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God...
The weight topping his torso made it hard for his chest cage to expand, it was hot, sweaty, and clung to his sides like glue. His head throbbed, hit with AC's cold breeze, and stuck on the disgustingly warm pillow.
His hand blindly reached for the painkiller strips he usually kept by his nightstand, never opening his eyes fearing for the growing headache to wake a crushing pain. When clarity came to him a few seconds after swallowing the pills, he realized one of the monkeys sneaked into his room again, that, was when his chin met quiet breaths and his shirt was pulled tight.
Exhaling, exhausted and in pain, Xiaotian could only cover his eyes with the back of his elbow. He wondered what time it was, but never dared to open his eyes yet.
He stayed still for hours like that, sleep never came back, and the sneaky brat hadn't moved nor twitched, peacefully sleeping while clung to him.
Definitely Macaque, Xiaotian tiredly concluded, that kid Wukong would've treated his stomach as if it was a field. But well, not long after he reached that conclusion two arms came from his side to circle around his, with what probably was a face nuzzling it. Xiaotian groaned in frustration, because... not you too, Wukong.
Finally feeling safe to open his eyes, he blinked till his vision adjusted to the dark, it caught the soft rays of light escaping through the curtain's central gap, particulate matter whirled through it. The white sunlight landed on the end of his bed, covering his legs and the intertwined tails of the little intruders, he slowly registered the bedsheets crumbled and tossed aside. No wonder his feet were cold.
He took a moment to speculate how to move the young demon off his body without waking him up, but eventually, he just went for pushing him aside to fall next to his little master, losing care when he remembered the gremlin came uninvited.
Macaque twisted to lay on his side, curling in on himself. Despite his hard feelings about the situation, Xiaotian was relieved the monkey's content expression didn't fade away.
Xiaotian scratched his back while looking at the two peacefully sleeping next to him brats, all huddled up on the small, definitely not fit for three bed, and he scoffed.
They've come so far...
Like always, he ignored the pain pulsating through his muscles when he got up, he threw the white blanket back over the two brats before he went to the bathroom gently closing the door behind him.
The bathroom's air was colder, and his legs' hair stood on its ends, possibly due to his shorts and loose white shirt. When he finished his business, he looked at himself in the mirror moving his chin up and down.
Red Son would probably nag...
That demon's existence made Xiaotian pay attention to things he wouldn’t have given any thought to before.
A lot of things have changed in Xiaotian's life, in the age people would usually think was when you settled in, already having experienced and learned, met and befriended. For him, that age was when all of those started to happen and things changed.
He washed his face and spread the shaving gel, eyeing his reflected Santa Clause look for seconds before holding the blade.
Birds made all kinds of sounds from the bathroom's ventilator, he wondered what each came from, if he would hear Red Son's annoyed screams chasing them off or Mei's smart phone's camera taking pictures. It was a Saturday, he was used to the both of them coming for a visit on weekends.
"Xiaotian, bake a peach cake"
Frowning, the man turned midway through shaving to look at the bathroom's door opened ajar and a monkey head peeking through. Wukong was rubbing his eyes, having just woken up from sleep.
"What did I tell you about bathroom doors?"
He just knew the brat's tail was mischievously twitching behind him when he saw the sleepy shit eating grin, "you didn’t lock it".
Knowing this wouldn’t go anywhere, he leaned his hip against the sink, the shaving blade still in hand, "speaking of locks, how did you two sneak in?".
Ah, was it just morning stupidity? Xiaotian instantly realised how when the teenager's appearance shifted to that of a mouse, he ran on the white tiles and climbed the human's tall legs, reaching his shoulder and curling up there.
"Of course…" the man said in such a frustrated way the mouse squeaked in amusement. Xiaotian could only glare at him through the reflective glass before continuing his work. They both stayed quiet after that, with Xiaotian cleaning his face and Wukong quietly vibrating against his neck, happy and satisfied.
"Seriously… where is my peach cake?" Wukong, the little shit, scrunched his face up at the tray Xiaotian took his time to cook its contents. The man put it in front of him, on the table, his body was blocking the television screen the young monkey was viewing. "Either you eat it or starve, your choice" he said while sitting next to him, he took the remote control to change the channel. Opposite to the golden kid beside him, horror movies were not his thing, and he wasn't going to ruin his morning breakfast because of them.
"If it weren’t for me liking you, you would've been cursed a long time ago" mumbling under his breath, Wukong crossed his legs on the couch, he hugged a bright orange pillow and took the croissant Xiaotian had stuffed with scrambled eggs and cheese, munching on it like a grumpy little baby.
When his eyes landed on the cartoon channel the human chose, he loudly groaned seeing the animated cop's face "ugh, sometimes I wonder if I'm the daddy!" His head angerly landed on Xiaotian’s shoulder, his eyes reflected the colourful TV show, and his cheeks were full of food. "Would you shut up? Monkey Cop is a necessity for breakfast", Wukong waved his hand dismissively "yeah yeah, just admit it, you like kids' stuff".
Xiaotian gave the head on his shoulder a weirded look, he wasn't embarrassed by the fact he preferred animations, but Wukong's reaction to anything... colourful? Cartoony? Simple? Was quite odd. Before he was able to dwell on that fact, the squeaking sound of his room's door opening alerted him, he turned his head to see Macaque groggily walking out of the room, his fur disarrayed and his eyelids heavy with sleepiness, he didn't appear fully awake yet.
"Wash your face and come to eat", he deliberately used a softer tone while talking to the other monkey and lowered the TV volume via the remote, knowing the monkey's animosity against noise.
Already trying to create a safe environment for them, Xiaotian?
He turned away when he saw the macaque nod, not adding anything nor watching any more.
"Pshh, what a weirdo"
Yup, nothing stopped him from pinching the golden shit's furry ear, not even his pained scream.
"Child abuse! Child abuse!" Wukong shrieked, his back hit Xiaotian legs amidst his struggle, "weren't you the daddy just minutes ago?" The human raised an eyebrow, shaking the monkey's ear and his head with it. "And you'll always be the kid if you didn’t let go of this ear this instant!"
Xiaotian tsked, "we really should work on your manners".
"How about working on your anger issues first?"
Macaque came back when the commercial ended and Monkey Cop's episode resumed, his steps were light, and his silhouette easily blended with the living room's dark corners, but Xiaotian was attentive, always has been ever since he determined to include the teenage monkey in his life.
The man's eyes lit up when Macaque took croissant on his own and sat next to his other side, knees pulled to his chest and eyes wordlessly on TV.
They have really, really come so far.
With Wukong's head staying on his lap and Macaque sitting close, the three watched Monkey Cop until the end, and many other shows that came next, eventually coming back to Wukong's horror movie and pleasantly discovering the black demon's romantic taste.
All in all, Xiaotian’s morning wasn't that bad even when it had a bad start. Maybe he wouldn’t get angry at the two invading his home again.
The End.