A Son Of Two Dad's

Self-worth can't come from others

When MK woke up he was worried for a moment that he was back in the calabash, breathing feeling out of control and tight in his chest and he bit his lip, staring at the broken doorway. 

He listened carefully for noise, his four ears twitching as he faintly heard the sound of Mei's voice from downstairs talking loudly. To whom, MK didn't wait to find out, getting out of bed and creeping downstairs. 

He wasn't sure why he was being so quiet but he felt the need to see them all before they noticed him. Just to make sure they were real...

He peered in the kitchen, looking around the room to see Pigsy in the kitchen cooking, Mei and Tang talking loudly at Monkey King who was looking more and more uncomfortable each passing second as they got louder and louder with each question. 

MK held in a snigger at the immortal's struggle, continuing to look around the room but not seeing Macaque anywhere. 

His shoulders slumped, disappointed and Monkey King must have noticed him because suddenly he was calling out MK's name, sounding relieved for an excuse to get away from Mei and Tang's questions. 

"MK you're up! Good afternoon, bud!" He moved over, crossing the distance between them in an instant, and quickly pulled MK into a bone-crushing hug, lifting the smaller off the floor for a moment. 

MK didn't respond while his windpipes were being crushed and waited till he was down on his feet before responding, eyes wide in surprise. 

"Afternoon? I really slept that long?" Monkey King nodded and guided him to the stool near the bar where Pigsy was cooking, placing him on the stool using his tail to pick MK up and set him down. 

"It is and you'll need some good food in ya to get your strength up so here ya go, kid," Pigsy said, placing a bowl of warm, steaming, mouthwatering noodles in front of him and MK's eyes widened, practically drooling with hunger as his nose twitched and breathed in the delicious smells. 

He hadn't realized how hungry he'd been until he was digging in, groaning in delight at the taste of food. He couldn't remember the last time he ate. Before the calabash certainly. He paused in his eating, mouth still full as he wondered how long he'd been in there. 

A day at least, maybe two? 

"Something wrong, bud?" Monkey King asked and MK swallowed, casting his gaze away from his bowl. 

"How long was I... missing for?" He asked, not sure what word to use and feeling guilty when Monkey King frowned, looking upset. Even Pigsy had stilled from behind the counter where he'd been now washing the dishes. 

"Three days. It took us a while to find you." Monkey King admitted and MK wondered who the 'we' was in that statement. Probably him and Macaque. MK felt warm at the fact that both his dads had been worried enough about him to look for him, then wondered how inconvenient it must have been for them to have to babysit him when the Lady Bone Demon was taking over the city.

"Oh. Sorry." He mumbled out and Sun Wukong raised an eyebrow though MK couldn't see it with his head angled at the ground. 

"What for, bud?" He asked but MK didn't know how to answer, glad when his ears heard something from outside and twitched, making him swivel round to face the door just as Macaque walked in. 

"Dad!" MK couldn't help but blurt out happily at seeing the demon. He'd thought for sure that Macaque had left and though MK didn't blame him he'd still been upset about it stupidly.  

"Hey, kid. Good to see you're finally up." He said, looking tired but putting on a confident persona for MK's sake. Then he turned to look directly at Monkey King, face grim.

"We've got a problem." He confessed and Wukong crossed his arms, also serious as Macaque continued. 

"I've been out scouting and trying to lead her off our trail but we need to find someplace less-" He grimaced, looking around the shop in distaste and MK could feel Pigsy's glare from behind him at the demon. 

"-conspicuous." He finished, choosing his wording carefully. 

"She's getting close." He finished, deadpan and serious and Monkey King sighed, rubbing a hand across his face. 

"Okay, okay that's fine. We can find someplace else to hide for a bit while-" 

MK's ears perked up, swiveling around to face Monkey King with outrage on his face. 

"Hide?" He interrupted, looking aghast.

"We can't hide! We need to stop her not run away!" He shouted, his heart suddenly pounding in his chest as he thought about her and her creepy smile and piercing, empty blue eyes that seemed to follow him now.

Monkey King rubbed the back of his head, talking low like he was speaking to a child. 

"Bud... She's pretty powerful and neither you nor Macaque is in proper condition to be fighting her right now." Macaque shot him an offended scathing look from across the room but didn't say anything and MK wondered how much his dad was hiding. 

"Besides, it's not gonna be forever. It's just until I can find her weakness. There's got to be a weapon out there that can defeat her." MK shook his head adamantly, feeling even worse when he couldn't come up with a counterargument. He just knew that they had to defeat her as soon as they could. He wasn't sure he'd be able to get a good nights' sleep if she was still out there. 

What if she tried to find him again? Or if they were just giving her the time she needed to enact her plan? Though MK wasn't even sure there was a way to erase someone from history or whatever it was she wanted to do to Sun Wukong MK knew that if anyone could find a way it was her and her creepy face. 

"It's not going to work. We can't just leave this. We- we can do it. I know we can if it's all of us." MK was sure of it, they were pretty powerful together but Monkey King merely sighed, placing a hand on MK's shoulder, his eyes soft but hurting. 

"Bud. MK. I-" He paused, looking like he was actually struggling to say this.

"-Honestly, I don't think you should fight her." MK felt his eyes widen, breath-stopping in his throat as he tensed up and the immortal continued, his voice still soft and placating. 

"It's just- if she uses you against me I won't stand a chance. I don't want you getting hurt again." He confessed and it was because he cared, because he remembered the absolute terror he'd felt when MK went missing and he never wanted to feel like that again. 

He'd just gotten his son back, was it so wrong that he didn't want to lose him again? 

But all MK heard was that Monkey King, his parent, his idol, didn't think he could handle it. Didn't think he was strong enough. Didn't believe in him, thought he was weak and pathetic. Just like the Lady Bone Demon had said he would.

He wanted to scream, wanted to cry, wanted to get angry, wanted to storm off, wanted to be alone. Instead, he just sat still, frozen in place while his emotions ran rampage inside him.

In some ways she'd been wrong, Monkey King hadn't disowned him when learning it was MK but this? This she'd been right about, Monkey was disappointed in him and thought MK was weak and MK already knew that Macaque thought the same, had said so back when they used to train together. 

His hands clenched into fists at his side, though his expression remained blank even as they shook. 

He wasn't weak. Refused to be. 

 And he'd prove it to them both. 

(Hi! Our boy has so many issues with self-worth bless him. Let's hope he doesn't do anything impulsive mwahaha ;)  Anyway! I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you all in two days.)