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This was so... peaceful. The sounds of the city were far behind them, replaced by the soft rustling of leaves in the trees, the soft sound of the stream nearby, and the soft chirps of crickets.
Well, it was all peaceful except for the two people giggling and loudly shushing one another when they got too loud.
Red Son had been hesitant to come up here at first. He knew that the next morning he'd wake up tired and it would affect his productivity. And while his work flow was important to him, MK was even more important.
MK had first proposed the idea of stargazing together about a week ago. Red Son had scoffed and said stargazing dates were something out of Hollywood, but MK was persistent, and eventually Red Son agreed.
It was dark in the forest on the mountain. MK had had to save him from running into trees about 3 times. MK was using his gold vision to see, and Red Son could only follow the faint glow of MK's eyes. He didn't want to risk using his fire as a light, even it was as small as a candle flame on the tip of his finger, in fear of causing a forest fire.
Red Son heard MK sigh loudly, pausing their uphill trek. "At this rate we'll reach the clearing at the top by sunrise!"
He did have a point, even if it was extremely exaggerated. They'd been walking up for almost an hour and a half, and Red Son was fairly certain his legs were about to give out.
He watched MK slowly turn his head, a mischievous grin on his face. "Hey, Red? You remember that one time during the whole Lady Bone Demon takeover when I carried you while in bird form?"
"MK. I will under no circumstances ever let you do that again. You are not carrying me by the neck of my sweater the rest of the way up this mountain."
"Aw, man! But it would be much faster!" MK whined. "We've gotta get up there fa-"
Red Son didn't like the way MK paused and grinned again.
"Wait wait wait I have another idea that does not include me using my 72 transformations!"
Red Son sighed. "Oh dear. What is it?"
He could see the faint outline of MK pulling the staff put of his ear. Before he could ask what MK was doing, MK had wrapped an arm tightly around his waist, extended the staff in his other hand, and suddenly they were 50 feet above ground, the cold night wind whipping around them.
"OH MY GODS MK GET ME DOWN WHAT IN ALL THE REALMS ARE YOU THINKING I HATE YOU YOU ASSHOLE-" Red Son started yelling incoherently, clinging onto MK like his life depended on it. He squeezed his eyes shut, his heart practically beating of his chest. He hated heights, he hated this, he hated this, he hated this he hated this-
As soon as it started, it was over. The wind was gone, his feet were on the ground, and they were in the clearing they'd been heading to. MK must've used his staff like a pogo stick.
He stumbled backwards, flames snaking through strands of red hair. "You fucking- I SWEAR you will be the DEATH of me, MK, I- ARGH!" He scrambled for the words as MK sheepishly smiled.
"Sorry, sorry! It was the fastest way to get up here without being a bird or using your fire-teleportation-whatever without causing a forest fire!"
Red Son scoffed, his anger simmering down a bit as his breathing and heart heart slowed down. But it wasn't all gone. "Just never expect me to climb any mountains with you ever again, Noodle Boy." He replied.
MK smiled apologetically. "Sorry again. Now, c'mon! You gotta help me lay out the blanket." He set the backpack on the ground, zipping it open and shuffling through the contents. MK pulled out a pale green blanket and grabbed two of the corners, Red Son grabbing the other two, and they lay it on the ground together, right in the middle of the clearing.
MK lay on his back with a satisfying sigh, putting his hands beneath his head and blinking a few times to get rid of his gold vision. Red Son lay next to him, laying his arms across his stomach.
The sky was absolutely beautiful. Words couldn't even describe it, not in a hundred years, but they most certainly can try. It was an ocean of lights, sparkling and dazzling, shining through the water. It was an artist's canvas, deep blues, pinks, and purples swirled in with black, splatters of white paint stretching across it in such a natural way. It was the light streaming through the shuffling leaves of trees, it was jewels shining in the dirt, it was a choir of mute, with every star singing its own silent song, every one screaming 'look at me, look at me!' The sky was a stage, the moon the director, every star a spotlight, and every asteroid a dancer.
They were both silent for a while, taking a few minutes to just take the masterpiece before them in.
"Do you ever think about, like, existing? How it's absolutely crazy we can even exist?" MK whispered beside him, his voice full of awe and wonder. "We could have been born in hundreds of other universes, or another time, or a different place. But we're here and now. Isn't that insane?"
Red Son considered it for a moment. "Yes. I've been alive for centuries. I've thought about it a lot. Time is... interesting. After the first 80 years, everything kind of just... blends together. And I know this is going to sound incredibly corny, so please, never ever quote me on this, but every since I met you and Mei, the days fly by slower. As if the universe itself is telling me to savor every moment I have in the present."
MK giggled. "Aw, me and Mei are that important to you?"
"Yes, I suppose so." Red Son scoffed, smiling slightly. "But seriously, please never ever tell anyone I said that."
Red Son was surprised every day that he hung out with MK and Mei about how much more open he was being. Letting his walls down and being more vulnerable. It was a bit scary, but he found himself breathing easier as of late. He did find it a bit annoying how corny he was sometimes, however.
MK chuckled softly. "Alright, Red." MK paused before speaking up again. "I'm gonna say something like, super cheesy. So you have to promise not to make fun of me either."
Red Son raised an eyebrow. "Depends on what it is, but alright." He teased.
"The moon is beautiful tonight, isn't it?" MK said, his voice soft, gaze never turning from the sky.
Red Son was silent for a few seconds, before laughing out loud. "Did you just use the popular poetic way of saying 'I love you' in Japanese?"
"Yes, I did, now shut up! I used to have this friend in high-school who immigrated here to China from Japan and they taught it to me."
They both fell quiet again and they gazed at the sky together for a while. Red Son couldn't tell if it'd been thirty minutes or two hours, because all he could think about in that moment was how wonderful that he just so happened to be born at just the right time to meet his two favorite people (well, one was more of a favorite than the other, but he'd never tell Mei she was his number two favorite person). Granted, it had been because he was a villian at first, but that didn't matter anymore.
He couldn't remember when he and MK had grabbed eachothers hands, but it filled his chest with something warm- or hot in his case, considering his internal temperature was considerably higher than humans already. They both softly rubbed each others hands, a silent way of letting each other remember that they were there.
Eventually, MK sat up. "I think we should go, it's getting pretty late." He pulled Red Son up and together they carefully shook out and folded the blanket, putting it in MK's backpack, along with the snacks and water bottles they'd completely forgotten about.
They started walking back down the mountain, before suddenly small drops of rain started pummeling towards them. It was fast to worsen- if they were out here for a minute longer they'd be caught in a downpour.
"Oh shit!" MK laughed. "Ok, I know what you said earlier, but we've actually gotta fly this time!"
"Wha-" Red Son started, but he didn't get to finish before MK, once again, wrapped one arm tight as possible around Red Son's waist and shot them both into air with his staff for the second time that night.
"MK YOU LITTLE BITCH I HATE THIS I HATE THIS I HATE THIS OH MY GODS HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK YOU MOTHERFUCKER-" Red Son screamed again, once again clinging to MK as tight as possible.
Before he could keep yelling, he was set on something soft. Not completely solid, but it was firm enough he wouldn't fall through. He kept his eyes closed (when had he closed them?) as he felt MK settle down next to him, the... thing dipping down as if it were a mattress.
MK chuckled and pat Red Son on the shoulder. "Hey, you can open your eyes again."
Red Son opened his eyes again, and found he was on a cloud of some sort- since when had MK been able to summon clouds? He couldn't remember him ever doing that, but maybe it'd just slipped his mind.
They were floating above the clouds. While Red Son could sense and understand the noticeable chill in the air, he wasn't bothered by it. MK, on the other hand, was shaking slightly beside him, quickly leaning against Red Son for warmth and zipping up his jacket.
"If you ever lift me into the sky like that ever again, with or without warning, I will never trust you ever again." Red Son said, only half serious.
MK laughed, albeit shakily, and took off his backpack again, rummaging through it and pulling put the blanket again. He wrapped it around both of their shoulders as the cloud drifted back towards the beginning of the hiking trail, where Red Son had parked his motorcycle.
The next ten minutes were comfortably quiet, only interrupted by the faint sounds of thunder from below and quick flashes of white from lightning. A few minutes after they'd gotten above the clouds, they'd realized they both couldn't breathe very well and the air felt extremely icy (and they didn't want to dwell on who that reminded them of), so MK made the cloud speed up.
Finally, the cloud descended through an empty spot in the clouds. Luckily, the downpour of rain had slowed, or at least it was lighter down here, enough that they wouldn't mind driving through it. MK and Red Son hopped off the cloud, the cloud dissipating as MK shoved the blanket back into the backpack and they both hopped on Red Son's motorcycle.
Red Son tossed MK a helmet as he put on his own. MK could hear the soft patter of rain droplets on his helmet after he put it on.
Wrapping his arms around Red Son's waist and laying his head on Red Son's back, he gave the other a small thumbs up to let him know he was secure.
They rode down the empty road for a while. After about 10 minutes the rain stopped, and they started seeing more and more cars. Soon enough, they saw the lights of Megapolis in the distance.
After a couple minutes, they were back in the city. Red Son begrudgingly obeyed the speed limit, even if all he wanted to do was get back to MK's apartment as fast as possible. It was past 2 AM now- they'd been planning to get home by 1:30.
Finally, they pulled up to Pigsy's Noodles. Parking his motorcycle behind it, Red Son pulled off his helmet, smoothing down his frizzy hair. MK stood up and took his helmet off as well, making no attempt to fix his own hair.
MK used his spare key to get through the back door of Pigsy's, and they walked up the stairs to MK's apartment above.
As soon as they both got into the apartment, MK flopped facedown onto his bed. Red Son scoffed. "You've gotta change into pajamas, Noodle Boy. I don't think it'd be comfortable to sleep in damp clothes."
MK groaned and rolled over, grunting in discomfort when he remembered he was still wearing the backpack. He threw the backpack across the room and stood up, yawning.
MK grabbed a plain t-shirt and sweatpants out of a clean laundry basket that he hadn't yet put away and went into the bathroom to get changed. Red Son pulled put a tank top and shorts from the bottom of MK's backpack and changed in the main room, leaving his clothes folded neatly on top of MK's dresser for when he left tomorrow.
MK finished changing and got out of the bathroom, tossing his old clothes on the floor, in a pile of other dirty clothes. He flopped onto the bed again and Red Son lay down beside him.
MK pulled Red Son in close, entangling their legs and wrapping his arms around Red Son's back before pulling the blanket up around them.
"Thanks for going stargazing with me." He whispered, closing his eyes.
"Any time." Red Son replied sleepily, before letting himself descend into the dark void that was sleep.