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Rust was ready, he had liked Zero for a while and was ready to tell them about it. Zero had gone into the kitchen for something so Rust was on his way there when he heard Zero talking to someone. That wasn't surprising, as the most social one of the group Zero often got caught up in conversations when doing things. The surprising thing was what Zero was saying.
"I just feel like he won't like me back. I'm the least useful out of all of us and he can do almost anything." Zero whined. It was practically laying on the counter as it spoke to someone out of Rust's line of sight.
Rust froze when he heard those words out of Zero's mouth, they liked someone. It had to be either Armstrong or Tesla, they were the only two that could fit other than him and why would Zero like him? I mean sure it was his best friend, it had been for as long as he could remember, but that's what they were, just friends.
Earlier that day;
Zero was headed to their room when they heard Rust talking about something surprising, feelings. He was sprawled out on the couch in the living room ranting to Armstrong, who was sitting in one of the chairs across from the couch.
"I don't think I'm ready for this, I know I like them but I'm not sure if they like me. They're just so perfect and I'm the one that comes home injured four out of five times I go out." Rust spoke like that was something that everyone knew.
Zero was surprised, Rust liked someone. With the way he was referring to who he liked, Rust probably liked Tesla. They were the only one who fit other than Zero but they weren't perfect, far from it actually. Zero continued to it's room, it would talk about it's crush on Rust to Armstrong later.
Present;
Rust went back to his room to think, he had to process the fact that Zero probably didn't like him back. He was still going to tell them how he felt, there was still a small chance that they liked him back.
Armstrong watched Zero leave the kitchen to go back to it's room before sighing heavily. His friends were clueless, both Zero and Rust had told him that they liked each other when it was painfully obvious to anyone with more than half a braincell. They flirted with each other almost constantly and slept in each other's rooms more often then not. He didn't want to interfere so he left them to do their own thing when it came to feelings.
Rust heard Zero go into their room and and close the door behind them. He decided that it was better to just tell them rather than drag it out any longer.
He got up from his bed and headed to his door, hesitating a bit before opening the door and stepping out into the hallway between his and Zero's rooms. Rust's hand shook slightly as he went to knock on Zero's door. It opened the door looking a bit tired but invited him in. Both of them sat together on Zero's bed for a bit before Rust broke the silence.
"Hey Zero, can we talk about something?" Rust was playing with the edge of his jacket nervously when Zero looked up in acknowledgement of what Rust said.
"When were you going to tell me?" Rust looked tired as he asked the question that had been in his mind ever since he heard Zero talking in the kitchen.
"Tell you what?" Zero looked genuinely confused, it's head tilted slightly.
"That you liked someone, I heard you talking about it in the kitchen earlier."
"I was going to tell you soon, I just didn't know when the right time would be." Zero looked down at the floor before continuing. "When were you going to tell me that you liked someone too?"
"Wait, how did you know that I liked someone?" Rust's eyes widened, he had only told Armstrong and that happened earlier that day.
"I heard you talking to Armstrong earlier when I was heading to my room. So when were you going to tell me?"
"I was gonna tell you today, I promise. I was just waiting for the right time and since you're here I might as well tell you now. I like you Zero, I have for a while but today was the day that I was going to tell you. It doesn't really matter now though, you like someone else. I just hope that we can stay friends after this, losing your friendship would be like losing a peice of myself."
Zero froze, Rust liked them? Rust liked them! It was so focused on the fact that Rust had confessed to it that it didn't notice when Rust began to stand up to leave.
"I knew this was a bad idea. You like someone else after all. Shit, shit, shit! Sorry, I'll leave now, see you tomorrow Zero." Rust started backing towards the door as he spoke before Zero's hand shot out and grabbed his coat, keeping him in their room.
"Stay, please. Don't go before I respond, just give me a second." Zero took a few deep breaths and then continued. "I like you too, Rust. I have for a while now, I just didn't know how to tell you."
Rust stood frozen in shock for a bit before moving to sit back next to Zero on their bed. He put an arm around Zero's back and they rested their head on his shoulder. Both of them sat there for a bit before Zero turned it's head to look up at Rust.
"I really wanna kiss you right now." It says quietly.
(This part will actually suck ass, I have never once in my life written a kissing scene. I write too many slow burns and them abandon them so enjoy the really badly written kiss.)
Rust lets out a quiet laugh and cups one hand around Zero's jaw, carefully pulling them up until their face was just inches away from his. Zero leaned in slowly until their breath was mixing with Rust's, he closed the gap between them by lightly kissing Zero. They leaned into the kiss, deepening it until both of them pulled away, breathing heavy.
"That was… wow." Zero breathed out.
"Wow is a pretty good way to describe that." Rust laughed and pulled Zero close to him again.
They spent the rest of the day together in Zero's room, mostly cuddling or playing video games together.
Next day;
Zero and Rust headed down to breakfast like any other day except for the fact that they were officially together. They—of course—forgot to tell anyone about it. Rust was walking past Zero's chair when he leaned down and kissed the top of their head before sitting down next to them. He looked up when he noticed that everyone had gone quiet.
"What?" Rust said through a mouthful of pancake.
Tesla gestured between Zero and Rust with a confused expression, "When did this happen?"
"Oh, like yesterday." Zero spoke up from it's seat beside Rust.
Tesla facepalmed, of course Rust and Zero would get together and just not tell anyone. Doc just shrugged and Armstrong looked almost satisfied. Breakfast went on normally from then, jokes and insults being thrown around every few minutes, occasionally broken by laughter when someone told a particularly funny joke.