When Red had planned for this day, it had been a simple plan.

Use the gauntlet to lift the staffReunite with FatherConquer the unsuspecting world

He did not plan for something to slam into him and knock the staff out of his hand.

He heard his mother gasp in startled surprise as whoever was above him groaned. Red yelped and paused, too off-guard to really make a noise. A soft butt pressed against his face, wrapped in red pants. But what caught his nose's attention was the scent that whoever had just landed on him held.

The scent of noodles and ink, like a parent demon's scent-marking a child as theirs, covered a sweeter undertone. It smelled like strawberries and what he could only describe as sunshine. Red's mouth watered, even at the lack of dignity in his position.

A young male voice spoke up, trembling with nerves as the Demon Bull King and Princess Iron Fan loomed. "Uh... did someone order noodles?"

What. No. He needed to focus!

"GET OFF OF ME!" Red allowed a burst of fire to pull himself off while throwing whoever had dared to fall on him. "NOW LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID, YOU-" He whirled around on the foolish idiot.

His heart went boom.

Pretty .

The man who was frozen in terror was pretty . He looked a few years younger than Red, and the baby fat his cheeks still clung to only helped the image. He was wearing what looked to be like some kind of retail uniform, a bag with a sheepish pig logo next to him. Dark brown hair was pushed out of a soft face with a red bandana, revealing wide brown eyes.

Red's heart went boom .

A small cloud of pink smoke drifted out of his mouth and Red clamped a hand over his mouth. It didn't stop his hair from sparking.

No, no, why now?! Of all times, now? Now was not a good time! He took a deep breath and swallowed back the ache in his teeth that only wanted to bury his face in the mortal's neck and bite down .

His parents were watching.

He finally managed out a screech of "YOU RUINED MY MOMENT!"

Then his father had decided that this mortal was the perfect first kill in this and Red agreed, swallowing back the urge to protest. It felt like everything else was slow motion until suddenly a wave of golden energy was knocking Red back.

"Hand over that staff!"

There was a pause and a quiet, sassy "No?" Red wasn't sure to laugh or scream at the denial and the man was already shooting out of view.

Red managed to swallow back the heat in his throat as he lunged to his new vehicle. Staff or not, the man couldn't withstand the speed of his Inferno Truck!

It was all too easy to slam his truck up and out of the cave. He was determined to retrieve that staff and the mortal that clung to it. Up ahead, Red could see a tuk-tuk, furiously driving away, a glimpse of gold revealing the staff set next to the driver's seat. He pressed hard on the gas until the Inferno Truck loomed over the measly delivery vehicle, just in time to see already familiar brown eyes peer up at him, wide with fear.

Some part of him howled in delight. A chase! A chase was good, to see how hard his pretty mate would fight-

Not his mate!

No. He needed to focus and get that staff. This was a chase over the staff, not over a mate. He would make an allowance for the boy's life if he handed the staff over. And maybe keep him prisoner to understand why exactly a simple mortal could wield Sun Wukong's staff. (And definitely not to see whether or not he was willing to have his children.) "Alright Noodle Boy! Hand it over!"

That dark hair pulled back in.

Barely a moment later, a bowl of noodles slammed into his window. Red blinked as he barely made out a "Dangit!"

Oh. He was going to play that way, wasn't he.

The windshield wiper swished away the noodles but left brown liquid still on his shiny new truck. Red growled, feeling warmth shoot up his spine as his hair exploded into flames. He had just finished building the Inferno Truck! He had spent hours figuring out the paint job! And this idiot had just ruined it!

Fine then! Cute or not, no mercy!

"HAVE IT YOUR WAY!"

His blood was roaring in his ears, so loud that he almost didn't hear the screech of "You're really scary!" What Red did hear, loud and clear, was what sounded like a temple bell, deep into his bones. Then the tuk-tuk was shooting up, the staff's glow a beacon in the sunset-soaked sky, and came down with a hard thud on a nearby rooftop and continued to zoom across the rooftops, jolting up and down so much that the lid of that weird bucket at the back looked in danger of falling off and leaving the Noodle Boy desperately grabbing at the wheel for something to steady himself. At least Red still had an eye on him.

"WILL YOU GET DOWN HERE SO I CAN KILL YOU?!" There was no way the Noodle Boy was escaping this without a sound thrashing. Red might not want to kill him, most definitely because of the whole staff thing and research and not because he wanted to get a better look at him, but his blood pressure was going through the roof.

"NEVER- AHH!"

Just then, the Noodle Boy smashed through a roof and out of sight.

Red growled and made a U-turn, looking around. The Noodle Boy had to get out somewhere. He could practically hear his delightful screams as he drove through the building. An alleyway caught his eye and Red slammed his foot on the gas.

As he hoped, the alley came out in front of the building. And there was the Noodle Boy, running around a broken tuk-tuk like a chicken with its head cut off. He even had tears in his pretty eyes. Red felt a satisfied chuff come out before shaking his head and forcing it into maniacal laughter.

There was a scream and the Noodle Boy proceeded to run.

Now, Red was doing this a bit unfairly. Normal demon chases would have him get out and chase after him on foot. But Red was furious and feeling blood rush so he slammed his foot down even harder. He could barely see a hoodlum raise his fist after the Noodle Boy, who had somehow grabbed a hoverboard. Now it was fair again.

Red's teeth ached.

"I'M COMING TO GET YOU, NOODLE BOY!" Whether it was for Father's own personal human to torture or Red to research or for him to take as a reward for figuring out how to lift the staff, it didn't matter. Red's mind was clear and locked on his goal.

Until the truck slammed to a stop.

"What the-"

Red looked around furiously, wondering what was slowing down his chase of the infuriating human. The sides of the alleyway met him. A mocking chuckle made him look up, barely able to catch a smirk on the younger man's face before "SEE YA!" And off he went, shooting off into blue.

Red growled, not even caring about the sparks his hair was letting off. "You're not getting away from me that easy!" He slammed his hand down on a button, hearing the truck around him whir and click. And then he was dropping out of the front of the truck and zooming out in his racer.

Now, he knew the racer. He built it years ago. If anything would refuse to let him down, it was this. Red let out a gleeful cackle as the blue of the hoverboard came into view. This road was a dead end due to construction. The Noodle Boy had just cornered himself!

"Oh, come on!" The Noodle Boy had noticed him, it would seem. "Where did you get that?!"

"What?" Red chuckled, unable to help his pleased grin. "You think I would drive anything that doesn't have at least one complex transformation?" He slammed down and the racer sped up, practically flying over the younger man.

Red couldn't see him for a moment.

Then the Noodle Boy slammed down onto the front of the racer. Red could hear him let out a sweet, cute-no- giggle of relief...promptly before realizing where he was.

And the end of the road sent the racer flying.

The Noodle Boy screamed as Red started slipping switches. His plane mode was ready to be-

He didn't see the green flash until the image of a dragon overtook Red's view.

It cleared to reveal a driver in white and green, a horse face painted on the front of the motorcycle. The Noodle Boy reached for the mysterious interloper. "No!" Red howled as their hands entwined. The Noodle Boy gave a mocking grin as they met eyes. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"

His mate and the interloper disappeared into a flash of green.

Red barely had a moment to realize he was crashing before he was crashing.

He could hear several people give shocked gasps and cries. But Red was frozen in place.

His hair sparked.

"No. No, no, no!" With each negative Red smacked his head against the driver's seat. His helmet broke in half but he paid it no mind. The Noodle Boy was not his mate, he was a thief and now a declared enemy to the Demon Bull clan! He should not be feeling upset that the chase didn't work- he meant, he should because he didn't have the staff! Not because of anything else!

And it was all because of him!

"NOODLE BOY!" he screamed, rising up out of the crater, hair exploding into flames. Several people screamed at the sight of him. He paid no attention to those screams. "WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU'RE GOING TO WISH YOU'D NEVER BEEN BORN!"

The shop was empty.

Red sighed, his anger fading at the lack of anyone to put it out on, as he pulled out his phone. General Ironclad gave a commanding huff when his call connected.

"Please have a squad go fetch the Inferno Truck and my racer."

With that, Red disappeared into fire and smoke.

The shoe shop was filled with screams as people ran away.

Red couldn't help but cackle with glee, even as he bit back a wince at the pinch around his toes. He had no idea why these shoes were so wanted, they hurt his feet. But the shoes were enough to power the armor, until the staff could be located.

Right. The staff.

"You," He snapped his fingers; Behind him, his father let out a growl and green exploded the wall. "General Ironclad," The head robot stepped forward and saluted, his red cloak a mar in the cool blue lighting of the shop. "Locate the staff. Look for any movement from..." Did he know the noodle shop the boy worked at? There were a number of ones in the city.

Did he know where his mate was- No . Bad Red.

The general made a questioning noise and Red pulled out his phone, dodging a piece of rubble as his father destroyed the shop and the outside street. People were, once again, screaming in terror. Red paid it no mind as he unlocked his phone and started typing. The search engine was a useful tool and a quick shop of noodle shop with pig logos popped up two, across from each other. One was called Wild Boar and the other was simply Pigsy's Noodles.

And the latter had the sheepishly shrugging pig logo, the same one on the back of the uniform.

Bingo.

"Here," Red turned his phone so Ironclad could see it. The robot paused, eyes scanning the screen. Red knew he was accessing information- the shop itself, the maps of the city he himself had downloaded into all the robots' brains to find the quickest route, and the surrounding security cameras. Then the general let out a chime. Red raised a brow, understanding what it meant.

"On the move?"

His phone beeped and cleared to reveal a camera video. It was taken a few minutes ago, according to the timestamp. A patterned van with a grinning version of the pig logo painted on it moved away from a small hole-in-the-wall shop. A pig demon was at the wheel while, on the other side, was a familiar dark head of hair and the glint of a red and gold staff.

Red growled, mind working. It was known his family wanted the staff. There were only so many things they could do with the staff. The most likely one was heading straight to Flower Fruit Mountain to see if Sun Wukong was there. Unease shot through him.

He couldn't lose his father again.

Not even to a pretty face.

"Find out where they are and where they're going," he ordered, turning off his phone and cutting the video short. "They're most likely heading to the docks. Stop them before they take off to the mountain!"

General Ironclad saluted and marched off.

When he was out of sight, Red groaned and kicked off the shoes. It was unsightly for him to just be walking around in his socked feet, but the pinch was aggravating.

(His thoughts around what it would be like if the Noodle Boy smiled, properly smiled, were aggravating.)

His hair ruffled with wind.

Shit. He should've kept the shoes on.

"How is my little prince?" His mother cooed, a red-nailed hand turning his face to her. She was smirking, seeming to be very proud of the destruction her husband was bringing to the city. "You don't seem very happy that everything is falling into place."

"I am!" Red said immediately. His father was home and their family was reunited. Soon enough, they would be happily ruling the world together. "It's just...the Noodle Boy is on the move."

Iron Fan hummed. "There is only one place for him to go," she said. Those dark eyes, unlike the warmth of the Noodle Boy's own brown eyes, pinned Red to the spot. "But your little plan won't work. I wouldn't trust that metalhead creation of yours with something this important." She never did, even though the Bull Clones did all the work and Ironclad had proven himself to be the smartest.

"I trust the general, Mother," Red said, puffing out his chest in a false show of pride. "I made sure of it."

His mother sighed, clearly seeing through his mask and being annoyed by it. "I see," she said instead of pointing it out. Red smiled brighter. Hopefully she didn't ask about his pause back in the cave. "Well, I shall be preparing for later." She gave him a fond pat on the cheek. "And, may you do something for me?"

Red raised a brow. "Yes?"

Those fingers gripped his cheek, hard enough that it actually hurt. "Get your head out of the clouds." His mother's voice was icy cold. "Whatever your issue is, deal with it later. Your father needs all of your support.

Red's blood ran cold.

Did she know it was because of the boy? His strange longing that pestered him, begged to mark him as his? He wouldn't be surprised if she knew but why she didn't say it, he didn't know.

"Do you understand?"

At the moment, Red nodded. He would question it later. "Yes, Mother."

The pinch stopped and she patted his cheek again. "There we go," Iron Fan cooed, her smile fond. Red couldn't help his smile. For a moment, she felt like the mother he had before his father's imprisonment. Then her hand pulled away and the wind roared, whisking her out of view.

Red pulled out his phone and pulled up the cameras again.

This one must've been just after his chase was interrupted. The motorcycle was there and the rider's outfit disappeared, revealing a grinning girl. The Noodle Boy grinned, wide and warm, and Red felt heat filled his face. He turned up the volume, the camera's speakers barely able to catch their voices

"-You should bring your edgy friend along!"

"My what?"

Right. Red shook it away. They weren't anything to each other. He had to remember that.

His father roared and several people screamed.

Red pressed a button on his wristwatch. In a moment, a jetpack had autopiloted itself to him. Feeling a smile form as the armor clearly did its work, he strapped himself in and followed the roars.

Now, it was time to see his father's grand work.

His mother was soon proven right.

Red wasn't sure what to say when she left, almost falling back at the force of her departure. Soon enough, Princess Iron Fan returned, a gauntleted hand holding Sun Wukong's staff.

He knew better than to ask about the Noodle Boy.

He knew his mother too well.

His mother bowed and his father smirked. The staff, as if like being drawn like a magnet, floated to the center of the armor. Red watched as the staff's power was drawn into the armor, golden magic filling the air in a bright and beautiful burst. In a moment, codes and functions ran, switches flipped, and his father roared in glee.

Red grinned at the sight of his clear genius and ignored the sinking of his heart.

His father launched into motion and his mother followed, leaving him to scramble behind. Red found his mother on a roof, a safe distance from his father and his rampage. They exchanged smiles and turned their eyes to the new future.

"HEY!"

...once this was dealt with.

Red turned.

Glaring at him was the intruder and that pig driver. Next to them was a tall blue demon and a man dressed in scholar's robes that niggled at his memory. "I'll deal with these peasants, Mother." He said before she could ask. Before she could say anything, he jumped down and landed, allowing fire to flame up in his hands. Silently, Bull Clones loomed. "Well, looks like we have a bunch of heroes!" he crowed.

He snapped his fingers and the robots attacked. The pig let out a war cry and launched at the robots with a spoon, ignoring the "Pigsy, wait!" from the scholar. Red raised a brow as he barely lasted a minute.

He turned back to the rest of the group. "Now-"

"SHUT UP, YOU BIG-!" The intruder sounded like she had been crying. In a instant, a glowing green dragon formed around her, staring at the demon prince with angry eyes. "BULLY-!"

Then suddenly Red was eating dirt.

The intruder let out a happy squeal. "QI XIAOTIAN!" He pulled his face away from the dirt to see what looked to be the remains of a jet.

And, hopping out of the driver's seat, was the Noodle Boy!

Red couldn't help but stare. The Noodle Boy paid him no attention, allowing the fire demon to see his smile. His heart raced and his hair sparked at the clear joy and sweetness in those lips. And then he walked away...leaving him there.

"HEY, DBK!"

Wait.

Red dissolved into fire and smoke and zoomed back to the rooftop. His mother had abandoned it, but he paid it no mind. His eyes were locked on the egg-shaped rock and the lack of Sun Wukong's staff.

Then the rock shivered and cracked.

In an explosion of gold, the Noodle Boy emerged.

Red squeaked at the sight of the cute, brown-furred monkey that had replaced the human man. His teeth ached.

Oh no.

The first aid kit opened easily, even in Red's bad mood.

He pulled out the painkillers and tossed a few pills into his mouth, not even bothering to swallow them with a glass of water. It left a strange feeling in his throat but Red couldn't care. Down the hall, he could hear his father roar and stomp in his fury. He couldn't blame him either.

The loss was a surprise.

Sun Wukong's successor was a surprise.

Him being absolutely adorable was a surprise!

Red sat down in his chair with a groan. Despite the pain hammering away in his skull and the swelling of his eye that suggested a black eye was starting to form, his heart was racing. In a traitorous, bad way as his thoughts turned to a teasingly smug smirk and sunshine-filled laughter- No!

Red growled and started to stomp around.

Those were bad, bad thoughts! He certainly should not be thinking of the Noodle Boy, the little thief, Sun Wukong's successor, whatever the fuck his name was that way! It was bad enough that Red had almost asked to be the father of his children yesterday evening, right when he ruined his family reunion! But now?! Right after their loss?!

Red was a danger to himself.

Another roar from down the hall made Red wince. He sighed, grabbing a blueprint and a pad of paper. He began to write, thinking of changes he could make to the Bull Clones to withstand the staff. This was war now and he had to be prepared.

For his own sake.

"Bama!"

Red looked up from his workbench to smile at the small face peeking up at him. "Hello there!" he cooed, scooping up the small child. He nuzzled their face, enjoying the soft feeling of red hair before blowing a raspberry. Those bright brown eyes lit up with laughter.

"Bama, that tickles!"

"I know that," he cooed, smiling down at his baby. "Now, what does Bama's little heir need?"

"Baba says lunch is ready!"

"Ooh, nice," Red stood up, bouncing his child on his hip. "Well, let's go see Baba's newest masterpiece before it gets cold." His child let out a cheer as he walked out of his workshop and entered a sunlight-filled kitchen.

His mate hummed as he stirred the wok, the smell of cooking vegetables and broth filling the air. "Good afternoon!" he called as he set the noodles into their bowls. Their child wriggled until Red set them down and they scrambled to hold his mate's shirt, the man turning a fond smile to them. "Lunch is ready, munchkin."

"I got Baby." Red said, walking through a doorway. The living room was done in a soft pastel blue and, in a small playpen, a baby waited. "Hey there," he cooed. The baby squealed, delight lighting up their amber eyes, as they dropped the monkey plush they had been gumming on. Red scooped them up into his arms, nuzzling those soft dark curls as he carried them back into the dining room.

Baby was soon set up in their high chair as his child settled into their seat, eagerly grinning as their noodles were set in front of them. "Yummy!" they cooed, grabbing their purple bull-patterned child chopsticks and beginning to eat. Baby happily cooed at the bowl of uncooked noodles, shifting through it. "Thank you, Baba!"

"Yes," Red said, wrapping his arms around his mate. "Thank you, Noodle Boy."

Their lips met in a kiss-

Red sat up with a gasp, papers flying everywhere. He had fallen asleep at his desk again. But this time, that dream... His lips were tingling.

His hair exploded into flames.

Oh, the Noodle Boy could not get out of his mind faster, could he?

Red stood up, away from his traitorous desk and his awful, wonderful , dream. He needed something to get his mind away from the man. A beep made him pull out his phone.

It was an alert from the Weather Station. Another alert said that today was going to be sunny. Red almost scoffed and turned it off before a thought wriggled to mind. Hm...the station could work as a power source for Father's armor.

And, if the Noodle Boy came to stop him, Red could defeat him.

And maybe the longing and panic would stop.