A Son Of Two Dad's

The calm

When he woke up it was to him sliding off the bed, waking up suddenly at the impact of hitting the floor and looking around dizzily, upside down, and confused. 

Mei, who woke up at the sound of his yell peered down over the side of the bed and took one look at him before bursting out laughing, her voice loud and in hysterics. 

MK crossed his arms, untangling himself from the sheets he'd brought halfway with him to the floor. 

"Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want! It's only funny when it happens to someone else." He pouted and Mei wiped away fake tears as she calmed down, giving him a not very sincere apology. 

"Sorry, MK. I couldn't help myself!" She laughed again, small chuckles that MK found it hard to actually be mad at as she continued.

"You just look so funny!" He rolled his eyes, managing to get himself off the floor before grabbing the blanket and tossing it over her head, sticking his tongue out childishly as she re-surfaced, still amused. 

"That was one of the worst ways to wake up." He complained, stretching his back as Mei nodded in agreement. 

"Yeah, BUT it does get you awake faster. It saves you the trouble of having to make the choice to leave this cozy, warm fortress of softness." She countered, looking very snug on the bed and MK nodded at her words, knowing they were true. 

"Okay, fair." 

"So really you should feel grateful! You had the choice taken away from you while I still have to get out of bed. Really I'm the one losing out here if you think about it." She complained and MK grinned, raising an eyebrow. 

"Oh really?" The tone in his voice made Mei nervous but she didn't have time to move before MK had grabbed her leg and tugged her off the bed, making her land painfully on the floor. 

He looked down at her with a cheeky grin. 

"There you go! See what a good friend I am? Now you also don't have to worry about getting up. You're welcome." She pouted at his triumphant look, crossing her arms.

"Okay. Fair, but mark my words I'll get my revenge when you least expect it." She grinned wolfishly, showing off her teeth and MK backed away to make sure she didn't tackle him or something.   

She wouldn't. He knew her well enough to know that she'd wait until MK had forgotten about it before exacting her revenge to really up the surprise factor. 

"Uh, let's go get breakfast!" He said instead, trying to distract her in hopes that she'd forget. She stood up, giving the bed a longing, mournful look before following after MK as they left the room. 

When they got to the kitchen no one was there and Mei looked at him, both sharing a look of confusion before shrugging and deciding to make breakfast themselves. 

Needless to say, it went poorly and they both made a huge mess before Pigsy eventually came in, immediately squawking at the mess and making them clean it up before shooing them out of the kitchen in a huff. 

They laughed over it and sat down at the table as they waited for Pigsy to make breakfast, talking animatedly about the game they were playing and how far they were in it. 

At some point, another topic of conversation came up that was a little less light. 

"So... Macaque and Mister Monkey King are probably gonna be back today, right?"Mei asked and MK nodded though it was a little uncertain. 

"Yeah. I think so." He hoped so. 

Mei nodded and MK swung his legs under the table, picking at his claws. 

"That's good. We'll finally be able to get that weapon and beat up that good-for-nothing Bone Demon or whatever her stupid name was!" MK knew she was trying to help, trying to ease his nerves so he didn't have the heart to tell her she was making it worse. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think about her. 

"MK..." She sounded worried now, more serious. 

"What... happened with her? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to!" She rushed out afterward to make sure he knew she wasn't pressuring him. MK winced, looking away and trying to pretend he didn't hear the way his heart was beating loudly in his chest.  

"Not much." He deflected and Mei listened closely, moving in a little bit. 

"Okay but what about that calabash thing or whatever? What was that like?" Horrible, like a nightmare he couldn't wake up from. 

"Like here but everyone was just a bit weird." Mei looked really interested. 

"Really? Was I there? What was I like?" MK didn't think he'd ever forget the feeling of confusion and horror when he realized Mei wasn't Mei. Watching a stranger prance about in his best friend's face wearing clothes she'd never willingly wear. 

"Terrible! You were all girly and talked weird and ew! You even told me you like-liked me!" He confessed and Mei's eyes widened before she stuck her tongue out. 

"EW! THAT'S GROSS, no way!" MK laughed at her reaction, his heart a little bit lighter as she fake gagged. 

"Haha, yeah! It was so weird. Oh! And you wore this long white and green dress that was really formal." She gagged even harder, looking very, very horrified. 

"No way! That sounds terrible! Fake me is nothing like me!" She really wasn't, and MK nodded, agreeing very much with her. It was almost nice talking to Mei about it though, being able to laugh at some of the things that had happened and make it seem less scary. 

"She wasn't! And Pigsy was way too happy! He smiled! Actually smiled at me!" Mei gasped even more dramatically, looking scandalized. 

"Pigsy? NO way! That's even weirder. Man MK sounds like you were in a really strange place." MK nodded enthusiastically, hands moving about wildly. 

"I was!" He didn't want to mention anything about Monkey King or Macaque not existing or about seeing her so he kept to the lighter parts of that experience, stubbornly ignoring everything else.  

The conversation kept him busy until breakfast and then after that, once he was no longer occupied he noticed some of the worries about Macaque and Monkey King come back, sneaking up on him to pull him under again. He hoped they were okay. 

"You coming, MK? let's go play some video games!" MK nodded at Mei, shaking his head as though that would help him get rid of the anxiety before following after her. 

They were fine. They'd be absolutely fine. 

(Don't jinx it MK. Also, I guess that counts as venting? At least MK's partly talking about his trauma lol. It's a step.)