All the Stars in the Sky [Chapter 8]
Title: The Audience
Originally Published: Nov. 28, 2006
Pairing: Fred/Gene
Genre: Romance
Rating: PG-13
Words: 2,397
Summary: Fred and Gene. It'd take a miracle, and a very persistent one at that. All the stars in the sky would fall first, right? You'd better get ready for the meteor shower.
Disclaimer: Outlaw Star characters, settings, plot devices, and references do not belong to me.
Warnings: Definitely some language, and plenty of sexual tension.
A/N: Last rich text entry!! Hooray. God I feel both pleased and guilty rereading all those old reviews for this story.
Fence
Fence-hopping has long been ingrained as a source of entertainment in the psyche of man. The knowledge that he is in uncharted and forbidden territory, the danger of being caught; an addictive thrill indeed. But take care - one day the familiar footholds will wear out, and you might just end up stranded on that mysterious other side.
------
“Food, food, fooood… I need food…”
“There’s tea.”
“There’s always tea, Suzu… and tea is not food!”
“It sustains me well enough.”
“Yeah, it’s not bad for some puny human woman, but we Ctarl-Ctarl need to eat more than old leaf water…” Aisha groused, slumping her back as she walked along after the prim swordswoman known as Twilight Suzuka.
Said swordswoman sniffed almost imperceptibly at the verbal assault on her lifeblood, but didn’t find herself to be in the mood to further the argument with the coarse catgirl. Unfortunately for her, Aisha, being Aisha, could never endure silence for long; she let out a catty groan and quickly went back to whining about being fed.
Just as Suzuka was beginning to calculate how many critical hit points on Aisha’s body she could strike in under three seconds, both women were interrupted by a cry that echoed down the narrow passageway.
“That came from the bunks…” Aisha said, ears twitching ever so slightly. Then glee spread across her face: “Captain’s bunks! Or captain-and-friend’s bunks,” she added with a snicker.
Suzuka gave a brief nod, but stayed exactly where she was.
Aisha took a few silent steps forward, realized that her companion was not doing likewise, and turned around. “Don’t you wanna go see, Suzu-chan?”
An elegant brow was raised. “…It could be nothing serious.”
“Hmm?” Aisha leaned forward. “Nothing serious? Of course it could be serious! Do you have any idea what could be going on in there right now? You saw them yesterday, right?” She asked conspiratorially.
Suzuka turned her face aside; to her horror, she was blushing.
“Ahh! Suzu-chan, you’re embarrassed!” Fangs exposed themselves in feline felicity, and Aisha grabbed Suzuka’s wrist and proceeded to drag her down the hall. “Don’t worry, Suzu, you have nothing to be ashamed of. All girls want to see it!”
In spite of all her years of training, killing, and being feared by the general populace in her section of the galaxy, Suzuka was still not a match for the brute strength of a Ctarl-Ctarl. Before she could even find her voice to protest, Aisha was pulling her closer and shushing her into silence. “They might stop if they hear us, Suzu-chan, shh!”
They were pressed against the wall outside of Gene’s quarters, which had (for lack of space) been housing the newly-acquired Fred Luo at night, and the door to which had been conveniently left cracked open. Aisha’s super-sensitive ears were at attention, but the sounds coming from within could be heard even by Suzuka, who quickly identified the voices of the Outlaw Star’s newest crew member, along with its captain.
“…Don’t you think it’s a bit too much, Gene?”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s enormous!”
Suzuka felt rather than saw Aisha’s tail stiffen in surprise. She herself coloured at the possibilities implied by this thread of conversation, but tried to deny them time to be considered.
“Are you joking, Fred? If anything, it needs to be bigger! Unfortunately there isn’t enough space for it to be any bigger and still be able to stay inside.”
Aisha’s eyes were wide as saucers, and she had to struggle to suppress the choked sound coming from her throat.
“I guess that’s a relief for me… but really… how did you get it inside in the first place without me noticing?”
The high colour that had risen to Suzuka’s face now drained right from it, returning her to her usual pale complexion and then some.
“Let’s just say I have experience with these things.”
“…And I thought I had you figured out…”
“You and me, both,” Aisha muttered under her breath.
“Hey, after everything you did to me, how could you not think I would pull something like this? You practically forced me to!”
Here Aisha nudged at Suzuka, giggling in a low voice. “We saw some of that yesterday, didn’t we? He really did bring it on himself!”
“But I never dreamed you would take such drastic measures! This wasn’t what I meant by ‘sharing a living space’!”
“Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you tried to straddle me in front of my entire crew!”
“I never would have done it if I’d have thought you were capable of erecting this monstrosity in such a short amount of time!”
“Like I said, it’s your own fault it’s up now, and it sure as hell ain’t coming down any time soon!”
Suddenly the pair inside the room were startled by two loud thumps and a muffled oof! As the force of the crash left the door wide open, they looked up and saw a tangled pile of indignant Ctarl-Ctarl and suffocating swordswoman splayed out on the floor.
“Owwie! Jeez, Suzu-chan, why’d you fall down like that so suddenly? Oi, you’re bleeding! Did I land on your nose? H-hey, where are you going!”
Aisha rubbed at the sore spot on her head that had served as her landing pad, watching her friend run speedily away while clutching her bloody nose. She wasn’t left with much time to wonder at Suzuka’s escape, however, as suddenly a familiar gloved hand grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and hauled her up.
“Aisha. What the hell are you doing? And what the fuck was that all about?” Gene inquired with his signature glare.
“Hey, that hurts!” she cried, clawing at Gene’s forearm somewhat unsuccessfully. Gene shook her, demanding an answer with his cocked eyebrow. “Ow! W-we weren’t doing anything! We were just walking around and suddenly heard your boyfriend yelling and thought you might be-mrrph.”
Gene’s hold had loosened at the surprise of hearing that man standing on the other side of the room referred to as his boyfriend. While Aisha picked herself up off the floor with a glare, Gene struggled to shrug off the jibe - as much as Gene could shrug anything off. “My boy- what the hell are you- I’d never-! THAT’S THE DUMBEST THING I’VE EVER HEARD COME OUT OF YOUR IDIOTIC, CAT-EARED HEAD!”
“Hmph! I call ‘em like I see ‘em,” came her sniffy reply as she dusted herself off. “You two looked almost as excited as a couple of male Ctarl-Ctarl at the start of mating season yesterday,” she added with a cheeky smirk.
While Gene carried on after this remark (and turned an undeniable shade of red), Aisha finally took in the room. She saw Fred a surprising distance away from the redheaded ship captain; but what was more surprising than that was the fact that he happened to be stuck behind a floor-to-ceiling, hastily patched together chain link and wire fence. Aisha blinked up at it a few times, before turning back to Gene. “Hey, has that giant fence always been there?”
“Of course not, you idiot! Who the hell would want a giant fence in their bunk!”
“Well then why is it there now!”
“Because a certain SOMEBODY in this room can’t keep his hands or his tongue to himself!” Gene threw a glare over at the sullen face behind the fence before really grasping what he had said, but Aisha was already cackling.
“Sh-shut up, you stupid animal! I don’t know why I keep thinking I can get through to something with the brain of a retarded housecat.” With that spiteful comment, Gene turned away.
The muscles in Aisha’s face twisted into a snarl; but before she could fly into one of her prideful rages, Fred grasped desperately at the links in the fence. “Please, young lady! I’ve just had this ship fully repaired, I can’t afford to service it on Gene’s credit again… If you really have to destroy something, at least make it this stupid fence!”
Aisha turned already slitted eyes onto Fred. “Oh no, I’d much rather destroy the human on this side of it.”
Fred’s voice took on a pleading tone. “You know that never ends the way you or anyone else wants it! I’m on this damn ship to prevent further damage to it!”
“You think I care about that? Anyone who insults the great Ctarl-Ctarl deserves what’s coming to them - unspeakable pain and a slow, torturous death!”
Gene, quite forgotten during the exchange between the two, blinked bemusedly at them for a moment before crossing his arms above his head and leaning against the wall. He had weathered Aisha’s tantrums many times before, and knew as well as Fred that the only one likely to suffer injuries at their expense would be whatever four walls happened to be housing them at the moment. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small crowd of Gilliam bots lining up a safe distance away from the irate catgirl, while the mobile pink one peeked inside from around the door. All were watching, waiting for the inevitably large amount of damage about to be done to the ship’s interior.
Gene, on the other hand, opted to go make himself a sandwich in the galley.
Much to Fred’s horror, he now found himself alone with an unreasonable felinoid typhoon who had no interest whatsoever in freeing him. She had yet to notice that her prey had turned tail.
‘I’m going to kill him!’ he thought to himself. ‘I’ve got to keep talking, at least enough to convince her to let me out…’
“A…alright,” he began, hoping the murderous intent that twisted his voice passed off as defeat. “You want to cause him pain and suffering, right?”
Knuckle cracks and a lick of the lips served as her answer.
‘How did Gene manage to travel for such a long time with this woman?’ Fred couldn’t help wondering with a touch of awe. “Well…if you come a bit closer, I can tell you the best way to make Gene Starwind suffer.”
Aisha’s furry ears twitched up and down, almost thoughtfully. The low and taunting voice that the dark-haired man was speaking in appealed to something in her animal instinct. The carnal excitement drawing up in her from the anticipation of learning her prey’s weakness, she moved forward, unblinkingly turning her ears to focus on his words. “Tell me,” she growled, a hungry smile baring her teeth.
Fred made sure she was in no position to be looking around for the missing Gene, then spoke lowly. “If you really want to make him miserable, for days, weeks - even months after this moment - leave him alone in my company as often as possible.”
Confusion crossed the bestial face in front of him for a moment; then Aisha blinked, and slowly regained her usual visage. She tilted her head at Fred. “That’ll make him suffer?”
Fred nodded sagely, trying desperately to hold in the bitter laughter that threatened to bubble up at her absurdity. “Why do you think he built this fence in the first place? If there’s one thing that never fails to get under his skin, it’s close contact with me.” He tried to ignore the sting of pain in his chest from saying the words aloud.
“Hmmm…” Aisha frowned to herself, trying to remember Gene’s reactions to the man stuck behind the fence. Now that she thought about it…
“He doesn’t seem to like having you around at all!” She came to her conclusion brightly.
Fred’s sharp brow twitched, and he spoke through only slightly gritted teeth. “Exactly my point, young lady. So you see…”
“Say no more, merchant man! Aisha Clanclan is on the job! You might want to back away a bit.” The warning was barely past her lips before clawed hands were grasping the chain link before her and ripping it apart, her arm muscles bulging through her shirt. The force rippled through the flexible metal, and with a great crash the rest of the fence came down, leaving the two of them standing in the middle of the rubble.
Aisha dusted off her hands, a satisfied smile gracing her lips. She gave Fred a pat on the shoulder which nearly sent him to the ground, then pulled him to her side like they were best friends. “Piece of cake! Speaking of which, I still haven’t had lunch. Come on, merchant man, let’s go get some food!”
She began leading (or dragging) Fred across the remains the broken fence, chatting happily. “I feel like I haven’t eaten for hours. I hope you’re not too hungry, ‘cause then there’ll be more for me! And then after food we’ll get you and that idiot alone together - hey, where is Gene anyway? Wasn’t he right here? That coward! Running off before I could kick the shit out of him! Just for that, he’ll be stuck with you for at least two hours today, if I have anything to say about it!”
------
All Fred had hoped to gain from his baiting of the catgirl was his freedom from behind the fence that Gene had pieced together while Fred lay in a sleep induced by a drug slipped into his evening tea.
What he had actually gained was a freedom far more delectable.
Gene was napping on Aisha’s bed, seeing as his was currently buried under endless tangles of broken fence and snapped wire, and it really had been her fault. If he had thought it odd that she had agreed to let him use her personal space while she was working cleanup, he hadn’t done anything to show it.
And if he had wondered at how long it was taking the cleanup to finish, considering that Aisha had dragged the rest of the crew to help, his actions had betrayed none of his thoughts as he had flopped down to rest after lunch.
As Fred leaned down from behind the pillow supporting Gene’s head to gently grab his face, dark eyes fluttered open to meet half-closed grey. And in the split second Gene had to resist before Fred’s lips came down to meet his own, if the redhead had any thoughts about throwing the other man off, none of them shone in his clouded eyes - nor in his compliant, yielding lips.
-End-
Originally Published: Nov. 28, 2006
Pairing: Fred/Gene
Genre: Romance
Rating: PG-13
Words: 2,397
Summary: Fred and Gene. It'd take a miracle, and a very persistent one at that. All the stars in the sky would fall first, right? You'd better get ready for the meteor shower.
Disclaimer: Outlaw Star characters, settings, plot devices, and references do not belong to me.
Warnings: Definitely some language, and plenty of sexual tension.
A/N: Last rich text entry!! Hooray. God I feel both pleased and guilty rereading all those old reviews for this story.
Fence
Fence-hopping has long been ingrained as a source of entertainment in the psyche of man. The knowledge that he is in uncharted and forbidden territory, the danger of being caught; an addictive thrill indeed. But take care - one day the familiar footholds will wear out, and you might just end up stranded on that mysterious other side.
------
“Food, food, fooood… I need food…”
“There’s tea.”
“There’s always tea, Suzu… and tea is not food!”
“It sustains me well enough.”
“Yeah, it’s not bad for some puny human woman, but we Ctarl-Ctarl need to eat more than old leaf water…” Aisha groused, slumping her back as she walked along after the prim swordswoman known as Twilight Suzuka.
Said swordswoman sniffed almost imperceptibly at the verbal assault on her lifeblood, but didn’t find herself to be in the mood to further the argument with the coarse catgirl. Unfortunately for her, Aisha, being Aisha, could never endure silence for long; she let out a catty groan and quickly went back to whining about being fed.
Just as Suzuka was beginning to calculate how many critical hit points on Aisha’s body she could strike in under three seconds, both women were interrupted by a cry that echoed down the narrow passageway.
“That came from the bunks…” Aisha said, ears twitching ever so slightly. Then glee spread across her face: “Captain’s bunks! Or captain-and-friend’s bunks,” she added with a snicker.
Suzuka gave a brief nod, but stayed exactly where she was.
Aisha took a few silent steps forward, realized that her companion was not doing likewise, and turned around. “Don’t you wanna go see, Suzu-chan?”
An elegant brow was raised. “…It could be nothing serious.”
“Hmm?” Aisha leaned forward. “Nothing serious? Of course it could be serious! Do you have any idea what could be going on in there right now? You saw them yesterday, right?” She asked conspiratorially.
Suzuka turned her face aside; to her horror, she was blushing.
“Ahh! Suzu-chan, you’re embarrassed!” Fangs exposed themselves in feline felicity, and Aisha grabbed Suzuka’s wrist and proceeded to drag her down the hall. “Don’t worry, Suzu, you have nothing to be ashamed of. All girls want to see it!”
In spite of all her years of training, killing, and being feared by the general populace in her section of the galaxy, Suzuka was still not a match for the brute strength of a Ctarl-Ctarl. Before she could even find her voice to protest, Aisha was pulling her closer and shushing her into silence. “They might stop if they hear us, Suzu-chan, shh!”
They were pressed against the wall outside of Gene’s quarters, which had (for lack of space) been housing the newly-acquired Fred Luo at night, and the door to which had been conveniently left cracked open. Aisha’s super-sensitive ears were at attention, but the sounds coming from within could be heard even by Suzuka, who quickly identified the voices of the Outlaw Star’s newest crew member, along with its captain.
“…Don’t you think it’s a bit too much, Gene?”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s enormous!”
Suzuka felt rather than saw Aisha’s tail stiffen in surprise. She herself coloured at the possibilities implied by this thread of conversation, but tried to deny them time to be considered.
“Are you joking, Fred? If anything, it needs to be bigger! Unfortunately there isn’t enough space for it to be any bigger and still be able to stay inside.”
Aisha’s eyes were wide as saucers, and she had to struggle to suppress the choked sound coming from her throat.
“I guess that’s a relief for me… but really… how did you get it inside in the first place without me noticing?”
The high colour that had risen to Suzuka’s face now drained right from it, returning her to her usual pale complexion and then some.
“Let’s just say I have experience with these things.”
“…And I thought I had you figured out…”
“You and me, both,” Aisha muttered under her breath.
“Hey, after everything you did to me, how could you not think I would pull something like this? You practically forced me to!”
Here Aisha nudged at Suzuka, giggling in a low voice. “We saw some of that yesterday, didn’t we? He really did bring it on himself!”
“But I never dreamed you would take such drastic measures! This wasn’t what I meant by ‘sharing a living space’!”
“Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you tried to straddle me in front of my entire crew!”
“I never would have done it if I’d have thought you were capable of erecting this monstrosity in such a short amount of time!”
“Like I said, it’s your own fault it’s up now, and it sure as hell ain’t coming down any time soon!”
Suddenly the pair inside the room were startled by two loud thumps and a muffled oof! As the force of the crash left the door wide open, they looked up and saw a tangled pile of indignant Ctarl-Ctarl and suffocating swordswoman splayed out on the floor.
“Owwie! Jeez, Suzu-chan, why’d you fall down like that so suddenly? Oi, you’re bleeding! Did I land on your nose? H-hey, where are you going!”
Aisha rubbed at the sore spot on her head that had served as her landing pad, watching her friend run speedily away while clutching her bloody nose. She wasn’t left with much time to wonder at Suzuka’s escape, however, as suddenly a familiar gloved hand grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and hauled her up.
“Aisha. What the hell are you doing? And what the fuck was that all about?” Gene inquired with his signature glare.
“Hey, that hurts!” she cried, clawing at Gene’s forearm somewhat unsuccessfully. Gene shook her, demanding an answer with his cocked eyebrow. “Ow! W-we weren’t doing anything! We were just walking around and suddenly heard your boyfriend yelling and thought you might be-mrrph.”
Gene’s hold had loosened at the surprise of hearing that man standing on the other side of the room referred to as his boyfriend. While Aisha picked herself up off the floor with a glare, Gene struggled to shrug off the jibe - as much as Gene could shrug anything off. “My boy- what the hell are you- I’d never-! THAT’S THE DUMBEST THING I’VE EVER HEARD COME OUT OF YOUR IDIOTIC, CAT-EARED HEAD!”
“Hmph! I call ‘em like I see ‘em,” came her sniffy reply as she dusted herself off. “You two looked almost as excited as a couple of male Ctarl-Ctarl at the start of mating season yesterday,” she added with a cheeky smirk.
While Gene carried on after this remark (and turned an undeniable shade of red), Aisha finally took in the room. She saw Fred a surprising distance away from the redheaded ship captain; but what was more surprising than that was the fact that he happened to be stuck behind a floor-to-ceiling, hastily patched together chain link and wire fence. Aisha blinked up at it a few times, before turning back to Gene. “Hey, has that giant fence always been there?”
“Of course not, you idiot! Who the hell would want a giant fence in their bunk!”
“Well then why is it there now!”
“Because a certain SOMEBODY in this room can’t keep his hands or his tongue to himself!” Gene threw a glare over at the sullen face behind the fence before really grasping what he had said, but Aisha was already cackling.
“Sh-shut up, you stupid animal! I don’t know why I keep thinking I can get through to something with the brain of a retarded housecat.” With that spiteful comment, Gene turned away.
The muscles in Aisha’s face twisted into a snarl; but before she could fly into one of her prideful rages, Fred grasped desperately at the links in the fence. “Please, young lady! I’ve just had this ship fully repaired, I can’t afford to service it on Gene’s credit again… If you really have to destroy something, at least make it this stupid fence!”
Aisha turned already slitted eyes onto Fred. “Oh no, I’d much rather destroy the human on this side of it.”
Fred’s voice took on a pleading tone. “You know that never ends the way you or anyone else wants it! I’m on this damn ship to prevent further damage to it!”
“You think I care about that? Anyone who insults the great Ctarl-Ctarl deserves what’s coming to them - unspeakable pain and a slow, torturous death!”
Gene, quite forgotten during the exchange between the two, blinked bemusedly at them for a moment before crossing his arms above his head and leaning against the wall. He had weathered Aisha’s tantrums many times before, and knew as well as Fred that the only one likely to suffer injuries at their expense would be whatever four walls happened to be housing them at the moment. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small crowd of Gilliam bots lining up a safe distance away from the irate catgirl, while the mobile pink one peeked inside from around the door. All were watching, waiting for the inevitably large amount of damage about to be done to the ship’s interior.
Gene, on the other hand, opted to go make himself a sandwich in the galley.
Much to Fred’s horror, he now found himself alone with an unreasonable felinoid typhoon who had no interest whatsoever in freeing him. She had yet to notice that her prey had turned tail.
‘I’m going to kill him!’ he thought to himself. ‘I’ve got to keep talking, at least enough to convince her to let me out…’
“A…alright,” he began, hoping the murderous intent that twisted his voice passed off as defeat. “You want to cause him pain and suffering, right?”
Knuckle cracks and a lick of the lips served as her answer.
‘How did Gene manage to travel for such a long time with this woman?’ Fred couldn’t help wondering with a touch of awe. “Well…if you come a bit closer, I can tell you the best way to make Gene Starwind suffer.”
Aisha’s furry ears twitched up and down, almost thoughtfully. The low and taunting voice that the dark-haired man was speaking in appealed to something in her animal instinct. The carnal excitement drawing up in her from the anticipation of learning her prey’s weakness, she moved forward, unblinkingly turning her ears to focus on his words. “Tell me,” she growled, a hungry smile baring her teeth.
Fred made sure she was in no position to be looking around for the missing Gene, then spoke lowly. “If you really want to make him miserable, for days, weeks - even months after this moment - leave him alone in my company as often as possible.”
Confusion crossed the bestial face in front of him for a moment; then Aisha blinked, and slowly regained her usual visage. She tilted her head at Fred. “That’ll make him suffer?”
Fred nodded sagely, trying desperately to hold in the bitter laughter that threatened to bubble up at her absurdity. “Why do you think he built this fence in the first place? If there’s one thing that never fails to get under his skin, it’s close contact with me.” He tried to ignore the sting of pain in his chest from saying the words aloud.
“Hmmm…” Aisha frowned to herself, trying to remember Gene’s reactions to the man stuck behind the fence. Now that she thought about it…
“He doesn’t seem to like having you around at all!” She came to her conclusion brightly.
Fred’s sharp brow twitched, and he spoke through only slightly gritted teeth. “Exactly my point, young lady. So you see…”
“Say no more, merchant man! Aisha Clanclan is on the job! You might want to back away a bit.” The warning was barely past her lips before clawed hands were grasping the chain link before her and ripping it apart, her arm muscles bulging through her shirt. The force rippled through the flexible metal, and with a great crash the rest of the fence came down, leaving the two of them standing in the middle of the rubble.
Aisha dusted off her hands, a satisfied smile gracing her lips. She gave Fred a pat on the shoulder which nearly sent him to the ground, then pulled him to her side like they were best friends. “Piece of cake! Speaking of which, I still haven’t had lunch. Come on, merchant man, let’s go get some food!”
She began leading (or dragging) Fred across the remains the broken fence, chatting happily. “I feel like I haven’t eaten for hours. I hope you’re not too hungry, ‘cause then there’ll be more for me! And then after food we’ll get you and that idiot alone together - hey, where is Gene anyway? Wasn’t he right here? That coward! Running off before I could kick the shit out of him! Just for that, he’ll be stuck with you for at least two hours today, if I have anything to say about it!”
------
All Fred had hoped to gain from his baiting of the catgirl was his freedom from behind the fence that Gene had pieced together while Fred lay in a sleep induced by a drug slipped into his evening tea.
What he had actually gained was a freedom far more delectable.
Gene was napping on Aisha’s bed, seeing as his was currently buried under endless tangles of broken fence and snapped wire, and it really had been her fault. If he had thought it odd that she had agreed to let him use her personal space while she was working cleanup, he hadn’t done anything to show it.
And if he had wondered at how long it was taking the cleanup to finish, considering that Aisha had dragged the rest of the crew to help, his actions had betrayed none of his thoughts as he had flopped down to rest after lunch.
As Fred leaned down from behind the pillow supporting Gene’s head to gently grab his face, dark eyes fluttered open to meet half-closed grey. And in the split second Gene had to resist before Fred’s lips came down to meet his own, if the redhead had any thoughts about throwing the other man off, none of them shone in his clouded eyes - nor in his compliant, yielding lips.
-End-