Title: A Match Made in Hell

Association: Beyblade

Pairing: Bryan/Tala, YuBo

Short Summary: Tala's a train-wreck and Bryan's a time-bomb, but you know it just might work. YuBo one-shot, Ian/Spence-centric.

Full Summary: Tala and Bryan bicker, argue, scream, curse, and throw shit at each other more than any couple in the world, but only Spencer realizes that it's nothing short of true love.

AN: Hey guys, what's up? I actually wrote this story a while back, but just now rediscovered it and thought I'd polish it up a bit. Let me know what you guys think! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Lol, if I owned Beyblade, that shit would've turned out WAY differently than it did.

A Match Made in Hell

"ASSHOLE!"

"RETARD!"

Tala chucked the nearest object, which just so happened to be a jar of Jiffy, expertly at his rival's head. Said rival, of whom had been affectionately dubbed "Asshole" A.K.A. Bryan, dodged the mass of peanut butter by the narrowest of margins, managing to duck behind the couch ninja-style just before it could make contact with his face. The younger male panted heavily from his resting position on the floor, having been playing this little game of cat and mouse for close to an hour now. His light gray bangs had long since matted to his forehead with sweat and his stamina had just about reached its limit. It wouldn't be long before the supposed "Retard" A.K.A. Tala, managed to get him good. The redhead was so practiced at throwing various objects that his aim was damn-near perfect. It was medal-worthy at the very least.

Spencer, the eldest resident of the apartment he shared with these two morons, was stretched out causally on the raggedy brown sofa, having raised a suspicious blond eyebrow as he felt a gush of air rush over his feet. He had been calmly watching television through the duration of this argument, blocking out the younger bladers' voices as he avidly paid attention to the nightly news. Spencer had long since gotten used to Bryan and Tala fighting, having heard their rants close to every other night of the week. Things between them had always been a little off, but perhaps that was just the way it was meant to be.

He and Ian, the shortest resident and Spencer's closest friend, had only recently had a discussion on their two roommates.

It had started out like any other morning, with Spencer up an hour before everyone else to make sure his morning ritual was conducted peacefully. He also took the liberty of brewing the pot of coffee that would surely go missing the second that his former teammates staggered into the kitchen. Bryan had been next to wake that morning, grumbling and muttering under his breath fruitfully as he neglected the coffee and stormed outside, the look on his face one of sheer disgust and contempt. He hadn't said a single word to Spencer in passing, just stomping through the kitchen to make his way to the door as quickly as possible. Much to Spencer's surprise, Tala had been in and out rather quickly that morning as well. He dashed in mere seconds behind his moody boyfriend and gave himself just enough time to fill a thermos to the brim and shove it in his backpack before running out the door, slamming it harshly behind him. No sooner than the former captain had gotten outside, he had been ambushed by Bryan, whose shouting Spencer could hear clearly through the solid oak door separating them. He wasn't quite aware of what Tala had done, but he knew it would a be a while before his poor captain heard the last of it, the falcon's voice lingering long after the two had left the apartment and made their way down the street.

Being as it was one of Spencer's rare days off, he sat quietly at the dining table, looking at the wall clock repeatedly out of habit as he sipped from his mug. At half six, just a moment or two after the older males left, Ian emerged from his bedroom with a groggy gaze, cursing colorfully in Russian as he too took his seat at the table. Spencer looked up thoughtfully, waiting for his vertically-challenged friend to mumble something loudly enough to be interpreted. The pint-sized blader crossed his arms, scooted his chair back and rested his crossed legs on the table top.

Ian ran his hands sporadically through his long purple hair. "Man, I'm about to go fucking ape-shit on both of them," he grumbled.

"What is it this time?" Spencer inquired, his voice low and gentle as always.

"What do you think it is?" The younger one spat, his words filled with twice the amount of venom his bit-beast could ever possess. "Those fuckers kept me up half the night...again. First they were arguing because Bryan wouldn't get up and shut off their TV before he fell asleep, and then of course Bryan had to fire back with something about Tala being a whiny bitch, and it went on for ages. Not to mention the fact that Tala fucked up again by forgetting to set their alarm. I'm sure you heard their shouting from down here earlier, right?"

Spencer sighed, feeling his best friend's conundrum. "Mmm, not exactly. I was in the shower for a while this morning, so I didn't catch a word of what happened. Figures it'd be something miniscule that'd rile Bryan up so early."

Ian snorted. "Yeah, well it riled me up too, 'cause that asshole was shouting so loud upstairs that I couldn't block the sound out with my pillow. Fuck, I'm sick of this..."

"I know the feeling, but unfortunately those two fuckwits are our friends, and our only close ones at that." The elder Russian looked down into his coffee mug, meeting the miserable gaze of his shit-brown reflection. He frowned and closed his eyes. "We always told them we were okay with it so they'd be comfortable being around us, but I never would've thought they'd fight the way they do once we'd gotten used to them being together. It's hard to believe that those two used to agree on everything, no questions asked."

The shorter male raked his fingers through his thick ponytail, scoffing at the memory of their two friends coming out to them. "Yeah, yeah, I know; we gotta accommodate 'em, but it's not fair to either one of us to be losing so much sleep over it."

Spencer nodded in agreement. "True, but who knows? Maybe we can convince them to move out and get their own apartment together once you graduate? As soon as you get a job, we could probably afford to live here without using part of Bryan's paycheck."

A sarcastic sneer caused the shorter male's face to crinkle in acknowledgement. "Yeah, but that would constitute Tala getting a job too, and the captain's gonna be in school for a couple more years at least. He's not gonna pick up work until he's done, y'know."

"Well then I guess we'll just have to deal with it until then." Spencer gave his shorter companion a weary look. "Did they really get in a fight over shutting the damn television off? Seriously? When did they finally calm down last night?"

Ian laughed a spiteful little laugh and sneered. "Not 'til sometime past midnight," he groaned disdainfully. "Ahaha, then I got to listen to them fuck for the next two hours. I swear, that's all the two of them ever do. They fuck and fight; what the hell could possibly be romantic about that? Not to brag, but I get around, and even though I'm fucking chicks I still don't have half the amount of drama in my life that those two have. Why are they together again?"

Spencer propped his head up with his hand, bringing the mug to his lips once more before placing it on the table before him. "You know, I've often wondered that myself. You wouldn't think there's much there, would you? I'm sure it's tough on them though. Tala's trying hard to go to school now, and Bryan's working ten-hour shifts six days a week. They don't even get time off together because he works weekends and has his day off while Tala's still at the university."

Ian nodded in compliance, getting up promptly to snatch the OJ carton out of the fridge and taking a large gulp of it, no glass even remotely thought of in the process. Spencer grimaced, reminding himself to get an uncontaminated carton later. "You make it sound like it's Bryan's fault. Shit, I'm still in school too, remember? I mean, yeah, I'm not in college yet, but I never study and I still get decent grades. All Tala's been doing lately is studying, and you know, I kinda get the hunch that maybe Bryan doesn't wanna do homework after working an actual job all day. I remember back before I came to the abbey, my daddy worked a factory job too, and he was always tired when he got home. Never wanted to do anything but sleep. You can't blame all this on Bryan for workin' his ass off."

Spencer glared at his bed-headed friend, not fully understanding why he was standing up for Bryan. Bryan teased the shit out of Ian, and yet he still took the younger male's side. Perhaps it was the lack of age gap that made the two of them closer than Ian and Tala? Tala had four years on Ian while Bryan had only two. Or perhaps they were just equally immature on different levels.

"Maybe so, but I work more hours than Bryan does, and I still take care of this place and look after you little shits. Tala's trying to make something of himself right now, and Bryan should try harder to rearrange his work schedule so the two of them could spend a little more time together. He could probably at least get his day off on the weekend if he asked."

Ian scoffed, sticking his large nose in the air with an indignant snort. "Please, you really think someone with as much pride as Bryan has is really gonna stop working so much just for Tala's sake? Get real, Spence. Whether you've figured this out or not, Bryan feels obligated to pay bills around here since he's not bothering to go back and finish secondary school like Tala did, much less move on to college. And if I know him like I think I do, there's no way he'd burden you with that; you do enough around here already without accommodating to his relationship. If he worked any less, you'd be working more, and we both know it."

For being only fifteen, Ian was certainly much smarter than he often times let on. He had a way of worming into people's minds and digging up all the details without trying. Spencer had always been jealous of this talent, but never let it be voiced. After all, he was the peacemaker, not the shit-stirrer. He was far too dense to bother with exploring the human mindset anyway.

Spencer clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth, trying to find the words to say without invoking an argument. Chances of accomplishing this were becoming increasingly unlikely.

"It's not like I mind it anyway; at least I get to see my partner when I go to work most days, even if it is in some shitbag factory. The most Bryan gets to see down at the prison is probably nothing short of a bunch of desperate middle-aged men trying to 'do each other favors'."

Ian spit out a mouthful of orange juice onto the tile. "Eww, that's fucking sick, Spence!"

Spencer looked down apathetically at the splattered juice on the floor, a blond eyebrow twitching despite his neutral look. Ian took one look at the older Russian and began cursing under his breath again, quick to jump up and clean the mess up with a dishtowel before said Russian beat him to a pulp. The shorter male grabbed a few other items as well while he was up, deciding to stop procrastinating and make his lunch to take with him. Spencer could smell the warm, peculiar scent of crunchy peanut butter.

"Bryan's going to kill you if you take the last of that again," Spencer pointed out, reminded of how the falcon had dunked Ian's head in the toilet last time they had run out of something on account of him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. He'll get over it," Ian slabbed the thick paste onto four pieces of rye bread, soon to coat each with a fine layer of strawberry jelly. "Damn drama queen, acts like it's the end of the world every time we run outta somthin'." The short male grabbed a couple of plastic baggies and a brown paper sack from a drawer, putting his sandwiches inside with care. "What are we gonna do about those two, Spence?"

Spencer sighed, rubbing sleep from the corners of his eyes and looking fatigued as his gaze met his companion's. "Hell if I know...Maybe that's just how it's supposed to be with them."

Ian raised a thick purple eyebrow. "Say what? What in the hell makes you think that?"

Spencer drained his coffee mug, large hands clasped around it completely enveloping it. He shrugged. "Well, have you ever heard that couples that fight the most are more likely to stay together?"

Ian furrowed his eyebrows and squinted at the older blader, trying to determine whether or not the man was simply going insane from the amount of commotion in the household. "Not exactly. Where'd you hear that from?"

"Eva mentioned it the other day when we went to lunch. I was asking her for advice and she told me that. I'm starting to think it makes sense."

"Oh yeah?" Ian snorted. "Lay it on me then. Just what does she think of all this?"

"Well, she and I have gotten into it before and even though we fight on occasion, we've been together for almost two years now, not to mention the fact that I'm getting ready to propose. When I brought up Tala and Bryan, she dismissed my concerns and told me not to worry about it." Spencer searched Ian's eyes for doubt, anticipating it even more than he anticipated another fight between Tala and Bryan when they came home later.

"That doesn't make any damn sense, Spence. Why the hell would two people who fight all the time be more likely to stay together? Doesn't that mean that they're trying to drive one another away?" Ian asked irritably.

"Not necessarily, my friend." The blond struggled for the right words. "Eva says that a couple that fights does so because of their dedication to the relationship. You have to fight to keep one, y'know? If they're fighting, it means that they're willing to point out each other's flaws to improve their conditions. I guess that goes to say that Bryan and Tala actually work a lot harder on staying together than you think."

Ian briefly absorbed the words, picking out the defects with care. "So what you're tellin' me is they fight all the time in an attempt to reach...perfection? They bicker over every goddamn topic they can and you mean to tell me that it's their way of 'making it work'?"

Spencer stood, taking his mug to the sink to rinse it out. "Something to that effect, yes."

"...Still sounds like a load of bullshit to me."

"You watch your damn mouth, runt! I'm in charge of this household, and you need to stop cussing so much. Now get your shit together and get to school!" Spencer tossed the young male's lunch sack at him, hitting him in the back with it as he reached for the hook by the front door for his coat.

"Alright, alright, I'm goin'," the purple-haired blader muttered, picking up his heavy backpack and slinging it over one of his shoulders. "I'll see ya later, Spence."

Spencer snapped back to the present, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. He raised it stealthily from his position on the couch, looking over the back of it to see where the peanut butter had impacted the wall. Haha, there goes Ian's lunch next week. The jar had smashed right through the flimsy material, now lodged between a couple of beams within the drywall. The blond male sighed, listening as the sounds of Tala and Bryan's voices carried on in another part of the house, like a fucked-up genre of music ringing in his ears.

"I hate you!"

"Well, I hate you too!"

Spencer just grinned broadly, getting himself off the couch and heading down the hall to his bedroom. As the voices trailed from the kitchen, he called out: "Goodnight, you guys!"

The bickering ceased, if only for a moment.

"'Night, Spence," he faintly heard Bryan mutter.

"Yeah, see ya in the mornin'."

The blond listened with satisfaction as two sets of footsteps made their way up the stairs, the shouting reduced to soft murmurs and light laughter. From the floorboards above, he could hear the couple getting into bed, exchanging words that bonded them in ways that only they could understand.

With a smile on his face, Spencer enjoyed his first restful night's sleep in ages.

FIN

AN: Well guys, I finally posted something! Can you believe that shit? I actually finished this back in April, and to be honest, I was actually pretty pleased with this. Call this my attempt to finish up old one-shots before working on more serious projects. Please let me know if you find any errors!

-Crimson