Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

AN: And here's another one, sorry for taking so long to post this one! I've recently watched Ice Age: Collision Course once again, and just wrote three dribbles about it.

Well, this one is set in the aftermath of Ice Age: Continental Drift. ENORMOUS thanks to DiegoRedeemedLover (your reviews literally always makes me smile) and Guest for reviewing!

Manny found Diego alone at night. He was surprised – after all the chaos from previously, he had thought that Diego would stay close to Shira. The two had seemed very close, and Manny fully supported their mating.

"Hey." He started awkwardly. Diego looked up from where he was resting.

"Hey."

Manny cleared his throat. He was no good at this – Ellie was the one who comforted people. "So…where's Shira?"

Diego's eyes darkened as he looked down at his paws. Manny inwardly winced. Dammit. Did he say something wrong? Had he read the relationship all wrong? "She's…she's spending time with Ellie."

"Oh." Manny said.

That got him a small smile. "Yeah. Oh."

Manny waited, hoping that Diego would open up to him. It was a tactic Diego himself used on Manny, and to the mammoth, at least, it was a very effective method. After waiting a few minutes of nothing happening, Manny cleared his throat again. "You and Shira, huh?"

"Yeah." Diego looked up.

"She's a lucky sabre." Manny said.

Diego sighed. "I'm the lucky one."

"What'd you mean?" Manny asked, seeing the opening and diving headfirst into it.

Diego rolled his neck and frowned. "I'm crippled, Manny. No sabre would want a crippled sabre. Especially if the crippled is male." He looked down. "In sabre tradition, males are the ones who provide. Females mate to have security, to have cubs. A crippled sabre is an unattractive one."

Manny frowned. From what he saw of Diego's pack, Diego could be considered quite attractive. But, he supposed, sabres were different and relied more upon practicality. It would explain Diego's need for independence, for no pity. If he allowed pity, he was admitting to being useless or being a burden.

The mammoth looked up. "Well, in case you haven't noticed, she's a pirate. Which means that she doesn't care about sabre tradition. I'd bet she doesn't even know about it. And can you see Shira being content with just having someone provide for her? She'd be doing all the providing, if it were up to her."

Diego laughed. "That's one way of putting it."

"And you're not completely useless, Diego." Manny said. He smiled down at Diego, who looked pretty awestruck. Manny grinned to himself as he looked away. "C'mon, we should go now, just to make sure Sid hasn't messed up again."

"You're way too mean to the sloth." Diego rolled his eyes, but there was a near-smile as he got up and limped after his friend. Manny slowed down his pace so that they could walk side by side. As they always would.