Drift Space (Smosh/Pacific Rim AU)
A blaring alarm awakens Ian Hecox. He slowly opens up one eye and sighs as their commander’s voice echoes through the cabin. “Hecox! Padilla! Kaiju a thousand miles from the bay, we need you to take it down.”
Okay, not what I was expecting. Ian jumps up from the bottom bunk and slaps the other man awake. “Anthony, wake up, sleepy-head!”
When the other man doesn’t show a sign of waking, Ian pulls on a shirt and checks the status himself.
Rank II Kaiju
Nickname: Metalbones
“Well, good morning to you too.” Ian could hear Anthony Padilla mutter from his bunk. He tosses the older man a shirt as he replies with a grin.
“It’s only two in the morning.”
Anthony groans, “Still early for me.” Anthony jumps down onto the floor and opens the door up. “Well, are you coming or not?”
Ian grabs one of his personal charms and follows Anthony outside the door, chuckling. “That’s what your mom said.”
“You’re a twenty-six year old man, Ian!”
The ground crew were still laughing and giggling behind them as Ian and Anthony ran towards the launch bay.
---
“Commander Sohinki, what is the status of the Kaiju?” Ian asks as he puts on the armour for his torso. Anthony is right beside him, getting ready with his own armour.
“Ian, it’s not good. We’ve analysed the data and we’ve got it wrong.” Sohinki groans from the other line and Ian braces for any kind of bad news their Officer would give them. “It’s a Rank 3 Kaiju.”
Ian’s heart and jaw drops in shock. What? “Matt, are you kidding me- a rank 3 kaiju?! Anthony and I are only trained for Rank 2 Kaiju attacks! We can’t fight this beast; get another team to do it!” He nearly screams to the head officer.
“Look, Ian.” Sohinki manages to interrupt the other man’s protests. “I would’ve called you two to be dismissed if I did have another choice, but sadly, I don’t. There’re no more duo captains in California available, and when there was, the branch reported that their Jaeger was malfunctioning, we don’t have another plan.”
“Ian, what’s wrong?” Anthony asks, looking at him with sleep-lidded eyes. Ian flashes him a forced smile that was supposed to say, No, I’ll talk about it later.
“Are you up for the job or not?” Sohinki finally asks as Ian sighs. “Lives are at stake here, Hecox.”
Ian stays silent for a second before saying, “Fine.”
Sohinki grins, relaxing his muscles down. “Now, do the world a favour, Hecox and be a warrior.”
“Roger that.”
And then the line cuts off.
Ian, with the help of some other personnel, manages to get his drivesuit on- right as Anthony asks again, “What was that all about?”
Ian hesitates for a second, before shielding the truth away completely. “Nothing.”
Once they get used to the hard-coated suit’s rough movements, they finally see a plasma screen, showing the movements of the Kaiju- Metalbones- itself. Anthony has his eyes glued on to the screen as they both walk towards the Comm-Pod; But Ian is still wary of the danger that may happen during this particular fight. What happens if-
It’s a phrase Ian didn’t want to continue.
“Hey, Ian, c’mon you two are gonna be fine.” A voice says from behind him. Ian looks back and sees the face of one of their tech crew, Mari Takahashi. “Just pretend it’s a normal fight.”
“That’s not really helping, is it?” Ian rolls his eyes. Mari chuckles sadly and starts affixing the feedback drives onto Ian’s suit.
“Surely not,” Mari gives the other crew member-who was helping Anthony- a thumbs up and pats Ian on the back with a smile. “Good luck out there.” And they start to leave the men to get them ready for the Drift.
Ian and Anthony secure themselves to the pod and they feel themselves dropping over a hundred feet downwards, to the head of the Jaeger.
As the machine stops abruptly, they both continue to work in silence, well, if you didn’t count all the machinery squeaking and groaning, that is. Ian had his head down, thinking about darker things while working on the screen in front of him. Anthony shot Ian a look.
“Dude, what the hell is going on and why are you hiding something from me?”
“Man, you’re gonna be inside my head in a while.” Ian met his eyes. “I don’t have to tell you.”
“Boys, calibration status: unstable. Get ready.” Joshua Ovenshire, their technician officer orders with a grin in his voice.
Both of them attach a ball calibrator on their hands and they go through the process in sync. Ian raises his left foot and Anthony does the same. Anthony drops his left foot, raises his right hand, and Ian follows him. They feel the mechanism’s controls finally following their movements.
Calibration completed.
“Okay boys, time for the drift.” Joven says. “Good luck out there, guys.”
“Thanks, bro.” Anthony shakes his head at Joven, even though he’s smiling behind his helmet.
Everything falls silent as the young pilots collect themselves for the fight before them. Ian and Anthony meet eyes again.
“It’s nice seeing you like this,” Ian says naturally. Anthony quirks an eyebrow in response. He guessed that Ian knew what he was trying to ask, since Ian answered his unsaid question, “y’know- I like seeing you all suited up. ‘Like knowing that we’re close enough to do things like this.”
Anthony stays silent before he starts to tease Ian, “Woah, someone’s goin’ gay on me!”
Ian hits Anthony’s shoulder with his right hand and prompts, “Well, are we gonna have the drift or not?”
“You’re supposed to be starting it off.” Anthony says with a fond smile.
“Oh, right.” Ian rubs the back of his head. “Well, are you ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
The drift was something that Anthony always loved doing. It made him assured that he wasn’t alone, that he wasn’t really who he thought he was. It made him believe in himself.
“You’re a weird kid, you know that?” - “Hey Anthony, wanna come over for some Zelda?” - “Smosh pit?” “Smosh pit? Dude, I thought it was a mosh pit!” - A house they’d been contemplating on buying ever since they moved to this neighbourhood. - “Sittin’ in the drive-thru! Sittin’ in the drive-thru!” - “NO, why did you do that?!” “That’s what you get from fighting me on Pokemon!” - “Ian,” “Anthony,” “I NOW PRONOUCE YOU HUSBAND AND HUSBAND.” “RYAN.” - “You’re such a jerk, oh my god.” “I’m that idiot that paired up with you for a project about a dump though.” “True…” -
But then, sometimes, bad memories we’re one of the reasons why Anthony dreaded going through drift space.
“Can you two fairies just go out and make out?” - “I HATE YOU, IAN HECOX.” “Anthony…” “NO STOP, I’M NOT CUT OUT FOR THIS. YOU DON’T DESERVE BEING WITH A MISERABLE PILE OF CRAP LIKE ME.”
Yet, they had that one resolved easily.
“Anthony, look at me.” Two hands were on his face, stroking it gently. “You’re my best friend. You matter, man.”
As Ian and Anthony finally finished the drift, Joven clapped at them, sending them praise. “Wow guys, best drift you’ve ever done yet! Now kick some kaiju ass!”
They both sighed with relief in unison.
They glanced at each other, Ian silently saying, “Nice to have you in my mind again.”
Into which Anthony replies with a roll of his eyes, “That sounds pretty gay, dude.”
Ian laughs at him and looks toward the monitor. The green dot was approaching them at rapid speeds and Ian wasn’t startled the least.
Hey Ian,
‘Sup?
D’ya think that this might not be the right kaiju we’re fighting?
Huh?
This one is a rank 3…
Ian physically winces.
They probably got it wrong. Ian shrugs it off. The kaiju was now only 3 miles away from them. Now let’s go fight this son of a bitch.
Ian and Anthony raises their machine-covered hands together to form the warrior position, a fist around the other. Then they push the machine to its battle stance, seeing the kaiju a mere mile away from them.
Now, all Anthony could see in his partner’s brain was:
Nothing
A moment of silence comes upon them as the kaiju lurches at them, mouth emitting a bluish-gas-liquid as it roars loudly.
Ian pulls up his left arm for a punch and it hits the monster right in the jaw, shutting out any sound coming from it.
Both of the pilots reel back with the force coming from the attack. Anthony does his turn right as Ian lowers the left hand, pulling up his right hand to activate the rockets attached to the machine.
Once the kaiju raises back from the water, Anthony locks in on the target and launches the array of 24 toward the monster.
All Anthony could feel after that was the rush of adrenaline, the feeling on machinery, and the assurance of his best friend, fighting alongside him.
Until, there’s a turn for the worst.
Just as Ian and Anthony were going to finish everything off, the kaiju springs up, digging its jaws into the Jaeger’s left torso and tearing the machinery apart.
Ian howls in pain. The monitor in front of them turns red, alarming Anthony to the brink of his awareness.
“Ian!” Anthony shouts to the other man both orally and mentally.
A dark red aura forms across Ian’s left torso and he groans in pain.
Oh god, this hurts so bad.
Anthony’s eyes darken and his mind fully locks on destroying the kaiju before them. He screams as loud as he can and gathers all his full strength to land at least one more punch before this is over.
He pushes out his anger to the monster and throws the punch.
Eat my shit,
That’s the last that Anthony could recall as he blacks out completely.
---
When Ian comes back, drifting into consciousness, he’s in a white room. The atmosphere is totally calm yet Ian couldn’t remember anything.
What’s happening? He looks around, looking for anyone around him. His vision is blurry, but he manages to press the button to call for some help.
A few minutes later, after fighting the urge to sleep again, he is finally greeted by the head doctor, David Moss.
“Hey Ian, buddy,” David greets the injured man.
“Lasercorn,” Ian sighs in relief, “I’m glad you’re here.” His eyes show happiness, but a few seconds later, his eyes shift into worry. “What the hell happened?”
David sat on a chair near one of the tables as he answers, “Kaiju.”
Ian’s memory starts working, recalling information bit by bit. Kaiju. Anthony.
Wait hold up.
Anthony.
“Oh my god,” Ian sits up quickly, giving him a mini-headache. “Where’s Anthony? Is he okay?”
“Yeah, he’s fine.” David stands up and pats the other man’s back. He smiles smugly before saying, “You probably haven’t even noticed that he was in this room all along, have you?”
Ian crosses his eyebrows. “What? Where?”
David shakes his head and says, “Let the guy rest, Ian. The guy’s been here with you ever since you were retrieved by medical team. Never even bothered to check his own injuries since you got checked in here.”
Ian’s eyes squint in confusion. “But where is he?”
David merely walks up to the right side of Ian’s bed and taps a pile of blankets softly.
“Anthony,” David whispers. “Wake up, buddy. Ian’s up.”
The mush moves around a bit before groaning, “Uaaagah.”
“I’m not kidding, dude.” David chuckles and shakes the other man awake.
The mush removes its cocoon of blankets and pillows before it reveals a man shivering from the air conditioner. He meets Ian’s eyes and it doesn’t take long for the older man’s face to brighten up.
Ian registers Anthony’s appearance quickly: messy hair, drowsy eyes, and a hoodie. He looks good in Ian’s standards.
“I’m gonna leave for a second,” announces David, making a beeline for the door. “I’ll be back to check on you, Hecox.”
A few moments of silence greets them.
“Hey,” Anthony smiles sleepily. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Ian replies. “Well, at least I feel okay…”
Anthony rises up from his cracked cocoon and walks over beside Ian’s bed.
“They said that you’re experiencing some fractured ribs,” informs Anthony sadly. “But you’re gonna be fine.”
“How ‘bout you?” Ian huffs. “You okay?”
“Yea,” answers Anthony. “I’m doing well, just some occasional headaches.”
Ian and Anthony stay mute after that, as though it was the first moment they’d ever talked to each other.
“Did we kill the kaiju though?” Ian asks hesitantly.
One of Anthony’s eyebrows rise and Ian immediately takes back his words.
“H-Hey! Look man, at least we’re alive, ri-“
“Of course we did!” Anthony laughs loudly,
“-ght?” Ian stops before asking, “wait, what?”
“We killed it! Oh god, at least something good came up with this, huh?”
Ian shakes his head, smiling.
Anthony rambles on about the events Ian had nearly forgotten about, but then he stops and growls,
“It was a rank 3 kaiju and you didn’t tell me all along?”
Ian couldn’t help it. He laughed harder than he ever did before.
It was all going well.
FIN