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“WHAT?!”
The Monkey King had been previously talking to one of his little friends, just a quick update on how everything was going, small talk practically. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped in shock when the monkey shared with him something he'd overheard. He quickly dropped the conversation and left to go find Mk.
“KID!!” The Great Sage called to his successor who was sweeping his cabin. Mk looked up to him quickly, about to throw the broom to the side, ready for a fight.
“WHAT'S WRONG?” He yelled as Sun Wukong bounded over to him. “WHAT HAPPENED? IS MACAQUE HERE? IS DBK ATTACKING OR-” A loud gasp was let out as his face scrunched up with fear. “Is the Lady Bone Demon back?!”
Sun Wukong shook his head and quickly waved him off. A grin unable to stop itself from creeping onto his face. “None of that! None of that bud.”
The breath Mk was holding released but then quickly turned to confusion. “Okay well, what is it then?”
Mk took a step back to lean the broom against the wall. They had been cleaning in the cabin for awhile now. It was another one of those ‘exercises’ that Sun Wukong swears will teach them something in the end. While Mk hated to doubt their mentor, they were beginning to suspect that he just doesn't like doing chores.
“Wellll, a little birdie- er, monkey? Told me you were seeing a special someone.” The Monkey King tried his best not to let his pride show, but the grin was terribly concealed. Mk’s own smile quickly dropped, along with the broom he hadn’t properly put down yet. Sun Wukong pretended to not notice his successor’s panic, crossing his arms with a huff before continuing. “While I am a tiny bit disappointed that I had to hear about this from someone else..”
Sun wukong moved around to Mk’s side, allowing his excitement to show. “Who is it? Is it someone I know? Possibly the dragon girl?” He felt like a dad who found out his son got a date for the first time as he questioned Mk. Which is practically what this was, at least in his mind.
Just like Monkey King expected, that pulled a small gag from Mk. He chuckled quietly. “Mei? Oh gods no. She's very nice and all, but I could never ever date her! Like ever! Like no way in--”
Sun Wukong cut him off, with a small chuckle. “Kid- kid. I know, I was joking. You told me all about how you could 'never date her' after you were in that Calabash thing, remember?” The memory seemed to play in both of their minds of Mk rambling on about never wanting to hear the word ‘perfect’ ever again.
Mk let out a small shudder scratching the back of his neck and laughing a bit. “Yeah, I remember…”
Humming quietly, Sun Wukong moved away from Mk, now infront of him. “Well now that we’ve got that covered again,Who is it? Come on, you can tell me I’m your mentor after all!” He poked Mk teasingly.
The monkey king watched as the question made Mk go stiff wondering why they were so uncomfortable with telling him about whoever they were dating? Unless…..
Sun Wukong gasped loudly, now pouting at his successor. “You weren’t ever planning on telling me were you?”
“No no!!” Mk quickly shook his hands. “I was gonna tell you! I was just.. Nervous.. You um..” His hand then went to scratch the back of his neck as he refused to meet the Monkey King's eyes. “I was afraid you would be unhappy with who I was.. with.” Though, he wasn’t planning on telling him anytime soon. But Mk would never admit that.
Sun Wukong scoffed loudly. “Why on earth would I be unhappy? I trust your judgment!” Sun Wukong was mostly teasing Mk, while he was a tad bit hurt that they didn’t trust him with this info, he knows they are anxious about seemingly random stuff so he can’t really blame them for it.
The comment made Mk fidget for a second before he let out a sigh. His hands dropped to his side and he looked back to his mentor. “Well if you say so.. Just promise you won’t like… do anything crazy. Okay?”
“Kid, I am really hurt you don’t trust me! I seriously won’t do anything. I swear!” Sun Wukong put his hand against his chest to show his promise. Mk just squinted at him for this.
“Okay.. well.. If you insist.. I am dating-”
–
“REDSON, COME HERE RIGHT NOW!!”
The Monkey King banged on the door of the castle as loudly as he could. His successor was promptly dragged (literally) all the way to the Demon Bull family’s house after his confession. ‘I trust your judgment my ass..’ Mk thought to himself as he laid on the floor, Sun Wukong barely attempting to hold him up in favor of pounding on the door.
“I swear to god if he doesn’t come here right now to explain however he managed to seduce you I will break in myself-”
Mk covered their face with their one free hand and groaned loudly, flush creeping up their neck. God why did this have to happen like this. They could take their relationship not being accepted, heck, Mk had been preparing for that! What they didn't prepare for was for Sun Wukong to go full on protective dad mode and insist that they break up with Redson immediately. “No one seduced me or poisoned me or did literally anything! I promise I chose to date her out of my own free will! What do you not understand?”
Whatever Mk said was immediately ignored, as the Monkey King continued banging on the door.
“REDBOY, IF YOU DONT OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT THIS MINUTE, ILL BREAK IN MY-” The door suddenly swung open, nearly making Sun Wukong fall forward. Upon looking up to who opened it, his face dropped slightly. “-self?”
“Sun Wukong.” Demon Bull King announced to the monkie. His voice boomed as he took in the scene before him. He did not seem very pleased with the situation at the moment. Then again, who would be happy if some loud monkey started banging on your door? “How dare you take a step onto my property, especially after what your little successor did.”
That sent a chill right up Mk’s side who was then shot a glare by the Demon Bull King and an annoyed glance from Sun Wukong. Mk might have forgotten to explain how he got the first ring of Samadhi…. Whoops.
Mk pulled themself up off of the ground and chuckled awkwardly. “Heyyyy Demon Bull King, DBK, my man.” They received a frustrated huff at that comment. “Ya know, we were just leaving, ya see we didn’t mean to come here. We thought this was uh… some other Demon Bull family’s castle-”
“Oh no you dont!” Sun Wukong cuts him off. He drops Mk’s wrist and turns to Demon Bull King. “I demand to know what you did to Mk to make him think of Redson in that way! Was it a love potion, a spell, POISON?!??!?!”
Demon Bull King immediately got defensive on behalf of his kid. “What do you MEAN?? I have no idea what you are talking about.” He took a step forward, out of the doorway. “Redson has done NOTHING to the little thief. He hasn't even harmed him, which is another problem, but there is no reason for you to accuse me of stooping so low, Monkey. And what is this about a ‘love potion???’”
Mk slipped away from the two, considering just leaving the place to begin with. Maybe if he got out quiet enough, they’d be able to make it back to his apartment without either of them noticing he was gone? But of course that was not his luck. His arm got caught and Mk was promptly yanked back to Sun Wukong’s side.
“Mk here said that Redson had tricked them into a relationship!” Sun Wukong announced which prompted a ‘WHAT???’ from both Demon Bull King and Mk.
“My son would never-”
“Redson would never-”
“I would never-”
Everyone turned around to see where Redson was now standing in the doorway with an offended look on her face. Mk lit up at seeing their girlfriend coming to their rescue. Redson glanced over to them and gave them a small smile in acknowledgment.
“You little-”
Sun Wukong could barely get a step towards Redson before Demon Bull King stepped in his path with a glint in his eyes. “If you take another step towards my child, you will not live to see another day.”
That immediately made him back off, but not without a loud huff. “That was the most basic threat I’ve ever heard, you’re losing your game DBK.” Sun Wukong luckily dropped it before he lost a tooth. “But come on! You can not tell me that you aren’t concerned about this? You don't like me, I don't like you, you don’t like Mk, I don’t like Redson. We should be on the same side here!”
Demon Bull King shot a glance at Mk who just smiled nervously. “No, I understand your point. I am just upset at you accusing my kid for this. How do I know yours wasn't to fault with this?? First he stole the staff from me, next my own family?!!”
A fire lit behind both of their eyes, as that comment sparked a full blown fight between them.
Redson and Mk shared a glance at the two’s newfound anger.
Mk had escaped Sun Wukong’s grip again and stood next to the door with Redson. They mouthed a small ‘sorry’ to him, but Redson shook his head.
“No it isn’t your fault, I’m sure.”
Before Mk could debate who’s fault it was, Redson had grabbed his hand. He looked up at them, shocked at the slight gesture. Redson simply smiled at him before gesturing behind themself, into the castle. “I am sure they won’t notice if we leave for a bit.”
They glanced back to their mentor fighting with the Bull King. They looked like they were a second away from beating each other up, like children. And to think that they thought Mk and Redson weren’t mature enough to choose a partner when they aren’t mature enough to, oh I don’t know, talk about this in an adult manner?
This really was stupid.
Mk nodded back to Redson. “Lead away.” And that's what she did.
Redson pulled Mk through the door and into long corridors. It was just long hallway after long hallway, big fancy room after big fancy room, trap after trap- which, Mk is now really glad that they had Redson to lead them through again. While they’ve gone through it all before, that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t lose a leg by accident.
Eventually Redson opened up one last door which Mk assumed was their room. It was surprisingly messy, pieces of paper littered the floor along with multiple broken pencils. A few posters were on the wall, most of which were charred slightly. There was a desk on the side that had a few dishes on it along with multiple binders and folders practically overflowing with what Mk assumes to be blueprints. The bed wasn’t made, and the nightstand had a broken clock decorating it.
Mk couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.
Redson immediately flushed though, hair flickering slightly. “Look- I just haven’t gotten around to cleaning it! I swear it would have been nicer if I knew you were just gonna drop by but noooooo.” He huffed quietly, moving further into the room to where his bed was, quickly working on making it. “And you have no room to laugh at me! I have seen your room too, yours is not better!”
“I know! I just find it funny how Ms ‘Your room is a mess and pathetic, you Noodle Brain’ had an equally messy room!” Mk followed Redson over to the bed, and before she could fully finish tucking in the comforter, Mk flopped onto it with a wide grin. “Hypocrite.”
They glared at him, and while Redson was embarrassed, there was no bite to it. “Look, I had a hard time with the last design I had to make.”
Glancing back to all the crumpled pieces of paper on the floor along with the broken pencils, Mk hummed. “I can tell. Though what's up with the alarm clock? Looks like the result of it personally insulting your mother.”
Redson sat down on the bed, now looking over to the clock. “Oh. No, I just hate alarms. It particularly startled me one morning and then…” He gestured to it. “The rest is history.”
“Ahhhh, I also hate alarms! I always accidentally sleep through them.” Mk tucked their arms underneath their head, looking up to the ceiling, which also had char marks mind you. “Pigsy always gets pissed. I'm surprised he hasn’t fired me!”
Redson turned to look down at Mk. “Well, I do wonder if you are his only worker. Maybe that is why he has never fired you.”
“Oh probably. But I like to entertain the idea that he’d miss me if I was gone.”
“I bet he would.”
“Most likely.”
They just kinda sat there in silence, Mk staring up at the ceiling and Redson staring down at Mk. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, there just wasn’t anything either of them felt particularly keen to talk about. Just having a break from their parents arguing is nice, especially when it's with each other.
After a minute, Mk looked over to Redson who was still looking down at them fondly. It brought a smile to their face.
Redson noticed that, and smiled back at them. “What are you thinking about? You have the grin of someone who is up to something.” They teased.
“Mm, you should lie down with me!” Mk patted to the spot next to himself.
“Huh?”
Mk rolled their eyes. “Lay down with me! You looking down on me like that is weird, and your bed is so much more comfy.” Redson just blinked at them. “Oh come on, don’t make me do all the work.”
He grabbed onto her hand this time, and pulled her down with him. “See! Comfier.”
It took a second for Redson to respond, but when he did, Mk could see how red his face was. “Sorry, I was just taken aback by the request. But don’t get me wrong!” He immediately started talking faster, face reddening every minute. “It's not that I didn't want to lay down with you! It's just a lot closer than I am used to being with you and it just surprised me is all-”
“Red! Red, chill! I get it!” Mk smiled at their partner. Reaching for their arm again, Mk held their hand for a second before putting it to their chest where their heart is. Redson could feel their elevated heart rate though Mk’s jacket. “I'm a nervous wreck right now too! This whole situation has made me so. But uh- ya know, we can both be nervous wrecks together?”
Redson just stared down to where her hand connected with Mk. It was such a small gesture, but it made her heart light up, along with her hair. She removed her hand after a second and moved it to Mk’s cheek. It took a second of internally hyping herself up, but Redson leaned forward and planted a small kiss on Mk’s lips. She stayed close even after she pulled away. “God, you are so stupid.”
Mk stared at Redson, mouth agape slightly. That was the first time that they… god. They laughed happily, their arm moving to cover their face to hide just how red their cheeks had gotten. “Well um- I am your stupid after all!”
It was Redson’s turn to burst out laughing. His hair sparkled as Mk covered their face with both arms now. “That makes no sense!”
“I know!! I know, don't remind me.”
Redson scooted closer to Mk, still grinning. “Are you embarrassed now? You were so brave a minute ago, Noodle Boy.” They poked Mk in the side who then swatted away their hand. “Oh come on, don’t pout at me.”
They grumbled into their arms. Turning on their side, Mk finally dropped their hands down onto the bed. Their face still had the remnants of a blush littering it, and maybe they were still pouting, but Redson doesn’t mind.
“Ahh, there we go.” Redson chuckled fondly at his partner. He pulled Mk closer to him, practically into his arms. “That’s better.”
Mk gaped at her. “Two seconds ago, you were all nervous to lay down with me! Now you’re all fine to kiss me and to cuddle?” They rolled their eyes before wrapping their own arms around Redson’s waist.
Humming slightly, Redson just shrugged. “I just had to take the dive first. Did you not *want* to do this? Because if so, I can easily let you go.”
“No! No, I am good. You just surprised me is all.” Both of them have startled each other by now. Maybe it was just payback, or maybe this whole situation was just an excuse to hang out in Redson’s room together. And while Mk is still upset at how Sun Wukong is dealing with it, they are really enjoying this time.
“I'm sorry about Monkey King by the way.” Sure, it wasn’t Mk’s fault the way that Sun Wukong reacted, but he still could have stood his ground and not told him anything. “I didn’t mean to out us.”
Redson pulled away from Mk to look them right in their face. “It is not your fault Mk! It might be annoying how he reacted, but did you see my father down there too? They were both reacting stupidly. And I was going to come out to him soon anyways, but you being able to be here when it happened made it all okay.” She held onto Mk by their shoulders. “You being here made it all better. You make things better Xiaotian.”
Mk admittedly may have almost teared up at that, but he could not deny what Redson did to his heart. He reached up and pulled Redson’s hands off of his shoulders, now just holding them. “I am glad you aren’t mad then. But you are too kind to me! What happened to evil Redboy who would probably be beating me up if they had the chance?”
“Oh, he died I think.” Redson smiled at Mk before grinning and pulling Mk right to his chest again. “Now you’re stuck with me.”
They laughed loudly at that, chest vibrating with the noise. Mk stared lovingly up at Redson as their laughing fit slowed. “Well, good thing I like touch starved, slightly cheesy Redson more."
Redson sighed happily. "Good. That's good."
And then the both of them fell into a comfortable silence again, just hugging each other. It was oddly domestic, but neither were complaining. Rather, both of them were incredibly content like this. Just listening to each other's breathing and heartbeat.
After a few minutes, Redson looked down to Mk. Their eyes were closed and their breathing had grown shallow. ‘Ah, they have fallen asleep.’ Redson rolled their eyes with a smile. ‘Predictable.’
Redson tucked their head underneath her chin before closing her own eyes. She could live like this.
Soon, they both were asleep, snuggled together on Redson’s bed.
—-------
“LITTLE THIEF, WHERE ARE YOU?!!? IF YOU ARE IN THERE, I WILL PERSONALLY KILL YOU MYSELF-”
The door to Redson’s door was kicked open by Sun Wukong, and Demon Bull King pushed him aside to look into his son’s room. He paused upon looking into it fully.
“Hey watch it big guy-” Sun Wukong groaned, trying to push past him so he could find his own successor too. Demon Bull King stepped to the side after a minute to let the Monkey King peer into the room. “Mk get here right now-”
They both stared blankly into the room before Demon Bull King leaned over to shush Sun Wukong. “Shush. If you wake up my son, your kid will be scorched. Trust. me.”
Sun Wukong glared up at the Demon Bull King. “Okay fine! But we will talk about this more when they wake up. Don’t think they’re free from a talking to.”
Demon Bull King just nodded in agreement. “Fine. Just leave them be.” And with a loud huff, the Bull King turned away and left.
Once he was gone, Sun Wukong turned to look back into the room, staring at Mk. He sighed annoyedly. “Kid, you better have made the right choice…”
With that, he quietly closed the door and left the two to their sleep.