Caretaker Swap AU - Red Son and Wukong
Red Son knew his familial setup was abnormal, even by demon standards. He knew that his ‘uncle’, Sun Wukong, had been the reason for his father’s absence, but his mother had agreed to the monkey demon staying to help with the young bull prince. He hadn’t understood at first, but there were simply things his mother couldn’t deal with all on her own and try to raise him at the same time. At least, that’s what he was told.
It had taken a long time for any of them to adjust to the new dynamic.
Iron Fan and Wukong never fought in front of him, but there were very clear lines that neither had stepped over with one another. And Red Son had been quite the pain in his uncle’s ass for nearly a decade. Eventually, the three of them settled into a routine and things calmed quite a bit. He spent the mornings with his mother, doing his academic studies and fine tuning his magical control. Afternoons were spent with Wukong, practicing his hand-to-hand and weapon handling, along with endurance training. Dinners were spent together and then the three all went their own ways.
His mother had once said she was surprised that the monkey demon had actually stuck around for so long, that she had expected him to weasel his way out of it somehow. He’d still been young when he’d overheard this, maybe the mortal equivalent of a sixteen year old, and he’d beelined for his uncle as soon as he was able to. The prince prided himself on not being a crybaby, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself. The moment he found his uncle, he had tackled Wukong and buried his face against the other demon’s chest, sobs shaking his shoulders.
His uncle had let him get it out and when Red Son had calmed, he had told his uncle that he didn’t want him to leave. The surprised look on Wukong’s face had been enough for the prince to admit what he had overheard his mother saying. He remembered what happened next so clearly.
‘I promise I’m not going anywhere, little buddy.’ Wukong said and for once there was nothing in the demon’s voice except for sincerity, ‘At first I was helping because I felt like I had to. Like I owed it to you both…’
He took a deep breath and reached out to ruffle Red Son’s hair, ‘Afraid you’ve grown on me too much, I’d never forgive myself if I left now. So you don’t need to worry about me going anywhere.’
Red Son had been relieved, but for the next few weeks he had still been on edge, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop. It never came and Wukong stayed, just as he promised.
It had been nearly five centuries at this point and the bull prince had been considered a mature demon for some time, but he still enjoyed the time spent with his mother and uncle. Currently he stood in his workshop, reworking the blueprints for his gauntlet, a device intended to be able to pick up his uncle’s staff. The idea had come to him a few decades back, but so far all previous iterations of the machine had been… subpar.
“Working on that again, huh?”
Red Son jumped slightly, his tail whipping back and forth nervously. He turned and gave his uncle an annoyed look, although it didn’t bother Wukong at all, he just arched an eyebrow and waited for an answer.
“Yes.” The prince said, leaning back against his work bench, “I think I know what went wrong last time and how to fix it. I can’t say there won’t be any unexpected complications again when we test it, but it’s a step closer.”
Wukong nodded, “Keep that attitude up and we’ll have your dad free in no time.”
There was a pause, not uncomfortable, but there was a sort of tension and Red Son decided he should ask the question that had been at the back of his mind.
“Why do you want to free him?” His voice was quiet and he couldn’t quite meet his uncle’s gaze, “I mean… you are the one who trapped him.”
“Yeah, I did.” Wukong sighed and he rubbed the back of his neck, “I never really wanted to, ya know. I might not have had the circlet on at that point, but I knew better than to tell the Jade Emperor to piss off.”
The monkey demon ran a hand down his face and gave his nephew a tired smile, the weight of all those years of life suddenly very apparent to the young prince. He knew that his uncle held a lot of regrets, but in this moment it became obvious that the whole incident with his father was definitely on that list.
“And I’m encouraging you to free him, but technically not doing anything myself.” He chuckled softly, “So, that keeps me from getting into trouble and I mean, they never said anything about having to keep him there.”
Wukong walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Besides, I think he’s been down there more than long enough.”
Red Son looked at the other demon for a moment and then wrapped his arms around his uncle, although the hug was a little awkward, as he’d long since outgrown the monkey demon. The sound of Wukong’s laughter made him relax though and the two separated, taking a moment before Red cleared his throat to speak.
“You’re a better man than my mother gives you credit for, uncle.” The prince said, smiling warmly, “I only hope my father can see that when the time comes.”
“Me too, little buddy.” Wukong said, “Me too.”
Mei and Nezha ficlet here ----> link
Spider Demons and Ming-Yue here ----> link
