Disclaimer: Air Gear is owned by Oh! Great.

Summary: One week of anxiety, tension, and desire—it felt like there was a gun pointed at them, and they had nothing in their hands to fight back.

Ikki/Akito pairing. Set after the anime, but could also be set in the manga.

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At Gunpoint

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The day they reached Trophaeum, Minami Itsuki was barely standing, with one knee injured and the other shaking. His shirt was torn, his A-T creaked every time he moved, and when Agito approached him with tattered clothes and a heaving chest, Ikki knew that their chances at making it out alive were thinning.

Agito wiped the trail of blood on his chin. "This is nothing."

"Tch," Ikki replied, "You're hardly convincing when you're bloody and half-naked."

Agito rolled his eyes in half-annoyance, half-arrogance. "As if you're any better," he muttered, and a smirk slowly slid on his lips.

In a matter of seconds, the smoke would clear and the person hell-bent on stopping them from reaching the top would recover. Ikki didn't know if he should laugh or cry, or grin and go insane. Yet the way they are now, bleeding and barely alive, and still bluffing like they're playing some kind of game and not fighting the battle they've all anticipated and could end up dying for—it's odd at the very least, disconcerting and manic at the most.

"Crow," Agito called, his lithe form starting to shake. He knew what was going to happen next. It was inevitable and he didn't like it at all, but—

"This is going to end now," he declared.

"What?" Ikki asked, breathless and dumbfounded. Before he could comprehend anything, the smoke cleared and they were attacked once more.

It took Ikki a few punches and bruises later to realize that Agito was gone, and it was Akito who released the Fang regalia's Infinity Atmosphere.

He realized, it was Akito fighting alongside him, and it was impossible, frightening and frighteningly mad.

Five days before they climb the Tower, everything was normal and everything wasn't.

"Hey, hey," Kazu cried, "You could've saved me some food!"

Akito looked apologetic, tucking a strand behind an ear. "I'm sorry. I was hungry."

Onigiri flashed a dubious grin, and Kazu knew, after years of acquaintance and peculiar friendship, that it wasn't entirely Akito's fault. He pointed a finger at Onigiri, and yelled, "You sleazeball!"

Before any kind of argument could form, Ikki spoke up, "Dude, it's either strangle his neck for never-to-be-recovered food, or—" He grabbed his bag and snatched the newest edition of their Bible. "We could use this time to gaze at scantily-clad ladies," he snickered, looking at the revealing cover.

Like a moth to a flame, Kazu and Onigiri quickly went to Ikki, and Buccha hummed some tune in the background.

Everything was normal, and everything wasn't.

Because. Kazu wasn't hungry, Akito apologized for no reason, Onigiri barely ate anything, Ikki didn't look forward to porn, and even Buccha, who was usually humming the tune in his headphones, was actually humming an entirely different song.

Because tension was hanging heavily over all of them; it was unspoken, and was normal and not normal.

A week before the battle, Ikki and Akito were on the rooftop and gazing at the night sky.

There was comfortable silence and unsaid doubts, dangling questions of What are we going to do? and Do you think we're going to die? They both knew what will happen in seven days, and what could possibly happen to them.

"Oh, look," Akito said, raising a finger. "A shooting star!"

Ikki grinned. "We're supposed to wish, right?" He furrowed his brows, rubbed his palms together, and started mumbling, "Well then, whoever or whatever's up there, I wish to climb Trophaeum Tower."

He added with all the seriousness he had, whispering fervently, "I wish we could reach the top." He added, And live.

When Ikki opened his eyes, Akito was smiling and looking at him with something.

"Ugh, I guess that's that," Ikki said, scratching the back of his head. "What did you wish for?"

Akito didn't answer. He just looked back at the sky and continued to smile.

Maybe he wished for me, but Ikki quickly banished this thought, locked it in the far recesses of his mind, never again to be brought up. He didn't want to deal with this right now.

Then there was comfortable silence and unsaid doubts.

Akito was in love with him. The way the small kid followed him, smiled at him, did anything for him—it was obvious to anyone with eyes and ears. He would go to any lengths to be with Ikki, and would fight any AT rider with his other self, just for Kogarasumaru's sake. Ikki wasn't the brightest person in the world, but he wasn't that dense. He knew about Akito's feelings, but he didn't give it any mind. After all, he liked girls, and Akito was a boy. So, he can't possibly like Akito that way, especially not now.

Six days before it all ends, Akito took control of his body, and politely declined any more offers of additional rice bowls. He quietly slid out of his chair and out of the house, and made his way to an empty field with only the stars as his audience.

He sat down on the grass and began, "Agito, I need to talk to you."

There was a gruff noise in his mind before, What?

"It's about the Gram Scale."

Agito uttered a sound indicating that he wasn't interested. He said with a bored tone, We're going to climb the tower, kick some Kings' asses, and reach the top. End of story.

"Yes," Akito agreed. "But we might die doing so."

His other half became silent.

"You're strong, Kogarasumaru isn't going to lose easily, I know." Akito felt uneasiness crawling in their shared mind. "But the people that we're going to face, they're strong too. And who knows, they could be stronger than us."

Agito gave a derisive snort, as if such a thing couldn't be possible. Your point?, he asked.

"Well, it might happen that you wouldn't be able to hold out long against our opponents, and there might come a time that the enemy is still standing and you're not." Akito inhaled sharply, and it took some effort to say, "In that case, I'll switch places with you."

What? Agito fumbled for clever words, but found none. Just, no way. I won't let you. He pointed out, Besides, you can barely stand in an AT anyway.

Akito clutched his head. "Just thinking about it, it scares me, I—" He paused, remembering. "But, I was the first person to inherit the Fang regalia," he reasoned. "And I won't hesitate to switch places when the need arises."

Well, fuck.

There was no point in arguing, because Akito had already made up his mind, and he did have a point. Akito can fight. Heck, he was probably stronger than Agito, but the thing was—he's afraid. He's afraid that he would hurt others. But if he was willing to do this much, then it wasn't just for Ikki and Kogarasumaru. It was more for Agito and also more for himself.

And it seemed like Akito had a death wish, the kind that a self-sacrificing martyr would have, and Agito can't do anything to change it. Akito was probably thinking: if one of them disappears, then they both disappear. No grays. Just black or white.

And hopefully, it was white.

Three days before they all fight for their lives, the tension was too much, and they broke.

It was bound to happen, and was only a matter of when. The second they had the chance, they leapt at it, ignoring reason and logic.

Kazu was the first one. He grabbed Ikki's collar in the middle of training, and roughly shoved Ikki against a wall. He hissed, "Drop this leader shit, asshole." Everyone knew that Kazu was bothered by Ikki's leadership as much as he was with a rock.

Ikki was next, and despite his resolve never to give in, he still did anyway. Gripping the hand on his shirt, he twisted it, and pushed Kazu away. "Screw you," he answered, brows knitted.

He punched first, and Kazu was the one who started to kick. It wasn't a surprise when a fight ensued, with an enraged Onigiri thrown in after he unsuccessfully tried to break the fight, and instead got himself mixed in.

It wasn't until Buccha punched the ground, cracks forming on the cement, and Agito giving them the bad finger, a sign that he was totally pissed off, that the fight dwindled and stopped.

Ikki, annoyed and exhausted, ran a hand through his messy hair. Everyone was weary and tense, and just by looking at them, it was likely that they would all die from the pressure of the Gram Scale alone.

It was written all over them; they all thought, we're going to die.

Which will probably happen, anyway.

This is insane, Ikki thought, and felt he could laugh like a lunatic all night long.

"Training's over," he announced. "Let's go back, and rest."

He didn't apologize. Everyone knew that it wasn't anyone's fault.

Once upon a time, Ikki was a storyteller. He told a tale of frogs and wells, and how the frog never went out of the well and never fully appreciated the world, only the sky. Then the story took a twist; the frog kissed him, thanked him for telling the story, and went out of the well. Since then, the frog was happy—he was able to fly. He then flew, and flew, and Ikki and his friends flew beside him.

But it didn't end with a 'happily-ever-after'. Ikki never kissed the frog, and the frog remained a frog.

Two nights before he severely damages Bagram, Ikki didn't know he was being followed until he was cornered in a dark alley.

The person pushed him against a wall, much like Kazu's shove, but more surprising and alarming. He instinctively raised his arms to defend, but realized it was Agito from the golden eye glinting in the dark.

"Huh?" Ikki mumbled, confused. The hand bracing the wall beside him tentatively moved to his shoulder. All of a sudden, it was touching his face, caressing his cheek, and another hand was pulling him down.

He knew it was Akito before him, and not Agito anymore.

"Ikki," Akito murmured, eyes half-lidded. His hand touched Ikki's nape, and slowly slid to his wild, black hair. With little effort, Akito's lips ghosted Ikki's own, and the brush of contact was agonizing, like all the days Akito had waited and wanted.

Ikki knew, he knew, and it took all of his effort and senses to turn his head away. I can't, I'm sorry.

Akito's lips touched Ikki's cheek.

There was a pause, then a wrenching intake of breath, before Akito untangled his arms from Ikki. His eye was shut and his mouth was a thin line.

"This is how it's going to be, isn't it?" Akito whispered. "We're going to die," he choked out, saying the unspeakable—the words that Kogarasumaru was afraid to acknowledge. He continued more softly, "I'm going to die without ever kissing you again, huh?"

It was too much. This was all too much.

Ikki wrapped an arm around Akito, and pulled him against his chest. "No," Ikki muttered, shaking his head. He wasn't sure as to what exactly he was negating, but the way things are—it's hard to accept.

A string of " No, no, no," came out of Ikki's mouth, like a broken lullaby, a tune trying to soothe the incurable. No, because this was all wrong. No, because Akito's acting this way as a result of stress and hyperactive hormones. No, because Ikki can't accept Akito's feelings, and damn it, he liked girls.

"No," he said, Because you're definitely not going to die.

It took a while before Akito murmured plainly, painfully, "Then I'm never going to receive your kiss." His voice was muffled, but Ikki heard him clearly, and wished he hadn't.

No, Ikki thought, because everything just wasn't.

The minute they reached the top of Trophaeum, Wanijima Akito was lying on the ground and coughing out blood. His clothes were a mess, his regalia was probably beyond repair, and he could barely see with all the blood, sweat, and smoke covering his vision. Despite these, he dragged his body across the room, and searched for familiar spiky hair.

He couldn't feel his legs, and his fingers were pretty much numb. He wasn't surprised when his knees gave out, and he had to crawl just to move. When he finally saw him—bleeding, immobile, and covered with bricks—he quickened his steps, even though dark spots appeared before his eyes, and he felt like fainting from the effort.

Gathering the last of his strength, Akito removed the bricks, careful not to hit any wounds. His fingers were trembling when he touched Ikki's face, leaving traces of blood without meaning to.

He rasped out, tired and scared, "You got your wish." His hand immediately found Ikki's chest and felt for a heartbeat. "We're here," he whispered.

It felt like an eternity before Ikki opened his eyes, made a wheezing sound, and focused his eyes on golden ones. Although Ikki was exhausted, aching, and needed more air, he kissed Akito with rough lips.

Because they were here, and they were alive. There was no more tension and anxiety, only desire.

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End

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Author's End Notes: I bet they're both loving the desire part, hehe. Ahem. Anyway, there are a lot of things I want to say about this story, but I'll just write the important ones. Um, read the following if you want to know some clarifications, and my thoughts on this fanfic.

First, I wanted to portray how heavy and important the Gram Scale is. I'm not sure about the anime, but in the manga, there are some characters that had a close brush with death, and team Kogarasumaru is no exception. Just because they're main characters doesn't mean that they can't die. They're humans, and in that sense, they can die and are liable to not want to die. And I think that they have every right to feel tense before they fight the very best of AT riders in the Gram Scale. And well, I haven't read any fics depicting this tournament so, uh, I made one.

Second, about the 'final battle', I left the 'final boss' unnamed for spoiler reasons, and also because the anime already ended while the manga is still ongoing, Ikki and the others could be fighting the Sleeping Forest in the Gram Scale, as would probably happen after the anime, or not, since the manga had twists that made it seem as though Kogarasumaru would be facing an entirely different enemy. I also had Ikki and Agito/Akito at the 'last battle' because I could see them fighting for their lives together, like with the Behemoth battle. I also chose them because, well, they're two of the strongest, if not already the strongest, in their team.

And regarding the 'final battle', about Akito using AT, it was briefly explained in this story. I don't think Akito can't use AT anymore, it's just the effects of trauma. And I believe he can still use the Fang regalia, and would probably be strong if he did. A person who can use the Bloody Road can't possibly be weak, and Akito, being the first inheritor of the regalia, was perhaps one heck of a rider. He did become a King at such a young age, after all.

And in case you're wondering, what happened to Kazu and the others? Um, I actually don't know. I just didn't think their own battles would fit in the story, with how this is an Ikki/Akito fic. They could be lying on the ground and bleeding too, or they could be punching the living daylights out of their enemies and using pen markers to doodle on their faces. Hn. That's not actually a bad idea, haha.

I think my notes are already longer than the story itself, erk. I'm not really sure if I pulled this one right, since it's been almost a year since I last wrote. But anyway, thank you for reading :)