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In the nightly silence aboard the Great Fox, Falco crept from his bedroom. He walked through the corridor and past the other bedrooms, before pausing at the last one, staring quietly at the door. Falco reached toward it for a moment, but refrained from touching it, narrowing his eyes as he pulled his arm back. His heartbeat quickened, and he waited a minute for it to settle.
Sighing, he pivoted and wandered away from it, continuing to the bridge.
Entering the control room, he blinked at the massive monitor in the front of the room, which the team’s robot, ROB, focused on. He turned his head to Falco, who slipped aside and slinked over to a smaller desk and computer.
Waiting a moment, Falco tapped at the keyboard, wincing from the clicking keys, but carried on. He gazed at the files on the screen and moved to click on a photo folder.
“Awake again, Falco?”
Picking his head up, Falco narrowed his eyes at the robot, who had interrupted his silence. Hesitating and glancing back at the closed door, Falco sighed.
“Yeah, ROB.”
“A quick diagnostic could tell me that you need rest.”
“Bah, take that diagnosis and shove it…wait, ‘could?’ What?”
“Organic life, in order to function at optimal capacity, should—”
“No, what do you mean by ‘could?’ Didn’t you…?” Falco scratched behind his head while gesturing his body with his free hand, grimacing. “…Scan me?”
“I deemed it unnecessary, based on prior instances.”
“Huh?”
“It would not be the first time.”
Sulking and with a huff, Falco slumped into the seat, typing at the computer. Clicking through some files and folders, he sighed and gazed at several pictures of his team. He flipped through them, selecting only certain images.
“It’s not nearly enough.”
“The pictures of you and Fox?”
Hand slipping off from the keyboard and mouse, Falco’s eyes widened as sweat dripped from his head. He pushed up from his seat, feathered hands tightly gripping the desk. ROB, however, continued to monitor the Great Fox’s system, undeterred from Falco’s alarm.
“W…what did you—?”
“As part of my duties with monitoring the Great Fox, I am required to sort through all computer and personnel activities. You have been doing similar searches for several years, but it has increased frequently as of late.” Falco winced at ROB’s monotone, robotic report. “As of my past scan from last week, you have viewed select images featuring yourself with Fox.”
“So?”
“Exact count on number of images: 134. Number of viewings today, in total: 583.” Falco gawked as ROB paused, turning back to look at the dumbfounded bird. “Total number this past week alone: 23,976 views.”
Shuddering, Falco whipped his head around to shake off ROB’s assessment.
“Ok, so?!”
“There are no additional comments required. These are merely the results that I have collected.”
Falco balled up his fists, as he lowered his head.
“But…it sounds like—”
“You would call it an ‘obsession.’”
With an eye twitch, Falco slumped back down in his seat. Folding his arms, he stared at the monitor, studying a picture of Fox smirking in the foreground before a restaurant in Corneria City, with himself close behind Fox. Falco had a hand placed around Fox’s back, just below his shoulders, and held him rather tightly. In the background by the nearest table, a black clad blue dog stared at the pair, with an eyebrow raised and a knowing smirk on his face.
“It’s not really…” Falco looked up at ROB, who had returned to his work. Sighing, he pressed his hand against his beak, looking over the picture again. Settling his attention on the odd one out, his brow furrowed over the background canine. “…Dumb doggie shouldn’t even be there…”
Collapsing on his wings, Falco continued to watch the computer, clicking through several pictures. He groaned and pressed his head between his arms.
“ROB, come on, it can’t be that bad. It’s not an obsession, right?”
“That does seem like the apt word for it.”
Jumping up at the new voice, his voice, and whirling around, Falco’s eyes widened and locked in on Fox, who smiled as he rested against the open doorframe. Legs crossed, arms folded, and an air of confidence from him made Falco twitch and stumble as he picked himself up. Gripping at his chest, Falco winced as his heart hammered, and he returned his attention to Fox.
“How’d you get in without—?”
“Silenced the door sliding,” answered Fox, stifling a laugh at Falco’s dropped open beak. “You’re clearly not resting well enough if you didn’t even notice that.”
“That is what I stated,” chimed in ROB.
“Y-you should’ve told me that he was coming in,” snapped Falco. “Seriously ROB!”
“Negative. Fox explicitly wanted me to avoid that.”
“What?!” He shifted his attention between the robot and the team leader. “…Fox, what gives?!”
“Ha…I couldn’t resist planning this, after learning about everything.”
“Planning?! Learning about—?!”
“Who do you think oversees ROB’s diagnostics?" Fox paused and scratched a bit at his ear. "…Well, besides Slippy.”
“B-but…”
Air escaped Falco as he breathlessly watched Fox saunter over to the desk, smirking at the photos on the screen. His lips fell a bit, as he studied the same image of the close pair with the dog in the background.
“Who is that doggie anyway, and why does he look like he knows what's going on here?”
“Don’t know, but he's distracting.” Falco blinked, but then groaned and threw his arms up. “Don’t you go changing the subject, Fox McCloud! What’s this about?”
“Oh, I was hoping you could explain it to me.” Fox grinned as he rested his hand on the surface, drumming his fingers against the desk, as Falco failed to control his fidgeting from the tapping. “Staring at so many pictures of me, day after day, week by week…for how long was it, ROB?”
“Years.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
“ROB!”
“He needs to answer each and every one of my inquiries…unfortunately for you,” teased Fox as Falco fumed. “Sorry about that. I’m enjoying this a little too much.” Fox’s tail swished as he pointed at Falco. “Care to explain yourself?”
“What’s it matter to you, at this point?” Falco folded his arms and turned away from Fox. “You already get it.”
“Mm, a bit.” Fox pushed up and stepped behind Falco. “But you’ve been hiding this for years. All this time, I thought you…well.” Falco glanced back as Fox shrugged. “Regardless, you’ve held it in for so long. Why not just come out and set yourself free?”
“You sound like you want me to.”
“Try me.”
Falco turned back, dropping his arms and shuddering at his shorter companion. He swallowed hard and shook his head, glaring as his leader lowered his eyes, who smiled as he waited for the ace pilot to put the right words together. Sweat formed on his head as his heartbeat refused to settle.
“Fox, I…I…”
“Yes?”
“…I, uh, have a better idea.”
He reached around Fox and pulled him in for a hug, as Falco tightly locked his wings behind Fox’s back. Both tensed for a minute, then two, until Fox finally slid his arms around Falco’s back and waist. Falco rubbed around, as Fox’s head sank into his shoulder.
“Does this get the message across?”
“Not really,” whispered Fox. “You should try something more obvious.”
“Like what?”
Pulling away, Fox stared into Falco’s blue eyes. His lowered, as Falco shivered under his leader’s green-eyed gaze. He leaned closer, his breath hot on Falco’s beak, and Fox planted his lips against it, kissing gently.
Popping from Falco’s beak, Fox grinned as the bird’s wings slid down his body. Falco quivered and shook his head, dragging his arms back up. He twisted his head away from Fox, struggling to break eye contact.
“Um. I-I, uh…thanks.”
“Did you mean: ‘I love you?’”
“What?! ROB!”
Falco flushed as Fox laughed, and they slipped from their embrace. Returning to his duties for the Great Fox, ROB carried on without any more of his intrusions or reactions to Falco’s shouts. Waiting a second before poking Falco’s beak again, Fox winked at his teammate, who turned back to him.
“I love you too.”
Quietly, they stayed together, watching each other as they came back closer to one another. Sliding his hand beneath Fox’s chin, Falco slowly rubbed around, as Fox leaned closer to him. He jolted up as Fox’s hands rubbed his hips again, gently massaging him as Falco relaxed into him. Both blushed as they studied one another, taking in even the slightest expressions from one another.
Falco sat back down at the screen, with Fox now resting on his lap, as they clicked through the pictures. They came close together, Falco wrapping his arm beneath Fox’s, while Fox wrapped his tail around Falco’s waist, draping it around his tail as well.
While the pictures were quite nice, both agreed that this would be much better.