“ a ... mission? ” he grinned, mostly out of nerves. of course this wasn’t going to be easy. protoman had never been in any situation like this, he never had a necessity for it. megaman was beginning to second guess himself, but he couldn’t say this was a mission. “ no, not quite ... ”

                                             ah, and he ended up making protoman worry on top of that ... this was getting pretty awkward. well, at least to megaman. protoman probably didn’t realize what was happening here. which made this even worse. he probably didn’t even want to do something like this ... even if megaman said it was just a casual thing, but it was too late to go back now, and it was certainly not the first time megaman looked stupid in front of protoman. 

                                 as soon as protoman kissed him, megaman completely lost his train of thought. he was certain then he’d been rambling, as he often did when he was excited. he tried to tone it down, especially when they started dating, because he didn’t want protoman to feel as if megaman dominated their conversations, but -- “ ... what? ”

                                   only in the dead of night would megaman talk about these things, when lan was fast asleep, and megaman made sure to turn the speakers down so lan couldn’t hear him. but even then, he only spoke about it when he had to -- when his dad or mom brought it up, but even then, it wasn’t often ( and never was it about his feelings ). so the thoughts laid in the recesses of his mind, waiting until everything was quiet and megaman was alone before they finally engulfed him. he couldn’t escape unless he forced himself into sleep mode, and even then, he had dreams. no, memories. memories that didn’t belong to him-- no, memories that shouldn’t belong to him. 

                                                 “ ... when i ... was created, i wasn’t created to be a navi. well, of course i was, because lan was going to need a navi eventually, but ... no, that’s not it at all. my programming is just the body. i was meant to be the incarnation of their son. ” of course, protoman already knew that. he was there when lan’s dad told lan about hub.

                                 a virus? this whole situation was odd. why would protoman go to megaman about a virus? and such a strange virus at that ... it didn’t sound like a virus at all ... rather, it sounded like an emotional issue. protoman wasn’t really the type to be outwardly emotional, though ... but maybe that was the problem. 

                                              he felt his face heat up when protoman mentioned the incidents that caused the ‘ malfunction. ’ when megaman had hugged him ... protoman malfunctioned? was it ... “ i - is it me, then ... ? ” he hadn’t meant to say that out loud. he felt more and more flustered as he kept thinking about it. “ wouldn’t enzan do something if you had a virus ... ? ” when protoman had been deleted in the past, enzan’s first priority had been getting protoman back. besides, enzan had even mentioned having protoman’s entire code memorized. wouldn’t he be aware of a problem even if the pet itself didn’t detect it? 

                                hub had been talking a bit, mostly about nothing, so he noticed when protoman had just started staring at him. at first he thought he was just listening to him, but he could tell that that wasn’t it. that something was on his mind. “ ... hey, what’s wro-- ”

                                            ah. without warning, protoman pulled him into a hug. well, it barely counted as a hug to most people since he was holding onto megaman so loosely, but from protoman, it was a hug. he didn’t have any time to feel embarrassed about it, though, because it was followed by a statement that made megaman’s non-existent heart break. i’m going to miss you. megaman was certain protoman hadn’t said that to anyone before. but ... to say it like that, right now, all of a sudden ...

                                 “ what’s gotten into you all of a sudden ...? ” his voice is soft, seeped of confidence when he hears protoman speak in a tone he’s rarely heard from the navi. he’s used to the strong, confident, collected protoman -- though, megaman of all people knows what it’s like to hide behind a mask. no matter how strong one tried to appear, that didn’t change the fact that people-- navis-- have emotions. megaman spent a lot of time wondering if it was fair for scilab to give them such feelings without permission. if he had been told beforehand what having emotions would entail, then ... no, he would still want them. despite the fear of losing those he cared for, he wouldn’t want to be unable to understand the pull in his chest when protoman spoke to him like that, saying words full of ... full of ... no, he was reading too much into it. still ... even though it wasn’t as strong as megaman felt for protoman, the feeling was still there and that was what mattered.