A Romantic Bet

Summary: My third GBxTH fanfic. Ghost Buggy's confident that Time Hopper has feelings for him, but she always denies it. Will a bet between them make it more interesting?

GBTH***GBTH***GBTH

"Come on, Time Hopper," Ghost Buggy cooed at the ribcage-like hovercraft. "You know you have it bad for me."

"I do not!" Time Hopper yelled, fuming at the car giving her a flirty smirk. Futura and the Ghostbusters were on another mission in the future, and Ghost Buggy was hitting on Time Hopper as usual. Their little love-hate relationship was really annoying their friends.

"Jake," Eddie groaned, "if this keeps up, we're never gonna find those crystals."

"Yeah, I know," the blond replied before turning to the two vehicles. "Hey, c'mon, you two! Quit bickering already!"

"Only if she admits that she's crazy about me," GB replied with a teasing tone.

"Yeah, like that's ever going to happen," Time Hopper snapped as they stopped in front of the cave where the crystals are. The ghost-car then gave her a sly grin.

"Well, then how about we have us a little bet?" he asked. "We'll dematerialize Long John and his pirates for Futura and the guys. If I dematerialize more ghosts than you and win, you go out with me for a whole week…and you have to let me kiss you."

"And if I win?" she replied.

"If you get more ghosts than me and win," he answered, "I won't bother about a date for a whole week."

"You're on!" she replied smugly. Then the two of them sped off together into the cave before Futura and the guys could stop them.

"I think that's our cue to go after them," Futura said, and the four of them ran after them.

Inside the cave, Long John Scarechrome and his band of nine ghost pirates were loading the colorful energy crystals into the mining carts.

"With all of these crystals in Prime Evil's possession," the cyber pirate said with a grin, "he will be able to bring the entire future to its knees."

"Not if we have a say in it, you creep!" a voice behind him snapped. They all turned to see Ghost Buggy and Time Hopper standing before them.

"Shiver me timbers! Those two here means that the Ghostbusters are close!" Long John turned to his band. "Get them, you scallywags!" The nine pirates then charged at them and the two vehicles at them.

Time Hopper got her dematerializing laser ready. She's going to win this bet and rub it all over GB's face because he won't constantly ask her out for a week. She fired her laser rapidly at the ghosts, not even bothering to take aim. Because of that, she's taking a lot of misses.

The hovercraft growled in frustration as Ghost Buggy's golden laser shots from his gun on his hood took three ghosts out of the equation. It's easy to tell their laser shots apart; hers are silvery white.

I can't let him beat me, she thought to himself. I just can't. He'll never live this whole thing out, and he might make everyone think I'm his girlfriend! She was so caught up in her thoughts that she failed to have noticed that GB has dematerialized three more ghost pirates…and the net Scarechrome fired at her to pin her into the cavern wall!

"Gotcha!" he said with a sneer as Time Hopper struggled to get out of the net. "No use tryin' to get out of there, lass; that net's programmed to keep your dematerializin' rays in and not get out." He and the remaining three ghost pirates then advanced towards her to get her. Ghost Buggy saw this and was enraged at what Scarechrome just did to his dream hovercraft.

"Keep your hook off her!" he yelled, bringing out his Fright Freezer. Before the four ghosts could react, he fired his rays at them, freezing them into ice statues. He then fired his laser at them to dematerialize them before heading over to the trapped Time Hopper.

"Time Hopper," he said with concern, "are you alright?" As he then removed the net with his robot arms in his engine, the hovercraft saw in his face that he was really worried about her.

"Why didn't you cry out sooner?" he asked her, scolding her a little. "You could've gotten hurt or worse."

Time Hopper looked down in shame and not because she lost the bet. It's because GB was right; she did almost get hurt, and all because she wanted to win.

"I'm sorry," she said sadly. "I just wanted to get them all before you do. I thought rapid fire might work, but it didn't." Ghost Buggy's stern face softened. He was so worried about her that he forgot all about the bet until she mentioned it.

"Yeah, rapid fire is a pretty reckless idea," he replied now that he thought about it. An idea then came to his head.

"If you like," he said, "we can work on it for our first date." Time Hopper looked up hopefully.

"You mean you're not mad at me?" she asked.

"Why would I be mad at you?" he asked. "I love you too much to be angry. You just need to be not so reckless, that's all." Time Hopper blushed at those three words that came out of his mouth: I love you. He had never said those words to her before. Sure, he showed it through flirting, but he never actually said it until now.

"Ghost Buggy, that's…that's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me," she said bashfully. The ghost-car smiled at how cute she is right now before going over to her and kissing her on the side of her headlight. Her blush became more obvious as she turned to him with a surprise.

"I owed you a kiss, didn't I?" he teased in his flirting tone. Time Hopper just looked at him. If she had a face like he does, she'd be smiling at him right now. She just cuddled into him.

"Oh, you…" she giggled as Futura and the Ghostbusters rushed into the scene.

"Are you guys…okay?" Eddie gawked at the two vehicles cuddling into each other. Tracy then grunted something to the others.

"Yeah, it does look like Ghost Buggy won the bet," Jake replied. If the two vehicles heard them, they're probably ignoring them right now. They're busy enjoying each other's company right now.