#i wanna be loved so fucking badly but i mean. what'd i ever do to deserve it

[kindacreepy-kindaugly]

i just rly rly wish I had something to offer

[waffietato]

Absolutely obsessed with the fact that Wukong just threw his ring into the earth and fucked off, Nezha yeeted his at the moon and fucked off, but DBK kept his on him??

Like.

(doing a readmore bc I rambled a bit but honestly it's wholesome DBK and Red Son shit I noticed when rewatching)

Don't get me wrong.

Some of the ways Red Son's parents seem to treat him early on ("Oh, don't worry, my useless boy," and "useless offspring") is kinda sussy, BUT I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE BULL FAMILY RN LIKE.

Specifically Red Son and his dad.

Already in jttw, I'm pretty sure it's established that Red Son (hehe Red Boy) and DBK were pretty close (I'm rusty on the details bc I haven't read it but I DID watch that one video summary series about it) bUT going into LMK, your first impressions of them are shaky.

BUT I'M GONNA BE HONEST BC LIKE.

I don't think DBK was rlly rude to Red Son except for when he was having issues with LBD. You DO see Red Son desperate for his approval and attention, yes, but every time he asks his father for a chance to prove himself, DBK just says, "yeah, dude, go on". Like. Before LBD, I don't think he ever actually calls him out for his failures? I could be mistaken, so correct me on that, but DBK rlly just let his son go off and do whatever he wanted (when it came to trying to help him with their ~evil plans~, I mean). I will take the offhand, "useless offspring" from the S2 special, but this brings up the possibility that both his parents might have an issue with calling him useless if they're a bit frustrated with him which isn't. Great.

BUT I'm not focusing rn on that. But I do think it goes into Red Son's characterization of wanting to prove himself constantly to his father (that he also hadn't seen in 500 years, so counting that, too).

But ANYWAY.

The fact that his father kept the ring. Wukong and Nezha yeeted the other two but DBK kept the ring in the one place he was absolutely confident it'd be safe-- with him. LITERALLY with him, in his fucking nose. He didn't trust to leave the thing he knew was apart of his son (and arguably hurt his son) in any other place other than on him.

AND GOD the S2 special actually. I wanna talk about them. So badly.

All the scenes?? Notice how at first, Red Son and DBK are kinda rough with each other. This is soon after the S1 finale, so things might still be tense with all of them. Red Son's probably still stuck hearing his father calling him a traitor and telling him off (even though it wasn't rlly him)

DBK's frustrated that he was once a very strong and powerful figure, angry that he'd been reduced to someone selling STREET food. He thinks it's foolish, while Red Son just wants to connect with his father on a different level. He wants to help his father get away from what'd happened in S1, have a "fresh start", like he said. And DBK is angry at that, and refuses to listen. And that's,, not great.

But then he gets kidnapped. And used as, like, a battery.

And Red Son goes off to find a way to help his father. That's his one goal in mind, and he's desperate enough to help him that he's willing to set aside his differences with MK and the gang and team up with them (he even forces himself to.. TRY to be nice to them. Notice how he starts off with telling them "not that YOU CARE, but my father was taken by spider bitch and I'm gonna steal your ship so I can help him" and after being met with resistance, he tries again as... Politely that HE can, and even adds in a frustrated (and probably desperate) attempt to convince them by saying, "save my father, and the WORLD"). Wukong LITERALLY weaponizes DBK's love for his family to get them all free from SQ's webs. DBK drinks so much respect women juice and loves his wife sm that he KNOWS she ain't need protecting and gets so angry at Wukong's implication that she wouldn't. Wukong SPECIFICALLY calls Red Son DBK's "half baked son" and tells him that SQ's gonna eat him or whatever in AN ATTEMPT TO PISS OFF DBK. and while DBK's leaving, he fucking spits out "Half-baked Son" like that sort of phrasing actually pains him to say. He starts to say it, stops, grits his teeth, and forces himself to finish it out. He does NOT like to call Red Son half-baked at that point.

And GOD when DBK goes to rip Red Son out of SQ's webs, and his eyes go from the angry glowy magic shit to his normal eyes, very worried and concerned, and Red Son's little relieved "father" LIKE HELLO? THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH?

And then when Mei tells DBK that Red Son did "a lot of great hero work", DBK just... Doesn't care. Not in the way that a parent just doesn't give a shit about what their kid does, but I mean like, he doesn't MIND that Red Son did some good that day. He doesn't mind that Red Son helped MK and the gang.

In fact, he just wordlessly looks to Red Son and watches his reaction.

He just looks chill tbh, maybe just wanting to hear what his son says about it.

He doesn't rlly look annoyed until Mei does her annoying lil laugh

And Red Son asks him to not tell his mother about anything that happened (which has some,,, Hm,, implications about it but this is focused on Red Son and DBK rn so I'll talk about that another time), and he's just like, "agreed, let's go home... Son" LIKE SIR FBAKFJSO

HE WENT FROM CALLING RED SON HIS "USELESS OFFSPRING" TO HAVING TO PAINFULLY SPIT OUT "HALF-BAKED SON" LIKE IT KILLED HIM TO EVEN CALL HIM THAT AND THEN AT THE END HE CALLS HIM "SON" AND RED SON IS S O HAPPY TO HEAR THAT THAT HE JUST STOPS AND HAD THE CHEESIEST GRIN LIKE I CAN N OT WITH YOU GUYS RN.

But like my original point yeah?? Just obsessed with how much DBK clearly cares about Red Son. He keeps a piece of him attached to him at all times-- a piece that he knew hurt his son, smth that was dangerous, that had to be ripped away from his son in order for him to be happy-- smth he was told to keep safe, and what did he do? Keep it on him. Bc the only person he trusted with it was himself. And Nezha and Wukong threw their rings away.