It was 6:00 in the evening. The sun was beginning to set over the large spectacle that was Aleero City, making the shiny silver and gold buildings glow with a calm amber light. Business buildings were emptying out with people who were ready to put another hard day of work behind them and go home and relax with their loving families. And the same could be said for the Hall of Heroes, which was cloaked in a cool shadow as it hid from the sunset behind an array of tall buildings.

Inside the Hall of Heroes, everyone was packing away for the night. The Rangerbots marched to their charging station for a good night's rest, guns racks were filled back up, and the technology was shut down one by one. Qwark, Cora and Brax were the first ones to leave, as they had the least amount of stuff to deal with before leaving, and that left three people inside. Ratchet was changing out of his protosuit and back into his usual pilot wear while Clank and Elaris cleaned up in the Intelligence Center (A.K.A. the broom closet).

Elaris grasped a large stack of papers in her hands and hit the bottom side of them against her desk, putting them in a neat and equal stack. She opened walked over to the filing cabinet and opened the top drawer, placing the paper stack inside. She then brushed her hands up against each other and put her hands on her waist.

"Hoo! That's another mountain of paper work done! I'd say that today was a successful day."

Clank, who had a small broom and dustpan, sweeped up some debris from Captain Qwark's latest destructive flyby and dumped it in the trash can. He looked up at Elaris and nodded with a smile, "Indeed. Though I wish that there was less debris to clean up."

"Well, it's Captain Qwark, what do you expect? Sometimes it's in one ear and out the other with him...don't tell him that I said that."

"As long as you do not tell him that I agree."

The two took a moment to exchange smiles and even a few laughs, but the moment seemed to vanish as the room door flew open and a very familiar Lombax slid into the doorway.

"Hey, Clank, I'm all ready! Let's head home," Ratchet said, jerking his thumb backwards.

"Alright," Clank agreed. He stood up and brushed himself off, then he slid the broom and dustpan back to its place underneath the desk. The robot flexed his tight arms in order to loosen them a bit, then he looked up at Elaris. "I must leave, Elaris. Thank you for a wonderful work day."

Elaris smiled at the little robot. It took a sweet guy like him to thank her for a simple day in the work place. "Hahahah. I'm glad that you find working with me so fun."

Clank stood there staring up at Elaris as if he was waiting for her to say something else, but nothing else came out of her mouth. He gave a small wave and said "bye" before walking out of the office with Ratchet. Elaris had her hand up for a small wave of her own, but she just dropped her arm back to her side. Hm...that was a bit of a short lived goodbye. And the way that Clank looked at her with those big hopeful eyes...it didn't feel right. This was going to bother her all night.

Elaris went to her desk as she thought about this strange new burden. It wasn't like her to be bothered by the effectiveness of a sendoff. He said thank you and she took the compliment and then he said by, there was nothing wrong about it. Why was she so bothered by it? There had to be something more to this...something that's...

'Oh stop pretending, Elaris!' she thought to herself. 'You know what you wanted to say, you just thought that it was the wrong moment. Besides, Ratchet was right there, it would have been awkward for both of us. You know that he would say it back, and that would no doubt bring endless teasing from the Lombax-okay, no more excuses! Ratchet or not, I have to say it just one last time for today.'

After slamming her hands on the desk, Elaris rushed out of the office and ran down the entire length of the Hall of Heroes. She quickly checked every room and every hallway in case they were lingering in the building. But it looked like that the place was empty. That meant that they were outside and getting ready to takeoff in the ship. Knowing this, Elaris rushed to the Hall of Heroes entrance and left the building. She saw the Lombax stamped Starjumper on the landing pad outside the gates. They hadn't left yet. She still had time.

She yelled as she approached the ship, "Clank! Clank, there's something I forgot to tell you!"

Surprised, Clank looked outside and saw her. He stood up in his seat and leaned forward, grabbing the side of the ship and looking down at her. "What is it?"

After taking a moment to catch her breath, she let out what she wanted to say. Elaris smiled and made the shape of a heart with her hands. She held the heart up to her chest, "I love you. I'll see you tomorrow."

If Clank was an organic, his face would be bright red. She ran all the way from her office and outside just to say that? She had already told him that she loved him several times today...and vice versa. But he couldn't let this 'I love you' hanging in the air like this. He shuffled his feet a bit and glanced at Ratchet behind him before bending over.

"I love you as well! I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!" Clank said with a big smile, waving to Elaris.

Elaris, blushing a bit, lowered a hand and waved to him as well. She then backed up as a harsh wind blew as the Starjumper floated off the ground and prepared to take off. The glass cover for the cockpit lowered, but that didn't stop Clank from looking down at Elaris. He had his palms flat on the glass and his green eyes shined brilliantly. He stayed like this until Elaris and the Hall of Heroes was completely out of sight. Then he sat down in his seat and let out a small, relieved sigh, and allowed a warm and fuzzy feeling to wash over him.

"Hmm..."

And that fuzzy feeling went away as Clank noticed Ratchet giving him a rather smug look. The warbot sat up and folded his arms.

"What? Ugh, go on. Tease me, make fun of me, I do not care. I love Elaris, and no amount of ridicule will drive me away from her."

Ratchet stayed silent for a moment as Clank cooled down a bit in his seat. Then he spoke, "I'm not gonna tease you. I just wanted to say that...you two make a good couple. Good for you."

Clank was rather surprised at Ratchet's response to his and Elaris's exchange. He was definitely expecting the Lombax to spew out some rude joke or endless teasing, but what he said was rather...reassuring. The robot settled into his seat and let his arms drop to his side. He watched the evening sky flash before his big eyes. The warm and fuzzy feeling returned and made him feel so good. He hoped that Elaris was feeling the same. But, knowing the love that they shared with one another, he was sure that she was feeling as good as he was.


ClankxElaris yaaay! But we need more of these! These two are such a cute couple, I need fics about them! Cute fics! Fluff fics! Buy fluff in bulk at the store and just dump all of it into your story!

...

Sorry, I just...really, really love this ship. It's my number one R&C ship.

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This is Amberdiamondswords signing off!