Chapter 1

EDIT: Fucking FFnet and its formatting bullshit deleted everything that had a period without a space after it. Sorry if it was a bit hard to read because of that. I'll be more careful with that.

The storm shook the mansion, making the windows tremble with every loud crack of thunder and setting the sky alight with lightning.
Mega Man ducked under his blanket, gritting his teeth.
Pac-man sat beside him on the couch, patting him comfortingly, his face trying to be sympathetic but failing as an amused smile crept onto his face.
"What's the matter? Is the legendary Mega Man afraid of a little thunder?"
The cyborg peeked an eye open, cringing as another loud boom sounded outside.
"It's not that...it's just..it sounds too much like an explosion."
Pac-man's smile disappeared. The white light from the television was hurting his eyes, so he shielded them with his hand.
"Oh..I'm sorry. I didn't realize..."
Mega Man rolled his eyes, emerging only slightly from the quilt that Peach had made.
"I'm not some sort of PTSD patient. It just brings back too many memories.."
The ghost hunter's worried expression still didn't change. He was silent a moment, then reached for the remote and flipped off the T.V.
"Come on, let's go to bed. It's really late."
Mega Man yawned in response and threw the covers to the side, stretching his legs before he stood and began to slink to his room. When he felt someone come up beside him, he paused.
"Your room is that way," he said, pointing across the room to the stairs. Pac-man smiled gently.
"Well, I figured maybe I could keep you company tonight. It might make you feel better."
Mega Man blushed at the notion. They'd only been together a couple weeks...
Pac-man seemed to read his mind.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, robo-boy. I just want to cuddle."
"Oh.." he turned a little redder and grinned sheepishly.
A crack of thunder interrupted them as it tore through the hallway. Mega Man flinched, ducking down.
Pac-man tugged his wrist.
"Come on, it's okay."
The cyborg was about to retort that he knew it was okay when another bolt of lightning flashed through the window a second before the inevitable thunder was upon them. Without hesitation, he scooped up the yellow fighter and dashed to his room, not slowing his pace until the door was closed and they were both safe under the blanket.
Pac-man pulled the blanket over both of their heads, giggling.
"They won't find us here."
"That's not funny!" Mega Man pouted.
The other snuggled close, looking at him with that overly-fond, wide-eyed stare he loved so much, and kissed him right on his nose.
"Come over here and cuddle me, mister fussy britches."
He could only oblige. He wrapped his arms tightly around the little ball, curling his body around him for warmth. Pac-man hummed in contentment. Mega Man leaned down and planted a kiss on the top of his head, truly grateful he was there when another crash of thunder made his hair stand on end. He gripped him a little tighter, feeling oddly comfortable despite not having ever slept with someone else in the same bed before. He wondered as he drifted off how he could've slept every night before then without someone to hold onto.

The next morning Mega Man awoke to an unusual amount of noise. Pac-man was gone, but the bed was still warm, so he figured he'd just left.

Fox burst into the room, his tail puffed out like an angry cat.
"HAVE YOU SEEN MY SUITCASE?!"
Mega Man sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"What? No! Where are you going?"
"It's the 15th!" Fox called out as he bolted down the hallway.
Mega Man smacked himself in the face. Vacation! He needed to get packed!
As quickly as possible, he gathered his things and shoved them into a duffel bag. Oil, charger, phone, spare wires...what else was he forgetting? While he was wandering around trying to remember, he didn't notice Pac-man enter, dragging his brown suitcase. He dropped it on the carpet, making Mega Man jump.
"Oh! You're all ready to go?"
"Forgetting something?"
Pac-man looked ticked.
"I think..?" he replied slowly.
"You do realize what I'm doing today, don't you? You said we'd talk about it."
Mega Man made a pained face, and went to sit on the bed. Pac-man climbed up next to him, suddenly looking very nervous. It was understandable.
"I know what I want to say...but every time I try to picture myself saying it I think I'll mess it up."
He sniffed, blinking away tears and trying to calm his heartbeat.
"I'm afraid."
Mega Man put an arm around him, resting his cheek on his head.
"She should've known it would be a possibility. She wanted an open relationship."
Pac-man shook his head violently.
"But it feels wrong, all wrong! She would go and do things with other people, but I never did! And I still haven't! For the longest time I was so loyal! The agreement was for sex only. Every time she saw someone else it was temporary. She always came back to me!"
"Stop it!"
"Stop what?"
"Don't act like it never hurt you, while you sat at home caring for your son and she was out doing those things with someone else! Don't you dare tell me that just because you were out saving the world she didn't owe you more than that! It doesn't matter if you told her it was ok, she should've seen that it wasn't. She should've been there for you! She can't be surprised that you took comfort with someone else!"
"But I didn't tell her. I never told her, Mega! How's she supposed to feel when I do after it's too late?!"
Mega Man felt a churning in his gut. He couldn't push it down.
"She...she's supposed to be happy for you. She needs to know about us. If she still wants you two to stay married after that...that's fine with me."
Pac-man looked at him then.
"You mean that?"
"Yes. You guys have a beautiful kid and you really care about each other."
He nearly choked on his words. As much as he'd hoped they'd split up, he didn't want to be the cause of conflict between them. He didn't want to break up their family.
As long as he comes back to me.
It didn't sound any less complicated than the two's previous situation, which only made him feel more uneasy. But Pac-man looked comforted. He quirked half a smile, leaning against his shoulder.
"Thank you."

By noon, most of the Smashers who'd gone to the spaceport were on their respective spaceships heading to their home planets. Only Pac-man, Mega Man, Ness and Ducky the dog with his winged counterpart Drake remained. The dog and his duck had mostly come along to keep the boy company, as they had no home to return to. Apparently the pup's owner died of old age a few years earlier, and he met Drake shortly after. Ness, compassionate as he was, decided to name them both and befriend the two. They were headed with him to his planet, where they'd been promised a vacation playing in tall grass.
Mega Man's flight was a spacecraft piloted by a man with a thick white beard. He looked around mid-fifties, a little round with no hair and a dirty truck driver getup.
Apparently his planet didn't get a lot of tourists, as the ship was very small and dinged. The man stared grumpily at him, waiting for him to board.
"Come on, kid, we don't have all day!"
"Just another minute," he replied, still not having moved.
"You've been saying that for the past ten minutes!"
Mega Man made a face and kissed Pac-man goodbye for what was hopefully the final time. Ness, who was sitting nearby, rolled his eyes at them.
"Say hi to my biggest fan for me!" Mega Man called out as he boarded the small ship.
"I will!" Pac-man shouted back.
The cyborg was about to wave again when the ramp moved beneath him, the man impatiently huffing as he tumbled inside. The door shut noisily.
"H-hey!"
"You'll see your boyfriend in a week, now would you buckle up so we can get a move on?"

Pac-man watched the ship until it was out of sight. His ride wouldn't be there for another ten minutes, so he took a seat beside Ness, accepting a few cheetos from his bag.
After a moment, the boy looked at him.
"You guys sure are acting mushy," he commented. Pac-man seemed a bit embarrassed.
"He's worried about me, because...well I'm sure you already know."
Ness nodded.
"And I'm worried that he's going to worry about me."
The boy giggled.
"Sounds like you guys worry too much."
Pac-man crossed his legs, leaning back to stare at the flight announcements on the other end of the dock. That actually sounded exactly right. He shrugged.
"It's an adult thing. You'll be lucky if you have few things to worry about when you grow up."
Ness' eyes widened.
"Well I'm worried about growing up, then!"
Pac-man laughed, resisting the urge to ruffle his hair.
"You're a smart kid. You remind me of my son. He's around your age."
"Can I meet him?" Ness wondered. He'd been dying for a friend since Lucas left. Villager wasn't filling the void quite like he'd hoped. He was nice, but way too quiet.
"I'll see what I can do," Pac-man replied, nudging him playfully. He stood as he heard his departure announced on the loudspeaker. Suddenly he was hesitant to leave a child in the spaceport alone, so as he passed by he whispered to Ducky, "keep an eye on him for me, alright?"
Ducky barked an affirmative.
Satisfied, he turned and waved to Ness.
"I'll see you in a week!"

Traveling was taking longer than he'd expected. Not only would he arrive after dark, but he was miserably bored, having grown tired of watching out the windshield. The ship had only two seats, yet sitting so close to his pilot hadn't prompted him to talk in the past hour. Finally Mega Man had exhausted all of the battery life in his phone and tucked it into his bag.
"What's your name?"
"Duffy," the man replied shortly.
"Oh, is that a nickname or-"
"No, my mother was just terrible at spelling. My name was supposed to be a lot worse."
Mega Man frowned.
"And you're Mega Man, the famous and beloved robot created by Doctor Light. And your boyfriend back there was Pac-man."
He should've figured the guy would know who they were. He stayed silent, trying to come up with another topic of conversation when Duffy spoke again.
"Does Ms. Pac-man know?"
Mega Man blanched. Only now had he realized that nobody outside the mansion had any reason not to gossip. He held up his hands defensively.
"U-uh, not yet but...you won't tell anyone, will you?"
Duffy sniffed, wiped his left hand on his jeans and took a swig of his beer.
"None of my business, just curious is all. But everyone who saw you two in the spaceport might not have the same mindset."
Damn it he was right.
"Y-yeah..neither of us thought about that. Well I'm sure Pac-man did but I doubt he would care what other people say."
"Mm...hm? Quit smilin' kid."
Mega Man instantly snapped back to reality, jolting a bit.
"Sorry!"
Duffy shook his head.
"Don't get all fuzzy-headed around me, you're going to make me lose my lunch."
The cyborg felt a little hurt by that. Was he just annoyed or was he homophobic? It didn't seem like that before. He decided to remain quiet, staring out at the cosmos until his eyes grew tired and he fell asleep.

It was around 8 pm when Mega Man was awoken by the ship lurching beneath him. Luckily the seatbelt saved him from smacking his face on the control panel. He looked over at Duffy in time for the man to push a sticky note at his face.
"This is my number. Call when you want me to take you home. I live in the quadrant so it should only take me an hour to come get ya."
"Oh, thanks."
Mega Man took it and slipped it into his duffel bag, which had somehow jumped into his lap when they landed.
Bidding Duffy a hasty farewell, he stepped off the spacecraft and out into the night. The city was quieting down, fewer cars and people roaming the streets as the light faded from the sky. He recognized where he was almost instantly; Dr. Light's laboratory was only a couple blocks away. He smiled at the thought of seeing him again. His contact with him during tournaments was sparse, but he knew his creator would understand. He hadn't told him about Pac-man yet, and though he feared he would be scolded, he had no doubt the kind man would accept and encourage their relationship.
Slinging his duffel bag over his shoulder, he followed the street lights up to the corner and set out to find the building with the blue roof.

Pac-man stepped off the shuttle just as the sun was peeking above the horizon. He smiled. He'd almost forgotten how colorful his homeland was. Politely inching his way out of the crowd of star struck tourists, he climbed into the car that was waiting for him and shielded his face from the inevitable picture-taking as the car pulled away. Breathing a sigh of relief, he laid his suitcase on the seat next to him. The driver stole quick glances at him as they sped along the mostly grass-covered path. His world didn't have many paved roads, which made it all the more charming. Charming. That was a word a lot of people used to describe himself. Strange.
"U-uh..going to see the missus?" the driver stammered, making Pac-man look up from the window.
"Yes I am. And the little mister too!"
The other laughed nervously, failing to disguise his excitement.
"That's good! Well, your house is only about an hour from here, so you'll be seeing them very soon!"
Pac-man smiled at the rearview mirror in a 'not-awkward-but-not-comfortable' way.
"Yeah.."
"S-sorry, my name's Mike. I..uh..nobody told me who I was going to be driving! I've lived on this planet all my life but I never thought I'd get to meet you!"
The grin on his face was like a child who'd found a dollar on the ground.
"Well it's nice to meet you, Mike," Pac-man beamed extending a hand. Mike reached back and shook with gusto.
"The pleasure's all mine!"
He was an orange Pac-monster with a strange mark above his right eye and a baseball cap. He seemed to be around his teenage years, judging from the fuzzy dice that hung from the mirror.
"Last I heard you were invited to the Smash tournaments! Pretty rare for someone from our quadrant! Though I'm not surprised, you're as famous as they get!"
He paused to flip down the sun visor.
"So what's it like, battling it out with all those Nintendees? I bet they wouldn't stand a chance against any of us Namconians!"
"Maybe not those from Tekken or-" he shuddered, "the galaxians...but they have a lot of really strong fighters."
"What about that Segonian and that Capcomite? What were their names?"
Pac-man raised a brow. Some people tended to be quadracist where he was from. They think having the most famous hero meant they were better than the others. Then they repeatedly deny the popularity of heroes from other quadrants like Spyro (though he has fizzled out a bit in recent years) and Ratchet and Clank. Even the top dogs like Mario are invalids in their eyes.
Normally Pac-man was calm and cool, but he wanted to reach over and slam the suitcase over this kid's head for being such a bigot. Little did 'his people' know, but their glorious hero avoided travel because of how badly they'd embarrassed themselves with that kind of talk.
A lot of people at the mansion thought of Pac-man as being arrogant at first, thanks to them.
Somehow he managed to keep the rage from reaching his expression.
"You mean Sonic and Mega Man? They're some of the best fighters I know!"
He was going to convince this kid no matter what.
"Eh, Sonic. I've heard his adventures have been..boring lately. But Mega Man, it seems like he's just getting lazy.."
"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT!" he screeched, causing Mike to jerk the wheel in fright.
Pac-man had calmed down by the time they were back on the trail, though his hands were still clenched. He'd actually surprised himself with that.
"O-oh, I'm awfully sorry. I didn't think that you guys might be friends.."
"He's more than just a friend," he hissed. For some reason he wanted Mike to know. Just so he had an excuse next time he felt the urge to slap the kid for being an asshole.
Mike looked at him, genuinely confused.
"What do you mean by that?"
Pac-man had to fight down a smug grin.
"He's my boyfriend."
"WHAT?!"
The car ground to a halt.
Pac-man 1. Mike 0.

I foresee a plot twist!

Please note that after this chapter it's mostly rated M.

Do not proceed beyond this point if you cannot handle that.