TEMPTATIONS

A STORM HAWKS FANFICTION

AUTHOR: Djap

PAIRING: Dark Ace x Aerrow

RATING: PG13

GENRE: (Pre-)slash, Drama

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the boys and I won't make any money with them. Pity.

SUMMARY: Aerrow learns why Dark Ace betrayed the former Storm Hawks and reacts unexpected

LANGUAGE: English

SO TAKE A GLASS WINE, LIE BACK AND ENJOY

YOURS DJAP

*~*~*

Temptations

a Djap story

*~*~*

Aerrow was waiting for the best opportunity to carry out his plan. Today Radarr wasn't with him on his skimmer, because his friend was needed on the Condor, so the young Sky Knight knew: today was The Day. No one else knew what he was about to do, because he had made very sure about that.

The Strom Hawks were fighting against Talons, and that had been boring so far. Aerrow didn't participate much and instead kept waiting for their Commander to make an appearance. At least he hoped the tall, frightening man would show himself. Aerrow wasn't sure what he'd do if it were again Ravess or (Heaven forbid!) her stupid brother Snipe who commanded this particular Talons.

As far as that went, everything seemed normal to the Storm Hawks with the possible exception of Stork, who eyed him curiously from time to time on the battlefield, although that fact went unnoticed by their preoccupied leader and anyone else.

Finally Aerrow saw the man and instantly exploded into action. He could see his goal clearly: At first the usual taunting happened between them, then they fought a little blades to sword on their skimmers. But suddenly Aerrow pulled another stunt and sped quickly away on his skimmer while the Dark Ace didn't think twice before following his young nemesis.

Aerrow had borrowed some extra speed crystals without Piper noticing and used them to stay just out of reach of the Talon Commander. The man was shooting after him with his sword and he could hear his taunting comments about him running away, but Aerrow ignored that, ducked and just followed through with his plan.

Finally he reached his destination and landed on the rocky surface of a nearby Terra and drove right into one of the caverns there. There he stopped, sprang of his skimmer and gripped his blades, waiting for the other man to appear.

Like he'd expected the man didn't just run him over on his skimmer. He might want to kill him, but obviously he wouldn't like to do so in a less fun way. Using his own hands and his laser sword might seem more interesting to him. His eyes blazed when he saw the fighting stance of the boy, so he stopped his own skimmer as well, gripped his sword and started moving toward the boy grinning madly.

"So you've finally stopped running away, boy."

"Stop, Dark Ace!"

"Why? Have you after all this time finally gotten some sense and started to fear me because I'll be your death?"

"No. Still stop! I don't want to fight you right now."

The Talon Commander lifted an eyebrow in surprise at that:

"You don't? Why wouldn't you? Where's the catch? Is this some stupid trap you and your little friends try out on me?"

"Of course not!" the boy snorted. "I… just want to talk to you today. Afterwards we can fight again as much as you want."

"And why in all nine hells should I want to talk to you?"

The Dark Ace hadn't stopped yet and Aerrow felt slightly intimidated by the man. But still he stood his ground, although his heart was racing like mad and finally he answered that, with as much honesty as he could muster:

"Because I know why you betrayed my father!"

*~*~*

The Talon Commander had actually stopped at that. He looked really surprised and tried to gauge the boys honesty. What he saw in Aerrow's eyes made him suddenly grin.

"Okay. Let's have an armistice until we're done talking."

Dark Ace deactivated his sword and put it on his back while Aerrow stared at him dumbstruck.

"R…really?"

Dark Ace smirked at his reaction before answering:

"Stop stealing my time now, Storm Boy, and make up your mind! You wanted to talk, so put your blades away, come over, sit down and talk!"

Aerrow stared at him for a while, blushed suddenly and did slowly as he was told. Dark Ace smirked again as he saw how cautious the boy was while approaching him, and he really couldn't blame him for that. He probably was the second less trustworthy person on this world, right after his master and he was proud about that.

But after a while they actually took seats on two of the bigger rocks, watching each others reactions like hawks. Since the boy didn't seem to find the right words, finally the Dark Ace opened the conversation by asking:

"So did you finally find the tapes on the Condor? I had hoped the crash would have destroyed them."

Aerrow blushed again, but nodded.

"Yes, Stork showed some of those, which survived the crash, to us about three weeks ago."

Aerrow still felt very insecure about all this. As Stork told them about the old, hidden cameras spread all over the Condor, he wasn't sure the Merb was pulling his leg or getting an acute case of paranoia again. But then he'd shown them some of the few tapes which hadn't been destroyed by the crash in the wastelands and Aerrow broke in tears, when he saw for the first time his dad in action.

Most of the tapes he cherished very deeply in his heart and had them seen since that night over and over. But one of them he'd seen at least once a day by now: It was the one tape with a quarrel between his father and his copilot.

It had been strange to see such a young version of the Dark Ace. He must have been about his own age, and he looked disturbingly young for someone who'd not only betray but murder all former Storm Hawks – especially since there were other tapes which showed him making fun with them and just being a teenager.

The voice of the Talon Commander snapped him out of his musings:

"So what? Do you want to make fun of me about them? Then I should tell you this much: You won't be able to blackmail me."

Aerrow seemed outraged at that suggestion of his:

"Of course not."

"So what is it then? Why this farce? What is it, that you want to know so badly you'd even ask your worst enemy?" the Dark Ace hissed. The Boy wasn't the only one who was nervous here although the Talon Commander couldn't pin down exactly why that was so."

"I… I just." He made a helpless gesture and avoided looking him in his eyes, but finally he still answered the question: "I just wanted to ask, if it is really true."

Dark Ace was stunned speechless. Gods, how could he have been so blind all along? Now he could see it clearly and he wondered how he could ever had overlooked it before.

The boy seemed ready to jump up and flee the scene, so the Dark Ace decided to go easy on the boy – at least this one time: "Aerrow? Look at me!" At first the boy didn't do as he commanded, but then he took a deep breath and lifted his eyes of the floor to look at him: His eyes showed much emotions, the biggest parts being fear, curiosity and doubt.

He held his gaze and answered right away: "Yes, it is."

The boy's eyes widened in shock and he broke the eye contact to stare at the floor again, his mind obviously racing.

"And it's really nothing I'm ashamed of. It's just the way I'm born and there is nothing wrong with it. I don't hide it, so you won't be able to use it for your advantage."

"But the Academy…" Aerrow pleaded, trying to make sense out of it. Dark Ace snorted at that, before replying: "Don't tell me something about the stupid Academy. Or about the rest of Atmos either for that matter. I hadn't thought you would believe the lies they tell about it. Just because you're gay…" the boy took a shocked breath at hearing that word out of his mouth "…that doesn't mean you're a bad person. One thing hasn't to do anything with the other."

"But…" Now the boy looked mostly doubtful "I thought…"

"You thought that would have been the cause why I betrayed them, but I have to disappoint you: Yes, I've had a real bad fight about my sexuality with your father and yes, he probably would never have accepted me if I had stayed with them, but that is only a part of the puzzle why I did what I did."

"So that wasn't the cause? You're kidding, right? What could be worse than that?"

Dark Ace sighed. Somehow he had hoped the laws had at least changed a little bit, but obviously they were as forbidding as ever.

"My thirst for blood perhaps. My egomania. My inability to stop fighting before killing. My issues about commandment. My bad temper. My… do I really have to continue that list?" he asked mockingly and to his surprise the boy actually smiled at that. A real smile, something probably even his friends didn't see that often.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes before Aerrow grew serious again: "But, isn't there anything you could do against it? It… it just isn't natural…"

Dark Ace growled inwardly. Anyone else talking this way to him would have been punished by now. And if this whole situation wouldn't be so surreal, he'd probably do the same to the boy, but he just sighed again and tried to explain:

"Look: if it happens in nature - and it does so all the time, people just are used to hide it because they fear the punishment – it's natural after all. That is what the word means, isn't it?"

Aerrow didn't know what to think about it anymore. He remembered vividly how he'd watched the tapes with his team mates and how most of them had reacted. When they heard his father and the Dark Ace fight about him being gay, his friends had suddenly erupted into laughter with the exception of Stork, who had already seen the tape before.

Of course they'd started to make fun of it in the worst way, with Finn as the main comedian. They'd given the Talon Commander a whole bunch of new nicknames their leader didn't even want to remember right know. It had made him shudder – and in a real bad way. He had been disgusted by their behaviour, but of course he hadn't been able to say anything about it to them. He was supposed to hate gay people, because they were considered evil.

Again the dark Talon Commander snapped him out of his musings:

"There's no one who knows about it, isn't it? I know that feeling – it's just too dangerous to be honest about…"

Dark Ace had to jump off the stone and had to sprint to catch the running boy, which had panicked seconds ago. Since he couldn't escape him anymore, the boy decided to try another tactic and attacked verbally and physically: While he kicked out he hissed: "Don't touch me with your filthy hands! How could you suggest anything like that about me. I would never…"

The man hindered more words to escape by putting his hand over the boys mouth and hissing himself:

"Don't even start this shit with me. You don't have to pretend anymore, at least not with me. Your secret is safe with me. It's not my style to use this for my advantage. A lot of other things, because I'm really no nice person, but never this. So just stop struggling, show your courage and talk to me about this, like the man you want to be sometime in the future."

He gave the boy some seconds to let this sink in, before he asked: "Can I remove my hands now or will you still try to escape?"

The boy slowly nodded and as he let him go, Aerrow really stayed still and after a few minutes sat down on the big rock again. Dark Ace did the same before he heard the boy finally mutter:

"I'm not even sure yet about myself. How could you claim to know about me?"

"Probably because you were so desperate to talk with anybody about it, that you even asked your worst enemy."

Aerrow made a face at that before stating: "You might be right about that one…"

"So, what will you do now?" Dark Ace was really curious.

"Like I said, I can't decide anything, since I don't even know if I am g… ga… that way or not. Although there would probably a possibility…" he wondered aloud but suddenly flushed fiercely a deep dark red, which matched his hair colour.

At first Dark Ace didn't understand, but when the boy again refused to meet his eyes he had an epiphany. He smirked broadly, rubbed mentally his hands together and finally quipped: "I could volunteer for some… experiments…"

He partly expected the boy to flee again, but Aerrow surprised him by being pleased and excited by that suggestion:

"You really would?"

"Since we're here already and I don't have to do anything important right now…" he tried to joke, but was surprised that the boy really seemed to be serious.

"Good, but… you have to promise! Only a kiss to test it: nothing else."

"I swear by my Command." He lifted two fingers, smirking and pressed them to his heart like it was Cyclonian Custom. The boy looked strange at that, but didn't comment on it.

Instead his blush crept now on his ears as well and he kneaded his hands nervously, not knowing how to continue this.

"Shall we then?" Dark Ace finally asked, bending slightly forward, but not daring to push the boy too far yet. Aerrow nodded slightly leaning in. The Storm Hawk shivered violently, so Dark Ace gave him some time that he could do this in his own speed.

The kiss was chaste, just a press of dry lips against lips, while the boy didn't even dare to breath. It was over in seconds, before the boy pulled quickly and ashamed his head back. But Dark Ace wouldn't have any of that. Instead he whispered:

"No one could decide anything on that alone…"

before gripping the boys neck and pressing his mouth to Aerrow's lips. At first the boy struggled a little, and Dark Ace whispered against his mouth: "Breath, Aerrow, will you?" and so, the boy did.

Dark Ace tried not to rush anything, so he waited some time before opening the boys lips. He gave him some much needed time, but made clear that he wouldn't accept any contradiction on at least the kiss.

He just parted his lips as forcefully as was needed and started thoroughly plundering the boy's mouth. Aerrow was gasping, trying to get enough breath in his lungs. Of course he didn't respond very much at the start, but after a while he started to answer the kiss by mimicking some moves the older and more experienced man showed him.

Dark Ace sighed delighted at that and removed his hand from the boy's neck. It wasn't necessary anymore since the boy was now kissing him back freely and out of his own will. You probably didn't need to be gay to see the boy was enjoying this encounter very much. He even started to make needy little noises in between the stolen kisses, while he grew bolder and bolder and even started to explore Dark Ace's mouth on his own.

The Talon Commander was curious how much the boy would let him do, since he seemed so eager for experiences. But as he started to let his hands wander and he cupped a handful of the boys ass he heard the characteristic hum of a crystal blade. Aerrow was holding one of his blades right on his throat and broke the kiss, grinning:

"You promised. Just kissing – no more."

Dark Ace grinned back at that and answered, mischief glinting in his eyes: "Since when do you trust the promises of your nemesis? They'd always been lies so far…"

The boy chuckled at that, then slowly removed the blade from his throat, after he'd switched it off again. Then he stood nervous again and somehow sad looking. It was obvious that he would have liked to stay with him, but his obligation was probably calling him now.

"I should go now."

"Did you just waste a perfectly precious possibility to kill your worst enemy? You're loosing your touch Storm Boy…" Dark Ace smirked.

"In contrast to Cyclonians I usually do what I promise. And we did make a truce after all. But my friends may be looking for me by now, and I don't want them to worry too much about me."

"So leave then. I trust, the next time we'll see each other, it will be as enemies again."

For a moment the boy seemed sad about that, but then he just shrugged it of. "Of course. What else should we be?"

As Dark Ace refused to give an answer to that the boy went to his skimmer and made ready to leave. When he was about to start the motor, Dark Ace called out to him. "Aerrow?"

"What is it?"

As the boy looked back he saw a strange look on the face of the other man, which he couldn't read at all, but somehow he had the feeling, that the man was still honest to him:

"Your father and me have never been friends. But I think… I think although he never could have accepted me, he probably would have gotten around the fact of his baby boy being gay. He loved you dearly, he probably would have been able to accept it one day."

Aerrow's stomach did double turns at that. That was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever done to him – and that by the very murderer of his father. Sometimes life was really strange.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

After the man had gone in silence to his own skimmer and started the engine he called out to him a second time:

"Oh and Aerrow?"

"Yes?"

"You really don't know about Merbs yet, do you?"

"What's to know about them?" Aerrow looked suspicious but curious at the Talon Commander. "They may be Atmosian citizens, but they still have their own laws. Homosexuality isn't a crime there at all, who knows: he might be interested in some experiments with you too…"

And with that, laughing like a maniac, he took off and disappeared in the cloudy sky, while Aerrow stayed back and groaned loudly, hiding his heads in his arms: And the man hadn't been able to give him that piece of information before they'd sucked faces for about fifteen minutes?

His nemesis could really be the pest sometimes.

*~*~*

When the Dark Ace finally arrived in his privet quarters, his thoughts still circled around a certain redhead. While he prepared himself a nice, relaxing bath he wondered how the boy's future would look.

He didn't want the boy to end like himself. He hadn't lied about that: His being gay had only been a part why he chose to betray the former Storm Hawks. There was so much other bad feelings inside him, that he hadn't had a real choice to do otherwise. He'd been bitter and disappointed by so many people, so many situations that his heart had grown cold about so many things over time.

He knew, there was a Dark side in the boy too. He could feel it, see it probably better than anybody else. But he feared, who the boy could become if he fell for this dark side in him. When he had activated the blade at his throat he actually had feared the boy would kill him. That this had all been a ploy to lure him into his very own doom. But he hadn't done so after all.

So he had decided to give him a push in the other direction by suggestion the Merb could be interested in him. He knew the Merb actually was very much interested in the boy, he had seen the looks he shot at their leader if he thought that no one was watching, but he knew too that said Merb was way too paranoid to do anything about that. But if the boy did the first step, probably…

Somehow he felt strange thinking about that. One of his greatest faults was his selfishness. And these moments that afternoon with the boy had woken a desire in him, he thought he had lost long ago.

So he just couldn't stop wondering, if there really was no possibility how he could get the boy for himself, without them both loosing who they essentially were.

With these last musings he lent back naked in the tub and started jerking off lazily, thinking about the things he could do to taint the boy after all.

*~*~*

Endless End

Finished 17th September 2009