out of the room.
Fox was sitting, gazing out of the window, watching the explosions of the battle grow more and more distant. He knew the procedure, draw the fight away from the main ship. He sighed as he waited, the minutes ticking, first ten, then twenty...
When thirty minutes passed by Fox was edgy, and when the door beeped, it didn't help matters. He went over to the door and opened it to reveal Slippy, and General Pepper, causing Fox's heart to skip a beat. He saw the look on the general's face, which caused the vulpine to turn and run to bedroom.
"Fox!," Slippy yelled, but was stopped from going after the vulpine by the general.
They both watched as Fox came out, zipping up a greenflight suit, and putting on a white vest at the sametime. The fox already had a pair of boots secure on his feet, and his belt secure about his waist. Slippy looked to the general, opened mouth as Fox walked past them, and down the hall. The general just shook his head, even as the small frog ran after Fox.
"Fox!," Slippy yelled again, "You can't go out there! He said to not..."
"I realize what he probably said!," Fox growled out, "However he knows I will not leave him out there, even if it is just a feather that is left of him! I am going out to bring Falco back! That's final!"
Peppy was in the hangar, standing by Fox's arwing when the vulpine entered. Slippy had a moment to feel relief, until he saw Peppy handing Fox a comset.
"Peppy, what are you doing?," Slippy asked, looking shocked.
"Helping my friends," the old rabbit, "good luck out there Fox. Falco, has from what we estimate, no power, and is running out of air slowly. He's in a place where none of the other pilots could get to. Your arwing is the only one not damaged."
Fox nodded, closing the canopy to his fighter, sealing himself in. He buckled up with one hand as the other flipped switches, turning on the various systems, as well as the engines. He gripped the flight controls firmly, not noticing that he was no longer shaking. He felt the clunck against his Arwing, that meant they put the blast shield against his engines. He looked out into space and growled, as his narrowed, the pupils narrowing down into thin slits.
"I'm coming for you Falco," he said as he increased power to the engines enough to make the fighter shake, "Hold on, I'm coming for you."
"Everyone hit the dirt!," Peppy yelled, eyes wide before he hid behind a barricade.
With another growl, Fox let the locking mechanisms go that were holding his Arwing inplace. The fighter lurched forward, engines roaring as if it were a beast on the hunt. Fox was thrown back into the seat, his teeth gritting as he withstood the g-forces pushing at him, as he launched out of the bay of the Great Fox. The fighter shook, as he flipped a switch to lock on Falco's beacon, he swallowed breifly as he looked at his screen, seeing where his lover ended up.
"Asteroid field," Fox said softly, "what possesed you to go into an asteroid field Falco? What were you chasing?"
Faclo panted, as he sat in his cockpit. He shook his head trying to keep focused, watching his screens. That thing was still out there, and he needed to make sure he destroyed it. He shook his head again, and swayed a bit.
"Not good Falco," the bird said to himself, "air is getting a bit stale, it's starting to get cold, and you are getting dizzy."
He looked over the damage report of the ship, wishing he didn't see the numbers he saw. He could reroute the power from his weapons to life support, but he needed that last shot. He needed to besure this thing was going to die.
"So it's a waiting game huh?," Falco smiled, "That's ok... I can wait. You'll see, I'll get you..."
He then blinked as he heard a ping on his screen. He glanced down and saw it was a friend signature, and it was moving through the field at great speed.
"Oh dear god no," Falco looked out the front of his cockpit, as he heard another ping that was not friend, "Fox lookout!"
Fox gapsed as he saw Falco's ship ahead, even at a distance things looked bad. He then heard his alarms go off, and barely had enough time to dodge a set of laser blast that skimmed off his shields. He gritted his teeth, as he swung hard, missing an asteroid by inches, hearing the dust rain over his shields. He then saw it, a black shape against the rock, moving smoothly, parts of it were smoking though.
"Saw you're why," Fox said smiling, "You're why he came in here."
Fox moved his hand over the scanner console, sending a beam to scan the ship. He blinked as the other ship let the scan pass over it, then swallowed a bit as the scan came back with nothing there.
Falco was mad, more than mad, he was pissed. He looked around the cockpit, and nearly crowed in triumph as he pulled up a helmet from behind his seat.
"Oh gods," he said to no one, "why did I not see you before? Fox must be right about that whole 'not properly paying attention to everything around you while in combat' thing. Not that I will ever admit it."
The bird turned on the rebreather, and went to work punching buttons and flipping levers.
"Come on bird," Falco said to himself, "You need to do this so Fox survives. He doesn't know he's looking at an illusion."
Fox kept his calm, even when staring at the ship accross from him. His thumbs brushed over the firing controls a little, wanting to press down, but his gut told him not to. He kept one eye monitoring Falco's ship as the other kept an eye on the ship infront of him. He breathed in and out slowly as he sat there, his eyes and hands keeping the manual lock on the opposing ship, as his automatic lock was not able to get a lock.
"Come on," Fox growled quietly, "make a move. Let me blast you out of the cosmos. You hurt Falco, I know it was you. Come on, just one clean shot at you is all I need."
As if in answer the ship started to move a little, away from Falco. Fox turned his ship in place just as slowly, and stopped when it did. That was when the ping that was Falco's ship died, making Fox look back at the other Arwing, seeing it's lights off.
"NO!," Fox screamed, "FALCOOOOO!"
The fox's head snapped back to look at his enemy, growling as he pushed his fighter forward, firing blasters, not noticing they were moving into the other ship, not damaging it.
"YOU'RE DEEEEAD!," Fox continued to scream, not noticing the black shadow moving over his ship.
It wasn't until the vulpine saw the image disappear suddenly, did he let everything around him come into focus. He saw Falco's arwing come back on his screen, and saw the remnants of what looked to be the enemy ship exploding, just off to his right. The guns of the ship looking like they were reversing their charge. They had been aimed at the fox's ship.
"Falco?," Fox asked, first turning his head then his ship back to the other Arwing.
Fox then heard a crackling sound over his radio, he turned it up as a voice started to come over, sounding weak.
"I thought zzzzzat I told yozzzz not to come out here," the voice said.
"And when have I ever followed your orders?," Fox asked, feeling tears streaming down his face.
"I'm sure zzzzz'll follow this one," he heard Falco's voice say "come pick me up."
One the way back, huddled together in Fox's cockpit, the vulpine held the bird tightly, letting the autopilot do the flying.
"What was that?," Fox asked.
"New type of Venom fighter," Falco explained, "uses projected images, and stealth to fool sensors."
Fox shivered and kissed Falco deeply, his arms almost crushing the bird to him. Falco melted into the kiss, his arms holding Fox just as tight.
"You had me so scared," Fox said, tears coming back into his eyes, "I thought you died when your ship became dark."
"I needed the extra power to overload the lasers," Falco said calmly, petting Fox's cheeks, "Only way to destroy that thing in one shot."
"Still was scared and enraged," Fox said trembling, "never been so angry, except when my father died."
They sat for a while, holding each other close, enjoying the comforting warmth. Falco then nuzzled Fox and sighed lightly.
"We need to leave the military," Falco said.
Fox blinked at him, and tilted his head. He remembered when Falco had said they should have stayed in the military for a while longer.
"Why?," the vulpine asked.
"Cause with what you went through," Falco said, "I never want to go through, and I never want you to go through that again."
Fox chuckled and nuzzled the bird, "And to think, you said we shouldn't date cause it would mess up our lives."
Falco smiled, as he lays his head against Fox's chest, "Our lives were already messed up. This just goes to prove it, I think."
"Suggesting we take steps to do things differently?," Fox asked.
"Yeah," Falco responded nodding, "and step one is to continue where we left off in the room."
"Here?," Fox asked, blushing a bit.
"Why not?," Falco asked, "We are close together, totally alone..."
"Sir," one of the ensigns said to General Pepper, "we have tried raising Fox's ship since it stopped, but all we keep getting back is a weird set of sounds."
The general went over, and flipped a switch on the communications station, the ensign was at. What everyone heard was a wet sound, and accompanying it was a clinking of sorts.
"McCloud," the general said, trying to get an answer.
Everyone jumped back when they heard a twin set of moans come over the com. Peppy reached over and flipped the switch back down, the old rabbit blushing a little.
"Maybe we should give them a couple of minutes General," Peppy said.
The general swallowed and nodded, as he quickly turned and walked off the bridge.
"Tell them to stop whatever they are doing and get in here, if they are out there for more than twenty minutes," Pepper was heard barking back.
"Aye sir," Peppy said and saluted, "I will let them know."
The rabbit then chuckled as he looked back out the window of the ship, looking at Fox's arwing coasting out there in space.
"Way to go boys," he said quietly, "way to go."
--- End
Please send constructive comments to [email protected]