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Wukong’s least favourite part of the day was always the moments after training ended. Not the immediate ones, no, but after MK had given his goodbyes, gathered what he brought, and set off for home. It was the silence of the space around him he always noticed first, the way MK’s voice filled it made it hard to really truly realize how quiet the world around him was. Without the conversation, there was just the sound of the ocean, the breeze in the trees, and the call of birds. Centuries ago, it was a sound he found home in. Centuries ago, it was all he knew. Now he longed to share it with someone- anyone, for longer than a few hours at a time.
Monkey King never watched MK go, though. There was something difficult about it, it made his chest ache as his throat tightened to keep him from calling out, to prevent himself from asking him to stay. He’d always clench a fist to fight the urge to reach out at first. He’s learned, though, and turning his back first was always easier. As soon as his student spoke a goodbye, Monkey would turn on his heel and toss a hand up in a wave, giving some dismissive farewell as he wandered off. Yet he’d always stop. His feet would always halt after a few steps and he’d glance over his shoulder to ensure he was alone, and finally that warm smile would fade as he let his breath out in a long, tired sigh.
Today was no different. His gaze shifts over the empty cliffside and he takes in the damage they’d caused in the hours they’d spent training. Rock faces dented from sheer force, a few trees with splintered trunks, and yet not a bone in Wukong’s body ached from the fight. Only from the cold loneliness rapidly settling in. He breathes in deep, the air scented like dust and soil, and as he sighs it out, his shoulders sag.
Monkey considers what the other side of leaving looked like, he envisioned MK entering the shop to greet Tang and Pigsy, likely still brandishing the smile he wore when he left. He’d probably slide up to the counter beside Tang and lean against it with his elbows, asking Pigsy with big eyes to give him noodles, and though the pig would huff and puff over free food, it would be given. He thinks about what MK would say— “We worked so hard today,” Wukong considers his voice, out of breath and full of pride, “But I did great, totally kicked Monkey King’s butt.” He can hear the ego in the words, the confidence. Wukong can imagine Tang as he shakes his head, but still plays along, as the two engage in comfortable conversation.
Conversation Wukong is no part of. He’s retreating from the beautiful scene he’s made and coming back down to the empty cliffside, to the oppressing isolation of his mountain. He didn’t notice the smile on his face until it was fading, giving way to the deep, exhausted frown he was growing too comfortable in. The bags under his eyes were nearly something he could feel, heavy on his face. It was exhausting, coming back to the weight of loneliness he escaped hours ago.
His chest rises with the weight of another sigh and finally his feet move, turning him from the cliffside and back towards his home, his steps slow and methodical, his tail low as he trails behind him. Monkeys slip from the jungle to join him in the wall, cooing and chattering as they patter alongside. Some hold his tail as they amble along, and for the moment the act is comforting. Isolation is cold and the soft, small hands on his tail are warm. His steps pause and he glances back, looking down at the little ones as they mirror his halt, looking up with cocked heads, cooing with a soft confusion.
Warmth is in them, too. Wukong finds it in the reminder of what this was for— the island, the caves, the immortality. It was for them. His tail slips from the small hands as he turns to kneel, lifting one off the ground as it coos and placing it up onto his shoulder. The little one makes himself comfortable, getting it’s balance set as Wukong rises to his feet again. “Alright,” he mumbles, and he’s forgotten how good his own voice felt in his throat in that crushing silence moments ago, “Let’s go find somewhere to nap.”