All six of the monkeys were The Alchemist's pride and joy.
They were practically his children and he loved them all as such. It might've been because of that he ended up noticing certain things about them, even while he was busy. It included the smaller things that other people might not notice unless they looked closer.
Otto bounced and waved his arms when he got something from one of the other monkeys. It looked like it was one of the stuffed toys Masaru had gotten for Nova. She wanted to share it with him, it seemed, which was good. They were getting along with one another and it made him happy.
What stood out to Masaru, however, was how Otto showed his excitement. Waving his arms, flapping his hands, something the others didn't do when they got happy and excited about something. The monkeys simply wagged their tails and smiled, but Otto did more than that.
It wasn't something Masaru could be upset with, everyone had their own ways of expressing their joy, but it was something that caught his attention. It reminded him of something, but he couldn't put a finger on it. He noted it down for later, alongside other things he noticed about Otto.
The way he felt about certain noises, such as loud and high pitched ones for example, and how he appeared overwhelmed after a certain point and needing to be alone afterwards. How he suddenly needed to hold onto someone at times, as affectionate as it was, like he felt deprived of a certain sense. That didn't include how he latched onto someone, mainly Masaru or Mandarin, to get to somewhere quieter.
Masaru was never well versed into the mind and what made a person's brain tick, it was never something of interest to him, but Otto had him curious.
He decided to look up what it could be and spent hours upon hours of research. He wanted to understand his green simian better, even having Otto by his side as he researched. The best thing that appeared to fit Otto, with everything he noticed, was autism.
He simply chuckled to himself upon the conclusion. It was probably a little different from how humans could be autistic, but it was interesting to see how animals such as monkeys could be similar to humans in that way. Even if nothing fit and Otto was merely different from the others personality wise, it was good to have that knowledge.
Now all he had to do was keep them in mind. He didn't want to do anything that would upset Otto or, worse, give him a sensory overload. He tried to keep any sounds that bothered Otto to a minimum.
With what Masaru knew, he also kept an eye on the others to see if anything came up as well.
Masaru grumbled.
He was having trouble with his invention. It had been giving him trouble for about half an hour now. Maybe he needed to do this in a different way. He raised a hand without looking away from it.
"Clayton, can you give me that um, um," he snapped his fingers as he tried to think of the word.
He couldn't think of the word. Normally, it was at this point of the night where Clayton would try to get him to bed. Masaru wasn't close to ready to sleep yet, work needed to be done and he wasn't going to bed without a fight.
Something entered his hand and it ended up being the exact thing he asked for.
"Thank you-"
He saw it was Gibson who gave it to him. He was supposed to be asleep with the other monkeys right now. Either he woke up in the middle of the night and he happened to hear what he requested, or he didn't fall asleep at all. While it was preferable that Gibson got some sleep, Masaru was grateful for his help. He turned his chair and picked Gibson up.
"You're a smart, helpful little monkey, aren't you?" He chuckled; he then started doing a British accent to be humorous. "This little project is driving me bloody mad, mate."
Gibson lightly laughed as his tail wagged. A deep sigh could be heard from behind Masaru.
"You call that a British accent?" Clayton scoffed with a smile. "Don't listen to his awful attempt at it, Hal. I'll show you a better accent later."
"Oh, as if you can do better. That's why you're not doing it now," he crossed his arms.
Clayton looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He took Gibson from Masaru's hands.
"It's because I'm getting ready for bed, Alchemist. In which case, why aren't you in bed?"
His eyebrows furrowed. He expected that question to pop up sooner or later.
"I'm working, Clayton, and I can't stop now."
"You always say that. You're getting some sleep after we put Hal to bed, I don't care what you say."
"I will later-"
Clayton pulled Masaru's chair away from his work table.
"We're putting him to bed, and you're getting sleep. No excuses. I want to see you before I leave tomorrow." His voice was firm but sweet.
Masaru stared Clayton in the eyes. Determination was present in his eyes. He simply smiled, smug about what he was doing. It was a look that he was half tempted to smack off his face, but he had every right to feel smug about this.
He sighed and folded yet another night. On one hand, he needed to stop giving in when Clayton did this. On the other hand, it was something he was grateful for. He didn't know what he would do without Clayton here for nights like this.
"…Alright. However, I'll be back to work the first hour I'm awake."
He smirked. "Wouldn't expect anything else."
Masaru got up, pushed the chair back, and they went to lay Gibson down. It took a few minutes, but they managed to do so without waking up the other monkeys. Everyone was peacefully asleep, even Mandarin himself.
Afterwards, Masaru took off his robe and hung it up before getting to bed with Clayton. He didn't bother changing to any pajamas before he laid down.
Clayton fell asleep quickly while Masaru took an hour to drift off.
Masaru crossed his legs and took a deep breath.
He really didn't feel like teaching today, his anxiety went through the roof, but it was a necessity. There were people who wanted to learn magic and how to use it with science, he couldn't push his disciples away. Masaru wanted to better the world with both, and this was one way to do it much to the dismay of his anxiety.
Clayton ended up noticing his anxiety and proposed meditation to help ease it enough before he went to teach. It seemed like a long shot, but he ended up doing it. It apparently worked if it had been nearly two weeks since Clayton sat him down to do it.
Antauri saw him and he walked over to him. He took a seat next to him. He got into position and started meditating himself. Masaru lightly chuckled and closed his eyes with a smile on his face.
For whatever reason, Antauri saw him do it and he decided to follow suit. Even when Masaru didn't meditate before lessons, Antauri kept doing it. It wasn't something he could complain about, if anything it was a good thing at least one of them did it alongside him. He supposed it was soothing for Antauri to do, even if he wasn't chaotic like the other monkeys could be or anxious like Masaru.
He took another deep breath as he attempted to clear his mind. Masaru wondered if he could get Mandarin to do this as well. That orange gremlin could use something to calm his anger.
Probably not, though, but it would be worth a try.
Nova climbed up Masaru's body and rested her head on his shoulder.
This was a usual thing whenever he wasn't working. Well, sometimes while he worked too, but it was more typical when he wasn't. In the mornings, whenever he took a break, and right now as he tried to grab some food to reheat.
Her tail wagged from side to side. Nova always seemed happy to be around him in a way the others didn't appear to be. They loved him to pieces, he knew that, but with Nova, it seemed like a little girl who wanted to be around her favorite parent as much as she could. It wasn't the first time he noticed it, but he always thought about it whenever she clung to him like this.
It didn't bother him in the slightest. If anything, it brought a smile to his face.
He was happy that they loved him as much as he loved them. It didn't make them less difficult to deal with when they started their shit, of course, but it was to be expected. There were challenges in everything, but the good things in them were what made them worth it.
They loved Clayton as well, which he was happy about too, needless to say. They treated him as if he was their other father. Antauri was a prime example of that statement.
Speaking of the devil, Clayton just walked into the kitchen with Antauri in his arms. The black monkey swayed his tail and his head rested on Clayton's chest. He had a little smile on his face. He opened an eye once the microwave beeped, the sound catching his attention for a moment.
Clayton walked up to the cabinets.
"I'm surprised I didn't have to drag you out to make sure you ate something," he joked.
"I was feeling hungry, so I thought it would be a good time to get myself something to eat." Masaru scratched Nova's head. "Maybe get them snacks as well."
Nova moved her head up to lean into his hand. Her tail wagged faster.
"You really need to take a day off. I mean, when was the last time you did that?"
Masaru simply shrugged at Clayton's question as he walked to the table with his food. He couldn't remember the last time he took a full day's worth of a break, but he was too focused on his work for Clayton to truly keep track of that.
Clayton grabbed something sweet for Antauri before he sat down next to Masaru.
"Well, we should change that. Today, you're taking a break." He patted Masaru's shoulder. "I don't care what you say, I'll even get the monkeys to join in."
Masaru covered his mouth. He swallowed before he allowed himself to laugh.
"You wouldn't use them against me."
"You know I would."
He glared at Clayton. "Don't you have a date tonight?"
"I do," he looked away. Yeah, he forgot it was tonight, Masaru could tell and he wasn't surprised, "but that doesn't mean I can't spend most of the day with you and the monkeys."
He rolled his eyes, but a smile had its place on his face.
"For a playboy, you forget your dates a little too often."
"Hey, you try juggling being Captain Shuggazoom, making sure your partner isn't running himself into a grave with his work, helping said partner with taking care of six monkeys, and being an important rich man! It's not easy keeping track of everything!"
Masaru only laughed in response. He supposed he couldn't blame him there, but it didn't make it any less absurd for him. A playboy forgetting dates with people he might never see again was something that no one would ever think of.
As if it was jinxed, a beep went off. Unfortunately, Masaru and Clayton knew what that meant.
"Ah, I have to go. Shuggazoom City needs me."
He put Antauri down, who seemed a little upset he had to go. Clayton ran to grab his Captain Shuggazoom outfit and headpiece.
"I'll try to be back soon, but this doesn't mean you can get out of taking a day off!"
"I'm sure Nova and Antauri won't allow it."
Clayton ran out the door.
Antauri looked at Nova and broke off a piece of his cookie to give her. She took it from him and ate it. He patted Antauri's head.
After Masaru was done eating, he spent time with the monkeys for the rest of the day.
Clayton hung everything up when he came in.
He immediately went over to Masaru. He went to kiss him, but Masaru put his hand on his face. It caused Clayton to raise an eyebrow. Masaru motioned towards the monkeys with both a slight movement of his head and his eyes going between them.
Antauri, Mandarin, Gibson, Nova, Sprx, and Otto were all staring at them. They acted like curious children and watched them like they were about to do something.
"Not in front of the children." Masaru firmly said.
Clayton quietly laughed as he pulled Masaru's hand down. "Masaru, they're monkeys."
"Not. In front. Of the children." He restated.
Clayton could only laugh more as he covered his face. Masaru knew he was laughing because of how ridiculous it was. Perhaps it was, but they were still children at this point, especially in Masaru's eyes. He didn't think they should see them kiss until they were older.
Otto and Sprx simply tilted their heads in confusion while Nova snickered.
Masaru kissed his cheek and went back to work.
Mandarin growled and snarled.
Nova shrunk away in fear, but part of her was still angry. She trembled as she growled back. Masaru was about to interfere when Otto came between them. He didn't allow Mandarin to get closer to Nova.
Otto was always the monkey that could calm Mandarin down. Sprx, Nova, and Gibson were afraid of him, and Antauri couldn't calm him down despite being able to calm Nova, but Otto wasn't afraid and he was able to get Mandarin to back off. Otto and Mandarin were always close, so Masaru wasn't surprised Otto was the one to ease his anger.
Otto grabbed his hand; he started talking to Mandarin. Antauri took Nova and pulled her away to calm her down in the meantime.
Masaru wasn't fluent in Simian, but he knew enough to understand what Otto was saying to Mandarin and vice versa.
You know Nova didn't mean anything bad by it, Otto told him. Besides, the Alchemist said that we should get along with each other! We shouldn't be fighting!
Maybe Nova shouldn't have done it! She's not as bad as Gibson, but I swear she does it to mess with me!
Mandarin tightened his grip on his hand. Otto's eyebrows slanted down.
You don't hafta be angry like that, though. Alchemist doesn't get mad about things like that, so you shouldn't either.
He huffed as he looked away.
…Do ya wanna cuddle, Mandy? That always seem to cheer you up some.
Mandarin looked at him again for a few seconds before he sighed. He dragged Otto away without another word. He still seemed angry, but the light wag of his tail contradicted his expression.
Masaru raised an eyebrow. Even though they were close, he never recalled Otto calling him that. None of them really had any nicknames for each other. He pushed it aside for now and followed them. He needed to have a talk with Mandarin about this, and how they needed to do something about his anger issues.
When he got to their area he made for the monkeys, he opened his mouth. Masaru closed it almost immediately afterwards when he saw them. His eyes widened slightly.
Mandarin kissed Otto while intertwining their tails. The tip of Otto's tail wagged heavily.
Oh.
Oh.
How did Masaru not notice this before? That explained a few things now that he thought about it.
Otto then broke it off and buried his face into Mandarin's neck. Mandarin kept his eyes on the monkey in his arms. The look on his face softened as he started to feel calmer now. One end of his lips curled up.
Before Masaru could be seen, he walked away. He went towards Nova and Antauri instead to see how they were doing.
Maybe he should talk to Mandarin about that later, and add another thing to that conversation.
A groan left Masaru as he walked into the room.
He wasn't old, but he certainly felt like it after yesterday. He needed a break from people for a few days. It would be a surprise if he could even handle being around Clayton and the monkeys right now. Maybe he needed a couple hours today, but that was what it felt like.
All the monkeys had snacks in their possession. It seemed like Clayton decided to spoil them while Masaru was asleep. Not that there was anything wrong with that, they deserved it every once in a while.
However, he noticed Gibson didn't have anything in comparison to the others like he originally thought. Either he went through it already, or there wasn't anything he wanted. Masaru wouldn't be surprised if he ate it all that quickly, Gibson loved anything salty, especially salted popcorn.
He hung his head and he whined. Otto ran over to him with his chips. Gibson sniffled like he was about to cry. Otto handed him the bag, basically telling him he could have the rest. Gibson gently took it from him and thanked him. Otto happily ran back to the others.
That sad look on his face disappeared as soon as Otto left. His tail wagged as he munched down on the chips. It was like he didn't get upset a moment ago.
It was simply crocodile tears.
Masaru looked at him, then at Clayton and the other monkeys with him—Sprx got annoyed while Clayton kept teasing him with a banana—then back at Gibson. He blinked a few times. He shook his head.
Did… Did Gibson just manipulate Otto to give him his snacks?
It didn't seem malicious whatsoever, but it wasn't something that he should do. Masaru needed to teach him not to do that. He was a smart monkey and he knew it. Gibson took pride in that intelligence he had. Sure, he had his moments of irritability that led him to being aggressive with Sprx and Mandarin, disregarding his own safety at times, not to mention how he didn't seem remorseful about certain things that he did…
…Actually, there might've been something going on upstairs that he needed to check out. If there was, he didn't want Gibson to feel ashamed of it because he wanted to improve on some of his behavior.
He downed some of his coffee. Forget being completely by himself today, this was much more important.
Masaru went to Gibson and picked him up. He started to screech in annoyance. He wanted to be let down.
"Sorry, Gibson," Masaru walked over to his work room, "but I'll need to diagnose you with something and some of your behavior needs improvement."
Gibson simply struggled more in response. He didn't want to do this against his will, but it was something he felt needed to be done. Masaru needed to make sure this was documented at the very least. It wasn't a thing he wanted to get rid of, Gibson wouldn't be himself anymore if Masaru attempted to get rid of that part of him. If he did have what he thought he had, though, then he wanted to help him manage it. He didn't want him to have a difficult life because of it, nor a difficult relationship with the others.
Masaru wondered why he didn't think of that sooner, since he already noticed some of Gibson's behavior and symptoms. He already knew about it due to his prior research of figuring out what Otto was.
It took him an hour to properly diagnose him with Antisocial Personality Disorder, document it with his OCD, and tell him what they would be working on. He gave him the reasons why some things needed improvement. Masaru also told him that Gibson shouldn't be ashamed of it and be happy with himself.
Thankfully, Gibson understood where he was coming from. It was much easier than Masaru anticipated, but he wasn't going to jinx it by saying it.
His only question was how it developed, because it certainly wasn't environmental.
"Quit fighting! Calm down! All of you!"
Masaru groaned, almost growling. How was he supposed to work when the others were misbehaving?
He heard the door open and a couple shoes hit the floor. Thank fucking Shuggazoom, Clayton was back. Masaru didn't need to look away from the project to confirm what he heard.
"Clayton, you're back! Can you help keep them under control?" He requested. "Mandarin and Gibson are fighting, Nova and Antauri are causing mayhem with Sprx getting some of Nova's anger, and Otto is overwhelmed by everything. I can't do that by myself and I cannot work on this with the chaos."
"Don't worry, I can handle it."
Masaru sighed in relief. "Thank you, Clayton."
Clayton quickly went over to the monkeys. Masaru kept working while Clayton tried to calm things down.
After half an hour, there was still a ruckus.
He took a deep breath as he stood up. He went over to the other room to see what was going on.
Everything was still in chaos. The only thing that didn't succumb to it was Antauri being in Clayton's arms. Otto was nowhere to be seen, though.
"Clayton, I thought you had this under control!"
"I tried, Alchemist, but the only one that was willing to listen to me was Antauri here." He looked down at Antauri. "Don't worry, I made sure Otto was okay first."
Masaru only stared at him.
He groaned and raised his hand up to his face. It was times like this that he wondered why he even worked that day.
"Guess I have to get the others myself," he grumbled to himself.
Masaru calmed Mandarin, Nova, Gibson, and Sprx down.
All Clayton was greeted with when he came back was a sight of Masaru sitting on the couch.
More specifically, Masaru was asleep on the couch. The monkeys tried to readjust him so he was more comfortable on it. It was like watching a bunch of little kids helping their sleeping parent. It was cute, honestly, and he was sure the Alchemist would be happy to know they were working together. In a way, he was amazed at how human-like they could be at times.
He walked over to them and helped out. Once he did that, he sat down. Sprx rested on his lap while Antauri went up to his shoulder. Gibson and Nova rested on Masaru's lap. Mandarin and Otto laid at one end of the couch and cuddled up with each other.
They all ended up falling asleep. They were a small but happy family.
Unfortunately, it was one that couldn't last forever.
