#we only really see the inside of wukong's house in his focus speech

[skellebonez]

Let's have some fluff. 14 or 22 with Xiaotian and Wukong

Here's a fun fact: During my last rewatch of the series I took the time to pay attention to all of the times Monkey King addressed MK. The only time Monkey King calls MK by name in the English version is when it's Jin pretending to be him in the Calabash. He only refers to him by Kid or Bud. ALWAYS. What I saw and could pick up by ear of the Mandarin version? Total opposite. Every time an English line had him say Kid or Bud he called him Xiaotian like the other characters. (Xiaotian also uses Sun Wukong in the lines where he called him Monkey King so either that is what he always refers to him as or he also calls him something else I could not pick up by ear. I’m going with the former for now.)

Also you get both because they go SUPER well together!

“You are my family.”/ “You made me a better person. Thank you.”

"Xiaotian, you forgot your jacket!" Sun Wukong shouted, throwing it at a force hopefully not enough to knock the poor guy over.

Luckily he had calculated this properly and when the jacket hit the Monkie Kid smack dab in the face it only made him yelp and tilt him over slightly before he managed to straighten up. Xiaotian pulled the jacket down, laughing. "Aw man, I can't believe I almost forgot this! Thanks daaaa-" Both of their eyes widened as they realize what he was about to say and Xiaotian flailed wildly before continuing. "-aaAAAANG I just remembered Pigsy needed me to pick up another shift tonight ok thanks BYE!"

Well. That was new. And he only had a few... days to mull that over. Oh dear.

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“Sun Wukong!” Xiaotian yelled as he landed on the sandy beach surrounding Mount Huaguo. “I’m back for training! Hello? ...hello?” He looked around, taking in the surprisingly empty surroundings. Lately the Monkey King had been greeting him upon arrival, either ready to start a sparring match or with some kind of lesson or instruction to tell him on their way to wherever they were training for the day.

Now there wasn’t even a single baby monkey around.

“Sun Wukong..?” He whispered out in confusion, making his way to the waterfall that hid the little house the ancient being now called home (he still had no idea what happened to his palace, he was certain all the stories said there was a palace back there). There were almost no monkeys around here, and the few he did see seemed to be chittering amongst themselves.

The walk to the little house past the waterfall was a wildly different visage. Monkeys littered the entire area, similarly chittering amount themselves, and many seemed to be just... amused? Somehow they seemed amused.

He’d never been invited inside the house before. He had never been told he wasn’t allowed inside, but he had never been invited in before. But as he stood at the slightly open entryway he smelled... something sweet? He leaned forward, breathing in deeply...

And then he was being jolted forward by the weight of multiple monkeys jumping on his back, seeming to laugh as he rushed forward and pinwheeled his arms to keep from hitting the walls or falling over completely. As soon as they were there they left, rushing off and slamming the door shut.

“Hey!”

“Xiaotian? Is that you?” The man froze, realizing he had been caught and this was probably the monkey army’s plan all along. “Aw, sh-, UH... come here, I didn’t realize I lost track of time...”

Odd... the Monkey King sounded... sheepish? This was plenty to get Xiaotian to venture further into the house. He took in his surroundings as he did so and it was... plain. Shockingly normal. He didn’t know if he expected portraits or treasures or what, but it just looked like a normal old fashioned house. If a little messy in some places.

Eventually he realize that the Monkey King was inside the house’s kitchen... in an apron... in front of a steaming basket... which he was pulling steamed buns from and piling on a nearby plate.

“Uh... What?”

“I made snacks!”

Yeah that... answered nothing. At all. “You... never make snacks?”

“Sit down, Xiaotian, I think we need to talk.”

And if those words didn’t make him feel instant anxiety like nothing else. There were so many things this could mean. Was he not doing good enough? Did he need to take training more seriously? Did he mess up super bad? DID SUN WUKONG REALIZE HE ALMOST CALLED HIM DAD AND GET OFFENDED!? HE DIDN’T MEAN IT(at least he didn’t mean to say it) THAT JUST SLIPPED OUT!

Xiaotian did not voice any of this and instead sat down and tried to keep himself from dying inside. The second he was seated the Monkey King placed a plate with a bun on it, slightly purple filling showing through a small slit on one side.

“It’s taro,” Sun Wukong explained, sitting down with his own plate. “I’ve been wanting to eat taro for a while, you like taro right? You’re not allergic to it? Are you allergic to anything?”

“No... I’m not,” Xiaotian said slowly, picking up the bun to take a careful bite. It was slightly under seasoned, but properly cooked and shocking light. “It’s good.”

“Good.” Wukong took a bit of his own bun, making a pleased sound. “So... Dad?” Barely able to keep himself from choking, Xiaotian quickly swallowed down his bite and was prepared to apologize when his mentor continued. “I think I might ok with that eventually.”

There was a moment of silence between them, Wukong looking pointedly at his student who sat in stunned silence. “Look... Xiaotian. I’m going to be honest here, when I took you on as my student I didn’t expect to get... attached. At least, not to this degree. I expected us to maybe become buddies after you were ready, hang out every once in a while. But I think that was kind of stupid of me to assume. I don’t really let myself get attached to anyone anymore, not after DBK and I fought 500 years ago, but I used to get attached so easily. I thought of Pigsy and Sandy as my actual brothers once, DBK and I used to consider each other almost as close as brothers too along side a bunch of other demons, and now I... I’ve changed.”

He took a bite of his bun, looking off to the side and nodding to himself as if making up his mind about something. “Not in the last 500 years, though that changed me too. I think you changed me. Training you, getting to know you more as Xiaotian than as ‘my successor’ made me reevaluate a lot of stuff when I wasn’t even aware of it. I think of you first over myself now, I worry if you’re going to come back hurt, I started actually keeping my lawyer’s emails up to date instead of letting them die a slow death in my inbox! You made me a better person. Thank you. As far as I’m concerned? You are my family... If you want to be. Was that too mu-WHY ARE YOU CRYING!?”

Xiaotian sniffed loudly, tears streaming down his face against his will. “Do you mean it? We’re family?” He hadn’t known until that moment how badly he had wanted to hear something like this deep down, even if he still didn’t dare allow himself to think anyone would think of him as family he still hoped.

And Wukong smiled softly, standing to pull his student into a strong hug. “Yeah. Yeah, we are... but yeah, I dunno if I’m ready to be ‘dad’ though.”

Xiaotian snorted through his tears. “We can start with ‘vaguely fatherly figure’?”

“Yeah. Let’s start with that.”