Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

We're fighting again, Macaque thought exasperatedly as he traded blows with Wukong. It seemed like it was all he was doing nowadays. Just, get up, fight Wukong, go back home, heal, go to sleep, repeat.

Well, Macaque couldn't care less anyway. They hated his guts, and had good reason to take out his other frustrations on his killer. May as well have a little fun when they met, anyway.

But it's strange. It seems like.. he's "happening" to meet Wukong way more often than he should. Was that weird? Yes. Did he think more of it? No.

But anyway, they're fighting and Mac was loosing. Really badly.

His ribs ache painfully, exhaustion making him pant all the air out his lungs, slowing him down. As his vision blurs slightly, he knows he won't be able to keep up much longer.

Before Macaque could think, he was being throws into the ground, creating a crater under him in the rock he hit. He stayed laying there for a moment, panting in exhaustion, as he started feeling phantom pains in his eye. Great.

He struggled with getting up, too exhausted to think clearly. Seems Wukong was finally fed up with him enough to get rid of him once and for all. He held himself up loosely, grasping his aching side, breathing heavily as he looked up at Wukong approaching. This scenery was way too familiar...

___________________________________________

Many millennia ago

"Lui'er! Mango! Where are you?"

His eyes lit up as he spotted his moon laying on the ground, sleeping in a little mountain of flower petals

"Lui'er!"

He exclaimed happily and jumped onto his friend, the lighter simian letting out a choked sound of surprise.

"Oof- Wukong!"

Wukong smiled, starting to kiss his moonlight's face affectionately.

"Hey!- stop that!- Wukong!"

The moonlight blushed and tried to push him away, embarrassed by the kisses of his mate on the outside, but feeling butterflies dancing inside him.

"Hahaha- found you Mango~"

He laughed, leaning closer to his moonlight and giving him a big hug

So big, that both of them fell over into the petals, both of them starting to laugh, without a care in the world.

___________________________________________

It was one of many happy, yet now painful memories Macaque had to suffer through every now and then

He pushed the memory away, choosing to focus on the battle he had yet to win. His vision blurry, his whole body screaming in pain and exhaustion, as he knew he'd pass out soon.

Observing as the king approached, Macaque tried to say some snarky remark to him, but his vision went black before he could think of anything, let alone let it escape his throat.

Chapter Text

And here we were, fighting again. Wukong thought to himself with a bittersweet feeling creeping up his spine. He loved seeing his moon again. Even if it was just to.. fight.

He misses the times when they could just cuddle...and talk.. about everything and nothing at the same time. Back when times were easier. When they didn't... when they weren't....

When they were mates. And actually acted like it.

He is the reason they've been crossing paths a lot more often. Looking for Macaque on purpose, to be closer to them...even if it meant only fighting.

I miss them...

I miss my moonlight...

I miss my Lui'er.

His mind uttered bitterly, a slight feeling of sadness and another emotion brushing over him in that moment.

He has to say though, Macaque did get stronger over the past few millennia. 

But it doesn't matter how strong they are. He'll always be stronger.

-

-

-

Oh how cute they looked...staring up at him..panting...exhausted...it...it turned him on slightly...

But! No distractions. He came here to do one thing- and he's going to do it!

He can't wait any longer.

Macaque has been away from him for long enough.

He'll make sure for their paths to never part again.

___________________________________________

He caught them into his arms as they passed out. Finally.

This has been harder than he planned it to be.. but that only adds to their charm~

Aren't they so cute?~ thinking they'll ever be strong enough to beat him in a fight? So adorable~

He picked them up, making sure they're out cold for now.

Afterwards, he summoned his nimbus cloud, laying his mate carefully onto it. An especially big and comfortable nimbus for his little Moonlight~

A smirk drew onto his face as he stared at Mihou, laying on his yellow-ish cloud.

Soon, everything will be just as it should...

Very soon...

He won't let them slip away this time..

They'll stay with him...

Forever.

Chapter Text

Sunshine hit Macaque's eyelids, waking him from his slumber. He grimaced but reluctantly opened his eyes.

Slight panic hit him quickly as he noticed he was in an unfamiliar room. Quickly sitting up, feeling an agonizing pain run through his right side at that movement. Grunting painfully, his hand swiftly moved to grap his aching bones, and carefully laying back down on the.. bed. That he woke up on.

...

That's a thing for future Macaque to worry about.

Slowly glancing around, Macaque tried to pinpoint where he could be and how he got here. Though he couldn't see much in this position. 

He groaned internally, then slowly and carefully sat up, taking a better look at his surroundings. After a moment..some things seemed... familiar? But he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Like, as if it was buried deep, deep in his memory, labelled as unimportant.

After a moment, he realized there was some sort of ring on the base of his tail? He tried to get it off, but it wouldn't budge. Probably protected with some kind of magic. He glared at the golden bracelet, or whatever it was, and then turned to ignore it completely.

Now that he started looking for more "accessories" on his body, he realised he was all bandaged up. All the wounds he got in the fight with Wukong, perfectly covered with bandages or bandaids. 

He hesitated for a moment, before getting up from the bed.

As he stood up, he stumbled and fell onto his knees harshly, wincing at the bruises he'd have later.

He tried to teleport- but magic wasn't working. Now he was starting to panic. His heartbeat quickened, his eyes going slightly wider as he pushed his ears against his head.

Shakily getting up, trying to keep his balance, he walked up to the wall for support, then continued his journey toward a door he saw.

His ears perked up after a moment, making him pause.

Someone was walking towards him- towards the room he was in.

Quickly moving to the door, and hiding behind it, waiting for them to open it.

After a moment, the door opened, and he could feel his nose being filled with the familiar smell of peaches.

He looked down at the shadow of the person to confirm his suspicions, ans- yeah. This is exactly who he thought it was.

"Macaque?"

The voice said. Or- more like Wukong said.

He whipped around the door to look at the king, barely holding back a smirk upon seeing him slightly bandaged up as well. Not as much as himself, but it counted for something.

"Wukong."

He looked at Wukong with a curious look, still feeling slightly dazed and disoriented. 

Said simian looked hesitant for a moment, some unreadable emotion flickering in his eyes.

They stared at each other for a moment, before Monkey King spoke up again

"Ah- uhm- y-you should sit down- since uh..you know.."

He said, and Macaque knew he meant the damage he has done during their fight.

The darker simian gave him an annoyed growl along with a snarl drawing on his face.

"What do you want, Wukong?" He asked with annoyance leaking down his voice, crossing his arms, not wanting to deal with the other simian right now.

The sun looked down at the ground unsurely, before his gaze flickered back to the still annoyed and confused simian in front of him.

Macaque was gonna ask him about the sudden loss of his powers, but he didn't know if Wukong did that or not, and telling him he can't use them for now would leave him at a big disadvantage.

The shadow's glare continued for a moment, before some weird emotion appeared in the king's eyes as he looked back, catching him completely off guard.

"You should sit down."

He said, sounding more threatening now.

Macaque raised an eyebrow at his tone, finding it suspicious. Eyeing him for a moment, before reluctantly sitting down on the bed.

Observing the King as he followed and sat down beside them, but before the shadow could speak up, he felt Wukong hugging him tightly.

His body immediately tensed up.

"..Wukong-"

"I missed you so much, Mango" he interrupted rudely, while tightening his hold on the moon.

Macaque froze. He hadn't heard that nickname in... centuries...

-

-

-

-

-

"...Don't call me that." A harsh tone rang out after a few solid seconds of silence, before starting to push against the other simian rather roughly, trying to get him off.

Macaque just.. just couldn't do it.

"I missed you- so, so much. I missed our little talks- a-and our daily cuddles- and i want it back. I want it all back."

Wukong spoke... with a weird undertone.. 

Macaque didn't like it.

Besides, he'd already moved on.

And Wukong needed to do the same.

"Move on, Wukong. It's not coming back. You have to accept that." Macaque said coldly, only to feel Wukong tightening his grip on him.

"Wukong?- what are you?-"

"No. I won't accept it."

His voice sounded...weird...to say the least.

Macaque chose to ignore that, groaning in annoyance loudly.

"Whatever. You do you. Stubborn as always.." he spoke with a hint of anger behind his voice,  then tried again to push the other away.

Wukong's grip stayed tight.

"Wukong. Let go." Macaque demanded, the anger in his voice going way past just a hint

"...no."

"Wha- what do you mean no?! Let go!" Macaque let out, appalled by the king's ridiculous behaviour, starting to struggle with the brighter simian.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Wukong leaned his head closer to Macaque's neck.

Then...started...licking it?- WAIT- IS WUKONG LICKING HIS NECK?! UGH EW!

"Wha- WUKONG! Stop it!- ugh-" Macaque continued struggling, trying to push him off as a nostalgic feeling crept up his spine, along with heat running to his cheeks.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

"Move on, Wukong. It's not coming back. You have to accept that."

Why would they say that? How was he supposed to move on from them?- they were my everything!- They were His Moonlight. Some stupid fight won't change that. 

The celestial realm may have dragged him away from them before, but nothing will part them again. 

But alright. It's okay.

He just has to remind them that they're his. That they're his mate. 

"Wukong- ugh- let go damnit!- ugh!-"

They continued struggling with him.

If being nice didn't work, he guesses he'll just have to use some force.

He licked his neck, just like he used to to tease them in the past. 

Oh how he missed his taste~ The feeling of their fur gently brushing against his tongue!- christ on a stick... He couldn't wait for Macaque any longer.

WUKONG kissed Macaque's neck, nibbling at their skin as heat flushed through his own cheeks.

"Ngh- WukONG!- stop that!- ugh!-"

Oh how cute their voice sounded through their struggles.

He pulled away from their neck and looked up at them, caressing their cheek with his hand adoringly.

"I've missed your taste Mango~"

He watched as Macaque's face twisted in confusion and fear. He.. didn't quite like that.. he'd only wish for His Moonlight to be happy with him...but. He guesses they have to get used to this again.

He leaned closer to Macaque again, then kissed them on the lips, pushing the younger simian down, so that they both layed on the bed now, Wukong on top.

He pulled away, tail wagging as obsession filled his darkened gaze.

He stared at Macaque as they panted under him, frozen in place with shock.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

He....kissed...me? 

WHY DID HE KISS ME?!

Macaque stared at him for a moment before snapping back to reality.

"Wha- WUKONG WHAT THE HECK?!"

He shouted at him, my eyebrows narrowing down in anger, lips drawing into a snarl.

Wukong only smiled at him weirdly in return, then leaned closer again.

Macaque put his hands on Wukong's chest to keep him from getting closer.

Monkey king giggled in response.

As Macaque stared at him, he realized what emotion his eyes were filled with. It was obsession.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Wukong looked down at His Moonlight, giggling at their futile attempts at keeping him away from them.

As if he'd just let that happen.

"Moonlight~ why are you pushing me away, hm?~"

He looked down at them- god their face was adorable- and chuckled again.

He watched as fear and confusion flickered through their eyes. He could sense they tried to teleport away with their shadow magic...

Good thing he got rid of that before they woke up~

"Are you trying to teleport away, Mango?" Wukong chuckled playfully on top of Macaque, glancing down at the other's lips before his gaze went back to their beautiful eyes.

"Well~ i hate to break it to you but...that won't work~" he said while giggling slightly, a bright smile on his face, his eyes seeming to glow with obsession.

Macaque started to panic about what Wukong had done to him that his powers weren't working.

"What....what did you do?-"

He asked wearily, his voice shakier than he wanted it to be.

Wukong giggled at his Moonshine's shaky voice. It was so cute!

"Oh~ don't worry too much Plum~ they're not gone forever! Just for....a while...how long it'll be depends on you~" He started, and watched as their eyes filled with confusion again.

Wukong chuckled at how adorable his mate looked. Well- they'd look even more adorable if they weren't scared too...but! He'll take what he can get for now.

"See, on one of my missions with MK, i found a very interesting artifact~"

Wukong smirked down at Macaque, his eyes growing darker by the minute.

"I later learned that it completely erases your power, as long as you wear it. And the catch is- you can't take it off by yourself! Isn't that fascinating?"

He smiled excitedly, looking down at Macaque as their gaze shifted to their tail- or, more to the artifact on their tail.

"Ah~ you've figured it out huh? Can't say I'm surprised, you always were the smart one after all~"

He chuckled softly, obsession still filling his eyes.

Wukong watched as their gaze became more panicked. He still didn't like seeing them distressed...

Their eyes wondered around the room, before finally landing on him again.

Oh how he loved looking into their amber eyes~

"What- what do you want. Huh? D-do you want me to stop talking to the kid? Is that it?"

He looked down at them, their eyes screaming that they were desperate for an answer. Wukong smirked again. They just looked so darn cute!

"No no~ this isn't about the kid, Macaque. This is about what we had- and....about me getting it back. Whether you like it....or not~"

His smirk widened as he watched the color drain from Macaque's face at the realisation.

He let out a chuckle again, then picked them up, making them sit back up. He leaned closer to them, feeling their arms tense up again.

Of course, it did nothing to stop him from getting closer to them~

He leaned in, caressing the darker simian's cheek as he kissed and licked their neck

"Ah- W-wukong!- stop!-"

Their pleas were pointless. They still tried to push him away. How cute. 

He chuckled softly again, and continued marking them all over again, just how he did all those millennia ago.

Chapter Text

Wukong continued kissing and licking his Moonlight's face. God did he miss them- their taste, their smell- Everything.

They squirmed underneath him, still trying to push him away, despite their frail chances of stopping this attack. How cute-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Suddenly, Macaque successfully got the king away- finally- by kicking him off.

As soon as he was free from Wukong's grasp, Macaque hurriedly got up from the bed, now standing in front of him. 

The bed being the only thing between the two simians. 

The darker monkey stared at the king intently, making sure to be ready for whatever he'll do next.

He chuckled.

"Oh Moonshine~ you won't keep me from marking you again for long~"

He said in a flirty tone, before suddenly leaping at Macaque- 

Which he swiftly dodged as the other jumped at him, sending Wukong to land in the wall.

The king may have stolen his powers, but his instincts and reflexes were all intact.

The moon took the king's shortly weakened state to their advantage, and ran as fast as they could toward a door nearby.

They opened it swiftly, and ran down the corridor.

They could hear his now creepy voice behind them as they ran with all their might.

"Oh Mangoo~ you can't run forever darling~"

As if they'd just been running pointlessly. They were running toward the kitchen. 

How they knew where the kitchen was you ask? Well, seems Wukong's heating up something, and with their great hearing, they can hear the microwave.

So, they ran toward the sound. 

When Macaque ended up in the kitchen, he quickly started frantically looking for any sort of weapon. Of course, a measly kitchen knife couldn't kill him! But it could at least slow him down.

....they hope...?

Macaque rammed through the whole kitchen, quickly looking all over for a knife. 

Finally he found it. And just as he picked it up, he heard Wukong's voice entering the kitchen.

"Playing tag, now are we?~"

The shadow shuddered in disgust at the tone of his voice. Yet...some part of him..felt..weird.

They brushed off the feeling and turned around to look at him. He was messed up. His hair was all messy, his sleeve was slightly torn in one or two places- but they didn't focus on any other details.

Macaque rose their hand up and pointed the knife at him, their grip on the handle tightening as they glared at their former mate.

-

-

-

Wukong chuckled.

"Why so feisty, Moonpie?~"

He asked them and smirked as his gaze shifted toward the knife they were holding.

Did they really think a measly knife would stop him from getting back what's his? Yeah, he didn't think so.

Wukong charged at them again, his eyes filled with hunger and determination.

They dodged, he ended up falling onto the cupboards, making a small cut on his forehead. That's something he'll take care of later.

Upon his quick recovery, Wukong noticed they were now by the other side of the kitchen.

Wukong jumped on Macaque. They may not have been quick to dodge, but they were quick to recover from the hit.

They stabbed the knife into Wukong's shoulder, shoving it all the way in and twisting it around to hurt their former mate.

Wukong grunted in pain, glaring at Macaque before he was being kicked away from his mate again.

Wukong landed on a kitchen island, and before he could blink thrice, Macaque was in front of him and hit his gut.

He recovered quickly and kicked Macaque to the ground. He pinned them down to the floor, holding them by their wrists.

"Mango~ why are you resisting? Don't you want things to go back to how they were? When we just layed under peach trees, either grooming each other or just enjoying each others company? don't you miss that?~"

He was met with a kick to the stomach.

"Urgh.. quit living in the past, Wukong! It was a long time ago."

Macaque shouted out, struggling under Wukong and trying to get out of his grasp. 

Monkey King frowned. His gaze was empty for a moment.

"I don't think you understand, Mango. We are going to go back to normal. Back to not fighting with every interaction. Back to....being mates."

The king spoke coldly, his grip tightening.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Macaque grunted slightly as Wukong's grip tightened.

They tugged their hands, trying to free them from the king's grasp.

Suddenly- Wukong grabbed both their wrists in one hand, taking something out of his pocket- Macaque couldn't see what it was yet.

"I didn't want to have to do this- but."

He started. They didn't care what he was doing right now. The moon still pulled and tried to wiggle their hands from his grasp, fighting with a newfound determination to get away.

"You've left me no other choice, Moonshine. If you won't listen and cooperate... I'll have to make you."

This caught the shadow's attention. 

They turned back to look at him, and before they could even blink, that damned bastard put something around their neck.

It felt similar to a collar?- o-or a choker?

Either way, Macaque didn't like that he just put something on them AGAIN.

The darker simian bared his fangs at the king.

"What the fuck is this, Wukong?"

They asked angrily, brows furrowed deeply in a hard glare.

He just looked at them.

"That's not my name."

He said simply.

"Wha?- YES IT IS??"

Macaque was now more annoyed than angry. And confused. Did they kick him too hard or something..?

He just looked away, looking a little disappointed.

"Well- it's not what you call me.. or, used to, anyway."

He added, his voice somewhat soft. 

Macaque looked at him with confusion, before remembering all the nicknames they used to call him. Part of them felt embarrassed, but the bigger part felt annoyed.

They glared at him.

"I'm not calling you that."

They stated simply through their annoyance, frown hardening again.

He stayed quiet for a moment.

"Too bad... I'm sorry Moonshine."

Said simian gave him a confused look before feeling the thing around their neck tighten, then-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Macaque felt an electric shock going directly to my neck.

They slightly hunched back in pain- fuCK- ugh-

It hurt- shit- FUCK!- CURSE YOU WUKONG-

"Ack- Wukong- what- is this?-"

They asked through the pulses of electricity hitting their neck, biting back yelps of pain.

"I'm truly sorry this had to come out this way but- seems you'll have to learn to listen to me. And that is not my name."

He said. He didn't seem to be enjoying this- but ACK- jesus chRIST- 

"OKAY- Okay!- I'll call you your- Ack- stupid nickname-"

The shadow let out, voice strained and quieter, electric shocks still biting his neck, making them barely bite back the screams of agony.

The smell of burning fur flew through the air. Great.

Wukong smiled softly, then smirked, and Macaque felt the thing- collar. Let's just call it a collar for now. They felt it weaken down around their neck, and didn't feel the shocks anymore.

Wukong finally let go of them and got up.

"Great! Now- ground rules,"

He started, slightly kneeling down to Macaque as they held myself up with their elbows on the cold floor, gently massaging their neck.

"If you get out of line, you'll be punished. If you try to escape, you'll be punished. If you do anything i disapprove of, you'll be punished. The punishment will be based on what you do, but one of the punishments, is the shock. We clear?~"

Macaque watched him bitterly, smirk stupidly drawing on the other's face as obsession filled his eyes.

They looked down at the floor with a scowl, hand moving from his neck to rest on the floor next to his other arm.

"Clear." They let out coldly.

Macaque didn't like this ONE bit. Infact, they hated this. They hated this stupid place, they hated this stupid shit on their tail- and they hated

that Wukong just kept adding more artifacts onto them. Who does Wukong think they are? Some kind of pet or something?

But. Nonetheless. 

They still had to play nice for now. 

Because trust them.

That shock- was not fun at all.

Chapter Text

Beep! Beep! Beep!

They both turned their gazes toward the sudden sound, one quickly, as if on edge, the other lazily perking up an ear.

"Ah! Food's ready!"

Said Wukong with excitement, as if nothing had happened mere seconds ago.

He got up, then went over to the microwave. 

The darker simian took a moment to sigh, then got up as well, slightly grunting, still holding their neck gently.

Wukong's tail lashed behind him happily, as he took out the 'food' from the microwave.

The moon of the relationship just watched, shooting little, almost unnoticeable daggers at him with their gaze. They stopped as soon as they saw the sun move slightly.

He turned around, then started walking back toward the room Macaque woke up in.

"C'mon! Food's not gonna eat itself"

The lighter simian teased affectionately, not noticing the other's hate threatening to make his eyes explode.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

They both went back inside 'the room' (Macaque refused to call the place they were held captive in theirs), and Wukong settled the plate of food on a two-people dining table, then invited Macaque to sit down and eat.

So, the moon, still feeling their neck was warm, sat down in front of the plate. They eyed it for a minute, before putting it on a fork and smelling it to test if there was any poison in it.

"Oh c'mon, moonshine! I wouldn't poison it! You know that, right?"

The former kings said softly, his hands under his chin, holding his head as he watched the other.

'the other', Macaque, glared at him, growling lightly, before pushing the plate not so gently toward their former, unofficial mate.

"Why don't you eat it then."

They said coldly, shooting daggers at Wukong once again.

Said simian, stared at his former mate, then chuckled softly.

"I know, i know, you need a little bit more time to trust me again, i get it, you always had a little trust issues. So, as a good mate, which i am, I'll respect that. It's not poisoned. I'll prove it to you-"

He pulled the plate a little closer to him, before his moonshine spoke again.

"Nuh uh! You don't count! You're invincible to most drugs and poisons!"

Macaque let out quickly, scowl hardening on their face as they dragged the plate back to themselves.

He was right. The sun was resilient to many poisons due to his immortality. This was a slight problem...that his moon didn't trust him....but! The king was just happy his mate remembered little details like that. Even if it was well known that he was immortal, sure- but the Moonshine added 'most' to his sentence.

Which meant they remembered that he wasn't resilient to everything, just, most of things. 

The mere thought made his heart flutter. His moon remembered! 

"It's rude to stare ya know."

He was snapped out of his thoughts by his mate's voice. Oh his beautiful beautiful voice.

"Right- sorry.. ah, then what do you want me to do?"

The moonlight thought for a moment, but then stayed quiet.

Wukong (being his mate for thousands of years) knew what they were implying.

"You have to eat something."

He pushed, not liking how his Moonshine would rather not eat at all than eat food from him.

He was met with silence again.

Seems Wukong would have to try a little harder to gain his mate's trust again. It was similar to how it was when they first met! He had to wait long for the shadow to trust him, and that was before they even did anything! 

Now it would be even harder, since it seems that the stardust still hadn't gotten over their... rough past.

But that was okay! He just had to be loving, patient, and kind. 

Though....it doesn't help that the darker monkey is already making him mad by refusing to eat...

That's also okay! Macaque will eat food directly from his hands when he is ready. Before that, the moon could eat fruit from the mountain! Sure, he'd still be the one bringing it to the Moonlight but, that's not an option with how the moonshine is acting right now.

"Alright then. If you don't want warm, made with love food, i can get you some fruits. What do you think?"

The king's voice was slightly strained as he described his cooking. He learned it especially for this! Why couldn't Macaque appreciate that?

Wukong was met with a glare, that then looked away, as if to think, before turning back to him, less stern.

"Fine. Fruit is.. okay, i guess."

The darker of the two said, his arms crossed as he scowled slightly.

It was adorable!

But he had to focus on the task at hand, which was: getting fruit for Mango!

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

The king, went out of the room, wondering around the mountain in search of fruit that his Moonshine liked.

He didn't know if the moon's taste buds have changed since....their falling out..but! He was mostly sure they didn't. 

And so, Monkey King handpicked all the fruit, making sure each one was perfect for his starlight.

-

-

-

-

-

-

Empty.

He had come back to the room, just to find it....empty.

No...no no no..nonononNoNONONONO!-

HE- He couldn't have- he- he was sure he locked the doors behind him!

Why would he do that to him?! why. why? Why!? WHY?!--

...

...

...

There was a ruffling noise.

It came from the bed-

He ran toward where the sound came from and upon closer inspection, he noticed there was a nest on top of said bed, made of the blankets and pillows-

Thank buddha-

Wait.

This could just be a distraction!

He moved his hand frantically over the nest- 

Then, a slight growl came out. 

From within in.

"...Moonshine?-"

The king spoke unsurely, his heart still racing in his chest from the panic of almost loosing his mate- again.

A soft sound came from within the nest.

Then an even softer

"..Hm..?"

Sound.

Phew...

Thank buddha. 

He would've torn the whole mountain apart looking for him.

The shadow is not getting away this time.

Not on his watch.

With a now gentler approach, the king lifted the blankets slightly, only to reveal the dark monkey inside, softly sleeping.

They looked adorable! So cute! The mere sight made him want to hug them tightly and never let go. 

(Cuteness overlord!)

The sight made him want to squish their little cheeks that were gently pressed against the mattress

His tail swinging behind him happily, creating a large wind behind him.

The moon stirred slightly, the light from the room awakening him.

One of their eyes opened, and for a moment...it looked kind of hazy..just for a second...but that's probably not important!

"Hm?"

The fluff ball repeated, sounding sleepy

(Again, so adorable!)

"I brought the fruit!~"

Said Wukong, in a sing-song tone, smiling warmly at the other.

"Wukong?-"

Said the darker simian before rubbing their other eye before opening it.

Upon seeing having their gaze on Wukong's face, their demeanor changed immediately.

They frowned, their earlier big pupils now shrinking, and a frown growing into their face.

"Took you long enough."

Said Macaque as they crawled out of the nest from the other side, as to not bump into Wukong when they did.

They looked around the room for a moment, before their gaze turned to the basket of fruit standing in front of the door. They walked up to it, then sat down before it and took a mango out.

They always did prefer them over any other fruit. It's where their nickname came from.

Macaque bit down into the fruit, completely ignoring Wukong still sitting on the bed.

The sun turned to the Moon with a slight frown, but a smile on his face as well.

"I hand picked them for you, Moonlight! I didn't know if your favourite tastes are still the same- so i brought all the fruit i thought you'd like!"

He waited for a response.

Silence.

Only the sounds of faint chewing could be heard.

"Ar-"

"Is that what took you so long? Looking for fruit?"

Macaque, not even turning their head to look at Wukong, interrupted the other.

Their tone monotone and uninterested, which Wukong did not like...

He liked when all his Moon's attention was on him and him only!

This was unacceptable! 

He doesn't like hurting his mate. Really! Seeing them in pain makes his heart ache every time!

So, he'll be patient this time.

"Starlight."

He said in a soft, yet somehow creepy tone.

The dark furred monkey's attention was on him withing seconds.

They turned their head quickly, ear flapping once.

Another thing he disliked. When his Moonshine hid their beautiful, beautiful beautiful six ears.

He'd always loved them, admiring and loving every time he got to see all six of them out.

He wished he could see them again..

But! He won't force Mango if they don't like doing it. He won't overstep.

(About this at least.)

The king got up, then sat on the other end of the basked, sitting facing his mate.

He gave the moon a warm smile, that was met with a confused frown on the other end.

The moment was wholesome.

...

....

......

Well it would've been if Wukong's head wasn't filled with pictures of how Macaque'd look like tied up, along with fantasies of what he'd do to them if they were tied up.

Okay we're going off topic uhm-

Yes! Fruit.

Wukong sat across from Macaque, who has now stopped eating to stare at him with a confused frown.

"I see you've made a nest."

The king smiled at his mate.

Well i need SOME place to feel safe in.

Thought Macaque, but wouldn't dare say it aloud.

"..yeah."

They settled with answering. They weren't embarrassed. It was a natural thing for monkeys to build nests.

The darker monkey continued staring at Wukong unsurely for a few minutes.

"Go on, don't mind me. I'll just...watch."

He didn't mean to say the second thing...it

just...slipped out.

But it seemed to work, after Macaque gave him a disgusted look and again begun eating his mango.

As...Wukong just...watched.

He didn't do anything nor say anything he just.... Sat there menacingly and watched his mate eat..

Huh...

Weird...

What is..

This

This feeling?

Chapter Text

After Macaque finished eating, Wukong just...left.

He didn't do anything- he just left.

Macaque doesn't know what they were expecting, but it definitely wasn't that.

So, having nothing else to do, Macaque went to sleep. 

-

-

-

-

Sun shining into their eyelids woke them from their slumber- again. 

They didn't know what time it was- it was hard to tell time when they were stripped from their belongings.

He heard a knock.

"Darling!~ I've brought you breakfast!"

They heard Wukong's voice behind the door, a sing-song-like tone in his speech.

They decided to stay silent, not caring enough to answer. What did he want anyway? We've been at each other's throats for centuries. Why's it suddenly a problem? They thought to themselves with a frown.

There was a silent pause, where neither of them were saying anything.

"I'm coming in darling!~"

Wukong announced, and before Macaque could say anything, he barged into the room, with a tray of food.

Macaque looked at him, then rolled their eyes with a scoff. He smiled at them in return, walking up to the dinner-like table near the window, placing the tray onto it and sitting in the seat across from 'theirs'. 

They stared at him with a glare.

He stared back at them with a smile.

"You have to eat something darling."

He spoke with that shit-eating grin on his face.

Macaque groaned aloud, letting out a complaining sound after, but stood up from the bed nonetheless.

The last thing they wanted was to be shocked or force-fed right now.

So, the shadow sat in 'their' seat, and stared at the food, the glare still present on their face.

The two simians sat in silence for a while, before Wukong spoke up

"Well? Aren't you gonna start?- oh- don't worry, it's not poisoned or anything."

He said simply.

Though Macaque still didn't trust him. 

They glared at him, fangs slightly showing, but they reluctantly picked up the fork and started nibbling at the food.

The pancakes were practically drowned in syrup. Why? Macaque didn't know. They disliked sweet food, but apparently Wukong thought otherwise.

They looked up at him with a sour glare.

"What?"

He asked, looking confused. 

Macaque scoffed in return.

"First of all, i am not eating your hair. Second of, i don't like sweet things."

Macaque barked out with a glare. Wukong seemed to have a realization at this, as he quickly sat up from the table, and threw the tray out the window.

Macaque looked at Wukong, stunned he'd just straight up throw it out the window. 

Upon realising there was a hole there now, he came up with a plan.

When Wukong left the room to get them some actual food (surprisingly), Macaque took the chance to jump out the window.

Luckily for our shadow monkey, they weren't too high from the ground, so when they landed (fell) on the ground, they only might have gotten a few bruises.

They recovered quickly, starting to run as fast as they could from the weird, castle-thingy- since when did Wukong have something like that anyway?- running deep into the forest. 

They panted after running for a few minutes, being deep inside the forest, they thought they're far enough for now, so they took a break.

Of course- only from running.

Once they started walking, they immediately turned their focus to the damned artifact on their tail. Macaque remembered Wukong telling them they'd be unable to take it off themself- but they still had to try. 

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Surprisingly, Wukong hadn't come to find them yet. 

Unsurprisingly, they were unable to take off the artifact.

Both of them- to be clearer, since after giving up on the power blocking one, they turned to the one around their neck.

Suddenly

they felt the 'collar' tighten around their neck.

Great. They jinxed it.

The collar pressed closer on their neck, then the shock started.

They fell to their knees in pain, gripping the artifact around their scruff, clawing at it desperately to try and take it off, to make the agony go away.

They failed to notice they were also mauling their neck in a by-product of trying to slash the collar off.

They couldn't decipher the pain from their claws from the pain from the shock.

In this state of agony, as tears streamed down their face, they failed to notice a golden monkey approaching them from behind.

The monkey stopped. Staring warily at Macaque on the ground, as if at a wild animal.

Soon enough, a loud thud could be heard behind the shadow, making them flinch at the noise and turn to look what caused it.

There stood the real Monkey King, having came here upon seeing his Mango from one of his clone's eyes.

Macaque let out a choked, pathetic, half-baked sob, tears dripping down their face as blood dripped down from their neck.

They looked at Wukong with wide, wild eyes, barely breathing as they still were down on their knees from pain.

Wukong looked at them with a widely concerned gaze, his hands shaking. He slowly started to approach the other, keeping his hands slightly up defensively.

Macaque looked at him hastily, watching his moves sharply.

Then, the shock stopped. Their neck now numb from all the damage, but their gaze calmed down. They turned away from the king, looking down at the ground before them as they panted with exhaustion.

"...starlight?.."

Wukong spoke with a shaky, barely above a whisper voice.

Macaque's ears perked up at the sound of his old nickname, and they glanced at their former other half.

Seeing that they responded, Wukong ran up to them in the blink of an eye, hugging them tightly.

Macaque, still feeling a bit hazy from the shock, didn't attempt at pushing him away. Too tired to fight a pointless fight.

-

-

-

-

-

-

They went back- or... more like Wukong took Macaque back to the castle-thingy- seriously. When did he get that?- and headed straight to his infirmary.

Upon arriving, he took off Macaques 'collar', but put a shackle around his wrists that he materialized from his hair- because of course he did- and started taking care of the scratches on their neck.

He cleaned the wounds, being gentle and careful since- well- it was a neck after all.

-

-

-

-

-

-

Having bandaged up his Moonshine, he took them back to their room, leaving the chains on.

Wukong sighed. "As much as you scared me, Mango, I can't say I'm not disappointed in you. Why would you try to escape me, huh? Am i not good enough?- d-did you not like the food?- i just... i don't understand why you would want to hurt me like that Moony."

He whined, feeling sad about his Mango even wanting to leave him.

Upon not receiving an answer, he sighed again

"As much as it pains me to do this, i will have to punish you, darling."

This made Macaque's ears perk up. 

"What?- what do you mean by that.."

Though their voice raspy and quiet, they asked the question.

"You'll find out in due time. Seeing as you're in need of healing right now, I'll reschedule your punishment for running away till after you're all healthy again. So don't worry your little head too much, okay Mango?~"

He said, his tone back to the sweet sounding.

Macaque stayed silent, too surprised to speak.

"OKAY. DARLING?"

Wukong repeated, seeming to want an answer.

"Jeez!- okay okay.."

Wukong gave him a wide eyed look, seeming to still expect something from Macaque.

They gave a confused look in return, but then realized what he meant.

"No."

He said coldly, but Wukong gave him a glare, making the remaining fur on the back of his neck stand.

"Chill!- jeez... okay.." Macaque sighed, feeling disgust creep up his spine.

"...sunshine....."

They mumbled, adverting their gaze from the other.

"What was that?~"

Wukong asked with a sly smirk, his voice laced with a hint of playfulness.

Macaque's gaze darkened at the king, my teeth clenched.

"Sunshine."

They repeated through their teeth,.

"That's better~"

Wukong hummed softly, smiling gently at his ex mate.

"Now rest, Moonlight. You need lots of rest to heal faster."

He said, then stood up from the bed and turned to leave.

"Hey!- wait!"

Macaque shouted out, their voice still raspy

Wukong's ears perked up, his eyes filled with hope and love, his pupils turning from circles to hearts.

"Yes?"

He spoke, out of breath, his heart fluttering as images (that won't be discussed) popped into his head, his tail starting to wag softly.

"What about these."

Macaque said, pointing to the chains around their wrists.

Wukong seemed... disappointed. His eyes and ears falling as his tail turned to hang down from his waist.

"Oh...well. Can't have you escaping while I'm gone can i?~"

Wukong's tone changed as if with the flip of a switch, biting down on his lower lip. He was met with a glare from Macaque in return, but simply smiled and then left the room, making sure it's locked shut.

Macaque let out a huff, then a groan as they fell down on the bed.

This guy..

They thought to themself with annoyance, then curled up on the bed, their tail wrapping around one of the chains.

Okay, okay- think. How do i escape...well this....

Hmm... 

Oh ... oh. 

I know.

With an evil grin, Macaque went to sleep while thinking about their plan to escape.

Chapter Text

A month has gone by, and it's been weirdly quiet. Too quiet.

Well, at least they'll find out why shortly, won't they?

Macaque woke up, but as they wanted to rub their eyes, they noticed their wrists were tied to the bedframe above their head.

The shadow struggled against the ropes. Ugh. How pathetic they ware now that simple ropes could hold them down. Disgustingly pathetic. More bitter thoughts soon followed.

"Fucking shit.."

They mumbled under their breath, trying to get free from the ropes, and thus failing to notice the pest in the room.

"Ah! Moonlight! You're awake~"

The king spoke with a sing-song tone.

Annoying as always. 

Weren't they supposed to be the one annoying him?

Whatever. 

Macaque turned to look at their former mate with a glare

"Wukong. What. The fuck."

They growled at him, pulling at the ropes around their wrists, a chilly feeling of deja vu creeping up their broken spine

He simply smiled at them.

He fucking smiled. That motherfucker.

He started getting closer to them-

"Keep your distance fucker!" 

Macaque shouted, bearing their fangs at Wukong, still struggled against the ropes binding them.

He did come closer, despite the 'warnings'. 

Wukong crawled onto Macaque, a lustful look in his eyes, and a smirk on his face.

Macaque thrashed under him, trying to either lean away or push him away.

The attempts were useless, as the king refused to be separated from his moonshine again.

his hand traveled behind them, wandering. Searching.

Then, he found it.

Wukong's hand began gently stroking his mates tail. Caressing it at the base, his own wagging with pleasure and almost obsession.

A sound came out of his throat. A purr.

His other hand on his beloveds cheek, holding it gently, yet with a possessive intent.

The other looked- glared at him. He... He could be patient with his moonshine. He could wait till they loved him as as much as they used to.

-

-

-

-

-

-

He looked his starlight in their beautiful, amber eyes, they were as gorgeous as they could- but...less bright than they used to be. He can fix that. Will fix that.

Wukong leaned closer to Macaque, both their noses almost touching.

Their feet squirming under him, trying to kick him off. How cute. Their hands tied on the bedframe. Powerless, yet struggling- or at least trying to struggle against the ropes.

They were truly adorable. 

Their lavender mixed with plums scent intoxicating his lungs, making him yearn for more. 

They were meant to be his.

He was meant to be theirs.

They would be together once again. And nothing would break them apart ever again. 

They glared at him again, shooting daggers into his eyes, giving him somewhat of a warning again. Daring him to come closer. Daring him to do something.

"You're beautiful. You know that?" - He spoke up.

"Wukong." - Macaque spat his name as if it was venom on their tongue. - "Untie me." - they demanded.

He laughed softly - "Can't do that mango. Since you're neck finally healed from... well. It's time for your punishment. For trying to run away from me, moonshine." - He said, his tone turning from loving to possessive and stern swiftly.

The other's eyes widened, their golden flickering to magenta purple, as if trying to use their powers. He chuckled softly at the attempt, finding it quite endearing.

"No, no. That won't work moony. You know it won't. Thanks to--" - his tone playful, his hand traveled down their tail, stopping by the artifact on it - "--this. So don't you strain or exhaust yourself, dear. You look prettier relaxed." - He smiled.

The other frowned, then began growling, his head looking down.

"Wukong." - their voice had a dark tone, not the usual playful yet mocking one- but a dark...rage filled one... He felt shivers run down his spine and goosebumps growing on his skin for a moment, before moving his hand from their tail to the other cheek, starting to caress it lovingly.

"Oh moonshine.. you're so... so adorable, really, thinking you can intimidate me with that cute face of yours~" - He cooed, caressing both cheeks of his mate.

The shadow monkey glared at the king, bearing their fangs with rage in their eyes.

The king leaned in closer.

Closing his eyes,

and began kissing his mate.

Macaque struggled against the kiss that started turning passionate and leaving him out of breath.

Kicking their feet, pulling at the ropes on their wrists desperately, trying to get away.

Away from him.

In return, the golden peach simian pulled them deeper into the kiss, his tongue dancing around theirs. The tongue of his mate trying to shy away. How adorable.

The kiss was broken, leaving the dark furred monkey panting. The king just stared at them catching their breath, with obsession love filled eyes, adoring his moonlight. His mate.

The moon panted for a longer moment, then finally looked up at the sun with a glare, bearing their fangs at him.

He simply smiled back. - "Did you like it? I hope i haven't lost my touch since we parted ways~" - he states, grinning from ear to ear.

The moon.... Macaque... blushes... They- they actually blushed! They're blushing! 

His moonshine blushed because of him again!

He remembers how they used to be embarrassed after each kiss they shared. He misses those times. When everything was simpler.

Wukong leaned closer to them, giving them a peck on the cheek.

The moon glared at him, their blush long gone.

He could make it come back... After all... He wasn't done yet.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Macaque continued squirming, as the King began licking and kissing their neck. Probably leaving hickeys as well. 

He was being...somewhat gentle?

As if scared of hurting them again.

Their tail thrashed-

Then was suddenly grabbed by the others, coiling around it like a snake around it's pray.

The King moved up, beginning to to kiss the shadow passionately again.

Making them squirm and try to pull their tail away from the golden peach furred one.

Wukong's hands wondered from their face to their waist-

Then under his shirt-

___________________________________________

Her chains wrapped around their body, making it hard to breathe.

Their heart ached. 

Their eye.

What was left of their eye ached.

Everything hurt.

"Come on Lui' er Mihou.. you know you want to help me." 

Her voice rang in their six ears.

Like a siren trying to lure them in... make them do something for her.

the chains tightened- god they couldn't breathe- 

"Don't you want revenge on Sun Wukong? for what he did to you?"

"You know you want to... you want to gouge out his eye like he did yours, do you not?"

...

They stayed silent.

"Well i can help with that... there will be a small... advance to pay though. Do we have a deal?"

Her voice rang in their ears- Buddha make it stop please please- pleaseplease-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Screams of agony were heard throughout the whole Diyu, as the feeling of flesh being ripped apart rang alongside it. All Macaque could feel was the agony of his muscles ripping, his hearing fading slightly.

He no longer fit his title.

"Be my champion. Release me from my prison. And i will reward you accordingly."

His ear fell from her hand, landing harshly on the cold floor of his prison.

Her voice rang through their head as they had to claw out their way from underground. Wet, cold dirt being left under their claws and in their fur.

They panted, torso halfway out of the ground.

They weren't in the Diyu anymore. So why?-

Why did they still feel her cold grip on their body?- 

They could feel her-

INSIDE HIM-

get her out. getheroutgether OUT GET HER OUT GET HER OUT OF THEM-

-

-

-

-

-

-

They ran. Threw the key away somewhere in their panic-

They needed warm. Sun. Something

The middle of the night- they tripped-

Banged their head- NO TIME FOR THAT!

they need to run- before HE finds them- before he tries to murder them again- 

It's cold.

Run.

Run from-

From him- from her-

Just run-

ꋪꀎꈤR̸U̸N̸- RUN!---

Cold hands- all over their body- touching him- stop- STOP- PLEASE!- STOP!-

Someone.

Please.

Is there anyone?-

They beg.

They fall-

Rock-

...

...

"Did you really think you could get rid of me?"

They scream.

An air curling scream- a shriek- a screech.

All the animals around run away at the sound of that demonic- blood freezing sound- 

The stench of terror heavy in the air-

Someone

Anyone?-

___________________________________________

The ropes break.

The king is kicked off the bed.

Anger fills his face, but he calms himself down. He'll be patient.

"Darling. I need to punish you-" 

He looks at them- they're shaking- hands on their shoulders- are they okay? Is it his fault?-

"Darling?-"

They don't respond.

".....Mac?-" - concern evident in his shaking voice, as he hesitantly stands up and tries to come closer.

He notices the artifact on their tail cracking- how is that even possible?- he couldn't break it in any way.

"Moony...?" He speaks hesitantly, as his mate clutches their chest, mumbling something.

The sight is worrisome to say the least. He's never seen his mate in such a state before- they- they're shivering- he- he needs to help- his instincts are yelling at him to help-

_________________________________________

M-.....cham-.....on-...

Her voice rings in their head- making them feel dizzy

Cold, cruel hands all over his body- chains on his wrists- on his tail

She- she's gone. She's not there anymore- she- 

Am i though?

...

What?

Did you really think you'd get rid of me that easily?

No- n-no-

Yes my champion.

No you're- you're not real!- you- you can't be!-

Are you sure about that?

Their body shivers, shaking violently in fear- cold?

___________________________________________

He moves closer to them, putting a hand on their shoulder, before jerking away as if it was flaming hot.

It isn't. It's- it's freezing- His mate is freezing. Why?- why are they so cold?- sure, they never were warm- but they were never FREEZING!-

He needs to act quickly.

"Moonshine?- Mac- Lui' er you need to calm down!- i- what's happening? Talk to me- plum!-"

Still, no response.

"she's not here.. she's- no no.." they mumble.

"What?- no- c'mon! MACAQUE SNAP OUT OF IT!"

The king demands sternly, but is panicked himself at the sight of his mate this way.

Ma.......que...

What?

Stop touching me- pleasepleaseplease-

You know you cannot rid of me.

You feel the cold, don't you?

Im still here.

And I'm never- 

....aque!

What is that voice?-

HEY! Don't you ignore me!

The cold gets colder.

...ma

..........aque come on-

Who is that?

It sound familiar....

"MACAQUE!!"

They snap out of their panic, their heart still pounding, making their ears ring slightly.

"....wukong?-" 

The dark furred monkey recognizes the other simian.

A tear falls from the Kings eyes.

"MACAQUE! DON'T EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN!" 

Wukong's voice wavers, as he hugs Macaque tightly.

He pulls away from the hug, his hands left on their shoulders.

"What the heck was that?! You scared the shit outta me!"

Wukong shouts angrily, his heart pounding loudly, as his wide eyes look directly into his mates somewhat hazy ones.

"..."

They stay silent for a moment.

"Don't pretend you care" 

The shadow speaks weakly.

"Just- just leave. M'kay? I don't-" Macaque's breath hitches slightly, before he swallows the slight lump in his throat, then continues.

"Just- I can't deal with you right now."

The exhausted tone of his mates voice deeply hurts the king. He wants to fix it- so badly.

So... He is obedient, and as much as it makes his heart ache... He decides to leave.

"I- ....okay. i'll- I'll have a clone bring you fruit later.."

The golden peach simian says sadly, hesitantly taking his hands off of his mates shoulders.

And makes his way to the door.

"If- if you need anything-...just- just call for me. Okay?- a-and if you wanna talk about what-"

"I won't tell you shit. You're invading my privacy enough as is."

The king deflated at that, his tail and ears lowering sadly, and he leaves. Locking the door behind him.

Their tail curls in on itself, as they sit there, their heart still pounding.

They need a different plan. 

Getting Wukong to trust him- 

It's out of the question.

There is no way he is gonna get vulnerable with him again.

Not after-

...

Never again.

Chapter Text

Macaque sat on the bed, unable to get a wink of sleep.

The sheets were weirdly scratchy- and the pillows were way to soft-

Everything was just- just felt wrong.

So, they resumed to sitting on the bed, thinking of a different plan to escape.

Technically- they were kind of free?

Like- there were no restrains on them- 

...that faulted them physically at least. 

So

They should go.

They should leave.

So-

Go.

Move.

As much as they tried, their body wouldn't listen. Just- why- WHY was this so difficult?!

Ugh. They'll- they can do this. 

Just- move.

Even an inch- please- move.

Move.

MovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemovemoveMoveMOVEMOVE-

___________________________________________

And that's how Macaque spent the whole night trying to get their body to listen to them.

How do they know it's been all night? 

Because Wukong came into the room shortly after they finally got up from the bed.

O h that's just their luck.

"Moonpie! You're up early! How was your-" The king spoke with excitement, but froze when he looked over his moons face.

Was it dirty or something? Did he have a red print from leaning on his hand? Did their glamours fall down?!-

Before the moon could worry more, the ginger simian spoke up again.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked, thinking he's slick.

Of course they had eye bags- they spent the whole night trying to move-

"Just peachy. Did you want something?" The moon asked, clearly annoyed at something.

Something being Wukong but he didn't know that.

The king deflated, remembering what had occurred the night before.

"Hey um. About yesterday- I didn't- ....mean... to-" 

"I'm not talking about it. Especially to you." 

The dark furred monkey interrupted the king, spitting the words at him as if it was venom on his tongue.

The king frowned, but stayed calm despite that tiny annoyed action. 

"Alright. Be stubborn. But I know that you'll come crawling back to me someday."

The king's tone...changed. It didn't have that love filled hint to it- it was... aggressive... stern even.

But Macaque couldn't care less about that right now. They still needed to escape somehow. 

They huffed with annoyance.

"So. What do you want?"

The king looked at them, his gaze softening a bit at the change of topic.

"Well... I brought you food! Real food. You can't survive just on fruits Moonpie." 

The king said playfully yet slightly sternly, then pulled out a tray with food from behind him. 

There was some light food, taking into account that Macaque hadn't eaten anything that was nutritious enough to be actually called food- To be specific, Wukong brought him some toast with mango and peach jam on it, and a cup of green tea to top it off.

"Here! Eat, my princess. You really can't keep living on the very few fruit you've eaten." 

Wukong repeated, pushing Macaque back onto the bed, and laying the tray on their lap.

"I've been just fine all these centuries! I don't need your stupid toast."

Macaque said with annoyance, glaring at Wukong.

The sun frowned slightly, and swiftly got irritated and closer to the moon.

"And LOOK AT YOU! You're nothing but skin and bone!" 

Wukong shouted, making Macaque flinch. They. Knew what they looked like. The truth is- they tried to eat. They really did. But they couldn't eat too much with their rotten stomach.

They adverted their gaze from the king, turning their head and staring at the floor, leaving the toast untouched.

After a moment of silence, the king spoke up again

"If you do not eat, i will force feed it to you." 

He threatened lowly, his gaze stern and tail twitching with anger.

...truth be told, Macaque's never seen Wukong like that.

that's a lie. He looked similar when he murdered them.

He wasn't scary though.

Totally not.

Macaque hesitated for a minute, then glanced back at Wukong. After shooting him another glare, the snatched the toast from their plate, and took a bite.

The king perked up at that.

He is so easy to read sometimes they swear to buddha-

And his tail was wagging softly as he watched his future Queen eat. Or king. Depending what Moonpie will be most comfortable with.

___________________________________________

"Soo... I know you've probably been bored recently- so I have a proposition!"

The king beamed happily, excited to play with his former mate again.

Macaque's ears twitched, and he glanced up at Wukong.

Raising an eyebrow, they unknowingly encouraged Wukong to continue

"So! There will be a few rules of course- but you can go out!" 

Macaque's ears perked up, and their eyes slightly widened, their full attention on Wukong now.

The king smirked seeing that, and continued on

"You will be allowed out- into the garden."

The moon deflated.

Since when does he have a garden?- 

"Now, now!- don't be discouraged just yet! The garden is quite big, and I'd say i take pretty good care of it!" 

Macaque just gave him an unimpressed look, then went back to picking on their tail.

The king deflated, his gaze turning angry with annoyance.

"We can either go to the garden, or we can groom each other. So what'll it be, Moonshine?" 

At that, Macaque flinched. He snapped his head toward the sun, and looked at him as if he'd just slapped them.

"Garden." 

Macaque said quickly, but coldly. The king smiled widely, but inside felt a little sad that his mate doesn't want to be groomed by him. 

___________________________________________

They went into the garden, and Macaque had to agree, it really was beautiful.

There were trees of many kinds, flowers everywhere, and monkeys running around, having fun. There were even some birds! 

But they couldn't get distracted now.

Shaking their head, Macaque snapped back to reality.

The moon walked behind the sun, as he led them deeper into the garden.

Slowing down and making distance between the two of them, they made sure to stare at Wukong intently, making sure he wouldn't turn around.

Making more and more distance

And more...

And more....

And now he was a blur....

And then they were running down the hallway as fast as they could.

Macaque didn't know when Wukong'd realize they're gone, but they couldn't take the chances.

They ran for their life.

Holding their breath to not waste time on panting

They just ran

Desperately trying to find the exit.

And...

They found it!

THEY FOUND IT!

FINALLY!

THEY CAN LEAVE NOW!

"Where do you think you're going, My Queen?"

Macaque's blood ran cold. Freezing them in place.

The king was behind them.

No.

No- no, they couldn't give up now!

They turned around, facing the king.

The sun came closer-

"Why did you try to run, my dearie? Don't you understand? I'm trying- I'm going to protect you!"

Macaque's quick thinking gave them an idea.

They leaned closer to him

Hands gently cupping his face

He- obviously - melted at the touch, starting to purr loudly and his tail wagged

Then

They...

They kissed.... Him..

Oh! How he melted evn more! His tongue too happy to even try and ruin it by invading the other's mouth-

Then WHACK!

The king fell to the floor

___________________________________________

Ugh.... 

What..

Happened?-

-

Oh! How he melted evn more! His tongue too happy to even try and ruin it by invading the other's mouth-

Then WHACK!

The king fell to the floor

Oh...

His...

His moonshine-

Wait-

MOONSHINE?! 

The king quickly stood up, frantically looking around in look of his Queen

They were nowhere to be seen.

He was furious.

Clenching his hands in rage, jaw tightening with fury, his tail lowering and ears flattening against his head, as he summoned hundreds of his clones-

"Go. FIND THEM. NOW!!"

The clones shivered in fear of their king, quickly running in all directions and hopping on their clouds to find the missing simian.

They were not getting away again.

NOT AGAIN.

NOT EVER.

never.

Chapter Text

They ran.

They ran as fast as they could.

They tripped? Get back up.

Leg feels funky? Not important right now.

Out of breath? They didn't need to breathe anyway.

Where were they.

They had to still be on the mountain, right?

Not like they can transform..

They are on the mountain.

He can feel it.

He looks through one of the clones eyes, spotting something in his peripheral vision.

The clone ran after the thing, and (un)fortunately, it was Macaque!

Summoning all the clones sent out, to his location, they all pinned the shadow monkey down to the ground.

Macaque squirmed, scratched, bit, kicked, but nothing could get the dozen or so clones off them.

Wukong quickly flew over to their location, making sure to fix his hair on the way

Landing, he immediately came closer to his love, kneeling down to their eye level.

"Now why would you try to leave, biscuit? I mean, kudos for the effort, really, but still-" The Monkey King asked curiously, watching the moon struggle under the weight of his many clones.

"Ugh!- Wukong!-" They grunted angrily

"No no, what did I say?~" Wukong urged the darker simian, reminding them what he said about calling him his name.

They stayed silent.

Wukong let out a disapointed sigh, getting up from his knees and looking down at Macaque.

"Shame, really. But anyway! I... really liked the kiss! I'd be happy to repeat it sometime!" The King beamed with happiness and excitement, tail wagging behind him

Macaque just glared at him in response, to which the king deflated slightly

"Well! That out of the way.. since you ran away again, i have to punish you again, don't i Moonshine?" Wukong said playfully, but...with a weird undertone which Macaque couldn't quite distinguish.

One of the clones who wasn't on Macaque at the moment, took out a flower from behind it, and crushed it right under Macaques nose.

They tried not to smell it too much, but it's pink cloud was too intense to do so.

___________________________________________

Macaque woke up, their head slightly pounding as their limbs felt weak.

They sat up, getting slightly dizzy for a second, but when their vision stopped swimming, they took a look around the room they were in.

It was similar to their first one, but not quite.

Feeling groggy and annoyed for some reason, their tail flicked behind them, before a sound startled them-

"Moonshine! You're awake!" The king yelled enthusiastically, tail wagging behind him.

Ugh

Macaque thought with disgust, feeling even more annoyed by seeing his face.

"Sooo~ I've been thinking..." "That's new." "-about your- HEY!" Wukong giggled, then continued his speech. 

"I was thinking about your punishment... And i know what to do with you!" He said, with an overly happy voice.

Macaque's stomach dropped.

They didn't even want to BEGIN to imagine what he came up with this time..

But the king kept talking.

"Soo, i thought, that since it's been so, so long since we watched the stars together, we could..." Don't say it. "Perhaps..." No. Stop.

"-Intertwine our tails together!" 

They stayed silent, as the king's wide and overenthusiastic eyes stared at them

"No. Don't even dream about it."

Macaque shot back angrily, hiding his shaky hands by clenching them.

The sun stayed silent.

Was he mad?-

"....I thought you'd say such.." he started "...so i had an idea" suddenly, Macaque started to hear multiple pounding little hearts.

They turned towards the door where the sound came from.

"Oh! I guess the surprise is here already! Gosh, i love that hearing of yours.." The king mused in an adoring tone, as Macaque watched the door in horror, the heartbeats getting louder and louder.

Monkeys.

Little monkeys

Came from behind the door, a few Wukong clones leading them.

"If you think you can bribe me with the children you're dead wrong-" 

Macaque figured they were here to guilt trip him into doing whatever Wukong wanted.

Oh how wrong they were.

"No, actually. They're only here to help us get close again! So, you can either intertwine your tail with mine-" Wukong pointed to their tail "-or I'm gonna kill them."

...What

".......what?"

Macaque thought aloud. He's bluffing. He has to be.

R-right?-

"Oh, sorry. Let me make it clearer."

Wukong walked closer to Macaque, putting his hands on their shoulders making them stiffen

"I'm going to keep killing the monkies, until out tails are wrapped around eachother. Then we stay like that for....how about an hour? To start of slowly, get you used to my touch again. We don't want....that... To stop us again, do we?"

He can't-

He can't be serious-

Right?-

"I'm gonna count to three, and if our tails aren't intertwined by then, I'm starting."

Wukong warned, showing three fingers in the air

"One"

I started walking toward the now aligned by the wall monkeys. A finger dropped

"Two."

He took out his staff, the one with their blood still on it, finger dropping again

"Three!"  The last finger dropped-

With a smile on his face.

He took a swing-

And-

The monkeys all chirped in fear, somehow unable to move and run away right now. Despite desperately trying.

Their little hearts pounded, some even fainted from fear, as the blood of the first monkey splashed the wall.

Macaque stared with horror as his ex mate just slaughtered one of his subjects.

The crimson red splashes dripping from the wall

As their heart pounded louder and faster.

This couldn't be real.

Right?

This is all just..

Just a bad dream

Right?

"so....Moonshine~ how about we try again, hm?~"

Wukong turned around, his gaze wide with adrenaline and excitement, blood on his cheek, dripping down and staining his armour.

The moonshine in question stared at the king with horror.

He's just killed his subject. His monkey. One of his only friends on the mountain.

they'd never imagine Wukong could be this cruel.

that's a lie. They know how cruel he can be.

Macaque froze, unable to do anything

The king shrugged 

Fucking shrugged.

Before killing another one, planting another splash on the wall and on his person.

Macaque couldn't move.

The other monkeys' heartbeats and their own ringing in their ears

They couldn't look away.

"Still nothing?? Awh... Should i gut them out instead?" Wukong plucked one of his hairs out, blowing on it and it turned into a knife

He stepped closer to the third monkey

Macaque shook their head slightly, unsure how to respond or react right now

Their body betrayed them yet again, refusing to listen to them.

Blood.

Blood swam across the floor, as Wukong stabbed the poor monkey and watched it's guts pour out with a sick glee.

Macaque watched too.

"...s.t.o.p...." Macaque tried to speak, their voice coming out shaky and quiet.

"Hm? What was that honey?" Wukong turned to face his moonshine, and froze immediately.

Their beautiful eyes teary, as they stared at the freshly dead monkeys

"Oh...Baby don't cry~ c'mere.." He walked over to the moon, who still sat frozen to the bed from shock. He crawled onto the bed his moonshine was sitting on, and started to cuddle the other, as if only comforting them after a fight

"Mooncake... Don't cry... It's their fault for coming in between us~ they tried to tell me to move on- to give up! Can you believe that? But nonetheless, i recall you always were a sensitive person when it came to our species." Wukong sighed, hugging the still frozen in place Macaque "It's kinda like a mother hen. I love it." He praised against the others ear(s).

Then

Snap.

Macaque started shaking

Get off-

"Ngh- get o-off-" they sniffled, trying to push away from Wukong

"Do you want me to kill more?" 

That quickly silenced Macaque, and stopped them from struggling 

They started crying.

"Awh~ Biscuit don't cry... It's okay... I'm here, I'm here. I'll never let you go. Don't worry. I won't leave you again. I promise."

Macaque let his body fall loosely against Wukong's, their head by his chest, letting them listen to his heartbeat.

It always has calmed them down.

For some- unexplainable reason, Wukong's heartbeat would calm them down no matter the situation.

___________________________________________

They fell asleep crying onto Wukong's chest, the dark and ginger tails at last intertwined.

But at what cost?

Wukong summoned a clone

"Clean up this mess. And get rid of their memories." He said, motioning to the dead monkeys first, then to the survivors.

To be real, he assumed it would take more than three little deaths for Macaque to give in. They always had been stubborn, but turns out they have a soft spot for the monkeys.

Why not for him?

Whatever. They would be soft only for him in time. Right now's the time to be gentle. To be the shoulder to cry on. To be the protective blanket to always run to when awakened by a nightmare.

That, Wukong could do.

He could play mind games. It was his turn anyway. Macaque had had his turn for way too long now.

Soon

They won't have any turns left anyway.

Next step:

'get them to feel comfortable without glamours!'

Wukong's tail softly wagged, making Macaque stirr in their sleep

"No no no, shhh...shhh... Go back to sleep Moonberry~" Wukong whispered, then kissing their head and pushing them slightly closer to his chest.

Chapter Text

Seems like waking up will not be an experience to look forward to for a while. Once again, he's awoken with pain and a fuzzy brain. (Hey it rhymes!)

His eyes sting. He's been crying. 

Why?

Scarlett red liquid hitting the pale walls of this room, hitting the floor, hitting the fur, hitting that golden armor of his mate of wukong's.

Three monkeys. Three little hearts stopped for no reason. Innocent lives taken. For a selfish reason. Just like she did.

Hatred raged through his veins. How dare that ginger freak?!

"Moonpie! Time to wake up!~" the weasels voice sang through wherever they were right now (they stopped wondering about that long ago), annoying them out of tiredness. Huh

Guess he's useful for something regardless.

The moon covered themself with more of the blankets, hoping (not really) to be left alone. 

But alas, not even the tiniest of their wishes shall come true in this life. Afterlife. Second life? Existence.

"C'mon moonshine, i know you're awake~" Voice dropping a tone deeper, an attempt at a seductive voice. 

"Shut up. And talk normally." They pulled out from under the covers, scowling at the sun "And quit with that voice, you sound like an old witch eating sand!"

The sun stuttered, eyes growing wide with bewilderment, before he burst out laughing, now back to his original voice.

"AHAHA!- A- A WHAT? HAHA!!"

The moon growled at the sun, bearing their fangs to show his anger at the carrot head.

"Ahh... You're so creative with your insults, it's hard not to love you, moonshine. But! Enough with the chit-chat, I made breakfast! C'mon."

The fire furred simian turned toward the door, waiting for his ashy black lover to follow.

The lover in question did not, in fact, follow.

That's okay! We have all the time in the world to get along!

Walking up to the bed his darling was in, Wukong ripped off the covers, taking his mate into his arms, all bridal carry-like.

"What are you- HEY!- PUT ME DOWN YOU ANIMAL!!- Ugh!-"

"If you won't come with, I'll have to take you with. I don't make the rules Luna!"

"YOU LITERALLY DO!!-" 

___________________________________________

"Darling..." A low, threatening voice rumbled out, it's growl of anger not watching the adoringly frustrated yet still devoted and in-love look on the stone monkey's face.

"Eat."

Macaque, the stubborn shadow he was, kept his mouth shut as his former husband kept jabbing the spoon into his face. Arms crossed and a glare of his golden amber eyes.

The king growled in annoyance, grinning  as his eye twitched in anger.

They've been at this for almost an hour now. They got to the dining table, (that had two seats. Real smooth Wukong. Really.) sat down, Wukong made a soup. 

Succeeded, somehow, or it was his hair.

Either way, Macaque was not gonna eat it.

So, naturally, like a good, loving, caring mate, Wukong tried to feed it to him.

"If you don't open your mouth, i swear to fuck i will force feed you!" The sage growled, grinning as annoyance made his hands twitch.

Macaque just scoffed and turned his head away in response.

"..."

"You asked for it, moonshine. Do remember that I'm only doing ot for your own good!"

Plucking out some hair (fur?) strands, in a second there were clones surrounding Macaque.

Two coming up behind him, they forced open his mouth, another one to hold his head still, and a forth one tying him to the chair.

"YHU BITHF! LEFT GHO!!--" 

(you bitch! Let go!!--)

The shadow shouted and struggled, trying to free himself from the (stupid ugly smelly--) clones.

"Say 'aah'~" Wukong lifted the spoon again, shoving it into his mate's mouth, then quickly all clones took their hands away, and Wukong put his own over Macaque's mouth, and clasped his fingers onto their nose.

"Swallow quickly, my dear!" 

The king announced happily, with that stupid grin on his face.

Having been left no other choice, as his breath was running out he really needed to stop gaslighting himself into thinking he needed air  he swallowed the soup.

"Good job darling!" The king praised sweetly lovingly before already picking up another spoon and guiding it towards their face.

It was humiliating.

he hasn't been hand fed since-

since.

___________________________________________

As they lay in 'their nest' - as Wukong so lovingly calls it, he can feel said simian trying to get closer to him.

"Don't you have your own bed or something? Go away."

"But Mango!~ I want to cuddle with you~" The king whined as he finally clung onto his shadow, wrapping his arms around the smaller simian's waist, wrapping his tail around one of his mate's ankles, in a nice, tight tight tight tight tight too tight--- grip.

The shadow scoffed simply in response.

After a beat of silence, the great sage spoke again.

"...you know-" he started "You don't have to pretend around me. I know you don't like this-- but don't worry! I'll make sure to get us back, my moonlight. It's okay, i know we've had some.. differences.. but! It's alright now.

We're back together, so, in time, you'll learn to love me again. I just know it."

The shadow stayed quiet.

Chapter Text

Monkey King clung to him for the whole night. 

His clinginess and obsession with 'getting back to what they once were' was starting to piss them off. 

This whole situation was both terrifying and annoying. Sure, Wukong could be scary sometimes, but it was Wukong. The same mate lover dumbass who couldn't go a few seconds without moving or clinging to them someone.

But here's his current problem though:

His left ankle.

Now, normally he would be as good as gold by now, but someone kind of, sort of turned off his magic. Which apparently also meant his accelerated healing was off. 

How fun.

It's been aching for a few hours after his.. failed escape attempt, but then it started hurting, and now it was agony.

As used to pain as he was —chains tightening around his neck, wrists, ankles— it burns. It burns they burned take them off--- it was still a pain in the ass. Or- in the ankle. In this case.

Will he tell his captor that? No.

So after waking up to the discomfort of his leg screaming at him that it wants death, he not-so-gently kicked the slug off of him and promptly sat up on their 'nest'. His hand wondered up to his blind rotten abandoned right eye, as his mind started to wonder aimlessly.

"What is that??" - a young shadow asked his fellow simian

"Our nest! I made it special! It has fruits near, all the comfiest materials and some wheat under to be nice and soft!" - The ginger monkey explained excitedly. - "Do you like it?" 

"..i love it. And i love you." - they kissed their mate on the cheek, earning an embarrassed King to hide in said nest.

Red splattered across the grass, the tree, the flowers, and the forgotten fruit basket laying on the ground, fruits scattered around it, just as violently red.

His eye burned. His sides hurt. His limbs refused to listen to him. He couldn't move he couldn'tmovecouldn'tmovecouldn't---

"Ugh... Why so rough moonlight?" 

A groan followed by an annoying screech interrupted his flashback, the phantom burn remained.

His tail swung side to side lazily as the golden-eyed King pulled himself up from the ground. He retracted his claws before the other could fully process the world around them.

Quickly climbing back onto their bed-nest, Wukong promptly wrapped his arms around his mate, burying his face in their neck, taking in their sweet-

Sweet.. scent...

The King paused. Previous tiredness quickly turned confusion.

"..why do you smell like that?" 

"Insulting me first thing in the morning? Wow. Your courting methods are definitely working." Macaque rolled his eye eyes.

"Not like that-" Wukong smelled him again "Just.. different.." He trailed off slightly.

"You didn't go and get yourself a new mate, did you?" The king's voice lower, threatening— angry. Jealous. He tightened his grip on their waist, tail thrashing behind him furiously.

"What?- No??" Macaque was confused at Wukong's question. Why would he want another mate?? they both remember where that got him last time.

"And get off!-" The moon tried to shove the sun away, but was once again reminded of his powerlessness right now. He bit back a growl of annoyance.

"But to answer your stupid question, fucking centuries of being dead might've had something to do with it." Macaque said bitterly, the furs on his tail standing up slightly at the memory of his 'life' in the Diyuu. 

One mistake, and i will erase the very memory of you. Understand, my champion?

He sucked in a breath as the arms around him tightened, and a tail was added to the mix. How nice. Was Wukong trying to kill him again? 

Squirming slightly before the orange simian spoke up again.

"Don't—" the sheer sound of his voice made them flinch. It was deep and firm. Deeper than before when he'd been jealous about them or mad at them. Nothing he'd ever heard from Wukong- it frightened him. 

To say the least. 

The King cleared his throat, adjusting his grip slightly, before continuing. "Please.. let's not talk about that, moonshine. We— I. I.. regret that. It was- it was the biggest mistake of my life to— to let you— make you! Go.. away. Leave me." He sounded... genuine? His voice grew quieter by the end of his sentence, slightly shaking once Macaque paid more attention.

Then he lit up again. "B-but you're back! And you're— you're fine now, so— so.. I'd want— ... I'd.. like you to try? And forgive me?" Wukong's voice was... sounded vulnerable. 

"You— you don't have to! I know it will be hard but—"

"Okay."

"..what?"

"I said fine. I'll try to forgive you." 

Wukong lit up fully at that, the slight frown earlier visible on his face quickly disappearing and being replaced by a bright smile.

"Really?! Moonshine?— you'd— oh I'm so happy! Thank you! Thank you so much—" The orange simian vibrated with happiness, his tail wagging so hard Macaque was worried they'd fly away. But alas, one can dream.

"I promise I'll love and cherish you the way I should've— I— we'll be so good together you'll see! It will be as if nothing ever happened!! Oh, Mac! This is— thank you! I love you so much!"

Wukong continued hugging him and kissing his cheeks, while Macaque did his best not to jerk away from all of.. that.

It doesn't burn. You're being dramatic. It's fine. You have to play the long game if you want to get out. You can take it. You've taken worse.

A whisper bitterly spat at him in his mind.

_______________________________

His moonshine.. is open about forgiving him! That's so much progress! It means there's a chance- a chance that they go back to the way they were!

At least.. he hopes so. If they try to escape again.. he'll just have to chain them down in the nest. He knows it'll hurt his moonlight but.. he can't.

He just can't lose him again. It was his fault the first time. He was blinded by the agony of the fillet around his head— blinded by distractions . 

He should've never went on that journey. He should've never left the mountain— he should've just been content with the life he had before. The one he shared with his mate.

The quiet, lazy life of eating fruit all day and loving and being loved—

Well.

He can't change the past. He'd know. He tried.

But he can plan the future. He can be ready— he can— will keep his mate this time.

This time, he'll make sure they can't leave. And if they do, he'll just find them again. Be it in heaven, the diyuu or in the shadows of the earth, he'll find them, and drag them back where they belong.

Next to him. With him. In their nest.

He can try to get the kid on his side. That could help. Or.. he can use the kid. 

He doesn't want to do that. He's practically like a cub to him! 

But when push comes to shove and MK tries to keep Macaque away from him.. he doesn't know if he'll be merciful enough to forgive him.

Sure, it's his cub, but. He can always make another one. One with his mate.

One with his moonlight.

One only they get to raise, only they'll get to love unconditionally.

He remembers how good his moonshine was at taking care of the monkeys on the mountain. Surely they'll be even better at raising their own!

Or he can do both! They say two is better than one, right? Well.

It's all up to his Mango's next steps. He knows they already have another scheme cooking in their beautiful head. 

He won't try to figure it out, but he will try to make them comfortable enough to think twice before leaving. 

To hesitate .

Or give him another kiss before leaving, that would be nice too.

But for now, he'll just have ro be patient.

He can do that. He can be patient. He's learned to be.

_______________________________

"Well, moonlight. As happy as i am right now, we still need to go eat breakfast! So what do you want to eat?" Wukong changed the subject, because as glad as he was that his relationship with Macaque was changing for the better, he still needed to take care of them.

"..is nothing an opt-" "No."

Macaque sighed tiredly, "Fine. Peach."

Wukong tilted his head. "..yeah??" 

Macaque squinted at him with a frown, face visibly thinking 'is he that dumb??'

"Peach."

"Yes."

"..PEACH."

"YES!"

"PEACH. THE FRUIT."

"What fruit?"

Macaque stared at him.

"OH THE FRUIT-"

"YES! Jesus- How dumb are you. Holy fuck."

"I thought- i thought you were finally doing what i asked you to." The king retorted quietly. The shadow looked at him with a confused frown, before he remembered the whole nickname thing.

The long game.

His lips drew into a thin line, he sighed mentally, before turning away and speaking up.

"I'd.. like some peach." He repeated, before quietly adding "..Peaches." 

To add effect, he even thumped his tail slightly on the mattress, giving the impression of being embarrassed.

"PEACHES PLEASE I'M SORRY—" the sound of cracking bone was louder with the silence they were made of. Red mixed with

white, and quickly everything was red red red red redredredredREDREDREDRED

His ankle still hurt.

Chapter Text

Playing the long game truly wasn't ideal but.. he doesn't want another shock collar situation and he's basically out of other options. 

Sure, technically he could try and escape again, but.

After what happened last time..

He started getting closer to them-

"Keep your distance fucker!" 

They shouted, bearing their fangs at him, still struggling against the ropes

Wukong crawled onto Macaque, a lustfilled look in his eyes, and a smirk on his face.

Macaque thrashed under him, trying to either lean away or push him away.

The attempts were useless, as the king refused to be separated from his moonshine  again .

Macaque shivered at the memory, burnt hairs at the back of his neck standing up as he felt a cold wisp of air flowing at him for a moment.

Velvet blood splashing against the wall-

"Well, I'm starving! How about we get to the kitchen so i can cook you up something tasty, hm?"

Wukong's voice snapped him out of the memory before it could even begin, and for the first time in a while, he's thankful the other simian is here.

Wukong got up from the bed, stretching his limbs till his bones made a satisfying crack sound.

Macaque soon followed suit, standing up from the bed himself before involuntarily letting out a pained whine and falling back onto the bed.

His ankle.

Shit.

"Moonshine! Is everything okay?!" Wukong was quickly by his side, hands on his shoulders as he looked him over for any injuries.

"I'm— fine. Don't touch me." Macaque shrugged his hands away, staring down at his feet with disdain.

"Wha- but.. the whine-" "Mind your own business, okay? I am fine—" 

Wukong grabbed the moon again, this time harsher, firmer.

"You are clearly not! Just tell me what's going on! I can help!"

The shadow let put an annoyed sigh. "It's nothing serious, you're overreacting-"

Wukong saw red.

"NO! I am your mate, and i will act like one! Meaning, i will help you heal your wounds! So stop being difficult, and tell me what's wrong damn it!!" He shouted angrily, annoyed that his mate is being stubborn as always.

Once he was done with his... speech, shall we call it, he scowled down at Macaque, giving him a look that asked 'do you understand?'

Macaque in return avoided eye contact, refusing to look up. He felt pathetic. Humiliated. 

The six eared Macaque needing help for a measly hurt ankle. 

He felt disgusting.

After staring at Macaque for a few beats of silence, Wukong let out a tired sigh, his face softening.

He crouched down before the darker simian, taking their hands into his.

"Moon— Macaque, look— I'm not your enemy here, okay? Not anymore. I love you, and i want to make you happy. That's all i want, okay?"

The darker simian's lips drew into a line, his eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly.

"So can you tell me? What's wrong? Please Lui'er. I want to help you." He brushed a finger over his mate's hand, glancing down at it before looking back up at his moon.

Macaque was hesitant for a moment. Wukong could see him thinking deeply about something, but he wouldn't dare ask. Not if it meant it could ruin the moment.

Macaque heard his heartbeat. They knew he didn't lie.

And after a few minutes of more silence, Macaque finally spoke up.

"I... may or may not.. have.. twisted.. my ankle when i—" he paused, swallowing dryly, still avoiding the king's gaze. 

"When i.. tried to escape. The— Last time."

He spoke quietly. His voice small and unsure, as if scared that Wukong'd be mad at him.

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?! It must've been agony!" The king, instead of being mad, quickly cupped his queen's face, before letting go and unsurely hovering over their feet.

"And why didn't i notice?! I should've noticed!— Which ankle?!" Wukong continued to fuss over it, while Macaque just sat there, ashamed of himself.

"It's really fine, Wukong. I've been worse." The dark furred simian said with a tired voice.

"That doesn't mean you should just ignore it!!— Why would you even— that is so unlike you— just—" The peach marked monkey stuttered worriedly, before taking in a breath and calming himself slightly.

"Okay. Okay this— you're gonna be fine, okay? Just— please for the love of all that's heavenly, tell me next time. Okay? We can't—" Wukong paused slightly, before continuing. "If we want this to work again, we need to tell each other things. I know you're— less than used to.. being.. more mortal..ish— but.. that's why I'm here. Okay?"

Macaque felt a pit in his expired stomach forming as he was once again reminded of his weakened state. His muscles tensed minisculy, as he clenched his claws on the bedding.

Wukong waited anxiously for him to say something, and after a moment of silence he did.

"..left ankle..." He said quietly, too mentally exhausted to fight.

Wukong quickly picked him up bridal-style, then took him to the kitchen. There, he set them down on the counter, and began searching for the first-aid kit.

Seems like he prepared himself for this kind of thing.

Macaque brushed the thought away, not feeling up to crying right now.

After a few minutes, they were in a different bedroom, Macaque's ankle nice and wrapped in bandages. Three time's the charm, right?

There, a fully made king sized bed, windows about 2 meters above the floor, or, about 7 feet. The furniture consisting of a dark, almost black desk with a mirror attached to it, a just as dark dresser, a closet in the far corner of the room and two nightstands on each side of the bed, along some other things.

Macaque sighed mentally, turning to Wukong with an unimpressed look.

"Okay how many rooms does this place have? And what even is this place??" He asked, confusion clear in his eyes.

Wukong chuckled, then set him down on a purple pouf near the bed, boop-ing their nose as he chuckled.

"That's for you to find out moonshine!" 

He then climbed onto the bed, and started making a mess of the cleanly made sheets.

Macaque watched silently for a while, but he just couldn't figure out what his ex-mate was doing.

"What are you doing?" So he asked, a frown on his face as he observed the other intently.

Wukong, not looking up nor stopping his action, answered simply. "I'm making you a nest! Since you're injured, you need a safe space to heal in peace."

Macaque grimaced slightly at that.

"I'd.. rather do it myself again." "Nonsense! You're hurt, so you need to rest. Which is why I'll bring you food once you're nice and cozy in here." 

The darker simian let out a displeased noise, but was ignored by the king.

After a few more minutes of dabbing and rubbing himself against the "nest", Wukong finally stood up, picked Macaque up, then set him down in the n- bed.

As soon as he was down, Macaque's nose was filled with the peach scent his ex mate seemed do drown in every day. It was both refreshing and nauseating, to be in a space filled with the other's smell.

Moving the blankets a little and replacing some pillows, Macaque made himself comfortable. It was all he could do. Escaping wasn't an option in both execution and theory.

Sure, he could move the desks and try to reach the high windows, but with Wukong having gone out just for food, he could be caught red handed, or if not, they'd just have a repeat of last time.

And..

Macaque didn't want any more innocent souls dying for his wrongdoings. 

So, he'll wait. He can slowly gain the other's trust by being.. obedient, and come up with a better plan of escape in the meantime.

But for now, all he's even allowed to do is lay in bed, waiting for Wukong to come back.

So that's what he'll do.

___________________________

Wukong can't stop the slight panic he feels every time he leaves his mate. Yes, he wants to trust Macaque, but at the same time- it's Macaque. And he knows them. Better than they think.

He knows they're planning something. He doesn't know what, and that both scares and excites him.

He comes back into the room, and in a fastened pace goes up to his queen in the nest he's made.

They look so peaceful. Having fallen asleep from either boredom or exhaustion, but he still finds it adorable.

Just as he's about to wake them, his phone buzzes.

MK

Mon, 5:37 pm

>Monkey King??? 

User tried calling you (12)

>Hello?? Can you pick up?

Wed, 3:23 pm

>Are you busy or mad at me

>I'm sorry if i did something to make you mad, please can you at least text me? Or anyone else?? 

You have unread messages

________________________________

Fri, 2:17 pm

>Monkey king, please text me back

>I'm getting worried

Looks like leaving the kid unblocked unlike his friends seemed to pay off.

Wukong smirked at his phone, then sent a text back.

MK

>I'm getting worried

Hey kid>

Sorry about that>

I was busy with>

Stuff>

<MONKEY KING

<yeah no that's alright

<It happens

<Just don't do that ever again okay

Yea I won't>

But i can make it up to you>

How about you come over?>

I can teach you something if you'd like?>

Just you and me>

What do you think?>

ᵗʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ'''

Wukong looked down at his sleeping mate, admiring his lover as he thought about what he's going to do next, then his phone buzzed again.

MK

>Sure! I'd love to!!

>When&where???

He smiled, texting back before putting his phone away again, then moving his hand to stroke a strand of hair out of Macaques face.

Just as predicted, the shadow's eyes flickered open for a moment, before he sat up and rubbed one tiredly, yawning silently.

"Finally. You took forever with that fruit." Macaque took the basket away from wukong, swiftly wrapping his legs around it and beginning his inspection of the food the other brought.

Chapter Text

Macaque was so done. 

Wukong has been staring at him eat for the last 10 minutes, occasionally glancing at his now bandaged leg, but stared either way.

And as much as the sage terrified him, he annoyed him 10 times more.

So, with a sigh, he spoke up. "Can you-" "yes. Anything." Now Macaque stared. 

A judgemental, raised eyebrow appeared on the younger simians face, then turned into a frown as the older sweated awkwardly at the dead silence in the room.

"I- I mean yeah. Whatever you'd like, plum." 

Macaque sighed again, then turned his attention back to the fruit in his hand.

"Can you stop staring at me? Thanks." The king was caught off guard by this ridiculous request, but obliged anyway. Because that's what good mates do. Listen.

"Wukong, a good mate listens." The dark furred simian chuckled slightly at the shock on his hero's face at the surprise dinner they had made him, with all his favourite fruit and flowers.

Wukong shook the memory away for now, the real thing's right in front of you. No need to dwell on the past. He told himself, then looked down at the fruits and took one out.

As he was about to bite into it, he realised something.

He looked back at the basket with numerous, tasty fruit, right in front of his mate, yet said simian only ate one, and was currently playing with the second.

The ginger simian frowned, then looked to Macaque.

"Moonshine." Macaque looked up lazily, his posture still as if inspecting the fruit for something, yet his eyes pointed at the king, question in their gaze.

"You're not eating." Macaque looked down at his fruit, then at the fruit basket, then furrowed his brows and stiffened his tail, quickly turning it from lazily moving left to right, to stiffly moving it down on the mattress.

"Mihou—" As Wukong was about to scold his mate, because this whole "not eating" agenda was starting to be ridiculous, he was interrupted by said mate.

"It's not—" Macaque sucked in a breath, putting the fruit he was playing with down in the basket and looking away for a second, then down at the basket again.

"I'm just. Not hungry."

"Macaque you need to eat. You need the nutrients to heal better."

Wukong explained calmly, a soft look of worry in his eyes.

"Well if it wasn't for somebody I'd already be healed." Macaque muttered, frowning as his lips drew into a thin line, his gaze locked on the basket and his pupils contracting.

Wukong frowned at the statement, letting out an annoyed but tired sigh. He then stood up from the bed, and walked away towards the door.

"I'll be back soon. I'm.. hoping at least half of that will be gone by then." Wukong said simply, then went out the door, locking it behind himself.

Macaque strained his ears, hearing the sun rip pieces of hair out and manifesting clones of himself to stand guard.

____________________________

"Monkey King! Holy- hi!! I- didn't expect you to be uh- on time! This time." MK beamed excitedly, looking up at his mentor with bright eyes and a smile.

"Hey kiddo, what's up? Anything happen? While I was... busy?" The king kept his voice even, and his face untelling. He looked down from his nimbus cloud, patiently waiting as the kid thinks.

"Uh, not really? Actually, it's been pretty quiet for a while now. It's kinda.. weird. Actually." The kid says with a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his neck unsurely.

"Well, good that nothing's trying to destroy the world, right?" Wukong tried to calm the slight worry within the kid, fortunately succeeding, and earning a soft smile from him as well.

"You're right. So, what are we doing today?" 

_______________________________

Macaque lays in the 'nest', bored out of his mind as his tail flaps left to right lazily behind him. He glanced over to the basket with fruit, peaches, plums the only fruit left in it. Now, he might've not eaten much, since the peaches and plums were the majority of the basket's mass.

He's been avoiding those fruit. It's stupid. But.. it's hard having an appetite right now, and even harder when everything around him reminds him of Wukong or the bone demon.

My champion——

Nope.

He pulled at his magic to get a peach into his palm, only to remember he can't use his magic-

Crack.

What was that?!

His ears perked up, he stiffened in his position at the sudden noise. It was a small sound, as if metal chipping away-

...

Macaque slowly turned his head to look at the artifact on the base of his tail, his eyes widening at the sight of a small crack in it.

"Holy shit.." he whispered to himself, quickly taking his tail into his hands and trying to inspect the metal ring closer.

Lo and behold, there really was a crack. A small one- but.. 

It meant that there was a way out. That he wouldn't have to play the long game.

His eyes teared up, but before he could think to truly cry, he heard Wukong approaching the- wherever he was.

He quickly wiped what little tears managed to escape his eyelids, then grabbed a fruit from the basket and buried himself right back under the blankets of the 'nest'.

Not long after he did all that, Wukong hurriedly came in through the doors, his heavy yet quick footsteps rushing toward his nest.

Glancing at the basket and seeing some fruit did disappear, his heart calmed down slightly, but he still had to check.

He held up one of the blankets, peeking inside the nest to see if Macaque's there. He was met with a dark glare, golden eye eyes being the only source of light under the darkness of multiple blankets.

Wukong heaved a sigh of relief, wide, stressed eyes quickly softening at the sight of a peach in his mate's hand, inside their nest. A warm smile tugged at the corners of the king's lips, before the blanked was yanked out of his grip and back to it's previous, covering position.

Wukong bit back a sigh of disappointment, not wanting to ruin the somewhat peaceful atmosphere he felt in the air, and sat down beside his mate.

"I see you've eaten." Wukong points out softly after a beat of silence, and is after a while answered with a hum of acknowledgement from inside the nest.

A few minute of, in Wukong's opinion, comfortable silence goes by, before he continues talking.

"Were they... Good?" He asks hesitantly, wanting to keep the conversation going, but unsure if his mate feels like talking. He remembers, back when they were younger, Macaque always got grumpy-er whenever he was hurt. He thought himself pathetic for getting hurt in the first place.

And as much as he doesn't want to sometimes, Wukong remembers those talks. Those nights, where he had to sleep cuddled up close to Macaque to try and make him feel better. Heck, sometimes, he'd even get hurt himself, so that his moonshine wouldn't have to go through the healing process alone. While it wasn't long, usually a week or so, really depending on the injury, but they could stretch on forever.

Wukong saw some movement under the dozen or so blankets, and soon after he saw Macaque's head peak out from underneath them. He made himself a more comfortable sitting position, then looked at the basket, and at his claws in his lap.

"They were.. okay. I guess." he said quietly, as if unsure if he should talk or keep quiet.

Wukong smiled at the answer, his worry floating away as he relaxed his posture slightly.

"I'm glad." Wukong smiled wider, his eyes a soft gaze locked on his mate's hands, watching carefully as they fiddled with their fingers beautifully.

Wukong looked up at Macaque's face, only to realise the darker simian was also staring down at their fingers.

He wants to ask.

' hey, what would you think about a cub? '

' let's sleep together tonight, please? '

' MK's a bit worried about you. '

He wants to say so many things, but he knows his mate. He knows they'll freak out at the mere mention of a cub, let alone one only theirs. He knows they'll protest, try to avoid his touch at all cost, as if it would burn them into ashes and send them back to the Diyuu.

He knows they'll beam at the idea of the kid having suspicions. They won't show it, of course, but they'll make up a plan to somehow alert MK and his friends of his situation.

And as much as he'd love to know what exactly his mate will come up with, he can't risk it. He's gone way too far to just, lose it all due to a small, avoidable mistake.

A low hum escaped the younger's throat, before he crawled back into their nest. Wukong doesn't know if it was from boredom, or just wanting to avoid him, but he's willing to give them the option to turn away from him.

After all,

They won't have one soon.

Chapter Text

Loud loud loud thunders awoke him.

When did he fall asleep again?

No matter.

What matters is that he can't sleep now, since it sounds like literal bombs are blowing up outside his window.

He sat up, his head poking out of the "nest" Wukong made him. Taking a glance around, he noticed the yet again absence of said simian. Well, better for him. 

Another loud bang was heard, making his ears ache. He quickly covered them with his hands, hoping to at least muffle the sound a bit, digging his claws into his skalp as another two lightning bolts thrusted into the earth with a loud bang.

Macaque dove back into his their Wukong's nest, curling in on himself, his tail wrapping around his waist, as he brought his knees up to his chest, still clutching his ears with his hands. 

He misses his powers. How dare Wukong take them away. Usually, when storms happen, he'd go into the shadows, floating peacefully in the muffled noise of nothing except comfortable silence. But NOO! Now he has to suck it up, and sit there, with his head feeling like it'll explode from the noise.

He closed his eyes shut, so tight that the pain almost cloaked the pain of the bangs outside.

He just wished he could run. Hide, from the noise, make it go away, and preferably never come back.

He wants his powers. Everything was easier with them, and despite being able to keep his glamours, which he hates to admit, is thankful for, he still resents Wukong for putting him in this position.

Once he's put of this shithole, he'll have his revenge. And it'll be sweet.

____________

Meanwhile, with MK

MK looked nervously at the crazy storm happening right in front of their eyes, trapping them in the cave nearby their training grounds.

He's never seen anything like this before. It was lightning after lightning. Non-stop. As if the sky went crazy.

Glancing at his mentor, he noticed the simian was just anxious. Or even more.

Maybe Wukong was claustrophobic? Not that the cave was particularly small, but it wasn't really that big either.

Looking down slightly, he could see a slight twitch in Monkey King's hand, as if wanting to reach out or move, yet stopping himself.

"..do you think we should wait it out? It looks pretty bad." MK would have said quietly, had there not been sounds of loud bangs right before them. So he shouted, naturally.

Wukong, not moving his gaze from the violent thunders stoking left and right, almost every few seconds, seemed hesitant, thinking deeply about something.

__________

Wukong's mind felt like it was going a hundred miles a second. 

He knew Macaque was back at— their.. place- probably quivering in agony right now. 

And Wukong wants, he really wants to fly back there right this second. He's barely able to stop himself from just manifesting a nimbus and hopping on it, then speeding back to his mate, but there are too many variables stopping him from doing that.

One, MK. What's he supposed to tell him? He's not ready to take the kid yet, still needs to feel out the right moment, and just saying something like "I left my laundry out" would be both suspicious and stupid, since the kid knows he doesn't do laundry.

Two, the damned lightning strikes. They're literally crazy! He swears some of them strike a few inches away from each other, and they just keep coming! What if he gets hit by lightning, and looses consciousness? He left all the doors locked! Macaque is all alone and powerless! If he takes too long to heal from the hit, they'll starve there! And it'll be all his fault again!

And as much as he hates this decision, it's the most logical one. He needs to wait the storm out. 

But the second it's over, he's rushing back to his mate. He'll need to check up on them.

"MONKEY KING??" He heard the kid, quickly turning his head to face him.

"UH- YEAH BUD. THINK WE GOTTA.." he trailed off slightly, looking back to the still hitting thunders. "THINK WE GOTTA WAIT THIS ONE OUT."

___________

Back to Macaque

P҉A҉I҉N҉.

P҈A҈I҈N҈P҈A҈I҈N҈P҈A҈I҈N҈

just like then

Macaque curled deeper into himself, face scrunched up in insufferable pain, his claws having dug so deep his head bleeds with a violent and deep red, the liquid oozing down his gaze and back of his neck.

His throat closes up. He feels pathetic. It's just sound his brain tells him, you're overreacting as always, because you're weak.

He hears her voice.

My champion, come to disappoint me again. Know that this was your last chance-

Another lightning bolt hits the ground loudly, making Macaque quiver under the sheets of his Wukong's nest. 

He just wants to go into the shadows. Hide until the noises stop. Maybe even longer. 

As more and more sounds blast his ears, he feels it all over again.

He feels the staff ripping through his flesh, breaking bone upon its impact and sending him into the ground, effectively pinning and immobilizing him. He feels the blood flowing as water from a mountain down to a lake below it. He feels his skin going colder, his soul being ripped from his body, and his magic slowly fading with it.

Another thunder burns his hearing, and he screams. 

Louder than he has in a while, agony clouding his mind as he digs his claws deeper into his flesh.

Along with the scream come more sounds. One of flesh being torn apart, and one of metal cracking and falling down onto a mattress.

He quickly throws the nest off of him, gaining some light to see if what he heard was true.

The artifact

Cracked completely. 

He can't believe his eye.

"H-how?-" Macaque mutters out painfully and quietly, before he suddenly falls. Not off the bed, he falls straight down.

And then, as he opens his eyes again, there is darkness all around him. A familiar darkness.

But what's more important is the fact that he can't hear the thunder anymore.

It's quiet.

He ponders for a moment, panting still, as the only sound around him is a soft, comforting silence.

He has his powers back.

A smile tugs at his lips, one so genuine it feels foreign on his face, but before he can think to do any further, he remembers the wounds we inflicted upon himself.

Ah, right he thinks as he touches up the places he previously had dug his claws into, wincing at the sheer damage and pain he caused.

He quickly uses his powers to teleport a mirror, some bandages and rubbing alcohol into the void with him, then begins his work. Grabbing the mirror, He pauses. 

God, he looks like a mess.

Blood dripping down on the outsides of his eyes, hair on his head disheveled and knotted, his glamours flickering at the usage of power it took to break that damned piece of metal.

___________

Once patched up, he teleported all the stuff back to their places, and the bloody trash was shoved away from him, but kept in the void. It'll disintegrate eventually.

Then, he focused on stabilising his magic.

Thinking about what's his least noticeable glamour that he could sacrifice.

- Not his ears, Wukong would immediately notice one is missing and start asking questions

- Not his fur, that's too noticeable 

- Not his eye, for, obvious reasons

So, the only things left are the few scars on his body he's particularly insecure about.

Great.

He let out a sigh, then focused on his energy, making sure to transform it into the previously broken artifact.

Wukong couldn't know he had his powers back. Who knows what he'd do?

He glanced behind himself, trying to see if it looked legit. 

He figured it looked good enough, and let out another sigh, turning back around.

Listening in closer, straining his ears to listen if the storm was gone. He'd strained more, and heard that it would stop in a few minutes. Knowing Wukong, he'd come rushing here the second it started calming down, so after a moment of hesitation, Macaque left the shadows, reforming in the nest he'd been in.

Ah, right.

He used magic to teleport some bandages over to the room, making sure Wukong would see them if he glanced around, so he won't question why he's.. well, bandaged up.

The storm now gone, as if it was never there, only leaving wet grass and distant clouds blowing away from themselves in the wind as proof it ever occurred. 

Hearing something fast coming closer, he realised Wukong was rushing back to him. He moved to be more inside the nest, covering himself with more blankets, then prepared to get into character. 

The door to the room burst open with a forceful shove, letting in a gust of wind that carried with it the lingering scent of rain and ozone. Wukong entered, his eyes wide with concern, scanning the room as if expecting to find it empty. Wukong's heart twisted painfully in his chest, unsure if his mate was still in here.

He crossed the room in a few quick, yet heavy steps, dropping to his knees beside the nest.

"Mihou—" he breathed, reaching out a trembling hand, but stopping just short of touching him.

"Are you in there?—" the king's question was answered by movement of the nest, and he let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"The storm- it was awful. I- I couldn't come, I-" Wukong cut himself off, then continued. "I was worried about you."

Slowly, Macaque peeked his head out the many blankets, revealing his bandaged head. Looking up at Wukong, his eyes dull and tired, a stark contrast to the mischievous or annoyed glint they usually held.

"I'm fine, Wukong," he muttered, his voice hoarse, as if speaking required great effort. "It's just... the storm. It was loud."

Wukong's gaze flicked to the bandages around Macaque's head, and he felt a surge of guilt. He glanced around swiftly, taking notice of the bloody trash inside the bin, and the leftover bandages sitting on the desk. He swallowed hard, trying to suppress the flood of emotions that threatened to overwhelm him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice quiet, for once. "I didn't think... I should have been here."

Macaque looked away, his expression unreadable. The silence stretched between them, heavy and suffocating. Wukong shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what to do, what to say. He had always been good at talking, at charming his way out of difficult situations, but it was different with Macaque. He wanted.. he wanted to be honest with him. Despite everything.

Finally, Macaque spoke, his voice low and strained. "You don't have to apologize, Wukong. It's not like you care about what I want."

Wukong flinched as if struck, offended. "That's not true." he growled angrily, but quickly swallowed his anger.

"I care about you more than anything, Mango. I just... I want things to be like they were. Like they're supposed to be." he added somewhat desperately, because no matter how twisted his love could've been, he did care.

Macaque's lips curled into a bitter smile, one that didn't reach his eyes. "'Like they're supposed to be'? You mean like when you decided to kill me?"

Wukong frowned deeply, his fangs showing slightly, before pain flashed across his face, mixing with the anger at his mate's stubbornness. 

"I didn't— I wasn't thinking! It was a mistake, a horrible mistake, but you came back, and we can fix this. We can be together again, like we were meant to be." He spoke quickly, his voice once again hinting desperation, the frown on his face upturning with pain.

Macaque laughed, a harsh, hollow sound. 

"Together again? Is that what you think this is? You took my powers, Wukong. You made me weak, vulnerable. You did this because you couldn't stand the thought of me having any chance at escape or— or, or being able to disobey your sick requests!"

"No—" Wukong protested, shaking his head as his previous anger turned more and more into desperation. "No, that's not it. I just... I wanted to keep you safe. I wanted to protect you!-" 

"Protect me?"

Macaque spat, his voice rising with anger. 

"By making me defenseless? By trapping me here, in this nest, like a pet? You're delusional, Wukong!"

Wukong's eyes burned with unshed tears, his heart breaking at the sight of Macaque's anger, his hatred. It made him furious. "I love you." he stared, his voice demanding and serious.

"I love you, Moonshine- More than ANYTHING!!" he slammed his hand on the nightstand, knocking off the basket left there since yesterday.

Macaque stared at him, his expression appalled and distant. "You don't love me," he said quietly. "You love the idea of me, the memory of what we had. But that's gone, Wukong. It died the day you killed me."

At that, Wukong stood up angrily, his eyes dark with rage, as his fists clenched tightly, before he relaxed and exhaled cautiously.

"Listen here, Macaque. You are mine. MINE! I marked you! I was your first kiss, your first everything! And whatever happened that day, won't change that. Ever." His voice was low, threatening.

Macaque stared back, a hint of genuine emotion flushing through his eyes, before he looked away silently, gripping the sheets underneath him.

"You say I don't love you, but we both know that's not true. I've been patient, Mihou, I've been lenient. And this is how you repay me? By Insulting me TO MY FACE?!" 

Wukong shouted angrily, before taking a deep breath and calming himself slightly. 

"Alright. If this is how you wanna do this, we're gonna do it. No more picky eater shit. No more "I don't feel comfortable with that"- NO MORE. FROM NOW ON, I'LL DO WHATEVER I WANT, WHENEVER I WANT!"

Wukong let out in a loud growl, making Macaque's ears twitch, as he continued to stare at the floor, begging his body to not burst out crying or have a panic attack.

"AND YOU'LL EAT MY FUCKING COOKING!" 

With that, Wukong was out the door, locking it behind him of course, leaving only tense silence in his wake.

Macaque let out a breath He didn't even realise he was holding. His arms fell limp uselessly, as he felt the true terror the King inflicted on him, his mind going a mile a minute. The memory of the artifact breaking, the return of his powers-it had all happened so quickly, and now here he was, stuck in this nightmare of a reality. He could feel the familiar pull of the shadows, beckoning him to slip away, to vanish into the darkness where Wukong couldn't follow. But he resisted, knowing Wukong would sense him using his power.

He needed time. Time to plan, to gather his strength, to figure out how to break free from Wukong's grasp once and for all. But for now, he would play the part, let Wukong believe he was under his control fully, still dependent on him. 

Eventually, Wukong would let his guard down. And when that moment came, Macaque would be ready.

But until then, he would need to endure this twisted charade, bide his time, and dream of the day when he could finally escape Wukong's suffocating obsession. And when he did, he would make sure Wukong regretted every moment of it.

The storm outside had passed, but the storm within them both raged on, unresolved and unrelenting.