Something To Talk About

This has been in the works for a few weeks now, finally finished it earlier. Umm... Tin Man is not mine. Nor is the song. Enjoy!

The palace personnel were known for one thing. Being gossips.

There had been rumors about DG's robot parents returning to the other side, another about Kalm being Raw's son. A newer one involved Tutor finding a girlfriend. Then there was the obvious chitchat about Renegade Longcoats and the resurgence of the Witch. DG had once said they were right out of a soap opera, which no one else quite understood, but they'd all agreed nonetheless.

More often than not, the rumors were completely ridiculous.

But, they were fun to listen to even so.

Which was why DG was lurking around the corner from a gaggle of maids on their break.

"I'm telling you, Elise. You won't believe it!" A younger woman whispered, her name was Alana, if DG recalled correctly, as she leaned close to the one she was speaking to.

"It's a little unbecoming of a Princess to be eavesdropping, is it not?" Cain's voice sounded behind her, startling her out of the conversation. He chuckled in amusement.

She turned to glare. "Where do you think I get all my information from?"

"What would your mother say?"

"Say? Please, she put me up to this. How do you think she knows everything that goes on here? Contrary to popular belief she does not have eyes in the back of her head." DG laughed, returning her attention to the conversation at hand. "What're you doing sneaking up on me anyway?"

He shrugged. "I was on my way to the lab. If I didn't remind Glitch to eat he'd never come out."

She nodded, rather used to the two of them hanging out together by now. But she'd missed whatever was being said, although they were clearly still talking about the same thing. "Please, they're always together! You've seen it! And he's turned down every countess and noblewoman the Queen has presented him with. Surely that's because he already knows who he's after."

Cain rolled his eyes, prepared to walk away. "The need to gossip must me a genetic flaw."

"Hey… hasn't my Mother been trying to set Glitch up?" No mind was paid to the tin man's comment.

"I believe so, why?" He did not like where this conversation seemed to be going.

A smile spread across her face as she listened in on the others once more.

"And surely all those trips to the laboratory have some ulterior motives behind them…" Alana finally seemed to have ended her argument, but a third party stepped in.

This ones name was Ruby, DG noted, as she huddled in with the others. "I've even seen them in each other's rooms, on several occasions."

Surprised gasps and self-satisfied 'I told you so's erupted from the group, just as everything clicked into place for the younger Princess.

"Cain… you and Glitch, really?"

"What?" He stared at her as if she'd just turned into a mobat.

She gestured to the chit-chatty group of ladies. "Hey, it makes sense."

"Yeah, and that paranormal nonsense Glitch is always going on about theoretically makes sense, but that doesn't mean it's true." The man had been trying to prove the existence of ghosts and spirits through electromagnetic frequencies for several weeks now. Cain was still not entirely convinced on the matter.

"Denial isn't just a river in Egypt." DG smirked.

Cain was lost. "Where?"

"Ugh… never mind." No one ever understood her other-side sayings.

People are talking, talking bout people
I hear them whisper, you won't believe it
They think were lovers kept under covers
I just ignore it, but they keep saying
We laugh just a little too loud
We stand just a little too close
We stare just a little too long
Maybe they're seeing, something we don't, darling

"You'll never guess what DG thinks." The tin man said, upon entering Ambrose's lab. The ex-head case in question was hunched over his desk, scribbling out page after page of notes, but he seemed aware of the intruder's presence.

"That my EMF radar is in dire need of monotonous adjustments?" He supplied, looking at the formulas and calculations scrawled across the paper. "No, wait, that's me."

Smiling at the joke, Cain leaned over Glitch's shoulder. "She thinks you and I are together."

"But, we are together, aren't we?" His eyebrows raised in confusion. The man may have had his brain returned, but he was known for being a bit dense on occasion.

"In proximity, yes, but I mean she thinks we're involved."

"Oh." He blinked. "How did she come to this conclusion?"

Cain shrugged. "By listening to the maid's gossip."

Glitch stood, filing his notes away in a large text, before turning to Cain. "The biggest liar in all the O.Z. is 'They Say'."

The tin man smirked, an idea coming to mind. "You know," He mused. "We could always give them something to talk about…"

"I like the way you think."

Let's give them something to talk about
Lets' give them something to talk about
Let's give them something to talk about
How about love?

More rumors had spread like wildfire.

Only three days had passed since Cain and Glitch had discovered they were the hot topic of the staff's lunch breaks. In order to amuse themselves with the gossip to come, they'd spent the last 72 hours nearly inseparable. Cain made sure to call his friend 'sweetheart' a bit more often than usual, and Glitch proceeded to pretty much always have some sort of physical contact going on, even a few embraces and quick kisses had been added to fuel the rumors.

The rumormonger's were practically humming with information.

And then, as neither man had anticipated, it got out of hand.

First, they'd heard that they were announcing their relationship to the Queen. Then, came a rumor that the Queen was announcing their relationship to the kingdom via a grand ball. Next, the grand ball had been turned into a wedding.

And, as DG was acting as the envoy between information and Queen, the news of their supposed engagement reached the Queen.

And then there actually was a wedding to come.

"What have we done?" Ambrose burst into Cain's room, falling back against the doors once he closed them, finally having escaped all those who were congratulating him on an engagement he was not aware he'd entered in to.

Cain's mind had been absolutely reeling since the first time he'd heard the wedding speculation. "I know, I know."

"We have to do something!"

"This game has to stop." Cain exhaled deeply. "It was stupid to even do this in the first place."

Ambrose frowned. "It was your idea."

"I know, and I'll fix it. Just… keep clear of me for a while and maybe it'll stop."

"Okay."

I feel so foolish, I never noticed
You act so nervous; could you be falling for me?
It took a rumor to make me wonder
Now I'm convinced I'm going under
Thinking bout you every day
Dreaming bout you every night
Hoping that you feel the same way
Now that we know it, lets really show it, darling

Lover's quarrel. Cold feet. Those were the new reports from the rumor mill. And, why their non-existent wedding had been put on hiatus. Apparently until Cain came to his senses.

Ironically, though, that was pretty much what he was doing.

Sure, their games against the gossip hounds had started out as fun, but flirting with Glitch had been nice, too. And it wasn't as if he could say he didn't enjoy having a reason to be so close to the other man.

He was pretty sure Ambrose wasn't exactly complaining, either. In fact, this whole ordeal had made it abundantly clear that they'd been practically dating before their delibrate - though slightly false- displays of affection.

People wouldn't just assume they were together for no reason, right? They had to have seen something to come to that conclusion. And, while Cain may have been completely blind to it at the time, he was beginning to see it, too.

He had a relationship to give them something to talk about
Lets give them something to talk about
Lets give them something to talk about
How about love?

Glitch was not surprisingly shut up in his lab, still avoiding the rumors like the plague. He'd given up on his last project and moved on to tinkering with some of the other side devices DG had had sent over for him. The one on the table in front of him now was a cell phone, if he recalled correctly.

"You had anything to eat yet, sweetheart?" He inquired, startling the other man as he peered over his shoulder.

"Oh! Cain! No, not yet." He had, to his credit, not caused any ill effects to the device in his surprise, but he did set down his work before he spoke again. "Don't worry. I'll just have some sent up for me. You should make an appearance in the dining hall and appease the chatty cooking staff."

Cain shrugged. "Or I could just have mine sent up here, as well."

"That doesn't really deter them any, though."

"Exactly."

Ambrose smiled; glad that Cain was no longer letting the rumors get to him. "Have you heard the latest one yet?"

"The one where you and I ran away together but I left you at the alter? Yup."

"Wow. I must be falling behind." Glitch grinned. "Last I heard, I cheated on you, got one of those noble countesses' with child, and had run off to marry her. Guess that's the price I pay for shutting myself in here for two days."

Cain offered a hand. "Perhaps the two of us should go put those nonsense tales to rest."

Glitch grinned and let Cain lead the way.

Lets give them something to talk about
A little mystery to figure out
Lets give them something to talk about
How about love, love, love, love?

"What's been going on with you and Glitch?" DG asked, as she and Cain wandered around the palace grounds.

"Well, pretty much everything you've heard has been completely not true. We were not in any way involved until earlier today, when we decided to stop playing games with the staff. We were never engaged, and neither of us got anyone pregnant." He summarized, covering as many of the rumors as possible without having to spend the whole day discrediting each and every one of them.

The Princess snickered. "Some of those were downright ridiculous. I think there was even one about you getting Glitch pregnant. Go figure that one out."

Cain cringed at that mental image but found any and all activities that could lead up to that particularly interesting. "Will you tell the Queen what's going on so Glitch and I don't end up with a wedding party this weekend?"

"Yeah, you'll spoil my own personal soap opera for the next month, but yeah."

"What is this soap opera thing you're always talking about?" He finally asked, curious.

She laughed. "Oh, they're television shows on the other side that mostly women watch." She'd already explained the technological advances of entertainment to them. "They're all overly dramatic and never contain very realistic plot lines."

The tin man did not seem eager to hear more. "Sounds like fun." His voice was laced with sarcasm as they entered the palace once again.

"Will you and Glitch be joining us for dinner?" She smirked; watching in amusement as a nearby maid stealthily paused just around the corner. "Or shall we have it sent up to your room, so the two of you can enjoy your food in private?"

He scowled and rolled his eyes, but played along. "I doubt Ill be able to drag him out of the lab for dinner, but perhaps I'll convince him to have desert in our room."

The surprised expression on her face would be well worth the surge in rumors the next day.

Lets give them something to talk about
Lets give them something to talk about
Lets give them something to talk about
How about love, love, love, love?

Cain placed a quick kiss on the working inventor before settling himself down in a nearby chair to watch him work.

"The Queen came by earlier. She said DG told her what was going on and that the wedding plans would be stopped. I have to say, she sounded rather disappointed, really." Ambrose informed him, pressing a button on his newest object, an iPod this time, and looking rather frustrated when none of the promised music came out.

"You might try these." Cain said, handing him the headphones he'd seen DG use with the thing on occasion. "Who's to say she won't get to do that one day?"

Ambrose looked surprised by that statement, rather hopeful if he was reading into it correctly. "Me and you? Really?" He plugged the earphones in place and nearly fell over backwards with the volume they were at.

Cain was there to catch him though, as he spun the touchpad back down to a normal level. "Yeah, I mean, not like… this week or anything, but in the future, who knows?"

"What would they have to talk about once we did?" Glitch laughed, his arms around Cain's neck as the music played from the little ear buds. "They'd be out of gossip."

"I could think of a few things…" Cain grinned, leaning in to kiss him again.

"Keep talking, Tin Man."

Lets give them something to talk about
Lets give them something to talk about
Lets give them something to talk about
How about love?