The Lovers (Shadowpeach)

Sparring with Wukong

Flower Fruit Mountain had normally been a pretty peaceful place. The only sounds that you'd expect to hear were the chittering of monkeys, singing of birds, and the rustling of trees, not the loud bangs and cracks of a fight that echoed through the air like thunder. But as of late, that's all that could be heard.

A shadow staff whizzed past a golden monkeys face. "Ooh! Almost got me there!" He laughed, twisting his body to kick the back of the monkey who attacked him, his favorite move. It was almost funny how the shadow demon would hit the ground, never learning to close his mouth on impact or to watch his back. "Just kidding!" He chuckled, balancing on his tail as the darker monkey spat. It was so easy to get the drop on him. Too easy.

Macaque got back up, positioning himself into a fighting stance once again. He was about to leap forward when Wukong's voice interrupted him.

"Let's take a break, yeah?"

He didn't have to tell him twice. The shadow quickly relaxed, setting his staff on the ground to lean on as he breathed heavily.

His eyes caught the golden monkey as he began climbing up the trees, becoming nothing more than a blur in the foliage. He lazily followed said golden blur with his eyes as it began to examine and pick the fruits of its choice. When the blur came back down his arms were packed to the brim with peaches. He found a comfortable spot just a few feet away from Macaque, under the shade of a peach tree and gently dropped his 'treasure' onto the grass, making sure none got bruised before taking a seat next to them.

"Catch."

Macaque was barely able to stop the projectile from hitting him in the face. Confused, he looked down at the 'weapon' in his hand, it was a plum.

"Thought about ya!" Wukong waved his hand up at him, voice dripping with comedic sarcasm.

The simian didn't have a snarky response loaded in his arsenal to shoot back with, so instead he just sat down next to Wukong. "Thanks," he mumbled. His breath was still heavy, recovering from their sparing match. It'd been about a week since their first session and this was their third time meeting for training. He hadn't seen the other monkeys, Wukong wouldn't let him, not after what happened last time. This wasn't Macaque's safe place anymore and he wasn't going to let him feel like it was again.

Macaque tried to savor his fruit, soaking in the few moments of calm he had before they'd resume the training. He really didn't understand how fighting Wukong was supposed to make him less aggressive, but maybe it wasn't. That monkey was already hard enough to read.

"Alright!" The Sage stood up, stretching his limbs as he hummed. "Let's get back to it!"

Macaque flinched, unable to mask his surprise. He'd barely eaten half of his fruit, how had Wukong already finished all of his?!

The shadow's joints pulsated, the soreness emanating from them telling his body to rest. Wukong didn't seem to notice, or care, while he looked down at the other expectantly.

"Um..." Macaque started, searching for an excuse, any excuse to give him a few more minutes. His eyes darted around, landing on the plum in hand. He internally cringed, Wukong wouldn't give two shits if he finished his snack or not, he needed to find something else. Then he remembered the faint buzz that came from one of the trees while they had been fighting. He left his phone in the tree to keep it safe from the battle. "Actually I need to check something real quick," he paused to get up. "It's important."

Wukong cocked a brow, not convinced, but he didn't object. "Make it quick, I have stuff to do today."

Macaque nodded, walking off to the tree, gnawing at his fruit. He just hoped his phone had atleast a few notifications on it, important ones would be more appreciated.