Artoria released a heavy sigh as she fiddled with her keys. "Such a difficult day…" She thought, unlocking the door. Walking into the house, she called out "I'm home!"

Her call was answered by Mordred's voice coming from the living room. "Welcome back!"

After she took off her shoes, Artoria headed into the living room and saw her son standing in front of the couch and drinking a glass of water.

"Why are you so sweaty?" Artoria asked, taking notice of her son's appearance and odor.

"Found out there was a gym in town." He answered. "Thought I'd do some sets down there." He flexed his left arm. "Gotta keep these guns in shape somehow!"

"Ah, well I am glad you are staying active." She began loosening her tie. "It seems most kids these days are too preoccupied by their visual novels and gacha mobile games."

"Well, those are fun too. Just need to keep things balanced, you know?"

She nodded. "I suppose. Just be sure to get your shower before dinner, okay?"

"I was gonna!" Mordred complained before heading upstairs.

Artoria sighed and checked her watch. "Speaking of dinner, I wonder what I should do…" she thought "I don't feel like cooking anything today. Perhaps I'll order a pizza instead." As she hung up her jacket, she thought "I suppose I'll wait for Mordred to come down before calling."

About 15 minutes later Mordred came down from his shower. He was now wearing cargo shorts with an Iron Maiden t-shirt. He walked in on his father, who was watching the news. Mordred went to join him and collapsed on the couch.

"Don't just fall on the couch!" She scolded. "It's hard on the material!"

"Yeah whatever…" Running a hand through his damp hair, he asked "what's for dinner?"

"Well, work was a bit hectic today so I didn't feel like cooking anything. How does pizza sound?"

"Sounds good! What kind will you get?"

"I am unsure." She got out her phone. "I am fine with most kinds of pizza except for the ones with pineapple on them. Such a thing is…unnatural."

"Hey, pineapple on pizza is actually pretty good!"

Artoria gave her son a peculiar look.

"Well, whatever." he said, not wanting to get into an argument about pineapple's validity as a pizza topping. That had happened more than once and he did not want to have a repeat of the same conversation. "Since Hawaiian is apparently off the table, how about a meat lovers?"

"That sounds fine."

Artoria placed in the order on her phone. After that, all they could do was wait. Artoria continued to watch the news, while Mordred played gacha games on his phone.

After a bit of waiting, the doorbell rang. When Artoria went to answer it, she saw that the delivery boy was Cu Chulainn.

"Cu?!" Artoria exclaimed, surprised to see the buff Irishman standing in her doorway. "I thought you were a florist, not a pizza delivery boy!"

Cu laughed. "Ah, I thought this was your address! I still work at the florist, but I'm working some extra hours. Gotta work hard for my dear wife." He shook his head, smiling. "She's good at fighting, but not much else. I need to make sure she's taken care of, ye know?"

She nodded. "Yes, I understand how things are between you and her."

"Well anyway," he handed her the box "here's yer pizza."

"And here's your pay. I have included the tip."

Running his thumb along the wad of cash, he smiled. "That'll do! Thanks for yer business!"

Closing the door as Cu left, Artoria headed into the dining room where Mordred was waiting.

As they began eating, Mordred asked. "I noticed you had a game console in your living room." He said. "Why didn't you tell me you had one?"

"Oh, that thing! Sorry but I did not think to mention it." She answered. "I only play it every now and then so I sometimes forget that it's there."

Mordred took a bite out of his pizza. "Well, how about we play a round or two after dinner?"

"That would be fine. What game do you want to play?"

"Don't know, I'd have to see what you have."

Taking a sip from her drink, Artoria asked "So, what did you do today besides work out?"

"Eh, not too much. Mostly I did some farming and texted with Fran."

"Farming?" Artoria furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean, farming?"

"Oh, right." Mordred scratched his head, remembering that his father probably wouldn't be familiar with such terms. "It's a gaming thing, don't worry about it."

"Ah, I see."

"But yeah, I've just been hanging out by myself. I guess you don't want to talk about work, huh?"

She rubbed her forehead. "No, I don't. A lot has been happening, and my coworkers have been very disorganized this week." She gestured to the table. "Anyway, we should eat before the food gets cold."

Between the two of them, they were easily able to finish off the entire box in a single sitting. After dinner Mordred wasted no time heading into the living room and foraging through the various game titles. He took notice of a particular racing game and showed it to his father. "How about a round or two of Tiger Kart?"

"Hm…alright."

He popped the disk in the console, and the game loaded on the screen. "It has been quite a while since I last played this game." Artoria said as the title screen came up. "I used to enjoy playing it with my work colleagues. I stopped after a while because they didn't seem to like playing it as much as I did."

Mordred glanced at her. "Why not? It's a fun game!"

"It is a mystery to me as well…"

After they picked their characters and vehicles, the game began. Right off the bat it was obvious that Mordred was more experienced in the game than Artoria. While Artoria often found herself falling off the cliffs and getting hit by shells, Mordred dodged every obstacle the course threw at him with ease. It seemed that not playing it in so long had caused Artoria's skills to deteriorate somewhat. Mordred played it quite often with his friends, so he knew the ins-and-outs of every single course. The rest of the game went more or less the same, with Artoria only inching up the boards with each race and Mordred getting first place every time.

After the game was over, Mordred looked to Artoria and laughed. "You're not too good at this game, are you father?"

Artoria gave him a serious look. "Let's go another round." She said, a glimmer of determination in her green eyes.

Mordred was a little surprised by her serious tone. "A sore loser huh? Alright, let's go again." He started another round as requested, picking a different cup this time.

Artoria paid very close attention to the game. Slowly beginning to recover her skills, she desperately moved all about the track and tried her best to dodge flying turtle shells and bombs. Mordred noticed her father was doing a bit better but that didn't affect his spot in first place very much.

Mordred leaned back in the couch, his arm resting on the headrest. "Ya got better, but still not good enough!"

Artoria lowered her head, her bangs obscuring her eyes. Holding tightly to her controller, she whispered "again".

Mordred looked to his father "What was that?"

She turned to her son, her expression as serious as ever. "I said again!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Damn, okay." He started up another round. "Since you don't seem to like losing very much, I'll choose Green Fields as our track since it's super flat and simple. No cliffs or nothing, just a regular race track. So whoever wins this one will be the final victor."

Artoria nodded, her eyes glimmering with the spirit of competition.

The race started and their two characters raced ahead of the CPU racers. Mordred was still able to pull ahead of his father, so he stayed pretty relaxed. When they passed by some item blocks, Artoria was able to pick up a turtle shell. She wasted no time throwing it at her son, who was defenseless since all he got was some coins. She sped past him as his kart was spun off the track.

Mordred was caught off guard by this. "Okay, not bad." He observed. "I guess you've improved a bit more than I realized." He sped forward and picked up speed boosts along the way. He was soon able to catch up with her but was hit by a bomb shortly after.

He gritted his teeth. "Heh, I guess even pros mess up sometimes…"

"Getting worried?" Artoria asked, a smug look on her face.

"Don't get too confident! I'm just having a bad run is all!" He was eventually able to catch up with her but by the time that happened it was already the end of the second lap. Now, Mordred was starting to realize that losing was a definite possibility. "Alright, no more playin' around old man! Ain't no way I'm losing!"

"I'm not that old and I refuse to lose again! I will be victorious!"

The two were tense. Even the slightest slip up could cost them dearly, and split-second decisions meant the difference between victory and defeat. In that moment familial bonds were severed for the sake of pride and glory. Turtle shells, rockets and bombs went flying all across the screen. Speed boosts would place one of them ahead, only for the other to catch back up with a speed boost of their own. The pride of both father and son were on the line; it was truly the race of the century.

They were getting close to the finishing line, the two passing each other every few seconds. They were on the final stretch. Only a few more seconds and the victor would be determined.

Then, from behind, came a rocket. Artoria and Mordred both looked on with shock, as some random CPU that got lucky with the items launched themselves to the front and blew both of them off the road. After the two had recovered from the hit all the other racers began flying past them, running into them and knocking them off the road yet again. They were eventually able to get going again but by then it was too late: they were both in last place. The sweet taste of victory became foreign to them, for all they could taste was bitter defeat and disappointment.

As the race finished, they both looked to each other. "Let's just…call it a draw?" Mordred said, unsure of what else to do.

"Uhm…" she cleared her throat "yes, a draw. That will do."

They sat there awkwardly for several minutes, neither sure what to say. They had been so caught up in the game, that they never even considered the possibility that both of them would lose.

"Well…" Artoria started "I think that's enough video games for one day." After getting swept away by her competitiveness, she was starting to cool down. "How about we find a movie to watch instead?"

"Yeah…" Mordred said, lowering his head "a movie is good."

Artoria gestured to the bookcase in the corner of the living room. "My DVDs are over there. Go pick one out."

Mordred went to look through the collection. After looking at the various plastic cases, he quickly noticed a trend.

"Why the hell do you have so many documentaries about the Middle Ages in Europe?"

"It is a fascination of mine."

Mordred continued to run his finger along the selections. "Oh, you have fantasy movies too." None of the titles jumped out to him, up until he saw a movie that he had watched before. "How about Grand Order?"

Artoria shrugged. "I suppose that's fine."

"Grand Order it is, then." Since he couldn't find anything else, he just went along with his initial choice.

As the movie began playing the mixture of tension and awkwardness between them began to fade. Aside from the occasional commentary on the movie itself, the two did not speak very much. With the sun setting outside, soon the tv was the only source of light in the room.

At the end, the credits started rolling as orchestral music played in the background. Artoria stretched "Well that was quite enjoyable." She turned to her son. "What did you think Mo," She stopped when she realized that Mordred had fallen asleep. His eyes closed, he was leaning his head back on the couch and breathing softly. "Oh" She whispered. "I guess you got tired."

She carefully stood up, trying not to make a sound. Picking up a nearby blanket, she gently placed it over Mordred's body and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Standing back, she couldn't help but smile at the exhausted boy. "How cute" she thought "he's usually so loud and energetic, but now he looks so peaceful. He can be quite a handful sometimes, but I suppose he's still my son in the end."

Her thoughts were interrupted when Mordred started snoring loudly. "Ah, I spoke too soon." Shaking her head, she turned the tv off. "Good night Mordred." She whispered, before leaving the room so that her son could rest quietly.