"So…That was Clown, huh?" Prez frowned deeply, nervously flicking her radar screen on and off.

Trigger shook himself out of his thoughts. "Well…yeah that was. Knocker too. He led Golem squadron, Brownie liked him."

"Were they always like…that?"

He frowned deeply. "No…a little bit. But not fully."

Silence reigned in the cockpit for a few minutes, just the occasional click of Prez's radar.

"What now then?"

He quickly looked back at her. "Huh?"

"What do we do now?" She sighed, her eyes were dark. "We took down a freaking airship…the IUN is going to be after us for sure now. Or…worse than that, Crimson. What do we do when they come for us next time? They're obviously not letting us go, and working outside of the law to do whatever they want. Like…Fuck dude! That was a full blown airship! Do you know how expensive those are! The upkeep alone is fuckin insane!" She growled. "We're fucked…we're fucked! There's no way the IUN is not going to come after us! And I…I…I…" She suddenly slumped down. "Oh my god…I killed one of your old squad members. I…I'm su-"

"No."

Prez jumped, her back going straight as an arrow. "Eh?"

"Whatever you were about to say, don't." He pointed back at her. "You don't need to apologize, you don't need to worry about it. I'd rather have you here, with me, than anything else Prez." He sighed slightly, lifting up his visor and looking her straight in the eyes. "Clown and Knocker made their decision a long time ago."

She stared at him for a moment, trying to form words. Her lip wobbled a bit as all the worry and emotions she was holding in were swept away.

"And yes, you'll get a hug when we get back. Promise." He turned back around, starting to run checks on the flight back. "Avril can yell at me for all I care." He tapped at the altimeter, making sure it was accurate.

"Wait what?" She chuckled, wiping a tear from her cheek. "Since when have you been able to read me so well?"

He paused, his finger freezing mid tap. "Huh?"

"How'd you know I wanted a hug?" She smiled, trying to keep too many tears from falling. "I didn't even know I needed that. Heh…Look at you Trigger, couldn't even talk to a room full of guys, but you're understanding what I need before I even know it." She sniffled a bit, but gently slapped her cheeks to distract herself.

"Honestly…you just looked like you were going to start blaming yourself, so…I decided to just say what I would usually say, and as for the hug…I just wanted to give you a hug, thats all."

She smiled, her cheeks becoming a little red. "Alright, it better be a really big hug though, I won't accept anything less than that."

"Oh?" He chuckled. "I thought that was already implied?"

"Ohhhh snap, someone's getting sassy. Thats new." She scoffed. "You know when I get that hug I'll have the perfect moment to punch you in the kidney, dumbass."

"Welp, someone's not getting their hug then."

"Hey! You son of a bitch I better get my goddamn hug or I will END YOU!"

He laughed, a deep, long and hearty laugh. "Oh! Ha! See that's the Prez I know and love."

"Eeep!" She froze up, mid sign with her right hand hand, fingers pressed together. "Oh…Well…I…thanks, man. You're the best."

He smiled softly at that. "Thanks, so are you, you know that?"

She rolled her eyes slightly. "Well I do now, that's for sure."

"Good, don't forget it." He smirked slightly. "We'll be back at base soon, we'll get things in order there, alright?"

"Right!" She smiled brightly. "We'll get out of this hellhole soon! I can feel it."

He really hoped that was true. To him, things felt as if they would get a little more difficult. He let out a long breath as they linked back up with Bandog and the others. The poor AWACs was in the middle of what seemed to be a heart attack.

"What the fuck?! What the actual fuck! They just…opened fire at us? With missiles? They specifically targeted me too? What the hell is going on? How do they think they can just get away with that!" He let out shaky breaths, barely gasping in air. "How?"

Count chuckled. "First time?"

There was a loud groan from the AWACs' com. "God damn it really Count?" He chuckled.

"What?" He clicked his tongue after a moment. "Shit is that meme outdated? I haven't been on the internet in a year so I'm out of the loop!" The Con man grumbled slightly.

"HA!" Tabloid laughed happily. "Ohhh man, oh man, you're not outa the loop at all dude. Plus that fit perfectly." He paused. "Do you think Count and I can mark peacekeeper kills on our noses?"

Bandog sighed deeply. "No…"

"Awwww come on!" Tabloid rolled a bit to join Bandog in a loose formation. "Please?"

"No…absolutely, positively, not." Bandog growled. "Not only would we all get in trouble, I'm pretty sure most of us would be…well screwed. If we went around with criminals bragging they took down two peacekeepers, I'm sure top brass would have words to say to me. Since I am…still the jailer, and I'm supposed to keep you all on 'Good Behavior' or at least as good as I can do with you lot."

"Awww he does care!" High Roller chuckled. "Alright Full Band, you owe me fifty dollars now."

"Oh for crying out loud…." A groan echoed through the coms. "You're joking! That doesn't prove shit! Unless he for sure says 'Hey you idiots, I care about all of you especially Count.' I ain't paying shit!"

"Hey! What'da mean by that?"

Prez giggled. "Oh my god I can hear him pouting!"

"I am not pouting!" A huff carried over the coms.

"Suuuure Count, Sure." Tabloid chuckled. "It's not like there's a mic right next to your mouth at all."

The entire squadron broke into laughter.

Full Band's quiet snickers.

High Roller busting a gut in pure laughter.

Tabloid's chuckling slowly building to full blown laughter.

Trigger laughed as well, not holding back, pulling them into formation.

Prez was giggling until she was out of breath, then sucking in air before giggling and laughing all over again.

"Alright, alright, you bunch of jokers! Form up, we're going home!"

"Oh god he went back to calling it home. Gross." Tabloid sighed.

"Oh fine, return to base!" Bandog sighed.

"More like return to hell…" High Roller chuckled.

"Rather just say prison honestly…" Full band sighed.

"Return to the shithole is how I feel." Count scoffed.

"Reject normality, return to shithole." Tabloid snickered.

"Oh my god please stop." Full Band groaned.

"Yeah…I'm just…gunna go before you all make more bad jokes, memes, and references. Got to report all of this before the IUN starts trying to demand we're shut down, again…" Bandog's coms cut out.

"My god, a new day has dawned. We are finally, veritly free from the clutches of the terrifying and fearsome guard dog." Tabloid's voice took on a bardic tone, sounding fancier and more elegant than ever.

There was a long pause.

"I'm pretty sure 'veritly' isn't a word…" Full Band clicked his tongue. "Tabloid did you just make up a word to sound fancy?"

"What?! No!" He scoffed. "It's absolutely a word!"

Prez kept giggling happily. "Oh…Oh fuck I can't breeeeath!" She sucked in a small breath before the giggling fit took over again. "Tabloid! You sound so…so…Incensed! Hehehe!"

Trigger rolled his eyes slightly, but he could feel his own wide smile. It was nice to just have things go back to normal in their group. Well other than Full Band still being an ass…

Something wet was running down his calf.

"Shit…hang on…" He started running maintenance checks. "Wyvern's leaking something."

Prez gasped deeply behind him. "Wait what?!" Her laughter stopped instantly. She sat back up quickly, booting her OS back up. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know…and it's bothering me." He sighed slightly, turning on his coms. "Hey Tabloid, can you do a spot check for me?"

"Ehhh…a what?" His Mirage still appeared close by, flying in tight formation.

"I need you to check for any leaking fluids coming from the X-02. I just felt something wet hit me and I can't identify it." He frowned as he looked over the console, looking for anything flashing red.

"Uh…yeah sure. Don't see how that would be to hard." Tabloid was quiet for a moment, before mumbling slightly.

"Trigger I'm not seeing anything, no warnings or alerts on our end. No oil pressure losses. No signs of fuel loss. Hydraulics look good. Fire suppression system is still in standby and didn't go off during the engagement…" She squints slightly. "You sure you felt something?"

"I'm pre-" He felt more trickling down his leg. "Nevermind, absolutely sure." He looked down at his instruments. "We loosing any thrust?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Thrust?"

"Yeah, just…just check it."

"Alright…" She shrugged, double checking everything. "Nothing…hang on." She triple checked. "Still nothing. I don't know what you're feeling hit you because we are green across the board here. I've checked everything twice now. I just checked to see if we're loosing thrust a third time." She pouted slightly. "Everything is fine."

"I'm telling you something is up…" He growled slightly, the thought of them randomly going down due to some small oversight was eating away at him. His stomach twisted into knots as more and more possibilities flooded into his brain. God he didn't need Prez getting hurt after all of this, or them having to make their way home. Prez…broken and bloodied was something he would hope would always stay exclusively in his nightmares and only his nightmares. There was no way that he would let that happen in reality. He would rather die than see her hurt. However…part of him knew she would say the same about him. He really should be more honest about how he fe-

"Trigger!"

"Huh?" He shook his head sightly, looking over to Tabloid's Mirage. "Whats up?"

"Sorry, you zoned out on me there dude…" Tabloid chuckled. "I can't exactly throw rocks at your canopy to get your attention now can I?"

"No…no really." he chuckled. "Please don't do that by the way, we took enough impacts from rocks thanks to Inessa Two back there."

"She was a powerful one huh?" You could hear the Anarchist's smile from a mile away. "Anywho…I'm not seeing a damn thing from this side. Nothing leaking at all from what I can tell. If something is leaking…it's either extremely minimal…or it's stopped now."

"Yeah, I'd put my money in Tabloid's corner." High Roller hummed slightly. "I'm not seeing anything on this side…"

Trigger's head whipped to the right, staring in shock to see the F-16XL very close by, the gambler leaning forward slightly to get a better look. More of the leak was running down his calf. "What the hell…" He leaned forward, starting to feel underneath his instrument console, slowly running his hand back and forth under the equipment. "Keeps dripping on my calf…" He growled in annoyance.

There was nothing!

There had to be something!

Prez tapped his shoulder, saying something.

Nothing on his equipment was telling what was wrong!

No one was seeing anything on the outside so it had to be internal…right?

Prez wasn't seeing anything either, and she was definitely the more experienced one, she used to be a crew chief so she knew her shit.

He felt a little dizzy suddenly. Not too much though, must just be from the few hard high-G turns he hit. Nothing to worry about, he had to focus.

Maybe he missed something?

Yes, he had to have missed something.

He reached his hand under his console again, taking a deep breath to calm himself. Making sure to move his hand underneath very slowly, feeling for every bump, welding slag, whatever he could find.

"Trigger!"

"Hang on Prez, I'm double checking something…" He moved his hand back down, feeling carefully while cursing his inability to see what was going on above his legs. Then he felt something…it felt like a puncture in the metal. "Ah ha! I think I got it!" He felt around a little more. "Come on…"

"Trigger…" A soft sob filled the cockpit.

He froze, his finger finally feeling what he had found, it was a puncture, it felt like a piece of shrapnel was lodged inside. Probably the piece that went through his….He looked back to Prez…and his whole train of thought fell apart.

She had unbuckled herself from her seat, her oxygen mask was off, one hand gripping his shoulder, the other holding their medkit. Her eyes were filled with so much pain…worry…fear…

He didn't know what to say…he followed her eye, staring at a single point of his calf.

He saw red.

So much red.

"Shit…That's not the plane…"

Prez put on a shaky smile. "I mean…kinda an understatement there."

He was so, so, stupid.

She handed him the medkit staring at the bloodsoaked bandage around his leg.

He slapped the autopilot on. "Going on autopilot…"

"Eh? Whats up?" Tabloids voice came through the coms, a little bit of worry echoing through.

"It wasn't the plane that was leaking." He unzipped the medkit and pulled out a roll of gauze and a pair of medical scissors. "It was me…"

Prez frowned deeply. "God damn it…It's all my fault…" Her mind whirled, it was all her fault. She knew he was injured, she new about his leg, and she knows the effect of high-G forces. She knew exactly what would happen when she told him to go all out, but she was to busy thinking about herself, her stupid, dumb, worthle-

"Hey…none of that now." He raised up a single finger. "You were right…" He winced as he started to cut away at the blood soaked gauze. Honestly if it wasn't for her getting his head in the game, he would have just kept messing up, then they wouldn't be going home…

It was his fau-

"Hey…"

He froze once again, one slice away from fully cutting through his bandages. He slowly turned, looking at her.

She grinned, wiping tears from her cheek. "None of that now."

He let out a breath as a smile overtook his lips. "Right…none of that now." He cut through the last bit of the gauze, hissing as it tugged on his wound. "Fuuuck that stings!" He pulled off the gauze, letting it fall away.

Prez started to rip off strips of medical tape, this time however she stuck the end of each strip on his shoulder.

He picked up the fresh gauze and got to work, starting to wrap up the wound tightly, his leg twitching in pain as he did. Honestly what was he thinking? It wasn't as if he didn't have blood! But of course, he pushed himself when he knew he was wounded…and then completely forgot about the shrapnel that went through his leg! He really surprised himself there with how dumb he could get. Though not as dumb as Full Band being an ass lately, another thing to deal with once they got back. Maybe after he healed up first.

"Yes…Please heal up first before we try and tackle the mystery of what crawled up Full Band's ass and died…I'm not dealing with that while I'm worried about you as well thank you." Prez scoffed slightly.

He nods, See, she's right, he needs to take things easy…not be so much of an idi-

Prez cleared her throat, glaring slightly.

Right…not so much of a…

A…

Huh…

Being nice to himself was hard…Was it always this hard?

He reached for a piece of tape.

God he's such a dumbass.

"Yes, you are. But you're My Dumbass." She grinned brightly at him, winking slightly. "You're our dumbass, we're all here for you, you know?"

He felt his cheeks heat up. "Your dumbass?" He chuckled slightly, as he started to tape the new gauze in place.

"Well…yeah…I mean I've always got your back dude." She leaned back a tiny bit, hiding her face behind his seat. "Y'know?"

"Yeah…" He smiled, checking the bandage around his calf, making sure it was nice and tight. "I know, I know."

"You got my back too right?" She tilted her head slightly.

"Yeah…always Prez." He slowly started to put everything back into the medkit, making sure the rest of their gauze was properly wrapped up and put away, the scissors weren't going to stab anyone next time it was opened, and that the tape was put in the right place. Zipping up the kit as he turned to hand it over to Prez.

"Thank you…Trigger…that…that means the world to me." Her smile grew.

"Oh! Well, pfft, I mean come on!" He waved his free hand as he gave her a big smile, closing his eyes slightly. "You mean the world to me! So why wouldn't I have your back?" He heard a squeak. That…was definitely Prez, he quickly opened his eyes to check on her.

She was blushing…Her face was bright red. She pursed her lips, grabbed the medkit with a shaky smile and quickly hid back away. "Thanks!"

Trigger raised an eyebrow at that. He must have said something embarrassing…might have buttered her up a little too much there…

Oh well, he meant what he said, he had no idea where on earth he would be without her. He chuckled, a slight grin on his face. "You all strapped in back there?"

There was another squeak as two clicks echoed through the cockpit. "Yep! All good to go!"

"Alright." He shut down the autopilot, taking control back and rejoining the formation.

The coms crackled slightly. "Trigger, you all good?"

"Yeah, we're good Bandog, just…reopened a wound from the raid. I'm going to take it easy now honestly…Or else Prez will kill me before I can bleed out."

"Yeah, and good luck stopping me from that."

"Actually…who would in a fight anyways? Trigger or Prez?" Tabloid hummed slightly.

"Eh!?" Prez frowned slightly, glaring over at Tabloid's Mirage. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!"

"Wait, Wait…What kind of fight? That would be the true deciding factor." Count scoffed. "Physical?"

"Oh! Yeah, definitely physical."

"My money is on Prez honestly…" High Roller chuckled. "Anyone else got hypothetical bets to put down?"

"Prez." Count's answer was instantaneous.

"Definitely Prez." Tabloid chuckled slightly.

"Fine, I might as well get in on this." Full Band sighed deeply. "Probably would be Prez…"

"…Prez…"

"Trigger! You can't place a bet against yourself!" High Roller roared in laughter.

"Oh snap!" Prez giggled brightly.

"Ha!" Bandog laughed heartily. "Well, the chances are already pretty damn low for him. So, might as well play the game so you'll win somehow. Right High Roller?"

"Well guarddog…who would you bet on?"

"Prez, one hundred percent. She could lay Champ out flat, she'd probably have Trigger out cold in a minute, tops."

"Oh…wonderful, thanks for your confidence Bandog!"

"What? I saw a few of her and Champ's fights. She does not pull her punches."

Trigger looked over his shoulder at Prez, raising an eyebrow.

She tilted her head. "What?"

"How often did you two get into fights anyways?"

"All the time, why you asking? Jealous?" She smirked back at him.

"Maybe…" His reply was barely a whisper.

Everyone went silent.

Prez blushed even more, quickly slapping her oxygen mask back into place.

Trigger tilted his head slightly, looking at Prez carefully.

Someone snickered.

His eyes went wide.

Was his mic was still on?

Prez nodded quickly.

Everyone broke out into howling laughter.

He sighed. "Damn it…"

"Hehehe! You know…" Tabloid broke out into more rambunctious laughter. "Usually…" he took a breath. "Usually…" Another giggle. "You ask the girl out first, Trigger." The anarchist devolved into breathless giggling, unable to finish his joke.

He sighed, rolling his eyes, oh lord they were never going to let this go, why on earth did Prez and Champ get into fights anyways?

"I dunno, it just worked."

He raised an eyebrow at her in confusion. 'It just worked.' What was that supposed to mean?

She shrugged. "What? We had to work out our problems somehow, and as you know, Champ wasn't really the best at talking about his feelings."

"What would you know tomboy?"

"Enough to know that you learned the same from him Full Band." She snapped back with a hiss. "Seriously dude, not right now, save it for when we are back at base and I've gotten some sleep."

Trigger shook his head, nodding to Prez as he faced forward again.

"God I could kill for a nap right now. But I think I've gotta work with Avril on my plane here."

"Hmm? What'da mean by that Count?" Bandog made a curious hum over the coms.

"Well my FCS got fried when Inessa Two hit, and I don't know what caused it, but I'm sure if I actually sit down with Avril while she does repairs. Or, you know, actually help. I might be able to learn what went wrong, and make sure it doesn't happen again. We almost lost Spare Three because of this bullshit."

"What do you mean by you almost lost Spare Three?" Avril's voice cut through the calm like a chainsaw.

"O-oh…Hey…Scr-…I mean, Avril! Damn are we in range already?" Count sucked air in through his teeth. "Soooooo about that…"

"Where the fuck is Jacker, Count?"

"He's fine! He's fine! He'll just be…late?"

"Nice save dumbass…" High Roller snickered.

"The fuck does 'Late' mean? Stop beating around the bush like a bunch of dumbasses! Seriously!" She sighed deeply. "Alright lets start at the top. Is Jacker alive?"

"Yeeeep, he'll be fine Avril."

"Thank you Prez! At least someone is being a smartass rather than a dumbass."

"Hey!"

Another round of snickers and small laughter filled the coms.

"Seriously though, the fuck happened to my best electrician?"

Bandog cleared his throat slightly. "Spare Three is safe and sound, he was unfortunately, shot down, but we made contact with him over coms. He found a Jeep and is making his way back to friendly lines. He should be back in about three days Avril."

A sigh filled the coms. "Tsk…I feel like I should be upset about the plane…" She let out a tired laugh. "But honestly, I'm just happy to know he's okay. How is everyone else?"

"No other losses, just a few scrapes and minor hits. I am going to apologize in advance though." Bandog chuckled nervously.

"I'm sorry…Did you just?…no…Our Guard Dog? Apologizing? Impossible." Count huffed slightly.

Everyone snickered some more.

"Ugh…come on Bandog, out with it, what did you do?"

"I had to make Spare Squadron fly into a dust storm over a desert."

Avril hissed.

Everyone went silent.

"Yeah…sorry about that…"

"Bandog…"

He swallowed audibly. "Yes?"

"You're helping me clean sand out of these planes you realize that?"

"Yeah…"

"Good, Now everyone get ready to land, whoever is the most damaged gets to go first."

"That would be Trigger and Prez."

Trigger hissed slightly.

Prez shivered in fear.

"What did they do this time?!" Avril groaned. "What you leaking fuel? Oil?"

"Noooo…" Prez cleared her throat, "Something, a bit more important than that."

"Wait what? Whats more important to a plane than fuel?"

"Blood." Trigger called back, wincing slightly at the sigh that followed.

"You two are going to be the death of me…I'll have medical personnel waiting at hanger fifteen."

"Thanks Avril."

Trigger swallowed slightly as he finally shut down the Wyvern's engines. Looking at Avril as she glared back at him, her arms crossed. "You know…"

"What?" Prez leaned forward as she unbuckled herself, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"When High Roller and Tabloid did that spot check for us…we really should have asked them how bad things looked."

"Ooooohhh…Yeah…" She grimaced and hissed. "Think we can worm our way out of the verbal lashing we're about to get?"

He simply shook his head, releasing the canopy lock, and pushing it open. "Nah, I don't think so, most of it can be put on Bandog and Inessa Two." He unbuckled himself.

"But it's also on us huh?" Prez grinned as she pulled off her helmet. "Well it could be worse, right?"

Oh it could always be worse. He knew that Avril was going to take things somewhat easy on them. With all the shit they had to go through this time around, and the high possibility of someone coming down from HQ to chew them out about fighting peacekeepers again. But right now, they were back and things were going to be jus-

He hissed.

Prez noticed the moment he started to buckle, and leapt forward, gripping his shoulder. "Woah, Woah! Take it easy." She guided him over to edge of the cockpit. "Sit down, sit down. Take the weight off your calf."

He did as she asked, sitting on the edge, his legs still inside.

Prez scrambled out, carefully walking along the fuselage. "Hey! Medic!" She waved everyone forward. "Come on! We don't have all day!" She gave the medical team a death glare.

That quickly got them moving, Avril following behind with a strange grin on her face.

She glared back, putting her hands forward, palms up, fingers frozen in a sort of grabbing motion, then shrugged, pushing her head forward slightly.

The Mechanic put a hand to her chest, gasping while looking sarcastically incensed.

Prez rolled her eyes, turning back to Trigger as the medics arrived, "Alright, come on dude." She put a hand on his shoulder as a ladder was brought up and attached. "Take it easy, one step at a time." She held out a hand.

He nodded back with a small smile, gently taking her hand. He slowly stood, wincing as he did.

She frowned, helping him up more, patting his bad leg so he would lead with it.

He follows her advice, putting the bad leg out first, letting her guide it into place. He gives her a look, as if wondering if she is okay doing this.

She rolls her eyes once more. "Dude, come on, you think I wouldn't be worried about you, just humor me alright?" She picked him up, her arm around his shoulder, allowing him to turn and step onto the ladder without putting any weight on his injured leg.

He smiled at her. "Alright, alright, I getcha."

Prez felt her face heat up a bit again. "Shush your face dumbass…" She helped guide him down the ladder. It was a slow process, one that was prolonged by Trigger's instance to keep trying use his bad leg. Prez would gently tap his good leg each time he tried. She hoped off the Wyvern halfway through, making sure to keep an eye on him.

He reached the bottom, the medics guided him over to a wheelchair they had brought out. Someone was actually being nice for once it seemed, usually if an inmate was injured they would have to walk to the infirmary.

She breathed a sigh of relief, they made it back.

They were safe.

It was going to take a while for her to process…this…killing Clown situation. She had heard about the man for a while now. Even if Trigger was usually quite tight lipped about the whole old squadron thing, he never painted Clown as an inherently evil person. It's not as if she hadn't killed anyone before either. She had a body count, that much was for sure. She still remembers some…the pirates…that gang who thought they could rough up her family…so many pilots. All of that was before she met Trigger though.

Now?

That body count was so, so much higher.

She bit her lip. She shouldn't be worrying about this right now. She tries to ignore the blood on her hands at most times. But in the end…isn't she a mur-

Someone tapped her shoulder. It's a gentle touch, but lost in her thoughts she quickly reacts, growling deep in her throat, fists bared.

Trigger takes a step forward.

"Dude what the fuck you're sup-" She freezes the moment his arms wrap around her, pulling her close to his chest. She felt her face explode into a bright red blush, then, she melted into the hug, wrapping her own arms around him. "What's this about?"

He chuckled slightly. "Well, I said I would give you a hug."

"Yeah…you did, but this is a bit more than the usual hug?" She chuckled as well.

"Take it as a thank you…you save my ass out there today." He sighs. "I…My…my head wasn't in the game. Clown and Knocker really got to me, you got me to focus when I couldn't and… you pulled the trigger when I couldn't." He squeeze her just a little more.

She squeezed him back. Were his hugs always this good?

"Thank you."

"Anytime dude, I got your back." She wanted to stay there forever. Hell, she was the one who threatened to 'end him' if she didn't get her hug. But…he needed to take care of himself. "Now go rest and heal up. Avril and I can handle the repairs, okay?"

He nodded, and slowly let go, a strange, satisfied smile covered his face. "Right…see you later then?"

She nodded. "Absolutely." She let go as well, already missing him, and watched as the medics finally got him to sit in the wheelchair, and take him away. She sighed. Enjoying the warmth she felt deep in her chest.

"Sooooo…"

And then nearly jumped out of her own skin. "Avril! What the fuck!?"

"What?" She shrugged, snickering slightly.

"You can't just sneak up on me like that! Jesus!" Prez clutched at her heart.

"Well someone has to check up on you, since you were too busy checking out Trigger."

"Oh eat my entire ass you jerk!"

"Nah, I'm good, sure you wouldn't mind if someone else did though." Avril nudged her gently.

Prez squinted slightly. "Eh?"

"Really?" She pouted. "Come on! I know you're trying to act tough, but you were all over Trigger there. What's going on huh? Did you finally stop crushing and ask the boy out?"

Prez's face went bright red as she sucked in a breath. "Wait! What? No! I don't even have a crush on Trigger!"

She frowned. "Uh huh…" A single eyebrow raised. "Is this like that time…where you had coffee and I asked if I could have some, and you said you didn't have coffee when you actually had coffee in your hand? Right at that moment?"

"What…"

"So you say you don't have a crush on Trigger." She points to her left with both hands, index fingers out, thumbs up. "Even though you have all the signs of having a crush on someone." She rotates her hands around to point to the right. "And let's be honest, the only person who would make sense would be Trigger. Unless you somehow have been hanging out with Count more than I know about…"

"Bleeeeeh, God no." She waved her hands back and forth, crossing her arms in front of her. "He's a chill dude, good friend, but not boyfriend material."

She points at Prez. "So….You have a crush on Trigger."

Prez tilts her head to the left. "What the fuck was that Avril…"

"Logical deduction." She rolls her eyes. "Which…I don't think worked."

"Well yeah…I don't have a crush on him."

Both of Avril's eyebrows raised this time. "Uh huh…so who is Trigger to you?"

"Oh! That's easy." She scoffs. "He's my best friend, he's kind, he's understanding, he takes time every day to talk with me, he listens to me, he's protective as hell…I…I couldn't imagine being without him for a single day." She smiles softly, feeling her cheeks heat up as she thinks about hugging him, holding his hand… "But…" She sighs, running a hand through her hair, groaning at the annoying length.

Avril grins. "But?" She leans closer.

She groans more, hiding her face in her hands. "Alright fine! He's more than that now…I…I dunno how to put it? I just feel…safe? Warm? Comfortable? Even here, in basically the worst hellhole known to mankind. I feel all of that, it's like I…" Her mind flashes to a recent memory, the two of them laughing. Her threat if she didn't get a hug…it was just a hug, why was she so quick to jokingly threaten to "end him" when he tried to take it away? A part of her was worried he was serious.

And then…

He said…

"See that's the Prez I know and love."

Her eyes widened as she looks back to the open door. "Oh…"

The wind gently rolls across the tarmac, pushing the weeds poking out from the cracks like a hand brushing them to the side.

A good minute passes.

Avril tilts her head. "Oh?"

Prez laughs slightly. "Oh no…" She smiles, her eyes have finally brightened up. "I've got a crush on the dumbass…"

"Uh huh…" The Scrap Queen raised an eyebrow, leaning closer still, a pleased smirk sitting on her lips, waiting for her friend to continue.

"Alright fine, fine…I have a massive crush on the dumbass." She smiles…it's a bright, carefree smile that only Trigger gets to see usually, she finally understands it. Why she's always excited to see him, why she's so damn protective of him, why she never wants to let go of his hand when it's in her own, wh-

Thunk

She looks to Avril.

She is still leaned forward, her smirk gone, replaced by a look of confusion and fury as she slowly turns to the right.

Tabloid slowly moves his hands from covering his mouth, up to a surrendering pose. "I…I was told…to…ummm…give this to you?" He points to the crate at his feet, one corner of which is sitting on his foot.

Prez squeaks, her face going bright red.

Avril reaches for a wrench. "Tabloid…"

The Anarchist's eyes widen, as he sucks in a breath. "Yes?"

"You get a five second head start…" Her hand wraps around the wrench's handle. "Five…"

Tabloid took three steps back, letting the crate slide off his foot.

"Four…" She hefted the wrench, glaring at the pilot.

He turned, full parade step, as if he practiced every day, marched one step forward.

"Three, Two, One!" Avril chucked the wrench.

Tabloid squealed and booked it, sprinting away as fast he could.

Avril grabbed another wrench, running after him, barely limping. "Get back here Tabloid! I'll teach you to listen in on private conversations!" She turns the corner.

Prez wished Tabloid the best of luck, but let out a deep sigh as realization crashed into her. "Oh Dust Mother!" She buries her face into her hands, groaning deeply. "I have crush on my best friend…" She could feel the blush on her face growing and growing. "And there is no way I'm going to have time to deal with this properly until we get out of this mess…"

And really…who knew when that would be?

"Fuck me…"

One Year,

Over 100k Words,

and more Reviews and Favorites than I ever expected.

I cannot believe it's been a full year, mostly because a year ago I had written up chapter one on my own free time with no intentions of sharing, and just said, fuck it, I'll post it. I certainly didn't know where I was going with the character relations, as some of you have noticed in the comments on chapter one. I really didn't know who would be getting together with who, nor did I know that I would start the rarest of rare pair ships. But, the time has come to happily accept the captain's seat, as you may have noticed, there is a relationship tag now. Trigger x Prez is official. It's been a long time coming, that's for sure. Their growth has been really fun to write honestly, But it's still going to be a bit until the big moment, so you might want to get the popcorn.

Lastly, the support and amount of people who comment and enjoy this fic has blown every expectation out of the water. I seriously cannot thank everyone enough for all their support, seeing you all excited about what's coming next, or watching you all react to what happens in a chapter is so much fun.

So yeah, it's the official one year anniversary of Project Wyvern.

Right on time for...*looks at paper* the...Three Year Anniversary of Ace Combat 7...Huh...Didn't plan that at all in all honesty. Kinda just decided to post on the 18th of each month.

Also for anyone who missed it, I posted a small Christmas gift back in december, so be sure to head on over to my profile and check out Basilisk: A Project Wyvern Side Story, introducing good old Basilisk team, who will be around more in the future.

Well, here's to another year of Project Wyvern then!