ニトロマン

Blade put his hands up defensively. “I swear I’m not! I was just worried about you.” He rubbed the back of his helmet.

“Well Blade, they say that variety is the spice of life.” Nitro cheerfully reasoned in response to the taller robot admitting this was his first time being set up with someone.

Magic let out a little nasal giggle and bowed. “It’s such a special ocassion, after all. THE Nitro Man and THE Magic Man together at long last.” After handing Nitro the bottle, which was probably big enough for a full glass each (since it would be a hassle to hide anything bigger from his previous handlers,) He rummaged around in his hat yet again. “Hmm, no… Not this…” He made a show of it, pulling up first a bouquet, then some sort of toy cat, stuffing them both back in before procuring… a mason jar, must to his disgust. “Oh, ew.” This huge place should have had a few DECENT drinking glasses, He tried once again to pull something from the area, his long fingers bringing up something more akin to his liking. “There we are.” A set of short, rounded glasses. Not bejewled champagne flutes, but it was something. Whoever owned these was probably going to be pissed, but they’d never know who took them.

“Oh man, it’s doofy!” Nitro exclaimed as the toy cat had been pulled out, and stuffed back into the magical hammer space hat right before his very eyes. The stuntbot was thoroughly enjoying himself, having never actually witnessed any sort of a magic trick before. He was pretty lucky to say that his first would be a private showing from THE Magic Man himself.

Blade looked back and stared at Nitro’s hand. He slowly took him for a small shake. “I’ve missed you too… I’m sorry.” He sadly smiled.

“S’not really a problem.” Nitro muttered almost childishly, his head drooping a little toward the floor as Blade patted the back of his helmet. “Okay, it is, but it’s my problem! And... and... you’ve got way too many problems on your own, while I’ve hardly got any!”

Blade flinched. He didn’t think Nitro would ever yell at him like that… He stared at him sadly. “Oh…” Now he felt like a jerk. 

Feeling equally like a jerk, Nitro threw his hands up in the air before pacing a huffy circle.

“You think it’s about winning? I’m talking about keeping you safe!” Blade frowned. “How could you trust any of them?! Who knows what sort of trouble they’ll get you into?! You could get yourself killed just by even associating with them!”

"I KNOW that!” Nitro shot back, Blade’s uproar apparently contagious enough for him to have raised his voice. “You think I don’t know that??” 

“Shit, I knew I should have worn the platforms,” he thought, but spoke nothing of it. He HAD been applauded, so he mustn’t have been too underwhelming. Ugh, the thought of not being dazzling enough made his proverbial skin crawl. Still, he smiled all the same and readied his next act. Snapping, his cane fell into his right hand, and then his hat plopped into the left. 

“Ack,” Nitro so eloquently blurted. “You didn’t tell me we were bringing presents!” Fumbling with his empty hands for a minute, they fell to his sides when Magic had produced a cane and top hat from out of thin air.

“Crash Man…” The name sounded familiar but where did he hear it from- Wait a minute… 

Head sinking into his neck a little, Nitro chuckled sheepishly. He’d been expecting that reaction, but it didn’t stop it from being awkward. He didn’t really have a good excuse for himself for seeing one of the creations of their enemy.

“I think Plum’s a little too out of my league.” Blade sheepishly chuckled. “I’m sure she’s already gotten enough folks trying to date her…”

“There’s no such thing as out of your league!” Nitro replied quickly, his opinion on the matter quite final. The stuntbot’s pluckiness was rivaled only by his hard-headedness, apparently.

With a flash of light and a plume of red smoke, Magic apparated a few feet from Nitro, one hand on his hip and the other straight up in the air. “Alakazam, here I am!” Seems he’d gone for a red blazer and fitted trousers ensemble with no shortage of sequins. Two pieces of the same color… a bit safe, but it was his first time meeting a movie star who was also a robot master. He flashed a smirk at Nitro and fluttered his three sets of false lashes.

Hopping at the explosive entrance, Nitro’s face lit up like Christmas. “Bravo!” He exclaimed, the sound of his applause slightly muffled by his gloves as Magic drew closer.

Elec Man

Blade couldn’t help from making a small laugh. It was nice to know that Nitro didn’t seem any different from before. “If you want to. I’m not picky on who I date. I guess if it’ll help, I’m really into feminine folks.”

The stunt bot let out a none too mature sounding giggle at the thought. “Used to think that, but nobody messes up at that kind of stuff more than me.” 

“True. They have been helpful when it counts.” Blade chuckled. Maybe he could try to do something to get more used to them. Besides hoping to find his linemates, he didn’t have much to do in his free time. It’ll help him in the long run too.

Nitro slowly lowered his hand, no longer scandalously stage whispering toward his linemate, though his eyes did narrow skeptically up at the taller bot.

“Ever since I’ve been seized and made to work at the museum. The curator only agreed to let me work there if they gave me hands instead of my swords. I’m already a liability, so my case workers wanted to prove that I’m not a threat. While I’m glad I have functional limbs now, it still feels odd to use them…”

It broke Nitro’s heart to hear Blade so nonchalantly call himself a liability like that. Anything that’d happened before really hadn’t been their fault; it could’ve happened to anyone.

“Hands? Since when?” Nitro awed, having been about two seconds away from ducking out of the way of Blades’ sword when instead he’d felt the gentle clap of a palm against a pauldron.

Blade’s eyes became solemn hearing what happened with Nitro. So he wasn’t the same from before… The thought of Wily getting his comeuppance sounded good to him right now, but better to not worry about that at the moment. It seemed that Nitro remembered him no matter what sort of damage he had. Maybe he could get Nitro to remember more…

Nitro laughed. “That’d be something!” He remarks, taking a moment to consider it. They really hadn’t all been together since the whole Roboenza thing. Would they get along as well as he hoped they would?