A Son Of Two Dad's

Distractions

By the time they finished sparing MK's body was exhausted. Macaque seemed to be going harder on him than usual and by the time they paused MK had gone an entire four hours without thinking about Monkey King. 

He lay on the floor, panting and out of breath as his limbs burned while Macaque watched from above. 

"You good there?" He asked, smirking at MK's groan of exhaustion. 

It was a good type of ache though, one where you finally felt properly worn out and he was grateful for it. 

"Just give me a minute," MK said and Macaque nodded, grabbing a glass of water he'd left on the create nearby and handing it down to MK before sitting down himself. 

MK thanked him for it, glugging the water down as quickly as humanly possible and almost choking on it. Sat down next to MK, watching him drink Macaque crossed his arms, leaning so that MK could see him properly. 

"So, why don't you tell me what'd really going on?" He asked and MK froze, gulping and setting the glass in his lap as he looked away, a nervous smile on his face.

 "What do you mean?" He asked innocently as though he didn't already know in hopes that his dad would drop it. Luck wasn't on his side it seemed as Macaque ignored MK's ploy and elaborated. 

"About why you've been so on edge all day.  What have you been trying to distract yourself from?" From the fact that Monkey King could be in trouble right this moment or could absolutely loath MK and be bored of him and never be coming back. 

"What? Nothing. I'm fine. Everything's fine." Every second that passed was another second that Monkey King had forgotten about MK and his promise. Then again, maybe MK was simply overreacting. That's why he didn't want to tell his dad. What would he think when MK confessed what was wrong with him and Macaque realized it was nothing serious at all and MK was just being pathetic and clingy? 

Would he tell MK so? Laugh and brush off his silly worries by calling him childish and overbearing? He didn't want to think about it. 

Macaque gave him a skeptical look and MK realized he'd have to try harder to fool him. 

"Really? Because it doesn't seem like you're okay." He paused, voice softening in a way that made MK feel guilty for not telling him. 

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right? I know I don't always have the best advice but I'm here for you." It was such a sweet thing to hear and on normal occasions, MK was sure his heart would be swelling inside his chest but as it was he simply slunk away guiltily.

"I know." He lied like the liar he was who didn't deserve the parents he had. 

"I promise I'd talk to you if something really was wrong." Which wasn't necessarily a lie, nothing was probably wrong. It was most likely all in MK's head. 

"Now, let's go again!" He distracted, vaulting to his feet with a wide grin and getting into a determined fighting stance as he pulled his staff out and extended it, gripping it tightly in his hands. 

Macaque watched him, mouth opening like he was about to say something before shutting again and he stood up, sighing before swinging out his weapon, twirling it around effortlessly before pointing it at MK. 

"Alright, if you insist."  

MK went to sleep that night with all his limbs burning, flopping onto his bed and sighing at the relief that spread through his sore muscles. 

Even with the tiredness of his body that he expected to instantly lull him to sleep he was still somehow wide awake, his mind spitting thoughts at him loudly. He growled, face scrunching up in annoyance because he'd been so sure that exhaustion would have helped him sleep, and yet it didn't. 

It had been two days now since Monkey King hadn't talked to him and it was eating away at him from the inside. 

Maybe he could at least try contacting Monkey King himself? It was worth a shot. He could surely learn how to telepathically communicate with someone. 

How hard could it be? 

Pretty hard, it turned out when MK realized he had no idea what he was doing, used his golden vision at least eighteen times on accident, and succeeded in making absolutely no progress and only giving himself a headache. 

The good news was that the worry in his mind had now given away to numb tiredness and this time when he flopped onto his bed he actually managed to eventually fall asleep.  

He'd try again in the morning. 

True to his word MK worked on telepathic communication in the morning, forcing himself to focus. At one point he thought he might actually be close- or at least closer but then his head felt stuffy and when he went to wipe at his nose his hand came back sticky with blood and he stopped, realizing he had a nosebleed and cleaning it up sulkily in the bathroom. 

He decided to stop after that. Monkey King might not appreciate being interrupted even if he did get the hang of it anyway... Which he totally could... If he wanted to... which he definitely didn't. 

He decided he'd spend the day with Mei, leaving his room to go to hers and bringing his sketchbook with him and a couple of pencils. 

He slammed her door open, catching her in the middle of making a video on her phone that she instantly turned to him.

"MEI!" He thrust the book at her, pencils clattering to the floor in his haste.

"Do you want to draw with me?" He asked, hopping around excitedly and Mei nodded, giving a happy thumbs up. 

"Yeah! Let's do it!" She cheered and MK looked down at the pencils on the floor, tail prodding them as he concentrated. He managed to curl the tip of his tail around one of them, lifting it a few feet off the ground before dropping it again and growling frustrated, simply bending down to scoop it up with his free hand. 

Ignoring his embarrassment he jumped onto her bed, setting his book down and pulling out some loose sheets from the back, setting them next to him for Mei to use.  

Mei grabbed a book, using it as a flat surface to put under her paper, and sat next to him, picking up one of the pencils as she began scribbling away immediately, both content and enjoying how easy it was being with each other. 

Drawing always had the effect of making MK feel calmer and Mei chatted with him as they scribbled side by side, filling the room with laughs and the sound of pencil scratching on paper. It was nice and soon MK found himself too distracted to be thinking of Monkey King, his worries pushed to the back while he enjoyed this moment.