#tang can totally pay for noodles if he wants to

[skellebonez]

A Matter of Affection (A Gen LMK Oneshot)

I have a lot of feelings about AroAce MK and Sun Wukong. So, naturally, I HAD to write my own little oneshot of MK realizing he is now a celebrity and that comes with the side effect of... suitors. That he does not want. I am not aromantic, but I am asexual and have talked to enough aromantic people to know there is a lot of overlap between our experiences. So I did my best to convey this through MK and everyone else.

Hope you enjoy this!

(Note: DragonFruit, FreeNoodles, and IronBull are mentioned in passing. Written BEFORE Season 4 came out.)

AO3 Link.

Ok, MK, you can do this… You just have to ask him… ask your mentor for some advice, this is totally fine and not awkward at all. Asking for advice is completely normal. This isn’t awkward. Just. Ask… for advice…’

He was lying to himself, he knew it.

How could this not be awkward?

MK had never asked anyone, let alone Sun Wukong, for help with something like this before. He wanted to ask Mei, she was the only one who knew… well, everything about him at this point, but she was live streaming and he didn’t want to interrupt her while she was having fun just to ask for some advice. Even IF she would gladly pause the stream for his comfort once she realized he was being serious.

So, instead, he found himself flying over in bird form to Mount Huaguo so he could pay his mentor a visit. He’d been doing this just about every day he had free time (and wasn’t due for training) just to say hello, make sure the king wasn’t lonely and to bond more after everything that had happened over the last year. Things seemed to have finally smoothed out into some kind of new normal for everyone.

MK claimed the visit was to deliver Sun Wukong a free “canceled” order of noodles that was close to what he normally ordered, which was not entirely a lie. But he normally would have just eaten it himself or given it to Tang. So in reality it was just an excuse.

But in his attempt to psych himself up to ask for advice he managed to almost psych himself out.

This should be easy! The Monkey King and him were as close as they had ever been as mentor and student (to the point some people, Mei and Sandy namely, said they came off as family). And given who the Monkey King was he MUST have had to deal with similar awkward situations in the past.

So…

“Hey, uh, Monkey King?”

“Yeah bud?”

“Have you ever had someone confess they liked you before?”

Sun Wukong turned to look at his student, an almost disappointed look on his face.

“MK. Bud. I’m Sun Wukong. I’ll give you two guesses and the other one doesn’t count.”

“That many huh?”

“It was CONSTANT,” Sun Wukong said with a laugh. “I mean, I get it. How can I not attract so many admirers when I am…” The monkey king stood, smirking as he struck a pose worthy of any popular C-Drama poster. “Sun Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King, Great Sage Equal to Hea-”

“Did you ever accept?” MK interrupted, immediately cringing at the fact he did so.

“Absolutely not,” Sun Wukong said with a shrug, seemingly not bothered by the interruption. “Even if I ever wanted a partner like that? I was way too busy. Journeys to journey on, monks to keep from being eaten alive, you know the story.”

“You never wanted a partner?” MK’s brow raised as he tried to remember all the stories about the immortal he had heard in the past. “Never?”

“Well… hmn” Sun Wukong trailed off, seeming to drop deep into thought as he rubbed his chin and looked into the distance. MK assumed he was trying to find the best words to use for his explanation. “How do I put it… Not never as in never wanting to have a companion. I loved being around people! And I loved some people, just not in the way other people seemed to have loved me. I wouldn’t mind having a life partner who’s cool with hugs and cuddles and spending all our time together without any of the other stuff! I don’t hate thinking about, like… kissing someone? Unless it’s on the cheek or something I’d rather just avoid that if I can, but if it makes my partner happy I think I would be ok with only that. That make sense?”

There was the softest kind of half joking grimace on the Monkey King’s face when he mentioned kissing, the same kind that MK had seen on his own face in the mirror. And then it clicked.

“Oh… my gosh…” MK said, eyes widening in realization. “Is this really going to be how I find out we’re both aroace? SERIOUSLY!?”

“Arrow what now?” 

“You don’t have any interest in being with anyone romantically?” MK asked, jumping to stand in front of his mentor. He almost bounced up and down in place, barely able to hold in his excitement. “At all? And never have?”

“No..?” Sun Wukong said slowly, reaching out to put a hand on MK’s head to hold him steady for a second. “Bud, answer my question pl-”

“Aromatic asexual,” MK blurted out, awkward and almost too fast.

It clearly took the king a second to process what he said, but once he did…

“THERE’S A NAME FOR IT!?”

“THAT’S WHAT I SAID!” MK replied to the king’s outburst with a laugh. He bounced harder, despite the hand on his head, in sheer excitement. “I’ve never actually met someone else in person who’s aro or ace or bot, only online! And-and it’s YOU of all people and- WAIT!”

MK held out his hands, taking the immortal’s hand off his head.

“That was a sudden change of tone,” Sun Wukong joked when he caught the serious look on his student’s face. “I’m gonna take a guess and ask if this aroace stuff is related to your initial question?”

“Yeah,” MK said, now feeling a bit more confident and comfortable in being able to ask for some advice. “There’s this girl who’s been coming to the shop over the last few weeks, almost every two days. I think she’s one of the civilians I rescued last month when that clan of beetle demons came to attack the city. And uh…”

“She asked you out, didn’t she?”

“YES!” MK said with a groan as he pulled at his hair. “And she’s super nice and really pretty and any guy or girl would probably be SUPER LUCKY to date her but! I don’t! LIKE PEOPLE IN THAT! WAY!”

“Breathe, MK,” Sun Wukong said, gently guiding his student to let his hair go. “What did you tell her?”

“I had to… think about it?”

“Oh boy…”

“I didn’t wanna tell her no immediately!” MK said, biting his lip now. “I felt… I dunno, pressured? Pigsy and Tang were watching me and…it was awkward.”

“Well, you have to tell her no somehow,” Sun Wukong said with a nod as he rubbed his chin. “You can’t leave her hanging, there’s bound to be some hero worship driving her to ask you out the way she did so quickly and that can be a tough thing to accidentally play into.”

“I know…” MK said. “But I don’t know how. And what about after that? Are MORE people going to ask me out?”

“Definitely, you’re a celebrity now,” Sun Wukong said, almost sounding apologetic.

“Aw man… what should I do?” MK asked as his mentor paced around him in a circle. “Just say ‘I don’t swing any way ever, I’d rather just have super close friends’ for the rest of my life? I’ve only had to say it like… twice and I’m already feeling burnt out!”

“You turned down two other people?”

“No,” MK said with a shake of his head. “I’ve told Mei I’m aroace and I had to tell the metal brothers so they would stop trying to set me up with Mei and Red.”

“Understood. Well, you don’t have to say it every time,” Sun Wukong said with a wave of his hand. “You could wear a hat with that on it.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Listen,” the monkey king said with a smile as he finally stopped in front of his student. “If you can handle the Lady Bone Demon you can handle telling a normal human you’re not interested in them. And if they give you any trouble, you have a whole family behind you to back you up… Even people who can pick up a building with their bare hands could use emotional support, or so Sandy keeps telling me.”

“... that means a lot, Monkey King,” MK said with a genuine smile. “But I… how do I tell her no if she asks me at work again? I don’t wanna be unprofessional and make Pigsy look bad.”

“Good point,” Sun Wukong said with a hum. “And my usual ‘no thanks’ and flying off wouldn’t really work when you’re trapped by societal convention… BUT! There’s someone else who may be able to help you since he also works in the service industry!”

“... wait, you don’t mean-”

~

“What do you want, Noodle Boy?”

“Aw, no hello to your second best pal?”

“HELLO, Noodle Boy,” Red Son said as he rolled his eyes. “What do you want? Answer quickly before I shut this-”

“How do I turn down a girl who asks me out on a date?”

The fiery demon stared blankly at him, blinking only when MK rushed into his house to get out of the fiery inferno around the Bull Family home and into some shade.

“I… someone asked you out on a date?” Red Son asked, raising one eyebrow in confusion. “You? Noodle Boy? The man who literally never noticed when people are flirting with him?”

“I don’t do that!” MK said, immediately pausing. “... have people been flirting with me? Really?”

“Constantly,” Red Son said as he shut the door and turned to face his unwanted guest. “I honestly don’t know how you never- WHY ARE YOU IN MY FACE?”

“Listen to me carefully,” MK said as he held Red Son’s face in his hands. “I trust you with this information because you’re my friend and Mei loves you. I am aroace. If love was pizza you could order? And platonic love was the toppings? I would be ordering none pizza with left beef every day of my life. So I wouldn’t know flirting if it bit me on the ass.”

“... oooooooooooooooh,” Red Son said with realization dawning on his face as he pushed the other’s hands away. “I see, you’re like the Monkey King. That changes nothing, really, barring the urgency you must be feeling.”

“You knew the Monkey King was aroace?”

“It wasn’t hard to piece together,” Red Son said with a shrug. “I should have guessed the same about you, given your obliviousness to the aforementioned flirting. And also how strongly you reacted when someone assumed you were dating Mei the other week during your last third wheeling session on our date.”

“And I am very sorry about that,” MK said honestly. “But I could still use some help.”

“And what do you want me to do about it?” Red Son asked with a frown. “If the Monkey King couldn’t help you in this area? I was the worst person for you to come to as a second choice. I wasn’t exactly waving suitors off with a baseball bat while working on my bots or helping my mother plan father’s return. Neither was flirtation the first on anyone’s mind when the New Year celebrations were in full swing with my father standing behind me and people coming back to complain my food was ‘too spicy’. And considering we live in the middle of nowhere I didn’t exactly have a lot of experience with random peasants flirting with me, you know.”

“There’s no way that’s possible when you look the way you do,” MK countered.

Red Son sputtered, looking at the other man in shock. “What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“I’m aroace, Red, not incapable of recognizing when someone is objectively hot… pun not intended.”

“I am just going to let that be a compliment and move on,” Red Son said, his face matching his name more and more the longer he spoke. “Anyway, Mei is the first person to ask me out in centuries. I genuinely have no idea how I would tell someone no because I haven’t had to since I was like… the demon age equivalent of 15. And I didn’t have a chance to because that guy was trying to steal from us and got pushed off the roof by one of my Bull Clones.”

“Going to overlook the admission of murder-”

“HE LIVED!”

“-and instead ask if you know anyone else who can help?” MK continued. “I’d ask Mei but, you know, streaming.”

“Hmmn… You could always ask my parents?” Red Son offered with a shrug. “From what they’ve mentioned in the past they were both quite popular with their own respective circles, father especially. They had to turn down more suitors than they could count so they would likely be your best bet for discussing a plan of action.”

“... I mean… I guess that makes sense?” MK mused for a moment. “You’re sure they’re not going to just… tell me to ‘crush them like the unworthy peon they know themselves to be’, right?”

“I make no promises.”

“Ah. Great… I don’t… I mean, I… Could we keep the aroace thing between us for now?”

Red Son looked at MK for a moment before sighing, resting a hand on the other’s shoulder.

“They’re my parents, Noodle Boy, you don’t have to tell them anything you don’t want them to know.”

“... thanks. I mean it.”

And he did.

~

DBK stared at MK.

MK stared at DBK.

"I… usually ran away," DBK admitted with an oddly embarrassed and soft tone.

"I don't know what answer I expected. But it wasn't that."

"I was a VERY shy calf, THIEF!"

MK had managed to avoid having to come out to literally everyone he talked to that day, but in exchange for having Red Son keep his secret for the short time being until he felt it necessary to tell the entire Bull Family (and there was no need in his mind, they could live without ever knowing this about him) he was now having one of the most awkward conversations of his entire 21 years of living.

And he thought asking the Monkey King was going to be awkward.

“It was quite adorable to see him literally running away from his suitors,” Princess Iron Fan said with a chuckle. “Maybe that’s why I gave him a chance when he finally worked up the courage to ask me. Even when he saw me literally blowing his competition away with my fan he still braved the chance to give me flowers and ask for one afternoon together.”

“Aw, that’s really sweet,” MK couldn’t help but say when he saw the wistful look Red’s mom wore when looking at her husband. Romance may have never been for him personally, but a good romantic story or seeing other people happy always managed to make him happy by proxy. “Unfortunately, I don’t think those are options for me.”

“Understandably so,” DBK said with a gruff nod. “You have both an image to upkeep as the simian’s successor AND as a duty to your boss.”

“Maybe Mei is done streaming…” MK muttered. “She’s had to tell so many people no, especially stream snipers, that she’ll probably know what to do.”

Princess Iron Fan chuckled at the mention of her son’s girlfriend.

"Frankly I'm quite amazed that Mei had to be the one to pursue my son, considering he is usually the one more prone to pining."

"MOTHER!"

"It runs in the family, dear."

"Not you too, father…"

“And I am going to head out before Red Son feels I know too much!” MK announced, turning to leave. “Thank you for the advice anyway, I appreciate it!”

"You know you could ask your dads for advice, right?" PIF said suddenly.

"...I forgot I could do that."

"How are we not dead?" DBK questioned under his breath. "He forgets so much."

“I THOUGHT YOU ALREADY ASKED THEM IF YOU CAME TO ME, NOODLE BOY!”

~

MK felt so… stupid.

He couldn’t believe that he never thought to just ask Pigsy and Tang. They were right there and all he would have to do was wait for the day to end. So… why?

Why not just ask his dads?

“MK!” Mei’s voice suddenly sounded as he slowly walked his way back through the city, pulling him from his thoughts. “I was just heading to get some dinner at Pigsy’s! I assume you’re heading in the same way?”

“Sort of?” MK answered with an awkward chuckle. “I’m kinda… taking my time in a walk of shame since I realized I just made my day a lot harder than it needed to be.”

“What do you mean?” Mei asked as she fell into step beside her friend.

“A girl I rescued asked me out on a date and I didn’t exactly tell her no or yes,” MK started, watching as Mei grimaced in sympathy. “So I asked Monkey King for some advice since, you know, he’s bound to have experience with fans and stuff asking him out. But he couldn’t help me with telling her no if she asks while I’m at work. Then he sent me to Red Son who also couldn’t give me advice so he sent me to his parents, who ALSO couldn’t give me advice because they either ran or literally tossed their confessors away from them and THEN PIF said I could have asked my dads and I realized she was right and I wasted basically my whole day running around for dating advice… and now the Monkey King and Red Son know about me being aroace too, that also happened.”

“Whoa, slow your roll,” Mei said, pulling MK to the side of the walkway so people could go around them. “You told Sun Wukong and Red you’re ace? One after the other?”

“Yeah,” MK said with a nod.

“OK, well,” Mei said with her own nod. “Considering you’re telling me and nothing else was mentioned I assume they both took it well! Which is good, glad for you, but… I also know your dads don’t know yet. Are you comfortable coming out three times in one day to four people?”

“It’s way less embarrassing than what I’m going to ask them,” MK said slowly. “And embarrassment is really what I’m worried about-”

“I’m not asking if it’s embarrassing,” Mei said slowly. She put a hand on MK’s shoulder. “I’m asking if you’re comfortable. You had a panic attack when you told ME. And I know they’re them and things are definitely going to be ok, but it’s a lot in one day dude. That’s… that’s a lot of coming out one after the other.”

MK paused, looking at Mei for a moment before smiling and taking her hand off his shoulder to just hold it for a second.

“I think I’ll be ok,” he said. “I’d appreciate some support, though? I think after LBD my anxiety meter is a little broken so I may be running on adrenaline right now.”

“You don’t even have to ask,” Mei said as she squeezed his hand. “We’re BBFs, Best Buds Forever. A little support is the least I can offer.”

“Thanks. Like I said though, I’m more worried about the embarrassment. Do you know how embarrassing it is to ask your parents for relationship advice?" MK asked with a deadpan tone. "Let alone dating advice from ones who don't know you have no interest in dating and you have to ask them about how to turn people DOWN?"

"Nope," Mei said. "I looked it all up online."

"I fear for what you may have read."

"I am eternally traumatized!" Mei said with a wide smile, her tone making MK chuckle despite the implications.

“... you’re a really good friend, you know that?”

“... I try to be.”

“Thanks. I mean it.”

And he meant it then too.

~

“I… I need to ask you guys something,” MK said almost immediately after they got to the noodle shop.

Maybe it was his tone, more tired and shaky than he meant for it to sound. He guessed some of the adrenaline had seeped away from him on his short walk back with Mei. Or maybe it was the fact it was such a slow day that Pigsy never even had to call him back and the shop was empty and quiet until the door opened for himself and Mei.

But something about the situation made his dads look at each other in concern.

“Sure, sit down,” Tang said, gesturing for MK to sit next to him. Mei sat down to his other side with no need for guidance.

"What’s up?” Pigsy said as he stopped what he was doping to stand in front of MK. When there was no reply he sighed, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. “You know you can talk to us about anything, right?" 

That softest smile that was reserved only for comforting family made MK feel like he really could be honest with his dads. He told everyone else by now so… why not them? He could totally do it.

"Well… I have… a bit of girl trouble?" MK started, holding up a hand before either of them could say anything else. “But it’s… I want to… turn her down?”

“That’s it?” Pigsy said with a raise of his brow. “Is this the same girl that asked you out yesterday?”

“Yeah…” MK said slowly. He felt Mei squeeze his hand in silent assurance. “It’s just… she’s pretty! But I have no idea who she is and… I don’t… I don’t… wanna date. I don’t wanna date anyone… ever?”

“MK,” Tang said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “MK, were you worried about telling us that?”

“Yeah?” He said quickly with a shrug. “I know, you always say you’ll love me no matter what, but… I mean… you two looked so excited at the idea of me dating someone that I felt I couldn’t say no to her. Plus, I didn’t wanna look like a jerk as the Monkie Kid or make Pigsy’s look bad because of me. I-”

“Whoa, hang on,” Pigsy said as he leaned over the counter. “Kid, MK, you’re not gonna make the shop look bad because you turned down someone who asked you out on the job. If anything, I’d make us look bad by chasing them out if they gave you any trouble for it.”

“Wait, you mean it?” MK said in awe as he stared at his dad. 

“Yup,” Pigsy said with a nod.

“We’re sorry if we made you feel pressured to say yeah by being excited,” Tang said, looking at Pigsy and waiting for his nod before continuing. “We just want you to be happy.”

“And what if never being with someone is what makes me happy?” MK asked. “What if I wanna just be with you guys and have friends I can hug and that’s it?”

“Then we’re happy if you’re happy,” Pigsy and Tang said at the same time, looking at each other in surprise before chuckling at the way they synced up.

“Oh thank HECK,” MK said, immediately slumping down onto the counter. “I was worried over nothing and now I’m exhausted.”

“Hey, you were worried about how they’d react and that’s understandable,” Mei said as she spoke up from his other side. “Like how I was with my parents.”

“And there’s no exhaustion that a nice bowl of Pigsy’s noodles can’t fix,” Pigsy said with a chuckle. “Come on. Tell us everything. It sounds like we have some revelations to go over because you’re… non-romantic?”

“Aromantic,” Tang corrected. “Hmn… maybe that explains why you have so much love to give to everyone else platonically.” 

His tone of voice told MK that was clearly a joke made in an attempt to lighten the mood. 

And it worked.

As awkward as it was, MK started to laugh.

“Well… it started when I saved her about a month ago.”

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

Knox! Mate! Do you have any headcanons/ideas with Tang and Pigsy? Lay it on me, I'm ready! (I just want more of these two disaster gays please)

oKAY

I HAVE!! A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THESE TWO SLAKMDFWOEF

Kay, so T A N G. This guy skfmaowef love him. Right, so, he’s some kind of aroace, I’d like to put more thought into his sexuality, but for him queerplatonic relationships are where it’s at.

(For those of you who don’t know a “queerplatonic” relationship is basically a term some people use when their relationship with another person doesn’t fit with what is traditionally considered a “friendship” or “romantic relationship” or any other labels like that. There’s a lot of room to define your relationship when using the term “queerplatonic” closer than friends, more than best friends, but not romantically involved (at least in the traditional sense) it’s just basically people really caring about each other with their whole soul’s and always choosing them first, so I feel like their relationship totally fits skksmfw @nottesilhouette​ made a great post explaining a bit more about queerplatonic relationship is if you’re curious to learn more--oKAY BACK TO THE LEGO SLKDMFAOW)

Anyway, Tang and Pigsy’s relationship isn’t traditionally anything; they’re not exactly friends and they’re not romantically involved but looking at the way the two of them interact, you can really see how much they care about each other and it’s GREAT.

First off, I hc THEY ABSOLUTELY LIVE TOGETHER. I mean, Tang is either at the noodle shop or... wherever Pigsy is really skldfmaowef The only time we’ve ever really seen them separated is in the pilots when Pigsy and the kids are going through the lava to get to flower fruit mountain. In the Spider-Queen episode Pigsy’s going shopping and Tang’s just... there, tagging along. Pigsy doesn’t seem to question his presence at all, so I can only assume that they’ve been doing that together for a good long while ksksdfmaowief Tang just seems to enjoy being wherever Pigsy is, following him around and spending time with him, wherever that may be.

(gonna put a keep reading cause this is getting kinda long ksfdasd)

They’ve got almost no concept of personal space with each other kskfmaowef Pigsy gets right up in Tang’s face and they lean into each other and Tang will throw his arm around Pigsy’s shoulders, so I hc that Pigsy really doesn’t like physical contact unless the person touching him is someone he really trusts. He didn’t even notice Tang touching him without his skin feeling like a live wire, until Tang straight up hugged him one morning and then he abruptly realized just how comfortable he was around him (GOOD GOSH I WANT TO WRITE A WHOLE FIC ABOUT THEM *sobs*) When Pigsy’s working on bills and paperwork and stuff Tang will just flop down next to him and lean into him and read a book while he works.

Hc that Tang steals noodles to get Pigsy’s attention and get him to take a break.

Pigsy always seems super busy. He’s running a whole shop by himself with only Mk as help, that means he’s doing all the cooking, cleaning, handling getting the food, paying the bills, taking orders-- even if his restaurant is empty half the day, that's still an enormous amount of work. The only times we really see him step away from that are when he’s doing something for MK or if Tang’s annoying him.

Tang, of course, notices his overworking immediately, but knows Pigsy well enough that he knows he won’t just agree to “take a break” if he asks him to, so he steals some noodles, let’s Pigsy chase him around a bit, lures him away from the counter, maybe Pigsy tells him to make up for the noodles by washing the dishes and Tang spends a few hours in the kitchen washing dishes and keeping Pigsy company while he cooks.

Tang doesn’t care about romantic relationships or what his sexuality is for the most part, he just knows he loves Pigsy and that’s good enough for him. He doesn’t need labels or anything and just enjoys quietly spending time with him.

Pigsy has no time for romantic relationships for the most part but he does get really lonely. Hc that Pigsy falls in love really easily. Not in an “I’m attracted to you” type of way, but he just has a really big heart, and he’ll see someone do something, like smile in the rain or laugh after biting into a pastry with powdered sugar on their face and he just falls a little bit in love. But he’s gruff, and doesn’t know how to flirt or express interest properly so he just tells himself he’s not interested anyway and that he has more important things to do. He’s a pansexual Pig who falls in love as often as he gets customers in his shop and is a complete disaster.

Half the reason he allows Tang to get close is because he’s not thinking of him in a romantic way. HECK, I swear this is becoming a fanfic just you wait skksmLSDKFMAOWEF

Anyway, hc that where we’re at in canon Pigsy has no idea he likes Tang. Tang’s fine without labels so it doesn’t bother him much, but eventually sometime in the show Tang laughs really loud and bright and smiles and Pigsy thinks: I’d really like to kiss him, and then everything goes to heck as he P A N I C S. Pigsy’s got no idea how to deal with a crush on one of his closest--what are they? Friends?--friends and, but WOW he didn’t realize how often Tang is in his personal bubble or how close he stands when they go shopping, or how he so casually flops down next to him to read, or how he’ll smile at him really softly and HOW LONG AS ALL THIS BEEN GOING ON?? So, now Pigsy’s panicking  hardcore because he was completely oblivous to all this before and now suddenly he’s seeing all of it.

He mentions it to Sandy who’s like: “You’re not already dating?”

Which just makes Pigsy lose his mind even more--

Meanwhile, Tang’s chillin’ and completely unaware of Pigsy’s inner turmoil.

Everything’s fine until Pigsy starts avoiding him and then Tang’s hurt and more than a little worried so eventually he gets him to talk to him, which Pigsy is terrible at because talking about emotions is not one of his strong suits, but Tang knows him, and he understands his stumbled through explanation/confession.

Eventually they sit down and Pigsy just asks: “what are we?”

And Tang tilts his head for a second then shrugs: “Labels have never really meant much to me, but I do know you’re the most important person in the world to me.”

Pigsy turns red and splutters out something incoherent and Tang just laughs and leans into him and WOW OKAY THIS IS FINE.

Eventually they… figure something out.

“You’re important to me too,” Pigsy mumbles.

They don’t really have a label to define what they are, but they mean the world to each other. There’s no stress to figure it out, things go back to normal for the most part. Tang steals noodles and Pigsy makes him help wash dishes to make up for it. But maybe Tang also goes out of his way to flirt a little and Pigsy goes a little red but it’s fine.

Maybe Mei asks: “Are you dating?” and Pigsy splutters and Tang just laughs and throws his arm over Pigsy’s shoulder, pulling him into a side hug.

“Nah, we’re just us.”

(at least not yet anyways--)

Did I… basically just ramble out a whole first draft of a fic? LKASDMFOWIEF WELL, I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE THIS AN ACTUAL FIC NOW LKSDMFAWEOIFASF

Anyway, Pigsy and Tang? Y E S, Love them, heck yeah slkdmfaowief

Sorry for losing my train of thought and rambling my face off, I’ma stop now sksmfaoweif <3 POINT IS THEY’RE GREAT AND I LOVE THEIR DYNAMIC, S’CUSE ME WHLE I GO KEEP THINKING ABOUT THIS KFMAWOEF

[kitkat1003]

On the issue of Mortality

AO3 Link

MK chose to be mortal, to be vulnerable, for the time being, and Monkey King is fine with that.

On the surface, at least.  Now he has a successor, one that he likes, and he’s vulnerable????

Yeah, he’s never going to sleep easy again.

(Or, 11 chapters through season 1 about Monkey King, and anxiety his successor gives him.  Who knew being a dad teacher would be so hard?)

Chapter 1: Picking a successor

(Or “Look, I’m gonna come clean.  Um...I’ve been kinda watching you”)

When Sun Wukong—the Monkey King—decides he needs a successor, it isn’t an easy decision.  For one, he refuses to admit why.  Because that would mean confronting it all and he doesn’t want to.  

He needs a successor because he wants one.  Who doesn’t want to retire?  It’s not like he’s spent hundreds of thousands of years in technical retirement, waiting for the Demon Bull King to return.  No, he’s been...super busy.  Yeah.  Turning Flower Fruit Mountain into a paradise has totally taken him…forever, and, like, he’s got lots of stuff to do.  He watches TV, once humans get electricity figured out.  Gets a computer too, once those things start popping up.  He gets a lawyer or two, yknow, keeping up with the times.

He’s...super busy.  He definitely deserves a retirement.

So all that’s left is find a successor.  Easy, right?

Well....

He actually starts looking when he hears whispers that the Demon Bull family is starting to get close to figuring out how to lift his staff.  So about a hundred years before Demon Bull King actually escapes.

He finds a few kids he thinks might work, but nothing happens, anyway, so there’s no point in interrupting their boring normal lives for nothing.  Besides, he doesn’t really see any of them with the spark of...something that he wants in his successor in any of them

He watches them grow.  Child to teen to adult, he watches, and then he leaves before they get too old because he doesn’t want to see the headstones.

He doesn’t understand why they have to be human.  Why they have to be mortal.  Why they have to be able to die.

Why he has to watch them die.

Years and years pass.  He gets lax, when looking for a successor.  Lax when it comes to keeping an eye on the Demon Bull family.

He does, on occasion, watch the town where his staff is.  It’s a pretty populace place, always buzzing with some sort of activity, which is both fun and boring.

One night, he watches a kid—no older than 13, he thinks, since he’s gotten used to watching humans grow and can gauge it pretty well—sprint down the street in the rain, wearing nothing but a ratty old hoodie, a shirt, shorts, torn up shoes, and a headband so dirty that even he can’t discern the original color.

There are three other figures chasing him, and he ducks into an alley as they sprint past.  Monkey King watches as the kid settles down, sitting in the alley, and pulling something out from beneath his hoodie.

A puppy.

“Hey there, little guy,” the kid’s voice is soft, and he scritches the tiny pup behind the ears.  “Sorry I couldn’t get your siblings, but they’d already been thrown in the lake—” the look on the kid’s face is nothing short of heartbreaking. 

Monkey King has plans for the group of thugs he saw earlier, if that’s what they were doing. Humans. 

“But hey, managed to save you, huh?  I’ll bring you to a shelter in the morning.  Someone will take you home and you’ll get loved to death.” Monkey King rolls his eyes at the saccharine display, but he wonders.

There isn’t a lot of crime in this city, with its advancements.  What’s a kid doing outside this late at night?

“I’d take you home with me, but mine’s more of a hovel than a place to live.  You can still see it, though!  C’mon,” the kid gets up, stumbling a little, and Monkey King notices that he’s favoring one leg, that the elbow of one of the sleeve’s of his hoodie is wet.

He follows.

The kid’s house is literally a shack made of a metal sheet wedged between an alley wall.  There’s a ‘bench’ that’s a slab of rock placed on top of more rocks, where a well loved sketchbook sits.

The kid sits on the bench, setting the puppy down beside him as he flips open his sketchbook.

“I’m gonna draw you, so I don’t forget, kay?” He pats the pup on the head, and then, using the smallest, most worn down pencil Monkey King has ever seen, he slowly carves out the puppy’s features, getting the soft tones of fur.  He keeps squinting, but Monkey King thinks that’s because all he has is the light of the lamppost for his vision.

This kid...is pretty darn good.

Monkey King watches for way longer than he would like to admit, and then watches as the kid pulls out a very worn blanket-substitute, curling around the puppy beneath it.

He frowns, but isn’t sure what to do about it.

So he leaves, and makes sure those thugs learn a thing or two about treating animals with respect.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This kid just keeps popping up in Monkey King’s peripherals.

He likes to people watch, and the kid will just appear from nowhere.  He’ll be running down the street, hanging out with this girl who looks about 3 economic classes above him. They’ll go to the arcade and play for hours, and she’ll pay for practically everything.

He decides he likes her, if she’s nice enough to do that for the kid.  Plus, he feels a familiar energy coming off of her, something he trusts.

They typically end their day at a noodle shop.  Pigsy’s?  The kid always pays there, with coins of various sizes.  The girl, when the kid isn’t looking, will slip the cook some more money.  They get steaming hot bowls of ramen, harass the cook, and eventually get half chased out, laughing all the while.

“You know you can stay with me, right?” The girl says, one day, when Monkey King is people watching (read: eavesdropping on their conversation.  It’s like his new favorite TV show, at this point).  Kid rolls his eyes.

“Mei, c’mon, your relationship with your folks is as strained as mine!  I wouldn’t want you to end up like me.  Besides, I’m fine!” he insists with the grin Monkey King has grown accustomed to seeing on Kid’s face.  

The information Monkey King gains from those two sentences is certainly something, and he ponders on Mei, the girl who spends her days as far away from home as possible.

Mei frowns.

“You still won’t show me where you’re staying.  Or explain why your clothes are all torn up!” She pokes him in the chest, and the Kid shrugs.

“Cause you wouldn’t like either of those things!  I can take care of myself!  Promise.” He rocks back and forth on his feet, all smiles.

Mei fixes him with a glare, before she sighs, relenting. “Fine.  But, if you won’t take my hospitality, you get my undying loyalty and free stuff!” She whips out a brand new red winter coat.  

Kid takes it slowly.

“It’s getting colder out!” She explains.  “And red just isn’t my color, you know?”

Kid slowly pulls the jacket against his chest, like he doesn’t know what to do with it, and then he smiles.  This one is smaller.  Less performative.  Monkey King didn’t realize that he’d been watching the kid to be able to tell the difference, but it’s not too hard to see.  Kid uses big smiles like a cloak, to hide what’s underneath.  The smaller ones-those are like the slivers of sunlight shooting out from an eclipse.  Wukong finds he prefers the smaller ones.

Kid wraps his arm around Mei’s shoulders.

“Thanks, Mei.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The days get colder, and Kid is still in that shack.  Monkey King finds out that Kid doesn’t steal for money.  Instead, he does little odd jobs for short change, and then looks for coins people have dropped.  Apparently, the city’s wealth has made people more loose with their change.

Mei drags him to warm places as often as she can, but apparently this time of year she has a lot of responsibilities, or “social events,” as she calls them, so she can’t be around as much.

Kid doesn’t seem to mind, shivering through the nights, curling himself as tight as possible with that jacket and shitty blanket, and Monkey King doesn’t know why he even cares, but...

He’s not cruel.  It isn’t pleasant to watch a kid suffer.

And then, Kid gets sick.  Like, delirious, fever sick, and he’s not getting better.

And Monkey King has told himself, a million times, that he would let Kid figure his own life out, but he ends up picking Kid up anyway, depositing him at the ever familiar noodle shop.

The cook drags the boy inside, and Monkey King doesn’t see Kid on the streets after that.

Good.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kid starts working at the noodle shop, apparently, and he lives above the shop.  Slowly, he accrues random objects.  Sketchbooks, games, figurines, Monkey King comics?  He watches the show near religiously, and Monkey King is both flattered and weirded out.

A super fan, huh?  Okay then.

And when he isn’t working, or watching “Monkey King: The Animated Series,” or reading Monkey King comics, he’s begging the resident bookworm, Tang, for stories, which he then sketches out.

Monkey King actually goes through the sketchbook once, when Kid’s asleep.  Yup, Kid’s really, really good at this.  Monkey King actually thinks about stealing a drawing, but that would be both very obvious and also stupid.

So he lets it go.  He ought to look for his successor, anyway.  He hears the Demon Bull family is getting close.

He leaves Kid to his life and moves on to his own.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He can’t find a successor.  Somehow.  It’s like every person in this city (and it would have to be in this city, because you need to be close to the staff in some regard if you want to have a connection with it.  Being born near it, living near it-makes it easy for the energy, the chi, to find you) doesn’t want anything to do with hero business.  The kids he considers are too small, the adults too...boring.

And he’s getting pretty frustrated here, because he thinks he might just have to fight the Demon Bull King all over again, which, ugh.

And then, it clicks.

He’s watching Kid drive around town, delivering orders, and somehow the kid steers towards the construction site.  Toward the staff.

Of course.

God, it was literally staring him in the face.  He feels kind of dumb, now that it hits him, but whatever.  Not like anyone’s around to tease him about it.

He watches Kid waltz towards danger, music in his headphones too loud to notice the literal demon family, until Kid opens his eyes and sees the whole demon army there, and hoo boy, is this comical.

Monkey King wonders if they’ll succeed this time, in lifting his staff.  They certainly seem confident.  He’s kind of curious, kind of bored.  The whole ‘take our rightful place as rulers of this world’ schtick is super annoying, and Red Son’s voice is grating.

The light show is pretty nice, though, and then.

Then.

Demon Bull King’s a lot smaller than he remembers, but his voice is the same, as is his attitude.  Monkey King can feel Kid shaking and takes a quick sweep of the area.  Seems his successor is right above Red Son.

He smirks to himself, not that anyone can see considering he’s a bird right now.  

This is going to be hilarious.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Kid touches the staff, Monkey King isn’t prepared for the feeling he gets.

It’s like he’s been the single Sun in an endless galaxy, surrounded by darkness, when suddenly another star appears from nowhere, throwing him into orbit with it.  The galaxy shifts, the light doubles, the darkness recedes.

Monkey King’s own center, his sun, feels red hot, warm, and tempered by years of life, with a spark of yellow and white in its center.  Kid’s is bright, brilliant golden yellow, more white than any color, bursting with energy.

That energy gets put to work pretty quickly, as the Kid fumbles his way out of the demon’s den, and Monkey King soars after him, watching the escape with a smile.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He doesn’t properly meet Kid until he gets shot all the way to Flower Fruit mountain.  After Kid escapes Red Son, he panickedly tells his friends what’s going on and tries to get there on his own.

Well, all the way is a bit much.  Maybe Monkey King had to catch Kid and fly him there, because Kid was looking half dead and Monkey King was a little worried, but that’s beside the point.  He leaves Kid on the shore, and follows him when Kid gets up.

He isn’t expecting the frustration, when he can’t be found, but he supposes that’s his cue.

Getting stepped on is unpleasant.  Guess Kid doesn’t like bugs.

God, the look on Kid’s face, when it hits him that Monkey King’s been watching him!  If he could frame a memory, that would be it.  Hoo, boy, is that going to be replaying in his head for a while.  Kid seems more bewildered than anything else, and the idea of being Monkey King’s successor doesn’t sit well with him.

Which, Monkey King doesn’t get that.  Who wouldn’t want to be taught by him?

But maybe he overestimates the kid’s spunk, his confidence, because waving off his worries doesn’t spur him on; rather, it seems to deflate him.

Ugh.  Why is being a teacher difficult?  It’s not like his teacher had a hard time with him, right?

Distantly, he thinks he can hear his master shouting at him.  He hops off his cloud, says just the right thing to get Kid pumped up, and watches him race off.

He considers just sitting back and not watching, but then, that wouldn’t be any fun, would it?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He isn’t actually sure what having a successor means, really.  How much their powers, their lives, would mirror his own.  A part of him was terrified by the prospect—could he even be known as anything special, if he was no longer one of a kind?

But there’s also something quite exciting about this.  The idea that your life is being rewritten, the story unfinished and yet also repeating itself.  The Demon Bull King is on the loose, with his army and family, trying to take over the world.

And only one person can stop him.  The Monkey King.

Kid’s powers are volatile.  He can feel them flare up from time to time, wildly flickering out of control.  A lack of self confidence, that might be causing it.  A part of him is annoyed by that, a part of him is relieved.  Far better to have to teach someone to believe in themselves than teach them humility.  He’s pretty sure he hasn’t learned that latter lesson all the way yet.

Kid vanishes into the Demon Bull King’s chest, where the staff lies, and for a moment, the new sun vanishes.  Monkey King feels the cold rush of space in its absence, and feels panic, even though he’s only known this warmth for a few hours.

But then, it bursts back into existence, as a familiar stone drops from the Demon Bull King’s chest, cracking open, and, well, it’s history being written the same way over and over again, isn’t it?

Kid has a flair for silliness, childish maneuvers.  He likes to have fun, and that’s the best part of the powers they share.  To be invincible, to have fun while saving the day. 

It’s a repeat, until, well, it isn’t.

The blow Kid takes makes Monkey King wince.  The body becoming invulnerable takes time.  It doesn’t just immediately show up.  Every second, Kid’s body is absorbing and meshing with the powers thrust upon it, but that doesn’t mean getting hit a mile by a guy twenty times your size doesn’t still hurt, at this point.

But Monkey King knows this is what has to happen.  Because heroes aren’t heroes if they never feel pain, never get hit.

Heroes, he thinks, as Kid tears himself from the wall he’s embedded in, as Kid stands, eyes ablaze, are heroes when they get hit and they get back up.

And Kid sure as hell does.

“I’m the Monkey Kid!” He shouts, like a battle cry, like a challenge, and Monkey King smirks.  Monkey Kid, huh?  It suits him.  And then, Kid slams the staff on the ground, and the world shifts.

A part of him is kind of jealous.  How come he never got a mech?!  Has that been a thing this entire time?  Another part is in awe of this Kid’s creativity, ability, at such a young age.

And seeing DBK get trounced again certainly keeps the jealous part of him quiet.

Kid’s got a nice group of friends.  Reminds him of his journey days, him and a rag tag group of idiots going around wreaking havoc and learning moral lessons at the end of it.  He’s glad Kid isn’t alone or on the streets anymore.  A strong foundation leads to a stronger ability to grow.

Well, he’d better get some sort of training regimen ready.  Or, at least, start thinking of some things to do to train this kid.  He’s sure at some point Kid is going to bug him for a lesson or two.

Somehow, the thought doesn’t bother him as much as he thinks it should.

[purble-turble]

Concept: Battle Nexus with all the various versions of the traffic light trio having to fight each other. Because I can see King Red either refusing to harm any version of MK or would spend the whole fight flirting and he would go absolutely ALL OUT against any version of Mei. Likewise, I can see any version of Mei not hesitating to throw hands with King Red if anything because they all hate how creepy he is with their versions of MKs. Even Red!Mei would be like, "Oi, back the fuck up before you get smacked the fuck up, he's with the Noodle Boy!" All versions of Red would be cheering for SOMEONE to get at King Red. He becomes essentially the main heel of the Battle Nexus, if you don't mind me using wrestling terms. Everyone hates King Red and I live for it!

You are absolutely right about King Red being the heel of any kind of dimensional battle nexus! And yeah, all of the Meis (who are basically exactly the same except for the role swapped ones, and oh yeah Demon Mei totally hates King Red too. She thinks he’s an absolute creep.) are practically lined up to get a shot at him but they have to squabble with all of the Reds to get that fight slot lol... And yeah, Demon King Red won’t fight any of the versions of MK. Maybe that was tried once but all he did was flirt and try to like subtly kidnap him and honestly it made everyone watching uncomfortable.

The MK from the Demon King Red AU is grateful to have so many versions of his friends willing to fight for him (even if he doesn’t really want to interact with any of the other versions of Red for y’know trauma reasons) but having like six Meis sitting around him in the stands while they watch King Red fighting someone else definitely makes him feel better. Also we’re just making up the rules for stuff here so why not say that the other characters from each universe are allowed in the stands as well. Six Pigsys, six Tangs, six Sandys, and hell yeah six Monkey Kings all cheering on whoever happens to be fighting King Red at the moment. Red himself finds their presence irritating but in another way it fires him up (literally) becasue he hates them all so much for poisoning his MK against him.. so yeah, the jeers and boos from the crowd literally make him fight harder he’s like the perfect definition of a heel omg

..I think the only one besides the MK from the Demon King Red AU who would not be interested in fighting King Red is Prince Red. Not that he doesn’t think he deserves a good ass kicking, but Prince Red isn’t really interested in the fighting at all. He’s probably sitting in the stands only half paying attention to what’s going on and thinking to himself how very silly this all is. To be clear, it’s not that Prince Red couldn’t fight or anything, he’s plenty strong (definitely more so than Classic Red Son at the very least) it’s just thinks its in poor taste. If someone could convince him somehow to fight King Red it would be an interesting match for sure.. not likely to happen tho :P

[ninja-go-to-therapy]

Whumptober 13: Breathe in Breathe Out

Choking

Did someone say hurt the monkey boy? What? No? Oh, too late :)

Summary: MK is captured by the Spider Queen.

Trigger Warnings: spiders, dehumanization, pet whump, choking and strangulation, panic attacks, physical and psychological torture, near death experiences, mild self harm

3596 words

MK curled in on himself, trying to block out the cold.

Fuck, it was so cold.

And… damp?

What was going on? He didn’t remember what had happened, or how he’d gotten here. He’d only woken up just now, tied up in the dark. His eyes had yet to adjust.

He shivered, jerking at the ropes that bound his hands behind his back. They didn’t budge.

It was definitely very bad that he couldn’t remember what had happened. He was pretty sure he remembered saving Pigsy and Tang from — ick — spiders (or like, a spider demon lady or whatever). Same difference. He shuddered. He absolutely hated spiders.

But on the bright side, they’d all gotten out of there, no problem!

Er… actually, considering that was the last thing he could remember, he wasn’t so sure if that was true. Where was he?

“Hello?” he called, cringing when his voice echoed loudly through the… wherever he was. Well, if anyone was here, they could definitely hear him.

Hopefully it was just Red Son or something. That guy was a loser, he’d be easy to defeat. Plus, MK had no doubt that his team was working on getting him out of here right this very moment. 

Oh fuck, he hoped Pigsy wasn’t pissed at him for missing work again.

In his defense, this wasn’t his fault! Pigsy would probably understand. And if he didn’t, well, he had everyone else to vouch for him. Probably.

“Is anyone here?” he asked, the only response being his own voice echoing back at him.

Ugh, apparently he was alone down here — wait. He could hear something. Footsteps? No, it sounded different than that. Kind of like…

“Hush up now, little monkey.”

He looked around wildly, frustrated that he still couldn’t see anything. The sight of truth that the staff gave him would really come in handy right about now. Come to think of it, where was his staff? 

The voice, which was previously kind of far away probably, was suddenly very, very close. “Can’t have you screaming, now can we?”

Oh fuck, he was just now remembering where he recognized this voice from. Oh no, was he back in the nightmare hole? Oh no, were there still all the creepy crawly spiders everywhere? Nope nope nope, he was absolutely not thinking about that right now. Ew… The absolute last thing he wanted in life was to be in a place that was absolutely crawling with… those.

“Untie me!” he said, struggling fiercely. Wait, if this was the Spider Queen and her nightmare hole, then… 

Nope nope nope nope, he was suddenly very thankful that he couldn’t see much of anything. If he couldn’t see, then he couldn’t confirm whether or not he was actually tied with — ick — spiderwebs. He wanted to cry just thinking about it.

Why couldn’t she just use some good old fashioned rope? There was nothing wrong with rope! He would even be fine with chains, even if they pinched his skin! Just… anything but spiderwebs.

The Spider Queen laughed, the sound reverberating through the cave. MK really could do without this stupid echo. “Untie you? Oh, honey, where would be the fun in that?”

Well, that wasn’t the reaction he was hoping for. He wasn’t surprised, but still, it would have been nice if maybe for once—

“See, I was planning on eating you,” she said.

Eating him? Oh shit, oh shit, he’d forgotten about that in the midst of his earlier battle. Oh god, he didn’t want to be eaten! He was too young to die!

“You don’t need to eat me!” MK said hastily. “I mean, I bet I’d taste terrible! I would be totally disgusting! You don’t need a teenage boy who eats nothing but noodles! If you’re gonna eat somebody, at least eat someone who’s healthy!”

“I said was,” the Spider Queen said, cutting off his rambling. “But I’ve changed my mind.”

“You… have?” Oh, thank god. Being eaten sounded like one of the worst possible ways to go. He’d rather die. …Okay, that wasn’t a good comparison. Still, the point remained. He had officially found one thing worse than spiders. Being fucking eaten.

But spiders were still a very close second.

“Course I have,” she said. MK’s eyes were finally adjusting to the darkness, and he could now just make out her wicked smile. “I have a feeling you’re going to be so much more useful than just a light snack.”

MK shuddered at the idea. Thank god she’d changed her mind. Wait… why had she changed her mind? And worse, what exactly was she planning to use him for? He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out.

“I think the obvious solution here is to just let me go,” MK said, laughing nervously. “I mean, why keep me around if you’re not gonna eat me, right? And as we’ve already established, you’re definitely not doing that. Please don’t change your mind again.” He really needed to stop talking before he changed her mind for her.

She laughed again, but said nothing. MK, as best he could, squirmed uncomfortably in the following silence. He hated not being able to move his hands.

The Spider Queen hummed, observing MK carefully. She took his face in her cold hands, turning it side to side.

MK jerked his head free of her grip, glaring at her. “Unhand me!” he said, hoping he sounded confident and not, you know, completely terrified.

“I think we need a rundown on how this is going to work,” the Spider Queen said, standing up to her full height again. MK gulped, looking up at her in terror. Don’t focus on the spider thing don’t focus on the spider thing don’t focus on the spider thing.

He was fine. This was fine. It was all totally and completely fine. Everything was good!

“It would just be so much easier for the both of us if you would cooperate,” she continued, “You think you can be obedient, little monkey?”

MK wrinkled his nose at the wording she’d chosen. Obedient? Hell no! “I told you before,” he said, “I am a monkey man!” with that, he attempted to break free of his bindings heroically so he could then pummel her.

Which, theoretically, would have been great. If it had worked. Instead, he was stuck struggling in the ropes, wriggling around on the ground like a worm.

Well. This was going great.

“You are adorable,” the Spider Queen said, amused. “Yes, I think I can make this work quite nicely.”

MK was too busy looking and feeling like a fool to really pay attention to that. He could worry about it later, it was fine. For now, he needed to break out of this.

She looked down at him, and MK only struggled harder, if only to shake away the discomfort of being watched like that.

“You really are a little monkey,” she chuckled after a moment.

“Stop calling me that,” MK grumbled. He could feel it, he was almost free! Maybe, if he just kept stalling, he could take her by surprise.

She reached down, hoisting him back up so he was sitting upright again.

“Hey!” he cried, more offended than anything. “What are you doing?”

“Just trying to get a good look at my new pet.”

Oh, okay — come again now? What had she just called him? Oh god, and the way she’d said it — he wanted to vomit. He was pretty sure he could actually feel a bit of bile rising in his throat.

MK laughed uncomfortably. “Your new what now?” he squeaked. Dammit, that was supposed to come out sounding… well, definitely not sounding like he was a scared little baby. Which, he definitely wasn’t.

“Powerful little monkeys like yourself don’t need to be out leveling cities,” Spider Queen said, casual. MK waited for her to continue explaining, but she didn’t. Okay, that didn’t clear up his concern at all. In fact, it probably only elevated it.

“Okay, first off, I know the whole “Monkie Kid” title thing can be confusing, but I’m definitely a human. Like, completely a human. Not an actual monkey.” Plus, he hadn’t been out leveling cities, he’d been out stopping people like DBK from leveling cities.

All he got in response was a smug, “We’ll see about that.”

With that, she undid his headband, his hair awkwardly flopping into his face in its absence.

“Hey! Do you know how long it takes to get my hair to look good—?” he was forced to cut off as the headband was retied, rather tightly, around his neck. “What are you doing?” he asked, his voice becoming slightly raspy as his airway was getting cut off. “What are you — no — st-stop!” He gasped, and though his hands were tied behind him, he still tried to lift them so he could clutch at his neck desperately. He made no progress, and the band only tightened. He couldn’t take in enough breath to do more than make the tiniest of sounds.

The Spider Queen didn’t relent, pulling it so tight and cutting off MK’s air so quick that suddenly his vision was swimming with black specks and his head was going fuzzy like TV static.

He struggled to the best of his ability, using the last of his energy to get her to stop. Still, it wasn’t enough, and his eyes slipped shut. The world was darkness, a galaxy of nonexistent stars.

Finally, mercifully, just as he was sure he was going to die, it came to a halt.

He fell forward, unable to catch himself with his hands tied as they were, but grateful for the ability to breathe all the same.

He took in gulp after gulp of air, his entire body trembling uncontrollably. For a minute there he’d been so sure that it would be his last. 

And then the Spider Queen said something that MK couldn’t even attempt to comprehend, and suddenly the feeling was back.

His neck was being absolutely crushed — but she wasn’t touching him anymore. How… why… stop…

Just like the first time, it went away right as all hope seemed lost. This time, the feeling didn’t come back, and MK was able to frantically take in as much air as his lungs allowed.

“What…” MK panted when he could finally breathe again, “What did you do?”

“Well, every pet needs a collar,” was all she responded with.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, “I already said, I’m… I’m…” oh man, he was way too lightheaded to be arguing right now. For a moment, he could only focus on taking breath after breath.

“Now,” she said, plucking at his hair and standing upright again. “I’ll take that, and…” she dropped it into a cauldron which definitely hadn’t been there before. Had it been? He couldn’t remember. Was he losing his mind? “You, my adorable little monkey, are going to help me reclaim my empire.”

And then, as if the lack of oxygen in his brain wasn’t bad enough, he was suddenly just… really… so fucking exhausted. The kind of exhausted that he could barely even find it in himself to move. The kind of exhausted that seeped into his bones and wouldn’t let go.

He slumped over on the floor, unable to hold himself up any longer.

He couldn’t just fall asleep… not here, not now. He didn’t even know how she was doing it, or what she was going to do to him if he did lose consciousness. He forced his eyes wide open, but they were fluttering shut anyway, against his will.

“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” the Spider Queen asked, likely rhetorically. If MK had the energy to think of a good response, he would definitely be doing that right now. He’d be all… uh… god, he was so tired. He could probably sleep for like, a thousand years.

He zoned out on whatever monologue she was giving. He couldn’t fight this exhaustion any longer. He just wanted to sleep…

He yawned faintly, drifting off and allowing himself to give in to the cold clutches of sleep. He couldn’t resist it, anyway.

The world faded away around him.

———

MK woke up what he presumed was a short time later, still completely out of it, but at least with enough energy to think. 

He was alone. Thank goodness.

Alright, he had to get out of here. First he had to somehow get untied, and then he had to find his staff, and then he had to find a way out of here. That seemed simple enough. That was totally simple enough! He could handle this.

Carefully, he sat up, doing his best not to make any noise.

He had to get this perfect. Just the memories from earlier had him feeling nauseous, and he had a feeling that if he didn’t get out of here before the Spider Queen came back, there would be more where that had come from. He wasn’t exactly eager to experience that.

Hmm, maybe if he could find something sharp to cut the ropes — yes, he knew they were webs, but the very horror of that idea was too much to comprehend. It was easier to just think of them as regular old ropes. He really didn’t need to be sending himself into a panic attack right now.

He looked around for… he didn’t know, a pointy rock or something? Anything remotely sharp would do. Probably.

It took a minute, but he finally managed to get to his feet. He stumbled, biting back a shriek as he immediately tripped forward. With his hands tied behind his back, he couldn’t make an effort to catch himself.

His face collided with the floor. Hard.

The sound echoed throughout the cave. Oh shit, now not only was he in immense pain, but he definitely had a limited time frame to get away. 

He scrambled to his feet again, leaning against the wall to steady himself before he took off in a staggering run. Forget the getting untied part, first he just had to get away.

He was actually making progress! He had been right, it was all completely working out. He’d be back home and cozy in bed before he could say noodles.

Don’t look back, don’t look back, just keep running.

Oh man, he could actually see light! Light meant freedom! He moved towards it, panting with effort and exhaustion. Almost there. He was almost there. He could take a nice long nap as soon as he got out.

He was so close.

And then he was choking again.

He fell to his knees, gasping for breath as the band — he absolutely was not calling it a collar, because it was just his headband — tightened around his neck. 

Stop stop stop stop! 

His lungs were already burning, and his neck was going to bruise, he was sure of it. 

It hurt so bad, he just wanted it to stop, oh god.

“There you are,” the Spider Queen said, her voice barely registering in MK’s fuzzy brain. He just wanted it to stop. Nothing else mattered.

He was vaguely aware of his body being plucked off the ground.

“Can’t have you running off like that, little monkey. Lucky you, I have a delightful punishment picked out.”

MK, for all his fighting, could do nothing to stop her.

The band stopped squeezing the life out of him, thank goodness, but he had a sick feeling that whatever was going to come next would be just as bad (or worse).

He was all but thrown into a dark, disgusting cell. Full of… full of… nope nope nope too many spiderwebs, way too many spiderwebs.

“You’re going to stay in this dark, nice little cell — full of spiders, by the way — until you learn how to respect your queen. I’ll be back in the morning, little monkey. Let’s hope you’ve learned your lesson by then.”

With that, the cell door shut and locked, and MK was left alone. On the bright side, he finally managed to free his hands from their bindings. On the downside, he was alone. In a scary nightmare cell full of horrors.

Full of spiders.

His entire body jerked in a shiver. 

He could hear scuttling — no doubt one of the horrifying little beasts themselves. Oh god, how many were there? He could barely see, he certainly couldn’t make out any insects.

What if they were everywhere? Was every inch of the place crawling with them? There were so many webs, too many webs, too many spiders, oh god.

He was struggling to breathe once again, practically hyperventilating as tears filled his eyes. The crushing panic of the situation was slamming into him.

He wanted to go home. He would take anything over this. He would take being thrown across a goddamn volcano over this.

Something scurried across his leg.

A quiet sob left his throat. He was sitting there, completely frozen, unable to do so much as flick the spider away. God, he was so pathetic.

He could swear more spiders were crawling on him, now. His skin was burning. They were everywhere. He couldn’t breathe. 

His fingers twitched, but he couldn’t make himself move.

Tears were streaming from his eyes and his skin was so itchy and he couldn’t handle this, he really couldn’t handle this.

His face was growing numb from how hard he was crying. 

He didn’t even realize that he was finally moving, barely registering the pain from how hard he was scratching at his skin. Even when he realized how bad it did hurt, he couldn’t stop, scratching his arms, his hands, his legs, everything he could. 

It was starting to burn.

The scratching got more frantic. He couldn’t stop until the spiders were gone. With the lack of light in the cell, he had no way of knowing when that would be, so he just continued to scratch and continued to cry.

The panic turned the world into a haze. He stared blankly ahead, unseeing, doing nothing but scratching at his skin. Tears continued to pour from his eyes.

He was so pathetic. He was so pathetic. He was so pathetic. 

He couldn’t even handle some stupid little baby spiders. He was supposed to be the brave protector of the city, the successor to the great Monkey King, and he couldn’t even handle spiders. 

He sniffled. If Monkey King had known how pathetic he was, he’d never have chosen him.

And now look at him. Stuck in an eternal nightmare hole — which really did seem to be eternal, as wherever he was being kept wasn’t somewhere he’d seen while they’d been rescuing Tang and Pigsy — having lost the staff.

Oh god. He’d lost the staff. He really was worthless.

He couldn’t believe he’d been so careless, so stupid. The scratching increased, and he hissed at the feeling. He wasn’t cut out to be Monkie Kid. Monkey King had made a mistake, choosing him. It had all just been one big mistake.

He sobbed. Maybe he deserved to rot down here with the spiders. At least here he couldn’t fuck anything up for anyone.

His sobs turned to high pitched cries. He couldn’t handle this.

He cried for a long time, until there were no tears left to cry. Still, the panic didn’t go away. They were all over the cell, even if he couldn’t see them. His skin was still burning from how hard he’d been scratching.

His earlier exhaustion was hitting him again, full force. But he couldn’t sleep, not now. Not when he was surrounded by them.

He sniffled, pressing his arms close to his body and covering his face. As long as they didn’t get on his face or under his clothes or on his skin or anywhere near him it would all be okay. It would all be fine. 

But it wasn’t fine. He was so far from fine.

He wondered briefly if Mei would laugh at him for panicking so badly. They were just spiders. Most of them couldn’t even hurt him. Unless they were big, or poisonous, or… 

He hugged his knees to his chest. Mei would think he was being so stupid.

Blearily, he opened his eyes, surveying the cell nervously. He couldn’t see any spiders. That didn’t mean there weren’t any there. It only made it all the more nerve-wracking. 

His eyes landed on the faint shadow of a spider. It was huge. Absolutely massive, actually. He scrambled back towards the edge of his cell.

No no no no no no!

Breathe, just take deep breaths, it wasn’t going to come any closer, it probably didn’t have any interest in him, just stop please get away he wanted to go home.

It didn’t move for a moment. Maybe it would leave. Maybe it would leave! That sounded pretty likely, right? It could totally leave!

Instead, out of nowhere, it scurried way too close for comfort.

MK shoved himself back against the wall of his cell, clawing at the door behind him.

“Let me out!” he shrieked, his voice strained. He received no response other than the spider getting ever closer. He had nowhere left to run. It was too close.

Whatever he’d thought he would go through as the Monkie Kid, all the horrible torture and the kidnappings and the near death experiences he’d dreamed up…

This was worse. This was so much worse.

[shijiujun]

Novel Epilogue (Part 2)

We all have this summary of the later parts of the epilogue because of @angel-kyousuke who found the e-book version on Google Play (it has in built translation, but according to feedback it’s not very good, but if some of you would like to try link to the book is here

We left off with Jack and Zhao Zi standing by the road side with Jack having just made a call to TY to inform him that SF was injured and he keeps his phone to, and I quote, “to look and appreciate his little hot-blooded cop” -ahem-

ZZ is commanding the rest of the team and people are listening to him as he yells for them to bring the culprits back for a statement, to get an arrest warrant from the prosecutors etc. and then this new, young cop who just joined the team 3 months ago asks ZZ worriedly if the Captain is okay (omg i still CANNOT GET OVER THE FACT THAT SF IS CAPTAIN!!) - ZZ says it’s totally fine, because the shady, mob doctor is very good, and then ZZ remembers who he’s talking to and what he’s talking about (cuz mob doctor - mob - police officer - yeah better not say that too loudly), so he sheepishly says: “Someone else is responsible for worrying about Ah Fei, our job is to handle this well”

The young cop replies: “Yes, Zhao Zi Ge!”

And LOL ZZ is so happy that he called him like older brother and he’s obviously superrrrr elated but he’s interrupted by the growling of his stomach at exactly 6pm, and he immediately starts looking around (Note: This is pure comedy) and Jack calls out: “Little one, over here!”

AND OMFG ZZ TURNS AROUND TO SEE JACK WITH A FRICKIN FOOD CART!!!! WHAT. THE. HELL. THE MENU FOR TODAY IS: 

Fried beef noodles

Noodles hor fun

Beef mui fun (like a chinese risotto of sorts)

Beef fried rice

Beef noodles

LIKE WOW?!!!! Anw ZZ makes a beeline for the food cart (ZZ, you are the fucking police, remember?!!!!) and ZZ asks: “How did you know i wanted to eat all these? (ZZ HOW MUCH CAN U EAT AT ONE GO?!!!)

J: “I’m your personal chef, of course I know what you’re thinking”

Ever since Jack became Fang Liang Dian, he became a normal civilian again, and although he has a Swiss bank account that has enough savings in it to sit back, relax and spend the money three lifetimes and more, but he didn’t want to sit around so he decided to AND I QUOTE “BE ZHAO LI AN’S HOUSE HUSBAND” - NOT JOKING GUYS, YOU KNOW WE ALL JOKED ABOUT IT?!!! NOW IT’S CANON!!! OKAY SRSLY

And YOU KNOW WHAT’S EVEN BETTER? SO JACK BOUGHT A FOOD CART/TRUCK/VAN OR WHATEVER JUST SO HE CAN FOLLOW ZHAO ZI AROUND AND PROVIDE FOOD FOR HIM 24/7 WHAT THE HELL GUYS!!! HAHAHA

So ZZ literally just orders food from his boyfriend, and then Jun Wei turns up to make an order as well after greeting Jack: “Yo, you’re here again? Beef rice, thank you.”

Jack asks for 1000 NTD, Jun Wei accuses Jack of ripping him off, and the Jack drop the bomb by saying that the beef he used is Grade A5 beef, so obviously it’d be expensive?!!!! (LOL JACK PLS Jack is pampering ZZ omg) and after that, even though Jun Wei just got his pay and it’s so expensive, he still pays Jack for the food AHAHAHHAA good job Jun Wei!!!! atta boy, but Jack says sure, you’ll have to wait, because ZHAO ZI ALWAYS COMES FIRST!!!!

We move on to Hong Ye and Dao Yi in the hospital as she’s giving birth omg and she, like most women while giving birth, is yelling Dao Yi’s name like he’s offended her, while Dao Yi is soothing her, telling her not to be angry etc. and with a slip of tongue he calls her ‘Miss’ again, out of habit BUT WE ALL KNOW HONG YE’S TEMPER PLUS SHE’S GIVING BIRTH RIGHT - so she yells again: “Didn’t I tell you not to call me ‘Miss’ ever again?!!! Where the hell is that stupid doctor (Dr Jiang, poor thing)”

Anw, it’s not Dr Jiang who’s going to help her give birth but his junior, and lol Hong Ye as always is yelling again if a junior can be trusted, and she tells Dao Yi they’re only having one kid and NEVER AGAIN

IT’S A DAUGHTER GUYS!!! OMGAHHHHH

One week later, the uncles (TY and SF, but J and ZZ are there too omgggg this baby is blessed with the four most handsome and badass uncles in the world wtf) are eagerly waiting outside the baby room waiting to take the new baby and SF IS THE ONE WHO EAGERLY RUNS UP TO THE WINDOW AND FLASHES HONG YE’S PATIENT TAG OR SOMETHING (PROUD UNCLE GUYS SF IS A PROUD UNCLE)

SF looks at the baby and he’s like: “Wow, so cute, TY look, next time the little princess will call you Uncle”

TY: “Don’t worry! I will teach her so that her first words are ‘Aunt’ to you”

LOL GUYS LOL

Jack walks over to Dao Yi and goes: “Brother Dao Yi, you’ve worked hard”

Because apparently ever since Hong Ye got pregnant, her temper became even worse and even Tang Yi who dotes on her so much usually was so pissed off a few times from talking to her that he literally just walked out, and that was even more so the case for SF who usually banters and argues with her over stupid shit usually anyway, and only Dao Yi who has a really good temper can deal with her

Dao Yi, even though he’s been married to her for a while, still accidentally calls her ‘Miss’ sometimes and HY hates it the most, so every time he does it she runs away from home, but luckily he knows there she goes - THEIR ICE CREAM STORE!!! So Dao Yi bribed the store owner to always keep HY’s favourite 2 flavours of ice cream in the store all year round, so HY will always go there when she’s angry and DY knows exactly where to go fetch her home

Jack to ZZ who’s cooing over the baby: “You like kids?”

ZZ: “Of course! Small and cute, who doesn’t like babies?”

J: “I don’t. They’re noise, annoying and can’t understand human language”

AND ZZ I ALWAYS KNEW U WERE THE SLY AND SMART ONE: “Oh you don’t? Aww, I was thinking over Chinese New Year, we should do spring cleaning and I’d take out the photos of when I was younger to show you, but since u don’t like kids, then never mind!!!”

J: “Wait! You said you had whose baby photos?!!!”

And lol Jack has to reassure ZZ that as long as it’s him, no matter if he’s small or an adult, he likes em all, so ZZ better give Jack all the photos, they’re his (T^T)

ZZ blushes at that, and turns around to see SF grinning at him

Gosh it’s the kid conversation criessssss, Jack tells him that since ZZ likes kids so much, why not they have one too? And not just one, but two for Jack, and they both better be girls, and look like him so when they grow up they’ll be beautiful women (wow Jack, vainpot huh)

ZZ yells: “FANG. LIANG. DIAN. I’m a guy!!! Who the hell is going to give birth to kids for you! Go to hell!”

They get chased out because they’re so noisy HAHAHA

The next epilogue chapter concentrates on Jack and ZZ

Jack is lying on the couch, waiting for his lover who hasn’t come home even though it’s past 10pm, but he’s used to waiting as someone who’s been strictly trained in the army, and he’s been trained to be a killer who will kill anyone as long as his superior ordered it, but he got bored, so he decided to be a merc instead - he lies in bed breathing and thinks back to a time when all he could smell was blood and gunpowder (i think) in the air when he breathed, but now all he smells is good food

anw now, all he wants is a home he can return to (T^T)

Jack asks if ZZ was doing overtime again, but ZZ actually went to drink with SF and Jun Wei, and then ZZ moves over to the couch and snuggles/burrows into Jack entirely and he says: “Liang Dian. Hehe. Liang Dian is very big” and then proceeds to touch Jack’s pecs (Note: Okay I have to say so far I love the little tidbits but this author? I get the feeling that this is the Chinese version of fanfiction.net oh god with the lines I keep seeing)

But his hand goes lower and-

(Okayyy I’m not going to go into this, the line he uses is APPALLING I WILL NOT SUMMARISE IT RIGHT NOW. Anyway, this is the M-18 part guys, we have an Explicit and Mature rating they go for it, that’s all I can say right now)

So, ZZ is trying to top Jack because of SF teased him for it (what is this fixation on the positions?!!!) and Jack is surprised, but doesn’t reject him, and then ZZ literally starts crying and explains to Jack what happened - Jack bursts out laughing instead once he hears that and in his head he pities TY for a moment for having such a weird boyfriend

Jack agrees anyway, and then ZZ is all: “Really?”

J: “Sure, but if we do this, you must be responsible for me for life.” (????!!!!!! oh god)

Yes so bed scene happens - I will not detail this out at all, not here at least HAHAHA have fun guys

The next morning: ZZ wakes up to Jack already cooking breakfast, and ZZ promises Jack, after remembering what they said last night, that he will be responsible to Jack forever

And THE END

[fck-inspector-m]

first kiss

Jack smiled often. Way too often, some might say. It wasn’t because he was a very happy person, though. It was more of a tool. People felt confused when he smiled like that, sometimes intimidated. Some were easily charmed by it, and gave him what he wanted much easier. Others were annoyed by it, like Brother De. When someone like that expressed their annoyance, he’d only smile more. He found it funny.

But around Zhao Zi, he smiled differently. He didn’t smile to get something. He smiled because he was happy, because Zhao Zi was incredibly funny (even if it wasn’t always on purpose), because Zhao Zi was absolutely adorable. He smiled with a real smile around him.

It didn’t take long after meeting Zhao Zi, that Jack had realized he was attracted to the cop. Part of him knew this was a bad thing, that being with a cop could never work out well for either of them. But every time Zhao Zi managed to give him a smile, that part of him just melted away. It became non-existent and all that mattered was being around him more.

Right now, he was smiling again. He was around Zhao Zi, and the both of them were currently in his bedroom. Zhao Zi was holding a stuffed animal and a pillow, and he was walking all around the room, cleaning up a bit.

Even though Jack asked Zhao Zi something, he was more focused on how adorable shorty looked. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to just cup Zhao Zi’s face and kiss it till he couldn’t anymore, but he kept himself in check. First he’d talk about this thing.

“What I mean is, they’re both men.” He explained to Zhao Zi, who clearly hadn’t understood his question earlier in full. Jack wanted to know what he thought of that. He wanted to know if he had a chance, even just at all. He might have been flirting, but he doubted Zhao Zi really noticed.

Zhao Zi turned around, looking at him with a serious face. Even when he was serious, he looked absolutely adorable. He looked like a little puppy, growling as it’s trying to scare you. It didn’t really work.

“Are you looking down on my brother? Let me tell you! Whoever Fei loves, even if the whole world is against him, I will still support him!” Jack’s smile faltered just slightly, because he was impressed. He hadn’t expected Zhao Zi to have a problem with the two, but such loyalty took him off guard. He wondered if Zhao Zi would ever feel like that towards him. He’d certainly try to make him.

“If you’re looking down on him, you’re not my friend!” Jack’s smile returned. Now he knew for certain: Zhao Zi had no problem with gay relationships. Even though he could have never imagined the naive cop being homophobic, he realized there was still something in the back of his head that had been worried. He’d seen enough hatred, even coming from the kindest of people, to know that anyone could hate for no reason.

He walked up to Zhao Zi, who met him halfway with the same serious look. He’d put the stuffed animal away but he still looked so cute. “What do you want?” He asked.

“Shorty, I’m attracted to you.” He stated, and watched how confused Zhao Zi looked. It must’ve been the absolute last thing he was expecting right now, but it’s still what Jack said to him. He didn’t know if he liked Zhao Zi yet. But he was attracted to him, without a doubt. And Jack could only hope he felt the same way.

He moved even more forward, making the very confused Zhao Zi walk backwards into the wall. Jack could just barely hold himself from moving a little bit more forward, just a little bit, and placing his lips on top of Zhao Zi’s. He could feel his heartbeat in his chest, and could only imagine what shorty felt like.

He didn’t move in for one reason only: this would be Zhao Zi’s first kiss. It wouldn’t be just a kiss, but something many people remembered for their entire lives. So he kept himself from leaning in, knowing there was a chance he’d never get another opportunity like this.

“What?” Shorty asked, looking very confused and slightly shocked. Jack decide he had to be a bit more clear.

“You understand what’s between Tang Yi and Shao Fei, right?” Zhao Zi nodded. “I’m attracted to you like Tang Yi is to Shao Fei, shorty.”

“Ehhhhh” was all Zhao Zi managed to get out. Before Jack could say or do anything else, Zhao Zi ran away. “I’m gonna make ramen.” He stated right before leaving, and Jack couldn’t let but chuckle and shake his head. That cop really was an adorable idiot.

————————————————

Zhao Zi leaned against his kitchen counter, trying to figure out what had just happened. He didn’t understand, and his brain was moving in every possible way to try to. Every station the train of his thoughts could go to, was visited, and still he had no idea what he was supposed to do now.

He could still feel his heart beating in his throat, and feel Jack’s gaze on him when he confessed. Wait, was that a confession? But they were friends! You weren’t attracted to friends. Or were you? Or were they not friends?

In his worry and confusion, he looked around the room. His eyes fell on his grandma’s apron, hanging by the fridge.

“Xiao Zi, you’re lucky! I can see, you will find someone who’ll provide for you, who’ll make sure you won’t need to worry for clothes and food. And they’ll take such good care of you, you’ll be so happy!” Grandma spoke with a bright smile, and her enthusiasm wore off on Zhao Zi immediately.

“Wow, grandma! Really? I’ll be so lucky then!” He said, then immediately hugging the woman. “Will you like him? How will we meet? When will we meet? Next week? Please let it be next week!”

“Xiao Zi, I can’t just answer all those questions like that! That’s all I know for now. But I assure you, anyone that loves you, I’ll love too.” She smiled at Zhao Zi, and patted his head. “Now go on and have fun with your friends!”

He remembered the fate his grandma had read for him, a few years back. He missed her a lot, but he knew that as long as he kept speaking and thinking of her, she’d never be truly gone. As long as her memory lived on, so would she.

He always thought his partner would be just like his grandma. After all, she’d been taking care of him since he was very young. That’s why, whenever a woman looked like her, he liked her. After all, if she looked like her, she must also take care of him like her, right?

Now that he rethought that logic, he realized it was quite flawed. Just because someone looked like a certain person, didn’t mean they were like them. He probably should’ve had that relivation before, but hey, at least he had it.

Thinking about it… was Jack who his grandma had talked about? Jack had taken care of him. He suddenly remembered how, right after Zhao Zi had shared the fortune told by his grandma, Jack went on and provided food for him.

He really wasn’t the most observant.

He was still deep in thought, when Jack came downstairs.

“I thought you were making ramen?”

“Ah, yes! I was! But I got distracted. I’m going to make noodles now.” Zhao Zi immediately grabbed the instant ramen, and started preparing them. He got a pot, put two packs in it, and then the powder. He put it on the stove.

He turned the stove on, but then Jack stopped him. “You forgot the water, shorty.” Zhao Zi immediately looked in the pot, and realized Jack was right. He was so occupied with his thoughts, he forgot one of the key ingredients…

He added water, put it on the stove (again), and turned it on. He was pretty sure he didn’t forget anything this time.

Now, he had time to think some more again. If Jack really was who his grandma spoke about… he barely could believe it. Not only was his fortune-told lover a gangster and a man, he was also standing right in front of him! What was he supposed to do now?

Apparently, he was pouting, because Jack said: “What’s that pout for?”

Zhao Zi didn’t respond, but instead checked on his noodles. They weren’t done yet.

Jack put an arm around his shoulder, moving his face towards Zhao Zi’s. He raised an eyebrow and held a charming smile. It was as if he was repeating the question to Zhao Zi, but without words. Again, he didn’t say anything but simply pushed Jack’s arm off with an eye roll. He sat on a chair, taking out his phone. He started playing a game, but he wasn’t really paying attention to it.

He was thinking about what was said earlier. Again. Jack said something about making some food, but Zhao Zi was too deep in thought to respond.

He thought of what it would be like to date him. Would they kiss? He hadn’t had his first kiss yet… he wondered if he’d mind having it with Jack. He didn’t think he would.

He blushed at the thought of that, and quickly checked to see if Jack noticed. He didn’t seem to, being too preoccupied with making food. He wasn’t making anything extravagant, but Jack was boiling an egg and adding some things to the ramen pot.

Zhao Zi kept staring at the gangster, and he could feel a smile coming to his face. Jack looked like he knew what he was doing, and he was upgrading the instant ramen to something much better.

He thought back to their moment upstairs. Jack’s words had totally caught him off guard - he had kinda expected that he wouldn’t meet his lover anytime soon. But it must be Jack, right? He wondered if his grandma knew what kind of person Jack was.

He remembered how his tummy felt, when Jack’s face was so close to his. His heartbeat had sped up like crazy, too. But he found that tummy feeling the weirdest. He’d never felt that before.

Was that maybe what people called ‘butterflies in your stomach’? He’d never understood the saying, because why would insects be in your stomach. He was told it was a metaphor, but still. Insects in your stomach represent love? That’s weird. He still thought it was, even if it did describe the feeling he was having quite well.

He was still thinking, when Jack put the food he prepared on the table. He looked at Zhao Zi.

“Are you coming? The food is finished. Let’s eat.” He said, and despite the fact that he had many things going on inside of his head, he ran to the table and sat down. Food always made him feel better, no matter what.

He started eating, and although he could feel Jack smiling at him, he didn’t look back. He was hungry.

He hadn’t really thought of it before, but did Jack always look at him like that? He should pay more attention to his surroundings… at the police academy too, that always was his weak spot. Observing what others were thinking, feeling or even suggesting wasn’t what he was good at.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Zhao Zi asked Jack, after he noticed his food was still untouched.

“This isn’t what I want to eat..” Jack replied with a smile, moving closer towards Zhao Zi across the table. He felt like he was missing something, but he ignored that feeling and looked at his kitchen.

“I don’t think I have much other food… what do you want? Maybe we can buy it.” He turned back to Jack, who was still sitting across from him.

“No, it’s fine.” Zhao Zi shook his head at that response. “You call me weird, but then you go and say you want different food, and then you go and say you don’t! I think you’re the weird one instead.” Jack laughed at Zhao Zi, who was already continuing to eat.

Zhao Zi finished his food, but Jack still hadn’t touched his own. Weirdo, he thought.

He got up and brought his plate to the kitchen. He wondered what Shao Fei would be doing right now. Did Tang Yi drive him home? Jack said he did. That’s why he came here, Tang Yi took the car with him.

It seemed as if as soon as the food was finished, all the confusion came back. He still didn’t know how to react to Jack’s confession. He was pretty sure by now that Jack was the partner grandma had foretold, but he didn’t really know how to deal with that.

Really, what do you do when you meet someone you’re supposed to be with till you die? Grandma never told him that. Only that he’d make him happy, and that he’d provide food and clothes for him. He felt really lucky, knowing that he had found that person. He was certain grandma was cheering for him, from heaven.

He looked at Jack, who still hadn’t touched his food. He went and sat next to Jack, who made room without a word being said.

Zhao Zi pouted again, not knowing what to do now. Because of that, he just grabbed the food Jack wasn’t eating and ate it himself. If the red-head wasn’t eating it, he would. Jack laughed and looked at him.

“You’re hungry, shorty. It’s okay, I’ll always feed you.” Jack had moved closer to say that, but moved back and leaned against the wall while watching Zhao Zi eat.

“Twanks” Zhao Zi said, speaking with his mouth still full. It only made Jack laugh. He swallowed the food, and took the glass of water Jack had put down for himself. That too, was untouched.

Jack kept looking at Zhao Zi, who was just continuing to eat. He shifted in his seat, avoiding Jack’s sight by looking ahead of him. Jack responded to that, by moving himself and his face closer to Zhao Zi.

“Ahh, shorty! Now don’t ignore me. I made all that food for you, won’t you repay me a little bit at least?”

————————————————

“Won’t you repay me a little bit at least?” Jack teased Zhao Zi, trying to be as normal as before. Truth was, he was exactly sure what to do. Zhao Zi hadn’t said anything yet, and he wasn’t sure whether he was rejected or not. He really hoped he wasn’t.

Zhao Zi put the bowl he was eating from down, and looked right back into Jack’s eyes. He didn’t know what was going on inside of shorty’s head, but before he could even ask anything, he felt a pair of lips being pressed against his.

Zhao Zi kissed him. It was short and unexpected, but Jack’s heart still stopped and he wished Zhao Zi wouldn’t move away so fast.

Zhao Zi immediately tried to continue to eat, but before he could even grab his bowl again, Jack was already cupping his face and kissed him back.

Properly this time.

[heymeowmao]

[Full] Our Song _ E11 (Last in rankings today (fourth place) will leave. Last episode next week.)

4:17 - MC: Na-jie is back with the team, and XZ can finally breathe a breath of relief. He finally let Na-jie come back and has withstood the challenges without her, right? But right now we have a different situation, which is that they haven’t met for a while. Tonight is an important match. XZ, you won’t let Na-jie only come back this once and then not again, right?  XZ: Of course not! Na-jie and I have not felt the passing of time at all, we’re still as compatible as ever! NY: I have communicated through phone, and I always ask him how the song selections are going.  

5:30 - MC: In order to pick our order today, we all went shooting. The only person to shoot a 10 was... /one day earlier/ MC: When you (XZ) film, you should have practiced this, right? XZ: Yep. NY: Ge, let me tell you. You might not win over him (XZ). While filming he’s been learning how to shoot. FYQ: Oh, he has experience? NY: Yes, yes. Be careful! XZ: Playing blind~

6:44 - WOW, Fei Yuqing shoots a 10 AND made it look so easy. 7:15 - XZ: NA-JIEEEEEE!!!! /shoots a 4/ oTL [total 18 points] 7:26 - FYQ getting ready... /Na-jie starts singing/ He misses. FYQ: Who was singing??! ZHJ: You definitely influenced him. 7:51 - NY: Let me sing another song. FYQ: /misses again/ [total 10 points]

8:32 - MC: Because FYQ’s skill is very good, he can give the #1 spot to another team. FYQ: Ah, number 1.... Who was it that sang “The Evening Bell of Nanping”? NY: /oops/ FYQ: Who sang “One Plum Blossom”? NY: HAHAHA

--

9:14 - MC: Team Na-Zhan will be the first to sing tonight. They’ll be fulfilling two expectations. The first is that Na-jie is back! What sort of stage will their collaboration bring to us this time? The second is that they had prepared this song a while ago but didn’t get the chance to sing (bc they passed into the next round already), and at the time I had asked XZ to sing a few lines. Since that time, the audience has been asking non-stop when we would hear the song in its entirety. Everyone. That time is now.

9:54 - XZ: Na-jie!!!! NY: What is this? We’re matching again today, too. XZ: Come quick, come quick! XZ: I really missed you. NY: You missed me? How did it go? XZ: Pretty good. I need to report to you my results. NY: I thought it was a payroll. XZ: LOL. This is our record for the past weeks. We got third place twice, but last time we got second. Pretty good. NY: Very good!

Na Ying x Xiao Zhan -  被风吹过的夏天 (Bei Feng Chui Guo De Xia Tian)

16:07 - XZ: /confused baby takes the fish from Na-jie/ NY: I’m sorry. MC: Na-jie. I’m sure in all your years on stage and in your life, you’ve never been gifted a bag of fish before, have you? NY: /giggling/ XZ: /still confused/ NY: You didn’t see, did you? XZ: ? NY: I dropped the fish. XZ: /WHAT?/ A: If he had seen I bet he also would have laughed. XZ: If I had seen I wouldn’t have been able to sing the last verse either

16:45 - NY: When we were practicing, XZ would only be holding an ID card. Look at this thing- all wet, and REAL fish. With water. I didn’t hold it properly and when I was walking behind you I dropped it. At that time- my heart shattered. NY: And then when I was sitting here, I held up the fish and then I remembered how I dropped them and I COULD NOT sing anymore.

17:15 - XZ: I didn’t know what happened. I thought I sang wrong, Na-jie! NY: You were great. You kept on singing until the end. XZ: I didn’t have any other choice

17:26 - NY: I’m really glad you didn’t see that. I really need to tell you I’m sorry. XZ: No, no, no, no. It’s his fault (the fish). It’s you. /pokes the fish/ 17:38 - A: We were laughing ourselves silly down here. I saw Huajian-dage over there... ZHJ: I knew it could definitely influence them, but I get more screen-time.

17:51 - MC: Let me ask HJ, do you think it’s alright to make mistakes on a live stage? ZHJ: Of course! In this world, who can compare to me in terms of making mistakes on stage? JYQ: Big Bro “Forgetting the Lyrics”  ZHJ: Not only forgetting the lyrics. I’ve written a whole new song before.  ZHJ: This has to be said though, Xiao Zhan has improved a lot.

--

Hacken Lee x Zhou Shen -  大会堂演奏厅 (Da Hui Tang Yan Zou Ting)

30:06 - MC: Hacken wrote the lyrics for this song in 1988, when he was just 21 years old. A lot of people know his songs, but I must let everyone know that he’s written lyrics for more than 80 songs.

--

Fei Yuqing x Ayanga -  新鸳鸯·蝴蝶梦 (Xin Yuan Yang - Hu Die Meng) + Ayanga in a Pikachu sweater. Never thought I’d see it.

37:55 - MC: I need to say, from my standpoint, the one I could see the most clearly was Xiao Zhan. It looked like there was something shining from deep within his eyes. XZ: I feel very touched. I felt like I could hear in the song a hopeful feeling. It was divine, and made me see “hope” and the “future”. It’s very abstract, but I liked it a lot. NY: As soon as FYQ opened his mouth, I felt (indescribable). I realized that in the music industry, he’s too superior.  -- NY: I’ve been thinking to myself- how could FYQ not continue to sing anymore.[FYQ is retiring, after this show is over, he will not be singing professionally anymore.] At the very last moment, now here is Ayanga. When he stood there singing I came to realize that even when Xiao Ge doesn’t sing anymore, he could be relieved that Ayanga is there to sing in his place. 

--

Zhou Huajian x Jiang Yiqiao -  虎口脱险 (Hu Kou Tuo Xian)

--

Na Ying x Xiao Zhan -  恼人的秋风 (Nao Ren De Qiu Feng)

1:00:20 - MC: Hold on! We need to confirm something first. Could the female singer please say a few words? (/confirm it is really Na Yin XD/) NY: He’ll talk first. Him first. MC: I really do not dare believe this is our Na-jie! Audience: Team Na-Zhan! x10000 NY: What about us? Audience: You’re great!!! NY: Do you think we can turn this around (win another round)? Audience: /cheering/ MC: XZ, tell me. Whose idea was this? XZ: Actutally, it was Na-jie. She said she wanted to pay tribute. MC: ??? NY: It’s because previously we heard Hacken and Zhou Shen sing the “Ye Lang Disco”. After I saw that I thought that we also should sing a song like that. I wanted to pay tribute to my 80′s. MC: XZ. When you heard about the song, did you not even hesitate for a second? NY: He ignored me for a whole day! XZ: No, Na-jie! I really was working! I wouldn’t dare (ignore you)! NY: I was thinking “Oh shoot. He probably doesn’t like it.” MC: Or maybe he got scared.  XZ: Honestly I did hesitate at first. I didn’t think I would be able to control it. But Na-jie said she wanted it retro, and she explained her vision to me, and I was convinced. I said if we’re going to do it, let’s [go big or go home]. So we tried a retro style.

1:02:05 - MC: You know, with Na-jie.. it’s very rare that we have the chance to see you sing AND dance on stage.  ZHJ: And she danced very well! NY: I really need to thank XZ for practicing the steps with me all the time. When we were sitting there, too, he was counting the beats for me. You all know that even when I walk normally I’m a little uncoordinated. So this (dance) was really hard for me. You may not have seen, but up there where the lyrics are, the choreographer was there, showing me the steps. 

1:02:53 - MC: Let me tell you, ever since we started battling in teams, this is the first time that FYQ forgot to hold his pen and paper.  1:03:44 - ZHJ: I know you are all very happy, but have you thought about how we feel? (ZHJ x JYQ, who have to sing next). You two... do you have to be so cruel? NY: In this music competition, you HAVE TO be this cruel.  ZHJ: If we could vote, I’d vote for you to win.  ZHJ: I’m really happy and thankful to have made it this far in the competition. It doesn’t even feel like one at this point. We’re all here to appreciate each other. I really want to thank the two of you for letting us open our eyes and ears. Especially Na-jie. NY: This is not easy for me. ZHJ: You’re obviously someone who can just rely on your face... why do you have to sing so well? And why do you have to have such a nice figure? NY: Do you know how much I’ve suffered off this stage? I can’t eat all the good foods! YOU can eat a bowl of noodles, but I can only eat three strands! XZ: !! NY: And then I have to work out. I think if you still want to stand on stage, you have to maintain a healthy mind/body.  ZHJ: We will still work hard! Watch out for us!

--

Zhou Huajian x Jiang Yiqiao -  其实不想走 (Qi Shi Bu Xiang Zou | Don’t Want to Go)

1:05:11 - NY: This title makes my heart hurt. ZHJ: We can only play the sympathy card now.

1:12:24 - MC: When I was conversing with HJ before, he had told me that there was a singer that he always wanted to sing with- that singer is Na-jie. NY: ?! Audience: /sing sth!/

1:13:13 - ZHJ: Work with me here, is there any of my songs that you’ve heard? NY: I can sing any/all of your songs. MC: Can I request one? Because the two of your teams.... only one will continue in the competition, and now you have to part ways. So the only thing I can think of is “ 让我欢喜让我忧” (Make Me Happy Make Me Worry)

多想說聲我真的愛妳 I want to say I really love you 多想說聲對不起妳 I want to say I’m sorry to you 妳哭著說情緣已盡 You cry and say the relationship is over 難再續 難再續 It’s too hard to continue, too hard to continue

就請妳給我多一點點時間 再多一點點問候 Just please give me just a little more time, just a little more greetings 不要一切都帶走 Don’t take everything and go 就請妳給我多一點點空間 再多一點點溫柔 Just please give me just a little more space, just a little more tenderness 不要讓我如此難受  Don’t make me so uncomfortable

ZHJ: Wait, there’s more I have to sing

妳這樣一個女人 讓我歡喜讓我(+們)憂 A woman like you, makes me happy and makes US worry (he changed the lyrics from “me” to “us”) 讓我甘心為了妳付出我(+們)所有 Let me be happy for you, give US everything

--

1:16:39 - MC: I’ve been listening to a song recently that I really like, and I’ve written down a few of the lyrics to share with you. I think it suits this stage and everyone’s thinking. We say that this society runs too fast sometimes. So how fast is it? [Lyrics to Zhou Huajian’s most recent release “少年” Shao Nian (Youth)]

有时候来不及沉淀　岁月总是跑在灵魂的前面 Sometimes it’s too late to rush, years go by passing faster than the soul 好在还有一点信念　陪我们完成每一天 Fortunately I still have a little faith to accompany us to complete the day 别忘记心中的少年　狂奔的勇敢的 Don’t forget the youth still in your heart, hasty, brave 最初的少年 The youth you were at first

MC: We’ve been waiting six years for a new song from Huajian. Could you tell us about this song? ZHJ: Let me speak directly. For people my age, it’s hard to walk into a record shop... it’s highly likely that there aren’t many songs we can choose to listen to. That’s not to say that the current music of the youth isn’t good, it’s just that when you reach a certain age, there’s inevitably going to be that generational gap. I wanted to be able to give people in my generation a choice. For the past six years I’ve been thinking about this, and it’s only in the past year that I realized that after having written eight songs I was always talking about the past, when I was young. That’s how I thought of the theme, the title- “shao nian.” When I finished making the song I found it interesting. I used the word “youth” to look at the faces of everyone around me. The people I know now, the people I’ve known for years, the people I am getting to know. There’s a youth inside all of us. No matter what age you are now, whether 60 or 70, there’s a youth inside you. Don’t hide them. Let them out. 

Goodbye to Zhou Huajian and Jiang Yiqiao :’(

[hillventures]

My Journey With Hill Ventures

I am a traveling bird, so I like to explore various places. I prefer to visit the hilly areas as compared to other locations. Even my kith and kin are also well-aware of my passion. Due to it, my friend suggested to me about hill ventures. When I came to know about this place, I made a plan to visit this place.

Making a plan of exploring Trekking and camping life was a thundering experience for me. I did call the friend and ask them several things. These things were related to Hill ventures timing and the Camping organizer. I came to know about numerous breath-taking factors.

Firstly he told me that: Hill venture is an adventure park. It is located in the Salig village, close to Tang Narwana Dharamshala. Moreover, it covers an area of 4 acres. This kind of thing he explained to me. After knowing all these factors, my curiosity was at the peak. Then I made a plan with my friend and started the journey. 

It took three to four hours to reach the destination from my place. My journey was also superb, and my friends and I clicked several pictures. Overall, we enjoyed the way. Finally, we reached the Hill Venture. After that, I paid the entry fees. The entry was about fifty rupees for each person.

Moreover, the other charges vary from adventure activities to activities. I vividly remember that the weather was so pleasant. Even I do not have words to explain the weather. I found myself in the lap of nature. The experience was new.

So, I must recommend that you should visit and enjoy Adventure activities at single place Hill Venture. To be honest, I found that most of the people visit Dharamshala and do Local sightseeing tours. After that, they join the Meditation camp in Dharamshala and do this kind of activity. However, I suggest that you should explore this place. 

You will get the mesmerizing experience for sure. The fresh air and energetic environment rejuvenate you. Paragliding and adventure activities in Dharamshala do not complete your trip. But, you must spend the day at the hill ventures. You will get a unique kind of experience. 

In addition to it, I enjoyed the bonfire and the great view of the sunset. I clicked a lot of pictures there. The view of the waterfall was amazing. Even the waterfall was like the backbone of my trip. People from different cities came here. In addition to it, I met the toddlers and had a conversation with them

I was mingled with the kids. They also show their interest in sharing the experience with me. I met a little girl there, and her voice was so melodious. Next, my friend gave me the treat of noodles. The noodles and one more cuisine was mouth-watering and delicious. When you visit the hill venture, then you do not forget to try the cuisines.    

There are various things to explore right from the swimming pool to the waterfall. It is also an ideal spot for a Picnic. Not only with your friends, but you can enjoy it with your family too. In addition, when I visited this place, then I observed that it is a perfect destination.

I explored various places. However, do not forget to visit the waterfall. It is a human-made waterfall. The sound of the water was so soothing. Again we clicked various pictures. I tried numerous adventure sports there. The team guided me and told all the safety instructions.

So, when you pursue Adventure sports in Himachal Pradesh, then listen to all the instructions carefully. I ate some cuisines there. There is a mini restaurant at hill ventures. The experience of that restaurant was also mesmerizing. After Adventure tours in Dharamshala, enjoy the day at hill ventures. 

The camps were well organized and had all the necessary facilities. These facilities include a bed, charger point, lights, and so on. If you go with your loved one, there is a separate cottage for couples. As per my memory, there are five camps. You can prefer any of the camps as per your requirements.

There are numerous photogenic views in Hill ventures. Your mobile space will indeed be filled with multiple pictures of Trekking in Himachal Pradesh. In my opinion, investing money in exploring the place is a total and significant investment of money. Henceforth, it would help if you planned to visit the site.

    List of Facilities in Hill Ventures

There is a long list of facilities that you can enjoy. Here is the list of some facilities which are best according to me.   

Accommodation

Restaurant

Garden

Outdoor Swimming pool. 

Car rental service

Activities and Entertainments

When I explored the hill ventures, then I enjoyed various activities. Moreover, I suggest that you must do these activities. These activities will surely make your trip more adventurous. Here is a list of some actions.

Hiking

Yoga Classes

Tours

Cultural Classes

Archery 

Happy hours

To enjoy these activities, you will have to pay additional charges. The charges are also reasonable and budget-friendly. The lush greenery mesmerized me. I will revisit this place.

In addition to it, the background view of mountains was also exciting and breath-taking. This place is situated away from the polluted cities. When I visited this place, then I experienced the actual meaning of natural beauty.

If you are a thrill-seeker, then it is a perfect place for you. Divide your time in such a way that you can enjoy the experience of natural beauty. After completing the whole trip, I shared my family members' experiences when I came back home.   

Tips for packing

Also, proper packing is essential when you go on any trip, especially to the hilly areas. This is because you cannot predict the weather. When I went to the hill venture, then I did the proper packing. Here I want to share some tips related to packing. You can also implement these tips when you do packing for your trip.

Jackets 

I made a plan in winters, so packed clothes which keep me warm. This is because my motto was to enjoy the trip, not the cold and cough. So, it is recommendable to bring leather jackets. I preferred leather jackets for a specific reason. 

The reason is these types of jackets are stylish and attractive. The leather jacket enhances my look. 

Sweaters 

You can say either sweater or pullovers, and these will keep you warm. I choose the light color sweaters for my trip. You can choose it as per your wish. However, the main thing is do not forget to take sweaters along with you.

Socks

I packed five to six pairs of socks. The socks were a blessing on my trip. This is because woolen socks kept my feet warm and comfortable. Bring the pairs of socks with you. 

Earmuffs

Take the cute and soft earmuffs for your trip. The cold winds can freeze your ears, and you may feel unwell. Henceforth, for the protection of ears, take the earmuffs along with you.

Shoes

I recommend that you prefer comfortable shoes instead of stylish ones. Due to it, you will not face any problems walking. If you do not feel comfortable in your shoes, then you cannot enjoy the trip.

In addition to it, take snow boots when you visit that kind of area and so on. 

Sunglasses

Keep one thing in your mind the sun is bright and shiny in the mountain areas. So, take the sunglasses with you. Due to it, you can closely accurately examine the beauty of hills.

Even when you click the picture by wearing the sunglasses, then the clicks will be undoubtedly unique.

First aid kit

Either you preferring Trekking in Himachal Pradesh or not, take the first aid kit along with you. The curvy roads, weather conditions, and several things affect your health. So take prescribed medicines along with you.   

Camera

How can you forget the camera? Even it is an integral part of the trip. With the camera, you will be able to take hundreds of pictures. Collect the images and create unforgettable memories. In addition to it, make beautiful memories. Moreover, take the spare battery and memory card too.

Take the backpack and keep all the essential things in it, right from clothes to the camera. Pack your bag in a well-organized manner. In addition to it, take lip balm, sunscreen lotion, and so on. Your skin may dry because of the weather. So, nourish your skin with the lotion.

These are the essential things that you can take with you. In addition to it, firstly make a list of things that you want to take. Due to it, you will not forget any important thing. In addition to it, you can carry water bottles, and so on.

In the end, this is all about the experience that I had in Hill Ventures. Moreover, spend some time in the lap of nature. You will surely get a worthy experience from this trip.

[skellebonez]

(I saw the new prompt list and I couldn't help myself)

Fluff prompt #18 with FreeNoodleshipping please?

I have been looking forward to this prompt since you sent it, it fits perfectly with one of my headcanons (that they knew each other before MK). So much I went overboard... again... 

“You come here often?” “Well considering I work here, yes.”

It was that guy again, the... well, he didn’t know exactly what his profession was now that he thought about it. Given his glasses and the fact he was always with a book or two and sometimes paperwork he just kind of assumed he was either a scholar, student, or librarian of some sort. He could have just been a huge unemployed nerd for all he knew, but considering he came into the shop at least 3 times a week that was unlikely unless he had some kind of cash squirrelled away.

His clothes were fancy enough that he wouldn’t put it past the other man, but he also seemed to wear two or three copies of the same outfit (he noticed that one sleeve on one of his tops was starting to fray and he could tell the difference now and he was not going to think too much about why he noticed that) which contradicted that as well. The man was as much of an enigma as he was a regular.

He ordered a different bowl every time, only repeating orders once he had tried everything. At first he simply came in for food and sat in the seat closest to the back of the shop for obvious privacy, but at some point he started to move closer and closer to the counter until he just took a seat at the farthest counter stool every time it was open.

Today the Scholar (he figured that was the most likely answer even if he was wrong) took his seat and ordered without opening a single book. He hadn’t even brought one. Odd. As he ate his noodles he actually seemed to try to eat slower than normal. Also odd.

He ate slow enough that Pigsy noticed that it was at least 20 minutes past when he normally would have had only broth left to sip as he read or wrote. The shop was completely empty aside from the two of them, normal lunch rush gone like normal.

“Sooooo...” For the first time outside of ordering the man spoke to him, looking down at the pig’s shirt instead of his face, smiling awkwardly. “UH...  you... You come here often?”

“Well considering I work here, yes,” Pigsy replied in confusion, raising a brow. “I own the shop, sir.”

The man’s face fell into an expression that could only be read as “kill me now I no longer want to live in this world”, ears and face reddening as an embarrassed flush overtook him. “A-ah... yes. You... you do...”

To be honest it was kind of cute. Pigsy let himself smile and chuckle a bit, shaking his head. “Happens to the best of-” the man picked up his bowl and chugged the rest of the broth, slamming the bowl down and standing. “-us...”

“Thank you very much for the delicious food,” was the flat and overly formal reply that came from the man as he bowed, gaze turned toward the ground even after he straightened back up as he immediately headed out the door. It took Pigsy a moment to react, the man’s bizarre actions surprising him so much, and it took another moment to realize...

“Hey! HEY!” He ran out the front after the man, barely able to catch up to him before he turned a corner. “You didn’t pay for your noodles!”

Freezing, the man buried his face in his hands and groaned loudly, muttering a muffled “I’m so so sorry Mr. Pigsy I- sorry” before he turned to face the noodle shop owner and rifle through his pockets. And rifle through his pockets... and... “Ah... I... seem to have forgotten my wallet...”

Defeated. That’s what the man looked like in one word. Completely and utterly defeated. Like the world’s saddest lost puppy entered into a dog show that somehow knew it landed last place.

Sighing, Pigsy mustered up a softer smile and shook his head. “Hey, guy, I can tell you’re having an off day. How’s about I open up a tab for ya?” It wasn’t something he’d ever really done for anyone before, but this guy had been dinning in his shop almost since the week it opened up. It was the least he could do just this once.

“Really?” He finally turned to Pigsy to look him in the eyes and he could see the flush on his face had deepened even farther. Poor guy must be really embarrassed.

“Yeah, just need your name. Or any name, as long as I can match it to your face.”

“Uh...” The man blinked, finally smiling for the first time since his awkward blunder. “Tang. My name is Tang.”

“Alright, Mr. Tang,” Pigsy laughed, an actual happy laugh. Finally, he had a name for this mystery guy! “You got one tab open. Just remember to fill it next time ya come in.”

“Oh, please, no formalities necessary!” He insisted, shaking his head. “Just Tang is fine!”

“Then just Pigsy is fine for me too,” the shorter man insisted. “No Mr. Pigsy. Now I can see you’re in a rush, don’t let me keep ya.” He turned and waved behind him as he made his way back to his shop. “See ya in a couple days, Tang.”

He could have sworn he heard an odd inhale from the man, but that was probably just the sound of someone else on the street. He looked forward to seeing Tang again, the guy seemed interesting now that he finally got the chance to talk to him. If a bit easily embarrassed.

[skellebonez]

Monkie Kid Headcanons

I have been wanting to make a post that compiles all my Monkie Kid headcanons so I can just keep them on hand (and cross reference them if I need to).  When I think of more I’ll either make a part 2 post or just reblog this with even more. This is mostly about MK’s backstory with a few extra tidbits sprinkled in.

 Pigsy and Sandy are indeed the same ones from the story. Ask them and they will refuse to tell you how difficult it is to exist on legal papers for literal centuries.

Tang is a descendant of a close relative of Tripitaka.

MK absolutely makes money with his art, the boy has SKILLS. I don’t know if he does open commissions online or works with companies, but that’s how he got money for himself for a long time.

Mei and MK met at the anti-gravity arcade when they were teens (13ish).

Tang and MK met at the library a little earlier, somewhere MK spent a lot of time as a kid and teen and where Tang worked as a side job as a librarian, and he is the one that introduced him to Journey to the West and Monkey King (even gifting him copies of the book to keep since he checked it out so much).

MK’s parents are absolute assholes and have no problem abusing family ties to get what they want, or cutting people out when they don’t do what they want. They have an incredibly warped view of what family is supposed to do for each other... speaking of which-

MK was kicked out of the house the second he turned 18 because “you’re old enough to drive and drink now (legal age for both in China is 18 I have learned) so you’re old enough get out of our sight and stop stealing all our money”. There are other reasons, like them finding out he made money on the side and never gave them a dime (when he never was allowed spending money himself), but this was the key factor.

The only times MK’s family gets in touch with him is to remind him how much money they spent on the bare minimum of keeping him alive for 18 years and that he still needs to pay them back -insert money amount here-.

Wukong just straight up adopts MK when he learns this. Like, legal adult adoption. He has a lawyer for reasons you know. HIS son now thank you very much.

Since I headcanon that he was kicked out on his 18th birthday this means he is probably 20 since he mentions in show he’s worked for Pigsy for 2 years.

He also hates celebrating his birthday. It makes him feel awkward and like he owes everyone gifting him anything back two fold. He goes along with it but he absolutely is not comfortable accepting that much yet.

Mei found MK about a week after being kicked out because he wanted to let her know he wasn’t dead or missing (just kinda... living in an abandoned building that was totally safe Mei trust him). Originally Mei offered to have MK live with her but the idea made him so uncomfortable (despite knowing Mei was nothing like his parents) that he immediately refused.

The two were also regulars at Pigsy’s noodles, eating there at least 2-3 times a week. Pigsy definitely noticed when MK did not come in on his birthday, or for a week, and when Mei asked him if he had seen him for the few days he had been missing he was genuinely worried. 

That being said Pigsy flipped out when MK finally came back looking nearly dead on his feet and like he needed way more help than he was willing to ask for. Eventually he got most of the story from Mei and it only took a few minutes for him to leave and come back with a key and a job offer. If MK was going to turn down a free house, maybe he would accept something where he could work for room and board instead.

MK said yes, obviously.

Most of the stuff we see in his house in the show is stuff he acquired after being kicked out. MK could barely afford anything before (most of his original art money went to Pigsy and the arcade) and now he absolutely wants to own all the dvds and comics he originally borrowed from the library 10 times over. He really only had a closet of clothes, a laptop and tablet (two of the few gifts he accepted from Mei before), a few books, and his monkey plush when he left.

He had no idea Pigsy and Tang knew each other by the way. Tang just showed up in the noodle shop one day and started playfully bickering with his boss and OH you KNOW each other! Turns out he was also a regular, just on different days as MK.