Nuts and Bolts

Author's Notes: This is a collaboration fic written by Muselet and Gimp666. Obviously yaoi to come, multiple pairings. Author's notes written by Muselet because my compatriot is too lazy to do any of her own.

Uh...I have nothing to say at this moment in time. Maybe I'll make a comment later, when something actually starts to happen in this fic. This is ALL setup for the plot. ^^;;; *points* Try to enjoy.

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Rock wandered slowly down the street, hands in his pockets. It was three in the morning, and he couldn't sleep. Looking up at the flashing signs proclaiming such things as "Young hot girls will dance for you!!" and "XXX LIVE NUDE SHOW!!" he wondered what he was doing in such places at this time of the night. It was like asking for trouble. If Dr. Light knew where Rock was right now, he'd..... He'd.... Keep ignoring him, as the doctor had been doing lately. Turning the corner, Rock entered a dark foreboding alleyway, which stretched through to another dingy street parallel to the first. Might as well circle the block, nothing much going on.

"Hey, do you have any money?" A voice cut into his thoughts suddenly, and he turned to see a tall thin man in shabby clothing. One good look at him and Rock knew he was dealing with the same junkie as the past few nights, when he had been down here. A very foreign thought entered his mind, and he decided if he'd known what humans were really like, he'd never have agreed to let Dr. Light turn him into a fighting machine to save them. It wasn't as though they appreciated his sacrifice anyway.

"What do you want it for?" He asked, skeptically. The last three nights when he'd been asked, the guy backed down at this line of questioning. He had money, of course, he wasn't that stupid. The last thing he needed was to be stranded in a place like this without cash. "I'm not buying your drugs." He muttered when the man hadn't answered. He managed three more steps before another man stepped in front of him, stopping him dead. This threw Rock off. The man had never had a friend with him before.

"We just want some food." He smelled.... Bad. Rock wasn't sure what half those smells were, but the ones he recognized disgusted him. He backed up a few steps, then shot past him quickly, turning off the alley without looking behind him. He heard the sound of their footsteps as they followed him but kept running, knowing they couldn't keep up with him. He could run tirelessly until his energy supply ran out, if necessary, though he doubted they'd make it another half a block. Sure enough, the sounds of their feet died away. He stopped finally, looking behind him quickly, and breathed heavily as his systems worked to cool his circuit boards down.

He looked down the street, and saw that the men were in pursuit of him again. Damn, they were relentless. He could keep running, but why bother? With a small sigh, he opened the door to the store he was in front of, and went it. He walked inside, head down, and tried to block out the loud noise blaring from speakers. He was probably in some kind of a bar, but judging by the cheers and cat calls, he didn't want to know. Keeping his head low, he passed by stools and tables, ignoring the whispering and occasional demand to know why he was in a place like 'this' at his age. Typical.

He kept right on going. He wasn't doing any harm, and didn't want to head outside again, in case those two losers were still out there. This.... Really sucked. When had he turned into this bitter, miserable- He ran into someone so hard he was almost knocked off his feet.

"Will you fucking watch where you're going?!" Someone exclaimed angrily, and his head shot up quickly. He knew that voice!!

"I'm sorry!" Rock blurted, staring horrified into the irritated face of Forte. "I...I didn't mean to do that!"

Grumbling, Forte shrugged, then looked at Rock strangely. "What the hell are you doing here?" He waved an arm around the place, gesturing specifically at a pair of men who were doing something in a corner that Rock didn't recognize... and then he waved somewhere else, and Rock noticed the stages, the bare male bodies writhing with each other, gleaming in the low light. He stared, wide eyed, until Forte pulled his head over to look at him again. "Well, well. Dr. Light makes a little gay robot. What a pedophile." he grinned. "Couldn't get any fun somewhere else, could you, you pervert."

"....then what were you doing here?" Rock blinked innocently at his enemy, rather confused. He made it sound like this place was a bad thing, and while it was weird here Rock didn't see anything wrong with it. ....What did 'gay' mean, anyway? Surprisingly, Forte didn't yell at him or attack. His face just turned bright red, and he muttered something rude under his breath.

"That's beside the point." Forte finally got out. "The point is you shouldn't be here." He stared at the unmoving boy before him. "Don't you want to leave?"

Rock considered that, looking around at the people....a man on one of the stages winked at him and blew a kiss. That was nice of him. "People seem friendly here." He looked at Forte again. "And I have nobody to talk to, except you." His face brightened, with a large smile. "Can I stay with you tonight?" He blinked, confused, as a bunch of people at a table nearby whistled at him and Forte, and noticed how his companion had turned very, very red.

"Of course you can't!" Forte growled deeply, leaning in so no one else could hear them. "Have you forgotten who I am, or who you are? What we are?" Rock's expression saddened, and he found himself staring at the ground again, the floor was filthy. "Besides, I wouldn't hang around with you, if you were the-"

"I don't care." Rock announced suddenly, looking back up at him hopefully. "I.... I don't care who or what we are. I'm so lonely.. Please let me stay with you tonight. I won't cause any trouble, or... Or..." He could tell he was slowly winning the battle, and urged on. "Please? I know we're enemies, but can't we just put all that aside, just this once?" Forte walked back over to his table dismissively, and he followed him, inviting himself to a seat across from him.

"Why are you here?" Forte asked, his voice filled with irritation. Why was Rock still following him? He'd already told him no. With the hot water he was in with Wily these days, the last thing he needed was to be seen with Rock. In public. In a place like this! "Go away."

"But..... " Rock stammered, eyes beginning to fill with tears. Why wouldn't Forte hang around with him? They were both same, both robots, and he was terribly hungry for company. Forte had to feel the same. Rock couldn't see him getting along too well with the Wily's other 'bots. "I just wanted to-"

"Fuck. Off." Forte growled, staring at the men on stage and trying to ignore Rock as best he could. Suddenly he heard a loud thud, followed by muffled sobs, and turned his gaze. Fuck, wonderful. The little bastard had dropped his head onto the table and was sobbing now, arms wrapped around his head so no one could see him crying.

"I... I c-can't stand it anymore..." Rock sobbed brokenly, unmoving. "I'm s- so lonely... Dad won't talk to me, Roll doesn't understand. Rush can't speak, and Blues...." He gripped onto the sleeves of his shirt tightly at the thought of his brother. He really loved his brother, but he hardly came home to see him these days. "... I haven't seen him in four months!"

He let out a small wail as he continued to air his dirty laundry in the middle of the strip club, and Forte felt his face grow hot, cheeks reddening. People were staring. Staring was not something Forte wanted. Staring meant paying attention to him. Paying attention meant possibly being recognized. If he, Forte, was recognized, he would be in serious trouble. Not to mention if a robot master happened to be in the bar. Fuck, he knew a lot of the robot masters hung out here quite frequently. Shit, he had to do something, and fast!

"Uh...." He got up and walked to the weeping boy, grabbed him, pulled the boy close, holding to Rock's collar as he hissed. "You have to keep it down! People are staring!" And so they were. Lots of them, some muttering amongst themselves. Shit, this didn't look good. Rock whimpered something quietly, under his breath. "Oh for the love of-" Forte thought of something, anything he could do to explain this all away to the watchers. What to do, what to do. He let go of Rock's shirt, patting him gently on the back. "Er. There, there. It's...okay?" Rock instantly was clinging to him tightly, nearly crushing him. This didn't look good either...but the people were looking away, a couple of them nodding approvingly at what really was a cute little scene.

Rock sobbed quietly into Forte's shirt. He would probably pay for this later, but right now he didn't care. Someone was paying attention to him, even if it was Forte, and he would take advantage of that as much as possible. "'m sorry." The words were muffled in Forte's shirt.

Meanwhile, Forte was carefully leading Rock towards the door of the strip club, hoping he could pry Rock off him, shove the boy out the door, and have it all done with. "Right, right," he glanced around, hoping nobody would suddenly decide they wanted a threesome with the supposed 'couple'. Urgh, they were humans for chrissake, and while you could look, touching wasn't an attractive option. He couldn't decide what was worse; having random humans hit on him when he was alone or having people think he was taking Rock home for a night of sex. "Would you let go of me already?"

Rock slowly detached himself from Forte's warm chest. "Sorry," He murmured again, still clinging to Forte's arm absentmindedly. "Where are we going?"

Forte stared at him incredulously. "'We'?!' There is no 'we'!! YOU are going to leave, before someone finds out I was even talking to you, let alone at a place like this!" He threw his arm out in the direction of the club's sign, which read 'Twinks!', then gave Rock a small shove. "Will you go away already?" He turned to leave, then hesitated, standing in the doorway, and glared down at Rock. His enemy had slid down the side of the wall, and was now sitting on the pavement in front of the place, crying very softly, arms wrapped around his legs.

"I.... I'm sorry.." He whimpered. "I thought.... I thought...." Rock tried to explain to Forte that he'd thought he had found someone to talk to, but the words wouldn't come out. Instead, more hot tears ran down his cheeks, only to be cooled by the bitter cold breeze tossing his hair about. He knew Forte hated him and was a brutal, selfish person, he shouldn't have expected any kindness from the wily bot, but he had been hoping desperately that just this once... He heard the slight scraping of material against brick as Forte slid down, and sat next to him, carefully avoiding a pool of vomit.

"So.... You're depressed. What am I supposed to do about that?" He mumbled miserably. WHY was he doing this? When Rock didn't respond, he kept talking. "What's the big deal, if you're lonely? Most people would kill to be left alone once in awhile." Still silence, but the sobs had stopped, and he could tell Rock was listening. "You're just wasting your time, if you think I'm going to be some kind of a help to you, I have nothing to tell you, I don't have stupid problems like yours. You need to get a life, and move on."

Damn, being sensitive was hard, and Forte only hoped he was doing a good job of it. It didn't help that Rock was being so fucking unresponsive. "Hey... I'm talking to you." He growled lightly, then tried to lean far away, as Rock's head suddenly hit his shoulder. Shit. He'd fallen asleep.

Forte looked around desperately, as if for a means of escaping this horrible fate. As much as he'd love to just leave Rock there, he knew the boy would be raped or mugged within moments, and torturing the boy was his job, and his alone. Humans were unworthy of even touching one of his kind, and he'd never abandon a bioroid to such a horrible fate. It was bad enough having to look at stupid humans day in and day out.

This left him very little options, and he sighed in disbelief of what he knew he was going to do.

He grabbed Rock carefully, lifting the boy and holding him with one arm under Rock's neck and the other supporting his legs. This was so undignified, walking through these streets carrying his worst enemy. But he really didn't have another choice. Slowly, watching out for possible danger, he carried Rock through the streets, walking towards Dr. Light's lab.

"I hate you, I hate you, I wish you would die. I hate you so very, very much." Forte looked down at Rock's unresponsive, sleeping body. He didn't seem to notice any of the things Forte was saying, but it was cathartic to say them anyway. "I don't see how you could just fall asleep like that. In the middle of a terrible part of town, with your worst enemy, and you fucking fall asleep. What the hell were you thinking?" He gave Rock a little shake, but there was no response. "Great. Well, we're at your place, and knowing the people there I'll probably get killed for this, and-" He stopped, staring at the large house. "What the hell. Not like life's that great anyway."

He ended up at the front door, still holding Rock in his arms and wondering what he was going to do now. Maybe he should have thought this out a little more. Slowly, he shifted Rock so that he was carrying him over his shoulder, stretching his now-free arm and reaching for the door...and stopped, as something made a suspicious noise inside. Crap. It would probably be a bad idea to go in...so now what?

Forte shifted Rock in his arms uncomfortably. Shit, this was all the brat's fault, and now he was asleep and completely useless to him! He could leave Rock on the porch, he doubted anything would happen to the kid if he just left him there, but it was cold out. He could knock on the door and run, but there was chance in being caught there. Slowly, he touched the doorknob hesitantly. He had no other choice, he had to go in there, and hope for the best.

Turning the knob slowly, he paused, listening for any more suspicious sounds. Nothing. Pushing the door open, he made his first steps into the house. The entire house was dark, the inhabitants long since in bed. Perfect. He'd just drop Rock down on the couch, and be on his way. Looking around, however, he saw no couches, chairs, or anything he could place the kid down on. Slipping his shoes off, not wanting to be heard, he walked slowly through an office and into a hall, looking for somewhere, anywhere he could put Rock. Why did it have to be so damned dark? Halfway down the hall, he passed a lit doorway, and risked a peek inside, curiosity winning over caution, and he was met with the sight of Dr. Light's back.

Good god, what was the man doing up at this time of night? He had to be like 150 years old or something, he was so ancient and wrinkly. yet there he was, wide awake in the wee hours of the morning, scribbling something down with a pen. The man never slept. Then, he was struck with a memory of Rock, face down on the table, sobbing and carrying on about how the man was too busy to keep him company, and he frowned slightly.

Passing through the doorway quietly, he continued down the hall, trying doors and peeking in quietly. What the hell did they need three bathrooms for? It wasn't as thought Light's 'kids' were going to use them. This was putting a serious damper on his night! Finally, he opened a room at the end of the hall, and his eyes made out an empty bed. Turning the light on, he knew instantly he was in the right room.

It looked like the room of a ten year old. Clothes were thrown askew, video games laid out along with movies and small toys like little land mines for those passing through. Christ, Rock had so much... SHIT! And he was a messy little bugger, something which surprised him. Stepping around the traps laid out on the floor, he made his way toward Rock's child sized bed, eager to rid himself of the hefty weight in his arms.

He nearly tripped over something or another at least ten times, but finally reached the bed, flopping down on it with Rock and sighing. This was a hellish night. He pulled away, stopping when Rock clung to him and whimpered. Christ. The kid had to be really lonely to be holding on in his damn sleep. Forte hesitated. He was tired. Wily wasn't expecting him back for a long while, days even. Being in Dr. Light's place meant finding shit that could impress the crazy old man, maybe some data or information that would get Wily off Forte's back for a while.

Sighing, he slumped back down on the bed next to Rock and lay there, ignoring the boy as he wrapped his body around Forte's, mumbling incoherently. "I hate you, Rock." Forte muttered, drifting off to a shallow sleep.

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Ending Author's Notes: Muselet: Plot is forthcoming, I swear. And this is rated R for a reason, and sadly that reason is mostly cursing and future violence. ..Yeah. I'm going to go beat myself in the head with a frying pan now.

Gimp666: ..you know you like it. *pokes*

Reviews are nice!