#coliu

God, Liu Kang was pretty.

With his big, almost permanently sad eyes, and his long, silky hair, and his soft pink lips (well, they looked soft anyway)—it was like he walked right out of one of Cole's dreams.

And now he was on his knees in front of Cole.

Not sexually, of course. Attracted as Cole may have been to the pretty boy in front of him, he was still a married man. He wouldn't have let it get so far for Liu Kang to actually drop down in front of him. No, Liu Kang was just tending to his wounds. But that didn’t stop Cole's racing mind.

Needle, thread, fire. Needle, thread, fire.

Liu Kang was speaking, but Cole hardly noticed, too busy staring at his elegant hands, strong and yet so gentle over Cole's skin, his pretty face, built so delicately that Cole felt he would shatter if his expression shifted too far. In his distraction, he almost didn't realise that Liu Kang was speaking at all. Almost. He finally tuned into Liu Kang’s words just in time to catch the tail end of his story.

“He had a mark, so I chose to take it from him, and in that moment, my arcana came forth.”

Fire, fire, fire.

Kano didn't really mean what he'd said at dinner. Well, half didn't mean it. Actually, he didn't care much for Kung Lao, but he meant everything he said about Liu Kang.

There was some mysterious, innate charm about Liu Kang. As frustrated as he was with Liu's obnoxious, pompous, self-righteous attitude, he couldn't deny that he was…intriguing, to say the least.

And by intriguing, he meant incredibly hot.

Fitting, considering the fireballs, that a guy like him would always get Kano hot and bothered—both in the figurative sense and the literal.

The idea of the pretty little monk on his knees was almost as arousing as the image of his cocky smirk when he knocked Kano on his ass. Damn, how he wanted to fuck that smirk off his face.

But now that Kano had unlocked his arcana, the sweet thing seemed to be favouring him over the others. At the very least he had to favour him over Little Miss “Liability” Blade, and he definitely favoured him over Cole, the human punching bag. And with that Major Briggs practically out of commission, who else was gonna be little Liu's favourite?

Of course, the guy was still annoying. That “I'm so pure and I'm better than you” attitude didn't leave, and it definitely didn't stop being directed at Kano, but now, while still obnoxious, it made Kano less angry than it had before.

He still wanted to fuck it out of him though.

Sonya liked Liu Kang.

He was sweet, and he was actually respectful of her without being afraid. It was hard to come by people like that. Jax was the only other person she could think of off the top of her head. Cole was intimidated by her (holding a gun up to him when they first meet will do that, she supposed), Kano looked down on her even though she'd taken him down before and could easily do so again, but Liu Kang, while not accepting her as a champion because she didn't have the marking (even though she would definitely be a much better fighter than Kano), still respected her as a fighter, and readily accepted the help she was willing to provide to help Jax get back on his feet.

They didn't have many chances to chat—the only consistent contact they had was at meals, and they couldn't talk to their full extent while in the middle of a table full of other people—but when they did talk, they got the chance to really speak.

Sonya expressed her distaste of Kano, Liu Kang did the same. Turned out he agreed that Sonya would have been a far better champion. Apparently he disliked Kano's unwarranted arrogance about as much as she hated his filthy mouthed disrespect. He also didn't trust him, what with his background, and he wasn't a fan of his brutish fighting style.

(“He doesn't fight,” Liu Kang said to her after yet another argument Kano had instigated. When Sonya opened her mouth to retort that yes, he very much did fight, he continued, “He destroys. He's not skilled, just strong. He's not a warrior. He's a thug.”

Sonya agreed.)

When Sonya said she was concerned about the tournament, Liu Kang assigned her a few tasks to help the others train. When Sonya said she was frustrated with Jax's hopelessness, Liu Kang told her to draw on her own experiences to motivate him, which turned out to be the first thing that worked.

When Sonya said she wished she could participate in the tournament, Liu Kang agreed, then leaned in closer while he whispered plans of bloodshed to her, plans of her taking a mark for herself, plans of her fighting in Kano's place, all while staring at her with those huge, dark eyes.

Yeah. Sonya liked him.

Liu Kang didn't come by Jax's room often. Tasks related to his recovery were mostly given to Sonya or the medics while Liu Kang focused on getting Cole to unlock his arcana. Every so often, however, Liu Kang left his duties to Kung Lao and went to see Jax himself.

Usually he would just come to check on him, asking about how he's been doing, any lingering issues, any further concerns. Sometimes, though, he'd assist Jax with his recovery and his training himself.

At the moment, at the end of the day, after training, he was working to alleviate Jax’s phantom pains by massaging what was left of his arms and shoulders.

While Liu's hands made tiny little circular motions over Jax's shoulders and the spot where they had connected to his arms, Jax remained silent. Liu Kang's treatment, the massages and the acupuncture, had been helping. The pains had stopped almost entirely, but he didn't want to end his sessions with Liu in case it was the continuation of that treatment that kept it from flaring up again. Something about not quitting when you see results, like with any long term medicine.

That, and the fact that he enjoyed seeing him.

He couldn't be blamed, really. The opportunity to see a pretty thing like that, have his hands on him, get to chat him up—anyone would understand, right? He saw how the others looked at Liu Kang, certainly none of them would disagree. So he never told Liu to quit, so he didn't.

Liu Kang took his hands off of Jax's shoulders slowly, each finger leaving Jax's skin separately, trailing just a little in their wake, causing him to shudder slightly. Liu Kang must have noticed, because he immediately asked if he was alright.

Jax hummed lowly. “Yeah, I'm fine,” he said. “It's just…” He trailed off, letting Liu Kang settle back in to listen.

“I can't fight as well as I used to,” he said.

Liu Kang tilted his head almost imperceptibly. “In what way?”

Jax twisted the hand at the end of his prosthetic arm. “I can't punch as hard.”

Liu Kang tipped his head downwards slightly, as if in thought, his hair falling just slightly in front of his face, then he looked back up at him. “You're trying to put force into your throw with the strength in your arms, but the prosthetics aren't as strong as your arms were. The strength in your punches should come from the motion. Try twisting more when you throw.”

He stood, placing a hand on Jax's shoulder just to bring himself closer in that way he was so fond of. “Get some rest. You made great progress today. Sonya will be back to help you further tomorrow.”

He turned and walked out of the room, leaving Jax to stare at his retreating figure.

Maybe next time he'd try harder to make him stay.

Kung Lao knew how the others viewed Liu Kang. It was obvious. They could hardly keep their eyes off him on a good day. The last time Cole trained with him, he got so distracted by Liu Kang's shirt being off that he got half the hair on his arm singed right off. Whenever the champions sat down at meals together, the spots directly next to and across from Liu Kang were immediately taken by whoever got there first. Kung Lao had to eat next to Kano several times because the bastard wouldn't stop stealing his seat. Every time Liu Kang looked away from Sonya, her eyes would immediately drop and linger on his waist. Jax always seemed to find excuses to talk to him or to spend time around him.

It wasn't that Kung Lao didn't understand—Liu Kang was attractive, Kung Lao saw that every day—but it was beginning to hinder everyone's training, and as the tournament grew nearer, any hindrances were infinitely more dangerous.

It got to the point where Kung Lao had to talk to Liu Kang about it.

“Liu,” he greeted upon entering their shared room. Liu Kang nodded in response.

He was organising a set of books. The collection seemed random, a few books on firearms that Liu Kang probably wouldn’t recognise even if he was holding them, a book on acupuncture, a couple on martial arts styles that Liu Kang had already mastered years ago, more that Kung Lao couldn't bother to make out, all seemingly randomly placed, but Kung Lao knew Liu Kang had a system. He always did.

Kung Lao sat down on the chair by Liu Kang's desk. “I've noticed you seem to be distracting the chosen ones,” he said.

Liu Kang turned his eyes to look at him. “How do you mean?”

“Are you genuinely ignorant or are you trying to protect them?”

Liu Kang paused in his sorting, then turned fully to Kung Lao. “I need to know how you think I'm distracting them before I can answer that question.”

Kung Lao took his hat off, setting it aside and then shaking his hair out. “Earlier today, you managed to knock Kano down with a sweep kick. He's always on guard for those.”

Liu Kang tipped his head to the side. “Perhaps he was distracted by something else,” he said. “As the tournament approaches, things look more dire by the day. It may be that the nerves are finally catching up past the alcohol in his system.”

“He was staring at your ass, shi di.”

Liu Kang turned away and leaned against the wall in one smooth motion. “It appears madness has finally taken hold.”

Kung Lao rolled his eyes. “I’m not mad, nor am I blind. Quit trying to protect them.” He stood and stepped forward towards Liu Kang. “Any distraction is a liability. It puts everyone in danger.” He sighed. “It's best that you take a less direct role in their training.”

Liu Kang looked back at him, silent for several moments, just staring.

Damn, Kung Lao really understood how the others were so taken with him. He was wildly alluring.

Kung Lao sighed again. “Just make sure they don't get so caught up in you that they forget the tournament.”

The corners of Liu Kang's mouth turned up just a bit. “Of course. I would never dream of putting the tournament in jeopardy.”

He went back to his sorting, arranging the books in an entirely different order this time. A book on criminal practices at the top of the stack, a book on war at the bottom. Kung Lao might never figure out what it meant, but books were unimportant when the chosen ones were too distracted by Liu to train. He stared at Liu Kang's back as he arranged the books in the middle.