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“Y’know Rita, I’m not sure if I’m really feeling up to coming over for ladies’ night,” Juno sighed, his eyes closed.
“Awww… that’s too bad Mistah Steel,” Rita’s voice crackled through his comms. “Ooh, wait!” she suddenly yelled, loud enough to make Juno wince. “I know! You say you don’t want to come over, so I’ll just go to you instead! I’ll be there before you can say ‘Rita knows best!’”
“Wait, Rita no-” Juno tried to say, but she had already hung up. Juno groaned and let his head fall back onto the back of the couch. He’d had a rough day- or, well, week- rough life, really, if he thought about it- but he knew there wasn’t much he could say to convince Rita to leave him alone. But, honestly, despite what he said, he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to be alone. Rita… despite all of her seemingly endless energy that got on his nerves sometimes, he had to admit, she knew how to cheer him up at least a little bit. Or at least how to distract him from everything else. Still, there was no way he’d admit that out loud in a thousand years…
Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice how much time had passed. That was, until he heard the doorbell ring, making him jump enough that he almost fell off of the couch. With a huff, he reluctantly got up and opened the door- only to have to very quickly grab part of the absolute mountain of stream boxes Rita was holding. The pile was so big, he couldn’t even see her face. “Sorry Mistah Steel! I just wanted to make sure I had enough to choose from, ya know?” she asked, and as he held the top third of the stack, he could see her grinning over the rest. Shaking his head, he let her in, noticing the two giant bags hanging off of her arms.
“Rita, what’s in the bags?” he asked, equal parts suspicious and cautious.
“Oh! Well, I figured, I don’t know what sortsa supplies you got here for ladies’ night, you know? So I thought I should come prepared!” Her smile was so bright, Juno wondered if he should’ve brought sunglasses.
“I’m sure I’m gonna regret asking this, but what sorts of supplies?” he asked, trying to see around her and into the bags. Instantly, she zipped them closed again.
“Nope! Nuh uh, I’m not tellin’ you! It’s a surprise!” she said, hands on her hips. “Now, come on, we need to pick a stream,” she said, the very embodiment of seriousness. Juno sighed, rubbing his forehead.
“I don’t know, whatever you had planned is fine,” he mumbled, eyes closed. Everything… everything was a lot, and he was tired. Incredibly tired. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his arm. He opened his eyes to a concerned Rita looking up at him.
“I can take care of everything tonight if you want, Mistah Steel. You don’t have to worry about makin’ any choices or nothin’ with good ol’ Rita planning the perfect stream night,” she said, a smaller smile on her face. Juno snorted slightly.
“That’d be great, Rita. Thanks,” he added after a moment. That earned him an even bigger smile from her.
“Of course boss! Now, all you gotta do is sit down on that couch over there and let me do the rest!” She walked over to the pile of streams and, seemingly at random, picked one up. “Ooh! We’re gonna be watching Back to the Future 34, Attack From the Space Sharks, where Marty’s great-great grandson has to face sharks with lasers on their heads, but they’re from inside a black hole! And as it turns out they’re allergic to garlic powder because they’re also vampire sharks and-”
“Alright, Rita, leave some of the twists for me to figure out,” Juno said, sounding exasperated even as there was a small smile on his face.
“Oh don’t worry! There’s about twelve others that I didn’t even mention! ”
“Wait, twelve on top of that?” Juno’s level of concern and amazement rose about two more notches, but Rita just nodded.
“Now c’mon, do you want to watch the stream or not?” she asked, putting it on before grabbing one of her massive bags and pulling it over to the couch with her. She set it down, and immediately pulled out several smaller bags of snacks, handing him a bag of- thankfully not salmon flavored- pretzel bites. “I had more I was plannin’ on sharing, but I got hungry on the way over,” she commented, and Juno wondered how many she had started out with, considering the sheer amount she still had left.
They watched the stream, Rita making comments and calling out what exciting thing was going to happen next, as Juno complained about how unlikely that all of this would be happening at once. Rita just shushed him and shoved more snacks into his hands, which he quietly took, though he still complained in between bites. Nonetheless, he had to admit to himself, it was fun. In its own way.
The next stream up on the list was Fast and Furious 87, where they were racing cars through wormholes and into parallel dimensions. Juno was having trouble following the plot, but Rita seemed to be having fun, and she had moved on to the next thing in what she had dubbed “Rita’s bag of wonders!” which in this case was nail polish, which she was using to paint his nails a rich burgundy color. As one hand dried, he admired the other. Rita certainly knew what she was doing, he thought, thinking about how much better it looked than his own, messier attempts. Once she had finished his, she moved on to her own nails- painting them a bright holographic turquoise. Trying to make them dry faster, she quickly waved her hands in the air, almost hitting Juno once. “You know, that doesn’t actually help,” he said dryly.
“Yeah but it feels like it does, and that’s what matters!” Rita replied brightly, and Juno just shook his head. Whatever made her happy.
The stream was still playing by the time both of their nails were done, but Juno was thoroughly lost, so Rita decided to pull out yet another thing- “Face masks?” he asked, exasperated, and Rita grinned. “Yep! You do so much frownin’ and you’re so worried all the time, so I was hopin’ this might help,” she explained, slightly quieter. Juno sighed, but shrugged. “Sure, why the hell not, it’s not like it’ll hurt.” A pause. “It won’t, will it?”
“Of course not Mistah Steel! Don’t be ridiculous, I’d never do anythin’ to hurt you!” she said. “Now come here,” she said, holding up the face mask. Juno couldn’t think of any reason to protest, so he leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes as he felt Rita put the cool mask on his face. He sat there, doing as Rita said and not moving, listening to the stream that was still playing in the background. He realized that despite as much as he complained about spending time with her… he had genuinely enjoyed himself. He had gone into this not really expecting much, but he had to say that things had gone a lot better than he had hoped. His apartment was still standing and not on fire, which was a plus, and while he wouldn't say he was feeling great , he had to admit, the day had gone from being a terrible one to… okay. Decent. Not miserable. And for him, that was progress. Wait, he should tell Rita that shouldn’t he-
“Thanks, Rita. For coming over, and ladies’ night, and just… all of it.” He paused awkwardly after, feeling like he should have more to say, some sort of thankful and heartfelt speech that would sum up everything he was trying to say in a pretty package. But, he didn’t need to worry about any of that, it seemed, as Rita promptly tackled him in an incredibly tight hug.
“Anytime, boss,” she said quietly, and sniffed. Juno awkwardly gave her a pat on the back, and then-
“Rita, as grateful as I am, do you think you could maybe loosen up a bit before you break one of my ribs?”