Title/theme: BLUSHING
Genre: humour/fluff :D
Approx time line: Phase 41/42 of GS
Summary: "You know Cap'n, you seem blush a lot,"

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The young captain peered into the cockpit of the Strike, looking on curiously at the man tapped away at the keyboard. She saw the look of concentration on his face and smiled. Sensing her eyes on him, he paused and looked up.

"Am I that interesting to watch?" he asked with his usual smile.

"No, I was just wondering what you were up to. I looked all over for you."

"Did you now," he leaned out of the cockpit, moving his face closer to hers.

She blushed, not knowing why.

"You know Cap'n, you seem blush a lot," he observed. She looked up and opened her mouth to retort, but nothing came out. The amusement in his eyes made her blush grow deeper.

He laughed at her awkwardness before catching her lips in a quick kiss. Before she had time to react, he had sat back down and started tapping at the keyboard again. She stared at him, not sure of what to think or say. He always seemed to have a way of making her speechless.

He finished his work and put the keyboard away. Then he looked up at the dumbstruck captain and grinned.

"Still here? Well, since you seem to be so interested in this mobile suit, why don't you come inside?" Without waiting for her answer, he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the cockpit and closed the door.

"Mwu! What are you—" she protested, but felt blood rush to her face once again as she found herself sitting on his lap.

He studied her as she tried to stand up and move behind the pilot seat in the tiny cockpit. "Yup, you definitely blush a lot!"

Her face grew hot, but she chose to ignore that comment and proceeded to move herself to the side of the seat.

To her confusion, he moved out of the seat and stood on the other side of the cockpit. He gestured to the seat, "Would you like to try?"

"M-Me?" she asked, wondering what he was up to this time.

"I don't see anybody else I could've been referring to," he replied with a smile. "I heard that you were actually the first pilot of this mobile suit, so don't be shy."

Murrue sat down hesitantly, not sure what she was getting herself into. It was ironic that she was the first one to pilot this thing, and now it has passed into his hands.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

He sighed with feigned exasperation. "Pilot it of course!"

"Who, me?"

Once again, he reminded her that she was the only other person in the cockpit.

Remembering the disaster the last time she had tried to pilot this machine, she protested. "I-I can't."

"Of course you can. You haven't seen the Natural OS that Kira designed, have you. It makes things a lot easier. And if you were able to move it when it wasn't even completed yet, you should be able to move it now quite easily." He placed a hand on her shoulder for assurance.

"Why do you want me to do this?" she asked, looking up at him, confusion evident in her marigold eyes.

"Why, you're the one who seemed to be so interested in the Strike!" he answered with exaggerated surprise. "I mean, weren't you just staring at it so intently?"

"I wasn't looking at the machine," she mumbled, looking down.

"Oh?" he asked, amusement evident in his voice.

"Fine! I'll try it!" she told him with a humph, looking for something to distract him from further inquiring about her actions and further embarrass herself.

She turned on the Strike, watching the activation screen come on. Then she slowly pushed on the foot pedal.

Mwu was right, this new OS made operating the mobile suit a lot easier. And with his careful instructions, she made the Strike do a little dance in the hanger, much to his amusement.

"See? That wasn't so bad now was it?"

She shook her head, smiling. "I guess not."

"Mind if I sit?" he asked once she shut the Strike down. And she gladly let him have the seat back. But before she could move out of the way, he caught her waist and pulled her down so she was sitting in his lap again. She struggled to stand, but he wouldn't let her.

"So, you weren't looking at the machine eh?" he asked with a roguish grin. She reddened again.

She sighed, sensing that he wasn't going to let this one go.

"Okay fine, I was looking at you, are you happy now?" she glared at him. "And yes, I do blush a lot," she added.

He laughed merrily. "I never thought I'd see the day when I'd catch you staring!"

She turned her back to him in a huff. Once again, she was angry that she couldn't think of a good comeback. She jumped a bit when his face suddenly came into her view.

"What?" she demanded.

"Thanks for being honest," he grinned, blue eyes sparkling.

Oh great, here come the blush. She tried to hide it by turned her head, but his hand gently turned it towards him. Her heart pounded as he drew her closer.

"You know, you don't make all that bad of a pilot," he told her. Before she could reply, he caught her cherry lips in a soft kiss. This time, he gave her enough time to react and kiss him back.

She drew away first, feeling the sudden need to cool down her flaming face. She pushed the button to open the door and proceeded to climb out clumsily. She turned around as he caught her arm.

"It's okay to blush, Murrue."

AN: hehe, more senseless fluff! I just thought that it's kinda ironic that she was the first to pilot the Strike and he was the last TT... I've wondered if she'd ever thought to try piloting an MS, and this kinda spun from that idea. the blushing part just came naturally. It seemed that in a lot of fanfics (including my own), she does blush quite a lot XD. and you know how blunt Mwu can be, thought he'd probably tell her :D. The staring part came naturally too, since I love that scene from Phase 19 XD.