[This is a commissioned fanfic, brought to you thanks to eggtoasted ! Everybody say thank you Eggtoast!]

After the battle against Lady Bone Demon, the gang ate a good meal together. Macaque really liked Pigsy's noodle soup, but when he finished his bowl, instead of asking for seconds, he looked for MK to ask for his. And he would've gotten his second bowl if it wasn't for the Monkey King and his overall annoying presence, who snatched it away for himself.
"Still the same Wukong." he looked away, folding his arms. "Doing whatever he wants with no regards for others."
"Yeah!" he glared. "And keep that in mind next time you scheme with the enemy, and try to get us all D E D!"
'Can't even spell right!'
"Uh..." MK pointed at the two of them. "You know you two are the same, right?"
"I'm nothing like him!!!" they both yelled at him, shutting him up.

Macaque clicked his tongue and started walking away.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Wukong asked.
"Don't know. Somewhere where I can do a bit of scheming probably!" he smirked with a raised eyebrow. "...See you around MK." he said in a more genuine tone as he began to open a shadow portal underneath him.
"W-Wait!"
Suddenly, he felt small arms wrapping themselves around him. He flinched and looked back and down to see the little girl, the former host of the Lady Bone Demon, looking up at him with puppy dog eyes.

"You're leaving?" she asked in a little voice.
"Uuuuuuuuh..." he hesitated, his whole being tensed. "Yeah."
"Could you bring me back to my nonny?"
"Your what now?" he frowned, confused.
"It's another word for parent." Mei slid in to whisper that piece of info in his ear.
"Oh." his eyes widen slightly as she slid away with a smile. "Well... I don't know where they are kid." he gently removed her hands from him, turned her around and pushed her away, just as gently. "Maybe let the heroes help you with that. It's their expertise after a-"
"But you're my hero." she faced him again.
There was a short moment of silence, which was interrupted by Mei, Sandy and MK collectively saying 'Awwwww~!!!' Macaque just stared at the little girl with big eyes. What was this feeling inside of his chest, this warmth? He couldn't put a finger on it, but Sun Wukong recognized the look on his face, he had that happened to him too, with MK. He sighed, smiling, and went up to his old friend.

"Come on dude." he hit him on the shoulder. "You're not gonna say no to this little girl, will you?"
Macaque looked at him, surprised. If it wasn't for this whole situation, which completely caught him off guard, he would've probably said a witty comeback, as he always does. However...
"Uuuuuuuh..." he looked back back the child.
"What's your name kid?" Wukong nodded towards her.
"Kat."
"Well Kat, don't worry." Wukong crouched to be at eye level of her. "You'll find your nonny, because he'll help you find them." he pointed at Macaque with his thumb. "Right Macaque?" he looked at him with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
'God damn you Wukong!' he glared at him. 'Putting me on the spot!'
He sighed.

"Fine~." he placed his hands on his hips. "Yeah, there are like thousands of people in this city, they gotta be there somewhere." he shrugged.
Now, he was being sarcastic, but young kids aren't the best at picking up on that stuff, and Kat's face lit up.
"Thank you thank you!" she jumped lightly.
He didn't know how to respond to that. He glanced to the side before taking a step to the side.
"Come on kiddo, let's go." he nodded towards the road ahead before addressing the others. "Well heroes, you all did a good job today. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off with a child whose life you just rested in my hands." he said with a sinister tone.
"See ya later!" MK waved.
"We'll *have* to hang out someday Kat!" Mei waved too.
"Bye~!" the little girl waved.
"Wha..." Macaque mumbled, that wasn't the reaction he expected.

Even Sun Wukong just snickered and went back to his meal. Why was everyone being so chill when he was acting to evil?! He frowned and walked away. Suddenly, someone grabbed his hand and he quickly withdrew it. He looked over to see Kat, now looking a bit sad, and now he felt bad. He tried to say something, but couldn't think of anything to say. So instead he just offered her his hand, allowing her to hold it again. Her face lit up and she did just that as they went together to the half-destroyed city down the mountain. He found themselves a bench that was in one piece.

"Now." he huffed as they sat on it. "What does your nonny look like?"
Kat then gave him a surprisingly detailed description of her parent.
"Alright." he sat cross legged and joined his hands together. "I'm on it."
He closed his eyes. His shadow then separated into five and they each went a separate direction. Kat watched them go in wonder before Macaque opened his eyes again.
"And now we wait." he casually leaned back.
Kat swung her feet back-and-forth, looking around. She'd glance at Macaque multiple time, as stealthily as a chid could be, which meant it was very obvious and he totally noticed. She was clearly trying to gather the courage to talk to him, and she was struggling, which made him chuckled.

"Spit it out kiddo." he smirked, making her flinch. "I can't know what's going on if you don't tell me."
"Um..." she played with her fingers, avoiding eye contact. "So...You're a monkey?"
"Awww~, you noticed?" he leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees.
"I did!" she looked at him, nodding her head.
He chuckled again, her obliviousness was amusing to him.
"Are you and the Monkey King brothers?"
That made him frown and look away.
"...We're-"
He was cut off by the sound of grumbling. He looked at Kat.

"Shush stomach!" she looked down, blushing. "I was just about to get some backstory!"
"You...You just had noodles earlier."
She didn't answer and just looked at him, that clearly didn't mean anything to her. He sighed through his nose.
"Maybe get something to eat before story time." he raised an eyebrow.
"I don't have any money though."
He looked around and noticed a food stand in the distance selling fruits. He created two small portals, one beside him, one right above the apples. He reached inside one, his arm coming out the other, picked an apple and got his arm out, the portal disappearing.
"Hey!" the stand owner shouted.
Another portal appeared above the man's head and Macaque dropped a few coins on him before the portal disappeared again. The stand owner was confused to say the least, but once he counted the coins, he saw that it was enough to pay, so he didn't complain further.

"There you go." Macaque tossed the apple at her, it bounced a bit in between her hands before she really grabbed it. "A feast worthy of a king."
"What about you?"
"Don't worry about me kiddo." he looked away.
She looked at him, then at the apple in her hand. A moment passed and Macaque eventually felt a tap on his arm. He looked over and saw Kat handing him a half-eaten apple.
"Here, you can have it!" she smiled.
'I'm not eating that.'
"Thanks..." he slowly said as he took it.

Why didn't he say no?! The words came right out of his mouth. Now she was staring at him and expecting him to eat it! His eyes went back and forth from her to her gift. From the look on her face, she genuinely believed she's made an awesome gift. What the heck was he supposed to do?!
'Oh thank god.' he thought as he saw his shadows coming back to him.
The five of them connected to his feet, bringing the info they had on Kat's parent.
"Alright. Found 'em." he stood up. "Come on kid-"
"Oh my gosh!" she saw something and ran towards it.
"Wha-?!"
He looked down at the apple and tossed it behind him before catching up to her.

"What's the deal kid?"
"Look!" she pointed, ignoring his questions.
She looked over and saw an arcade, from the outside, you could see a bunch of crane games, one of them was filled with animal plushies.
"They are sooooo cute!" she ran inside.
"H-hey!" he reached out, but was once again ignored.
He sighed, his shoulders dropping before blending in the shadows to quickly get to her. As she stood in front of the machine, he popped out of the ground behind her, his arms folded.
"Come on kid," he pressed. "don't you wanna see your nonny?"
"I want that one!" she pressed her fingertip on the plastic glass, pointing at a cat plushie.
'Kids, I swear,' he frowned, his right eye twitching. 'they can never stay on topic!'

"Can I have it-"
'No! Let's just go already!' he opened his mouth to say just that.
"-please~?" she looked at him, sparks in her eyes.
He stayed quiet for a moment before sighing.
"If I get you this toy, will you stop making any more requests?"
"Promise!" she enthusiastically nodded.
"Alright." he put his hands on his hips.
Once again, he created two small portal, and just like last time, he reached inside the one right beside him and he was just about to grab the plushie when-
"Hey! No cheating!" an employee shouted from across the room.
He looked at them with a raised eyebrow before smirking.
"No cheating here." he shrugged. "I'm just using my own crane."
"You're right, that's straight up stealing!" they pointed at him. "Either win a prize fairly or leave! Or I can just call the police if you're such a sore loser!"

He clenched his fists, the look on his face made them gulp in fear.
"You little-"
"Oww..." Kat looked down, sad.
He glanced at her before frowning.
"Hey now, you think I can't win this toy without my powers?!" he walked passed her and stood in front of the machine, taking out his wallet. "Just watch me."
Kat's face lit up. Now with a personal challenge, Macaque used all his brainpower to get that plush. And as the powerful Six-Eared Macaque, a crane game was a total breath, so far he has won almost all the plushies. All except for the cat.
"You damn rigged game!" he said between his teeth, growing very frustrated. "I literally went to hell and even that wasn't as evil!"
Meanwhile, Kat was having fun admiring and hugging her new toys. After yet another 'failure', Macaque clicked his tongue and tossed the small chubby elephant behind him, she caught it.
"Yes~." she whispered as she placed it between two bigger elephants. "The elephant family is complete." she giggled before looking at him. "It's okay mister, I'm happy with what I got-"
"You said you wanted the cat, didn't you?" he glanced back at her before looking at the game again. "It will be done! I will empty this machine for all it's worth! Until it is nothing but an empty shell!"

She laughed at how determined he was being.
"You can do it mister!" she cheered and stood next to him.
"Of course I can! Obviously!"
They both intensely watched as he meticulously placed the crane so that it'd grab the plush at the right angle, then slowly lowered to grab it by the hoop of the tail. Once it left the ground, it wobbled a little bit which made the duo gasp and tense up. Ket even grabbed his sleeve but Macaque was too focused to even realized it. Thankfully, the plush didn't fall and it fell into the compartment. The two of them screamed out in victory. Kat took it and jumped in joy, Macaque grabbed her shoulders and shook her a little bit, while they were both still screaming in joy.
"Screw this thing!" Macaque took out his staff and destroyed the machine.
"Hey!!!" the employee shouted.
"Ha! And now we're outta here!" he ran out, with Kat under one arm and all her new plushies under the other, a big smirk on his face. "See ya loser!"
Kat laughed wholeheartedly.

Macaque was really fast, so running away from the consequences of his actions was easy! Eventually he stopped and put Kat down.
"Alright." he huffed. "Your nonny must be somewhere around the area."
"This isn't my neighborhood though..." she looked around, a bit worried.
"That's where I spotted them." he shrugged.
Then, there was a loud gasp.
"Kat?"
They both looked over, there stood someone who looked very tired, their hair was messy and they had bags under their eyes, which were now filled with tears. They fitted Kat's description perfectly.
"Nonny!!!" Kat ran towards them.
"Kat!!!" they did too and kneeled down to hug her tightly. "Oh thank the gods in Heaven you're here." they let her go and held her head. "A-are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?!"
"I'm okay nonny." she smiled, placing her hands on top of theirs. "All thanks to him."

They looked over to see Macaque, walking up to them. They stood up and faced him.
"For the record, it wasn't all me, I didn't-"
"He saved me!"
"Well that's a matter of perspective really." he looked away, playing it nonchalantly, as Kat's parent just stared at him.
"Um...Monkey King?"
"Heh. Yeah, I get that a lot. I'm the Six-Eared Macaque, just Macaque for short."
"You..." they leaned a bit to the side to check. "You don't have six ears though."
'Okay...That, I don't get often.'
"That's exactly why I just go by Macaque." he joked.
They chuckled. He handed them the plushies.
"There, it's hers."
They looked at them, confused for a moment.
"He got me these at a crane game!" Kat beamed, holding their hand.
"Oh! Alright then." they took the plush pile, not without difficulty.

"Well!" he huffed, his hands on his hip. "I gotta go now," he turned around and waved. "see ya-"
"W-wait!"
He looked back at Kat's parent.
"Would you uh... Would you like some money?"
He snickered.
"Thanks but, I don't really care for that stuff."
"Still! I have to thank you!" they took a step forward. "At least let me offer you a drink."
"Oh yes! Please~?" Kat added.
Now there were two people giving him the puppy eyes. He quietly groaned, hesitating. He scratched his head.
"I guess one drink wouldn't hurt." he faced them.

"Oh thank you!" they dropped four-fifth of the pile into his arm. "This way." they smiled before walking away, holding Kat's hand.
"Is this actually why you want me to stay?!" he glared, following them. "I'm not a bag boy!"
"You bought her too much-"
"I didn't buy anything!"
"-How are my tiny human arms supposed to hold them all?" they asked with an innocent look.
"Don't play innocent with your sneaky mind!"
"I don't know what you're talking about." they chuckled.
He frowned, but didn't say anything when he saw Kat hugging her nonny.

Macaque was led to an apartment complex. It looked pretty shabby on the outside, but he had to admit, the apartment itself was pretty neat and nicely decorated. Like they tried to salvage the place. He was invited to sit at the small table in the small kitchen. Kat was given some juice and Macaque was asked what he wanted, he also asked for juice.
"There you go." they handed him his glass.
"Thanks." he took it, but didn't drink.
Since there were only two chair, Kat sat across from him while her nonny leaned back on the kitchen counted, whither bottle of soda.
"I'm (Y/n) by the way." they smiled. "It's nice to meet you."
He just nodded, and noticed that Kat was looking a bit uncomfortable.
"Nonny?" she asked. "Why aren't we at our house?"
Macaque blinked twice, surprised. (Y/n) now had a sad look in their eyes.
"We had to move out...while you were missing."
"Ow..." she looked down. "So it finally broke."
"What does that mean?" Macaque asked.

"A while ago, a giant shadow monster attacked the city."
His eyes widen.
"It attacked our house, and although I did my best to make sure it stayed intact, the whole structure eventually fell. And this was what I could afford." they gestured around them.
Kat gasped.
"That means I have a whole new room now!" she finished her glass in one go before hopping off her chair and rushing away. "I wanna see I wanna see!"
(Y/n) sighed.
"I am so glad she's okay. For so long I've been looking for her but..." they looked down. "If only I hadn't let her out of my sight... If only I was more careful." their grip on the bottle tightened and they chuckled, but Macaque knew it was forced. "Boy am I a bad parent-"
"You're wrong!" he stood up. "Lady Bone Demon would've gotten her no matter what, she's very powerful. Even..." his voice trailed off.
He thought, maybe using himself as an example wouldn't mean anything to them.
"You know, even Sun Wukong the Monkey King couldn't defeat her." he smiled. "There wasn't anything you could've done."

They smiled, their eyebrows furrowed.
"What about you?"
"Huh?" his eyes widen, he didn't expect that one either.
"Well, that ice thing finally disappeared, and there you come with my daughter safe and sound. And she says you saved her."
He looked away, scratching his head.
"You had something to do with that, right?" they leaned forward a bit. "Thank you so, *so* much."
"I'm no hero you know."
"That's a matter of perspective really."
His eyes widen, and for a moment, he just looked at them, and they just looked at him. Just then Kat was coming back from her new room but stopped when she noticed the two adults having a moment.
"Would you like to stay for dinner?!"
"Wha-Kat!" (Y/n) glared at her, flustered.
She just smiled innocently.

"I don't wanna overstay my welcome." he casually said before climbing out the door. "Thanks for the drink."
"H-hold on!" they rushed and grabbed him by the cape in a panic.
"Mmh?" he looked back at them.
"Ah..." they realized what they just did and let go of him. "The door's right there you know!" they pointed.
Macaque snickered.
"That's not really my style." he grinned. "Nice meeting you (Y/n). See ya around Kat."
"Bye~!" she waved.

He simply nodded before jumping. Being on the fifth floor, (Y/n) rushed to the window, but saw no one. They looked into the horizon, both dumbfounded and amazed.
"Macaque..." she whispered, just for the sake of saying his name.
"You like him~."
She glared at Kat, who was chuckling with a smug smile.
"You little brat, hiding behind an innocent front!" they began to tickle her as revenge. "You really are your nonny's daughter!"
"Hahahaha! S-stop!"
"Apologize!"
"Never!"
Their smile softened and they hugged her.
"I missed you so much."
"...I missed you more." she hugged them back.

"(Y/n)..."
Macaque was crouching on top of a roof, looking up at the sky, thinking about what just happened in the last few hours. His eyes narrowed. When they made that callback and the two of them just looked at each-other in silence, he felt a warmth again. Like with Kat, but this time it was different. He was still feeling it.
"(Y/n)..." he said to himself, to check again.
Yep, saying their name was not helping. Some boxes were being checked here, and he didn't like the list these boxes were on.
"It's fine." he stood up. "I'll just move on with my life and it'll go away in no time." he walked away with a satisfied smile. "Yeah they were cute but, you know," he shrugged. "nothing to lose sleep over."

In the middle of the night, Macaque was in bed, staring at the ceiling.
"Dammit!!!" he grabbed his forehead.