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Chapter Text

When I was a kid, I always looked to the stars whenever I felt small or lonely. I used to wonder if there was life up in that vast, black expanse of star-littered sky. 

Turns out I was looking in the wrong direction. When alien life entered our world, it wasn’t from spaceships in the sky, but instead from deep beneath the Pacific Ocean: in a fissure between two tectonic plates; a portal between dimensions - The Breach . 

I was 12 when the first Kaiju made land in San Francisco, my brother, Yancy, was 18. By the time tanks, jets, and missiles took it down - a whole six days and 35 miles later - three cities were destroyed and tens of thousands of lives were lost. We mourned our dead, memorialized the attack, and moved on. But, only six months later, the second Kaiju hit Manila. 

Then, the third one hit Cabo. And then the fourth. It was then that we learned that this was not going to stop - it was just the beginning. We needed a new weapon.

The world came together, pooling its resources and throwing aside its old rivalries for the sake of the greater good. 

To fight monsters, we created monsters of our own - thus the Jaeger Program was born. 

There were setbacks at first; the neural load to interface with a Jaeger proved to be too much for a single pilot. Instead, a two-pilot system was implemented with left-hemisphere and right-hemisphere pilot control. Scientists ran testing with a variety of people: Omegas, Betas, and Alphas, Soulmates and Siblings. They found out that Omegas weren’t able to handle the physical strain of piloting, nor were Soulmates whose bond was not strong enough able to handle the mental load. A routine of selecting pilots was formed - Drift Compatibility - and we started winning, Jaegers stopping Kaiju everywhere. But, the Jaegers were only as good as their pilots. 

So, Jaeger pilots turned into rock stars; Danger into propaganda; Kaijus into mere toys. 

We got really good at it - Winning. 

But, then. Then, it all changed. 

This is the story of how I, Raleigh Becket, met my soulmate and saved the world inside a Jaeger as an Omega in a world that’s out to pull me down. 

It's like my brother, Yancy, said, “Go big or go home.”

Chapter Text

It was State Testing Day. Raleigh hated State Testing Day. He hated how long the ticking clock droned on, well after he had finished his own tests. He hated how he couldn’t go have lunch with Yancy. He hated sitting still, making no extra noises. It was boring and he hated it. 

At least the actual testing was fun. Raleigh wouldn’t say that he was a particularly good student - he was more of a practical knowledge kind of guy - but he was one of the top in his class. 90% was his forte in the academic setting. Considering how Yancy was going to graduate as Valedictorian from Community College this year, Raleigh didn’t think his own grades were too shabby.

The blond was just finishing up the science portion of his exam, furiously scribbling inside the bubbles on his bubble sheet, when the sky turned a shade or two darker. Once he set his no. 2 pencil down, Raleigh peered out the window at the storm clouds and the wind whipping the tree branches around violently. There were 25 minutes left on the clock and he was going to go crazy waiting for it to end. The other ninth graders were gnawing at the ends of their pencil erasers in confusion or scratching the backs of their necks idly as they read the questions. The noises were annoying. Raleigh wanted to go home. Suddenly, his supervisor’s phone went off. Loudly.

“Kaiju attack! Kaiju attack!” the automated female voice crackled through the speakers of the man’s phone, startling Raleigh. “Please take shelter and avoid the areas nearest to the ocean.” It repeated itself. “Kaiju has been found in the waters of Alaska near Anchorage.”

The sixth Kaiju so far. Raleigh felt his heart begin to race in his chest in anticipation. They would use the Jaegers. 

“LISTEN!” their supervisor’s voice boomed, interrupting the panicking teens in front of him. The middle-aged man gave a warning growl and began to hastily collect their tests. “I want you all to be silent as you make your way to the shelter. NO funny business.”

Raleigh frowned. He didn’t want to go to the shelter in the ratty, old basement of the school. It was even mustier and smellier than the slum apartment where he lived with his brother. He wanted to be with Yancy, instead. There were worse places to be if he were going to die today. 

So, while his classmates were filing out of the classroom, Raleigh snuck away to the bathrooms, entering the second stall from the left. He locked the door and stood on the toilet seat, reaching up to unlock the window and get his fingers lodged in the frame. Heaving himself up, the blond pulled his upper body through the window, fingers quaking with the effort. If he fell from this height, he might break his neck. Letting out a grunt, Raleigh twisted his torso to let his legs drop down and lowered himself on shaky arms as slowly as he could. Once his toes were about 3 feet away from the ground, he let go of the window frame and let his knees absorb the shock. His hands were sore already. 

Then he was off, backpack straps tightened as far as they would go, running through the streets, taking shortcuts through alleys and sprinting through traffic. The Community College wasn’t particularly far away - only 5 blocks - but Raleigh had to get there fast before they locked the doors. 

Reaching out for his pack bond, Raleigh sent a feeling of urgency to his older brother, hoping to get the point across. The responding pulse of love and comfort Yancy sent spurred on his already burning legs. It was no secret to the world that Omegas were physically weaker than Betas, who were physically weaker than Alphas. The blond hated being an Omega. Well, perhaps he didn’t hate actually being one, but instead he actually hated being too helpless to protect himself. Each time he looked at a couple with an Omega, Raleigh always felt sick to his stomach. The Omega in the relationship was always an accessory used to show off an Alpha’s prowess or the like. He hated it. 

While Raleigh had been silently fuming, lungs gasping for air, he had made it to the entrance of the Community College. It was an old building that most likely still had lead paint in some of the classrooms. Probably the art wing classrooms, Raleigh mused. At the doors stood Yancy, holding open the heavy wooden door, eyes searching for his younger brother. 

“Yance!” Raleigh roared over the rain. Oh. It was raining. The Kaiju was close then. The ground rumbled slightly as his feet pounded on the sidewalk leading to his brother. Yancy’s hand grabbed him and pulled him through the door as hard as the man could muster, slamming the door behind them and scrambling to drag his younger brother, soaking wet and shivering, to the Kaiju shelter. 

“What were you thinking going out in this?” Yancy demanded, protectiveness overruling his pride at his brother’s bravery. Raleigh only gave the Alpha a toothy smile, canines exposed. 

“Becket! There you are!” the secretary’s voice squawked. The frazzled woman stormed up to them and, not batting an eye at the soaking wet high-schooler, wrapped her fingers around their collars and marched them down the hall to the left four doors over. 

Before entering the concrete shelter with about a hundred people squished inside, Raleigh stared outside the nearest window, mouth gaping at the sight of a Mark-1 Jaeger battling with the Kaiju. It was a Category 2, the second ever. His heart ached fiercely with a purpose. How he wanted to be inside of a Jaeger, fighting to protect the world. 

“Come on Rals,” the older Becket gave his brother a knowing look. Yancy wanted to become a Jaeger pilot once he graduated and had already been accepted into the program, but he also knew about his younger brother’s dreams. 

“Yeah,” Raleigh murmured, slipping inside and helping his brother lock the door tightly. 

He and Yancy didn’t always need words to communicate feelings. It was a benefit of their pack bond as siblings. So, when Raleigh’s nose began to scrunch up in distaste due to the putrid scents of fear and panic inside of the shelter, Yancy instantly and wordlessly wrapped his arms around his younger brother and dipped the Omega’s head into his neck where his scent was strongest, nuzzling his nose into the younger’s hair with a quiet rumble in his chest. Raleigh would miss doing this when his brother went off to the Jaeger Pilot Academy. 

After a few moments, Raleigh drifted to sleep, imagining himself going to the Jaeger Academy with his brother, knocking down self-righteous and cocky Alphas down left and right. Oh, how he dreamed of protecting people beside the people he loved. 

If he was a pilot, he would have been able to save his mom and baby sister, Jazmine. Then, their father wouldn’t have drunk himself to death. The Kaiju Blue wouldn’t have contaminated the water supply at the hospital when Jazmine was born. His mother wouldn’t have gotten so severely sick and would have been able to nurse her already ill baby back to health. Instead, Yancy, Raleigh, and their father watched helplessly as the Kaiju Blue took them away. 

Two years ago, he and Yancy had lost their entire family. Two years ago, they had been homeless, hopping from shelter to shelter while Yancy worked a night job to save money for their current one-room apartment. Two years ago, they had cemented their place in each other’s lives as a two-person pack. Raleigh wouldn’t trade it for the world. He was happy with his older brother. It could be worse, the blond mused, he could have no brother at all. 

“Mr. Becket,” a deep voice interrupted the warm, snuggly embrace between the two blond brothers. Raleigh stepped away from his older brother and stared at the dark-skinned British man with intelligent eyes that seemed to observe their every move.

“Hello,” Yancy nodded towards the man who wore a well-embellished military uniform. His hand reached for Raleigh and instinctively pulled the Omega closer, fingers splaying across the younger’s rib cage over top of the bulky sweater, probably Yancy’s missing sweater he lost several months ago. Raleigh knew nothing about this so-called missing sweater. Clearly. 

“Congratulations on being Valedictorian,” the man’s mouth twitched slightly in a move that was meant to be a smile but ended up being more like a grimace. Raleigh stared at him, finally able to make out the insignia on the older Alpha’s left pectoral. 

“You’re a Jaeger pilot,” Raleigh blurted out, forgetting all of the manners that his school tried to hammer into his brain. Omegas never speak unless spoken to. Blah blah blah. Raleigh never paid attention. Yancy didn’t care, so neither did he. 

“And you must be Raleigh Becket,” the man gave a real smile this time, no matter how small it actually was. “My name is Marshall Stacker Pentecost.”

“You’re here to take my brother away from me already?” Raleigh felt his cheeks heat up and his nose tingle. Shit. He was going to cry. A low rumble sounded from his chest, inner Omega becoming agitated at the prospect of their pack leaving. 

“Quite the contrary, Mr. Becket,” Pentecost gave the two brothers an appraising look. “I have a proposition for the two of you.”

“We’re listening,” Yancy finally said after exchanging glances with his Omega brother for a moment. 

“I’ve seen your test scores and your medical reports,” Pentecost continued. “And it is in my best interest to ask something out of the both of you.”

“I need another pair of Rangers for the Academy.”

Raleigh’s jaw dropped a little. He snapped it shut with a click. The hand around his ribs was trembling and when he looked over at his brother, the blond was grinning at him. Raleigh opened his mouth to talk.

“And, no, I do not care that you are an Omega,” the older man raised a challenging eye-brow at Raleigh. “You two have one of the strongest bonds that I have ever witnessed between siblings, so if you, Raleigh, can pass the physical in a year's time, then there is a newly built Mark-3 Jaeger with your family name on it.”

“Th-thank you, sir,” Yancy’s mouth was agape, tongue heavy in his mouth and hand squeezing Raleigh in pure joy. 

“Don’t think that it will be easy, little Becket,” Pentecost reminded the younger. “If you can shoot and get the bullseye, then you’ll become the youngest and first Omega pilot. But remember, one shot is all you get .”

Chapter Text

Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.

Raleigh winced as the approaching footsteps got louder. Here came Lieutenant Bryan Rodgers, the bane of the young blond’s existence. Yancy stood farther up the straight line, shoulders back and chin held tall. He looked like the picturesque Jaeger pilot, an Alpha machine capable of protecting not only his family, but also entire cities. His brother’s soft blond hair reflected the fluorescent lights of the training room, making it look almost glossy. 

“As you all are aware,” Lieutenant Rodgers barked, his wiry mustache wiggling on his upper lip while he spoke. Raleigh suppressed a chuckle, lip quivering slightly while keeping his eyes trained on the wall directly in front of him. He could hear the man on his left side huffing a quiet laugh through his nose, eyes trained on Raleigh with rapt attention. Upon seeing this in his peripheral vision, the younger Becket let out a quiet rumble in warning. Yancy had made it quite clear: No one was to mess with Raleigh Becket or else they wouldn’t just be getting their asses beat by Raleigh, but by Yancy too. And Yancy was a scary good fighter; you weren’t getting away without at least a broken bone or blood gushing from somewhere. 

Raleigh refocused on the Lieutenant, who had continued to ramble on and on while the blond was distracted. “Evaluations are in one hour. I trust you all have done your stretches and warm-ups by now.”

The resulting “Yes sir!” filled the air. For once, Lieutenant Rodgers smiled at them without any predatory undertone, a rare sight. Usually, he screamed and leered at them during training. Surprisingly, the older Alpha didn’t shout at Raleigh too much, clearly too misogynistic to even offer proper criticism to the only Omega in their training group. Though, whenever the Marshall came to observe their training, the salt-and-pepper haired man gave Raleigh snide, and often inappropriate, comments about his form. Raleigh always took it in stride and fixed his form, fighting techniques, and tried to show off as much as he could for the Marshall. 

If it wasn’t already evident to the Marshall by how fast the Omega was progressing, Raleigh put in at least double the time training than the other candidates. He slaved away in the training room, alternating between attacking the punching bag and using the other various gym equipment. One thing the blond liked to work on early in the morning was some yoga to keep his limbs flexible. Most of the Alphas were stiff and couldn’t maneuver around as swiftly and quickly as Raleigh could. He needed every advantage that he could get. 

Raleigh used every aspect of his Omeganess to his advantage: his smaller frame, his more alluring scent if needed, his flexibility, and his surprising strength from working out so much. There was a reason why many of the Jaeger technicians referred to him as the Scrappy Brother in comparison to Yancy, the one they dubbed the Handsome Brother. Anything that Raleigh could use to win, he would throw it, sometimes quite literally, in his opponent’s face. Despite the uproar from the other candidates, the Marshall never forbade Raleigh from using his questionable techniques. So, Raleigh managed to hold a position in the top ten, only nine spots away from Yancy, who held the top rank steadily for all of the months that they had been enrolled in the program. 

The upcoming evaluations were something that Raleigh both dreaded and couldn’t wait for. After all, it was his only shot at becoming a Jaeger pilot beside Yancy. If he didn’t succeed, Yancy would have to find someone else to be compatible with, taking a lot more time. The blond wouldn’t lie, he had some panic attacks and mental breakdowns in the confines of his two-blanket nest. Since he was the only Omega at the Academy, Raleigh got his own room, although it was more of a walk-in closet, in a lonely, empty corridor, and an extra blanket. It was tough being that far from Yancy every night, so his brother gave him his blanket from the night before and took the weaker smelling blanket of Raleigh’s current two. Just having Yancy’s scent in his “nest” offered Raleigh comfort during his episodes. Sometimes the pressure of wanting to succeed was too much and his glass overflowed, his plate breaking. The blond was lucky that he could break down in private and not worry his brother. 

In these biannual evaluations, candidates were selected to form pairs based on their compatibility ratings. In a Kwoon spar, the Marshall would observe with the assistance of other high-ranking Jaeger pilots with significant experience. Raleigh’s partner was Yancy. 

“Hey, kid,” Yancy’s smooth baritone voice caught his attention. Whoops. He had been staring at the wall in front of him for longer than appropriate, most likely with a blue-eyed stare (Yancy called it the Hundred-Mile Stare since he hardly blinked during it). “Tendo’s got something for us to try on.”

In Yancy’s hands were two nearly identical Ranger uniforms, one piece tracksuits that had their first names embroidered on the sleeves. Yancy held up his own uniform, the name Becket emblazoned on the back. Raleigh grinned and accepted his own. Tendo was amazing. 

“I love it,” the younger breathed, already unbuttoning his candidate tracksuit to expose his gym shorts and Yancy’s tank top. Yancy barked out a laugh when his younger brother started stripping in front of a room of people, not a care in the world if they saw him without more clothes on. Raleigh pulled on the new uniform, marvelling at the perfect fit. At fourteen years old, his shoulders had started to fill out, torso lengthening, and legs becoming long and built of muscle. The same could be said about the rest of his body. Due to the intense conditioning regime the blond upheld over the past seven months, his growing body was ripped with muscle, unheard of in an Omega. 

Omegas couldn’t retain muscle, build it, or match an Alpha stride for stride in a fight. Raleigh wasn’t a stereotypical Omega. He was a freak of nature, as many of the other candidates called him. While it hurt his feelings deep down, Raleigh never let them see. Yancy always told him not to turn his back to people, giving them the chance to sink their claws in and hurt him. As the only Omega candidate, he needed to be tough and defensive. 

There was only one thing left to do before the two brothers sparred: a cuddle pile. 

“Candidates!” Marshall Pentecost’s formal voice drew every eye to his tall, strong figure. Beside the man, another Alpha stood proud, accompanied by a smaller teenager. “Today, Lieutenant Hercules Hansen will be observing your Kwoon spars alongside myself. I expect that you all will be respectful of him and his visiting son.”

Raleigh couldn’t help but watch the awestruck boy. He had his father’s ginger hair and blue eyes, but his eyebrows were a slightly different shape, most likely similar to his mother’s. Raleigh thought that the young teen, most likely 3 years younger than him, was actually rather cute. The Omega imagined that the boy would grow up to break a lot of hearts if he was to look anything like his father. When the candidates were called to line up in ranking order by Lieutenant Rodgers, Raleigh instantly moved from the end of the line, previously ordered by age and secondary gender, to the tenth spot in line, and noticed that Lieutenant Hansen’s son was staring at him with his mouth slightly open. 

“Let’s begin!” the Marshall boomed. “Beckets! You’re up first.”

Yancy grinned as his younger brother let out an excited shout. They unbuttoned the top halves of their new blue uniforms and tied the sleeves around their waists, exposing the identical white tank tops. Raleigh picked up two staffs and tossed the slightly larger one to his brother while toeing off his boots. The Omega spun his staff around, alternating hands to loosen his wrists. 

“Ready, kid?” Yancy drawled, eyebrow quirked.

“After you, old man,” Raleigh added a sultry undertone to his voice, raising his chin defiantly. This was a spar that he wasn’t going to try and win, but he was going to show off for this Hercules Hansen fellow and his adorable son. 

“Remember,” Yancy said as they stepped close to each other, right arms clasping at the elbow as per the formal Kwoon match between family members. “It’s a dialogue, not a fight.”

“Yeah,” Raleigh breathed out. When the low beep sounded, signalling the start of their spar, the Omega leaped backwards, narrowly avoiding Yancy’s swipe at him. Oh, the Alpha was going to play dirty. Raleigh let a feral grin take over his face. How fun.

“So,” the Omega spun the staff in his left hand. “A little birdie told me that my big brother has been going easy on me.”

Whack!  

Yancy’s arms held strong when Raleigh slammed staffs with him. They spun around in unison and jabbed at each other lightheartedly. 

“Well,” the Alpha growled playfully. “That little birdie is a liar. Only someone with a death wish would take it easy on you, little one.” 

The nickname from when they were kids shocked Raleigh. Yancy took the split second opportunity to gain a point, staff pointing at the Omega’s neck. So far, five minutes had passed and they were pretty evenly matched. Raleigh was relieved.

“Stop!” the Marshall’s voice interrupted their sparring session. “We have seen enough. Go back to your spots.”

Panting lightly, Raleigh nodded, bowing to the Marshall and Lieutenant Hansen before embracing his older brother tightly. Yancy’s chest rumbled slightly and he nuzzled his brother’s soft blond hair. They had tried their best. That was all that they could do. 

The rest of the kwoon matches went by in a blur, Raleigh not remembering a single one despite staring at them. When the Marshall spoke quietly with Lieutenant Hansen, the Omega stood with his eyes focused forwards resolutely. He felt the gaze of the younger Hansen on his face, making his cheeks heat under the attention. 

“Candidates,” the Marshall spoke confidently. “We are pleased to announce that we have selected a pair to become Jaeger pilots out of your candidate group.”

“The new cadets are,” Lieutenant Hansen spoke up now with an extremely prominent Australian accent. Every candidate held their breath, none more than Raleigh, who also crossed his fingers behind his back. “Yancy Becket and…”

Raleigh panicked, heart beating wildly in his chest. This was it. If he and Yancy weren’t compatible, then all of his work was for nothing. He would be a disappointment. He couldn’t bear the thought of it. What if -

“Raleigh Becket!” 

Strong arms immediately embraced him, lifting him off of the ground and spinning him around with a loud shout of joy. The calming scent of dark chocolate washed over him. Yance.

Raleigh realized that he was crying, face buried into the crook of his brother’s neck. They had done it.

Chapter Text

“Beckets!” Lieutenant Hansen’s strong Australian accent caught the brothers' attention. The older ginger made his way over to where Yancy stood, arms wrapped around Raleigh like an octopus. Raleigh was a very clingy and touchy person, so whenever Yancy shared his sentiments, the blond was practically in heaven. 

“Yes, Lieutenant?” Yancy responded, trying to be a little more formal. It was custom for the Alpha to speak before the Omega, but Raleigh hated the formal rules and etiquette. They could burn in hell. Yancy almost always disregarded the manners that had been instilled in them, but occasionally they had to pretend in front of influential people. People that could ruin their careers. Like Lieutenant Hansen. 

“Congratulations on your compatibility,” the Alpha gave them a smile, making his eyes crinkle a bit around the edges, his cerulean blue eyes sparkling. Raleigh had the sudden urge to see if the younger Hansen could smile bright like that. 

“Thank you, sir,” Raleigh spoke up now, against ‘formal rules.’ To the man’s credit, Lieutenant Hansen barely reacted to such a forward and improper Omega. Instead, the Alpha’s smile grew, showing his perfect, white teeth. 

“Well,” Lieutenant Hansen cleared his throat awkwardly. “I’ll be seeing you two around sometime soon.” The Alpha nodded to them and stalked off, most likely in search of his son. 

“That was…” Yancy trailed off, sky blue eyes meeting his younger brother’s.

“An experience,” Raleigh smirked, knowing that both brothers had found the older man attractive despite the Alpha being a couple decades older than them. The immediate suspicion in Yancy’s gaze made the Omega jab his elbow into his brother’s ribs and bolt down the hall, hollering loudly. Yancy let out his own yell as he chased the younger, grin stretched wide across his cheeks.

“Rangers,” Marshal Pentecost addressed the brothers, both wearing their matching army green PPDC uniforms.

“Marshall,” Raleigh responded, Yancy grunting. 

“Mr. Choi has something to show you both,” the man said before walking off to the side. Tendo jogged up, excitement and pure joy evident on his face. Something big was about to happen - Raleigh could tell.

“Boys,” the Asian Alpha grinned wickedly, remote in his hand. “Meet your new lady!”

Suddenly, the blinds covering the windows around them retracted. Behind the window, a hulking figure appeared. Raleigh gasped, hand squeezing Yancy’s tightly. 

She was beautiful . 

“Mark-3,” Tendo rattled off, sounding immensely pleased. “She’s nuclear and has a couple tricks up her sleeves.”

The cornflower blue color of her metal complemented the red accents and her visor. Oh, her visor. It looked like she was wearing a pair of sunglasses. Raleigh loved it so much. He hadn’t realized that he had dragged Yancy up to the window with him, where the Omega was pressing his face against the glass. 

“Yance,” Raleigh’s voice cracked. 

“I know,” his brother murmured. 

“She’s our girl,” Raleigh continued. “She’s my girl.”

Yancy let out a raspy chuckle, arm wrapping around his brother’s shoulders. The two brothers embraced each other. They finally did it. This was their Jaeger. 

“Welcome to the world, Gipsy Danger,” Tendo whistled, shrill and bright. Raleigh fell in love with the machine. She was gorgeous, his Gipsy. 

“Shall we get you two suited up for your first Drift? I have just gotten word that Chrome Brutus and Brawler Yukon’s pilots are here to observe,” the Marshall voiced, a clear smirk in his voice. (If Raleigh had practically spawned next to the door, then the Omega knew nothing about it. Aside from the fact that Yancy was right there behind him, holding on tight, that is.) 

It was time. 

“Gipsy Danger,” he and Yancy shouted through the Comms. “Ready for drop!”

The sudden lurch and plummet made Raleigh breathless. Even with his stomach in his throat, the blond let out a loud yell. It was invigorating . His joints relaxed as Gipsy’s Conn Pod slowed in its descent, absorbing the massive landing. As it attached to the rest of her body, Raleigh couldn’t help but laugh in pure joy. Yancy, steady as ever beside him, simply huffed a laugh. 

“You boys ready?” Tendo asked as Gipsy’s head spun around to face the front. With the affirming grunt from Yancy, he started the countdown. “Initiating mental handshake in 3… 2… 1…”

Raleigh tried his best to breathe, to help himself prepare for whatever the Drift was going to be. None of his classes had ever truly prepared him for a real Drift experience. There were the Drift Simulations at the Academy, but they only focused on the fighting and operating aspects of a Jaeger, not the actual Drift. He thought it was going to be smooth like surfing through your co-pilot’s head.

Spoiler. It wasn’t.

It was a flash of electric blue. A sudden prickle over every nerve ending in his body. Raleigh couldn’t see, but he could feel. Yancy’s voice called out to him, flashes of memories overcoming him. 

“Rals!” the younger Yancy’s body materialized. “Come on! Mom said we could come and listen to Jaz! She’s kicking!”

“Yance!” a proud, snow covered Raleigh appeared with an armful of snowballs. “Let’s play!”

The memories of their joint childhood rushed past him, some too fast for his eyes to take in, while others were seen in full clarity. But every memory became his own. They were no longer just Yancy and Raleigh, brothers. Now they were one mind - whole . Every fleeting thought, each blink of an eye, and even a persistent itch that Yancy had was shared. 

“Kid,” Yancy’s voice broke through Raleigh’s awe. “You can open your eyes now.”

Oh. 

“Yance,” Raleigh turned his head to look at the Alpha who stood tall and proud, every person’s picturesque version of a Jaeger pilot. “We did it.”

“I know,” Yancy smirked, fondness present in his eyes. 

“Congratulations you two,” Marshall Pentecost’s deep baritone came through the comms. “You’ll make your official debut once the next Kaiju shows up. For now, keep up with your training. And, I’ll let Mr. Choi take you through some test movements.”

“Yes sir!” they shouted in unison, matching grins on their faces.

“This just in,” the camera zoomed in on a new Jaeger being flown in. “We have a new Jaeger on the scene!”

“I’m Dorothy Mayers with Fox 19 in Los Angeles on our newest Kaiju, codename: Yamarashi,” the newscaster spoke with excitement. “Here are the specs on our newest Jaeger. Gipsy Danger is a Mark-3 Jaeger with 2 pilots. She has a nuclear core, two plasma-cannons, and is made specifically for close-combat fighting. Her pilots are brothers Yancy and Raleigh Becket.”

Gipsy Danger dropped about a hundred feet away from Yamarashi, knees bending slightly and arms outstretched. Then, suddenly, she brought her arms together, left fist colliding with her right hand’s flat palm. The fight was on. 

The Category 3 Kaiju immediately locked onto its new prey, completely ignoring the damaged Jaeger it was just sinking its claws into. It could hear the excited shouts coming from the new machine, which began to take heavy steps towards it. Yamarashi was huge, the biggest Cat-3 ever recorded. Chrome Brutus began to make a hasty retreat, movements hindered by the severe damage done to his left leg. 

Gripping a loose cable from the nearby San Francisco bridge, Gipsy Danger’s pilots collided with the huge Kaiju, managing to wrap the metal cord around its neck, covered with green, pointy scales. 

Yamarashi slashed at Gipsy, claws screeching against the blue metal plates of the Jaeger’s chest as the brothers pulled the cable taut. 

“Yance!” 

“Rals!”

“Now!” they yelled together. 

The brothers screamed in unison, using all of their strength to shear the Kaiju’s head clean off, a violent spew of entrails following. Powering up their left plasma cannon, Gipsy shot a powerful blast at Yamarashi’s chest, aiming for its heart. The Kaiju was finally completely dead. 

“An amazing first drop for our newest Jaeger!” Dorothy Mayers appeared on the screen, breathless and in awe. 

Click

“Well,” Yancy broke the silence, staring unfocused at the dark television screen. 

“We did it,” Raleigh finished, finally turning to grin at his older brother, both cuddled up together on the couch after coming back from their first interview as Jaeger pilots. 

“That we did,” Yancy murmured, pressing his lips to the Omega’s blond hair, cut extremely short yet still silky. The older Alpha let out a quiet rumble. 

“Hey Yance?” Raleigh asked, voice soft. 

“Yeah, Rals?” his brother responded. 

“We made it,” he pressed his lips together to hide the slight quiver. 

“Oh Rals,” Yancy held his younger brother’s head in the palm of his hands, fingers brushing away the Omega’s tears. “They’d be so proud of us. I know it.” 

“I know.” 

Chapter Text

The Kaiju alarm was ringing. Raleigh rolled over in his bunk, pausing to glance at the time. It was 2 am. Yancy was going to be pissed.

“Yance,” Raleigh called as he stood up, straightening his sleep shorts and loose white tank-top. His brother simply groaned, burrowing himself deeper into the blanket on his bunk. 

“Five more minutes,” the Alpha grumbled. Raleigh barked out a laugh, bouncing on the balls of his feet to loosen up his sleep-stiff legs. 

“Wake up sleepyhead,” the Omega gently smacked the sides of his brother’s face, effectively waking him up since his hands were freezingly cold. “We’ve got a mission!”

“I’m up!” Yancy growled playfully. “I’m up!”

Laughing, Raleigh grabbed their matching PPDC uniforms and their custom leather jackets with the Gipsy Danger insignia. Yancy had just splashed water on his face, looking all the more like a wet puppy. He took the offered set of clothes and dressed quickly next to Raleigh. They were in for it. It was Brawler Yukon’s turn to be on call for any Kaiju. If they were needed as backup, then it was going to be bad. 

Flinging open the door to their shared dorm, Raleigh led the way, Yancy shutting off the lights as he passed the threshold. 

“Handsome! Scrappy!” Tendo’s bright voice called out. He had nicknamed them shortly after Raleigh had referred to him as Elvis once. Yancy grinned and embraced his best friend. 

“Tendo!” Raleigh matched his brother’s grin. 

“How was your date?” Yancy waggled his eyebrows. Raleigh smirked at the Asian man.

“Well,” he blushed slightly. “Allison was amazing, but it turns out she has a boyfriend.”

The resulting roars of laughter filled the space.

As the brothers slipped into their circuitry suits, Tendo rattled off the specs on the new Kaiju. Yancy and Raleigh both agreed that their drive suits, despite looking cool, were extremely bulky compared to most, and that the white color didn’t match Gipsy Danger very well. If Raleigh had to design a new drive suit, he’d probably pick a dark blue or black and a much thinner material. 

“Codename: Knifehead,” Tendo began, beginning to mess with the display on his tablet while the techs fluttered around, helping the Becket brothers into their drive suits. “The biggest Cat-3 yet, beating Yamarashi by over 100 tons. It managed to avoid Brawler completely and is heading towards Anchorage. Marshall has ordered you guys to hold the Miracle Mile position.”

Humming, Raleigh dragged his brother to stand closer to the techs who brought over their spinal clamps and helmets. Raleigh waited as patiently as he could while the delicate spinal clamp was attached to his suit, slipping on his helmet. Once the relay gel passed, Raleigh turned his head to look at Yancy, who was just finishing up adjusting the polycarbonate material on his wrists, sensitive due to the soulmark sitting there. 

When Raleigh was a kid, he had never realized that the markings on people weren’t just intricate tattoos. So, when Yancy’s soulmark, a colored variety of roses wrapping around his right wrist, appeared at age 16, Raleigh was intrigued. As per a 10 year old, he dismissed the new tattoo on his brother until he hit age 16; when he became a Jaeger pilot. 

Raleigh’s soulmark was huge to say the least. It covered the entirety of his back, a huge scene with two Jaegers, one being his Jaeger, Gipsy. As for the other, he hadn’t found any Jaegers that looked remotely like it. The two Jaegers laid on his back like the Yin Yang koi fish in a sea of nearly every color there was - yet it was dull. That meant that the blond’s soulmate was younger than him. Once his soulmate was old enough, Raleigh’s soulmark would blossom in full color.  But, considering the magnitude and detail, Raleigh had realized that his new mark wasn’t a tattoo. Instead, he finally learned about soulmarks. 

When Marshall Pentecost learned of his new soulmark, he forbade Raleigh to ever take off his shirt or tank top. If anyone saw the only Omega Jaeger pilot’s soulmark, people would try to replicate it. Yancy was able to hide his easily due to its size, but Raleigh’s was abnormally large, so he had to constantly be wary of anyone looking at his back. 

Since getting his soulmark, the Omega found comfort in tracing Yancy’s soulmark, enjoying the look on his brother’s face; a look of love for his soulmate. Whenever Yancy traced his mark, Raleigh felt warm tingles go down his spine. Whenever Yancy stopped running a finger over the lines, a chill rushed through Raleigh, reminding him that he was still waiting on his soulmate.  

But, Raleigh knew better than to dwell on the uncontrollable. For now, he and Yancy had Kaiju to kill. 

“Ready to step in my head, kid?” Yancy drawled, lazily smirking at Raleigh as he locked his feet into the pedals and attaching his spinal clamp to the rigging of Gipsy’s Conn Pod. 

“Please,” Raleigh threw his head back in laughter while he locked his own feet into their pedals, attaching his left arm to the rigging. “After you. Age before beauty, old man.”

“LOCCENT to Gipsy Danger,” Tendo’s voice came through their comms.

“Gipsy Danger ready for drop!” Yancy and Raleigh responded in unison. Then the floor plummeted. 

“Here we go!” Yancy voiced in the comms. Raleigh let out a joyous cry and laughed in spite of the feeling of his stomach in his throat. He loved his Gipsy. 

Once Gipsy’s Conn Pod rotated to face the front, Tendo’s voice left their comms. 

“This Marshall Stacker Pentecost,” the deep voice of their Marshall reverberated in his mind. “Ready for pilot-to-pilot protocol.”

Tendo began the countdown. Yancy shut his eyes as they dissolved into electric blue. Now that they had Drifted many times before, the memories slipped by easily, never lingering too long. It was easy to avoid chasing the RABIT when you and your Drift partner were compatible and had Drifted together before. At the cue, their respective arms calibrated with practiced efficiency. 

When their rigging lurched, Raleigh flexed his fingers. They were airborne now. Yancy flattened his hand and brought it towards Raleigh’s closed fist. Gipsy’s massive metal hands met in a menacing smash. Any Kaiju in the path of those fists was getting their ass kicked. 

As soon as they were over the ocean, the Jumphawks released the massive Jaeger, allowing her to plummet into the waves. 

“Put some muscle in it!” Raleigh teased his older brother as they powered forward, pushing the heavy foot pedals and moving their arms to make Gipsy tread through the sea. Due to the physical strain of operating a Jaeger, pilots needed to be extremely fit. One of the many reasons why Omegas weren’t allowed to pilot. 

“Sir,” Yancy spoke through the comms to the Marshal. “There’s a boat about a mile away.”

“You will not leave your position,” the Marshall’s voice became extremely sharp. “You will not sacrifice a city of 2 million people for 10.”

“Yes, sir,” the brothers chanted, exchanging looks. 

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Raleigh asked. 

“I’m in your head, kid,” Yancy smirked. 

“Let’s go fishing then,” the Omega let out a whoop. 

Once they reached the small fishing boat, creatively named Saltchuck, their sensors began ringing. The Kaiju was close. 

Beside him, Yancy tensed slightly, preparing to throw a right hook. 

The Kaiju erupted from the waves, a massive monster with a pointed head. 

Scooping up the boat, Raleigh allowed Yancy to throw a punch while charging up his plasma cannon. With the boat secure in Gipsy’s left arm, Yancy let loose the shot, straight into Knifehead’s mouth, taking it down. 

“Yeah!” Raleigh cheered. He and Yancy pushed the boat away from the area, Kaiju Blue already starting to spread in the ocean. The toxicity of the Kaiju Blue was fatal to all life, so getting the fishermen away quickly was of utmost importance to Raleigh. Because of this, neither brother noticed the ocean beginning to stir. 

“We’re still getting a signal,” Tendo’s voice broke the eerie silence. 

Suddenly, Knifehead erupted from the waves, driving its sharp head directly through the left shoulder of Gipsy’s body. Raleigh’s body felt like it was lit on fire, blacking out from the pain. 

“Raleigh!” Yancy’s panicked voice was the only thing he could hear over the high pitched whine and a guttural scream. “ RALEIGH! ”

Gasping, the blond was finally able to see clearly, pain still making every nerve in his body go haywire. He barely noticed the way his right arm was cradling his left to his body, the appendage mostly useless. Yancy was struggling to hold Knifehead’s powerful form back on his own, sending worried glances at his younger brother. 

“I’m okay,” Raleigh ground out, heart sinking as he realized that his arm, Gipsy’s arm, was damaged beyond repair. Based on how Yancy was favoring his left shoulder, Raleigh figured that Gipsy’s entire left arm was ripped off. 

Even with Yancy holding the Kaiju back, Knifehead was stronger than one pilot. The massive alien sunk its claws into Gipsy’s chest plates. Screaming in pain, both brothers couldn’t hear the Marshall’s voice giving them commands. Electricity zapped them harshly in the chest, taking whatever strength Raleigh had left. His arm was dripping blood in addition to being numb with pain. 

“Raleigh,” Yancy’s strained voice broke. “Raleigh, you have to listen to me.”

“Yancy!” Raleigh screamed, reaching out for his brother. Neither one of them could stop the next attack.

“Raleigh-” the terrifying noise of metal being crushed made the younger blond reach out for his brother. To hold onto him for comfort. In the blink of an eye, the last thing Raleigh saw of Yancy were his eyes, shocked and in pain, yet still full of love for his brother. 

Raleigh didn’t even realize that he was screaming. His head was pounding, body zinging with pain. Yancy was gone. He couldn’t feel Yancy. Yancy. Yancy. Yancy.

Letting out a roar, Knifehead made to attack Gipsy again, this time staring directly into her Conn Podd, making direct eye contact with Raleigh. The blond felt his inner Omega snap. It was extremely rare for an Omega to go feral. They were typically very docile and almost never had to defend themselves or their pups at the brink of death. For Raleigh, though, he had nothing left to lose. Knifehead was dying whether he died with it or not. 

Feeling his inner wolf take over, Raleigh managed to switch the arm control from his left fist to his right hand, legs beginning to tremble in effort. 

“Yancy!” he screamed, heart aching. Half of his mind was dead. Half of his heart was dead. Half of his soul was gone. Yancy couldn’t be gone. He couldn’t.

Raleigh powered up Yancy’s plasma cannon, growl building in his throat. Once the shot was ready, the blond released, sending the powerful blast straight into Knifehead’s face, down its throat, killing it immediately. While Raleigh had been screaming, the Kaiju had been tearing at Gipsy’s body, trying to “kill” her. Only now did the waves of pain begin to overwhelm the Omega. He blacked out. 

Chapter Text

An old grandpa and his grandson were scouring the empty beach, metal detector gliding seamlessly over top of the pale sand. The mist from the ocean fogged up the surrounding air, making the two feel like they were in their own little world. 

“One day I’d like to find something really big,” the grandfather was telling his grandson, excitedly gesturing while the boy picked up the metal robot toy, a model that was no longer made due to the increasing costs of production. 

“Yeah, grandpa?” The little boy smiled at his grandfather, a wide gap where one of his baby teeth had fallen out. Cradled in his arms was the old robot, which rubbed occasionally against the grandson’s rough coat, making the remaining sand particles fall off. The old man only smiled mirthfully, reaching out to rub the younger’s brown hair fondly. Then, he continued to swing the metal detector. 

Suddenly a loud beep erupted from the little machine. The grandfather practically jumped for joy, waving the metal detector around frantically, searching for the object that set off the sensor. 

“Grandpa!” the grandson’s voice called out. “Listen!”

So, the two of them stood in silence, straining their ears. A groaning sound, one like giant hunks of metal grinding against one another, began to grow louder. Amongst the crashing waves, another sound of water being pushed aside roughly joined the foray. Finally, through the fog, the grandfather spotted a flash of metal. 

“Oh my-” the old man began. All at once, the hulking form of a Jaeger appeared in front of them, making the little boy squeal in awe. 

The Jaeger was limping, dragging its right leg helplessly behind it. Its torso was ripped apart, most likely by huge claws. But the worst part was its arm. The left arm was completely torn off, loose wires and metal hanging off the hole. Once the Jaeger’s massive feet made landfall, the machine began to fall forwards, left knee catching it so that it wouldn’t be completely destroyed on the way down. 

With a ground rumbling crash, the Jaeger fell against the sand, power core finally giving out, erupting in a flash of sparks. The head of the Jaeger, now visible to the grandfather, who hid his grandson behind him protectively, was destroyed. The entire right side of it was ripped away, exposing the rigging and complex systems of the Conn pod. 

With a weak cry, a singular pilot made their way out of the Jaeger, white drive suit covered in red blood. Panting helplessly, the pilot turned jerkily to stare at the fallen Jaeger before dropping to his left knee. 

“Yancy,” he whispered, collapsing to the ground, wheezes coming from his bloody chest. 

“Get help,” the grandfather finally spoke, gently pushing his grandson, who was staring at the pilot. “Boy, get help!”

Once the little boy ran off, robot in tow, the grandfather fell to his knees beside the Jaeger pilot, hands reaching out to check for a pulse despite the constant wheezing breaths coming from the man. 

Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump.

Sighing in relief, the old man, grey hair frazzled, pressed on the pilot’s left arm, which was bleeding profusely. He finally gazed at the pilot’s face, realizing how young he was. 

“Where is your co-pilot, little one?” the old man murmured to himself, free hand gently caressing the face of the young boy. 

Being unconscious felt like being underwater. All he could hear was the blood rushing past his ears. His heartbeat was silent - almost like he was dead - because of Yancy’s death. It was very rare, but when one pilot died and the other was still alive, the ghost-drifts would often cause the living pilot to feel like they were dead as well. 

Raleigh didn’t want Yancy to be gone. If he had to die to join his brother, he would probably do it, but Yancy would never let him die without any purpose. 

So, he opened his eyes and kept fighting. 

“Ughhh,” Raleigh groaned, voice hoarse from lack of use. The lights in the room were bright, nearly blinding him as he woke up. 

“Raleigh!” Tendo’s voice brought him back to the medical room he was in. “Brother, you scared me! We all thought you were dead! Hell, some people didn’t even think that you would stay alive once we found you.”

“How long was I out for?” Raleigh finally asked, wiggling his toes experimentally. 

“Two weeks,” Tendo answered, reaching out to steady Raleigh as he adjusted himself. It took him a moment to realize that his left arm was wrapped tight against his chest, protected from any sporadic movement if he bumped into anything. The rest of his body ached something fierce. 

“And Yancy?” he swallowed.

“He’s-”

“Ranger Becket,” The Marshall’s voice interrupted. 

“Yes, sir,” Raleigh responded as strongly as he could. Tendo left the room, feeling the tension. 

“What you did out there was reckless,” the man’s eyes were dark with fury as he stared down at Raleigh. “You got one of my best Rangers killed and endangered the lives of not only 2 million people, yourselves, and the boat, but all of those who could have been on that beach you ended up on. Because of you, a Jaeger has been scrapped.”

Raleigh’s heart sank. He felt sick. Yancy was gone, but Gipsy? His Gipsy was scrapped? All at once, Raleigh’s heart began to beat wildly in his chest, setting off one of the devices in the medical room. His breathing quickened and his nose stung. The blood rushing past his ears began to heat up his neck and his gut began to churn. He was all alone. Yancy would hate him for destroying Gipsy. Tendo would hate him. He had no one left. His breathing picked up so much that he began to see black spots and his vision tunneled. He couldn’t hear the shouts over the overwhelming feeling of agony.

I’m all alone. 

It’s all my fault.

Yancy is dead.

Gipsy is dead.

Tendo hates me.

Yancy would hate me.

I’m such a failure. The Marshall hates me.

I’m such a failure. 

I’m such a failure. 

I’m such a bad Omega.

Suddenly a familiar hand was on his face. The warmth of it surprised Raleigh enough for his panic attack to die down. Gasping, he flung around wildly until his vision came back. The hand never left his bare skin. 

“Raleigh,” a near dead voice rasped out his name. 

Flinching, the blond stared at the figure in front of him. 

Covered in bandages and hastily attached to traveling medical drips and machines, the hulking figure he loved so much was wheeled in beside him. 

Seeing him so banged up and shaky made Raleigh’s heart ache in a different way. It was all his fault. 

“Raleigh,” the voice cut through his thoughts like a sharp knife. More like a bullet. The instantaneous ripple of calm that echoed through his mind was numbing. It felt like keys were slotted into place in his head. “I’m okay. It’s okay.”

Whimpering, the blond finally let the hot tears stream down his face. 

“I’m here,” the voice murmured. “I won’t leave you. Never again.”

“I-” 

“I will never leave you again.” 

“Yance,” Raleigh’s voice cracked as he sobbed. 

“I love you, puppy,” and Raleigh’s mind finally felt whole again. He threw his arm around his brother, not caring about the rush of pain in his side and left arm. 

“I love you too, doberman.” 

Chapter Text

“I love you too, doberman,” Raleigh practically whimpered the words. 

Feeling drowsy suddenly, the blond was just barely able to see his brother fall back into the sheets of his hospital bed, exhausted and in rough condition. But, Raleigh could finally hear his own heartbeat, thumping along steadily in his chest. Yancy was right next to him. It was going to be okay. His brother wasn’t dead. It was going to be okay.

So, while the Omega drifted off to sleep, the Marshall watched the two brothers, both bandaged and gaunt-faced, with a soft look in his eyes. The man admittedly felt bad about letting his personal feelings get the best of him and taking it out on the younger Becket, but he knew that it would take more than a ‘sorry’ for the Becket brothers to forgive him. For now, he would put his efforts into giving them the best treatment and physical therapy that he could find. It was the least that they deserved for defending the Pacific Rim coastline for so long. 

When the Marshall exited the room, he noticed his LOCCENT officer, Tendo Choi, pacing the corridor fitfully. 

“Mr. Choi?” he intoned softly, attempting not to spook the already frazzled man. 

“Sir,” Tendo immediately answered, but his eyes were still unfocused. 

“I understand that you are worried about them,” the Marshall began. It was then that he noticed the way that Tendo was rubbing his right wrist absentmindedly. The same spot where one of his rangers had a soulmark. 

“Sir?” Tendo finally focused on Marshall Pentecost. 

“You’re his soulmate,” the Marshall finished, allowing a sympathetic look to enter his eyes. This was the most emotion he had shown in a long time. It was… nice.

“Wha-?” the Asian man’s jaw dropped, frantically looking around to see if anyone heard.

“Yancy’s”

“Shhh!” Tendo took several steps closer to Marshall Pentecost. “No one can know. He can’t know. Not yet. I can’t do this to him yet.” The man sighed. “I just found out anyway.”

The black-haired man trailed off, both a lovestruck and a devastated look fighting for their place on his face.

“I understand, Tendo,” Stacker Pentecost gently laid a hand on his most trusted officer’s shoulder. “ We will be careful.”

“Thank you, Marshall”

By the time Raleigh woke up again, Yancy had been laid in the same bed as him, a couple of white bandages removed from his pale arms finally. 

“Good morning, Raleigh,” the doctor sitting at the computer, previously typing madly, smiled at him. 

“Mornin’” Raleigh responded, voice crackly. 

“I assume you’d like to know what the damage was,” the doctor, Doctor Jane Amanda based on her name tag, glanced down her nose at him in a motherly way. At Raleigh’s hesitant nod, she continued. 

“I’ll start with Yancy,” she began. “Although he has more injuries, he will most likely make a functional recovery. That being said, he will never be able to set foot in a Jaeger again.”

Raleigh nodded again, feeling dread for his brother already. 

“Yancy sustained severe trauma to his head and spinal cord. Luckily, his drive suit was able to protect him from the blunt force of hitting the water at such velocity, but he will have some slight motor-function issues with his legs and arms because of this,” She paused to swallow. “He has a concussion currently, but he is healing extremely well. Raleigh, he did die, but…”

She hesitated. Raleigh’s heart dropped to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. 

“But because you went feral briefly,” Doctor Amanda waited until she made eye contact with him. “Yancy was able to pull through after some mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, fortunately.”

Raleigh released a sigh of relief. 

“As for yourself,” Raleigh flinched at the undecipherable tone of the woman across the room from him. “You have severe brain damage because you piloted solo for so long with a broken mental state. Because your inner Omega went feral, Raleigh, you’re still here today. The pain was blocked off long enough for you to kill Knifehead.”

At the Kaiju’s name, Raleigh felt sick. The only thing that kept him from throwing up was the steady breathing of Yancy beside him. Yancy was okay. Knifehead was dead. For real. 

“Aside from the brain damage,” Doctor Amanda rolled her chair closer to hold onto his right hand. “You’ll make a full recovery in about three years, don’t worry. But, your left arm.” Here she paused, the female Omega debating internally how to phrase her next sentence. “Your left arm is quite frankly shot. With consistent physical therapy for the next year, you’ll regain 75% of your normal capabilities, but it will always be a little weaker than your right arm. The pain will fade in a couple of weeks so that you can begin physical therapy.”

“Thank you, Doc,” Raleigh finally spoke, eyes glassy and nose stinging as he stared at his practically useless left arm. It was relieving to know that his head would recover, but the knowledge that his dominant arm was going to have to be retaught how to do everything was disheartening. 

“You’re welcome, Raleigh,” Doctor Amanda smiled at him. 

It had been eight months since the Knifehead attack. Eight long months. But, Raleigh mused, the time had sped by too. Yancy was finally able to move his arms and legs without assistance. The only time he had moved on his own before was when Raleigh woke up the first time and was having a panic attack - something the doctors labeled as a ‘freak incident.’ Yancy couldn’t hold a pen yet, but he could at least use both hands at the wrists to grab things like a cup or a book. As for his legs, he could slide off the edge of the bed to put weight on them now. They couldn’t support his whole body weight, but they could at least hold steady under part of it. Raleigh was so proud of his brother for recovering so quickly. Yancy’s concussion was completely healed and the scarring on his back was nothing more than a couple of divots and ridges across his spine: reminders of his brush with death.

As for himself, Raleigh was also recovering. He had started physical therapy on his left arm, focusing on his fingers and palm first. Unlike Yancy, he could actually hold a pencil in his hand and keep it there. Doctor Amanda was working with him currently on his elbow. 

Even with the severe brain damage, Raleigh was doing well. He was able to process, albeit a little bit slower than the average person, things like people’s questions and books. Yancy spent a lot of time reading to him while they were holed up in their one room apartment in the heart of Anchorage. 

Since they wouldn’t pilot for a very long time, in Yancy’s case for forever, Raleigh had been given unofficial leave of the PPDC and Yancy was given an Honorable Discharge by the Marshall. Provided with a monthly stipend, which wasn’t very much admittedly - only a hundred dollars for each of them - the brothers were able to pay the rent on their apartment. Luckily, their medical treatment was free. 

Raleigh still couldn’t believe that the Marshall had personally apologized to him. It felt surreal and near impossible to imagine. After all, why would such a high ranking official, an Alpha nonetheless, bow at the waist and apologize to someone who failed so miserably? Even so, why would the Marshall, a man who never questioned himself nor doubted his choices, take back something that he said? Raleigh found it hard to swallow, yet accepted the apology with a sad smile. Yancy hadn’t understood what the apology was for, only that it was extremely important. Raleigh didn’t think that he would be able to completely forgive the Marshall for saying such hurtful things, even if it was an accident, unless the man did something to truly prove it. 

The words that the Marshall had reprimanded him with had constantly rang through his head for the first couple of months. It took both Yancy and Doctor Amanda’s help to get his thoughts back in control. 

He still had nightmares about Knifehead. 

He still saw his brother die. 

He still blamed himself. 

Raleigh pursed his lips as he sat up in his bed. It was dark, the sun was still hidden behind the earth, asleep. His insomnia had been terrible for a while, but he was finally getting more than an hour of sleep a day, if not in a couple of days. It still wasn’t ideal, far from it actually, but Raleigh was making improvements. And that was all that mattered. 

In three months, Raleigh was set to be cleared for work. Yancy would have to wait another month or two after that. Both brothers were going stir crazy without anything to do. 

Well, Yancy didn’t really have anything to do. Raleigh, on the other hand, had recently discovered that a new Jaeger was released in Australia. Striker Eureka. The only Mark-5 in existence. Piloted by Australians Hercules and his son Chuck Hansen. Raleigh wouldn’t lie. He was immensely proud of this Chuck kid for becoming one of the youngest pilots ever at age 15. The kid was cocky and head-strong, even for an Alpha. He had an ego the size of Mount Everest. It was hard to believe that the teen standing in his drive suit was the little kid he saw all those years ago. 

Raleigh wondered if people saw him like that too when he was a kid.

Chapter Text

“And then we used the cables from the Golden Gate Bridge to cut Yamarashi’s head clean off!” Yancy gestured wildly with his hands, pride visible in his eyes. 

“That’s so cool!” a little boy gushed, holding tight to his robot toy, rusty but still functional. 

“Jonah,” the old man cleared his throat. “We have to let Yancy go and work at the front of the shop. He and his brother need to work.”

“Sorry, Grandpa,” Jonah, brown hair slightly damp from his bath that morning, said. Yancy only laughed and stood up, slowly of course as his nerves and muscles were still relearning how to move properly again, to hobble over to the front of the tackle and bait shop. 

“Do you know where my walker is?” Yancy asked the old man, David. The greying man held up a finger and wordlessly grabbed the walker from its hiding place behind the couch. Yancy had set it there earlier but had forgotten all about it, still not used to needing help to walk safely. It was discouraging to need help, but if it meant he could stay alive for his little brother, Yancy would do anything. 

“Any word on Raleigh?” David asked, ruffling his grandson’s hair fondly. 

“He’s going to the construction company a couple of blocks away today,” the blond replied, finally situated behind the counter of the shop. 

“Will a construction company hire an Omega?” the grandfather asked worriedly. 

“Why does that matter?” Jonah wondered aloud. 

“Oh,” Yancy murmured. “Well. Omegas are seen as weak to other people. Uh. You and I and your grandpa all know that Omegas, especially Raleigh, aren’t weak at all, but people still have their preconceptions.”

“What’s a preconception?” 

Yancy couldn’t help but laugh, leaving David to explain while the first customer of the day wandered inside of ‘Forester Bait and Tackle.’ 

“I need your documentation for you to apply here,” the Beta at the desk had a sympathetic look on her face. “If you can’t get that, there is a company a little farther away that will hire any able bodied person. It’s just… a little shady.”

“I see,” Raleigh hummed. He played with the sling that held his left arm close to his chest, making sure that he didn’t try to overwork his left shoulder before it was ready. “I’ll check them out. Thank you, Miss, anyways. Sorry to bother you.”

“It’s okay!” The woman hurried out from behind her desk, holding a scarf. “Here! You’ll need this down there. I heard the wind blows pretty hard and I wouldn’t want you to get any sickness.”

“Oh,” the blond ran his fingertips over the soft material. “You don’t have to. You need this more than me.” 

“I insist!”

“But-”

“No, really, I must insist. People of your, um, type need a little extra protection around their neck when going around that many Alphas.”

“Oh,” Raleigh’s eyes widened. She knew? He was trying so hard to act like Yancy. Damn it. 

“Take it,” the woman smiled softly. “My name is Renee. It’s a gift. I make it my mission to support all Omegas, regardless of how they look physically.”

“Thank you, Renee”

So Raleigh walked out the door, face buried in a dark blue scarf. He followed the directions Renee gave him and felt a chilly breeze ruffle through his hair. He and Yancy had both begun to grow it out from their previous buzz cuts. It was freeing. 

“Whatcha doin’ down here, pretty boy?” a gangly looking man, clearly high off of drugs, called out to Raleigh from a couple feet away.

“Oho,” another man nudged his friend. “We’ve got a handsome fella.”

“Wanna play little boy?” 

“I call dibs!”

“No I do!”

“I-” 

“HEY!” a loud voice boomed. All of the men stopped trying to talk over each other at once. Raleigh let out a breath of relief. The man in front of him was wearing a bright yellow coat and a hard hat. 

“Hi?” Raleigh nodded to the man.

“Can you build?” the man simply said, looking critically at the arm in a sling. 

“Yeah,” Raleigh responded, raising an eyebrow in defiance. “I’m recovering from a bad shoulder injury, but I can still use my right arm.”

“Good enough,” the man shrugged. “Come with me.”

Raleigh followed the hulking man in the yellow coat, avoiding making eye contact with any of the men who had said some questionable things. He wasn’t that pretty. Maybe they just didn’t see a lot of Omegas. Yeah. That was it. 

“My name is Steve,” the Alpha stuck out his hand to shake. Raleigh returned the gesture with a firm grim. “You’ll be working on this building for now. It’s going to be a fight club.”

Raleigh grunted in response. He accepted the yellow jacket and hard hat before writing his name down to get his paycheck at the end of the week. Instead of writing ‘Raleigh Becket,’ though, he wrote ‘Raleigh Forester’ so that no one would figure out that he was actually the famous Omega Jaeger pilot. He didn’t need that spotlight. 

The blond took a slab of siding and wandered up to a good spot. He started to slot the pieces in and someone came up next to him with a staple gun to fix them firmly to the wall. The two of them worked mechanically for the next five hours, managing to get the siding on all of the walls. By the time they finished, the bell had rung, signifying the end of the workday. Raleigh nodded to the man who helped him and hung up his hard hat and yellow jacket, feeling a strong wind go through the fibers of Yancy’s sweater. He should have worn his jacket. But, it was his Gipsy Danger jacket. That would be very noticeable. He would just have to wear another sweater next time. 

“Great work today, fellers!” the man who recruited him exclaimed, slapping a couple of guys on the backs heartily. 

“Thanks Stevey!” a couple of men responded. 

Raleigh buried his nose in his scarf and stuffed his right hand in the pockets of his trousers, trying to get warm. His left arm was already numb from the cold, so he didn’t bother to make it any warmer. The Omega began to make his way back to where he and Yancy now lived. 

Due to the sudden destruction of another Jaeger, Marshall Pentecost had to cease giving them a monthly check. So, he and Yancy had to move out and were homeless for a couple of weeks before an old man seemed to have recognized him out on the street.

That old man’s name was David Forester. He was the one who found Gipsy and Raleigh when they went down on the beach. The man welcomed them into his home with open arms, introducing them to his grandson, Jonah. Jonah’s parents were both victims of Kaiju Blue induced drowning after a fishing trip gone wrong. They had been fishing in a little boat and it had capsized into the water, the Kaiju Blue causing them to be confused and not resurface. 

Raleigh had nightmares about Knifehead. He remembered the pain of his brother being ripped out of his head. He remembered the feeling of his left arm being electrocuted beyond anything he had felt before. He remembered stepping out of Gipsy’s Conn Pod, light-headed and losing a lot of blood. He remembered calling out for Yancy. He remembered seeing his Gipsy dead on the beach. 

Yancy slept in the same bed as him. They shared the old room of David’s daughter, Melissa. She had some old books on her bookshelf and a couple posters of her favorite American boy groups. Melissa had only been 26 when she died. Yancy was 24 when he died for a couple of minutes. Raleigh was almost 18 when he felt his brother die in his mind. 

With Yancy wrapped around him, or him wrapped around Yancy, Raleigh was able to get the closure that his brother was alive, but he still dreamt of the pain. He still saw Knifehead look into his eyes. It terrified him. 

It was a feeling that wasn’t foreign to him, but now it was finally something bigger than he could take on with just his fists. He couldn’t take down a Kaiju by himself. So he was scared. 

“Welcome back!” Yancy’s voice cheered. “I assume you got a job?”

“Yup,” Raleigh grinned and nestled himself deep in his brother’s warm embrace. His left arm finally started to defrost. 

“How did your first day go?” the older Becket asked with a knowing smile. 

“Pretty good,” Raleigh forced himself to only stand next to Yancy, left side still in contact with the hulking form of his brother. “I put on a lot of siding today.”

“That reminds me,” David’s voice interrupted, the old man coming around from his work bench where he worked on specialty lures. “This old place is going to need some new siding and windows soon. I got the roof replaced last year.”

“I’ll see if I can do it myself or get my work to do it then,” the younger blond nodded to the older man. 

“What’s for dinner?” Jonah screeched as he barreled through the door, interrupting David’s next words. The young boy looked absolutely wild with his windswept hair going in nearly every direction except backward and his clothes in complete disarray. He must have ran straight home from school instead of waiting for Raleigh or David to pick him up. They tried letting Yancy do it once. It didn’t go well. 

Yancy shuddered next to him, clearly on the same wavelength. They ghost drifted so frequently that it became nearly impossible to tell when they started and ended. So, when Raleigh began thinking of the incident, Yancy was able to understand his brother’s thoughts. 

Ah. The Incident. 

Raleigh still laughed at the horror on his brother’s face when the man finally made it to the little elementary school on his custom crutches, courtesy of Tendo, windswept and flushed. Yancy had been so embarrassed when he realized that people were staring at him. Surely it wasn’t that odd that someone was going around in crutches?

‘Yan Yan!” Jonah exclaimed excitedly when he caught sight of Yancy supported by his crutches on the playground field. As the little boy sprinted towards the young man, many heads turned to stare at the newcomer. 

Let it not be said that the realization that six Omega mothers in a row checked him out rather pointedly made Yancy horrified. Jonah had no idea why his friend was so uncomfortable with the looks. 

Every time Yancy told him about it, Raleigh couldn’t help but laugh. It was a little scary to know that a bunch of Omegas could have preyed on his vulnerable brother, but Raleigh trusted them not to hurt Yancy. That was his favorite part of Omegas. They almost always stood together and protected everyone regardless of relation to them. Yancy would have been safe, even if they thought that he was a new piece of hot meat. 

Now, if Raleigh had gone and a bunch of Alphas had taken an interest in him, the blond would have had no choice but to pick up Jonah and sprint out of the area. There were very few laws that restricted the actions of Alphas towards Omegas and Raleigh never wanted to trigger any predatory ones. 

“Take me to school tomorrow, Ra Ra?” Jonah tugged on the sleeve of Yancy’s sweater, staring up at Raleigh with pleading eyes. Despite having to go to work, Raleigh was sure that he could spare a couple of minutes to help the little boy cross the street and enter the school building safely. After agreeing, Raleigh huffed a laugh when Jonah suddenly ran off to go and shuck off his winter gear and play with his old robot toy he found on the beach before dinner. 

“He’ll be a handful when he gets even older, huh?” Yancy teased David, pushing his walker forward at a slow, steady pace. David mock punched the older Becket, letting out a snort. 

Raleigh just followed behind them after making sure the front door was locked and the open sign was flipped to show the closed side. If anyone noticed the warm smile stretched across the younger blond’s face, no one said anything. 

“We’d like to welcome you all to ACE Fight Club!” the owner of the new building cheered into his microphone. “Special thanks to Steve’s Construction for getting this place done so fast. I invited them here to enjoy some of the festivities!”

Raleigh stood off to the side, keeping an eye on Yancy who sat on the only couch, uncomfortably close to the fight ring. Not registering the door beside him opening, Raleigh flinched when the wooden door slammed shut, taking a couple of steps back and bumping into a rather humanoid wall that let out an explicative.

“Shit!” the man growled, spinning around to glare at Raleigh, who let out a raspy cough. There was nothing like getting your heart scared out of your chest. 

“Sorry, man,” Raleigh attempted to put distance between himself and the angry newcomer. 

“Sorry isn’t going to cut it, Bitch,” the Alpha made to push Raleigh. 

Ducking as fast as he could, the blond jumped to the side, sheltering his left shoulder as he hit the concrete floor. Raleigh grunted as he was hauled up roughly.

“Well, well, folks! It looks like we have our first fighters of the night!” the owner’s voice boomed in his ear. 

Raleigh’s heart sank. In a panic, he searched the room for Yancy, who was getting up rushedly, legs still weak. 

“I can’t-” Raleigh began, throat starting to ache. His heart was pounding so hard he could feel it moving his chest and pulsing away in his throat. 

“Just a little brawl, kid,” the owner leaned in close to his ear, a lecherous look in his eyes as he took in Raleigh’s terrified expression. “You can give me one brawl, right?”

“Let him go,” Yancy growled, finally able to stand close by. Raleigh internally whimpered. Yancy was going to get himself hurt. The older Becket was not in great shape still. 

“Oh?” that sly smirk showed up again. 

Suddenly, arms grabbed the brothers, dragging them into the arena with the large man who looked like he wanted to strangle a man. Reacting instantly, Raleigh stood in front of his brother, who discreetly wrapped his index finger around Raleigh’s belt loop to give himself more balance. 

The man in front of them started grunting, acting more like a wild animal than a human. Then, he ripped off his shirt and charged. Raleigh felt nothing but the ground under his feet and the slight tension on his waist from his belt loop being pulled. Yancy pulled them to the side, stumbling hard with the action. Once his older brother was firmly standing up, Raleigh focused in on their target. Codename Rabies. 

Despite having no Drift technology around, Raleigh found himself syncing up with Yancy, who moved to stand at his younger brother’s left side, protecting that arm. 

It was no secret that he and Yancy had been two of the most Drift compatible pilots in the PPDC, but being able to Ghost Drift like this was rare. Raleigh took the feeling and ran, swinging hard at Rabies. The beast of a man roared in their faces, eyes turning red as he let his inner wolf take over. 

In response, Raleigh’s inner wolf snarled, threatening to rise to the surface and tear into the new Alpha. Yancy’s own wolf was a comforting rumble in the back of his mind, supporting yet not being overbearing. 

When the feeling of leather registered in his hands, Raleigh took his focus off of Rabies to disconnect from his brother. Yancy was currently holding up his jeans, belt in Raleigh’s hand as he literally jumped on Rabies. The man let out another roar, swinging blindly as Raleigh wrapped his legs around Rabies’s torso and pushed the man’s head through the belt, which was fashioned to act like a noose. Pulling it taught, Raleigh let himself grin when he fell, using his body weight to drop Rabies like a sack of Kaiju poo. Immediately, Rabies started panicking as his air supply was cut off, hands scraping at his throat to relieve the pressure. 

Once Rabies turned purple and stopped fighting, Raleigh released him with a barely hidden glee and proudly gave his brother back his belt. Yancy was smirking at him, clearly proud. 

“Damn, bitch,” the owner whistled, more like a cat-call. “You punch like a girl.”

Raleigh gave him the middle finger as Yancy dragged him away.

Chapter Text

* 4 years later*

Raleigh grunted quietly as he swung his body around to slide down the steel frame of the Wall. The pack on his back that powered his welding tool had gotten uncomfortably hot and was heavy enough to make his collar bones ache. Sliding down smoothly after unclipping himself, the blond relaxed his knees so that he would land gently, just like he would if he was in Gipsy. 

At the bottom, Tommy is waiting for him. 

Raleigh had to admit. He was fortunate enough to have a Beta at his side when it came to working on the Wall. Tommy was the only person who didn’t hate Raleigh. It was refreshing. Although, whenever Yancy picked him up from work, especially when Raleigh was bone-tired, Tommy was always terrified of the older Becket. Now that Yancy could walk and run for short distances, he had regained that air about him that promised pain if you messed with his baby brother. Maybe that was why people didn’t like him, Raleigh mused. Yancy was always threatening to punch their lights out. 

“Hurry!” Tommy gestured to the hologram projector at the assignments board. “There’s a new Kaiju! It’s approaching the Wall of Life in Sydney!”

So, as one does, Raleigh scampered after Tommy, whose more round frame cleared a path for the both of them. 

“Codename: Mutavore,” the Australian woman on the news announced. “It is heading straight for the Wall of Life!”

Raleigh felt himself holding his breath. The huge Kaiju briefly paused in front of the massive wall. Then, it pushed forward, completely destroying the hundred ton chunk of steel designed to keep it out. 

Upon seeing the destruction, the Alphas and Betas around Raleigh began to shout in anguish. 

“Why are we even building this thing?”

Raleigh’s heart beat wildly in his chest. They decommissioned the Australian Jaeger: Striker Eureka just yesterday. There would be nothing to stop the Kaiju from destroying Sydney like Scissure did. 

So, it was a comfort to see the massive form of a two hundred ton machine be dropped in front of the Kaiju. Despite being decommissioned, Striker was still around and fully capable of throwing hands. Raleigh could just imagine the rage the pilots were feeling. They were decommissioned because of this Wall. Which didn’t even work. 

“Come on, Striker!” Raleigh found his voice among the cacophony. Tommy was silent beside him, rolling his bottom lip between his teeth in nervousness. 

The Mark V Jaeger stormed up to the Kaiju, throwing a mean left hook and following it by a right hook as well. 

When Mutavore aimed to take out the Conn Pod, Raleigh’s ears rang. He felt the phantom presence of rain on his cheek as he felt his brother’s hand be ripped away from his own. But, it was over quicker than it started. Gasping in a breath, Raleigh watched as the Hansen duo immediately put distance between themself and the ugly Kaiju, unleashing their Kaiju missiles. 

The fight was over. Raleigh laid a hand over his heart. He had watched too many Jaegers get destroyed. It was nice to know that one of his favorites, one of the Jaegers that was on his back in astonishing detail, was still alive. Yancy had wondered off-handedly if Raleigh’s soulmate had worked on designing Striker Eureka, and that was why the Jaeger was pictured on his back. If Raleigh was to be honest, he had no idea and didn’t really care. His Gipsy was gone. 

Once the triumphant pilots entered the screen, Raleigh pursed his lips. There in full clarity was Chuck Hansen. Three years younger than him and at least an inch taller, Chuck was definitely a sight for sore eyes. If Raleigh could even admit that. But, it was the Aussie’s personality which turned Raleigh away from having a real crush. Sure, he could admire the Alpha’s physique and skills, but he wouldn’t condone how the man treated others. If Raleigh had acted like that when he was a pilot, Yancy would have put him in a choke-hold. 

“Alright!” their supervisor’s voice shouted. Raleigh whipped around to see three packets in the man’s hand. “I’ve got some bad news and some good news. What do you want first?”

“Bad?” Tommy responded.

“Okay then,” the man held up the packets higher. “The bad news is that we’ve lost three guys on the top of the wall. The good news is that we now have three openings on the top of the wall.”

Raleigh heard the groans around him. The top of the wall was the most dangerous place to be. The wind was so strong that it often pushed even the heaviest people off of the edge, sending them plummeting to their deaths. 

“I’ll take one,” Raleigh spoke up, left arm raised. Besides the danger, the top of the wall gave the best pay. 3 rations instead of one. 

The moment the packet touched his gloved hand, Raleigh heard the tell-tale sounds of a chopper’s blades cutting through the cold, frigid air. Following the group of workers, the blond let out a sigh as Marshall Stacker Pentecost stepped out of the helicopter, pristine as ever in his wool coat and perfectly maintained buzzcut. 

“Mr. Becket!” the man called out, effectively silencing the crowd. 

“I’m here, Marshall,” Raleigh stepped out from behind several huge Alphas, reasoning that hiding would only make his situation worse.

“May I speak with you?” the Marshall asked softly as the blond approached. By now, people had begun to realize that they had been working with a real Becket, one of the Jaeger pilots native to their state. 

“Of course,” the blond jerked his head towards the boiler room. Almost no one ever went there because it had the death toll. 

“Mr. Becket,” the Marshall began. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”

“4 years and 9 months, sir,” Raleigh raised an eyebrow. 

“I’ve already spoken with Yancy,” the man continued, taking a few steps forward to glance at the sparks flying down. “He has stated that he will only do what you would like to do. He’ll go if you go. He’ll stay if you stay.”

“And what is this about?” Raleigh stared up at the strong figure in front of him. 

“The world is coming to an end, Mr. Becket.”

Raleigh felt his stomach go cold. 

“Where would you rather die? Here? Or in a Jaeger?”

The words seemed to reverberate through Raleigh’s head, leaving no thoughts but ones of his Gipsy.

“But,” Raleigh began. “They won’t let me rejoin because I’m an Omega! I’m a liability!”

The Marshall opened his mouth to respond, but Raleigh kept going. 

“And. Gipsy is gone.”

“Mr. Becket,” the softer tone was back. “The UN has ceased funding us for a little while now. We are able to do whatever we please. So, your secondary gender means nothing to me. You are a Mark-3 pilot, and a damn good one at that.”

“Aren’t there others?” the blond pushed. 

“Not alive or capable of setting foot in another Jaeger again,” the man responded. “And, you don’t need to worry. There is a special Mark-3 Jaeger being restored just for you. She’ll be completely ready in two days. We airlifted her out of Oblivion Bay a few months ago.”

Raleigh felt his nose sting. The only Jaeger that Stacker Pentecost ever referred to with a gender was Gipsy Danger. It had been something that Raleigh had brought out of the Drift, the fact that his Jaeger wasn’t a boy like most others. Gipsy was a girl, his girl. Despite the teasing he got from others, Raleigh never let up. Eventually everyone, including Stacker Pentecost, began referring to Gipsy as a ‘she.’ 

“Gipsy?” Raleigh choked out. “My Gipsy is back?”

“Yes, Raleigh,” Pentecost gave him a rare smile. “She’s back.”

Raleigh had never imagined that packing up all of his things would be so hard. He and Yancy had never truly had a home before. But, now that they were leaving behind Jonah and David, it felt like they were leaving their family. 

“Gipsy jacket?” Yancy listed off, making sure that they hadn’t forgotten any important things. Their raggedy backpacks were each stuffed with a couple pairs of underwear, two white tank tops, a sweater, a pair of pants, some socks, and now their Gipsy Danger jackets. There wasn’t much room left for anything else, but Yancy was able to bring their sparse toiletries. 

“Boys?” David’s voice came through the door. 

“Yeah?” 

Raleigh met the old man at the door frame, staring down at the withered hands holding a stack of photos rubber-banded together. 

“Here are your keepsakes,” David pressed the pictures into Raleigh’s hands. “Your old pictures and some new ones from these past couple years.”

“Thank you,” Raleigh’s nose stung again. Yancy’s warm body came up next to him and dragged David into a deep hug, smushing his younger brother in the process. For once, Raleigh let the tears that threatened to fall drip down his face. He was going to miss David and Jonah. 

“Take care of yourselves,” David stepped back, Jonah now appearing to throw himself into the arms of his pseudo brothers. 

“We will,” Raleigh and Yancy spoke together. 

“Ready to go, boys?” the Marshall asked. 

Glancing over at Yancy, Raleigh smiled. 

“Ready as we’ll ever be.”

Chapter Text

Raleigh isn’t ashamed to say that he and Yancy fell asleep on each other while flying across the Pacific Ocean. If he hadn’t been right next to his brother, Raleigh would have been gripping the arm rests with a vengeance. Luckily for the arm rests, Yancy never moved more than a foot away from his younger brother. Lucky ducks.

“Beckets,” one of the Jumphawk’s crew members gently nudged Raleigh. “We’re about to land at Hong Kong’s Shatterdome.”

Groaning, Yancy opened his eyes, clearly upset that he couldn’t keep sleeping. Raleigh snickered next to him, sticking out his hand to tame his big brother’s crazy hair. Seriously, the man looked like he stuck his head out the window of the Jumphawk. 

Speaking of looking out the window, Raleigh felt his lips part as the massive Hong Kong Shatterdome came into view. The Ice Box was tiny compared to this. When Yancy turned to look as well, he let out a low whistle in appreciation. There was definitely space for at least ten Jaegers at this place. The Ice Box could fit at max four. 

“Ready to head in?” The Marshall finally stood, brushing off invisible dust from his wool coat. Taking the hint, Raleigh grabbed he and Yancy’s bags. 

While the Jumphawk’s door opened, Raleigh caught sight of an umbrella opening a short distance away. The Marshall was quickly approached by the umbrella wielding figure and covered from the torrents of rain. Raleigh jumped out of the helicopter, splashing into a puddle of rain so that he could hold onto his brother as the older made his way down the stairs. Yancy could move well, but after sitting for so long in a cold space, his joints and muscles got stiff and lost their strength. Raleigh wasn’t going to let him fall on his face in front of some of the best pilots and Jaeger crews of all time. 

“Ranger Becket, Mr. Becket,” the Marshall gestured to each of them as he spoke. The one who brought him an umbrella quickly procured another from her pocket, the small Asian woman offering it to Raleigh. “This is Mako Mori, one of my best and brightest students.”

“I imagined them differently,” the woman whispered to her Sensei. 

“Hey,” Raleigh raised an eyebrow, squeezing Yancy’s hand in comfort - Yancy refused to learn any other languages but English and French. “Better or worse?”

That response shocked the small woman, her dark brown eyes widening in shock. Raleigh nodded to her, a small bow which made the woman smile softly. Upon seeing her full body now that she wasn’t covered completely by the umbrella, Raleigh noticed that she had two electric blue fringes at the front of her hair. It reminded him of his Gipsy. 

Yancy huffed a laugh and squeezed his hand. “You dork.”

As they approached the elevator which would bring them to the actual Dome, Raleigh was harshly pushed out of the way by a small man. 

“NEWTON!” a distinguished voice cried out. “That was impossibly rude! Even for you! Apologize to this young man at once!”

“Aish,” the frazzled looking man who pushed Raleigh to the side finally glanced up at the tall Omega. “Sorry 'bout that. I was just trying to load up my new specimens into the elevator without people damaging them.”

“Raleigh, Yancy,” the Marshall nodded to the two men. “This is our K-Science division. We have Dr. Newton Geiszler and Dr. Hermann Gottlieb.”

“It’s Newt, actually. My mom is the only one who calls me doctor.”

Raleigh put two and two together while he observed the two. The older looking man, clearly a Beta based on his comforting smell, had a cane and a slight limp on his left leg. This was Hermann Gottlieb. Definitely looked like a mathematician. He and Yancy would get along just fine. 

The other doctor, a slightly shorter, meaning about half a foot shorter than Raleigh, man, had wild hair and large black glasses. The man, also clearly a Beta based on the scent, was excitedly rambling to Yancy about the tattoos on his arms. They were all Kaiju. 

“This is Yamarashi!” The man was excitedly gesturing about the specs. Raleigh felt his throat dry up. “And this, oh baby, this is Knifehead, the largest Cat-3 we’ve ever had!”

Raleigh couldn’t help himself. He let out a cry and immediately covered his mouth. But, it was too late. Yancy had already launched himself at his younger brother. It had taken the Alpha a bit of time and therapy to get over dying and coming back to life, but it was Raleigh who remembered the feelings. Yancy’s brain had completely erased them. 

“NEWTON!”

“What?”

“These are the BECKETS!”

“Huh?”

“Raleigh and Yancy BECKET!”

“Oh… Wait! The BECKET Beckets?”

“Dear Lord,” Yancy snapped. “Please shut him up.”

“Gladly,” Hermann growled, whacking his counterpart harshly in the kneecap. 

“OW!”

“You like these Kaiju, then?” Raleigh finally spoke, quite literally squeezing Yancy to death. “Do they make you feel good?”

“I wouldn’t say I like Kaiju,” Newton began, quickly changing his tone when he saw the venomous looks on everyone else’s faces on the elevator. “I mean, they’re super cool, but I wouldn’t want to like, join a cult about them.”

“He’s a Kaiju Groupie,” Hermann rolled his eyes, hobbling out of the elevator the second it opened, leaving Newton to drag his Kaiju brain behind, protesting loudly. 

“You alright?” Yancy murmured. 

“Yeah,” Raleigh released his death grip on the older blond and instead slid his hand into his brother’s pocket. “I just got caught off guard, that’s all.”

“Welcome to the Hong Kong Shatterdome, boys,” Pentecost led them forward once the elevator opened again. 

“Is that-” Raleigh began. 

“Crimson Typhoon?” Yancy finished. The two brothers looked at each other and laughed. 

“Yep,” Pentecost pointed to the three pilots, playing an intense game of pick-up basketball. “The Wei Triplets pilot it.” Based on Raleigh’s memory, which was admittedly not the best since his brain got fried, all three of the Triplets were Alphas. Which was impressive for their parents. They must be proud. 

“Ms. Mori,” the Marshall bent down to murmur something in his student’s ear. 

“Yes, Sensei,” and the woman bowed deeply to her company, giving Raleigh a small smile as she passed. 

“I like her,” Yancy blurted. He got that from Raleigh. 

“And here is Cherno Alpha,” Pentecost allowed the brothers to gape up at the last Mark-1 in service, and the biggest Jaeger on the force. Cherno was a beast. 

“The Kaidonovskys, right?” Yancy asked, arm around Raleigh tightening as a crew member speeding by in a golf cart nearly hit them. 

“Yes,” Pentecost seemed decently pleased with their information retention. At least the older man wouldn’t have to rattle off specs on all of the Jaegers. It would save him his voice. As they passed by the huge machine, the two Russian pilots walked by. Raleigh couldn’t help but gawk at the power couple. They were both Alpha soulmates. And they were married and mated for the heck of it. Aleksis was quite literally seven feet tall. Yancy was thinking about how platinum blond the two of them were. Raleigh barely suppressed a snort. 

“Gipsy is in the next bay.”

“Thank you, Marshall,” Yancy said as he followed his brother. Or, more like he jogged after a sprinting Raleigh. Raleigh bolted. He felt a gentle pull in his chest as he ran closer and closer to his girl. 

Slamming open a door, Raleigh stormed up seven flights of stairs and emerged about halfway up Gipsy’s body.

“Oh my gosh,” he fell to his knees. The overwhelming feeling of home just radiated from her. His Gipsy was alive. She was here. Raleigh moved towards the railing of the scaffolding, beginning to lean precariously over the edge, attempting to lay a palm on his Jaeger. 

“Woah, there,” a familiar voice startled Raleigh. “Careful.”

“Tendo?” Raleigh spun around, getting an eyeful of the Korean man’s slicked back hair and bowtie. “Tendo!”

“Hey Little Becket!” the man grinned, wrapping his arms around Raleigh tightly. Tendo might have been the only Alpha outside of Yancy that Raleigh could consider being his family. It was rather odd how right it felt that Tendo would be beside him and Yancy. 

“How’ve you been?” Raleigh pulled away. 

“Pretty good, pretty good.”

“Allison?”

“Ah,” Tendo blushed slightly. “She wasn’t the one, y’know? I’ve been meaning to tell the one for a few years now.”

“Who is it, if you don’t mind me asking?” Raleigh leaned in a little bit, angling his ear towards Tendo if he felt like sharing. 

“Uh,” the Asian man blushed even harder. “Do you remember what flowers are on Yancy’s right wrist?”

“Yeah,” Raleigh didn’t think much of it. “He’s got multi-colored roses.”

Tendo slid up his dress shirt’s sleeve on his right arm. Raleigh stared at it for a minute. There were multi-colored roses there. Multi. Colored. Roses. Huh. 

“Wait,” Raleigh’s eyes went up and down, staring at the soulmark and then Tendo’s blushing face. “You’re Yancy’s soulmate?”

“Shh!” Tendo glanced around. 

“Does that mean-” he felt death

“Yes.”

“I’m so sorry.” 

“What are you sorry about?” Yancy huffed, clearly annoyed for having been left behind. Tendo, despite being rather laid-back, rushed forward to embrace Yancy. 

“I should get going,” Raleigh gave Tendo a pointed look. It was his place to tell Yancy, not Raleigh’s. Tendo gave him a resolute nod. It would happen either today or later tonight. The blond suspected that the Asian man wanted to catch up with Yancy before dropping any bombs on him. “Have fun, Yance!”

Raleigh didn’t stick around to hear his brother’s retort. 

It took some effort, but Raleigh finally managed to climb up onto Gipsy’s left foot with a spare blanket he found in an old box. It was nap time in one of his favorite spots. The Omega could practically feel Gipsy humming beneath him as he quickly succumbed to the sleepiness. She always took such good care of him. 

Raleigh nodded off, mirroring the gentle hum of his Jaeger in his sleep. 

Yancy would find him there later, all cuddled up, and take a picture. 

But, everyone knew. Striker Eureka was coming in tomorrow. They all needed to be ready for it. Not only that, but Raleigh would start finding his co-pilot the day after that. Yancy let out a groan before joining his brother, on the right foot of Gipsy instead. He could feel a gentle hum as he settled in. It was nice. But not as nice as knowing that Tendo was his soulmate. Even though the Asian man hadn’t told him, his heart still thrummed with happiness and his right wrist felt like flower petals were tickling it. Eavesdropping. Yancy was very good at that. He let out a gentle sigh before falling asleep.

It was nice. 

Chapter Text

It had been Mako who found them fast asleep on Gipsy’s feet after a couple of hours. Apparently, the brothers still needed to go to medical to get check-ups and get their new PPDC issued uniforms. Go figure.

Yancy’s check-up went well, especially considering the fact that he was underweight for his height, just like Raleigh. Fortunately, Yancy’s spinal damage was healed up very nicely, so the med techs cleared him to assist Jaeger techs or help Tendo - anything that required more activity than simply being behind a counter. 

As for Raleigh, they ended up doing a full examination. His left arm and shoulder were doing remarkably well considering the lack of nutrients in the blond’s diet. Raleigh chalked it up to the manual labor he had to do, which must have given his arm a boost in strength. Somehow, the younger Becket managed to gain back 90% of his left arm’s physical capacity back, a miracle to many of the med techs. 

But it was the rest of the examination that made Raleigh a bit squeamish. Yancy had been sent off to pick up their new uniforms and get the key to their new room, leaving Raleigh all alone with two Omega nurses. Ever since Knifehead, Raleigh had stopped taking his PPDC suppressants. He had been those suppressants long before he was expected to have his first heat, just in case. About two years after the accident, Raleigh had experienced his first heat, which the nurses documented swiftly, where he bled a lot down-there. To his mortification, Raleigh was told that he now had a fully functioning womb like a female Omega, vagina and all. The reason why he bled so much, and why he hurt so badly, was because he had to grow the organs from scratch during his first heat without proper nutrition and had done so extremely late. The blond was eternally grateful that Yancy was not in the room to see his bright red face. 

“Well,” one of the nurses smiled at him. “You’re all cleared, Mr. Becket! Go get some dinner - start with soup - and get plenty of rest. We’ll keep you off suppressants for now so that your body can adjust to proper nutrition before adding any chemicals.”

Thanking the woman, Raleigh met up with Yancy, who held a tray with two bowls of soup, a package of crackers, and two glasses of milk. 

“I brought our new duds back to our room,” the older man jerked his head in a ‘follow me’ motion. 

“Sweet”

And if the brothers fought over who got to shower first, no one mentioned it. 

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeee-

“Ugh,” Yancy groaned while Raleigh turned off their alarm. The younger snickered as he slid on a sweater over his new uniform. 

“See you at breakfast, old man,” Raleigh smirked at the way his brother yelped when the lights turned on, exposing the decorating job done the previous night. Pictures were hung up on the wall, their Gipsy Danger jackets were hanging in the closet, and they had snagged a bunk bed for the brothers: their classic.  

“Love you,” the younger called as he opened the door, seeing Ms. Mori across the hall exiting her room as well. 

“Love you too, kid,” Yancy grumbled. 

“Mornin’,” Raleigh smiled at the small woman. She was by no means dainty, but she carried an air of elegance and grace - something that Raleigh definitely did not possess. The younger Omega smelled like fresh Pink Lady apples. It was Raleigh’s favorite type of apple, one that they no longer carried in Anchorage due to the rations. Mako moved to walk beside him, clearly finding comfort in a fellow Omega.

“Good morning, Ranger Becket,” she smiled back. 

“Ah,” Raleigh turned slightly to look down at her. “None of that. It’s Raleigh to you.”

“I see, Raleigh,” Mako’s smile grew a bit larger. 

“Striker Eureka has already been dropped off,” Mako suddenly spoke, a light blush dusting her cheeks. “Would you like to go see her with me?”

“Hell yeah I do!” the blond exclaimed, following the Asian woman with an expression not unlike a puppy following its master, hoping for a treat. It took them a couple of moments to wind through the halls, but once they made it out into the Jaeger Bay, Raleigh’s jaw dropped. 

“Holy-”

There he was. Striker Eureka. The fastest Jaeger in the world. Not as tall as his Gipsy, but definitely more agile. He was the first and last of the Mark-5s, making him a one of a kind Jaeger. Raleigh felt the exact replica of Striker on his back tingle. 

“Max!” Mako grinned, opening her arms wide so that a bulldog could come close for a much needed rub. 

“Ms. Mori,” a strong Australian accent interrupted Raleigh’s gawking. The blond turned to stare now at the older Alpha in front of him, a strong flush coming over his cheekbones and darkening his neck and ears. It was Hercules Hansen. 

“Lieutenant Hansen,” Raleigh stuck out his arm for a shake. Instead, the older man gave a loud laugh and pulled him in for a hug, making the Omega nearly short-circuit. This was his childhood crush. Holy moly. Hercules Hansen was hugging him. 

“That’s Herc for you, my boy,” the older Hansen chided playfully, releasing his grip on Raleigh. “Been a long time.”

“Yeah,” Raleigh grinned. “About 6 years.”

“Mr. Becket,” the Marshall’s voice caught his attention. “Good to see you awake.”

“Marshall,” Raleigh nodded his head. 

“I assume you know about Striker?” the man raised an eyebrow. Raleigh nodded, feeling Mako straighten up beside him, their arms about a hair apart. “Good, it’ll be running point on the Breach.”

“Huh?” Raleigh blinked twice. “Wait, Marshall. We’ve tried this before and it hasn’t worked. What’s different now?”

“Don’t worry,” Pentecost shared a look with Herc. “We’ve got it handled. Just be ready.”

And with that, the two men walked away. Raleigh turned to look at Mako, who gave him a slight shrug. She didn’t know the plan either. She simply watched as Max waddled away cheerfully after Herc, making his leash drag behind him. 

“So,” Raleigh nudged her gently. “Breakfast?”

Stepping into the cafeteria was overwhelming to say the least. Raleigh stuck close to Mako, trying to follow her through the crowd of people in line, but he ended up losing her in a couple of seconds. Without her comforting scent, the other pungent odors in the room started to make his throat itch. He regretted not bringing Yancy along. 

“Raleigh!” Herc called, holding two trays loaded with food. “Over here!”

Despite the loudness, barely anyone turned to stare at the blond as he weaved through the line to get to Herc. The man simply handed him one of the trays in his hand and smiled warmly. 

“Raleigh,” Herc began as they approached a table. “This is my son and my co-pilot, Chuck.”

The blond froze. So much for Hercules Hansen being his celebrity crush. Chuck Hansen was somehow more handsome in person. The camera did not do him justice. The man was practically ethereal, even scowling at his breakfast potatoes. And his scent. Oh, that scent . If Yancy’s scent was peaceful and Mako’s was relaxing, then Chuck’s sea salt smell felt like home. Raleigh could practically imagine the ocean breeze drifting by in Anchorage. 

“Chuck?” Herc repeated his son’s name again. The man hadn’t even looked up. “Chuck!”

“What,” the ginger raised his head with a glare, fork poised in his hand. 

Well. The new crush was nice while it lasted. Raleigh wasn’t sure if the guy’s looks could override his attitude. 

“Introduce yourself, son,” the older Hansen gave Chuck a pointed look. 

Chuck looked over, gave Raleigh a full up-and-down look and scoffed. The growl that sounded right behind the Omega quite literally scared him half out of his wits. 

“Yance!” the blond yelped, then whisper-shouted. “I’m brain dead enough as it is! Stop trying to kill me!”

“Sorry,” the older Becket murmured as he stood beside his brother, glaring at Chuck. The latter returned the glare full force. 

“Just sit down, please,” Raleigh begged, dragging Yancy down to sit between him and a person he didn’t know. Chuck scoffed again, clearly noticing how Raleigh was now sitting next to his father. Or maybe it was the fact that he and Yancy were literally wrapped around each other.

“So,” Chuck finally spoke to Raleigh, bypassing Yancy entirely. “Where’ve you been all these years? Doin’ something pretty important I reckon.”

Yancy’s arm around him tightened. A warning not to get too snarky. Or a means of keeping the Alpha from jumping the younger Hansen. Raleigh didn’t have the time to decipher the true meaning of the arm.

“I was in construction,” Raleigh said after swallowing his bite of french toast. Oddly enough, the second that the younger Hansen softened his expression to mock Raleigh, the blond found the almost caring face rather attractive. Yancy kicked his foot. Right, not the time to find the cranky Jaeger pilot hot. Raleigh kicked Yancy’s foot back harder. 

“Really?” the Alpha across from him began, ignoring the warning growl coming from his father. “I mean, that’s really really useful. So if we get into a problem, you’ll just build your way out of it? Eh, Ray?”

“It’s Raleigh,” Yancy snarled, legs tensing. Raleigh let out a low rumble. Yancy couldn’t beat the absolute shit out of one of the most important pilots. After they won the war against the Kaiju, maybe. But definitely not now. 

“Lookie here Rahleigh,” Chuck smirked, seemingly happy that he could get a ruse out of Yancy in addition to Raleigh by mispronouncing the latter’s name. “I don’t want you two cripples on my bomb run, ya hear? Especially if the fossil that is my co-pilot is here too. So just do yourselves a favor and get packing. ‘Cause if you two hold me back, I’m gonna drop ya like a sack of Kaiju shit.” And with a flourish, the man flipped his baseball cap over on top of his head and adjusted it while he stood up. 

Cripples? Raleigh was in disbelief. Chuck thought that he and Yancy were cripples? And the hostility shown to his father? Man, Raleigh had to admit that the kid had guts. Yancy let out a barely contained shout, moving to stand up, but Raleigh harshly pulled him down. 

“Eat,” he reprimanded, giving Herc an apologetic glance as Chuck whistled for Max to follow him, carrying away his mostly empty tray. 

“I’m sorry about him,” Herc leaned his forehead against one of his palms, clearly tired of having to apologize for his son’s behavior. “He lost his mother back when Scissure hit and I was gone so much during his childhood fighting. Then he entered the academy so young and aced everything. He’s never really been told no. I’ve never been sure whether I should give him a hug or a kick in the ass.”

“With all due respect, sir,” Raleigh said over top of his glass of apple juice. “I think we both know what he needs.”

“A hug?” Yancy snorted. “Nah, that kid needs a kick in the ass for sure.”

Raleigh threw his head back and barked out a laugh. Leave it to Yancy to be the one who said the most unhinged things in public. 

Chapter Text

Once he and Yancy had finished their breakfast, Tendo appeared, looking rather sheepish and red. Raleigh smirked and sent his unsuspecting brother off to chat with his soulmate. Now, the blond went off in search of Mako. 

Although he hardly knew her, Raleigh could tell that they were Drift Compatible. There was a saying that if the pilots had compatible scents, they were Drift Compatible. Mako’s scent definitely went with his. Also, he just really liked her scent. Like, come on. Caramel apples? Who didn’t like those? Probably Chuck. 

Fortunately, Raleigh didn’t have to go far to find Mako. The woman was waiting for him at the entrance to the cafeteria, clipboard in hand. She smiled at him knowingly and began to walk away. Exactly like a puppy, Raleigh followed. 

“I was going to join you and Yancy,” Mako explained. “But, I noticed Chuck. He didn’t seem too happy.”

“You got that right,” Raleigh sighed. “I think that the kid hates me. He even called Yancy and I cripples!”

“That’s harsh,” Mako pressed her lips together. “Even for Chuck.”

Because Raleigh hadn’t been paying attention, he hadn’t noticed where Mako was leading him. Upon seeing the familiar door, the blond perked up and excitedly bounded up the stairs. The woman behind him started to giggle despite their previous conversation. 

“I could sit and stare at her all day,” Raleigh finally mumbled as they settled on the scaffolding in front of Gipsy. 

“She’s one of a kind now,” Mako whispered. “A double nuclear core, swords, and her mechanics have been made faster. She’s not just fixed, she’s better than new.”

“Thank you, Mako,” the blond leaned over to press his forehead against hers. Even though they had not drifted, Mako seemed to understand him extremely well. She knew how much Gipsy mattered to him. 

“Say,” he sat up straight. “What did you think of me and Yance when you were studying us?”

“Oh,” Mako flushed slightly. “I don’t think that it applies very well anymore.”

“Come on,” Raleigh nudged her. “You can tell me. You know I won’t be offended.”

“I thought that you two were reckless and inconsiderate,” the small woman began. “Going against a direct order like that… it was dangerous.”

“Oh Mako,” Raleigh sighed. “Sometimes you have to make a choice. To do what is right, or to do what you were told. Some day, I hope that you are able to learn what that choice is. I hope you can see why Yancy and I chose to go against orders to save that ship. Even if it nearly killed us, I don’t think that we would’ve changed our minds. Maybe we just would’ve shot Knifehead seventy more times so that it wouldn’t exist anymore.”

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, watching the sparks fly as techs did the finishing touches on Gipsy. She was so beautiful. The quiet hum that she produced was like a lullaby. Before long, Mako had scooted closer so that they could lean on each other. 

With Yancy, Raleigh had never heard the other hum to mimic Gipsy. Mako rested against him, however, and quietly hummed along to Gipsy’s invisible song.

Yancy held his hand tightly as they approached the Kwoon. The Alpha had thoroughly scent-marked his brother that morning, worried about the Alpha and Beta candidates trying to mess with the younger. 

Raleigh was admittedly nervous about sparring with so many people he didn’t know. Back in Anchorage, he and Yancy used to participate in little fights at clubs around the city to make some extra money, but it was always with people that they knew. Like one of the fishermen who shopped at the Bait and Tackle store. But here, Raleigh had no idea who any of the candidates that Mako picked for him were.

“Mr. Becket,” Pentecost glanced at the brothers. “Glad you could finally make it.”

“Sorry, Marshall,” Raleigh surgically removed his hand from Yancy’s and deposited the latter into the waiting arms of Tendo. 

The blond toed off his boots and socks, leaving on Yancy’s sweater. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Herc move to stand next to Pentecost and Mako. Chuck was somewhere in the edge of the crowd, scowling away. The Russians and Wei triplets stood close to Tendo and Yancy, who were holding hands now. Raleigh snorted to himself. 

The first candidate was a Beta. He was smaller than Raleigh by a bit and very jerky with his movements. One would think that those qualities would make someone unpredictable, but this boy was faking it. Raleigh pinned him in two moves. 

The next candidate was a hot-headed Alpha. This man immediately spread his foul scent across the mat to try and dominate Raleigh. Unbeknownst to the blond, every pilot watching was looking on in disgust at the candidate. Raleigh, on the other hand, simply raised an eyebrow and blocked an aggressive move. He finished the fight in another two moves, this time flipping the Alpha flat on his back, knocking the wind out of his lungs while Raleigh stood over top, not even out of breath. 

It went on like that for a while. Some candidates were upset that they lost against an Omega, like the second candidate, and others scampered away, clearly scared of Raleigh. Each time that Raleigh would finish a match, usually in a couple of moves so that he could showcase he skills, Mako would make a little noise and purse her lips. It was getting out of hand, so he decided to call her out on it. 

“Are you not satisfied with the candidates you chose?” Raleigh cocked a hip as he mimicked the face she made. “You make this face every time I finish a match, what’s that about? Do you think that you can do better?”

“I know you can do better,” Mako challenged, eyes strong and defiant. Gosh, Raleigh loved her to pieces already. “You could’ve taken them all down two moves ago. Instead you are playing with them.”

“Wanna test out your theory?” the blond looked at Pentecost expectantly. “Hey Marshall, wanna let your best and brightest duke it out in the ring with me?”

The hopeful look on Mako’s face nearly broke Raleigh’s heart. Once the Marshall nodded, she allowed herself a brief smile and toed off her boots and shoes, removing her shirt to expose her tank top. Grinning, Raleigh whipped off Yancy’s sweater, baring his scarred flesh to the world. It was time to get to business.

“I won’t go easy on you,” he bowed to her. 

“Then neither will I,” she smirked. In a sudden flurry of attacks, the woman met him swing for swing. Eventually, after a slight slip on Raleigh’s part, she managed to pin a point while he left his right shoulder open. 

They began to egg each other on as they kept score, both being evenly matched. Sometimes Raleigh would gain a point, other times Mako. It was the most like a dialogue Raleigh had ever felt since Yancy. They hadn’t needed words to convey what needed to be said. They just moved together. This was Drift Compatibility. 

“Stop,” the Marshall interrupted them while Mako had him physically pinned on the floor. “I’ve seen enough.”

“Me too,” Raleigh jumped up, thanking Mako for her help. “She’s my co-pilot.” 

“That is not up to you to decide, Mr. Becket,” the Marshall gave Mako a look. She ducked her head and went to gather her things. “Report tomorrow at 9 am sharp to find out who your new co-pilot is.”

Yancy approached him holding out the sweater he flung off. It was freshly scented. Raleigh hugged his brother tightly, pushing his nose into the bend of Yancy’s neck and inhaling. 

“Thank you.”

“No problem, little one.”

After chasing down Mako and hugging her, Raleigh went back to his room to fall into a deep sleep. He was so tired after sparring with at least twenty candidates who were all younger than him. He didn’t think that 24 was that old, but apparently one year could make all the difference in Kwoon matches. 

Yancy was out with Tendo. The Asian man had spoken with the older Becket that morning to tell him about their soulbond. It had involved a lot of manly crying and blushing. Criminy, Raleigh mused, it’s like they were teenagers who were under parent supervision on their date. 

He spent a good hour in bed, trying to fall asleep before he gave up. Time to go Jaeger watching. 

Raleigh first went to Cherno Alpha. Sasha and Aleksis were both busy helping techs drag over parts to tune up some of the engines in Cherno’s right leg. Settling on a deserted crate, Raleigh was able to watch the crew peacefully. He would’ve fallen asleep if it weren’t for the sudden intrusion of three hyper men about thirty minutes after. 

“Hey,” one of the triplets poked him. 

“Wanna play a game with us?” another asked. 

“It’s a version of basketball,” the last triplet finished. 

Raleigh looked between the three, faux debating whether he should play or not, just to make the Chinese pilots sweat. Tapping his chin with his pointer finger and humming dramatically, the blond slid off of the crate and quickly snatched the basketball from the unsuspecting hands of a triplet. 

Laughing hard, Raleigh started to sprint towards the Crimson Typhoon bay, triplets shouting and scrambling to catch up with him. Once he reached the court, the blond started dribbling and made a layup, scoring a point. 

“I win!” Raleigh let out a whoop. Then one of the triplets, probably Jin, tackled the blond with a playful cry. 

“Not until we finish the game, Becket!” Hu cackled, stealing the ball and making a trick shot. 

“Oh,” Raleigh grinned like he was just handed a piñata bat. “You’re so on.”

Eventually, Sasha and Aleksis came over to watch as the four men squawked and squealed, pushing each other and yanking arms away. It was the most intense game of basketball Raleigh had ever played, but it was fun. Because Aleksis joined his team, Raleigh actually cackled when Cheung gulped. There was nothing like a seven foot tall man to scare the crap out of people. Sasha was bent over laughing on the sidelines, phone out to take pictures. Aleksis, a man of few words, was able to pick Raleigh up and help him dunk the ball, resulting in loud cheers from the triplets. 

When Yancy found him, Raleigh was busy laughing his ass off at some silly tricks that the triplets were performing, sitting in between the Russians comfortably. The older blond smiled and went to go find Tendo, who was probably on his third cup of coffee that hour. He never noticed Doctor Gottlieb muttering to himself as he hobbled to the cafeteria for some more coffee himself. Apparently there was set to be a double event soon. Yancy shivered at the thought. Maybe Pentecost would send Chuck-a-Duck out there without a Jaeger to fight the Kaiju.

Chapter Text

Suiting up had been exciting before, back with Yancy. Now, Raleigh found himself dreading who would end up being his co-pilot as the Gipsy techs fitted him with his new Drive Suit; a glossy black material that was far more form-fitting than his previous style. 

Secretly, Raleigh hoped that Mako could sneak in and do the test with him. Ok. It wasn’t a secret. Yancy could vouch for him.

“If you don’t mind,” Raleigh began, tense as he awkwardly waited on the right side of Gipsy’s Conn Pod. “I’ll be taking this side. My left arm is still pretty shot.”

“Not at all,” Mako’s melodic voice responded. Raleigh spun to look at her. 

She had the same suit as he did, just tailored to fit her own body. If Raleigh wasn’t gay or into Alphas, he would have totally asked her out on a date. Well, he reasoned, he could still take her out on a platonic date. Mako deserved it. She was awesome. The woman’s smile was bright with joy. Just the sight of it made Raleigh feel a warmth enter his heart. Man, he loved this woman, and he hadn’t even drifted with her yet. 

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” her smile widened, eyebrow quirked.

“No point,” Raleigh shrugged. “You’ll be inside my head in a couple of minutes anyways.”

They shared a smile before moving to their spots. 

“You look good,” the blond finally said, taking in the way Mako lit up. 

Once the two of them were hooked up to Gipsy, who was happily humming beneath them, Tendo’s voice came on the comms. 

“Ready to initiate Mental Handshake?” he asked.

“Yes,” Raleigh responded in unison with Mako. Again, they shared a smile. Raleigh hoped that this worked, for his sake and for Mako’s. He wanted her to live her dream. 

“In 3… 2… 1”

It was a flash of blue. Electric blue, so similar to Mako’s front pieces. Memories from his own life sped past. 

“Come on Yance!” a younger Raleigh tugged on his older brother’s arm. “Please?”

“I don’t know kiddo,” the younger Yancy looked conflicted. 

“You have to!” Raleigh insisted. “You have to enlist. They need you to pilot a Jaeger!”

“But I can’t leave you behind!” Yancy snapped, tears in his eyes. 

“You’ll never leave me behind,” the younger brother embraced Yancy. “I will never leave you. Not ever. It’s you and me against the world…”

Another memory, this one far more recent - and still painful - resurfaced. 

“Come on, Raleigh,” Steve pleaded. 

“I can’t,” Raleigh pushed the larger man away. This was getting out of hand. “I said no!”

“You’re not in the right state of mind to be saying that,” Steve’s grip on Raleigh’s wrist tightened. 

“Get away from me!” the Omega, finally found out by his previous boss, demanded. It had been a whole year of hiding his secondary gender from all of those Alphas. The second he slipped up, they cornered him and assaulted him. Raleigh’s skin burned where they touched him. Fortunately, he had narrowly avoided being raped by his coworkers, but his pants were ripped across the thighs and his yellow jacket was no longer salvageable. Raleigh couldn’t afford to show his back to anyone. The moment he did, he would never be free again.

Raleigh felt his nails lengthen into sharp points, a natural defense mechanism that all Omegas possessed to protect themselves or their pups. In one motion, he raked his claws over Steve’s arm, forcing the lecherous Alpha to release him quickly. The instant he was free, Raleigh bolted. It was one of the only things that he was good at; running… 

But it was the final memory, the one Raleigh had been trying so hard to keep hidden, that tore him apart. 

“Raleigh!” Yancy’s voice was as desperate as the first time he heard it. Raleigh turned to see Mako, but found his younger self staring back in horror. 

“Raleigh, listen to me!” And then Yancy was ripped away. Gone. Gone. Gone.  

The guttural scream that ripped through Raleigh’s throat seemed to echo in his mind. He knew that he was chasing the RABIT. There was no way he wasn’t. He just couldn’t move on from this painful memory. His brother was dead. Gipsy was dead. He was such a bad Omega. He-

“RALEIGH!” Yancy’s voice screamed. “You’re chasing the RABIT and now Mako’s gone after hers! Help her or she’s gonna blow this place up!” 

Just the thought of his brother being in danger set Raleigh back on track. He abandoned his pain. He left behind the soul-eating memory of his brother dying. He released the heavy weight off of his shoulders. It was time for him to help Mako leave her own RABIT behind. 

Allowing himself to be sucked into Mako’s violent vortex of a memory, Raleigh found himself on a destroyed street. 

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

A Kaiju roared as fighter jets flew in to bomb it. Raleigh flinched as the explosions toppled a nearby building. Behind him, a little Asian girl was crying. In her hands was a little red shoe that had fallen off while she was running. 

Raleigh knew from the Drift that this was Mako. Her parents had just died because of Onibaba. In fact, she was the only survivor in that sect of the city. The blond watched as she ran into an alleyway, seeking shelter behind a dumpster. It broke his heart to see her trying to quiet her sobs. No child should have to stifle their crying in order to stay alive. 

It reminded Raleigh why he chose to keep fighting. To keep Yancy safe. To keep David and Jonah safe. To make sure that the world would never have another Kaiju kill their family or their soulmate. 

The familiar sound of a Jaeger entered the cacophony of destruction. The little Mako in front of him seemed to notice it too. Scared out of her wits, she peered out from behind the dumpster to see the Kaiju staring right back at her. The little girl stuck out her arms, trying to cover her eyes and protect herself. 

“Mako!” Raleigh screamed. “It’s just a memory. It’s not real!”

But the little Mako couldn’t hear him. Suddenly, Onibaba was blown away by a missile. Mako curled herself up into a little ball, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably, thinking that she was going to die. 

Raleigh was helpless to stop the little girl from having a panic attack on the ground. It tore him apart. The rest of the memory flooded through him, but Mako couldn’t let go of the fear and rage. She wanted to avenge her family. She wanted to make the Kaiju pay. Who was Raleigh to deny her the same thing that he craved? 

Suddenly, Gipsy went dark. Raleigh gasped for breath as he was disconnected manually from the Drift. Mako fell limp beside him, still attached to Gipsy. 

“Shit,” He fought to get out of his clamps and ran over to ease Mako to the ground. She was a pale, sickly color. Raleigh rested her against his chest, taking off both of their helmets so that she could breathe better. This was all his fault. If he hadn’t let that memory take him, Mako wouldn’t have chased her own RABIT. The test would’ve gone well. Mako would’ve been able to pilot with him. 

Now, her dreams were ruined. It was all his fault. He was such a bad Omega.

“RALEIGH!” Yancy’s voice yelled from outside of the Conn Pod. 

The second the techs got the door open, Yancy was inside, flinging himself at his brother to check him for damages. Upon seeing the tears streaking down the blond’s face, Yancy handed Mako off to an anxious looking Herc and curled Raleigh up in his lap. Even though they were near the same height, Raleigh was still slimmer than him, so the Omega could curl up in his lap like they were still kids. Raleigh felt cold. He felt off. Something was wrong. Yancy couldn’t tell exactly what. It was starting to make him panic. 

An overwhelming tinge of guilt and self-blame took over Raleigh’s normally sweet scent. The new bitter odor made Yancy’s nose sting. Raleigh blamed himself. The older Becket let out a sob as he hugged his brother, who stuck his nose into Yancy’s neck. 

“It’s okay,” Yancy mumbled. “It’s just a memory.”

“I fell out first,” Raleigh’s voice croaked. “It’s my fault she’ll never be able to pilot again.”

“No,” Yancy pulled away to stare his brother down. “It’s not your fault. You two have enough trauma. Putting you together was a risk and they shouldn’t have had Gipsy’s weapons online. That was LOCCENT’S fault.”

“It was just a memory,” Raleigh repeated, collapsing against Yancy’s chest. 

“It was just a memory.”

Chapter Text

“Ms. Mori, Mr. Becket,” Marshall gave them a stern look. Mako shied away, ducking her head under the gaze of her father-figure. Now that Raleigh had seen her memories, he could finally understand why she always reacted the way she did. It was out of respect, not obedience, but Mako tended to dim her own flame to respect others. Raleigh wondered what would happen if the woman started to take pride in her abilities. After all, she was quite literally the smartest person he had ever met, not counting the K-scientists. 

“Wait outside,” the British man finished, voice quiet as he went inside of his office, where Herc, Chuck, and Yancy were waiting for him. 

“I’m sorry,” Raleigh whispered, letting his head fall forward. Hearing the words left unsaid, Mako simply slid her smaller hand into his and intertwined their fingers. 

“There was no avoiding it,” Mako smiled at him. “We’re both very volatile people. They probably shouldn’t have had the weapons online during a test-run.”

Raleigh huffed a laugh, shifting so that their shoulders touched. 

“They’re gonna get us killed!” Chuck’s enraged voice suddenly interrupted their calm. “That rusty old has-been and that little girl shouldn’t have ever been let inside of a Conn Pod to begin with! I don’t want them on my bomb-run!”

There was a loud scuffle, most likely Yancy trying to kill Chuck, Raleigh mused, and the door to the Marshall’s office was flung open. 

“Stay there!” Herc looked genuinely pissed as he practically threw his son out of the room. Yancy was scowling behind him, fists clenched. 

Chuck was seething, clearly angry. Raleigh shifted slightly so that he was in front of Mako. So that he would be the first one to get hit if Chuck resorted to violence. His co-pilot squeezed his hand reassuringly. 

“You two are a bloody disgrace,” the ginger rounded on them, snarl etched into his features by now. “You’re gonna get us killed.”

Raleigh remained silent, refusing to make eye contact with the metaphorical bomb right next to him. Chuck moved into his space, sea salt scent overpowering everything in Raleigh’s brain. He hated that he didn’t hate it. 

“Here’s the thing, Rahleigh,” Chuck flicked his chest, right above where his dog tags were. Raleigh tried not to clench his jaw. “You’re a has-been who should have never set foot back in a Jaeger. Hell, you shouldn’t have been allowed in one in the first place!”

Mako tensed and prepared to move. Giving her a sharp look, Raleigh held up his other hand. This wasn’t her fight. He appreciated it, he really did, but he had to be the one who stood up to Chuck. 

“And your little girlfriend,” Chuck now turned on Mako. “This bitch shouldn’t have been let out of Tokyo. She shoulda died with the rest of her-”

Raleigh couldn’t help it. He didn’t see red. He actually saw a multitude of colors and his inner wolf was craving blood. So, he reared back his left arm and punched the stupid Alpha so hard in the face that he could hear the sound of his nose breaking and blood spurting out of it. The second Chuck realized that he had been hit, the Alpha growled, eyes turning a deep shade of red. 

“Try that again, who-” Raleigh hit him three times in a row, each in a different spot on the man’s chest. Wait. Chuck wasn’t a man. He was a boy. Men didn’t try to push Omegas down. Raleigh let go of Mako’s hand and sucker-punched the boy in front of him as hard as he dared. 

“Apologize to her,” Raleigh snarled, not recognizing his own voice. His back stung and Chuck hadn’t even landed a hit on him. It didn’t just sting, it burned. 

Chuck, fast and powerful, managed to land a hit on him, directly on his cheek. Raleigh couldn’t help but marvel at the fight-crazed look in the younger’s eyes. The kid could brawl, that was for sure, but he wouldn’t be able to keep up with someone who had been knocking down people twice the size of little Chuck for five years. 

Raleigh, using his environment to his advantage, grabbed the Alpha by his shirt and flung him across the hall, straight into the metal pipes. In a gush of hot steam, Chuck let out a guttural scream. Wincing internally, Raleigh took a few steps back. 

“I said,” the Omega asked his wolf to come to the surface, electric blue overtaking his eyes. “Apologize to her.”

Chuck spat out blood on the floor, red eyes trained on the blond. Then, he charged, aiming to slam Raleigh into the ground. Growling, Raleigh wrapped a thigh around the ginger’s neck and used the other’s momentum to bring them down to the ground. Hard. Again, Raleigh felt bad for the kid. That had gotta hurt. But, he needed a couple of kicks in the ass. 

“What is going on out here?” Herc yelled, storming out of the office, Yancy following close behind. The blond took one look at Raleigh pinning Chuck to the ground and hid a snicker. 

“Becket,” the Marshall called. “Mori, my office now.”

Raleigh released Chuck, earning a pat from Yancy as the older passed by, and went to join Mako. She grabbed his hand as they walked inside. They both ignored Chuck’s furious yelling. 

“It was my fault,” Raleigh began. “I fell out of alignment first.”

Pentecost held up a hand. Raleigh stopped, glancing over at Mako, who looked like she was about to cry. 

“It was a mistake to put the two of you in a Conn Pod together,” the Marshall said. 

“Permission to be dismissed, sir?” Mako asked in a quiet voice. Pentecost looked at her with a sad undertone in his eyes. 

“Ms. Mori,” he began. “I’ve watched you grow. I’ve seen your test results. I’ve trained you.”

Raleigh squeezed her hand. 

“But,” the man sighed. “Putting you and Mr. Becket together on your first time was not a wise choice.”

Mako finally looked up, meeting Pentecost’s eyes. 

“On your next test,” hope suddenly bloomed in Mako, warming Raleigh’s heart. “You will Drift with Lieutenant Hansen. He will be able to help you stay on track.”

“Thank you, Sensei,” she bowed. 

“You are dismissed,” he smiled at her softly. Raleigh watched her go, slight bounce in her step. His back was killing him without Mako’s calming presence. 

“Sir?” Raleigh asked. 

“You will go to the Kwoon tomorrow at 0600,” the man stared him down. “I think a match is due between you and Mr. Hansen. I will not have my Rangers quarreling like little children.”

“Yes, sir,” Raleigh stood. 

“Dismissed.”

And Raleigh sped out, whining as quietly as he could. His back was on fire. He needed to go to the medical bay. 

“Well, Raleigh,” Doctor Amanda rolled over in her chair, clipboard nestled in her arm. “You’re in good condition. Still a bit underweight, but your body is recovering.”

Raleigh released a sigh of relief.

“Your back is also fine,” she continued, eyebrow raised. “I think that you forgot where your soulmark was.”

Blinking, the blond sat in silence. Wait. His soulmark? 

“Shit,” Raleigh covered his face with his hands, curling up on the bed. Well. Now he knew why Striker Eureka was on his back. There was only one person alive who had as much pride and love for their Jaeger as Raleigh. And it was Chuck. 

“I’ll let you simmer with that,” Doctor Amanda chuckled lightly, leaving the room. 

“I can’t believe it,” Raleigh mumbled, groaning into his arms. Of course it would be the one guy who hated him. 

“What can’t you believe?” Yancy entered the room. 

“Shut up,” Raleigh threw his pillow at the older Becket. “I know you heard that entire conversation.”

“I’m hurt, little one,” Yancy clutched his chest, falling dramatically onto the bed. 

“But -”

“No!”

“He’s actually not that ugly.”

“Yance.”

“On the outside.”

“Yancy!”

“He definitely needed that.”

Raleigh pointedly remained quiet.

“At least now you can keep kicking his ass while you two get married-”

And, despite the terrible fate of his soulmate hating his guts, Raleigh knew that he would be alright. Which meant that he could attempt to murder his own brother. 

“You’re getting married first, old man.”

Chapter Text

Yancy hadn’t left his side since he left the med bay. And while Raleigh appreciated it, he couldn’t help but feel guilty. Yancy was Tendo’s soulmate, not his own. He shouldn’t steal Yancy from the smaller Asian man. 

“I can hear you thinking,” Yancy mumbled from the top bunk. “It’s too early to be thinking. Go back to bed.”

“Not everyone can sleep the day away,” Raleigh huffed a laugh. He had been lying awake for just over an hour now. Yancy, despite being so tired all of the time, was a light sleeper and Raleigh hated to wake his older brother. Especially when Yancy was in his protective older brother model. 

“What’s up?” the older Becket asked softly.

“I’m just worried. I have about an hour before I’m supposed to be in the Kwoon and I don’t feel like eating,” Raleigh admitted. He didn’t want to spar with Chuck in front of so many people. It was different when they were just fighting. 

Maybe he was scared that they would be Drift Compatible. They were already soulmates, but could Chuck even tell? Raleigh hoped not. 

“Oh Rals,” Yancy sighed. He shifted slightly in his bunk, making Raleigh jump a little. “How about you go see Mako. Have breakfast with her. I think I’ve been too overbearing. You need to have a little space.”

“You just want to go back to bed,” the younger blond teased. Yancy barked out a laugh. Raleigh rolled out of his bunk and slipped on his pants and sweater over top of his boxers and tank top. He paused after putting on his work boots. “Yancy, I-”

“I know, little one.”

“I love you,” Raleigh glanced up to see his brother’s big blue eyes staring back at him lovingly. 

“Love you too,” Yancy smiled. “Now get out there. You need food before kicking Chuck’s ass again.”

Raleigh grinned deviously as he saluted the older. Yancy just waved him off and rolled over.

The second Raleigh shut the door to his and Yancy’s room, he saw Mako exiting her room just across the hall from him. 

“Morning,” Raleigh cleared his throat, voice still raspy from sleep. Mako giggled and met him halfway in the hall. They linked arms affectionately and made their way to the cafeteria. It was easy to walk beside Mako. Raleigh had never felt so equal to someone before - although he did believe that Mako was actually way too good for him - and the small Asian woman who gave him warm smiles made his heart warm. 

“Let’s get you a light breakfast,” Mako said quietly as they entered the cafeteria. Raleigh nodded obediently, trusting her to know exactly what he needed. She had been in his head after all. 

It was…different. Not just having Yancy’s memories in his head, that is. Raleigh absentmindedly picked up a tray and selected some breakfast foods. He felt like he had been beside Mako during her entire childhood and teenage years. But, he hadn’t. 

With Yancy, they had never been far apart. It was second nature for their memories to include each other. 

With Mako, however, he was able to completely absorb her world. It only made the blond appreciate her all the more. Once they had filled their trays sufficiently, Mako led him to an empty table, which was in great supply at 5:20 am, and they sat down to munch. 

“Here,” Mako slid over a tray with two slices of French Toast, a serving of scrambled eggs, and a cup of yogurt with strawberries on top. Raleigh’s stomach grumbled embarrassingly loud. 

Registering the other tray in front of him, Raleigh flushed bright red. He had accidentally got Mako a tray full of traditional Japanese breakfast foods with a European flourish. She had a small salad, a bowl of rice, and a large tamagoyaki. The tamagoyaki looked delicious. It was this rolled omelet-looking thing that appeared to include cheese and ham. 

“Thank you, Raleigh,” Mako beamed brightly at him, taking her chopsticks and fork eagerly to dig into her meal. Raleigh watched her for a moment before digging into his own food, starting with the scrambled eggs.

It was early enough in the morning that the techs were sleepily eating their own food, completely ignoring the giggling duo at their table. 

Raleigh suspected that some people were going to be hostile with him and Mako because of their near disaster yesterday. Luckily, people were exhausted enough that they didn’t care about anything but shoveling food into their mouths mechanically. 

“It is time for you to warm up,” Mako declared suddenly. They had finished their food several minutes before, simply enjoying the company of each other. 

Raleigh, glancing at the time, muffled a curse and hastily grabbed their trays to deposit them at the washing station. Mako was waiting for him at the exit, her tablet nestled firmly in the crook of her elbow. 

Working his jaw, the blond’s brow furrowed as the duo made their way to the Kwoon. 

Raleigh didn’t see Chuck when he noticed the younger man. Instead, he smelled that delicious sea salt scent that filled the room. The blond would deny having perked up in the presence of his soulmate. 

“Gentlemen,” the Marshall’s voice cut through Raleigh’s begrudging appreciation of Chuck’s scent. He stood resolutely with Herc and Mako at his sides, eyes trained on the pilots. 

“Marshall,” Raleigh responded, offering the man a respectful nod. Chuck scoffed beside him, nose patched up from the previous day’s fight. 

“You may begin.”

Forgoing the traditional bow, Chuck, staff already poised in his hand, struck out at Raleigh, aiming to gain a point right away. The blond sidestepped the motion easily, swinging his own staff almost leisurely, yet refusing to let the other man get behind him. Raleigh would never forget the advice Yancy gave him all those years ago; never turn your back on your enemy or else you’ll get stabbed in the back. Well, Chuck wasn’t really his enemy; those were the Kaiju, but Chuck did hate him, so out of self-preservation, Raleigh chose to purposefully keep his behind out of the ginger’s war-path. 

He did need to see how Chuck would take advantage of his show of weakness. Would he strike out? Or would he back down in response? Raleigh couldn’t wait to find out what kind of fighter the Alpha was, especially after seeing his piloting work for several years. 

“Already tired, has-been?” Chuck sneered, adding more aggressive power to his movements, trying to actively get behind Raleigh. This Chuck was different from the one Raleigh punched. This Chuck was completely devoted to the fight. 

“You wish,” Raleigh responded, a small smirk forming. He now knew that Chuck was not going to let it slide if the Omega took it easy on him. The feral grin took over his face, the one that Yancy shied away from due to its intensity. There was no holding back with Chuck. Raleigh could finally go all out. 

“What are you doing?” Chuck snapped as Raleigh jumped several feet away the second the other man swung his staff behind Raleigh’s back. 

“Yancy always told me to never let my enemy see my back,” Raleigh raised an eyebrow playfully.

“Do you always do what your brother tells you to?” Chuck teased. “I bet you’re an absolute wuss.”

Scoffing, Raleigh managed to elbow the Alpha harshly in the ribs. 

They sparred wordlessly for a while, working up a sweat. Raleigh really should have expected it when Chuck took off his shirt, leaving the ginger in his dog tags and grey trousers, but he was still shocked. 

Hell, the man was buff. Chuck held a lot more muscle mass than he did. Raleigh’s muscle was all lean and cut, but Chuck’s was all bulk and raw power. Absent-mindedly, the blond wondered if the Alpha’s chest would be comfortable to rest on. Just the thought of it brought a light flush to his cheeks. 

“Not gonna bare your scrawny arms to the world, Ray?” Chuck taunted, spinning his staff. From the sidelines, Raleigh heard Mako suck in a breath. 

“Chuck-” Mako started. 

“No,” Raleigh interrupted her, softening his eyes once he met her gaze. “I appreciate it, Mako, but I can handle this.”

So, being the smart Becket, Raleigh flung off his sweater, meeting Chuck’s challenging stare. 

Chuck was eyeing his scars with a glare. The tank top he wore did little to cover the ones on his arms. At least the ones along his shoulder blades and chest were covered up. And, of course, his soulmark. 

Raleigh didn’t care. He didn’t. It didn’t bother him at all that his Alpha found him ugly. 

It. Didn’t.

The blond made to strike Chuck’s left shoulder. Chuck retaliated. 

Suddenly, they felt less like they were talking to each other. Raleigh could take a step, angle his pinky finger, or even clench his jaw and Chuck would move in tandem with him. 

It was like they were dancing. 

The first time Raleigh’s fingers brushed against Chuck’s arm, Chuck shuddered, pink rising on his cheeks and reddening his ears. Raleigh’s back tingled, the soulmark reacting positively to its other half. There was no hiding the fact that they were soulmates. An expression appeared on Chuck’s face, one that Raleigh had never seen before. Chuck looked… vulnerable. 

“That is enough,” the Marshall interrupted just as the ginger was about to speak. “I will see you both in Striker’s Jaeger Bay tomorrow.”

“What?” Chuck cried. “You can’t make me drift with this has-been!”

“Son,” Herc tried to calm the upset Alpha. Raleigh gave the older man a look and stood closer to Chuck, discreetly allowing his caramel scent to waft over to the other’s nose. 

“Mr. Hansen,” Pentecost stared at the younger Hansen. “I think that you forget who is in charge here. You and Mr. Becket are clearly Drift Compatible. We would just like to test that out and have a back-up set of pilots if anything goes wrong.”

Something about the tone of the Marshall’s voice was off to Raleigh. Upon seeing Herc’s neck muscles tense, Raleigh immediately knew that Pentecost lied. They wanted him and Chuck to pilot together so that Mako wouldn’t have a screw-up as her co-pilot. 

Feeling his sudden despair, Mako came over and reached for his hand. 

Chuck, seeing Mako come closer, growled at the woman for trying to touch Raleigh. 

“Stop thinking those thoughts,” Mako scolded. “Or else I will have Yancy come and do something about it.”

Eyes wide, Raleigh slowly turned his head to look around for his older brother. Heaven forbid the older Becket found out that his little brother was being mean to himself. 

“Does that settle it, then?” Pentecost spoke up, sharing a look with Herc. 

Raleigh and Mako both responded in affirmation, Chuck grunting unhappily. 

“Shall we get some lunch?” Mako asked, hooking their arms together once Raleigh put his sweater back on. 

“Yes, please,” Raleigh practically moaned. “I’m so hungry now. Yance and I have been so used to rations that this place feels like a buffet. I wonder if he’s awake by now.”

“It’s 11:30,” Chuck’s voice startled them. The ginger was walking beside them, on Raleigh’s side, and glaring at anyone who dared walk nearby. “I sure hope that bloke is awake.”

Exchanging glances with Mako, Raleigh finally shifted a few inches over so that Chuck was within their personal bubble. They were nearly to the cafeteria, and the loudness was audible even from another hall. 

And if they got stares because the Chuck Hansen decided to sit directly beside Raleigh, knees firmly touching underneath the table, then it wasn’t mentioned. Across the cafeteria, Yancy gave Raleigh a thumbs up and a grin from where he sat with Tendo. 

But, Raleigh had to admit. It was nice. 

Chapter Text

“Initiating mental handshake,” Tendo announced into the comm. Yancy stood beside him, holding a cup of coffee for his soulmate. 

Raleigh watched Striker Eureka’s massive form. Mako and Herc were inside, doing a trial run. It wasn’t that Raleigh didn’t trust Herc, it was just that he was already a bit possessive over his friend, dare he say best friend. He didn’t want anything to happen to her. 

“Holding,” Tendo said, reading the brainwave scans. From what Raleigh could tell, Herc and Mako weren’t as Drift Compatible as he and Mako had been, but they were doing very well. It would hold through a fight. Raleigh released a sigh of relief, collapsing into a spare chair. Beside him, Max the bulldog panted happily. 

“Heya boy,” Raleigh began to rub the blissed out dog. He didn’t know where Chuck was, but at least Max was around to offer some support. 

“He likes being scratched just under his chin,” a low voice spoke in his ear. Raleigh jumped slightly, turning to see Chuck sitting beside him. Max gave an excited bark and waddled into their laps, stretching out languidly to accept pets from both pilots. 

In order to accommodate Max, Raleigh shifted a bit closer to the ginger, wary of the younger’s temper. Contrary to Raleigh’s expectations, Chuck physically moved closer to him, pressing his shoulder into Raleigh’s while rubbing Max affectionately. Raleigh couldn’t help the small smile that stretched across his face. For once, Chuck didn’t have a scowl or a mean smirk on his face. Instead, the Alpha had a soft expression. 

“Chuck-” Raleigh snapped his mouth shut. It wasn’t his place to start this conversation. 

“I know,” the ginger’s eyes flitted towards him. “You and me? I know.”

“Are you okay with it?” Raleigh asked. 

Chuck was silent. Raleigh couldn’t help the way his heart clenched. Max, sensing his sadness, pushed his head into the Omega’s hand. 

“I’m going to go and be with Gipsy,” Raleigh announced, double checking that Herc and Mako were doing alright. From what he could tell, they were executing the intended movements with ease. The blond was proud of Mako. 

“You alright?” Yancy asked him as the younger Becket stood up, gently moving Max into Chuck’s lap. 

“Yeah,” Raleigh gave his brother a shaky smile. Yancy made to approach him, but Tendo laid a hand on the other’s arm. The Asian man gave Raleigh a knowing look, an opening to leave on his own - to figure things out. 

“Thank you,” Raleigh mouthed to him, turning to leave the room. 

The silence of the halls was comforting as he made his way to Gipsy. Her gentle hum was audible to him even this far away. The occasional drift of sea salt in his nose made his heart ache. If only Chuck actually wanted him. How could they Drift if the younger hated him? How could they hold a Drift if Raleigh couldn’t contain his feelings? 

Raleigh may not love Chuck yet, but he definitely liked the younger Hansen. Even if he was a pain in the ass, rather crude and mean, and definitely a piece of work, Raleigh still found the inner Chuck, no matter how hidden, adorable and perfect. It didn’t hurt that the ginger was really handsome. 

“Mind if I join you?” Chuck scared him, making the Omega trip on the final step. He had been on autopilot for most of the journey to his Jaeger. 

“Not at all,” Raleigh responded softly, accepting the hand that helped steady him. Oddly shy, the blond gently tugged Chuck over to the edge of the scaffolding. They were high enough up that Gipsy’s Conn Pod was nearly eye level. 

“I left Max with yer brother,” the ginger explained when he noticed Raleigh searching around for the bulldog. 

Raleigh hummed, mimicking Gipsy. She seemed happy to see him. It was nice.

Dropping down to sit on the edge of the platform, Raleigh let his legs dangle and leaned back on his hands. Despite the rough surface of the platform, intended to grip to people’s shoes for safety - slipping was not recommended this high up, Raleigh enjoyed resting beside his Gipsy. 

Chuck’s presence beside him was nice. The large form, pleasantly warm, settled next to him once again. Raleigh probably should have been worried. It wasn’t like Chuck, at least from his limited knowledge of the younger, to seek out the companionship and touch of another person. Maybe it was because they were soulmates. Raleigh didn’t know. 

“I used to watch you and yer brother pilot this rust-bucket,” Chuck whispered, eyes trained on the massive Jaeger. She was bigger than Striker by several feet and weighed a lot more. She was a force of nature that could fight a hurricane - literally. Raleigh loved her, so he was a little offended by the nick-name. 

“What made you stop?” he responded. Chuck turned to look at him, their shoulders pressed firmly against each other. It made their soulbond hum pleasantly, just like Gipsy’s hum. 

“Knifehead,” Chuck said the name with disgust. 

Raleigh tensed, still feeling the phantom pain. Chuck’s scent automatically changed to be more comforting. 

“I hated that thing, ” the ginger snapped. A fierce expression overcame the younger’s face, making Raleigh stare at him with a gaped jaw. “The moment I heard that Yancy Becket had died and Raleigh Becket was in critical condition, I turned off the TV. I put away my favorite poster. I-”

“I’m sorry,” Raleigh tentatively reached out a hand. When Chuck made no move to stop him, Raleigh gently laid his palm on the other’s thigh. “We went against orders to save that ship. We thought it was dead.” 

“It went for your Conn Pod,” Chuck stated, less like a question than he intended. Raleigh nodded, hearing his own scream in his ear. Again, Chuck’s scent filled his nose. 

“Yancy is still recovering,” Raleigh, even though he was nearly the same height as Yancy, was still about two inches shorter than Chuck. So, when Raleigh leaned in further, his chin rested comfortably on the other’s shoulder. “I’m still recovering.”

“Your arm?” Chuck asked, having seen the way Raleigh favored it. 

“Yeah,” Raleigh hummed when Chuck’s arm wrapped around his torso carefully, allowing the Omega to escape if he wanted. Raleigh couldn’t help but feel a surge of love. 

“I’m sorry,” Chuck laid his head on top of Raleigh’s. “I don’t really know how to show my emotions.”

Even with the awkward phrasing and hesitance, Raleigh knew that Chuck was being genuine. From what he had heard, Chuck’s mom died during Scissure. And, despite Herc’s efforts, Chuck hadn’t been raised in an environment that supported being vulnerable. Raleigh relaxed against the younger, breathing in his scent. 

“I’m sorry,” Raleigh finally said. “I am so sorry for hurting you. Physically and mentally.”

They sat together in silence, listening to Gipsy hum. She was watching over them, protecting them from harm. 

Raleigh still couldn’t say that he loved Chuck, but he definitely liked him. 

There was something to the other that was different from how Raleigh felt in Yancy or Mako’s presence. They felt like love and peace, but Chuck felt like home. Raleigh knew that if the time came, Chuck wouldn’t hesitate to stand at his side. They’d fight together. And die together. It was the way of soulmates. 

So, Raleigh and Chuck sat beside each other, shoulder to shoulder, leaning on each other. It was really all that they could do so close to the end of the world. 

Raleigh hoped by some miracle that they would win.

Chapter Text

“Come on, Ray!” the ginger taunted, playfully growling and lunging forwards to get a rise out of Raleigh. But, the Omega wouldn’t budge from his steady defensive position. 

They had been sparring since early morning. The impending double event had been looming over their heads, making it near impossible to sleep. So, Raleigh snuck out of his and Yancy’s room, intending to find the kitchen and a snack to go with. Instead of finding a snack in the kitchen, Raleigh found a shirtless Chuck rifling through the fridge, soulmark proudly on display. 

Before Chuck realized that the blond was watching, Raleigh took the time to admire the mark. After all, it included his Gipsy. 

“Now I know where all of the apple juice went,” the older mused aloud, effectively scaring Chuck. Even though Raleigh knew Chuck could smell him, Chuck still seemed spooked that he never noticed Raleigh come in. 

Rather than snap at Raleigh, Chuck wordlessly grabbed another glass and poured Raleigh some apple juice as well. A crisp, breezy note overcame the other’s sea salt scent. It made Raleigh’s spine tingle pleasantly. Accepting the offered glass, Raleigh sat on the island countertop next to where Chuck was standing. 

One thing led to another, some light-hearted banter here, some play growls there, and suddenly the two soulmates were sparring in the Kwoon, hand-to-hand instead of with staffs. The feeling of skin to skin contact was near intoxicating for Raleigh. 

“Chuck,” Raleigh panted, exhausted from sparring for the past hour. The Alpha’s chest was heaving, skin slick with sweat. 

“Okay,” the ginger let down his arms and moved to grab a towel. They were both sticky with drying sweat and, despite the lack of shirts, both men got overheated. 

Raleigh went to grab the water bottle he had brought from the kitchen, cracking open the cap and taking a large swig. Chuck seemed to materialize next to him, clearly thirsty. Raleigh suppressed an affectionate giggle and passed the water bottle. Chuck took a sip of the cool liquid and then proceeded to dump a portion of it over his head. Raleigh did not squeak. He didn’t. 

Okay. He did. 

“Chuck!” The Omega fretted. “You could get a cold!”

Giving him a dimpled smile, Chuck slung the towel over his shoulder and moved closer to the blond. Once they made eye contact, blue on sea green, neither could quite look away. 

“Would you dry-?”

“Sit down,” Raleigh interrupted, pushing on the taller’s (only by 2 inches!) shoulders. Chuck plopped down on the mats, the water bottle still clutched in his grasp.

Raleigh took the towel off of the other’s shoulders and began to massage the material into Chuck’s scalp, enjoying how soft the ginger’s hair was. The Alpha seemed to lean into his touch. 

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Be-

“Attention,” the Marshall’s voice interrupted the Kaiju alarm. “Will all Jaeger pilots report to LOCCENT immediately. The double event is here.”

“We need to go,” Chuck jumped up, hastily flinging the towel across the room and grabbing Raleigh’s tank top. The blond slid the top on and shyly intertwined their fingers as they began to jog towards LOCCENT. 

“Chuck,” Raleigh began to talk as they jogged, dodging techs and other personnel. “Please. Please stay safe.”

“Ray,” the ginger turned his head to look at him. “Mako will probably go with Herc. It’ll be you and me. We’re probably the most Drift Compatible out of all of the pilots here.”

“I don’t want to…” Raleigh drifted off as they entered the headquarters. Tendo was busy typing furiously with Yancy tenderly doing the other man’s bowtie. Mako was already standing next to Herc with the other pilots. 

“There you two are,” Herc smiled at them. His face quickly transitioned into a frown as he noticed the lack of clothes. “What the f-”

“Rangers,” Pentecost caught their attention. “I am sending in Cherno and Typhoon as our main Jaegers. Striker will hold the Miracle Mile position. You will not engage unless absolutely necessary.”

“Who’s going in Striker?” Yancy asked, sharing a look with Raleigh. 

“Miss Mori and Herc,” the man answered, turning away to open a small container. Raleigh noticed an odd pill that the man snuck into his mouth and swallowed dry. Most likely needed because of the radiation from the earliest Jaegers. 

Normally, Chuck would have put up a fight about the arrangement, but with Raleigh holding his hand, the Alpha remained calm. Both trusted Mako and Herc. They would do fine, but it didn’t help the nerves. Sasha and Aleksis came over to the two of them, odd expressions on their faces. 

“Little Becket,” Sasha said. “Little Hansen.”

“Sasha,” Raleigh’s nose stung. 

“We will be safe,” Aleksis spoke, hand coming out to rest lovingly on top of Raleigh’s head. Giving a quiet whimper, Raleigh dragged Chuck with him as the blond wrapped the Kaidonovskys in a big hug. There was always the risk. People could die. 

Raleigh didn’t want any of them to die. The Wei triplets made their way over as well, expressions somber for once. Even they understood that this could be their last mission. 

“They’ll all make it,” Chuck reassured him. It wasn’t something normal to the ginger’s character to comfort another person like that, but he was a fast learner. 

“Do not die,” Raleigh rubbed harshly at his nose. 

“Yeah,” Yancy agreed. “It’s like I say: Go Big or Go Extinct.”

“Rangers!” Marshall Pentecost boomed. “Suit up! The Kaiju are fully out of the Breach.”

If Chuck pulled the blond closer to him and quietly rumbled, then no one bothered to say anything. Raleigh discreetly asked one of the messengers to grab Chuck a shirt. The other already had some goosebumps across his arms and back. 

“Cherno going in,” Sasha’s voice spoke through the comms. Raleigh stood back-to-back with Chuck while they listened. Chuck was monitoring the Drift waves and Raleigh was monitoring the vitals of all of the pilots. It was the least they could do for Tendo, who was frantically making sure that all of the necessary equipment was online. Yancy did his best to follow and assist whenever possible. 

Raleigh had faith in his fellow pilots. 

“We’ve been hit!” the triplets screamed. 

Chuck spun around to see the vitals, chest pressing against Raleigh’s back. 

His heart sank. 

“We need to be ready,” the ginger murmured in Raleigh’s ear, snapping him out of his sudden panic. 

“Come with me,” the Omega latched onto Chuck and started to sprint. They needed to get to Gipsy’s Drive Suit room. Fast. 

Once they barged into the room, several of Gipsy’s techs were running around with equipment. 

“Hurry!” one of them cried, rolling out a cart with Chuck’s Drive Suit. Raleigh released Chuck so that they could shimmy into their Circuitry Suits and then get the actual suits assembled on their bodies. 

“Rangers Becket and Hansen,” The Marshall spoke over the intercom. “I assume you two are suiting up. Prepare to give back-up. Cherno and Typhoon are both in danger and Striker cannot be put at risk.”

“Ready?” Raleigh asked his soulmate once they stepped inside of Gipsy’s Conn Pod. The techs latched the door behind them, trusting the Jaeger veterans to be able to get secured on their own. 

“I-” Chuck swallowed.

“What?” Raleigh’s brow furrowed as he stepped into his foot clamps. The ginger suddenly appeared in front of him and, placing his hands on either side of the Omega’s face, he gave Raleigh a shy peck on the lips. Immediately, the man rushed to hook himself up while Raleigh froze. 

“I had to do that before,” the man answered, bashful.

“Ready?” Yancy’s voice came over the comms.

“Yeah,” they responded in unison. 

All at once, Gipsy’s Conn Pod dropped and their mental handshake began. 

Raleigh was overwhelmed with the intensity of the blue that overtook his eyes. His back tingled.

Chapter Text

“Smile!” a woman with strawberry blond hair held up a camera. 

“Maaaam!” the little boy whined, too invested in making his sandcastle on the beach. 

“Charlie,” she crooned. “Just one picture? For your Mum?”

The little boy paused dramatically, thinking hard about the choice. A large man came up to stand beside the woman, a smile stretched across his face. The two looked completely at ease with each other despite not being true soulmates. Their marks had faded after their son was born, leaving them with a strong bond and a fierce love for their boy. 

“I suppose,” Chuck answered, choosing to pose in front of his creation with a trouble-maker grin. 

***

“Thread the needle through,” a small dark-haired woman instructed her son. “Then you can wrap the yarn around it.”

The little blond stuck his tongue out in concentration as he followed the directions. 

“And finally, you can twist the needle and slide off the stitch!” the woman beamed. 

“Woah!” the small boy exclaimed once he had finished his. “I love knitting! I wanna make Yance a sweater!”

“That sounds wonderful, my little Raleigh,” the woman pressed their foreheads together. “Yancy will love it. He loves everything you give him.”

“He’s a good brother,” Raleigh nuzzled his mother’s hand. “I’m lucky.”

The woman only smiled at him, eyes overflowing with love. 

***

“Charles!” his teacher called out, voice strained with some emotion the young ginger couldn’t recognize. “Please bring your stuff and go to the office. Your father is here for you.”

“Huh?” the boy thought aloud and zipped his backpack. Oh well, at least his dad was there. Maybe they would go and see Mum at work. 

“Chuck,” the large man wrapped him in a hug the second the younger Hansen was in the vicinity. “I was so worried. We have to go. It’s not safe in Sydney anymore. Something big is coming.”

“Why?” Chuck asked, seeing his father’s military uniform damp with sweat. “Where’s Mum?”

“We will get her too,” his father picked up the boy swiftly and began to hurry outside of the building. 

Chuck didn’t understand what was going on. He knew that some big monster was running around the ocean right by Sidney, but he didn’t know why they needed to leave. Those Jaegers would take care of it! He may have been 10, but even he knew that those huge machines could take on a Kaiju without a problem. There was nothing that Jaegers couldn’t do. 

“They’re going to nuke Scissure,” his father explained to him while buckling the younger ginger into the helicopter seat. Scissure was the silly name they gave the Kaiju. “I don’t know if we’ll make it to your Mum.”

Chuck froze. 

“What?” he cried as the helicopter took flight. “We have to save Mama!”

“I can’t put you in danger!” the Alpha snapped. “It was one or the other. I chose my son. My baby boy. Angela agreed with me. She said that she loves you. We both do.”

“Mama!” Chuck screamed. “Mama!”

“MAMA!”

***

“Mama?” a scared looking Raleigh called out, clutching the hand of his mother tightly from where he stood at her bedside. “What’s wrong, Mama?”

“Oh,” Dominique croaked. “My little Raleigh, mon chiot.”

“Rals,” Yancy’s voice accompanied the hand on the younger’s shoulder. “We need to let Mom rest. Come see Jazmine.”

“It’s okay, mon chaton,” the sickly woman smiled. “Raleigh has questions. Let me answer.”

So, the young Alpha left, holding the bundle in his arms that had been affectionately named Jazmine. Raleigh already loved her. 

“Why are you so sick, Mama?” Raleigh asked. He didn’t fully understand why his mother wasn’t recovering from the birth of his baby sister. It had been several months. 

“Oh my baby,” his mother cried. “I’m so sorry. I have to leave you.”

Raleigh didn’t know what to do, so he simply laid next to his mother and tried to comfort the sobbing woman. She was so frail. He was scared for her. 

“Please don’t leave me,” Raleigh murmured into his mother’s chest. 

When Yancy came back into the room with a sickly Jazmine, the younger blond was already asleep against his mother. He never heard her last words.

“Take care of them, please,” Dominique pleaded. “Yancy, my son. You are so wonderful and strong. Please keep Raleigh safe.”

“I will, Mama,” the older brother promised through his tears. 

Then Dominique Becket breathed her last, surrounded by all three of her children. 

***

“Gipsy Danger!” the reporter shouted. “There are the pilots!”

Chuck gasped and ran to the screen. Gipsy Danger was his favorite Jaeger. She was so cool! She even had sunglasses. 

“Hello!” the American woman pushed the microphone in her hand in front of the pilots' faces. They shared a look and took off their helmets. 

“Hi?” the older one answered, looking confused. Chuck suppressed his own dreamy sigh while the other girls in the academy fangirled over Yancy Becket. It was no secret, though, that everyone on the planet thought that Yancy Becket was one attractive bloke.

“How does it feel? To be so many girls’ heroes?” the Omegan reporter pressed closer, fluttering her eyelashes at the Alpha. Yancy looked uncomfortable and leaned in closer to his brother. 

“We feel great!” the younger brother, Raleigh Becket, interjected, drawing the attention of the camera. “Gipsy took it down no problem!”

While everyone else screamed and cried over Yancy Becket, Chuck, however, had his interests peaked in the younger brother. Raleigh was the youngest pilot to ever have been allowed in the Academy. He was also the only Omegan pilot. Chuck was already in love. Raleigh had such a vibrant smile, one that made his eyes crinkle and a solitary dimple show up on his left cheek. Chuck had two dimples, but his right one was far more defined. 

They were a match made in heaven. And Chuck would do anything to have Raleigh be his Omega. 

“Son,” Herc started over a brief dinner the two shared. The older Hansen was finally free for a few days after piloting Lucky Seven with his brother, Scott. “I heard that you were rewatching that Gipsy interview.”

“Dad,” Chuck whined, ears turning red. “I just look up to them.”

“I know, son,” the man smiled. “I did put a poster in your room, though. But!”

Chuck paused in his eager rush to get to his room, groaning. 

“What?”

“I’ve also heard from some techs that you’ve been daydreaming and drawing a lot,” the older ginger bit the inside of his bottom lip. “Do you want to tell me anything? Maybe about a fascination with the Becket brothers?”

“Well,” the teen smiled toothily, already proud. “I’m gonna be Raleigh’s mate! I bet we’re soulmates! Watch my soulmark be the exact same as his, and we’ll get married-”

“Chuck,” Herc interrupted. “You know that Raleigh doesn’t even know you, right?”

The boy snapped his mouth shut, brow furrowing. 

“Well. Then I’ll just have to move to Anchorage to be with him!”

“Chuck!”

***

“Raise your arm as much as you can before it starts hurting,” Doctor Amanda gently prodded at his left elbow. Raleigh did as he was told and raised the arm, wincing almost as soon as he started. 

“Ow,” the blond grimaced and tried to hide the pain. 

“Stop,” the woman gently pushed his arm back down. “You and I have our work cut out for us. Your shoulder is going to take a long time to heal.”

“Be patient, Rals,” Yancy smiled at him from his wheelchair. He had just worked with Doctor Amanda in the pool so that he could move his limbs without the full pressure of gravity. 

“I feel like a cripple,” Raleigh said, ducking his head in shame. “I feel useless! I’m such a bad pilot! If only I had… If only I…” The Omega paused. “No one is going to want damaged goods like me. My scars are ugly. My soulmate is going to hate them.”

Yancy and Doctor Amanda listened carefully to the younger rant. Eventually, he stopped, releasing a pent up sigh and wiping the tears from his eyes. 

“Healing is not linear,” the doctor murmured, rubbing his back. “You will have ups and downs, but you will just have to keep getting back up again. Your soulmate is waiting for you, Raleigh Becket. So, don’t give up. If you give up on yourself, you’re giving up on them.”

Raleigh thought of the intricate design on his back. Maybe. Just maybe.

***

“-Pilots Yancy Becket and Raleigh Becket are reportedly deceased after killing the Category 3 Kaiju: Knifehead,” the man on the TV announced. Chuck froze. 

“What?” he shouted, rushing to rewind the news. It repeated the same phrase. 

Chuck Hansen sat back in disbelief. All of those years idolizing and loving the Beckets, and they were both dead. Dead. 

Suddenly, his phone started to buzz. It was his father. 

“Herc,” the Alpha growled. “I really don’t want to talk right now.”

“Chuck,” the older man sounded exhausted through the speaker. “The news is wrong. The Beckets aren’t dead. They’re both in comas.”

Chuck hung up on his father, throwing his phone across the room. 

He hated the Beckets. He hated Raleigh Becket. 

***

“Shit!” one of the yellow-jacket men shouted when the gutter failed to hold all of the melted snow and rain that was pouring down from the sky in thick sheets. Raleigh flinched as several pounds of water fell on his head. Luckily, he had on a hard hat, but his clothes became completely soaked. 

“Raleigh!” Steve cried, running over. “Are you okay? That looked like it hurt.”

“I’m fine,” the blond rubbed at his sore neck. Upon feeling the weird texture on his fingers, Raleigh stopped all he was doing. 

That was his scent patch. His scent patch just decayed in a district full of Alphas. Lots of horny Alphas. He was an Omega. Yancy told him never to let his scent out around the people here. It was too dangerous. 

“You smell,” Steve leaned in closer, eyes fluttering shut. “Good.”

Raleigh backed up into the wall, beginning to curl around his left arm in an attempt to protect his left shoulder.

“You’re coming home with me,” Steve’s eyes were red. It was an ugly shade of red, nothing like the ruby red of Yancy’s eyes. Raleigh felt his heart clench in his chest.

“No, thanks,” he croaked. 

Raleigh could feel the panic and terror leak into his quickly exposed scent. Even he could smell the odor of burning caramel. The blond made to run, but Steve snatched his left arm. 

“Come on, Raleigh,” Steve pleaded, grip tightening on the younger’s arm. Raleigh hated the predatory look in the other’s eyes. 

“I can’t,” Raleigh tried to push the man away. He couldn’t stay here. He was in danger. “I said no!”

“You’re not in the right state of mind to be saying that,” Steve growled, pulling the Omega closer with a leer. Raleigh’s mind deleted every memory of the man being kind and caring to his employees. Now the man named Steve was a monster. 

“Get away from me!” Raleigh screamed, allowing his distressed and defensive inner Omega to take charge. It lengthened his nails and prompted him to attack the offender. Steve’s arm was ripped apart, straight to the bone, forcing the man to release Raleigh. The blond took his opening and ran as fast as he could. 

“I’m going to die,” he whispered to himself, pushing himself to run harder as many Alphas began to chase the first Omega some of them had seen in years. Speed was all Raleigh had. 

***

Chuck scowled as Raleigh Becket of all people was chumming up with his old man and Mako. Even Max was interested in him. The seppo was googling and drooling over his Jaeger. 

So what if this guy was a legend all of those years ago? He wouldn’t last a day against Chuck. 

***

“This is my son,” Herc spoke. “And my co-pilot, Chuck.”

Chuck refused to look up, eating more of his food while his father helplessly tried to make the younger Alpha show courtesy to the Becket in front of him.

“Chuck!” 

“What?” Chuck snapped, finally looking up at the frankly beautiful Omega in front of him. Raleigh was still as blue-eyed as ever, but after several years away from the media while he was finishing growing into his frame, the blond had filled out perfectly. Chuck couldn’t help but take in the broad shoulders, small waist, curvy hips that still appeared narrow in comparison to his shoulders, and defined arms and legs. Gorgeous. 

Although, the man was underweight. By a lot. 

Scoffing, Chuck was startled by the loud growl that came from behind the blond. There stood Yancy Becket in all of his glory, still as handsome as ever, but definitely weaker. 

“Yance!” the younger Becket cried, eyes going wide. He turned to his brother and whisper-shouted, “I’m brain dead enough as it is! Stop trying to kill me!”

“Sorry,” Yancy mumbled to his brother, giving Chuck a fierce glare. 

“Just sit down, please,” Raleigh pleaded, pulling down his brother, their limbs entangled like an octopus’s legs. Chuck couldn’t help the second scoff that came out of his mouth. No wonder the two were single still. They were wrapped around each other like they were something. 

“So,” Chuck sneered, turning his attention to the younger while ignoring the looks from his father. “Where’ve you been all these years? Doin’ something pretty important I reckon.”

Chuck didn’t miss Yancy’s arm tensing. 

The Omega dutifully ate another bite of his French Toast and swallowed it before giving Chuck an odd look. It was a cross between “shit, he’s hot,” and “I want to punch his lights out.” The ginger loved hated it.

“I was in construction,” Raleigh answered, never breaking eye contact.  

Chuck held back a rude face.

“Really?” he began, as sarcastic as he could muster. “I mean, that’s really really useful. So if we get into a problem, you’ll just build your way out of it? Eh, Ray?”

“It’s Raleigh,” the older blond growled out. Ooo. Chuck hit a nerve. 

“Lookie here Rahleigh,” Chuck smirked. “I don’t want you two cripples on my bomb run, ya hear? Especially if the fossil that is my co-pilot is here too. So just do yourselves a favor and get packing. ‘Cause if you two hold me back, I’m gonna drop ya like a sack of Kaiju shit.”

And with that, leaving the brothers flabbergasted and his father upset, Chuck put on his hat and called for Max. 

Stupid Beckets. Stupid Omegas. Stupid Raleigh. 

***

All at once, every memory they had ever experienced drifted between them at impossible speeds. Drifting with Chuck was so different from Drifting with Mako or Yancy. Raleigh felt deja vu when he experienced the new memories. Like he had been there at the exact moment, but had forgotten. 

“Holy shit,” Tendo spoke into the comms, clearly on accident, as Chuck and Raleigh steadied themselves after connecting. 

Their soulbond sang and felt warm. Not hot, but pleasantly warm, like a hug. 

“So,” Raleigh spoke aloud, subtly glancing at the ginger 

“Shuddap,” the other grumbled, clearly embarrassed about his memories, some not entirely appropriate. 

“Are you lovebirds ready to go or not?” Yancy’s voice snarked in their ears. 

“As we’ll ever be,” they responded in unison, hearts beating as one, souls united, and minds linked. 

It was time.

Chapter Text

Surprisingly, Raleigh and Chuck did not talk while Gipsy was being transported to the bay. Instead, they both familiarized themselves with her new features, which included a sword. Although Chuck had never piloted Gipsy Danger before, his shared memories with Raleigh made them think and move as one person. That was true Drift Compatibility. 

“One minute out,” Chuck ground out, worried about his father and Mako. Striker was a sitting duck without his electrical systems online. 

“How are you two hanging in there?” Tendo asked over the comms. 

“Good,” Raleigh answered, mentally reaching for Chuck’s hand. If they couldn’t stop the Kaiju, then all of their friends would die and the monsters would run rampant. They were the last line of defense. 

With the flick of a switch, Chuck and Raleigh were able to see what was going on around them using the special technology within Gipsy’s Conn Pod. Raleigh had no idea how it worked exactly, and it seemed that Chuck didn’t have a clue either. Both of them spent more of their time working on the rest of their Jaegers. 

“Shit,” Chuck snarled upon seeing Striker standing limp in front of the Kaiju codenamed Leatherback. “They’re sitting ducks out there.”

“ Relax, ” Raleigh thought, surprised when Chuck seemed to understand his thoughts, the other instantly losing the tension strung across his shoulders. “ We will save them. We will . ”

“Prepare for drop,” Marshall Pentecost’s voice sounded in their ears. It was time. 

Leatherback roared loudly, darts of red flying through the air near its eyes. In that moment, the techs in the Jumphawks decided to release Gipsy, sending the massive Jaeger plummeting down to the ocean. Chuck, unused to such a heavy Jaeger, followed Raleigh’s moves closely, making sure that he unlocked his joints for impact. 

Once their feet hit the ocean floor, Raleigh let out a scream of rage. He hated Kaiju. They were such heartless monsters. As one, the men and machine pushed forwards, running to the gruesome and rather ugly Kaiju that had turned to face them, noticing Gipsy’s bright lights. 

“Let’s do this!” Raleigh yelled, voice becoming hoarse. Beside him, Chuck was a constant pillar of strength. Now, Leatherback angrily hit the sea floor, sending water flying. A ways away, the JumpHawks were picking up the Conn Pods of Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon. Mako and Herc still stood atop Striker, unarmored and weaponless. Raleigh could feel Chuck’s terror as strongly as his own. 

“I’m not going to lose my father,” Chuck spoke quietly. Gipsy circled the Kaiju, the waves around them spiraling dangerously. 

“We are not going to lose anyone,” Raleigh continued, readying Gipsy’s right arm for a punch. 

When the first punch was thrown, Chuck let out a snarl. Leatherback roared and beat its chest, moving to grab Gipsy’s Conn Pod with its ginormous hands. 

“This old thing is so slow!” Chuck yelled, making Raleigh snort. 

“Well, someone is spoiled!” Raleigh retorted, trying to hide his laugh. Beneath him, Gipsy hummed louder, letting them know that her plasma cannons were very much operational. But, it was that moment of distraction that cost them dearly. 

Suddenly, Leatherback wrapped its arms around Gipsy’s torso, attempting to squeeze them to death. Both he and Chuck let out strangled cries as their circuitry suits shocked them. Unable to properly kill them, the Kaiju lifted the heavy machine over its head - something that made Raleigh instantly nervous - and threw them several miles away. Stomachs jumping to their throats, the soulmates struggled to gain control over Gipsy’s limbs as they flew haphazardly through the air. 

“This one is strong,” they spoke in unison, bracing for impact. Luckily, several hundred shipping containers broke their fall. It hurt no less, however. 

“Boys!” Tendo’s voice cried out. “What’s going on?”

“We’re fine!” the two groaned once they got Gipsy back on her feet. Several warnings were blaring, but Chuck went to shut them off. They had to finish the fight first.  

Leatherback roared loudly, thumping its large fists on the ground. The hideous monster had followed them to the shipping docks. Gritting his teeth, Raleigh looked around at their surroundings. There had to be something that they could use to beat this thing.

“Oh,” he smirked. Chuck, catching on quickly, let out a maniacal cackle and joined him in picking up handfuls of shipping containers. 

Once the Kaiju was in range, they started swinging. Leatherback swiped at them, going for critical damage near their torso. Unfortunately for the monster, it left an opening for Gipsy. Slamming their hands together, the pilots crushed the shipping containers against Leatherback’s head, discombobulating the Kaiju temporarily. 

“YEAH!” Chuck screamed. Raleigh couldn’t keep his smile away. They had landed a good hit. They had a chance.

“Hold on,” Chuck’s voice immediately changed tone. Raleigh braced his arm, preparing to shield Chuck’s side of the Conn Pod from an attack when Leatherback angrily whipped its arms around, sending Gipsy flying again. 

“Steady!” Raleigh choked out as they fought to keep the Jaeger upright. The sounds of steel grinding together made its way to the Conn Pod, grating on their ears. 

Glancing at the back view technology, Raleigh gulped as he noted how close they were to the edge of the shipping dock. The ocean depth dropped significantly in that spot. Chuck mentally nuzzled him, a gesture meant to center them both.

“Holy Shit,” Chuck ground out, seeing Leatherback running at them. 

“Holy Shit, indeed,” Raleigh echoed. Gipsy rumbled around him, fondly reminding him of a certain weapon. “Oh, yeah. Sorry girl.”

Chuck powered up his plasma cannon, awe carried through the Drift. 

“She’s not so bad, is she?” Raleigh snickered. Once the clip was ready, the Australian let loose a shot, aimed straight for Leatherback’s chest. 

“Not at all,” the ginger’s voice was smug with pride. “I could get used to this.”

The Kaiju in front of them roared, grabbing their ankles and tossing them with the last bit of its strength. Now well-accustomed to being thrown around, the duo righted Gipsy quickly. Leatherback fell to the ground with a ground-shaking thud. 

“I think it's dead,” Raleigh noted aloud. 

“Hmm,” Chuck kissed his teeth. “We better check for a pulse.” 

And then the man emptied the rest of the plasma cannon’s shots into the hideous beast, causing the torso cavity to erupt into flames as the plasma and elements in the Kaiju’s blood reacted violently. Something in the blond warmed comfortably. 

“Man,” Raleigh sighed dreamily. “I love you.”

Chuck froze up beside him, whipping his head around to stare at the older. “I-”

Freezing as well, Raleigh cleared his throat and gestured towards the screens in front of them. “Otachi must be over there.”

“Follow the fire?” the ginger asked, voice still shy. 

“Follow the fire.” 

So, they started making their way towards the other nuisance. Gipsy excitedly humming around them. 

Chapter Text

Ironically, following the fire was not as easy as it sounded. From a distance, the flames looked like they hadn’t spread across the city. But, as Gipsy neared the destroyed buildings, Chuck and Raleigh winced as they took in the apocalyptic scene. Kaiju Shelters were destroyed, small shops and streetside vendors smashed, and Raleigh knew that the pavement was streaked with red. 

If Leatherback was terrible, then Otachi was a demon. 

Extremely wary of the silence, they attempted to walk through the city without causing more damage. Shipping boat in hand, the large Jaeger dragged the hunk of steel behind them while they overstepped bridges. 

“It’s too quiet,” Chuck whispered. 

“Our scanners aren’t picking anything up,” Raleigh noted, tapping the side of the small machine gently. Gipsy’s humming was quieter than normal. She was nervous. 

“We’re being hunted,” Raleigh murmured, the man beside him tensing. 

The ground rumbled slightly. Solidifying his resolve, Raleigh sent a wave of determination over to Chuck. They would finish this. Otachi was no more of a nuisance for them to destroy. 

“There it is,” they growled in unison, swinging the shipping boat around so that they could use it as a bat. Otachi was an ugly, lizard-like Kaiju. Leatherback was more like a Gorilla, and it acted as such, but Otachi held more of a sneaky appeal. 

All at once, the monster rushed them, wanting to land a lethal hit. Chuck led the motion of bashing in the Kaiju’s skull with a heavy swing. During the swing, Raleigh watched helplessly as Otachi’s throat expanded. Chuck, feeling his sudden panic, had just enough time to move in tandem with the blond, both of them wrenching their left shoulders back so that the burst of blue liquid wouldn’t land on Gipsy’s huge form. In horror, Raleigh saw the building behind them disintegrate where the liquid landed. Acid. 

“We have to get rid of that, or else we’ll die,” Chuck grunted as Gipsy was hit. Nodding, Raleigh swung the shipping boat once more to knock the Kaiju backwards. 

“Shit!” Chuck screamed when Otachi’s throat began to expand again. 

Raleigh’s heart dropped. The ghost of Yancy’s screams echoed in his ears as his body froze up. Chuck was going to die. His soulmate was going to die. It was going to be Raleigh’s fault. He was such a bad pilot. Such a bad person. Such a bad soulmate. Such a bad Omega.  

“ Snap out of it! ” Chuck’s voice reverberated inside Raleigh’s head. “We have to finish this!”

“Grab its tongue,” Raleigh growled, sticking Gipsy’s arm down the throat of the ugly beast. Once they had a solid grip on the disgusting appendage, both pilots yanked as hard as they could, dropping the shipping boat so that their other hand could hold the writhing monster still. 

Just as they were about to get the tongue completely removed, Chuck screamed in pain as the Kaiju’s tail speared the left ribcage of Gipsy. Warnings blared loudly as several critical functions flickered on and off. Raleigh couldn’t help but panic. He used to never panic while fighting Kaiju before. That was before Knifehead. 

Am I broken? Raleigh wondered as he glanced around the Conn Pod for something to get Otachi off of his soulmate. Heart beat loud in his ear, the blond spotted the coolant release valve. Bingo. 

“Hold on, Chuck!” Raleigh rasped, fear making his voice weaker. He reached over and opened the coolant valve on the left side, forcing liquid nitrogen out of Gipsy’s chest, intended to cool her nuclear core, so that the tail of the Kaiju would freeze. Raleigh didn’t have the time to worry about his own problems. Millions of people were depending on him and Chuck. They needed to be there for Gipsy. She wouldn’t get trashed, not again. 

As soon as Otachi’s tail was frozen all the way, Chuck ripped his arm up, forcing the appendage to shatter due to its new brittleness. 

Gipsy roared underneath them in warning. Unable to react fast enough, the Kaiju screamed, high pitched and deafening, into the night sky as massive wings erupted from its back. 

“What the f-” Chuck began.

They screamed in unison as Otachi clamped its claws into their shoulders. 

“Bitch!” Raleigh yelled as his shoulder burned. Then, Otachi flew upwards, yanking Gipsy along for the ride. 

“I’m killing this thing if it's the last thing I do,” Chuck snarled. 

Then, they were smashed into a nearby building. Normally, pilots did not hit their heads on the back rigging of their Conn Pods. 

Alarms rang as both pilots slammed into the rigging, nearly taking themselves offline. Pain rippled through their bodies continually, making it almost impossible to tell when Otachi slammed them into another building. Almost. Raleigh screamed as his back lit up with electricity from the circuitry suit. Chuck was fairing no better beside him. 

Will we survive this? Raleigh found himself asking. Everything hurt so badly. Could they continue to fight? Where was this Kaiju taking them? 

Chuck’s vitals were sending alarms across the system. Raleigh, panicked, glanced over to see the other’s oxygen levels dropping at a catastrophic level. The Alpha wouldn’t survive this fight if Raleigh didn’t do something soon.

“Hold on, Chuck,” Raleigh wheezed, managing to hook his oxygen up to Chuck and take the broken tube. Sensors continued to scream in their ears. Something about a severe altitude increase. Great.

“Is this thing flying up to the stratosphere?” Chuck cried out incredulously, finally able to breathe. 

“I think so,” Raleigh moved to turn on the plasma cannon, but errors popped up.

“Shit,” the ginger snarled. “We’re too high.”

Raleigh suppressed a cough and tried to wrack his brain on what they could do. Any higher, and Gipsy wouldn’t be able to fight. Any higher, and they wouldn’t be able to stop their landing from being fatal.

“AGH!” Chuck yelped as Otachi tightened its grip on them. Raleigh winced as Chuck’s air supply went dangerously low again. They were up so high already that the thin air was dangerous on its own. What could he do to save Chuck? What could he do to free his Gipsy from the ugly clutches of this demon? 

“Chuck!” Raleigh roared, trying to catch his soulmate’s attention. “I’ve got this. Let’s burn this son of a bitch!”

And, with all of his remaining effort, Raleigh lunged forwards to engage Gipsy’s nuclear core, igniting it and sending out a harsh flare of heat. Anything in the way of that was dead. But, a Kaiju? It would take a little more, especially with the lack of oxygen.

Chuck’s oxygen was at a safer level for now, at least. 

“Sword,” Chuck said absentmindedly. Raleigh turned to look at the man, vision blacking out. 

“Use it,” Raleigh ground out, trying to hide the wheeze of his inhale. 

“You’re not doing well, Raleigh,” Chuck warned. “Let me switch oxygen with you.”

“Can’t,” Raleigh snapped. “Have to finish this first.”

Chuck, conflicting emotions battling behind his eyes, growled and punched the sword icon. They would have to take out Otachi the old fashioned way. 

Raleigh fought to keep his eyes open. All he needed to do was stay connected to Chuck. That way, he could follow the movements that the other lead. Gipsy would handle the rest for him. She was nice like that. 

In one solid swipe, Chuck sliced the Kaiju in half. Raleigh released a sigh of relief. 

The next thing he could remember was Chuck’s panicked yelping. 

“I switched our oxygen again,” the Australian explained, searching around the Conn Pod for a solution to some problem.

Gipsy’s hum turned high pitched and grating. She was in grave danger. Raleigh glanced at the readings and watched as their descent back to Earth was rapidly speeding up. Shit. What were they going to do?

“I can’t get through to Pentecost,” Chuck clicked on something again. “I can’t contact anyone, actually. Too much has been damaged.”

“We’ll have to reroute the power to our nuclear reactor,” Raleigh spoke, hearing Yancy and Mako’s voices in his head. 

Chuck immediately went to do that, the sudden change in their speed jerking Gipsy midair. They were going to survive this. They had to. 

Hearing the automated voice of Gipsy’s sensors count down the distance until they hit the ground was background noise to Chuck reaching for his hand. They gripped each other tightly and tried to right Gipsy in time for her to land on her feet. This was going to kill their joints, but they couldn’t damage Gipsy too much before Operation Pitfall. 

Sucking in a breath, Raleigh squeezed Chuck’s hand as they hit the ground. Hard.

Chapter Text

Raleigh wasn’t sure what happened after they landed. Sure, he and Chuck exchanged grateful and relieved glances, but after that? The blond was pretty sure that they both passed out. 

Black was all that Raleigh could see. Which made sense, really - your eyes are closed, so you don’t see anything but your eyelids. For some reason, Raleigh felt like the black he saw was something a little different. Not major, like he was blind, but like it was some sort of dream. 

“Raleigh?” Chuck’s accented voice echoed in his ear. “What is happening? I can’t see anything.”

“Chuck!” Raleigh called out, trying to reach for his soulmate’s comforting presence. This dream-state was so different from the real world. Normally, the blond could simply reach out with his hand and hold onto those around him, but here he had to cling to the remnants of the Drift so that Chuck would feel his mental hand reaching. “Where are you?”

“I’m right here.”

And then Raleigh felt their minds link. It wasn’t like touching hands. The blond gasped loudly when their hearts beat in synchronicity. When their every breath became one. Was this what true Drift Compatibility was like? 

“Raleigh!” Yancy’s voice was distant but no less urgent. Something was wrong. But Raleigh was enjoying his relaxing time with Chuck in the dream world. Was it worth leaving the peace to be with his brother?

Suddenly horrified, Raleigh ripped himself from the dream, dragging Chuck with him. Their eyes flew open and both sat up panting in their medical beds. How could Raleigh ever want to leave his own brother behind? What about Mako? How could he be so selfish to believe that there was a way to avoid the pain of living? How could he be so terrible to want Chuck to suffer in that state with him? 

“Rahleigh,” Chuck rasped, making the Omega flinch. 

Their eyes met. Blue on sea green. Time seemed to slow down as they took in each other’s battered states. Chuck’s face was bruised and bloody and he was hooked up to an oxygen mask. Both of the Alpha’s hands were wrapped in bandages and his right eye was slightly swollen. Alarmed, Raleigh realized that he could see himself - a side-effect from Drifting with Chuck - and saw the oxygen mask on his own face. The blond also had his hands wrapped and the sling was protecting his left arm. What happened to them?

“Good,” Doctor Amanda spoke as she entered the room. “You two have been out for a few hours now. Luckily nothing was broken, but you both lost a lot of oxygen.”

Doctor Amanda gave Raleigh a look. “And Raleigh? Your shoulder is fine, but I wanted you to be careful. It’ll hurt if you try to do anything too strenuous with it. Hopefully Chuck can help you out if you need anything.”

“I understand,” Raleigh tried to smile at the woman. She stared at him for a moment before turning away to check their vitals. 

Chuck’s eyes hadn’t left his face, so when Raleigh turned to give his soulmate a smile that was more of a grimace, he was taken aback with the intense gaze the ginger leveled at him. Raleigh’s spine tingled, heat pooling around his hips. 

“You two need a little bit more time with the oxygen masks,” Doctor Amanda interrupted… whatever they had going on. “Then, you’re free to leave. Your friends and family are all worried sick. I think Yancy hasn’t left the chair outside this room since you were brought in, Raleigh.”

“Thank you, Doc,” Raleigh cleared his throat awkwardly. The woman looked between her two patients and smirked before leaving the room. 

Gulping, Raleigh inhaled deeply as he glanced at Chuck again. The man’s expression had somehow turned even stormier, his scent going from a peaceful sea breeze to a rainy musk. The blond felt a flush start around his neck and ducked his head shyly. 

What was going on with him? Why was he acting so shy? He was Raleigh Becket! The scrappy brother. Not Raleigh Becket the timid brother. 

Chuck always managed to bring out the worst and the best in him. 

“Did you mean what you said?” Chuck spoke, voice low and eyes dark.

“Huh?” Raleigh blinked at his soulmate. What did he say? When?

Oh. Oh.

Raleigh’s face lit up like a stoplight. He really had said that. “Uhm.”

“Did you mean it!” Chuck demanded, voice growing harsh. Raleigh would’ve been upset if he had been anyone else, but after having been inside the other’s mind, he knew that the anger was a mask. Chuck was feeling insecure and scared. 

“Chuck Hansen,” Raleigh murmured. 

This was it. He had to be brave. They could die tomorrow, so the Omega wanted to put it all on the line. It was dangerous, but he didn’t have many chances left before Operation Pitfall. 

“I do love you,” Raleigh continued, holding his hand up when the other’s mouth opened. “I love you so much. I’ve loved you before I met you. I’ve loved you before you proved to me that you are a good person. I’ve loved you since I saw my soulmark. You are more than just my other half. You are mine.”

Blinking quickly, Raleigh turned away so that the other wouldn’t see the tears threatening to fall. His nose stung. 

The bed dipped near his hip, making the blond jump slightly. Chuck was looming over top of him, scent oh so alluring and eyes staring him down. Raleigh’s inner Omega started whining desperately. Then, their oxygen masks were off.

“Raleigh Becket,” Chuck’s voice rasped. Raleigh blushed again, but didn’t turn away. He didn’t think that he could afterall. Chuck’s massive form left little room for Raleigh to do much other than stare up at the man who was his soulmate. “I love you. I love you more than I could ever understand. I’ve never had to win someone’s affections before. I’ve never had to fight for them. I’ve never had to throw aside my insecurities just to see the one I love smile. I have loved you since the first time I saw you, all those years ago. From the moment I saw you as a kid, I knew that you were going to be the only one for me, regardless if you were my soulmate or not. You’ve always been mine, but I can finally tell you this: I want to be yours more than anything.”

Raleigh moved upwards until he could press his lips into Chuck’s cheek, hand sliding up to cup the other’s neck. Chuck growled playfully and leant down farther to catch the older’s lips in a searing kiss. There may not have been fireworks, but Raleigh definitely felt a full-body tingle. 

Chuck’s fingers gently wiped away his Omega’s tears, his own face having warm streaks. 

“I will love you until the day that I die,” Raleigh spoke with a broken voice. 

“But not even death will part us,” they spoke in unison, foreheads pressing together. 

No matter what happened, Raleigh and Chuck knew that they would be fine together. They were soulmates. They were equals. They were one.