Lean on Me Ch. 2: Movie Night

Me: Hope you guys enjoy and leave behind lots of reviews!

"How about a movie night?"

Mao Mao furrowed his brows in confusion while Adorabat appeared thoroughly pleased with the idea. "Yay!"

"What?" Mao Mao asked.

"Yeah, man." Badgerclops closed the first aid kit. "We've already done patrols for today, and we just beat up a monster. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a good reason to have a movie night."

"Yeah!" Adorabat agreed. "Besides, we haven't had a movie night in forever!"

Mao Mao know looked unsure. "I don't know..."

Badgerclops smiled knowingly. "Oh come on, man. You wouldn't say no to these faces." Badgerclops inclined his body over to Adorabat and pressed his larger cheek up against her smaller one, effectively squashing their faces together. Combined, the two of them shot Mao Mao the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes imaginable, their lips out in a large pout. Mao Mao gave them an incredulous look and, when they still remained in the same position, he simply huffed and rolled his eyes in amusement.

"Ok, fine," Mao Mao said, leaning his head against the back of the couch and smiling lightly.

Badgerclops and Adorabat cheered and peeled their faces away from each other, smiling widely. Badgerclops held his hand out to Adorabat, and the young bat eagerly high-fived it. Smirking, Badgerclops returned his attention to Mao Mao.

"Told ya." He said, mockingly.

"Whatever." Mao Mao grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Alright!" Badgerclops clapped his hands together, briefly startling Mao Mao and Adorabat. "Adorabat, you get the snacks ready while I get the movies out. And you-" he clasped his hands together, pressed his pointer fingers together and directed them at Mao Mao, "stay there and not move. You can do that, right?"

Mao Mao glared at him but otherwise didn't disobey the badger's orders. Beside him, Adorabat opened her wings and jumped into the air, excitedly.

"Aye, aye, captain!" Adorabat chirped, saluting Badgerclops with her wing. Without another word, she fled from the room and headed into the kitchen.

Badgerclops slowly rose to his feet and swiped a small square pillow off their green couch. Fluffing it, Badgerclops stepped closer to Mao Mao and made a gesture with his hand.

"Up," he commanded.

Mao Mao side-eyed him in confusion. When he neglected to move, Badgerclops leaned down and gingerly tapped Mao Mao's foot until the cat got the message, and he picked it up. Badgerclops placed the square pillow onto the table and directed Mao Mao's foot to it. Badgerclops nodded to himself, satisfied once he was sure Mao Mao's leg was propped up properly, and then he headed towards the TV stand.

Mao Mao rose a brow at Badgerclops' gentle treatment. "Seriously?"

Badgerclops jokingly cupped a hand around his ear as he leaned down to grab a cardboard box from underneath the TV. "What was that? Thank you, Badgerclops for taking good care of me?" Badgerclops smiled at him. "Well, you're welcome, Mao Mao!"

Mao Mao's face softened, and he smiled slightly. "Thanks."

"No problem," Badgerclops waved his hand, dismissively. He peeled back the flaps of the cardboard box and reached in to study the CDs within.

In the distance, Badgerclops was dimly aware of Adorabat loudly punching numbers into their microwave, and humming a random tune.

"Sorry."

Badgerclops' small ears perked up at the mumbled apology, and he immediately paused in his search for a good movie. If the room hadn't been quite so quiet, then Badgerclops may have been unable to hear it. He twisted his head to look at Mao Mao from his place on the floor, and he noted that the cat had averted his eyes and was currently staring at the ceiling like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"What?"

Mao Mao sighed, but he still refused to look at Badgerclops. "I said, I'm sorry," he repeated louder.

Badgerclops shook his head and turned back to the box. "Dude, I was joking earlier-"

"Not just that."

Badgerclops picked up a random CD case and turned it over to look at the back, his eyes briefly skimming the plot summary inscribed there. He figured that Mao Mao was apologizing for snapping at him earlier. "Mao, it's okay. You were hurt and-"

"Not that, either." Mao Mao insisted, gruffly.

Badgerclops furrowed his brow and checked his memory for what Mao Mao could possibly be talking about, his hand still gripping the movie. What could he be apologizing for-?

Earlier.

Badgerclops' singular eye widened, and he frowned in concern.

Mao Mao was apologizing for his performance during the fight earlier.

"Okay, dude, no. Just no." Badgerclops swung his head at the cat and pointed a firm finger at him. "That was not your fault. We all have off days. Besides, you got hurt. There's no reason to apologize for something you couldn't prevent, right?"

Mao Mao pressed his lips into a thin line but otherwise didn't give an indication of a reply.

"Mao Mao," he briefly considered calling the cat by his full name but decided against it. "Seriously, are we going to have to talk about this?"

It was an honest question.

Badgerclops knew that Mao Mao had an irritating habit of blaming himself whenever things went wrong. Despite traveling with the cat for a while now, Badgerclops was still unable to determine exactly where that particular trait of Mao Mao originated from. All he knew was that Mao Mao had it for as long as he could remember.

In the kitchen, the microwave beeped loudly, and Adorabat's humming abruptly came to an end.

Mao Mao was unusually silent for a few seconds before he simply shook his head, his piercing green eyes finally meeting Badgerclops'. Badgerclops breathed in through his nose at this development and decided to leave the conversation there at the moment. Badgerclops knew that if he pushed Mao Mao to talk, the cat would simply clam up and refuse to say anything else. If Mao Mao didn't want to talk about it, then they wouldn't talk about it; as simple as that.

All too suddenly, Adorabat was fluttering back into the living room, carrying a comically large bowl of popcorn.

"I'm back!" She proclaimed, loudly. Adorabat then placed the full bowl onto the table and returned to her space beside Mao Mao.

Badgerclops' eye remained on Mao Mao for a split second longer before he heeded the large cardboard box beside him. "Alright," Badgerclops showed the contents of the box to Adorabat and Mao Mao. "I have a bunch of movies we can watch."

Adorabat's eyes widened at the number of movies that were tucked away in the box. "Woah! Where'd you get so many movies, Badgerclops?"

Mao Mao scoffed, his earlier mood now forgotten. "He bought them on clearance from a bunch of shops from our previous adventures, and refused to throw them away."

"Dude, you make me sound like some kind of hoarder. I just like to collect a bunch of questionable stuff and throw absolutely nothing away."

"You literally just defined the exact meaning of the word 'hoarder'-you know what, never mind."

"Okay, I organized everything in here based on different categories." Badgerclops reached in and pulled out a random movie. His eye immediately lit up at the sight of it, and he showed it to his friends. "Hey! How about this one?"

Mao Mao and Adorabat's noses instantly scrunched up at the cover of the movie. On the case, two tall swans, one male, and the other female dressed in old-timey clothes. The swans' hands were clasped tightly together and they were in the midst of leaning in for a kiss, their lips puckered in preparation.

"Ew!" Adorabat screeched, shying away from the film.

Mao Mao placed a hand over Adorabat's young eyes, successfully blocking the image from her sight. "Badgerclops, I don't think that movie is exactly... age-appropriate for Adorabat, yet."

"What? No!" Badgerclops looked at the movie. "This movie's not like that. It's all about two lovers separated by their respective warring families, and forced to find ways to meet in secret-"

Mao Mao held out a hand, effectively interrupting him. "Yeah, no. You lost us at 'lovers'."

"Humph. You guys are just haters." Badgerclops grumbled, dropping the film back into the box. He scoured around for a while before he made a disgusted face, and pulled out a rainbow-colored case. "How'd this one wind up in here?"

"What?" Mao Mao held his hand out, his palm facing up. "Let me see it."

Badgerclops instantly obliged to the cat's request and eagerly passed the case over to Mao Mao's outstretched hand, almost as if he wanted to get rid of it as quickly as possible. The exact moment that Mao Mao's eyes met the cover of the movie, his face scrunched up and matched that of Badgerclops'. "Ugh, who's even want to watch this?"

"Ooh! Lemme see! Lemme see!" Adorabat demanded, excitedly. She leaned heavily on Mao Mao's arm and peered eagerly at the cover. However, unlike her older companions, Adorabat's eyes widened in child-like wonder. "Ooh! That looks so cool!"

"Really?" Badgerclops and Mao Mao questioned in unison.

Adorabat nodded her hand at an impossibly fast speed. "Yeah! What's it about?"

Hesitant, Mao Mao reluctantly twisted the case over and read the detailed description on the back. "The rainbow unicorn kitten, Penny, and her other cutesy pals work together to save the kingdom from the evil armada of pegasus puppies."

Mao Mao visually cringed at the plot summary of the movie, and Badgerclops found himself struggling not laugh. Hearing such a cutesy thing told through Mao Mao's deep voice was both hilarious and kind of cute.

"See!?" Adorabat screeched happily, pointing at the movie. "It sounds like there's action-" Adorabat punched the air, "danger and adventure! Doesn't that movie sound awesome?!"

"Uh, no, Adorabat," Mao Mao said, giving Badgerclops the DVD case. "It doesn't."

"Yeah, dude. I like cute things as much as the next guy. But, if I watch that movie, I'm literally going to end up vomiting rainbows." Badgerclops added.

"Wait." Adorabat's face fell and her eyes almost appeared watery. It was obvious to anyone who looking at her that she was trying to get what she wanted. "So, we're not watching it?"

Thankfully, Mao Mao, having spent enough time with Adorabat by now to know her usual antics, knew not to look Adorabat directly in the eyes. "No, Adorabat."

"Hmph," Adorabat huffed, crossing her wings across her chest.

Badgerclops happily tossed the movie underneath the rest of his collection and continued searching for the perfect film. It was kind of difficult seeing as they were all interested in their own selective thing. However, Badgerclops soon found something he thought might work for all three of them.

"Oh, hey, Mao." Badgerclops pulled the film out, a fond smile on his face. "Remember this?"

Badgerclops held it out to the cat, and Mao Mao took it with a raised brow. Quietly, Mao Mao stared at the cover of the case while Adorabat propped her head up on Mao Mao's arm to look at the movie as well.

On the dark cover was a tall white stork dressed in a slick black tuxedo with a pair of black sunglasses balanced on the edge of his beak. Lying bride-style in his large white winged-arms was a short female stork, the young bird's wings wrapped around the male's neck. Behind them, a large explosion illuminated their backs, ruffling their feathers. The title of the movie sat in giant bold white letters above the stork's heads; JAMES STORK. The familiar image activated a distant memory in the back of Mao Mao's mind and he nodded in response to Badgerclops' earlier question, a smile of his own gracing his lips.

"We watched it a while back. A shopkeeper gave to us after we defeated his store from a couple of evil-doers." Mao Mao explained to Adorabat, twisting to the back of the movie to read the plot. "It was actually pretty good."

"It was?" Adorabat asked.

"Yeah." Badgerclops leaned against the table. "In fact, I think its got something we'll all like." Badgerclops began to count off of his fingers. "There's adventures, explosions, fights, and romance-"

"Did you say 'explosions'?!" Adorabat yelled, grinning. She obviously didn't hear anything else that Badgerclops said. "I wanna see that!"

"Alright, I guess that means Adorabat's on board." Badgerclops leaned forward and snatched the film out of Mao Mao's hands, earning him a frown from the cat. "What about you, Mao?"

Mao Mao rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Great. Then, it's settled." Badgerclops stated, popping the disc of its case. "Adorabat, if you'll hit the lights, please."

"Yep!" Adorabat cried, popping the 'p'.

Without further ado, she took off into the air and located the light switch in the room. As she did that, Badgerclops shoved the box back underneath the TV and slid his DVD into their small DVD player. Barely a second later, the lights flickered off, shrouding the room in darkness except for the blue loading screen of the movie. The instant in which the screen changed to the start menu of the movie, Badgerclops grabbed the DVD player's remote control and plopped himself down on the couch on the left of Mao Mao while Adorabat took the right. His hand already reaching for the snacks on the table, Badgerclops pressed play.

The entirety of the action-packed movie was exactly what Badgerclops remembered it being. The film was almost completely chocked full of crazy, elaborate missions that the title character had been tasked with completing in a certain amount of time which, then lead to extreme over-the-top adventures and over-dramatic fights between the good guys and the bad guys. Unsurprisingly, Badgerclops noticed that Adorabat and Mao Mao seemed to be enjoying this overall plot of the movie; they were both exceedingly violent people by nature.

From the first adventure-filled moment of the movie, Mao Mao and Adorabat were actively invested in everything that transpired on the screen of the TV. They both cheered and grinned like the absolute maniacs they were at the gigantic explosions that occurred with nearly every fight that James Stork participated in, and the mind-blowing stunts he performed with ease.

"Ooh! Mao Mao!" Adorabat suddenly cried, excitedly pointing at the TV screen. Before them, James Stork did an impossibly difficult flip over several bad guys in black before he delivered a series of pokes to their distinct pressure points. "Can you do that, too?"

Mao Mao scoffed, confidently. "Of course, I can."

Badgerclops chuckled. "Sure you can, dude."

"What?" Mao Mao frowned at him, the cat already moving to get up from his seat. "Do you want to see proof?"

"No, no, no." Badgerclops pushed the cat back down onto the couch. "I believe you. No need to prove me wrong, Mao."

Satisfied, Mao Mao settled back into the couch, and they continued the watch the movie.

Badgerclops' favorite part of the film finally came when James Stork saved his somewhat stubborn female companion from the bad guys, and they stood side-by-side staring at the full moon. They talked in hushed tones before they found themselves leaning into one another and kissing each other firmly on the lips. The sight brought tears of joy to Badgerclops' eye, although that was quickly ruined by Mao Mao and Adorabat's collective booing.

"Oh, come on, guys," Badgerclops said, trying and failing to shush them.

In fact, in response to his shushing, Mao Mao and Adorabat grabbed fistfuls of popcorn from their shared bowl and tossed it at him. Instead of getting mad, Badgerclops found himself merely laughing at their antics, and catching a few flying kernels with his mouth.

For the most part, it seemed that the movie had helped to dissipate the tense atmosphere amongst the trio; Mao Mao especially. The unusual behavior that the cat displayed earlier had slowly melted away as the movie went on. Adorabat cheered loudly for the good guys when she saw it necessary, and Mao Mao and Badgerclops gave their own commentary on certain parts of the film. Although, Badgerclops did notice that Mao Mao did continuously shy away from the snacks on the table beside the occasional bite here and there.

Soon, as the movie continued and got closer and closer to the end, the good mood that had settled over the room like a warm blanket, seemed to slowly disappear. At some point, most likely after the initial climax of the movie, Mao Mao abruptly dropped out of their group conversation and fell almost completely silent. Adorabat continued chatting happily about how much she was enjoying the movie, and Badgerclops tried to pay attention to her and subtly coax the cat back into their conversation. However, Mao Mao merely turned down each of Badgerclops' attempts and instead stared blankly at the TV screen before him. Badgerclops briefly considered pointing out Mao Mao's sudden quietness when the cat in question wobbly stood from his seat.

"Woah, dude," Badgerclops said, not expecting the sudden movement.

"I'm going to bed."

"Whaat?" Adorabat whined.

Badgerclops quickly paused the film to make eye contact with Mao Mao. "Yeah, Mao Mao. We still have like thirty minutes to go until it's over."

"So you can't leave, yet," Adorabat begged.

"It's fine." Mao Mao reassured, yawning. "I've already seen this, remember? I know how this ends."

"Still," Badgerclops egged on. "Come on, dude."

"I'm going to bed." Mao Mao insisted stubbornly. He shuffled past Badgerclops and limped towards the kitchen, effectively ending the conversation. "Goodnight, Badgerclops. Goodnight, Adorabat."

Adorabat frowned at Mao Mao's final decision to leave the group movie night. "Goodnight," she grumbled, moodily.

"Goodnight, Mao Mao." Badgerclops' finger hovered over the play button on the remote before he suddenly recalled something important. "And, don't forget to put your foot up!" He called over his shoulder.

There was no response to his initial request and, feeling no desire at the moment to get up nor repeat himself, Badgerclops simply hoped Mao Mao had heard what he had said the first time. Turning his head back, Badgerclops refocused his attention back to Adorabat and her sad expression.

"Hey, come on, Adorabat." He playfully nudged her in the side, successfully drawing a squeal from her. "We can still have fun without Mao Mao, right?"

"... Yeah." Adorabat said, half-heartedly.

"Seriously, dude." Badgerclops looked down at Adorabat with a frown. "Can't you act a bit more energetic than that?"

"Yeah!"

Badgerclops smiled. "That's more like it!"

And, without further ado, Badgerclops pressed play.

Towards the conclusion of the movie, Badgerclops noticed that Adorabat was dangerously close to falling asleep against his side. Every few seconds, the young deputy's eyes would droop and slowly slide shut only to instantly reopen. It wasn't until he felt Adorabat's drool practically coating that enough was enough, and he immediately paused the movie.

"Yep, we're done." Badgerclops shook Adorabat. "Come on, Adorabat. It's time to go to bed."

"Wha?" Adorabat gradually sat up and rubbed at her tired eyes, yawning. "But, we haven't finished watching the movie, yet."

"Adorabat, you're obviously tired; too tired to watch the rest of the movie. And, besides, you've been slobbering on my arm for the past five minutes." Adorabat sleepily booed at him. "We'll finish the movie tomorrow or something."

"Ook."

Adorabat nodded and flapped herself into the air. Although, after a few seconds, she was obviously unable to keep herself afloat, and she immediately fell towards the floor. Luckily, Badgerclops was more than quick enough to catch her small, but surprisingly heavy body, and scooped her up with a quiet grunt. Adorabat curled up against his chest in response and instantly fell asleep. Badgerclops smiled at the affectionate gesture and looked at the young bat. Adorabat could be cute when she wanted to.

Other times, she was just plain scary.

He took his eye from Adorabat's slumbering body and refocused it onto the current state of the living room. There were discarded popcorn kernels littering the hardwood floor and the couch. He briefly considered cleaning up the living room before he decided against it. It was too late; he was too tired; and, honestly, he was too lazy. If he remembered, he'd clean it up in the morning.

Maybe.

Yeah, no.

Although, Mao Mao might have a thing or two to say about it in the morning. Speaking of the cat, he's a better check on him. Mao Mao did have a horrible track record of listening and/or sitting still when he needed to. With that thought in mind, Badgerclops grabbed the TV remote and shut it off before making his way towards their shared bedroom.

When he arrived, Badgerclops was shocked to see that Mao Mao had enough foresight to leave the lights on. Usually, the cat would waste no time slicing through their lamp, and leave him stumbling through the dark. According to Mao Mao, the light made it harder to sleep. Despite that, the cat in question was curled up in a tight ball on the bottom bunk, his back turned to Badgerclops. Badgerclops' eye wandered down to the extra pillow that Mao Mao's foot was propped upon, and he pleased to learn that the cat actually listened to him. Satisfied, Badgerclops watched Mao Mao's slumbering for a few more seconds before he stretched his arms up and tried to place Adorabat into her bed. He was puzzled on how to correctly place the bat into her usual upside-down position when Adorabat unconsciously fixed the problem herself. Shrugging his shoulders at the display, Badgerclops switched the lamp off and climbed his way to the top of the bunk bed. There, he turned his night light on, the white light easily slicing through the suffocating darkness of the room, and reached underneath his pillow and pulled out his notebook.

Despite being tired, Badgerclops couldn't help drawing the scene he had lined up in his head. He flipped to an empty page and began to doodle. After a few minutes, the outline of the picture developed before his eye, and he paused to get a good look at his drawing. It was a simple picture of Mao Ma, Adorabat, and himself lounging on the couch and eagerly watching on the television before them. Mao Mao and Adorabat's grinning mouths were frozen in the midst of laughing while Badgerclops himself was simply munching on some popcorn. Badgerclops resumed drawing and continued until he found himself outlining Mao Mao's bandaged foot propped on the table, and his thoughts immediately shifted back to the battle earlier.

When he blinked, Badgerclops found that he had unconsciously begun to doodle on the other side of the page. It was a small picture of Mao Mao struggling to dodge the beast from earlier as it got closer and closer and-

Badgerclops tore out the page and crumbled it up before tossing it somewhere behind him. He immediately started anew on a new page.

The first picture was terrible anyway.