Chapter Three: Afraid to Love
X scowled. "Sometimes I hate the fact we can 'feel' like humans."
Zero put a hand on X's shoulder, knowing this anger was just a protective front the blue Reploid like to put on. X, being emotional X, always got too involved when he tried relationships. When he thought he was in love, he put his entire being into the relationship. Most girls were nice about breaking it off, and X always did forgive them. But Delia… Delia was X's first real heartbreak.
Delia and X were good friends, and even Zero liked the girl. She was pretty, smart, and liked most of what X did as well. When they hooked up, Zero was glad for his friend, could even see him settling down with the girl.
That is, if she wasn't such a whore.
People say the Reploid reflects its creator, and Zero could only think a sick pervert or the queen of bitches made Delia. After three years of a great relationship, X happened to find Delia wrapped in the arms of a human man. At first, X brushed it off, believing he was related to her via her creator or some such. As it was, however, he ended up walking in on Delia while she was riding some other guy. X had never been cheated on, and it wasn't like it was in his program to know how to cope with an unfaithful partner. From what Zero heard, Delia had been playing both X, another Reploid guy, and a human all at the same time for the entire three years.
As he still didn't know how to cope with it, X liked to pretend he was angry and would fly off the handle any time he saw or heard about Delia. Only Zero saw through X's attempt at deception, and his best friend was still heartbroken over the incident.
"Let's go," Zero said, tugging X away from the cafeteria. Delia's laugh somehow was the loudest of the bunch she sat with. "We can go somewhere else to chill out. Hey, let's go to the café you like so much!"
X sniffed and turned away to walk out, and when Zero looked back over at Delia's group, she was smirking at them both. It took every ounce of willpower to not dash across the room and slash her pretty little head off, but the red-clad hunter knew X would hate him for it, so he took a deep breath and followed X out.
As they walked, Zero put his arm around X's shoulders. At first his friend shrugged him off, but Zero was persistent and X finally gave in, even going as far as leaning a bit against Zero as they strode together. They got a few glances their way, but the friends ignore them. When like this, they only paid attention to each other—that's how it always was.
"I hate her," X finally mumbled.
"I know," Zero replied. "Don't worry, X. We can break like humans, but we can heal and be fixed, too. Don't let some bitch take you down."
"Yeah." X nodded. "You're right. You're always right, Zero. Always there for me, too. Thanks."
Zero smiled. "Hey, that's what best friends are for, mending each other's broken hearts. Now, forget you saw her and let's focus on having a good night, eh? Let's hit a bar."
"I thought we were going to my café."
"Oh ho ho, I see, you want me to spoil you." Zero gave X a quick, manly hug. "Okay, fine, but just this once."
X grinned cheekily, although Zero could see some of it was forced. "You said that last time."
"I don't remember. C'mon, commence Operation: Cheer X Up."
It took a while, but Zero did eventually cheer X up, especially when he let X indulge himself with a whole cheesecake. While Reploids had no need to eat, their systems were fully operational in creating the necessary acids to 'digest' the food, and their tongues were wired with every taste known. Of course, if a Reploid came equipped with the digestive system, they also were equipped with the waste disposal system. Whatever humans protested and acted like Reploids weren't human, the scientists under and aspiring to be like Dr. Cain did their damnedest to make Reploids as human as possible, right down to bodily functions complete with nerves wired to the brain-system that read the encoded data to how to react.
In Zero's mind, Dr. Light has a wicked sense of humor when he programmed X to absolutely adore cheesecake. The kid went insane when Zero bought the whole cake, and each bite he had this look of absolute bliss that made Zero chuckle.
"I don't care what anyone says," X proclaimed after his fourth piece of cake. "This stuff is made of Heaven. Not in Heaven, of."
"By the look on your face, I can imagine," Zero chuckled.
As X indulged himself in his sweet, Zero sipped a coffee and just watched him. In a way X was extremely easy to make happy, but then again, hard to keep happy. Thinking back on it, Zero wasn't sure anyone else knew of X's sweet tooth or love of baby living things. It was something of an obvious trait, but for all the time they've worked with him, none of them could say they really knew X outside of work.
Zero felt rather special at that moment.
After X's pigging out on cake, he relented to going to a bar with Zero. Technically, Reploids could not get drunk, not in the ways humans were. When humans were drunk, nothing could fix them but time. Reploid processes read the alcohol, and sent the message of 'be drunk' to the brain, which then caused the Reploid to 'be' intoxicated. However, a small passive program ran during this simulation that, should danger occur, the intoxication program would terminate immediately and the Reploid would be sober. Luckily for X and Zero, no such danger impeded on their parade of getting sloshed, and the intoxication program ran for hours until it forced the Reploids to enter a hibernation state.
Zero woke up first from the hibernation state, and his brain felt ready to shatter. By some stroke of bad luck, hangover mode could not manually be terminated; instead, the Reploid would have to suffer through it regardless of danger or safety. In that, Zero thought humans had a very sick sense of humor.
When Zero attempted to move, he finally registered he wasn't in his usual pod. He had actually made it to his dormitory and had passed out on his bed. And apparently, not just him, but X also made it to his bed, and Zero had promptly spooned his best friend the entire duration of their passed out state.
Although he wasn't the type to take advantage of someone, let alone his best friend, Zero nonetheless made himself comfortable by pulling X closer and burying his face in the back of X's neck, closing his eyes. He knew X never viewed him outside of the 'friend' box, and while Zero never saw himself restricted to one gender, he never pictured himself having a relationship with a guy.
But somewhere down the line, Zero started viewing X in a different light. Things that X did that were funny were now much more endearing, and where Zero thought X was a nice looking Reploid, he now viewed him as positively handsome. Somehow, Zero was slowly pushing X out of the 'best friend' folder and into the 'possible love interest' folder.
Maybe it was for that very reason: X was his best friend, the person he would die for and would kill for. He'd destroy the world for X, protect the world for X. This one Reploid, able to save the world all on his own, became the center of Zero's world and had no intention of moving on.
Zero opened his eyes as his brain worked hard to fight not just the hangover, but the realization that he was in love with his best friend, who still wasn't over his last heartbreak.
This spelled out some horrible dilemma in the future, but Zero had weathered through worse. While he helped X through his issue, Zero hoped to start weaseling his way into the blue Reploid's heart and be the center of his world.
X stirred, and Zero quickly made space between their bodies. His friend rolled over, slowly opening his eyes to see he had closed the space between them, Zero practically cuddling him.
Instead of freaking out or blushing like mad, X actually smirked. "Well," he said, "this was bound to happen."
"Oh yeah?" Zero played it off.
"Yeah… We get drunk together enough times; it's a miracle we don't end up in bed together more often." X sat up and yawned, then winced. "Although by the looks of it, we haven't made the 'awkward morning-after sex' part yet."
Considering he brought it up himself, Zero found no reason not to tease. "What, were you hoping we'd be naked?"
This time X did flush, but he shoved Zero off the bed. "No."
Zero fell to the ground with a thud, and clutched at his chest as if pained. "No? Ow, X! You wouldn't want a hot night with me, your best friend?" As he waited for X's reply, Zero set the task of detangling himself from his sheets.
"Hot? If you mean by sticky and messy and terribly awkward and not to mention painful…"
"I'd be gentle. And, it's not like we, you know, have those messes like humans do."
"We'd be drunk… I'd be surprised if you could even use your equipment!"
Zero harrumphed, even as he continued his battle with the bedsheets that stubbornly knotted with his hair. "You're such a bitch when you're hung over."
"Don't you mean a bas—"
A sharp knock interrupted the two's banter, and both looked over at the door. A second later, another knock resounded.
"Yeah?" Zero called.
"It's Alia," a muffled reply came out. "I got paperwork for you Zero and a message for X, but I can't find X and I don't have time to look."
"Give me a minute."
Free of his sheet-prison, Zero ran his hand through his hair in an attempt to make it decent as X meandered his way to the bathroom. Zero heard the faucet run as he opened the door and a pile of papers were thrust into his face.
With a frown he took them. "So what's for X?"
Alia shrugged, although Zero couldn't see past the pile. "A woman named Delia wanted to talk to him."
"Oh yeah?" Zero discarded the information immediately and, for good measure, deleted his recycle bin. "I'll tell him."
"Thanks. She seemed rather serious about it." Alia waved farewell and walked away.
Zero cursed as he threw the papers onto his desk, not caring as they toppled over. X wandered out, a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. Despite being made almost entirely of metal, Reploids still required basic hygiene routines. Their teeth, while they didn't rot, still got dirty and could rust.
"Wha' 'at 'bout?" X asked as he scrubbed his teeth with the brush.
"Work, as usual." Zero said. His conscience—or backup data, whatever people wanted to call it—tugged at him to do the right thing and not lie to his friend. "Delia apparently wants to talk to you."
"O' 'ea?" X went back to the bathroom. 'Ith 'an wot n' 'ell." He spat out the toothpaste and rinsed out his mouth and the brush, then patted his mouth dry.
"Up to you if you wanna talk to her or not," Zero said. "But if you do, let me say this. You take her back and I'll slap you silly myself."
"I'm naïve, Zero, but not stupid."
"I dunno, X, sometimes…"
"Bite me." X grabbed his helmet from the floor and, putting it on and pressing the gem, summoned his armor over his clothes. "I'll go talk to her while I'm still hung over. That way, the day can only get better."
"Want me to come with?"
"Nah, do your work. I'll come crying in here afterwards. Leave the door open for me." X made his way to said door, rather calm and nonchalant about the whole thing.
"It's always open for ya, X," Zero called. X waved his hand and exited the room, and Zero slumped into his chair. "What could the bitch possibly want from him now...?"
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X scowled. "Sometimes I hate the fact we can 'feel' like humans."
Zero put a hand on X's shoulder, knowing this anger was just a protective front the blue Reploid like to put on. X, being emotional X, always got too involved when he tried relationships. When he thought he was in love, he put his entire being into the relationship. Most girls were nice about breaking it off, and X always did forgive them. But Delia… Delia was X's first real heartbreak.
Delia and X were good friends, and even Zero liked the girl. She was pretty, smart, and liked most of what X did as well. When they hooked up, Zero was glad for his friend, could even see him settling down with the girl.
That is, if she wasn't such a whore.
People say the Reploid reflects its creator, and Zero could only think a sick pervert or the queen of bitches made Delia. After three years of a great relationship, X happened to find Delia wrapped in the arms of a human man. At first, X brushed it off, believing he was related to her via her creator or some such. As it was, however, he ended up walking in on Delia while she was riding some other guy. X had never been cheated on, and it wasn't like it was in his program to know how to cope with an unfaithful partner. From what Zero heard, Delia had been playing both X, another Reploid guy, and a human all at the same time for the entire three years.
As he still didn't know how to cope with it, X liked to pretend he was angry and would fly off the handle any time he saw or heard about Delia. Only Zero saw through X's attempt at deception, and his best friend was still heartbroken over the incident.
"Let's go," Zero said, tugging X away from the cafeteria. Delia's laugh somehow was the loudest of the bunch she sat with. "We can go somewhere else to chill out. Hey, let's go to the café you like so much!"
X sniffed and turned away to walk out, and when Zero looked back over at Delia's group, she was smirking at them both. It took every ounce of willpower to not dash across the room and slash her pretty little head off, but the red-clad hunter knew X would hate him for it, so he took a deep breath and followed X out.
As they walked, Zero put his arm around X's shoulders. At first his friend shrugged him off, but Zero was persistent and X finally gave in, even going as far as leaning a bit against Zero as they strode together. They got a few glances their way, but the friends ignore them. When like this, they only paid attention to each other—that's how it always was.
"I hate her," X finally mumbled.
"I know," Zero replied. "Don't worry, X. We can break like humans, but we can heal and be fixed, too. Don't let some bitch take you down."
"Yeah." X nodded. "You're right. You're always right, Zero. Always there for me, too. Thanks."
Zero smiled. "Hey, that's what best friends are for, mending each other's broken hearts. Now, forget you saw her and let's focus on having a good night, eh? Let's hit a bar."
"I thought we were going to my café."
"Oh ho ho, I see, you want me to spoil you." Zero gave X a quick, manly hug. "Okay, fine, but just this once."
X grinned cheekily, although Zero could see some of it was forced. "You said that last time."
"I don't remember. C'mon, commence Operation: Cheer X Up."
It took a while, but Zero did eventually cheer X up, especially when he let X indulge himself with a whole cheesecake. While Reploids had no need to eat, their systems were fully operational in creating the necessary acids to 'digest' the food, and their tongues were wired with every taste known. Of course, if a Reploid came equipped with the digestive system, they also were equipped with the waste disposal system. Whatever humans protested and acted like Reploids weren't human, the scientists under and aspiring to be like Dr. Cain did their damnedest to make Reploids as human as possible, right down to bodily functions complete with nerves wired to the brain-system that read the encoded data to how to react.
In Zero's mind, Dr. Light has a wicked sense of humor when he programmed X to absolutely adore cheesecake. The kid went insane when Zero bought the whole cake, and each bite he had this look of absolute bliss that made Zero chuckle.
"I don't care what anyone says," X proclaimed after his fourth piece of cake. "This stuff is made of Heaven. Not in Heaven, of."
"By the look on your face, I can imagine," Zero chuckled.
As X indulged himself in his sweet, Zero sipped a coffee and just watched him. In a way X was extremely easy to make happy, but then again, hard to keep happy. Thinking back on it, Zero wasn't sure anyone else knew of X's sweet tooth or love of baby living things. It was something of an obvious trait, but for all the time they've worked with him, none of them could say they really knew X outside of work.
Zero felt rather special at that moment.
After X's pigging out on cake, he relented to going to a bar with Zero. Technically, Reploids could not get drunk, not in the ways humans were. When humans were drunk, nothing could fix them but time. Reploid processes read the alcohol, and sent the message of 'be drunk' to the brain, which then caused the Reploid to 'be' intoxicated. However, a small passive program ran during this simulation that, should danger occur, the intoxication program would terminate immediately and the Reploid would be sober. Luckily for X and Zero, no such danger impeded on their parade of getting sloshed, and the intoxication program ran for hours until it forced the Reploids to enter a hibernation state.
Zero woke up first from the hibernation state, and his brain felt ready to shatter. By some stroke of bad luck, hangover mode could not manually be terminated; instead, the Reploid would have to suffer through it regardless of danger or safety. In that, Zero thought humans had a very sick sense of humor.
When Zero attempted to move, he finally registered he wasn't in his usual pod. He had actually made it to his dormitory and had passed out on his bed. And apparently, not just him, but X also made it to his bed, and Zero had promptly spooned his best friend the entire duration of their passed out state.
Although he wasn't the type to take advantage of someone, let alone his best friend, Zero nonetheless made himself comfortable by pulling X closer and burying his face in the back of X's neck, closing his eyes. He knew X never viewed him outside of the 'friend' box, and while Zero never saw himself restricted to one gender, he never pictured himself having a relationship with a guy.
But somewhere down the line, Zero started viewing X in a different light. Things that X did that were funny were now much more endearing, and where Zero thought X was a nice looking Reploid, he now viewed him as positively handsome. Somehow, Zero was slowly pushing X out of the 'best friend' folder and into the 'possible love interest' folder.
Maybe it was for that very reason: X was his best friend, the person he would die for and would kill for. He'd destroy the world for X, protect the world for X. This one Reploid, able to save the world all on his own, became the center of Zero's world and had no intention of moving on.
Zero opened his eyes as his brain worked hard to fight not just the hangover, but the realization that he was in love with his best friend, who still wasn't over his last heartbreak.
This spelled out some horrible dilemma in the future, but Zero had weathered through worse. While he helped X through his issue, Zero hoped to start weaseling his way into the blue Reploid's heart and be the center of his world.
X stirred, and Zero quickly made space between their bodies. His friend rolled over, slowly opening his eyes to see he had closed the space between them, Zero practically cuddling him.
Instead of freaking out or blushing like mad, X actually smirked. "Well," he said, "this was bound to happen."
"Oh yeah?" Zero played it off.
"Yeah… We get drunk together enough times; it's a miracle we don't end up in bed together more often." X sat up and yawned, then winced. "Although by the looks of it, we haven't made the 'awkward morning-after sex' part yet."
Considering he brought it up himself, Zero found no reason not to tease. "What, were you hoping we'd be naked?"
This time X did flush, but he shoved Zero off the bed. "No."
Zero fell to the ground with a thud, and clutched at his chest as if pained. "No? Ow, X! You wouldn't want a hot night with me, your best friend?" As he waited for X's reply, Zero set the task of detangling himself from his sheets.
"Hot? If you mean by sticky and messy and terribly awkward and not to mention painful…"
"I'd be gentle. And, it's not like we, you know, have those messes like humans do."
"We'd be drunk… I'd be surprised if you could even use your equipment!"
Zero harrumphed, even as he continued his battle with the bedsheets that stubbornly knotted with his hair. "You're such a bitch when you're hung over."
"Don't you mean a bas—"
A sharp knock interrupted the two's banter, and both looked over at the door. A second later, another knock resounded.
"Yeah?" Zero called.
"It's Alia," a muffled reply came out. "I got paperwork for you Zero and a message for X, but I can't find X and I don't have time to look."
"Give me a minute."
Free of his sheet-prison, Zero ran his hand through his hair in an attempt to make it decent as X meandered his way to the bathroom. Zero heard the faucet run as he opened the door and a pile of papers were thrust into his face.
With a frown he took them. "So what's for X?"
Alia shrugged, although Zero couldn't see past the pile. "A woman named Delia wanted to talk to him."
"Oh yeah?" Zero discarded the information immediately and, for good measure, deleted his recycle bin. "I'll tell him."
"Thanks. She seemed rather serious about it." Alia waved farewell and walked away.
Zero cursed as he threw the papers onto his desk, not caring as they toppled over. X wandered out, a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. Despite being made almost entirely of metal, Reploids still required basic hygiene routines. Their teeth, while they didn't rot, still got dirty and could rust.
"Wha' 'at 'bout?" X asked as he scrubbed his teeth with the brush.
"Work, as usual." Zero said. His conscience—or backup data, whatever people wanted to call it—tugged at him to do the right thing and not lie to his friend. "Delia apparently wants to talk to you."
"O' 'ea?" X went back to the bathroom. 'Ith 'an wot n' 'ell." He spat out the toothpaste and rinsed out his mouth and the brush, then patted his mouth dry.
"Up to you if you wanna talk to her or not," Zero said. "But if you do, let me say this. You take her back and I'll slap you silly myself."
"I'm naïve, Zero, but not stupid."
"I dunno, X, sometimes…"
"Bite me." X grabbed his helmet from the floor and, putting it on and pressing the gem, summoned his armor over his clothes. "I'll go talk to her while I'm still hung over. That way, the day can only get better."
"Want me to come with?"
"Nah, do your work. I'll come crying in here afterwards. Leave the door open for me." X made his way to said door, rather calm and nonchalant about the whole thing.
"It's always open for ya, X," Zero called. X waved his hand and exited the room, and Zero slumped into his chair. "What could the bitch possibly want from him now...?"
<--- PREVIOUS CHAPTER NEXT CHAPTER --->