Chapter Text
Tang’s feet hurt. He really regretted not bringing his shoes now, with him walking barefoot over the rough asphalt of the sidewalk. His feet weren’t made to go al natural. He doubted he’d be able to hold out like this for long. If not because of the discomfort of tiny pebbles digging into his soles, then it’d be out of shame. Because, to Tang’s absolute horror, more and more people were filtering out of their homes to begin the day.
He’d underestimated just how many people were as insane as Pigsy and decided to get up and go to work at a crispy 4-5 AM. Tang’s unsure what time it actually was at the moment. He’s been walking a bit, the sky was cracking some sunshine from the edge of the horizon. Not that the lack of natural sunlight helped his appearance of a southern-west crackhead in pajamas walking around with a seemingly feral bird on his shoulders.
People were looking at Tang as if he had the plague. One lady even switched sidewalks to avoid having to walk past Tang. Hell was real and this was it.
And it wasn’t like Sun Wukong was helping him feel any better about any of this. No, he just chewed Tang’s ear off with morbid tale after tale. Give him something Tang could work with? No, of course not. Talk about creepy folktales that apparently held some merit for thirty minutes without taking a break to breathe? Sure, do that. Every now and then he interrupted his babbling to tell Tang where to go but aside from that, Tang suffered in silence and prayed that wherever they’d end up eating at, he’d be able to use a phone.
For one, he didn’t want to leave Pigsy worrying because he knew the man was going to be doing that and for two, he hoped he’d be able to maybe let MK know to not believe everything his teachers told him. Tang wondered if he was able to get someone to come and pick him up. He had no money, looked homeless and was doubting he’d be allowed back onto the cloud with how things were going right now.
Something bonks him against the side of his head, causing Tang to wince and snap out of his thoughts to glance in annoyance at the bird that was giving him the side eye. “Earth to scholar, now a left.” Tang stopped, turned his head and found himself facing a creepy alley that didn’t look nearly as charming as the majority of this city. The human pulled a bit of a grimace.
“..Ergh…” He looked down. Trash and broken glass was littering the ground. He turned his body so he could properly appreciate just how disgusting this alley was. “..I’m not..mh.. equipped.” He looked down at his bare feet. “You guys left my shoes at home, remember?” He lifted his gaze so he could directly narrow his eyes at the unimpressed bird.
“You’ve been walking bare feet and all this whole time already, we’re almost there.” Sun Wukong waved one wing, rolling his eyes doing so. Tang refused to take that leap of faith. Staring down at the ground again, looking left and right but not spotting any other way he could go down this route without taking a detour. No people in sight either. “..I’ll cut myself, get tetanus and then I’m going to die. I want you to explain that to MK when you see him next time.” Tang mumbled, or grumbled more.
“You’re being dramatic.” With a flap, the bird was suddenly off his shoulders, spinning in the air and within the blink of an eye he was next to Tang again. Landing in his simian form on the ground in a crouch, looking closely at the many shards littering it. “..But I guess I don’t have to fight you on this.” He clapped onto his knees, standing up and turning to Tang who was glancing around to check if they were still unseen by the public eye.
For now, they were.
Sun Wukong opened his arms, grinning at Tang in his usual unbothered manner and raising both eyebrows. “Come on. I’ll carry you.” The scholar needed to double take before physically recoiling from the rust colored monkey, who just followed per step with a snicker. “What?!” Tang exclaimed, his voice almost cracking. “No! I can just take another street-“
He barely dodged Sun Wukong when the guy grabbed for him, stumbling on his stinging soles and hissing in discomfort. It only earned him a soft laugh from the immortal. “Why do that when this could be an experience of under a minute?”
What happened next was a bit of an awkward dance. The Monkey King tried to grab Tang with barely any motivation at all, which caused Tang do work his ass off to avoid getting grabbed by Sun Wukong (who really wasn’t trying.) The scholar was struggling, frowning and trying to dissuade the simian, who’s grin had slowly tapered off to a .. a fond smile. Tang would call it fond if he didn’t know better.
“Stop- Monkey King-“ Tang tripped when he stepped on a sharp pebble, yelping and hopping on his other foot a little, trying to find his balance again but only ending up angling forward to do so, which caused him to fall right against the man he was attempting to avoid. Who proceeded to grab him with both hands firmly at the waist. Tang wants to scream, forced to stare the other in the face thanks to standing basically on top of the immortal's own feet.
“Alright, bud, why not?” Tang blinked and stopped his struggle for a second in surprise from the other, who was not just going ahead and picking him up. The question threw him for a bit of a loop but the scholar caught himself. Scoffing and shoving at the other, which did absolutely nothing. Sun Wukong didn’t even bother pretending to be affected. The corners of his eyes just crinkled as his smile grew.
Tang wanted to punch him. Just to get any reaction. “I don’t approve of it. So you shouldn’t.” Which wasn’t a whole lot. Tang was still hoping that maybe he’d be able to train some sense into those monkeys. He doubted he’d be able to though. The human also felt cold sweat go down his neck as he couldn’t help but notice that he was staring the Monkey King right into his golden colored eyes.
“..You’re gonna hurt yourself.” The simian's constant smile had slipped off, making way for a thoughtful expression as he regarded Tang. “You say that is if you care.” Tang raised his eyebrows. Slapping both hands down onto the other's wrist and this time, he let Tang go voluntarily. “I wouldn’t hurt you on purpose.” The immortal scoffed, crossing his arms as if to assert dominance. Tang almost felt like laughing, his face making him feel like he was dealing with an overzealous toddler.
“Lies can hurt.” Tang deadpanned. Patting himself down as if he’d been wrestling on the floor, ignoring the dumbfounded expression of the simian. It takes a moment before Sun Wukong huffed a little. Glanced off, then back at Tang. “..It wasn’t supposed to. We were just playing.” The only way immortals knew how to, apparently. At the expense of someone else. Tang rolled his shoulders and corrected the collar of his sweater.
“I don’t care.” He did care but by now he learned that no drooling over them and acting like they were his equals when they were everything but was what would put him on the map here. “It was inappropriate.” Which it was.
Silence stretched out between the two of them and Tang felt like the simian would just turn around and leave him here to mope for a little bit. Surprisingly, Wukong didn’t. He just scratched the back of his neck and glanced over his shoulder to the alley. He seemed to think about what he could say. Tang wasn’t making it easy for the male, watching him from behind cracked glasses.
“..Alright. Bud,” Sun Wukong finally spoke again. Tang raised an eyebrow expectantly. “You’re hungry. Right?” Tang didn’t think he would be getting an apology but this was even sadder than he imagined. “..I’m tired.” Tang deadpanned. Narrowing his eyes in an unfriendly manner. Sun Wukong stared him down so analytically that Tang felt his insides twist. “Maybe a little… but I’m mostly tired! I slept two hours and-“
A hand’s on his mouth, muffling Tang’s rant which caused the human to try and jerk his head back, only to find himself incapable of doing so with Sun Wukong holding him by his face. “Mhfp..” Tang’s hands landed on the simians wrist, though didn’t pull on it as he found it wouldn’t do him any good anyway. “You’re hungry.” The Monkey King repeated, his smile was slowly coming back as he gently tugged Tang closer by his face until Tang had to stare the other into his eyes. “..and very, very tired.. So how about this.”
His face is released and Tang hissed a little, jerking back but thinking better of trying to get some distance between them, feeling like he’d just be pulled back in anyway. “You’ll let me carry your petty butt over the mean and ugly trash, we’ll have a nice breakfast in a place that’s bursting at the seams with history gunk, I’ll make Macaque stop bullying you and tell you an actual tale that isn’t made up and then, to top it off, we’ll bring you home and you can sleep on my cloud.”
He came closer, Tang dumbly realized when the other paused his talking. Their faces felt inches apart. He could smell the immortal’s breath on his face and the half lidded eyes of the simian seemed to be looking right into his soul. “..So how about it?” Tang’s heart was beating out of his ribcage. Sun Wukong sounded soft. Maybe that was what finally jerked the human out of this weird trance. He finally jerked back from the other, who was still watching him attentively without bothering to follow.
But his smile had turned into a knowing smirk and it made Tang’s face burn red like a sprout of chili.
Tang collected himself as well as he could while he felt like there was something dancing in his stomach, patting himself down and throwing the simian a glare. “..If you promise to never, ever, ever grab me by my face again.” He bristled at the other. That had been a little too invasive and Tang was still invested in the attempt of keeping the two from completely tearing him apart because they felt like it.
All he got was a chuckle. Sun Wukong stood straight and lazily drew a cross over the middle of his chest. “Cross my heart. I won’t grab you by your face again.” His smirk grew to the point where Tang could see a hint of gums. His eyebrows waggled gently above his mischief filled eyes. “..Unless you want me to.” Tang’s going to suffer from a heart attack at this point. He knew the man wasn’t actually hitting on him, the immortal just wanting a reaction out of him but golly, Sun Wukong had this bedroom eyes thing really down.
“I won’t! No- No thanks.” Tang flailed his arms a little, catching his outburst and forcing himself to put his arms down instead of giving into the urge to hide his face behind his hands. It only made Tang more self aware about just how hot his face felt. He probably looked ready to become a tomato. Tang refused to make eye contact when Sun Wukong sidled close again. “We’ll see. I’m sure I can get you to ask.” So playful, like he owned the world.
Considering how famous he was, he might have to some extent.
“Stop talking to me as if I’m some groupie-“ Tang yelped when he was hoisted up like a princess in a novel, without any problem. “Right, right. Scuse me.” The simian turned on his heel and began to jog towards the alley. It was a surprise no one had caught even a glimpse of Sun Wukong just standing here in the middle of the street. Good that it was so early, huh?
“We oughta put some speed on, you don’t really want for Mac to come looking for us.” Sun Wukong laughed softly, which made Tang blink up at him. The blush didn’t really fade, basically pressed against the bulk that the immortal had built throughout years and years of fighting demons and protecting the mortal realm. “I have a question.” If only to distract himself from being cared by one of his biggest heroes.
“Shoot, bud.” Sun Wukong jumped over a pile of trash bags, landing on a relatively clean spot to make it to the other side of the alley. The whole process of it lasted maybe thirty seconds and it made Tang feel a little stupid about having fought for so long against this. It did feel nice to not be standing on his bare feet anymore. Which was why it ended up being such a shame that Sun Wukong just put him down again. Tang ignored the stinging of his soles.
“You said you wouldn’t hurt me, yes?” The simian checked left and right before jumping up, shifting back into a bird and landing on Tang’s shoulder. “Yep. Meant it, too.” Smug little thing.He lifted a wing to the right and Tang began to walk again. “Were you implying Macaque would hurt me?” He doubted it. But maybe he should be sure. The six eared Macaque and the Monkey King were famous for being so vastly different and yet so inseparable.
Said Monkey King was silent on his shoulder, long enough to make Tang a little nervous.
“He’s not as good with his impulse control.” Sun Wukong eventually said, after a long moment of debating on what to say. “I doubt he would waste his time actively going after you, but in the spur of the moment he may grab you a little too hard.” Tang sighed out a breath of relief. “That’s not so bad.” He hummed, looking down at the ground to avoid stepping on anything sharp. By now he was sure he had already cut himself multiple times on too pointy pebbles or whatever else was on the ground.
The bird on his shoulder ruffled his feather slightly and looked at the sky, then around them before his gaze fixated back ahead of them. “Not so sure about that.” He supplied, which caused Tang to almost laugh, instead settling on a chuckle. “It’s fine. Pigsy does it all the time.” Which he did. The man even hit him over the head sometimes if Tang was being especially insufferable. “I can imagine.” Sun Wukong weighed his words again, seemingly thinking them over very carefully before he spoke again. “But I also doubt your friend would be capable of tearing your ear drums from sneezing too hard.”
The tone was still easy going but the implications had Tang’s smile slip off his face as he glanced at Sun Wukong, who was still perching on his shoulder like a good bird. “I’m not saying he’s gonna.” The rust colored avian muttered, huffing. “I’m just telling you to not forget that he could.”
It didn’t sound like it was supposed to be a threat. But the way of how Sun Wukong worded it like it could happen made Tang feel cold and stiff again. Right. These were immortal beings who could move mountains. Being grabbed a little too hard by one of them could maybe be enough already to break every bone in Tang’s body, now that he gave it proper thought. They wouldn’t even have to mean it. Just bumping into him a tad too energetic could put Tang into the hospital or worse, six feet under.
Remembering the mocking grin of Macaque laughing at him when he’d found out they had lied to him, back to his soft, smiling, fond expression he wore as he looked at Tang as if he hung the stars into the sky when he proudly told him he could read. Tang couldn’t tell which one was the real him.. if he even had gotten a glimpse of the real Macaque yet.
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
“This is the place.” Sun Wukong hummed in a relaxed manner, slipping off Tang’s shoulder and flapping his wings a few times to reach the red, wooden door that was connected to a relatively small house that didn’t exactly look like it was a restaurant. More like.. like someone lived there. Tang raised an eyebrow, letting his gaze skim it over as he took in the manufacturing of the building. Finding it looking relatively old.
The color of the walls was flaking off, the wood looked worn and borderline struggling to keep the roof up that was perched on top, washed out grey that gave Tag an impression it used to be emerald green. Not just that but it was borderline taken over by nature, all kinds of weeds littering the small garden that was fenced in with something that looked more like barbed wire than an actual fence.
The weeds were even climbing the building, winding around the windows and into cracks that were in the foundation. Tang grimaced a little. “..How old is this place?” He muttered, stepping over the wire without even running the risk of cutting himself or anything, that’s how low it had been spun around the estate. Sun Wukong all the while had morphed back into his simian form, patting himself down and pulling some fabric into proper place. The image of him acting like he was attempting to make a good impression raised Tang’s curiosity of who lived here.
“Give or take a few hundred years or so? Maybe older, actually. It’s been redone twice, I believe.” Tang stepped next to the other, crossing his hands behind his back as he smiled in awe at the building. “I’m surprised you know that. Didn’t take you to know something about the buildings in this city.” Sun Wukong pat over his own hair, as if trying to tame his mane a little. “I don’t. But I helped build this house.” Which caused Tang to sputter a little. “Wh- seriously? You-“ “-and Macaque. We knew the original owner.”
There were a few thousand questions running around his head that he wanted to ask immediately. Who was the original owner? How come they stuck around- he said it had been built generations prior, how come they were still here? Did it always look like this? Did they help when the building got a touch up?
Sun Wukong knocks on the door, seven full times in a bit of a rhythm and firmly enough that the wood shook a little, cutting into Tang’s curiosity and making the human worry that the simian was about to tear the door out of it’s angles. He must have noticed Tang’s wide, worried eyes because he got an apologetic smile, the rust colored monkey shrugging helplessly. “She won’t know who’s at the door otherwise.”
Which only raised more questions. Really. Not just that but after an entire minute of waiting at the door, Tang was growing antsy while Sun Wukong looked like nothing was wrong with waiting at this door. Tang was glancing around. He could see some people in the distance, walking in their vague direction and it was making him sweat a little more than he already was. “Mh.. So..” The scholar began. “..You.. helped build this house?” The simian flicked his tail. “Been a while, but yeah.” He wasn't disclosing anything else.
It made Tang feel like he was going to jump out of his skin. If the knowing smirk he got was anything to go by, Sun Wukong knew what he was doing. Bastard. Furry, very strong, charming, dumb bastard. Tang frowned upon being caught staring, avoiding to look at the other again and crossed his arms over his chest.
Just in time for the door to creak, which caused Tang to twitch and stare at it swing open slowly. Revealing a small, old woman on the other side of it. Shrunken and wrinkled like a raisin, the woman stood roughly at Tang’s chest height, a white and braided mass of hair going over her shoulder and following her mass down to her feet almost. She wasn’t wearing anything fancy either, a simple red, lotus patterned dress that pooled a little around her feet and thus had collected some dust and a white apron, as if she had just been in the kitchen.
Tang blinked down at the old woman, dumbfounded. Sun Wukong didn’t let that hinder him as he twitched his tail happily and smile, bright and wide, showing his fangs off as if he was about to maul her. “Good evening, Li Na.” His tone was warm and friendly in a way Tang hadn't heard before. Guarded, in a manner.
“Sun Wukong!” Her voice was kind, though lacking energy. If Tang had to guess she wasn’t used to being up this early either.. then again, it might be her age. Looking her up and down.. she looked ready to join the 300 years club.. if not for the fact only a small percentage of the population ever made it past a 100. Regardless, she was tip toeing in a slow pace closer to the male, who actually went down on one knee so he could open his arms and embrace her. His tail curled happily as he nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck.
Tang’s jaw about hit the floor if not the fact he was forcing composure upon himself thanks to the tiny woman craning her head back to stare up at him. “Macaque did say you were bringing a guest.” So the darker furred male was here already. Tang offered a careful smile. “Tang.” He bowed a little. “It is an honor to meet you, Miss Li Na.” Buddha only knew how old she actually was. Alone being in Sun Wukong’s arms dwarfed her completely, even though the simian was averagely sized. But finally the male let off of her, standing up again to stroll past her with a quick. “I’ll be inside.” Just like that, abandoning Tang with the older woman as he made his way into the house like he lived here too.
Tang was already sweating about how he should explain to the woman why he looked like they fished him out of a homeless shelter when she looked him up and down but she just smiled, showing off that she was missing a few teeth. “Pulled you out of bed too, didn’t they?” The weak humor in her voice stunted him a little before all the tension bled out of the man, laughing softly and shaking his head. “2 AM.” Li Na shook her head fondly, slowly turning to move back inside, Tang following her in a measured pace. His gaze wandered around to take in what the house had to offer.
It looked as old on the inside as on the outside. Filled to the brim with relics of the past, illustrations, old and new, family pictures.. it was filthy but a definitely well loved home.
“They don’t visit often, so I usually don’t fuss about the time as long as they don’t drag me anywhere, those times are over.” He could imagine. “I‘m surprised they don’t just do it anyway. My protests fall on deaf ears.” Tang joked half assed, holding a door open that she struggled a little with. The senior nodded slightly and seemed to struggle to find the right words. He didn’t interrupt her thought process, even when she stopped to ponder it over. “Ah.. Yes.. I remember.” Li Na began to walk again. “I think you have to break something.” She sounded like she was joking but Tang raised his eyebrows anyway and chuckled almost nervously. “What?”
“Our last adventure ended with me breaking my legs.” She was reminiscing. “They haven’t taken me anywhere since.” She squinted her eyes. “I believe that was.. 11 years ago.” Tang felt slightly stiff, listening to her. Li Na did not sound too upset about not being brought anywhere though so.. Tang could only assume she was fine with it. “Ah.. if I may ask.. how old are you exactly?.. For reference.”
“98 years.” Tang almost stopped walking after her in his snail pace he was holding, pulling a grimace. “..You should probably not let them disturb your sleep, Miss.” But he was waved off. “It’s been three years. I’ll be fine this one night.” This time Tang did stop walking to watch the back of her head, tilting his own a little and unable to keep the question from bursting out of him. “They really don’t come by often then?” He had assumed once a month or something, considering how fond Sun Wukong had seemed of her.
But all she did was shake her head. Stopping to walk on her own and turn a little to Tang with a tired smile. “By mortal standards.. I suppose so.”
She continued to walk. Tang stood there and watched her struggle through a doorway, where he could hear the muffled voice of Macaque saying something, followed by Sun Wukong. Tang was left alone in the hallway and had no choice but to think about the implication. Right. They were immortal. To them, three years was probably nothing. He glanced up the wall to his right, staring at the many shelves that were bursting over with trinkets and ornaments.
“Scholar!” The bellowing of Macaque snapped him out of his thoughts. “Stop creeping around and get over here!” That got the man to jerk into motion and quickly hurry through the hallway to the room she had disappeared into, thankful that the ground was clean and carpeted. His soles were crying still from having to learn the way of stone. Bursting through the doorframe he almost tripped over Sun Wukong’s tail, hopping barely over it and coming to a full stop at the sight.
A living room. There was a couch, on which Macaque was sprawled out, a coffee table where Sun Wukong had sat on the ground to put his upper body against and Li Na was slowly making her way to another door, where he could spot a kitchen through. Tang’s eyebrows twitched. “There you are.” Macaque waved from where he was laying, smiling and spreading both arms out. “Cool, huh? This house is older than 13 generations!” “14.” Sun Wukong cut in, propping himself up on his elbows. “I’m not counting Chueng. Guy was awful.”
The rust colored simian smiled at his partner. “Worse than you? Rough.” Tang couldn’t really follow the conversation, glancing between them and the old Li Na, who was currently trying to reach an upper shelf that seemed to hold some spices. Ah damn it- he stepped past Sun Wukong to see if he could help her, only to have a tail wrap around his wrist and jerk him around a little. Buddha damn it- “Don’t bother her.” Macaque’s eyes were narrowed and his teeth were bared. “Bug us with your dumb nerd stuff but if you-“ Tang tore his arm free so firmly it would have stung like hell had Macaque not released it.
“Aren’t you going to help her? She’s trying to cook for you!” Macaque raised an eyebrow at that, his aggressive expression turning dumbfounded. “She always has?” Sun Wukong was lounging on the ground still but waved Tang off. “Yeah, Li Na’s great like that. You have to be patient but her food always tastes the best, we thought for sure you ought to try it.” Macaque snickered from where he was laying. “She used to be faster in that department.” Sun Wukong waved it off. “Or any department.” There had to be an ulterior motive Tang wasn’t seeing but looking over his shoulder, Li Na was still trying to reach those darn spices. He spun back around to the simians, who were giving him an odd look.
“By mortal standards.. I suppose so.”
Tang blinked as he remembered those words. He straightened out a little as his own frustration left him a bit. Right. “She’s 98 years old.” Watching their attentive expressions he could tell they were actually listening right now, probably curious what had triggered Tang this time. Tang glanced over his shoulder, crouched down to be closer to them and spoke in a lower voice to not be heard by the senior. “..Human’s rarely get that old. She’s struggling.” Sun Wukong frowned a little, seemingly letting it run through his head but Macaque switched from laying down to sitting, a grim expression on his face.
Tang remembered Sun Wukong’s warning, but kept going anyway. “You said yourself, she used to be faster..” Tang himself was running through multiple things in his head right now. Because he had erred as well. Up until now he had held Macaque and Sun Wukong to the standard of any mortal contact he may have gained but the bottom line was, they weren’t mortal and the man doubted highly they had a lot of mortal contacts, considering despite their age and experience, they seemed to struggle with the entire concept of human nature. “I’m.. I’m not trying to say she’s incapable.. but look at her.”
He thinks about Li Na breaking her legs. 11 years and neither of the two immortals had ever taken her outside again during their visits. As if coming up with safe trips for a frail woman was beyond their capabilities.
And despite the black furred simian looking ready to maim Tang, he did. Sun Wukong also turned his head a little, both males peeking through the door where Li Na was currently trying to drag an average sized chair to where the spices were. One wouldn’t have to be a doctor to recognize that this simple task seemed to take everything out of the small woman, who was gritting the few teeth she had left and making a concentrated, almost pained expression.
Almost immediately Macaque was over Tang, pouncing over the male and at the side of the senior so quickly he barely even saw it, just felt it more by the draft of the wind. Wukong hadn’t moved but his face had fallen a little as he watched his companion grab the spices for Li Na, who ended up having to sit on the chair she’d been dragging to huff and puff as if she had run a marathon. He didn’t say anything and didn’t look at Tang for the longest moment. Eventually getting up and moving to the kitchen also. Tang wrung his hands a little. He could hear them talking softly amongst each other and felt like this was an intimate moment that he shouldn’t be interrupting.
They really hadn’t figured it out on their own. Like the fact that humans aged until they died had slipped their minds.
He stood to walk over to the kitchen too now, knocking carefully on the doorframe. “Why don’t you guys sit in the living room? I’ll cook my famous, secret recipe.” It was famous to no one and secret because it didn’t exist. But this was a good way for him to get out of their hair a little so the simians could come to terms with the suddenly very apparent mortality that this woman was fighting with.
Li Na was swatting at Sun Wukong, who was idling in her personal space and playing with her braided hair. “Oh, it’s fine-“ She started, only to be interrupted. “Do that.” Macaque cut in, picking the small woman up and with a slap of his tail got Sun Wukong to not pull on her hair when he did so, slinking past Tang with the protesting, old woman. Ahhh there it was. The similarity. Watching the immortals bulldoze over any protest she may be bringing up felt almost cathartic. If only because he knew they weren’t dragging her any further than the living room.
Watching them put her on the couch to crowd her despite her bickering for personal space reminded him of why he offered to cook in the first place. Right. He turned his back to them so he could begin going through the kitchen to see what he even had to work with. Doing so only proved to Tang that the woman was beyond her capabilities as he found a lot of moldy things that weren’t even edible anymore. The man frowned a little. He was exhausted, tired to the bone but the thought of leaving this woman upon their departure behind to die in her filth gave him a stomach ache.. he’d have to talk with her.
The sun had risen. Almost an hour had passed and the time was 6:30 AM now.
In the end Tang managed to scrounge up enough food that wasn’t expired to bake a potato filled casserole. He had also begun cleaning the kitchen to spend more time in here, as everytime he glanced into the living room he found it to be a picture of idyllic harmony he didn’t know from the two immortals who’d kidnapped him here. He checked most recently two minutes ago to find Sun Wukong re-braiding her hair for the maybe thousandth time since he started doing it twenty minutes ago. Macaque had his head in her lap and was talking quietly about.. who knew, Li Na was listening and petting his hair.
He doubted they imagined their outing with Tang to end like this. They probably really just came for the food and were now staying to.. mh.. who knew. Tang went back into the kitchen and continued to struggle with the casserole he was slowly bringing into existence. It didn’t look disgusting or anything but he was sure that if Pigsy made it, it’d look like actual food and not a cheap imitation of the dish it was supposed to represent in these trying times. He was gonna ask her if he could clean her house..
Tang was also going to see if he couldn’t convince the woman to give up on it and maybe move to a senior home, not being able to see her continuing to live here on her own. If she struggled this badly just cooking who knew what else she struggled with. The man couldn’t leave her like this. That was for sure..
Decisions, Decisions..
In the case of an emergency, where she denied and rejected any help he would have to go behind the Sages backs and call the authorities. Because her condition explained why this home was a mess. A somewhat clean but messy mess. She deserved to not have to struggle to feed herself at least.. Tang rolled his shoulders, narrowed his eyes and hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Pulling the casserole out of the oven and begin plating it he was relieved to have it smell decent.
“Food’s done!” He called over to give them ample time and maybe change how they wanted to sit in case they hadn’t noticed Tang peeking in every now and then but when he entered the living room they had barely even twitched. With one difference. The woman was asleep. Breathing heavily into the silence of the room, which caused Tang to note the weird rattling of her doing so. He pulled a bit of a grimace as he couldn’t help but focus on it, carefully putting the plates down and going to get the other two.
When he came back Wukong had finally stopped braiding her hair so he could get some food in, Macaque had sat up but kept her propped against his body, his cape now multitasking as a blanket as he grabbed for his own plate. Both of them left the biggest portion for Li Na, who was still sleeping. Tang decided to sit on the floor, across from them and waited a moment to see if they’d wake her. When neither did he grabbed his own plate finally, leaving the larger portion for Li Na, not because he thought she’d be able to eat it all in her condition but because he didn’t want to fight them, trying to explain to them why he was taking the larger portion.
Tang highly doubted she’d eat all of it anyway.
Silence reigned until Tang finally spoke up, first, quietly to not wake the woman. “..I’m going to talk to her about leaving this home and moving to a senior home once she wakes up.” Macaque bristled his fur, suddenly appearing larger than he was and while Sun Wukong looked sour at the prospect, he just narrowed his eyes dangerously at Tang. “The hell you are.” The low growl he got from Macaque was expected. Tang remembered Sun Wukongs warning. He also remembered how dirty this house was. Especially in the places where she wasn’t able to reach. He remembered how she struggled to cook.
“You just watched her struggle to get spice.” Tang deadpanned. “Look at how messy this house is.” He dragged his finger under the coffee table, lifting it to show the cake of dust he had gathered just from this small gesture. “..She needs help.” Macaque stared at the dust. Glanced at Sun Wukong and made a vague hand gesture, clearly agitated. The rust colored monkey didn’t even look but his expression soured more. Tang could almost see the cogs in his head turning. In this regard he supposed Sun Wukong had one up on his partner, being socially more adaptable and understanding than the six eared Macaque.
Macaque clearly thought so too, considering he was waiting for the other simians' verdict on this situation. Tang felt like he was on trial for murder with the cold attitude he was being stared down with. “..Elaborate on Senior Home.” The rust colored simian had emptied his plate fast, now balancing it on a fingertip as he watched Tang struggle for words. “It’s nothing bad! She’d just be living in a facility where she can get support with the things she can no longer do!” He raised his hands in defense at both of their borderline angry faces. “You can still visit her, she can leave whenever she wants to. It is just.. a home where someone is always there if something does happen. What if she falls and no one finds her here? Or if she hurts herself and doesn’t manage to go to the doctor? They take care of stuff like that.”
Macaque still didn’t really look convinced. Looming as much as holding Li Na would allow him but Sun Wukong had retreated back to his thoughtful expression. Again, Tang could almost see his head steam with the concentration of finding the right solution for this problem.
“..Fine.”
“What?! ” Macaque would have probably bolted up if not for the fact he had at this point basically wrapped around the older lady to a point where Tang was almost worried she had died, considering she still hadn’t woken up from her slumber apparently. “You’re gonna let him put her in a human zoo? ” Sun Wukong bristled. “It’s a home for old people, Li Na’s old, she’ll fit perfectly in there.” Tang hadn’t even eaten yet and right now he wasn’t even feeling hungry as Macaque spun his head around to stare him down with vile intent in his gaze. Suddenly he didn’t feel like Li Na being in his arms was going to protect him from what was about to happen next.
A frail hand reached up and booped the simian on the snout, making him freeze mid-movement and blink down where Li Na was sitting. She was looking at Tang though. “..If you could leave us alone for a minute, I would be grateful.” Tang raised his eyebrows and hummed thoughtfully as his legs already moved to get him out of this room. So she had been awake. Wondered how much of what he said she had heard.
Tang doesn’t turn around to look back when he makes for the door. This time he just left the house almost completely, sitting right at the main entrance and listening in on whether he could hear Macaque come for his throat after all. Then again, if the simian wanted him dead, he doubted that he’d notice much of it before his head was on the other side of the hallway.
There is no sound now.
This trip had been nothing short of a disaster, but it did ended up giving Tang a change of perspective he doubted he’d have been able to achieve if he hadn’t come along on this. Unwilling or not.
They weren’t like him. Tang had been holding them to a standard that he felt was impossible to meet for them. They weren’t like usual people. They weren’t mortal. Their very own standards were miles away from the one that mortal society held to one another. If only for the fact that they had to worry about accidentally killing one another.
Tang let his gaze wander to take in the shelves that lined the walls, overstuffed with relics of the past as they were, barely holding onto the screws that kept them in place. The human rubbed his left thumb over the back of his right hand, unsure of what he should feel in a situation such as this. He didn’t even have a watch to check the time with, unsure for how long he’d been sitting here. Felt like a bit. Couldn’t have been though.
The minutes ticked by and Tang focused within himself. It felt like it was the only thing he could be doing right now.
In the end, the whole trip had not been what Tang expected. He came here assuming things would be a bother and while it was one kind of bother, Tang was glad he had been here.
Li Na was going to a home, where she should have been a while ago. Tang was unsure about what would be happening to the house, she had no children or left over family. The last of her line. Li Na hadn’t said anything about it either when they talked about what could happen next once Sun Wukong and Macaque were no longer breathing down his neck.
Really. He was surprised they didn’t just ditch them then and there.
The final product was Tang using Li Na’s phone to call some places as soon as 8 AM hit the fan and go through contacts until he found a place that was willing to take the woman. It wasn’t in Turbo-Storm Valley though and they ended up having to transport the woman by cloud two cities over. Which wouldn’t take that long but with the frail woman clinging to, ironically, Tang the whole trip Sun Wukong was flying like he just got his license.
Three hours until they got there, only for both simians to wait out of sight as Tang handed the lady over to a couple of friendly looking caretakers, giving them his number and so on to be available in the case of an emergency as he didn’t think either Macaque or Sun Wukong owned a phone.. they.. they might?.. But he had never seen either of them use one in his vicinity so it was beyond his knowledge. The whole time Tang had to also pretend he didn’t notice their weird stares as they took him in, on the account of him looking like a homeless guy. Pajamas and no shoes and all.
Regardless, here he was. Tang waved Li Na with a tired smile as they led the woman into the building, only stopping when she was out of sight, to which he let his shoulders slump and puffed out an exhausted breath.. Glancing over his shoulder he spotted neither of the simians and it made his stomach clench.
Neither of them had talked to him since his plan to get the woman to a place where she could reside without having to worry about the basic needs to live a comfortable, humane life. Macaque hadn’t tried to bite him again but he wasn’t sure what to make of their silence, considering they couldn’t shut up for the life of them beforehand. ..Tang grimaced as he turned around and began to slowly trail to the nearby park they had landed in, thinking of several scenarios where they upped and left and Tang would have to beg for a phone to use so he could get Pigsy to please pick him up.
Eugh.
So when he fought through a bunch of bushes and found them still there he almost wanted to cry out of relief. Except for he was too freaking tired to be crying and it just made him more exhausted to be thinking about it. Tang felt like a kicked puppy too, unable to specifically ask if they could please just take him home so they could pretend they had never met. He’s dead on his feet at this point.
He had neither eaten anything in the end, nor really gotten the sleep he’d been promised yet. Instead it was almost 2 PM and he felt like he was going to pass out. Maybe they’d try and make him beg. At this point he might-
Poof. Cloud. Higher than the human could reach though. Tang blinked as Sun Wukong hopped onto it while Macaque reached over to grab Tang by his scruff and fling him up there where he proceeded to land face first in a cloud, sputtering and trying to not just lay back down and go to sleep. He remained on his side though, turning only to sleepily look at the two simians as they were getting comfortable.
They weren’t looking at him, mumbling quietly to one another in favor of interacting with the human.. whatever. He turned so his back was to them and he finally let his eyes close. Let them pout. Tang knew he did the right thing. He hoped anyway.. He would have fallen asleep like this too, five seconds away from it before a tail wrapped around his middle and tugged the man close.
He coughed a little, turning his head to see Macaque leaning over him with a slight frown. Sun Wukong was slightly off to the side but he was also, seemingly, paying attention to where he was flying. “..What?” Tang croaked, pulling the tail off and sitting up with a frown. “Want me to be awake until we get home for some dumb reason?” Tang almost bit his tongue at that, not wanting to give them reason to make him walk home and all-
He’s being grabbed and smushed. Finding himself between the two simians and surrounded by fur, fabric and cloud. His eyes immediately felt heavier, making the man have to actively fight sleep. “.. Don’t know what answer that’s supposed to be-“ “Go sleep, scholar.” Sun Wukong reached down to comb through Tang’s hair as if he was petting a dog. Forget the comfortable position, this was putting him into a coma. Macaque next to him shifted slightly so he could curl up next to Tang, back to back with his tail wrapping around the man’s waist again. He said nothing though, just huffed softly and seemed to be sitting in Tang’s boat of wanting some shut eye.
“You did good.” Sun Wukong’s fingers were gently digging into his scalp. Tang had to bite his teeth together to not make a happy noise at the sensation but ended up letting his eyes drift close and sleep finally claim him.
It was warm. Comfortable. There was a slight breeze going over his face but Tang didn’t feel like opening his eyes immediately to check out what it was. Especially with those fingers combing through his hair in a way his mother used to do when he was younger.. He huffed softly, curling a little into the warm mass to his left to which he heard a chuckle right into his ear.
Tang flinched and opened his eyes, turning his head to blink into two half-lidded, golden orbs staring him down. The red face markings gave away who was holding him.
“..You sure sleep deep. Pretty sure Wukong could have crushed this thing and it wouldn’t have woken you.”
Three things that immediately jumped Tang right in the face as he tried to decide whether to panic or not. One, they were still on the cloud but definitely not travelling anymore. Two, he couldn’t see Sun Wukong in his nearby vicinity, the male wasn’t on the cloud anymore but it was still floating here. Three, he was basically laying on the Six Eared Macaque and Tang felt like that alone was enough reason to panic. He put his palms flat on the cloud, trying to push himself up and roll away but not only was the give of the cloud making this incredibly difficult, two strong arms wrapped around him and Macaque turned so they were laying on their sides, face to face.
“Don’t tell me you slept enough. Been barely four hours.” Where were they? Tang’s sweating balls as he remembered not only Macaque’s furious expression when he told them Li Na needed to go somewhere else but also the Monkey King’s warning. “Mhm.. Mh..” Tang put both hands onto the other’s shoulders and fought with the urge to shove the guy. “Mh, yep. All slept out- are we home?” He’s trying to sit up but it was physically impossible. “Sure, pal.” Macaque’s grin was slipping off his face the more Tang began to subtly struggle. “Can you stop fidgeting? I’m comfortable here.”
Tang stopped fidgeting but didn’t know what he could say in this situation that would lift this awkward veil that was floating above his head. Eventually, because Macaque wouldn’t stop looking at him, he finally found something after all. “..Are you still.. upset?” He winced at the wording but in the moment didn’t really have anything else he could add. Macaque just raised a bushy eyebrow and was now fully frowning. “..No.” But he also added little else to it.
Tang didn’t know what else he could ask but ended up figuring something out after all. “..Where’s Monkey King?..” Which just made the simian scoff. “Miss him already?” Tang rolled his eyes, slowly beginning to shift and realizing that as long as he wasn’t moving too fast, the monkey would let him move around. So Tang began to carefully abuse that to roll onto his back and not be directly face to face, feeling his own features having grown warm thanks to the close proximity. “You’re usually together.” Usually. He assumed that. “You say that as if we’re attached by the hip.”
Macaque was also laying on his back now. Both side by side, looking up. “…But Wukong’s in the hut.. He didn’t wanna sleep and I didn’t wanna watch another re-run of ‘The Monkey King, Night of the Zombweenies.’ I think if I have to watch that movie one more time I’m going to cancel my immortality.” Tang raised an eyebrow. “.. That’s possible?” The simian scoffed. “No.. but I’d be willing to try.”
“I heard that!” Tang craned his head back to see the rust colored monkey stick his head out of the window of the small building in the middle of the cave. Scowling. “This movie is great! ” Macaque sat up and groaned. “You think that because you’re in it.” Which caused the Monkey King to shake his fist. “IT’S A WORK OF ART!”
Tang felt like the world was right enough again. If they were bickering like this and he was being cuddled by one of them, they couldn’t be that mad at him.. Right? The man crossed his legs and sat straight to be able to watch both monkeys spit at each other. Macaque had sat up, leaning over the edge of the cloud to yell at his companion. “I’M NOT WATCHING IT AGAIN!” Hammering the cloud with his fist and ruffling his fur he could almost see both of them cracking under this.. tension? Was it tension?.. Tang glanced between them, lifted one hand to his mouth and gasped in a loud, fake manner before turning to Sun Wukong and yelling over.
“Monkey King! Macaque said it’s trash!”
Macaque twitched, his head snapping around with a confused grin on his face, a bit of sweat forming on the side of his head. “You little bastard.” But before the male could retaliate Sun Wukong had bridged the distance and tackled- not Macaque. No. He tore Tang cleanly off the cloud, making the man scream bloody murder as he hurdled through the air, only to find himself land on the ground almost completely painlessly. Staring wide eyed at a glaring Sun Wukong. He almost looked angry.
“I have good hearing too.” Over the man’s shoulder he saw Macaque peek out from over the edge of the cloud, grinning. Now he cupped his own mouth and called down to them. “He said your movie is trash, peaches. You gonna let him get away with that?” Tang’s going to die- “You have ten seconds.” The rust colored simian backed off slightly, his tail swishing. He couldn’t be serious- “One.” He was serious.
Tang scrambled to his legs. “Wait- I’m sorry-“ “Two.” Holy Heck, the man hurried to try and sprint away from the other, hearing Macaque’s bellowing laughter from behind him before it was suddenly in front of him as he hit the other’s chest mid-run, sputtering and trying to back off only to have the male grab him by his sweater and hold the fabric with an, if not for the situation, almost soft smile. His eyes narrowed as he leaned closer to Tang’s face and crooned at the human. “You’re not scared, are you?” He’s going to die.
Tang tried to flail out of the male having his sweater but without rolling over the floor he doubted he could get out of it. “Five.” Tang threw his pride away and put on his best puppy eyes as he tried to squirm away. “Y-You wouldn’t let him throw me off his cloud, I’m frail!” Macaque glanced over Tang’s head and snickered. “You think he’s only gonna toss you?” Not a good sign. The scholar was wiggling like a fish. “Okok I’m sorry- I shouldn’t have tried this-“
Macaque didn’t even bother replying as he grinned at Sun Wukong walking over, cracking his knuckles. “Ten.” Life is flashing before his eyes. Every decision Tang ever made came up and he would regret a bunch of them. “No, wait, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it was trash, I was just joking!” He’s pressing his back automatically against Macaque just because he couldn’t get past the simian and Sun Wukong looked like he was about to snap his neck. “Come on, y-you can take a joke.. right?”
Two hands moved towards him and the human was about to yell in fear only for no pain to never really happen. Instead he just got grabbed by his hips. Tang blinked at the hands on him, then up at Sun Wukong to see the male smile amused. “You really got yourself to blame for this, really.” Which did sound relatively ominous but still, no pain. Instead the immortal began to poke and prod his middle section and Tang realized maybe getting a beating would have been less humiliating.
“Hrfg- No-“ Macaque actually let Tang go, to which the human finally managed to stumble away and try and make a run for it, it takes about five seconds to get tackled down and be rolling around the ground like some toddler with the great sage, equal to heaven. Macaque was crouching close by, looking mildly amused as Tang managed to shove and prod back at Sun Wukong as the rust colored monkey laughed brightly and loudly.
“Get off of me!” Tang kicked out but only got flipped so his face pressed against the ground as a tail got under his sweater to wiggle around on his back and make the man break into shrieking laughter almost immediately. With the Monkey King on his legs Tang wasn’t going anywhere either, squirming and trying to crawl away regardless as he eventually just melted against the floor to make a weak grab for Macaque. “Hhfnehehaha- Hehelp meehehe!”
The simian raised a bushy eyebrow, smirking. “What’s the magic word?” He was basically cooing over the laughing human, who squeezed his eyes shut and tried to not lose his cracked glasses. “Pleahahaseehehe!” There was no way he could fight the male on top of him, who wasn’t even using his hands and just seemingly relaxed on top of the human. “He can’t save you from this.” Oh, now those hands were sneaking over his sides and Tang was sure he was turning into jelly, weakly hitting the ground and hiding his face in his free arm as he shook his head.
Macaque didn’t even bother moving and inch to try and help, he just looked satisfied watching his mate torture the human for the next two minutes before he finally let up and peered at the flushed man’s face who was panting like a rabid dog by the end of it. “..Had enough?” Wukong needled Tang, getting off his legs to sit next to him and put a friendly hand on his back. The human groaned weakly from where he was laying and slowly rolled onto his back to try and drive the tingling away, which just made Wukong put his hand on his shoulder instead.
“Hff.. I.. hff.. said I was sorry..” Tang grumbled, glaring at Macaque who hadn’t been any help at all.. the male just scooted over to sit on Tang’s other side and curl his tail on his stomach. “Mhm. You did.” He glanced at Wukong, who just shrugged. “Wanted to see if you’re still ticklish.” Tang grimaced, face still red from laughing so hard as he closed his eyes. “Hff.. Still..?” Macaque’s tail was rubbing soothing circles into his stomach with just enough pressure to be comfortable. “Still.”
Tang opened his eyes to blink up at them both as they stared him down, though in this moment he didn’t feel unnerved at all. “..You’re.. being weird again.. hff..” He was finally catching his breath. Wukong just shrugged again, smiling down at Tang. “Oughta be used to that by now. See it as thanks for helping us help Li Na.” Ahh.. so they really weren’t angry about that disaster.. good. “Being weird.. isn’t much of a thanks.” Tang thought about sitting up but the belly rubs were really nice. Macaque just scoffed slightly.
“Fine, smart guy. What you want?” The master of shadows asked, his eyes half lidded as if he was growing tired again. Tang could relate. Now that he was done laughing he felt dead again. Sun Wukong stretched his arms over his head and reached to the side to drag his cloud closer that had just appeared again. Tang knew it would be soft, comfortable, so despite the urge to cash in more belly rubs he turned to crawl a bit after the simian and plant himself into the cotton-like goodness of the cloud as if he had been invited. No one stopped him.
Macaque’s tail was replaced with his hand rubbing soothing circles into his tummy when the black furred simian followed. “Sleep. Sleep and food. That order.” Tang relaxed, melted basically as Sun Wukong was curling up himself. In no time they were all piled against one another. Tang felt tired beyond redemption, yawning and closing his eyes already, barely cutting in the “Sounds like a plan, bud.” from the Monkey King.
Tang was drifting off, cuddled up with two monkeys and finding himself not regretting having gone on this trip after all, despite the circumstances on how he ended up going on it. How strange the world was.. sometimes things just worked out, even when they started off shit and their social skills? He could brush up on those with them.
The human fell under, dreaming of nothing but clouds.