Chapter Text
Mike walks downstairs and into the kitchen, where his mother is preparing breakfast, she turns to face him with a smile.
"Mikey. Good morning."
"Morning."
"You hungry? Eggos or pancakes?"
"Eggos."
Ted enters the room, fixing his tie.
"Oh, Mike. You're up."
Mike looks at him surprised.
"Huh? You going to work? It's Saturday."
"Yeah, for a bit. Got some things to finish up."
"Hey," Karen starts, "What about lunch? Your sister and Simon are coming over. Aren't you going to eat with us?"
"Oh right… why don't you just order Chinese? Don't worry, I'll be here."
"Okay… sure. I'll take care of it."
Ted moves to leave the room.
"See you guys later," he then stops in front of Mike, "Mike, you and Simon really get on great, don't you."
Mike responds by smiling. Ted reaches the door, opens it, and steps out of the house.
"Bye now," he says before closing the door.
Karen walks around the living room, vacuuming the floor. Mike sits in the middle of the room, by the coffee table, watching his mother work. Then, all of a sudden, the doorbell rings.
"Be right there," Karen calls out.
She turns the vacuum off and heads to the door. Upon opening it, she is greeted by Mike's aunt and cousin Simon.
"Mornin'!" the aunt greets smiling, "Boy, it's hot out there. It's awful!"
"Good morning," Karen greets.
"Yeah, it really is hot, huh," Mike agrees.
"You doing good, Mikey?"
"Uh huh."
"Hey, Mikey," Simon greets, stepping out from behind his mother, "Come on, let's go upstairs!"
"'Kay!"
Simon leads the way up the stairs while Mike follows. Meanwhile, downstairs, Karen and the aunt continue to chat.
"I just couldn't stand it anymore!" the aunt says.
"Really? It's that bad?"
Upstairs, Mike and Simon play Karate Champ on Mike's game console, and Simon is winning.
"All right, take this!" Simon shouts.
His fighter uppercuts Mike's fighter, knocking him out.
"Ah! Aaah!" Mike screams.
"Yeahhh! Three wins in a row! Mikey, you really suck at this!"
Mike smiles to hide his frustration.
"Ok, you know what happens now," Simon says eagerly.
Mike lifts up his fringe.
"Whaaat? Aw, maaan."
With his forehead clear, Simon flicks his head right in the centre.
"Ow!" Mike yelps.
After a few seconds of pain, the two boys burst into laughter.
"Whaddaya wanna play next?" Simon asks.
The two boys laugh loudly.
"Really?!" Mike asks.
"I'm not kidding!"
After a few more minutes of laughter, the two finally calm down, their breathing slowing to a normal rate.
"Ya know," Simon starts, "Your family's kinda overprotective."
Mike looks at him confused.
"What does that mean?"
"Just, like, they protect you too much. Like how Aunt Karen's, like, always hovering over you, you know?"
"Y-you think so?"
"Yup. I mean, remember in kindergarten?"
Mike's eyes widen as he remembers that day in kindergarten.
"Well, she was worried about me… I was always crying and saying I didn't want to go…"
"Sure, but don't you think it was kind of weird? Like I said, totally overprotective!"
Mike is starting to get angry.
"D-don't talk about my mom that way."
Simon just bursts out in laughter, but stops when he sees the serious expression on Mike's face. Trying to defuse the situation, he wraps his arm around his cousin's shoulders.
"You idiot, I'm just messin' with you! My mom's the one who was saying that stuff, anyway. Don't get pissed! Let's play something else. Come on!"
But Mike is still thinking about what Simon said.
Later on, downstairs, the family, including Ted, sit around the table, eating Chinese.
"They sure make good food, don't they?" the aunt asks, "You can't go wrong with this place!"
"Mmm," Karen agrees, "It's true."
"I love this egg roll," Ted says.
"I know!" Simon chimes in, "This is so good!"
Mike isn't as enthusiastic however, he's still pondering Simon's words about his mother. Seeing this, his aunt grabs his attention.
"Come on, Mikey, have some noodles."
"Uh… okay."
"Hey, Mikey," Simon calls, "Let's hang out again tomorrow!"
"Huh?"
"It's okay, right, Mom?"
"But you've been here every week this month! Mikey was the one who said he wanted to hang out!"
"…Oh, it's totally fine," Karen confirms, much to Mike's horror.
"Really? Well if you don't mind, I guess we'll be back?"
"Uh-huh!" Simon says through a mouthful of food.
Mike just stares ahead, he isn't comfortable with this at all.
"Oh that reminds me!" the aunt announces, "Let's all go somewhere over summer break! Ted was saying he'd like to go hiking with everyone!"
"Yeah… hiking sounds great," Ted says.
"We could stay at a hotel! Like the place we went last year!"
"That does sound nice," Karen agrees.
"Do any of you guys remember the beach?" Ted inquires, causing the aunt to burst out in laughter.
"The beach! You went in with your dad, didn't you, Simon? You two need to do it again!"
Mike isn't listening to any of this conversation, he instead watches his mother with curious eyes as she laughs.
The aunt sits in the front of the car, slowly beginning to drive off, looking behind her at Karen and Mike standing outside of the house.
"Thanks for everything."
"See you tomorrow, Mikey!" Simon calls from the backseat, his head out the window.
"Bye now."
"Take care!"
The car then disappears around the corner, leaving Karen and Mike all by themselves.
"All right," Sarah says, "Let's get back inside."
As Karen begins to head back inside, Mike turns around to her.
"…Uh, Mom."
She looks back.
"No… nevermind."
Karen approaches him, looking concerned.
"What's wrong?"
Mike sighs.
"I said… nevermind…"
Karen then pokes her son's cheek.
"Poke. Coochie coo. It's okay. What is it?"
She then starts stroking her son's neck.
"Mommy."
"Mm?"
"Thanks. For everything."
Karen's eyes widen in surprise, and she places a big wet kiss on Mike's cheek, causing him to look mortified. He flinches away in embarrassment.
"Hey!"
Karen just looks at him sweetly.
"You make me so happy. Thank you."
From then on, Simon came over every week. Saturday and Sunday, like clockwork. Mommy always looked happy.