Chapter Text
Two days ago, most of the studio found out that the animator, Henry, is gay due to a heated argument between him and Joey. Word spread quickly. The reactions between co-workers ranged from neutral to plain disgust. It became the hot gossip and still is. He still doesn't even know that they knew his sexuality.
The small grudge between Joey and Henry was obvious. Employees would witness Henry and Joey glare at each other as they walked by. There was even a time where the young janitor, Wally Franks, tried to include them in a conversation, which lead to an uneasy vibe and Henry walking away.
Sammy was playing his piano when suddenly the door opened. He stopped abruptly to see who was there and it was none other than Norman himself. The piano started to play its notes as Sammy brought it back to life. It suddenly stopped again when Norman sat down next to him.
"I just don't get it."
He got Sammy's attention.
"After that whole argument situation, Henry has been working himself down thin or just stare at his paper for long periods of time, and Joey would walk around the building for no reason in particular, he'd just walk with this stern look on his face."
Sammy furrowed an eyebrow. He never heard about an argument.
"What argument?"
Norman turned his head to face Sammy, his eyes widened a little in shock.
"You haven't heard about the gossip lately?"
He shook his head.
"Living like a hermit again, huh? Apparently when Joey and Henry were arguing to the point where we could hear them, Joey mentioned something about Henry being gay. You know, liking other guys."
Sammy had his mouth agape. He never would expect Henry, out of everyone, to be into the same gender. It was shocking. Norman quietly chuckled.
"I know right, no one expected it, but…"
His face changed into a sad look.
"I think Wally is overworking himself about it. I mean, he's trying to get those two to make up and forget about it. Hell, he even drew a picture of them with left over ink."
Sammy rolled his eyes as Norman chuckled again. Sammy honestly couldn't care less about Wally. He was always a klutzy nuisance, yet he was still somewhat bearable. Sammy was snapped out of his thoughts when Norman talked again.
"I was wondering if maybe you could talk to the kid and try to convince him to stop and let the two work it out themselves."
He shook his head furiously.
"What the hell do you expect me to say to that good for nothing mess!"
"Try being patient with him. Tell him the facts and get on with life once he agrees. Maybe even be intimidating to him. Susie and I tried talking to him but he would always be stubborn about it. We thought since he was scared of you, he might agree with you."
Sammy started processing the plan. The more he thought about it, the possibility of it working heightened. He sighed.
"I'll do it, only because you asked me."
Norman patted Sammy's back and headed for the door.
"Just don't be too harsh on the kid."
~~~~~~~
Finally, Sammy was done with the song that should play in the next three episodes. He was always fast with his songs, but made sure that they were just perfect.
He walked into the break room. The only other person inside is Wally, who is sweeping the floor. Sammy made an audible sigh. He remembered that he needed to talk to him about backing off, or something. All he really wanted is a cup of coffee or tea or water even. Wally turned his head towards Sammy and flinched slightly before he formed a shaky smile.
"H-hey Sammy!"
Sammy walked past the kid and towards the coffee machine, immediately noticing the 'out of order' note. He sighed again.
"Everything alright?"
Sammy walked towards to tea packets and hot water. He poured himself a cup of the steamy liquid, and settled a random tea bag inside, waiting for it to be finished.
"Well, Imma go see how Henry's doin'."
"Wait."
Wally froze and turned his head to Sammy, cocking an eyebrow at him.
"I needed to talk to you about something."
He sat down in a nearby chair. Wally sat across him. He was noticeably nervous, twiddling his thumbs around with presumably sweaty hands.
"I wanted to talk about the Henry and Joey situation."
Wally seemed to be more nervous than he was before. Sammy looked over at him sternly.
"Look, how do I put this, I know that you want to help out by making Joey and Henry not be mad at each other but that's something that they should work out themselves."
Wally nodded, looking down slightly to avoid Sammy's gaze.
"It's alright to help them out and all but sometimes you just have to back away."
He nodded again.
"Oh and Wally."
He wearily looked up to see an intimidating stare by Sammy.
"If Norman, Susie, or I see you trying to help, I'll rip up those drawings you have with you, is that clear."
"Y-yes sir."
Immediately, the janitor took his broom and ran out of the room. Sammy chuckled slightly as he took his cup of tea and threw the packet away. He always wanted to scare the kid slightly since whenever he'd try, he'd get a scolding from Susie. Maybe she won't scold him this time. He took a sip of his tea scrunching his face slightly at the hotness.
~~~~~~~
As Sammy walked from the break room to his sanctuary, he heard silent sobs coming from a closed door. Even though Sammy wasn't one to be intrusive, he was curious. Usually if anyone cried around here, it was either one of the female workers or Wally or anyone who finally found out that this place was messed up. The sobs sounded deep but not too deep. They were definitely male.
He slowly opened the door and looked around. It was a room that stored bacon soup and merchandise. In the far corner was Henry, crouched down and trembling, wracking with sobs. It doesn't look like he noticed Sammy walking in at all.
He shut the door slowly and walked over to Henry, making sure to not make a noise. Once he made it over to him, he sat down next to the sobbing male.
This was a new and uncomfortable experience for Sammy. He wasn't one to be comforting or sympathetic towards others. He thought of his possibilities. He could stay and attempt to comfort the guy that he was kind of friends with or he can leave and forget about this.
That idea was immediately thrown away when he heard a sharp gasp come from Henry. Sammy looked over to see him looking at him with widened, puffy red eyes and a wide mouth. His knees were trembling as he sputtered over words.
"You d-d-don't know, d-do you?"
"What? About you being gay?"
Henry let out a loud sob and began crying again. He was muttering things like 'I'm sorry', 'Please don't hurt me', and 'I'll like girls I promise'. It was sad to watch him make lies and promises that he'll never keep so that Sammy wouldn't hurt him or mock him.
The familiar sigh that Sammy was accustomed to rang out as he started to moved his knuckles along Henry's spine. This easily made him quiet, despite him still whimpering from now then. He then moved his knuckles to the left side of Henry's back, creating a circle motion that slowly went downward and upward.
Sammy would never admit it to anyone, but he kind of liked doing this. Relaxing Henry to the point where he's almost like jello in his hands. His trembling was slightly still there but it wasn't as bad as it was before.
Bit by bit, Sammy moved his knuckles around Henry's back, easing any tension. Henry would sigh or groan in relief as a response. After some time, Sammy realized what he was doing and stopped, receiving a small disappointed whine from Henry.
"What the hell am I even doing. I come in here, curious as to why someones crying and all of a sudden I'm massaging you."
He picked up his cup of tea, which has turned cold at this point, and stood up.
"Wait!"
He turned his face to see Henry staring back at him. He looked calm and stable, it's probably one of the only times Sammy has seen him look so vulnerable.
"Can you stay here a bit longer?"
"What. So I could massage your back until your practically drooling."
Sammy scoffed as Henry shook his head.
"I don't feel okay going back out there, not when the entire studio knows. You seem to be the only one who's okay with me being gay."
Sammy made a 'tch' noise.
"No, I'm not the only one who's okay with it, but if you insist that I should stay here, might as well. It's chaotic out there and I'm already done with writing three episodes of songs, so consider yourself lucky."
Henry smiled as Sammy sat back down next to him. They were both sure no one would find them due to the building being a labyrinth of doors and stairs. The silence was thick until Sammy slurped his tea and yawned.
"Hey Henry?"
"Hmm?"
"Does this taste like peppermint to you, cause I swore I chose peppermint since the coffee isn't working."
Sammy gave him the cup of tea and sipped some of it. He made a puzzled noise and gave it back to Sammy.
"That's far from peppermint, it taste more like chamomile tea."
As if on cue, Sammy yawned again while muttering a curse word. He swore he picked up the tea bag that gives him energy instead of the bag that makes you fall asleep for a million hours.
The storage room is warm, not the uncomfortable, stuffy kind, but the soothing kind, which wasn't helping his sleep problem. God, Sammy remembers when one of his co-workers fell asleep and Joey scolded at them like there was no tomorrow. He already had enough scolding from Susie and he cant even bare that.
Sammy looked over to Henry, who was silently reading a book. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, probably. He started to doze off slightly until his head hit something and he shot up. Henry looked at him and cocked an eyebrow.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"It's the tea taking affect isn't it?"
"……… Yeah."
"It's okay if you're falling asleep. You can sleep for a couple minutes or an hour or so and I'll wake you up. Does that sound okay?"
Sammy thought about it and nodded.
"Do I just sleep like this?"
"You can lay your head down on my shoulder."
He hesitated slightly.
"…Promise you won't do anything weird."
"Jesus Christ, I'm not going to do anything to you in your sleep."
"You better not."
Sammy lowered his head onto Henry's shoulder. He scooted over a bit more to Henry to make himself a tad bit more comfortable. After five minutes, Sammy fell asleep.
~~~
Wally opened the storage room door to get two posters out so that he could cover the hole in the wall. As he was about to reach them, he notices two figures in the room as well. One being Henry, who was looking up at him, and the other being the frightening Sammy, who was laying his head on Henry's shoulder, sleeping so peacefully. It was the first time Wally has ever seen him look at peace.
Henry put a finger to his mouth and made a 'shhhh' noise, then whispered something.
"Don't tell anyone."
Wally nodded his head, having his toothy grin plastered on his face. He slowly closed the door and walked away.