Positive Reinforcement | Recharge by Petting

Midicus collapsed to the floor of the room, huffing a bit and allowing the imp on his head to slither down to the ground with him. Crawly was typically the kind of imp who took to training easily, but there was something about training with the help of Quince that exhausted both them and Midicus to their very core. Crawly had at least been given treats between every trick that they did, keeping their energy up, but Midicus was not so lucky. 

As the pride bun leaned against the wall, starting to find himself able to breathe again, a larger body moved to sit next to him. He knew it had to be Quince, both from the shape of the body now slightly pressing against him, and because she smelled like frosting and baked goods all of the time. Crawly actively moved away from the side where Quince was, mostly just to make sure that they wouldn't get squished if Midicus ended up leaning into her. She tossed another small treat towards Crawly, who grabbed it quickly and found a place to coil around Midicus and enjoy the last treat of the training session. 

Once the imp was handled, Quince looked back up to Midicus. Now that he wasn't wheezing out his soul, he was able to look back at her as well. She noticed the tired look in his eye... perhaps she had gone a bit too far for their first bit of training. With over a hundred buns asking for her help training their imps in order to win against the other team this month... it sometimes was difficult for her to pinpoint what buns would be able to handle her more intense imp training techniques. Gently, she placed her hand on Midicus' head, running her fingers through his hair and ruffling it slightly. Midicus reacted immediately, his eyes closing and his head leaning in towards the touch, a small hum echoing through his chest. Quince smiled. "Yeah... there you go. You did good today, Midicus. Handled everything even if it was tough and got a lot of progress done today with Crawly. Such a fast learner and such a strong bun to make it through a few hours of nonstop training." Midicus seemed to smile at the compliments, demons save her, he reminded her of Hutch a little bit. In fact, he reminded her of them so much that as she continued to pet him, something slipped out that she didn't intend.

"Such a good boy, sweet thing." She didn't realize she had even said it until Midicus froze, his smile disappearing suddenly. "Oh, shit. Sorry, Midicus- I didn't mean to say that." She started to apologize, but Midicus made a small grumbling noise in order to stop her. "It's... fine. I didn't... dislike it. It's just... been a while since I've been called that." Midicus felt a little ashamed to admit it, but it seemed that Quince understood just fine. "Alright... would you rather I stop, though? I don't wanna take anything away from the person who usually calls you that." The first part of Midicus' response was to keep Quince's hand from moving away from his head. The second part was a slight plea under his breath. "No, please keep telling me I'm good... and petting me... I've missed it." Fuck, that was sad and adorable in equal amounts. How was she supposed to say no to that?

Crawly had finished their treat by now, looking up and watching as Midicus was pet and gently talked to. Most times, the sceil would have lunged into action, trying to protect Midicus wherever they thought he might be threatened... and in all honesty, this was no different. They moved silently to slither up into Midicus' suit pocket, right where his heart was. He had been through a lot of stress lately, and Crawly was protecting his chest and heart from any more damage caused by said stress. It could happen at any point, Quince could bring up the contest and Midicus might start worrying about it- but for now... things seemed to be okay.

"I have something else for you, if you're feeling well enough." Quince started, sparking Midicus' eyes to open as she reached into her satchel and pulled out a small cookie. "An... imp treat?" Midicus questioned, slightly dazed as he recovered a little from the attention being given to him. "Well, yes, but it's for succubuns too. It's meant as a reward for boys that do a good job during training... so I wanted to give you one too." Midicus found himself nodding along, understanding what was being said at the very least. Quince seemed to notice how lost he looked. "Do you want me to feed it to you? That way you can still allow yourself to relax and let me keep petting you with my other hand." Midicus nodded, opening his mouth a little bit to accept the cookie. Quince couldn't help but blush a little- he was fucking adorable. It was then that she had something click in her head. Adorable, Loves Imps more than anything, Incredibly Smart in the right circumstances, Overthinks too much, And a Pride bun on top of all that? Did she have a type? No, she couldn't think about that right now, she had a delicate boy needing to be fed. 

The Sceil watched the exchange and felt themself getting a bit jealous- not only because his owner's attention was being pulled away by someone that they barely knew, but also because that cookie looked delicious! They had liked the treat they were given, don't get them wrong- but they could have had another one- and one that looked way more flavorful as well! But Crawly didn't make any big movements or noises about it- they could be jealous all they wanted but they had to admit that seeing Midicus be taken care of like this was enough to make up for it. After all, Crawly cared a lot about the pride bun, so they supposed they could sacrifice some of their pride... and their gluttony, for his sake. 

Midicus ate the cookie slowly, enjoying the feeling of relaxation and pampering- it had been a decent while since he experienced it in the physical form. In fact, it had been so long that now he was getting a bit more exhausted... his eyes becoming heavy and his breath slowing bit by bit... until he eventually drifted away from reality entirely.

---

When Midicus woke up, he was back in his bed, somewhat confused about what had happened over the past few hours. Had he dreamt all of that? Surely he had, in what universe would something like that actually happen to him? At least, he thought like that until Crawly noticed he was awake, slithering over and slapping a piece of paper right over his eyes. "Augh! Crawly!" Midicus yelped, pulling the paper away from his face so that he could get a proper look at it. The words were written in a color that Midicus couldn't really point out. Some sort of mixture between orange and pink- but that wasn't the important part, the important part was what the letter actually said.

'Hey Midicus!
Someone was quite the tired boy, huh? Just letting you know that if you're reading this, you've awoken safe and sound! After you passed out, Crawly lead me back to your house so that I could tuck you into bed. (By the way, hope it's not weird to say, but your house is super nice!) Also, I don't know if you know this- but your sceils know how to open the doors of your house. Whether that's concerning or not is up to you, really, but I thought I'd let you know. 

That being said, I'm really glad that I could comfort you to the point of you falling asleep! It's kind of given me a bit of an ego, actually- I haven't exactly put anyone to sleep like that in a good bit! Rest well, and I'll see you bright and early tomorrow for your next bit of training! Never stop the grind! Imp training specialists! Go team Peaches!

With Sugar and Treats, Quince.' 

Midicus placed the letter down and stared at the wall for a moment. It wasn't a dream. The male didn't even make a noise, unable to figure out how he should feel or what he should think about all of this... he was glad that Quince didn't hate him for passing out on her or anything, but all of this sparked a lot of odd questions in his head. It certainly didn't help that Crawly had seen all of it- embarrassing himself right in front of the imp that was basically attached to his hip half the time. Instead of giving an actual response, he simply slumped back down into a full laying position, pulling the covers over his head and closing his eyes again, much to Crawly's dismay. The sceil tried to get him up again, but he wasn't budging.

He just needed to sleep again, maybe then he'd be able to figure out what emotions he was supposed to be feeling.