AN: Chapter 2 for those that enjoyed Chapter 1. As I explained in the notes of my other stories, I've put up the first two chapters because I feel bad for having taken over a month to update them, but that is not the entire truth. (So now I'm not only a blathering sorry excuse for a writer and really bad with posting, but I'm a liar as well... I suck!) The whole truth is that this damn story as taken over my life for the last month or so and I just want to see if the 80+ pages I've written so far (yeah, that's right... 83 to be precise) are any good. I suppose this is a good start and I'm hoping the whole story will be well received. So here you have the second chapter.
Pairings: TezuRyō and Golden hints for now.
Rating/Warnings: NC17/Yaoi
Disclaimer: I do not own PoT.
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Tezuka was seated at a small base diner with the team strategist Fuji. The two men were waiting for Inui to join them from his usual reconnaissance mission and growing a bit impatient. The captain removed his glasses and placed them on the table then began rubbing his eyes. New team members always came with a lot of red tape and he'd had to do all the personnel updating on his own this time.
"Are you feeling well, Tezuka?" Fuji's soft voice floated over the diner noise and slipped into the man's ear.
"I'm fine. This new kid, Echizen, is going to be a handful."
"Why do you say that?"
"Weren't you listening on the scanner during the initiation test?"
The strategist giggled and grinned widely. "He called you precious cargo."
"On top of that, I don't think he's truly going to grasp the concept that he was placed with a group of elite fighters until he actually has to head into combat with the team."
"Well, if he's a hard learner, maybe you should let the team play with him outside the training area for a little while."
"I was considering that."
"You might do well to have the team use the new training ships if you're planning on doing that, Buchō." Inui joined the two men at the table and placed a folder at his side. "The team tends to get rather rowdy when they don't have specific orders for training."
The man was the tallest of the team, lanky and pale. His dark spiky hair only accentuated his thin features and the thick rectangular frames around his eyes added to the mystery that was the STOPP team's information specialist. He opened the thin folder he'd placed on the table and handed it to his captain.
"Forgive me for being late, Tezuka. I was developing a short transcription of what I witnessed with the team today after we'd left the briefing room. The new recruit seems to be a bit reticent about divulging information."
Tezuka replaced his glasses and read over the report. After the meeting, the team decided to go to lunch together and grill the poor boy for information about his experience at the academy, his old bunkmates and former assignments, none of which Echizen went into any detail about. They then began to question him about his personal life, did he have a girlfriend, where was he from, did he have a sister he could hook Momoshiro up with. The boy claimed he did not have either a girlfriend or sister and the man closed the folder. A waitress approached them and took their orders then smiled and assured them their drinks would be out shortly.
"How do you think he'll do, Inui? In your personal opinion, not as a military recon expert," Tezuka asked.
"I believe he will be easily integrated with the team. Momo has offered to show him around the areas the team is permitted and they've already set an appointment for one on one training for tomorrow afternoon."
"Have you issued him his new ship yet?" Fuji asked as the drinks were placed in front of them.
"I haven't been given the 'go-ahead' yet by the Director, but I'm expecting to be able to do so within the next couple of days." Tezuka took a sip of his drink and sighed.
They talked idly for a while over the light meal then paid their bill and headed back to the STOPP dorm. As they walked down the hall, Fuji and Inui broke off to their own rooms leaving Tezuka alone to walk to his room at the end of the hall. The man paused when he passed Ryōma's room and saw the door was open. He peered in to see the boy lying on his back on the bunk with a hand beneath his head and the other holding his wireless phone in front of him. Ryōma had a bent leg resting up against the wall and his other foot propped up on the metal corner post of his bed. He looked freshly showered and was shirtless wearing only a pair of black sweatpants that appeared to have been cut off just below the knee.
Tezuka's eyes roamed over the boy's sculpted chest and stomach briefly then up to his face. The green hair still looked damp and was tussled messily over his forehead and large golden eyes. His skin looked smooth and flawless and the man's gaze traveled down the boy's shoulder and along his arm. He watched the muscles in the arm dance around as Ryōma pressed buttons on his phone. The man moistened his lips and took a deep breath before he spoke.
"How was your first day, Echizen?"
The boy didn't look away from his phone. "They put snakes in my dresser and burs in my mattress."
"I hear you have an appointment with Momoshiro tomorrow at the training grounds." Tezuka tried to stifle a smirk as he spoke.
"Yeah."
He narrowed his eyes a bit. "Do you really want to be here?"
The golden eyes shifted from the phone to the captain with light confusion. "Should I be somewhere else?"
"You tell me."
Tezuka's reply came with a curt tone and Ryōma sat up. "I figured I'd get to sleep early so I could do some wandering around tomorrow, Buchō."
"I don't mean here in your room, I mean here in this department."
The two men stared into each others eyes for a few minutes until Tezuka's phone rang. Without looking from the golden orbs, he flipped open the phone and placed it to his ear.
"Tezuka."
Ryōma raised a brow as he stared back trying to decipher the mumbling from the other end of the conversation.
"Understood." The phone was closed and slipped back into the man's jacket. He turned to leave and Ryōma stood.
"Bu… Buchō…"
"When you meet with Momoshiro tomorrow, tell him you two are to meet me at the STOPP hangar at 1300."
"Yes, sir."
"Have a good night, Echizen."
"Yes, sir." When the captain was out of sight, Ryōma sat heavily back onto his bed. He stared at the wall for a long while trying to figure out why the man asked him such a question. It was true he wasn't really familiar with the department yet, but it was only the first day. Any other person would have been beaming and practically bouncing off the walls, he supposed, but that wasn't Ryōma's nature. He blinked a few times and furrowed his brow. Why did he care if the captain questioned his opinion on the reassignment? Maybe he was wrong, but the boy didn't think Tezuka was the type of man to run away with first impressions.
Ryōma shifted his eyes to the door sighed lightly and dismissed the thought. His watch read 2204 and he yawned. Just after 10PM and he was already tired, this certainly had been a long day. The boy stretched and walked over to the door. He shut off the light and heard light giggling from the hall so he peeked out to the darkness. His eyes widened when he saw someone leaning into the medic's room holding something in their hands. When his eyes fully adjusted, his brain processed the scene. The evasion and pursuit specialist of the team, Kikumaru was it, was holding a pile of clothes in his arm and wearing nothing more than a pair of boxer-brief underwear.
He watched the redhead lean back into the room supporting himself with one hand on the doorframe and one foot on the ground, the other floating merrily in the air. The merry foot landed softly on the ground and Ryōma saw the man in the hall lean back rather far removing his hand from the wall. There was another person attached to the man's lips and he heard them part and rejoin a few times. The other person was indeed the team medic, Ōishi, and he wrapped his arms around Kikumaru's slim bare waist pulling him back into the room.
When the medic's door slid closed, Ryōma started to breathe again. He stepped back into his room and slid his door shut quietly. As he walked back over to his bed, he smirked at the thought of what he'd just seen. He lay down resting his head in his hands staring at the ceiling and wondered what the hell that old woman had gotten him into.
--
Momo and Ryōma put on their flight jumpsuits and entered the hangar to meet their captain at 1255. The older member knew precisely where they were headed even though he hadn't spoken to Tezuka yet. As they walked, Ryōma looked around to the ships they were passing.
"Which one's yours, Senpai?" he asked Momo.
He pointed to a ship they were passing on their right. "This one's my baby." It had MIKE1 painted in relatively small letters on the base of the hull along with a series of department distinguishing numerals.
All the ships looked basically the same with the exception of the last two painted digits and the pilot's name on the body. They were gunmetal in color and triangular shaped with no rounded angles to keep them virtually invisible to most radar detection systems. He couldn't really tell much from the exteriors of the ships they'd passed as far as weapons and flight capabilities, but they appeared to be far more advanced than anything he'd seen before.
Tezuka was standing at the end of the line of ships with a pilot's helmet in his hand. As the two men approached him, he nodded and handed the helmet to Ryōma. "This is your new ship, Echizen."
The man's arm swept upward and Ryōma's eyes widened. He blinked several times when his eyes fell on the name ECHO1 on the side. There was a ladder set up at the cockpit and the boy stared in awe at his new toy. He slowly walked around the vessel and noticed quadruple propulsion at the rear and some other things he wasn't quite familiar with. When he reached the ladder from circling the ship, he heard Momo chuckle.
"Why don't you hop in and take it for a test run?" the navigation specialist suggested.
Ryōma looked to Tezuka for confirmation. When the man nodded, the recruit climbed swiftly up the ladder and plopped excitedly into the seat. His eyes were wide as they traveled over all the pretty buttons and knobs and screens in front of him then he heard a voice in the distance.
"Are you going to want company, or would you rather play in your new sandbox by yourself?" Momo was standing at the top of the ladder with a smile across his face and Ryōma waved him away without looking up. He chuckled again and started to climb down. "I'll meet you out there then, rookie."
Momo hopped off the end of the ladder and nodded to the captain. The two headed back down the hangar and as they approached Momo's ship he spoke softly, the smile still on his face.
"You still think he doesn't want to be here, Buchō?"
As the captain passed the man's ship, he replied, "I never had a doubt in my mind, Momo."
The man smirked ascending the ladder and climbed into his cockpit. He attached his radio to his neck and heard a crackling in the earpiece.
"This is STOPP Echo1 requesting Channel 5 radio-check."
"10-2, Echo1. Control reads you loud and clear."
"10-4, Control."
Momo's smile widened when he heard the elation in the kid's voice. It was adorable and a bit nostalgic. He popped in the earpiece and mimicked Ryōma's request. "This is Mike1 requesting Channel 5 radio-check."
"10-2, Mike1. Control reads you loud and clear."
"10-4, Control. Keep an eye on Echo1. This is his maiden voyage and he sounds a bit giddy."
There was light laughter when the radio cut back in. "That's a copy, Mike1. Your captain is here watching you both."
"Dick."
The word came mumbled from Ryōma's radio and Momo laughed heartily. "You ready, rookie?"
"Echo1 requesting clearance for take-off."
"Echo1 you are clear to take off. Have fun."
Momo taxied out a bit and watched the boy fly out of the hangar.
"Whoo-hoo!"
There was a cheer in his ear and he burst into laughter again before calling over the radio.
"Mike1 requesting take-off."
"You are clear to take off, Mike1."
He slowly taxied to the end of the hangar and followed suit. When he caught up with Ryōma, the boy was doing flips and tricks. He watched the ship bank slightly and the two were off to get the kid familiar with his new best friend.
--
Around 3:30 that afternoon, the team met at a private diner for an informal mid-afternoon snack. Kawamura brought a series of plates with various types of food from the kitchen and set them on the large table the team had gathered around. As the group filled their individual plates, Kaidō looked around and raised a brow.
"Where are Buchō, the new kid and that navigations idiot?" The interrogation specialist spoke softly then took a bite of a ham and cheese finger sandwich.
Ōishi, the medic, responded filling his plate orderly. "Tezuka issued Echizen his ship today and Momo went with them to try it out."
"Oh Ochibi-Chan got his new ship today? I would have loved to see his face!" Eiji shoved a piece of sushi in his mouth and clapped his hands in approval.
"It is rather nostalgic, isn't it? Thinking back to the first time you flew your STOPP ship?" Fuji wore a light smile and bit into a cheese puff, his eyelids lowered and his light brown hair dusted his forehead.
"I was so excited the day I got my ship I was out flying for hours," Eiji recalled.
Ōishi smiled to the redhead at his side and discretely rubbed the man's knee under the table. Eiji was absolutely adorable to Ōishi and he picked a fajita off his plate. "They should be joining us any minute now."
Kawamura placed a tray of glasses at the corner of the table and looked to his teammates. "Does anyone want anything else?"
"Why don't you just sit and eat, Taka-san?" Ōishi took a glass from the tray and sipped it. "We'll be fine, really."
Kawamura smiled and nodded. There was a light tapping at the door and the group turned to see who was there. Kawamura called out, "I'm sorry, but we're closed for the day."
Momo slid the door open rather abruptly and walked in with his arm around Ryōma's shoulders. "This kid is insane."
"Ack! Oi, Momo-Senpai that hurts." Ryōma felt the arm tighten around his neck and elbowed the guy in his stomach.
"Ouch! Oi! Is that anyway to treat a Senpai?" Momo hollered to the boy as Ryōma took a seat at the table between Kawamura and Inui.
"Maybe he wouldn't have done it if you weren't such a jackass." Kaidō's low voice traveled to Momo's ears quickly and he turned.
"No one's talking to you, asshole!"
The two growled and hissed at each other and the door slid shut abruptly. Tezuka walked to the table and sat between Inui and Kaidō and Momo took a seat between Fuji and Eiji. As the last three to arrive filled their plates and took their drinks, the captain spoke.
"We've been assigned an escort mission for one of the allied planets. Inui, if you please."
"Thank you, Buchō." The man adjusted his rectangular glasses and began spewing the details on their mission. The team was to escort from and back to Jupiter a group of various interplanetary governmental heads for a meeting on Earth that was to be carried out in about a week. "The flanking vessels will be myself, Eiji, Fuji, Kawamura and Echizen. Scouting vessels will be Ōishi, Momo and Kaidō. The captain will be on board the subject vessel with the Officials. It will be the same formation for the return trip. Are there any questions?"
Silence indicated there were none and they continued with their meal. Ryōma looked around the table and noticed a few things. First, Momo and Kaidō really didn't have anything better to do than rag on each other; second, Ōishi and Eiji were sitting closer to each other than anyone else; and third, the captain hadn't taken his eyes off the boy for more than a few seconds during the entire briefing. He started to eat and after several minutes, the friendly atmosphere and boisterous laughter made him forget about Tezuka across the table.
--
The week had come and gone rather quickly. The team had returned to their dorm late after completing the escort and Ryōma was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. It hadn't taken him as long as he'd thought to get comfortable around his new family and his eyelids closed slowly. He recalled the events of the past week before the mission and smiled. He'd trained in his new ship with all the team members and had spent just about every waking minute with at least one of them. He thought back to the first night he spent in the new dorm and the captain's question boomed in his head.
"Do you really want to be here?"
His smile widened. He definitely owed the old lady an apology for bitching her out that morning. He draped an arm over his chest and slid the other under his pillow and drifted off to sleep.
Ryōma stepped into the dorm elevator and pressed the button to head down to the briefing room. After a few seconds there was a light ding and the door slid open. The boy stepped out letting the doors close behind him and looked over the room. There was a single chair at the far end of the long conference table. The chair swung around slowly and Tezuka stared at him.
"You wanted to see me, Buchō?" Ryōma asked a bit tentatively as he walked around the left side of the table toward the man.
"I did." The captain stood and walked to the boy meeting him halfway.
The two men were only centimeters apart. Ryōma's golden eyes drank in the man standing in front of him. Tezuka wore a dress shirt unbuttoned and open over his shoulders exposing his chiseled pecks and washboard abs. His dress blue pants sat low on his hips and Ryōma could see the man's full erection bulging at the zipper. The boy felt a devilish smile curl on his lips and noticed he was wearing his combat pants and no shirt. He lifted his head to the man's chest and gently pressed his fingers to the man's hard stomach.
The man's flesh was electric and his fingers brushed slowly up the silky smooth body. Ryōma leaned in when he reached the defined chest and grazed his lips over the man's soft warm skin. His lips parted against the hairless flesh and his tongue darted out tasting the captain. He heard the man moan softly and closed his lips against him. His hands traveled further up the man's body to his shoulders and pushed the shirt from them then let his fingers trickle down the man's back. He lifted his head to meet those bottomless brown eyes and whispered.
"Buchō…"
The word slipped from Ryōma's mouth mere seconds before Tezuka's lips came crashing down to his. Their lips parted instantly and their tongues danced in each other's mouth. They wrapped their arms around each other briefly before the rookie slipped his fingers into the captain's waistband. The pants and boxers came off with one quick yank and the man turned the boy's back to him and trailed his lips along the smooth neck and shoulder. The boy's pants were torn off in the same fashion as the captain's and he felt a hand at his groin and a bulge on his ass. There was an arm clutching across his chest tightly as the hand at his groin started rubbing smoothly and quickly. He felt the man's lips travel back up his shoulder and neck to his ear. The warm breath was liquefying and the rookie melted back into his captain. His eyes fluttered a bit and a long moan escaped his lips.
"Do you really want to be here?"
Tezuka's voice was orgasmic in the boy's ear and he released another moan.
"Oh god yeah…"
The hands were gone from his body and he was slammed forward onto the table. He felt an arm hook under his knee then a hand slide up his back and grasp his shoulder. There was something stiff rubbing at the cleft of his butt and he braced himself. Tezuka shoved his entire length into Ryōma's tight round entrance…
"Nnnngh…"
"Haaah…!"
Ryōma sat up with a start. He was panting heavily covered in sweat and looked around the small room to get oriented. He flopped back down on the bed draping one arm over his chest and the other over his face. The boy let a smile blossom across his lips and started giggling softly. He'd realized and come to terms with his attraction to the captain rather quickly, but hadn't told anyone yet. After only being with the team for a week, he figured it wasn't something anyone but he needed to know.
When the giggling fit subsided, he lowered his hand to check for stiffness or moisture… or both, but found neither. He decided he could trust his legs and sat up again slowly swinging his legs over the side of the bed. The smile was still prominent on his face when he slid his door open and stepped into the hall. He headed down the hall toward the bathroom and passed Eiji's door as it opened quietly.
Ryōma stopped and looked to Ōishi who was wearing nothing but his underwear. The medic had a bundle of clothes in his hand and Ryōma glanced over his shoulder to Eiji propped up on his bed. He saw the redhead sit up abruptly and rolled his eyes then continued toward the bathroom. Before the two older men were out of earshot, the rookie called softly over his shoulder to them.
"You two really should be a little more discrete. That's the second time I've caught you in a week."
He didn't look back to see the damage and rounded the corner to the dorm bathroom. Ryōma decided it would be interesting to find out the behind-the-scenes secrets of the Interplanetary Arms' elite fighting team known as STOPP.
--
The days had quickly come and gone and before he knew it, Ryōma had been with the team for over a month. They'd gone out as a group several times more often than not without the captain and he'd gotten to know them all individually pretty well and fairly quickly. He'd also noticed little quirks about everyone that had only been confirmed over the weeks.
Kawamura Takashi was the team's personal chef and Ōishi's medical apprentice. He was also a reserve pilot on long-term missions because he would tend to get a little carried away in battles screaming incoherent things over the communication system that alternately amused and terrified the team as a whole. He'd graduated from the same class as the captain and was reassigned to STOPP only a few days after Tezuka. Kawamura was tall and strong with muscle to spare. His light brown hair was styled in a crew cut, he claimed so it wouldn't hinder his cooking, and he had an innocence and kindness to his dark eyes that only abandoned him while he was in the pilot's seat.
Inui Sadaharu struck Ryōma as an utter dork. The man was constantly recording information of all kinds, updating journals and logs and developing transcriptions of everything under the sun. The rookie chalked his behavior up to the fact that he was constantly trying to improve his recon skills in his everyday life, which didn't really seem like a bad idea, it was just annoying. The man's tall thin stature and shrouded eyes creeped the boy out a little so Ryōma decided he'd keep his distance.
Fuji Shūsuke was the team's strategist and occasionally did reconnaissance with Inui. He was only a few centimeters taller than Ryōma, but just as mysterious and intimidating as the captain. His narrow deep blue eyes were always watching but rarely seen and his sandy hair framed his face rather elegantly. He was rumored to have been Tezuka's number one competition for the STOPP captain's position but declined confessing that he wasn't as qualified to run the department as Tezuka.
Kaidō Kaoru, the interrogator and resident badass, was generally quiet and angry looking. He was highly intelligent, as was everyone else on the team, but rarely bantered or participated in community antics. Ryōma thought that was a bit unusual but reasoned there was always one in every group like that. He always hid his dark hair under a trademark green bandana and seemed to have his eyes trained to make people feel uncomfortable when they looked into them. The team had nicknamed him Mamushi because of his interrogation techniques and affinity for playing with snakes when he would find them traipsing around the base.
Momoshiro Takeshi had decided to take Ryōma under his wing for the first couple of weeks of his reassignment. He was friendly and loud and a generally happy guy to be around. Along with being the navigation specialist for the team, he was part of the team's ambush squad along with Kaidō and Ōishi.
Ōishi Shūichirō, as the team's medic, was always worrying about one thing or another, but a generally happy man. Ryōma noted upon their first meeting the man's unusual hair style. The black locks seemed to be painted on his head save for two thin sections he'd let fall over his forehead framing his dark eyes. He was part of what Ryōma heard called "the Golden Pair" which was the evasion/pursuit squad on the team consisting of the medic and Kikumaru Eiji. The two were so-called because they had an excellent record of trapping and taking down enemy ships that would get sandwiched between them.
Kikumaru Eiji was the evasion half of the Golden Pair. He and Ōishi were rumored to have defeated more enemies in this fashion than anyone in the history of the Interplanetary Arms. The man was cute and bubbly, almost like a little girl, but knew when it was time to get down to business. He was almost always found with a smile on his face and a bounce in his step. Ryōma noticed after he'd caught Ōishi coming out of the redhead's room, neither of the two were weird around him at all, like it didn't even happen or was a regular occurring event.
The rookie later came to learn that Ōishi and Eiji's extra-military relationship was common knowledge among the team members and as long as it didn't interfere with mission work or performance, team members were free to do as they pleased. He'd found Fuji to be a little more interested in the couple than anyone else and wondered if the strategist engaged some sort of voyeurism in his free time.
The captain was the only one Ryōma couldn't really peg. Tezuka Kunimitsu was strong, quiet, charismatic, good-looking and definitely elusive. Ryōma had never seen the man smile or heard him laugh, he'd never seen the man in combat, but was assured he was the most capable member of the team. The rookie was intrigued by the man to say the least and his attraction to the man had only increased since the day of his department transfer. He'd started dreaming and fantasizing about the man several times a week, but to no avail. The captain seemed far too busy during the day for Ryōma to even have a descent conversation with when he was available at all.
He was informed that, apart from the captain, the team was not that big on formalities. They interacted as brothers would in a close knit family and got serious when the time called for it. The team had decided to go out to a local bar just off base that night to officially celebrate Ryōma's permanent place in the dorm. He'd heard the captain was going to be there too.
TBC...
--
Yeah... so there's that. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews and criticism, as usual, are appreciated. Hopefully the next one will be up for Labor Day, and I'm still willing to answer any questions regarding jargon at least to the best of my ability.
