It was snowing, but it wasn't cold. Vava opened his eyes in the middle of the forest and watched the flurry pieces of cotton wood fall on his still form. Lifting one hand, he grabbed a seed and observed it rotating around his fingertips.

Vile. His name was Vile. Vava was his nickname, and only 'he' could call him that.

"Vava, I'm sorry. If only I had been stronger," he started to say, apologizing for what he couldn't have helped prevent.

He pressed his lips against the one talking and held him gently. No, he didn't want to think about it. His tongue tasted that sweet rare metal that wasn't his. Shuddering, the younger boy reached up and tugged on a soft turf of hair.

These were the moments he fought for. Almost an eternity passed before he allowed the boy to gasp for air. Looking up through his long lashes, X smiled at him. If reploids could cry, he surely would have.

He was beautiful. He was lovely. Most importantly, he was everything he wanted.

Reaching down, he ran a hand through that brown unruly hair. The boy cradled closer to him. After everything he saw or did, he would still believe that nothing could taint X.

"Tomorrow I won't be home. There's another upgrade I want to my system," Vile stated.

X pouted but understood. It was something he couldn't understand himself. He was always trying to make himself stronger, faster, and better. What X had called it was an obsession, but he didn't fight Vile on it. X hated fighting.

That was one of the many reasons he loved X.

The light fluff ball that was on his hand floated away and landed gently on X's nose. He stared at it crossed-eyed before sneezing. Gently it floated away. Giving X a light touch, Vile motioned that he wanted up.

Crossing his legs, X tried to look cute before he was pushed off unto the seed covered ground. He came up sputtering and tried to glare at Vile.

"Home."

Trailing behind Vile, X was glad that Vava wasn't mad at him. It was just that he hated fighting. Those reploids picking on him couldn't have been higher than C-class, but he was still beat up by them. Sometimes, he knew that Vile got exasperated about his unwillingness to fight back, but it just wasn't his way.

"So, what is this new upgrade?" X questioned, knowing that Vava would always be in search of the latest powerful and greatest advancements.

"Sigma created it. He's calling it the maverick program. Apparently on the test subjects it made them ten to fifty times stronger than they normally were," Vile stated.

"I see," he replied and remained silent.

Glancing back to see if X was still there, Vile noticed that Flame Mammoth was holding him up and that Sting Chameleon was picking his pockets. The two repliriods dropped their captive once they saw Vile heading their way and took off running. Two shots from his blaster caught both of the criminals. For a brief moment, he considered turning them into scrap metal.

"No Vile. Let them go," X pleaded.

"Yeah, you heard 'em. We'll be good," Sting pleaded, allowing both his eyes to swivel at different intervals.

"Hmph," came the reply as he walked away angrily, leaving X to catch up.

The rest of the walk to their apartment was spent with X trying to apologize and Vile basically ignoring him. When they reached their apartment, they gave Huey, the owner, a quick wave before marching up to their quarters.

As soon as the door was shut, Vava pushed X against the door and forcefully kissed him.

"What am I going to do with you X? One day I won't be here to protect you. Then what will you do when those reploids beat you up?" he said in a hushed voice.

He wanted to reply to Vava, really he did, but it stuck in his throat when Vava removed his gloves and touched his cheek with his hand. Groaning, he used the door as a prop as the movement went up to his hair and caressed him. The taller robot took joy in the fact that X was so responsive today.

"Vava, I'll just have to get stronger," he stuttered out.

Watching him from the doorway, he allowed X to catch his breath before shoving him on the couch. X's fingertips played on the vast patterns of the cloth, trying to gain control of his programming before it made him the bottom again.

"I want top," he said firmly.

That surprised Vile, who was currently removing his civilian shirt. Usually, he had to force X to take top. Smirking he nodded.

"Do you think you can handle it?"

"Watch me," quickly came the reply.

Slinking up him, Vile laid gently across his lap. Clenching his hands around Vile, he seemed to be giving him a hug but was actually biting him. Blanching, Vile pulled away in surprise and rubbed it gently.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," he was enveloped in another kiss.

Taking that as a yes, X moved his hands down and undid the belt keeping his lover's pants up. Licking his lips, Vile put his hands on top of X's and looked him in the eyes. They were cerulean blue, just like the rest of him. Opening his mouth, Vile shut it when the belt was gone with the pants. Raising an eyebrow at X, he saw X shrug.

He must have certainly had enough time to practice this all out. Not that he cared that X didn't have a job. Being a hunter gave him so much money that he didn't know what to do with it all.

Dr. Cain claimed that he was stunting X's growth. Darkly, he thought that Dr. Cain could go fuck himself. The old man made it certain that he didn't really like Vile, but he was the best right under Sigma. Fact of the matter was that he was supposed to be stronger than Sigma. Still, it didn't matter. All that mattered was X.

The little imp was having fun. Laughing, X rubbed Vile's stomach. It was his one weakness that X loved to do. Laying his head against his shoulder, he let himself be content with his lover's playfulness. So rarely did he have a chance to relax.

"Vava?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you Vava."

He grunted in response as fingers trailed up to his hair and tugged harshly on the locks.

"Do you love me?"

Taking X's fingers out of his hair, Vile kissed them and sighed. He certainly wasn't a very emotional repliod, but he knew what it meant to X to say those simple words.

"Vava, don't play games with me," he said tiredly.

"I'm not," Vile stated and rested his fingers on the couch, "I can't."

The older robot sighed at Vava and shoved his legs off of him, "I'll be in my room."

Cursing, Vile got up and picked up his shirt from the floor. He was so sensitive at times that it drove him nuts. In the refrigerator was a beer, just in case.

This was one of those cases.

It went down without a fight and he sighed. Why couldn't he admit he loved someone? Was there something wrong with him? Picking up the pamphlet that Sigma had given him about the new program, he flipped through it half-heartedly. About halfway through X came stomping in, grabbed him by the wrist and shoved him in the room.

Perhaps X understood the meaningless of Vava's words to know he truly did love him.

'Maybe,' Vile thought, 'he might be strong enough after all.'

Then the door shut and no words were needed.

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