"Holding Hands"
Written by: Madison R. McCall
Futurama © Matt Groening and Comedy Central.

Author's Note: This is my first slash fic EVER. I'm super proud with how it came out after my good buddy Patches helped me beta it. Give her a big round of applause for helping me fix it up! Writing for Fry and Bender was loads of fun. They're just so entertaining to write for. It's even more fun to write for them interacting together! X3

To let you in on this beforehand, there's an old fan-made Futurama concept that I dug up in that really great but discontinued (unfortunately) Beelzer story called "Revolutionizing a Robot" It introduced the concept of visexuality being the Robot Devil's sexuality- which I thought was quite clever- and I ressurected the concept of visexuality in this story, even though it's only mentioned. The word visexuality should speak for itself but just in case it doesn't for some other people, it's basically when a robot has a sexual attraction to a virus. Kinda creepy, eh? XD But I still liked the idea anyways, because I'm weird like that! I usually do have a liking for odd, unusual and sometimes creepy things. All credit goes to redwalgrl-RG for thinking of the concept! She deserves an applause too!

Now that all those issues have been covered, have fun reading! And remember to try and drop by a review before you leave, cuz that would be really awesome. Give me your most honest opinions on the story in your reviews! I love reading about other people's opinions!

I understand that not every person likes slash, so if you don't like it, then that's not my problem. You could always just read another story that doesn't have slash in it. If you went to read about some other pairing, the go find some other story that supports it.

Pairing: One-sided Fender AKA Fry x Bender.

~Sincerely, Jellymaster!

Neither friend knew how it happened or what lead up to it, but there it was, as clear as the bright blue sky. Any passerby in that park would've assumed that they were robosexuals and they would have no idea how dead-on they were, even if the supposed attraction was only one-sided.

Both continued to hold hands, as if they were unaware of what they were doing. Well, this was true for the red-headed delivery boy who was looking off into space. However, the same couldn't be said for the gray robot who was gazing dreamily at his human companion.

For as long as he could remember, Bender had had these feelings for Fry. Sure, Bender did his best to assert that he was a straight manbot, what with all the fembots he got involved with on a daily basis, but they were mostly just to cover up his dark secret, even if he did harbor genuine feelings for a select few.

Being a robosexual was about the worst sexuality a robot could have (aside from visexuality, of course; visexual robots were creeps!) and it was the main robot sexuality that was the most frowned upon. Even if he ever did have a chance of Fry expressing the same feelings back, they would be living in hell for the rest of their lives. A few of their friends might be as supportive as they possibly could, but they would have no chance against the rest of the narrow-minded citizens of New New York.

However, after putting a lot of thought into it, Bender decided that he didn't care what others would think of them if they ever got romantically involved with each other. He would be happy enough just to be with Fry. Fry, with his innocent smile, his childish dreams, his - as Leela put it - boyish charm, and his looks.

Bender sighed absent-mindedly, his gaze still fixed on the other male.

Having heard his friend's sigh, Fry turned to look at Bender, who immediately averted his eyes, "You okay, Bender?"

"Yeah, I'm fine! What kinda stupid question is that, meatbag?" was the kleptomaniac robot's snappy response. He didn't really mean to be rude - honest! Bender wanted so badly to express what he really felt for the redhead, but he just didn't have the courage. Besides that, he had a reputation to uphold.

"Oh, well, it's just that I was tryin' to ask you what you thought the shape of this cloud I saw looked like, but it's gone now," He shrugged carelessly, which caused him to just barely notice the fact that he and Bender were holding hands. Fry didn't really mind. It felt nice and Bender didn't seem to have any problem with it either, so what point was there in letting go?

"Oh," Bender replied, looking awkwardly off to the side. He found himself feeling too shy to look his slovenly friend in the eyes. He had just come to a decision. "H-hey Fry?"

Fry's sweet smile never wavered, "Yeah, Bender?"

"I-uh, there's somethin' that I gotta tell ya. I should've told you this a long time ago, but I didn't have the guts to admit it. B-but n-now I think I do…" Why was this so hard to say? He was just beating around the bush now. He had to say it even if it killed him! "Hey, are you even listening?"

The delivery boy chuckled, "I really am! Don't let the face fool you."

Bender sighed before attempting to continue, "Fry, just in case you might ask, I've thought this way about you for a long time, and I've been dying to let you know that... that..."

Oh! That innocent gaze was just too much for him to bear. But he couldn't stop now and expect the subject to be dropped just like that!

"...you got somethin' on your shirt there, meatbag."

What the hell was that?! He scolded himself, fuming silently. This had been a perfect chance to tell Fry how he felt - they were all alone even! - and he'd blew it. Fortunately, Fry didn't seem to notice his inner turmoil.

"What? Where?" Only Fry was naive enough to fall for the oldest trick in the book.

"Right there," Bender flicked the human's nose, "Ha- Gotcha!" He laughed derisively, "I swear, you are too easy meatbag!"

Fry playfully punched the robot in the arm, "You little rascal!" He laughed good-naturedly, "You really had me going there for a second, you know? I thought you were about to pour your heart out to me or something," He snickered.

'Ugh, you have no idea how right you are, meatbag,' Bender thought bitterly, 'For once.'

Fry nudged at the grumpy robot with his elbow, "Wouldn't that have been funny, Bender? You being all sentimental and emotional." He was oblivious to the glare that the bending unit sent in his direction as he chortled.

"Yeah, pal, real hilarious," He replied. Perhaps he'd nudged the human back a little too hard, he thought as he watched Fry double over in pain and clutch at his stomach with his unoccupied arm. Bender often forgot that humans were much more sensitive than robots were - physically and emotionally. He let out a little sigh at the thought.

"Hey Bender, can I have my hand back now?" Fry asked, after recovering from Bender's unintentionally rough jab.

"Nope."

The End

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