#HGASLK;DFJ;AGHOIFAWEF

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

*body slams your ask box* Request? REQUEST! How about... Red Son being taken around town by any character of your choosing because he's been stuck in his workshop too long and that boy needs some fresh air and maybe some nice snacks.

YA DARN RIGHT HE DOES

And I know just the person for the job- hgakskKHGAWKFM;OWE

2k

_______

It had not been his intention to keep the phone.

Truly it had been nothing more than an accident, but somehow it ended up in his pocket, and somehow she figured it out, and the moment he’d hacked it open, all the information had been previously deleted aside from a single number saved with a green heart and a text message: AND HE FINALLY MANAGES TO OPEN THE PHONE, GIVE THE MAN A PRIZE! (The prize is the phone. You’re welcome)

He had returned the text with something less than polite without really thinking, and then the back and forth had started.

Now he wasn’t… used to talking to anyone with as much frequency as the Dragon Girl messaged him with. It was… exhausting some days to simply even consider picking up the phone. Other days he would become immersed in a project and simply… forget, only to pick up the phone three days later and find two hundred and sixty-six unanswered texts, all just as cheerful and snarky as the last.

Red Son himself was a morning person as well as a night owl, but somehow regardless of when he responded she always seemed to be awake at that exact moment to message him back immediately.

He wasn’t sure if he was exasperated and annoyed by it, or appreciated it.

(Those moments when he’d finally gather up enough energy and drag himself away from his projects to text a two word response, that was already much too real and close to a furnace spilling over it’s molton hot secrets, and she’s be there and listen and he’d suddenly have that little extra energy to add a fire emoji to combat her forty-two assorted dragons and hearts.)

(He appreciated it more than he should have.)

The conversations weren’t anything very meaningful subject wise. She wouldn’t try to pry any personal details out of him like he would have expected from an enemy given the chance, but instead they were mainly just pictures of food, an assortment of animal videos, memes, and images of half-built and fully built bikes. It took him longer than he would have liked to piece together that she built them herself.

After that there were long discussions of places to buy the higher quality metals and pieces so they could build their equipment required in the creation of their vehicles. He found himself offering to build her specific parts she couldn’t find more than once. She would seem to notice he had offered without actually thinking of what it would entail and always turned him down.

Again, something he wasn’t sure he was annoyed by or grateful for.

The first time she called him, he nearly burnt a hole through his desk. If it were not suitably fire-proofed by him personally, (due to previous accidents in the past,) it likely would have been a charred stump. He still wasn’t sure how the phone survived. She probably had them made fire-proof, that sounded like something she’d do.

“How’s my favourite Fire Demon?”

“Why are you calling me?”

“Missed your screechy voice cracks.”

“My voice does not crack--”

And before he knew it that became a regular thing. To have her on call, to watch her streams as he worked. To listen to her voice when the silence would let his thoughts get too loud. It felt almost like… having real company, something other than the bull clones, or brief summons to his parents, someone that… cared.

A dangerous word. Care.

He didn’t care.

(He did care.)

(She acted like she cared.)

(They were enemies though, so it didn’t matter.)

(It didn’t matter.)

(When had he started to feel this lonely?)

(It had been that way for a long time, he’d just forgotten--)

The phone rang and he answered it without looking at the caller. He didn’t need to, it was just the green heart emoji on the screen he hadn’t gotten around to changing yet.

“I saw that!”

“Saw what?”

“You subscribed to my channel, Red Boy!”

“I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about, Dragon Girl.” He had to fight to keep the smile down.

“You diiiiiiid! Oh! I’m gonna have so much fun telling Mk about this~”

And that was another thing. All the Noodle Boy propaganda. She talked about him so often Red Son almost felt like it was a group chat rather than just the two of them. He wondered if the Monkey King’s successor would be interested in a group chat--

No.

No. Absolutely not. Things were already out of hand as it was. A group chat would be… no. That was taking it too far. If it was just the two of them he could pretend this was just an accident, that it didn’t mean anything. Add a third and he knew denial wouldn’t help him, especially if that third was sunshine Noodle Boy. No.

“DBK Fam’s been real quiet since New Years,” she commented in one call. “Everything okay on your end?”

It was odd. To be asked that.

“Red Son?”

“Fine,” he managed to force out through the lump in his throat. “I’m not sure what Mother and Father are planning, they haven’t really been keeping me in the loop.”

It took more than he would have liked to admit that.

As always she seemed to know. And let the subject drop fairly quickly after that.

“What are you doing right now?”

She asked that every once in a while. Red Son’s answer remained rather unchanged for the most part throughout the weeks.

“Working.” Blunt, to the point, he forced his wrench to move to secure the bolt as he said it, making the word come out a strained grunt.

“Still?” spoken incredulously. “Dude, have you even left your shop at all this week?”

It wasn’t the question that made him pause so much as the tone in which it was asked. The incredulous surprise, and the… concern. Worry.

He glanced down at the phone, currently laying flat face up on his desk, on speaker mode as he worked. The little green heart emoji stared back at him.

“I picked up a few bolts not too long ago.”

“Red Son, that was two weeks ago,” what would ordinarily be a deadpan voice was marred by something higher and tenser. “Are you telling me you haven’t left your workshop at all since then?”

“I don’t need to leave,” he told her with more honesty than he should have. “I send the Bull Clones out for anything I need, and I’m able to continue my projects uninterrupted so long as no human comes knocking on my door, or my mother doesn’t pay another surprise visit. It really is simply convenient.”

“Don’t fire demons need to get powered by the sun or something?”

“I have windows.”

“Do you?” her voice was unamused.

“I have… a few… small windows.”

“I’m staging an intervention,” she said flatly, startling him.

“What?”

“Get ready to go, I’ll be there in ten.”

“You don’t even know where I--”

She hung up on him.

He stared at the phone for a solid two minutes, unsure of how serious she had been when she said she would be over in ten minutes.

A part of him simply wanted to go back to welding and dismiss her… threat? (It felt like a threat. A friendly one, but a threat nonetheless.) But knowing Dragon Girl she was probably completely serious. Then again, no one knew where this specific workshop was since his mother hadn’t bothered to come find it yet, so it was likely the threat did not hold any weight.

He still found himself letting his hair down from it’s three-day old messy tie to hazardously comb through it anyways.

“Just a precaution,” he told himself. The tie had been getting uncomfortable anyways. He glanced down at his grease streaked darkened work clothes. Changing seemed like too much of an effort when she probably wouldn’t…

No. She definitely would.

Could she?

She was persistent, she would probably find a way to the workshop somehow. It might at least take her more than ten minutes however. He could simply wait for the Bull clones along the perimeter to alert him if she did appear and change then if need be. For now he would simply continue with what he’d been in the middle of doing.

He probably should have been less surprised when the door was kicked open with a loud BANG and enough force to make it shudder on its hinges, making him nearly jump out of his skin.

“GET UP, FIRE BOY, WE’RE GOING OUT!”

It took him a moment to catch his welder, flailing wildly and just managing to snatch it before it fell behind him. He turned it off quickly and smacked the edge of his visor to open it so he could see and give the dragon girl an incredulous look. “Wh-wha--how--? What--? How did you even--?” he spluttered as she swaggered forward into his previously secluded--how had she even found it--workshop as though she was a common visitor rather than a first-time intruder. “How did you get past the Bull Clones?”

“Do you even technically need to use a welder? She asked, instead of answering as she reached his work table and leaned over his half-welded metal pieces.

He slid it away from her with a grunt of effort before snarking back. “Do you even technically need to drive?”

She cackled at the comparison--he was not proud of the laugh, it was annoying--and gave him a grin. He���d forgotten how different it was to be in the same room as her in person. Video call just didn’t capture the way she seemed to fill the space with every move she made, effortlessly garnering attention like it was the easiest thing to have eyes on her and she couldn’t care about them in the slightest.

They were so different. She had the attention he fought so hard for and couldn’t care less, and he felt invisible unless he was shouting at the top of his lungs and sparking into a bonfire.

He wasn’t shouting now though, and she was looking right at him.

“Ready to go?”

He blinked. “Huh?”

“I gave you ten minutes, are you ready?”

They both glanced down at his grease stained overalls and sleeveless turtleneck that had seen better days. Red Son grimaced.

“Come ooooon,” she complained, leaning even closer, Red Son responding to the action by leaning back in his chair, further away. “You’ve been in here for days. It’s time for the Bull Prince to get some Fresh Air!”

“Fresh what-now,” he deadpanned.

She ignored him.

“So get up! Fix that greasy head of hair of yours,” she leaned over and ruffled his hair forcefully until he swatted her hand away with an outraged noise. “We’re going out!”

“I already did fix it,” he muttered, smoothing his hair back down with a frown.

“Well, come on then! Out we go!”

She picked him up off his bench with no visible effort and set him on his feet before grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the door. The Bull Clones did absolutely nothing as he was dragged past them, and it wasn't until they were on the sidewalk that he processed what was happening.

“W-wait--”

Even though he didn’t say it as loud as he should have, she stopped anyway, turning around to look at him intently, startling him with her complete attention which he still wasn’t used to.

His ears heated and he looked away. “The Son of the Demon Bull King should not be seen in public in such attire.”

She tilted her head to look at him for a moment, then shrugged and said simply. “Then you’re not the Son of DBK today.”

“Pardon?” was all that came out, incredulous and confused. “What do you--?”

She only smiled like she had been expecting the argument and pulled out a hat seemingly from nowhere pulling it over his head firmly, obscuring his view.

He spluttered, and while he was distracted pulling it up enough so he could see, she removed her jacket and draped it over his shoulders, slinging her arm over his shoulders and pulling him close. “You’re my friend! Red Son!”

He stared at her.

She beamed right back.

He glanced back at his workshop, then at the jacket hanging off of him precariously, and finally back up at the Dragon Girl.

His throat felt a little dry and his skin prickled slightly.

Very quietly, because he didn’t want to risk the Bull Clones overhearing, and because he knew she would listen regardless of how softly he spoke, he responded.

“Okay.”

With the green hat, Dragon Girl’s  jacket, and the attention grabbing loud girl leading him around, no one spared him a second glance, but with her smiling back at him every few seconds and chattering to him, listening to his contributions to the conversation… Red Son found he didn’t mind it so much.

Dragon Girl dragged him around like they had somewhere to be but without any actual destination. They simply entered any stores she saw his eyes lingering on, or ones she thought looked cool. They exited one with an array of snacks and drinks and found a bench to sit on so they could enjoy their spoils.

He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he’d devoured at least half of the large supply of snacks.

“We should invite Mk next time,” Mei said, leaning back against the bench, arms behind her head.

It was an offhand comment, one with very little actual intent behind it, more of a musing than an actual suggestion, though it implied that there would be a next time which he found himself not… hating the idea of. Walks in the city with snacks included after a long day sounded… nice. She mentioned Noodle Boy a lot, there wasn’t any clear intention to actually invite him, and there wouldn’t be until Red Son showed he was comfortable enough.

“Hrm,” Red Son said, his mouth full.

Mei glanced at him in surprise. “That was a yes.”

Red Son swallowed the last bite of his snacks and carefully folded the wrapper so he had an excuse not to meet her eyes.

“Neither of you are… terrible company…”

“Wow,” Mei said, but she was grinning wildly. “Thanks.”

He scoffed, not bothering to lean away when she brought their faces closer. “Just so long as…” He swallowed, suddenly unsteady. The food in his stomach churned. He stared down at the wrapper in his hands that, a small square, squished until he could’t fold it anymore.

“Hey,” her voice was light.

He glanced at her.

She had her usual smile, although this one was slightly softer around the edges, something reassuring about it. “Me, you and Mk. That’s the party.” She offered a hand, curled into a fist. “We won’t try to make it bigger.”

He chewed on the inside of his lip.

“Not until you’re ready.”

She held her hand steady until he exhaled carefully, then reached over and tapped his fist against hers.

“Alright.”

Somehow… it wasn’t all that hard to trust her.

And it was worth it anyways, when she grabbed his hand and dragged him to the noodle shop to barge into Noodle Boy’s room and declare an impromptu movie night. That lonely feeling clawing at his insides lost its hold and slipped away, overtaken by the laughter and voices of his two not-nemesis's.

It was weird, wasn’t it? He found he didn’t mind this kind of weird though.

Mei gave him a ride back to his workshop later, dropping a bag of snacks and water bottles onto his desk before waving goodbye and racing off in a flash of green.

The phone in his pocket buzzed.

~Red Son has been added to the group chat~

~RawrXD has changed chat name to “PARTY OF THREE BABY WOOOOOO”~

RawrXD: RED

RawrXD: BOY

RawrXD: IN

Mmm...Monkie: RED SON

RawrXD: THE

RawrXD: HOOOOUUSE

Mmm...Monkie: :D!!!!

RawrXD: WHAT IS UUUUUUUUP

~Red Son has changed their name to “I.Am.With.Peasents”~

RawrXD: HAHAHAHHA

Mmm...Monkie: D:

RawrXD: We gotta get you that on a T-shirt for hang out nights

I.Am.With.Peasents: Hello, Noodle boy, Dragon Girl.

RawrXD: WELCOME TO THE GROUP CHAT, FIRE BOY >:D

RawrXD: THERE’S NO ESCAPING US NOW MWAHAHAHAHA

Red Son settled down on his bench and found he didn’t mind that so much.