RXLIANT.

“Yeah but you always seem to know what the hell is going on with that big brain of yours. I’m paying you a compliment, sweetheart, you should be thankful.” the fighter replied incredulously. If there was one thing that Cain didn’t do particularly often, it was dish out compliments to those who he deemed to be undeserving. If he told Abel that he was the best Navigator then he most definitely meant it, Abel could protest and argue as much as he liked but it would make no difference to Cain in the slightest.

“You must be tired if you’re turning me down. We both know just how much you love it, especially when you’re always screaming how good it feels.” the dark haired fighter responded with a quiet snort before laying himself back down on the mattress with a heavy sigh. “You work too fucking much, gonna make yourself sick if you carry on like this.” Now that was something he didn’t say often, worry wasn’t an emotion that Cain often liked to entertain, but underneath the bravado and the volatile nature, he was still human after all.

HIS FUSE WAS SHORT, TONIGHT. He couldn’t stand the slightest of buzzes from any machine & he surely couldn’t muster enough attention to listen to Cain. His body was set abalze with with LETHARGY & must he acknowledge his Fighter’s kind words, then he will, but he couldn’t do much more to curve his mind as it pranced a path towards sleep. ❝& I thank you for it, Cain. Besides, I don’t scream– much; but that’s not the point. I’m just too tired to move anymore.❞ The words slide out with a sigh; Abel didn’t enjoy complaining. He kept it to himself, knowing that if he had the time to whine he had to time to WORK.

& IT MUST’VE BEEN A MIRACLE, FOR HIM TO EVER SYMPATHIZE. It caught Abel off guard, his words; they SHACKLED him with shock & caused his breath to shake out of his throat ( ever so careful, he must be. ) It took him a moment to think of a response, a fight to keep his back to his Fighter as an emotion he wished not to explore spread through his chest.

                                                                ❝I’ll be fine, Cain.❞

  

KAONASHIGURU.

     ❝ Iɴᴛᴇʀᴇsᴛɪɴɢ? ❞ Uta asks, eyes wide and expression rather IMPASSIVE as he regards the other. Inked fingers remain IDLE within his pant pockets, relaxing his posture while his kakugan ANALYZES the stranger’s rather interesting taste in clothes. 

     ❝ …I’ʟʟ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴀs ᴀ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟɪᴍᴇɴᴛ. Tʜᴇʏ’ʀᴇ ᴛᴀᴛᴛᴏᴏᴇᴅ, ᴀғᴛᴇʀ ᴀʟʟ. ❞ 

THE FLICKER OF IRISES AT HIS OWN APPEARANCE IS UNMISTAKABLE. It doesn’t bother him, at the least; he only straightened his posture & rewarded the response with one of his own, though questioning in tone. It didn’t quite APPEAL to him, the thought of a permanent mark on his body. Despite the scar on his lip,he’d never been fond of the idea to TAINT pure skin; & to ink such a sensitive areas appealed to him much, much less than any scar would have.

                             ❝ A-Ah, is that so? I assume that must’ve been painful, then.❞

  

XCARNAL.

     Whatever game the two were playing, whatever this was considered

     for his Navigator, it wasn’t funny and Cain wasn’t humored by it in

     the slightest. It made him feel strange, like he wasn’t even with the

     name Navigator he’d been assigned to in the beginning. Ever since

     the incident with the Derelict, moments like this brought concern

     to even someone as dense as Cain. He didn’t know what it was,

     but Abel was simply not Abel.

     “Like hell you don’t know what I’m talking about. You aren’t you!”

     Cain shouts before lowering his tone, knowing that the rest of

     the Alliance aboard that ship doesn’t need to hear him. They’re

     out in the open, but Cain has brought the private conversation to

     the forefront, unable to distract himself over the fact that his partner

     is not the same man that he had known before that mission. Cain

     damns that mission to hell, knowing that it is the sole reason all

     of this is happening. The worst part was that he wasn’t in control,

     that he couldn’t help, and it was only happening to Abel.

     Would he ever learn? Unlikely.

THE SUDDEN INCREASE IN THE VOLUME OF CAIN’S VOICE PAINS HIM. Abel’s head suddenly ached & he hissed, palms pressing into his head as his fingernails dug into his skull. Pain rumbled down his spine, white light blinding him & his eyes shift around him, panicked & confused as to why he had been in the Hangar. He looked lost, MISPLACED & utter concerned as of why his fighter seemed so FURIOUS at him. What was going on? ❝Cain—?❞

ABEL STUMBLED FOR A SECOND, HIS BODY SLUMPING AGAINST THE reliant in turn. His breathing hitched & he searched, he SEARCHED & searched with blurry sight for his Fighter— he had to find his Fighter.  Cain had to make it back; Cain had to live through this. ❝Why is this— happening ? Cain— somethings wrong.. the ships— Cain—!!❞

  

RELIANTSSADISTICFIGHTER.

The Fighter smirked as he listened to the Navi attempting to be in control of their conversion of tasks needing to be done. What Abel on something? Must of been good since Cain had only came up to him now just to see how much longer til Reliant was ready for them to fight in again. “ Smart ass, You know your always in the mood the moment you see me.”

HE COULDN’T DEAL WITH THIS HARASSMENT, NOW. Abel had work to do, an emergency to attend to. If Cain didn’t know the meaning of no, then the navigator would be HAPPY to provide a crash course ( & by crash course he mean Cain crashing to the ground. ) ❝I’m SERIOUS, Cain. Get the hell out of my way,❞

  

PRCXIS.

                 The man doesn’t mean to be much of a bother,
coming in with good enough he thought. He wishes to only
be able to help, even if his knowledge of exactly what the
navigator is working on is quite limited. He is quick to
apologize when he hears his words, soon able to realize the
marks of stress in Abel. 

                         “I’m sorry, I just wanted to see if you needed any help with….
what you were working on. I can just excuse myself if you wish.”

GUILT IS NESTLING INTO THE BOTTOM OF HIS STOMACH. He curses it; such a vile feeling it was; Abel didn’t have time to worry about this right now. He needed to get his work done, & he liked to do that as quickly as possible. Despite the WEAKENING numbness settling deep into his marrow, the Navigator was determined to finish his work. While he had his eyes open, he would be WORKING. That was that.

❝Unless you can rework a few hundred lines of coding, I’d rather you not. I can’t risk LOSING the work I’ve already done, & you’re not quite helpful in aiding me in that task, Praxis.❞

  



  

CAINIVOROUS.

             It was a tortuous scene to watch, in this eternal silence that came afterwards Cain’s words. The shock that caused the mere mention of that word did not let him think correctly his answer, and caused him to do it in an almost hostile way. 

Still even if the fighter did not intend to sound that harsh– It was just the way he was, after all– He actually wanted to know what Abel meant. Hell, he needed to know what was the significance of that to him, why, of all things he could have said to end this nonsense discussion did he have to come up with that. 

Love? Cain did not know what love was himself; How it felt, what it required, what it implied. Even if he does know, that in a situation like this, a proper response would require him to express his feelings as well. But how can he? How can he even allow himself to think in such thing as love being aware of all the things that have been and are being done behind his navigator’s back?

The only think that comes to the younger male’s mind is that he needs an answer– He needs an explanation, because Abel can’t love him. He doesn’t want Abel to love him. 

Ironically, it was his mission, after all, to seduce him in order to give him something to protect– Yet...

As he witnessed the other male’s struggle to find words, and heard his reply, Cain stood up, facing him, in order to repeat the same question– Again, with the same unneeded hostility.

             “ As if I can forget something like that! Don’t fuck with me! What the hell did you mean with that? ”

ABEL DAMNED THAT MOMENT. The few seconds it took for him to say that sentence, the words that halted their argument for sure, but brought on another. He didn’t want to speak to his fighter any longer; he didn’t have any more words to say. He was BAFFLED, he was lost; Abel was confused &, strained &, hell, he wanted to leave. He had to leave.

IT HAD ALWAYS COME DOWN TO THIS: HIS DIVINE SELFISHNESS. Though many did not see it, he was constantly concerned for himself. How he worked to feel busy, or how he helped to feel wanted. How Abel tirelessly fought for others for the SATISFACTION of feeling like a better person; how he joined the Alliance to excel his teachings. The grunts & growls he emitted in adamance to avoid that one, four letter word that had DISRUPTED his day in a matter of seconds.

HE WAS RELUCTANT. He was relinquished to his own ASININE stubborn ORNERY of refusal. Abel didn’t have the time to actively practice his love for this man. He had not mind to even consider it, & there he stood, staring down a man that had been assigned to him through business, not affections. Work & care were unrelated; the sex was merely a PLUS. They both knew that well. They both knew their limits. They bother understood what it was to be partners & they both still stood, drenched in confusion because of a four letter word neither of them understood quite well. ❝Stop this, Cain.❞

WORDS ARE LEAVING HIS LIPS BEFORE HE CAN PROCESS THEM. They tumble from his lips like an avalanche, emotion blanking out of his mind as he stared dead at his Fighter. He was no longer concerned with this. Abel had work to do. They could talk about this when they were six feet underground, rotting away with dirt in their lungs & crickets in their bones. ❝Forget about it. I fuck with you enough, & you’re damn aware of that,❞ the curses slip from his tongue like wine; Abel was drunk on the though of LOVE. ❝I meant nothing; it was a mistake. Must’ve thought of someone else, so just forget about it. I have work to do, so, if you don’t mind, get your head out of my ass, please.❞ He spoke curtly; tirelessly & firm & COMMANDING enough to confirm that Cain would not mishear him once more; he will not misunderstand this time.

BUT ABEL HAD ALREADY SAID IT. Abel had said it, & he had already accepted that he loved Cain, whether he knew it consciously or not.

ABEL LOVED CAIN MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF.

  

ABEL COULDN’T TAKE IT ANY LONGER. His level of annoyance had managed to hike up Mount Everest within a period of ten minutes, & with his work demanding every bit of his attention, he had none to spare for his Fighter. The task couldn’t be interrupted for any reason, save for a RED ALERT. Cain would just have to get over it. ❝Listen, I need to get this done, Cain— I’m not in the mood to fuck with you.❞

  

50SHADESOFCAIN.

He meet’s Abel’s faux cheerfulness with a silent stare of his own, ignoring the falseness utterly. Does Abel take him for an idiot?

(Probably. Navs always did.)

“Cut the bullshit,” he says shortly. “What’s the matter with you?”

The question comes out much more brusque than he’d meant it to, and Cain frowns, wondering if he should soften his words. A brief debate, and then he decides that the effort is worth expending on his Navigator.

“I mean… I saw you,” he continues, “I saw your expression. Something’s bothering you.”

Ugh, why is this so difficult and awkward? Cain shifts his weight from foot to foot, starting to get annoyed. He’s not sure if it’s with himself, or with the little blond in front of him.

“Just… what’s wrong, Abel?”

DISTRESS TWISTED HIS SMILE INTO A FICKLE THING, LAUGHTER
falling from his weakened tongue. It sounds like plastic, dull & weak & far too deflated to have originated from him; his fighter’s lack of knowledge in comforting another was endearing, but it stuck a wrong chord in him. It made things WORSE, watching Cain leave behind his egotistic mindset in order to soothe the cavity sadness had dug within him; Abel’s forehead falls in SHAME, blond locks masking his dark eyes. He could get out of this himself, couldn’t he? ❝Ah, I guess you did, didn’t you? ❞

HIS HEAD RESTS AGAIN THE STARFIGHTER WITH EASE. His arm comes up to rest atop of his, leaving it’s twin to hang at Abel’s side. ❝Nothing is wrong, Cain,❞ he assures, but that was as much of a LIE as one could be. There was so much that nothing in particular could come to him, not one thing to fulfill his Fighter’s thirst for an answer. Yet another disappointment to add to his jar; he figured he’d need a bigger one, soon. ❝I’ll go see a medic later, if it makes you feel better. Just don’t WORRY about me; I’m alright.❞

  

IT’S LIKE NOTHING HE’S EVER SEEN. Blackened eyes, red irises, & a feat much more horrifying than WEREWOLVES and & vampires. Though many people did alter their children’s appearance before birth, he wasn’t aware they would go as far as to disguise them as a FRIGHTENING creature. Who would’ve known?

❝Y-Your eyes… are really interesting, you know?❞