"Reeeeeennn—!"
Bai'he slid across the doorway with a black cat sweater littered in a array of ghost stickers, "I know you did this—!"
Ren was seen teleporting across the hallway with his robes tied loosely on his form, "Nuh uh!"
"Don't play dumb with me!!" Bai'he shouted with her hair tied up in a loose bun, a cat ears headband adorning her head.
Macaque rolled over on his side as he begrudgingly listened to his children banter, a groan left his mouth as he knew it was inevitable, "The kids are arguing again..." His squinty eyes laid upon the bare back of Jinhua's sleeping figure. His hands slowly trailed over the thin lines of small scratches and bruises that littered her skin. But he smiled at the sight of no tattoo in sight. Just the beautiful porcelain skin he adored when he first met her on the Journey.
Spooning her gently, he wrapped his arms around her lovingly and peppered her shoulder with small kisses, "You hear me...?" His tail gingerly curled around her own.
Jinhua hummed softly, her eyes barely blinking awake as she slowly turned her head to see the white fur of her lover. A small smile bloomed on her face as she sleepily cupped his cheek with her hand, "I do... But from what I remember... I dealt with they're arguing yesterday..."
Macaque paused in his pursuit of kisses to rethink of the events of yesterday. It was the day everyone left to go home and get some sleep. Some much needed sleep. Though to some demons that meant that they needed to be as close to Jinhua as humanly possible, or as close as he limited them.
He and Jinhua ended up taking in Bai'he as they're own. Even if she wasn't a demon. She was still bonded to both Jinhua and Ren interestingly enough. Turns out the two siblings were both the type to annoy the hell out of the other. Great.
Letting out a small grunt, he gave one last peck on his lover's cheek, before leaning up to stretch out his back. He continued to do so until he felt the satisfying pop and crack of relief in his muscles. He was about to unfurl the blankets until he felt Jinhua's tail trail across his back, "What's wrong? Something there?"
Jinhua continued to explore his back as she was entirely fascinated by how in shape he continued to be even after the entire journey, "I for one, never thought you would become a father... You seemed so against the idea of having kids.."
Macaque smirked, "Me neither..." He leaned back and gently caressed her face with back of his palm, "Though I wasn't really given a choice when I ran into Ren." He chuckled in amusement, inciting a small smile on the demoness' lips.
"I absolutely have no idea how they seem to spawn in like this... I just keep picking up little stray kittens off the streets." Jinhua playfully spoke while leaning into the warmth of his hand idly.
Macaque smirked deviously, "Well what if we didn't pick up a kid off the streets... What if we tried something else...?" His tail curled happily at the sight of the demoness' flushed face.
"You—!" Jinhua was baffled at the question, her mind never even thinking of trying for her own child between the two. Her face brightened in color as she quickly turned to the side with a pillow pressed against her steaming face, "Don't you have something to do, Liu'er—??" The name rolling off her tongue like symphony to his six ears.
Macaque laughed at her attempt to change the subject, his figure finding his shirt on the side, "Don't worry, I'll cook some nice breakfast to calm them down for a few hours."
Jinhua peeked from the pillow with perked ears, "Scrambled?"
Macaque put a loose red shirt on, "Scrambled eggs, of course." His hands already working on his gray sweats.
Jinhua smiled before turning back over with her tail swaying happily at her side.
Finally getting his clothes on, Macaque began his trek across the house, meaning, to use his shadow teleportation to his advantage. But just before that he shifted back into his raven shade of fur.
Walking out of the kitchen wall, he glanced through the counter that gives him a view of the living room, to see Mei and MK sprawled out on the couch with their weapons and gear laid out across the coffee table. Shaking his head, he snapped his fingers and let the heat fall into his weapon holders.
"Psst—! Pa'!"
Macaque's ears perked up as he glanced to his right to see his son covering himself in his oversized cloak, "Ren? What are you doing with my robes?"
Ren's tail could be seen peeking out of the cloak, wagging, "Uh.... Hiding from Bai'he? Mind telling me where she is?"
Macaque raised a brow, "Well. She's on the other side of the house hollering your name."
Ren visibly relaxed and waddled towards him, "Phew. Whatcha doin, Pa?"
Starting up the stove, he grabbed a frying pan and put a wad of butter to melt, "Making breakfast. Wanna tell me why Bai'he's clothes were littered with stickers?" He tied on the pink apron that Jinhua got him as a joke, but he later on began to like it secretly.
Ren's ears peeled back with slight nervousness, "Weeeeeelllllll..."
Macaque's hand sat on his hip impatiently, "Ghost stickers?"
"Uhhhhh, it's just a silly lil' prank, Pa'~! Honest!" Ren smiled innocently.
"Mhm." Macaque turned back to the stove as he became to crack a few eggs and meshing them together. His tail already starting the rice cooker as he began to clean the rice while the egg sat for a bit.
Bai'he slid across the hallway that connected the bathroom and kitchen rooms, her eyes set on Ren as she reeled back her tan jacket, which was covered in hundreds of spooky stickers, "There you are—!" A wild grin flashed across her face.
"Wait—!" Ren waved his hands frantically as he used his teleporting ability to dodge the thrown jacket.
Macaque ducked casually as he focused on scrubbing the dirt and grime off the rice before throwing it in the rice cooker. His gaze entirely on making breakfast for the entire household, ignoring the arguing entirely behind him.
The jacket was then tossed through the kitchen and landing straight at MK's face, waking him up from his slumber with a start, "I'm up! I'm up, Pigsy—! I'll make those deliveries—!" He straightened up with a salute of his tail.
His sleepy eyes blinked confused at the sudden giggles that erupted from the room beside him, "Wha—!?" He rubbed his tired eyes to see Ren and Bai'he hiding behind Macaque's tall figure. They're heads peeking out to see the dumbfounded young adult look around like a confused puppy, "Oh."
Macaque smiles at MK's salute, "Don't worry, kid. You don't have to worry about your lil side job for a few weeks." He waved his chopsticks cooking utensil around to make his example, "Your gonna feel the aftereffect of a great battle, I'd advise to sleep in a little more."
MK stared at Macaque for a moment, "What's up with the apron....?? I didn't think pink was a color for you."
Macaque slowly turned his head to glance over his shoulder, "Don't question the apron, kid. Not if you wanna live another day." His eyes glowed an eerie purple. A dark chuckle emitting from the simian deviously.
MK slunk back with a nervous smile, "Not questioning, thank you very much—!" He gave a thumbs up before waking up fully, "I don't think I need anymore sleep!"
Macaque snorted and shrugged his shoulders, "Suit yourself, kid." He turned back to the stove and went back to the eggs.
Ren rushed over and hugged the boy by the waist, "Nice catch, brother—!" He flashed a toothy grin.
MK raised a brow with a smirk, "Yeah, it was the best catch my face did ever!"He wrapped an arm around his neck and gave the giggling boy a knucklehead sandwich.
Bai'he stayed by Macaque with a silent vigil, her bashful eyes watched the two demon brothers rustle on the ground beside the couch, "Boys...." She felt a hand pat her head. She looked up to see it was Macaque's hand.
"Don't worry. You'll be friends with them in no time, kid." Macaque glanced down at the little girl, a soft smile forming on his face.
Bai'he smiled back with brightened features, "You think so?"
"I know so." He chuckled.
A crash sounded from the living room, both sane family members turned to see both MK and Ren wrestling straight into the couch where Mei fell off.
Ren grabbed MK from behind and held him from the waist, "Say goodbye to your last braincell—!" He cackled out as he German surplexed him into the small coffee table.
"HEY—!" Mei pointed an aggravated finger at her two brothers, "Why'd you wake me up like that-!??" She held out her hand, about to blow out a fireball of Samadhi Fire.
"NO ROUGH HOUSING INSIDE—!!" Macaque's projection hand slammed into the small brotherhood and sent them flying out of the doorway.
—
"Why are you guys hanging from the same tree branch...???" Redson looked up with a twitching eye. His hands full of thank you gifts from his parents as he was supposed to give them to his Godmother for keeping him safe throughout the entire battle. But he was stopped in his tracks by meeting the terrible trio sitting upside down from the same branch, using only their tails.
Ren was just chillin' with a completely blank face, no reaction, "Light work."
Mei had a small flush from hanging upside down for so long, "Oh, Redson—!! What's up?"
MK was blood shot red in the face as he looked close to being knocked out, "Everything looks so colorful~!!"
Ren raised a brow at him, "Can you taste colors?"
"Ye... Orange tastes like Orange—!" MK was delirious at this point and weakly held up two thumbs up. But he snapped out of it as he heard something crack, making the entire branch creak down a bit.
"Uh oh."
The entire branch fell down along with both Mei and MK. Ren was casually floating with a cheeky smirk on his face, "Guess I win~!!"
MK scrambled back up to his feet with a few wobbly steps, "That's cheating young mister—!!"
"Stupid demon magic." Mei blew a strand of hair out of her face, only to see a hand held out to her, waiting to aid her. She looked up to see who it was but the red nails on the dark tanned hand was a dead giveaway.
"You okay, dragon girl?" Redson gave her a lopsided grin, "That sure was a tumble~!" He played coy innocently.
"Just help me up, fire boy." Mei felt her pointy ears burn in embarrassment as she hesitantly took his hand. He lifted her up with a smile and dusted off her shoulders.
MK and Ren watched the entire thing with narrowed eyes.
"What did I just witness?" MK whispered loudly.
"A match made in the deeeeeeeepest pits of hell." Ren replied with an equally loud whisper.
MK nodded, "Not even the hellfire could tame the sexual tension between those two." A sly grin spread across his face as he watched Redson and Mei flinch after his last statement.
"SEXUAL—!???"
"TENSION—!?????"
Ren cackled at the sudden sync between the two, "Look at that MK, they're matching in wave lengths—!!" He pointed at the two blatantly.
The two fire users glanced at the other and held out their hands.
MK and Ren's eyes widened as they saw flickers of fire sprout at they're palms, "WAIT—!!"
—
"So that's why we saw a massive explosion in the nice scenery... Hahahaha—! You guys are so silly~!!" Sandy gave a hearty laugh as he wrapped a gauge of bandages around MK's crisp head. Huntsmen sat beside the gentle blue giant with an oversized cat shirt, his hair braided down his back as he looked to have a slight bashful smile when Sandy looked back at him a few times to check on him.
MK rubbed the back of his head as he laughed nervously, "Whhaaaaat~?? It was too perfect to pass up the opportunity~!" His tail flinched as he felt the bandages tighten a bit as he saw Sandy's stern look.
"That doesn't mean you can joke around about such things." Sandy reprimanded with a firm look, "It can distance some people if you say something rude like that."
MK pouted and looked off to the side, "It wasn't that bad."
Sandy sighed and finished helping the young simian before turning to Ren who sat casually beside MK, "And you? Do you have any burnt marks or scratches?"
Ren smirked and shook his head, "I teleported out of there as soon as they lifted up they're hands at the same time."
"Smart." MK commented.
Sandy smiled at this before shoving his aid kit back into his beard and putting his hands on his hips, "Welp—! Time to go greet Miss Jinhua and Mr. Maquack—!" His held out a hand to the Huntsman with a bright smile, "And you gotta go thank someone for a certain something."
Huntsman hesitantly took his hand gingerly. His small claws basically being enveloped in his massive blue palm, "R-Right..." He kept his eyes down as he walked past the two brothers with slightly flushed cheeks.
Sandy beamed and led the way into the house. Sparkles and flowers practically flowed around the giant sea demon.
Ren raised a brow, "Do you think..."
"Yeah. They're totally dating." MK bluntly stated without hesitation.
"When do you think they..."
"No idea."
—
Sitting at the massive long table, everyone began to enjoy they're brought in cuisines and dishes. Some stuffing they're faces and others happily chatting away with they're seat neighbors. It was welcoming to everyone who had experienced just traumatic times with the Lady Bone Demon.
They were all seated outside to make room for the larger guests and enjoy the gratifying gardens of Jinhua's little cottage home. The gentle breeze that swept through the table was comforting. The small pots of flowers or plows of vegetation, was enjoyable to look at as they ate.
Princess Iron Fan sat next to Jinhua as they began to dote on they're children, saying how cute they are and how proud they were during the battle.
Bai'he, who was clinging to Ren's side, looked off to the side with a curious gaze. She's never seen so many different demons in one place chatting away happily. The variation of demon races that sat at one table is a impossible feat in itself. And it all branches off on one demoness who was laughing away at a snide comment that her lover made.
Ren was picking away a few things from his plate that he didn't feel like eating. MK poked fun at the boy, but was surely silenced by Ren stuffing the food into his mouth. It then carried on to see who could stuff more food in the others mouth. Be it the nasty cooked mushrooms or the hell fire level of spicy peppers.
Yin and Jin were stuffing they're mouths as they hadn't had a decent cooked meal in days. But they were caught in the crossfire of the two fighting brothers, and they were now wrestling with them as well.
Mei just ignored the ensuing chaos beside her and began putting more sweet desserts on Bai'he's plate. A kind smile on her face as she watched the little girl stuff her face full of chocolate pudding. Some managed to smear across her cheek.
Macaque noticed and licked his thumb before cleaning her cheeks off of any dessert, "Slow down... It's not going anywhere." He chuckled.
Bai'he nodded and began to take her time in enjoying the delectables.
Sandy was laughing away with Pigsy, who was telling an old story from they're school days. Of course, Tang was flushing bright red when the mention of his long hair was called out, "HEY—! It was not a mullet!"
"Your right, it was a rat's tail."
"NOT IT WASN'T—!"
"Oh it definitely was, honey."
"WHA—!"
Huntsman just watched the arguing husbands have a small squabble about hairstyles, his hands settling on a juicy steak that was freshly roasted to rare. He liked it bloody and juicy.
Beside him sat Daiyu, or in other words, his Ex. Queen. He was still nervous in her presence but he had a small talk with her earlier and they seem to be on equal grounds for now. She looks so much happier than she was in her earlier ruling days. He assumed it was the sunlight.
Daiyu was chatting away with the Scorpion Queen, who she later learned was named Agasa. They both learned of the others situation and hit it off easily. Almost too easily. Agasa leaned on her elbow as she listened to Daiyu with a dazed look. Her lavender eyes gleaming in a sort of emotion as she heard the accent roll off the spider demon's tongue. Her face much more flush in color, her eyes more brighter green. She wore casual clothes with her raven hair tied up in a loose bun. She talked in an animated way, showing no signs of stopping. But Agasa was all there for it.
Redson sat beside Mei, watching her chow down on her favorite flavor of ramen. Shrimp and beef. His bull ears flapped in unease as she basically inhaled her entire bowl in one go, "Geez... No table manners whatsoever...?"
Mei slowly turned to the Bull Prince, "Pfft-!" She slurped up the last noodle that was dangling from her mouth and wiped with her sleeve, "Manners?" She leaned her elbow on the table with a smirk, "Have you seen this group?"
Redson felt his tail curl in on itself at the blunt mocking, "At least have some dignity as a person. Your gonna spit food everywhere."
Mei snorted and ignored his warning, "Stop nagging me. You sound like my mom."
Redson felt like something impaled him in his chest at her statement, "M-Mom—!? Such ludicrous accusations—!!"
Mei waved him off, "Yeah yeah. Just eat your suuuupppeeeer spicy noodles."
"Fine! I will—!" Redson pouted and began to devour his boiling noodles like it was nothing. Even though to some demons it burned they're nostrils even from the distance they sat. His bowl looked like pasta in lava.
Mei watched with a small smirk as he did exactly what she did just a few minutes earlier. Totally being a hypocrite, "Goofy cow." She muttered into a bite of some butter rolls.
Macaque sat back in his chair as he glanced over at Wukong who was dragging a familiar commander to the table, "Well look who made it~!!"
Wukong grinned nervously and made his way over, "Yeah... I got the invite."
Macaque raised a brow and looked over at his plus one, "So you invited Jinhua's soldier?"
Shiwen placed a hand over his chest and took a small bow, "After the battle, Lady Jinhua decided it would be best if I am out and free to roam."
Wukong frowned at the formal way he kept talking, "Stop with that sort of talk, your free to do whatever you want." He wrapped an arm around the soldier's shoulder, "Now c'mon! I wanna show you some gooood ramen."
"Ramen?" Shiwen tilted his helmet in confusion, "What is this... Ramen you speak of?"
Wukong let out a hearty laugh and dragged the soldier to a chair, almost tossing him into Demon Bull King, "Your missing out, bud!"
Demon Bull King grinned deviously as he held up a boiling bowl of noodles, "It's not that hot. It's just got a lil' kick in it."
Shiwen was pinned down in his chair by Wukong wrapping his arms around the man. The poor commander was vigorously shaking his head, "Wait wait wait—! I'm not good with spicy—! I can't handle—!" He was interrupted by the Demon Bull King chugging the entire bowl down the spirit's throat.
"Eat up, soldier—! Gotta fix that weakness!" The two kings started to cackle evilly as they saw the spirit's aura shift from a sparkling gold to a flushing red as he outright blew fire at the drastic spice level.
Shiwen had tears falling down his face as he fainted and smacked his head into the table.
All the young demons started to laugh at the sight, sending a chorus of laughter around the table.
Jinhua facepalmed, "Don't bully my commander too much now." She chuckled lightly.
Fann shook her head with a small amused smile, "Brothers...." Her eyes then drifted around the table with a calm look, "You've done well, Jin."
Jinhua's ears perked up at her friend's statement, "I did it, huh...?" She smiled softly at the sight of her family. The bright and smiling faces that surrounded her. This is what she fought so hard for. This is exactly what she dreamed of when she left the heavens in search for something of her own.
And now that she's got it...?
She doesn't wish for it to end. She'll protect the happiness of everyone dear to her.
As Jinhua was watching her family, she didn't notice her lover nervously fiddling with a small carved box. His thumb brushing against the patterns that he cut out himself. His tail flinched slightly at he anticipated when he should exactly show his gift to her and seal the deal.
Macaque kept his eyes on the smiling beauty beside him. His six ears flickering back and forth as he ran through different scenarios in his head of multiple rejections and maybe a few accepting takes.
He wasn't gonna ask now... He didn't want to ruin the experience of a happy get together of celebrating the final defeat of Lady Bone Demon.
He needed it to be perfect.
But for now, he'll wait.
He'll wait for as long as he needs too.
Macaque slid the tiny carved box into his robes as he turned to a conversation that the two ladies were having about the two fire manipulators. A smile on his face as he watched Jinhua's face brighten up in a dazzling way.
He's waited for over a few decades trying to unseal her. He can wait a few weeks to ask for her hand.
For now he'll just enjoy the perfect family he never dreamed of having.
"Hey Macaque—! Remember the time we tried to force our way through Heaven's gates and you tried to—!"
Macaque grabbed his plate and stomped his foot on the table as he javelin threw his food at Wukong's mischievous face. Who only burst into a tuff of fur, resulting in it only being a clone.
Everyone gave out a few complaints about fur in they're food.
"Wukong—!"
"C'mon man~! Not my soup!"
"Ewwwww monkey fur..."
Macaque ignored everything and pointed his staff at the simian king, "DON'T YOU DARE BRING THAT UP—!!"