It was Po's third day living with them, and Fan Hai was sure that things would start looking up.
The first sign everything would go well was that Ying didn't give them a rude awakening at the ungodly hours of the morning. Fan woke up with a satisfying stretch and the sun on his face, the house silent save for one of the cats trying to claw its way into his room. He dressed in his comfiest kung fu clothes while checking the various social media apps on his phone. Everything was going to go well.
He could have sworn he and Cong had the same mind, as they both opened their doors simultaneously and came face-to-face at the hallway. "Ready for a day of training?" Cong asked, grinning and shutting his door with a slam.
"Without Shifu? Always."
They started to go downstairs, eager for food. "Did you finish the acupuncture on Po last night?"
Fan scrunched his nose. "I guess… I mean it was pretty late and I could have done more – but Po seemed alright with it."
"You know what, I was thinking about this last night," Cong started thoughtfully. "how did he manage to get so injured when Shifu just… slammed him." He said the last two words almost disbelievingly.
"I was thinking about that too!" Fan turned to him excitedly. "His injuries looked like he'd been slammed twice!"
"But we only heard one slam…" Cong said thoughtfully, then looked at Fan with wide eyes. "You don't think Ying actually…?" He trailed off, not needing to say anymore.
Fan shrugged. "I wouldn't put it past her, I don't think she likes him at all."
"Yeah but she made him breakfast yesterday."
Fan could have choked. "What?! She's never made me breakfast!" He exclaimed, outraged at the mere thought of Ying being so hospitable.
"Speaking of, should we go out for breakfast?" Cong put a hand suggestively on the knob of the front door after bounding over to it. "You know, order some food for everyone."
Fan narrowed his eyes at him. "You're ignoring my crisis."
"Stop being so self-centered and let's pay for some overpriced food, I'm starving." Cong rolled his eyes and opened the door.
"Wait, just have some patience dude," Fan backpedalled towards the stairs again. "I'm in training clothes, lemme go change –"
"Telling me to be patient is a bit rich coming from you." Came Cong's mutter.
Fan pulled a more normal-looking shirt over his head and exchanged his trousers for jeans. Blending in was essential – according to Shifu anyway. Ah, that's something else we haven't told Po, he realised, while trying to get the stiff denim to cooperate with him. I'll get Yu to do it, she's good at that stuff.
With the knowledge that his friends were picky eaters, he stuck his head into each of their rooms to gather a list of what everyone wanted.
"Something spicy." Ying said, not glancing up from her laptop. "Sauce on the side."
"Tofu buns." Jia said while examining his hair in the mirror of his room. "Actually no, make that laksa."
Po was easy and just said "anything", another sign for Fan that this day would go smoothly.
"Bubble tea and dumplings." Yu muttered from underneath her bedsheets.
Fan tutted. "You shouldn't drink so much of that stuff, it's not good for you."
Her duvet pulled down slightly to show a tired pair of eyes glare at him. "I am not Ying, you don't have to baby me."
He scoffed. "You are second youngest though."
"Bubble tea, large cup," She repeated, ignoring him. "and I'm not second youngest anymore, Po is."
Fan just sighed and made a note of her order on his phone. If Shifu knew how much sugar she consumed in those damn bubble teas he'd throw a fit.
"By the way, could you – like, de-brief Po?" He asked her reluctantly.
Yu frowned, sitting up. "De-brief him? I thought we already did that."
"But we didn't tell him about… you know, the little things," Fan gestured helplessly with his hands, not sure how to explain what he wanted to say. "I don't want to say lifestyle but – yeah, you know what I mean."
"Oh – I get you!" She nodded happily.
It was as if a light dinged above his head.
"Take him bird feeding and explain then!" He said triumphantly. Fan was sure he was a genius, it was the best idea he'd had in a while. "He seems a bit shaken in the house, I think getting out would be good for him!"
Yu grimaced. "Jia's not gonna be happy about that."
Fan would have said a scalding comment if he weren't with Yu, who currently held the title of 'the one who will defend her friends with life and limb', it was too early for a fight and in all honesty he did not feel like getting physical on a resting day. "He'll have to deal with it, if Po's going to stay then they need to at least talk."
Yu tilted her head in thought, still grimacing. "Alright… but you need to tell –"
"Okay thanks bye!" Fan called out quickly, slamming her door shut on her words.
No way was he going to tell Jia that he needed to spend even more time with Po. He wanted to buy breakfast with all his bones intact thank you very much.
Cong tapped his foot impatiently at the door, still wating in the same spot. "Well you took your time."
He jumped down the stairs three at a time and stumbled into Cong with a laugh. "I was asking everyone what they wanted because I'm such a good friend." Fan smiled in self-satisfaction and held his head up, opening the door and stepping out.
"Five laps round the courtyard, go!"
Po's jaw dropped in shock but didn't bother disobeying him and resolutely got started on his five laps.
It was the middle of Po's third day living with them, and his first official training session.
Cong smiled to himself, he could see why Shifu liked being a teacher now. It was infinitely better to be on the giving rather than receiving end of reprimand or harsh instruction. After getting put on training duty for Po he had initially dreaded it. This was their day off, and he'd planned to spend it with Fan and, while Shifu was away, relaxing in his bed with Fan and Netflix. And though it got taken away from him, he found that training wasn't so bad, not really. Well, he thought sagely, we haven't got to the hard stuff yet.
He reclined back on the chair he took outside and put his feet up on the spindly outdoors table Yu had insisted they buy. Taking a sip of his tea he revelled cruelly in watching Po suffer just as Shifu did to him.
Though he did have the teensiest, tiniest ounce of guilt for being so mean.
At the fourth lap Cong waved him over.
"You can stop now, I think that was… sufficient – as a warm-up." He said, looking Po up and down.
He was certainly not in good shape. Cong was a firm believer that the way someone looked was no defining factor to their health. But this… this was a different case. It was so obvious that Po had little to no experience with physical exercise.
Po took a few deep gulping breaths and finally stopped wheezing. "What's – what's next?" He asked despite the sweat dripping at his hairline and his heavy exhales.
Cong had to try hard not to let the shock show on his face at Po's enthusiasm. "Let's start you off with – errrr…" He faltered, realising that he had no real training plan for Po.
"So how come we're not working today?" Po piped up, having now caught his breath as Cong searched the courtyard for Shifu's possible notes (as if he took notes on their progress anyway).
"Because it's Tuesday, we're closed on Wednesdays I thought you of all people would know that." He looked at Po quizzically, who in turn was shooting him the same look.
"Tuesday? Why Tuesday?" Perplexed was Po's permanent facial expression at this point. "Why not the weekend or maybe Monday or Friday?"
Cong shrugged. "Why not Tuesday?"
"Because it's weird."
"Well it's our day off, so stop insulting our choice of day."
Sighing at the lack of guidance he had on training Po, he took out his phone and sent a quick text to Fan for help.
"Do you actually use this?!" Came Po's excited exclamation.
Cong looked up in confusion and turned around to find Po holding a bo staff.
His precious bo staff.
"Hey!" He ran over and snatched it out of Po's hands more forcefully than he intended. "That's mine."
Po was unaffected by Cong's reaction, and he gasped. "Do you use it to fight? Do you bring it on missions with you?!"
Cong gripped it possessively. "No," He said tightly, sounding much more like Jia than himself. "we're not allowed to bring weapons." His throat constricted around the words that caused him so much grief.
"But you can fight with it?"
"Yes!" Cong misery was quickly replaced by frustration, could this guy not read body language? "It's mine! Of course I can fight with it!" He sighed, pressing a pained hand to his face. It was better to walk away – before he started sobbing like an idiot.
"Then why can't you take it with you?" Cong was really starting to see Ying's dislike for Po. He continued walking away, making it very clear that their conversation was over.
He swung open the back door with a bang, and had to stop himself from wincing at how expensive the hit against the wall sounded. Shifu would surely gripe at him about the dent later. "Wouldn't it be easier to use a weapon?" Po carried on. "Then the fight would be fair if –"
Cong whipped around, stopping Po in his tracks. "No!" He yelled, frustration finally getting at him. "Obviously it would be easier! But we can't bring them!"
Po was looking it him as if he'd shouted a lot louder than he actually did. "I – I don't understand."
Cong gritted his teeth. "Nothing new there." He remarked rather aggressively, almost wincing immediately after.
"I've never seen someone fight with a bo staff… can you – show me?" He asked, suddenly shy.
"Alright then." Cong bit out, striding past Po and back outside. "Alright then." He repeated to himself in a growl, forgetting all previous sympathy for Po.
He took the second bo staff they had lying around for sparring and tossed it to Po, who caught it with a fumble. Not bothering to take a deep breath and get into the right mindset, he readied himself into a kung fu stance, staff ready.
"Come on, let's fight." He said threateningly, beckoning Po closer with his hand.
Po was frozen on the spot, holding the staff inexpertly. "Is this part of… training?" He squeaked.
Cong tilted his head. "Sort of, now come on! I want to fight."
Po took a tiny step forwards. "I don't know if I'm ready for this stuff," He began worriedly. "I just ate and I don't think –"
"AAARGH!" Cong ran towards him with a battle cry and whipped the staff into his side.
Po yelped loudly and scurried away.
Cong span the staff round himself in his favourite combination and got into a lower, much more powerful stance. "COME ON!" He shouted, rage uncharacteristically taking over as his primary emotion. "FIGHT!"
Po almost dropped the staff in his surprise. His first mistake was his stance. Had he learnt nothing from studying all that kung fu? He stood with his legs too close together and completely upright, like he was scared to take up too much room. Standing like that would never get him enough power to properly hurt anyone with a bo staff.
He took a tentative step forward and Cong's split-second decision to go easy on him was broken as, in a stupid moment of impulsiveness, he circled his staff under Po's legs in a strong hit. It buckled his knees and Po collapsed to the ground in obvious pain.
Gripping his staff tighter, he fought against the instinct to hit Po even harder. "FIGHT ME!" He yelled again.
What was he doing? This was so unlike him. What are you doing stop being a dick.
His inner monologue paused as Po scrambled amongst the dirt and Cong took the opportunity to kick him further back, relishing in finally getting the chance to use his staff. After struggling against Cong's blows, Po stood up with fresh determination, sweating and out of breath. He delivered a weak, aimless strike, one of someone who'd only watched kung fu. Cong blocked it deftly, letting the disappointment show in his face.
"FOOTWORK!" He roared, knocking Po's staff out of his hands. "GET INTO A PROPER STANCE!"
At a loss of what to do without a staff, Po simply gave him a look of confused alarm. "W – what?"
"FUCKING FOOTWORK!"
Po still stood with his legs too close together. For fuck's sake –
Completely done with their excuse of a spar, Cong went to deliver a final strike to Po's shoulder –
Except he chose that moment to duck down.
The bo staff hit his skull with a dull thunk and Po dropped to the floor for the… second? No, third time since coming to the Palace.
Cong simply stared at the damage he'd done, still holding his staff like a lifeline.
"Ah fuck…" He muttered. He was so in for it.
I fucked up
Was all he texted. Within a minute (record time) Fan, Yu, Jia and Ying were thundering down the stairs and bursting through the back door.
"WU CONG!" Bellowed Yu.
He gulped, hiding his bo staff behind his back.
"WHAT PART OF DON'T KNOCK HIM OUT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!" She was furious, even as much as Ying usually was.
He stumbled back as she stormed towards him, hackles raised and ready to fight. She grabbed Po's forgotten staff and directed it into a reverse strike high above her head. Cong was quick to block it and the sticks collided so hard he was almost afraid of them snapping. Having much more training with a staff than she did, he span his staff into hers, hitting it harshly. She countered with another strike but this time it was weaker, and Cong's pressing block was enough to cause her to fall to the dirt.
The sight of one of his best friends in pain for his stupidity was enough to snap him back into his usual demeanour.
"Sorry Yu!" He apologised, and held his hand out to help her up, heavy guilt suddenly prominent in his mind. "Are you alright? Honestly, I didn't mean to –"
Yu, ever sympathetic, didn't seem too annoyed at his unnatural outburst, and tugged herself up on his hand. "It's cool, I guess you needed that." She said, grimacing. "I know you've been a bit… off recently, we all have."
He nodded, eternally grateful that she didn't get angry at him and demand for a re-match without the staffs.
During their angry spar, Fan had knelt down to examine Po. He waved them over, looking more than just a little pissed.
"Could you not have used a punching bag or something?" He pointed at yet another bruise on Po.
"Or even sparred with one of us." Jia suggested darkly. "You just had to take it out on a guy who can't even touch his toes."
Cong gritted his teeth. "I didn't mean to," Fan fixed him with a glare at the pathetic excuse. "I was aiming for his shoulder anyway, and he was basically asking for it!"
"How though?" Jia pressed. "I highly doubt he wanted to fight with you considering he doesn't know how."
"He asked about why I don't bring my staff on missions," Cong relentlessly carried on his defence, crossing his arms over his chest, refusing to see how unjustified their fight was. "and I made it very clear that I didn't want to talk about it. I just said that we weren't allowed and tried to walk away, you know, like an adult." He spat out that last part immaturely.
"Then what lead to your stupid tantrum?" Fan asked, eyes narrowed.
"Then he asked me to show him how I fight with it!" He exclaimed, suddenly angry again at the fresh memory.
"But that didn't mean he wanted you to fight with him!" Yu rolled her eyes. "We need to stop being so violent…"
Before Cong could point out how much of a hypocrite she was being, Ying spoke up for the first time.
"I don't think what you did was that bad." She said idly. "You did what he asked, and he got a real lesson of what we do around here."
Jia looked at her as if she were deranged. "I'm pretty sure he got a real lesson when Shifu knocked him out the first time." He said sagely.
Ying ignored him, still addressing Cong. "And I can also see how you lashed out, it was understandable."
Fan gasped, pointing at Ying accusingly. "So you did beat him up yesterday!" He exclaimed triumphantly. "I knew it! His injuries were way worse than just one body slam!"
Ying shook her head furiously. "No! I didn't do anything!"
Fan ignored her defiance. "I've connected the dots – !" He carried on.
She set her jaw. "You didn't connect shit." Ying said dryly.
"I've connected them!" Fan was unrelenting enough that Ying soon gave up on her pathetic lie.
She closed her eyes in what could only be guilt. "Okay I get it, I overreacted…"
Jia gestured helplessly. "So I guess he was prepared for it. Great, just great."
"Oh you cannot talk!" Cong turned to Jia suddenly, poking him in the chest with his bo staff. "You've been the least welcoming out of all of us!"
Jia had the nerve to be shocked. "Me?!" He spluttered. "Unlike you, Fan and Ying, I haven't threatened or beaten him up yet!"
Yu sighed deeply and closed her eyes. "Guys… can we please not argue…"
"But unlike me, Fan and Ying, you haven't even made an attempt at a proper conversation with him!"
"Yes I did! The first night he was here!"
"Not properly! You even went to go sleep in Yu's room! Which, by the way, Shifu would have killed you for."
"Okay stop!" Yu stood between them, scowling. "Arguing helps no one and that's all we've been doing since Po got here. So please, let's just focus on getting him conscious again."
Cong deflated, shame burning inside him. As always, Yu was right. They had definitely become more argumentative and… dare he say violent since Po arrived. Of course they had their little petty fights and stunts, but it was all in jest, the familiarity between them so strong that any real argument was difficult to begin. Fan and Ying resolutely took Po's lifeless form and started to carry him back to the house, Yu following them with a huff.
Cong tapped Jia on the shoulder. "No more bad blood?" He suggested.
Jia's usual wry smile appeared again. "We never had bad blood to begin with, you know that."
Cong elbowed him playfully. "Yu is right, you are Icarus."
The smile turned into a groan. "Seriously… I thought no one would pick up on that nickname..."
"You have to give it to her, it's inventive." Cong chuckled. "Though I've only heard it a few times, which is probably why it didn't catch on to the rest of us."
Jia rolled his eyes. "She only calls me that when I've pissed her off."
"And somehow that's so rare," Cong shook his head. "how, young Icarus, do you stay on her good side?"
Jia tapped the side of his nose annoyingly. "That's a secret."
It was Po's late afternoon of his fourth day living with them, and Yu stood at the bottom of the stairs with Jia close-by at the front door.
Yu dangled the plastic bag in her hand. "PO!" She called.
"Hey hey!" Jia made small movements to get them towards the front door. "What are you doing?!" He whispered.
She elbowed him away with a frown. "PO! COME DOWN-!"
"No no no no!" He put two strong hands around her shoulders and tried to steer her round. "We don't want him to-"
She threw him off angrily. "We do want him to come with us! He's living here now so you need to have an actual conversation with him!" Ignoring the shake of his head, she stomped over to the stairs. "PO COME ON!"
The sound of clambering steps and Po was making his way down. "What – what is it? What's going on?" He asked, seeming almost frightened to know what was in store for him.
She plastered a wide grin on her face and held up the bag. "You're coming with us to feed the birds!" She said cheerily.
"Uhhh – what?"
"None of us like eating the ends of bread, so every time we finish a loaf we collect them all then me and Jia go to the river and feed them to the birds."
Po's mouth fell open and he only said a long: "Uhhhhh…"
Yu made a "come hither" gesture and he obliged hesitantly. "Don't you do training or something when you're not working?"
She grimaced, remembering their heavy responsibilities. "Yeah… " She affirmed slowly. "but Shifu's not here so we get to relax a little – and we did just do a day of work at the Palace." She pointed in the direction of the Palace. It was Po's fourth day living with them, but it was also his second day working with them. And Yu had to admit that since he was a new employee he was dead weight added to their day.
"So this is what you guys do for fun around here?" He sounded so on-edge that she had to stop herself from laughing.
"Feeding the birds is what me and Jia do to pass the time," She nodded at Jia, who was standing at the door, sulking childishly. "we do other stuff for fun, but sometimes we just need to wind down, be with nature, y'know?" Ugh, I'm rambling, she gripped the bag tighter and opened the door.
Feeding the ends of bread to the birds was a little… tradition her and Jia had been doing since their group was formed. Four years earlier, they'd found while making toast that everyone avoided the end of the loaf. It was an off-hand suggestion from Jia that they should feed the birds, one which he wasn't entirely on board with. But she rolled with it anyway, and after spending an hour or so at the river, they realised it was a good way to sort of have a calm moment between the craziness. Ying, Fan and Cong didn't enjoy it as much as they did, so it became more of a "Yu and Jia" thing to do.
Luckily for them, it was another sunny day, but with a light breeze easing the humidity.
"Where are we going?" Asked Po, following behind them.
"Have you ever been to the forest before?" Yu glanced back at him and his face was just as it permanently seemed to be now, confused.
"No, but –"
"That's where we're going."
The forest was behind the high mountain the Jade Palace sat atop of. The Palace was already on the outskirts of the city, and would have allowed them almost complete isolation if it wasn't a tourist attraction. The trek down initially felt more like a hike, or rather, looked like a very steep hike. But it really wasn't. Yu and Jia had figured out pretty early on a nice little trail to follow, with less of a drop and less danger. It took them directly down to the bottom of the earth, where the river ran freely and an old bench sat next to it.
No one else ever appeared. Not even stray dog walkers. And more than a few times Yu wondered why the trail was built and the bench was placed if it was a desolate area.
Jia jogged to keep up with her and bent down to whisper in her ear. "What are you trying to achieve by doing this?"
Yu had to grit her teeth. "There's still so much we haven't explained to him," She ignored Jia's sigh. "he's confused and we can't have that."
"And we couldn't do that in the house because…?"
"I – I don't know actually." Yu frowned, why exactly had it been such a good idea for them to take Po bird feeding? They could explain to him in the house. Whatever Fan said about the house making Po on edge was extremely unapparent to her. In comparison, the forest was probably worse since it was an isolated area and Po's fears of them suddenly attacking him (she had to thank Cong for that) would be much more rational.
"Who told you that we had to do it outside?" Jia pressed further.
"Fan," She said, then pondered carefully over the next events dictating their current activity. "but that was yesterday, and I decided against it because of… well, Cong."
"And then?"
"Ying was really on board with the idea, and she was really, I don't know – like – really pushing it?"
Jia hummed, frowning also, biting his lip. That was something she found funny about him. He'd catch his lip between his teeth when he was deep in thought.
"Okay, whatever you're thinking, stop." She took his hand and squeezed it.
He didn't reciprocate the gesture. "It could just be that Ying wanted some alone time, without him in the house," He said, more to himself than her. "but I feel like there's something else to it. She didn't seem that keen on telling him about us, so why would she want us to dedicate a good hour to explanations? It just doesn't add up."
"Just stop," Yu elbowed him, more force behind the action. "this is Ying we're talking about, what ulterior motives could she have without telling us?"
He stayed silent, looking down at the ground, rice hat obscuring his face.
Yu sighed loudly. "Let's just forget about all the dramatics and enjoy our time to relax, okay?" The hat lifted and a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. "I like feeding the birds and I'd rather not have our time ruined by –"
"You guys are pretty loud." Po called from behind them.
They turned round and he was watching them boredly with a resigned look on his face and mild exhaustion from the long trek.
"I didn't hear much," He said quickly. "but I wanted to say something before you gave away one of your secrets."
The comment teetered dangerously on the edge of snarky, but Yu let it slide.
"Sorry about that! Thanks for letting us know –"
"One of our secrets?" Jia obviously had other ideas. "Are you… are you saying that we've been – erm – overly secretive?" His tone was apprehensive and Yu wanted to give him a slap to shut up.
"Uh, yes?" Po said as if it was obvious and gestured around him with an impatient hand. "Your whole thing is about secrets! Apparently I'm living with you now and I hardly know who you are!" It was hard to keep a straight face when Po was so obviously angry at them.
Yu stepped forward, crossing the gap between them. "What do you want to know then?"
"Who are you guys?! You're the Furious Five but where did you even come from? Were you just born in that house then you formed a team of spies?" Po visibly gritted his teeth, his stance becoming a little stiffer. "I don't even know how old you are! Do your parents know about this? Does anyone else? Is this whole thing even legal? And for the last time, what's going to happen with me?!"
"Okay, that's quite a lot," She grimaced pointed to a bench a little further down where the river ran, sparkling with water and inhabited by ducks, pigeons and various other birds.
Po followed her sulkily, still steaming from how aggravated the situation was making him. Jia sat delicately on the far end of the bench, crossing his long legs together. Po sat on the other end and Yu Ting placed herself between them, almost acting like a mediator.
"Who are we?" She repeated his question back to him, opening the bag and taking out a piece of bread and handing it to Jia. "Well, normal people… I guess. Aside from being spies, we have our jobs at the Palace, our social lives, and generally very average things like that." She shrugged, there was no other way to explain it.
Po nodded slowly. "That… makes sense."
"As for where we came from –" She glanced a look at Jia, who was staring passively out to the river. "that's more of a long story."
It was a story Yu didn't really know the full extent of if she had to be honest. They hardly discussed their beginnings, always moving onwards and upwards in their lives.
"To keep it concise, I had a pretty normal childhood. I went to school and took dance classes in the evening. The only thing that wasn't normal was –" She stopped, frowning at how to word it. "well I was actually home-schooled and I - er, danced more than focused on my academics."
At her hesitation, Jia placed a hand on her knee and she covered it with her own. She chuckled uncomfortably and carried on. "I was at a dance audition when Ying found me. I was… sixteen and she was asking for a dancer – and I didn't do very well at the audition – so I followed her, thinking it was something to do with my career."
Po was frowning, watching her carefully. "It sounds like a stupid move, I know, but it ended with me becoming part of the Furious Five and the rest is either history or confidential." She shrugged, knowing that her side of the story alone did not make much sense.
"And what about the others?" Po pressed on persistently, eyes flickering to Jia, who was still mute.
Yu looked at Jia hopefully, giving his hand another squeeze. "Jia? Do you want to…?"
He sighed, turning slightly to finally face Po. "There's not much to it really. I was the same as Yu, went to school, finished school, and I took a gap year to work as a cleaner. It was good pay and a way for me to get my finances sorted." Yu didn't comment on his lack of detail and monotonous explanation. "Then when I was eighteen and only a few months into the job, I met Ying."
"Let me guess, she was asking for a cleaner?"
Jia hummed and nodded. "She was really young, like fifteen, and I went with her because at the time I was sort of reckless, I'd only just moved out and being a cleaner is seriously boring."
Yu had to stifle a laugh, from the sounds of it they were both extremely trustworthy of a random stranger. Po appeared to thinking along the same lines, judging from his expression.
"What about Fan Hai and Wu Cong?" He asked.
Yu shook her head with finality. "That's for them to tell," She tore off an edge from the bread and threw it to a hungry-looking pigeon. "now for how old we are, Ying's the youngest, she's nineteen, I'm twenty, Cong and Jia are both twenty-two and Fan's twenty-three."
"I thought you were… younger."
"That's because she's small." Jia commented out the corner of his mouth.
Yu elbowed him with an eye roll. "And also because when we're around each other we can be… pretty immature, you know how it is when you're with your friends, you do stupid things." She thought back to some of the memorable moments they'd had together fondly. If Po fit in nicely with them, she was sure there'd be no problems at all. "What was the next question?"
"Your parents, do they know about this?"
Jia's hand tightened on her knee and she bit her lip. "That's – that's confidential, I think."
"But what am I supposed to tell my dad?" He asked, almost pleadingly.
"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry, I don't know what's going to happen – we just have to let time tell." Yu really did feel sorry for him because she really had no idea what their next move would be. Shifu wanted him out, but Po wanted to stay, and with how much he knew there was no way to get him out. But considering his dad lived only in the city, the prospect of him becoming a spy seemed almost impossible.
And my other question, does anyone else know? About this whole… thing."
"I'm sorry Po, I know it seems like we're just making excuses, but that is extremely confidential."
Po frowned and opened his mouth. "Confidential as in, we could literally be sent to prison if we tell you." Jia said firmly, shutting up any retort he had.
"And no to this being legal." He added. "We work against the government, that's why our identities have to be protected."
"That's… really cool." Po breathed, and Jia sighed out of exasperation.
"It is isn't it?" Yu agreed happily.
"And for the last time – we don't know what will happen with you," Jia said, enunciating each word with a sombre tone. "it's an unfortunate situation for everyone, but it's out of our hands. Everything comes from higher up."
"Jia!" Yu exclaimed in interruption. "Shut up! You're worse than Fan!"
His eyes widened at the realisation that he almost incriminated himself and pulled his hat down. "I shouldn't have said that… I should not have said that…" He muttered.
Yu turned back to Po, who was giving them bewildered looks. "Ignore him," She elbowed Jia in the side again as payback. "so uh – any other questions?" She asked airily, attempting to move the conversation away from the previous subject.
"Yeah…" Po watched Jia closely. "why is he wearing that hat and the not the one he usually wears around the Palace?" He pointed to Jia's precious rice hat accusingly.
"I think that's a bit too personal for him." Yu said smugly, smirking evilly.
"Shut up Yu, Po don't listen to her, it's not personal." He huffed and put his hand over her mouth.
Yu shot her tongue out to lick him childishly, and he retracted his hand with a yelp, wiping it dry on his shirt. "Yu Ting! That's gross!"
She just laughed at him. "That's not what you said the other week."
"Oh now who's worse than Fan." He retorted.
"Okay, okay." Po said loudly, breaking them out of their immature back-and-forth. "Back to your hat?"
"Oh, right, yes." Jia cleared his throat. "I'm not allowed to wear the rice hat in public."
Po blinked. "What?"
"Shifu doesn't let me, actually, Shifu doesn't let us do a lot of things… - but I like wearing a hat, so I have other, normal-looking caps that I wear when I work and when I go out."
"Wait, what else doesn't Shifu let you do?"
"Well, when I finally did move out, I wanted to grow out my hair, probably down to my shoulders, because I've always liked that sort of look." Jia ran a hand through his very average hairstyle uncomfortably.
"You'd look good with long hair, you know I like that look as well." Yu assured him.
"Yeah, you – you actually would." Po agreed, looking at him carefully.
Jia smiled in thanks. "Ying's the opposite of me, she wants to cut hers, to a pixie cut or something – she hates having it the length it is now, she says it's too inconvenient."
"But she'd really suit short hair!" Po exclaimed, aghast.
"We think so too! But she's not allowed." Yu said sadly. "For me, it's that I can't wear more alternative clothing and makeup – you know, the stuff that's really 'out there', I've always liked adventurous fashion." She closed her eyes dreamily, picturing all the clothes she'd found online, the jackets, belts, and boots sure to get heads turning.
"And then Fan and Ying aren't allowed to work out too much," Jia added, scowling at the ground. "Shifu doesn't want them too muscular, which is so unbelievably backwards…"
"And Cong can't fight with his bo staff," Yu finished. "so that explains his outburst at you yesterday."
Po was staring at them in shock and perhaps even anger. "What?! I – I don't understand, why won't he let you do these things?!"
"It's all about blending in and going unnoticed," Jia said sagely. "no one wears rice hats anymore, so I'll stick out in a crowd. Alternative fashion is called that for a reason, it's not what you'd normally find in the shops. Long hair on men and short hair on women is still, in Shifu's eyes, fairly uncommon. Someone muscular would intimidate you, so you'll stay away and unconsciously not trust them. And bringing a bo staff to a fight blows your cover."
"And sadly for us, all these rules work," Yu said, absentmindedly tearing the bread to pieces. "I mean, you thought we were just employees in the Jade Palace, and you've definitely seen us around the city and even in your dad's restaurant, but did you ever notice us?"
Po shook his head slowly. "No… I never – never thought about it like that."
"We look totally average, totally normal, and totally trustworthy." Jia sighed deeply. "It just… comes at a cost."
"Do I have to follow these rules too?" Po asked, clasping and unclasping his hands nervously.
Jia nodded solemnly.
Po sighed. "I bet Shifu will make me lose weight... he's already called me fat."
"There's nothing wrong with what you look like Po," Jia said firmly. " but I'm sorry, either way he doesn't care about that sort of thing and he probably will - it's unfair and definitely unnecessary, but Shifu is relentless with things like these, he'd make me shorter if he could."
Po nodded, seeming resigned to his fate. "It seems reasonable, I do stick out a bit." He said, a bit self-deprecatingly.
"Don't say that!" Yu chimed in, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You mustn't feel this way about yourself, you're great!"
"Yu's right, and for what it's worth, I think you're pretty good-looking the way you are." Jia said with a smile.
Po grinned back at him, a happy glow lighting up his face. "So, no more secrets, right?"
"Yes, I think that's all of them, no more secrets." Yu nodded and threw the last piece of bread at a passing duck.
It was Po's second evening living with them and currently his first acupuncture session.
Ying's phone vibrated with a light buzzing noise on the wooden floor. She watched it carefully as it moved slightly with each silent ring. Picking it up meant she'd have to talk to him. But leaving it meant even worse consequences, especially when he came back again.
So she pressed the green button and raised the phone to her ear. "Yes Master?"
"Ying, you must not let that intruder think he is welcome here."
"Yes."
"Intimidate him, scare him off, try sparring with him, anything to get him to leave immediately."
"Yes."
"Is everything under control?"
"Everything is fine."
"Good, I want him gone by tomorrow."
"Yes Master."
There was a resounding beep as he hung up.
Ying sighed, still holding her phone to her ear. "Everything is not fucking fine." She muttered.
AN - I'm so sorry this is a little late! We're short-staffed at work at the moment so I was randomly called in a few times during the week - and I had exams at college so that was a little overwhelming.
1) Maybe you already noticed this but maybe not: the last scene in this chapter and the previous are the
same scene (0-0) ...
2) This chapter is extremely long and I didn't want it to seem like I was dumping a load of exposition on you guys so I cut out the extension of the first scene and will be posting it in my collection of vignettes (also out on my account if you hadn't already seen!)
3) Emotions were very hard to balance with this - I have a bad habit of making things angsty when they shouldn't be
4) Icarus is from the greek myth where Icarus is given a pair of wings made out of feathers and wax - he flies too close to the sun and the wings melt and he falls. The saying of someone being an "Icarus" is basically saying that they take risks. Do with that little tidbit what you will ;)
On more of a sad note, my mum is filing for a divorce with my dad, which is great btw! I hate living here with him and the whole dysfunction of it has ruined a lot of my life. But now that the divorce will go through I'm my mum's only emotional support so it's all a bit stressful. On top of my flute exam coming up and my boss calling me in for extra hours I'm not sure on whether I'll always be meeting my chapter deadlines. So I may be a day or two late sometimes, but be patient! I'll always try and get something out! (also please don't worry about me I am seeing a therapist)
Anyway, thank you for the lovely comments! :)