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“You really need to start taking abetter care of your fur… you know that?”
Macaque lifted his head from where he leaned over the bathroom sink. He looked over his shoulder and glared at the blur of orange that was leaning against the bathroom doorframe.
Raising his eyebrows Macaque smirked, sauntering over to Wukong. “You’re one to talk”. The ebony monkey drawled as he made his way across the room, stopping at the door and tapping Wukong on the nose. The monkey in question scrunched his nose at the action, sneezing slightly and huffing. “Hmpf cute” Macaque chuckled at the reaction and walked out of the bathroom and done the hall towards Wukong’s room, the orange monkey trailing after him spluttering.
“Wait what do you mean I'm one to talk?” Wukong questioned as he followed Macaque into the room, arms crossed over his chest as he huffed. “Well~” Macaque began, as he moved around the bed, moving pillows and blankets, chirping under his breath when he couldn’t get them to sit in the right position. “I guess I’ve noticed that you don’t let anyone groom your fur anymore” The ebony monkey pointed out, looking away from the bed and over to the king who stood in the doorway outraged.
“What?! That’s- ridiculo- I don’t know what you’re talking about! I let the troop groom me all the time!” Wukong sputtered out, storming further into the room, his tail flickering wildly behind him. Macaque raised his eyebrow at the behavior, hopping onto the bed and fluffing the pillow behind his back. “Yeah… your hair and maybe your forearms but never a full body grooming” Spluttering Wukong growled and stomped his way to his bed, jumping on beside Macaque but rolling onto his side to he didn't have to face the former. Macaque rolled his eyes at the kings behavior, laying down backwards and moving into a comfortable position.
After a few moments Macaque could hear Wukong beginning to shift, likely turning around to face the ebony monkeys back. "would…." Wukong began whispering so low that only Macaque could hear him. "would you help me…" The sage asked quietly, stunning Macaque so much that he gasped slightly. Turning around to face the king, Macaque widened his eyes. "I…" Macaques voice was low and soft, afraid of frightening the other monkey. He was confused, they hadn't groomed each others fur since…. since before the war.
At his quiet reaction, Wukong abruptly sat up, swinging his legs off the bed so that he could stand up. "On second thought, I'm gonna go find Ma!" The king abruptly called out, moving to jump off the bed only to freeze when something…. or rather someone pulled him back. Whipping his head around Wukong's eyes widened at the black furred hand wrapped tightly around his wrist.
Macaque looked downwards at the bedsheets, before sliding his hand further down Wukong's wrist and grasping it within his own. "Mihou-" Wukong stammered out, eyes darting back and forth between Macaque's hand in his own and the ebony monkeys face. "I… um…." Macaque began, slowly raising his face to meet Wukong's eyes before sharply looking back down at the sheets. "I'll help you…" the shadow muttered lowly, however it wasn't low enough that Wukong couldn't hear him. Eyebrows raised Wukong's fur fluffed up, cheeks burning bright and rosy as he chocked on his breath. "I… ok" Wukong squeaked out, his own eyes darting down towards the bedsheets.
Thirty minutes later the two monkeys found themselves on Wukong's bed, Wukong sitting with his back to Macaque as the ebony monkey ran his hands through the fur on Wukongs back, sifting through each knot and tuft gently and with patience. Already having groomed the kings legs, arms and torso, all Macaque had left to sift through was the sages back and the fur upon his head. Bit by bit, strand by strand of hair, Macaque could feel Wukong relaxing more and more into his touch, gradually leaning further back to the point he was almost lying down with his head in the ebony monkeys lap. Macaque smiled down at the king, laughing under his breath, "I have to finish your back before you lie down fully you moron". Wukong wasn't too pleased with the comment but made no movement, sticking his tongue out playfully and chittering up at him, "hmpf I'm comfy here… guess you'll just have to groom my head now".
Macaque rolled his eyes playfully but followed along, pulling the king's head back slightly so that he could see the front of his head and hairline. Macaque went to start sifting through the hair when he felt Wukong clam up and grimace. Taking note of the sages discomfort, Macaque moved his hands back and instead focused on the back of the kings head where his hair was the thickest, away from what lay beneath layers of glamour. Wukong relaxed the more Macaque ran his hands through his hair and leaned further into his touch, beginning to whine every time Macaque removed his hands from his head to break through a particularly rough knot.
"alright and that's… done" Macaque smiled as he ran his hands through the now untangled fur of the king. "At least you look presentable now" he smirked, earning a gasp from Wukong who reached his hand backwards to wrap around Macaque's back, pulling the ebony monkey down and over his own body. "Gah! Wukong!-" Macaque screeched as he was man handled onto the kings lap so that he was straddling the sage. Cheeks burning at the position Macaque looked down at the king beneath him who wore a childish grin and was chuckling behind the arm that lay across his face. "I'm sorry haha" Wukong sniggered at Macaques reaction, "it was too hard not too" he continued, pulling his arm away from his face and snorting as he leaned forward to press a quick kiss to Macaque's lips.
Macaque leaned into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Wukong's neck and humming softly. After a moment the two pulled away, Wukong pressing his face into Macaque's neck. The sage pressed soft kisses across the fur there, Macaque hummed at the contact, running his hands through the fur at the top of Wukong's neck. "I guess I should give you a thank you for helping me out" Wukong smugly grinned leaning back and pressing another kiss to Macaque's lips. The ebony monkey smirked into the kiss before muttering.
"What did you have in mind?"
Mk grunted as he pulled him body up off the ground. Unfortunately for him, Wukong had chosen today as a workout session for them both. "Monkey King why did you decide we needed to do this today?" MK sighed as he lay on the ground, unable to find the energy to continue pulling his body up. Wukong was sitting across from him, in only a pair of shorts, his sweatshirt being pulled off tied around his waist. "Dunno what to tell you bud" His mentor shrugged, standing up and stretching his arms above his head before he jogged over to where they left their water bottles sitting on a stone.
Mk watched his mentor carefully, noticing how smooth the fur on his back looked compared to normally. "Hey monkey king… did you and the troop have a grooming session without me?? your fur looks great" Mk called out to the ginger monkey, who chocked on his water at Mk's words. "wha? ah?" Wukong spluttered, cheeks burning red as his eyes darted around the clearing. "No! I mean… no the troop and I didn't… I just had a shower last night is all'.
Mk narrowed his eyes at his mentors reaction, not believing the king for even a second. "Why are you getting so flustered it was just a question…." Mk started to ask before freezing when he felt something run across his leg, jumping up from the ground. Mk smiled when he realized it was the tell tale signs of a shadow portal opening up beside him.
"Hope I'm not interrupting" Macaque's voice sang into the clearing as he hopped out of the shadow, dressed in his usual get up, however Mk noticed that his scarf was covering more of him than usual. "hey kid" the shadow laughed as he ruffled Mk's hair. "Hey Macaque!" Mk grinned up at the ebony monkey, leaning into the hand ruffling his hair. Wukong jogged over to them, Mk's water bottle in one hand and his own in the other. "finally crawling out of the cave" Wukong smirked as he passed Mk his bottle, "here kid drink up". Mk nodded, pulling the cap off and chugging the cool liquid. "Just thought I'd check in on you both, make sure you're actually training" Macaque grinned, arms crossed behind his back, leaning forward on his heels into Wukong.
"Do you wanna join us?" Mk asked the ebony monkey as he wiped his arm across his forehead, hoping the other would take up the offer. While he was being trained by both mystical monkeys nowadays, it was quite rare to be trained by them both during the one session, with Wukong taking on the brunt of the physical training while Macaque tended to help Mk understand the mental troubles of transforming between his monkey form and human form.
Macaque grimaced at the sweat running down Mk's forehead and shook his head, "not today kid, I only cleaned my fur last night I don't fancy having to go through the whole process again" the ebony monkey explained, taking a step back from the two as Wukong reached forward to poke him, earning a growl from the former. "That's funny so did Monkey King" Mk laughed at the coincidence, looking up at the two monkeys who now wore matching blushes. Macaque coughed into the sleeve taking a further step back, "that is funny.. anyways I have to go find Ba and Beng" He muttered, falling backwards into a shadow.
Mk turned back around to look at Wukong whose face was burning red still. "anyways…. kid we should get back to training" the king announced, dropping down to the ground and beginning push ups. "that's so funny that both you and Macaque cleaned your fur on the same night" Mk brought up after a few minutes, Wukong only grunted in response, muttering under his breath.
"wait a second…. DID YOU AND MACAQUE GROOM EACH OTHERS FUR?!"
"……we're not talking about this…."
"YOUS DID!!"