Adopted is the Key Word
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Grim Tales
"Mom!"
The woman blinked as she turned around and was met with the grinning face of her approaching daughter. "Chi? What are you doing here? I thought you were still at Mimi's?"
"We stopped for donuts on the way to your place," Junior called as he and Mimi approached. "And the universe conspired for us to meet."
Chi's mother smirked in amusement. "I'm sure you say that to every woman you bump into."
"I'm not that clever," Junior denied, Mimi nodding sagely. "I believe we spoke on the phone earlier."
"Indeed we did. Mr. Reaper, was it?" she greeted, looking him up and down as she did so.
"Grim Reaper II, at your service," he said, pretending to tip a hat he wasn't wearing and ignoring the surprise in Ikra's eyes at how young he was. "And you must be Mrs. Person whose last name I won't try to pronounce without hearing it first," Junior greeted in amusement.
Ikra chuckled. "Ikra Ishimachi, pleasure," she introduce, holding out a hand for him to shake. As they did, she looked down to the raven-haired girl. "And you must be the famous Mimi. Chi has told me so much about you, I feel like we've already met," Ikra said, making Chi blush and wither under Junior's scrutiny.
Mimi nodded, paused, and pulled out her cellphone.
"Give her a second," Junior said before Ikra could look offended.
The beauty raised an eyebrow until Mimi turned the phone towards Ikra, showing what she had typed: "Nice to meet you too, Ma'am."
"How polite," Ikra said with a smile. "I suppose I should try some of those sign-language DVDs Chi bought."
Despite how rarely she used sign language, Mimi smiled at the gesture.
"I wouldn't bother, she doesn't like using it," Chi stated idly.
"Foot meets mouth," Junior murmured in exasperation.
"Chi," Ikra scolded with an expectant sigh.
"What? What I say?" Chi asked, looking between all of them in confusion.
"So, not to sound lazy, but should I leave Chi here, or just take her home like planned?" Junior inquired idly.
"Oh, no, it's no trouble; I'll take her from here. I was actually just coming to pick up some elephant ears as a surprise for Chi," Ikra said, making Chi go still. "But it seems you've already spoiled my daughter enough on my behalf, Mr. Reaper."
"Any friend of Mimi is a friend of mine," Junior assured.
"Still, I feel a little bad, her dragging you out here. How much do I owe you?" Ikra asked politely.
"Mom," Chi whined softly.
"It's no problem, Mrs. Ishimachi, really. Besides, I got one for all of us," Junior turned down good naturedly. "Now we just have one final business to take care of."
"And what would that be?" Ikra asked, a finely trimmed eyebrow arched ever so slightly.
"Ohh, right, my pack," Chi recalled. "I left it in his car."
"I imagine you would," Ikra teased. "I'm sure you could train to run a marathon if you carried all of that around with you."
"Mom," Chi complained again, despite smiling good-naturedly.
"You mind waiting here, Ma'am? Mimi and me can grab it and be back in five, ten minutes?" Junior offered, Mimi nodding.
"Well, unless you want to give these two a little more time together," Ikra said with a knowing smile to Chi, who blushed while not making eye contact.
Junior made a mental note that Ikra was aware of Chi's romantic interest in Mimi and was fine with it. With that filed away, he glanced to Mimi who shrugged. "Eh, sure, why not. Mimi, don't try to con the rich lady."
Mimi mock-glared at his retreating back for the joke, before turning to her friend and said friend's mother.
Ikra smiled mysteriously, making Chi a bit worried. "So, Mimi, has my little glutton been a good friend?"
Chi looked to Mimi with a very curious and hopeful expression.
Meanwhile
Junior made his way back to the general area of the car without much obstacle besides a kid running up the down escalator. But he frowned as he noticed something was off. He could see someone rummaging around in a car.
His car, if he was right.
Keeping himself a bit stealthier, he continued to approach the vehicle, trying to appear casual. He walked between the cars, heading up to his from the front. Whoever it was, they had broken the window on the back left side to get in.
Junior walked up to the car and, without pause, slammed his foot into the car door.
"What the fuck?!" the robber yelled as he tumbled out of the car, revealing a ginger haired boy splayed on the pavement.
Junior said nothing as he approached the boy, who surged to his feet. "Just run off, Kid. This isn't a fight you want."
"Who the hell are you calling a kid, punk?" the boy snarled, pulling out a knife.
Junior looked even less impressed. The boy shot forward wildly, Junior catching his wrist and twisting it until the boy cried out and dropped the weapon; that done, Junior slammed his knee into the brat's gut twice for good measure before tossing him aside. The kid looked up in shock with scrapes on his face, seeing Junior picking up the knife.
"Want to try and take it back?" Junior asked without amusement. That was all it took to make the kid run for it. "Go, get the fuck out of here!" Junior yelled after him, shaking his head at the idiot. He turned to look at his car and sighed at the mess. "Well, I'm going to be out a few hundred dollars," he said in resignation as he opened the door and found Chi's bag. It had definitely been rummaged through, but it didn't look like the kid got a chance to take anything of value. Luckily, none of the glass had gotten on it by the looks of things.
He should probably tell Chi and her mother. But if he had a good guess about rich people, they'd insist on calling the cops even if nothing was missing. And neither he nor Mimi needed that kind of attention right now.
Hefting the bag over his shoulder, he headed back to the mall. The sooner he got this to Chi, the sooner they could go home and he could call a mechanic.
He made it back, faster than he left, and found the trio of females right where he left them. Mimi's impassive face had a hint of amusement to it, Ikra laughing at something while Chi was trying to cover her face with her hands.
"Here you go, one backpack, ala mode, extra on the stuffing," Junior joked as he gave the item away to Chi.
"Thanks, Mr. Reaper," Chi said, looking more relieved than she should, as whatever conversation they were having came to an end.
He pointedly and masterfully ignored Mimi's gaze, who was obviously able to tell that something was up.
"It's been a pleasure to meet you, and Mimi," Ikra said with a smile. "I trust Chi can look forward to the occasional sleepover again?"
"If the stars align. With my schedule that is," Junior answered jokingly. "I look forward to seeing you again, Ms. Ishimachi."
She smirked at that as she turned to leave.
"Bye Mimi!" Chi called as they left, both girls waving goodbye to one another, Chi's distinctly more energized than Mimi's.
"Well, she's not coming over THAT often," Junior murmured, Mimi nodding in agreement. "Come on, let's go."
Mimi wouldn't have questioned him even if she had a voice, following after him as they made their way out of the mall. She gained an increasingly deepening scowl as they got closer to the car, looking at the glass on the ground, the broken window and some blood on the pavement. She glanced over the car at Junior, giving him an inquiring look.
The man rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Some punk thought it was a good idea to try and break into my car," he answered, leaving it at that as he got into the vehicle.
Mimi didn't look entirely satisfied with that explanation as she got into the passenger seat. They began to drive home, an uncomfortable silence in the air. Junior didn't speak and Mimi didn't communicate the entire drive. They eventually pulled up into the driveway of their small home, sitting in silence for a moment before Junior made to get out of the car.
Only for Mimi's gloved hands to grab his arm.
He stopped, looking back to see Mimi's usual stoic expression was broken to show a look of concern and worry in her red eyes. Junior grimaced and exhaled as he sat back down. "He wasn't one of them," Junior answered to the silent question. "He was just some punk who saw an overstuffed bag and thought there might be something worth stealing. He didn't have the slightest idea who the hell I was or he wouldn't have brought just this," Junior answered, pulling out the pocket knife.
Mimi's face melted back into its usual passiveness, mostly, as she reclined in the car seat.
"I'm fine, by the way," Junior added as a dry jest.
Mimi almost smiled as she rolled her eyes. Almost.
"Come on, let's have some muffins while I find a shop that won't cheat me on a window replacement," Junior said as he got out, Mimi following after him.
Five minutes later, Junior found himself thumbing through a phonebook while Mimi munched happily on her muffin. "Ye gods, when did we even get this thing?" Junior muttered, deciding he might just have to google this, but decided to try at least one number first.
"Yolo, this is Koop speaking!" a voice yelled over some metallic screeching in the background.
"Yeah, is this...Megas XLRepairs?" Junior asked for confirmation.
"That's us! If we can't fix it, it's scrap," Koop answered with a grin Junior could just hear in his voice.
"Yeah, I got a broken window that I need replaced," Junior explained.
"Sure! We have openings tomorrow and Wednesday, either of those good for you?" Koop inquired.
"What time Wednesday?" Junior asked in thought.
"One second, let me double check," Koop answered, pausing to look over something. "We got one at 1:00 PM, another at 4:00PM, and- one second. Jamie! Jamie! That guy cancel for Wednesday? Yeah, we also have one early opening at seven in the morning."
"Yeah, I'll take that one," Junior answered after a moment.
"Great. Name?" Koop asked, his voice muffled a bit.
Junior had the distinct impression the man was eating something while on the phone. "Grim Reaper."
"G.R. for 7AM. Okay, see you then," Koop said in farewell.
"Thanks, bye," Junior returned as he hung up. "Well, at least he sounds like he enjoys his job," he mused, glancing over to Mimi.
Said adopted daughter was back in her usual loose shirt and daisy dukes, eating her muffin as she sat side ways on a chair.
"Did you buy those in bulk or something?" Junior muttered with a sigh, not recalling when she had bought so many of those short-shorts. "So, I need a nap after all of that. Watch or play whatever you want, and wake me up before six."
Mimi quirked her head at him, but nodded all the same as Junior left for his room.
Junior took a breath as he sat on his bed. He probably should have just bit the bullet and took the car in tomorrow instead of in a few days. But on the off chance that punk in the parking lot was connected to some gang, he decided it'd be best to just stay home tomorrow with Mimi.
Still, his boss was going to chew his ass out when he was late on Wednesday. Ah well, The Bitch was in for an overdue bit of realizing the world didn't revolve around her.
End of Chapter
And there we go, another chapter in the everyday life of Mimi and Junior, including but not limited to kicking punk asses.
Hope you all enjoyed this little bit.