Work Text:
Redson was walking along the street, watching as cars sped by and feeling strangers bump into him as they rushed to wherever it was they were headed.
He didn’t have a plan on where he was going, but from an outsider's perspective it did, he kept his head up and took long, unbreaking, confident strides, but in his head, tiny fast-moving thoughts flew around and he was trying desperately to hang onto them.
Walking was always his solution when he needed ideas; trying to come up with a new machine? You could find him pacing around in his room for hours. Need a new strategy to take over the world? Saunter around the streets until sunset and he’d usually come up with something.
Needless to say, it was a slow (and tedious) process.
But what he needed today wasn’t a machine or a world domination plan.
It was more… feelings related.
Specifically, the feelings the prince had towards the Monkey Kid.
The two had been close lately, to the point where they were just meeting up at some points, none of the dragon girl insisting he comes to some weird get-together, but just casual messages agreeing on a time and place.
Nobody knew about these of course.
Anytime a text would come through from the hero, Redson would always feel warmer, at first he figured it was because he was, well, a fire demon, but soon it became obvious that it was more than just a spontaneous rise in temperature.
Mk was also naturally physically affectionate, often greeting the demon with smothering hugs, holding his shoulder, or dragging him along by the hand; and Redson would be lying if he said he wasn’t fond of it, in fact, sometimes he caught himself longing for the touch of his former enemy.
Redson had always figured that it was some form of admiration or maybe this was just standard friend stuff, but thinking on it, he had no similar feelings to someone like the dragon girl, who, while annoying, also had some good qualities the prince rather liked.
It wasn’t pure admiration either, if it was, then this feeling wouldn’t be so foreign to him, and he doubted that someone he had tried to destroy not so long ago would be so high on the list of people he looked up to that he created a whole new, weird feeling.
In fact, on reflection, Redson realized that he and Mk were more on the same level than anything, the hero wasn’t much better or worse than the prince, and it seemed they balanced each other out if anything.
He thought, more and more, and kept thinking until he felt his head might as well pop open on the spot. Ignoring that gruesome visual, he struggled to put his finger on it, this feeling , this stupid goddamn feeling.
His speed notably increased, leaning more into a jog than a regular walk, and he ignored the slight soreness that decided to show itself as he continued.
What IS this!?
His jaw clenched, his hands balled into fists, his face felt hot, and a flurry of emotions began coursing through his head, confusion, anger, annoyance, he wanted to scream, yell out into the streets about all his confusion, not caring about the bystanders who would give him weird looks for it.
He slowed down for a moment, finally no longer able to ignore the soreness of his legs. He allowed himself to breathe slowly, trying to clear his mind; and he thought of his most recent interaction with the noodle boy, to see if it would assist him in unraveling the mess of thoughts and emotions inside his head.
Redson thought of the hugs, the pure joy and love that emanated from Mk, and he even thought back to how Mk was the first to ever trust him during the Spider Queen incident when the demon was sure he was about to get thrown out into the open sea by the rest of the group.
The prince’s face felt hot once again, but not in the previous way, where all he felt was stress. This was a nice, comforting warmth, like standing near a newly lit torch on a cold winter day, it wasn’t much of an addition, but it was welcome.
A wonderful warmth, that’s what Mk was.
Redson paused in his walking, pulling himself out of his thoughts and re-observing his surroundings. There were fewer people out now, for some reason, and the sky was a new gray color, it was also far later than when he had started his walk, and the few patches of sky he could see had turned a dusty pink.
Right after making the observation, Redson felt a small cold drop of water hit against his cheek, and it had begun to rain.
He wondered if this was a sign of some sort, to go home, lay in his bed and contemplate his strange mountain of emotions once more.
Or, he looked up to see fairly familiar shops surrounding him and a pink glowing sign in the distance, he could confront the problem head-on.
Either it took longer to get to the noodle boys' apartment than he had originally estimated, OR the rain had decided to come down as quickly as possible, because by the time he had made it to the base of the fire escape, he might as well have been thrown in the ocean. Twice.
He didn’t know what time it was, or when Mk’s shift ended for that matter, he would just have to hope that he was home, or else this would be the second time he’d break into his apartment, although not with evil intentions this time.
The feeling of the water on his skin and wet clothes clinging to him irritated Redson, he could hardly see five feet in front of him and he had to beg his hands to hold on tight enough to the smooth metal bars to make sure he didn’t fall and get concussed or something. Right now was an excellent example of the prince’s regret of breaking the Weather Station.
Redson was a fire demon, and that fact made itself all too clear on rainy days, although the drenching rain wasn’t enough to kill him (it would take far much more water to do that), it would still leave him feeling tired and drained, almost as if he had spent the entire day teleporting around the world, except now he was wet.
Redson was near the top of the ladder when the loudest clap of thunder decided to erupt seemingly right next to him, he jumped back before hanging onto the ladder for what felt like his life. He didn’t fall, but his signature glasses weren’t so lucky.
He half-screamed a string of curses before lowering himself back down to the soaking sidewalk, finding his shades covered in cracks and water. He picked them up anyways, in the possibility that he’d be able to melt the glass back together, a decision he quickly found to be a horrible idea.
A small chunk of glass stabbed into the palm of his hand, leaving behind a stream of crimson blood and stinging, a lot of stinging. Redson hissed in response to the sudden pain before cursing again and throwing the broken glasses into the alleyway, they didn’t deserve to be salvaged.
Nonetheless, it wouldn’t make sense to give up so close to his destination, so he gripped the ladder, ready for another attempt at climbing, one-handed this time. But just as he made it up a few more rungs the window abruptly flew open, and Redsn was met with a familiar, handsome face,
“Redson?” Mk yelled, swiping his loose hair out of his face, “I knew that yelling was familiar! What are you doing here? ” He asked with a smile on his face, just the sight made Redson feel that wonderful warm feeling all over again, almost forgetting all about the previous anger he had just been feeling.
“I was just on a walk and decided how kind of me it would be to grace you with my presence,” He explained, shifting back to his normal demeanor, and also trying his best to hide his scraped hand, he wasn’t asking for pity tonight.
“You were on a walk… in the rain? I thought you’d hate the rain.” The noodle boy laughed, “Irony I guess.”
“It would be very un- ironic actually, I despise the rain, but it started too late for me to get home,” A half-lie, he held his breath and hoped Mk wouldn't remember his teleportation ability.
“Oh, okay, do you wanna come in?” He asked, Redson exhaled,
“No, I figured I’d just stand here under the sky-water and let it drench me for the next few hours,” He retorted sarcastically, “ of course I want to come in, Noodle boy, one moment,”
He cut out from the banter to focus on getting back up the ladder and into the apartment, but when he looked back up, he noticed that Mk had retreated back inside.
He didn’t know why until he made it to the top to find the hero standing just inside with a towel in one hand and an extra pair of clothes in the other.
He dropped in through the window and immediately noticed the puddle collecting beneath him, prompting him to shove off his shoes and trench coat and grab the towel, making sure to drop in a brief ‘thank you’ before moving away from the still-open window.
The room was slightly cleaner than Redson last remembered, at least on the floor, which was lacking the old noodle bowls and half-open books. The desk, however, might as well have been made out of paper by that point, because he couldn’t see any wood past the legs. Other than that, the room remained the same, give or take a few items.
“Are you bleeding?” Mk asked after a few seconds of silence, staring at his hand, damnit.
“Oh, it’s nothing, my glasses shattered on my way up here, I’ve experienced much more than silly little glass wounds.” Redson responded, trying to avoid causing the hero worry,
“Small or not you’re still bleeding!” Mk remarked, setting off the prince to internally stress about possibly saying the wrong thing,
“It’ll scab over by morning!” He protested, following the noodle boy to the door of the bathroom,
“ It’ll scab over- shut up I’m fixing this,” Mk mocked, getting a slight laugh out of Red, who was promptly dragged over to the middle of the small room and practically thrown into a black spinny chair,
“Noodle boy, you don’t have to help me,” Redson said, putting the hand that wasn’t being tugged away by Mk over his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose,
“Yeah well, I want to.” He said before firmly holding a dark gray wet rag over the cut, those words made Redsons face feel warm again, but he didn’t speak, it wasn’t until Mk made eye contact with him again that the silence between the two was broken, “I don’t think I’ve ever really looked at you without your glasses on. You look different.” The hero commented,
“Would that be an insult or a compliment?” Redson asked as Mk pressed a band-aid over the now clean cut, and the demon flexed his hand, Mk laughed,
“A compliment, you look nice, even if you’re still damp.” Was Red seeing things or was Mk’s face getting slightly redder?
“Never describe me as damp ever again,” He stated, Mk just laughed again before standing up and moving closer to the window, picking up the stack of clothes,
“Anyways, do you want something to wear that’s not moist ?” He smirked at Redson, whose hair burst into flames at the remark, and he snatched the dry clothes out of Mk’s hands, grumbling in annoyance and walking into the bathroom. Why did someone who made him feel so warm have to be so irritating ?
And why didn’t he care?
/////
Mk was still laughing about the look on Redsons face even after he was gone, he just always looked so funny when he was annoyed, the way his face scrunched up and his hair sparked. He looked around his now-empty apartment room before grabbing his guests red trench coat off the floor.
He held it up, the red fabric was still soaking wet from the rain, obvious by the giant puddle now on the wooden floor, Mk sighed before grabbing the towel Redson had left on the chair, finding it to be surprisingly dry.
Before Mk could question how the heck that worked, Redson opened the bathroom door, now wearing a light gray tank top and red sweatpants, his iconic ponytail was also taken down, the purple hair-tie around his wrist. For a moment the only noise in the room was the sound of the relentless rain outside, Mk felt his face turn red for the second time that night.
After the mission to defeat Spider Queen, the hero had always had the suspicion he may have caught feelings for the ex(?) villain, but this sight was making it way too obvious of his adoration.
“I- you look great!” He sputtered out, trying to pull himself out of this butterfly-in-stomach state, but the (hopefully) unnoticeable redness in his face refused to die down, he found his hands fidgeting with the hem of his own shirt.
“Hm,” The demon responded, “Why did I need to put this on again?” He asked, Mk panicked internally for a second,
“Well,” He moved to fidgeting with his hands, “I figured that we could hang out for a bit, y’know since it’s raining pretty heavily right now, and I didn’t want you to be uncomfortable in wet clothes,”
In truth, Mk really just wanted to spend time with the prince, the exact reason for all their other spontaneous hang-outs, and surely this would be the perfect scenario for them to talk, and maybe for Mk to figure out once and for all how he could maybe ask him out. Likes and dislikes and all that.
“Oh, that makes sense,” All of a sudden Redsons demeanor seemed to change ever so slightly, like the realization made him… happier? Mk struggled to tell completely.
“Yeah… so what do you wanna do until the rain clears up?”
/////
Redson was sure he’d been in the noodle boys apartment for at least an hour by now, and the rain had barely let up, and to pass the time, they had both taken turns ranting to each other about their respective interests, sitting across from each other on Mk’s bed.
“It’s been raining for a while,” Redson observed, “Does it usually last this long?” He asked, reconsidering the possibility of more frequent revisits to the city.
“Yeah it has, but that’s been sort of normal since the weather station… incident,” Mk stuttered for a second, “But it could also be some sort of side effect from the Lady Bone Demon or… something? Oh! Maybe Yin and Jin did something!”
Redson chuckled at what seemed to be an attempt at making him feel not-guilty, “No that was 100% me,” he responded, watching Mk deflate in relief that he didn’t cause the demon to feel mass regret, “Although it’s not my fault they haven’t fixed it yet, I didn’t do that much.” He remarked.
“I think it’s the glass that’s taking so long to fix, before they reopen it and stuff,” Mk commented, leaning against his hand,
“Oh yeah, the glass that you shot me and my entire bull clone army through, then struck us with lightning, I might still be mad about that actually,” Mk immediately tensed up again, looking like he was about to smother the demon with apologies, causing Redson to feel somewhat bad in response, so he quickly added, “I was being sarcastic, honestly I kind of forgot that had happened until now.”
“That’s good,” Mk responded, “Now that we’re friends I feel pretty guilty for the amount of times we beat you up,”
“First, I wouldn’t say ‘beat up,’ I’m sure I managed to land a few hits that actually caused damage,” Redson moved closer to Mk and put a hand on his shoulder, “ second, I’m going to try and make this as clear as possible, we were enemies during that time, I wanted to destroy you, and your friends, and the city. So I’m not going to blame you for any injuries I got during that time because, one again, I was attacking you .”
“Really? Every time?” Mk asked, seeming unsure,
“Yes.” Redson responded, annoyed at the heroes willingness to take blame,
“Even when I crashed into you with a rocket?” He said, and Redson nodded, “Or when Sandy grabbed you by the face and we all jumped on you? What abou-”
“Every. Time.” Redson said, gripping his shoulders harder, “Except for maybe that time Wukong punched me through a wall,”
“But he was possessed that time,” Mk said,
“ Exactly. So you think that Sun Wukong shouldn't be blamed for something he had no control over?” Redson asked,
“Yeah?” Mk responded,
“So you shouldn’t be blamed for what you may have done to me, because you had to !” He shook Mk slightly, and the hero seemed lost on a possible retort to defend his mindset, “Mk, are all the pretty heroes so guilt ridden or is it just you?” He laughed, and Mk looked up to meet his eyes,
“...You think I’m pretty?” He asked, Redson froze, face heating up again, and his hair sparked once more, his mind started screaming again, thoughts running all throughout and causing a mess, but nonetheless, he nodded, and Mk smiled, such a warm and welcoming smile, “Thanks Red, you’re pretty too,”
“I… What?” he asked, feeling his face turn redder and his thoughts become quicker and more abundant,
“I said you’re pretty too, Redson,” Mk’s face was red too, seeming to match the shade of that headband he wore everywhere, and soon they both sat staring at each other, two messes of gay panic, until soon Mk opened his mouth again, “ Doyouwannagoonadatewithme ?”
/////
Mk’s mouth snapped shut almost as quickly as it opened and his hands flew to his face as he waited for the inevitable rejection, WHY DID HE HAVE TO SAY THAT? Surely Redson wasn’t trying to be romantic or anything, he was just trying to reassure a guilty Mk and now he just messed UP!
“A date?” he heard Redson ask after a moment of awkward silence, and Mk nodded slowly, not wanting to try and lie his way out of it, knowing his luck that’d just make everything worse, “...That’d be nice.” The hero looked up in shock,
“Huh?” he exclaimed,
“I think I’d like to go on a date with you, if that’s what you were confused on,” Redsons’ head tilted, and Mk just panicked more, surely he had passed out from embarrassment and this was a dream, or maybe it was a weird monkey thing, what if he was back in the calabash ?! Why would Redson of all demons just accept his half assed date proposal?
“Is my hearing going weird or something? Because-” Mk was interrupted by his hands being grabbed by the prince and he was pulled forward,
“Mk! I want to go on a date with you!” The room was once again filled with silence as Mk set his mind to process what had just happened, Redson, the great, amazing, smart, strong Prince Redson wanted to go out with him after just a spur of the moment request,
Redson still held Mk’s hands as his mouth shifted to a soft smile, wow he really needed to look at Redsons’ eyes more, he was absolutely beautiful, and to add to that, Redson actually said his name! Not ‘noodle boy’, or ‘peasant’ but he said Mk!
“...Okay.. that- that’s great!” His hands pulled away from Reds as he stood up and began waving them up and down and starting to pace, “When are you free?” He asked, unable to erase the wide smile from his face even if he wanted to,
“Uh, just about any day, we don’t have any major takeovers planned as far as I know,” Redson stared at the hero with probably the happiest look on his face he’s ever seen, “How about you?”
“How about Saturday?” Mk suggested, “I get off a bit earlier on weekends because people have more time to just walk to Pigsy’s,”
“That works, what did you have in mind for time or place?” Redson asked, causing Mk to freeze in silence once again, considering if he should come up with something on the spot or say it's a surprise or something.
“Uhhh, just- meet me at the docks around… 6:30, and I can handle the rest!” He had no plan.
“Alright, that sounds good,” Redson joined Mk on the floor, “...So do you think it’d be better if I left now or would you prefer I stay?”
“You can do whatever, I’m sure if you stay I can figure something out,” Mk said, rubbing the back of his head, and he watched Redson think for a moment,
“I think it’d be best if I left soon, I have to fix some Bull Clones and adjust a few traps, but maybe some other time,” He moved to grab the clothes he had arrived in, seeming to cringe at the wetness of the red coat, as he stood in the center of the room another question popped into his mind, “Would it be best if I dressed formally or casually?” He asked,
“Casually, definitely casually,” Redson nodded in response,
“Alright then, I’ll meet you then,” He said with a smile, and he gestured to his outfit, “I’ll be sure to return this when I can,”
“Sounds good Red!” Mk grinned, but as he looked back towards the window, he noticed that it was still raining heavily outside, “Hey, how are you-” he began before being interrupted by a flash of light and heat, and when he looked back Redson was gone, oh right, he could do that.
Mk walked through the emptier room to his bed and pulled out his phone, opening his notes app, scrolling down far and opening a note labeled ‘date ideas,’
“Alright past me, let’s hope you had some good ideas,” He muttered as he began reading through everything he had managed to come up with roughly a year ago.
This was gonna be a long night.