"Need something checked, my lord?"
Beerus quickly stopped flexing and turned away from his reflection in the fish tank. "No. Merely admiring the fruits of my training."
"Yes, you've come quite a long way."
"But not enough to sense when you're about to come and embarrass me."
There was a fleeting look of amusement in Whis's expression. "My apologies. I assume you'd like to go somewhere today? Or would you rather spend your day off relaxing?"
"I'm ready to go. Did you have a suggestion?"
"I do, actually. It's not the nicest place, but the deep fried prawns are to die for."
"Oh? Why have you kept this from me for so long then?" Beerus asked as he led the way outside.
"When I said it's not the nicest, I meant it can be a bit of a rough place. The area I'd like to take you to has a particularly bad reputation, but I figured you're ready in the event that we encounter any trouble."
"We won't get a free pass for being who we are?" He had gotten quite used to being treated like royalty by certain planets' actual royalty.
"No, we're going more local shall we say? Of course, we don't have to go if you don't want to."
Beerus hummed. "The prawns must be pretty good for you to suggest it in the first place."
"Oh, they are."
"We're going then."
It was dark, humid, and wet. Beerus didn't know if it had been raining, or if the puddles were from people throwing liquids into the street. He was very careful not to step in anything given how not waterproof his shoes were. The streets were dimly lit, most of the light coming from various outlets. It looked like people lived here above the stores and stalls they owned. The smell of food wafted from every direction, making his mouth water.
"Oh man, these prawns are really good." Beerus popped another one into his mouth before Whis slapped his hand.
"They're for us to share."
"Can't you get them to give you the recipe or something? Surely you could make these?" Beerus was very much under the impression Whis could do everything he asked.
Whis hummed. "I suppose I could try and butter up the cook." He looked at the bag in Beerus's hands. "I guess it's no use asking you to save some of those for me while I go inside."
"Don't you want me to come with you?"
"Alone would be better. Now, don't eat them too quickly."
"I'll save you one."
Whis shook his head. "I'll be getting some while I'm inside – all part of the plan."
Beerus felt a little lost as he watched the angel go. It wasn't often that Whis left him, rather he was usually leaving Whis. He found a low wall to sit on, watching the people of this planet go about their business. Everyone seemed to keep to themselves, rushing along at a fair old pace, as if they had to be somewhere soon. A couple of younger-looking people broke the silence of the street with their laughs as one recounted a story. Beerus smiled, reflecting on how easy it was to understand everyone now, even from a distance like this.
"Who the fuck are you?" a rough voice asked.
Beerus looked up to see a very big red native, and they looked good. Their black leather coat was cut in a way that showed off bands of their skin nicely, and the horns were a nice touch too.
"I asked you a question."
He stood up, noticing now that there were two others too, and that he was shorter than all three of them. He had been under the impression the locals were generally around his height, but it mattered not.
"Awfully rude of you to be so demanding," Beerus said. "Allow me to show you how it's done. I'm Beerus, pleased to meet you." He stuck out a hand as Whis had taught him.
The assumed leader looked down at the hand and laughed. "That's not how things are done around here. Where the fuck did you come from?"
"Now, now, I give you my name, and in return you're supposed to give me yours, not ask more questions." Beerus dipped into the bag for the last prawn. Why should he be pleasant if they weren't?
The leader slapped the prawn out of his hand. "Our names don't matter. We just wanna know which planet you came from so we can sell that gold with a nice nametag."
Beerus barely registered what they said, still staring down at the loss of his prawn. "You're really starting to piss me off."
"Get him, boys."
The two behind the leader came forward, each grabbing an arm and leading Beerus away from the main street, out of sight. He let them – best to fight without the locals watching if things were about to get messy. Whis certainly wouldn't approve of him getting into a scuffle so close to a favourite food spot.
"So, is this the part where I beat you up?" Beerus asked, cracking his knuckles.
The leader laughed. "You?! You don't seriously think you can take us, do you?" The look on Beerus's face earned a huff. "I was gonna give you a chance to give up the goods and let your pretty little face get away unharmed, but sounds like you need some roughing up anyway."
"Pretty, am I?" First time he'd ever received such a strange compliment like that. "Well, come on, I've been itching to hit something for a while now." He still hadn't landed a blow on Whis after all this time, but he was close.
The leader motioned for the two underlings to get on with it. Beerus had no interest in these two, so he sped forward, intending to incapacitate them as quickly as possible.
"Lord Beerus!" Whis's voice rang out, and Beerus halted, a blow from the shortest one connecting with his jaw.
He stepped back, massaging where he'd been hit. "What? Can't you see I'm busy?"
"I leave you alone for five minutes and you get into trouble! What am I going to do with you?"
Beerus pointed at the trio. "They started it! They knocked my last prawn out of my hand!"
Whis hummed, sympathising a little. "I forbid you to kill them."
"Fine." He turned back to the fight.
"Who's that?" the short one asked. "Your daddy? Telling you what to do?"
"What? No, I'm the one in charge." The idea of Whis being a parent was both unthinkable and quite appropriate.
"Didn't know slaves gave orders."
"Well, he's my teacher too. But enough talk." He sped forward once more, a fist swinging out to collide with a head.
But Beerus didn't see his opponent move even faster, a punch landing right in the middle of his gut. He lost all momentum, staggering back.
"You're fast," he gasped.
"Why don't you try again?" they asked with a smile.
Beerus failed again and again to hit them before they hit him. It was like sparring with Whis, but this hurt a lot more. He stood up, wiping blood from his lip – when was the last time he'd bled? "Maybe I can fight the other one first?"
"Giving up already?" They were on the brink of laughter.
Both came at him this time, and all he could do was defend. He wanted to call for Whis to assist him…help him… But he wouldn't. He couldn't. All his training and he couldn't even beat a few random thieves? He was better than this!
The punch he threw did nothing. Whichever one it had hit didn't even flinch. Instead it left him wide open, earning him a fist to the jaw.
Whis watched on, impressed by his lord's resilience. He had long expected to have been called on for assistance, wondering if Beerus intended to wait until he was knocked out. Beerus stood up again, unsteady on his feet, shoulders slouched. Again he was knocked to the floor, struggling to lift himself once more.
"That's enough." Whis stepped forward, and the thieves moved back.
Beerus had made it to his knees, wanting to stop Whis from intervening, but so grateful at the same time. He didn't have the energy to protest. He didn't even know if he could get up now, knowing that Whis was going to deal with this.
He barely registered the exchange between the leader and Whis. Something about payment? There was no fighting. Whis didn't have to touch them to make them leave. He felt the angel's hand on his head and some soft-sounding words.
Beerus regained consciousness when he felt a stinging sensation.
"We're home?"
Whis nodded, gently dabbing at his bust lip.
"I thought… You have healing powers." Beerus looked at Whis expectantly.
"I'm not giving you the easy way out. I hope you learn something from this."
"Hey, I didn't go looking for trouble if that's what you're thinking!" Beerus was offended Whis would think such a thing. "I was minding my own business – they came to me!"
"I know."
Beerus stopped his rant. "So…" He ran through the memories again. "You set this up?"
"I did." Whis sat Beerus up on the sofa, gently pressing on his ribs until Beerus took a sharp intake of breath. "My, my, I didn't mean for it to go this far." He reached for bandages.
"What were you playing at?" Beerus didn't know what to think. He had put all his faith in Whis recently, but now that trust seemed to be crumbling.
"I'm afraid there were many things that pushed me to choose this course of action."
"Well with the state it's left me in, I guess I've got a lot of time to listen," Beerus huffed. He didn't want Whis dressing the wounds he'd put there, albeit indirectly, but he had no one else to help him.
"Recently we've visited some lower level planets and I've noticed your cockiness grow. Not in a good way. I'm glad you feel like you're progressing enough to take the lead when we're out, but it's too early for you to earn yourself a bad reputation when you can't defend yourself properly."
Beerus grunted, not wanting to outright say Whis might have been right about needing to be knocked down a peg.
"I also wanted you to get some combat experience from someone who wasn't me. Unfortunately it seems I overshot the difference in your power levels. However, I realised as I was watching you that possibly these people would be able to draw out your destructive powers. But perhaps I turned up too early for that. Knowing I was there was a safety net which probably stopped you from unleashing everything you had."
"Please don't try it again," Beerus said. "It wasn't very fun."
"But I gave you ample warning. I even offered you the chance to back out."
Beerus remembered what Whis had said before they went, wondering what he would have done if Beerus had rejected. "And the prawn recipe?" The persuading factor.
"I got it." Whis smiled, excited to try it for himself. "But you won't be having any until you apologise."
Beerus raised his brow in surprise. "Me? Apologise? For what? You're the one that got me beat up! You should apologise!"
"Let me make this clear, Lord Beerus, I am not your slave. I am not your servant. I am your attendant. I tend to your needs. I do not serve them."
"Okay, firstly, I never said you were my slave. And secondly, tending and serving are basically the same thing."
"You may not have said it, but you allowed the comment to pass unchallenged, which means you agreed with it to some degree."
"I –"
Whis continued, not allowing him to defend himself, "And the difference I'm trying to convey is that if you have a need I will see that it is met in some way, but it may not be in the way you request. A slave does what is demanded of him. I will not bow to your demands, but may accept certain requests."
"Can I request that you heal me?" Beerus asked.
"No. I've already said you must suffer this. You need to learn that you can't rely on me for every little thing."
"Yeah, I'm learning that pretty quick today," Beerus mumbled. Whis made some ice in a bag and placed it near Beerus's eye, getting him to hold it in place. "I'm sorry about the slave thing. I didn't realise…"
"Language is important. Please don't forget it."
Ooo
Getting beat up in the alley was nothing compared to what Whis was putting him through now. It had been a few months of constant training, Whis pushing him harder than ever. At the start of this period his ki blasts had still been rather pitiful, but now they were coming along quite nicely as he was forced to rely on them more as his body ached. The thought of physical combat was exhausting at this point. Much better for him to focus on ranged attacks.
The days left him starving, eating as much as he could before heading to bed. His body ached in the morning more than the night before. And yet Whis didn't let up on the schedule. It was as if there was a deadline, or something they were working towards. When was the last time they'd had a day off? Whis seemed to be travelling off-planet for the foods he requested, but he never took Beerus with him. Just a day out somewhere different would be nice. Even if it was just to see a different view at this point.
He felt trapped, and his captor was the only one who could give him his freedom. If only someone would visit. Maybe Champa would come for lunch? Would the Supreme Kai ever visit? He didn't fancy the idea of Grand Zeno popping by, but there weren't many other people who knew where his planet was. Maybe some random people would fly by? But he had a feeling a destroyer's planet was in some way off the map.
"Whis…" Beerus moaned from the edge of the pool.
"Yes, my lord?" He popped his head around the corner, having just come with fresh towels.
"Can we have a day off tomorrow?"
"No."
Beerus groaned. "Please. I want to see my brother."
"No. My sister won't allow that."
"How can you know that? You didn't even call her yet."
"I've been in regular contact. We're both exchanging notes on you two and your training."
"Eh?" That made Beerus perk up a bit.
"Yes, Lord Champa is under an even more rigorous training schedule than you are. I fear he will attain his powers of destruction before you."
Beerus wondered if Whis was lying to him; it wouldn't be the first time. But he had met Vados. He'd heard Champa talk about her too. And based on that, he believed Whis was being truthful. The idea of his brother beating him to what was essentially the finish line was…annoying. Of course he wanted Champa to do well, but at the same time, as the older sibling, he wanted to be the first. There were very few things in life that Champa had managed to accomplish before Beerus, and so he'd developed some kind of complex about being the older, better brother. The thought of falling behind was going to fuel him for the next few days at least.
"Will you do me a favour?" He needed to be refreshed before he could achieve anything.
"What would that be?"
"Give me a massage."
"Of course. Would you like it in the bath?"
Beerus shook his head. "I'm getting out." It was a struggle to lift himself out, but he managed it, lying on the floor for a moment before pushing himself to his feet and taking the towel offered to him. He awkwardly leaned on Whis's shoulder, cursing the fact the angel was too tall. "Carry me, will you?"
"I didn't think you liked to be carried?" Whis asked as he scooped Beerus up in his arms.
"I don't, but desperate times call for desperate measures." He remembered a time he would manoeuvre away from anyone who touched him, but he had grown to accept the occasional touch from Whis. "I'm absolutely shattered these days. Maybe you should get me a little moving chair I can whizz around on."
Whis hummed, looking down at Beerus. "Maybe you really do need a day off. I never imagined you'd allow me to carry you like this while you were conscious."
"So you will? I wanna sleep in!"
"No. You train tomorrow as usual. Just because you may need it, doesn't mean you'll get it. Where did you want your massage?"
"Bed. I'll fall asleep while you do it."
Once in the room Whis pulled out Beerus's night robe. "This thing is looking tatty. Shall I make you a new one?"
"No," Beerus said, snatching it out of Whis's hand before he could do anything with it. "I like it. It's very comfy." He threw it over his head before beating his pillow into the perfect shape. "Uh, everywhere aches, so…"
"I understand."