Just a quickie, so ppl know I'm not dead. I am still working on your request guest for Erika and Hacker story. I don't know if you'll read this but I'll be putting it in a comp of new shippings coming soon. For you marianitareyna25, I'm also working on your request too. They'll be up sometime soon. I'm about halfway through chapter 5 for Emphasis so that's good :). I had this idea rattling around in my head so I wanted to write it down b4 it disappeared.

Matt winced but tried to relax. He thought of early morning coffee, bright blue skies, and Motherboard finally being cured of the virus. He thought of all the things good and worthwhile. Constantly though he was pulled out of his made-up reprieve by the sharp pains in his shoulder. The shock turned to ache as Scrikt inked in the next letter.

"Ah!"Matt recoiled as that particular scribble hit a more sensitive area than Matt would have cared for it to touch.

"What did I say about moving dude?"Scrikt repeated with ongoing tone of annoyance.

"Sorry sorry,"Matt muttered without any ounce of sincerity. He heard a restrained chuckle and scowled from under his blindfold. Even without his sight he knew the only person who would snicker at his current state.

"Shut up Slider, this is all your fault anyway,"He wanted to lash out and give his radster a smack. But he knew he couldn't or he'd risk a permanent line inked on his shoulder. He felt a small squeeze from Slider's hand which was intertwined with his hand.

"You're fine,"

Subtly Matt grimaced again but contemplated on the fact he was right. It wasn't the most awful thing he'd ever experienced before. They'd been on many adventures where he ended up with broken bones or maybe a few deep cuts. As a consequence of those reckless choices he still had gotten up with another weird story under his belt. But that didn't matter to him right now so he wretched his hand from Slider's. But mindful to be as careful as possible to not mess Scrikt up.

"I hate you,"Matt muttered without any real venom but with a true layer of disgust. He could hear that smug smile in the silence and felt another sting of pain as the needle once again found a fragile area. Matt let out a string of pained breaths trying to calm himself.

Why did I do this!?

Technically this was his fault as he was the once to go along with Slider's proposal.

"You wanna put your money where your mouth is?"

Matt looked from Coop to Slider who interrupted their discussion. Slider stood under the doorframe of their garage door. Matt looked at him a little concerned for him.

"Hello to you too?"

Slider gave him an impatient frown and slightly moved his head forward indicating he wanted an answer for his question. Matt looked at Coop who shrugged but wasn't concerned at the out of place question.

"Sure?"

Slider smiled snidely, "Cool,"

"So like why am I putting my money where my mouth is?"Matt asked seeing how if he didn't ask his weirdo would just probably return to whatever he was doing before. He could see in Slider's facial expression, he realized he hadn't explained. He flashed a pretty smile probably out of embarrassment.

"Oh yeah,"

Basically, Slider had heard him spouting mock crap to their friends about he only let Slider win whenever they competed. And yes, even though they were well into their late twenties; Matt still did his best to try to defeat him. It would never work but that was a tale for another day. Anyway, their friends seemed to blow him off at the time. But Slider thought it would be funny to show him up once again. Matt frowned,

I just had to date the one guy who wanted to constantly makes my life harder than it already is.

So they decided in two months time, they would compete in the Radopolis Grand Prix. They always wanted an excuse to compete in it and settling a silly bet would seem to be good enough reason. But as the days dragged on, Matt kept catching Slider tuning up his car and practicing like crazy. Matt had a sneaking suspicion he should probably start practicing or he would lose badly to his boyfriend. He tried to but it whenever he attempted to start practicing Motherboard would call on him or someone would need his help. He remembered the growing fear in the pit of his stomach as they had also decided the loser would get something stupid inked on his body. Matt wanted to have Slider get something to the affect of mophead or e-boy; or something stupid enough to make anyone laugh if they saw it. But he had no clue what Slider would make him get tatted if he lost. He at the time reasoned there were a bunch of other droids, bots, and borgs competing so if he lost. There would be almost a zero chance Slider would win.

So he had been wrong. Slider was crowned the current champion and the crowd (probably the whole of Radoplis) roared and called his name. He had always been a small celebrity on the site. So they loved it even more that he had won. Matt in his car laid his head on the wheel ignoring his boyfriend and wishing he hadn't agreed to the bet.

I just need to accept that I can't beat him.

"Almost done," Scrikt promised and started to ink in the last letter. Matt nodded.

"Thank-OH GEEZ!"

"Whoops sorry that one hit the shoulder blade. No way around it,"

"On the bright side it looks really good,"Slider said softly, sounding a tad nervous. Matt gasped as the pain was overwhelming.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow-"Matt chanted. He felt the needle finally leave and felt his blindfold removed. Matt blinked rapidly to readjust to the bright lights in the room. When he could finally see the room he was in. Scrikt gave him an eager smile and motioned for him to look at his tattoo. Matt made sure to first give Slider a glare before looking at it. Slider just looked trepidatious which made Matt even more scared to look. He took a moment to steel himself. He looked over to his shoulder and read slowly. Already planning how to get his revenge.

Will you marry me?

It felt like he mentally shut down. He understood what it meant but he couldn't move or speak. Maybe he couldn't even understand. But then everything became clear: the random whim-like bet, the endless practicing, the smug and bright smile when he won, and even this stupid tattoo deal. It made him feel so many things he couldn't fully process. Matt remembered when he was thinking back on this same problem. He had bought the ring but didn't know how to ask Slider. So he kept waiting and wondering what would be the appropriate time to ask.

I'm gonna kill him.

Matt laughed a few watery sounding guffaws. But soon came to his senses as he knew Slider was still waiting on his answer. He looked over to Slider and tried to answer him. But suddenly had to hold back the emotion overwhelming him.

"Yes you idiot,"He was able to say.

Slider barked out a happy noise and circled his arms around Matt's neck. He strategically avoided the tattoo and Matt buried himself in his neck. Scrikt placed some petroleum jelly and a bandage over Matt's fresh tattoo and smirked at the two.

"Well congrats you two. Weirdest tattoo I ever did but hey,"

Got me way up in my feels.