Chapter Text
Five Days Later...
Macaque hated bedrest with a passion. He felt useless and weak and his magic was taking forever to come back this time. Wukong and the others spent a lot of time with him, but that tended to make him feel guilty for taking up so much of their time. At least Wukong was sleeping, now that Macaque was awake. Wukong tended to stay awake while Macaque slept, and while Macaque suspected it was out of fear that somehow Macaque would disappear again or have some kind of complication from his injuries in his sleep, he hadn’t asked yet. For the moment, Macaque was propped up with an assortment of pillows on the couch in the Demon Bull Family’s living room, with Wukong half curled up on his outstretched legs, his head resting against Macaque’s stomach.
“Jiujiu?” Red Son leaned into the room. He saw Wukong and barely batted an eye, but lowered his voice. “Can you help me with something?”
“Hey, campfire. What do you need?” Macaque greeted him. Red Son stepped tentatively into the room, and Macaque saw the issue immediately. It looked like the kid had tried to do something different with his hair, and now he had what looked like a painful series of tangles at the back of his head, making his hair stick out at odd angles. He had a very pretty decorative comb in one hand and his brush in the other. “Come here, firecracker. Of course I’ll help.”
“What about him?” Red Son eyed the sleeping Wukong warily.
“Just sit here on the floor. You can steal one of my pillows to sit on,” Macaque told him. It would be a little awkward to do the kid’s hair with Wukong still on his legs, but that was fine. Red Son retrieved a pillow, then helped Macaque position himself a little more comfortably before he put the pillow on the floor and sat on it, turning his back to Macaque and handing over the brush. Macaque set to work with just his fingers at first, carefully teasing the strands out of their tangles. Once he was satisfied with that, he started with the brush. It was soothing, having such a simple task to focus on. Red Son was quiet while Macaque worked at first, and didn’t even complain when Macaque occasionally tugged on a piece of his hair.
“You used to do this for Mother?” Red Son asked when Macaque was able to shift from targeted detangling to long, slow strokes with the brush.
“Mhm. She could do simple stuff on her own, but even before she married your father, Jiejie was used to having attendants to help with her hair. The worst was when she would come down after spending time in the celestial realm and tried to take out the elaborate hairstyles herself. She always got pins tangled everywhere. One time, she even got her own fingers tangled in her hair.” Red Son turned to look over his shoulder in disbelief.
“No. Mother did? Really?”
“Really. She’d been at some kind of heavenly banquet, and apparently whoever helped her put her hair up for it had used an enchanted hair pin to help it stay in place.” Macaque smiled and gently nudged Red Son’s head so he turned back around to let Macaque keep working.
“That’s…I can’t even imagine her in such an undignified situation,” Red Son admitted.
“You should’ve seen her when she was courting your father. Or, better yet, you should’ve seen your father back then,” Macaque chuckled. “For one thing, he was fluffier when he was younger.”
“What?” Red Son turned around, and Macaque gave him a stern frown until the kid sheepishly turned to face the correct direction again so he could keep working. “What do you mean, fluffier?”
“Hm…you know those bovine breeds that have the little tufts on their foreheads and chins? Your dad had that going on when you were little. It really softened his face, made him look very cute according to your mom. She was very tired when you were a newborn, and had zero filter.” Macaque gave his nephew’s hair one last brush, then tapped on his shoulder. Red Son turned around, and Macaque held out his hand. Red Son frowned, confused, so Macaque pointed to the comb. “You want me to put that in for you, right?” Red Son blushed, sputtered slightly, and nearly caught his bangs on fire.
“I mean, yeah, if you…I guess I could…I was trying to wear it, and…” Red Son gestured to his newly tangle-free hair.
“You’ve never tried to put a decorative comb in before?” Macaque guessed. Red Son nodded reluctantly, and Macaque ran his fingers through the kid’s hair soothingly. “That’s okay. I’ll send you some tutorials for ways to wear it when you’re putting it in by yourself. For now, I’ll just put it up so it’ll be easy to take out.”
“Okay.” Red Son handed over the comb, and Macaque got a good look at it for the first time. It was sturdy and delicately made, with beautiful flames carved along the edge and a single stone set in the center.
“Campfire,” Macaque said, keeping his tone deceptively light and casual. “If you’ve never worn a comb like this before, why do you suddenly have such a pretty one?” Red Son managed to turn a darker shade of red than his hair.
“No reason!” he hissed.
“So it’s not a gift from a certain sunshine boy?” Macaque asked. Red Son sputtered but couldn’t actually get the words out to deny it. Macaque just smiled and waited for his nephew to settle down. When he finally did, Macaque said, “So…did MK tell you combs can be very romantic gifts?” Red Son’s fingertips sparked a little as he nodded. “And did he say whether that was how he meant it or not?” Another nod and a darker blush were all the answer Macaque needed. “I see. Hold still for a second.” Red Son held perfectly still while Macaque put his hair up and set the comb in it. “There. You should go show him. And maybe drag him back here for a surprise movie night kidnapping or something. See if he’s been reading the guidebook like he’s supposed to.” Red Son squawked indignantly, but Macaque just laughed and patted the kid’s shoulder. “Go on, you’re free. I’ll send you those tutorials and give you a lesson on how to do this for yourself some other time.” Red Son barely managed to blurt out his thanks before he fled. Macaque shook his head, still chuckling as he resettled himself against his pillows. He looked down at Wukong and found soft golden eyes blinking up at him sleepily. “You’re lucky your successor finally made a move,” Macaque informed him, tapping his nose lightly just to see the way it wrinkled instinctively in response. “I was going to have to fight someone for my nephew’s honor if he didn’t do it soon.”
“You’re not allowed to fight anyone right now,” Wukong reminded him, frowning.
“Not the point. The point is, your cub is dating my nephew,” Macaque informed him.
“What?” Wukong’s eyes flew wide open and he scrambled to sit up. “Since when?”
“MK gave Red Son a very pretty, very personalized hair comb,” Macaque explained. “Campfire wanted to wear it right away. It was all very sweet, and he definitely takes after his mother.”
“Wait, did you call MK my cub?” Wukong narrowed his eyes. Macaque titled his head.
“Yeah? Why?”
“I’m not his dad, Pigsy is.”
“A kid can have multiple dads, Wukong,” Macaque pointed out. “You’re just bad at co-parenting.”
“Aw, does that mean you’ll never co-parent with me?” Wukong teased. Macaque made sure to keep his expression neutral as Wukong’s silly stone brain caught up to what he’d just said. Wukong paused, confused by the lack of reaction, then thought back over what he’d just said. Right as he realized, eyes widening and face starting to flush, Macaque struck.
“If you’re saying I should be MK’s stepfather, I think that would be a conflict of interest now that he’s dating my nephew.” Wukong squeaked and hid his face against Macaque’s stomach. Macaque scratched the top of his head sympathetically and smiled to himself. “Besides, I have standards. You would definitely have to do better at proposing for me to consider it.” Wukong’s flustered screeches were music to his ears.