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“Day off!” Red Son squawked as MK kicked the door open with his arms full of snacks, Mei quickly following with her DVDs.
“Huh?”
“There’s a cartoon all about science and junk that you’d love so we’re watching all of it! It’s like the best one ever.”
Mei dropped the stuff, pulling a DVD player out of her coat when it shouldn’t fit. “I lost rock-paper-scissors for watching-”
“Yeah, because that one is way too long-”
“Like sixty episodes isn’t!”
“Hey!” Red Son clapped their hands once for attention. “I understand how MK got in the fortress since he can shapeshift, but how did Mei sneak in?”
“I told your parents we’re dating and they let me through.” She flopped onto their bed, kicking her feet in the air. “I think they were stunlocked too long to stop me.”
“Mei!” “It’s better to tell them about the dragon than the monkey, right?” MK picked up Red Son away from their desk and tossed them easily, watching them land in Mei’s lap. “Let’s wait for me until they’re on their deathbeds.”
“MK, my parents have lived for thousands of years and will live for thousands more.” They crossed their arms with a frown, filing away the knowledge that their parents know for later. “Are you planning to kill them?”
“Uhhh-hey I need you to heat up the buns!” MK dodged the idea masterfully while holding the prepackaged food out, ripping the plastic off and dumping the mini meat buns into Red Son’s hands. “Come on, food won’t cook itself.”
Red Son narrowed their eyes, steam sizzling off the snacks until they tossed them and MK had to dive to catch one in his mouth. “Seriously, now. You come here all the time. What about today is so special.”
“The fact that I get to spend all day here! Pigsy doesn’t give a lot of days off, but he was too sick to handle the food. Usually when that happens I help taking care of him but Tang’s in charge right now and he didn’t burn the house down making soup for him so it’s fine. Probably.” MK took his phone out of his pocket, checking his messages quickly for missed phone calls. “Anyway, it’ll be nice to do a whole lot of nothing.”
“But if you have the entire day, why not do something…” Red Son rolled their wrist, searching for the right words. Usually when their mother insisted on a break, it was a thinly veiled excuse to force them to go outside. Spending a day off indoors sounded foreign. “Like a trip? An occasion you don’t get to participate in normally.”
“I guess, but there’s not a lot we haven’t done. The beach day was fun but ended in sunburns, I’m not really a snow person, and theme parks are expensive. So, we do things like movie marathons.” MK inched closer, eyes big. “But you have the biggest projector.”
“I do not.”
“Red, honey.” Mei tapped their shoulder. “He just wants to hang out. You don’t need to read into it.”
“Al…right.” Red Son moved to be lounging on the bed, digging through their bedside table for the spare plates. After MK kept coming in with random leftovers, they learned to just keep kitchenware in their room. Mei and MK set up the show while they sorted through the food, setting each snack hot enough to warm their hearts.
They’re here because they want to spend time with me. This isn’t a trick. There is no ulterior motive. We’re just together, and that can be the entire reason. Red Son repeated it like a mantra. The idea of two people deciding to spend a day off with them, just because, is-well-
No one does that.
Mei took the remote and pressed play, crawling over to pick up a melted marshmallow and stick it between her fingers. “Thanks!”
“N-no problem.” They stayed as still as possible, letting the others settle on either side and gather their supplies to loudly smack on. MK tucked his head on Red Son’s shoulder, Mei looping her arm around theirs.
Relax. Red Son exhaled, letting the theme song wash over them. They can do this. They can spend time with nothing going on. Hell, they should be used to it, with how much of their work ends in failure-
Not a good thought. Try again. Mei told them to be more positive. So, they’ll see this in another angle, like how…a break is a valuable resource for keeping the mind healthy. Yeah, that sounds right. So they’ll just watch some television and-
“-so he was in a bunch of other shows, and he’s been in just about every video game, too. Even if it’s just one line.”
“Sorry, what was that?” Red Son focused on what Mei was talking about, turning their head slightly.
“The actor for that military guy. The one with the short hair.” She pointed as he showed up on screen. “I’m sure you’ve watched something with him. His voice is super recognizable.”
“I never really watched television,” Red Son replied quietly.
MK tilted his head. “Like, you lost track of it while you were trying to take over the city?”
“I’m five hundred years old. I thought that people would realize it’s not as effective storytelling as puppetry, but then they started recording the puppetry, and it didn’t matter anymore.” Red Son shrugged. “This animation is practically the same concept, so it’s just…advanced puppetry. I never spent the time on it, though.”
“You’ve never watched any show?”
“My parents watch the cooking stuff, and I’ve witnessed the news, but I’ve never ingested much of the fiction.”
MK and Mei exchanged glances, then pressed the pause button. Mei started hooking up her laptop instead. “Okay, we’re spending today watching as many pilot episodes as possible.” MK took out his phone again, apparently typing up a list. “Then, we’ll know what you like and we can spend the next day off watching as much of that as possible.”
“That’s not necessary,” Red Son began, “you don’t have to waste your energy on-”
“Nah, this’ll be fun! Like half the enjoyment of watching something with someone is if they don’t know what will happen. Okay, so we’ll finish this episode and then we’ll find a new one. Come on, twenty-two minutes-” MK pressed play, cuddling in close as Mei kept searching for new shows. He babbled on, Red Son stuck listening and wondering how they found this to be a worthy thing to spend their time on.
Or maybe they just want to spend time with them. Red Son squeezed their eyes shut, refusing to open them until they could convince themselves of that fact. It, admittedly, took longer than they wanted.
And now that they’re paying attention to this show, it’s not half bad. This is a nice way to spend a day off, two overeager lovers squishing them between crumbs and running commentary.