“Try it now!” A feminine voice hollered up the concrete stairs, out of view.
With a sigh leaving his lips, and his smaller yellow gloved hand reaching upward to grip the lever before him, a smaller framed boy stood in frustration, as he pulled downward on the rusty switch, an audible clunk filled the otherwise empty, dirty room, and was followed by an annoying silence.
“Nothing babe…One more time…?” He hollered down the stairs in reply, rubbing his snow white hair with the dirty glove, leaving slight traces of dust and debris, his patience waning.
“If you really want…This place ain’t getting juice, stop being stubborn.” The voice hollered back up the stairs, accompanied by crunching bootsteps ascending the stairs, the woman who spoke revealing herself. His annoyance was quickly replaced with a pang of happiness, at least he had her company.
Zera was nothing without company, for the years of chaos and uncertainty that he had dealt with since the Convergence, the destruction of normalcy itself, being a mercenary for the remnants of America that policed certain areas of the former nation, and the countless confusing situations he found himself in, if there was one certainty that he could rely on, it was friendship.
Some relationships he held were stronger than others, such was his relationship with Isabel, the curvy, light skinned female opened her arms, her dirty blonde hair flowing over her shoulders, the female’s figure as inviting as her smile as Zera walked into her embrace, holding onto his beloved for a moment as they shared a kiss.
She hardly minded that she had to lean downward to lock lips with her significant other, he was one of the most die-hard loyal men she had ever met, let alone dated. Sure his size, demeanor, and body made him seem not a day over thirteen by human standards, but the Atlantean had lived countless lives by that same ideology of lifespan, even more than the chubbier, taller woman who’s saliva was fresh on his supple lips.

She was a wonderful woman, Zera had no quarrel with that, but he had not envisioned himself in such a committed relationship with her, she was plopped headfirst into his life quite literally during one of the many conflicts the boy had found himself in, her body nearly another casualty of the battles he and his friends had endured. But here she was, arms wrapped around the adoring smaller male’s body, holding him close, almost too close as she was known to do, and at this moment in time while her love was appreciated it was difficult to focus on her neediness and the problem that sent them to this building to begin with.
“Well, we should probably get back, let them know this place is shot…” Zera said defeatedly, as he pulled back with a firm step in the opposite direction.
“I guess…You don’t think they’re gonna be pissed do you?…I tried my best…” Isabel replied with a whimper, looking down at the dirty concrete floor with a sigh.
Zera hardly knew what his colleagues would think of the mildly disappointing bad news, it wasn’t as if this situation was life or death, restoring power to an otherwise abandoned bunker on the outskirts of what was once the metropolis of Washington DC would of been very useful for their efforts, but it’s not like real estate for operations was lacking.
“I doubt it babe, just keep your head up, you’ve been through worse, and will be through worse.” Zera said, enthusiastically planting a punch to his girlfriend’s shoulder, which she chuckled at nervously.
“Y- yeah…Sure…” She replied, and followed Zera as he turned and headed for the door.
The pair strode along the dusty street, close enough to be unmistakable as a couple, but not having any form of hand holding contact, such public displays of affection were something that Isabel had adamantly denied in the past, much to the displeasure of Zera who believed the contrary, love being nothing to be ashamed of.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and they won’t even be there…” Isabel muttered, moreso to herself than her mate as they approached their destination step by step.
“Why would you want that? We still gotta let them know, you know how RB is with power issues…” Zera inquired with a glare to his girlfriend, stopping as he strode.
“Wh- what? No, I didn’t…Look I just hate dealing with them when they’re moody, you know how these people can be…” She firmly spoke, stopping as well, matching her boyfriend’s displeased face.

These people, ha, her subtlety was fading by the day. It had never been a problem for Zera given his own proclivities usually faded into obscurity while in her beloved company. But as work and friendship with his multiversal colleagues had become more commonly mixed in with his relationship with Isabel, he couldn’t help but notice her own disdain had been more and more prevalent with every time they met physically.
“What do you mean these people…They only have one thing in common babe…” Zera asked, hoping his gut feeling was just that, a feeling.
Isabel sighed and brushed her hair over her shoulder, her clean, still shining locks indicative of who was really doing the most work in that bunker, as she spoke in reply. “Look, you really need me to spell it out, it just gives me the creeps, okay? It’s bad enough we have to share bunks and spaces with them but…come on, with what they do?” She matter-of-factly spoke, as if her off putting words were just plainly commonplace. 
Zera sighed, he was hardly in the mood for a spat with her, when he already had bad news to deliver to the group, the last thing he needed was interpersonal melodramatics, his eyes simply rolled as he lifted his arm and pointed toward the red mahogany the pair were all too familiar with.
“Let’s just tell them, and get some rest, they won’t be here all day okay?” Zera spoke softly, as Isabel shrugged her shoulders and nodded her head, walking up the porch stairs and swinging the door open.
The two entered the spacious mansion, taken into possession by Zera some years ago, its blue shingled roof spire visible from hundreds of yards away, the Victorian design a proper representation of what the teen bodied Atlantean enjoyed, classy yet not overly assuming. The windows had taken some work to repair and maintain, but their white sills were a solid match for the grayish brown bricks that adorned the smokestack of the chimney. The couple entered the foyer and began discarding their extra clothing, the grimey work gloves being thrown from Zera’s hands to a nearby hamper, surely Hiccup would take care of the wash later, unlike his girlfriend’s priviness to get her hands and or hair dirty, the Viking Prodigy was always reliable on his tasks. Isabel was more dainty in her work clothing removal, meticulously removing her overalls, allowing for a split moment, her cleavage to be exposed to her excited, smiling mate, a view that was suddenly broken by soft-furred footsteps descending the atrium stairs at their left.
“I assume given you both look as if you’ve seen demons, it was unsuccessful?” Spoke the gruff, firm voice of the approaching, tall, blue furred rabbit, his arms crossed in disappointment toward Isabel as she only then chose to cover her chest, as if he was interested in such a revolting visage anyway.
“Yeah…I don’t think that place has seen light that wasn’t a candle…” Zera said coyly, rubbing behind his head, a soft red blush filling his face as he smiled toward Aster, the rabbit who simply shrugged his shoulders as if to brush off the stress.
“Well, be that as it may, our metal compatriot will be more disappointed than I…I believe he should be done whatever he is busy with soon.” Bunnymund softly spoke in reply, his eyes focusing purely on Zera’s frame.

Aster’s thoughts rarely didn’t wander when he was staring at the supple, young to the eye body of his colleague, his eyes never bothering to hide their surveying of his tender thighs, well toned smooth torso, and that wonderful rump he carried behind him. If not for the ball and chain that was his bigoted, disgusting tramp case of bad luck that had befallen their unit and friend group, perhaps he would of done more than look, but even the sole survivor Pooka had standards, though with each word the woman spoke, they crumbled more and more. “Gee, thanks for letting us know Aster, I’m excited to hear more people complain.” Isabel whined, finally letting her own displeasure known as she stomped away, her attitude more childish than Zera’s form, ushering a groan of annoyance from Aster’s maw. 
“S- She’s just…moody.” Zera raised his hand to the blue rabbit, trying his best to defuse the situation before it began.
“Isabel, always so angry, very annoying.” Spoke another voice, droning from behind the talking duo, the soft hum of flame audible as the door closed behind the source of the digital toned speaker.
“At least somebody here will speak their mind, candidly.” Aster smirked as he raised his hands. “Hello, Robotboy, sadly your new hide and seek destination will have to wait, the electricity was unrepairable despite Zera’s best efforts.” He spoke while greeting the small, yet well visioned automaton.
“Zera only? Isabel was there too.” Robotboy spoke curiously in reply, his small blue fingers rubbing over his metallic chin in confusion for a moment before chipperly speaking up. “Oh! She was not helpful. It was like she was not there!” He smiled as he was prideful of his deduction.
“Correct, wouldn’t you agree, Zera?” Aster grinned, turning his gaze to the Atlantean.
Zera sighed, he was so tired of these constant hassles of putting relationship versus friendships to the test, it never helped that Isabel found herself whining, crying, even screaming in jealousy toward their tenderness for him, perhaps she wouldn’t be such a forsaken outcast in their circle if she opened her mind, and possibly closed her loud mouth. 
“I suppose she could have been more useful, I’m not sure if she even did what I asked of her down in the breaker room…” Zera admitted, his words leaving his mouth before his brain could stop him in better reasoning.
Isabel, predictably, was right around the corner, eavesdropping on the conversation between the smooth, robotic boy, the handsome rabbit, and his own slender self, she immediately began bawling as she ran down the hallway, a slamming door following shortly thereafter.
“You deserve…Better” Robotboy spoke softly, his little feet tapping toward the clearly distressed Zera, embracing his waist, one of the few people that could look up to the smaller formed Atlantean properly.
“Thanks RB…Hey…Where’s everyone else?” Zera said as he ran his hand, instinctively over his digital friend’s scalp, emitting warm beeps from the excited boy beneath him.
“The dining room, we were waiting for you, I’m pretty sure Jake and Hiccup have finished the meal by now, thank the stars Fu isn’t here to have it all to himself.” Aster spoke, chuckling as he turned from them and walked toward the hallway that would take them to the well furnished dining room.

A few moments later, Zera found himself smelling the air, the fresh cooked dinner was emitting wonderful scents through the room of savory meats, tenderly marinated vegetables, a general smorgasbord of delicacies. Not much else was expected when Jake and Hiccup were on cooking duty, the red scaled early twenties dragon and young viking prodigy would produce morsels from their Asian and Viking lineage that nobody else could quite hit the right way, a delicious fusion of culinary special to their talents.
“Oh about time you guys showed up, I was starting to think we’d have to eat it all ourselves.” A surefire, cockily grinning Jake said from his seat, already relaxed and hands behind his head. The Amdrag had finished preparing the group’s appetizers a few minutes before Zera and Isabel had returned. 
“No such luck, Long, you think that Zera would miss dinner?, he has to keep his Santa-worthy form after all?” Aster chuckled as he complimented, the subtle flirtation hardly missed by the now mildly flustered Zera.
It wasn’t the first time his friends had been extra friendly, the occasional booty grab or off color comment like that was always a full indication of their true, innerlocked feelings toward the Atlantean. However the whiny, clingy, and oftentimes annoying Isabel with her biases and bigotry toward those of same sex relationships caused those feelings and flirts to be so, so much less common, to the ire of the group.
“Geez, why don’t you just call him fat, it would be so much more subtle.” Spoke a soft, pubescent voice from a chair. The speaker’s blue furred paw raised to wave at Zera as he arrived at the table, his grin widening, exposing his clear white teeth. 
“I’m not fat, I just need calories, maybe you want to be on the front lines next time to know why that is, Watterson.” Zera coyly replied, finally taking his seat at the table.
“He’s got a point you know, nothing burns through your energy like, uhhh, a really intense battle…Maybe a bash or two out in the chaos would do you good?” Hiccup added, arriving in the dining room, lugging a large pot of Lo-Mein, mixed with various scallions and vegetables and freshly butchered beef, the main course to the Amdrag’s already plated appetizers.
Gumball simply chuckled, placing his paws down on the table nearing his knife and fork with a watering maw, hungry but polite enough to wait for all of the group to take their seats before digging in. “Yeah sure, I’ll just grab my vest and gatling gun, Gumball Custer reporting for duty.” he said, his grin widening as he faux saluted with two fingers to his forehead.
“At ease.” Spoke a soft, digital humming tone, too detailed and familiar to be that of Robotboy, but still indicative of its speaker, sarcastically replying to Gumball’s humor.

Boyd, the twenty year old robotic parrot, and longtime close friend of Zera, strode into the dining room with a smile, bringing his well maintained, younger appearing frame to the chair directly next to the Atlantean as he took his seat, smiling at his leader and friend.
Zera took a moment to admire his friend, that toned prepubescent body, as gorgeous as ever, the twelve year old appearing parrot rested his smooth, avian hand over Zera’s in a delicate show of affection, just close enough to embrace his hand, but just soft enough to remain somewhat platonic.
“H- Hey Boyd.” Zera chuckled, patting the parrot’s hand, nervously at first as he was expecting his distraught girlfriend to arrive any moment, ready to complain about the platonic affections. She would never understand what the playful nature of their intimately complicated relationship consisted of, she had become his mate well after the atlantean and avian had befriended one another, and more than likely would last just as long, if not longer.
“Relax, Zera, Robotboy already confirmed what I knew, she’s still in her room, it’s doubtful she’ll join us…again.” Boyd spoke with a mixture of confidence and apologetic nuance, their combined digital sonar capabilities confirming her position in her room, face down in a pillow, caring little about her boyfriend’s group.
What a surprise, she hardly ever ate with the boys, preferring to avoid their company unless specifically demanded otherwise for her duties, and now that she was mid temper tantrum, there’s no way she would be the one at Zera’s side, she was far too busy brooding. At least, if not better, Boyd was at his side, his hand not leaving his friend’s, embracing him consistently as everyone took their seats.
“No more, waiting, she will not come, nourishment now?” Robotboy chimed in delightedly, his eyes widening as they focused on the towering pile of noodles, beef and vegetables that waited for him on his plate, a uniform serving matching the plates of each other occupant.
“Hiccup…, I told you, no beef on mine, I don’t vibe with eating this kind of thing.” Aster sighed, picking the protein off to the side with his fork.
“Hey, I did my best, I could have filled it with fish, I’m more used to my close friends eating that reliably without complaining.” Hiccup shrugged his shoulders, smirking as he deflected the complaint into a humorous jab.
“If I wanted fish at this table, I’d have invited the whiny one.” Aster firmly replied, his own tone seeming more genuine, in disdain of Isabel whom he not so softly just insulted.
“Alright, alright, come on guys…let’s dig in.” Zera raised his cup and smiled. “To good friends, and good company!” He toasted, followed by the clinking of silverware, and faces being filled with delicious nourishment.

An hour of confiding, gossiping, reminiscing and grubbing out followed, the posse of the various conflicting yet matched personalities had eaten their fill, and as Robotboy began collecting dishes, Boyd had leaned his head in and whispered sweet nothings into Zera’s ear.
“I’m serious…you need to appraise what makes her worth your attention…it’s no secret you’re already cared for…at least I hope it’s as obvious as I am trying to make it.” Boyd softly whispered, sending a shiver down Zera’s spine as the now flush faced atlantean replied.
“I d- do know…I just…she’s…not that bad…” Zera whimpered in reply, his eyes rising to take a good peer into his buddy’s own.
“Neither is the common cold, but you still don’t want to deal with it willingly…Come on, just spend a bit of time with me, let her be, she could use the space.” Boyd spoke, soft, reassuring rubs along Zera’s forearm, his silky delicate fingertips tracing over his skin with intent.
Zera felt goosebumps as he looked away from Boyd’s gaze for only a moment, noticing that their attempted subtle actions were fully spectated by each of the guys, their reactions and facial expressions varying from lustful, supportive, and confused.
“Do you boys need some space of your own?” Aster grinned, his broad blue furred arms crossing in approval. “Master Bedroom’s open, I’m not tired anyway.” 
Zera gulped, he hadn’t been this forward with the guys before, let alone seen their reactions to it, while Aster had always been a bit of a father figure to Zera, he imagined he would at least be skeptical of anyone being with him other than Isabel, but the offer seemed genuine, as did his body language.
“You won’t hear me complain either, go chill out, get a bit of privacy.” Jake added on, his hand motioning toward the dining room doors.
“Did we not…plan to have…” Robotboy obliviously began talking, before being shushed by Aster, Jake, and Gumball with a firm outspoken SHHH.
“W- woah…what?” Zera asked, before Boyd seized the moment, raising his smooth palm to Zera’s chin, tugging his face closer to the parrot’s own beak, mere inches away from his lips. Was this to…kiss him? No, a momentary lustful thought on Zera’s part surely, there’s no way. Boyd smirked as they neared one another so closely. 
“I wanna talk to you up there, okay? Now pick me up.” He firmly stated, hardly an order and more just a given.
A marital style carry would be a show of romance for most other duos, but even with his muscular, broad shoulder, sleek body, Boyd’s frame was still the perfect size for efficiently transporting via picking him up and just lugging him around, a comforting and exciting way to be taken from place to place that Zera had done many times before.
“S- sure bud…why not.” Zera, flustered, stood up from his seat and obliged his friend’s request, holding him close in his all too familiar grip.
The pair exited the dining room, just as Boyd had so adorably requested, hand in hand with his best friend, Zera, carrying him, one hand on his smooth back, the other cupped under his rather thick posterior, as they ascended the stairs, toward the bedroom so conveniently abandoned and available by Aster.
Down in the dining room, as they finished cleaning up, the others either relaxed in chairs or spoke to one another.
“Do you think he’ll do it?” A curious toned Hiccup asked.
“We’re not doing anything but adding fuel to a fire that’s already burnin’ , yeah, he’ll do it…” Jake replied, a surefire grin on his face as he dumped the gathered trash into the bin.

Opening the door, Zera was confused at the sight that befell his eyes, as Boyd suddenly wriggled and hopped out of his arms. The room was not abandoned at all, it was prepared, very intentionally prepared. The wax that was dripping from the lit candles strewn around on each dresser, nightstand and shelf available indicated they were lit well before dinner. The rose petals that were tossed over the bed itself were definitely there on purpose, and not for Aster’s sleeping, why would he want to sleep with roses…oh, oh my.
“W- what the hell is this?” Zera asked, perplexed. Behind him, Boyd closed the door, leaving it intentionally unlocked as his smooth avian feet tapped slowly toward the bed, striding slowly and intentionally.
“Zera, you’re not as dumb as you look, silly, do I need to spell this out for you…” Boyd teased, his muscular metallic skinned, feather covered body shining slightly in the candlelight as he widened his beak’s grin. “I said I want privacy with you…the guys want the same thing.” He spoke, unrevealing of the double entendre those words truly carried. “Are you going to lie and say you don’t want the same privacy?” 
Zera’s face was beet red, his hands covered his cheeks as his eyes closed, of course he wanted this, he had wanted it for long enough it seemed like an impossible fantasy realm he would never set foot in. But here he was, blushing like a schoolgirl with his beloved Boyd climbing his dainty, muscular, gorgeous shota avian frame up the bed, sitting his backside contently onto the rose petal coated linens.
“I just…Isabel…” Zera managed to chokingly reply, his nervousness slowly creeping up with his lustful, pent up urges and desires.
“I said are you going to lie…Hopefully when she comes snooping around, you will.” Boyd grinned, parting his legs slowly as Zera’s eyes locked onto the sight.
The robotic avian had daintily discarded his brown cargo pants, the stripped garments now hanging off of his right gray ankle before being kicked off to the side, his lower half now fully, intentionally on display.
“You mean…you…won’t tell her?” Zera softly spoke, his eyes darting between the exposed avian’s slowly hardening member as his friend took such a fully alluring pose.
“That’s the plan…Now get over here, I don’t feel like waiting any longer…” Boyd invitingly teased, beckoning his beloved atlantean with two fingers.