Chapter Text
“You-”
SLAP!
The sound echoes in your head. The way your eyes blurred and your face stung from the hit. You right yourself again, slowly reaching to touch your cheek.
It hurt.
And it almost made you want to laugh.
It was stupid.
Everything was stupid. The promise of change was stupid. Your trust in your parent’s words was stupid. You were stupid, for believing in their lies again and again.
You could hear your mother yelling, and shouting about you being ungrateful and disrespectful. It sounded muffled, like trying to listen to someone speak. But all you could see was the tiled floor.
Next thing you know, you’re walking down a street. The sky was dark and the moon was high in the night sky. The sounds of cars zooming past, and the bright flashing lights of the neon signs that turn on at night, blended into the background as you continued to walk. You didn’t know where you were going, just that you were going.
And despite everywhere you looked practically dripping in neon colors, you couldn’t bring yourself to admire the bright colors. Everywhere you looked seemed dull, devoid of any color that made it special. Of what made it beautiful.
You were standing at a crosswalk now.
You watched with lifeless eyes as cars drove by, you were soaking wet, you didn’t even notice when it started to rain until you started shivering from the cold.
You continued to watch the cars pass by, hoping that one of them would come swerving towards you, killing you on impact.
It would be easy.
Everything would be easier.
In fact, you're pretty sure it would please your parents. It would be your final apology for being born into this word.
Yeah. That had a good ring to it.
Your gift to them.
You stuck your leg out to walk on the road.
The final apology.
===============
You open your eyes, wincing as the bright light burns, practically blinding you. Your head felt hazy and full of cotton, just looking around gave you whiplash.
You put a hand on your head, slightly hoping to make the dizziness go away if you steady yourself. Of course, it doesn't.
You take a few deep breaths, just like how your therapist taught you, and slowly open your eyes again to look at your surroundings.
You were in a city, a very bright, busy city.
High-tech cars were zooming down the road as crowds of people walked along the sidewalk. The city had Chinese-looking architecture mixed with modern architecture, but still had the traditional markets here and there.
The traditional markets themselves made you feel a bit more at home. The sight of them made you feel nostalgic, you had no doubt that whatever they sold would be the best.
The city itself was huge.
In all its glory, you found the city to be intimidating. Always prefer the more quiet suburbs or mountains. The city was too noisy and bright for you, not enough plants.
Was this the afterlife? If so, it was overly hyped up. Maybe this was more of a Purgatory or a limbo.
You get up to move, and the wooden bench you were sitting on creaks as you move to get off. You brush off your pants, hoping there is no dust or dirt on them, and begin to walk in a random direction.
The cool air felt refreshing on your skin, you've always tended to run on the warmer side after all. You were never one to get cold easily.
But you couldn't help the deja vu you kept feeling as you continued to walk down the streets. The whole city felt oddly familiar to you, and you couldn't place why.
It wasn't until you found yourself in an abandoned construction sight that you finally began to gain awareness of where you were.
"No way.." You mumbled to yourself.
The sound of skidding tires made you turn around to look at the source of the sound. A very familiar-looking protagonist with a bright red headband and a familiar-looking orange jacket hopped out of a small delivery car holding a bag of noodles.
He looked up, locking eyes with you mid-dance. You both stare at each other, wide-eyed, awkwardly.
He slowly took his headphones off, face red with what you're pretty sure is embarrassment. He gave you a sheepish grin.
"Sorry, are you the one who ordered the noodles?" He asked.
You could feel your cheeks warm up, he was honestly just as cute as in the show, though the show didn't do him justice. He looked much better as not a Lego.
"No, sorry, I didn't order anything." You told him.
"Oh." He walked up next to you. "Um, if you don't mind me asking.."
You nod for him to continue.
"What are you doing here then?" He asked, a small tilt in his head.
God, he was just so cute! You just wanted to hug him so tightly. How could anyone want to ruin his life?
"Well, I just saw this place and thought, why not explore it? I had nothing better to do." You said with a shrug.
He laughed a bit at your words. "Must be nice having all the time in the world then."
"Nah, not really. I would much prefer having something to do, something to keep me distracted. Like a job, God knows I need the money." You shake your head with a sigh.
"You're homeless?" He sounded surprised.
"Ouch, man. Way to rub it in." You rubbed the back of your neck in embarrassment.
His eyes widened in terror as he quickly apologized. "Oh my god! I am so sorry! I didn't mean for it to come out so rude! I just-!"
You laugh at his flustered face. Now you know why people have so much fun messing with him.
"It's fine, I don't really care about it. I'm over it, trust me." You say with a shrug.
He gives you a smile as you both step off the elevator and begin to walk deeper into the construction sight, having enjoyed each other's company and elected to continue walking together.
"I'm Mk, by the way! What's your name?" He said enthusiastically.
You smiled at him. "My name is-"
"It feels like I've waited an eternity for this moment!" A woman's voice called out. Her voice was smooth and had the distinct accent of old money.
Mk freezes upon hearing her words, and you both turn to look at the source. Standing a few yards away from you guys were Princess Iron Fan, Red Son, and a whole lot of mechanic little Bull-looking robots on top of a grassy hill.
Dramatically enough, a single circle of sunlight was displaying the nature-covered golden staff that stuck out of the ground.
Well, at least you were at the beginning of the story and not the middle of it. That probably would have been a lot harder to survive through right away.
"Just making the final adjustments, mother." The voice sounded nervous to you. Maybe it was more like it was filled with anticipation. Apprehension maybe?
Either way, you knew that voice belonged to Red Son. You could recognize it anywhere, and just as you were about to get a better look at the two demons, Mk grabbed you by the arm and pulled you away.
He drags you with his free hand behind a metal pipeline, muttering to himself about how 'not good' the situation was.
It really wasn't.
You knew he would make it out relatively okay, but you just had to tag along. You just had to be curious about what would happen and what they would look like.
You feel Mk tug at your sleeve. You look at him to see him pointing to the pipes above the demons. He obviously wanted to get a better view as much as you did. So you smiled and nodded your head.
You followed him up the pipes. You made yourself as comfortable as you could sit on a cold metal pipe and watched the scene unfold before you.
You watch as Red Son lifts the staff, frees his father, and practically sparkles at his father praising him. It was as sad as it was cute to watch.
Faintly, you were made aware of Mk scooting ever slightly closer to you. Just a centimeter away from your fingers touching.
Before a bird swoops out of nowhere and begins to peck at Mk.
"No! Shoo!" Mk whisper yells.
You turn your head to see Mk now leaning against two pipes with the bag of noodles in his mouth. There was no way that was safe.
Mk tried to swat at the bird but was completely missing. The bird, seemingly frustrated, headbutts Mk's fingers, causing Mk to let go of the pipe.
You watch with wide eyes as Mk falls down and lands on top of Red Son.
"Wow, he really does fall on top of him." You mutter to yourself.
The weirdly colored bird, who you know is Wukong gives you a side glance. He no doubt heard you, but what the fuck was he going to do? Kill you? You already tried that, and look at you. You're still alive!
You watch as Red Son yells at Mk about "ruining his moment" and Mk picks up the staff to defend himself. All while you stay up on the pipes, swinging your legs, looking on in amusement.
You watched with an amused smile as Mk ran around with the staff acting on its own. You wondered if that was because Wukong was here and was helping Mk not die.
And then the staff elongated towards the top of the construction site, flinging Mk up to where you were. He looked at you with wide eyes as you waved at him with a cheeky smile.
And then he did the most asshole thing in the world, he grabbed your hand and smirked at you while your smile fell.
Now you and Mk were being launched across the site and headed toward the elevator. You would have mostly considered the rush of adrenaline and the air pushing against your face to be fun.
If it weren't for the demons behind you guys that wanted you both dead.
You both scream and yell as the staff flung you both into the elevator and pushed the elevator shaft upwards through a hole it made at the bottom.
You both tumbled out of the elevator, you felt disoriented but the warm hand that grabbed you felt really grounding. Too bad it was Mk hauling ass and practically throwing you into the back of the delivery cart.
Mk yelled something about buckling your seat belt before stepping on the gas pedal and taking off. Distantly, you could hear the breaking of the earth and the rev of an engine.
"What is that?!" Mk yelled as he saw the absolute monster of a truck driving right behind them.
"It looks to be a monster truck currently in the process of barreling straight for us with the intention of running us over." You told him.
You held on tight to the seat as you heard Mk and Red Son yell from their vehicles, respectively. It was amusing to hear the two arguing, truly. Being able to hear while going this fast on the road should be a skill.
You wait in your seat, enjoying the front-row seat and the only excitement you'll probably be getting for a while.
The familiar green colored bike is your sign that the scene is coming to an end. And you are right when you witness Mei's bike crash into Red Son's, you almost wonder if she knew that he was after you guys and not playing some intense game as she said in the show.
You and Mk land in front of a restaurant with a neon pink sign labeled 'Pigsy's Noodles'. Mei takes off her helmet and wraps an arm around Mk, pulling him into a side hug.
"That's got to be the most fun game of tag ever!" She exclaims while laughing.
"Uh- I kinda almost died there?" Mk gives her a sheepish smile.
"In that case," Mei pulls her phone out of her pocket. "Where does he live?" She smiles darkly at Mk.
She keeps her gaze on Mk before it falls on you. Her mood doing a whole 180 as her eyes land on you, her eyes going wide and her smile growing into a more friendly one.
"Oh! Who is this?!" Mei shouts in excitement as she waves frantically at you.
You wave back at her and offer her a small smile. "Hi, my name is-"
The doors to the noodle shop slam open as Pigsy comes out, shouting and yelling about a zero-star rating.
You tune out the shop owner’s yelling in favor of looking around. You notice the cracks in the sidewalk, the other little shops that were around, and the setting sun that painted the sky in purples, pinks, and orange. Everything felt surreal.
You spot a black blob moving in the corner of your eye, you look over at it almost instinctively, your eyes are hard as you look for the source of the movement.
You soften up considerably when all you see is a black cat. The little guy had a scar across his right eye, and said eye was a milky white color. And despite the cat being a stray, its fur was beautiful and shiny.
You walked up to the cat, the cat seemed to be watching the argument unfold with an unamused expression. The cat notices your approach and looks at you wearily.
"Aw, aren't you the cutest little thing?" You coo at the cat.
You keep a good distance away from the cat, not wanting to make it feel like it is in danger and run away. You extend your hand out, palm facing up.
"Come here, little guy. I'm not going to hurt you." You say gently.
The cat tilts its head at you. Not making a move, but you wait patiently for the cat to either move away or come towards you.
The cat seems to hesitate before it slowly approaches you, taking careful and cautious steps. It makes your heart hurt to see the cat so weary of others.
The cat slowly makes its way to you before stopping in front of you, you smile wide as you feel your heart sweet with joy.
You gently pick the cat off the ground and cradle him into your arms. You chuckle lightly as you hold him carefully in your arms.
"I can't believe you are the luckiest thing that happened to me this whole week. Then again, I wouldn't ask for anything more if it meant I could meet you!" You smiled wide at the cay as you stroked its fur.
The low rumbling purr that left the cat made you feel more than accomplished for the day. If the cat was happy, so were you.
You were now inside the restaurant sitting at a booth with your head resting on the table while you pet your new cat with your eyes closed. The little guy also seemed to be relaxing with you.
Of course, it would be much easier if the group in the background weren't always yelling about something.
"Guy, I'm serious! I can prove it!" Mk shouted.
You opened your eyes with a sigh to see Mk swinging the staff around like a madman to try and get it to do something.
The sound of something breaking near your ears has you pulling the cat and your legs closer to you in an instant. And the next second the table you were just resting on was a pile of splinters, courtesy of the now elongated legendary staff.
You take a minute to catch your breath before you check to see if the cat is okay. Thankfully, the cat was unharmed, but that didn't stop you from glaring at Mk.
He looked at you in horror. "I am so sorry! I didn't mean to do that! Are you okay?!" He asked frantically.
You couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for getting mad now. You let out a sigh as you gave Mk a small smile.
"It's fine, Mk. I didn't get hurt, and neither did the cat." You told him gently.
He smiles at you. "Oh! By the way, before I forget, what's your name?"
"My name is-"
"Oh my god! Monkey King’s staff! I knew it all along! The legendary weapon that only he could wield to seal away evil! Wait a minute. Why do you have it? How did you manage–!” Tang starts.
“Okay, I’ll bite, if the staff’s here, where’s the demon punk now?” Pigsy says over Tang, effectively stopping the scholar from continuing his rant.
Mei pulls out her phone and starts tapping away at unparalleled speed. It was almost impressive. “He’s at the shoe store,” Mei answers.
"What?!" Tang, Pigsy, and Mk shout in unison.
You bury your face into the cat's fur, doing your best to ignore the group's loudness for the sake of your approaching headache.
"This has got to be the weirdest day of my life." You mumble into the cat's fur.
You lift your face off the cat's body and begin to give the cat scritches behind his ears, a place you've learned most cats love if done properly. You relax in the way the cat starts purring in satisfaction.
You see Mk walk over to you.
"Hey, sorry I never got your name." He laughed nervously.
You chuckled. "Well, hopefully, I'm not interrupted again. My name is (M/n)."
Mk smiles his stupidly bright smile at you and you can't help the small smile that pulls on your own lips.
"So, (M/n), do you want to come to Flower Fruit Mountain with us?" He was bouncing in place, filled with excitement.
You gave him a tilted smile. "I don't think so, Mk. I've had enough adventure for one day. As much I absolutely love the adrenaline, I know it's not exactly good for me."
When you look back at Mk he's looking at you in complete shock. Scratch that- Everybody, was looking at you in complete shock. Even the cat! Somehow.
"But it's Flower Fruit Mountain!" Mk exclaims as if the thought of someone not wanting to go was impossible.
And hey, maybe it was for him. But a few hours ago you didn't think multi-universal travel was a thing. And yet here you are.
"I'm aware, I would just like to stay inside right now though." You say with a shrug.
"But, you could meet the Monkey King!" Mk was starting to look horrified now.
"That's nice, but I'm tired. I think almost getting killed once is wrought for me to call it a day. But you guys have fun!" You said with a smile
Pigsy let out a deep sigh before walking over to you and placing his hands on your shoulders. "Okay, kid, while we're gone I need you to take care of the shop. Make sure nothing happens while we're gone, okay?"
"Yup! I can do that!" You replied.
"Good. Come on guys, let's go return the staff to Monday King."
"Yeah! Whoop! Whoop!" Mk hollers as he exits the restaurant with Mei in tow.
You let out a sigh as you watch them all file out. You look down at the cat in your arms.
"Okay, just gotta stay indoors. Can't be that bad." You mumble to yourself.
...
It was so much worse than you thought.
There was nothing to do, no one to talk to, and your thoughts were starting to get to you.
So you made yourself two options.
- Go outside the shop and find something to distract you from your thoughts
Or,
- Bake.
You looked at the kitchen and then around the shop. The cat looked at you like you were crazy. Though it's not like anyone was in the shop, so it didn't really matter.
You got up from your seat at the counter and made your way over to the kitchen. You peered inside and looked around the pantry for ingredients and in the cabinets for trays.
And before you knew it, you had three whole trays of heart sugar cookies, icebox cookies, regular sugar cookies, and a single tray of mini tarts.
You blink at the pastries in front of you in confusion. You look around, everything is clean, and everything you used was washed and already put away.
And your cat was eyeing the pastries from the ground.
You furrow your brows as you put a hand to your head. "When the hell did I finish baking?" You mumble to yourself.
You completely miss the worried look your cat seems to give you while you lean against the counter.
"Mrrow"
You glance down at the cat you picked up earlier. He was on his hind legs and using his front paws to scratch your pant legs, effectively pulling you out of your thoughts.
You smile softly at the cat, you bend down to pick him up to hug him. "What did I do to get so lucky to find the best little guy in the whole world?"
You break off a piece of sugar cookie and hand it to the cat. The cat sniffs it before devouring the whole thing, you chuckle lightly as you run your fingers through the cat's coat.
You felt a lot calmer than you did hours before.
...
After a while of debating whether or not you should step into Mk's room or not, even though they allowed you, you finally built up the courage after you put all the pastries in little containers.
You stepped into Mk's room and saw the utter mess it was and cringed. You wondered if this was how your room looked like to others.
Empty water bottles were strewn all over the place, the small trash can in the corner was overflowing with crumpled-up paper, and clothes were covering the floor.
You sighed with a shake of your head. Your cat also seemed unimpressed at the state of Mk's room.
"Okay, little guy, I'm going to put you down over here." You place the cat on Mk's bed. "And I'm going to clean up the room a bit, give myself something to do."
You begin to pick up a water bottle and open the cap to compress the water bottle to a more manageable size. You do this to a couple more water bottles when all of a sudden, Red Son bursts through the wall.
Your cat jumps up from its spot on Mk's bed, its fur puffed up and its back arched at the loud noise. You felt the hairs on your arms rise with the noise too.
"Where is the staff!?" Red Son shouts at you.
You tighten your grip on the crushed water bottles. And then you get the bright idea to start chucking them at the fire demon.
"I don't know! Go away! Leave me alone!" You yell as you hit him with water bottle after water bottle.
He began sputtering, obviously not expecting to be hit with little plastic water bottles. And before you knew it, you jumped out of the hole in the wall he made.
You were left there, slightly out of breath, and wondering what the fuck is wrong with people in this universe.
"I swear this going to make me start drinking again." You mumble into your hands.
...
When Mk and the gang finally come back you all have a talk about what's going to happen from now on.
Luckily, you scored a job at the restaurant after Pigsy found out you had nowhere to go and no parents. And as for where you were going to stay, you became roommates with Mk.
And the first thing you did was ask Mk for some extra clothes so you could take a shower. You made sure to scrub at your skin until it turned pink and you couldn't see or smell any remaining smoke or dirt on you.
The shower felt refreshing, you dried your hair before wrapping the towel around your waist. You reached for the clothes, only to notice that the clothes weren't there.
Shit.
You forgot it outside on Mk's bed. Your face palmed at your stupidity. How the fuck do you forget the clothes you were supposed to where? Did you really want to shower that badly? How embarrassing.
You swing the bathroom door open and shudder at the way the cold air from the room bites at your skin.
Mk wasn't in the room at least so at least you wouldn't have to embarrassingly explain why you didn't change in the bathroom.
Your cat was there though, the little guy was lounging on Mk's bed. You chuckled as you saw the little guy, his ears flicked before he turned his head to look at you.
And when his eyes landed on you the cat immediately looked away. You raised a brow at that. Did you have something on your face? Was there still dirt on you?
"What's wrong little guy?" You asked as you stepped closer to the cat.
The cat continued to avoid looking at you. You let out a sigh as you go back to picking up your clothes. And just as you were about to undo your towel the door slammed open.
Mk bounces in with a huge smile on his. "Hey, (M/n), do you want t-!" He stops mid-sentence as his eyes land on you.
His face turns a bright red as he quickly turns around, covering his eyes with his hands. "I'm sorry! I didn't hear the shower running anymore and thought you were done!"
You all but run into the bathroom and close the door as you try to not kill yourself after that humiliating experience.
"I'm sorry!" You hear Mk say on the other side of the bathroom door.
"It's fine, Mk. I forgot to put the clothes in the bathroom so I went to go get them, it's my fault for forgetting." You said as calmly as possible.
"Yeah, but I should have knocked to make sure you were done!" Mk whined.
You couldn't help the snort that escaped you. "Mk, it's your room, it's only natural that you wouldn't knock."
"I know, but still!" Mk complained.
You step out of the bathroom when you're finally dressed. You let out a sigh of relief as you walk over to Mk.
"So, what did you want to tell me?" You ask.
"Oh! I wanted to know if you wanted to go with me and Mei to the mall tomorrow! Mei wanted to go shopping and we thought it would also be a good idea to bring you along so you could buy some new clothes!" Mk said with a smile.
"Sure. Yeah, I'll go with you guys. I'm guessing we're going after work?"
"Yup! Mei's going to pick us up," Mk says as he gets ready for bed.
You nod at him. Picking the cat off of Mk's bed and putting him on the futon that was your now bed.
"Good, I need to buy some things for the cat too. I can't just keep giving him cookies." You say with a smile as your cat seems to sulk.
"Yeah, you can't keep- Wait, we have cookies?!” Mk leans over his bed to look at you.
“Yeah, in a little container. I saw some mini tarts, too.” You said with a chuckle
“Oh, I am SO having some for breakfast!” Mk exclaimed as he went back to his bed fully.
You and Mk exchange goodnights and you're out like a light before you know it.