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janetbrown711 · 5 months

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A Better (not) Son or Daughter

MK has been acting like a "goody two shoes" at school and it really starts to get on Mei's nerves until she finally reaches her breaking point

tw for the besties fighting, minor fantasy racism, and anxious mental breakdowns

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 8.5 Part 9 Part 10 Part 10.5 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

Ao3 Link

Mei wasn’t liking how MK was acting at school as of late.

There was just something… weird about it– something wrong about it.

Like how during math class, he started not glancing at Mei’s answers, or at lunch he’d keep quiet, or how during PE he just started laughing along to Qiang’s stupid jokes– and on top of all that she could actively see him hiding or stopping his numerous little fidgets he did during the day.

It was weird!

Of course the teachers didn’t seem to notice the negative behavior, even praising him for “being more focused” which was totally weird because if Mei knew one thing it was that her best friend struggled with focusing just as much as she did (if not more). Of course, his grades were still not the greatest, but he was starting to get C+s and B-s, which made Pigsy proud.

MK really liked making Pigsy proud, so at least he was happy, but… but still. It was weird, and Mei didn’t like it.

What probably frustrated her the most was how she couldn’t even talk about it without sounding crazy or jealous. Like– “Wow Mei, way to be happy that your best friend is getting good grades and is getting your guardian’s approval. You’re such a good friend.”

But it was off! It was weird! It was so very not normal. Annoyingly so.

She wondered if perhaps Qiang was blackmailing him or something, or if it had to do with the whole “Career Day” thing since she noticed the behavior had started right after winter break. Maybe it had to do with Pigsy saying he now “trusted them enough to not need him to drop them off”, which was a lie if Mei ever heard one, but even then she couldn't say why that'd make MK change his behavior. Plus, MK was completely unresponsive to her questioning, especially if it was during class, so Mei was left to wonder all on her own.

Yippee.

“If you keep twisting those noodles you’re going to take the whole bowl, kid,” Pigsy commented with a chuckle.

“Oh! Sorry, Piggy,” Mei apologized, immediately releasing the poor sesame noodles back into the bowl.

“You got a test today or something? Your face is as scrunched as my ma’s playing mahjong,” He laughed a little more, but this time more at the memory than her.

“No, I’m just… thinkin’,” She glanced at MK, who was eating peacefully with his legs swinging (unlike how they’d be at school).

MK suddenly stopped though, looking at her and pointing out, “Uh, yeah we do. We have a history test,” with a mouth full of noodles.

“MK, don’t talk with your mouth full, please,” Pigsy massaged his forehead.

MK laughed and nodded before swallowing. “We have a history test today.”

Right. One of the last ones before school ends. A last ditch effort for Mei to get her grades up, but she wasn’t all that hopeful.

Pigsy glanced at Mei. “Did you know that?”

“Kinda,” She admitted, looking down at her bowl and poking it with her chopsticks.

“You study for it at all?” He then asked.

Mei shrugged. Unless the history had dragons actively involved, she wasn’t interested. And the unit right now was just on some dead chairman guy they were all supposed to really care about, but Mei’s dad had never liked him much, so she didn’t either… whatever his name was.

“Gotta study for these things if you want your grades to go up, kiddo,” Pigsy pointed out while washing some of the dishes from breakfast.

“I know, I know,” Mei lowered her head, picking up a single seed and trying to squish it between her chopsticks. “History’s just kinda… boring.”

“Yeesh, don’t let Tang hear that,” Pigsy joked but Mei could only crack a weak smile.

Pigsy sighed, turning off the sinking and looking at her. “Just try your best, kid. That's all you can do.”

Mei wasn’t really sure she could do her best right now… Heck, she hadn’t really been doing her best since before her parents died. After all, if she were doing her best, she'd be perfect and if she’d been perfect, her parents would still be here.

“Okay,” she said instead, since it made Pigsy happier to think she agreed.

He smiled at her softly, ruffling her hair before going off to grab his keys while Mei shoved a few more bites before throwing the rest in the trash and rinsing out the bowl, which MK copied.

“I can let you copy off of my test if you want, Mei,” Her friend suggested, smiling all innocently.

Mei couldn’t help but roll her eyes with an aggressive huff, making MK step back and give her a weird look, but Mei moved on before it could be acknowledged with words.

She went into her room, shoving a few loose papers into her bag without care just as Pigsy called asking if they were ready to go.

Mei zipped up her bag, giving a glance to the shrine to her parents in the corner of her room. “Yeah! Just gimme a sec!”

Her parents were looking at her with a perfectly neutral expression, their stance and position perfectly neutral towards each other. At least, that’s what it looked like at first, but Mei remembered that photo shoot. It was for a big promotion at her Mama’s company and she had spent hours making sure Mei looked absolutely perfect. In fact, if she focused really hard on her Mama’s dark eyes, she could see her not quite looking at the camera, but at Mei with this look of… expectation. And hope, maybe.

Or maybe she was just paranoid from staring at dead people instead of getting ready for school.

Mei sighed, shoving a water bottle and pencil case into the sidepockets of her backpack.

She shouldn’t be feeling this way. It had been seven months. Her parents loved her. Or love her, if there’s some kind of afterlife or if ghosts are real. But either way, there was love. Mei was loved. It was cool.

Mei ran out of the room and joined her guardian and MK by the door.

“You two ready for today?” Pigsy asked, hand on the doorknob.

“Yes sir, Mr. Pigsy,” MK gave a big, bright-eyed grin.

“As I’ll ever be,” Mei bit her cheek, and with that the three of them were off.

.o0o.

Drop-offs were more like a ding-dong-ditch these days, with Pigsy making sure to step off the subway with them and make sure they got to the stairs okay before watching them disappear, and only then would be begin waiting for his next train (which Mei only knew because sometimes they’d go back down and watch him). If anything, it told Mei he was totally lying about trusting them, but she knew not to confront him since adults were usually sensitive about those things.

It didn’t make the walk to school from the station any easier though, and Mei tried kicking a pebble all the way to make up for being kind of annoyed at MK for no real reason.

“I– um… I could also help you study before class starts… if you want,” MK suggested, and Mei kicked the pebble harder.

“I’m fine. I don’t need help,” She focused really hard on a second kick that sent it across the crosswalk right before a car drove by.

“That’s true, you are really smart,” MK smiled at her but she ignored it, looking both ways before crossing the street, which MK quickly followed.

Mei continued kicking the rock.

“The test is also stuff I mostly knew from my old school– which means you must really, really know it if you’ve been here for so long,” MK continued trying to be all light hearted and stuff, but it just made Mei’s skin crawl, and for once in her life, she was relieved when they arrived at the school.

Instead of leaving the rock, she picked it up and put it in her skirt pocket.

Mei then looked around the yard, seeing some kids playing hopscotch, others doing homework, and a few playing a trading card game. However, Mei couldn’t have been less interested in any of that and so just made her way to Miss Yang’s classroom, which MK scurried to follow like a lost little duck.

Mei greeted the teacher with nothing more than a curt bow before going to her desk, immediately taking out a pencil from her bag and drawing on a crack in the wood.

“Mei, you’re going to get in trouble for drawing on the desks again,” MK whispered, glancing at Miss Yang, but she was busy on her computer.

“Yeah, yeah,” Mei huffed her bangs out of her eyes.

“Mei, Pigsy really wouldn’t like it if–”

“Why do you care so much about what he thinks now, hm? You’re like some little goody-two-shoes– makes me feel sick,” Mei rolled her eyes and scribbled harder.

MK didn’t speak for the rest of the morning period.

Math breezed by uneventfully, with MK volunteering and getting answers wrong like he always did, and Mei trying to not let that annoy her. Reading was boring, science was alright, and then it was time for the history test.

Mei groaned as the “pass-er out-er” handed her her paper, and a part of her thought about writing an insult, folding it into a paper airplane and sending it her teacher’s way, but the fact that Pigsy and MK would be disappointed in her? It was a bit much.

Well, MK’s whole thing felt like “a bit much” to be honest. Like– since when did he expect things from her? Why was he always wanting her to be on her “best behavior”? Since when was he the leader here?

She thought again of her parent’s photo and felt her face get hot with shame as she looked down at her paper. She was immediately bombarded with dates and questions she couldn’t remember if she tried, which only made her face get hotter and hotter. She glanced at MK, who seemed laser focused on the top question about Mao Zhedong’s birthday, and she looked away before he could look back.

Well… at least the test was multiple choice, so she had a 25% chance of getting right by guessing, so Mei filled out random answers before flipping her paper over and resting her head, waiting for the “pass-er out-er” to become the “take-er away-er”.

After five or so minutes, MK coughed, and when Mei looked he was sliding his paper towards her. Mei glared at him, which just made him look confused which made her get more annoyed, and so Mei just closed her eyes once more.

It was another five or so minutes before their tests were taken away and they were dismissed for PE, which also went by uneventfully– until it was yard time.

Mei was still angry by the time they were released outside, and MK was still following her around because despite all that, she was all he had and he knew it.

And, well… that kind of went the other way around too.

But Mei wasn't in the mood for MK today, getting in line for tetherball, a game MK hated, and tapping her foot impatiently as she watched.

“Uh– Mei? I-I don't really… like this game, can we do something else?” MK asked, looking at the other students with unease.

“It's not always about you, MK,” Mei said bitterly, making MK frown.

“Well– yeah, I know, it's just– can't we play something else? Like jump rope or wall ball or something?” MK offered.

“Nope. Tetherball. You. Me,” Mei squinted at the red ball as class athlete, Kija, managed to successfully wrap it all the way around the pole, beating his opponent. Another boy rose up to the challenge, making Mei next.

“You and me? That means you'd have to beat Kija,” MK pointed out.

Mei scoffed. “I've beaten him before, I'll be fine.”

“If you say so,” MK eyed her a bit, but she didn't take her eyes off the ball, watching as Kija and the other boy went back and forth, back and forth, before Kija used both hands to shoot the ball at impossible heights for the average student to fight and he won yet again.

Mei smirked as she stepped up to the plate. “You ready to dance, Kija?”

Kija laughed. “You only won because the whistle blew.”

“Keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll finally get an award for being a ball hog,” Mei cracked her knuckles and Kija growled and served.

The two of them went back and forth, with Mei attempting an angle shot, but Kija managed to snag the chain since he was a bit taller than her. Thankfully though the chain was metal and in stopping her move his wrist was weakened, meaning Mei could go in for a fast ball. If he didn't recover in time, victory would be hers.

Kids watched in awe as Mei hit the ball with overwhelming speed and precision, and she laughed as Kija missed again and again until right at the last possible moment he managed to recover and struck back.

Some kids booed as Mei growled in frustration, hitting the ball as quick as she could, determined to teach this punk a lesson and wipe that stupid smug look off his face.

There was a bit of back and forth, with Mei getting dangerously close to losing her lead here and there but she remained vigilant. After five minutes of intense competition, she managed to wind the ball all the way around the pole and all the kids watching cheered in her honor.

“I don't hear any whistles this time, Kija,” Mei smirked and crossed her arms.

Kija growled. “You're gonna regret that, pony girl,” He threatened, shoving her before storming away to play some other game.

Mei rolled her eyes, taking Kija's place and taking the ball as MK hesitated to step to the plate.

“C'mon, MK, we don't have all day,” she rolled her eyes.

“I– do I really have to, Mei? Seeing you win was fun enough, but I don't really–”

“Just shut up and play, MK,” Mei glared, and MK stood upright in alarm.

She didn’t even give him time to relax before she served, hitting the ball with all the rage and aggression in her heart, causing MK duck and cover his head.

“C’mon, MK, stop being such a coward!” Mei glared, hitting the ball again.

“Mei, stop!” MK shouted at her.

Mei knew she should. That she was freaking MK out and it wasn’t nice. That Pigsy might actually get mad at her if he knew. But her anger felt like a flame in her chest, and she hit the ball again.

“Woah, she’s really going for it.”

“Is she glowing?”

“Why doesn’t Xiaotian fight back?”

“She is glowing! Woah!”

“Someone take a picture!”

Kids were gawking all around Mei, but she was still too angry to pay any attention to the green aura surrounding her and making her heart pound. This time when the ball came her way, Mei grabbed it point blank and let it go before grabbing MK’s collar and dragging him across the play yard until she reached the gate and shoved him against it.

“What the heck is wrong with you, MK?! You’re acting like a crazy person!” Mei shouted at him.

“Me?!” MK was completely lost. “You’re the one attacking me a-and acting like I’m an evil clone or something!”

“You’re the one who’s all obsessed with being all goody-two-shoes-y and getting good grades and not fighting back! What happened?!” Mei twisted his collar tighter and her free hand curled into a fist.

“Mei, stop! Please!” MK noticed and started to cry. “I-I just wanna be good f-for Pigsy! Promise!”

“Stop lying! There’s more, there has to be,” Mei shook him and dared to raise her fist, making MK clench his eyes shut.

“I-I-I’m not lying, Mei, I would never lie to you!” MK sobbed, sending waves of guilt crashing through Mei, but she remained in a fighting stance.

“What’s different, MK?! Hm? All studious, all perfect, thinking that’ll make him happy,” She growled and MK opened his eyes to look confused.

“H-huh? I-I’m not– I’m not perfect, I just wanna be good ‘cuz–” MK glanced around at the other students, before looking back at Mei and deciding to whisper. “‘Cuz Pigsy, he– Qiang’s Dad– he threatened we’d be kicked out, a-and he said things, mean things, about his past a-and he cried, a-and I don’ wanna lose him too, Mei, I don’ wanna,” MK couldn’t speak anymore, choking on his sobs, and Mei let go of his collar, allowing him to sink to the ground.

Mei’s anger evaporated in an instant, only leaving her with an empty, panicked feeling as her chest rose and fell at a feverish pace and kids started whispering around her again.

“Aw man, she stopped glowing…”

“What happened? Did she beat him?”

“Gross! She looks like a demon!”

“I wanted them to fight!”

“This was so lame.”

“Their dad is that pig demon? No wonder.”

“Boo! I wanted to see her punch him!”

Mei stumbled back, finally noticing the hot tears streaming down her face. She looked down at her best friend, who brought his knees to his chest and just kept crying and crying and rocking back and forth. “MK– I– we aren’t–”

Just then she remembered Pigsy’s words all those months ago and it echoed in her mind like a broken record.

“If we slip up like this– get into one too many fights, or get the cops called too often– then you’ll probably never, ever see me or MK ever again.”

A soft “no…” escaped her lips and she fell to her knees, getting dirt all over her knee-high socks.

“I-I– I didn’t mean– I-I just– Y-you were– but now– M’so sorry MK, m’so, so sorry,” Mei began to weep and buried her head in her hands. “I-I ruined it– I-I ruin everything– M’so sorry.”

Mei continued to sob, but briefly stopped when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her. She startled at first, until she realized it was MK, and hugged him back, crying into his shoulder.

“I-I don’ wanna lose Piggy either, MK– m’so sorry,” She sniffled and tried to explain herself.

“I-it’s okay– I just– w-we can’t be mean, you know? W-we need to be nice and happy for Piggy,” MK hugged her a little tighter, and she could tell he was shaking too.

“I– yeah, we– we can be good for ‘im, right? We can be good kids, I know we can,” Mei tried to smile but her bottom lip wobbled beyond her control so she squeezed MK tighter as he nodded in silent agreement.

She felt like such an idiot. What was she doing getting all mad at MK for? What did she hope to accomplish by threatening to punch him? She was supposed to be smarter than this, Pigsy already told her what would happen if she got too rowdy. She was supposed to have listened, but she never listened. That’s why her house burned down and that’s why her parents were dead, she could never just listen–

They’d probably get called to the office again. And then it’d be over– it’d be one fight too many and Mei would never see MK or Pigsy or Mr. Tang ever again and be dragged to the bottom of the ocean to be with her weird mystical uncle or whatever.

“M’so sorry, MK, I didn’t mean to, m’so sorry,” Mei repeated so quietly she wasn’t sure he could hear over his own crying.

The pair of them stayed huddled by the fence crying until the whistle blew and the two of them wiped their faces and clothes as best they could and headed back to their classroom, praying to every god or star in the heavens that they wouldn’t get called up and everything would be okay.

But, no. As soon as everyone was back in their seats and ready for their science class, there was a phone call and Mei and MK were sent down.

Mei kept her face stoic and unreadable, like she had practiced back with her parents despite wanting to cry. MK wasn’t nearly as lucky though, since he had never practiced so his tears just streamed down in a hot mess and all Mei could do was hold his hand and urge him onward until they were waiting in the familiar chairs that should’ve had a plaque with their names on it by now.

They weren’t called in for a while, so Mei kept her eyes on the old clock as it ticked seconds away at an agonizing pace while holding MK’s hand.

After a while though, she whispered, “M’so sorry, MK… I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“I know, Mei, I know.”

Mei clenched her eyes shut and took a shaky breath. “I’ll miss you.”

MK could only squeeze her hand and cry more.

After seven minutes, MK was called in first, though he almost refused to go in without Mei. They didn’t have a choice though, and the two were separated.

Mei buried her head in her hands and stayed that way until it was her turn, only catching a glimpse of her best friend before heading in.

“Miss Long, I can’t say it’s a pleasure to see you again this time,” Headmaster Jiangxi folded his hands and placed them on the table.

“...Are you gonna call Pigsy?” Mei asked, taking her seat.

“It is school policy, Mei. You of all people should be very aware of th–”

“I didn’t mean to–!” Mei interrupted. “It wasn’t even a fight really, I was just– I was so mad– I’d never really hurt MK, not with what I know now– please don’t tell CPS and have us separated or Piggy arrested or expel us, please, please, please, please,” Mei got on her knees and begged, clearly startling the man.

“Miss Long, there’s no need for kowtowing, please,” He urged and Mei took her seat again, face red and hot.

Headmaster Jiangxi took a long breath. “Miss Long, we were never going to expel you or Mr. Qi over this–”

“R-really? What about Mr. T–” Mei slapped a hand over her mouth.

“‘Mr.’ who?” The man looked at her with a hint of concern.

Mei lowered her eyes. “MK told me about something… Mr. Tao said…”

“Ah…” The headmaster glanced at his computer with unease. “I had a feeling something like that would occur. I meant to send an email to dissuade him from presenting, but…” he shook his head. “No matter now, there’s no need for Mr. Tao to know. You said it yourself, it never turned into a fight, did it?”

Mei shook her head. “I just got really, really mad– some kids even said I was glowing, but I didn’t mean to! I swear, I was never gonna actually hurt MK, I just– I was so mad…”

Headmaster Jiangxi nodded to himself as she spoke, typing a few things into his computer and clicking some others. “Am I correct in assuming you’re very familiar with the school’s policy on bullying and violence?”

“Yeah, I remember breaking Qiang’s nose,” Mei confirmed, trying not to smile at the memory.

“In normal circumstances, the two of you would be given lunch detention for a week, on top of a phone call home, but seeing as there was no actual fighting between the two of you and all has already been resolved I see no need for this to go on any records– so long as you swear to be on your best behavior for the rest of the school year, understood Miss Long?” Headmaster Jiangxi gave her a look and Mei’s jaw dropped.

“I– yes sir! I promise! I’ll be the best darn kid in this whole academy, I won’t let you down, I promise,” Mei couldn’t help but beam.

“Don’t get too excited yet, Miss Long. We still have more to discuss,” He reminded, and Mei forced herself to sit back and tried to take a breath, though couldn’t stop her legs from swinging happily.

She waited as he typed a few more things, clicked a dozen more, typed a bit more, and took another breath.

“Your… ‘glowing’... is that something you can control?” He asked.

“Oh, um… I mean it really only happens when I’m really, really scared or angry. I’m just surprised my ‘inner dragon’ didn’t make an appearance too, haha,” She tried to laugh, but Headmaster Jiangxi clearly didn’t find it funny.

“Right… Well, rumors like that are going to be hard to quell, Miss Long, especially with your guardian situation,” He explained.

“But it’s because I’m a dragon, not because I’m a demon. I’m not going to hurt anyone,” Mei frowned.

“I know, Miss Long, but– well– you have brought harm to students in the past–”

“Qiang deserved it,” She muttered.

Her principal gave her a look. “I’m not saying he didn’t, but what I am saying is that I recommend you get this anger of yours under control before it grows beyond my control, understood?”

Mei slowly nodded. “Yeah, I think I get it.”

“You’re a smart girl, Miss Long. You can go on to do many great and important things like your parents always dreamed; you just have to make the right choices,” The man smiled at her softly, and Mei felt her stomach drop.

“R-right, yes. I can– I will. I promise,” Mei stood and bowed.

“I’m glad we could come to an understanding, Miss Long. Your family has always been good to this academy and it would be a shame for us to part,” He nodded at her.

“Yes sir, I understand,” Mei nodded back, fiddling with her skirt. “Am I free to go, sir?”

The headmaster nodded once again. “Have a good day, Miss Long.”

“You too, Headmaster Jiangxi,” Mei meant it as she bowed yet again and stepped back into the outside world.

Well that was strange. But hey, Mei would take what she could get, especially if it meant they weren’t going to be separated after all.

Mei said a quick prayer to her ancestors as a “thank you”, and hurried back to class.

.o0o.

The rest of the day was as Headmaster Jiangxi had warned. Students whispered and kept looking back at MK and Mei– especially stupid Qiang– but Mei was okay because she and MK weren’t going anywhere and that meant there was nothing they could do to hurt her.

During the cleaning period, MK and Mei stayed by each other's sides and swept the classroom in complete silence, which got them a compliment from Miss Yang. It was equally strange for the both of them, but it was a strange day.

Both of them were flooded with relief when the bell finally rang and they were free to board the city bus and ride to Pigsy’s Noodles.

“So… what did Headmaster Jiangxi say to you?” Mei asked, adjusting her backpack as she looked out the window.

“He had a lot of questions I couldn’t answer for a while because I… just kinda kept crying and begging not to be taken away, haha,” MK admitted, messing with the carpeted seating. “He said he wouldn’t call Piggy though, and after that I was able to explain how you were just having a bad day and you didn’t even hurt me and we’re okay now, you know?”

“Ahhh, yeah that explains it,” Mei pieced together. “I was wondering why he was so mellow about the whole thing. I guess I owe you one.”

MK laughed a little. “Maybe… but I’m just glad we’re okay and Pigsy’s okay too.”

“Yeah, me too…” Mei looked down. “I… I really messed up. I don’t know why I got so angry, I just– I don’t know… I guess some part of me thinks Pigsy likes you more than me and you switching to act all good and quiet kinda threw me, m’sorry,” she confessed.

“Hey, it’s okay,” MK smiled and held her hand. “I’m not mad at you or anything, I really should’ve said something sooner about Mr. Tao, but… yeah,” he laughed a little, which Mei copied.

“Still friends?” Mei asked, offering her hand to shake.

“The bestest,” MK shook it and the two of them smiled and laughed the rest of the bus ride before arriving at the familiar noodle shop.

“Hey, you two,” Pigsy smiled as they walked in, drying off a glass with a rag like everything was perfectly fine. “How’d the test go?”

“Oh, right– that did happen today,” Mei completely forgot about everything before recess.

Pigsy raised an eyebrow. “Busy day?”

MK and Mei exchanged a look. “You… could say that.”

This, of course, just made Pigsy even more confused.

“Why? What happened? Some kids get into a fight or something?” Pigsy guessed, moving on to drying off a bowl.

Mei shook her head. “Not really, but it did get kinda close.”

“Yeah, but everything’s okay now and no one really got hurt,” MK smiled at her.

“Ah, I see,” Pigsy nodded to himself. “I gotta say, it is kind of refreshing to hear about kids getting into fights that aren’t you two,” He laughed a little.

“I beat Kija in tetherball–!” Mei blurted out, immediately diverting the conversation.

“Really? That’s impressive, kiddo. Congrats,” Pigsy gave her a smile before going to put the bowl and cup away.

“Smooth,” MK whispered and Mei rolled her eyes, pushing him a little.

It wasn’t long after that that Mr. Tang came back from a long day of studying, and soon the conversation became all about him and the Monkey King– not that Mei minded by any means.

Because this was normal for them. This was right for them.

Things were so right and normal right now and Mei wouldn’t give that up for the world.

#lego monkie kid #lmk #dadsy of two au #mei lmk #mk lmk #pigsy lmk #my fics #hurt/comfort #angst #lil mk and mei deserve the world tbh #i just #oughhhhhh i love my lil babies #why must they fight?#(the answer is I make them but shhhhhhh)

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captivemuses · 2 years

Note

He didn't like thinking about it. The notion made his stomach uneasy, made his thoughts fuzzy. However, with his arm slung to his side, Lio's sleepy body atop it, cold nose nuzzling against Galo's chest, rest refusing to claim him -- Galo couldn't help it.

"I lost you, you know," his voice was whisper-soft; Lio awoke easily, and he didn't want this confession to be the first thing he heard upon awaking, "I... I was so close to not making it. You were gone," Galo flexed his hand; he could still feel Lio's skin, falling like sand in-between his fingers, pale skin a see-through gray. "You probably don't remember it. Whenever I uh, leaned down to perform CPR on you, your lips were... like ice. You were so cold."

It was hard to imagine now, with Lio a warm, tired bundle at his side, his breaths fanning Galo's exposed skin, and Galo liked it that way. Lio was so full of life now - the way he sought out Galo's heat unconsciously, the twitch of his fingers as he delved further into his dream, his chest rising and falling with every relaxed breath.

He wasn't the Lio he found in the core. He was breathing. He was warm. He was alive.

Gently, Galo turned on his side, his arm - Lio's makeshift pillow - bringing them closer together, careful not to jostle Lio too much. Curling protectively over the body of a boyfriend he, in some universe, didn't get to have because he was too late, because he didn't perform CPR quick enough, because he didn't make it - Galo leaned their foreheads together, his breaths meeting Lio's lips, parted in sleep.

"I almost didn't get to love you," his voice was quieter, fragile; his other hand tucked a lock of hair behind Lio's ear, a small smile forming on his lips whenever he got a clearer view of Lio's pleasantly asleep face, "I... dunno how I would've dealt with that. Not great, probably. But you're here with me. You're with me," with a kiss on that cold nose that he loved so much, Galo's body relaxed, finally at ease. As sleep loomed closer, Galo's eyes drew heavier; Lio would never hear this, so might as well spill all of his guts. "I wanna... I wanna wake up to you forever. Fall asleep next to you everyday. I wanna make you happy, today, tomorrow, the next day... I want you, Lio Fotia. Now and forever."

As he fell victim to sleep, Galo had one thought on his mind:

I want to marry you.

On normal nights like this, it didn’t take Lio long to find the solace of sleep while leaning against his boyfriend in some capacity. Galo was warm, his arms were safe, and more importantly he had become Lio’s home. Who he looked forward to coming home to every single day. Guiera and Meis had finally been given the chance to do the same with each other, and though their bond with their former leader was no less tight than it’d been when they were still fugitives, it was nice that the three of them could have that home in another person and have a place to go back to every night that wasn’t them sleeping in a cave or an abandoned building or in a place they broke into to sleep in for the night.

Luckily for Galo, his attempts to be quiet were successful and Lio did not wake up when he started talking, nor did he when Galo also shifted them a little so Galo could face him better in their bed. As long as Lio still had his pillow and the warmth from Galo, he was content. He was content and unaware of the mental distress his boyfriend was currently experiencing, and that might be for the best so Galo didn’t have to feel bad about worrying Lio or taking away from his sleep too, as they so often did when it came to each other.

But if Lio were awake to hear what Galo was saying, he just might have been able to tell his boyfriend that he also wanted to wake up next to Galo forever. That he didn’t want to fall asleep next to someone else ever either.

Lio’s heart belonged to Galo, and only Galo.

#ic: lio #ofhope #they're in love your honor

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goldenshoyo · 3 years

Text

Taste like Strawberries - DILF Daichi

Warnings: Fem!Reader, age gap (Reader is 22 and Daichi is mid to late 30s), daddy kink (obv), brat taming, finger sucking, spit kink sorta, dumbification, degradation, thigh riding, oral (m. receiving), rough sex, a little praise, alcohol consumption. (as always, let me know if you want something else tagged)

Word Count: 4.9k (honestly idk how it got so long hahaha sorry)

Author’s note: This is my contribution to @kaijime's dilf collab! Make sure you go check out the masterlist and read all the wonderful works on there as well! Also, I edited this at 2am; so sorry if it is a mess.

Can you pick Mei up for me? I have to work late.

You sigh looking down at the text from your sister, this is the third time in the last few weeks she’s sprung this on you. Despite knowing there’s nothing she can do about it, it’s irritating with her husband traveling and needing to work. The one good thing is the quality time you get funny spoiling your niece after school, getting her whatever junk food she wants that your sister never lets her have.

Texting her back that you will, you go back to studying. Your final year of college has been more stressful than you expected, work always piling up with your motivation lacking. No wonder so many students take an extra year. However, you were determined to finish now and not extend your torment any longer.

Glancing at your phone you see it’s nearing pick-up time at Mei’s school. You clean up the library table, shoving your laptop and notes into your bag, and leave. The drive isn’t long, her school is close to your apartment and sister’s house so you would have needed to take this route anyways. Pulling into a free spot near the school, you leave your bags in the car going out to meet her by the school’s front gate.

“Big sis!” Your niece squeals and you look up from your phone. She’s dragging another little girl behind her, pulling her your way. “This is Kaiya! She’s my best friend. She said it's okay I use her first name, so don’t scold me like momma does! I let her call me Mei too!”

You laugh listening to her babble on about her new friend. She’s coming up on her 6th birthday, and every day she is growing more and more into her own personality. “I wouldn’t scold you like your mother. You know that,” you bend at the knees, getting at their height.

“Hi Kaiya, I’m ----. It’s nice to meet you.” You shake her little hand and she smiles.

“You’re very pretty, like Mei.” She pulls her hand away and then her lip pouts. “I wish I had a big sister.”

“I can be your big sister too if you want. Mei, you don’t mind sharing me do you?”

“Only if you promise to get me ice cream.” Her eyes and nose squint and she laughs, her mischievous face has stayed the same since she was a toddler. It’s impossible to resist.

You stand up, rubbing her head and laughing. “Fine, we can stop by a shop on the way home.”

“Sorry,” a deep male voice comes from a few feet behind you. “I had a work thing... I’m sorry I’m a little late baby.”

You watch as a tall, broad man picks up Kaiya while she giggles and wraps her arms around his neck while squealing ‘daddy’. You smile politely when he looks at you. His face is handsome, features not too sharp or round; everything about it warm and inviting. He’s still dressed in his uniform, well besides the jacket. You assume he’s a part of the police force from the pants and belt he wears matched with a dark blue shirt that clings to his form.

“I hope she wasn’t bothering you,” he says while setting her down.

“Oh of course not. She was very polite and well behaved. You’ve raised a great daughter.”

He chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. “Thank you. I’m Sawamura Daichi, and you are?” His smile is so cute, you think. It’s not forced or out of politeness, but instead genuine happiness.

“---- -----,” you tell him and shake his hand. He squeezes it once, and your stomach turns. What was that?

“Is Mei yours?” He tilts his head, eyes going between you and your niece. “I’ve never met her mother, only your husband. Kaiya talks non-stop about Mei when she’s home with me.”

“Oh, no-no. I’m her aunt. My sister works a lot, so I pick her up from time to time.” You laugh. “I go to the local college, so it’s close by. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Sawamura.” Trying to keep yourself from becoming too flustered, you look away. Watching as your niece digs through her backpack for some reason.

“Please, call me Daichi. It’s nice to-”

“Daddy, big sis is taking Mei to get ice cream!” Kaiya cuts him off. “Can we go too? Pretty please!” She kisses her father’s cheek, smiling brightly as he sets her back down. She holds tight to his hand, begging some more.

“If it’s okay with your dad, we don’t mind. Do we, Mei?”

She nods with a big smile. “Kaiya they have the BEST strawberry flavor.”

“Do you mind? I don’t want to impose on your time with Mei.” Daichi asks while still keeping an eye on the girls, who have wandered a few feet away while blabbering about ice cream flavors.

“Of course not. It’s good for young girls to spend time together.” He nods and thanks you. “There’s a spot close by. We could walk if you don’t mind.”

“Better wrangle the girls then,” he laughs, walking towards them both and getting their attention.

Taking a deep breath and letting out a sigh, you try and relax. It’s just ice cream for the girls… even if Kaiya’s hot dad is coming along. You’re sure he’s just trying to be nice and let his daughter have a nice time. However, it’s hard not to feel something when a man this hot and good with children is around.

The ice cream shop has a pretty outdoor area off the back of the shop, fenced in with a swing set and other children’s toys and playsets. No one else is visiting currently, so the girls have the playground to themselves, running around with ice cream dripping all over the ground when they forget they should be holding the cones up. Sitting quietly, spooning ice cream into your mouth, you try not to stare at Daichi too often.

“What are you studying?” He asks, breaking the silence that was threatening to become awkward.

“Oh, uh,” you swallow the cold cream. “Literature and classics.”

“Interesting. I bet you enjoy reading to your niece then,” he smiles at you before taking another spoonful of ice cream. You can’t help but watch his tongue dart around the spoon.

“Yeah.” You say quickly looking away. “Mei enjoys it, well, when she pays attention. Does Kaiya like stories?”

“Her mother says she always listens to her when she reads, but for me, it’s hard enough to get her to go to bed. I don’t think she’d ever stay still to let me read her a book.” He continues to talk about the weekends he gets with her, and you listen closely.

It’s stupid, you think. You shouldn’t feel this excited that he’s either divorced or at least no longer together with Kaiya’s mom. It’s selfish, but lucky in some ways. You don’t have to worry about a jealous wife coming after you because her husband paid for your ice cream.

“I’m not around for bedtime, so I can’t really relate.” You say softly and stick your tongue out lick the spoon clean. Stopping yourself from licking the ice cream off, deciding to explain more, “Mei never really stays the night anyway. She gets too worked up without her-”

The spoon is plucked from your hands and you frown looking at Daichi, who has a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. “What do you like to do at bedtime?”

Your breath catches in your throat, and you stutter out something incoherent. Daichi’s tongue swipes up your spoon, and you watch carefully, longing to be that spoon as his tongue drags across it.

“Well?” He continues, then hands you back the spoon.

“I, uh, I don’t know.” You manage to stutter some words, even if it's not a real answer. “I uh-”

“It’s okay, sweetheart. You don’t need to answer now. Let me see your phone,” he asks holding out his hand and you hurry to hand it to him. He puts in his number then hands it back to you. “I’m not free on weekends unless I get a sitter. But, I’ll see you around.”

You sit, stunned by how quickly that turned from a polite playdate for your niece to potentially a playdate with Daichi. You bring your hands to your face, trying to compose yourself before waving at both Daichi and Kaiya as they leave.

“Big sis,” your niece wines. “Wanna go home.” She pulls you from the park bench and through the shop while you continue trying to collect your thoughts.

Did you really just pull a dad? There’s no way he was serious, right?

You texted him the night after you got ice cream, but he hadn’t responded. It wasn’t until late Sunday evening he sent back a short ‘you’re welcome’ after you thanked him for the ice cream. Your face burned and your stomach twisted with every flashback to watching his tongue slide across your spoon.

It was so unnecessary.

It was so hot.

Gathering up the courage to ask when you could see him again took another day and liquid encouragement. Maybe texting him while you were drunk wasn’t the best idea, but it did make sending him photos of yourself a lot easier. The ones you got in return nearly made you drool. Joining the police force ensured he never lost his perfect physique. Every inch of him looked like it had been handcrafted by the gods themself.

Slipping your fingers into your panties and toying with your desperate clit was all too fun when he called you late that night, not caring about his early morning shift or the classes you may have. His voice breathy and deep, yours whiny and high pitched when you came around your fingers begging him to come over and fuck you.

He only laughed, telling you to wait until he had a day off.

Sitting across from him at dinner should be fun. He keeps the conversation going and you always paid attention and politely answered. However, it becomes increasingly obvious that the burning between your thighs is becoming unbearable.

“Check please,” he tells the waiter, and you nearly squeal with excitement.

“Mind if I go get some fresh air while you settle the bill?” You ask, placing your hand over his; thumb drawing circles on the back of his hand.

“Of course, sweetheart.” He smiles at you and you walk out of the door, ignoring the way his eyes make you feel as you walk out the door.

Cool evening air hits you hard. Letting out another sigh, you laugh at yourself for acting this desperate in public. He must know. It’s not like you’ve been good at hiding it. You’re worse than a cat in heat, mewling for attention and a quick fix.

“Ready?” His voice startles you and you turn to face him. You nod and he extends his hand out for you. The walk to his car is short, and you’re grateful for the dim lighting in the parking garage once you slide into the passenger seat.

Unable to can’t wait any longer, you straddle his lap in his seat and he tilts his head, looking up at you in amusement. Kissing his neck, you run your hands down his chest and slowly grind against him. His firm hands hold your hips and you whimper, trying to convince him to give your body more attention.

“Daichi,” you whine against his neck. “Please, I need-”

You’re stopped as his hand takes control of your jaw, cheeks squished in his hand while he admires you above him. His gaze is intense, not a hint of a smile or enjoyment on his face, but the bulge in his pants hints otherwise. You frown looking down on him, irritated this is the most he’s touched you all night.

“I don’t like brats.” He says simply. “Impatient ones are even more annoying. Tell me, are you going to be an annoying brat?”

You try and shake your head no, barely getting it to move from side to side in his grip.

“Good,” he releases your face and you sigh. Rubbing your cheeks with your fingers you relent from trying the aggressive approach with him; seeing now he’s much less patient than you had expected. “Now can you wait until Daddy takes you home?”

You nod, a smile brimming on your lips while your stomach turns.

“I want to hear you say it.” His eyes somehow focus on you more, making your stomach twist once more.

“Yes, daddy.”

“Good girl.”

The rest of the drive is silent, his hand resting on your exposed thigh a little too close to the hem for comfort. It keeps your mind buzzing, every nerve lit aflame at the slightest bump in the road or motion of his fingers. His thumb occasionally draws circles on your sensitive skin, and the whimper that always leaves your lips feels embarrassing.

Are you really a whimpering mess already?

Everything about being with Daichi made you feel more intense like your body knew just how to react to everything he does and says. Was it the age difference and excitement? Or was it simply because he knew how to touch and speak to you?

“Sweetheart?” Daichi’s voice draws your attention and you look over to him. “We’re home now. Be a good girl for me, and go unlock the door.” He dangles the keys in front of you and you take them nodding.

“Yes sir,” you slip out of the car. Did you call him sir? At the moment it felt right, but now with your face burning and palms sweating you wonder if he thinks it’s ridiculous.

You unlock the door, pushing it open and standing awkwardly waiting for him to walk up the stairs to the front door. Why is he prolonging this? There was no reason for him to stay behind. Turning your head to look where he parked the car, you see he’s talking to a neighbor, laughing, and paying you no mind.

What’s his game here?

You huff, frustrated, and embarrassed with how desperate you’ve been acting and he seems to not have a care in the world. Stepping inside, you close the door and take your shoes off. He doesn’t mind you having access to his house with you unsupervised. After all, he did give you the keys to unlock the door.

His home looks comfortable and lived in, not overly clean but not messy per se. You sit on the couch, crossing your legs and laying your head back. While you know it’s rude to begin feeling this irritated, if something didn’t happen soon you were going to have to call for a ride and get home to a toy or even indulge in one of the sleazy dating apps you’re all too familiar with.

Pulling out your phone, you respond to a few notifications you garnered over dinner, nothing of real substance, but better than sitting in silence. A few friends have invited you to a bar not too far from your location, and you consider it, but the front door opening grabs your attention.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, sweetheart.” He smiles at you and you lay your phone down on the cushion beside you, feeling like you’ve been caught texting in class. “I see you made yourself at home.”

“Oh, I-” you stand up, even more embarrassed.

Does he take pleasure in making you uncomfortable or are you just too on edge?

“Sit back down,” he laughs walking into the kitchen. “Would you like a drink?”

“No thank you,” you answer quickly, sitting back down and laying your hands in your lap to fiddle with your fingers.

He comes back into the living room with his shirt unbuttoned a few, his chest peeking out, and a beer in his left hand. Sitting on the recliner adjacent to the couch, he motions for you with his pointer finger then pats his lap. Your body moves without thinking, straddling him with your knees sinking into the soft cushion of the recliner on either side of his hips. He grins watching your dress ride up your thighs before he takes a drink from his beer.

“Why are you acting so shy now? What happened to that confident little attitude?” He sets the beer down on the table between the couch and chair.

“Why are you toying with me?” You ask, furrowing your brow and tilting your head. “Just fuck me already.”

“There it is,” he chuckles. “You’re not as good of a girl as you think. You’re nothing more than a spoiled brat who needs put in her place. Lucky for you, I know just how to handle bratty girls like you.”

His thumb pulls on your bottom lip and you part them, letting his middle and index finger slip in and press against your tongue. You moan at first, grinding your cunt against his thigh before his fingers slip further in and make you gag. Closing your eyes you grind on him harder, the gagging only intensifying and your body lighting on fire.

“Pathetic,” he laughs while resting his cheek against his hand. Opening your eyes more you see he looks unamused, even as he shoves his fingers down your throat more. “Moaning like this over what? I’m barely touching you.”

You moan again, pressing your core harder on his thigh and whining. Your fingers dig into the arm of the recliner, steadying yourself while you ride his thigh. It feels too good to stop, the minute amount of pleasure intensified by Daichi’s fingers in your mouth.

“Maybe I was wrong,” his voice making you whine again. “Maybe you’re not a brat, just a dumb little slut desperate to cum.” Removing his fingers from your mouth, you take deep breaths, coughing and leaning your head on his shoulder.

“P-please,” you beg. “Please fuck me, daddy. Wanna feel you in me. I’ll be good, I swear.” You sound desperate, you know it and so does he.

“Do you think you deserve it?” He rubs the spit from his fingers onto your cheek while holding your jaw. He shakes your head back and forth slowly as a no for you. “That’s right. You don’t deserve daddy’s cock.”

“B-but-” you whine and grind against him. “Please!”

“Hmm,” he hums, releasing your jaw and licking his fingers clean before taking another sip from his beer. “Maybe if you earn it. I’m not in the mood to fuck an ungrateful whore.”

“Anything!” You nearly shout, eager to please him.

How you’re feeling is different than usual, the need to do whatever Daichi wants completely takes over your own desires. While the feeling is new, it’s something you want to continue to chase. Your head feeling lighter and body burning is all too good to give up now.

“Do I need to tell you what to do?” You nod. “Of course,” he chuckles, “silly of me to forget you’re nothing but a dumb brat. Get on your knees in front of me. Put that mouth to good use for once, won’t ya?”

“Yes daddy,” you say quietly, sliding onto the floor and tugging at his pants.

His belt is a struggle, and he makes no attempt to help you until you’re sliding his pants and boxers off and he lifts his body up just enough to get them down his thighs. Gripping his cock, your mind races wondering if you’ll even be able to fit his girth in your mouth as your fingers barely manage to wrap around him.

“If I finish this beer before you make me cum, I might not fuck you at all.” He says tapping your forehead with the cold glass bottle. “Do you understand?”

You nod again and he leans back into the recliner. Precum leaks from the tip and you wipe it up with your tongue, enjoying the taste as it floods your senses. As your tongue swirls around the head and your warm mouth takes him in, he moans.

It’s quiet and short-lived, but enough to encourage you to take more of him. He fills your mouth so quickly, but you’re determined to make him cum; unsure if it's because you’re desperate to be fucked or if you just really want to please him. Either way, you’re going to have him cumming in your mouth in minutes, you know you can.

You gag loudly when you force him into your throat, nearly taking him to the hilt. This time his moan is louder and longer, making you buzz with pride. Managing to keep him deep in your mouth you rub his balls with your shaky fingers while setting a steady pace bobbing your head up and down.

“Fuck,” he groans. “I guess that mouth is useful for something…” another moan breaks his last word but you don’t care.

The condescending praise just enough to make you hum against him with glee. He bucks his hips when you do, his fingers tangling in your hair and forcing you to choke on him again. You claw at his thighs, desperate to come up for air while you fight against him. He releases the tight hold and you take him out coughing as you stroke him with your hand.

You watch with a frown while he drinks on his beer again, watching carefully as the faint line of liquid lowers nearing the bottom of the bottle. You can do this, you tell yourself before taking a deep breath and taking him back in your mouth. Humming against him lightly while massaging his balls in your palm earns the same reaction, except you’re better at keeping a steady pace now.

“Shit,” he groans.

His cock twitches against your tongue and warm spurts of cum coat your mouth before you can swallow fast enough. He pulls you off his cock by your hair.

“Tongue,” he says and you stick it out timidly.

He spits on your tongue before pulling you to his face and kissing you, his tongue invading your mouth and making you gag at the taste of his beer. His kiss takes your breath away, literally struggling for air as he continues. You’re coughing and pulling away from him while a mix of spit and cum runs down your chin.

“I didn’t think you could do it,” he admits. “I’m surprised someone as desperate and stupid as you could make me cum that fast. I suppose I should reward you then, hmm?”

“Please daddy, please,” you beg. “Want your cock in me so bad.”

His hand slips under your dress and rubs against your soaking panties. “You really do want me, don't you baby?”

You nod.

His free hand gropes your breast, pinching your nipple through the thin material of your dress. You close your eyes biting your lip as you enjoy the not so soft touches he gives you. You moan when his fingers slip into your panties, sliding against your puffy clit.

“Daddy!” You squeal when his middle finger slides inside of you and curls. “Fuck, more please.”

He laughs, pulling his finger out and standing up. He sheds his clothes while you remain on your knees in front of him. You can’t help but admire how good he looks above you like this. Honestly, you think you’d do anything to remain in this moment even if the anticipation of him splitting you open is forcing you to clench around nothing.

Daichi offers you his hand and he assists you in standing to your feet, but it doesn’t last long. He bends you over the arm of his recliner in seconds, pulling your dress down and allowing your bare breasts to fall from it.

“Tell daddy what you want,” he teases while rubbing his cock between your folds.

“Want your cock!” You turn your head back to look at him. “Please, I need it.”

“Good fucking girl,” he groans while sliding inside of you.

Even with your intense arousal and the spit on his cock, it stings. Your body goes limp against the arm of the recliner as you try and relax your body to let him in. Crying into the cushion, you try to not be too loud while getting used to his size.

“If I’d known you’d be this tight, I would have fucked you sooner,” he says after fully sheathing himself inside of you.

He isn’t nice enough to give you more time, too overwhelmed with the way you squeeze him so nicely to not start thrusting immediately. You cry out when his cockhead hits deep inside of you, pulling against your walls as he pulls back out only to do it all over again.

It hurts. It feels ethereal.

“Daddy!” You whine as his fingers twirl your nipple between them and he holds you back against him while relentlessly pounding into you. “Too much!”

“Be a good girl,” he hisses. “I know you can take it.”

You whimper in response, his thrusts forcing your breasts into his hands while he continues to assault them. Your thighs begin to shake and your core feels like it’s a tightwire about to break.

“Wanna cum!” You tell him, some part of you knows it's better to warn him or ask instead of letting yourself go. “Please, daddy! Let me cum.”

“Aw, my little slut is learning,” he chuckles, thrusting deep into you and letting you fall back onto the recliner. “Go ahead, cum for daddy. Cream all over my cock sweetheart.”

He hits the sweet spot inside of you once more and you come undone, cumming around his cock and crying out a mixture of daddy and curses. He grunts as you clench around him, body pliable for him to hold you closer while rapidly fucking you.

He cums, and you feel it drip out of you around his cock before you comprehend what’s happened. You’re too fucked out to even care if you’re honest. He pulls your panties back to the side as he pulls out of you.

“You’re going to keep it all in, aren’t you?” He pulls his pants back on, leaving his shirt on the floor and sitting on the couch.

You nod, pulling your dress back over your breasts and adjusting the thin straps back to a comfortable position on your shoulders. He pats his lap again, and you sit across him, wrapping your arms around his neck and resting your cheek against his shoulder.

A knock at the door startles you and you look at Daichi with a concerned face.

“Oh,” he laughs. “I lost track of time. Can you get that?”

You sheepishly nod. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I need to go grab something from my room. I’m sure you can handle it.” He disappears down the hall.

Running your hands through your hair to make sure you don’t look crazy, you open the door.

“Oh,” a sharp tone greets you.

“Big sis!!” Kaiya screams, jumping up and down and running inside.

Shit.

“Uh,” who you assume to be her mother says shaking her head. “Is Daichi here?” She’s irritated, and reasonably so. “I need to speak with him immediately.”

“Yeah, he’s right-”

“What do you want?” He appears back into the living room, pulling a loose shirt over his head as he comes in.

He easily could have done that before. Is he doing this on purpose?

Oh god, he is.

You look quickly between the two of them as he steps in the doorway with you, wrapping his arm around your waist.

“I think we need to speak in private.” His ex tells him, eyeing you up and down.

“Sweetheart, do you care to take Kaiya to her room to play for a few minutes?” He kisses your forehead and you look away from the intense glare you receive from Kaiya’s mother.

“Daichi! Why are you-”

“Stop,” he says loudly. “---- can watch her for a moment.” He lets go of you.

“Can you show me your room Kaiya?” You ask sweetly and she takes your hand and guides you down the hall.

You’re not sure if you’re grateful Daichi got you away from his ex or if you’re happy Kaiya won’t have to see her parents bicker. Either way, it’s a win for you. Your heart is beating against your chest, making you nauseous. There’s no way he just forgot he was getting his daughter tonight.

You’re flattered that he used you to make her angry, but the more spiteful part of you wishes he had let you in on it a little more. Having you answer the door was good, but you could have left your hair a mess or something more…

“Big sis, why are you here? Did you and daddy have a playdate?” She asks, handing you a stuffed rabbit while you sit on the floor of her room with her.

“Uh,” you giggle. “Yeah, we had a playdate.”

#dilf collab!!#daichi sawamura #sawamura daichi x reader #sawamura daichi smut #daichi smut #dilf daichi #daddy daichi #hq smut #haikyu smut #haikyuu smut

4K notes · View notes

needs-to-stop-looking-at-valves · 2 years

Note

Can we see more Ming and Jin smut? Cause like… that was beautiful

FUCK YEAH YOU CAN? THANK YOU FOR GENUINELY LIKING IT????

"Did you remember your CD's?"

"Yes."

"And Robaire Jr?"

"Yes pa."

"...and the snacks mom thought she hid from us?"

"I heard that, Jin."

Jin shut the bag the second they heard her at the door. Ming had her hands on her hips, and Jin couldn't help but chuckle in an attempt at mercy.

"Uh...I was. Trying to make her confess?"

Mei tried the smile too, but she didn't seem to appreciate it. She raised her find up, ready to scold, before softly sighing.

"You can keep the snacks. BUT no soda, young lady."

"YES!!"

She stuffed her bag full, and Ming let his wife take over for her turn.

"You pack your pajamas? Phone charger? Pads? First aid kit? Wet wipes?"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. AND my wallet."

"Good girl. Keep me posted, text me in the morning, and at night."

"And dad?"

"Sure. But mostly me."

Jin chuckled, but ultimately said nothing. If his wife felt like she was safe, then safe Mei was. This was a HUGE leap for her, sending their girl off to a road trip with Abby's parents. An entire four day weekend trip at Disneyland, all with her friends. It took a LOT of convincing, a LOT of begging and a LOT of cute faces to get her to agree to it. And of course, a LOT of work on Jin's part. He promised to make every, single, night, absolutely worth it. Especially tonight, where he knew she'd REALLY need the emotional support. Their doorbell rang, and Mei immediately got up, and ran to the door, forgetting her bags. Jin chuckled, grabbing all of the stuff for her. Lin huffed at him, as if he shouldn't be doing this.

"She's becoming forgetful lately, I blame you."

"She's just excited. Just like I am for tonight."

He leaned over to kiss her forehead, before joining his daughter outside. She was excited, tail wagging and ears fluttering as if she'd take flight. Miriam was all over her, rubbing her ears while Abby played with her tail. He checked back into the house to see Ming, concerned. Mei seemed to notice it too, given how she looked up at her dad. He smiled, giving her head a little pat.

"Just text her. You'll be fine."

"What if she goes crazy and drives to Disneyland to come get me?"

"Your mom won't go that crazy."

He laughed a bit, but the look on all their faces told him he was pretty damn wrong. He shrugged, starting to put her things in the back of the car.

"I'll handle it."

That seemed to be enough reassurance for her. She hugged her dad, before hopping into the car. Jim took a minute to watch the kids. So fun, so innocent and so happy. He loved that for them. He was about to go back into the house, when he caught something in Miriam's eyes. Something...familiar. He knelt down next to her, lightly patting her shoulder.

"You know, you could buy a jacket and tell her she could burrow it when it gets cold. It worked for me."

The poor girls face erupted in blush, and she stammered, clearly trying to make it seem like her crush wasn't obvious. But he just patted the top of her head, waved the girls off, and walked back into the house. He stood by his wife's side as they watched the car, and their daughter, slowly disappear. She watched the road for a moment, almost expecting her to come back. She was biting her fingers again, clearly wanting to scream.

"What if she gets lost? What if her phone dies? What if she falls off a ride? What if she gets food poisoning? What if-"

He held onto her face, and leaned in to press his lips against hers. It was a sudden, uncharacteristic kiss, but it was just what she needed to be kept grounded, to soothe her enough to push away the bad thoughts, just for a moment. He didn't let it longer too long, knowing it wasn't time just yet. When he pulled away, he brushed away from hair behind her ear, tenderly.

"You loving our daughter, as much as you do, is the sexiest thing about you."

Well that and her CUTE little butt, but now wasn't the time for that. She practically snorted, before lightly punching his shoulder.

"How dare you make me laugh? That's not fair."

He just shrugged, a small smile on his face.

"What's not fair, is the fact that we haven't gotten started yet."

-----------------

"I'm sorry, this is just. New."

"We can always stop."

She loved Jin, really she did. But the whole sex thing...she was out of practice. She sort didn't know how to 'be sexy' anymore. But for Jin? He was a natural. He was a big, handsome, sweet fellow. And as she peeked at him through her closet door. He was just sitting there, naked, save for an old robe. The only discomfort on his features were worry in his eyes, for her. And here SHE was, trying to fit into this lacey thing that she swore she liked yesterday.

"No no no, I got it. And don't ask if you can help!"

She heard him sigh in defeat. Why was it that he made her feel so. Nervous? He was so comfortable with his body, it was INCREDIBLY sexy to her. She finally got the damn thing on, and hid her panda pendent in her bra. Afterall, her chest wasn't worth taking it off. She stepped out, a bit hesitantly, awaiting his disapproval. She didn't get that. Instead, he smiled at her, and lightly patted his lap. He didn't even have to say anything for her to want to approach him. She walked over, despite her nerves, and sat on his lap, having him support her by holding onto her butt.

"I take it you prefer red?"

He nodded. He kissed her cheek, he kissed her lips, he kissed her jaw, and after making her lift her chin, kissed at her neck. Just that right spot. She felt herself melt into him, running her hands through his hair. From the way he sighed against her skin, she could tell he was appreciating the touch just as much.

"I'm...glad we decided to do this, Jin. I can tell Mei is happy, I can tell YOU'RE happy."

His eyes looked up at her, as if expecting something. She groaned.

"Yes yes, I'M happy too, Jin. Keep going."

That seemed to satisfy him, making his kisses continue. She tried not to jump as his teeth grazed her skin, lips gently sucking immediately after.

"Jin- you can't just MARK me!"

It was improper! It was crass, uncouth. Even...even if she did like it. Even if hearing him suck against her skin made made her slowly roll his hips into him, he shouldn't.

"You can say stop at any time."

She knew that. And she should. But she didn't. Not when his hands drifted upwards, past her bra, to squeeze her breasts. It was brutish, a bit rude even. But it forced a swear to spill from her mouth. Her chest hadn't been touched like this in so long, feeling those big hands knead them like dough, oh it made her a mess. It felt so good, she didn't notice her pendent fell to the floor. Until she heard the crack. Immediately she pushed herself off of him, trying to reach down and save it. Then she felt it. The panda, furious and mighty, swelled inside of her, filling up her body and mind. He looked at the floor, then up at her in a panic.

"Was that?..."

"Yes! I didn't think you'd do that! But I needed to keep it on me and now I gotta deal with THIS,"

She started to rant as bits of the panda poked out. First the big, annoying tail, then the big, poofy ears. She felt ridiculous, hideous, disastrous.

"When I JUST want you and-"

He should've been panicking. But he wasn’t. He was just. Staring at her, aghast. Clearly he thought she was a monster, a disgrace, and-

"Mmmph!!"

He stood up so quickly, she couldn't process it. Couldn't process that he grabbed both of her wrists, and smashed his lips against hers. It was a stern, determined kiss. One that, without words, said 'I love you and need you'. It left her standing there, gawking at him, surprised by his absolute boldness. He stared right back at her, surprised himself. His cheeks were on fire. And he thought red looked good on HER. He swallowed, trying to find his words.

"I...I like this part of you. It's you. It's...honest, emotional. And it's wagging."

She turned to look at her tail, watching as it swooshed back and forth against the floor. She tucked it in between her legs, feeling her own liquid arousal against the fur. She pushed the thought of humping it out of her mind, feeling embarrassed by the idea.

"Jin I...are you SURE you want to...do it like this? It's...unusual."

"If you'll have me, Ming."

She couldn't say no to a face like that. She held onto his stupid face, and gave him the kiss he clearly wanted. Next thing she knew, she was in their bed, underneath him, kissing him as his fingers peeled her panties off, and onto the floor. He added her bra to the pile, and let his kisses roam down her frame. From between her breasts, to her stomach, to her now red bunch of pubic hair. She watched him lick his lips in greed, before he lifted up the lower part of her body, by the legs she knew he loved so much. He didn't even kiss her first. Not even a light lick. He full on enveloped her in his mouth, and sucked.

"Jin!!"

She cried out for him, as if he had done something wrong. But he was doing everything right, quite frankly. His hands holding onto her, he was shamelessly moaning into her folds as he licked and slurped. Without using words, he made it VERY clear how much he loved her taste, how much he loved the smear all over his face. It was delightful, how a woman should be adorned. But there was just...one issue. He was sitting on her tail. His weight on it should've been painful. But it wasn't. It was suffocating, sure, but it was comfortable.

Unlike him. As he licked and sucked at her pussy, he was getting very, VERY hard. His cock was leaking, throbbing, and he, probably subconsciously, was grinding himself against the big, fluffy tail of hers. She could feel his precum smear against the fur, and believe it or not, it was doing more for her than his mouth. She couldn't handle it. She pushed his forehead away suddenly, her own breath shakey and little clit twitching, as if beckoning him closer. He wiped his face with the back of his hand, trying to study her face for what was wrong. She swallowed, trying to be composed.

Despite the sweat. Despite her hard nipples. Despite her soaked pussy.

"You're...getting my tail wet."

He thought about it. Clearly he was about to just apologize, fix it so they could have normal sex. That wasn't the case. He leaned over to kiss her, tongue smearing her own juices onto her. It was disgusting, foul. But she liked it. He pulled away, licking his lips.

"Turn around. All fours."

She had no idea who he was, bossing her around like this. But she did as he said. She turned around, got on her hands and knees, and...well. She even propped her ass up for him, tempting him like some kind bitch in heat. She clung to her pillow, whimpering as his thumbs dug into her ass, massaging her cheeks in a way that should NOT have felt this good.

"J-jin, you're being...very improper. You shouldn't do it, even if it feels REALLY good-!"

His face buried itself into her cheeks, and she tried not to melt as Jin's fingers lightly fingered her soaking pussy, while his tongue dared graze her asshole. She gasped loudly, and it clearly egged him on, given the way his tongue dared dip inside of her. She tried not to cum, tried to at least last another minute. But the panda was primal. It felt pleasure, and it did NOT want to stop it.

"Jin, Jin, Jin-I can't hold it!!"

And she came. Right on his crafty fingers, right onto his tongue, with her fluids running down her thighs. It felt so good, like she deserved it. He pulled away, lightly panting against her tender frame.

She turned her head a bit to look over at him, and HE had the nerve to look all shy!

"You alright? You're a little out of breath. Do you need some tea-"

"I need you to FUCK ME, Jin."

She didn't know where that came from. She was a proper, polite woman. But she didn't want to be. He nodded, and his weight was on top of her, making her swoon. Jin was so big and heavy and his cock was hard against her ass-had he ALWAYS been built like the perfect man? He pressed his cock against her wetness, before pushing himself fully into her. Even hearing him groan as he did so, it was EVERYTHING. One hand rested over one of hers, the other gripped tightly onto her tail. She didn't like her hair pulled, but the sudden electricity that shot up her back when he pulled that big, fluffy tail- it was perfect.

"K-keep fucking me Jin, please, you're so good to me!!"

Even hearing the sound of flesh on flesh was music to her fuzzy ears. He curled her fur against his wrist, giving such a sharp pull, she swore it almost forced her to cum. So close. He could MAKE her cum if he wanted, and it fucked up her pretty little brain. So much so, she almost didn't hear his low voice against her ear.

"Who's a good little panda?"

Jin was never good at dirty talk. She hadn't pictured him as sexy in a while. But here, cock swelling inside of her and absolutely adoring her- she wanted no other man in the universe right now.

"I'm a g-good little panda!"

"Who's a CUTE little panda?"

He was so delicate in his tone, it was unfair, how loudly he was making her whine.

"I'm a cute little p-panda!"

His lips kissed her cheek, and even THAT ignited something in her.

"And who wants to have more panda babies? Is it panda mommy? Does Mommy still want those cubs?"

She tore her pillow with her claws, and she heard him lightly swear in surprise under his breath. She felt his grip on her hand tighten, it made her heart flutter.

"I want more cubs-all five, like you PROMISED me!"

His breath was short. His pace was getting quicker. His cock was swelling inside of her. She needed the cum. Needed that thick cum that'd give her what she wanted. It was why her tail loosened from his grip, only to coil around his waist, and squeeze. The cum came from him just on time, and exactly how she wanted it-hot, and nestled deep inside of her. Jin could've stopped there. But he didn't. He kept moving in and out of her, fucking her until she inevitably came, pussy tightening around him as cum dripped from her and onto their once clean sheets.

They sat there, Jin's cock acting like a plug to keep her cum from escaping. He was tuckered out, as was she, but feeling his little kisses against her furry ears, almost made her want to go again.

"Fuck, Jin...I love you."

The kisses told her he felt the exact same. She brought his hand up to her lips, leaving a lipstick mark right on his ring finger.

"I hope we have boys this time. They'd be handsome like you."

His face looked absolutely FLUSTERED to hell, and it was hard to believe this man just creampied her.

"I dunno. I'd like more girls. Mei would be a wonderful big sister either way."

It was sexy, knowing their family was growing, one way or another. She pushed her ass against him, and she relished in feeling his balls against her.

"Do you want to go again?"

He groaned at the idea as he kissed her shoulder. He wanted to, but he wasn't young anymore, he couldn't just start the roller coaster back up again.

"Do you wanna have a snack, go from there?"

He nodded eagerly. After giving him a little smooch, he slowly pulled out of her, even being a tease by pushing some cum back into her. He kissed her forehead.

"You want something from the kitchen, or should I go out for something?"

"Mmm...I do want Tim Hortons."

He chuckled as he put his pants back on, trying in vain to fix his hair.

"Text me what you want then. Whatever the panda wants."

He poked her little nose, and she felt embarrassed when it forced whiskers to show up on her face. He looked upon her with fondness, before throwing the blanket over her, and heading out. She sat there, taking an inhale, before softly sighing. She really liked to believe she was ready for more 'cubs'. She reached over her night stand, and texted him what she wanted; a pecan Carmel doughnut, and a small coffee, splash of milk. She watched as he texted back, finding her tail wagging. It was as if she was in high-school yet again.

'Got it. You want to go to breakfast tomorrow too?'

'I'd rather stay at home. Afterall, you can't give me THIS at a restaurant, can you?'

She couldn't help it. She sat up, opened her legs, and snapped a picture of her cum soaked folds, and sent it to him. He typed, stopped, typed, stopped. She wanted to laugh, yet scream. She'd NEVER sent a picture like this before. She...liked it. It was exciting.

HE was exciting.

#asks #not transformers #lemon #turning red #give Jin neko wife #and give Ming some fucking confidence #she deserves to be slutty with her husband #especially her husband god what a man

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goshikitsutomusmommy · 3 years

Text

“Incorrect Quotes with Haikyuu Boys„

Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6 , Part 7 , Part 8 , Part 9 , Part 10

Synopsis : Different Quotes From Brooklyn-Nine-Nine (and F.R.I.E.N.D.S) as Haikyuu Characters

Genre : Comedy , slight romance

Paring(s) : Osamu x reader , Atsumu x reader , Shirabu x reader , slight Iwaizumi x reader , slight Kyoutani x reader

Word Count : 0.83k

Warning(s) : She/her pronouns used , slight mention of suicidal joke , timeskip spoilers

Masterlist Link : Here

Osamu : *About to leave*.

[Name] : Aren’t you forgetting something?

Osamu : *Kisses forehead and heads out*.

[Name] : No! Pay the bill!

Part 1/4

Suna : [Name] hasn’t taken her eyes off her phone in two hours. First to make her look up wins the pot.

Aran : I’m in. A bet which improves someone’s manners? Double score!

Atsumu : Too bad, guys, a got this in the bag. A used to distract ‘er from ‘er phone all the time when we were smoochin’ buds.

Suna : Ugh, ew.

Aran : Yeah...

Part 2/4

*Atsumu tries walking seductively towards manager*

Atsumu : Hey, girl.

[Name] : *Throws nearby binder at his crotch*.

Atsumu : *Groaning*, Catch ya later...

Part 3/4

Suna : Mid morning dance party! *Turns on disco music on speaker*.

*Manager dancing to the music without looking up from her phone*

Suna : She’s dancing even better than normal.

Part 4/4

Aran : Oh god, did ya hear that George W. Bush died?

[Name] : *Still not looking up*, Who dat?

*Manager feeling down*

Semi : You’re a good manager. Do not beat yourself up about that.

[Name] : I’m not a good manager. I’m an amazing manager. And I’ll never forgive myself.

Shirabu : I didn’t understand why people care so much about their dumb love interests till I got a dumb girlfriend myself. I’ve only been with [Name] for a day and a half, but if anything happened to her, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.

*Karasuno mentoring elementary students for the day*

Part 1/3

[Name], to two young girls : Okay, you two are obviously the alphas. You’re dating the blond kid and you like Filipino Bieber but you’re worried he’s still into Little-Miss-Side-Braid-Janky-Purse. Haha! I know so much. Hi, I’m [Name]. Hey~!

Part 2/3

Daichi : Great. So can you take over with the kids for a bit?

Asahi : Of course! I’m amazing with kids!

*Daichi leaves momentarily*

Asahi : *Nervous laughter*, I’m terrible with kids. I don’t know the lingo. You have to do this!

[Name] : I can’t, Hina is in the bathroom right now freaking out because Yui made out with Akira even though she knows Mei’s into him. Unless you want the Spring Dance to be a total drama fest, I have to be there for her.

Part 3/3

Daichi : Oh, uh, [Name], Akito-Sensei said you had a real impact on those kids. Apparently, you were just named Spring Dance Princess somehow...?

[Name] : Mhmm, what am I always telling you guys? I’m royalty.

[Name] : Apparently, he’s very into bird watching, so talking to a woman should blow his mind. And talking to this *Gestures to self*, woman, it could kill him.

Yachi : *Taking notes*.

*Meeting Seijoh for the first time as their manager*

[Name] : Hi. [Surname] [Name], the human form of the 100 emoji.

*Iwaizumi having a hand wrestle with Kyotani*

[Name] : Guys, take off your shirts! It’s restricting your body movements.

*Kageyama and Hinata in the boys bathroom trying to be discreet about a secret*

Kageyama : No one can know about this, understood?

Hinata : Understood.

[Name] : Understood.

*Kageyama and Hinata visibly alarmed*

[Name] : *Entering their stall*, What? I hang out in the men’s bathroom all the time. The acoustics are amazing~.

{Exceeded limited pics, pretend for me😁}

*Aged up*

*At [Name]’s apartment*

Part 1/2

Semi : Then you distract her a Barbie doll.

Shirabu : *Deep in thought*.

[Name] : Or... You could just, you know... *Pushes Shirabu aggressively onto already broken fridge*.

[Name] : *Mouth gaping dramatically*.

Shirabu : What the hell are you doing?!

[Name] : Wh... What the hell am I doing? What the hell are you doing?! You just broke my fridge!

Shirabu : What?! How do you know if—... *Deep breathe* How do you know if it’s even broken?

[Name] : Oh, you think I don’t know what breaks my fridge? Excuse me! *Opens fridge door*, Well, what do you know? Broken! That’ll be ¥45 thousand.

Semi : [Name], I saw you push him.

[Name] : Semi, remember what I told you when our fridge broke? I still haven’t gotten the check for your half yet.

Shirabu : Do not give her any money.

[Name] : I’m talking to you, you broke my fridge!

Part 2/2

[Name] : You owe me ¥45 thousand.

Goshiki : Okay, sure!

[Name] : Really?!

Goshiki : Yeah, yeah. Oh, wait! Technically, you owe me ¥70 thousand for sending happy thoughts on your last ten auditions.

[Name] : *Silence*, ... Call it even?

Goshiki : Okay!

{Pretend this is a header too <33}

*Timeskip*

*[Name] walks in Sugawara’s elementary classroom*

[Name] : Suga, can I talk to you? It’s urgent.

Sugawara : Yeah, sure...

[Name] : Okay, Daichi and Asahi are running a little late today for our hangout.

Sugawara : But, what’s wrong with them?

[Name] : Nothing, why?

Sugawara : [Name], you said it was urgent.

[Name] : Oh, yeah, it is. I’m going to the movies and it starts in, like, five minutes.

Sugawara : Do you realize I have a classroom full of students?

[Name] : Oh, I’m sorry. I’m so rude! *Turns to talk to the students*, Does anyone want to come to the movies?

{Again, pretend this is a header plsss}

Author’s Note : I just made the masterlist and it took me a while to figure out how to link it to my bio🤕🤕 if you wanna check out my work, here is the link

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skellebonez · 3 years

Note

SO, remember that thing you wrote a while back, about Monkey King and Mk time traveling back to the JTTW time period?

Link to said thing: https://skellebonez.tumblr.com/post/647766968590581760/18-for-present-wukong-and-mk-to-accidentally-time

THIS? RIGHT WELL, I HAVE HAD IT OPEN IN MY TABS FOR A REALLY LONG TIME AND WOULD LIKE TO GIVE YOU AN OPENING TO CONTINUE WITH IT IF YOU'D LIKE: PROMPTS 34 and 41

So. Time travel is funky. This is set post-Special, immediately pre-season 2. But has spoilers for events up to S2E7. For reasons. Side bar: sometimes time travel comes with some fun side effects. Fun for the viewer. Less fun for the people experiencing them.

Truth be told, I forgot they were even here./Can you teach me how to do that?

"Won't this cause some kind of... I-I dunno, time paradox?" MK asked in a harsh whisper as they followed the traveling group at the back of the line. "Or is this gonna be some kind of 'you changed one thing and now two timelines exist' kind of deal?"

"I genuinely have no idea," Wukong said with a sigh, digging at the uncomfortable but familiar feeling in his ear and trying to keep his voice down as much as possible. He was honestly surprised that it had taken MK this long to ask this particular question, but then again... they had other things to worry about. "I don't remember this, but that may not even matter. I've around for centuries, Bud, but even I have no idea how thing works for us."

"That is not a comforting sentence."

It had been a little over two days since the mentor and student had found themselves thrown backwards in time a few centuries away from home. And Sun Wukong could tell that MK was starting to get more and more frustrated as time had gone on. To be fair, they had made little progress. And there was... another reason... multiple other reasons. But most importantly, there wasn't exactly a power source they could plug the machine into that would give them enough juice to send them home, at least not unless they chance by a demon with lightning powers that Wukong didn't remember. No, instead they had to wait until they hit a storm.

One that was more than another two days walk away.

The young man did his best to not let it show, however. Most likely because of who they were traveling with.

His younger self lead the group, pointedly not looking back at them and keeping a watchful eye for demons that the elder Wukong knew would not come. He dared not bring this knowledge up, though, not knowing if MK had a point about that paradox. He didn't seem to trust the completely, but there was someone else he trusted.

Behind him was his former Master. The monk Tripitaka, Tang Sanzang himself, on the back of the horse formed dragon Bai Long Ma. Bai Long Ma had said nothing, as they were wont to do, and seemed to mostly ignore the two of them unless they were loud. Mast- Sanzang. He had insisted that the elder Wukong and MK call him Sanzang. Probably to help differentiate who was speaking to him if he could not see the two immortal monkeys, and also because MK kept trying to figure out which title to use for the monk and he took pity on him. Sanzang, after a hour's long explanation and from proof via MK's phone and knowledge of past adventures none should know of (and one very interesting game of staff trading between the two monkeys for a moment where the younger Wukong realized it was indeed the same staff).

Sanzang had not mentioned his crying when they met. Neither had his younger self. Or MK.

Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing took up the rear. Wujing had not said much to the two of them, but he was nice enough. Suspicious of them, but nice. He put more faith in Sanzang and younger Wukong (perhaps he should call him something else in his head) than his companion.

Bajie didn't trust them as far as he could throw them, that was clear from the way he kept glancing back at the duo with daggers in his eyes. He was immediately unhappy with their new travel companions and... Wukong realized with a sad jolt that he actually missed that. At the time he only found Bajie's contrary nature to his own to be frustrating but now... now he hadn't heard that in 500 years and he could see that while it may have been misguided at times (many times) it was born of a sense of self preservation and a want to protest Sanzang.

Even if he contradicted himself at times as well.

"You two doing ok back there, older me and Kid?" Younger Wukong called back suddenly.

"Yup, just. Hanging." MK yelled back, tone as terse and done as it had been for the last day. "Not like I can do anything else." The second bit was muttered under his breathe, most likely in the hopes even his mentor couldn't hear him. He was wrong.

Wukong felt... bad. Because he was the primary source of this rotten mood.

The staff digging into his ear for the first time in centuries was a reminder of that. An agreement between himself and his student to not bring up any undue suspicion and questions that would take time they may not have to get back home. They'd agreed that the group would also call him Kid, since MK wasn't as fond of the others calling him Bud for some reason, and the name was just... a smidgen to close to Monkey King to not raise similar questions. It was also a reminder that Wukong had let slip in a follow up conversation, away from prying ears, about why this may or may not be really necessary that he had planned to leave the next day in present time.

MK hadn't been happy since. Not with him at least.

"Bajie, remember to ask them how they are doing from time to time. Please?" Sanzang insisted in front of them.

"Truth be told, I forgot they were even here," Bajie lied.

Bajie glowered down at Wukong, throwing the fruit and wrapped rice packages in his general direction and not caring whether he caught it or not. There was a soft and disappointed cry of his name from Sanzang from the other side of the camp.

"Master and the stupid Monkey may trust you," he snorted, ignoring the call and looking between Wukong and MK. "But I don't. If you even so much as set one little toe out of like I will re-"

"Rend our souls asunder with your mighty 9 Toothed Rake, yeah," MK sighed as he used some of the water from his cup to wash the berries thrown at him. "You're Zhu Ganglie, Zhu Bajie, Tiānpéng Yuánshuài, commander-in-chief of 80,000 Heavenly Navy Soldiers. You will kick our asses. We know."

For a whole second Zhu Bajie looked genuinely surprised and... kind of impressed.

Then he scoffed again and made his way back to the group of five and watched them from the edges of his vision with less suspicion and more curiosity than before.

"Mei was right when she said he was kind of like Pigsy," MK noted, popping a berry into his mouth.

"When was that?" Wukong asked, doing much the same.

His student froze, looking down at his hands for a moment as if trying to remember something. "... not important. Let's just eat and get some rest, like Sanzang told us to."

It didn't take a Great Sage to realize something was wrong.

Wukong said nothing.

"Kid, we told you to stay back with Master!" Wujing shouted as MK peaked his head around the rock he and the monk were taking shelter behind.

"I know!" MK snapped, growling as he ducked back down and presumably curled in on himself. "ARGH I feel useless!"

Wukong winced at his tone, feeling bad. MK wasn't useless, to be fair, but without his staff and no backup weapons he was fighting up a creek without a paddle as it were.

"You're not useless, and you're protecting Tripitaka!" He shouted, letting out a yelp as he narrowly avoided a hit from a demon that should not even be here. Or, some kind of time anomaly mockery of a large demon. An enormous smoke or shadow creature that was far too familiar for his own liking. Not the same, something possibly cobbled together from time itself.

"Wow, uh, future me you're not doing so hot!" Younger Wukong said with a raise of his eyebrow as he blocked a strike with much more ease. "Aren't I supposed to get better with age? Like a handsome fine wine?"

"I'm a bit RUSTY ok!?" He snapped, slicing off one of the shadow creature's cloth tassels to watch it flicker away. "Haven't been many demons to fight!"

He heard a scoff from behind the rock before he felt the giant fist punch him into it. And through it. A Wukong sized hole between student and old master. He realized too late that he had lost his grip on his staff as it flew into the air above them.

"Alright, that's enough!"MK shouted, and before Wukong could even move to stop him the Monkie Kid had jumped into the rock and reached up.

"KID DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH!?" Bajie shouted in horror as he made to rush back and tackle him out of the way. He hadn't moved fast enough either.

None of them had, before MK caught the staff as if it was as light as a feather and twirled it around himself before extending it and launching himself at the shadow creature with a scream of rage and frustration and landing what would have been the killing blow had it not clearly been something not living in the first place.

It dissipated much as the piece cut off before it did, leaving MK to... give a confused yelp and fall into a heap on the ground. The staff fell to his side as he clutched his head and yelled in pain from a source Wukong could not see.

"Kid!" Wukong screamed, moving faster than he had during the entire fight to his student's side. "Kid, shit, MK! What happened?"

"MK?" Sanzang and his younger self asked softly in tandem as Wujing and Bajie watched on, all moving closer. But not too close, giving the two room to move.

MK didn't answer. He sat up, holding his head in his hands as he breathed deeply and tried to keep from screaming again before everything just... stopped.

His sat on his knees, hand hanging limply at his sides as his true sight shone in his eyes and he looked on forward blankly.

"What's... who is he?" Younger Wukong asked slowly as he turned to his older self. "What is he?"

"The Hero and the Warrior were like the Sun and the Moon..." MK muttered softly all of a sudden, just loud enough for the group surrounding him. His voice was slurred, almost like he was in a trance. "Their light a protective glow shining upon the world..."

"MK, where did you-" Wukong tried to ask instead of answering his younger self as he slowly stepped forward, cautiously, but MK continued on as if he had not heard him at all.

"Together there was nothing that could stop the two of them. Either in the Celestial Realms... or on Earth. As time went on, the Hero attained power beyond comprehension. As the Hero's light grew so too did his shadow and soon the Warrior was cast in that shadow. In the darkness, the Warrior was forgotten by the Hero..."

MK immediately slumped forward as he fell unconscious.

"MK!"

"His name is MK... and he's the Monkie Kid... My successor," Wukong finished as he laid a fresh cold wet cloth over his student's forehead. After he had collapsed it became obvious something was seriously wrong with MK, high fever burning him up quickly. They were only just close enough to a town for him to grab him and the staff and rush off with barely a shouted back explanation of "find us at the inn" to the rest of their group. "We thought that... keeping that a secret might prevent any kind of... weird time travel... stuff."

Wukong sighed. His explanation was weak even to his own ears. Excuses. Ways to make things easier for him.

He felt worse than he had just the day before.

His student laid unconscious still, fever burning even after the medicine from the town doctor had been given to him with water carefully. The only thing Wukong could think of was the staff. MK wasn't invincible like he was, maybe contact with it had caused a reaction from the time travel that couldn't affect the immortal.

"Why would you need a successor, Wukong?" Sanzang asked after they sat in silence for a moment.

Bajie handed Wukong the mortar and pestle he had been working with to prepare more medicine, something to add to tea when MK woke up. The pig demon had not questioned him once since they arrived, only grabbed what Wukong was trying to mix poorly himself and listened.

Bai Long Ma had changed into a human form, one he had rarely seen, and sat beside Wujing. They both also listened.

His younger self looked at MK in a mix of wonder and confusion and horror and Wukong could not blame him. The idea of a successor... he must have known himself what that meant even if no one else did.

"I hope I don't have to tell you," he said softly. He didn't look away from MK, even as Sanzang laid a comforting hand on his back. "And I don't want to risk what telling you might do..."

No one questioned him after that.

When Bajie prepared the next bowl of medicine for MK, Wukong took a chance he never had with the demon he once considered like his brother.

"Can you teach me how to do that? Properly?"

Bajie did.

"Monkey King?" Came the hoarse rasp of MK's voice ringing through the room, and Wukong shot up from where he was watching the stars in an instant.

"I'm here, MK," He said softly, still soft, not wanting to hurt his student in case hie head ached. "How do you feel?"

"Dead, but only from the neck up," MK groaned out, and Wukong let out a relieved sigh. He wasn't sick enough to not joke around at least. "Where are we?"

"The town we need to be in," Wukong answered, quickly working on adding the medicine into some now (sadly) cold tea. He had hoped MK would wake much sooner. "Storm is tonight... you've been asleep for a whole day. Hopefully getting you home with this medicine in you will make you feel better, you uh... you weren't doing so great before-"

"What happened to Macaque?" MK asked suddenly, looking for all the world like he had no idea why he would even ask that question to begin with. "Not the battle your younger you had. Before that. In the story. Sun and Moon. Please, I... I want to know. Just... just tell me something, for once."

Wukong froze, fur bristling and stiff and this was not the conversation he wanted to have with his student right now. This is not the conversation he should be able to physically have with his student right now because MK should have no way of knowing anything like this at all. But he had. He'd recited the story he'd heard before word for word from... Macaque.

This was not the time for easy outs. Not anymore.

"I've made a lot of mistake, MK," He started, lifting his student's head onto his lap to help him sit up for the drink. "And a lot of them are ones I didn't think you would have to know about. But Macaque... it's complicated, I know that now. I didn't back then."

MK sipped the tea but said nothing, only made a face at the taste of the medicine.

"We were friends, once. Back on Mount Huaguo before I went to the Celestial Realm, he became immortal in... other ways to my own. I was trapped for 500 years under a mountain without him, no one came to see me so... I guess he was never able to find me. Or he waited thinking I would eventually come back," Wukong tried not to think about how that meant he could have had trust in his friend and not for other reasons he had assumed for so long. "You know the story of the White Bone Spirit from our journey? How Bajie got me banished?"

Wukong couldn't help but chuckle. Oh, he'd been so mad at Bajie for so long for that. He still was, in many ways. But given what happened to him later on in the journey Wukong couldn't hold a grudge.

"Yeah you-" MK coughed a little, probably from not talking for a whole day and a sore throat. "You went back to Mount Huaguo."

"And to Macaque," Wukong continued. "For the first time in 500 years."

"I bet he was angry."

"No..." Wukong disagreed, shaking his head and thinking back. "No, he... wasn't. Not at first. He was ecstatic I came back. The Hero and Warrior of Mount Huaguo back together again, just like old times. But it wasn't like old times. I was already different, I knew how I treated others including the monkeys on my mountain hadn't been the best. And when Bajie came to bring me back... I couldn't help but wanting to leave back to the journey. Part of it was to get the fillet off, but part of it was because... I realized I cared for the others. I wanted to see the journey through with them."

"Macaque thought you were abandoning him," MK said after a moment, eyes widening. "That's why he took on your identity. He wanted... revenge? For you to have no reason to leave again?"

"I think he just wanted what we used to have," Wukong said with a frown. "I've been running from him for so long... over another 500 years. I've made so many mistakes in my life MK, but I think not trying to get him to come with us or trying to properly explain what I was doing... may have been the worst."

"... The warrior was never forgotten by the Hero after all," MK said softly before drifting back to sleep.

"No," Wukong agreed, though he knew he was not heard. "No, the Hero never forgot. The Hero never will, not completely. Even if it hurts."

The storm came on schedule. The machine was charged.

Over the day they came back their memories of the trip back in time faded into a distant thought, one that both mentor and student soon forgot to fear the loss of.

By the next day they had forgotten. Time had fixed itself.

But not completely.

The Hero never forgot completely, after all. There was something telling him in the back of his mind to check more on his student. He remembered a hand on his back that should not have been there. He knew how to mix something he never had before.

Neither did the Warrior, uninvolved in this adventure as he may be. He had plans.

And the one between them, with no title to himself, didn't completely forget either. He recalled feeling warm and safe. His head was on someone's lap. There were berries and someone not unlike one of his father figures.

The memories of what happened lingered, quiet, uncalled but emotions still there.

A short time later the one between felt that a play he went to was strangely familiar to him and needed to rush out before his head began to ache in memories he didn't recall.

"So um... what happened to him? The Warrior?"

The answer was somewhere in the back of his mind. If only he could remember.

#monkie kid #lego monkie kid #spoilers #gen fic #time travel fic #mk #qi xiaotian #sun wukong #monkey king #six eared macaque #(mentioned)#Tripitaka #tang sanzang #zhu bajie #sha wujing #bai long ma #prompt fill #LONG AS HELL

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inkweaver22-blr · 3 years

Text

Happy Halloween everyone!

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter done! I was dealing with some mental health stuff. But it’s done now so I hope you enjoy!

AO3 Link

Scattered Cicadas - Chapter Eighteen: Heart of Stone

CONTENT WARNING!!! LIKE FOR REAL THERE’S SOME DARK STUFF HERE SO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!!!

Major Character Deaths, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Mild Gore, Gaslighting and Manipulation

Lady Bone Demon has a cruel heart. Can Tang endure it?

----------

Tang did his best to break through Lady Bone Demon’s control. It was already too late for his family once again-(don’t look at their bodies, don’t look at their bodies, don’t look at their bodies)-but he had to at least try and save this world from destruction. So many had already been extinguished but he refused to give up.

Lady Bone Demon channeled his earth shaping through her skeleton mech, causing the entire world to shake fiercely. Blue fire began pouring from the fissures in the ground.The screams of the citizens of Megapolis filled Tang’s ears as they were crushed by falling buildings or reduced to ashes.

He pushed with all his mental strength against the barriers separating him from his body. Like always they held fast against his onslaught, remaining firm and immovable.

The flames receded and the shaking stopped for a brief moment. Tang realized he had failed once more as the world seemed to hold its breath.

Then the planet exploded.

----------

Tang and Lady Bone Demon were in the cave.

He glared at the white spirit, waiting for her usual taunting for successfully destroying yet another timeline.

“Hmm…” Lady Bone Demon’s gaze was unfocused as she stared into the distance, seemingly distracted. “That was… Barely satisfying.”

“What?” Tang’s eyes narrowed, wary of some kind of trick.

Her focus was snapped back to Tang as she frowned.

“The monotony of bringing the world to its rightful end is no longer exciting. It has become… too routine.”

Tang’s fists clenched in anger.

“Are you saying that you’re bored of causing so much ruin and murdering billions of innocents?!”

“I suppose I am.”

“You callous bitch!”

Lady Bone Demon simply smirked.

“Perhaps it is time I alter my methods. After all, who could blame me for having a little fun along the way? Isn’t that right, Tang?”

Tang’s snarl of fury was cut off by the golden-yellow light engulfing them.

----------

Lady Bone Demon strolled into Pigsy’s Noodles, not even bothering to pretend to be Tang as she had changed his hair to bone-white and his clothes to blue. All conversation stopped as she entered and Tang’s family stared at her.

“Uh, Tang?” MK propped the mop he had been using up against the wall. “Are you going for a new look?”

“The blue is nice but I don’t think the white hair suits you,” Mei said, trying to sound supportive.

“Not quite,” Lady Bone Demon said with a cruel smile, causing them all to tense. Pigsy came out from around the counter brandishing a rolling pin and a scowl.

“You aren’t Tang.”

“How astute of you. I expected nothing less from the one Tang loves so dearly.”

Pigsy’s eyes went wide.

“He- what?”

“Oh yes,” she said with a taunting smirk. “He loves you so much, little chef. It’s a shame he’ll never have the chance to tell you himself.”

Pigsy took a step back, his arms falling to his side in shock.

“That’s enough!” MK pulled out his staff and leveled it at her chest. “Who are you and what have you done with Tang?”

“I go by Lady Bone Demon in this day and age,” she said before turning to Sandy and winking. “But your friend here might remember me as the White Bone Spirit. Hello again Sha Wujing. It’s been quite some time.”

Sandy paled.

“Okay, going to unpack that later,” MK said as he took a threatening step towards Lady Bone Demon. “Now where is Tang?”

“He’s right here,” Lady Bone Demon spread her arms out. “Physically, that is. His consciousness is currently residing in the prison I made in the back of his own mind. Listening to him shout obscenities is quite amusing.”

“Get out of him!” MK advanced another step, a harsh glare leveled at the demon. “Get out before I make you!”

“If you insist.” Lady Bone Demon shifted into a defensive stance and sighed in disappoint at MK. “I must say I’m let down, Xiaotian. I thought you were much too noble to harm one of your fathers. Humans are so frail, after all.”

MK froze.

“Oh well. I’m sure Tang will get over being maimed or crippled by someone he sees as a son eventually.”

MK’s hands began to tremble.

“That is of course if he could even survive a fight with the powerful Monkie Kid. You do know how to hold back that incredible strength of yours when fighting a normal human, don’t you?”

MK lowered the staff and took a step back.

“Not very confident in yourself, are you?” Lady Bone Demon brushed past the unresponsive young man and took a seat at Tang’s usual stool. “Now I do believe humans need to eat to survive, so why don’t you get me a bowl of those noodles Tang loves so much, little chef.”

“Why should we do anything you want,” Mei snarled.

“Ah yes, the dragon girl.” Lady Bone Demon eyed Mei up and down. “Tang’s feelings for you are quite complicated indeed. Protectiveness and trust usually reserved for a younger relative. He sees so much untapped potential in you that he believes he could help bring forward. I wonder how he came to such conclusions.”

“He… huh?” Mei blinked for a moment before shaking her head and resuming to scowl at the demon. “Stop trying to confuse me and answer the question!”

“Hmm…” Lady Bone Demon pretended to think for a moment, placing a hand on her chin. “Well I suppose I could just wander into the wilderness, let this body die from starvation and exposure, and find a new host that would allow me to move unnoticed throughout the city.”

Tang’s family all gaped.

“Or you could all continue... entertaining me.” She smiled serenely at the horrified group. “Which will you choose?”

With a growl of frustration, Pigsy returned to the kitchen and began to prepare a fresh bowl of noodles, his movements much more choppy and forceful than usual.

“As I thought.” Lady Bone Demon smirked as she pulled a book out from her sleeve and began reading. “Play nice and I’m sure we’ll all get along just fine.”

If looks could kill Lady Bone Demon would have died five times over.

----------

Tang explored the confines of his prison for what felt like the millionth time.

It wasn’t a physical space, but a mental barrier fueled by magic to trap his consciousness and separate him from his body. While he could see and hear everything Lady Bone Demon did through his eyes and ears, touch, taste, and scent were not things he had experienced in quite some time.

Pain was felt differently as well. The psychic feedback from trying to break through the barrier was unlike anything he had felt and seemed to reverberate through the entirety of his reduced being.

He pushed through it though. He needed to be ready for when Lady Bone Demon eventually let her guard down.

It was also much easier to ignore her taunting when he could ground himself in being able to feel anything other than his emotions.

‘How sad,’ Lady Bone Demon said as Tang’s family did their best to go about their day despite her presence. ‘Look at how these hollow copies fall over themselves to ensure your safety. They are quite convincing in their imitation of having actual emotions, don’t you think?’

‘Shut up!’ Tang pounded against the walls of his prison, letting the pain flow through him. ‘They aren’t just copies!’

‘Is that so?’

‘They are real people with real emotions! They are my family and once I get out you’ll never be able to hurt them again!’

‘You consider these simulations to be your family? That they are worth protecting? How lonely and desperate you must have been to have come to such a pathetic conclusion.’

Tang ignored her as he continued to seek a way to escape. This wasn’t the first time she had taunted him in this way. Her words were harsh and biting, but Tang refused to be disheartened even if there were a few bits of truth within them.

‘So if they are real as you claim, tell me. What happens to them when a cycle ends?’

Tang redoubled his efforts to break free. He had a few plausible theories about that particular question. He kept them to himself though so Lady Bone Demon wouldn’t be able to twist them around and use them against him.

‘No answer? Does the great scholar not know? If you do not know, then how can you be certain they are real? How can you know if any of this is real?’

‘If it isn’t then how are you here?’ Tang paused as he argued back. ‘If everything is fake as you say, that includes you as well.’

‘Perhaps that was true at one point,’ Lady Bone Demon conceded. ‘But by possessing you, the one truly real thing in all of this, I myself have become real as well. I must thank you for this wonderful opportunity you have presented me with.’

Tang growled and resumed banging against his cage.

‘You still haven’t answered my question.’

‘Does it matter?’ Tang was fed up with this line of questioning. ‘Simulations or not, the experiences are real. The things I learn are real. The pain and emotions I feel are real. The love I have for them is real. That’s what is actually important.’

‘What a self-centered point of view.’

Tang shouted in frustration.

‘I suppose there is some truth in such a selfish ideology however.’ Lady Bone Demon’s voice gained a more sinister tone. ‘Everything you experience and feel is, in fact, quite real.’

Tang couldn’t help the feeling of dread that overcame him.

----------

Lady Bone Demon laughed as she blocked a blow from MK’s staff.

“I was wondering how long it would take for you to lose your patience,” she taunted while tossing MK away. “Tell me, what finally pushed you over the edge? Was it all the different times of having to rescue me from walking into oncoming traffic or the amount of noodles I ‘accidentally’ spilled onto the floor?”

MK ignored her and rushed back in with a wordless scream. They exchanged a few blows before Lady Bone Demon managed to kick him in the chest and sent the young man sprawling.

“Well I suppose I was wrong about you being able to hold back. You certainly aren’t putting your full effort into this.”

MK picked himself back up and ran to meet her once more.

“I wonder why?” Lady Bone Demon casually dodged a few strikes as she pretended to ponder. “You can’t possibly still believe this body is as weak as it used to be while I’m possessing it. Unless you really are as dumb as you look.”

“Shut up!”

“Oooh! Temper, temper!” Lady Bone Demon redirected a swing from the staff and tripped MK onto his face. “You would think that the chosen successor to the Monkey King would be smart enough to ignore such childish insults. But then again, you do act like a spoiled child most of the time so I shouldn’t be too surprised.”

“I am not a child!”

“Tell me that again once you're a few hundred years older and I might believe you.” Lady Bone Demon jumped into the air to avoid the swipe at her feet and floated several meters off the ground.

“Now where are all your friends?” She glanced around the ruined city street. “I’m surprised they left you to deal with me all alone. Did they finally give up on you? Not that I could blame them if they did. You’ve never been quite able to live up to anyone’s expectations, have you?”

“Shut up!” MK stood with a grimace and glared up at her. “My friends will be here soon and then you’re going down!”

“Oh really? What could possibly be taking them so long then?” Lady Bone Demon floated back down to the ground and gave a cruel smirk. “Could it possibly be that they’re actually preparing that little exorcism ritual that you all have been planning for the past few weeks?”

MK’s mouth hung open.

“Oh don’t look so shocked. None of you are as subtle as you think you are. Not that that particular ritual would have worked anyway.”

“What?”

“Had I only been possessing his body or mind, then yes, it might have worked.” Lady Bone Demon pressed a hand against her chest and pulled out a glowing orb. It was made up of golden-yellow strings that formed the outer shell and within it a cold white flame burned.

“I, however, am in possession of the entirety of his being. I inhabit his very soul.”

“No.” MK’s eyes were wide in horror.

Lady Bone Demon cackled as she returned the soul to her chest.

“You see now? You never stood a chance. You will never have your precious Tang back.”

“No.” MK’s hands trembled as he gripped his staff tighter.

“Say it as many times as you want. It will not change the truth.”

“No!” MK was suddenly rushing towards her, his staff held like a lance.

‘This should be interesting.’

Tang had been shouting and banging against his prison during the fight in a vain attempt at distracting Lady Bone Demon when her comment caught him off guard.

Before he could process what she meant, he was suddenly flooded with sensation that made him gasp reflexively.

He could feel his body! That gasp had been caused by his thoughts, not Lady Bone Demon’s. He flexed his hand experimentally and nearly passed out from the sensation.

He had been trapped in his mind for so long that having a body again was completely overwhelming. The brush of the clothes against his skin. The scent of burning tires and asphalt. It was all too much. All he could was stand there stunned as he tried to regain his bearings.

Tang choked at the explosion of pain as MK’s staff pierced through his chest.

He coughed and his mouth was filled with the coppery taste of blood.

He was suddenly shoved back into his mental prison, his ability to control his body cut off completely. This time, however, he could still feel everything. The staff sticking through his torso. The blood welling up in his mouth. The pain pain pain pain PAIN!

Tang screamed in complete agony.

“W-why…?” He distantly heard Lady Bone Demon say in his own voice as they looked up at MK’s bloodstained face. “She… was lying…”

MK’s horrified expression was the last thing they saw before everything faded to black.

----------

Tang and Lady Bone Demon were in the cave.

“Oh the look on his face!” Lady Bone Demon began pacing back and forth in excitement, ignoring Tang who was on the ground a few meters away panting and retching from the phantom pain he still felt. “The despair and growing horror as it dawned on him what had just happened! Such anguish! It was all so wonderful!”

“You…!” Whatever Tang was going to say was cut off by a sudden coughing fit.

Lady Bone Demon spared him a single glance before returning to her musing.

“It may not have been as fulfilling as bringing a world to its end, but it was oh so amusing.” She looked back down at Tang and gave a sinister grin. “I am looking forward to making more entertainment for myself in the coming cycles.”

Tang shuddered and flinched away as the golden-yellow light came for them.

----------

Lady Bone Demon didn’t always impersonate Tang. Whenever the cycle started early enough, she would create a hair clone to do it for her and go off to work on her plans for ‘entertainment’.

This time around she let events progress as normal, waiting until after New Years and Wukong’s departure before enacting her schemes.

“I am at your service, my lady.” MK rose from a posture-perfect bow and gave the same nonchalant grin Tang associated with the Mayor to his new mistress.

Lady Bone Demon, shapeshifted into her preferred appearance, had ambushed MK and placed a mind-altering spell on him. He now thought that along with Wukong leaving, the rest of his family had abandoned him as well. He had been more than willing to serve her once she pretended to offer love and support to him.

Tang felt both rage and disgust as MK, now dressed in a more traditional blue outfit, walked off with the Mayor. The older demon reached over and ruffled MK’s hair affectionately, earning a playful shove from the young man. Their relationship seemed genuine enough; which hurt all the more for Tang who knew it was nothing more than a ploy to endear themselves to MK.

Tang was forced to watch as MK grew more powerful under The Mayor’s mentorship. The false hate that had been planted in his mind twisted and spread as the hair clone of Tang created by Lady Bone Demon wrote a letter to MK calling him an ‘unlovable monster’ before ‘fleeing’ the city.

Before too long MK had ended the lives of all his family by his own hand.

As the three of them stood atop the bone mech and watched the world begin to crumble, MK shivered and rubbed his arms.

“Are… are you sure this is the only way, my lady?”

“Are you questioning me?”

“No! No I… Just a bit nervous I guess.”

The Mayor frowned and something - (Concern? Doubt?) - flashed in his eyes for just a moment before he put on his signature grin and wrapped an arm around MK’s shoulders.

“Relax kid! It’ll all be over soon. Just close your eyes. I promise it won’t even hurt.”

Lady Bone Demon frowned. She watched MK bury his face into the Mayor’s chest and cling to him as the world ended.

----------

Tang and Lady Bone Demon were in the cave.

“Hmm… I will have to prevent those two from spending too much time together from now on…” Lady Bone Demon muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing of your concern. Now what should I do next?”

The golden-yellow light swallowed them.

----------

Lady Bone Demon had discovered something very interesting in this cycle.

Her hair clones were individually capable of possessing someone.

It wasn’t quite as complete as her own method and it was obvious that the person was being controlled in some way, but that hardly mattered.

Tang watched from his prison as his family, all dressed in white, attacked Wukong.

The Monkey King dodged a swipe from Jin and Yin only to have to block a punch from Demon Bull King. He jumped away only to be surrounded by Mei, Princess Iron Fan, and Spider Queen. Grunting with effort, he grabbed Mei’s arm as she tried to attack and threw her into Spider Queen before kicking Princess Iron Fan away.

Suddenly Macaque reached up from Wukong’s shadow and tripped him, giving Sandy the opening to grapple him to the ground.

Lady Bone Demon walked up to the restrained sage. Pulling out a hair, she made another hair clone, causing Wukong’s eyes to widen. The clone placed its hand on his forehead while Lady Bone Demon grinned.

“Welcome to my collection of White Generals, Sun Wukong.”

The clone dissolved into white light and entered Wukong’s body. He screamed and struggled for a few moments before going limp. When he looked up his expression was blank and his eyes burning with white fire.

Lady Bone Demon had her generals march across the globe, conquering every nation they came across. Only when there was no one left to oppose her did she bring the world to its end.

----------

Tang and Lady Bone Demon were in the cave.

Tang glared at her while she gloated over her latest bout of entertainment and went over her plans for future cycles.

He scowled into the golden-yellow light.

----------

Lady Bone Demon sat on her throne within her cathedral built upon the ruins of the Long family mansion. Stationed around the room were her loyal guards who silently stood at attention.

Tang was greatly disturbed at how she had twisted his research into soul magics for her own cruel purposes. Being forced to watch as she burned away the flesh of each of his family members and tapped their souls within their animated skeletons had been agonizing.

What was worse was that they all retained their base personalities and ideals. They were still essentially the same people, but leashed to the whims of Lady Bone Demon and unable to deny any order she gave them.

“It seems that pesky little rebellion has stirred up some trouble at the docks,” Lady Bone Demon said while reading a message. “Hmm… Xiaotian?”

The skeleton wearing a familiar headband and orange jacket stepped out of line.

“What?” MK glared up at the demon, the orange pinpricks of light within his eye sockets burning fiercely.

“Be a dear and go put down this little insurrection for me.”

“Whatever.” With a growl MK turned and began to make his way out of the room.

“Oh, and Xiaotian?”

MK paused and turned to look back at Lady Bone Demon, who smiled cruelly.

“Leave none alive. That is an order.”

Several of the other skeletons gasped or muttered curses aimed at the demon.

MK stared at her for a moment before shouting in frustration and pulling out his staff. He swung it around, destroying a nearby pillar before looking up at the throne. Tears of orange flame poured out of eye sockets and flowed down his skull.

“I hate you.”

Lady Bone Demon simply laughed as MK stormed out of the cathedral to complete his grim task.

----------

Tang and Lady Bone Demon were in the cave.

The golden-yellow light fell like a curtain.

----------

“Leave? Why would you want to leave?” Lady Bone Demon tilted her head as she continued to act like a slightly unhinged version of Tang. “This compound has everything you need. You’ll be safe here where I can keep an eye on you. She won’t be able to get to any of you. I promise to take care of you all.”

‘Stop it! I wouldn’t do this to them!’

Tang had been greatly insulted when Lady Bone Demon had begun putting this plan in action. Creating an impenetrable fortress, kidnapping his whole family including the twins, Demon Bull Family, and Spider Clan, and forcing them to stay there was one thing.

Explaining to them all about the cycles and presenting Tang as having gone mad and becoming overprotective from them was just disturbing.

‘Oh, is that so?’ Lady Bone Demon said as she left the angry and confused group under the pretense of ‘checking the seals one last time’. ‘Then tell me, what was your plan if you had managed to defeat my loyal servant all those cycles ago?’

‘I-!’ Tang stopped abruptly.

What had his plan been? It was so long ago he barely remembered.

He had just been so angry at the time. Angry and determined and…

Overprotective.

Dread welled up inside of him.

‘Struck a nerve, have I?’ Lady Bone Demon smirked at his sudden silence. ‘Isn’t this what you vowed to do? To keep them all safe so you could earn the right to see your true family again? I am merely following your actions from then to their most logical conclusion.’

‘No…’ Tang protested weakly.

Was she right? Would he have succumbed to the power he had wielded had he won?

Based on what he remembered of his mental state back then, he was afraid of what the answer would have been.

‘Perhaps I was a bit hasty in possessing you.’

‘What?’

‘You would have become a monster on your own without my interference either way. And who better to torment the Monkey King and his family than someone he actually cares for?’

‘No! I am not a monster!’

‘Aren’t you?’ Lady Bone Demon sounded skeptical. ‘You have barely tried to free yourself for dozens of cycles now. Are you growing complacent? Perhaps you’re even enjoying the way I’m tormenting your family. After all, they are new experiences for you. Isn’t that what you craved early on in the cycles?’

‘Shut up!’ Tang began to bang against his prison in a vain attempt at proving her wrong.

The truth was that he was just so tired. His will to keep going was fading. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take.

‘I wonder what your family from your original timeline would think of you now? How they would recoil in disgust at how accustomed you have become at seeing their horrific deaths.’

‘No! I haven’t! They wouldn’t!’

‘They wouldn’t? Well shall we test that?’

Lady Bone Demon activated True Sight for the first time since possessing Tang and turned to the East.

There was no one there.

Tang stopped pounding against the mental cage in shock.

‘It seems you have been abandoned,’ Lady Bone Demon mocked. ‘That is, if they were ever truly real to begin with and not a product of these cycles or your own imagination.’

Tang was numb.

‘Have I finally left you speechless? Pity. You are only entertaining when you try to resist in futility. I shall have to try harder to get you to react then.’

Tang was afraid.

----------

They were in the cave.

Lady Bone Demon, wearing two monkey pelts of gold and black, pinned MK to the ground. With a burst of magic, MK screamed as he was forcibly transformed into a monkey himself.

Lady Bone Demon grinned as she pulled out a knife and held it to MK’s throat.

“You’ll make a fine addition to my coat.”

----------

They were in the cave.

----------

Lady Bone Demon chewed with purpose on the slice of pork, humming in pleasure while forcing Tang to taste the perfectly cooked meat as well.

Tang wished to vomit as she reached over and carved another portion off of Pigsy’s roasted corpse.

----------

They. Were in. The cave.

----------

Lady Bone Demon smiled in satisfaction at the large glass display cases in front of her.

Inside were the dead figures of the Spider Clan, stripped nude and held in place by giant pins like an entomologists’ collection of taxidermied insects.

----------

They. Were. In. The. Cave.

----------

Please… Stop…

----------

Lady Bone Demon laughed as dirt and soil was forced down the throats of the Demon Bull family. They struggled and choked before one by one they suffocated from the earth in their lungs.

----------

They

Were

The

Cave

----------

It hurts…

----------

Lady Bone Demon lounged on her throne as Sandy was forced to kill his opponents down in the coliseum below. Once he had defeated them all, she had the captive children hung anyway, much to Sandy’s horror.

----------

Stop it…

----------

tHeY wErE iN tHe CaVe

----------

Lady Bone Demon admired her new dragon hide upholstery and dragon bone ornaments in her throne room.

The rest of Mei’s corpse had been burned.

----------

No more… Please....

----------

THEY were IN the CAVE

----------

Lady Bone Demon held up the Immortality Pill that had used various bits of Jin’s body to create. With a viscous smirk, she forced it down a sobbing Yin’s throat.

----------

I can’t…

----------

Cave

----------

White

Pain

----------

Cave

----------

White

Pain

----------

CaVe

----------

WhItE

PaIn

----------

No…

----------

c̈́͟Á͔̰͎͓͗̅͡ṿ̝̰͌̆͝e̡͖͈͚͊̉̄̎̕ͅ

----------

wHiTe

pAiN

----------

Go away…

----------

C̼̔Ä̹̗͈͌̎Ṿ̫͍̎͆͛E̱̓

----------

W̗͒H͚̽I̧̢̮͋̓̓T̞́Ḙ̫̐̕

P̪͇͗͆Â̛̩͓͚̄̓͢I͇̖͕̼͌̊͗̐N

----------

pain

Pain

PAIN PAIN

PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN

P A I N P A I N P A I N P A I N P A I N P A I N

P͚̗͍̤͖̦̍͋̊̍̃͐͑͜

A̭͎͋̂

Ì̢̟̟̺̮͈̄̄̉͋̄͝ͅ

Ṅ́̊͜͢ͅ

----------

“NO!”

Tang tore at the walls, desperate for release.

He found no purchase.

Instead he grasped at the connection to his senses and severed them, rendering himself to the void.

He could feel the White attempting to reconnect him to the Pain and panicked.

He summoned his own mental wall. Thick and sturdy and impenetrable like a mountain.

He enclosed himself within the psychic earth, burying his entire being deep within.

Soon the horrible sights and sounds and tastes and smells and touches were gone.

Relief washed over him as he fell away into the black.

There was no more fear.

There was no more despair.

There was no more pain.

Only blissful, endless, all encompassing nothingness within his heart of stone.

----------

Hahahaha!

Ha ha ha…

It’s a good thing I never left this bunker from last chapter.

So onto credits!

First section was basically the White Tang Au by @winterpower98 again but if LBD was open about it.

Next is the At Your Service AU by @cupcaketheartist. It’s a pretty interesting concept and I love the relationship between MK and the Mayor.

The White General AU and Skeleton Guard AU are both my own creations! The basics are pretty much laid out here minus Tang being a timeline traveler being possessed by LBD.

And yes, had Tang actually beaten the Mayor in chapter 17 he could have become a bit mad and obsessed with protecting his family through any means necessary.

Thanks so much for reading and let me know what you thought in a comment on AO3, in the tags, or through an ask on my tumblr!

Until next time! Hopefully it won’t take quite as long…

#Monkie Kid #LEGO Monkie Kid #Ink Writes #Scattered Cicadas #Tang #Lady Bone Demon #Ensemble Cast #winterpower98 #cupcaketheartist #White Tang AU #At Your Service AU #White General AU #Skeleton Guard AU

27 notes · View notes

robinofinashiro · 3 years

Text

sypnosis: sometimes, you just need to listen to your own heart.

characters: narumiya mei x fem! reader

request status: OPENED / all fandoms I write for are pinned to the top of my page as well as my rules! feel free to request as you’d like! just please be respectful of my rules and if you have any questions, personally message me!

being the only manager to a team like Inashiro was hard. they had you up and running six am, right along with the team, and made you stay over time when playoffs or nationals were coming up and as much as you loved the team, the schedule sometimes killed you.

the five thirty alarm rang through your room as you growled loudly. you were in no mood to wake up, especially after the night you had with Narumiya.

the two of you were on and off again ‘friends with benefits’ as you liked to put it. you called him when you were feeling alone and wanted someone to come and comfort you and he did the same thing. the one thing that stopped you from actually dating him was you yourself.

you never felt right dating Narumiya for various different reasons. you didn’t want to be seen as the girl who only joined the team to date the players nor did you want to ever be compared Narumiya in the first place.

Inashiro carried Narumiya as if he was their god. he had girls flocking him left and right. Narumiya knew the status he carried around the school but whenever it was just the two of you, he had always told you that you were worth more than any of the girls that surrounded him. he would date you in a heartbeat but your brain was your own worst enemy and denied him every time he asked.

you took out your manager uniform, deciding to just wear that for the day as Inashiro staff allowed any managers or sports students to wear uniforms on a day where a game was going to be played. the uniform was just Inashiro’s version of a tennis skirt and a red button colored shirt with white shoes and the teams sweater.

after you brushed your teeth and grabbed a quick breakfast from your fridge, you ran out onto the field, getting the equipment they needed for their morning practice. you knew that Shirakawa and possibly Carlos would be on the field but you knew the king would be late....as usual.

“morning guys!” you said tiredly to the boys. Shirakawa gave you a head nod as a hello as Carlos actually decided to help you out with the equipment, “were you the reason why our pitcher snuck in last night?” Carlos asked, wiggling his eyebrows jokingly.

you rolled your eyes, not bothering to answer. you grabbed the stack of papers that were reminders for the team about the upcoming Japan Series Sports Gala. it was a uppity dinner that Japan athletics threw every year to honor everyone who participated in their sports or helped manage them.

“remind me to hand these out to everyone before the team begins practice or else I’ll forget,” you asked Carlos. he nodded, putting them off to the side as you, “you going?” Carlos asked, looking at the flyers again, “if someone asks me. i’m not about to go single and dateless,” you replied.

“have Narumiya go with you,” Shirakawa said. you gave him the finger, not really in the mood to argue, “um, that’s kinda why I asked if you were with him last night,” Carlos murmured, scratching the back of his neck. you gave a look, as to indicate for him to continue, “he invited Amy to the gala this Saturday,” he confessed hesitantly.

you let out a laugh of disbelief, not believing what you were hearing. you knew Narumiya could be an ass but not to this extent. just as you were about to let out a scream of annoyance, most of the team arrived to the field, Narumiya being dragged right alongside them.

they sat on the patch of grass where they usually did as you picked up the notes you had to read off before they started their practice. with the boys having a scrimmage game in the afternoon, you knew you had no time to read anything off to them before hand. especially since they were Hokkaido again.

“morning everyone! remember, the gala is this Saturday. it’s free entry for players and managers but anyone bringing dates must pay for their ticket coming in. secondly, the game against Hokkaido starts at five today. if you’re late, that is not my business to handle for you,” you read off the sheets, “now, practice runs until seven and we’re all expect to be in class at the beginning of the hour. if you’re late, that’s on you!”

you closed the binder, sitting down on in your usual spot, finishing up last minute homework as they started practice. Carlos and Shirakawa looked at each other knowing what Carlos had said must’ve upset you since you were not as happy as you just were.

“how’d you sleep last night?” Narumiya asked, giving you a smirk, “fine. now leave,” you threatened, not bothering to play his games. he gave you a surprised look, not expecting your attitude, “what’s wrong?” he asked a bit more seriously.

you gave him a look, one that frightened him more than he was willing to admit. “Narumiya, I’m really not in the mood for you shit this morning so do us the favor of just practicing before I cause a scene and you wouldn’t want that to happen in front of Amy, would you?” you insinuated as you pointed to the black haired girl.

Narumiya sighed, “so you heard?” you nodded as he tried to figure out an excuse for himself, “well, you kept denying me and I needed a date for the dinner on Saturday so I asked her! I don’t know what you’re so worked up for,” he said, instantly knowing what he said was going to bite him in the ass.

“you know what Narumiya?” you said, trying not to seem angry, “there’s a reason why I never dated you. it’s out of respect for me, for you, for the team, and when you say things like you said to me last night, I took it to heart because I thought hey! maybe does genuinely like me but clearly I was wrong and maybe there are better people for you,” you said without skipping a beat, “but you know what? clearly Amy is better for you and maybe I did the right thing by not saying yes.”

Carlos who had overheard the entire conversation was stunned. he had no idea you felt like this and Narumiya especially had no idea. he grabbed your wrist but you quickly shook it off, trying not to spend anymore time around him. you got up, giving him one more tired look before going onto the field to do your duties.

the end of the day came faster than you had wanted. you were in no mood to see Narumiya but considering they were going to play Hokkaido, you knew they were going to need you more today than any other day in the week.

you dropped your bag off in your room before running back to the field before you were late yourself. the only thing you had on you was your cell phone and wallet for dinner after the game.

“ready boys?” you screamed, trying to hype up the team. they nodded excitedly, Carlos and Shirakawa surprised at your attitude, “lets go kick some Hokkaido ass!” you yelled, earning a yell back from them, “don’t focus on the past, focus on the now!”

before you could continue your small speech, Fukui walked in, “uh hey, ( your name), Renji from Hokkaido is actually looking for you in the dugout,” you gave him a bewildered look as everyone gave you a surprised expression, “do you know for what?” you asked.

Fukui shook his head no. you quickly excused yourself but before you could, you grabbed Carlos by the wrist to come along with you. you had no idea what their catcher wanted so you grabbed Carlos for moral support. “what do you think he wants?” he asked rhetorically. you shrugged your shoulders, reaching the dugout to see Renji right alongside Hongou.

“hey, you’re looking for me?” you asked Renji with a small smile playing on your face. he was holding flowers with a nervous expression on his face as Hongou basically kicked him in the back of the leg for not responding, “oh, uh, yeah! as you know, the Japan Series dinner is this weekend and while I know it’s impossible for us to date because of our schools and schedules, I knew you’d be attending this event on Saturday and was wondering if...you’d like to go as my date?” your mouth dropped as Carlos covered his mouth in surprise.

this was was the farthest thing you were expecting to hear from Renji as he held the flowers out for you to hold, “oh, that’s surprising!” you replied, “but of course! thank you so much,” you said trying not to stutter. he laughed, before getting dragged by Hongou back to their dugout.

Carlos gave you a look before the two of you started laughing from surprise. “wow, Renji?” he asked in disbelief, “yup, Renji,” you replied before the two of you started laughing again.

the entire team, stunned from what Fukui had said earlier followed you and Carlos secretly to hear what the Hokkaido catcher wanted and were shocked to hear what he had said. Shirakawa instantly looked to Narumiya and wanted nothing more than to laugh when they all heard what he said.

Narumiya was pissed. pissed didn’t even begin to explain what he was feeling. he knew he had no right to get upset for accepting his date invitation but with the conversation you both had in the morning and the fact that you were going out with a rival team did not help him at all.

“serves you right,” Shirakawa murmured, “you’re lucky they don’t attend the same school or maybe Renji will get lucky Saturday night if you know what I mean.”

Narumiya stared at his friend, not trying to believe what he was saying. he knew a relationship with him for you would be nearly impossible because your schedules but the fact that you were still going out with him bothered him to hell.

the announcers called everyone to the field to shake hands with each other but Narumiya was beyond the point to be friendly with any of them. he saw the way you were giving a look to Renji every now and then and when it was your turn to shake his hand, instead of shaking it, he did a slight bow.

“he must really like you, huh?” Narumiya whispered to you. you gave him a smirk, returning the one he gave you in the morning, “course! someone has too,” you replied before going to the bench as the ref blew the whistle.

the entire game, you could sense Narumiya’s anger through his pitches. you knew Renji’s hand was going to hurt before the end of the game if he continued to throw that way. Shirakawa, who had gotten benched for getting a hit to the shoulder, laughed at Narumiya’s attitude.

“you gonna keep up the act?” he asked, kicking his leg up to rest on the bench in front of him, “probably. I mean, all of you heard the conversation so to pursue a relationship with him would be useless in the long run but it wouldn’t hurt to have a little fun, would it?”

Shirakawa laughed at your pettiness but knew you had a right to make Narumiya suffer, even if it was just for a night.

when Saturday night finally arrived, everyone going to the gala took the last train out of the city to get to the venue on time. one of the perks of all of this was that they were sending students back on busses once the gala ended and no one could sneak away secretly.

you hadn’t seen Narumiya all day but you knew you were going to run into him at least once into the night. you had been texting Renji all day, making sure the two of you got the outfits to match so you wouldn’t look like a bunch of idiots if they took photos.

the train stopped a few blocks from the venue but lucky for you, Renji and Hongou who had been begged to attend the gala by the team were waiting for you at the station. you waved to Renji who had another bouquet of flowers for you in his hand.

“thank you,” you whispered to Renji as he nodded as a response. he swung his arm around your shoulders as the three of you walked to the venue in no rush. what you had no knowledge of was that Narumiya was right behind you. his heart sunk to his stomach as he watched the way you were talking and smiling with Renji. his heart screaming and wishing that was him in his place.

Carlos looked at the longing stares Narumiya was giving you as he saw you taking pictures with Renji. it looked like you weren’t having any thoughts of Narumiya and while Carlos wanted to rub it in his face, he knew it was not his place to do any of that. he could tell how hurt he was feeling as Narumiya had even told two days prior that he had told Amy to no longer come along.

he thought it was a brace move by Narumiya and looking at how hurt he was feeling now, he could tell Narumiya was genuinely hurt with you accepting Renji’s invitation.

“listen,” Carlos said later into the night, “what you do is your business but what she said that day about her dating you is right. she would carry a lot of rumors on her back if she dates you. i’m not saying that if you explain whatever it is you’re feeling right now, she’d accept your feelings but she has a point in being hesitant on dating you. every girl at Inashiro kisses the ground you walk on and if they heart she’s dating you, that’s going to cause a lot of unnecessary drama on her end. I can’t tell you what to do but god damn is it tiring to see you this way.”

Narumiya sighed knowing what Carlos was saying was true. every now and then, he would look to the table where you were sitting with Renji and Hongou and sigh in envy. of course, to you, you could feel Narumiya’s stares through the entire night.

it wasn’t hared to tell that you were basically making Narumiya suffer. his face said it all and every time you went to the floor to slow dance with Renji, Narumiya’s face ran red with anger. a part of you wanted to drop the act to hear what Narumiya wanted to say but another part of you was going to wait till Renji left so you could talk to him.

Renji was a sweetheart, you couldn’t deny him that. he constantly brought you the drinks you asked and danced when you asked but he knew that a relationship with you wouldn’t work and it would be useless to even try to make it work. maybe in the future he would have his chance with you but as of right now, you weren’t close enough for him to pursue anything.

finally, once the night was drawing to a close, Renji and Hongou had to catch the earlier busses back to Hokkaido as there were hardly any busses for them in the first place. being that the venue was a bit closer to Inashiro, there was going to be more than a few busses for all of you to catch a ride in.

“I enjoyed tonight,” you murmured to Renji, bringing him into a hug. he smiled, grabbing your hand softly, “me as well. I hope we can do this again in the future,” he replied, giving it a kiss.

you smiled, giving him another bus before hearing Hongou screaming at him to get on the bus, “you have my number, don’t forget that,” you playfully said before heading back inside. you saw Narumiya at the end of the street, looking at you sadly.

Narumiya walked up to you slowly and saw the way your attitude chance as he approached you, “what?” you asked with no emotion in his voice. Narumiya, taking all his chance grabbed your hand and basically dragged you to kiss him. you were stunned into the kiss and while you wanted to pull away, you let it happen.

after Narumiya let you go, he stared at you longingly.

“I know what I did was horrible. I’m not good with feelings, especially when it comes to romance and I thought that if I took Amy as a date, it would help me get over you. I should have asked why you felt that way and why you kept denying me and I understand why I look like the asshole here but I can’t. I can’t see you dating anyone else or anyone that isn’t me. call me selfish, call me ignorant, I don’t care but please, you need to understand that even though we’re third years, you’re it for me. you’re the only one who truly understands me.”

you sighed, not knowing how to respond to his confession but you eventually fell back into reality and sighed again, “Narumiya, this shit isn’t a joke. my feelings aren’t a game or something to play with. you know better than anyone how I feel about this entire situation,” you tried to say as Narumiya instantly cut you off, “I know, Carlos reminded me today and I will try my hardest to get rid of anything you’re scared of but please,” he begged silently, “I want a chance with you!”

you gave Narumiya a look before bringing him into a kiss, “I’m scared, scared as hell actually. whatever happens, I guess we’ll deal with it whenever we get there but if you do anything to fuck this up, you’ll be out of my life faster than you can throw a ball,” you finally said.

Narumiya’s face instantly lit up with happiness as he smiled. he brought you in for another kiss but this one was a lot more slower and dare you might say, a bit more sexual.

“come on, lets get back inside before Carlos or the busses leave us,” you joked as Narumiya grabbed your hand and held it tightly. he gave it a kiss, right where Renji had put his, “and that’s what Renji gets for kissing what’s mine,” he murmured before the two of you ran to where Carlos was to get onto the last bus.

“are you both?” he asked slowly. you nodded yes as he sighed in relief, “finally! holy shit. it took you long enough! please never make any of us suffer that shit again!” Carlos exclaimed, texting the entire team the news that Narumiya was no longer being a pain in the ass, “but seriously, if he wasn’t being such a whiny idiot, you should have kept that up for a bit longer,” Carlos joked.

you rolled your eyes playfully as Narumiya growled before trying to hit Carlos which he dodged easily.

#daiya no ace #daiya no ace x reader #daiya no ace imagine #Ace of Diamond #ace of diamond imagine #ace of diamond x reader #narumiya mei #narumiya mei x reader #narumiya mei imagine #enjou renji #anime #sports anime #sport anime

65 notes · View notes

clynnra · 3 years

Text

Strongest Together

After that disappointing last ten minutes of the series finale, I didn't think I would ever write for my beloved boys again. But, thanks to binging lots of episodes of the show on ion since it started airing there (happy to post this story on one of ion's Five-O Fridays) and reading many fix-it fics, I had to do this for Danny. I will be forever bitter that our last glimpse of him ever was hurt (physically and emotionally) and alone on Steve's beach. So this is my way of fixing that sad image. There's background (literally, just a few minor mentions) Steve/Catherine and Danny/others, but this is a McDanno story. I didn't want to vilify Steve, since he should take care of himself and find peace, so I hope that comes across. Finally, eternal thanks to my beta PhoebeMiller for making my story way better than it was with her fantastic feedback about story line, diction, and all the grammar. She's an awesome writer in her own right - go read her wonderful stories! And always thanks to SheppardMcKay for inspiring me to post fic.

Steve and Danny. Danny and Steve. Steve left Danny. Danny was alone.

Sighing, Danny knew he had his kids, his family and the team. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt so fucking much. Days like today, it still hurt to breathe.

Danny didn’t begrudge Steve finding his peace. Or his taking care of himself. Hell, he tried to instill self preservation in his Neanderthal time and again. But when Steve finally took his advice and put himself first, it had ripped Danny’s heart to shreds.

It still hurt so damn much because of the way Steve left. The timing sucked. Just out of the hospital, Danny could barely walk even with his cane. This proved Steve was hiding the depth of his own suffering. Normally, he'd never leave Danny when he was injured. Danny smiled and remembered Steve raiding his house for cookies after he'd been shot in quarantine. The fondness bubbling up just about killed him.

More memories of this year from hell came back, and Danny had to sit down. He'd moved himself into Steve's house after Doris died because he sensed Steve needed him. The loss was just too much after Joe's death. When Joanna had died, Steve was there for him, cooking him eggs most mornings, claiming routine was good. Danny knew Steve was talking about himself, too.

They'd fallen into something Danny dared call a relationship when he was awake late at night, insomnia raging. He and Steve lived together. They ate meals together most nights. They walked Eddie, locked up the house and said good night like a couple.

A couple of idiots, Danny grumbled now. Or was he the biggest idiot? He'd made this huge leap into what proved to be a lonely abyss.

What hurt the most was Steve pretty much rejecting the idea of the two of them growing old together on that beach. Danny didn't know for sure when his best friend would return from his Kung Fu adventures. He'd only counted on Steve coming home at some point. Now, when he replayed their last conversation, the dagger twisted in his chest even more.

The sad fact was - Danny loved Steve. Not just like a friend. He loved him like I want to spend the rest of my life with you even though you drive me crazy, you caveman. He never told Steve he was in love with him. Danny was scared and convinced such an admission would be suicide. Because he feared their friendship would be over, was so sure of it, in fact, that he kept all of his feelings locked away. He didn't want to fuck up the best friendship he'd ever had.

Not to mention, Steve was straight. He'd never given Danny any hint that he was interested. Unless you counted Steve's octopus arms and his total disregard for Danny's personal space. Which Danny did not dwell on. No way could he let himself go there. That's why he'd pushed Steve into dating. First Brooke and then the vet. Neither had really worked out, and Danny did not allow himself to question why. He would have kept on searching for the perfect mate for Steve, too, if he hadn't left. Even though Danny wanted it to be him.

No one knew Danny's secret. Although he mostly dated women, he had a few relationships with men while at Seton Hall. He kept his attraction to men close to the vest. He'd thought his college experiments were in the rearview mirror until the giant goof stole his crime scene.

To distract himself from the heartbreak over Steve’s dating, he’d focused on reconciling with Rachel in a vain attempt to stitch his family back together. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, it just didn’t work since he was in love with Steve. When they finally figured out they were better as friends, Rachel shocked him with advice to stop dithering and tell Steve. He was so taken aback by Rachel’s accurate insight into his heart, past all his bullshit, he’d gone to that bar and met Joanna. Like so many other things in his life, hooking up with her to forget Rachel and Steve had ended all kinds of bad. Spectacular didn't even cut it. Joanna's death wasn't his fault. This he knew. But he couldn't stop feeling guilty. She was with him in the car because of how he'd chosen to mend himself, and she'd died after everything he'd done to try to save her.

And of course, there was Catherine. He envied her for having Steve the way he wanted. She knew every inch of him. She knew so many more secrets. Steve had opened his heart to her - and what had she done? She'd pulled a Doris. More than once. And the idiot took her back.

Weren't they a pair? Danny knew he was a hypocrite for being angry with Steve about getting back with an ex time and again. He didn't care. He couldn't help feeling upset that Steve was with Catherine (probably this very minute) and not him.

+++++++

Three months had passed since Steve left, and Danny’s PT was coming along well. He texted Steve a few times a week to check in, while Steve returned his texts within a couple hours. They’d spoken on the phone a few times, and Danny lost himself in the comforting cadence of Steve’s voice. Their calls ranged from about 20 minutes to almost an hour, and their talks were nice. But during one of their conversations, as he listened to Steve chatter on about what he did in whatever destination he was currently staying, Danny realized that Steve’s journey to find himself didn’t include him. Steve didn’t need him like Danny needed him. And that revelation punched the breath out of him. He tried to cover it, but Steve, with his keen SEAL senses, heard it.

“Danno, you okay?” Steve interrupted his story about what he saw in Scotland.

“Yeah, babe, I’m ok. Just still get tired sometimes. Had PT this morning and energy kinda zapped. You mind if we pick this up some other time? I’m gonna have a lie down.” Danny chewed his lips as he lied. It was a white lie, but still.

“Ok… you take care buddy. I love you.” Steve said with a note of concern.

“You too.” replied Danny. He couldn’t tell Steve he loved him on their calls because he didn’t want Steve to hear how in love with him he was. Texting “love you, too” was fine, but when he said it, he felt his heart in his throat.

Putting his phone down, Danny glanced around himself. He was still at Steve’s house sitting on his couch. Eddie was laying on the floor nearby. And Danny came to a decision. Steve was out finding himself, and Danny really needed to do the same. He had spent so much of the past ten years being part of Steve and Danny that outside of being a father to Grace and Charlie and being on the task force, he‘d kinda lost himself. He felt like his life wasn’t making sense after deciding to just be friends with Rachel and then the tragedy with Joanna. He knew that in order to move on with his life, he had to make a change. He would always be there for Steve, but it was time he was there for himself.

A few days later, Steve called again. This time he was in Ireland. He told Danny about the beautiful scenery there, and after he was done, he asked, “So, what are you up to now, Danno? PT almost done right?”

Danny took a deep breath and started. “Funny you should ask that. I, um, I’m gonna move back to my place, Steve.”

There was a moment of stunned silence.

“Why? Danny, is something wrong?” Steve replied, trying to keep a lock on his emotions.

“No, babe.” Danny grimaced and continued. “I just, uh, think it’s time to move back. You know, you’re out there trying to find yourself and your peace without me…”

Steve gasped, “Danny…”

Shaking his head, Danny kept going. “and that’s fine, Steve. I’m not trying to make you feel bad. You deserve to find the peace and happiness you need. I just need to find myself again a bit. After Joanna died, I felt sorta lost. And I was starting to make sense of my life again before Daiyu Mei swooped in…” He didn’t mention and when you left me. Danny shook that thought from his head.

“So, I need to do this. To remember who I was before I was part of Steve and Danny…” he finished with a fake chuckle.

“Danno, are you sure?” Steve asked, a note of sadness in his voice.

Danny nodded even though Steve couldn’t see him. “Yes.”

There was another moment of charged silence.

“Ok, Danno, I got it. You need this, so I got your back. Whatever you need. Hey, I gotta head out, but I’ll call again, alright?” Steve sounded like he was happy for Danny but wasn’t quite believing it.

Danny replied, “Sure. Bye, babe.”

Steve said clearly, “I love you, Danny.”

“You too.” Danny croaked out. When the call ended, he dropped his phone next to him and covered his face with his hands taking in a few deep breaths.

It was time to find who he was again without Steve.

+++++++

Danny finally completed his eight weeks of PT, and his doctor okayed his return to light work aka paperwork. He still had to check in each month since it was his second gunshot wound in his chest in two years. As part of his process to return to Five-O, the governor mandated Danny to complete visits with his therapist since he survived such a traumatic experience. At first, he was annoyed he had to go to therapy again; he’d rather eat pineapple on his pizza. But during the couple of months of sessions about his kidnapping and near death at the hands of Daiyu Mei, he found himself working through various issues including the death of his partner Grace, his guilt over Matty, his complicated relationship with Rachel, Grace’s kidnapping and almost fatal car accident, Charlie’s paternity and medical condition, as well as other work related stresses and traumas. The governor’s directive for Danny’s therapy was once a week for two months, but he continued past that, and for a few weeks, he was going twice a week. He just unloaded whatever was burdening his mind and heart. He felt stronger for it. He even told the therapist about his feelings for Steve, and she suggested that to find closure or peace about it, he should consider discussing his feelings with Steve. Danny knew she was right but wasn’t ready yet. However, talking things out gave him the perspective he needed.

With the end of PT and his ongoing therapy doing well, he told the kids first he was moving out of Steve’s house. They were shocked, Tani near tears while Junior took the news stoically. But once Danny told them why, they were very supportive and helped Danny move to his now renovated place over two weekends. Lou, Quinn, and Adam also chipped in their time to help with Danny’s move. Since Junior moved in with Tani, they figured out a schedule of who would check on Steve’s place and when including the upkeep of the grounds. Junior and Tani told Danny once he was cleared for regular work, he could share some of the maintenance duties. They'd take care of it for now. Tani joked that maybe they could get Kamekona to hire some of his family. Danny rolled his eyes and smacked her. None of them had enough money for that enterprise.

Eddie was another story. Poor guy was just adapting to his master being gone. Now they were relocating him. Danny decided Eddie would live with him, and Junior would take him as time allowed since he loved Eddie, too. It was a good arrangement, as the loyal dog loved each of them. And he enjoyed the extra attention he was getting.

Danny felt like things were starting to get back to the new normal without Steve while he was at work doing paperwork and running point for any cases from HQ if needed. He surprised himself that he got the hang of the HQ computer table after getting lots of help from the team. Quinn was especially patient, and he appreciated it.

While Danny settled back at work, he still kept in contact with Steve. His best friend would mostly text him to check in with how things were going and send some pictures of gorgeous landscapes and appetizing food. When they did talk on the phone here and there, Steve would catch Danny up on things with him. Danny winced when Steve spoke about Catherine, but tried to sound as supportive as possible. He had to keep reminding himself that if Steve was happy with her, he would just have to accept it. And during one of these phone calls, Danny promised himself that he needed to start dating again. He may be in love with Steve, but he also owed it to himself to move forward and not spend the rest of his life pining after his best friend who was happy with the love of his life.

In a bold move, he asked Adam to be his wingman, explaining he needed to shake things up. He wanted to reclaim who he was before Daiyu Mei and even before his last disastrous attempt to get back with Rachel. What he left unspoken was his need to reinvent himself without Steve.

Adam didn’t even raise an eyebrow and had replied, “You got it, brother. You were there for me when I was lost without Kono, so I’m here for you.”

Danny was so grateful. They went to nice bars, the types professionals patronize. Danny did score dates with some doctors, lawyers, and accountants. He surprised Adam by dating both men and women, but after that initial shock, Adam supported his choices, even offering to set Danny up with friends. He even went on a few double dates with Adam and Tamiko. The companionship was nice, and the sex even nicer, but Danny didn’t feel like any of these people would help him get over Steve. At least he felt like his life was more balanced and not just focused on Steve all the time.

When he first mentioned to Steve that he was dating again, there was a silence long enough that Danny thought the call dropped. He could easily FaceTime Steve but just could not find the courage to see his beloved face again. The phone calls offered distance, a buffer. And Danny needed it so he could continue to support Steve and survive his updates when they included Catherine.

Just when Danny was ready to ask his best friend if he could hear him, an exaggeratedly upbeat Steve jumped back in.

“Hey, buddy, I’m glad you’re getting out there again. You deserve to be happy, too.” His voice cracked on the last bit.

After that last odd tone from Steve, they continued like normal when Danny filled him in on the latest with Grace and Charlie. The rest of the call was pleasant with some of their usual teasing.

But on the next call when Danny mentioned how he and Keith went on a double date with Adam and Tamiko, Steve choked and started coughing on the phone.

“Hey, babe, you ok? Don’t choke on the butter in your coffee, alright?” Danny joked.

Steve got his breath back and said, “Sorry, went down the wrong tube. Wait, so you’re dating guys now, Danny?”

Danny didn’t care for Steve’s tone, but answered, “Well, I did date a few guys back in college, but just stopped once I met Rachel.” He didn’t mention and once I met you. “Is that gonna be a problem for you, Steven?”

Steve quickly responded, “Of course not, Danny. I’m just shocked you never told me this in the over ten years we’ve known each other. And for the record, it’d be hypocritical of me if it was.”

Now it was Danny’s turn to gasp. “Wait, when the hell were you dating guys, Steve? In all the years we’ve been together, you’ve only talked about women.”

Sighing, Steve said, “Well, I didn’t really date guys, Danny. When I was deployed, I helped my teammates out like they helped me. So to be more specific, I’ve had sex with guys, but not actually dated them. I enjoyed the sex and was even attracted to some of the guys, but DADT kept me from being open about being sexually attracted to men.”

Danny couldn’t help himself. “Did Cath know?”

Steve chuckled briefly. “Of course, man. I told her I slept with several men and was attracted to some. She was cool with it since she had some bi friends and family.”

Danny admired Steve’s honesty, and he wanted to be honest, too.

“Steve, dating these men and women - it’s nothing serious. Don’t get me wrong, the company and sex are great, but they don’t compare to you.”

It sounded like Steve sniffled on the other end of the line. His voice was slightly hoarse. “And just so you know, partner, no one will ever replace you. No one can. Hey, we gotta grab some food…”

Danny teased, “Try not to ruin your food with pineapple, you animal. Enjoy your meal.”

Snickering, Steve added, “Copy that.”

Steve’s voice became sincere again. “I’ll call you again soon, Danno. I love you.”

Automatically, Danny replied, “You, too.”

Steve’s breath hitched before saying, “I miss you, Danny. Talk to you soon. Bye.”

Danny exhaled, “I miss you, too. Bye, babe.”

Once Danny placed his phone down, he was like, good going Williams. You almost told him you’re in love with him while Cath was right there. Don’t be an idiot next time.

+++++++

It had been a week since that eye-opening phone call and about six months since Steve left, Danny had been back to regular responsibilities at work for about a month. His therapy sessions were twice a month now. He was still seeing people but didn’t feel the desperation to date like when he first started a few months ago. He felt confident in his own skin again, feeling better both professionally and personally. But he was still in love with Steve. Danny finally decided. Fuck it. I’ll always love the maniac, I just have to live with it.

And it came to a head during one of their phone calls almost two months later.

Danny couldn’t keep himself from asking, “You happy with Cath, Steve?”

There was a pause before Steve said, “I wouldn’t know. She left about two months ago on another CIA assignment. She offered to come back when her job was over, but I told her that I need stability and consistency and her work didn’t provide that. I said I was proud that she found her way and happy for her that she loved her job. I told her that I would always love her, but she deserved someone who was in love with her.”

Danny’s heart sped up with hope. “So, what are you saying, Steve?”

Steve pushed air through his nose. “I’m saying that I couldn’t commit to her because I’m in love with you.”

“Steve…?” Danny’s voice shook with emotion.

“Danny, every time I told you I love you when we ended our calls, I meant it as I’m in love with you. You never repeated it to me so I assumed you didn’t feel the same way. But once you told me you dated guys, I got hopeful again. And after that phone call, I stopped sleeping with Cath. And she knew something was up with the no sex but never called me on it. That’s just not what we do. Things are easy for us, and when they’re not, we still pretend that they are. But my heart couldn’t just be satisfied with what was easy and familiar anymore. I needed the challenge and passion. I need you.”

Danny confessed, “Babe, I’m in love with you, too. I just couldn’t tell you since I thought you had your happily ever after with Catherine. When I figured you guys were permanent, I dated to move on without you. But it’s no use, Steve. I want you. I want everything with you.”

Choked with emotion, Steve whispered, “Danny.. I’m coming home.”

“I’m so glad, babe. I love you.”

+++++++

Two days later, Danny was at baggage claim. He spotted Steve immediately, tall and gorgeous with a full beard and short but longer than military regulation hair. Steve saw him too, and his face lit up with a huge smile that crinkled his eyes. They moved quickly through the crowd to each other. As he got closer, Danny spotted the specks of white in Steve’s hair and thought it just made his big goof even more handsome. Finally, they were in front of each other. Dropping his duffel, Steve wrapped his arms around Danny hugging him tightly. He tucked his face into Danny’s hair and inhaled deeply.

“Danno, I missed you so much.”

Danny just squeaked out a “me too” while he hugged Steve. He was too busy inhaling the travel worn scent of Steve. He couldn’t get enough of the man he loved. He rubbed his face into Steve’s chest, reveling in the physical presence he had wanted so much all these months and at long last had.

They moved so their foreheads were resting against each other. Breathing the same air, not aware of the bustle of the people around them.

Danny broke their peaceful bubble by moving his face away so he could look into Steve’s eyes. “Did you find the peace you needed, babe?”

Huffing and licking his lips, Steve shook his head. His left hand held Danny’s face as his gaze never wavered. “Not yet, but I’m working on it. I know I’ll get there with therapy and what I need most.”

Danny tilted his head questioningly at Steve.

“You.”

Then Steve kissed Danny. Eyes fluttering closed, Danny returned the kiss. Like this thing they were doing happened every day.

Feeling a surge of joy, Danny broke the kiss with a smile. Smiling himself, Steve opened his eyes.

“I think I need you to repeat yourself, I didn’t quite hear you,” Danny said with a smirk as he pulled Steve down again. This time, the kiss was firmer. Danny nipped Steve's bottom lip and he opened his mouth. Always the control freak, Steve cupped Danny's face so he could move him where he wanted. He hummed contentedly as he tasted Danny. A couple times, their teeth clacked, but their tongues soothed the minor mishaps. The frantic exploration continued until they needed air.

Eyes opening and panting a bit as their lips parted, they grinned at each other goofily.

“I think we gave the airport enough of a show, babe.” Danny joked.

Steve chuckled. He sobered a bit and said, “Danny, I love you.”

Danny smiled brightly as his heart thudded happily. “I love you, too, Steve. Let’s go home.”

“And where is that exactly?” Steve asked mischievously.

“Wherever you and I are together.” Danny replied quickly.

Appeased, Steve grabbed his bag and slung it on his left shoulder. He pulled Danny under his right arm as they walked to the car.

Danny with Steve. Strong on their own. Strongest together.

FIN.

#H50 #McDanno #Hawaii Five-O #hawaii five 0 #i made this #spoilers #Fic

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spicy-dumbass · 3 years

Text

Micheal Reeves!Izuku returns with a chaotic vengence

First + Back + Next

- Izuku just straight up adopts a raccoon

- Name is still up for debate so I'm taking suggestions

- I just had the image of just a pair of eyes peeking out of the darkness before a raccoon launches out or a raccoon either in his hair or hanging off his arm knawing on a piece of metal, so that exists now

- Izuku breaks into police stations just to pretend that he was caught for something only to talk to police or to be a minor inconvenience for the sake of removing his other actual crimes

- He also knows how to break out of handcuffs but prefers to knaw through the metal as it's far more entertaining to see people slowly lose their collective shit as it works

- Both Mei and Izuku both radiate chaotic energy but Izuku is tolerated by Power loader, the key reason for this being is that Izuku works mainly with non-explosive possibly flammable tech for the purpose of ai and tasers while mei works for the sake of insane ideas and explosions

- Note for Mei sourced from the lovely debesys, mei already has enough parents, she has like. 5. they are polyam, that is how many are needed to regulate the sheer chaos her being emits

- (This resulted in the following idea for Izuku's family dynamic)

- Inko is polyam and has three partners, Power Loader nor anyone else in cannon is a part of this relationship but are still Izuku's parents as I shall explain

- Aizawa questioning who Izuku's parents are:

Inko, sipping tea gently not mentioning the adopted parents or her relationship: wouldn't you like to know weather boy

- Inko, causally in the living room: Where are you going?

Izuku: I'm going to see my dad?

Inko: which one?

Izuku, frantically flipping through various family photos: Tech dad?

Inko: ah power loader got it

- someone: hey midoriya, how many parents do you have?

Izuku, getting another person to adopt him: not enough :)

- Izuku just has the energy of like that one dad with the wallet of family photos that just unfurl to the floor

- Aizawa, after finding Izuku doing tazer bullshit while he was out on patrol: Who are your parents

Izuku, sliding over adoption papers: better question is who isn't

- 'oops, i dropped my family on the floor' whole deck of cards amount of photos go everywhere

- Izuku showing the friends his room before passing by his family photos: :D

someone, realising of them are heros or out of costume vigilantes/villains: Wow you have a lot of fan photos!

Izuku, dying on the floor laughing: f a n

- he now has three points for why he goes to U.A.

- Mandated by law

- Parent Time tm

- Harass Aizawa until he becomes a parent

- Izuku "The only reason I don't have a quirk is because God fears me." Midoriya and Izuku "One day i'll have a million parents." Midoriya

- "Well you see to make up for the fact that I don't have a quirk I create inventions that can kill god." - Izuku Midoriya after creating his Roomba throne

- Stabby is his pet, stabby is also the only active Roomba that shifts around the throne

- Friend group time!! His group consists of Tokoyami, Shinsou, Kaminari, Kirishima, Ururaka, Pony, Aoyama, Monoma (kind of) and Bakugou distantly

- Tokoyami and Izuku have weird kid energy and vibe over that, Izuku enjoys working with senteint quirks for testing purposes

- Kaminari could present the craziest ideas which would result in the worst robot ideas and Izuku would be able to help Kaminari learn to regulate the output he has on electricity

- Kirishima is a happy test subject for shit like human catapults, well happy may not be the right word but he'll do it

- Kirishima, giving a concerned look as Izuku sets up one of his many devices: So uh why are we doing this?

Izuku, pulling down goggles: Quirk training

- Izuku tries his best to convince Iida to kick a non-gravitied Kirishima at full force---

- Uraraka,,,,, gramvity

- Aoyama is a personal soldering Iron

- 'quirk training :) do you want me to have to use a normal, non sparkly laser :(?'

- Izuku and Pony is just him showing her how to create chaos and he's proud to say he's the one who taught her how to swear in Japanese

- Monoma at first is a guinea pig then becomes part of the chaos

- Shinsou and Izuku bond over their shared discrimination by attacking the laws themselves

- Izuku's currently working on trying to make a megaphone for his quirk to work through

- Izuku frantically gesturing at tech he's built: but static buzz buzz

Shinsou: but quirk no work

Izuku: can I at least add a taser

- Izuku adopts Shouto eventually but that happens late

- Momo and Kendo fear Izuku and anything he creates for good reason

- Momo actively tries to hide what her quirk is from Izuku when she realises he's who all the rumours are about (Izuku already knows, he's just biding his time until she feels a false sense of security)

- Tsuyu is safe only for the fact that he can't find anything interesting that he can work with

- Recovery girl has a separate section of the medbay just for those affected by a Midoriya related incident

And so my Micheal Reeves!Izuku au returns for family, friend groups and fucking chaos. The decision to have Izuku just amass a family along with Poly!Inko was a choice between my poly friend and I we just wanted Inko to enjoy herself with a happy funky relationship

First + Back + Next

#izuku midoriya #midoriya izuku #Micheal Reeves!Izuku au #boku no hero #boku no hero academia #my hero acadamy #BNHA au #BNHA Headcanons #bnha crack #bnha crack au #mr!izuku headcannons #mr!izuku au #feral midoriya izuku #give midoriya izuku all the dads 2021 #midoriya will one day adopt the world #midoriya out here about to steal your parents #Poly Inko Midoriya

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lunar-wandering · 3 years

Text

Flower Fruit Family

@ninja-knox-ur-sox-off i know you’ll probably be asleep when i post this, but Happy Birthday!!! here’s your birthday fanfic!

Word Count: 1.6k

Read on Ao3

MK and Wukong had been training for about 2 hours, the monkey trying to teach the kid some more fighting moves. It was taking a while, but Wukong found the kid to be an incredibly fast learner. It was quite impressive actually, and for some reason made him feel rather proud.

He watched as MK landed a move near perfectly.

"That was great kid!" Wukong said, "You've improved a lot!"

"Really?" MK asked.

"Really really." Wukong replied, "You're great at this!"

MK smiled.

"Thanks, dad." He said, and Wukong's train of thought came shuddering to a halt.

"What did you just call me?" He asked. MK looked confused for a moment, before the reality of what he just said seemed to hit him, and a panicked look took over his face.

"Um, I mean, uh, well, bye!" He stuttered out, before turning and using the staff to vault off the mountain.

"Kid, wait!" Wukong yelled after him, but it was too late, MK was already gone.

And the Monkey King had a lot to think about.

---

The next day, after a lot of contemplating (in which he realized that, oh, he did kinda think of MK as a son-), and after making sure that MK had left to run a delivery and that the restaurant was empty, Wukong practically kicked down the door to Pigsy's Noodles.

"Pigsy!" He yelled as he walked in, immediately catching the attention of both Pigsy and Tang. "The kid called me dad! What do I do????"

Pigsy sighed, subtly pulling some money out of his pocket and placing it in Tang's awaiting hand, before saying;

"Welcome to the club."

"Wait, what do you mean 'welcome to the club'? Has the kid called you guys dad too?" Wukong asked, choosing to ignore the exchanging of money. He had no idea what bet Tang had just won, and quite honestly he didn't really want to find out. Not being a normal kind of person, he ignored the seats at the counter he could've sat in, instead leaping over it to stand beside Pigsy.

"Yep." Pigsy said, purposefully ignoring the monkey's decision to vault over the counter. "MK...didn't exactly have the best set of folks. Kinda saw me and Tang and just latched on to the first positive parental figure he could find."

"So...did you two.... adopt him?" Wukong asked, suddenly feeling a bit saddened by the idea that MK couldn't officially be his kid.

"Of course we did, we weren't going to let those two fools hold any legal sway over him any longer." Pigsy said. Wukong's tail drooped just a little bit.

"What about legal guardians though? Didn't he have any?"

"No actually, but Sandy became one of his legal guardians a while back-" Tang said, but was interrupted by the fairly over excited monkey.

"Can I be one of his legal guardians too?" He asked, leaping on any chance to be somewhat considered the kid's parent, tail swishing in excitement.

"Wukong, I'm pretty sure you have to be a legal citizen in order to do that." Pigsy said.

"I do have a lawyer y'know." Wukong said.

"Since when did you-, nevermind, doesn't matter." Pigsy said, seeming like he really wanted to ask the story behind how Wukong got a lawyer of all things, but knowing that he was probably better off not knowing. "I guess you could be added as another guardian, but it's really up to MK in the end. It's his decision to make."

"Okay, but how will we find out what his decision is?" Wukong asked. Pigsy went to answer-

The bell above the door rang. Pigsy wasted no time, quickly shoving Wukong down so that he was under the counter and couldn't be seen, just in time for MK to walk through the door.

"Pigsy, I'm back!" He said, "Any more orders to go out?"

"Just one, then you'll be done for the day, MK." Pigsy said, and MK nodded, grabbing the take out bag and turning to head back out to the delivery bike. But right before he was about to leave through the door, he paused, turning back and looking at Pigsy and Tang critically.

"Is...something wrong?" He asked. Unseen by MK, beneath the counter, Wukong's tail started swishing nervously. He quickly grabbed it to keep it still and prevent it from knocking things over.

"No, I don't think anything's wrong. Why?" Pigsy asked, busying his hands by chopping a tomato. Tang flipped a page of his book.

"I don't know.... Something just. Doesn't feel right." MK said, sounding uncertain. Crap. They needed something to distract him, quick.

"Everything seems normal to me." Tang said, "Tell you what MK, when you get back from your delivery, I'll tell you another story about the Monkey King that nobody else has ever heard."

Almost immediately all the worry melted off of MK's face.

"Really! Awesome!" He said, excited now. "Okay, I'll be right back then!"

He turned and left the noodle shop, Pigsy and Tang waiting until they saw the delivery bike leave to sigh in relief. Wukong popped out from under the counter, doing a flip to crouch on top of it instead of under, giving Tang a mild glare.

"Oh, so you're the reason the kid knows about the Incident." He said. Tang avoided his gaze.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I have done nothing but tell him about your 'Grand Adventures'. I cannot imagine what 'Incident' you're referring to." He said, casually adjusting his glasses. Wukong's fur bristled.

"Oh yeah? Then tell me why a few days ago, while I was trying to teach him a focus lesson, the kid casually happened to bring up that time I.....misplaced my staff?" He asked.

"You mean you lost your staff." Tang corrected, purposefully ignoring how Wukong's glare grew sharper. "And then spent 2 hours turning over practically everything in the general area looking for it, until it eventually dawned on you that you'd left it in the tree you'd slept in?"

Wukong's tail swished angrily, and a surprisingly kinda evil smile made it's way onto his face.

"Y'know, I never did get my revenge on you three for not telling me you knew where it was...." He threatened, and Pigsy, recognizing the look on his face for what it was, stepped in, not willing to have to suffer through the monkey's pranks right now.

"Okay, you two have gotten far off topic." He said, drawing their attention back to him. "Wukong, if you want to be one of MK's legal guardians, you really just have to ask him about it."

"But how do I do that?!" Wukong groaned, flopping down so that he was laying on the counter. "You two both know that I'm not exactly all that good at this kinda thing."

"We're not the best at it either." Tang said, "But, I suppose the best advice I can give you would be to approach the subject delicately?"

"I don't think that 'delicate' is a word in my vocabulary." Wukong said, "But.... I guess I can try."

"Okay, now that that's settled." Pigsy said, "Wukong, get your monkey butt off of my counter."

Wukong let out a light laugh as he obeyed, hopping down off the counter and walking out the door, waving goodbye to the two of them as he did. Once outside, he summoned his cloud and flew back to Flower Fruit Mountain.

....Approach the subject delicately huh?

Sure. He could do that.

---

And so, Wukong decided to bring it up in the middle of a spar.

"I'm totally okay with you seeing me as a parental figure y'know." He said. MK, who had been mid-swing, stumbled, missing Wukong entirely as he barely kept himself from tripping. Standing up straight, he stared at Wukong in nothing less than shock.

"You, I-, what?" He asked, "No. Hold on. Full stop. What?"

"You called me dad the other day." Wukong said, and MK gave an anxious laugh, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous gesture he'd picked up from Wukong.

"Yeah I, I was kinda hoping you forgot about that." He said, twirling the staff and shrinking it a bit so that he could stim with it easier.

"Ha! I'm not exactly the type of person who forgets things." Wukong said, causing MK to give him a deadpan stare.

"What about that time when-"

"Nope, no, we're not talking about that." Wukong interrupted, "Whatever embarrassing story of my past Tang told you about, we are not talking about it."

MK closed his mouth, but there was an amused look in his eyes, and oh, Wukong somehow just knew that this would come back to bite him later. But he had more important things to talk about.

"Listen," He said, "I had a chat with Tang and Pigsy-"

"So that's why they were acting so weird."

"-and they said that I could be one of you legal guardians, but I'd have to ask you first." Wukong said, ignoring MK's little interruption. "So. Are you-, are you okay with it?"

"Yes! Uh, I mean, of course I'm okay with it, having the legendary Monkey King as a guardian would be awesome!" MK said, before suddenly looking a little nervous. "But. Are you okay with it though? I mean, I'm, well, me, and-"

"Kid, I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't okay with it." Wukong said, mentally noting to himself that he really would have to give MK a self confidence lesson at some point. "Pigsy, Tang, and my lawyer have already got things ready to be arranged. All that we needed was your approval. So-"

"Yes!" MK practically yelled, excited, quickly pulling Wukong into a quick hug before pulling away to jump a bit to get rid of some of the excited energy flowing through him. "Oh this is so cool, the Monkey King is going to be one of my legal guardians, oh I've gotta tell Mei-"

Watching as the kid, no, his kid, rambled on and on, excitedly, Wukong could do nothing but laugh in happiness.

#Monkie Kid #fanfic #my writing

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thegreymoon · 3 years

Text

Word of Honor

I have been procrastinating like a pro on watching the last two episodes of Word of Honor because... uh, Pain and I’m a Coward. Anyway, it’s time for me to put on my big girl pants and suffer so that I can properly move onto other things without cheating like a cheating cheater who cheats *kicks Ever Night back under the bed* 😭

***

LMAO, is this old fucking troll seriously making digs at my girl’s beauty, on her wedding day, no less, when he himself looks like an old shoe?

If WKX does not end him, I will personally crawl through the screen to do it myself 😠😠

***

OH MY GOD. OH NO HE DIDN’T. WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK.

***

I mean, I knew Cao Weining and Gu Xiang die, but I thought it was in battle, or something. NOT LIKE THIS!!!

***

😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

***

LOOK AT THEIR HAPPY FACES!! JUST LOOK!!

HOW COULD HE!!

***

DEATH IS TOO GOOD FOR HIM, WKX NEEDS TO SKIN HIM ALIVE TOO! SLOWLY!!

***

I am upset.

***

WRECK THEIR SHIT, QUEEN!

***

I AM UPSET!!

I MEAN, I KNEW THEY WERE GOING TO DIE, BUT NOT LIKE THIS!!

***

Oh, no 🙁

***

OF COURSE SHE HAS FORGOTTEN YOUR USELESS TREACHEROUS ASS!! SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS YEARS AGO!!

MURDER HIM, QUEEN! MURDER HIM GOOD!!

***

OH FUCK NO!!

***

I mean, I know in theory I should care more about this 👇👇

BUT I AM DISTRAUGHT.

***

Well. That was the worst thing ever 😶

***

ALSO, GIVE THIS WOMAN ALL THE AWARDS!!

She is going on my list of actors I will watch entire shows for!

***

YES, KING. GO APESHIT!!

***

FML 😭😭

***

I hate it here 😭😭

***

YES.

GO WRECK THEM.

***

LMAO.

That’s what happens when you trust someone calling themselves ‘the Scorpion King’ 🙄🙄

***

THE WAY HE IS GOING TO END YOU, YOUR ENTIRE SECT AND EVERYTHING YOU EVER STOOD FOR.

***

His fight scenes are always a delight! Hands down, they are one of my favourite parts of this show!

***

His death was too good for him 😠😠

Too fast and not nearly painful enough.

With that said, I adore unhinged Wen Kexing, and, wow, he delivered!!

***

Oh, hi! Finally!!

But maybe a little late 😐

***

OH, FUCK, NO! NOT TRAGICOMIC GHOST TOO!! 😭😭

But who is the Ghoul again? 🤔🤔

***

How old is this child?

He did a really good job with this role! I’m very impressed by his performance!

***

I cannot believe Prince Qi put me to sleep with half an hour left until the grand closing. But honestly? What are they doing, introducing yet another plot thread into all this half an hour before the curtain falls? After everything that went down episode 35, I really cannot bring myself to care about Prince Jin and his ‘Perfect State”.

Anyway. Half an hour left, let’s do this!

***

Anyway, Nirvana in Fire also did this. Instead of winding down naturally after closing their main plot, they added this new, semi-related major thing, like, half an hour before the end of the show, and it just felt so jarring and unnatural. My brain still refuses to accept that ending and when I think about the finale, it is always the scene where Mei Changsu is paying respects to the dead in the temple. I have to force myself to add on the rest, like it’s some unnatural appendage instead of what should have been a logical conclusion to the storyline.

***

The key is really, really pretty!

Glad to finally see it assembled 💙

***

LMAO, fuck you!

My interest and sympathy for you has been running on fumes for quite a while now.

***

OK, this was pretty awesome!

I am glad this slimy pos did not get the dignity of an extended fight before he died. Like stomping a cockroach, it’s best done quickly and without giving it significance.

***

Well, this was splendid!

The hairpin was the key, LMAO! Of course there is only one man WKX would give the most precious thing he owns to! 😋

And, to nobody’s surprise, the Prince Jin storyline turned out to be a dead end.

***

LMAO, shut up!

After all the shady shit you pulled on him during the course of this relationship, you have no room to talk!

***

YE BAIYI!! LOVE OF MY LIFE!! 😍😍

***

Well, the good thing about being immortal and stuck on a mountain forever is that you will now have all the time you need to read all those lovely books! 😆😆

***

LMAO, who knew, the secret to a stable and prosperous state is the people having enough to eat 😆😆

***

LMAO, evil show, you can’t hurt me, I know how you truly end!! 🤣🤣

***

Aww, yes!! Nobody is dead or dying, just two soulmates living out their immortal lives in matrimonial bliss on top of a mountain!!

Perfect ending is perfect!! 🤗🤗

#word of honor #woh spoilers #woh ep35 #woh ep36

42 notes · View notes

kitkat1003 · 3 years

Text

Everything is Blue

Chapter 1: His pills, his hands, his jeans

MK just wants everyone in his life to be safe and happy, to never leave him. He'll do whatever it takes to make that happen.

And, luckily for him, the voice in his head has the perfect plan to make that happen.

(Or, the author contemplates how slow the possession was for DBK in episode 10 and considers how MK would fall)

Ao3 link

This is a 13k monolith of a first chapter, but I'm very proud of how it turned out! I threw it together in 4 days with the help of my beta reader @imnotcameraready on tumblr, famous for the Chivalry is Dead sanders sides au. Give it a read, it's on Ao3 and tumbr! It even has a sequel! Seriously, she’s a great writer and edited this thing in like 2-3 hrs after I threw it at her. A godsend.

Anyway, happy reading!

When MK knocks the canisters off of DBK’s back, he thinks that’s the end of it. He wasn’t exactly given the rundown on how the cannisters worked, nor does he know why whatever was in them caused DBK to go crazy, but at the very least he only had to fight the one guy instead of the entire family. It was weird to fight with Red Son and Princess Iron Fan (shouldn't she be Queen, at this point? She's married to Demon Bull King, after all. Do they not have the paperwork?) but not unwelcome. He wishes they could be on the same side all of the time.

Because he was raised on stories of Monkey King’s adventures, which frequently discuss the Demon Bull Family, and he’s always thought they were interesting in those stories. He thinks Princess Iron Fan is super cool, even though she’s scary and actively wants him dead. Red Son is...well, he wasn’t what MK expected, but that isn’t exactly a bad thing. If anything, MK thought he’d be older. He doesn’t understand how demon aging works.

Tangents aside, he watches them disappear in a gust of wind and groans, flopping forward as he bemoans the fact that they left again, when he’d just beat them. Well, he hadn’t actually fought all three of them, this time. DBK had fought more people than he had.

He jumps as the cave begins to crumble from all the damage that it took from the fight, scrambling to find a way out, when—

A New Vessel?

A voice curls into his ear, a soft whisper.

Young. Powerful. Weak. Freedom.

He looks down, and he sees a white light sink into his skin. Cold seeps into his every pore, bone, and nerve, his muscles tensing as the temperature drops. His teeth chatter, and when he lets out a startled breath he sees white air drift in front of his face. The warmth of his powers—his Monkey King powers—is smothered, and soon all MK feels is the cold that keeps him in place, rooting him to the spot. It’s a miracle he’s even standing.

What is this?

What’s happening?

His eyes dart to the cannisters. The empty canisters. There was something in there, earlier, right? Where did it go?

Is this? Wher e it w e n t?

Wha t i s . . . ?

It’s hard to think. His thoughts are newly cracked ice upon a lake, pieces crashing slowly against each other and fracturing further, splintering into nothingness.

New Vessel. Rest.

His eyes slide shut, out of his control, as his consciousness, like everything else, is smothered by the chill.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He wakes up on the shoulder of the Monkey Mech, as the last rays of sun are streaking across the steadily darkening sky, like a lighthouse beam against the dark sea. He sits up, staring far into the horizon, as confusion pulls him out of the just woken up daze. How did he get here?

“MK?” He jumps, startled, and turns to realize that Mei is right next to him, a concerned smile on her face. He stares at her, trying to figure out why she’s here, how she got here. Then again, he doesn’t even know how he got here. He feels dizzy just trying to remember.

“You alright, kid?” Pigsy’s voice comes from his other side, and he forces himself not to jump, turning to look at his boss. Tang and Sandy are there too, and Sandy waves while Tang smiles in greeting mid slurp, bowl of noodles in hand.

“What happened?” he’s missing time. He defeated DBK, and then...then nothing. There’s a feeling of coldness, at the thought, but the memories don’t come.

“I found you on the ground after the Bull Clones all sort of fell apart. I figured you passed out after trouncing DBK, so I picked you up and got you out of there.” Mei doesn’t seem concerned, but MK is, just a little. He’s never passed out after using his powers; rather, using them often results in him getting an energy boost. He thinks back on it, trying to remember any time this has happened before. Macaque comes to mind but even then he wasn’t tired once his powers returned.

His ruminating on the ordeal is cut off by a bowl of noodles being shoved unceremoniously into his hands. He blinks down at it, and then turns to Pigsy

“Here, kid. Eat. You look pale, and skinny as ever. Can’t have my employee lookin’ half starved.” He smiles at Pigsy’s attempt to hide his soft side, picking up his chopsticks with a grin.

He eats, and the loud conversations of what they’d just accomplished arrests MK’s attention so that the questions about DBK, the cannisters, the voice that he swears he can hear in the back of his mind, fall away like sand in an hourglass, time never able to be reclaimed.

The sun finally vanishes and stars dot the sky like sequins on a gown. MK curls in on himself, hunched over the bowl a little, missing the sun's rays and the finished soup’s warmth.

He shivers, but there’s no breeze.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The bonus of living in such a technologically advanced age is that city reconstruction is pretty fast. Hospitals are rebuilt first, people are brought in en masse. MK spends his time volunteering there, because noodle shops are low on the list of things to be rebuilt and he needs to be useful.

MK tries not to be too guilty about the wreckage, though most of it had occurred because he was late to stop DBK. He'd been kept at Flower Fruit Mountain for a few weeks because Monkey King was worried after the incident with Macaque. Wanted to be sure MK's training ethic wasn't too messed up, wanted to be certain Macaque hadn't left any lasting effects or impressions.

It was a punishment, MK knows, for being a two timing student and for making Monkey King have to deal with a demon enemy when he’s made it clear that he’s retired. Doesn't matter that they only ever trained in the morning and early afternoon, then spent the rest of the day hanging out. MK has watched Monkey King: The Animated Series fifty-three times now, most recently with Monkey King during the duration of his solitary confinement at Flower Fruit Mountain. They'd both piped up with commentary, MK about the production and animation, and Monkey King about the inaccuracies that MK filed away for his sketchbook.

But even so, it was a punishment for MK’s failings. Why else would Monkey King keep MK close, keep him away from his family and friends, keep MK away from the outside world?

It takes two and a half weeks after the battle with DBK for MK to go back to work delivering noodles. He'll sometimes buy extra and drop it off at a random hospital nearby, for the medical staff. They're overworked because of him, because he was away for so long.

He has to be better next time. He doesn't know when DBK will be back, doesn’t know how to sense him. Is he able to do that? Can he learn to sense when his enemies are nearby? That would solve a lot of problems, near rid him of worry. Maybe Monkey King knows?

That thought has him swinging by Flower Fruit Mountain on the weekend, with a promise to Pigsy to be home before midnight. MK is an adult only by age, after all; Pigsy still treats him like the 16 year old he found half dead outside his shop.

When he steps onto the mountain’s sand, though, he feels unwelcome.

The mystic energy that had beckoned him in the first time he’d arrived has shut its doors, like a silent way of saying

Leave.

Not a single monkey comes to greet him, but he can see their eyes, hidden in the trees. They regard him with suspicion. He frowns at them in confusion.

He hears a hiss in the back of his head and winces at the ensuing headache, stepping forward in hopes of pushing past the pain. Every step he takes makes the pounding in his head louder and more painful, and MK closes his eyes and focuses, reaching for the well of power he knows he has, the power that makes the staff feel lighter than air.

It’s like sticking his hand through a well of ice, and his wrist is paralyzed by the time his fingers brush that warmth, the light curling around his palm. Gold sparkles in his vision, and the unwelcome air starts to recede, as if the island recognizes him again. He heads in deeper, and lets out a breath as the headache ceases.

He doesn’t have to head in too deep, because Monkey King comes through the waterfall in a rare moment of MK’s mentor leaving the inner sanctum of the mountain. The waterfall itself moves like a curtain out of Monkey King’s way and the sight has MK focusing on that rather than the expression on Monkey King’s face, until he looks up.

Monkey King’s eyes are sharp, darting around, an expression MK only recognizes from the suspicion and distrust Monkey King gave Macaque. MK fidgets beneath that gaze, though it isn’t directed at him, uncomfortable. He hasn’t done anything wrong, has he? He wracks his brain for any new missteps, but finds very little. Still, his anxiety skyrockets by the second.

The look vanishes, though not completely, when Monkey King’s eyes catch on the sight of MK.

“Hey bud! Impromptu visit?” Monkey King greets.

MK tries not to shy away from the air of suspicion that colors Monkey King’s tone. Is MK really that untrustworthy? He did mess up badly by trusting Macaque, and Monkey King is right to distrust him. He bites his lip and tries to ignore the swell of guilt that sets like a stone in his stomach at the memory.

“Yeah, just-uh-just wanted to train, y’know? Don’t know when DBK is coming back.” He shrugs, and Monkey King nods, only half listening.

He still looks on edge. “Cool. You uh...you bring anyone with you?”

Now that’s concerning. MK scrambles to find a supposed intruder, hands gripping his staff tight in preparation for battle. “No? Unless-Oh no, is there someone here? Is it a demon guy?” What if he led a bad guy here? What if he messed up again?

He jumps as a monkey lands on his head, picking through MK’s hair in typical grooming fashion, and then Monkey King laughs, loud and almost relieved. MK turns back around to face him.

“Nah, must be my nerves. Maybe DBK left something on you, messed with my senses.” Monkey King waves a hand, nonchalant, and MK perks up in ease at the reminder.

“Oh! That’s actually why I’m here!” He takes careful steps forward, trying not to jostle the monkey on his head. “I was thinking-I didn’t know DBK was in the city and destroying stuff, and a lot of people got hurt. But! If I could sense him, like you can, I could stop him quicker! Right?” He’s bouncing on his toes, nervous and excited all at once, and Monkey King smiles down at him fondly.

“Sure, why not? If you’re up for some meditation, that is,” Monkey King turns, waving at MK to follow.

The monkey on MK’s head hops away, and MK sprints after his mentor with a wide grin. “Totally! I’m, like, the best at meditation. I’m like a meditation wizard!”

Monkey King laughs all the way to the training grounds.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Training actually is easier than he expects. MK blusters a lot, but he isn’t dumb or unaware of his limits. Sitting still isn’t his strong suit, so sitting still while not being able to talk, tap, fidget, or do anything else other than think is basically torture.

But, when he gets into the meditative position with Monkey King, something clicks. A cool blanket settles on his shoulders, eases out the desire to move. It’s so easy to be still, and quiet.

Frozen.

“You weren’t kidding,” Monkey King tells him, and MK grins a little, face warmed by the praise. “Now, when you’re like this, you have to let every other sound and feeling fade out. Nothing else matters but the energies around you. Mine’s pretty easy to see cause, yknow,”

MK can practically see Monkey King scratching his chin and grinning with barely hidden pride. “I’m a pretty powerful guy. DBK would be similar, he’s got a pretty loud aura too. Now, just try it, kay?”

MK nods, and takes a deep breath. The sounds around him-bugs, monkeys jumping around and talking to one another, the wind, the ever present sound of something in his head—those all start to fade away.

Wait, what was that last one?

He lets them all go, and then forgets the feeling of the cold, the grass, the fabric touching his skin. Nothing exists except his own mind, and then.

He gets to see the bright light that is Monkey King. Golden and red and royal in its feel, it’s near blinding. He has to blink a few times to get used to its light.

“Woah,” he murmurs, and Monkey King opens one eye, before blinking both in surprise.

“Woah, already? You sure you haven’t done this before?” Monkey King crosses his arms over his chest, almost offended, and MK is reminded of how betrayed Monkey King looked when MK had shown off the skills he’d learned from Macaque.

“Nope! Maybe defeating DBK gave me a confidence boost?” He shrugs, and then stands, looking around. Monkey King’s expression sits in the back of his mind, and MK bites his lip. “Did I, uh, did I do something wrong? I didn’t…,” he trials off, worried.

“Maybe,” Monkey King mumbles in response to his first reply, mostly to himself. “Oh-no, no, you’re fine, bud. I think I’m just a little paranoid,” he laughs it off. MK is too busy glancing back towards town to process Monkey King’s pensive expression.

“I can see Mei! She’s...very green. Did she always have a dragon?” It’s curled around her, like a protective barrier, snarling and poised to strike.

Monkey King chuckles. “You’ve got yourself some powerful friends, kid. Not surprising. Like knows like, even when they don’t know what like is.” He puts a hand on MK’s shoulder, and then starts. “You’re freezing. It’s not that cold, is it?”

MK blinks a few times, and everything comes back, the colors and sounds and feelings of the world returning to normal. Monkey King keeps looking at him, as if MK is a puzzle he’s yet to solve.

“I don’t know, maybe? I’ve been feeling a bit chilly, lately. Maybe I’m coming down with something?” He’s been a bit stressed out, between Macaque and DBK and the reconstruction, and he’s heard stress can cause illnesses.

Monkey King sighs, after a moment, and scratches his head.

“I think I’m becoming an adult,” he says, like it’s a crime, and he shrugs again. “You’re probably fine. Just, take it easy the next few days, alright? Practice meditating at home, or when you’re on the job. When you’re as good as me, you can turn it on whenever you need to,” Monkey King puffs up with pride, and his tail swings back and forth leisurely. MK watches his tail more than he listens to what Monkey King is saying.

“Okay. Anything else for today?” It’s only been an hour or two, they have plenty of time.

Monkey King deliberates. Then, he grins, stepping back to position for MK’s inevitable first attack. “Tell you what. We’ll spar for a bit, and then you can bring up that new show you kept ranting about a few weeks ago. Kay?”

MK’s eyes sparkle.

“Heck yeah!”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

MK’s muscles aren’t sore when he gets home. He actually lasted a couple minutes sparring this time around, and Monkey King had rewarded him with peach chips and an arm around MK’s shoulder as he eagerly pulled up the show he had dove into during his free time on the TV.

Pigsy sent him upstairs with a bowl of noodles and a stern reminder to sleep early so he wouldn’t be late for work. He finishes the noodles in record time and, once he has showered and put on his warmest pajamas, pulls out all of the blankets he can find. He just wants to be warm, just a little, even though it doesn’t make sense that he’s feeling this cold. He’s not tired, he doesn’t feel achy, his sinuses are clogged—none of the other symptoms of being sick are popping up, so why is he so cold?!

He’s practically buried in blankets by the time he feels comfortable enough to rest. For the first time in a long while, he doesn’t dream.

Things go back to normal, somewhat. There’s a niggling something in the back of his head, and there’s guilt and the ever present chill that has MK wearing long sleeved shirts, but otherwise MK falls back into his typical routine, which is nice. He missed his friends, between Macaque and DBK and training. It’s good to see them again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The first time he starts hearing the voice in his head, he’s getting yelled at by Pigsy.

It doesn’t happen as often, anymore. MK is scatterbrained, but he genuinely tries to do his best at work. Sometimes, he gets mixed up, because he’s only one kid and he’s never been good at focusing, no matter how hard he tries. It’s hard for his stressed out and ADHD ridden brain to remember whose order is whose, especially when it’s the dinner rush and he’s running behind.

Today was a particularly bad day. He’d accidentally given a customer an order with peanut oil in it, when they had an order specifically without peanuts due to their severe allergy. Pigsy had gotten a very angry phone call, and he passed that rage at MK, rightfully so.

MK can only apologize so much, so eventually he quiets and lets Pigsy let off steam. Luckily the customer hadn’t tried to sue, but MK knows the review Pigsy likely got was scathing. He deserves a bit of a tongue lashing for that, he thinks.

It was an honest mistake. Cruel, to yell at one so young. Why is he so mean?

The voice in the back of his head, new and different, nearly makes MK jump. Pigsy notices the change in MK’s expression and mistakes it for fear, and that gets him to quiet down. He dismisses MK with a sigh and a wave of his hand, and MK heads upstairs, feeling guilty and confused.

That voice….it didn’t sound like him, did it? When he tries to recall the sound, it mirrors his internal voice, but in the moment it seemed different.

It’s probably nothing. After all, if something was wrong with him, wouldn’t someone else have noticed by now? Wouldn’t he have noticed by now?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The voice keeps popping up at random intervals, random moments. When Mei gets annoyed at his ramblings. When Tang pushes him away when he’s begging for a story, because Tang is busy eating. When Pigsy yells at him for being late for work, for messing up. When Sandy awkwardly pushes him to leave because MK can’t take a hint, some days. When Monkey King looks at him with something akin to disappointment, exasperation.

They’re tired of you. They want you gone. They’re plotting against you. They’re going to betray you!

And, see, that would bother MK if he didn’t already know that. He knows people don’t like him, find him annoying. He knows he pushes too much, messes up a lot, misses social cues. He knows that he’s not a good enough successor. And that just makes him want to do better.

As for the whole betrayal thing, plotting against him, it makes sense. He isn’t offended or anything if they are, in fact he’d be more surprised if they weren’t, you know? He’s the Monkey King’s successor. He has all of the powers, has all of the strength and invincibility, with a caveat or two, but he’s also still just a teenager. If they aren’t worried that he could go rogue, mess up and decide to be selfish, then that’s stupidity on their part. Trusting him with anything is never a good idea, so knowing that, should he mess up, his family will be able to enact swift justice is a comfort rather than a worry.

And yeah, it’s a bit embarrassing, knowing just how annoying and useless he can be. He flinches more often at their glares, gets quieter. He doesn’t want to make them mad at him, he doesn’t want to lose them because he isn’t good enough. He just needs to focus, be better, help out more often. If he does that, hopefully they won’t leave.

The voice, after a few months or so, had backed off for a week. He’d felt a weight lift from his shoulders, and smiling was easier. Pigsy had seemingly relaxed at his good mood, and Mei seemed cheerier when they’d gone out to the arcades. He hadn’t realized he’d been worrying them.

Are you so sure they’ll stay?

A single phrase that pulls the rug out beneath MK’s feet. He knows he isn’t good enough, but everyone knows that he at least tries, right? That should endear them to him enough for him to prove he’s worth their time, right? He can be good enough, he can do better, he just needs time!

Not fast enough. They’ll get tired of you, and then they’ll leave.

The cold feeling in his chest feels so much heavier, as he panics in his room. He’s supposed to be asleep, but the blankets don’t do much anymore. He’s losing feeling in his fingers. He keeps fumbling with things, even the staff, and everyone is getting annoyed at him. And he’s so tired, all the time, and yet it’s so hard to sleep. He doesn’t understand what’s happening to him, but he knows that whatever it is, it’s going to ruin the equilibrium he has between being a failure and being good enough to keep around.

What happens when he loses it all?

You can be better.

Can he?

Wouldn’t everyone love you if they were safe?

Well, he can imagine not having to worry about DBK would make them far less stressed out. If he can do that, then maybe they won’t get so easily annoyed at him. He knows stress can make people snappy, and there’s a lot to be stressed about, like the economy and death by demons.

You can make them safe.

How?

Listen to me.

And MK knows it’s weird to make a pact with your own mind, but he thinks he’s pretty good at following directions, so he nods, and doesn’t sleep at all.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The plan isn’t an easy one, and MK doesn’t know if he really wants to follow it. The words turn over and over in his head. He doesn’t know if they’re right or not.

Maybe it would be better, if he wasn’t so nice. He beats the bad guys, sure, but he isn’t that violent with them. They try to kill him, but it’s never personal. He’s the successor to Monkey King, it just makes sense that they’d go after him. He’s not upset, really!

Even though the calabash has him looking over his shoulder. They have earthquakes a lot, they live near a ring of active volcanoes, and each one puts him on edge, expecting a lie to turn his whole world apart. And the spider lady tried to eat his friends, tried to kill him. And Macaque nearly hurt Monkey King because MK let him get close. And DBK and Princess Iron Fan won’t stop, not until they get revenge or something.

Red Son is...he’s MK’s age. And MK has noticed just how much DBK and Princess Iron Fan belittle Red Son, and he’s their son. It’s too familiar for MK’s liking, and it makes the desire to bring Red Son to justice lessen. Maybe, if he got Red Son’s parents out of the way…

You could have anything you wanted.

All MK wants is for his friends and family to be happy.

This is how you’ll do it.

MK doesn’t give in. Not yet.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

MK considers it when he goes over to see Sandy, one afternoon. They’re just doing some leisurely painting practice, nothing like painting the whole boat. After the whole clones thing, Sandy had learned that he should probably figure out which color he wants to stick with in the long run before asking for help in such a task. So, he asks MK to come over and brainstorm. You know, sketch out some ideas, test paint samples on different areas of the boat, see how it looks in light and dark.

MK also helps with the many litter boxes around the ship, as well as top up the water and food bowls all around. He gets appreciative nuzzles from the myriad cats around the barge, so it isn’t so bad. Then, he and Sandy will have tea, and Sandy will listen to MK ramble on about anything and everything until either Monkey King or Pigsy or Mei calls him to go do something (he gave Monkey King his number. Occasionally he will get an incomprehensible text. He’s pretty sure Monkey King has a Nokia phone).

Today, when they’re having tea, MK considers.

“Hey, Sandy?” He starts, more hesitant than when he’s ever asked the man a question before.

Sandy notices, and MK sees him soften his pose even more, looking warm and welcoming. “Yeah, MK?”

“Do you think I’m too soft on villains?”

Because he beats them, but he always lets them leave, lets them escape. They get to heal, recoup, and come back stronger every time, and people get hurt. MK doesn’t want to be the type to attack first, to never ask questions, but at this point there aren’t too many questions to ask.

“You’ve got a good heart, MK. You don’t have it in ya to go at ‘em too hard,” MK clenches his fist, his other hand gentle against the teacup lest he break it. He did that a few times when he first got his powers, unused to the extra strength.

“That kinda doesn’t answer my question,” MK tries not to say it through gritted teeth. He can feel his tea getting frigid, and bites back the burst of white air that would make Sandy ask questions.

He wouldn’t know how to answer questions about that, which is why he can’t deal with them. That’s the reason.

He’s saying you’re weak.

MK hides a grimace, and lets his heart ache silently. He sips the tea. It’s ice cold.

“What brought this on?” Sandy asks, instead of answering the question, which grates on MK’s nerves more than it should.

“I let DBK get too powerful,” he says. “He destroyed the city again, and people got hurt. If I’d just got rid of him before, those people would be okay.”

Sandy sighs, taking a sip of his tea. A cat hops into MK’s lap, curling up, but after a few frigid moments hops away. Apparently MK is too cold for its liking. He tries not to get offended by that, but the hot well of shame and longing persists. At least the feeling is warm.

“MK, you’re still learning. Mistakes are bound to happen. Those who got hurt will get better, and the city is rebuilt better than ever! You don’t have to carry everything on your shoulders. And,” Sandy looks away, and suddenly he looks a lot older than MK thinks he is. “Honestly, being too harsh to make an enemy stop can feel good in the moment, but it does more harm than good, especially to the person who does the fighting.”

And MK leaves it at that, but thinks he doesn’t mind if it harms him, if it keeps everyone else safe.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“Another story!” MK begs, spinning on the barstool. Pigsy always tells him not to, something about wearing down the seat joint, but at the same time Pigsy never really stops MK when he does it either, because MK only does it when he’s very excited and hyper.

Tang finishes his bowl of noodles with a chuckle, pushing up his glasses on the bridge of his nose in a practiced motion that MK is oh so familiar with. MK taps the front of his sketchbook with his pencil impatiently.

“Alright, alright. Tell you what, I’ll tell you the story of the Baigujing, or White Bone Spirit,” Tang’s voice falls into storyteller mode, and MK is immediately entranced. Pigsy, from the kitchen, slams down a pan and groans.

“Not that one, Tang. I hate that one, you know that,” MK turns to his boss and is surprised to see an embarrassed flush on his cheeks. What in this story would Pigsy have to be embarrassed about?

“Hey, MK wants to know all the Monkey King stories. I’m not going to rob him of knowledge,” Tang argues back. He leans close to MK and whispers “Pigsy couldn’t sleep for a week after I told him this one.”

“That is not true!” Pigsy barks, indignant, and MK laughs.

Tang chuckles to himself, and Pigsy turns back to his work with a grumble. Right now is a lull in business, right after the lunch rush and before early dinners get called in, so MK is taking his break and Pigsy isn’t too upset by it. It’s just enough time for a story.

“Okay. The Baigujing was a shapeshifting demon, who saw Monkey King and his group of traveling companions as they passed by. Her eyes caught on the human monk, Tang Sanzang,” MK perks up.

“Hey, that’s like your name!” he points out, and both Tang and Pigsy look startled. Tang coughs, awkward.

“Yes-well-uh, it’s a family name,” he amends quickly. MK tilts his head to the side. “Anyway, she decided she wanted to taste the monk’s flesh. So, she disguised herself as a little girl, coming up to the group and offering them poisoned fruits. Because she was so powerful, only Monkey King could sense her treachery, and he hit her with his staff, seemingly killing her.”

MK gasps, doesn’t understand the fury that builds behind his eyes.

Tang glances at him, for a moment, and then jumps.

“MK? You okay?” He asks, and MK blinks.

“What-yeah! What happened next?” Tang looks him over, gaze catching on MK’s eyes, before he sighs and continues.

“The Monkey King’s companions were shocked and appalled. They thought he had killed an innocent girl! He tried to explain, but they didn’t believe him. The Monk buried the girl, who turned back into the spirit. She tried again, once as the supposed mother of the little girl, and then the grandfather. Monkey King managed to show her as a skeleton spirit during their last encounter, clearing his name, but then his companion, Bajie, told Sanzang that Monkey King made it up. Thus, Monkey King was abandoned, at least until the Monk was captured by a demon Wujing and Baijie couldn’t defeat, and Bajie had to apologize to bring him back,” Tang finishes, and MK’s face settles into a pout.

“Bajie’s a jerk!” He crosses his arms.

“He apologized,” Pigsy mumbles, from his place in the kitchen, where he slices scallions violently. “More than once. Not that it matters.”

“Monkey King didn’t exactly endear himself to his peers,” Tang amends. “Perhaps if he had been less full of himself at the time, they all could have gotten along better. But, all four grew to be better people by the end of their journey.”

MK finishes a sketch of the scenes Tang had described with a flourish, and he tilts his head to one side. “Kind of rude to just attack the lady, though, couldn’t he have tried to talk it out?” He doesn’t know why he feels the need to defend the demon, but she doesn’t seem too bad.

Tang makes a face.

“She wanted to eat a person, MK,” he says, and MK makes a face that mirror’s Tang’s expression.

“Right. Eugh, gross. Anyway, thanks Mr. Tang!” he hops off the barstool and puts back on his collared shirt, making sure his headband doesn’t slip down. “Any orders, Pigsy?”

Pigsy jerks his thumb to the few on the counter. MK picks them up, and continues on to work, the story sitting in the back of his mind. He stumbles a bit while walking. He doesn’t feel the key in his hand, his fingers numbed over time. He should be concerned, but everything else seems fine.

He kind of wishes he could have met the Baigujing. She doesn’t seem too bad, besides the people eating. Maybe they could have worked it out.

Who does Sun Wukong think he is, deciding to serve justice anyway he sees fit?

MK frowns and buttons up his shirt. His chest feels like ice.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He’s so, so tired.

MK looks at himself in the mirror when he wakes up and his skin looks paler, his lips a little blue. He has bags under his eyes that vanish by the time he leaves the bathroom, a bottle of concealer and a tube of lipstick on the bathroom sink that he doesn’t remember buying.

His memory’s been growing spottier, too, missing minutes, hours. Mei talks to him about a high score he beat at the arcade and he nods along, no clue what she’s talking about but not wanting to worry her. He hasn’t gone to see Sandy in what feels like years, but gets a text from him thanking MK for taking care of the cats one afternoon. There are sketches in his sketchbook he doesn’t remember drawing, from stories Tang told him that he can’t remember hearing.

He’s lost feeling in his hands and feet. He’s dropped enough bowls of soup for Pigsy to go from mad to worried, and he shoves MK off to Flower Fruit Mountain because it’s warmer there, and MK always looks cold.

He stumbles when he hits sand, nearly bowls over with how much the island rejects him, how much it wants him not to be there. This is supposed to be a safe place, but the sand feels like needles and the wind slices at his face. Monkey King comes rushing out like a bat out of hell, teeth bared, but he sees MK, kneeling on the beach, and runs over.

“You okay, bud? You look…,” he doesn’t say awful, but MK knows he’s thinking it. MK looks awful, feels awful, is awful. And the solution to that is right there, waiting for him, but he doesn’t want to take it because he’s a coward. The voice in his head gave him an ironclad idea, a perfect plan, and he’s been ignoring it because he’s scared.

Weak little vessel.

The hiss in his ear makes him wince, and he trembles as Monkey King helps him up.

“Tired,” he manages, leaning against Monkey King because he hardly has the strength to stand.

“I can see that.” The try at levity has MK chuckling, but Monkey King is soft and warm and all MK wants to do is suck that warmth into himself, so he can stop being cold for one second. “Why don’t we head to my place and watch something. There’s always my show, right?”

MK nods, blinking slowly, and Monkey King takes a step forward. Suddenly, they’re at Monkey King’s house. When did they get there? Why are they here again?

He’s set on the couch.

“There’s something off about your aura, kid. Touch anything mystic or weird back at home?” Monkey King runs his fingers through MK’s hair, and MK leans into the touch. Warm. Safe.

He shakes his head, a full minute after the question is asked. Monkey King hums in thought.

“How do you even see auras?” MK mumbles, words slurring a bit as he talks. “Teach me?”

Monkey King’s hand stills, and MK whines a little, prompting his mentor to continue the motions.

“I already have, bud,” Monkey King whispers, more to himself than to MK. MK blinks in confusion. He doesn’t remember that.

Rest, Vessel.

The voice whispers so sweetly in his ear. It’s nice, sometimes. Mean other times. MK wonders if that’s his fault. Is he so bad that even his own head is mad at him? How can he be better? He’s trying so hard.

The TV is turned on. MK doesn’t register the sound, but the light makes him turn his head away. Monkey King turns down the brightness with his remote. Another monkey rests on top of MK for a moment, before jumping off. It shivers at the temperature of MK’s jacket, his skin, and moves over to Monkey King’s shoulder.

MK rests his head on Monkey King’s lap, and closes his eyes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He wakes up in a dream. He stands on ice. Each step he takes is careful, lest he slip, and even still he stumbles and fumbles. He can see something in the distance.

“Hello?” he calls out, but the person doesn’t answer. The closer he gets, the more he can make them out. “Mei?”

It is her, but then her head drops, straight off of her neck.

“NO!” MK screams, running to her, and he stumbles and falls. His knees hit ice and they burn with the chill that sinks through his pants. He slides to her body, cradling it and her head as if he could put her back together with hope.

He turns, looking for a reason for this, and when he looks up, all of the adults in his life are standing around him, their faces covered in shadow. Tang, Pigsy, Sandy, Monkey King—they’re all looking down on him.

“Look what you let happen,” Pigsy growls out.

“She’s dead,” Tang continues.

“You didn’t save her,” Sandy drones on.

“You let her die,” Monkey King spits.

“No…” MK breathes, and the tears build in his eyes and down his cheeks, freezing on his face. It burns.

You have a choice, vessel.

The figures of his friends vanish into mist, and MK curls his arms around himself. He misses the contact. He hates to be alone.

A woman wreathed in white kneels down in front of him. It hurts to look at her, and MK averts his gaze until she tilts up his chin so he can look nowhere else. Her face is ice cold, yet inviting. He can’t look away from her eyes.

Don’t you want them to stay? Don’t you want them to be safe?

MK nods, quickly. Of course that’s what he wants. More than anything, he wants that love, that adoration. He wants his family to be safe, to never leave.

You know what to do.

It feels like ice is creeping up his skin, encasing him in frigidity. She holds out his hand, and he can do nothing else but take it. The cold reaches its peak, and suddenly it’s warm. It burns, and yet the warmth is inviting, a relief after months of being so, so cold and confused and tired. He is past the point of cold, of freezing, of sub zero. He is warm. He is ready.

He is hers.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He wakes up well rested, and the cold that had settled into him still feels like the burn that is a welcome respite from before. Monkey King is still asleep, and MK leaves him there, leaving the house and walking slowly out of the inner mountain.

He leaves footprints of ice where he steps. The monkeys watch, from the trees, trembling as their eyes gaze upon something inhuman, sitting in MK’s skin. MK has never felt better. He knows what to do now. He knows how to make things right.

The staff in his hands feels heavier, for a moment, but MK grips it tight and bends it to his will. He pogos out of the island with ease, letting the wind whip his hair back.

He hasn’t blinked in a while. He forgot he had to. He blinks because the wind makes his eyes sting, and touches the ground with a gentleness he didn’t know he could master.

He lets his eyes glow gold, searching. He remembers, now, how to look at auras. He remembers a lot of things now. It’s like the pressing weight of being weak for the sake of niceties has vanished, and now he is sharp and ready.

The only question is which of his enemies does he go after first? He needs to get all of them, keep them secure. It’s the only way the town, the city, will be safe.

The small fry first. We’ll work our way up to the demon king.

Right, that makes sense. MK grins to himself. It’s so nice to have someone constantly helping, constantly making sure he’s doing the right thing. He’s useless on his own, but give him a direction and he’ll follow it to the letter.

He can see gold and silver, in the distance. He forgets their names, at first, but their auras jog his memory. Yin and Jin.

They put him in the calabash. They weren’t good at it, but they were good enough. They’re demons. Dangerous. He needs to make sure they don’t hurt anyone else.

He heads to their home, not in a hurry. There’s no rush to the inevitable. Is this what self confidence is? The feeling of knowing you can do it, that you will do it, that no one can stop you? It feels very gratifying. He lets the glow in his eyes vanish, because he doesn’t want to startle everyone around him.

His phone buzzes. A text from Pigsy, demanding to know where he is. He responds with ‘Dealing with Monkie Kid stuff. Be back soon!’ and a string of emojis that Pigsy will find incomprehensible, before continuing on his trek.

He reaches the door, and hears a conversation.

“So, our plan has three steps. That’s an improvement,” Yin seems to be pacing, from what MK can hear.

“Step one, capture the monkie kid,” Jin pipes up, and MK fights back a laugh. “Step two, take the staff from him.”

As if they could. MK almost has to admire their tenacity.

“Step three, take over the world!” Yin finishes, and MK takes that as his cue to step in.

He knocks in the door. Polite. He still has manners, after all.

“Huh? Jin, did you order out for dinner again?” Yin barks out.

“We don’t have the money for that!” Is the response.

“Hasn’t stopped you before,” Yin grumbles, moving to the door.

Here they come!

MK counts the steps Yin takes to the door, itching with anticipation.

“Hello?” Yin opens the door, and then jumps in surprise.

“Hi!” MK waves, and taps his staff on the ground.

There’s a thunk; not a thud of a body, but a thunk of a block of ice. MK pats the statue with a fond look. He’ll chip away the extra pieces later. This is his first attempt, it’s normal for it to be less precise. He can get better at it with practice. Jin turns, from his place at the desk, and his eyes widen when he sees his brother, frozen on the floor.

“Yin—what did you do?” Red eyes glow dangerously, and MK wonders if they would be more ferocious if he threatened one over the other. Jin gets up, teeth bared.

“This,” MK replies, tapping his staff on the ground.

Jin takes a step forward and freezes in place. Or, is frozen, MK supposes. He looks at the brothers, safely imprisoned, and wonders. Where is he going to put them? There’s not enough room here for all of his enemies to be placed. What’s a good place to set everything up?

The cave? The old villain hideout?

That’s perfect! After all, it would be the funniest form of irony, right? Turning a villain hideout to his base for his world saving plan. Gosh, he’s so smart. Because this is him, all him. He finally is smart enough to know what to do. He has to clear out the cave, first. It’s not far away, hidden beneath the sewers. There’s a path to it from the area where the staff used to lie.

He sets Yin and Jin next to each other, considering their poses. He thinks they look a little off, but he can fix that, right? He can fix anything, given enough time. That’s what all this is, fixing the problem of demons who’ve escaped because of DBK’s release. He nods to himself, and heads off. He has rocks to clear out, he has a cave to excavate.

But, he promised Pigsy that he’d be back soon. That stops him short. He can’t skip work!

This will make him far happier in the long run.

Still, what’s a few hours of work to make Pigsy happy now? He shakes off the one track mind and puts his staff away. The ice won’t melt fast (or at all) and he’s got time. The flash of cold he gets in response to that thought doesn’t inspire comfort, and he second guesses himself a few times, but he heads to the shop anyway.

“Hey Pigsy!” he waves, and Pigsy glances at him and jerks a thumb over to the pile of orders on the counter. “On it!”

MK swoops them up and sets them all on the delivery cart. Pigsy glances at him again, and then freezes.

“MK?” he asks.

MK turns, blinking a few times. “Yeah?” he responds, and Pigsy peers at him, almost suspicious.

MK tilts his head to the side in confusion. A part of him is glad that he has concealer on, because they don’t have the time to chat about MK’s new skin tone, not with all these orders. He watches Pigsy shiver, muttering something about the A/C acting up, before Pigsy shakes himself off and sets his hands on his hips.

“I thought-your eyes-nevermind. Get those orders out!” Pigsy barks, and MK stands at attention, giving Pigsy a salute.

“On it!” He promises, sliding out of the shop and hopping onto the delivery cart.

It only takes an hour, which is much faster than he usually is, but focus comes easy when he’s driven. The faster he gets this done they faster he gets to get back to his real work. The work that will make things better for everyone.

Right. Of course.

His shift ends when the store closes, and he’s gone before Pigsy can say anything about his work ethic or ask where MK has been or is going. He rushes to the construction site, dives below, rushing past the decaying plants where there once were flowers and a growing tree. Without Monkey King’s staff, there’s nothing making sure the plants live. MK frowns at the sight but stays focused on the task at hand.

Aim. The staff can be as large as a mountain if it needs to be. Crush what’s in your way.

He nods to himself, breaking through the rubble that has blocked off the tunnel. The ground shakes, the whole underground rumbles with power, and he hopes he’s not keeping anyone up. Then again, it’s not too bad if it’s just for a night, considering how many nights later he’s going to keep quiet. Everyone will be able to rest easy once he’s done.

He huffs a breath, and it comes out white. He should be concerned, but honestly it looks cool. He remembers to blink, because his eyes are starting to burn. He doesn’t know why he keeps forgetting.

He makes his way to the cavern, and uses ice to keep the ceiling up. Pillars rise, frost fills the spaces between rocks that would have cracked and splintered eventually. The floor remains untouched, save for when he fills in the cracks that could trip someone up.

He doesn’t remember when he got these ice powers. They seem new? Why hasn’t he used them before? How come Monkey King never told him about them?

Monkey King’s always had ice powers.

Has he? MK isn’t so sure about that.

You’re his successor, not a carbon copy. It makes sense you would have different powers than him.

Right. MK nods to himself. Now, time to get Yin and Jin! Carrying them is going to be a challenge.

It takes him an hour to get them both there, and another half hour to figure out where to put them. He has to consider DBK’s size. Wait, does he have to go and get the spider demon lady? He shivers at the thought, a deep well of terror sinking in his gut. Even as self assured as he is now, spiders still terrify him.

I can take care of that.

Really?

Yes. But first, rest.

Right. He needs to head back to his house. Pigsy will be worried if he doesn’t come home soon. He heads out of the construction site, skipping all the way home.

He barely sleeps.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The week is certainly a busy one. MK spends any time not with his friends searching, and he spends far less time with his friends, nowadays. The spider demon isn’t easy to find. He does manage to get some small fry lesser demons he hadn’t met before and now never will. He doesn’t need to meet people who will inevitably try to kill him and those around him. Far better to prevent the attack than deal with the aftermath thereof.

His collection of ice sculptures is growing. MK likes to spend time chipping away at the blocks to them more polished. It’s like sketching, in a way, or cleaning up a sketch. It also gives him an opportunity to practice a more precise use of his ice powers. He can make a mean ice chisel now, and he’s learned how to force the limbs of those frozen into the position he likes. Yin and Jin stand on top of each other, like they did in their introduction. The expressions on their faces aren’t what he likes, but he can cover it with frost and it’s like it was never there.

He meets up with Mei, one afternoon.

“Hey, MK!” She barrels into him, and immediately jumps back.

He reaches out, missing the contact, but she shakes out a shiver. “Dang, you’re cold!” She slugs him on the shoulder, and he laughs.

“I feel fine. Maybe you’re just being dramatic,” he shoots back, and she laughs with him, before her eyes glance at his face and she freezes. “What?”

“Your eyes,” she murmurs, all joking replaced with concern. He tilts his head to a side in confusion. “They’re blue?” She adds.

“Oh!” he says, and the words that come out of his mouth don’t sound like him at all. He doesn’t think he thought of them, and he doesn’t feel his lips move but the sound comes out anyway. “I’m trying out some contacts. Do you like them?” He bats his eyelashes at her, all in jest.

Her confusion melts into a smile. “I like your regular eye color better,” She admits. “But those look cool!”

She grabs him by his wrist, using his jacket as a buffer, and drags him to an arcade. Every machine he touches sticks a little, the joystick and button a tad frozen by his touch, and he doesn’t win a match by any means, but he doesn’t mind. Every time Mei leans close to him it feels like a victory. Even though he feels warm, at least a sort of freezer burn warmth, the people around him have pulled away. He’s too cold for them.

He needs contact.

Someone trips Mei as they’re running around the arcade. Her nose bleeds, and MK feels his hackles rising. Someone hurt his friend. A demon? A scan of the area reveals no such thing. Just a mean person. He can hear them snickering as they walk away.

Mei is more important than MK’s anger, so he takes her outside and finds some tissues, cleans her up. He takes her out to her favorite restaurant (not Pigsy’s, though they’ll never tell him that) and they end the night with a race around town. Her bike is an electric green streak, and he’ll never catch up, but he gives it his all before they finish outside his place.

“See ya later!” Mei still sounds a bit stuffed up from the nosebleed, and MK waves until she’s out of sight. When she disappears, his expression shutters, anger against her unrecognizable assailant returning in a flash.

He’s been getting rid of demons, but that’s not enough! Mei still got hurt, because people are unpredictable. He heads to his room and paces. How can he fix it, how can he make it better?

Maybe more than demons should be frozen.

MK stops in his tracks. Now, there’s an idea. But to freeze them forever, that seems like too much.

Not forever. Just until they know how to behave. Think of it as a pause button.

It would be nice if things just stopped for a moment. Then he could have all the time in the world to fix it. Once he gets the demons out of the way, he can do that. Then, once everyone learns to behave, they can come out. However long that takes.

He can be patient, for his friends. This is all for them, after all.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A day after that, and he’s found the Spider Demon’s lair. Every step he takes inside makes him shake, and he doesn’t think he’ll be able to take her. He’s so nervous, so scared.

I can help, remember? Just take a deep breath.

He takes a deep breath.

Close your eyes.

He closes his eyes.

He doesn’t open them, but they open anyway. Everything is washed in a soft layer of white, like frost, and his body moves but he doesn’t tell it to. The fear he felt is muted, and he settles into the comfort of its absence. He asked for this, right?

The spider demon—she wanted to be a Queen, right? MK hadn’t been really paying attention when she went on her rant, too petrified to listen—skitters out, and when she locks eyes with him, she smiles.

“Aww, is the little monkie boy back to play?” She giggles, and MK’s body throws the staff at her. She ducks with a yelp, and scrambles back. “Ooo, we’re rough, now? Seems you’re not so scared anymore,” She purrs, but he can hear the nervousness in her voice as the staff comes back to his hand.

“Iͥ ʷgͣˢoᶰtͤ ͮoͤvͬeˢrͨ ͣiͬtͤᵈ.” The sound comes out of his mouth, and it doesn’t sound much like MK at all. Huh. His body takes a step forward, and ice spreads out from beneath his foot. “Tͭuͧrͬᶰnˢs ͦoͧuͭtʸ,ͦ ͧyˢoͪuͦ'ͧˡrͩe ͪnͣoͮtͤ ᵇtͤhͤᶰeʷ ͦsͬcͬaͥrͤiͩesͣᵇtͦ ͧdͭemͫoͤn ͥoͫuᶠtͬ ͤtͤhere.”

The Spider Queen’s expression shifts, and she tries to run, but MK’s legs are faster. He watches himself move, jumping over stones and cliffs and any obstacle. The webs she tries to trap him in freeze, and he slides across them as if his feet were skates.

Eventually, he corners her. MK watches his body close in, and suddenly he’s back in control, staring her down. Satisfaction crawls up his back, a cold grin splitting his face in two.

“ʷWͪhͦˢoˢ'ͨsͣ ͬsͤcͩaᶰrͦʷed now?” He grins, and she screams.

Ice, it turns out, is a great muffler.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Finding DBK’s hiding place is harder. MK locates it just outside the city limits, in an abandoned scrapyard. The perfect place to get parts for new bull clones and other random things Red Son can come up with.

He decides to go on the weekend, but as he prepares the night before Monkey King makes an appearance in his room.

“Hey, bud,” MK jumps at his arrival.

He must have been hiding as a bug or something, like when MK first found the staff.

“Monkey King!” He grins at his arrival, hopping up. “What’s the occasion? Is there something new you wanted to teach me? Is there a demon we have to fight?” We, not as in MK and Monkey King, but MK and himself. Because he’s not one, not really, and that’s fun! He hates being alone, after all.

“No, no,” Monkey King chuckles, overly fond. Right, MK hasn’t been to Flower Fruit Mountain for a week. “It’s just-you left pretty early, and, uh, you didn’t say anything about our next training sesh, you know? And, uhh, pretty sure you shouldn’t be slacking off on that.”

The half hearted scolding aside, MK almost thinks that Monkey King missed him. But that’s ridiculous.

“Well, you were sleeping when I got up, and I had to go to work,” The lie slips easily off of his tongue. “I didn’t want to wake you, so I left! Um, we’re busy tomorrow, but Sunday works for training, if that’s cool?” He rocks back and forth on his feet, ever excited.

“We’re? Who’s cooler than me to hang out with?” Monkey King reaches out to ruffle his hair, and MK can feel the shiver that jolts through the monkey’s body at the touch. Monkey King doesn’t comment on it, though.

“I promised Mei we’d hang out. It’s been a busy week at the shop, so I haven’t been able to party with her,” He doesn’t know where these lies are coming from.

Sometimes he talks and it’s not him at all. He should be concerned, but honestly he doesn’t mind if his other self takes the reigns. He fumbles over his words way too often to be annoyed that someone is smoothing him out.

Polished like an ice sculpture; MK thinks he could be beautiful if he was like that.

“Alright, fine. You and your friend can….do whatever it is kids do these days. Am I an adult—oh my god I’m an adult,” Monkey King flops back onto his nimbus cloud with a groan while MK giggles.

“Anyway, get some rest, bud. You look tired,” is the last thing Monkey King says to him.

“On it!” MK salutes, and Monkey King floats through the window and then rockets off. The papers in MK’s room all swirl from the blowback, and MK grabs one of the sketches that floats back down.

He doesn’t remember the last time he asked Tang for a story. The last time he sketched anything else at all. But, a hero doesn’t need hobbies so trivial.

He plans. Plans for how the city is going to look like, when he’s finished with it all. He doesn’t need to write down the steps to get there, he has his head voice for that, but the city. How it will look, when he’s done. He has to figure it out, draw it out, and pin it to the wall so he can look at it every morning and evening and remember why he’s doing this. So he sketches. Pins the piece to the wall.

Squints. He doesn’t like it.

Back to the drawing board.

His wall is covered by the time the sun rises, and MK still isn’t satisfied. But there is no time to waste. So, he picks up the outfit that feels all the more new—blue isn’t a color he expected to like, but blue is cold is safe is good is the burning warmth he needs, so he leaves the orange jacket and red headband hanging off of his desk chair.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he can barely tell the difference!

He is gone before Pigsy comes up with breakfast, before Pigsy calls for Tang to look at the mess MK left behind, enough drawings of the same thing for anyone to get the picture. He is gone before Pigsy and Tang investigate, speak in hushed tones, and call for Sandy, Mei, and eventually Monkey King.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Getting to the outskirts of town is the easy part. Infiltrating DBK’s base is a bit harder. It’s not heavily fortified, but MK thinks that’s more because he has never tried to infiltrate such a place. He doesn’t really attack first, he just protects. But that’s not good enough anymore, clearly. He can’t just be protective, he needs to be proactive.

He slides past the guards, freezes them for good measure. After all, they’re going to be made useless once he takes their leader down, so it’s not as if he’s wasting anything. There’s also always the chance they get wise, and MK doesn’t want his entrance ruined.

The inner sanctum of the base looks more like a house, made large to accommodate DBK’s figure. There are pictures on the wall, from painted portraits to black and white to color photos. MK supposes that the Demon Bull Family has been around long enough to have portraits taken in all sorts of mediums. He wonders if they have statues, a shrine? He bites back a giggle at the thought.

The booming sound of cloven footsteps alerts MK to DBK’s arrival, though by the sounds of two voices approaching, Princess Iron Fan must be with him.

“Red Son has been pulling away from us,” the gravel in DBK’s voice is soft, somehow. MK listens in with interest. What is it they are doing to their son now?

“You tried to kill him. He can’t help but take it personally,” is Princess Iron Fan’s reply. “He barely knows you, and he’s young. He’ll grow out of it,” she waves a hand, unconcerned.

MK glares at them. The temperature in the hallway drops, until Princess Iron Fan shivers.

“Darling, I thought this house had a heating function?” Princess Iron fan curls her arms around herself, and DBK picks her up and sets her on his shoulder, suddenly on guard.

“It does, the boy made it so,” he growls, sniffing around for intruders. MK decides to let himself be known.

“Hi!” he says as he pops out from around the corner.

“Noodle boy?” Princess Iron Fan questions.

“Little Thief,” DBK growls.

“Actually, I go by MK,” he corrects cheerily. “But, anyway, could you hold still? This will be harder if you move,” He twirls his staff casually. DBK growls, and Princess Iron Fan places a hand on the side of his face to silence him.

“MK,” Princess Iron Fan starts, with a forced air of politeness. “We are in your debt for helping save my husband. However, if you attack us, we will have no choice but to fight back, and we will not be kind.”

She grins, self assured, and continues “And you know what happened the last time you tried to fight me.”

Fire. Volcanoes. She had tried to kill him and, more importantly, she had made his friends cry. But things have changed, haven’t they?

MK giggles. The sound echoes, and the hallway gets colder. Frost crawls over the walls, and MK looks up with eyes that glow.

“Aͣcͨtͭuͧaͣˡlˡlʸy,ͥ Iͭ ͪtͥᶰhᵏiʸnͦkͧ ˢyͪoͦuͧˡ'ͩllͬ ͧᶰfiͥᶠnʸdͦ ͧmᵏeᶰ ͦʷtʷoͪ ͣbͭˢeᵍ ͦhͦaͩrᶠdͦeͬrʸ ͦtͧo ᶰbͦeͭatͭ ͪtͣhͭaʸnͦ ͧbeͨfͣᶰorͤˢeͨᵃᵖᵉ,” He jumps up with a smile, and sprints forward.

Something dawns on her face, and Princess Iron Fan stands.

“Darling, we need to run,” She says, quickly, but MK jumps and bounces off of the walls and is eye to eye with her before she can explain.

She doesn’t even have time to grab her fan.

DBK jumps back as the block of ice slides off his shoulder and he roars.

“Father?!” MK hears Red Son’s voice from afar and ignores that for now.

“I will tear you to pieces you ingrate!” DBK shouts, and MK laughs.

“ʸYͦoͧu ͨcͦoͧˡuͩᶰlͭdnͤ'ͮtͤᶰ ˢeͭvͦᵖenͫ ͤbʷeͪaͤᶰt ͥmʷeͣˢ wͥᶰhʸeͦnͧ ͬI ͪwͤaͣsͩnʸ'ͦtͧ ᶠtͦrͦˡying!” he shouts back, dodging a blow that sinks DBK’s fist in the wall.

The frost slides from the wall to DBK’s arm, gluing him there. He fires the gun on his other arm, and MK dodges.

“Nͥiͩcͥeͦ ͭshot!” He dances around the room.

DBK takes a step in the wrong direction, and slips on the ice cube that is his wife, dropping to the ground. MK wastes no time, and DBK’s roar is silenced abruptly.

Finally.

“Noodle Boy! What on earth are you doing?!” Red Son looks rather steamed, if the smoke coming off of him is any indication.

“Hi, Red Son! I was just taking care of your parents,” MK gestures to the popsicles on the floor. Red Son stares, face a mixture of confusion and horror, and MK barrels toward him. “Now they can’t be mean to you anymore. You can make fun inventions and not have to be a mean guy all the time!” Honestly, if anything, Red Son should be thanking MK, but MK doesn’t do this for thanks. He takes a few hairs and blows on them, and his clones start to work on moving the new additions to his cave.

“You—” Red Son is at a loss for words before landing on “Give me back my parents!”

See, MK was worried about that. He would likely have responded the same, when he first left his parents.

“But I worked hard to get them out of the way!” MK pouts. “But, I get it. You don’t understand. You just need to ᵍcͤoͭolͦ ͧdͭowͦᶠn,ͦ ͧoͬkʷaͣʸy?” MK reaches out, places a hand on Red Son’s shoulder before he can be stopped, and Red Son is going to freeze too, when—

Red Son explodes, and MK burns.

It’s not enough to melt the ice, no, but MK is thrown back against the wall, eyes wide.

The chill in his bones vanishes with a screech, and all he can hear is screaming. For a moment, something rises within him.

This is wrong.

He shouldn’t be doing this, he can’t be.

He isn’t a bad person, he isn’t cruel. He wouldn’t do this.

He needs to stop, he needs to—

And then the flames vanish, and so does Red Son, and the cold slips back into place with brutal efficiency. MK blinks, tries to remember where he is. Right, DBK and Princess Iron Fan. He got them! Great.

His clones have been destroyed in the blaze, so he makes some new ones, and heads back to base.

A shame he couldn’t get Red Son to understand, but they all will soon enough.

Good job, vessel.

MK feels warm. It burns.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He’s deliberating back at his hideout about where his newest statues should go when he hears a sharp gasp from behind him. He turns, and Mei is looking at him with something that looks like horror, but that can’t be right. Why would she be horrified by something so beautiful?

“MK?” she starts, cautiously. “What…happened to you? You look really bad, why are you wearing blue?”

“I like the color!” he asserts. “And I’m fine!”

She purses her lips, and then tries again.

“Um...MK. What is this?” She points to the frozen menagerie behind him.

MK does not pout, even though he feels like he should.

“You ruined the surprise,” he grumbles, arms crossed over his chest. “I stopped all the bad guys! See?” he gestures to them. “Now they can’t hurt anyone.”

There’s a pause, before Mei can catch up, where MK asks, “Hey, do you think people would want to put them in a museum?” He taps his chin with his index finger, deliberating.

“How did you...does Monkey King have powers like this?” she tries, a third time.

“No, I don’t,” MK jumps at the sound of Monkey King’s voice. Monkey King floats down on his cloud, hopping off and looking at MK with an air of suspicion. “Kid, how are you doing this? Why are you doing this?”

“‘Cause they hurt you guys,” MK has been itching for a chance to explain, to get someone to understand. “And the-my head voice gave me the idea. Once these guys are all gone, everyone can be safe, and no one will leave!”

“Head voice?” Pigsy comes from behind a pillar. “MK, what are you talking about?”

“You know, the voice in your head that sounds like you?” He explains. “It-it told me how to do it. And I’m not a carbon copy of Monkey King, it makes sense that I’d have a few new powers, you know?”

“No,” Tang appears, from somewhere.

When did all of his friends get here? He can see Sandy, Mo in tow on his shoulder, peeking in.

“You shouldn’t have any deviations. Maybe your transformations would be different, but to go so far as to have ice powers?” Tang pushes his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, and his glasses flash. “That shouldn’t be possible, given Monkey King’s power set.”

“What’s going on, kid?” Sandy’s voice is very soft, as he approaches, just like when they were on the boat.

“Nothing!” MK’s voice is cheery as ever. “I’m just fixing things, okay? I think you need to ˢcͪhͧiͭllͧᵖ ʷoͧʲuͥᶰtᵍ,” he reaches forward, and Sandy and Mo are ice.

Mei screams.

“What?” MK looks on, bewildered, as his friends stare at him in horror. “He’ll be fine! It doesn’t hurt. I’ve been freezing for ages! It gets warm after a while.”

His eyes glow, and Tang pales.

“Baigujing,” he breathes, and MK turns to him.

“What about her?” he asks, and Tang puts a hand to his mouth, biting his lip and glancing between the rest of the group and MK, unsure.

“Bud,” Monkey King takes a few cautious steps toward MK, as if MK were a cornered animal. His feet slip a little on the ice, but not enough to stop his careful approach. His tail is poised and very still, not so much as a twitch from it. “I think you’re feeling a bit...um, scrambled right now. Why don’t you hand me the staff, and we can talk about this?” He gives MK a soft smile, but MK frowns.

If he takes the staff you can’t finish your work! Does he think you don’t deserve it anymore?

“But I need it,” he responds, simple and to the point. “It’s mine.” Right? Because Monkey King gave it to him. Gifts can’t be taken back, right? MK’s still worthy, right?

Monkey King takes a deep breath, like he’s biting back a retort.

“Preeeeetty sure I let you borrow it. ‘S called ‘Monkey King’s Staff’ for a reason, bud. C’mon.”

Another step forward. MK grips the staff tighter.

“MK, please,” Tang calls from his other side.

Don’t let him take it!

“We need you to let go!” Mei’s voice hits his ears.

They’re all lying to you!

“Kid-I-c’mon, just let ‘em have it and we can go home,” Pigsy’s voice breaks, and MK feels like he’s going to break with it.

Is he even going to let you keep your home?!

Monkey King is close enough that MK can feel the heat of his power emanating off of him, of the great Sun Wukong. His paws are soft and somehow even warmer than his power as he curls them around MK’s grip on the staff.

They don’t understand! They’re going to abandon you!

“That’s it, easy does it,” Relief colors Monkey King’s tone, and he smiles at MK as if MK were the sun. It’s too soft to be true. “Just hand it over, and we’ll make sure everything’s okay, alright?”

He starts to tug, pulling the staff out of MK’s grip ever so gently, and MK flinches as the voice rings loud in his ear.

YOU NEED IT DON’T LET HIM TAKE IT FROM YOU HE’LL RUIN EVERYTHING—

“It’s MͫIͥᶰNͤE!” MK shouts, and he slams the side of it into Monkey King’s stomach and launches his mentor across the room.

Monkey King crashes into the wall, groaning as he pushes away the falling rubble. MK’s eyes are wild.

“It’s mine, and you can’t have it! I need it!” Ice crawls over his right hand, cementing his grip.

Tang sees it, takes a step back, and turns to the two horrified bystanders.

“Run!” he shouts, and Mei bolts. Pigsy stares, motioning for Tang to run, but Tang is too close to MK to do anything.

“What’d you do that for?” MK frowns, lowering a hand onto Tang’s shoulder. Pigsy makes a choked sound.

“Go! Bajie, get out of here!” Tang shouts, far more desperate than MK expected. Why is everyone so terrified? This is just a misunderstanding.

“Okay, tͭiͦmͦeˡ ͣoͭuͤt ͭfͦorͬ ͧᶰyˢoͣᶰuᶻᵃᶰᵍ,” MK pats Tang’s shoulder once, and Tang is rooted to the spot. MK freezes him slower, because Tang isn’t strong, merely smart. And if he does it slow, then he doesn’t have to chisel away the extra later.

Mei comes roaring in on her bike, and she picks up Pigsy by the back of his chef’s coat, throws him on the back of her bike, and zooms off.

“Tang!” Pigsy screams, but his voice gets farther and farther away.

“What’s wrong?” MK is so confused. He looks to Monkey King, who is just sitting there on his cloud, horrified.

“Sun Wukong,” Tang says, voice hard. The ice is up to his chest. “Get out of here. Bajie is going to be a wreck after this.”

“Can you make sense!” MK throws his hands up, tired of being ignored, talked over, walked over. “Or at least ˢsͪtͧoͭp ͧᵖtalking!” And Tang goes silent, frozen.

MK turns back to Monkey King, and finds that his mentor has vanished.

Well, that won’t do.

After them!

MK jumps onto a disk of ice and slides across stone, feet still as the ice barrels over any obstacle, leading him past the dead sliver of a great mountain and up onto the streets. Mei just has made her way to ground level, aided up by Monkey King, and MK zeroes in on them.

They pass by cars, and MK ignores the blaring horns as he slides over city streets. The ice trailing behind him makes cars swerve out of control, but he needs to get to his friends. They have to understand. This is all for them!

The ice shoots forward, and he gets closer and closer, until Mei’s back wheel hits frost and the back of the bike jerks one way, the front the other. The bike slips onto its side with immediacy, and Pigsy and Mei go sprawling as Mei’s bike falls apart, skidding across the ice.

Oh no.

“Mei!” he runs to her side.

She groans, her bike suit torn. He doesn’t even think about Pigsy at the moment, too worried about his best friend to think of the other person he hurt. Plus, Pigsy’s a full grown adult, and MK has never seen Pigsy hurt like Mei is, so it doesn’t even register that Pigsy could be as injured as she is. Her left arm has a large patch of skin that’s been burnt off by the road, and her legs are bleeding from various places. Thankfully, she was wearing a helmet, so MK doesn’t have to worry about something so serious.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. Are you alright? Where does it hurt? I’m sorry!”

Some ice might help with the pain.

Right, right, icing the wound always helps. He goes to make some, the power swirling in his hand, when a horn from a car blares, making him wince.

Gosh, humans. They’re so annoying! If they could just stay out of the way, because he needs to fix this, that’d be great.

Remember the pause button?

It seems very inviting. MK nods.

Right. A pause button.

“Just a sec, Mei,” he leaves her groaning on the ground, turning to face the city.

He slams his staff into the ground.

Ice shoots out in a wild dash. It crawls over and into everything. Cars, buildings, people—everything freezes. He hears some screams, and watches people try and run for the hills, but the cold is faster. It billows down the streets, kicking up a white haze that is almost impossible to see through, that the pedestrians tripping on ice and solidifying get lost in, but it’s a snowy sheen that MK sees through perfectly. He can see the polished figures of buildings, glistening beneath their ice, the little mounds that must be people beneath the thick layer of ice.

It’s all so pristine. So perfect.

Finally.

MK is glad for the quiet. With him and himself in his head, it’s hard to deal with outside noise. He just needed a moment of calm, to get to the task at hand.

The task at hand...Mei!

“Mei, are you—” he stops. Mei and Pigsy aren’t there.

His eyes search for them, and he can see Monkey King hurriedly pulling them up onto his cloud. “Wait!”

Monkey King looks at him, and MK’s face is pleading. He just wants to do right. Why don’t they understand? Once he fixes it all, everyone will be happy. Can’t they wait?

“Sorry, bud,” Monkey King says.

MK doesn’t know what he’s apologizing for. A rush of panic tries to grip his brain, something that was once so familiar, something that was once so him, but it disappears in MK’s desperation to act.

The cloud zooms off. He throws a hand out, running after it.

“NO!”

This is just like his dream. At the edge of the city, a wall of ice rises. It sparkles in the light of the setting sun, and MK raises it higher, and higher, as Monkey King and Mei and Pigsy and everyone he cares about most gets farther and farther away.

Monkey King punches through the ice, and they disappear into the horizon.

MK drops to his knees. They land hard on the frozen ground.

“You said they wouldn’t leave,” he whimpers out, crying because it hurts and he doesn’t know exactly why.

It’s more than just regular pain. Something warm and different and yet familiar stings. Something knows this isn’t right, this isn’t how it’s supposed to go! If this was the right thing to do, why would everyone leave?

“I have to stop!” The words are forced out of his mouth.

MK doesn’t know when the words are him and when the words are something else. He doesn’t know who he is. What’s right? What’s wrong? How can he tell?

He’s just been listening to his own head, but his own head is arguing with itself.

He slams his free fist into his temple, to try and make things settle.

Chains drag him to the ground, leaving him stuck.

You are doing everything just right.

The voice is soft in one ear, but on the other side MK hears No! On repeat. No, this isn’t right. You froze good people. Innocent people! You froze Tang and Sandy! You made Pigsy cry! You hurt Mei!

They don’t understand yet. Monkey King is notoriously stubborn. He isn’t ready for his successor to pass him yet. All you have to do is wait for them to come back. And they will.

It’s harder and harder to hear the argument against this.

The voice sounds so self assured. The warmth that doesn’t burn gets weaker and weaker, like a fire out of kindling.

He wheezes, and tears turn to snowflakes on his skin. He chokes on his own breath. It comes out white and fogs his vision, but he can’t find it in himself to care.

Everyone’s gone.

He’s alone.

This can’t be right.

It is. You just haven’t done enough yet.

That, MK understands. The need to do more, be more. It makes far more sense that he hasn’t done enough, than anything else.

“They’ll come back?” He asks, and his voice sounds so loud in the quiet. He feels a hand brush his hair back. He leans into the touch, but it’s gone.

Of course.

MK stands. The chains vanish, and he smiles.

“Okay then! Let’s get to work!”

He hasn’t let go of the staff in ages. He doesn’t think he can. He turns to the mess he’d made in his rush job, the frozen city’s statue. He has to fix that, it’s unsightly! Mei and Pigsy and Monkey King won’t like a mess.

As he plans, as he hopes, he feels a smile in the back of his head. It feels like a snowball to his skull, chilling and yet a comfort, somehow.

Wonderful work, Vessel. We’re going to do great things together.

#lego monkie kid #monkie kid #possession au #monkie kid mk #sun wukong #monkie kid monkey king #monkie kid mei #monkie kid red son #red son #kitkat1003

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