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Norman's Giraffe Mission
"I wanna ride a giraffe!"
"I wanna be Emma's giraffe~"
Norman remembered it as if it were yesterday.
Hell, he remembered everything that had to do with Emma as if it was yesterday.
They along with Ray had still been very little when they talked about what they wanted to be when they grew up and as soon as Norman learned Emma wanted to ride a giraffe he decided to be one.
Sure, he could of course draw her one, get her a stuffed animal or take her to a zoo but while those would all probably make her very happy, becoming one would mean she could constantly be around one so that would make her happy and if Emma was near him and happy then Norman overloading with happiness.
Sadly he wasn't really sure how he would change his whole species.
He did once cover himself in papers that he'd colored to resemble a giraffe's skin and tried to get Emma to climb on his back as he crawled to her on all fours but she'd declined and they ended up spending all afternoon with Emma running away from Norman and Norman following, still on all fours.
She'd been doing even more her best to avoid him for at least a week but luckily for Norman after that she started tolerating him more again.
After that he gave her mostly gave her books about giraffes which she always genuinely thanked him for which made him in turn always so happy that he didn't even care whenever she would call the faces he ended up making creepy.
Then one day he and Emma found out about the demons and after attempting to escape he ended up getting shipped out.
While he was sad he couldn't live with Emma (and also Ray and the others but they weren't nearly as important as Emma) anymore, he'd been also at peace, knowing she could still live and grow up and at least he got to spend some of his final moments with her.
He also figured that as soon as he died, his ghost could just find and haunt her to still be with her.
Then it turned out that instead of a Demon being there to kill him, some guy named Peter Ratri was there and offered Norman to help with his research.
Figuring it was better than dying Norman accepted and off he went to Lambda 7214.
One might think a child would be horrified and scared to death upon learning some crazy adults were planning to experiment on them but not Norman.
No, Norman had been delighted and practically begged them to turn him into a giraffe for Emma.
The scientists had called him a psycho for that and sadly just stuffed him into a room and made him do more tests like back at Grace Field and only ever gave him puzzles with pictures of giraffes whenever he asked if they'd turn him into one already.
Oh, and the drugs they made him take that would cause seizures that would be even worse if he stopped taking them often came in tiny jars with giraffes on them.
They probably thought he wanted to become a giraffe because he liked them so bad, even if Norman told them he needed to be one for Emma.
Still, drug bottles and puzzles were the best he got so after a year and a half of still being human Norman decided to break out.
After he gathered some strong allies (and taught them they should worship Emma like the goddess she was) Norman went to work as "William Minerva" and started saving more children as he knew that was what Emma would have wanted.
After what felt far too long did he manage to get into contact with Emma.
It was a little hard considering he'd had some of his Emma-withdrawal attacks but some cuddles from a doll that Vincent had made with his instructions made those go away.
Just moments before meeting her again Norman came to a sudden realization.
While the Lambda scientists hadn't turned him into a giraffe, he had grown tall.
Very tall.
Like almost an adult tall.
And giraffes were also very tall.
With that in mind Norman used all his will-power to make himself appear as tall as possible and his body grew even bigger till it resembled the body it did in the original manga.
Sadly this only scared Emma as she found his body proportions terrifying and didn't even let him hug her.
To his relief and utter delight (he almost literally died of happiness) she stopped running from him and was actually the one to initiate a hug as soon as he turned back to his normal size.
Now he was in his office where he was supposed to do paperwork but spend most of his time day dreaming about Emma until a knock got his attention.
"Come in!" he called, praying it wasn't Vincent with more work.
He perked up however upon finding Emma herself actually walking inside, carrying two steaming mugs.
"Hey, Norman. I thought that since you're so busy I'd bring you some coffee to give you some extra energy." she told him with a gorgeous smile.
"Just you being here is more than enough to keep me going for a whole year, Emma!" he cried happily as she rolled her eyes.
"Somehow I doubt that." she murmured.
"Alright, maybe you being here gives only enough energy for half a year but if you would be so kind as to cuddle or even kiss me..." his smirked as he looked at her through his eyelashes.
"Ugh! Just take the damn coffee, you creep!" she yelled and without thinking threw one of the mugs at him which his him square in the chest, knowing him back in his chair and covering him in the hot liquid.
"Norman! Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Emma cried upon realizing what she did.
Not wasting any time she grabbed some tissues from the coffee-table and rushed over to him.
"Are you okay!? Does it hurt?!" she asked as she carefully wiped him as dry as she could.
"Ah." Norman blinked in a daze.
"No, I'm alright. It wasn't as hot as it looked." he gave a reassuring smile before it turned mischievous again.
"Maybe I should spill something hot on myself more often if it gets you this close to me, my dear Emma." he joked as he caught her hand in his.
"Yeah, as if." Emma snorted and snatched her hand back to hit him in the shoulder.
"You can't blame me for trying, can you?" he shrugged and grinned upon hearing her giggle.
He soon found that she wasn't giggling at what he said however but rather his appearance as she was looking him up at down.
Looking down at himself he then found his cream colored suit was covered in brown spots thanks to the coffee and he frowned.
Norman could never ever be mad at Emma but he really liked that suit and if it had been anyone else he definitely would have voiced his displeasure.
"You look like a giraffe!"
Norman always gave himself whiplash with how fast he looked at Emma. "What?"
"You know, with those brown spots on your clothes and you're pretty tall so you kinda look like a giraffe." Emma explained with a sheepish smile.
"I look like a giraffe?" Norman repeated, unsure he was hearing her correctly.
"Well, yeah?" Emma blinked.
"You like giraffes, right?!" he then blurted at her and she jumped back in surprise.
Together they stared at each other with wide eyes before Emma gave the softest, sweetest and most beautiful of all beautiful smiles Norman had ever seen.
"Sure and I guess now you're a combo of two of my favorite things." she said.
"T-Two of your favorite things?" he choked, slowly turning red and she giggled again.
"Yeah, even if you're a little too much sometimes, I wouldn't have you any other way, Norman." she said and Norman felt as if he had died and gone to heaven, the only thing letting him know she wasn't really dead being his wildly beating heart.
Did she mean...?
"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TRYING TO KISS ME NOW?! GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU PSYCHO!" Emma's forceful slap woke him him and he blinked as he watched her storm out of the room.
Huh. He must have moved on auto-pilot without realizing.
Now he Norman was, in his office, his favorite suit stained with brown spots and a bright red hand-print on his cheek.
Yet despite everything Norman grinned to himself because he finally ended up getting as close to becoming a giraffe as possible and Emma herself had actually admitted she already liked him.
Hell, she called him one of her favorite things!
Now he just needed to make himself her one most favorite thing above anything else~
The End