I let out a contented sigh, letting myself melt into the rise and fall of Wukong’s chest.
I felt incredible.
Tired, sore, and satisfied.
The last couple of hours went exactly how I always envisioned them.
With a few surprises from Wukong here and there.
Now the two of us were just relaxing, cuddling together with me on his chest as we simply enjoyed the other’s presence.
I cut off my purring, now fully satisfied.
“Well, do you remember now Wukong?” His own purring cut off.
“What?
Oh, yes, definitely.
I definitely remember now.” He nodded once, very confidently.
I snuggled deeper into his chest.
“Oh Wukong.
You’re such a liar.
But it’s okay.” I popped up and looked him straight in the eyes.
“I’m a liar too.” He froze.
“Um, you are?” I could see the panic in his eyes.
“Yep.
You were very sweet last night.
Refusing to sleep with me because I was drunk.” He jerked up, sitting, and I leaning back to sit in his lap.
“I fucking knew it!
I did drop you off in your room!” He was beginning to get it.
I pressed another kiss onto his lips.
He hesitated but accepted the kiss just the same.
Not as passionate as earlier.
This kiss was sweet and easy.
I drew back first, cupping his cheeks.
“Yeah, you did.
And you really pissed me off.
Just so you know, if I don’t want sex, I will tell you to your face.” I pulled on his cheeks, stretching them out.
“And when I do want sex, I’ll make it very obvious like I did last night.” “Owowowowowow,” He looked so pitiful his cheeks all stretched like that.
Fine.
I already got what I wanted anyway.
I let go of his cheeks and they snapped back to his face.
“Got it?” He nodded, rubbing his red cheeks and scowling.
Aw.
Maybe I went too far.
I kissed his cheeks to make them better.
And then moved on to the rest of his face.
“Yue, mnnn, Yue, hold on.
So, we didn’t actually sleep together last night?” I pressed one last kiss onto his nose.
“Nope.
Though, it certainly would have been poignant, and beautiful if we had.
It was technically the anniversary of the day we met.” “Okay, fine I get it.
But… you didn’t just sleep with me to get revenge right?” Oh wow.
That look in his eyes.
He was really worried about this.
I flicked his nose.
“Ow!
Hey!
What was that for?!” “For suggesting I’d ever do something so idiotic.
Do you really think I’m the sort of lady who would sleep with somebody for revenge?” “Well, no, but—” I pressed a finger to his lips, interrupting him.
“Wukong.
Shut up.
In case you haven’t figured it out already, let me make this clear.” I leaned in, cupping his face and staring directly into his eyes.
His warm, sweet, chocolate brown eyes.
“I love you.
I love you more than anything else in this world.
Yes, you’re an idiot who doesn’t think before he acts.
And you think you’re a lot smarter than you actually are.
And your temper is going to get you in a lot of trouble someday.
But I love all those things too, along with all the good things.
You’re loyal, brave, and you’ve been so kind and patient with me.
And you never expected anything more for taking care of me.
You just wanted me to get better.
And that helped me more than anything.
How could I not fall in love with someone as amazing as you?” His eyes grew shinier, almost overflowing.
He blinked rapidly and sniffed.
“Damn it Yue.
How long have you been working on that?” I let go of his face with a shrug.
“Came up with it just now actually.” He buried his face in my chest to try and hide his tears.
“You’re right.
You are a liar.” “I swear to Lunus, I just came up with that.” I wrapped my arms around him, embracing him.
“And I meant every word.” I kissed his head, and he pulled back from me, with a determined look in his eye.
“Yue, I…” He trailed off.
“You’re… Um…” I smiled at how cute he was.
“Don’t try to force it.
Just say whatever pops into your head.” “Shhhh.
It’s my turn.
Okay, um…” He took a deep breath.
“Drunk me is a genius.” I blinked.
That was not what I was expecting to come out of his mouth.
“Shit, that came out weird.
What I mean to say, is that the day I got drunk in the in-between and dragged you home with me, drunk me was right.
I have a whole kingdom, but none of my subjects are really like… me.” I nodded, following along.
I wanted to see where this led.
“So, when I saw you dancing, and wearing clothes, and talking, I got so excited.
And you were just so beautiful.
Everything about you, from your fur, your tail, your eyes.
Seeing you felt like destiny.
Like if I could just talk to you, and stay with you, I’d never have to feel alone again.
Admittedly, drunk me did not do a very good job of getting his point across, and the shiny metal lady was very aggressive, and well, some poor choices were made.
But I guess what I’m trying to get at, is that when I’m with you, I feel like I belong.
For the first time since I was born.
And getting to know you has been the greatest gift you could ever give me.” “Oh, Wukong.” That was by far the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.
Nothing in any romance book could’ve prepared me for that.
“I love the way you get mad at me, I love the look in your eyes when you decide to do something, even though it’s hard, and I love the way you pull pranks, because, wow, you really had me going there.
I guess, what I’m really trying to say here is… I love you too.
More than anything.” Now it was my turn to sniffle.
“I guess it’s good to know this isn’t just a casual thing then.” He gave a half-hearted chuckle at my lame attempt of a joke.
I hugged him, as hard as I could, and he hugged me back, probably not as hard as he could because that would snap my spine, but hard nonetheless.
As we hugged, I couldn’t help but think of a few burning questions.
And a few hard truths I had to get off my chest.
“Wukong, we’re both serious about this right?” He gently rubbed my back and I could feel him nodding into my shoulder.
“I’m more serious about this than anything else.
I didn’t even feel this serious when I got dragged to the underworld.” “Then there’s something I need to tell you.
I… can’t get pregnant.” I pulled back from our hug to tell him face to face.
His arms relaxed, still lazily wrapped around me as he blinked in surprise at me.
“You can’t?
Is it an old injury?
I might be able to find something to help with that.
If you’d like.” I shook my head.
“It’s not that.
When monkeys in my world wanted to get pregnant, we ate a special fruit.
It would send us into heat for a week or two, and that’s when we’re fertile.
But since my world is gone…” “You can’t get the fruit.” I sighed, my gaze drifting off to the side.
The loss of it felt miniscule compared to the loss of my family and world, but it was a loss nonetheless.
And now that I had Wukong, it weighed heavier, like a pit in my stomach.
I finally had a husband, but I couldn’t have a family like I always dreamed.
At least, I couldn’t physically have children.
I suppose I could adopt someone, have a child that way.
But still, a part of me wanted a little cub, a cross between me and Wukong.
Maybe a few.
He let out a long slow breath.
“That’s okay.
If we really want babies, we can figure something out.
There’s all kinds of strange magic in the world.
If we look hard enough, I’m sure we’ll find something.
And even if we don’t, we can always adopt.
So don’t look so sad, okay?” “Thanks Wukong.” I hugged him again, letting his warmth seep into me again.
I knew Wukong wasn’t the type to get hung up on this sort of thing, but it was still nice to hear.
“Yue, if we’re together together, does that mean you want to get married?
Like actual married.” “Wait.” I pulled away again.
“Aren’t we already married?” “Uh,” His eyes darted away a moment then back to me.
“What exactly do you think marriage is?” “Well, it’s when two monkeys sleep together, profess their love for each other, and vow to stay together for the rest of their lives.
Then they throw a party telling everyone.” “Um, here there’s a ceremony.
I think.
Marriage is really more of a human slash demon thing here.” He shrugged, obviously not too put off that we hadn’t married by this world’s standards.
I took his hands, bringing them between us.
“Wukong, by my standards, we’re already married.
We threw a party telling everyone we’re together ages ago.
In fact, there were two!
The night I first came here you told the monkeys, and the day you invited your brotherhood over for a banquet.
And now that we’ve done the first part, we’re officially married according to my world’s rules.” “Oh.” He seemed shocked.
“But what about the monkeys?” “Wukong, they call me their queen.
They already think we’re married.” “Ah…” He shook his head.
“It just feels like we should do something to celebrate.
Would you like a ring or a bracelet?” I chuckled, stroking his hands before letting them drop and circle back around my waist.
“You want to celebrate more?
After what we just did?
And why jewelry?” “When humans and demons get married, they exchange jewelry.
It’s supposed to show they belong to each other.
As for celebrating…” He kissed me, a short, meaningful peck packed with excitement.
“We’re going to be doing a lot more of that from now on.” I giggled.
“Jewelry to show we belong to each other?
Hmmm.
I like that.
It’s romantic.
But I’m picking them out.
You have a terrible eye for design.” “Fair enough, but back to the topic of celebration…” He shifted me in his lap.
I pushed him away with my hand, sliding back down.
“Whoa, as much as I would love to… I’m hungry.
We should get something to eat first.” “Okay, but we’ll be coming back to this topic.” Wukong shifted me out of his lap, and I flashed my dress back on while he pulled some of his clothes off some hooks on the wall.
As he got dressed, he looked outside.
“Huh, it’s getting pretty late.
I’m surprised no one’s come to check up on us.” “Ah, I have Beng guarding the hallway.
I told him not to let anyone through until we left the room.” He whirled around, his eyes widening.
“Gods, you’re so sneaky.
I fucking love that about you.” I laughed as I opened the door, and Wukong followed me out.