Onus Pecuniam Sequitur

By Cybra

Warning: Very mild slash here.

A/N: Response to a fic challenge. The title is Latin and means "Trouble Follows Money." And I know I probably got the form of "sequor" in the third person singular wrong. A polite correction is welcome.

Disclaimer: Codename: Kids Next Door belongs to Tom Warburton, not Cybra. He's Tom Warburton, and I'm Cybra, so that means that I don't own them.

A lot of arguments in this world seem to ultimately boil down to love or money.

In the case of the now-infamous argument between Numbuhs 1 and 2, it all boiled down to money.

It was the first of January, and the members of Sector V had gathered together to discuss the monthly budget. The budget was their sector's "allowance" that was for weapons upkeep, tree house upkeep, food, and the ever-important candy. How exactly the sector spent it was decided upon almost immediately in order to gain final approval that much sooner.

However, the budget did not always gain everyone's stamp of approval. More often than not, at least one person went away unhappy.

That January first, it seemed that it would be Numbuh 2's turn to be unhappy.

"So it's decided," Numbuh 1 said after that month's round of negotiations ended. This was the part of the job that he hated most.

Numbuh 2 raised his hand. "What about the money for my plane? I'd like to get her off the drawing board soon."

The plane in question was currently without a name. The reason it had been designed was in order to perfect a prototype Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) engine system. The current version of the jets required that the aircraft in question to be launched from a vertical position, then rotated so that the body was parallel to the ground while the engines remained aimed towards the ground, and then rotating the engines themselves. It took far too long for many people's tastes to launch and left the aircraft open to attack.

At the current moment, only the COOLBUS had a version of the VTOL engines that needed to rotate only the engines themselves, but Numbuh 2 had wanted to show that it would be useful on other aircraft. He had also wanted to improve upon the engines to make them more maneuverable in the air.

"We got the grant, didn't we?" Numbuh 2 asked, pressing his leader for answers.

Grants for the development of new 2x4 weaponry were handed out at fairly regular intervals so that no sector had to scrounge for money in order to develop something that might be useful to the Kids Next Door. Numbuh 2 had received multiple grants for projects such as the MOSQUITOH and the COOLBUS.

Numbuh 1 sighed and pulled a manila envelope off of his clipboard. Handing the envelope to the pilot, he waited for the explosion which was sure to come.

He did not ask what was contained within the envelope for he already knew what was in it: copies of the unnamed plane's plans and Numbuh 2's written proposal, which explained the modifications to the engines. It also contained a letter from the people in charge of handing out these grants.

Numbuh 2 pulled out the letter, careful not to damage any of the other precious contents. Numbuh 1 watched as Two's light blue eyes—mostly hidden behind the goggles—scanned the words on the page.

The pair sat in silence for a moment. Numbuhs 5, 4, and 3 exchanged glances.

This was not going to be pretty.

Numbuh 2 stared at the leader. "You're kidding me. Numbuh 1, if this is a joke, it's not very funny."

One did not answer, simply sat in stony silence.

Two stared down at the sheet of paper again before crumpling it, clenching his fist around it.

"What'd it say?" Numbuh 4 asked.

"'Engineering grant request is denied due to the impracticality of the project presented,'" Numbuh 2 spat in a mocking tone. "In other words, they don't think that my idea would do any good." He turned to Numbuh 1. "How am I going to build her?"

Numbuh 1 shrugged, glancing down at the budget. "We don't have the money to put her together. I'm sorry, Numbuh 2."

"There has to be something! Maybe we can use a little bit of the money for 2x4 weapons—"

"We need that for repairing and replacing our weapons, Numbuh 2," One said, trying to keep his voice even.

"Which is my department! I think I can find a way to work it out." Two stared directly into the leader's eyes.

One ground his teeth together. "It's not possible. The damages that the SKYCLAW took during our last mission are going to take too large of a chunk out of the 2x4 budget as is. If you used some of what's left to gain the parts needed to put together your jet, there will be nothing left for weapons repair and replacement."

"It can be done, Numbuh 1," Numbuh 2 snapped. "We just need to see if we can get the parts at a deal."

"Parts for the plane or for our weapons?" One shot back. "I don't want to fly in something that we bought the parts at half price for. It might fall apart from under me! We already use some parts for our weapons that are fairly questionable, and using more parts like that is out of the question. I don't want to have to worry that the blaster will backfire in the middle of mission!"

As one, the pair rose from their seats, glaring into each other's eyes. One heard rather than saw Numbuh 5 rise from her seat.

"Will you two just calm—" she began.

"What do you suggest, One!" the pilot snarled.

"I suggest that you rewrite your proposal, and we try again next month."

"So you're saying my proposal was lousy!"

"Considering that it was turned down so quickly…!"

"You've got connections! You could've called in a favor! This is important!"

It was Numbuh 1 who snarled this time. "Apparently not important enough for the grant committee to approve it! And I wouldn't even think about using my contacts that way!"

The pair was growling at each other now, fists raised and waiting for the other to throw the first punch to justify punching the other's lights out. Numbuh 1 thought he heard Numbuh 3 whimper.

Understandable. Numbuhs 1 and 2 never had fights like this.

Five came up behind the leader and grabbed his wrists, pulling his arms behind his back before he could even think about giving in and throwing the first punch. Four grabbed Two's shoulders and pulled him out of arms' reach of One.

"Will you two fools calm down!" Numbuh 5 snapped. "You're scaring Numbuh 3!"

One twisted his head to catch a glimpse of Five out of the corner of his eye. If his arms were loose at that second, he would have gladly punched her in the nose before going after Two. How dare the pilot think that Numbuh 1 would sink so low as to ask for someone to arrange the grant!

Though perhaps he should have greased a few more palms with candy. There was always a fair amount of cheating going on with the grant money. Section leaders might work together, but competition between sectors for recognition and grants was high. It was a matter of personal pride.

Two looked as if he wanted to sock Four in kisser and lunge for Numbuh 1. However, the knowledge that not only would Numbuh 4 quickly bounce back from the blow but would eagerly try to get his own licks in held the pilot back. Numbuh 2 was—understandably—furious that One would not try to find another way to pay.

'There's no money! He can see that!' part of Numbuh 1's mind yelled.

"Numbuh 1, if I let you go, do you promise not to hit Numbuh 2?" the girl holding his arms asked.

One growled an unintelligible response.

"I'll take that as a 'no,'" Five dryly commented.

"Don't worry about it, Numbuh 5," Two said in a chilly tone. "We're done here."

Numbuh 5 reluctantly released the leader.

"I'll be rewriting my proposal, sir."

The last word was accompanied by a mocking salute, derisively honoring Numbuh 1's role as his superior. He turned on a heel and marched out.

One grumbled, "I'll be filing the budget in with Kids Next Door Headquarters for final approval."

He left the room just as angry as his friend had been.

Brief thoughts of apologizing to his American friend were squashed. 'Not until he apologizes first. He started it.'

Two stormed off to his room, slamming the door behind him. Two months of hard work all down the drain! All he had needed was for One to make sure they got the grant, and then his beautiful plane would show off her engines to the top brass.

But Numbuh 1 seemed to have dropped the ball.

'It's not his fault,' his conscience prodded. 'He's just one guy.'

'One guy with serious connections! He could've done it!'

'Could you really live with the idea that he managed to get a higher-up to force them to give you the grant?'

Numbuh 2 frowned deeply. No, he would not have liked that. It would have been a serious blow to his ego. The design had been more than good enough on its own.

"He still could've figured out a way to make it work!" he argued aloud. "If he'd just listen to me, we'd be able to work out the budget!"

He sat and fumed for several more minutes, glaring down at the crumpled piece of paper that had somehow managed to remain clenched in his fist the entire fight.

He felt vaguely guilty and hollow as the seconds ticked away. He and Numbuh 1 had never argued like that before. They both had said some rather nasty things to each other…

He thought briefly of going to the Brit and apologizing.

'No. Him first. He started it.'

The pair had settled for ignoring each other whenever possible for the next few days. Numbuh 3—though normally oblivious—could see what the problem was: Neither boy was willing to admit that he had been in the wrong.

Boys. Why did they always have to be so stubborn?

She got up from the kitchen table and danced over in the pair's direction. Ironically, the two still managed to spend quite a bit of time around each other in spite of their obvious attempts at avoiding each other: Their habits and routines overlapped in places. "How long are you guys gonna be mad at each other?"

In her head, she could see Numbuhs 5 and 4's jaws drop to hit the table.

One did not look at Two, and Two did not look at One. However, the pair turned their heads nearly simultaneously to stare at Numbuh 3.

"You guys are friends! You should forgive each other!" she insisted.

"Numbuh 3, it's complicated…" the pilot began.

She pouted. "No, it's not. You both said some stuff you didn't mean but you don't want to say it first because you think the other one should."

The two operatives in front of her stared in shock, obviously surprised that she could be so perceptive.

She threw her arms around both of them, hugging them and pushing them closer together. "So kiss and make up!"

Numbuh 1 turned the most interesting shade of white while Numbuh 2 asked with a blush, "You're not serious, are you?"

"Yup! That's what my mom and dad always do after they fight!"

Three heard Four gag on his cereal while Numbuh 5 sounded like she was trying to keep from laughing.

The leader and the pilot continued to stare at her.

"C'mon!" she encouraged, hugging them tighter and pressing them up against each other, face-to-face.

Two's eyes were practically popping out through the goggles lenses. The extreme close-up view of One's face must have been unnerving.

Numbuh 1 gasped, "Fine! Just stop crushing my spleen!"

Numbuh 3 giggled and loosened her grip, not enough for them to get away but just enough for them to breathe properly again. She smiled expectantly. "Well…?"

The pair stared at each other, a silent challenge for the other one to apologize first.

"C'mon! Please?" Her grip tightened just a little.

One sighed. "Look, I probably should've done a little more bribery to even things out but I was sure your proposal wouldn't need that much help. I screwed up and shouldn't have taken it out on you."

Numbuh 2 looked surprised at the compliment then sheepish. "I shouldn't have gotten mad. If there was a way to fit the plane into the budget, you would've brought it up. You were right: We don't have the money."

Numbuh 3's smile was a mile wide as One asked, "Still friends?"

"You know it."

The pair grinned at each other for the first time in days.

However, Three was still unsatisfied. "Now kiss and make it all better!"

Numbuh 1 turned that lovely shade of white again while Numbuh 2 coughed.

"C'mon…" she encouraged, grinning.

"Numbuh 3…that's not necessary…" Numbuh 1 managed to say.

"Yeah, we made up. That's enough."

"But if you don't kiss the hurt, it won't be totally better!" she said.

Numbuh 2 turned back to Numbuh 1 and blushed. "Let's get this over with. Or she'll never let go."

One gulped.

The kiss was quick, no more than a peck on each other's lips that lasted less than a second.

Numbuhs 4 and 5 were laughing so hard that it sounded like their lungs would explode from the effort to gain a breath.

"Yay!" Three cheered, releasing her prisoners at last.

Numbuh 2 placed a hand behind his head while Numbuh 1 looked at the ground.

"Least that's over with," Numbuh 5 managed to say when she gained enough air.

Numbuh 4 did not say anything, just kept laughing and pounding the table with his fist.

One glared at the Aussie, worrying Three into thinking that he would yell and get angry again.

However, Numbuh 2 cut off possible impending doom. "I've rewritten most of the proposal. Do you think you could check it for me?"

Normalcy never sounded so sweet. Numbuh 3 smiled merrily as Numbuh 1 turned his attention to Two and nodded, walking by the American's side as they walked towards the pilot's room and Two began to talk about the proposal.