To say that the relationship between Ratchet and Rivet was progressing slowly was an understatement. At least in their opinion.

It's not like it was their fault, they were simply victims of circumstance. That's what they tell themselves at least, or rather Rivet did. They had gotten together not too long after deposing the emperor, so all the cleanup work was simply getting in the way. Yeah, that was it.

It most certainly was not because Rivet had absolutely no idea what being in a relationship was like and was terrified of messing the entire thing up. That would be ridiculous and make the fact that she seemed to always have something she had to go do rather than spend romantic time with her new boyfriend all the more problematic.

It also definitely wasn't because even so much as holding his hand made her brain feel like it was having a nuclear meltdown and being in the same room made her tongue swell up. Privately she wondered how a simple change of labels could alter so much about the relationship between them, but then quickly reminded herself that there was nothing wrong at all. And even if there was something wrong, it's not like it wasn't a problem she could ignore and wait for it to go away, especially when there were more important things to be taking care of at the moment.

Like her next mission that she was on her way to.

She had to make a delivery for Zurkon jr; more than likely taking one of his various death machines to a world so it could be used against any remaining robots. Her heart soared and sank at the same time when she walked into the bar and she saw, who else but her boyfriend?

Same as she had first met him, he was facing away from the door and watching the match on the television above the reception desk. Same as before she had to resist the very real urge to freeze in place or turn around and run, instead making herself continue walking forward. He seemed to hear her walk in and turned around, flashing her that smile that made her heart skip.

"Hey! I heard I might run into you if I hung around." He said and walked over.

Her tongue felt swollen in her mouth and she couldn't form words for a few moments. Even when she did, it was a simple 'hi' with a pathetic wave.

His head tilted at her. "You ok? You look like you've seen a dang ghost."

"Y-yeah, uh I'm fine." She said after shaking some of the fog from her head. "I'm just here to run a delivery for Jr."

"I heard. There's a match right now, so you'll have to wait a bit. Let's grab a bite to eat real quick while you do!" He suggested excitedly. When she started to mutter something about being in a hurry and she should really be going, his big smile turned into a small grin. "Hey, Rivet."

She snapped from what she had been absently saying to him. "Huh?"

"Truth or dare?"

She looked at him questioningly, the randomness having shaken her from her train of thought. "Truth…?"

He took half a step forward and grabbed her hand with one of his while his other found its way to the side of her head. While her body felt like it was on fire from the proximity, he asked quietly. "Do you wanna kiss me?"

Her mind went into overdrive, moving at lightyears a minute. "WAIT! I choose dare!" She exclaimed suddenly.

His grin grew wider while he took another half step forward, bringing his lips so close to hers that she could feel his breath and the scruff on his chin tickling hers. He did it so fast she had no chance to react, but stopped just shy of actual contact. "Then I dare you to kiss me."

Her eyes went wide and her back arced to take her face away from his while she used her robot hand to hide some measure of her embarrassment. "NEVER HAVE I EVER…" She shouted in an effort to change everything that was happening, it just being the first thing to come to mind.

He chuckled at her. "That's not the game Riv, and it's ok if you don't wanna."

She brought her hand down so she could look at him while he smiled at her with more patience than she thought she had in her whole body.

He continued. "It's ok if you're still embarrassed or nervous about everything, that's how things always start. So even if I want to spend every waking moment with you, whether or not that happens is determined by if you're comfortable."

"You're sure?" She found herself saying and he nodded.

"This relationship will go at your pace. So if you wanna kiss, we'll kiss. If you don't, we won't. Simple as that."

She relaxed, and the hand that was still in his started to entwine itself. "Thanks. I'll get there, I promise."

"And I'll be waiting. Now, let's actually go play never have I ever. I'm curious what you managed to get up to before I met you."

With that they walked the rest of the way into Zurkies, hand in hand and at their own pace.