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When he glanced outside of the window of his palace, the last thing he was prepared for was to see the child of the Demon Bull King wandering too close for comfort. The creator of the Samadhi Fire almost seemed to be heading towards him with purpose - and Nezha had no intention of making out what he was holding.
He rushed down his stairs and slammed the door open, preparing to summon his spear but he was interrupted by a familiar face cheerfully greeting him.
“Nezha! Buddy! We have a HUGE favor to ask! Think you can handle it? Please?”
“MK…?” Nezha relaxed his stance for now but kept his weapon out. “What could you possibly want that requires bringing a literal demon to the Celestial Realm? Not only that, but to my doorstep?”
The other shifted his hold on whatever offering he brought and answered with a newfound hint of uncertainty. “Well it’s just… You’re the protector of children, right? You look out for them?”
“Why yes I do, I’m surprised you know that, but I fail to see the relevan -“ a whine that Nezha was not expecting interrupted him. He finally - finally - made an effort to see what MK had brought to him and when their eyes had made contact, time seemed to freeze.
There, in the hands of a recent ally that he still only mildly trusted, was a baby.
Nezha could not hold himself back. He reached forward and snatched the little one straight from MK - his Bàba apparently - and immediately began cooing at him. Once he held the child it was no difficult matter learning his story. The son of the honorable monkey kid and the troublemaking demon prince. He had his Bàmā’s form, for better or worse, but Nezha did not mind. The little fluffy and red bull smiled at him and he grinned back.
Without turning his gaze from the 33 day old child, Nezha spoke to his Bàba. “You want my blessing, correct? Do not trouble yourselves. I’ll take every necessary step to keep him safe.” He cooed at the little one and watched as his blessing lulled him to sleep. “Young Peter. You will grow up to be very kind hearted and full of wisdom. I swear to you, I will be sure of it.”
MK whistled and Nezha took that as something to be proud of. “Wow. I didn’t even get a chance to tell you his name.”
“There is no need. I am a deity for children first and foremost. All I need to do is touch a child and I know everything about them.”
There was a scoff from the fire demon that Nezha was trying to ignore. “Then you should know about his brother.”
…
“His what?” He looked up and saw MK scratching his cheek and looking away with a small pink tint on his face. With no answers coming from him, Nezha finally caved and chose to acknowledge Red Son, feeling his jaw drop at seeing him holding an infant monkey.
Not just any infant monkey, but another monkey demon. Well, more accurately and most importantly…
“Another baby.” He reached on an instinct for the one Red held, only hesitating when he saw him pull back. From there he reluctantly handed the now sleeping Peter back to MK and then he was allowed to hold the other. Once more, he felt his heart burst the instant he made contact. He rocked the little one, sensing more energy from him already. “Little Xiaobo…” It took a bit more work to calm him down than it did his twin brother, but it would be alright. It just meant that Nezha’s promise would have to last longer.
“You are going to be very brave and trustworthy to all you meet.” He bounced the little one a few times for good measure before he finally managed to fall asleep. “Thank you for bringing them to me. I will be keeping a very close eye on them now.”
He heard MK’s signature squeak of delight but he paid it no mind. He wasn’t concerned with either of those two imbeciles. He only cared for the promise he just made to the little ones. He would be watching over them, for as long as it would take to be sure they were safe, and no matter if their parents got in the way of that or not.
He heard a practiced prayer from Red Son (as well as the butchering of it from MK) and then Nezha waved them off and sent them on their way. From there, he focused his energies on meditating to try and find answers to why something felt different about Xiaobo.
“Sun Wukong, I am giving you five seconds to let the child go.”
Nezha was not having any of this. He had been watching those children and came to terms with their differing rate of aging long ago. Four years he had been watching them and they had been safe every step of the way.
Until now.
“Hey, whoa, listen, Nezha, it’s fine! I’m not gonna hurt him! I just wanna figure out what this curse is so we can try to fix it!”
Nezha saw red for a second when Wukong shifted his grip on Xiaobo, placing him over his shoulder as though expecting him to cling to his back like a monkey. He flipped the spear in his hand and moved quickly to try and take the infant from his kidnapper.
It was too bad that Wukong was able to jump out of the way, but at least he was back to holding the baby properly. “Hey! I said to relax! Geez you’re such a pain sometimes. Why do you care so much, anyways?”
“I gave them my blessing only a few days after their man yue. They are both under my protection until they come of age.”
The monkey king scoffed. “Come on. You and I both know this is way more energy than you give any other kids you bless.”
Nezha saw his opening and took it, jumping in to attack while reaching for the child. He was in the perfect spot to grab the tail but he couldn’t bring himself to do that - he could practically hear the wails of pain just imagining it. For now, Xiaobo was unbothered so Nezha backed off again rather than taking the risk.
“They were brought to me in person. Did you not know?”
Wukong paused, his brows furrowed in confusion. Nezha would express more shock to this realization if he weren’t already pissed off. “You mean to your temple?”
“No. To the Celestial Realm. MK and Red Son both came to me, three days after the children’s man yue, and asked me to bless them. I’ve known since then that Xiaobo is different. So give him to me and I shall bring him back home before his parents realize he’s missing. Swear to me you will not repeat anything else of this sort and I’ll keep this incident private.”
The long thoughtful pause between them was unnerving. Sun Wukong was not one to take his time contemplating his actions but Nezha decided to humor him for now and allow this unexpected turn of events to play out. It worked out in his favor as a defeated sigh left the monkey’s mouth and he gently handed the infant back.
Nezha gave Xiaobo a good look-over to make sure there were no injuries or signs of trauma (even using his own powers to search the baby’s mind for psychological issues) before he spoke again. “One of the children’s parents is Red Son, a demon who was still a child even at the age of 300. It is only to be expected that at least one of their offspring would age at a similar rate.” Nezha smiled in response to the light giggle the baby gave. He softly spoke a special prayer that lulled him back to sleep and then nodded in approval. “I will be watching over him until he has reached the proper maturity of an adult. Do not worry yourself over that.”
The shift in Wukong’s stance and the uncharacteristically melancholic expression almost made the deity feel bad for him. “I’m -“ he sighed. And then he gave a proper bow to Nezha that really almost made him feel bad. “I apologize for nearly, indirectly, causing harm to Xiaobo. I did not know he was under your protection and wished to be positive that he was and would be safe.”
With such a genuine and well worded apology, Nezha could not bring up the motivation to stay angry. So instead, he politely nodded in response. “Raise your head, Sun Wukong. You are forgiven.” Against better judgement, he handed the child to him. “Now go take him back to his crib. And hold him properly! He’s not the same as the monkeys on your mountain!” Wukong froze in the middle of attempting to get Xiaobo to cling to his back before returning to holding the baby in the only correct position and giving a - very clearly forced - laugh.
“Whaaaat? You don’t think I know that? Seriously, Nezha, you need to relax! Try meditating some more, I hear it helps~!”
“You are on such thin ice right now.”
He was so ready to beat the crap out of Red Son. He was not treating Peter well on this ‘bonding trip’.
Nezha had seen this sort of thing time and time and time and time and time again and again and again and - well a lot. Parents put too much pressure on their kids, causing irreversible mental anguish and in most cases, despite his burning desire to get involved, he was forced to stand back and only watch. It was pitiful. The very beings who begged him for his blessing over their children were the ones he would - but couldn’t - protect them from.
At least this time, he could do something about it.
He waited until Red Son was alone, off prepping some more training related nonsense while Peter was left alone to sleep. With that in mind, he jumped down from a mountain ledge and glared in silence. All that was returned was a look of surprise, confusion and then a less angry glare.
“What do you want?”
“Stop this foolishness.”
Red Son rolled his eyes and walked right past him with no sense of reverence! Nezha’s anger only burned hotter and so he speedily moved to cut Red off who stepped back in surprise. A moment of processing what was happening, and the fire demon made a move to shove Nezha out of his way. In response, he grabbed his wrist before it made contact and glowered. “Do not even think about putting your hands on me.”
“You’re being stupid! Let me go!” There was that annoyingly over-the-top passion. Red snatched his hand back, taking a few tries before he managed to jerk it out of Nezha’s grip. Nezha still didn’t move or change his expression. “You really think you can show up here, in MY territory where I am training my SON, tell me to stop some mysterious ‘foolishness’, literally get in my way - seriously, LITERALLY - and then act as if I’M the one doing something wrong?!”
Nezha clicked his tongue and summoned his spear. He needed to show that he wasn’t afraid to fight if it came down to it. The smirk at Red Son’s flinch was instinct and he pushed it back to return to his scowling. “You are doing something wrong. You’re hurting Peter.”
He saw the fire begin to form before he heard the growl. “Do not dare tell me such a lie.”
“It’s not a lie. Have you not noticed yet? He has no powers. He’s crying more than usual, he’s becoming more withdrawn and if you keep trying to force something he doesn’t have out of him and fill his head with ideas of needing your approval, then one day he’ll leave you and it will be your own fa-“
“LEAVE!” Now it was Nezha’s turn to flinch when Red Son moved to attack him. He blocked it with his spear (good call pulling it out) and considered leaving. With that animalistic look and posture on the demon prince’s face, Nezha figured it was time to cut his losses. He gave one quick look in Peter’s direction before putting his attention back onto Red.
“Fine. Though if you have any respect for the great mother, Guan Yin, you’ll allow me to grant young Peter an extra blessing.”
Another beat of hesitance and a second of added tension before it was released and the demon’s fire power was relaxed. He made a dramatic show of crossing his arms and turning his head. “Go ahead. I’m sure Noodle Boy will be thrilled to hear about it.”
Nezha bit back a snarky comment about Red Son seeming to care more about MK’s feelings on the blessing than Peter’s, but it was just another typical characteristic of parents and all the more reason for him to look after their children. He glided over to Peter’s side and knelt over the sleeping form. He watched his face carefully and nodded when he assessed the situation fully before brushing the bull’s hair back.
Nezha set a hand on top of Peter’s forehead and shut his eyes, summoning within him whatever extra energy he could afford to offer. If he could have it his way, he would grant him all of the positive energy in the world, even better if he didn’t have to do this but they were well past that.
“Do not let yourself sink into despair, Peter. You will be great. I have already sworn that you will be kind hearted and full of wisdom, so you must have faith that you will show the world how incredible you are when the time comes.” He then gave a quiet prayer to ease Peter’s sleep and stood. As he passed a fuming Red Son, he heard him give a warning.
“Come near my son without my permission and not a single being in the Celestial Realm can protect you.”
Nezha paused.
“You harm Peter any more than you already are planning to and you won’t have such a permission to give.”
Thirteen. He had been watching these children for thirteen years now. It was strange. Nezha had never felt such a strong connection to anyone for such a long amount of time. These boys were everything to him and, despite the grief he gave Red Son during this time, he was happy they both had such loving parents to raise them.
Admitting to Red Son being a good parent did make him feel sick to his stomach, though.
Something about having to defend a demon prince to heaven as a good Bàmā who should be granted the right to come to Nezha’s home in the Celestial Realm rubbed him the wrong way. Granted, he didn’t really make that case for Red Son’s sake. He still tolerated him at best - especially after that training incident - but Nezha was happy to offer advice and counsel when it was requested.
For now, the boys were both safe at home with their parents. It was a nice day with no signs of any sort of demon activity or danger. The snowfall had brought with it a sense of peace with nothing nefarious hiding around the corner and the children were enjoying themselves with an extra bubbly sense of excitement.
Nezha smiled as he watched them from above. Xiaobo had grown over the years, but he was still a toddler. Not only that, but he was not speaking properly. Nezha shut his eyes and quietly reminded himself of his prophecy for the child to relax his anxieties. Brave and trustworthy. Neither of those things required vocal speech and so, even if the little progress he had made suddenly regressed, Nezha knew Xiaobo would be just fine.
There were other ways for people to communicate with each other, after all, and the strange family seemed to be managing just fine.
Not that he was playing favorites, but today it wasn’t Xiaobo that Nezha was interested in. The reason he had come down from the Celestial Realm to watch them in person despite there being no signs of danger, was that today was their thirteenth birthday.
They were now teenagers.
With Xiaobo’s delayed aging being both mental and physical, Nezha was not overly concerned with him. Again, he wasn’t playing favorites, but he always had more of a vested interest in teenagers. Life was hard for that age, he knew it better than anyone, and he knew that Peter would be struggling through this journey. Learning to navigate one’s emotions and further develop a sense of empathy was no easy task and Nezha just wanted to be certain that Peter would have support through it.
Around half a year ago, Red Son had come to him with an open, sincere and downright broken sounding apology. He expressed his feelings of regret and self-hatred over what he had done to Peter and begged for another blessing for his child. Nezha’s heart broke just thinking about it.
He had the demon prince pegged wrong. Don’t get it twisted, Nezha still didn’t like him. He still didn’t care for him and he still merely tolerated him. But at that moment, he felt like he saw him. It was awful having to refuse the request. He still cared about the other children around the world and only had so much energy to go around. Peter had already received an extra blessing from him and the twins were both getting special enough treatment as it was so Nezha could not bring himself to do any more.
The look of horror and depression on Red Son’s face worried him when he voiced his denial but his assurance that he was not giving up on either child seemed to relax him well enough.
Nezha caught sight of the fire demon in question having a kiss stolen from his husband and the deity gagged.
Adults could be so gross.
The sun was beginning to set and the family made their way back into the house. Nezha sighed. Peter seemed to be doing alright. Hitting this milestone of maturity was affecting him the same as it affected every other child Nezha had watched over. He only wished he could make it easier.
Getting what he came here for, he began to return home, but he hesitated. He hesitated for long enough that before he could continue, there was a gasp. And then there was squeaking and whining and howling.
Xiaobo.
Nezha turned around and saw the little monkey jumping up and down and waving his arms, trying to get his attention. He couldn’t help a soft smile and he certainly couldn’t help moving back down to the Earth to kneel in front of Xiaobo.
“Hey there. How’s your birthday going, hm?”
The little one squeaked out a delighted surprise before he began to climb all over Nezha's back and shoulders as if the God of Children existed to be a playground. He laughed since this was exactly the sort of thing he not only came to expect from Xiaobo, but part of why he loved the boy.
“You really didn’t think I knew that it was today? Why do you think I came here?” A small whine responded to him. “Hm? What? … Oh, I see. You’re upset because I wasn’t planning on being seen, aren’t you?”
The feverish nodding led to Nezha grabbing the child off from around his shoulders, standing up and holding him more properly, using his learned expertise in handling the tail. Light chirps from Xiaobo alerted their presence to Peter, who came stomping out of the house and up to them in frustration.
“Dìdi! You can’t keep running off, getting lost and always expecting one of us to fi-“ Peter froze to stare at the other two and Nezha simply waved with a grin.
Peter opened and closed his mouth several times as though he were a gaping fish before talking again. “Uh - N-Nezha? Why are you here? Is something wrong?” The young bull’s eyes grew and he rushed even closer to them to start looking his younger twin over. “Is Xiaobo hurt?!”
Xiaobo had whined about being fussed over and Nezha couldn’t hand him off. Not because he didn’t want to, but because when he tried, the monkey clung tighter with both his arms and his tail which wrapped around his arm. So he gave up on that plan.
“It’s alright, Peter. He’s not hurt or anything. I was just here to watch over you both for your birthday.”
That thankfully calmed Peter down and switched his attention from being mad at Xiaobo to being curious about Nezha. “Oh really? But it feels like anytime you show up, something bad happens.” Nezha grimaced and Peter panicked because of it. “Not that I think it’s your fault! I mean, I used to think that, but Bàba explained it to me! How he asked you to give us a blessing when we were babies and how you’ve been obsessed with watching us super close ever since and making sure no one and nothing hurts us! So I know you’re not the one causing problems! We’re just - I mean - I’m just… Really weak…”
Nezha frowned. “You’re not weak.”
Peter looked away and mumbled. “Yeah. I know. My therapist says to stop saying that but I just…still feel like it’s true.”
Nezha wasn’t sure if he should be happy that Peter felt comfortable enough with him that he could reveal all this, or if he should say something about Peter being too quick to share his personal baggage. With how Peter looked, though, he figured he would save that lecture for later.
So he shifted Xiaobo to where he could hold him with one hand and set his opposite one on Peter’s shoulder. “Hey. You’re alright. Things may seem weird and confusing now, and they’ll be like that for a while, but it will all work out for you in the end. I can guarantee that.”
Peter raised his head, Xiaobo chirped and Nezha smiled. “Here.” He handed a reluctant Xiaobo back to his twin. “Keep taking care of him but also be sure to take care of yourself.”
Peter nodded in response and Nezha was prepared to leave when MK’s voice came through. “Oh! Nezha!” The deity grimaced and took a step back at the mortal man getting too close for comfort. “Is something wrong? Or are you just here for the party?”
Xiaobo chirped and squirmed before reaching for MK, who took him into his arms with a grin. “You want him to stay and eat cake with us, right Xiaobo? I’ll bet he’d really like it!” With all those happy noises Xiaobo was making along with the hopeful yet reserved look from Peter, Nezha could not bring himself to say ‘no’.
So he accepted his defeat and let out a sigh. “Very well. I can stay for some time. If that is what Peter and Xiaobo want.”
The little monkey and the young bull cheered in excitement, the former squirming to be let down before they both ran back into the house. Nezha began to follow but instead he remembered his manners and waited patiently for MK.
Whose expression, surprisingly, turned very solemn. “Nezha… are we doing okay?”
His breath hitched. Even with Red Son being the biggest receiver of Nezha’s lectures, MK still wasn’t perfect. Far from it, in fact. If he wanted to, Nezha could give him a massive list of every mistake he ever made and that would only be including the ones MK wasn’t already consciously aware of. He needed time to think over his answer.
He didn’t have it.
MK let out a small laugh that was almost a whimper and he shook his head. “Figures. We’re awful at this and you probably want to take the children and raise them yourself. And there are days where I think I should just give them to you…”
“Now hold up.”
MK raised an eyebrow at him and waited. It was a challenge. He wanted to see if Nezha could prove him wrong but he seemed to have zero confidence that it was possible.
“You both suck. You and Red Son have both made some really bad decisions in regards to the boys. Red Son in his expectations for Peter and you in your obsessive hovering over Xiaobo.”
The other’s hand twitched. “So I guess that’s decided, then.”
“Let me finish.” Nezha took a deep breath and focused his mind on wording this perfectly. “I take issue with a lot of parents, especially with fathers. My history is not the cleanest in that regard. In fact, it’s quite messy, and that is why I am so harsh with the two of you. You asked for my blessing just after their man yue and yet you have both done your fair share of ignoring my advice.” He was interrupted by the sound of a panicked shout from Red Son, some gleeful chirping from Xiaobo and reassurance from Peter that everything was fine.
MK flinched and seemed ready to cut his losses but Nezha only smiled fondly. “But you only do all of that out of love. Your mistakes, even when they come from ignoring me, are made because you think they’re the right thing to do. And Peter and Xiaobo know that.”
His expression changed to wide, shocked and yet genuinely emotional eyes and Nezha continued. “Peter and Xiaobo both know that everything you do with or to them is what you are doing for them. They know you both love them with all of your hearts and that is leagues beyond what I have seen so many other parents do.”
When MK didn’t say anything, Nezha gave him a gentle smile. “And I happen to know that you are more aware of that than anybody here.” There was a second where the tension made Nezha regret revealing his knowledge of MK’s own past, but it was broken when he was suddenly wrapped in a hug.
He let MK have his moment, despite feeling very uncomfortable by the sudden breaking of his personal space, before Red Son’s frustrated voice broke it. “What are you still doing out here?!” There was a light growl directed at him but Nezha knew there was no real bite behind it. “Is he trying to dictate how we raise our children again?”
MK laughed and happily walked back to Red, giving his husband a quick kiss on the cheek before heading inside. “He’s here for the party which we should be starting right now~!”
Red Son was left in the doorway, processing what he was told, before his glare on Nezha lightened to one with even less bite than that growl had. It was performative. “I’m not making you any extra food.”
Nezha was left alone at those words with the expectation of following Red in. He was rather annoyed at the adults at that moment, but hearing the happy noises and excitement from the twins reminded him of why he was here.
So he sighed away his frustrations and walked into the house. He sat down at the table and watched with a warmth in his heart as the twins cheered at every little thing their parents did. He watched silently and enjoyed his time as an outsider before Xiaobo handed him a plate with a piece of cake on it.
Suddenly, he wasn’t an outsider and he was left with one question that he had forgotten the answer to a long time ago:
Is this what family is?