This story was written for ratchetandclankforever, because they asked so nicely :) Hope you enjoy!

"Do you love me?" Alister asked.

"Of, course I do" Ratchet replied.

Ratchet had been dating the General for just about a month now, but their partnership was a secret. Alister had made Ratchet promise not to tell anyone. When Ratchet asked why, Alister would always delve into the same speech.

"There's quite a big age gape between us," Alister would always start.

"And I know we don't care about it, but other people might react poorly. Some might find it weird that I'm dating Kaden's son. I don't think the universe is ready yet, but I promise you it will be soon."

After hearing the same lecture again and again, Ratchet eventually stopped asking.

He didn't mind the secrecy too much though. Being with Alister was worth it. How he'd mutter sweet nothing's into his ear and pepper his neck with little kisses. Even when they weren't intimate Ratchet just liked having the other lombax around as company. As the days went on Alister got bolder. First it started with simple pecks on the cheek. Then longer, more passionate kisses, to groping, then eventually Alister began to ask to take things all the way. But Ratchet refused every time.

"Do you love me?" He repeated, Alister always asked this before asking for sex.

"Yes, Alister. More than anything." Ratchet replied.

"Then, will you show me how much you love me?" Alister looked to the other lombax sitting in the passenger seat of his ship.

Ratchet turned away in his seat. Alister had been relentless lately, asking Ratchet to have sex several times now in the past few days. He just wasn't comfortable, something about it made him nervous. But whenever he'd look into Alister's hopeful eyes it made him feel so guilty. He'd often get into arguments with himself over it.

"He just wants to show you how much he loves you, he wants to see you're serious about this relationship." Some unknown part of him would say.

"I just don't think I'm ready." He would reply.

"How could you be so selfish? Alister wants to do this for you, for us!" It would fire back.

But no matter how guilty he felt, or how much Alister begged, Ratchet never budged.

"I'm just not ready." Ratchet muttered. The same answer he had given time and time again.

Usually Alister would beg him, touch him, and ask him 'pretty please?' until Ratchet became uncomfortable. Then he would frown and look at him with hurt in his eyes, amplifying Ratchet's guilt tenfold. Ratchet braced himself for the inevitable.

Wham!

Ratchet jumped at the sudden noise, quickly turning toward Alister.

The General had his face buried in the steering wheel, with one hand gripping it and the other clenched into a fist on the dashboard.

"A-Alister?" Ratchet reached out tentatively.

Alister ripped his face from the steering mechanism and faced Ratchet, angry looking tears in his eyes.

"That's always your answer! If you really loved me you would say yes!" The General yelled.

Ratchet shrank back in his seat, shaking slightly. This was new. He'd never seen Alister this angry before.

"You pushed him too far," Came a voice from somewhere inside him.

"He could only be patient for so long. Look at how much you've upset him!"

"I want you to answer me again, yes or no only!" Alister continued shrieking at his trembling boyfriend.

"Will you make love to me?"

Ratchet's throat was tight. He knew the answer he wanted. But something deep in his gut screamed no. What was so wrong with saying yes? Ratchet sat quietly contemplating his answer.

Alister glared at him and tapped his fingers impatiently.

"Well?!" He exclaimed in an exasperated tone.

Ratchet flinched, before taking a breath to answer.

"I just don't think I'm –"

Whack!

Ratchet didn't breathe; his face instantly stinging. Alister lowered his hand shakily, tears streaking down his face.

"Get out of my ship." Alister whispered.

Ratchet's turned to his boyfriend, lower lip quivering.

"A-Al-" Ratchet tried.

"I said OUT!" Alister screamed ferociously.

Wordlessly Ratchet scrambled for the door and hopped outside. As soon as he was out Alister flew away into the night.

Ratchet cried the whole walk home. Feeling guilty and upset, he trudged back to his apartment.

"Look at what you've done!" His mind scolded him.

"You broke Alister's heart!"

"But, he hit me. He's never done that before." He thought back.

"You're lucky it was just a slap, you deserve worse for what you put him through!" The voice shot back.

"He just wants to show you how much he cares, and this is how you treat him?"

Ratchet silenced his thoughts once he got to his front door. Clank might be up and he didn't want him to know he had been crying. Wiping his eyes, and taking a deep breathe, he tried to compose himself before opening the door. In the living room Ratchet could see his robot companion sitting on the couch watching a science show on the holovision.

He sighed walking into the house and tossing his keys on the table. Ratchet then made his way over to the kitchen for a drink. His throat was killing him from crying.

"You are home late." Clank observed turning his head to peak at the lombax, who had his head buried in the fridge.

Ratchet hummed an acknowledgment, grabbing a bottle of water. Closing the fridge, he opened it there. He drank leaning up against the counter, facing away from Clank. He didn't want him to see his face. He was sure that if he did he would see his red tear streaked eyes and swelling cheek. The room was silent save for the chatter from the holovision, and the gulping of water. When he had nearly finished the bottle Clank spoke again.

"Are you okay?"

Ratchet reflectively jumped at the question. Still facing away from Clank, he calmed himself before mustering an answer.

"Uh…yeah, why?" He said, trying to sound innocent.

"You seem… off, tonight. You usually always come over to sit with me when you get home. And you have not spoken a word since you got in."

Ratchet cringed to himself, and his poor acting skills, before yawning and taking another stab at it.

"I'm just tired I guess," He muttered.

"I'm going to head off to bed early tonight."

The robot looked at him quizzically, clearly not convinced. Ignoring him, Ratchet headed to his bed room; keeping to the shadows so Clank couldn't see him. His hand had just touched the doorknob when Clank spoke up once more.

"Does it have something to do with Alister?" Clank inquired.

Ratchet froze, his whole body seizing at the mention of his name. Ratchet felt tears prick his eyes and his raging thoughts started up again.

"How could you be so selfish? How could you do this to Alister?"

Ratchet swallowed hard, trying to will away his tears and attempted a lie.

"No, why do you ask?" His voice faltered.

"You have been seeing his a lot and I thought , maybe…" Clank said approaching his friend, but stopped short.

With Ratchet's head hung, Clank caught the glimpse of a tear rolling down his face and onto the floor.

"Ratchet?" Clank said softly.

Ratchet bit his lip trying to muffle the sob that shook his body. It didn't help though.

"Ratchet what's wrong?" The robot asked his voice full of concern.

Ratchet shook his head numbly.

"Ratchet, please tell me."

"I can't." He whispered.

"Why, can't you?"

"You're horrible, how could you be so selfish!" His mind screamed.

"I made a promise."

Clank paused to think.

"But if this promise you made is causing you this much distress, maybe it is not worth keeping."

Ratchet weighed his options. He hated keeping this secret more than he realized. It felt horrible lying to Clank all the time. But if he did tell Alister would be even angrier with him.

"If I told you, do you promise not to tell anyone?" Ratchet finally asked.

Clank nodded.

"Not a soul?" Ratchet asked again.

"Not a soul." Clank repeated.

Ratchet let out a long breath, before speaking again.

"Alister and I have been… dating."

Ratchet braced himself, ready for Clank to yell at him. To say he was too old for him, that it was wrong. But Clank didn't say anything; he just waited patiently for Ratchet to go on.

"We've been dating for about a month now. Things were going pretty good, but…"

Ratchet paused, the awful self-deprecating thoughts flaring up for the umpteenth time today. Clank gently squeezed his arm, urging him on. Taking one last deep breath, Ratchet finally turned revealing his face. Clank's eyes widened momentarily in shock seeing Ratchet's bloodshot eyes and slightly swelled face. He quickly put back on a caring face, and wordlessly squeezed his hand again.

"Lately Alister has been asking to take our relationship further. And every time I've said no. And he'd always get upset. But tonight… he got really upset."

"Did he hit you?" Clank asked venom seeping into his voice.

Ratchet turned away, feeling sick. Clank was getting mad at him too? He knew he shouldn't have told. Now both of his friends would hate him.

"I deserved worse for being so selfish." Ratchet muttered.

Clank gasped suddenly and Ratchet braced himself for whatever Clank was going to dish out. What he didn't expect though was for the little robot to squeeze him in a hug.

"Ratchet, do not say that! You do not deserve any of that."

The lombax stood awkwardly as Clank hugged his knees.

"Clank…" Ratchet tried, but he was cut off.

"Alister has no right to pressure you into something you do not want to do. Ratchet, you are one of the least selfish people I know!"

Ratchet looked down to the robot his thoughts a clouded muddle. Alister was a good guy. Sure he had his faults but so did anyone. Tonight, Ratchet had just pushed him too far. But when he looked at Clank standing there, holding him so tightly, he began to doubt himself.

Gently, Ratchet hugged his friend back. His throat was sore and his eyes were dry and devoid of any more tears. The two of them stood like that for what felt like forever. However what they didn't see was the figure looking at them through the window.

The next day Ratchet received a call from Alister saying they needed to talk. He thought so too. After he had told Clank what was going on, they had sat and talked well into the night. Ratchet had come to the conclusion that Alister wasn't treating him with the most respect and wanted to try and communicate that better with his partner.

Soon enough Alister showed up in his ship at their usual meeting place and the two set off to a quiet place to talk. The ride was completely silent, but Ratchet didn't mind. It gave him more time to think about what he was going to say to the general. Not like he hadn't been thinking it over all night and well before he got there.

Finally Alister parked in a clearing in the forest and shut off the engine. As soon as Ratchet heard the click of the ship being powered down he spoke up.

"Alister, there's something I need to tell you…" Ratchet started but was quickly interrupted.

"You broke your promise." Alister deadpanned.

Ratchet's heart flipped in his chest.

"W-What?" He stammered.

"You told Clank about our relationship! You promised me you wouldn't tell anyone and you broke that promise!" Alister screamed, his face too close to Ratchet's and his eyes burning with fury.

Ratchet's mouth opened and shut several times like a fish out of water, but no words would come out.

"I saw you! I saw you tell him!" Alister roared.

"You- you spied on me?" Ratchet whispered, finally finding his voice.

"Because I was afraid you would do something stupid! You pushed me too far last night and I was afraid you'd end up doing something impulsive! How could you be so selfish?! How could you do this to me?"

Ratchet lowered his head in shame, his eyes watering. Selfish, selfish, he was so selfish. As ratchet wallowed in guilt he suddenly realized that Alister had moved from the driver seat and was now on top of him.

"W-what are doing?" Ratchet breathed.

"Getting what I deserve." Alister stated, and reached for the buckle of his pants.

Ratchet's eyes went wide and he sucked in a gasp. His hands went up, instinctively fighting off his attacker.

"N-No, stop!" Ratchet cried.

A crack reverberated through his skull and Ratchet felt the blood begin to drip from his nose.

"Shut up! You know you deserve this after what you put me through."

Tears streamed down the hero's face, as he clamped his mouth shut and gave into his boyfriend's ministrations.

Clank glanced at the clock again, he was getting worried. Ratchet said he was only going to be out for a minute, but that was hours ago. He had tried calling him, but didn't get an answer. What if something bad had happened to him? What if he was too late?

Finally, tired of waiting, and thinking of every possible scenario that could have happened to his friend, he went to look for Ratchet. He was just about to grab the door handle when he heard it being unlocked from the other side. Clank stepped back as the door slowly opened.

What Clank saw on the other side made his gears grind to a halt. There stood Ratchet, his clothes a mess, his eyes red and puffy, dried blood matted into his fur, and the left side of his face so swollen he could barely keep his eye open.

"Ratchet," Clank said, his voice shaking like his body.

"W-what happened to you?"

Ratchet glanced down to his robot companion his eyes lacking life.

"Ratchet, please tell me!" Clank cried desperately.

Ratchet looked away from Clank and he stared straight ahead at nothing.

"I can't" He simply stated, before sidestepping Clank.

Clank felt sick as he watched his best friend limped into the bathroom.