Note: This is edited to maintain the rating... although maybe I should up the rating... ah, whatever. Anyway, if you want the unedited version, e-mail me or tell me in a review and you shall recieve. Now, on with the show!

Zero sighed, pulling off his helmet and giving his head a vigorous scratching. He had been fighting all day and felt grubby, which translated into itchy. Zero tossed his helmet onto a sofa, then rooted around through the small pile of stuff in the break room, and found the item he had hid there… a long, thin bar of corrugated metal. It had originally come from one of the seats on the shuttles. He'd borrowed the idea from the mostly human 16th artillery unit, who liked to use them when they were in ride armor. The guy he'd talked to swore it was the world's greatest back scratcher, and after his first try, Zero had decided he was right. It was thin enough so that if he took off his helmet, he could just barely fit it into that space between the back of his neck and armor. Then, he carefully slid it down and rubbed the ridges against his back…

Zero sighed in sensual pleasure, wiggling slightly to get the rod all over his back. It just felt so good. Reploids didn't get itchy all the time the way humans did… a good thing, too, since they wore armor… but Zero still loved a good scratch at the end of a long, hard day. Like a back rub, only a do-it-yourself version.

"Um, Zero? What are you doing?" Zero paused as he heard a familiar, slightly tentative voice. Well, it was about time.

So far, X had killed off five of Sigma's generals while Zero had been scouting for Sigma's fortress and destroying Mavericks along the way. He'd come back to HQ twice to recharge, after following false leads. Both times, he'd missed X in the recharger. This time, he'd been determined not to and had stayed awake despite his exhaustion so he wouldn't.

"I'm scratching my back," Zero said with a grin, pulling out the metal rod and tossing it to X. X was looking a little battered around the edges and about as exhausted as he felt, so maybe he'd enjoy it. "Try it, it's great." X looked at the rod in his hand, then gave Zero a slightly peculiar look.

"Well, it sounds good, but… why not just take off your armor?" That stopped Zero, who tried to think of a good reason. He finally shrugged, unable to think of one.

"I dunno. Try it without the armor, then." X smiled shyly, and did that, running the metal over the back of his shirt. He blinked at the feeling, as Zero watched with a smile.

"You're right, sir… this is good." X said, and Zero nodded, dispelling his own armor. Under his armor, he was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt with the slogan "Hunters Rule, Mavericks Drool" across it in neon pink lettering. X was wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt.

"X, I wanted to talk to you about that conversation we had. You know, in my room." Zero said, deciding to attack the issue directly. X's eyes widened, and he winced slightly, dropping the rod back into the pile.

"Zero, sir… maybe now isn't a good time to talk about that." Zero arched an eyebrow, surprised. X sounded a little desperate. What had brought on this change? Was he afraid Zero was going to reject him? No, that didn't make any sense…

"On the contrary, X, I think it's a perfect time." Zero stepped forward smoothly, and X fidgeted, blushing lightly. "We're fighting constantly, we're about all the Hunters have left, and we could die shortly." Zero smiled at X, sliding an arm around his slender waist… then blinked as X suddenly hugged him, shivering. What was wrong? "X?"

"I'm… s-sorry, Zero. I just had a terrible dream about you last time I was in the recharger," X whispered. "That you d-died saving… me… like you saved me from Vile…" Zero was surprised by that revelation. Very few Reploids dreamed at all in the recharger… dreaming was for normal sleep. Zero was one of the few, but he'd had no idea X dreamed as well.

"X." Zero lifted X's chin, looking into his face. God, X looked so sweet like this, his green eyes wide and gleaming with held back tears. So… muncheable. "X, dreams come from our own minds, our own worries. All that means is that… you're worried for me."

"You really think so?" X said softly, blinking slowly. Zero smiled confidently.

"As opposed to you having a psychic premonition?" X managed a soft giggle at that. "Yeah. Somehow, I don't think you can see the future, X." X relaxed a little, leaning against Zero.

"You're probably right," he admitted. "But it frightened me, so I've been avoiding you…" Zero arched an eyebrow at that.

"Really? I thought it was just bad timing. But going back to that conversation we had… I think it's about time we did something about it." X was probably still a virgin, and one thing was for certain… Zero wasn't going to let him die one. For that matter, he wanted a bit of fun himself, if he was going to be facing Sigma soon. One thing Zero knew damned well was that people died. Seeing Drake die had killed any belief in immortality, for himself or anyone else.

"Something? What do you-mff!" Zero silenced X with a kiss. The blue hunter responded hesitantly, a bit awkwardly. Zero closed his eyes, and concentrated on showing X how to do it. X was a quick learner, and soon the kiss was rather good. They parted, and Zero smiled as he saw X's flushed face, his reddened lips. Zero grinned, and pulled X over to the couch, casually knocking his helmet off it before he pressed X down onto the warm material. The last thing they needed was something spiky. "Zero… right here? In the break room?" X shot a worried look at the door, and Zero shrugged.

"Why not? There aren't many people around to interrupt us." An unpleasant thought, but true… Sigma had decimated the Maverick Hunters when he left. Zero explored X's pale throat, nipping the soft skin and making the smaller Reploid under him moan. He reached up under X's shirt to explore his chest, and X squirmed, helping him pull the shirt away. Discarded, the blue fabric fell to the floor as Zero lowered his face to gently capture one of X's nipples. He swirled the nub of flesh with his tongue, making X gasp and press up. That reminded him… Zero looked up at X with a grin, and reached down to open his pants. Then he blinked as he felt something a little odd, and looked back down. X… didn't wear any underwear? Now there was a real surprise. He'd never asked X the boxers or briefs question, but somehow, he couldn't picture 'neither' as the answer.

CENSORED

X blinked lazily as Zero pulled away, letting go of him. That had felt… wow. He had touched himself before, but it hadn't felt half as good as this. And now he felt so tired, so sleepy… it had been a long, exhausting day even before this. X tried to keep his eyes open, but the effort only made his head spin. Maybe if he closed them for just a moment…

"X?" Zero frowned as he looked into X's face. His eyes were closed, his face was slack, and… "Aw, X, don't be asleep." No good. It looked like X had spent the last of energy and gone out like a light. Zero grimaced to himself, remembering a few times similar embarrassing things had happened with Drake. One had been even worse, from the perspective of mutual mortification. Everyone knew about the past love affair for a reason.

Zero considered X's limp body for a long moment, trying to decide what to do. He had two options… be a nice guy, put X in the recharger and deal with his own frustration. Or… he could dry hump X, basically masturbate over him. Zero considered it, then shook his head with a sigh. That would actually be fun, in a kinky way, but he wasn't sure yet if X could stand kinky. X looked so sweet, passed out like that, that it was hard to resist. But he didn't want to kill the relationship.

"Okay, nice guy it is." Zero zipped X back up, and the other Reploid didn't even stir. He must have been even more tired than he looked, when he came in. "I can see why they say nice guys finish last…" He lifted his unconscious lover up, and carried him out of the break room, down to his own room. There weren't many Hunters in the halls, but there were a few, and Zero ignored the strange looks they were attracting.

Once he got into X's room, Zero looked around curiously. X had never invited him over before… and Zero suddenly had an idea why. The kid was messy. Really, really messy. Were that an end table or stacked up pizza boxes? Huh. "Maybe we should never share a room," he told X, who only started to snore. "I'm no neat freak, but you're taking this to extremes." Kicking away some dirty clothes, Zero set X down into his recharger, and keyed the activation sequence. The cover slid down with a soft hiss, and Zero watched X through the glass for a long moment. X looked so relaxed, so peaceful when he slept. Zero finally smiled, and rested a hand against the glass. "Someday, X, I'm going to get you for this." Zero grinned, and started planning his revenge, taking comfort in one thought.

If Drake could see them now, he'd be laughing his head off.