Work Text:
Following the failure of capturing MK, Macaque decides he might as well try his hand at capturing Wukong. His powers are drained, and he isn’t aware of the people he left with him having any sort of crazy dragon powers like that girl.
Honestly he probably should’ve tried to capture Wukong first. He wasn’t bargaining on that sort of power, or MK unlocking the ability to do the 72 earthly transformations again. It’s no matter, with any luck, Wukong will be in his grasp soon enough.
He’s crouched behind a bush, with the van in his sights, trying to figure out a plan of action. He doesn’t see anyone nearby, and he can’t hear any movement within the van either. Where could they have gone? They wouldn’t just leave the van around, would they? Maybe they are that stupid.
Macaque resolves to stay here until somebody comes, because they have to come back eventually.
He hears a rustle from the bushes. He turns around, perhaps a bit too fast. “Who’s there?” he snaps, not loud enough to be yelling, but loud enough to make known that he’s a threat.
There’s no response. The seconds stretch, Macaque grows wary, eyes darting around. There’s no way anyone could move without him hearing, he shouldn’t be this worried. The noise was probably an animal, he is in a forest after all.
Everything is fine. Wukong will come back any moment, and he’ll take him back to Lady Bone Demon, and she’ll be pleased with him. There’s no way absolutely anything—
“Macaque!” A voice yells, and before he can react, he’s being crushed under someone’s weight. He realises, after a bit of struggle, that this is not an attack, but a hug.
“Long time no see, bud!” The voice exclaims excitedly from on top of him. For a moment, Macaque doesn’t even think about whose voice it is, for a moment all he think about is how fond the voice sounds, how happy it is to be seeing Macaque of all people. Nobody’s been happy to see him for a very long time. So, for a moment, he almost leans into the hug, wrapping around the body who is warm like the sun, who lights him on fire with their touch.
Almost.
The moment is horribly fleeting as Macaque realises who the voice belongs to. Voice of the sun, of warmth, of mirth and joy. Voice of betrayal, voice of burning, voice of disgust. Wukong.
The arms around his back suddenly scorch, and he pushes Wukong’s chest hard. It sends him almost flying backwards, and he lands on his back with an oomph!
“Woah, no need to get violent, Mac.” Wukong stands up, brushing the dust off his back. He looks laid-back and happy, all too much like the Wukong he knew long ago.
“Don’t call me that.” Macaque spits, he glances around, scanning the area for the others, even though he would’ve heard them if they were near. He sees nothing. He looks back to Wukong, and is taken aback at the hurt look on Wukong’s face. Anger rises in the pit of his stomach. How dare he have the gall to look hurt, to look as though Macaque had burned him with his malice. Macaque can’t burn, he can only be burned.
Wukong replies after a moment, “Huh? Why?”
“Why? You know exactly why.” He seethes, does this man think he can get back into his good graces with a hug? No, he’d have to grovel for a thousand years before forgiveness would even be an option. “I don’t know what you’re getting at, bud, but it’s not funny. If you wanna fight, let’s fight.”
“I don’t want to fight you, Mac. Macaque, whatever. I just finished fighting to save Master, and then I found you! I don’t feel like fighting.”
“Master?” Wukong hasn’t had a master for hundreds of years at this point, Tang Sanzang is long dead. Unless he’s in some sort of amnesia induced state, there’s no way he’d think his master was still alive.
“Yeah, you know how he gets kidnapped all the time. And I swooped in and saved him because I’m awesome!”
Ok, so, he definitely has amnesia. Or Macaque is having some sort of crazy nightmare.
“Right. Yeah. Sorry for getting angry, I don’t know what came over me.”
“It’s fine, Mac! We all have our days.” Wukong smiles at him, like the daylight, brilliant beams warming every part of Macaque. Warmth he hasn’t felt in so long, because he is only the night. The moon that cannot shine without the sun behind him.
“Right.”
Macaque should be using this as an opportunity to capture Wukong. To trick him and take him to Lady Bone Demon. He tries desperately to convince himself that this is what he should do, but all he can think about is how to get Wukong to hug him again. He wants to feel that warmth, he wants to shine with the brightness of the sun, a brightness he could never give himself.
“So, uh, we still on for a hug?” Macaque asks awkwardly, he’s never had to ask for such affection. Before, Wukong would just give it to him, would know that he wanted to shimmer like the moonlight. Now, no-one would want to give him it.
Wukong brightens up even more, which Macaque didn’t even know was possible, and his tail wags behind him. “Of course! C’mere!” Wukong says, smiling wide, and Macaque hates to admit he misses seeing him so gleaming with mirth.
Wukong moves his arms around Macaque, holding him tight. Not for fear of losing him, but because his love could not possibly be held in a lighter hold.
Macaque, hesitantly, hugs back. He grips his arms around Wukong and returns the same firmness. For him, it is because he knows that this is only temporary, and he wants the moment to be as beautifully fleeting as it can be. To suck in all the warmth and light. To shine as bright as he used to, if only for a moment.
He had almost forgotten what these hugs felt like. But it is reignited within him as he settles his head into the crook of Wukong’s neck. Almost instinctively, he brings his tails to wrap around Wukong’s.
The whole moment is so tender that Macaque wonders if he deserves it. He knows he doesn’t, but he has always been horribly selfish and he isn’t going to stop now.
This is how it should be: the sun and the moon intertwined, basking in eachother, in their light, and their darkness, melding together as one. It is the cruellest of tales that they were separated, forever to dance around eachother, forever to be apart.
But for now, they are together, and Macaque almost hates how he couldn’t be happier. Almost.