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The day has been long, and the smallest Mike felt his body ache, barely slogging through the movements to return to the mike room. The suit felt heavy, like trying to run through water, and with the amount of sweat, he might as well have been.
Small claws, muffled through thick gloves, scrambled at the lock at the door, before opting to pull them off. Even without the gloves his hands have to fiddle with the lock and door for a bit to get it to open.
Finally the door opens and a sigh of relief falls from the pippins as it strips off the costume and collapses upon the couch. After a stretch he curls in on himself, claws pawing at the pain in their abdomen.
It should really go look for some painkillers, but at the moment his legs had given up on him. Thank the angel that their shift was over and Tenna should be –if nothing goes awry– done for the night, sent off to bed with a story and kiss, blankets all fluffed up.
The other 2 should be finishing up their closing tasks and heading to their apartments after dropping off their costumes. The pippins didn't feel like going all the way to its apartment in these conditions, he could probably just crash in the mike room tonight – wouldn't be the first time.
He could sleep off the pain, it assured itself. The thought of getting up and trying to find painkillers made their already uneasy organs flip.
He just had to close his eyes and ignore it until the pain subsided. They shifted to Nestle their face into the back of the couch to avoid the lights still on, and laid their stomach flat against the cushions.
It'll be ok.
⚀♫⚧
Jongler walked into the room with the other Mike following suit, and was met with the sight of the smallest of the group curled up and squirming.
Pluey let out a questioning note as he looked over the back of the couch to stare at the die. Jongler took their place kneeling in front of the smallest Mike.
“Hey, you’s good? You seem a little…” they gestured awkwardly with a concerned tilt of their head “did ya hurt yourself? Somethin' hurt you?”
“Eh? No I'm fine, can you fetch me some painkillers or something though?” The pippins grumbles, rubbing the back of their hand to their eyes and sitting up.
Pluey sniffed with a concerned look before grabbing the back of the smaller man's poncho, pulling the fabric to look at the unfortunate stain there. He let out a broken note and tried to show the bloodied cloth to their 3rd, but the act was interrupted by the green one pulling his clothes back down.
“Have you no common decency! You can't be pulling at my clothes unprompted!” The die barked out as a blush dusted across their face, ignoring the distressed brass playing unpleasantly.
“But you gots something on ya” the zapper’s tone fell awkwardly as they moved to grab its poncho, stopping just before contact.
“I said I'm fine, you two have nothing to worry about, gosh” he grumbled, swatting away their hand, “I'm gonna go clean it up, you two should head home, it's late.”
The zapper and shadowguy stepped aside as it got up and quickly ran off to another section of the mike room. The shadowguy cringed and pulled out a notepad that he showed to the taller darkner.
“Blood?” They whispered in slight surprise, “you don't think he'd hide dat it got hurt, do ya?” the shadow guy could read the sadness or fear in the slight shit in their line, and dim of their light.
The shadowguy let out a small note, grabbing the zapper’s hand and giving it a small squeeze
⚀♫⚧
The pippins ran off to the area they kept all the mike costumes, before collapsing to the floor, their face burning as green coated his cheeks in embarrassment, how in all of TV world was it meant to explain that he was menstruating without letting them know he's…and it's made a fool of itself, blood soaked through their clothes, no backups around, and the others surely saw, what an awful set of circumstances. He felt his eyes blur as tears formed in them, letting out a soft sniffle of embarrassment, as they curled in upon itself.
It hoped that the other two would just go home, forget about tonight, his thoughts festered into horrible thoughts which made his stomach churn.
What if they're disgusted by his awful display, bleeding all over himself, or what if they think differently of him knowing, realistically he doesn't think they'd be against the concept that he used to be a girl in the slightest, but what if it made things awkward? That was his secret! they shouldn't get to know his past, it made him nervous and queasy.
He's pulled out of his thoughts via a knock at the door frame, despite the lack of, well…door, the pair gives him privacy by facing away from him.
The die wipes the tears from its face, and adjust their clothes to hide the blood as best they can, before replying…a bit more pathetic than they would've liked, “you can come in, guys.”
The zapper peaked their head in, a slight concern showing through with the dim of their light and tone of voice “we know ya said ya didn't need no help, but you…seem ta be bleeding, do you …want one of us to go get help? If it's something you don't want us telling we could try to find some doctor who won't share details or-”
The pippins stopped them from speaking more with an interruption “no I don't need a doctor, I'm not hurt, I know it looks absolutely awful but it's not an injury” he spoke fast, before cupping its own face to hide the blush “maybe just stay here with me tonight?..and maybe fetch me some new clothes I guess.”
The shadowguy let out a note from his place behind the taller darkner, and made his way over beside the die, sitting on the ground, keeping away enough to not get blood on them, despite his obvious sadness in not being able to cuddle.
The zapper directed their attention to the shadowguy and gave him a nod before leaving the room to go search for some new clothes. The uneasy silence of sitting together on the floor held for a short while before being broken by the questioning song of the shadowy darkner.
The pippins shifted a few times, trying to formulate an explanation, “I'm not hurt, it's just…a thing that happens…?” His voice grew less confident as its face burned brighter. The alerted note of the man beside him caused it to cringe, before continuing “in like…a…like a girl way” he finally whispered.
Once the gears in the other man's head finally stopped turning, he let out a sound and covered his mouth, but only for a moment before grabbing the pippins hand and letting out a sigh of relief, at least he knew he wasn't dying.
It felt the shadowguy squeeze its hand before leaning into him. He let out an awkward note that the smaller darkner was meant to be a nervous apology, and they ignored the blood to give them a hug.
“...you aren't going to think of me differently cuz I'm…you know?” He mumbled, and flinched at the completely dumbfounded noise from the other who huffed and scolded him for even considering the idea. It smiled softly, the lack of words didn't fully catch their meaning, but it was the thought that counted. He let out a soft chuckle “gosh, I love you guys, how did I manage to get ya’ll as friends?”
The shadowguy smirked, teasing a romantic song, making the pippins' already green blushy face, warm even more.
“Cheese and rice, you know what I meant!” His tiny claws batted away the shadowguy, “I mean like I care, not like…” he huffed.
The discussion was interrupted via the sound of a clumsy zapper trying to enter as fast as possible, they hopped in with their arms full of some clothes and medicine, “he's still ok?” They questioned the shadowguy, who nodded, and they sighed in relief in response.
“I just got some clothes quickly, so they might not fit the best” they rubbed the back of their head and knelt down beside the other two, and set the stuff in a pile on the floor.
When the pippins left to get changed, the pair of other mikes were left sitting together, the zapper moved to sit closer, before speaking up again “did someone hurt ‘im?”
The shadowguy shook his head.
“Did something break?” and again they were met with a silent no, “did they tell you what happened?” a nod this time, that seemed good to them, “is it something concerning?” another head shake, and they huffed “that’s good…”
⚀♫⚧
When the pippins returned, small form swallowed via the larger TV time™ brand T-shirt, the fabric handing on like sleepwear. After sitting with the others, it leaned into the zapper, and let the shadowguy curl in against its other side.
“Did he snitch yet” the die jokingly muttered, gesturing to the shadowy darkner beside him, earning a small chuckle from the tallest “of course not, but the question is, would you?”
“I’ll keep myself muted, boss” they said with a mock salute.
It smiled for a moment, before shifting its legs to his chest, exhaling before speaking up “I’m…not originally a man, but I didn’t want you to view me as…a girl, and my hope was to never need to bring it up. This was not the most… favorable way to expose myself, but what’s done is done. And we never need to bring this up. Ever again.” he huffed, trying to seem confident despite the green blush and paranoid voice tremble.
The zapper was quiet for a moment before rubbing the back of their neck, “ah…I see, ‘m sorry for me and da other guy for making things uncomfortable. I’m happy to know ya trusted me to know, even if ye didn’t really want ta” their words trailed off a bit as they reached down to take the pippins’ hand in theirs, giving it a slight squeeze, trying to put together something to say.
“You’s a very strong man, it take’s a lot to share dat, proud of ya” they finish after a few moments. The pippins nearly burst out sobbing right then and there.