“ Really? You could have fooled me! ” Nic teased, sticking his tongue out at him. This was probably the best rapport they’ve ever built up! It made him feel a little bit bad that he had been so resistant to becoming friends with him, even if he had plenty of reason to. It had taken a long time to get over crushed dreams and the nickname.
If someone told him a year ago that he would be trading jokes and getting dinner together with Napstaton? Nic would have laughed in their face and complained that he didn’t even have time to consider those things.
Now, though…things were different now. It was kind of pleasant, actually. There was a part of him that was still waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for it all to blow up in his face. But he was trying to just take it as came.
No need to burn down the bridge before he crossed it.
“ Ugh! I did say that, didn’t I? I can’t believe you still…thought about that. You’ve really been writing one?” Why was that making him blush?!? “They are in charge of the resort, you goof! People can’t do every job.”
Said the fry cook who was mopping up the news studio.
“ I know I don’t have to, but you can’t leave it all to one monster.” Nic cast a glance at the other monster, who was cleaning up to the floor, earbuds in and clearing enjoying some music. At least he was having a good time. “I just want to help a little bit. Five minutes and I’ll be able to make a good dent in the work. I know I’m not on the clock, but…”
What else could he say? Empathizing with other monsters ran deep in his SOUL. Even if he didn’t want to help, he would always end up doing it.
“ Are you sure you want me to?” That made him feel all soft inside too. Nic busied himself in mopping so as to hide the blush growing his face. He hummed to himself, trying to get a sense of the tune, tapping out a rhythm on the floor with his foot. When he finally got it, he picked a verse and started, feeling unusually nervous.
“♫ Here’s a health to the wee lass that I love so well/For style and for beauty there’s none can excel/There’s a smile on her countenance as she sits upon my knee/There is no man in this wide world as happy as me. ♩ ” Now, he had it! He was nervous when he started, but second word in and the calm of singing washed out him. What had he been so scared of? NTT wouldn’t make fun of him now. And if he did, Nic had a million excuses available, but now he was just focused in his joy.
“♫ So here’s a health to the company and one to my lass/ Let’s drink and be merry all out of one glass/ Let’s drink and be merry, all grief to refrain/ For we may or might never all meet here again♩.”
There was a swirl of unpleasant anxiety that had been eating away at him all day. He was afraid he wasn’t ever going to get rid of it, but bouncing banter back and forth between his favorite rabbit monster and himself... Napstaton didn’t know what it was about Nic, but the guy really had an effect on him.
He didn’t know how to describe it. At first, he had been nothing but horrible to the guy-- didn’t see him eye to eye, his over-inflated ego making him think that he could just look down at people just because he could.
If Napstaton could go back to the past, he’d give his old self, fresh out of the lab, a good old punch right across the face. Napstaton didn’t condone monster-on-monster violence on the screen, but since it was about himself, he was sure he could make an exception.
It was just-- as Napstaton watched Nic break into song, felt his SOUL flutter with both excitement and a strange sense of ease that he hadn’t been able to relish in all day-- he both loved where he was right now, and hated that it took his idiot self so long to get here. Hated that for so long, he had been looking down on someone who was so important, so good-- too good for him--
Napstaton watches Nic with bated breath, before a winded smile breaks through his expression.
“Yeah man! WOO!! That’s the good stuff!”
The robot brings back his own mop and starts cleaning to Nic’s tempo-- surprisingly, he managed not to make a dent this time! Maybe the fact that he was focusing more on dancing and laughing did the trick, honestly?
“Man, you look so good when you’re having a good time.”
Wait- what-- that sounded weird. He sounded creepy. He needed to--!!
“Like-- your joy is contagious, dude! Like, s-seriously! A good mood chaser from head to toe.”