AN: Another ficlet for my 100 followers fic request event on Tumblr. This one was submitted by master-of-fluff, who requested "movie morro takes lloyd to the arcade" (ANOTHER Morro prompt? XD you guys just can't get enough of him, can you?)
Well, this is it, folks! I've finally caught up with all my requests! Thank you to all of you who participated in the event and, those of you here from Tumblr, thank you so much for 100 followers! It means the world to me!
Enjoy the fic :)
"Thank you again for taking Lloyd tonight, Morro," Koko huffed. "I swear, I would never ask you so last minute like this, but something just came up at work, and I need someone to watch him, and… well, you know how it is. No babysitters want to watch him."
Morro shrugged, popping his gum. "I mean, I'm getting paid, right?"
Koko smiled. "Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Then I can handle the kid for a few hours. Don't worry."
"Oh, thank you so much. Dinner's in the fridge, you'll have to heat it up, but it's already cooked. And bedtime's at eight thirty!"
"Got it. I think we're good."
"Oh! And-"
Morro smirked. "Mrs. G, we're fine! I've watched him before. I know what I'm doing. Just go."
"Okay. You're right. Thank you." Darting over to the couch, she gave Lloyd a kiss on the head- the young boy grumbled something, and she crouched down next to him. They exchanged murmurs that Morro couldn't hear, and then the boy was hugging his mother. Koko smiled, telling him to behave, and then she was whisking out the door.
Morro walked over to the couch and peered over the edge at Lloyd. "What's up, squirt?"
"I don't need a babysitter," he snapped immediately before storming up to his room. Morro shrugged, flopping over onto the couch and opening Chirp. He figured the kid would get bored and cool off eventually.
After half an hour, though, Morro got up with a sigh, realizing he should probably do the responsible thing and go check on the kid. He did want to get paid well, after all, and he wouldn't put it past the kid to be a little tattletale if he didn't have a good time.
Trudging up to Lloyd's room, he knocked on the door. There was no response, so he gently pushed it open.
Lloyd was curled up on the edge of his bed, hugging a stuffed dragon tightly. He looked away as Morro entered, but he didn't miss the glimmer of tears on his face.
"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting down next to him. "Are you really that upset about having a babysitter?"
"It's not that," Lloyd sniffed, opening up surprisingly easily. "It's just… Mommy's gone a lot. For work and stuff. I miss her."
Morro sighed, running his fingers through his hair. This was a very personal conversation, one Lloyd should be having with his mother, not with him. But she wasn't here now, and he could hardly just ignore him.
"Your mom loves you a lot. I bet she would give anything to be here with you right now. But she has to work to get money, Lloyd. Rent isn't cheap in this area." At that, Morro felt a little worm of guilt in his chest, although he wasn't exactly sure why.
"I know, it's just… she promised to do something fun with me tonight. She said she would take me to the arcade, and I really wanted to go."
At this, he shot Morro the most pathetic pair of puppy dog eyes he had ever seen, and Morro felt his heart do a weird skip.
No, stop it, you're not seriously letting this kid take advantage of you. Put your foot down. You aren't getting paid for this part.
Morro grimaced. "I… I can take you to the arcade, if you would like."
Lloyd immediately brightened. "Really? Oh, thank you, Morro!" The kid gave him a quick hug and began excitedly bouncing around the room, telling him about all the fun things they would do. It was immediately annoying, but the joy in his cousin's eyes was almost enough to make him not regret it.
Almost.
By ten pm, Morro was on the couch of the Garmadons' living room, except this time, Lloyd was draped across his lap, out like a light after a long couple hours at the arcade. Koko had warned him it might be hard to get her son to bed, but Lloyd hadn't needed much convincing that night, collapsing on his lap before Morro could even bring him upstairs. Now, he looked so peaceful that Morro was afraid to move him and disturb his slumber. Of course, that also meant that Morro couldn't move- he had been sitting here for the past two hours and was kind of starting to need the bathroom- but as he looked at Lloyd's face, it surprised him to find that he didn't care.
Which was stupid, this was just his bratty little cousin, he didn't care about him at all, where would anyone get that idea, even as cute as he had been coming home from the arcade, bouncing like the slinky dog from Toy Story as he showed Morro the little prizes he had won-
Oh no, he was actually fond of this kid, wasn't he. Morro suddenly realized he was stroking Lloyd's hair and jerked his hand away.
Not long after, Koko had arrived back. She shot Morro a grateful smile as she picked up Lloyd and carried him to his room. Morro felt an odd pang of disappointment as she did so, although Lloyd's grumpy, half-conscious murmurs at being moved brought him some comfort.
"Thank you, Morro, you've been a real lifesaver," she said. "Here. You deserve this."
Taking out her wallet, she placed fifty dollars in his hands. He glanced down at it with wide eyes. This was it. He should just take the money now and leave. Then this whole thing could be over.
But something just felt wrong about this.
He placed the money back in her hand. "Keep it."
Koko's eyes widened. "Of course not! I'm not going to let you do this for free!"
"What do I need the money for?"
"At least take some of it." Koko tried to push some of the bills into his hands, but he laughed, pulling away.
"Seriously! I don't want it! Buy Lloyd something nice."
Koko paused at that, biting her lip. "Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Okay, well… thank you, Morro. For everything."
"Anytime, Mrs. G."