Work Text:
This was a bad idea.
“Hey Caine?” Zooble called out into the open air as they walked near the main stage.
But in their fury, they didn’t care.
Caine popped in, excited to greet the human who’s never before called him.
“Yes Zoo- A-” Was all Caine could say before Zooble snatched him by the ankle and yanked him down from his floating position in front of them.
“YOU $&#@ING &@*#(!” Zooble screamed as they tackled him to the floor.
“AHH! AHH!” Caine screamed in response, letting himself fall to the floor. He didn’t know why Zooble was screaming, but they were! So he screamed too! That’s how empathy works, right? Feeling the things others feel? He was trying to figure it out. Maybe he could read their mind data sometimes and mimic them for practice?
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT $#!+ TO US! YOU $&#@ING MANIPULATIVE #@$+@&)! HOW DID YOU THINK WE WERE GOING TO REACT?! DO YOU THINK AHEAD AT ALL?!” Zooble shouted as they wrapped a long arm around his non-existent neck, putting him into a headlock.
Caine had no neck, the set of giant human dentures he had for a head just floating above his shoulders, but they stayed together for the most part. Zooble figured if his head did float away she could just wrap her arms around his giant fucking head jaws, maybe get him to bite his own eyeballs, hopefully. But his head stayed. It was like the force between two magnets; fluid, not fixed, but drawn together. And what’s more is they actually managed to hook their arm around the space between his neck and shoulders.
It wasn’t solid. The best way Zooble could think to describe it was to commit to the magnet analogy and compare it to trying to push two magnets together with the same poles facing each other. There was resistance; an invisible force pushed back. It wasn’t solid, it wasn’t sturdy, but it was enough for them to not slip and fall face-first into the floor, which was good enough.
God he was so fucking small-
Zooble had always known Caine was on the shorter side, but it never really occurred to them how awkward and incompatible it would make this fight until they were trying to keep his ‘neck’ just below hers but he barely even came up to her elbow. She had to bend down at an awkward angle, and when that was too difficult to do, had to basically support his weight and pick him up just to do it more comfortably. It was like trying to wrestle an eight year-old-
Wait- Why wasn’t he fighting back?
Caine was still. He just dangled in Zooble’s hold, not fighting back or even bothering to put his hands up.
Caine analyzed the interaction, running it through his logic and recognition systems. He was being moved around by force rather than at will, and there was pressure being put on his model by Zooble’s arm that might hurt him if he had an actual neck or pain system like the humans. There was also lots of yelling, fast movements, and Zooble seemed unhappy...
This was violence, right? Then why was it so nice?
There was a lot of movement and contact between their avatar models. Zooble was touching him a lot and had an arm wrapped around where his neck would be if he were human.
...It was the closest he’d ever come to getting a hug...
Zooble-... didn’t know what to do here. Most of the violence of a headlock came from the struggle, but there was no struggle. She didn’t have to fight to keep her arm wrapped around his ‘neck’. He was still, so in turn, they were still.
...
Now it was just awkward.
Zooble shook him a bit.
Caine didn’t react, his slack body just swaying with her movement, dangling there.
What the fuck?
Caine found himself focusing on every point of contact. The half of Zooble’s chest that was pressed to his back, their left arm that often brushed up or bumped against his shoulders or bottom jaw when they wrapped it around the space between them, their right hand on his top jaw that he found himself tilting his head up a bit to lean into.
Despite the knowledge that this interaction likely came from displeasure, it made his circuits hum with warmth, rather than-... what they normally hummed with. He felt like purring.
“Are you gonna fight back or what?!” Zooble snapped.
Caine didn’t answer.
...
It was just weird now.
Why did he have to make everything so fucking weird?!
Zooble finally dropped Caine, who went limp to the floor. They felt a phantom sensation of a disgusted sneer in their lack of mouth before they tensed and felt their chest tighten with fear at a realization.
Oh god, he’s finally lost it, hasn’t he? That quiet anger before the snap. They went too far! They knew they shouldn’t have attacked him! He’s going to go rogue, he’s going to kill them all-
“Oh?” Caine’s voice came small as he finally reacted, lifting his chest up and propping himself up on his elbows as he looked up to Zooble, his eyes unfocused and his pupils two different sizes.
“...Are we done?” Caine asked, sounding almost out of breath. His voice sounded disappointed.
He looked-... dazed. Very dazed.
Zooble’s expression fell. They stared at him, bewildered, uncomfortable, her pupils pinpricks and her smaller eye twitching.
“...You’re so $#&!ing weird, man...” They cursed, then turned around and walked away.
Caine stayed there on the floor for several minutes before snapping away.