Chapter Text
When Rad walked outside, the sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon. Luckily, it was still summer, otherwise he’d be closing up in the dark, since Enid and K.O. had already left for the day. His van was one of the last vehicles in the parking lot, he noticed, save for a few others which probably belonged to various shop owners.
His tired footsteps echoed across the empty lot. As he neared his van, he glanced across the street and saw Boxmore—well, he saw the silhouette of the building framed by the dimming light. Yeesh , he thought, and looked away just as quickly. He wasn’t too eager to remember everything that had happened that day, but it wasn’t as if he could forget either—not to mention the mere thought of that stupid sporty robot gave him a headache. Raymond’s intentions seemed harmless enough, and it wasn’t as though Rad was scared of him, but something kept him from trusting the scheme wholeheartedly. Probably because he’s a villain? he reasoned, which was good enough for him, at least to stop thinking about it for now.
Pushing the topic to the furthest corner of his mind, he pulled out his keys to unlock his door, the last rays of sun being just enough to see. Just as he was about to unlock it, however, the side door slid open with a woosh! , causing Rad to stumble backwards in surprise.
“Greetings, Rad,” an unfortunately familiar voice greeted him, and he relaxed his stance. Raymond was sitting on the floor of the back of his van, one arm draped over the back passenger seat with the other resting on the metal floor, and his back leaning against the opposite wall. “For your trouble,” he smiled and tossed him the stack of technos. Rad caught it just barely, caught only slightly off-guard.
“What the—how did you get in my van?” he asked incredulously.
“What are you talking about? The little kid let me in,” he answered.
“Oh.” Rad really needed to change his locks.
The conversation lulled, caught in an uncomfortable silence that neither moved to fill. Rad attempted to avoid eye contact by looking anywhere else, and finally settled on the ground. Showing no sign of moving, Raymond began to tap his finger against the seat, seemingly impatient. Finally, Rad spoke.
“So, uh, are you gonna get out of my van, ‘cause I kinda need to go home now…” he asked, feeling partially awkward and partially annoyed he even had to ask at all.
“Fine,” he stood up, “but I’m not leaving until we’re clear on part two of this plan,” he said nonchalantly.
“Woah woah woah. Just how much is there to this little ‘plan’ of yours? I already did my part, and there’s no way I am doing anything else for you.” At this point, Raymond has exited the van completely, arms crossed and standing at his full height, which Rad reluctantly admitted was a little taller than he was. Not the type to be intimidated, he stood his ground. “Why should I keep going along with this?”
“Because you really need to fix up the interior of that van,” Raymond offered, glancing back, unimpressed.
Ignoring him, he continued, “How do I know the money isn’t, like, stolen?” The realization of what he said dawned on him, and then, a bit more timidly, he asked, “These aren’t stolen, are they?”
“Typical hero,” Raymond let out a little laugh that sounded less like a genuine laugh and more like the chuckle of an anime villain. “No, it’s not stolen. Boxman gives us each a meager allowance; I just had the common sense to save up for something worthwhile.” Taken aback, Rad didn’t respond. Raymond probably just worded the sentence weirdly—
“Not you specifically, obviously,” he clarified with a slight eye roll, as if he were reading his mind.
“Why should I trust you? You’re literally a villain,” Rad said.
“You already did,” he responded, not missing a beat. “Anyways, we’re really running out of daylight to plan this out,” he pointed out, looking to the west, and Rad noticed it was practically dark already. He was here way longer than he wanted to be. “I can tell you probably don’t want another visit from me, so I’ll make this quick.”
Not wanting to argue and accidentally draw out this ‘meeting', Rad didn’t respond, only hoping whatever he wanted him to do wouldn’t be too inconvenient. What was he so worried about anyways? Didn’t seem like Boxman would see through the plan quickly, plus he didn’t think it being a scheme all along would really change much. Wouldn’t he still be angry either way? Whatever, it didn’t really matter, as long as Rad got paid.
“Okay, you’re going to be outside my window at ten tonight, and not a minute later…”
Raymond looked at the digital clock next to him, which was blinking an angry ‘10:09PM’, and huffed. If he didn’t show up soon, this whole thing would be thrown off. What didn’t he understand about ‘not a minute later’? Suddenly, a knock sounded at his window. Okay, knock was an understatement; it was more of a bang that left a visible crack in the glass. Jumping out of his bed, he rushed to open the window and glared down at Rad, who was wearing a sheepish grin.
“I said pebble !” Raymond nearly shouted.
“Well, I didn’t see one! It worked, didn’t it?” Rad retorted, matching his tone.
“You’re late,” Raymond ignored his interjection. “And where’s the boom box?”
He shrugged. “Couldn’t find one dude. I’ll just use my phone.” With that, Raymond leaned back into his room, hand on his forehead and face twisted in an annoyed grimace. He really didn’t think he was asking too much, and yet Rad couldn’t follow a simple instruction ! “This is a disaster,” he groaned, and looked back down to a rather bored-looking Rad.
“So, like, are we still doing this, or…” Rad trailed off and Raymond huffed.
“We’ll just have to go with it, I guess .” Just as he had finished the sentence, the distinctive click of a light switch sounded in the room next to his—Shannon’s room. “I think they’re waking up, do you remember what to do?”
He rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah I know,” he made a dismissive hand gesture. Raymond glared at him, beginning to doubt this would ever work. Before he had a chance to say anything else, the window next to his burst open, revealing a disheveled Shannon and Darrell, who were barely beginning to process what was happening.
Raymond leaned out the window to look at them, and then said, “Oh, hurry up and get Boxdad already.” Shannon and Darrell glanced at each other confusedly, probably wondering why he would want them to get Boxman, but if they did, it didn’t last long. In an instant, they both hurried off back into the room, returning shortly with Boxman, who was now complaining loudly about being woken up at such an hour.
Raymond closed his eyes and composed himself. 3, 2, 1…
“Why, if it isn’t my love, Radicles!” he gestured grandly to Rad, who was still checking his phone, unassumingly. He made a static noise in lieu of a cough and repeated himself. “I said , if it isn’t—”
“Oh, is that my cue?” Rad asked to no one in particular before noticing Boxman now standing in the window next to Raymond’s. “I mean, uh, yeah, it’s me, Rad, your, uh…” he appeared to shudder before continuing, “...boyfriend.” Well, that’s just rude, Raymond thought, slightly annoyed at this shameful display, but what did he expect? He supposed beggars couldn’t be choosers—then again, as if he would ever stoop as low as to beg—
“RAD?! What are you doing on my lawn?” Boxman demanded, clearly not putting two and two together just yet.
“I’m here for your, uh, robot—your son?” He answered, and Raymond looked on unamused. As with everything else, he’d have to carry this entire scheme by himself. “Oh, wait, I almost forgot—” Rad fished his phone back out of his pocket and fiddled with it for a moment. “Here we go,” he announced a bit too proudly as he held the tiny device above his head towards the window.
“ Feeling tired and worn-out after a battle? Then you need —”
“Wait, my bad, that was an ad. Okay, here it is,” Rad held the phone back up, and this time, a slow, rhythmic song began playing out of the phone speaker, while he looked at anything but Raymond. Boxman was, yet again, to angry to form a coherent sentence, starting and stopping himself everytime it seemed he would finally set off on a rant or lecture. His siblings seemed too stunned, or maybe confused, to say anything; looking at each other and then back to Rad, as if wondering if this was actually happening.
Unfortunately it was. Well, it was unfortunate for the rest of the Boxmore family, he guessed. For Raymond, this was more or less what he expected. Would it help if Rad was just a bit more competent? Sure, but really, he was the only one going along with his admittedly insane plan. He was lucky Boxman was too preoccupied with anger to think logically—otherwise he would’ve seen through the whole situation ages ago.
Suddenly Boxman’s sporadic outbursts of anger from Boxman halted, and the three bots turned to look at him. “Shannon? Darrell?” he asked, in a tone that could only be described as the calm before the storm.
“Yes?” they answered in unison, nervously.
“ATTACK HIM!” he shouted, and Darrell and Shannon were quick to jump into action. Leaping from the bedroom window, they launched towards Rad, who was suddenly much more responsive. He let out a tiny yelp, being caught off guard, but quickly readied himself to fight. The bots hit the ground opposite of him with a thud, revving their respective weapons. Rad wasn’t backing down, though, and before either of them could launch an attack, he had them immobilized in a purple aura. Not wasting any time, he sent them flying back to the factory, a crash sounding shortly after.
“I’d love to stick around and turn more bots into scrap metal, but I think I’d rather be home right now,” Rad said, glaring at Raymond as if the whole ordeal was his fault. Well, it was , but he was the one who couldn’t follow a simple plan. If he had just brought the stereo, Raymond was sure this meeting would’ve gone a lot more smoothly. He scoffed and sent Rad away with an insincere half-wave, relieved the night was over. “Bye, love,” Rad called at him sarcastically, placing air quotes around the word ‘love’ and sticking his tongue out at him.
From Raymond’s perspective, the night should’ve been a total failure, but seeing as his siblings were sent out this time in an effort to stop… this , he’d say it was a modest success. Though, he really did need to explain to Rad what a plan was, otherwise anything more intricate was bound to fall apart.