21: Clean Up

"Oh, fuck..." Jay mumbled again.

The utter disbelief on his male caregiver's face was rather funny, and he let out a sigh. The fact that the Red King was still covered in blood made things even more ridiculous. It's like he just accepted that his actions had consequences.

If the transmigrator remembered correctly, Lady Blue once said that Kaon's first word would be 'fuck' or something like that. And here they are.

JJ looked just as shocked as she gently placed baby Jay on the bed before she stood up from the floor. Her deep blue eyes were wide, mostly because the baby said his first word than the entire robbers situation.

"Kaon, say that again." The teenage girl leaned out a bit to look at the transmigrator in his eyes.

"Fuck." Jay did as told, and his heart was hammering in his chest. Suddenly, he remembered that he's a baby, so he can't be that out of character unless he makes full sentences, so he pointed at the corpse in front of him. "Oh, fuck."

"This is all your fault, Jay." The Red King deadpanned.

"My fault? Hey! It's both of our faults! You cuss as much as I do!" JJ didn't even deny half of the accusations thrown at her as she yelled at her partner. Her index finger dug into the taller boy's chest as she continued whining, "Kaon doesn't even understand what the f-word mean! You said it around him so much that he copied you! Ugh... We need to do better."

"Fuck." The baby said again, and internally, Jay was laughing. The transmigrator would do anything just to ignore the grim situation that they're in. His chubby finger pointed at the intruder again, and he began talking louder, "Fucks."

"That's right, Kaon. He's one hell of a fucker." The Red King's grin came on his face as his red eyes gleamed at his companion.

A hand slapped the teenage boy's chest, and the sound echoed through the entire room. JJ groaned as she pulled her hand away from her companion. "Don't encourage him!"

Her attitude only encouraged the transmigrator to mess with her more. He clapped his hands and sang, "Fuck, fuck, fuck..."

A roaring laugh came form the Red King, and his grin widened as he eyed his companion. JJ let out a sigh in defeat, and she smiled at Jay in the end.

"Get our stuff. I'll take Kaon and get Morgan." The teenage girl ordered once the festiveness died down. She reached for a pillow behind Jay, and violent eyes watched in wonder as JJ pulled a wallet out of the pillowcase. Oh, so the money was hidden inside the pillows this entire time.

The Red King nodded before he reached for his pillow, and he took his wallet out of the pillowcase, too. "Do you wanna bribe them again? I'm pretty sure Megan, or whatever her name is, is definitely in kahoots with these fuckers."

"Killing her or hurting her isn't an option. Her mother would be devastated." JJ sighed as she picked up the transmigrator from the bed. Her gentle hands tried to wipe away the blood on his face.

Her companion was putting the baby supplies and the left over bread back into a bag, and he took a tissue from the table to clean up small specks of blood on their item. "Who cares what that old hag thinks? If her daughter's good friends tryna rob us, I say we leave them a souvenir and disappear."

"Weren't you the one who said a motel would be a good idea?" The teenage girl rolled her eyes as she walked into the bathroom with the baby in tow. "Now look at us."

"Shut up..." The Red King growled back, and it's evident he's trying to not call her words.

His companion bit her lower lip and turned away. "Fine. Moving on. Moving on."

Her voice completely changed when she turned the sink faucet. "Kaon, let's wash your little face."

Muscle memory kicked in, and the baby dipped his hands under the water so that he could wash the blood of his face. It's barely five minutes, and the room is beginning to reek of blood. The signature sweet of iron was heavy, but the smell will only get worse.

After his face was clean, the Rubik's cube was returned to Jay, and he was resting in the safety of JJ's arms as they made their way to the lobby.

The teenage girl kept turning her head ever so often, clearly paranoid after what happened. As expected, Morgan, the receptionist, was still at her desk, tapping on something in her hands.

Is that... A phone?

God fucking god, she has a phone! Well, it should be expected since the transmigrator saw utility poles on the streets, but he didn't expect to see the very real distinctive shape of an indestructible Nokia. From the movements of Morgan's hand, she's definitely playing Snake.

This world is post-apocalyptic or post-war more accurately, so every modern thing is still there, just inaccessible to some people, and Jay just happened to be Kaon, the villain who was raised in a shady neighborhood.

"Excuse us." The Red King's hand landed on the desk, making a bang that echoed through the lobby.

Morgan flinched, almost dropping her phone, and she quickly shoved it into her trousers pocket. Her eyes scanned the blood on the teenage boy's shirt, and she gasped.

"Oh my god, what happened?"

"Lack of security." The teenage boy said back, and his voice wasn't even angry. "Three unnamed robbers tryna robbed us in your motel, obviously. We'll pay extra for the clean up costs, but we're not staying another minute in here. By the way, my wife wants to see your mom."

"What does my mom has to do with this—" Morgan was rightfully confused, but she sighed half way through her question. Then, she turned around and walked into the staff room.

JJ ran her hand through Jay's hair, and she also sighed. "I'll talk to the old lady. She might find another place for us."

"Good. I'll deal with Morgan." The Red King replied, and he rolled his eyes when he saw his partner giving him a dirty look. "I won't hurt or kill her. Promise."

"Pinky promise?" JJ said back, which made the transmigrator giggled inside.

His caregivers are still kids at the end of the day, so they're allowed to have these silly little things.

"I'm not risking you cutting my fingers off again, bitch." The Red King grumbled.

Oh, right... The legend of the Pinky promise is that when one of them breaks the promise, the other will cut off their pinky finger. But wait, what did his male caregiver mean by "again"? Did JJ tried to cut his fingers off before?

Remembering their interactions inside of Evergreen's memories, Jay could say with certain that yes, JJ had tried to cut Red King's fingers off. She's always trying to get under his skin one way or another, so the transmigrator wonder who the teenage boy deal with it. Did he explode at her at one point? Or did he just take it because he knows she's worth the hassle?

"Don't cuss in front of our son." JJ brought out her motherly voice, and her eyes narrowed.

"Right, right." The Red King pressed his lips into a hard line.

After a few quiet moments between the family, the staff room door opened, revealing Grandma Ella, who's groggy from being woken up from her sleep.

"My darling Morgan said you needed to speak to me?" The old woman's lips pulled into a smile when she saw Jay. "Come inside, we can have some privacy."

JJ gave her partner a look, and the teenage boy nodded. Jay didn't know his parents enough to understand all of their unsaid conversations, but he thought he understood this one. His female caretaker asked if it's okay for her and the baby to go, and he's fine with it. They gave one last look at each other before the old woman closed the door to the staff room, and the transmigrator was pretty sure that his parents just reassured each other that it's going to be okay.