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You quietly padded down the halls of the small diner that you finally decided to roam after finally not being chased by cryptic versions of your friends. You wanted to be quiet, in fear of another pal to chase you out of the diner and force you to go back to your bedroom. Your ears perked up at the sound of..
Yelling?
There was yelling coming from the kitchen door that was cracked open. You peeked your eyes through the small gap of the door, there stood Manny–the pizza delivery mantis–and Margo, Margo was the ‘bully’ of Funhouse. And there she was, arguing with Manny. You couldn’t quite make out what they were arguing about, it was hard to hear over the crackle of the oil from inside of the deep fryer that was on. The argument led up to violence, Margo shoved Manny, he tripped over his foot slightly, his arm dipped into the boiling hot oil.
He let out a quiet scream, immediately slapped his left palm up to his mouth, trying to stifle a pained whimper that was threatening to escape from his mouth. Tears pricked his eyes but he didn’t dare let them fall. He didn’t want to give Margo the satisfaction of seeing him tear up. He clutched his right arm, looking at the burnt patch of skin.
His green skin had a small patch of skin ripped off, revealing off light green flesh, it was fresh and throbbing. The pain that shot up into him hurt like hell, purple blood started to spill from the open burn.
He soon spoke up in a wobbly tone, “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” he said, his voice cracking in the middle of his sentence as he gripped his arm harder.
“Y-...you–You pushed me into a deep fryer, Margo!” he paused,
“A-...And you nearly made me into a meat lover’s special!”
Margo didn’t say anything, she just clutched her hands into a fist and proceeded to run out of the diner, swinging the kitchen utility door open. She ignored your presence completely and pushed past you like you were just another spec of dust that laid upon the once clean floors of Funhouse.
You soon went into the kitchen and found Manny clutching his arm as he began to apply the cool ointment against his open wound, purple blood was smeared on his arm along with a small part of his hand. His hands were shaking, small tears streamed down his face as he sat down the ointment to wipe his tears with the back of his hand.
“Goddamn it.”
he muttered underneath his breath as he tipped his head down to focus on the burning flesh on his right arm. He let out pained whimpers whenever he brushed a finger against the wound.
He flinched once he heard footsteps against the marble flooring of the kitchen, he held his right arm close to his chest as he turned his head way too fast, his antenna’s flicked a clear sign of him being nervous and uncomfortable with the fact that you probably saw the burn on his arm.
It would’ve been hard to hide the fact that he was bleeding anyways mainly because of the fact that some were splattered on the once clean marble flooring. He gulped, a bead of sweat dripped down from his forehead.
“I-..i–hey uh.” He bit his lip after feeling a sting of pain shoot up into his body.
“Hey, Reader.” he said quietly, his antenna’s curled in on itself.
He hid his right hand behind his back, purple blood began to drip on his white polo shirt, his eyes darted everywhere and anywhere besides your face, your expression was filled with worry. Manny didn’t want anyone to pity him, or make someone worried about him.
“What do you…”
“What do you need, it's late.” He finished his sentence,
Your gaze flicked down to his hidden right arm and crossed your arms underneath your chest as your right eyebrow raised up, “What are you hiding.” you asked him flatly. He let out a shaky breath as he revealed his right arm that was hidden behind his back, he didn’t bother to clean the wound, the blood was mixed with the sticky residue of the ointment that was resting on the counter.
“Margo did it.” he muttered as he watched you grab his wrist and observe his burn marking.
“I-It’s not her fault, I shouldn’t have uh–”
“Annoyed her.”
He finished his sentence with a quiet whisper, he bit his lip and let out a pained sound.
“Shit.”
“Can you please not touch it that hard.” He said, his voice returned to his wobbly tone that he used while yelling at margo minutes earlier. You sighed and rubbed the back of your neck.
“Sorry.” you replied your gaze flicked down to the burn.
You scoffed, Margo needs to find better coping mechanisms then taking out her anger on others. I guess you could understand, losing your older brother could mess you up pretty bad. You returned your thoughts back at Manny’s burn. You let go of his wrist gently as you picked up a stray rag that was hung up on a small hook.
You began to wet the towel and sighed.
“This is gonna hurt.” you warned
He nodded and looked away to the side trying to not focus on the growing pressure and stinging that came from the raw flesh.
“Ow.” he squeaked out and closed his eyes,
Once you took off the rag he looked down at his burn, with each breath he took it came out shaky. He watched you pick up the ointment and popped open the cap and squeezed out some of it on your finger, you began to spread it on his burn, trying to be careful–to not cause too much pain for him. He still ended up tearing up and allowing himself to let some tears drip down his face. He immediately brought a hand up and began to wipe the tears before you could see anything.
You saw it, but you didn’t bring it up–You didn’t want to make him embarrassed for showing an ounce of emotion. Once you were done you looked at his face and brought a hand up to wipe stray wet spots he couldn’t wipe in time. You pulled your hands back almost after a second after wiping them
“I-uh.” you muttered
“I’ll go find bandages.” you said fast, too fast. You thought to yourself.
You began to search for bandages in cupboards and when you found them you walked back towards Manny, he still had his arm extended and you began to wrap his burn up into a snug bandage so he wouldn’t touch it by accident. He flinched and sucked in air in between his teeth. Once it was wrapped up he flexed his arm and then let it hang.
“Thanks, Reader”
Manny said while fidgeting with the orange collar of his polo shirt. He sat down on the counter, the purple blood was now dried and forgotten. His gaze flicked down to the dried blood
“Ehehe..” he laughed awkwardly.
“Mabel is probably going to kill me for the mess.” He said while he rubbed his neck sheepishly. You sat next to him and gently nudged your shoulder with his, that small touch made his wings flutter slightly.
Your whole attention was turned to him, his hand slowly snaked over towards yours as he gently rested his hand on top of yours. He rested his head on his shoulder. His antenna’s brushed against your cheek. You couldn’t help but stifle a smile and rested your head against his.
“I–I really appreciate how you uh—helped me out.” He said softly, as he raised his head away from his shoulders, you both turned to face each other, meeting one another's gaze. Manny leaned it slightly, your breaths were mingling with one another. His nose gently nudged against yours.
“goddamn it.” He whispered.
“A-..Are you.. Okay with this?” he asked softly, pressing his forehead against yours, a shy nudge.
“Yea.” you muttered, as you tilted your head and finally pressed your lips against his.
He let out a squeak and cupped your face with messy precision as he leaned in—the kiss was mainly messy as teeth clacked together. He let out a small giggle into the kiss.
You two continued to kiss, your hands rested on his shoulders. The kiss was still messy to say the least. But at least it was real. You two eventually had to pull away, when the door hit the wall again, Splits peeked her head in
“Whatcha guys up too?” She asked, with a small smile on her face
“Anton’s been wondering where you’ve been, Manny.”
She said while bouncing on the balls of her feet, she didn't understand why you too looked flushed. I mean it was hot in the kitchen, so she didn’t ask.
“Oh.” Manny replied.
“Alright, uhm.. I’ll go find him.”
Splits nodded and began to walk out, a little bounce in her step. As you two heard the kitchen door shut Manny let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in.
“I guess I have to get going.”
He fidgeted with one of his antennas that peaked from underneath his cap. He pressed another quick kiss to your lips.
“U-..UH..” he squeaked.
“B-..Bye! See you later, Reader!”
You watched him dash out of the kitchen, opening the door and slamming it shut once he exited.