I do not own Storm Hawks! And this is another idea that came to me after midnight studying.

On with the Story!

The beat is loud in the club. It's a decent place, not shady in the sense of drug deals and rooms in the back, but the lights are dimmed to set off the colored patches moving over the dance floor.

It's Disco Night, and Finn had cleaned out his chore list from the past week just to ask Aerrow for the night off to go dancing. Aerrow and Piper had played Evil Stepsisters in coming up with a last second list for Finn to do, and then surprised him with an outfit to wear dancing.

It was an early birthday gift, they said.

Finn had hugged them and actually cried. Then he rushed off to wash up and change. In order to not draw attention to the fact he is a Storm Hawk, he had left his hair down for a change.

The shoulder length hair with the wild cut turned Piper's head when she walked past him to the bridge as he left the shower.

Of course, being in nothing but a towel and dripping wet from an eight minute shower might have had something to do with it too.

That had been new, and an experience Finn didn't care to repeat ever again. When he neared his room, Aerrow had dropped by to ask him when he intended to come back, and when a missing person report should be filed, and looked up from the pen and pad of paper when Finn cleared his throat to tell Aerrow he still needed to get into his room to change.

The stunned, open mouthed eye sweep the Sky Knight gave his Wingman had Finn rolling his eyes.

"Oh, come on Aerrow. First Piper and now you too?"

Aerrow cleared his throat. "I was- okay, I ogled you. But I'm not going to- okay, I'm ogling again, but- taking deep breathes is cheating, Finn." Aerrow gives him an admonishing stare.

Finn shrugs it off and watches as Aerrow shuts his eyes and turns his face sky ward. Okay, it was to the ceiling, but still.

Finn opened the door and walked in to the suit. It wasn't a real suit, but the pieces went together. Aerrow followed after him, and shut the door. He nailed his eyes to the paper as Finn lost the towel and threw it over an overhead pipe to dry.

Then he shimmied into briefs and moisturized his legs. After making sure that they were shaved to his satisfaction, Finn pulled on the dark blue shirt. It was a v-cut, with elbow long sleeves. There were matching dark blue pants that after pulling on, Finn discovered were meant to be painted on.

His briefs were showing. As he couldn't have that, Finn peeled the pants back off and ditched the briefs.

"Piper put the…" Aerrow trailed off and kept his eyes to the paper as he heard Finn shuffling through the clothes.

"I know what lingerie looks like, and yay, she got me a g-string."

Aerrow made a noise. "How can you wear them?"

"Dude, we don't have boxers or briefs on the Terra I'm from. I only wear them because you do."

Finn then slide the new article on, made sure it was flat, and shimmied back into the jeans. He turned to look at Aerrow.

"So, how's this?" He struck a pose, with his feet in a laid back stance, his shoulders back, and his arms held off to the side, above the hips, hands splayed to the side.

Aerrow gave him a scrutinizing twice-over.

"Needs shoes."

Finn rolled his eyes and grinned. He pulled black boots out from underneath his bed and compared it to the outfit.

"Too clunky, too glitzy, aha!" Finn pulled out a pair of ankle boots that went with the outfit.

"Shoes I can run in, and still look stylish." Finn pulled them on, and walked in them. Then he made his way to the pile of stuff on his floor.

"All I need are some fake earrings and I'm good to go. How about Clear Diamonds?"

Aerrow frowned. "Piper's really good with matching color schemes, and they would be hidden by your hair….how about one in the top right ear?"

Finn pulled a box out and opened it. The three primary colors and some electric shocking colors were in the box, of a small to medium size of earrings. Finn selected one from a pair of medium sized earrings and slipped it into his ear.

Then he faced Aerrow. "How do I look?"

Aerrow smiled. "Like Finn."

"Okay, I'm probably going to be back after midnight, but if something happens, wait until afternoon to log the missing person report, you already know which club I'll be at, and try to have fun while I'm gone."

Aerrow grins and hugs Finn. "You just have fun and be safe." Finn struts to the bridge, and after passing Piper's inspection, allows Stork to equip him with a pepper spray disguised as a black bracelet, a thin strip of decoration to offset the lone piercing.

Junko saw Finn off the Condor, even offering to drop him off at the Club. Finn thanked him, but explained that part of having an evening off was blending in, so he was taking the public transport.

Junko wished Finn well, and hugged him. Finn couldn't get his arms around Junko, but he patted him after Junko let go. Then he headed off to the public transportation terminal.

The trip to the Club was a fifteen minutes ride to the drop, and a three minute walk to the actual Club. The bouncers checked Finn's ID and let him in after another four minutes, when the Club actually opened.

Finn ducked inside.

And now here he was, listening to the beat of the music. So far, three men and two girls had danced with him, and all of them were satisfied with going only one or two rounds with him.

Finn timed the music, and bobbed along. Moving his body and leaving his senses had always cleared his head. The stress from being killed nearly every day was leaving him.

It was by chance he saw the guy sneak a pill into her drink. It wasn't chance that before she could drink he had alerted the Security and led her to the dance floor with an invitation.

"Wanna dance?" His charm with the clothes and his hair had her nearly trip over herself before playing it cool, and sweeping onto the dance floor.

She is pretty, but her looks far exceed her talent. Finn gets her through the song, and she sees the Security take her date away and bag her drink. She looks closely at Finn before he spins her, and after that, she knows. She just knows that he is Finn, of the Storm Hawks.

"You don't come here often, do you?"

"Not with all the work I do. It's a one night deal. You have anyone who can pick you up? Snatchers and the like rarely work alone and usually in pairs."

She nods, and he walks her to a noisy corner at the bar. The bartender catches Finn's eye and passes the phone to them. In courtesy, she does a collect call, and then Finn hears a female voice over the line.

In ten minutes, she is headed home.

Finn hits the dance floor again. He knows that the other snatcher, if there is another one, or if it was a snatcher deal, probably wants to take him out now, but the night is young.

It's after he takes a break around eleven at night that he realizes that he won't make it back to the Condor by midnight.

Finn shrugs and calls the messaging service with his head set in his ear. He tasks them politely to call Piper in the morning and have them tell her that he won't make it back by early morning. He sets the delivery date for eight A.M.

Then he delves back into the crowd. After dancing through several more partners of both sex and many species, among them Merbs, as Wallops are rare outside their Terra, Finn slips out and heads to the restroom.

Finished, he cleans his hands as though they had blood on them. Once dried, Finn heads out to the dance floor again. It is nearing one in the morning, and Finn is starting to tire.

He is still looking for the snatcher when one of the Security catches his eye and mimes that the other Snatcher is no longer a problem. Finn smiles at him in acknowledgement.

The Security guard blushes and searches the other levels for signs of disturbance. Finn orders a small fruit and retreats to the couches. He nibbles on the fruit and watches people.

His body is beginning to protest the strain, and Finn sighs. Maybe Piper will get the call just as he's getting back to the Condor after all.

That's when the guy approaches him. He's tall, with red eyes, and is wearing a ripped black tee with black pants and black shoes. There's a black belt with double holes in it, and the silver sets off his hips. There's also a spiked bracelet on his left wrist.

Finn gives him an open and appreciative look, and the guy returns the favor.

"Dance with me, please."

An order.

Finn grinned at him. "I don't do orders." He gets up and the guy stays there, starring into his eyes. Finn scarcely comes up the guy's shoulder.

"But you do challenges." The man purrs. Finn watches as he backs into the dance floor and sets a rhythm that is both challenging and fast.

Grinning, Finn follows him. The guy had to have been scoping him out earlier, and waiting for trouble to die down.

Finn rises to the challenge. The DJ takes notice of their skill, and even though people are still trickling in, takes notice of the Disco prowess being displayed. He calls the challenge to the attention of everyone in the room, and a space is cleared around them.

When the music stops, Finn holds his last move. His back is to the guy, and he's twisted, with his hands inverted to his head and his elbows in the air.

He can't quite see what the other guy ended as, but according to the applause, both of them won. Finn relaxes, and turns around. They shake hands.

The space is quickly eaten up, and Finn isn't sad to see the other guy disappear into the crowd. He was happy to have someone of such caliber for a dance partner, even if the situation was averse to getting to know each other better.

Soon, there's a call for under age adults to leave, so that the adults could hook up and have the rest of the day to themselves. Finn clears the check list of those allowed to stay, and sidles back to the place he was before the dancing match.

The guy is there. He has two unopened drinks arriving. He beckons Finn to come closer, and indicates that the other bottle is for him.

"Don't worry, it's juice, not even a percent alcoholic."

Finn sits down and pulls the unopened bottle to his side. The flavor is tangy, but after eating Junko's and Stork's cooking, he's immune to most poisons and some drugs.

That's when they start talking, about dancing and preferred learning styles. The guy makes Finn laugh, and Finn gets him to snort his drink. It doesn't come up, but the guy has to grab some napkins and has trouble breathing.

They leave the Club around four in the morning. Nearly three hours of talking and Finn still hasn't gotten his name.

He is walking Finn to the public transport terminal when he puts his hand on Finn's shoulder.

"I want to kiss you." That's all the warning Finn gets before he is spun into the guy's arms and finds himself pressed against a very nice chest.

This guy really works out, and with the same voraciousness as his tongue is displaying in Finn's mouth.

Now, if Finn was opposed to the kiss, the guy would be a whimpering mess on the ground. As it was, Finn moans and tilts his head back, lowering his jaw and opening his mouth to the other man.

The arms on his back cease to trap him as he pliantly molds into the older man. The man's left hand comes up into Finn's hair, tangling there. Finn feels a foot pop off of the ground as the man delves into his mouth.

Then Finn bites down.

The man yelps and jerks back.

"That left the realm of kissing and entered devouring right about then." Finn murmurs up to him.

The man growls, a deep sound that actually rumbles in his chest. Finn feels the tremors, and presses closer.

"Although if you ask real nice, I'll kiss back." Finn gazes into his eyes, keeping the thought that his neck was really starting to hurt at this angle to the back of his head and off his face.

The man nods, and then hauls Finn to the alley. It's actually cleaner than most people expect, but then again, there's not much else for the prison detail to do.

Finn is vaguely surprised when he feels himself lifted and put between the wall and the guy. He wraps his legs around his hips and his arms make their way around his shoulders. The wall is what's taking some of his weight, but Finn can't tell if it's the majority of his weight, because there's a hand on his thigh, and the guy pulls Finn so that he's more comfortable, and easier to get at to kiss.

Finn feels his thoughts spiral out as the man leans in and seals his mouth over his lips again.

This time, Finn kisses back.

Their tongues swirl around each other, the velvety softness underneath sometimes meeting the bumpy top of the other, twining around before exploring the teeth that Finn takes a hygienic investment in. Then there's a trick the other pulls that has Finn gasping, his head thrown back.

The other had just nibbled his lip!

For some reason, Finn found that very arousing. His kiss missed the lips of the older man, and then Finn discovered that it is raining kisses. The man decorates his face, and the trails along the jaw to the ears. The hands are down around Finn's hips, and holding him. By now, Finn only knows he's against the wall because he has something solid against his back, and his arms wouldn't hold him up.

Then the tongue finds the piercing in his upper right ear. Finn feels his head loll to the left side, and expose his neck. His ear is mercilessly abused, sucked on, a tongue swirls into the canal, and there are nips to the skin as well.

Geez, the guy doesn't use teeth much, but when he does, he makes it count.

Then the kisses trail back down his jaw and Finn thinks that they'll stop at his lips.

The older male takes advantage of the v-cut instead. Finn feels the hickey forming on his neck, but there's a hand near his crotch, and he can't think straight anymore.

Then the guy trails further down and finds a 'sweet-spot'. Finn arches against him, a shrill gasp leaving as he passes over the spot with his tongue.

That kind of reaction is not passed by. Initially, he went right by it to the exposed clavicle and tongued there for a bit, but then he moved back up in one fluid motion and nailed the sensitive spot in one swoop.

Finn felt no mercy from the man.

That's when Finn snapped. He began to thrust and grind into the other man. An arm came around his waist and pinned him to the wall.

Finn revived a little from his lust induced state.

"Sorry, I'm sorry, I just wasn't expecting that. We can stop-"

The man put a finger over Finn's mouth.

"I want to know if you consent. I'm clean, and I'm willing to continue, if you are."

Finn takes a breath and looks at the sky.

"Yes."

"Look at me."

Finn pulls his courage together and looks into the red eyes. His answer dies on his tongue. The man watches him, and then pulls back. Finn feels a little shaky, but he can stand on his legs.

"I'm sorry- I meant to only kiss you once."

Finn shrugs. "It's okay, my own friends checked me out when I showed up in this attire. No hard feelings."

The man nods. "Actually, do you want to stay in touch?" They are still panting hard, composing themselves. Finn is standing, but the man is leaning over him, his hands planted on the wall.

They are trembling.

Finn nodded, and reached for a pocket. He hadn't packed any pen or paper, but he needed to make sure that he could carry the man's number back to the Condor.

"What's yours?"

Finn rattles off his private connection number and the man writes down a number and tears it off. He gives it to Finn, who pockets the number. Then he walks to the public transport terminal station and gets on.

He turns around and waves to the man who is still standing there, and he waves back. Then the shuttle started moving, and he fades from sight.

Finn sits through the ride in elation. He just had the most wonderful evening out, and even kissed someone. Finn puts fingers over his lips, as he is the last passenger on the shuttle to where the Condor is staying. He muses over any chance meeting with the stranger again. He feels sad that he missed giving the stranger his name.

Finn nearly bolts out of his seat when he thinks that the meeting, the entire evening, could have been a dream. He pinches himself, and then tries to will Aerrow to appear. Then he checks his pocket.

Finn looks down at the phone number. His breath catches at the name Dark Ace scrawled in hasty letters at the top.

Stunned, he makes his way back to the Condor. What would he tell Aerrow? Should he tell Aerrow?

His thoughts spinning out of control, Finn doesn't hear the Switchblade above him until the Dark Ace lands in front of him.

The Condor and the sleeping Storm Hawks are just a few lanes behind him. If Finn yells, he could wake them and bring aid, but Dark Ace would be long gone.

"I forgot to get your name, but I suppose I can hazard a very good guess as to who you are." Dark Ace levels a stare at him.

"I didn't recognize you." Finn can hardly recognize his own voice. He just had the best evening, and he nearly had a crush on the man who tries repeatedly to kill his best friend.

Dark Ace stares at him.

"I take it you don't want me to call." Dark Ace has a low tone when he says that, as though he wants Finn to tell him that it would be okay to call anyway.

Finn stares at him. He can't nod. He can't shake his head. Something warm tracks down his cheek.

Dark Ace is close enough that he reaches out and wipes the tear off Finn's face.

Finn swallows.

"We can't." He would sound so much more convincing if he didn't sound so heartbroken. Dark Ace is sitting there, his face a mask.

"You wouldn't betray Master Cyclonis, and I can't endanger Aerrow. Here."

Finn hands the number over to Dark Ace.

"Keep it."

Finn stares at him.

"I meant what I said back there. I want you to tell me that you don't want it. Otherwise, keep it. I'm not giving you yours back."

"I'm telling Aerrow."

"Go ahead. What this is, it won't interfere with my fighting. I promise to be gentle when you finally fall into my clutches."

Finn feels a thread of fear zing from his head to the length of his spine. The smile Dark Ace gives him is self-assured that the Storm Hawks will fail.

"I'll promise to see you crying before that." Dark Ace raises and eyebrow.

"It was the first comeback I could think up!" Finn defends himself. Dark Ace laughs. It's a deep, rich noise, and Finn wonders that he is the only one t hear him. Then, he opens his arms.

Finn stumbles into his reach, and Dark Ace pulls Finn into his lap, so that both of them are straddling is Switchblade.

"One day," he breathes into Finn's ear, "I will have you bent over my Switchblade as you sink yourself onto my flesh."

Finn feels himself shiver, and then Dark Ace helps him off the other side.

"Just don't hold your breath." Finn gasps out, and then Dark Ace is grinning at him, and leaving for the sky.

Aerrow usually isn't happy with six in the morning wake up calls, but when said wakeup call is a nearly hysteric, worked up sharp shooter who is known for taking care of himself with a hickey on his neck, you pour yourself a cold glass of water and sit down.

"I made out with Dark Ace." Finn finally blurts out.

Aerrow chokes on his water.

Piper, walking into the kitchen, catches the rushed sentence.

"Is he the one that gave you that hickey?"

Aerrow coughed harder as Finn nodded and hung his head.

"It's okay Finn; I won't let him hurt you."

"There's kind of a problem with that, Aerrow. He promised to not hurt me, although there is the promise to bend me over his Switchblade and-"

Piper cleared her throat.

"Let's just assume that you and Dark Ace are in a relationship, so just be on the Condor by midnight on weekdays, two am on weekends." Piper then grabbed a piece of fruit and headed back to her lab.

She paused in the doorway. "And he has to have dinner with us before you can move in together. We can't have our marksman dating a guy who can't support him."

Aerrow nodded.

Finn wondered if he had hit his head, and whether or not his friends were joking.

"We aren't joking about this, Finn. We want you to be happy." Aerrow cleared his throat and drained the rest of his glass.

"Why don't you catch up on your sleep and put that number somewhere safe. I've got a feeling that when Piper is done with her morning lab work she'll want to memorize and log the number with Stork." Aerrow stood up and walked around the table to Finn.

"I want you to understand that Dark Ace may be a traitor, but he is many more things. And we will not give you up without a fight."

Finn gave Aerrow a smile and slides off the stool.

"Thanks, Aerrow."

He walks out the door and heads to bed. Aerrow counts to twenty, and then walks over to the drawing of Dark Ace.

He takes water that stubbornly clings to the glass and paints a line across Dark Ace's throat.

"Not unless I kill him first." There is a hard light in Aerrow's eyes as the water dries and leaves a mark on the painting. Not that anyone could tell from the framed berry blitz high score paper.

Aerrow then puts his glass in the dishwasher and heads off to the training hall.

He passes Stork on the way.

"We have an emergency meeting at noon. Finn does not attend, it concerns his safety."

Stork continues on as though he never heard Aerrow, but Aerrow knows that at lunch, everyone would be there to cuss out Dark Ace for making a move on their Wingman.

Dark Ace lands at Terra Cyclonia. Master Cyclonis is waiting for him at the landing strip. It is early in the morning.

The night patrol is turning in and the day's shift is just beginning breakfast. There is little movement, and none of it is near them.

"I see that you now have a boyfriend." She states.

Dark Ace nods.

"Seeing as how he is okay with your being loyal to me, go ahead and date him. Atmos knows you need the relationship."

Dark Ace grins at her. "Jealous I have a love-interest before you do?"

Master Cyclonis does not pout. Instead, she levels a glare at him that would work with him standing or sitting, and announces, "If I had a love interest before you, your loyalty wouldn't be questioned so much. I would have two protectors."

Dark Ace resigns himself to the grim news, and nods his assent. They both know that Master and Servant would never change, nor do they seek to change it. But the safety of his Master will always come first.

Someone else who would serve her as much as he does would lessen the strain on both of them.

As Dark Ace cleans the Switchblade and parks it for maintenance, he tosses over his shoulder, "I take it that the Scouting Crystals worked just fine, then?"

Master Cyclonis rolled her eyes. "They worked just fine. But really, did you have to tell him your little fantasy about him and your Switchblade?"

Dark Ace hummed. "I had to make sure that your new cameras worked just fine, so I say, mission accomplished."

"No, Dark Ace. Our mission is just starting."

Dark Ace flashed her a grin.

A/N: This was initially to end with Finn discovering the mystery person was Dark Ace…and then the ending spanned into an eleven page fanfic. This was supposed to be short, and I experimented with writing in the present, with appropriate drawbacks to the past tense.

Tell me how I did? Loved it? Want a sequel?