Work Text:
It was a chill night on Flower Fruit Mountain. The moon was still out, its rays streaking through the leaves of the trees. It streamed into Water Curtain Cave, shining its white light on the wooden hut that sat on its peak.
Inside the hut, the Great Sage and the Six-Eared Macaque slept peacefully in their nest. Wukong was nestled into the shadow’s chest, tail curled loosely around the other’s. The shadow was holding the sage close and tightly, as if he would disappear if he let go.
Macaque buried his nose into the top of Wukong’s fur and trembled. Flashes of awful memories plagued his dreams. Fighting, flashes of purple and gold painting the sky. Cold chains trapping him to the floor, cold hands of the dead dragging him into the dark, begging him to join them. Warm hands caressing his face, only to dig their claws in his eyes with rage.
Macaque woke up with a jolt, his hold on Wukong tightening. His breathing was getting erratic and his vision was getting hazy. Sage shifted below him and sunk his head further into Macaque’s chest. Macaque looked down at him, not noticing the fat tears rolling down his cheeks.
Macaque’s claws were digging into Wukong's scalp.
Macaque immediately retracted his hands from him. He held his hands away and looked around. His eyes landed on the dark sky leaking through the window; it was the middle of the night. He sighed, he wasn’t falling back asleep anytime soon.
He looked to the door, it was slightly ajar. Wukong wouldn’t mind if he got up for just a minute, right? Macaque shuffled to face the other way and started to sit up, but ginger furred arms tightened their grip around him. Ah, he forgot Wukong was an extreme sleep hugger. There was no way he’d be able to get up when he was still asleep, but he’d rather not wake him up to do so. He’d ask why he’s getting up and what’s wrong and Macaque just really can’t deal with that right now.
So he did the first thing he could think of. He melted into the shadows. He shifted through the shadows and rose up a few feet away from their nest. He sighed in relief, a successful attempt, thank god.
Wukong started to stir. He spoke too soon.
The shadow’s fur puffed up and he looked around frantically. Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit! What should he do?! Wukong reached out towards him in his sleep only to be met with empty space. His eyes started to flutter open.
“Wha..? Peach..?” He slurred.
Fuck. Ok he had seven seconds before Wukong woke up fully.
Six
What should he do?!
Five
Clone.
Four
Clone, he needs a clone!
Three
Wukong started shifting to sit up.
Two
Make the clone damn it!
A dark figure rose from Macaque’s shadow and scrambled into the nest. It formed fully in a fraction of a second and all but yanked Wukong into its chest. Wukong let out a muffled surprised chirp but sank back into his usual position. Sleep took him back quickly.
Both the clone and Macaque sighed in relief and slumped their shoulders. The clone looked over its shoulder and Macaque made a scratching gesture with his hands. The clone looked back and hesitantly scratched the back of Wukong’s head. Wukong practically melted and leaned into the clone’s hand. His tail started wagging like crazy as he squeezed the clone tighter.
The clone looked back at Macaque, seeming to be asking if it was doing this right. Macaque drank in the adorable sight and smiled softly. He gave the clone a thumbs up and slowly made his way out of the room. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it, head thumping against the back of it as he slid down to the floor.
He let out a shaky breath and put a hand up to cover his mouth. The tears kept leaking out of his eyes and steaming down his face. He felt his claws dig into his cheek and he shut his eyes tight. Taking deep breaths over and over didn’t calm his nerves. He opened his eyes and looked ahead to the living room.
He braced himself against the door and pushed himself forward to stand. He kept his hand on his mouth to stop the sobs from escaping. The shadow kept his hand on the wooden walls as he took hesitant steps to the living room. He stepped past the couch and small table and stood in the doorway of the kitchen. He looked around the room and dragged his hand off of his face. He felt something drip down his chin, but just assumed it was the tears.
He shuffled into the kitchen, footsteps reverberating in his ears like drums. He put his hand up to his head; a headache was already forming. Macaque leaned against the counter and something caught his gaze. A bowl of peaches was sitting on the far end of the counter, 6 to be exact, piled on top of each other. Peaches…
Macaque felt something in his head shift. Things were getting quieter, his vision was getting hazy, and his senses were duller. Shit. He lost his grip on his head, hand going limp to his side. He couldn’t feel his face.
He couldn’t feel anything. Shit, no. No no no no. He couldn’t let this happen now. Wukong was devastated the last time. He cried and held him for hours when he came to. He couldn’t even remember what had happened. All he remembered was a storm and getting tired and everything getting… muted.
He couldn’t even describe what happened because he didn’t even know himself. It was like he wasn’t even in his own body. He hated it.
His gaze fell back on the peaches on the counter.
Macaque’s last thought before he was lost to his mind, was him wondering if they had any flour left.
When Wukong woke up, he expected to be met with the soft thick fur on Macaque’s arms wrapped around him. Instead he woke up to a dark purple clone stroking his fur and the smell of.. warm peaches? The smell had filled the room and invaded his nose, not that he was complaining. But as much as he was enjoying these head scratches, he wanted to know why it was a clone instead of the real thing.
It wasn’t that uncommon for this to happen. Macaque sometimes got up before him sometimes and started getting ready for the day, maybe even made breakfast if he was feeling generous. He’d woken up to clones before in the middle of the night, either because Macaque had to go to the bathroom or he needed some air. Other times it was a nightmare. He hoped it wasn’t the latter.
Wukong looked up at the clone and blew a cold breath onto its chin. The clone froze and slowly looked down at him, its lifeless glowing eyes stared through him. It made no move to let go of him though.
“So.. where’s Mac?” He asked. The clone blinked down at him and raised a hand to Sage’s face. It stroked his cheek with its thumb.
“You're not gonna tell me, are you?” Wukong sighed. He groaned softly and let go of the clone. He sat up and the clone's arms slid off of him. The clone sat up with him and stared. Creepy.
The scent of peaches got stronger as he woke up fully. He sniffed the air and now that he was really paying attention to it, it smelled like cookies. Was Macaque baking?
He turned his gaze to the clone in his nest, wanting an answer for what its master was doing. The clone was staring at the closed bedroom door. It looked back at him and pointed at the door. Ah, so Macaque was baking. Wukong shuffled out of the nest and stood. He lifted his arms above his head and interlocked his finger to stretch out his muscles.
He turned towards the door and quietly shuffled to the door. He put his hand on the doorknob and paused . He turned back to the clone and his gaze flicked to different planks on the floor. He took a breath, his nose scrunching up and let it out.
“Thanks for the uh.. good night's rest?” He questioned. He didn’t really know exactly what time Macaque was switched out for a clone, but felt the need to thank it anyway. It did hold him and gave him head scratches. He should really stop calling these guys ‘it’. The clone stared at him for a moment and melted back into the darkness with a wave.
He smiled and turned and left the room. The smell of peach pastries invaded his senses the moment he stepped into the living room. The sound of metal hitting metal met his ears, soft clinking and liquid swishing in a bowl. He shuffled towards the kitchen, his footsteps a clear indicator to Macaque that he was awake if he didn’t already know. His clone probably already told him when they melted away.
He reached the doorway to the kitchen and peeked past it. His kitchen was full of pastries. Cookies, cupcakes, cobbler, cheesecake bites, and muffins were placed on the side of the counter. A few monkeys were perched next to them, munching on muffins. Steam rose from the desserts and wafted through the room and filled the hut with the smell of sugary peach delectables. Flour, sugar, peaches, eggs and other ingredients were spread neatly across the counter. Bowls were discarded in the sink, excess batter, dough, and what looked like egg mixture left inside of them. And in the middle was Macaque, back turned, egg brush in hand, brushing over dough in a bread pan. He was still in his pajamas and his long, ankle length fur was braided up and wrapped into twin buns, tail laying limp on the floor.
Shockingly, the entire kitchen was clean, aside from the few dishes in the sink. There wasn’t any flour on the floor or a drop of extract spilled. He must've either been cleaning as he went or just didn’t make any mess. It’s Macaque so it really could be either or. Wukong moved to fully stand in the doorway, concern etched on his face. How long has Macaque been in here? All these treats would’ve taken hours to make, not even including the clean up. Did he get any sleep at all..!?
The four monkeys on the counter looked up from their treats and noticed him. They chirped in delight as they crawled over to him. They kept the muffins in their mouths and hands, offering him pieces of it. They were adorable. He glanced back up at Macaque who had finished brushing the.. bread dough.., and was pushing it into the oven. He hadn’t even acknowledged any of them. Wukong crouched down to little ones’ height and took the piece of muffin he was offered. Now that he got a good look at them, these muffins had a crumble topping. His glamoured golden eyes flicked from the muffins to Macaque, frowning.
He looked back at the monkeys and chirped at them. ‘He made all of this?’
All four of the little ones snapped their attention away from their treats and to him. The one with the most of their muffin left answered, ‘Smelled warm peaches from nest. Was like this when we arrived.’ Wukong frowned.
‘How long ago was that?’ If his suspicion was right, that would mean that Macaque's been awake most of the night.
Another monkey finished their last piece and chirped curiously, ‘Been here since moon rise. Why?’ Wukong’s eyes narrowed and he looked back up at Macaque. He had turned around and was sifting flour into a clean bowl. Now that he was facing him, Wukong could get a good look at his face and it didn’t look so good.
His eyes are hazy and glossy and dried tears marks stained his face. Creased eyebrows and a scrunched nose etched his features. There were four small bloody lines going through his left cheek. A blank frown crossed his face and small eyebags laid under his eyes. He didn't look up from his task.
Wukong stood back up and tensed. So it was a nightmare, and judging by the poor shadow’s state, it was a bad one. The monkeys at his feet look back between their king and his warrior in worry. ‘Is shadow ok?’
Wukong’s frown deepened, ‘Shadow will be fine. Go back to your nests.’ The monkeys looked between each other and crawled out of the kitchen and ran outside, finishing their treats on the way out.
Macaque didn’t acknowledge anything outside of what he was doing. Sifting flour, cutting up more peach slices, measuring sugar, mixing dry ingredients, it was all done like it was automatic. Like he was on autopilot.
The king took a breath and strode towards the shadow. He stopped less than a foot away, but Macaque didn’t look away from his bowl. He whisked flour, sugar, and other things together with precision.
Macaque was stress baking. Macaque liked to bake, Wukong knew this. He picked it up a few months ago and had been doing it a lot ever since. He said it made him calm which led to him doing it when he was upset or overwhelmed, but this… this was much different. He’d never baked this much so mechanically before. Maybe he was zoned out.
Or he was disassociating. That only happened when things got bad. When they used to have bad arguments or when a really bad storm reached the mountain. It was like he wasn’t really there. His eyes would haze over and his tail would go limp. Wukong couldn’t count on both hands how many ways he’d tried to snap him out of it. Nothing he did ever worked and he would just have to wait till Macaque snapped out of it on his own. He’d be like that for days, maybe even weeks if whatever caused it was bad enough. It worried him to no end to see him like that. Like a robot following its set programming. Like a body with no soul. Like a corpse.
He hated it.
“Mac.” Nothing.
“Mac?” He waved a hand in front of his eyes. Nothing.
“Macaque.” He spoke a bit louder. Nothing. He put his hand on his shoulder and shook him. “Mac, come on..” Nothing. Again.
What should he do? What could he do? The other times this happened, Macaque said he couldn’t really control when he came back. He didn’t really know what was going on around him. He mentioned it was like everything around him was muted. Like he was awake but not aware. There was nothing he could really do once he got stuck. There was nothing either of them could do.
He felt so useless. Why couldn’t he do something? Anything. Why couldn’t he help him? He knew Macaque never blamed him for never being able to break him out of his dazes but that didn’t change how he felt about it.
‘Sun.’ A chirp. Wukong’s attention snapped to where the chirp came from. That was Macaque’s voice. It came out small and raspy. Macaque had stopped what he was doing and was looking directly at him. His eyes were still hazy but his expression had softened.
‘Mac..?’ He tried again. Could Macaque hear him? Was he trying to snap out of it? ‘Can you hear me?’ He reached up and touched his cheek. His thumb grazed the scratches. The skin had started to scab over, though he was unsure why it hadn’t healed already. Maybe his healing was muted too when he was like this. But a better question was how he got them in the first place. If he had a nightmare then maybe he was in distress and.. oh. He scratched his face. That might’ve been when he started disassociating.
Macaque’s eyes slowly glanced over to Wukong’s hand. His mouth opened but no words came out. It was discreet, but Wukong felt him give the smallest of nods against his palm.
Oh thank the Buddha.
Relief washed over him like a tidal wave. He was still in there. He could hear him. It wasn’t much but it was enough for him. All Macaque had to do was give him one percent and Wukong would give the other ninety-nine.
Macaque must’ve sensed his relief or something, because he reached up and touched his hand. The touch was feather light but it was there. He was trying. He was really trying. Then Macaque held his hand. His grip was light but Wukong gave no resistance to stop him.
Macaque moved Wukong’s hand from his cheek and held it out in front of him. He stared at it, as if he was examining it. Wukong’s eyes never left Macaque's face and he’s glad they didn’t. They stood there for a few minutes in silence and slowly but surely, the haze in Macaque’s eyes faded. That dull light slowly came back to his eyes and his face got a look of recognition.
“Wukong..” Macaque looked up to Wukong’s face.
“Mihou,” Wukong sniffed. He brought his other hand up to Macaque’s face, “You came back to me.”
The shadow moved sluggishly, draping his arms over the shorter’s shoulders and slumping against him. Wukong immediately wrapped his arms around him, holding him close. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m ok. Just.. really tired.” Macaque’s words came out slurred and quiet. “I think.. I’m just gonna..,” The shadow went limp in Wukong’s hold. Wukong could hear his soft snoring right next to him. Wukong couldn’t wipe the goofy smile off his face even if he wanted to.
The sage gently picked up the sleeping shadow and quietly walked back into their room. He stepped into the room and kicked the door closed with his foot. The noise made Macaque stir, but only for a few moments. Wukong paused for a second, just to make sure he didn’t wake up. Luckily he didn’t, only nuzzled into Wukong’s fur. He sighed in relief again and padded over to their nest. He carefully laid them both down and pulled a blanket over them.
Wukong made sure Macaque was comfortable before shuffling into a comfy position in his favor. He didn’t close his eyes to sleep though. He’d already slept throughout the night and was fully awake, but there was no harm in making sure Macaque slept well. He took a small breath of content and his nose was filled with the scent of warm peaches again.
Oh yeah, Macaque’s desserts.
He’d deal with it later. The monkeys liked them and he was definitely going to snag some for himself. He would make a clone to put them away properly right now, but his clones couldn’t be quiet to save their lives. Plus, he wasn’t too keen on letting go of Macaque anytime soon, at least not till he got a good rest.
Till then, he would lay here and wait. His tail unconsciously wrapped itself around Macaque’s and Macaque’s gently wrapped around his in sleepy content.
Wukong would make sure he slept well and then they could have peach muffins for breakfast.