The morning sun came and fell upon flowerfruit mountain as the waking monkeys began their morning chirps, Hopping their way over to one of the buildings the pilgrims stayed in for the night
Peeking in and seeing the active baby rolling monkey king's staff back and forth like a rolling pin, This sent the monkeys into panic as they hopped in and moved the baby away from the staff
The sudden sounds of distress produced by the monkeys caused the pilgrims to be woken up with annoyed groans, Sun Wukong sitting up and looking over with confusion as he scratched the back of his head with heavy eyelids
"What's the matter..?"
He asked tiredly before squinting at one of the monkeys grabbing his face and practically yelling, The news made the king shoot his eyes open with an expression of shock and disbelief
"It what?!"
He exclaimed in question and looked over to see one of his other subjects holding the baby far away from the staff, Wukong questioning how the hell the staff got out in the first place...
The monk sat up and rubbed his sleepy eyes, opening one of them as his vision cleared to see the baby squirming in a monkey's arms
Cleary losing the battle of strength
"Oh...Do you need help..?"
The monk asked as he blinked a few times to wake up, Wukong stepping forward and picking up the restless infant
"Don't worry Master, I'll take care of this..."
Wukong reassured with a yawn, He tensed up when he felt the baby suddenly stick it's tiny paw in his mouth
He responded after by hold the baby arms length away as he quickly spits out some blue hair
The baby simply smiled and giggled at Wukong's facial expressions, Making grabby gestures towards him and he tilted his head in confusion
One of his subjects chirped at him and he looked down, Listening
"Oh..! They wanna play..?
But... What do babies play? How do they play..?"
He asked and the monkeys began to move outside the building, Wukong following behind as the baby wiggled around
He watched the monkeys place 5 different objects on the floor and asked the king to sit down
"...Tummy time?"
He began to be guided along as he sat crisscross, The baby placed against his inner thigh as the objects caught their attention, a leaf, a fruit, a rock, a stick, and a bug
The baby seemed so focused on the bug that it started to stop moving so much, gnawing on their little paw as the end of their tail wags
"...this does... what exactly..?"
The sage asked as he looked over at the momma monkeys explaining, Unknowingly that he started to get more interested in the subject
"That's...Wow, A way to learn visual skill at such an early age..?
That's awesome!"
He exclaimed before remembering how much of a chore being a parent would be, bringing down his spirits a bit
"Any chance you guys can do all the hard stuff..?"
He just received a scolding of chirps and screeches as he put his paws up in defense
"O-okay! Okay!
Sheesh, Women are mean..."
He told as he sighed in defeat, one of the monkeys bouncing off his head as he squint his eyes in pain and even flinched... surprisingly
"Ow! I said I got it!"
He reminded as he rubbed the top of his head, Feeling the baby shift in his lap and saw it trying to chew his pants
"Don't eat that!"
He exclaimed in panic as he picked up the baby, Looking into it's doll eyes with a sigh of relief
"It's dirty, I don't want ya getting sick on me!"
He truthfully told as he looked at the momma monkeys, His eyes asking for help
"So... Do I give it a peach..?"
The group of momma monkeys groan in unison, Asking the king to follow along and he held the baby in one hand, ever so carefully getting up and following the group as they explained to him
"...You guys fed babies with your WHAT?!"
He exclaimed in question as his face went pink from receiving such information, The moms quickly explaining that he isn't able to breastfeed so they have to figure out something else
The king sighed HEAVILY in relief but also groaned a bit at the task not being so simple
One of the monkey mothers brought along the instruction manual that was written by Elder Liu and held it up to Wukong
Wukong curls his tail on the ground before sitting crisscross in the air, Holding the infant with one arm and opening up the book, scanning for certain keywords
"Let's see... Ah-hah, Here it is!"
He exclaims with a grin and starts reading, Feeling the momma monkeys crawl and perch on his back as they look at the pages with curious chirps
"...soggy bread, Sugar water...Cow's milk..? Those first two sound so nasty!"
He spoke with a face of disgust, just thinking about those things made him gag a bit
He went back to reading to see what else a baby can eat before he felt a pull on his ear, His right eye twitching as tear drope formed at the corner of his eyes
"Ow- Ow!
A little help..?"
He pleaded and One of the monkey moms quickly scooped up the baby and carefully crawled down, passing it to another mom on ground level before hopping off
Wukong rubbed his ear before going back to reading, Guess soggy bread will have to do for now
Better than having it suckle on another animal's--YEESH
He slammed the book close with a horrified expression before taking a deep breath and getting on his feet, Lifting his tail to grab the book and set it to the side as he walked to the food supply
'Why does parenting have to be so... freaky...'
He thought before opening a large door and asking the other monkeys to help gather a portion for the baby's meals, Of course they all agree and scatter across the room
Wukong being given a chunk of bread and an animal horn filled with water, The king walking back out to see the baby in a giggling fit as it was on it's stomach just wiggling away
He sorta chuckled at the sight before sitting down on his knees and picking up the baby
"Alright..!
Uh...Shoot, I gotta name you at some point-"
He remembered and set that task for later, having the baby sit on his lap as the momma monkeys help prepare the food
Breaking a small piece of bread and placing it in the water to soak, Now to play the waiting game for a bit
The king finding it... pretty hard to think of a name
The urge to find the perfect name suddenly became a challenge he was intent to overcome
He furrowed his brows as he began to scramble in his mind for one, The crashing cart of thoughts being interrupted by a tugging on his sleeve, Looking over as the soggy bread was being offered by one of the momma monkeys
He took it carefully and held it up to the cub's mouth, The cub surprisingly turning it's head away with a huffy face
Wukong's expression turned to shock and panic on what to do
"E-eh?!
But you tried to eat everything!
Now you don't want it?!"
He asked the cub that didn't understand what the heck he was saying, He even realized he was talking to a wall and he cringed at himself a bit
His head dropping in early defeat before he heard several chirps, He looked over with concern
"That's a bit dark, don't ya think..?"
He commented before being urged further by a wave of chirps
"Alright, Alright!
I'll do it..."
He looked around before doing this... embarrassing trick...
"Here... comes the birdie..?"
He asked rather than said as he waved the soggy bread in the air, this catching the cub's attention as it began to make grabby hands before the bread was gently placed on it's lips
The baby starting to eat a bit as it held the sides of Wukong's hand
"Hey-
It worked!"
He exclaimed in victory along with a grin of joy, His tail wagging before hearing a unison of adoration behind him, whipping his head around to see his friends standing there with grins
His fur puffed up a bit as he got flustered
"I-IT WAS PART OF THE INSTRUCTIONS! I NORMALLY WOULDN'T DO SOMETHING SO-"
The king explained in defense and panic
"So embarrassingly cute?"
Zhu Bajie chimed with a smirk as Wukong had a vein of anger pop out on the side of his forehead, growling a bit
The rest of the gang went into a laughing fit that made the great sage, equal to heaven and earth to turn his head away with a bright shade of red across his face and ears
Ah... what a wonderful start to a morning...