Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured here.

A Mature Girl

Raz never understood why Lili always insisted on being so 'mature' all the time. Sure, being mature could be pretty useful since most of the team (including himself) can be literal five-year olds at times, but all the time? To him that sounds like a surefire way to an early grave. He voiced this particular concern of his once, but she simply brushed it off.

As a side effect of her insistence to be 'mature', he observed that she has forced herself to dislike things that are generally seen as 'childish' and 'immature'. One such thing is cartoons. So, when Mabel tried getting Lili to watch a cartoon show that she is currently super into, it ended as well you'd expect; with a pouting Mabel and an irritated Lili. The event was quite memorable, but after a few days passed, it has completely slipped from his mind.

Until tonight.

He woke up in the middle of the night with a dry throat. He's not quite sure the exact time when he woke up, but it's definitely quite late. Eager to resume his sleep, he exited his room and made his way to the kitchen for a glass of water. However, halfway to his destination, he passed by Lili's room, finding the door to be slightly ajar. Out of curiosity, he took a peek inside and all traces of sleep immediately left him.

Lili sat in front of her desk, all curled up in her blanket, staring intently at her open laptop screen, which, if he's seeing correctly, is playing the same cartoon show that Mabel showed her a few days ago.

Raz could not believe his own two eyes. He rubbed them, expecting that he is simply seeing things thanks to his half-awake state, but what he saw remained the same. It's still his girlfriend, invested in a children's cartoon show and- did she just giggle?!

She did! It was incredibly brief, and she even tried to hide it with a hand, but she did! Lili freaking Zanotto just giggled watching a children's cartoon show!

Right then and there, Raz had an almost-uncontrollable urge to let out an inhuman squeal at the sight before him. He managed to contain himself long enough to quickly cover his mouth with a hand. He couldn't help it; it was just such an adorable sight. Lili looks like she's really enjoying herself, too. It's really rare for her to be that way. The only other time he saw her be like that was when she was with her dad or her plants, and with everything that's been going on, she didn't really have much time to be with either. It's just… really nice to see her like that.

And that's why Raz absolutely do not want to ruin this for her. Cautiously, with a hand still covering his mouth, he began backing away from the door as silently as possible. One step, two steps, three ste-

Creak!

Raz froze. Lili tensed.

Damn Shack and it's creaky floorboards!

Lili whirled around, eyes wide. Raz can only stand there and chuckle nervously.

"I'm not bothering you, am I?" he sheepishly asked.

Even in the dark, Raz can Lili's face gaining a very dark shade of red. He braced himself for the worst.

Lili flicked her hand, and the door to her room slams shut.

Raz blinked. He was… honestly expecting something much, much worse than that.

Raz approached the closed door and, very gently, knocked on it. "Hey, Lil."

No response.

Raz briefly considered contacting her telepathically, but it didn't take him long to realize how bad of an idea that is.

"Look, I did not mean to spy on you like that. It was a complete accident. I'm sorry, okay? Can you open the door so we can talk this out?"

There was a long silence after that, but eventually, the door gently swung open. Raz peered inside, spotting Lili sitting on the floor near the head of her bed. She has her knees against her chest and is glaring quite intensely at the floor. Raz made her way to Lili, sitting down next to her. Lili immediately shifted her glare to Raz. It wasn't the first time Lili gave him that look, but it never fails to make him nervous each time.

"Explain before I give you a black eye." Lili said curtly.

Raz doubted she would actually give him a black eye, but he knew better than to try. "I woke up because I was thirsty, so I got up to get a drink downstairs. On the way, I noticed your door was open and I saw, um, that."

Raz didn't miss how Lili fidgeted when he said that. He decided not to bring it up just yet.

"So, yeah, that's my story. It's still up to you if I get a black eye or not." Raz finished.

Lili contemplated on the tale, before finally sighing. "No, you're not getting a black eye."

Raz felt like he should be relieved, but with how strange Lili is acting, he couldn't bring himself to feel that yet.

"H-How long…?" Lili suddenly asked. "How long were you watching me?"

"Not a lot, I think? I mean, I saw you giggle, but that's about it." Raz replied. Lili moaned and buried her face in her palm in response. "Hey, it's okay! You're cute when you giggle."

"It's not okay!" came Lili's muffled reply.

Raz frowned in confusion. "You don't like having an adorable giggle?"

"No, not that!" Lili said, uncovering her face. "I mean, it's not okay that you saw… t-that!" she gestured towards her now-closed laptop on the desk.

Lili leaned back, sighing. "I really shouldn't be mad at you. This is all on me. I shouldn't have been watching that in the first place."

Raz glanced up at the laptop, then back down at Lili."Why not?" he asked. He already has a suspicion of why, but it's better to make sure.

"W-well, because it's a cartoon for small kids and- I'm a Psychonaut agent, Raz! Hell, I'm Truman Zanotto's daughter! I shouldn't be- There's just things I'm not supposed to-"

So it is about that. This needs to stop.

"Lili, Lili, calm down." Raz gently took hold of Lili's shoulder. "Okay, so you are all of those things, but so am I! Well, minus the daughter part. Plus, we're the same age, and you don't see me being so mature all the time, do you?"

Lili curled up against herself a little more. "I'm not you, Raz. I'm not like that. I don't think I can be like that."

"Lili…" Raz frowned sadly. He sucked in a breath, his face now determined. "Okay, the point I'm trying to make here is that there is nothing that you're not supposed to do."

Lili blinked, considering Raz's words.

"Except for illegal things, and even then you can still make an argument about it." Raz quickly added.

Lili couldn't help but smile ever so slightly. "Nothing I'm not supposed to do, huh…"

"Exactly. If you want to watch cartoons for kids, then feel free to do it. Doesn't mean that you're immature for doing it. It just means you have a childlike side you like to indulge once in a while. Nothing wrong with that." Raz ended with a smile.

"Yeah… yeah, I guess it is." Lili uncurled herself, nodding in agreement to Raz's words.

"In fact, isn't the act of avoiding certain things so you don't look childish is childish in itself? I mean, if you're really mature, then you can just enjoy pretty much anything without caring too much about what that thing is labelled by-"

"Raz."

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

Lili smiled, which is just great to see after all of that. "I… feel better now. About all of this. Thanks, Raz."

It's only right for Raz to smile back. "No problem."

Lili leaned towards Raz and, with a moment of hesitation, rested her head on Raz's shoulder. Raz's smile grew wider and he leaned back, content to enjoy the moment. His eyes wandered around, eventually landing on the Lili's laptop. A question began to form in his head.

"You know, I'm actually curious," Raz started, "just exactly what kind of cartoon would catch the interest of one Lili Zanotto?"

Through the dim light, Raz can see Lili is blushing again. "I-it's nothing that interesting, really."

"I still want to know, though." he replied.

"Ah, um, well…" Lili looked down nervously at her fingers. "I guess, the main character - she likes plants and gardening a lot, so there's that. And one of her friends is super funny, I like him a lot. And the art style is just really cute and nice to look at. But the show is more than just cute and funny stuff! There's this episode where the funny guy got into an accident, and the show treated it in a really interesting and realistic way. There's this other one where the main character's grandma died. The message in that episode was super touching and just- just so good! Oh, and there's this other one where-"

Lili caught herself as she realized what she's doing. Her cheeks gained a red tint once more. Raz simply motioned her to keep going.

"Ah, so, yeah, that's… that's more or less why I like it." Lili concluded, rubbing her arms. Raz raised an eyebrow. "Can't really say more. You know… spoilers and all that."

Raz smirked. "Is that so?"

"Yeah." Lili pouted and it was so adorable good god what did he do to deserve her.

"Alright, if you say so." Raz shrugged, amused. "I guess you've already said enough. I'm definitely interested in watching it now."

He saw Lili's eyes simply light up. "Y-you do?!"

"Of course! We could even watch it together." he offered. "Maybe over lunch?"

Lili blinked. "Lunch?" she stated incredulously, then chuckled. "You know, usually you have dates on dinner, Raz."

"This counts as a date?" Not that he's adverse to a nice date with Lili, but he's not really sure that eating lunch while watching cartoons would count as one.

"Well, if we make it one, then yeah?" That's not a bad reason. He could go with that.

"Then a date it is. I'm looking forward to it." Raz smiled. Lili smiled back. He feels… really giddy all of a sudden.

"Oh, and Raz?" Lili quickly asked. "Please don't tell the others about this, especially not to Mabel."

Raz grinned. "I swear I will not speak a word of this to anyone."

"Okay." Lili sighed, relieved. "Thanks."

"Anyway, I'm still kinda thirsty so," he gestured towards the door, "I'm gonna head down, grab a drink, and go back to bed."

"Oh, yeah, sure." Lili said as she sort-of stumbled her way to sit on the bed. Raz stood up himself and, after leaning forward to give Lili a quick kiss on the cheeks, made his way to the door.

That was… definitely something. Not what he expected to happen when he woke up a few minutes ago. Not to say it was bad. It was good. It was nice to see Lili just enjoying something that she likes. It was great that he managed to help her loosen up, even if it's just a little. He even got a date set for lunch tomorrow. So, yeah, it was pretty good.

"Wait a second." Lili's voice stopped him in his tracks, just a few steps away from the door. He heard soft footsteps against the wooden floor approaching him, stopping just behind him.

"Raz, you said you 'won't speak a word of this to anyone'. Does that mean you think you can tell this to other people through, let's say, telepathy?"

Ah. Dammit. He genuinely thought he got away with that.

He turned around, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.

"Well…"

Raz returned to his room that night with a cold glass of water and a stinging, red handprint on his left cheek. Obviously he was just joking, but it was totally worth it.

Raz is a little shit. He can't help it.

So this was originally a prompt sent in by Tumblr user cartoonfumes. I never actually finished it and I felt bad about it so I decided to turn it into a full fic.

By the way, there's a bunch of new people over at Tumblr taking their chances at making a second MK episode. Go and give them some love. There's some really great people involved in the project already. Find them over at themysterykidsreturn on Tumblr!

P.S. gonna try to go back to my usual upload schedule, which is twice a month. Wish me luck!