Ship: iwaizumi/himuro, slight iwaoi Fandom: hq!! & knb Major Tags: death (references), violence (references) Other Tags: disasters, medical issues (references), hydrophobia, they BOTH get in the giant robot at different times Square: [Indeed there are infinite endings.] / Or perhaps once one begins / there are only endings. Word Count: 474 words
pacrim au i gave up on makoto shinkai
***
When he first arrives in Hong Kong, Iwaizumi is more starry-eyed than he'd like to admit these days, fresh out of the jaeger academy with Oikawa by his side. He used to think in terms of glory and victories despite all the news he used to watch; of he and Oikawa in that jaeger together, slaying kaiju as they rise from the sea.
But it doesn't end the way he used to dream about. He hates remembering it, but he always does: the Category III, salty Hong Kong seawater on his tongue, the slow squeezing of air from his lungs. He remembers spending days lying beside an Oikawa who wouldn't wake up in the infirmary, forced to relive the way Oikawa had shouted his name before everything turned black. Even more crushing is knowing that the way Oikawa's knee basically shattered from all the damage, meaning that he can't pilot a jaeger—and in turn, neither can Iwaizumi.
Drift compatibility is difficult to find in a world that's been reduced to so, so few.
So now he spends his days in the Shatterdome control room, commanding and guiding the very fighters that he used to be. The bitterness isn't planted as deep as Oikawa's, but it's there, sometimes.
He learns to move on, as most in the Shatterdome learn to do. There is so little time to gripe over insignificant things like that when their time is counting down, both from kaiju and the United Nations.
So the pilots replacing him and Oikawa are named Himuro Tatsuya and Alex Garcia, a strange pairing if he's ever seen one. Alex is fine, if not overly amicable sometimes (but that's how Americans are, he supposes); it's Himuro that gets under his skin, irritates him. A reckless boy, even worse than Oikawa was in his most desperate times; so desperate to prove himself that danger is secondary to glory, and the naivety is maddening. Iwaizumi didn't realize it until he was older, but living is so much harder in that jaeger than it is in combat simulations.
For whatever reason, Himuro likes to hang around him, and it softens Iwaizumi. It shouldn't, with the rate at which pilots return in body bags, if they come back at all; but he cannot help the way that exposure dulls his annoyance until it becomes exasperation and concern. He doesn't want Himuro to end up the same way that he's seen others or even himself, just because he wants something as trivial in this apocalypse like approval.
But Iwaizumi can't trust the way that Himuro fights even with Alex beside him. At least not yet. He thinks he wants to, with the way that Himuro laughs with him as he's checking Tacit Ronin, even greeting him when they pass each other in the hallways.
FILL: TEAM KAGEYAMA TOBIO/OIKAWA TOORU, C3, T.
Fandom: hq!! & knb
Major Tags: death (references), violence (references)
Other Tags: disasters, medical issues (references), hydrophobia, they BOTH get in the giant robot at different times
Square: [Indeed there are infinite endings.] / Or perhaps once one begins / there are only endings.
Word Count: 474 words
pacrim au i gave up on makoto shinkai
***
When he first arrives in Hong Kong, Iwaizumi is more starry-eyed than he'd like to admit these days, fresh out of the jaeger academy with Oikawa by his side. He used to think in terms of glory and victories despite all the news he used to watch; of he and Oikawa in that jaeger together, slaying kaiju as they rise from the sea.
But it doesn't end the way he used to dream about. He hates remembering it, but he always does: the Category III, salty Hong Kong seawater on his tongue, the slow squeezing of air from his lungs. He remembers spending days lying beside an Oikawa who wouldn't wake up in the infirmary, forced to relive the way Oikawa had shouted his name before everything turned black. Even more crushing is knowing that the way Oikawa's knee basically shattered from all the damage, meaning that he can't pilot a jaeger—and in turn, neither can Iwaizumi.
Drift compatibility is difficult to find in a world that's been reduced to so, so few.
So now he spends his days in the Shatterdome control room, commanding and guiding the very fighters that he used to be. The bitterness isn't planted as deep as Oikawa's, but it's there, sometimes.
He learns to move on, as most in the Shatterdome learn to do. There is so little time to gripe over insignificant things like that when their time is counting down, both from kaiju and the United Nations.
So the pilots replacing him and Oikawa are named Himuro Tatsuya and Alex Garcia, a strange pairing if he's ever seen one. Alex is fine, if not overly amicable sometimes (but that's how Americans are, he supposes); it's Himuro that gets under his skin, irritates him. A reckless boy, even worse than Oikawa was in his most desperate times; so desperate to prove himself that danger is secondary to glory, and the naivety is maddening. Iwaizumi didn't realize it until he was older, but living is so much harder in that jaeger than it is in combat simulations.
For whatever reason, Himuro likes to hang around him, and it softens Iwaizumi. It shouldn't, with the rate at which pilots return in body bags, if they come back at all; but he cannot help the way that exposure dulls his annoyance until it becomes exasperation and concern. He doesn't want Himuro to end up the same way that he's seen others or even himself, just because he wants something as trivial in this apocalypse like approval.
But Iwaizumi can't trust the way that Himuro fights even with Alex beside him. At least not yet. He thinks he wants to, with the way that Himuro laughs with him as he's checking Tacit Ronin, even greeting him when they pass each other in the hallways.
He really, thinks he wants to.