Journey to Somewhere New (Sun Wukong x reader)

Chap. 4 - Pushing buttons leading to cooperation

Qiuyu was... Well one thing for sure was that he enjoyed himself- well, he enjoyed the group's company, less the 'tied up and carried around' thing. He'd take every opportunity to take a jab at Monkey to annoy him. Monkey at some point also tied a cloth around his head to gag him. Whenever the group would stop to eat, Monkey would give Qiuyu to one of his duplicates and the two of them would sit at a certain distance from the rest of the group.

"Just when you and Nian Zhen got on better terms..." (Y/n) sighed as they ate.
"Gotta say." said young demon whispered, leaning closer to her. "One thing I noticed is that, whenever Wukong meets someone new, he always starts off by hating their guts."
"Oh come on, he's not-" she stopped herself and thought for a moment. "...Maybe. We surely didn't start off on the right foot."
"You and him???" her and the Horse's eyes widen, baffled.
"Yeah..." she scratched her cheek. "In fact we... We'd get into arguments all the time." she chuckled, her eyebrows furrowed. "It was a loooong week let me tell you."
They laughed.

"Again!" the original Monkey frowned. "That guy's a completely different case!" he pointed at Qiuyu, who noticed and nodded since he couldn't wave.
"Can he at least be allowed to eat?" (Y/n) tilted her head.
Monkey looked over at the captured's well built body.
"He has meat to spare, he'll be fine." he turned back to his meal.
Her and the Horse exchanged a look.
"How are we supposed to know if he doesn't mean any harm if we don't even give him the opportunity to prove it to us?"
"Get creative, I dunno."
She heard laughter and looked back to see the duplicate taunt him with a fruit.

"Monkey! Leave him be!" she exclaimed, making him and the original flinch. "That's it, I'll share with him!" she stood up.
"(Y/n) no!" he quickly stood up and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. "Don't let him get you with the pity card!" he sat back down, with her now on his lap. "What if he turns into a spider demon as soon as you get within eating range?" he whispered in her ear.
"O-okay! Okay!" she struggled, blushing. "Just let me go already!"
Although he couldn't see it, he could easily picture her embarrassed face with precise accuracy. Also her ears were red. He kissed one of them, then the other, then the back of her head.
"Monkey!" she blindly hit him.
He snickered and let her go. She quickly crawled away while glaring at him. The subject was dropped entirely and he made a mental note:
'Don't wanna talk? Kiss!' he nodded to himself, smirking.
Still (Y/n) would sometimes glance at Qiuyu. He didn't look like he minded this whole situation, but her eyebrows furrowed slightly.

The night has set, the fire has went out a while ago and Qiuyu was having difficulty finding a good sleeping position, on account of being tied up. He heard footsteps and quickly sat up, looking over to whoever was approaching. He relaxed when he saw (Y/n) and the Horse. The young woman was holding a ration of food.
"We're going to remove your gag." she whispered. "Please don't make any noise, or try anything. I'd hate for us to fight. Okay?"
He nodded. The Horse went behind him and munched the gag off.
"Also, I have to warn you," she continued as she sat in front of him. "the Horse is actually a very powerful dragon. Even Monkey had trouble dealing with him."
"Heh, figured he was no ordinary animal." he smiled.
The Horse huffed through his nose. (Y/n) began to feed Qiuyu, with the sound of crickets in the distance.

"So..." she spoke. "You said you've been traveling for centuries."
"Mmh." he munched, then swallowed. "Yep, pretty sure I went across the whole country by now."
"Where do you come from?"
He stayed silent, long enough for her to tilt her head. She was just about to ask if something was wrong when he suddenly spoke again.
"Oh boy." he rolled his head. "Seems like this old geezer can't even remember. But hey," he shrugged. "if I've forgotten, then it probably wasn't all that important."
"Ow, that's sad." she bluntly said. "Remembering where you come from is important."
"See, I disagree." he tilted his head, as if it became heavier all of a sudden. "If what you say is true, what about the ones who come from nowhere? Or from a hellhole?"