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You know, the last thing you expected to wake up to is the sound of the fire alarm. You woke up in a panic, quickly getting out of bed. You notice Mike isn't with you, and that makes you panic more. You ran out your bedroom door to smoke, but surprisingly no heat. There... is no fire. Just smoke.
You open up windows in the living room before you go to the kitchen, what you assume is the source of the smoke. Once you arrive at the kitchen, you see the stove turned on. A pan is sitting on the stove with burnt food in it. What kind of food? It's hard to tell. Inside the oven is a large pan, with long strips of what you assume is bacon. It's hard to tell, considering all the pieces are completely burnt. The smell of bacon helps at least, once you can focus past the smoke. And at the other side of your room... is your partner, Mike.
Okay, the alarm is still going off and it's giving you a headache. So you grab a stool and turn off the alarm, which took a minute to do. You never really figured out how to turn off the fire alarm, but you somehow did it. You return to the kitchen, the smoke clearing up thankfully. You open the kitchen window, letting more smoke out. You turn to your boyfriend, who is crouched on the floor and covering his face with his arms and knees. His bangs are down... so Mal's fronting.
Wait, Mal's fronting? Why?
It's clear Mal is shaking, which brings you out of your train of thought. Anxiety attack, maybe? It could also be a full on panic attack. The alarm was loud, so maybe that was triggering for Mike, and by proxy Mal? You sit next to Mal on the floor, unsure of what to say. Touching him is a horrible option, he's a protective alter. He's always been quick to react, ever since you've met him. So touching him would make things worse.
A thought comes to mind as you get up and head to the bedroom. It should be right... there. You grab a large platypus plush from the dresser. It was a gag gift from Mal when he found out you were making "Perry the Platypus" jokes towards Manitoba. Mal found it hilarious. You also grab Manitoba's fedora.
Heading back to the kitchen, you sit in front of him. You hold the platypus out.
"A platypus?" You ask, putting the fedora on the platypus plush. You gasp dramatically.
"Manitoba the Platypus?!"
You can hear a chuckle coming from Mal, though he's still shaking. You're making progress. You hand the plush to Mal, and he takes it. He's hugging onto it for dear life, which would be adorable if he wasn't panicking.
You aren't sure if he'll talk in the current state he's in, even if you made him laugh a bit. So, you think about why Mal is fronting. It's morning, and sometimes Mike decides to cook breakfast for the both of you. Sometimes another alter takes over the cooking, and sometimes you cook breakfast. Mike has never burnt food this badly before, neither has any of the other alters. Except...
Mal has never cooked breakfast before.
...Oh. That... makes a lot of sense. You know how stubborn Mal can be, refusing any kind of help and insisting he "knows what to do." You can remember him being so hard on himself every time he made a mistake. You... remember him telling you how he can't make a mistake, how he can't let the body get hurt. He's a protector, but also a trauma holder.
It hurts, remembering the fact that your partner was abused as a child. The details were never disclosed, only the basic outline that Mike was physically and emotionally abused. Mal's reaction to every time he makes a mistake... it most likely stemmed from their childhood.
In this current situation, he burnt the food he was trying to make. Adding the fact that the alarm was going off, it's clear why Mal is panicking.
You open your arms out, and wait a moment. He looks at you, and hesitantly hugs you. His grip on you tightened as he hugged you, but never enough to hurt you. You could feel him shaking so much, his heavy breathing. He was silent, maybe on the verge of tears? You're unsure, he's buried his face in your chest. You hug him back, quietly telling him "I'm not mad, it's okay. It was an accident."
The smoke has mostly cleared, leaving the smell of burnt food. You'll have to clean that up, though you're sure Mal will insist on cleaning up. Once he's calmed down, of course. For now you keep repeating those words and holding onto Mal, and he holds onto you like his life depended on it. You gently stroke his hair, and he doesn't stop you. Mal usually pretends to hate that, but you can tell it's bringing him comfort. As much as he denies it, you both know he enjoys this.