Chapter Text
“Hey, Macaque, something’s been bugging me.” Bai He turned to the celestial primate as she retied her shoe.
“Punch them in the stomach and then when they’re doubled over, smack them in the head. They’ll fall like dominos.” Macaque smirked at his protegee.
“Not like that.” Bai He laughed, rolling her eyes. The shadow monkey’s answer didn’t surprise the little girl.
Macaque’s lessons had been pretty helpful in the past few days. She could better summon the ice from her hands, and the meditations had been allowing her to feel just how much of her being had been affected by the full amount of The Lady Bone Demon’s powers swirling inside herself… But it still didn’t explain the odd, uh, emptiness inside. It wasn’t a bad emptiness, per se. It was kind of like finding out your favorite pair of socks had a tiny hole in the heel.
A tad annoying, but not bothersome.
But outside of that, most of Macaque’s teachings boiled down to ‘Hit first and hit harder’.
“Your first strike should be your last strike. Every time you attack, give it everything you've got!” Macaque told the little girl as she took her first few swings at a punching bag. Bai He exhaled, wiping the sweat from her face before going at it another round. “You have power inside you-- Use it . Take the power and destroy . Remember; you don't use a weapon, you are a weapon!”
Bai He was exhausted by the end of most training sessions, but she was still happy to be here and, as a bonus, she was starting to do better in gym class already! She was so far the only girl in her class who could do more than two push-ups and was able to make it halfway up the rope. Bai He wanted to beat the class record for push-ups and be the first kid in her class to make it up the rope.
So she would take the exhausting training sessions as well as the boring meditation sessions. They were helping her out.
“What’s the problem, kiddo?” Macaque leaned causally against the shadows. Bai He finished tying her shoe and plopped onto her backside, taking Macaque’s cue that this was now break time (MK had been very insistent that if Macaque was going to be mentoring Bai He, breaks were a necessity).
“Well, I was thinking back to when we first, officially met PB, outside the hospital I mean. Before we went into the sewer.”
“Yeah, that was certainly… a way to spend a Saturday.” Macaque shook the more unpleasant memories of that day away before turning back to his protege. “Any particular reason you’re thinking about that?”
“It’s something that PB said.”
“Mhmm?”
“Well, you introduced yourself as the Six-Eared Macaque, but PB pointed out that you only have Two Ears .” Bai He tilted her head. “So why are you called the Six -Eared Macaque when you only have Two Ears?”
“Ah, that…” Macaque sighed, an anxious smile on his face as he avoided Bai He’s curious gaze. “Well, the truth is, I do have Six Ears… I just don’t like showing them off.”
“Oh,” Bai He’s mouth was a thin line. Then she looked at him and asked “Why?”
“It’s mostly for my own sanity.”
“Buh?”
“You know how annoyed you get when someone is playing really loud music on the bus without headphones while sitting right next to you?”
“Ugh, it’s the worst!”
“Well, if I didn’t cover my other ears, that’s how it would be for me. All of the time . Except instead of loud music, everything is loud and annoying and I hate it.”
“So it’s kinda like wearing headphones?”
“I suppose so.”
“Cool… what’s the other reason you don’t show your ears?”
“What’d you mean?”
“You said it’s mostly for your sanity. Keyword: Mostly.” Bai He smirked at him.
Macaque’s anxious smile shrunk to a hidden, proud smirk. My kid is so dang smart, he thought with no small amount of happiness and pride. Then, he frowned, thinking of the other reasons why he would hide his ears.
“Why do you hide your ears all the time?” Wukong asked him. “It makes no sense!”
The two were lazily lounging atop some branches in one of the many peach trees Wukong had planted. Said monkey was currently stuffing his face with about half a dozen stone fruits as he spoke, while Macaque found himself pulling duty as a glorified pillow for the litter of monkeys that had followed the celestial primates into the tree. Most were quietly napping, others were picking the bugs out of Macaque’s fur, and one was trying to bite Macaque’s tail--Macaque just kept moving his tail out of the way. It didn’t help, now the baby Monkey thought it was a game.
Macaque avoided the King’s gaze. Memories of shrill, booming, and judgemental laughter echoed in his head. “I just… don’t think it would be a good idea to show all of the others…”
“What’re you talking about? It’s a great idea!” Wukong spread his arms out wide, a big, stupid grin on his face, eyes shining like stars in the sky. Macaque cringed lightly at the partially chewed chunks of peaches the King was showing off. “You can hear everything , you hear all sorts of cool, future songs from your ears, and they’re really pretty. Who wouldn’t want to show off such cool powers?”
Heat rushed to Macaque’s cheeks, and the six ears in question. Still, he wasn’t certain. “I just… don’t know if I can trust them, is all…”
Macaque hummed thoughtfully, closing his eyes. His former brothers were not here anymore, just a little girl who for some reason decided he was worth the effort of friendship. Macaque pondered for a moment if he really trusted Bai He, and then instantly came up with the answer.
Yes. Yes, I do.
So, he inhaled once, and then, on the exhale, a shimmer of purple surrounded his ears. A light gasp echoed through his dojo.
The cocky smile on his face, Macaque winked one eye open to see Bai He’s response.
Mouth opened in a tiny, little ‘O’ of surprise, and eyes wide and filled with starry wonderment, Bai He stared at her mentor in nothing short of pure awe. She immediately crawled toward Macaque like a kid crawls toward the last present under the Christmas tree. Upon reaching him, she pulled herself up into his lap to get a better look.
Macaque was momentarily startled by Bai He’s sudden movements and proximity, but he relaxed once she settled herself in his lap. He expected her to reach out for his ear, to try and grab them as so many baby monkeys had done in the past. But she didn’t. She just sat there and stared at his ears like they were actual stars from the sky themselves.
“Can you really hear everything?” Bai He asked in a hushed whisper.
Macaque nodded, appreciating Bai He’s quiet tone. “Everything.”
“Like what?”
With a smile, Macaque tilted his head to one side and listened. “The Gold and Silver demon's latest scheme is about to quite literally blow up in their faces in three… two… one…”
A faint, distant sound of some fireworks going off echoed far beyond the dojo’s walls. Along with the faint, oddly cockney, cursing of a certain pair of infamously idiotic demons. Bai He giggled and Macaque found himself chuckling along.
It had been a long time since someone reacted so kindly to his ears.
He rather liked it.
Bai He turned back to him. An eager, pleading grin on her face. Macaque knew her question before she even asked it, no special hearing required. “Can I touch them, please? If it’s ok, that is.”
Macaque placed his hands at his side, nodding with a smile. Bai He reached tentative, eager hands up towards Macaque’s six ears. She marveled at how soft they were and reasoned that Macaque must take extra good care of them, considering how sensitive they were. But what Bai He liked, was how colorful the sets of ears looked.
The center set of ears was a light purple color, the top set a rosy pink, and the bottom set a pale blue. Bai He grinned, petting the fur on Macaque’s ears like it was a kitten.
The (actually appropriately named) Six-Eared Macaque, smiled at his protege and wiggled his ears. Bai He gasped in delight, eyes wider and starry-er than ever, as she continued to marvel at her mentor’s ears. “So cool!” Bai He beamed. “Soft too…”
Macaque smiled back. Showing her his ears had been a good idea, he decided.