This fic was made for the 10whores challenge on LJ.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED/Destiny nor its characters. They belong to Yoshiyuki Tomino and Bandai.

Title: Toast

Pairing: Yzak x Dearka

Rating: PG for very mild language. No explicit content.

Sake: n. A Japanese liquor made from fermented rice.

"Hey Yzak, let's call it a day huh?" Wiping the sweat off his forehead with a grimy arm, Dearka collapsed against the garage wall "Damn thing won't start, I say leave it."

"Quiet. I got this nailed." Yzak narrowed his eyes in concentration and tightened the bolt til it stopped. He tossed the wrench to the floor and reconnected the fuel line to the tank.

Dearka watched this with tired amusement. "I did that already. Three times."

Ignoring him, Yzak turned the key and twisted the throttle. The motorcycle's roar cut through the thick silence of the garage. With a triumphant smirk on his face, he turned to Dearka. "Well? Close your mouth, Elthman. You look like the village idiot."

Dearka blinked. "Holy shit, you actually…" He shook his head slowly, pushing himself off the wall and walking over. "I must be dreaming." Squatting, he poked at the line Yzak connected. "I did this already," he repeated crossly. He stood and twisted the throttle, sending the bike into a screech.

The grin spread over Dearka's face like melted butter and he whooped, pumping his fist in the air.

"Unbeliever." Yzak's eyes shone in gloat. He wiped his hands on an oil-stained rag. "I told you I got it nailed."

Dearka clapped his best friend on the back. "Don't blame me. How would I know you're good at bikes eh?"

Yzak arched an eyebrow. "Mobile suits, bikes - there's hardly any difference."

Dearka laughed. "Oh, Lord Yzak Jule, the mechanical prodigy! Look at you, all greasy and dirty." He affectionately rubbed a black smear off Yzak's forehead. The ill-tempered boy swatted the hand away.

"Stop. You're rubbing more grease on me."

"The black of which contrasts quite nicely with your silver hair and pallor, monsieur." He walked towards the open garage door before Yzak could hit him. "C'mon, let's get cleaned up."

Yzak sat on the edge of Dearka's bed, drying his hair with a towel while watching Dearka rummage through his chest of drawers.

"Here!" Dearka crowed and pulled out a small bottle filled with clear liquid.

"What's that?" Yzak eyed the bottle suspiciously.

"Sake. To celebrate your awesomeness with my bike." Dearka took two sake cups from a set of four which Yzak naively assumed were decorative on top of his drawer and filled each cup. He handed one to Yzak, who shook his head curtly.

"I don't drink."

Dearka arched an eyebrow. "Yeah? So maybe that was your evil twin who got flat-out plastered last New Year's and ended up kissing Shiho Hahnenfuss not once, but --"

"That was the only time," Yzak snapped, red to the tips of his ears. "All the more reason to steer clear."

Dearka grinned. "Except when the occasion calls for it?"

"Exactly, and I don't see fixing a bike as an 'occasion that calls for it'."

"I bet if Hahnenfuss was here, you'd so drink up."

"Would you shut up about her?" Yzak's eyes flashed, sending Dearka chortling.

"Aw, chill man! I'm just teasing." He held out the cup again. "Just quit being a girl and drink up." Dearka braced himself for the backlash, and it came just as expected.

"Who are you calling a girl!" Yzak snatched the cup, spilling half the liquid onto his hand, and gulped it in one swallow. His face reddened as he coughed fitfully. When he could speak again, he glared balefully at Dearka. "Satisfied?!"

"Not really. You spilled half of it," he pointed out. The corners of his mouth quirked up. "Pour you some?"

Yzak held his cup out and when it was full he tossed it back in another swallow. His eyes filled with tears and he coughed again, not as forcefully this time. "Shit, that burns," he seethed. "There, you jerk. Now take back what you said."

Dearka's smile was wide and guileless. "Sure, as soon as you toast me." Before Yzak could protest, Dearka overrode him quickly. "If you didn't inhale that last one so quickly, I woulda toasted you that one," he reasoned, tillting the bottle towards Yzak's cup again.

Yzak's mouth opened and closed a few times, then finally clamped down in impotent rage. "You're the worst," he glowered, holding his cup out.

Dearka filled it quickly, then raised his own cup and clinked it against Yzak's.

"To Yzak, master mechanic and my gorgeous girl- I mean best friend!"

Yzak's eyes narrowed. "That's the most imbecilic toast I've ever heard."

"Hmm, okay maybe 'master mechanic's' overstating it. But the rest is true!"

"Elthman, get it through your thick head- I am not a girl!"

"Oh, scrap that too. Almost forgot about that." Dearka dodged the sudden punch easily, laughing. "So? Shall we toast?"

"To what?"

"Well, cutting out everything you wanted, I guess that leaves us with 'gorgeous best friend." While he said this he edged closer to Yzak and casually slung an arm around his waist.

Yzak averted his gaze, feeling the hot blush on his cheeks again. When he looked back at Dearka, the look on his face was poisonous. He held up his cup. "Toast, you idiot."

Their cups made a dull click as they touched. They sipped their drinks, neither noticing - or perhaps deciding not to notice - Yzak's discreet snuggle in Dearka's arm.

- end -