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Practice that evening had been cancelled due to inclement weather, so most of the leaguers had holed up in the main repair bay/break area to wait it out. The general din of chatter did a mostly alright job drowning out the loud, window shaking thunder, but didn't do a whole lot for the occasional white flash of lightning as the storm raged on outside. Most of the leaguers had divvied themselves off into groups of three or more, talking, laughing and occasionally tossing a baseball back and forth to stave off boredom.
Only a few leaguers were still milling about, with one of those leaguers being Bull Armor. It was a pretty well known fact that he was terrified of storms, and had the room been any quieter, the soft rattling of his plating would have been audible. He trudged back and forth, looking for various tasks and things to do to keep his mind off of the squall raging outside.
But the list of tasks he'd found to do were quickly dwindling, and before long, he'd completed his list... With a stressed little frown he glanced around the room, desperate for something to do, but too afraid to leave the room alone. With everyone immersed in socializing, he silently padded off to a quiet little corner a ways away from everyone and as far away from the windows as he could get.
Despite his distance from any window, there was no escape from the abrupt white flash that briefly lit up the entire space, causing the overhead lights to flicker. He flinched and lurched forward to tightly grab his own horns as a sky splitting crack of thunder followed. Even the chatter of the room paused for a moment before resuming, albeit a bit quieter now. The storm was directly overhead now…
'You're okay...you're okay....it's safe....you're safe…' His mind chanted to itself, desperate to shake off the tension that clung to his plating like static electricity.
"Hey hey! Bull!! I was just coming to find you-ne!! I was gonna ask if you wanted a-...uh.. Are you okay?"
Top Joy's cheery voice split through Bull's panicked mental chanting and he jerked upright. "What?? I, eheh... I'm fine. Fine." He forced a shaky smile onto his face, but couldn't bring himself to look up at Top Joy's face. "W-what were you going to ask me?"
"Huh? I was going to ask you... OH!! That's right I was going to ask if you wanted a-"
For the second time, Top Joy was interrupted as another bolt of lightning lit up the room and thunder shook the building. Bull ground his denta together and ducked his head down. He was barely able to resist grabbing his own horns, but still his hands instinctively came up, this time clapping themselves over his audial receptors on either side of his helm.
"Bull...." He barely heard Top Joy's concerned voice calling out his name over the sound of his rising panic.
"I...hmm... Oh..! I have an idea!! Don't move, I'll be right back!!" Top Joy snapped his digits and darted off before Bull could even register what the basketball leaguer had even said.
----
It was less than a moment later when Top Joy came bounding back into the room, making a beeline for Bull Armor as he waved off the shouts and calls for him to join various groups. Bull had returned to his curled up position, hands tightly gripping his own horns in a self soothing motion.
"Hey hey hey! I'm back!" Top Joy approached the tensed up ball of football leaguer, gently tapping his pauldrons so as not to startle the big guy too much. Bull still flinched however as he lifted his head, his grip on his horns loosening.
"I have an idea. Just trust me, okay?" Top Joy winked and grinned wide as he held up a music disc in one hand. Bull watched as the basketball leaguer tapped a button on his chest to open the disc player hidden away there. Top Joy made a show of tossing the disc up and leaning backwards to catch it neatly in his chest, snapping the disc player door closed.
"Top Joy... I- that's great, but I think-..." Bull started but Top Joy interrupted him.
"Trust me. This is going to work, I just know it!"
And before Bull could try to argue, the basketball leaguer stepped forward and crowded into Bull's space, placing both hands on his pauldrons and pushing gently until Bull's back rested against the wall. No longer hunched over, Bull's arms slowly fell down to rest on the bench on either side of him as he watched Top Joy clamber rather gracefully into his lap, those springy legs straddling his own thick, heavy waist.
"T-Top Joy..?" Bull's attention was definitely pulled away from the storm for the time being.
"Shh. Just listen." Top Joy grinned as he rested his arms over Bull Armor's heavy duty pauldrons. The football leaguer fell silent, doing as he was told. He could hear the chatter of his teammates....the loud, heavy rain as it pounded against the windows... and....
Music…?
A melody, playing out of the speakers on Top Joy's shoulders, which strategically rested on either side of his helm. The melody was smooth and the pattern was predictable, even as the bass kicked it, a low, rhythmic thrumming. Moments later, soothing lyrics played through Top Joy's speakers and Bull found his focus drawn towards the singer's words...
Another flash of lightning lit up the room and Bull ducked his head down, pressing his forehead to Top Joy's chest... But with the music playing, it was...surprisingly easy to tune out the ominous rumbling of thunder overhead...
The tension slowly started to bleed from the football leaguer's body as he relaxed into the music, his thick arms subconsciously winding their way around Top Joy's waist.
To Bull's surprise, Top Joy didn't move a single piston as he sat comfortably in the football leaguer's lap, gently humming along to the song and tapping his digits in time againt Bull's plating... The one leaguer that could never sit still even for a moment, remained right where he was for over two hours, until the flashes of lightning became farther between, the rumbling of thunder became a soft growl...