"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'PERMANENT'!?"
That was MK.
"IS HE GONNA BE OK!?"
Mei, at almost the exact same time.
"Uh, Mr. Monkey King sir, are you absolutely sure?"
Sandy, sounding hesitant and guilty for asking in the first place.
"But Tang doesn't even like CARROTS!"
Pigsy chimed in, starting to pace around the others and clearly becoming anxious.
"I'm pretty sure rabbits aren't actually supposed to eat carrots," Sun Wukong muttered behind Tang.
The four of them in front of him continued on, asking question after question with many of them being repeated with increasing concern between all of them.
The only one who seemed to eventually regain their calm was Pigsy, staring at Tang with a look of concern on his face before he pinched the brim of his nose and turned to Sun Wukong with a steady look.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" he asked, his question immediately grabbing the attention of the others. They trained their hopeful gaze on the immortal. "How long do we have?"
"I'm not sure how long," Sun Wukong answered honestly, holding up his hands when it became clear that more questions were coming way. "BUT! Even though he's pretty far along, his transformation isn't finished. And there is a chance if he does change fully that there is time after that to undo it provided we figure out the exact creation of this curse. His best bet is to figure out what the input is and try to keep from doing whatever it is that is triggering the transformation while MK and I hunt down Jin and Yin to figure out exactly what happened."
Tang knew it would be nothing at all for the Monkey King to hunt down the metal brothers on his own. They were troublemakers with a penchant for some, if he was going to be completely honest, creative schemes. But they'd never actually thought them through far enough for them to actually cause any harm.
Until now, anyway.
But the look of relief and then determination that spread on MK's face told him exactly why Sun Wukong would bring him along. Either one of them would have been more than enough to take on the brothers, but this would give the young man something to help with at the very least.
"So how do we find out what the input is?" Mei asked. Tang HOPED that she didn't notice how he froze and the fur on the back of his neck started to stand on end.
"I think Tang probably has a good idea of what it is already," Sun Wukong continued, coming back around the other side of the couch to stand next to him. "Considering how far along his transformation is and how fast it has gone. But I want to talk to him about it in private—"
"Why?" Pigsy asked, gaze narrowing at the other in suspicion.
"Uh, because it could be something he doesn't want you to know about?" Sun Wukong said with a shrug. "He probably doesn't want me to know about it either, but if I'm going to break this curse I need to know as much as I can about it."
The expressions on Pigsy's face flitted quickly between frustration to understanding to discomfort and then finally he settled on understanding once again.
"Okay," he said. "Sorry, I just... I assumed—"
"It's okay!" Sun Wukong assured. "Everything's all kinds of weird with this situation. But I'll figure this out as fast as I can."
"Hmmn... you better," Pigsy said pointing from his eyes to the other's face in a 'I'm watching you' motion that Sun Wukong only nodded to. "We're trusting you."
"And I'm glad you are," the Great Sage said before turning to Tang. "Are you good to walk to the next room for a minute?"
"Sure," Tang said, hiding his trepidation as best he could.
Judging by the looks on everyone else's faces he wasn't doing a very good job of it.
Nevertheless, he stood and made his way past the couch and into the hallway that led to his bedroom. Had it been any other moment he might have made an embarrassing joke about how THE Sun Wukong was in his bedroom. But at this moment, he couldn't have cared less to joke around even about the best of things. This was, in all honesty, one of the few moments in his entire life when he didn't feel like caring about anything but the issue at hand.
Once the door closed behind the two of them, the immortal heaved a sigh and turned to Tang.
"So... Do you want to talk about the easy thing first? Or the hard thing?"
That... was not what Tang had expected him to ask. Maybe if he was okay or what he believed was causing the transformations, but not that. Then again, there was that look on his face when he checked him out earlier...
"Easy," Tang answered after a moment of consideration. "Let's have something good before you hit me with whatever it is you saw earlier. You want to know what is sparking the changes, right?"
"Knew you were too smart for your own good," Sun Wukong said with a half there chuckle. He looked genuinely impressed for a moment. "Yeah, actually. Have you noticed any kind of recurring event or thought?"
"Yeah," Tang said with a nod. He sat down on the bed with a sigh of his own, honestly not wanting to even think about the revelation he had come to earlier. But would trying not to think about it be just as bad? He had no idea, and unless he told the Great Sage there was no telling.
"Yeah, it's... it's Pigsy."
"Huh... that makes sense, given the nature of this curse," Sun Wukong said with a nod. He didn't seem to be surprised at all as he thought this over. "Didn't realize you had a crush on the guy, but then again I only started to notice when people had crushes on me after the twenty-eighth person confessed to me. Maybe it's because I'm not interested in relationships—wait, losing track of the big picture!"
Tang couldn't help but chuckle a little at the sight before him. The Monkey King losing his train of thought was not something one saw every day, after all. It felt almost... normal, in a way, despite the fact he was hardly close to him at all.
"So... the hard thing?"
"Right! Yes, that, yes!" Sun Wukong said before clearing his throat. "So, I want to preface this with the fact I did not lie out there. And I was going to tell you the entire truth here the whole time."
Well, THAT wasn't ominous at all.
The sage continued. "But I recognize the base curse. It's old, very old, and has been used for centuries as a confession spell. Originally it was used to get people to confess important secrets: hidden treasure, intel about the enemy, the usual. But it eventually got adapted into a sort of love spell and punishment over the years. The more the cursed individual denies their feelings toward the one they have feelings for, the faster they slowly turn into a demon that the curse itself deems matches their personality."
"So the curse thinks I'm... a cowardly bunny," Tang said with a groan. "I never catch a break."
"Okay, first off bunnies aren't cowards!" Sun Wukong snapped suddenly. "They are highly intelligent creatures that have amazing survival instincts and are exceedingly affectionate toward the people they care about, like you." Tang couldn't help the flush he felt form on his face at the secondhand compliment he just received. "Second, I am going to make sure you get a break whether this curse likes it or not!"
"...Thank you," Tang said, feeling something he didn't realize was on his chest lift at the proclamation. "I mean it."
"Don't thank me yet," the immortal continued as he crossed his arms for a moment. "I still need to find those brothers and make sure the worst outcome doesn't come to pass."
"And what's the worst outcome?" Tang asked with trepidation in his voice.
"Well..." Sun Wukong said, trailing off a bit as he did so. "You see... Look, I didn't want to say this in front of everyone else because I was worried they would freak out and you would get overwhelmed but... It's just that—"
"You taking longer isn't exactly helping me not get anxiety," Tang interrupted, his voice just starting to shake. "Just... just tell me so I know. Please."
"Okay..." Sun Wukong said, putting his hands on Tang's shoulders. "There's another version of this curse. One that was modified by humans to use on demons as revenge. And if the brothers messed up and used the wrong one or mixed them... you might be turning into..." The Great Sage closed his eyes and spat out his next words as fast as he could. "AnactualrabbitI'msorry."
"...WHAT!?" Tang said, deadpan and louder than intended and making his own ears ring at the sound.
"I'm sorry!" The Monkey King said as he removed his arms and waved them between the two of them. "It might not be that! But... look, what I saw? Was a jumbled mess. I really don't think the brothers knew exactly what they were doing when they made this curse. If it had actually hit a demon instead of a human they would have been either unaffected if it isn't or halfway to being an actual animal right now if it is, so... there's that?"
The awkward and too wide nervous smile was far too obvious to Tang at that very moment. How had he never realized how nervous Sun Wukong's smiles were before? He was clearly trying so hard to find a bright side to this possible downside... and all for the scholar's sake.
"Yeah..." Tang agreed dully, trying to curb the racing his heart was doing at the horrifying idea of Pigsy becoming an actual pig instead of the man he knew him as. "Yeah, that's... that's probably a good thing, yes."
The two fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence for a moment.
Just Tang and Sun Wukong. Awkwardly standing and sitting in his bedroom. Alone.
"...This is not how I pictured our first bit of time alone together to go," Tang commented aloud without thinking.
Somehow, some way, that managed to break through the awkwardness. He couldn't help but snicker and Sun Wukong held back a laugh of his own.
"Oh, how did you imagine it, then?"
"Preferably over freshly delivered noodles in my teacher's office while I interview you for a paper."
"You have an office?" Sun Wukong asked in surprise. "You're a teacher?"
"Part time," Tang said with a chuckle and a slight blush. "More of a scholar who teaches on the side. But the college did give me an office to use! I, uh... I teach history. I'm pretty sure you can guess exactly what history that would be."
"I can make an educated one," the Great Sage answered with a smile. And suddenly everything didn't feel quite so hopeless. He had THE Sun Wukong helping him after all. "But we can pick this conversation up again later. For now... Do you... Do you want me to tell the others? Or do you want to? I want to give you that choice."
Instantly, the heaviness was back. But it wasn't as crushing as before.
"I really don't want to make the others worry," Tang said. He reached up and grabbed one of his ears without thinking. He used to do this with his scarf, but now it seemed that habit had modified itself without him realizing it. "I... I don't want you to tell them about the other possibility. Just me."
"Are you sure?" Sun Wukong asked as he put a hand on his shoulder. "I know Pigsy will be angry at me for keeping it a secret and all, and I don't mind that if you don't want them to know yet. But MK's helping me find the metal brothers, so he's definitely going to find out. Are you absolutely positive you don't want to tell them now?"
"...I'll tell them if it comes to that."
"I don't like that idea... but I'll respect it. For you."
"You know," Tang couldn't help but smile a little. "After all this is over? I'm going to do something to thank you for all this. Not everyone would do that for someone they barely know."
"I'm a hero," Sun Wukong said with a shrug and a slight blush. "It just comes with the territory. And it's pretty basic to just respect someone's wishes. Besides... The kid thinks of you like a dad, told me himself. Can't have his father figure turning into an actual rabbit!"
Huh. After what MK told the metal brothers, Tang was almost certain...
The smile that formed on his face was there before he knew it.
"I guess we should head back out now, before they start to really worry."
"Wait," Sun Wukong said, grabbing Tang's shoulder as he went to go back to the living room. "Before you go back—"
"Are you going to ask if you can pet my ears?" Tang asked with a chuckle. It was hard not to notice how the immortal kept looking at them and squeezing his hands. He was just thankful the king didn't seem to have cute aggression.
"No!" Sun Wukong immediately exclaimed. But his denial crumbled a moment later. "But I can't help but admit I kinda want to—only if you're okay with that! They're just so darn—NO!" Sun Wukong slapped his hands on his cheeks to bring himself back to the moment, making Tang smile a bit. "NO, I just want to try something small that should slow down any transformation while I'm gone. Sort of like how I locked away MK's invincibility."
"Whatever it is, since you were concerned about hurting me by trying to break it you must be sure this won't hurt me if it doesn't work... right?"
"Exactly! Now just hold still."
Tang did as asked, watching the immortal king do much the same as he did before. But this time there was some kind of thrum deep inside of him, something that made it feel like his heart stopped for half a second and the wind was knocked out of him. He gasped, almost falling to his knees. Two hands quickly caught him.
"Sorry! Should have warned you it was intense," Sun Wukong said as he steadied Tang back on his feet. "But that should have done the trick, anything that happens now will only be a partial transformation. Something smaller. I wish I could stop it entirely, but..."
"It's dangerous and you don't want to risk it," Tang said with a nod. "That's okay. I can deal with that."
"What about the others?"
"We'll see when we get to them in about twenty seconds."
The rest, as it turned out, went smoother than Tang expected. Once he explained what happened, minus the 'by the way, might be turning into a rabbit once I'm a demon' bit, everyone seemed to calm down at least a little bit.
Pigsy seemed the most relieved, an odd look coming over his face when he looked at the Monkey King.
It was only when Tang let out a yawn that he realized how tired he was already.
"As much as I appreciate all of you doing all this for me," he said with an awkward chuckle. "I kinda... can I just..."
"You want us to leave, right?" MK asked bluntly, one of his strongest qualities it seemed. "You look tired."
"If that would be alright?"
"Hmn, are you sure?" Pigsy asked with a raise of his brow. "I wouldn't want something to happen while we're not here."
"I'll be fine," Tang insisted. "I promise. Knowing what I know about this curse I'll be completely safe for now." Even if he changed there was so much bunny left to change into that he could handle at least one more transformation alone.
"If you're sure," Sandy said, nodding before opening the door. "We'll leave you be. But I'm a phone call away!"
"Same here, Tangy! Just say the word and I'll zoom right in!" Mei chimed in.
"Thank you," Tang chuckled out with a smile. "Both of you. Now go, you can spend time doing what you planned on today. I'm not going anywhere yet."
The two nodded, waving to him as they made their way out.
"Hey, MK," Sun Wukong said softly as he put a hand on his student's back. "Come with me, I wanna chat before we do anything else."
The younger man agreed, looking back at Tang with a smile and a mouthed 'We got this!' before he too left the apartment.
"Are you absolutely sure you'll be okay?" Pigsy asked as he reached the door. "I could at least bring you some lunch."
The sentiment was sweet. Under any other circumstance Tang would have jumped on that offer in a heartbeat, but after everything that he'd been through that day...
"I really just want to be alone," Tang said softly. "But... maybe some dinner? I think I need a nap."
"Sure," Pigsy said softly, with a smile to match, closing the door behind him.
And then Tang was alone.
He wasn't lying when he said he needed a nap. Now that he had the chance to breathe without anyone around him he felt like he could just curl up on the floor and sleep at the door for hours.
But he would not, and did not. Instead, he made his way back to his room for the second time that day without even changing out of his clothes. No matter how much he now felt the pull of the fur against cloth again, or how much his muscles ached underneath them.
He was on his back in bed and reaching up before he even realized what he was doing, his hands brushing against his ears again.
It was so odd, the urge to reach up and touch his ears. He'd always had a habit of gripping his scarf, and sometimes of pulling on his human ears when anxious, but this felt... new.
Like a combination of both.
And as he reached up and brushed his claws through his own fur he couldn't help but close his eyes and enjoy the sensation.
"Oh... OH, no... I'm petting myself."
Tang sighed, letting the weight of the day fall over him in a wave as he flopped backward in his bed.
This was happening, really happening, and there was nothing he could do to stop it unless Sun Wukong managed to find out what happened as soon as possible. At this point he was living out borrowed time, and had to discipline his mind to not drift off to Pigsy at a moment's notice. He was too aware of everything now to even think about his feelings or deny them. They just existed, like he was existing right now. He couldn't muster up the energy to think about them before they left him let alone deny them.
Dully, as his eyes started to close, he heard the sound of the sage's voice mingling with MK's.
Just far enough away that he couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Just close enough that, if he paid them just a little mind, they let his mind take the noise in and out and lull him into a fitful sleep.
It was the knock on his door that awoke him hours later, late enough that the sky was slowly darkening into sunset. He could barely tell through the sun shining through his windows. He got up, noticing the soreness in his muscles hadn't entirely gone but had dissipated enough that it didn't feel nearly as bad as before.
The trek to his door was a short one, and honestly he should have expected the sight before him. He did offer it himself after all.
"Hey," Pigsy said stiffly. Awkwardly. "I uh... I brought some dinner. Closed up shop a little early."
"Oh, no, you didn't have to—"
"I wanted to," Pigsy continued. "Really. Can I come in?"
The idea of Pigsy and he, alone in his apartment, felt different than it had the day before. Different from all the chaos and having other people with them.
Tang only prayed that the warmth on his face wasn't visible through his fur.
"...s-sure."