ext_118080 ([identity profile] goodbyelover.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] writetomyheart2014-04-28 01:41 am

[Team 1] Tilted Axis

Because there are not enough Pacific Rim AUs and I'm also needy for ChanTao (there is not enough ChanTao and SuTao in the world, W H Y /whines). So there we go. 8D;; This is also part of the 'Rin is a Pumpkin and Should Not Write After Midnight' BUT WHATEVER. /o\

So basically this AU is in a Pacific Rim AU and basically Kris and Suho were both Jaeger pilots that were retired for Reasons and promoted due to their experience as pilots to create new methods on combating the kaiju. Suho piloted with Kyungsoo and Kris with Zitao and when they had to make the shuffle, a new piloting system (... still working on that) was created, so they decided to try and figure out how to work multiple drift partners and stuff like that, so they combined their two teams and paired everyone up with someone new (with stuff like baekchen and sexing but actually xiuhan and kaisoo become Things because R E A S O N S). Mostly I just wanted ChanTao having a slightly violent and difficult time learning how to drift with each other before falling into UST and then complicating that with Feelings, but I didn't have the time to write all that out right now, SO YEAH LIKE. HAVE A THING. THERE MIGHT BE MORE.



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Both of them whispered in the dark, their voices overlapping in a way that wasn’t quite perfectly in sync. Though the atmosphere was subdued, Zitao took slightly petty satisfaction in Chanyeol’s occasional stumble over the words (it was nice not being the one struggling with their second language for once).

Zitao’s eyes were closed, the candles burning a soft glow over his eyelids, but he didn’t need to open his eyes to know that Chanyeol was watching him intently.

“You’re supposed to relax.”

Snorting, Chanyeol replied, “It’s really fucking uncomfortable, okay.”

Sighing – this was not how meditation was supposed to go – Zitao opened his eyes, blinking Chanyeol’s face into focus. Large eyes narrowed and lips twisted in a grimace, Chanyeol didn’t much resemble his normally cheerful self, the one that knew how to work the entire crew of the Shatterdome to raucous laughter and mayhem.

That Chanyeol didn’t seem to be around much since Marshall Junmyeon and Marshall Yifan had chosen to pair Chanyeol with Zitao for the new experimental Jeager program, an attempt to merge vastly different fighting styles with new technology to their advantage within the Drift. While their teams had been expecting this, Zitao had thought to end up with Sehun or Jongin, not desperately trying to make Chanyeol understand that it wasn’t his fault he wasn’t Baekhyun.

(Not that it was all Chanyeol’s fault. Zitao hadn’t taken Yifan’s promotion gracefully and there was broken furniture and a very bloody nose from Chanyeol to prove that.)

“You’re sitting all wrong,” he said with another sigh, shifting around the rug to settle behind Chanyeol, placing a hand on his lower back before pulling at his shoulders, forcing Chanyeol to sit more upright. “Slouching just crowds your energy. Leave your chest open.”

“That sounds like a load of bullshit, you know,” Chanyeol scoffed, and Zitao resisted the urge to pound his own face or Chanyeol’s into the ground, though denying either was a struggle. He and Chanyeol had such low compatibility, he couldn’t fathom how they were going to manage a Drift.

“Stop fighting me on this, will you?” he said. Not for the first time, he wished that he was still training with Yifan, because Yifan had always meditated with him and he missed the way Yifan’s breath had matched his, to where they were almost Drifting in the candlelight, when Zitao knew he could trust Yifan with anything. “I’m just trying to show you how it works for me.”

It had been so easy with Yifan to feel that way.

“It’s not going to work like this,” Chanyeol said, shrugging his hands off. From behind, without being able to see his expression or the flicker of his eyes, Chanyeol felt impossibly far away.

At a loss of what else to do, Zitao wrapped his arms around Chanyeol’s chest, pressing himself against his back and using his body to mold Chanyeol into a more proper position, all the while ignoring Chanyeol’s muttered protest.

“Just let it sink through you,” he whispered, laying his cheek on Chanyeol’s shoulder and closing his eyes, trying not to feel hopeless with Chanyeol so stiff and hostile against him. “Like… Imagine snow falling through you. It starts at the top and drifts down. Just let yourself follow it down through your body. Down your head, down your neck, down your chest. Let it warm up and melt on the ground.” He kept his words soft, as soothing as possible, his breathing even and steady.

Bit by bit, he felt Chanyeol relax and it was quiet, calm, and warm. Zitao was dimly aware that their breathing was falling into sync and then, after some time had passed, he could feel Chanyeol’s heartbeat against his own.

They didn’t speak, silence wrapping around them for nearly twenty minutes and Zitao could feel the calm sink deep into his bones. He’d needed this, he realized. It had been far too long and he’d been running on far too much stress. Stress that Chanyeol had to be experiencing as well.

Eventually he had to pull away, surprised at how loathe he was to do it, gently nudging Chanyeol as he moved away from him.

“Holy shit,” Chanyeol said, sounding slightly dazed. He twisted around, staring at Zitao. It sent a jolt through him, because Chanyeol tended to be intense, but this wasn’t at all the sort of look he was used to. Chanyeol stared at him for a few moments, his expression so completely open and Zitao didn’t understand half of what he saw there and it was both terrifying and exhilarating, but for a moment…

“I’ve gotta go,” Chanyeol said abruptly, sounding more like himself as he looked away, hauling himself to his feet. “Baekhyun said he had some stuff to show me.”

The atmosphere fractured slightly, but Zitao willed himself to stay in the calm that he – that they - had created. “See you,” he said as Chanyeol left his quarters, leaving him alone with the company of the flickering candles.

… But for a moment, Zitao had felt that tug, that connection, and for the first time, he felt a glimmer of hope.

But there was also a knot of dread in his stomach when he found himself missing the ghost of Chanyeol’s heartbeat.


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TAG YOU'RE IT, [livejournal.com profile] jojibear! :D/