Chapter Text
For as long as he could remember, Kung Lao had always been compared to Liu Kang, and he always fell short. Lao had been taken to Raiden’s temple to be raised as a Shaolin Monk, and an expert fighter, just like Liu. And despite the fact that they both had dragon marks, both took mostly the same classes, and were both expert fighters, somehow Lao was always seen as worse than Liu. It didn’t even matter that Lao had more medical training, and was even in better control of his arcana than Liu for a while, because Liu was the chosen champion who was supposed to save both Earthrealm and Outworld from Shang Tsung. So Liu was automatically better than Lao.
Lao spent most of his life getting told by Raiden, and all of the monks that he was the second best champion there, and had even been told that the only reason he had been brought to the temple in the first place was solely to be a companion and aid to Liu. He was supposed to serve Liu in any way that the man wanted, and he was taught that his own needs were irrelevant. It seemed that the only person who didn’t feel that way was Liu himself.
Liu had always treated Lao as nothing less than his equal. He even often stood up for Lao in an effort to make Raiden and the monks acknowledge his accomplishments. Lao remembered a time when Liu was very stubborn, and often spoke his mind, but it was eventually drilled into his head that he was not allowed to speak out against the monks, and especially not against Raiden, because it was considered extremely disrespectful and unbecoming of the chosen one. The only time Lao ever saw flashes of that old Liu shining through was when Liu was speaking out on his behalf.
Lao hasn’t always appreciated that though. He has snapped out at Liu a lot, and used to blame the man for his destroyed ego, even though it was not Liu’s fault at all. That didn’t stop Lao from yelling at Liu for ‘thinking he was weak, and couldn’t stand up for himself’, even if that wasn’t the truth. Liu had quit speaking out as much when Lao snapped at him, seeing that it was clearly a point of sensitivity for the man, but sometimes he just couldn’t help himself.
Liu had been sitting on the sidelines while Lao fought one of the monks as a test to see how far his training had come. He and Liu had been taking the same test since they were children, and they had always been at one another’s tests to cheer for each other, and even trash talk one another sometimes. They had been rooting for each other to get the best scores for years, especially after Lao finally quit blaming Liu for everything when they were teens, and the two became inseparable, and were actual friends. So this test was no different.
“Yeah, Lao, that was awesome!” Liu cheered after Lao hit the monk with a new hat trick he had been working on for a while.
“Come on, Lao, you got this! Don’t give up!” Liu encouraged when Lao was knocked down for a little bit. When the test was done, Liu ran over to Lao and slung his arm around the man’s shoulders.
“If I was counting correctly, you beat my final score!” Liu praised in a hushed voice, excited to see if he was right. Liu was, of course, right, and the second the monk read out Lao’s score, Liu immediately started cheering.
“Maybe you should be the chosen one.” Liu jokes, making Lao chuckle.
“I’m definitely giving you a run for your title.” Lao joked back.
“Unfortunately, you failed the test.” The monk stated, ruining the men’s celebrations.
“What? How is that possible? Lao got the best score yet.” Liu was immediately furious, knowing that the only reason the monk was failing Lao was because he wasn’t Liu.
“His training is not complete yet, he still has more learning to do. You’ll start training again first thing in the morning. Master Kang, you’ll begin the next phase of your training tomorrow afternoon.”
“If Lao failed, then I definitely failed too, so I’ll be here tomorrow morning too.” Liu literally stomped his foot stubbornly, making it clear that he was not willing to negotiate.
“No, you passed your test, you move on.” The monk insisted.
“It’s literally not possible for me to pass the test, and Lao not to when he got a better score. You’re just trying to punish him for not being the chosen one, even though Lao is an even more honorable champion than me. You, and everyone else in this temple have done nothing but put Lao down for something he has no control over!” Liu had clearly hit some kind of breaking point, and Lao had no clue what to do other than just watch. “I have had enough of you guys crapping on Lao’s talents, and I will not put up with it anymore. I refuse to do any more training, go to any more classes, or even eat with any of you guys until you start treating Lao the way he deserves!”
Then with that, Liu stormed off angrily, leaving both Lao and the monk to just stare after him in shock. Lao figured that Liu was going to the temple garden to climb his favorite tree and meditate, something he often did when he was upset. Lao was the only other person who knew about Liu’s hiding space in the tree, because he made sure to avoid it in the winter, or when the leaves were thin so that he could be perfectly hidden in it. Lao figured that he would give Liu time to cool down before going after him, which turned out to be a good idea.
“Are you ok? You seemed pretty upset back there.” Lao asked as he climbed the tree that Liu was in, and sat on the same branch as him.
“I’m fine. I’m sorry I yelled like that. I know that you don’t need me to stand up for you, but it just gets on my nerves when they treat you like that.” Liu apologised.
“I know that you just care about me, and it doesn’t upset me as much as it used to. It actually means a lot to me that you actually care about me.”
“Of course I do. You’re like my brother, why wouldn’t I care about you?”
“Look, all I’m saying is thank you for standing up for me like that. Are you really serious about what you said? About basically going on strike until they start treating me better?”
“Hell yeah I was serious. You may be dumb, but you’re not weak.” Liu teased, nudging Lao’s arm a little.
“At least I’m not the chosen one who gets their ass beat by a common monk.” Lao teased back, pushing Liu’s arm back. Liu pushed Lao harder, accidentally making the man fall out of the tree.
Liu honestly would have felt bad about it, but Lao made a point of grabbing Liu as he fell, meaning Liu fell out of the tree too. Both men went tumbling to the ground, breaking a few branches along the way. It wasn’t the first time they had fallen out of that tree, and it honestly hurt more the first time, but after doing it so many times, and fighting with other people all the time as training, they had higher pain tolerances.
So both men just laughed a little and tried to situate they’re breathing when they hit the ground.