Chapter Text
Macaque stared at the scene with a mixture of confusion and exasperation.
MK looked on the verge of a breakdown, not that he blamed him.
He shouldn’t be surprised that something like this happened.
Things had been too quiet lately.
He’d been lounging about in his shack on Flower Fruit Mountain, the one that Wukong was “letting” him use until the golden monkey rebuilt his house. Apparently, the idiot was willing to build a separate wing of the house for him now that they were on better terms with each other. He could stay on the mountain while having his own space if needed. It was a usual, quiet (or as quiet as a mountain full of monkeys could be) day.
And then he’d heard MK, frantic and sounding on the brink of tears, calling for him.
So, he came to see what the kid needed.
He should’ve expected that the peace couldn’t last too long.
“So…want to explain to me how this happened?” The dark-furred monkey gestured toward the shattered remains of an urn and the bundle of familiar clothes in the kid’s arms.
“I-I-I don’t know! It was just me and Monkey King! One moment we’re just sorting all this stuff in his treasure room and then I hear something break and I turn around and he’s all glowing and then he starts shrinking but his clothes stayed the same size and then he’s like this!” MK thrust out the bundle towards him. From inside the clump of clothes, a little gold tail flicked out. The clothes shifted around tiny, uncoordinated limbs. Muffled upset chirps came from beneath the fabric.
“You might want to detangle him from the clothes, kid.” He pointed out.
“Shoot! Ah, sorry!” The successor disentangled the bundle until a small, golden monkey cub was revealed. The cub blinked a few times in the changing light, whining softly. His soft gold eyes looked around curiously but the little upset noises didn’t stop, “So…do you know how to change him back?”
“Well, what’s the thing that broke?” Macaque jerked a thumb in the shattered urn pieces’ direction. He just got a dumbfounded look in response and he sighed, “Oh for the love of…ugh if we don’t know what that is, then we don’t know how to change him back to normal. So the first order of business is obviously going to be figuring out what that broken urn is and how it relates to Wukong’s current…situation.”
“And…what will we do with him until then? He’s just a…I think he’s a baby?” MK turned the cub around so he was holding him by his armpits, his little feet dangling. Wukong whined again, his tail flicking around.
“Don’t hold him like that, idiot.” Before he knew what he was doing, he’d taken the golden cub from the kid and held him against his chest. Predictably, because even if this was a baby Wukong it was still Wukong , He squirmed around a bit before settling against him with a tired trill.
“Woah, how’d you do that?” He looked up to see the kid staring at them with the widest, most wonder-filled eyes he’d ever seen on him.
“Do what?” He raised an eyebrow at him.
“Get him to settle down like that? He was whining the entire time I was holding him!”
“Cause you weren’t holding him right. First, he was being swaddled by his own clothes and then you were just kind of letting him hang from his arms. Cubs don’t like being restricted or held like that.” Did Wukong never explain any of that to the kid? Or let him help care for the mountain cubs during that season? Actually, now that he was thinking about it…he supposed it made sense that Wukong hadn’t taught the kid that. During that season the king was the only male allowed anywhere near the cubs for a while.
“Do you know anyone that could help figure out what that thing is?” Using his tail he once more pointed at the shattered urn.
“Uh…hold on…” MK’s eyes closed and his brows furrowed in thought. After humming for a few seconds he gasped and nearly leaped two whole feet in the air, “THAT’S IT!” The loud volume made the dark-furred monkey’s ears plaster against his head and he heard Wukong chirp in displeasure.
“Ow. Volume kiddo.” He fluttered his ears for emphasis.
“Oh. Sorry.” He at least had the decency to look sheepish.
“So what did you think of?” Macaque asked, “Or who?”
“Tang!”
“The scholar dude with the weak ankles and glasses?”
“Yeah!” The kid grinned that brilliant sunshine smile that reminded him too much of Wukong back when they were younger, “Tang knows all about this kind of stuff! I’ll got get him and have him take a look at that! He’s bound to know what it is! Stay here and look after…uh little Monkey King! Bye!”
“Wait kid, I really don’t think-!”
But it was too late. MK was already launching himself up in the air with the staff towards the city and the noodle shop he just knew the scholar was always at.
Leaving Macaque and his de-aged former mate on the island.
Wukong trilled, shifting his head to look up at him. His eyes were filled with nothing but innocent trust and that…
He had no idea how he was going to deal with that.