Chapter Text
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Chirp, chirp.
The morning calls of birds fills the air as the sun rises above the horizon, painting the sky in a beautiful orange hue. Wind carries leaves and dust throughout the trees, waking small monkeys and the like from their slumber; caressing the trees as it passes by.
And the wind flies, it moves in circles and swirls, as it zooms into the room of a particular ginger monkey that grumbles at the sign of a new day. An annoyed hand grabs the blanket and pulls down to cover the monkey, but the sun shines through the now open curtain right into the face of the primate.
"Uggh! Alright, alright!" Wukong sits up in his bed, his eyes still closed as he scratches the back of his head. "Geez... What's the rush?" He opens one eye and peeks out at the sun, slowly rising into the sky, expecting an answer. He pouts, childishly, when he doesn't.
Yawning, he stands from his messy bed (he'll make it later) and stretches before making his way over the small monkeys littering his floor. ".... Sorry, Mon... Jiā... Li..." He mumbled their names as he used all of his focus to lift his feet over each and every little monkey that was still sleeping soundly on his floor.
Stepping into his kitchen, Wukong sleepily takes out a carton of eggs and his tail grabs a frying pan out of habit. Flicking on the heat with one hand and grabbing a butter knife with the other, his body started to wake up, working on autopilot, while his brain was still only focused on keeping his eyes open and his lungs breathing.
He didn't feel tired per se, but he didn't feel the most awake either, which was definitely strange, but he chose to ignore it — like always.
It was only when his nose twitched at the smell of smoke and Wukong opened his eyes — when had he closed them? — to look down that he realised he was burning his eggs. "Shoot," in a panic, he dropped the pan into the sink and opened a window before cranking the faucet, watching the water kill the small flame.
Wukong ran a hand through the fur at the back of his head once more, “Ugh, what was that? Great job, me.” He sighed. Well, there goes his breakfast.
Chirp, chirp.
"Hm?" A small bird perched on Wukong's open window and he cocked his head to the side, matching the cooing bird. It chirped happily to itself, scratching at its underwing, and Wukong hummed back as he scratched his bare stomach—
Oh.
Oh right, he was still naked.
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Pulling a white vest over his head, Wukong puffed out his chest and looked in the mirror. He smiled and pointed finger guns at his smug reflection, "Good morning, handsome! Here's to not burning more of our breakfast." With a chuckle, he grabbed his small red hood and went to tie it around his neck before a sting of pain shot through him, causing him to hiss. "Ouwch! Wha?" His hand gingerly brushed against his neck and he winced again at the pain, clenching his teeth reflexively.
Glancing in the mirror, he tilted his head to the side and slowly pushed apart the fur. "What is...?" Wukong narrowed his eyes as a thin cut on his neck surfaced from beneath the fur, "Ugh... Really?" He was almost offended that an injury that small had hurt so bad, but before he could dwell on it, his neck stung again and the pain ran through his whole body.
Taking a closer look in the mirror, Wukong began to notice that there were in fact cuts and such all over his neck and collar; it was hard to tell which ones were fresh and which ones were old. A shudder ran through Wukong's body as blood started to seep out of the disturbed wounds, warm and sticky and clinging to his fur.
He nearly gagged, "Ugh, gross." But didn't, as he focused on making sure the blood didn't get on any of his clothes instead. He blindly reached over to grab some tissue paper when he felt a peck at his fingers. He yelped and pulled back his hand to see the same small bird sitting on the shelf.
Chirp, chirp.
Wukong huffed and massaged his pricked finger, "Hey! What gives? I'm kinda trying to maintain my flawless look, so I'd appreciate it if you— Ow!" The bird pecked Wukong again, on the nose this time, and he stepped back, rubbing it.
He pouted, "Oh, so that's how it is, huh? Get over here!" And then tried to grab the bird, but all the bird did was evade him. With a groan he tried again and again, but the bird just kept avoiding his hands. It didn't take long before Wukong was out of breath, he glared at the bird as it mocked him from atop the mirror. "Shut up, you... What do you want from me?"
Taking a closer look, Wukong took note of the colour of the bird's feathers — black with a red underbelly — and its small yellow beak. He raised a brow, "Huh, I've never seen a bird like you before..." Thinking for a moment, he tried to match the bird's appearance to any of the hundreds of kinds of birds he'd seen over the course of his life when the pain in his neck suddenly worsened and he let out a small whine in surprise.
"Ack! Okay, this isn't normal..." Wukong held the side of his neck, holding back a shudder when he felt the blood start to pool under his hand. "... Probably."
Chirp, chirp!
The small bird flapped its wings and flew down to the sink, sitting in the basin. Wukong blinked, "Huh?" The bird squawked at him and pointed to the tap with its beak, when Wukong stared blankly, it pretended to wash itself.
…
"Oh, hey! I should go take a bath in the hot springs! Pssh, aww man... It's been a while since I've done that actually." Wukong grabbed a towel or two and scurried off, trying his best to ignore the pain growing in his neck.
If it could’ve, the bird would've facepalmed.
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"Now, I could've sworn it was somewhere around here..." Walking through shrubbery and tall grass, Wukong made his way through the thick forest at the base of Flower Fruit Mountain, trying to find the hot spring that he swore was actually on the other side of the mountain but was almost immediately proven wrong when he had found nothing but a rocky landscape. So maybe his memory was failing him, so what?
Wukong's ears perked up when he heard the sound of rushing water and he quickly pushed through some thick bushes, grinning when the hot springs finally came into view. "Haha! There it is!" The steam in the air made its way to the ginger monkey's fur, fluffing it up a bit as he chuckled at the pleasant warmth.
Stripping down, he hung his clothes over a low-hanging tree branch and slowly dipped his feet into the spring. "Aahhhhh.... Now this is exactly what I needed." Wukong slipped his whole body into the pool of water, even dunking his head in before resurfacing, "... I always forget how good this feels, so nice and toasty and- ACK!" Wukong grabbed his neck instinctively as the pain returned and growled, "Could you lay off for like one second?” He siiiighed.
Reluctantly, Wukong started to clean the cuts littered across his neck and collar, causing the water surrounding him to turn a light pink. "... Eugh." He watched as the blood and dirt from his wounds rolled down his body in waves. "... Geez, how long has it been since I bathed? Coulda sworn it was like, yesterday..."
Chirp! Chirp, chirp!
The bird from before perched upon a small rock near the water pool, tilting its head to the side while Wukong stared back. "Oh hey, you followed me." He raised a brow and narrowed his gaze. "Wait.... You followed me..." The bird tweeted before glancing at the water, and then fluttering over to join Wukong.
It chirped happily and flapped its wings a few times before it started to clean itself. “Heh, nice and warm, huh? Yeah, I'd say this type of spa treatment is only rightful for someone as great as myself and—” PINCH! “Gah! Hey!”
Wincing, Wukong rubbed his side where the bird had pinched him. "What, you don't like hearing about how great— AH! Alright! I get it!" The bird glared at Wukong and he glared right back; childishly.
"... You're the most animated bird I've ever met, and the most annoying too." Wukong splashed the bird as he lowered his hand into the water. It squawked in response.
He sighed and submerged into the pool, leaving only his eyes and nose above it. Truthfully, Wukong knew he wasn't being the most… Hygienic, as of late, but it’s not like he was doing it on purpose. He just didn't have the time to focus on such frivolous things, opting to focus on more important things, like training MK.
He wasn't being avoidant, shut up.
Sure, somewhere in the back of his head, he could hear echoes of his own voice (and a few others) mocking him for not following the advice he gives to MK — “Take breaks!” “Make sure to rest and not push yourself!” “Take time to treat yourself!” — but he ignores it. He's pretty good at that.
The sound of warbling brought him out of his stupor. The black bird ruffled its feathers and poked at its own red chest, picking out bits of dirt and dust. With a lift of his eyebrows, Wukong opened his mouth to speak but accidentally inhaled the water he forgot he was submerged in and sat up, coughing violently.
"Shit, that was dumb... Haha..." Wukong cleared his throat and glanced away in embarrassment before looking back at the bird, which was now angrily staring at him after being startled. "Sorry, didn't mean ta' scare ya... I was just thinking about what I should call you."
Wukong thought for a moment longer before he snapped his fingers and grinned, "Máquè!" The bird didn't look impressed, and Wukong's grin faltered, "No?... Nah, you're right, you don't look much like a sparrow anyway." He crossed his arms, "Xiáng?... Heh, yeah no, that's not very clever." Looking up at the sky, he sighed. Has his creativity always been this bad? According to a certain someone, that answer would probably be yes, but Wukong isn’t up for listening to other’s opinions right now.
The bird cooed and slowly flapped its wings, stepping out of the hot spring to shake out the water before flying over to the same tree Wukong had hung his clothes from. "A willow tree..." He muttered under his breath as he watched the bird nest in his red hood, then his eyes lit up. "How about Liǔ?" The bird froze and just looked at Wukong for a moment, before it (reluctantly) nodded and sat down in the small mound it made out of the red fabric.
Wukong smiled, "Alright, Liǔ it is." Then he frowned. "And could you not nest in my clothes?" The bird ignored him.
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