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Entertaining the Vajra

"chirp"

Alto attempted to quicken his pace.

"chirpchirp"

Shoulders hunched, hands in his pockets, he did not look behind him.

"chirpsqueak"

"chirp!!!"

"squea--"

"Will you leave me alone?" Alto cried as he spun around, looking down at the three young vajra larva that had been following him around for the last half hour.

"chirp!!!" one of them bounced around behind him.

"squeak"

"Grow up and fly away already," Alto grumbled before stalking off in the direction he'd already been heading. He'd filed the paperwork for a day off because he'd needed a day off - not a day dealing with Ranka or Sheryl or a small herd of vajra which either hadn't hatched when the rest of their kind had left the planet or had just been too young to take along.

"chirpchirp"

"squeak!!!"

Attempting to ignore them, Alto turned his gaze to the sky. Resources were still being heavily regulated and unless he was part of an assigned survey team, he didn't often get a chance to soar. But a day away was still nice, even if he was 'grounded'. A few weeks previous, he'd discovered a cliff beyond a patch of trees that had a spectacular view - a quiet, spectacular view.

"chirp"

"squeaksqueaksqueak!"

"chirchirp"

Even with a gaggle of vajra, the view would still be spectacular, Alto decided. He could watch the clouds until the sun set. In silence.

"chirp!!"

Mostly silence.

The sky vanished from view as Alto stepped from field to forest and as he walked, he found himself checking over his shoulder to make sure there were still three little vajra behind him, bouncing and slinking along. He blamed Ranka for that - Ranka and Ai-kun, who still slept at the end of her bed. At least Sheryl hadn't decided to keep an alien as a pet. Yet.

"squeak"

"chireee"

"I'm not going to wait up for any of you," Alto said flatly. Any thoughts he may have had about whether or not the vajra had any understanding of human language were scattered as all three young vajra shot by him and bounced happily for a few seconds. Alto sighed.

Almost as quickly as the forest began, it ended, leaving a smallish, grassy patch that continued just a bit farther to a rocky ledge. In a way, it wasn't terribly different than some of Frontier's islands - how they had been, at least. But everything stretching out in all directions was real, especially the sky.

As Alto stepped back into the sunshine, vajra on his heels, he froze. And frowned.

There, in the spot he couldn't help but think of as his, was a very familiar red variable fighter, mid-mode as a gerwalk and most definitely parked as opposed to resting.

"chirp"

"squeak!!!"

Brera was already regarding him coolly, though his lips turned up into a smile as the vajra skittered and bounced into the clearing.

"You found this spot too," Brera surmised.

"squeak"

"chirpchirp"

"Yeah," Alto replied, still frowning. Part of him was annoyed that Brera was ruining his spot, though he didn't really have anything against Brera. Part of him was annoyed that Brera was allowed to wander around in his variable fighter - or, more correctly, that no one could actually stop Brera from doing whatever he wanted. Aside from Ranka. And part of him wasn't really annoyed at all, because he knew that Brera's presence was simply coincidence and really, the lines of the red variable fighter weren't terrible to look at when painted against the sky. "I might've found it first."

It was Brera's turn to frown, as if Alto might be stupid enough to challenge him in hand-to-hand combat again.

"squeak"

There was a pause.

"I don't suppose these belong to you," Alto finally said as he gestured at the three vajra which were circling him again.

"No," Brera said. "But I do know what they're after." He took a couple of steps toward Alto.

"You do?" Alto didn't think Brera was still interlinked with the vajra. But if Brera claimed...

"chirp!!!"

"This," Brera said as he stopped in front of Alto and reached over Alto's shoulder to flick at Alto's long, blue ponytail.

"chirp!!!"

"squeak!"

"chireeee"

Sure enough, the vajra circled quickly behind Alto and bounced up and down.

"Hey!" Alto cried, trying to step back without stepping on one of the larva. Brera was much too close and staring into those inhuman eyes unnerved him. That and he didn't want to admit that Brera was right and likely had been without the help of a mental link.

"chirp!!"

"I didn't mean anything by it," Brera commented and he turned, walking back to his VF-27.

"squeak"

Alto frowned and began walking over towards the cliff. He supposed that he and Brera could share the space...

"chirpchirp"

One of the vajra darted in front of him and as he tried to avoid landing on it, Alto lost his balance. He tried to compensate but failed.

"squeak!!!"

Expecting to land face first on the ground, Alto braced himself. But instead of impact, he was caught in strong arms and pulled up. Brera.

"chirp?"

Brera merely managed a soft, amused sound.

"You can let go of me," Alto said a moment later. He was almost pressed up against Brera, which was weird and distracting. For some reason, he'd never thought of Brera as being 'warm', but there was a definite heat to Brera's body.

"You're holding on to me," Brera said calmly, attempting to raise his arms to demonstrate that Alto was still clinging to the fabric of Brera's flight suit.

"Oh." Alto gingerly released his grip on Brera and stepped back. He looked down for a moment. "Thanks."

"You should be more careful," Brera replied. Before Alto could say anything, he realized that Brera had knelt down and was speaking to the vajra, not to him.

Alto found himself smiling again as he watched Brera pet one of the larva. He'd never expected to ever see one of his former enemies petting another.

"squeak"

"chireeee!"

"What are you doing out here, anyway?" Alto asked as he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked skyward.

"Being," Brera replied.

"Being?"

"Instead of having Ranka drag me around or getting glared at by Ozma or have Bobby offer me fashion suggestions," Brera began. "Instead of being curiously poked at or getting chased around by your female classmates or having the entirety of the military and the re-grouped SMS touching that."

Alto glanced back to see Brera pointing at the VF-27. And Brera certainly had a point.

"So... I am out here simply being. You?" Brera asked. "Or should I assume it's the usual?"

Almost chuckling, Alto nodded before kneeling down beside Brera. He offered a hand to one of the vajra and it hopped onto his palm without a second thought.

"Peace, quiet and sky," Alto said.

"chirp??"

"Buy you don't even have..."

"Energy rations," Alto said as he crossed his legs beneath him and flopped back, setting the vajra on his chest. "But in a few months, everything will settle down. And then..."

The words stuck in Alto's throat as the blue sky above him was replaced by blond hair and vibrant purple-red eyes.

"squeak"

"Come," Brera said with an almost scary smile. "Fly with me."

"chirp"

He rocked back onto his heels and stood, shooing the vajra away. "I meant Alto, not you three. You'll be able to fly on your own soon."

Alto stayed on the ground, sucking in air for a moment longer than he should have. He knew that the VF-27 wasn't designed for humans - it was firmly built for cyborgs. A human couldn't pilot it. But Ranka had ridden in it, so it was obviously safe for human passengers... At least if piloted carefully.

"Yes," Alto said as he got to his feet to follow Brera over to the VF-27. He couldn't help watching Brera move. Even if it was a result of countless implants, Brera was graceful in his movement. He could move as fast as his fighter could and he made walking in high heeled boots look effortless.

"chirpchirp"

"We'll be back," Alto said flatly before wondering why he was even bothering. He tried not to stare after Brera and instead take in the VF-27. Brera managed to keep it in perfect repair, even after all the damage it took. But considering the connection Brera had with it couldn't be replicated easily by Frontier, Alto supposed there weren't other options. A VF-171 or even a VF-25 wouldn't be able to keep up with Brera.

"Alto..." He hadn't even realized that Brera had already climbed up and was offering him a hand. Taking Brera's hand, even for a few seconds while he jumped up and into the second seat, felt exceptionally strange. He wasn't afraid - Brera wouldn't hurt him.

Ranka had tried to explain it once, in between making paper airplanes for Ai-kun to catch and bring back, what riding in Brera's variable fighter was like. 'Like riding in the universe', she had said.

He'd barely had a chance to fasten the safety harness and get his helmet on when Brera took off, finishing the conversion to fighter as the blasted over the edge of the cliff and off over canyons, trees and beautiful blue water. Alto knew these things because he could see them. He could... see them.

"Breathe," Brera said as they began to curve and also climb higher towards the clouds.

Alto wanted to reply that he had, indeed, been breathing. But he hadn't. He blinked a couple of times, because he'd forgotten to do that, too. And then he saw Brera, almost lazily piloting. He couldn't even begin to imagine how Brera felt - system were patched straight into his mind. He probably saw so many more things. Radar, heat sensors, everything...

They climbed up into a bank of clouds and Alto wanted to reach out and touch them even though he knew deep down somewhere that he'd only hit his hand on the side of the craft. And then they popped out into clear sky in every direction. The clouds beneath hid the immediate ground from sight but otherwise, the view was perfect. Alto could see for miles.

"Well?" There was a playful tone in Brera's voice, something else Ranka had hinted at once.

"Beautiful," Alto managed. The only thing better would be controlling the VF-27 himself, but that was wholly impossible.

"Heh." That was all the warning Alto got before they dove. Clouds screamed past and the ground suddenly appeared, rushing up to meet them. Brera pulled up just before a lake, slipping back to gerwalk mode to almost dance along the surface before blasting away again as a fighter, up and into the cloud cover.

"Breathe," Brera reminded him.

Alto realized that Brera was monitoring his vital signs - he'd have to, of course, in order to stay within the limits of a normal human body. He took a couple of deep breaths. Now that he could feel his adrenaline rush kicking in, he wanted to move.

"I'm perfectly fine," Alto said. He was an experienced pilot, after all. There was no reason he should feel so rattled inside of Brera's VF-27. Brera glanced back and smiled.

"I'd offer you a turn, but it doesn't work that way," he said. Alto wondered if he was glowing as vibrantly as Brera was.

"I know," Alto replied. He didn't know what else to say.

"If it did, what would you do?" Brera questioned. They pulled above the cloud bank again.

"Chase the sunset," Alto admitted. A real sunset, painting the sky in oranges and also the strange color of Brera's eyes.

Brera pulled the fighter to lilt slightly left and then leveled back out.

"Not yet," he said, apparently having figured out exactly what it would take to do as Alto wished. "Unless you'd like your insides liquefied."

"You don't have to be so pleasant about it," Alto replied, even though he knew Brera was right.

"My sister wouldn't be happy if anything happened to you," Brera continued. "And neither would I."

"Well... huh?" Alto paused with his mouth open. "What?"

"You are a skilled pilot, after all. Completely reckless, but you're a valuable ally nonetheless." Brera plunged the fighter down through the clouds and though it was much more controlled than the previous dive, it still made Alto suck in his breath and save his retort.

Brera converted the VF-27 and set it down almost too gently, perfectly back into the spot where it had been. Alto caught a quick glimpse of the three vajra on the ground before Brera began turning systems off. And then he was simply in a passenger seat, harness digging into his shoulders and helmet far too hot and heavy.

"I received a fairly impolite message requesting we file flight plans next time," Brera admitted as he jumped down to the ground.

"You did?" Alto questioned before realizing that Brera meant in his head. Because he could do that. He followed Brera quickly and as soon as he had his feet on the ground, the larva had him surrounded.

"squeak"

"chirp"

"squeeeee!!"

"Don't worry, I didn't mention you were with me," Brera continued. "I said that I was testing a vacuum hose repair that required high speed."

"And the military bought that?" Alto chuckled.

"SMS did," Brera corrected. He smirked and pushed Alto two steps back until Alto was pinned against a leg of the VF-27.

"What are you doing?" Alto stammered, trying to push Brera away but failing as the cyborg reached around behind Alto's head, getting a firm grasp with one hand while using the other hand to quickly yank on Alto's ponytail. He shivered as he felt Brera's breath and tried not to look into those inhuman eyes.

"This," Brera replied as he suddenly stepped back. The red cord from Alto's hair dangled in one hand and Alto felt his hair fall over his shoulders.

"Hey..."

"chirpchirp"

Brera dangled the cord down for the vajra to jump up and grab at.

"squeak!!!"

"chireeee!"

"You could have just asked," Alto mumbled. He reached up to smooth his hair a bit. As much as he didn't particularly like the vajra in general, watching the three larva be so easily entertained was... Brera glanced over at him and he smiled before immediately looking downward.

"I could have," Brera said. He tugged the cord up with one of the vajra still clinging to it.

"chirp!!"

"It was more interesting not to."

Frowning, Alto opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a vajra bouncing off his shin as it let go of the cord. He stared at it as it shook its head and hopped back over to Brera and he couldn't help wondering how his day had gotten so downright ridiculous.

He huffed and sat down, cross-legged, watching Brera tease the vajra with his hair cord for a few minutes, enjoying the relative silence.

"squeee!"

"chirpchirp"

"You don't just almost kiss people," Alto finally said.

"I didn't almost kiss you," Brera replied, his tone even.

Before Alto could reply, he was knocked back onto the grass, his hair spread around him as Brera loomed over him, one hand on either side of Alto's head. Brera leaned down far enough that Alto could feel his hair on his cheeks. And then he dipped lower, mouth right along side one of Alto's ears.

"This is more like almost kissing you," Brera whispered.

"Then just do it and get it over with," Alto hissed back before realizing that Brera might just do it.

"chirp??"

"chireee!"

Just as Alto let himself be distracted by the vajra's squeaking, Brera shifted and kissed him. He froze at first, his eyes wide open as he felt Brera's tongue lick along his lips. Gasping, he parted his lips before realizing that would be seen as an invitation. Squeezing his eyes closed, Alto was surprised at how warm Brera was - not just his mouth, but all of him as he pressed down more and let his body come into contact with Alto's. It felt good - strangely good even though he was quite sick of being grabbed and kissed. Without really realizing it at first, he began to kiss Brera back, which made everything feel even better as Brera somehow managed to untangle and then re-tangle their legs into a much more interesting position.

Sensation overrode the part of his brain that insisted that there was something wrong with kissing Brera and enjoying it, especially since normally he squirmed away from the affection thrown at him.

"squeak!!!"

One of the vajra tugged at his hair, squeaking at incredibly close range. Brera pulled back to sit up on his legs, his face showing surprise as Alto opened his eyes and reached over to grab the little green creature who was tugging on his hair.

"I think they think we're playing without them," Brera said, smiling as Alto shoved the vajra larva away.

"chiree"

"We're not playing," Alto grumbled as he tried to pull himself out from under Brera. "What did you do that for anyway?"

"You told me to," Brera replied as he moved off to the side and stroked the head of one of the inquisitive vajra.

"squeak"

"I didn't think you'd do it!" Alto exclaimed as he sat up.

Brera shrugged. "You seemed to enjoy it."

"That's not the point."

"chirp??"

"It isn't?" Brera questioned. He reached over to grab one end of the Alto's red cord and a second later, two of the vajra grabbed onto the other end, fighting in the planet's most one-sided game of tug-o-war. "I thought kissing a person and enjoying it went together."

"Stop making fun of me." Alto clenched his fists and the only thing keeping him from going any farther was the very clear knowledge that there wasn't a thing he could do that could possibly hurt Brera.

"I'm not." Brera's voice was a little softer and he stared straight at Alto, which made Alto a little nervous and the vajra a little jealous since yet again, the objects of their entertainment were not currently entertaining them.

"squeak"

"chiree?"

"squeaksqueak"

Alto didn't fight it at all when Brera kissed him again. Instead he reached to cling on to the skintight fabric of Brera's flight suit and parted his lips. Brera wasn't being forceful, instead simply being and allowing for Alto to be a little more active than during the last kiss. Still, Alto hesitated when Brera slid a hand down his back. He almost wished it didn't feel so good.

"chirp"

"Nap time," Brera said to the vajra as he broke the kiss and pointed off to the shade under the VF-27. Alto didn't think it would work, but after apparently silently conferring with one another, all three larva slithered over to form a small pile beside one of the gerwalk's legs.

Alto tried to think of something to say, but there wasn't anything. He could only wait for Brera to turn those red-purple eyes back in his direction and direct him to lay down as well.

Finding himself staring up at the sky for a moment, Alto reached up...

"Second thoughts?" Brera asked before settling over Alto, warm where their bodies touched.

"No," Alto replied, fairly sure that it was the truth.

"Good," Brera said before leaning down, pausing perfectly so that Alto had to kiss him and wind fingers into blond hair to hold him there. Alto moaned when Brera shifted a leg to rub against the partial erection that Alto hadn't even really wanted to think about.

He moaned again when his shirt was pushed up and he felt Brera's hand on his stomach. A moment later he forgot he was supposed to be breathing and broke the kiss with a gasp, letting go of Brera for a moment to grab at the grass instead. Brera merely took it as a sign to move down to lick the outline of one of Alto's ears and then very gently bite the lobe, all while pushing Alto's shirt up a bit more.

"May I?" Brera whispered before simultaneously sliding his hand down from Alto's chest to rest at the button of Alto's cargo pants and nipping at Alto's neck.

There was really only one answer at that point, and Alto was fairly sure he managed to say 'yes' as Brera shifted a bit to get better access to Alto's body.

Alto opened his eyes for a second as Brera undid his pants and slipped a hand inside, but he squeezed them shut when Brera's hand circled around his erection. He moaned let Brera kiss him. Slowly, Brera started to stroke his cock and Alto arched into the touch. A moment later, he could feel Brera against him, equally aroused. Flurries of thoughts raced through Alto's head but were all canceled out by the loud, 'feels good' one. Alto managed to grasp a bit of Brera's hair again, and a bit of flight suit.

A few moments later, about when Brera had moved from his mouth to a particularly sensitive spot halfway between his ear and neck, Alto gasped and tried to warn Brera that he was going to come because damned if that wasn't one of the absolutely stupid things Michel had drilled into his mind - always let them know... The words came out more as a series of panting moans that apparently Brera knew the meaning of since he sped up his motions a bit until Alto choked out a gasp and came. Alto really hadn't expected it to feel any different than when he did it to himself, which was an obvious mistake - he clung to Brera until the pleasure subsided.

And then he was staring into those eyes again.

"You?" Alto managed. He wished he could turn off Michel's voice in his head, reminding him that it was always proper to reciprocate. As Alto reached down hesitantly, Brera shook his head.

"You don't have to," Brera said as he pulled his own hand from Alto's pants and wiped it on the grass.

"Want to," Alto insisted. He did want to, after all, even though as he ran his hand down Brera's stomach, he realized the main problem - Brera was wearing a full flight suit. He paused.

"Don't worry about it." Brera's voice was firm but not angry, and Alto finally nodded and pulled his hand away.

"Relax," Brera ordered a moment later as he lay back and pointed upwards.

Alto looked up at the clouds and nodded again, shifting a bit so that he was just barely touching Brera.

They lay there in silence until Alto thought to close his eyes, just for a minute...

When he opened them again, the sun was low in the sky and he felt an odd weight on his chest.

"chiree??"

Alto picked up the larva from his chest and set it down beside him. He moved to stretch and bumped into Brera, who had two vajra of his own curled together on his stomach. And then it hit him - everything he'd done with Brera from flying to...

Brera had his eyes open by the time Alto had fastened his pants.

"squeak!"

"chirpchirp"

"I can give you a ride back," Brera said as he set the two vajra beside the one Alto had displaced. "All of you."

"What am I supposed to do with them?" Alto asked as he reached for the red cord to put his hair back up into his usual high ponytail. He wasn't terribly sure what to do or say as far as other things were concerned, but the friendly larva were a safe topic.

"Give them to Sheryl," Brera suggested.

Alto chuckled and they both got to their feet.

"Come on," he said to the vajra, nodding in the direction of the VF-27. "We're going to find you a new home."

"chirp!!"

"squeak"

"Alto?"

"Hmm?"

The kiss that followed was the most surprising, because it managed to say more than any awkward, stilted conversation. It spoke of things understood and things which might just be beginning...

"chiree!"

"squeaksqueak"

...once they managed to find someone else to entertain the vajra.

Notes: (circa 2008) Why look, it's Too Much Research! I know that supposedly all the vajra left aside from Ai-kun, but certainly there had to a few unhatched or unable to fly. If a pop star like Ranka can keep one as a 'pet', certainly they can gain some acceptance? I'm sure a lot of people will want to kill them though... The VF-27 took a lot of thought, too, and re-watching episodes. Ranka seems to look through the sides of the variable fighter more than once, so I'm assuming the "immersive virtual reality cockpit" allows for the passenger to see most of what us viewers saw. The control schema is, however, a "brain-computer interface control system", so Brera is probably the only one on Frontier who can actually pilot it. (I'm a little concerned now about who can repair Brera. I wonder if he'd need to go to another colony for that.) Look! I'm thinking too hard about this! Oh, and apparently the VF-1x is the only variable fighter to actually be called 'Valkyrie'. The VF-25 (as piloted by Alto, Luca, Michel, and Ozma) is the 'Messiah' and the VF-27 doesn't have a second name. So we've been doing it wrong and I intend to keep doing it wrong outside of fic. I do realize that I've set up for at least a sequel if not more. DAMMIT. This was supposed to be a pwp... Also, I realize the vajra interjections were probably damned annoying, but they (and the wonky punctuation) need to be there. Trust me.
(2011 addendum - VF-27 'Lucifer')