Sixty Days: Match
"Not you too, Cerveau."
The engineer gave Zero a half-cocked smile before resuming his work on the remains of the Chain Rod, his tools sparking. "I'm just saying, Zero, Ciel is a grown girl and she's going to make herself known to you eventually."
Zero frowned from his corner, leaning forward slightly from the rest pod. "Why does everyone think I'm dense? I am well aware of Ciel's feelings toward me."
"Because you don't acknowledge anything." Cerveau wheeled his chair to a nearby console, inputting some code Zero had no interest in attempting to look at. "And when you do talk to her outside of a mission, you're rather... friendly."
"I'm not any nicer to Ciel than I am to everyone else in the Base."
Cerveau chuckled, whirling his chair so he faced Zero and leaned back in it casually, lacing his fingers over his stomach. His visor split down the middle and retracted back to his ear coverings, revealing the blank brown eyes swirling with ribbons of green data. He lowered his head, giving Zero an amused look one gave a child who unknowingly said something funny. It made Zero glare at him.
"Zero, everyone had a good hundred or so E-crystals in a massive pot-bet on how long it'll take you two to get together," Cerveau said. "So far Hibou lost, as his predicted time was last week. Everyone is of the mind in the next few months we'll be finding you two tangled in closets or cuddling in the commander's room."
Zero's face was that of someone who apparently smelled rotten fish on top of fermenting rice. "That's ridiculous. One, I would never publicly cuddle with someone regardless of my feelings for them. Two, I'm not that fully upgraded to engage in intimate actions. Three, I hope when you all lose the bet, I get all those E-crystals. I got plenty of Cyber Elves I wouldn't mind spoiling rotten."
"Have you ever been in love before, Zero?" Cerveau asked. "If not, you very well may be, and just don't know it."
"Yes, I have."
"Now you're lying, and that's not-"
"Her name was Iris."
Cerveau shut his mouth, watching Zero lose his disgusted expression, adopting a much softer, sadder one as he lifted one knee, folding his arms on it and resting his chin on his forearms. Zero's eyes stared at nothing.
"Was she human?" Cerveau asked.
"No..." Zero's brow pinched as he tried to remember her. "She was a Reploid... a... sister to a friend. A highly esteemed friend, he was some important figure. He wasn't exactly approving of me."
Cerveau tried not to smile. "I can't imagine why he wasn't."
"X was one of our biggest supporters." Zero shrugged, his eyes on the floor. "He said if being with Iris made me happy, he would support me all the way... and he did. He actually cheated the system so she and I could go on dates."
"You? On a date?" the very idea boggled Cerveau's mind. "What happened to her? Did she... in the Elf Wars?"
Zero frowned. "I don't remember. It was way before the Elf Wars... But I did care about her."
"Loved her, you mean."
"Yeah. I guess."
"That just nullified your entire arguement," Cerveau laughed, dispelling the tense air trying to gather.
"Not at all," Zero stretched out on the pod, shifting so the wire attached to his back didn't feel so uncomfortable. "I cared more about Iris then, than I do about Ciel now. So that tells me I don't love Ciel."
"You should tell her." Cerveau dragged his chair back to his workbench, his visor activating back over his eyes. "I think Ciel is letting everyone's bets get her hopes up. If you're going to break her heart, then I'd suggest doing it sooner rather than later, as much as I hate to say it."
"Will it get you all to stop trying to match me up with her?"
"Most likely."
Zero closed his eyes. "Yeah. I suppose I should, regardless. How's the weapon?"
"You broke it," Cerveau frowned. "How do you manage to do this, Zero? Seriously. You use your saber more often, yet only the Rods and Shield Boomerang ever shatter."
Zero smirked. "You made them."
"... put yourself in hibernation."
The blond almost chuckled, opting instead to do as he was told, his systems lowering to a quiet hum as the pod began to recharge him. Cerveau grumbled, resuming his work on the broken weapon. He could make weapons just bloody fine, damn it all. Zero just didn't use them properly.
Cerveau sighed. He had a feeling, just like his weapons, Zero wouldn't handle Ciel properly either. But what could the engineer do? It was between them.
I coulda used those crystals, too.