They're heroes, and that's…a lot of baggage, actually. Raleigh wants to go back in with Mako, wants to feel that closeness again and how steadily confident she is. She's not confident all the time, or even most of the time, but when they were fighting, all he felt from her was determination and a steadiness he wants to go back to.

After the victory press tour - around the world twice, hardly ever having time to rest or even enjoy the places they visit - they're put on a base with the decommissioned Jaegers, told to await further orders. Raleigh figures he could leave, but if they're not sticking the Jaegers in a museum, there's got to be a reason for it, right? So he stays.

And Mako does too.

He spars with her whenever she wants to, and he can admit it to himself: it's because he feels kind of guilty. She doesn't have anyone. Pentecost's dead, and he knows what happened to her family. Herc hangs around too, and they tend to eat dinner together, hanging out and feeling some weird survivor's guilt. Half the time Raleigh swears he can feel Yancy and the others, hanging out. Watching them try to rebuild.

The second week, Mako says, "Are you going to join construction again?"

Raleigh's done so little thinking about those lost five years that he blinks at her and says, "Huh?"

"Construction," she says. They're sitting up on the roof of the barracks, the wind making it just chilly enough that Raleigh feels less guilty leaning into Mako. "That's what you did before. Are you going to go back?"

"Why would I go back to it?"

"Why did you come back to the program?"

"You know why," Raleigh says. He can still feel Pentecost's gaze on him like a ton of bricks.

"I do." She sets her jaw and lifts her head into the wind, closing her eyes. She's got a hand on his knee, companionable and everything. It tightens slowly as the silence goes on.

Finally it gets to where it kind of hurts. "Um, Mako."

She opens her eyes and looks at him, but the vise grip stays. He reaches down and taps her hand. "Mako."

He expects her to yank her hand away and maybe leave, because he knows, he knows that she's thinking about Pentecost and hell, maybe Chuck and the triplets and everyone else too. So he's really not prepared for her to twist her hand, grab his wrist, and pull him in so she can kiss him.

It takes him all of a second to react, but that's too long. She pulls away, blinking quickly and licking her lips.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I -"

"Hey, no. It's okay." Raleigh tries to smile, hoping it doesn't come out too crazy. "The Drift, right?"

She looks frustrated then, and he doesn't know why. It makes sense when you consider the Drift. So he says, "I miss it too."

"I miss everything," she says. He doesn't have time to ask her what she means before she's kissing him again, moving to push him back against the pavement of the roof.

They're both wearing heavy jackets, and the canvas of hers scrapes against his skin as he puts a hand on her hip. She moves as smoothly as she does in a Jaeger, dragging her teeth over his lower lip and deepening the kiss as her fingers comb through his hair.

He pulls away and laughs a little, because he can't help it. "I feel like he's gonna appear and yell at me any second."

Mako goes so still that for a second he thinks he's made a mistake. But then she relaxes marginally and says, "I do too. Always."

He leans forward enough so that he can rest his forehead on her shoulder. "I want this," he says, dragging his thumb over the hem of her shirt, pushing it just far enough that he can touch her skin. "I miss you."

"You went five years without the Drift."

"You're not dead," he says. He lifts his head and looks at her. "Or my brother."

She smiles a little. He kisses her again.

So they fuck. Okay, yeah, there are other words for it, but Raleigh thinks of it as fucking because it's easier than thinking about any kind of long-term, when even the future of the Jaeger program is totally up in the air. It's good sex, and that's as far as Raleigh thinks about it.

They are comfortable with each other, though, so the day she's riding him and she reaches out to his wrists and presses them into the bed, he thinks - that could work. A couple days later they're lying on the roof again, Raleigh's head on Mako's chest, and he figures he might as well ask for it.

"Hey, how do you feel about handcuffs?"

"Handcuffs?"

"Yeah, for when we're…you know. For me."

Mako's quiet, and quiet, and quiet, until Raleigh's confidence that obviously she'd be into it fades. He props himself up on one elbow so he can look at her, saying, "Okay, don't leave me hanging."

"Yes," she says. She lifts one corner of her mouth. "Yes. I'd like that."

"Okay," he says, feeling stupid and happy and stupidly happy. "Cool. We'll do that, then."

Cuffs aren't exactly the kind of thing he'd lug around with him, and he hasn't really bought much more than what was already in the bag he took to Hong Kong from Alaska. It's kind of weird, leaving their base and going into town.

"Town" is, technically, the bits of Sydney that've grown out towards the Shatterdome in the last ten or so years. There's a sex shop, like there is near every military base in the history of mankind, so he goes there. But all they have is fuzzy cuffs, and as sure as Raleigh is that he doesn't want that, he's even more sure that Mako would look at him like he's an idiot if he tries to bring that back.

So he goes to a surplus store. And there they are, police handcuffs, with a dual set of keys. He buys them and goes back to base, mind running in circles. They're actually going to do this, and it makes it feel more real, somehow.

God, he wants to do this.

He doesn't bring up that he's bought them for a couple days. He and Mako are fooling around when Mako grips his wrists tightly and raises her eyebrows.

"You found them," he guesses.

"I found them," she says. She digs her nails into his wrists. "And I want to use them."

Fuck, he loves - doing this. He loves it so much. He lets out a shaky breath and says, "Yeah, okay. Well. You know where they are," and lifts his arms, crossing his wrists above his head.

He stays like that as she climbs off him and grabs them from his drawer. She's still wearing baggy military-issue pants, but her shirt and bra are off, and he lets himself look. He knows her so well by now, the feel and look of her, but pretty much every time he looks at her it's like seeing her for the first time.

"Very good," she says when she gets back. His dick jumps at that - and hell, he knows he likes this kind of thing, so he just goes with it.

"Yeah?"

"You want me to tell you good job? Good boy?" She smirks. He likes to think she got that expression from him. "I'll say that as much as you want, if you deserve it."

"Fuck, Mako."

"Shh," she says, and climbs back on the bed. Her nipples are hard against his chest as she clicks the handcuffs shut around his wrists.

"Next time I'll tie them to the frame," she says, moving down to look at him.

She's asking for permission as much as anything else, so Raleigh presses his head back and says, "Hey, I'm yours."

"Good," she says quietly, and kisses him.

She's so confident like this, arching her back and rubbing her pussy against his dick - not letting him in, not yet, but teasing him as she lightly sucks his tongue. She plays with his nipple, rubs her hands up and down his arms, and he strains against the cuffs, hooking an ankle around the back of her leg. He loves this with anyone - he's done it with guys, with other girls, but it's never felt like this before. The metal's warming against his skin, and Mako's hot against him, dragging her teeth down his neck and biting sharply.

"Mako…"

"It's okay," she says. "Think of the Drift."

He'd do that without it, he thinks. The thought makes his breath catch, and he spreads his legs helplessly as she goes further down.

He gets the feeling she's laughing at him as she wraps a hand around his dick. "I could leave you like this."

"I can pick cuffs," he says, offended.

"Sure. But you wouldn't."

That's - really, really fucking true. He doesn't answer, just takes a deep breath and tries not to embarrass himself.

Mako doesn't blow him. She teases him, rubbing her thumb over the head of his dick and playing with his balls until he's thrusting uselessly. He says, "Please," too desperate to care what he sounds like, and Mako responds by leaning back and slipping two fingers between her legs.

It's not showy. Raleigh's the showy one. But it's fucking hot, and he bites his tongue and arches his back, saying, "Mako, you can sit on my face, you can - I just need -"

"I know," she says. "Raleigh, I know." She leans up, then, finally, lowering herself on him and splaying her hands on his chest.

She digs her fingertips into his chest as she rides him, and that makes it better, sharp little pricks of pain intensifying the feeling running up and down his spine. The handcuffs are warm now, and he can feel bruises forming - so he presses harder.

"You're good like this," Mako says. She squeezes around him, then reaches down, rubbing her clit. "I like this."

From Mako, that's high praise. He nods, gasping as she speeds up. "Oh," she says. "I - oh."

He feels when she comes, her whole body shuddering. She leans down to kiss him as she rides through it, and it's not long before he's following her, closing his eyes and letting himself fall apart.

He doesn't open his eyes until he hears the click of the handcuffs opening. Mako places the key on the nightstand and puts the handcuffs on the bed next to them, stroking his wrists with feather-light touches.

She kisses him before saying, "You're good."

He knows smiling like he is makes him look like an asshole, but he does it anyway. "I know."

She laughs and smacks him lightly, curling around him. He's kind of the little spoon, but for now, it's good. Close.

"We'll have the Drift again," Mako says after awhile.

"You're sure about that?"

"It's important. They're keeping us here for a reason."

He thinks about the rebuilding efforts, wonders if the world will go back to the pre-Kaiju wars and backstabbing. He hopes not. He worries they will.

But Mako's sure they'll Drift again, and Raleigh's sure of Mako. It's easy to sleep with her curled around him.