This fic was written for the February, 2008 issue of Birdscramble. (the 'Naughty' issue)

Jun stared at the handsome young man sitting at her bar. He eating a sandwich and fries, and drinking a soda, while chatting with Jinpei. He did not turn his brilliant blue eyes in her direction.

She sighed, returning her gaze to the glass in her hand. Ken never looked at Jun. At least, not in the way she wanted him to. Sometimes she wondered if he even saw her at all when she was out of uniform. And even when she was in her uniform, he wasn’t looking at her micro-miniskirt; only checking to see that she was functioning as a member of his team. Even when she threw herself into his arms during an emotional mission, the way Ken held her was mechanical… rote… almost the way one would comfort a small child who was over-reacting to a minor crisis.

It was about time that she came to grips with the fact that Ken just wasn’t interested. Jun wasn’t sure why, but whatever the reason was, it was strong enough for him to act as if she didn’t exist, much of the time. Heck, he was showing more animation in this conversation with Jinpei, than he ever did when talking with her.

Well, she had had enough. She was not going to demean herself any more by mooning about after the Eagle. Life was too short (particularly in their line of work) to go through that kind of pathetic existence.

Jun had pride, and she wasn’t going to let Ken take advantage of her any longer.

With that in mind, the Swan stalked over to where the Eagle was sitting, intent on ‘ignoring’ him, so that he could see that she was no longer affected by his somewhat dubious charms.

“Hey, Onechan, can I go, now?” Jinpei asked her.

“Huh?” Jun was startled, not expecting to be spoken to.

“The Snack, it’s practically empty!” Jinpei pointed out. “Just Aniki and that one guy in the corner booth. Can’t I go? Pleeeeeease?” The Swallow pressed his hands together in a begging motion, looking up at her with what he thought was an irresistible puppy dog expression.

Jun wasn’t quite as soft a touch as Jinpei liked to believe, but today she was inclined to give in.

“All right, go!” she laughed, shooing the boy out of the Snack with a flicking motion of her fingers. “But be back before the dinner rush!”

“What rush?” Jinpei smirked, tossing his apron to the floor and dashing out of the front door before Jun could respond. The Swan smiled to herself, picked up the apron and tucked it away under the bar.

The customer in the corner booth signaled to Jun, indicating that he wanted to leave. She grabbed a pot full of hot coffee and headed over to his table.

“Would you like some more coffee, Sir?” she asked, as he paid her.

“No, thank you.” he replied. “I really have to run.”

“Thank you for coming!” Jun smiled, but her face fall as the man left the Snack. Her only customer, and he was gone. It certainly was difficult making a go of this place when she was only able to open sporadically.

But as she turned around, Jun realized that technically the man hadn’t been her only customer. Ken was still sitting at the bar, looking slightly nervous.

Jun smirked to herself. She wondered how uncomfortable she could make the Eagle. If he was going to ignore her, she was going to make it difficult for him. Slowly she walked up to the bar and placed the coffeepot down, noticing that Ken’s back stiffened slightly as she got close to him.

“Are you done with that?” she asked, indicating the empty plate in front of him.

“Yeah.” Ken said quickly, his eyes darting up to look at her before returning to the surface of the bar.

“Okay.” Jun replied, reaching out to take the dirty dish.

“Jun… wait.” Ken looked at Jun again, staring at her intently.

“What’s wrong, Ken?” Jun sat down on the barstool next to him, her previous intention of making him uncomfortable vanishing with her concern.

“Jun… I…”

It appeared that Ken wasn’t entirely certain of what he wanted to say.

“Jun… you’re… so…”

Ken’s unspoken words hung in the air between them, like an unexpected letter arriving in the mail. Jun was eager to know what was on his mind, but didn’t want to pry.

Ken remained silent. He didn’t speak for so long that Jun sighed, preparing to stand up again.

“Wait…”

Ken was looking at her again, in a way that made it seem as if he had never truly seen her before. Of its own accord, Jun’s heart began to beat a little faster as the thought crossed her mind that maybe, just maybe…

No! She couldn’t let herself be drawn into those foolish fantasies again. She wouldn’t!

But despite her brain’s insistence that it wasn’t the right thing to do, Jun found herself growing warm, and blushing slightly.

Hesitantly, Ken reached out, stretching his hand toward Jun’s face. The Swan found that she was frozen in place, riveted on the small movement of the Eagle. The edges of Ken’s fingertips whispered by her cheek, and Jun had to bite her lip not to say anything.

Instead, she merely stared at Ken in amazement. What had gotten into him? This wasn’t the man she knew.

Ken’s hand passed by Jun’s face, stretching out to hook one silken, ebony curl around his finger. With excruciating slowness, he pulled his hand away slightly, bringing the lock of hair with him. Tenderly, he spread the soft strands over his palm, almost caressing them.

Jun could hardly breathe. Was there something in her hair? What was Ken looking for?

But whatever Ken had been looking for, he had already found it. He leaned forward, sliding off of his barstool, gently brushing Jun’s hair against his cheek before carefully releasing it. He watched, entranced, as the ebony strands gently settled against Jun’s shoulder.

Ken shifted forward a little more, and now he was only a few inches away from Jun. He leaned on the countertop with one hand, the other touching the edge of Jun’s barstool.

From her seated position, Jun was higher up than if she were standing, and she was able to look directly into Ken’s eyes as he smiled at her.

Neither of them spoke a word, but Jun’s breathing became a little more rapid as the blood began rushing faster through her veins, a tingling sensation flooding through her entire body.

Carefully, Ken pressed his legs forward, sliding them between hers. His hand moved up from the barstool, barely touching the edge of her hip before settling slowly onto the curve of Jun’s waist, just above her belt.

This wasn’t Ken. It couldn’t be Ken! He would never do something like this! Maybe this was an imposter… someone sent by Galactor…

But even as her mind furiously shouted these things at her, Jun found that she didn’t care.

She didn’t care.

How long had she waited for Ken to show some interest in her? And now, he was looking at her in a way that made her toes curl, and moving closer…

It was all she could do not to throw her arms around his neck, but Jun’s shock over Ken’s unexpected behavior kept her frozen in place, not moving save for the rise and fall of her chest as she gasped for air. Her hands gripped her seat so tightly that she could almost hear the metal crack.

“Jun…” he whispered, leaning in close to her, nearly brushing her cheek with his lips as his mouth sought out her ear.

At that moment, Jun was incredibly grateful that she was sitting, because her legs had just turned to water.

Their bodies were less than an inch apart. Jun could feel Ken’s warmth radiating out to her, and drowning her in its proximity. His breath tickled her ear, and she shivered with the pleasure of the sensation.

“I… I was hoping…”

“Yes, Ken?”

“Could you let me put lunch on my tab? I’m a little short this month…”

Jun’s breath froze in her throat. The blood in her veins turned to ice. How dare he?

Outwardly, the Swan appeared composed and unruffled as her hand slid up to the countertop, grabbing the object closest to her.

“I suppose you do need cash for other things.” she said softly, ensuring that Ken’s eyes never left hers.

In one swift movement, Jun stood up, moving away from Ken and throwing the steaming hot contents of the coffee pot at the surprised Eagle.

“For example: your dry-cleaning bill.” she smiled with a sickly sweetness.

Ken sank back to his seat, gasping at the searing pain that had scalded him through his shirt, and halfway down his pants. The Eagle emitted a soft moan, dropping his head into his hands.

Jun left him there, alone in the Snack, smirking as she walked into the kitchen.

It would appear that Gatchaman had his weaknesses, after all.