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Macaque sighed heavily, trying to find at least one reason why he agreed to spend the night at Wukong's place, apart from anything related to Mk. The demon knew it was a bad idea, that he and Monkie King in the same room was a recipe for disaster, but he teleported with a small bag to Pigsy's restaurant, from where he and the young hero were to cross Flower Fruit Mountain. Putting on a good face for a bad game, Macaque jumped out of Tang's shadow, who just glanced at him in irritation.
The demon discovered that the scholar, from the moment he began using and training his powers, was able to sense interference with his magic, and was therefore acutely aware when his shadow was being used as a portal. Tang described it as being doused with a bucket of ice water that disappeared when the monkey jumped out of the tunnel. The Shadow Master, of course, knowing this full well, took a liking to using his shadow because it amused him more than scaring people like that.
“Macaque, it's nice to see you in a good mood.” Tang greeted him, writing something on the laptop and checking it every now and then in the book next to him.
“The magic of positive thinking that Mk uses.” the demon replied, looking around for his foster child.
“He's upstairs, finishing packing.” Pigsy informed as he left the kitchen to greet the demon and say goodbye to his son.
“Packing? I thought Wukong had already created everything he could need in his home.” the black-haired demon snorted, and the pig demon shrugged.
"I am ready!" Mk announced as he ran down to the restaurant to say goodbye to his parents, number one and two.
“Have fun, listen to the monkeys with limited trust, don't just eat junk food, and call me if something's wrong.” Pigsy warned him.
“Don't worry Dadsy, everything will be great! I'll be with Macaque and Monkie King! What could go wrong in such company?” the boy laughed, and the adults tactfully passed over all possible disasters.
“Okay kid, let's go.” the monkey demon said, opening a portal on the ground right next to the boy so he could jump into it instead of just pushing him into it like usual.
The young demon waved to his parents and jumped into the portal with Macaque to find himself on the beach on the monkey king's island.
“I'll never get used to it.” Mk groaned, sitting on the ground for a moment, feeling sick and heavy in his stomach.
“Because you use portals too rarely. At the beginning, I spent half the day vomiting after every attempt to teleport, even over short distances. That's why you need to exercise regularly to get stronger.” the demon replied as he started walking towards the magical waterfall.
"Really? Did your own portals make you sick?” the surprised teenager asked as he followed him.
"Of course. There are still situations when my portals cause unpleasantness for me. Like I used a lot of them at once and over a long distance, or tried to move to the other side of the world with a group of people.” Macaque replied, nodding.
"Seriously? It always seemed as natural to you as breathing.” confessed Mk.
“I'm very flattered.” the demon smiled as he said this.
"Why?" asked the teenager.
“Because this is one of my greatest assets. If an enemy found out that my power had limitations and weaknesses, they could find a way to exploit it.” Macaque shrugged and Mk nodded thoughtfully.
Four white monkeys appeared in their path, jumping and making excited sounds, a moment before they jumped on the black demon. The Shadow Master just sighed, half-listening to the younglings' chatter, and Mk chuckled at the sight. Macaque resumed his walk, making sure that no monkeys fell off due to their inattention.
When they reached the waterfall, Mk and the monkeys passed through it without hesitation, but the demon stopped, slightly unsure. Sure, he visited the FFM and its tenants from time to time, which he was sure Wukong knew, but he tried to avoid the area on the other side of the magical barrier. The only time he broke this resolution was when Wukong was trapped in the memory scroll. Bracing himself, the demon stretched his hand towards the water, waiting for the appearance of a magical seal that would allow or forbid him to enter. Even though that wouldn't stop him, Macaque didn't want to go anywhere near the king willingly.
“Macaque are you coming?!” he heard the young demon scream and moved forward, surprised to be allowed to pass.
"Yes Yes." replied the monkey, straightening his scarf.
He saw a familiar, although slightly changed, scenery. After the fight with Azure, Wukong had to work hard to restore the place to its previous state, although he had help in the form of Mk, who willingly took up this task together with his mentor and the results were visible.
The grounds themselves had more greenery, and aside from one immortality peach tree, Macaque could see a small row of several other fruit trees. Wukong's hut no longer looked like a crap shed, but like a small house where someone lived, with a narrow veranda on which there was a swing bench and a small table. Everything looked beautiful from the outside, but the demon was willing to bet that the inside was a mess typical of a king.
“Mk! Macaque.” Wukong greeted them happily, whose smile faded slightly when he saw his former friend.
"Hi!" replied Monkie Kid, jumping into his mentor's arms, who immediately regained his good mood.
“Ready for training?” the monkey king asked, and the younger demon's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Of course!" assured Mk.
“Then throw your stuff inside and let's go. I don't want to practice near a newly rebuilt house.” the redhead announced.
Macaque decided not to interfere with the training, but he closely followed every move of the king and the child, especially during sparring. The Shadow Master was surprised when Wukong, after winning the duel, conducted a thorough analysis of each move with Mk. For a moment, the demon thought he was seeing a completely different Monkie King, until he summed up the lesson with a stupid comment, and the impression was dispelled.
“Okay, now that the training is over, let's talk about your demon form.” Wukong said.
"In what sense?" asked the young man.
“What's causing you problems? Anything you'd like to know? Is there something you don't understand?” the king listed examples, and Macaque teleported closer to them.
“I was actually wondering why I don't understand ordinary monkeys like you.” Mk replied after a while.
“Because you grew up with people. Thus, you first learned to speak the language of humans. Me and Wukong grew up with monkeys and this dialect is primary for us, and we had to learn the human dialect.” Macaque explained.
“That's why you need to give yourself time if you want to learn how to talk to monkeys. It won't come by itself, it took me several years to learn the human language." confessed Monkie King.
"Really? I thought it came naturally.” confessed the brown haired one.
"Unfortunately not. As a demon, you simply have the opportunity to learn more than one way to communicate, but nothing comes by itself.” replied the shadow master.
"Exactly. Next question?" Wukong asked.
“Actually, I have one thing that is quite important. If I'm a monkey demon, am I immortal?" Monkie Kid asked.
"I have no idea. You will definitely live longer than people, but I don't know if you are immortal." Wukong announced.
“Okay, good to know.” replied Mk.
“Don't you want to ask something about instinct?” the black-haired man asked.
"What do you mean?" the kid replied with a question.
“For example, the urge to climb various tall objects, intentionally irritating people, random kleptomaniac behavior, especially at shiny objects, or the need to bite people for various reasons.” the shadow master mentioned.
“Wait, this all has to do with me being a demon? I thought I was just weird!” the boy shouted in surprise and both monkeys laughed.
“These are not normal behaviors and needs of adolescent monkey demons.” Wukong further explained, amused.
“And some adults who never matured.” Macaque snorted, to which Wukong stuck out his tongue at him and they both laughed, then realizing what had happened and quieting down and looking away from each other.
After some more conversation on similar topics, a small Monkie Cop movie marathon was planned, so Mk went to take a bath and change into pajamas before starting the movie, Macaque put it on, and Wukong prepared various snacks.
“Are you sure it's not hair?” asked the uncertain black-haired man, seeing more and more things appear on the table, thus breaking the silence that followed Mk's disappearance from the room.
“I can promise. Pigsy would kill me if he found out I even tried to feed the cub hair.” Wukong replied, making a final dash to the kitchen and bringing out a bowl of black jelly beans that Macaque would never have expected.
“Is that licorice?” the shadow master asked in surprise.
"Yes." Wukong grimaced, placing her between Monkie Kid and Macaque's seat.
“But you can't stand her.” the demon continued in shock, remembering how many times the king had groaned at the mere sight or smell of this type of snack.
“But you adore her. And Mk will also eat sometimes.” replied Monkie King with a shrug.
“I'm not surprised, the young man has good taste.” the black-haired man joked.
“Blah! How you can eat this is beyond my imagination.” Wukong groaned as he saw the other monkey dive in for said sweets. “Peaches just made you lose your taste buds a long time ago.” laughed Macaque, and the king just shook his head.
"What is?" asked Mk, who had just entered the room.
“We're arguing about licorice.” Macaque explained.
"I see. Cool, so let's start the marathon?" asked the young monkey demon and after a while the first movie was played.
Despite his initial excitement, Mk fell asleep during the third film in the series, leaving the two monkeys very aware of each other's presence. Macaque watched the TV while petting the young demon, but he paid no attention to the events in the movie, fully aware that Wukong was glancing his way every now and then. When the credits rolled, no demon made a move to play another movie.
“I guess I should carry him to his bed.” Wukong broke the silence, to which Macaque wanted to protest by holding his child close to him, but seeing the look from his former enemy, he relented.
“Just be careful not to wake him up.” replied Macaque, letting go of Mk and allowing the king to pick him up and carry him to the boy's room, following him.
The Shadow Master stood in the doorway of the room, watching as Wukong gently placed his foster son on his bed and tenderly covered him with a blanket, straightening his hair some more before carefully retreating into the hallway. The atmosphere became slightly awkward, so Macaque decided that this time he would be the one to break the silence.
“Maybe I'll take a nap too, on the couch.” the shadow master spoke, moving in the said direction.
“Actually, there's a room for you here too.” Wukong replied embarrassed, stopping him.
"What?" Macaque asked, turning to face the redhead.
“When I was rebuilding the cottage, Mk gave me the idea of a guest room... So I created several of them, but I think one is especially for you.” the king admitted in confusion.
“You think?” Macaque continued in shock.
“I wasn't sure if you would ever use it or see it.” Wukong explained, leading him to a door near Mk's room. "It's here."
Macaque couldn't believe his eyes as he entered the room created by the king. Everything was tidy, from the fluffy purple carpet, the huge combined dressing room that even from the doorway you could see was not empty, the hammock hanging from the ceiling, the round nest-like bed in the corner of the room under the neon white lamp in the shape of a third quarter moon, and everything looked completely homely and cozy. The Shadow Master would of course change a few things, but overall he liked the room very much.
“And how? Of course, you can change everything here if you want.” Wukong immediately began to explain.
“It's pretty decent.” Macaque announced, looking away with a slight smile. "Thank you."
"No problem. Good night, sleep well Macaque.” Wukong said again, moving towards his own room.
“Wukong!” the black-haired man shouted behind him, attracting his attention.
"Yes?" asked the hopeful king.
"Thank you so much. Good night." Macaque replied for the first time in a long time without feeling the awkwardness between them as Wukong smiled at him as well.