Even though he denied any and all attachment or desires involving the pesky monkie kids, he couldn't seem to convince himself nearly as well as he could convince others... at least he figured. He had spent so many hours nailing it into his own head that he hated MK, couldn't stand Mei and wanted nothing to do with the others, but no matter what he did he couldn't supress the urge to hang out with them. Maybe it was the fact he was, what? at least 600 years old and had not had a single person besides his parents to actually engage in positive activities. Or perhaps because of how insecure he was and constantly craved validation and assurance from others. If that was the case, then, why would he, a demon prince, crave encouragement and validation from mortal peasants???
This thought had been plaguing his mind all day, to the point he could hardly even focus on fixing the furnace to his family's living quarters. It had broke the day before due to one of their few remaining bull clones assisting him in building some artillery for any future fights. It had been using a wrench, but one of the other clones knocked into it while carrying an engine and the wrench had gone flying out of it's hand and right into the motor of the furnace. If he hadn't been right next to it's power box to shut it off it probably would have exploded the wall it was attached to, which would have given him a lot more work than he'd be enthusiastic about. Fixing the furnace while having a mental civil war was probably the worst combination he could have come up with, leading to him having to set his socket wrench down with a fustrated huff.
He stayed on his knees, keeping one hand on the furnace while the other traced small circles on the floor. one of his pointed ears flicked as he narrowed his eyes, crimson mixed with an amber hue gleaming back at him from the metal surface. He stared at his reflection, his rather comically small glasses, the scar on his right cheek, his messy hair falling out of it's ponytail, even the soot smears. He started long and hard, as if the reflection of his own fustrated face would fix his problem, before swiping his hand over his reflection as he stood up, grabbing the socket wrench again and dropping it in his toolbox lazily. He grabbed the box and moved it onto his desk nearby, dropping both it and himself down as he put his head in his hand, sighing.
He stared long and hard at the blueprints strewn across the face of the desk, picking apart his motorcycle addons from his ship rebuild and upgrade spreadsheet. He swore he was about to burn a hole through the papers with merely his gaze before he was snapped out of it when his heart skipped a beat at the feeling of a hand being placed on his shoulder. His body tensed as his head shot up, whipping around to meet the face of his mother, who looked concerned.
"Dear, are you doing alright? Me and your father have noticed that you've been a little out of it today, and I wanted to check up on you," His heart fell at her tone. He hated making his mother worried due to his insecurities, so hearing her words felt almost like a slap to the face. He looked at her before averting his gaze, sighing.
"I'm alright mother, just a bit of stress as of late, it's nothing I haven't been able to handle," He returned to staring daggers at his desk in hopes of satisfying his mother so he didn't have to explain his mental conflictions. He felt her hand squeeze his shoulder gently, before she spoke up again.
"Well, in that case perhaps an outing will do you well? I organized a little city trip for you with a few others when I saw you earlier this morning, if you want to take it..?" He looked at her again in confusion. She set him up on an outing because of his attitude today? He must have walked around like he had ants in his pants then, yikes. He didn't quite want to go, but... perhaps it's take his mind off his own thoughts. That, and he didn't really want to deny his mother when she's actively gone out of her way for this.
"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt.." He watched as a gentle smile pulled at her mouth.
"Alright dear. You're supposed to meet outside of the Anti-Gravity Arcade in about 2 hours I believe... I'll double check with your father on that," He chuckled a bit at this, returning her smile as she left him to his own. He looked down at the desk as his smile faded a bit, bleeding into confusion. Who would mother have asked to go on an outing with him? Off of the top of his head he couldn't think of anyone, especially since all of his mother's associates had no known children, or at least one's that took interest in being around him. He grimbled to himself as he thought, before shaking his head and standing up. No better way to figure it out than to just get up, get ready and go.
He had originally thought it'd only take him about 10 minutes to get himself ready, but he hadn't realized how much soot he'd gotten on himself. He had taken almost exactly an hour and a half to get himself cleaned up, which wouldn't have been the worst if not for the fact his mother had come to him with the time after he'd gotten out of a boiling hot shower to tell him he had about 10 minutes to the time of his meeting. His hair was a beast to comb, which led to him being about 15 minutes late as he rushed himself through the busy streets of the city. Having left his usual cloak at home in a hurry, he was regretting wearing just his sleeveless turtleneck instead of grabbing a longsleeve with the breeze.
Running through the city made him quickly remember why he hated mortal civilizations so much, or just civilization in general. He couldn't get from one side of a street to another without some teenager or adult getting in his way in some shape or form, and with the stupid crosswalks he had started to get rather impatient. He would have just used his fire to whisk himself over the city to the arcade, but his mother had engrained it into his brain years ago not to use his fire for pure convenience purposes.
Only when he finally made it to the arcade was he able to catch his breath, putting his hands on his knees as he let out a shaky wheeze. He really needed to get himself doing sprint-based activities, because god forbid how bad his stamina actually was considering his status. He pushed himself upwards to brush off his shirt as he looked around, breathing through his nose to help collect himself. He didn't see anything out of place where he'd be meeting, unless whoever it was left already... until he heard someone yelling his name. He whipped his head around when he heard it, but had no time to react other than yelling in shock as a gold blur charged into him, almost completely knocking him over if not the fact said gold blur wrapped his arms around him to actively pick him up.
"Redson!!! We thought you wouldn't show up but ya did!!" MK sounded rather enthusiastic as he laughed.
"LET GO OF ME YOU INSUFFERABLE PEST!" He shouted, flailing his free arm angrily as flames burst around him. He complied to the request, well, demand, putting him down before patting his shoulder, completely unfazed by the fuming glare sent his way.
"Pigsy was betting that you wouldn't show up," He grumbled as he shrugged MK's hand off, before trying to recompose himself by crossing his arms with a defiant huff.
"Well, if I had known it was you sorry lot I wouldn't have bothered," He retorted, ignoring the voice in the back of his head telling him he damn knew that was a lie. MK also didn't seem to buy it, judging by his cheeky grin.
"Well, since you did, me and Mei planned the entire day out so you can get maximum fresh air and maximum enjoyment! Princess Iron Fan seemed pretty concerned about ya so we made sure to make the schedule as accustomed to your taste as we physically could!... Since, well, we don't know novels worth of information on you anyways," He shrugged sheepishly at the end, but didn't give him a chance to reply before grabbing his wrist and dragging him off. He was trying to process the situation, but couldn't tape together a sentence to tell MK off before he was shoved in the middle of the group, being met by Pigsy, Tang, Sandy and Mei, of which almost squealed when she saw Redson.
"Red Boy!!! I knew you'd show up!!" She went to hug him much like MK, but this time he was able to dodge, taking a step back and to the side to avoid her grabby hands, shooting them all a displeased glare.
"As I told noodle brain over here, if I had known it was you lot I'd have stayed home," He grumbled, getting a snort from Mei as she jabbed her elbow at him.
"We all know that's a lie Red Boy,"
"Red Son to you," He knew it'd be ineffective and she'd just keep on calling him Red Boy, but at this point it'd become a habit with him to correct her. Eugh, habit, that meant he spent more time with them than he knew. That made him feel good to know... he shouldn't like that.
"Well, since you're here we can finally get going!" Mei grinned at him as he pointed forward, walking away from the arcade.
"I figured since it's the lot of you we'd be going in the arcade.." He muttered, followingly hesitantly while Mk strut behind him.
"Mei was begging for it, but since it's near noon I said we would be eating before anything," Pigsy grumbled, his gruff voice scratching at his brain. Clearly he'd already had to yell at least once judging by the rasp accompanying the tone.
"I actually asked Princess Iron Fan what foods you liked, so I was able to help Pigsy find a resturant with high ratings that served some of your likes, I also have some activities planned for after we eat that are easy going to avoid any stomach cramps as well as enjoyable!" Sandy seemed almost ecstatic as he spoke, looking jittery in excitement like a kid ready for a beach day. Redson looked up at Sandy with a neutral face. Mother told him what food he liked? He looked back at Mei and Tang in front of him, who were chatting up a storm as MK went to join them. How did his mother always seem to know what he needed, even when he himself didn't?