#cypath

In my fantasies there's two distinct "eras" where they were likely be around each other: their teen years and Krakoa. I guess this is an AU where they actually paid attention to each other. (Surely if Doug can get unceremoniously killed off in basically every canon AU he's mentioned in, I can have an AU where he gets his toxic yaoi on....)

During their teen years, I imagine Manuel is the one who starts seeking out Doug initially. At first it's because he thinks Doug will be an easy target to bully, but when Doug bites back he's surprised and kinda flustered and that just makes him want to push Doug as far as he can. He gets kinda fixated on pulling Doug's pigtails. Empath and Roulette both have awful little crushes and they egg each other on to see who can bully him more (the answer is Empath, who wins by a landslide.) They are the worst. Tormenting that poor boy. Doug is so pissed off at him all the time!! And I think Manuel likes it enough that he doesn't really use his power on Doug too much, except when he thinks it would be really, really funny, which is totally not a big deal so fucking relax, Doug. A lot of Manuel's horrible behavior stems from boredom and I like the idea that Manuel is thinking, despite himself, that Doug is surprisingly interesting the way he already is. Like, Doug is such a firecracker despite his extremely non-combative power and Manuel finds it strangely endearing despite how much he looks down on basically everyone. Of course, he shows that by pushing Doug to emotional extremes as much as he possibly can, like Doug is a squeaky toy, but, well. It's something close to affection. Empath deliberately seeks out Doug's company, which is more than he can say about basically anyone else.

Doug probably punches him at least once. Getting his shit rocked by someone he pissed off is just another day for Manuel, but he's really into it this time. (It helps that the X-Men keep having Doug sit out of combat exercises, so he didn't really punch him as hard as most of the other New Mutants would have.) Manuel's nose is bleeding and he's grinning so big. He feels like he really accomplished something. Truly, he loves to ragebait.

Eventually Doug dies and everything falls apart and they kinda drift around not seeing each other until Krakoa. In Krakoa I think it's flipped and Doug seeks out Manuel. Manuel is a problem child on the therapy-mandated Hellions team and Doug knows Manuel could fit in on Krakoa if someone helped him enough, he knows it. I think it's in character for Doug to get really fixated on finding the good in Manuel, even if its maybe futile. He wants to prove something and Doug is such a busybody on Krakoa, eavesdropping on everyone and setting up his many strange machinations. Manuel is kind of his project and the more they interact the deeper down the rabbit hole they go.

Manuel is using his power to push Doug into feeling calmer and more relaxed and happy around him, but it's subtle enough that Doug isn't completely sure if he really is using it or not. Manuel doesn't usually have to be subtle, since he can just use his power to make anyone do whatever he wants, but Doug is really making him work for it by keeping it questionable whether hes hsing it or not. Doug suspects he might be using his power... But he's not sure, and he can't just accuse him and blow up all the progress he feels like he's making. Besides, the loss of control is slightly exhilarating. Doug is always thinking, so hard and so much, always taking in information and translating it at all times--his brain is quieter around Manuel, and it feels good, even if he knows it might not be real. If they don't acknowledge it, they can both imagine it's okay, can't they?

Doug doesn't bring Warlock when he visits Empath. Manuel would resent being his dirty little secret if he weren't making sure everyone in Krakoa is gossiping about them. He wants to be on everybody's tongue, especially in the same breath as Doug, and Doug's whole stupid squad can take that and shove it up their asses. (He might be slightly jealous.)

Manuel tells himself he's just manipulating Doug, but this weird semi-boosted relationship is the closest thing to a real friendship he's maybe ever had, and that's making him feel kinda sad, which makes him even more determined that he's just manipulating Doug. He doesn't like Doug. He's just playing with him. Other people are toys and eventually he'll get bored of this one, too. Maybe he's putting in way more work than he normally would... But he's just trying something new, is all.