Alright everyone, lets get some context out of this story. There was an episode where Russel was Mime's boss when he was trying to get some money but ended up firing him. In this story, I'll be turning Russel into a workaholic while Mime is the worker, this'll explore the romance of ex-boss and ex-employee.

Everyone had already left, with Cuddles and Giggles gone (who was complaining that Cuddles still hadn't married her in the many years that they dated), it had gone quiet. Russel was cleaning the garden of the decorations and tables. "Yarr, if I didn't know any better I would've left earlier" said the complaining otter. He heard the snoring and sobbing, the voice seemed unfamiliar to him. Russel approached the source of the sound which came from under a table, it was Mime holding a bottle of half empty wine, with several other empty bottles surrounding him.

Much earlier…

Mime was having a mid-life crisis, why was this happening to him? Ever since he had tried all sorts of jobs to earn the unicycle, he had thoughts of comparing himself to others. Cuddles and Flippy got a girlfriend, Handy was getting married, Lumpy had his own carnival, and not to mention he ruined Russel's business reputation. He had never compared himself to others before, and it somehow made his life choices seem pointless compared to the others. Speaking of which, Russel was in one of the tables with Toothy who was busy sleeping while Lumpy preached in front of the soon to be wedded couple. He wanted to apologize to him but he felt scared of what the otter might say, who was busy sipping some wine.

Beside him, Cuddles and Giggles were busy flirting with each other while the same was happening with Flippy and Flaky. He turned toward Flippy, who was busy playing with Flaky's spines which got a few playful slaps from the girl. He tapped Flippy's shoulder, getting the soldier's attention. "What is it buddy?" asked Flippy. (How do you become brave?) said Flippy through a series of gestures ending with him bringing his hands to his chest and shaking them while making a gesture of fear. Flippy assumed that the gesture meant that he was cold and said "Oh, I know just the solution. You know, they say that the drunker you get, the warmer you feel." Said Flippy while grabbing one of the empty glasses and filling it with wine. "Here, this'll fix your problem."

Mime assumed that what Flippy said was a soldier's metaphor for being brave and downed the drink. "Uh, Flippy, I don't think that's what Mime needs right now" said Flaky, feeling concerned for the boy. "Nonsense, me and my pals always drank whenever we were on our campaigns" said Flippy, refilling Mime's drink when each time that he finished it, also making Mime believe that if this made soldier's brave enough to go to war, he'd have the courage to face Russel.

When the music started playing, everyone but Russel joined in on Handy and Petunia's dancing. Russel had a sleep deprived look on his face, choosing to lay his head on the table he was sitting on, getting as much sleep as possible before his assigned cleaning duty. Flippy and Flaky started dancing, Flaky was worried for Mime who was starting to enjoy drinking the alcoholic drinks and had become tipsy. "I-Isn't Mime drinking too much?" asked Flaky. "Ahh, don't worry about him, let him live a little" said Flippy, continuing to drag Flaky with him. Mime had noticed that the bottle that he was drinking was empty and stumbled onto the table of food that Nutty was standing near in.

Nutty was pouring some wine on a glass of wine and drank it, and then immediately spitting it out. He took all the bottles of wine and placed them off the table on the floor, the taste being unfavourable for the sugar addict. While Nutty was starting to get himself some punch, Mime had grabbed all of the bottles and making his way back to the table, pouring more wine onto the glass. After a few more drinks, he had gone under the table, not taking the music anymore because his head started to hurt from the loudness.

When the wedding was over, everyone started to go home. Flaky noticed that Mime was now gone and said "W-where's Mime?". Flaky was looking all around for the deer but he was nowhere to be found. "He'll be fine, he probably went home already" said Flippy dismissively. Flaky hoped that Flippy was right as they both got inside Flippy's military truck, unbeknownst to them, Mime was still under the table, drinking more than he could handle.

Back to the present…

"Yarrr! What are ye doing here laddie?! The wedding is over, go home already." berated Russel at Miime. Mime who was still drunk, clumsily got up under the table, bumping his head under it while simultaneously tipping it over, spilling wine and leftover food onto the grass. Russel slapped his face, why hadn't he just pulled Mime over. He started raking up the mess when he saw Mime crying again, this time on top of the table. Russel sighed, he was supposed to be running the restaurant but the wedding ensured he would have no customers, so he had no choice but to attend it, he was stuck with cleaning this place and now the mute drank more than he could handle and it was up to him to make sure that he was able to go home safely. Mime made a gesture as if it were a hot day fanning himself, he got up and started unbuttoning the air where a tuxedo would be.

Unlike the rest of the other tree friends, Mime had come to the party, wearing what he deemed an invisible tuxedo and underneath it was his casual outfit. Mime then started to take off his sweater but was stopped by Russel grabbing his hands. "Alright laddie, I think ye had enough, let's get ya home." Said Russel, who had begun putting Mime's arm onto his shoulder who had instead began giggling, this confused Russel, he had never heard his voice before. The laughter then began progressing into full-blown laughter from the normally quiet tree friend, even Nutty wasn't this loud when he laughed out loud. Russel made a mental note to have Sniffles get him one of those arms that Handy got to replace his hooked hand.

It was difficult for Russel, given that he had wooden legs, with Mime still laughing uncontrollably like Nutty. But he still tried his best to carry him to his house. He had no idea where it exactly was, he had heard he lived close to Nutty's house but how was he supposed to know which house was Mime's? That quickly answered his question when he had seen a colourful tent standing amongst the rows of houses. "Lad, is this your house?" asked Russel, making sure it was Mime's house. Mime only nodded cheerily in his drunken state, Russel trusted his former employee's gesture, and started heading towards the circus tent.

Russel went through the tent's flap and entered only to find that there was absolutely nothing inside, no food, no furniture, where was his clothes even? He was hoping that Mime just made a mistake or this was some kind of joke. "Yarr! Ye sure this is yer house lad?" asked Russel. Mime nodded who then got off of Russel's shoulder and started heading towards an invisible bed, and let himself fall and that urged Russel to try to catch him. But surprisingly, Mime plopped down on something mid-air, confusing the otter how in the world it was even possible to defy the laws of reality with Mime's imagination.

Russel sat beside the drunken deer, sighing to himself, it was getting late and he still had to clean the church's garden tomorrow. He then tried to get up from the imaginary bed when felt Mime's hand pull him, surprised by the force of his pulling. Mime had a sad expression on his face and looked like he was about to cry again, begging the older male to stay with him, (I'm sorry) said Mime who placed his hand on his chest and making a circular motion . "Yarr! Mime, I have to go now, I'll be needing to open the restaurant early in ye morning!" exclaimed Russel, who found it increasingly difficult to resist Mime's begging, his eyes had begun tearing up, ruining the white makeup that covered the deer's face. Russel misinterpreted the gesture more as a sign of please stay.

Russel, in a moment of weakness, decided to stay. He took out his handkerchief and started cleaning his face, wiping tears and staining his handkerchief with the makeup. When he was done, he looked at Mime's face again, he had stopped crying and had been looking at him, he felt his face up in his hand, he actually looked really good without the blush on and makeup, too good actually, he looks more like a doe now coupled with his eyes and antlers, noticed that while he was cleaning Mime's face that his tail had started wagging, the cute small tail's wagging was actually a good sign seeing Mime was now calm but made no attempts at letting Russel go anytime soon.

Russel seeing that him staying would be the best thing to do with Mime's well-being, decided to sleep for the night with Mime. Mime tried his best to gesture some more things to say but was interrupted by Russel saying "That's enough lad, I'll stay as long as ye need me. Just sleep till ya feel better". Mime continued crying on his ex-boss's shoulder while Russel rubbed his back, comforting him till he slept.

He may have been his former employer, but he believed that it's the job of an employer to take care of his employees, and somehow, sleeping in a bed with someone felt nicer than when he usually slept alone, he didn't know why but he would sleep more comfortably tonight with Mime who had buried his face at the crook of his neck.

And that's that, I found myself not able to make this chapter a long one, I can't see myself making 4 pages worth a chapter which is usually the case of my oneshots and the one who makes me whole. I think maybe its because Mime rarely even appears in episodes and he can't speak which makes the story pretty limited. I'm going to guess that I'll be forced to make up parts of lore here or whatever.