#of course mei figured it out first. and eventually mk did too. but even red son had no clue until they both had to intervene

[dragzo]

oh Red Son no-

[dancingthesambaa]

Smell of Plum Blossom Tea Ch 15

Summary: Just like a butterfly wing, a single act of kindness can change the course of the future, it certainly did for MK as a black furred monkey put out a hand towards him

Rating: Teen and up

Chapter 15: Plotting Revenge is a Good Bonding Activity

“And then you showed up and, well you know the rest,” Red Son exhaled as the three of them sat down on the swings at the park. It had taken a week before he eventually had the courage, and while making sure his father was rested, to face his friends once more.

“So you're the one who took the skeleton key,” MK said.

“Yeah,” the prince nodded and braced himself for the accusations.

“Oh thank god, I really thought I lost it on accident,” MK sighed in relief as he sagged on the swings.

“Still kinda lost it,” she pointed out.

“But at least it wasn’t through me just forgetting it somewhere!” He pumped his fists in the air, promptly forgetting he was on a swing and was now flailing his arms trying to not fall off.

“…okay you're both taking this a little too easily,” the prince deadpanned as he stopped himself from tugging on his hair, “why aren’t you both mad at me?”

“For?” They both turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

“For? For?!? I stole from you and didn’t say a word until everything blew up in all of our faces and had a crisis that almost destroyed the city-AGAIN!” He had to jump off the swing as he paced in front of them. “Why aren’t you both pissed off at me?!”

“Well for one, the key was cool and all, but it didn’t have, like, any real sentimental value,” MK shrugged, “I mean I had it for like a day.”

“Two, it just opens locks, which is pretty bad with certain things like banks and homes, but at least it’s not a weapon of mass destruction,” Mei finger gunned him.

“And three, most importantly, it’s you,” MK finished.

Red Son looked at him with the most dumbfounded look.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well you like to call yourself a villain, but I have never actually seen you do any hardcore villainy stuff,” he pointed out.

“I once saw you make fire animals to a group of children because they complimented you on your flame head,” she grinned.

“They have good taste,” he averted his eyes away from the both of them as a small flush appeared on his cheeks.

“But my point is,” MK stepped off the swing and put a hand on his shoulder, “you have been with us to know long enough that what you say isn’t what you do. You have a very soft and squishy heart underneath all those flames.”

“No! I do not!” He instantly denied, ignoring how his face brightened.

“Yes you do,” both humans said as MK confined, “and I like to think that while it has only been a few months, I know you wouldn’t steal something of ours unless you were forced to.”

Red Son said nothing as he clenched his fists, but that was all the confirmation that the two needed.

“Exactly my point, so I was hurt at first, but it turned out alright in the end, so don’t be too upset about it okay. I have already forgiven you,” he gave a big hug to the demon.

“It’s in the past nightlight, all is already good between us,” Mei joined in on the hug and grinned, “but I wouldn’t mind some ice cream after this.”

The demon Prince froze in their warm embrace as he slowly relaxed and lifted both his arms around his friends. “We’re going to the good one, not the rip off that tries to scam up for a mint chocolate chip, only for it to be vanilla and fucking peppermint candy inside.”

“Agreed,” both humans instantly said, that was the most disappointing I’ve cream joint they have ever been to and they saw ones where they can even mess up vanilla ice cream.

“We so need to catch up,” Mei said as she laid her head on Red shoulder, “there have been so much that you missed, and learning that the Monkey King and pops have a thing for each other is a whole nother ball game that needs to be discussed.”

“I’m sorry WHAT?!” He held them both out as his hair slightly flicker in shock at that abrupt news.

“Ohh boy,” MK sighed as he slumped down. “I need some mind numbing ice cream before we even go into this.”

“Ice cream,” Mei echoed.

“…fucking ice cream,” the demon eye twitched. This was going to be one hell of a conversation.

“They like each other?!” He slammed his spoon down.

“Not so loud,” MK groaned as he put his head to the table.

“But yeah,” Mei continued with a spoon in her mouth, “they have a total thing for each and the real kicker is that both sides are dense enough to not realize that.”

“Your fucking with me,” he deadpans.

“There is no fucks to be seen.”

“Unless they do it with each other.”

“Mei!/Why’d you put that image in my head,” Red yelled as MK groaned.

“What?” She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m just saying, besides I still don’t like the half priced knock off Monkey god trying to hook up with pops,” she narrowed her eyes.

“Oh,” the prince was a bit surprised by this, “I thought you idolized him, what changed?”

“Well first, never really idolized him, that’s all on MK.”

“I feel no shame,” he crossed his arms.

“Got really disillusioned by him with all of Makkie’s stories. And secondly, I hands down don’t believe that the great almighty Monkey King is good enough for him,” she bluntly stated.

“I mean you're not wrong, but explain,” the bull demon leaned in. He has known the Six Eared Macaque for a very long time, the monkey healer has taught and shown him many things throughout their lives, and has saved it just as many, if not more. So it’s needless to say that he sees the monkey as an uncle for a very long time.

“I mean other than fighting pops and almost trying to kill him over his fuck up-”

“WHAT!/He wasn’t trying to kill him!”

“He can’t just expect to walk in and pretend everything is all fine and good between them after he made pops blind and severed their friendship for five hundred years. Pops had mourned for him and self deprecated himself during his bad days, he feels the guilt and shame that had overcome him and he emotionally understood his wrongdoings but has been trying-no he has turned over a new leaf. He had changed and has learned better from the immature monkey he once was, but the same can’t be said for the Monkey King. Cause instead of talking about it, what does he do? He fucking yells and attacks him!” She slammed her fist on the table. “He attacked him and when MK stepped in between the two, which is still so very fucking stupid by the way.”

“You did what?” Red looked towards the sheepish human.

“I had to stop them somehow!”

“Not with your life!”

“Well, now I know for next time.”

“There better not be a next time!”

“It was still MK who had to stop the dumbass from fighting,” Mei growled out. “And he still had the audacity to question pops about trying to use MK like the fuck?! Who the fuck does he think he is to think that he has any parental right over him other than Pops. None! Zilch! Fucking zero! He has nothing except that pretty little staff that MK somehow is able to lift, which by the way we really need to figure out how that is possible.”

“Oh believe me, I’ve been trying so hard to figure that part out as well,” MK sighed.

“But my point to all of this is, I know he is a good monkey, him saving the city and mentoring MK and all that, but he is absolute garbage when it comes to actually acknowledging the fact that things don’t stay the same, everything has changed.” She let out a huff and proceeded to finish her melting ice cream.

“Wow…you really have thought about this,” the demon said as he watched her.

“Well I had some time to think and I still stand by Monkey King not being good enough for pops.”

“No one is good enough for dad,” MK muttered, making his two friends a bit surprised.

“I’m a bit shocked, I would have thought you would have been all for letting the Monkey King and Macaque court each other,” he tilted his head. “Why the change of heart?”

“No change, it’s just that-well” he began to fiddle with the ends of his violet headband, “I know the Monkey King and I know he is an amazing mentor, always includes me when the tribe comes around, loves to feed me, and he is just a good person. I grew up on the stories about him and what he has accomplished. I can’t help but idolize him and want to stay by his side through thick and thin. It’s just that-that…” he trailed off and hesitated with his next words.

“But not as much as pops,” Mei saw what he was getting at.

“…yeah, not as much as pops. As much as that seems mean, he has been with me for so long that I can’t imagine my life without him…Have I ever told you guys how I met dad?” He suddenly said as both human and demon shook their heads.

“All I know is that he found you in an alley one day and you’ve been with him since then,” the pigtail girl stated. “But I have a feeling there’s a lot more to it than that.”

“Yes and no,” MK pushed away his bowl, “he did find me in an alley and took me in for the night, fed me, treated my injuries, and comforted me, but that was supposed to be my only stay there.”

“So what changed?” Red softly asked.

“My former parents weren’t good people,” he breathed out. It took a long time before he could finally admit to himself that his sperm donors were selfish, good for nothing, assholes that only cared about two things, their nonexistent reputation and money. That night might have set a world record on how long he hugged his pops as he just wouldn’t let go even when the morning came.

Both human and demon knew exactly what he meant without any unneeded details as both their eyes glowed an ominous scarlet and viridian.

“Where are they?” The Bull and Dragon successor echoed as a small burst of energy flickered off them.

‘Should really be glad that today is a Monday and no one is around,’ MK winced as he took a glance around outdoors. “Guys, calm down. I’m fine, it’s been over ten years since I last saw them and I doubt I will ever see them again.”

The two begrudgingly settled down like a petulant child and slouched in their seats.

“Look dork, all I need is an address and I can promise you that I can make their lives a living hell,” Mei leaned in with a malicious smile. “They will regret even wanting to breathe by the time I’m done with them.”

“A name would suffice as well, it’s always prudent to know who the enemy might be in case there are no longer using the same location,” Red added as well.

“I am not giving you a name nor an address,” he sternly told them, “It’s been a long time since I saw them and I haven’t thought about them since,” which may be a teensy lie as they do pop up from time to time in his head during his not so good days, but it’s best not to tell them that.

“Besides, while I don’t exactly remember what happened that night I last saw them, I do know that they were terrified of Dad, whatever he said to them thoroughly shook them to their core.” He let a bit of vicious delight show on his face, he may not be a cruel person, but even he will happily admit that it was a bit cathartic to think back on that night and watch the emotional journey they went through that night as the life drain out their face the longer Dad spoke to them. It’s a bit messed up yes, but can you really blame him, he had to put up with their shit.

“Like he would do anything less for his child,” Mei smirked, “I guess I’ll let them off this time.”

“Good,” MK smiled as he got up to throw away all of their trash.

“We’re so getting it off of Mac,” Mei whispered to Red.

“Undoubtedly,” he subtly nodded, “they will feel pain.”

“When I’m done with them not even the morticians would want to come near them,” both shared a devilish smile, but quickly widened it when MK came back.

“Anyways,” he sat down with a huff, “before I got into all of that, what I was trying to say is that yes I respect the Monkey King, but I will always hold Dad to my heart first before anyone else.”

“Hear hear,” she pointed in the air, “so, does that mean you don’t want the great and powerful Monkey King to date pops.”

“Not really,” he winced at how bad that sounded. “I mean don’t get me wrong, but they just got back to being friends and I don’t think that it would be a good idea to jump into any type of romantic relationship so soon.”

“Sounds like an excuse but I don’t care, preach it!” She laughed and threw a fist in the air.

“It’s not an excuse,” well maybe a little, “it’s just that Dad said that he swore off dating for a long time after his last partner.”

“By the gods, we don’t talk about his previous partners, especially lemur bitch,” Red groaned as he knocked his head on the table, hoping that this would be the blow that would finally free his mind of those atrocious memories.

“Yeah I’ve been hearing that a lot, but what exactly did he do?!” Mei turned to look at the groaning prince.

“You really don’t want to know.”

“Heard that a lot as well and I still say, yes I really do,” the monkey successor added.

“I’m not-”

“Pleassseee!” Both humans begged with a puppy dog look in their eyes.

“All I’m willing to say is do not eat anything that he gives you and don’t show signs of high intelligence,” he pushed their faces back.

“Well I don’t have to worry about the second one,” MK grinned.

“Same!” Mei high fived him.

Red Son just looked at the two humans, one who was trying to earn his doctoral degree in Medicine and the other who almost finished with her bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. He blinked once, then twice, opened his mouth, then promptly closed it and instead pinched his nose.

“But about that first thing,” Mei turned her attention back to the demon, “is his cooking really that bad or is there a little extra something he puts in there.”

“The second one, I don’t know exactly what happened, and I thank everyone for that, but I do know that Macaque was unconscious for a few days and when he awoke he felt an underlying desire to grovel at Shun’s feet and adore him and only him.”

“He made a love potion?!”

“More like a love poison,” he shuddered. While he had never ingested one before, there have been times where he was sent food laced with these poisons. Luckily he had never taken a bite of it before, but the first time it had happened, he swore that he had never seen both his parents so furious before. “They make the user attracted to the designated target and they will forever obey their every whim and command while under this spell, or at least until the spell wears off. The more potent and permanent ones have either been destroyed or kept under a watchful eye of a higher deity or demon.”

“That sounds fucking horrible,” MK grimaced.

“Yeah, like a 50/10 of no fucking thank you,” Mei scrunched up her nose.

“Exactly, so this is one of the reasons why Macaque decided best to get the fuck out of that and break up with him.”

“One of the reasons?”

“One of the reasons,” Red didn’t exactly know how to tell him that Shun had an unhealthy obsession with the simian, always stalking him, getting overly possessive, and those were just the blatant things. Yeah, it’s best to just let it be and forget that creepy ass fucker, it’s not like he’ll ever show his face again after his beat down courtesy of Macaque.

“And that just further emphasized my point!” The teen said, “he wants nothing to do with a romantic relationship of any kind, so he and Monkey King getting together would just be bad all around.”

“And I totally agree, so if Monkey ass tries to hurt Pops at any time, I already have Operation Sticky Surprise all bundled up and ready to go,” the dragon successor gave an evil looking grin.

“Sticky Surprise?”

“Mei has been making plans on plans on how to make the Monkey King life a living hell aside from outright killing him,” MK deadpanned.

“Killing is boring, humiliation is a lot more fun and it comes with the added bonus of there being so many different ways to do it! I also have Operation Inkblot, Stink Butt, Bug Devastation, Hangman Riot, Gossip Thrill, Paranoia Pandemonium, Faeries Laughters-”

“You got the Faeries involved in this?” Both boys looked horrified. “Why?!”

“I asked and they were more than happy to agree. In fact, I got a lot more creatures to help me out as well, I have an entire file just for the forest!” She eagerly held out her phone and showed them the numerous folders in the file that was labeled ‘Dragon Revenge: Forest Edition.’ “Want to hear about it?”

“…yes,” he leaned in closer. He had to admit that he is morbidly curious on what exactly some of the plans may entail.

“Well, I have Operation Ní Chorus, Qilin Stampede, BaBa Appetite, Macaque Monkeys Mania, Kappa War, and so much more. I even have another file that contains the one Daiyu and the rest of them made.”

“Even Ahmed?”

“Even Ahmed,” MK nodded. He should know as he was there that day when they were coming up with all of these elaborate plans. He felt he shouldn’t have been so surprised when the lion demon came up with some gruesome one, involving a bag of blood and some nasty curses, but that has nothing on Minsheng and their ideas. Who knew glitter can be used that way.

“You're just trying to humiliate him and possibly injure him in the process?” The demon asked.

“He’s an immortal monkey that has been through a lot of shit, he can take whatever we throw at him,” she bluntly stated.

“Have you thought of using a vast amount of flour then igniting it? I know from experience that using the two would make an unexpected explosion,” the first time he cooked he burned down the whole kitchen while holding the bag of flour in his hands.

“No, I did not,” Mei raised her phone and opened a new document, “tell me more.”

“Nail polish is another flammable object, which is why I have never worn it until you forced it upon me, powdered sugar, Ping Pong balls, oranges-”

“Why do you know this,” MK asked with a bit of horror in his tone.

“Well after I set my Pomelo on fire inside a safe house that we don’t use often, I decided it would be best to look up what else in a regular home is fucking flammable and not so surprising, a lot of things are. But on the upside,” he matched Mei’s sinister grin, “it’s not common knowledge and I don’t think the impulsive Monkey King would look up something like this if you know what I mean.”

“Oh I know exactly what you’re getting at,” she grinned even wider, “it would be a damn shame if someone were to perhaps spill some sugar on him, and there just happens to be a flame.”

“Or maybe if someone wanted to try something daring with a Ping Pong ball only to ‘accidentally’ hit it in the wrong direction,” he ominously said.

“Oh that would be bad.”

“Very bad.”

“Annoyingly bad,” Mei leaned in, “Tell me more.”

“With pleasure.”

“I feel like I should stop them,” he pondered to himself as he watched his two friends plot his mentor not-demise. “…nahh, I’m sure it will be fine.”

“We can dump sodium medals in the water to really make an explosion!”

“Yeah I’m good,” MK deadpanned as he leaned back, “Monkey King can handle it himself.”

“What are you bozos doing here,” Mei huffed as she saw Yin and Gin at the arcade.

“We may be elite demons with awesome powers and the everlasting hunger for a worthy fight,” Jin dramatically said.

“But even we can get bored sometimes and MK mentioned this place before,” Yin finished as he concentrated on shooting the zombies. “Speaking of, where is he? I usually see the two of you together.”

“I will mention the creepy stalking if I didn’t do that myself,” she muttered, “but couldn’t make it, he’s currently doing his online courses right now.”

“Oh right he did mention something about wanting to be a…healer I think was the word.”

“No dumbass, he is trying to be a physician. Healer is so Ming Dynasty bro,” Jin corrected his blue twin.

“Hey I’m the social one, you're the one who has their nose all up in the books,” he shrugged then pumped his fist in the air. “Hell yeah, new level!”

“I’m still pissed off at the both of you for the stunt you did at the race track,” she said as she leaned on the racing game next to theirs.

“To be fair, we knew we wouldn’t win,” the orange demon said.

“Yeah, it was mostly for fun.”

“Well that ‘fun’ almost cost me the medal and you really pissed off a lot of racers that day,” she stretched and hopped onto the bike. “Side note, if you ever meet a girl with purple hair, bright green eyes, and utterly jacked, you might want to scram. She was one of the competitors and she’s the least bit happy with either one of you.”

“Is that so?” Jin hummed as he hopped on the bike next to her.

“Yeah she wants to use your corpses as a gaudy rug for her front porch.”

“It be like that sometimes,” both twins said.

“You both seem way too chill about that,” she raised her eyebrow.

“We have seen people, demons, deities, and creatures alike much scarier,” Yin started as he continued to shoot the zombies down.

“We had masters who threaten to crush our bones, people using scrolls to torture our minds, deities making us relieve the worst days of our life over and over, demons stabbing us in the heart over and over, and the sheer presence of Macaque bearing down on the both of us,” Jin casually said.

Mei blinked a few times, “Okay that seems like a lot, but understandable. You met pops before?”

“You know the Six Eared Macaque,” the blue demon turned his head to her, “of course you do, cause why not.”

“We met him a few times after the whole Calabash incident and he is much scarier than the rumors made him out to be.”

“But demon knows how to put on a good play.”

“Yeah, his shadow play is a real banger,” Jin gave a toothy grin.

“So you guys met him at the theater,” she deadpanned.

“Yup,” both said.

“Why am I not surprised,” she sighed and began the game, “well I’m gonna smoke your ass on this.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Jin grinned as he revved his engine.

“Children, both of them,” Yin rolled his eyes, but he gave a loud shout as he noticed he finished the level. “Hell Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!”

“I refuse to believe that you managed to make peaches taste sour,” Wukong scrunched up his nose as he disdainfully eyed the peach dried chips. “This has to be some mockery or imitation, cause ain’t no way in hell are those actual peaches.”

“Hate to break it to ya,” Mac smirked as he took a chip in his mouth, “but they are.”

“You heathen,” he hissed out.

“Payback for the tainted Mango,” he smirked.

“Oh come on! That was centuries ago!”

“And I hated every last bite of that disgusting piece of fruit that dared touch my tongue!” He barked back.

The sage threw up his arms and marched to the kitchen, “I am raiding your kitchen! I need to wash put that nasty taste and hope that it doesn’t taste like a cup of lemon juice has just been freshly squeezed into my mouth.”

“You big baby, it’s not even that sour,” he snorted as he took another handful of chips. He knew that Wukong hated the taste of anything sour, revenge never tasted so good.

“No, no, no, why do you even have this,” he asked as he held up a bottle of Olive juice.

“Blame MK, last time he brought home an Aloe Vera milk which I didn’t realize was even a thing,” and the sad thing was that it didn’t taste bad, just extremely weird.

“Course he did,” was all he said as he continued to scrimmage through the kitchen. “Aha! Here we…go?” He paused as he moved over the soda and spotted a large jug. “What are you?” He opened it up and the familiar smell hit his nose as he never forgets that smell. “You mangy monkey!”

“Hmm?” Mac raised his brow as Wukong leaped over him with a familiar jar in hand, “No, you are not about to drink wine right now. I can’t deal with your alcohol self, you are too fucking clingy and a hundred times more impulsive.”

“I won’t, but how did you manage to sneak this away,” he grinned and swished the half full jug in hand.

“Huh? What are you babbling on about?”

“How did you get the Immortality wine, I know they have it locked up nice and tight after my little fiasco,” he held it up for further emphasis.

“The what wine?!” He stalked over to him and snatched the jug out of his hands, “Is that what this is?!”

“You drank it without even knowing what it is?” He shot the black simian an incredulous look, he knows that he is the one who is the most suspicious of getting anything from anyone, let alone something he doesn’t know.

“Don’t look at me like that!” He barked, “It’s from a friend who stops by once and a while. When-how-what the fuck Shen?”

“You know someone who can just give you immortality wine,” he couldn’t help but find a bit of amusement from his friend's expression.

“Apparently, he comes by every once in a while and that fucker never told me what this shit is,” he growled that last part.

“How do you know him?”

“He was a friend of Ping!” He threw his hands in the air and marched back to the kitchen and put back the jug of very rare and sought after wine…on second thought it would probably be better if he found a better spot to put this.

“Ping? The same Ping who taught you medicine and helped grow the forest Ping,” he stated as his tail swished behind him. He really wanted to just shake him and ask what the human was to him, but (for once) he kept down his impulsive thoughts and gently prodded him.

“Yess,” he rubbed his neck out of a bout of nerves, “but technically I made the forest, he said it would be a good way to plant a seed and take care of it to vent my frustration. Which is weird, but oh well and the next thing I know there is a forest.”

“So you just forgot that seeds grow and made an entire ass forest without you even noticing,” Wukong smirked.

“I’m not that fucking blind that I didn’t see an entire damn forest, it just didn’t…occur to me that I made it,” he winced at how dumb that sounded. He rolled his eyes when he heard the first snort then a full blown laughter coming from the brown furred monkey. “Yeah yeah, laugh it up.

“Don’t worry,” he said in between breaths, “I will! Pffftttt! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

He gave a petulant huff and went back to his warm tea with a laughing monkey following close behind. Eventually, the laughter subsided and all that was left was a smirking monkey leaning on a simian dead set on ignoring him.

“Only you moonshine,” he smirked as he watched his friend turn his face away with a faint red blush. He knows that calling him cutesy nicknames doesn’t get on his nerves no matter how many times he says so, but he secretly likes them. It’s how he got away with some of the things he did, but now he has a new goal in mind as he casually stretched his arms behind Mac and gently let his fingers rest on his long fur.

‘Soft. So soft. I don’t think I ever felt his fur ever be this soft before,’ he eyed the tantalizing fur curled in between his fingers. Just taunting him and begging him to please thread your fingers throughout the fluffy locks. ‘I really want to groom his fur,’ his hands twitched as he watched to see if Macaque would stop him, but he saw his eyes closed and leaning back. He almost let out a purr at the sight of his friend's trust and really wanted to just put his whole body on him for cuddles, but managed to keep it down in time and instead readied himself to put his other hand to his fur, a door slamming open stopped him.

BOOM!

“Guess who's back and is hearing an obnoxious ringing noise in their ears!” A loud voice shouted out which made the two separate from each other, much to the ire of a brown furred simian.

“Who the-” he began to mutter.

“And what have I told you about keeping your voice down inside?” Macaque yelled back.

“Too many times to count,” Bohai sighed.

Minsheng chuckled as they walked in and noticed that his friend wasn’t quite alone. “Well what do we have here?”

“Hey there, you might know me, I’m the-” he was cut off by the lion demon.

“The Monkey King, I have seen images of you before,” Ahmed then gave a slight nod, “I’m Ahmed, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Right back at you.”

“The name is Daiyu chimp,” she gave a very harsh slap on his shoulder and sat on the edge of the couch.

“I mean not really a chimp-”

“I’m Bohai,” the jellyfish demon said with a glow, “we’ve heard many things about you.”

“What kind? I mean there are a lot of stories-” he was cut off once more.

“And I’m Minsheng,” they said as he sat in between the two monkeys, “and I would introduce you to Yanyu, but she’s at work right now.”

“Yanyu?”

“His student,” Bohai commented as he watched the monkey demon sit the vulture down and is currently examining her ears.

“You had a student?”

“What can I say, I have that charm,” he deadpanned then shot Daiyu a glare, “how many times have I told you not to fuck with strange magical plants unless you know what it is!”

“Again, too many times to count,” the jellyfish reiterated.

“She heard the rumors about him and just went to the forest and forced him to teach her. But secretly, we all know Mac attack has a soft spot for the kiddos,” the bunny grinned as he saw that Mac was now purposefully tuning them out.

“Yeah, I can tell,” he gave a sweet smile as he remembered all his interactions with both of his children.

All the demons not preoccupied silently blinked at Wukong’s words and expressions and it was all at once did it click for them. And they all shared a knowing look to one another.

“It’s nothing too bad,” Macaque concluded after he checked both her ears, medians, and body. “You should be fine after some rest and water, which you will do even if I have to strap you down to that damn bed.”

“You got it doc!” She saluted him and walked off.

He rolled her eyes at her antics and didn’t even flinch when Ahmed sat down beside him. “Please don’t tell me you got injured in some way as well.”

“Don’t worry, I did not,” he gave a deep chuckle.

“Thank fuck,” he sighed and felt the lion began to come closer to him and began to nuzzle the top of his head. He knew exactly what was happening, “Going through one of those moods again?”

“Yeah, sorry bout this” he murmured.

“Eh, it’s fine. Just do what you want,” he flippantly said and felt a purr of appreciation as he felt his fur getting licked.

And if the nuzzles didn’t catch Wukong’s attention then the lion demon currently licking his longtime crush did as he had to hold back a screech of displeasure at the sight, but that didn’t stop his whole body from twitching.

“Yeah, Ahmed does that sometimes,” Min smirked as they watched the brown monkey's eyes twitch. “Apparently lions do this for some social bonding and whatnot, but he especially likes to do this with Mac.”

“Oh does he,” Wukong let a small hiss out.

“Mmmhmm, sometimes hours would go by and he would still be at it,” Daiyu added and watched as his fingers dug into the cushion. Ohohoho she knows that look, it is the same look her sister gave to another male when he was trying to court the same chick as her, needless to say he can never land the same again, especially since he’s missing a foot and all.

“Hours then they're rather…close then,” he had to put on a wide grin, but he couldn’t help but bare a few teeth.

“Oh yeah, we might have known Doc and Med first before they met each other, but when the two met, it was like a perfect match.” Bohai drew out. He knows exactly what his friends were trying to do and he finds no shame in joining in. Even without the stories of the two monkeys' relations, it was too easy to see the fondness that was coming off from the both of them.

“Like a puzzle piece fit together,” Sheng emphasized. They know that the Monkey Pleb had quite the temper on him, not even counting his impulsiveness, and they couldn’t help but taunt the ever-loving fuck out of him. Life threatening, perhaps with all the killing he does, but fun, it is starting to look so much fun. Besides they already had their fun teasing Mac about this, now it’s the dumbass monkey's turn for his time in the spotlight.

He said nothing as he watched the two demons curl closer together.

‘A perfect match? Fit together?! Like hell they are! I’ll show you-no calm down and breathe,’ he took a deep breath and relaxed. ‘It’s okay. Moonshine trusts him and is okay with the…grooming the lion is doing. They have known each other for quite some time, so of course he wouldn’t mind.’ He glanced back at the scene, watched Mac's content face and he further relaxed. ‘I’m really glad that he had people watching out for him and besides it’s not like there is any bigger reason behind this than bonding.’

Then Wukong’s eyes caught Ahmed and as the monkey was about to smile wider in his direction the lion gave a little smirk and nuzzled his face a little bit harder into the long black fur and let out a content purr. Ahmed may not have any romantic feelings towards the smaller demon, but that doesn’t mean that he will willingly let go of him that easily. Macaque is a part of his pack and he is known for being…violently protective over each and every member of his small pack.

The Sage Monkey froze and barely stopped the growl coming out of his throat as he gritted his teeth while his eyes glinted a faint golden glow. ‘I’m gonna skin that overgrown cat!’

The rest of the demons subtly gave a thumbs up to the lion as they held back their laughter. Oh yes, they were all going to have so much fun with this.

A pack of fossa laid still in the grass as they quietly stalked their prey from behind. They followed the figure for some time waiting for the opportunity to strike as the prey continued a steady walk. The leader could almost feel the tender meat upon his teeth as he gazed upon their oversized prey. They have been only getting the small rabbits and birds and that wasn’t enough, it’s never enough to fill them so they're quite…hungry.

Then the prey stopped and so did they.

“I know you're there,” they all stilled as a soft voice called out. “I know you’ve been following me for quite some time.”

They all glanced towards the leader for guidance on their next approach, so he hunched down low and began to crawl closer in preparation to pounce on him.

“Ah ah ah,” the voice tutted, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Though I am talking to mindless beasts, so perhaps I should speak in their language.”

Before any even had the chance to feel offended by the words, they all smell a strange odor before-

EYES. THEY WATCH WATCH WATCH WATCH ALL

SEE THEY SEE SEE SEE EVERY LITTLE

STEP

STEP

NO ESCAPE

STEP

STEP

CAN’T RUN

STEP

STEP

CAN'T HIDE

STEP

STEP

FIGHT NEED TO FIGHT FIGHT CANT FIGHT

WIDE WIDE WHY SO WIDE

TEETH TEETH SO MANY TEETH WHY WHY WHYWHYWHYWHYWH

They’re brought back to the field, their back with their bodies, back with their heads with no teeth about to snap it right off-

“I’m in a good mood, so I’ll let you off easy okay,” they all flinched at the soft voice. “Well, what are you waiting for? Run.”

And they did, they ran and ran and ran so far that not even the growl in their stomach bothered them. They just needed to run away fast, it was no wonder they didn’t spot any other prey on the way here, they all must have sensed the predator. The terrifying predator with the teeth, why teeth, why so many teeth.

And they kept running.

“Well that’s enough excitement for one night,” the voice sighed as he continued back on his path and threw out in the distance the illuminating sight of a city. “I am almost there, I’ll see you soon my love.”

While there was a moon high in the sky there was still vast darkness upon the path as not a single critter chirped nor a single rustle of leaves as he walked upon the path. The animals all cowered away from the frightening presence and hoped that the predator wouldn’t look at them. But there were a few that were brave enough to slightly peek out from under their leaf or quietly look a smidge over their hole and get a glance at the predator retreating figure. All that they could see as it got farther and farther away was a black and white striped tail swishing softly behind him.