Title: One Fine Morning
Author: Jusrecht
Ratings: PG-13
Pairings: Kira Yamato x Athrun Zala; Shinn Asuka x Cagalli Yula Athha
Disclaimer: Not mine. Really. Not even the title is mine.
Summary: Two couples, at a house, in the finest of mornings, learning how to appreciate what they already have.
Another morning had dawned.
Kira yawned as he pulled the thick drapes of deep-blue velvet aside, allowing the early morning sun to flood into his spacious bedroom. Beyond the large transparent glass window was the usual view of the estate at the break of dawn, green landscape emerging with its vivid eagerness amidst thin coat of diluting mist. Faint sound of sparrows singing their merry greeting of the day was almost lost behind the solid glass, leaving the privilege to domineeringly reign in the room to the constant drone of air conditioner.
He stood for a while there, basking himself in the new warmth to dwindle the coolness set loose in the room. Hazy violet eyes followed with a certain amount of curiosity, the nimble movement of a sparrow dancing merrily on a brittle branch just outside the window. The sugar maple still had its leaves painted in rich green, but one or two of them was already spurting shades of yellow on their five-edged surface. Kira felt himself smiling; autumn was approaching.
As he turned on his heels, his gaze fell on another figure that was still buried under thick mound of white coverlet. The only thing left for his eyes to see was dark-blue hair hiding the pale skin of an unblemished face underneath. Deciding against his mischievous self after a moment of internal debate, the brown-haired young man walked out of the bedroom to give the other some more peace.
Outside, the floor was cool under his bare feet as he passed through the still quiet house with the easiest pace and descended to the first level. His footfalls were faint, as if afraid to disrupt the ethereal tranquility, steadily heading to a slightly ajar door at the end of the corridor. The monotonous voice of a morning news reporter throbbed in the corridor from the room beyond.
Kira pushed the door and walked into the bright kitchen. A blonde-haired young woman was sitting behind the kitchen table, a leaf-patterned porcelain cup and a piece of French toast with marmalade set on the table beside morning newspaper which was spread widely covering her face. She looked up from her reading at his arrival, replying to his greeting shortly but warmly.
"You have coffee?" Kira asked, noticing her still steaming cup as he tried to stifle a yawn that was floating at the back of his throat.
"Yeah, on the counter," Cagalli replied without divesting her gaze from small lines on the local newspaper. "Where's Athrun?"
"Still asleep," he tossed the answer over his shoulder as he took his own mug from many others in the kitchen shelf. The coffee maker was still emitting thin vapor but Kira chose to push the 'reheating' button. He liked his coffee particularly warm in the morning, and so did Athrun.
While waiting for the coffee to boil, he sat on a stool behind the counter and watched the morning news with waning half-interest. On the past few weeks, there was not much diversity in the news but prophecies of another war. Conflicts and dissensions were but common occurrences in every part of the world and the issues of Coordinator-Natural were often brought up again into heated discussions. Many were eager to bring the rising quarrels to another level with blood-shedding violence involved and he could only imagine how hard the few politicians who wished for peace were struggling to abate the high temperature.
The small group of said politicians of course included Cagalli as one with the finest sense of peace. His gaze flickered to his sister, noticing for the first time that she had been fully clothed in her white uniform. Her rank was quickly eating her stamina nowadays, as the dark circles under her eyes might testify. Kira smiled ruefully at the sight – she had never been one with copious make-ups even though the woman she was now was somewhat more feminine than the brash valiant tomboy years ago. Cagalli would still be Cagalli no matter what.
"You're going so soon?" he inquired with a tinge of concern in his voice.
Cagalli closed the newspaper and offered it to him, responding casually, "An urgent meeting to attend. OMNI is seeking for our assistance to develop a new type of mobile suit, saying they only need a few advices. I know Shinn will laugh if he hears this."
Kira flipped the newspaper open but his violet eyes remained on his sister. "He didn't come home last night?"
"No," her answer was muffled by pieces of flaky toast in her mouth. Cagalli frowned and made an attempt to swallow them before continuing, "But he called, telling me that there was something wrong at the lab."
"They sure have an ample use of him there," he made a light remark which swiftly earned him a brief glare from his blond sibling. Kira almost laughed at himself for his own comment, for the obvious irony kept oh-so-subtly under. He himself and Athrun were not faring too well in the health department lately, at least in the one stating that each Coordinator must maintain at least a four-hour sleep everyday for a prime condition. It was not at all unusual that they would just slump on each other once they had reached their bedroom, falling into a dreamless slumber with no second thought of cleaning themselves first. Last night, however, was an extremely rare exception.
They needed it once in a while, Kira grinned at the thought and turned his attention to the newspaper. His grin vanished with each turning of a page. Long reports of conflicts were everywhere, their attention-gripping titles written in bold capital letters at the top of every article. It almost seemed like the press were enjoying this state of imminent chaos, but he hardly could blame them. Earning their living was all that they were trying to do; the same went for the news reporters on television.
Nothing was remotely interesting to read, he concluded while skimming the last page with what little still remained of his attention. Just in time, a small advertisement at the left end of the page paid his patience nicely. A world-renowned pianist from Austria would be playing a collection of Mozart and Liszt this Saturday night at Landsat Hall, it read, followed by the exact concert schedule, a short biography of the pianist, and a price list of the seats.
He made a mental note to notify his best friend later. Athrun had a strange obsession of piano, but not because he loved its music particularly. Kira still remembered the night his friend coming home from a recital he had attended alone, shaken to tears so bad that his safe journey home had been an absolute miracle. A special friend, a very special friend, he had said with a trembling voice when Kira had gently asked, and on that night, the former pilot of Freedom had finally learned why his best friend had gone as far as trying to kill him once in the previous war. The memory had compelled Athrun to come again and again to as many piano concerts as he could.
At the next recital, Kira had decided to escort him and the memory was still fresh, vivid in his mind, how he would reach for his longhaired friend's hand during the performance, clasping it gently when a tremor began to run along Athrun's body even so slightly. But he had not cried that night and after the concert, for the first time Athrun had let Kira drive his silver Porsche after kissing him passionately in the driver's seat.
With the number of recitals they had been going to, it was hard not to fall in love with the melodious quality of a piano in its most glorious splendor. Perhaps a ritual of remembrance still remained the foremost reason, but it was not to argue that the two pilots had slowly become a connoisseur of that particular stream of music. Kira quietly smiled. The pressure put on them these few days was repulsive and the concert would serve well as a welcome amendment, especially for his best friend.
"You have any conference or meeting to be present at on Saturday night?" he looked up to his sister who was in the middle of finishing her simple breakfast. The question might be strange to the ears of commons listeners but Cagalli was notorious for her extreme level of ups-and-doings. It was a fairly common happening if she had to attend formal meetings at the most unearthly times, weekends included.
"Not yet in my schedule," she muttered wryly, "but you can never say for sure during these times."
Kira slid down from the stool to fetch his share of coffee and said, "There will be a piano recital this Saturday night. I suggest four of us going and afterward we can have a quiet dinner at your favorite restaurant downtown. What do you think?"
"With candle light and stuff?" she smirked at him, golden eyes glinting brilliantly under the sun's gaze. "Sounds romantic, Brother. I'll see what I can do."
"Let it be our first double date then," he winked at her, and then turned his attention to the boiling coffee. The black liquid gave a strong pleasant aroma in the quiet morning air, definitely a better, safer wake-up call than cold water or a taunting kiss. The former might lead to a brawl and his suffering the worst of his best friend's mood for the rest of the day, while the latter might end with them spending more of their much-needed energy, which would be unwise. Sometimes, rousing Athrun from his sleep could be a real pain that Kira had to wonder how the other had managed to always be punctual during his service in ZAFT.
But, of course, it would be rather enjoyable every now and then.
"You're thinking about him again."
"Eh, what?" Kira paused in stirring his sugar-added coffee to meet her gaze across the counter. His sister was sporting a mischievous smirk on her face, which was nowhere near good at this point.
"Know what," she started again as her smirk marginally broadened, thoroughly enjoying her daybreak opportunity to tease him. "You always have that kind of lecherous grin every time you think about Athrun. It makes me think." Purposefully suspending the rest of her words, Cagalli felt her complacence swell when the little manipulation gave her the impact she desired. Considering how uncomfortable now her brother looked, it was a superb accomplishment.
Kira settled her a dry look while inwardly cursing his poor control in the morning. Of course, Athrun could be most distracting at times, but the subject in question was not even in the room. Perhaps Cagalli did have a point –not that he was going to admit it for the next seven hundred years.
"You're being too nosy lately, don't you think?"
"You are my twin, Kira," she graciously pointed out the obvious, still with an injurious dosage of amusement. "I don't have to be nosy to know things about you. But it does make me wonder sometimes."
At the exact moment, the kitchen door flung open and to Kira's relief, Shinn entered to save the day.
"Is that coffee I smell?" he asked upon entering, greeting them with a cheerful albeit tired smile. Immediately Kira moved to get another cup as the ebony-haired young man placed a kiss on Cagalli's cheek, dropping his bag to an empty chair nearby in process, and sagged to said chair afterwards. The bag fell to the floor with a soft thud but its owner seemed to have the slightest care for its well being for the moment.
"You look terrible," Kira remarked half in amusement and half in concern at Shinn's disheveled look which might convince everybody that the younger pilot had not slept for as good as a week. Dark circles were surrounding his eyes, striking against fairly pale skin, and his eyelids were hovering heavily above red irises, itching to just shut and forget about anything else outside.
Shinn made a face at him. "You have no idea. They insisted to finish every single simulation with Impulse and there goes my night sleep. I don't know why, but they seemed quite anxious to finish the test as soon as possible."
At this trivial piece of information, Cagalli shared a knowing glance with her twin from the corner of her eyes. It reminded them to the conversation they had just had minutes ago and furthermore added another point to be written on their growing list of war's omens. But Shinn didn't need to know about it, she thought silently, at least not with his current condition since it would serve only too well as a hard blow. She tried to give him a calm, solemn look instead, and declared starkly, "At least, it's sure a relief to see that you could still drive home without inflicting anymore damage to yourself."
"A blond worrywart decided to drive me," Shinn said flippantly, but one could hear the comforting note in his undertone pretty clearly. "Rey was afraid that I might crush my car and later force him to pick me up everyday until I get a new one."
"He had a point," Kira voted his opinion seriously and pushed a cup of coffee across the table towards the other young man, receiving a small 'thank you' in return.
"Not that I could do anything," Shinn shrugged. "I'm still their pilot and orders are orders."
A pregnant silence fell among them, unperturbed by the brilliance of the sun in its merriest state. Unconsciously Shinn shuddered. It felt almost like there was something somewhere at a corner, ominously waiting for a time to catch them off their guard. But probably it was only the matter of his close to dysfunctional brain, which was only able to do as much as registering Kira's mumble about taking something for Athrun as vague voices buried under the chaotic mess in his head. He shook his head and took a sip from his coffee, faintly gratified by its heavenly taste.
"Are you sure you're okay?" It was her voice that pulled him back into brighter, clearer reality. "You only slept for an hour the night before too."
He turned to face his girlfriend – subconsciously noticing that they were already left alone in the room – and tried to smile normally, but was not too much of a success judging from her still apprehensive stare. "Don't worry yourself too much, Cagalli. I'm fine, really. Well, I mean I will do just fine after getting myself a long nice sleep."
Another silence descended heavily as he cast an inquisitive look along her neat uniform and back to her face. His lips curved into a wistful smile when he reached forward to feel her golden tresses between his fingers, letting them slide and slip in the most inexplicable manner. "I was hoping that you didn't have to go anywhere today, but seems like I was wishing the impossible."
Cagalli raised twin fine arcs of eyebrows. "I thought you were tired."
"I'm okay," Shinn repeated with the stubbornness of a five year-old, which convinced Cagalli even more that it was the exact contrary which held the truth. But he seemed to barely realize what he had said, too lost in the labyrinth of his misty mind. When he suddenly fell forward, his forehead making a contact with her shoulder, it was not exactly uncalled-for but still completely unexpected. She was taken aback for a moment as he muttered softly with a sigh, "At times like these, I feel like suing the world for refusing to settle down no matter what we did. Why can't we just live peacefully somewhere at a quiet countryside, in a small wooden house, have a small ranch or a farm..."
"With a loyal dog, a few cows, several horses, nice but not meddlesome neighbors..." Cagalli found herself smiling at the thought.
"Yeah," he mumbled and she could feel him smiling as well.
"Not everybody has the privilege," her reply was soft, somewhat forlorn, but she wrapped her arm around his shoulders like she always did and he could feel some of his tensions draining out. Still, her next words – said in the gentlest of tones in the vein of a whisper – almost dissolved his last few barriers into fresh droplets of tears.
"But we're still here, Shinn. I think that is what matters for now."
/That is what matters./ True enough. Shinn felt the beginning of genuine warmth brewing within his stomach and for the first time on that day, he let his eyes to drift shut in contentment. At least in this house, with her, he did not want to think about war.
The static drone of the air-conditioner was still prominent next to the plain silence when Kira stepped into his bedroom. The person peacefully sleeping at the far end of his bed was still frozen to his spot, contented to stay under warm blanket. Given, Athrun was not a morning person and the fact actually settled just fine with Kira, but schedule obliged them to leave in an hour at most. He put the mug he had brought from downstairs on the nightstand and reached across the bed to give his friend a gentle nudge.
"Athrun."
One emerald eye flung into existence, lucid shades of mirth a confirmation that its owner had actually been awake for a while. Even with face half buried in the pillow, his little smile was noticeable. "I was wondering when you would come with my coffee."
"Get out of the bed, sleepyhead," Kira chided and pulled his own pillow only to throw it across their bed to his still slouching companion. "Yzak will kill us if we doesn't come on time."
"Just five more minutes," Athrun's voice was smooth with a vague breath of plea craftily toning it, but the issuer had not bothered to move. A pretty harmless but suggestive smile embellished the refined curve of his lips, dark blue strands fell framing his fair countenance in the most tempting way they could, and Kira tumbled into a trance at the picture of sweet seduction. The next thing he knew, he had settled himself on top of his best friend, running his tongue along the column of pale inviting neck.
A chuckle – blending only too well with faint traces of suppressed moans – left Athrun's throat as long fingers immersed themselves in the mass of his russet hair. "Quite eager, hmm?"
Kira straightened up his position and shot his friend under him a disapproving look, as best as he could in that situation. "You're going to bring yourself troubles these days with that attitude of yours."
"Those troubles, Kira, can only come from you," Athrun pointed out with a laugh, mischief dancing amidst bright glitters of jade in his eyes.
The brown-haired coordinator was in the verge of giving a vehement protest, but he decided against it and only mock-pouted at the other coordinator before leaning down to catch his lips. "You are an obnoxiously insufferable flirt, Athrun Zala."
Honestly, wasn't it what they wanted?
Athrun smiled against the pair of pliant lips pressed on his own and pulled his brown-haired friend to rest on his shoulders once they parted. Kira closed his eyes, enjoying a regular cadence of the calm rising and falling of his best friend's chest while his ears were appeased with the lack of unnecessary noises in the room. True, war was on their doorstep, ready to launch its assails anytime, but the world and its problem faded into insignificance when he was there with Athrun. At least for them, it was not the time of heart-breaking oaths, fierce hails to the red dawn, or dismal laments for their war. They already had too many of them.
Kira sighed, dropping a kiss to the side of Athrun's neck and burrowed his face even deeper.
It was, he reflected, the time to simply exist side by side with the one you loved, to feel that peace was actually there in your heart. Times like that could not be replaced.
After all, it was still a fine morning.
End
Notes: I find Shinn's obsession to condemn Cagalli for every little thing interesting, and hence the pairing above. It's experimental but I like them both, so it doesn't matter much for me. Comments, anyone?