Summary: “You?! Why would I trust you? You have brought me nothing but failure. Time and time again; nothing but disappointment!”
His father’s words might have been a result of his possession by the White Bone Spirit, but whether or not they were his true thoughts, Red Son vows to prove them wrong. To do so he seeks to attain a power strong enough to destroy his father’s immortal enemy. After all, he’d much rather throw fire at his problems.
Word Count: 2263
Ratings/Warnings: Teen and up; injury, burns, angst and hurt/comfort, toxic thoughts caused by toxic parents, panic attacks, abuse
Notes: More Mei! WOO!
Credits: Big thanks to @painted-arachnid and @simplyfornardo for helping me bounce ideas off of them. And also thanks to @lemonsqueazie for providing me with “Journey to the West” lore. I don’t know much about the original novel or other iterations, but I still tried to keep some things compliant with the lore. You should check all of them out, since they’re really great content creators with neat ideas!
Read on AO3
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“You really think Red Son just wants to be a cook?”
MK’s question is valid, but there’s an accusation behind it, as if it is only rhetorical.
Mei fumbles to answer, “I don’t know! I mean, I don’t really know what his dreams and goals are now that he’s apparently working for Pigsy.”
“But that’s what I’m saying! What is he doing here, if it’s not some sort of trick?”
“I get you dude, but it’s been a few weeks now. Red Son would have to be playing the long game if it’s a trick, and that doesn’t really seem like his M.O.,” Mei counters.
MK waves his arms, letting out a groan of exasperation, and his harried appearance causes Mei to backpedal slightly. “It is really weird, I know. I haven’t really gotten used to him being around either,” she says.
MK sighs and hugs himself slightly, “I don’t know if I want to get used to him being around.”
“That’s fair…” Mei wraps an arm around him, so he doesn’t have to hug only himself. She hums thoughtfully. “I mean, we could always just ask Pigsy and Sandy to get him a job somewhere else. I think they’d understand.”
MK shakes his head. “Monkey King forgave him already, and if it’s up to him, then I guess… I don’t know, I don’t wanna go against what everyone else thinks…”
Mei squeezes him slightly. “Hey, if you’re uncomfortable with him around, then that’s important to bring up, too!” A thought then occurs to her and he smirks. “I could always annoy him into quitting. He’s kinda fun to mess with.”
After a bit of silence she notices MK staring at her. “What?”
“You like him around, too, don’t you?”
Mei’s expression drops, “Wh-what?! No!”
MK gives her a hard look.
“Okay! Maybe I think it’s fun to joke with him! And, yeah, I sorta think... Maybe he is trying to not be a jerk!”
MK’s expression hardens even more.
“BUT! You’re always gonna win out, no matter what! If you don’t want him around, then I’ll push for him to leave! You’re my best friend, MK, and I’ll back you up. I’d rather you feel safe than give a dude who’s tried to blow us up on numerous occasions a second chance!”
MK softens and a smile slowly forms on his features. He leans into Mei’s hug and sighs. “Thanks Mei. But it’s not really my safety I’m worried about. It’s all of you! Especially now that he’s helping Pigsy cook.”
“You're afraid he’s gonna poison the food or something?” Mei quirks an eyebrow up.
MK makes an “ehhh” noise and waves his hands in a “sort of “ motion. “A little bit,” he admits.
Mei can’t help but laugh. “How about this - I can do a vibe check on him. Maybe check in while he’s cooking and see what he’s doing. Maaaybe mess with him a little bit cuz it’s fun. I’ll tell you what I see. And no matter what, if you still want him gone, we talk to Pigsy.”
MK thinks for a moment, then nods. “Sounds good.”
“Cool!” Mei gives him a final squeeze. “I love you, dude! I’ve always got your back!”
“Thanks Mei.” MK smiles, much more relaxed than before.
Mei gives a thumbs up before heading towards the kitchen
- - -
This should be rather simple. Pigsy was dealing with some customers. Red Son was in the back taking care of the soup. She slips into the kitchen without the pig’s notice. She edges around behind Red Son, staying quiet and looking at what he’s doing. He seems to be just using a normal set of spices and ingredients. Mei isn’t really a cook. In fact, she’s actually quite bad at it. She’s even managed to burn salad once, and somehow caused toast to turn soggy in a toaster oven. But she’s at least 62% sure that the ingredients he’s using are ones she’s seen in her own kitchen before. At least there’s nothing there with a skull and crossbones that would denote “poison”.
Red Son, on the other hand, looks very at home in front of the stove, as beat-up and clunky the old thing is. His hands fly around in practiced motions, balancing throwing in various ingredients and stirring the pot. He even seems to know how to keep the stove from making its usual loud noises, and works around its out-of-date mechanisms. His motions are fast, but smooth, and his face looks focused, but if Mei had to guess, he seemed at peace. Maybe his dream was to be a cook, after all, she thinks. But Mei’s thoughts are suddenly interrupted by Red Son’s voice.
“What do you want, Dragon Girl?”
“Ah–” her voice is caught momentarily, as she wasn’t aware that Red Son was aware that she was there. She quickly recovers though, putting her hands in her pockets and slinking nonchalantly up next to him. “Oh, nothing! Just wanted to see what you’re cooking.”
“We’re in a noodle shop, take a guess,” Red Son drolls, but continues to not look up from the soup.
“Hmmm, ice cream?” Mei responds cheekily, eliciting a sigh from the fire demon. Mei chuckles inwardly, and sidles up next to Red Son, and peers into the pot. It’s got less of that reddish tint from when he made soup for Mr. Tang the other day. If Mei had to guess he was making Pigsy’s usual recipe and or at least a modified version of his own. “Smells good!” she says, and she means it.
Red Son rolls his eyes and makes a “tch” noise, but she can see the corner of his lip curl up.
“So what’s in it?” Mei asks.
Red Son sweeps his hands over to the counter with various spices and vegetables on it, “All of that in amounts that Pigsy tells me is a trade secret and some other special spice blend, which he also has told me is a trade secret.”
“Oh, so you don’t knooooow!”
“Hmph, I know enough.”
Mei chuckles to herself. She looks on intently in silence a little longer. He doesn’t seem to be messing with the soup in any nefarious way. And he even has time to clap back at her, though not in a combative way. It’s almost playful, actually.
But of course, Mei has to ramp things up sometimes.
“So if I pushed this button what would it do?” Mei says, hand inching closer to a panel across a few pots.
Red Son catches it mid-reach, even making sure she doesn’t get near the hot steam, and says, “It’d turn on the oven.”
“What if I put in this spice?” Mei hovers said spice shaker over the soup.
Again, Red Son stops her before she can do anything. “That’s sugar, it’d make it sweet.”
Mei is having fun, but impressed with how he can stop her so quickly while still working the stove. She wonders how far she can go…
“What about this? And this? And this?” she says attempting to push more buttons and shoving more spice jars his way, giggling mischievously.
“Would. You. Stop. That!?” Red Son says, stopping her at every turn.
He seems annoyed, but she can see a playful smirk on his features, which causes her to laugh even louder. Red Son dances around her, still working on the soup. Now Mei is trying to take a taste of the soup, and has managed to grab ahold of the wooden spoon he holds. Red Son huffs out what Mei could swear was the start of a laugh and she doubles her efforts. They wrestle a bit at the stove. She’s so close. But as she leans closer, she can hear a loud series of clicks, notices that she’s turned a nob all the way up, and suddenly the fun has stopped.
Flames erupt from one of the burners of the old gas stove, and she only has a moment to inwardly berate herself as the fire heads towards her. She can feel the heat on her face. A mere instant before her eyebrows are scorched off, or worse, she is shoved out of the way, and pushed harshly to the ground. The wind gets knocked out of her, but what makes her lose her breath even quicker is the realization that it is Red Son who pushed her out of the way of the fire.
Mei blinks and notices him holding a hand to his side. The fabric on his sleeve looks singed, but before she can see more, he shifts it out of her sight. Red Son lets out a snarling hiss, that sounds more pained than angry. “Idiot Dragon Girl! What were you thinking?!” he yells.
A set of even more booming and panicked voices soon drowns out the fire demon’s own, as Pigsy, Sandy, and Mr. Tang enter the scene. “What the heck is going on in here?!” Pigsy yells. Mei follows his sweeping glare to see the soup has been spilled, which luckily seems to have doused the flames, but unluckily gotten everywhere. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!”
Mei flinches, feeling embarrassed for causing so much trouble, but realizes that Pigsy is glaring at Red Son, not her. She’s about to correct him, but it doesn’t come out due to a combination of still trying to get her breath back, and MK’s panicked voice drowning out her own.
“Mei!” MK sweeps up from behind her. He puts himself between her and Red Son. “GET AWAY FROM HER!” Mei looks worriedly at her friend. She’s so rarely seen him that upset and angry, and the scene shocks her. It reminds her of when he was controlling the ocean, and she worries for her friend.
Red Son scrambles backwards. He’s still holding the hand with the burnt sleeve. Was he.. Burned? That doesn’t make sense. He’s a fire demon. For that matter, why’d he have to push me out of the way? Couldn’t he just stop the fire? Why’d he put himself in harm's way? All these thoughts swirl in her head, followed by the still confused thought of. Did he just save me?!
Another shout from MK shakes her out of her thoughts. “What did you do to her?! I thought you weren’t going to use your fire here!”
For the first time since he’d been working at the shop, it seems like Red Son’s full ire could not be contained, and he yells back at MK. “I didn’t do anything, Noodle Boy! SHE’S the one who was messing with the stove and caused it to overheat!!”
“Right, and it just so happened to catch fire around you!”
“Yes, it just so happened! You know how old that stove is, and I don’t like what you are insinuating!”
“I’m not insinuating, I’m accusing!” MK points at him.
“Maybe she shouldn’t have been messing around literal fire and boiling liquids!”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be here!” MK stomps his foot down.
Red Son flinches visibly. A hurt look briefly crosses his features, before it is replaced by his usual angry one.
In the second of silence that follows Pigsy edges his way between the two. “ALL RIGHT, that’s enough! You two need a break. Take one!”
Mr. Tang bends down and offers a hand to Mei to help her up, “Mei, are you okay?” She nods and finally finds her words, “Yeah. I, um, yeah, I was the one messing with the stove, sorry.”
Pigsy nods at her statement, looking between the two boys. MK still appears stressed and is staring down Red Son, as if ready to attack or defend at any moment. Red Son himself glowers back, but his eyes shift between MK and the floor. Pigsy slowly turns to Red Son. “I think you should take the rest of the day off.” He says it curtly, as if trying to reign in his own anger, but also attempting to not point any blame.
Red Son huffs and skirts around the group, heading towards the kitchen’s exit.
Sandy calls over to Pigsy, “I’ll be there in a second to help pick up.” Then he turns to Red Son before he can leave the kitchen. He goes to rest a hand on the demon’s shoulder and opens his mouth as if to say something. But before he can lay a comforting hand on him, Red Son turns sharply and elbows it out of the way.
Sandy's face goes between shock and hurt. Red Son breathes heavily, momentarily wearing a look of shock of his own in between seething breaths of anger. An intent stare passes between the two, and it reminds Mei that the two spent a lot of time together, and she wonders how much just a look communicates things between them. She herself doesn’t really understand, but Red Son soon looks away and murmurs something about wanting to be alone. As he stomps out of the kitchen she notices, finally, that his hand looks reddened, and definitely slightly burned.
As they hear the noodle shop door slam shut, MK slips quietly up to his room. Mei wants to follow him to talk and to make sure he at least gets some rest, but Pigsy turns to her before she can do so. “So tell me why I’m cleaning up some perfectly good soup off the floor?”
She supposes she owes him a bit of an explanation, but as Mei tells him what happened, she inwardly can’t help but wonder how exactly a fire demon can be burned…?
Back when I was in the planning stages and drawing concept art for “The Brains and The Brawn” I ended up completing a couple of drawings to set the mood for what I was going for. One of them fits this word prompt. But I couldn’t show one without the other since they were made the same day and are sitting together nicely in my bnb file:
I’ll show the one for the prompt first. It’s nice, so you can scroll past the... not so nice one, if you want.
The Brains and The Brawn - P6
cover/table of contents, <–previous, next–>
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Some notes:
- A perfect Euler brick is another one of those technically not solved yet math problems
- I’m more proud than I should be about the “I thought he was a turtle” joke
- Thank you to Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
- Somehow the layer that Raph says “42″ on was layer 42 in my art file and I could not have done that if I’d planned it
