RaSta 01 [Pacific Rim, Raleigh/Stacker]
Title: RaSta (working title)
Author: Feygan
Fandom: Pacific Rim
Pairing: Raleigh Becket/Stacker Pentecost
Genre: action, romance, mpreg
A/N: This is what I'm working on for my donor in the FandomAid Nepal fundraiser. I've been working on this, but I'm a bit worried that there's too much tell, not enough show happening. It's just that I'm trying to jump past a whole life story to reach the point where I really want them to be--which is basically at the end.
Summary: Young Raleigh Becket has a crush on Stacker Pentecost. Shit happens, as it's wont to do.
*
It wasn't love at first sight and it wasn't a fairy tale romance. It was a quiet love that grew between them to become something vibrant and strong. Raleigh was sure that Stacker was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, no matter how short it ended up being.
Kaiju were coming faster and stronger than ever before. There seemed to be no end. Even while he kept the cocky grin on his face and promised the world that he and Yancy would defeat every comer, Raleigh couldn't help worrying that what they did wouldn't be enough.
Gipsy Danger was their faithful Jaeger, carrying them into battle and making sure they reached home again. She was a beautiful and deadly machine that let them kill Kaiju and protect the world. She made them into heroes, rockstars in drive suits, connected by the Pons System into one mind, one will.
It was through the Drift that Yancy first discovered Raleigh's feelings for Stacker Pentecost. There was much teasing about uniform fetishes and daddy kinks, but there was also some good advice.
"We could die tomorrow, Rals. Don't throw this chance away," Yancy said.
Raleigh sat on his bunk, covering his burning face with his hands. He'd never run away from anything in his life, but he happily could have run away from this conversation. "What chance? He's Stacker Pentecost. He's a *legend*. He's never going to want me."
"Not with that attitude he's not," Yancy said. He pushed Raleigh's leg. "Shove over."
Raleigh made room for Yancy to sit next to him. He rested his head against Yancy's shoulder, breathing in that mix of laundry soap, *big brother*, and safety. "I don't know what to do."
"So you're not going to do anything at all?" Yancy slung an arm across Raleigh's shoulders, pulling him closer. "You're smarter than that, Raleigh. If there's something you really want, you should go after it."
"And what if he turns me down? What do I do then, Yance?"
"You cry in your bunk and I take you out on the town," Yancy said. "But if you don't try at all, the only thing you'll have is regret."
"Regret might be better than embarrassment. How am I supposed to work with him after making a fool of myself?"
"You make a fool of yourself all the time and it never slows you down. Why should this be the first time that you lose your cool?" Yancy combed his fingers through Raleigh's hair. "Buck up, brother. I've got your back."
"I know," Raleigh murmured.
Yancy chuckled, the sound vibrating under Raleigh's cheek. "And since you haven't noticed, I think you should know that I've seen Pentecost checking you out."
Raleigh lifted his head to stare at Yancy. "What?"
"Yep. I have seen the man look at your ass, which tells me that he's interested in at least one part of you. Now you just have to get him to look at your face, then it'll be wedding bells and baby carriages. Uncle Yancy," he mused, "it sounds pretty good to me."
Raleigh's face burned and he pushed Yancy off the bunk. "Shut up!"
As he expected, Yancy jumped on him and they wrestled like they'd done since they were kids. They were breathless from laughter by the time Yancy pinned him and made Raleigh admit that he'd lost.
"Trust me. If you ask him out, he's going to say yes," Yancy said.
Raleigh's face was smashed against the blanket and Yancy was heavy against his back, pressing the breath out of him. "And what if he doesn't?" he managed to ask.
"Then I'll run laps around the Shatterdome naked," Yancy said. "Everyone will be so focused on me that they won't even remember you exist."
"You'd really do that, wouldn't you?" Raleigh tapped Yancy's thigh to get him to lift up, then rolled out from under Yancy. He rested on his back, panting to catch his breath. "Do you really think he's interested in me?"
Yancy flopped next to him. "Of course he's interested. You're one of the Becket brothers. He'd have to be blind not to see what a catch you are. Give him a chance, Raleigh. Give *yourself* a chance."
"Of course."
It was with Yancy's voice ringing in his ears that Raleigh approached Stacker the next day and asked him to dinner. He was expecting a polite rejection--a kind ripping out of his heart--and got a date instead. He didn't know what to do, but he wrapped the echo of Yancy's confidence around himself. He didn't show how flustered he was when he named a restaurant and a day and a time.
The date was awkward for them both, but attraction won out over nervousness and their second and third dates were much better. By the end of a month Raleigh felt as though they were forging a true connection.
*
They spent a day on the mainland seeing the sights, then they had dinner at a five-star restaurant. Afterward Raleigh didn't hesitate to accept an invitation back to Stacker's hotel room. Falling into bed together seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
It was nice that their first time was in an actual bed rather than one of the narrow bunks in the Shatterdome. It was even nicer that they had a whole weekend alone together. There were no bureaucratic interruptions and no Kaiju incursions. It was just the two of them and it was the closest thing to perfect that Raleigh had ever experienced.
It was probably naive of him, considering the amounts they didn't know about each other, but he was sure that he was in love. He didn't want to wait until after the end of the world and lose this chance at happiness. If all he had was right now, then he would take everything that right now had to offer.
They were lying amongst the sex tousled sheets, the sweat still undried against their skin. Raleigh was on his stomach, body pleasantly used. He wanted this feeling forever.
"Marry me," he said.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me," Raleigh said. "Marry me."
There was such a long silence beside him that he began to feel embarrassed. He'd let the passion of the moment get to him and ended up putting Stacker in the awkward position of rejecting him. The man had to be thinking up a nice way of turning him down.
Raleigh's cheeks and ears burned with humiliation. He opened his mouth to say that he'd been joking. *Get married? It's way too soon. It was an impulse spawned in the moment. We're only casual sex partners. Of course we can't get married, we barely know each other. I was only teasing*.
"You don't want to marry me," Stacker said, interrupting Raleigh's frantic thoughts. "I'm too old for you. Someone better suited will come along and you don't want to be tied down when it happens."
"There won't be anyone else," Raleigh said. "We could all be dead tomorrow. I want to carry your name when I go."
"Marriage is a big step," Stacker said. "It's a serious commitment."
"I fight giant monsters with a giant robot," Raleigh said. "I am all about serious commitments *and* taking risks."
"Why do you want to get married?"
Raleigh sat up. This seemed like a conversation that demanded his full attention. He looked into Stacker's eyes, hoping that his sincerity came through clearly.
"Maybe it's ridiculous, but I always figured I'd get hitched someday. It seems like such a small dream in a world that's gone so crazy, but if I die... I don't want to die alone. Does that make sense?" He sighed, scrubbing his hand over his face. "Being married is like being part of someone else. And I know we haven't known each other for very long, but I want to be part of you. Or maybe I just want you to be part of me.
"I don't want to be forgotten. And if I'm married to you, if something happens to me at least there's some place for my things to go. I don't want the leftover parts of my life to end up in a box somewhere." Because if he died, there wasn't a single doubt in his mind that Yancy would be right there with him. They were all the family they had left.
"Besides," he added, "I really like you. I think that we could work. I've got no problem imagining us together and married in twenty years. But if we don't have twenty years, I don't want to miss out on the being together and the marriage. I want my white wedding."
"And what if things don't work out between us?" Stacker asked.
Raleigh shrugged. "Then we get divorced. No hard feelings, and we'll each have a story about the one that got away."
"Hm. I have to think about it," Stacker said. "I need a few days to decide."
"That's fine," Raleigh said. "We can still fuck though, right?"
"Watch that mouth, but yes." A faint smile curved Stacker's lips. "There's no reason we have to cut our weekend short.
"Good," Raleigh said. His skin still burned with self-consciousness, but Stacker hadn't thrown him out of bed or fled. He hadn't completely ruined things. There was still a chance for them.
Stacker ran his fingers down Raleigh's spine. "Why don't you lie down? We need to rest up before Round Two."
"Okay."
TBC...