#i could NOT stop happy stimming i felt like i was gonna explode

[ornithological]

just off a banger pelagic trip in search of whales, but we also saw LOADS of great and sooty shearwaters and i am about to die of happiness

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

*taps you* *whispers* How do you think Red Son felt the first time he made MK happy enough to stim?

Red Son did not wave his arms. 

He didn't not wiggle his fingers or tap his toes; his mother preferred stillness or anger or nothing at all, so that is what he gave her. He did not flap his hands or do a dance on the spot. He stomped his feet, growled and pointed aggressively and that was all.

Mk by contrast was always moving. He jumped and danced and waved his arms about, and smiled and smiled and laughed like it was nothing at all. And, one evening, Red Son learned that he flapped his hands up and down and waved them around until he was breathless and grinning and he wondered... 

“Why do you do that?” he asked. His voice always came out sharper than he meant it to, but Mk was used to it by now, and just grinned at him unfazed. 

“It’s stimming! I do it when I’m happy!” 

And... Red Son didn’t understand, but he nodded anyway. The smile on Mk’s face after... stimming was more than enough incentive to accept and do his best to understand, even if it didn’t make much sense to him. 

When Mk waved his arms like that it meant he was happy, and Red Son liked it when he was happy.

He started to pay more attention to when he would stim. He flapped his arms when they watched Monkey King: the Animated Series, or went to the arcade, or sometimes when he ordered a favourite food. He’d always get excited to see Mei and step back from their hug to flap his arms and talk fast enough to make anyone passing by think he was on some sort of caffeine high. 

He flapped his hands whenever he started talking about the Monkey King guidebook he was working on, and Red Son found himself asking about it more and more often just to see how excited he got. 

Once, in the safety of his workshop, he glanced around once to make sure no one was here, even though he knew he was alone, and cautiously tried to move his hands up and down in a flapping motion. 

Maybe he smiled because of the movement, or maybe it was because it reminded him of Mk. Maybe a little of both. Either way, he couldn’t deny it made something in his chest feel lighter. 

He arrived at the noodleshop with some snacks in a plastic bag that he held in his arm, and climbed up the fire escape to Mk’s window, not bothering with going through the front; this was faster anyways. He’d been invited over for an in-house game night that would be happening after the shop closed, and he couldn’t deny the cool, happy feeling he got from being included. 

He peeked inside, and, upon seeing Mk sitting on his bed scrolling through his phone, he gave a few raps against the windowpane. 

Mk’s head shot up and a smile practically exploded across his face. He was at the door in an instant, scrambling to get it open, and beamed at him once he had it. 

“Red! You made it!” 

He never got tired of being pulled into Mk’s arms for an embrace. 

“I’m so glad you’re here!” he finally said, pulling away, and Red Son didn’t have the opportunity to feel disappointed because suddenly he was stimming right in front of him, flapping his arms wildly, and smiling so wide he was sure his cheeks had to be hurting. 

“There’s gonna be snacks, and games, and we were thinking we could even do a sleepover next time if you liked this one, and--” he made a happy sound and stimmed even wilder and harder for a moment before stopping and looking at him happy and breathless, his hair a bit ruffled from the movement. 

Mk was stimming because he was happy to see him. 

The realization knocked the breath out of his lungs. 

“Oh,” Red Son said. 

Mk tilted his head questioningly, but the smile didn’t fade in the slightest. 

A little bubble expanded in his chest, making it hard not to smile, so he didn’t try to resist. His hands tapped against his sides, rustling the plastic bag in his hand. 

He returned Mk’s smile, a little smaller, but no less sincere.

“You make me happy too.” 

.

Welp, I dunno where this went but *shoves it into your arms* HERE YA GO ALKSDMFA;WOEF