Tang froze.
There wasn't much else he could do. He'd already run so far. His lungs and legs ached terribly. The idea of even just standing up making him shudder at the thought.
"Aw, what's the matter?" Macaque asked in mock concern. "Did you bite your tongue or something?"
The only thing Tang could think to do was scoot closer to the wall. He tried to open his mouth to tell Macaque to leave, but some kind of sound was bubbling up from his throat.
"Is... Are you growling at me?" Macaque stepped closer, not even looking the least bit fazed by what he was hearing.
Against his control, Tang growled louder. The fur under his clothes was standing on end and bristling the more steps Macaque took.
The scholar moved before he realized exactly what he was doing. Macaque being so close just made something in his head trigger like the flip of a switch.
It wasn't until he tasted cloth in his mouth and felt his teeth dig into something firm that Tang realized he had bitten Macaque.
Not enough to break skin, but it was enough to make the immortal yank his arm back with wide and surprised eyes. He yanked Tang up with him, forcing the human-turned-rabbit to his feet. It didn't take much jostling for Tang's grip to falter and let Macaque go. It also didn't take much for the scholar's legs to falter too.
Tang yelped, only saved from falling on his new tail when Macaque grabbed him around the shoulders.
"Hey now, no need to be so jumpy!" the immortal monkey said with a strained chuckle. "We're on the same side now, after all. Right? Unless that warning nip was your way of telling me otherwise."
"Th-That's a matter of perspective!" Tang protested mildly. A sharp contrast to the action he just taken. What... What was that!? He couldn't help but tremble in Macaque's hold, alarm bells screaming DANGER! But even when they were on opposite sides, the monkey demon had never actually hurt him... too much. "You h-helped us with Lady Bone Demon, yes, b-but—!"
"Whoa, wait..." Macaque's tone of voice startled Tang. He sounded... confused. "You're actually scared of me, aren't you?"
Tang turned to look at the other and saw...
Yes.
Yes, Macaque was looking at him in confusion. As if he had not even the least bit expected Tang to be afraid of him despite his goading.
Then the immortal scowled, gaze narrowing down onto the now drying blood on Tang's mouth from his accidental, self-inflicted wound. Macaque grabbed his face, pulling him closer as if to get a better look...
And then they were falling.
There was a wall and the ground below them just a second ago. And now, somehow, they were falling. Tang's vision went from the dim alley to a not quite inky black tinted with purple. It lasted just long enough for him to register that Macaque had pushed him into one of his shadow portals, before his vision was once again filled with light as he immediately felt himself being pushed into hardwood.
Familiar hardwood.
"Okay, now that we're alone..." Macaque started before he jumped onto the seat in front of Tang in the same theater where he had put on his shadow play. The monkey crouched, forcing Tang to look down to make eye contact. "What the fuck is going on?"
This... was not the question that Tang had expected the other to ask.
...actually, he didn't know what he expected Macaque to ask him. But it definitely was not that.
"What... exactly do you mean?" He chanced, attempting to gauge just how much the immortal wanted to know.
"What exa—How about we start with 'why did you BITE ME!?" Macaque exclaimed as he waved his arm frantically next to him. It would have looked comical coming from him, if it hadn't been such a precarious situation for Tang himself. "You even ripped my sleeve, which is pretty rude if you ask me."
"You were... scaring me?" Tang offered, sounding more questioning than the firm tone he had intended it to be. "You showed up out of nowhere, started invading my personal space, and you were making fun of me."
"...oh, right, personal space is a thing," Macaque muttered to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, yeah, I was making fun of ya and all but I didn't mean to, you know, actually scare you. We're in that whole truce deal MK and I agreed on after the bone demon." The monkey's expression faltered. "That's still on, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Okay, good, so the biting thing?"
"I..." Tang frowned, looking down at his hands. They were stained a deep red in some parts of the fur, the telltale sign of dried blood. His lip and mouth ached from where he had bitten them recently. Too much was happening recently. "I didn't mean to. I mean, I guess I did. But it was like my body reacted by itself when I got scared!"
"Your instincts are kicking in," Macaque offered with a shrug. "Okay, well, I can't fault you too much for acting on instinct. Especially when you've got a curse changing you so fast—"
"How did you—"
"Wukong's seal is aaaaaall over you, Glasses," Macaque said as he stood up straight, making Tang lift his head to follow his face to watch his expression. "It doesn't take a genius to feel it, let alone focus enough to see it and the curse under it. Curse is a mess, too, no wonder he sealed you up like that. Probably made a lot of your changes easier."
"They didn't feel easier," Tang muttered under his breath as he licked the back of one of his hands to wipe at the dried blood he could feel on his chin and lip. It hardly made a dent, but somehow it felt like he was doing the right thing.
"Then be grateful they felt the same instead of whatever would have happened otherwise," Macaque said with a shrug as he took a step backward and vanished. Tang hardly had the chance to react before he popped up out of the shadow he cast on the seat in front of him, this time holding... a wet cloth? "Here, this will work way better than licking your wounds will."
"...thanks..." Tang said slowly, taking the cloth hesitantly. He felt his nose twitch as he sniffed the air, the only scent able to be picked up from the cloth being what he was starting to recognize as water as he carefully wiped his face.
"Don't mention it. After all, we don't want people coming to the wrong conclusions." Macaque said. He sat down next to Tang this time, close enough for the rabbit to feel his presence but not close enough that they were touching. "So. You're cursed. Looks like a truth curse, I've seen it before. And I'm guessing you're not telling the truth."
"Oh gee, whatever gave you that idea? The ears?" Tang said flatly, earning a half chuckle from the other beside him.
"You have comebacks! That means you feel like shit," Macaque said with more chuckles. "Speaking of ears, I am guessing you're not really used to being able to hear a lot more than you used to."
"Pigsy said I should talk to you about that, actually."
"That sounds out of character," Macaque said with a raise of his brow.
"Well, who else am I supposed to ask!?" Tang snapped with a growl, immediately covering his mouth once he realized the sound he just let out. "I'm sorry..."
"Don't apologize," Macaque said with a smirk and an honest laugh. "Having a spine is a good look for you."
"HEY."
There was a smirk forming on the monkey's face, half pleased and half amused, before he reached into one of his pockets and pulled something out.
"Hold still," was the only warning Tang got before the other grabbed his head and shoved something in his ears.
Literally. Into his ears.
Tang yanked his head away, ducking his head down to reach under his ears and feel just what has been so unceremoniously shoved in there. It felt like... something firm. Not plastic firm, like...
Earplugs?
"Better?"
Tang lifted his head in surprise. He tilted his head, one side and then the other, his ears lifting instinctively and twisting around to capture what they could.
But outside of Macaque's voice and the ambient noise of the theater they were inside of?
"There's nothing," Tang breathed out in amazement. "I... I just hear like I normally do... How'd you know this would...?"
"Eh, it's just something I picked up over the years," Macaque totally did not humble brag as he puffed out his chest. "With these ears you gotta find things to dampen all the noise or else it gets to be waaaay too much."
"I guess I never really thought about how you would deal with your hearing outside of just using some kind of earplugs," Tang admitted.
"That's more than some people do," Macaque said with a shrug. "But they really don't block out the past and future stuff when my mind wanders."
"... why are you being nice?"
It was a sudden question, Tang knew that. He knew it was warranted to an extent, but also that the other was unlikely to answer truthfully either.
"I told you, we have a truce—"
"That doesn't mean you have to be nice," Tang countered instantly. "It just means you need to not actively antagonize us."
"I hate that you turned out to be actually smart," Macaque said with an over-exaggerated scowl. "Fine, I'm doing this partly because I really don't wanna fight the kid and also because being nice to all of you is the most amusing way to annoy the hell out of Wukong."
"Oh joy, I'm a pawn," Tang said in that same flat tone as before. "I suppose that's better than what happened at Lantern City."
"Anything is better than your boyfriend nearly blasting out my eardrums."
"He's not my—RIGHT NOW! He's not my boyfriend right now!" Tang said, correcting himself instantly when he realized what he was about to say.
He shut his eyes tight, clenched his hands so hard he could feel the claws digging into his palms. He waited for the next change that was to come... but it didn't.
Because he told the truth?
"Holy shit," Macaque breathed as he looked at the scholar with wide eyes. "It's a love curse. That's kinda messed up."
"You're telling the guy who feels like he's being punched every time something changes," Tang said, almost missing the look of confusion and concern that crossed the other's face. "I just... These last few days have been hell! Every time I deny anything about... THAT, something changes! My hair changed into fur and then I started getting freckles and then I grew these ears overnight and then I grew fur EVERYWHERE and that hurt like hell and then change after change and now I have a mouth full of fangs and the first thing I did was BITE MYSELF and I might not even be a DEMON I might be a RABBIT and I just want all of this to be over I want to go back to the way things were! Why do I have to choose between becoming a rabbit and saying THAT!?"
He didn't know why he was suddenly dumping all of this on the other. Maybe it was because he knew the other had no real stake in his life or well being. Maybe it was because he just needed to vent to someone.
Anyone.
"What if I can't change back?" Tang said softly.
"Would that really be so bad?" Macaque asked as he stood and knelt in front of the scholar again. "The way you say it makes it seem like you're more scared of changing at all than the change itself."
Something in the demon's tone told Tang that Macaque wasn't just talking about his change into a rabbit demon. But he wasn't ready to unpack all that, not yet. Not in his theater alone with just the other and his thoughts.
"It's not change that scares me," Tang corrected. "It's... how I have to get there. How I have to..."
"You're afraid he'll hate you," Macaque answered for him.
"He will."
"You don't know that."
"Since when do you know everything?"
"Since when do you know nothing?" Macaque said as he shook his head.
Something fluttered on either side of the other's head and it took Tang a second to realize.
"Oh... OH, you're... the Six-Eared Macaque." The scholar breathed out as he looked at the multi-colored ears before him. Three on either side, in purple, red and a soft pink. "...Can you...?"
"Hear the past, present, and future?" the monkey finished for him with a shrug. "If I focus. The present is easiest, the past doesn't take much effort. The future, though, is a jumbled mess. Nothing is set in stone."
"So—"
"You have the chance to tell him the truth, dumbass," Macaque said with a sigh as he shook his head and hid the ears away again. "The worst that'll happen at this point? Your change is permanent and you and he have to talk it out a bit. Guy's too damn nice for his own good when he likes someone, doesn't take a genius to see that. You get used to being a rabbit demon and all the stuff that comes with it, there's no reason that you can't adapt to it like how humans adapt with mobility aids and stuff so... So like... stop... not telling him so the kid won't be sad or whatever, I don't wanna have to deal with a sad MK! There are other, uh, fish in the sea! I'm a fish in the—no, wait, that's... I'm not flirting with you! Unless you want me to? Do you want me to?"
"...This is the weirdest pep talk I have ever been given."
"Please tell me it's working so I can stop."
The laughter that came out of Tang wasn't intended, but... it felt good.
It felt good to snort and then snicker and then laugh at the stupid ridiculous situation they got themselves into at this moment.
"You can stop! Please stop!" Tang said between his laughs as he wiped actual tears from his face. "This is so weird, but... thanks?"
"Never mention it again," Macaque said with a scowl, and Tang could have sworn he almost saw a blush on his face before the other launched at him and they went falling backwards once again.
He only realized exactly where they were when the shouts of surprise from Pigsy and Bai He sounded through Pigsy's Noodles.
"Special delivery," Macaque announced as he pushed Tang forward. "Found this guy wandering around the shopping district and gave him a lift home. You're welc—"
"MR. MACAQUE!"
The yell from across the shop startled everyone, but none more so than the person whose name was shouted. His ears went back in surprise and fear crossed his face for a split second before a body slammed into him from the side in a running tackle.
"Mr. Macaque, Mr. Macaque, I haven't seen you in so long!" Bai He yelled as she jumped up and down, holding onto the immortal's waist. "Where have you been? Have you been planning shows? Is that why you were gone for so long?"
"Y-Yeah," he answered awkwardly as he looked around awkwardly. "I've been planning another shadow play. Real big one, keeps me super busy."
"Can I come see it?" Bai He continued, and Tang could swear the young girl had stars in her eyes. "The last time I came to the theater you said the show wasn't age appropriate so is this one? Please tell me it is!"
"We can talk about that later, just... bring your dad with you next time!" Macaque answered. He looked so. Incredibly out of his depth. Who knew that the one thing he could not handle was having the legitimate admiration of a kid.
"OK!" The young teen said, letting go of him with a gasp to rush off into the back of the shop. "I'll be right back, DO NOT LEAVE!"
As the youngest person in the store rushed off she left the three adults standing around, lookinh at each other awkwardly.
"...so," Pigsy started as he turned to Tang. "I got a call from the college."
Oh no.
"Y-Yeah?" Tang said awkwardly, looking from side to side himself.
"They said you ran off out of class, I was just about to close shop and go looking for ya." Pigsy continued.
"I repeat," Macaque said as he stood up straighter and righted his outfit with a smirk. "You're welcome. Gave bunny boy here a little advice on not getting migraines while I was at it. How about a free bowl for the road in thanks?"
"I regret telling Tang to ask you for advice on his new hearing," Pigsy bit back with a scowl.
"Still surprised you even considered sending him to me," Macaque said with a shrug, taking the bit of venom in Pigsy's voice in stride. "Seems a little odd, considering you still don't even like MK bringing me lunches he pays for."
"Do you know anyone else with super hearing in a two hundred mile radius, smartass?"
The snort of laughter from the immortal was not what any of the three newcomers to the situation had expected, nor the shrug or shake of his head.
"You're acting really weird," Pigsy said with a tilt of his head. "It's been months since everything, but I thought you're still... you know."
"Scheming?" Macaque offered. "I've moved onto better schemes than being an asshole to the friends of the kid who gave me a shot."
"And what better schemes would those be?"
"Figuring out how to steal Sun Wukong's couch."
"You're fucking joking."
"I assure you, I am fucking not."
"Can we please not say 'fucking' anymore?" Tang said as he tried to process that. Yeah. This was happening. This was his life. "The important thing is I am here, I am fine, he got me home and his worst scheme is inconveniencing the Monkey King."
"By stealing his couch."
"Yes, thank you Mac, that's very helpful."
"Mac?" Macaque said as he turned to Tang for a second. "...Huh... I kinda like that."
"No nicknaming the ex-enemy in my shop while on business hours!" Pigsy protested as he gestured between the two of them. "Life is already weird enough without that."
"I'M BACK!" Bai He's voice suddenly rang out as she rushed back out of the back of the store.
She'd put her coat on and was holding a folded piece of paper in her hands like it was a treasure. "I'm so happy you came before Baba came to pick me up, here!"
She held the paper out to Macaque, bouncing on her heels until the immortal awkwardly accepted it.
Everyone watched as he unfolded it, eyes widening and ears perking up as he looked at what was inside. From his vantage point Tang could see that it was a stylized portrait of Macaque, done in colored pencil the same way MK had been teaching her to draw.
"It's... really good, kid," he said slowly.
"I'm glad!" Bai He said, spinning around in place before rushing off toward the door. "I'll see you soon, Mr. Macaque, we can talk when Baba takes me to the theater this weekend! Byeeeeeeeee!"
Everyone watched silently as she rushed out, running down the street to the car that had been waiting for her. A hand peeped out to wave at the shop before they drove off.
"Aaand, that's my cue to skedaddle!" Macaque announced as he went to turn around. "Been lovely seeing you and all, but I have an actual business of my own to run. Later!"
"Wait one second!" Pigsy said sharply as he reached over the counter and grabbed Macaque's wrist. It was no secret that the other could have easily pulled away if he wanted to, or even have pulled his arm away before Pigsy grabbed it. But instead Macaque turned around, looking at the chef with disinterest. "You know that even though we're on 'friendly terms' right now I don't trust you any more than I trust an unwatched stove."
"That's how it should be," Macque said with a smirk. "You gotta keep an eye on me, right? Make sure I don't pull a fast one. Smart. Maybe you sh—"
"If you hurt Bai He, in any way, I won't hesitate to return the favor," Pigsy threatened. Voice low, almost like a growl. "She thinks you're her hero."
The immortal stayed silent for a moment, almost for too long.
"...she's the one person you don't have to worry about."
Pigsy's grip loosened ever so slightly and Macaque slipped out of it, disappearing into a shadow without any more fanfare.
"...hey, Tang?" Pigsy said as his gaze veered up and he stared at his face. "You doing okay?"
"Oh, yeah," the scholar said with a chuckle. "He really did just help me get back here, gave me some earplugs too!"
"That's not what I meant," Pigsy explained as he came around from his counter. He looked at Tang's face, frowning softly. "You look... uh... nice! But your mouth—"
"I know," Tang said with a sigh as he rubbed it softly. "Happened during class. I... I think that's the last change. Not much else I can do until Sun Wukong and MK come back."
"Let me get you something to eat," Pigsy said with a smile. "You're welcome to hang around until I close in a couple hours and then I could... walk you home, maybe?"
"...I'd like that."
What was the point in not being honest now?
It's not like anything else could change if he was.
"So..." MK said, looking over at Scorpion Demoness as they munched on their late breakfast.
The three of them—Sun Wukong, her, and himself—had convened after he woke up to look over what the two of them had accomplished overnight (quite a bit, it seemed) and get some breakfast in them for the storm that was surely about to come. "They're running late. Think they ran into trouble?"
"Somehow I doubt they are capable of not running into—"
"UNHAND MY BROTHER, YOU OVERGROWN TEN YEAR OLD!"
"I'M NOT TEN!"
"—yeah, there's the trouble."
As if almost comically on cue, they heard the sound of a vehicle flying overhead and then two yells.
And then a flash of blue crash landed at their feet.
"Wow," MK remarked as the silver-blue twin slowly lifted himself out of the crater that he had been thrown into. "What happened to make him deserve that?"
"They attempted to steal my air bike," Nezha explained with a sigh, shouting over the sound of the engine as he touched down in front of them. Jin jumped out to help from behind to help Yin stand back up. "I suggest house arrest."
"Whoa," Sun Wukong said as he shook his head at the metal brothers. "Worst choice of theft attempts. Did you at least start it?"
"Hey!"
"It's a valid question!"
"Hey, guys?"
"Hey, SD!" Jin called as he was righted, waving wildly. "We're back! ...SD?"
Scorpion Demoness frowned, waving slightly at the two of them.
"Also, what are you doing down here in the mortal realm, Nezha?" Sun Wukong asked as he grabbed the brothers by the back of their harnesses, smirking as the two attempted to claw at him like angry cats. "I thought you'd, you know, be partying it up back up there when you're not visiting."
"I do not 'party it up' outside of designated party time with Mei and MK," Nezha explained in his usual overly formal way of speaking, the tenseness between the two of them entirely apparent.
"SD, are you mad at us?" Yin called out as he attempted to fight the Monkey King's iron grip.
She looked away from them and sighed, making the two cease in their fighting for a moment.
"D-Did we do something wrong, Jin?"
"Guys?"
"Well, you should," Sun Wukong continued with a half smirk. "Live a little, not like... me when I was your age living, I do not want a drunk you running around, but you should have fun! No more map and all that."
"Unlike you, even before I was given my duty of guarding the—"
"GUYS!" MK yelled, startling everyone. "We have something a little more important to talk about than catching up! Tang! Curse! MY FATHER FIGURE!"
"Curse?" Nezha asked, looking at Sun Wukong in confusion. "What happened to the scholar?"
"We'll explain on the way," Sun Wukong said with a scowl as he hefted the metal brothers over his shoulders. "We could probably use a ride once we get done with all this, or at least someone to keep an eye on these two once we head back."
The entire time they headed into the castle, the twins attempted to get Scorpion Demoness' attention.
The most she gave them was a sad glance back.
The rest of the day had gone on without much of an event to speak of.
No issues with his ears since the earplugs were, thankfully, doing their job. No sudden anxiety over anything. The few stray thoughts Tang had about Pigsy and his predicament were either broken by a customer doing something or allowed to flow freely in his mind.
It was... nice.
Tang hadn't realized how nice it was to allow himself to just let him think his thoughts and let them go. He'd heard Sun Wukong describing meditation to MK before and it sounded a lot like this, though more focused, so maybe actual meditation would be beneficial to him in the future. It wouldn't hurt to try if everything worked out, one way or another.
But that was in the future and Tang was in the present. And in the present?
He and Pigsy were back in his apartment, once again.
This was the most times he had the chef over in one week... ever.
And just like last time it was bad musical movie night, watching yet another destruction of a classic Broadway musical put to film.
Something had been nagging at the back of his mind though. Something that had been there for at least the last hour that he was trying to not give into. Because...
Well.
How else would you describe what happened over the course of a few seconds?
It happened so fast that when he gave into the instinct, and it must have been instinct, that it even took him by surprise since he had been actively trying to stay where he was the whole time. Before he could realize it, Tang had gone from sitting upright with his legs pulled up on the couch under him to being flopped over sideways.
Just. Completely sideways, sprawled out and his head half in Pigsy's lap.
He was glad his face was covered in fur because he was absolutely certain he was beet red under all of it.
"Uh—"
"I'm sorry!" Tang said as he covered his face. "OH, that was WEIRD, that was weird and I am so sorry, I—"
"It's fine," Pigsy said with a chuckle. "It's just something rabbits do, right? No need to apologize for doing something normal. Besides it was... never mind, what matters is that it's normal for you and that's fine!"
"This is... normal for rabbits?" Tang said slowly. "I suppose it is. Macaque said I was dealing with instincts so... do rabbits normally just flop over like I just did?"
"Yeah," PIgsy assured with a chuckle, pausing the movie. "Guess what it means."
"I'm... exhausted?" Tang said slowly. "No, tired?"
"You're comfortable, genius," Pigsy said softly. He followed his statement with a chuckle and the motion of laying his hand on Tang's head for a half second before lifting it back up awkwardly.
Gosh that felt nice.
"Can you..." Tang trailed off, almost not believing that he was about to ask for this. Was it even appropriate? Would Pigsy think he was weird? Weirder? "...Can you... scratch behind my ears?"
"HUH!?" Pigsy yelped out before clearing his throat and shaking his head. "I mean—I can! But are you comfortable with that?"
"Pigsy, my brain has been screaming at me to ask you for the last hour."
The snorting laugh, half between a human snort and a pig snort, that the chef left out made sounded so sweet.
The hand that finally rested on his head was even sweeter.
No.
It was HEAVENLY.
Pigsy's nails were harder than regular human nails and even his own claws, being more akin to the hard hooves his animal counterparts had. And running through his fur, scratching along his scalp?
They felt as divine as his singing voice sounded.
So much so that Tang didn't notice that there was a loud thumping sound until Pigsy pulled his hand away, nor did he realize that thumping sound was his foot rapidly tapping against the floor faster and more vigorously the longer he went on.
"I didn't think this could get more embarrassing," Tang groaned as he pulled his scarf over his face. "I'm... I think that's... more rabbit stuff."
"No need to feel embarrassed about it!" The chef said with a note of fondness in his voice. "You don't think it's embarrassing when I snort, do you?"
"No!" Tang exclaimed as he sat ramrod straight, shaking his head. "That's just something you do!"
"And all this is just something you do!" Pigsy insisted as he stood, stretching until Tang could hear his spine crack a bit despite the earplugs. "Hold tight, I'm going to get something to drink."
The scholar nodded, still holding his scarf over his face as he thought about the chef's words.
He was right. It was just. Something he did now.
Maybe forever.
That didn't sound too bad to him now that he thought about it. The more he pondered everything after his talk with Macaque the more he became certain that regardless of if he changed back he would be fine.
He just had to tell the one he loved his feelings.
Easier said than done, but... he could do that!
The one he loved was... He was...
"Hold on," Sun Wukong said once Jin and Yin presented them with what they had spent the entire night looking for. "You mean to tell me... this entire time... you were using two torn, weathered down, barely legible pages from someone's old journal as your source for this curse?"
"Sounds about right, yeah," Jin said with a shrug.
"Can't really remember the specifics," Yin continued for his brother. "We had to fill in some of the pieces from memory."
"You can program an entire virtual reality to trap me in a calabash," MK said slowly as he looked at the jumbled mess before them. "But you somehow managed to mash two spells together and not remember how you did it?"
"No one is one-hundred percent good at everything!" Yin protested. "Can you debug any code?"
"No," MK answered.
"I can!" Sun Wukong chipped in.
"YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" Nezha snapped.
It was a disaster.
The six of them were piled in the library, Nezha staying close to the twins in case they tried anything. Everyone was staring at the two pages that were clearly some part of some old journal that had been put through the ringer. The edges were frayed horribly, and they were littered with tiny holes. Even if one could read them—and it was like MK trying to read a textbook on microbiology—they were so damaged that it looked like even an expert would have to cross reference something else just to make sure they knew what it says.
"Honestly, we impressed ourselves when we managed to make a working prototype of this," Yin chuckled out. "Memory is a lot better than we—"
"What were you even thinking?" Scorpion Demoness said, the first time she had spoken up in a while. Her tone was clearly intentionally measured, even in a way that was unnatural, and her gaze was set solely on the papers before them. "These pages are... Even I can hardly read them with how worn they are, and I know what they're supposed to say! Why would you even risk using these?"
"We recognized them from our mom's records!" Jin piped up, puffing out his chest proudly. "Sure, they're not IDENTICAL, but they're close enough that we knew what we were looking at and remembered how to jigsaw them up!"
"What are you looking at, exactly?" She continued.
"Human to demon truth spells, duh," Yin answered with a smug grin. "Ma always used to use them on the people she let in her court to change them and make them stronger, as long as they could prove themselves able to keep a secret."
"I thought you called this an energy draining spell," MK said as he looked over the pages.
"Well, we weren't lying exactly," Jin explained, pointing to the outer portion of the page. "It does drain your energy and all."
"We just thought that your book friend wouldn't be able to keep a secret to save his life?" Yin offered. "Really, we only did it to see what deep dark secret you might be hiding and if you would be a monkey demon or something else. Like a little bird!"
"And what, pray tell, did you think this second spell was?" Scorpion Demoness asked as she held out one of the two pages in particular.
"Uh... a second layer strengthening curse?" The twins said in unison.
"It looks like the same ones Ma used so—"
"This is a curse to turn animal demons into normal animals," Scorpion Demoness said before Jin could finish, the whole room freezing at her announcement. "You two... You two created something that... that I don't know what it will do to a human!"
"What do you mean?" MK asked slowly, his voice sounding much smaller than intended.
"This could turn Tang into a demon and then turn him into another demon in an attempt to make sense of the only half compatible curses," she explained. "It could reverse itself over and over again until it drains him completely. It could turn him into a regular rabbit, reverse his age, I don't know!"
The further her guesses the higher pitched and more frantic her words became and the more shrunken the two brothers seemed to have become.
"We didn't think it would do anything that b—"
"I TRUSTED YOU!"
The twins froze at Scorpion Demoness' yell, seeming to deflate instantly.
"I trusted you both," she continued, dropping the pages to grip her ponytail and twist it in her hands. "You never told me this was what you were doing and I just gave you access to everything. You promised you weren't going to do anything to MK that would get anyone hurt. And now look at what happened! I... I never trusted anyone like I trusted you two before..."
It didn't take much more than a passing glance at Jin and Yin to see just how much her words were making them feel.
"I'm sorry," Yin said after a minute. "It was my idea. Jin just went along with it."
"I convinced Yin I knew what I was doing," Jin continued. "I'm the elder so..."
"We really didn't think... We didn't think," Yin continued.
"You definitely didn't," Nezha muttered, watching as Sun Wukong pushed the brothers toward
the table and cleared it off save for the two pages before them.
"You're damn well going to think now," Sun Wukong hissed low through his teeth. "Show us exactly what the hell you did."
"Tang?"
The scholar's head shot up at the voice, eyes widening as he set sight on his house guest.
"You okay?" Pigsy continued, walking into his living room like he lived there. He sat down two glasses, as if this was the normal thing for him to do (gosh, it felt like the normal thing for him to do, he wanted to be able to do this more often if possible) his expression changing into a look of concern. "You look—"
Tang jumped up from the couch in an instant and bolted for the front door, looking like he was genuinely terrified. But of what!?
Pigsy looked around the apartment, desperately trying to assess the situation as he grabbed Tang's wrist and pulled him back into the apartment with a yelp of alarm.
"Whoa, whoa, Tang!" He repeated his name again, trying to get his friend to look at him. "It's okay, it's just us, I think? Whatever it is, you can be honest with me, I promise! What—"
"Please just leave me alone, sir!"
"Wh—" Pigsy froze, his grip loosening on Tang as he stared at him in confusion. "What did you just call me?"
Tang looked terrified. Absolutely, undeniably, terrified. As if he... As if...
"S-Sir. Do you not want me to call you that? I-I'm sorry, I-I don't—"
No... Please, no...
"I don't know your name."