A/N: Thanks for the kind words everyone! Even if I'm not responding, then just know I read every one of the reviews!

Chapter 6

Rev was unsure what time it was, but he knew it was late. The only light now came from the dim bulb lodged in the ceiling. He was so tired that even if he wanted to run back to the tower, he was unable to. He looked over to Tech, who had been sitting out on the porch, visible through their open door. A cool breeze blew through, Tech's ears swaying in the wind as it passed by. He had been sitting out there for a while. Rev walked over and sat down next to him, listening to the cool sounds of the night in that field, out in the middle of nowhere. Rev wanted to relax, but he knew things were going to become horribly, disastrously awkward from here on out. They only had one bed. One extraneously small bed. They would have to make a decision. Either one of them could sleep on the floor, the gross disgusting floor, or they could both cram onto the bed. As another breeze passed through, Rev felt a sudden chill. Tech seemed unfazed. He had been so quiet.

"What'cha thinking about?" Rev asked.

"Just… nothing really" Tech did not turn to face him, still looking out at the open nighttime plane. Rev didn't comment, though he did find it rather odd. Tech usually had something science-y on the brain, but tonight he was so serene.

"You can see the stars out here" Tech noted.

"What?"

"The stars, look" Tech pointed up in the sky. Rev focused out on the horizon. At first, he didn't see them, but the farther and farther away he looked from Acmetropolis, the more abundant the specks of light became. It had been a while since either of them had seen a proper night sky. It was funny to think a few hours ago they were worried about the lack of light out in the country, when they had been missing out on sights like this. The open fields in front of them appeared unreal. It almost looked like something out of a desktop wallpaper. Another breeze came through, Rev shuddered, rubbing his arms.

"If you're cold then you don't have to stay our here" Tech said, concerned.

"No, I'm fine" Rev insisted, "Besides, I haven't seen enough of the sights yet."

For quite some time they sat out looking up at the stars, though there was no real way of telling how long they actually spent. Tech almost felt a sense of timelessness as they sat there, though perhaps it was in part due to how tired he was getting. Rev eventually began to feel his eyelids get heavy. He tried his best to stay up, but it was futile. He closed his eyes for one second, only to find himself resting on Tech's shoulder the next. He quickly jolted away, surprising Tech who didn't seem to notice until that point. There was no more avoiding it. They had to go to sleep. Without another word, they both stood up, closing the door on the night sky behind them, then preceding to close the window. Another breeze blew by the poor shelter they were in; whistling as a draft squeezed through the room. Rev inspected the bed. Any sheets were minimal. One pillow and a single sheet of linen, intended to act as a blanket. Beneath the single sheet was simply the mattress, the lumpy, stained mattress. They both winced just looking at it, though they knew it was still better than resting on the floor.

"Rev, you should take the bed" Tech insisted.

"What?" Rev squawked, "You can't go sleeping down there! You take the bed and I'll take the floor." The floor had no benefits, merely a dusty old rug which had most likely never been cleaned; stained with all sorts of mystery substances, and possibly moldy, it was not a pleasant sight.

"Rev, I don't have the energy for this. Just take the bed. I'm the reason we're still out here."

"Yes, but I'm the reason we're out here in the first place!"

"Just take the bed Rev. I'm too tired for this" Tech began taking his shoes off. Rev quickly leapt down onto the ground, taking up as much space as possible in order to ensure Tech got the bed. Without a word, very tired, and very gentle, Tech bent down and scooped Rev up in both hands. He then preceded to turn around and plop him onto the bed, then lie down on the floor himself. Rev remained curled up, too flustered to say anything. The way Tech had so effortlessly lifted him up was simply exhilarating. He had done it with such authority, and his grip was so firm and secure. Rev couldn't help but to find it hot, his heart pounding. No! What was he doing? Tech was right there! He couldn't be thinking stuff like this about his best friend! Rev did his best to settle down. He closed his eyes, and just focused on relaxing. He needed to fall asleep.

After a moment or two, a faint inhale could be heard coming from Tech. Sniff. Then, after another moment, A-choo! A sneeze.

"Bless you" Rev whispered.

"Thanks" Tech answered back in a strained manner. It was difficult to breath down there due to how musty the rug was, especially for an animal like Tech.

"You ok down there?" Rev asked.

"I'm fine" Tech insisted. There were a few more moments of silence before another breeze came through. It once again whistled through the house. Rev couldn't help but shiver at this one. He had no blanket, and he sure as hell was not going to let his feathers come into contact with that nasty mattress just to feel slightly warmer. Very quickly there came another breeze. With this second one, Rev found himself unable to stop shivering.

"Your cold" Tech noted, his voice dull.

"I'm fine" Rev said, trying to appear strong.

"Your cold" Tech repeated.

"No, really I'm fine! It's just a little chill, I mean it-" Rev was about to continue, when suddenly he felt two long, muscular arms slide around him, one below and one above. He was lying on his side, not daring to turn around. They tightened in a confident embrace, the warmth of their fur spreading to him. He could feel Tech's body press into his back, the heat of his chest melding between the two of them. Rev stopped shivering. Tech's snout rested against Rev's neck, the soft, supple inhales and exhales of the coyote's nose brushing against his cheek. Rev could feel every breath Tech took. In, out, in, out. They were strong, hefty, slow breaths; far slower than his own brand of rapid panting. Rev had never been held like this before, so intensely, with such firmness. This wasn't any normal grip; in fact, it was a grip that most birds like himself wanted to avoid. This was the grasp of a predator.

What was happening? Rev could feel his heart beating faster than ever before. Neither of them said anything. They simply lay there, staving off the cold night breeze. It didn't take long for Rev to fall asleep.

"So, what exactly is the implication here?" Ace seemed confused, mainly as to why half of the food had not been brought back, but more so as to why Duck and Lexi were talking to him about this crazy conspiracy theory of theirs.

"Think about it!" Duck stammered, "They spend hours alone in that lab together, then earlier today they seemed to be awkward, not wanting to talk, now all of a sudden they just coincidentally spend the night out in the middle of nowhere, not wanting us to pick them up! Something's going on between them, you'd have to be blind not to see it!"

Slam let out a grunt of confusion.

"Look, we might as well just wait until tomorrow and ask it about them then. What I'm more worried about is Zadavia needing us and those two not being here" Ace said, trying to defuse the situation.

"Oh please! Zadavia never needs us nowadays" Duck scoffed, "Besides it's been so long, how do we even know she's still alive?"

"Duck, we saw her two days ago when she came over to do laundry" Lexi rebutted.

"Oh yeah."

It was soon after that the four of them agreed to go to bed, not wanting to stay up any later to discuss possible gossip. The night came and went rather quickly, and before they knew it morning had come. Ace had allowed Lexi and Duck to be the ones to go pick Tech and Rev up, seeing as they were so curious as to what was going on.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Rev and Tech were woken up by the sun shining in through their window. By the time Rev had opened his eyes, Tech was gone. The bird sat up, looking around the room, but his friend was nowhere to be found. He swung his feet around the bed, looking from either side to double check. Last night had been wild! He and Tech had slept in the same bed, together! They didn't have sex, of that much Rev was painfully certain, but still it was an experience he never thought he would have in a million years. And to think, Tech was the one who climbed in with him. Plus, on top of that, the way they embraced! Rev couldn't help but to wrap his own arms around himself, remembering what it had felt like. Of course, he was not delusional. If it were not for the extreme conditions that they had been sleeping under than there was no way this would have happened. It was thanks to the incredibly dirty floor and the drafty walls that Tech had come to the bed in the first place. If it were not for those elements, then things would have played out way differently. Never the less, it still happened. Both he and Tech sleeping in the same bed. Rev was never so happy to have stayed in such a crappy motel.

Despite this moment of joy, Rev could not help but think about what this meat for their future. Despite what happened that night, Rev could still only see them as nothing more than friends. He had to go forward assuming that for Tech, it was a completely platonic experience. For all he knew, Tech was some super straight dude, who only was willing to do it because there was nothing sexual about it. Two dudes, chillin' in a bed, definitely not five feet apart. Then again, there was no reason to assume the absolute worst. Even if he never stood a chance with Tech then he would need to come out to the rest of the team eventually. For the time being, he would just need to look at Tech the same way he would any member of the team.

Rev stood up, putting on his shoes before opening the door and stepping out. It was nice to get a breath of fresh air. The room had become quite stuffy overnight, between the staleness of the room as well as the sweat shared between the two of them. Rev tried to set the thought aside, this was no time to be having feelings for Tech. Looking over, he could see the coyote meeting with the manager over at the cabin. They seemed to be wrapping up their conversation. Tech soon ran over.

"Hey-I-don't-know-how-you-slept-but-I-happened-to-sleep-pretty-dang-good-not-to-make-things-awkward-if-you-didn't-sleep-all-that-well-because-I-wouldn't-want-to-make-assumptions-about-how-well-you-slept-or-how-well-you-sleep-in-general-never-the-less-you-are-out-here-now-and-you-did-get-up-earlier-than-I-did-so-I-can-only-come-to-the-conclusion-that-you-did-sleep-quite-nicely-given-the-circumstances" Rev blurted. Tech stood there, smiling but not knowing why.

"Hey, about last night" Tech began.

"Yeah?" Rev leaned forward, intent to hear what he was going to say.

"I just wanted to make sure you were ok with it. I mean, it's not like I asked or anything and I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."

"What? No, no! It was perfectly ok! It was better than ok, it was great! It was fantastic!" Rev stopped himself, "I mean, uh, I didn't mind at all, no need to feel awkward about it."

"Well, that's a relief. I wouldn't want anything getting in the way of our friendship" with that, Tech strolled off, checking in with Lexi's location on his phone.

"Yeah, friendship" Rev repeated to himself, quiet enough so that Tech would not hear. So, it really was nothing more. He had known not to get his hopes up, but in spite of this a part of him couldn't help but feel disappointed. He needed to get out of this funk. It was best to just commit to viewing Tech as a friend and nothing more. It would be difficult, but for the sake of himself he needed to do it.

A small jet soon landed in the field near the motel, blasting a strong blast of wind in their direction. The manager stepped out, yelling at them for causing such a ruckus, but Tech and Rev were already hopping on board.

"Well? Don't hold out on us, what happened?" Duck asked as they were flying back to headquarters.

"What do you mean?" Tech was busy inspecting the controls, making sure they had not been mishandled.

"I mean, what happened to you two last night! The last time we saw you was when we were dodging that gang of reporters, then suddenly we get a call saying to pick you up in the morning!" Duck sat down, awaiting an explanation.

"Well-it's-really-not-all-that-complicated-although-I-suppose-you-could-consider-it-somewhat-complicated-depending-on-your-point-of-view-but-that-is-neither-here-nor-there-so-as-I-was-saying-there-we-were-last-night-and-were-avoiding-the-press-so-what-I-did-was-I-grabbed-Tech's-hand-and-ran-really-really-fast-to-try-and-get-away-but-then-I-realized-that-we-had-gone-way-too-far-and-" Rev was about to continue, but Duck cut him off.

"Ok, ok I get it jeez! Forget I asked!" Duck swiveled his chair in order to face the window. Rev was usually annoyed when people cut him off, but this time he was glad Duck had put a stop to it. He had done his best to avoid anything that Tech might not have wanted the others to know about, such as his fear of being left out there alone. Lexi meanwhile, had taken Tech aside to see if she could get anything out of him.

"Hey, was everything ok?" she asked.

"Of course, everything was ok. Well except for the food I suppose, that went to waste."

"I was just asking cause, well you had to spend the night in what looked like a pretty grimy motel. Not exactly luxurious compared to the tower" she twiddled her thumbs.

"It wasn't the best, but we made due" Tech didn't seem to be paying her much attention.

"Ok, look, can I be direct with you for a moment?" she asked. Lexi didn't want to be invasive, but there were a lot of elements at play here that she was trying to sort out. She knew Ace would get proper answers out of them once they got back to base, but as long as those answers were not need to know, then there was no reason for him to share them with the rest of the team.

"Go ahead" Tech said. Lexi hesitated for a moment, trying to find the right words.

"Ok, there's no delicate way to ask this, and I don't want to pressure you into an answer you're not comfortable giving, so I'm just going to be blunt about this. Is there something going on between you and Rev?" There was a moment of pause. She almost felt bad for asking something so personal in such an upfront way. Tech seemed shocked by the question, taking a moment to answer.

"You mean, romantically?" he asked.

"Yes."

"No! No way, that at the very least I can confirm! Rev and I are just friends and nothing more. And I don't want it any other way."

"Just friends?"

"Just friends."

"Not, friends with benefits?"

"NO! Just platonic friends! No matter how things may seem, Rev and I are not, nor do either of us ever plan on being in a relationship" Tech stated as directly to her as he could.

There was not too much more conversation on the way back to the tower, and any conversation there was, was not directed around a possible relationship between Rev and Tech. It was a relatively smooth flight back, other than that. When they all arrived back at the tower, Ace was stood there, waiting for them, his arms folded as they stepped out.

"Alright, I think it's time we had a chat" he said, a slight hint of authority in his voice.

"What did I do?" Danger Duck questioned, oblivious.

"Not you! I was talking to Rev and Tech!"

"Oh, uh, sorry!" Duck preceded to scoot away, Lexi following behind. Ace then looked towards Rev and Tech, eliciting nervous looks from the two.

"Oh, just relax. This isn't an interrogation. I just need to ask each of you a few questions to make sure whatever happened here won't affect the team" Ace clarified. Both Rev and Tech relaxed a little, though not that much.

"So then, we're not in trouble or anything?" Rev asked.

"Well, I am angry at you two for taking half of the food wit' ya" Ace chastised. It was decided that the meetings would happen separately. First Tech, then Rev. Ace asked Rev to wait in his room, while he talked with Tech in the lab. They shut the door, and sat down.

"What is it you need out of me exactly?" Tech asked.

"I just need ya ta explain to me everything that happened last night, along with any additional context I may need" Ace answered.

"And this is all totally confidential, right?" Tech could already feel the embarrassment welling up.

"Tech, I ain't got no personal interest in what happened here. I just need to know in case anything happened that could affect the team in the future. What you say here will not leave this room" Ace assured him. Tech took a deep breath.

"Ok, if that's what you need." It was then that Tech gave an account of what had happened in as much detail as possible, starting with him taking off his shirt, and ending with them getting on the jet back to the tower. Ace listened intently. He had already gotten the parts about the restaurant and the paparazzi from Duck and Lexi, but hearing this other perspective from Tech really filled in a lot of the gaps. Throughout the whole thing, Ace did not react, he maintained a poker face the entire time, not wanting to do anything that would make Tech more reluctant to tell what had happened. He also saved any questions he might have had as mental notes, so that he could ask them at the end.

As this was going on, Lexi was standing outside, listening in with her super hearing. She had mixed feelings on spying like this, but if need be, she could keep it to herself. Not that that would be easy. Duck stood behind her, eagerly awaiting any new information.

"Well? C'mon don't hold out on me, what are they saying?" he prodded impatiently.

"Shh! Don't be loud, they might hear you. Plus, it makes it hard to listen in!" She pressed her ear to the wall, ready to leap away should the doors suddenly open up. Tech had already finished his story. Even in his detached way, she could not help but get excited during the spicey parts. Ace had already begun asking questions.

"So, you don't have any personal feelings for Rev?" Ace asked.

"Only as my best friend. Nothing more" Tech clarified.

"But can you see it becoming more?"

Tech took a moment to process the question. He had never considered it before. Relationships weren't really his thing, especially since the last one he had been in… well it certainly didn't end well.

"I… I don't know, but I don't think so, but it's hard for me to say for certain" Tech eventually answered. He wasn't quite sure why he had answered that way. He only ever thought of Rev as a friend, and that was all he ever really wanted. Lexi's eyes widened as she heard this.

"Woah."

"What, what? What's going on in there tell meeeeeeee!" Duck whined.

"Be quiet! I'll tell you when they're done!" she was lying. There was no way she could tell Duck this information, it wasn't even meant for her and she had no right to share it. In spite of this she couldn't stop listening.

"Well, that's about everything I needed to know" Ace stood up, "I will not utter another word a dis' ta anyone."

"Thanks Ace" Tech stood up shaking his hand, quite embarrassed at the whole affair. He was glad that Ace wasn't going to go bringing this up, but at the same time he was pretty uncomfortable knowing that Ace now knew everything that had happened. Lexi gestured for Duck to move back; footsteps were approaching the door. The two ducked around a corner. Ace exited, the doors of the lab closing behind him. They tried their best to look casual as he passed by.

"You two bettah not have been eaves droppin" he said.

"I can assure you, I haven't the faintest idea what was discussed in that room" Duck stated.

"Well good" Ace moved on, heading toward Rev's room, where the roadrunner was waiting for him. Once he was gone, Duck turned to Lexi in desperation.

"Don't skimp on me! What happened?"

"Nothing" she said.

"Nothing? From the way you acted it didn't seem like nothing!"

"I just don't think it's information you need to know" she clarified.

"Well, you didn't need to know it either, and yet you were happy to listen in!" Duck said.

As this was happening, Rev was very impatiently zipping around the room, waiting for Ace to arrive. The conversation between those two was going so slowly. It didn't help that he was super nervous about the whole thing. Ace was a professional, as well as a good guy. He knew that whatever he said wouldn't be held against him, never the less the thought of coming out of the closet to someone, in person, who he would see on a daily basis was terrifying. Suddenly, Ace stepped in. Rev immediately froze. The doors closed; they were alone.

"Hiya-Ace-well-I-guess-your-about-to-ask-me-a-bunch-of-questions-or-maybe-just-one-question-that-takes-a-really-long-time-to-answer-like-some-kind-of-big-exposition-dump-or-maybe-" Rev stopped once Ace put up his hand, indicating for him to be quiet. Ace pulled up a chair, sitting down. He gestured for Rev to do the same, to whit the bird sat on his bed.

"Look Rev, I was about to ask you to recap everything that had happened last night, but I've already heard the same story from Lexi, Duck and Tech, and believe me, Tech didn't leave out any details. All I want to know from you is, and I want you to keep in mind that this will not be repeated to anyone, do you have a crush on Tech?" Ace stopped, giving Rev a moment. This had been the exact sort of question Rev was anticipating but had hoped would not come up.

"You promise, this is just between us?" he asked.

"What you tell me will not leave this room" Ace answered intensely. Rev took in a deep breath, not sure whether to just say yes and get it over with.

"I've been trying to hide it since yesterday. I don't know why, but everything just clicked for me in that lab. I never wanted to be interested in guys. All I ever wanted out of a relationship was something that my pop wouldn't get to worked up over. Guess I'm fresh out of luck in that department though. Tech only sees me as a friend. That's all he'll ever see me as. I've tried to remind myself of that, but I just can't help it. He's… he's perfect" Rev realized he had zoned out a little. He looked back to Ace, flustered by his admission.

"I would'a just accepted a yes or no answer" Ace joked.

"Yes" Rev clarified, "but I'm trying not to be." Ace nodded at this.

"Oh my god" Lexi gasped as she listened in outside. She had crossed a line not meant to be crossed. She thought that listening in on Tech's conversation was bad, but this was downright wrong of her. She backed away from the door, resisting the urge to continue listening.

"What is it? What is it?" Duck desperately asked.

"I um, I can't. I gotta go" She ran off.

"Wait! Don't leave me hanging here!" He called after her. As this was happening, Both Ace and Rev were oblivious as to what was going on outside the door.

"Ok. If you think this is going to get in the way of missions then let me know, that's all I really needed" Ace stood up.

"Sure thing" Rev said, melancholy.

"And Rev"

"Yeah?"

"It's ok. This doesn't change anything. Understand?"

"Thanks Ace."