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Chapter Text

Tang wouldn't generally consider himself to be an unobservant person but as he stood holding his throbbing nose and belatedly read the closed sign on the door to Pigsy's Noodles, he could only be grateful no-one had been around to witness his embarrassing moment, especially not the titular Pigsy.

In his defence though, never in the three years that he'd religiously been coming to Pigsy's Noodles had the restaurant ever been closed on a Saturday and definitely not because of a family emergency. The hastily scribbled sign on the door was apologetic but light on details and he found himself frowning in concern.

While he was pretty put out about his favourite restaurant being closed, he genuinely hoped nothing terrible had happened to Pigsy or his grandmother, Xiùyīng. He'd gotten to know them both pretty well over the last few years, and he'd even go as far as to call the former a friend.

He wished he had a way to contact him and check in but they'd never really had a cause to exchange phone numbers. Well, maybe he could find a way to send a message via the restaurant's social media or find a business email address or something once he'd found somewhere else to study for the day.

----

He never ended up sending that message and, due to truly unfortunate circumstances, it actually ended up being a whole week before he was able to visit the restaurant in person again. And, bar a couple of trips home to visit his mother, it was probably the longest he'd ever been forced to go without Pigsy's cooking since he'd discovered it.

He felt like he was going through withdrawal. And if he didn't get his fix today then surely he would perish.

His boyfriend, Mǐnyǒng, had all but kicked him out of the flat this morning, clearly fed up with his dramatics. But while no-one could step to his love of Pigsy's cooking, Mǐnyǒng had become rather partial to it as well and had lovingly demanded he bring back his favourite order when he eventually managed to roll his way home later.

He was ready to walk through the door to Pigsy's Noodles before it even officially opened, a privilege he'd been awarded some time ago, and, after a quick double check to make sure the door was indeed unlocked this time, he sauntered in and all but melted at the mouthwatering aromas he was met with.

Pigsy wasn't in the kitchen but chances were high he was just grabbing something from the back so he turned to say hello to Xiùyīng who was sitting in one of the booths but he tripped over his cheerful greeting as he was met with a pair of unfamiliar, unblinking eyes.

The boy was human and looked to be about five years old and he was staring him down with a rather unnerving intensity. Thankfully, Xiùyīng noticed the boy had stopped drawing and looked up to see what had caught his attention.

She smiled as she waved at him, "Oh! Mr. Tang! We were wondering where you'd disappeared to! Come and say hello to MK!"

MK? Like the oyster sauce brand? Nah, couldn't be. Must just be a coincidence. Weird name either way though.

Not wanting to cause any offense he walked closer and tried to put on a friendly smile, "Xiùyīng, I'm glad to see you're alright. I was worried when I saw that sign on the door. Uh, hi, MK?"

Xiùyīng didn't seem at all worried about the fact the boy just kept staring at him, blithely responding, "Oh, don't you worry, we're all fine. Better than fine actually! It was quite the drama though! But I'll have to fill you in when little ears aren't listening." She gently nudged the boy sitting beside her, "MK, do you want to say hello to Mr. Tang?"

MK hadn't so much as blinked since he'd got here and, to his discomfort, continued to sit and stare up at him silently. Xiùyīng didn't seem at all put off by this odd behaviour though, patting his head fondly as she explained, "You'll have to forgive him, he's a shy little thing. But take his staring as a compliment! He's normally very skittish, hiding away whenever anyone tries to get a good look at him, he must be able to tell you're a good soul."

He smiled awkwardly and tried to wave away the compliment, "Ah, you're too kind." He started to touch his face and his hair self-consciously, "I probably just have bed head or a giant spot or something."

"Yeah, and it's right in the middle of your forehead too."

He slapped both hands over his forehead as he swiveled around to see Pigsy in the kitchen. Face red, he disputed, "No, I don't!"

Pigsy just smirked tiredly, "Why you covering it up then?"

He was saved from having to retort by Xiùyīng lightly scolding, "Leave the poor boy alone. And I don't care how well you get on, don't forget he's still a customer! Mr. Tang, don't listen to him. There's nothing on your face."

Smug, he removed his hands and crossed his arms, "Yeah, Pigsy. Don't forget who's the paying customer here."

Pigsy rolled his eyes and huffed, muttering something no doubt unflattering under his breath. If it weren't for the presence of his grandmother, he wouldn't have hesitated to bicker with him but as it was he could only side eye him as he took his rightful seat at the counter.

It was as he was pulling out his laptop that Pigsy asked, "Where have you been anyway? You know you have to put in leave if you want to go on holiday. I was ready to put the job notice out and everything."

It was a long running gag that Tang unofficially worked at the restaurant and they had all sorts of inside jokes to go along with it - calling in for a delivery was him calling in sick, for example - and normally it was easy to fall into the familiar banter but he'd been waiting to complain about his week to Pigsy, well, all week!

He moaned, "Pigsy, you have no idea what kind of week I've had! Last Sunday Mǐnyǒng and I went on the date from hell!"

It was one of those days where everything that could go wrong, did go wrong - broken down cars, public transport with no AC, reservation mix ups... The list went on until eventually it culminated in the pair of them taking an unceremoniously dip in a lake.

"I don't know what was in that water but the pair of us were sick for rest of the week! And on top of that I still had to get my essay done! Pigsy, when I tell you that I suffered..."

He startled slightly as Xiùyīng commented behind him, "I swear you must have been born under an unlucky star - the amount of misfortune that befalls you..."

He had all but forgotten she and MK were there but at least when he turned around the kid's stare looked enraptured rather than unsettling. He wasn't sure how much he had understood but he knew he was quite the energetic story teller, all the hand waving and miming had probably been entertaining enough.

A little sheepishly he responded, "Actually, all my stars are pretty auspicious. My mother has been tearing her hair out over my bad luck since I was born - she's tried everything to find a way to combat it. Fortune tellers, talismans, good luck charms but nothing ever works."

Honestly, he didn't think his luck was that bad. Sure, he found himself in bizarre situations at times but for the most part he escaped unscathed. He may have been sick this last week but he was perfectly fine now and as miserable as it had been, he'd gotten to cuddle up to his boyfriend the entire time and he had a great story to tell.

Overall, it balanced itself back out. Not that he didn't like to complain at length when misfortune did strike him but sue him, he liked complaining.

Xiùyīng tutted, "That's because she'll have been going to human fortune tellers. MK, can I borrow some of your paper? Thank you, sweetheart. Here, I know an excellent divinator downtown..."

As she scribbled down the details, in crayon of all things, he cast a somewhat exasperated look at Pigsy, only to find him shooting his grandmother an annoyed look, as he often did when she felt the need to pass comments on humans and demons in front of him.

He didn't really take any offence to it and just thanked her as he walked over and took the offered piece of paper. She warned him, "I have an appointment with him next month so don't think I won't find out if you've not been to see him."

He laughed nervously, as he tried to talk his way out of this, "I don't think I'll be able to see him that soon. I have so many deadlines coming up and if he's as good as you say he is then no doubt he'll be fully booked!"

She wasn't at all deterred, "He'll want to see you straight away! You're at such a crucial stage of your education - you can't let bad luck rob you of all your hard work now! In fact, I'll call him right now for you! Where's my phone?"

He spared precious seconds glaring at Pigsy for sniggering before he very politely tried to dissuade her from booking him an appointment, "No, no! I couldn't ask you to do that! And I would need to check my schedule anyway! I promise I'll have a look at it tonight! Please don't trouble yourself!"

She waved him away, "Oh, nonsense. It's no trouble at all but it does look like I've left that blasted phone upstairs. But don't think I won't be checking to make sure you actually made an appointment!"

There was no getting out of it. If he gave any excuse that this guy couldn't see him then she absolutely would call him personally to argue his case. He willed himself not to hang his head in defeat as he promised again that he would sort it out tonight.

He then had to endure an hour of her telling him all about this fortune teller's credentials and how he'd helped so and so with this or a friend of a friend with that. Pigsy only added fuel to the fire, reminding her of stories she'd forgotten and ensuring that he got zero work done.

MK had largely gone back to doodling with his crayons but as customers started to come in he started to push himself closer to Xiùyīng's side, eventually going as far as to hide his face against her too. Any reassurances or encouragement to look up falling on deaf ears and before long she was guiding him through the staff door and up the stairs to the apartment.

He was intensely curious as to who this kid was and why he was here but he'd have to wait until the lunch rush was over for answers unless he wanted Pigsy to bite his head off.

He did notice that on occasion though that the staff door would crack open a sliver and a pair of anxious eyes would peer out to apparently check that Pigsy was still where he was supposed to be though.

It was also hard not to notice how tired Pigsy looked.

The last time he'd seen the bags under his eyes that dark had been back when he had been studying part time to get some of the qualifications he'd missed at school, in addition to some business related courses. He genuinely wasn't sure how he'd managed to pull it off while working full time but he had and the various congratulation gifts he'd received from regulars still had a place of pride up on the shelf behind the counter.

A heavy sigh pulled his attention away from his laptop and he looked up to see Pigsy leaning against the counter, clearly taking a breather.

"You doing alright, Pigsy?"

He stood up straight with a sigh and started tidying up as he responded, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just been one hell of a week."

Concerned, he asked, "What happened? Sorry, I never even asked why you were shut last week - are you and your grandmother alright?"

Pigsy waved away his apology, "As if you had a chance with all that fortune teller BS... But yeah, we're both fine. I can't go into details but just know you'll be seeing MK around a lot for the time being. His parents are old family friends and they're really going through a tough time at the moment so we've offered to babysit short term. Speaking of which..."

He started pulling out various ingredients to make a snack for the kid and he couldn't help but envy the fact that he was going to be eating so well the entire time he was here. Obviously, that didn't make up for whatever was going on in his home life but damn, did he wish he could get some of those dumplings Pigsy was making.

He forced himself to stop looking hungrily at the food in Pigsy's hands and instead ask, "What happened?"

Pigsy shot him an annoyed look, "What part of "I can't go into detail about it" did you not get?"

Not quite having believed he wasn't actually going to divulge the details, he pouted, "Seriously? Why not? Oh, wait! Do I know them? Are they regulars? Oh! Or are they famous somehow? Is that why he's got such a weird name? To protect his identity?"

Admittedly, he was just a bit of a nosey person by nature but there must be a good reason that Pigsy couldn't share any details with him.

Bizarrely though Pigsy looked oddly embarrassed and a little defensively he bit out, "What's wrong with his name?"

A little incredulously he retorted, "You ever heard of a kid called MK before?" He then pointed at the bottle of MK brand oyster sauce behind Pigsy, "Seriously, did they just name him after the first thing they saw?"

Cheeks red, Pigsy crossed his arms and blustered, "Obviously they didn't. That's just a coincidence. His real name is just... too long and... foreign to bother with! His, er, dad, uh... studied in France! Fell in love with the place or whatever and gave his kid some fancy French name."

Doubtful, he asked, "So what's his actual name then?"

Pigsy turned away as he continued to put together a snack for "MK", "Can't pronounce it."

He crowed, "You're taking care of this kid and you can't even say his name?"

Pigsy immediately got in his face and shushed him, glancing around the restaurant at the other customers and finally at the staff door before hissing, "Keep your voice down! See, this is why I'm not telling you shit about what happened!"

He pushed Pigsy out of his face before whispering in disagreement, "Oh, come on! I wasn't that loud! And as if I would start shouting about something like that! The kid isn't going to hear us from upstairs!"

Even if he was sitting just out of sight behind the staff door, he still wouldn't hear them over the thrum of conversation that currently filled the restaurant.

Pigsy refused to see reason however, "I'm not taking that risk. Kid is traumatised enough as it is."

Well, he didn't really feel he could argue against that. The silence, the staring and the nervousness suggested, to him at least, that something really was up with the kid and he supposed he couldn't really blame Pigsy for being super wary of that. And honestly, it was almost impossible to get Pigsy to change his mind in anything - if he'd decided he wasn't going to tell him, there was no way he was going to be able to convince him.

Maybe he'd get the full story once the kid left for the day.

So, making sure his displeasure was known, he conceded, "Ugh. Fine. I guess it's none of my business anyway."

Pigsy huffed, "You should try having that attitude more often."

The conversation moved on.

He had long since secured the right to remain in the restaurant while it was closed between the lunch and dinner rushes and so he was here to witness the way MK almost immediately appeared and latched onto Pigsy as soon as the last customer disappeared out the front door.

Xiùyīng followed at a much more sedated pace but where he raised an eyebrow at the clingy behaviour, she looked incredibly fond.

Pigsy himself looked a little awkward about the whole thing but inevitably he just sighed and patted his head before grabbing the food and trying to usher him over to a booth, allowing the boy to sit close as he ate.

Pigsy asked him a range of yes and no questions about what he'd been up to and MK nodded and shook his head enthusiastically where appropriate. Xiùyīng occasionally chiming in with more detail and trying to encourage MK to speak up and do the same.

He didn't seem nearly as unsettled as he had this morning and he was quite proudly showing Pigsy the drawings he'd been working on and apparently there was an interesting addition.

Pigsy snorted and handed one of the drawings back to MK before nudging him, "You want to go show Mr. Tang what you've drawn?"

He'd really rather not be involved in this whatsoever but his desperate motions behind MK's head were ignored and he just had to accept his fate when the kid shyly made his way over and handed over the drawing for his appraisal.

It really wasn't anything impressive but he could more or less recognise what everything was supposed to be and it wasn't a stretch to believe that the man with the giant glasses and the laptop was supposed to be him.

The slightly menacing aura coming from the booth really wasn't necessary - he had nieces and nephews, he knew how to handle this situation. He made the appropriate amount of fuss and MK really seemed to brighten under the positive attention, running to grab the rest of his drawings to show him.

Xiùyīng couldn't help but marvel, "He's really taken a shine to you."

He really didn't have anything to say in response to that so he'd simply laughed awkwardly and told her about his experience with his brothers' children.

Eventually, MK and Xiùyīng went back upstairs and he couldn't help but smile as he commented, "He is a pretty cute kid."

Pigsy shrugged, "So everyone tells me."

"Can he not talk at all though?"

Pigsy hesitated for a moment, before offering, "Well, he's not spoken since he's got here but everyone seems pretty sure he will speak eventually."

Curious, he asked, "Who's everyone?"

Pigsy snorted and turned away from him, "Nice try."

He sighed and smiled ruefully, "Can't blame a guy for trying."

It wasn't unheard of for him to spend the entire day at the restaurant but after several, increasingly dramatic messages from Mǐnyǒng telling him he was close to starving to death, he decided to pack it in about dinner time.

Takeout in hand, Pigsy stopped him before he could leave pointing him towards the staff door where a nervous looking clung to Xiùyīng while sadly waving goodbye.

Jeez, this kid.

He returned the wave and then perhaps a little louder than normal thanked Pigsy for the food and told him he'd be back on Wednesday. He had no idea if MK would be here then but he seemed to look a little less distressed to hear he was coming back.

As he walked back home, it was hard not to speculate on MK's situation, it really was bizarre the more he thought about it, but he could theorise all he liked there was no way of knowing the truth. He was still holding out hope that he would find out once this whole thing blew over though.

But he wondered how long that would be - how long was "short-term"? A few days? Weeks? Surely not more than a couple of months?

He guessed he would just have to wait and see.

Chapter Text

Tang had had his doubts about MK's situation from the start but while Pigsy was tight-lipped about what was going on, Xiùyīng was much more inclined to let details slip.

For example, he had just assumed they had him during the day or for a night or two at a time but she had offhandedly corrected him and told him that MK had been here twenty-four/seven since he'd arrived.

That suggested to him that this was way more serious than he'd initially thought it was and, very subtly, he'd prodded for more details about MK's family. Xiùyīng was blithely obliging, always happy to tell you her opinion on anything and everything even if you'd never asked.

But while she was full of disapproval for MK's parents, she was surprisingly light on details, talking about them as if she didn't know who they were. Which he supposed wasn't too odd, they could just be friends of Pigsy's and, knowing what his grandmother was like, he had decided not to tell her anything about them.

He could tell there was more to it though.

Not only were there inconsistencies between things that Pigsy and Xiùyīng said but it was clear the latter was desperate to gossip and was having to hold herself back, mostly because MK was almost always present but he was sure that she didn't want Pigsy finding out either.

He knew it wasn't any of his business but since he'd filled his mother in on everything he knew, she'd been asking for updates every time they spoke and her wild theories had him equally curious for answers.

About a month after MK's arrival, the kid seemed to have finally found his voice and while Xiùyīng was delighted, Pigsy looked like he wanted to bang his head off the wall. But he couldn't say he blamed him for that as MK's favourite word, and favourite person, was Pigsy.

Tang counted it one day - between the hour that both he and MK were present in the restaurant before it opened and during the two hour midday break, MK had said Pigsy's name at least ninety times!

That was once every two minutes!

But while he undoubtedly had a favourite word, he was turning out to be quite the little yapper, and even Xiùyīng looked a little weary of him some days. But on those rare days, he very generously offered to sit with MK and let him talk his ear off instead so that she could go lie down for five minutes.

As long as it was only in short bursts, he didn't mind MK that much, he was a nice kid, after all. Although he was getting increasingly energetic, not always content to sit at the table and draw, and instead bringing down toys that somehow always ended up all over the restaurant within minutes.

It took about another month for him to learn more about what was really going on with MK, and the breakthrough occurred simply because he'd shown up on a day he normally wouldn't. But his class had been cancelled due to his lecturer calling in sick and he'd been craving noodles so why wouldn't he have headed to Pigsy's?

There was no-one in the restaurant as he made his way to his usual seat but while that was a little odd, it wasn't any cause for alarm, Pigsy was probably just in the back grabbing something.

So he started pulling out his laptop and setting up as he normally did, pausing at the sound of the staff door opening so he could turn to say hello but his smile fell as his eyes fell on Pigsy, who looked like a deer frozen in the headlights at the sight of him.

MK had started to question why he had suddenly stopped but he cut himself off with a cheerful shout of "Mr.Tang!" before scampering around Pigsy and coming up to greet him. Pigsy seemed to remember himself and held open the door for the woman behind him who didn't look at all unhappy to see him.

In fact, she smiled as she walked over, "So you're the famous, Mr. Tang! I've seen you about before but never had a name for the face. MK has told me so much about you! I'm Ms. Chén."

She did look vaguely familiar, and he could only guess he'd seen her in passing as a customer at the restaurant before, but while he sent a wary glance Pigsy's way, he still responded politely, "Er, it's nice to meet you, Ms. Chén. Are you MK's...?"

"Social worker."

His eyes widened and before he could school his reaction, he responded, "O-oh! I never knew he... Er, I... Is everything alright?"

He glanced again at Pigsy, who seemed determined to keep his head down while he put together a takeaway bag of food, but his attention was forced back to Ms. Chén as she responded cheerfully, "Oh, right as rain! We were just having our regular catch up and I have to say MK's drawings of you are getting better and better - especially your glasses. He draws circles even better than I can!"

MK seemed a little bashful at the praise, half hiding behind Tang's stool, as he quietly replied, "I like his glasses."

Ms. Chén agreed, "I can see why." She smiled at Tang, "He was telling me that you're very good at impersonations. Your silly voices while you tell stories are a lot of fun."

Confused, he asked, "Silly voices?"

MK just hid further behind the chair, apparently too shy to answer, but thankfully Pigsy finally joined the conversation, "When you tell stories about dumb guests at the museum. You give them stupid voices."

Realisation dawned, "Oh..."

Alright, reminder to self: Little ears were listening and they were paying attention.

Before he could worry that he might have said anything inappropriate however his voice suddenly went up an octave, "Stupid voices? I don't give them stupid voices! I give them their voices!"

MK giggled, "You do give them silly voices! Like the lady who said all the artwork was fake!" He then proceeded to do a very unflattering imitation of Tang's imitation.

Very maturely, he argued, "I didn't sound like that! It was like..."

He trailed off, embarrassed, as he remembered Ms. Chén was still there and looking quietly amused by this whole conversation. He coughed, and quietly muttered to MK, "We'll discuss it later." Before more loudly asking, "What else has he been saying about me?"

Ms. Chén laughed, "Only good things, I promise. I- Oh." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and sighed at whatever she saw, "Well, there goes my schedule. Sorry to cut this short but I'm afraid I need to get a move on. Never a dull moment and all that!"

Pigsy held out a bag of takeout and she shook her head even as she took it off him, "How many times do I have to tell you that you don't need to keep feeding me like this?"

Pigsy stepped out from behind the counter as he responded, "You were literally just complaining about the trash they call food at your work's cafeteria. Tang, could you watch MK for a minute while I walk Ms. Chén to her car? My grandma's still upstairs getting ready."

He nodded, "Yeah, no problem, Pigsy. It was nice meeting you, Ms. Chén."

"Likewise! I'm sure we'll run into each other again at some point. MK, I'll see you again next week, alright?"

MK nodded and obligingly waved goodbye as she and Pigsy left the building.

Pigsy was gone for five minutes or so and he returned to the spectacle of a five year old unintentionally mocking a twenty-one year old for his impersonation skills.

His dignity was somewhat saved by Pigsy sending MK upstairs to go grab whatever toys he wanted to play with before the restaurant opened.

An awkward silence reigned for a moment before Pigsy slumped on the counter and sighed, "Can't believe I forgot to lock the fucking door. Alright, get it out of your system, ask."

Far be it for him to pass on the opportunity to freak out.

He leaned forward urgently, "He has a social worker? What the hell, Pigsy? I thought his parents were just going through a bad divorce or something! If social work is involved that means..."

It could mean anything, to be honest, but his mind was filled with his mother's theories of abuse and criminals. And what was Pigsy's relationship with them that he was the one suddenly responsible for MK?

Pigsy rubbed his face tiredly, "Whatever you're thinking, you're wrong. Or well, you're probably wrong. Not like we actually know what the kid's deal is."

He stared at him, "What are you talking about?"

"That kid showed up here at the restaurant in the middle of the night two months ago and nobody knows who he is or where he came from. Not even him."

Incredulous, he asked, "Then why are you the one taking care of him?"

Why wasn't this all over the news? Why weren't there posters everywhere asking if anyone had any idea who this kid was?

It didn't make any sense.

Grumbling, Pigsy responded, "I've been asking myself the same thing." He then stood up a little straighter, "Look, this whole thing is crazy but for whatever reason Fāng- I mean, Ms. Chén, is absolutely dead set on the kid staying here. Got my grandma convinced and has me going through all the fucking training to become his legal foster parent or some shit, until they can figure out who he is and where he belongs."

He frowned as that sunk in, "Wait... Yeah, there is no way it can be allowed for you to take care of MK just because he showed up at your house. Pigsy, what the hell is going on?"

Pigsy threw his hands up in air, "As if I fucking know!" He then flinched at his volume and sent a wary glance to the staff door and the ceiling before continuing in a hushed tone, "I don't know, alright? But you can't breathe a word of this to anyone. Not even your ma. You got a problem, I'll give you Fāng's number and you can take it up with her."

He waved his hands in front of his face, "I know too much already, I don't want to know any more! The kid's safe and happy, there's an actual social worker involved - it's none of my business!"

It was one thing to get good gossip, it was quite another to be complicit in something shady. As long as MK was fine then the less he knew, the better!

And yet...

Hesitantly, he asked, "But why are you doing this though...?"

Pigsy, he was pretty sure at least, was a morally upstanding guy but taking in a kid? That was something else altogether.

Pigsy was quiet for a long moment before he turned away and started preparing the kitchen, "I had a friend in the care system. I... I know it wouldn't be the same - kid's human, it wouldn't be as bad. But I..."

Oh.

He couldn't say he knew much about the care system but he definitely knew it wasn't perfect. At least here, MK was guaranteed his basic needs would be met plus he'd have a dotting grandmother and the best food he could ask for. It wasn't the worst place for a kid to be, that's for sure.

Before he could say anything however, Pigsy added, his voice heavy with emotion, "He'd never forgive me."

He didn't know what to say in response and Pigsy continued getting ready for the day until eventually he came over and wrote a number on a scrap of paper before handing it to him, "It's Fāng's number."

He tried to wave him away, "I don't need it. I... I think MK's exactly where he should be."

Pigsy didn't give him a choice and all but forced it into his hand, "And if that ever changes, you can do something about it. Nothing is more important than a kid's safety. Like it or not, you have a responsibility to him too."

He stared unhappily down at the paper before reluctantly putting it in his bag, "I'll take it but I won't ever need it."

Pigsy turned away from him, "Things change, Tang. And sometimes they change for the worse."

It was a statement that had a terrible story behind it he was sure and he couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with Pigsy's own parents.

He knew nothing about them other than that they were dead but any time Xiùyīng offhandedly mentioned them, Pigsy's mood always notably worsened.

Or maybe it had to do with this care-experienced friend he had and what he'd gone through with foster families.

He didn't know.

But he found he was oddly reassured, rather than worried, about Pigsy's statement. Because there was no part of him that believed Pigsy would let anything bad happen to that kid.

As Pigsy turned away, Tang quietly said, "I think you're doing the right thing."

Pigsy's shoulders sagged, "I sure fucking hope so."

They didn't discuss it any further and after a little while MK reappeared with Xiùyīng, who wasted no time asking him if he'd met Ms. Chén, ignoring Pigsy's warning stare.

MK quite happily answered for him however and the conversation was once again centred around his "terrible" impressions.

He huffed.

What did a five year old know anyway?

Chapter Text

Today it felt like Pigsy's name was on everybody's lips - regular customers, delivery drivers, neighbours, Xiùyīng and, of course-

"Pigsy, look at this!"

"Pigsy, can I have this?"

"Pigsy, I'm hungry!"

Pigsy, Pigsy, Pigsy.

And the man in question looked like he was ready to snap. His head was in his hands as he leaned on the opposite side of the counter to where Tang was sitting.

It had been a busy lunch rush but, for whatever reason, the restaurant was still empty half an hour after it had opened for dinner and Pigsy seemed to be making the most of the lull to try and pull himself back from the brink of a mental breakdown.

Cautiously, he cleared his throat, "You doing ok there...?"

Taking a ragged breath in, Pigsy looked up, "I am going to kill the next person that says my name."

"Pigsy!"

MK's timing would have been comical, if Pigsy hadn't looked like he was genuinely going to burst into tears. As MK made his way over from the staff door, he made an effort to get a hold of himself, looking to the world like he was praying for a half a second, before turning around to greet MK with a mask of patience that was already splintering.

"What is it, kid?"

MK, completely oblivious to Pigsy's distress, held up the toy in his hand, "Mr. Hotman got stuck in his house again."

By the look on Pigsy's face, he was guessing this wasn't just the second or third time this had happened and his voice was strained as he asked, "And grandma couldn't get him out?"

Tang cringed as MK just held up the toy blithely, "I like when you do it."

Pigsy breathed slowly, in through his nose and out through his mouth, before doing his best to gently lecture, "MK, we talked about this. You need to ask grandma first when I'm working, even if the restaurant isn't busy, you can't distract me while I'm in the kitchen, it's dangerous."

MK held the toy close to his chest, despite looking upset at being chided he still argued, "But grandma's too rough! She almost took his head off last time!"

Pigsy sighed and knelt down, holding a hand for the toy, and once he had it he bargained, "I'll get him out this time but this is the last time. You either have to ask grandma or stop putting him in here, ok?"

MK frowned, "But that's his home."

Pigsy held up the toy as if to demonstrate, "It's too small for him, kid. Don't you think he would like a home that he doesn't get stuck in every day?"

MK fiddled with the bottom of his shirt as he looked away, "Maybe..."

Sighing again, Pigsy heroically freed Mr. Hotman from his home, and as he offered them back to MK he suggested, "How about you try and find a new home for him and you can show it to me tonight? Hell, I bet you could even make him a house with all that cardboard upstairs. What do you think?"

MK's eyes lit up at the possibility as he asked excitedly, "Can I use all the cardboard?"

Pigsy shrugged, "Knock yourself out. If you ask grandma you can even get your paints out to decorate it."

MK held up his toy, "You hear that, Mr. Hotman? We're going to build you a mansion!"

Pigsy looked like he was already dreading the mess that he was going to deal with after work but he clasped MK's shoulder before standing up, "Better get to it then. Make sure to tell grandma before you start pulling out all the cardboard, ok?"

MK was already halfway to the staff door, "I will!"

A pointed cough had him hastily adding, "Thank you, Pigsy! Mr. Hotman says thank you too!"

As the staff door swung shut behind him, he heard the thundering sound of him running up the stairs, and an excited shout of "Grandma!" before blessed silence reigned again.

Somewhat impressed, he couldn't help but comment, "Way to keep your cool, Pigsy! I think I would have flipped out if that had been me! How many times has he got that thing stuck?"

He was met with Pigsy's silent back, "Er, Pigsy...?"

He took another one of those slow breaths, in through his nose and out through his mouth, before turning and grabbing a piece of paper from under the till. As he wrote on it, he explained, "I need a minute. If anyone asks, I had to go to the shop. Tell them I needed more garlic or something."

"O-oh. Yeah, of course. You ok...?"

He didn't know if the grunt he got in response was an affirmative or a negative but he watched worriedly as Pigsy walked towards the door and stuck the makeshift sign on the glass, before he offered a gruff thanks and walked out.

Feeling uncomfortable, he drummed his fingers on the counter.

Casting a glance up towards the ceiling he worried about the stress Pigsy was under - did he even have days off anymore? Sure, the restaurant was still shut twice a week but did Pigsy actually get to take a break?

He wondered how much Xiùyīng was doing.

Sure, she watched MK while Pigsy worked but Pigsy seemed to be doing a lot of the actual labour and she still seemed to have a lot going on during those days off - meeting up with friends and going out, and getting a break from babysitting.

Did Pigsy get that chance?

He had a terrible feeling that he didn't.

Pigsy returned about twenty minutes later, looking a little calmer and smelling suspiciously like mint.

He had half a mind to raise his concerns but by the time he'd worked up the nerve, business had started picking back up and he never got the chance.

----

Tang was aware that he hadn't been a great friend recently, willingly spending much more time away from Pigsy's Noodles than he usually did. And though his excuses of looming deadlines weren't untrue, the truth of the matter was that Pigsy was just hard to be around at the moment.

He was exceedingly grumpy and short-tempered, and if there was any conversation between them it was often awkward and one-sided. He really felt like he needed to say something but a little shamefully, his cowardice was apparently stronger than his concern.

Well, today might be the day that the scales tipped however because Pigsy had been staring eerily at the flame on the hob for an uncomfortable amount of time and he startled terribly when Tang had called his name.

Pigsy had apologised and, full of jittery energy, told him he'd be over after he finished the order he was working on. He watched him for a moment before glancing down at his bag.

Fāng's number felt like it was burning a hole through it.

He wasn't worried about MK yet.

But Pigsy...

Pigsy seemed to sense that the conversation they'd apparently both been dreading was upon them, and he walked over to him looking defeated and ashamed.

He didn't even know where to start, "Pigsy..."

Pigsy leaned heavily on the counter, "I know."

And yet, he had to say it, "You can't keep this up."

He slumped forward as he rubbed at his face, "I know. Look, I'm sorry for how shitty I've been acting lately. It just these fucking foster parent assessments. They're keeping me up at night. If I could just get a decent night's sleep..."

He frowned, "You're that stressed out over passing some tests?"

As far as he knew, he hadn't had this problem when he was studying before but he supposed the stakes were much higher than a qualification.

Pigsy shook his head, "I can pass the tests, they're not hard but the stuff you need to learn about... Tang, it's grim. It's real fucking grim. They call them ACEs, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and it's honestly giving me nightmares."

He didn't want to know and he was sure his face was all but screaming at Pigsy to spare him the details.

Which thankfully he did, as he added, "Doesn't help that I'm sleeping on the couch."

Shocked, he responded, "You're sleeping on the couch? Why? For how long?"

Tiredly, he answered, "Only got two bedrooms. The kid needed somewhere to sleep and I can't exactly kick my grandma out of her bed, can I? We do have a spare futon but that ratty, old thing is worse than the couch."

Horrified, he exclaimed, "So you've been on the couch since MK got here? Pigsy, why didn't you say something! Mǐnyǒng's parent have a spare futon! I'll get him to bring it over as soon as he's out of class!"

Pigsy put up a token protest, "No, don't bother his folks over it. I'll be fine, it won't be for that much longer. They'll find a better place for the kid any day now."

He resisted the urge to cringe.

Is that what Pigsy had been telling himself?

There was no part of him that believed MK was going anywhere, anytime soon. And while that was mostly just his gut talking, he couldn't help but feel that if MK's family was really out there looking for him then they would have heard something by now.

He decided that wasn't what Pigsy needed to hear right now though and picked up his phone to message Mǐnyǒng, "It doesn't matter if you get news tomorrow. You're not spending another night on the couch when there's a perfectly good futon available just gathering dust."

Mǐnyǒng was, of course, up to date on the MK situation and within seconds had promised to deliver the futon to Pigsy's ASAP.

"Ok, he's on it. It'll be here tonight. Is there anything else we can do to help? You know he's good for any DIY - any leaky pipes or broken furniture?"

Pigsy huffed, a hint of fondness in his eyes, "Good of you to offer his services. You know I'm not shy about asking for his help with repairs. The futon is more than enough." His expression softened, "Thanks, Tang."

With no small amount of guilt, he responded, "What are friends for?"

----

It was a couple days later that he got a chance to talk to Xiùyīng about it, while she was waiting for Pigsy to put together some snacks for her to take up for her and MK.

Curious, he'd asked her if she was also having to study and do any assessments as part of the process of fostering MK. Completely missing Pigsy's panicked gesturing to stop until it was far too late but, as ever, she was very forthcoming.

The conversation had started fairly normally as she explained that she was indeed having to put in a bit of work but he quickly realised why Pigsy's face had been full of apprehension.

"Oh, it's terrible, Mr. Tang. I never realised before just how fragile humans really are!"

He laughed a little awkwardly, not quite sure what she meant, "Uh, yeah, I suppose we are?"

Oblivious to his discomfort, she continued, "All of these "mental health" conditions! It's a wonder your kind can get anything done!"

He cast a glance towards Pigsy, who unfortunately had his back to them as he cooked, but he was definitely listening and given the tension in his shoulders he didn't like what he was hearing.

Tang couldn't help but frown as he responded, "Mental health isn't just a human thing, demons can suffer from all the same conditions we can."

And he knew that for a fact, the demon population in the city wasn't huge but it was big enough that he'd seen plenty of posters around his university advertising counselling specifically targeted at demons.

Also, could she not see how stressed her grandson was twenty-four/seven?

Actually, now that he thought about it, maybe he should try and get some of those counselling details for Pigsy? He could probably do with at least having someone to properly vent to.

He made a mental note to check it out later.

She tutted, "Don't buy into that nonsense. That's just what lazy, young demons are trying to convince people of because they're afraid of a little hard work. It's shameful."

Oh.

Oh no.

As if Pigsy wasn't under enough stress! This was the sort of support he had at home?

Getting a little worked up, he felt compelled to make her see reason, "It's not nonsense. There's plenty of evidence that demons suffer from mental health conditions, and at a higher rate than humans in some areas. You've been learning about ACEs, right? Well, demons have them too, don't they?"

She waved her hand dismissively, "Those are just childhood experiences for a demon, dear. They toughen us up, not make us "mentally ill"."

For a moment, he could only stare at her.

Did she even comprehend how unbelievably fucking sad what she'd just said was?

Before he could respond however, he was startled by a tray of food being all but slammed down beside him.

Pigsy's fury was palpable and, in what he assumed was Megopolis's city language, snapped at his grandmother as he pushed the tray towards her.

Clearly displeased with his tone, she responded back in the same language.

It was a short exchange that ended with Xiùyīng huffing angrily as she swiped the tray from the counter. Standing tall and prim, she switched back to Mandarin and addressed him, "Apologies, Mr. Tang. My grandson apparently doesn't think this discussion is "appropriate" so I will be heading back up stairs. Please forgive such rude behaviour."

Her tone suggested it was Pigsy's "rude behaviour", not hers.

She bowed shortly and didn't wait for a response before heading for the staff door and disappearing.

Pigsy glared after her before turning away to angrily tidy up after himself, "Don't fucking listen to anything she has to say about humans and demons. She doesn't know what she's talking about."

Admittedly, he was still a little annoyed about the whole exchange but it was driven by the fact that he was angry and upset on Pigsy's behalf, "I don't understand how she could possibly believe that mental health is just a human thing! Just look at all the evidence!"

Pigsy huffed, "For MK's sake, just be glad that she knows it is a thing, at least. I couldn't have let him stay here otherwise."

"Yeah, no kidding... But what about you?"

Pigsy turned around and raised an eyebrow, "What about me?"

He faltered slightly, "Er, y'know, what if one day you're not doing too good? Mentally, that is?"

Very clearly being sarcastic, Pigsy responded, "Me? I'm the picture of good mental health. What are you talking about?"

He couldn't help but frown, "Not funny."

Pigsy sighed, "No, it's not. But don't let yourself get bent out of shape about it. I can handle her."

He could hear the unspoken, "Don't get involved." and begrudgingly he would have to accept it for now. It's not like he was well qualified enough to really weigh in anyway.

"Fine. But if you ever need to get any frustrations off your chest about you know who then I'm all ears."

Pigsy managed a smile, "Why else do you think I keep you around?"

The conversation moved on.

But the interaction weighed on him.

Xiùyīng said ACEs were a part of every demon's life and as he watched Pigsy get ready for the dinner rush, he couldn't help but frown as he wondered what that had meant for Pigsy.

Chapter Text

Tang froze as he opened the door to Pigsy's Noodles and was greeted by the sight of a tearful MK clinging to an uncomfortable looking Xiùyīng while a quietly furious Pigsy glared at her.

Unfortunately it was far too late to back out unnoticed, the blasted bell above the door making sure of that. But still he did his best to escape the situation, pointing outside, he awkwardly tried, "Er, I'll just come back later..."

But Pigsy waved him over, "Oh no, Tang. Please, come in. My grandma here is just so excited to share her wonderful news."

Xiùyīng hissed at him, and while Tang couldn't understand the language, he was almost certain it was the equivalent of "Shut up.", possibly with some expletives thrown in for good measure.

Not at all wanting to be a part of whatever this was, he tried again, "No, no, I just realised that I, er... Forgot my laptop charger! Silly me! Can't study without it! So, I'll just..."

Xiùyīng tried to take a step towards him but was halted by the child clinging to her dress, but regardless she addressed him a little desperately, "No need to leave for that, Mr. Tang! I'm sure we have one you could borrow! Please come in! Don't mind, MK, he's just feeling a little sensitive today!"

Pigsy was incredulous, "And whose fault is that?" Thankfully however he turned to him and waved him away, "Get out of here, Tang. Come back in, like, an hour if you want to miss the shit show."

Despite clearly being the one in the dog house at the moment, Xiùyīng still snapped, "Don't swear in front of MK!"

Yup, ok, he was out of here.

His goodbyes and final excuses were ignored as Pigsy and Xiùyīng glared at each other.

Well, it'd been a while since he'd been to the Korean restaurant next to his university. They were pretty tolerant of him stealing a table for the day. Maybe if he was feeling brave he'd pop back in and see Pigsy for dinner.

----

Several hours later, he walked back through the front door to Pigsy's Noodles, and when a cursory glance around the restaurant revealed no Xiùyīng or MK he made his way to his usual seat, nodding to a couple of regulars he recognised along the way.

He had long since been bereft of Pigsy's customer service face and instead of a smile and "I'll be right with you.", he got a huff, an eye roll and was then promptly ignored while Pigsy finished what he was doing.

Deliveries ready to be picked up, he finally walked over to greet him, "Well, look who's back. Where'd you end up, traitor?"

He rolled his eyes, "Piáo's. That ok with you?"

Pigsy could be a tiny bit sensitive about him going to other restaurants sometimes and was in the habit of hounding him for details of where he'd been, what he'd eaten and, most importantly, how it compared to the food and service here.

Pigsy could, and often would, start ranting about how Pigsy's Noodles was superior in every way to this perceived rival that was trying to poach his favourite customer, regardless of whether it was actually comparable or not.

Although Heaven forbid that Tang actually went somewhere Pigsy held in high regard, because the sulking was almost unbearable.

Pigsy clicked his tongue, "Why go there when Nanakusa is right next door?"

A short debate about price, preferences and how long was an acceptable amount of time to hog a table later and Pigsy finally got off his case and asked for his order, which was takeout for two.

As Pigsy got to work, he glanced around once more to double check the coast was clear, before starting, "So... What happened this morning then?"

Pigsy heaved a heavy sigh, "Yeah, sorry about that but my grandma, in her infinite wisdom, announced this morning that she was moving out."

He did a double take, "She what? Why? Where would she even go?"

Pigsy's tone was full of false cheer, "Oh, she's got it all figured out. A friend of hers is in need of a new housemate and if she moves in with her then MK could have her old room - two good deeds for the price of one! How could she resist a bargain like that?"

Bewildered, he asked, "A housemate? How does that work? And what about MK? I get he needs a room of his own but not more than he needs someone to watch him while you're working!"

Pigsy waved his knife about as he responded, "Oh, don't you worry, she's thought about that too. It'll only take thirty minutes to get here on the bus every day so she'll still be able to babysit."

Pigsy then grumbled something in another language under his breath that was no doubt very unflattering about his grandmother before complaining out loud, "As for this housemate situation, technically it's fine but, as usual, it's me that has to do all the fucking work for it."

He proceeded to explain that the reason this friend of Xiùyīng's needed a new housemate was because her old one had had to move in with her son because her health was rapidly declining. In theory, it should be pretty straightforward for Xiùyīng to move in but there were a handful of practical issues.

Firstly, Xiùyīng's pension wouldn't quite cover all the associated expenses so Pigsy would need to make up the monthly difference, which while doable was understandably more than a little annoying, especially as Xiùyīng hadn't run any of this by him before agreeing to move in.

Next, Xiùyīng's friend had no family to support her, and her old housemate's son had been her go-to for any help she needed with bills, repairs, technology, and so on. Chances were very high that these responsibilities would now fall to Pigsy because he couldn't very well turn a blind eye now, could he?

And lastly, there was the physical labour of just moving Xiùyīng and her things, as well as setting up her old room for MK. Who Xiùyīng, in an attempt to calm him down, had promised that he could decorate the room however he liked.

All of it was time, energy and money that Pigsy just didn't have but he really didn't seem as angry about it all as Tang thought he would be.

When questioned, Pigsy explained, "I can be angry all I want, and trust me, I am, but it doesn't change the fact that this is happening. And if I'm being totally honest, I'm sort of coming around to the idea. I get my room back and I won't have to see her face first thing everyday? Almost sounds too good to be true."

Pigsy and Xiùyīng did seem to have a fairly antagonistic relationship at times, maybe a bit of space from each other could actually be beneficial for them but still he couldn't help but frown, "Yeah... But she's dumping you with MK. Aren't you worried that it might be a bit much?"

Pigsy snorted, "If the kid wakes up in the middle of the night, I'm the one he runs to. And I basically handle everything in the morning before work anyway. The only thing that's going to be difficult is him moping over the fact "grandma'" isn't here. But he'll get over it eventually."

He hoped Pigsy wasn't underestimating how much Xiùyīng actually helped out but he had a feeling he wouldn't respond well to that kind of comment, so instead he offered, "If you say so... When does she move out then?"

"Monday."

Concerned, he responded, "Monday? But that's so soon! Does she really need to move out straight away?"

Pigsy shrugged, an undercurrent of his irritation seeping through into his voice, "She wanted to move out? So she's moving out. Why put it off?"

A little unsure, he tried, "I don't know, it just feels a little rushed, don't you think? What does Ms. Chén think? It's not going to be a problem for social work, is it?"

Reluctantly, Pigsy admitted, "Overall, she's not against the idea but she does think it would be better for it to be a gradual change. With my grandma still staying over most nights to begin with and then slowly reducing it until she's permanently moved out."

Feeling obliged to point it out, he said, "Well, don't you think you're being a little bit hasty then...?"

Pigsy's shoulders sagged as he sighed and quietly confessed, "I know. I gotta do what's right for the kid and I will... But I just want her gone, Tang."

He sounded so guilty and he was powerless to try and reassure him, "Hey, I get it. I love my grandmother but I couldn't imagine living with her full time." He paused for a second before adding a little sheepishly, "Actually I think she would say the same for me. I'd probably last a week before she kicked me out."

Pigsy snorted, "Yeah, that sounds about right."

Mock offended, he responded, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Pigsy walked over to him and placed his order on the counter, "It means I know what a lazy bum you are. You're lucky Mǐnyǒng is a weak man, you bat your eyelids at him and he'll do just about anything you ask."

What slander! Laying it on thick, with the appropriate gesturing, he retorted, "First of all, I'm not lazy. Look at me, look at these noodle arms and these weak ankles, I was cursed with this frail body! And if I want to live a long and prosperous life then I need to take it easy!"

Pigsy was unimpressed, "Uh-huh."

He huffed as he picked up the takeout bags and shook them slightly for emphasis, "And Mǐnyǒng gets just as much as he gives! He should be so lucky as to have someone as generous and charming as me around!"

Pigsy just rolled his eyes, already walking away to stick some dishes in the dishwasher, "Well, don't let me keep you from gifting him with your presence then."

He hesitated before saying goodbye, "Hey, if you need help with the move, I'm sure Mǐnyǒng and I could help out. Pretty sure his uncle even has a van he could probably borrow."

Pigsy snorted, "Oh yeah, you'd be a real big help with that "frail body" of yours. Stop offering Mǐnyǒng's services without even asking him first."

Generally, he didn't but Mǐnyǒng actually really liked Pigsy, the two of them getting on well on the rare occasion that he came with him to the restaurant. And if he found out after the fact that he could have helped but no-one asked him then he'd be pretty sullen about it.

He waved him off, "You know he won't mind. Honestly, it'd probably be a welcome distraction from all the homework he's had recently. Just think about it and let me know."

"Yeah, yeah, I will. I appreciate it, Tang. I better see you for your shift tomorrow by the way."

He grinned, and gave a mock salute, "You got it, boss. You know how much this job means to me."

Pigsy just shook his head fondly, "Alright, get out of here before your food gets cold, you bum."

Chapter Text

Operation "Move Out" had had a very rough start. And Tang could only be thankful that he didn't live near enough to Pigsy's to have experienced it first hand because according to Xiùyīng, she had been able to hear MK's crying from at least three streets away.

For the first couple of weeks, any night Xiùyīng stayed in her new place, it was all but guaranteed that Pigsy wasn't going to get any proper sleep. It was impossible to get MK to settle and tears and tantrums happened all throughout the night.

Pigsy had looked like he was ready to throw in the towel completely, and he didn't just mean begging his grandmother to give up her plans to move out.

But eventually, MK did start to adjust. He still had his bad nights but they were manageable in comparison and Pigsy, to his immense relief, no longer had to field noise complaints from very unhappy neighbours.

With Xiùyīng moving out however that brought about the promised bedroom makeover and he had to politely try and free himself from MK's enthusiastic attempts to drag him up the stairs and show him, much to Pigsy's amusement.

Xiùyīng had taken more than enough photos and videos of the decorating process and the end result however and sandwiched between her and MK, he simply accepted his fate and let them tell him all about it in excruciating detail.

Pigsy ever so helpfully throwing out little tidbits they'd forgotten from the kitchen every once in a while and extending his time away from his laptop considerably.

He couldn't say MK's room was really to his tastes, it was a bit too yellow for one but admittedly the pictures of him covered in paint splotches were very cute.

But hands down the cutest thing he was shown were the videos of MK sincerely imitating everything Pigsy did - his posture, his expressions, his grunts and groans and, of course, his actions. Every brush stroke, every scratch of his head, every stretch - MK did his utmost best to replicate.

He knew this wasn't a new thing, Xiùyīng had quite happily told him all about MK's adorable habit numerous times but this was the first time he was really seeing it in action.

He couldn't help but grin, no wonder Pigsy was always on his best behaviour around the kid. The little guy would be swearing like a sailor otherwise.

As happy as he was to have gained this knowledge and to hear that decorating had gone well, he really needed to get back to work. Finals were fast approaching and he needed to get cramming like his life depended on it.

Pigsy often knowingly questioned how he could be so unprepared when he was literally always here working away on his laptop. And while, yes he always had assignments and homework to be getting on with, the truth was he usually couldn't bring him to start any of it until the last possible minute.

And until the anxiety kicked in, it was almost hopeless to even try.

Generally, he was always reading or writing something though and if put on the spot he could find ways to link whatever it was back to his studies in one way or another, after all his degree was in literature, with electives in mythology and history to boot.

Although he doubted that Pigsy, or his lecturers for that matter, would buy into the idea that fanfiction, forums or deep dives into niche elements of Journey to the West were all crucial to his academic success.

As it would turn out though, he wasn't the only one here with an adversion to schoolwork.

----

He'd been spending a lot less time at Pigsy's and a lot more time at the library as of late but with one major assignment out of the way, he decided he could afford to have a slightly less stressful day studying at one of his favourite places in the world.

It wasn't uncommon for him to let himself in before opening hours and see MK sitting in one of the booths but it was very unlike him to be slumped against the table and wallowing pitifully in despair at some unknown hardship.

He raised an eyebrow at Pigsy as he made his way to his seat and he got an eye roll and a shake of his head in response, "Ignore him, Tang. He just doesn't want to do his homework."

Confused, he asked, "Homework?"

Pigsy explained while he continued to get the kitchen ready for the day, "For his tutor. Sees her once a week and every week we have to go through this rigmarole. It's quite literally two plus two, it would take him half an hour tops to get it done and then he could do whatever he wanted, if he would just stop moping."

That last part had clearly been aimed at MK but the pointed tone didn't inspire him any to pick his head off the table.

He sighed, "I wish my homework was that easy. You never mentioned he had a tutor before - how long's that been going on?"

Pigsy shrugged, "Couple of months. We're trying to get him up to speed so he can start school in Autumn. He's actually going to be giving summer school a shot before that though. Y'know, try and ease him into it."

Ah, he supposed MK had to start school sooner or later, and he was already late to the party. He couldn't say he blamed him for the dramatics though. After going through elementary, middle and high school, he sometimes wondered what kind of glutton for punishment he must be to have willingly signed up for university.

He glanced at MK's morose form, "I'm guessing he's not thrilled about that, huh?"

Pigsy huffed, "You should hear his attempts to convince me he doesn't need to go, he even tried to bribe me the other day."

Amused, he asked, "With what?"

"Any one of a very selective number of his toys. He didn't even put any of the heavy hitters on the table. You'd think a life of no school would at least be worth giving up Hambo."

Hambo was the current favourite of MK's toys - a strangely long limbed "bear" plush that he liked to tie around his shoulders and run about with. He was sure the toy in question was probably sat beside MK right now, just out of sight.

He laughed quietly, "You never play your trump card straight away, not when you've still got options."

As the youngest of four brothers, he had long since mastered the arts of negotiation, bribery and coercion - his trump card naturally being "I'm telling māma!". He never would have survived otherwise, especially not when all of his brothers were bigger and stronger than him.

Pigsy lightly reproached him, "Don't get it into his head that bribery is going to work. He's going to school whether he likes it or not."

He heard an angry huff from behind him and he was sure if MK's feet could reach the floor he would have stamped the ground in protest.

Pigsy wasn't impressed but apparently decided it wasn't worth calling him up on it, instead he turned to him, "Could you watch him for a minute? I need to go grab a couple bits from the back. MK, get that homework done! I want it finished before Ms. Chén gets here!"

It wasn't really necessary but he stood up and made his way over to MK, "Yeah, sure."

MK did not look enthused at this suggestion and he shot a sullen look after Pigsy as he disappeared behind the staff door. Tang grinned conspiratorially as he sat across from him, "Not a fan of homework, MK? Me neither. Don't tell Pigsy I told you that though."

MK perked up a little, "You have homework too, Mr. Tang?"

He nodded over to his regular seat, "That's what I'm doing when you see me here with my laptop - homework."

MK looked horrified, "But you're always here on your laptop!"

He nodded solemnly, "Because I always have homework. And as such, I'm sort of an expert, and I can tell you for a fact that putting it off, doesn't make it go away."

He was glad Pigsy wasn't in earshot of his hypocrisy but hey, he should get points for trying to steer MK away from his bad habits.

MK frowned mightily down at his worksheet before Tang started tugging at a corner of the paper so he could get a look, "But seeing as I am an expert, maybe I can help you out a little. Let's see what you've got."

Now, as a general rule he wasn't a maths guy and his mental arithmetic was pretty poor too. Unless you added food to the equation, of course, and then he was an absolute whizz at calculating his portion of the bill. But regardless he had very much mastered the basics of addition and subtraction that MK was currently struggling with.

He made sure to be appropriately theatrical, "Ah, hm-mm, I see. I remember thinking this was really tough when I was your age too. Why don't we work on it together?"

The key to engaging with MK, he quickly discovered, was props and silly story telling - which is how they found themselves investigating the case of Chef Hambo's missing kitchen ingredients.

Lines like, "I had ten lemons here this morning and two of them are gone!" And "I need five bottles of soy sauce and I only have three!" were perfect setups to help MK with his homework and while he struggled from time to time, he was steadily filling up his worksheet.

Pigsy had, of course, returned during these shenanigans and Tang perhaps took a little too much delight in having "Hambo" argue with him over recipes and kitchen propriety.

But apart from kicking him out of his kitchen, he was very good about the whole thing. Bantering with the plush while obligingly putting the appropriate ingredients on the bar for them to count.

They unfortunately hadn't quite finished up their game by the time Ms. Chén arrived but under everyone's insistence he was forced to continue the game regardless of how embarrassed and awkward he now felt with MK's social worker watching him.

But finally the last question was answered and enthusiastic cheering for MK's heroics filled the restaurant.

As Pigsy ushered MK away to get ready to go out with Ms. Chén, to the park apparently, MK, as he was wont to do, began to excitedly retell the story to Pigsy, completely uncaring that Pigsy had in fact been there for almost all of it.

He knew they'd only be gone for a minute but he could feel himself getting nervous in Ms. Chén's presence. It would be bad enough to be left with an almost stranger but he was suddenly terrified he might say something that would get Pigsy in trouble.

Thankfully, Ms. Chén led the conversation, as she chuckled, "You have quite the way with children, Mr. Tang."

He laughed a little awkwardly, "Oh, well, my eldest brother has two kids about MK's age so I guess I've picked up a thing or two." Eager to move the conversation from him, he tried, "So... you're taking MK to the park?"

She nodded, "I'm sure you've probably noticed but MK is very attached to Pigsy and we thought it might be a good idea to get him used to being away from him for a little while before he starts school. So once a week I'm trying to come around and take him out somewhere fun for a couple of hours."

"Yeah, Pigsy mentioned he was going to be starting summer school soon. How's he handling being away from Pigsy?"

Her hands made a so-so gesture, "I don't get the tears and tantrums I heard were the norm while he was adjusting to Mrs. Zhū moving out but he does tend to be very shy and withdrawn. He's very nervous around people that he doesn't know."

He smiled a little nervously, "Well, can't really blame him for that."

She smiled back, "Not at all. It's pretty normal for children to be anxious when their caretakers aren't around. I am very pleased with his progress though. I know it's not been easy on Pigsy but I really do think he's doing an excellent job."

He agreed wholeheartedly, eager to big Pigsy up to her, "I think so too. Have you ever seen the snacks he cooks up for him? I honestly get a little jealous!"

Pigsy's voice cut in, "Well, why didn't you say so, Tang? I can shape your dumplings into cats and draw smiley faces on your noodles if that's what you really want."

He resisted the urge to cringe and very aware Ms. Chén was right beside him his comeback felt like it was lacking, "You think you could make them into monkeys rather than cats?"

But still Ms. Chén laughed, "I think I'd like to see that. If he manages to convince you, Pigsy. Please save some for me. You ready to go, MK?"

Somewhat reluctantly, he made his way over to her but he stopped suddenly and turned back round to face him, looking much more enthusiastic, "Thank you for helping me with my homework, Mr. Tang! When I get back can you tell me another one of your stories?"

Pigsy snorted, and under his breath muttered, "That was the only PG one he knew."

Willing down the blush that threatened to take over his face, he replied, "Well, maybe if I can get enough of my homework done then sure, why not?"

Looking pleased, MK said his goodbyes and dutifully followed Ms. Chén out of the restaurant.

He should have known he wasn't off the hook, ""Homework" is that what they're calling it these days."

It had been inevitable that Pigsy would one day catch at a glimpse of his laptop screen and realise that it was certainly not some respectable academic paper that had him so engrossed but it was now impossible to convince him that he wasn't some sort of perverted deviant.

It wasn't even as if he'd been reading anything explicit either but unfortunately Pigsy had caught him right at the point the flirting had gotten a little too suggestive.

Face hot and voice higher pitched than he would have liked, he responded, "How many times do I have to tell you it was a period piece for class! I didn't know that it was going to get a little risqué!"

Amused, Pigsy retorted, "Certainly weren't upset about it though."

He turned up his nose, "It was narratively satisfying."

Pigsy snorted, "Oh, I bet. Very satisfying."

Thank god, he had the sense not to read, or god forbid write, anything explicit outwith the safety of his own home.

He would never live it down.

Apparently feeling merciful, Pigsy moved on, "Anyway, I really appreciate you helping MK out with his homework. So as thanks you can have whatever you want for lunch on the house. Yes, even the stuff I make for MK that's not on the menu."

His eyes full of stars, and his mouth already salivating at the possibilities, he asked, "Really?"

Pigsy sighed, likely already regretting the offer, "Yes, really. Don't expect any monkey flair though, fanboy. And it'll have to wait until after the lunch rush but apart from that go nuts."

These kind of offers did not come around often, and he was going to have to think about this carefully, but Pigsy simply ignored him as he started muttering to himself as he tried to come to a decision.

Eventually he put together his order and it was only then that conversation could actually resume.

Pigsy commented, "Gotta say, that was pretty impressive earlier. Guess all those museum tours have really paid off, eh?"

Working in the museum was his part time job all year round and while it involved various tasks, his favourite thing to do was to give tours, especially to the younger guests.

Getting paid to talk about his special interests and getting other people excited about it?

It was literally his dream job.

Don't get him wrong, there were plenty of boring and unpleasant parts of the job too but when it was good, it was really good.

And giving tours to kids in the their exhibit dedicated to the Celestial Realm was the best part of all of it. It basically just involved him excitedly telling them all about the legends of the Celestials, like Èrláng Shén, Nézhā, Cháng'é and so on, and the kids absolutely ate it up.

He suddenly sat up, "You should bring MK next time I'm working! Oh! I bet he'd love it!"

Pigsy hummed noncommittally, "Sure he would but doubt I'd be able to take him. You don't work my days off. Guess it will have to Fāng or grandma that take him."

He deflated a little at that, "Oh, yeah." He then rallied, "Well, what if we just went together on your day off? I could be your own personal tour guide!"

Pigsy huffed fondly, "How about we revisit it after you've finished with your finals? I appreciate the offer but you really don't need any more distractions right now."

Unfortunately, he had a point, so he conceded, "Alright... But it's definitely happening! As soon as I'm free of this hell, I'll show you and MK the time of your lives!"

Pigsy huffed, "Bold claim. Now get to work, I've got orders coming in."

Begrudgingly he did just that but he was delighted later that day when Pigsy placed an order of noodles in front of him that had all the toppings arranged in the shape of a smiling monkey face.

Chapter Text

He had done it.

Through blood, sweat and tears - so, so many tears - he had submitted his dissertation and was now finally free from the horrors of academia!

At least, he was until he started his post-grad in the Autumn, assuming he got the passing mark he needed, that was. But! That was something for future Tang to worry about! Right now, he deserved to just feel relieved and happy that the hard part was over.

On his way back home, he'd stopped by Pigsy's to tell everyone the good news and apparently they had been waiting for him.

It wasn't often MK was found in the restaurant during opening hours but he was clearly on lookout duty. Stationed at the booth closest to the window, he was leaning over the back of the chair and scouring the streets.

Tang had to admit, it was quite nice to have someone's face light up so spectacularly when they saw you. MK quickly disappeared from his sight but he was there when he opened the door holding up a very colourful, homemade card and cheering excitedly, "Congat- Congatu- You did it, Mr. Tang!"

He'd managed to arrive just as they'd reopened for dinner and as such it wasn't too busy but the few customers that were here looked very taken with MK's antics. He wasn't sure MK really understood why congratulations were in order but his grin was wide as he took his card from MK.

"For me? Aw, thank you, MK."

On the front of the card was a tall and shining rendition of himself with balloons and streamers surrounding him. On the inside, there were smaller pictures of all the things that MK apparently associated with him - his glasses, his laptop, books, noodles. And in the middle it read, "No more homework!" With many happy faces and words like "Wow", "Yes!" And "Lucky!" all around it.

It was signed MK, Pigsy and Xiùyīng.

Well, maybe he did understand why they were celebrating. He laughed as he closed the card, "Thank you, MK. This is the best "No more homework" card I've ever gotten!"

That got some amused smiles from around the room but MK just beamed at him before hurrying him to his usual seat, "C'mon, we made something special just for you!"

Xiùyīng was there waiting for him and he allowed himself to be swept up in her mighty hug as she congratulated him, "Oh, well done, Mr. Tang." She let him go and smiled at him as she continued, "You must be so relieved, you've worked so hard."

He heard Pigsy snort but he ignored him as he thanked her, "I can't even put into words how glad I am it's over. But you really didn't need to any... thing... for...."

His eyes were glued to the glowing bowl of noodles that had just been sat down on the bar. He swallowed the unseemly amount of saliva that had just materialised and tore his gaze away to look at Pigsy with eyes full of teary wonder as he pointed to the dish, "For me?"

Pigsy rolled his eyes but he was smiling fondly as he pushed the bowl closer, "Obviously. Don't start with the waterworks - you'll ruin the broth with your tears."

He sniffled noisily as he composed himself and sat down. Gratefully he accepted the pair of chopsticks MK was waving at him but before he could take a bite, Pigsy pulled the bowl away from him, "I just need to check - did you actually hand in your dissertation or did you just throw it in the river?"

In the weeks leading up to his deadline, he had gotten increasingly dramatic, threatening to scatter this Heaven forsaken paper to the winds or to burn it and bury the ashes. He huffed as he pulled out his phone and showed Pigsy a picture of him handing in his dissertation.

Mǐnyǒng had also been sceptical of whether he was actually going to go through with it or not and had bullied him into sending evidence that the deed was done - his classmates had found this incredibly funny but they had obligingly filmed and photographed him.

Pigsy nodded his approval and let him snatch his well-earned prize back. He was vaguely aware of Xiùyīng lightly scolding Pigsy but it all melted away as he took his first bite.

"Oi! What did I say about getting tears in the broth!"

He couldn't even slow down long enough to savour it, just shuffled it into his mouth as fast as he could as waterfalls ran down his face.

Xiùyīng helped MK up onto the stool beside him before taking the seat on the kid's other side so they could both tuck into their own special bowls.

Xiùyīng muttered something about too much soy sauce but it was drowned out by MK's happy humming.

When he was finished he looked Pigsy straight in the eye, "Pigsy. That was the greatest thing I've ever eaten."

Trying to hide how pleased he was, Pigsy picked up his empty bowl, "That'll be your way of saying you want more then."

This time, he took the time to savour the food and Pigsy was practically glowing as he waxed poetry about every aspect of it, backed up by MK's enthusiastic nodding and his simple, but heartfelt, compliments like, "It's really tasty!", "It's so shiny!" and, "Even the vegetables are yummy!"

That had, of course, prompted some light-hearted arguing about vegetables but if anything it only added to the enjoyment of the meal.

Eventually, Xiùyīng wisped MK away to clean him up and he got some final congratulations as they left.

His eyes caught on the card MK had made him lying a safe distance away from the splash zone and he picked it up with a smile as he admired it, "What a sweet kid. And he's getting really good with his characters."

Pigsy coughed, "Well, he may have had some help with them."

He laughed quietly, quite charmed that this card had been a collaborative effort, "Well, that doesn't change how much I appreciate it."

Pigsy turned away with a grunt to do some dishes, "Yeah, well, you can show that appreciation by making sure to still come by and visit him. I don't think it's quite clicked that you not having homework means that you'll be round less. He's going to miss you."

He smiled as he propped his cheek against his hand.

MK's going to miss me, huh?

Out loud he said, "I'll be picking up more shifts at the museum soon but I'll still be here at least couple times a week. You know I need my fix."

Pigsy huffed, "You better be." He then turned and pointed a wet wooden spoon at him threateningly, "And I better not hear that you've been sneaking off to have lunch at that noodle shop around the corner from your work - that place is a disgrace!"

It definitely did the job if you were just in the mood for some cheap, greasy food though but still he put a hand on his heart, "I have a stomach of integrity. I would never betray you like that."

Pigsy clearly didn't believe him but he let it go and returned to his dishes before asking, "Uh-huh. You doing anything to celebrate finishing uni then?"

He nodded, "A couple of us are going out for drinks tonight. Nothing too crazy planned but everyone is desperate to cut loose after a month of pure stress."

Pigsy glanced over his shoulder, "You wanting to take something away for later then?"

Coming home drunk to Pigsy's noodles sounded like heaven on earth so he grinned, "Can you double it? Mǐnyǒng is coming out too."

Pigsy nodded and started throwing something together as he commented, "I'll make him his favourite - he deserves it for keeping you out of trouble."

He huffed, "Since when do I get into any trouble?"

Pigsy raised an eyebrow and Tang hastened to clarify, "Drunken troubles! Not weird luck trouble! I'm a perfectly sensible drunk!"

And it was mostly true! While alcohol generally robbed him of his ability to shut up, he didn't tend to lose his filter or feel the need to do anything stupid. If anything, Mǐnyǒng was the more likely of the two of them to get into trouble - very easily persuaded into doing dares and challenges when drunk.

Pigsy looked doubtful and Tang responded, "What do you know anyway! You've never even seen me drunk!"

Pigsy scoffed, "And I'm more than happy to keep it that way. Drinking isn't my thing."

A little surprised, he asked, "What? Like at all?"

He wasn't a huge drinker himself but he did enjoy going out now and then and he thought it was sort of a shame if Pigsy didn't drink at all - it might have been fun to go out together sometime.

Pigsy shrugged and he continued to question, "How come?"

With forced nonchalance, Pigsy responded with his back turned, "My mā drank enough for both of us."

A little thrown by his explanation, he awkwardly got out, "O-oh... Uh, yeah. I guess that could put you off..."

By the rising tension he could see in Pigsy's shoulders, he thought that he might have regretted being so honest but he knew better than to pry and tried to move the conversation on, "Guess that means you wouldn't want to go out sometime, huh? Ah, well. Probably makes you better role model for MK anyway. Oh! Which reminds me! I still owe you that museum tour!"

Pigsy turned to look at him, a little bewildered, "How did that remind you of the museum?"

He'd really just been scrambling for the first safe topic he could think of but he tried to retrospectively apply some logic, "Well, it's a fun day out and we said we'd arrange something when I finally finished my coursework."

Pigsy eyed him oddly before letting it slide, "Right... Well about that. If he'll like it as much as you think he will I'm thinking I might save it as a treat or something for him attending his first day of Summer School. Try and make it as positive experience as possible, y'know?"

Without really thinking, he wondered out loud, "Isn't that how they train dogs? Y'know, give them lots of treats for going to the groomers or whatever?"

Pigsy just stared at him for a moment before apparently deciding not to comment, "So what I was getting at is was that the trip to museum is still a couple of months away."

A little confused, he responded, "Y'know, he can go more than once, right? And the exhibits change all the time."

Pigsy muttered something unintelligible before responding, "Yeah, I know but this is just the way I want to play it, alright?"

Sometimes, there was no understanding Pigsy, and there was no reasoning with him either so he just shrugged, "Suit yourself."

They chatted about how MK was getting on preparing for school and about what his plans were for the rest of the week before Pigsy handed him over his food and warned him to stay safe tonight.

He rolled his eyes but promised to drink responsibly all the same.

----

Two weeks later, he found himself in his usual seat slumped over the bar as his tears cascaded off the bar to create a small waterfall.

Pigsy had set up a wet floor sign beside him just in time for Xiùyīng and MK arriving back from their trip to the park.

Xiùyīng immediately approached him, "Oh dear, what's happened?"

MK clung to her dress and looked up at him as his eyes welled up with empathetic tears.

Pigsy grunted, "He was dumped."

He sobbed louder in response.

Xiùyīng gasped, a hand coming to her chest, "No! Why? What happened?"

Pigsy translated his incoherent blubbering, "Mǐnyǒng got offered a job in Chéngdū. He's taking it."

Xiùyīng placed a gentle hand on his arm, "Oh, sweetheart."

He wailed, "H-He doesn't even want to try doing long- long-distance!"

To say he was devastated didn't even begin to cover it.

He'd genuinely believed that he and Mǐnyǒng were going to be together for the rest of their lives but Mǐnyǒng wouldn't even entertain the idea of having a long-distance relationship for the year it would take for Tang to finish his masters and then come and join him in Chéngdū.

Did he want to move to Chéngdū? No. But upon receiving the bad news, he'd been severely tempted just to ditch his plans to do a masters just so they could stay together.

His mother had swiftly nipped that idea in the bud however.

Because, of course, she had been the first person he'd called.

Unfortunately, his least favourite older brother also happened to have be visiting when his snotty face had appeared on his mother's phone and he'd zero sympathy to his plight.

"Oh no, māma! Your gay wedding!"

She'd slapped his arm and sent him away before giving him her full attention, "Oh, Tangy. Tell mamā everything."

She'd been exceptionally sympathetic but hadn't minced words when she told him that no man was worth abandoning your education for. No man was ever worth sacrificing anything for.

Unless it was one of her sons, of course, then that was a different story.

He'd no longer been bawling his eyes out by the end of the conversation but he had sniffled an apology about not giving her the gay wedding she wanted. She had shushed him, "Oh, don't you worry about that. You'll find another man and I'll get my wedding yet." She raised her voice, "It's your brother that I'm worried is never going to get married!"

Almost immediately after that call, his other, much more likeable brothers, had messaged him with their condolences. His eldest brother showing he cared by threatening to fly to out and do serious bodily harm if he dropped out of uni for some guy.

Arguments that Mǐnyǒng wasn't just "some guy" and was, in fact, the love of his life were not entertained.

After that, obviously, the next person he had to tell was Pigsy and he'd been crying at the kitchen bar since he'd got here.

Pigsy did not have his mother's gentle way with words and wasn't really in the habit of lying just to make him feel better. And so he refused to tell him what he wanted to hear and agree with him that Mǐnyǒng was going to realise his mistake and change his mind.

He didn't care how unlikely it might be, he was nowhere near ready to accept the truth.

Not when he still had another couple of weeks of living together with Mǐnyǒng to convince him to give a long-distance relationship a shot.

At least, Xiùyīng was better than her grandson when it came to this sort of stuff, even if all she was offering was the generic platitudes of "You'll find someone better." Or "You were too good for him anyway."

Poor MK had no idea what was going on but he was very upset by the fact that Tang was upset and eventually Pigsy had picked him up and taken him upstairs to try and explain the situation and calm him down while Xiùyīng stayed to try and comfort him.

He'd just about pulled himself together by the time the restaurant had opened but he couldn't shake the depressed funk that had taken over him - not even Pigsy's cooking could cheer him up.

And he could tell the way he miserably picked at his food was what really alarmed Pigsy more than anything.

But how could he enjoy anything when perfection personified was about to walk out of his life? How was he ever going to find anyone remotely like Mǐnyǒng?

What if he was doomed to be single forever and he never found love again?

Because as wonderful as his mother liked to tell him he was, he knew he was high maintenance. And he was suddenly ruminating on whether he was the problem and this had been a long time coming. What if Mǐnyǒng had just been waiting for the chance to dump him without hurting his feelings because he was nice like that?

Over the coming weeks Mǐnyǒng would do his best to convince him that wasn't the case at all and that it was all because they were young and had different ambitions and that he didn't want either of them to miss out on opportunities and blah, blah, blah.

It didn't stop the heart ache and it didn't stop his erratic mood swings either.

Pigsy had taken a very tough love approach to it all, enduring his emotional tirade but only offering him cold, hard facts in return. Sourly, he thought it was because Pigsy didn't understand the pain of heart break. Xiùyīng had complained hundreds of times over the years about her grandson's non-existent love life, after all. So what did he know about what he was going through?

In sharp contrast, MK was very empathetic to his mood even if he didn't seem to really understand what had happened still. But he could often be found sat as closely to Tang as he could get away with at the bar, drawing things and offering him various toys to try and cheer him up.

He really wished he would stop and just leave him to his abject misery but he didn't need Pigsy's warning glares to tell him that rebuffing MK's efforts would end badly for him.

Xiùyīng was somewhere in the middle of the two, although she, very unhelpfully, kept mentioning a friend's son or the nice man that always stopped by on a Friday evening for takeout. I mean, could she at least wait until Mǐnyǒng had actually left before trying to set him up with someone new?

But eventually Mǐnyǒng did leave and on top of being depressed about that, he now had the pleasure of experiencing single life for the first time in almost four years and he hated it.

Unfortunately, no-one was particularly impressed with his rebound.

Chapter Text

The tentative beginnings of a new relationship had rescued Tang from his piteous wallowing and it was hard to say who was happier about that development - him or Pigsy.

Well, happy perhaps wasn't quite the right word when it came to Pigsy's feelings on the matter - relieved was probably more accurate. And to be fair, Pigsy was the one that had had to deal with a pathetic lump slumped over his counter bringing the mood down.

Although it hadn't been any fun being said lump he'd like to add.

He was a little surprised he'd never actually been kicked out at any point for it but really deep down Pigsy was a massive softie and he was powerless but to try and take care of the people that were important to him. And he wasn't ashamed to admit, to himself at least, that he took ruthless advantage of the fact.

It was only fair given the amount of, admittedly good-natured, bullying he endured.

Pigsy had put up some token concerns about him trying to move on from Mǐnyǒng a little too quickly but overall he was clearly happy that his restaurant was no longer filled with the haunted moans and wails of a man convinced he was going to be single for the rest of his life.

It was still early days however and his new boyfriend wasn't nearly ready to be vetted by Pigsy, or perhaps more accurately he wasn't ready to hear Pigsy's scathing review of how Yángjiǎo measured up to Mǐnyǒng. So, for the time being, no dates at Pigsy's Noodles.

Which suited him fine because who knows what Pigsy could or would say to embarrass him in front of his new beau.

Although speaking of Pigsy, he'd been seeming increasingly tense this last week or so and he couldn't for the life of him figure out what was up with him, and any attempt to ask was met with a dismissive grunt that he was fine.

It could be anything, restaurant business stuff possibly, but he thought it might just be because MK was giving him a hard time over starting summer school next week.

Which reminded him, "Hey, are we still on for the museum on Monday?"

He'd made sure to book the day off weeks ago and while normally he'd never be caught at work on his day off - it didn't matter how much he liked his job most days, it was the principle of the thing - he was actually strangely excited to give MK and Pigsy an exclusive tour.

It was probably because MK was such a joy to tell stories to - enraptured, enthusiastic and always eager to hear more. But he was just as excited about Pigsy being there - it would be the first time they had ever really hung out outside of the restaurant before and that sort of felt like a big deal.

Although, a little dishearteningly, when they'd discussed it the other day, to sort out meeting times, logistics and all that, Pigsy hadn't seemed overly enthused about it. But given Pigsy had been in a bit of a mood recently, he was trying not to take that too personally.

Distractedly, Pigsy responded, "Hm? Oh, yeah, yeah... That's- yeah, we're still on."

He frowned, "Everything alright, Pigsy? You seem a little out of it today."

Pigsy dragged a hand down his face tiredly, "Yeah, yeah. Sorry, not been getting a lot of sleep lately is all."

He leaned forward attentively, "How come?"

Pigsy waved a hand about dismissively, "Ah, it's nothing. MK's just been a handful lately. You know how it is, doesn't want to start to school."

He smiled briefly, "Well, can't blame him for that. Can't say I was ever excited for school either. I thought he'd more or less resigned himself to going though? He stopped trying to bribe you, right?"

Pigsy snorted, "Yeah, he knows no amount of tears, tantrums or begging will get him out of it."

He laughed quietly, "Poor kid, but we all have to face the education system sooner or later. And he's managed to dodge it longer than most."

He'd meant that to be lighthearted but it fell a little flat as he remembered why that was the case.

He pushed on, "So what's up then? What's he doing that's keeping you up?"

Pigsy rubbed at his neck and looked away a little awkwardly, "Well, he's not actually doing anything to be honest. Apart from being a lot more clingy and anxious than usual. It's just... I mean, I guess, I'm just a little..."

As he watched Pigsy struggle to find the words, the answer suddenly dawned on him and he pointed at him with a grin, "You're totally nervous about MK going to school, aren't you?"

Pigsy's reddening face was all the answer he needed and he cooed, "Aw! Pigsy, that's so sweet! Well, don't you worry, it's totally normal to be nervous about your kid's first day of school!"

Pigsy's retort was unexpectedly vehement, "He's not my kid."

To say he was taken aback was an understatement. He'd expected Pigsy to deny he was nervous, maybe even bluster his way through some excuse about how annoying it was to have to drive MK to school and back most days or something, but who did he think he was fooling denying his parentage?

MK had been under Pigsy's care for well over half a year now and while it wasn't impossible that someone might turn up some day and claim MKs as their own, he thought the chances of it were so slim it wasn't even worth considering.

MK was here to stay.

And no-one acted otherwise - not MK, not Xiùyīng and certainly not Pigsy.

While he might have initially had some misgivings about Pigsy raising a kid, he'd more than proven himself capable of balancing fatherhood with a full time job, with a bit of help, of course. And there was absolutely no denying how hard he worked to give MK everything he needed and then some.

He cared for that kid as if he was his own flesh and blood.

And don't even get him started on how MK felt about Pigsy. If MK had over heard Pigsy say that he wasn't his son then he would have have been inconsolable.

Maybe that was why he felt surprisingly angry as he responded, "Pigsy, what the hell are you talking about? Of course, he's your kid."

Pigsy's eyes flashed for a moment before he held out his arms, "Tang, look at me."

Annoyed, he responded, "I am looking at you."

Pigsy growled, "And yet you still don't see the problem here. Well let me spell it out for you - I'm a demon, Tang."

As if he could possibly be unaware of that fact, "What's that got to do with anything?"

Pigsy glared at him, clearly angry, and Tang was sure he narrowly avoided a tongue lashing as Pigsy suddenly turned away from him and leaned back against the counter as he tried to calm down.

Tang could only be grateful that the restaurant was empty right now and that MK was out at the park with his grandmother.

After a long tense moment, Pigsy asked, "What do you think people are going to see when I take MK to school on Monday?"

He faltered. He knew what he wanted to say, that they'd see a devoted father dropping off his son for his first day of school. But he wasn't that naïve. And he wasn't foolish enough to pretend otherwise. His silence said it all however.

His back still turned to him Pigsy admitted hollowly, "I tried to convince Fāng to take him. She won't do it. It doesn't make a difference anyway, they'll all still find out."

Quietly, Tang agreed, "Of course they will. As if MK won't want to tell them all about his... About you. That kid adores you."

Pigsy brought a hand up to cover his eyes, "I don't know what to do."

Hesitantly, he tried to comfort him, "I don't think it will be as bad as you think it will. Especially when MK's going to have nothing but good things to say about you."

Pigsy's voice was hoarse, "Tang, I can't even take him to the fucking park without people glaring at me. It doesn't matter what MK says or does, it doesn't matter what I say or do, it doesn't matter what the truth is - human kids don't have demon parents, end of story."

The injustice of it made his eyes burn, "People harass you when you take MK to the park?"

Pigsy choked on bitter laughter, as his hand fell from his eyes to his mouth, "You don't the half of it. I've even had the police called on me for a "suspected kidnapping". I'm just lucky Fāng is one hell of a social worker. She'd already seen it coming and told the police to contact her first if anyone matching me or MK's descriptions were reported. Worth her weight in fucking gold."

Outraged, he cried, "Someone called the police? Just because you were taking your kid to the park?"

Pigsy's hands gripped the counter as his shoulders sagged, "He's not my kid."

He slammed his hands down, "He is your kid!"

His voice seemed to echo in the heavy silence that followed and despite the fact Pigsy was no doubt about to tear him to shreds, he was prepared to stand his ground and argue his case.

Or he had been until he caught a glimpse of tumultuous, shining eyes that turned to regard him for only a moment before disappearing from his line of sight as Pigsy took a breath and walked away from him to start needlessly wiping down the countertops.

"I'm not having this argument with you."

Deep down, he could understand why - what did he really know what Pigsy was going through? He was neither a father nor a demon. He couldn't even imagine how he would have handled it if some kid had shown up at his door and had fatherhood thrust upon him - nowhere near as well as Pigsy had, that's for damn sure.

So maybe he wasn't qualified to weigh in but he couldn't just leave it like that.

Voice nowhere near as steady as Pigsy's has been, he told him, "No matter what anyone out there thinks, MK belongs here with you."

Pigsy didn't respond, and if anything the weight on his shoulders only seemed heavier.

----

Never in his life had Tang been so nervous about someone else's first day of school, but any time his thoughts had wandered today he found himself worrying about MK and Pigsy. And now, waiting at the agreed meeting spot, his apprehension threatened to get the better of him.

He and Pigsy had, finally, exchanged phone numbers so they could update each other if they were going to be late, or have to cancel his mind unhelpfully added, and he had resisted the desperate urge to ask Pigsy how he was doing all day.

He had sent some good luck messages for MK this morning but he was sure Pigsy had been able to read between the lines and realise the well wishes had equally been directed towards him.

He'd gotten a thumbs up in response and he didn't know if that was just the way Pigsy texted, because honestly he could see it, or if it was because he was angry with him for who knows what.

Pigsy was never allowed to find out how long he'd spent rolling about agonising over the hidden meaning of his innocuous response.

Tang was not a man overly concerned with being punctual, and he wasn't usually one to give up even a minute of his precious free time by being early, but here he was a full twenty minutes ahead of schedule just so he could sit here and worry everything and nothing.

It was as he was anxiously looking at his phone again to check for any updates from Pigsy that a familiar and cheerful voice called his name, "Mr. Tang!"

He looked up to see MK excitedly run to meet him, with Pigsy, a little overly dressed up for the occasion, walking steadily behind him and while Pigsy certainly looked tired, neither of them looked like they'd just had the worst day imaginable. Especially, not MK, who was eagerly trying to needle information out of him about his surprise.

Feeling a little more surefooted, he stood up as he smiled down at MK, "Ah, you'll find out in just a minute but first tell me how your first day of school went?"

He shot a quick glance at Pigsy to gauge his reaction before turning his attention back to MK who kicked at the ground looking a little sullen, "It was ok... They made me sit still forever." He brightened quickly however, "But I made it through the whole day so now I get to have my surprise!"

He snorted slightly, he hoped he knew this surprise was a first day special only and that he wasn't expecting treats every day he made it through a school day but still he did deserve praise for his achievement today, "You sure do - you did a great job today, MK! And I know you're going to love what I've got in store for you!"

MK looked delighted, Pigsy looked like he needed to sit down, but before he could suggest they swing by a café or something, Pigsy was holding out a hand for MK, "Well, what are we waiting for then?"

He'd have to wait for the chance to hear how Pigsy's day went, but with a little prompting he got the full run down of MK's day as they walked to the museum, with Pigsy occasionally interjecting to correct him.

To MK, he'd been trapped in that classroom since time immemorial but according to Pigsy it had only been for three hours. Which Tang had been told already would be creeping up six hours over the coming weeks as MK acclimatised to the process.

MK told him that the only good thing had been all the toys and art supplies he'd been allowed to play with at lunch but he did agree with Pigsy that he had also enjoyed getting stickers for following the class rules and doing his school work and his teacher was pretty nice, he supposed.

Not as good a teacher as Mr. Tang though apparently and he could only shake his head, half-fond, half-exasperated, at the fact that MK was still trying to convince them that he didn't need to go to school because Mr. Tang could teach him. As if helping him with his homework once or twice was enough to qualify him.

Eventually however all talk of school was forgotten as they approached the illustrious building that was the Megapolis Museum of History, the impressive architecture however apparently paled spectacularly in comparison to the fountain just in front of it according to MK.

Who had almost immediately tried to drag Pigsy over to it so he could get a better look. Pigsy rolled his eyes and let himself be pulled over, "Better let him get it out of his system before you start your whole spiel."

He was a little put out to have his thunder stolen by some water, he'd been all geared up to announce his surprise before MK had excitedly pointed to the, admittedly, very nice set piece standing in the way.

Pigsy foiled MK's every attempt to climb into the fountain and to splash in the water but this only spurred MK on to try harder and eventually Pigsy just gave up and bodily picked up MK and carried him over his shoulder and around the fountain, much to MK's obvious delight.

Tang followed along with a grin, ready to have his moment to shine once MK was put back down.

Almost immediately the boy made a break for the fountain again but Pigsy easily snatched him up before he could duck around him and turned him back around, holding his shoulders to keep him from running off.

Expression suddenly surprisingly serious, Pigsy quietly but sternly told MK enough was enough and Tang couldn't quite work out why Pigsy was looking so stressed all of a sudden.

And then he realised that a handful of people were staring, and very few of them looked happy with what they were seeing.

MK seemed pretty thrown by the sudden change of mood too but Pigsy was quick to kneel down beside him and redirect his attention to Tang, "You can't get your surprise if you get wet. Don't you want to hear what it is? Mr. Tang has been really excited to tell you about it. Hasn't he?"

Well, that was a call to action if he'd ever heard one.

Putting as much enthusiasm into his performance as possible, he stepped closer and gestured to himself, "That's right! Because today, MK, the Megapolis Museum of History's best tour guide will be giving you a VIP tour! You thought my stories were good when I was helping you with homework? Well, just wait to see what I've got in store for you today! Dragons, Celestials, epic battles, cunning tricks, heroic deeds - it's going to be an action packed afternoon! Are you ready?"

Suitably distracted from his abrupt scolding, MK's eyes were wide with excitement as he cheered, "I'm ready!"

Pigsy caught him before he could charge ahead in his excitement, "Hold your fire. We need to talk rules first."

MK pouted but he did his best to give Pigsy his full attention as he was lectured, "It's going to be busy in there, alright? So that means you need to stay close to me or Mr. Tang - no running off, ok?" He pointed to a member of staff standing outside, "But if you do get lost, find someone wearing what that guy's wearing and tell them that you're looking for Mr. Tang. They'll help you find us again, you got that?"

A couple other rules about behaving in the museum were added as well and only once MK could repeat them back and had correctly answered Pigsy's questions to ensure he understood were they allowed to proceed. Personally, he thought he was being a bit much but if it made him feel better then it was probably worth it.

MK held Pigsy's hand as they made their way inside while Tang walked beside him and explained the itinerary for the afternoon. He'd decided that he was going to save the best to last and had planned the best route to hit up all the interactive exhibits before they made their way to the Celestial Hall.

The dinosaur and animal exhibits went down extremely well with MK, and he got his hands on every part of the display that was allowed. He did make several attempts to touch taxidermy animals and bones but Pigsy was always there to intercept him and redirect his attention to one of the puzzles or games that were nearby.

He wasn't sure MK was learning much from them but he did seem to enjoy spinning, flipping and sliding the movable information plaques.

His absolute favourite activity had to have been "Draw Your Own Dinosaur". Once your pictures were completed, you could have them scanned and displayed on a large screen where they were very basically animated for everyone to see.

They'd had to drag him away from that one, narrowly avoiding a tantrum in the process.

Pigsy had raised an eyebrow as he then directed them to the classic art gallery but he wasn't going to make any of them waste time looking at artwork - it was the dress up section tucked away near the back that he was interested in.

He and MK had both had a ball trying on different historical outfits and he'd even had some success posing them into recognisable scenes for Pigsy to take photos of.

Pigsy was taking his responsibility to document the day for Xiùyīng very seriously and he had very firmly declined every suggestion that he let someone else take over so that their could be some pictures of him included.

Well, Tang wasn't giving him a choice in the matter this time and had subtly sent of a message to a coworker asking them to come and intervene. MK didn't even need a heads up, knowing immediately when he was supposed to switch on the puppy dogs eyes and between the three of them Pigsy gruffly agreed but stipulated he wasn't wearing anything stupid.

Despite saying that however he allowed himself to be manhandled by him and MK whatever way they liked. He only tolerated a small number of poses however before he extracted himself from the situation and politely, but firmly, thanked his co-worker for taking pictures for them.

He and Pigsy bickered slightly as they undressed. With him insisting Pigsy send him the photos now and Pigsy telling him that he would send them all at the end of the day instead. But there was no way he was risking Pigsy "accidentally" deleting any of the pictures with him in them.

He might have started to wonder out loud if they had time to return to "Draw Your Own Dinosaur" and after Pigsy shot a panicked looked towards a very interested MK, he very begrudgingly sent him the dress up photos for safe keeping before ushering them both to the next attraction.

A couple smaller pit stops and a bathroom break and they were finally heading to the main event.

The entrance to Celestial Hall was a grand affair with stone carved dragons winding up two imposing columns on either side, and a thin layer of mist spilling out onto the floor. It was magnificent display and it was only a taste of what was to come.

He badgered Pigsy to be ready to record MK's first steps into Heaven.

He never grew tired of seeing people taking in the Celestial Hall for the first time and MK didn't disappoint as he looked around with wide-eyed wonder.

The exhibit had been meticulously designed, with rumours claiming that Heaven themselves had sent an envoy down to oversee its creation, and honestly it was hard not to believe it when the whole room just felt so magical.

And now was his time to shine.

In hindsight, he probably should have realised he might pick up a couple extra bodies on this private tour, he really was a spirited story teller, after all. But he never would have predicted that he'd keep losing one.

Pigsy just kept disappearing on him - he needed to get a drink, or to go to the bathroom (despite the fact they'd just been), or to get some fresh air, or he realised he might not have put enough time on the parking meter and he better go check.

He thought it was a testament to his storytelling that MK was too enraptured to seem to notice that Pigsy was gone more often than not but he'd be lying if he said that he personally wasn't a little upset about it.

The exhibit had sections dedicated to particular Celestials that immortalised some of their most legendary feats - Nézhā's battle with Áo Bǐng, Èrláng Shén rescuing his mother and Cháng'é's ascension to the moon to name but a few.

And, of course, there were many a tale of them protecting the mortal realm from calamity and maintaining peace and balance. And he enthusiastically recounted a number of epic battles where Celestials used their wit and power to defeat the forces of evil!

Pigsy hadn't reappeared at the end of the tour, so he and MK found a place to sit within the Celestial Hall to talk about their favourite stories and heroes from the day and it had all being going super until MK hit him with, "Mr. Tang, why are all the bad guys demons?"

Completely thrown by the question, he found himself looking around the room with new eyes as he responded, "Oh, uh, they are, aren't they? I never really noticed before..."

Pigsy had though. He'd bet his life on it.

MK was still looking at him expectantly for an answer and he scrambled for the right thing to say as he mentally screamed for Pigsy to get back here and save him. He was exceptionally unqualified for this conversation.

"Er, well, you see, MK. That's because... Because..." He snapped his fingers as inspiration struck, "That's because stories about human bad guys are super boring! They're so easy for Celestials to beat! They just come down from Heaven and zap! Now the bad guy's a fish! Or is cursed to walk backwards forever!"

MK seemed to find this quite alarming, as he gasped, "But they wouldn't be able to see where they were going!"

He nodded solemnly before sharing as many stories of Celestials smiting humans as he could think of, although frustratingly he could think of far more where humans were the ones outsmarting Celestials, but he must have done a decent enough job because by the end MK seemed satisfied as he declared, "Those stories weren't boring at all. They should have human bad guys in here too."

He looked around the room again, really taking in the depiction of demons, and agreed, "Yeah, you're right, MK. There should be. I'll make sure to bring it up next time I'm at work, ok?"

MK seemed happy with that before asking, "Are there any stories about demons that are the heroes?"

Tang looked at him, flabbergasted, "Of course there are! Are you telling me, in all this time I've known you, I've never told you about my favourite hero of all time?"

How was that even possible? He mentioned the Monkey King at least once a week! Usually more! Much to Pigsy's consternation. How could MK had never have heard him mention Journey to the West?

MK shook his head a little warily, "No? Is he a demon?"

He was almost jittery with excitement, "Oh, he's a demon, alright! And the greatest hero China as ever known! And his name is-"

The sudden screeching of the fire alarm startled him but it scared MK to tears and he found himself panicking in the face of a distraught child who's safety he was solely responsible for at this very crucial moment.

His hands flapped as he tried to calm MK down, "Hey, hey, it's ok! It's just the fire alarm! It just means we have to go outside for a little while! How about you take my hand and we go and find Pigsy, ok?"

MK did not take his hand and instead started crying in earnest as he called out for Pigsy.

The chances of this being a legitimate fire alarm seemed unlikely but that fact was doing nothing for his stress levels.

He had to get them outside, should he just pick him up? Should he keep trying to reason with him and get him to take his hand?

He was thankfully given very little time to worry about it as MK was suddenly hoisted off the ground and sitting on Pigsy's hip with an arm securely around him.

He barely got out a, "Oh, thank Heavens." before Pigsy grabbed his hand and started dragging him towards the exit, "C'mon, let's go."

He blinked down at their joined hands, "Uh, Pigsy...?"

Pigsy didn't seem to hear him but to be fair between the blaring fire alarm and trying to reassure MK it probably wasn't easy to. His attempt to wriggle his hand free only caused Pigsy's grip to tighten and for him to spare him a glare before focusing on getting them out of the building.

Welp, best just to go along with it then. The fire alarm had clearly triggered some sort of fatherly protective instinct and he'd just been caught up in it.

Pigsy marched them all the way outside, past the crowds and to a quiet bench and only then did he let go of his hand and sit down MK so he could fuss over him. Then seemingly out of nowhere he whipped out a bag of homemade làtiáo and forced both him and MK to eat some.

Not that he would ever complain about being fed but this was clearly some sort of stress response and he felt the need to try and get out in between sticks of làtiáo, "Pigsy, we're fine. You appeared literally thirty seconds after the fire alarm went off."

Pigsy glared at him, "Tang, shut up and eat."

Despite saying that, he stopped shoving snacks down their throats and let them eat at their own pace, and even started eating some himself.

Apparently over his shock, MK happily started telling Pigsy all about the stories he'd told him about humans and Celestials.

Pigsy had looked vaguely confused, shooting Tang some curious looks every now and then, but he dutifully listened until MK started drooping tiredly.

By the time they had reached Pigsy's van, MK was fast asleep in his arms.

Once MK was securely fastened, Pigsy shut the door and leaned back against it with a sigh before pulling out a pouch of tobacco from his jacket pocket, "Do you mind?"

He shook his head, "Go for it."

As Pigsy started rolling up, he asked, "I assume you don't want one?"

"I'm good."

He didn't smoke. And forget that he was an adult that could make his own decisions but his mother would murder him if he ever started. And she would know, the hexagrams or something would probably rat him out.

Once Pigsy had taken a fortifying drag, he started, "Thanks for today, Tang. Sorry for disappearing on you near the end. You and MK seemed to be hitting it off and I didn't want to get in the way. I was always close by though."

He frowned, "You wouldn't have gotten in the way. But that's not really what the problem was, was it?"

Pigsy eyed him warily and after clearing his throat a little awkwardly, he explained, "MK asked me why all the bad guys were demons."

Pigsy dragged a hand down his face before asking, "What did you tell him?"

Feeling self-conscious, he responded, "That the human bad guy stories are boring? Although he didn't seem to think so, told me that they should be represented in the Celestial Hall too. I told him he was right."

He withstood Pigsy's silent scrutiny for as long as he could, "Was- was that the wrong thing to say?"

Pigsy sighed, "No, it was fine. Bought me a little time before I have to give him the "Demons are bad" talk."

He was sure he must have looked as upset as he felt at that statement because Pigsy waved him off, "Don't worry about it, Tang. It's a long overdue talk. The kid's a little scatterbrained but he's not stupid, he notices things. But it's not a conversation for today, my grandma will kill me if I upset him before he's had the dinner she's making."

He'd been a little surprised to hear that was why Xiùyīng wasn't joining them. Even though he knew she could cook, and, if she was to be believed, taught Pigsy everything he knew, he just sort of assumed Pigsy did all the cooking. Which Pigsy had informed him was mostly true but she still liked to cook on special occasions.

Although perhaps she'd also had her reasons for not wanting to see the exhibit.

He felt terrible about the whole thing, "I'm sorry. That you have to have that talk at all. And that you had a terrible time today."

Pigsy shrugged as he stubbed out his cigarette, "It's just how it is. And I didn't have a terrible time."

He pulled out his phone and Tang just caught a picture of MK pretending to be a dinosaur as his new lock screen before he opened his photos and handed it over, "Just look how happy the kid is. It was worth coming just for that."

He couldn't help but smile as he flicked through the photos, particularly fond of the pictures with all three of them. He handed the phone back and pulled out his own, selecting several pictures and sending them to Pigsy, "Don't think I was letting you get away with just those group pictures. I got plenty of candid shots while you weren't looking."

Pigsy huffed as he looked through them, "Little shit."

There were some good pictures in there. Pictures of a father and son enjoying their day out at the museum.

He suddenly remembered, "I never got the chance to ask - how did his first day go?"

Pigsy rubbed at his eye tiredly, "Some tears at drop off and at lunch but he made it through the whole day. Barely said a word the whole time he was there though. And very nervous around the other kids. Which we sort of expected. It's just a new experience, will take some getting used to is all."

He had a feeling those were probably Ms. Chén's words, not Pigsy's.

He tried not to sound too concerned as he asked, "And what about you? Were you alright?"

Pigsy huffed a laugh, "Well the stress has probably lost me a couple of years but the kid's fine and that's all that matters. I'll survive."

He frowned, "Pigsy..."

Pigsy dismissed him, "Yeah, yeah, nag me about my health while I drive you home. It's getting late."

Far be it from him to turn down a free ride, even if they had to keep it down so they wouldn't wake MK up. He did a lot less nagging and a lot more reminiscing and laughing over their day than planned but it really did make him feel better to know the whole thing hadn't been a totally miserable experience for Pigsy.

He couldn't help but wonder though - What else about demons and about Pigsy's experience specifically had he been oblivious to all this time?

Chapter Text

In the week or so since their trip to the museum, Tang and MK had almost simultaneously developed a new habit of silently judging any humans that walked into the restaurant, although he would argue that his side-eyeing was much more subtle than MK's outright staring.

Pigsy disagreed and wasn't happy with either of them for suddenly being so protective - MK usually got off lightly with a gently chiding call of his name but he normally got a glare followed by either a smack to the arm or something thrown at him when no one was looking.

Pigsy hadn't dragged his feet in talking to MK about what it meant that his father was a demon, much to Xiùyīng's obvious displeasure, but Tang had no idea how well that conversation had gone or how in depth it had been - the most Pigsy would tell him was that MK had been a "little upset" but he seemed to have understood that some humans just didn't like demons even if he was having a hard time wrapping his head around why.

Thus began MK, not so subtly, peeking his head out from the staff door whenever he escaped his grandmother's watchful eye, ready to defend Pigsy's honour at the slightest provocation. Such righteousness and bravery tended to disappear whenever Pigsy caught sight of him but any tactical retreats were always temporary and he'd be back only minutes later.

The restaurant had been particularly quiet today and so MK had been allowed to sit in one of the booths and draw, with the caveat that he was only allowed to stay there if he didn't glare at people. Xiùyīng had been with him initially but she'd disappeared upstairs at some point and hadn't come back down. When the last customer had been seen out the door and the restaurant closed for the mid-day break, Pigsy had sighed and set off to go check on her, confident that she'd either fallen asleep or gotten distracted.

Well used to these very short baby sitting assignments, Tang had slipped into the seat across from MK to ask to see what he'd drawn. There was a part of him that wanted to take advantage of the moment alone on how the "demon talk" had gone but there was no way that he wouldn't get caught red handed. And, you know, it sort of wasn't a good look interrogating children.

MK had been uncharacteristically lacklustre as he showed him his newest drawings but eventually, out of nowhere, he'd hit him with, "Has the moo-seum got human bad guys yet?"

Admittedly, it took him a moment to get with the programme after that left of field question but he laughed a little awkwardly as he explained, "They can't change things that fast, MK."

MK frowned at him, "Why?"

Sparing him the boring and complicated details of bureaucracy and logistics, he kept it simple with, "Well, they'd need to move a lot of stuff about and have someone make the new displays - all that can take a long time."

Brow furrowing, MK asked, "How long?"

Not wanting to get his hopes up, he decided to be honest, "It's hard to say but it won't be any time soon."

If ever.

MK didn't look happy with this answer, "Can't you make them go faster?"

It was very cute that he thought that a lowly tour guide held any power in this situation but unfortunately that wasn't the way the world worked, he shook his head, "I'm afraid not."

"Why?"

The real answer was that it was way, way above his pay grade but he rather liked MK thinking he was someone of importance and so he went with, "It's not just up to me, I'm afraid. You know that I'd have it done in a heartbeat if it was! But lots of people need to do their part and you can't rush them - you wouldn't want artists making mistakes or the construction workers getting hurt because they went too fast now, would you?"

Face full of consternation, MK reluctantly agreed but he wasn't quite ready to let it go, "But they are working on it, right?"

There was no force on earth that could have gotten him to tell him the truth in that moment and he was quick to reassure him, "Of course they are! And I'll keep an eye on things, alright? You'll be the first person I tell when the new exhibit is ready!"

This seemed to perk MK back up a little, "You promise?"

Feeling exceptionally sleazy, he put a hand on his heart, "I promise you'll be the first to know."

MK, bless him, did not question everything that was left out of the wording of that promise and started telling him exactly what kind of human bad guy stories that he had to make sure were included in the revamped exhibition, oblivious to the fact Tang was banking on him forgetting all about it.

It wasn't that he didn't plan to submit some feedback or make some suggestions but realistically he knew it was exceptionally unlikely that the higher ups were going to take them on board - especially when they related to their most popular exhibit.

But there was no need to go upsetting MK by telling him that. No a little, white lie to keep him happy was the right course of action, or at the very least the easiest course of action.

If only appeasing his boyfriend, Yángjiǎo, on the issue could have been just as easy.

Yángjiǎo was a demon himself, although in the right outfit he could probably pass for a human wearing a bit too much fake tan - his small horns and tail easily hidden by a hat and a long coat - and he had been extremely invested in MK's call for better representation.

Tang had been more than a little horrified when he had immediately started talking about petitions and protests and how the Celestial exhibit was only the start! How many pictures in their art gallery had been painted by demons? Where were the exhibits showcasing demon history and culture? Where was the acknowledgment of their contributions to the city? The country? The world?

He hadn't even posed the question to the museum yet and Yángjiǎo was already planning a hostile takeover!

It wasn't that Yángjiǎo didn't make some good points and they could absolutely include suggestions for demon artists and the rest of it in their feedback to the museum but Tang hadn't been prepared for such immediate enthusiasm, nor was he ready to go to arms before they'd even attempted to make change through the proper channels.

Yángjiǎo had been very put out by his efforts to temper his grand ambitions, arguing, no doubt correctly, that Tang putting a slip in the suggestion box wasn't going to bring about change - they needed to rally people to the cause and worst of all, he wanted Tang to be the face of that effort.

Tang was no leader and, if he was being brutally honest, not particularly brave either. He wanted an easy life, not to pick a fight with his employers or champion a cause he'd only really just learnt about. He could certainly be persuaded to help in small, non confrontational ways and lend his, admittedly limited, knowledge of the inner workings of the museum but that was his limit.

He and Yángjiǎo had come to a somewhat tenuous understanding on that but Yángjiǎo wasn't letting him get away with slacking off on doing his part. Which was apparently writing a comprehensive paper to be submitted to the museum detailing what was wrong with current exhibits and what changes they'd like to see and why.

He was way in over his head but Yángjiǎo wouldn't accept his counteroffer of proofreading whatever he wrote instead, claiming that he didn't have nearly Tang's skill for writing. And while he was a weak man for some flattery, he literally didn't know what he was supposed to write!

It was an ongoing issue but he was trying to figure it out. The least he could do was research some more human bad guy stories that might make for some good additions to the exhibit. And even if none of those ideas were implemented then it still wouldn't be a total loss because he could still tell the stories to MK and if he was feeling particularly brave he could maybe slip some of them into his tours.

---

After much needling from Yángjiǎo, Tang was finally taking him to Pigsy's Noodles. As he'd tried to explain, it wasn't a reflection on Yángjiǎo that he'd been so reluctant to introduce him to Pigsy, but Pigsy just had so much dirt on him at this point that introducing anyone to him was an exercise in humility.

But while that was absolutely true and he was dreading what Pigsy might do or say to embarrass him, it might not have been the only reason he'd been putting it off. There was no way he was going to tell Yángjiǎo but Pigsy had gotten on extremely well with his ex and he knew that Mǐnyǒng was the impossible standard that Yángjiǎo was going to be measured against.

Obviously, Tang liked Yángjiǎo a lot but... well, he was no Mǐnyǒng. And he still wasn't ready to hear Pigsy that.

But it was clear that Yángjiǎo was getting a bit down, even a little self-conscious, at him continuously brushing him off however and so today the fabled meeting was finally going to take place. It was something of an impromptu decision so he couldn't plead with Pigsy before hand to be nice and though he had texted him there was no guarantee he would see it before they got there.

He was noticeably nervous about it as they walked hand in hand to the restaurant and inevitably he was called out on it as Yángjiǎo half-seriously complained, "Babe, you being nervous is making me nervous! What do you think this guy is going to do? I thought he was like one of your best friends or something."

He groaned, "That's the problem! He knows too much! You'll know all my darkest secrets before we've even finished eating!"

Yángjiǎo snorted in amusement, "You're so dramatic. "Darkest secrets". As if! Embarrassing secrets maybe and I already know plenty of them. Hey! Maybe we can compare notes - trade one secret for another!"

Yángjiǎo did nothing but laugh at his mortified expression and continue to tease him as he begged to be left with some dignity.

It was only when they were a couple of minutes away that he felt the need to tentatively admit, "Ok, so there maybe is one thing I want to warn you about... Don't take it too personally if Pigsy is a bit short with you or isn't super chatty. He's been really stressed out over MK starting summer school and so just don't, y'know..."

He hesitated but Yángjiǎo helpfully offered, "Start pushing buttons?"

He smiled a little sheepishly but Yángjiǎo wasn't offended, kissing the back of hand before reassuring him, "I'll be on my best behaviour. No picking fights, I promise."

He couldn't help but sigh in relief, much to Yángjiǎo's bemusement.

Yángjiǎo was very opinionated about most things and relished a good opportunity to argue his point and he just couldn't see that going down well with Pigsy, especially if Pigsy was already in a bad mood.

Pigsy was, thankfully, not in a bad mood, but, as was typical when he caught a glance of him walking through the door, he didn't stop chopping vegetables and forewent any greeting to get straight to the point. Gruffly, he asked, "I thought you had a date?"

Tang laughed a little nervously, "I do. Just had a last minute change of venue, is all."

Pigsy looked over properly and did a small double take as he caught sight of Yángjiǎo.

Yángjiǎo grinned, "Jiànshú, yìxiōng! I thought it was high time I tried these legendary noodles I've heard so much about!"

That seemed to snap Pigsy out of his surprised stupor and he put down his knife before wiping his hands on a towel and coming over for proper introductions. He looked strangely wary as he asked, "You're Yángjiǎo?"

Yángjiǎo knocked on one of his horns lightly, a polite gesture that Tang had learnt was equivalent to bowing or shaking someone's hands, "Call me Tóng and what should I call you?"

Pigsy knocked on the counter, "Pigsy."

Yángjiǎo's brow furrowed, "Really?"

A touch of warning in his voice Pigsy responded, "Really."

Yángjiǎo opened his mouth to say something before glancing at Tang and apparently thinking better of it. Instead he held his hands up and very agreeably offered, "Right, right, of course. Bàoqiàn, yìxiōng." He smiled a little contritely, "My sister is always telling me off for acting too familiar with people I've just met. Shījìng."

Tang was lost on what had just happened and more than a little anxious that Pigsy did not seem immediately thrilled about Yángjiǎo. Something he was sure Pigsy picked up because after glancing at him, he sighed and seemed to make more of an effort to be friendlier, "Ráoshù. So, Tang tells me you think you can handle your spice then?"

His shoulders sagged in relief as Yángjiǎo puffed up proudly and started expounding his amazing spice tolerance and Pigsy started asking him what kind of food he liked. As was typical, it wasn't long before takeaway orders were coming in and Pigsy waved them over to a booth so he could deal with them.

He had assumed he would just take his normal seat at the bar but he supposed the two of them could be a little too distracting sat there so he didn't think too much of it. Once they were sat down and Pigsy was busy cooking, he couldn't help but lower his voice and ask, "What was with the whole name thing?"

Yángjiǎo looked a little awkward as he half explained, "Ah, yeah, sorry about that - was a bit tense for a moment there, huh? Just a demon thing - don't worry about it. We're all good."

Too curious not to ask, he pushed, "Yeah but what was it about? You gave him a different name and were surprised when he wanted to be called Pigsy."

Yángjiǎo seemed to debate with himself for a moment before resigning himself to explaining, "Well, "Yángjiǎo" is like my Mandarin name, y'know? My actual name is Tóngjiǎoyāomó but some, er, people tend to struggle with the pronunciation. Most demons in the city have more than one name."

He'd had absolutely no idea and he said as much before asking what language his actual name was in because he was sure it wasn't Megapolisese either.

And it wasn't, apparently it was Jiǎoyǔ, the mother tongue of the Jiǎorén which was the type of demon Yángjiǎo was. It was pretty common for demons in Megapolis of any type to speak at least a little Jiǎoyǔ though, although Yángjiǎo was reluctant to really explain why. Yángjiǎo was quick to change the topic by telling him that he wouldn't be surprised if Pigsy was quadrilingual - it really depended on whether the type of demon that he was still had its own language or not and if he knew it.

He was already impressed even if Pigsy could only speak three languages! He'd could technically speak two, Mandarin and his own city language, but he had no real talent for languages - he'd lived in Megapolis for four years now and had barely learnt a word of Megapolisese.

He found he wasn't surprised that Pigsy hadn't shared his real name with Yángjiǎo, even without Yángjiǎo telling him that names tended to be a big deal for demons, Pigsy was a pretty private person and he didn't have a lot of trust in strangers. He wondered if he would tell him what it was if he asked, he had his doubts about his odds of pronouncing it however, he was struggling enough with the shortened version of Yángjiǎo's name.

Thankfully, he seemed to find his failed attempts funny rather than offensive.

Eventually, Pigsy came over for a bowl for each of them and waited for Yángjiǎo's judgement on whether it was spicy enough. Pigsy raised an eyebrow when he was told it could be hotter but Yángjiǎo was quick to say no when he offered to rectify that, looking relieved when Pigsy didn't insist and left them to eat.

At Tang's teasing, Yángjiǎo defended himself by saying that while he could handle way hotter, he actually wanted to be able to taste the noodles that Tang was always raving about and he, of course, conceded that they were in fact delicious, much to Tang's smug satisfaction.

Pigsy couldn't really spare much time to talk to them but he did bring them the odd side dish for them to try, which was greatly appreciated by both of them even if Yángjiǎo was slowly becoming worried they'd be rolling out of here later.

It was all going pretty well but he couldn't help but notice that Pigsy kept throwing pensive looks towards the staff door and he couldn't figure out why. MK was away at school today so it couldn't be him... maybe he had someone in doing repairs in the back? Although, it felt unlikely he wouldn't have mentioned that to him. He supposed Xiùyīng might be in but he's not sure why that would be causing Pigsy to look so worried...

Unfortunately, he was about to find out.

They'd more or less finished their meals when Xiùyīng walked through the staff door and she spotted him and Yángjiǎo almost immediately, dashing any hopes that Pigsy might have had from distracting her. He'd, of course, been oblivious to the danger and had happily greeted her when she came over to say hello.

She smiled at him, "I didn't think we'd see you today, Mr. Tang. How are you doing? Who's your friend?"

He'd smiled back, ready to introduce his new boyfriend, when he caught sight of Pigsy behind Xiùyīng's back desperately trying to communicate not to do that but either Yángjiǎo didn't see it or didn't care for it because he immediately placed his hand on top of Tang's and grinned, "I'm the new boyfriend, ma'am. Yángjiǎo, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Pigsy buried his head in his hands in despair.

Xiùyīng seemed to freeze, her face falling before she forced it into a painfully forced polite expression, "I see."

Yángjiǎo's voice was overly polite but his smile was sharp as he's asked, "Something wrong, ma'am?"

He tried to subtly take his hand back but Yángjiǎo wouldn't let him and he was forced to sit there awkwardly as Xiùyīng stared at Yángjiǎo with a cold fury in her eyes before addressing Tang cordially, "Sorry, I can't stay and chat. MK's upstairs. You know how it is."

Feeling immensely uncomfortable, he awkwardly responded, "Uh, yeah, of course. Tell him I said hi."

Xiùyīng offered him a tight smile before turning on her heel and marching towards the staff door, subtly gesturing to Pigsy that she wanted to speak with him privately while she went. She stopped short as Pigsy firmly shook his head but after a short glaring match, Xiùyīng grunted angrily before pushing through the door and disappearing from sight.

It was an event that, thankfully, seemed to have gone largely unnoticed by the rest of the restaurant's customers and yet Tang could still feel their eyes on him and his skin prickled with their judgement. He tore his hand away from Yángjiǎo and the snapping emotions in his chest made his tone sharp, "Why did you do that?"

Unapologetic, Yángjiǎo countered, "What? Tell the truth?"

He gestured agitatedly as he accessed, "You were trying to get a rise out of her!"

Annoyed, Yángjiǎo retorted, "Why are you mad at me? She's the one in the wrong here. I'm not going to lie just to appease some old-fashioned granny."

Tang wasn't naïve enough or ignorant enough not to know that some people frowned upon human-demon relationships but he hadn't really been prepared to get first hand experience of that disapproval, especially not from some he knew, and that he got on relatively well with. In the grand scheme of things, it had been a pretty mild reaction but it was enough to make him feel exceptionally uneasy about what a long term relationship with Yángjiǎo might entail.

But he did his best to come back to the present as he ran a hand through his hair. He didn't love how Yángjiǎo had handled the situation but ultimately he hadn't actually done anything wrong, "I'm not mad at you. Sorry, that just... really caught me off guard."

Yángjiǎo held onto his ire for a moment longer before sighing and offering him a small smile, "Alright, you get a pass this time but next time we have to be a united front - you can't be cowed into pretending we're just friends just because someone looks at you funny."

Next time.

Just the thought of it filled him with dread but it was something he could freak out about later - no need to draw more attention to himself by making a scene. So he nodded, "Right, of course, yes. Sorry about that, I... I just sort of panicked."

Yángjiǎo waved his apology away, "Ah, don't sweat it. It was probably just the shock of it being someone you know." He glanced towards the kitchen, "Would have been nice if your friend had warned you though."

It certainly would have been but it was hard to be angry about it when Pigsy looked so genuinely remorseful. And if he hadn't been up to his eyeballs in food orders then he probably would have already come over and tried to apologise for his grandmother's behaviour. He sent Pigsy what he hoped was a reassuring smile before turning back to Yángjiǎo, "He would have if he'd known we were coming. I'll talk to him about it later."

Yángjiǎo hummed, sounding somewhat doubtful, in response but thankfully he didn't comment any further as he looked down at his watch, "Hey, I know we'll be a bit early but you want to start heading to the cinema now? We can take the scenic route and work off all this food."

Keen to get out of here and escape the invisible eyes he could feel, he nodded and stood up, "You mind tidying up the table while I go pay?"

Yángjiǎo was already stacking dishes as he responded, "I'm on it, babe."

He made his way to the counter, feeling more than a little awkward as Pigsy urgently finished up what he was doing to meet him there, his voice was low as he asked, "What did she say?"

It made sense that he hadn't been able to catch every word Xiùyīng had said, her initial greeting may have been loud but she had been uncharacteristically quiet in volume at the relationship reveal. He shrugged uncomfortable, "Not much, really. Just made her excuses to leave."

Pigsy's snout wrinkled unhappily, an annoyed huff escaping him, before he clocked Tang taking out his card to pay, and a little alarmed he told him, "You don't have to go because of her. She won't be back down."

He waved his hands nervously in front of him, "Oh, no! We were not leaving because- We're going to see that new movie that just came out, the Citadel. Remember I was telling you about it?"

Pigsy dragged a hand down the side of his face, "Right, right, you did tell me that's what you were doing today. Ok, just- just hold on a sec." He rang up his order, excluding all the additional sides that he had brought them over, and left Tang to pay while he quickly went around the kitchen and packaged up a to-go bag.

Yángjiǎo came and stood by his side, raising an eyebrow at the speed Pigsy was putting things together and quietly asked Tang, "Everything alright?"

He nodded a little unsurely, "I think so?" Louder, he said, "Uh, Pigsy, what are you-?"

He was cut off as a bag of food was placed on the counter and pushed towards them with a, "Here. Take this for later."

Tang was not someone that often turned down food and it physically pained him to point out, "I, uh, don't think the cinema will let's us take this in with us..." The way Pigsy's face fell had him immediately reaching for the bag and pulling it over to him, "But we'll figure something out! You know what? We probably even have time to swing by mine and drop it off!"

At his glance, Yángjiǎo nodded and added, "Yeah, totally! Don't worry, we won't let food this good go to waste!"

Their responses did nothing to wipe the shame from Pigsy's face and after a moment he bowed his head, "I'm so sorry for my grandma's behaviour. Please don't let her keep you from coming back. She won't bother you again. I promise."

He looked so genuinely upset that Tang couldn't help but try to reassure him, "Hey, it's ok. She's old, I get it. The horror stories I could tell you about my grandmother!"

Yángjiǎo sounded equally reassuring, "Fàngsōng, yìxiōng. Wǒ hěn qīngchu nǐ de zhòngdàn. The food more than made up for that one little hiccup. We're all good."

Pigsy nodded, looking tired and miserable, "Glad she hasn't completely ruined your date, at least." He took a deep breath and made an effort to perk up a little, "Go and enjoy your movie." He addressed Tang, "I'll catch up with you next time you're in, alright?"

"Yeah, of course!" He then grimaced slightly, "Good luck with..."

He sighed, "She's nothing I can't handle. Go on and get out of here."

They said their goodbyes, Pigsy and Yángjiǎo politely telling each other that it was nice meeting each other and then they were out the door.

Where Yángjiǎo offered him his hand.

He wasn't proud to admit that he hesitated to take it, time seeming to slow as he stared at the hand he held without any fear before today.

He shook himself out of it and took his hand.

In the two months they'd been seeing each other, that was the first time anyone had expressed any disapproval, and it had been an old woman glaring at them, hardly reason to start fearing the worst. He was being silly, most people wouldn't even bat an eye at them holding hands, no one was staring at them, his imagination was just trying to get the better of them.

Nothing had changed and he wasn't going to let go of Yángjiǎo's hand until he had to.

No matter how self-conscious he now felt about it.