Pride

"Father?  Didn't you say that you didn't like Courtney Gears the other night?"

Gadget stood by his creator, Dr. Nefarious, waiting patiently for the evil scientist to finish setting up yet another contraption to rid (and fail) of Ratchet and Clank and take over the whole universe...again.  It was a rather hot day on planet Veldin, and the only reason they were even in the Solana Galaxy and not Polaris was that Captain Qwark was to supposedly speak at a traditional event on the planet, meaning Ratchet and Clank will be there.  Nefarious looked up at his creation.

"Yes!  I did!  I DESPISE THAT ANNOYING SINGER!!"  Nefarious screamed.

"Then why did you hire her again for this mission?" Gadget cocked his head.

"Because she hates squishies as much as I do....no offense."  Nefarious stated and then realized something, "Have you gotten in contact with Klunk to see if he was on his way?"

Before the yellow lombax could reply, a door behind the two slammed open only to reveal a very hot, sweaty AND appearance-wise to Gadget (cue the blush), and extremely annoyed Klunk.  Gadget was always excited to see his master, but as the days went by, the yellow lombax knew better than to greet the other while in this state.  The result: not pretty and tears.

"IT'S FRICKIN HOTTER THAN SATAN'S SEX DUNGEON OUT THERE!!!" Klunk ranted while ripping off his sunglasses and carrying a bunch of supplies that he shoved in his slave's chest.  Gadget let out a grunt as he managed to grasp everything his master practically threw at him.  

"Take this and come with me, now."  Klunk demanded as he went in the other direction with Gadget on his tail.

"My my, letting off some steam with your slave in another room, I see?"  Nefarious provoked the grey lombax, just to twist the knife even more.  

Klunk froze and twitched with a blush.  Did he really just....?  How...DARE him!  And in front of his slave of all people!?  The grey lombax figured the doctor would do or say something like that...on purpose!  Nefarious was clearly a genius for reason.  He knew about the feelings the two lombaxes had for one another, and he's seen how they each react to the other while together or separate.  He even caught what Klunk spewing about what the other lombax did to him on a recording tape!  To the doctor, Klunk was the most fun to poke at, despite the grey lombax's threats.  

"Master?  A-Are you feeling ill?"  Klunk snapped out of his fuming and faced his slave.  Big mistake on his part because this is one of the many characteristics that gets always gets the grey lombax good.  Gadget looked so worried for him, it was as if his master was injured badly.  His eyes were so beautiful to Klunk whenever his slave was like this, or happy.  They were a deep violet, but to Klunk they were two orbs with supernovas inside of them that he could just stare into for hours if he could.  Klunk realized his face was getting hotter, and not from the heat, and snapped out of it before dragging his slave into the other room with him.

"Piss off, Doctor!"  Klunk yelled, to make it seem he didn't care for the jest, "I'm not going to you OR butler's bloody marriage ceremony!"  He slammed the door but only to hear the doctor not screaming in rage, but laughing his skinny robotic butt off.  Klunk groaned in embarrassment.  He kept his pride in check, though.

Gadget was confused,  "What were you two talking about?"

"An annoying inside joke.  Your fragile mind wouldn't understand."

"Hey!"

Klunk rolled his eyes and hid a smirk from his slave's reaction.  He found it...charming to tease him like that.  Oh god, what has that lombax done to him?  The grey one was turning into a lovesick fool for him!  Klunk was aware of how a romantic relationship with a slave is practically laughable but sometimes he didn't care of it.  If there was one thing Klunk hoped to Orvus for, it was that Gadget didn't get his hands on that blasted tape Nefarious recorded him on.  But he was certain he had possession of the tape recorder and had it in his room.....right?  Klunk snapped out of his thoughts when he saw his slave gawking and blushing at him.  It took him a minute to realize that, oh yeah, he was changing shirts.  Now his bare, very well-toned, sweat drenched torso was in full view.  How did he even do this without realizing what he was even doing it, anyway?  Must have been the past robot in him.  Klunk could've tortured his slave with this and take it somewhere else, but no.  Instead he shot him a mild glare.

"You have three seconds to hand me another shirt before I rip your eyes out of your sockets."  And with that, he got one in under two.  Before he could say anything else, he noticed flashes of light from afar.  He knew who it was for.

"Crap!  She's here early!"  Klunk exclaimed and grabbed Gadget, "Gadget, I need you to go tell Nefarious Miss Gears is here.  Go!  Do it!"  As Gadget ran to go get the doctor Klunk grabbed a megaphone and made an announcement to Nefarious' robotic crew, "Attention, peasants.  Courtney Gears is here, and I need you all to look like you just busted a nut....and a bolt."  

Klunk hurried out in time with a new, burgundy colored shirt on since the black one smelled of sweat and shame and saw Nefarious in a cursing fit for about five seconds until Miss Gears walked into the room with a bored expression on her face.  

"Hello, Miss Gears!" Nefarious was a grand actor for guests as he extended his hand out, "It's SO nice to see you again!  Thank you for visiting on such short notice!  Oh and...congratulations on your comeback performance tonight!"

The robotic pop star sneered, "I don't shake hands with failures."  What a delightful young lady!  Lawrence, the butler, nearly applauded her for that.  "Just kidding!" She gave a fake smile, "Always good to see you too, Doctor~" She gave him a wink and blew a kiss much to the doctor's annoyance.  

Klunk smirked at the doctor.  Courtney may be crude, but if she keeps this up, this day may not be so bad.  However, he looks over at Gadget to see that his slave is getting all joyful and bubbly while admiring Miss Gears, even if she gave him a disgusted look.  Was he...CRUSHING on her!!?  What if he goes after her and leaves for good?  Klunk didn't want to jump to conclusions, but for Gadget's sake, it mattered.  That made Klunk forget what he thought of this 'pop star'.  He let out a growl, envy and irritation seeping from it.  Of course, that caught Nefarious' attention.

"Ah, Courtney!"  Nefarious motioned Klunk to come forth, "You remember Klunk?  There was a slight....accident that made him into a lombax, but nonetheless he's still the same."

"Well in that case, don't let 'it' or its 'pet' near me.  I don't want to have to re-polish my body from their diseases."  Courtney gave Klunk the same disgusted look, whereas Klunk returned the same look.

"You wouldn't have been my type if I had remained a robot...trust me."  Klunk replied and walked past her, purposely bumping into her, and grabbed Gadget by the wrist.

"Let's go."  

Gadget phased out of his fantasizing as he got jerked slightly into the next room, and looked at his master in bewilderment, "B-But master-!"  He got jerked into a closer space with Klunk to where he was brushing noses with him, making Gadget blush more.

"We are leaving the room and will NOT negotiate with them, especially Gears.  Do you understand?"  Klunk gritted his teeth and glared daggers into Gadget, making his statement crystal clear.

"Y-Yes, sir."  Gadget stuttered.

Klunk then released his slave and got out of the close distance so the two can proceed with their part of the plan...and hopefully things didn't heat up some more, if you know what I mean.

~~~

That little warning Klunk gave to Gadget helped...slightly.  Apparently the warning left a couple of major loop holes by not specifically saying to not look at, think about, or mention/ask about Courtney Gears.  It took forever for the two lombaxes to finish whatever had to be done for the mission because Gadget would not stop making goo-goo eyes at the robotic pop star.  The yellow lombax almost fell off the ladder twice because of it!  Klunk had no sympathy for it, because the yellow lombax deserved that in his opinion.  Whenever gadget sat there day dreaming about Orvus knows what (Klunk thought it was Courtney again), something almost would go wrong or blow up.  Klunk had to save Gadget on those times, much to his annoyance or pleasure to be the knight in shining armor.  However, Klunk didn't really mind when Gadget asked about the pop star because then he could lie and make up something awful to have Gadget dislike her a bit.  

"Do you think she likes cookies?" Gadget asked Klunk.  The other didn't hesitate for a minute.

"No, no.  She likes to eat the heads of babies." Klunk calmly stated before looking to find something and frowned, "Hm....we're short on missiles.  No matter, I have a spare set in my ship because the doctor is an idiot.  Gadget, go to to ship and get the box of missiles.  It's the metal crate in the back.  Use the cart if you must, but it shouldn't be that heavy for you."

"Do you need anything to drink while I go it it, master?" Gadget asked in the sweetest way possible.

Klunk gulped and kept his head low in the contraption, "Actually a water would be great.  Don't care if it's cold or not."  He heard Gadget leave and by the time the grey lombax was alone, he collapsed and nearly fell to the ground himself.  He cursed under his breath while holding his hand tightly over his heart.  Whatever Gadget was doing to him was torture....and Klunk may be enjoying it.

While Klunk was having an emotional episode, Gadget made his way to his master's ship.  By the time the yellow lombax stepped outside from the hideout, he instantly regretted it.  When Klunk said it was hotter than Satan's sex dungeon, he was NOT lying.  Good thing there was a voice command on the ship in order for it to be unlocked so Gadget didn't have to touch the metal; that would've sucked if he did.....and it also would've sucked if his master caught him with a certain tape recorder.  Then again, Gadget hadn't known of it at the time, but curiosity did get to him when Klunk shoved the equipment into his chest earlier and saw that little baby along with it all.  Gadget saw the tape recorder had something on it, but he didn't have time to hear what it was for himself.  So for Klunk to send him to get the extra missiles was a good time to do so.  Gadget pulled his headphones out, plugged them in, and pressed play.  The recorder started as the yellow lombax pulled the crate out of the ship, along with two bottles of water.  Indeed, the crate was light enough for Gadget to manage.  However, he could care less about the crate.  What got his attention was the message that had his hand covering his mouth and blushing pretty hard.

"I....why?  Just why did the doctor do this to me??  He just HAD to create this...this....'partner' for me.  What did I even do to deserve someone so innocent and...and pure and....and....thoughtful....sweet....beautiful in every way-OH DEAR GOD!  What am I saying!?  I can't be falling for him!...right?  Ugghhh who am I kidding?  I practically blame BOTH the doctor and Gadget, more so Gadget.  He's torturing me...do I enjoy it?  I don't know?...yes??  My heart beats so fast when he looks at me.  His eyes are like heaven...a deep violet heaven.  And to make it worse, he's got looks that are killing me internally.  I can't lose him.  I don't care what's said or done, I won't let anyone else have him.  He's one of a kind in my eyes.  And I'll destroy anyone in any way possible to keep it that way if needed.  But why do I have my pride get the best of me?  I can't keep-"

Thump

Gadget was so mind-set on the recording, he had no idea where he was going and bump into something...or someone.  The recording stopped and Gadget fell onto the ground, crate and all.    Unfortunately. He didn't get the chance to apologize or anything...

"Uggghhh!!  It....touched me!"  It was Courtney Gears, still the same meanie as before,  "Now I have to re-polish myself AND delay my comeback thanks to you, you disgusting squishy!"

Gadget cowered a bit,  "I-I'm sorry!  I had no idea-"

"No!  It's too late!  You've already ruined everything!"  Courtney exaggerated, "But what does it matter?  You're nothing but a little, FAILED experiment Dr. Nefarious created for a robot clone, who YOU turned into a squishy!  Yeah, it's your fault.  Now both of you are but fails for the sake of robot kind.  At least I have millions of fans who love me AND my music..."  She kept twisting the knife into Gadget, nearly making him cry until....

"Did she tell you she also partook in a sexual video?  And that she was the Reactor's gold-digging hag at one point?"

Both turned their heads to see Klunk, leaning by the doorway with a look that was ready to kill.  Much to Gadget's joy, Courtney seemed to have an offended look on her face.  

"Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?" Courtney sneered.

Klunk shrugged and stepped closer, "Someone who can make anyone my bitch in seven seconds...what do you have to bring to the table, Gears?"

"You dare to even say that to my face??"

"I could..." Klunk got to about a foot to her and smirk, "But I choose to do this instead."  He took the bottle of water that fell on the floor, and poured some of it on Courtney Gears!  The robot was speechless, but just let out a disgusted shriek and walked out of the room.  Klunk merely shrugged, "Tch, it's a shame she's water-proof."

"W-Well..." Gadget stuttered, "you did destroy her in a possible way, right?"

Klunk thought about that for a second and hoped it wasn't what it meant, "...what is that suppose to mean?"  Then Klunk spotted the tape recorder that was connected with some headphones in Gadget's hand and froze.  It was what he feared.  Crap.  He assumed Gadget had heard a good lot of it too since he mentioned the 'destroy anyone' part.  Double crap.  "How did you-?"

"You shoved this in my face along with the outlines for our pet of father's mission." Gadget answered and smiled the tiniest bit to see his master somewhat vulnerable.  He then sniffed a bit, "Sorry I'm...still kinda upset of what that jerk star said to me and about you..."

Instead of threatening his slave to stop crying, Klunk did the unthinkable on his part, "Would this help?"

Klunk closed the gap between the two by pulling Gadget closer and met his lips with his own.  Oh how Klunk wanted to do this for a long time now!  Gadget let out a tiny squeak of surprise at first but he completely melted into the kiss.  Yes, this was helpful.  This was helpful by a LOT.  He wrapped his arms around Klunk with not regrets, which Klunk didn't mind one bit.  The closer they were to each other, the better the kiss was.  It felt like eons with this kiss, but sadly it had to break so the two lombaxes can breathe.  

"What....what about your pride, master?"  Gadget smiled and panted.

Klunk smirked and panted with the response, "Screw my pride."  

His smirk grew bigger when he dragged a giggly Gadget into the same room as before, continuing the kiss, and shutting the door behind them.