See part one for diclaimers
Wedge practically bolted out of the hanger as
soon as he'd turned his fighter over to the techs and after he'd spoken to the
tour group who had just happened to be passing through their section of the
hanger bay when his wing had arrived back. He'd been as proper as he'd known
how until he'd noticed that Luke wasn't with them. He knew from Luke's
itinerary that he'd be scheduled to be on this tour. But Luke hadn't been with
the group. Where was his friend?
"Luke?" Wedge called as he entered
their quarters. Then he relaxed as he saw the other pilot lying on the bed.
"You're back early." Luke said in a
near whisper as he sat up, unable to take his eyes of the figure in the
doorway.
"It turned out the Intel was wrong.
There was only one flight guarding the place." Wedge said as he stepped
the rest of the way in to the room and closed the door. "We just flew in
practically unchallenged."
"Sounds easier then dealing with the
things here." Luke sighed tiredly.
"You okay Luke?" The younger man
asked. "You don't look so good." That was an understatement, the
pilot thought as he looked at his friend. Luke had dark circles under his eyes
and his posture was slumped.
"I had trouble sleeping." Luke
shrugged, then dropped his eyes to the floor. "I missed you." He
mumbled so softly that Wedge almost didn't hear it, but he smiled at the warm
feelings that comment elicited in his chest.
The silence after his words seemed to get heavy,
like something more should come. But neither knew what. Finally Wedge yawned
hugely.
"You must be tired too." Luke
managed. "It's not exactly easy to sleep in the cockpit."
"Yeah... I'm wiped out. I think we could
both use a nap huh?"
"Yeah." He smiled slightly, then
rose, his hands coming up to work the fastenings of the other mans flight suit.
He knew how hard it could be to manage them when your hands were numb from
hours of handling constantly vibrating controls of a snub fighter.
"Feels right now." Luke mumbled
sleepily.
"Huh?"
"That's' why I couldn't sleep."
Luke explained. "The bunk felt all wrong with you gone."
"I didn't like flying without you. Felt
wrong not having you at my wing. I don't trust anyone as much as you..."
He meant to say when they were flying, but some how the last part of the
sentence just wouldn't come. It didn't matter, he did trust Luke more then
anyone else. "I missed you too, not as my wing man, but you." He
added then shyly pressed a kiss against Luke's forehead. Sure he'd done it
plenty of times when the other man was asleep but when he was awake that was
different. What if he was misinterpreting what Luke felt?
But Luke just blinked then smiled and cuddled
closer to him, draping one arm across his middle. With a sigh of relief Wedge
brought his arm up around his friend and let himself drift off, feeling
completely content.
It only seemed a second later that he was
woken by Luke struggling against him, the silence of their room broken by his
soft distress sounds.
"Luke." He called and gently shook
his friend. "Come on Luke wake up." The older man bolted up right
gasping his eyes wide.
"Wedge?" He questioned, his voice
verging on a whimper.
"Shhh... Right here." Wedge
murmured pulling Luke against him again. The other man instantly burrowed into
him. Wedge wrapped his arms around his friend's shaking body, making comforting
sounds, trying to sooth the shudders. "Hush, what's wrong."
"Dreams." Came the reply muffled
against the skin of his shoulder. "Nightmares."
"Shhh..." Wedge murmured, patting
Luke's back, remembering the first night he'd held his friend just like this.
"Dreams can't hurt you, you know that."
"Yeah." Luke snuffled.
"What are they about?"
"Lots of things... the crew men of the D-d-death
star, m-mostly. Do you know how... how m-many people crewed that thing? Over a
million. R2 found it while he was rummaging through its central computer."
"Luke, you know it had to be done."
"I know but that's not the only dream...
there are one's w-where..." Luke trailed off suddenly.
"Where what Luke?" Wedge encouraged
him gently.
"Where you died." Luke's arms
tightened around his friend enough to cause Wedge to briefly worry about his
ribs, but he put the worry aside, tightening his own arms.
"I didn't die." He whispered, his
mouth near Luke's ear.
"I know... but..."
"I'm right here." Wedge said as he
tipped his friend's face up and forced him to look at him. "You see?"
Luke nodded.
Wedge lay back and held his arms out to the
other man, who crawled in to them as though they were the only shelters he
knew.
They lay together in silence for several
minutes. Then Wedge spoke. "Talk to me Luke. You can't just keep bottling
all this up. It wouldn't do for the Alliances greatest hero to lose it.
Luke was quiet for a long moment. He pressed
his face against Wedge's neck so that the other man wouldn't be able to see his
face in the dim lighting. "I think that's just it." He began shakily.
"I never wanted to be a hero. I shouldn't be a hero."
"And why not. You did the galaxy a huge
service. You destroyed something with the power to kill billions in a
moment."
"I know... and I was right and justified
to do that. But what do I tell the ghosts of the men on that thing when dream
about them? "
"Tell me about them Luke."
"Sometimes I'm somewhere, I don't know
where, it's just cloudy and I can't see anything. Then it clears and they're
all there. Standing in ranks... I just know it's them. The storm troopers
aren't wearing their helmets; I can see their faces. I can hear what they're
thinking. Every one of them is asking why did you kill me?"
Wedge felt the dampness against his neck,
signaling his friend's tears.
"Everyone thinks I should be so proud,
so happy about what I did. I can't stand it."
"Oh Luke." Wedge sighed gently,
easing the man a little away from him and propping himself up on one elbow so
that he could look down at him. "It had be done you know that." Luke
nodded slowly. Wedge smiled slightly at the sight of his friend. Luke looked no
where near his age right now. With his soft blue eyes bright with tears, and
wet trails down his cheeks he looked all of seven or eight.
"Hush now Luke." He soothed. Then
he slowly lowered his head, allowing the other man plenty of time to turn away,
overjoyed when he didn't. Gently he covered Luke's lips with his own.
As they parted, Wedge rolled Luke under him.
He cradled his friend's head with one hand and gently tracing his friend's face
with the fingers of the other hand brushing the tears away. "Just let it
all go for a little while… just be with me."
Luke nodded slowly, bring his arms up around
the younger man, overlapping them at the small of his back. "Make me
forget."
"Yesss." Wedge hissed, lowering his
head to capture those soft lips.
The kiss started gently, a careful
exploration that slowly deepened into more. Luke moaned as Wedge's tongue slid
in to his mouth cautiously, ready to withdraw at the slightest hint of
distress. But none came; it was the opposite reaction in fact. Luke's arms tightened
around him and he thrust upwards bringing their hard cocks together.
Wedge gasped harshly at the contact.
"Luke."
Luke drew back opening his eyes. He retreated
just far enough to be able to fall in to Wedge's stunning green eyes. For a
very long moment they gazed at one another, and would have continued to do so
if it hadn't been for the instinctual thrust one of their bodies gave bringing
their erections together again. The first thrust was quickly followed by
another and another as they established a swift rhythm.
It took only few minutes for them to reach
their completion. Clutching and crying out one another's names as them came.
They collapsed together utterly exhausted.
Luke having had next to no sleep in two days and Wedge having spent those two
day on a mission. They barely had the energy to shift in to comfortable
positions tangled together before they fell into an exhausted slumber.