Chapter Text
When MK came to, he was laying on a old couch, a blanket sprawled over him, and far too many pillows supporting his head, he tried to look around to gather his surroundings when hot pain shot from his skull all the way down his spine, he winced, dropping his head back onto the pillows.
In the corner of his eyes a figure ran over to him, their hands hovering over MK's body like they were unsure of what to do. "Oh Bud you're alive! I was starting to get worried for a moment." The figure joked awkwardly, MK tried to hide the disappointment from his aching face as he realized that wasn't what the Monkey King sounded like, so that wasn't Monkey King who saved me he thought somberly. But their voice seemed friendly, so MK tried to relax the tension in his shoulders anyways.
MK glanced around the room again, careful not to move his neck this time, though he could only really see the roof and the top of some shelves, he could tell the house itself was very unkept, the wood boarded ceiling looked like it would collapse in any second. MK looked to his right, the shelves were rustic, like the kinds you find when people move out and don't bother taking them to their new home. The wooden ledges were filled top to bottom with peach flavored things: chips, drinks, teas, MK even noticed some actual peaches scattered throughout the shelves, MK cringed at the idea of how long some of those peaches might've laid there.
MK opened his mouth to try and ask where he was, but a hoarse, strangled sound came out instead. In the corner of his eye, MK saw the figure jump at MK's feeble attempt at speech, the figure then stepped out of MK's line of sight, but he heard their footsteps slowly fade away behind him, followed by the sound of glass scrapping against wood, he assumed the figure was shuffling through items on a shelf.
"Uh, hey bud?" the friendly voice called out, "Tea-" the voice paused, MK pictured them pursing their lips, "Tea helps mortal's throats right?" uhhhhh- after a few confused seconds, MK coughed out a hesitated yes. "Ha! knew it!" MK could hear the smile in their voice as the figure continued shuffling around the room nearby.
After a few minutes, MK heard the sound of glassware clinking together as the figure placed down something fragile onto what MK assumed was a nearby table, "Do you think you can sit up Bud? I'm pretty sure you should be a bit more healed up now." MK braced himself and very slowly sat upwards, one of the abilities the staff brought was being able to heal faster than most humans, which was nice, since if that wasn't the case he was pretty sure he'd be covered in burns and broken bones from dealing with the Bull Demon Family.
MK blinked the fuzziness from his eyes and finally got a good look at the figure who was currently pouring tea into two cups: It was a short man, MK had a feeling that if he stood next to the guy he would most likely be a good one or two feet taller than him. He had dark hair- no, fur- that wrapped around his limbs and face, also a tail of the same color, another Monkey MK thought, trying to dig into his memory of the other Monkey demons he'd heard about, he sighed as he failed to think of any. But it was strange, every time MK cocked his head to the side or shifted his gaze, the hair shined a swift gold color before fading again, it reminded him of those illusion books Pigsy used to buy him when he was a kid, the kind where a new image would appear depending on what angle you looked at it.
But what really took MK off guard was the figure's vivid eyes, they were deep, blood red, and the irises were as bright and intense as the sun. The Monkey titled his head before his face lit up with realization, "Oh, sorry bud," he said scratching his neck, "I've been told the eyes can be a bit unsettling, next time I'll warn you." He said with a light chuckle, MK stared at him, squinting, a faint memory tugging at his mind, why were they so familiar-
The Monkey shifted uncomfortably under MK's gaze. "So, how much sugar do you want in your tea?" he said, clearly trying to change the subject, MK raised up three fingers, to his surprise, the Monkey grinned at this. "Finally, someone with good taste, I had this fri-"
he cut himself off, a expression MK couldn't read flashing upon his face before he smiled again,
"I knew someone who would drink it straight, no sugar, no nothing, oh, and ice cold too." The Monkey gagged as he said this, if MK could speak, he would've told the Monkey that the Wukong drank it the exact same way, he smiled as he remembered the horrified look on his face when MK had added far too much sugar into his own iced tea. The Monkey then handed MK his tea after stirring it for a few moments, MK tipped the cup to his broken lips, the drink soothing his aching throat, it was a peach tea, no surprise there, it was nice, sweet and tangy, MK sighed as the warmth filled his chest.
After a few minutes of the two of them silently drinking tea in a comforting silence, MK spoke. "So- uh, Mr. Monkey sir, where am I?" The Monkey lowered his tea down, "You're in my house bud, don't worry were like," He lifted a hand away from his glass to his chin in thought, "five miles away from the city." MK exhaled in relief, he wasn't far from home, that was good.
MK pointed to The Monkey's tail, "So, you're a monkey like Sun Wukong right? Do-...Do you know him?" The Monkey scowled, "He's pretty infamo- famous bud, yeah I know him, it'd be hard not to." MK tried to ignore how tightly the Monkey was gripping onto his tea cup now and kept pressing. "Well, y-yeah duh, sorry- I just, I meant more like if you knew him personally? They're can't be that many other stone monkeys so i figured-" The Monkey cut him off, "Do you know who I am, kid?"
MK blinked at the sudden question, "Uh-" MK looked at the Monkey again, that weird feeling of deja vu washing over him once more, Do I? he asked himself, he- he felt like he did, but instead he shook his head, still unable to put a finger on it.
The Monkey seemed to relax at this, looking back down at his tea away from MK. feeling his shoulders suddenly relax, MK looked down at his own tea, when did MK's shoulders tense up? why did they tense up? But then the Monkey stood, snapping him out of his thoughts, eyes now glued to the monkey demon, MK watched in confusion as he pointed to the side of his head. MK leaned forward and gasped, he hadn't noticed it before but he had three ears on each side,
"My name is Macaque, or the six-eared Macaque if you want to get all fancy." He said, the friendliness returning to his voice, he waved a hand over his six ears and they morphed back into two, MK jumped up onto his feet and stared bewildered at the now normally-eared Macaque.
"How did you do that!?" MK gasped, mystified as he spun around the Monkey, only stopping to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, "Can I do that? CAN YOU TEACH ME HOW!?" MK practically screamed, far to excited to keep his volume low. Macaque laughed as he wrapped his tail around MK's waist and sat him back down on the floor, "Look bud, I would love to, but I don't think your mentor would be happy if I did."
Wait-
MK looked at Macaque, puzzled. "How- how did you know I had a mentor...?" Macaque paused then shrugged, looking away from MK, "When I found you, you had the Monkey King's staff so It wasn't too hard to guess Bud." At the mention of his staff, MK's heart skipped and he began to look around, panic sinking in.
A faint memory of a staff clanking to the ground beside him last night played in his mind, and him trying and failing to pick it up, he never did pick it up.
"M-my staff, where is-" MK's mind began to race as he realized he had left the one and only Monkey king staff completely alone and unprotected. "Oh man, Monkey king's gunna kill me." he whispered under his breath as he ran a shaking hand through his hair. Macaque laughed, "Relax bud, It's right here." He smiled as he held the staff out to MK, bouncing it a bit in his hands. Blinking hard for a moment, barely believing what he was seeing, MK jumped up in delight and grabbed the staff from the Monkey, "Oh thank the Gods." he sighed as he cradled it in his hands.
As MK happily tucked the staff into his headband, he ran up and hugged Macaque, who let out a surprised huff in response. "Thank you Mr. Monkey sir, you do not know how much you just saved me." after a beat, Macaque softly patted MK on the head, "It's all good bud, no need to thank me, it was nice holding it ag-" Macaque cleared his throat, slowly removing MK's arms from around his waist.
"It was nice meeting you, but you should really get back home, right? I'm sure your family is worried about you." Oh shit, Macaque had a point, dread slowly sank in his stomach as he wondered how Pigsy would react to him being missing for almost a entire night.
Shuddering, MK quickly began to gather his things and headed towards door, only but before MK opened it, he paused, a hand hovering over the doorknob, a single question dancing in his mind. Biting his lip, he turned to face Macaque, "You sure you can't train me?" Macaque chuckled, "You sure your mentor won't mind?" he countered, raising an eyebrow. MK forced a smile, "I- I'm sure he would be cool with it." he lied through his teeth, but Macaque smiled, not seeming to notice.
"Alright then, meet me here this time next week," MK opened his mouth, than closed it again, Macaque sighed. "It's six AM bud, and today is Tuesday." MK grinned sheepishly, "Soooo, next Tuesday at six AM?" he repeated quickly, just to be sure. "uh huh."
Grinning, MK opened the door, excitement surging through his entire body as he shot Macaque a peace sign, "See you then!" he chirped as he bolted to Pigsy's, immediately fumbling to answer one of the fifty missed calls on his phone.