Love During Robot Fighting Time: Chapter 30

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And now, back to our regularly scheduled nerdy romcom shenanigans!

***

Zeke

My arms were wrapped around Katie’s hips as I made out with her, lips on hers, tongue feeling hers. The beginnings of her bust tickled her as we pressed together and her falsies mashed against her delicate chest, and she wouldn’t stop giggling and squealing. 

For more reasons than one, mind you: my girl was championship-bound. 

Now all I had to do was meet her there. 

“Is it my turn yet?” Faith asked, leaning forward and offering a glimpse at her cleavage. 

Kate and I met eyes and nodded at each other, and I scooped Faith up into a bridal carry while Kate cupped the smaller girl’s cheeks in her hands and planted a kiss on her lips. 

For what it’s worth, I’m sure I sounded like a certain kind of guy when I say I love watching my girlfriends make out with each other. And I didn’t not get turned on by it, but also it was just… Lovely. They were both so beautiful, and they cared for each other so much. What the three of us had was multiplicable, growing and growing with each moment any or all of us were together. And part of me… Maybe part of me deep down was worried that there were things that the two of them would share that I’d never be a part of, that I could never even hope to understand or comprehend. They were both girls, they were both trans, they both had parents’ that actually loved them. They were both miles smarter than I was. But when they stopped kissing each other and both pointed their eyes towards me, any and all fears I had evaporated. I  was a part of them, just as they were part of me and part of each other. We all went together. We all fit together. 

The only question was ‘who to kiss first?’

Kate answered for me when she pushed Faith’s face towards mine and we locked lips. God, carrying her in my arms felt good. Images sparked inside my mind, of carrying her past the threshold of a new house while she wore a white dress that moments later I tore off of her with my teeth.

I would do anything for this woman. 

I would do anything for either of these women. 

But for both of them… For both of these women, I could do anything. 

Including win this fight tonight. 

“Oh get a room, you perverts,” Haverfield’s nasally, serpentine voice snarled as he wheeled Ansible past us. 

“Not until we get done schooling your pathetic ass, Haverfield,” I said, eyes narrow as I set Faith down on her feet and held her close to me. 

He quite literally throbbed with rage, fists balled, neck-vein bulging, eyes wide and breathing frenzied. He opened his mouth, and a river of slurs came pouring out. I lunged forward, fists raised, but I stopped when I felt two hands tugging at the back of my shirt: my girlfriends didn’t want this fight. They wanted a different one.

“Little bitch,” Haverfield said before spitting at my feet. He skulked away, fists still clenched while his arms hung limp at his sides. 

I grinded my teeth together while plotting all the ways I’d subjugate this hateful bastard to my wrath inside the ring. But at the same time, recognition sparked inside my mind. 

The wall at Gaines’. 

My eyes shot open, and I turned to look at Katie. Going by the look on her face, she was having the exact same thought as me. 

Kate started, “Did he-”

“I think he did.”

“The gym,” Faith said, pulling both of us into a huddle. “You guys are talking about-”

“Yeah,” Kate and I said simultaneously. 

“Shit.”

“We have no evidence, though,” Kate said. 

“You’re right,” I said. 

Faith shook her head. “We don’t need it. We just need to get him to fess up. Get most folks mad enough, secrets come spilling out.”

Kate smirked. “I don’t think that’ll be too much of a problem where Haverfield is concerned.”

“But that’s assuming he did it,” Faith said. 

“He just quoted that wall of hate-speech verbatim,” I pointed out. 

“Yeah, because he’s a bigoted asshole, and none of those were uncommon slurs where the three of us are concerned,” Faith pointed out. She blinked once, then added, “I really hate that there are common and uncommon slurs- too many bad words that all mean the same terrible things.”

“I don’t disagree,” Kate said. “On either count. The Portmans’ have just as much motive, and they’re arguably about as terrible as Haverfield is. Same with Olivia-”

“It wasn’t Olivia,” Faith said. “That’s not me defending her, that’s just me being honest: she’s way too much of a straight-shooter to do something like that.”

“She’s right,” I said. “Olivia’s not stupid or impulsive, she’s just a linear-thinker. It would never even occur to her to do something like this.”

“Fair point,” Kate nodded. “I’ll defer to you guys on that. So it was either Haverfield, the Portmans, or…”

“Or who?”

Kate blinked. “I almost don’t wanna say it yet. Let’s just… Proceed with the whole ‘piss off Haverfield so bad he spills any beans he me or may not have’ plan and take it from there, okay?”

“Works for me,” I said.

“Same here,” Faith said. 

That was when my phone alarm went off. It was fight time. 

“Speaking of which,” Faith smiled. She gave me a peck on the cheek and said, “You ready for this, big guy?”

I put on my winningest smile and said, “Hell yeah I am.”

***

“IT’S! ROBOT FIGHTING TIME!!!!” boomed the announcer. “In the Red Square: this ‘bot will destroy you at the speed of light. It’ll drag you all across space and time, and leave you DISPOSSESSED! IT’S… ANSIBLE!!!”

I’d like to say something about how nobody cheered for Haverfield… But that would just be patently untrue. Plenty of people cheered for him, plenty clapped for him. It was normal. It was expected. 

And it still pissed me off. “I guess some people really do like you, Haverfield,” I chirped, wearing my best smug-douchebag-smirk. “Who woulda thunk it?”

“Oh shut up, you little brat,” he snarled at me from across the stage while the commentators said their bit. 

“AND IN THE BLUE SQUARE!” the announcer continued. “This bot KNOWS THE DRILL! It gets STRAIGHT TO THE POINT! It’ll get your SCREWS LOOSE and PLUG YOU FULL OF HOLES! IT’S… DAI GURREN!!!”

Faith and I did a few steps of our waltz, drinking in the limelight, hoping beyond hope we could make it past this one. Haverfield looked downright apoplectic, eyes bulging so wide I thought they’d pop out of his skull. 

We wheeled DG into the battle box, and Haverfield just kept glaring at us from across the way. I drummed my fingers on my thighs while Faith breathed slow, steady breaths in and out her nostrils. “You ready?” I whispered into her ear. 

“You’re at my side, aren’t you?” she turned and said to me in a soft voice. 

“Of course I am.”

“And you always will be?”

“Until the end of the world,” I answered. “And maybe even a few days after that.”

She smiled, and in an instant, I was pulled back to the night we met, the first time we’d spoken in that cafeteria, the first time I’d seen her light up and show off those pearly-whites, when she’d first shown me the plans for her robot. 

For our robot. 

“I love you,” we said at the same time, and then we both paused and blinked and chuckled. Then, again at the same time, we both said, “I love you too.”

“Oh my fucking God,” Haverfield groaned. 

We both gave covert middle fingers, making sure to keep out of the camera’s view. Honestly, it felt like we didn’t even have to try to piss him off- us being happy seemed like enough to set his blood boiling.

What a fucking loser.

“ ROBOTS! ACTIVATE!”

And away we went. 

We flanked him on opposite sides, DG bearing left while I drove G to the right. Haverfield went after DG first, so I went in from behind to puncture his back-left tire. That, however, was when he reversed course, and I very narrowly swung out of the way before he flattened me. I pivoted and shot after his side, hoping to sever the connective wire that kept his horizontal buzzsaw spinning. He kept up his reverse-course while Faith and I gave chase. Bastard had upped his speed significantly over the course of the season, and he weaved out of the way of the screws just in time for DG to nearly crash into them. 

Nearly, like I said. Still, Faith muttering profanity under her breath hammered home how bad that could have been. 

“Steady, Faithy, steady,” I said. 

“Right,” she said. 

Haverfield came rushing back towards us, and we both charged him together. I tilted G’s drill upwards as I snuck underneath Ansible’s blade, then shoved the drill into the spinner and jammed the thing. Haverfield screamed as he powered forward, but I held my ground as DG caught up and punctured him with all of her drills, and together we ripped Haverfield apart. Haverfield pushing forward only caused us to eviscerate more and more of him, and when ten seconds passed and we pulled away, Ansible’s primary weapon fell off. 

It clattered on the floor, no longer anything but a hunk of metal. 

Haverfield screamed, and screamed, and screamed, but we just kept at him, ramming and puncturing and drilling and pushing him back into a corner until there was nothing behind him but the rotating screws. Frothing at the mouth with rage, he charged us, and we both dodged and then took him from behind. I got his wheels, Faith his engine. 

And then, he stopped. 

No movement, no noise, nothing. 

Even Nate Haverfield himself was rendered silent. 

“10! 9! 8!” the countdown began. 

Faith and I started our waltz together before it was even over, and we finished, Haverfield had already stormed off. 

As we put our robots on the sledge, I watched Haverfield skulking down the hallway and into the pits. 

“Hey, Faith?” I said. 

“Go,” Faith said. 

“A-are you sure. Don’t you want me to-”

“Go find out the truth,” Faith said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “For us, and for our girl.”

I nodded, then I gave chase and followed Haverfield out the door and into the parking lot. “Haverfield!” I called after him. “Haverfield! Hold up a second!”

He stopped short and turned around and glared at me, snarling, fists bunched, eyes shooting not just daggers but full on swords. “What the fuck do you want, you little shit? Are you done trying to humiliate me?!”

I breathed out slowly. “No, actually, I’m not.”

He stood in front of his car, an old and beat-up looking pick-up truck with a faded red paint job. “Okay then, asshole, let’s go-”

I didn’t wait for him to finish. I just punched him in the nose. He stumbled backwards and landed against his car, then tried to charge at me. I tripped him as he ran forward, and he face-planted on the concrete. “Ahh, fuck!” he groaned. 

I fought off the urge to kick him while he was down, and settled for asking, “Why’d you do it, Nate?”

“Do what?!”

“Gaines’ facility,” I said. 

“What about it?”

“Why’d you rob the place? Why’d you graffiti it with slurs?”

 “What the hell are you talking about, boy?” he said, rolling over and looking at me while clutching his bloody nose. 

“Don’t play dumb, Nathan, I’m really not in the mood. You made my girlfriend have a panic attack, and I don’t take that lightly,” I said, beginning to reconsider kicking him while he was down. 

He lowered his head, letting me take in the full glory of his bloodied face. “Newsflash, asshole! It wasn’t me! I didn’t even know about that until you told me just now!”

“Why should I believe you?”

He gaped at me. “Fuck, man, I dunno. Look, I get it, you and I don’t like each other, and I definitely don’t like your weird little relationship you’ve got with Watanabe and Calloway, but I’m not a monster, and I’m definitely not a criminal. It. Wasn’t. Me.”

I loomed over him, fists balled, jaw clenched. What to do now. It was my word against his, I had no proof-

“He’s telling the truth,” came a voice from across the parking lot. We both looked over and saw Kate approaching us, utter defeat and misery pouring off of her. “He didn’t do it. They caught the guy who did it. Check your phone- I just sent you the headline.”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, opened the link Kate texted me. ‘Local businessman arrested for insurance fraud.’

I looked up and let my mouth hang open while I locked eyes with Kate. Her arms hung limp at her sides. Gaines did it to himself, to collect the money, and probably to have an excuse to cut ties with Kate. 

“Uh, what’s going on?” Haverfied said. 

“Just go home, Haverfield,” Kate said absently. “My boyfriend is sorry for hitting you, even if you started it.”

“Uh, right,” I nodded. 

“Whatever. Time to cut my losses and walk away,” Haverfield said. “If I come back next season, we’ll settle this in the battle box then. Have a nice life, ya’ weirdos.”

Kate and I stood there, staring at each other while Haverfield lumbered into his car and drove away. Finally, I walked towards her and said, “Kate, I-”

“It’s okay,” Kate said. “Haverfield… He’s a jerk. And we both assumed the worst.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I said, closing the gap between us, putting my hands towards her shoulders. 

She shied away. “I, uh, I need to be alone right now.”

“Are you sure-”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry if I-”

“It’s nothing you’ve done,” Kate said. “I just… I dunno, this all just really stings, and I think I need some space to lick my wounds.”

“I completely understand,” I said. 

Kate nodded. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Say good night to Faith for me, okay?”

She turned and walked away, down the lot and into her own truck already loaded up with her robot, before I could even respond. 

Faith came out the side-exit of the arena as Kate’s car started up. Kate drove away as Faith caught up to me. 

“Hey,” Faith said. “I heard the news. Where’s-”

“Home,” I said. “She’s… She’s gonna need some time to process this one.”

“Okay,” Faith nodded. “I just… I hope she’s ready in time for next week.”

I blinked, and the full gravity of the situation finally hit me: Kate was going to the finals next week, her sponsor was in LA County lockup waiting on bail, she had no money, and her opponents were… 

Her boyfriend and her girlfriend. 

And with that knowledge, I watched my girlfriend, and my soon to be opponent, drive away, a hideous knot of dread and angst threatening to strangle my heart.