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A mixture of anxiety and anticipation fuels the flickering glances he gives Macaque while the other quietly shifts to sit behind him.
The feeling of having someone in his blind spot. About to touch where he himself couldn't reach. This was supposed to be second nature to them both. One of the simplest actions between monkeys of the same troop.. They had done this thousands of times in their youth...
Yet Wukong was gritting his teeth, as if any second the other's simple presence would lead to a dagger shoved between the king's ribs....
He wanted desperately to trust Macaque again,to show to the other that what they once had could not only be mended, but also be made better...
So why was he so...worried..? Why was the air around them both still so tense? They used to groom eachother even after flinging one another off mountains! Now the idea of grooming couldn't even calm him enough to sit still after a small outburst....
Had-...had the mountain imprisonment truely left him so...damaged...? Had the wrath of heaven really broken one of his most primal instincts...?
Macaque moves carefully, placing a hand Wukong's back. Those already tense muscles jolt at the sudden contact.
The Great Sage's breath stutters...
The queen's voice turns to a whisper..
"Hey, it's alright...just try and relax.."
Macaque bites his lip slightly. Maybe it was foolish of him to have offered this so early on... This wasn't the same Wukong he had always known,maybe he needed more time. Or maybe a different approach? The shadow demon was grasping at straws here. Grooming was supposed to diffuse tension, not worsen it..
"You know...if you want to change your mind..."
The king flushes out of embarrassment, this was his husband for crying out loud...What kindoff immortal being would be distraught over something so simple...?
"No no...continue. Just...be warned...my fur may look rather....neglected...Shameful as it may be..."
Macaque turns Wukong's head to look at him.
The Great Sage's thoughts suddenly go quiet in favour of focusing on the way his queen's fingertips gently stroke the fur under his chin... He gains a nervous grin while the other forces eye contact. Macaque's voice is determined...but not unkind.
"I have dashed open the skulls of our enemies and stood unflinching as their brainmatter gushed out. There is no state of simple fur and skin that could appal me. What is important to me, is wether or not I cause you discomfort."
Wukong bites his lip and looks away... Being the king usually ment he was first priority whenever grooming time rolled around... It was a show of his status... A show of how well the troop cared for him...and now...he'd let all their years of upkeep turn into a horrid mess...
However, the conviction in Macaque's words were said with a conviction he could not deny. If the shadow demon truely believes he can handle such a foul sight...so be it.
"...Just...get it over with...don't be cruel..."
Macaque's brows furrowed but he kept his lips sealed. Wukong hadn't overlooked the way the queen's fur glistened in the light of the setting sun... That was how a real ruler's fur must be kept, neat and clearly cherished... Stunning,even more so now than how it was in his days as a beloved warrior...
Wukong takes off his shirt... letting Macaque lay his eyes apon the layers and layers of centuries old mats...
The shame threatened to sizzle like acid against his heart... It was too thick to see the poor skin it was tugging from, too filled with dust to make out the original colors... His bath from yesterday had at least alleviated the smell, but it still clung to him faintly, a brutal reminder of the filth he was kept in...
He almost raised all his glamors again. No longer wanting to burden the shadow weilder with such a daunting task.
However, before he could even utter the words of an apology he felt firm hands start to rub against the aching muscles of his shoulder blades.
Wukong has no words...only a small chirp of surprise was allowed to escape, followed by a overwhelmingly nostalgic silence.
He feels the gentle tugs of Macaque's claws observing the structures of the mats. A gentle warmth starts to spread through his chest...
Curse Macaque and his unreasonable talent.
Wukong had forgotten what it was like under those knowing hands.... Those palms that spent centuries memorizing the shape of each curl, testing each sensitive spot... Even now those diligent hands recognize every curve of his spine and how to leave the Great Sage'shivering...
The moment the queen starts to gently pick appart the knots of that endless fluff. Wukong is utterly done for... It's as if Macaque were carefully separating the painful binds of his very soul... As if every sin was being picked off with the little specs of dirt and dead skin the other had managed to set free...
After so many years in solitude, it almost brought Monkey King to tears... Like a streetsweeper being offered a tray of gold, he questioned wether or not he truely deserved this level of attention and care... Every scar was handled as carefully as an open wound, a harsh contrast to the blades and fires that created them...
Then, as if all of that weren't enough he carefully lent in to whisper.
Gods, is this how he tricked Wukong into marrying him?? That unfairly considerate bastard!
The king wanted to respond...he really did...but when he tried, all that came out was a low trill... Shit, had he always been able to make that sound...?
He was going to consider how embarrassing that must've been...but Macaque had other plans...Letting out a similarly low coo, before gently scratching the bit of skin under the fur he had just freed up.
Wukong felt as if his brain chemistry had been irreparably altered in that moment...
What the hell was that and why was the king's heart beating faster than the wings of a humming bird?!
There was something so right about it, the way it pulled on those past memories. Memories of quiet moments sleeping in shifts under the moonlight, the loud cheers shared after a shared victory. It had always been there...something so unshakable set within his primal reality... The anxiety of uncertainty had been chased out, only leaving the feel of Macaque's hands and the sound of his voice behind.
Gods...that...that's not something he'll ever be able to forget will he?
Hearing Wukong's heart race, Macaque gently starts to sort out the fur at the back his king's head, carefully picking around the circlet he still hasn't found the opportunity to ask about.
Wukong takes great comfort in his queen's presence... Though his mind is still trying to make sense of the feelings he is having... Macaque isn't just a friend anymore.. not legally anyway.... For all Macaque's talk of them being married, Wukong had never stopped to think about what that would mean for moments like these...
He feels his eyes grow heavy at the mind-numbing care the shadow demon was putting into his coat.
"..I missed this more than I realized...."
"I figured...I really should've been there to prevent this..."
"It's not your fault...My coat isn't your responsibility.."
"If I had been there, I could have helped you as soon as you were set free. Also, I have always taken it as my responsibility."
Macaque pauses...then takes a breath.
"Because I had made a commitment to you, even before the marriage. I was your warrior and I took that role to heart... Even so...I took it too far..."
"Unfortunately so...I had given up my identity in the process... Though I have grown past that. I will not compromise on it again."
Wukong keeps his gaze locked on the grass infront of him, the garden really was lovely. He only wishes the other would tell him what he ment by "giving up his identity"..
The queen hums in acknowledgement as continues to rake out the knots in the fur of Wukong's back.
"Could you...tell me...what you could remember from the day we em...got married...?"
Macaque pauses for a moment....right...he needs to keep his story straight... He knew Wukong would ask eventually...
"My recollection is a bit fuzzy on the details....,but it was a bit before we joined the brotherhood..."
"Really...? That long back?.."
"Mhmm, do you remember when you brought us both celestial wine for the first time? You insisted we have such a large celebration.... I was such a lightweight on that stuff....You'd been endulging since noon...by the evening we were stumbling through the kingdom hung from eachothers shoulders..."
"I do remember....vaguely.."
"Well, eventually you wanted to do something wild and unpredictable....."
"You tossed me over your shoulder and took me all across the mountain...the forests...our spot on the beach... till late in the night..."
"Then when we stumbled back into the main village...you decided right then and there...you were going to get the town 'officiant to marry us. Heh, you shure gave him a fright awakening him from his slumber. You were relentless, practically threatening the man to draw up the document for us to sign..."
The kings eyebrows raised.
"Wait wait-.. so...i didn't ...court you or anything...? No gifts? No proposal..?"
"I'm shure there was some sort of proposal, I did sign off willingly as far as I remember."
"But...we only did a legal marriage...no celebration...? No courtship. No further claiming...?
The shadow demon prayed that Wukong wouldn't turn around to see the anxiety building in his expression...Calm down Macaque, you've practiced this..
The king on the other hand, was absolutely baffled. Of all the ways he could've impulsively married someone, his drunken foolishness had decided to do the most unromantic part of the whole ordeel! Shure Macaque did say he took him across the mountain, but there was no reality where that was even comparable to a regular demon courting!
"Not that I recall....damn that booze filled haze...I'm not surprised you forgot a couple steps though, you were as out of it as could be"
"It's a shame... someone like you deserves better than a half assed document..."
Macaque paused at that...someone like him? What did he mean by that..?
"What happened after that?"
The shadow demon steadies his voice.
"Well, do you remember when we woke up with splintering headaches near the hotsprings?"
The king turned to look back at him.
"That's around where my memory picks up again"
"And you didn't talk with me about it after?"
Shit...calm down...It's only a small question...you can be somewhat truthful...right?...
"Things got complicated.."
"You started messing with the celestial realm more..."
" Then the brotherhood came along... A part of me just assumed you liked having someone who could fill your shoes when you weren't around. That maybe you just wanted a marriage out of some spontaneous idea for convenience. There wasn't really much reason for me to oppose the document, it was mostly just a piece of paper at the time..."
" I considered it a bit of an honer being the person you chose to be legally binded to...and even if I did have a problem with it, divorce was an incredibly rare and often looked down apon thing. It seamed inconvenient at the time..."
"And now, as the queen I could spare the people from so much heartship...all because of our little alcohol fueled adventure"
"You still should've told me....I would've treated you more like a husband deserves..."
Macaque pauses at that...he wonders if that was even something the monkey king could offer...,but if there was a chance...
Wukong's cheeks became dusted with red... Macaque is right... He does know now, but being a husband was such a foreign thing to him... So he does what he always does...Avoids the issue...
"Well uh, that's enough for today, we should probably get you something to eat, you've been out here for hours!"
"Wukong, if you're still upset we can-"
"Hub bub bub, you don't deserve to go hungry. Now let's go"
Macaque chuckles at Wukong's hasty attempts to stand, silently grateful that the questions have come to an end.
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