I got the idea for this fic last night while I was lying on the floor in the living room looking out the window. Because of my angle I could see all the tall trees branches being blown by the wind, and then this happened. Enjoy.

Title: Raindrops
Series: Darkwing Duck
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Liquidator X Bushroot, possibly some other more minor ones later
Warnings: Slash, Mild Language
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. Simple as that.
Summary: The rain falls, but it doesn't hit Bushroot and he wonders why.

It was cold, the wind howled, and the sky was gray with clouds. It was bound to rain soon, too. It was all-in-all a miserable day to be out, especially without being dressed properly for the cold.

And yet, here Bushroot was, out in the cold and wind wearing nothing but a scarf and a pair of gloves that may have actually been socks (he wasn't sure, Spike had found them in a dumpster). He shivered as a particularly strong gust of wind blew by and lingered around him, than winced as it slapped his scarf into his face. He growled slightly as he peeled the fabric off his face once the wind subsided a little. He did not want to be here.

'Here' being outside in general, but in case you're curious he was currently walking through a park. A park that luckily was empty at the moment; he didn't have a coat to hide himself with at the moment. Another strong gust of wind reminded him that he also didn't have a coat to protect him from the cold.

It was all his fault Bushroot was out here at moment. Honestly, the nerve of some people…

Bushroot spent a moment muttering to himself angrily before shooting a furtive glance up at the pale gray sky. No time to loose, he reminded himself as he continued on hurriedly, it was going to rain soon and he didn't look forward to being soaked while out in the biting wind.

After a small trek (during which he was slapped in the face several more times by his scarf), he finally reached his first destination. A simple little water fountain sat quietly just off the path. Bushroot walked towards it, but paused in reaching out to it. His eyes darted around fretfully for a moment, searching for something. He had forgotten to bring something to-

Ah ha! What was that? His right hand darted out towards something sparkling slightly in the grass, grabbing the object and pulling it up to where the light was just slightly better so he could see what it was. He faltered for a moment, blinking. He held in his hands a slightly dirty but still shining bracelet. It was a wide silver band with glittering jewels that may-or-may-not-have been real encrusted in it like studs.

Certainly not what he had been expecting. He had been expecting more along the lines of a shard of broken glass from a bottle or something. Oh well, it would work just fine for what he needed it for.

He reached back out to the water fountain and carefully (trying not to hit any of the jewels that may-or-may-not have been real) tapped out a short tune on the fountain's spout. It was one he had memorized long ago and done plenty of times before.

Then he waited.

And waited.

Dammit, if he took any longer then Bushroot was leaving- There! Finally, water had begun to come out of the spout. Bushroot watched as it began to twirl and spiral around, slowly emerging from the water fountain more and more and forming in front of Bushroot. Taking it's sweet time.

"Would you hurry up?" Bushroot snapped, hunched up against cold that seemed only to be getting worse as he stood there, and instantly the water fully formed into a liquid dog that was glaring indignantly at him.

"What, can't a guy make an entrance?" said The Liquidator.

"Sure, a short one," replied Bushroot, glaring back at Liquidator. "Now hurry up, I'm freezing."

"I'm the one who freezes…" Liquidator muttered back, but quickly set about fully extricating himself from the water fountain. After a moment that seemed far too long to Bushroot, Liquidator was standing next to the plant-duck. Bushroot shivered again as the wind ruffled his petal-hair and then ran a glove/sock covered hand through it trying to neaten it a little, but paused when he noticed Liquidator looking at him with an odd look on his face.

"What?" he asked, a hand still in his hair.

Liquidator just shook his head and smiled an equally odd smile. "Nothing," he said. "Didn't you used to have a hat? And a coat?"

Bushroot finished neatening his hair then set back off on the path with Liquidator following beside him as he answered: "I haven't bothered to try and get another hat in a long while. As for the coat, well, Darkwing ruined my most recent one the last time I ran into him and I haven't gotten around to getting a new one yet."

Liquidator nodded, still looking at Bushroot oddly. It was rather unsettling. Why was he looking at Bushroot like that? As if… As if Bushroot had something he wanted? Bushroot didn't have anything! Not unless Liquidator was interested in a bunch of plants and gardening supplies, which Bushroot was pretty sure he wasn't. But that look…

"What's that?" Liquidator suddenly said, startling Bushroot out of his thoughts.

"What?" he said stupidly before he could stop himself, berating himself mentally immediately after. Idiot! What's gotten into you? You're making a fool of yourself in front of Liquidator!, for a brief moment Bushroot wondered why it was so important to not make a fool of himself in front of his watery companion, before hastily turning his attention to what Liquidator was saying.

"That, in your hand," Liquidator said with an amused smile, and pointed down at Bushroot's right hand. Bushroot followed the finger and looked down, realizing that he was still holding the bracelet he had used to call the water-dog up.

"Oh, this?" said Bushroot, lifting the bracelet up in front of his face to examine it again. "I just found it on the ground."

"It's nice," Liquidator said, eying the bracelet with the eyes of a businessman.

Bushroot just eyed the bracelet with the eyes of a neat freak. "It's kinda dirty," he stated flatly.

Liquidator burst out laughing at this. It was an interesting, watery-sounding laugh, and one that made Bushroot's skin crawl in what he couldn't decide was a good-or-bad way. "You don't seem like you'd be the kind to mind dirt much," he said eventually, still chuckling a little. "What with most plants living in dirt and all."

"I don't!" Bushroot defended himself quickly, not quite sure whether to be offended by Liquidator's amusement or not. "It-it's just- I don't like when some things- when some things are, you know, dirty when they shouldn't be," he finally managed to say pathetically.

Liquidator just stifled another laugh as he smiled at Bushroot with that same odd look he had used earlier.

Bushroot fidgeted uneasily for a moment as they walked along, glanced at the bracelet again, then held it out to Liquidator. "Look, do you want it?" he asked then quickly explained. "I mean, it's not really my kind of thing, but maybe you could do something with it. It might be worth something."

Liquidator plucked the bracelet out of Bushroot's hand and Bushroot quickly withdrew the now-empty hand. To his surprise the bracelet appeared to sink inside of Liquidator's hand, and while it was there Liquidator stretched and twiddled his fingers around a bit and the water in his hand seemed to rush around. He was cleaning it, Bushroot realized with something akin to shock.

And then Liquidator, supposedly finished, took the bracelet out with his other hand then eyed it critically. Apparently satisfied, he reached out, took Bushroot's hand, and placed the bracelet back in it. "You keep it," he said simply, his hands both still covering Bushroot's own.

Bushroot, who had stopped in his tracks to watch Liquidator clean the bracelet, stared, dumfounded, back at the former-businessman. "B-but, l-like I said, it-it's not really my thing…" he stuttered, hardly aware of what he was saying as he stared into the other's eyes.

"Well maybe it should be," said Liquidator, then he leaned forward slightly and whispered: "I bet you'd look stunning if you dressed up a little."

Bushroot just stared a little more. That hadn't exactly been what he meant when he said it wasn't really his thing. And Liquidator had that odd look more than ever now, the one where he looked like he wanted something.

Bushroot now severely doubted it was something material that Liquidator wanted.

With a tiny squeak he frantically tore himself away from Liquidator, hastily continuing along the path. "W-we should hurry, it's looks like it's going to rain," he said quickly as an excuse. He realized that he had been –and still was– blushing furiously. He could only hope that Liquidator wouldn't have been able to recognize the darker green color that covered Bushroot's face instead of red as a blush.

They walked on in silence for now. Bushroot's head was filled with thoughts that he was desperately trying to ignore or suppress, thoughts about Liquidator and what exactly all those looks he kept giving Bushroot meant. He didn't want to think about it and how he felt about it. That was a bad road to go down, one that always ended in misery, as had been proved to him many times in the past. With Rhoda, with Posy, with Rain-

Speaking of rain…

Bushroot paused as he saw a few raindrops begin to fall. Great, the rain had started. Now Bushroot was going to become soaked and even colder than he already was. He braced himself as the downpour began and waited for raindrops to start falling on him.

They fell.

But not on him.

Bushroot blinked, stupefied, as he watched the rain fall all around him, but not on him. He looked up to find that there was a watery shield above him. A watery shield that was attached to Liquidator's arm. Bushroot blinked some more, still stunned, as he looked at the water villain who just smiled back at him. He was shielding Bushroot from the rain.

"Um, t-thanks…" Bushroot said quietly, vaguely aware of the fact that he was blushing again.

"No problem," replied Liquidator casually, as if it really was no big deal. Which Bushroot supposed it probably wasn't (so why did he feel this way?). "I figured you wouldn't want to get wet, it's no big deal to me, but…" he trailed off, and for the first time that day seemed to be feeling a little awkward.

Bushroot nodded absently, and slowly they began walking again. With Liquidator shielding Bushroot from the rain and Bushroot staring at the ground, watching the rain around him fall.

"How does it feel?" Bushroot asked after some time, so quietly he half-hoped Liquidator hadn't heard. But he had no such luck.

"Hmm?" Liquidator questioned, sounding slightly distracted.

"The rain, I mean," clarified Bushroot; still staring down. "How does it feel to you?"

Liquidator seemed to be thinking, Bushroot still didn't look up. "It kind of tickles, actually," he replied finally.

"… Tickles?" Bushroot said, still stubbornly staring at the ground and not at Liquidator.

"Yeah, it's interesting because it sort of blends together with my body and runs through it, but it's still different," Liquidator explained. "But overall it actually feels pretty good."

Bushroot dared to glance up for a moment and saw Liquidator with his free hand outstretched to the rain and a peaceful smile on his face. He looked… happy. In a way Bushroot didn't see him like very often, but suddenly found himself wishing to see much more often. Then Liquidator's eyes met Bushroot's and Bushroot's face flushed as he quickly looked away.

These weren't good thoughts to be thinking at all.

Bushroot fiddled with the bracelet he still held nervously. He glanced down at it, having forgotten about it again. It really did look like it might be worth something, but Liquidator hadn't taken it. He had just cleaned it and given it back to Bushroot. And then he had said…

Bushroot shook his head a little, trying to clear his mind of those thoughts that kept coming to him whenever he thought about that little scene. No matter how often he told himself that those were bad thoughts they kept coming back.

He looked around furtively; he needed something to distract him, something he could occupy himself with, something, anything, to look at apart from Liquidator. But there was nothing, just the rain, Liquidator, some trees, Liquidator, the grass to the side of the path, Liquidator, the path itself, Liquidator. The most interesting thing by far was Liquidator, but thinking about him was exactly what Bushroot was trying to avoid.

Since when had it become so hard to get his mind off of his liquid-teammate?

"Are you okay?"

Bushroot jumped at Liquidator's voice and finally rested his eyes the other. "H-huh? Y-yeah, I'm fine," Bushroot hastily said, wincing slightly at just how un-fine his voice sounded.

Liquidator didn't look particularly satisfied with this answer, but turned his gaze back in front of him all the same. Bushroot, however, did not. He couldn't pry his eyes away.

Well… Maybe it was okay to look. Just so long as he didn't think about it.

A/N: First chapter, I'm already working on the next one. Let's hope I finish it. For now the chapters are only going to be loosely connected scenes, later I may work on developing a real plot. But until then just enjoy the Liquidator/Bushroot (even if it's really only pre-slash at the moment).
Oh yes, I almost forgot. Briefly mentioned is a character of mine, Rain; she's an obsessive environmentalist fox-girl and actually from the Sonic fandom. But I thought a while ago that she and Bushroot would make an amusing pair and came up with a just-for-fun plot with her and Bushroot getting together. It of course doesn't end well, but that's what Bushroot gets for trusting an internet dating service. I may write her story one day if anyone's interested in hearing it.

P.S.: Please review, even if you don't really have anything to say. Just knowing that someone's reading this will make me want to continue :). Also feel free to check out my livejournal (link in profile), some things there never make their way here. Not to mention it's always updated first.

Edit: Got the potato-thing's name wrong. It was Posy, not Pansy. Oops! But I fixed it.