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He promised her that he’d keep them safe no matter what happened. It seemed odd at first when Queenie begged him to keep an eye on her beloved Kinger and innocent, sweet Gangle, but when she abstracted only an hour or two after, he understood why.
Kaufmo’s abstraction shortly before Pomni’s arrival seemed to solidify something inside Jax as he fiddled with the golden key in his gloved hands, his feet barely making a sound on the hallway carpet.
The key’s label with Gangle’s name scrawled across the front was tied to the neck of the key, a minor detail he used to his advantage. With so many keys looking precisely the same, keeping track of what went where was hard.
The doors lining either side of him, many of them having a large red X through their pictures, were forever locked, and no one could get in to see what had become of their old friends’ living spaces. Jax wasn’t sure if any of the keys he held would help him get inside them, but he didn’t want to risk seeing something he shouldn’t have or didn’t want to see in the first place.
Kaufmo’s room was disturbing enough with all the “NO EXIT”s scrawled across the walls and drawings of the clown himself being chased by Caine’s obnoxiously large head.
Kinger was hardly ever in his room– brought back too many painful memories of losing Queenie, he suspected– but Jax had heard him snoring like a chainsaw inside his pillow fortress when he snuck out earlier after he was sure everyone had gone to bed.
The rabbit was silent as he paused in front of the door across from Kaufmo’s room, staring at the surprisingly convincing happy expression on the face of a white mask attached to a thin, red ribbon to form her neck and shoulders.
Jax’s ears twitched, eyes scanning the image on the door as he gripped the key tighter. He knew it was stupid, risky even, but he made a promise.
Cautiously crouching down, he pushed the key into the lock under the round doorknob, his heart hammering in his chest as the sight of an abstracted Kaufmo replayed in his mind.
What if she was next one day? What if he lost her?
Jax stood up, hand on the doorknob as he pushed the scary thoughts to the back of his mind for the time being. He pushed the door open slightly, peeking inside. His ears fought to stay pricked when he saw her sitting on her bed with her broken comedy mask in her ribbon hands, her expression vastly contradicting the countenance she wore on the front of her door.
Her eyes were teary, and she had a slight frown, her legs curled against her ribbon body.
Jax stiffened, his heart thrumming in his ears as glowing yellow eyes zeroed in on confused, teary eyes darting up to watch him stand like a deer caught in headlights with his head peeking inside her room.
Before Caine snapped his fingers and reset everything for the next adventure he thrust upon the circus, Gangle could see how utterly drained he looked. The aloof, obnoxious little shit Jax always acted in front of the others looked nothing like the Jax that stood in front of her.
His eyes, although startled that he had been caught sneaking around, were a bit duller than she remembered, and his lavender fur had a greyish tinge. It was either from the lighting or a sign that he wasn’t in the best headspace at this current time.
“Jax? What’re you doing?” Her voice was small, but it sounded more confused than sad, the soft clinking of the pieces to her broken comedy mask causing Jax’s ears to twitch.
His surprised expression struggled to morph into a coy smile, and he shrugged. “Just takin’ a look around, see who was still awake. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
It was always challenging trying to read Jax. He was usually unapproachable, always sarcastic, and was an expert at dodging questions about what he was up to.
Jax was, for lack of a better term, an asshole, but at this moment, he didn’t seem like one. If anything, he seemed relieved she was talking to him and was still okay.
Gangle sniffled, a big, fat tear rolling down her cheek that splashed onto her broken mask. “Oh…okay… Do you…wanna come in..?”
Her question was so innocent, so sad, and it made Jax roll his eyes, though not out of annoyance this time. He wasn’t quite sure how to feel about her question. “Eh, whatever. Better than standing in a doorway, anyway.” He expertly slipped the key out of the lock before he stepped inside, then dropped it into his pocket as the door shut behind him.
They stood or sat in an awkward silence, unsure of what to say, before Gangle’s sniffling made his ears twitch.
“Jax? Do you think Kaufmo abstracted because I never laughed at his jokes?” her large, teary eyes looked up at the taller digital, and he stiffened when she asked her question.
He wasn’t…good with all this comforting bullshit. Ragatha was much, much better with it. She was the mom friend. Everyone looked to her for comfort– except him, of course. He didn’t need anyone to comfort him. Not after…
His train of thought derailed when he realized Gangle was looking up at him with her big eyes, expecting him to answer. Shit. How was he going to respond to that without making her cry?
He glanced away from her nervously before taking a deep breath to steady himself. It’s a simple question, Jax, just answer it!
He finally let out a disbelieving laugh, one hand on his hip. “Why would anyone abstract because of you? No one even laughed at his jokes, anyway.”
“A-are you sure…?” She whimpered, tears dropping onto her broken mask. “B-because…Queenie…”
“Alright, I’m gonna shut you up right there.” Jax stepped towards her. Head tilted down as his eyes narrowed slightly, the coy smile on his face washing off to reveal an angry scowl. “Kaufmo didn’t abstract because of you. Queenie didn’t abstract because of you. Nobody abstracted because of you .” He covered his face with his hand, exhaling a sharp breath. “I don’t know how you got that in your head that you’re the sole cause of anyone’s abstractions, but it’s not true. I don’t even know how you got that thought in your head.”
“B-because I promised Queenie I’d always wear a s-smile for her…” Gangle protested, her tears falling in earnest as she hastily tried to wipe them away with her ribbons. “And I keep breaking them…”
Jax lowered his hand from his face, turning his head to look at her with a confused and concerned look. “It’s a fake smile, Ribbons… That’s not what she’d want.”
Gangle lifted her head when she felt someone sit on her bed next to her, and she turned to look up at Jax.
He sat there with his elbows on his legs, his ears drooping slightly, his focus entirely on her. He looked so concerned for her . The little crybaby he always seemed so fed up with. It was such a confusing and surreal sight; Jax seemed so worried for her wellbeing when he was always such an aloof douchebag to everyone. But in the current moment, when her inner demons got the best of her, she couldn’t care.
With a sniffling sob, Gangle flung herself at the rabbit, her ribbons coiling around his arms and waist as she buried her face into his chest, sharp cries muffled by his soft fur that grew damp with tears. “I miss Queenie…” She hiccupped, eyes squinted into slits as her coils tightened around him just enough in an attempt to calm herself.
Jax sat there, frozen, and with no idea what to do or say as he looked down at the sobbing Gangle with wide, yellow eyes. Hearing her sound so broken, so devastated made his ears droop, the long appendages brushing against her ribbons as he brought his legs up closer to his body. He raised one hand to gently cup the back of the digital’s mask, feeling her stripes tremble with every broken cry.
“Yeah, I miss her, too,” he finally murmured, only loud enough for himself and Gangle to hear.
They sat silently for a while, Jax just letting her cry her eyes out, the rabbit for once not caring if her mask’s tears soaked into his fur. He sat there, silently letting her sobs subside into soft, hiccupping breaths.
“You feel better now that you’ve gotten me soaked?” he asked, though his voice had no bite. He tucked his head against his sternum to look at Gangle’s eyes when she lifted her head and rubbed the end of her ribbon at one of her impossibly large eyes.
“S-sorry… But…thank you for sitting with me…” She said, managing a tiny but very teary smile.
Jax tilted his head, gently moving his thumb under the end of her mask to hold her head up. “There’s the smile you promised Queenie.” The corners of his mouth tugged into a smile before heat crawled across his face, and he instantly removed his hand.
Both characters looked away from one another, Jax using his unoccupied hand to rub the back of his neck, his ears twitching atop his head in embarrassment.
“Well, I’m glad you let all your emotional damage out on me, but I better call it a night,” he said, carefully untangling himself from Gangle’s ribbons. “Night, Bowtie.” He stood up from her bed, then paused when he felt a ribbon wrap around his arm, squeezing tightly to keep him in place.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw Gangle holding onto him with one of her ribbons, which she used as her legs bent underneath the coiled one that made up her torso. Her eyes were wide and pleading, though no tears fell this time.
“Can…can you stay here tonight?” She asked, her voice nervous and incredibly small.
Stay the night? Him ?
If it were in any other circumstance, Jax would have bet he’d have said “no.” But tonight was different. He didn’t want to leave as much as he knew he should. He didn’t want to get close to people– not since Queenie abstracted. It was easier keeping people at arm’s length.
But he couldn’t ever say no to Gangle after letting her cry all over him.
“Yeah, I’ll stay. So scoot.” He crawled onto the bed, gently pushing Gangle away with his hand, a slight smirk tugging at his face when she fell over with a little yelp. “I told’ja to scoot.”
The rabbit yanked on the sheets, snuggling under the blankets as Gangle slid off her bed to grab a baby blue nightcap off a hook nailed into her wall. He quickly averted his eyes when she walked back towards him, the heat in his face returning as he rolled over onto his side, ears drooping as he nuzzled his face into one of her pillows.
“Thank you, Jax,” Gangle murmured next to him, her voice making one of his ears flick.
“Yeah, it was nothing,” he said smoothly, tucking one arm under the pillow he rested his head on.
Before his eyes completely shut, he looked over his shoulder at Gangle, who pulled the blankets up to her chin, pausing when she saw the lavender rabbit looking at her. “Hey. Promise me you won’t abstract, okay? I know I said you didn’t cause anyone to abstract, but…” He trailed off, the scary words stuck behind his teeth.
But I know someone who would if anything happened to you.
He knew it was a scary thing to promise. No one knew who would be next to be locked in the cellar, and he prayed it wouldn’t be either her or Kinger.
He looked away from Gangle’s large eyes, resting his head against the pillow again and silently kicking himself for asking her to promise such a thing. His ears pricked when he felt someone resting their head against his shoulder, ribbons wrapping around his body as Gangle snuggled against him, her eyes closing.
“I promise.”
Jax felt a smile form on his face, his ears drooping as he soaked in her ribbons' surprisingly comforting warmth. His eyes slipped shut as one of his hands closed around the end of her ribbon.
He could get used to this; moments like these with Gangle, just the two of them where they didn’t have to hide, and he could let the walls he built up around him crumble to dust.
Besides, it’s not like anyone would know. They’d be up in time for the theme song tomorrow, anyway.