Chapter Text
Tang stared at the cards he was holding, his brows slightly furrowed before peeking up at Pigsy, who was sitting in front of him on a pillow. They both had one each to not be planting roots directly on the floor... The raven haired male with glasses supporting one hand upon the ground below. The shop’s backroom was directly next to the storage and somewhat comfortable. No table or chairs yet but Pigsy thought about it. The singular plant that the pink skinned male put in here definitely brought some gentle life into this place.
Speaking of damn? Damn it, he was losing.
Pigsy seemed to be able to guess that too, as he was lounging there in a way too relaxed manner, grinning at him with that infuriating, smug expression that was radiating an eerie amount of confidence that made Tang wanna chuck the cards at the cook. Instead he pushed his glasses up his nose a little and tries to find solace in the fact that he held out almost an entire minute longer than last game.
That’s still merely four minutes but.. frankly, he didn’t understand the game that well. .. Now that he thought about it, Tang’s not sure if he was even thinking of the right game or if he was switching things up and that was why he kept losing.
“There’s no shame in surrender.” Suck an egg you walnut. Tang grinded his teeth as he glared at the waggling eyebrows of his oldest friend. “Don’t see why I should surrender. I’m doing great.” He quipped back. Reaching out to grab another card from the pile stacked between them, holding it between his pointer and index finger to make a show of elegantly holding it in front of his face. See if Lady Luck would help him out here.
Ahh drat..
Pigsy broke into laughter, leaning back even further where he sat and putting his cards front down. “You look like you’re holding in a fart.” Tang couldn’t help but grimace harder at the crude comparison, rolling his eyes and just putting his cards down in defeat, even though he had proclaimed there was no need for him to submit just moments prior. Ah darn, whatever. Fine.
“Playing anything with you reminds me why I usually don’t.” He pointed at the pink skinned male in front of him, who was still showing off his canines as he scratched his stomach in a lazy manner. “You’re too competitive!” With that the scholar threw his arms up, aggravated even more so because Pigsy wasn’t taking him seriously. “I just wanted to play one or two times, not fifty-three times in a row for you to show me that I don’t know how to play!”
How’d he even get here? Glancing to the side he could see that it was late. The sun had gone down along the line. The only light that illuminated the backroom of the shop that they were in was the struggling lantern above them and it seemed to have grown exhausted too without any new oil to fuel it. Obviously, there was electricity but after closing Pigsy didn’t want to keep burning energy. Nevermind that though, Tang had grown annoyed throughout all of this and remembered that they lived together and he’d have to deal with this smug demeanor the whole night and morning after..
“Aw come on, it’s not that you don’t know how to play.” Pigsy seemed completely uncaring about Tang’s little hissy fit, which in itself wasn’t that rare to occur. It usually just happened between closed doors. He shrugged and waved the human off with a smirk to the side. “You’re just bad at it!” He hopes someone roasts this pig. Makes something worthwhile out of him.
Tang rubbed over his face. “I’m leaving.” He mumbled, relatively frustrated but already coming down from it just by deciding to not play any more than that. Having decided to play over fifty times had been his first mistake anyway. “Aw, come on!” Pigsy hammered both palms onto the floor, which creaked dangerously. “I’ve barely gotten warm! You can’t tell me you’re done already-“ Tang bristled, got up and brushed his legs off. “You say that as if beating me game after game is providing you a proper mental stimulus.”
“That’s not why I play against you!“ Pigsy faltered. “I mean, no, that’s not..” He rolled his shoulders and canted his head a bit back, glancing off to the left in an almost guilty fashion and pulling his lips taut. “..Ehr, Well..” Tang’s eyebrow twitched. It caused his friend to flash him a nervous smile, shrugging helplessly. “..I mean.. we were having fun.. right?”
“You played against me because you didn’t wanna lose.” He concluded. Walking around Pigsy to head to the exit that let to the alley behind the shop. His friend stayed on the ground. “Aw come on, when do we ever play anything?” He asked, watching the human head out. “Haven’t played since you almost killed me playing table tennis.” He hadn’t suffered actual injury and had not been in grave, life threatening danger either.
But watching Pigsy squirm was fun. He already knew that breakfast tomorrow would be very huge if the guilty shifting of the cook was anything to go by. That alone made his mood improve slightly. Still.. he stopped before completely leaving the building to look over his shoulder and raise his hand in a somewhat wave. “See you home.” Which relaxed the older male slightly. “Yeah. I’ll just clean some equipment away but I’ll be home in ten.”
Didn’t wanna leave on a sour note after all. It was a dangerous world. Who knew what could happen, especially with all that wild stuff happening most recently.
Tang gave another short wave and then headed out, relieved Pigsy let him head home on his own as he really needed some time to calm down after he’d struggled for over an hour in a game that he still was very bad at. Knowing now that Pigsy just wanted to get a win streak in, kind of explained a little why the man hadn’t explained anything.
He should read up on it and beat him in it next time. Mhh but before he did so, maybe he ought to buy himself a little midnight snack before heading straight home. There were some 24h-stores in the area and one wasn’t all too far off.
Walking down the empty, dark street all by himself gave him plenty of time to think too.. about all kinds of things. Noodles.. his friends.. activities he had partaken in most recently that he either enjoyed or not enjoyed, .. meeting his historical idols and then never seeing them again even though they told him they’d keep in touch-
Tang made a bit of a grunting noise at the humiliating feeling flooding his systems. He felt like a puppy that had gotten one small glimpse of a juice bone, only to not even get to lick it. Sure, the encounter had really been unnerving at the time but once he calmed down enough to appreciate the honor he got to be part of, he had been anticipating another meet-up.
Just didn’t happen though.
Been three weeks and while MK was chatting like a rabid bird that he had seen both males multiple times during this time, Tang was monkey-less. It felt bad but was reasonable. Immortals were supposedly fickle with their emotions and affections. It was just too much of a shame, really. Tang had so many more questions for them about books he had read, rumors he had heard.
What better thing than to get information straight from someone who had been there, after all. Tang really missed his chance.. last time he’d gotten a tiny droplet of backstory, of personal history and he’d been too in the moment to really claw for anything else. Maybe the reason he’d been so unnerved was because this story wasn’t what he had ever heard of before.
There was nothing about such an encounter they described in any books or forums. Nowhere. He checked. But nothing he found was what he thought was what they were talking about. Vague stuff here and there but nothing specific. It was very difficult to discern rumors from fact too, especially on the webs. Tang rubbed over his face, still feeling mushy.
He’d been kicking himself in the butt over his missed chance everyday since he let the opportunity slip for a face to face interview- then again, maybe they’d have tossed him off their darn cloud if he had tried to bombard them with questions. Maybe he’d gotten lucky being shell shocked. Still, the ‘what if’ scenario kept fluttering about in his head. He wanted to know what could have been.
Had he just asked.. they seemed in a friendly enough mood on that cloud. No, that’s wrong, they hadn’t, but maybe if he pushed his luck he could have gotten something. Anything. Really.
There’s the department store.. Open 24 hours a day.. Maybe he should get Pigsy something for snapping at him and.. letting him live in his apartment.. and feeding him through the weeks and.. yeah, he’s getting him something to eat. Something light.
Mh? Oh. A poster on the outside of the windows caught his attention and he stopped near the entrance of the shop, reading it carefully through. Midnight Soup Buns? That sounded good. They definitely looked good in the picture. Wait.. he peered past the poster to see if he could see them from outside, his eye catching near the counter where he could see a heat glass, filled with neat rows of delicious, bun, soupey goodness.
He could hear footsteps closing in on him from the left. Tang wasn’t worried. It was rather late but he was right in front of the store, looking through the large windows at the front and he could see some people doing some nightly shopping. “You planning to get one?” The voice was not directly next to him but coming closer.
Tang didn’t really turn as he put his hands around his eyes as if he was holding binoculars to try and get a better look without having to enter the store just yet. All that got him was a scrutinizing look from the underpaid looking clerk behind the cash register. “..I just might.. A soup bun as big as that could be a meal all in itself.. I am rather famished.”
He had eaten… before the card disaster. Like.. a few hours ago. “Mhh, yeah, I can see that. That thing’s big.” Now the voice was next to him. Tang narrowed his eyes a little. Unsure whether or not he felt like striking a conversation up right now but something odd was tickling the back of his brain, telling him to turn around and check where he’s heard this voice before.
But the clerk was staring him down and in an act of childish defiance he was staring back at them.. like a creep. Tang made a face and backed off from the window, leaving a damp spot of his breath there and feeling slightly embarrassed. What’s he doing? That guy had better shit to do than to be underpaid to stare people down because they were smudging the glass. “Yeah. I think I’ll get two. Got a buddy waiting for me at-“
Tang turned, only for the rest of the sentence to choke to death in his throat as he was faced with an amused, furry facade that belonged to someone he had seen before.
“..home.” He lamely finished as he was faced with the light brown furred figure that was none other than one of the two men who he’s been thinking about, every second of every day for the past three weeks. Sun Wukong. Monkey King. The male was standing in a relaxed manner not just close by but right next to him, turning his upper body to lean a little bit closer to the poster.
He was grinning so widely though that Tang could see his sharp canines even from his side profile. “They do look good.” Wukong hummed, his tail twitching behind him like that of a cat. Tang’s gaze shot to the window, where the clerk had gone back to scrolling through his phone and no one else seemed to be paying attention to who had grazed them with their presence.
“…” He’s imagined this happening. Seeing them again. Either of them. Both of them. It didn’t matter. As long as he saw them again. Tang envisioned it, every angle, every place, any situation. All the things he would say or ask, talk about- there were so many options he had wrangled through, day after day for the past three weeks.
And here he was. Wordless. Again.
“You alright, bud? Don’t tell me I scared you.” The older male straightened out again, rolling his shoulders and crossing his hands behind his head with a cheeky smirk still in place on his face. “After all, I’m not the scary one out of the two of us.” His tail twitched, curled and then pointed gently over his shoulder, past Tang’s head.
“That’d be him.” All the bravado Tang assumed he’d have in this situation was turning into fog as he felt like sitting down, closing his eyes and staying like that until they left but when there was a chin on his shoulder and the feeling of soft, well groomed fur was stroking against his cheek and the earthy scent of the planet, mixed with an ashen undertone filled his nostrils.
“I’m not gonna argue with him on that. Hello, Tang.” Low. Smooth and low. He could feel the muscles of the jaw of this immortal being work on his shoulder and for a moment he remembered the sharp canines of Wukong. Macaque had them probably too- strike that. Tang was sure he had them. And now they were right next to his ear.
“Stop crowding him, he’s going into cardiac arrest I believe.” Wukong’s still smiling but now his brows were slightly furrowed in something akin to worry. Sharp observation. Tang certainly felt like he was having a mild heart attack. “Already? We just got here though.” There are fingers on his hip. Holding him lightly as if he was gonna fall forward. “And you’re already.. I don’t know- Mac, what are you doing?”
“Making sure he doesn’t fall?” It sounded somewhat sarcastic- or it seemed like it was supposed to sound sarcastic but the genuine undertone of the statement turned into a question so easily that Tang wasn’t sure if he was not actually being serious. Wukong just snorted and mumbled something under his breath. Tang didn’t hear it thanks to his blood rushing through his ears and making him feel like he was standing near a waterfall. Macaque just chuckled though and backed off.
Finally. Tang was free aga- nope. Instead the black furred monkey dropped his arm over Tang’s shoulders and looked thoughtfully at the poster too now. “Speaking of which, you’re awfully silent.”
“That’s because you’re crowding him.” Wukong hummed. Glancing past the poster and inside the shop where no one seemed to be paying attention to them.
“Says the guy who sneaked up on him.” Macaque shot back.
“From the guy who grabbed him from behind.” Wukong good naturedly added. Both men chuckled from where they stood. Tang’s still going through the motions. There were so many things that were running through his head that he wanted to say, ask- anything really. But there was just too much.
A moment of silence. “Sooo.. soup bun?” Macaque piped up. The monkey king snapped his fingers. “Right! You’ll get us some too, right? After all, you said you’re getting one for your pal.” Macaque let Tang go, shaking him slightly by his shoulder to snap the man finally out of it. It just made him feel more insecure as he stiffened.
“Ehrm- yes- Yeah. Soup Buns.” Tang jerked away from the black furred immortal, who frowned at the action but didn’t follow. “I-“ Tang rubbed over his face, his wits finally returning to him. “It’s so very late-“ Keep calm. Just calm. “What are you doing in the middle of the city?”
“Heading home.” Wukong supplied. “Had some business up south, are now heading back to the Mountain.” With a quick thumb jerk over his shoulder he continued to talk. “Trip was long.” Macaque passed Tang, left his field of vision which immediately put his hackles up, the weird, stressful urge of having to keep his eyes on the other rising.
He didn’t turn though, unwilling to give them the impression that they unnerved him as much as they did. They already had noticed an inch of it, he’s not gonna go down the fearful mile. “What about you? Aren’t you usually asleep at this time?” Tang made a face. “Usually? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That means that humans usually sleep at night unless they’re better than the general population.” Macaque was back in his field of vision, lifting his left arm and holding something in front of Tang’s face that he needed a second to properly recognize for what it was. A steaming bag of paper that had the fat letters ‘Bean Express’ in red on it.
The man halted, turned to look at the counter (where the clerk hadn’t moved a single inch and was still scrolling through his phone) to realize four buns that had previously been sitting in the front row were gone. “Just because you’re more likely to be awake at night doesn’t mean the general population is inadequate because they like to sleep when it’s dark and cold.” Wukong huffed where he was, tapping the ground with the front of his left shoe to which with a poof .. suddenly a cloud appeared.
“I’m making a factual observation.” Macaque’s not looking at Tang who was trying to figure out whether or not the immortal had just robbed the place in under a minute. Instead the black furred monkey was smirking like he put the moon and the stars into the sky, tossing the other bag to Wukong that he’d been holding in his other hand to his companion, who caught it and peeked inside. “More like you’re saying what you like about yourself.”
“Why not? I’m great. You know I’m great. I know you know.” The human was confused how no one had spotted them yet. It didn’t matter- he decided that he’d accept the possibly illegally taken buns and looked back to the two monkeys, who were now chatting with each other and seemingly not paying much thought to Tang.
Until they did.
Because Macaque was throwing his arm around Tang again, ruffling his hairs so hard his glasses almost fell off before he separated from the human and strolled to the cloud to hop onto it. “Well, we ought to head back. I’m still tired.” Wukong rolled his eyes with a fond smile before sidling over to Tang, who already stiffened in preparation to get tackled or something- instead the immortal just lifted his hand to unruffle his hair a little. “He says he’s tired but I’m flying this thing.” He mock whispered, winking at Tang.
It made the corner of his mouth twitch up a little, unable but be able to think of Pigsy in this moment for some reason. Maybe because they were as comfortable around each other like he and the older cook were.
“If you say you’re flying this thing then get on it and let’s go home already.” Macaque huffed from where he was, flopping onto his back, kicking one leg over his other knee and crossing his hands beneath the back of his head.
“Demanding, isn’t he?” Tang chuckled good naturedly, glancing over to the black furred monkey, who lifted his head at the statement and narrowed his eyes before putting it back down again. “If not for the obvious markers, I’d think he was a cat, bud.” Wukong laughed and went to hop back onto the cloud. Tang felt a weird form of tension leave his body. “Yeah? Does he like fish too?”
“Among other things.” The brown monkey settled, got comfortable. “If you ever make fish cakes or get your hands on some let us know though, he has an addiction problem at the moment when it comes to those. Especially filled with paste.”
“I’m right here.” Macaque cut in, sitting up again with a slightly flush to his face. “Stop talking about me like I’m some pet you keep.” Their tails were tangling together, Tang could see it from where he was standing. His stomach was boiling. “I was gonna get some on Friday. You’re always welcome to grab a quick snack.”
The offer shot out of him before he could think on it. He just kind of clasped his hands behind his back, trying to not fidget like a schoolgirl with a crush. He was also lying. Tang hadn’t planned to get fish cakes. Sure, he enjoyed them but they weren’t on his high priority list when he could eat the best noodles in the city for free on the daily. All he had to do was pitch in here and there.
“Sounds like a plan, bud.” Wukong shoved Macaque back down into the cloud, causing the other immortal to sputter and squirm. “Seeya then!” And without much of a bye the cloud shot up, vertically. It reminded Tang of a super speed elevator before it swirled a little to the left and puttered in at a more regulated pace towards the north, where the flower fruit mountain was.
Tang remained where he was. Staring blankly up at the sky, following the cloud with his gaze that he knew was carrying two of the most prominent characters in history. And he’d just invited them to fish cakes on friday.
His phone rang, startling him out of his thoughts. The man fumbled slightly to pull it out and stare at Pigsy’s number. Ah.. right. The man was probably worried- what timing. He picked up.
“Hello.”
Friday was three days from now. Tang had wanted to prepare for it properly, considering the guests he was.. hoping he would be housing on that day. Unsure for how long or if they even actually would bother showing up. Pigsy didn’t believe him. He said Tang may have had an aneurysm and all, that he was just going into cardiac arrest because he had been so tired.. maybe the man was right. Remembering Pigsy laughing him out of the apartment almost definitely made him feel stupid.
Thinking back on it. Maybe he had been dreaming. It had been late.. he’d been alone- then again. He still had all his money and he was also in possession of two, extra large soup buns. Pigsy confirmed that they had eaten those and he had also assumed that Tang stole them. Told him he didn’t approve and the next time he committed theft he’d be belting him.
Tang needed a real long while to convince his buddy that no, he had not stolen those and they had been a gift. But still, if the guys who gave them to him were the great sages from heaven was another new thing entirely. The more he thought about it, the more he felt like an idiot who had accidentally touched something on his way to the store that he shouldn’t have touched.
Any longer and Tang would have believed Pigsy telling him that he was being crazy, right until at 10 AM, when his friend was long gone for work, there was a knock on his window.
Knock knock.
At this point in time the man was still laying in bed, sprawled across his mattress with his shirt riding up his hip, one leg dangling off the bed completely and his glasses somewhere on the nightstand next to it. At this point in time he was still dozing about, having been unable to sleep after the evening he had previously had. It was just.. so much to take in. So much to question about himself.
Had he gone crazy? Desperate enough to start daydreaming about a meeting with the two historical figures that he’d always admired in any literature? Well, his obsession wasn’t as intense as that of MK, 100%. His obsession went as far as documentation would allow it but Tang didn’t think he’d ever played every single Monkey King and The six eared Macaque game that was out there.
There was the temptation after his fateful encounter with them, three weeks ago but he never acted on it.
Knock knock.
“I’m not getting up!” Tang complained, this time finally recognizing the fact that someone was knocking on his window. Grabbing his pillow and throwing it over his face- only to jerk into a sitting position five seconds later when he remembered that someone was knocking on his window and not on his door. He lived with Pigsy on the first floor, which wasn’t high up but it wasn’t a window someone could knock on-
He’s met with a wide grin and squinted, amused, golden eyes as he stared out of his window in confusion. His mouth slightly agape and his face a bit red from having buried himself under his pillow so violently.
“Hey bud.” Sun Wukong knocked with his knuckle against the glass panel again, this time a lot softer though. “Gonna let me in? Cold out here.” Which had to be a lie. It was never cold during summer. Not even throughout the night, usually. But Tang grabbed his glasses and scrambled to get off his bed and to the window regardless to open it, fumbling a little with the lock mechanism of the damn thing before tearing the window open as fast as he could.
It caused the rust colored immortal to lean back a little, snorting and rolling his shoulders. His fur ruffling a little as he scratched lazily over his chest, his eyes going slightly half lidded as he watched in clear amusement. “You go any harder than that and you’re gonna hurt yourself.” He’s being ridiculed. “I think I know how to open a window.” Tang mumbled, carefully as he leaned a bit past Wukong to glance about.
“It’s just us, pal. Macaque’s not up this early.” Early. Tang cocked an eyebrow and glanced at the other’s face, surprised when he found that the monkey wasn’t even facing him. Instead he was smiling down at the street where people seemed to be completely unaware of his existence. Tang wondered how often he missed amazing things, just because he hadn’t been looking up.. or generally around.
It was almost scary, really. Imagine looking up and finding the Monkey King sit by a window. “..It’s going to be 11 AM soon.”
“Coming from the guy who’s been in bed up until now, I would have thought you’d be more understanding.” Wukong just laughed chipperly, dropping back so fast Tang was sure he was gonna land back flat on his ground, instead witnessing the tail of the immortal catching him and spinning him so he landed on Tang’s bed, where he sprawled like a starfish and yawned.
“Thought I’d check in and make sure you’re ready for tomorrow. Once Mac’s up and going again we’ll pop in for those fish cakes.” He’s sure he’s misheard. “..Isn’t it.. tuesday..?” He walked to a calendar hanging on his wall next to the door, peering at it. Right. Tomorrow would be Wednesday. “Well, yeah,” Wukong hummed from where he was laying before beginning to grope off to the side, snatching up a journal that Tang had made a habit out of writing into.
“Personally? Don’t wanna wait that long. Feeling like fish cakes sooner.” He’s beginning to thumb the pages, flicking from one to the next and despite being severely intimidated the notion made Tang hurry over and snatch the book away from the other, who was grinning mockingly. “Whoops. Private much? C’mon, whatever’s in there it won’t be something I’ve never seen before.” He even waggled his eyebrows at the human, who huffed and put the book aside.
Didn’t need the Monkey King reading about the few dozen chapters he’s written analyzing him and his companion- theories, thoughts. Just too much stuff about a guy he never properly met.
“I- you can’t go through people’s stuff like that!” He piped. Putting it down in a drawer which he made sure to close properly before turning around, puffing his chest out a little. “Also, it’s usually considered rude to just decide when meeting would be fine for one party. What if I’m busy tomorrow?”
“Make time?” Wukong frowned a little. “You say that as if there’d be anything more important than what we got going on.” His tail pointed between the two of them, which made Tang almost smile if not for the egotistical stance of the immortal lounging on his bed. “That’s-“ He swallowed, blinked and lifted his glasses slightly to rub over his eyelids. “That is absolutely rude.”
“Isn’t it also considered rude to be hosting guests in underwear?” Tang was interjected. Wukong had lifted his upper body slightly, looking at the other. He was letting his eyes roam, up and down, as if taking Tang in completely. Whatever he saw, it seemed to be hilarious enough to make him smile and if Tang didn’t know better, he’d say it was an appreciative smile.
Except for where he did know better and the guy was already smirking again in an insufferable manner. Tang bristled and felt his face grow warm. “I- You didn’t announce yourself! How am I supposed to get dressed when you don’t tell me you’re coming?!” But he headed to his closet, opening it and rifling through several cloaks he had.
Tang didn’t bother actually changing, instead he slipped it over his head and fought his arms through the sleeves, shuffling with his hair in front of the mirror attached to the side of his closet until it looked presentable while he was refusing to make eye contact with the man who was hugging his pillow close and giving him.. a weird stare. “What can I say? I love living on the edge, bud. You oughta try it once in a while.”
“And climb through people’s windows in the morning? Pass.” It was odd how much easier the conversation flowed with Tang irritated- which he was surprised about in itself. The human had fantasized about stuff like this. How he’d stay unbiased, polite. Instead here he was. Bantering with one of the great sages because the guy had decided to climb through his window.
“How about I’ll let you climb through my window? Would that make your feewies feel better?” The monkey cooed the last part of the sentence before breaking into laughter, tossing the pillow at Tang who barely blocked it, sputtering and definitely flustered no.
“As a matter of fact, yes!” No. It wouldn’t. He just.. didn’t know what to say. Any questions he may have had died on his tongue. Strike that, they died in his brain already just being in close proximity with the celestial being. Who was still lounging on his bed as if it belonged to him.
But even then, he could see telltales of activity. It was something he had noticed when he saw the two of them again. While Wukong’s body was usually (as far as he could tell) in motion, even if it was just shifting his weight from one leg to the other, Macaque was as still as a statue. When both of them really stopped moving, even their hairs seemed to freeze.
It was very interesting to witness. It made him want to challenge them to one of those staring contests and see who’d hold still longer- obviously them but against each other? The possibilities were just so grand!
“Do you know how creepy it is to get stared at like that?” Wukong hummed, fetching the pillow from the other with his tail, spinning it around a little before tossing it up, catching it again and squeezing it with the appendage. Tang himself flinched out of his little thought process, felt his face flush bright red as he began to sputter “Sorry! I kind of zoned out-“ But Wukong was up already, now suddenly on all fours and crouching like a predator.
“Zoning out mid conversation. You keep getting ruder, don’t you, bud?” But the grin he was getting was revealing sharp fangs that Tang felt very worried about, especially when the monkey lowered his upper body so deeply that his chest came into contact with his bedding. Oh.
Oh no.
“No- Monkey King-“ Tang backed off, lifting both hands in helpless defence and cringing when the other’s tail swished behind him in an agitated manner that reminded him more of a cat than anything else. “I’m not doing anything yet.” He said yet. “You said yet!” Tang felt like ducking and rolling but his room’s door was closed and he’d have to stop to open it. Something told him that’d be five seconds too long.
“Yep.” Wukong grinned even wider, so far Tang was sure it would split his face in half. He felt his heart going right into his stomach at the sight of those chompers- “Yet.” The rust colored Monkey added and then jumped right off the bed, bouncing high up into the air, sailing through the room and missing Tang only because the scholar managed to stumble to the side and almost trip over some dirty laundry that he left on the floor in the process.
“Damn it!” Tang hopped on one leg, turned halfway only to scream a little when he got tackled by a firmer mass that came in the flash of an orange flash. It caused him to tumble back and roll over the floor in a mess of limbs and fur over his floor and right into his laundry basket, which he did have but didn’t use all that often. Mostly because it was overspilling.
Now it was spilling all over them which caused Tang to question if he was going to survive this when he found his face covered with heavy, dirty garments. Somewhere above him he could hear the simian laughing his furry butt off as Tang struggled to get the weight off of him and escape this smelly prison. God, he needed to wash his stuff more often. Suddenly he understood Pigsy when the man called him a pig.
When he imagined himself meeting either of the great sages, this hadn’t been what he had in mind for it. In fact, this whole situation was surreal enough to be making Tag borderline think he was tripping out on something. One realistic hallucination though.
“Come on!” He felt like a bull at one of those rodeos, firm, muscled thighs clamped around his hip to not fall off as Tang tried his best to not absolutely deck this guy and get decked back by a hand that sent demons to the afterlife. “Don’t tell me that’s all you got.” It made him wanna curse. Loudly. Instead he grabbed the garments on his face and tossed them up, catching with his now free vision how he hammered Sun Wukong right in the face with the sweater he just threw. It caused the male to sputter and roll off of him, fighting the fabric for two seconds before tearing it off his head.
For a moment both of them sat on the ground, legs tangled, the rust colored immortal tail wrapped around Tang’s left wrist and neither moved or smiled. Tang already felt his bravery and irritation give way to fear. But it vanished as soon as he spotted the serious, somewhat dumbfounded expression melt into glee, a toothy smile thrown into his direction.
For a moment Tang had all the time in the world to take the other in. Fur ruffled, one sleeve riding a bit high, his cape crumbled and his headpiece slightly out of place. He looked like he just roughoused with someone that wasn’t Tang, who was still confused about how he hit the other in the first place. His reflexes should be faster than.. unless he had been playing with him from the start.
“..That was so unnecessary.” Tang deadpanned, taking in his room which was now a mess of dirty laundry and his beddings, covering the floor effectively and making it look like Tang was some crazy, messy hoarder you could always see in those TV shows. All he got in reply was a hearty laugh as Wukong untangled himself from the human, getting up and just cracking his back a little. “You’re so stuck up! No wonder I was able to catch you off guard so easily.”
“Aside from the fact I’m not just mortal but also lacking decades of the combat experience you possess?” Tang mumbled, which only caused the other to laugh a little harder to the point where he had to wipe a fake tear out of his eye, before offering a hand to help the human up apparently. Tang eyed it mistrustingly and fought the urge to swat at it. “C’mon, pal, we’re done. Gimme your paw.”
“Don’t call it a paw.” But Tang took the hand and let himself be dragged up to his feet, where he patted himself down first and made concrete plans to visit the laundromat today. He had to. Otherwise his laundry may murder him in mutiny for the abuse to it he had clearly committed.
“Yeah yeah, but didn’t I pull that stick out of your butt?” He’s getting elbowed in the side as Wukong walked past him, crouched down and then.. surprisingly picked up a pair of pants and a sweater he had helped toss about to chuck them back into the laundry basket. Tang didn’t wait long to join him in the cleanup. Working in somewhat, almost comfortable, silence while he mulled it over.
Guess he did feel more relaxed. “Was that the point of this? To ‘relax’ me?” Tang stood after picking up some socks, walking to the laundry basket to drop them inside. Watching them disappear within and land on top of the already existing pile. “Did it seem to you like I was trying to relax?” Tang frowned at the other. “Not really, no.”
“Try unclench. You almost passed out when Macaque touched you yesterday.” The simian hummed, having grabbed some articles of clothes with his tail and dumping them before heading to the window. Tang watched him. There was still stuff laying all over the floor but Wukong was clearly done cleaning up. Maybe he thought it was clean enough.
“You can clean the rest yourself.” Or just a douche. Always a possibility. Tang pushed his crooked glasses right up. Sighing and following the other as Wukong hopped onto his window frame and crossed his legs, leaning against the framework and looking out, down to the street where people were hurrying from one place to the next without checking the sky. Tang almost wants to yell and tell people Sun Wukong was sitting right there but thought better of it as soon as the idea surfaced.
He enjoyed being able to talk at all.
“Got bored of picking up socks?” He just huffed instead of complaining, to which Sun Wukong grimaced and waved him off. “I don’t clean. This reminded me why I don’t. It sucks and is boring.” So he did get bored. Immortals sure were flakey.. then again. He looked over his shoulder and looked at his room. .. He didn’t like cleaning either so it’s not like he had the moral high ground.
“Got it.” He crossed his hands behind his back, standing next to the immortal and followed his gaze downwards. “..So.. tomorrow then?” He asked after a short moment, to which the simian nodded briefly. “Tomorrow or the day after. Dunno exactly when yet. Just be prepared all the time until then, I guess.”
Tang’s eyebrow twitched. “If you don’t give me a time, I’m locking the window and pulling the curtains close.”
The immortal blinked up at him. “You won’t.”
“Test me.”
Wukongs face melted into something more thoughtful as he watched the road again before re-establishing eye contact. “2 PM then.” That was more effortless than he assumed it would be. “Alright.” Tang glanced down. Then turned to continue cleaning his room. “2 PM then. Do you guys want-“ A rustle had him halt and turn, worried about getting jumped again.
Instead his window was empty, no sign of the simian and Tang was left feeling surreal and like he had slipped a little bit deeper into his worry of losing it. Especially when he stepped to the window and looked out, finding not a single trace of someone ever having been there at all.
His only inkling that he had been in company was the left over warmth he felt here the simian had been sitting.. then again, he might have been hallucinating that as well.
Tang narrowed his eyes and felt ill.
With the very real danger of having two immortal beings over for dinner and being out of fish cakes Tang headed out almost as soon as he had gotten over the fact that he may be going insane. He felt like talking to Pigsy about this but the thought of the man calling him crazy again itched him wrong. He didn’t wanna sit through it, so the scholar didn’t mention anything when he texted Pigsy to not worry about him being gone during the day, he was running personal errands.
He doesn’t mention what errands.
First things first, he did his laundry because after this near death experience he could not ignore any longer that his life had been hanging by filthy threads. But once that was done he abandoned all hope in the search for fishcakes that he felt would be adequate enough for the guests he was expecting.
If they actually came..
Tang was still extremely worried he was going insane, especially because if he told other people they would call him as such and technically.. well he did feel the contact but he wasn’t sure if he was just.. dunno. Tang rubbed over his face as he stared tiredly at the shop sign he was at right now. Which one was this..? Must be the fifteenth store he visited today.
He had been all over the city, thinking up review after review to see whether or not he would be able to find something that would be up to standard. Not just for them.. also for him. If he was going fishcake hunting he might as well do it properly but boy was this exhausting. He didn’t know if this was because he did not eat them as often but the stores he visited weren’t exactly what he’d call ‘the shit.’ .. As Mei had said once.
Too dry, too crumbly, too pastey like, one time there had been a gross amount of sugar in this dish that was supposed to be salty. He felt like he may be going insane.
There.. was the option of making them himself but he didn’t trust himself to do so. Cooking in the past had always been nothing short of a disaster. One time he almost killed himself and Pigsy in the process, which birthed the rule of him not being allowed near the stove or any other thing he could be using to try and cook. All he got to do was use the microwave and follow the instructions down to a T.
It was getting dark and Tang felt ill when he thought about how most places would close soon and he couldn’t find any decent fish cakes. The thought of telling them that he didn’t have what they came for caused his stomach to cramp under the peer pressure induced anxiety. Failure was not an option. He couldn’t tell them he had no fishcakes. It’d maybe bust his chance completely to find out more about them.
So, either fishcakes or death.
In his slight panic he hadn’t gotten any though, instead he was backpacking everything but fishcakes. Rice, fried duck, fish eggs, garlic paste, baked bread, pastries- those were the least of them. By now Tang felt like he was doing more sport than he had committed himself in years.
But it still wasn’t enough. Usually Tang could just read reviews on the web and head out to find those places, that did have good fishcakes- only for the damn things to be sold out. He felt like fate was testing him something he desperately wanted, only to snatch it out of his grasp just because he couldn’t find the one, easy, common thing that he had been asked of.
Giving them inadequate fishcakes was just not an option but when six stores turned to ten and ten to fifteen and fifteen to twenty three and before he knew it the day was up and the shops closed.. Tang just wished he’d have gotten any fishcakes. Now the only chance he’d have was asking Pigsy and Pigsy would ask him why he needed fishcakes and then he would be stuck explaining to the man that even though he may be going crazy, he needed to be sure.
The incoming lecture at the mere thought made him feel helpless. Since when had it become so difficult to get some stupid cakes made with fish? He had eaten them plenty enough in the past but somehow today had been a disaster. He could maybe get them tomorrow but considering he still had to clean and everything the idea felt daunting.
In fact, all of this was daunting. The struggle of trying to come to terms of whether or not this was reality.. the mere chance of dining with them. He wondered if MK knew. That his teachers were talking to him. If he did know, he did not mention it. Maybe that was another glue of him going high off his rocker.
Tang blinked and looked up. It was dark, the backpack filled with goodies to his left as he found himself on a bench in a park. He knew this spot, sometimes he came here during daytime to read. Guess he had wandered here upon the realization that his own standards screwed him over. Better no fishcakes than bad ones? He was an idiot. Bad ones would have been better than nothing.
“Eugh..” Tang leaned back, tilting his head back as well and closing his eyes as he let the cooling air relax him a little. “..Idiot.. you’re an idiot..” He mumbled quietly, mostly to himself as he tried to come up with a schedule that would allow him to get those cakes in the morning so he would be able to get the rest done in time. Damn immortals and their impulse nature and damn Tang for not telling Sun Wukong off.
As if he could have brought himself to. Hah!
There’s a crack above him. Tang opened his eyes to check out what bird would be up this late, only to be looking into two golden orbs.
Tang clenched up. From top to bottom his whole body stiffened like an object as he stared up at the frowning face of none other but the six eared Macaque. His fingers dug into the wood below him and if he didn’t know any better he’d have thought he was suffering from an actual heart attack and had moved to limbo. For a moment he definitely questioned it.
“Are you calling me an idiot?”
Eh?
“I-.. no. No I wasn’t.” Tang needed a moment to really say out loud what he had been thinking but once he did, the weird veil of unease was somewhat liften. Not completely though, already remembering just how touchy the other simian was when compared to his rusty colored counterpart. But like this, double taking, he could really take the other in for what he was doing up there.
The black furred immortal was hanging there with his upper body out of the leafs of the tree, his lower body concealed by them to the point where it looked like he was growing out of there like a plant himself.. His head was tilted so he could stare face down at the human, who was making a bit of a face after feeling himself scrutinized by the other.
Speaking of which. “I was calling myself an idiot.” He supplied, not wanting to give the monkey the idea that he may be lying to him. Get angry. Throw him around. Stuff. You know.
Macaque wasn’t coming down from there, seemingly, instead peering to the side at his backpack and it made Tang anxious. Was he onto the human..? Would he be found out? Telling the other that he was unable to locate cakes of his taste that he felt good enough to be serving him would likely end in a disaster.
“I brought something.” The immortal muttered, frowning at the backpack before suddenly shifting up there, his tail fighting out of the many twigs and branches to punt a bound box at Tang, which made him flinch and scramble to catch it. Barely able to do so because it landed right on his lap. Tang blinked at it in confusion.
Was.. it a gift?
“It’s for tomorrow.” Did he look.. uncomfortable? The monkey hung his arms down, looking annoyed in a manner that Tang couldn’t really wrap his head around but there was a grim smile on his face regardless. Still, it looked uncomfortable. Like he didn’t feel like smiling. “They’re my favorites.” He supplied, clueing Tang mildly in on what he had just given him.
Still, the human began opening the box. He could hear the monkey above him shift and rustle the leafs that he was sitting in. “You don’t have to be opening the damn thing right now-“ Tang kind of ignored him. Fumbling with the latch of the cardboard box. “Hey. Oi!” Nope. He unlatched it finally and opened it, looking down at the few dozen fishcakes.
“Don’t freaking ignore me.” And boy, that was close.
Tang froze a little, glancing to the side to realize that the simian was no longer sitting in the tree above him but was now crouched on his free side on the bench, showing his sharp fangs and narrowing his eyes at the human and that was all well and dandy and whatever but there was just a little detail making Tang feel like.. like he’d be fine.
If the fact that the guy was as red as a lobster was anything to go by..
“I think this is really nice.” Tang said, after a very long moment of contemplating his options.
He was closer now. Close enough for Tang to really look at him. He was wearing his outfit from the day before, his cloak falling around him like a red form of liquid, pooling behind him and around the balls of his feet, which he supported his weight on. His black fur on his head ruffled as the light gleam of his wristbands caught Tang’s vision now and then.
He was also making a face like he was going through constipation. “What.” It didn’t really sound like he wanted for Tang to elaborate, but he did so anyway. His eyes carefully slid to the side, where he could see the six brightly colored ears of the simian. He hadn’t really noticed them the evening prior, mostly because Macaque made sure to stay behind Tang. “Thank you. I was struggling to find any that I thought would be good.”
Macaque frowned, his bushy brows drawing over his eyes and causing his face to darken even further. “And your bag?” “Full of anything but fishcakes.”
The guy scoffed and settled to properly sit on the bench. “I knew that.” Tang quirked an eyebrow at him. “Mhm.” He’s not gonna argue with this either. Instead he stared ahead, then down and began to pack up the box. A cloud of anxiety he had about these damn fishcakes that he had previously going away. “..Why are you giving these to me?” He eventually asked after the other hadn’t left after roughly two minutes of almost comfortable silence.
“I didn’t want to turn up there and have the fishcakes taste like dirt.” Was all he got. Dry and not nearly as chipper as Wukong but there was a mocking smile on his face again. Tang couldn’t really tell how the other was truly feeling. It was like the guy was screwing around with him. Making a huge joke he just couldn’t get but something was different from when he had been around with his companion.
“That’s nice.” Tang just said. Staring ahead again. His fingers digging slightly into the cardboard. “Are you excited for tomorrow? I am.” Tang wasn’t good at small talk- especially not with someone who lived a few generations longer than him. “For what?” Macaque laughed, a cruel undertone that was completely absent when Sun Wukong laughed, lacing his voice. “So you can get your geek on? Oh, please.” He’s waving Tang off.
He felt small and ridiculous. His comfort shrivelling away being ridiculed by someone he had idolized since he could read. “Mh- I mean..” Tang fell silent. Damn it. He’s losing the guy- how can he- there was cold sweat forming a the back of his neck. “..I.. I’m sorry.” After all, maybe he should be apologizing. Even as an immortal, meeting a die-hard fan from which you could assume they knew way too much about you, when they had never even met you.. Macaque might be uncomfortable about it.
His apology didn’t seem to matter though, as the simian just smiled in a broader fashion, his eyes squinting in glee as he leaned close again, now all the flush he had previously gone from his facade. “Sorry? For what?” Tang grit his teeth harder, leaning back slightly to avoid butting heads with the older male but he kept coming closer until Tang had to support his upper body by resting his right arm on the backrest of the bench, a vague sensation of dread prickling over his spine.
He could apologize for a lot of things. Wanting to interview them to quench his own, sick mass of curiosity. For having lied technically about getting fishcakes. For.. dunno.. reading about them? Tang stared into the golden orbs, which seemed to watch him with an almost cruel amusement. Macaque was enjoying this.
“Come on now, you were so chatty a bit ago. Say something dumb again, yeah?” This was dangerous. For some reason he felt like this was a make or break it thing. Where Sun Wukong had tried to put Tang at ease with banter and playing around, this guy was purposely pushing his buttons. Tang had thought submitting and apologizing would be the right thing to do but now watching at how agitated Macaque was getting just from Tang backing off and being silent.. Maybe it wasn’t.
The man shifted. “Can you stop crowding me? I’m not a smelling candle.” Tang pressed out between clenched teeth, furrowing his brows until he was sure he looked more annoyed than actually scared. Could they smell his fear? Was that a thing? If they could, it was almost impossible to tell but it would explain why they were so confident in bullying him. He had to ask. Later. Not while Macaque was looking at him as if he was about to punch him in the throat.
“I can do what I want.” He replied, leaning even closer as if trying to prove his point, which had Tang almost on his back. Which caused him to stop backing off because, no thanks, he wasn’t laying down for this guy. “If you want to be a douche-hole, yeah, sure. Get off of me.” He was also running out of patience. It wasn’t even like he was getting mixed signals. Already yesterday the simian had seemed like he felt superior. Well, he was, but Tang didn’t have to let him act like it when he wanted the human to give him food.
The black appendage that twitched behind Macaque, Tang realized, was his tail. Curling and swaying around in an agitated manner as two golden orbs turned from squinted to narrowed and a cold edge came into his mocking smile. “Why don’t you try and make me?” Tang didn’t know what the right response would be. He didn’t know this guy.
He met him twice and both times there had been one whole Sun Wukong to mellow his weird, sadistic tics out.
Tang shoves him.
Or tries to.
He hits the backpack with his back, both hands firmly planted on the.. also very firm chest that belonged to the immortal he just tried to shove like a toddler. Tang’s confident frown turned a little dumbfounded as he.. pressed again and got absolutely nowhere. He may have had more chance pushing an actual wall, made out of iron. Welded securely to the floor.
Tang felt hot and cold. He could feel the pectoral muscles of the great sage he was touching right now under his palms, through the layered garments he was wearing. His arms began to tremble from the pressure of trying to get the monkey to budge. At this point, Tang did not even have to properly shove him. Just getting him to move an inch would be fine.
“Naw..” Tang’s gaze shot up to look at the face of the man looming over him. His mean gaze had.. almost softened. There was still a twisted edge to his grin but now it seemed as close to fond as this monkey could get it. “That’s not going anywhere but the effort it cute. ” His own face began to burn hot as he jerked his arms down, giving up that he couldn’t get the guy to back off with.. everything he had.
That was a very intimidating thought. Especially when he remembered having wrestled Sun Wukong.. he’d been taking it very easy on him.
Thankfully this tidbit of resistance seemed to be enough for Macaque, as he leaned back and settled normally on the bench. His grin never completely tapered off but easing off enough to be more of a tired smile if anything. Tang didn’t trust the peace.
“I’m done. You can sit like a normal person now.” Macaque threw him a side glance. “Unless you want me to lay on-“ Tang snapped upright as fast as he could, not waiting for the sentence to finish, which made the simian laugh loudly, throwing his head back and showing off his throat to the world as if he’d never been vulnerable before, his whole life.
“Well it’s great that you’re enjoying this!” The scholar hissed, embarrassed and flustered as he shifted his body into a comfortable sitting position. Tang’s face was still burning like a lantern, hot and bright. But he felt easier with the other laughing. It meant he was not getting mailed. Probably. Hopefully… Then there was when the laughter died and it got awfully silent again.
Moments passed. Tang stared ahead, so did the six eared Macaque. For a moment he felt like this was it, he wouldn’t say anything again and either leave soon or wait until Tang had to go.
“..Do you remember anything?”
Tang stared at the ground, firmly, refusing to look over there, especially when he felt like he was getting pierced with that intense gaze again. “Of..?” He just asked. Pushing his glasses up a little and letting his gaze wander up to the sky. Everywhere, just not to his current companion.
“Our first meeting.” It was such a sudden change in topic, Tang couldn’t help but look over anyway. Meeting Macaque’s gaze and finding the other was no longer smiling, rather looking thoughtful. “.. I mean.. yeah? It was only three weeks ago.. why?” Another moment of silence stretched out, where Tang watched attentively as the simian shifted his bodyweight a little before getting up and stretching with a weak groan, his joints popping from the action.
“Forgot about it already. Felt like it’s been longer.” His voice sounded almost disappointed. Or tired. Probably tired. He did sleep longer though, right? “Ah.” He wasn’t even surprised though. Tang had been surprised they had actually talked to him after the first meeting. In every book he’d ever read about them they were impulsive, from one wind to the next. “Well, just three weeks. Yeah.” Tang put the box he had been clinging to into the backpack finally. Macaque scoffed.
“..Nevermind.” He was annoyed again but Tang couldn’t recognize the reason for why. “I’m off.” The simian huffed out, rubbing one hand over his face and letting his tail curl downwards. Tang stiffened slightly. “Erh- yeah. Alright, see you.. tomorrow?” It got him a glance over a shoulder, to which Tang could see how unamused Macaque was all of sudden.
“Yeah. Tomorrow.” And with that he just turn-stepped halfway to the left, sinking into the shadow of a nearby tree and leaving Tang from here to now alone. Within a split second, completely on his own again.
The man felt slightly lost.