#You're so nice I'm gonna turn into an umbrella and fly down the street!!

[somegrumpynerd]

Dudeeeeee!!!! I just got a surge of love and affection and I have to yell at you now!!! You're wonderful and you always leave nice tags on my posts and you don't have to and I'm so grateful that you go out of your way to do so because it makes me feel so happy and it boosts my mood. I love being friends with you and I love your art it's always so cozy and cute or funny and it's so round and SQUIMSHY AND DNDNSSFBKSJXISN SO CUTE!!! SO LOVELY!! And we can ramble about college au or your truce au and it's so nice.

Anyway <3

OUGH... I can't believe you've done this...

Well first of all how am I supposed to not leave nice tags on your art when it's so cool!!! You're AMAZING at everything for a start like I watched you turn a stick figure into the most gorgeous drawing that belongs in a museum and it was incredible the whole time, I'm not exaggerating when I say I hurt my back from leaning over like a gargoyle to watch you draw lol and you always draw such cool stuff!!! Werewolves and cowboys and kross and don't get me STARTED on Enoch my specialest little guy!!!! He is like a beloved nephew to me and every day I am psychicly bullying Nightmare and Error into being good dads to him!!!

And I love getting to talk about college au and Enoch and truce stuff and all the sillies with you, you're so fun to bounce ideas around with and when I have a silly idea you're always one of the first people I wanna tell it to lol

Thank you for being so cool and nice and amazing at art and ideas and fun, this whole community is so lucky to have you <3

[purble-turble]

If you're doing prompt fills then perhaps Prince Red AU with 21? We need the Cinnamon Roll in our lives

21. Sharing your umbrella with them in the rain.

Placing this one early on in the AU when they're still kinda dancing around each other.

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"Noooooo," Mk muttered the exclamation under his breath as he dashed from the safety of his tuk tuk and towards the waiting customer's door.

How had he forgotten about the scheduled rain today? Made sense now why there were so many orders for him to deliver; nobody wanted to go out when they knew there would be a downpour like this… He really needed to download that app the weather station put out with the little reminders.

Well, anyway, he hadn't done it yet, and so he wasn't reminded to bring an umbrella with him on his route today. So for the next few hours he was just going to have to be content with being intermittently pelted with rain and then driving around in his tiny vehicle that did not have any heating (or doors). So that was going to be a fun day.

After he passed his latest waiting customer their order of noodles and they closed the door on him, MK turned around, ready to hurry back to his tuk tuk. But, of course, things had to go epically wrong for him at exactly the wrong moment. What else was new?

As he was sprinting down the walkway back and approaching the tuk tuk, he splashed through a puddle that turned out to be more slippery than he expected, and suddenly his feet were flying out from under him. An undignified shriek escaped him as he braced himself for a hard and wet landing. Oh, he was not looking forward to doing the rest of his many deliveries, having just soaked up a nasty street puddle.

Just as he was about to fall face first into the gross water, he felt a quick jerk on his arm, and suddenly he was no longer falling��� also, the rain seemed to have stopped. No. Wait. It was still raining. It had stopped only just above him.

"Careful, Noodle Boy, that was quite a tumble you almost took."

Looking behind him, MK saw his rescuer, Prince Red, smiling down at him and holding his arm with one hand, and keeping an umbrella aloft over them both with the other. MK couldn't help return the smile with a wide grin of his own, even though he was now feeling a little sheepish at his own clumsiness.

"Ah, well, I was totally gonna catch myself," he said, straightening his posture and casually tugging his arm free to stand on his own, "I mean, um, thanks anyway, of course. It's just that I'm seriously not this uncoordinated usually, I'm just… uh-" He was rambling. He knew it, but for some reason he couldn't get himself to stop. The prince always did that to him… why did he have to be so darn chivalrous and have such a kind expression with that gentle, handsome face…

Wait! No! He couldn't be thinking that!

Prince Red was nice and everything, but he couldn't actually date him! Not only was he the Demon Bull King's son, but he also had been pretty clear that he wanted to take MK back to his palace in the Fiery Mountains in order to court him, so he'd have to stop being the Monkie Kid if he wanted a piece of the fire demon with the dreamy eyes…

Not that he wanted a piece of him!!! He was just… really sweet and fun to be around, but he wasn't going to let this courtship thing go on. He'd even explained to the Monkey King when he'd learned about the whole thing that under no circumstances was he going to give up on his training to become his successor. Especially not for Prince Red.

Damn if he didn't make it hard to keep saying no, though.

"So, uh," MK shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck, very aware suddenly of how close the two of them were standing to each other under this umbrella, "what're you doing way out here in weather like this?"

Red tilted his head ever so slightly, looking absolutely adorable, "Oh, I just figured you might be needing this," he said, holding up the handle of the umbrella towards MK for him to take, "I recalled you being surprised when it rained at the park last week, so I wanted to make sure you were covered."

"Aww, that's so thoughtful," MK hummed in a pleased little voice. He started to reach up to take the handle, but then hesitated. "Ah, no, Red!" he exclaimed, pulling his hands to his chest and clasping them together, "remember, I said no more gifts! I promised the Monkey King!"

There was a brief flash of something in the prince's eyes as he looked on- hurt, maybe? It was gone in an instant, though, and replaced by that kind smile again. "Well, it's not really a gift, per se," he said, "why, it's just a friendly favor. Like friends do."

MK looked down at the handle again, biting his lip slightly as too many thoughts rushed through his head. It sure would make his day a lot easier if he took it… but on the other hand, he really didn't want to disappoint his new mentor or make him think that he wasn't capable of sticking to his commitments. But of course, it was just an umbrella. It wasn't like accepting jewelry or flowers or something. Monkey King didn't even have to know! Oh, but then that would mean keeping secrets, and MK was terrible at that! But it was JUST an umbrella, right?!!

As he agonized over the decision, Prince Red seemed to notice his indecision and leaned forward a bit to get his attention.

It certainly did, since now his chest was pressing into MK's shoulder and taking one of his hands into his own, and if MK hadn't already been a blushing mess then he definitely was now. Not that he would admit to that.

"How about this," Red started, leading MK's hand towards his other and pressing the umbrella handle into his palm, and holding it there with both of his own, "you can borrow it for today. So it's completely a favor, and not a gift. This way, you'll have kept your word to… you know who." He left off the Monkey King's name. Unsurprisingly.

Those two really did not get along… yet another reason his feelings for the demon were so SO complicated…

MK pushed that thought out of his mind as he looked down at the umbrella being pushed into his hand, and he closed his fingers around it, accepting it.

"Yeah," he said at last, "I think that works."

Prince Red's smile widened "I'm glad," he said, "well, I don't want to keep you from your deliveries, so I'll leave you to it then." With that, he released the hand holding the handle, giving the umbrella completely to MK. He appeared about to step away, but before he did, he quickly leaned forward and, while still making full eye contact with the Monkie Kid, pressed a soft kiss to the knuckles wrapped around the umbrella.

"Take care, Noodle Boy."

In a sudden burst of heat, the prince was carried away in a whirlwind of fire, leaving MK standing there alone, clutching the umbrella so hard that he was thankful the Monkey King had taken away his super strength or he was completely certain he would have shattered the metal handle. It took him a few moments more for his brain to start working again, and he stumbled the rest of the way to his waiting tuk tuk and flopped down on the seat.

It seemed like every time he left the prince's company he was all flustered like this… really, he should know better by now than to let it happen. He was trying so hard to be a good successor, but he kept letting this happen! He couldn't get led astray like this. Next time he really did have to tell Red once and for all that, whatever this was between them, it had to stop!

Taking in a deep breath, MK tried to relax so as to calm his pounding heart, and maybe lower his temperature so it didn't feel like HE was the one on fire. As he did, he took a second to close the umbrella and began to tuck it behind the seat to use later. However, as he did so he had to pause.

He hadn't noticed it before, but now that he was looking down at the thing, he realized what was on the umbrella. The pattern was gold with large spots, but upon looking closer, MK saw at last that they weren't actually black spots- they were the Monkey King logo. The same as the one on the back of his jacket.

There was no way this was Red's umbrella. He had got this specifically for MK. That sneaky demon.

MK put the umbrella behind his chair, definitely not smiling, and pulled out his phone to get directions to the next delivery. As he looked out over the rain on the road as he sat idle, it occurred to him that he should download that weather station app now while he was still thinking about it. He pulled up the app store, seeing immediately that the weather station was even at the top of the recommended list.

His finger hovered over the download button…

Hmm...

Nah.

MK swiped away, going back to his delivery app. He could just get it later. He would totally remember to download it later. And if not, well, maybe that wouldn't be the worst thing…