Work Text:
“I can’t believe you talked me into this, dragon girl.” Redson adjusts his hair tie, unused to the style. Normally it was in its regular high pony, but now most of his hair was down, and only a small section of it was pulled into a smaller ponytail. Mei snickers. “What, you not used to being dressed like this?” She teases, putting away her green lipstick as she gestures at his outfit. Redson’s hair flickers. “Obviously.” He crosses his arms, eye twitching. “So you’re insecure.” Mei assumes nonchalantly, typing on her phone as they walked.
“No! Just because this..style of outfit is new to me does not mean I’m insecure.” Redson shoots back, replying a little too quickly as his hair ignites at the tips. He clenches his jaw, breathing deeply in an effort to keep his hair not on fire.
The outfit in question was nothing extreme, just a variant of his regular black turtleneck but with long sleeves, as well as an interesting layering of the fabric on the front, creating small windows on his collar bone and just below his chest region. The fire symbol on the back of his regular red jacket was on the turtleneck too, just smaller. The rest of the outfit was comprised of an orange belt and latex pants, as well as platform boots, which made Redson taller than usual.
Mei had also dressed up, wearing her regular white pants but switching her green varsity jacket and white t-shirt for a boat necked long sleeved green shirt, with gold and white dragon scales along the side of the waist and underarm area.
Mei gives him an amused look. “It’s just a party at the zero gravity arcade. Everyone dresses up for the night time events there.” She waves her hand dismissively. “Plus it’s always super fun! They always have a bunch of really sick drinks there, alcohol or no alcohol. Some have edible glitter! Though you can’t bring the drink with you when you go to the zero gravity area.” Mei adds, enthusiastically describing the drinks.
“Edible..glitter?” Redson raises an eyebrow. “Yeah! It doesn’t really taste like anything, just makes your drink sparkly. Oh! We’re here!” Mei spreads out her arms dramatically as the two reach the entrance of the zero gravity arcade. The bright neon sign on the front of the building tinted the two in a blue and purple hue, and the bright color revolving lights inside could be seen through the glass doors. Mei opens one of the doors enthusiastically and shows what Redson assumes is their tickets on her phone screen at the guard inside as her and the fire demon walk inside.
“Does he not need to check our IDs?” Redson asks, squinting slightly as his eyes adjust to the darkness and the neon lighting. “Nope! All adult party here. You just buy the tickets ahead of time and you’re good to go.” Mei replies. That sounded a little strange to the fire demon, but on the other hand he hadn’t ever really been to this style of party before.
Some kind of bass heavy music played loudly from the speakers as Mei and Redson enter the large crowd of people in the general area by the zero gravity section as the two head over to the bar counter. “Can I get a soda glitter bomb and your disco ball drink?” Mei leans on the counter as she orders. Some more conversation occurs between the dragon girl and the bartender that Redson does not catch, the fire demon distracted as he observes the music and neon light filled arcade. Mei elbowing him snaps his attention back.
She hands him an extremely sparkly silver drink with a red tinge to it that swirled in the shifting neon lights of the arcade, gesturing for Redson to follow as she heads over to a less crowded section of the bar area. “What is this?” Redson narrows his eyes at the shiny drink, raising his voice to be heard over the loud music. “That’s their signature disco ball drink! It’s just a mix of cranberry juice, edible glitter and some other stuff.” Mei replies, sipping her drink. Redson’s eyes widen as he registers her beverage. “I take it back, what is THAT? It looks like someone put a pound of rainbow glitter in sprite.” The fire demon says, appalled at Mei’s choice of drink.
“It’s called a glitter bomb for a reason! It’s my go to drink when I go here.” Mei laughs. Redson takes a tentative sip of his drink, appreciative that it wasn’t too sweet. Admittedly, Mei was right about the glitter having no flavor. It was just an interesting way of making a drink more…eye catching. The two enjoy their drinks together, with Mei being the main source of chatter.
“Alright, I’m going to go say hi to Porty. You done with your drink yet?” Mei asks, swirling her now empty cup. “I’m done, yes. Who’s Porty?” Redson replies, raising an eyebrow. He follows Mei over to a plastic tub on a cart, which was already partially full of empty drink glasses. “Porty’s an Mk clone. He kinda ended up becoming the main DJ for these parties, since when Mk first made him he really liked it here.” Mei explains.
“So just a copy of MK?” Mei shakes her head. “Not exactly. Porty’s more outgoing and technically sentient, so he developed his personality into something different from Mk’s. He’s kind of a “life of the party” kinda guy.” Mei says, walking over to the zero gravity area and jumping over the platform.
She floats immediately, whooping. “Come on Redboy! You gotta follow me if you wanna meet him!” Redson looks at her skeptically, but follows suit and jumps over the platform, floating over to Mei with wobbly balance. He splays his arms out, trying to get a better sense of equilibrium and mostly failing. “I got ya!” Mei grabs his wrist, half swimming her way over to the DJ area. Mk’s clone was there, wearing a loose fitting white t-shirt and red pants, as well as teal headphones, neon pink glasses, a fur coat of some kind, black fishnets under his shirt that went down to his elbows, and fingerless black gloves.
“Hey Porty! How’s it going?” Mei asks, basically shouting to be heard over the music. She grins. Porty looks up, brightening as he sees her. “Yo, Mei’s here!” He grins, his teeth almost comically sharp. He turns over to Redson, tilting his head. “And she brought a friend! How ya doin hot stuff?” The clone tilts his head at the fire demon, raising an eyebrow from behind his pink glasses. Redson sputters at the bold wording. Mei snickers. “He’s doing fine Porty. Just showing him around n’ all that. He’s a little shy.” Mei adds the last part in a very not discreet whisper yell, smiling teasingly. Porty nods, an amused grin on his face. “First time huh? Well he’s gonna have a blast! I can guarantee that.”
“Thanks a bunch! We’re gonna go and float around more. See ya!” Mei waves, leading a still flustered Redson over to a different section of the zero gravity area. The dragon girl gives him a look. “Don’t worry about his greeting, Redboy! He’s like this all the time.” She pats his shoulder in an effort to somewhat comfort him. “Are you not used to flirting? I can ask Porty to tone it down a bit for you if you ar-” Redson’s hair flares, cutting Mei off. “I’m fine. A little flirting is nothing. It simply caught me off guard.” The fire demon exhales, eyebrow twitching as he collects himself.
Honestly, he wasn’t that sure why he got so flustered in the first place. The most logical reason Redson could think of was the fact Porty was a clone of Mk, almost a carbon copy in appearance. And Mk was an…Acquaintance. Friend. Half friend. It would be weird- it IS weird to find a clone of him attractive in any way.
Mei gives him an unsure look, most likely because his tone didn’t sound very convincing. “Okay buddy, if you say so…” She pauses for a moment, thinking. “I’m gonna get another glitter bomb. If you have trouble getting off the zero gravity section just call me, yeah? See ya! Don’t set anything on fire!” The dragon girl pats his shoulder again before heading back over to the bar area. Redson floats awkwardly for several minutes after the dragon girl leaves, unsure of what exactly to do. He’d never been to a party like this before as well, so that didn’t help.
Eventually he decides to make his way back over to the bar area, shooting a quick glance back over to Porty before exiting the zero gravity section. He makes his way through the crowd, too out of his comfort zone to snap at people who bumped into him. Redson spots Mei talking to someone with blonde hair pulled into what looked like space buns.
The blonde laughs at something Mei says, putting a hand to her mouth in an effort to muffle her laughter. For a slight moment, Redson is a bit jealous of Mei, with her ability to talk to anyone effortlessly. But the feeling is short lived and is pushed to the side because of its stupidity. The fire demon walks over to the bartender, leaning one arm on the counter as he ordered. “I’ll have another disco ball drink, thank you.” He says, adding the “thank you” slightly as an afterthought. It was still awkward for him to say “please” in a non-passive aggressive way.
The bartender nods and prepares his drink, sliding it over to Redson. The fire demon pays, grabbing his drink and heading over to a more empty part of the party. Was this absolutely antisocial and completely against the point of him coming here? Yes. Did he want to go talk to random people? No. Hard no. So Redson settles for awkwardly sipping his drink in the corner. He had checked the menu earlier, and the drink did contain some alcohol in it, but very little.
Not that his tolerance was low. The wine his mother had allowed him to drink on occasion was far stronger than this mortal alcohol, considering the wine had been made in the Celestial Realm. A prince couldn’t have no alcohol tolerance, after all. Redson sighs slightly, looking off to the side. This was honestly rather pathetic of him. Hiding in the corner during a party?
The thought was enough for Redson to finish the rest of his drink and head back over to the zero gravity area. If he was going to talk to anyone tonight, he’d rather it be someone he somewhat knows. There’s some difficulty in floating over to the DJ area where Porty was located, but lightly expelling fire from his palms helped. It seemed that the DJ was on break, the smile that hadn’t faltered when Redson and Mei had talked to him earlier was gone for a moment in favor of downing a bottle of water.
Redson ends up having to stop his movement by bumping into the elevated stage. Porty notices the fire demon’s arrival, turning his head to grin at Redson. “Yo, you’re back! Can ya talk now?” He asks, raising an eyebrow from under his pink glasses teasingly.
( Honestly, even that small action still made the fire demon’s face heat up slightly. )
“Yes, I can talk now.” Redson brushes off his embarrassing fluster and adjusts his position so he wouldn’t accidentally float away. Porty seems to notice his slight struggle and snickers. “Come’re, there’s no zero gravity over here.” He walks over to the fire demon, lightly grabbing his wrist and leading him over to behind the DJ equipment where Porty had been standing before. The physical contact makes Redson’s hair flare at the tips, but it’s not noticed under the heavy neon lights of the arcade.
“..Thank you.” Redson says after a moment, glancing off to the slide for a second. “No problemo.” Porty grins at him again, his comically sharp teeth glinting in the neon lighting.
“So, any reason why you’re here tonight?” Porty asks after a moment, starting the conversation to Redson’s relief. “Well, Mei convinced me to join her. She was talking my ear off about having an extra ticket. She also convinced me to try a “change in wardrobe”.” Redson says, his voice adding heavy air quotes around the last part of his sentence. Porty chuckles at that, his laugh somewhat softer than Mk’s.
“She is pretty convincing, I can give her that. Glad she dragged you here, you’re a nice change of pace.” Porty’s grin stretches wider, tilting his head in a teasing manner. ( Or flirtatious manner. Redson didn’t know if he was reading into that one. )
Redson clears his throat, trying to pull himself together mentally so he didn't short circuit with every other sentence Porty said. “Change of pace?” The fire demon asks, raising an eyebrow. Was he partially stalling so he didn’t have to talk as much right now? Maybe. “I don’t really chat with the people who come to these porties. I’m just the DJ.” Porty shoots another grin at Redson.
“You seem like more than that to me.”
The words slip out of the fire demon’s mouth, half on accident. It had just been a thought, an honest one, and it had slipped through his lips for Porty to hear. Redson’s cheeks flare red, and his hair flickers with flame at the ends as he looks away, feeling his comment was out of line. “Not what I meant to say. Ignore that.” Redson desperately tries to avoid eye contact all together.
The fire demon’s eyes flick back to Porty without his permission. Porty seemed simply amused, his grin going from all teeth to just a quirked smile.
“How flattering.”
The reply seems as genuine as Redson’s accidental words.
The two have a moment of silence, both staring at each other as the shifting neon lights lit up the arcade with a purple pink hue. The moment is short, and the two look away awkwardly when the tension grew too thick. “Anyhow, I assume Mei also talked you into your wardrobe change?” Porty’s easy grin returns. Redson clears his throat. “That would be correct.” The fire demon adjusts his shirt before continuing. “She insisted I wear something other than my regular clothing.”
“Well I gotta say it suits ya.” Porty cocks his head to the side just slightly, those cartoonish sharp teeth hidden behind soft looking lips for a moment as the DJ gives Redson another gentler grin that quite literally made the fire demon’s knees weak.(kicks feet and twirls hair they’re so stupid) Porty crosses his arms, shifting his weight like he didn’t just knock the breath out of Redson by simply smiling.
“...Thank you.” Redson manages to reply. “So, how long have you been working here? Or just as a DJ.” He asks, fiddling with a small fold in his shirt. The demon halts the movement just a short moment after, internally kicking himself for fidgeting. He was Redson! Son of the DBK and evil inventor! Fidgeting is unacceptable and unbecoming. Especially when talking to a mere DJ who happens to be annoyingly good looking. The fire demon can admit that much. Not out loud, anyway.
Redson's internal monologue is interrupted as Porty answers his question.
"I've been doin' gigs for a bit now. As for this location," The DJ nods his head to where the general crowd was, "Not for long. I work for a couple nights at a place, earn some cash, then find another offer. Clubs tend to rotate their entertainment, so even if I wanted to I wouldn't keep a solid spot here for long." Porty shrugs, not seeming bothered by the prospect. "But the demand for people like me is always up, so I can snag a job pretty easy." The DJ gives Redson another toothy grin.
"So you don't have a steady job." Redson assumes bluntly, raising an eyebrow. Porty laughs, shoulders shaking with amusement. "That's a pretty harsh way of putting it, but you're kinda right. If havin' a steady job means only havin' one employer."
"I'd say that is what it means." Redson replies. "So how long is this "gig" going to last for you?" The fire demon asks, shifting his weight and making quotations with his fingers on the word gig. The term sounded silly.
"Maybe another night or so. Then I'll move to a different club, then rinse and repeat." Porty replies, unphased by Redson's tone. "Hope ya won't miss me, but maybe I'll catch you around another night." The DJ continues, giving the fire demon another grin full of those cartoonishly sharp teeth. Redson ignores the heat that spreads along the back of his neck at the comment. "Perhaps. You are bearable to talk to. I'd rather converse with you if I was met with some half drunk bozo." Redson rolls his eyes.
The DJ cocks his head to the side, seeming to find the reply amusing, if anything. It was almost concerning how his mood didn't seem to change from entertained. He smiles. "Then maybe I'll see ya tomorrow night, sunshine." Porty enthusiastically herds Redson back into the zero gravity area, gently pushing him back over in the direction of the crowd. "Thanks for the chat, but I gotta get back to my job! Have fun!" He waves.
Redson sputters, twisting back towards the DJ in outrage in an attempt to shoot back a quip at the jarring nickname. He doesn't manage to get a reply out before he's too far out of range. It wasn't like he would have been able to even hear himself speak anyway, because with Porty back in control of the music the audio was blasting so loud Redson was sure he was going to go deaf.
The fire demon manages to half float half shove his way through the giant amassing crowd on the floating stage and back to by where he had gotten his drinks. Redson forgoes the remainder of his half assed manners in favor of pushing his way through the other crowd that wasn't on the dance floor to reach the back patio, which was all but deserted aside from the one bouncer that looked like he was on his break.
The fire demon takes the opportunity to inhale deeply....and shoot out a plume of flame that blazed several feet into the air. The audacity! To give him, Redson, a silly nickname and then wave him off! Redson clenches a fist. He was going to find that DJ tomorrow and smack him upside the head. Or launch him into a wall. Or both.
Redson was most definitely only going to see Porty tomorrow to get that message through. That would be all. Then the fire demon would move on, and most importantly never go to another club with Mei ever again.
It would just be business as usual.