Can't Teach an Old Monkey New Tricks

And Z is for Ze End

"So... this thing can make calls?" Wukong asked, squinting at the device in his hands. "How do I do that?"

"It's the button that I showed you before," MK sighed, eye starting to twitch, "the green one with the picture of a phone."

"Button? What button? This is just a brick of glass!"

"You know," Tang drawled, watching MK trying to educate Wukong from the comfort of his lawn chair, "I never thought that MK would ever be the one teaching Wukong."

"Eh, I'm not surprised." Pigsy huffed, tending to the food on the grill. "The kid is always ready to help someone, even if it's using a silly device."

The scene was lovely. The sun shone down on the gathering, making the atmosphere seem almost as if it were glowing, the air warm and light. White flowers were draped over every surface, overflowing from pots on the tables, dancing along the dirt paths, and climbing up the constructed archway that stood beautifully at one end of the event. Wukong was draped in brilliant red and gold robes, braids and bells decorating his mane, as well as jewelry that was pulled from his jewelry box. His face was covered in elegant paint, pink, purple, and blue petals dusted over his cheeks and forehead. He was busy opening the gift that MK and Mei got him while they waited for the food to be finished. 

"Well, yeah. MK would obviously help him." Tang chuckled, sipping from his glass of peach wine. "I meant... I meant that it's interesting to see Wukong letting someone teach him something. I figured he'd be a little more prideful."

Pigsy glanced over at the group. He had helped MK get dressed nicely for this event, ensuring he wore his best clothes and had his hair properly brushed. Redson helped quite a bit, but he had ulterior motives, as he was more focused on braiding flowers into MK's hair and letting MK do the same to his. "Yeah, I can see that. Weird, huh?"

"A little." Tang snorted as he watched the kids internally die as Wukong failed to understand their instructions. He leaned back, enjoying the sun, cuddling into his scarf. "But he's been wearing his glasses a lot more, so maybe he's humbling himself."

"Wukong humbling himself? Never." The sudden voice spooked the two, but they had long since gotten used to the surprise whenever Macaque revealed himself. Despite the tradition of light blues and pinks for this kind of event, Macaque was instead wearing dark black and purple robes, red lines painted under his eyes, and red ribbons braided into his mane. "He needs an incentive to do anything like that."

"MK's a pretty good incentive." Pigsy chuckled, turning back to the food. "Is everything in place?"

"It is," Macaque hummed, tail flicking happily, "the ceremony will start as soon as the sky starts to change color."

"Oh, I can't wait to see it!" Tang gushed. "Front row seats to a traditional-"

He was interrupted by a phone ringing, Macaque pulling his device out in confusion. His face softened as he read the screen. With a tap of the screen, he brought the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Mac! I'm calling with a smartphone!" Wukong happily shouted through the line. He was waving to them from where he sat on the other side of the gathering. "Isn't that neat?  I can walk around with it!"

"Yeah, I can see that," Macaque chuckled. "You can take pictures with it, too."

"I can!? How do I turn this off? I wanna do that!" Wukong fumbled with his phone, Mei and MK trying to help him. Macaque could hardly keep his laughter in, making his way to his lover across the way.

"...I think I might know why Wukong's mellowed out." Pigsy chuckled. "He's wrapped around someone's finger."

Tang watched Macaque settle next to Wukong, an unbelievably soft look on his face. It was hard to think that this guy once hated Wukong. "Mm, I think it's the other way around."