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It isn’t a surprise to anyone that Raleigh likes the oldies station.
Well, oldies isn’t necessarily the right word considering new music hasn’t exactly been a priority. But even so, Raleigh likes the old stuff. Always has. Since his dad would play it working on the car. Of course with everything that happened there Yancy convinced himself he hated that stuff. Hated it with enough passion that sometimes Raleigh has moments when he can’t stand it. And in those moments his fingers turn to the country station.
He thinks—no, he knows that Yancy liked country because their father hated it and he hated their father in the end so anything the old man didn’t like he did. Right down to the vegetables that Raleigh knows he hated the day before he was gone. So when Raleigh is down in the garage working on his stuff, the radio is either on the oldies or the country channel.
Or, it is for as long as it takes Chuck’s grubby, thieving Australian fingers to take it.
Chuck does not like country music and he tolerates oldies for the same reason he shaves with a straight razor and occasionally rubs at phantom limbs. There’s a corner of his head where the music isn’t old and he can almost remember standing at the concert, screaming his head off with his mates before they had to go back to the base. Chuck’s got an entire other life in his head, a longer life, and if Raleigh didn’t wake up shouting in Japanese he can’t remember sometimes, he doesn’t think he would understand it as well as he does.
But he gets it. Kind of.
The Jaeger program has ended for now. Cars are a far cry from giant robots but for people who have dedicated their lives to machines, scratching at an itch is more satisfying than pretending it doesn’t exist. The PPDC kept cars on hand for base use and Raleigh’s pretty certain every one of them has been dismantled and rebuilt dozens of times. Mostly by Chuck who seems to only know how to be calm when there’s at least a ton of machinery inches from his nose.
Raleigh prefers doing work that actually needs to be done. Like working on the engine of one of the older cars. He’s elbow deep in her when the song comes on the radio. He doesn’t know if it’s his or Yancy’s memories that put the words in his mouth, but he kind of likes that. He likes those moments when he isn’t sure where he ends and Yancy begins in his head. He’s singing along happily, working on the engine for a while. He’s in a zone, enough of one that he feels the eyes on the back of his neck but doesn’t address them until after it’s done, fully expecting it to be someone with some non-urgent business.
Instead it’s Chuck. Whose looking at him like he’s gone and grown a second head instead of singing along to the radio.
Raleigh feels his ears get hot. Immediately. Like your ears are supposed to when the thick headed person you may or may not have feelings for catches you doing something you don’t want them to know about. Like singing country songs, with the accent and everything. The radio starts it’s next song and the notes hang between them. Raleigh forces himself to turn around and look back at the car for a moment before turning back to Chuck.
"You need something?" he asks.
"Yeah I—no—" Chuck shakes his head and if Raleigh didn’t feel like an embarrassed sixteen year old he’d have to smile at the way color’s staining Chuck’s cheeks, "you’re singing," the other pilot finishes lamely.
"I didn’t see you there," Raleigh mumbles, his fingers tightening on the tool he’s holding.
Chuck’s neck cranes and he makes a noise of disgust in his throat. Raleigh raises his eyebrows as the younger pilot comes to the car and grabs a wrench. Raleigh opens his mouth to protest but Chuck’s already in the car, starting to undo the work Raleigh’s been doing.
"Hey," Raleigh begins, "I was working on that."
"Ruining it," Chuck says, "where’d you learn to ruin cars, eh Raleigh?" he questions.
Raleigh glares but Chuck’s intent on the task at hand and he can’t bring himself to interrupt. Chuck’s gaze is laser focused on his wrench and manipulating the insides of the car. Raleigh knows his pride is on the line and there’s a good chance Chuck will get a few days of gloating out of the fact that he ‘fixed’ the ‘damage’ Raleigh did to property of the illustrious PPDC.
But there’s something about watching Chuck do something he really loves that kind of makes Raleigh stop and watch. His brow draws together and then smoothes out. Its the most peaceful expression he knows he’ll see on Chuck’s face as his fingers work in the metal and he tunes out the rest of the world. It’s odd to see Chuck who’s usually so close to being off balance find his center. He’s steady when he works on the machines, like he was steady when he was in the Conn Pod.
Raleigh remembers his life before the Jaegers and before the Kaiju. He liked cars and the cold and doing things with his hands. He remembers being balanced before it all happened. Chuck’s lost most of the places he was balanced in, the ones he found after his world ended. Chuck’s a talented mechanic but the cars are a patch on a still-gaping wound. Something protective inside Raleigh can’t bring himself to take that away as Chuck undoes his work and redoes it.
"So where’d you learn to sing?" Chuck asks finally.
"Dunno," Raleigh says shoving his hands in to his pockets, "I never really learned."
Chuck snorts and Raleigh frowns.
"What?"
"Figures you’d just be good at something," Chuck says.
Raleigh presses his lips together. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how young twenty two is, especially where Chuck’s concerned. Raleigh always feels older than his twenty seven years, probably always will. Chuck swings between the extreme of being much younger and much older than he actually is. At the moment Chuck sounds like he’s a jealous twelve year old and for an entirely uncomfortable reason that makes Raleigh smile. He knows it’ll just piss Chuck off so he presses his lips together as the song on the radio dies and the next comes on. He picks up a rag and begins to work it over the tool in his hand.
"I’m booking myself a one way flight, I gotta see the color in your eyes," he begins.
He keeps his eyes averted but he’s aware of Chuck’s shoulders tightening. The wrench in his hand pauses before continuing to work as Raleigh continues to sing, keeping his voice low. The song on the radio is a love song, but he doesn’t let that stop him as he keeps singing. The guy on the radio’s voice is full of passion and it’s loud but Raleigh keeps his low and melodic.
Chuck doesn’t interrupt.
Raleigh’s half expecting him to, a little part of him is hoping for him to react. But Chuck just keeps working on the car as Raleigh sings along to the radio and cleans the tools. The song ends and Chuck is still working on the car as the commercial for toothpaste—now in Kaiju Blue Raspberry—comes on. Finally Raleigh forces himself forward and almost regrets it.
Chuck is beat red. not just slightly red around the ears but in a full on blush. His hands are still working on the engine but there’s stubbornness in every gesture. Immediately Raleigh feels like he’s overstepped his bounds, like he’s pushed too far or done something else wrong again and it’s just pride that’s keeping Chuck standing there. So of course he does the stupid thing and leans over the engine, skirting Chuck’s personal space.
"Listen I’m—"
He never gets to tell Chuck what he is because the other pilot leans forward and crashes his mouth on to his.
Raleigh’s so shocked he drops the wrench. It clatters to the ground as he reaches forward and closes a hand over Chuck’s shoulder. Not to pull him away but because he feels like his knees might give way. Chuck’s not gentle or delicate, it isn’t even that good of a kiss. It’s more like a challenge. But like everything Chuck does, he does it with his entire being and Raleigh can practically taste him even though his lips are shut and he can feel their teeth knocking together through the skin.
Just as quickly as he did it, Chuck rips his mouth away and presses the back of his hand to his mouth like he can’t quite believe what he’s done. Raleigh stares at him for a moment as Chuck looks anywhere but him. Chuck drops down to grab the wrench and before he can catch his mind and his body up, Raleigh catches him and kisses him again.
He doesn’t go fast but presses their mouths together slowly, guiding Chuck’s lips with his own. Chuck goes stiff and tense for a moment before matching his movements. When he pulls away, both their faces are red. Raleigh feels the wrench pressed in to his hand and takes it wordlessly. Chuck clears his throat and turns back to the car.
"Don’t know this one, Raleigh?" Chuck drawls.
Raleigh does, but he doesn’t trust his voice.