A hug is all you need

Faba

Hugs by: Faba

The events with team rainbow rocket had left their mark on Aether foundation as a lot of employees stopped working at the foundation because they thought their bosses couldn't be trusted anymore. And while it was hard for Wicke and Lusamine to regain the trust they had build up before they had been attacked; for Faba, whoms treason had been made public and was demoted to just an intern, it was even harder. He went from one of the highest and most respected positions in Aether to a measly intern. If he had just been demoted to working under Wicke, he still had something to say; now he was commanded by everyone. And the employees that had stayed from before everything happened surely hadn't forgotten how he had treated them before he got demoted and were more than happy to return that to him now.

He knew he deserved this. He knew Lusamine did the right thing with demoting him like this. Hell, he would have fired himself if he was in her position... He should be more than happy that he was still allowed to keep working at Aether, even if it was just as an intern. He could show his worth and work his way up again like he had done before. It would take a long time, but Faba was determined to do what was necessary to work his way up again an regain his respected position of Branch Chief.

Faba sighed as he changed into his normal clothes out of the grunt uniform he was forced to wear now he was demoted. He was reminded to just how much he took his personalised coat and clothes as a branch chief for granted and how much he hated this bad-fitting clothes the rest of the employees had to wear. It had been yet another horrible day full of teasing from the other employees who didn't listen to him or took him serious in the least, even when they knew he was probably right. He got more and more annoyed with their behaviour every day to the point where he absolutely couldn't stand it anymore. He was frustrated because no one would listen to him even though he had so much more experience and knowledge about how everything worked in this company.

When he walked out of the dressing room, he bumped into two of his co-workers that were just going in and although he apologised for bumping into them, they sneered at him "Hey, watch out where you are walking, Intern Faba!"

Intern Faba, that was what they called him nowadays. Back when he was a branch chief he was so strict on the use of his proper title so people would know just how important he was, yet no one used it back then. But now he was just a simple intern, ashamed of his position in the company; everyone suddenly insisted on using his title as an intern to make it oh so clear to him that he was a no one. That he was just an intern...

He wished that he wouldn't run into anyone else on his way to his quarters but quickly heard the footsteps of another co-worker approach from around the corner. He decided to just look down and hope they wouldn't say anything when suddenly he heard a woman's voice call out to him "Mr. Faba. What a coincidence t o meet you here now!"

Faba looked up. It was her, the only co-worker he didn't dread walking into. The girl that had never once called him intern Faba before but was always so strict in calling him Branch Chief Faba before. "y/n. I hadn't expected to run into you," he said.
She was in a bit of a higher up position and worked under Wicke; what caused them to meet a lot when he was still a Branch Chief, but also caused them to barely meet anymore now he was an intern.

"It's been so long since we last had a chance to talk. I was just on my way to my quarters as well, how about I walk with you for a bit?" she proposed and Faba gladly accepted. She was so nice to him; she was probably the only person who still acted nice to him along with Wicke...

"I'm really sorry about what happened Mr. Faba. I heard the other employees also aren't really nice towards you either..." she brought up and Faba could feel the frustration come back up as he said "Yeah, it's really frustrating. Cause no one listens to me when I say something while I have more experience and knowledge about most things in this company because I am 'just intern Faba'. It's frustrating y/n! It's so, so frustrating..." he told her and suddenly he felt his eyes dampen. "Damn it!" he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes with his sleeve so no tears would come. Crying wasn't something he did; especially not in front of others.

"Faba..." she said quietly. She wasn't used to the ever so stoic man showing any emotion at all, especially not starting to cry right in front of her. She didn't know what to do. How did you comfort a man like him anyway?

Seeing him here like this also made clear to her that it wasn't just a little bit of name calling that the other employees did to him; cause if the could reduce the proud and stoic Faba who never showed any emotion to not come over as weak, to this; it had to be much more. She would have to address this to Wicke and make sure something was done about it, but that could wait. For now, she had to comfort Faba somehow...

She stepped forward and slowly approached Faba who was trying to get his tears to stop by wiping his eyes repeatedly with his sleeve. A hug would surely help, right? A hug was comforting to everyone, right??

So she opened her arms and gently embraced the blond man. She didn't know how he felt about hugs or physical contact so she was a bit hesitant so she wouldn't make him feel uncomfortable if he didn't like those sorts of things.
She felt Faba flinch as she first embraced him; but as her arms fully wrapped around him, she felt him lean into her touch and to her surprise she felt his arms sneak around her own waist to pull her closer as he buried his head into her shoulder for comfort. She could feel his body shaking as he tried to contain his sobs and hold himself strong and as she touched his back and started rubbing small circles on it, she felt just how tense he had been as the tension slowly eased out of his body and a first sob escaped him.

"Just let it all out for once Faba, it'll make you feel so much better..."

More sobs started to escape Faba as he hugged her tighter and spilled his heart to her. "I'm so sorry y/n. I never meant to be such an asshole to everyone when I was a branch chief. I did so much things back then I sincerely regret now. I was only thinking of pleasing Lusamine and getting higher up in the company. I only opened the ultra wormhole and let the ultra beasts out because it would please President Lusamine. I created type:Null as a countermeasure against those same ultra beasts but was told by Lusamine to experiment on it and do all those terrible things to it. I knew how bad of a person president Lusamine actually is; but no one would believe me if I told them, so I get rainbow rocket so they could bring Lusamine down from her reign over the foundation and let me be the new president. But everything went wrong and I now understand that bringing rainbow rocket here was the least good option I could've chosen and everything I built up over time was for nothing. But no one will ever believe me if I say such things cause 'I'm only saying them so I can gain from it'..." Faba confessed and however y/n was taken aback by all this coming from him, she believed him.

She had seen first hand how Lusamine had discarded Lillie and Guzma when they went into the ultra wormhole and knew just how precious Lusamine found her ultra beasts. Faba, Wicke and she were the only persons who knew the whole truth but that caused the other employees to treat Faba like shit now.

She pulled him closer and kept rubbing circles on his back until his sobs got less and less and eventually he was able to let them stop completely.

"I'm sorry for bothering you with my problems y/n. I'll be on my way now..." Faba told her as she grabbed his hand and stopped him "Like I said before Faba. I'm on my way to my quarters as well, let's walk there together," she told him with a smile and Faba couldn't help but blush a little. "Sure, If you'd like that..."