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It was around 11PM and completely dark outside in the forest. Ricky Fitness had convinced everyone that a camping trip would be fun, and the others had reluctantly agreed. Still, MCBC had to admit it was beautiful outside, the only source of light coming from the stunning full moon in a night sky decorated with hundreds of stars. Was light pollution really that big of an issue? The Commander wondered, before dropping the thought, deciding to just try and appreciate its beauty.
It had been a while since MCBC got some time to himself, time he could spend truly alone. Sure, he loved his friends and every second he spent with them made him feel like the luckiest man on earth— but time alone was something everyone needed every once in a while he supposed. It felt refreshing to sit in silence and take in the atmosphere, and was a nice change in pace compared to his usual nature.
The MC Bat Commander was struggling to sleep in the 5 person tent they decided to share, so decided to go on a late night walk to cool off. It was weird not sleeping in his bunk bed, but all he wanted was his friends to be happy— and Ricky was especially happy with these arrangements. He would always rant about hiking and exercising and climbing and how it’s the best way to stay healthy and happy. Even Eaglebones came around to the idea of a camping trip too eventually, something about being able to be one with nature even for a short while was what got him on board. Even completely alone, MCBC couldn’t get the thought of his friends out of his head, they really were his entire world. Especially Jimmy. Something about him was special. His smile, his demeanor, how dedicated he was to his friends, how he would greet The Commander every morning… MCBC couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but something about the other man had him completely entranced.
Jimmy the Robot was the one who should’ve had the biggest reason to oppose an unnecessary camping trip, since there would be nowhere for him to charge outside of The Battletram. Still, Jimmy had agreed enthusiastically. It would be hard on him, sure, but the desire to see his friends happy outweighed everything else. MCBC cupped his own face with his left arm, leaning to the side as he stared up at the sky, thinking about Jimmy.
Maybe he should be nicer to him. He was always calling him a “dumb robot” or insinuating he was incapable of love. He wasn’t quite sure why he acted that way when he thought so highly of Jimmy. Maybe he had been too harsh on him, and maybe he could stand to be a better leader. He shook off the thought— Jimmy knew it was all in good spirit right? Surely Jimmy knows how much he means to The Commander?
*Snap*
A twig snapped behind MCBC, causing him to fling himself around preparing for the worst.
“Oh. It’s you” MCBC said, still startled “Heh, I knew that.” he added, trying his best to play it cool.
“Hello commander, are you feeling okay? Should you not be asleep with the others? You need your energy” Jimmy said with a caring glance at MCBC. “We should get you back”
“I’m alright, Robot. But I should stay here for a while, I need to think.” MCBC let out a sigh, and looked up at the sky. “It’s pretty, ain’t it?” A soft smile was on his face as he looked up at the stars.
“Yes commander, the sky does look exceptional tonight.” Jimmy smiled, taking a seat next to MCBC. “What are you thinking about?” he asked, innocently. Jimmy had no idea that he constantly racked MCBC’s thoughts.
“Oh, just boring stuff, y’know.” MCBC deflected. He didn’t want Jimmy to know that he had spent so much of his time reflecting on how much he meant to him. He wasn’t meant to have favourites, but this was different. He still couldn’t figure out why, but how he felt about Jimmy was different to how he felt about the other Aquabats.
“Right.” Jimmy nodded after shooting a confused glance at MCBC. However, the robot did know better than to pry, and allowed The Commander to keep his peace if he wanted.
“So, what are you doing here, Robot? Shouldn’t you be in the tent too?” The Commander interrogated, flipping the conversation back to Jimmy.
“Oh, I guess there’s really no point in me being there.” He smiled, looking up at the sky “I can’t really recharge here, and the others find it creepy when I sit awake in the room watching them” He let out an awkward chuckle. “Plus I heard you leave, so I came to check on you, Commander”
“Ahh, thank you Robot. I’m alright, I promise. Just needed some time to myself” He replied, putting his left arm on Jimmy’s right shoulder.
“Oh, if you need more time I can always come back later, Commander.” Jimmy smiled, he was always so compassionate and caring to The Commander.
“No— I mean… Can you stay? I like having you around, even when I want to be alone” He admitted, squeezing the robot’s arm in a friendly way.
“Oh, of course, Commander,” The robot replied. He couldn’t help it, it was in his nature to want to learn as much as he could about the stimuli around him, so was it much of a crime for him to absent mindedly scan The Commander in this situation? His vitals seemed fine, and everything looked to be in order except his heart rate which was steadily increasing with every second.
“Commander, are you alright?” The Robot asked, sheepishly “Your heart rate has gone abnormally high!” He announced, getting closer to MCBC for a more up close inspection.
“Relax, robot, everything is fine” MCBC responded, now insanely embarrassed and trying his best to keep up his confident demeanor. Was his heart rate so embarrassingly high around Jimmy that even he had picked it up?!
“Are you sure?” Jimmy pestered, now giving The Commander a concerned look as he continued to examine him.
“Yes, Robot. I’m sure.” he said, slightly annoyed. Although, he had to admit that the robot showing so much care for him did feel nice. Maybe that didn’t help his heart rate though. “C’mon now, drop it” He added, trying to change the subject.
“The stars are pretty tonight.” Jimmy replied, looking back up at the sky, immediately taking the hint and changing the subject. He had his hands by either side of him, propping him up on the log they were using as a bench.
Without thinking, The MC Bat Commander inched his hand closer to the robot’s, now making ever so slight contact with his cold metal hand. It was already cold enough outside, and touching the cool metal probably wouldn’t have helped him stay warm— but for some reason it didn’t matter, touching the other man’s cold hand made him feel warm inside.
“Commander?” Jimmy enquired, as MCBC continued to slowly move his hand on top of the robot’s, now cradling it.
“Yes, robot?” He responded, he was sure by now that his heart rate was dangerously high, and Jimmy could definitely sense it.
“This is nice.” Jimmy said, taking his hand from underneath The Commander’s before interlocking their fingers. They had touched before, obviously, but something was so intimate about handholding.
The MCBC opened his mouth to speak, but was swiftly cut off.
CRASH
The two Aquabats immediately jumped to action, facing the beast. A large bigfoot-like creature loomed over them, its wide frame casting a shadow blocking the moonlight. They must’ve not heard it coming, or been too deep in their own thoughts to notice. Either way, they had faced creatures like this before so knew what to do.
“Quick, robot! Use your laser fingers” MCBC commanded, pointing at the monster.
“On it, Commander!” He replied diligently, aiming his fingers and shooting at the monster. Laser after laser rhythmically blasted into the beast, but it seemed unphased.
“Uhh, robot, it’s not doing anything” MCBC said, taking a step back.
“I wasn’t able to recharge—“ Jimmy stated, still pointing lasers at the monster, as the red beams became less and less frequent until they came to a full stop. Jimmy stood there awkwardly, looking at the monster.
“There’s only one thing left to do!” The Commander said, feigning confidence “RUN.”
And with that command, MCBC and Jimmy ran away, with the monster following closely behind.
“I should’ve conserved my battery more…” Jimmy said while running by The Commander’s side.
“There’s… no time… for that… now” The Commander responded through breathless pants, as they came closer to a small cave. There would be just enough room for two people, and they could hide out there until the other Aquabats noticed they were gone. Surely the monster wouldn’t be able to get them in here.
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. The monster drew near, sniffing the air trying to follow their scent. It slowly bent down, peering into the dark cave with one eye before sticking a long arm inside and thrashing it about, trying to make any form of contact with the two men it viewed as prey.
MCBC and Jimmy huddled against the back wall of the cave, trying their best to be out of reach. The monster’s large claws scratched against MCBC’s calves, leaving behind a couple of bloody scratches before he yelped and tucked his knees into his chest.
Despite this, the monster continued to feel around the cave, getting nearer and nearer to the two men with every second that passed.
“Jimmy, are we going to die here?” The Commander said, now taking a serious tone. MCBC loved to joke around, and seeing him so serious left a bitter taste in Jimmy’s mouth.
“No, Commander, our friends will come for us, they always do” He responded, unsure himself how they would get out of this situation but knowing MCBC needed this comfort.
As the monster’s claw drew near, MCBC leant more into Jimmy, wrapping his arms around him. Now was not the time to make any moves, but still, if this went badly, MCBC would never forgive himself if something bad happened and he missed out on hugging Jimmy one last time.
Jimmy turned to face him, seeing the fear in his eyes, a fear he very rarely saw in The Commander.
“Commander…” He said, quietly, his voice soft and comforting. The gentleness of his voice almost drowned out the grunts and groans of the ape-like monster which was still aimlessly reaching around for them.
“Jimmy?” The Commander responded, before Jimmy pulled him into a kiss. It was chaste and gentle, but it made MCBC’s heart skip a beat. If they really did die, he could be happy that he managed to kiss Jimmy just once.
Suddenly, the moment was ruined by the monster managing to grab onto MCBC’s foot, dragging him out of the cave as he ineffectively thrashed about, trying to hold on to anything to stop the monster pulling him out of their safety.
Jimmy stared in fear, knowing there wasn’t much he could do with his battery so low. Using his lasers and running to the cave was already pushing him towards critical condition—
“Put down our friends!” A familiar voice boomed at the bigfoot. Loud footsteps swiftly drew near as Crash Mclarson appeared, already large in size. The remaining two Aquabats followed closely behind, jumping into action.
Eaglebones strummed on his guitar, shooting lasers at the monster— Lasers that were much more effective than Jimmy could muster at the moment. Ricky shot around the monster, managing to grab The Commander as the monster dropped him, yelping in pain.
Jimmy dragged himself out of the cave, now in critical conditions from lack of battery. The fact that The Commander made all of his circuits light up and fans whirr probably didn’t help conserve any power.
“Commander! You’re okay!” He exclaimed with relief, as he approached the other man and pulled him into a hug.
Crash Mclarson, Ricky Fitness and Eaglebones Falconhawk continued to fight the monster, using all of their power to chase it off into the forest.
“You came!” The Commander said, relief washing over his face. Jimmy’s arms were still wrapped tightly around him, and MCBC had one arm raised to hold onto one of Jimmy’s metal arms.
“We heard loud footsteps so we came to see if you were okay!” Crash Mclarson announced, kneeling down as he returned back to normal size and joining in on Jimmy and MCBC’s hug.
“Yeah! I’m glad we came looking for you” Eaglebones added, as both him and Ricky joined in on the group hug.
MCBC tried to hide the tears beginning to form in his eyes but it was a challenge; He was just so happy that both himself and Jimmy were alright. He had never felt so relieved, apart from maybe that time Eaglebones’s quick thinking and Pilgrim boy had saved The Aquabats from the giant cricket.
“I love you guys” He finally said.
“We love you too, Commander!”
“I’m just glad you’re both okay!”
“We’re always here for you!”
The lack of a response from Jimmy was painfully obvious, and he felt Jimmy’s weight on him especially now, knowing his power was critically low.
“We should head back to the Battletram” MCBC sighed, “Let’s not go camping again for a while, ay?”
“Good plan…” Jimmy managed to respond, his voice quiet as he powered down.
“Ah! Robot. Glad you’re awake” The Commander said with obvious relief on his face.
“Commander, I wasn’t injured, I just needed to recharge” Jimmy smiled, unsure why The Commander was looking so relieved.
“I guess you’re right.” MCBC responded, beckoning The Robot to sit down next to him on a beanbag. It was nice to be back in The Battletram, they had all had enough camping for at least a year after yesterday.
Jimmy sat down next to him, taking a deep breath and leaning back. It had been stressful for all of them, and to get a chance to sit next to The Commander in what he considered was a comfortable silence was all he wanted.
After a few moments, MCBC broke the silence.
“So… Did you really mean to kiss me?” he asked, nervously “Or was your low power just making you delirious or something?”
Jimmy took a second to remember what happened. Seeing The Commander nervous was such a weird sight, and he had already seen enough of it the previous day.
“I… kissed you?” Jimmy finally responded “My battery was so low, I didn’t know if I imagined it or not”
“Yeah, you did” The Commander quickly responded, the feeling of worry still plastered on his face.
“I’m sorry, Commander. I shouldn’t have done that without asking. I hope you don’t think any less of me.” Jimmy responded, unsure what to make of the situation. He had been wanting to kiss MCBC for such a long time, and when he finally gave in he could hardly remember it?!
“Think any less of you?” The Commander laughed at the absurdity of the robot’s statement. “It was the best kiss I ever had” He finally admitted, leaning against Jimmy.
“…Really, Commander?” Jimmy responded, his fans beginning to whirr like they usually did when he was alone with MCBC.
“Yeah… But if it was an accident we can just pretend it never happened” MCBC said, his tone now more disappointed.
Instead of responding, Jimmy placed one metal hand onto The Commander’s cheek, turning his face towards his own before pulling him closer. This kiss was more passionate than before, it was deeper and longer, closed lips pressing against each other before MCBC reluctantly pulled away to breathe.
“Commander, I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time” Jimmy admitted in his polite and calming voice that The Commander loved so deeply.
“Me too, robot” MCBC responded, wrapping his arm around the other man and leaning his head onto his shoulder.
They both couldn’t have wished for a better outcome.