Quitting [Guzma x Reader]

Answers

The following morning, Guzma was surprised to wake up and find that ________ wasn't in his room like he had expected. Jumping up, he threw a shirt on (which he had thrown off in the night, apparently) and walked over to the bathroom. Finding the door open and the light off, he threw on his socks and shoes and made his way out of the throne room.

Marching down the hall, he could see a few grunts nearby, sitting at a little table and playing a game of cards.

"Hey, you smucks seen ________? They're missing," he groaned, still half asleep as he approached them.

"Nah, they ain't missing, boss. Plums got them right now in the room from yesterday, doing an exam of their leg or something. I'll can show ya, if ya want." A pink-haired grunt stood, setting her cards down, and telling her buds to continue without her.

"Yeah, lead the way."

~~~

Three knocks came at the door, and Plumeria called them in.

"Hey boss. Sorry I kind of guest-napped 'em. I had wanted to check them out and see how their ankle is doing."

"Good morning to you too Plums, you should have told me. I woke up all in a panic cause I thought they ran out on me."

"I told you already, Guzma, it'd be stupid for me to try and leave as I am. Have a little faith in me!" ________ chuckled sarcastically, which seemed to surprise Plumeria a little.

"Guess you took my advice from yesterday, though I didn't think it'd be with the boss..." Plumeria chuckled, teasing ________ as she finished wrapping up their ankle.

"What ya talkin' about Plums? Advice? Why you said it like that?" Guzma grumbled, seating himself besides ________ as he watched as Plumeria bandaged them up.

"It's nothing, promise boss! ________ is good to go, and I managed to get a hold of some crutches, which means you ain't gotta be in bed all day at least..."

"Thank you, Plumeria." ________ said, smiling as they extended their hand. Plumeria smirked, giving it an endearing smack before pulling ________'s fingers into a curled handshake with her own.

"Call me Plums. And it's no sweat. Everyone in Team Skull gets good treatment from me, but try not to bust yourself up too much. I got enough regulars as is." She said, a smile radiating from her cheeks.

"I hate to bother you with this, but I have to admit I've never used crutches before..." ________ laughed nervously, and Guzma chuckled, standing from his chair.

"It ain't hard, you have to just get the hang of it. Here, I'll help ya..."

~~~

Within the hour, ________ was moving around on crutches fairly easily, though they were only a novice moments ago.

"Gotta say, you're a fast learner." Guzma noted, walking alongside ________ through Shady House.

"Comes with big brain territory I guess. I can say the same about you though, you were using the spreadsheet program last night without hassle after I showed you a few pointers." ________ chuckled, pausing for a moment to rest, their arms burning.

"Yeah, I guess. Thank you again for all your help. I wish I could return the favor..." he trailed, leaving the conversation open  for suggestions.

"You've done enough for me lately, Guzma, thank you. Though...the only thing I'd like to ask for right now is to smoke. It's been a day or so now...the symptoms..." ________ mumbled, and Guzma bit his lip, turning his head away from them.

"Tell you what, let's go to your place so we can round up some clothes for you, and you can grab whatever else you need while we're there."

"Thanks, though I gotta respect house rules. If you're not cool with me bringing weed to Shady House, you gotta let me know. I know it's not for everyone, and I know a lot of people still have their feelings about the stigma of weed and all." ________ mumbled. Guzma chuckled, leaning himself up against the wall besides them.

"Trust me doll, I know more about weed than you could ever hope to know. I used to be a stoner too, but I fell out of it after a while. There ain't nothing you could say about weed that I don't already know." He reassured them, and ________ nodded, falling silent after a moment.

"Why did you do it?" they asked softly, and Guzma almost didn't hear them, if not for the lack of white noise in Shady House. He sighed softly, shaking his head.

"It's a long, depressing story, doll. Why I did it doesn't matter anymore. The fact of the matter is, I ain't that person in that situation no more. I'm Guzma, the big bad boss of team skull now, and that's how it should be. C'mon, we gotta go get your shit." Guzma pushed off the wall, and balancing themselves on their crutches, ________ followed as well.

~~~

An hour or so later, Guzma and ________ were walking up to the door of the little apartment Guzma had visited just two days before. Unlocking the door, ________ twisted the knob and let them in. Almost immediately, ________ hobbled over to the sofa and threw themselves down on it, sighing deeply and enjoying being home again.

"You really are a homebody aren't ya?" Guzma said, sitting besides them as he chuckled.

"Yeah, I really am. Ain't no place like home, you know?" 

"Yeah..." silence filled the room soon after, only to be broken moments later by ________'s deep breath. After they exhaled, they pulled themselves up to stand, turning their gaze to Guzma.

"Okay. I'm gonna go get some clothes together," they huffed turning to head down a  hall, prompting Guzma to stand and follow them.

"Dont push yourself. Tell me where everything is and I'll help you pack."

"Are you crazy?! There's no way I'm letting you dig through my drawers!" ________ practically screeched, face beginning to flush at the notion. They opened the door to their bedroom nonetheless, entering before halting Guzma in the hallway.

"What? You afraid I'm gonna find ya secret stash or somethin? I ain't tryna be snooping in ya stuff, and I ain't tryna be a perv. You ain't gonna be able to pack on your own." Guzma looked around the room from the door way. Somewhat messy, a few shirts here and there, the room was painted a medium grey color, decorated by pops of blue and purple, and various space and galaxy themed decorations.

"Fine...but if I catch you being nosy, you're done, got it?" ________ huffed, stepping further into the room to allow him in.

"Yeah, I got it...cool room. You must like space and stuff I guess..." he mumbled, looking around, noticing now smaller knick knacks on shelves around the room.

"Yeah..." ________ sighed softly, grabbing a duffle bag down from the closet and tossing it over to the bed, "some of my earliest memories are of looking up at the starry sky with my parents." Guzma smiled wistfully, sighing softly to himself before turning and smirking at ________.

"Oh, so now you wanna tell me about yourself huh?" He teased, and ________ huffed. Guzma chuckled and shook his head "I'm teasing ya, doll. I'm actually...kinda glad..." he trails off, rubbing his neck awkwardly as he averts his gaze. His eyes fall on their nightstand, where a small lamp and a frame, face down, rests.

"Yeah, well...I guess...I can't keep being cold to you. You've... done a lot for me...so thanks." ________ averted their gaze as well, eyes glued to the floor.

"Yeah...no problem..." Guzma mumbled as he approached the nightstand. "So...can I ask about this frame, and why its faced down?" He asked, his gruff voice softened, and ________ turned slowly to see what he was asking about.

"Oh. That..." ________ sighed, scooting themselves close to the nightstand to pick up the frame. They studied it for a minute before handing it to him "I should honestly burn it..."

He turned the frame up to his face, taking in the photograph within it. He recognized ________, though they looked to be a teen. Surrounded by 5 other teens, they were all dressed in formalwear, so Guzma assumed it was a prom picture of sorts. They all stood, smiling and laughing and making silly faces. He noticed how happy ________ looked in the photo.

"It's them, isn't it? These are the people who hurt you, aren't they?" He asked, looking back to them. Eyes downcast, Guzma almost didn't see the tear that slipped down their face.

"I was to blame for most of it." ________ mumbled, and Guzma set the frame back down on the nightstand before sitting on the floor in front of them.

"We got the rest of the afternoon. Tell me about what happened."