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Mei has never been so happy to be back in MK’s apartment.
The fight with Lady Bone Demon had been, understandably, rough. Mei was the first one to get home, Tang calling MK away to deal with something. Dragon Sword propped up against the wall, Mei sluggishly wanders to the bed, face planting into the cozy sheets and sighing. It’s so nice to be home.
It isn’t long until MK comes back, the door opening with a click, “Sorry about that, Tang needed to redress my hands,” he almost immediately spots Mei on the bed, “Happy to be home?” He asks, clearly quite amused at the sight before him.
Mei responds with a very muffled “Yesss”, which makes MK chuckle as he joins her.
“Scooch,” he chuckles, nudging her gently. She complies, rolling over and giving MK room on his bed, “You staying here tonight?”
“Is that okay?”
“Yeah, of course,” MK responds, “Always okay.” Mei smiles.
The two are quick to settle in after that, Mei rests her head on his chest, picking up one of his hands and so gently fiddling with it; bending and extending his fingers. MK doesn’t move, staying quiet and watching his friend play with his hand. His tail thumps against the bed and Mei’s leg, just slightly curling around her before letting go. She doesn’t seem to mind.
“Do they hurt?” She asks softly (and somewhat out of the blue), shifting so MK is in her peripheral, “The burns?”
MK shrugs, “Sometimes… they're not as painful as before. Tang’s been pretty good about keeping up with dressing and treating them.”
“Good,” Mei hums, “I’m glad he keeps up with that stuff.” MK nods in agreement, playing absentmindedly with a strand of her hair. She rubs the tail end of the red bandage between the fingers of her free hand. Based on the rough feeling of it, she imagines it can’t be comfortable for MK to be wearing almost 24/7. Though, the thought that it might help the burns heal certainly is a comforting thought.
“Sometimes he wakes me up in the middle of the night just to put more ointment on it,” MK chuckles, recalling when he woke up to Tang shaking him at 3 am and insisted MK had to wake up for him to treat his hands properly.
“Yeah, that sounds like him,” Mei replies, a small smile on her face. The two sit silently for a while, Mei half asleep as she fidgets oh-so-carefully with his fingers, careful to avoid the places she knows are more painful than others.
“You wanna take them off?” MK asks, almost suddenly, breaking the silence, “I haven’t actually looked at them since Tang dressed them for the first time.” He chuckles awkwardly. Mei almost panics. She feels that familiar fiery anxiety bubble up in her chest. It takes her almost a full minute to snuff out that anxiety, but the smoke remnants of it remain. MK seems to pinpoint it rather quickly.
“You don’t have to, I just… thought maybe you’d want to see it, I guess? I dunno,” he says, shrugging as he rests his free hand on Mei’s head, “That and having fresh bandages might do me some good.”
She closes her eyes, sucking in a deep breath of air and letting it out again, “Can I?”
“Are you sure?” MK asks, somewhat surprised, “Mei, I won’t make-“
“Yes,” Mei interrupts, sitting up and moving to sit in front of him, “I want to see.” And MK follows, sitting up with his hands out in front of him.
Mei watches him unravel the bandages intently. She watches as he does so and consistently glances at Mei and briefly scans her face to make sure she doesn’t want him to stop, then he keeps going. It’s a pattern that seems to repeat itself until the bandage is fully off.
“Do you want just this one off or both?” He asks, choking back a wince as he slowly stretches his fingers apart from each other.
“No, just one….” MK nods, offering his hand to Mei. It makes her sick to even look at the blisters that decorate the red skin. She just looks at his hand, the one she used to hold without fear of injury now covered in welts and scars.
“I’m sorry,” She whispers, voice shaking and threatening to break as she tries so hard not to cry, “I didn’t mean… I’m so sorry.”
“Hey now, you know it wasn’t your fault,” He shakes his head, “You were overwhelmed and upset. Rightfully so, might I add.”
“Still I just…” A teardrop lands onto his now bare wrist, “I did that. That was me.”
MK hums, not quite sure how to answer her. He shakes his head, “And I forgive you for it.”
“Why?”
“Why wouldn’t I,” he responds, “It was me who grabbed you in the first place, right?”
Mei nods, daring to reach out and touch the almost untouched fingertips, “Yes bu-“
“Nope,” MK responds, popping the p, “I know what that guilt feels like. You hurt someone you love and it sucks to see the consequence of that. But I’m here… and you’re here, alive… and I’m telling you that this wasn’t your fault.”
“Thank you,” Mei responds, almost silently. MK simply nods, watching her trace a finger up and down his fingers.
“Besides,” He starts, smiling at his friend, “They’ll make for a pretty cool scar someday, won’t they?”
Mei smiles, humming, “Yeah, they will.”
“It’s not even a lame story!” MK exclaims, gesturing wildly with his other hand, “‘Yeah my super cool best friend gave me these! How, you ask? Well, she’s super cool and can harness the samadhi fire! Pretty cool, huh?!’” He mimics.
“Okay, okay,” Mei chuckles, rolling her eyes, “That does sound pretty cool.”
“Beats Monkey King's scar story by millions,” He smiles at her and fake scoffs, “The great Monkey King. Sun Wukong. Great Sage Equal to Heaven. He got THAT from falling down the stairs?”
And Mei full-on laughs. Frankly, it’s music to MK’s ears, haveing not heard her laugh since the fight against Lady Bone Demon.
“I forgot about that!” She says in between laughs and MK nods his head frantically, tail swaying happily behind him.
Laughing is a nice feeling, especially with Mei.
Eventually, the laughter dies down and Mei’s focus is back on his hands as she shifts to lie on her stomach. His hand barely rests on hers as she flips it, comparing the top of his hand to the bottom. From what she can see, only the palms are burnt. The tops are untouched by any severe effects of the burn (aside from the pink sunburn look to them).
“Are you in pain?” She asks him after a while.
MK shakes his head, “I’d tell you if I was.”
“Just checkin’,” she shrugs, “Can I take the other one off?”
“Go for it,” MK replies and winks at her, “You have to redress it though.”
“Do I get to pick the color?”
“Go for it.” Almost immediately, Mei is out of bed and perusing the assortment of gauze bandages that are on his dresser.
“Green it is!”
MK groans, faux annoyance laces his voice, “At least make one of them red! I’ve got a reputation to keep up, Dragon Girl!”
“Fineeeee,” Mei rolls her eyes as she walks back, a roll of green and red gauze in her hands. It feels much easier to get the second hand unwrapped. There’s no anticipation or fear. No anxiety or pent-up fire waiting to have an out. It’s nice.
“Feels nice to not have them on for a bit,” MK says quietly, rubbing his wrist, “They’re super itchy.”
“I can imagine,” Mei nods her head, “Hopefully you can have them off more as they heal.”
“If Tang lets me…”
“If Tang lets you.”
And Mei does the same thing with the other hand, gently turning it in her hands, examining the palms and tops of his hand. There’s some sort of comfort that comes with knowing that they are getting better. That comfort eats at the guilt; albeit slowly, but it happens nonetheless, and that’s something Mei is eternally grateful for.
“Alright!” Mei huffs, “I hope you’ve enjoyed your freedom but I need to wrap them back up. I have to sleep for at least 24 hours.”
“B-but-“ MK pulls his hand back, shielding it from her.
“MK, Tang will probably kill me if I don’t wrap them up again.”
“Yeah, fair point.” He surrenders his hand to her, watching as she wraps them back up - one in sea-foam green and the other in a bright red. She gasps as she sees the permanent marker on his nightstand. She reaches over, grabs it, and begins doodling on the bandages. Once they are adequately decorated in hearts, stars, and smiley faces, she caps the marker again and claps her hands together.
“Doctor Mei’s work has been done!”
“Thank you.”
“Anytime Monkie boy,” She says and ruffles his hair, “Sleep well, yeah?” Mei says, laying down
“You too, Mei.” He yawns, finally laying his head back down on his pillow next to her, his tail finally wrapping around one of her legs. He can practically hear her smile at the action.
For the first time in weeks, the two sleep safely.