Chapter Text
It was one of those days where the summer heat was making everyone restless, and somehow that had resulted in a beach day at the foot of Flower Fruit Mountain. In spite of the cool ocean breeze the course sand was too hot for Macaque’s liking and thus he stood in the shade of a palm tree - leaning back against the bark as he looked out at the others.
Somewhere along the line it had been decided that glamours weren’t to be worn amongst friends, and so all his imperfections were laid bare. His six ears were fanned out and twitched whenever someone shouted and the milky white of his blind eye provided a stark contrast for the darker fur that surrounded his face.
Sun Wukong wasn’t exempt from this rule either.
Macaque wasn’t even aware that he had been using glamours until they were dropped and so he was surprised to see the ring of scar tissue that cut into the heroes hairline; the circlet might be gone but it seemed that its ghost would remain.
It was actually minor compared to Macaque’s scarring and the shadow demon had been tempted to call him vain for hiding it, but the explanation that he gave made quite a bit of sense. The nature of the scar was somewhat unusual and the great sage would rather not answer questions about it, but on the condition that the others wouldn’t pressure him to talk about it he had agreed to abandon the pretense.
The great sage was currently standing in the shallows and seemed to be looking around for shells or sea life - his ginger fur shone in the sun and his tail moved lazily back and forth. Instead of his usual garments he was wearing a sleeveless white button-up and some red shorts while Macaque had chosen to abandon his cloak and boots but hadn’t changed much else.
He looked around and saw that most of the others were just dressed down like he was, but the younger members of their group were in their swimwear: MK was in his blue trunks and white polo, Mei was wearing a green t-shirt and some iridescent white swim shorts, and Red Son was wearing a black tank top, some flame-themed trunks, and a pair of sunglasses.
He pretended not to notice as Mei approached him from the side. The dragon girl crept closer with the clear intention to not draw attention to herself, but not quite sneaking either. When she reached him she leaned in close and pointed out at where Sun Wukong and MK were standing in the shallows.
“I see an opportunity here.”
She said.
Macaque turned his head and looked at her with raised eyebrows and she smirked - looking up at him through here eyelashes. He hummed in a questioning tone and she just grinned.
“You get monkey monarch over there and I’ll get MK. You down?”
She asked.
“What do you want me to do?”
He questioned.
“Whatever you think will be funny… just wait for my signal and then go.”
She replied.
He paused before nodding, smirking at her and turning to look at Wukong.
She walked a few steps backwards out of the shade of the palm tree with a mischievous smile before pivoting on her heel and slowly sneaking up behind her friend. MK was clueless - too distracted with something he seemed to have found in the water to notice her.
With a sly grin Macaque raised his hand - he knew exactly what he was going to do.
He aimed towards an area where the water was a bit deeper and turned his gaze back towards Mei. When she was a few paced behind her friend she turned around and gave a firm nod before rushing forward and tackling MK into the surf.
“FEEL MY MIGHT MONKEY BOY!”
She shouted with glee.
In the same moment Macaque created a shadow portal under the water, and simultaneously manifested the corresponding exit portal over Wukong’s head. The great sage was suddenly drenched in a torrent of sea-water - crashing down over his head like a waterfall.
MK scrambled back to his knees and tugged Mei down into the water alongside him as Sun Wukong gasped for breath; eventually whipping around to shoot a scathing glare at Macaque.
“Oh you are asking for it.”
He huffed out.
Macaque just grinned mischievously.
In less than a second Sun Wukong had transformed into a ram and began charging at him. Macaque just lowered himself into a defensive stance and was preparing to catch him by the horns, but at the last moment Wukong returned to his normal form.
The great sage’s head slammed into Macaque’s chest and his arms wrapped around him as Macaque tumbled back onto the ground and his friend landed on top of him. The sea water clinging to his ginger fur soaked the front of Macaque’s clothes through and through.
“You have no idea what you just started.”
Wukong said, grinning up at him.
“Yeah? Well bring it on then.”
Macaque replied with a breathless laugh.
The shadow demon then dropped down into a shadow portal with a smirk and reappeared above Wukong - falling onto his back and crushing him into the sand. He let out a little puff of air before transforming into a bull and launching Macaque off of him.
Wukong turned back to normal and a flash of light and jumped towards him but Macaque just responded by turning into a stoat and skittering around in the sand as Wukong tried to grab him. Tang and Pigsy, who were sitting on a towel underneath an umbrella were watching on in amusement. Sandy also observed for a minute before reaching down into his bag and enthusiastically pulling out several water guns and tossing them onto the sand.
“WATER FIGHT”
He shouted.
Most of the group darted forward and snatched the water guns up off of the ground, shouting as they grappled for the larger ones with the biggest reservoirs. It was all interrupted by a loud shout and a burst of crimson flame.
“WILL YOU PEASANTS PIPE DOWN?! I’M TRYING TO READ!!”
Red Son shouted, wisps of flame curling off of his hair.
The whole group traded glances with one another, and Wukong stood from where he was kneeling in the sand with two of the remaining water guns in his paws.
“Truce?”
He asked Macaque.
“Truce.”
Macaque replied.
He caught the water gun when Sun Wukong tossed it to him and nodded before everyone refocused their attention on Red Son. The crimson haired demon moved to shield his book behind his back with a look of apprehension that was visible behind his sunglasses.
“I despise all of you.”
He grumbled before succumbing to the unrelenting force of 7 fully-charged water guns.
-
When the day turned to night and the stars rose above the horizon, the long day ended with several silhouettes basking in the moonlight and the sound of laughter. The past refused to be forgotten - but perhaps that was alright in the end. Where there was life there was change and in between the hurts and hard nights there will be comfort and peace - so all we can do is embrace the night and wait for the coming dawn.