Chapter Ten: Make It Work
Zero remained shut down for several days, so X took the liberty of e-mailing Iris himself. It took him several minutes of staring at a wall in his interface mode with a blank e-mail flashing to think of what exactly to say.
Finally, X decided to be simple and quick, and when she'd write back all frantically and asking questions he could answer.
Miss Iris,
I know you probably have been e-mailing Zero a lot, but I wanted to let you know he's suffering some technical issues right now and has been temporarily shut down while Dr. Cain works on him. I assure you he's alive and well, but these issues are distracting to his job, so he's undergoing corrective procedures.
Feel free to e-mail me back with any questions. And tell Colonel I said hi.
But, that news aside, please tell me how your flight was and the moving in. I'll relay it to Zero when he gets back into operating mode.
Thank you,
-X
Having sent that, X swiveled his chair back toward Zero's pod, where Cain was still tinkering with his insides and typing one-handed on a small keyboard. Looking at the screen, X read the charts featured there.
"Well, Axl was right," Cain muttered. "In a sense."
"In a sense?" X asked.
Cain saved his document and began the procedure of putting Zero's chest back together. "Something isn't missing, per se, but something is inactive that won't activate no matter what I do. None of Zero's usual systems activate it, and I can't crack the code line. It's your typical 'if-else' statement, but that's about it. His systems are basically discovering this inactive program as an error, yet it cannot be deleted because it's essential. It tosses his systems through a frenzied loop, which starts to more or less overheat his brain system. Best I could do was install more cooling fans."
"An essential inactive program?" X blinked several times. "Why can't you activate it?"
"That's my new amazing find," Cain tapped the keyboard he was using before. "Zero's design is eerily similar to yours, X. If I didn't know better, I'd say Dr. Light had made Zero as well. But there are differences that point to someone else being his creator. X, your data is strongly protected. Any forced decoding on any piece of data activates it, especially if someone tries to crack the data of larger files. But your data will allow itself to be downloaded before wrecking havoc. Zero's? Instantaneous harm to whatever is attempting to download or hack."
What? I've been in his head and looked around… "So his anti-hack program is a more aggressive version than mine."
"To be frank, X, his anti-hack system is borderline Maverick Virus-like." X froze at this, and Cain went on. "It doesn't just knock the hacker down enough to keep itself safe. It prefers to destroy the hacker, or in some cases, assimilate it. When Zero wakes up, he's going to find a lot of random science notes of mine stored in his memory." Cain then began the re-align Zero's synthetic skin carefully. "Let him know the next five paychecks of his will be re-routed to me to pay for a new master computer."
"You don't seem worried about this, Doctor…"
"Why? No one in their right mind who's on our side is going to hack Zero, and I don't need to hack him to repair him or upload basic mission data into him. Sure, this means I can't study him, and if he needs me to fix a program I can't, but Zero has an already amazing self-correction program like you. Sadly, it just doesn't cover this inactive one." Cain took out a heated iron rod and carefully melted the edges of Zero's synthetic skin, melding the two sliced edges seamlessly together.
This doesn't make sense, X's mind called out. You were fine diddling around in his systems. Or did you just not hit the right spot?
Or are you immune to his safety mechanism?
X went stone-faced as Cain turned Zero's fluid circulation system back on, and the blonde's skin went from deathly pale to a healthy flush again as synthetic blood once again circled underneath. X could hear his systems pump essential cooling and required liquids throughout Zero's body before all were thoroughly lubricated and the sound quieted. Cain patted Zero's bare chest, then pulled at his skin. When the skin went taunt and did not tear, the old man nodded, satisfied, and began to put his tools away.
"I got him started on a slow start-up. Make sure he stays still another five minutes before leaving. I'm going to try and repair my computer." Cain doddered out of the room, muttering to himself.
X rested his forearms on his thighs, hands dangling in the air between his legs. One by one, Zero's systems started up, checked themselves, and then sent the signal to start up other systems. Within two minutes, Zero was waking up.
Zero groaned and tried to sit up, but X quickly stood and put his hands on Zero's shoulders. "Not yet," X murmured. "Five minutes, Z. Slow start up."
Zero opened his eyes, looking at X.
Seeing his friend wouldn't move, X meant to just remove his hands. Instead, he ended up staring at Zero, his eyes slowly trailing down to the bare, well-toned chest and stomach exposed to the world. X let his hands slide from Zero's shoulders, down his chest, before falling off across his stomach. The touch was slow and delicate, and made Zero swallow hard.
"Oh." X stepped back. "Sorry. I… Well, you're built different than me and I just… sorry."
Zero's trademark smirk made it to his face and he winked. "And here I thought you were just appreciatin'."
"Zero!" X covered his face, obviously embarrassed.
"It was so there, you can't get mad at me."
X shook his head, but uncovered his face and sat back down in the chair. Several seconds of silence ticked by before X took a deep breath and said, "So, I've been thinking."
"Yeah? Here I thought you just had air up in there…"
"Zero! I'm trying to be serious!" X growled.
"Sorry," Zero covered his eyes with one arm. "Wow, my head feels cold."
X decided to push aside what he was going to say and instead repeated Cain's findings to Zero. After he finished the explanation, Zero had shrugged and sat up, throwing his legs over the side of the table and faced X.
"I didn't think he could fix it. But if the fans help, sure. So, what were you gonna say? Whatcha been thinking about?" Zero asked.
Figured he wouldn't let it drop, X thought. "About you. And me. And with you being in love with me."
"Oh."
Oh? Was that all Zero could say? X looked at his face, but Zero was stone-facing him. X opened his mouth to speak, but somehow again was distracted by the shirtless state of his friend. When out of his armor, Zero wasn't as 'buff' as some people thought. He was more built like an athletic swimmer or a fencer. He was well toned with defined muscles, but he wasn't bulging out of his clothes.
X shook his head. "I still don't know, Zero," X admitted. "But… But I'm willing to try."
Zero raised an eyebrow. "Try what?"
"Well, dating. You don't have to be in love to date… well, it helps but not required. Maybe… maybe I'll figure it out while we do."
Zero placed his hands on his knees and bent forward a bit, closer to X. "No offense, buddy, but that'd be totally fucking me over. You want to date and get my hopes up and possibly dash them in the end? No way. It's all or nothing—our friendship is way too big of a gamble to try simply dating."
In a way, X was both disappointed and proud of Zero's answer. Disappointed, because it meant he was back to figuring this out on his own and possibly spacing himself more away from Zero to do so. Proud because Zero obviously treasured their friendship above his love and would silently suffer the pains of unrequited love to remain as his best friend.
"Look, Zero," X held his hands up, "I'm confused. I've been thinking about everything. Looking back, I now know why you've been giving me those lingering stares. The more frequent teasing flirts. You weren't quite as touchy-feely before. I think about all of that, realizing why now. And then I think about how I felt then."
"And?" Zero prodded.
X took a deep breath. He was the one who started this conversation; he couldn't be annoyed that Zero was digging for details. "I was embarrassed. The looks made me squirm in my armor, the flirting embarrassed me; the extra touches made me all the more aware… but it wasn't a bad thing. I found out I… well, I enjoyed it." X blushed. "I want to say I unknowingly fell for you, but I don't really know. I love you, but now I can't pinpoint how deeply. I know I… that I could care for you the same." His embarrassment was replaced with a small smile that made Zero smile back. "Yeah. I really could fall in love with you, Zero. If I am now or not, I don't know. But I definitely could."
Zero hopped down from the table, and X glanced up at him for a moment before standing as well. Without another word, Zero wrapped an arm around X's shoulders, tangling his hand in X's chocolate locks and gently massaging his scalp. X's expression was hilarious, locked between confusion, physical bliss (as he loved head massages) and expectation. Zero pulled X close and bent down, pressing his lips against X's in a light, innocent kiss.
The small contact made X blush all over again, and when Zero pulled himself back to his full height, he was smiling.
"Okay. We'll try." Zero nodded. He then peered at X. "Do you want to go public or keep it shush-shush for now?"
X shook his head a bit, although Zero still massaged his head with his fingertips. "Keep it a secret and see if we get official."
"Fair enough," Zero bent low and kissed him again. This time, X was more responsive.
~*~
Iris had e-mailed back, and X had told her Zero was well and online again. Since then, she e-mailed every day, and Zero found himself writing shorter and shorter letters back as time went by.
He didn't want to scare X away, deciding to use this 'dating try' to attempt to get X to cement his feelings on Zero. With that in mind, Zero kept things slow and chaste—a tight embrace when no one was around, a quick kiss behind closed doors before a mission, spending random nights in each other's apartments to cuddle, and only holding hands under tables. It was almost like a bad high school romance movie, but Zero was content with it for now.
As Zero walked passed X's dorm on his way to his own, walking in auto-pilot mode as he was in his interface replying to yet another e-mail from Iris (and one from Colonel jokingly commenting that Zero only tried to talk to him through e-mails to Iris instead of e-mailing him directly. Something about being scared of a big softie who instantly broke down when his sister begged for an American sports car the first day they moved into their new unit) when a hand reached out and grabbed him by his hair. Zero instantly exited his interface mode, the mail saved in his Drafts folder, yelping as he was dragged into X's apartment.
Zero was pinned against the door, X staring hard at him.
"Hi there, boyfriend," Zero managed through his surprise.
"Kiss me," was all X said.
Although X never demanded for such actions before, Zero mentally shrugged and bent down to lightly kiss X. When he did and was pulling away, X grabbed some free stands of hair and Zero paused.
"No, dolt," X breathed. "Kiss me. You act like I never kissed or been kissed. You better start taking this more seriously."
Was X demanding to picking up the pace? To get heavier into this? Zero wanted to laugh and cry for joy; maybe X had made up his mind?
Zero licked his lips and smirked. "X, in all your previous relationships, when in intimate contact like kissing, who was in the lead most?"
"I was, of course; I'm the guy."
"See, here's the problem… we're both guys. And I never let someone else direct this sort of thing…"
"Oh yeah? Try me."
Not only was X demanding heavier contact, but now he was challenging Zero's dominance? While Zero had no intention to make X any less of a man, he did consider himself the more dominant one in this relationship. The fiery defiance in X's eyes was sparking something in Zero he never felt when with a female—none of them questioned him taking control. He never had to fight for it, but it looked like X was promising fun and excitement.
Zero grabbed X around the hips and hefted him up against his own hips so he didn't have to bend. X gave a light cry of surprise, wrapping arms and legs around Zero to keep from falling. Hands secure under X's bottom, Zero kissed him deeply, biting X's lower lip and demanding entrance with his tongue.
When X didn't immediately comply, Zero carried X to the back of the dorm, to the bedroom area. X wanted to get serious? Fine with him.
Hours later, and both still having at least pants on, X was panting and Zero was red-faced. Through a battle of groping hands (and smacking away of said groping hands), deep kisses, growling and biting, neither had claimed the right to be 'dominant male' quite yet. Despite the frustration Zero was feeling, he was also exhilarated by the process. His nerve systems were on fire and every cooling fan was working overtime as he lunged at X again, pinning the smaller man against the headboard.
Between biting and kissing, X tried to talk. "This is… taking longer… than I thought…"
"What?" Zero murmured as his mouth went from X's neck to his ear. "You were thinking I'd just roll over for you?"
"Mmm, yes?" X bit Zero's earlobe.
Arms, chests and necks were bruised and, in some cases, lightly bleeding from tight grips and love bites; X was going to have to wear neck-high shirts for a while, and Zero was going to have a hard time explaining to Lifesaver on his bi-monthly checkup why he was covered in teeth marks on his front, deep nail marks in his shoulders and missing some hair. But the thoughts were hardly in their minds as the 'battle' between the two resumed.
That is, about to resume until X's dorm door opened and Axl bounded in.
"X! I was thinking maybe--aauuuggghhh!"
<--- PREVIOUS CHAPTER NEXT CHAPTER --->
Zero remained shut down for several days, so X took the liberty of e-mailing Iris himself. It took him several minutes of staring at a wall in his interface mode with a blank e-mail flashing to think of what exactly to say.
Finally, X decided to be simple and quick, and when she'd write back all frantically and asking questions he could answer.
Miss Iris,
I know you probably have been e-mailing Zero a lot, but I wanted to let you know he's suffering some technical issues right now and has been temporarily shut down while Dr. Cain works on him. I assure you he's alive and well, but these issues are distracting to his job, so he's undergoing corrective procedures.
Feel free to e-mail me back with any questions. And tell Colonel I said hi.
But, that news aside, please tell me how your flight was and the moving in. I'll relay it to Zero when he gets back into operating mode.
Thank you,
-X
Having sent that, X swiveled his chair back toward Zero's pod, where Cain was still tinkering with his insides and typing one-handed on a small keyboard. Looking at the screen, X read the charts featured there.
"Well, Axl was right," Cain muttered. "In a sense."
"In a sense?" X asked.
Cain saved his document and began the procedure of putting Zero's chest back together. "Something isn't missing, per se, but something is inactive that won't activate no matter what I do. None of Zero's usual systems activate it, and I can't crack the code line. It's your typical 'if-else' statement, but that's about it. His systems are basically discovering this inactive program as an error, yet it cannot be deleted because it's essential. It tosses his systems through a frenzied loop, which starts to more or less overheat his brain system. Best I could do was install more cooling fans."
"An essential inactive program?" X blinked several times. "Why can't you activate it?"
"That's my new amazing find," Cain tapped the keyboard he was using before. "Zero's design is eerily similar to yours, X. If I didn't know better, I'd say Dr. Light had made Zero as well. But there are differences that point to someone else being his creator. X, your data is strongly protected. Any forced decoding on any piece of data activates it, especially if someone tries to crack the data of larger files. But your data will allow itself to be downloaded before wrecking havoc. Zero's? Instantaneous harm to whatever is attempting to download or hack."
What? I've been in his head and looked around… "So his anti-hack program is a more aggressive version than mine."
"To be frank, X, his anti-hack system is borderline Maverick Virus-like." X froze at this, and Cain went on. "It doesn't just knock the hacker down enough to keep itself safe. It prefers to destroy the hacker, or in some cases, assimilate it. When Zero wakes up, he's going to find a lot of random science notes of mine stored in his memory." Cain then began the re-align Zero's synthetic skin carefully. "Let him know the next five paychecks of his will be re-routed to me to pay for a new master computer."
"You don't seem worried about this, Doctor…"
"Why? No one in their right mind who's on our side is going to hack Zero, and I don't need to hack him to repair him or upload basic mission data into him. Sure, this means I can't study him, and if he needs me to fix a program I can't, but Zero has an already amazing self-correction program like you. Sadly, it just doesn't cover this inactive one." Cain took out a heated iron rod and carefully melted the edges of Zero's synthetic skin, melding the two sliced edges seamlessly together.
This doesn't make sense, X's mind called out. You were fine diddling around in his systems. Or did you just not hit the right spot?
Or are you immune to his safety mechanism?
X went stone-faced as Cain turned Zero's fluid circulation system back on, and the blonde's skin went from deathly pale to a healthy flush again as synthetic blood once again circled underneath. X could hear his systems pump essential cooling and required liquids throughout Zero's body before all were thoroughly lubricated and the sound quieted. Cain patted Zero's bare chest, then pulled at his skin. When the skin went taunt and did not tear, the old man nodded, satisfied, and began to put his tools away.
"I got him started on a slow start-up. Make sure he stays still another five minutes before leaving. I'm going to try and repair my computer." Cain doddered out of the room, muttering to himself.
X rested his forearms on his thighs, hands dangling in the air between his legs. One by one, Zero's systems started up, checked themselves, and then sent the signal to start up other systems. Within two minutes, Zero was waking up.
Zero groaned and tried to sit up, but X quickly stood and put his hands on Zero's shoulders. "Not yet," X murmured. "Five minutes, Z. Slow start up."
Zero opened his eyes, looking at X.
Seeing his friend wouldn't move, X meant to just remove his hands. Instead, he ended up staring at Zero, his eyes slowly trailing down to the bare, well-toned chest and stomach exposed to the world. X let his hands slide from Zero's shoulders, down his chest, before falling off across his stomach. The touch was slow and delicate, and made Zero swallow hard.
"Oh." X stepped back. "Sorry. I… Well, you're built different than me and I just… sorry."
Zero's trademark smirk made it to his face and he winked. "And here I thought you were just appreciatin'."
"Zero!" X covered his face, obviously embarrassed.
"It was so there, you can't get mad at me."
X shook his head, but uncovered his face and sat back down in the chair. Several seconds of silence ticked by before X took a deep breath and said, "So, I've been thinking."
"Yeah? Here I thought you just had air up in there…"
"Zero! I'm trying to be serious!" X growled.
"Sorry," Zero covered his eyes with one arm. "Wow, my head feels cold."
X decided to push aside what he was going to say and instead repeated Cain's findings to Zero. After he finished the explanation, Zero had shrugged and sat up, throwing his legs over the side of the table and faced X.
"I didn't think he could fix it. But if the fans help, sure. So, what were you gonna say? Whatcha been thinking about?" Zero asked.
Figured he wouldn't let it drop, X thought. "About you. And me. And with you being in love with me."
"Oh."
Oh? Was that all Zero could say? X looked at his face, but Zero was stone-facing him. X opened his mouth to speak, but somehow again was distracted by the shirtless state of his friend. When out of his armor, Zero wasn't as 'buff' as some people thought. He was more built like an athletic swimmer or a fencer. He was well toned with defined muscles, but he wasn't bulging out of his clothes.
X shook his head. "I still don't know, Zero," X admitted. "But… But I'm willing to try."
Zero raised an eyebrow. "Try what?"
"Well, dating. You don't have to be in love to date… well, it helps but not required. Maybe… maybe I'll figure it out while we do."
Zero placed his hands on his knees and bent forward a bit, closer to X. "No offense, buddy, but that'd be totally fucking me over. You want to date and get my hopes up and possibly dash them in the end? No way. It's all or nothing—our friendship is way too big of a gamble to try simply dating."
In a way, X was both disappointed and proud of Zero's answer. Disappointed, because it meant he was back to figuring this out on his own and possibly spacing himself more away from Zero to do so. Proud because Zero obviously treasured their friendship above his love and would silently suffer the pains of unrequited love to remain as his best friend.
"Look, Zero," X held his hands up, "I'm confused. I've been thinking about everything. Looking back, I now know why you've been giving me those lingering stares. The more frequent teasing flirts. You weren't quite as touchy-feely before. I think about all of that, realizing why now. And then I think about how I felt then."
"And?" Zero prodded.
X took a deep breath. He was the one who started this conversation; he couldn't be annoyed that Zero was digging for details. "I was embarrassed. The looks made me squirm in my armor, the flirting embarrassed me; the extra touches made me all the more aware… but it wasn't a bad thing. I found out I… well, I enjoyed it." X blushed. "I want to say I unknowingly fell for you, but I don't really know. I love you, but now I can't pinpoint how deeply. I know I… that I could care for you the same." His embarrassment was replaced with a small smile that made Zero smile back. "Yeah. I really could fall in love with you, Zero. If I am now or not, I don't know. But I definitely could."
Zero hopped down from the table, and X glanced up at him for a moment before standing as well. Without another word, Zero wrapped an arm around X's shoulders, tangling his hand in X's chocolate locks and gently massaging his scalp. X's expression was hilarious, locked between confusion, physical bliss (as he loved head massages) and expectation. Zero pulled X close and bent down, pressing his lips against X's in a light, innocent kiss.
The small contact made X blush all over again, and when Zero pulled himself back to his full height, he was smiling.
"Okay. We'll try." Zero nodded. He then peered at X. "Do you want to go public or keep it shush-shush for now?"
X shook his head a bit, although Zero still massaged his head with his fingertips. "Keep it a secret and see if we get official."
"Fair enough," Zero bent low and kissed him again. This time, X was more responsive.
~*~
Iris had e-mailed back, and X had told her Zero was well and online again. Since then, she e-mailed every day, and Zero found himself writing shorter and shorter letters back as time went by.
He didn't want to scare X away, deciding to use this 'dating try' to attempt to get X to cement his feelings on Zero. With that in mind, Zero kept things slow and chaste—a tight embrace when no one was around, a quick kiss behind closed doors before a mission, spending random nights in each other's apartments to cuddle, and only holding hands under tables. It was almost like a bad high school romance movie, but Zero was content with it for now.
As Zero walked passed X's dorm on his way to his own, walking in auto-pilot mode as he was in his interface replying to yet another e-mail from Iris (and one from Colonel jokingly commenting that Zero only tried to talk to him through e-mails to Iris instead of e-mailing him directly. Something about being scared of a big softie who instantly broke down when his sister begged for an American sports car the first day they moved into their new unit) when a hand reached out and grabbed him by his hair. Zero instantly exited his interface mode, the mail saved in his Drafts folder, yelping as he was dragged into X's apartment.
Zero was pinned against the door, X staring hard at him.
"Hi there, boyfriend," Zero managed through his surprise.
"Kiss me," was all X said.
Although X never demanded for such actions before, Zero mentally shrugged and bent down to lightly kiss X. When he did and was pulling away, X grabbed some free stands of hair and Zero paused.
"No, dolt," X breathed. "Kiss me. You act like I never kissed or been kissed. You better start taking this more seriously."
Was X demanding to picking up the pace? To get heavier into this? Zero wanted to laugh and cry for joy; maybe X had made up his mind?
Zero licked his lips and smirked. "X, in all your previous relationships, when in intimate contact like kissing, who was in the lead most?"
"I was, of course; I'm the guy."
"See, here's the problem… we're both guys. And I never let someone else direct this sort of thing…"
"Oh yeah? Try me."
Not only was X demanding heavier contact, but now he was challenging Zero's dominance? While Zero had no intention to make X any less of a man, he did consider himself the more dominant one in this relationship. The fiery defiance in X's eyes was sparking something in Zero he never felt when with a female—none of them questioned him taking control. He never had to fight for it, but it looked like X was promising fun and excitement.
Zero grabbed X around the hips and hefted him up against his own hips so he didn't have to bend. X gave a light cry of surprise, wrapping arms and legs around Zero to keep from falling. Hands secure under X's bottom, Zero kissed him deeply, biting X's lower lip and demanding entrance with his tongue.
When X didn't immediately comply, Zero carried X to the back of the dorm, to the bedroom area. X wanted to get serious? Fine with him.
Hours later, and both still having at least pants on, X was panting and Zero was red-faced. Through a battle of groping hands (and smacking away of said groping hands), deep kisses, growling and biting, neither had claimed the right to be 'dominant male' quite yet. Despite the frustration Zero was feeling, he was also exhilarated by the process. His nerve systems were on fire and every cooling fan was working overtime as he lunged at X again, pinning the smaller man against the headboard.
Between biting and kissing, X tried to talk. "This is… taking longer… than I thought…"
"What?" Zero murmured as his mouth went from X's neck to his ear. "You were thinking I'd just roll over for you?"
"Mmm, yes?" X bit Zero's earlobe.
Arms, chests and necks were bruised and, in some cases, lightly bleeding from tight grips and love bites; X was going to have to wear neck-high shirts for a while, and Zero was going to have a hard time explaining to Lifesaver on his bi-monthly checkup why he was covered in teeth marks on his front, deep nail marks in his shoulders and missing some hair. But the thoughts were hardly in their minds as the 'battle' between the two resumed.
That is, about to resume until X's dorm door opened and Axl bounded in.
"X! I was thinking maybe--aauuuggghhh!"
<--- PREVIOUS CHAPTER NEXT CHAPTER --->