Chapter Text
Oh, it really was all that bad.
It was week two of taking care of MK. The first few days had been calmer, Wukong and Macaque tried to keep their arguments away from Xiaotian so they didn’t get nearly melted with his laser eyes again. At first, Wukong had the blind vision that, maybe, things would go smoother than he originally thought. But of course such a wish was far too good to be true.
Living with Macaque was a literal nightmare. Somehow, the black-furred monkie always managed to get in his way. Even when Wukong went to grab a midnight snack. He was everywhere! It was even worse when they accidentally bumped into each other and started fighting like angry cats. He hated when his fur became such a mess, though he knew the other couldn’t say the same. He wasn’t even sure when Macaque last showered, his fur always spiky. It made him want to brush it out, but he refused to do anything that even remotely helped that demon.
Not only that, but he was a huge mess-maker. Wukong knew he could easily clean things up by tossing it into a shadow or something, so this routine was obviously just to piss him off. The sage swore if he picked up one more dirty sock off the floor he might as well explode. He did in fact try to confront him about the ordeal, but it went about as well as he had expected.
One of his socks tossed into his face, making a calmly relaxed Macaque jolt up and shake his head.
“What is your problem?!” He hissed, swiping the cloth off his face.
Wukong crossed his arms, flicking his tail irritably as he looked down to him, the demon comfortably lying in his bed.
“You know exactly why! You keep making a mess everywhere and having me clean it up for you! I’m not a fucking maid, Macaque!” He growled, hands curled into fists.
Macaque’s ears twitched, as if he finally realized what Wukong’s anger was actually about. He rolled his eyes, itching the inside of one of his ears with his pinkie.
“Huh? Don’t know what you’re talking about.” He shrugged.
Oh, he was taking the oblivious route, huh? Wukong pouted, nose scrunching up.
“How stupid do you think I am?”
“Do you want an honest answer?” A gleaming smile grew on the monkie, tail swaying teasingly.
Wukong snarled, before forcing himself to take a deep breath. It took a moment before he found the mental strength to respond to his awful roommate.
“Look, I'm not going to fight with you again. Just stop making a mess! Especially when we have a child to take care of! What if I slip on one of your disgusting socks while holding him? Huh? Huh?!” He said, scooting in real close so they were face to face.
Macaque stared at him. “...Seriously? You have, like, hundreds of powers that would protect you from a little fall-” He was cut off by a finger pressing against his nose, making him hiss.
Wukong poked his nose, sticking out his bottom lip. “I’m not listening to you! No more messes, got it?” He growled, glaring at him with matching yellow eyes.
The other monkie stared at him for a few more moments before shrugging and pulling away. “Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever ya’ say, bud.”
“Don’t you ‘bud’ me !”
Wukong had left the room even more furious than before. He hated that guy so much! Always acting like he was so cool!
On a brighter note, Macaque had at least started to warm up to MK. Maybe he wasn’t as bad with kids as Wukong originally thought, although he always wondered what nonsense he tended to mutter as he carried him around doing tasks. His mouth moved, spoke, but Wukong could never piece together what he was whispering to himself about. Not like Xiaotian understood anything he said, which probably made him real easy to talk to. Wukong didn’t want to listen to anything he had to say anyway, but curiosity always tugged deep inside.
Macaque, however, still had his flaws. For one, Wukong was assigned to do any cooking after the kitchen incident. In which, Macaque had no clue how to work an oven, which was never a good sign. Wukong had run in at the sound of the monkie yelling, fire sprouting from a pan. Luckily, he managed to put it out quite fast, although Macaque got a scolding which he was pretty sure he didn’t even listen to anyway. Whatever he processed from his speech, he never dared to cook again. He didn’t really need to, anyway.
And so, Macaque was left with other duties around the house. Wukong tried his best not to order him around, letting him tend to things he preferred instead. When the sage was busy he took care of MK, even giving him a bath once. Although, there must have been another incident with that, because one day he returned to a soaking wet Macaque and a completely dry MK. He didn’t even question him about that one.
Despite their personal hiccups, they always found some way to argue with one another. After all, shoving two people who hated each other’s guts into one house never tended to end well. Arguments occurred frequently, even if they didn’t do it around Xiaotian anymore. But one particular fight ended in a more unique way.
However, as to be expected, one particular fight made them both snap.
Wukong was already on edge that day, and maybe it was because of the fact he still found socks— albeit much more well hidden than before —but either way he was not in the mood. MK was napping, although he was scheduled to wake up soon, so in the meantime he cleaned the kitchen. It wasn’t something he tended to do, not before the kid at least, but he really had no choice. He finished cleaning and setting away the dishes, preparing to walk out of the kitchen before he was met with a familiar face as an obstacle to the exit. He cocked a brow, twitching his tail as he looked at the black-furred monkie.
“Do you need something?” Wukong asked in an annoyed tone, patience low enough as it was.
“Just getting a snack.” Macaque replied, with a small smile and a twitch of his right eye. He shoved past him, making sure to bump the sage’s shoulder harshly in the process.
Wukong growled, turning and snatching his wrist. “Seriously, what is your deal? Look, I know you’re awful, but you could at least make things less miserable for me while we take care of the kid! You’re a nuisance!” He hissed, making Macaque narrow his eyes.
“I don’t need you to scold me again, asshole.”
“You’re obviously trying to aggravate me.”
“And what? You want me to be all nice to you? To forget about everything that happened? Yeah, I am going to be tense around you. What the fuck do you expect?” Macaque growled, taking a threatening step forward. The golden monkie blinked in surprise, but stood his ground.
“I never wanted you here in the first place! This is my house!” Wukong retorted, folding his arms.
“I never wanted to work with you !”
Wukong rolled his eyes, glancing away. “You should have just stayed in the underworld.” He growled.
Macaque’s paws were curled into fists, which shook with anger that he put all his effort into holding back. “Heh, you would like that, wouldn’t you? Always trying to figure out some way to get rid of me. Why don’t you send me back there yourself?” He hissed.
“I wish I could! It’s where you’ve always belonged!” Wukong snapped, tail fluffed and teeth bared.
Something about his words seemed to flip a switch in Macaque. Wukong wasn’t sure what it was, but it earned him a stare with an expression he couldn’t read for just a moment. Whatever the expression was, it didn’t dwell for long, replaced by anger and pain.
“Fuck you,” was all he received, as Macaque turned heel and stomped out. Judging by the way he left, he assumed he was leaving the house completely. Normally Wukong would feel satisfied at winning their fight, but something felt off. He watched him stalk down the hall until he slipped down onto a shadow, vanishing from sight. It took a moment before Wukong finally took a deep breath.
It was always hard for him to tell what Macaque was feeling. His emotions tended to be well hidden, difficult to guess. It was obvious that part of what he said made him upset, although Wukong couldn’t grasp exactly what it was.
He shook his head.
No matter. Macaque always seemed to be upset. They couldn’t get along, and that’s how things would continue to be. At least Macaque had left before another full-out fight ensued.
He decided to leave the thought alone for now. Macaque would return, not like he had a choice. He just needed time to cool off. At least he had the place to himself again. Though in a way, it felt empty without him. Maybe he was just finally getting used to having a roommate, no matter how annoying he was.
Crying from the other room jolted him out of his thoughts. Xiaotian was waking up, right on time. He stretched a bit before heading over to the room, tail swaying behind him.
MK was awake in his crib, having pulled himself up. Seeing Wukong walk in, his crying ceased into light sniffles.
“Hey, bud.” He cooed lowly, knowing MK was likely still a bit tired from having just woken up.
He picked him out of his crib with ease, and immediately gagged at the smell.
“Okay, eugh, yep! That’s disgusting.”
And so it was bath time once again.
☼ - ☾
Luckily Wukong’s task of cleaning Xiaotian wasn’t as much of a fiasco as whatever Macaque had gone through. Maybe because he had given him a rubber duckie as a distraction, which he mostly chewed on.
Wukong had dressed him up and brought him back to the room, tapping his chin and looking at the variety of baby toys. He didn’t understand a single one. They were all such strange contraptions, and things he mostly bought because it was the first thing he saw marketed towards MK’s age.
He shuffled through the box of toys before finding one and inspecting it. It was a box with a lid, shapes carved on top. He sat down, opening up the lid and pulling out more shapes before pressing it back on.
“Okay, MK, you gotta help me with this one, ‘cause this makes nooo sense whatsoever.” He said, squinting and grabbing a cube.
A square, a star, a triangle, and a circle were the shapes that lined the top of the lid. Was it some sort of secret code? He hummed thoughtfully, and Xiaotian went along with his version of assisting by immediately slobbering all over the sphere.
The set didn’t come with any form of instructions (not like he could really read anyway), so he had to try his best to decipher how to use such a contraption. Surely it couldn’t be that hard, it was made for babies, after all! He tried his best to study and understand it. The holes at the top could be some sort of keyhole, for which the shapes must be inserted.
Of course!
He held the cube, reaching forward and thunking it against the circular hole. It smacked against the lid.
Impossible. He had done all this strategizing and calculating just for it not to work! He smacked it a few more times, lashing his tail in frustration. MK started giggling at his antics, throwing his hands up which caused the sphere in his hand to be tossed back. Wukong glared at him.
“Are you taunting me?! It’s not like you’ve been much of a help!” He said playfully, scrunching his nose up and sticking his tongue out at him. MK did not process a single one of his words, and instead began smacking the lid of the box, enjoying the noise it made.
Wukong made a few more attempts to press the cube inside, even trying the triangular hole before sighing in defeat, flopping onto his back. He decided to give up the difficult task for now, repetitively throwing the cube into the air and catching it back into his hand. MK sat next to him, continuing to distract himself with the magic box.
“Man, this thing is frustrating. I don’t think it made me feel any better! I mean, I guess I have been kind of on edge since Macaque left. He just… stormed off! Can you believe that?” He couldn’t help but start to ramble. MK was easy to talk to, after all, since he didn’t understand anything he was talking about.
“And okay, I know we’ve had our issues in the past, but it’s not like he even tries to get along! We’re stuck together until you grow up and go through training, whether he likes it or not! I don’t enjoy being around him either, but he could at least make things less miserable.” Wukong growled, tail thumping against the ground.
He stopped tossing the cube in the air, poking at one of the edges mindlessly. “Do you think I'm in the wrong for this? I mean, seriously, I've been trying to get along with him. But nothing I do ever seems to work!” He sighed. “Maybe I’m just looking at it from the wrong angle. I guess if we’re supposed to work together, one of us actually needs to make a move so things will be less tense. Ugh, but I really do not feel like having a deep conversation with him. For all I know, he’ll just get pissed at me again!”
“ Ba .” Responded MK. He was chewing on his tail.
Wukong looked at him and slumped his shoulders. “Yeah, I guess you’re right, bud. Can’t expect this all to suddenly fix itself in a few weeks. I know he still sticks to… his side of things. He’s just so stubborn! And I'm not going to submit that easily, either!” He huffed in annoyance, placing the block to the side, which MK followed to pick up.
MK crawled back to the box with the cube. “ Gwah .”
The monkie sat up, puffing out his bottom lip. “Hey! I’m not the petty one here! I meant what I said earlier, he should have stayed in the underworld! It’s not my fault he was there!”
He blinked.
“Well, not fully my fault…? Look, we had issues in the past, but they can’t all be fixed in such a short amount of time! Or, likely ever! We’re never going to see on the same page, and that’s that.” He rambled, crossing his arms and not noticing the subtle creak of the floorboards from the hallway.
MK smacked the cube against the lid of the contraption.
“...Maybe I do want to work together, i-in a way! Don’t think too much about it. It’s just so awkward being here, when we both hate each other. He messed up, but we were once friends. I guess I just reminisce a little. Which is super uncalled for, like, I never do that! Mostly. I try not to dwell on the past! But I guess what I'm trying to say is… he’s different. And I did kind of, maybe a little, just a teeny-tiny bit… feel bad for what I said. Maybe you’re right. I’ll have to listen to him eventually, no matter how much I try to avoid it.” Wukong explained, rubbing the back of his neck.
Clunk.
Wukong was snapped out of his thoughts immediately, leaning forward. Inside the box lied a cube. Somehow, MK had figured out its magic, and managed to successfully press the cube inside it.
“...How did you…?
“Pfft, classic Wukong. Letting a baby out-do you.” A voice sounded.
Wukong flinched back defensively, glaring at the source of the incoming noise. He relaxed a little when it was just the usual Liu’er Mihou. He was leaning against the wall next to the door, a smug look on his face.
“Ugh, Macaque. Done crying yet?” He said, scrunching up his nose.
Macaque twitched his ears before smiling. “Yes, actually, thanks for asking. No crying was done, however. I just ripped apart some bushes and pretended they were you.” He retorted, flicking a branch at him. It hit his forehead and made Wukong keel backwards with a hiss.
“I also heard what you said. Some of it, anyway.” The dark-furred monkie added, hand stretched out as he surveyed his nails nonchalantly.
The golden monkie blinked, brushing his face clean. “Uh-huh… how much, exactly…?”
“Enough. At least, enough to realize that…” He smirked, pausing for a moment. “...You have a soft spot! That’s hilarious !” He erupted in laughter, and Wukong’s face quickly was dressed in an embarrassed flush. He stood up, angrily stepping over to him.
“That is not true, idiot! I was just ranting! Me feeling bad for what I said does not make me have a soft spot!” He growled, lashing his tail.
Macaque snorted. “Uh? It totally does! Gosh, I can’t believe you softened up so much over the years. Feeling bad over some harsh words? I’ve heard way worse than that! Come on, you can apologize to me, Wukong. I wanna hear you finally say sorry. That would really tie it all together.” He sneered, leaning forward and smiling devilishly.
Wukong narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, absolutely not. You deserve none of that.”
The dark furred monkie leaned back and shrugged nonchalantly.
“I thought you’d say that. Still the same old Wukong, then.” He replied.
He picked up the triangle shape with his tail, easily pressing it into the triangular hole on the top of the box before turning heel and walking out of the room again. Wukong stared at the contraption and huffed angrily.
“Show off.”