This fic was written for a friend of mine, who specifically requested these characters to be in a cute and fluffy situation.
Disclaimer: I do not own Mega Man or any of the characters in this fic.
Quint was at a loss; he currently wasn't too sure what he should be doing now, but he was in one of those situations where everything just seemed to be going wrong. He had had a place to stay up until now, but that was now gone. Sure, it had been a building that had been scheduled for demolition, but given the track record of the majority of the Monsteropolis projects, he hadn't expected it to be destroyed for another few years. Luckily, neither him and Saku had been in the building when it had been destroyed; he'd gone out and had been trying to find some food in the dumpsters, which had not yielded anything for once.
Sakugarne was safe; he'd slipped inside Mrs. Phare's shop while she was not there and left him there, despite the reluctance of the pogostick.
"Everything's gonna be okay, Saku. I have an idea as to what to do~," the kid had told the jackhammer robot, despite actually not knowing what he was going to do. Sakugarne probably suspected the lie, but Quint had run off just as he heard Mrs. Phare coming so that she wouldn't catch him, and he was a bit too fast for the pogostick to catch.
Right now, Quint tucked his hat closer to him, walking down the streets in between groups of other humans and robots. He tried to avoid the humans, especially. While several groups of teenage girls (both robot and human) wanted to hug him, he didn't feel like being squeezed and snuggled until he couldn't breathe, which they were loathe to do. That was worse than the Japanese lady that he actually squeed and called him "kawaii", whatever that meant.
Quint's wanderings took him to a part of the city that he normally avoided; the outskirt suburbs. He usually stuck to Old Monsteropolis, since that place had the fewest law enforcement officers (even though it was the most dangerous place in Monsteropolis). Central was only a little bit more dangerous, and Downtown was the most dangerous of all, with the numerous police officers; unfortunately for Quint, that was also where Michelle Phare the fortune teller lived, but fortunately for the kid, most police officers ignored the small ten-year-old robot child.
"..." The kid stopped in front of a specific house that stood off a bit of a distance from the others. He knew this house very well, but he himself had not dropped by the house in many, many years. "I'd almost forgotten what it looks like inside."
Yet, the kid could not forget all of the other Robot Masters that lived in that house. They were a large family, with ten members of the first generation (plus sometimes the one that almost never appears), all eight members of the ninth generation, the three pets, Dr. Light, Auto, and Eddie, it was a very full, but still large and homey, household.
Rush, the faithful hound; Tango, the cute and playful cat; Beat, the eager and helpful bird; Eddie, the walking chatty suitcase; Auto, the bumbling but helpful goofball. Dr. Light, the kind elderly scientist; Proto, the mysterious first one; Roll, the beloved twin sister.
Splash, the hardworking mermaid; Tornado, the melodramatic teenager; Jewel, the metro shopkeeper; Galaxy, the chatterbox physics nerd; Concrete, the gruff but kind worker; Magma, the hot-tempered and protective one; Hornet, the quiet gardener; Plug, the sleepy and energetic young man.
Cut, the suspicious childbot; Bomb, the punkish young teen; Guts, the hardworking muscleman; Elec, the worrywart older brother; Ice, the adorable young child; Fire, the justice-filled sibling; Oil, the lewd but helpful brother; Time, the stuckup adolescent.
Rock, the person he used to be.
Quint vaguely wondered whether they would include him in the family too, considering who he was, but at the same time, he was very afraid to find out for sure what the others thought of him. He was more afraid of being caught, jeered at by the others, and then rejected, because it would show him that he truly had no one in this world except for Sakugarne.
Speaking of being caught, he should probably hightail it out of there before he was found. The kid ran a hand through his hair, and then started to turn away from the household, hoping that he would be able to sneak away before any of the numerous robots that lived there found him. Just a few more steps and he would be out of their line of vision.
"Hey!"
Asimov dammit. He knew that voice. And he didn't have his hat! Hoping against hope that they had just mistaken him for Rock, Quint adjusted his long-sleeved shirt, and peered up as whoever it was that had found him came running up to him and stopped in front of him. Swallowing, he spoke.
"H-Hello..."
"Rock, what're ya doin' out here?" Fire Man spoke in that rather thick southern accent of his. Quint had to suppress a smile. As family as they all were, each one of them was so distinct that the family would never feel completely without them.
"U-Um... I'm..." Quint paused. How to explain to Fire Man that he wasn't Rock was a bit of a problem, but before he could say anything, the other spoke again.
"Eh, it doesn' matter. Ya should come inside before ya cook out here. I can handle this heat, but you're just a kid, ya know?" The other smiled at him, seeming not to notice anything off. That made Quint raise his eyebrow. Fire was smart, and Quint knew that he acted very differently from Rock. He couldn't have seriously mistaken him for the other robot, had he?
"I... I r-really c-can't..."
"Aw, come on, it's too quiet inside since almost no one's home." And before Quint could say anything more, Fire scooped the kid up, causing him to make a startled squeak. Realizing that squirming out of his brother's grip and running off would probably be more suspicious than going with him to a hopefully empty house, Quint simply pouted a little bit as he sat in Fire's arms, causing the other to chuckle.
Poor kid obviously didn't realize just how cute he was being at the moment. Fire dropped Quint down on the couch, and sat down next to him. The boy looked around a bit. The house was exactly as he remembered it, but there was a distinct lack of... noise. It was quiet. A little too quiet. The young robot swung his legs a little, and then turned to Fire.
"U-Um... w-where i-is e-everyone...?" It was really odd that no one was around. There were twenty robots, one human, three pets, and one support unit in the house, after all.
"Don'tcha remember?" Fire patted Quint on the head, who flinched. The robot blinked at this and dropped his hand so that it rested on Quint's shoulders instead. "Everyone went out somewhere, I thought ya went with the doc, but..."
Quint winced yet again. Knowing Rock, the other had probably gone out with Dr. Light to some scientist convention. Some of the others had probably gone out with each other, and for one reason or another, Fire Man was home alone and thought he had been Rock, so he'd been enthusiastic enough to drag the child home.
"Y-Yeah, I-I d-didn't a-at th-the l-last minute..." Quint mentioned weakly. Man, this was so awkward for him, and he had no idea whether hanging out with Fire would result in the other loving on him until he found out he was Quint and then throwing him out due to anger and such.
"Ya want something to eat?" Fire asked brightly. "I can make ya hot chocolate, or bake ya some cookies, or anything else that ya want, Rock."
"U-Uh. U-Um..." QUint toyed with his shirt sleeve, thinking about whether he should accept the offer of hot chocolate or cookies. Rock probably would accept the hot chocolate and cookies, plus he had no idea when the next time he would get any food. Hot chocolate and cookies sounded amazing, too. Maybe he would even get to taste some of Fire Man's chicken wings...? "O-Okay F-Fire~!"
The grin that lit up the fire-themed robot's face made Quint squirm at the guiltiness he felt. He scooped the kid up and huggled him, making Quint let out this surprised little squeak. When Fire stood up from the couch and offered his hand to the smaller robot, Quint shyly stood up and took the other's hand.
"I'm telling ya, Rock, you and I are gonna have a good time for today," Fire spoke up again as he took Quint's hand and led him into the kitchen. Quint entered the kitchen, peering around the place. The young boy slipped into one of the chairs by the breakfast table, drumming his fingers on the table. "Dark, regular, or white? And ya want marshmallows or not on the hot chocolate~?"
"A-Ah, wh-white, w-with m-marshmallows..." The kid said. White chocolate was definitely the way to go, and who on earth did not want marshmallows in hot chocolate? Marshmallows were the best thing. He loved chewing on the gooey, soft, white sweets. He fidgeted a bit as Fire cheerfully gathered the ingredients to make hot chocolate, including a pack for himself, and put them on the table.
"Wanna help bake some cookies? I've got the ingredients to make some chocolate chip cookies, fresh from the oven, too~." Fire pulled out a bowl and some of the ingredients. Quint just let out a squeak at those words. At least he could help!
"S-Sure!" He leaped up from the chair, and slipped beside Fire. For the next several hours, Quint happily helped Fire Man make some cookies. He personally got out the cookie sheet and dropped the cookie dough onto the sheet. As Fire popped the cookie sheet into the oven, Quint sneaked some cookie dough from the bowl and licked his fingers. However, just as he went to do it again, Fire caught him at it and just fixed him with this look. For a moment, Quint thought that the other would yell at him, but instead the other just bust out laughing.
"Ya always do that, ya little sneak!" Fire ruffled his hair, watching Quint as he ate the cookie dough. Scooping the kid up, he carried him over to the sink. Quint wiggled out of his grip and washed his hands, his cheeks flaming, as Fire Man made the hot chocolate out of the packets he had laid out on the table. He seemed to finish after Quint had washed his hands, so the young childbot took his cup of white hot chocolate with a lot of marshmallows, and sipped on it happily.
"Th-Thanks F-Fire~" the kid said, ignoring his growling stomach as sipped the chocolate. He was really hungry, and the hot chocolate and the smell of freshly-baking cookies wasn't helping him at all. He wiggled in his chair, trying not to stare at the oven.
"Ya alright? The cookies'll be done soon." Fire sat down and patted him on the head again. "Maybe we can have dinner in a few hours as well. Anything you want then, we can start planning now while the cookies are baking?"
"Um... m-maybe s-some of y-your ch-chicken w-wings...?" Quint seriously wished that Fire Man would stop talking about food. It was making him extremely hungry, especially since he had not eaten in quite awhile outside of the hot chocolate and the cookie dough that he had eaten before they popped them into the oven. Fire must have suspected that, because he decided to change the topic all of a sudden.
"Well, we got about fifteen minutes before the cookies finish," Fire said. "Want t' play something in the meantime?" It was a hard decision as to what he should do, so the kid just shrugged a little bit.
"Wh-Whatever y-you w-want t-to," the boy squeaked out.
"But what d' ya wanna d'?" Fire persisted, smiling down at him some more. Quint just felt a bit more horrible, since he was about ninty percent sure that Fire would hate him once he knew that he was not Rock, but instead another robot that just happened to look like him and have his memories and such, except he was stupid and pathetic and didn't deserve it.
"U-Um... w-we c-can u-um..." Quint trailed off again, trying to wrack his mechanical brain for ideas. "U-Um, w-we c-can p-play a v-video g-game, o-or w-watch TV...? O-Or t-talk...?"
"Sure! We can always talk a bit." Fire thoughtfully tapped his chin a bit, thinking up a topic. "Can I ask ya something, kid?"
"H-Huh?" Quint blinked up at the other robot. What did he want to ask? Would he even be able to answer it? Oh, he seriously hoped it was something that he would be able to answer without seriously stuttering or stammering. However, the question that the other person asked completely threw the kid off-guard.
"Quint, why didncha come home?" The sad tone in Fire's voice, as well as the fact that he had actually said his name, made Quint bite his lip and stare up at the older robot. He shrank into his chair, fiddling with his shirt sleeves.
"I... u-um..." That very sentence told Quint that Fire had known who he was the entire time that he had been here and had seen him. Fire had seriously known he was Quint the entire time, and he hadn't even told him? Wait a minute... why had Fire bothered to take him in? Quint coughed a little bit on the chocolate, before setting the cup down and glancing up at his brother. "...I th-though y-you d-didn't w-want m-me..."
"Aw, ya haven't changed a bit, ya know, Quint?" Fire said. Quint just stared up at him, blinking somewhat stupidly at the smile crossing the other's features. That was all the warning the young robot got before Fire suddenly grabbed him and pulled him into his lap, causing the young child to squeak, and outright huggled him. The little boy wiggled, considering that he was still somewhat claustrophobic, but he finally just gave up and allowed his brother to cuddle him.
It actually felt... nice. He hadn't been cuddled in someone's lap in a very long time, the last time he remembered being cuddled in someone's lap was... Quint honestly couldn't remember. Michelle couldn't support the weight of a 230 pound robot, Sakugarne was a pogostick, and the Wilybots? Forget them. The small robot unconsciously nuzzled back his brother, deciding that, for now, he would just allow himself to be loved on by Fire.
Quint was unaware of how long he sat there; Fire was warmer than a normal robotic, due to his nature and what he was created for. After awhile, the childbot noticed a rather... delicious smell coming from the oven. The child squirmed, looking up at the older bot's blue eyes (like his own!) and the auburn hair, and gently tugging on his sleeves.
"F-Fire...? I th-think th-the c-cookies a-are d-done..." he said. Fire sniffed the air and smiled down at Quint, picking him up and setting him on the ground before standing up.
"Well I'll be. They seem t' be done after all! C'mon, Quint~" He offered his hand to the child, which the boy eagerly took, before the two walked into the kitchen together, still holding the finished mugs of hot chocolate. Quint opened the oven, and nearly stuck his head inside in an effort to practically inhale the cookies. That aroma was absolutely delicious... "Careful, don'tcha hurt yaself!"
"O-Oh, s-sorry..." Quint moved his head away from the oven, still wondering why Fire even bothered to care, before he assisted his brother in removing the delicious chocolate chip cookies from the oven. He was practically salivating, and he resisted the temptation of grabbing them. There were a lot of siblings, right? He knew that Dr. Light was dieting at around this time so it would be a bad idea to offer the scientist one, but Rock and the other siblings were fair game, right? Maybe he could just have one cookie...
"All f' ya, Quint. Eat up~." Fire ruffled his hair, beaming down at him.
"U-Um... y-you c-can h-have th-them, t-too..." Quint squeaked out weakly. He didn't want to be a greedy little thing, after all. He picked up one cookie, nibbling at it and not noticing that little milk mustache that remained on his cheek.
"Aw, thank ya. Y'are always a good kiddo," Fire ruffled his hair again, and when Quint wasn't looking, sneaked a few more cookies onto his plate. Quint stared at the cookies in surprise as the fire-themed robot took some of the cookies himself, and began to chew on them. Quint bit down again on the cookies... they were really quite good.
He suddenly felt extremely homesick as it finally hit him.
Quint wanted to stay. He wanted to come home, he wanted to stay here with the rest of his family, he wanted to stay here with his brother that was very accepting of him, that was very loving of him. Tears burned the childbot's eyes, but he wiped them quickly as he finished off the cookies and the last of the hot chocolate.
"C-Can I j-just l-lie d-down for a m-moment...?" Quint asked timidly. He just needed to relax for a moment.
"'Course ya can, it's your house t'!" At those words, Quint darted from the kitchen and flopped down on the couch, curling up into a tiny little Quintball. He took a deep breath. Hm, maybe he would close his eyes for a moment...
When Fire Man entered the room, Quint's eyes were closed and the childbot was asleep. The other robot scooped the kid up, and carried him to his room, before tucking him into the bed in a rather caring fashion and even pulling the covers over him. Quint didn't even stir.
"Hope ya sleep well, Quint~"