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Nezha trembled as he inhaled, ignoring the stabbing pain the action brought as he laid on the cold ground after a strong blow. He could hear footsteps and the wheels on his feet lit up in flames in case he needed to get up to flee. A comforting hand was placed on his shoulder "You won Nezha. Its okay"
Nezha wanted to open his eyes but everything hurt. So he mumbled weakly, "The others?"
"Sandy got them all to safety. You're the worst hit" The voice explained. Nezha let out a weak exhale of relief. He had done his job. So when his senses started to fade he didn't mind. His job was finished.
MK watched in horror as the fire on Nezha's wheels flicked out and Nezha's expression changed to a more peaceful one. The boy had no clue if the god just passed out so he gently tried adjusting his position so he was not pinning his own arm but Nezha didn't react.
"Nezha come on." MK muttered desperately before inhaling and turning away as he yelled, "Sandy! We need help!" The blue demon appeared as fast as he could and stopped a couple of feet away from MK and Nezha analyzing the situation.
"He just went limp. We need to get him help." MK tried to explain, trying not to look at how dead Nezha looked. Sandy silently nodded and moved forward to gently pick up the young god. Holding Nezha close while also being careful with his bleeding wounds and broken bones.
MK carefully grabbed Nezha's spear off the ground and held it close as he nodded to Sandy. "Let's take him home and get him help"
The beast roared apparently not dead and MK spun around in a panic before yelling "Sandy take everyone to safety. I'll deal with the demon" Sandy looked like he would reply before a familiar eagle soared overhead and he nodded.
The eagle dove down and joined MK, shifting back into his normal self. "Hey kid. Let's finish this demon off." Wukong greeted. MK smiled happy to see his mentor as he nodded. Now with backup, he spun the staff before vaulting over closer to the monster. Wukong shifted into a big cat to follow.
Sandy watched the two run off and looked down at the limp body in his arms. He sighed and started walking back to the truck. They needed to get home. Home would only be a couple of minutes away if he drove the truck at full speed. When he got into the truck he could see the people he had helped get into the truck earlier. They all stopped their conversations when he entered.
Sandy did not greet them; he just placed Nezha down on one of the beds not being used. He could hear a couple of them getting up from where they had been to see what was happening. "We need to get home," Sandy spoke after a minute.
"What about the kid?!" Pigsy replied angrily, noticing the missing person.
"He's got Monkey king by his side," Sandy tried to persuade. "I'm sure he will be fine"
Pigsy didn't want to trust the sly monkey but seeing the state of the person Sandy brought in he nodded. "Fine. I'll start the truck"
Mei stared at the backdoor of the truck. Her hands twitched uneasily as she wanted to go help. Wukong was strong but what if he messes up again and MK takes the fall? Redson put his hand on her shoulder "Mk's strong. With Wukong by his side he'll be fine" Mei sighed and nodded.
And that was the end of that. The truck started up and started moving and Sandy grabbed the first aid kit to start working on Nezha's wounds. Sure the man was a god but these wounds were deep and bleeding profusely. Going off the horrible bruising Nezha might have a broken bone or two.
Mei watched curiously as Sandy gently cleaned and dressed Nezha's wounds. But the large demon was stumped on what to do when it came to the patient's broken ribs. Redson approached. He wasn't a doctor by any means but he knew gods. "Regeneration magic can fix broken bones. But it would be easier if he doesn't need to heal other wounds"
Sandy nodded and continued cleaning and cleaning wounds, sometimes having to do a couple of stitches after Redson assured him "It's hard for gods to get sick you'll be fine" Sandy still didn't like the idea. But it was better than Nezha bleeding out more or getting an open wound infection.
After a little bit of driving Sandy deemed Nezha good enough to let sleep. So they did. It took a couple more minutes for them to recognize the sound of a bird's wings. Mei called to Pigsy "I hear a bird! It could be MK!"
The pig driving replied, "Go ahead and open the back!"
Mei nodded and opened the back and a bird dipped in, changing back into MK with a flash of gold. Mei hugged her friend tightly, seeing he was okay. MK laughed and hugged back for a moment before saying "Um. Mei i got tossed in the fight a couple times"
She paused, then understood and loosened the hug. "Sorry!" She then scanned the air outside and asked "Where's Monkey king?"
MK smiled slightly "He wanted to scout before coming to the truck"
As if on time another bird dove into the truck, its colors marking it as Wukong. He dodged the kids and found a clear spot to change back into his regular form. Once he had he could hear Mei comment, "Your covered in blood"
It was true. In some places, Wukong's fur had blood on it. "Monster threw some good punches" was his only reply. Mei shut the back doors again with a side-eye glance to the king.
Sandy approached Wukong and quietly talked to him "How bad?"
Wukong looked at him tilting his head slightly to look over Sandy's shoulder to Nezha to make sure the young god was okay, seeing Mk place Nezha's spear next to him and then going back to his friends. Wukong decided lying to Sandy would get him nowhere especially when trapped in the car. So he dropped his voice to a similar whisper, "Couple pretty deep. I had to take some attacks for the kid"
Sandy nodded in understanding. Also understanding the unspoken there's more but those are the worse. He could work with that, it was better than not getting any information. He motioned for Wukong to sit next to Nezha's sleeping form.
It did wonders for Wukong's stress to see Nezha's chest rise and fall even if it was a bit stuttered from the broken rib. When he sat down at the foot of the bed Sandy got to work. Wukong took off his shirt so the big demon could work. Deciding halfway through that it would also be beneficial to clean Wukong's fur around the wounds. What he hadn't expected is when he started grooming around a wound Wukong seemed to calm even more and space out. So Sandy decided to groom the monkey's head, back, and arms fully.
After another minute or two, the truck stopped and Pigsy called back, "We're here!" Wukong snapped awake at the call and Sandy got up to gently pick up Nezha. Everyone left the truck and got into Sandy's boat.
Once they all got into the boat Sandy placed Nezha down gently on the couch. They had more than one. Using one for the recovering god didn't bother him. Mei, MK, and Redson all used the same couch. Pigsy had his own couch and Sandy had gone to sit next to him but Tang took a running leap over the armrest to land on the couch next to Pigsy.
"Drama king" Pigsy joked. Tang smiled and got comfortable next to Pigsy.
Sandy didn't mind Tang taking the spot but noticed the awkward moment of there not being any more space for him or Wukong to be unless they wanted to sit with Nezha. But the god deserved the entire couch. So Sandy got an idea "Mr. Monkie?" He quietly addressed Wukong.
Wukong looked up at Sandy with a confused look and the blue demon continued, "I still need to bandage your wounds" Wukong nodded and Sandy led him off to do just that.
Once they were in another room Sandy sat down and Wukong sat down next to him. Sandy went back to what he was doing in the truck. Grooming Wukong then caring for wounds he finds. It seemed like the best way to search for wounds. Especially when Wukong didn't seem to mind.
When Sandy was sure he wasn't going to find any more wounds he realized something. After all his grooming and helping him with his wounds, Wukong had fallen asleep. He looked peaceful and Sandy didn't want to wake him. So he didn't get up and just stayed where he was.
Back in the main room, MK started to fall asleep as well, he was tired from the fight. He leaned on Redson as he started to drift off because he was warm. Mei laughed softly once she was sure that wouldn't wake MK. Redson rolled his eyes but never forced MK to move. Mei poked Redson and pointed something out. The demon prince wanted to get mad at being poked but followed her finger to see what caught her attention.
Mo had curled up on Nezha's stomach and even from here, Redson could hear the cat's purrs. Mei was smiling and aww-ing at how cute it was taking her phone out to take a picture. Redson had to agree it was pretty cute
Mei kept playing on her phone before Pigsy spoke up as he stood, "I'm going to leave. I trust you all in the hands of Sandy. I have a business to run."
Tang looked up and Pigsy said "You can come freeloader, if you help." Tang hesitated for a bit before standing which seemed to cause Pigsy to gently smile before the two of them went into the room Sandy had gone into.
Pigsy led the way in and noticed Sandy and Wukong. "Why is he asleep?" Pigsy said with a raised brow pointing and the monkey in Sandy's arms that currently had one of Sandy's arms trapped with his tail.
"He's comfy," Sandy replied quietly. Not mentioning the tiny sound he heard coming from the tired king. Almost like a purr. Probably was him snoring. MK said he did that a lot. But it sounded more like a purr to Sandy who loves hanging around cats.
Pigsy nods and then says, "Well Tang and I are about to leave to get back to the restaurant. Can you watch the kids?" Sandy nodded and Pigsy and Tang left, trusting the injured in their friend's hands.
Sandy gently got up holding Wukong which the monkey shifted slightly but didn't wake. So Sandy walked back into the main room. He took the couch Pigsy and Tang had left and let Wukong use him as a pillow as the monkey wouldn't let go of his arm.
Mei giggled at the sight but put her phone down and laid on the couch. She decided to sleep like everyone else. Redson sighed and leaned back against MK.
Once everyone had gone to sleep it took a couple of hours for someone to stir.
And that someone was Nezha. He opened his eyes slowly and noticed Mo napping on his side. He grimaced and woke the cat up. Mo meowed and Nezha flinched. Mo carefully climbed up his body until he laid against his neck. With a content purr, the cat drifted back to sleep. Nezha stared at the cat for a moment before gently petting the cat. He lifted his head up to look around to figure out where he was.
His body ached from the fight but it definitely wasn't as bad as it had been when he passed out. Probably thanks to his celestial healing. He noticed that his weapons were not on him. Logically that made sense but he still wanted to know where they were in case of an attack.
As he sat up a little more Mo woke up and meowed in confusion. Nezha looked down at the cat for a moment before continuing to try to locate his weapons. Mo kept meowing, seemingly wanting Nezha to lay back down. Eventually, his movements and the cat's meowing seemed to catch someone's attention, Wukong's. The monkey king's ear twitched at the sounds and he sat up first looking back to who he had been leaning on before looking at Nezha.
Nezha looked at him for a moment torn between being embarrassed that he woke him up, or angry that apparently, Wukong had not shown up until after they got their butts kicked. Looking over the celestial monkey showed bandages which calmed Nezha's anger a bit. Wukong had stepped in. Good.
Wukong walked over and gently pushed down on Nezha's shoulder to get him to lay down again. "You're injured, you should rest," He explained.
Nezha rolled his eyes momentarily before responding, "I'm healing fine."
"Alright, the kid would prefer you stay lying down" Wukong sharply replied looking back at the mentioned kid.
"He's asleep," Nezha retorted quickly.
"If you're stressed about the demon we defeated him" Wukong informed in an attempt to convince Nezha to lay down.
Nezha knew what bait Wukong was tossing out. But not wanting to look childish he took it. Plus they had let him into their house. It would be rude to disappear. Wouldn't it? "No, I'm worried about my weapons. A warrior must always be armed." he replied.
Wukong sighed and backed off to look around. Surely MK wouldn't have put his items far away. Sure enough, he noticed them just out of Nezha's view, beside the couch MK and friends were napping in. He vaguely motions before saying "The kid placed it by him."
Nezha sighed and sunk back down onto the couch. Which made Mo purr happily and move against his side again. Wukong sighed as well and sat at Nezha's feet. Nezha eventually drifted off again to the soft purring of Mo. Wukong stayed as a silent guard over the sleeping people.
-----
It took an hour for the others to wake up, and about half an hour for the sounds of them talking to pull Nezha out of his sleep. Nezha looked at what the younger humans were doing. Mei was eating something. Redson was getting his bandages checked by Sandy and MK was messing with a half-asleep Wukong's tail. Seemed the king was more tired than he thought.
MK noticed him being awake first but opted not to speak in case it would wake Wukong up.
Mei however wasn't afraid of waking the king up. Nezha stared at Mei as she approached with someone flat and brown. He looked up at her trying not to betray his confusion.
"Have.. have u never had chocolate before?" Mei asked with a hint of surprise.
Nezha didn't know if he should lie to the kid or tell the truth. The confused look on Mei's face made him tell the truth. "No. We don't have chocolate in heaven." Even if they did, the lower ranks probably wouldn't get anything.
"Well here! Have some!" Mei offered. "It's sweet!" Nezha gave in and gently broke a square of chocolate off and put it in his mouth. As soon as his mouth registered how good it tasted his ears started twitching happily.
When Mei started looking at him funny his ears froze. And he quickly panicked to explain but she placed her hand on his shoulder and quietly asked. "Do you do that when you're happy?"
Nezha mutely nods and Mei continues with the same hushed tone, "Then it's okay! I do it too!"
"You do?" Nezha asked curiously as he reached out for another piece of chocolate and Mei just gave him the entire bar pretending to ignore the way he lit up.
"Yep!" She cheerfully responded and they left it at that.
-----
Nezha noticed the next couple of weeks that chocolate bars had been snuck into the food MK was so bent on delivering to him. Nezha could get his own food yet MK insisted saying he didn't mind. Nezha may not have understood it but it gave him a way to check up on Mk on the regular and it was nice to know the kid was okay.
But instead of leaving as usual after the delivery, MK stayed one day. He seemed unusually hyper and was happily shaking when he handed Nezha a cup of something. Nezha smelled it. You could never be too careful even with a friend, it smelled chocolatey and sweet. He looked back up at MK who was still smiling like a fool.
"Come on, drink it!" MK urged.
Nezha raised an eyebrow at his eagerness but took a drink anyway. It was a very chocolatey drink that was just as sweet as it smelled. Nezha smiled and his ears moved happily as he drank it which caused MK to cheer as if he had won something.
Nezha gave him a confused look but MK summoned the staff and said, "Enjoy your drink and meal Nezha!" Before vaulting off. Nezha was very bewildered why the boy gave him a drink but continued drinking. No wonder they liked chocolate so much. It tasted amazing. He looked off in the direction Mk left in and replied quietly even though he knew he couldn't hear him anymore "Thank you Mk"