Malus didn’t equate the word ‘strength’ with himself at all; his brows remained knit, even with Manu ruffling his hair. He tried to offer a small smile and nodded but he still needed to sort through the guilt before he could access any sort of praise or optimism.

Michel, finished with wrapping, dismissed the rest of the kit. “Yeah, well. Maybe we’ll meet up again sometime.”

“Without fighting,” Malus insisted, reaching up to fix the hair that Manu had ruffled. “I can make you dinner or something.”

Michel seemed to be expecting this and just shook his head, small smile on his face. “Yeah, we’ll work something out. But it’s late, so we’re going to head out now. Catch you around. And, uh. Thanks for being a good sport about all of this.”

Michel wrapped an arm around Malus, carefully turning him away so they could start heading home. Malus offered Manu one last smile and raised a hand to wave slightly; he seemed to be fine being lead away.

He had a lot to process, but if Manu was going to be okay—and if Malus could make up for it—he would.

Kapoodles