Chapter Text
The sickening stench of ichor flowing through the air as the elevator door opened. Four toons looked out the elevator for Vee to highlight the twisteds: Scraps, Flutter, Poppy, and Astro. Floor Twenty was always the start of harder floors, thankfully the crew planned to leave the run after this floor. Looey ran out to catch the twisteds.
"Looey has them!" Finn alerted his team. Vee started extracting machines closer to elevator as Boxten and Finn paired up and did other ones. Boxten was a shyer toon but in Finn's perspective he was just a really quiet and smart guy. He wasn't sure how Boxten considered their friendship, he just had the belief they were close.
Ding!
Yet another machine was done.
"Over here!"
Finn started running towards a few machines. His foot tangled on the other and tripped, falling on his arm. Flying out his head came his fish buddy, Barnaby. Finn sat up to see what happened.
"Barnaby, no!- owwww.."
Finn yelped.
Boxten ran over to grab the little fish, then he went over to care for Finn.
"Your arm, do you have a band aid?"
The music box questioned. Finn's arm had taken quite the gnarly scrape.
"I don't, can I see Barnaby?"
Tears welled up in his eyes as he inspected Barnaby. Boxten reached through his pockets to find a bandage, when he realized he didn't have any he took his bandana off and wrapped it around Finn's arm.
"Don't worry, I'll fix him once we get back okay? He'll be okay so don't worry about it."
Boxten comforted the crying boy.
"Will he.."sniff "..really be okay though? He's never been hurt before."
"Yes, I assure you he'll be all right. He wouldn't want you to cry would he?"
Boxten brushed tears off his face, Finn was shocked by the gesture although he guessed he shouldn't be.
"Aww you're a mess.... Stay so-fish-sticated, Finn!"
Boxten awkwardly tried to pull off a sea pun but it was kind of bad. Finn still thought it was cute though.
"Good one!"
Finn giggled. His arms thanked Boxten by reeling him into a hug. A tight one that Finn in no way meant to do, it kind of just happened.
"Oh uhh.."
Boxten gave into the hug, he wasn't one for affection but it was okay if it was Finn, only Finn. Boxten shut his eyes and fell into him, letting his small smile grow larger. Finn admired him, by this point he realized he didn't mean to do this but he was glad he did. He liked it when Boxten smiled and it was more special this time because he was the reason why he was.
Vee interrupted "Ahem, I can't be the only one doing machines, ladies. One of you go to the one Looey's around."
Finn and Boxten separated quickly and blushed out of embarrassment. Boxten took the initiative to do the machine by Looey. Finn and Vee scurried to the elevator and waited for Boxten to finish up.
"Do you like Boxten, or.."
Vee interogated.
"What?! No... I mean yes, I like him but just as friends. I really like hanging out with him and making him happy, and making him smile, and I li- that's not the point. What would make you think I like him though?"
In Finns approach to defending himself, he just made the answer even more clear to Vee. All she could do is giggle.
"Whatever you say."
Vee rolled her eyes as she walked into the elevator. A few seconds later came Boxten and Looey running back. The silence awkwardly filled the room as the elevator took them back to Gardenview.
"That run sure wa-"
Looey was then cut off by Vee.
"Hey Boxten did you loose your bandana?"
She quickly glanced at Finn's arm and smirked.
"Oh no I gave it to Finn."
The elevator door opened up. Finn stared Vee down as she laughed arrogantly. Everyone was out of the elevator, everyone but Finn who slowly felt something click. His fingers grazed over the bandana, there were traces of his ichor staining it.
"Hey if you don't leave now you're sure to be going on a solo run!" Shelly alerted him to leave. 'Right.' Finn thought. He observed everyone talking, Vee was saying something to Astro that made him look in Finn's direction. 'Was she talking about me? Was she talking about Boxten?!' Finn panicked and quickly hid behind Poppy since she was close by.
"Oh hey Finn! How was your run?" Poppy was a bit concerned why he was using her as a shield but was curious nonetheless.
"Ahhahh, great! It was great! Fun even, so fun.." He started fidgeting.
"Hey are you okay? Do you need to talk about something?"
Poppy questioned. Finn ferociously shook his head and ran to his room.
"God Barnaby what is wrong with me, what if she's right? What if I actu- Barnaby! I forgot about you oh my gosh.." sniff "...Barnaby you're broken still."
The toon had begun crying again. He sat down and held Barnaby.
"B-barnaby.. I'm so sorry it's all my fault man, I shouldn't have been so careless. I'm so sorry."
Knock knock
Someone was at the door.
"Who is.." sniffle "..is it?"
"It's Boxten, can I come in?"
"Please do."
Boxten entered the room, he found Finn right next to the door breaking down. Boxten quickly close the door and sat down with him.
"Finn, don't cry please.. I can fix Barnaby so it'll be okay."
He begun wiping his tears again.
"B-but it's my fault! I got him hurt. I'm a horrible caretaker for him." Finn looked down at Barnaby again.
"That thing you said earlier, he's never been hurt before so you're obviously really good at taking care of him! You're the perfect caretaker for Barnaby, don't let a small mistake think you're not." Boxten wiped his tears once again and placed his hand on his shoulder. He gave Finna warm smile in hopes that it would help him.
"Now is this all about Barnaby? I feel like you're hiding something but I'm not gonna push it out of you, I just want you to know that you can tell me if something's going on."
Boxten was really concerned for Finn and the state he was in. He hated seeing anyone concerned but specifically Finn.
"No, I just don't wanna talk about it. I just want to be here with you right now. I'm tired."
Finn slowly wrapped his arms tightly around Boxten, he was so warm and he smelled of cinnamon, probably from something he was baking earlier.
He closed his eyes and sunk his head deep into the boxes chest. How comforting it was. Boxten embraced him too, opening the lid to his head up, playing a Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy. The music box held Finn as he dosed off, Boxten eventually fell asleep too. And there they were, embracing each other during their slumber, letting their guard down around each other was a common occurrence but this was new. This was comfortable.