Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Julien's chair squeaked as it turned around. "MAURICE!" "MAURICE!!" He looked around, his fuzzy grey-furred friend was nowhere to be found. Even if he were hiding and pulling some cruel prank, Julien would still be able to see his friend's big ears.

"Maurice... Maurice this isn't funny anymore, c'mon. Where are you, Maurice?" 

Julien checked behind every plant and object in the front of the throne room. He decided to leave the stack of yet-to-be-signed papers where they were in favor of going for a walk.

Clover saw Julien looking slightly dejected though mostly confused. 

Maurice on the other hand was happy as he could be, finally a king to listen to him. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy being around Julien, it just got... tiring, not to mention that Julien hardly ever listened to him. 

A king finally taking Maurice's advice and does not blame his royal advisor for his mistakes. Maurice was ridden with excitement, maybe this kingdom would find some real improvement. Eventually, everything good had to come to an end, not that being around King Julien wasn't good, but being taken seriously was also nice and now it was time for him to go back to his childhood friend. 

Maurice had a little more bounce to his step. What was making him so happy? King Julien wondered as he watched Maurice walk toward him. 

"Hey KJ!" Maurice grinned, he looked like he had had a good day. 

"Hey Maurice? Why are you acting weird?" Julien raised an eyebrow.

"Am I not allowed to have a good day because you didn't get in trouble?" 

"You just normally aren't this happy, not even when we drop our booties to the floor together."

"What can I say, I just woke up on the right side of the bed, see ya King Julien!" Maurice turned a circle, only stopping to send finger guns Julien's way. 

Julien looked to the bushes Maurice had just disappeared into, then to Clover, and then back to the bushes. After he was confident Maurice was out of earshot he turned to Clover.

"Mo-Mo is acting really strange," Julien pointed his thumb toward the bushes. "Do you think he's cheating on me?"

"Your majesty you and Maurice aren't a thing, how could he be cheating on you?"

"With another king Clo-Clo! Or even, dropping booty to the floor with another best friend. You gotta help me, Clover!"

Clover waited until Julien had finished shaking her before telling him, "Maurice probably just had a good day, maybe he enjoyed a day off?"

"But Clo-"

"Okay Your Majesty, I'll go investigate." Clover backflipped into the bushes, leaving Julien alone with his thoughts.

Clover ran off toward Maurice’s hut. Waiting in a nearby tree and watching him, she was willing to sit here all night if she had to. Gods, if this man had any social life, it would have been before he had been assigned to watch King Julien all day. She felt kind of bad, even almost understood- no. She had to keep focus, he was now a threat, a target she had to capture and question. The sun had started falling toward the horizon when Maurice finally came out of his hut. “Target acquired.” She followed him through the forest, watching as he grew increasingly paranoid, only raising her suspicion of him. 

Clover gasped. How could he. Out of everyone he could have left King Julien for he chose the rats. Those stupid goddamned rats. “I got you, traitor,” she mumbled to herself. She ran through the forest, mainly across the tree branches, eventually landing in the King’s “throne room.”

“Your Majesty!”

“Yes, Clover?” Julien sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Your royal advisor an...” She trailed off, opting to not finish that part, “is with the rats!”

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner Clo-Clo?! I have to find a new royal advisor immediately!” 

By mid-morning the next day Clover had gathered all the potential lemurs in the kingdom who would be the next best thing to Maurice. She looked at the list, Mort. This was gonna be fun. 

“Are you just Mort in a costume?”

“No, I am not, Your Majesty.”

“NEXT!”

“It is I, Chair Lemur-Table Jr. I can’t wait to work as your royal advisor, I would be a great fit.”

“Mort get out.”

Mort walked in the room this time with a blonde, curled wig on. After not even a minute and a... questionable act, “that’s too far, even for you Mort.” King Julien sighed. 

“That even freaked me out a bit Mort, I’m gonna be honest.”

“NEXT!”

Horst walked into the room, a beverage that smelled a little too similar to alcohol in one hand and a suitcase in the other. 

“Are you just Mort in another costume?”

“No, Your Majesty,” Clover answered, “that’s Horst. The lemur who always has a beverage...”

“Nope out, next.”

Willie walked into the room, “Hi Your Majesty, I believe I can-”

“That’s just-”

“No that’s Willie... the guy who’s always screaming ‘We’re all gonna die!’”

“Send him out, no one can replace Maurice.” Julien threw a hand over his forehead very dramatically, “no one can. Now show me what you found.”

Maurice looked up at the Rat King Joey and sighed, what was it with him and mazes? He handed Joey his clipboard to show him the plans for the irrigation system. The bushed behind him started to shake and Maurice turned around. King Julien? What was he doing here? He started to wave his arms back and forth, his tail waiving anxiously, “it’s not what it looks like, Julien!”

“It looks like your chea- giving advice to another king!”

Maurice’s heart slowed a little bit, “oh, then it’s exactly what it looks like. I can explain though!”

Clover walked up to him, that anger in her eyes, she shook her finger at him, “King Julien doesn’t want to talk to a traitor.”

Julien looked at the orange, slightly- no, really aggressive Captain of the Ringtail Guard, “the King can speak for himself.” He turned to Maurice, “I don’t want to speak to a traitor. Even if he may be my best friend!” His pause was longer this time, his voice even started to sound a little bit shaky, “but, I’m going to because I’m really confused here man!”

Maurice took a deep breath, ready to talk over Clover and Julien if he needed to, “do you remember after Karl blew up the coffee fields-”

“Karl with a “C” or a “K” I feel like I know a Karl." 

“JULIEN! After that happened the rats were left on their own, they built mazes they were too stupid to find the end of and I helped them set up a really working kingdom! And best of all King Joey listens to all of my ideas, unlike you.”

“Name one time I didn’t!” 

“Every time.”

“Stop playing these games Mo-Mo, let’s go home.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Fine. See if I notice, see if I care! You won’t have any fun without me...and if you’re really staying I banish you fro-”

“You can’t banish me because I quit. I’ve banished myself” 

That felt like an arrow straight through Julien’s heart. There was only one way he could think to rebound, “well, I unbanish you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! That way I can banish you and you’re not allowed in the kingdom ever again. For forever Maurice! Never again! Times infinity banishment.” Julien crossed his arms like a stubborn boy and started to walk off. He didn’t actually mean any of that... did he? Of course not. He loved Maurice he could never truly banish him. Not really.

/// Later that day///

“Do you not understand? I never loved you!” Mort recited from behind the bamboo T.V. cutout.

Julien was watching the live rom-com from the edge of his bed with a wooden replacement of Maurice. 

“I love you. I love you. I love you.” Ted replied to Mort.

“Turn it up! I can’t hear you, I am hard of hearing!” Julien shouted, attempting to use a remote to turn up Mort and Ted’s voices.

The rom-com continued as Julien blew his nose in the stand-in for his best friend. 

“Ted, c’mon man everyone knows that the two completely opposite characters always end up happily ever after and with each other.”

“Oh, so you mean like you and Maurice?”

“Can’t a lemur just watch a movie that has no resemblance to his own life?!” Julien was upset and he jumped through the bamboo T.V. and out to his balcony. He was going to talk to Amelia, the only one who could ever console him in his current state. And then once he figured out his plan he would probably go tell Clover,

Maurice looked up at the near-completed project. There should have been a point when Maurice realized he can’t keep using figures of speech with the rats, they took things way too damn literally. What was supposed to be a compliment just turned into more work than it should have been. The rats were now breaking the last section of the irrigation pipe with their stone hammers. 

At least the day was coming to a close, it was almost time to enjoy it, and enjoy it he would. Or at least he would until a certain lemur, or two fell on his small, make-shift table. 

“Are you stalking me?”

“No,” Julien laughed nervously, “just... came to check on you because I was totally definitely not super worried about you at all or anything.”

“If only you could go away, disappear for good,” Maurice grumbled.

“I’m having so much fun without you see!” Julien laughed, though it sounded pained and really forced. Maurice felt bad. Just a little. “Goodbye, c’mon Clover and the... rest of the kingdom.”

“You. What.”

“I thought you didn’t want to speak to me anymore, Maurice.”

Julien laughed, he was really talking to a pineapple about his relationship problems right now. This was most certainly a new low for him. All he had to do was be himself, sing out his feelings. He was great at that, except for when he wasn’t. He was great at singing his feelings when it involved excitement and dropping his lemur booty to the floor. He wasn’t going to let this long-lasting friendship that was most definitely not blossoming into something more die. Not yet. Not ever. So he started to sing.

“Mo-Mo are you out there scared and all alone? Good. I’m glad.” He sighed, “no, that’s not right. I miss you. Please come home.” Julien paused. Boy did he miss Maurice, “I’m lost without my friend, who dumped me for a bunch of rats!” Julien couldn’t tell that he had begun to tear up by this point. “I’m sorry I did it again. Oh, Mo-Mo!”

“King Julien.” Maurice sang, his voice solemn and lonely, arguably more lonely than Julien.

“Wait. You can hear me?” Julien stopped, Maurice sounded like he was standing so close.

“Yes of course I can hear you, Julien, this is a sad lover’s ballad, now shush so we can be self-loathing for leaving each other.”

They both started to sing once more, “Save me from this abyss. We’re star-crossed lovers... wait no brothers from different mothers. How did it come to this? 

“The kingdom feels empty now. I miss my buddy, my pal, my compadre. My life, my friend, my love... wait what?” 

Maurice continued the song, Julien stopped singing for a moment to catch his breath. “Don’t let it end this way. If I could see you one more time-”

Julien interrupted him to say, “It’s sorry, I would say. Ooohhhh Mo-Mo you’re my bro-mo!” 

All right that settles it, I am going to go apologize to him, Julien decided.

Maurice sat on his box, looking so extremely upset. He honestly looked like he was having his seventeenth mid-life crisis of the day and it was only eleven in the morning. He realized that even with Joey listening to him he missed King Julien so much, missed him and his stupid ideas. Maurice forgot he was having a conversation with King Joey he was so deep in his thoughts.

“I disappeared him. I heard to you say it yesterday.” 

“What!” Maurice’s heart plummeted, “that’s not what I- You gotta stop this King Joey!”

“Maybe we can still stop it.” 

Another rat scooted himself by them, “no use, I had Efficient Charlie do it.”

“He’s a goner, I’m sorry Mr. Maurice.”

Maurice hardly heard what Joey had said. He had already started running through the jungle, calling out desperately for his king and best friend. He followed the sound of Julien’s screaming. He quickly realized where it was coming from. He scaled the cliff face as quickly as he could. Julien was just there, Maurice would be damned to the Bell God Underworld before he would let Julien die. He dove after his friend, straight off of the cliff, screaming “I’ll save you, Your Majesty!”

Finally, back on the safety of the solid ground, Maurice sighed and hugged his best friend. “I'm so glad you’re safe, King Julien.”

“I accept your apology for leaving me.” 

“But I didn’t-” Maurice started to protest.

“Now, do you wanna go back to the kingdom and have a nice dinner by candlelight?”

“Wha- we don’t have candles in the kingdom, Your Majesty.” 

“Of course we do, silly Maurice. Plus man, after that super incredibly sad love duet we had the Sky Gods said they would help me out if I ever needed a favor. That favor was candles. So do you want dinner or not?”

“Sure... just don’t go dying on me. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Maurice wrapped his arms around King Julien. The two embraced, relishing in the quiet and wholesome moment. One that they would hardly ever get. 

Julien pulled away after about five seconds, saying that “the five-second rule of hugs, c’mon Maurice.” 

Maurice just rolled his eyes, what was he ever going to do with this party-animal, emotionally shy, sort of fruity, and wonderful lemur he’d spent his entire life with already? He knew exactly what he was going to do. Or at least try to do, and that would be to spend his entire life with King Julien, maybe even make Mort jealous while he was at it. After all, if he and Julien felt the same way about each other, Mort wouldn’t be allowed to go after Julien’s feet, not while Maurice was around. 

Julien could feel his heart ready to leap out of his chest at any moment. He was so nervous, and he couldn’t even figure out why. Thankfully dinner went smooth, Mort was even being helpful and kept the candles lit. After dinner, though they were both tired they went on a walk through the kingdom, the stars were out, the sky was beautiful and the weather was absolutely perfect. It was a very romantic walk through the kingdom. 

Both lemurs were exhausted, and in the morning they were found sleeping next to each other in the grass under the baobab tree by none other than the early riser of the kingdom, Hector, who was surprisingly chill about it. Hector told Clover and it was soon dealt with before any other lemurs woke up, so as not to raise any alarms. The telling of the kingdom would come with time.

Chapter Text

yo guys what, i didnt expect people to actually read this much less like it, this was supposed to be a crack fic because i was in a silly goofy mood. i'm glad you all like it (but still what the fuck, thank you for the support!)