Work Text:
Six💛: mono!!
Mono: six!!! :D
Six💛: u should come over :]
Mono: isn’t your dad home??
Six💛: yea but he’s leaving for his trip soon
Six💛: so i’ll have the house to myself 👀
Mono: what abt your mom?
Six💛: when has she ever cared abt u staying over
Mono: …….yeah okay good point
Six💛: cmooonnn i wanna snuggle :(
Mono: okay :]
Six💛: WOOOOOOOO
Mono smiled at his phone and tucked it back into his pocket. He checked his watch to see that the time was around 7:45 pm. Even if it was too late to be having dinner with her, maybe he could stay the night. It was a relatively late time to be invited, perhaps she had him staying in mind? The thought made him giddy. He swung his legs over the edge of his bed and grabbed his coat from his desk chair.
Six lived quite a ways from him. Since Mono’s father was a wealthy businessman, they had a house in the richer part of town. It was modern and clean and comfortable, but hardly felt lived in. His dad was usually out of town for work or staying at the office into the late hours, leaving all the house’s living in to his son.
Mono much preferred being at Six’s. She lived in a nice cabin in the woods with her mom and dad, and it felt much warmer than Mono’s own home. Sure, her dad was way overprotective and never let Mono stay over (even if the boy offered to sleep on the couch), and her mom was busy with her restaurant, but every so often, Mono would come over when everyone was home at once and there was so much more life than in the big clean house he had mostly to himself.
As he was stepping down the stairs, he glanced at the note his father had left on the railing:
I’ll be home late. I have dinner with an associate that’ll go on into the evening. I left some money for you to order dinner for yourself. Be good.
With a frown, he sighed and crumbled up the letter. Mono wished he could say he understood his father’s business, but he hadn’t had a face-to-face conversation with him in more than a month. He almost missed him… but his father wasn’t the best person.
He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts. Six! He was going to stay over at Six’s (maybe — the possibility of staying over for the first time was exciting!). The smile returned to his face. Stumbling into his socks and tapping his shoes on, he ran out the door and followed the roads to Six’s house. He knew them like the back of his hand.
By the time he made it there, Six’s dad’s truck was gone. He went hunting every first weekend of the month and he wouldn’t be back until around Sunday afternoon. So if Six was okay with it, he could stay for about two days. The idea of that added a bit of an extra skip as he went up the porch steps and knocked on the front door.
The door was quick to open and reveal his girlfriend in her trademark yellow hoodie. A bright smile was swept across her face, one that made Mono feel lighter than air.
“Hi,” she greeted, moving aside to welcome him in. He happily stepped in.
“Heya!” He slipped his shoes off by the door. “¿Cómo estás?”
She chuckled and closed the door behind him. “Bien. ¿Y tú?”
He kissed her cheek and pressed his forehead to hers. “Really great now that I’m with you,” he whispered.
“Pfft. Okay, sap,” she snorted. But he knew she was a softie for him. The way her fingers shyly poked at his before intertwining said it all.
“You’ve gotten better at Spanish,” he praised.
“You’re good at teaching it to me.” She looked at their hands. “And it’s fun to speak.”
“Es divertido.”
“Es divertido,” she repeated slowly. “It’s fun?”
“Mhm!” He kissed her cheek again, and she stepped back with a red face.
“Alright, we can have mushy time later when we’re not at the front door,” she insisted, trying to hide her blush. “C’mon, I got something cool to show you!”
She tugged on their linked hands and led him upstairs, towards her room. Sometimes he forgot how strong she could be — he stumbled to catch up with her, almost slipping on a few of the steps.
“I’m assuming your mom is busy with dinner rushes?” Mono guessed as he noted the woman’s absence.
“Yeah, it’s always super busy on Fridays,” Six replied. “But that just means the house is all ours!” She looked back at him with another bright grin that made his heart soar.
She opened the door to her room, a cozy area that had a partly slanted ceiling due to the roof, and posters everywhere. For movies, TV shows, video games, everything. She had shelves of books about horror and fantasy and little plushies or figurines from things she loved. A few that always stood out to Mono were the dragon skeleton figure he’d bought for her and a little brown-and-white spotted dog plushie laying on her bed. She’d said it reminded her of him, to the point that she called it Monito — little Mono. He’d almost cried when she’d told him that.
“You’ve got so many emotions,” she’d laughed warmly as she kept her arms around him. He’d stifled his sobbing.
“I love you so much,” he’d choked past the tears.
“I love you too, you big sap.”
Six sat herself down on one of the little bean bags in front of her TV, patting the other one on her left. Mono threw himself onto it with an oof. She leaned over to turn on her gaming console and handed him a controller. He expected her to take one too, but she just leaned back. He looked at her in confusion. She noticed.
“…what?”
“You usually play stuff with me.”
“Oh, this game isn’t a multiplayer thing,” she explained. “I like the concept a lot though, so I wanted you to play it.”
“Is it tough?” A too-knowing smirk grew on her face. Mono gulped. The calming blue home screen loaded up.
“Depends.” She pointed to the image of a large humanoid thing looming in front of a person with a temple in the distance. “It’s that one.”
He pressed the select button and the menu appeared. The same temple on the cover was now up close and detailed, with the overcast sky’s clouds meandering in a gray blur. There was a continue game option where his cursor was.
“…Did you play it without me?” He playfully narrowed his eyes at Six.
“A little bit. I only got like halfway through.” Suddenly, she hopped to her feet and headed for the door.
“Where’re you going?”
“Snacks! There’s a really long cutscene when you start a new game, so go ahead and watch it, alright?”
“Okay.” He selected the new game option.
“So,” Mono started, “my girlfriend is dead.”
“Mhm,” Six confirmed as she tossed a chip into her mouth.
“And I’m not allowed to go to this place I’m at.”
“Yeah.”
“And the god of this place says that if I kill these big things then I can revive my girlfriend.”
“Yup.” She crunched another chip.
“Alright. Pretty normal for your standards.”
“My standards,” she scoffed lightheartedly.
While Mono messed around with the controls, he continued to tease his girlfriend.
“Well, you’ve got the weird flesh meatball one, the big ass spiders one, the one with that cat-bird—”
“Hey, you’re not allowed to be mean to Trico,” she warned.
“I didn’t say anything mean,” he defended himself, giving her a lopsided smile. She rolled her eyes.
“Just play the game, dork,” she mumbled, leaning her head against his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head.
“Eres mala pero te amo.”
“I heard an I love you in there, so I’m gonna tell myself what you said was nice.”
He laughed.
“Holy shit.”
Mono stared at the screen, which depicted a huge stone-and-fur giant stomping across an empty valley. The ground shook, entire trees quaked, birds circled its head far above.
“What?” He could hear the amusement in her voice, clear as day.
“I have to kill that?”
“Yeah.”
“How?! My sword is like a toothpick compared to it!”
“Just climb up and stab it.”
Mono moved his character towards the big beast and shot an arrow at it. The controller in his hands flashed red. He kept moving towards it, eventually grabbing onto the fur on its leg.
“Wait, what’s that?” There was a blueish-white crack in the monster’s leg.
“Stab it!” Six leaned towards the TV, sitting like she was genuinely invested in Mono’s battle.
He pressed the stab button, causing the thing to groan and kneel down.
“Climb! Climb!” She was shaking him by the arm, shouting loudly in all her excitement.
“I know! I know!” In reality, he’d have no idea what to do if she wasn’t right next to him. His finger’s pressure on the grip button was enough to make his hand a bit sore and his thumb mashed the jump. He made it to the top of the giant’s head and stabbed at the bright glowing symbol over and over again.
Then the cutscene played of the thing crashing to the ground dead. Mono sighed, falling back. Six cheered for him.
“You did it!”
He sighed heavily. “Chip please,” he requested with an outstretched hand. She handed him the bowl and he shoveled a handful into his mouth.
“Fun, huh?”
“Stressful,” he said, “but… yeah, kinda fun.”
“I’ll take your guy over to the next one while you take a break,” she offered, taking the control from him. He gave a thumbs up.
“Poor Mono, all tuckered out from being badass and brave,” she cooed, patting his knee.
“Just to make my girlfriend happy,” he huffed.
“Don’t worry, she’s happy,” she giggled, taking over and riding the character’s horse to the next area.
They spent an hour or two playing the game, getting through about five of the bosses. Six had to play one of them — the fourth — but Mono did the rest.
“I think I’m all boss-fight-ed out,” he said as the big stone bird crashed into the lake.
“Alrighty. We can do something else.” She ruffled his hair before putting the empty bowl and chip bag on her desk. Mono flopped onto her bed, massaging his hands and finger joints. His girlfriend was quick to throw herself next to him.
“So… whatchya wanna— pffbtl!” He wasn’t able to finish his sentence as he was met with a pillow in his face. Six’s loud laughter was the next thing he registered.
To retaliate, Mono reached above him and grabbed another pillow and wacked Six in the head with it. She sputtered at the attack. Unsteadily, they both rose to their feet and stood on her bed as they engaged in a terribly brutal pillow fight. Every so often, Mono would spit out a feather or Six would almost fall right off her mattress.
“Surrender! You’re no match for Six!” Her voice boomed as she sent a flurry of whams on his head. He tried to fight back, but he couldn’t aim his attacks when she was practically blinding him with her merciless tactics.
“Okay! Okay! I give up!” He covered his head as she slammed the pillow on him one more time. She whooped triumphantly.
With his hair a mess, he settled back onto the covers again, catching his breath. Six stood over him with a self-satisfied grin.
“You little shit,” he panted humoredly, grabbing her ankle and tugging her down. She yelped with a laugh as she fell backwards. The whole bed shook upon her impact. The pair filled the room with breathless giggles, which died down into content sighs that let silence settle.
“Do you wanna stay over?” Six asked after a few wordless minutes.
Mono’s laughter was relieved. “I was hoping you’d ask, but I didn’t wanna be pushy.”
“Listen, if my dad’s not home, you can always stay over,” Six told him, looking up from her spot at the foot of the bed. “I wish he wasn’t so… much. I get that he wants to look after me, but…”
“Yeah. It’s not like I’m a stranger.”
“Exactly!” Six sat up with her arms flung out dramatically. She huffed. “Sorry, I don’t mean to rant.”
“You’re alright. I don’t mind.” He sat up too, scooting close to link his pinkie with hers. She smiled softly with an equally soft hum. Then she bounced out of the bed.
“Alright. I’m gonna get ready for bed. I’ll get a spare toothbrush for you and then we can get settled.”
Six had taken a new brush out of a set pack and the two brushed their teeth together in the bathroom across the hall. Mono put his arms around her as they did, a smile tugging at his lips as she put a hand on his arm. He could see in the mirror that she was pretty sleepy.
“Do you need a shower or pajamas before we go to sleep?” She spat out the foamy paste and wiped her mouth with a spare towel.
“Nah, I’m good.” Mono did the same as her.
“Okay. C’mon then.” She gently took his hand and guided him back to her room. He was confused when she closed the door behind them. As she rummaged through her things, he started to step towards the door again.
“I forgot to show you since we got caught up in the game but…” She flipped through a few of her sketchbook’s pages before she noticed him backing away. She frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“I… I thought I was sleeping downstairs?”
“Wha? No, you’re sleeping here,” she said casually. Mono’s head spun and he blinked at her owlishly. He opened his mouth to say something like, are you okay with that? Then he realized she wouldn’t have offered it if she wasn’t okay with that. And, in all honesty, the thought of getting to cuddle his girlfriend all night was much more appealing than the couch.
“Okay,” he finally squeaked out.
“It’s not like I bite,” she snickered. “Anyhow, c’mere, c’mere!”
Mono came to her side, looking at the pages her journal was open to. There were little sketches of someone in a big-hooded raincoat and another person with a paper bag head.
“Is this more stuff for that thing you’re making?”
She nodded. “The girl in the raincoat is me, and the bag head kid is you.”
“Really?” He smiled at her. She reflected his affection.
“I feel bad though,” she added. “I put our characters through a lot.”
“Aww, tell me they get a happy ending at least!” All she did was give a mean grin.
“We’ll see.” She closed the book and put it back in its place before clambering into bed. She settled under the covers with Monito in her arms before she made grabby hands for her boyfriend. “Come snuggle me, mi amor.”
If Six knew anything, she knew the way to Mono’s heart was pet names, especially ones spoken in his first language. He internally swooned and met her in the blankets after throwing his coat off and plugging his phone in next to hers. She reached behind herself and turned off the bedside lamp. The room was completely dark except for the moonlight bleeding in through the window. It was silent aside from them adjusting and the sounds of wilderness outside.
“You’re so warm,” she teased.
“Imagine how much warmer I’d be if I kept my jacket on.” They both laughed quietly. The blankets shifting with them was a soft, homey sound. It was a constant noise until they were a tangle of limbs cuddled together, comfortable in some odd way. Six had her head on his chest and he rested his head atop hers, both easily able to start drifting off with each other.
“Mono,” she whispered.
“Hm?”
“I’m in love with you.”
…there was no reason for that to feel so different. I’m in love with you. Somehow, it was just so inherently romantic — instantly heartfelt adoration. It was a whole other confession. I’m in love with you. It was like admitting falling in love all over again, but deeper. Not just loving, but being in love, and falling. Falling deeper and deeper than the first step into it.
The train of thought ran circles in Mono’s head.
I’m in love with you. I’m in love with you. I’m in love with you…
She’s in love with me.
She giggled. “I can feel your heartbeat get faster.” He finally had enough brainpower to respond upon her speaking.
“I’m in love with you too, Six.”
“I know.” She shuffled upwards a little and kissed his lips, short and sweet. He sighed when they parted. “Goodnight, Mono.”
He nuzzled the top of her head. “Goodnight, Six.”
When Mono woke up, rain was pattering against the roof and the window, fogging up the glass. The grayness almost sent a chill down his body, knowing just how cold it’d be out there… almost. The warmth of the bed and Six’s cuddling kept the shivers at bay.
He looked down at her. Her head still rested on his chest, both of them breathing slow and deep. Monito was still in her arms, his fuzzy head pressed to her cheek. His entire being felt soft, fond for this girl he laid with.
“Are you awake?” He asked the question gently, his hand hovering above her head.
“Mmm,” she mumbled. He chuckled, deep and quiet. His hand slowly lowered onto the top of her head, fingers carding through her hair. She sighed, nosing closer to her lover. Her fingers gave little tugs to his shirt collar just to busy her hands. She traced the buttons and pinched-and-smoothed the fabric under her fingertips. Mono watched her every move with adoration, too warm and too in love for it to be containable.
“Te amo mucho. Eres tan preciosa para mi,” he murmured, kissing her forehead. She hummed, a lazy smile gracing her features.
“I don’t know half of what you’re saying,” she half-whispered, half-giggled.
“It’s all good things,” he promised. “Like how much I love you. And how precious you are to me.”
“Keep going,” Six encouraged. She reached for his spare hand, moving her attention from his shirt to his fingers and palm.
“Eres mi todo. Te amo más que a nada. Mi corazón es para ti.”
Six sprung up to have her lips reach his face, peppering love across his skin. He laughed, rolling around as her kisses tickled him. She showed no mercy, following his twists and turns to keep kissing his reddened face.
“Te amo,” Six said between kisses. “Te amo. Te amo.”
She eventually relented, placing one last kiss to his lips, lasting longer than their last on-the-lips kiss. He wrapped his arms around her neck until she backed away from the press of affection. Both had messy hair and reddened cheeks, matching with smiles too. She found herself comfortable in his lap, still holding his warm cheeks in her just-as-warm palms. She brushed a lock of hair to settle behind his ear.
“Do you know who also loves you?”
“Hm?”
“Your son,” she said, stifling laughter as she lifted Monito from the tangle of blankets.
“I love my son too,” Mono assured her, holding a plush little paw.
The little plushie was between them as they hugged, warm and happy. The rain continued to fall, adding to the coziness. Mono wished life could always be like this: waking up together, sleepy but still just as in love as any other moment, the world quiet just for them.
But the quiet was interrupted by a phone buzz. They looked over at the nightstand next to the bed. Six groaned.
“That’s mine.” She nearly fell backwards as she reached for her phone. She unplugged it from the charge and squinted at the bright screen. “It’s probably Raine or my mom,” she said as she lowered the brightness. But as she looked, her face furrowed with confusion. Mono’s head tilted.
“What’s wrong?”
She didn’t reply, just texted something out and sent it. Then a message came back and her eyes went wide, pushing Mono away.
“Huh—?”
“Shit, shit, shit,” Six muttered, throwing his coat and his phone at him.
“What’s going on?”
“My dad’s coming back,” she said, running out into the hallway. Mono went from groggy bewilderment to wide-awake panic.
“What?! I-I thought he came back tomorrow?”
“Since it’s raining, he cancelled.” Her footsteps were rapid as she went downstairs. “He’s almost home — you gotta go!”
Mono followed quickly, checking and double checking that he had everything as he practically flew down. She handed him his shoes and he hopped into them, almost tripping multiple times. He was about to go out when they saw her father’s truck pull up, and she started to shove at him again. Six rallied him back upstairs and slammed open her window, ushering him out.
“Go! Go!” Mono hastily swung out, blinking against the rain. It wasn’t pouring but the runoff from the roof was dripping right onto his head, thoroughly soaking him. But before he got too far down the trellis on the side of the house, Six grabbed him by the collar and gave him one more kiss on the lips. It was rushed, barely a kiss at all, but of course Mono still loved it.
“Te amo,” she said as they parted. He made the rest of the way down in a lovestruck haze, only getting back in the rushed mindset when his shoes hit the wet grass. He began running back the way he came, looking back to see Six closing her window, waving out to him. “See ya, Mono!”
“Adiós, mi amor!” She gave him one last smile before she closed up.
Mono ran back home, skipping and leaping despite the dreary weather. Six’s warmth and lingering kisses powered him for the journey. The love occupying his chest was similar to the feeling he’d had when he’d first fallen for her: childish, giddy, granting him too much energy to contain.
Being a teenager in love was the experience of a lifetime. Being a teenager in love with your soulmate was a treasure.