Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

WARNING: As I said before, this is a SHOUNEN-AI aka BOY X BOY LOVE FIC. If you¡¯re against this, although I doubt it since this is a third chapter you¡¯re up to, just click the BACKWARDS ARROW on the TOP LEFT-HAND CORNER. That is all. You¡¯ve been WARNED.

Love or Hate: What is the Difference?

Chapter 3: [A bed, exercise, lots of fixing, and an old oil-bottle]

By. Firemoon

Raven opened his grayish purple eyes as the clock beside his side of the bed started ringing noisily. He groaned as the sunlight shined in his face, and blindly knocked the clock off its stand.

The loud band and crash it made as it fell on Shadow who was sleeping by its master finally woke the gray-haired pilot up, and he sat up, looking fondly at Shadow who was now shaking his tail slightly like a faithful dog and growling.

¡°Hey Shadow.¡±

Raven said softly, patting the black organoid¡¯s snout, and it growled happily, if a bit too loud, because it woke his roommate up slightly before he fell asleep again.

Raven was frozen with shock, staring down at his worst enemy¡¯s face, then relaxed ever-so-slightly as the last days¡¯ memories came back. So he just sat there and studied the dark-haired youth for a moment. The first thing he noticed was his hair, now free of its elastic band. He smirked as he saw how Van resembled a girl like that. ¡®But he looks pretty, doesn¡¯t he?¡¯ A thought just popped into his head, and Raven blanched.

Pretty? Van Flyheight? Where did that come from?

Hastily he scooted away from the dark-haired boy, as far as he dared. He checked the clock on Van¡¯s side. 7 o¡¯clock. Raven sighed. Still good 2 hours late than his normal ¡®waking up¡¯ time. Maybe he was getting soft.

¡°Shadow, wake him up. Just hit him on the head or something. But don¡¯t hit him too hard. I need him to wake up, not unconscious.¡±

Shadow growled obediently, and deftly flicked his tail on Van¡¯s back like a whip. As soon as the metal connected with his back, Van yelped and opened his eyes, only to stare face-to-face with smirking Raven.

¡°Good job, Shadow.¡±

¡°Raven, WHAT are you doing?¡±

¡°Glad you enjoyed it. Now get up. I need to go for an exercise.¡±

Van climbed out of the bed, grumbling only stopped by the menacing flick of Shadow¡¯s tail. He seriously doubted why he let Raven push him around the day before. He was completely out of control now.

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Van collapsed onto the carpeted floor as they came back from the ¡®exercise¡¯. It was around 8 now, and he could do with some food. Raven didn¡¯t even look at him as if he was so pathetic that he can¡¯t waste his time on him. Van wheezed out between his attempt to draw breath.

¡°...Raven..can...we..go and...eat..now?¡±

Raven casually looked at him after he got changed into a pair of black pants and black button up shirt, and shrugged.

¡°Well...¡±

¡°Van!¡±

Irvine burst into the room with Thomas, and stopped and stared goggle-eyed at the dark-haired boy on the floor, looking exhausted. Raven nodded curtly at them as if nothing has happened.

¡°Good morning.¡±

¡°Van! What happened to you?¡±

¡°Agh...nothing. If you could call an hour-long hard-out torturous running as an ¡®exercise¡¯ a nothing. Ouch..¡±

Irvine stared at Van aghast. He was one heck of a tough soldier, and here he was, groaning after an hour of running with Raven. And the gray-haired boy didn¡¯t even seem tired. Raven smirked at him before patting the black organoid, who let out a half-growl, half-purr and snuggled up to its master.

¡°Well, Flyheight. Didn¡¯t you say that you wanted something to eat?¡±

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¡°Gods, I can¡¯t believe this! Why do I have to help you, anyway?¡±

Raven glanced briefly at Van, and went back to carefully fixing the Genobreaker¡¯s left foreleg. He was standing on Shadow¡¯s back, which was holding the toolbox in its mouth.

¡°Because...¡±

There was a grunt and immediately clang of a spanner onto the floor, and Raven cursed, tapping Shadow with his foot to let him down. Raven was half-climbing onto the organoid again when Van gave a fake cough with a bang of his foot onto the metal casing of the black organoid, and the gray-haired boy looked up with a spanner in his hand,

¡°Because, Flyheight, You obviously don¡¯t have anything to do and I have something that I could do to spend the time.¡±

¡°I have something too!¡±

¡°What?¡±

Van fumed silently, and kicked a bolt irritatingly. Raven¡¯s violet-indigo eyes held scorn and amusement, as he watched the dark-haired boy¡¯s antics, and finally he let out a satisfied chuckle.

¡°What are you laughing at?¡±

¡°You.¡±

¡°Argh! You are insufferable, Raven.¡±

¡°That¡¯s what they all say.¡±

Raven deftly climbed onto Shadow¡¯s back, and started to unscrew a bolt, in order to clean out and oil it. Van, who was sitting on the far back, near the tail of Shadow, could hear the gray-haired boy¡¯s sharp muttering.

¡°This is so shit. I cleaned the whole zoid out 2.. no, 3 days ago. And now look at it. Ruined. This is outrageous.¡±

Van snorted quietly at Raven¡¯s angry muttering. He was always like that. Getting stressed over things. But he never knew that Raven would actually care about his zoid. He always said that he hated them, and now..?

Van¡¯s train of thoughts was cut off as Raven reached down towards Shadow¡¯s mouth once more, chucking the spanner into the box and looking around, searching for the oiler. Van grinned mischievously as he spotted the bottle – blackened with much use and not much cleaning out – stuffed into the pocket on the side of the boy¡¯s pants.

¡°Raven...?¡±

¡°Shut up.¡±

¡°Oh well, if it suits you. I know where the oil bottle is.¡±

Raven wheeled around, and carefully assessed the dark-haired boy with his gray-purple eyes. He held out his hand, and Van blinked.

¡°Huh?¡±

¡°Give.¡±

Van smirked, thinking smugly. Ha! Gotya. Instead, he shook his head, giving the other boy a huge smug grin.

¡°......¡±

Without a word, Raven jumped up and tackled the boy, making them tumble off the organoid and onto the floor. Luckily, it was not more than a meter above ground and so the impact only made Van feel dizzy a little. Raven straddled him, and Van blinked a few times to get the stars out of his vision.

¡°Give me the damn oil bottle.¡±

Van decided that he would comply to Raven¡¯s wishes before he could receive some serious damage. Still not saying anything – a stubborn streak in his nature – he reached his hand up and trailed it down the gray-haired boy¡¯s thigh until he found the pocket. Raven first blinked as he felt the boy¡¯s hand, then quickly jumped off, leaving the boy on the floor slightly quizzical.

¡°It¡¯s there, you know. In your pocket.¡±

Raven turned away, motioning the organoid to scoop the dark-haired boy up so they would keep the limited distance, and trying desperately to hide the faint pink tint that had spread on his pale face.

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HA! DONE!!! I¡¯M DONE!! *screams with joy* Heh, the last bit is just a whim *grins coyly* I just wanted to have that bit in somewhere, and I¡¯m glad that I found some use for that particular scene *cackles* OK, now Thank You-s:

Sanity-Stealing-Garden-Gnome – Yay. Another chapter done. Thankies for the review! *grins again*

HAdOwCat – Glad you liked it. Gosh, I find it really strange that my fics could be funny.. 0_o I try, but it always came out as some crappy dry humor 0_0 Nah, It¡¯s just that I¡¯m such a pessimist sometimes, and Major Depression of mine kicked in yesterday, just as I was doing maths exam *sweatdrops*

Kitty-Yasha – Thnx for the review. I really appreciate it. I was kinda stressed over the maths exam et all...yeah. Well, I always thought that Raven would take proper care of his Zoid unlike Van –remember the first chapter?- and I sort of wanted to make it clear that the two were sort of different.

Luine – Hey! *waves* Thanks for the review...the last bit is sort of specially devised for you and the ¡®spicing up the fic¡¯. *grins* Really appreciate the review, and er, I just kinda thought that it would become too long if I put Van being stubborn..0_o

Cherrygal3 – Thanks for reviewing! *hug hug* *bashed with stones* Thanks again for the complement *dances around* Yes, I hurried up. I guess it¡¯s kind of short but.. oh well. 0_o

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