Starfighter

Set in an undetermined date in the future, a space station houses a starfighter fleet, each ship manned by a fighter and a navigator. Navigator Abel is assigned to the notorious fighter Cain, who kicks off their partnership by permanently scarring Abel to mark him as his property, then threatening him. Forced together by circumstance and military command, Abel does his best to be a professional partner and navigator to loose-cannon Cain, while entering into a brutal, messy relationship with him even as hints arise that Cain is even more dangerous than he appears.

Starfighter is a science-fiction Web Comic that can be found here.

NSFW for graphic sex, but has a SFW filter page.

Tropes used in Starfighter include:

• The Ace: Both Cain and Abel show signs of being this: Cain's a darker and nastier version, while Abel plays it straighter, being both skilled and the first Navigator to volunteer for what may be a suicide mission.
• Animesque
• Art Evolution: It's not dramatic, but the comic slowly got prettier, smoother, and more professional looking over time.
• A Date with Rosie Palms: Cain has an impromptu one in his cockpit after barely missing the antimatter cannon fired by the space station at the enemy fleet. If Abel hadn't figured out his Fighter was a tad unstable before...
• A Man Is Not a Virgin: Averted with Abel, who is quite eager to play it straight.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: Cain's a bloodthirsty adrenaline junkie. Abel is the type to put himself in harm's way to save a stranger's life. Guess who tops?
• Ax Crazy: The nastier Navigators seem to think all Fighters are this. They're probably wrong, but Cain doesn't do much to avert the stereotype.
• Bastard Boyfriend: Cain acts like a classic Unconflicted type at the outset, but some of his behaviour might mark him as a candidate for Conflicted development, or bring him out of the category altogether.
  • Give Abel his due, though, he's far from a whimpering Love Martyr.

Abel: You unbelievable son of a bitch! I do NOT take orders from you!

• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. That scar is permanent.
• Bio Augmentation: Word of God has it that Abel and the other Navigators have this, explaining both their intellect and their uniformly pretty looks. The Fighters don't have this advantage, so they apparently have to compensate in other ways. Link here.
• Cain and Abel, natch.
• Cast Full of Pretty Boys: So far. Except for "Mother"...
• Catapult Nightmare: Abel has one of these when a dream involving Cain goes horribly wrong.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Deimos to Cain, and evidently Cain to Abel. Yeah, this is going to end well...
• Curse Cut Short: "You mean you can fly a starfighter but you don't know how to suck - NGH!
• Dogged Nice Guy: Not in a romantic sense, but Praxis obviously feels Abel deserves better than a dick like Cain as a Fighter, and has ignored warnings not to even talk to Abel at all.
• Exty Years From Now
• Groin Attack: Cain to Praxis in Chapter 2.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Cain's interactions with Abel have this vibe. Except he's the Love Interest. Then again, he might actually be doing it deliberately...
• "It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It": Messes around with this one. Was Cain being a pushy abusive jackass? Well yeah. Abel, despite being none too happy with Cain's charming personality, never tries to stop Cain, is explicitly enjoying himself, and gets off multiple times. At one point, he even tells Cain to stop...and although Cain complains, stop he does. Does this mean they like or trust each other? HELL not yet.
• Jerkass: Cain's idea of saying hello and getting to know his new roommate/navigator involves biting his face to "mark" him as his property. It Got Worse: As of the latest comic, it's been made clear he's warned all the other Fighters not to even talk to Abel, and he's ready to hand out a beating to Praxis for daring to speak to Abel for a few moments in the hallway. Way to be a model boyfriend, there, Cain.
• The Masochism Tango: A fairly literal example, as Cain gives Abel a permanent scar, and only really seems to take an interest when Abel tries to punch him out and later returns the lip-scarring favour by scratching Cain bloody in the heat of the moment.
• Military Science Fiction
• No Name Given: Cain and Abel are only known by their codenames. Abel's birth name is given as Ethan in his dream.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Deimos, where Cain is concerned. Cain can get this way around Abel, too, except Abel seems to enjoy it.
• Pet the Dog: Averted. You thought that little show of affection after they had sex was a hint that Cain was softening up a bit? Hahaha...no.
• Real Men Hate Affection: Interestingly, Cain doesn't seem to mind post-sex cuddling. Doesn't make him any less of a jerk.
• Rebellious Princess: Gender-flipped, from the looks of Abel's backstory.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Naming your protagonists "Cain" and "Abel"? Obviously, happy and fluffy times are ahead.
  • The eavesdropping fighter is named Deimos, one of Ares' twins sons who followed him into battle. Deimos seems to have a...thing for the very war-like Cain. You do the math.
  • The latest page has introduced the Terran battleship Sleipnir.
• Scars Are Forever: Cain bites Abel's lip after being partnered together, the remaining scar marking him as Cain's "bitch".
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Abel and Cain respectively.
• Shout-Out: The name of the space fighter Abel helps rescue? The Tiberius. Coincidence? I think not.
  • Also, one of the bitchy Navigators in the lift is code-named Porthos.
  • Commander Cook refers to an enemy structure being built in the "Baten Kaitos System".
    • He might also be referring to the actual star, which the game was named after.
• Space Navy
• Unsound Effect
• Weak but Skilled: The Navigators. They're designed that way: see above under Bio Augmentation.
• Wham! Line: "We are losing this war."