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It was about half an hour later that Chiro emerged from his room, having gone to clean himself up from the dirt and muck he had gotten all over him as a result of the buggy ride. Not that he had minded of course, if anything, it had made the experience all the more exhilarating. Of course, he couldn't think about it without thinking of Otto, and he could definitely say that he wanted to go on another date with the green monkey. Somehow, the quiet moments between them stuck out even more than the fun they had when the buggy was roaring across the terrain; the strange comfort he had only ever experienced before with Jinmay.

He finished up in his bathroom and headed towards the common room, figuring he might as well stop there on his way to the kitchen for dinner. After all, there was a good chance that some of the team was already there, waiting for him to make the next roll, and decide who he dated next.

Though decided by chance, Otto had been a good choice for a first date. He was neither smug nor self-satisfied about having had his chance with Chiro, and if anything, he only looked more content and at peace with his place in the universe.

The same could not be said for the rest of the Team. It was no where near as bad as it had been the night before, but there was still an uneasy air of tension hanging in the room as they awaited the next roll of the dice. Mandarin was crouched on the arms of one of the chairs with his back to the room; he was trying to keep his composure but he couldn't shake the feeling that the rest of the Team was unfairly assuming the worst of him. Sprx and Apollo were chatting more amiably now, but their body language was not as relaxed as it had been a few nights before. The tension was only broken when Chiro finally entered the room and they collectively sighed in relief.

"Hey kid! Have a good time? I see Otto managed to get you home before curfew." Sprx teased him. "Guess that means you two didn't make a stop at Make Out Desolate Plain?"

Chiro blushed a bit, "No!" He wasn't quite as taken aback as he would have been if Sprx said that yesterday, but it still made him feel weird to hear that. "I mean, we didn't do anything like that, I mean... we barely held hands."

Otto smiled happily at that memory, while the rest of the team looked over at him, partially envious, partially glad that Otto hadn't gone further than that. Of course, that wasn't to say they planned on going further either. Well, that's what they told themselves at least.

Gibson glanced at the die lying on the table, wondering if he had ever cared so much about a white cube with black dots before. Probably not, he thought as he cleared his throat. "So, I do believe that it is time to... choose our numbers again. Correct?"

Antauri considered this, "Well, seeing as it is up to chance, I say we all keep the same numbers. If it lands on four, Chiro just rolls again." After all, it wasn't as if the numbers held importance.

"Okay. sounds fine to me." Chiro said, stepping up to take the die from the table, the whole team, aside from Otto, watching with anticipation. The die skittered to a stop on the edge of the table, almost falling off before everyone saw the up facing side, one.

"Yes!" Mandarin punched the air with a cry of triumph. "Yes! Triumph is mine! Fickle fate has seen fit to smile upon me this day!"

As he continued to rant, Apollo leaned closer to Sprx. "I'm getting flashbacks to when we used to play cards with him." The boxer remarked dryly.

"-am the victor!" Mandarin finished, flush with the heady rush of success, and then turned to Chiro with a grin before he bowed with more elegance than they thought he possessed. "Chiro, I would be most pleased if you would accompany me on an excursion tomorrow. I will make dinner." He added to prove that he was magnanimous in victory, before he hopped off of his chair and marched away with his head held high.

Chiro wasn't quite sure what to say as he watched Mandarin march away, other than a simple, "Ok." He managed to eke out before Mandarin was out the door. He turned back to the rest of the team, "Uh... I guess I'll go have dinner then."

When Chiro ventured into the kitchen, he found that former team leader was already making progress on dinner, having dragged a large metal pot out and filling it with broth and water. He was actually humming to himself as he retrieved more ingredients from the cupboards, his lashing tail visible from the table. Watching Mandarin work was an interesting demonstration of his ambidextrous skills as he grabbed an onion with his foot, passed it to his tail and tossed it into the air before chopping it with his energy sword before it completed its arc into the pot, all without glancing behind him. The rest of the Monkey Team were no less agile, but they generally used their feet for walking, and their tails for balance, whereas Mandarin used all five limbs interchangeably with little visible effort. A pepper was diced while he was upside down, and a carrot was chopped up while he was leaping from one side of the room to the other. Mandarin had certainly possessed the physical skills he had needed to lead the Team; it was a pity he was so sorely lacking in everything else.

Chiro had to admit, it was definitely impressive. Even if he had a tail, he doubted he would be able to accomplish something like that, and he stared as the rest of the team caught up to him, entering the kitchen behind him.

Mandarin was almost palpably smug as he continued to swing and leap around the kitchen, but he was at least a decent cook. The scent was appetizing, and by the time he was ladling his creation into bowls for the rest of them, the rest of the team was eagerly seated at the table.

"Shouldn't we have him take the first bite?" Sprx teased, prompting Apollo to smack him upside the head and tilt his helmet forward, though it did nothing to diminish his smirk.

Ignoring Sprx, Mandarin placed the last bowl in front of Chiro with a flourish, and beamed up at him. "Bon appetite, Chiro."

"Um... thanks." He wasn't sure how he felt about this, even at his most affectionate with him, Mandarin never acted quite so... happy. He was honestly a bit weirded out by it. Still, it would be rude to not eat his food, especially when it did actually look and smell quite good. "What is it exactly?" He asked as he blew on the hot bowl of soup.

"Vegetables." Mandarin answered promptly, blowing on his own soup and eating in a leisurely manner. He did indeed look unusually happy, but the rest of the Team would recognize it as the kind of smug self-satisfaction he wore when he felt he'd won a decisive victory. He had been insufferable for weeks after he won their battle royale.

Apollo was the last to start eating, though he tried not to be obvious about it. As the two (very arguably) strongest fighters on the Team, Mandarin had felt that Apollo deserved special attention and training to unlock his full potential. Unfortunately, Mandarin had been a very firm believer in tough love, and it had driven a deep wedge between the two of them that remained to this day. It wasn't a big deal, no matter how much Sprx pestered him with questions about it, it was just another annoyance that came with dealing with his brothers.

Antauri was relatively pleased that Mandarin wasn't being too spiteful in his winning, having made a dish that was palatable for him, although he too recognized the mood he was currently in. He hoped for his own sake that he soon dropped it, as he doubted Chiro would very much appreciate it.

Otto was thinking roughly the same, his own date having been a relative success, he was hoping the same for the others, and he had a feeling that if anyone would end up screwing up in a major way on their date, it would probably be Mandarin. The monkey was a perfectionist, and even he knew that was trouble when planning a romantic outing.

Mandarin finished first, and waited for the others to finish their own bowls before politely gathering them up and addressing Chiro. "Chiro? What time would you like to go on our date tomorrow?" He seemed to be really leaning on his polite/courteous mode now, which he rarely pulled out except when he felt the need to cajole a favor out of someone, and even then he usually just tried to intimidate them into doing what he wanted.

"Uh, well... our schedule has me doing a patrol tomorrow morning, so anytime after that I guess." Really, the team seemed to have freed up his schedule over the past few days a lot, in terms of training and patrols. Although he liked to think part of it was because he was getting better and didn't need it as much anymore, he was pretty sure it was just them ensuring he had time for their dates.

Gibson was tempted to bring up that it had actually been Mandarin and Antauri's idea in the first place, he himself believing it was best for Chiro to continue his studies, but the two of them had convinced the rest of the team that Chiro could go a few days without as many responsibilities.

"Excellent! I will take the time to make all the preparations!" Mandarin clapped his metal hands together, looking pleased. "I must take my leave of you now, brothers. There is much to do!" He scampered out of the kitchen, and then poked his head back in the doorframe. "AlsoGibsonIamusingyourlab. Goodbye!"

Otto laughed as it took a few moments for Gibson to properly react, "Wait what?!" But Mandarin was already gone, and Gibson left pouting. "He had better not destroy anything in there. It's not every day I can get Shuggazoomian citizens to donate the types of materials I need!"

Chiro looked around, smiling awkwardly, "So... uh... Sprx and Otto, you two want to play some video games?" It was several hours until he would need to go to sleep, and he didn't have much else to do. He even glanced at Antauri who seemed to nod a little bit to say that it was fine.

"Sure thing, kid! Wanna be on my team...?" The sly way he said it made the double-entendre hard to miss. "Or maybe me and Otto can team up against you...?" Now he was leaning against the table, his chin in his hand and his eyes half-lidded as he sent a smile up at Chiro.

Apollo rolled his eyes impressively well considering he had no visible pupils. "Don't worry, Chiro, he was like this when we were dating, too. All you have to do is flick him on the nose and say 'No.'."

Chiro still blushed, but at the same time, laughed a little, more nervous than anything, but he guessed it was progress on his part. Otto did too, albeit more earnestly, "C'mon Sprx, besides, you know that if it was me and Chiro versus you, you'd lose right away."

Antauri merely looked on with a sigh as he walked out of the kitchen, "Remember Sprx, it's not your turn to date Chiro, the same goes for you Otto."

Otto nodded, smiling, he was more than happy with his time with Chiro, so he didn't feel any need to make a move on him.

"No one said flirting wasn't allowed!" Sprx countered, but he lead the way to the common room and their gaming system without trying to make Chiro blush again, even if he did find it extremely entertaining.

The night continued peacefully, with Sprx and Otto on either side of Chiro during the electronic battle royale, and if they were sitting a bit closer than they had before this polyamorous plan had been enacted, well... It wasn't that bad, having two close friends nearly pressed up against him, their limbs flailing as they each tried to encourage their fighter through furiously emphatic gesturing.

"Mmm, c'mon." Chiro growled as he tried to mash his way out of Otto's stun lock, his avatar being wailed upon by the green monkey's own. Just as he was about to be knocked out, Sprx seemed to come out of nowhere and delivered a vicious combo to Otto's character. "Ha, thanks Sprx!" Just as Otto was pouting about his character being KO'd, Sprx avatar spun around and gave a killing blow to Chiro's. "Aw man, that was super cheap of you Sprx."

"Don't hate the player, hate the game, kid." Sprx replied, smirking as his character remained the victor of that round.

Otto shrugged with a sudden grin, "Well, we're still beating you over all, that was the first round you've won Sprx." He was tempted to rub it in more, but only pointed at the score on the top, that put him and Chiro tied for first with two each.

Chiro nodded, "And seeing as it's still first to three, I don't think you're going to beat us."

"We'll see!" Sprx insisted, returning with enthusiasm to the next round.

Indeed, Sprx was determined to make them see, again barely squeaking in another win the next round; leading to a groaning Chiro, "That was SOOOO cheap."

Sprx pumped his fist in triumph. "Sorry, kid, can't hear you over the sound of the trumpets announcing my victory!"

Otto shook his head, "Nuh uh uh Mister, this is the deciding round!"

They started it up again, and the trio were soon at it, their avatars dancing around the screen as they attempted to be the winner. Chiro was the first one out this round, trying to parry a blow of Otto's but missing the timing by just a hair. "Aw man." That left it Otto and Sprx, both whittled down to their last bit of health.

"...Hey, Otto... How about a bet?" Sprx offered in a suspiciously casual tone. "Winner of this one gets to sit in Chiro's lap?" He turned and winked at Chiro to let him know this was mostly a joke. Mostly.

"Sure!" Otto's tone as he agreed sounded so innocent that Chiro wasn't sure if the green monkey got the innotations behind the offer or not. Either way, the bet seemed to give Otto an extra boost in skill, or perhaps in luck, and he delivered a finishing blow to Sprx in a matter of seconds.

Chiro looked over as Sprx cursed the turn of events, before looking over to Otto. "Uhm..." He wasn't quite sure what to say to Otto.

Otto just chuckled and slowly crawled forward until his small body was settled on top of Chiro's thighs, and he leaned back to smile up at the human. "Thanks for a fun day, Chiro."

Chiro nodded back with a small, somewhat nervous smile, while Sprx watched on, seeming to fume a bit. They stayed like that for a few seconds, before Otto giggled and hopped off, "Well, it's time to get ready for bed!"

Sprx had mercy on Chiro and didn't offer to escort him back to his room, though he did blow him a kiss before heading off to his own bedroom. "Night, kid. Sleep well!"

Chiro nodded with a bit of wave, and quickly ducked into his bedroom.