Before that point, Yuck had been a complete stranger to love.

Love was a positive trait, so to him it made sense that he wouldn't be able to feel love for someone else. And given the other negative traits he was actually made of, it also made sense that no one else would feel love for him either (unless they were Yin and Yang, but given that he had taken their negative traits that one time, they were clearly not on their rights minds and therefore didn't count).

Besides, why would he want to experience love? It was nothing more than a distraction; it made you all sappy and weak for someone else, and it didn't even guarantee the other person would feel the same way. That chicken boy Coop - he had only been a few weeks tops in the Night Master's service by the time Yuck started - was the prime example for that; always drooling over Yin, always talking about how great they'd be together, and yet the only reason he had accepted working for the Master of all Evil in the first place was because she would never love him through any other, more acceptable way.

Pathetic.

It just reinforced in Yuck's mind that love was a waste of his time.

Which is why, when the Night Master revealed his plan to get Yuck's body back as him getting Yin to fall in love with him, he was surprised and not-so-slightly annoyed (the chicken was more than just slightly annoyed for obviously different reasons, so at least he got amusement out of that). He didn't know or care about love; how was he supposed to make one of his sworn enemies fall in love with him?

You don't have to love her. In fact, don't actually do that; one of you is enough, the Night Master had told him with a sideways glare aimed at a sulking Coop; Just pretending will do, and the suit will do the rest for you.

Which, to his credit, turned out exactly as he said it would. It was pathetic, hilarious even, how easily Yin had thrown herself at his feet just because the robot disguise tailored just for her shot her a few compliments. Even her stupid brother had noticed something was off, and she just kept ignoring him despite being the smart one just to be with him, completely oblivious to the Woo Foo energy being drained out of her and into him.

It couldn't have been an easier, more perfect plan.

Except that, half-way through it, Yuck began feeling...strange. He recalled seeing Yin smile at him back at the dojo and suddenly feeling a weird warmth in his chest (if he had one, at least). Usually when his chest felt warm it was because of anger flaring inside him, but he was more familiar with rage than any other feeling and this was too soft to be it. He assumed it would wear off eventually, whatever it was, but it just kept slowly but steadily growing stronger whenever Yin laughed at his jokes, when her face lit up as she rambled to him of Twonicorns or animal rights or the book she was currently reading, when she had snuggled closer to him during the movie, when she held his hand-

A malfunction in his suit, he assumed, but the diagnostics he ran when no one was looking told him otherwise. A secondary effect of being disembodied? But he'd been stuck like that for a while, so why was he just beginning to feel that way? Maybe it was the rush of Woo Foo coursing through him, solidifying his grip on reality?

Or maybe...maybe that's what it really felt like.

Which is what Yuck was currently pondering about in the cinema bathroom. Yang was long gone (and good riddance) so it was safe to sneak back into the theater before Yin got worried, but he wanted a few more minutes to ponder about his newfound realization. Had he really fallen for one of his sworn enemies? The one thing the Night Master told him NOT to do? The one thing he told himself NOT to do?

It...felt better than he thought. Awkward, unfamiliar...but not unpleasant. It felt...nice.

He remembered that Yin was still waiting for him back at the theater, hopefully so they could cuddle more before the movie ended, and while the suit wasn't advanced enough to simulate touch on his end, he actually looked forward to it.

Cuddling, hand-holding, posing for pictures together, laughing together...was it normal for him to want more of that? With Yin? He kept pondering about that while he fixed his hair, smoothed down his clothes, looked into the mirror (the screen behind it had been turned off already) to make sure he was presentable-

And Brett's face looked back at him.

Oh.

The gentle warmth in his 'chest' was snuffed out, replaced by a painful knot in his stomach.

How could he forget? It was Brett who had gotten this far, made this plan possible. Brett was the one in the middle of a date with Yin. Brett was the one who posed for pictures, the one who told jokes. The one who held Yin's hand, the one she cuddled next to, the one she smiled at-

Brett was the one Yin loved, not Yuck.

The shadow inside the suit grit his teeth like a caged animal. Somehow, the suit's face translated it into a smile, charming and flawless like the rest of Brett.

"Love really is for idiots, huh?"