Title: Atmospheric Reentry
Author: Aiko Namika
Fandom: Gundam Wing
Pairing: 1+2+1
Warnings: A little bit of fluff, shounen-ai, and a touch of something that sounds like it should be at NASA
For: mookiegatto's request on the LJ community fic on demand. I know you wanted them a little older, but the fic sorta clobbered me over the head and refused to listen. Enjoy!
June fic #3

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The asteroid storm was amazing. Streaks of light almost constantly rained down from a certain point in the sky, some long and thin while others were a short burst of brilliance that faded almost immediately. The part of Duo's mind that was a pilot calculated the trajectories of the falling pieces of debris that would be needed to make the different types of "falling stars" that he was watching from the porch railing.

'When they come in too shallow,' his mind whispered, 'they skim across the atmosphere like skipping a stone on a pond. Those are the ones that travel the furthest, though sometimes they bounce off before they get too far. Ones like that one,' he noted, seeing a particularly vivid burst of luminescence, 'are coming in too steep. It's amazing how precise the angle has to be to enter the atmosphere – only a two-degree range of error, and otherwise…you're dead.'

Just like Heero had nearly been. When he'd been ordered to leave the falling block of Libra, Duo had felt betrayed for a moment. So they were just going to let everyone on Earth die?

It was then that he saw the tiny speck of a Gundam far ahead of the huge monstrosity, a frail, fragile hope upon which rested the lives of all those upon the planet beneath them. And for a moment his own hopes had leapt, until he realized that the angle Heero was falling at…

"What are you thinking so hard about?" Though he hadn't been expecting the object of his thoughts to find him out here, Duo didn't jump. He didn't even turn to face the other boy, instead just leaning sideways a bit and letting his right shoulder bump against Heero's left. No part of him had been worried that there wouldn't be someone for him to lean against – they were partners, after all, and partners were always there for each other, even in little things like this.

"You shouldn't have survived, you know," he stated absently, though his eyes were still on the shooting stars. "Your reentry angle was too steep." There was no need to mention what situation he was talking about.

"I know," Heero responded. It wasn't that he didn't talk, he just didn't say more than he had to. The boy soldier leaned forward on the rail slightly, though he made sure he was still supporting Duo. "But I knew that the Gundanium could take it for a little while."

"Really?" At this, Duo turned his head slightly so that he could see Heero out of the corner of his eye. Like him, Heero was staring out at the light-filled sky, just watching the beautiful results of his actions. "How d'you know that, flyboy?"

"I just…felt it. Wing could take it for as long as I needed it to." That statement needed no qualifier – they were pilots, and they knew their mecha down to the least bit of wiring. They could tell if something was wrong with anything, or how long it could hold a certain stress, by the sound alone. And so Duo did not question Heero on his knowledge and simply nodded.

"What would you have done if I didn't make it?" That question finally managed to get a bigger response out of Duo, and he twisted to regard Heero fully. What would he have done…?

"I dunno," he finally responded. "I…really don't know." His brow furrowed slightly as he thought it through. "If you'd gone in too steep and died, I'd…" It was then that it hit him, the realization of what he'd always felt in Heero, at least for him. "It'd be like losing a vital thruster, the main one used to counterbalance my engine. I'd prolly go in too shallow and loose myself as well." At that, Heero finally turned to face him as well, and Duo realized that he could see the reflections of the meteors in his shadowed eyes.

"I'm glad I didn't go in too steep," Heero said quietly, leaning forward and resting his forehead against Duo's.

"Me too," Duo replied, and came in on an angle to seal their lips together in a kiss. Not too steep, not too shallow – a perfect reentry.

-end-

Comments and reviews are always welcome!