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It's late at the little house, the lights dimmed and the house quiet. Well, for the most part. You could hear a fan running, and the shuffling of feet and the tablecloth being moved around every so often as both Harry and Robin sat on their respective sides of the table. Robin is reading over the newspaper since he hadn't gotten the chance during that morning, and Harry has his arms crossed on the table, deep in thought.
Robin reaches to turn the page of the newspaper, only to hear a small sound coming from a distance. He pauses, looking up from the paper and listens to see if he can decipher what the noise was. Alas, the noise stops for a moment, which makes Robin shrug it off. If something weird was going on, it would show itself soon enough. It always does.
Time passes, and he hears the noises again. This time though, they're louder. It makes Robin knit his eyebrows.
"Do you hear that?" A squeaky voice interrupts Harry's thoughts.
"Huh?" Harry picks his head up from where it's hung, and looks at Robin. "What are you on about?" He asks, voice as monotone as ever.
"Shhh, listen!" Robin hushes him. Harry is a bit taken back, but sits in silence to try and hear whatever his husband is causing a fuss about.
There's a silence that rings throughout the house for just a minute, making Harry roll his eyes.
"What were you even-" He begins, but the other cuts him off.
"Hush!" Robin scolds, making Harry huff.
After another minute of agonizing silence, the red guy finally hears it. Small sniffles and hiccups are echoing behind the bedroom door, where Manny is supposed to be sleeping. When the small cries finally reach his ears, he sits up straight in his chair and stares back at the door. It doesn't open, so he assumes Manny isn't coming out anytime soon.
Harry gets up from the table, wearily heading to the door. He's not sure what he's expecting to see when he gets in there. A teacher, maybe, because he's mostly used to those. When he does open the door, he doesn't fully expect to see Manny sitting up in his bed in the low light of the room, crying and sniffling.
His normally yellow skin has a slight red tint to it where he's been rubbing his eyes and his nose, and where his cheeks flush. His nose is running and he's got his blanket pulled up to his stomach from where he's positioned.
Harry glances around the room, seeing if any of those pesky teachers nosed their way into the room without the knowledge of the other two, but nothing seems misplaced or damaged, so he rules that one out pretty quickly. He supposes to get to the bottom of the problem that isn't so apparent, he's going to have to ask.
The red guy walks over to the young boy's bed, sitting down on the edge of it. He places his hand on Manny's knee, making the younger look up at him and sniffle. It's a sad sight, to see the little one so upset, and it makes him frown from beneath the yarn covering his mouth.
"What's the matter?" He asks, reaching up to wipe away a stray tear from Manny's face. Jeez, he really has taken on a fatherly role, hasn't he?
Manny sniffs, his bottom lip wobbling as he holds back his tears. Harry panics for a split moment, watching as the little boy bursts into tears on the spot.
"Oh no, what-" Harry begins.
"These pajamas are gay!" Manny cries out, nearly sobbing at how distraught he is.
Harry can't even say anything. He stares, wide-eyed, and blank.
After a long moment of Manny's cries and Harry sitting in shock, he's finally able to speak.
".. What?"
"They're gay! Look at them!" Manny shouts, pulling the blanket down to reveal his pajamas better.
Truly, there's nothing "gay" about them. They're the same striped pajamas Manny wears nearly every night, since he owns an obnoxious amount of that particular set. He squints his eyes to try and possibly see what is so gay about this particular pair of PJs, but can't seem to see anything. Harry comes to the conclusion that Manny doesn't know what "gay" means, and sighs.
Harry plucks a tissue from the side table and uses it to wipe away the tears and snot that's gathered on Manny's face since he began crying. When he does reach for the tissue, he catches a glimpse of the time on the clock. It read, "12:02 a.m." Wow, it really is late, huh?
"Would you like to put on a new pair?" Harry asks, gesturing his hand to the singular dresser they have in the bedroom. He's trying to find a quick solution to the problem, since he saw how late it was, and if he knows anything about Manny, it's that he will not want to get up for breakfast in the morning if he stays up too late.
The young boy nods with a sniffle. The red man stood up, reaching his hand out to the yellow boy, and helped him out of bed. They walk over to the dresser, pulling out the middle drawer and searching through to find another pair of pajamas that weren't the striped ones. He does find a pair of dark blue pajamas with stars on them, and holds them up to Manny.
"Are these gay?" He asks, humoring the boy just a bit. He has to hold back his snickering. Manny shakes his head and holds out his hand to take the pajamas.
"Would you like me to help you put them on?" After a second of thinking, Manny nods.
When the new starry night pajamas are put on, Harry helps Manny lay back down for bed. He glances at the clock, sighing heavily at the time. "12:14 a.m." It reads. Manny really won't want to get up for breakfast in the morning at this rate.
After tucking Manny in and ruffling up his already messy hair, he bids him goodnight, and leaves the room. The door clicks softly behind him, and he has to pause for a minute just to take everything in.
Robin glances up from the newspaper he had gone back to since the other had walked away, eyes following him as he sat back down at the table, speechless.
"So?" Robin asks, "What was the fuss about?"
Silence.
Robin waves his hand in front of Harry's eyes. "Hello? I asked you a question! What was all the noise?"
Harry puts a hand over his mouth, shoulders beginning to shake as he starts laughing at the predicament he was just met with. He cannot believe that what he had just been a part of was a real conversation. Gay pajamas, seriously?!
He laughs harder at the thought, letting his hand drop and hit the table as his eyes squeeze shut. This is insane. Out of all the things they've been through, of all the things they've seen and witnessed, a pair of pajamas was what broke the waterworks. Guess you really never know what to expect from kids, huh?
Harry laughs harder, if even possible, and Robin stares, beak dropped and gaping. He cannot believe the disrespect he's being given right now! He closes up the newspaper before he rolls it up between his hands, and whacks Harry right over the head with it as if he's a pesky bee.
"Don't disrespect me!" He squawks, hitting him again, only to be met with loud laughter.
"Gay- Gay pajamas, he thought-" more laughter and wheezing escapes the taller fellow, "gay, his pajamas- ohmygod!" Harry is roaring with laughter, not even making coherent sentences, and has to force himself to quiet down for the sake of Manny who should be trying to sleep.
Robin can only stare in confusion at the sight. Not only did he hear the mention of possibly gay pajamas, but he's listening to his husband nearly shake the house with how much he's laughing. Sure, he's heard small laughs here and there, but this is quite out of character.
Robin reaches a finger out and pokes Harry's hand. "Did something happen to you? Did an alien switch you out, are you a clone of my husband? What have you done with him!" Robin accuses, but Harry can only answer him with his laughter.
"No, no, I-" Harry can't even finish his sentences through all of the laughing.
Honestly, Robin can't even be upset in this situation. Harry is just too damn cute when he's overcome with joy, so he just sits and quietly watches with adoration as his husband laughs to his heart's content over a silly situation Robin didn't even understand himself. He'll find out what happened in that room eventually, but now's not the time for that. Right now, he can only sit with his head in his hands and watch the red man in front of him nearly die of laughter.