This originally started as a fill for a victory sex Mark 1 glory days prompt on the kinkmeme that never got to the sex part. Oooops.

XXX

You Win Some

XXX

There are no firsts and seconds and thirds or fourths. There are only wins and notches made on the belt until a single loss. But that hasn't happened just yet. They are the first generation of Jaeger pilots in their glory days.

For tonight, it's another kill and another ugly bastard's blue blood being splattered against the ocean waves instead of their own.

The win rushes through their veins and it's potent when they see each other across the punch-drunk celebration. He still has his drive suit on and so does he, but it hardly makes for an obstacle course when they find each other through the crowds.

It is Stacker who drags Herc in, pulls him close to his side with an arm thrown over his shoulders, pushing another drink into his hand. Tamsin doesn't need to turn around to smirk at him, she is already doing it in the fading link that hasn't disappeared quite so completely yet.

"We did good, Herc." He tells him with a grin. With the two of them so close, it's hard to miss the way Herc glances down, ginger lashes fanning against his cheeks before he tips his head back for another gulp of his drink.

When Herc looks at Stacker, his grin is a mirror image.

"I'd say we did better than just good, Stacks."

.

They've never been in the same Jaeger.

They don't need to, Stacker Pentecost's been in Hercules Hansen's head enough times to count. They've never been in the same Jaeger, but they fight the same war. They've fought along side of each other enough times even when he isn't there when Tamsin fell unconscious.

But that's only fair because he isn't there either when Scott fell out of alignment, dragging his head through broken glass and a world of pain and revolt and disgust until he can't quite tell where he himself begins and his brother ends in the worst possible way.

Whereas Coyote Tango keeps going, Lucky Seven is almost destroyed.

.

The Shatterdome has a skeleton crew on deck, everyone else off celebrating another win for the program. They are standing there on the Shatterdome floor, and it's not hard to feel humbled when hurricanes can be fought in these war machines they call their own.

"These bad boys did us proud."

Stacker looks up at Coyote Tango and his girl is standing there, still dripping from the ocean that is eager to pull the rest of them down into its depths. Herc isn't looking at Lucky Seven, doesn't need to. He can feel his Jaeger in his blood, still thrumming from the post-kill adrenaline.

And if he closes his eyes, he can still see himself surrounded by his metal girl fighting waves and acidic blue. Herc smiles a smile just for Stacker, and with his head cocked to the side, he adds.

"I would think we did them proud too."

.

When he presses his lips to his, it feels like it is the most natural thing.

It feels this is exactly what he has came to do when a certain Sergeant Hercules Hansen of the RAAF enlists as one of the first test pilots for the Jaeger Program. (And he had watched as a Stacker Pentecost disengaged from one of the earlier models of the Pons System. It was a world of possibilities then, and it was still one now.)

Herc pushes forward when Stacker doesn't pull back.

No one has lost their fight, not just yet when their girls are standing guard in the Jaeger Bay.

Stacker's hand touches his neck and Herc turns into that without ever pulling away. He opens his mouth into the kiss, pushes his tongue lightly between his lips. In an hour or two, he will have him in his bed, biting back pants that may have been his name. For now though, they are making out in the Jaeger Bay like they are teenagers back when the days are a little simpler and there are no sea monsters aside from what they have read of folklores and a world of make belief.

For now though, they are standing in Coyote Tango's shadow with their lips locked, and their fingers grasping for more.

(When Tamsin finds them a few minutes later, both Stacker and Herc flip her off like it's the most natural thing.)

XXX Kuro