Author's Notes; Requested by Aria-Pari on DeviantArt. Shounen-Ai. Fluffy. Slight drama. Suggestive ending. If I'm fucking well enough to resume bellydancing, then this fucking thing is pretty much dead now..Tried to add fluff wherever I saw the chance..Fucking brilliant idea this girl had..I'm not sure why I didn't think of this myself..A proper challenge this and I'm fucking loving every second of it..Regardless, here goes nothing..Enjoy..
A storm broke with crashing thunder, along with heavy rain and lightning as a bolt of crimson and azure dashed to Maverick Hunter Headquarters. The blond stopped before the door to ring his hair out and X lazily wiped the rainwater from his armor.
They had just returned after annihilating several very troublesome Mavericks. Neither of them was hurt, but both of them were exhausted and very low on energy. They needed to make haste for the recharger room.
Zero was certain he had just enough energy to make it to the recharger room, but he wasn't so sure about X. A tired look in those emerald eyes told him X probably wasn't going to make it that long. The red-clad hunter grabbed X's hand holding it tight as they quickly walked inside and to the elevator.
Halfway to the elevator, X's energy finally drained entirely and he fell fowards into Zero, just enough to make the blond lose his grip on the smaller android's hand, and to the floor. Zero turned around and looked at the downed blue hunter. He nearly felt ready to collapse too, but knew he should keep moving. He gently turned X onto his back and scooped him into his arms, holding him bridal-style as he stepped into the elevator and hit the 3 on the elevator control panel.
As the elevator steadily rose to the top floor, Zero looked X over. He had passed out entirely, his green eyes closed, and he somehow looked peaceful. The blond checked his pulse, just to be sure, before he began to caress X's cheek. Zero leaned in and tenderly kissed X's other cheek and lips just before the elevator stopped.
His sapphire eyes began to droop a bit as he exited the elevator. 'No, almost there.' The blond wanted to sprint, but if he did, he'd end up collapsing quicker. A quick turn around the corner and they had made it into the recharger room.
Zero's charger pod was towards the front of the room, X's was towards the back. Since it was just the two of them in the room, the blond laid the unconscious blue-clad hunter in the pod next to his, hooking him up and starting the charger, before doing the same with his own. He turned to his side to keep an eye on X, but soon fell asleep.
They were in such dire need of energy that neither of them had considered the storm outside. The lightning gradually became more frequent and danced around HQ, the rain even heavier than earlier, and now the thunder sounded like bombs and guns going off.
When the two were about halfway charged, a bolt of lightning shot into the charger pods, electrocuting them. Somehow this didn't wake them, but as they were shocked, X's mind and soul rose and slid into Zero's body while Zero's mind and soul slid into X's body.
Soon after the storm had passed, X was first to wake and immediately noticed something was wrong. His head ached and when he reached to the back of his helmet, he didn't remember the points. He was even more horrified when he opened his eyes to be looking at his own body, realizing he had somehow ended up in the body of his red-clad lover.
He got up and went to look in the nearby window. X gasped, looking at the reflection and at these big hands. The normal sapphire hue of Zero's eyes had turned to X's emerald green. There was no mistake, he was definitely in Zero's body. The red clad hunter ran to the smaller blue hunter.
"Zero? Zero! Wake up. Wake up!" X said as he shook his own body awake.
Zero quickly slapped the large android's hand away. "Not now, X. Trying to sleep." He groaned turning to the side.
X persisted. "Get up, something's wrong!"
The eyes of the blue hunter eased open and he quickly realized he was in the wrong pod.
"Why am I over here? My pod is right there."
As Zero began to stretch, he too noticed something different. He felt...small. Zero looked up to see his own body standing at the foot of the pod.
"What's going on here?" He asked confused rubbing the back of his helmet, not remembering it being so round.
"We've somehow swapped bodies, Zero."
Zero looked down at the body of his blue-clad lover as he slowly rose from the pod. X walked him to the window to look at his reflection. X's green eyes had turned blue with Zero in his body.
"How the hell did this happen?"
The large hunter shrugged. "All I remember is collapsing halfway to the elevator."
"I carried you up here with me to recharge and fell asleep soon after, that's all I remember."
"Maybe we should see what Lifesaver has to say about this."
The two androids sat on the bench, just outside the white Reploid doctor's office. The tall blond's head went down as he stared at the floor in worry. Zero didn't like this turn of events anymore than X did, he felt strange in the blue hunter's body. He gently grabbed the red hunter's hand in both hands, holding it close, making X look over at him.
"We'll get through this, X." Zero assured him. "Maybe Lifesaver will be able to remedy this."
"I hope so. What if we're stuck like this?" X inquired.
The blue hunter shook his head and pulled the blond close. "Alright, that's just ridiculous. If Lifesaver can't find a way, then we will."
Just then, Alia and Lifesaver walked down the hall and to Lifesaver's office.
"X? Zero? What are you two doing by Lifesaver's office? Are you ok?" asked the blonde Navigator.
"Yes, what seems to be the trouble, boys?" asked Lifesaver.
The couple stood and walked to the doctor.
"We've had a bit of an incident." X began.
Alia looked at the red-clad hunter. "Zero, your voice sounds like X's voice. And your eyes are green instead of blue."
Lifesaver rubbed his metallic beard. "Incident, indeed. Come inside my office and I'll take a look."
"I'll go get Commander Signas." Alia said, walking back to the meeting room as the two followed the white Reploid inside to the operating tables.
The red and blue hunters were already on the operating tables, wired to computers when Alia returned with Signas.
"What's happened?" The commander asked.
"According to Zero, they had completed a mission and were coming back for a recharge due to low energy. X collapsed halfway to the elevator so Zero had to carry him. They were normal as they charged, but when they woke, they found that their minds and bodies had switched." Lifesaver explained as he ran system diagnostics on them. "X's data is in Zero's body and vice versa."
"Strange. Any idea what caused it?" Alia questioned.
"Neither of them was conscious so they have no clue."
"We better check those recharge pods." Signas said.
"Fine, I'll reactivate these two and let them finish charging. We'll see if that could help." The Reploid doctor tapped several buttons on both computers before walking with them to the recharge room.
A few minutes of silence passed before grunting came from Zero. He began to call for his lover in between grunts.
This woke X, who quickly leaned over and shook the blue android a little. "You're dreaming, Z, wake up!"
His sapphire eyes shot open and he awoke panting. The small android turned and snatched the red-clad hunter's hand, holding it tightly.
"More nightmares?" X asked.
Zero nodded. "You disappeared and I couldn't find you anywhere."
X reached over and grabbed the brunette's hand and smiled. "I'll only go wherever you go."
"So will I." He smiled back.
Their touching moment was over when Alia, Signas, and Lifesaver came back into the room. Signas stood between the two operating tables as X and Zero released hands to salute.
"The storm has damaged Zero's recharger pod and the one beside it. Yours remains operational, X. It will take a week to fix Zero's, so until then, you either recharge here or next to X's pod." Signas reported as he returned the gesture.
"Sir, what about getting us back into our own bodies?" The blond hunter asked.
"About that. If a full recharge doesn't work, then I unfortunately don't know what to do." Lifesaver said in an upset tone.
"Actually, I think I know how to reverse this." Alia interjected.
All eyes fell upon her as she walked to and stood beside Signas.
"Have you two ever watched one of those old 20th century movies-"
"This is no time for gossip, Alia." Signas interrupted.
"Movies have nothing to do with this." Zero interjected.
"If you'll let me finish, I have a point to make." She said with a slight pout.
"Then make it."
"As I was saying, those old movies where two people swap minds and bodies, usually by way of heavy electricity? It really sounds like electrocution made it happen, so if you two got electricuted again by an electric charge as strong as the first, it'd fix the problem."
Signas and Lifesaver looked at each other in doubt. They wondered what went through Alia's mind sometimes, but it was the only lead they had. Zero and X looked at each other, they were in doubt too. Neither of them wanted to be electrocuted again, but decided it was worth a try.
"The next storm is in another week. Zero's pod should be ready by then." Alia continued.
"A week? Are you sure there isn't one sooner?" X asked surprised at the length of time he would have to spend in his lover's body.
"That's what the weather report said."
"Regarding missions..." Signas started. "I've allowed you both the week off, to avoid confusion. It's probably best if you two stay close until you get your bodies back." With that, Signas and Alia walked out the door and back to the meeting room to inform the 17th Unit of the incident.
When they were fully charged, the two walked out of Lifesaver's office hand-in-hand.
"Are you going to your dorm?" The blond asked.
The blue-clad brunette shook his head. "I'll go wherever you go." He repeated.
The two spent the night in X's dorm, hugging and cuddling until they were both asleep in each other's arms.
Next morning, Zero awoke to find green eyes watching him with a curious expression on the red android's face. "Something wrong?"
X blushed a bit before answering. "It seems you're right; my face does look peaceful when I'm asleep."
The small android craddled the larger hunter, stroking his shoulders. X clinged to his own body, rubbing cheeks against each other. After a few minutes, Zero withdrew and gave X a loving stare. They both began to lean in for a kiss and were interrupted by a knock on the dorm door.
"X! You're late! Get up!" Shouted Axl from the hallway.
"Go away, Axl, we're off for a week." Zero shouted back.
"You're in there too, Zero? I've heard that one before, get up already." Axl began to bang on X's door, drawing attention to himself in the hallway.
Alia came out of the meeting room to see what all the fuss was about. "Knock it off, Axl!" She said as she came closer.
When the blonde navigator explained to Axl what had happened, the new-generation Reploid couldn't help but laugh. He wanted to stick around to see for himself, but duty called. As the footsteps trekked away from the door, X released his grip on Zero and stood up.
"We should at least get dressed, Zero."
Zero dressed in one of X's red shirts and blue jeans without a problem. X found that his own clothes were too small for Zero's large body, so he had to stay bare-chested as they walked to Zero's dorm to pick something out.
X threw on a blue shirt and blue jeans before he spied Zero grabbing the hairbrush. After quickly brushing out the brunette locks, Zero stood behind X and began brushing his own long blond hair out.
"Ow, ow, do you always brush this roughly?" X grunted in between Zero's strokes, leaning back a bit.
"Quit leaning and I'll try to be gentle."
X stood up straight, trying his hardest to stay still. Zero, as gently as he could, ran the brush from the roots to the ends.
"Much better." X smiled.
Asides from Axl spreading the news about their incident to practically everyone in HQ, the week passed by quickly for X and Zero. They had gone to see a film in the theaters as a date, helped out around HQ, and each night, watched the sunset out in the HQ garden, holding hands tightly. Zero had wanted to "play" with X one night, but both agreed it would be best to wait until they were back in their own bodies. Regardless of the swap, it was a breath of fresh air to get some needed down time. They still didn't like the idea of having to get electrocuted again to be returned to their own bodies, but they knew there wasn't any other option.
Finally, Saturday arrived and so had a nasty storm. Rain pounded against the roof and windows heavily, the wind howled outside, the thunder sounded like a shotgun at times, and lightning flashed brightly.
X and Zero had their jumpsuits and armor back on and ran straight to the recharger room. Zero's recharger pod had been fixed, as promised. The blue hunter activated the red charger and the one next to it that X was in last time. As the machines whirred to life, Zero glanced back at X, a worried look clear in those emerald eyes. He couldn't blame X, Zero felt a bit nervous too.
"I know, X. I'm just as unsure of this as you. Get in my pod." The brunette said, laying down in the gray pod as he watched the red hunter slowly crawl into his pod.
X gulped a bit as they began to charge up. Zero heard him and turned on his side, offering his hand. The blond shakily took the brunette's hand and tried his hardest to relax.
The dancing lightning outside gradually became more frequent. The thunder seemed to shake the building now. Several lightning bolts shot up from the ground, none of them close enough to the building. At last, a long bolt with several branches shot into the chargers, making the duo clench their eyes and teeth. They held each other's hands tight as raw electricity surged through them.
Although painful, the treatment proved successful. Their minds and souls once more rose and returned to their original bodies. Soon after, the lightning began to flash less often, the rain became steady, the thunder and wind calmed down as the storm passed.
An hour passed before Zero awoke, stretching his free arm. He noticed his red gauntlets and looked at the rest of his armor. The blond smiled, knowing he was back in his own body and turned his head over to look at his beloved, his smile turned to a smirk.
Zero gently squeezed X's hand, waking him up. The blue hunter's emerald eyes opened slowly to notice a cheeky glint in Zero's sapphire eyes as he leaned forward to kiss X's hand.
"We have unfinished business, love." Zero said in a husky voice with a wink as he released X's hand and rose, walking to X's pod.
"Indeed, we do." X grinned as he came closer. X was scooped into Zero's arms, who carried him out of the recharger room and across the hall, bridal-style, into his dorm locking it down so there would be no disturbances.