Work Text:
A long time ago, on Flower Fruit Mountain, there was a monkey who was born from stone. His golden gaze shot light into the furthest reaches of the world, seen by both Heaven and Earth. He was a confident and rebellious spirit, with brown and peach fur, one who challenged even death itself.
This was Sun Wukong.
And one day, he made a best friend.
“PEACHES!”
“ GgU AH—!!” From a comfortable hammock shot up a small monkey, scrambling for his balance as he flipped around the net. The hammock rocked vigorously back and forth from the monkey’s clambering, though quickly came to a stop. The monkey then popped out, seeming tired and annoyed. “ ..ughh.. what is it Macaque? The sun isn’t even up..”
In swung a black monkey from the entrance of the other’s cave, a mischievous grin on his face as he leaped into the hammock. His ears flicked with excitement, glowing a candy-like color in the dark.
This was the Six-Eared Macaque, Sun Wukong’s best friend.
“You have to get up! It’s the start of a new harvesting season!” Macaque grabbed the others shoulders in excitement, the monkey wailing in protest to the aggressive wake up call. “I already know the first orchard I want to go to! Come on! We can be in and out before the farmers wake up!”
Wukong rubbed his eyes a bit, though just as he opened his mouth to speak, the other had already yanked his arm and dragged him out of bed. Before he knew it, Macaque was running down the cliffside, the moonlight casting over the dense forest. The brown monkey rolled his eyes with a grin. He raised his arms up with a good stretch, then leaped quickly after.
“Last one there is gonna get caught!” Wukong yelled, sprinting into the trees. He jumped down onto a particularly bendy branch that comically came down right beside Macaque, who gave him a confused look.
“What?! You don’t even know where we’re going!”
“Heh. Don’t I?” With a graceful leap, he was shot forward through the forest, way ahead of the other. Macaque stood still for a moment, though chuckled and grabbed ahold of the branch. He bent it back, then jumped on and launched himself in the same direction. The chilly night wind blew on their fur, their laughter echoing through the starry sky as they scrambled through the trees.
Once the two had reached the farm, they tumbled into a haystack around the back with an ‘ow!’ and ‘watch it!’, followed by stifled giggles. Beyond the haystack was a fenced off square of an orchard, trees full of freshly ripe peaches. Wukong’s tail flicked with excitement, glancing back to Macaque who shook his head.
“ Wait, wait! Don’t just go and grab them.” Macaque said in a hushed tone. Accompanying them was the sound of chirping crickets. “ The farmer got a dog last week. It could catch us.”
“A dog? Psh, come on Macq, a dog isn’t any threat to us.”
“Yeah, but if we get caught, then it’s gonna be harder to steal them next time.” Macaque poked his head around the haystack, watching the trees carefully, “ So we should think of a plan. I’ve been honing my shadow-phase, and I think I can slide in and grab a bunch of them into the void, but I need y— “
When he looked back, Wukong was completely gone. The black monkey flinched, looking left and right for any sign of the monkey. He looked over the haystack, spotting his friend already quietly pressed up against the orchard fence. Macaque narrowed his eyes, looking to the side to see if anyone had woken up yet. Gods, typical Wukong, going in without the slightest plan.
As for the brown monkey, he was sneaking alongside the back with a sharp-toothed grin while he making way to an open spot in the fence. He glanced back to Macaque, who was shaking his head disapprovingly from afar. Wukong only stuck his tongue out at him in response before he slinked in. The grass crunched near silently under the monkey’s feet, Wukong tiptoeing down the side of the field to the nearest tree. The moon was still up, and the night was still dark. He had plenty of time. And no dog in sight! Macaque was worried over nothing, as always. As he approached the peach tree, the brown monkey put a gentle hand on the trunk and looked up. Fresh peach, ripe for the stealing. Pluck! Wukong dropped the peach quietly into his clothes, his tail flicking briefly with a grin. He reached up further to take another, carefully holding it so the tree wouldn’t shake when he grabbed the fruit. As he started to stuff his clothes with peaches, he glanced back once more to his friend who was still outside the orchard. Macaque gave a sarcastic smile to Wukong’s confident grin, waving to him. His ears glowed bright in the dark. But, suddenly, the black monkey’s ears perked up, Macaque looking around. Wukong tilted his head in confusion. The monkey then pointed frantically towards the front of the barn, the little thief squinting and following his direction.
A dog was approaching. And a big one at that.
Wukong’s grin faded, the monkey stepping backwards instinctively. But, the misstep caused him to drop a peach in his arms, it landing onto the grass with a quiet crunch. That was just enough to attract the dog’s attention. The hound snapped its neck towards the thief, who was frozen like a deer in headlights. He gave a nervous smile and a wave. Hiiiii. The dog growled viciously, barking once or twice loudly before breaking into a sprint towards the monkey. Wukong yelped and dropped the peaches in his hands, turning on his heel to start running. As he bolted back towards the crevice he had snuck in from, the brown monkey suddenly tumbled to the ground by a clumsy step, stolen peaches spilling all out from his clothes. Shit.
“AY! OVER HERE!!” Called a familiar voice suddenly from across the orchard. The dog skidded to a stop to turn around, only to see a black monkey hanging from one of the peach trees. Macaque! He stuck his tongue out at the hound, waving one of the fruits in the air with a taunting smile. The dog made a quick 180 and started after Macaque, the monkey bounding off the tree and started to run for the fence as well. With the opening, Wukong jumped to his feet and dashed to the fence till he was able to clamber back through.
He made his way back towards the initial haystack, diving behind it’s safe cover. Just as he made it, Macaque raced in after as well and collapsed onto the grass, both monkeys out of breath.
“.. huff .. I told you to not, huff , go in like that without a plan!” Macaque scolded, pulling Wukong’s ear. The other yelped and pulled away, inhaling sharply.
“I would’ve been fine if not for the rock! I can outrun a dog!”
“You mean you would've been dog food without me! Gods, you can’t go rushing into everything with just confidence! At least have some sort of an idea!”
“Yeah yeah, what ever. Look, at least,” Wukong reached into his clothes to pull out one of his stolen fruits, though… he quickly realized that they had all fallen out during the getaway chase. “… ah.”
“See?! Ugh..”
“Hey, hey! Wait, waaait,” he dug in again, searching around until he went ‘aha!’ and pulled out a singular peach. “I got one!”
“...”
Macaque blinked, staring at the other, speechless. A moment of silence passed, suddenly broken by some snorts and chuckles from the black monkey. He then started to laugh loudly, voice full of giggles. The other monkey raised an eyebrow at what his friend was laughing at, though the black monkey only kept laughing.
“What? What?? What’s so funny???” Wukong demanded.
“Hahahahah! Sorry , sorry, it’s just— snrrk ,” The monkey tried to calm himself, taking a few deep breaths. “You— you’re just, so, stupid! ”
“WHAT?!” Wukong jumped up, though that only made Macaque fall back and laugh harder. He shot an angry glare, but it quickly faded seeing him laugh like that. A smile grew, the brown monkey rolling his eyes and grabbing the peach again. “Yeah yeah. Like you’re not an idiot? And dumb-looking .”
Macaque’s laughter abruptly cut off. He sat up quickly, “HEY! What the hell do you mean by th—” but his protest was met with half a peach.
The brown monkey was holding it out to him, a similar stupid smile on his face. He gave a slight nod of the head towards the fruit. Macaque blinked, quiet for a brief moment. He then smiled the same grin and took the other half, adjusting his seat on the grass a bit next to the other. Wukong elbowed the other monkey playfully, holding his peach half out to him as if he wanted to clink glasses.
“Here’s to being idiots.”
Macaque rolled his eyes, clinking his peach-half with his.
“That’s stupid.”