"You... what?" Pigsy asked slowly.

It was at this moment Tang realized he could hear the way the other's tone changed slowly at the end of his question. Not that he couldn't before, but now it was so much clearer to him! And Pigsy's heartbeat: it sped up just a tad bit. Was it out of concern? Fear? Something... else?

"Whoa..." Tang breathed out. "This... This is way more than I expected..."

"Good more or bad more?" Pigsy asked, voice lowered as if he was afraid of hurting Tang's ears.

"I... I don't know..." Tang answered honestly. He closed his eyes, taking in all the sound around him. Pigsy's heartbeat was still fast, sped up past what must have been normal, and his breathing was deep and steady as if he was trying to maintain his calm. "Too much, but I don't know if it's bad. Maybe? I—"

Tang stopped as he felt the soft pressure of PIgsy's hands on his ears again. Soft, much like earlier in the day, but more loose and more... assuring. Yes. Assuring.

"Breathe," Pigsy said softly, taking a deep breath of his own.

Tang nodded, following along with the other's breaths for a minute as he realized he had been starting to panic. He hadn't even noticed he was... but Pigsy did. Somehow. Pigsy was good at noticing things.

Usually...

"Better?" Pigsy asked as he slowly removed his hands from Tang's ears.

"A little?" Tang said after a moment of taking stock of how he felt.

"Just a little?" Pigsy continued with a raised brow.

The only thing Tang could think to do was attempt an awkward smile and a shrug. "Well, I don't feel awful. Just a little silly for all of... that."

"I know what'll cheer you up," Pigsy said after a moment with a smirk.

"Oh no," Tang said with a half chuckle. "No, no, I know what that look means. You're going to put on a terrible movie and make me watch it."

"No!" Pigsy denied, barely holding back the laughs that threatened to escape. "I'm going to put on a terrible MUSICAL movie and listen to you rip it apart."

"Please don't tell me—"

"Cats."

"NO!"

"You don't understand, Pigsy!" Tang yelled and laughed at the same time, barely hearing himself over Pigsy laughing. "They recorded the music FOLLOWING THE SINGERS! There was no musical cue! They followed the VIBE."

"Why would they do that!?" Pigsy asked as he was clearly trying not to wheeze into unconsciousness.

"I don't know and I am SO ANGRY!"

They'd been like this for nearly two and a half hours, just past when the movie's final credits had finally scrolled past and then continued on. At some part during the credits,Tang had found himself moving on from ranting about the multiple changes to the songs and stories to ranting about the many, MANY, disastrous choices of the director and producer of what he had dubbed 'the worst musical movie travesty to ever have been put out by American cinema in history.'

And Pigsy had been hooked on every word. Listening more to Tang than any of the dialogue or singing. It reminded the scholar of the early days of when he was just a regular at the noodle shop, instead of a 'freeloader'. Pigsy would allow Tang to stay until closing as he ranted about how he was having trouble with his lesson plans or how the college students he taught sometimes paid more attention to their classmates than to him.

It felt nostalgic in a way. A nice return to normal that he desperately needed in these times.

"If this is half as passionate as you get when you teach those classes," Pigsy said after Tang flopped down on the couch after concluding his final rant. "I wouldn't mind delivering some noodles to you just to sit in and watch you for some time."

"Oh, you don't mean that," Tang brushed off, stretching a bit as he made himself more comfortable.

"I do, though," Pigsy insisted, closing the laptop he had pulled out to watch the movie on before he frowned suddenly.

"Pigsy?" Tang said softly.

"Hey uh... Not to bring down the mood again or anything but," Pigsy started, looking apprehensive. "What exactly did the Monkey King tell you about this curse?"

For a moment, the urge to tell Pigsy everything shot forward. Not just about the curse. Not just about the fact he might be turning into a rabbit. Everything.

But he didn't. Of course.

"He said it was some kind of curse that was used to make people confess things, like where they stashed treasure and stuff," Tang explained with a shrug after a long pause. "The more you hid it, the more you changed. It's changed to cover... more... you know, other stuff than just that."

"Sounds like something people would come up with in the old days," Pigsy muttered out with a scowl. "Taking the agency away from the enemy and trying to force them into a non-choice they don't wanna make that'll just backfire on them."

"Backfire?"

"Think about it," Pigsy continued. "You've been captured by the enemy. They want you to tell them where your leader is or where your family treasure is or your family themselves or whatever. They put this curse on you and you have to choose between becoming some kind of demon or giving them that info. Would you tell them?"

"No," Tang said without hesitation. "I know some would but... no. Never."

"Exactly," Pigsy said with a nod. "So now what does the enemy have? An ex-human who knows what they want, knows their faces, and can probably kick their ass even better than before."

"You think I can kick ass?"

"I know you can kick ass."

"I..." Tang said softly as he looked down at his fur covered hands. At first the assertion made his heart soar, just a bit, but it took only a few moments of thinking it over for him to remember something that he should have brought up beforehand. "Maybe back then. I don't know about it now."

"What's that mean?"

"You remember those powers I got?" Tang said as he held his hands up and further out.

"The bubble thing I did with Scorpion Demoness and when I started the ritual for the Samadhi Fire? And we all joined forces with MK to defeat the Lady Bone Demon?"

"Your Golden Cicada powers," Pigsy said in recollection.

"I haven't been able to access them since then," Tang said. He watched his hands, through his glasses and then over them. Watched them go in and out of focus. Odd. His vision seemed... different. Were his glasses going out of prescription? "Not because of this curse, this happened long before that. I don't even know if I have those powers anymore."

"Powers or not, you still managed to get inside that lantern thing," Pigsy said without missing a beat. "And we still don't know exactly what your deal is anyway. Monkey King hasn't exactly told us much about Tang Sanzang. Maybe he just lent you those powers from the Celestial Realm? Or you still have them but they're just waiting for the time to come back."

"Maybe..." Tang acknowledged.

He wished he knew exactly what his own connection to the great monk was. Despite Sun Wukong being more open with them then he ever had been before, he was still unwilling to talk much about his fellow travelers from the original journey to the west. While Mei was descended from Ao Lie, something they had all known for some time, it was almost certain from the way he did talk about Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing that Pigsy and Sandy were very likely their reincarnations. Which meant of course, that Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing were gone.

But Sun Wukong always refused to talk about Tang Sanzang in any detail. He could be in the Celestial Realm for all Tang knew, passing on his Golden Cicada powers to someone he deemed worthy no matter his connection to anyone. Or, perhaps, Tang was a descendant of a distant relative of the monk and it was a hidden family secret for... reasons.

Or... who knows.

"Hey," Pigsy said softly as he placed a hand on one of Tang's own. The scholar jumped, looking at the chef with surprise. "You don't have to think so hard about that. I already told ya, you're pretty great to me. Whether those powers come back or not? That's all that matters. Just like you turning into a rabbit demon. So what if Sun Wukong doesn't get what he needs in time? You'll still be Tang."

Tang blinked at that for a moment, taking the chance to really think about it.

"Yeah... I mean, I'll be me but a rabbit demon," Tang said with a shrug. "But I'll still be me."

"Exactly," Pigsy said with a nod. "And the Tang I know is a smart guy, the kind of guy who can get used to having fur and super good hearing and should probably ask Macaque how he deals with that actually—But! You'll still be you, same way if I turned into a human. I'd still be Pigsy, the greatest chef in all of Wàn Qiān Chéng. Just probably with more hair."

Tang couldn't help but smile as the chef went on, his tone so... certain. So assured he was right.

"...How did you get so good at that?"

"At what?" Pigsy asked in genuine confusion.

"Knowing exactly what to say to make someone feel better about themselves," Tang said with a smile as he put his hands down on his lap. Pigsy didn't remove his own, his fingers closing around Tang's hand softly.

"You've met my mom," Pigsy said with a chuckle. "I think you can guess.

"I think I can."

The two sat in silence for a while, just... sitting together. Hands together. If Tang didn't know any better he would almost say this was romantic.

He might have thought better and asked about it had his clock not chimed a new hour and broken them out of their moment.

"You should go," Tang said with a little disappointment in his voice despite himself. "You need to get enough rest to open the shop in the morning. I'll walk you to the door?"

It didn't take much convincing to get Pigsy to agree once he grimaced at the clock himself.

With a "sure" he stood up and stretched, bothing making their way to the door in silence before Pigsy opened it and started to step outside. He looked back in, nodding awkwardly for a moment.

"Hey, Tang?" Pigsy said just as he was about to close the door. "I... liked tonight. Maybe we could do this again soon?"

Tang was suddenly very glad he was covered in fur to hide the blush he felt on his face. The fur sticking up on all ends, however, was even harder to hide.

"I think I'd like that," Tang said softly.

"Okay... Okay! Uh," Pigsy chuckled awkwardly, nodding to Tang one last time. "Night! Rest well... Bye."

The door shut just as awkwardly between them as Tang breathed out a soft "bye" of his own. He didn't say anything after that, just made his way back to his room. His body ran on autopilot as he went through his nighttime routine. He wasn't tired exactly. But with everything that had happened between him and Pigsy replaying in his head, he needed to lie down. He crawled into the bed, grabbing one of his pillows to hold it against his chest.

For half a second, he imagined he was hugging Pigsy. Then his mind automatically chastised him for doing so. Another half second passed before he remembered the consequences of that.

Tang didn't even need to look into a mirror to know what had grown in.

Whiskers, rabbit whiskers that brushed against his pillow oddly and made him jump up in surprise at first. Hesitantly, he lifted a hand to touch the end of one. It wasn't painful, just... different.

Different.

He recalled his conversation with Pigsy before their night together ended. If he remained a rabbit demon he would still be him... just different. Pigsy was right about that. And Pigsy seemed certain of him being able to adjust to all the changes quickly.

He was a scholar after all. He could learn! He was a fast learner. Yeah...

"Whatever happens," Tang said assertively under his breath. "I can handle it. Cure or no cure, as long as I don't turn into a real bunny rabbit I can handle it. If Pigsy thinks I can, then I can."

He didn't know if it was the curse or something else, but he suddenly felt just a little bit lighter inside.

Then he hugged the pillow tighter, unable to hold back his jubilation any longer. He'd felt the urge to do this since Pigsy asked him to have another night like this and he didn't care if it wasn't a real date. He was just so. HAPPY!

He rolled around on his bed, laughing into the pillow as he thought about what they could possibly do next time. It took all of his self control not to start jumping on the bed, something he had never had the urge to do even as a child. But he was just so elated! He'd never felt like this before!

'Maybe this curse isn't so bad,' he thought to himself with a smile as he curled up and let himself think up plans to suggest to Pigsy in the future.

"Nope," the apartment landlord said to MK and Monkey King with a shrug. "Sorry, you just missed them. Left this morning, gave me their key, said they'd be back 'eventually' and booked it out of here."

"Aw, man," MK said with a groan of frustration. "I thought we finally found them!"

The Monkie Kid and his mentor had been flying around the city for most of the final half of the day, checking all the usual spots that Jin and Yin would have normally camped out in. The theater was out too, Macaque had taken that back over and he hadn't seen them. Their old Speedy Panda assistant was there, manning the desk like she had been since she'd acquired the job. and gave them some clues as to their whereabouts.

Namely the address of their new apartment unit they had moved into. Which was apparently next to hers. She had not seen the twins since the day before, however, leading MK and Monkey King to worry.

"So they're nowhere," Sun Wukong said with a sigh. "That means they probably relocated somewhere outside the city after your fight."

"But where would they GO!?"

"With their roommate," the apartment building owner said without missing a beat.

"...What roommate?" Sun Wukong asked with a raised brow. "I thought their friend didn't live with them."

"Oh, not her!" The landlord said with a laugh. "No no, the other lady."

"Other lady?"

One enlightening explanation later, the Monkey King and Monkie Kid walked out of the apartment building.

"Okay, I think we have enough to go on!" Sun Wukong said with a laugh. "You did great getting us around the city. Good call heading to the theater, by the way. I didn't even know she worked there."

"You have been avoiding like... all of the city, Monkey King," MK said with a chuckle before he yawned.

"After all this we can fix that, bud," Sun Wukong said with a chuckle as he ruffled his successor's hair. "For now, we get you home and get some rest. When I pick you up in the morning, we have another journey to make."

Not enough something inside Tang said. Whether it was his own thoughts or something else, something new, he didn't know.

Not enough, too exposed, more, more, MORE, we need to feel safe.

He didn't even realize he'd ripped the fitted sheet off his bed until he was wrapped inside of it.

He barely even registered he had been awake until he woke up hours later wrapped entirely in all of his bedding, pillows sequestered inside of the sheets with him.

"What..." Tang breathed out in confusion. "What... happened?"

Tang had always been a heavy sleeper.

But not a heavy enough sleeper to not wake up and realize he had done this.

Something cold flopped in his stomach.

"I need to call MK and Sun Wukong when I get to Pigsy's..."

The moment Tang walked into Pigsy's Noodles, he was greeted by an instantaneous shout of his name from far back in the kitchen. The greeting was immediately followed by a proclamation of "You are not gonna believe who Jin and Yin have been living with since we all beat Lady Bone Demon!" from none other than the Great Sage himself.

That was most certainly not the response that Tang had expected to receive when he arrived. It was, at the very least, one of the most interesting things he had ever been greeted with.

"Uh... Who?" the scholar asked as he took his regular seat.

"Oh just. Someone!" Sun Wukong said quickly. Too quickly.

The laughter he could hear from the kitchen told Tang that Pigsy was, just perhaps, part of the reason why the monkey would answer like that. And also at least part of why he looked like he wanted to be literally anywhere else but in that noodle shop at that exact moment.

"Someone?" Tang asked with a raise of his brow.

"Apparently it's the queen you guys bumped into while we were all separated and stuff!" MK answered, as he prepared a bundle of boxes for delivery.

"You mean SD?" Tang asked with a tilt of his head.

"SD?" MK asked. "Who's SD?"

"SD," Tang repeated. "Scorpion Demoness? Kidnapped me to force me to be her friend forever?"

"It was a whole thing," Pigsy shouted from the kitchen. "The monkey man got amnesia."

MK's eyes bulged as he whipped around to face his mentor. "YOU GOT AMNESIA!?"

"You didn't tell him you got amnesia!?" Pigsy gaped, sounding like he was torn between laughing and yelling in frustration.

"I HAD OTHER PRIORITIES, OKAY!?" Sun Wukong answered. "Look, the important thing? We know where they went! They should be back at her castle. The person who owns their apartment building vouched for the fact they lived together and left together, and if we go there we will be able to find them! And when we find them—!"

"We can beat them up and find out what the heck they did!" MK exclaimed, practically vibrating in excitement.

"Do you really need to beat them up?" a fourth voice sounded from the back of the shop. All four turned to see the young girl step out of the storage room carrying a box of fresh ingredients."Couldn't you just catch them and tie them up?"

"I mean, yeah," MK agreed with a shrug. "That would probably be easier. But they also tried to curse me with whatever the heck hit Mr. Tang, so they kind of deserve at least a kick to the shins, right?"

The girl frowned, puffing out her cheeks in stubborn annoyance at the Monkie Kid.

"Okay, okay!" MK said with a chuckle. "We'll try the pacifist way first."

Bai He, the young girl in question, smiled as she put down the box of ingredients on the counter for Pigsy to grab.

While not old enough to work in the shop, not yet anyway, she was old enough having just turned 16 recently to be part of a volunteer program that would allow her to shadow Pigsy and obtain experience by assisting him in the shop. Little things, such as organizing the storage room and grabbing him ingredients. Normally she would have never been in the shop alone, but... extenuating circumstances the day prior called for doing things they would not normally do.

That wasn't her real name either, of course not. But much like MK was a nickname, Bai He followed suit. It seemed as if nicknames were the name of the game for their little friend group as of late, either chosen by the person or gifted by one Sun Wukong himself.

It was hard to miss that the Great Sage typically called himself, Pigsy, and Sandy by anything that wasn't their names. It wasn't always the same nickname, of course. Some days Sandy was just "Blue", some days he was "Big Blue", others he was "Tea Man". Pigsy had a set of nicknames ranging from "Hot Top" to "Chef Man" and everything in between.

Tang's nicknames tended to lean toward the typical: "Smart Guy" and "Bifocals" (he didn't even wear bifocals, which made that nickname all the odder). But he had a feeling that his nickname list would very soon include at least a few rabbit puns.

There were, of course, the moments in which Sun Wukong referred to them by their names. Like back in his apartment. Those were the moments Tang had learned he was being completely serious. He was always serious to an extent, of course, but those moments meant something to the king. He was very certain of it after knowing him far better now then he had before.

"Are we sure that she isn't the resident disciple slash embodiment slash whatever the heck Tang is to Tang Sanzang?" Pigsy asked as he finally emerged from the farthest side of the kitchen. "I mean, I know I pointed out the resemblance and how our group fits and all, but Tang is always ready to kick some ass—"

"Language," Sun Wukong interrupted.

"—while Bai He here is always wanting to take the pacifist route," Pigsy continued unperturbed by said interruption. It was funny. Back during their own journey Pigsy was more likely to snap back at the Monkey king to be quiet and not interrupt him when he let a few of his more colorful vocabulary words fly. But after getting used to him? He took it all in stride now. "Honestly, I think she's a good influence on all of ya."

"You threw a spoon at a customer an hour ago, Mr. Pigsy," Bai He said without missing a beat.

"And he fully deserved it for insulting the length of my noodles."

The laughter that spread through the shop was infectious in a way, almost making it impossible for Tang to not feel lighter being surrounded by everyone.

"So!" Sun Wukong said suddenly, turning to the bunny in the room. "MK and I are heading off to her old castle, that's where the landlord said the brothers and her were heading. We'll call you when we get there and if we need any form of back up. We have enough food to last us the trip and I should be able to hair-magic us up some shelter if we need it. But we might just stay in Lantern City."

"Why not take Mr. Tang with you?" Bai He asked in confusion.

There was a flash of something across Sun Wukong's face. Like he wasn't telling them everything. He wasn't, of course, and neither was Tang.

"Honestly?" He said after a moment and with a sigh. "It's because my cloud can only hold two people unless I carry them. And I really don't want to carry Tang for the entire ride, no offense."

"None taken," Tang said with a nod. He could not imagine having to hold another person for what might amount to an entire day.

"Quick question before we head out," MK said as he gathered up all of their supplies and slipped them into a backpack. "So... what exactly ha—"

"I don't wanna talk about it," Sun Wukong said with a scowl.

"Oh come on," MK said. "Monkey King... you cannot have done anything that embarrassing."

"I thought my staff was TWIGS."

"You what?" Bai He asked with a tilt of her head in confusion as Pigsy started to laugh from behind the counter.

"I have said too much, TIME TO GO BUD!" Sun Wukong shouted, picking up MK bodily and rushing out the door with him under his arm.

"WAIT, I STILL NEED THINGS FROM MY APARTMENT!"

The sight was truly one to behold, so much so Tang almost forgot that he had intended to do something when he had arrived.

"Wait," Tang said as he jumped off his usual seat. He rushed out the door, watching as Sun Wukong put his apprentice down (who immediately rushed off) before gesturing for the Monkey King's hand. When it was offered he reached into his pocket, placing his closed fist in the hand for a second before placing the object down with a tentative smile. "Can you give that to SD? I'm glad she seems to have made friends, even if they're troublemakers. I was kinda... thinking about going to visit her to check on her. Before all this. Tell her I say hi?"

Sun Wukong looked down at the object, a small smile on his face.

"Course I will. She'll love it."

He hoped so.

It took long enough to find a friendship pendant with an amethyst in it. Longer still to keep it safe in his pocket for as long as he had. He had kept intending to ask the sage to take him to see her once they found out where she was or to take it with him on his travels back to Lantern City if he saw her there. It just happened that things have a weird way of working out.

"There's... one more thing I wanted to bring up," Tang started off quietly as he watched MK make his way up to his apartment to grab that final something to take with them. "Something... happened last night. Or this morning? I'm not sure which."

Sun Wukong's face immediately took up a serious expression, looking at Tang as if he was afraid of what he might say.

"What?"

"I don't really move much in my sleep, usually." Tang explained quietly. "But this morning I woke up all... curled up. Completely covered in my blankets. I even pulled up the fitted sheet from my bed! I've never... that's never happened before."

"Burrowing instincts..." Sun Wukong muttered to himself. "That sounds like a rabbit's burrowing instincts."

"Is that a sign that... That I—"

"Not necessarily," Sun Wukong said quickly before Tang could finish his thought. "Animal-like demons may not be one to one copies of their animal counterparts, but they do tend to have at least a good portion of their counterpart's instincts. Rabbit demons to burrow, just like regular ones do. This just means you are a little further along in this transformation than I thought, but it does not mean that you are going to... that. Not for certain."

"OK," Tang said with an admittedly disappointed sigh. What was he hoping for, in the end? For a confirmation? He knew that was unlikely to happen, they hardly had any idea of what they were dealing with, but knowing he might have just brought up nothing at all...

"It's good you told me," Sun Wukong said as he placed a hand on Tang's shoulder. "We know a little more now. That's good."

"Good," Tang said with a nod and a smile. "That's good."

Before the two could say anything else they were interrupted by MK making his way back down his apartment steps yelling "Game time, let's go, go, go!". The Monkey King summoned his cloud with a laugh.

"We'll be back as soon as we can, Mr. Tang!" MK shouted as they both jumped on the cloud, taking off with shouted farewells.

All he could do was watch them fly off until they were nothing more than dots on the horizon.

"How long do you think they'll be gone for?" Bai He asked as she wiped down the counters a couple hours later.

"It took us a few weeks to reach her castle before, but on that cloud of his they should get there in a day or two," Pigsy said with a shrug and a laugh. "Maybe faster if MK drives that thing like he does his tuk-tuk. Very well, but very speedy."

"Then Mr. Tang will have answers in no time!"

"Let's hope so," Pigsy said as he started to make up a new batch of broth. "The faster we have answers the faster we can work out a game plan, whatever that plan is."

"Right," Tang said with a nod. He held a hot cup of tea, something Pigsy gave him shortly after he came back inside. "Whatever the plan is."

"How many more changes do you have, Mr. Tang?" Bai He asked softly. Far more softly than even her usual soft tone.

"I'm not sure," he answered honestly as he looked down into his cup. "Maybe... only a couple? I already look pretty rabbity, don't you think? Though, to be honest, I think I make for a rather handsome rabbit."

He punctuated that final note with a playful pose, Bai He's laugh in return more than worth it.

They fell into a comfortable silence... or would have.

If his own phone had not started ringing at full volume and startled everyone in the room.

It took Tang a moment to fish it out of his pocket, smiling awkwardly at his companions as he answered the phone after a moment of surprise.

"MK!? Why are you calling? Is everything okay!?" Tang asked, barely having to put the phone up to his ear to hear the other.

"Everything is great!" MK shouted loud enough for even Pigsy to hear and nod once he realized nothing was amiss. "Monkey King just wanted to make sure my phone could work up here in case we needed to call you while flying! It works better than expected, I can hear you great!"

"Oh wow, that new phone Mei got you for your birthday really is top of the line," Bai He said in amazement.

"I miss the old faithful," MK said sadly. "Unfortunately, even that could not survive being thrown into a sewer. Hold on, Monkey King wants to talk for something actually!"

There was the sound of the phone being passed between hands before a different voice was heard over the line.

"So, how are you feeling?" Sun Wukong asked. "Any more changes?"

"None yet," Tang answered honestly.

"Good," he replied. "Keep us posted. And it might be a good idea to talk to You-Know-Who a little bit?"

Tang knew what he was hinting at.

He wanted Tang to just confess, if possible.

"I... You know that's hard," Tang muttered softly.

"I know," Sun Wukong said with a sigh of his own. "Just be careful. He cares about you, you know? It's kind of obvious."

"I care about him too," Tang said before realizing what had escaped him. But it was too late and trying to hide it was just pointless, and possibly dangerous, at this point. "I'll talk to Pigsy. I promise."

There was an awkward silence in the air, only broken when a soft gasp sounded from beside him.

"You really like Mr. Pigsy, don't you?" Bai He whispered after a moment. "Not as just a friend either."

"...I do like him," Tang admitted as quietly as he held his warm cup in his hands just a bit tighter. The heat just barely seeped through his fur, gently warming his hands in a new way. A nice way. "I just don't know if he likes me."

"What if he did like you?"

"I'd be surprised he put up with my bullshit."

"LANGUAGE!" Sun Wukong yelled over the phone.

For a few moments everything felt... normal...

Tang could get through this.

He was certain.