Mitra could hear the cicadas as he looked out at the lake from the porch of their little cabin on the lake. Their hum was reassuring - there was no other noise aside from the random yelling of children splashing around the edges of the lake and the occasional bit of a radio broadcast from inside.

The summer was nearly over. Mitra didn't know what they were going to do next - the accident had been a wakeup call to the entire group. They'd splintered: Indra and Vritra to a station on the moon, Inara and Illuyanka to the colonies, and Zirnitra to somewhere in Europe.

Mitra and Varuna had found a quiet spot - the sort that Mitra didn't even know still existed - in the middle of North America. A lake ringed by cabins and a town where folks still offered homemade bread and fresh vegetables as gifts.

But the summer was nearly over and they'd have to move on. The cabin wasn't meant for a year-round existence and besides, Mitra didn't think Varuna would like the place as much once it started snowing.

"I have it!" Varuna called, appearing a moment later and holding his tablet computer out to Mitra. Surprisingly, it wasn't connected to Varuna's wrist. Some of the noisy tinkering earlier had apparently been Varuna fixing the wireless.

"Have what?" Mitra questioned. He took the tablet, but not before looking Varuna over. Varuna had obviously been building something - or cleaning. There was a smudge of dirt on his chin and some sort of grey dust streaked up one sleeve of his dark blue windbreaker.

"A plan for our retirement," Varuna replied. "Look. It's a little station way out that's getting retro-fitted into technical school and whatnot."

Mitra blinked and looked at the listing. "What does this have to do with us?"

Varuna sat down on the grey-wood bench beside his twin and pointed at the middle of the tablet. "Right here. They're looking for an internal operations specialist as well as a headmaster for the school, preference is for a minimal national or colony affiliation."

Mitra frowned. "'Internal operations specialist.'" He looked into pale silver eyes that matched his own. "Varuna--"

"It's far enough away that I could do it," Varuna said quickly. "And two jobs and two of us. Just think of everything we could do--"

"Just think of how seriously they won't take us," Mitra reminded him. "It was a mess just to rent this place."

Varuna sighed and leaned, his weight comfortable against Mitra's side. After a moment, Mitra settled an arm around his twin.

There was only the sound of cicadas and children playing.

"We'll enroll," Varuna said after a moment. "They're accepting students and it won't be any trouble to get accepted. After that, I'll only need about five minutes before the entire place is mine anyway."

"That's a terrible idea and you know it."

The bench creaked unhappily as Varuna shifted around and practically crawled onto Mitra's lap. "Do you have a better one?" Varuna questioned.

"Staying here forever," Mitra replied. "Except I know what our forever is..."

"We'll come back to the lake someday," Varuna said firmly.

"Let me think about it?"

"Let me convince you," Varuna said quickly before digging fingers up into Mitra's short white hair and kissing him hard.

"Not out here," Mitra managed once Varuna had pulled back. It wasn't that he didn't like Varuna's mouth against his own - he'd never claim that. But there were children, and neighbors, and besides, the bench was protesting as well...

"Inside, then," Varuna announced, sliding off Mitra's lap and grabbing his tablet and offering Mitra a hand all in one fluid motion. Where Varuna got his energy, Mitra didn't know - though sometimes he was envious. "I want to show you what I was working on, too."

Mitra blinked. Alongside fixing the wireless and job hunting, Varuna had been working on something else?

"Okay--" Mitra was a little embarrassed at how his body had reacted to that tiny bit of contact with Varuna. He adjusted himself in his khaki cargo pants and followed Varuna into the cabin.

The datapad was discarded on the counter quickly as Varuna grabbed a little toy helicopter that Mitra had never seen before.

"I got it from one of the kids down the beach," Varuna explained before Mitra could ask. "Said it was broken so I asked if I could try to fix it."

"Mm--"

"It was easy to fix, but look at this -- I'll change it back before I return it, but look!" Varuna held the helicopter out on his palms and closed his eyes. After a second, its blades started spinning and it began to rise.

Mitra glanced over to the kitchen table - never eaten on but instead a pile of tools and parts - to see the discarded controller half-disassembled.

"Watch!" Varuna raised a hand and carefully guided the helicopter as it flew around the main area of the cabin. "It's not too difficult."

Sucking in his breath, Mitra watched. Considering everything, it wasn't terribly surprising, but it was amazing to actually see. Varuna had figured out how to wirelessly control the toy helicopter with his body.

Varuna directed the helicopter around twice more before gently landing it on the table beside its controller.

He exhaled audibly once it was off and then looked over at Mitra.

"What do you think? I'll need some time and some help, but I think someday I'll be able to--"

Mitra wasn't sure he wanted to hear the end of the sentence. He already knew. Varuna was thinking bigger and better. Varuna was planning on stealing a colony for his own purposes. This was the sort of thing that had nearly caused another Loss-scale disaster, all because Varuna--

No, not a one of them had known what would happen when Varuna had patched himself in that time. This was different. This was Varuna planning to--

Mitra silenced Varuna with a kiss and tugged off that dusty blue windbreaker. It hit the floor in a soft crumple and a moment later, Varuna's hands were on him.

"Bed," Mitra managed.

The cabin, aside from the small bathroom and a matching storage area, was one room with only a folding screen to give them any sort of privacy. Mitra had half of Varuna's clothing off before they even got that far - aside from the windbreaker, Varuna only wore a faded emerald-green t-shirt and track pants that matched the windbreaker.

Neither one of them had bothered with socks or shoes, though Mitra did wonder how their feet still picked up so much dirt this late in the season. He had no reason to fuss about their black soles, however, as Varuna tugged at his belt and the zipper of his cargo pants.

Mitra pulled off his own t-shirt - black and having once borne the logo of some band he'd never heard of. Varuna was on the bed, naked, by the time he'd finished stripping off his cargos.

The bed was old and low - just a mattress they'd covered with cheap blankets sitting on a rusty black frame that creaked and shuddered with every motion they made. All summer long, Mitra had threatened to put a hammock up on the porch just to be able to sleep through the night. But somehow, the creaks as Varuna shifted against him had become something comforting, just like Varuna's presence.

The bed let out a particularly loud groan as Mitra joined Varuna on it and neither one could help a little chuckle. But after that, they were a tangle, bodies together, hands roaming and mouths pressed into a deep kiss.

Mitra didn't draw anything out - he didn't see any reason. He wanted to get Varuna there - someplace good - someplace away from everything where he could...

Be free.

That was it, really.

Mitra settled alongside Varuna after they'd both finished.

"A school, huh?"

"Yeah," Varuna replied, reaching to run his fingers through Mitra's short white hair. "It's part technical school and part development factory. Current plans are for it to earn back the initial investment within twenty years."

"That was on the posting?" Mitra questioned.

"No."

Mitra didn't see any point in a lecture - Varuna was Varuna and Varuna would always know more than he should.

"We've never been to school," Mitra commented. "Might not be too bad. For either of us."

"If we don't like it, we don't have to stay," Varuna said. "We can find other work. There'll always be something."

Mitra nodded and pulled Varuna close against him.

For the next few minutes, the only sound he could hear above their breathing was the summer hum of cicadas.