Molten Iresis (FurnaceRedAU)

11- Road Trips

Everyone had actually adjusted to Wukong's disability pretty well. Except sometimes they forgot or were straight up mean. Like right now.

"...Mei, MK, stop. I beg of you." He squinted at the green and yellow blobs, hesitating, "I swear, if you guys switched clothes again--"

He could only really tell who was who if he was close enough to identify their skin tones or hair color. Unfortunately black and dark brown were stupidly similar, and they barely shoved any skin anyway. One of them, Mei(?) giggled, "Sorry, sorry! It's just funny."

Wukong grumbled, squinting his eyes, "...You know what, I think I can spot the difference now." He gasped, grabbing the sides of his face, "MK, have you always had such lovely eyes?!" Mei and MK gawked, "WHA-? HOW?!"

The king deadpanned, waving a hand in front of his blank eyes, "Huh. Gee, seems like the little miracle was only for a few seconds. Oops, gosh that's too bad."

"...We'll stop switching clothes..."

---

The bowl tumbled, falling off of the counter and landing loudly against the ground.

"I'm sorry! Here-!" Wukong fumbled, bumping his head loudly against the edge of a counter as he bent down to pick up the bowl he'd knocked off. Tang sucked on his teeth, "That's...gotta hurt." Wukong sighed deeply, rubbing his bandaged forehead, "Just a little."

Pigsy took the bowl carefully from the monkey's hands, "It's fine, Wukong. It wasn't really your fault." The chef shrugged(?) as he moved away from Wukong. The king exhaled, "Say, you read, right?" He turned towards the scholar, trying to keep down his excitement.

Tang hummed, "I do. Why?"

Wukong sat down on the floor, rocking back and forth softly, "Read me something? I used to read a lot! And I heard the writing has changed over the years." Tang cleared his throat, "Of course I can read for you. Let's see... Ah! Here we are."

Tang read poem after poem, and Wukong hung onto each word. The world around him seemed to still, and he was sure he'd forgotten to breathe. Joy took hold of him, causing the monkey to beam unconsciously.

Pigsy watched from afar as he cooked, deeply amused.

---

Macaque stretched as he walked out of his king's shadow, "Hey, peach." Wukong didn't skip a beat, "Thawing out?"

The warrior groaned, "Yes. I hate her so much aughhh! And she thinks I hate you, so at least that's hilarious." MK poked the shadow user, blinking innocently, "Didja miss us?" Mei leaned against her best friend as she pitched her voice, "Yeah, didja?"

Macaque gave them a look, "No."

As the trio playfully bickered, Sandy sat down in front of Wukong, making sure to catch his attention, "Hey, Wukong? Tang says you love reading." Wukong nodded, "Yeah. I used to do it quite often." The water demon hummed, "Well, do you know what braille is?"

"...No."

"It's a way for blind people to read." He took a page with ridges and bumps, guiding the monkey's small hand across them, "Different variations are different characters, which form words. You read with your sense of touch!" Wukong gasped loudly, making MK, Mei, and Macaque immediately look at him in surprise, "I can finally read again..?"

Tears would have pricked his eyes, matching his flushed cheeks and quivering lips, "Teach me."

And so Sandy began to teach him how to read once again.

---

Wukong gasped as words began to connect in his mind, "Oh my word-! MAC, Mac c'mere!"

Macaque leaned in, poking the king, "Yeah?" Wukong lifted the papers, books, and beamed, "Listen! 'To flow within your mind is to escape a world where you are trapped. Chained and dragged down.' I read that! I READ THAT!"