"What I'm saying," persists X, "is that if we could successfully negotiate a compromise, we might be able to end this without further bloodshed -"

"If we could." Zero, like everyone else in the room, is worn out from tension. "The odds of that are slim to say the least. Taking that interest to account you'd be sending in a squadron of enough people to penetrate the outer blockade, for the purpose of likely getting them all killed." He bites back the highly unprofessional I love you, but - "Your methods can be really inefficient sometimes, you know that?"

"That's not what you said last night. Anyway, what if we tried -" X has to raise his voice a little over the outbreak of gasps and incredulous titters from around the room. "- tried some form of remote communication, no lives at risk -"

Zero exhales, trying to calm the rush of mortified heat that has sprung into his face. "That could possibly work, but you'd have to sell me really convincingly on the possibility of establishing contact." God. Everyone's staring now. Awkward disbelieving half-smiles, scandalized looks, one or two faces that seem to really be enjoying the mental image - the atmosphere in the room has been stirred up, become restless and whispering, murmurs in the background. He really just went there -

"All right," replies X. "Okay. Well, first, you'd have to -"

"Just a minute," breaks in Signas. "Everyone, settle down. This is a critical situation. And, X." His gaze settles on X, who has the decency to look contrite. "Keep it professional."

"Understood. My apologies, sir." X turns back to the rest of the table. "A projectile speaker. They're dated, but still work. How about one of those?"

Everyone has, in accordance with Signas' indisputable authority, settled down. But some of the tension is gone now, a little of the calcified exhaustion shaken loose. The energy in the room has picked up that much more.

Which is good and all, and Zero has to applaud X for that, but his face is still very red.

Here's what happened last night:

X found Zero checking and rechecking the security sensors at nearly three in the morning, insisted that he needed his rest, and hauled him bodily through all of HQ into his room and into his recharging pod, watching him like a hawk until Zero reluctantly settled in for the night.

And that, like most nights, was all.

Several hours later, when the crisis is over and everyone is dispersing back to their regular posts, or to the mound of paperwork that tends to happen in the wake of these things, Zero finds X outside the command room. He leans against the wall, cornering him, and asks, "Mind telling me what the fuck that was about?"

X is absently going over the joints in his armor, checking what needs to be oiled after such a long bout of tension. "It worked, didn't it? We were all in need of a laugh."

"Yes, but -" It was so embarrassing, and it implied personal details that, albeit not recent, were still rather true. "Why that, of all things?"

X stops in his ministrations, looks up, and smiles. "You're cute when you're flustered," he says, and pinches Zero's cheek, and before Zero can raise any objections, walks away.

Zero is left standing in the hallway, face warm again, reploids filing around him and throwing him odd looks. Cute… when he's flustered…

That asshole.

[Reviews are highly appreciated! I've never actually played any Mega Man games, I just really like reading XZero fanfiction, so please let me know if anything is inaccurate.]