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Attempt One (7)
Bass hates to admit that he’s slightly delirious right now. Not only is his pride injured, but he’s injured all over, badly injured after a botched attempt to fight the shit out of Shademan. An utter blow to the ego.
(Of course, Bass is the best, so this isn’t too bad.
...He’s still the best. Probably.
Unless…?)
His buster is, for sure, fried at the moment. Bass did attempt to fire it, to attack Shademan one last time before his escape -- but it shot out a pitiful spark of plasma, before making an ugly ker-chunk noise. After that, it simply wouldn’t work.
And, for some god awful reason, he has a pretty bad concussion (or, at least, the robot equivalent to it.)
So, safe to say, Bass is pretty fucked up at the moment. And, worryingly enough, Bass is close to powering down, as his vision begins to blacken and go fuzzy.. Which is a… terrifying feeling, to be completely honest.
“Are you ok?” Megaman -- his archnemesis, Bass forcibly reminds himself, his prime directive, his reason to exist in the first place -- gently asks, running towards him. Bass feels his synthetic muscles tense up, as Megaman calmly pulls him up from the ground. “You look…” The blue bomber trails off.
At the moment, they aren’t technically enemies yet. Which is… kinda nice, honestly.
Bass feels his innerservo heat up, for no reason whatsoever. “I…” He stammers. Bass mentally wants to curse out that bastard Wily out for designing a function in his systems that gives him pseudo-concussions. “Rock, I…”
The blue bomber gives a confused look. Bass momentarily remembers that Megaman never told him personally that the blue bomber's real name was Rock. “...Um, Bass, are you o--”
His chest feels so tight, unnaturally tight -- like his core was going to pop open and burst like a firework. His head begins to ache worse, mind numbingly so. Perhaps, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a rest -- or at least take a rest. It’s been awhile since he’s gone in for an actual repair.
But, unfortunately, Bass isn’t thinking straight. He isn’t thinking about getting repaired, he’s...
For some reason, he’s taken a strange note on how pretty Megaman’s eyes are. He’s never really gotten a good look at them, but there like… orbs of green… stuff. Bass can’t really find a good word to describe them at the moment.
He’ll probably think of one later, when his IC chip isn’t on the verge of becoming toast in his now overheating body.
His lips are pretty, too…
His skin is so smooth for a super fighting robot, and...
Rock, I… I never got to tell you this, but I...
“I want to fucking fight you!” Megaman, of course, gives an even more confused reaction at that. Although Bass doubts that Megaman has really interacted with such course language before. He's not going to going into that more, because his head feels like molten lava at the moment
A.k.a.; his head really fucking hurts.
That’s… what he wanted to say, right? It’s in his nature, so it must be what he wanted. He was built to fight Megaman.
...
…
... Right?
...Bass’ brain is too fuzzy for this line of thought.
Attempt Two (8)
Bass does not really care for the matter at hand -- aliens are stupid, for one, and he’s only really bothering this time because Megaman is involved. And Wily be damned, he absolutely does not care about the ‘evil energy’, or whatever the hell else the old coot needs.
Again, Bass doesn’t care, so he doesn’t really know what Wily wants.
(And even then, he only likes fighting Megaman, and only goes only with Wily’s dumb plans because fighting Megaman is in involved. And maybe even then, in that context, he also really just…
Nevermind. That doesn’t matter. He shouldn’t be thinking about that.)
“Bass!” Megaman calls, with his trusted dog (Rush, Bass remembers immediately, the counter to his dog -- Treble.) “Why do we have to continue to fight like this? Like enemies?” There’s a genuine sense of frustration and a lack of hesitation in the other robot’s voice.
And it stings to hear, Bass thinks.
It’s not pleasant. A strain for him to listen to. It’s not something Bass particularly likes to hear.
“Why can’t we just be friends!?"
I don't want to be enemies, either. Bass thinks, not vocalizing his thoughts. Not really.
He’s tempted to voice his actual opinion. I just love fighting him, and...
“...Shut up!” Bass says instead, readying his buster. If he’s fighting, he can get his mind off such… confusing shit. He isn’t interested in doing a self character study at the moment. It’s not something he’s interested in doing ever, actually. “Just fight me you coward!” He adds, trying to hide his frustration.
Megaman doesn’t really respond to that, much to Bass’ disappointment. Bass doesn’t know why it’s such a disappointment, and it’s not like Bass cares if Megaman hates, in fact, that makes his job easier
Or, I just love him.
And him hating me would be horrible.
And I would simply stop functioning if he said that verbally.
Bass ignores those thoughts the moment they finish. He can’t possibly see Megaman like that. He was created to destroy Megaman, not have fluffy emotions about him. Bass is a badass and awesome robot -- strongest robot in the world.
Love is for weaklings who believe in dumb stuff like peace and hope. And despite his countless losses to Megaman, despite everything, Bass isn’t weak and he’s not going to lose to something stupid like love.
He absolutely does not have a crush on Megaman. That would be so stupid.
And Bass isn’t stupid.
(Subconsciously, he knows that he's only just lying to himself to feel better about the situation.)
Attempt Three (BATTLE&CHASE)
By now, Bass isn’t denying his feelings -- well, internally, of course. No way in hell is he going to admit to Wily that ‘Hey, I know you designed me to be a mindless Megaman killer, but I actually love him, so that might be a wrench in your plans from now on. Hee hee!’
If Bass did that, he’d be quite sure that his next repair would be his last. Of course, if that happened, Treble might go and break one of the laws of robotics.
(Treble only acts violent when he thinks Bass is threatened, so it’s honestly a shock that the robo-wolf hasn’t gotten into a physical altercation with Wily.)
But, regardless, now Bass is confronting Megaman -- well, Rock, at the moment -- at this stupid race, but it might make Bass change his mind. Key word being might, because as Bass is physically strong, he’s stubborn as hell.
(...Well, at least he’s growing to be self aware.
That’s… nice?)
“It’s nice to see you here, Bass.” The blue bomber says nonchalantly, preparing Rush to be… a motorcycle. Bass didn’t get the niche of animal based modes of transportation.
“...You too.” He isn’t injured, obviously, but he’s actually tensing up. Bass has done some research on humans -- enough to understand them -- and according to that, this is similar to the sensation of ‘stomach
...He’s just too damn cute! “Uh, by the way Rock, I was wondering…”
If we could hang out. Like as a date. Because I like you.
Immediately, Bass felt the absolute dread of Protoman staring at him, red eyes piercing through the red robot’s sunglasses. Which made Bass tense up in fear. Fear as in ‘absolutely terrified that a mere prototype is going to kill me in five seconds’ type of fear.
“...If I could kick your ass in this race!” He shakily finishes, trying to sound at least a tiny bit confident, his body still tense as all hell.
Thankfully, Protoman averts his gaze after that.
...Holy shit, that was the first time Bass ever felt afraid in his life.
Rock laughs -- god, his laugh sounds so nice, why hasn’t Bass heard it before? It sounds so nice -- and smiles. “...I totally win this, Bass!”
It’s nice fighting -- well, racing, -- and Rock seemingly being happy about it.
Maybe this could work as a pseudo-date. At least, Bass likes to consider it as one, non-verbally. He isn’t in the mood to get killed by Protoman.
...Maybe.
(And for the first time, Bass actually won against Rock.)
Attempt Four (10)
Bass is trying his real best not to catch roboenza. It’s annoying, for the most part, especially since he’s been near infected robots. However, he’s probably doing a horrible job, because his skin is growing ever so warmer.
That only happens when he’s around Megaman. And now, he’s feverish all the time, so this is probably bad news.
(He’s only doing any of this life risking shit for Megaman, and also because this is Dr Wily’s fault, which is by proxy Bass’ issue.
...This is not really how Bass would want to spend his past couple of weekends.)
It becomes an immediate issue when he and Megaman are at the gates of Wily’s (dumb and stupid) castle.
Obviously, Megaman is slowly coming down with roboenza, too. Movements becoming slurred and sloppier, his forehead glazed over with a feverish sweat. Whether Megaman contracted it from Bass, or he got it from the countless ill robots he fought, doesn’t really matter in Bass’ mind.
The only thing Bass cares about is ‘ Good fucking god this is the worst possible outcome for this situation.’, and Bass hasn’t even covered the worst part about this situation.
Dr. Light has made a successful antidote for roboenza -- but, like the smartass Bass is, he only brought one pill.
And both of them have contracted roboenza.
Just great.
“Bass, I…” Megaman pants, voice raspy. “...I think I’m sick.” Which is an obvious thing to say.
(Of course, Bass doesn’t say that to Megaman’s face.)
Bass collapsed. Which was… so fucking embarrassing. Especially in front of Megaman. Thankfully, he had the pill with him, but…
“Rock, take the damn antidote.” He mumbles out. Bass is terrified that he was seemingly sicker than he thought, and that thought gives him the horrific image that he’s gotten other people sick because of this dumb virus.
(The only reason he’s horrified is because he knew Megaman would be terrified at that.)
“But! Bass, you’re…!”
“Just take the damn antidote, Mega-dweeb!” As demeaning as it sounded, Mega-dweeb was a pet name of sorts. A little harsher than something fluffy like Honey or Babydoll, but Bass never really showed affection to others like that. “And…” He trails.
Funny how this is eerily similar to how Bass first caught the feelings, except instead of his ass getting kicked and having a concussion, Bass is coming down with the world's worst case of robot influenza.
“And, Rock, I…”
Megaman bends down, hand in Bass’ -- the hand Bass is holding the antidote. “Bass…?” Bass notes the slight flush in the other boy's face, but that’s probably because Megaman is sick, and not because Megaman likes him back.
I love you would be the world’s worst final words, Bass believes. Too fluffy and melodramatic, two things that Bass is clearly not. He’s awesome and he’s not going to die, and his final words aren’t going to be that stupid.
And even then, he’s not going to die. He’s too awesome to die from a stupid disease.
...Probably. Probably not going to die.
But he, he still…
“Rock, I…” He pauses to wheeze out a cough, his servos probably jamming up at the moment. Shit, maybe he was going to die. “And you kick that old bastard’s ass! And get a couple hits in for me!”
Even when he’s on the verge of death, he’s still thinking about fighting. That’s so awesome and badass.
(Probably death. Bass is too tired to really care to correct himself.)
“...Gotcha, Bass!” Megaman simply responds. “I’ll… I’ll send you back to the lab, too!”
Everything fades to black.
(He’s not dead when he next wakes, but it’s still terrifying.)
An actual (semi) confession. (MEGAMAN&BASS)
Of all the times Bass has been through a ‘take over the world’ attempt (a Wily War, as news stations begin to refer to it as), he’s never actually watched a Wily castle crumble. Usually, when it happens, he’s unconscious or in the middle of repairs.
It’s… cathartic.
“So, King, huh.” Bass awkwardly announced, looking at Megaman expectantly. “What a guy.”
“He was a jerk.” Megaman mumbles out, clearly tired. “Worse than Wily.”
“The worst.” Bass nods, not that he agrees with Megaman, but because it sounds the most logical way to continue the conversation. In his humble opinion, Wily is worse than King. Not because Wily is stronger or anything, but because at least King was remotely smart, Wily was just stupid.
Megaman nods. “...I hope Blues is ok. I know he and Dr. Light have a rough relationship, but…” Immediately, he blushed, waving his arms wildly. “Wait! That’s a bit too personal! Sorry Bass! Aha!”
“Cute.”
Why did he say that out loud?
WHY DID HE SAY THAT OUT LOUD.
WHY.
WHY DID HE DO THAT.
“--I mean, haha, that’s a bit awkward!” Bass jokes, trying to play off the Freudian slip he just did as nonchalantly as he could. With, is actually kinda hard, because Megaman is staring at him with an expression that could rival a dear in headlights.
He’s also blushing. Like, an actual blush, not a feverish flush of the face or whatever. So he obviously:
- Knows what he said
- Took it that way.
God.
“I, uh… thank you?” Megaman stammers, clearly flabbergasted, face still blushing a deep pink. “Um, you too? Or, I mean--”
This is so embarrassing. Like, this is the most uncomfortable experience in Bass’ entire life.
Megaman coughs, very awkward. “...I guess, uh, you want to fight me, like right now? If, you know, that’s how you… that’s the only way you can say...” Megaman trails off, into a somewhat awkward laugh.
Obviously, the phrase Megaman is avoiding to say is I love you.
“Yes!” Bass quickly answers.
“Ok!” Megaman reciprocates back, still very awkward.
...Did he and Megaman start dating? Like, wow, this was the last thing Bass expected to happen when he thought about ‘Megaman reacting to his love confession’.
(Protoman is so going to kill him after this. Roll, Auto, and Doctor Light too. And maybe Rush, Tango and the rest of Rock’s funny animal friends / pets / whatever.)
(They start dating after this.)