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Hidden somewhere within Flower Fruit Mountain's luscious trees and flora, were Azure and Wukong. Azure sat crisscross against a nearby tree. Wukong laid back up against Azure's knee, one leg crossed over the other. The king had been venting to the lion about Macaque, but it didn't matter to Azure. He was just content to be at his side.
"Then he said he wouldn't go on the adventure with me because, "it was beyond dangerous, and it be best for the both of us if we just let this one go"!"
He turns over to face Azure, adding, "And one, "beyond dangerous"? I'm the Monkey King. I am the danger, and you know, several times immortal!"
Azure chimes in and says, "Exactly! You're a fearsome, unkillable warrior; you needn't worry about the severity of a situation! You'll always pull through.
"Thank you; someone gets it! Ugh, and two, "let this one go". Now, come on,"
Wukong jumped onto Azure's leg and looked him dead in the eyes and asked, "does that sound like me at all?"
The monkey's golden globes stared into Azure intently. His gaze intimidated him, made him feel as though his next words would decide the very fate of the world. So, he answered him, replying with his whole chest, "Heh, no, you're relentless! You'd never let anything stop you! That's...one of the very things I admire about you."
Wukong fell starry eyed, his gaze turning Azure beet red, his heart daring to beat out of his chest. He grasps the blushing feline's face in his palms; the awe in his eyes replaced with that of determination.
"Well, it's no fun adventuring out on your own! Come on, Azure, let's get a move on!"
He hopped off of Azure's leg and summoned his cloud beneath him.
"Wait!"
Wukong turned back to Azure.
"Are you sure you'd want me to come with you in Macaque's sted? I wouldn't want to intrude on the satiety of you two's usual outings."
The king shrugs, "Eh, it's whatever! Point is Macaque doesn't want to go, and you seem like you're more than willing to, so..."
He holds a hand out to him. Azure looked on at Wukong's outstretched hand and felt... honored! Like he'd just been offered an award. But it was more than that, wasn't it? This meant Wukong trusted him as his second in command, his... his partner!
Even if it was just for a day, he'd take up this role, for Wukong, for himself. So, without a second thought, he took his hand.
The lion's eyes shoot open. Awake, he finds himself in a bedroom—not his, but Tang's. Azure sat up in bed, turning to his right to find the man in question. His back was turned to him, but he'd recognize those long black and silver locks anywhere. He pulls back his hair, revealing his exposed neck, and leans down to kiss him.
Combing back the stray strands that dared to cover up his mate's face, Azure takes this moment and looks at him, admires him. He caresses his cheek, placing a kiss upon it. He glances beyond Tang, finding him wrapped in his arms. Thankfully, all Azure could see of him was the back of the simian's furry head. He scoffs.
He turns away from both of them, getting up from the bed and heading for the kitchen. As he rounds the corner on Wukong's side of the bed, he walks straight past him. Not even regrading the attention hoarder with the luxury of a scornful side glance. Outside the scholar's room, Azure moves out of the short hallway leading into the bedroom and turns right towards the kitchen. Grabbing a cup from the drain, he holds the cup under the kitchen faucet, letting the water run. He watches it fill up, his mind deciding to wonder as he does.
Azure recalls his dream from minutes ago, Wukong's starry eyes settling at the center of his thoughts. It was so familiar to him, yet so foreign now...
"Had he ever given another such a look?" He pondered.
He knew for a fact that Tang never received such a gaze. Wukong would never grace him with such admiration. He was far too busy receiving it from Tang himself! Bleeding him dry of all his affections!
Azure takes a breath.
"But if not Tang, who else? Perhaps his successor than!"
He witnessed Mk fight for Wukong with a ruthlessness he'd soon not forget! Mk was kind and surprisingly forgiving... Especially for one taught under the Great Sage...
The lion wondered, did Wukong know just how similar the two were? Maybe that's what he admired about Mk. That he reminded Azure of a younger Monkey King. One that was kinder, forthcoming, forgiving...
"Why does my hand feel cold?"
And suddenly, he was snapped back to reality. He stood in front of Tang's kitchen sink, cup in hand, as it overflowed with still running water on to his paw.
"Ah! Ohw!"
Azure immediately pulls his hand from under the faucet and sets the cup on the counter. He shuts it off, reaching for the paper towel roll as he furiously tries to dry his hand off. With a deep sigh, he grabs his overfilled cup of water and takes a step back towards Tang's room, then stops. Azure peers into the dark hallway before him and finds his legs unable to move forward as if frozen in fear. He feels a sort of contempt bubble up inside of him, that for whom lied just beyond the hall and himself.
"Ugh, this is ridiculous!"
The leonine grips the cup within his hand, shaking it as he stares down into his reflection.
"Oh, to hell with it."
Azure downs the cup of water like a glass of hard liquor! He gives a satisfied huff, and he places the cup back on the counter. With regained bravado, he treks back towards the bedroom.
Reaching the bedroom door's threshold, Azure's legs betray him once again, planting him right where he stood. He could see Wukong just ahead of him, his arm and tail hanging limply off the bed, his face obscured by Tang's nightstand. He clutches his chest, the same contempt bubbling back up inside him.
What was wrong with him?! Why was he suddenly so hesitant to approach him? So, what if one dream made Azure's past feelings for Wukong resurface? And so what if he missed the way he used to look at him, admire him...
He just... he just needed to go back to sleep! Lay next to Tang and pretend like they were the only two in bed.
"Just don't look at him," Azure told himself.
"Just don't look at him," he repeated.
And he continued to repeat this as he stepped through the threshold, passed the nightstand, and... then he glanced over his shoulder at Wukong. He lay there peacefully, fast asleep. His fur resting messily about his pillow as he snored into it. A fond huff escapes Azure; he swears he's seen Wukong sleep the exact same way since the brotherhood was originally forged...
Shit.
He couldn't look away!
The lion's mind was at odds with itself. One part of him felt completely pathetic for feeding his past self's obsession with Monkey King. The other part of him embraced it, observing the sleeping royal's form as if though he'd never get the chance again.
But the longer Azure stared, the more his heart continued to ache! He needed an excuse to be by his side. To touch him, hold me! Something to make this feeling loosen its grip on him... Then he noticed it—a stray strand of ginger fur resting at the center of Wukong's forehead.
It couldn't hurt to move it back in place, could it? Turning himself back around, he kneeled down at his side. And in a single motion, he gently pulls Wukong's fur back in place. The task was done, but Azure didn't move an inch. His heart still ached, and Wukong was right here!
He wanted to kiss him. He was allowed that, wasn't he? The three were a couple, after all. A "throuple" something he had recalled Tang jokingly call them. So... Azure leaned into Wukong, his lips inches from his face, when he stopped himself, a sudden feeling of disgust overwhelming him.
How could he, for one, second, allow himself to fawn over the Monkey King like he did so long ago? After his betrayal, after imprisoning his brother, imprisoning him! And even now, he continues to cause him grief. His effortless ability to grasp Tang's affection with a single look or mediocre tall tale. Or worse, his failure to show his face after Azure had barely escaped death!
Azure remembered waking up in a Celestial Realm medical facility, surprised it was even possible he was alive. He looked over his arms and legs, finding them littered with cracks like scars. The sight made his whole body tremble. Look what he had done to himself and to the world in the process. A crippling feeling of shame and guilt welled up inside as he then heard Mk's voice call out to him.
In that instant, the boy had wrapped his arms around him.
"Wait," Azure had thought to himself.
"If Mk's here, then that means..."
His eyes quickly surveyed the room for any other presence inside, and all he found was Tang. At the time, he frowned at the sight of him. Not knowing how close the two would grow. But at that moment, Azure felt betrayed.
Wukong was the one who opened his eye to what harm he was truly causing to the world and himself. He'd watched him tear himself apart to fix it. The least the o'mighty Great Sage could allow him was his presence! But that was far too much to ask, wasn't it?
Back in the present, Azure stands over his supposed mate's unconscious body and feels that familiar contempt from earlier. He regards the simian one last time with a scowl, then returns to his side of the bed. He looks over Tang and Wukong as he had once before. Reminded of who Tang had in his arms instead of him. It only served to further fuel his ire toward Wukong.
But he'd be remiss to disturb Tang's soundless sleep and tear him away from the bastard he holds so dear. So, the leonine relents, climbing back into bed and laying back to back with Tang. Laying as close as he possibly can to his one and only love.