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You didn’t hate the fire demon, that would be too strong of a word. But you weren’t sure that you liked him either. He was hot-headed literally and figuratively, referred to everyone as “peasant” and you weren’t even sure the guy knew your name. He’d tried to destroy you and your friends more times than you could count, and you heard people talking bad about him on the regular. You were pretty sure every single altercation you’d had with him was somewhere on the internet.
But despite all of that, you were now being forced to tolerate him since he was the best chance you all had at beating Spider Queen. That, and even though you’d never admit it, he didn’t look half-bad. His skin was fair, his hair was beautiful, and you wanted to see what he looked like without that red jacket of his. You noticed it slide down his shoulder once or twice, making it clear that the sweater underneath it didn’t have sleeves.
So there you were, staring at the wreckage that was his ship while half-mindedly listening to him explain his plan.
“One thing I do have,” He began, turning your attention away from the rubble. “Is this, The Spider Queen’s venom. It’s turned everyone into her slaves, but I can use it to make an antidote.”
“Great, so we can turn everybody back from gross spider people?” You hummed, earning a glare from him. You liked making him mad, he looked cute, and it was just too easy.
“It’s not that simple, you pest.” Great, there was that name-calling again. “In order to make an antidote I’ll need supplies and the only way to get them is.” He pointed up, gesturing to the sky. You could’ve sworn you saw the sparkles in MK’s eyes at that moment.
“Space?” He gasped, looking up in wonder.
“What?! No, you noodle brain!” Red Son huffed, “The Celestial Realm!”
“In his defense, you didn’t exactly say anything.” You joked, earning another glare. He was too easy. “What? I’m not lying.”
“You may not be lying, but you’re incredibly annoying.”
—
Red Son drew along the floor of the ship with chalk, drawing strange symbols and characters along it. It looked like some sort of portal spell, which made sense anyway. The way he moved his hands as went looked graceful, like you were witnessing him create a masterpiece. He could’ve been really good at art, or calligraphy if he didn't spend all his time trying to kill you. You stood over him as he continued before he stopped. He turned around with a scowl.
“Are you going to be watching me the entire time?” He asked, looking up at you.
“I dunno, does it really hurt to want to learn about portal spells? It might come in handy someday.” You crouched down next to him but he scooted away. “Come on, don’t be like that. I’m trying to be civil.”
“I can be however I wish, peasant. In case you’ve forgotten this truce of ours isn’t permanent.” He drew another character, pressing the chalk into the floor roughly. “Once my father is saved, we’ll go our separate ways and we can go back to hating each other like nothing happened. Just as we both want.”
“I don’t hate you.” You whispered, before standing up and walking away. “And that’s not what I want.” If you had looked back, you would’ve seen the look of shock on his face.
He stopped writing, only for a second. He didn’t know why, but hearing…that of all things from you somehow made him feel…he didn’t want to say good. But, it wasn’t bad either, like contentment. He couldn’t recall a single time that you’d ever shown him any sort of affirmation, outside of a joking manner of course. It was a tiny spark, one that he couldn’t let grow any further. He controlled fire, he’d be damned if he let it control him. He scribbled the last few characters on the spell, trying to ignore the pink dusting his cheeks.
—
"Uh, are we sure this is safe for mortals?" Tang questioned, looking down at the glowing symbols.
“If I tried to explain interdimensional travel to a bunch of peasants, it’d melt your brains!” Red snapped, making sure to look at you while he spoke. You just rolled your eyes at him.
“Right, he’s back to his usual self.” You thought as he started up the portal. He was so dramatic about it too, a faint breeze blowing as the symbol burst into a fiery glow.
“Are you sure this is even safe for us, Fire Boy?” You sassed, looking over at him. “How do we know this won't kill us all the second we go through?”
“Of course, it won’t.” He grumbled, stopping for a second. “Probably.”
“Probably?!”
You flew backward as the entire ship suddenly in front of a glowing portal in the sky, effectively sucking you through it and into the Celestial Realm. The skies were now a fainter blue, the air felt more clean, and you could see the nearing palace as you all flew toward it. It was a large palace in the skies, just as you’d imagined, but it was filled with fabulous architecture and scenery from beyond your dreams.
“I did say it would melt your brains.” Red Son joked, before snuffing out a small flame that was on your hair with his fingers. He looked at you with a smug expression as he walked towards the balcony.
“That little shit.” You huffed.
“So some special pills, a fancy peach, and a furnace.” Pigsy listed, “Where are we supposed to even find these things?”
The entire group looked at the demon, who, for once, didn't seem to have an answer.
“What’s wrong prince, you don't have an answer?” You teased, getting a laugh from Mei.
“Red Boy doesn't know!” She added, making the both of you giggle. He seemed offended by this, and you could've sworn you saw his hair spark a bit.
“I know they’re somewhere!” He retaliated, “But I’m a demon, it's not like I’ve been here before.”
“Right, but according to legend the peaches should be in the Heavenly Orchard.” You explained, “The pills should be in Lao Tzu’s alchemy lab, and the furnace should be in the Jade Emperor’s throne room. Right, Mr. Tang?”
“That’s…actually right,” Tang said. “Unless they were smart enough to move them anyway.”
You looked over to Red Son, who was practically fuming and judging from the sparks in his air, almost literally. It seemed Mr. Tang’s rambles were useful after all.
“Alright then,” Red sighed, stretching his arm. “I'll be off to grab that peach. Toodles!” He leaped off the railing of the ship before you quickly grabbed onto him, pulling him back onto the ship.
“Oh no you don’t!” You shouted, just as he escaped his grip. “Why should we let you just wander on your own!?”
“You just wait here like an obedient little peasant.” He said while waving his hand. “I wouldn’t expect you to be able to find the peaches yourself.”
“Uh, they already ran off.”
The group turned their heads to see you already running towards the orchard, flipping off the fire demon while you were at it. You heard a couple of rounds of shouting before the demon was running after you, cursing all the while.
“Uh…” MK shrugged. “Well, I guess they’re going after the peaches.”
—
You both walked through the garden, making sure that the celestial maidens didn’t see the both of you sneaking around. While he was being completely silent, you couldn’t help but gasp at the beauty of the heavenly orchard’s wildlife, even the ones that didn’t bear fruit, were absolutely breathtaking. You were so caught up by the scenery that you didn’t notice the growing annoyance of the fire demon.
“Could you pay attention? This truce is already on unstable ground.” He snapped, “I’d rather not have to save you because of your own stupidity.”
“Well sorry for being amazed at the fact that I’m in literal heaven.” You sassed, shoving your hands in your pockets. “Could you try to not be an ass for five seconds and actually enjoy something?”
“It’s kind of hard to enjoy anything considering our situation!” Red Son griped as he stopped walking. “Especially having to work alongside you morons who call yourselves heroes!”
“Didn’t you help MK beat up your dad?”
“What? That was one time, my father The Great Demon Bull King was…” He paused, as though the mere action of remembering the incident scared him. “Not himself.” He seemed sad for a moment, and for a second you could feel actual remorse for him. “But in no other instance would I ever assist that sorry excuse of a hero!”
“He beat you though, didn’t he?” You teased, getting another huff from him.
“Why are you even talking to me like we’re friends or something?” You blinked and he stopped walking. “Unlike you weak-minded mortals I have no need for friends, whether it be the noodle boy or especially you!”
You bother cutting him off, you just stared at him as he finished his rant.
“So if you don’t mind, I’d like to get going!”
He expected some other snide comment from you or some sort of banter, which seemed to be the backbone of whatever relationship you both had. But to his surprise, you just kept staring at him, hurt, before you lost eye-contact.
“Let’s just…go grab the peach.” You walked past him, leaving him absolutely dumbfounded.
“You’re not…going to say anything?” He asked, following you through the garden. He only got a mumble in response. “No snide comment, no clever comeback…nothing?”
“What? Like you suddenly care?” You turned around, looking at him. “You’ve made it very clear what you think of me, but unlike what you said I DO care. So let’s get that peach and save everybody. Then you can go back to hating me.”
“But what about you?”
“Excuse me?”
“You don’t hate me, you said that earlier.” The silence that consumed the both of you was awkward. He wasn’t used to being quiet this long, especially with you.
“It’s complicated. You're kind of annoying sometimes and you get angry easily.” You explained, getting a frown from him. “But I’ve always thought your fire-powers were neat. Plus making an entire army of bull-clones is very impressive. That and your hair’s cool.”
You could’ve sworn you saw him blush for a split moment, before he coughed.
“For what it’s worth…” He started, “I don’t think you don’t care. Rather I think you care too much, you’re very empathetic. Constantly thinking of other people even at the expense of yourself. That and your clothes aren’t…horrible.”
“You’re bad at complimenting people.” You laughed, but he could still hear the distress in your tone. “You've really never had friends before, huh?”
“I’ve never had a need to, I’ve spent my entire life working to prove myself a proper asset to my family. If I wasted that time with acquaintances of any kind I could grow soft and dependent.”
“That’s not true. I’ve made a few friends here and there, and having someone with you during your hardest times is good. You have somebody to lean against, to keep you in check, to be there for you when nobody else would. That’s what friends are.”
For the first time since knowing him, you heard a soft genuine laugh from him.
“Did…did you just laugh? Did I make you laugh, Red Son?”
“You’re stupid, you know that?”
“Yeah yeah, now let’s grab that peach.”
—
He hoisted you onto his shoulders, leaning you closer to the tree so you could grab a peach. It was impressive how he was even able to carry you so effortlessly, like you were a feather instead of a full person.
“Do I even weigh anything to you?” You broke the peach off from a branch. “It doesn't seem like you’re struggling at all.”
“I’m a demon, we're naturally stronger than mortals. That and I work out in order to maintain my strength, but I honestly don't need to.”
“So you have a magical cheat code? Boooo.”
“It’s not a cheat code, it’s a biological fact. It’s not my fault you were born as a weak human.”
“So there’s not even a slight chance for me to become stronger, like demon-level strong?”
“It can be possible, but I’ve never heard of any demons wasting their time with such a thing. What’s the point of having humans that can overthrow you?”
“I dunno, maybe a forever friend or something.”
“That sounds stupid.”
“You’re stupid. Let’s just get this peach back to the others so we can-”
You both froze as a shadow loomed over the both of you. It was one of the spider-demons, you think his name was Goliath or something. He was built like a tank, even more than Sandy, and he smiled at the both of you like you were his next meal.
“Well, well.” He looked down at you, getting closer than you found comfortable. “Looks like you and your little boyfriend are coming with me.”
…
“THEIR?!”
“BOYFRIEND?!”
You quickly leaned back, letting Red Son throw an attack at him.
“FLAMING FIST OF DIGNITY!”
He quickly shoots a flame into the spider-demon’s face, letting you both run off while he is distracted.
“Get off of me you idiot!”
“There’s no time for that!” He kept sprinting through the garden, becoming more panicked as you both heard Goliath sprinting behind you. “Just teleport us already!”
He quickly made another flame, sending you both back towards the ship. You felt your stomach drop when you realized you were both in the air, crashing onto the floor of the ship.
“Oh, there you guys are!”
Apparently you you both were the last two to make it back to the ship, and you could hear the sound of Mei and MK snickering at the sight of the both of you. You were positioned with Red Son on top of you, unknowingly pinning you to the floor. When he realized why they were laughing he quickly got off of you.
“Shut up you noodle brains!” He kept berating the two of them, leaving you with the other three to watch it go down. Sandy looked down at you, knowingly, with the widest possible smile he could muster.
“Well uh..we got the peach.” You held the fruit up, awkwardly.
“I think you got a bit more than that.”
—
He left the shower, having washed off the small pieces of web that were still stuck on him. He got to work brushing through his wet hair, lightly pulling out any knots that formed. But it didn't matter how much he cleaned and scrubbed, since he couldn't wash off the shame.
Shame from working alongside those heroes.
Shame from being unable to free his father by himself.
And shame from you.
He tossed his hairbrush to the side in frustration. He grabbed a hair tie and loosely tied his hair into a high ponytail. He walked out of the bathroom and threw himself onto his bed. He grabbed a pillow and screamed into it, as though he were a teenage girl finding out she had a crush.
“You have somebody to lean against, to keep you in check, to be there for you when nobody else would. That’s what friends are.”
That’s what you said, but this didn't feel like friendship. It wasn't even close.