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“Oi, Six look at this.” Mono whispered excitedly flapping his hands to the displeasure of Six as the book in his hands made loud noises
“ What! ” Six loved the goober, but sometimes he was quite annoying, especially when they were supposed to be looking for something to entertain the kids with. As they had been doing more and more dangerous stuff as they got bolder and boredom eventually overrode common sense.
Six had already collected some nice toys, a few were even strikingly familiar. But, Mono had gone over to the boring old paper section that always smelled of mildew and rot. But, heaving a heavy sigh, she plopped the toys in her arms by their bags and walked over to plop herself next to him.
Leaning in close to glimpse at what he had been reading, she propped her chin up on his shoulder, lazily scanning the page. But, with just a quick glance she couldn’t see anything that would’ve gotten him so excited.
“Look, look here.” He pointed at one paragraph in the middle of a page, right under someone in an unwieldy bright white dress. He seemed to barely be able to sit still, Six squinted a bit to read through the excited motions of the boy below.
‘Fun for the whole family, don’t miss out on the Music Machine, for Karaoke at your very own home.’ She still didn’t get what got him so excited and she just leveled an unimpressed look at the boy. He seemd to falter, before reaching up and tapping on her shoulder.
Rolling her eyes, Six got up watching the boy immediately scrabble behind decaying shelves, the last thing she saw was the disappearing tail of his coat.
Laying back, she gave a small smile to the place he disappeared, almost itching in anticipation to see what had him so riled up as he was usually pretty level-headed. Humming, she traced small circles on her arm as she heard him rustle about. Before, letting out a triumphant yell.
Normally that would have her scrambling, but after the Signal Tower collapsed they haven’t seen any monster. Viewers or otherwise, Mono even said that the Hunter was fully gone, along with his family. All in all, they were pretty safe in the Pale City, the only dangerous things being left behind traps and withering buildings.
Eventually, Mono’s head popped into view along with his big grin as he pushed a large box over to her. Pressing a few buttons and twisting the weird dials, the front of it lit up in weak leds.
Now, sufficiently curious, she stood up to stand by Mono’s side as he held up a weird shaped stick. It was black and looked kinda like a tiny tree. Mono fumbled with it again and sounds just exploded into life.
Jumping and scrambling back, Six knocked Mono of his feet and into her. Laying in a tangle of limbs for a few quiet seconds, before Mono started to laugh. Six eventually joined him
“Sorry, I should’ve warned you.” Once they got untangled, he gave an apologetic kiss to her nose “But, look at this. Should keep the kids entertained, or should keep Fox entertained at least?” He chuckled, patting at it
“ What even is it Mono?” Six grumbled, sitting down again, despite the curiosity nagging at her skull
“Well, it’s kinda like a music box.” Seeing her eyes light up, Mono gave a bright grin as he continued “but you can change the song and it has words that show up on this little screen!” Six looked at it slightly worried, but Mono didn’t seem bothered by it, so she just nodded for him to continue
“It’s probably best I just show you, here…” Sticking his tongue out, he pressed at the arrows for a good minute, before smiling and nodding. Clicking on it, he stood up taking in a deep breath splitting focus between her and the little screen.
Music softly played out, softly plucked guitar and the sway of distant waves. Six swayed slowly to it, almost entrance by Mono, even before he started to sing
“You can fit everything you know.” Six was almost surprised at the deep, yet soft tone he sung in “In a bottle for you to show.” He lilted “Pick your brain apart then put it in.” He dance around the box, barely even glancing at the screen anymore
“And build it again with needles and pins.” Six could barely even focus anymore, seeing how carefree and happy he was while singing filled her heart with too much love to even function. He seemed so in his element, so intune with the music.
Mono just had this air about him, even as the music grew more intense and his voice gained more emotion, all she could focus on was him. On how he swayed, how intensely he walked, or when he stuck his chest out in pride.
Eventually the music quieted and she snapped out of it almost in a daze as she watched him pant with a wide smile. Staring at her almost nervously.
Jumping up she gave him a tight hug, pressing a kiss to his chin
“That was great!” Her vocal chords gave a protest and she coughed, trying to reign in her excitement “ The kid’s are gonna love this.” Hesitating, slightly she added on “ And they are probably gonna drive us crazy with it.” She heaved out a sigh while Mono laughed
“Better than getting themselves hurt, and hey...” He leaned in, wrapping his arms around her the same way he did when the danced to her music box “Maybe we can dance again?” He whispered, hands tapping against her sides nervously
“I’d love to dance with you again Mono.” Six smiled into his shoulder, as he physically relaxed.
-
“What's that!?” Immediately when they walked back in through the door to the little cabin they’ve claimed as their own. They were swarmed by kid and nome alike, two nomes breaking out of the stampede to go and hug Six’s legs.
Patting them lightly on their little cone heads, Six broke from the pile to put the toys she had collected onto the table, while Mono struggled to do the same. Kids swarming his legs as they all tried to reach for the box in his hands, brimming with unrestrained energy.
Echo, Newt, and Martin did hang back a little bit. Though Echo seemed to want to see what Mono had just as much as the other kids, or even more, he was a bit too respectful to crowd around the struggling boy. Newt and Martin both just didn’t want to get trampled.
Eventually Mono set the karaoke machine down on the table with a relieved sigh as he stretched his back and arms. Fox immediately climbed up onto the table, Citrus already sticking his head up. Twisting the knobs curiously, till the screen lit up. With more curious noises they turned back to Mono who had settled leaning against the wall, looking at them softly chuckling
“Fox, that’s a karaoke machine, it's very fun.” Stepping up to the table, he made Fox move back slightly “This might be loud, don’t worry, that's normal and it’s not dangerous.” He looked at Six with a sheepish expression, rubbing at the back of his neck, before going back to fiddling with the machine
“I’ve heard of a karaoke machine before.” Mono jumped slightly, turning over to Martin who was scratching at her cheek while looking at her feet, always avoiding his direct gaze “It looked fun, but I never got the chance at using it.” Mono hummed, glancing at Six. The girl was already looking between him and Martin a shell-shocked look on her face, before she nodded at him
“Martin.” Six grabbed her attention, the girl looking up with a slight frown, eyebrows upturned almost pleadingly “ Would you like to have the first turn?” Lighting up the girl nodded vigorously, carefully climbing up into the chair next to the machine, looking at Mono from the tops of her eyes.
The boy gave her a gentle smile, as the machine kicked on with the fancy light. Everyone ooed and awed at it, Fox already bouncing from their spot further down the table. Even, Echo and Newt crowded around with excitement
-
Six wasn’t wrong when she thought that the kids would love it. They had already been playing with it for several hours without getting bored and even complained when Mono and Six had to send them to bed.
Resting her head on the table, Six just took the moment to breath in the silence. The whole night had been filled with so much noise and, not to be rude, oh who was she kidding she kinda wanted to be rude, most of the kids had no idea how to sing or even how to read half of the songs words.
Even the nomes had turns, though those mostly consisted of off tune clattering that sounded like glass breaking.
Long story short, Six was exhausted. But, Mono said he had a surprise for her after he put the kids to bed and to stay at the table. Tapping her fingers across the unpolished surface, she hummed quietly once again, a song one of the kids had sung. Echo, she thinks, he had picked a song that shared his name and it actually wasn’t bad.
Mono bounced down the stairs, sitting down next to her. Lifting her head up lazily, Six toppled sideways, her head in his lap. Smiling, Mono slowly started to brush his fingers through her hair, scratching intermittently, paying the most attention near her ears.
A purr rumbled through her chest, a weird noise she was sure she wasn’t supposed to make. But, as far as she could tell it wasn’t harmful, so it was fine.
She could feel him shift underneath her, but she couldn’t really be bothered right then. Though she did crack an eyelid open when she hear music start up it was a pretty quiet almost sad sounding song, but he was smiling. So she closed her eyes again
“Number one victory royale.” He sung softly, not even using the mic, it made his voice sound even better “Yeah, Fortnite we ‘bout to get down.” His hand started again and the deep riverbrations in his chest made her feel almost floating “ Ten kills on the board right now.” Some weird lyrics, but she had heard weird that night
Dozing off for a bit, she popped back into reality when he stoped to give her a kiss on the head “I really love to chug jug with you.”