Manipulation was usually pretty aloof, snarky, sarcastic, and confident. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, all those traits all seemed to completely disappear whenever Paranoia was around. Maybe it was some sort of side effect of their ability, but everyone seemed to get at least a little jittery around them...especially Manipulation. It always affected him a little bit differently than the rest.
"D-do you want to talk about your-"
"Not even a little bit" Paranoia interrupted.
"Oook, never mind then." Manipulation muttered out quickly while hiding behind the brim of his hat a little. Paranoia couldn't help but smirk a little, why were they so amused by him getting flustered like that? He was kinda cute when he got like that. Wait a minute, what? What were they thinking? I mean, yeah, he was more tolerable than any of the other sides. But was that enough to see him that way? Paranoia must have been pretty deep in thought, because they didn't notice Manipulation staring at them until he started talking again.
"C-can I ask you something?" Manipulation was hesitant, but also seemed pretty determined to get his question out?
"I suppose so." They had come to his room in the middle of the night, for the simple reason of not wanting to be alone, the least they could do is allow him a question.
"Why are you here?" he hesitated for a moment so Paranoia opened their mouth to answer but then he started again "I mean I know why you're here" he looked down at his hands in his lap "but why me? Out of all of the people here you could have gone to" he looked back up and directly into the other's eyes "Why me?" Manipulation always bragged that he was practically emotionless, but just now there were quite a few emotions written on his face and in his eyes. Emotions that Paranoia wasn't quite sure what to do with.
Paranoia broke eye contact as they stammered a bit "I...it's...I'm...not sure." Now they were the one who was flustered. "I guess...it's just because..." Paranoia hadn't exactly promised to be honest, they just said he could ask. They sighed. But what was the use of lying at this point, they were already in pretty deep by now. "Out of all of the people here, you are my favorite." They looked up and saw that this statement had shocked him a little. "Well, at least the least annoying" They smirked as they gently nudged his leg with their foot.
"Gee, thanks" Manipulation couldn't help but smile even though his word dripped with sarcasm. He nudged Paranoia back in much the same way. They were both smiling like idiots before they even realized. They made eye contact and their smiles shrank, but didn't completely disappear. "You know, you're the least annoying to me too." And just like that the nightmare was all but completely forgotten, but that didn't mean Paranoia was ready to return to their room just yet. They decided to stay a bit longer and just enjoy the company