The Burnout Session

Coming To Terms {Ain't Centric with Marina} Angst

Trigger Warning: Implied grooming/sexual assault, Implied child on child sexual abuse, Struggling with one's sexuality, Implied death/murder, and Implied manipulation

Marina was worried.

She was worried about her dearest friend {and her crush} Fonnie "Ain't" Connor. Ever since he got back from his assignment, the slightly older man has been distant lately. It doesn't help that Marina's room was next to the brunette's room- where she can hear the horrible anguish sobs created by the man whenever everyone was asleep, except for Marina. She felt crushed by the sadness and pain as she laid in her bed, wanting to comfort the tall man but unable to get out of bed.
The thing that snapped her fear away was when Marina saw Fonnie {in his animatronic form} crying his eyes out while Theseus held him in their arms. That night, Marina felt anger and concern run through her veins- what could've made the embodiment of sunshine cry like that- it drove her mad. Marina had to hold herself back from questioning the pair of siblings, she didn't want to make the situation worse for them after all.
So now here she is- in front of Fonnie's bedroom door, ready to question the man's mental status; to get the truth from him. The humanoid allay knocked on the door softly but firmly, "Ain't? It's me Marina, can I come in?" Marina asked in a soft voice. She waited a few moments before the door opened to reveal a sleepy Fonnie.

"Mari? You know you don't have to all me Ain't right?"

"I know Fonnie, I'm just getting used to calling you by your name"

The two shared a little laugh before Fonnie asked a question Marina dreaded, "So whatcha want do with lil o' me? Usually you'd give me a heads up when you want to hang out, what's going on Mari?". Marina could tell Fonnie was nervous about this scenario, the forced smile and rapid eye moments gave that away. The woman calmed her nerves and looked at Fonnie with a serious look on her face, "We need to have a talk Fon, alone." She stated.
The tall man looked worried for a spilt second before it was replaced with a nervous smile, "W..We..Well come on i...in..in then Mari!" Fonnie stuttered out as he stepped to the side to let Marina in his room. The short girl entered the bedroom, her nerves going through the roof as she entered the room- the possibilities of Fonnie's feelings were endless.
The sound of the door closing brought Marina out of her swirling thoughts and made her look at the usually happy man. Fonnie's body language was closed off, his arms crossed in front of him while he faced away from Marina. She didn't want to make the nervous man uncomfortable but unfortunately she's far too worried about him. Marina took a deep breath before she asked the important question, "Fonnie, are you okay?".
The look of distress and sadness appeared on Fonnie's face, his hands started to shake in a up and down motion- something he does when he has to calm himself down, establishing the fact that he is not okay. There was silence between them, Marina was worried at Fonnie was trying to come up with a lie until she hear a little whimper.
It wasn't long before the man launched himself into Marina's arms, shaking as he hugged the short woman tightly but not too tight to hurt her. Marina immediately hugged Fonnie back, doing her best to soothe the tall man's nerves. It didn't take long to feel the tears drip onto her skin and clothes but instead of the usual clear tears humans and other species have- it was an oily black. Marina gasped softly at the realization of what had happened during Fonnie's assignment.
She heard of stories about that universe- people that have died never stayed dead but rather; they come back as either a spirit or stuck in an mechanical hell of a body. Marina just never thought it would happen to her best friend, someone she loved and cared for. "I..I didn't want to..t..to make yo..you..you angry Mar..Mari..Mari.." Fonnie stuttered out, letting the humanoid allay go. Marina's thoughts all had one thing in common- they all involved torturing the person responsible for killing her Fonnie.
"Who did it?" She growled out, surprising the upset man. Marina looked at Fonnie in the eyes, not bothering to hide the flaming anger in her eyes; she only softened up whenever Fonnie flinched at the look. It took awhile for Fonnie to whisper out an answer to her question.

"M..My..My ex...ex bo...boy..boyfriend.."

The look on Marina must've gave the wrong impression because Fonnie looked down as if he was going to get yelled at- something she would never do to the vulnerable man.

"Fonnie I'm not upset that you like men-"

"NO! I DON'T LIKE MEN!"

Marina took a step back in shock, Fonnie didn't like to yell at people- especially when it comes to something serious as someone's sexuality. Fonnie must've thought that Marina was assuming he was homophobic because he looked ready to go on a rant before Marina cut him off. "Fonnie! I know that you're not homophobic, it's okay sweetheart!", The man looked at Marina in shock, "It's going to be okay Fonnie, I know that you wouldn't say that without a good reason.". It didn't take long before the tall man sighed and walked over his bed to sit down; this must've been very serious. Marina sat down next to Fonnie and looked at him with a calm and worried look on her face.
"I..I..I.. I like all genders.. bu..but..but I prefer women over me..men..men and non-binary people.", Fonnie began to say as he look at the floor, "I know a..all men aren't dan..dang...dangerous but m..my ex.. my ex did ba..bad..bad things to me whenever we were young.. an..and....and while we were da..dat..dati..dating.". Marina listened to Fonnie as he began to her all of the terrible things his ex- no his abuser did to him throughout their relationship. The woman was furious at the person who destroyed her best friend's view on relationships and people, how can someone hurt a child like that? The one sentence that sent Marina into an fiery rage was when Fonnie said that it his own fault that he was treated that way.
Marina knew that what she did would probably scare the emotional man but she wanted to Fonnie to understand these words clearly. She grabbed Fonnie by the shoulders and made him look at her in the eyes, "It was never your fault that he treated and hurt you like that," Marina stated and when Fonnie tried to comment on that- she continued with her statement, "That bastard knew that what he was doing was wrong Fonnie, you were a child  when he made you do those perverted things; you didn't know any better.". And with that, all of the pain and suffering escaped from their prison as Fonnie began to cry. Marina softly pulled the sobbing man into her arms, allowing him to cry without drawing too much attention from everyone else in the house in case they came back from their family outing.
As the time went by, Marina talked about a label that fit Fonnie's description of his sexuality; Omnisexual {or Omniromantic in this case} where the individual likes all genders but still has a preference- kinda like Pansexual. At first Fonnie wasn't confident about that label, however he accepted it when he realized that it makes sense for him. To Marina, it didn't matter that he was Omniromantic- if anything she was more worried about telling Theseus about this discovery. Now, Marina knows that it was Fonnie's decision on telling his brother about this but she is worried that Fonnie won't tell him at all.
"I don't know if I have the strength to tell him Mari.. what if he doesn't believe me?" He confessed to her. It sounds stupid to anyone else but it makes sense because that bastard of an ex boyfriend made him believe that. Marina took a deep breath before telling him this, "Sweetheart your brother would give you the worlds if you wanted them to, I'm confident that he will believe you."
The man looked at her with so much hope and love in his eyes, it felt so refreshing to see such emotions in them.

"I'm glad that I fell in love you Mari"