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‘Ok, MK, you can do this… You just have to ask him… ask your mentor for some advice, this is totally fine and not awkward at all. Asking for advice is completely normal. This isn’t awkward. Just. Ask… for advice…’
He was lying to himself, he knew it.
How could this not be awkward?
MK had never asked anyone, let alone Sun Wukong, for help with something like this before. He wanted to ask Mei, she was the only one who knew… well, everything about him at this point, but she was live streaming and he didn’t want to interrupt her while she was having fun just to ask for some advice. Even IF she would gladly pause the stream for his comfort once she realized he was being serious.
So, instead, he found himself flying over in bird form to Mount Huaguo so he could pay his mentor a visit. He’d been doing this just about every day he had free time (and wasn’t due for training) just to say hello, make sure the king wasn’t lonely and to bond more after everything that had happened over the last year. Things seemed to have finally smoothed out into some kind of new normal for everyone.
MK claimed the visit was to deliver Sun Wukong a free “canceled” order of noodles that was close to what he normally ordered, which was not entirely a lie. But he normally would have just eaten it himself or given it to Tang. So in reality it was just an excuse.
But in his attempt to psych himself up to ask for advice he managed to almost psych himself out.
This should be easy! The Monkey King and him were as close as they had ever been as mentor and student (to the point some people, Mei and Sandy namely, said they came off as family). And given who the Monkey King was he MUST have had to deal with similar awkward situations in the past.
So…
“Hey, uh, Monkey King?”
“Yeah bud?”
“Have you ever had someone confess they liked you before?”
Sun Wukong turned to look at his student, an almost disappointed look on his face.
“MK. Bud. I’m Sun Wukong. I’ll give you two guesses and the other one doesn’t count.”
“That many huh?”
“It was CONSTANT,” Sun Wukong said with a laugh. “I mean, I get it. How can I not attract so many admirers when I am…” The monkey king stood, smirking as he struck a pose worthy of any popular C-Drama poster. “Sun Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King, Great Sage Equal to Hea-”
“Did you ever accept?” MK interrupted, immediately cringing at the fact he did so.
“Absolutely not,” Sun Wukong said with a shrug, seemingly not bothered by the interruption. “Even if I ever wanted a partner like that? I was way too busy. Journeys to journey on, monks to keep from being eaten alive, you know the story.”
“You never wanted a partner?” MK’s brow raised as he tried to remember all the stories about the immortal he had heard in the past. “Never?”
“Well… hmn” Sun Wukong trailed off, seeming to drop deep into thought as he rubbed his chin and looked into the distance. MK assumed he was trying to find the best words to use for his explanation. “How do I put it… Not never as in never wanting to have a companion. I loved being around people! And I loved some people, just not in the way other people seemed to have loved me. I wouldn’t mind having a life partner who’s cool with hugs and cuddles and spending all our time together without any of the other stuff! I don’t hate thinking about, like… kissing someone? Unless it’s on the cheek or something I’d rather just avoid that if I can, but if it makes my partner happy I think I would be ok with only that. That make sense?”
There was the softest kind of half joking grimace on the Monkey King’s face when he mentioned kissing, the same kind that MK had seen on his own face in the mirror. And then it clicked.
“Oh… my gosh…” MK said, eyes widening in realization. “Is this really going to be how I find out we’re both aroace? SERIOUSLY!?”
“Arrow what now?”
“You don’t have any interest in being with anyone romantically?” MK asked, jumping to stand in front of his mentor. He almost bounced up and down in place, barely able to hold in his excitement. “At all? And never have?”
“No..?” Sun Wukong said slowly, reaching out to put a hand on MK’s head to hold him steady for a second. “Bud, answer my question pl-”
“Aromatic asexual,” MK blurted out, awkward and almost too fast.
It clearly took the king a second to process what he said, but once he did…
“THERE’S A NAME FOR IT!?”
“THAT’S WHAT I SAID!” MK replied to the king’s outburst with a laugh. He bounced harder, despite the hand on his head, in sheer excitement. “I’ve never actually met someone else in person who’s aro or ace or both, only online! And-and it’s YOU of all people and- WAIT!”
MK held out his hands, taking the immortal’s hand off his head.
“That was a sudden change of tone,” Sun Wukong joked when he caught the serious look on his student’s face. “I’m gonna take a guess and ask if this aroace stuff is related to your initial question?”
“Yeah,” MK said, now feeling a bit more confident and comfortable in being able to ask for some advice. “There’s this girl who’s been coming to the shop over the last few weeks, almost every two days. I think she’s one of the civilians I rescued last month when that clan of beetle demons came to attack the city. And uh…”
“She asked you out, didn’t she?”
“YES!” MK said with a groan as he pulled at his hair. “And she’s super nice and really pretty and any guy or girl would probably be SUPER LUCKY to date her but! I don’t! LIKE PEOPLE IN THAT! WAY!”
“Breathe, MK,” Sun Wukong said, gently guiding his student to let his hair go. “What did you tell her?”
“I had to… think about it?”
“Oh boy…”
“I didn’t wanna tell her no immediately!” MK said, biting his lip now. “I felt… I dunno, pressured? Pigsy and Tang were watching me and…it was awkward.”
“Well, you have to tell her no somehow,” Sun Wukong said with a nod as he rubbed his chin. “You can’t leave her hanging, there’s bound to be some hero worship driving her to ask you out the way she did so quickly and that can be a tough thing to accidentally play into.”
“I know…” MK said. “But I don’t know how. And what about after that? Are MORE people going to ask me out?”
“Definitely, you’re a celebrity now,” Sun Wukong said, almost sounding apologetic.
“Aw man… what should I do?” MK asked as his mentor paced around him in a circle. “Just say ‘I don’t swing any way ever, I’d rather just have super close friends’ for the rest of my life? I’ve only had to say it like… twice and I’m already feeling burnt out!”
“You turned down two other people?”
“No,” MK said with a shake of his head. “I’ve told Mei I’m aroace and I had to tell the metal brothers so they would stop trying to set me up with Mei and Red.”
“Understood. Well, you don’t have to say it every time,” Sun Wukong said with a wave of his hand. “You could wear a hat with that on it.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Listen,” the monkey king said with a smile as he finally stopped in front of his student. “If you can handle the Lady Bone Demon you can handle telling a normal human you’re not interested in them. And if they give you any trouble, you have a whole family behind you to back you up… Even people who can pick up a building with their bare hands could use emotional support, or so Sandy keeps telling me.”
“... that means a lot, Monkey King,” MK said with a genuine smile. “But I… how do I tell her no if she asks me at work again? I don’t wanna be unprofessional and make Pigsy look bad.”
“Good point,” Sun Wukong said with a hum. “And my usual ‘no thanks’ and flying off wouldn’t really work when you’re trapped by societal convention… BUT! There’s someone else who may be able to help you since he also works in the service industry!”
“... wait, you don’t mean-”
~
“What do you want, Noodle Boy?”
“Aw, no hello to your second best pal?”
“HELLO, Noodle Boy,” Red Son said as he rolled his eyes. “What do you want? Answer quickly before I shut this-”
“How do I turn down a girl who asks me out on a date?”
The fiery demon stared blankly at him, blinking only when MK rushed into his house to get out of the fiery inferno around the Bull Family home and into some shade.
“I… someone asked you out on a date?” Red Son asked, raising one eyebrow in confusion. “You? Noodle Boy? The man who literally never noticed when people are flirting with him?”
“I don’t do that!” MK said, immediately pausing. “... have people been flirting with me? Really?”
“Constantly,” Red Son said as he shut the door and turned to face his unwanted guest. “I honestly don’t know how you never- WHY ARE YOU IN MY FACE?”
“Listen to me carefully,” MK said as he held Red Son’s face in his hands. “I trust you with this information because you’re my friend and Mei loves you. I am aroace. If love was pizza you could order? And platonic love was the toppings? I would be ordering none pizza with left beef every day of my life. So I wouldn’t know flirting if it bit me on the ass.”
“... oooooooooooooooh,” Red Son said with realization dawning on his face as he pushed the other’s hands away. “I see, you’re like the Monkey King. That changes nothing, really, barring the urgency you must be feeling.”
“You knew the Monkey King was aroace?”
“It wasn’t hard to piece together,” Red Son said with a shrug. “I should have guessed the same about you, given your obliviousness to the aforementioned flirting. And also how strongly you reacted when someone assumed you were dating Mei the other week during your last third wheeling session on our date.”
“And I am very sorry about that,” MK said honestly. “But I could still use some help.”
“And what do you want me to do about it?” Red Son asked with a frown. “If the Monkey King couldn’t help you in this area? I was the worst person for you to come to as a second choice. I wasn’t exactly waving suitors off with a baseball bat while working on my bots or helping my mother plan father’s return. Neither was flirtation the first on anyone’s mind when the New Year celebrations were in full swing with my father standing behind me and people coming back to complain my food was ‘too spicy’. And considering we live in the middle of nowhere I didn’t exactly have a lot of experience with random peasants flirting with me, you know.”
“There’s no way that’s possible when you look the way you do,” MK countered.
Red Son sputtered, looking at the other man in shock. “What’s that supposed to mean!?”
“I’m aroace, Red, not incapable of recognizing when someone is objectively hot… pun not intended.”
“I am just going to let that be a compliment and move on,” Red Son said, his face matching his name more and more the longer he spoke. “Anyway, Mei is the first person to ask me out in centuries. I genuinely have no idea how I would tell someone no because I haven’t had to since I was like… the demon age equivalent of 15. And I didn’t have a chance to because that guy was trying to steal from us and got pushed off the roof by one of my Bull Clones.”
“Going to overlook the admission of murder-”
“HE LIVED!”
“-and instead ask if you know anyone else who can help?” MK continued. “I’d ask Mei but, you know, streaming.”
“Hmmn… You could always ask my parents?” Red Son offered with a shrug. “From what they’ve mentioned in the past they were both quite popular with their own respective circles, father especially. They had to turn down more suitors than they could count so they would likely be your best bet for discussing a plan of action.”
“... I mean… I guess that makes sense?” MK mused for a moment. “You’re sure they’re not going to just… tell me to ‘crush them like the unworthy peon they know themselves to be’, right?”
“I make no promises.”
“Ah. Great… I don’t… I mean, I… Could we keep the aroace thing between us for now?”
Red Son looked at MK for a moment before sighing, resting a hand on the other’s shoulder.
“They’re my parents, Noodle Boy, you don’t have to tell them anything you don’t want them to know.”
“... thanks. I mean it.”
And he did.
~
DBK stared at MK.
MK stared at DBK.
"I… usually ran away," DBK admitted with an oddly embarrassed and soft tone.
"I don't know what answer I expected. But it wasn't that."
"I was a VERY shy calf, THIEF!"
MK had managed to avoid having to come out to literally everyone he talked to that day, but in exchange for having Red Son keep his secret for the short time being until he felt it necessary to tell the entire Bull Family (and there was no need in his mind, they could live without ever knowing this about him) he was now having one of the most awkward conversations of his entire 21 years of living.
And he thought asking the Monkey King was going to be awkward.
“It was quite adorable to see him literally running away from his suitors,” Princess Iron Fan said with a chuckle. “Maybe that’s why I gave him a chance when he finally worked up the courage to ask me. Even when he saw me literally blowing his competition away with my fan he still braved the chance to give me flowers and ask for one afternoon together.”
“Aw, that’s really sweet,” MK couldn’t help but say when he saw the wistful look Red’s mom wore when looking at her husband. Romance may have never been for him personally, but a good romantic story or seeing other people happy always managed to make him happy by proxy. “Unfortunately, I don’t think those are options for me.”
“Understandably so,” DBK said with a gruff nod. “You have both an image to upkeep as the simian’s successor AND as a duty to your boss.”
“Maybe Mei is done streaming…” MK muttered. “She’s had to tell so many people no, especially stream snipers, that she’ll probably know what to do.”
Princess Iron Fan chuckled at the mention of her son’s girlfriend.
"Frankly I'm quite amazed that Mei had to be the one to pursue my son, considering he is usually the one more prone to pining."
"MOTHER!"
"It runs in the family, dear."
"Not you too, father…"
“And I am going to head out before Red Son feels I know too much!” MK announced, turning to leave. “Thank you for the advice anyway, I appreciate it!”
"You know you could ask your dads for advice, right?" PIF said suddenly.
"...I forgot I could do that."
"How are we not dead?" DBK questioned under his breath. "He forgets so much."
“I THOUGHT YOU ALREADY ASKED THEM IF YOU CAME TO ME, NOODLE BOY!”
~
MK felt so… stupid.
He couldn’t believe that he never thought to just ask Pigsy and Tang. They were right there and all he would have to do was wait for the day to end. So… why?
Why not just ask his dads?
“MK!” Mei’s voice suddenly sounded as he slowly walked his way back through the city, pulling him from his thoughts. “I was just heading to get some dinner at Pigsy’s! I assume you’re heading in the same way?”
“Sort of?” MK answered with an awkward chuckle. “I’m kinda… taking my time in a walk of shame since I realized I just made my day a lot harder than it needed to be.”
“What do you mean?” Mei asked as she fell into step beside her friend.
“A girl I rescued asked me out on a date and I didn’t exactly tell her no or yes,” MK started, watching as Mei grimaced in sympathy. “So I asked Monkey King for some advice since, you know, he’s bound to have experience with fans and stuff asking him out. But he couldn’t help me with telling her no if she asks while I’m at work. Then he sent me to Red Son who also couldn’t give me advice so he sent me to his parents, who ALSO couldn’t give me advice because they either ran or literally tossed their confessors away from them and THEN PIF said I could have asked my dads and I realized she was right and I wasted basically my whole day running around for dating advice… and now the Monkey King and Red Son know about me being aroace too, that also happened.”
“Whoa, slow your roll,” Mei said, pulling MK to the side of the walkway so people could go around them. “You told Sun Wukong and Red you’re ace? One after the other?”
“Yeah,” MK said with a nod.
“OK, well,” Mei said with her own nod. “Considering you’re telling me and nothing else was mentioned I assume they both took it well! Which is good, glad for you, but… I also know your dads don’t know yet. Are you comfortable coming out three times in one day to four people?”
“It’s way less embarrassing than what I’m going to ask them,” MK said slowly. “And embarrassment is really what I’m worried about-”
“I’m not asking if it’s embarrassing,” Mei said slowly. She put a hand on MK’s shoulder. “I’m asking if you’re comfortable. You had a panic attack when you told ME. And I know they’re them and things are definitely going to be ok, but it’s a lot in one day dude. That’s… that’s a lot of coming out one after the other.”
MK paused, looking at Mei for a moment before smiling and taking her hand off his shoulder to just hold it for a second.
“I think I’ll be ok,” he said. “I’d appreciate some support, though? I think after LBD my anxiety meter is a little broken so I may be running on adrenaline right now.”
“You don’t even have to ask,” Mei said as she squeezed his hand. “We’re BBFs, Best Buds Forever. A little support is the least I can offer.”
“Thanks. Like I said though, I’m more worried about the embarrassment. Do you know how embarrassing it is to ask your parents for relationship advice?" MK asked with a deadpan tone. "Let alone dating advice from ones who don't know you have no interest in dating and you have to ask them about how to turn people DOWN?"
"Nope," Mei said. "I looked it all up online."
"I fear for what you may have read."
"I am eternally traumatized!" Mei said with a wide smile, her tone making MK chuckle despite the implications.
“... you’re a really good friend, you know that?”
“... I try to be.”
“Thanks. I mean it.”
And he meant it then too.
~
“I… I need to ask you guys something,” MK said almost immediately after they got to the noodle shop.
Maybe it was his tone, more tired and shaky than he meant for it to sound. He guessed some of the adrenaline had seeped away from him on his short walk back with Mei. Or maybe it was the fact it was such a slow day that Pigsy never even had to call him back and the shop was empty and quiet until the door opened for himself and Mei.
But something about the situation made his dads look at each other in concern.
“Sure, sit down,” Tang said, gesturing for MK to sit next to him. Mei sat down to his other side with no need for guidance.
"What’s up?” Pigsy said as he stopped what he was doping to stand in front of MK. When there was no reply he sighed, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. “You know you can talk to us about anything, right?"
That softest smile that was reserved only for comforting family made MK feel like he really could be honest with his dads. He told everyone else by now so… why not them? He could totally do it.
"Well… I have… a bit of girl trouble?" MK started, holding up a hand before either of them could say anything else. “But it’s… I want to… turn her down?”
“That’s it?” Pigsy said with a raise of his brow. “Is this the same girl that asked you out yesterday?”
“Yeah…” MK said slowly. He felt Mei squeeze his hand in silent assurance. “It’s just… she’s pretty! But I have no idea who she is and… I don’t… I don’t… wanna date. I don’t wanna date anyone… ever?”
“MK,” Tang said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “MK, were you worried about telling us that?”
“Yeah?” He said quickly with a shrug. “I know, you always say you’ll love me no matter what, but… I mean… you two looked so excited at the idea of me dating someone that I felt I couldn’t say no to her. Plus, I didn’t wanna look like a jerk as the Monkie Kid or make Pigsy’s look bad because of me. I-”
“Whoa, hang on,” Pigsy said as he leaned over the counter. “Kid, MK, you’re not gonna make the shop look bad because you turned down someone who asked you out on the job. If anything, I’d make us look bad by chasing them out if they gave you any trouble for it.”
“Wait, you mean it?” MK said in awe as he stared at his dad.
“Yup,” Pigsy said with a nod.
“We’re sorry if we made you feel pressured to say yeah by being excited,” Tang said, looking at Pigsy and waiting for his nod before continuing. “We just want you to be happy.”
“And what if never being with someone is what makes me happy?” MK asked. “What if I wanna just be with you guys and have friends I can hug and that’s it?”
“Then we’re happy if you’re happy,” Pigsy and Tang said at the same time, looking at each other in surprise before chuckling at the way they synced up.
“Oh thank HECK,” MK said, immediately slumping down onto the counter. “I was worried over nothing and now I’m exhausted.”
“Hey, you were worried about how they’d react and that’s understandable,” Mei said as she spoke up from his other side. “Like how I was with my parents.”
“And there’s no exhaustion that a nice bowl of Pigsy’s noodles can’t fix,” Pigsy said with a chuckle. “Come on. Tell us everything. It sounds like we have some revelations to go over because you’re… non-romantic?”
“Aromantic,” Tang corrected. “Hmn… maybe that explains why you have so much love to give to everyone else platonically.”
His tone of voice told MK that was clearly a joke made in an attempt to lighten the mood.
And it worked.
As awkward as it was, MK started to laugh.
“Well… it started when I saved her about a month ago.”