The feeling that settles in Arakita's chest after a battle, a victory, is exhilarating, the combination of lingering adrenaline from a fight and a steady sense of calm, silence because it's over, they've won, they're safe.
There's relief, at escaping the danger unscathed; pride, at fighting and winning, at being successful; contentment, at being by Fukutomi's side, trusting and loving him so completely.
This is what it means to be one of the strongest teams of Jaeger pilots in the world, to have a successful kill rate, to have people admire and look to them as hope for a world that once didn't have any.
("I love you." Fukutomi had said it after they first drifted, after any space between them had become nonexistent, after any lines of unfamiliarity and their status as basically strangers had blurred and then completely bled together.
What's mine is yours; what's yours is mine,
Memories, thoughts, feelings. All of it.)
Arakita knows that he doesn't need to say the same words aloud—Fukutomi has seen everything, knows everything, knows every single piece of him; it's a sentiment that goes without saying, that exists between them both that they know as well as they know themselves, each other.
(The meaning is there, present, in subtle glances and brushes of their hands; in the gentle bump of their shoulders as they walk through the hallways of the Shatterdome; in the tangle of Fukutomi's fingers in Arakita's hair, his hand cupping Arakita's cheek, triumphant, happy, proud, because they've won, they're alive, victorious and together; in Arakita's smile, impossible to hold back, and in Fukutomi's own when they look at each other.)
This is what it's like to be part of something, to be half of a whole.
"I love you, Fuku-chan," Arakita says, still a little out of breath after their most recent battle, victory, together, the overwhelming feelings of triumph, happiness, and love rushing forward in his words and his satisfied grin.
And Arakita pulls him into a kiss, smiles when he feels Fukutomi's automatic response to pull him closer, to hold Arakita's face in his hands, similar to how he's held Arakita's heart for so long, even before they knew each other like this—before distance between them became nothing, before me and you became us.
"I love you too, Yasutomo." Fukutomi murmurs the words against Arakita's still upturned lips without any hesitation, as if it's the most natural feeling in the world—because it is—and like it belongs and always has. He gently bumps his forehead against Arakita's, smiles too.
This is what it means to have something to fight for, to have renewed and revitalized reason and purpose.
This is what it's like to feel both invincible and infinite, to experience brief flashes of immortality despite testing fate consistently when constantly throwing themselves into the dangerous and possibly deadly outcomes that can accompany battling kaiju. But moments like this, when Arakita feels stronger than anyone, when he feels like he can reach and achieve anything with Fukutomi by his side overpower that fear, make him feel like he's on top of the world instead and that nothing can touch him.
FILL: TEAM IWAIZUMI HAJIME/OIKAWA TOORU, T
No Major Content Warnings
Words: 531
The feeling that settles in Arakita's chest after a battle, a victory, is exhilarating, the combination of lingering adrenaline from a fight and a steady sense of calm, silence because it's over, they've won, they're safe.
There's relief, at escaping the danger unscathed; pride, at fighting and winning, at being successful; contentment, at being by Fukutomi's side, trusting and loving him so completely.
This is what it means to be one of the strongest teams of Jaeger pilots in the world, to have a successful kill rate, to have people admire and look to them as hope for a world that once didn't have any.
("I love you." Fukutomi had said it after they first drifted, after any space between them had become nonexistent, after any lines of unfamiliarity and their status as basically strangers had blurred and then completely bled together.
What's mine is yours; what's yours is mine,
Memories, thoughts, feelings. All of it.)
Arakita knows that he doesn't need to say the same words aloud—Fukutomi has seen everything, knows everything, knows every single piece of him; it's a sentiment that goes without saying, that exists between them both that they know as well as they know themselves, each other.
(The meaning is there, present, in subtle glances and brushes of their hands; in the gentle bump of their shoulders as they walk through the hallways of the Shatterdome; in the tangle of Fukutomi's fingers in Arakita's hair, his hand cupping Arakita's cheek, triumphant, happy, proud, because they've won, they're alive, victorious and together; in Arakita's smile, impossible to hold back, and in Fukutomi's own when they look at each other.)
This is what it's like to be part of something, to be half of a whole.
"I love you, Fuku-chan," Arakita says, still a little out of breath after their most recent battle, victory, together, the overwhelming feelings of triumph, happiness, and love rushing forward in his words and his satisfied grin.
And Arakita pulls him into a kiss, smiles when he feels Fukutomi's automatic response to pull him closer, to hold Arakita's face in his hands, similar to how he's held Arakita's heart for so long, even before they knew each other like this—before distance between them became nothing, before me and you became us.
"I love you too, Yasutomo." Fukutomi murmurs the words against Arakita's still upturned lips without any hesitation, as if it's the most natural feeling in the world—because it is—and like it belongs and always has. He gently bumps his forehead against Arakita's, smiles too.
This is what it means to have something to fight for, to have renewed and revitalized reason and purpose.
This is what it's like to feel both invincible and infinite, to experience brief flashes of immortality despite testing fate consistently when constantly throwing themselves into the dangerous and possibly deadly outcomes that can accompany battling kaiju. But moments like this, when Arakita feels stronger than anyone, when he feels like he can reach and achieve anything with Fukutomi by his side overpower that fear, make him feel like he's on top of the world instead and that nothing can touch him.
Maybe together they can be.
Maybe together they are.