Archive of Our Own

On a friday evening with the sun looming low in the sky and the Dragon Girl starting to show signs of slowing down in their training while the Noodle Boy who had tagged along was quietly doodling on the sidelines and kicking his legs about as he laid there, Red Son was forced to confront the feelings he'd been keeping smothered under denial being increased by tenfold and shoved to the front of his mind.

In the corner of his eye as he went in for the strike, Mk reached under his shirt without looking away from his work, the fabric pulling up a bit to show the smooth skin of his back as he did so. Red's eyes darted to it despite himself before moving back to his spar with Mei.

And then it happened. There was the softest sound of fabric hitting the ground as Mk pulled something out and dropped it onto his folded up jacket beside him.

Red's focus shot to it as he moved to dodge Mei's sloppy strike. She was getting even sloppier than usual as she tired. He'd have to have them work on how she tried to throw everything into the fight right off, instead of keeping careful attention to energy to endure the possibility of longer fights without tiring herself out first thing.

For a moment, Red didn't even realize what the odd clothing was. Not until he glanced over Mk only for his eyes to dart back.

Mei was, Red decided in that moment, the worst friend ever. Of all time. Firstly for bringing the Noodle Boy along to training in the first place, partly for bringing popsicles with her as a snack, only a little because Red couldn't eat popsicles without them beginning to melt near instantly, mostly because she hadn't warned him that the way Mk ate popsicles should be considered a crime, and especially for not warning him that the Noodle Boy was trans with a habit of tossing off his binder when he already had trouble keeping his eyes to himself when it came to the monkie demon.

Red's eyes darted straight back to the Noodle Boy despite himself. His eyes laser focused onto the swell of Mk's breasts beneath the monkie's shirt, each one seeming the perfect size to fit in his hands.

He barely had time to feel guilt for being so crude and uncivilized, especially for a demon of his stature, as the next thing he knew the flat of Mei's blade was slamming into his gut.

Red flew backwards and slammed into and through the fence of the training yard. He felt himself hit the dirt hard enough to leave a slight crater and for a moment he just laid there staring up at the reds and yellows of the evening sky before finally gasping in a breath.

Mei's face popped into his field of vision, slight concern in her expression.

"Sorry, I thought you were going to dodge," she said, laughing slightly as she held out her hand to help him up.

Red shoved it away and got himself up, brushing at his now dirt covered clothes with angry, jerky gestures.

"Yes, well! It's been a while, everybody slips up from time to time!"

His eyes darted, just briefly, to glance in Mk's direction. The Noodle Boy was still off in his own little world, soft pink tongue darting out of his mouth to lick across the surface of his popsicle.

Mei must have followed his gaze, because the next thing he knew her hand was falling upon his shoulder and grabbing hold, grip tightening to a painful degree. He startled and looked back to her, freezing at the wide smile that split her face and did not meet her eyes.

"Is there a problem?" Mei asked.

"W-what?"

Mei's grip tightened, and she leaned closer.

"Because if you've got a problem with Mk being trans-"

"Wha- no! No, of course not!"

Red shoved at her hand. It didn't budge.

"I was just... surprised," he said.

His eyes moved back and he felt his heart skip as his eyes met Mk's. The Noodle Boy waved, and it took all of Red's will not to follow the slight bounce of Mk's tits as they were jostled by the movement. Red lifted his hand, barely managing a wave, and his eyes finally lost the urge to look at Mk's tits as Mk beamed a wide, bright smile that took his breath away and left a soft flush blooming across his face.

When he looked back, Mei looked very unimpressed with him.

"Thought you were a bull demon, Red Boy," Mei said.

"Wh- gck- I am!"

"You sure you're not a dog demon?"

Red flushed more at the insinuation and shoved her away, ignoring her cackling as she laughed at him. He started towards Mk and Mei followed, humming a rude song under her breath. He slowed his walk to hear it better.

"-Boy and Mk, sitting in a tree, f-u-c-k-i-"

"MEI!"

She laughed at him as his hair burst into flame, but stopped singing it.

Mk gathered up his supplies as he noticed them coming towards him, retrieving the binder and slinging it over the side of the bag he had brought for his art supplies.

"Is it my turn?" Mk asked. "You said we could spar after you and Mei trained."

The mental image of Mk's tits bouncing as they fought or squished against him if they grappled danced through Red's mind, and he hastily shoved it away. It was chased by an even lewder image that he shoved away even faster.

"Yeah, Red, isn't it Mk's turn?" Mei asked.

He didn't quite like the tone she used to say it.

Red glanced to the darkening sky, frowning. It was getting late, but if he said no what if they thought he was a pervert or phobic? Or maybe Mk would get disappointed and- wait, why did he even care what Mk thought? As he wondered that, he realized that it wasn't even the first time that he had fretted over how Mk might see him, from hoping Mk thought he was strong to wondering if Mk thought he was cool, even back when they were primarily enemies, instead of this odd grey zone between enemies and friends. That line could dissipate at any moment, he knew, if his parents decided to resume their earlier goals. Then again, things seemed to be less tense between his family and the Monkey King as of late.

And, he knew, it was not the first time his eyes had strayed to things other than Mk's face.

He chewed on his lip for a moment before giving in, knowing that if Mk pulled a disappointed pout with the way his nipples were poking through his shirt that Red's tight pants might make things really, really awkward.

"We can probably do a quick spar," Red said.

"Yes!" Mk cheered. "I've gotten way stronger since the last time we fought! Come on!"

The other demon grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the smoothed dirt of the training yard, Red's face going red at how perfectly Mk's calloused hand fit in his own.

Red opened his mouth, about to question about the binder, before closing his mouth quickly. It would probably be rude, not that he was very good at understanding social cues and the like, so he just took his place when Mk let go of his hand, already missing how well their hands fit together.

"I've gotten way faster," Mk said. "Try to keep up!"

"Wait until I say to s-"

Red shifted away from the Monkie Kid's sudden lunge and strike, grabbing his arm as he passed by and shoving him past before he could turn, and it was on.

Mk had clearly improved since the first days, back when they were on far worse terms, though how much was now experience and what was his new demonic form was left to estimation. As for actual training, the Monkey King had clearly failed the Noodle Boy, although Mk's technique had improved significantly since Macaque had become a mentor to him again.

Red, himself, probably would have been doing far better if his eyes did not continue to stray. The Noodle Boy seemed to have a bit of issue as well with his chest bared beneath his shirt, body tense as if the more severe movements that caused them to bounce sharply hurt him a little. Why he did not relent and at least stop to get a training binder was beyond Red, although he could not complain at the view. A light sweat had begun to bead upon the monkie's forehead, muscles flexing with every movement, ears twitching, though the tail was clearly something he was still gettting used to and a weak spot that Red shamelessly exploited.

Between the arousal he was fighting and the spar, Red's instincts were blazing in his head. 'Not a courtship fight,' he repeatedly told himself. 'Just a spar.'

Red managed to snag Mk's tail on one of his missed strikes, the startled chirp the monkie made made Red have to clamp down even harder on his instincts. He yanked, pulling Mk close and sweeping his feet out from beneath him, taking the monkie to the ground and catching the monkie's wrists, twisting enough to make him drop the staff before Red had him slamming onto the ground.

Red's hands tightened on Mk's wrists and forced them down against the ground, dropping his lower half's weight down to keep the mortal pinned to the ground. His heart was pounding, the rush of victory already flooding through him as Mk struggled beneath him, Mk's face flushed with exertion and nipples poking through his shirt and tempting Red's gaze.

The monkie's hair spread out around him, loose amidst his headband from their spar. Mk let out a noise, eyes blinking slowly as his head rolled, baring smooth and unblemished fur. The sound of Mk's heart thudded in Red's ears as the monkie caught his breath and Red's mouth gaped slowly open as he ran his tongue across his sharp teeth, staring at the neck bared to him.

Mk's eyes caught his, pupils large and eyes half lidded.

"I think you won, Red Son," Mk panted, an odd tone to his voice.

Red licked his lips and shook away his awful thoughts as he got up. Mk frowned at him as Red offered him a hand to get up.

"Are you alright?" Red asked.

"Just hurt pride, I'm sure it'll recover," Mk grinned. "Have you been training? You seem to have improved, too!"

Red grabbed Mk's tail, looping it around his wrist and squeezing. Mk let out a choked noise, expression going a little weird as he did so.

"You need to ask those monkies to help you get used to your new form," Red said. "You fight as if your body is the same as it once was, and continue to forget about this tail and the affect it has on your balance."

"Mhm," Mk squeaked. Had his face grown redder?

The scent of arousal hit his nose. Red quickly dropped the tail, remembering the sensitivity of his own in his true form. It would make sense that somebody with a prehensile tail would have even more, and the fact that he had so readily grabbed Mk's in the manner he had without asking or even thinking left him mortified at himself. He wasn't actually a dog, he was a gentleman!

The thought left him stilled.

He wanted Mk. Not just physically. He wanted him in every way. In his bed, in his arms, in his heart.

Red wanted Mk as his mate.

Feeling his own face beginning to blush, Red cleared his throat.

He could be a gentleman. He wasn't entirely sure how humans courted, but he would be a gentleman.

Heart pounding in his chest, Red fiddled with his hands as Mk smiled at him and turned to leave, already waving to Mei and laughing about his loss. Red kept his eyes from darting to look at the monkie's rear, but it was very close.

The sun had already reached the lower end of setting, so Red wasn't too surprised when his return to the side of the trouble duo had them begging him to let them stay for a sleepover. He pretended to be annoyed, though the idea of spending more time with the two he had begun to consider as friends was a welcome one, but he knew for a fact that Mk had work in the morning, and so they ended up wheedling him for a ride home, instead, which he relented to.

Now that he was home alone, though... he found his thoughts straying. He sat through dinner in silence, listening to his parents' idle chatter and making the occasional noise when prompted, scarfing down his food quickly so that he could retreat to his lab and ignoring the worried glances his parents shared between each other.

Instead of working on his current project, however, he found himself sitting there staring at the pieces of metal on his table, thoughts stubbornly locked on Mk.

He wanted to court the Noodle Boy.

The Noodle Boy had smelled aroused when Red had touched him, and Red knew for a fact that the monkie had no romantic feelings towards the Dragon Horse girl and, even if he had, she had not been close enough to have caused it. Which meant... he had a chance?

Red licked his lips, remembering that scent. His blood started rushing south and he shook his head, trying to shake some sense back into himself, feeling guilty for the thoughts rushing through his head. His mind kept racing back to Mk's soft warmth beneath him, the way his chest had been heaving with exertion, the pretty flush bloomed across his cheeks.

Red reached down and unbuttoned his pants, pulling down the zipper and freeing his throbbing cock. He winced, biting his lip at the sensation of being touched, even by his own hand, with how desperately hard his cock had become. He thumbed the slit of his cock, huffing lightly to keep from groaning out loud, before reaching over and flicking on one of his louder machines before spitting into his palm and finally grabbing himself in hand.

It was too much and not enough, an odd mix that left him panting but unsatisfied, and he let himself go. Red fumbled for his phone with his clean hand, getting through the lock screen. He brought up Mei's social media, knowing Mk wasn't as active, and scrolled until he found a picture that had some focus on Mk, a cute one where his sunny grin was on full display and he was looking up through his eyelashes up towards the camera, leaning into Mei's half hug, the dragon girl's wide and energetic nature clear across her face, the tip of her thumb slightly marring the corner of the selfie.

Red downloaded the picture and cropped Mei out, zooming in on Mk and returning his hand to his cock as he set the phone onto his work table, popping out the stand. He pictured Mk on his knees, staring up at him, soft pout to his lips and trying not to grin in excitement as he wrapped his hands around Red's cock.

Red's cock twitched in his hand and he tightened his grip and started to pump. His palm was calloused. Would Mk's hands be as worn from work? Would his hands feel the same? Better? Calloused from work and battle and his training with that staff? Red's pace quickened, thinking of Mk with that stupid staff, long and thick, imagined Mk balanced on it, on his tiptoes and kept from settling onto his feet with the length of the staff running horizontal between his legs, pussy rubbing against the length of it while Red cupped and massaged his breasts as he told Mk how strong he was, how far Mk had come, how he'd never known anyone so purely goodhearted, how he needed to ignore any thoughts or person that made him feel not good enough because Red had never known anybody more deserving of everything than Mk, how Mk was so far past good enough that his radiance was blinding and all consuming, how amazing and divine it felt just to have Mk's smile focus onto him. And Gods, the noises Mk would make, whining and squirming and begging for Red to let him down and take him, cooing into the praise and giving him such a sweet and desperate look as he begged Red to take him and fill him and find all the ways to make him feel good, and he would, he'd pull him off that damned staff and kiss him and replace it with his cock, running its length between the monkie's legs like the staff, teasing and teasing until finally he lined himself up at the entrance and-

Red bit his lip to muffle himself as he came across the bottom of his work desk. His cock twitched in his hands, a few remaining drops dripping down across his hand, and Red let his head fall back, riding the high of his orgasm.

And then what he had just done hit him.

He sat back up, scrambling for his phone and deleting the picture of Mk's smile, guilt clearing away the high. He'd told himself he would be a gentleman, and yet here he was, stealing an innocent picture of his two friends, his only friends, cropping one out of the picture, and coming to something as small as just the face of his crush? He'd cropped Mei out just so he could jack off to her bestie!?

Red was doomed.

He cleaned himself up and then came back to check the mess he had made of the underside of his desk. Nothing some cleaner and paper towels couldn't fix. Once that was done, he sat back down and stared at the parts on the table. After a moment he shoved them all away and reached for his blueprint paper.

If he was going to pursue this, he was going to do it right. Mk deserved that much, at the least.

Did Mk like jewelry? Red had only ever seen him accessorize with that headband of his. Was there anything he needed? That cart of his he dared to call a vehicle broke down on the regular to the point he'd already called Red out more than he could count in order to fix the damn thing, but outright making him a whole new vehicle might be insulting.

Red made a note to ask Mei for her opinion in regards to the vehicle. She'd known Mk longer, after all, so maybe he was better off asking rather than assuming considering she seemed the type to have tried buying him something not as offensively rustbucket bordering in the past.

Which meant something he needed would probably be best.

Red's fingers tapped an anxious tune across the top of the table as he thought, leaning back and frowning at the table as if staring at it hard enough would give him the answers he seeked.

Then it hit him.

He could just go to Mk's apartment and check around! That way he could get a better idea of what Mk might want or need!

Besides, what other way could there be? Going to Mk or his bestie, Mei, and asking them what Mk might want or need, or trying to carefully learn more about his interests to see if there was anything other than what he already knew that could give him ideas on what Mk would appreciate? Pft, as if he would be that stupid! Mk would appreciate him taking initiative if he ever told him this in the future, and they could laugh about it, probably over the crib of their tenth child or something with Mk clad in silk pajamas of the highest caliber and a wedding ring on both of their hands and a claiming mark on full display.

If he wanted ten, anyways. Could Red even take care of that many? Maybe just one, or two, or three, or four, or even none if Mk didn't want any. Was it too soon to be thinking about children and marriage? It probably was. Red was new to this romance and crush thing.

Red took a deep breath and pushed the paper away from him and stood up, pacing around his lab and shutting off the machines he had turned on to cover any noise he may have made while getting off. His instincts were getting the best of him, he knew, and he shook his hands out, trying to push them away and get a hold of himself.

He'd just go to Mk's, check in on him, then head out and try the asking thing if looking around didn't help.

Red summoned his transporting flames, portalling himself to the bottom of Mk's fire escape, not wanting to risk the light and sound to wake him if he was already asleep. He moved carefully up the escape to the window, trying to be quiet in case Mk was asleep. Gods know how little Mk deigned to sleep with everything he was so insistent in taking on. Maybe a better alarm clock would be a good gift, considering how often he or the pig complained of Mk being late? Then again, if it was anything like how Red viewed his own alarms when they went off, it would just serve to inspire a burning hatred within the Noodle Boy towards the sound and sound source and Red didn't want to give him a gift he would come to despise.

"-and then it went right through the cord! Like.... yeah, right!? The gall of some bad guys, that was my only pair! No, I don't need you to buy me new ones, don't worry, and yeah, I know you said I should just get bluetooth but I always forget to charge stuff, Mei."

Red quieted as he approached the window, interest peaked. An opportunity?

He went to knock on the window and froze, face flushing as he ducked out of sight at the half dressed monkie within. Mk had been in his undergarments, and Red swallowed and tried not to make a sound yet as he tried to reign himself in. He was being ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. Over boxers and a binder? Really? That was putting him in a tizzy?

"Man, work is going to take forever without my headphones, though," Mk continued. "What? No! I'm not going to just blast it from a speaker, that's so rude, Mei!"

Red risked looking again, trying to be more discrete this time. Mk's back was to the window now, the monkie slipping the binder off and tossing it carelessly aside as he continued his conversation with Mei. Red had a view of smooth and toned bare back before it was covered by the pajama shirt Mk pulled on. Was that an idea? Maybe fancy pajamas in Red's family colors? That would surely send a message to any miscreant that Mk was being courted, wouldn't it?

When Mk's hands went to the hem of his boxers, the demon ducked away again, waiting a few moments before risking another glance. The monkie was in pajama bottoms now, a matching set to the top that had that same Sun Wukong symbol on it that was on Mk's jacket, the fabric clad in obnoxious neon. Yes, Red's colors would suit him much better.

Now that Mk was dressed, Red knocked lightly against the window, trying not to chicken out as the monkie turned and grinned at seeing him in the window.

"I'll call you back, Mei," Mk said into the phone, still smiling. "Nah, don't worry, no trouble. Love you, too."

Love?

He echoed it as the monkie opened the window, nearly wincing at the slip of tone and how embarassingly his voice cracked as he said it.

"Like friends," Mk said, laughing as if Red's blunder was something softly amusing. "Miss me already? It's barely been a few hours."

Red fumbled, tsking and rubbing his neck as he glanced around at anywhere but Mk, as if the world would offer him an excuse. Luckily, Mk took pity on him and just laughed and grabbed onto his arm, giving a soft tug. Red followed it, face burning, hoping he didn't look as flustered and hopeless as he felt as he entered Mk's room.

"I love you, too, you know," Mk said. "You're important to me, Red Son."

The monkie said it as if the words didn't send Red's heart and instincts flopping and flailing against each other, as if it didn't send his brain into static, as if it didn't make his nonexistent sweat pores to feel as if they'd send his skin clammy, and from his mouth came only a pathetic "like friends?"

Mk laughed and shut the window behind Red, the demon standing lost in the room now, fingers weaved around each other as he held his arms close, unsure what to do now that he was in here.

After a few beats of silence, Red realized Mk was waiting for him to say more, and so instead he just turned on his heel and glanced around the room. The monkie's room was as small as ever, cluttered and crammed with fandom merchandise and mementos from battles and adventures, with some loose bits of trash from snacks and drinks scattered about.

The grin faded from the monkie's face, and the other demon quickly scurried to grab for them, grabbing up handfuls of trash and kicking a few dirty clothes under his bed, letting out anxious laughter as he tossed the trash into the garbage can and reached about for more. Some of Red's own nervousness eased up in the face of the other's own nerves.

"I didn't know you were coming over," Mk said, still reaching around. "It's not normally this messy, I swear! I've just been busy! So busy, super busy, like-"

Red let out a huff of air, mouth tipping into a small fond smile as he grabbed the clothes Mk had shoved under his bed and shoved them into a dusty laundry basket he noticed hiding in one of the corners. Mk was still scrambling, and so he grabbed one of the wrappers that the monkie was groping around for and held it out to the monkie. A blush flushed across the monkie's fur, one no doubt of embarassment, and Mk gently took it from Red's hand and tossed it into the trash.

"It's always a mess," Red said, unable to keep the fondness from his voice. "You don't have to apologize. I'm not going to think less of you just for not having everything perfectly in order, Noodle Boy."

Mk gave him a soft smile but did not pause in grabbing a dirty dish and moving it to the sink.

"So?" Mk asked.

Red stared dumbly.

"So?" He echoed.

Mk laughed, snorting a little as he did so, eyes closing as he did so. When he opened them, fondness was written across his face from the soft smile to the soft crinkle to his eyes.

"You didn't come all this way just to see me, did you?" Mk asked. "So what can I help you with, Red?"

Oh! Red rubbed his neck, not sure if he could be more flustered than he already was. He couldn't just say 'hey, I came here like some creepy weirdo to try and figure out what to get you as a courting gift because I want to bend you over and rail you until your neighbors know my name because it will be the only thing you'll be able to say but also I want to hold you and keep you forever and be all soft and sappy and grossly domestic with you and fuck you on every surface known to man because I can be dynamic like that' after all.

"I have the house to myself tomorrow but a lot of work on some projects I have to do, and I was wondering if maybe you would like to come assist me," Red lied.

Mk's face lit up.

"Just the two of us, in your big empty house?" Mk asked with a smirk. "Why, Red, so forward! Consider it a date!"

The monkie winked at him, and Red felt his heart do flips. A date? No, it was just a human saying, wasn't it? He shouldn't get so ahead of himself.

"Well- gck- gah- of course! Splendid. Superb. I, uh... I'll see you then! Then. Yeah. So..."

Mk seemed amused by his struggling, and stepped closer. Red could feel a few loose sparks lighting amidst his hair and hurriedly tamped down on it as Mk leaned against him. He could feel the monkie's bust pressing against him as Mk pressed against him. From this close, he could smell the monkie's breath, minty with the toothpaste he must have used to brush his teeth as he was getting ready for bed. The monkie's tongue slipped out of his mouth, the softest flash of pink, licking across his mouth, giving Red a peek at just a hint of the sharp teeth and long canines hidden within his mouth. It would be so easy to capture it, to lean down, nip at that mouth with his own teeth, press his tongue into Mk's mouth and lick across those teeth himself, feel their tips, feel them pressed against his skin as they leave marks across each other's body.

It occurred to him that his blood had rushed south. Very south. And Mk was pressed really, really close.

He stepped back quickly, hoping Mk hadn't noticed how hard Red was, shifting his jacket to try and hide the no doubt obvious tent. He should have worn looser pants. Mk's face seemed to fall, but it was gone so quickly that he must have imagined it.

"I'll text you," Red said. "Before- before I start working. I can cook, so don't worry about food. I should- I have to go before my absence is noticed."

"I should get to bed, too," Mk said, sounding oddly disappointed. "Goodnight, Red."

Red's heart twisted in his chest. One day, if things went right, if he did things right, they would be able to sleep in the same bed, wrapped around each other, and- okay, he had to go. His willpower would only last so long.

Besides, he had an idea of what to do now.

"Goodnight, Mk," he said. "Sleep well."

He hurried out the window, teleporting in flames before his feet even hit the fire escape. He materialized in his room and moved to his desk, reaching already for the blueprint paper before pausing at the uncomfortable pressure and throbbing in his pants.

Maybe a cold shower first.

After finally getting his body calmed down and his cock not so painfully hard, he returned to his desk, jotting down some quick notes for the headphones he would make. Then he paused.

He wasn't having the house to himself tomorrow. He had to get his parents out of here. For an unknown amount of time.

"Fuck," he cursed.

He could do this. Bribe them with the idea of a date night. Or mess up the wifi and tell his parents he needs to redo all the wiring to fix it and so they really should go somewhere else. No, that would be too suspicious. Mother would know something was up and only father used the wifi.

Maybe a date night would work best? But he'd have to be slick about it. Mother would know something was up, so maybe talk to father, put the idea in his head, and hope he took the hint? No. No, he'd figure something better out by morning.

He checked the time. Too late to speak to either of them now. He'd have to strike in the morning.

It seemed to take ages before morning finally came. He worked through the night, finalizing on a design and estimating the materials he would need, pleased to find he already had what he needed from his scrap pile and filing system. He'd make every part of it himself, down to the very circuits. The cord would need to be extra durable coating around the wires that would not interfere with the current. Maybe even make it able to be turned between corded and bluetooth? And there was the matter of battery. Then again, he could probably mix in some enchantments.

The moment his alarm went off for father's coffee time, he rushed from his desk to the kitchens. Father was there, drowsy and sipping from his mug, eyes half closed and repeatedly falling as his head would dip before it would shoot up again and he'd take another sip.

"Father!"

His father startled awake, drops of coffee falling from his cup and onto his chest and the table. Red barreled through into conversation before father could be or show irritation over it.

"Where are you taking mother today?"

His father frowned and let out a confused grunt.

Red faked confusion of his own.

"You do know what today is, don't you?" Red asked, sounding adequately flabbergasted.

Father's frown deepened, but Red saw a flicker of worry in the bull demon's eyes, now.

"You're telling me you didn't plan anything?   " Red dropped his voice to a hiss. "Father!"

"I forgot!" Father said. "Of course I know what today is!"

Red knew for a fact that father did not know what today was.

Red groaned and ran his hand across his face. His father let out a distressed noise that sounded way too similar to a moo for Red's comfort.

"Quickly! Up, up! You have to get your best armor, make sure it's polished! I'll throw something together so you can bring her breakfast in bed, and then figure out where you're taking her today?"

"When?"

Red gave his father his best disbelieving look.

"Are you serious, father?" He asked, plastering on his best horrified face. "You're not going to spend today with her? You think you can just take her to dinner and that's it? On today of all days? Quickly! Go get your armor, I'll get a breakfast ready, just tell her you made it. That should give you time to figure out a plan."

Red hurried off to the kitchen before father could respond, whipping the bull clones into action and preparing mother's favorite breakfast, only stopping to down father's forgotten coffee. Father was back before it was entirely finished, decked in his ceremonial armor, horns polished and carefully decorated with golden caps, and settled in beside Red to assist. Red saw him off once it was ready, following at a distance. He waited out of sight as father gave it to mother, and once father finally came out of the room and headed off, Red entered his parents' room as casually as he could.

Mother was sat up in bed, hair down and looking at the meal with a bit of confusion in her gaze. Her eyes flicked up to meet Red's as he entered, and he waited as she inspected the meal and then spoke first.

"Your father is acting weirdly," Mother said. "Breakfast in bed? He's usually still half asleep at this hour."

"Well, obviously. What with what day it is, and all."

Mother stared blankly back at him.

"Mother! You forgot?" Red gasped, giving her a bewildered look like he had his father earlier. "Today, of all days!?"

He shook his head quickly, ignoring his mother's frown.

"Eat your breakfast, I'll try to see if I can whip up a gift for you to give father later. I can tell some bull clones to assist you in getting ready, no doubt he's got a whole day planned for the two of you."

Mother sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Red froze like a deer in headlights when she looked up and fixated him with a disapproving frown.

"Exactly how dumb do you think I am, Red Son?"

"I don't know what you mean, mother, forgetting what today is isn't something to be ashamed of, I-"

"And what is so important to get us out of the castle for the day and go through the hassle of lying to your own parents?"

Red shrank in on himself under his mother's icy stare.

"Okay, okay! It's just a normal day," Red broke. "But it is important, I swear!"

"Is it a girl?"

Red's face flushed.

"A boy," he admitted. "But he is royal! T-technically."

"It's the thief, isn't it?"

Red was pretty sure he felt his soul leave his body. His mouth opened and closed a few times before finally falling shut as he averted his gaze from his mother's.

"Fine. I'll go along with your little scheme."

Red's eyes shot back to his mother.

His mother shook her head, laughing quietly under her breath as she picked up her chopsticks.

"You made this, didn't you?" Mother asked. "Your father would have made breakfast food if he had done it. And you never add as much spice when you make food for me, just the way I prefer."

"I did," Red admitted, approaching her now. "I am sorry, mother, I just-"

"No need," mother said, gesturing to her stand at the brush. Red retrieved it for her and crawled onto the bed, settling down beside her to brush his mother's hair. "You know already how your father and I met. My family didn't approve, but it didn't matter. We chose love, rather than politics. I would be a hypocrite to disaprove, especially after the times he has assisted us. Maybe this is the push that will finally begin to mend old wounds between our families, and if my son is pursuing love, then I would be a hypocrite to try and get in the way of it."

Red's nerves calmed as he continued to brush his mother's hair as she fell into silence for a bit and quietly ate her breakfast. It made him think of before, of the times during her depressive state after the loss of father where he would quietly keep her company, and they would find comfort even just sitting quietly near each other. Or when he was younger, brushing her hair as a child and pulling her hair into messy buns and other such hairstyles with clumsy hands.

"It's been a long time since we did each other's hair," he said.

"Do you remember the time I let you do my makeup?" Mother asked. "You were so little."

Red bit back a laugh but couldn't help the grin that came with it.

"It was horrible, and father came in and you asked him how it looked," Red said. "And he said..."

"He said I looked beautiful."

"He always says you're beautiful, mother."

"And he always means it."

Mother finished her food and gently placed her chopsticks down, making no move to get up as Red carefully began weaving his mother's hair into her favorite style, frowning with concentration as he weaved them carefully into horns.

"Is he kind to you?" She asked. "Does he make you feel as if he will love you no matter what you look like? Would you trust him at your back in a fight, even against unwinnable odds? Do you trust that he would stand by you?"

"...I do," he said. "And I would do the same, even if my courting is refused, even if he does not love me the way I love him, just being able to count myself as his friend would be enough, as long as he was happy."

"Then I approve," mother said. "And I will make sure your father does as well."

Red swallowed past the forming lump in his throat and bit back tears that welled in his eyes before mother could notice him getting emotional.

"Thank you, mother," he said, hoping she would be able to tell from his tone how much this meant to him. Maybe she did. Maybe she didn't. Either way, he finished her hair and sat quietly as she turned and did his own, pulling it into a bun instead of his usual ponytail when he let her know he'd be working with his vehicles later on.

He saw his parents off soon after, his mother's words still lingering with him as he shot a text off to Mk to see if he was able to meet up soon. Mk replied quickly, sending a laughing emoji and a text of 'I'll fly down, just make sure a window's open for me' when Red asked if he was up for coming down for hanging out.

Red opened his window and rushed around to ensure everything was orderly and clean, hiding the blueprints and parts for the headphones away when he realized that he had left them out. Mk didn't take too long to arrive, a dark feathered hawk swooping in through his window and landing clumsily onto the floor, talons sliding a little on the smooth flooring before falling on its face with an undignified squawk. Biting back laughter for Mk's sake, he moved to help the bird up, though Mk quickly got onto his feet and shook out his feathers before transforming in a flash of light, Red freezing as Mk fixed his hair before him, the monkie's tail lashing with flustered embarrasment.

The monkie was wearing a red crop top in a shade pretty close to his bandana and a purple skirt that was pretty close to the purple for Red's family's crest. It was a hard battle not to look him over and take it all in, a battle that he lost the moment he realized Mk wasn't looking at him yet.

"We have a door, you know."

Mk turned, the sunny smile that spread across his face taking Red's breath away for a moment. The monkie said something, the words running right over Red's head before he blinked and asked Mk to repeat. The monkie laughed, sending Red's poor heart aflutter.

"Something got your tongue?" Mk asked. "You're usually better at paying attention, Red. And you say my head is always in the clouds."

The monkie approached him, leaning in close, the soft scent of noodles with a hint of the scent of starfruit that always enveloped him brushing against Red's nose.

"Why so distracted, Red Son?" The monkie purred.

Red's cock gave a hearty and demanding twitch in his pants, already trying to rise to attention at the sultry tone. His face flushed, and he looked away, words dying in his throat, before managing a rough response of "just thinking about my work."

Disappointment flashed across the monkie's face, but it was chased away so quickly by another smile that Red wasn't sure if he had imagined it or not.

"You look nice," Red said. "I mean- good thinking on wearing something light, it can get hot in there. I'm fine with high temperatures, but I know it's because of my own fire."

He stepped away from the monkie, turning and heading towards his garage after grabbing a few needed tools that he knew he had forgotten to make sure were down there earlier. The soft footfalls of the monkie behind him assured him that Mk was following, the other giving a soft sigh.

"So what are we working on?"

"Father was a bit too reckless on hitting pitholes and the muffler came down off of the vehicle I made for him, so I have to replace what came out since I doubt he bothered to look for any nuts or bolts or the like that would have fallen. Came screeching back home with it dragging along, so have to check to see if it's even still usable, and then once anything lost is replaced and anything loose is tightened, I'm going to make sure everything else looks alright and isn't loose under there. Probably just a loose bolt from one of the braces on the muffler. Very simple fix."

No answer came, and so he glanced back. Mk looked miles away, and Red sighed, though it was more fond than irritated.

"None of that registered, did it?" He asked.

"Not. A. Thing."

If it had been anyone other than Mk, Red knew the response would probably piss him off. But it wasn't anybody else. It was Mk. He found it oddly endearing that Mk would just let him ramble instead of interrupting to say to get to the point or even the ruder request of 'chinese, please' as if he was speaking a different language.

"And you just let me go on?"

"What can I say? You have a nice voice."

Red cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, struggling to clamp down on the flustered blush that swarmed his face and tried to cause sparks in his hair.

Mk began to wander the second they got into the garage, oohing and aahing at the vehicles. Red merely shook his head and got things set up for himself before grabbing his creeper and laying down on it after tossing aside his jacket onto the cleanest chair. Mk's footsteps neared as he rolled under the vehicle, seemingly satisfied with his exploring.

"Need anything?" The monkie asked. "I'm pretty... handy~"

Red inspected the damage done. Scraped to hell and back but otherwise it should still be usable. Looked like it was loose and lost, just as he expected.

He pushed it back up into place.

"Hold this here?"

Mk did as told, dutifully reaching down and keeping it in place. Red did the needed repair and then tested the other brace. It would need tightened up, but should be able to support the muffler if Mk let go. He rolled out from under it a bit just in case before telling Mk to let go. It stayed put when he did, and so Red rolled back and tightened it before rolling further in to check everything else. He should probably change the oil while he was down here, too. Gods know his father probably never even checked it.

"Do you know how to check oil?"

"Yeah!"

"Check how much he's put on Trip A before you check, too, will you?"

He checked around as Mk did so, rolling his eyes as Mk confirmed his suspicions. His father was lucky he hadn't ruined it.

"Note to self, don't trust father with the wellbeing of anything mechanical," Red said.

Mk laughed, a sound that washed Red's frustration into amusement.

"You should see Mr. Tang," Mk said. "If Pigsy had hair, it would be gray just from that one time he tried to show him how to check the coolant when he tried to cover for me once on deliveries when I was sick."

"My father tried to put oil into the coolant when I tried to show him. Nearly gave me an aneurysm," Red said, before squinting at the state of the vehicle from what he could see beneath it. "What the hell was he even doing with this, joyriding? Can you hand me the wire cutters? He's got- I don't even know what this is, is this a stick? Where the hell would he have gotten a stick stuck under here?- stuck in between the bearings and I don't want to brute force it out."

Some shuffling, but nothing hit the hand he held out. After waiting a bit longer there came a "is there a pair in this box? Oh! There's another layer, hold on."

Red rolled out from under the vehicle, pushing himself out the other side where he could hear Mk being headfirst so that he didn't have to completely roll out, his mouth already opening to speak, but his words died in his throat as he looked up to see he'd rolled out under Mk's skirt.

The monkie wasn't wearing underwear.

It did not instantly occur to Red that he should make a quick escape back beneath his vehicle. He stared like a man staring upon the secrets of the universe, instincts buzzing in excitement as if the view had been purposely presented towards him rather than accidentally shown to a perverted demon.

The toned muscles of those thick thighs tensed, and again, Red found himself imagining what those would feel like clamped tightly around his head. How that sweet scent would taste on his tongue. How that mouth might scream his name as he got his hands and mouth on that moist hole presented to him and got himself familiar with every single inch of it, from the labia to the clit that gleaming opening of that pretty cunt. It glistened with slick, soft and welcoming and practically begging for him to fill it with his cock and his seed.

It would be so easy to just take him by surprise. Pin him down or against the car and-

"Which one was it, again?" Mk asked.

Red tried to roll back under the vehicle as quietly as he could, heart pounding. He swallowed and licked his lips, steadying himself, the image of that cunt as it flexed and glistened burned into his eyelids. His cock was hard in his pants, throbbing and aching, and he wouldn't be surprised to find at least one spot of precum wetting the front of his boxers. He reached down as quietly as he could, carefully tucking his boner as best as he could. He wasn't wearing a long enough shirt to try the waistband trick.

"Forget it, Noodle Boy," Red said. "I should take a break, anyways. Let me set this to drain into the pan and I'll roll out."

"Red Son? Deciding to take a break? Who are you and what did you do to the prince?"

Red ignored the happy little shiver that ran through him at hearing Mk call him 'prince' and rolled out on the other side of the vehicle after leaving the oil to drain into the pan, where no underwear-less monkies were waiting to terrorize the instincts of a poor noble.

"Toss me a rag?"

Mk rounded the vehicle as Red sat up and got off of the creeper. Red probably could just wipe his hands off on his jeans, gods know both his pants and raggedy tank top had their fair share of stains from his work, but he liked the attempt at seeming neat in front of Mk.

Red looked up to meet Mk's eyes. Tried to, anyways. The monkie's eyes were lowered, staring at him, and Red quickly glanced down to make sure he hadn't unknowingly popped his boner too noticeably or had popped out of his pants. Nothing seemed out of place.

He glanced up to see Mk looking him in the eyes now, though the monkie's eyes glanced back to Red's chest and arms a few times.

"You look nice without all those clothes," Mk said, before his eyes widened. "Not that your jacket isn't nice, of course, your clothes are great! I just think- wow, arms, not that your arms aren't always there, or like phew, are tank tops supposed to be that tight- not that that's bad- honestly, I'm surprised you're not all sweaty, though maybe that's a good thing because- or I mean, obviously you probably don't even sweat, do fire demons sweat- I just- er- HERE!"

Mk held out the rag with both hands, clenching his eyes shut tightly.

Confused, Red reached out and took it from Mk's hands, tilting his head at Mk's red face as the monkie's fingertips brushed against his own for a moment too long. Perhaps the garage was too hot, especially with all that fur and none of the heat resistance that Red had.

"You ramble too much," Red said.

It was cute, when the Noodle Boy rambled.

Idle fantasies of that mouth rambling off noises and begs in desperate, breathy words raced through his mind. He quickly tried to ignore them.

"I don't sweat," Red added. "Temperature doesn't bother me. Is it too hot in here for you?"

"It could be."

"That, uh... that isn't a yes or no."

"Fine, it's just fine for me," Mk said. "So you don't sweat at all?"

"Nope," Red said, tossing the rag aside and stretching out the kinks that working on a creeper under a vehicle could put in a demon's back. He let out a grumbling murmur at the relief it brought as he stretched, and when he opened his eyes, Mk's gaze was away again and the monkie licked his lips before tearing his eyes up to Red's own.

"We could test it out," Mk said, voice sounding odd.

"You seem too heated for a spar, Mk," Red said, growing concerned by the monkie's odd behavior before it hit him. It must be too hot for the monkie!

No wonder the monkie had chosen a skirt and neglected clothes he thought wouldn't be noticed, it must be too hot in Red's workshop, but Mk was too nice and anxious of a guy to have brought it up.

"If it was too hot in here you could have told me, I would have tried to turn the temperature down. Come on, let's get you some water and cool you down, you noodle brained simian."

Mk pouted, but Red grabbed him by the hand, his own face flushing when Mk didn't pull away. The monkie let himself be led along out of the workshop and down the twisting halls to the kitchen, a fond look on his face whenever Red glanced back to check on him.

Red sat him at the table and moved to the fridge, grabbing the pitcher of water and bringing it out. Once he'd filled up a glass, he set it in front of the monkie, who sighed but took it. Red waited until the monkie rolled his eyes and took a sip, and only then did he refill the filter part of the pitcher and put it back in the fridge.

"You do care about me," Mk said softly.

"No, Noodle Boy, I just let you hang around and bother me for the fun of it," Red said, hands settling on the monkie's shoulders, hoping the action wasn't too forward. "Learning your secrets to use against you and take over the world."

"Just the world?" Mk asked.

"Drink your water before you die of heat stroke," Red said, hands squeezing on the shoulders below his palms, trying to force out the knots and tension he felt there and blushing as the monkie leaned into the touch. Speaking again, softer this time, because he knew the sorts of doubts Mk muttered to himself when he thought nobody was around, he added, just to make sure, "You don't actually bother me, you know. I wouldn't allow you here if you did."

Mk was quiet, but reached up with one hand to grab onto one of Red's, giving it a light squeeze.

"And to think, all this time, you were just a big softie," Mk said, before finally drinking more of his water. "Are you giving me a shoulder rub?"

"I am not!" Red spluttered. "A softie, I mean. I could give you the shoulder rub, if- if you want one, anyways. I guess. Peasant."

Mk laughed, but leaned back more into Red's hands.

"Going to show me how good you are with your hands, huh?"

Red's face flushed even more than it already had, and his cock gave a hearty twitch at the mental image that Mk's words summoned up, chasing away all the careful thinking he'd been doing to try and get it to soften.

"I could," Red said.

Mk's breath hitched.

"I'd like you to show me," Mk said.

The monkie moved to turn, and Red pushed him back down. How did the monkie expect a shoulder rub if he was wiggling all around? Red started to work, smirking as the monkie relaxed into his hands and let out a soft "oh" as Red massaged his shoulders.

Mk let out a groan, and Red shifted his feet, hair sparking a bit as the noise shot right to his cock. He cleared his throat, warming his palms up to a bearable temperature to better coax the muscles beneath them into easing up and releasing their tensions and knots.

"You need to make more time for yourself," Red said. "Put yourself first for a change. You can't help anyone if you drive yourself into the ground."

Red felt Mk's tail wrap loosely around his ankle, and Mk let out another soft noise as he leaned more into Red's hands, causing Red's hair to let out a few loose sparks that he quickly tamped down on.

"I don't want to disappoint anyone," Mk said. "It's so hard to say no. It's not their fault there's so few hours in the day."

"I doubt that not spending the night partying with Mei would disappoint her."

"Wh- I do not spend the night partying!"

"Mhm," Red said. "Just like you don't do free labor for your friends just because they're your friends."

"I do not-"

"Repaint that river demon's boat whenever he changes his mind on its color? Do custom paint jobs for Mei's vehicles for free even though she could and would pay you for the work? Try to sneak the money I have to sneak to you to pay you for helping me with my work or projects back to me and leading me to just sneak it in increments into your bank account?"

"I'd feel bad for charging- YOU DO WHAT!?"

"Not important," Red said. "The important thing is that you're going to be no help to anyone by being a doormat just because somebody is your friend."

"Well- I- it's- I think there's a scale, or something. Like, levels to it? Or something."

"Or something."

"I swear I can hear your eyes rolling but it's true," Mk said. "I like helping people. It makes me happy. What if I paid you every time you helped me with something?"

"That's different."

"Why? Because you're rich?"

Red's face flushed.

"N-no! I just want to! And- and it's not like you ask, I just do it!"

"See?" Mk asked, sounding annoyingly smug. "You do get it."

"I- that's- gck!"

Mk laughed, and Red felt his heart give a funny jump within his chest.

"You know..." Mk said, pausing after he said the first two words, a cheeky grin failing to be chased away as he looked up at Red. "You could always help me with some stretches if you think I need to... relax."

Red reached out and pushed Mk's face back to where it had been, ignoring the Noodle Boy's laugh.

"I have work to do and you're wanting me to help you with something you can do by yourself?"

"There's a few I want to try that I need help with. My limbs can only go so far still, you know."

Red's eyes almost darted to the Noodle Boy's skirt, and the mental image of that silky cunt sprung back up almost as fast as his cock was trying to do.

"M-maybe another time," Red said. "A skirt isn't really something you exercise or stretch in, isn't it?"

"Why not?" Mk asked, voice holding a different tone to it now. "Don't you like my skirt, Red Son?"

Red shifted uneasily to try to escape the growing tightness in his pants. It didn't help.

"Red," Mk repeated. "Don't you like my skirt?"

"It's-" don't say sexy, don't say sexy- "cute."

"Cute, huh?" The monkie turned a cheeky grin towards him. "You think my skirt is cute, Red?"

The monkie turned in the chair, pulling free of Red's hands on his shoulders, and reached out, hand running over Red's arm and along his bicep. The monkie gave a light squeeze and sound of appreciation, and Red felt his thoughts sputter out. Mk seemed to have that affect on him as of late.

The monkie leaned in, face growing closer to Red's own. Red couldn't help glancing at Mk's lips, and when he looked back there was a dangerous glint in Mk's eyes. The monkie looked smug, or maybe excited, or maybe he was still overheated from the garage. Whichever it was, all thoughts of what it could be was overtaken by the sight of Mk running his tongue across his lips before leaning even closer, and Red couldn't help but gravitate towards him, caught in the pull, lasered in on that flash of pink and how it might taste if he captured it with his own. Would Mk slap him, if he kissed him right now? Should he ask first? He should ask first. His lips parted, heart pounding as the monkie glanced down at his mouth at the movement.

A ringing phone broke the tension before he could speak and both pulled away, Mk letting out an irritated noise as Red pulled his phone out of his pocket to see his mother's caller id across the scene. His thumb hovered over the reject call button, but thoughts of what his mother might assume of him had him thinking better of it and he went for the accept call button instead. His mother had raised a gentleman, and he wouldn't leave her thinking he was some degenerate who didn't court.

Ignoring Mk's exasperated expression as the monkie sunk back into the seat, the right way around again, Red brought the phone up to his ear, doing his best not to let his irritation turn his tone too snappy.

"Mother."

"Oh, good, you're not busy."

"Should I have been?"

He heard his father speak in the background and dread chased away his irritation. Mother pulled away from the phone, or maybe pulled the phone away from herself, and said something back to him before bringing the phone back into more audible range.

"Your father says to invite your suitor to the banquet."

"Gck- my- what!?"

"The banquet."

"What banquet!?"

"Oh, right, hold on."

His mother left the speaker again, talking in the background. Red ignored Mk's curious stare burning on his back.

"We ran into an old... friend," his mother said, only for his father to let out a long string of expletives on the other side of the phone and his mother left the phone to say something to him before returning. "And she started running her mouth calling us has-been hermits and talking about her fugly new husband, so your father wants to hold something to throw our weight around and mend old connections and what not. So invite your little friend, it'll look even better for us for our son to have that Monkey's successor hanging off his arm. This weekend he wants it. Get the bull clones to start preparing. Oh, our reservation is ready, have to go."

"Reservation? Mother, you and father didn't have time to schedule a-"

There was a roar from his father and a crash in the background, followed by the terrified screaming of demons.

"Oh don't you fret, these nice fellows are giving us theirs. Love you, don't make a mess, let us know what color he likes for when we order decor for his courtship room when you kidnap him, bye."

His mother hung up on him, the screams cutting off with her. Red stared at the phone after pulling it away from his ear, until Mk awkwardly cleared his throat and Red turned to face him.

"You said something about a banquet?" Mk asked, ears perked up, turning around in his chair again.

"It'll be more a party than anything," Red said. "I'll just pretend I'm busy with something and hide in my garage or workshop like I usually do whenever they have some stupid social event. I hate interacting with strangers and annoying demons who will act as if I should remember them just because they met me once when I was still in diapers centuries ago or because they have an inflated sense of self worth. Besides, it's just going to be a boring political thing, anyways, unless mother makes the mistake of letting father plan it out."

Mk's ears fell before lifting again as his eyes took on a determined gleam.

"How about you take somebody who isn't a stranger then?" Mk asked, leaning forward. "And- and I'm the Monkey King's successor! Everybody knows him! That's gotta matter for something, so if your parents get mad you could even just bring that up!"

"W-what?"

"Red Son," Mk said, looking exasperated. "I'm saying how about you take me with you?"

"As- as like my date?"

"Yes."

Red's hair blazed up and he frantically clamped down on it, brushing away stray embers. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

The disappointment came back, the monkie sighing and looking away, ears falling again.

"Yes!" Red blurted out. "I would love yo- to! To take you. To the banquet. I would love to take you to the banquet."

Mk reached out and grabbed Red's hand, giving it a hearty shake as he beamed at the fire demon.

"Then it's a date," Mk said.

Red brought the hand up to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of the monkie's hand before he could think about whether or not to do it too long.

"It would be an honor to take you with me, Mk, regardless of their approval or not."

A flush crossed Mk's cheeks, the monkie averting his eyes as his tail wagged behind him.

"Do I need to learn how to dance or anything or-"

"At a party full of ancient demons? No doubt they'll try for something traditional and have dancers and performers. If father gets his hands on the party he'll probably add enough alcohol that some if not most will be dancing like one footed ducks by the end of the night. So as long as you can manage better than a misbalanced bird, I'm sure you'll do just fine."

Mk laughed, and Red delighted in the opportunity to bask in the warmth of it.

"Can you?" Mk asked. "Dance, I mean."

"Of course!"

"Prove it, then," Mk said.

"What?"

"Prove it!" Mk said, standing and taking Red's hands in his own and moving them into place on his body, causing Red's hair to flare back up into flames. "Show me you can dance!"

"I've seen you dance, Noodle Boy," Red said. No doubt his face was as red as his hair. It certainly felt like it was.

"Just Dance games at the arcade don't count!"

"We don't even have any music!"

Mk plucked a strand of fur from his pelt and blew on it. It glowed as it flew, almost blindingly so, and materialized into an eyesore of a monkie with even sharper teeth that let out an obnoxious shout and fluffed up the collar of their equally as obnoxious coat.

"Ye bois!" The obnoxiously colored monkie whooped. "Oh, whoa, whoa, OG finna bout to get some! Lemme set the mood, you porty animals, hope you brought protection, cause this porty of two bout to get lit!"

The monkie proceeded to begin beatboxing the most obnoxious beat Red had ever heard in his life. He turned to give a now flustered again Mk an unimpressed look.

"It's my Porty Clone," Mk said. "Honestly I thought he'd come with speakers."

"Why would he come with speakers?"

"I mean, the clones come with clothes, right? Why couldn't other stuff be made too?"

"And the noise?"

"Uh, hey!" The clone cut off the racket he was making and gave Red a dirty look. "CBAT is all the sex music rage right now, you uncultured twink."

"UNCULTURED-"

"Okay!" Mk cut in, poofing the clone before Red could light the obnoxious bastard on fire. "Maybe Porty clone was a mistake. But we can still dance!"

"Wait, did he say sex m-"

"We don't have to dance. What if I change clothes, then will you help me with some stretches?" Mk interrupted.

"I-" Red shook his head. "Sure, okay."

Mk's grin grew and he stood, grabbing Red's hand and already trying to drag him away. Red's face flushed even further as he let him, following the Noodle Boy to Red's room.

"My room?" Red asked.

"The floor is softer and your bed is in there," Mk said.

Red chased away the thoughts that sprang up of Mk in his bed. Not trusting himself to say something that wasn't sent up from his boner and the ideas that were far from the gentleman he wanted to be, he stayed silent and let himself be guided, desperately trying to reign his urges and instincts in.

Mk pulled another hair and blew on it, face scrunching up in concentration. The hair glowed and became fabric, and the monkie seemed pleasantly surprised, as if he hadn't expected to pull it off. With one last wink sent Red's way that shot straight to his heart, the other disappeared into Red's personal bathroom and shut the door.

Heart racing and trying not to think of Mk actively changing in his bathroom, Red glanced around his room and quickly untucked his half hard dick to give it some relief from the uncomfortable position before trading his tank top in for a baggier one to cover any future boners tonight.

The floor of his room was softer than the hard tile everywhere else, the carpet mostly there for more traction when he was in his bull form since his feet, though clawed like his father's in his bull form, were hooved and much smoother from disuse, especially since he spent most of his time glamoured. Was it soft enough for stretching? Just in case, he pulled the blankets from his bed and carefully set them out across the floor.

The door opened behind him, and Red turned, his brain shorting out as Mk leaned on the door frame.

Mk tossed his shoes and skirt, which he'd held in his hand, to the side, sending Red's heart racing as the Noodle Boy tossed them aside as easily as he had tossed aside his binder the other day.

"Don't want to rip them," Mk said, as Red stubbornly refused to glance down at- and he failed.

The Noodle Boy was wearing panties instead of the boxers Red had usually seen tossed haphazardly around the other man's room, the material looking silky and failing to hide the curve of his hips, the deep red a sharp contrast to the soft skin there and a darker shade than his bandana, closer to Red's own colors, or maybe even darker.

The crop top remained.

"Red," Mk called.

Red's eyes shot up to the monkie's eyes, mortified at his own lack of decency.

The monkie grew closer, eyes glancing across the blanket Red had spread out on the floor, before meeting Red's eyes.

"Got it all ready for us?" The monkie purred. "Expecting a mess, are you, Red Son?"

Red's mouth watered. His fingers twitched, begging to touch, straining to grab hold of the other and pin him down, take him, claim him, mark every inch of him as his own, but he cleared his throat and struggled to force them down.

"Which stretches did you need help with?" Red croaked out, instead of the multitude of other things he wanted to say.

Mk was before him now, so close, close enough for his scent to fill Red's senses, and the monkie's hand touched Red's chest, fingers splaying across and digging into his pecs.

"I've got a few in mind," Mk said, voice sounding more excited than Red reckoned somebody should be for just some stretches. "To really test out my flexibility."

Red's instincts practically clawed beneath his skin. To grab him, pin him, take him, keep him-

"So do you need me to just spot or did you want me to actively help?" Red asked. "I'm not entirely sure which stretches that simian is having you do."

Mk's face and lidded eyes dropped into pure exasperation.

"Let me just do some warm up stretches," Mk said. "Then I want to see how high I can get my legs. There's only so far I can stretch by myself."

The monkie moved away and stepped onto the blanket, reaching around with his feet to check how well it would hold up with his movement. He seemed happy with it, as he began a few basic stretches, and Red averted his eyes as much as he could without seeming rude to keep himself from ogling like he wanted to.

Eventually, Mk laid down on his back and called him over, and Red obediently came over, letting Mk situate him and trying not to let his hair flare up into fire and sparks at the suggestive position as Mk put Red between his legs and moved Red's hands to Mk's thighs.

Red shifted awkwardly, trying to keep his mind off of the dirty thoughts that swirled through it, trying not to squeeze or seem handsy.

"Now push them above my head."

Red's cock ignored his mental protests, throbbing with need. He ignored it as best he could and did as told, pausing when he got the monkie's legs halfway.

"Here?"

"Keep going," Mk said. His voice sounded breathy.

Red pushed the monkie's legs further, having to bend over him more now. The position was awkward, and he was losing the battle of keeping his arousal from showing as his cock grew painfully hard in his pants, chasing away any softening he had managed. He should have kept it tucked.

"Do you want me to go to your head and pull your legs? I fail to see how this stretch is necessary if you can't do it yourself."

"No, do it like that. I'm not going to break, keep pushing my legs."

Red ignored the uncomfortable urges of his weak body and pushed the monkie's legs until they were on either side of the monkie's head against the blanket, bending him in half. He felt a tail coil around his leg, and froze as he realized the position he'd put them into. Curse his blasted, awful, inappropriate brain! The things it conjured behind his eyes as he crouched over Mk, staring down at the breathless monkie who was boxed in by his own legs, pretty panties so close to the hopefully not as obvious as it felt tent in Red's pants. If he breathed wrong, if he so much as twitched, he'd be pressed against the very cunt of the person he wanted most in the world, separated only by so easily broken fabric. Was it as fragile as his clones? Would it puff away at the slightest force of touch, leaving it bare to him to claim with mouth and hands and-

"Red..." Mk said, breathless and naive to the things he was doing to him.

Red let go and backed off before the raging boner trying to escape his pants could be noticed if Mk moved wrong. He tripped on the tail still wrapped around his leg instead of getting up, catching himself with one hand on the ground. Instead of getting up to avoid Mk noticing his lewdness, he felt his groin ram hard into Mk's own.

Mk let out a surprised yelp as Red fought back a slightly pained-pleasured moan, gritting his teeth to avoid releasing it.

He pushed away, stammering out apologies as Mk's legs fell back without Red holding them up. They rested on Red's shoulders now, and Red hurriedly pushed them off and got up.

"Red-"

Red fled into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him and reaching into his pants, hissing at his own touch. He wrapped his hand around himself, muffling his mouth with his other hand.

Mk knocked at the door. It would be so easy to open it, to throw it open and grab Mk, pin him down and rip off what little clothes the monkie was wearing. It would be so easy, they'd probably just poof the second his claws touched them-

"I don't feel good, I'm sorry," Red called, hating how close his voice was to cracking.

"Oh, uh... that's okay," Mk responded from the other side of the door. "Do- do you need anything?"

You. Just you. You.

He ignored it.

"No, I'm okay, I'm sorry for- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that, I slipped and- maybe you should head home. I think I'm sick, I don't want you to catch it, we can meet up again sometime and- and yeah."

"O-okay. Are- do you- do you still want to go to- go to that party together?"

Mk sounded so... dejected. It panged at Red's heart, but he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep from just carrying out what his entire being and demon instincts wanted so desperately to do.

"Yes! Yes of course!" Red struggled not to start jerking himself off, his cock painfully hard. He had to get Mk out, even if just long enough to settle himself down. "Maybe I can come to your home tomorrow to make up for cutting it short today?"

"Oh! Yeah, yeah that would be nice, I can text a time that works, I have off tomorrow anyways," Mk said. "Do you need anything before I can go? Some water or something?"

"N-no that's alright, though I appreciate the gesture, Noodle Boy."

"Well just- make sure you get some rest, okay?"

Damn societal pleasantries!

"Yes, yes, of course, travel safe," Red called, making a mental note to himself to wear baggier pants tomorrow.

Finally, the societal back and forth of goodbyes seemed to have reached its necessary limit, as he heard Mk step away from the door and retrieve his clothes.

He waited, cock throbbing in his hand, until finally he heard Mk leave. The second he had, Red ran his hand over the pre-cum leaking from his desperate cock and finally gave it some attention with a stifled yelp at how sensitive and desperate it was, setting into a fast and frantic pace as he leaned onto the counter. It smelled like Mk in here, still, and Red's eyes fell onto purple fabric near the doorway.

Was that?

Red let his glamour fall enough for his tail, using it to reach over and push the fabric within reach. Picking it up, he realized it was Mk's skirt, and before his better reasoning could catch up to himself he brought it up to his nose and quickened his pace as he breathed in gasp after gasp of Mk's scent. It smelled of slick and sweat and soaked in the mix of starfruit and noodles that made up Mk's scent, and Red couldn't help it as his hips tried to thrust into his hand even as he collected more pre-cum for a smoother slide and jerked himself off. It took an embarrassingly short amount of time before he was coming, splattering cum across his bathroom cupboard door.

He soaked in the relief for all of a few seconds before he looked at the mess and loudly cursed at himself. He was in the bathroom, of all places, and of all the places he could have made a mess, the toilet, the bathtub, the floor, he did it on the intricate decor of the handcarved door? Cursing himself, he set to work cleaning it after wiping off his cock and washing his hands. How did Mk get to him so easily, so constantly? All he could think about was that damn monkie, and just the thought of him seemed to send Red's better senses out the window, as if every braincell in his head went straight to his cock or his fluttering heart when it came to that damned monkie!

And the skirt! Oh, the skirt. Red couldn't even bring himself to look at it without shame and guilt. He'd bring it to Mk's home tomorrow when he went to see him.

Red spent the rest of the night on his project, hoping to have it done in time for his promised visit to the Noodle Boy.

He was just finishing up the final touches and enchantments when his phone went off and pulled him free from the haze of creating. Red rolled over to it, rubbing at his eyes and squinting at the time, which instead of the early hours of the night showed that it was already almost noon of the day after.

Another day without sleep. No matter. He'd gone longer.

He ignored the time, as it wasn't the first overnight bender of creating he's had, and clicked onto the notif of a text from Mk letting him know he could head over if he wanted to but to use the window so that Pigsy wouldn't know, which was a little odd considering he knew Mk and his friends were on better terms with his family and knew they were, at the least if not friendly, actual friends.

Red was already dressed, so he checked to make sure he hadn't acquired any stains before grabbing his jacket and pulling it on before swiping up his creation and inserting them into the charging box he had made for them, a box of intricate carvings of red and gold, protection and other such seals tightly packed into some of the swirls. He had messed up on one of the carvings, but hopefully Mk wouldn't notice.

After checking to make sure he was ready to go, he made his way to Pigsy's Noodles, doing his best to avoid garnering attention as he scurried up Mk's fire escape to his window. It was open, the curtains slightly crooked, and he paused to check that nothing scent or power residue-wise hinted towards someone else having been around. But there was nothing, and so he hurried up and was halfway through the window before he noticed that the room seemed a little messy, as if there had been a struggle, and Mk sat on his bed with messy hair, staring back at Red with wide, innocent eyes.

The Noodle Boy looked so kidnappable, tangled helplessly in satin rope in the colors of Red's crest, and just the right amount of pout to his mouth. Red's cock gave a valiant attack against the confines of his much too tight pants, and Red tried to be discrete with trying to cover the forming tent with his jacket and not stare at how the soft thin fabric of the pajamas the Noodle Boy wore left little to the imagination. Even the binder hadn't been on yet.

"What are you doing?" Red asked, barely able to keep his voice from cracking as he spoke. It was then that he noticed that the Noodle Boy was gagged with his own headband and, feeling stupid for asking a question as if the monkie would be able to respond, rushed in to pull it free.

"Oh, it was awful, Red!" Mk said, oddly breathy and dramatically. "A demon! Came right into my room to kidnap me!"

Possessive fury shot through him. For a moment he lost himself in the urge to shove the headband back into Mk's mouth and throw the tied up monkie over his shoulder. Take him home with him and take him right on the bed in the courtship room. Take him and keep him and claim him and leave his mark for all to see that his mate was taken and-

He took a deep breath, a mistake as Mk's scent filled his senses, and buried his instincts and urges down as best he could.

"Would be a shame for a big strong demon to kidnap me, wouldn't it, Red?" Mk asked, though he didn't sound or look horrified by the idea. "He'd probably throw me down and take me right then and there without even bothering to take off the rope all while I'm helpless to stop him and-"

Red barely bit back an instinctual possessive growl, shoving his instincts down hurriedly at the surge that shot them straight back up.

"Well, it's good I came along, then," Red said.

He cut through the knot, which hadn't even been done well. A true courter worthy of Mk would have done a better job and taken more care in making it. Mk let out an angry sounding sigh as Red pulled the rope free, no doubt frustrated at having been taken off guard and bested.

If Red ever saw the demon who had done this, had tried to court Mk the demon way before Red could appropriately court him like a gentleman, there would be a body to clean up.

"Who did this, Noodle Boy?" Red asked. He did his best to keep the protective edge from his voice, to keep it soft. Mk looked more exasperated than scared or upset, so maybe it worked.

Mk sighed and began to wrap up the rope. Why he would want to keep it was beyond Red.

"I could burn it?" He offered.

"No, no, it was- MUST HAVE- it must have been expensive. May as well keep it and use it for something."

Ideas of what he, of what they,   could do with it raced through Red's head. He quickly shook his head to shake such perverted thoughts away.

"Okay, but if that demon comes back-"

"It's okay, Red," Mk said. "I'm sure I won't get caught offguard again. I'm very observant, I'll have you know and- Don't give me that look! I am totally responsible and observant!"

Red's raised eyebrow raised even higher.

"Besides, of the two of us you're super oblivious."

Red sputtered and made noises of disagreement but Mk ignored them and instead sidled closer and fixed the collar of Red's jacket, which didn't even need fixed, before smoothing his hands down the adjusted folds.

"I'm very observant," Mk whispered. "For example... is that your phone in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

Remembering why he had come, Red stepped back and reached towards his pocket. Surprise flashed across the monkie's face before settling into an excited look, then fell back into surprise as Red's hand went past the hem of his pants and into his pocket to pull out the box. Red held it out to him, and Mk reached out and gently took the box.

"I, um. I made it. For you. The box, too," Red said.

The monkie ran his hands across the carvings and etchings with wide eyes. It wasn't until Red prompted him to open it that Mk finally opened the box and just stared into it.

Red rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, unable to keep looking at Mk's wide eyed face. He was so quiet, he hated it didn't he? Red had fucked up, couldn't even do this small thing right-

"You made this.. for me?" Mk asked.

Red glanced back to see eyes shiny with unshed tears and felt his heart drop.

"I- I- well, I overheard you telling horse girl that your usual pair broke and it's not- I know it's not the same, of course, but I- gck- I thought-"

Mk lunged for him, scaring the hell out of him, but instead of getting punched he realized that the monkie was hugging him, face buried in the crook of his neck.

Red felt the uncomfortable heat of a blush turning his face as red as his hair, the only sort of heat that was ever bothersome to a fire demon like him. His hands hovered over Mk's back for a second before slowly coming to wrap around the monkie in an awkward attempt to return the hug.

"I love them," Mk said, voice softer than Red had ever heard it before. "Thank you, Red."

Even his own fire had never felt as warm as the warmth he felt then, as Mk nuzzled against him, breath cold where it brushed against his skin.

Red wished it could have lasted forever. He was pretty sure it went on way longer than a 'friends' hug probably should, but it still felt way too soon that Mk pulled away. The dazzling smile Mk smiled up at him made Red want to pull him back in, but he let Mk pull away, the monkie's tail twitching with excitement as his attention turned to the headphones.

Red spent the next few hours telling Mk about the headphones, lost in ramble after prompted ramble as Mk pushed for information about them or the creation process Red went through. Eventually it turned back to the cars from yesterday, and then into his process for those, or how he invented. All the while, Mk listened attentively, watching him with soft fondess.

Red had never known Mk was so interested in inventing and engineering!

It wasn't until he was already home afterwards that he realized he had forgotten to talk about the upcoming party.

No matter. There would be time, and they both had phones. What handy things phones were. Much faster than the ways they had to rely on in his youth.

He spent his time working on courtship jewelery to offer Mk to wear to the party before finally passing out at his workstation, crashing hard. When Red woke up, someone had moved him to his bed and pulled the blankets over him and, going off of the claw marks in the wall where someone had tripped over a forgotten invention and must have caught themselves, it must have been his father.

When the time finally came for the party, the bull clones helped him into his ceremonial armor, their mechanical hands stumbling over the intricate buckles and straps, all of which would be either hidden or discrete once everything was in place. It always left Red feeling heavy and missing his usual clothes, but such attire wasn't the sort one wore to this sort of thing.

Carefully, he loosened his glamor enough for his horns, smaller than in his normal form to suit this glamoured humanoid form but still relatively large, to appear. The bull clones obediently decorated the ivory horns in expensive jewelry to match his armor, and after some careful consideration he loosened the glamor more to reveal his tail, and sent some of the bull clones to find some tail jewelry to go with the rest of his attire.

Once he was finally adorned with the various accessories to go with his armor, he checked that everything was in place. He strung his hairtie worriedly between his fingers as he looked into the mirror that made up one of the walls of his large closet.

"Up or down?"

The nearest bull clone grunted and brought his crown to him. A simple design to it, though still grand in its gleaming ebony metal and glittering swirls of ruby. It would go well with the rest, matching the other pieces.

"Down then?" He pondered. He tried both styles, examining how each looked in his mirror and trying to figure which one Mk might like best. Then again, it was a fancy event, not his lab or some casual outing. He left it down, brushing it out and letting it ripple into carefully controlled fire before settling down into the perfect mix between, leaving it looking soft and well groomed.

Adorned in reds and blacks and the careful additions of minor amounts of purple, the main color of his crest mixed with the colors of his family one. A fitting display he made, for an event like this, but more importantly, as far as he was concerned anyways, would Mk be impressed? What if the monkie didn't like it? Was it the color? Maybe he should go for gold?

Then again, maybe- no, he had to stop overthinking this!

Maybe a dark purple, near black. Red highlights or gold?

Maybe both?

He took a deep breath and checked the time. Would it be too early to go now...? Maybe he should add eyeshadow, or eyeliner, or both, to bring out the dark reds of his eyes.

He motioned to the nearest bull clones, who let out long suffering sighs but moved to obey.

He spent the last few hours checking and double checking everything, including changing his outfit multiple times before finally settling on the armor he wanted to wear. His outfit, his jewelry, his hair, his gifts, his courtship gifts, the courtnapping room, the-

Wait a minute.

He backed up, squinting into the room, carefully decorated with reds and oranges.

This had been a storage room yesterday, he was most certain.

He inhaled and held it for a moment before exhaling, considering the pros and cons of screaming for his parents like an angry child. He stormed to the kitchen, instead, knowing mother and father would probably be having morning coffee or tea, depending on their mood for the day. Both were there, peacefully sipping, dainty reading glasses resting on his father's muzzle as he squinted down at the tablet in his hands, trying to read the news, and mother with her hair down and makeup missing looking half asleep.

Or DemonBook, if it wasn't the news. Red really hoped it wasn't DemonBook, he didn't need to deal with his father trying to start spouting conspiracies from the old geezers on there like the Are Birds Fake incident of three months ago.

"Mother. Father."

Father barely glanced up. Mother took an especially loud sip of her drink.

"Care to tell me why the storage room has been converted?"

Father did glance up, now, the glasses sliding down on his muzzle as he did so. Grumbling, father pushed them back into place, and Red made a mental note to make a pair for him that would fit his face shape.

"I want grandchildren," father said.

Red's face became as red as his hair, said hair flaming up.

At the same moment, mother reached over to lightly swat at his father's arm as he returned to his tablet.

"What your father means to say," Mother huffed. "Is that it would be rude for you to try to continue your courtship in your own room or a mere guestroom when you courtnap your desired mate, and have clearly been too busy or too inept to prepare a courtship room ahead of time, so your father and I decided to take the liberty of setting up ourselves. You're welcome."

Red opened his mouth but his watch let out an irritating beep and he moved to silence it.

"We will talk about this later! And I will NOT be using it!"

"Sure, dear," mother said, sounding unbelieving.

He flame portaled to Pigsy's Noodles, checking his hair again before pulling up the GPS tracker of the limousine. Right on time. Slightly early, not too much or too late. Red smoothed his hands across his armor and checked the fluff of hair at the end of his tail. Maybe no tail? Or yes tail?

No, no. Enough overthinking. Casting a glance at the closed sign, Red pulled off his watch and flamed it home.

Showtime.

He stepped forward and knocked on the door.

The door opened, and Red felt his breath fall away as Mk stepped out of his fathers' restaurant, hand reached up to tuck a particularly wayward lock of hair behind his ear and out of his way.

It was odd to see the usual baggy clothes traded in for armor, but he looked just as, if not more, amazing in the ceremonial armor he wore that hugged close to and showed off his body as he did in his usual attire. He must have gone to the other two monkies and raided Wukong's hoard for it and mixed in things of his own, going by the mountain pattern influence on some of the pieces.

The armor was sleeveless, the swooping shoulders of the breastplate patterned with swirls reminiscent of the same ones that capped the golden metal ends of his staff. Instead of a scarf at his neck with his armor, Red recognized the faded fabric of the ribbon Mk usually wore to keep his hair up. Jade leaves interwoven by phoenix feathers replaced where a cape may have been meant to sit, and the red of the mountain patterned influenced skirt of the armor was lined with gold to offset the red scales.

Mk's hair was down, the soft curls framing his face and looking even softer than usual, and Red realized that flakes of gold were dotted across Mk's cheeks like freckles of gold. His fur seemed freshly groomed, and Red caught sight of the monkie's monkie mentors and two dads over Mk's shoulder, doing their best not to seem as watchful as they probably were. Except for the Monkey King, who gave a supportive thumbs up to his successor when Mk glanced back at his friends behind him, other hand clinging to the Six-Eared Macaque, who was doing a better job at not seeming invested.

When Mei gave a supportive whoop and a "get it, monkey man!" though, Mk stepped through the doorway and quickly kicked it shut behind him, but not before Red saw Mk's adoptive father, Pigsy, angrily throwing a spoon at the dragon horse girl, while the professor 'freeloader' dad, Tang, offered an encouraging "have fun!"

Mk stared up at him instead of speaking, eyes trailing, and Red averted his gaze as he summoned portalling flames to his hands and pulled out the box he had brought from them as they faded.

"Jewelry," Red said, at Mk's questioning expression. "Though you already look like divinity incarnate without."

Mk let out a flustered noise and took the box, his tail wagging behind him before he settled for curling it around his leg to hide his delight. Knowing he had done well so far softened some of Red's fluttering nerves.

"You look wow," Mk squeaked, red to his very ears. "I didn't- I didn't bring you anything, I'm-"

"Oh, you weren't- it's not- it's a gift!" Red said. "You weren't supposed to, don't worry."

Red offered his arm and Mk stared at it for a moment as if starstruck before grinning one of those big blinding smiles that always takes Red's breath away, and looped his bare- and muscular, Red unable to resist trailing his eyes along the strong arms and slender biceps- arm with Red's, the fur soft as silk against his skin.

Red led to the limousine, pride surging through him as it pulled up perfectly timed. Then again, the enchantments weaved into it to cut short on travel time helped, too. Though a bull clone opened the back door before Red could get it for Mk, Red still helped Mk in much to the latter's amusement before getting in, himself.

Mk opened the box in the car, eyes going wide and smile fading down to awe as he hesitantly brushed the tips of his claws against the pieces.

"These look more expensive than my very life," Mk said.

"They pale in comparison. Neither their worth or beauty could ever come close to you."

Mk's eyes flickered to meet Red's own, and it took everything Red had not to combust on the spot, and Red realized that the soft lashes of Mk's eyes were lightly eyeshadowed with gleaming gold that did well to bring out the monkie's eyes.

"Help me?" Mk asked, after a moment of gaping like a fish.

Mk's tail settled in Red's lap, and Red's heart fluttered in his chest as it coiled around his wrist. It took a moment or two before he registered that Mk was speaking until the golden tail cuffs were pressed into his hands. Mk's fingers trailed as Red took them, and Red gasped in breath and licked his lips before clasping them into place along Mk's tail, the slide of his hand along its length feeling far too intimate to have been blessed with, the discrete dark red and orange jewels ingrained in the gold glinting in the light of the car.

He looked up to see Mk finishing with wrapping the long golden bracelets around his forearms before admiring the glint of the metal leaves in the light.

Mk looked like divinity incarnate. Red couldn't help himself from staring and as if sensing it the monkie looked up and met his eyes. Red resisted the urge to look away but did resist the urge to reach out and yank the monkie's face against his own to claim those soft looking lips for himself.

"You look amazing," Mk said. "You should wear armor more often."

"I doubt it comes anywhere close to you and your divinity," Red said, before his brain caught up with his mouth. "In that you look good! You look really, really good."

Mk let out a soft laugh that sent Red's heart into flips.

"I'm afraid I don't know much about these sort of old fashioned demon parties. I tried looking up how things happened in ancient times, since demons from those are more traditional, but Wukong and Macaque said that demons and humans had different traditions than each other."

"They do, mostly," Red said, looking away to try and hide the warmth in his cheeks at the idea of Mk caring enough to try to research what to expect. "But do not worry, there isn't much to it. Most other guests will probably be trying to suck up to mother and father. There might be a few who try to suck up to either of us, due to our respective powers and status, but I've been told I don't have the... most approachable demeanor. Rather prickly, I think the last person who tried said."

Mk laughed and curled his arm around Red's. Despite the good amount of room in the seat, the monkie was pressed closely against his side. Fingers entwined with his own, a tail nudged at his, and Mk looked up through his lashes at him in a way that sent most coherent thought fleeing from his head.

"Maybe a little rough around the edges sometimes," Mk said. "But anyone not willing to stick around long enough to see how amazing you are behind the 'prickly' front you put out are fools for missing out. Besides... maybe I like just the right amount of rough."

Mk's eyes flickered to Red's lips and back to his eyes, so quickly that surely Red must have imagined it. The monkie's thumb caressed his hand where it pressed down against the hand it held.

Red licked his lips, heart stuttering as Mk's half lidded eyes followed the movement.

The door opened, startling them both. Red recovered quickly enough, flustered still as he exited and reached his hand to Mk to help him out, more out of chivalry than necessity, and couldn't help the smile that grew on his face as Mk readily linked their arms back together and let Red lead him to their destination.

The ballroom had, surprisingly enough, though looking back shouldn't be all that surprising at all, been cleared of the centuries of dust and cobwebs that had made it up when last Red had glanced in. The large room now shone, gleaming walls and floors. Even the chandeliers had not escaped the Bull Clones' efficiency, each crystal and shining metal links shined to perfection and lighting the huge room.

Nobles already littered the room, making idle and networking conversation both. Even a few older and more isolated families had a few members scattered around. The former warmth that Mk's company had brought grew cold as he looked across them all. Despite the various entertainers weaving music and various traditional dances, no one danced.

"You okay?"

Red glanced over in surprise at the monkie, looking up at him with eyes full of concern. Red licked his lips, shame replacing the cold as he realized he must have started biting at his lip.

"Not a fan of crowds," he admitted. "But at least you're here. Surely it won't be as awful as being stuck here alone."

"We could leave if you're not comfy, Red, you don't have to force yourself."

"Fret not, Noodle Boy, a bit of discomfort cannot defeat the son of the Demon Bull King," Red said, careful not to yell it like he usually would. "Come on."

Mk clung close to his side, the physical presence helping more than Red cared to admit.

The monkie kept glancing to the servants that lined the walls as Red led him further into the room, the two of them sticking closer to the walls and the servants lining them than was probably appropriate. Each one of the servants was quiet and watchful, waiting for their respective bosses to call or motion for their assistance.

"Kind of creepy," Mk whispered to him. "People really pay other people to just stand around?"

"Well, it's more than standing around," Red said, trying to bite back a smile at Mk's words. "And most get paid and treated well enough. Among demons, anyways. I can't speak for how humans do it, but nowadays anyone who treats their servants badly will end up having a hard time finding any. For an event like this, it's mostly just for show for the servants to be in waiting, and mother and father always leave the banquet up for them to eat after the event."

"Nice of them."

"Don't let them catch you saying that," Red joked.

Mk grinned and went to say something else, but an annoyingly familiar tiger demon approached them and the monkie trailed off.

"The prince of the Bull Family and the prince of Flower Fruit Mountain," the tiger demon greeted. "An honor."

"Oh, I'm not a-"

Red spoke to cut Mk short, inwardly wincing at the dirty look it got him.

"Junheng!" Red greeted. "It's been... a while. Your family's improved its status, hasn't it? Mk, this is Junheng, Junheng, this is the Monkie Kid. Though we really must be going-"

The tiger bowed slightly, eyes still on Mk.

"Yes, well, my cousin Jundao's father never was much for understanding true power and the importance of status," Junheng said, though his grin, Red knew, barely went skin deep. "Pity about what happened to him. But as the new head of the family, I have done well to begin reclaiming our former standing."

Junheng turned his eyes to Mk, and Red bit down the start of a growl in his throat.

"The rumors and tales of your beauty ring true, dear prince," Junheng said. "Perhaps when you're free, we should spar some time."

Red stared the tiger demon down. Junheng met his stare and didn't relent.

"Oh, that's uh- nice? Of you," Mk said. "Red and I were heading to check out the food, though, so we'll have to catch you later."

If there was at least one good thing about the newest head of the Demon Tiger Family, it was that he knew when he was being dismissed. With a lingering glance and a polite, too friendly farewell, Junheng moved to go antagonize or sweettalk someone else.

"Friend of yours?" Mk asked as Red let out an irritated huff.

"Ugh," Red made a face at the very idea. "No. Junheng is a prick and a creep. I'd suggest turning down that spar if he asks again. And don't deny being a prince. Being that simian's successor makes you one, even if only by name. Names and titles mean a lot to demons like this."

Mk nodded, even if he didn't look that delighted at the idea.

The night passed more or less the same. Red caught sight of his parents once or twice, busy at work reforging and newly forming old and new connections alike. He knew he should be doing the same, but he stuck close to Mk, neither leaving each other's side and eventually ending up loitering near the food as Mk did his best to discretely and gradually make short work of the starfruit and some of the other fruits.

Red made a mental note to stock up on starfruit and not mention that he had been the one to make sure there would be plenty of fruit for the monkie.

Mk kept biting at his lip and giving anxious flicks of his tail. Red tried not to overthink, that maybe the monkie was bored or unimpressed or any number or worries that crossed Red's mind. Instead, Red picked lightly at the many options without eating much of anything and trying to deter anyone who came up to talk without seeming too rude about it.

When traffic around the area finally loosened up some, Mk gave one final anxious flick of the tip of his tail before breaking the awkward silence.

The monkie reached out and brushed his fingers against the metal of Red's armor, stepping forward as he looked up through his lashes at Red, a by now familiar odd look on his face.

"I've got a craving for something special," Mk told him. "Something only you can help me satisfy~"

Red glanced around at all the tables and the multitude of options. Mother and father always went overboard on these things, as was customary. Was it lacking? Was it not enough? Was Red not being a good enough date? Surely now that Mk is unimpressed he will find Red a poor option and refuse courtship and- Red forced himself to settle down before his hair could flare from anxiety.

"Is the party lacking?" Red asked, doing his best to keep his own tail from giving away his sudden nerves.

"No, no, it's fine," Mk said. "It's just... well..."

The monkie leaned in, nose nearly brushing against Red's own with how close the shorter man was, now.

"I've got a craving for something more," Mk purred, fiddling with the buckles of Red's breastplate. "A meat these tables just can't supply."

Red's instincts did flips within himself, demanding he satisfy. Demanding he show Mk just how well he could provide. Another part of himself wanted nothing more than to close the oh so small distance between them.

He pushed them down, doing his best to stifle the urges.

"Whatever food you want, I can get it for you. If things here are subpar, I can fix it," Red promised. "I'll hunt it down myself if need be. There's every sort here, but if you tell me and I cannot find it for you here, I can find it for you elsewhere."

Mk let out a long and irritated sigh that struck Red straight in the heart.

The monkie pulled away and stepped back, putting distance between them, a look of irritation flashing across his features before glancing to the side.

Red followed his gaze to a passing server balancing a tray of drinks who was nearing them.

Mk reached over and snatched one of the drinks off of the passing tray and proceeded to dump it over the front of his own armor. Red spluttered at the display, people glancing over at the sound of metal hitting the floor after Mk opened his hand and let it fall, the goblet clanging loudly.

"You-You- wh-"

"Whoops," Mk said. "Red, help me find somewhere to clean this up before it stains the silk or ruins the armor, won't you?"

"You-"

"Red," Mk repeated, sounding more frustrated, now. "Grab my arm and lead me out of this room like a gentleman, so I can take care of this spill."

Face burning, Red accepted the offered arm and led him away from the floor. Already eyes were turning away, one of the bull clones doing away with the mess as another brought over a mop to assist. Mk did more of the leading, pulling him out into a hall before turning and shoving Red up against the wall. Red sputtered, hair sparking, but a knee coming up to shove against his crotch tore any coherent thought from his mind.

"Red," Mk said, the monkie staring him down, pushing him even harder against the wall as Red struggled for composure. "I'm coming onto you. I've been coming onto you."

"O-Oh?"

The monkie's knee pressed harder, forcing out a squeak from the fire demon as Red grasped at the front of Mk's wet armor, trying not to move against the friction on his cock from Mk's knee.

"Red," Mk said, seeming even more deadpan than before. "I want you to fuck me until my legs give out and then some and I'm done trying to hint it to you."

Red's brain shorted out even more than it already had.

"Do you or do you not want me?" Mk asked, frustration clear in both voice and expression. "Because either you're trying to be polite without turning me down or you're just that hard headed, so here's me saying fuck it, do you want to fuck me or not? Because if it's yes I want you to tear my clothes off right here and now in this fucking hallway if that's what it will take to get you in my pants."

"I- you-"

Red trailed off, hair burning against the wall behind him. No doubt there'd be a charred mark he would need to remember to fix.

"I don't want just sex. I want more than that," Red confessed. "I- I want you. In every way you'd let me. In my bed, in my arms, in my heart, in my life, in- in everything."

The monkie's narrowed eyes widened, the speechlessness finally turning back on him. And then they narrowed again, this time not with frustration or irritation, but with something much softer.

Mk reached out and cupped Red's face and brought it down to meet his own, pressing his lips against Red's. Red's heart danced in his chest, pounding in his ears, and Red relaxed into the kiss, savoring the cool touch of Mk's slightly chapped lips against his much warmer mouth.

The knee pressed up again, and Red moaned against Mk's mouth, unable to stop himself from bucking into the feeling.

"People are going to talk," Red murmured, pulling away from Mk's mouth but not strong enough to move his hips from where Mk's knee was rubbing against him. "We should get back to the party, we've already been gone for too long."

The monkie whose head lay rested against his chest only smiled and sighed against him, tail curling around Red's leg.

"Then let's give them something to talk about," Mk said. "Let's be gone for too long."

"You-?"

"I want you, too," Mk laughed. "In my bed, in my arms, in my heart, in everything, you big sap."

Red surged forward, mouth hitting against Mk's own. Tears of emotional overload in the face of his relief and happiness pooled in the corners of his eyes but did not fall.

He pushed against the monkie and, despite being strong enough to have countered it if he wanted to, Mk let him. Red switched them around and hiked Mk up by the hips, already crowding in as he pressed the monkie's back to the wall and caught the monkie's mouth again as Mk's legs wrapped around his waist. He shifted around, changing the angle as Mk adjusted to follow, and pressed his already rock hard cock against the damp spot already beginning to form on the fabric of Mk's fancy pants beneath the armor's skirt.

"Did you even wear underwear?" Red gasped against Mk's mouth as the monkie moaned at the friction of the grinding, both panting from desire and need before they had even begun to exert themselves.

And gods, did Red plan on them exerting themselves. Now that he finally had his hands on Mk, that the other demon wanted him too, and their bodies were pressed so closely and blissfully together, he could not imagine ever being strong enough to let him go from his arms.

"Underwear?" Mk asked innocently. "Why, Red Son, you make it seem as if I had ulterior motives."

The monkie pulled one of Red's hands from where it was supporting him up against the wall and moved it to his pants. Red obeyed, slipping his hand up the armor and past the hem of the underarmor. There was no underwear to get past and Mk laughed against his mouth at the way Red's hair sparked before the laugh twisted into a moan that Red swallowed from his mouth as Red's fingers finally touched the soft labia of his mate the monkie.

"Haven't even pleasured you yet," Red practically purred the words as Mk jerked and squirmed in his hold, trying to get Red's fingers lower. Red obliged, actually purring now as Mk jolted in his arms as Red dipped his fingers between the soft labia and stroked through them and brushed against the hole of Mk's entrance, the monkie's thighs tensing so tightly around him as the monkie tried to reach up to stifle a loud moan. Red shifted to stop him, grinning at how much more red Mk's face bloomed as the sound of his pleasure at such a small touch echoed off of the obsidian walls.

"If I say or do anything that makes you uncomfortable or if you want me to stop at any point, give me a word to know to stop," Red told him.

Mk's eyes practically glowed, pupils blown with lust.

"Holy shit," Mk gasped out.

"Mk."

"Yes," Mk gasped. "Yes, fuck. Yes. Holy shit."

"A word, Mk."

"U-uh- cow!"

Red let out an exasperated huff to hide the amusement he felt at the choice.

Red captured Mk's mouth again, swallowing the monkie's next cry as he dipped his fingertips past the ring of muscle into Mk's cunt, finding and rubbing at the monkie's clit with the pad of his thumb as he did so as Mk's hands caught in Red's hair. He barely noticed any tugging or petting, accidental or otherwise, too busy wringing each and every sound he could out of the monkie as he fingered him, while Mk humped his hand and ran his fingers through Red's hair, claws scratching against his scalp.

"Someone's going to find us," Mk panted, when they parted for air.

"Thought you wanted them to talk."

Mk grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked, nipping hard at Red's lip as he did so and swallowing Red's groan.

Red pushed a finger in, barely dipping in, but the monkie's response was immediate.

"Fuck! Red!" Mk gasped, when he pulled away, back arching against the wall and tail tightening where it had wrapped around Red's arm, and Red pushed the finger in deeper and gave attention to the inner bundle of nerves that made up the rest of Mk's clit all while still massaging it with his thumb. "You weren't kidding about being good with your ha-AH-nds!"

"My hands are not all I'm going to use. I'm going to claim you and mark you. I'm going to familiarize myself with every inch of you. Shape you out with my hands and my mouth and my cock until every inch of your divinity is burned into my very being," Red promised. "Going to figure out each and every thing that brings you pleasure, so that I can worship you and pleasure you in every way you deserve."

"HoOOoooLy shit."

"So you've said."

"And I'll say it again," Mk moaned, struggling to fuck himself on Red's fingers. "Holy shit!"

Red's heart almost stopped as he heard the knob of the door nearby turning and quickly teleported them both to his room. Mk squeaked in surprise before the flames had even disappeared, but it twisted into a moan as Red tossed Mk down against the sheets of his bed and nipped hard at the monkie's neck before pulling his hand out of Mk's pants and pulling out from under the armor skirt.

Mk barely had time to whine or complain before Red was off the bed and quickly scrambling at his clothes. Curse the intricacies of ceremonial dress! The very armor he had to be helped into with all its stupid straps now kept him from wiggling free of it.

Giggling lightly at him in a way that would have infuriated Red had it been anyone else, Mk got off of the bed and reached for him, kissing him as he undid the straps and buckles that ensnared him within the cursed clothing. The monkie only pulled away to undo the rest, and the two tossed it aside to clang to the floor before scrambling to rid themselves of the rest of their clothes. They had to help each other from the armor they both wore, until finally they both were down to underarmor, but Mk pulled Red's hands away before he could help Mk out of it.

"I want you to rip it apart," Mk said, scarlet flush across his face, as if now was the time to become shy, of all times. "Tear it off me and take me. I'll tell you the word if anything is too much for me."

Red pulled Mk close again, moaning as he pulled the kinky bastard to him and kissed him again.

"What my mate desires, he shall get," Red promised, the excited chirp his words earned him leaving his chest feeling even fuzzier with delight.

Red pushed Mk back onto the bed and pulled his undershirt off, tossing it away without any care of where it might land. He pulled the pants low but not off, licking his lips as Mk's eyes stared without shame across his body, lingering on the v of Red's hips.

He left them there and stretched, showing off his body before Mk chirped with impatience despite how keenly he was staring at the show. Red laughed and finally pulled off his pants, tossing them aside as he watched Mk's reaction.

Mk's eyes were huge, staring straight at his member. Unblinking, unmoving, focused on it even as Red approached the bed.

"Mk?" Red called, a bit of nerves coming back to him.

The monkie's eyes didn't leave his dick.

"Holy shit, you're big."

Red felt his face blush to the very tip of his ears as he hair turned to flame. Too flustered to tamp it down, it still flamed even as he crawled onto the bed, pushing Mk onto his back and bringing his lips to Mk's.

He pulled away and Mk chased his lips for a moment before Red pushed him back down and pulled the headband, which proved itself to be a ribbon, from Mk's neck, careful not to rip it. After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed Mk's hands in his own and pulled them together up above Mk's hand to tie to the headboard.

He waited, giving Mk time to give the word, but Mk only squirmed impatiently, pupils blown and panting with need.

"Fuck," Mk said. "You're so hot, have I ever told you how hot you are, has anybody, cause they should, you are. Holy shit."

Red's tail wagged at the praise, but Red only grinned instead of responding and turned his attention to Mk's arms. He ran his hands along the biceps, squeezing at the firm muscle, tracing the few faint scars from various fights that littered the pelt.

Mk gave a wordless noise of confusion.

"Remember what I said?" Red purred. "I want to familiarize myself with every inch of you."

Mk's biceps tensed, pulling lightly at the ribbon but not breaking it or giving the safe word, so Red continued, watching the slight spasms that gave away ticklish spots as Red went down the arms to the shoulders, and then moved to the neck. He gave it a light squeeze when he saw how it made Mk squirm with need, but had never been one for choking and so moved on to Mk's face.

He cupped the monkie's face with one hand, the other going to the pretty ears, feeling the softness as he pet one, soft as velvet and cool to the touch. It was probably warm to anyone else, he knew, but most warm things felt cold to the fire demon.

Mk's eyes fluttered at the attention even as he leaned into the hand cupping his face. Red moved from ears to hair, running his hands through it, marveling at the softness of Mk's silky hair as it slid through his fingers.

Mk squirmed, trying to grind up against him, and Red repositioned himself to pin the monkie's hips down. Mk moaned, and Red leaned down to swallow it with a kiss.

He finally turned his attention to Mk's chest as he pulled away. Glancing up to watch Mk's expression, he grabbed hold of the fabric and tore it open.

Mk's head fell back with stuttered curses, the scent of arousal growing in the room.

"Binder off?"

Mk nodded, seeming too flutstered to give words.

Red was more careful with the binder, though it too was tossed aside, though still in one piece.

For the first time, Red took in the sight of Mk's bare chest. Barely willing to breath, he grabbed hold of one, finding that it really did fit perfectly in his hand.

"Pants," Mk panted. "Off."

Red let go and turned his attention to the pants, and they went the same as the rest, ripped open and tossed aside. Red's mouth watered at seeing the monkie's cunt again, with full permission to soak it in this time as he stared openly.

"Fuck me," Mk begged.

This order was not followed.

"Not yet," Red murmured.

He turned his attention back to Mk's chest and grabbed one, giving it a light squeeze, the monkie's nipples already hard. He rubbed his thumb over one, enjoying how the monkie moaned and pushed up into it. Red glanced down, watching Mk's thighs tense against his own.

Mk's cunt glistened with slick. Red bucked his hips, causing his cock to sway where he held himself above Mk's body, and let out an amused huff at how Mk's breath hitched and more slick seeped down from his desperate hole at seeing it.

"I haven't even touched you yet and you're drenched," Red murmured, licking his lips as Mk shuddered and let out a soft groan at the brush of Red's hot breath against his skin, which turned less soft as Red closed his mouth around one of Mk's tits, taking the whole organ into his mouth and lapping at the already hardened nipple. He pulled away, ignoring Mk's noise of complaint, and moved higher to press a kiss to Mk's face, right beside his mouth, but pulled away before the breathless monkie could turn to catch his mouth. "You like being helpless beneath me?"

Mk nodded desperately, arching his hips, trying to get any semblance of relief. Red gently forced the monkie's hips back down against the mattress, chuckling at the frantic lashing of Mk's tail.

He moved back down, pressing chaste kisses against Mk's chest and running a hand up and down Mk's side, feeling every twitch and shift of toned muscle, feeling where fur gave way to skin at Mk's chest and down to his pelvis and across his belly, and Mk yelped as his hands brushed across his abs and Red paused, pulling his mouth away from kissing against the monkie's collarbone and chest.

"Sorry, just ticklish," Mk said. "Not used to being touched like this. Keep going."

Red moved back to his kissing only to pause when Mk called his name.

"Can-" how pretty he looked, with that handsome face so flushed red- "can you leave marks?"

Red grinned and went back to it, leaving a few more chaste kisses before turning to careful nips and sucking, setting to work on painting his marks across the expanse of caramel skin. Each gasp was like music to his ears, each tense and shift of muscle as Mk tried to get friction went straight to his cock.

He made his way down, kissing and marking all the way. Mk proved ticklish at his belly, so he didn't linger there for long and followed his pelvis down with mouth and hands.

The smell of starfruit was strongest, here, so close to the monkie's entrance. Sleek slick had made a mess of the monkie's thighs, and Red didn't miss how Mk's breath had hitched and quickened, with Red finally so close to where Mk wanted him most. He glanced up, licking his tongue slowly across his lips and loosening up on his glamour to show off his sharp teeth. Despite usually being sharp already, the sight of them being closer to their true form had Mk's cunt clenching and twitching before him.

Red pretended to grow near to his entrance only to pull away and push Mk's legs down against the bed so he could kiss and nuzzle against the monkie's toned thighs.

"Touch me," Mk broke, pushing against his hold and tugging against the ribbon, stopping before he could rip the beloved fabric. "Touch me! Fuck, please, please, please!"

"Not yet," Red purred.

He began to mark the monkie's thighs, nipping and sucking, growing closer and closer to Mk's dripping cunt only to pull away each time, as Mk fell apart beneath him.

The monkie's tail came up and wrapped around his arm, trying to tug on him, but Mk still didn't have good control of the limb and it was easily ignored. Red grabbed at the base of it with his free hand and tightened his grip on it before giving a light tug, grinning against Mk's skin at the loud moan it earned him.

"R-Red, please!"

Red pulled away enough to check his work. Already his marks had made themselves known across Mk's skin, hickeys painted across his tits and thighs, with some sprinkled across his belly.

Thinking back to Mk's interest in his horns and tail- he'd seen the glances- he took a moment to come to a decision as he observed his work.

Finding it satisfactory, he pulled away, ignoring Mk's begging and pleading.

"I... I have a true form," he told him. "I can... if you would like, let my glamours go. Or I can continue like this. I-"

"True form, true form! Holy shit!" Mk panted. "O-or whatever you'd be comfy with. But I'm so up for bull Red, holy shit."

Butterflies dancing in his chest, Red stepped back and took a breath to steady himself before releasing his glamours.

His ivory horns grew larger, and so did he. The room grew brighter, the glowing lines that marked his pelt and skin lighting it up as they danced across his skin like lines of magma across his red pelt. He barely had time to shake himself out, refamiliarizing himself with the weight of his horns and the different height, before the tail still wrapped around his arm suddenly gave a hearty yank.

Mk was chirping wordlessly, interspersed with begs of 'touch me! Touch me!' as he tried his best to wrap his legs around Red.

Red relented, moving those strong legs higher so those thighs could lock around his head, and finally ran his tongue across the length of Mk's cunt.

The thighs suddenly tightened, yanking him closer as a gush of slick made a mess of his face as Mk let out a high wail of pleasure.

While he had planned on licking up any potential orgasm, it caught him off guard as Mk rode it out, whimpering and spasming. Red glanced up once Mk was recovering, the monkie's face beet red as he didn't meet Red's stunned eyes.

He figured it best not to add to Mk's embarrassment by letting him know how it had shot straight to his ego, and gave another experimental lick. At the gasp it earned him, and no safe word to give away overstimulation, he cleaned Mk up with his tongue, licking him clean of the slick.

It was everything he had fantasized it would be, sweet and heady against his tongue. The scent of starfruit, of Mk, left him feeling drunk with lust and delight, and nosed against Mk's clit as he pushed his tongue deeper, circling the entrance a few times before pushing past and tongue fucking into him as Mk's thighs tightened so hard that Red thought his head might burst.

It would be a good way to go. Suffocated between these beautiful thighs, tongue deep in his mate.

Mate!

Mk was his mate. His! His mate!

Giddy on it, he moaned against Mk's cunt even as he set to work, loving on Mk's clit even as he tongue fucked the monkie. When he got Mk to come again, surprisingly quickly, he blissfully lapped up each pulse of slick just as he'd planned, adoring the pretty noises he wrung out of his perfect mate, cock seeping with precum as Mk screamed his name.

When Mk's sounds of pleasure turned to discomfort, he pulled away and licked the slick from his mouth. Mk's thighs loosened enough for him to pull free of them and climb higher to lick and suck on Mk's chest as the monkie recovered, lick at the sweat of exertion littered across the monkie's skin and sleek pelt.

"Untie me," Mk begged, though he could sense the demand behind the tone, and Red obeyed, reaching up and carefully untying the ribbon.

He barely had time to toss it aside before the monkie flipped them over in a surprising show of strength.

"My turn," Mk said with a wide grin. "Hands up, pretty boy."

Red's cock twitched with interest and he ignored all his senses wanting to pin Mk down in favor of reaching his arms up, laughing as Mk looked so focused as he used a blanket to tie Red's wrists to the headboard, the ribbon too small to reach around Red's like it had Mk's and thus being unviable for the job.

The monkie's tail was wagging as he observed his tying work.

"Same word?" Mk asked.

"Won't need it," Red purred.

The monkie grinned mischievously before straddling him, admiring how far his legs had to spread to fit even as Red admired how Mk looked on top of him.

At least he knew Mk wasn't as patient as he was.

The monkie was already giving little rocks of his hips, wetting Red's fur with how he was already wet with more slick. The monkie turned around, and Red felt a bit of his confidence falter at not being able to see what the monkie was up to.

He startled, when aomething touched his cock, and Mk let out a light laugh but didn't pull away.

"You're even bigger in this form," Mk said, voice light with excitement.

He felt Mk's hands wrap around his cock, needing both to get all the way around, and grit his teeth to bite back a moan, not wanting the monkie to know just how much something so small was already getting to him. And then a thumb rubbed through his slit, collecting the precum there, and the sensation had him unable to stop his groan.

Mk looked over his shoulder at Red and, before his very eyes, lifted the thumb up. That pretty pink tongue darted out from even prettier lips and licked the precum from the bean of his finger with a wink.

Red let his head fell back, testing the strength of Mk's tying job. Sturdier than expected. He stopped before he could rip it or break the headboard, especially because Mk moved from straddling him to resting his weight on his knees and elbows, presenting himself to Red. That fluffy taul lifted up, flicking, showing off his ass and wet cunt, and Red's mane flickered with embers as Mk rubbed his face against Red's cock as if scenting it.

"You make such pretty noises, Red Son," Mk purred, just before something wet, the tip of Mk's tongue most likely, brushed against the slit of his cock.

Red grabbed onto the headboard his wrists were tied to for dear life as the monkie pressed kisses and tentative licks against the head of his cock before moving to press them against the length.

"And don't worry about the fit," Mk cooed. "Not sure if I can get this whole thing in my mouth, but I did my research enough to know it can fit inside me where it counts~"

Red moaned at the implication, grip tightening to the point he heard the fireproof enchanted wood creak beneath his claws.

Mk's mouth came back to his cock, the tail wagging as Mk turned his attention from the head to its length, kissing and licking down and up it. A hand came up to rub his balls and Red readily moaned at the dual sensation.

"Mk..."

Mk purred against his cock, yanking another groan from the bull demon. And then the monkie's mouth wrapped around the head and sucked and Red cursed before hissing out Mk's name as he clung to the headboard. The monkie managed to swallow down a little bit before pulling away, barely making it much past the head before seeming to give up and go back to licking and kissing as Red did his best not to break the headboard.

The monkie sat up and scooted forward, and Red couldn't help the loud moan as Mk pressed the length of Red's cock between his labia before beginning to move, grinding himself up and down on the length of Red's cock, letting out cute little huffs as he did so.

"Mk, Mk, Mk," Red panted.

"Aww, what's wrong, Red?" Mk cooed, quickening his pace, painting the length of Red's cock wet with slick as he continued to grind along it. "Too much?"

Red growled and the headboard creaked again beneath his clawed hands. He forced himself to loosen his grip.

"I've thought about this so much," Mk moaned, not pausing as he ground himself against Red's shaft. "Do you remember when you found me tied up in my room? I did it myself. I wanted you to take me, and thought you were taking too long. I wanted you to fuck me right there in my room and take me with you. Gods, it was such a stupid idea, but you were just so goddamn oblivious and-"

The headboard broke with a loud crack. The blanket was so easy to snap. Mane blazing, Red grabbed the monkie and flipped them, Mk letting out a startled yelp as he was suddenly shoved down into the sheets.

"You're..." Red trailed off, not knowing what to say. Divine? Ridiculous? Amazing? Dangerous? "Everything."

"What does that even- oh, holy shit!"

Red had crowded in and set his cock across Mk's stomach, letting the panting monkie see before pulling back and shoving Mk's legs open. He checked that his claws weren't too sharp or long before pushing a finger in. It was swallowed easily by the horny monkie, and so he added another, settling quickly into fingerfucking his mate. Soft, so soft, and imagining how much better that softness would feel around his cock when it already felt so amazing around his fingers had him nearly drooling.

He figured out the best places, finding and targeting everything that seemed to leave Mk squirming and moaning.

"Fuck me!" Mk wailed. "I can't take any more, I need you in me, please!"

Red growled and went from scissoring his fingers to curling them, punching into the internal clump of nerves behind Mk's clit even as he rubbed the clit with his thumb, and Mk screamed, cumming for the third time around Red's hand.

"Every inch of you," Red reminded him. "With my mouth. My hands. And my cock."

"FuuUck!" Mk yelped. "Please, Red, please, please!"

Red relented, pulling his fingers free and lining himself up. Holding himself in hand, he reached out with the other and spread Mk's lips open, running his thumb through the wet mess of slick he'd made of him as the Mk moaned and trembled at the sensation.

Cock already lubed with Mk's slick from Mk grinding along it, Red ran it through a few times just to make sure even as the monkie's thighs trembled. Only once he was sure he was slick enough did he line up and press the head of his cock against Mk's entrance.

One hand on his cock, he grabbed onto Mk's midsection to hold him in place.

"Ready?"

Mk let out a strangled sound of needy desperation. Red glanced up, and despite grasping at the sheets already, the monkie was nodding frantically.

"I'll go slow," Red said. "Give your body time to kick in the demon biology aspect of making room if it needs to."

Red took a deep breath, focusing hard to keep control of himself, and pushed forward.

Despite the foreplay, Mk's cunt was stubborn, refusing him. But the monkie was begging, and so he pushed a little harder, until finally the head of his cock breached through and into the monkie.

They both cried out at the sensation, Red's mane flaring with pleasure as Mk's claws pricked against his arms as the monkie yelled his name. The monkie's legs tried to wrap around him as best as they could, and he made sure not to move as Mk's body adjusted a bit before pushing forward more when Mk told him to do so.

"I'm not fragile," Mk panted. "I want to be feeling this even by tomorrow. FUCK me, Red!"

Red tightened his grip a little to keep Mk from being able to force himself onto his cock.

"Oh, you'll be feeling this, don't worry, Noodle Boy," Red growled. "But I don't need to be impatient or hurt you for that."

He worked slowly, inching further and further until finally he bottomed out, ignoring Mk's begging for him to rush. He sat for a minute as Mk's body adjusted around him, nearly delirious on how good Mk felt around his cock.

Finally satisfied, he pulled out to the head and then fucked back in.

It was amazing. From the sharp cry that fell from Mk's lips to the way the monkie's body clung snugly around him, warm and impossibly soft. Red groaned as he buried himself in those satin walls, toes curling with pleasure.

He did it again, keeping slow and careful. But Mk demanded more, more, more, and so he quickened his pace, again and again until he was practically rutting into the wailing monkie. Mk screamed his name, again and again, as Red fucked in and out, the bed squealing so loudly that Red would have wondered if it was carving gouges into the floor if he had had the mental capacity to focus on anything but how how Mk felt around him or how wonderful the noises he was making sounded to his ears.

He leaned down and kissed Mk, the monkie whining and panting open mouthed against him as Red didn't pause in his thrusts. He ducked his head into the crook of Mk's neck and felt teeth bite into his own. He grinned against the monkie's neck and nipped to punish him for it, grinning wider at the desperate moan breathed into his pelt.

He pulled several more orgasms from Mk before he couldn't keep his own back.

"In or out?"

"Wha?" Mk moaned, practically delirious.

"I'm going to come," Red said. "In or out?"

"IN!"

"Do you want me to claim you?"

"YES!" Mk wailed. "Yes! Claim me, come in me, please! A-aH! Red!"

He fucked in balls deep and went over, unable to hold back his orgasm any longer. He bit down on the crook of Mk's neck and felt the claim magic surge through them both. Mk came around him even as Red filled him with cum, the monkie's cunt milking him of every drop as it clenched and trembled around him, coming in unison as the claim magic surged through them both.

Neither moved for a while, chests heaving as they panted and tried to regain their bearings.

"Red," Mk gasped.

Red let out a grunt of acknowledgement, not yet able to bring himself to finding words.

"This has been the best night of my life."

Red laughed and let go, carefully licking at the claim mark he had left. Already it was healing over, the magic leaving a comforting warmth in his chest at being in the presence of his mate.

His mate.

The word sent butterflies fluttering in his chest, and sent his tail wagging shamelessly.

Mk went to pull away, but Red pulled him back and rocked his hips, enjoying how the monkie moaned.

"The night's not over yet," Red said. "I can go as long as you need me to, my mate. And after all that teasing, I'm not letting you out of this bed that easily~"

Mk's face lit up with excitement as Red set back to work.

Hours later, when Mk finally seemed half asleep and satisfied, it was a relief to finally sink into the chair at his desk, legs nearly giving in as he dropped into it.

Red winced as he pressed the icepack he'd had a bull clone bring him against his sore crotch. The ice within it would melt soon enough due to his higher than average body temperature but Gods if it didn't feel amazing on his aching body.

He spared a glance towards the absolute cock goblin that resided within his bed. The bed hog splaid out across his bed looked content, as if he and Red hadn't spent hours fucking like it was heat and rut season to the point that Red wasn't sure if his cock would ever be up for anything ever again. Red shifted in his seat, wincing as it pulled at the sore muscles in his groin and thighs and everything. Hopefully the pain medication the bull clones had brought him would kick in sooner rather than later.

From the bed, the monkie moaned and stretched, letting out a pained huff as he did so. At least Red wasn't the only one who seemed to have overdone it, and the way the monkie's legs stayed mostly limp sent a boost straight to his ego.

The monkie rolled over, reaching out across the mattress, letting out a half-asleep whine at not finding Red there. It also gave Red a good view of the marks scattered across his mate's body. His mate! He could call Mk his mate!

"Red," Mk whined, calling out to him.

"I'm here," Red assured him.

Gingerly, he stood and moved to the bed, collapsing onto it and tossing the ice pack aside onto the nightstand.

Mk rolled towards him, letting out a soft whine as he did so, and curled into his chest, hands kneading at his fur.

"Sore?" Red whispered.

Mk let out an affirmative whine before lifting his head for a kiss. Red readily gave it to him before curling up around him.

"Red?" Mk murmured.

"Yes, my mate?"

"Again."

Between his legs, his aching cock gave a stubborn and valiant twitch.