"It starts with Sorry" (A Jax X Ragatha story)

Chapter 1: Consoling

Jax made his way through the brightly colored halls of the Digital circus, a grin a mile wide on his face as he carried a ziplock bag full of Centipedes, he was planning on pranking Ragatha with them knowing the red-headed Doll was completely horrified of centipedes and this wasn't the first time he had pranked someone for his own amusement, far from it. He was known by everyone else as a Prankster who always tried to bring anyone down just for a quick chuckle, Whether it was taunting Pomni with an exit, Using Zooble's arm as a backscratcher or breaking Gangle's comedy mask causing to her cry and be generally depressed, there were truly no lines Jax wouldn't cross just for a quick laugh.

He thought tonight would be like any other time he'd prank Ragatha with the centipedes where he would leave them in her room, she would be left confused at first before discovering the centipedes, scream and then beg him to get rid of them but as he approached her door, his bunny ears perked upwards identifying a muffled noise inside the room and when he leaned in to hear better, the noise sounded like...Crying?

Jax was definitely taken aback by this since he never saw Ragatha as someone who would be crying out of nowhere...if anything, he would've expected this from Gangle but not Ragatha. As a result, he contemplated whether or not he should go in and see what was causing all the crying but eventually decided to go in purely out of curiosity, or at least that's what he told himself as he opened the door and found Ragatha Sobbing into a pillow as he slowly entered the room before closing the door behind him.

"So.....what's with the waterworks?" He asked hiding the zip lock bag in his pants.

"Jax?" She asked looking up from the pillow she was hugging to see him in confusion.

Jax then looked at her as she clung to a pillow, Her left eye was red and puffy from presumably having cried and tears were streaming down both her normal left eye and her button eye "Geez, you look horrible..how long have you been like this for anyway?"

She looked down sadly at her pillow before speaking, her voice still slightly broken from the tears "What are you even doing in here?"

"Well I was coming here to prank you with some centipedes but clearly you're not in the mental state to be pranked" he responded crossing his arms and sitting down next to her in her bed.

"Please...N-Not tonight" she begged him clinging onto her pillow as Jax sighed.

"Alright fine, maybe I can let you off the hook this one time" He replied grinning lightly "But what could possibly get you in such a slump anyway?"

She looked down sadly as she began to explain "If I'm being honest, it's about abstraction. I'm just so scared that one day. I won't be able to deal with the circus adventures and other wacky things we encounter daily, that my sanity will give up on me and...I'll be left t-to nothing b-but a mindless g-glitch monster like Kaufmo and that I won't ever...see my loved ones again. Do I even have loved ones? I can't even remember their names or what they look like!" She replied beginning to break down near the end and pulling on her own hair.

"Geez Relax Doll-face, that's Pomni's trait, not yours" Jax replied a little stunned by how miserable Ragatha felt.

"I'm sorry....I'm just...so tired of...feeling weak and small" She answered as she began to cry and sob into her pillow once again.

Jax frowned slightly seeing her so weak and vulnerable, Ragatha was always known for her kindness and patience, Heck she was probably the most mentally stable member of the cast yet here she was, Crying and desperately clinging to a pillow. He contemplated whether or not he should just leave since part of him wanted to leave and not think about it, but another part of him felt a strange sense of Pity for her. And so, for the first time in a long time, the Purple bunny experienced something he never thought he'd experience again...Sympathy as he then sighed before opening his arms in a hug position and saying "Come here"

Ragatha was shocked and confused, seeing Jax opening his arms to presumably hug her "Jax what are you doing? She asked weakly.

"Offering a hug... what does it look like I'm doing?" He asked annoyed by the question.

"Promise me this isn't a prank," She replied not wanting him to make the situation worse

Jax groaned but tried to respond in a more sympathetic tone "It's not a prank, I promise"

Ragatha then smiled weakly, finding this strange act of kindness endearing coming from Jax as she leaned into his hug as he wrapped his arms around her tightly and she did the Same "Thanks Jax"

"You're welcome Doll-face, Just don't expect this to be a regular thing. I'll still be dumping a full bag of centipedes on your bed tomorrow~" Jax Replied with a smug grin.

"Jax!" Ragatha pouted "You're ruining the moment!"

Jax snickered lightly seeing her reaction before letting out a mildly annoyed huff  "Alright fine...I won't dump an entire bag of Centipedes on your bed tomorrow are you happy now?"

Ragatha sighed happily as she snuggled closer to Jax, enjoying the warmth of the hug "Yes"

Jax then stayed there offering the hug to Ragatha as he began to stroke her hair gently which caused her to relax further into the embrace and when he finished, he expected to just get going to bed himself...Except Ragatha had fallen asleep on his lap. This was majorly uncomfortable for him since he now had two options either A: Wake her up and potentially have her complain about being woken up or B: put her in bed himself and risk someone seeing him caring for her, He groaned as he eventually chose to put her bed himself lowering her into the bed before putting her head on a pillow and pulling the covers up to make her feel warm but before he could leave, he heard Ragatha let out a sleepy whine as she clung to his hand not wanting him to leave.

Jax would have normally ignored this and gone on his Merry way, but after seeing how mentally unstable Ragatha was tonight he couldn't bring himself to leave her alone which was WILDLY out of character for him. He wasn't meant to care, he wasn't someone who others looked to for comfort Yet, he just couldn't bring himself to leave Ragatha alone tonight. He sighed as he reluctantly decided to put the Ziplock bag full of Centipedes away and lay down in bed next to her, nuzzling up to her under the covers while still maintaining some distance from her and wrapping his arms around her as he then realized he strangely liked being snuggled next to Ragatha but he didn't plan on telling that to anyone as he tried to convince himself he didn't care.

"It's ok, You're still a jerk prankster that everyone hates, it's just this one time and I don't actually care about Ragatha...that much." He told himself as Ragatha then unexpectedly snuggled closer to him, clinging on to him like a koala which caught Jax by surprise but he still..let it happen as he reluctantly clung to her back and began to stroke her hair once again eventually drifting off to sleep himself hugging Ragatha tightly.

"Ok, maybe I enjoy being nice to someone a little bit but only if they're completely down at the dumps and if they're not in the mood to give a funny reaction. I'm not getting any softer just because I comforted Ragatha, it's just a fluke and I'll be back to my Douchey ways by tomorrow. Just this once time Jax...Just...this...one...time."