#tigerseye46

It was more than he deserved.

All of this.

To the point where every so often he’d have to peer at the world around them and the two of them just to be sure he hadn’t somehow been fooled and was being left to rot in an illusion, or perhaps that calabash those silver and gold brothers still had about.

But no, the world was as it should be around him, unless whatever it was was so thoroughly good at crafting its illusions it could fool even the Monkey King himself. For all intents and purposes, he was in reality.

And in reality, he had his two greatest loves back. It wasn’t perfect of course. Neither of them remembered their pasts alongside him, sp as far as their own histories were concerned, he was in fact the interloper while they’d been around each other for years already. He was… an untested variable.

An interloper.

It wasn’t like this was as it was back then, when the three of them had slotted together practically as one despite the superficial dynamic of master and two eldest disciples.

But they didn’t have that anymore, and he was okay with it. It was probably just the echoes of Sanzang and Baije that made them decide to bring him into their little fold, and he was okay with it.

Besides, it made for a lovely view. The way Tang would tease and taunt Pigsy with that adoring glint in his eye just because he thought he looked cute when he was mad. How he was pretty sure Pigsy would purposely rise to the bait more than he actually was getting angry because that was simply how their relationship worked by that point. How before too long had passed the two would stop and begin to laugh. A sweet domestic peck shared between chuckles.

It was beautiful in its simplicity. He was glad he was allowed to peer in.

It was more than he deserved for how he'd failed them so long ago.

--

Look, here’s the thing.

Even before they’d found out about all of this reincarnation business, Tang had been possibly the biggest Monkey King fan in China (Though Xiaotian may have given him a run for his money if all of that successor nonsense hadn’t started up) and that was all well and good when he might as well have been just another historical figure.

And then he was a far more common figure in their lives and Pigsy had grown a bit… worried. Mostly that his husband would embarrass himself in front of his idol of course. Then… you know.. Sun Wukong proved himself to be a complete and utter dork and the mystique began to fall away, and Pigsy found he liked Sun Wukong a lot better than he’d ever liked The Monkey King.

And then… well.. Sometimes things really do just fall into place, don’t they?

Of course, nothing was without its bumps, and Pigsy was man enough to admit that sometimes he just couldn’t keep up with his husband and boyfriend when the two of them got rolling on something. Bouncing from topic to topic fired back and forth like a Ping Pong Volleyball match right when he realized he might have something to add to a topic of conversation they were already about three subject changes away from it. And he wasn’t about to be that guy that says ‘back on that earlier thing though-’ and derail the whole flow.

After a certain point he’d just feel lost, catching up let alone keeping up a far away dream. Sure once one of them noticed that they’d gotten carried away they’d both apologize and be all awkward about it, usually stay on a topic for quite a bit longer, but Pigsy could tell it was just to include him so he usually assured them he was happy just listening.

He’d watch as either of them got back into what they were talking about, and whatever historical document Tang had offhandedly mentioned he’d give a limb just to peer at Wukong would mention he had a copy off off-handedly. And he’d at least get a laugh out of the shocked/awed/excited look that only Sun Wukong seemed to be able to bring out of him, as the Monkey King promised to be right back, he just needed to pop over to his mountain to grab it. Gently peking Tang on the cheek and winking at him before shimmying open the window and taking off.

Tang was always practically vibrating when he’d get back and they’d go back to whatever they were talking about without skipping a beat and… you know…

Pigsy wasn’t stupid, he graduated with top marks from culinary school.

But he just wasn’t quite on the same level as his husband, and that had been fine when it was just the two of them, and he certainly didn’t regret bringing Wukong into their lives like this but…

He couldn’t help but feel like he just… couldn’t keep up.

--

Tang had always known he wasn’t particularly good at… people… he talked too much, didn’t understand the line between playful ribbing and outright bullying, allowed his passions to drive him to the point of making some pretty bad choices.

He’d figured Pigsy (and to a lesser extent Sandy) was probably the only person he’d ever really have in his life that didn’t mind all of that. That liked yelling about as much as Tang liked making him yell.

It had honestly been a dream come true to not only MEET Sun Wukong, but to realize he was cut from a similar cloth. His ‘fears no heaven nor demon’ attitude made anything and everything slide off his back, even some pretty nasty things said with the intent to hurt (though Xiaotian was a noticeable exception, he took almost everything their kid said to heart) But by that line Tang had been so excited that he actually COULD talk to him about almost anything. And so they did. They talked quite a lot.

But… the thing was… they debated and explained and dialogued, and flirt if the mood stuck (and wasn’t that trippy to experience for the first time) Tang just… couldn’t shut his damn mouth. He didn’t really realize it until he’d been coming home one of those rare days Pigsy had the shop closed but he had to give a lecture and had just been quiet enough to see what Sun Wukong and Pigsy got up to when he wasn’t around and…

It was quiet. Very quiet. Tang almost didn’t want to breathe. He’d been able to keep silent, but he was sure Sun Wukong had sensed his presence just as the doorknob had turned. He was just a bit… distracted.

Distracted by being curled up against Pigsy’s back as he threw together lunch for the lot of them. It occurred to Tang quickly that Pigsy never let him be affectionate while he was cooking. How he was ‘distracting’ and ‘always sneaking tastes’ and such, whereas Sun Wukong appeared to be content in just hugging his husband close as he cooked. And… it was a sweet scene really. Pigsy was always embarrassed over his more animalistic instincts around him, but every time he’d poke his head in on him and Sun Wukong he was getting more and more comfortable with them.

He was the only human in their little trio, and he was sure that came with its own baggage beyond being the one the other two had to protect when Mystic demon business came up, but he supposed what made him the real oddball was simply that he sucked at slowing down.

He couldn’t keep his mouth shut for long enough to enjoy someone’s presence quietly. Sun Wukong and Pigsy probably didn’t talk near as much when he wasn’t trying to drag them into conversations or playing ‘topic volleyball’. Just watching the two of them doing their own thing, probably long since knowing he was there but waiting for him to speak first, it was so obvious how quickly they’d gotten comfortable around eachother. How quick their relationship had been to run deep.

It had taken Tang five years to worm his way into Pigsy’s heart. Sun Wukong did it in five months, and he was starting to think it maybe was because he’d never learned how to take a quiet moment for what it was.

And then the silence was unbearable and Tang made a teasing remark, because he was probably incapable of anything else.

Pigsy huffed and puffed in that cute way he always does, Sun Wukong pulled away from him and went to lean against the opposite counter, the moment thoroughly ruined by his big mouth. Again.

Seemed like he was more annoying than he thought.

He wondered why the two of them even put up with him.

--

It was... kind of embarrassing that he hadn't figured it out on his own.

Though to be fair, It wasn't like he had ‘magic truth seeing eyes’ like His part-... His ex-...His hus-... Like Sun Wukong did. And this world was kind of… made to throw him off balance, and with that everything else followed.

Waking up in the middle of the night to a knocking on his door wasn’t...something he was particularly used to of course, But it wasn’t wholly unfamiliar. Of course with the rain pounding down in sheets (Did the weather machine break again? That thing was so damn buggy what was the point in having it?) he couldn’t hear any telltale noises from the other side of the door other than the insistent knocking itself.

He was expecting Xiaotian, maybe Xiaojiao. At Most Strange, Red Son. Mystic Monkey Business, Panic attacks, ‘I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go’ He’d seen a fair amount of the kids on his doorstep before with a fair amount of reasons for their presence. And you know… he figured it would probably be easier to take care of one of the kids right now than to deal with his own emotional garbage anyway.

And then he opened the door and his entire thought process derailed with Sun Wukong standing there, in his true form (the same as his casual form but at least a head shorter than him) fur soaked and heavy from the rainfall, and very visibly choking back tears.

“Wukong…” he’d curse the tremble in his voice but his brain wasn’t quite working right now, so consumed with shock he couldn’t do much else but stand there. Wukong was trembling, from emotion (As surely he’d handled far colder weather) and as the Monkey King took a deep breath as if to steady himself, Pigsy wanted nothing more than to kiss the misery right off of him.

But that wouldn’t be welcome right now, would it?

“Pigsy… Can we talk?” His voice cracked with emotion and Pigsy felt he was helpless to do anything but stand aside and let the Monkey in.

“Are you alright?” what a stupid question. Wukong laughed bitterly in response.

“Not really…” He sniffed and Pigsy wanted again to comfort him, but, again, confronted that he’d probably make it worse. “Look, all of this stuff… it’s been a lot and my head’s been all over the place this whole time but I can’t play the denial game anymore just because I want to be miserable.” Wukong scrubbed at his eyes. “And we need to talk, like WOW do we need to talk. But honestly?” He shrugged, helplessly. “I just miss you.”

And.. this honestly felt like some moment at the end of a cheesy romance movie, and yeah they really did need to talk about everything. But in that moment, now that he knew he could, All Pigsy was interested in, was giving in to the urge and kissing the misery right off of Wukong’s face.

And after that they did talk, extensively, the fact that a fair bit of it involved the two of them clinging to each other and sharing far softer kisses on the couch as the rain continued to pelt against the windows was beside the point. Wukong stayed in his smaller form, Pigsy only asked about it briefly and Wukong only responded that he’d just really prefer to be held over doing the holding right now.

It was… odd at first, Wukong seemed to be under the impression that he needed to make the majority of the apologies, that somehow the whole ‘Being Zhu Baije’ Stuff was more important than Wukong knowing the initial purpouse of their relationship (before Pigsy had realized, before he’d known better) and playing along anyway; but he also seemed to easily accept it when Pigsy began to trade his own apologies.

They both had stuff to apologize for, and he was just glad he was finally given a chance to.

Then for a time they’d simply cuddled, allowed the wounds to heal in eachother’s presence. Pigsy had nodded off again at some point, but by the time he woke up it was still dark out, the rain still pelting the windows. He was alone on the couch but he could hear a familiar rummaging coming from the kitchen. Though it was probably late enough that there was no point in trying to sleep again, he figured he should just start the day properly by now.

It seemed like Wukong was of a similar mind because just as he’d properly sat up and stretched the monkey returned from the kitchen with a few cut up peaches, the bowl sat between the two of them as a simple breakfast.

“What time is it?”

“Early.”

They ate in silence, sweet, blessed, comfortable silence. He hadn’t wanted to fantasize about it from how much he’d been afraid it would never happen again but now that it was back, he found himself positively basking in it. When Wukong leaned to the side just enough to rest his head on Pigsy’s shoulder it was more than he’d expected would ever happen again.

This whole thing must have started earlier than he thought because just as he was starting to get restless the sun was no closer to creeping over the horizon. And it seemed like Wukong was getting restless at about the same time too.

“Okay I’m getting bored of being tired and sad.” He finally stated, standing up and stretching. “Lets do something nice, we haven’t done something nice since any of this started.”

“What do you have in mind?” Wukong thought for a second before grinning at Pigsy, a proper, happy grin that, after so much sad had just transpired, made his gut flip in and his face feel hot. He rushed over to Pigsy’s media setup and fiddled with things there until soft music began to play.

Wukong shook his head twice and with a puff of golden smoke went back to his preferred taller size, most likely so while Pigsy was still sat on the couch he could look suave as he offered a hand and grinned down at him. “Dance with me?”

And you know, maybe if they hadn’t just gotten back together he would deny how well that actually worked, tease him for being a cheesy dork. But as it was he just accepted.

The rain had made Wukong smell a little different, not by much but… different. And he wasn’t necessarily sure if it was a good change or not, but he felt the same, the soft caramel fur had long since dried and was gentle against his skin, he felt his tail coil its way around his hips and had practically encircled Pigsy in his warmth.

It was sad that things had to go over the way they did, but he supposed if they hadn’t then this wouldn’t feel quite as good. The ache had finally given way, Zhu Baije was quieting down in his head now that things were as they were supposed to be again.

It was, for lack of a better word,

a perfect morning.

And then there was a shake, a crack like a splinter of wood a blinding light-

"Dadsy! Are you alright? I'm gonna KILL those two idiots..."

-and it was gone.

--