Archive of Our Own ^beta

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All dem One-Shots are gonna be Character X GN!Reader unless stated otherwise btw.

I don't take requests and won't do Character X Character or OCs. Just X Readers. And no lemons. Might write lemons in my lemon book if I do have motivation on writing any.

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Title Keys:

♡ = Fluff

♢ = Angst

♤ = Emotional Mix/Angsty Fluff/Comfort

♧ = Special/Crack

☆ = Headcanons/Scenarios

¤ = Platonic

[ { ⓘ } ] = Author's Note

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ☆ ~ Headcanons ~ ☆ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

☆ Sun Wukong

>His ego just skyrocketed and won't be coming back to earth for a long time; may Buddha have mercy on your poor soul

>Expect him to watch you play everytime with a smug grin

>You can clearly see his tail swish around happily whenever he sees you react to one of the Sun Wukong character sprites (Especially towards the images of him being buffer than usual)

>You know how the game's Wukong would keep stopping the game's MK just to give him a bunch of tips and tutorials? He's actually doing that to you while you're playing, but with a lot more telling on what exactly he wants you to do (Backseat gamer smh)

>"Go back! Go back! You ran past an important quest item for the endgame!"

>Will distract you a lot by leaning into you from the side or from behind, or wrapping his tail around you in the middle of a battle

>You're struggling with a boss (cuz of him distracting you lmao)? Hand him your controller, right fucking now, he'll use his knowledge to beat the shit out of them for you

>Don't get your hopes up of him doing minigames and puzzles for you however, he absolutely sucks at even those easy-level ones

>If the game has a PvP mode and you have a second controller, expect him to want to duel you just to show off

>You can distract him by scratching his fur or touching his tail in the middle of it as revenge though

☆ Macaque

>Bro would be so salty if he sees you play this game it's not even funny

>He was actually thinking you were talking to the actual Sun Wukong when he heard his voice coming from your living room

>Once you give him a description of the game, it doesn't exactly lower his saltiness over you playing a game based on his nemesis and his successor

>"Why do you not have the option to fight Wukong?"

>"Be happy this isn't a dating sim, Mac..."

>"...The fuck is that supposed to mean"

>I would highly suggest playing whenever your monkey's out of house just to avoid the risk of him deleting the game from your console- It was a paid game after all with roughly 10 hours of playtime on your save file

>You can't tell me he isn't a master at any puzzle at any given difficulty. He could do all puzzles for you!

>Doesn't mean he would

>Jk, he would solve them when you're not looking or when he's bored- or even reluctantly with you if you beg enough cuz he loves you too much

>That doesn't stop him from either leaving you with a clone or spy at your gameplay as a shadow when he got time

>Unironically enjoys watching you play and beat up all those enemies with a smile

>Will deny it if you ask him if he's been watching you play from the shadows

☆ MK

>Excited noodle boy

>Would try to figure out if there's a way to co-op the story quest part

>ABSOLUTELY will play it himself when you introduce the game to him; I mean, it's about Monkey King??

>WILL gush about his hero, Monkey King, despite being his successor

>Will be lowkey annoyed if you refuse to skip cutscenes and are actually listening in on the tutorials and stories- It's evident by his constant whining and groaning

>But it's all good, he could never stay mad at you over it!

>You actually have to pry the controller away from his grasp from time to time- He will not stop to take a break until this boss is down!

>Dear gods, he's been playing for like 12 hours straight now, please knock him out and get him to bed- He won't be beating the boss like this

>Has a lot of fun doing easy-level minigames and puzzles, but does struggle with puzzles later on so you better help him

>"I'm getting the hang of this! But why isn't the strongest skill in the game working on this guy??"

>"The tutorial literally tells you to counter him, dummy"

>"Ugh! Why does it keep healing itself?? It should've died like half an hour ago!"

>"If only you read the boss description at the start of the battle..."

[Published: 04/02/23]

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

It was yet another night at the theater, and a certain shadow monkey was doing his usual routine of retelling tales that he knew of from his own perspective and memories. Nothing out of the ordinary happened of course. He didn't get many people to see his performance, as usual, due to his plays' times and because of people not usually being interested in the concept of shadow plays as they preferred movies.

Such a shame, really, they were missing out on a great show! At least that's what you thought everytime you would see only a portion of the audience seats having been filled. Your husband did such an amazing show and you would be awestruck each and every time at the visuals he was able to create. Not to mention, his soothing voice was a nice bonus no matter which tale he told. He even used his powers to spice up your private wedding a few years back, using his shadows to calm you down from your nervous high, as well as putting on a shadow play for the few guests you had.

Once the play you were currently watching was over, you and the other people in the audience clapped, delighted at the performance. Some even stood up while the demon man on the stage bowed at the applause.

It didn't take long for the last people to leave the room while you simply sat in your reserved VIP seat as usual. And it didn't take long for your shadow to become a portal for the hooded monkey either as he emerged from it, wrapping his arms around you from behind.

"Hey there, sugarplum, how was work?", he said while nuzzling the crook of your neck. He was still in his human disguise, so unfortunately you were unable to appreciate his fluffy fur. But that didn't make you appreciated him any less as you leaned back into his hold.

You actually showed him your workplace before, which is a rather small thrift shop. Macaque needed some human clothing because the red and black cloak he's using during his plays would not suffice in certain areas of the city. Him in a hooded cloak, being all dark and mysterious, would most certainly garner unwanted attention from demons and humans alike. That's when you showed him some stylization options. Everything you showed him was extremely casual and he loved it.

"It was alright. Not much happened today, besides one customer who didn't understand how a warranty works", you muttered. The monkey let out a low chuckle as you could feel his chest's vibration on your back, leaning further into you. "Anyway, once you're free we can go take a stroll. There's this new 24-hour shop we haven't been to yet." Finally, you decided to turn a bit to give him a quick peck on the lips, making him smirk.

"Well, you're in luck. This one just so happened to be my last play for the night. Just gotta clockout at the counter and we're off", he said as he removed his disguise with his ability, revealing his demon form. He was still wearing his hooded cloak however, nuzzling you with his fur now.

And as he said, he clocked out at the counter... Or rather a shadow clone did while he himself carried you bridal-style outside the theater and onto the dark streets. He didn't let go of you until you were in the darkness of an alleyway, embraced by the shadows. You knew he specifically did this to make you feel safer. Because something he told you early on into your relationship: 'You're a lot safer in the shadows. So don't be afraid of them, especially when I'm here.'

The two of you walked hand-in-hand down the alley, talking about whatever else happened at each of your respective workplaces. Apparently the theater had a major fangirl come in who couldn't stop squealing at Macaque's voice, overall mysterious demeanor, as well as shadow abilities.

You laughed a bit at the image of a random girl in the back of the audience having a fangirl meltdown. "She did stay behind after the play to ask me for my number. Of course I said no and showed her my ring, but can you believe that?" He rolled his eyes at the memory.

"Yes, I can believe that would've happened eventually. After all," you started as you made your shoulder bump into his in an affectionate manner, "you do have an irresistible charm on the character you're putting up while in disguise."

You could've sworn his tail wagged underneath his cloak from the faint movement of fabric your eyes were able to catch behind him, giving you an amused smile. He pouted at your word choice.

"Just while in disguise? Damn, guess I'll need to step up my game as amazing husband to top that character", he chuckled before pulling down his hood. "How about I top the 'mysterious storyteller' right now with a tale I know you'll love?"

You simply stared at him in awe before excitedly nodding your head to give him the 'go'. In response, he let go of your hand and pulled out his lantern from underneath his cloak, twirling it in a fluent motion before it abruptly stopped and lit up in all its purple glory. He then winked as he handed it to you for safekeeping before taking a few steps back towards the opposing wall.

Macaque used both his hands and body to make the shadows behind him move in the usual shadow play fashion you knew from his public plays. Despite being fully aware of his abilities, knowing he doesn't need to do such thing to create those visuals, you appreciated his need to be a bit more dramatic than necessary. It simply added a bit more flare to the experience and made it a lot more enjoyable. But this time he actually incorporated his tail into the play too.

He started out with his eyes closed and his hands behind his back, using his smooth voice to his advantage, "Welcome my loveliest viewer, to a shadow play. The likes of which have never been seen." The simian's eyes opened as he threw a loving glance at you before raising his hand to the night sky. His arm's shadow formed a monkey man behind him. You knew that was him from his previous plays.

"The tale follows up on a warrior's story told not so long ago... There was a lonely warrior, wandering the most darkest corners of an unknown town. Cast aside by his former source of light, the hero, he sought out to find another source to feel whole once more", he started as his shadow now depicted himself and Sun Wukong. The Monkey King seemed to vanish as if turned to dust before being blown away by the wind. Macaque's expression held a sliver of hatred, but was quickly replaced with a gentle smile as another memory resurfaced.

"One day while roaming the town in the dead of night, a thunderstorm approached. Desperate to find shelter, he came across a different kind of light. A light so powerful, its source did not seem to mind sharing it with everyone they met." His eyes dilated a bit as he turned to face you, seeing you hold onto his lantern with extra care, making sure not to block its light. You didn't even notice your own lovestruck smile until he smiled back. "That light was a generous and kind mortal human, who offered him their home to shield him from the cold and damp. They even offered him silent comfort from the sounds outside as lightning continued to strike."

The shadows now depicted a human holding their hands over the warrior's ears, making both gaze at one another in close proximity. Then it switched to a scene with both holding hands while looking at what could only be described as sunrise.

"As the storm faded into the night, so did the moon. The sun started to awaken as its rays made the warrior realize that this human was his new source of light. And yet he told himself he had to leave, for he did not feel worthy of their compassion." The shadow of the warrior let go of the light's hands, but then was quickly stopped by the light refusing to let go of one hand, lightly tugging him back towards them.

"However, the light proved him otherwise. They did not agree with his mindset and instead asked him to stay longer." The human now pulled the warrior closer to them before giving him a hug. Macaque couldn't help but let out a little chuckle as he recalled the memory. "And eventually, the warrior seemed to have been put under a spell so strong it sent him into a spiraling trance. One that would bind him to the light for the future to come." Your husband then slightly leaned closer in your direction with his signature grin. "It was a spell of love."

The scene shifted once more to show both of them kissing while sitting on a bench under a tree, one familiar one you recognized with ease. "Over the coming months, their love for one another grew, and so did the shadow's courage to propose marriage to his beloved light. He came up with a plan to meet up under the tree's branches once again, and he expressed his devotion to the loving light of his life..."

Suddenly, the lantern became dimmer by the second as he approached your now blushing form with his arms crossed, clearly hearing your heartbeat. "I believe you already know how this story ends."

And as the lantern's light faded away, you launched yourself forward to capture him in your embrace, giving him a passionate kiss on the lips. You were still holding onto the lantern with one hand behind his back. He wrapped his arms around you in return and leaned more into you. Once you pulled away for air, you gave him a bright smile as a few tears formed in your eyes from the joy you felt. Despite the dark that surrounded you two, the simian was able to see your happy response to his small, private play. Macaque knew how to pick his words far too well.

"You dork... I love you, Mac", your mumbled voice said as you nuzzled your face into his chest. His lips made contact with the top of your head as he pulled you closer to him, letting out what sounded like a low purr.

"I love you too, sugarplum."

[Published: 04/02/23]

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♤ ~ Comfort ~ ♤ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

His green eyes looked into the bathroom's mirror, gazing upon his newfound looks in the darkness. From his green and purple colors to the fact that he no longer needed glasses made him feel very much uncertain if you still liked him. It wasn't a small change one could easily miss or brush off, after all. Syntax had four spider legs coming out of his back now, for crying out loud! How could you not notice?!

He sighed as he ran his hand through his now green hair, closing his eyes while contemplating his next step. The techy science nerd was still in love with you despite the venom in his veins, making him loyal to his queen above basically all else.

How is he supposed to tell you without you freaking out and leaving him? That was probably his greatest fear in that moment. A future without you by his side. That one flaw in his transformation he could never be able to look past.

Good thing you were still at work, so you couldn't see him tearing up in your shared home.

'I suppose I could always fully live in the Underground with the other spider demons if they reject my new form...', he thought, his frown turning into a bittersweet smile.

'...But then I wouldn't be able to see them anymore...'

Suddenly, he heard the sounds of keys clashing with one another by the front door...

His eyes widened at the familiar sound. 'They weren't supposed to be back yet! I can't hide in time!' He panicked as he slammed the bathroom door, closing it just as he heard the front door shut in a more gentle manner.

"Syn? Love? Is that you?", your concerned voice rang through the halls, all the way past the bathroom door. You were hoping it was him and not a burglar.

He took a deep breath as he leaned his back against the door as best as he could with his spider limbs, "I- Y-Yeah, just... not feeling all too well."

Your gut feeling told you he was lying... Well, partially. You were slightly more concerned now as your husband wasn't one to feel sick and take a break over it. Forcing him away from his projects was the only way you were ever able to even sleep most days! So him being in the bathroom on his own accord was strange, to say the least. Questioning his sickness, you decided to walk up to the bathroom and gave a light knock.

"May I come in?" Syntax swore his heart stopped from the sudden panic spike those simple words brought him. Tears slowly started to gather back up in his eyes as he scowled towards the ground.

"...I just- I don't think you want to see me", he said. You were even more confused now as you said nothing, waiting for him to continue. "Even if you do right now, I doubt you'd want to stay after seeing me... After witnessing what I've become..."

The faint sniffing you heard past the door was all you needed as motivation for your protective side to take over. "Love, please let me in. I don't know what you're talking about, but I can promise you I will never abandon you over your looks", you told him as you leaned in with your hands against the door. He could hear your gentle smile as you spoke the part after. "After all, I didn't marry my beloved tech nerd for his looks. His looks were a nice bonus... But what I fell for was his witty personality, his knowledge over things I barely have knowledge of, how he cared for me..."

You placed your forehead on the door now too as you heard what you could only describe as metal lightly clanking against the door's wood.

"You mean so much to me you don't even know..."

That.

That sentence was all it took to break the spider demon and turn him into a sobbing mess. He opened the door just enough so you could see one half of his face within the darkness of the bathroom. The only light inside came from a little nightlight you once insisted on adding so you had an easier time navigating to the bathroom during nighttime.

You were surprised by his new looks and Syntax took your facial expression as a bad sign. However, instead of leaving him as he feared, you put a foot between the door and its frame.

"May I come in now?"

Your husband finally fully opened the door, despite being reluctant about it, and you were finally able to have a good look at him. And honestly, you would be lying if you said you didn't find him even more attractive now.

The only thing that kind of freaked you out were the newfound mechanical spider limbs coming out of his back. You carefully approached him as he took one step back out of instinct. But that didn't stop you as you took one of his hands into your own, gazing at its purple shade in wonder before using your other hand to lightly play around with its skin. This simple action seemed to calm him enough as he rubbed his eyes with his other hand to get rid of some tears that were threatening to fall.

"...I'm not scared of you, and I certainly am not less in love with you, Syntax. That being said, I am curious", you started before your eyes trailed up from his hand to his eyes. "What happened to you?"

He sighed as he took you in for a hug, inhaling your scent to calm himself further, to ensure himself that you were still with him and haven't left. You two simply held each other as you whispered more comforting words to him. A few minutes of just holding each other, and you looking at the spider legs coming from his back with interest, you decided to ask him if he was finally ready to speak, and he agreed.

You two ended up cuddling on your bed as he told you about what happened: The Spider Queen, her lackeys, the venom incident, him being part of the reason why half of the city's population became zombie-like, his newfound loyalty to his queen... He had to ensure you that he would never pick her above you however... While he isn't sure how far his loyalty for her would go now as his spider instincts tell him to follow his queen's every command, he would hate himself forever if he did end up leaving you.

It was a bit difficult for you to adjust to this new life of having a spider demon as lover in general. He would be gone for most of the time since he would regularly sleep in Spider Queen's Lair, and only ever come back home in the dead of night when you were already asleep. And unless it was the weekend, you were unable to stay awake due to you having work at the office the next morning. So nowadays it was hard for you to even see him, which was upsetting because you just missed his presence.

One day however, Syntax came to visit you at work while disguised in a cloak. He didn't exactly try to have a conversation with you as he wanted to avoid distracting you from your job. But not only did he leave you a lunchbox, but he also gave you a quick kiss. Once he was gone, you looked into the lunchbox and saw your favorite snacks(, that he probably either bought or stole right before visiting), as well as a little sticky note that simply read 'I love you ♡'.

You couldn't help but let out a small laugh at how cute he was being. He was never the romantic type and would shy away from the simple idea of showing you public affection, so this came as a nice surprise. It was as if Syntax truly did change a bit in personality and became a bit bolder with his transformation.

Your husband was also there when you came home this time. He kept on using his charm the whole evening until you asked him why he was being so affectionate with you all of a sudden. And his response was that he was repaying you.

"Repay me for what? For loving my husband?" You asked jokingly.

"Well, of course! I hate being apart from you for longer periods of time", he responded happily with his nowadays signature shark-toothed smile. "Which is why I wanted to ask you if you'd be interested in moving into the Spider Queen's Lair with me. It would technically be closer to your workplace as well as my own. We could even have a lit tunnel that leads directly to your workplace!" Your mouth shaped an 'o' at the idea. You could be closer to work as well as see the love of your life more often? You saw this as an absolute win! Although...

"...Is this alright with your co-workers? What if the other spider demons won't like me? What if they want to eat me?!" Your brain started panicking as you imagined different bad scenarios that could happen. But then it halted on one scenario that you could not look past. "...What if your queen orders you to get rid of me?"

Suddenly, Syntax pulled you close to him so your chest would be flat against his as he embraced you with his head on your shoulder. You were surprised, but happily returned the hug.

"Well, then she'll have to inject venom into another person with a similar intelligence level to mine. I would rather drain the venom from my own veins than get rid of you. Besides," he chuckled, "the queen may have an army, but none of them come close to having my technological capabilities. And knowing the queen, she would not bother trying to replace me unless a better replacement is handed to her on a silver platter."

That made you laugh a little before you two leaned in for a passionate kiss.

You could definitely get used to his new self.

[Published: 04/02/23]

Chapter Text

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♢ ~ Angst ~ ♢ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

"Sun Wukong! Where are you?!", your slightly irritated voice rang from behind some trees as you moved past some foliage, looking for your monkey boyfriend. He was supposed to train MK today and you wanted to pay a visit to Flower Fruit Mountain, but then you caught MK training on his own as his mentor was nowhere in sight.

MK told you that Monkey King decided to take a sudden vacation and that he apparently sent you a message just minutes prior. You didn't notice the message however as you were busy trying to get the sleep bug game notification off your phone. It didn't work, so you ended up just turning off your phone so you could deal with it later at home.

But the fact that he outright left not only you but also the kid like that was quite upsetting.

Knowing the stone monkey, he didn't actually immediately leave. He was probably still somewhere on Flower Fruit Mountain to collect everything he would need just in case while being away. And it seems you were right on the money. You found the Monkey King packing up some leftover things that weren't behind the waterfall or near his and MK's designated training area. The items seemed to not be for a relaxing vacation to be honest.

"Wukong! Why are you going on vacation out of the blue?!" You asked as you approached him with quick steps.

He froze, his tail stiffening for just a second to let you know you startled him. The monkey quickly turned to look at you rather nervously. "A-Ah h-hey heeey, peaches! Wh- Well, what a surprise to see you all the way out here!"

"Mhm. Same to you", you started, glaring at him, "But don't avoid the question. You should be all the way on the other side of the forest and training your successor right now, y'know?"

He waved his hand dismissively, "He's got the basics down and knows how to train himself. I did train for the most part on my own as well. He'll be fine. Besides, it's not like I'll be gone forever. I'll be checking in from time to time." Then he continued to pack two more items.

You were still quite mad at him despite the explanation. "But why are you going on vacation right now and without me?"

That seemed to catch his attention, but not in the way you expected. The simian's ears seemed to twitch a little at your words, but he refused to look at you as he packed another item.

"Listen (Y/N), I simply need to get away and be alone for a while. I'll be visiting some people I know from the past. I'd love to have you on another vacation, just... not this one." His tail lowered itself until it was tucked between his legs. That didn't stop you from feeling left out of yet another mini-adventure. It was far from the first time he insisted on you staying behind due to you being a regular human with nothing more than verbal strength.

This time was no different as you noticed that whatever he had planned, the seriousness in his voice told you enough that wherever he was heading to was not a simple vacation. But that was even more of a reason to at least tell you where he was going!

You clenched your fists in frustration. "Can't you just tell me what's wrong? It's not like you to be this secretive! I know you're off to doing something alone again because of whatever bits of a hero complex you have left, but-" "I can't tell you, okay?!" He snapped back, finally turning to you with the snarl of a feral monkey, catching you off-guard.

"Ugh, that's why I need a vacation right about now too! Gods, you're so pushy in moments like these, I just need a break!"

Tears pricked in the corners of your eyes at his words, but you turned around quickly enough so he wouldn't see. You took a deep breath to calm your nerves and keep your voice from cracking.

"Fine. I hope you have fun on your vacation, Monkey King", you responded as you started to walk away, your back facing him the entire time while tears began rolling down your cheeks.

The simian was still annoyed as he began hopping onto his cloud and taking off. Only halfway to his destination did his brain finally register that you referred to him by his title. That's when the reality of the argument you two just had a few minutes ago hit. And so did the memory of how he described you, followed by you tearing up.

He did notice.

"...Shit", he muttered to himself dreadfully as he facepalmed. As much as he wanted to go back this instant and embrace you before you left Flower Fruit Mountain, his mission had to take priority as the fate of the world was in danger. He would have to apologize to you later...

"Later" turned into several weeks however as he fought to obtain information on how to beat the Lady Bone Demon. Occasionally he would check in on MK, of course. He did ask about you at least once everytime he got in contact with the boy though, even while being in the middle of battle. The guilt that was eating at him was a lot more bothersome than getting his hands on the Samadhi Fire's map.

MK noticed how often his mentor would ask about your well-being and at first thought that it was sweet of him to ask about you... But then he realized he could just get in contact with you directly too. You had a charm in form of a necklace that let you transport to Flower Fruit mountain, as well as open the waterfall and get in contact with your lover.

That's when he started to catch onto the suspicion that something must have happened between the two of you.

"Monkey King, why don't you just talk to (Y/N) directly? They still have the charm you gave them, right?"

The golden image of the Monkey King crossed his arms before scratching his cheek with a frown. He seemed suddenly very much uncomfortable.

"I... Uh... I don't have the time for a lengthy talk with them right now. I still need to visit another friend in a bit! Right! Yeah! Okay, see you later, bud!" "Monkey King, wait-"

And then the connection cut off. Feeling upset and abandoned by the one who was supposed to mentor him through his journey as hero, he decided to give you a call.

The phone rang until he heard your voice. Your recorded voice.

"Hi! This is (Y/N)! Please leave a message if you need anything and I'll listen to it as soon as possible!"

He hung up and tried to call again, but it also only went back to voicemail.

Raising an eyebrow at your sudden unavailability, he decided to just send you a text instead, believing you were busy at work and put your phone on silent.

'monkey king keeps asking about you btw, but doesn't seem to wanna talk to you directly :('

'tell me if you wanna talk to him and i can try get you two in contact'

'if he hasn't talked to you recently that is'

'he acts kinda weird rn tbh'

You should be able to read those messages once you got time. Probably after work.

And yet he never received any text back.

What he didn't know was that you weren't at work. In fact, you were being held captive by the Lady Bone Demon's servant, the Mayor. Him and his Lady knew about your relationship with Sun Wukong and how fragile you were compared to the rest of your friends.

"I don't have anything to offer you!" You yelled out as the Mayor held your arms effortlessly behind your back, forcing you to simply talk to his Lady's glowing image in front of you.

She giggled ominously, "On the contrary, (Y/N). Your destiny has been sealed the moment you agreed to a relationship with that damned simian and befriended his successor."

"What the hell am I of use for to you?! I don't have any special abilities you could even benefit from!" Your voice cracked towards the end from the amount of anxiety you had.

"Well, unfortunately for your frail body, your destiny involves succumbing to your wounds."

Before you could question her any further, the Mayor moved your wrists swiftly, breaking your arms in the process. You cried out in pain, breathing heavily as tears began to fall.

"For you see, the charm Sun Wukong gave you will aid us in creating the New World. Contact him through it." She smirked down at your quivering form. "And even if you decide to be uncooperative, destiny will catch up sooner or later..."

And as suspected, you were being very much uncooperative. So much so that you ended up with more injuries than you could keep count of. Probably half of which included several broken bones from the Mayor's raw demonic strength.

While the Lady Bone Demon wasn't so fond of your refusal to call your boyfriend, she merely saw it as a minor delay. She knew Sun Wukong and the rest of the crew would get suspicious and try find you eventually.

Even if it took days upon Wukong telling the crew to find the three four rings...

And find you they did.

But not in the shape they had hoped.

You were completely bloody and bruised, your limbs were mangled in a rather disturbing way.

The crew was horrified- Not only at the sight, but also at the realization that you were lifeless, dead...

The Monkey King felt the most broken. The memories of your forever last conversation being one big mess of an argument... He thought he was keeping you and the others safe...

He mourned over your dead body, letting his tears fall as he carefully cradled you in his arms, his fur and armor now having bloody spots. MK was struggling with telling his mentor to focus because he himself couldn't fully focus anymore at the sight of a close friend's body. However, the thought of other people, including his other friends, ending up in the same position as you were in was terrifying.

And that was all the motivation they both needed to keep moving. The Great Sage wiped away his tears, looking at your resting form one last time before glaring into the distance.

He would avenge your death, no matter what.

And if possible, would try find a way to bring you back... Even if it involves fighting the Heavens once more.

[Published: 04/02/23]

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Also, I'm fully aware that I could keep the pronouns gender neutral on this one as well and just say you're afab, but I personally prefer using she/her pronouns when it comes to specifically pregnancy one-shots, so I'll be sticking with that.

ⓘ Reader is FEMALE

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♤ ~ Comfort ~ ♤ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

Red Son was actually quite confident about his capabilities in your relationship. Ever since you both agreed on having a child, and after hearing that you were finally pregnant, this man was over the moon. He was already coming up with an idea for a nursery made up out of his mechanical creations.

However, you suggested a nursery with less mechanical components and more wood, like a regular nursery. You two ended up with the compromise of a regular nursery, but with an advanced safety and security system because your husband didn't trust those pathetic mortal safety measurements. And also to ensure that the nursery wouldn't catch on fire since it's located in a castle surrounded by basically anything that can easily burn wood.

The first months of your pregnancy went by pretty smoothly, actually. Despite feeling like shit more often and your husband gaining a bit more respect for female hormones(, mainly due to you scaring him with your mood swings), Red Son was taking great care of you.

Your parents were filled with joy, but only to an extent. They were still a bit concerned about you being married to, and having a child with, the son of the Demon Bull King. That didn't hinder them from showing up at your wedding and meeting your husband's family though.

Red Son wasn't as anxious about their presence as you were, but he was still a little concerned about their safety. He really didn't like the potential outcome of your parents getting killed off in front of you during their visit. So he made sure to tell his parents beforehand not to try anything on any of the human guests. They both seemed chill about it and a bit amused.

And once the news of a potential half-demon spawn spread around the family, Princess Iron Fan was extremely happy about finally having a grandchild. The Demon Bull King however...

Well, it wasn't the idea of a grandchild that was making him show a bit of disapproval. Rather it was his son's relationship with a mortal human that was rubbing him the wrong way. Not only did it feel wrong to him that a puny human with barely any strengths would join his family tree, but you would also die so much sooner than any of the demons.

An immortal being in love with a mortal one was a recipe for a tale ending in heartbreak and despair, after all.

At least Princess Iron Fan was already immortal when he met her. You on the other hand were a simple human craving for noodles...

Actually, that's what you were craving the most in recent times due to your hormones. And so, Red Son would be seen at Pigsy's Noodles a lot more, which was surprising to MK and the gang.

They didn't question it much at first because he said that he's just bringing the order to someone close to him and didn't want to have MK deliver it. However, as he came in more and more, the others started to notice that he would always say the same thing. And it started to feel like he was getting those noodles for someone a lot more closer to him than he claimed.

So naturally, the others got curious.

MK told Monkey King about the red demon's strange behavior and the simian decided to chill with the gang for a day and see for himself. Red Son came in at roughly the same time every other day and would order online. So it wouldn't be hard to catch him picking up the order.

And as suspected, his order came in around the same time as usual. While Pigsy was preparing the demon's order, the others were thinking of who the guy was delivering all that food to. It couldn't be his parents as they had their own food in the kitchen. They probably didn't even know about the noodle shop. It was actually quite weird in general that he would specifically get noodles from Pigsy's instead of just letting one of his Bull Clones cook noodles for free. There had to be a reason.

A little over half an hour later, the bull demon arrived at the shop to pick up his wife's usual order, when he noticed another familiar face's presence sitting by the counter today.

The simian in a rather poor disguise, at least in the red demon's opinion, gave him a lazy wave at his entrance. "Sup, Bull Son." The other demon rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms, approaching the counter.

"It's Red Son, you imbecile", he retorted with a scowl.

"Yeah yeah," Monkey King started as he used the same hand to wave dismissively. "Anyway, my buddies told me you come pick up noodles a lot recently. And I'd like to ask, why don't you just cook them up yourself in your kitchen?" Now it was the simian's turn to cross his arms as he turned towards his old friend's son.

Red Son huffed as he leaned across the counter to reach his order. "My wife asked for specifically noodles from this place. She said something about the quality here being incredible compared to what my family's kitchen offers." While talking, he opened the bag to check on the order as usual before nodding in approval.

The room went quiet and Red Son, confused, looked back up at everyone's surprised expressions.

"YOU'RE MARRIED??"

The group's shocked, and some excited, yells startled the fire user so much he almost dropped the bag that held your food. Once he recovered from their outbursts, he awkwardly coughed into his fist, a faint pink tint visible on his cheeks. "Uh, yeah, obviously. Did you guys not notice the ring I wear during any of the times I came here?!" He then put the bag he was holding back onto the counter before showing them the ring around his finger.

"Yer orderin' quite a lot of noodles for her, kid", Pigsy noted with a smirk. "Heh, I get that my cookin's great, but the amount yer usually orderin' for one person is... odd."

Red Son turned to face the pig with a prideful smirk of his own. "That's because she's eating for two and craves your noodles specifically. So you better feel honored that Red Son's wife even bothers asking for your cooking."

Silence.

...

" W H A T ? ? ?"

Red Son covered his ears this time before the group could potentially damage his hearing. Mei ran up to him and pulled him into a firm hug. "Why didn't you tell us?? THAT WOULD MAKE ME LIKE A FUTURE AUNT!" She then squealed in excitement. "RED BOY IS BECOMING A RED DAD!"

"Oh great, why not scream it louder and let the entire world hear about the news", he said sarcastically, trying to get out of her hold. But apparently Mei ignored the heavy sarcasm in his voice as she let go of him before proudly putting one arm around his shoulders.

She pulled out her phone from her pockets with a bright smile, "Great idea! I'll let my people know right away!"

But before she could turn on her livestream, Monkey King grabbed her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. He shook his head with a chuckle. "I don't think Bull Son over here would be comfortable with you showing off this moment to the whole world just yet. Besides," he started before turning to the other demon with a grin, "he hasn't even told us who his lucky lover is."

Mei's mouth shaped into an 'o' before slowly turning her head to face the now ticked off 'Red Boy'. She gave him an excited look he could easily read as 'Please tell us about her'. And so, rolling his eyes, he gave in because he knew the gang would keep pestering him about it if he just left.

He gave a brief description of you, how you two met, how you fell in love, as well as how you were faring these past months.

But there was one topic he seemed to be avoiding. And Sun Wukong knew.

"Quick question," he started as he crossed his arms again, "how did your parents react to your relationship?"

Red Son froze, his eyes widening just slightly, yet it was enough for the simian to take notice of. The Monkey King sighed as he shook his head. "Not all that positive, I guess."

The bull demon suddenly felt like avoiding eye contact while putting his hands in his pockets, leaning further back into the counter. "Tch, naturally."

MK's head perked up from the table at the chosen wording. "What do you mean 'naturally'? Is it normal in the Demon Bull Family to not be supportive of another's relationship?"

"It's not that", he responded as he took out one hand from his pockets to scratch his head a bit. "As I've already told you, my wife is a human. A mortal one at that. My mother was actually fine with the relationship, including the marriage. She was also extremely happy about getting a grandchild. My father on the other hand..."

He angrily looked down before sighing to avoid having another raging outburst over a simple memory. "Let's just say I'm having a hard time convincing him that this is my life and I chose to live with my lover's consequences of mortality myself. But, he did genuinely seem happy when I told him I'll be having my own child to raise soon. I guess his own fatherly senses decided to show up for once in a long while."

Tang hummed in thought. "To be honest, I'm quite surprised myself that you found a human lover, let alone one you wish to have a child with."

Red Son raised an annoyed eyebrow at the other man sitting on a stool. "What are you getting at?"

"It's just... surprising is all. After all, DBK himself wasn't the best role model as a father. Even in a lot of the stories of the past. Not only because he's been sealed away for so long, but also because we know what he's like with you in the current days", Tang pointed out, upsetting the already semi-heated demon.

"Are you implying that I'll be a bad father? Just because of my own father's past doings and constant absence in my past?" He stood strong for the first part, his ponytail turning halfway into flames for just a second. However, his walls started to slowly crack as the rest of his words left his mouth.

"Uh... I don't think Mr. Tang meant it like that exactly", Sandy's quiet yet rough voice commented from across the room as he raised one index finger. Tang nodded swiftly as he somewhat attempted to anxiously try gain distance between him and the demon... Which was very much difficult to achieve, considering he was on a stool without wheels. And aggressively jumping away from him would be too obvious. As such, all he could do was to lean back.

"There is a chance you might end up treating your child the same way your dad treats you", Monkey King added from his own seat. "After all, the saying 'like father, like son' can happen in certain scenarios."

They all noticed Red Son's hair starting to flare up in anger again, so MK decided to speak up before things could get out of hand. "W-Well, that doesn't necessarily mean it will happen! Right?" He then turned to his mentor, who simply shrugged in return, mumbling a small 'Dunno'.

"Why you little... HE WASN'T A BAD FATHER, OKAY?! Just because you can't comprehend how my family operates does not automatically mean-" He paused as something seemed to flash within his memory. "UGH!" His fist made contact the counter. It wasn't strong enough to leave any damage, which relieved Pigsy, but it still startled everyone except for the Monkey King. "I REFUSE TO DEAL WITH YOU PEASANTS RIGHT NOW!" Suddenly, his hair turned into a rather wild flame for a few seconds. The demon in red then forcefully took the bag of noodles and stormed off in a rage, slamming the shop's doors in the process.

The gang turned to the Monkey King with mixed expressions that ranged from 'Why did you have to say it like that?' to 'Could he actually become bad to his kid?' The retired hero just held his arms up in surrender, unsure of how to react. "What? I was just being honest", he said casually.

The shop owner rolled his eyes at the monkey. "Well, the noodles for sure are cold by now. But I guess the anger this guy produces at the moment might just be enough to heat 'em right back up."

What the gang wasn't aware of however was that Red Son's walls crumbled more and more the further he got away from the noodle shop. The doubt of being good enough as a father creeping in on his conscience. The demon grunted to try ignore the painful frustration building up within his chest, using his flames to transport himself back home.

Upon arrival, he decided to consult his mother about this matter. Just to... get advice.

Luckily, Princess Iron Fan was sitting by the dining table and was reading a book, until she noticed his entry. She placed a piece of paper as a bookmark between the pages she was reading before closing the book. "You seem troubled, son."

"...I'm actually just seeking insight, mother. A bit of guidance, if you will", he responded as he took a seat at the table, placing the bag of noodles in front of the seat next to him. At least his father wasn't here right now, so he wouldn't have to fear bringing up the topic as much. The black-haired woman hummed to signal him to continue.

He awkwardly coughed into his fist once again before finally popping the question. "Do you... Do you think I'd be a bad father to my unborn child?"

And just like the gang, his mother became quiet.

"...Okay, tell me who fed you this bullshit of a mindset."

That... was not the reaction he was expecting. Let alone hearing his mother curse, which she very rarely does. His eyes were wide open as his mouth was slightly agape. His mother wasn't joking either, he could tell by the raging fire in her eyes.

He shook his head quickly, flailing his arms around a little in panic. While he was upset with a certain monkey's phrasing, he did have a point on a fundamental level. "N-No, no, mother! Heh- It was just a civil conversation with some... friends about my marriage. At one point the topic came up of, uh, if I'll become more absent and negligent in raising my child like father-"

Princess Iron Fan slammed the book she was still holding onto the dining table, startling the young demon.

"Your father may have not been actively present your whole childhood, that is true. But, that did not stop him from loving you and caring about you." She sighed, crossing her arms and closing her eyes.

"If he didn't care about you, he would've just helped extract the Samadhi Fire from you without taking you back home. He would've disposed of you to make sure you would never become such a threat ever again."

"But he didn't", Red Son added, starting to connect the dots.

"Yes," she gave her son a worried glance, "so don't ever think he doesn't  care. He cares in his own way. And about being absent... Well, what could he even do when he was sealed away by that damned monkey." Her son scratched his head in thought.

She then gave him a warm smile. "You know, on the other hand... If you do need more parenting advice for when the child has already been born, you know where to find me. Because let's face it," she let out a small laugh at certain memories, "despite caring about you, your father truly sucked at actually taking care of you."

"What do you mean-"

She cut him off, giggling. "He set the kitchen on fire while heating up milk. He also somehow managed to lose one of your used diapers. I'm not joking when I say the smell came from practically everywhere." Red Son couldn't help but hold his face in his hands in embarrassment. Yet his mouth held a smile as he tried holding back his own laughter at the amusing story.

"Haha! Anyway, you know just as well as I do not to take your father's big bad bull façade to heart. If anything, you should take this as a lesson." She trailed the outline of her book with her finger, seemingly lost in thought. "Simply appearing as a bad parent to others should not be of your concern. What matters is that you are there for your child when they need you the most, to help them grow up healthy. But It's also important to give them free range to roam and choose how they wish to spend their own time."

Princess Iron Fan clenched her fists. "Those friends you spoke to simply do not seem to understand that we're more than bull demons. We're a family. Your friends are not the ones responsible for raising your child, after all. Others may give you advice and suggestions, but the way they handle things does not necessarily mean it's the way for you to handle things."

Red Son glanced down at the book in front of his mother as he spoke. "I see..." He then slowly stood up from his seat before bowing just slightly in respect. "Thank you for your time, mother. I'm... glad to have you here to help me", he said softly, giving her an embarrassed smile. She gave an amused one in return.

He grabbed ahold of the bag once more, but was stopped before he could leave the table. "One more thing, son." He glanced over at his mother, confused. "You better heat up those noodles properly before you deliver them to your wife. I'm speaking from experience when I say you will be dealing with a different kind of demon if you serve those cold to her." She gave him a knowing wink.

Red Son grumbled a little to himself, also fully aware of what you were like when he didn't meet your craving's standards. After all, that was the side of you he was actually scared of. He picked up the bag, but then put his hands underneath it before using his abilities to heat it up slowly. The bull demon then made his way down the hall to your shared quarters with a sigh.

His mother's words echoed in his mind as his body moved on autopilot. To be honest, he was still somewhat doubting himself. But the knowledge of his own father being flawed in taking care of him, yet still helping with whatever he could was kind of inspiring. The demon was so deep in thought that he almost walked past your bedroom door. But your faint voice from the other side of the door caught his attention. Apparently you were on the phone, talking to someone.

Your husband entered the room and you looked over to him from where you lay on the bed, noticing him with your noodles in his hands. The smile you gave him made it all seem worth it. You told your mother that you would talk to her later before hanging up and putting your phone on your nightstand.

"Welcome back, honey! Took you a while to return", you greeted him as he walked over to the bed.

He sat down before pulling you a little closer so he could kiss your temple. "Sorry for keeping you waiting. I was being verbally held hostage by the people at the shop." Your husband then used the same hand that pulled you closer and placed it on your round belly. "...Do you want to eat on the bed or use the desk?"

You tapped your chin in thought, but he knew you were faking it. He already knew your answer. "Hm, the baby and I feel like staying in bed right now. But..." You put your own hand on top his, staring at him lovingly. "We also want you to stay here with us."

Red Son blushed with a little smirk before his doubts came back to haunt him once more, turning his smirk into a frown as he avoided eye contact. Of course, you took quick notice of his sudden change in behavior. "What's bothering you, honey?" He sighed, circling his thumb over your skin.

"...Do you think I would make a good enough father?"

You were dumbfounded. "What kind of question is that? Of course you would be!" Your free hand found its way to his cheek, forcing him to turn back to face you. "Listen, I wouldn't have agreed to have a child with you if you wouldn't be. I know you're gonna be incredible with the baby. So don't doubt yourself." You gave him a quick peck on the lips since he was already turned to you.

"And by the way," you started with a smile, "even if you end up struggling with taking care of the baby, I'm here with you. Taking care of a child takes team effort, be it from two parents, friends or family. It's also my child too, therefore it's part of my responsibility as well. As long as you keep trying, and want to try support the child, that automatically makes you a great dad by default."

"For what it's worth," you leaned in and kissed his cheek, "I know for a fact that you'll be an amazing dad."

Your comforting words weren't exactly surprising, but the words coming from you was what he really needed the most right now. He huffed with a smile as he gently pulled you in for a hug, making sure you weren't uncomfortable with the position. "I love you so, so much you don't even know."

Your own smile only became brighter. "I actually believe I do... 'Cause I love you just as much. But, now that this topic's over, the baby and I would like to eat-" Suddenly, you felt a slight bit of movement coming from your belly. You gasped in delight before grabbing one of your husband's hands and placing it back on top of your belly, confusing him.

"Wait, what's happening?" Red Son didn't know why you placed his hand there until he felt it. It was a tiny kick.

"I'd like to believe the baby heard your woes and is trying to tell you how awesome of a dad you are... Either that, or that it wants to beat you up until you no longer have any doubts that you can raise it well", you commented. Your husband couldn't help but let out a laugh as a few tears started to gather in his eyes from the joy and relief he felt. He gave your belly a quick kiss.

"Thanks, little flame... I promise to give parenthood my all", he said before he looked back at you, now filled with confidence.

You grinned at his sudden change in mood before leaning over to grab the bag of noodles. You took one good look inside the box before determining with a frown, "...It's cold."

"...Fucking shit, not again..."

[Published: 04/08/23]

ⓘ Might do a part two at some point with the child having been born- Also this one ended up with like 4.3k words including the starting note-

Chapter Text

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

Today was a pretty chill day for your workplace. You did have customers come in, but it wasn't as many as usual. Assuming people were simply busy themselves today, you didn't think much of it. Well, that was until one of your co-workers told you about how your boss seemed to have gotten into some trouble with a member of the local triad. Something along the lines of her having gotten into an argument over keeping the restaurant on their king's turf. But apparently it was a lower member, so he ended up threatening to get a higher-up. And customers who received the news were wary about eating there for a while.

Nothing happened however, so it seemed more like an empty threat from your boss's point of view.

And yet due to what you heard, you were a little bit on edge yourself. Mainly about the potential shut down of the restaurant, making you essentially jobless once more. And you actually did enjoy your job here.

You were the one who designed the restaurant aesthetically, making it feel more welcoming for those afraid of the organization lurking everywhere. And since the restaurant was in a rather shady part of Megapolis, it stood out quite a long. You were also in charge of making to-go packages look nicely. Aluminum animals were littered around the windows for show of your abilities in the crafts of origami and general design.

And it did garner a lot of attention because most passerby found it really cute. Even customers' children sometimes asked if they could make their own little animals with your assistance. But your skills did not make you famous or really be seen. You were quite invisible to the public eye, always sitting quietly in a corner or in the back of the restaurant. In fact, you were so invisible that the two powerful demons that came in later that day didn't notice you folding up another delivery for someone who ordered for pick-up. The customer specifically asked for a fox as a little gift for one of his family members. You yourself were so occupied by your artistic piece and playlist's music that you didn't notice them coming in either.

The demons were talking to your co-worker and were 'kindly' asking for your boss. And of course, your co-worker, terrified as she was, jogged towards the back to get your boss.

"Ugh, why does everyone keep on picking this part of the city for their business?" The monkey with an eye patch questioned while scrolling through his phone, thoroughly bored. He knew this 'talk' wouldn't take long, so why was he demanded to join in the first place?

The other simian leaning against the counter huffed, "Well, they simply don't learn this area is off-limits. I don't even see any reason to keep this restaurant here anyway. We can just scare off every customer if we go the non-violent route." He quickly flipped through the menu, or rather looked at solely the pictures. "Even the food here looks mediocre at best. Killing the people here plus the business would actually be a blessing."

"At least the decoration's nice. I mean, look at this cat!" The black-furred one commented, holding up a miniature kitten made out of aluminum foil he found by the counter.

"Hm, true", the other one admitted. His eyes then glanced around the room's decor... until his eyes landed on you.

You, who made The Great Sage instantly freeze in shock.

You, who was sitting lonely in the corner of the empty restaurant.

You... who looked like an exact replica of his long lost lover, just with different clothing.

His one and only beloved, who managed to tame this beast of a feral demon... until they died to another demon's talons. It caused the Monkey King to snap and make sure this demon would no longer serve as a reminder of what happened. The environment wasn't safe from the encounter either. Unfortunately, he was unable to bring you back, and he had no way of knowing if you would ever be able to reincarnate. But it seems he finally had found you after so many years. And you were the one behind the creation of the only good thing about this restaurant.

The monkey stared at you for so long that his eyes started to dilate and his tail started to slowly swish from side to side. His lips curled into a soft smile as he witnessed your happiness with your work. His friend seemed to notice and followed his gaze.

Ah. Now he understood.

He smirked at his superior's lovestruck expression. Until your co-worker returned, trailing behind your boss, who suddenly seemed a lot more anxious than ever before. The two monkeys gazes snapped back at the two women behind the counter. One monkey seemed amused while the other seemed to have been caught off-guard.

"Yeah, so, we came here because one of my men noticed your restaurant and you were not willing to leave our turf. And we came to settle what he didn't manage to do", the black-furred one stated nonchalantly, his gaze lingering back onto his phone, seemingly searching for something specific.

"Oh Great Sage Equal To Heaven! I beg of you! Please don't kill us!" Your boss pleaded, lowering her head and putting her hands together.

The Great Sage's eyes then glanced back over to you, still vibing to your music and smiling at your crafty little work. You just finished another smaller fox as extra, and he couldn't help but find it absolutely adorable. He then looked back at your boss with a smirk. "You know what? Nevermind, you get to keep your lives and your business."

Confused, yet still frightened, your boss asked him what made him change his mind.

"Simple. You got one amazing and absolutely stunning crafty person working here. Would be a shame if anything happened to your or this business while they still work here~", he answered as his eyes traveled back over to your corner. Your boss glanced between him and you repeatedly before laughing in what one could only describe as a mix of relief and confusion... or concern.

"W-Well, they are a great person, indeed! I assigned them to this task specifically because they don't want to be seen or have to talk to customers. So we- ...huh?" Your boss stopped, watching helplessly as The Great Sage Equal To Heaven approached your seat with his hands in his pockets. Both her and your co-worker were silently praying for your life.

You were still busy with another aluminum animal, when you suddenly felt someone's presence drawing closer. You finally looked up when the person was hovering over you. "Um... may I help you, sir?" You asked as you took off your headphones. What you didn't expect was that the person was a monkey with fancy-looking clothing. He was blushing a little but you were too confused to notice. Apparently you didn't recognize him. He saw it as mostly a blessing because he didn't want the reincarnation of his beloved to fear him. The way you were so casual towards him was what drew him into your past life's relationship in the first place.

"Oh, I just saw your fascinating little crafts and wanted to say you- I-I mean, they look lovely!" He stammered out nervously. You blinked at him before leaning over the table to grab a little aluminum monkey you made before. It wasn't quite as accurate as the birds you've created, but it was still recognizable. You then held up the mini monkey in front of him with a smile.

"Would you like to have this one? It's not great by any means, I'm... still practicing monkeys. I-I hope it doesn't look offensive, otherwise I could-" "It's perfect..." He cut you off, gently taking the animal made out of foil. He would hate himself if he accidentally damaged it in any way with his strength. His claws barely brushed over the softness of your hands, but it was enough to make him feel the tingling sensation you imprinted on him. The Great Sage then gave you a loving smile and a nod in appreciation, "Thank you..."

While the two of you were chatting away about your masterpieces, laughing when certain jokes were made, your boss and co-worker were baffled. They wouldn't have believed it if the scene wasn't playing out right in front of their eyes. The Sun Wukong, Great Sage Equal To Haven, leader of the most feared triad, and immortal Monkey King... was casually talking to a practically invisible stranger without threatening them even once. Or even making them feel uncomfortable.

Were you so oblivious to the fact that you were speaking to a man who could not only kill you, but also destroy everything around you without even trying?

Well, it wasn't so much about being oblivious than it was just about being a decent person. You've heard of the triad, and you've heard rumors of the infamous Monkey King. However, that doesn't mean you would necessarily have to treat him any different to any other customer since you didn't know him personally. You've never even seen the guy until now. And by his looks, you could easily assume it was him.

Meanwhile Macaque seemed amused by the situation. Something only he seemed to have noticed was Wukong's tail wagging happily. Its movement wasn't fast, but it still reminded him of a dog who found its long missing owner. So he couldn't help but take a picture of the scene. It wouldn't serve so much as blackmail, but it would be enough to calm him down with a picture of you if the other simian started to go off again.

And if that wasn't enough, he took some extra pictures of specifically you being happy with Wukong.

"So what you're saying is that if I order food for pick-up or delivery, you would be the one packing it up?" The orange monkey asked, purposefully playing dumb.

"Yeah, unless I'm sick or have a day off. Then one of my co-workers does the packing instead", you responded, pointing in the counters' general direction. Your co-worker let out a nervous squeak before hiding behind your boss.

"Great, so I'll get to see your pretty face a lot more often!" Your face turned a light shade of red at his comment. Too shocked that someone, anyone, let alone The Great Sage would compliment you past your work. He gave you a grin, "It's decided. You can expect me to order food at least once a day."

You blinked in absolute confusion, meanwhile your co-workers were dumbfounded. "Eh?"

"Well, it was nice talking to a stunning and demon-friendly person such as yourself, peaches. But I believe my visitation time's up for today. I hope you're back here tomorrow though." He winked at you at the end, making your blush darken just a bit that he could still notice.

"And don't worry about your business, boss lady", he added as he turned towards the counter with a smirk. "So long as your amazing artist's working here, this restaurant is under the triad's protection. Anyone who tries to get rid of it will have to get through me and my men first." His eyes seemed to darken just a little as his smirk grew into something a bit more sinister. The Monkey King let out a laugh at your co-workers' scared expressions. The dark-furred simian on the other hand huffed in amusement, showing his own fanged grin to the two women. This seemed to scare them a few steps further away from the counter he was now sitting on.

The orange-furred monkey then pulled out a pen and used a piece of unused foil before writing something down on it. He then slid it over the table towards you, placing his other hand on his hips. "Here, feel free to text or call me anytime. And by anytime, I do mean anytime. Feel free to also contact me when you feel unsafe or just want company! I really wouldn't mind showing up in person!"

To be honest, it was actually strange for Macaque to see his old friend act this weirdly. He could tell Wukong was trying to sway and seduce you. But due to how he wasn't trying to do it to manipulate you, and him haven't genuinely done this in hundreds of years, he kind of lost his touch. The shadow monkey could see him struggling as he was a nervous mess on the inside.

His tail gave away his nervous vibes the most. It kept on moving around, curling in on itself, as well as seemingly trying to hold itself back from just wrapping around you for much needed comfort. You glanced at the info written down on the piece of aluminum before gently smiling at him with a nod. "Will do, thanks! It was nice chatting with you too, Mr. Monkey King."

"Please, just call me Wukong. 'Mister' just makes me feel an extra millennium older."

"But you are old, grandpa!" Macaque exclaimed from across the room, earning him a death glare from his ticked off boss.

"You're one to talk, emo dinosaur!" The King snapped back. You couldn't help but let out a small laugh at their childish insults, making the orange-furred monkey slowly turn towards you, his heartbeat seemingly increasing at the sound. He needed to hear your laugh more.

"Anyway, I'll take this with me," he stated as he picked up one the menus from the table, "and we'll be on our way now. See you tomorrow, peaches~" The Great Sage then rather aggressively grabbed the other amused demon by the back of his coat, casually picking him up and carrying him towards the exit, the aluminum monkey still being gently held by his other hand. "Move along Macaque, we don't have all day."

"Until next time, (Y/N)!" Macaque called out as he waved at you as best as he could, still being carried away like a kitten.

...How did he know your name? You only told Wukong during your conversation... 'Man, those rumors about the Six-Eared Macaque having incredible hearing must be true if he was able to hear that', you thought. Little did you know that he already knew your name despite his hearing.

However, from that day on your life's daily routine changed. Wukong would ask for a different order everyday, testing out everything from the menu to see if it was even worth buying more than one specific order everytime. And any food he didn't like he would give to MK to try out. His adoptive son was actually pretty fond of the restaurant's food, to the point where he would either go eat there by himself, with friends or come eat with his dad. Most of the time the triad would only ask to grab pick-up food, but there were days where members would actually eat by the tables. You weren't sure if they only asked for pick-up as to not scare away any non-triad customers, but it did seem to invite in more people each day.

Wukong would sometimes also stay at the restaurant, specifically eating at the same table as you while you were packing up other peoples' orders. He started off pretty nervous during your first conversations, but he quickly became a lot more casual with you. Even his flirting attempts became a lot smoother and would easily catch you off-guard, leaving you a blushing mess everytime. Meanwhile you decided to show him how to create his own little army of aluminum animals.

It might take a while to get you to fully fall for him again, but he would do anything to be with you forever. Even if simple little animal crafts would bring you two closer step by step. Reincarnation or not, he loved you until the day he dies...

Which is saying a lot in his case.

[Published: 04/16/23]

Chapter Text

ⓘ Reader is FEMALE; (C/N) = Child's Name

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

Finally, after an agonizingly long time of giving birth, the baby was finally in your arms. Red Son was anxiously holding your hand so tightly just half an hour prior, but now he was gently holding onto you and your child with a smile. He gave your temple a kiss while brushing his thumb over your hand, which was securely helping your arm hold up the baby that was previously crying.

"He looks so much like me when I was this small", he commented softly, making you huff in amusement.

"Well, do you wanna hold him?" 

His eyes lit up as his gaze met yours with a smile. That was enough of an answer for you to carefully hand your son over to your husband. You also told him how to hold the baby correctly so it doesn't get hurt or become uncomfortable. It didn't take long for tears to gather in his eyes as he gently held onto your child while his gaze softened at the sleeping potato. "Hello, little flame..."

And finally, all was at peace...

...

...Actually, that would be a lie.

Okay, Red Son did sign up for this when he decided to have a child with you. From the constant waking up in the nights to the multiple diaper changes and random vomit. He knew it would happen, and he was mentally prepared at the thought... But now he was having seconds thoughts on if he was actually prepared. Especially when it turns out his baby could sneeze fire.

Of all the scenarios he had prepared the nursery for, a fire-sneezing baby was not on his list. He did not account for the possibility that the baby could possess fire abilities before it even reached the two-months-mark. Hell, he had a plan for if the child somehow ended up inheriting part of the Samadhi Fire! Good thing he did not. You both were suspecting that your son either didn't have it or he has such a small amount that it wasn't a threat to himself or others.

That did not mean that he wasn't a threat to the furniture. Grandpa DBK once came in to check on the little one, only to watch in horror as the crib was set ablaze in front of his eyes. The baby was absolutely fine and was giggling among the flames like a tiny pyromaniac, don't worry.

That was definitely a child of the Demon Bull Family, no doubt about it.

However, due to the discovery of the baby already being this much of a tiny menace, you reluctantly let your husband rework the nursery to ensure such fire could not expand. And while the room was under maintenance, you were tasked with baby duty for probably the entire day. Honestly, you didn't really mind because your mother-in-law was there to help you out. After all, she and her husband were absolutely smitten by the little flaming menace to society. Princess Iron Fan's experience in the field of motherhood was both a great help and gave a lot of content to talk about for when you're bored.

"You would not believe how destructive Red Son was as a child", she commented as he sipped on her tea. Meanwhile you were rocking the baby in your arms, lulling it further into sleep. Your talk with the little one's grandma was quite boring in his point of view. She giggled into her hand.

"Your own child is pretty tame compared to what he managed to do. Then again, my husband wasn't helping the situation either." She then side-eyed the Demon Bull King, who was awkwardly trying to eat from his plate. Honestly, having his son here right now would've been better... at least then his wife wouldn't try to solely pick on him for embarrassing memories. Unfortunately, Red Son couldn't attend dinner this time due to the nursery incident. So DBK had to survive this on his own.

He swallowed the food he just munched on before huffing, "I personally don't think I was that bad in raising him."

"You set the kitchen on fire-"

"That was one time!"

"But the bottle itself was covered in flames four times. Not to mention the diaper incident that somehow happened twice-"

"I'm telling you, the smell came from every wall! How was I supposed to know he hid them on the ceiling??"

You blinked in confusion, "I- Wait, he managed to hide two used diapers as a baby? On the ceiling?" Princess Iron Fan nodded with an amused hum. Your gaze lowered itself onto your own baby. Guess you had to be prepared for even more chaotic moments like that potentially happening. As if the fires (C/N) accidentally created weren't bad enough.

"Well, was there anything else that happened between the two of them?" You were simply curious.

The Demon Bull King suddenly started to eat a lot quicker, to the point where he was trying to eat everything off the plate at the same time, practically inhaling it all to escape this conversation.

His wife laughed, sending her husband a taunting grin, "Of course! Let me tell you all about it~"

DBK then apparently deemed his attempt to escape not fast enough and simply ate the plate as a whole. He then excused himself from the dinner table and speedwalked off to who knows where with long, heavy steps.

You and his wife stared at his quick exit from the scene. While you were absolutely baffled that he just swallowed the entire plate, his wife couldn't hold in her laughter anymore.

And while Princess Iron Fan was telling you more embarrassing stories about her husband's best fails at being a parent, the Demon Bull King found Red Son in the kitchen. He seemed rather annoyed at something, so his father had to ask, "Is something the matter?"

Startled, his son almost dropped the bottle he was holding. Red Son sighed in relief when he realized it was only his father. "No, no. Everything's fine. I fixed up the nursery and wanted to get a newly filled bottle before telling (Y/N) it's ready. Just...", he responded as he glanced back down at the bottle, "I don't think I'm doing this right."

His father crossed his arms, leaning against the tall doorframe. "Do you perhaps need some help, son?"

The shorter bull demon scratched his head at this awkward situation. "...I wouldn't mind some help, actually. My attempts were a little... embarrassing, to say the least."

"It certainly couldn't have been that bad! It's simply about filling the bottle and heating it up."

"That's the problem, father. You see...", he said rather timidly before opening a cabinet and pulling out two more baby bottles that looked burnt. The Demon Bull King repeatedly blinked in shock, not believing what he was seeing. Red Son on the other hand was blushing in embarrassment, placing the bottles onto the counter before hiding his face in his hands, groaning out his frustration to the world.

"I'm a failure of a father...", his muffled voice commented from behind his hands.

To his surprise, his own father laughed. Red Son gave him an offended look, "Are you laughing at my misery?"

The giant bull wiped away a single tear from his eye before taking a deep breath to calm down a little. "Seems like we're not so different after all!" Now it was his son's turn to be stunned into silence. "I honestly thought you would have less problems than me with this!"

"What-" "Haha! Anyway, heh, let me show you how your mother taught me how to heat it up properly..." The bigger demon then approached the counter with the bottles and filled the clean one that wasn't burnt with milk from the carton. "I'm guessing you were struggling with the heating process, yes?" Red Son awkwardly nodded at his father's observations. "And I'm guessing you tried heating it up with your own fire." Again, his son nodded.

"You're not supposed to heat it up yourself. We have a microwave for a reason", Demon Bull King added with an amused smirk. "Your own flames won't be able to safely keep the bottle intact while increasing the temperature at a consistent rate. Here-" He then placed the bottle in the microwave, closing its door before setting the timer and starting it up. The demon shrugged, "Now you wait. It's as simple as that."

Red Son looked at him dumbfounded before his frustration seemed to take over again. "Why the fuck didn't I think of that?? UGH! I'M SO STUPID! THIS IS SO STUPID!" His hair started to flare up at his rage as he clenched his fists.

"Do you truly believe having a child with your wife is stupid?"

His father's question brought him back down again. Calming him, but also catching him a little off-guard. "W- What? No... No, of course not! I love my child!"

Demon Bull King huffed with a smile, "Well, then you need to learn and adapt to your child's needs to raise him well. It might be annoying keeping up with it all, but it will help his life improve a lot." He followed up on his words by picking up one of the burnt bottles, inspecting it. "Don't forget, you agreed on having a child with (Y/N). And as part of that agreement, your child is your responsibility too." His eyes then glanced at the shorter demon's surprised expression. Red Son did not consider that his father could give him advice just like his mother.

His thoughts were cut off when the microwave suddenly beeped, indicating that the bottle was now heated. He opened the door and to no one's surprise, the bottle was still fully intact and the milk was now warm. And despite the heat it held within, he had no problem grasping the bottle with his bare hand and closing the microwave once more. He then gave his father a very small bow with his head, "Thank you for your help, father."

The Demon Bull King chuckled, lightly patting his son on his head, "You better move along now and tell your wife about the nursery. Pretty sure she wants to drop off the baby back in the crib aga-"

K A B O O M

Both demons froze in shock, startled at the sudden explosion. Thinking they were under attack, they quickly made their way back to their wives in a hurry. Until they heard your distressed, but also oddly calm voice coming from the dining hall.

"Um- I- I didn't know he could do that! I'm so sorry!"

"It's all good, dear- We, uh, can just fix it right back up! Don't worry about it!" Princess Iron Fan responded, sounding quite concerned about the situation.

Both men entered the dining hall and watched as there was now a giant hole in the wall. Its borders as well as part of the debris were engulfed by flames. You and PIF didn't seem harmed, just extremely shocked at what you two just witnessed. Meanwhile little (C/N) was giggling again, with the same giggle from the time he set the crib on fire in front of his grandpa.

"...Are you sure I'm not a failure of a father?" Red Son asked rhetorically, his hands gesturing towards the scene with an expression that could only be read as 'Bruh'. Demon Bully King couldn't help but stare at the giant hole in the wall as a confused Bull Clone walked by on the other side.

Turns out your child could not only sneeze fire, but also create a stronger version of it that acts like a fiery bullet explosion. 'Huh, parenthood turns out be more and more fun with each day', you thought somewhat sarcastically, suddenly becoming more tired by the second as you dropped off your adrenaline. Your husband ended up helping you feed the bottle to the baby since he noticed how much more tired you looked.

In the meantime, Princess Iron Fan told both bull demons about what happened and how you and Red Son should be careful with your child's newfound abilities. The fact that he already possessed such powers within the first month was concerning.

It didn't take long for MK's gang to get permission to visit once your baby was properly settled into your home. The Demon Bull Family was a little bit wary about the gang's visits at first, but they quickly got used to their presence. Mainly because they weren't usually bothering the two of them in the first place. They were rather out to bother you, your husband and your little flame.

You never even met your husband's friends before their visits, so you were glad they all were kind and seemed to be enamored by your child. Red Son made sure to tell them beforehand about the potential fire sneezes that can happen. He also gave them other general warnings of abilities you two picked up on while observing the little one.

But with that being said, the gang had a lot of fun interacting with the kid. And it was quite surprising to see him not freaking out over all the attention he was being given. Well, for the most part... He did cry during their first visit due to MK and Mei's constant screaming. However, after telling them to be quiet around the baby, things seemed to be a lot more at peace with them.

Tang was extremely curious about the child's early powers while Pigsy was seen smiling a lot more around the baby. Sandy usually brought gifts with each visit, especially non-flammable, or at least highly fire resistant toys for the baby.

And Wukong was... on edge. At first, at least.

Of course he congratulated you two and also found the baby adorable. But after you told him about the chaotic incidents the child has caused... He was a bit cautious. Not for his safety, but for your and the gang's safety... Also the universe's, but Red Son and DBK already told him about how your child does not seem to possess the same type of power as the Samadhi Fire. At least that bit of information made the Monkey King loosen up enough to enjoy his stay around the child more.

In general, things were getting a lot more interesting for your family. Especially because Red Son suggested having another child in the future once you got your current child's powers under control.

Because apparently one fire-sneezing baby is not enough.

[Published: 04/23/23]

Chapter Text

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

"I've told you before. Hands off my territory... No one to blame but yourself."

The dark-furred simian dropped the demon's corpse onto the pavement with a dark grin. It's been a while since he really got to do this to another demon. He's been holding back his true strength ever since he met you, in hopes of not scaring you off... Well, at least he didn't usually attack demons with you around. That didn't mean he would kill them even when you weren't present.

However... this particular demon crossed the line. Not only did this demon return to the apartment complex, the Six-Eared Macaque's territory, despite having been warned... But this demon also threatened to kill him, as well as you and your neighbors right after.

Little did he know that your husband was a lot more capable than any other ordinary demon this guy had ever faced before, by far. Despite his size compared to the intruder, he could easily fold him.

And of course, Macaque didn't take this random demon's threats lightly. Killing off a threat to you and your home once in a while wouldn't be so bad, no? Surely a little bit of self-defense in the name of your safety should be fine.

So he did what he seemed most fit. Getting rid of the pest that spoke of those threats. After all, endangering you in any way, shape or form was off-limits. Anyone attempting to break this one simple rule had to deal with the consequences and would be punished by your loving husband...

Violence may not always be the answer, but life is multiple choice.

And death was just one of the options.

A quite merciful one at that.

Macaque glanced down at the blood that now stained not only his clothes, but his fur too. He rolled his eyes, grumbling about needing to take a bath. After all, he wouldn't want his beloved to be stained by another demon's blood when he hugged them. And thus, he disposed of the body by engulfing it in a shadow portal. He was torn between letting it fall into lava or the ocean, but he decided that lava would be the quickest solution. If the corpse somehow managed to not be gone by the time the Demon Bull Family saw something floating on the surface of one of their lava pits, then they could simply see it as a nice aesthetic gift to their home.

He used another shadow portal to return to your shared apartment's living room. Everything was quiet, so much so that he had no problems hearing all your neighbors without even trying, which the shadow monkey already anticipated. Usually it was him that would come home later than you, but not today since his plays were scheduled for only half of the week. And it was a good thing he had the day off. Who knows what would've happened if you came home first and encountered the demon he got rid of instead!

After making his way past your bedroom door, he let a shadow clone enter and pick some fresh clothes for him. Meanwhile, he prepared his bath. The dark-furred simian noticed the lack of a shampoo bottle near the bathtub, so he ended up picking the plum-scented shampoo from the cabinet beneath the sink. Macaque was considering using body wash as well, but decided against it as most of what the blood got on was pure fur anyway. His shadow clone then walked in with fresh clothes, placing them on the closed toilet seat before vanishing back into his shadow.

However, before he could undress, his ears caught the sound of keys clashing by the front door. He smiled to himself at the implication- Only you had keys to the apartment since he didn't need keys to enter. And his assumption was indeed correct.

"Mac-Mac, I'm home!" Your lovely voiced called out from down the hallway as you entered.

"Heya, sugarplum! I'll be right with you, just gonna take a bath first!" He called back through he closed door. It did take a while until the tub was actually filled with warm water, so in the meantime he inspected his nude, scarred form in the mirror. He sighed to himself as he tried getting some blood off manually with his fingers, but to no avail. It would be difficult to clean up some spots, for sure. Especially those splatters that ended up on his back...

Another thing he did while waiting for the bathtub to fill up was to listen in on what you were doing. From what he could still hear past the noises coming from the faucet and your neighbors, apparently you were eating dinner. Presumably leftovers from the fridge as he did not recall you cooking anything earlier that day.

Once the tub was full, he turned off the faucet, then climbed inside and began to clean himself up. Macaque started off by washing all his fur on and around his head, at least that was easy to do. There wasn't even all that much blood stuck in there in the first place... Well, except for maybe the front.

He was so busy rubbing the blood off his arms that he didn't hear you walking towards the bathroom. At least until you lightly knocked on the door, pulling him back into reality.

"May I come in? I need a dry towel for the kitchen", you asked. Your husband told you that you may enter, so you did.

It was far from the first time you saw him without clothes, so it wasn't exactly awkward when you came in and picked one of the thinner towels. After choosing a fitting one, your eyes glanced over at the dark-furred simian. Honestly, he was already handsome by default. Him without a shirt was even better. But his wet, shiny fur glistening in the light of the bathroom made him look a lot more appealing on top of it all.

Suddenly, his own gaze landed on you. He seemed a bit confused, but this little bit of confusion was quickly wiped away as his smug grin took over.

Shit. He probably heard your heartbeat increase... Curse his intense hearing!

"What's the matter, sugarplum? Like what you see~?"

You were about to respond in a flustered, passive aggressive manner... Until you noticed the amount of red that was still very much present on his fur. You paused for a second before becoming concerned. "What happened? Did you get into a fight? Is that your blood?!" You asked frantically.

Macaque's grin left just as quickly as it came. "No, no! Well... I mean yes, I did get into a fight. B- But this isn't my blood!" That statement only eased your concerns a bit.  You simply stood there in thought with the folded towel in hand... Until he seemed to try wash off some blood his back, but to no avail.

"Do you need help getting it off?" You asked as you slowly put the towel onto the sink.

He raised an eyebrow at you before waving his hand dismissively. "I wouldn't mind the company."

You hummed in amusement as you made your way over to the bathtub, getting onto your knees next to it. Macaque handed you the bottle of shampoo and you put a portion of it onto your hand, putting the bottle next to you on the ground. You then scooped up a bit of water with your other hand and mixed both liquids together. Afterwards your hands were free to roam around your husband's back, trying to get rid of the red colors and the faint stench...

Honestly, you couldn't tell if it was just the blood because his fur seemed to stink on its own.

Suddenly, the dark-furred simian started to purr as you started gently cleaning blood around his tail. You actually had a somewhat hard time cleaning it... Macaque's joy over you handling his tail so gently only made it move around more. That in of itself wouldn't have been much of a problem, but we have to take his extra strength into consideration. He may be holding back by a lot, but his tail was still able to casually pick you up if he wanted to. So trying to keep it still enough to properly get rid of stains was a challenge.

You grinned at his tail's excitement, "Do you want me to wash the rest of your body too or what?"

The shadow monkey halted before fake-thinking with a hum. "Only if you get in here with me."

You gave him a blank look for a few seconds. Macaque thought this suggestion was a bit too much for you today. You barely got off work after all. Thus he was about to apologize... until he heard you take off your own clothes.

He paused as his tail's tip flicked back above the water in anticipation. His head whipped to the side to see you put your clothes onto his own pile or dirty clothes. With your body now in the nude, you approached the bathtub before demanding him to scoot over so you could sit behind him. You then positioned yourself so he was sitting between your legs, practically having been captured so he could never escape. (He wouldn't have minded to be honest.)

And without another word, you proceeded to continue washing him. Mainly his back and sides due to his fur's locations, but you occasionally would brush over part of his chest. Most of his fur in the back wasn't even bloody, but it was still nice to help clean him. At one point his tail wrapped around your waist as he leaned back into your hold, purring while slightly rubbing himself against you. You cooed at him being adorable and tried countering him by pushing your body firmly against his, trying to reach at least part of his legs better.

However, the moment you got to his hips towards his abdomen, he chuckled. "Not low enough, sugarplum~"

You rolled your eyes at his words with a flustered smile, "Mac-Mac, you can clean that area yourself. I can barely even clean your legs from here." He pouted as his head turned to face you, just so you could see his disappointment. You grinned at him in return.

"Do I at least get a reward for cleaning up the rest myself?" He asked with a knowing smirk as his gaze lowered towards your body below the water. That cheeky little bastard... You raised an eyebrow at the monkey's suggestion. The fact that his tail seemed to slowly make its way towards your thigh didn't help the situation.

You sighed in defeat as you nuzzled into your husband's furry back. "Okay fine. But, only one round, got it? I still have work tomorrow, and you know how much our stamina differs."

Macaque chuckled, using his hands to position your arms around his torso, your hands against his chest. "I can't promise anything, sugarplum~" He swiftly turned around more until he was able to give you a quick kiss on the lips, his hands holding your head for better access. "I love you."

In return, you leaned in as well for a kiss that would last a little longer. "I love you too..."

"Well, guess I better get to cleaning now, just so we have more time for my reward~", he said in his low voice as he pulled away. It didn't take long for Macaque to completely clean himself, especially with this new motivation literally sitting behind him with a flushed, yet amused look.

Maybe you should offer him this type of reward for doing house chores, just to motivate him into actually doing those more often.

[Published: 04/30/23]

Chapter Text

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

You actually met your boyfriend on accident. The Monkey King apparently stole a very important item from the Celestial Realm, and said item was being guarded by Nezha. He never told you about what exactly went down, just that he was basically hunting him down for a while over some set of rings.

Either way, he ended up at Lantern City and knew Sun Wukong would be there. But he didn't want to garner attention or cause a scene with all the mortals around, so he slipped into the crowd with a cloak, waiting for an opportunity to confront the Monkey King... Honestly roaming the streets of the city was a little unnerving considering most of the merch they had was related to Sun Wukong in some way...

But then he bumped into you. Or rather, the side of your backpack. You were enjoying your time as tourist and weren't alarmed at his cloaked look. You were able to still see his handsome face after all. "Sorry...", he said before slowly trying to walk away again. However, something told you to strike up a conversation with him, so you did.

"H- Hey! Wait up!" Nezha stopped in his tracks as he turned back around to face you. "Are you a local? Do you know about any sights here other than the giant lantern?"

And that's when you both got caught up in a conversation. Oddly enough, the people around you were loud, yet Nezha had no problem ignoring the sounds to solely focus on you. He didn't seem interested in talking to you at first, mainly due to him being on a mission. But then you brought up the topic of how you were a fan of stories about the Celestial Realm. The way you got excited about this topic piqued his interest... You could tell based on how he suddenly started talking a lot more. You did find it interesting how he knew about even more stories than you though. He even added in more details to moments you only vaguely knew of.

Apparently his talk with you was so fun and distracting that he didn't even notice Sun Wukong suddenly being on stage: Until the pig holding the mic started singing so loud you had to cover your ears. It wasn't exactly the volume itself that got to you, it was mainly just the sudden volume change without warning that hurt. People closer to the stage even seemed to have been blown away by his voice... literally. Nezha took notice of your discomfort and looked over at the stage, now taking notice of the nervously smiling Monkey King. He glared in his direction before making his decision.

The Lotus Prince put one hand on your back and started to lightly push you away from the stage and away from the crowd. "C'mon", he mouthed over the singer's voice as he lead you to a more quiet area. You were still able to hear the stage rather clearly, but your ears were no longer in pain. He made sure you were okay first before telling you that it was getting late and he slowly needed to go. You asked him if you'd see him again, and he couldn't stop himself from smirking.

"As much as I'd love to see you again, I don't think my job allows me to have the time to look for you..." You tilted your head in confusion, prompting him to continue. His mouth formed a straight line. "...Let's just say I'm a guard."

You let out a quiet 'Oh, okay' before your disappointed gaze avoided eye contact. Nezha sighed, placing one hand behind his neck. "Look, you're nice to talk to, but we're both tourists here and would have to part ways anyway. I'm just your average stranger, after all."

Now, that just gave you a funny idea.

You took off your backpack, placing it in on the ground between the two of you before pulling out a cap that was white on the front half and red everywhere else. Afterwards you pulled out one of your pens and started to write on the front. Then you handed the cap to the cloaked Lotus Prince. "Here you go!"

He looked at you in confusion after reading out the words you wrote on it. "(Y/N)'s Special Stranger...?"

"We may have to part ways, but that doesn't mean I can't give you some sort of souvenir... If you think this is kinda funny too, that is. You can just get rid of the cap if you don't want it... I haven't been able to use it much anyway", you commented. However, instead of throwing it away or handing it back to you, the stranger let out a chuckle in amusement.

"Well, it certainly is funny. Thank you, (Y/N). I'll keep it, don't worry", he said as he gave you a small smile. But it was enough to make the rest of your day all the better. However, you decided to ask one last thing with a grin...

"Before you go, what's your name, dear special stranger of mine?"

He rolled his eyes with an amused smile before answering with a name that surprised you, as it seemed very familiar.

"Nezha."

...

"So that's why you're wearing this thing", the Monkey King connected the dots in his mind as he looked at the words written on the Lotus Prince's newfound cap.

He sadly wasn't able to wear it during the time the entire Lady Bone Demon crisis happened, but now he finally got to wear it in peace... for the most part. Because Sun Wukong came to visit him and immediately had to tease him over the obvious claim written on his friend's new hat by a mortal.

The simian gave him yet another smug grin. "Are you going to try see them again? Your lovely stranger~?"

Nezha felt his cheeks heat up as one of his hands moved to lower his cap in the front a bit, seemingly trying to hide his face... and failing. "I already told them I can't. The Samadhi Fire's map may have probably been the most important item I was supposed to guard, but there are still other items I was tasked to watch over."

Wukong's expression then quickly turned into an unamused one. "Seriously? You're not even trying to look for them on the side for like five minutes a day?"

"How would I be able to find them within five minutes? I don't even know where they're from!"

"Fine then! I'll find them for you-" The Monkey King exclaimed before suddenly grabbing Nezha's cap, ripping it off his head before placing it on his own, smiling brightly with his thumbs up. "Take my help as a little gift for your love life. See you in a bit, Nezha!"

The simian then quickly summoned his cloud before zooming off into the skies, leaving a completely red-faced Lotus Prince behind. Whether the red colors came from pure rage or pure embarrassment was hard to tell. It seemed to be more of a mixed case. He cursed under his breath before using his own abilities to go after the monkey.

"SUN WUKONG!!"

[Published: 5/7/23]

Chapter Text

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♢ ~ Angst ~ ♢ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

Not just anyone got to be this close to Macaque. Be it emotionally or physically. This demon held even people he enjoyed being around with at arms-length. You knew it's due to his past experiences and you didn't mind. You enjoyed hanging out with him regardless... Though, you were disappointed that he never showed any signs that he was actually interested in you beyond friendship. Thus, you never tried to make a move. However, you did give away subtle hints that you liked him.

From the way you were helping him with his daily plans, to the way you were regularly smiling at him. He never seemed to take the hint. He simply treated you like he would any other he deemed as 'friend', while also putting his dislike for Sun Wukong first.

And it hurt.

Yet this pain was quite minimal compared to how you felt during one evening's 'hangout'...

The sun was starting to set as the people of Megapolis slowly started to head home to rest from their tiring day at work or school. Meanwhile, you were waiting in an isolated corner at the park for Macaque to arrive. He wanted to meet up to ask you something so important that texting you apparently made him feel uncomfortable.

Hope arose when you read his hangout message once again. Was he going to confess? Was your love for him reciprocated?

After what seemed like an hour of waiting, despite it only having been roughly 10 minutes, a shadow portal appeared underneath the closest tree's shade. And as expected, your monkey friend appeared. "Sorry about being a little late. I quickly had to check up on someone..."

You waved your hand dismissively, telling him that it's fine. "I haven't even waited for half an hour. Anyway, what was it you wanted to ask?"

"Ah, straight to the point, as usual", he chuckled. However, while his smile remained, his gaze suddenly seemed a lot more nervous.

"Well... You see... How do I put this-"

Hope arose once more as you noticed a very faint blush on his cheeks. Macaque crossed his arms for some comfort.

"Do you..."

Your smile brightened.

"...Do you know what would be a good gift for a first date?"

...

What.

And in an instant, your smile was gone and was replaced by a mixed expression of hurt and confusion. You masked the expression with more of the confusing part almost immediately.

"I- Um- What-"

"I got a date with a human this evening and I haven't even come up with a gift! But humans bring gifts to dates, right??"

"...W- Well, generally speaking, I... I guess flowers are a first date thing?" You shrugged. "Or- Uh... Something small they might like? I- I don't know?"

"Something they might like... from what I recall, they don't like flowers. So that option is out of the question..."

"Oh." You liked flowers. "T- Then I don't know how to help you here... Sorry." He wasn't talking about you, clearly.

He sighed, placing one hand behind his neck with the other on his hip. "It's fine. I guess I could've just asked you this through text. But I felt like it'd be too... awkward."

"As if this meeting wasn't awkward...", you muttered lowly, hoping he wouldn't hear. Though, you forgot about his extreme hearing. The dark-furred simian raised an eyebrow at you, but refused to say anything. This meeting was kind of awkward after all. However, he thought it was awkward due to a very different reason.

"...Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" You asked after a few seconds of silence. If he paid enough attention, he would've heard the obvious disappointment in your voice.

"I...", he started before pausing, "...No, actually. I'm just... looking for advice."

Your mouth formed a straight line as you crossed your arms. "I... guess all the advice I can give you is... act like yourself, give them something small they might like, and just... have fun. Good luck on your first date though, I'm rooting for you", you added with a small, fake smile.

And with that, you started to turn and walk away, hands in your pockets... When you suddenly had the urge to cough. You covered your mouth with one hand as you rather loudly coughed, trying to get rid of whatever was itching in your throat... And out came a tiny bit of blood. Your eyes widened at the sight as you let out a very quiet gasp. Macaque, of course, heard you. "Are you okay, (Y/N)?"

"Y- Yeah. Just... caught a bit of a cold, I- I guess... Don't worry about me though! Worry about your date!" You nervously laughed, brushing off the concern his gaze on you held.

"Are you sure? I could at least-" "N- No, no! It's fine! I'm f- fine! Maybe a walk back home will clear my pipes more." You were trying to hold back another cough as you started to walk away a little faster. "See you after your date! Text me how it went!"

After letting out another cough, you started to speedwalk away, leaving the shadow monkey alone to his thoughts. He was worried, sure, but you had a point. He had a date to prepare for and he was majorly unprepared.

While he set out to finding the perfect first date gift for the other human, you arrived home and ended up coughing into your bathroom's sink. You were already expecting more blood, but you were not expecting the petals that followed soon after...

You needed answers.

And so, you ended up looking up your symptoms on your phone. Oddly enough, it did not take long at all to figure out why you were suddenly sick and coughing up bloody petals. The first page of your search was entirely filled with articles, images and even documentaries about it. A disease, or rather a curse, called Hanahaki.

Apparently it wasn't a common disease. It sort of seemed to have vanished for the most part, and the most recent records you could find seemed to have happened a few years ago. It seemed to involve falling in love with demons and said demons not returning the person's love. Which is why it was also deemed to be a curse- A curse the Celestial Realm may have set upon humanity for committing the sin of falling in love with a demon. However, as said before, it seemed to have died down and the greater majority of humans are safely able to be with a demon...

You were not part of that greater majority.

Dread washed over you as you felt the urge to cough again. 'Oh, what fun', you thought sarcastically. Especially after knowing Macaque was on a date with someone potentially better and more interesting than you... Tears gathered in your eyes at the thought of being completely replaced by someone else as the person he usually came to talk to first. It did not help your increasing coughing fit.

Your coughing did not seem to decrease of stop either as more and more thoughts clouded your mind. Perhaps Macaque would be better off without you bothering him with your interest in him...

Speaking of the shadow monkey, he did not have a great time on his date either. Turns out his interest for his crush disappeared the moment they started to talk about their interests without ever asking him about himself. The conversation seemed to be more one-sided if anything. He did try to add some of his own interests into the mix, but his date would brush those off within seconds and lead back towards their own topics.

He couldn't help but imagine how this conversation would've gone if you were sitting there instead of his date. You probably would've talked about mutual interests and lead to the topic of a new videogame you two could try together. The dark-furred simian sighed as he nodded along to whatever his date was saying, already zoning out of the 'conversation' and starting to look at his phone on his lap.

At some point, they started talking smack about their friends and hinted at his friends probably being 'just as strange'. His thoughts only went back to you. However, one statement actually pulled him into the topic.

"That being said, i knew a loser back in my school days named (Y/N)." His date said as the monkey's ear twitched. "What an oddball, honestly. All they ever did was read, write and draw during recess with no friends at all. Haha! Someone this quiet and awkward would never be able to score a date, I tell you-" They suddenly stopped when they noticed the intense glare the demon sitting across the table was giving them.

"...You know what? Sorry, but I don't think this relationship could ever work. I'm out. Check's on you", he stated before angrily getting up from his seat. He took a few steps back before phasing through his own shadow.

"Huh- Wha-... HEY!"

Once back in the darkness of Megapolis's streets, Macaque started to calm down. Sure, they could've meant another (Y/N), but the way they described those interests of yours, those interests that you've been carrying around happily for years... It just struck a cord and he somewhat snapped. He actually had to hold himself back from just outright yelling at this human.

Though, even if they were not talking about you at all, they still were not suitable as his mate. The lack of common interests was just one part of it. Either way, he decided to text you, knowing you would still be up at this time. It wouldn't be the first time he would want to visit you before the clock hit midnight.

'Date was a bust'

'Kept talking shit and i lost interest before we even hit the 30 min mark'

'You awake?'

Yet you did not reply.

Strange. You did not answer like how you usually would... Maybe you just fell asleep early? After all, you probably expected him to be unavailable for the entire evening. And if you were sick, that would just add even more reason to it. Macaque groaned. He should've stayed with you to make sure you were actually okay! Worry started to take ahold of him once more at the thought of you ignoring his texts due to your last conversation with each other.

Only then did he realize... You actually seemed disappointed when he told you about his date.

What hit even harder was the memory of him wishing you sat with him instead of this other human he thought he had a crush on. But... it was you he actually wanted. It's been you for so long and he never realized.

He facepalmed before deciding you give you a surprise visit. Just to make sure you were asleep and not ignoring him for his stupidity. Using another shadow portal, his next destination was your living room. Once inside, he quietly roamed the darkened apartment. All lights seemed to be off, so he thought you were actually asleep... Until he noticed the light coming from your bathroom. Macaque, instead of knocking as to not scare you into thinking he was an intruder, spoke up.

"(Y/N)? Are you in there?"

No response.

"...Are you mad at me for sending you to the park for our short talk?"

No response. The demon closed his eyes and focused on the bathroom's sounds. Maybe you were actually ignoring him.

However, confusion started to kick in as he noticed... He did not hear anything. No water dripping, no movement of clothes...

...Not even a heartbeat?

Now that he thought about it, he did not hear your heartbeat even once since he got here... But you would never leave the bathroom's lights on if you left... If anything, you would only leave the living room's lights on if you were out for a short moment. Concern replaced his confusion as he tried opening the door. Only for it to be locked. He cursed under his breath before using his shadow form to enter the small crack beneath the door...

He froze.

There you were. Lying on the ground.

Dead.

He already knew you had no pulse. Your heart wasn't beating. And he couldn't hear any faint breathing either. But... what made him freak out the most was how you died. Dark purple petals filled up the sink. Dark purple flowers filled up your bloodied mouth...

Hanahaki.

Macaque started to hyperventilate as tears quickly gathered in his eyes. He ended up sobbing once he fell onto his knees. grabbing ahold of your corpse, cradling it in his arms.

"N- No- Please- This- This is a joke, right? You're not- You're not actually dead- Right??"

No response.

"PLEASE- SAY SOMETHING- ANYTHING-!"

No response.

"...I didn't get to... I couldn't even tell you... I just..."

No response...

"...I love you... sugarplum..."

[Published: 5/14/23]

Chapter Text

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

"It would be so much more comfortable if I just went around town in my armor", the Lotus Prince complained as he fiddled with the hem of his shirt, seemingly trying to stretch it out to make it longer. He didn't particularly enjoy how it was designed to stop barely halfway down his midsection. The celestial proceeded to place his cap back on his head to complete the outfit. Meanwhile, Wukong adjusted some sunglasses on his nose.

"Chill out, Nezha. You and I both know that it's best if we don't reveal ourselves. Besides, who knows? Maybe your new look will be even more eye candy for them~", the now 'disguised' Monkey King hinted as he wiggled his eyebrows at the celestial. Who, in response, blushed in embarrassment and angrily looked away. The monkey laughed in return.

The Lotus Prince groaned as he dragged one hand down his face in frustration. Why, out of all the beings that could help him find you again, did destiny give him Sun Wukong as assistant. He personally would've even preferred the Demon Bull King's son as search partner. At least he wouldn't be teasing him over every little thing that could start a relationship with you. The fact that Wukong's 'disguise' was literally just a hoodie with a sunglasses didn't make him feel any more at ease.

Not only that, but he now felt bound to this mission of finding you. Of course, he should be actively protecting the Celestial Realm and its items right about now. But on the other hand... If the Monkey King did find you with his cap, then proceed to tease him more behind his back in front of you... He would never hear the end of it.

Speaking of the literal demon, the Monkey King lead him around the streets of Megapolis, sniffing the air occasionally. Nezha raised an eyebrow at his behavior, "Wukong, what are you doing?"

"Trying to pick up their scent. I was able to faintly smell it around the café we walked past earlier. They most likely were here today, so we're getting closer", the hooded simian responded casually.

"...How do you have their scent?"

"The hat they gave you, dum-dum. It still has their scent on it with how long it must've been rotting away in their bag." He then turned back around and proceeded to sniff the air again, but this time Nezha noticed his tail flicking upward. He glanced over at a nearby building, then turned back around to face his friend with a proud smirk. "How about we split up. You'll check the library over there and I'll check the other store. Good luck!" And with that, the Monkey King jogged into the store next to the building he glanced at previously. Once again leaving the Lotus Prince behind to his own thoughts. Nezha blinked in confusion, baffled at the monkey's sudden change of plans. 'Rude', he thought.

Though, splitting up could also serve as a benefit for him to calm his nerves and think about what do say if he did find you. Honestly, he did find you endearing, but he didn't even think about having you as potential romantic partner until Wukong pointed out the synergy you two could have. If he had run into you a second time on accident without ever speaking to Wukong, then he would've only viewed you as potential friend. But now he couldn't remove the thought from his brain and couldn't stop his imagination from running wild. The disguised Prince huffed at Wukong's sudden disappearance, but decided to follow his suggestion and entered the library with his hands in his vest's pockets. As expected, he couldn't spot anything or anyone out of the ordinary. Why would Sun Wukong insist on looking for you in a library.

To be honest, looking for you in here would be pointless. Instead he decided to browse through the bookshelves for anything that might pique his interest. Even if it was just to get a mental break from the search. He wasn't a fan of many books, so finding one he would genuinely enjoy might prove itself as difficult. However, that's when he spotted the Ancient Myths Section. Also known as the library's corner with a bunch of tales about past and present deities, ancient evils, mystical relics, legends, most feared demons, and more. Now here is where he might find something interesting.

And find something he did. In fact, he did already somewhat expect to see himself featured in one of the books he was skimming through. His pages were filled with old depictions of how people roughly remembered his looks whenever he showed up in the Mortal Realm. Besides some mistakes in the detailing, the artist(s) got his past and present looks down pretty accurately. Even his biography was correct for the most part.

"Excuse me, are you done reading that book?"

He froze.

That... familiar voice.

Slowly turning around, he came face-to-face with you. The human him and his companion were looking for. Apparently you were just as surprised as he was, judging by your eyes widening once you recognized his face.

"Wait... Nezha??"

"(Y/N)- Wh- Uh... What brings you here?" He laughed nervously at how awkward this encounter started, practically slamming the book he was holding shut.

You placed one hand on your hip while your other hand was holding onto a different book by your side. "I could ask you the same thing- I didn't know you live in Megapolis too!"

"Well I, uh, don't live here actually... But I do come to the city from time to time to visit friends." That wasn't exactly a lie. Though, by 'from time to time to visit friends', he actually meant 'whenever Sun Wukong is pulling potentially dangerous stunts'. But you didn't need to know that. "And I just felt like looking through the books here today. The... friend I was with kind of, sort of, left to somewhere else without me."

You gave him a relieved smile, "At least that means you're not a stalker. I was already starting to worry!"

"Haha, yeah!" He laughed nervously. Now that he thought about it, him and Wukong actively looking for you with the monkey sniffing the air to find you did give off stalker vibes.

Eyeing his arguably handsome appearance, you noticed the cap that still read '(Y/N)'s Special Stranger' on his head. "Oh! I honestly didn't think you would keep the cap."

"Like you said, it's a souvenir... a memory. And I don't like getting rid of memories", he stated proudly at your flattered expression as he lowered the front of his cap, trying to hide his own faint blush.

You hummed, glancing at the book he was holding. "Anyway, my question still stands. Are you done reading? I noticed you were skimming through 'Celestial Warriors'. And I just finished reading through the previous volume." Holding up your book, you raised an eyebrow at him.

Nezha shook his head, "You can read it. I was merely looking at the pictures." He then handed you the book. However, after comparing the cover art of the two books you were now holding, you held out the book you were previously reading.

"If you want, you can look through the one I just finished reading. It's mainly about ancient relics from the Celestial Realm, but it also features celestial architectures and divine structures found in the Mortal Realm", you suggested.

The disguised Lotus Prince gave you a surprised look before accepting the offer. Looking at the cover art, he noted that it did feature parts of the Celestial Realm's layout, as well as where certain relics seemed to be located. Either a human managed to actually go there and drew those or a fellow celestial being told humans about the most obvious parts of the layout. Perhaps the celestial even drew it themselves. "Ah, thank you."

You then were reminded of something. "Oh, yeah! Before I forget again! Something I didn't even think about when we first met was your name-"

Nezha's expression suddenly became nervous once more.

"Your parents really must be into the history of the Celestial Realm too. I knew your name was familiar somehow, but I didn't even recognize it as the name of the Third Lotus Prince until I got home! It must be amazing sharing the same name as a god." You commented sheepishly, scratching your cheek. He would most certainly be fucked if he told you how he actually was the god you were talking about. Thus, he decided to play along.

"...Yeah, I guess... Though, I'm also grateful for my name. It already puts fear and respect onto others before I even need to bring justice", he replied. You looked at him in confusion before your eyes widened.

You gasped, "Oh right! You're a guard!" He huffed with a small smile, feeling flattered that you remembered. "What are you guarding actually? If I'm, well, allowed to ask... that is."

He glanced down at the book featuring various ancient relics and buildings found within the Celestial Realm. Nezha averted his gaze towards some humans sittings at a nearby table, avoiding eye contact with you. "It's confidential. I'm sorry."

You waved your free hand dismissively. "Oh no, I should be the one apologizing for asking."

"But you were simply asking", he retorted, now holding a firm gaze on your own eyes.

"Yes, but it's something you're not allowed to answer."

"That still doesn't warrant an apology from you."

"Neither does you doing your job and keeping it a secret per contract."

...

Small laughter broke out between the two of you at the intensity of this 'argument'.

You gave him a wholehearted smile. "Well, do you want to go sit somewhere? We got tables around the library, otherwise we could also chill outside. Just so we don't have to stand the entire time."

"I'd say let's stay inside", the disguised Lotus Prince responded. Mainly due to the fact that Sun Wukong was still out there and would most definitely intervene, making things a lot more awkward than they need to be. You lead him over to an unoccupied table, placing your book in front of you as you two sat down.

Almost an hour of talking passed by when you decided that it was time to part ways once more. However, instead of a souvenir, you handed him a folded pieces of paper with your number instead.

"Feel free to hit me up whenever. Work tends to get so boring that I usually text people", you confessed with a sheepish smile. Nezha was surprised, to say the least. He now had an official way to contact you.

He hummed in amusement, "Talking to others while working? Unbelievable." You snorted at the irony. If he actually was as busy as he claimed to be, he would not even consider adding your number.

"Hope I get to talk to you again, my dear special stranger... I guess we're not exactly strangers anymore, huh", you commented as you stood up from your seat, clutching your book close to your chest. "Do I have to start referring to you as special acquaintance?"

He crossed his arms as he leaned back into his seat with a grin. "I'd rather be seen as special friend."

Rolling your eyes with your own little smile, you started turning away from him while waving. "See you another time then, my dear special friend." You then let out a quiet laugh before leaving to put your book away. Nezha didn't say anything and instead opted to simply waving back while smiling. He may not have been able to see himself, but a certain someone did see his lovestruck gaze lingering on your exiting form.

Once you were out of sight, he suddenly felt a strong presence sit down next to him. Turning to his side, he immediately glared when he noticed the colors of Sun Wukong's hoodie. "So", the Monkey King started as he munched on a peach. If it was a normal one was up for debate, and that only annoyed Nezha even more. "How wash youw dade?"

"That was not a date, Sun Wukong. You set us up", the Lotus Prince hissed out quietly as to not disturb the mortals around him.

"Aha." He took another bite. "Youw conwershashion 'nd genewaw chemishty shays oderwise, bud." He swallowed the piece and sighed. "Also, I didn't set you up, we were trying to look for them anyway. I just helped the mood by removing myself from the situation~"

Nezha's glare only hardened at the disrespect Wukong brought in as usual by simply eating a snack. "...You're not allowed to eat in a library", he commented, to which the simian shrugged. Instead of putting the peach away, he decided to practically swallow it whole in one bite. His friend gave him a look that was a mix of him feeling offended and disturbed, but he eventually put his hands in his pockets and stood up. "While I do appreciate your help, I believe I already used up enough of my time. Now I shall return to my duties. I'll try to get in contact with them later."

"Actually, I saw them hand you a note. Did they already give you their address?" Wukong asked, leaning his head back onto the chair with his eyes closed.

The Lotus Prince looked down at the neatly folded paper between his fingers. "No, of course not. Though, they did give me their number-" He froze at the realization. "Wait- I don't have a phone- How am I supposed to... Fuck, I didn't think this through..." His voice got suddenly really quiet towards the end as he cursed under his breath.

The monkey picked up on it however and whistled, opening one eye to look at the prince, smirking. "Wow, I haven't heard you curse in a long while. Guess making this all go as smoothly as possible actually matters to you, huh~?" There goes his teasing again. Grumbling to himself in annoyance, Nezha returned his own book and made his way out of the library. And as expected, Wukong followed close by.

"Ahem. You know, I can ask my successor for help to get you a phone. And all I'm asking for is a favor for later", the Monkey King grinned as both of them arrived at a rather unpopulated area. The Lotus Prince turned to him with an unamused expression.

"I refuse to hand out favors regarding you getting a free ticket to steal from the Celestial Realm."

"Ouch, you wound me. Do you really think that low of me over what I would use the favor for?

"Yes. Very much so."

"Aw, c'mon Nezha! We can talk about this! ...Why are you going faster- Wh- Hey! Wait up!"

And thus, their return to the Celestial Realm was filled with a lot of whining and a lot of 'No's.

However, a compromise was eventually made.

[Published: 5/21/23]

Chapter Text

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♤ ~ Comfort ~ ♤ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

"Hm. That was one abrupt ending... Even with the accelerator keeping up with the schedule. But does this case qualify as being my turn or yours?"

"Their story doesn't continue in death, Reaper."

"Eh, true. Suit yourself then, man..."

-.-.-

It's been six days since your passing, and Macaque was unable to get much done... Or rather, anything at all. Your death took a giant toll on his mental health as he believed it was all his fault. It didn't help that his guilt lead him to the constant reminder that he did indeed love you. MK and his friends actually did take notice of Macaque's sudden disappearance from the face of the earth. The noodle boy tried getting in contact with him through his phone, but to no avail. Even Monkey King was on edge, unsure whether or not his sworn brother was back to his usual scheming self...

At least, that was until one of his monkeys found Macaque rather curled up on a tree branch on Flower Fruit Mountain. He was in the middle of being comforted by a group of little monkeys who noticed his sadness and came to cheer him up. Wukong decided to cautiously approach him from beneath the branches, while having a monkey on his own shoulders.

"Macaque? Are you okay up there? What are you doing here?" He asked, not noticing the other's grief. The dark-furred simian on the other hand simply glared at him before looking away again, hugging a little monkey in his arms.

"Leave me alone, Wukong... Go bother MK or whatever", Macaque responded, trying to ignore the other monkey. But of course, the Monkey King refused to give up. So he decided to join the shadow monkey up in the tree crown. After placing his monkey on the ground, he swiftly jumped up, landing nearly perfect on a branch just a bit to the side of the other demon. The branch he landed on was also a bit more elevated than the one Macaque was on. Meanwhile, the shadow monkey merely glanced in his direction once he landed before looking back towards the little monkey in his arms.

Monkey King made himself comfortable as he sat down. "What's wrong, bud? You've been awfully quiet this week. Did something happen? You know, you can talk to me", he offered. However, the only response he got in return was a grunt. The orange-furred simian's frown deepened.

"Macaque..."

The shadow monkey sighed, "...Ugh. Fine. I'll tell you." He gently scratched the top of the small monkey's head before eyeing the Monkey King sitting on the higher branch. "Someone very close to me passed away. There. Are you happy now?" He hissed out, glaring once more.

Wukong was shocked. But knowing the pain and grief of losing a mortal friend, he absolutely understood how Macaque felt. Though, he didn't even know his brother had anyone else close to him...

Not knowing how to approach this topic without upsetting him further, he decided to silently comfort him. Carefully hopping onto the branch Macaque was sitting on, he sat down right next to him. He then proceeded to pull the shadow monkey close to him while loosely wrapping his tail around the other's.

"I'm sorry... I... didn't know you had someone else close to you, besides MK", he said softly.

Despite not being able to see his expression from his position, he could clearly feel Macaque's body and tail stiffen up for a moment. However, he slowly started to relax again, eventually leaning into his brother's comforting hold while his tail gave his brother's tail a light squeeze. He didn't think he needed this, but he did.

"...Thanks."

While Macaque was still mourning, he did somewhat start to get better with Monkey King's help. Wukong tried to be there for him as much as he could while also giving him space to breathe and think. He did tell his successor about the situation and basically told his friends not to upset the other monkey. The group was actually very understanding and made sure he didn't feel uncomfortable around them.

At least he was able to move around more without feeling guilty... right?

Well, that was until he one night was woken up in a tree by the presence of a cloaked entity... The aura they gave off sent shivers down his spine. They did not touch him. They did not speak. They just... stared up at him from beneath the branches. What seemed to be a red fox mask with a veil in the back hid away their features.

He sat up, alerted by the fact they even managed to roam Flower Fruit Mountain undetected. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The cloaked entity began to move their arm. out of the darkness of the fabric, revealing a clawed hand that was shades darker than their black cloak. They were holding what seemed to be a high-tech watch. The entity had a somewhat corrupted male voice.

"Oracle. I am here to give you this", 'he' responded before throwing the item up into the tree. The shadow monkey caught it, even if only out of reflex. He glanced at it, not understanding why 'he' would need to give him a watch. "It has a one-time use. Be mindful, Liu-Er Mihou."

Macaque's back straightened at the mention of his name. But when he looked back at the stranger... 'he' was gone.

...Well, if this wasn't the most suspiciously cryptic encounter he's had in years.

He decided to take a closer look at the watch to at least find a reason as to why it was given to him... And he found his answer right away once he figured out how to turn it on. The small screen displayed the logo of what he assumed was the manufacturer before it changed to it saying "Go back to what once was. Change date and time to destination. No return." Then it proceeded to display a field to insert a date and a field to insert a time.

Sure, it could just be asking for him to insert the current date and time like how one would set a normal watch... But the fact that it mentioned a destination as well as telling him to go back to what once was... It seemed like a risky opportunity. Perhaps the entity was a time god from the Celestial Realm who knew about his struggles?

That gave him an idea.

If this watch was an actual way of time travel, he could go back and fix so many mistakes he made. He could even change past events... Like Sun Wukong killing him... He could avoid dying! He could avoid becoming the Lady Bone Demon's pawn! He could-

His heart sank in his chest as an image of you smiling flashed before his eyes.

...No.

If he changed time before ever meeting you, he probably would've never met you in the first place. And that knowledge would only eat away at his conscience further... The dark-furred simian's eyes glanced up at the moonlight sneaking in past the leaves in thought.

...He'll do it.

Macaque wrapped the watch around his wrist. When he inserted the date of your death, he began to strategize. If he never sends the message, he would not have to tell you about ever having a date planned. He could mend your relationship with him. After double-checking the time he sent the meeting message on his phone, he decided to remove an extra ten minutes to make sure he wasn't in the middle of typing it out. Macaque took a deep breath, mentally praying to whatever god was in charge of the flow of time that nothing goes wrong, before ultimately selecting 'OK'.

"Loading... Initiating time warp", the watch read.

He closed his eyes, preparing himself for whatever was going to happen next...

He was hit with a strong, yet rather warm breeze...

...

Beep-Beep

Beep-Beep

...

...

...It just went off?

"Huh?" Confused, he opened his eyes... And was actually surprised that the sun was now in the sky. Did the watch only skip to the morning?

But that's when he noticed, the sun wasn't rising. It was actually setting.

He checked his phone and-

...It worked.

And as that realization kicked in, he noticed how the watch suddenly turned to some form of black slime before becoming solid and being blown away by the wind like ash. He couldn't help but narrow his eyebrows in disgust at the feeling on his wrist, flailing it around to try get any other slime off.

Wait, shit- He was under the assumption that he would end up in the same spot as he was when he was about to text you. Now panicked, he quickly used a shadow portal to return to Megapolis, going straight for your apartment.

Luckily it didn't take long for him to arrive at your front door. He took a deep breath, relieved that he can still change your future. However, he wasn't quite certain who the person was you were in love with. After all, usually Hanahaki would take between days to months to fully develop. So while there was a chance you were in love with him and died after realizing he was going on a date, there was also a chance that you were interested in someone else and the timing was just awful. He would have to test some things to confirm anything. Because let's face it, he knew you well enough to know that you would try weasel your way out of the conversation if he brought it up.

Macaque looked down at his phone and noticed a new message. But it wasn't from you. It was from the person he was supposed to go on a date with later that day. Ah, right, they did text him before that.

'hi handsome can you come over for a sec before the date? <3'

'i need your raw strength rq <3'

He looked at the messages in disgust, remembering how they asked him to come over to move furniture for them right before his meetup with you. Though, he knew what to text back this time. 'You can move that furniture yourself. Got no interest in dating you either', he texted back before searching for the block button. But before he pressed it, he got one last message.

'what. WHY??? and how did you know??????'

Blocked.

Feeling like a heavy burden was lifted off his chest, he felt confident enough to see you again. So, he knocked on your door.

"I'll be right there!" The voice he missed so much called out from inside. The door finally opened to reveal you in your casual wear. You gave him a surprised look. "Oh! I didn't expect you to stop by todaaaayy..." You trailed off as you looked at his expression. Macaque just... looked at you in awe. He couldn't believe you were here, in front of him, alive and well. His staring confused you. "Uh... Earth to Mac-Mac, are you there?" You said as you waved your hand in front of his face, bringing him back to reality.

"Oh- Sorry", he responded as he gently pushed your hand away. "I was in the area and just wanted to do a surprise visit." Your mouth formed an 'o' before you stepped aside with a welcoming smile.

"Wanna hang out and watch a show then?"

Gladly taking you up on the offer, the shadow monkey entered your home, taking a deep breath as he appreciated being able to take in your scent again. While he took up his usual spot on the couch, you pulled out some chips from your snack cabinet, accompanied by a bowl. "Sorry, I don't have any plum-flavored snacks at the moment. I hope the basic snacks are good enough", you told him as you filled up the bowl with your chips.

Macaque nodded with a grin, "It's alright. I'm fine with anything you give me."

You blinked at him, surprised. "I thought you were picky about your flavors?"

He let out a small nervous chuckle before replying, "I just had a change of heart, is all. Been trying to test more stuff recently." You hummed before sitting down next to him, leaving some space between you two. This was actually how you two would usually sit. However, the dark-furred simian was craving for your warming touch after having felt the cold of your corpse. He scooted closer to you, but his movements were seemingly undetected as you were busy looking for something to watch on your TV... That was until his thigh made contact with yours.

Confused, your gaze trailed from his thigh to his eyes. He simply stared at you with what looked like a fond smile while his tail positioned itself around your waist, almost like an arm. You raised an eyebrow at him. While you didn't exactly mind the attention your crush-friend was giving you, you did find his sudden change in behavior... strange. After all, he was acting a lot more different last time you hung out with him.

"...Okay, spill it. What happened that makes you act this... affectionate today? Are you the real Six-Eared Macaque? Am I dreaming?"

"If you're dreaming then I'm truly flattered that you would dream about me, sugarplum. Buuut, this isn't a dream", he replied as he crossed his arms. "Am I not allowed to appreciate being here with my favorite mortal?"

You blushed at his words before looking down at your lap in embarrassment... This was the first time he called you sugarplum- Or any pet name in general. "Did you just call me sugarplum?" And considering he loved plums, it just made you question things.

Macaque's tail somewhat stiffened up, indicating he was a little nervous all of a sudden. "Oh- Uh- Do you... not like it? I-I can just call you by your name again if-" "Mac-Mac. I... kinda like it", you cut him off with a shy smile. He returned it with a fanged grin of his own.

"So...", you trailed off as you picked a show you both binged together before. "Anything you got planned for later?"

Well, since he basically cancelled his supposed-to-be date...

He scoffed, "Obviously not. I'd rather spend the evening with you, sugarplum." The shadow monkey started to lean against you, making his tail sneak a little further around your waist. You decided to give into the urge of giving him a sudden hug at his affection. However, you pulled away rather quickly since you knew he wasn't really into people touching him out of nowhere. But before you could fully pull away and apologize, he pulled you right back into his chest, this time with his arms around your frame.

"...Thanks for not leaving me this time", he said softly as he nuzzled your head. You were about to ask what the hell he was talking about, when he added, "...I didn't even get to tell you how much I love you..."

Pause.

Did he... Did the Six-Eared Macaque just confess to you-? Did your crush-friend just return your feelings??

...But why did he sound so sad then?

You turned your head a bit upward to look at his face only to see that he was actually crying, but with a soft smile. Concerned, you placed your hand on his cheek. "Mac-Mac... Are you okay?"

He huffed at the irony of his visit's reasons before wiping away his tears with his sleeve, then placing his own hand on yours. "...Yeah, never been better."

Though, he was not expecting the sudden kiss on the cheek you gave him. Shocked, he stared at you with wide eyes. You pulled away as your own face started to heat up from embarrassment... This one reaction of yours was all the evidence he needed to be sure of how to avoid your Hanahaki. "Eeeeeehhh... S-Sorry- I-I thought it would help like healing a wound-" That's when the demon returned the favor by placing his hand behind your head, pulling you closer before kissing your forehead.

"Well, it did help... And your heartbeat is going crazy right now. I'm guessing the feeling's mutual?" You gave him a bright smile as you nodded. Happy with your response, Macaque wrapped his arms around you once more, this time with you hugging you back.

"I won't make the same mistake again... I love you, sugarplum..."

[Published: 5/27/23]

Chapter Text

ⓘ Reader is IMPLIED AFAB

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

"I'm home!" You called out as you shut the door behind you. You weren't actually sure if your husband was home yet, but you always made sure he wasn't alerted when you came home. Sure, not many would dare intrude the home of the Third Lotus Prince and his spouse. Even less now that you two moved into a small house in the Celestial Realm... You told him you preferred a house similar to your old home, and Nezha was all to eager to move from the Celestial Palace into your now shared house in the clouds. The possibility of an unwanted guest was still there though. Even if you did help some celestial workers to pass the time and not be home alone. While you didn't get along with all of them, there were a few that were very kind and understanding despite your mortality status.

Either way, you did not get a response. Usually you would feel just a little disappointed that he was still in the middle of upholding his duty... However, today it felt more like a blessing. Because today was special as it was your third wedding anniversary, and you still wanted to decorate your home a little to surprise Nezha.

You had three official surprises ready for your husband of three years, and you were very confident in that he'll love each and every one of those presents... Though, the way you planned on actually presenting them varied from being comedic to anti-climatic. On purpose for stronger emotional responses, of course.

Thus, your plan began as you set the table. But as you were placing your plates, you heard a knock coming from the front door, followed by a very familiar monkey's voice.

"Hellooo? Anybody home?" You rolled your eyes and decided to check the door.

And while you were waiting for Nezha's arrival, your husband was patrolling around the Celestial Palace. Any form of movement was appreciated over being cooped up inside one building all day. Especially today! He actually did ask the Jade Emperor if he could perhaps take this one special day off, but he told him no. He said something about 'an annoying menace to the Celestial Realm' approaching. Negotiation was a bust as well since his offers kept on getting shot down.

So he was understandably grumpy while on duty. The Celestial Armies were mostly avoiding their superior after merely just glancing at his annoyed expression that practically screamed 'I'm so done with life right about now and won't hesitate to throw someone off the top of the Palace'. Not even his phone was able to help speed up time.

Little did he know that the Jade Emperor put him on duty on purpose. Because he knew you had things planned and that you needed just a bit more extra time... Though, one thing Nezha knew about was certain celestials' gossip. He was aware of just how many deities looked down on you like a pathetic parasite, unworthy of the Third Lotus Prince's love and affection.

Speaking of which, while on patrol he overheard another conversation about your 'controversial marriage'...

"Can you believe they've been married for three years now? I still don't understand why our beloved Prince would ever marry a mortal human... Especially a commoner! They're not even of nobility", he could hear one maiden say to another.

"Right? The nerve! They are most definitely only in on it to have a god as a husband to feel more powerful than others", the other one added.

Honestly, this didn't help his mood. And his expression turned more into anger. Usually he would much rather just avoid confronting them and let gossip be gossip. It's all just lies anyway. But with his already pre-established grumpiness, his body acted faster than his mind. His wheels ignited as he zoomed over towards the maidens, halting right in front of them, fire-tipped spear in hand.

Once he was in front of them, already making them feel absolutely panicked at how hostile he suddenly appeared, he spoke up with his commanding voice. "Silence. I do not appreciate you talking about my partner like that. I am not expecting you to see what I see, but I am expecting you to respect them and their presence. I choose who I love. Is that clear?"

Damn, he wasn't even trying and he still looked absolutely intimidating. The maidens quickly nodded with a 'Yes, Lotus Prince!' before hastily walking away. Nezha scoffed before returning to his patrol route. Those two did not help his mood at all.

And his mood didn't exactly get any better until he was summoned by the Jade Emperor again. Sure, he had to show way more respect towards him than the maidens, which automatically makes him seem less agitated, but his mood also got a lot better once he was told to take the rest of the day off. He questioned why he would give him the rest of the day off if there supposedly was 'an annoying menace to the Celestial Realm'. The Jade Emperor only responded in a vague way, basically saying 'So like, the menace has appeared but did a major pitstop and isn't actually being a menace today to be honest, lmao. Can you believe that?'

Of course, Nezha immediately took this opportunity. Though, he couldn't help but furrow his eyesbrows at the Emperor in confusion. Why didn't he give him the day off from the beginning? Pretty sure the Celestial Realm could handle threats for this one day without him in the frontlines. His home was within the Realm anyway, so getting him to join an important battle wouldn't have been a problem.

Besides, pretty sure at least the higher-ups, including the Jade Emperor, all knew about how important this day was to h-

...Wait.

Suspicion hit him as he flew over to your shared home. Opening the door, he noticed how dark it was inside. But one look at the golden clock ticking on the wall was all he needed to determine that you should be home. Quickly checking his phone's lock screen, he didn't see any new messages from you about you being out a little longer.

"Blossom, I'm home", he called out. But he didn't hear a reply so he closed the door, weapon still drawn by his side... But then someone else turned on the light.

"Surprise!"

Suddenly, you popped up from behind the nicely decorated table with a box wrapped in colorful papers in your arms. A bright smile was on your face as you placed the present on the table. Nezha lowered his weapon at the sight as his guarded expression was replaced with a gentle smile. "Oh- Wow, I did not expect you to plan anything behind my back."

You crossed your arms before leaning with them against the table while he approached you, making his spear disappear. "Oh please, it's our third wedding anniversary! And I labeled you my Special Stranger like twelve years ago. And you didn't think I'd show how much I cherish being with you?" The Lotus Prince moved around the table and pulled you in for a quick kiss before placing his forehead against yours, all the while still keeping you pressed against his armored chest.

"Well, not necessarily. I just thought you and I wanted to come up with what we wanted to do today together", he said softly while lovingly staring into your eyes.

You rolled your own eyes in amusement. "We can still figure out what to do, sweetie. I merely planned this part to give you my presents." After you pulled away, you slid the wrapped box over to his side. "Open it up!" He carefully picked up the present and examined it for a bit before ripping up the paper wrapping, revealing a shoe box. You insisted that he should open it already, so he did. Nezha gasped. In the box was a cap, a similar one to the one you gave him all those years ago. The main difference however was the text and the slight change in color to more of a pink tone, fitting for his armor. The text now read '(Y/N)'s Lovely Husband'.

"Aw... Thanks. But I don't think it can ever beat the Special Stranger one", he commented as he adjusted the cap on his head.

"What even happened to that cap? I haven't seen you wear it in a long while", you asked as you sat down at the table, grabbing a particular fruit from the bowl you placed in the middle.

Nezha shrugged as he sat down himself, "Nothing. I just don't want it getting more dirt onto it, or let it get damaged. So I usually just keep it hidden away in my work room. If it came down to it, I would protect that cap like you and the Jade Emperor." He then leaned back into his chair, his gaze lingering on the delicious food you spread out on the table... But then he heard you munch on something. Curiously looking up to see what it was, he nearly fell off his chair.

There you were, casually eating bits of a peach that looked way too much like a peach of immortality to be a regular fruit from the Mortal Realm. Panicked, Nezha immediately stood up. "WAIT, DON'T EAT THAT-"

Amused, you raised an eyebrow at him as you took another bite. "Why not?"

"That- That's not a normal peach! W-We can- We can find a way to turn you mortal again! I promise! Just-!" You swallowed the piece before cutting him off with an innocent smile. "Nezha, I'm fully aware that it just turned me immortal. This is my second present for you!"

His eyes were wide open as he blinked in shock, "Wha- Huh??" You couldn't help but snort at his absolutely confused and flabbergasted reaction.

"I know our relationship had a timer on it with how I would eventually die of old age. So, I've thought long about it and decided that I don't want to ever leave you," you grinned at him. "And the peach Monkey King brought over as anniversary present earlier today just seemed like a convenient and yummy way. At least I don't have to take a gamble with gaining another way of immortality anymore!" Then you took another, but this time smaller bite.

Your husband forced himself to close his mouth before moving around the table again to pick you up in his arms and placing a passionate kiss on your lips. Once you two pulled away, you booped his nose. "Now you won't be able to get rid of me so easily, sweetie."

Nezha let out a wholehearted chuckle as he lightly kissed your own nose. "I wouldn't ever dream of it."

When your loving moment was over, you insisted that your husband try the food on the table before you showed him his third gift. You told him that he would be extremely ecstatic about that one, just to hype him up more. In general, your dinner date was calming and definitely raised his mood by a lot. Almost as if him being put on duty for this day never happened.

While talking about whatever happened to the two of you today, Nezha suddenly had a thought pop up. "Wait- Wukong gave you that peach, correct?" He asked while you nodded in response. He pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes as he furrowed his brows. Taking a deep breath, he continued after letting out a long sigh. "...Nevermind. The guards should be able to deal with him if he's trying anything reckless while I'm off-duty. I guess that's what the Jade Emperor meant by 'annoying menace'." He then moved his hand away to look at you. "I do not wish to ruin our anniversary by attempting to remove him from the Celestial Realm."

You took a sip of your drink before shaking your head. "That wouldn't ruin our anniversary. In fact, if Monkey King is legitimately causing havoc, I wouldn't mind you doing your job. Besides..." After propping up your arm against the table and placing your cheek on the palm of your hand, you grinned rather smugly in his direction. "I would get to watch you use your abilities in the name of authority. And I would get to reward you for your services after~"

Oh fuck. You were highly aware of how much control you had over him and his desires.

Nezha's face turned red at the implication. If you were saying that to him some years prior to your marriage, he would be a babbling mess and would barely be able to form his sentences to respond. But now, after having spent years with you and even having intimate times together, he was a lot more confident in laying out his responses with a smirk. "Oh? You're tempting me, blossom~"

You both simply gave each other a rather inviting look before something you remembered caught your attention. "Oh right! Can't forget to show you the highlight of the presents!"

"And becoming immortal is not the highlight?" Your husband raised an eyebrow at you as you opened a cabinet. "Actually, nevermind. You having three presents already makes me feel bad because I only have one...", he sighed quietly to himself.

You rummaged for a bit in the dark depths of the cabinet until you pulled out a basket with some colorful fabric. "I got you some new clothes!" You excitedly placed the basket in front of him on the table and then placed yourself next to his seat.

Nezha looked at the basket, then looked at you, then back at the basket and said, "...These look small." He then picked up whatever was on top of the neatly folded pile. "I, uh, don't suppose they shift to the wearer's size? I, uh-" He stopped himself as he examined the pink sweater with lotus patterns. After reading what was written in the front, his mouth hung agape. Then he turned around the piece of clothing in disbelief, showing you the text. You, of course, laughed at his reaction before nodding to confirm his thoughts.

'Daddy's Special Baby' was written on the tiny sweater.

Suddenly, you felt yourself being picked up and spun around like crazy in your husband's arms. He was laughing in pure joy. But the fact that he still had his wheels on didn't help your dizziness. "I'M GOING TO BE A FATHER!" Nezha stopped twirling around and gave you a rather quick, yet strong kiss on the lips. "This is the best gift ever! I love you so, so much, blossom..." And as he trailed off, you noticed tears gathering in his eyes, which surprised you.

"Aw, sweetie..." You brushed your thumb against his cheek, trying to wipe away the two tears that started rolling down.

"I'm sorry, I just... I-I never thought I would ever start a family of my own..." Nezha then pulled away before summoning some sort of necklace in his hands. "Now I feel horrible because I only have one gift for you. But I hope it suffices." He then handed it to you before wiping away any remaining tears himself. You immediately took notice of how it looked more like a charm.

"It's not much by any means, but it does its job well. This is an ancient relic that makes the wearer seem invisible to demons. You can view it as a lucky charm too, it did save lives after all."

You tilted you head in confusion, "Wait then how are you able to see me- Aren't you technically a demon too?"

"Well, yes, but I'm also unaffected as I'm a deity of the Celestial Realm myself", he responded while doing a so-so motion with his hand. "Pretty sure others referred to as demons, like Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque, are unaffected by it as well. Though, the Demon Bull King and his son on the other hand..." He let out a chuckle at whatever he was imagining. "Let's just say you can not only be a lot more safe, but also have some fun messing with certain demons."

You gasped before holding the charm tightly in your hands with a smile. "That's so cool, I love it! Thanks, sweetie!"

Suddenly, a loud crash came from upstairs.

Alerted by the sound, Nezha told you to put on the necklace and wait by the table in case it was a demon attacking. He swiftly summoned his fire-tipped spear and flew his way upstairs with his wheels lit up. You couldn't exactly make out any noises from all the way by the table at first. But then you heard muffled yells from your husband and muffled laughter from another male voice.

Quietly making your way over to the bottom of the staircase, you tried to make out the conversation. You weren't able to hear the context, but you did hear part of the argument.

"You can't be serious! We were having a moment!"

"Let's be honest, Nezha, you two being sappy isn't the most entertaining for me right now-"

"And you decided it would be a good idea to destroy my vase??"

"Duh, so I can ask how the gift exchange went. I may have only given your partner a gift, but the outcome of them using it should count as double-gift!"

"While I must thank you for that, I also have the urge to punch you so hard right now that you get knocked all the way back to Flower Fruit Mountain."

"Pfff- How about this: If you can catch me, I'll give you a freebie and you get to punch me however hard you want! You could see it as a friend's anniversary gift to you! Later, Nezha!"

Then you heard a loud boom as you felt the floor shake beneath you. You weren't exactly concerned after having heard he intruder's voice however. A few seconds later, your husband came back downstairs. You gave him a rather amused expression. "Huh. I thought he already left a while ago... I think we jinxed this."

"Oh, we absolutely did", he agreed. But then his annoyed expression turned to a smug one. "So, since we jinxed this... Does the offer of the reward for stopping Wukong still stand?" You rolled your eyes at him before nodding. You could see the sudden determination light up in his eyes as he made his way over to the front door. "Well, I'll be back soon. Oh, and make sure you don't hurt yourself upstairs, by the way. There's shards lying around. I love you, blossom!" He blew you a kiss with a wink before swiftly speeding out of the door and taking into the skies.

[Published: 6/1/23]

Chapter Text

ⓘ Reader is USING SHE/HER PRONOUNS

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

"Alright, I'll be heading home now."

"Make sure not to forget your backpack this time."

"Oh c'mon, I told you I was in a hurry yesterday, Pigsy! Anyway, see you tomorrow."

And with that, you put on your backpack and made your way over to the front door of the noodle shop. You were casually walking outside, humming a tune that's been stuck in your head the entire day... Until you noticed a little boy standing there, nude and covered in dirt, just staring at the noodle shop's bright light in awe. Confused and concerned, you glanced around the area in search for any possible parent looking for their runaway child. But there was no one even walking around the street. It was almost closing time for many people, after all.

When the boy still didn't move, you decided to take action. Slowly approaching the boy, you kneeled down to be more at his height. "Hey there, sweetie. How did you end up here like this? Are you lost? What's your name?" He looked at you, then back at the shop. Yet, he did not talk. Scratching your head in thought, you decided to approach the situation differently. "So, uh... Are you hungry? I'm sure I can let Pigsy take a bit off my paycheck for some noodles. I don't think he would turn down cooking for a kid in need."

Again, he just looked at you, then back at the shop. You sighed. This would be a fun problem to solve past closing hours. Extending your hand out towards the boy, you stood up. "C'mon, sweetie. Let me at least get you inside. I'd rather have you sit inside in the warmth than standing outside in the cold and dark once the sun is gone. I'm sure we can help find your parents."

This time, the boy looked at you, then at your hand. He hesitantly placed his tiny, kinda dirtied hand in yours and you began to slowly lead him inside the noodle shop's light.

Your boss was kind and helped you clean him up and gave him spare clothes, which looked a bit too big on the boy, then cooked up a meal for him. Sadly, you were unable to figure out what happened to him or where his parents were. You even looked outside the shop in the dark occasionally, trying to hear or see anyone who was looking for their child. But nothing came of it. Eventually, you found out the child's name and... It was really long. And since neither you or Pigsy could be bothered with saying it, you decided to nickname him MK. Your choice of the nickname was actually inspired by the legendary Monkey King, how he also had a really long name that got shortened for convenience as well.

A couple of days passed and there still was no parent looking for their child, nor was there any missing person report regarding a young boy with his descriptions...

You were basically taking care of MK during day and night, taking him home with you. At one point you suggested placing him in an orphanage, but MK only started to sob and cry, hugging your leg, not wanting to leave you. And being unable to say no, you accepted your fate. Hell, you even went the extra mile and became his legally adoptive parent with the paperwork you filled out, with Pigsy as uncle-figure of course.

As time went on, so did the years of development for your son. He moved out of your house and moved into the apartment Pigsy owned right above his shop, making him have a much easier time going to work. Meanwhile, you decided to travel through other towns all around the country, sending many little souvenir gifts and postcards over to Megapolis for MK to see, as well as keeping in touch with him through texts. And just a few years later, you heard news about various demons attacking your Megapolis, and how a boy called the Monkie Kid saved the city multiple times. Concerned, you started to travel back to the city, trying to get back as soon as you could to make sure your son and your former boss were alright.

To be honest, you arrived at a probably horrible time.

Looking at the city's skyline in the distance, you had to rub you eyes in confusion. Were you seeing this right? The city was partially covered in what seemed like giant ice shards... Did climate change really hit this area this bad the past years? It wasn't like it covered everything, but there certainly seemed to be a lot of icy remains. Shaking your head to regain focus, you proceeded with your self-proclaimed mission of checking on your son and your former boss. Cautiously making your way through Megapolis... the city seemed rather ruined. People were seemingly trying to get rid of any remaining ice as well as just generally trying to recover from whatever occurred. You were more confused if anything. What happened? Was this the aftermath of an attack of a demon you heard and read about in the news?

You then found your way back to Pigsy's Noodles. The noodle shop didn't seem to have changed at all. Upon entering, you immediately recognized some familiar and some unfamiliar faces. But the three you were most happy about to see were MK, Tang and Pigsy. You grinned, staying quiet as you leaned against the wall next to the entrance.

"MK! Order up!" Pigsy yelled out with a smile... It was certainly strange to see him smiling, but you weren't going to complain. Nice to know he was happier than when you left.

"On it, boss!" MK exclaimed as he swiftly grabbed the ordered bag. Though, as he turned to leave, his eyes spotted you... He froze, almost tripping over himself as he nearly let the noodle order fall in absolute shock. The boy simply looked at you with wide eyes... Before he started to tear up and seemingly hugged you at lightspeed. "MOM! YOU'RE BACK! I MISSED YOU! IT'S BEEN SO LONG!"

You chuckled as you tightly hugged him back, slightly tearing up yourself. "I'm home, sweetie..."

Of course, due to MK still having to go on his delivery route, he didn't have time to catch up with you just yet. However, you asked if you could join him on his delivery to catch up while he drove around. And of course, he happily agreed. Though, it was interesting to see where he went for those deliveries... The way he so casually delivered those noodles to so many demons with you... However, he was inhumanly fast at it. You were actually intrigued... What happened to your son while you were gone? Why was he suddenly so fast? Sure, he was a pretty hyperactive kid at least since you and Tang told him about the legend of the Monkey King, but this speed was new to you.

However, it wasn't until the last delivery where you were really questioning things. He had to deliver to Sun Wukong, the legendary Monkey King. At first you were under the assumption that he was supposed to place the delivery as an offering at his temple... You did not expect your precious baby boy to crash into a rock solid wall, apparently revealing the Monkey King's home on the other side, and creating a hole in the wall from excitement... Yeah, you definitely were missing out on major context here for sure. And if that wasn't enough, the legendary Monkey King himself was actually standing behind said wall and casually greeted your son as if it were just another day... Was this real? Didn't Sun Wukong supposedly vanish since he sealed the Demon Bull King? Was this a fake? You were actually internally freaking out at the sight of the legend himself from the stories. Though, you tried to keep calm and not squeal like a fangirl. He looked too real to be a human in a costume...

"Hey, bud!" Monkey King greeted MK before noticing you. He blinked at you in confusion. "Oh- Who's your friend?"

But before you could introduce yourself, MK hugged you excitedly from the side. "Monkey King, this is my mom! Mom, meet Monkey King!"

You awkwardly wave with a nervous, not sure if you were even allowed to be here. "Uh... h-hey."

"My mom and Mr.Tang are the reason I became a fan of your stories in the first place! She's a huge fan of you too!" MK said excitedly, which made you blush in embarrassment as you pursed your lips, mentally wanting to shut your son up from talking about you and your interests.

Monkey King couldn't help but snort at the dynamic you and your son have. He didn't even need his powers to notice the clear embarrassment and awkwardness you felt at your son's words. "Well, I'm glad to be able to meet the mother of my successor." The ginger-furred simian held out his hand for you to shake. You smiled awkwardly and hesitantly shook his hand, internally screaming that you were literally shaking hands with the Sun Wukong...

But then his words hit you and you looked at him and MK in confusion. "Wait a minute... Successor? Of the Monkey King?" You gave MK a slight glare. "He didn't tell me anything about that..." Your son laughed sheepishly, to which the Monkey King grinned smugly at him.

"Whaaat? You didn't tell your mom about how you can wield my staff and powers? And how you did a bunch of hero stuff?" Monkey King teased the poor boy. MK really just wanted to disappear right about now in fear of your silent rage.

"MK, I'm not mad that you didn't tell me... Well, I kind of am. But I'm mainly just worried about you and your safety, sweetie." You stated as you kissed MK's forehead. The way you handled MK seemed to very slightly stir something deep inside the Monkey King... He didn't know what it was, but it made him feel a little funny. It was a rather pleasant feeling... Just the way you talked with MK and treated the boy who was somewhat of a son to him.. Wait.

Actually- Nevermind, he realized something.

MK whined a bit, "Mooom, but I'm grown up already! I can handle some bad guys, even the big ones!"

"And I'm supposed to believe it how? Sure I've seen you running extremely quickly, but I haven't seen you use any actual powers- Besides you breaking the wall-" You paused. Then you turned towards the Monkey King and bowed a little. "I'm terribly sorry that my son broke your wall! How much would it cost to fix it? I-I'm sure I can cover the cost somehow-"

"Psh, it's fine, don't worry about it, Miss (Y/N). No need to pay for it. We tend to destroy walls surprisingly often during training. I can just easily fix it later myself if necessary", Monkey King cut you off. He then got an idea of how to prove it all. He placed his hands on his hips and grinned. "Well, speaking of training... How about your son and I show you what he can do already? We haven't been training in a while anyway, so it could be a nice refresher after everything that happened with the Lady Bone Deeeuuuuhhhh... Forget that part, actually."

You give both a confused and somewhat suspicious look. Now it was Monkey King's turn to laugh nervously. "Aahahaaaanyway- Let's show her what you've learned so far, bud!" He then grabbed you and MK and lead you outside to the cliffside of his home, where him and MK would usually chill and train at. And to give credit where credit is due, it did seem like MK learned quite a bit from his mentor. He even performed some of Monkey King's 72 transformations to show off his skills. Of course you were proud and happy for your son, but you were still a little worried about him having to face actual threats as the legend's successor.

That's when Monkey King started to act... strange, as MK would put it. He wanted to spar with the young boy, which was fine... But unlike their usual sparring sessions, this time his mentor was shirtless. MK immediately knew something was up because he has never seen him spar shirtless since there was no need. Monkey King never even break a single sweat during training. Nor did he ever overheat...

Meanwhile, you couldn't help but eye the ginger-furred monkey's physique. Despite being on the rather lean side, he did have refined muscles on him which were clearly visible due to the bright sunlight. Monkey King noticed your staring and only seemed to move more in a calculated way as he dodges MK's attacks. It was if he was showing off his body more, which made you faintly blush while he grinned... You thought he was grinning because of how easily he dodged MK's attacks with his staff.

However, Monkey King seemed so distracted and was holding back by showing off his body that he did not manage to block one attack from MK. The attack knocked the monkey to the ground due to him losing his balance in surprise. MK laughs victoriously at his mentor's defeat since the task was to land a hit. "Ha! I did it!"

Monkey King blushed a bit in embarrassment as he watched you hold back your laughter. He sheepishly smiled at his successor before using his tail to help himself off the ground. "Yeah, you sure did bud. Congrats."

Suddenly, your phone rang, capturing the attention of both of them. Looking at your phone, you noticed it was Pigsy calling. You sighed as you turned towards the other two. "I'll be right back, I got a call." You said before going a bit further away from them so you could be able to peacefully listen to what Pigsy wanted to talk to you about.

Meanwhile, MK just had to make sure of something. He raised an eyebrow at his mentor, grinning smugly. "Soooo... My mom...~?"

Monkey King blushed as he looked away, laughing nervously as he scratched his cheek. "Ahahaha! W-What are you talking about, kid? W-What about you mom ahaha-"

"You like her, don't you?" MK asks smugly. "You never take any clothes off during our sparring sessions, not even the smallest piece. Even when someone else is around... You even held back on your dodges to flex! This is the first time I see you trying to impress someone!"

If the ginger-furred simian had been drinking something, he would've either spat it out or choked on it as he tried to nervously laugh it off. "O-Of course not! Wha- W-What makes you say that? That doesn't prove anything! I just... felt like sparring like this today, okay? There's a first time for everything after all!" He tried to justify his actions. MK on the other hand just hummed, still grinning smugly. For anyone else trying to hook up with his mom, he would feel disgusted by it. However, the idea of the Sun Wukong, his mentor, legally becoming his father would be amazing. So, what else is there to do than for him to tease his probably and hopefully future dad? "...I don't like how you're looking at me right now." Wukong commented as MK simply continued to grin at him.

"Just admit it."

"...Admit what, bud?"

"That you like my mom."

"Oh- Ahahaha- Psh, I don't like her. I-I mean I like her, you know? She's nice, she's caring... But, I don't like-like her, y-you know? I-I, uh, just-" The ginger simian stammered nervously.

"Mhm. Sure..." MK's grin didn't fade.

After some awkward staring, Monkey King sighed in defeat. "...Okay fine, maybe... Just maybe I do like her just a tiny smidge more than I should for just meeting her today..."

MK chuckles as he leans against his staff. "So like, do you want me to play matchmaker and set you two up? I could get Mei and Sandy involved too in helping you get her to like you back."

The ginger-furred simian blinks at him in both surprise, confusion and embarrassment. He thought his successor would either just drop the topic or continue teasing him behind your back. Maybe he somewhat expected him to even resent him in a way for liking his mother... He just didn't expect him to willingly want to be a supportive matchmaker.

Monkey King nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Um... How about without them- I just... don't want this to be a big thing since I just met her...?" That came out as more of a question than a statement. The young Monkie Kid happily looked at his mentor, seeing his answer as a clear-cut confirmation of the Great Sage Equal To Heaven asking him for help.

It didn't take long for a plan to be formed.

From then on, just to have both of you to get to know each other better, MK asked you continuously to come with him to Flower Fruit Mountain everytime him and Monkey King were training... And your son was an annoyingly persistent bean, so you usually were dragged away and over to the Monkey King's lair. Then, after every training session, his mentor would talk to you.

It started off simple, actually. You would usually ask about MK's progress as well as about what kind of trouble he's already gotten himself into while you were gone. Apparently the day you returned, MK and his friends had just defeated some ancient bone demon spirit and Megapolis was still recovering.

But then your topics became a lot more personal with each new conversation. While your conversations once were just about things regarding your son being the successor of the Monkey King, over the course of the next weeks, Monkey King would talk to you more about personal preferences. Soon, most of your conversations became rather personal between you two. And oddly enough, MK never once bothered you two. Which made you a little suspicious because MK would usually pester you about what you were talking about with someone else.

You actually became quite good friends with your son's mentor. And after some more time, Sun Wukong, the legendary Monkey King, the Great Sage Equal To Heaven, asked you out for dinner on Flower Fruit Mountain. You, a mere mortal human, of course were stunned. But also excited to basically go on a date with Sun Wukong himself. Though, it didn't take long for you to figure out that MK was helping out his mentor in hooking you up with him... Just the fact that he was not so secretly asking Wukong about his type right in front of you, to which the Monkey King was responding in a way that was describing you, was evidence enough. It was cute and amusing to see the legendary Monkey King so awkward and flustered that he needed the help of his successor though.

But, your first date was great. You could've sworn MK and Wukong's monkeys were helping him behind the scenes, but they never directly interfered or showed up. Either way, your second date was definitely something Wukong himself set up without MK's or the other monkey's influence, which you appreciated a lot.

However, your monkey boyfriend became a lot more bold in your relationship over time. He turned from awkward and nervous to the horny equivalent of his lip bite meme pictures... Beware of his bad pick-up lines and other advances, because those were the only things that really made MK regret helping him...

"Hey there, beautiful. Are you a peach? Because I want to get a taste of you-"

"Oh my god, Wukong."

"Whaaaat? I just love and a-peach-iate you, babe-"

[Published: 9/7/23]

Chapter Text

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

You and your friend MK were walking towards the waterfall on Flower Fruit Mountain. MK was supposed to train with Monkey King today, and you just decided to go with him to visit Sun Wukong again after not having seen him since the beach party you had following the downfall of the Brotherhood. You even brought some peach-flavored snacks for him!

Once MK split the waterfall and you entered, you almost immediately spotted Wukong seemingly napping on his peach tree. MK decided to grab his attention, "Monkey King! We're here!"

Monkey King opens his eyes and grinned, lazily waving. "Hey, bud. You're early." Then he noticed you before jumping off the tree to talk to the two of you. "Oh hey, (Y/N). What brings you here today? I don't think you said anything about joining in on training."

You shook your head, waving your hand dismissively as you let out a nervous chuckle. "Oh- Ah, no... I'm just here to visit. I haven't seen you since the beach party... And I brought snacks for you!" You then began to drop your backpack to shuffle around in it, grabbing some of the peach-flavored snacks. MK just stared at you in both awe and shock... How did you manage to fit all of those in there?! Meanwhile, Wukong snickered at the sight of all those snacks in your arms. He crossed his arms with a grin.

"Oh damn, you brought a lot... You sure these are for me? I could just, you know, use my hair and recreate those... Would've been a lot less expensive-" "No, no! I insist!" You interrupted him with a sheepish smile. "I'd rather have you eat actual food than food made from your hair, to be honest. It's a lot more comforting not having to ignore the fact that your food would technically be made out of your hair."

Wukong shrugged as he took the snacks from you. "Eh, point taken." He then glanced back over to your backpack and paused as something caught his eye. And yet, he didn't say anything as he slowly frowned in suspicion. His frown was quickly masked by a smile. "So, do you guys wanna come in?"

You grabbed your backpack off the ground and nodded before making your way inside with MK. Placing your bag on the couch, you turn back towards Wukong with a small smile as you place your backpack against the side of the couch. "Thanks for letting me hang out with you two, Monkey King. Otherwise I would've just spent the entire day at Pigsy's."

He waved his hand dismissively, "Don't mention it. It's a lot more fun hanging with me and MK than at the noodle shop, if I'm being honest here." He said kind of smugly. "Who knows what could happen next? What kind of adventures await us while simply being in this room?" Monkey King added dramatically. Then his eyes landed on your backpack again as he got suspicious once more. Just to make sure of what he saw, his eyes flickered golden for a moment to confirm your backpack's content to him, revealing exactly what he assumed he saw... He had to bring it up now, because what he saw was dangerous...

"Say, (Y/N)... Have you brought anything else besides snacks?"

You tilted your head at him in confusion. "Um... No? I only brought snacks as gifts. I don't have other gifts for you, sorry..."

He shook his head and crossed his arms. "I'm not talking about specifically gifts for me... I'm talking about if you brought anything else in general with you." You blinked at him, still confused, but at least he clarified his question.

"Um... I can just show you my backpack if that helps... I don't own any weapons or anything like that though, so I'm not sure why you're asking about this-" You said as you picked up your backpack, placing it on the couch. The moment you opened it, both MK and his mentor peer into your backpack with you. The ginger-furred simian already saw what was in there, but the sight shocked MK as he looks a bit... Confused? Betrayed?

"What... W-Why do you have that scroll, (Y/N)?" MK asked in disbelief as he looked at the black and blue scroll sitting at the bottom of your now-empty-of-snacks backpack. You were just purely confused about why both were stressing so much about the scroll... The scroll has never been evil since you got it a long while ago from your dad... All it did was give you a new friend... Or rather lover. And he's never done anything in the months you've known him personally.

"Nezha took the scroll and brought it back to where it came from... How do you have it? Did he give it to you? Did you steal it?" Wukong asked with a raised eyebrow. You nervously scratched your cheek. While your answer was simple and you didn't plan anything malicious, you really didn't feel comfortable with the way Wukong sounded... It was as if you were being interrogated for doing something horrible.

While you were trapped in the scroll with your friends before, something they didn't know about was how the scroll's curse never actually did anything to you, at all. And instead of reliving some form of memory of yours or the past like the others, you actually were just lost and wandering aimlessly... Until you met the curse and talked to it. Or, well, him... Because the curse took on the form of MK, but made out of ink, including imitating his voice. He probably took on your friend's form to appear friendlier, which worked to an extent... After all, you weren't used to seeing MK's monkey form made out of ink.

Long story short, you became friends with the scroll's curse and even got a lot closer after your dad gave you the now much more docile scroll... How he got his hands on it, you never questioned since this was far from the weirdest achievements he's managed to reach. You would not be surprised if he had connections to the Underworld or the Celestial Realm. He was probably also the one who brought back Mink. Because you remembered how the curse was practically blasted and defeated by MK before being used by Azure Lion... Well, the curse was responsive once more when you opened the scroll.

"W-Well, um... My dad gave it to me and told me to open it whenever I'm in trouble or feel lonely... S-So... Uh..." You stammered out. MK blinked at you in confusion and suspicion while his mentor's glare was fully set on suspicion.

"(Y/N), you've seen what that scroll does... even with the curse not actively haunting us or our past and future. Especially if it falls into the wrong hands... I'm not saying you're directly the one with the wrong hands, but you could be at risk of losing that scroll to someone who would only do bad with it. Azure Lion was one of those..." Monkey King states firmly, trailing off with a bit of sadness when he thought about his fallen brother.

You frowned at him. "But... Mink wouldn't let that happen twice... And I already am carrying the scroll around everywhere I go..." Your friends looked at you in confusion. Ah, right... They didn't know who Mink was. So you added, "Mink is the scroll's ink demon curse... I named him that myself and he seemed to like it-" "Wait, wait, wait-" MK cut you off, "You named the curse? And gendered it??"

You nodded awkwardly. Monkey King pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "You know what? How about you just give me the scroll and I'll make sure it reaches Nezha again. Or I might as well just bring it back to the Underworld myself." He then reached his hand into your backpack. However, before he could grab the item, the scroll began to move. Monkey King and his successor took a step back in fear of the scroll lashing out at them and sucking them back inside to trap them. You on the other hand just casually reached your hand into your backpack, which seemed to stop the scroll from moving. Then you pulled it out and and held it in your hand.

"Mink doesn't like it when someone else holds the scroll of memory after all that happened... Usually I'm the only one he doesn't mind being carried by." You said, shrugging. Your words only seemed to confuse your friends more and more. 'How could you be so casually with such a dangerous weapon of entrapment?', they were probably wondering. Then you got an idea. "How about I introduce you guys to him? I know you technically already met him, but he's changed since you guys have last seen him..." And before they could respond, you open the scroll. Dread is plastered across your two friends' faces as they prepare to fight.

As the familiar black ink splat onto the ground beneath the scroll, a kneeling figure was formed by it on top of the small puddle. An inky figure with a swaying monkey tail and blue lights for a face... It took on the form of MK as it seemingly grinned at the real MK and his mentor.

"It really has been a while... MK, Sun Wukong."

There was some serious tension in the air as they both glare daggers into the ink demon in front of them. Mink stretches a bit as he stands up from his kneeling position. "No need to look so hostile. I'm not even doing anything." He then wraps an arm around you and pulls you against his chest, wrapping his tail around your leg. Despite him being made out of ink, the form the curse took on was quite solid and somewhat warm to the touch. "I'm just here to make sure my beloved human feels comfortable."

"MK, Monkey King, meet Mink. He's my, um... goopy boyfriend." You said sheepishly, to which Mink seemed to smugly grin at the other two. MK and Monkey King were both baffled. You were dating a literal curse placed upon the Scroll of Memory to keep others trapped in it! How could they not be shocked??

Though, for MK it wasn't so much the fact that you were dating a curse that confused him, instead it was the fact that the curse decided to use its ink replica of him to be affectionate with you. This, in of itself, made him feel uncomfortable and a bit disgusted since he saw you more as something like a sibling... And basically seeing a depiction of himself being romantically involved with you was just weird to him.

"...Alright, that scroll really has to be returned though-" Monkey King started, but then was cut off the moment he tried reaching for the scroll in your hands. An audible, ominous growl could be heard coming from Mink, which sounded more like a corrupted monster than the usual voice replica of MK.  The curse glared at the Great Sage Equal To Heaven while holding you close.

"That scroll now belongs to (Y/N). No one else will have it. I refuse to let anyone ever separate me from them!" Mink said angrily, which was a huge difference in behavior compared to when the group was trapped within the scroll.

Meanwhile, you also held tightly onto the scroll, hugging it close to your chest as you shook your head. "Sorry... But Mink and I already agreed on him staying with me... Which does unfortunately mean I have to keep the scroll around me at all times..."

"But does it really have to take on my form??" MK whined in response as he eyed Mink.

Mink shrugged in return before letting go of you to cross his arms. "What can I say? I just like this form. It's simple, not too tall or too short, not unfamiliar to (Y/N)... And I get to off-handedly remind you of our conversation a while ago! Isn't that fun~?" He said that last part rather mockingly, which made MK clench his fists. On the other hand, Monkey King's eyes softened a little as he looked at you, worried.

"(Y/N), think about this... Even if it- he- the curse, isn't doing anything right now, you can't forget about that scroll being more of a weapon against even the divine... Mink might trap more people in the scroll. And maybe even trap you in there agai-" "I would never do that!" Mink angrily cut him off, MK's replica voice sounded insulted. "Out of all the beings in existence that can get imprisoned, my beloved human will never be one of them! They can enter and leave the scroll freely whenever they want. It's already like their second home anyway." The ink curse added firmly before taking your hand into his.

Monkey King scoffed. "In my opinion, it would still be best to bring you back to where you belong. In the scroll, and in the Underworld."

"Well too bad, bud. I'm not leaving. You can't keep me from (Y/N)." Mink retaliated. The MK copy then seemed to pout as he shows a blue-glowing tongue, pointing it in the simian's direction like a stubborn child. Monkey King's eye seemed to twitch in annoyance.

"Mink isn't even outside of the scroll in public... He only ever comes out whenever we're alone..." You added, trying to defend the curse. Monkey King hesitantly sighed.

It took some time and some more arguments, but eventually MK and his mentor gave in and agreed to let you keep Mink... On the condition that Mink continues to stay in the scroll around people, and of course that you never use the scroll against others, even if you hated them. As if you were going to plan anything with the scroll anyway...

But on the other hand, Monkey King told Nezha about you, Mink, the scroll, and your relationship with the scroll's curse, and... uh...

He was not happy.

Like, at all.

However, that did not stop Mink from being with you. This actually ended up becoming more of a game of Nezha trying to "rescue" you while Mink would just hide you in the scroll whenever the Lotus Prince was around. And while Monkey King usually wouldn't help you with Mink, he would slowly start to join in on this little game and be the one to hide the scroll, pretending like he didn't see it. Just to mess with Nezha for the fun of it.

Soon, the rest of the crew found out about Mink's more permanent reappearance. While it also took a while, they did slowly start to accept him. Pigsy was the most pissed off one, just because Mink would end up leaving ink everywhere he went in the noodle shop... And of course, when Pigsy would tell you to it all clean up due to Mink technically being your responsibility, all the ink on the ground would suddenly disappear the moment you turned the corner to grab a mop. Sandy was probably the most open to the idea of you finally having found someone to love. Even if that someone was the literal curse that kept the group within the scroll... But at least Mink was nice to talk to! On top of that, Tang tried talking to him about history since Mink knew about everything immortalized within the scroll, to which Mink would ominously reply, "Wanna see for yourself?"

And of course, MK and Mei were still very much on edge... Especially MK due to, well, the entire topic of you literally dating an ink copy of him. Though, Mei kind of over it after realizing that she could now have another cool friend to hang out and have fun with. Mink's ink really helps in scary pranks, after all...

Then there was your relationship...

"Listen. You didn't specify when you said you wanted to have our next date on Flower Fruit Mountain." Mink said with a sly grin. You gave him a comedically unamused look.

"But I said Flower Fruit Mountain, not Flower Fruit Mountain within the scroll."

"Oh c'mon, there's not much of a difference anyway. The mountain barely even changed from the memories in the scroll. In my opinion, anyway. Besides, the actual mountain wouldn't let me do this-"

Suddenly a bunch of fireflies were summoned around you two as you sat on a cliff, leaning against Mink's inky body. You looked at them in awe as they lit up the night sky of the mountain's memory. "...They're beautiful."

"I could just throw in something cheesy. But the sentence of 'Not as beautiful as you' wouldn't exactly apply..." He started as you looked at him a bit offended.

But before you could chew him out over that comment, he added, "...It wouldn't apply because I've seen many use this line in the past, and literally none of the memories displayed within the entire history of the scroll's archive would compare to you. Not even all of them combined..." Which in turn made you snort as your offended look faded. Mink gave you a sly grin again at your reaction.

"...Just in my opinion, sweetheart."

[Published: 9/11/23]

Chapter Text

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♤ ~ Emotional Mix ~ ♤ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

It started out as a regular day at the market for you.

You owned a little stall where you would sell berries you and your little monkey friends collected. You kept on insisting that you wanted to collect them on your own, but the two ginger-furred and dark-furred monkeys just wouldn't leave you alone. Though, their kindness and willingness to help you did prove useful in the end. You managed to garner a lot of berries by the end of the day. How they managed to get them all? You would never know. You didn't exactly question it much either due to how many you were able to sell. Sales were pretty good today as well... And as per usual, your two little monkeys were practically guarding you and your stall, which you found really adorable. They looked like two innocent and fluffy puppies looking out for their beloved owner. And their cuteness did definitely contribute to your berry selling success.

Though, while they were pretty quiet and polite towards your customers that were just there to buy berries, there were some they truly didn't like to have around you at all... More specifically, those who showed even the slightest bit of romantic interest towards you.

Especially that farmer boy.

God, they really hated that guy for some reason.

Even if they just saw him walk across the street, far away from where you actually were, they would already start letting out aggressive sounds of pure hatred. Meanwhile you would just awkwardly wave at the poor guy. Though, besides the few customers that had interest in you, your monkeys were pretty well-behaved when you were around. You found it adorable how they would even help fill up tiny bags with berries like little helpers. And if they weren't doing that, they would either sit or lie around on your stall or cling onto you while you worked. They especially loved body contact with you, so they mostly clung onto you. All they wanted in return for their help was your affection, oddly enough. No snack either, just affection. You only had to give them little kisses or cuddle them a bit and they were already melting in your arms. Another cute thing they would do whenever you were selling berries was to give you gifts...

Well, it certainly sounds cute in theory.

However, their gifts ranged from not only some simple shiny rocks and flowers, but also to literal little animals and insects... Which were usually alive whenever they were the dark-furred monkey's gift, but were most definitely always dead in the ginger-furred monkey's case. Of course, you would still praise them as to not upset them... And while they were highly aware of your discomfort whenever they brought in animals and insects, they just ignored it. Then again, you never thought much of it since in your eyes, they were just monkeys. Just two simple, silly, little monkeys. Why would they respect your discomforts when they couldn't even talk?

Well, despite your little monkeys not being able to talk to you, they did seem to understand you. Which felt really nice, considering most in the village either didn't trust you or enjoy talking to you... So their company was very endearing and appreciated.

Especially in certain moments...

"What do you mean you're out of berries?" A tough-looking man asked, definitely pissed off. So you tried to stay calm and defuse the situation as best as you could.

"Sorry, sir... But all berries are already sold out. The last batch was sold a few minutes ago. B-But you could come back tomorrow and-" "I don't have the fucking time to come back tomorrow! I need those berries now!" He rudely cut you off.

"I, uh, understand, sir, but-" "I know you still have berries in stock! I can see a bunch in the basket over there!" He cut you off again, yelling in your face as he pointed towards the basket behind you. You grimaced a little in discomfort.

"Sir, those are berries I'll deliver after work to a woman who already paid for them-" "Then give her that money back or some shit, will ya?! Just give me those damn berries instead already!" The man looked like he would jump behind the stall's counter any moment now to launch himself at you, when you suddenly heard very familiar growling coming from behind the man... He turned around, only to see two small monkeys glaring furiously at him.

The man scoffed. "The fuck are those doing here? Are those your pets or some shit?" You gave your monkeys worried glances, not wanting them to get involved and get hurt. This man looked tough and would have no problem getting rid of two little monkeys...

But your monkeys were different.

Instead of backing down, they slowly approached the man aggressively on all fours. Their tails were dangerously swaying behind them as they snarled at him... While they could tolerate the presence of customers in most cases, this was one of the few cases where they really were just out to murder. All they needed was an opening...

Wukong then seemingly stopped snarling for a moment as he whispered something extremely quietly, to which Macaque nodded. While Macaque continued to aggressively approach the man, his brother gave the man one last glare before running up to you instead, launching himself at you. Startled, you stumbled back a bit as he jumps at you. And with seemingly extreme strength, he managed to knock you down to the ground behind your stall. Your stall obscured your vision of the man and your other monkey. You groaned a bit in pain before you looked at the ginger-furred monkey, who just smiled at you with a love-struck gaze. He didn't attack you or anything, his tail just swayed happily as he nuzzled you. You, of course, were confused by his sudden mood change. "Why did you tackle me-"

Then, you heard a scream from the man for just a split second before the other monkey's snarling suddenly stopped. Everything was silent. Suspicious and confused, you held the ginger-furred monkey against your chest while he continued to happily nuzzle into you. You then stood back up and looked towards the front of your stall... The man was gone. But the dark-furred monkey was still there, sitting contently like a good boy where the man once was. His tail happily swayed behind him as well as if nothing ever happened just now...

The man's decomposing body was found hanging from a tree by his own guts in the forest a few days later. According to those who found his corpse, his body was completely mangled. His face was seemingly ripped or mauled off, displaying his skull with his eyes missing. His rib cage seemed to have been crushed and his abdomen was torn wide open. Part of his organs were missing, and a single bloody peach was found buried inside the body. His tongue was ripped off and literally stuffed down his throat, as if it were there to tell him to forever keep quiet... Not to mention all his broken bones that were not just simply snapped, but crushed into pieces. The entire scene was extremely horrifying for those that saw his remains. Some sort of brutal demon must've killed him. Yet the reasons were unknown as to why this man would be murdered in such a gruesome way... What did the man think in his last moments? Was he immediately dead or was he tortured alive? The people of the village seemed to mentally point their fingers in your direction, however. Especially due to how you were one of the last people they saw him with.

That was just one of the strange happenings surrounding you and your monkey companions.

Something else the villagers noticed was the other rather recent murder cases looked similar, though less brutal. Whoever, or whatever, killed the other people also killed this man. But the other victims usually only had their abdomens be ripped open and their organs ripped out, for whatever reason... Though, they all were found with a single bloody peach inside them.

And of course, villagers kept you in mind as a major suspect. Which was sort of understandable since all those people were people who basically told you to get lost and fuck off, telling you that you don't belong in their community. The more people suspected you to be at least involve in the serial murders, the less people would stop by your berry stall. Which in turn made you feel sad and confused... Did you do something wrong?

Your two little monkeys noticed your guilt and self-doubt creeping in, and they didn't like seeing you beat yourself like this over whatever those other humans thought of you.

Thus, they decided now was the time to make themselves known and 'save' you from this unworthy village.

And what better way than to go out with a bang?

So, they decided to help 'sell' some berry bags personally and directly. They packed them up themselves again and snuck into peoples' houses, taking some of their coins and leaving a bag of berries everywhere they went. The two of them were extremely helpful. They came back to you with coins everytime, so you assumed they managed to sell their little bags to happy customers. All would be fine again soon...

...At least, that's what you had hoped.

News spread fast in the village.

A death was reported in the east.

Another further north.

Few more in the west.

The southern area seemed to have multiple dead people already...

People were dropping dead like flies everywhere within the span of just a single day...

The entire panic rising within the village only seemed to enhance your uneasiness as well. You were mostly outside around your stall after all... What if this so called serial killer found you? Or perhaps there was a deadly virus going around and you shouldn't even be outside in the first place...

You held your monkeys close in worry as you feared for their and your own safety, standing behind your stall once more. While you were feeling uneasy, your monkey companions only seemed all too happy and content with no care in the world as you let them nuzzle into you with cute little chirps. Sighing, you looked at all the berries you still haven't managed to sell. Feeling a little hungry, you decided to eat a few of the berries you had. After taking one of the berry bags the monkeys had packed, you grabbed a few of the berries and were about to eat them.

Suddenly, the ginger-furred one stopped you by quickly switching from clinging onto your chest to clinging onto the arm that was holding the berries, stretching his body from your arm up to your hand to clasp his own little hands around it, keeping you from eating the berry. He looked at you with seemingly slightly concerned eyes, shaking his head as he let out quiet noises, which sounded like he was begging you not to eat them. It was strange how strong this little monkey actually was... His tiny hands were preventing you from even opening your hand. The dark-furred monkey also seemed to join in on stopping you from consuming those berries as he nuzzles into your neck, wrapping his tail around the arm that's holding the bag. The sight must've looked funny to others if they were passing by, to be honest.

Confused, you decide to just listen to the monkeys and not eat the berries... Maybe they were just upset that you'd wanna unpack and eat the berries they had so nicely packed for customers earlier. Which would make sense.

Another day had passed and...

Where was everyone?

You set up your bags at your stall and were patiently waiting for someone, anyone, to even just walk past. However, everything was silent for a few hours. Dead silent for a village that had a bunch of gossip going around. Not even your monkey companions were following you this morning, oddly enough. This only added to your fear since those little guys were like your comfort pets.

Another hour passed and finally some sound was heard in the distance. Were those... screams?

Now more on edge than ever, you decided that maybe you should sit this day out on trying to sell... You didn't exactly want to lose your life to some massacre or virus after all. A bit panicked by the scream, you quickly tried to pack up the little berry bags into a basket. But as you were starting to pack up, you could hear a male voice fake coughing to grab your attention. Startled by the sudden noise after all the dead silence, you almost dropped one bag before you turned to face the person in front of your stall... Or, uh... Monkey...?

This dark-furred monkey seemed familiar... Maybe he was related to one of your little monkey friends?

He smirked at you as he leaned against the stall, his tail swaying slowly behind him. "Hey there, sugarplum. Did I arrive a bit too late? My brother and I heard you sell delicious berries here."

You waved your hand dismissively, nervous as you never had a monkey, or rather a demon in this case, being a customer. The nickname was also making you a little nervous, but maybe he was just one of those people who give everyone they see nicknames. "Oh- No, no- You're not late- I just... Didn't think I would get any customers today..."

He leaned in a bit closer to you. "Oh? Why's that? Aren't your berries said to be the best in this village though?"

"Uh, well... Yes, but usually some customers would've already bought some at this time in the day... But you'd be my first customer today." You admitted sheepishly. He only seemed to grin... You didn't know he could hear your anxious heartbeat. He knew you didn't exactly feel safe. But you were still trying to be calm and polite towards even a dangerous-looking demon him. Which he found cute. That's when his ear twitched as he heard something you couldn't hear, making his grin turn into a more... seductive one.

"I'm actually not here to buy any of those bags you're offering. I am interested in one specific berry from your stall, however."

You blinked at him in confusion. "...What berry? They're all pretty much the same?"

"Not all of them." He responded. The simian chuckled as he looked at you with intent. "There's one berry my brother and I have been keeping a close eye on for quite a while now, and we want to claim that berry for ourselves... It simply sticks out. Just like a delicious peach amongst a bunch of mediocre berries. My brother's words, not mine. But I do have to agree with him on this one." He then leaned in a little closer to you, still giving you this sort of seductive grin. "And as an honorable and kind merchant, surely you would love to fulfill a customer's simple request... Right?"

His deep voice made him sound so smooth, but his words and the way he said them also just sounded... Off... This was not a regular exchange for food, that much you could tell. But before you could reply, you heard another voice coming from behind you. "Well, well, well... How's business? Did I miss anything, Macaque?" You turned around in shock, noticing a ginger-furred simian behind you. Some sort of red and gold staff is held loosely on his shoulder as he smirked. Though, the thing that set you off the most were the clear blood spots on his fur, his clothes, and especially on one side of his staff...

"Nah, you didn't miss a thing. I was just mentioning what we wanted to 'buy'." Macaque responded with a shrug as he leaned back a bit, though still resting with his arms on the stall's counter.

They could clearly tell you were scared. And of course, as your beloved monkeys, they wanted to make you feel as comfortable around them as possible. So, maybe a little bit of an introduction would make things easier. The ginger-furred monkey raised his free hand with a little wave, smiling kindly as if he didn't just murder humans a few minutes ago. "Hey, peaches! My name is Sun Wukong. Legendary Monkey King and Great Sage Equal To Heaven! Also strongest demon you'll ever see as well as the most sexy monkey in existence- Aaaanyway, this is my sworn brother, and second-in-command, the Six-Eared Macaque." He said to break the ice, gesturing towards the dark-furred monkey as well.

"Just call me Macaque. And him Wukong." Macaque added with a bit of a shrugging hand motion. Then he moves his hand just enough to point towards his brother with a taunting, shit-eating grin. "It's much easier than Six-Eared Macaque and whatever the fuck long ass title Wukong decided to give himself." He grins smugly, to which Wukong huffs in a rather arrogant way.

"Well, excuse me for having achieved more in life than you." Wukong retorted.

"Great Sage Equal To Heaven was not an achievement if you practically begged for it."

"But Warlord was."

"You didn't even name that title in your introduction though??"

"I didn't wanna make them feel more anxious than they already are, okay??"

"And since when are you the most sexy monkey in existence?? That's bullshit and you know it."

"Hey! That title may be a tiny bit opinion-based, but it is an accurate description of me."

"Could you stop letting your ego go to your head for like five minutes? I'm still the brains in this duo. And the brain doesn't need the muscle's ego surrounding it."

"...Okay, now this is getting fucking personal, you goddamn hypocrite-"

To be honest, you weren't exactly scared at this moment anymore, just confused and uncomfortable due to them arguing and practically being so close to just claw at each other's throats over petty titles. Macaque rolled his eyes at Wukong before turning back to you, trying to get back on topic to avoid Wukong getting pissed at him over nothing again. "So about that 'peach amongst berries' talk-" Suddenly, Wukong quickly wrapped an arm around you, pulling you against his blood-stained armor with a grin. His annoyed mood immediately flipped like a switch to a more love-struck one again.

"Oh? Did our peaches agree? Was my pick-up line enough to convince them~? Did you tell them about the real us yet?" He hummed. You grimaced a bit in discomfort at him suddenly touching you so casually. Especially because you could tell he reeked of death... Was... Was he the one who killed those people...? The more you thought about it, the more connections clicked in your mind... The peach references, the way people described the latest murder of the man who yelled at you, the fact that for some reason it's all connected to literal demon monkeys...

Your heartbeat rose up, making Macaque smirk. "Well, not verbally... But I think they're starting to understand what's happening on their own. What a smart human we've picked!"

"Y-You- Wh- Wait what-" You stammered out in shock, definitely now more scared than ever before. Wukong quickly picked you up into his arms after making his staff seemingly disappear into thin air. His strength was no joke either as he clearly didn't struggle at all in holding you. His tail was happily moving behind him in excitement.

"C'mon, Macaque. We got what we came here for." Wukong stated as he walked a bit further away from your stall. You attempted to escape by trying to move out of his grip, but despite barely even gripping onto you, you were simply just flailing around a bit, clearly unable to escape your cage that were his arms. He simply ignored your attempt at an escape as he smiled contently, giving you a very familiar love-struck look...

That reminded you of your little monkey companions. Your heartbeat spiked and Macaque took notice. He raised an eyebrow at you in confusion because your heartbeat didn't change much since you started flailing in Wukong's arms. "Is something wrong, (Y/N)?"

You stopped in shock, looking at the dark-furred monkey with wide eyes. "W-Wh... H-How do you know my name?"

Ah. Right, right. You didn't know yet.

Macaque chuckled as he cupped your cheek with you still in his brother's arms. "Well, you see... We sorta picked up your name during the weeks, or I guess months at this point, when we were helping you around the village. You know, packing up berries and all that... We even made sure the latest batches had the freshest type of toxin for the best quality!" He grinned maliciously as he crossed his arms. Your mouth hung agape in shock as some tears gathered in your eyes...

"You... Y-You were those two monkeys...?" You asked quietly in disbelief... All those deaths... If they put those toxic berries in the bags you were paid for... Didn't that automatically make you a form of accomplice in their schemes? And you got paid for basically allowing them to kill all these people. You started to sob, "...Oh my god... No, no, no... This- T-This can't be- I-I would never h-help... kill- I-I d-didn't mean t-to-"

Wukong then leaned his head down a bit to kiss your forehead with a faint blush and a soft smile. "Shhh... It's fine, peaches. Don't cry. You can just put all the blame on us if that helps." He said quietly, trying to sound comforting. The warlord clearly didn't care about all the dead people, he only cared about wanting to see you smile. He summoned some form of cloud and hopped onto it with you still trapped in his arms. Then he gave his second-in-command a malicious grin. "Macaque, I'll take them home. Sweep through the village one last time. If anyone is still alive, you know what to do."

Macaque returned his own malicious grin as he bowed a little. And with his bow, a shadow-like portal opened up beneath him, swallowing him into the ground. Meanwhile, you could only helplessly watch as Wukong made his cloud fly high up into the skies at pretty high speeds. If you managed to escape his grasp now, you would just be dead. Looking back towards your village, you could see bodies lying outside, most had no blood as they probably died to the berries, but some were clearly attacked earlier by Wukong... You also witnessed houses collapsing within giant flames...

Even the sky above the village itself seemed to look doomed from afar...

You could even still see another human begging for help before being tortured by Macaque's shadows...

You were just silently crying as Wukong took you away to Flower Fruit Mountain, which would soon become your new home. Whether you would like it or not. You were theirs now. And it all simply started with some small berries...

If only you had known that even the littlest of things could snowball you down to hell.

[Published: 9/13/23]

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ☆ ~ Headcanons ~ ☆ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

☆ Nezha

>The moment you gave him his Special Stranger cap, he felt extremely appreciated

>Like, full on positive and wholesome vibes, just for this little gift from before you even knew his name

>Refuses to ever willingly take off his cap unless he really has to (sleeping, fighting, etc.)

>Has a tendency of tracing his fingers along the cap's front

>Extremely protective of his cap, especially around Wukong since he already yoinked it before

>Something no one but those two knew though: Wukong actually almost lost the cap on their search for you between Pt.1 and Pt.2

>Which is why Wukong is the last person he'd entrust the Special Stranger cap with

>Give him any gift that has a similar writing to "(Y/N)'S Special Stranger" on it

>This man will melt

>So like, those who looked into how his human disguise looks like may remember his midriff shirt, right?

>Touch his skin there, I dare you

>Trust me, he's into that

>At least when you're the one doing it

>Hard to believe he used to hate that shirt when he first wore it too

>But if it appeals to you, he really doesn't mind

>He already slapped Wukong's hand for poking him there cuz it pissed him off though

>You have him sort of moving in with you for a while since he tries to blend in with humans just for your sake

>As in, he tries really hard to look more into the modern life of a regular human just to be with you in the Mortal Realm

>Ends up frustrated with some rather bullshit things humans have to deal with

>Aka, seeing you work your ass off, then having to pay so much money into your apartment and all that ticks him off

>So much so that you end up moving in with him in the Celestial Realm instead

>Jade Emperor finds your dynamic cute and is kind of proud of Nezha for having found someone to love

>Any celestials that have a bit of a crush on Nezha, not so much

>But you and Nezha are happy together, and that's all that matters :)

[Published: 9/16/23]

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

Seated on your throne, you sighed as you waited for your purple champion's return. You sent out Macaque to retrieve an ancient artifact a demon stole from your palace's storage. Usually it wouldn't take him long to hunt someone down. After all, he was used to tracking down any that would oppose you and would bring them to justice. However, something must've happened since he obviously wasn't back yet. This was highly unusual for either one of your champions.

'Did he get into an accident?', you thought to yourself, now getting worried.

Your blue champion seemed to notice your sudden change in mood. He didn't even need to feel it through your eternal bond, he could just tell by looking at your concerned expression. He leaned down a bit as he obediently stood next to your throne, looking at you with his void black eyes. "Master, is something bothering you?"

You turned your head a bit to look at him. "It's just... Where's Macaque?"

"Unfortunately, I'm not sure whether or not he's still occupied with the thief." He responded flatly with little to no emotion. You hummed in thought for a moment before you turned to face him again.

"Wukong, I want you to check up on your brother... Help him if he needs help, but at least just make sure he's not hurt or anything." You said firmly. The monkey in blue moved in front of you and bowed.

"As you wish, Master."

And with that, he summoned his somersault cloud and hopped onto it before swiftly flying off into the direction of where his sworn brother left to hunt down the thief.

Across the land, a giant smoke monster could be seen fighting a giant demon in green and black. It seemed like a tough battle as the demon the monster was fighting was very aggressive and wild in its attacks. When suddenly, a blunt hit to the back of the green and black demon slammed the demon in green and black face-first into the ground of the clearing they were fighting in. Its body created a giant crater. It was still alive, but just barely as it laid there motionless. It seemed like the battle already weakened it and the blow to the back was too much for it to handle.

The simian piloting the giant smoke monster panted a bit from exhaustion as he smiled darkly at the fallen demon. But then he turned towards the direction of his ginger-furred brother, who was standing on his cloud with crossed arms, and huffed. "Thanks, but I could've taken him down on my own. It just would've taken a bit."

"Master told me to make sure you weren't hurt." Wukong stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

Macaque's smile turned from maniac to apologetic as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, with his giant smoke avatar mirroring his motion. "Oh man, did I take too long again? I didn't mean to make them worry... I just kinda got caught up with stopping the thief. He used the artifact he stole and it turned him into a feral titan." He added as the giant smoke monster gestured towards the other demon on the ground. That's when the monkey on the cloud quickly zoomed down towards the unconscious demon's body. It took him a few seconds, but he quickly spotted the artifact hanging from the titan's satchel. After he took it away from the giant demon, the demon's body seemingly shrunk back to its original size, still unconscious in the ginormous crater. The simian carefully held onto the artifact, as to not accidentally trigger its power, before his cloud flew back to his sworn brother. After Macaque saw the other demon's now normal-sized body, his smoke monster avatar disappeared around him as he stretched with his feet now touching the ground again.

He grinned at the ginger-furred monkey, seeing him hold the artifact the thief stole. "Guess now we also know what thing does... Did Master say anything about wanting us to kill the guy, or to place him in the punishment wing?"

Wukong shook his head in response, his face still not holding any emotion. Macaque sighed. "Well, damn... But I guess we might as well end him now than risk having him try to steal again, right?" He chuckled as he slowly walked towards the unconscious demon's body. The dark-furred monkey gave the demon a wicked grin, not expecting a response as he summoned his shadow staff. "Nothing personal, dude. Just making sure our beloved Master is forever safe and comfortable! Any who are at risk of opposing them in any way must be eliminated..."

And with that, he smashed his staff's thorny end down onto the demon's head, ending his life with one last strike. Wukong just gave the corpse a bored look before he uncrossed his arms. "Do you need a ride back?" The Monkey King asked, referring to Macaque's exhaustion after battle. He could just help the other monkey relax and calm down with his somersault cloud, after all.

However, Macaque just waved his hand dismissively as he took a deep breath. "Nah, but thanks. I'm a bit tired, but not enough to stop me from using my powers. Do you want a ride back though?" He grinned before he summoned a shadow portal on the ground next to himself. Wukong's mouth just faintly twitches upwards for a split second, but it was enough to make his the dark-furred simian chuckle in repsonse. "C'mooon, bud~ We both know my method's faster! Just hop in already!" If Wukong's eyes weren't like a fully black void, his playful eyeroll would've been very much noticeable. He hopped off his cloud, letting it disappear as he approached the portal, straight up jumping into it. Macaque soon followed after, closing the portal once he went through.

On the other side, you anxiously waited on your throne. While you didn't think any of your regular servants would harm you, you still felt a bit uncomfortable without at least one of your champions around. After all, a human ruling over an army of demons wasn't exactly a common thing demons respected. Only those who were already your servants in other lives would respect you fully... probably. And you had no recollection of any of your previous lives.

Your anxiety faded however once your two blue and purple champions emerged from a shadow portal in front of your throne. The sworn brothers didn't hesitate and kneeled upon seeing you.

"Apologies for the wait and for worrying you, Master. The thief ended up using the artifact and I ended up having to fight him to stop him." Macaque says, somewhat sounding ashamed of himself. He didn't like it whenever he didn't meet his Master's expectations. Even if something was out of his control.

You smiled softly as you leaned back. "It's fine, Mac-Mac. It was inevitable if that guy refused to face justice... I'm just glad you're alright and came back to me alive and well." The simian's frown turned into a bright smile as his tail swayed happily behind him. If you used that nickname for him, then he must've done everything right!

Afterwards, you smiled at your blue champion. "Thanks for finding him and taking him home again, Wu-Wu. Great job." You praised him. Now his tail was also swaying more happily. He nodded his head and grunted quietly in acknowledgement. Despite him not talking quite as much as his brother, and usually not showing emotions, you knew he was just as happy and content as your purple champion. His gentle tail sways were enough to understand.

The ginger-furred monkey then pulled out the artifact from underneath his cloaked side, still kneeling as he stared at you expectantly. "Shall I return this to the storage? The Archivist wanted to check on the items later today."

You scratched your head in thought for a moment as you hummed. "Guess that would be the best idea... If the Archivist shows up, then it's best if we have all the items that we borrowed... I don't wanna deal with his colleagues again, to be honest." You admitted, physically cringing a bit at the memory of your last encounter with the group the Archivist was involved in. They weren't happy when an eternal branding iron you used on your servants was stolen. Especially the Judge...

Wukong, knowing what you meant, nodded again as he stood up and bowed his head. "Of course, Master." Then he turned and walked away towards the palace's storage. Meanwhile, Macaque continued to smile brightly at you.

"Do you have another task for me to complete as well, Master?" He asked, eager to follow your every command like an obedient puppy. You hummed in thought again, but before you could respond, you heard the familiar voice of a certain mysterious figure in a black cloak and a fox-like mask...

"They do not. I have a task for you instead, Six-Eared Macaque."

The cloaked entity with the fox mask revealed himself as he walked out from behind your throne... When did he get here? Then again, he was one of the Archivist's colleagues, so you didn't question much anymore due to all they were able to do... You raised a suspicious eyebrow at the masked entity as you spoke. "...What task?" Those cloaked beings weren't to be trusted with how they operated. And while the Oracle usually spoke of the truth and was one of the more gentle-sounding members, you could never be sure whether or not there was malice behind anything their group did.

He responded in a blank tone, as if it were obvious. "The task involves going to the Underworld and retrieving the Scroll of Memory." Macaque visibly flinched slightly as one of his ears twitched at the mention of the Underworld, yet he avoided eye contact and remained quiet. The masked entity continued. "It's not the scroll itself that you might be interested in, but rather the curse that is bound to the scroll. That curse would be an extremely great addition to your palace's security." The entity added.

You grimaced a bit in thought, looking at him with uncertainty as you propped up your head on your hand. "Mhm... Are you sure this is worth it? Macaque isn't exactly fond of the Underworld, and I don't wanna make any of my servants, especially my champions, uncomfortable... Maybe Wukong could-" "NO!" Your purple champion suddenly cut you off as he looked at you, his void black eyes were wide open in panic, practically begging you to hear him out. He coughed awkwardly before bowing his head in a bit of shame and embarrassment for cutting you off.

"M-My apologies for interrupting you, Master... But I'd like to take on this mission myself, if I may." He said firmly, determination clear on his face as he tried to avoid this uncomfortable feeling of having to return to the Underworld. But he really wanted to prove himself worthy as one of your champions. He outwardly expressed his love and devotion towards you so much more than his sworn brother, and yet Wukong usually ended up getting more missions than him despite that.

You gave him a concerned look. "Are you sure? I know you don't like the Underworld after... Well, you know..."

He nodded his head without hesitation. "Yes, Master. Please let me retrieve that scroll for you."

After another short moment of uncertainty, you sighed in defeat. You stood up and moved towards your purple champion, petting his fluffy head. "Alright, fine... But if anything makes you feel unsafe or uncomfortable, I want you to just come back... Okay? I don't want you to get hurt, Mac-Mac. I'd rather have you here with me without that scroll than have the scroll without you." You said softly as you kissed his forehead. The dark-furred monkey blushed as his breath hitched at your touch and words.

That was all the motivation he needed.

His bright smile returned as he joyfully saluted. "Yes, Master! I'll make you proud!" You chuckled at his sudden eagerness. Almost immediately, a shadow portal opened up beneath the simian as he dropped into it, vanishing. Upon the closing of the portal, you raised an eyebrow at the Oracle.

"...Is this scroll really necessary?" You asked quietly, to which the entity silently nodded. You sighed as you pinched the bridge of your nose.

"It's not just for your safety, Your Majesty. It's also required to garner enough attention for the future paths to be connected to the present path." He responded flatly, which confused you. But again, you didn't question his words due to his occupation. And soon enough, Wukong returned from the storage. The monkey in blue walked up to you and bowed, as if to say he had finished his task.

You petted him as well, also kissing his forehead with a little smile. "Good job, Wu-Wu." And just like his sworn brother, his tail started to sway in a happy daze as he blushed despite his still expressionless face. He clearly also loved it when you called him by that nickname. The Oracle, upon seeing the Monkey King return and being showered in affection, quickly bid you farewell for now as he still seemed to be busy with other matters. Meanwhile, you continued to pet the ginger-furred monkey, waiting for his brother again. You even decided to continue petting him while your were seated on your throne.

However, at some point while petting your blue champion, a thought crossed your mind...

"Wu-Wu... If your brother isn't back within the next three hours, I want you to go look for him in the Underworld... And help him out if need be." Wukong's eyes were closed as he leaned into your gentle, addictive touch, while his tail swayed slowly behind him. He simply nodded without opening his eyes.

"Understood, Master."

[Published: 9/24/23]

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

"That was all her fault for acting so disrespectful! And towards Master's name, no less!"

"I can't argue with that logic. But did you really have to punch her skull in before the torture even started?"

"Well, of course! Her presence was no longer welcomed the moment she called Master insulting names."

Macaque and Nezha were chilling in the torture chamber. The simian was sitting on a table with bloody tools while the celestial was cleaning up some of those tools with a towel. A deceased woman was strapped to the table in the middle of the room. Her skull was smashed, showing how mangled the remains of her brain looked as her head lied in a pool of her own blood.

Macaque sighed, "You can't just eliminate someone before we even tortured them, though. Even if they disrespected our Master while trapped here-" "That's just it! Our Master should always be respected and worshipped! They deserve nothing less than pure adoration!" Nezha cut him off, clearly angered. The dark-furred monkey raised an eyebrow at him, his tail flicking behind him at the surprise of Nezha talking back to him.

"Nezha, I get where you're coming from, I really do. I want our Master to always be respected and worshipped as well." Macaque started as he crossed his arms. "However, see it this way: Would you rather kill those who treated our lovely Master poorly, basically sparing them from pain, or would you rather let them serve their sentence by prolonging their suffering?"

The pink champion froze for a moment as he thought about the other champion's words... The simian was right. It would be a lot more satisfying watching the unworthy suffer by his hands than just simply killing them in one blow.

Nezha groaned as he quietly cussed to himself. Macaque had no problem catching him cussing and chuckled, his tail swaying for a moment in dark delight.

"Well, shit! Guess this is just a wasted kill after all!" The celestial exclaimed. He then heard the other servant 'tut' at him. Annoyed, Nezha turned towards the monkey, glaring.

"I wouldn't say it's fully wasted... This," the simian started as he hopped off the table and moved towards the table with the woman's corpse, gesturing towards her as he continues, "is still our dinner." If Nezha's pupils were visible, his eye roll would've been very much noticeable. He then followed the purple champion over to the table.

Macaque grabbed one of the knives on the way and chuckled darkly. He used it to smoothly cut into the woman's thigh, slicing a big chunk of flesh like a cake. More of the bit of blood she still had inside her body spilled out of the body's new wound and onto the table, the knife, and Macaque's hand. The simian then grinned and held said piece of meat out towards the pink champion. "Well? Go ahead, dig in. It's still fresh."

The pink champion, already used to it at this point, simply took the raw piece of meat and looked at it with a slight bit of disgust. He may have eaten a few remains raw before to prove his worth and loyal devotion to the other champions, but he still didn't exactly like the consistency of the meat. "Thanks... But I think I'll wait till it's cooked..."

The dark-furred monkey shrugged. "Suit yourself then," he said before he shoved the meat into his mouth, loudly chewing on his bloody meal as he already started cutting another piece of the woman's corpse. All while Nezha watched in silence. This little ritual the champions had of eating the remains of the tortured ones always reminded him of how he became his Master's servant himself.

It reminded him of that one demon village that was eradicated off the face of the earth. The huge pile of corpses Macaque made with the bodies of those villagers that disrespected and hurt their Master... And Nezha was the one tasked to set the pile ablaze. Back in that moment, he truly felt awful for taking the torch. But it didn't take long for him to actually enjoy the sight as his vision darkened. Especially once he saw his beloved Master in person again, this time becoming your pink champion. Your touch just felt so addicting to him, as if it was all he needed to forget all the bad he did. Your touch, your love and affection, was all he had ever craved...

No longer was there any guilt or regret. His Master was all that mattered to him. He felt pure happiness he had never felt in all his years of serving the Jade Emperor and the Celestial Realm...

Not that he remembered much about his so-called "past life" anyway.

Ever since he's become one of his Master's eternal servants, he practically forgot all about what his life was like before. He had very limited memories, of which only some were family-related, from when he was just born.

Suddenly, Macaque froze mid-bite. His ear twitched a little before he smiled brightly, joyfully devouring the meat and swallowing it quickly, placing the knife on the table. "Master is calling for me!"

And in a blink, the simian disappeared through a shadow portal that opened up right beneath him. Nezha sighed as he glanced at the corpse of the woman, placing the piece of meat from his hand onto her body. He probably would need to carry her remains to the fridge. After all, he didn't know when the others wanted to eat. He knew Wukong was busy with the palace's guards, Macaque was now gone to answer to their Master's call, and Nezha himself didn't know what to even do. He didn't have any tasks besides torturing that woman, and that already ended extremely prematurely due to his outburst.

"Ugh, fuck! I knew I shouldn't have killed her yet!" He grumbled angrily as he took the knife Macaque used to cut her, and proceeded to stab the corpse's neck in rage. He grumbled out more curses as he twisted the knife around the woman's neck in annoyance. A few minutes passed before he heard a shadow portal open up again. He turned towards it, out came the purple champion again. The simian was about to say something, but then paused and pursed his lips at the sight of Nezha moving the knife inside the woman's neck.

"...You're not supposed to play with your food, pinky. Didn't your friends up in the Celestial Realm ever teach you that?" Macaque teased with a smirk.

The pink champion scoffed in response, pulling out the knife from the woman's neck before slamming it back down, but this time into her eye. Due to his sheer strength, he easily smashed it through part of her skull as well, seemingly ignoring her destroyed eye on the way as her body seemed to weep more blood. "I'm aware of the saying. But what else am I supposed to do? I'm bored!"

Macaque huffed, grinning as he approached the celestial with crossed arms. His tail swayed gently behind him. "If you're bored, then you're in luck! I have a task for you. A very important one..."

Now, due to Macaque having to leave for a mission, Nezha was suddenly happy again. Not necessarily because of the simian being gone, but because of how the celestial was tasked to watch over their Master. Alone. The other champions were busy after all, so their beloved Master needed someone to fill the bodyguard slot for a while. Master's security ink wasn't enough for the monkey brothers. So, Nezha was tasked to be your bodyguard for the time being. And he was ecstatic everytime he was tasked to stay around you. Sure, being bodyguards is like the usual job the champions had signed up for, but Nezha had you for himself in his moment. No other champion could take your attention.

He was standing next to your throne as he stared at you with a soft, loving gaze. You could practically see little hearts floating around his head as his focus stayed solely on you. You looked at him as you hummed in thought. While you didn't mind staying on your throne, you also didn't expect any meeting today. Perhaps you could do something else. You haven't had any alone time with Nezha in a while anyway. And having him stare at you like that for the next few hours wasn't exactly the most entertaining thing. "Sooo... Do you wanna walk around the palace?" You suggested.

Your pink champion seemed to have been caught off guard as he sheepishly nodded. "That would be a wonderful idea, Master. Don't worry, I'll keep you safe the entire time!" He added proudly. You couldn't help but chuckle at his eagerness as you stood up and gently took his hand into yours. Your touch made him smile brightly beneath his mask as he stayed close to you, all while you lead him out of the throne room and down the hall, enjoying your conversation with him. Occasionally, there were a few servants on the way, who all bowed to greet you, but the halls were generally pretty quiet today.

However, that was only until you walked through the activity wing.

There was a sudden bang that startled you and your champion. Nezha quickly recovered from his startled confusion as he took up a more defensive and protective stance, summoning his fire-tipped spear to his side as he shielded you with his body. The loud bang came from down the hall in front of you. When the doors to the library swung open, they swung so strongly that they slammed against the wall, nearly ripping them off their hinges. And out into the hall came a furry beast with six legs. It growled as it moved menacingly out of the library. Then it turned a bit towards you and Nezha... Its four eyes seemed to focus on the celestial in front of you, sensing his energy specifically.

You knew this beast... It was the beast from a book you once read. It was known to be a form of Celestial Hunter. Not much was known about them, other than that they would lure divine entities by copying the voices or looks of someone they love and trust. They would then either  bite and infect, or straight up feast on the victim. However, this beast was seen as just simple fiction... How was is real? Where did it come from?

The beast then tried to appear more friendly as it tilted its head at Nezha. Since the celestial already saw its real form, it probably would be unable to get away with a disguise. However, it seemed to have a plan B...

"Nezha? Is that you?" The beast asked in a female voice you didn't recognize. But Nezha did... It was his mother's voice. He gripped his spear tightly, his eyes widening just slightly.

"...Mother?"

The beast doesn't move as it stares at Nezha, lowering its head a bit to try lower his guard. It was trying to get him into a false sense of security.

"Yes, it's me... My son, what happened to you? You don't look so well... We have to leave and get you out of here. This place isn't safe. Come with me, Nezha... Please, come with me... There is so much darkness here... It's so dark here..." As much as it seemed tempting to follow these voice's instructions, Nezha also was fairly aware of the ominous looking creature the voice was coming from. This wasn't any simple demon. Yet, he couldn't help but shake just slightly at the voice of his mother...

That's when he felt you lightly squeeze his hand with yours, bringing him back to the current situation. He glanced behind him to look at you and saw your worried, helpless expression...

He knew he would be a fool if he ever let that... that thing lure him away from his Master...

The temptation to be lured closer to the beast was now gone as quickly as it came, simply replaced by thoughts of his beloved Master. Nezha glared daggers at the beast. He was stronger than whatever it would throw at him. He knew it. And so did you... And he refused to disappoint his beloved, his true Master.

Your pink champion refused to be manipulated so easily.

Not when he had a job to do.

Not when this job involved serving you.

He was one of your champions for a good reason, after all.

The beast seemed to notice the way the celestial seemed more in focus again, and it quickly realized that he couldn't be tricked like its previous victims. So, it dropped its friendly act and let out a loud, hungry screech before it sprinted in his direction. Nezha, with his extreme speed, let go of your hand and swiftly attacked it with his fire-tipped spear, using his now lit up wheels for an extra boost as he stabbed the beast. He grunted in rage as the beast tries to attack him now with the close range. However, he dodged most of its bites and swipes with ease, using his strength to try bend one of its legs and break it. Only to then realize that it didn't have bones...

Nezha seemingly narrowed his void black eyes at the beast as he let out a low growl behind his mask... If he couldn't make it suffer with broken bones, surely tearing it apart limb by limb would work...

Thus, he held tightly onto his spear, making its flame light up more inside the darkened beast. The fire seemed to be its weakness as it began to let out a painful, or rather, seemingly scared screech. However, it was clear to him that it would not go down without a fight as it continued to claw at him. Yet everytime it would claw at him, he held his cold, angered gaze as he started to rip out the leg that it would use to attack. Despite it having no bone structure, it did seem to at least have some form of nerves. The darkened beast seemingly screeched in agony as Nezha managed to rip off one of its limbs.

The beast attempted to get away from Nezha, but he held his tight grip on his spear, refusing to let that thing go unpunished for what it tried to do... How dare it try lure him away from you, his Master...

Upon noticing the beast's attempt to flee, Nezha let out a maddening laugh as he twisted and turned his spear. The fiery tip moved from one side to the other as he enjoyed the beast writhe in pain beneath him. The celestial then slammed his flaming wheels into the beast's chest, letting its fire damage the beast as well. As he noticed a now giant, gaping hole that went through the beast's entire body, he notice how everything inside it was nothing but mass of what its outside was made out of. But it did hold some veins that glowed a very faint red, which were as red as its blood red eyes.

He scoffed as he slammed the beast onto its side, watching it lose its strength. "Ah, got it. You're one of the Oracle's friends, aren'tcha? Well, at least part of whatever the hell he is..." Nezha slammed his fire-tipped spear down into the beast's neck as he let out another painful wail in agony. The pink champion chuckled darkly as his fire spread inside the beast's body. He could practically see his flames glowing past its darkened shell of a body.

"But whether friend or foe, you just attempted a crime so outrageous, it must be punished by nothing less than death..."

Finally, he pulled his spear out of its neck and slammed it into one of the beast's eyes, stabbing it straight through its "skull" with a mocking grin underneath his mask. Just like how he stabbed that woman's corpse earlier... Soon, the beast fully collapsed and stopped moving as the fire inside its body finally seemed to spread to the outside. Nezha made sure it's dead with some extra stabs before he huffed in annoyance. "...Weak. That wasn't even half a challenge."

As he got off the beast's corpse with his spear in hand, the beast's remains suddenly turned into a black, still somewhat burning puddle on the floor. Then it hardened once more, stopping the fire, before finally turning into some form of black dust that easily spread all over the ground with minimal wind around.

Nezha scoffed at the sight before he moved back over to your somewhat shaken form. Though, you looked more intrigued by what just happened. "Master, are you alright? It didn't hurt you, did it?" He asked with sudden concern as he inspected you for any wounds, cupping your cheeks.

"I'm fine, Lotus Dork", you said a bit muffled as he had his hand on your cheeks, squishing them just slightly, looking at you. He sighed in relief as he blushed a bit at that nickname, letting go of your cheeks. But then he noticed you frown at the sight of his own wounds. There wasn't many or even deep wounds, but he did get a few puncture or claw wounds on his skin. On closer inspection, you could see some black inside his wounds. Probably tiny bits from the beast's body.

"Don't worry, Master! It'll heal itself!" He quickly said. You hummed for a moment before taking his hand and practically dragging him down in the direction you came from earlier. He blinked in surprise as he blushed in embarrassment. It probably looked funny to passing servants, just seeing how easily you dragged your pink champion around, when he could just stop moving. But you were his beloved Master, the one in charge of him and his body. Whatever you wanted to do with him was law. But he was still curious. "Master- Where are we going?"

"To the med bay, duh." You said as you pouted at him, still dragging him along like a dog on a leash going to the vet. "I want to have your wound at least disinfected before anything happens."

Nezha chuckled under his breath, which was even more muffled due to his mask. "As if that could happen twice..."

After you forced him to have his wounds cleaned and bandaged, you asked him to take off his mask for a moment. As he did what you requested, you kissed his cheek, right where his old wound was. He blushed as he felt you reward him for taking action and staying by your side.

There was nothing he wanted more than you.

[Published: 10/5/23]

Chapter Text

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

"Focus."

Slam.

"Imagine it like an enemy of the palace."

Slam.

"Imagine it insulted our gift."

Slam.

"Imagine... it hurt Master-"

SMASH.

The young monkey panted as he slammed his staff down onto the practice dummy, instantly destroying it with his sudden anger spike. However, his emotions seemed to leave him as quickly as they came as he blankly stared at the destroyed dummy. Wukong came up to MK and gently pat him on the back. Despite his unbothered expression, he did care for the boy. "Good job, bud. Master shall forever be safe with us", he said as he handed the yellow champion a water bottle, which the younger monkey gladly took and took a few sips from.

While drinking from the bottle, a certain pink champion entered the training hall, seemingly there to train as well with his casual training wear on. A towel was draping off his shoulders as he went straight for another training dummy. The monkeys didn't pay him much attention though as Wukong continued trying to get MK to channel his energy properly. Instead of going over to an actually still functional dummy, Wukong and his successor remained with the broken dummy's remains.

"Now, imagine your opponent is still alive. But they were the reason our Master felt sad. What do you do?" Wukong asked. The boy continued to stare at the dummy in response, but his already void black gaze seemed to darken just slightly at the mere idea of their Master being sad.

"Crush them."

The yellow champion then raised his staff, readying himself to hit the already broken dummy again. However, he was quickly stopped by Nezha, who swiftly made his spear clash with MK's staff, stopping him and getting his attention. His dark expression also returned to his regular, emotionless state as he tilted his head in confusion. The pink champion removed his spear once he no longer felt the pressure of the boy's staff. "The dummy is already done for. If you hit it again, you'll just destroy the floor. And you know how upset Master gets when we inflict damage upon the palace."

"Oh. Right... Sorry", MK responded flatly. His mentor just silently pat his back again, right above his wound.

The celestial hummed for a moment. "Well, something else you could do instead is to spar on the roof." Nezha then grinned a bit as he leaned against his spear. "I could be your sparring partner if Wukong doesn't want to."

But before MK could respond, Wukong stepped in front of him as he crossed his arms. No words needed to be said for Nezha to get the memo. The pink champion's grin quickly turned into an annoyed frown. "Whatever. Guess no sparring today." He stretched a bit as he pushed himself off his spear before continuing. "Anyway... If you're done, I'll just take on the next one", he said as he moved back over towards the other, still in-tact training dummy. Wukong uncrossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at his successor. The young boy tilted his head a bit and blinked in response, curious about what he's got planned for him now. But then he turned to watch Nezha train by himself.

Something he noticed was how Nezha put some force into his hits as well. The training dummies may have been made out of a special material provided by the Archivist, but even this material was quickly torn apart by the champions when enraged. And judging by how Nezha's dummy already looked like a few hits in, he was clearly trying to get rid of some steam. The way he hit the target with his spear in a rather uncalculated tantrum-like way wasn't his usual training style.

"...Nezha is upset", he pointed out to his mentor, who silently sighed in response.

"Probably because of my brother again. Or Mink. It's best if we leave him alone for now. Take a break." Wukong then walked off, out the training hall and into the palace's corridors, leaving MK alone with the celestial. Unsure how long this "break" would be, MK decided to stay in the training hall and wait there. And since he didn't have many options to keep him busy, he decided to watch the pink champion use his own anger on the dummy.

....But he didn't understand.

He couldn't understand.

Why was he unable to feel emotions consistently?

It wasn't like he could barely any feel like Wukong. And he did feel a lot of heightened anger when he did feel angry.

However, he couldn't even remember how anger felt like only five minutes later.

He knew he was angry at the idea of his Master being disrespected just a moment ago. But... why? Why couldn't he keep feeling that way for longer like Nezha? Or barely feel at all like Wukong? While he kept thinking about his emotional instability, he stared blankly at Nezha with little to no movement in his body or expression.

The celestial noticed him staring and raised an annoyed eyebrow at him, pausing his weapon swings. "Do you need anything, boy?"

"No. I'm just curious." The pink champion seemed more confused at the younger servant's wording.

"...Curious about me training?" He questioned.

MK blankly tilted his head at him in response before adding, "No. Curious about your emotions."

Nezha blinked at him.

"What?"

"How do you feel the same emotion for a long time?" The monkey elaborated.

The celestial simply shrugged in return, swinging his spear at the dummy once more. "I don't know. I just do. Wukong should be the one to ask about it, to be honest. Doesn't he struggle with feeling emotions as well? He might be able to tell you about his side of things."

"Yes. But his reactions are mild and stay consistent. Mine come and go as they please. It switches between mild things he feels to strong things you feel."

Nezha hummed in thought, leaning slightly against his spear. "True... I've seen you dig out a guy's organs with your bare hands before forgetting why you had blood all over you. Your sudden rage spike and memory is a real gamble."

MK looked genuinely surprised. "I did that? I don't remember ever doing that..." The pink champion then grumbled out an annoyed 'Of course you don't'.

The yellow bean of a champion frowned as a grim thought hit him.

"...Was I like this before becoming a servant for our beloved Master? Forgetful?"

Nezha then sighed, stabbing the dummy in front of him, keeping his spear's tip inside it as he turned towards MK. "Just embrace your new life. Whatever life we all had before meeting our Master, it's all behind us now. It no longer matters. While I am curious as well and would love to remember my past, I'm sure there is a good reason why we can't remember... Maybe even why we shouldn't..."

There was a bit of an awkward silence between them as Nezha's spear started to set the insides of the training dummy ablaze.

"...Is Master awake yet?" The yellow champion suddenly asked him.

Nezha hummed in confirmation as he pulled out his spear, watching as the training dummy burned from the inside out, giving him a sense of Nostalgia from his first task as a servant. MK then silently walked off. If he still had his break, might as well spend it on you, his Master. As he entered the throne room, he immediately noticed his mentor's head lying on your lap, being pet as his eyes were shut contently, his tail swaying slowly behind him.

Ah. So that's where he went. Of course.

It didn't take long for you to notice your yellow champion approaching. As you smiled a bit and greeted him, he stopped and bowed. "Master. I request pets as well", he says flatly. You nodded at him before beckoning him to your throne. MK didn't waste any time joining his mentor for a petting session. You had two hands, might as well use both for your good boys, right?

After a couple of minutes, you asked Wukong where his brother was since you haven't seen him all day. He didn't know either. Worried, you tasked him with finding Macaque and make sure he's safe, as usual. The monkey in blue got some last pets and kisses before he bowed and left to find his sworn brother. Whether or not he got into another situation would reveal itself later. At least now you could use two hands to pet your remaining monkey servant.

During the petting session, MK asked something you didn't have an answer to...

"Master? What was my life like before I woke up as your servant? Was I always your servant? Macaque told me how I was a noodle delivery boy when Wukong found me, but my memory is blurry..." He admitted, his tone sounded surprisingly... emotional towards the end. Even if just a bit more than usual.

You pursed your lips as now even your blue champion stared up at you expectantly. He already knew about how MK was before. But he didn't want to say anything. He wanted to hear your voice instead. You simply continued to pet them.

"I'm sorry, but... I don't know what your life was like before you were taken to the palace..."

MK nodded, clearly masking his confusion. Your yellow champion snuggled into one of your thighs. You let out a rather sad sigh. How were you supposed to be a good ruler when you couldn't even help your servants remember their life before meeting you?

However, MK seemed to feel your self-doubt and reached up his hand, making it lie on top of your own hand which was petting him. He then gave you a longing look with those void black eyes of his... It was odd. Any other creature with those eyes seemed to be considered evil or malicious... Why were all your servants so docile? You've been questioning that ever since you became their Master. But you didn't dare ask in case it offended your servants- Maybe it was a sensitive topic. After all, the topic of how they became your servants in the first place proved that they have major memory issues. They only explained to you how they found you, as well as your previous lives. But they barely remembered anything from their own pasts, if anything at all.

The only one who seemed to remember, but got extremely uncomfortable with any questions regarding the past of your champions, was Mink. And while he was a bit of a smug bastard, you didn't want to put such pressure on him. It had to feel horrible being the only one to remember everything vividly.

You smiled softly, just a little bit sad at the thought as you leaned down to gently kiss MK's cheek. His breath hitched as the simian leaned more into your affection, blushing as he closed his eyes contently while you continued to pet him. Your yellow champion's tail was gently swaying behind him, indicating his happiness despite his lack of expressions.

As you continued to pet your servant, your black champion decided to show himself as the scroll next to you started to drip with ink. A copy of MK made out of ink formed in the spot where Wukong was resting on your lap before, chuckling as the curse's own tail swayed behind him. "I'm bored. Might as well join in on some free petting, yeah?" He commented as he nuzzled into your thigh. MK looked just very slightly annoyed at Mink's sudden appearance and taking one hand away again... But only very slightly and it vanished almost immediately. He knew Mink was just there to annoy him and take away your attention.

You blinked at him in surprise before petting him as well, sighing. "Mink, you're literally a lot longer around me in general than the others. You could get pets whenever the others are busy", you pointed out. To which the curse chuckled, grinning at you in a rather cheeky way.

"But what would be the fun in that? You know I prefer getting a... reaction." He said as he slowly turned his gaze towards MK, who seemed to faintly glare at him in return. Rolling your eyes, you decided to just give in and continue petting both of your servants. Maybe you could finally have some peace and quiet for even just this moment. After all, things things have been quiet around due to Macaque being away- Actually, when was the last time you saw Macaque? Of course you haven't seen him that day, but you started to realize that he also wasn't there last night... And despite him usually ending up doing extra things for your approval, he usually wouldn't take this long unless he told you prior. Which he didn't this time.

Getting a bit worried about him due to his tendency to get hurt, and knowing you didn't send him out on a mission yourself, you booped MK's nose to get his attention. The monkey's nose scrunched up a bit as it twitched a bit before he looked up at you curiously.

"MK, was Macaque in the training hall today? Or yesterday?" You asked him. However, your yellow champion shook his head. You hummed in thought for a moment before deciding on your next command. "Then I want you to look around the palace and see if you can find Macaque. Assist Wukong in this. If neither or him, or even Nezha can find him, I want you to at least figure out where he is and tell me. And help him if need be. Bring him back safely if he's struggling with anything..."

The monkey in yellow nodded again as he rubbed his cheek against your thigh one last time before removing himself from the petting session to help his mentor find the purple champion. Mink seemed to grin in his direction as you continued to pet the ink curse.

MK's Master had given him a mission, and he won't fail.

[Published: 11/3/23]

Chapter Text

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

"Maybe this one..? No... This..? No..."

Red Son was flipping through the pages of a book for a recipe and hadn't even started anything. Just because he couldn't decide on which type of cake to bake. It needed to be perfect. It was his Master's birthday after all. He wouldn't be worthy of his title as one of your champions if he managed to fail at such an important task. And he'd rather not be a disgrace to his Master and the other servants.

He did think about asking another champion for some input, but he also didn't want to tell anyone he wanted to bake a cake for you. And he was aware that some champions, which shall not be named, weren't exactly the most quiet about keeping plans for their Master a secret. So putting his trust into the others wasn't much of a safe option... Though, maybe he could ask one of the more quiet ones for help, such as MK.

The red champion hummed in thought before letting out a rather tired groan. He wasn't tired of doing this for you, he was tired about possibly having to rely on another champion again and splitting the work credit. Much like Macaque, he enjoyed your full praises, but having to share the credit would only give him half of your attention and affection.

Suddenly, he snapped his fingers with a little smile as he exclaimed, "I've got it!"

Red Son then flipped through the book for a recipe on (Favorite Cake). Upon finding the page, he read through the required ingredients and grimaced... He knew for a fact he was missing some things from the list. The palace's kitchen was big but was usually low on ingredients after. Half of the palace didn't need to consume food after all. The kitchen was mostly there for their Master if they enjoyed cooking or wanted to try out cooking without the fear of setting anything nearby on fire. And now it was mostly occupied by Red Son so he could develop his own cooking skills more.

Sighing, he decided that he would have to actually go out and collect said ingredients. He wrote down the items that were missing before he closed the book and carefully hid it away in one of the cabinets again. It was best if he kept his plan a secret.

The red champion then picked up the list he wrote with his left hand and quietly made his way out of the kitchen. He had to be quiet yet also casual about how he moved, otherwise Macaque or someone else would-

"What are you up to, Bull Boy?"

...Oh, for fuck's sake.

He grumbled in slight annoyance as he turned to face a certain pink celestial. However, he seemed to be accompanied by MK. "I'm... Just taking a stroll. That's all", he replied.

Nezha crossed his arms as he raised an eyebrow. "Really? By rather suspiciously observing the area while walking, as if you were being hunted?"

Red Son's pursed his lips as he tried to hold back from saying any sassy comment that could trigger the celestial's anger. Instead, he awkwardly cleared his throat while looking away from the other two champions. "...I suppose so, yes."

The yellow champion next to Nezha tilted his head, humming as he noticed the folded up piece of paper in the bull demon's hand. "What's that?" He asked, pointing at it. Red Son nervously took the piece of paper into his right hand, hiding it behind his cape.

"That- That is none of your concern. Just... a shopping list, I guess."

"Then you wouldn't mind if I-" Suddenly, Nezha swiftly flipped up the red champion's cape before snatching the paper from his hand. Due to Nezha's speed, Red Son couldn't even comprehend what was happening until it was already over. And once he saw the celestial open the list, his heart dropped in his chest. There went his chance at getting extra affection from you.

The pink champion skimmed through the list's contents and blinked in surprise. "Wait. You weren't kidding. But then why were you so sneaky about it?" He then handed the list to the yellow champion.

And before Red Son could come up with any excuses, MK spoke up. "Isn't this a recipe for Master's favorite cake? For today. I can't forget today."

Nezha did a double take as he looked over MK's shoulder and at the list again... After re-reading the ingredients listed and confirming the young monkey's suspicions, he gave Red Son a rather offended look. "...Were you seriously trying to bake a cake behind our backs? And for Master's birthday nonetheless!"

The celestial glared daggers at the young demon. But before he could scold him or physically harm him, MK stepped in front of him, blocking him. "Let's help. It's Master's birthday. No fighting on Master's birthday."

Pausing, Nezha thought about his words and reluctantly let out a sigh to calm his anger. "You're right", he said before turning back towards the red champion, still seemingly annoyed at this form of betrayal, but he's holding it all back quite well. "Do you perhaps need help retrieving those things on the list?"

Red Son slowly shook his head. "...Uh, no thanks. I'm... I'm pretty sure I can just get it all quickly for Master's cake by myself-"

Suddenly, a shadow portal opened next to the red champion, startling him. And out popped Macaque with an excited grin on his face. He was practically vibrating as his tail happily swished around behind him from what he just heard. "I heard about a cake you're making for Master's birthday from the other side of the palace! I wanna help too!"

It wasn't noticeable, but the others could tell Nezha had a shit-eating grin beneath his mask as he spoke. "The more the merrier, right? Bull Boy over here could have us get the ingredients he needs so he can bake." At this point Red Son could most definitely not talk his way out of it. And he hated this fact.

He cursed a little under his breath, which probably only Macaque caught but brushed off, before reluctantly agreeing to it. "Fine. You can help me. I know you wouldn't stop asking me about it."

"Wonderful! Now, what's on the list? What do I get to collect for Master?" Macaque asked eagerly as he clasped his hand together.

Nezha snorted as he eyed the purple champion. "Better give him an item he won't have to get lost over. Or one where he can't accidentally piss off every demon in the vicinity like last time."

Macaque huffed as he placed his hands on his hips, giving the celestial a little glare. "Listen. I'm not that reckless when it's not a task Master told me to do."

"But it's still a task for Master's birthday", the celestial retorted. "So I hope I can trust that you won't get caught up in a random side task again and vanish for longer than needed. Not on their special day."

While they kept arguing about Macaque's inability to keep things simple without doing extra work and getting into trouble in the process, Red Son was already assigning MK to grab an item. The yellow champion gave him a happy salute despite his blank expression before walking away to get said item. He wants to make his Master proud!

Macaque and Nezha very soon noticed the young monkey's absence and they turned back towards Red Son, who was seemingly trying to sneak away.

The pink champion scoffed as he crossed his arms again, "Where do you think you're going, Bull Boy? You still haven't given us any ingredients to look for."

Red Son was most definitely rolling his void-black eyes before turning around to face the remaining two champion, who have been trailing after him to catch up. "Will you leave me alone if I let you each pick an ingredient to get?"

The dark-furred simian nodded with a happy expression. "Yes! I just wanna help make Master's birthday the best of the best birthdays for them!"

"...Fine. Here, just take the whole list. There's only two ingredients left anyway since MK already went off to find one of them", the red champion said reluctantly as he shoved the list into Macaque's chest. And of course, Macaque quickly took the list, ignoring the way Red Son shoved it into him. He finally could help with Master's special day, which was all that mattered.

The two of them then noticed Red Son walking away, looking like a deflated a balloon. Nezha felt a bit of sympathy for him since he knew how much this meant to him. But he genuinely wanted to help the younger demon. Meanwhile Macaque didn't feel such sympathy. The monkey in purple was all too busy being eager helping out, but just to get pets and kisses from you.

The red champion soon returned to the kitchen, leaning with his back against the now door as he sighed in disappointment. Now he had to share that credit with three other champions. Fun. And all he wanted was some extra attention from you just this once...

And of course, considering who all was given the task of retrieving the ingredients, it didn't take long for the three other champions to return and bring the missing items to the kitchen. It was most certainly surprising to see MK actually return with his task complete since he usually forgot things. However, Red Son figured he remembered this task since it's a task for their Master's comfort. And while he usually forgot about what he did, he never seemed to forget about given commands and objectives. He would only question what he did afterwards.

However, thanks to the other servants' work, Red Son was able to focus on his own task of baking a birthday cake. But this time he would not have another servant take his credit. So he told the others to get out and let him work on it himself. And despite Macaque's persistence in helping him further, the red champion wouldn't budge and wouldn't start anything. At least until the monkey left the kitchen through a portal while pouting. And he knew Macaque didn't know how to bake a cake, so Red Son was confident that the simian wouldn't dare try baking one unless it was absolutely perfect on his first try.

And finally, due to Red Son's skills in the kitchen, the bull demon was able to create the perfect cake. Which was also your favorite cake. Just to top it off, he added a birthday candle and lit it up with a little flame in the palm of his hand. He smiled as he proudly glanced over the cake. There was no way you wouldn't enjoy it, he was sure of it.

But then of course another servant just had to startle him by standing behind him without even saying a word. He turned and saw a certain blue champion, just standing there, yet his presence was menacing.

Shit. Macaque probably told him about the cake.

"Oh- Wha-... W-What is it, Wukong? Did you also w-" Red Son tried to question him, but quickly cut himself off the moment he witnessed the quiet simian just casually taking the cake's plate with his hand and walking away. He didn't even bother giving the red champion a second glance.

Red Son just watched silently in disbelief as the monkey walked away towards presumably their Master's bedroom. He could feel his eye twitch in frustration at how, again, yet another champion was stealing more of his credit.

But whatever.

At this point he was already convinced that he'll be pushed to the side again just so the others could get more love and attention from you. Wouldn't be the first time. He groaned a bit before following Wukong. The simian was indeed headed for your bedroom.

Upon reaching your bedroom, Wukong gently knocked with his free hand on the door while still holding the cake in the other. When he heard you tell him to enter, he opened the door and bowed his head. Red Son moved past the simian in blue and also bowed his head. Then he looked up and saw you in bed with Macaque, MK and Nezha already present either on or around your bed. Macaque was the one in the middle of receiving pets from you. Meanwhile you looked very much tired, as if you had just woken up about a minute ago.

Wukong held up the cake in front of him as he said with a little, rare smile, "Happy Birthday, Master."

Which was soon followed up by the other champions wishing you a Happy Birthday. Including Macaque, whose wishes were muffled due to him snuggling into you. You smiled tiredly, still seeming very much confused for a moment before you realized what was happening. "Aw... Thanks, guys", you said. Then you looked at the cake in Wukong's hands. Your eyes lit up a bit at he sight. "Is... Is this (Favorite Cake)? Did you guys make this... for me?"

Red Son remained silent, knowing the others would just claim all the glory and- "Actually, Red Son made it, Master. We didn't do much this time", Nezha quickly responded with a genuine smile underneath his mask. "We just helped out a bit, but the idea and execution was all his doing."

Red Son slowly turned towards him with his void-black eyes wide open in shock. Did... Did Nezha just make up for earlier? And knowing your attention was no longer on your pink champion, but on your red champion instead, the celestial gave the bull demon a knowing wink. Which made the red-haired boy smile with gratitude. He was given the spotlight for once.

Wukong seemed to have understood what Nezha was doing and decided to chime in, which seemed to encourage the bull demon again. "It's true, Master. He did most of it himself."

Your mouth formed an 'o' as your head turned towards Red Son, who was now blushing a little in embarrassment. You reached out your arm and pat your leg, which was still covered by your blanket, beckoning him over while Macaque scooted a bit away to give the bull demon space to sit on. "C'mere, Red. I wanna thank you properly."

His blush only became more noticeable as he approached your bed, seating himself on it. Then you pulled him a bit closer towards yourself and placed a little kiss on his cheek. This only resulted in his blush becoming worse, and you could swear his entire body began to heat up as his tied up hair turned into flames for just a moment. You gave him another kiss on his reddening cheeks once again before smiling at him.

"Thank you, Red."

He smiled back despite his embarrassment as he nuzzled into your chest.

"You're welcome, Master... Happy Birthday..."

.

.

.

"...Hey Master, where is Mink?"

"Um... I'm not sure actually. Probably still with the Oracle. He came in last night and wanted to borrow the scroll for something involving some lion, I think...? But he said he'll bring back the scroll some time later today."

[Published: 11/14/23]

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

Growls could be heard echoing throughout the activity wing of the palace, followed by the painful roars of a beast.

Azure had just slashed at another Celestial Hunter, leaving it with a wide open gash on its side. The veiny red lines inside its body glowed as the beast tried to fight back. Another Hunter was about to attack him from behind, but was swiftly slammed into a wall so hard it created a hole. Wukong just saved his sworn brother from getting bit.

The white champion huffed as he slashed through one of the other beast's legs. He then quickly turned around as he heard another growl and slashed at another hunter. "Where are they coming from?!" He exclaimed as he punched a beast that was about to bite him, panting from how many him and Wukong had already taken down.

The simian only grunted in response as he ripped a leg off another beast before throwing its furry body across the hall. It wasn't like these beasts were a struggle to fight and get rid of for them, but it was like they kept on coming and coming. As if they were regenerating somewhere else despite their bodies turning to goop.

After not having paid enough attention, Wukong let out a growling noise of his own as he got bit by one of the Celestial Hunters in the arm. He swiftly slammed it into the ground, forcing it to let go before he punched into its neck, making it screech.

His sworn brother scoffed as he noticed the bite wound on Wukong. "Are you okay, brother?!" He asked as he slashed into another Hunter. The monkey in blue nodded in a bit of pain as he held his arm. It was quite a big bite wound due to the size of the beast.

Suddenly, a Celestial Hunter that was running down the hall towards them was hit by a fire ball from behind, making it fall to the ground as it yelped in pain. Wukong and Azure looked behind the beast and saw Red Son and MK walking towards their location. Red Son held more fire in his hands while MK summoned his staff to his side.

"Took you long enough to give us some backup!" Azure said a bit annoyed at the younger champions' tardiness.

The bull demon shrugged in response, "Sorry. Macaque just started arguing about why he should stay with Master, and why he should protect them instead of MK." He then chucked another fireball at a different beast, making it fall to the ground.

Despite the ginger-furred champion's calm stature, Azure could tell he was starting to be more in pain as he noticed Wukong's hits getting more sloppy than calculated. And it worried him. The white champion relaxed a bit as he saw MK bash some Celestial Hunters' bodies in with his staff, followed up by Red Son lighting them on fire. This finally turned the black goop on the ground into black dust.

"Red Son, can you and MK take over? Wukong requires medical attention", the blue lion asked as glanced at his brother.

The bull demon nodded, "We can take it from here. MK still has some rage to get rid of after Macaque took his spot next to Master." He then gestured towards the young monkey, who was in the middle of ripping apart Celestial Hunters one-by-one, limb-by-limb, with his staff and bare hands. He only got here maybe two minutes ago and was already covered in black goop, of which some was already hardening and falling off him, turning into more dust.

With that confirmation, Azure grabbed Wukong by the healthy arm and dragged him away. While the monkey could've just stopped him, he knew Azure was just worried about him.

Upon reaching the medbay and ducking to bypass the doorframe, the white champion finally let go of the monkey and rushed to a cabinet with items to disinfect the wound with and bandage it up. As well as a little plastic zip-up bag, as per the Oracle's instructions from when Azure was first introduced to the palace. While picking the materials, Wukong slowly sat down on a nearby chair, letting out heavy, yet quiet, deep breaths as he held his wounded arm. Now, a normal wound wouldn't bother him much. However, he was bit by a Celestial Hunter. And none of the servants were able to ignore the pain of both black fluids trying to mix. The wound would need to be closed asap, and any stains the Hunter left behind would need to be removed. Unlike Nezha's encounter with one of the first Hunters that broke through and cut him, the one that attacked Wukong actually bit deep enough that it made Azure concerned.

The lion positioned himself in front of the monkey and carefully started cleaning the wound. Wukong was definitely in pain, but he was also trying to stay still as best as he could so Azure could help him better. Once most of the fluid was collected and placed in a bag, he sighed in relief, already noticing how his brother was less in pain. He then bandaged up his arm, covering the bitten area.

"Better now?" He asked the blue champion, who nodded in response.

After a moment of silence, Wukong tried to stand up. "We need to go back." However, the lion quickly placed him back in his seat, confusing the monkey.

"You're still in pain, brother. It'd be wise of you to rest and recover for a while first", Azure pointed out. But Wukong didn't like that idea. How was he supposed to rest, knowing of the current dangers within the palace and how his Master's safety was at risk?

"...Not yet. Master needs me. The others need me. This palace needs me. Besides, it's not enough pain to stop me. I'm not going to sit this one out just because I've been bit." The monkey in blue spoke with such calm determination, Azure could've sworn it felt reminiscent of a time he no longer remembered.

The white champion couldn't help but smile a bit. "I guess we both can't just leave our comrades to fight alone, hm?" Knowing he wouldn't be able to convince Wukong to fully heal first, he let go of the monkey with a sigh. "Especially not when we are united as one to keep our beloved Master safe. Nothing can stop us."

Wukong nodded as he proceeded to stand up once more, this time without his brother stopping him. "Then let's not waste any time. We still need to figure out where exactly they're coming from", he said. Azure was aware of how much protecting the palace meant to Wukong. It was, again, something that reminded him of a bygone memory. And he couldn't deny that the lion himself felt proud about all they've vowed to fight and live for. Without this, none of them felt like they had anything else that actually mattered to them.

However, before both of them could move further towards the door, a shadow portal opened up against a wall, revealing you and two other champions. Macaque seemed to be in a panic as he rushed towards Wukong, practically throwing himself at his brother in a hug, frantically checking him for any more wounds. "Wukong! I heard you got bit! Are you in pain?! Are you okay?! Can you talk?! Do you still have your vision?! How many fingers am I holding up?!" The champion in purple then held up two of his fingers in his brother's face, who grumbled out a slightly annoyed "Two" in response.

You also gave him a worried look as you noticed his bandaged arm. "Oh, Wu-Wu...", you mumbled. Nezha also looked at the simian's bandaged arm, but he seemed to be rather intrigued than worried. Probably knowing about how the wound already got cleaned and the celestial himself had been hit before, knowing about the aftermath's pain. The pink champion knew Wukong could merely wait for the pain to go away.

The monkey in blue looked away from you, a bit ashamed of himself for having been weakened by seemingly a single bite. "I'm sorry, Master."

You placed your hand on his head and gently pet him with a little smile. "It's okay, Wu-Wu... I'm more worried about your wound." The simian let out a quiet purr contently as you pet him. His expression may have been rather blank, but his tail was giving away his silent happiness.

Then, as if to comfort you, Azure gently pulled you against his much taller body. "Don't worry, Master. He can handle the bit of leftover pain. He wouldn't be one of us if he couldn't", the lion spoke up for his brother. You let out some small noises of doubt as you turned back towards him, nuzzling into the white champion's chest. At least he was able to make you feel a little more at ease despite your worry.

"How many more of those things are there? I heard a bunch of them take hits earlier, but even now I can still hear them!" Macaque exclaimed. He was clinging onto his brother, ears twitching from all the sounds he was hearing past the walls. It almost looked like he was trying to focus on keeping his six ears hidden as well.

"That means MK and Red Son are still fighting them off... C'mon!" You urged before you turned towards your purple champion. "Mac-Mac, I need you to open a portal to where the other two are. Everyone else, get ready!"

The dark-furred simian chuckled as he finally let go of his brother. As if a switch had been turned inside him, his expression suddenly held a bit of a maniac grin as he opened a shadow portal beneath everyone. And just to make sure you didn't trip, Azure quickly picked you up, keeping you safe in his strong arms before before being consumed by the portal. His grip on you was tight yet comforting, making you feel a lot more safe about the idea of being near those Celestial Hunters.

Once you and your champions arrived at the scene, something you noticed right away was how the entire floor was covered in either black dust or goop. Meanwhile, something the boys noticed was that there weren't as many Celestial Hunters battling the two younger champions as before. Red Son looked a little tired however from using so much magical energy at once. MK on the other hand didn't seem tired at all, but he did seem a little confused. His memory loss probably kicked in, making him question why he was fighting these creatures. But he knew he had to fight them, so he didn't stop.

Wukong quickly joined back in the battle, followed up by Macaque and Nezha, who also seemed all to eager to finally be able to brutally murder something again.

"Azure, help me find the source of these things. The others can hold them back while we check the library", you said before adding, "...At least that's where I saw the first Hunter come from. We can use Macaque's hearing if we need back-up." You saw Macaque give you an innocent little smile in response before he slammed his shadow staff's thorny end into a Hunter, making it cry out in pain. And just so you wouldn't have to see these creatures suffer more by the hands of your loyal champions, Azure quickly moved into the library's open doors, not letting you leave his arms as he still held protectively onto you.

Upon entering the library, things seemed a lot more quiet, but also more ominous than the actual battle taking place. Azure finally put you down so you could freely move around again. However, he still stayed very close to you, just in case he needed to scoop you back into his arms and flee. His sword was by his side, ready for bloodshed if need be. You cautiously navigated from bookshelf to bookshelf, when you suddenly heard a rather deep sound. Turning your head around the corner, you spotted a book on the ground surrounded by black goop. The pages that were open were familiar to you as you noticed one image in particular- That was the same book you once read about Celestial Hunters!

But before you could even register what was happening, the puddle of goop around the book began to move. It began to form a familiar six-legged beast with four, red eyes... Another Hunter. And as if it could feel your presence nearby, it turned towards you and your white champion. It let out a screeching roar before it began running at you, leaving a trail of goop behind it that was unable to turn into fur in time. You gasped, stumbling back into your champion's chest in surprise. A low growl emitted from Azure as one of his arms wrapped around you while the other raised his sword. He swung it so swiftly you barely noticed his slash-attacks heading towards the beast, slicing it apart as it screeched, making it turn back into a puddle on the floor.

Azure pulled you a little closer to him. "Mink. Do you think we can seal that book?" He asked as he stared cautiously at the book on the ground. The Scroll of Memory you've been carrying around on the side of your hip began to move a bit. A somewhat big drop of ink began to make its way up your body and onto your shoulder, forming a tiny version of MK's ink copy.

Mink gave the book on the ground a solid five seconds of his attention before he shrugged, turning around to face the much taller champion. "Doubt it. Not with your type of seal, anyway. I'd say just go ahead and burn it."

The white champion raised an eyebrow at the black champion's suggestion. "Wait... Burn it? But would that really stop those creatures from coming back?"

"Trust the curse that's seen far worse shit than this, big guy. That book's better off burned to ashes than have it be sealed", Mink said rather casually as he plopped down on your shoulder, simply sitting there. Of course, he could help out with all the intel he had on this situation, but where would be the fun in that? It was so much more entertaining watching the others struggle in their plans. And it wasn't like he was lying about burning the book.

"Does it have to be a specific type of fire?" You asked as you slightly turned towards the ink curse on your shoulder.

Mink gave you a rather unamused expression. "If I had meant a specific type of fire, I would've said so. Think, idiot."

"Ah- Right-", you responded awkwardly. While Mink was probably the only champion you were able to talk normally to without being held at such high regard, that also meant his blunt and direct words hit a lot harder, and sometimes even caught you off-guard. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing when you needed someone to talk about facts rather than biases. But he was still an asshole about it.

Azure huffed as he glared at the blob of ink on your shoulder. "You could show a little bit more respect towards our Master, Mink."

Mink turned his head a little, giving Azure a smug, shit-eating grin. "What'cha gonna do if I don't, big guy? Master still needs me." Every servant in the palace knew it was true. And he was aware of Mink's specific wording, as well as how the curse usually used this line on the other champions as manipulation tactic. Azure hated him for that.

You rolled your eyes before calling out to Macaque by talking to the air. "Mac-Mac, we need either Red Son or Nezha here." A few moments later, a shadow portal opened up behind you and Azure, revealing your pink champion. Explaining your order to him, he bowed his head a little before swiftly zooming over to the book on his flaming wheels. His spear's tip ignited before he slammed it down onto the book, stabbing through its pages and even hitting some of the goop lying on the ground beneath it. Something akin to a painful roar could be heard coming from the book before it fully caught on fire. The celestial let out a grunt as he slammed one of his flaming wheels down onto the open page, spreading the flames further.

Shortly after, the book had turned to ashes, and the goop around it turned to dust. There also were no longer any audible beastly sounds outside the library. The remaining Celestial Hunters must've already been killed off by the others.

Azure sighed in relief as he realized that the danger had finally passed. He smiled as he looked down at you, seeing you talk to Mink and Nezha about what to do next. You praised your pink champion for his work before turning towards your white champion, petting his fluffy mane.

No matter what the next plan would be, his Master was safe and sound, petting his mane in delight as a reward. And that was all that mattered to him. 

But no one seemed to have noticed the man in green roaming around the back of the library.

No one, except for Mink.

[Published: 12/17/23]

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ☆ ~ Headcanons ~ ☆ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

☆ Wukong

>Doesn't talk much, but loves to show his affection towards you with his actions.

>Has a habit of wrapping his cape + tail around you when hugging/cuddling you.

>Much like his LMK counterpart, he is still lazy in his own way. So he rather lazily snuggles against you when cuddling. He's like a blanket with some extra weight to keep you trapped in his arms.

>His kisses are very gentle for his rather emotionless attitude. Mainly because he doesn't want to overwhelm you or accidentally hurt you with his strength.

>Very protective of you. Of course he was already protective before, but if you're in a relationship with him, then he takes his jobs of protecting you a lot more seriously. That's not just his Master in danger anymore, but also his significant other.

>Casually picks you up with his tail and holds you close when he craves kisses or cuddles. Won't do it in public though. In public he just holds your hand.

☆ Macaque

>Talks a lot and practically won't shut up about how much he loves you.

>Most openly clingy out of them all. You better get used to him literally hanging onto you at times.

>Hope you don't mind him accidentally getting blood on you when hugging you. Don't worry, it's not his.

>Might show slight yandere-ish behavior when you're in a relationship, but it's really not that noticeable when comparing it to his regular behavior. Just take his usual somewhat unhinged vibe and crank it up a bit.

>Dramatic over-the-top flirt. Unironically has done the draw-me-like-one-of-your-french-girls pose while shirtless on the bed before, and he wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

>Lots of PDA. He not only won't verbally shut up, but also physically won't let you escape his love. He tends to initiate a lot of passionate kisses even in public. But if you don't feel comfortable about making out in public, he's also fine with just little pecks on the lips.

☆ Nezha

>He was just supposed to act like your guard. How dare you make him feel this way. Not that he's actually complaining, of course.

>If you have kids/have to babysit kids, he's your best helper. He doesn't have a problem dealing with them all day and will make sure they don't accidentally get hurt while playing.

>Has a tendency of kissing the back of your hand when on-duty. Doesn't mean he isn't sneaking in cheek kisses here and there before you can even react.

>Out of all of them, he's the one with the highest probability of suggesting going to Megapolis or another city for dates. Though, you can expect him to wear sunglasses with his disguise. For obvious reasons.

>Tends to act more like your bodyguard than your boyfriend, so you have to basically teach him to loosen up a bit when on a date, and remind him he's not on some mission.

>Generally needs more time to just relax, so a recommendation would be to have a lot of dates, or even little vacations with him away from the palace. It also just adds to the time spent together. (Whether or not you'll actually be fully alone with him away from the others is another thing. Especially when they can transform/disguise themselves to act as bonus bodyguards without your knowledge.)

☆ MK

>He's an absolute sweetheart. Until he isn't.

>Let me rephrase that: He's an absolute sweetheart towards you and his fellow champions, but will not hesitate to rip off someone's arm if they try to flirt with you. Even if it's playfully/jokingly flirting, clarify that to him before he targets the person that was just joking around.

>He usually asks for kisses first by either silently wrapping his tail around you and leaning against you, or just flatout asking you directly. There is no in between.

>Surprisingly remembers when you plan a date. Also remembers your anniversary. What he usually doesn't remember is to bring whatever little gift he packed up for you, so you sometimes have to pick up your gift in his room.

>Pretty sure that's part of the plan and he just wants to have you alone so no one could disturb you two, but it's hard to tell whether or not he's doing it intentionally or is just really forgetful about specifically that.

>Sometimes offers you his bandana to wear, and you get to see his hair in a slightly different style.

☆ Red Son

>If you're ever hungry and have little to no experience in cooking or baking, he gotchu. He can also teach you how to cook/bake if you want to learn. Or if you already know how to work the kitchen, he wouldn't mind letting you prepare meals with him as bonding time.

>He is too embarrassed to wear his favorite apron in front of others. His favorite apron has "Kiss The Best Cook" written in bold on it with little burning hearts all over it. The "Best" part was added by you. But he enjoys wearing it when it's just you around him.

>If you're one of the unfortunate souls to have been born with monthly shark week, he offers himself as your heating pad when cuddling.

>Doesn't usually initiate kisses, feeling like he's bothering or distracting you in the moment. But that gives you all the more reason to shower him in them.

>Would rather spend his dates alone with you around the palace, including cooking you something for said date. However, he also doesn't mind going out to some restaurant and would most certainly pay for it all.

>But don't even dare try pay for your own meal. Or literally anything you ever wanna try pay for with your own money. He will stop you. And he will pay for it himself.

☆ Ao Lie

>Your personal air taxi in form of a dragon.

>He gives you more cheek kisses and generally short kisses, but a lot of them.

>Can be found lazing around outside in the field a lot. Be it in human or dragon form. 

>Because of this, his suggestion for a date would also be outside, like a picnic.

>Tends to offer you his over-sized clothes. Yes, most of the things in his wardrobe are really big and comfy.

>Almost as physically clingy as Macaque, but will mostly just rub himself on you before letting go. So at least you don't have to worry about trying to pry him off you like a certain monkey. Cough.

☆ Azure

>Your personal bed... No seriously, he's so tall he just straight up becomes your bed when cuddling.

>Most awkward flirting out of them all. Like, second-hand-embarrassment levels of awkward. But he's trying.

>Sometimes accidentally licks you like an actual cat instead of kissing you, which ends up in him feeling embarrassed over it and quickly apologizing. He does let out a quiet purr when licking you though.

>Likes to carry you around, if you will let him. Usually either in his arms or on his shoulders. You can just hold onto his fluffy mane when you're on his shoulders.

>He's very attentive and will try make your day just a little better with small gestures. Such as silently pulling you close if you need comfort, but don't need as much as when every other champion can feel it.

>His standpoint on outdoor vs indoor dates are 50/50. Really depends on the time, day, weather, etc. Just make sure he actually fits wherever you wanna plan a date. His tall stature makes sitting in normal-sized seats at restaurants uncomfortable for him.

☆ Mink

>Ironically the most normal-feeling relationship.

>Like, despite being physically the least amount of normal, he feels the most like a genuine relationship with no prior biases towards you, despite you being labeled as his Master. Mainly because he absolutely avoids treating you like one and refuses to put you on a pedestal in any way that isn't necessary.

>He's very skilled at flirting. Even if some of the pick-up lines reek of cheese, he saved up quite a lot with the help of the scroll- Some being more unique than others.

>Kissing him is a bit complicated due to him literally being, well, goopy ink. Or rather mostly goopy ink mixed with the other black goop.

>He likes to wrap his ink around you and keep you at least somewhat covered in it though. It's like his personal way of showing off his claim/mark on you.

>Dates are most certainly happening in the Scroll of Memory. He knows about some great locations to spend time in there.

[Published: 3/13/24]

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♤ ~ Comfort ~ ♤ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

The dark-furred simian woke up in a cold sweat, hyperventilating as this damned voice invaded his mind again. Macaque held his hands over his six ears as he desperately tried to silence the corrupted whispery voice. "No... N-No... Shut up.. S-Shut.. up..."

Usually the voice wouldn't be a problem had Wukong been in the room, or anyone else for that matter. But he noticed very quickly when he woke up that he was alone...

All alone...

Tears welled up in his eyes at the voice. Everytime he heard it getting louder, the more he felt like he was losing himself.

Suddenly, he jumped onto his feet, his hands still desperately covering his six ears as he tried thinking of what to do. His mind felt like it was slowly melting as he quickly opened a shadow portal beneath him, making his panicked self fall through. Unlike his usually controlled and smooth movement when landing, he straight up fell onto something soft, his eyes were shut as he landed face first on the fabric.

That's when he noticed the voice getting quieter until it disappeared again. He was still hyperventilating as he looked up, noticing he was on someone's bed.

And not just anyone's bed.

"Mhm... What the wha... Mac..? Is that you..? Did you have a nightmare..?" You asked him tiredly, your words slurred a bit as you tried making out his silhouette. The only thing that made you know that this had to be your purple champion were his ears and tail.

Macaque hiccupped as he quickly crawled up to you, hugging you tightly while he felt you sitting up straighter to hug him back.

Now very much concerned, you gently rubbed his back as you comforted him, letting him cry into the crook of your neck. "Shhh... It's okay... You're alright... I'm here, Mac... I'm here...", you soothed him softly, swaying just a bit to try calm him down from his panic attack. The moment he loosely wrapped his tail around your waist was when you knew it was slowly working. After a while, the dark-furred simian's breathing became a lot more regular as you told him to take a deep breath, count to three, and exhale a few times. Once he was only sobbing a bit you decided to ask him, "Are you feeling better now? Did you have a nightmare?"

"I-It wasn't a nightmare, Master... I just... heard the voice again... Wukong wasn't in the room..." He responded shakily as he nuzzled into your shoulder to calm down. Sighing you kissed the top of his head, making his breath hitch as he kept desperately holding onto you, almost as if he was afraid you would disappear.

The monkey, finally having mostly calmed down, left a soft little kiss on your neck. "...Thank you, Master... For not leaving me."

That reminded you... Why did Wukong leave their room in the middle of the night anyway?

Suddenly, as if to answer your question, the door swung open and whoever entered was so inhumanely fast they were already next to your bed in a heartbeat, while the wind of their speed hit you in the face. Judging by the silhouette, you knew this had to be Wukong himself. It was too dark to see his expression, but his posture seemed to have been in a rather worried panic.

"Master, I felt a spike in-" He then stopped himself as he notices Macaque hugging you tightly in bed. He just stood there for a few seconds before realization set in. He sighed, "I'm... I'm so sorry, Macaque..." Your blue champion then got tackled into a hug by your purple champion, who sniffled into the older monkey's shoulder, Clearly having missed the presence of the other simian. Especially under these circumstances.

Turns out Wukong had left because he went to grab a small nighttime snack, but forgot to wake up the other monkey. He knew it was his fault for not waking up Macaque or taking him with him, and he felt extremely guilty for it as it reminded him of when the two of them became servants.

"I'm sorry for leaving...", Wukong mumbled repeatedly. You barely heard him profusely apologize, but Macaque heard it all, which made him hold onto his brother tighter. You smiled softly as you heard Wukong comfort Macaque. Despite barely being able to make out what was happening in the darkness, since unlike them you didn't have enhanced night vision, you knew they were hugging it out. And that was quite sweet to witness due to how rarely Wukong ever showed his emotional side in general.

"If you two want, you can sleep with me for the night. At least it might calm Mac down better", you offered as you scooted over to the middle of the master bed. While Wukong took his time joining you, Macaque was all too eager and jumped at the opportunity, happily snuggling into your side, holding onto you like a koala. If you listened closely, you could hear the faint rumble of a purr, confirming he was comfortable with his position.

Eventually you fell back asleep. This time safe and sound between two of your champions.

[Published: 6/27/24]

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

A man in a green robe groggily woke up. He raised his head slightly from his position on the floor to take in his surroundings. He was in between two rows of large wooden shelves. There was text in bold reading "Interdimensional Geographics" on either side.

Was he... in a library? But why? Did he fall asleep while reading a book?

He sat up, groaning a bit as he held the back of his neck in pain, before he glanced at one row of bookshelves in confusion. He did hear talking coming from somewhere past all the bookshelves, but he was unsure whether or not he could trust those voices. He also wasn't sure why his neck was throbbing in pain. Given the way we was lying on the floor, he brushed it off as simply pain from his previous position.

While trying to stand up, he noticed a little note on the floor. All it had written on it was: "Find Master."

Raising an eyebrow at it, the man in green picked it up, turning the piece of paper and verifying that those were the only words written on it. Weird. He couldn't remember writing that down. Actually, now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember much in general. And it all just confused him even more, making him feel a slight bit of panic at his lack of memory.

The man in green had to think about what he did manage to recollect... He had more than one name, but he could only recall being called Ao Lie. He remembered traveling with what he believed were his friends, although he could only specifically remember a monkey's face from that group... Besides that, he could only faintly remember two people talking in a language he did not understand, followed up by a crow's caw. Every other memory seemed to have been pushed aside or blurred.

And assuming he wrote that note to himself... who was this supposed 'Master' to him if he had no recollection of them? Was he their disciple? Either way, since he had no idea on what else to do, he decided to try find this supposed 'Master'. Maybe they knew why he had been knocked out in the library.

Suddenly, Ao Lie had the urge to rush towards the voices he heard earlier. It was like some strong pull when he felt some form of internal panic. He didn't know why. He clearly wasn't in any danger, after all. But it felt like someone else was. Someone important to him. He dropped the note and decided to hesitantly answer to the call, moving around the many bookshelves. However, this sudden feeling of urgency left him as quickly as it came... But why?

Upon turning at another bookshelf, he stopped.

While he did take notice of the tall lion and the man on wheels, his eyes were mostly focused on the person who had their back turned to him, with a tiny black silhouette of a blob on their shoulder.

Mink already took notice of Ao Lie in return, letting out a groan. "You can't be fucking serious."

You hummed in confusion at the curse's comment. "What's wrong, Mink?"

Then your two other champions took note of this green stranger. Nezha was quick to take on a more defensive position behind you, his fire-tipped spear at the ready. Azure on the other hand simply looked intrigued by this guy across from them. Because the first thing he noticed were his void-black eyes. The exact same ones all of your champions had...

After realizing they were all looking behind you, you turned around to see the man with the long, white hair. You didn't recognize him at all since you've never seen him in the palace before. But he did seem to recognize you. Or, well, at least your title.

He moved a bit closer to you and the others as Nezha kept his guard up. Just in case this was another Celestial Hunter pulling some illusion trick again. Once the white-haired man reached Nezha, who was pointing his fire-tipped spear at the newcomer's chest, he looked over to you, past your pink champion... and he kneeled.

"You... You must be my Master", Ao Lie stated more to himself than you, his voice sounding like he was in awe at your presence. He then lowered his head a bit in respect, which made some of his hair move from his back to his front.

Blinking in surprise, you awkwardly scratched your head. Nezha hummed, seemingly contemplating still poking Ao Lie with a bit of fire. After all, he couldn't be too sure about him being another Celestial Hunter or not. But before he could hold his spear closer to the white-haired man, you stopped him by gently tugging on his cape.

"He seems to be real. I don't think you need to check", you commented as you raised an eyebrow at him, knowing full well of his and MK's stabbing tendencies. Your pink champion reluctantly lowered his weapon and gave you a little bow, muttering out a "Yes, Master" behind his mask.

You then turned back towards your apparently new champion, who was still kneeling. "Uh... You may rise- Uh- Wait- What's your name? And how did you get here?" At your questions, the white-haired man happily stood up as he gestured with his hands... or rather sleeves, because both of his arms were fully covered by his green robe's long sleeves.

"My name is Ao Lie! And I, uh, honestly have no idea. I just... kind of woke up on the floor here a couple of minutes ago, hehe", he confessed awkwardly. You knew almost all of your champions also didn't know how they ended up in the palace, but this was the first time you encountered one just after his arrival yourself.

Azure finally decided to speak up as he examines the newcomer. "Ao Lie, if I may ask. Do you remember anything from before waking up?"

The man in green opened his mouth happily to answer him, but then he realized... Why could he barely remember anything?

You couldn't help but watch in sadness as his smile turned into a frown as he spoke. "I... Well, I remember that I'm from a family of dragons... I turned into a horse, though I can't remember why... Oh! And I was carrying a guy around as a horse while being accompanied by... I think friends?" His eyebrows furrowed as he tried  his hardest to remember his past. But much like the others, he only seemed to recall specific aspects of it.

And knowing how pointless it was for them to force out out some kind of memory, Azure sighed in disappointment. "That's enough, thank you. No need to try to force your way into any potential memories, it'll just give you a headache."

Nezha grinned beneath his mask as he leaned against his spear, holding back a chuckle. "Yeah, we've tried. Especially MK. I feel like that just made his memory even worse than it already was. He only keeps doing it because he keeps forgetting that he already tried forcing his memories back."

You gave him a confused and baffled look, to which the celestial simply shrugged in response. MK having the worst memory of them all wasn't new to you, but you didn't know about his attempts to force his memories back. Though in order to ease your worries by just a bit, Nezha added, "He's fine. It's just more of an endless cycle of that short-term memory he has to deal with. And him trying to forcefully remember things just adds to all his confusion." Your pink champion then waved his hand dismissively. It wasn't a big deal to MK after all, just a confusing point about his own lack of memory.

You grimaced a bit at him, not exactly trusting his sudden dismissal of the topic. However, you also didn't want to pry further, knowing about how well your champions could dance around concerning things happening in the palace. They did avoid talking in-depth about their brandmarks, and they did seem to hide many other secrets you were curious about. Such as blood stains on them when they hadn't been on any battle missions.

"Um.. Anyway. Ao Lie was it, right? I... Uh... I'm... assuming you're one of my champions..?" You said, hesitantly trailing off towards the end as you weren't sure how you would be able to confirm such a statement. Because void-black eyes weren't exactly an accurate way of confirmation. It merely meant they were infected.

Ao Lie tilted his head a bit in confusion. "Champion? Does that mean I have to fight in an arena?"

"I mean we don't have an arena, but-" "No, no, no- No fighting in an arena-" You quickly cut Nezha off before he could suggest anything brutal.

Mink, still boredly sitting on your shoulder as a tiny blob, decided that it'd be a good idea to torment-check the green newcomer. Just to take a jab at him and see how much he can take before breaking. Because judging by his current looks, he really did not look like he could be of any use to Mink. He snickered as he grinned at Ao Lie. "So, you're a dragon, right? How about a test of wits and strength? You know... Just to prove to our dear Master that you're actually worthy of even calling them your Master." You gave Mink a little bit of a baffled look, not knowing what he was planning. But he did weaponize your title a lot, even when you clearly disapproved.

The man in green perked up at your black champion's words. He seemed oddly excited about the idea of doing something to show off what he can do. "What do I have to do?"

However, before Mink could say anything that would end up in some catastrophe, you quickly used a finger to bonk his small ken-doll-looking form on the head. It didn't hurt him, but it did catch him off-guard. "Ah- What the- Hey-"

You glared at him, unamused. "Could you maybe like, not trick the others into doing evil or concerning deeds for like five minutes?"

The small ink demon huffed as he shoved your finger away from him. "Oh please. Your definitions of evil and concerning are so simple-mindedly black and white, it's pathetic. I would've actually suggested that he duels me in the scroll. Take it as more of a test of his strength."

It was indeed true that a duel in the scroll was more of a psychological test. If Ao Lie managed to beat the ink demon, he would most certainly be accepted by your other champions as one of their own. But perhaps it was too soon to- "Alright, I'm down! Let's do it! That sounds like fun!"

You grimaced at the dragon's eagerness to duel the ink demon curse. Azure seemed more surprised that the man in green would happily jump into battle without any knowledge or questions regarding Mink's powers. Meanwhile Nezha was rather amused at the offer. After all, if he could get a front row seat of seeing someone else having a shot at eliminating the inky pest, that'd be great.

"Okay, how about we don't have you beat up the new guy? He literally just got here", you quickly intervened as you stepped closer to the white-haired man. It was odd to you how the others had a little bit of white in their hair, except for this one. He seemed to have fully white hair. So perhaps it wasn't actually a signifier that labeled one your champion?

"Anyway, Ao Lie was it? If you don't have your memories right now, you could stay with us and we can try figure things out with the others", you offered as you held out your hand to shake his hand. The white-haired man gave you a puzzled look for a moment before reaching out with a smile, shaking your hand rather strongly. Though, his hand felt rather sharp...

"That's so nice of you! Thank you, Master!" He had barely just met you and it already seemed like calling you 'Master' came naturally to him. Which was surprising, considering that Nezha told you it took him and Azure at least a little while to get used to addressing their personally first Master as such. The others also seemed rather hesitant at first. Though, he couldn't talk for the two simians as they were the first ones to pledge their allegiance and servitude. And Mink just plainly refused to call you his Master, unless it was to sway the others.

Just to make sure the newcomer was actually unharmed upon arrival, you decided to have him visit the medical bay first. You didn't have the tools or knowledge to do a full check-up, but you asked him for permission to check if he had any of those black wounds the others had. And he did. Right on the back of his neck. He then realized that must've been why his neck had been hurting a bit since he woke up. He just thought he must've been unconscious at an uncomfortable angle for too long.

While Azure went looking for the others to tell them about the new champion, Nezha decided to stick around in case the newcomer tried anything. He knew you were safe with Mink, but he couldn't take any risks. Not when he didn't know the full capabilities of the man in green.

And as you were assessing Ao Lie's neck situation, the pink champion's sight landed on the table next to him. Something caught his attention. It was one of those zip-up bags with a familiar black substance inside. Apparently it hadn't been picked up by an Overseer yet. The Oracle must've been busy.

His gaze then turned back and locked onto the green champion, watching you hand him new clothes to try out later.

"Tell me or a servant if you need a different size or want something different in general, alright?" The celestial heard you tell the dragon, to which the man nodded happily.

However, something else that caught Nezha's attention were Ao Lie's hands. He only noticed the way they were somewhat sharp claws and practically fully black when he held onto the neatly folded clothes... His hands looked suspiciously similar to a certain crow's hands... The pink champion furrowed his eyebrows. He wasn't the only one who noticed as Mink crossed his arms, eyeing the white-haired man suspiciously.

You then turned towards Nezha, "Could you show him around, please? We would still need to figure out where he's gonna sleep, so just show him where everything necessary is." While it was technically a command, you couldn't help but make it sound like a gentle request. The celestial bowed his head before leading Ao Lie away, keeping an eye on him at all times.

Sighing, you rubbed your temple. So much was happening at the same time again. You also had to make sure the others were okay since there still were some Celestial Hunters they were disposing of.

"Hmpf. Are you done collecting immortals like trading cards now?" You heard Mink ask in annoyance as he still sat on your shoulder. Rolling your eyes at him, you gently bonked him with your finger again, making him whine once more.

"I don't even know how they end up like this in the first place, Mink. For all we know, the servants could have been going through a trial before ending up here-" "They didn't. None of us did", Mink said with a slight hint of annoyance, cutting you off. You raised an eyebrow at him in response.

The ink demon looked you dead in the eye. "Be happy they don't remember the infection process. Or you would have a bunch of immortals traumatized at the feeling of their body having been altered to a point of no return." He crossed his arms before adding, "And be happy I can't feel pain. Or I wouldn't be on 'friendly terms' with either one of you."

"What are you talking about?"

He was about to add to his rant, but then stopped himself. "...Ugh, nevermind." You already knew he was hiding a lot from you, but his responses just gave you more questions than answers. However, you knew better than to try get more out of him, considering he would just end up toying with you, dangling the answers in front of you, yet still too far out of your reach.

But for now you had to deal with your new champion.

Perhaps asking Mink another time would be more appropriate.

[Published: 10/10/24]

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

It was October and Halloween was fast approaching. And while it wasn't the first Halloween you were celebrating with your boyfriend, it was the first time you had a special activity planned.

And after several hours of work, Nezha finally returned home, clearly exhausted. He probably had to deal with a lot of unruly people again. You smiled softly as you greeted him from the kitchen door. "Welcome home!"

At the sound of your voice, his mood seemed to change. Nezha's exhaustion seemed to fade for even just a moment as he approached you. He pulled you closer, leaned in, and gave you a gentle kiss before pulling away. "It's good to be home." That's when he looked down and noticed you wearing an apron with a cute pumpkin on it. He raised an eyebrow as he comments, "New apron?"

You nodded happily, humming in confirmation. "I also got you one so we can match for the pumpkin carving!"

His eyes widened a little in realization as he pursed his lips. "Oh shit- That was today? I'm so sorry, blossom- I should've come home earlier", he groans a little, annoyed at himself for having forgotten.

You leaned in and kissed his cheek. "It's absolutely fine, honey. I figured you wouldn't be home until late in the afternoon. So I already got everything ready for us." You reassured before you lead him towards the kitchen, where you had already set up the table. There were also the pumpkins the two of you picked the week prior.

Nezha glanced at the table as he let out a chuckle. "Man, all these things you do for me... Sometimes I really feel like I don't deserve yo-"

You quickly shut him up with another kiss on the lips. "Shush, love. You absolutely deserve me. And I'm lucky to have you in return."

He quickly melted into the kiss before eventually pulling away with a smile, releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding. He wanted to keep up the banter with you, but he knew you had a date involving carving pumpkins. The affectionate banter would have to wait until later.

You handed him his matching apron so he could put it on, before sitting down at the table next to him. He had carved a few pumpkins before to entertain some children from time to time, but he never got to actually play around with the design much. After all, detailed carvings weren't easy for children, so he used big openings for simple smiley faces whenever he taught them how to do it.

During your date, he decided to be a lot more ambitious though, just to test his own skills and impress you. All the while you kept trying to take glances at what design he chose. However, everytime he noticed you trying to take a peek in a not so subtle way, he gently shoo'd you back to your own side of the table. A lot of laughter was involved in your attempts to take a look and him trying to push you away to keep it a surprise.

You could tell he had fun as he seemed quite focused on whatever he was working on. Meanwhile you were struggling just a little with the more detailed parts of your own work. It took a while, but eventually the two of you were done. And as a little test and surprise, you placed one candle into each pumpkin. Once Nezha lit them up, you turned off the lights.

You couldn't help but stare in awe at his pumpkin's design illuminated by the candle. It seemed very detailed for the short amount of time you've spent on carving. It looked like a faceless image of yourself holding a lotus flower in your hands. The sight of him having created something so much better than yours made you feel a bit insecure as he eagerly looked at your pumpkin. While your own carving wasn't all that bad, it was rather simple and the detailed parts clearly didn't have the cleanest lines. But that didn't matter to him as he proceeded to compliment your work.

The rest of the evening was overall relaxing as you and your boyfriend decided to just watch movies and cuddle on the couch.

[Published: 10/31/24]

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⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠╱ ☆ ~ Headcanons ~ ☆ ╲⎝⧹╲⎝⧹⧸⎠╱⧸⎠

☆ Wukong

>Did you know he has a collection of snacks hidden on his side of the bedroom? No? Now you do. Macaque already knew that since the start because Wukong isn't subtle about grabbing bags of peach chips from his hiding place. The bags are loud enough that Macaque's intense hearing isn't even required.

>He's also still a hoarder at heart. So don't be surprised if you find out that his closet it filled with items you can tell he doesn't need at all. The only reason the room itself isn't messy is because otherwise Macaque would forcefully shadow-portal his items away to keep things as presentable as possible.

>Not hard to figure out based on his design, but he's not really a fan of shirts. His cape and shoulder guard are fine, but an actual shirt or something else fully covering his torso feels like it's too much. He can get a bit annoyed when dressing up more as a form of disguise, but he also won't openly complain about it.

☆ Macaque

>Definitely holds the record for the highest kill count in the palace. Sure, he has a head start with how long him and Wukong had been servants before the others, but he still has more kills than his brother regardless.

>Him and Ao Lie aren't just besties in regards to them being both concerningly out of their minds, but they also both enjoy reading and gushing about fiction. You could find Macaque often hang around the library even before Ao Lie joined. Though, their tastes in the genres are a bit different. Macaque leans more towards overdramatic romantic books. Or just drama in general. They give him inspiration.

>He accidentally spilled just a tiny bit wine on the carpet once while trying to seduce a Master, and he never forgave himself for that ever since. He was so convinced that single mistake ruined his chances.

☆ Mink

>Despite the way he acts around the other Champions, he actually does care about them... somewhat. He certainly wouldn't be all that opposed to the idea of some of them suddenly disappearing. However, much like a previous point I talked about regarding him being physically unable to have a crush, the same principle applies to true hatred.

>He doesn't hate the others, contrary to popular belief. He just manages to annoy them to the point of some certain Champions wanting to fight and beat him up whenever possible. His blunt way of speaking and casual demeanor, no matter the regular emotion one would have in situations, only adds to why he's not well-liked in the group. That's him pretty much mirroring the Guardian.

>Deliberately leaves tiny pieces of his ink around the palace. The others believe it's just Mink being an asshole and refusing to fully retract his ink. But it's just him doing his job. They have no idea about the lost souls that walked into his small puddles.

☆ Nezha

>Daddy issues. Only really internally though since he can barely remember much of his family. But he does get a bit jealous whenever he sees one of his Masters have a happy relationship with their father. He can't explain why either, but he also would never admit to it. He's in denial.

>Secretly helps out Red Son in subtle ways. Like placing items he was supposed to find for their Master in an easier spot.

>His bed and its surroundings have so much pink and red going on, it looks like he's ready for Valentine's Day all year long.

☆ MK

>You know how his memory is absolutely the worst out of all of them? Oddly enough, he's a fast learner despite that. He may even retain certain parts of what he learned, especially if it involves muscle memory.

>Sleeps with plushies, of which some may be gifts from previous Masters.

>Gets this really odd feeling of familiarity whenever he see the people from that one noodle shop his Master sometimes sends him to. But he also doesn't like sticking around for too long because they've been trying to convince him to stay. That doesn't sit right with him. Their scents also made him suspicious. The green girl smells a lot like Ao Lie, so he doesn't trust her.

☆ Red Son

>Great at cooking and crafting, but horrible at gardening. Nezha can vouch. He once tried teaching Red Son a bit of gardening in case he couldn't tend to the courtyard for a while. It ended up in Nezha's soul nearly leaving his body at the sight of some plants catching on fire.

>If there's something like a broken toilet, he unfortunately is the one being asked to fix it. He's never been given any direct orders about it, but he ended up fixing such matters regardless to get a bit more recognition amongst the servants.

>He owns cute little cookie cutters in the shape of the Champions. One Master formed those for him, and he's enjoyed using those whenever he could.

☆ Azure

>"He asked for no pickles"-energy when out with the other Champions just to relax and hangout in the city.

>Unironically once put a leashed harness on MK after he managed to get lost too many times while the two of them, plus Nezha, were on a mission.

>Gentle giant with a heart of gold... But he also won't hesitate to swiftly crush someone if they were to go against any rules he himself follows. Of course, he would never willingly harm any of the other Champions, even if they sometimes do get on his nerves by breaking rules... We're going to ignore the fact that he has disposed of a few unruly low-ranked servants that spoke badly of his Master and their legacy.

☆ Ao Lie

>The wholesome persona he puts up is more fake than Macaque's glamor. They're both pretty much close to equally unhinged and psychotic, but Macaque is a lot better at hiding it.

>He's surprisingly skilled at crochet. It's actually something he started doing because Azure was trying to get him to open up a bit more, so he showed him how to make some lil crochet animals that Azure had learned from a previous Master.

>Bookworm who has dissected a Celestial Hunter out of curiosity before, as if it were a fun school project.

☆ Jin

>Without his brother around, he is actually extremely calm and laid back. Not that he isn't with Yin around, but it's a lot more prominent when his brother isn't hyping him up with more of his own energy.

>Really likes putting together puzzles and organizing things. Which is why he tends to help Ao Lie organize books that weren't properly put back. He's also really good at playing Jenga with how he also enjoys stacking.

>Gives off a calm dad-vibe similar to Azure, but a lot more nonchalant in the way he reacts to things. Unlike Azure, he's not really a fan of upholding certain rules.

☆ Yin

>Without his brother around, he tends to act more cold and somewhat more easily aggressive. Usually Jin would hold him back and balance him out with his calmer energy.

>He had a run-in with a Karen one time while him and his brother were on a mission in Megapolis, and now he really does not like socializing with the humans in the city. As in, you know those annoying moments where your parent meets a friend at a store at random and they start to small-talk, and you just want to go home? That's how he feels whenever his brother is being all laid back about socializing with the humans they have to interact with.

>Actually more experienced in close-combat than Jin. He used to rub that fact in just to tease him, until he lost in a sparring match to Wukong shortly after having joined the ranks of the Champions... No, the match wasn't required for anything, nor did Wukong even want to do anything at all that day. But Yin kept on boasting so much about his close-combat skills towards his brother that Wukong felt a bit annoyed and asked for a match to let Yin prove himself. Unsurprisingly, Yin lost the match fairly quickly, but it only made him respect the Blue Champion... Oh, and he shut up about his close-combat skills, which Jin was silently thanking the older Champion for.

[Originally Published: 1/1/25]