"Woah?! You guys are dating?!"

It was a perfectly partly-cloudy day. The sun was shining with the exception of when it disappeared behind a cloud and the world below was covered in shade. The birds chirped and the ground was still damp the morning's dew. And the frequent rain.

It was the perfect time to tell one of your closest friends that you and another of your closest friends have been dating.

Such was the situation. Axl stared at X and Zero with wide eyes, his chopsticks with his cut up sausage froze in mid-air.

'He really didn't need to look so shocked', Zero thought. He felt something warm and looked down to see that X had grabbed his hands. It was a simple gesture and an unfamiliar one. Zero didn't exactly hold hands with people often. It did make his heart skip a beat and his face flush, things he could kick himself for. He muttered a reply, "Yeah."

"For how long?!" Time resumed and he stuffed his face with the mini-sausage.

X's head tilted to the side and his face scrunched up, "Hm… How long has it been Z?"

"Not very long." At least it didn't feel very long. "Maybe… a couple weeks?" he guessed.

"That sounds about right."

Axl, leaned back, eyes closed and hand on chin. "Hmm… I guess it does make sense….. Now that I think about it, you guys have been more touchy-feely than usual…" Zero didn't want to ask what he meant by that. he suddenly started chuckling, "Oh man, Oh man that's hilarious!"

"What do you mean by that?" X stole the words right out of Zero's mouth.

"Well you know, since Alia likes X, and Layer likes Z-"

"WHAT?!"

Zero flinched at X's sudden outburst. Axl looked confused.

"You didn't know what? Literally, everybody knows that."

"I-I mean, well, I appreciate Alia a-and she's been an old friend of mine, b-b-but…" Zero couldn't help but think how cute X was when his face was all red like that. -"I don't like her… like that."

"Clearly." Axl snickered. "You play for the other team entirely."

"…I thought she liked Gate. She's always-"

"That's just cause they're in the science club together with Dynamo and… Lumine right?" Axl interrupted.

"I don't know how she can stand to be around them." Zero suddenly said. "I swear, some of them are actually insane."

"Lumines a dick."Zero nodded in agreement.

So uh, big red-" Axl faced Zero, "What do you think about Layer?"

"...Well…" he thought for a moment, "...She's pretty."

Silence. Both Axl and X stared at him.

"...That's...That's it?"

"Well… Yeah."

"...Nothing else?" X asked.

"Not really. I like the beauty mark on her cheek and she's… nice enough I guess."

Axl chuckled, "Guess you don't have to worry about him cheating any, huh X?"

Zero felt anger inside of him flare up. Was he trying to suggest that he would cheat on X?! He would never, ever-

"I already know Zero would never do that. " Oh thank the lord. "Are you… okay with this?"

"Yeah, I'm cool with you dating." Axl shoved the last of his convenience store bento into his mouth. "The only bad this now whenever we hang out together I'm going to be the 3rd wheel." He pouted.

X smiled, "I promise that won't happen."

"Yeah, yeah, yer gonna get all lovey-dovey and gonna forget about poor, poor Axl and leave him all alone." he let out fake cries and put his face in his hands. X rolled his eyes and reached over to pat his back. Zero frowned once his hand left his.

"It's soooo boring without you guys! This whole town's suuuuch a drag! I wish me and Red were back in the city!" He wailed.

"If you hadn't had moved you wouldn't even know we existed."

"I guess you're riiight…" he pouted again. The bell rung, Axl groaned and Zero was half tempted to join him.

"Ughhhhh, I don't wanna go back to class…"

"Come on, art is next, that isn't so bad." X helped him up.

"Ugh, I can't draw portraits. I can only draw stick figures."

"That makes two of us. " Zero chimed in.

"Come on!"

Somehow they made it to their next class on time.

Recently Zero had joined the Kendo club. If you asked him why he wouldn't really have a reason, but the one he did offer up usually was-

"I like fighting." Which was a half-truth? He never was infatuated with it. It just that it seemed to be the only thing he was ever good at. X would disagree.

He knew that was true.

Zero stared longingly at the vending machine as they walked past together. There wasn't any way he was going to fish for spare change in it with X standing there. But fuckin' hell he was thirsty.

"Hm? You thirsty Z?" X seemed to always know what he was thinking about, either way.

"I don't have any money."

"It's fine Zero. " his hand reached into his pants pocket and he pulled out a coin purse. "You getting ramune?"

"..." he knew that he couldn't convince X not to get him anything. "Yeah…"

"I think I'll have one too. " X said as he popped the gold coins with a "Z" stamped on the front into the machine.

Soon enough the sound of the marble rattling around in the neck of the bottle ringed through the air. It was always nice to watch the marble pop through and see the soda fizz up. At least, to Zero it was. He sat down on a bench nearby. Its frayed wooden surface was sprinkled over with pink petals from a nearby cherry blossom tree. X sat next to him and stared down the small opening for the glass bottle.

"...I think…"

"Hm?" Zero looked over and frowned once he saw X's troubled look.

"...What is it?"

"...I think… Rock…" He trailed off again.

"What about your brother?"

He took a deep breath. "I think he's crushing on Bass."

Zero blinked. Then he blinked again. Then for a 3rd time.

"What."

"The other day he came into my room, and said he's been feeling… strange when he's around Bass." X's eyes were straight ahead of him. "What he described… was how I feel when I'm around you."

Zero's face turned red. "Oh. Did you… tell him that?"

X shook his head. "I'm not sure how to tell him that. I don't think he's ever crushed on anyone else… He did just turn 13."

"Bass is going to turn 13 pretty soon."

X just nodded.

Zero took a deep swig from his bottle of ramune and set it down with a hearty "clunk" and a loud sigh. "Poor Rock."

"Poor Rock?"

"Yeah. Out of all the people he could have crushed on, my brother is by far the worst."

"That can't be true. He wouldn't fall for someone that had no good in him at all." X objected.

"I live with the guy and I'm saying there's no good in him."

"There must be at least one time he showed that there's good in him."

Zero thought about it. Was there ever a time he did?

"...One time he gave me 3 slices of pizza. "

"See?" he smiled.

"Still. Bass hates him." Zero reminded.

"I don't think he hates Rock. I think he WANTS to hate rock."

"Why would he want to hate him?!" Zero almost shouted in disbelief.

X finally looked back at Zero. "I don't know. I don't live with him. Why would he?"

The branches of the trees waved in the wind. A wind chime could be heard. He understood.

"Wily."

"Most likely," X said with a sad smile.

"...He doesn't really care what Wily thinks."

"Maybe it seems that way… But he probably cares a lot more than you think. In fact…" his hand brushes against the side of Zero's face. He looked back at him, awestruck.

"...I think you care a lot more than you want to admit to."

Another long moment of silence. Zero held X's hand in place.

"...I don't know why you think that but… I guess."

X leaned forward. Zero watched silently as he came closer and closer, and soon enough…

The world melted away.

Suddenly, he found himself not caring about much of anything at all. Not about Rock, or Bass, or Vile, or the money, or how they were in public.

He only cared about how soft X's lips were. How warm they were… How... loving everything felt-

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Zero nearly jumped out of his skin and X looked pale as a sheet, they quickly pulled away.

Bass.

He stared at them dead, hunched over, and his fists scrunched up into a ball. He looked ready to throw a punch.

"I-I'm telling Wily you're gay!" Zero jumped up from the bench, the bottle of ramune was knocked off and cracked as it fell to the ground, spewing out all of its contents. X flinched at the noise. Zero felt him reach out to grab his jacket, but he didn't care.

"BASS IM GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!" Zero screamed at him, fury coursing through every vein in his entire body. His hands twitched, longing to grab his throat and squeeze it until he was on the brink of passing out.

"ZERO!" X yelled in desperation, however, Zero only focused on what was in front of him.

Bass booked it, his legs moving faster than Zero had ever seen them go before. Zero ran after him, His legs pushed against his earth, his heartbeat hummed and thumped, and his golden locks flowed behind him. Through the streets, and the dizzying alleyways and the never-ending lines of houses and bushes. He rounded a corner, and he was gone.

Disappeared from sight.

"GODDAMMIT!" in his blind fury, a new hole appeared in the wall.

Bass sighed.

"Thank fuck, I finally lost him…" He sighed. Looking around his surroundings…

"Fuck."

...He realized he was lost.

Seriously where the hell was he? There was a frayed wooden shack selling what seemed to be candy and various treats. The wood may have been brown at one point, but it was bleached grey from the sun. Nearby, was an almost run down playground. The sign that said "ようこそ" was stained with mysterious dark stains down the front, well mysterious to him, what was it mold? It looked almost haunted. He did not feel "welcomed" at al The plastic slide, bright yellow in color, along the side was also covered in the dark moldy stuff. He was pretty sure the rest of the playground was as well.,

He needed to get back home. Pronto.

"This tastes so good!"

The voice belonged to a guy- he didn't give a shit what his real name was. What he did know that has bright ginger-orange hair, geek freckles, blue eyes, and his nickname was "Cut." Usually, he was around Rock-

And there he was.

His light brown hair was slightly tousled by the wind. It almost shined in the sunlight, it was so thick and… glossy almost. His pale skin had a healthy glow to it and his white teeth sparkled when he smiled. His eyes were an intoxicating ocean blue and Bass sometimes found himself staring into the depths.

He hated it. He wanted to pull his hair right out of its scalp and shove his hair into the dirt until it was dry and brittle like his. He wanted to kick and punch and scratch at his skin, deep enough so his soft skin was covered in stitches. He wanted to stick his thumb into his eyes as he socked him right in the face. He wanted his face to be so swollen until his eyes would be impossible to see.

He felt his fists clench and his dirt-stained nails dig into his skin. God, he hated how happy he looked…

Their eyes met.

His smile grew, his eyes sparkled, and he waved.

"Hey Bass!"

He saw cut elbow him and whisper a "dude what the heck?"

But he also saw Rock wave him off.

Did he want his face kicked in that bad? Why would he call him over like that? Does he want to die?

Fine then.

Bass walked over to them.

"What do you want?"

"I was just saying hi. " He chirped, chirped, yeah, chirped just like a bird.

Bass scowled, "Do you want to die, is that it?"

"Quit being such a jerk!" His head whipped over to the orange one. Cut gulped and beads of sweat formed on his forehead, nervous wasn't he? Good. That's how it should be.

"What did you just say to me?" Bass snarled at him.

"Y-You heard me! Quit being a dick!"

"Cut!"

"What?! He is!"

Rock sighed. "Why can't we all just get along?"

"I can get along with people. Just not him." Cut lifted himself up from off the bench and ran off.

"Cut!" Rock yelled after him. "Where are you going?!"

"I need to go back home anyway!" Cut yelled back, "See you later!" He disappeared from sight.

"..."

"..."

"You want some gummy bear-" Bass snatched the bag out of his hands, he probably would have slapped them out of his hand if he thought longer about it, but he was already eating some when he realized Rock was giggling.

"Shut up!"

Rock just smiled. "I'm just happy you took them. "

"Don't get any ideas. I just wanted the bears, it doesn't mean anything else, and as soon as I'm done imma kick yer ass," he grumbled.

Rock's smile faltered a bit. "We can get along can't we?"

"...Shut up."

"I'm serious Bass, I don't want to fight you anymore. Why do you hate me? Did I ever do anything to you? X and Zero get along don't they?"

Bass rolled his eyes. He wanted to say that this is one of the reasons why the annoying fucking questions.

He was just so.

Fucking.

Annoying.

"They get along too well. I saw them kissing earlier." Just thinking about it wanted to make him puke. Rock hardly seemed surprised.

"I'm not asking to be like that Bass. I just want to be friends."

Bass tsked, "I'm not interested. I hate you, and I will hate you."

"But why?"

"...I'm leaving," he said, and threw down the bag of candy, leaving Rock stunned.

The only problem with that was he still didn't know how to get home. The sun in the distance was lowering itself, and the world became a ball of orange light. Bass squinted and cursed. Damned sun getting in his eyes. He figured if he stumbled around enough he'd make it to the house, even if that took a while.

It wasn't until he was standing in front of Rock again he realized he was walking in a circle.

"Uh… Are you lost…?" Rock inquired.

"No, shut up." Bass snarled and walked off again.

GodDAMMIT, he walked in another circle.

"..." Rock stared at him.

"...Fine, fine. Do you know the way home?" Rock's face lit up and he leaped to his feet. "Sure do! I go here a lot 'cause Cut and his brothers live near here."

"I don't care," Bass said dryly.

"...If you don't care then I guess you just walk home yourself."

Bass felt himself prickle up, "You wouldn't dare!"

"I might show you the way if you ask nicely though." Rock teased.

Bass gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. How dare the little bitch take advantage of him! He had half a mind to beat it out of him, but he knew from experience that it probably wouldn't work in his favor.

He didn't see any other options…

"...Show me the way…"

"Show me the way what?"

"...PLEASE." he choked out. Goddammit, he had him in his hands like a defenseless animal.

Rock smiled obliviously, innocently, "Okay! Follow me!"

Reluctantly, he did. It felt weird for him to just follow him around, staring at the back of his head. Was his hair black or dark brown?

"Why are you so desperate to be a friend?"

Rock looked behind back to Bass, "well… I just don't want to hate me anymore.

"...well I do. "

"...but why?"

He looked away from him and kicked at the dirt. "You wouldn't understand."

Rock stopped in his tracks. "Then…. I won't stop until I do understand. "

Bass arrived home. At least, what could be called home. Wily was shoving down the trash into their tiny garbage can, trying to fit in as much as he can. Treble was laying on their old and worn leather couch, asleep. He ignored them without so much a grunt as a greeting and went into his room.

He says room, but it's a literal closet. There are 5 rooms in the "house" (really it's a trailer) a living/dining room, a teeny-tiny kitchen (more like a kitchenette), a bathroom, 2 bedrooms, and the closet. His own private living space.

It can fit his twin-sized mattress well. Any more than that and you've reached full capacity.

Bass flopped onto the mattress, belly first.

"Surprised you didn't come in here yelling how I'm gay. "

Bass didn't look up, "go away Blondie. "

"Nah. "

"You will if you don't want me to go tell Wily. " Bass growled.

"How come you haven't already?"

"It's none of your business. "

"..." he was silent for a moment.

"You'll figure it out," Zero said, then left.

…

What the fuck does that mean?! He doesn't have to figure anything out! He hates Rock! He hates him because…

Because…

It doesn't matter why. Does it? He just wants to prove that he's stronger than him.

And he hate hate hate hate hates him.