Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Thank you, Yao!” Mrs Lu called as the small boy rode off on his rusty green bike. “Happy New Year!”

“Happy New Year Mrs Lu!” Yao called back.

With two bags of takeaway hanging perilously off each bicycle handle, Yao Wang rode through the streets of Chinatown as he always did after his shift at Golden Dragon, a Shanghainese restaurant tucked away in between a phone repair shop and a store that drop-shipped passable bootleg Sanrio merchandise. Yao suspected both were for money laundering, but still occasionally bought a trinket from the latter for Mei (or himself).

He cycled through the after-dinner crowds with ease - there were more people than usual, all gathering for reunion dinner and whatnot. After all, Chinese/Lunar New Year was here - and Yao was especially excited for this year’s. His mother would be home for the first time in three years to celebrate the first day of the New Year with their family. She was a flight attendant, and was often away. Yao missed her a lot. He knew his siblings didn’t, not as much as him - but he did the most, because it had just been the two of them for so long.

The twinkling lights that hung over Chinatown seemed to glitter a little brighter than usual. Yao smiled as they disappeared behind him and he followed the path back home, back to Poppy Street.

He lived with his family in a fairly large house. It wasn’t the most luxurious, but it wasn’t horrible or dingy like the homes he and his mother had stayed in during his early childhood. Thanks to his mother’s salary, and the amount of alimony she collected a year. But still - it was one breadwinner and five children, so Yao had taken on the part-time job at the restaurant, just so he could have some “fun money” for his little siblings.

Yao was the eldest at 17 years old, then it was Kiku who was 11, then Yong-Soo who was 10, Mei who was 8, and finally Kai who was only 3 years old.

He honestly didn’t know how his mother did it - five different children from five different men. And four of them were businessmen she’d met on a plane. The only poor man she’d ever dated, apparently, was Yao’s father.

“But he was the most handsome,” she would say to him, secretly. “And that’s why, Yao, you are so beautiful!”

Yao didn’t really know how to feel about that either. His dad had died before he was born, from a freak accident at the factory he worked at. But his mother never mentioned anything much about him, besides his looks.

Yao’s looks - another contentious point in his life. He’s reminded of this once more as a trucker rides past him, and he receives another round of catcalls from men twice his age.

“I love Asian chicks!” one of them yells out.

“Need a green card?”

“Nice ass!”

I’m a US citizen. And I barely have an ass! Yao thought to himself as he sped up faster.

The most contentious point of his life, his existence, really - was his looks. He looked like a girl, and keeping his hair long really didn’t help (but why should he cut it? It’s others that needed to change!). And there was really no changing it, with the amount of bulking and gymming he’d tried. He even went to the doctor, who determined he was just naturally this androgynous. And honestly, he was fine with his looks, just not so much the responses he’d received because of them. Catcalls, harassment, prejudice.. Yao hated it all. People honestly needed to mind their own business.

He scowled as the truckers sped past his little bike, still whistling and jeering away, but was relieved that they weren’t following him.

When he finally reached home, he took the takeaways, tossed his bike to the side with his siblings’, and took out his key to unlock the door.

But just as he was about to reach the doorknob, the door burst open - nearly hitting him in the face.

“Surprise! Mama’s home!” screeched Yong-Soo.

“We were all supposed to say it together!” Kiku said, annoyed.

“Babababa,” said Kai.

Yao stood at the doorway in shock as his mother sat there at their round dining table, in her worn pink sweater and grey sweats.

Wang Chun-Yan was a beautiful woman, the kind who caught stares wherever she went, and she always carried herself with a certain grace - no matter what she was going through. And Yao was almost her spitting image, with her dark hair and soft hazel eyes.

She smiled at Yao.

“Yaoyao,” she said. “I’m back!”

“Mama!” Yao immediately ran over, leaving the takeaway on the floor and engulfing his mother in a hug. She still smelt the same. Jasmine, and soap. “You’re back before New Year!”

“I convinced my boss to let me take a domestic flight for once,” she smiled, her warm arms around him. “And you shouldn’t have brought food - I ordered some. Catering from Li Fang.”

“That’s the fancy restaurant!” Yong Soo said excitedly.

“Well, I mean,” Yao turned pink. “Mrs Lu always insists..”

“Does she still want you to marry her son?” Mei asks, eliciting a giggle from Kiku.

Yao gives a pinched look. “Well, she’s figured out by now that I’m a guy, aru.”

“I don’t think that matters to her,” Kiku said.

“OK, enough talking! We should eat soon,” Chun-Yan stood up and clapped her hands. “The food’s getting cold!”

Yao and his siblings perked up and immediately took their seats - and the rush to grab at the food began.

—

With whatever leftovers now tucked away in the fridge (and the takeaway), the Wang family were now feasting on Coolish vanilla ice-creams that Yao had bought the other day from an Asian mart.

After a minute of silent consumption, Chun-Yan spoke suddenly. She looked a little pale.

“By the way, I have.. an announcement to make,” she said.

“.. sixth sibling?” Yao guessed.

“Well..”

“We’re moving?”

“Well…!”

“You’re getting Botox?”

“No!” the matriarch looked a little exasperated, if not bemused. “I.. I, uh, I met someone.”

The table immediately burst into a series of questions, with Kai adding on by babbling.

“Who?”

“Is he rich?”

“Is he handsome?”

“What’s he like, aru?”

Their mother smiled sheepishly. “I’m always surprised at how well you guys take this kind of thing…”

“I mean.. look at us, no offence,” Kiku said.

“Right,” the woman sighed. “Well.. he’s.. not a he.”

“What?”

“What?!”

“What?!”

The whole table erupted in confusion again.

“Oh? It’s a woman!” Yao snapped his fingers in realization.

“Oh..” Kiku said.

“Mama,” Kai smiled with his ten teeth.

“Yes.. it’s.. a woman,” said Chun-Yan. “I met her on a flight to New York… two years ago.”

“What?! And you didn’t tell-”

“To be fair! We were only friends for the first year,” Chun-Yan said. “I’m sorry, I should have told you guys earlier…”

“Mama…” Yao said.

“OK! That’s all the new info for today, let’s wash up and go to bed,” Chun-Yan stood up. “Finish your ice cream soon.”

“Are we seriously just gonna act like you didn’t say anything?” Kiku deadpanned.

But Chun-Yan had already started walking up the stairs. Yao sighed, gave his ice cream to Yong-Soo, and began to clean up Kai’s ice-cream splatters.

“Is that all Mama has to say? That she’s suddenly dating a woman?” Mei huffed.

“Well, she is spontaneous..” Kiku said.

“It’s crazy, da-ze!” Yong-Soo said.

“It’s so strange...” Yao said. He immediately knew his mother was hiding something else - but what? He’d question her after his siblings went to bed.

After cleaning, making sure everyone was clean, making sure Yong-Soo really brushed his teeth for real for the fourth time, and tucking in Kai, Yao was exhausted - but he had to know, and so he went to his mother’s room and knocked on the door.

“Mama?”

She was on video-call with someone - but she quickly hung up as Yao opened the door.

“Yaoyao..” she smiled tiredly. Now that her makeup was off, he could see the slight crows’ lines that now adorned her eyes. “My beauty, what is it?”

“Was that.. the lady?” Yao asked cautiously as he sat on the bed, frog-style, like he used to when he was a kid.

“Yes..” Chun-Yan said softly. “I.. I didn’t say a lot at dinner, I got too nervous, I’m sorry.”

“Why? You can tell us anything,” Yao said. “It’s OK.”

“Not really, it’s not,” Chun-Yan sighed. “But.. give me a bit more time, OK? I would tell you first, darling, but I think this has to be an all-together thing.”

“OK..” Yao frowned.

Chun-Yan smiled. “Thank you for understanding Mama. Now go to sleep, OK? Or do you want to sleep here tonight, next to me?”

“No, I think the rest will be jealous they didn’t get a sleepover,” Yao giggled.

Chun-Yan hugged Yao. “Well, that’s how we used to sleep in that old place in Bridgeford, remember? Until you were five.. and I got my job…”

Yao hugged his mother back. “That was so long ago..”

“It was, huh?” Chun-Yan smiled proudly at him and kissed him on the forehead. “And I’m so proud of you now. Honor student.. Calligraphy Club president., what can you not do? And you help out so much at home too. All I can do is…”

She looked a little bit sadder. “All I have done is just.. give you more pocket money. And a bigger room.”

“That’s enough, isn’t it?” Yao nodded. “Don’t worry, Mama.”

“No.. no, it’s not,” Chun-Yan grimaced. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s time to retire.”

“Retire?” Yao raised his eyebrows. “But you love your job…”

“I..” Chun-Yan bit her lip. “Oh, never mind. Goodnight, darling.”

She kissed his forehead again, and he bid her goodnight once more before returning to his room. It was a nice room painted pastel blue, the walls full of his paintings and calligraphy and awards, and the window wide and dramatic. Yao loved to watch the sun rise when he woke up early, and watch as the light filled his room. To him, it was one of the great wonders of the world, to see light, to be given it.

He tucked himself in between his soft patterned comforter and bed sheets, thinking about his mother’s secret. Dating a woman was alright; but something else was off. What could it be..? But at least she was home for new year, he thought, as his eyes began to shutter close.

—

After the weekend of Chinese New Year celebrations and a huge red envelope from his mother, Yao went back to school feeling a little more refreshed than usual.

School was.. interesting for Yao. He didn’t really get bullied, but he didn’t have a lot of friends either. He used to get bullied, but they stopped in middle school, when his looks really started to stand out. Guys became really awkward around him, while girls were civil but still at a distance. He did have a crush on a girl, once, but she’d moved away.

He only really had two friends, and some acquaintances from Calligraphy Club - a Vietnamese-American couple, Rachel and Kevin. They’d been keeping Yao sane since elementary.

“Happy New Year Yao!” they yelled, hugging him from behind as he closed his locker.

Yao let out a little squeak before they let go of him. “Aiya! You two… Happy New Year!”

“I spent the whole weekend doing SAT prep, I think it was my unhappiest new year yet,” Kevin said sadly.

“We drove down to Houston and stayed with my cousins,” Rachel said. “But it wasn’t a happy new year either. Someone drowned my popo’s wheelchair in the pool.”

“I bet it was Alan,” Kevin said.

“It was Alan.”

Yao laughed. “Uh- well my mom was home for New Year’s, it was great! And she gave me like, 500 bucks aru.”

“Crazy!” Rachel said.

“That’s awesome, dude.”

“Yeah, but..” Yao made a face. “Something’s up. She’s behaving all weird aru.”

Kevin and Rachel made faces at each other.

“Sibling number six?” Rachel suggested.

“Maybe with a Viet dude this time,” Kevin smirked. “Then we’ll basically be like, cousins.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works, aru. And no, this time it’s a British lady,” Yao said.

“That’s a twist!” Rachel said. “But wait… no one has a problem with it right? Maybe she was scared of your reaction so she acted weird.”

“No.. I mean, no one has a problem. Maybe her parents would, if they were still around, but they’re not,” Yao shrugged. “It’s so confusing aru.”

“Maybe you’re overthinking it. Maybe she’s not acting weird..” Kevin said. “Maybe you’re acting weird.”

“But he’s acting normal,” Rachel pointed out.

“Right.”

Yao sighed. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s fine. She’s not the kind to keep a secret.”

—

Yao repeated his routine from then on with no problem, and his mother was off on international routes again.

He woke up early every morning, made breakfast and lunch boxes for him and his siblings, waited with Kiku, Mei, and Yong-Soo for their buses and quickly dropped Kai off at daycare on the way to his school. He ran the Calligraphy Club with the same meticulousness as he always did, ate Burger King with his friends, and fought off random guys hitting on him when he hung out at the arcade with Kevin and Rachel after school. He would pick Kai up and wait for the rest of his siblings at home, and then Yao would go in for an evening shift at Golden Dragon sometimes, before he went home with dinner ready. Yes, life was hard, but Yao ran his own easily. If it became tougher, then Yao simply had to become tougher too.

But of course, even a well-oiled machine like him couldn’t predict what happened next.

Chapter Text

“I have something to tell you guys,” Chun-Yan said for the second time this month, after another rare dinner together as a family.

Her children looked at her with varied looks of suspicion. And Yao just knew that what she was supposed to say a month ago was finally about to come out.

“I.. oh, let’s just make it quick,” Yao watched his mother take a deep breath. “We’re moving to England. To live with my new partner and her family. All of us.”

There was a deafening silence, and then the sound of Kiku promptly storming up and slamming his door. And then the loud wails of Mei and Yong-Soo. And then the crying from Kai, now frenzied from the sudden change in atmosphere.

Yao picked him up instinctively to soothe the toddler - but really, he was distracting himself. His racing thoughts, his mind - his life, what he had and what he was about to lose. There was something so harsh about his mother at this moment, sitting there with her made-up face and flight attendant uniform, clean and untouchable and losing.. nothing. Yet again. That unbeatable grace. Effortlessly swaying through life, winning and winning and losing nothing.

And though he shared that beautiful face with his mother, though he spoke with her mannerisms, though he was supposed to be the best of her like she always said - he found himself the loser once more, in everything. His failure to live up to his gender expectations, his failure to be a child, having to raise his siblings (and can he really say he succeeded in that, when Kiku had to take up the mantle at times?), and his failure in love, his social life, his image - he knew that they laughed at him in the hallways, boys dared each other to grope him in locker rooms, half his returning customers at Golden Dragon was because they thought he was a woman, and the parents at Kai’s daycare thought he was a single mother. The embarrassment, the failure, the humiliation of being himself killed him, and all of that effort to make his life better, make himself better had now led to this. Picking up and leaving, on his mother’s whim, just like when he was a child.

Leaving his friends, all the happiness that he had managed to find here, his siblings leaving everything and everyone they knew, everything - everything had been for nothing.

Yao blinked. He thought about his SATs, and the club’s upcoming friendly competition with the local Chinese language school. He thought about how Kevin and Rachel and him had made pancakes at the latter’s house the other day. They were supposed to go to the arcade again tomorrow. There were so many things to do, and so many things that he could never do again.

He took a deep breath and simply looked at his mother. She looked back at him - and perhaps, for once, looked remorseful at his aggrieved expression. But Yao could not manage more than a second’s glance, and so he rushed upstairs to Kai’s room with the toddler in his arms, patting and soothing him gently, ignoring his own tears.

—

“You could stay behind,” Rachel suggested.

“You can’t leave,” Kevin looked shocked. “You’re like… you belong here. You’ve always been here.”

“I can’t be separate from my family. It’ll kill me,” Yao shut his eyes close, trying to pretend that nothing was real.

The three of them were sitting at a creek near their school. They usually came here to loiter or eat, when the weather was cool and you could see the water glimmer. There was no mood for the arcade or the mall today — Yao had broken the news, fast and sterile, but nevertheless a painful needle into their little trio.

“Where.. when…”

“London, I think.. next month, after her next few flights,” said Yao. “I wasn’t really listening.”

His mother had tried to talk to him in the morning, but his replies had been cold, curt, and he’d rushed off fairly quickly with his equally as silent siblings. He knew Chun-Yan had probably gone to work later with tears in her eyes - but he felt that nasty little knife of satisfaction: she’d deserved it.

“London… London’s.. far,” Kevin said. “What about college, and everything?”

“She mentioned we were all gonna go to school there,” said Yao. “I dunno what that means for us, aru.”

He let out a bitter laugh. “I don’t.. I don’t even understand her. But I guess that’s why she was acting strangely during New Year. Because of this…”

“It’s not fair,” Rachel’s eyes were already red from crying earlier. “This is horrible! You’re just going to leave?”

“I guess I am,” Yao said. “I don’t know when, don’t know how.. I’m just.. leaving.”

“Yao..”

“It’s OK, guys,” he smiled at them. “I have a plan. I’m just going to go for a while, aru. I’ll stay there until high school ends. It should be enough time for my siblings to settle in. I’ll also work part-time…”

“But,” Rachel raised her brows. “But it’s London. This is, this is.. Texas.”

“Yeah, London’s like, cool. There’s loads of cool opportunities there, and stuff. I’m sure you’d wanna stay there.”

“But Richardson is my home, aru,” said Yao. “I have to come back here. And.. even if it’s not here, I wanna come back to America, at least.”

Rachel and Kevin smiled at him brightly.

“Yeah.. yeah! And then we can all go to the same college together, like we planned!” Kevin agreed.

“That’s like what, two years?” Rachel laughed. “It’s a little long, but it’s just two years. Not forever.”

“Exactly, aru,” Yao perked up. “It’ll be OK! And besides, I.. I want to come back after high school because.. I think I just don’t want to let my mom keep doing this kind of thing. Dragging us around. She did it to me - but she can’t do it to my siblings, I’lll teach her that.”

“That’s right, Yao,” Kevin said. “Show her!”

“You’ve been raising your siblings for way too long anyway. It’s time she steps up,” said Rachel.

“I.. I will,” Yao said firmly. “But.. At the same time, I don’t know. I’m confident I’ll come back anyway, given her track record with marriage. Either with my family or without… but I mean I’ll visit them still, lots..”

Yao still looked unsure of his plans. He didn’t know if he could really do that - just leave his family behind? But he had dreams, he had his friends, and.. everything he knew was in the USA. He wouldn’t let this move destroy that. He’d balance it all, somehow, like he always did.

“We’ll always be here, Yao,” said Rachel.

She and Kevin clasped his hand.

“It’ll be OK, dude,” Kevin grinned. “You’re fucking Yao Wang - you’ve always made it through, haven’t you?”

Yao nodded. He wanted to be brave, but still - the ache in his chest remained. The creek glistened all the same in the sunlight, and there was a trail of ants from a rotting log to a freshly dug hole in the soil, as always. The world had not changed, it was just him who had.

—

“Details, please,” Yao said, unceremoniously opening his mother’s door. He had no manners to spare her this evening, his anger too much to control properly. “About the move.”

“Oh, Yaoyao..” Chun-Yan said, looking forlornly at her son. “I know it’s hard to take in but..”

“Please.. just.. give me the details,” he said through gritted teeth. “So I can prepare the others too.”

“Right,” Chun-Yan sighed, knowing her son hated comfort from others - he usually soothed himself alone, something he’d unfortunately learned from young since she had always been working long hours. “So… we’ll be moving in two weeks. You guys don’t need to pack anything, the movers will handle it all… arrangements for school have already been done, but they’re a little.. different from schools here.”

“How..?”

“Well, you’ll be going to secondary school, not high school. And you will all be going to … private schools.”

“Since when can we afford.. private school?” Yao raised his eyebrows. Perhaps one of the deadbeat dads had increased his child support payments. But whatever - Yao’s priority wasn’t school, that didn’t matter. And he’d always done well academically, it didn’t matter where he went.

“Well, we can afford it now,” Chun-Yan smiled tightly. “And… I’ll be quitting my job.”

Yao blinked. “What?”

Then how would she afford it?

“Yeah, I mean,” she took a deep breath. “Yao.. you’ve been doing all the heavy lifting. It’s my turn, isn’t it? You’ll no longer have to look after your siblings. It’ll be different - a good different in London. It’s a fresh start for us.

That makes my plan of returning a lot easier. I’m not going to complain, Yao thought. He smiled a little. Maybe.. maybe she’s changing for the better.

“And about siblings.. you’ll also have… three new siblings, one around your age and two that’s Yong Soo’s age,” Chun-Yan said, hesitation in her voice. “But we understand - Alice and I - we understand you guys need time to, you know, get to know each other. So we don’t expect all of you guys to be one big happy family right away.”

“Well, that’s OK,” Yao said. “What are they like?”

“I’m.. not too sure,” Chun-Yan frowned. “But they’re intelligent and lovely, according to Alice. There shouldn’t be any problems.”

“That’s.. a description,” Yao said. What did intelligent and lovely even entail? But maybe they wouldn’t have to interact much, he’d just have to stick it out for two years and leave the house as much as possible if they sucked. “But OK, aru. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Of course,” Chun-Yan’s face relaxed as her son seemed to be coming around. “Things will change for good in London, Yao. I’ll be a better mama, I can give you more pocket money, and.. it’ll be OK.”

More money towards his plan was just an added bonus, thought Yao. It’ll be OK.

“Alright,” Yao said, though he felt like he was lying somehow. “It’ll be OK.”

—

But everytime he looked at his darling siblings, Yao rethought his plan at least ten times. How could he leave them behind?

He watched as they struggled to pick what toys to bring with them onto the plane. It had already been difficult for them to merely adjust to the idea of moving. The tears, the tantrums.. Yao dealt with it all, smoothly and casually as he always did. But his heart was breaking for his siblings.

But maybe it’ll be for the best, in the end. Yao thought, thinking of Rachel and Kevin’s words. London did have more opportunities. Maybe his siblings would be better off growing up there, in a big city, rather than just… here.

But he’d also done plenty of research in the past weeks - London was dirty and smelly, there was loads of crime and pickpockets, Brits were rude. The list was never-ending. Yao didn’t really want to move there at all, not after reading the countless forum threads and social media posts screaming “fuck the UK!!!!” over and over.

“Do you think Puffy or Baby will do better on the plane?” Mei asked, holding up a stuffed pink rabbit and a stuffed pink whale.

“Um.. Puffy. Baby’s a sea creature,” Yao said. “He’d be scared in the air.”

“Baby’s a BABY,” Yong-Soo said rudely.

“Shut up, you’re not funny,” retorted Mei.

“I am SO funny.”

“No, you’re n-”

“Yong-Soo, stop being rude, and Mei, calm down!” Yao chided. “You’re stressing out Puffy and Baby.”

“You’re right, gege…” Mei hugged her stuffed toys. “I’m sorry..”

“…sorry, Mei,” Yong-Soo said begrudgingly, before Yao could force him to. “I can put Baby in my backpack, if you really want.”

“It’s OK,” Mei said sadly. “I know you’re planning to bring all your rainbow pop-its. And Edgar.”

Edgar was a Transformer action figure that was definitely not named Edgar, but Yao had forgotten the name of it already. He currently took up three quarters of Yong Soo’s bag.

“Yeah, I am,” Yong-Soo said. “Oh well. See, hyung, I offered!”

“That’s very nice of you,” Yao sighed. “It’s OK, Meimei, give me Baby. I’ll put him in mine.”

“It’s OK, I’ll put Baby with Lala in the moving box,” Mei said. “Lala will teach Baby to be brave!”

“Good plan aru,” Yao said.

Kiku was in the corner, playing with his Switch. He’d be pretty silent for the past two days - and it was a no brainer as to why. After all, the move was tomorrow.

“Kiku..” Yao went over to talk to his little brother as Yong Soo and Mei began to bicker over something else. “Talk to me. How are you feeling?”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Kiku said. “I feel bad. The end.”

“Kiku..”

“How can you be OK with this?” Kiku spat out suddenly. “How come you didn’t try to convince Mama to stay?”

“Kiku, I-” Yao looked at his younger brother in shock.

“You’re so stupid, nii-chan. You can’t do anything right!” Kiku hissed.

“Wha- Kiku!”

But the little black-haired boy had run off before Yao could say anything else. He groaned.

In a way, Kiku had been right - why hadn’t he done anything? God, he’d failed him, and all of them, really. He’d only thought about his own escape plan. But he’d assumed his family would grow to love London, or at least adjust to it..

Kai babbled away at his foot. Yao picked him up, sighing as he sat on a moving box.

“Am I a bad big brother?” he asked the toddler as he cooed away.

“Bababa,” Kai said.

“… sounds about right.”

—

It all happened in a blur - as if Yao’s life could be so easily undone overnight, and it was. There was a little party for Yao at Golden Dragon, where he received plenty of tearful hugs and red packets. Both Kevin and Rachel’s families had farewell dinners with Yao, and even his classmates had all signed a farewell card to him, and had given him an honorary graduation cap.

A few jocks in his class also confessed to him.

“I’ve always thought you were hot,” said one of them, seriously. “Are you free tonight?”

“I’m… a guy, aru,” said Yao.

“It doesn’t matter, I mean- you kind of look like a girl-“

And Yao had promptly left the jock standing there, going off for his club session.

His Calligraphy Club members also had a goodbye party for him - and that’s when he realised, solemnly to himself, how loved he was here.

“Yao, you can’t leave!” his vice-president wailed. “It’ll be impossible to run this club! I mean, half the people here joined because they had crushes on you!”

“No, they didn’t aru,” sighed Yao. “Guys, did you?”

There was an overwhelming silence from the boys, but the girls chattered back a ‘no’. Yao wanted to sigh again, but he felt that hey - maybe this was only an American thing. Maybe in England, they didn’t like androgynous Asian dudes as much. He was just a novelty here, that’s all.

“OK, well,” Yao said. “Er, let’s just eat this cake, aru..”

—

So long, Texas, he thought as he walked home later, Kevin and Rachel by his side. This would be their last time. This memory, this place, this routine… it would never return. Yao was going to leave for a long, long time. Chun-Yan was selling the house. Poppy Street would be oceans away by next week.

“It’ll be OK, Yao,” Rachel said. “Just give it time.”

“I want to die, aru,” said Yao. “Or at least smash my head against a very big wall.”

“Don’t do either,” Kevin grimaced. “We need you to live. So you can come back.”

“I did all sorts of research on London,” Yao said. “I don’t know if I’ll come back alive. It’s always rainy and sad there, and their Chinese food looks horrible.”

“Oh, I saw that too..” Rachel said. “But maybe it’s just.. exaggerating?”

“It didn’t look like an exaggeration,” Yao said. “I mean, ugh, it should be fine. Just a year, aru. Just a year and I’m coming back here.”

Dead leaves scattered as the wind suddenly blew, frayed and browned as they descended from the trees onto the trio. Yao looked around hesitantly, realizing it was the junction where they had to part, as they lived on different streets - then he looked at Kevin and Rachel.

“Well… this is where I say bye,” Yao bit his lip.

“Yaooooo!” Kevin suddenly wailed loudly. “You can’t leave!”

“Shush!” Rachel shushed, holding back her tears. “Yao.. we want to give you something. Before you go..”

She fished out a little brown parcel from her backpack and gave it to him. “It’s from the both of us.”

“We hope you like it,” Kevin sniffled. “But don’t open it.. till you’re on the plane..”

Yao couldn’t help it. He burst into tears - the first time he’d ever done so, since his mother had told him. Why was this happening? Why did he have to say goodbye? Was this fair?

But nothing really ever was fair for him, he thought, as his friends embraced him. It was only love that had gotten him this far, from or for others. He could only hope that he’d be okay soon. But he didn’t know if he’d be okay, ever.

—

“Ready?” Yao asked his siblings as they stood in a little huddle in front of him.

The house was mostly in boxes now. The emptiness was eerie - it had always been so messy, no matter how much Yao cleaned..

“Ready, gege!” Most of his siblings answered, besides Kiku, who was still grumpy, and Kai, who only babbled.

“Good, let’s go. Mama’s already in the car,” he said.

They all followed him out - and then Yao took a final look at his home as they drove off.

It’ll be okay, he tried to reassure himself, watching the house grow smaller and smaller in the distance. I’ll be back.

When they reached the airport, he was still full of that apprehension - and it only increased when they didn’t go into the normal check-in like the few times they had traveled. Instead, suddenly they were off to a first-class lounge via a huge elevator, and Yao looked at his mother curiously, but she said nothing.

Maybe it’s an upgrade from her job? Yao thought to himself. Though it seemed a little excessive.

The expensive lounge would have been enjoyable if Yao hadn’t had to control four out-of-control children, but Kiku had decided to run around to record down the material of every object in the lounge, Yong-Soo tried to eat half of the all-you-can-eat buffet at one-go, Mei wanted to hide herself in a locker, and Kai was crying half the time.

Chun Yan had gone to the spa, so that wasn’t a help, and there was no way Yao was going to leave them at the kids’ club, airports were hot spots for human trafficking! Even in the lounge (probably).

But in the end, he’d managed to secure all four of them, and they were happily eating eclairs on lounge chairs while Yao googled about jet lag and how to overcome it within 24 hours.

I can do it, aru. I can overcome it with the sheer will of my mind! Yao thought to himself as he stared at the WikiHow page.

“OK, time to go, kiddos!” Chun Yan suddenly popped up. “We’re in first-class this time, so don’t make too much noise, darlings.”

“First class? Woohoo!” Yong Soo shouted and began to run around in a circle.

“Sounds fancy!” Mei exclaimed.

“Mm..” Kiku said.

“Gege, pick up,” Kai said.

Yao picked him up and stared concernedly at his mom. “Mama.. how much did you spend on all this..?”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head,” Chun Yan ruffled Yao’s hair. “Let’s go!”

—

Yao had never been on a first-class flight overseas before. It was incredible - the seats were unfoldable beds with pillows. There were snacks all the time. And the flight attendants were polite! But he couldn’t help but worry about his siblings, though they seemed to be having fun, and Kai was happily sitting with their mother.

After calming down about his family halfway through his flight, he decided it was time to open Rachel and Kevin’s present. It was the only thing in his carry-on bag that was actually for himself - everything else was his mom’s makeup, Kiku’s figurines, Yong-Soo’s fidget toys, Mei’s stuffed animal, Kai’s emergency diapers..

He unwrapped the present carefully, and gasped at the item - it was a wooden puzzle box, decorated like an antique Chinese treasure. He, Kev, and Rach had always done puzzles together since they were little.. well, not as much these days, but still… they’d remembered.

Yao teared up, but he managed to hold his crying back as he tried to solve the puzzle box. After about half an hour, it unlocked.

“Oh, you guys aru…”

A box of Tic-Tacs, strawberry candies, a Hello Kitty ring, stickers of the three of them together, a folded letter, and a ticket.. to Six Flags, for two years later, on this date.

Yao laughed, though his heart clenched. He had to come back to Texas. He simply had to. Even if it meant leaving his mother.. or his family…

He kept everything in the box and put it back in his bag. He’d think about it later. For now, he was going to take advantage of this bed and sleep.

Chapter Text

London was cold when they touched down. Yao had prepared for this, luckily, and had brought extra puffers for everybody, including his mom. They stood outside Heathrow by the taxi’s waiting area, shivering.

“Oh, thank God for you, Yaoyao..” she groaned as she put on the puffer. “Didn’t know it’d be so cold, damn..”

“How are we getting to our.. uh.. new house?” he asked. Home was a little much for him to say.

“Oh, Alice is sending a car,” she said. “Hold on!”

A huge, black car eventually pulled up - and it looked fancy. The door even automatically opened by itself.

“Oh, that’s ours. Get in, kids!” Chun Yan said.

Yao had spent the other flight and lounge experience being bewildered by their sudden lifestyle changes - but suddenly, it clicked. Alice had to be rich rich. And not in a normal way… this car had a TV and minibar?!

“This is crazy,” he muttered. His siblings hadn’t noticed at all, simply thinking that this was some kind of nice surprise - but he knew Chun Yan didn’t have that much disposable cash. How was this possible, if not for Alice? “Mama.. What does Alice do for a living?”

“She’s a stockbroker,” she replied.

“Is that good?” Kiku asked.

“… depends,” Chun Yan said.

“Sounds scary. There’s breaking involved!” Yong Soo said.

Oh, she’s rich. Yao thought. But how long would this last? After all, Chun Yan’s record with men had never been steady - but maybe it’d be different with a woman.

“I’m so excited for you guys to meet her!” Chun Yan chirped away. “And her kids.. your new step-siblings, there’s three of them…”

The rest of them listened intently about their new step-siblings except for Yao, who simply looked out of the window. What he had read was right - London was gloomy and gray, though the architecture was definitely beautiful. The streets were so confusing, and everything was on the wrong side of the road, and the people were all huddling around in long jackets and big black puffers.

Everyone smoked. Or vaped. No one seemed particularly happy. And everything seemed so.. fast. But that was normal in a big city, he supposed. Everyone was so strange and so… English.

And when they finally reached the house, Yao was shocked again. This was no ordinary home, this was…

“Our new home, everybody!” Chun Yan swept out gracefully, somehow looking good in a puffer and a long dress.

The most beautiful terraced building looked over them menacingly, fancier than anything Yao had ever dreamed of. On the other side was a lake, and Yao could see a few little sailboats and a yacht parked nearby.

“Gege… this place is so fancy!” Mei pulled at Yao’s hand.

“It’s huge,” Yong-Soo was in awe.

“I… uh… Mama,” Yao said. “Are y-”

“Come on! The chauffeur and butler will bring the luggage in later,” Chun Yan said happily, ushering her children in.

A blond man in a suit opened the door for them, and Yao was in awe as he entered an incredibly luxurious foyer, decorated with all sorts of interesting paintings and.. taxidermied animals. There were several fancy-looking doors that probably led to fancier rooms, and two swirling staircases on either side of the room that led upstairs.

“Welcome back, Ms Wang,” the man said. “Ms Kirkland will be with you shortly.”

“Hi Basch! Guys, this is Basch - he’s the butler, so cool, right?” Chun Yan said happily, gesturing at him.

“Thank you Basch, aru,” Yao said, feeling a little embarrassed at how enthusiastic his mother was despite the man’s stoicness, blinking at him.

Basch’s cheeks suddenly tinged slightly pink. “No problem, Ms…”

“It’s Mr, actually,” Yao said awkwardly.

“My humble apologies,” the man bowed low. “Mr Wang. I apologize, that was incredibly offensive of me.”

“It’s OK! It happens all the time…” Yao replied awkwardly.

“It’s no excuse, I firmly apologize,” Basch said, his expression genuine. “I will send for Ms Kirkland now.”

He immediately walked up one of the swirling staircases, and Yao looked awkwardly at his mom.

“You really take after my looks, huh?” Chun Yan said proudly.

“Yao gege is prettier than lots of girls,” Yong-Soo said. “It’s nothing new, right?”

“I guess, but it doesn’t make me feel any better when people mistake my gender aru..”

“Why don’t you try bulking up?” Chun Yan suggested, not for the first time.

Yao grimaced. He didn’t really want to bulk up either - why couldn’t he just be himself and seen as manly? Actually, he didn’t even want to be seen as manly - he just wanted people to address him as a man.

And just at that moment, Alice came down. She wore a beautiful blue dress, sharp black spectacles, and her hair was in a gorgeous blonde bun.

“Alice!” Chun Yan excitedly said, running forward and throwing her arms around the blonde woman.

Yao was surprised - he’d never seen his mother so… happy, almost ungracefully so, and the blonde woman - who looked serious at first - was now a blushing mess, smiling flusteredly as she hugged Chun Yan back.

“My love..” she said, her voice slightly embarassed. “And.. you must be her darling children. It’s so wonderful to finally meet you all. Ah, my children are coming down at any moment as well…”

“Hi Alice!” Yong-Soo greeted loudly.

“Shh! Don’t greet her so violently,” Mei said, who curtseyed instead. “Hello, Lady Alice.”

“I’m not a lady, Mei, don’t worry,” she giggled. “Just be yourselves, darlings. The posh house is just a front.”

“You know our names?” Kiku asked, surprised.

“Of course, your mother constantly gushes about you all - and sends so many pictures, how could I forget?” Alice winked.

“That’s right!” Chun Yan laughed, her arms still around Alice.

Yao looked up and down at Alice and gave her a small smile. She seemed.. nice, actually. She wasn’t mean or cold or aloof like the others. But maybe that was just a front too…

“They’re here?!” They suddenly heard a voice from upstairs - and a little blond boy and little brunette girl suddenly rushed down the stairs.

They both had incredibly thick eyebrows, but beautiful blue eyes. Yao stared at the two small kids, who simply looked around at the others - and then up at him, in pure amazement.

“Mum, there’s a princess in the lobby!” the blond boy said.

Aiya, Yao thought, turning red. Not again.

“This is Yao, your new stepbrother,” Alice said embarrassedly. “So you mean prince, don’t you?”

“Princess!” the girl exclaimed. “You’re so pretty, like a princess!”

“Lottie! Oh- I’m sorry, Yao. They’re a bit rambunctious,” Alice said, though Yao had no idea what that word meant. “This is Peter and Charlotte. They’re fraternal twins, and they’re ten - like you, Yong Soo.”

Yong-Soo looked at Alice, and then the twins inquisitively. He’d never met any before. “Hi! I’m Yong Soo.”

“I’m Mei,” Mei piped in, also curious about the twins.

“I’m Kiku,” Kiku said, still sullen.

“And this is Kai, he’s three,” Yao picked Kai up as he blinked at them.

“He’s so cute!” Charlotte squealed, her ponytail flipping excitedly.

“Our big brother’s coming soon, but he’s…”

The front door suddenly slammed open - and a blast of cold wind got inside.

And so did a lanky blond with green eyes. And a thousand earrings. And a leather jacket. And ripped jeans. And a dented guitar case covered in torn-up stickers in his right hand.

Yao felt his eye twitch a little.

“Oh, here he is,” Alice drawled. “Arthur! Come greet your new step-siblings. And please change before dinner.”

Arthur took out an earphone, looked at all of them boredly, and raised a thick eyebrow. “Hello. Goodbye.”

He promptly went up the stairs without batting an eye, and Alice sighed.

“Sorry, he’s still getting used to the idea of step-siblings..” Alice said. “I know it was sudden for all of you too…”

“It’s so exciting though! Artie’s just being a spoilsport,” Peter said.

“Yeah! We can play even more now!” Yong-Soo agreed excitedly as well.

Yao sort of understood how Arthur was feeling - but goddamn, that was rude. He seemed quite mean, actually. Hopefully Yao didn’t have to interact with him too much.

“I’ll show you all to your rooms, come on!” Alice said. “Chun Yan picked them all out already, so they’re all ready.”

Kai’s was the old nursery, converted into a toddler’s dream playroom. Then Mei’s had a beautiful new dollhouse and a princess canopy bed (just like Lottie’s apparently). Yong Soo’s was a typical little boy’s room, with a racing-car bed and a TV. Kiku’s was cool too - there was a display shelf for his figurines, and he even had a PC set up for him.

And Yao’s…

“It’s still undergoing renovation, unfortunately,” Alice sighed, creaking it open to show them. A concrete wasteland, for now. “Sorry, love. There was a bit of an issue with the contractors and whatnot..”

“How about a guest room?” Chun Yan asked.

“Well, they’re undergoing renovation too.. it’s the same contractors…” Alice said awkwardly. “So.. uh, Yao, darling. You’ll be sharing a room.”

“With.. Kiku?” Yao asked.

“No, uh, with Arthur,” Alice said.

“…what?” Yao said.

“Kiku’s bed is too small, because we’d customized it for height,” Alice said apologetically, shifting her glasses. “Arthur’s bed is a king, there’s plenty of space, no problem, and he’s got a walk-in wardrobe so there’s enough space for your things, and well- he’s seventeen too, so he’s got all this teenager stuff I’m sure you’d be able to bond over-”

“Um, I..”

“This is an amazing chance for you two to bond!” Chun Yan said, thrilled by the idea. “Get Arthur to come out of his shell a little, y’know. I’ve barely spoken to him, though I’ve been here so much..”

“Artie’s not coming out of his shell, mum,” Peter rolled his eyes. “Good luck, Yao. It’s like being roommates with a porcupine.”

“And at least porcupines are cute!” Lottie said.

They’re so mean to their brother… Yao thought. His siblings had always been adoring of him, even when they were mad - it had never really occurred to him that there were dynamics like this. Maybe he’d understand if they were closer in age, but these were his little siblings.

Yao frowned. “Well.. Wouldn’t Arthur be uncomfortable?”

“He agreed to it, I don’t see why he would be,” Alice said.

“That’s because you’d force him in the end anyway,” muttered Lottie.

“I don’t know,” Yao said awkwardly. He definitely didn’t want to share a room with some random guy for.. god-knows how long. “Uh. How long will the room take?”

“About.. two months?” Alice said.

“Oh you’ll be fine, Yaoyao!” Chun-Yan gave him a tight one-handed hug. “Arthur’s fun! He plays the guitar.. he likes art, you can show him your calligraphy..”

I’m definitely not showing him my calligraphy, thought Yao. But the pressure of all the eyes on him got to him eventually - and he simply gave a tight, thin-lipped nod.

He wished he was back in Texas.

—

After helping his siblings settle into their own rooms, he entered Arthur’s room awkwardly. His luggage was already in there, untouched, and the blond guy was just lying on his bed, listening to music through his earphones.

“Hi,” he said quietly, closing the door behind him softly.

Arthur took off his earphones and stared, his brows furrowing.

“I thought I was sharing with some guy,” he said.

“I am a guy,” Yao said, annoyed that this was happening for the third time in an hour. “I’m Yao.”

“Oh,” Arthur said. “I’m Arthur. But you knew that already, didn’t you?”

“Uh, I guess I did, aru.”

He squinted at Yao. Then he got up and walked over to him, staring him down - he was nearly a foot taller. Yao stared back at Arthur, his heart beating fast - was this guy gonna punch him? And his eyes - how were they so green, when his siblings’ and mother’s were blue?

“Um..” Yao stared away awkwardly. “Yes?”

“Some ground rules, China doll,” Arthur said, and Yao felt his eye twitch. “This is my room. It’s your room, temporarily. Don’t play any music out loud. Don’t touch or use my stuff, except for soap and shit. And don’t talk to me unless absolutely necessary. Got it? I’m already generous enough to share my room, so don’t expect anything more from me.”

“I definitely won’t, don’t worry,” Yao gritted back.

“And sleep on your side of the bed only. Never cross over to mine,” Arthur said. “And if I bring a girl over, sleep on the sofa downstairs or the floor.”

“I’ll go for the couch, thanks,” Yao said passive-aggressively, faking a smile.

“Suit yourself, China doll,” Arthur shot back a fake smile as well before going back onto his bed and putting on his earphones again.

Yao sighed and decided to unpack - Arthur had at least left somewhat of a miniscule part of his walk-in wardrobe for him, which was luckily huge for Yao, so the Chinese boy managed to fit all his things in there. He didn’t have that many belongings, really.

Except for one thing - he decided to hide the puzzle box in the deepest part of his side of the closet. He didn’t want Arthur to ever find it.

Finally, he brought his Hello Kitty doll out of his luggage, and placed it on the other side of the bed that Arthur wasn’t sleeping on.

The blond boy quirked an eyebrow at the doll, but didn’t say anything. Thank God for that no unnecessary talking rule, Yao thought - it would save him a lot of shittalking.

He did feel a little sorry for Arthur though. It must have been incredibly uncomfortable to share his bed with a random guy he’d never met. He was going to apologize just now, but it was clear that the Brit didn’t really want to hear him speak, so he decided to simply keep to himself as much as possible. After all, it was still really Arthur’s house, not his.

After unpacking, Yao took off his puffer and decided to go explore the house rather than sit awkwardly in the room with the other 17-year old. He couldn’t take the tension - it was so awkward. Why would their mothers think this was a good idea? He could’ve just stayed behind in Texas till his room got fixed up. Or they could’ve put an air mattress in one of his siblings’ rooms - really, anything but this.

The house was huge. Maybe he could find somewhere else to sleep? He wandered done the halls, past portraits of old men that looked like Arthur and Renaissance paintings. There were tapestries and gargoyles and vases that looked a thousand years old — how rich was this family, really?

Even all their rooms had been unusually large. Especially Arthur’s - gorgeous and huge, with a big, ornately framed window by the side and silk curtains. His bed was twice the size of Yao’s back home, and the sheets were velveteen and silk. All the floors were white marble - even the bathroom’s. Oh - Arthur’s bathroom was incredible. He was pretty sure that the bathtub had a jacuzzi function, not to mention that the shower was the size of a small room and that the toilet was one of those Japanese ones that had a million functions.

Yao tried not to be in awe of their wealth, but it was difficult. They had a cinema room, a wellness room (a home spa, basically), a music room, a ballroom, and three different living rooms.

“I could sleep in this if I had to,” he thought out loud as he collapsed onto one of the soft, luxurious couches. “It’s not too bad..”

He wandered outside to the back of the home. The sun was setting already, but the sky just became a darker gray. There were no colors, none of the violets and reds that usually appeared over Poppy Street. The garden was immaculately kept, and there was an outdoor swing, alongside a fancy long table and chairs, probably for high tea or something.

This house was just so.. fancy. Not a thing out of place. Except Yao, who had no room, was constantly getting misgendered, and was now just wandering around aimlessly. He would never fit in here..

“Yao! Dinner’s almost ready, come sit!” Pieter called, running out into the garden.

“How did you know I was here?” Yao said in surprise.

“Well, I can’t stand being in a room with Artie for more than ten minutes. I thought it might have driven you outside,” the little boy said.

“Oh,” Yao chuckled softly. He wasn’t wrong. “Well - show me the way then.”

The dining room was just as luxurious as the rest of the house - and so was the food on the table. It was a chicken roast and some other.. stuff. English food, Yao supposed.

He sat in between Kiku and Peter, forking out food for his siblings and new step-siblings.

“Oh, don’t serve them, Yao! They can take their food themselves!” Alice said from the head of the table.

“He’s just a very polite boy,” Chun Yan said.

“Uh, OK,” Yao awkwardly forked at the dishes for himself. He wasn’t used to taking for himself only.

The dinner went well for a minute or two, with the chatter dispersed throughout the table - and then the doors opened and a familiar but dreaded sight appeared again.

But this time, in a loose Ralph Lauren polo and loose pants. The piercings were gone too.

“Arthur,” Alice smiled. “You look much better.”

“I’m only wearing this because I want to eat,” Arthur grumbled, sitting down opposite Yao.

The Chinese boy couldn’t help but look at Arthur. He was just so.. foreign to him. It was honestly fascinating. His hair and eyebrows were so thick and so blond, and his eyes were so green - his teeth weren’t the usual perfect, white ones he often saw back in America, and he was so… un-American, really.

“Why are you staring at me,” Arthur said, deadpan.

“Cause… um,” Yao said, flushing a little. “Just observing how the English eat, aru.”

“Just like how you Americans eat, I suppose,” Arthur quipped back.

“Yao’s not super American,” Chun Yan said. “He’s actually quite Chinese! He used to work in the Chinatown near us too.”

“Whether you’re Chinese or not, you’re American,” Arthur said. “And that makes all the difference.”

“Whatever,” Yao muttered.

“American.”

“OK, enough!” Alice shot Arthur a look. “Art. Behave.”

“I’m not a dog that you can just order about,” the blond sneered back. “Unlike the couple of strays you’ve taken in.”

“Arthur,” Alice stood up, her glare vicious. “Enough.”

She’d meant it - her voice was quiet, but firm enough for everybody to stop talking.

“Fine,” Arthur muttered under his breath.

And the rest of dinner was eaten in silence.

—

After that horrible, terrible, awkward dinner, Yao enjoyed a lengthy shower in Arthur’s bathroom. Mostly because he didn’t want to get out and see him again.

But eventually his fingers began to prune. Yao scowled as he came out, putting on his baby blue pyjamas. Goddammit. Why did he have to share a bed with this fucker, aru?

“Took you long enough,” Arthur said. “I had to use the guest toilet.”

“How horrible for you,” Yao said. “I apologize for putting you through that traumatizing event.”

“Haha,” Arthur said, unsmiling.

Yao combed through his silky, dark brown hair as he sat on the other side of the bed, far away from Arthur.

Arthur was, surprisingly, reading a book. It was one Yao had wanted to read for some time - The Lover - but no, he wasn’t going to start a conversation over that. Not after how horrible and rude he was at dinner - after calling his family stray dogs, he was pretty much dead to Yao. He would absolutely not bond with Arthur. Ever.

He focused on combing his hair, and staring intensely at Arthur’s Black Sabbath posters on his wall. There were posters and pictures of rock bands all over his room, with strange rocks and tarot cards strewn about on his table.

“Stop judging.”

Yao’s lips formed into a pout. “I wasn’t.”

“I can see you judging my things. Stop,” Arthur growled. “I’m letting you sleep in my room, for fuck’s sake.”

“You just judged my whole family at dinner. I think you can handle a little judgement from me,” Yao scowled, his brown eyes narrowing at Arthur. “And I really wasn’t judging, I was just looking. I don’t even know half of these bands.”

There was a few moments of silence before Arthur replied again.

“Sorry.”

“What?”

“Don’t make me repeat it,” Arthur said. “But you’re right - I shouldn’t have judged your family out loud like that.”

“So it’s OK if you judge them in your head and not out loud?”

Arthur shrugged. “Why? Would that be wrong?”

“Forget it,” Yao hissed, tucking himself under the blanket. “I’m going to sleep. Do whatever you want. Remember your own ground rules. No unnecessary talking, aru.”

Yao closed his eyes, wishing he was back in America. And then - eventually, sleep overtook him.

Chapter Text

When Yao woke up, he was staring right into Arthur’s face. He immediately sat up. Why were they so close?!

“Mmgrhh,” Arthur groaned, but didn’t wake up.

Yao realised they had somehow congregated together in the middle of the bed, till they were sleeping face-to-face with each other. Gross.

He got up, pulling the luxurious black comforter off him. It was so huge that he and Arthur hadn’t struggled to share it. Through the curtains, he could see morning light had come. The weather didn’t seem too gloomy today.

I’ll be OK, I’ll just stay away from Arthur today, Yao thought.

He crept quietly into the ensuite and washed up as silently as he could, before dressing himself in his favourite white sweater and sweats.

He walked downstairs quietly, expecting to see no one - Yao usually woke up pretty early, but to his surprise, his entire family except Kai was in the main living room watching Rugrats reruns on TV.

Oh, right. Jet lag. Yao thought.

“Hi, Yaoyao,” Chun Yan said tiredly. “How was your sleep?”

“It’s OK,” Yao said.

“What’s it like sharing a room with that prick?” Yong-Soo asked.

“Yong! Where did you learn that word?” Chun-Yan gasped.

“Peter? He said it meant meanie-”

“Don’t say it again,” their mother scolded. “It’s a bad word, especially in England.”

“Right, aru,” Yao yawned. “It was OK. We didn’t bother each other.”

“Mama was just telling us about school,” Kiku said quietly. “Can you ask her not to send us?”

“Kiku…” Yao felt relieved that the small boy was talking to him again. “Well… we have to, aru. It’s compulsory.”

“But we start in two days!” Mei whined. “There’s no time to prepare!”

Yao cocked a brow at his mother. “Two days?”

Chun-Yan shrugged. “The quicker you’re all in, the better.”

“It’s a little fast,” Yao said. “We just migrated.”

“Aw, Yaoyao - you love school! You’ll be OK,” she beamed at him.

“I..” Yao was too tired for this. “Never mind. Where’s the kitchen? I’ll cook breakfast.”

“Yay! Gege’s cooking!” Mei cheered.

After Chun-Yan directed him to the kitchen, Kiku silently trailed after Yao as he went.

He’d always been the one Yao confided in the most because they were the closest in age, though it wasn’t often. And he was old enough now to see the cracks in their family. Yao never wanted to put any problems onto Kiku, but he was observant enough to tell anyway.

“Yao,” Kiku said, after they were out of their family’s earshot. “I’m not ready for school. I’m not even ready to move here.”

“I know,” Yao said, a pained expression on his face. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more, aru. But.. you’ve seen Mama. You can tell she really loves Alice.”

“She does,” Kiku admitted. “And I guess it’s not horrible here. But I don’t want to go to school.”

“Why?” Yao asked gently.

Kiku fidgeted with the sleeves of his sweater for a second. Clearly, it was something important that he’d been bottling up for a while.

“Kiku..”

“I…I don’t like the accent.”

“..What?”

Kiku looked at Yao.

Yao stared back at him.

“You don’t want to go to school.. because you don’t like the British accent, aru?” Yao furrowed his brows.

Kiku nodded.

“…I mean, I have a bit of a Chinese accent too,” Yao said.

“Yours’ is fine,” Kiku said quickly. “But eventually, I’m sure.. if I go to school here, I’ll get a British accent too. And I’ll really hate that.”

“Oh, Kiku..” Yao tried not to laugh. He kept his expression serious. “You might not lose your accent. You’ll always be talking to Mama and I, after all.”

Kiku’s little face was still solemn. “I really don’t want to risk it.”

Yao sighed. “Well.. OK. Why don’t you help me cook breakfast first? I’ll figure something out.”

—

The pair (mostly Yao) ended up frying some eggs and bacon that they found. The kitchen was so huge and expensive that they hadn’t dared to touch anything but the utensils and fridge - the Kirklands had a private chef, and the area went mostly untouched by the family.

During breakfast, Yao turned to his mother.

“Mama, what’s our school like?” he asked, his tone neutral.

Chun Yan hmm’d. “It’s an international school, and it’s for all ages - so you’ll all be together! Arthur, Lottie and Peter go there too.”

International school, Yao sighed in relief for Kiku. “Oh, an international school? So there aren’t a lot of .. locals there either, right?”

“Well, there’s some,” Chun Yan said. “You can ask Arthur more about it. But Alice likes it because the curriculum is well-rounded, and the staff and students are from different cultures.”

“That’s really interesting, right?” Yao smiled at Kiku, who suddenly realized what he was getting at.

“You’ll love the school, guys! And the uniform’s so cute, especially for you, Mei!” Chun Yan said.

“I think I’ll hate any school anywhere in the world,” Mei said honestly.

“I’ll charm them all, da-ze,” Yong Soo said. “Because I’m really cool!”

“Yeah, and then you’ll end up eating lunch with me, an eight-year old,” Mei muttered under her breath.

“Hey!”

“It’s OK, I’ll eat with you guys too!” Yao said cheerfully.

“That sounds like.. social suicide for you, nii-san..” Kiku said quietly.

“OK, nope!” Chun Yan suddenly butted in. “None of you can eat lunch with each other!”

“What?!”

“Why, da-ze..?”

“Because you are all too co-dependent! No! You’ll all eat separately, with your new friends or step-siblings. Got it?” Chun-Yan smiled. “And Yao, don’t baby them at school.”

Yao frowned. “But.. I mean, Mama, it’s not that easy to make friends-”

“Nonsense, I’ve picked you up at school. Guys are always looking at you, they want to talk to you and befriend you!”

“Because they like him, not to make friends..” Kiku mumbled.

“I.. OK,” Yao sighed, exasperated. “Whatever, aru.”

—

The weekend passed by rather peacefully. Alice showed them around the neighborhood - the local shops mostly, while Peter and Lottie introduced Yao’s siblings to the nearby playground.

Yao had never seen his mother so happy. Usually she always had something to complain to Yao about - Kiku’s dad was a drunk, Yong-Soo’s did coke, Mei’s was a cheater, and Kai’s.. Kai’s was just boring, apparently. But for the first time - he saw her gloved hand wrap around Alice’s first, and her face was smiling.

In the instances of rare sunshine and non-windiness, Yao found the weather quite nice. Or perhaps it was the elusiveness of them that made these moments more wonderful.

He didn’t stray out of the house too much, unless Alice brought them out, and he only went to Arthur’s room to sleep - otherwise, he was in their small library reading, texting Kev and Rachel, or listening to music.

Arthur.. he hadn’t spoken to him since the first day. Honestly, he was a little afraid of the blond. And he didn’t really know much about him, except that Alice said he took a while to warm up, and Peter and Lottie simply said he was a wanker.

“He’s been an arse ever since Dad died,” Lottie had told him. “Even though Dad was an arse too.”

Yao didn’t want to pry, or ask too many questions. So instead he simply slept silently next to Arthur, and woke up early and quietly. The only issue was that he always woke up way too close to him for his liking.

But this was unavoidable on their first day of school. Arthur’s alarm shook the both of them awake, and Yao woke up with a startle.

“Oh God,” Yao groaned softly, sitting up.

“Ugh…” Arthur murmured. “Shut up..”

“Whatever, be late,” Yao muttered, trying to get up - when suddenly he was pulled down back into bed.

The Chinese boy turned bright red, flushing as he struggled to escape Arthur’s grasp. “Let me go, aru!”

“Warm.” Arthur had completely enveloped Yao, and now all Yao could see was his incredibly broad chest and all he could smell was the scent of his leftover cologne from yesterday.

The smaller boy tried to push the blond off. “Get a stuffed toy!”

“Mmhrgh,” he mumbled.

“I’ll give you Kitty!” Yao tried to offer his doll as a sacrifice.

“Warm…” Arthur hugged Yao even more tightly. “You smell.. good..”

“Thank you, but pl-“

Thud. They’d both rolled off the bed somehow and now Yao was right below Arthur, being suffocated by his neck and cologne and wow - Arthur was so warm too - no, no, no. No weird thoughts. He’s your future stepbrother!

“Wake up aru!” Yao yelled.

“Wh-“ Arthur opened his eyes - why are they so green, by the way? “Oh… fuck.”

“Get off me, please,” Yao said, blushing. He looked at Arthur through his dark lashes. “You’re.. kind of heavy.”

“You’re just small,” Arthur muttered, turning red as well. “Why are you so small anyway?”

“I.. that’s just how I am!” Yao shot an annoyed look at him.

“Whatever. I’m going to take a bath first,” Arthur yawned. “Basch put your new uniform with your things, by the way.”

“Thanks..” Yao said.

The blond grunted and got off Yao, walking off to shower.

Yao tried not to be frazzled - so what? Stupid, heavy Arthur fell on him - that’s all! No big deal. It was absolutely not a big deal. Siblings fell on each other all the time. And it was never weird..

He needed to get his shit together. He focused on packing a school bag while Arthur showered.

When it was his turn, he showered and dressed as quickly as he could, thanks to the blond taking an incredibly long time in the bathroom.

Finally, Yao combed his hair thoroughly, tying it into a usual neat ponytail with his hairtie - when it broke.

“Shit,” he mumbled.

“What’s up?” Arthur was still staring at himself in his bathroom mirror, tussling at his hair.

“Do you have a hairtie?” Yao asked awkwardly. “Mine broke.”

“Oh, those,” Arthur looked at it. “I think Lottie has a scrunchie you could borrow…”

“Are you making fun of me aru?” Yao folded his arms.

“Not at all, China doll,” Arthur laughed. “Oh, wait - I think I do have something!”

The blond teenager went over to his desk, searching it. Finally, He pulled out a thin, black ribbon.

“Here,” he said, handing it to Yao.

Yao took it, deciding it would do. “Thank you..”

He tied the ribbon gently around his ponytail, trying to avoid Arthur’s awkward staring.

“Your hair’s really soft,” the blond suddenly said.

Yao stared at him.

“I mean-” Arthur coughed. “I touched a little of it, by accident. Just now. When I fell on you. Just an observation, sorry.”

“Oh, OK.. um. Thanks, aru?” Yao said, his voice confused.

“Let’s get going, shall we?” Arthur said quickly, grabbing a long, wool coat off his door hanger. “I’m Vice-President of the Student Council, can’t afford to be too late.”

“You.. you are?”

“I’m a Kirkland, of course I am,” Arthur scoffed. “And wear a thick jacket. It’s windy out today.”

—

Their mode of transportation was surprisingly a frosty fifteen minute walk. Alice said it was good for their immune systems.

Yao wanted to ask Arthur more questions - especially about how he was vice-president of the student council if he was such a dick and he wore those rebellious clothes and piercings the other day and came back home at unusual hours - but that was all, frankly, none of Yao’s business anyway. Besides, he was too busy fussing over his siblings.

Currently, he was simultaneously braiding Mei’s hair and talking Yong-Soo through the process of making friends.

“Do not jump on them,” Yao said. “And pouncing is jumping. And so is ‘skipping’ onto them.”

Yong-Soo pouted. “How can I make friends without violence?”

“It’s easy, Yong-Soo! Don’t worry,” Peter puffed his chest out. “I made friends eventually too, and Artie called me the most annoying little idiot in the world!”

“You still are,” Arthur said.

“Hey!”

“Well, Yong-Soo, even though you might be an annoying little idiot as well, I believe you’ll make friends too aru,” Yao said fondly, ruffling his hair.

“Really?” Yong-Soo pouted. “I thought I was an annoying big idiot..”

“It’s easy for little kids to make friends,” Arthur said, surprisingly professional all of a sudden - it must be his student council mode. “Especially in Hetalia Academy. They always have tons of icebreakers for newcomers, and well, it is an international school, so newcomers and exchange students are normal.”

“Woah, that’s the most you’ve ever spoken to us so far,” Mei said, blinking up at him.

Arthur shrugged. “Don’t get used to it. I’ll go on first, I need to be early. And please, don’t talk to me at school.”

He ran on ahead and Yao watched his coat sweep in the wind as he left. Arthur was so.. confusing. Was he a bad boy, a good student, an asshole…? It seemed like he was everything and nothing all at once.

“So mysterious aru,” Yao said under his breath.

—

“Who’s the new girl? She’s so pretty!” Angelique asked as she and Arthur stood at the front gates, watching the students stroll into school - their daily morning duty.

She was Head Girl, or in this particular school, titled the president of the student council. Arthur and her had been friends since kindergarten, alongside some of the other members of the council.

“Who?” Arthur blinked.

“That cherie over there, am I right?” Francis said.

The treasurer, and Arthur’s unofficial enemy - Francis Bonnefoy made Arthur suicidal on a daily basis. And why did he have a damn French accent, he’d grown up in London!

“The girl with the black hair and swarm of kids,” Angelique pointed out to Arthur.

The blond sighed when he finally noticed. Yao.. he knew that he would be a problem, somewhat. Maybe the rest could fit in with no issue - but Yao… Yao was…

He remembered his golden eyes and those damn lashes and his small, pretty face peering at him in the morning and goddammit, he was a fucking man- no. Arthur took a deep breath.

“He’s a guy,” he said straightforwardly. “He’s wearing pants.”

“Oh!” Angelique giggled. “But he’s so pretty.. he looks like a doll.”

China doll.

“He’s so beautiful, it’s hard to believe he’s a man..” Francis said. “Maybe she’s simply choosing to wear pants.”

“Trust me,” Arthur said through gritted teeth. “He’s a man.”

Yao standing out was not good. He hadn’t wanted to associate with his step-siblings at school (or at home, either). He barely interacted with his own. He kept three very separate lives, and he liked it that way.

Yao barely looked at him when they walked into the school - though his siblings and stepsiblings tried to smile at him brightly.

Arthur felt a pang of annoyance. Well, yeah - he told them not to interact, but Yao… Yao! Whatever.

“Hurry up, all of you!” he suddenly barked at the students. “Gates are about to close!”

Angelique and Francis stared at each other curiously - Arthur wasn’t usually so strict.

“I wonder what’s gotten into him..” Francis murmured, his eyes twinkling.

—

Yao was fascinated. He’d never actually had a school uniform before, or ‘assembly’, where the whole school actually gathered together before class to sing God Save The Queen and had the principal coming up on a podium to talk to all of them.

English schools are so.. interesting. Yao thought. He was slightly nervous - and a little daunted by the idea of making friends, but he was alright, mostly. He’d always done fine on his own too.

He was standing with his age group - all the students were separated by age, apparently. Yao looked around briefly, but he felt nervous when he realized that people were staring at him too. New kid problems…

After the assembly, a blond boy came up to him. He had bright blue eyes, and he was.. very fit. And very friendly, evident from his incredibly white, beaming smile.

“You’re Yao Wang, aren’t you?” he stuck out his hand. “I’m Alfred F. Jones, your class rep! Welcome to Hetalia Academy!”

He’s American? Yao brightened up a little. “Hi.. um, you’re American too?”

“Straight outta Washington!” Alfred laughed. “You’re from Texas, right? So sick - I’ve always wanted to go there but four years ago my dad was like, we gotta move to the UK ‘cuz I’m a diplomat. And so now I guess I’m here!”

“Cool..” Yao smiled. “I feel a lot better, with you around aru..”

Alfred blinked, adjusting his glasses a little. “Of course! I’m the class rep, y’know - it’s my job to make all the newbies comfy, and everything..”

“Right, aru,” Yao said. “So.. where’s the classrooms and all?”

“I’ll show you around now!” he gave a thumbs up. “Then we’ll go to class. Mr Ferreira totally gave us permission to be late.”

The Chinese boy nodded, still feeling nervous. He couldn’t exactly predict this school environment. After all, Lottie and Peter and Arthur and Alfred were all such different students.. who knew what they were like here? And he was worried about his siblings too.

They exited the building and walked across a small garden path to another building. Alfred gave Yao a short tour around - the whole block was apparently reserved for ‘sixth-forms’ (“That’s us,” Alfred said. “It’s what the British call their junior and seniors!”). It was just as fancy as the Kirklands’ home, with old paintings and pillars and statues everywhere.

“Here’s the home-econs room,” Alfred introduced. “DO NOT enter if you see Arthur Kirkland in here. He’s our vice-prez, y’know? Bushy eyebrows, blond..”

“Right..” Yao said, biting back a remark. After all, the stupid bastard had told them earlier not to acknowledge him at school. And he definitely wouldn’t.

“Lots of girls think he’s handsome but personally… I think I-“ Alfred paused. “Well, not that I’m good-looking. But I think I’m a little more charismatic than Artie!”

“You are,” Yao said, watching Alfred’s eyes light up.

“Really? Have you met him?”

“Um-” Yao pretended to look around the econs room, which was full of fancy little silver kitchenettes. “It’s huge! What do you guys usually cook?”

Alfred fell for the distraction. “Oh, whatever Ms Laura decides.. though I’ve been trying to convince her about burgers. I miss a good burger.”

He then dragged Yao to the next room - a sewing room, apparently for fashion and embroidery classes. Then a music room with a real Stradivarius on display (“There’s more instruments in the main building though. Unfair.”), and a trophy room. Even the chemistry and biology labs looked expensive - Yao thought that the display skeleton looked unusually realistic.

The computer room looked straight out of a sci-fi film, with high-tech laptops and PCs everywhere, alongside iPads and other interesting tablets.

“We ran a hackathon here once,” Alfred said. “No one won. Cause it was against our school system. That’s how solid it is!l

There was also an art room, which Yao really wanted to try out sometime with his calligraphy paints, a dance studio, and a student lounge with a pool table, sofas, a huge TV and vending machines.

What did this school not have? A normal budget apparently. Yao wondered how much the school fees were…

“And now we’re going to class!” Alfred grinned. “We’re only twenty minutes late!”

Yao blanched a little at the rule-breaking, but calmed himself down as they trotted up the stairs and into one of the classes and oh fucking great, Arthur was in his class.

Mr Ferreira was apparently their form teacher and their Mathematics teacher - a tall, tanned man with a small ponytail. He seemed nice.

“Hello, Yao! I hope that Alfred’s tour was actually helpful? And he wasn’t stalling for time to skip class?” Mr Ferreira narrowed his eyes at the blond.

“I was not! And I only showed him around this building,” he pouted.

“He can show you the rest at lunch,” Mr Ferreira reassured Yao with a smile. “Class! We have a new student.”

He turned to the class, trying not to look at Arthur. His classmates watched him pensively.

Yao tried not to be nervous. He smiled, clutching his fists so that they wouldn’t shake.

“I’m.. Yao Wang. Um, nice to meet you all,” he said.

“Are you a boy or girl?” asked a brunette boy.

Some of the class erupted in laughter - mostly the guys and well- of course Arthur was snickering too.

Alfred frowned.

“Shut it Antonio. He’s clearly a dude!” the American said.

“Clearly?” another guy piped up. Yao had never seen anyone like him before - his hair was stark white, and he had violet eyes. In Chinese culture, he’d probably be considered a demon. “Pull down your pants and prove it!”

“That’s enough, Antonio and Gilbert,” Mr Ferreira said sternly. “Be nice to Yao, alright? It’s his first time in the UK, isn’t it?”

“Uh… yeah,” Yao just wanted to crawl inside a hole and die at this point. That class introduction could have not gone any worse.

“Sit next to Tomas, over there in the blue and white scarf,” he smiled kindly at him.

“OK, thanks,” Yao said quietly, and walked over to Tomas.

The blond boy (why were there so many blonds in this school? Well, it was England after all..) gave him a small smile, and Yao felt just a little better.

He sat down and placed his bag on the ground as the lesson started - it was Mathematics. At least that was the same in any country.

“You OK?” Tomas asked.

“I’m OK, thanks..”

“Those two.. they’re part of this annoying trio, with this other guy Francis. They’re not nice to anyone, don’t take it personally,” he said.

“Yeah, I mean - it’s OK. I’m used to it,” Yao muttered. “I do look girly.”

“You’re not girly,” Tomas said. “You’re just pretty. Beauty’s beyond gender.”

Yao blinked at him. “That’s..”

I’d never looked at it like that.

“Don’t take that in the wrong way, I’m just being blunt,” Tomas said. “But yeah, don’t let it get to you.”

“I won’t, aru..” Yao said, a thoughtful look suddenly on his face. “Thanks Tomas.”

—

Arthur wasn’t surprised that Yao was in his class - and he wasn’t particularly surprised at the taunts and insults tossed at the Asian throughout the day either. Normally he’d defend the new kid as vice-president but.. really, who cares? Alfred was basically Yao’s #1 Defender now. And it wasn’t like Yao was unpopular - he saw the way half of the guys were staring at him. God, he was.. he was making people act weird. Maybe he deserved those insults.

At least he hadn’t acknowledged him. That’d be embarrassing.

Still the way Yao just went on with his day - it was a little sad. How used to this was he? Antonio and Gilbert basically heckled him for the whole day, while most of the girls just stayed away from Yao. The other guys in class weren’t horrible to him, but they clearly had their own motives.

By lunch, even his clique was talking about it. And by clique, he meant the student council committee he’d been forced to sit with during breaks and had somehow become a friend group throughout the years even though he didn’t really like any of them.

“The new guy in your class.. is he a hermaphrodite?” Elizabeta asked. “No offense.”

“That’s still offensive,” Rodereich, her boyfriend, said.

“Right,” Elizabeta furrowed her brows. “So.. is he?”

“No, he’s not trans or anything like that,” Francis laughed. “He’s just a very beautiful boy. I’ve verified with my sources.”

“Your sources are just Antonio and Gil,” Arthur couldn’t help but snap. “And they’ve just bullied him the whole day. They didn’t bloody verify anything..”

“Bully- non! They’re simply teasing him,” Francis waved his hands around.

“Whatever,” Arthur grumped.

“Ooh, defensive? Seems like you have a little crush as well, Artie..”

“That is.. disgusting,” the blond replied. For fuck’s sake, that was his future.. stepbrother? Jesus, he felt like vomiting a little.

“Are you serious? He’s gorgeous,” Angelique said.

“It’s not..! Ugh,” Arthur couldn’t say any more lest he risked giving anything away. Instead, he had to sit there grouchily and watch Alfred and Yao eat together. “Bloody.. whatever..”

“Your ex-best friend seems to like him at least,” Francis said.

Arthur sighed. He hated this table.

—

“… so that’s what the main building’s like. I can’t take you everywhere today, the campus is way too big but it’s OK, you’ll mostly be in the sixth-form building so you don’t really need to know where to go except the main hall.”

Yao listened intently, trying to keep track of Alfred’s rambling while trying to ignore a pair of green eyes staring at him very firmly from across the cafeteria.

“So um, Alfred, what’s your favorite class?” Yao asked.

“Oh, me? Definitely Business! My mom’s a CEO, y’know, so I know all the terms and stuff, it’s too easy for me,” Alfred said proudly.

“Right,” Yao said, still trying to get used to the fact that all the kids here were really rich. “Cool. Um.. who do you usually sit with, aru? Are you sure you don’t wanna sit with them instead of me?”

“Hm, it used to be with the student council! But I’m not in it anymore, so I usually sit with Liam and Mathias,” Alfred forked at his lunch. “But they know I’m showing you around today so they went swimming.”

“Swimming..?” Yao looked surprised.

“Yeah, the rooftop’s got a pool,” Alfred grinned. “It’s sick! You’ll probably see it during gym class. Or PE. That’s what they call it here.”

“A pool…” Yao swallowed. His old school just had a really big puddle outside on the basketball court sometimes. “That’s.. cool…”

“Yao.. are you from public school?” Alfred asked suddenly.

“Yeah..” Yao said, reddening a little.

“Mm, I could tell, cuz you seem really weirded out by all the facilities,” Alfred bit into a nugget. “Look, just chill, OK? It’s a big fancy school, but it’s still a school. Don’t take anyone here seriously, even if they make fun of you or whatever.”

“It’s hard,” Yao said, his ears turning slightly red. “I mean- even though I’m used to it, aru.”

“That’s seriously messed up, dude,” Alfred shook his head. “You’re a nice guy, Yao.”

“It’s OK. It’s my fault in a way,” Yao tugged at his ponytail gently. “I don’t try to make myself look more manly or anything…”

“It’s not about gender,” the other American said. “It’s about respect and dude, people should totally respect you! No matter how you look! And you’re a good-looking dude too!”

“Thanks, Alfred,” Yao smiled, feeling slightly taken aback by the bespectacled boy’s genuinity. “Um.. sorry you had to defend me the whole day, from those guys in class…”

“It’s no problem,” Alfred sighed. “They used to be like, pretty nice. But some drama happened and now they’re all weird.”

“Drama?”

“Yeah-“

The school bell suddenly chimed, signaling the end of lunch.

“OK, we gotta go,” Alfred got up at once. “Ms Beilschmidt is super strict…”

Chapter Text

Luckily, Yao’s siblings had a better first day at school than he did. Kiku was now best pals with half of his class while Yong Soo managed to make friends with a sullen, Korean boy. Mei had it the easiest, simply having been inducted into Lottie’s clique. Hell, even Kai seemed to have a great time at home in his brand new playground of a room.

“So how was school for you, Yao?” Chun Yan asked happily after all his siblings had finished announcing how their respective days went. They were all gathered on the foyer’s lounge chair after school had ended, with his mom in the middle. Yao found it a little weird - usually, he was the one they were talking about their days to. He barely actually talked about his day at school to… anyone.

“It was…” Yao gulped, his siblings’ and mother’s fond eyes were pressuring him. “It was okay. A guy showed me around. My desk mate is nice.”

“… anything else?” Chun Yan said. “How about friends, Yaoyao?”

“He didn't make any,” a condescending voice joined in from the entrance.

Yao turned to see Arthur standing there, ready to leave home again - he was changed out of his school uniform and into his… punk getup. Leather jacket, loose jeans, and his silver piercings - he looked as if he’d walked straight out of a magazine and into the manor.

“Except for the class rep, but that idiot’s friends with everybody, really,” Arthur scoffed. 

Yao turned pink with embarrassment and glared at Arthur silently. 

“Oh.. well, that’s still a friend!” Chun Yan said brightly, smiling at Yao. “Great job, Yaoyao.”

The kid treatment made Yao feel worse, but he simply sucked it up and gave a small smile back.

“And where are you going, Mr Kirkland?” Chun Yan suddenly looked at Arthur, raising her eyebrows. “Didn’t you all just come back from school? No homework or anything?”

“Not today, I’m afraid,” Arthur rolled his eyes. “I’m just popping down to the shops to see some friends-”

“Friends? Great! Take Yao with you!” Chun Yan’s eyes sparkled.

“Wait-”

“I’ll give you some money too, Yao, here,” Chun Yan fished out her wallet - but all she could find was American dollars. “Ah, never mind. Here’s my card! Buy yourself a new winter coat and some gloves please, I think I bought those for you when you were like - what, thirteen?”

Yao hadn’t changed out of his coat and gloves since he returned home from school. He looked down at his clothes. “I mean… they still fit-”

“Just go!” 

Kiku and Mei gave sympathetic looks to Yao as he hesitantly got up. 

“Can you buy me some candy too, da-ze?” Yong-Soo asked.

‘Can-dee!” Kai cooed.

“Sure, aru…” Yao looked at Arthur, his eyes pleading. “Do you not mind me coming along…?”

Please say no. Please ban me from coming along with you, pl-

“Why not?” Arthur smirked, and Yao’s heart sank. “Come on then. But please - change first. Wearing that uniform outside of school should be publicly shamed.”

Yao sighed. He was starting to think the Brit actually enjoyed tormenting him. Nevertheless, he changed into a sweater and some jeans, and tied a scarf around his neck for some extra warmth.

And then - they were off.

–

The walk was eerily silent for the first five minutes, before Yao couldn’t take it anymore.

“Where are we going, aru?” 

Arthur looked at him. “Don’t ask questions. Just follow me.”

“What if you’re kidnapping me?” Yao asked. “Or trafficking me?’

“You’re too neurotic for me to do either,” Arthur laughed. “Please.”

“...true,” Yao mumbled. 

They walked in silence for another few moments.

“Why do you choose to look so girly?” Arthur asked.

“I didn’t choose it, aru,” Yao growled. “This is simply how I look like.”

“You could cut your hair. You could bulk up. Or something.”

“Why should I? I like my hair, and my body. I don’t want to change just because it’ll be easier, aru. I want to be myself, even if it’s hard.”

Arthur stared at him. “Good for you.”

Yao looked him up and down. “I’m guessing you can’t do that.”

“No,” Arthur shrugged. “But I’m fine with it. I’ve learnt to live like this. I can dress like myself sometimes. That’s good enough for me.”

The pair continued to walk by the partially frozen lake, brown leaves dropping down as they strolled by people feeding ducks and kids running by the water. Yao wrapped his scarf a little tighter around his neck after a particularly horrible gust of wind, looking up at Arthur - he wondered how the blond could bear the cold so easily. 

“You’ve learnt to live with the cold,” Yao said. “Do you like the cold?”

“… I suppose not,” Arthur said, his eyes piercing into Yao’s. “But it becomes bearable.”

After a little more walking, they finally reached a… train station? It was so crowded that Yao could barely see what was going on, but he could hear the noise and rumbling of the trains.

“This is the tube,” said Arthur. “We’re taking it today. Got your card?”

Yao took out the little Oyster card his mother had given him a few days ago. “Uh, this?”

“Good,” Arthur said. “Right then, just stick close to me.”

It was hard, especially with so many people around them - and Yao ended up, subconsciously and somehow, clinging onto a bit of Arthur’s jacket until they had entered the actual train.

And if Arthur noticed, he didn’t say anything - not even when Yao finally let go of it, hoping that the blond hadn’t realized he was holding onto him.

—

Yao liked the tube. It was a very convenient mode of transport, he decided, even if there were lots of weird people around and the students were really loud and annoying. But in less than five minutes, they were in a totally different area! This was at least a ten minute drive in Texas. It amazed Yao. But he didn’t say that out loud, of course - he simply pretended to be unimpressed the entire time.

“West Hampstead..?” he read the sign curiously.

“This is West End Lane,” Arthur said. “Not to be confused with West End.”

“West.. End?”

”I’m sure you’ve heard of it - it’s famous outside of London too.”

“Not in America,” snorted Yao.

“Maybe just your country bumpkin town, China doll,” sneered Arthur.

“I’m from a city . And don’t call me that.”

“Doesn’t seem like it,” Arthur looked down at Yao. “What even is your sense of style? I have no idea which shop to bring you to.”

Yao looked down at himself, blinking through his long lashes up at Arthur. “Style?”

“Like.. is there a certain way you want to dress?” Arthur asked. “Your fashion sense.”

“No, just comfortably,” Yao nodded. “I like big comfy sweaters, like this.”

“Hm,” Arthur stroked his chin. “OK, I guess I can figure something out.”

He brought Yao out of the dark, weird train station and onto a grey, gloomy street. Yao looked up at the sky and wished out loud that there would be sunlight.

Arthur chortled. “Good luck. The sun’s basically a deadbeat father here.”

“A wish never hurt anybody,” Yao said, crossing his arms.

“Right…”

As Arthur lead Yao to God-knows where, the two teenagers found that they couldn’t help but talk. They really didn’t like each other, but conversation came to them more easily than silence. Yao would point out something, Arthur would condescendingly explain, they’d bicker, and then move onto something new. The no unnecessary talking rule was soon forgotten.

Additionally, Yao couldn’t help but point out everything . London fascinated him far more than Texas ever had. He’d never lived in a foreign country before.

“Your buildings are all so nice and close together,” Yao would say.

“That’s why London had so many fires,” Arthur would reply.

“I wish you had been in one,” Yao would bite back.

“I’m hot enough as it is,” Arthur would say.

And so on and so forth. And weirdly enough, Yao was.. enjoying himself. He liked looking at the cool, interesting clothes on display, and he liked seeing all the large Union Jack flags outside of the souvenir stores. It was like a big, strange, new land, with a strange, mean tour guide. 

“I’ve never tried English tea, aru,” admitted Yao as they walked past a tea shop.

Arthur looked absolutely scandalized. “You’ve been here for nearly a week and you haven’t had a cuppa? You’re joking, right?”

“No,” Yao said. “I’ve only drank Chinese tea. And Arizona Iced Tea, but Mama says that’s fake and full of disgusting preservatives.”

“Chun Yan’s right about that,” said Arthur. “Chinese tea isn’t bad, but I prefer it British of course.”

“Chinese is the original,” Yao said.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard that,” the Brit quipped. 

“Hey!”

“Anyway, I’ll make you a cup one of these days. These places are seriously overrated,” Arthur said, looking around. “Tourist traps.”

“I’m kind of a tourist…”

“You’re going to be living here,” Arthur pointed out. “Doesn’t count. Anyway - let’s cut through there.”

Arthur then led Yao through a few dingy little alleys, which made the Chinese boy genuinely fear for his life for only a few minutes - before they finally reached another little street.

“My thrifting and vinyl heaven,” Arthur introduced, and Yao stared at the quirky, colourful stores that lined the whole street. “Don’t come here without me, seriously. This is my sacred ground.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t even know where this place is,” Yao said, staring in awe. “But wow.. Arthur…!”

“Come on, let’s go get your winter coat. I think there’s a consignment store around here…”

As Arthur led him around, Yao couldn’t help but feel that - maybe, deep down, the Brit really was a nice guy. He had been pretty kind to Yao in terms of his actions, even though he clearly disliked him. Except for in school, but whatever - he’d respect Arthur’s boundary there.

The pair eventually stumbled into a store with a little doll’s head greeting them at the counter. Yao tried not to be perturbed by it. After all, Arthur didn’t even bat an eye at it.

“Artie!” a beautiful blond girl popped up from behind the counter. She had cropped, wavy hair and a cute star hairpin. “Hiya! Your new girl?”

“… hello Amelia, this is Yao, a boy. He’s an acquaintance,” Arthur said curtly, while the Chinese boy stared in horror that somebody would mistake him for Arthur’s girlfriend.

“Oh, you swing that way too?”

“No!” Arthur snapped. “Not that there- there’s anything wrong with it..”

Amelia sighed. “Alrighty then. Hi Yao! You’re beautiful! If you buy something, let me take a pic so I can put it on our Instagram, ‘kay?”

“O..OK?” Yao said, confusedly. The girl seemed familiar.. but not really, as well. He was sure he hadn’t met her.

As the two of them went deeper into the store through the racks and racks of clothes, Arthur explained the familiarity.

“That’s Amelia, Alfred’s cousin,” Arthur said. “She’s lived here her whole life, unlike him.”

“They seem really.. similar,” Yao said.

“They’re all like that,” Arthur gave a wave of his hand. “Loud and blonde.”

“Like Peter?”

“Good point,” Arthur smirked. “Maybe I should adopt him out.”

“That’s mean, aru..”

“I’m kidding,” Arthur sighed. “OK, let’s see - what about this winter coat…”

The duo must have gone through at least fifty pairs - and Arthur somehow managed to accumulate more clothes than Yao during their entire time in the store. But in the end, the Chinese boy found the perfect coat - a white Moncler jacket with fur trim. Nearly brand new too, Arthur pointed out.

“Isn’t it a little bit expensive?” Yao asked, squinting at the price tag.

“What? It’s only like a thousand pounds?” Arthur laughed. “I’ll explain it to your mum if she kicks a fuss. And I’ll cover it. Crazy - this is cheap , China doll.”

“Uh… OK..” Yao said confusedly. “And I need gloves too…”

“Gloves are out-of-style and horrible,” Arthur said, firmly.

“Gloves are nice and warm!” Yao declared. He picked up a pair of woolen ones and placed one on his right hand. “And these are cute!”

They had some strange grandma crocheting pattern on them - but before Arthur could do anything, Yao snatched his left hand and placed the other glove on it. 

“See, isn’t it comfortable?” Yao high-fived Arthur with his gloved hand. “Nice, aru?”

He smiled up brightly at Arthur, who simply couldn’t help but look away in embarrassment. “I-I suppose. Um, just buy them already - won’t you?”

Yao raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you buy a pair too?”

“No, I-”

“I’m sure Mama doesn’t mind me picking up an extra,” Yao smiled, picking up another hideous pair of gloves. “OK, I’ll go and pay!”

Arthur sighed. He had the perfect wardrobe till now - he doubted anything below 50 quid had ever entered that space. And now Yao was buying a Moncler jacket and two pairs of gloves that cost a pound each.

“I’ll give you the gloves for free, since they’re unbranded and you’re putting your face on our Insta,” Amelia said proudly.

Free gloves. How far the mighty have fallen? But Yao looked delighted at the idea of free things - and he posed… cutely, no not cutely- flauntingly, as Amelia snapped a photo of him in the jacket.

“Thank you Amelia,” Yao said earnestly after the girl wrapped his things up in a brown paper bag.

“Of course!” Amelia grinned. “Come back soon! You too, Artie.”

“Whatever,” Arthur grouched. “Is Oni  open? Need to get something from Francis too.”

“Ah, no. I think Ivan’s probation officer put him back under a curfew for this week so the whole place is gonna go on hiatus for a bit,” Amelia replied casually. “Sorry, Art.”

“Damn, well,” he shrugged. “C’mon Yao. Let’s reach home before dark.”

Home. Yao felt a little bit funny at the thought. “Right.”

“Bye, honeys!”

As Yao and Arthur went home with their new purchases, they slipped through a different alley than they had when they’d first arrived at the street. Yao could smell the faint scent of weed in almost every single alley.

But then - just as they were about to leave, they heard…

“Miaw.”

“Meew .”

The pair looked down to see a box, full of little grey kittens.

—

“What do we do with them?” Yao asked, torn apart by how cute these kittens were.

“We certainly can’t bring them home,” Arthur sighed. “Mum has a severe allergy.”

Yao felt a pang of disappointment. “Aw. But then..”

“Yeah,” Arthur grimaced. “Who would leave them here… and not the shelter?”

“Is there a shelter nearby? Maybe we can bring them there aru,” Yao said.

“Afraid not,” Arthur sighed. “They’d all be closed by now probably, fuckin’ hell..”

“Seriously?” Yao looked sadly at the kittens. “Then..”

“I’ve got a weird idea,” Arthur said. “You’ve got to trust me though.”

Yao stared at him nervously.

—

Whatever it was - Yao was not expecting to be patrolling around shady pubs on a school night, with the strangest plan he’d ever heard of.

But still, he had no choice but to trust Arthur. After all, he didn’t even know how to get home from wherever they were. 

“How do we approach them?” Yao whispered to Arthur. “We look so shady aru!”

“We do,” Arthur admitted. “But they look shadier.”

“Do you go to these.. uh, pubs often?”

“Not the ones around here,” Arthur snorted. “But it’s OK, I think I’ve got this.. hold the box please.”

The blond proudly went up to the bartender - but about a minute later, came back - slightly forlorn. “Didn’t wanna talk unless I ordered a drink. How about you do it?”

“Why me?” Yao looked at Arthur confusedly. “I don’t know anything about these places aru!”

“Ah, true. But just pretend to be a pretty girl, you’ll pretty much have it in the bag,” Arthur said. 

“Are you.. sure..”

“Do you want to give these kittens a home,” Arthur deadpanned.

Yao looked down and one of the kittens gave an adorable yawn. His heart melted immediately. “Okay.. I guess.. I guess I can try, aru.”

Yao had never actually tried to pretend to be a girl before. People just mistook him as one. Bur he decided the best way to do it was to act like his mother - who’d he seen charm many, many men.

“Hi!” Yao batted his eyelashes at the big, bald bartender, who looked at him instantly. 

“Hello there,” the man said creepily. Yao immediately regretted initiating a conversation. But he persisted anyway.

“Um, look, do you have a home for one of these kitties?” Yao looked sadly down at the box. “I found them nearby.”

“Kittens…?” the bartender looked curiously down at the box. “Oh, uh, well - we do have a bit of a rat problem, just between you and me..”

“Do you want one then?” Yao smiled winningly. “It’ll suit you too - I think guys with little animals are the cutest, don’t you think?”

“Cute.. hehe, yeah, I mean,” the bartender turned pink. “Sure. I’ll check with my boss, I’m sure he’d be happy to take one off your hands.. we used to have another pub cat here..”

“Amazing!” Yao made himself sound super excited. “I’ll definitely come back and visit if you take him!”

“Ah- well- alright, I’ll take one now then,” the bartender said sheepishly.

Yao handed a kitten over, finished off the conversation gracefully - and returned back to Arthur.

“You’re scarily good, I have to say,” Arthur said.

“Let’s not talk about it,” Yao said quickly, and they exited the pub once more.

They managed to do this in about four other pubs before they finally had one last kitten, and one last pub they could go to - and when they walked in, they realised that all the staff were female .

“I’m out. It’s your turn,” Yao pushed Arthur forward.

The Englishman sighed. He had been using Yao far too much - he’d basically done all the work for the last four cats.

Arthur walked forward and approached the friendliest looking bartender. “Er..”

“Hello there,” she looked up at him daringly. “You’re a bit young to be in here, aren’t you?”

“Well, I’m not here as a patron,” he gave that boyish smile that had become so infamous in his school. 

“Then what are you here for?”

“This,” Arthur showed her the now nearly-empty box, with a lone kitten sitting with her blanket. “Found her outside, poor thing.”

“Oh. My. God. Marie, come look! ” the bartender called over her colleague - who rushed to see, and squealed just as loudly at the sight. “She’s so cute. We have to keep her, c’mon, boss!”

“Oh, but-

“That’s one cute kitty,” one of the nearby customers said, peering over the box. 

“Well..”

“Adorable!” another gentleman said. 

“Oh, well-” Marie sighed. “We’ll test this out for a week.”

“I love you, Marie! And you, cute boy!” the bartender said happily, taking the box from Arthur.

“Right, I’ll come back and visit then,” Arthur gave another charming smile.

“And bring your lass, she’s a looker!” One of the patrons said.

“Aw, he’s taken..” the bartender giggled.

Arthur looked back to see his ‘lass’ in question - Yao, standing boredly by the door. 

He really was beautiful, just physically, really - Arthur thought. No one ever really looked good in this horrible, dingy lighting, but there Yao stood, straight out of a vinyl cover, with his lashes and his hazel eyes and his beauty, just his glaring beauty. 

“Took you long enough, aru,” Yao groaned when Arthur approached. “Can we go home now? I’m hungry.”

Arthur tried not to smile. “Yeah- well, we did a good deed. We should be proud of ourselves.”

“You mean - I did a good deed. I did all the work!”

“Hey, I did the last one. And well,” Arthur coughed a little. “I kind of knew they’d all take the cats. There’s been a rat problem plaguing London lately.”

“Isn’t there always a rat problem?” Yao scoffed. “And wait - then why make me go talk to them like a girl, aru?”

“Easier delivery,” Arthur shrugged. “The bar guys here don’t really speak to non-regulars, unless they’re pretty girls.”

“Sounds unfair, aru,” Yao said. “But at least I guess… I found one use for my appearance today.”

Arthur couldn’t say much - he didn’t know how to respond to Yao. Or thank him properly, he realized. But still, he quipped back.

“It’s OK. I’m sure you’ll find more uses one day.”

“…shut up, aru.”

Chapter Text

Yao and Arthur’s phones were both dead, a fact that they only realized after leaving the last pub. It was dark out, and though Arthur knew the way home, he didn’t seem as if he was heading in that direction.

“Are we not going home?” Yao asked, looking at Arthur hesitantly.

“Don’t be a bore, Yao. We’re already out this late - shouldn’t we do something interesting?” Arthur smirked at him.

Yao looked at him warily. “Our families are probably worried..”

“Our family, you mean,” Arthur said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “Oh, loosen up. We’re seventeen! They probably don’t give a fuck. I know mine doesn’t.”

“You..” Yao looked at him in exasperation. “Aiyah! I’m hungry! I don’t have time for this-”

“I’ll bring you somewhere where you can get some bloody food then.”

“I’m tired! And I only stayed out this long for those kitties,” Yao pouted.

“Again - just trust me.”

—

Yao really needed to stop trusting Arthur.

They were somehow at a bar. They snuck in of course - they weren’t legal. But it was uncomfortable, hot, and all the lights were pink for some reason. And it was sort of like a club too, considering the masses of people dancing in the middle of the room.

“I don’t think there’s food here, aru,” Yao said, annoyedly.

“Whatever. Come on, let’s leave our bags at the cloak room.”

Yao protested the whole way through - but Arthur had his way and they ended up sitting at the bar, where the blond had ordered Yao a pathetically small plate of fries.

“Enough?”

“Not at all,” Yao said, angrily biting into a fry. “Look, I had a long, horrible day at school, and then you drag me around to talk to dirty old men at pubs about cats and then-”

“I’m showing you around London!” Arthur snarked back. “Honestly… you should be grateful.”

“Why should I be grateful!” Yao flared up. “You wanted nothing to do with me and now you’re just dragging me wherever you want!”

“I’m giving you a tour-”

“You lovebirds need to stop arguing and get on the dance floooOOR!” yelled a random drunk man, who suddenly dragged them away from their seats (and the fries) and onto the floor, much to the pair’s horror.

“Come on! Dance!” the man yelled again and then disappeared into the crowd.

Arthur and Yao looked at each other uncomfortably, now squashed together amongst the crowds of dancers.

“I wanted to pick up girls, not dance,” Arthur sighed.

Yao glared at him again. “I wanted to go home.”

“I’ll take you home later.”

“Now!”

Suddenly the music switched - and the dancers went wild.

She played the fiddle in an Irish band, but she fell in love with an Englishman..

“Ed Sheeran in a bar..?” Yao looked around confusedly. People were even Irish dancing. “You people are crazy aru.”

Arthur shrugged. “At least they’re having fun.”

He looked at Yao. The Chinese boy sighed, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear.

“Fine..” he said begrudgingly. “One dance?”

The blond raised an eyebrow - the pink lights above them began to change into a rainbow of colors. Yao looked at Arthur exasperatedly - for all the piercings and the punk look, did this guy even know how to dance? Yao had never been to a club, but he’d definitely been to homecoming.

“I don’t usually dance, I just kind of stand at the bar area,” Arthur started to explain.

Yao ignored his explanation and grabbed the blond’s hands as the chorus came on.

Baby I just wanna dance, my pretty little galway girl..

“Is this even dancing?” Arthur yelled over the music as it got louder.

“It is if you’re having fun!” Yao yelled back.

He spun the blond around, smiling that damned smile. “Just move!”

Arthur couldn’t help but laugh. God - this boy was something else. He couldn’t help but catch onto Yao’s waist - and they danced, and danced, and danced.

It was supposed to just be one song - but then it was Hips Don’t Lie so of course they had to stay, and then another song, and another. They spun, they danced, they jumped - and the smell of the smoke, the beer, the disposable vapes couldn’t even once overwhelm the scent of Yao when he came close to the Brit, the fragrance of peonies.

Eventually, their fun came to an end when a bouncer came around. He was doing ID checks - and Yao and Arthur immediately looked at each other, burst into laughter - and then they made a run for it, sprinting away from the hordes of confused dancers and the enraged bouncers.

The night was freezing when they ran out, but their hands were so warm together that they had hardly noticed - till a truck drove by them and they felt an icy blast of wind.

Arthur suddenly let go of Yao’s hand. “Uh, wait. I need to do something. And don’t move.”

Before Yao could protest, Arthur was off in a frantic dash, leaving the Chinese boy alone in the cold. After a minute, he was starting to worry that the Brit had simply randomly abandoned him in the middle of a dark, empty street.

“He can’t be that mean,” Yao grouched to himself. What should he do? Where was the nearest station? Should he go back to the bar?

But just moments later, Arthur reappeared, panting. He was holding their shopping bags - they’d accidentally left them behind at the bar.

“I had to bribe the bloody bouncer for these,” Arthur complained. “Seriously!”

Yao blinked at the Brit. “I forgot about the bags.. and oh no, I forgot about the candy! For Yong Soo!”

“Candy?” Arthur made a face and fished into the deep dark cavern of his jacket’s pocket. He pulled out a very battered piece of wrapped gum. “Will this do?”

Yao took the gum. He looked at Arthur, who was still panting - and he couldn’t help the twinge of fondness in his voice when he spoke. “I guess, aru.. thanks.”

“Er, no problem. My fault that I dragged you out the whole day,” Arthur scratched his head, trying not to look too directly at Yao and his hazel eyes. “Let’s get to the tube then…”

—

After their wintery night adventure, Yao and Arthur finally arrived back at the Kirkland manor safely. Surprisingly, it wasn’t midnight yet - though the looks on Alice and Chun Yan’s faces were more suited to a week-long kidnapping event.

“Where. Were. You. Two?!” Chun Yan yelled. “You’ve never been back so late! And I wouldn’t mind, but you didn’t even call-”

“Sorry, Mama, my phone died..” Yao said, feeling strangely afraid of his mother. She’d never really scolded him before. “Um..”

“My fault, I dragged Yao everywhere. All my usual haunts, you know,” Arthur said casually to Alice.

“That’s fine and well for you, but not with Yao and without telling us. He’s only been here a week, what if something happened and he got lost?” Alice said, her voice strict.

“I already apologized,” Arthur said.

“And I wonder if you really mean it,” Alice replied coldly.

“I did.”

Alice sighed. “I’ll deal with you separately.”

Arthur glared as he followed his mother to one of the other rooms, leaving Chun Yan and Yao alone in the foyer.

Chun Yan sighed. “Your siblings are already asleep.. except Kai. I think I’ll need your help to tuck him in.”

“Okay aru,” Yao said, looking down at the floor. “I’m.. I’m really sorry.”

“Well..” Chun Yan adjusted her nightgown. “I was just a little shocked, because it’s so out of character for you to do this but.. I’m a little glad too.”

Yao looked at her curiously.

“It’s normal to rebel! You didn’t do it at all in Texas, not even a tantrum when you were a little kid. I was honestly getting worried,” Chun Yan laughed. “I was a huge rebel at your age. Too much of one, I think.”

The Chinese boy tugged at his shirt. “Arthur won’t be punished, will he?”

“That’s really up to Alice…”

“Could you ask her not to? He was just trying to.. uh, trying to show me around London, and to um..,” Yao said, his voice growing smaller.

“I’ll try,” Chun Yan smiled. “But hey, I’m glad you’re getting along with Arthur. I haven’t even gotten to that level!”

“Well, it’s not.. really..” Yao thought to himself for a bit. Were they getting along? They’d basically hung out the whole day. They even… danced together. “I don’t know. We’re not strangers.”

“It’s good to bond with your future siblings,” Chun Yan looked at him with a relieved smile. “Seriously. Especially at your age - it’s usually really hard.”

“… sure,” Yao’s skin prickled at the word siblings. He could definitely look at Peter and Lottie as siblings but Arthur? It just felt.. weird. “Sure.”

He went up to tuck Kai into bed - he was still upset when he arrived, crying softly as he sat on the floor with his small baby blanket.

“Oh, Kai..” Yao gently picked him up. “What’s wrong?”

“Home.. Kai go home..” he cried, his round little face pinched and tearful.

Oh.. Kai missed Texas. Yao hugged him tightly, patting him softly.

“It’s okay, darling.. it’s okay..”

But somewhere inside of him, Yao didn’t feel okay either.

—

Yao was fast asleep, but Arthur was still wide awake and talking to Alice. Their argument had spanned nearly two hours, ranging from the topics of “How dare you kidnap Yao for several hours?” and “Why did you change so much?”. Arthur had the answer to none of Alice’s questions.

Truthfully, he couldn’t understand why he took Yao out either. He was planning to ditch him at some random station or something, but he just.. didn’t. He got weirdly caught up in talking to Yao too - something he usually didn’t enjoy, since he was actually rather introverted.

He couldn’t help it, but in the end, he actually sort of enjoyed spending time with Yao. Which was good, he supposed, since they were to be siblings. But that felt wrong too. That felt strange. But he couldn’t wait for this argument to be over, so he could see Yao again.

That.. is a really weird thought to have about your sibling. Arthur grimaced. Or maybe it was normal? He didn’t really enjoy spending time with Lottie and Peter after all, but Yao seemed to adore his own siblings. He’d brought them up so many times today that Arthur had no choice but to actually remember their names.

“Are you even listening to me?” Alice snapped.

Arthur snapped out of his Yao-filled daze.

“No, because this is absolutely unnecessary. Why are you hounding me over this stupid.. mistake? It’s not even a mistake, might I add - I’m just doing what your fiance told me to do, which is to show her freak son around,” spat out Arthur.

“You don’t…” Alice’s shoulder sagged. “You’ve clearly not listened to me in the past three hours. Why do I bother with you anymore? Just go to bed.”

The pure disappointment on her face was palpable. Arthur couldn’t take it. Ever since Father died, she hadn’t smiled at him once. Being a model student didn’t work, pursuing music didn’t work, nothing worked. The only one who made her happy… was that woman.

She hadn’t cared where Arthur was going, or what he was doing - until Yao, because he was that woman’s son.

“You don’t care about me, Mum,” he said. “This wasn’t about me. It was about Chun Yan.”

Alice blinked, almost as if she was confused - and Arthur scoffed.

“Goodnight then,” he said, his voice sullen.

“Arthur..!”

But he’d already stormed off and up the stairs. Alice watched helplessly as he left. Had she fucked up? She never knew when it came to Arthur. But then again… it felt like she didn’t know him anymore these days.

Chapter Text

When Yao woke up the next morning, Arthur was already gone. How strange.. How early could someone go to school? But the Chinese boy paid no mind. Maybe he’d see the blond later.

He helped his siblings get ready for school and helped his mother prepare Kai’s food. He was the last to eat breakfast, as always, and then begun the freezing walk to school - except he was wrapped up tightly in his new coat, which helped immensely.  

“Where’s Artie, by the way?” Lottie asked curiously.

“I think he went to school first, aru,” said Yao.

Truthfully, he had no clue. Arthur was still a huge mystery to him, despite hanging out with him the whole day. He wondered what the Brit was up to.

But as soon as they got to school, Yao quickly learned that Arthur was back to his horrible self - he blatantly ignored Yao, Yao’s siblings, and his own siblings as they entered the school. Even his weird French-looking friend (?) flirted with Yao, but Arthur simply pretended as if nothing was happening.

I guess this is how going to be at school , Yao sighed to himself. He wasn’t really ready for another day of heckling and stares. Instead, he tried his best to focus in class, and tried not to turn back to look at Arthur. What was he up to? Were they back to square one? 

“Aiyah, why am I thinking so much about it, aru?” Yao muttered under his breath.

“Are you having difficulty with the lesson?” asked Tomas.

“Er,” Yao blushed. “No. I’m just talking to myself.”

“Oh, OK,” Tomas raised an eyebrow.

Great, now I look like a freak, Yao thought to himself. He was truly not doing his best today. He really did feel like an idiot. Had he even done anything right since he came to England? And he was tired too - he usually slept before 10PM, last night was the first time he’d slept past midnight.

And Arthur was back to his cold self again. What was wrong with this guy? But then again, he’d  sort of gotten him into trouble last night. 

But it was his fault, I wanted to go back earlier… Yao tried to comfort himself. But he still felt bad anyway. He hated this feeling. He hated all his feelings, honestly.  

He wished he was back in Texas.

–

At lunchtime, Arthur’s eyes searched the entire cafeteria for Yao - unconsciously, of course. But still, he noticed. Alfred was back to sitting with those two dumb jocks - the Australian and the Danish. Where was Yao? He even saw Peter and Lottie and Yong-Soo, was it? The one that Yao had wanted to buy candy for..

I need to stop thinking about him , Arthur thought. But that was just another thought about him. All of his thoughts were him.

“Looking for your Chinese boy?” Francis raised his eyebrows. 

“No,” Arthur said a little too quickly. “I’m just… making sure the lunchroom is orderly.”

“Shut up,” Elizabeta said. “Like hell you are.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. Whatever. It didn’t matter. Who cares where Yao went? He was probably alive. That’s all that mattered.

–

After school, Arthur was relieved to see that Yao was walking out of school with his siblings. Sure, he didn’t even spare him a glance - but Arthur wasn’t going to talk to him anyway. It didn’t matter.

“Bye Artie!” yelled Peter. Arthur ignored him too.

—

The draught of conversation continued for another week. Arthur never spoke to him, and Yao didn’t either. They slept badly, and rigidly, at the far ends of either side of the bed. Alice didn’t say much, but her guilt was noticeable - attempting to seat them together at dinner, and mentioning events that they could go to together.

But the Brit and the American were both stubborn. No - they wouldn’t give in, it was the other’s fault and more than anything, it was never meant to be this way in the first place, they weren’t supposed to be friends. 

Yao texted Kev and Rachel everyday, and it reminded himself of where his real home was - it definitely wasn’t London. Empty, gloomy, dark London. He barely went out, and when he was home, he just fussed around his siblings constantly or cooped himself up in one of the living rooms studying. At school, he never ate at the cafeteria, refusing Alfred’s invites and choosing to read in the library. He was barely living, simply going in and out of each day of his existence, awaiting his return to Texas.

Arthur was worried, secretly. But how could he ask? How could he show it? He watched as Yao got thinner, paler, sadder. He couldn’t help but watch, he really did try not to, he tried to ignore the Chinese boy. He tried, and tried, but inadvertently, his gaze returned to Yao. His soft skin, the apples of his cheeks, his hazel eyes. What was wrong with him? He definitely didn’t give a fuck about his other potential step-siblings. He didn’t even care that much for his own siblings.

The blond tried to go out more often. Friends, clubs, council, school, life - the thing that had kept him busy and out of the house before Yao’s arrival. He’d been so easily occupied before, he could do it again. But it was difficult to keep himself distracted when he returned every night to see Yao fast asleep on his bed, dark lashes fluttering against porcelain skin. He really did look like a doll.

One night, he returned home late once again and trying not to look at Yao again - but when he came out of the shower, he found that Yao was draped over the bed, nearly falling off of the comforter.

“Is he stupid?” Arthur muttered. Should he help him up? Or just let him fall off the bed?

Yao twitched, moving his torso a little - and his hair fell over his face. Now he looked like a horror movie creature - Arthur snorted, taking a photo with his phone. It could be useful blackmail, he supposed. Or just funny to look at… in private.

“Oh well..” Arthur sighed. Yao was in such a deep sleep that he probably wouldn’t wake up. Who would know that he helped him?

He gently pushed Yao up, trying not to wake him, when suddenly - the smaller boy wrapped his arms around Arthur’s neck, clinging onto him like a child.

“Goddammit,” Arthur muttered. That’s what he gets for helping, he supposed. 

“Mmrgh,” Yao mumbled pushing his face into Arthur’s neck. “Warm.”

“Thanks…” Arthur said, now having no choice but to lie down on the bed with Yao holding onto him like he was a lifesaver, lest he woke him.

He tried to untangle Yao’s arms away, but the Chinese boy was really insistent on clinging onto him. Suddenly, it seemed like he had the strength of a pro-wrestler - Arthur thought as to how deceptively thin and light Yao seemed, in comparison. 

He huffed. Should he just sleep like this?

“I guess it could be worse…” he thought to himself aloud. 

He tried to get as comfortable as he could, placing his head on his pillow. He was too tired to solve this predicament - and who really cared, anyway? Sure, it was a little strange and annoying, but for some reason, it wasn’t incredibly uncomfortable either.

Plus… Yao’s hair smells like flowers , he noted, as he drifted off into a deep sleep. How nice.

-

“Shinatty-chan…” Yao murmured. He was holding something soft, large, and warm. It smelled nice too. It must be Shinatty-chan, his giant Hello Kitty doll… oh wait, didn’t he leave that behind…? He opened an eye, and found himself face-to face with a tuft of blond hair and the scent of Eros . 

He was in Arthur’s arms. Again.

“Oh my god, aru,” Yao shrieked softly, trying not to freak out. Why was this happening again?! He thought they’d established a pretty good no-contact sleeping arrangement for the past few weeks!

“Arthur,” he said softly, trying to escape his iron-clad cuddle. “Arthur..”

“Just sleep. It’s Sunday,” the blond mumbled.

“You’re awake, aru?!” Yao turned red. “What the hell? Let me go!"

“You literally clung onto me first last night,” Arthur replied sleepily, holding onto Yao tighter. “Your fault. Goodnight.”

“No - don’t go back to sleep,” Yao hissed, wraithing in Arthur’s grasp. “We’re supposed to be siblings, we don’t cuddle. ”

“You cuddle your siblings,” Arthur murmured.

“But they’re small, and cute! We’re the same age - it’s weird!”

“Whatever.”

“Arthur!”

Their legs were getting weirdly tangled under the sheets, and Yao was starting to feel even stranger. Blushing a bright red, he tried to slap Arthur’s back, but it didn’t seem effective at all.

“You don’t even wanna talk to me at school,” Yao sighed. “And yet you’re making me suffer through this.”

Arthur opened his eyes slowly, moving his head back so that they were facing each other directly. Yao’s heartbeat sped up, those green eyes would never fail to startle him. They were even prettier, somehow in the morning light.

“I did miss talking to you,” he said, and he sounded so honest . Yao felt as if something was crushing his chest, he could barely breathe. Maybe Arthur was holding him too tightly. “And sorry… I just don’t talk to any of my siblings at school either.”

“It’s OK,” Yao muttered. 

“But I can,” Arthur yawned. “Just… don’t let anyone know we’re step-siblings, I guess. I don’t really want people knowing my business, everyone’s so… nosy in that damn school.”

Yao sighed. Judging from the amount of stares and whispers he’d observed, he’d figured that out about Arthur too. He was weirdly popular, sort of like a mythical figure. Yao sort of knew how that felt, and he hated it too.

Maybe we’re a little similar , he thought.

“I think I understand why… so I guess it’s OK, aru,” Yao said, trying not to sound too lenient. “Now, will you get off me?”

“Nah.”

“What?!"

“You’re nice to hold,” Arthur said bluntly.

“You do know it’s really not normal for two seventeen-year old siblings to be cuddling,” said Yao. 

“Oh, c’mon, Yao, we’re not…” Arthur gave a breathy laugh, and Yao’s heart nearly got caught in his throat again . Why would he laugh like that? Why would his bangs fall so perfectly like that ? Why did he look like that in the morning? “I don’t think we can really become siblings. You and Lott and Pete - maybe. Me and your little clan, maybe. But you and I, China doll? We’re a bit too old to grow up together.”

“But..” Yao frowned. He does have a point . “Then… how are we supposed to get along?”

Arthur stared at him thoughtfully. “We can just… be friends.”

Friends. The Chinese boy blinked. 

“Friends cuddle too,” the blond shrugged.

“Close friends,” Yao pointed out.

“Then let’s get closer,” Arthur’s green eyes seemed to pierce right through Yao. He wondered if he could see right through him. He hoped not.

Yao’s eyes flickered towards Arthur’s lips. They were pink. He looked away.

“O-Okay, then,” Yao said. “Let’s get… closer, aru.”

“Good,” Arthur said. “Now, let me sleep.”

And as the blond fell back into slumber, Yao could only try to look at everywhere else but Arthur’s face. He tried to, he really did - but in the end, he could only avoid those chiseled features by closing his eyes again, and unintentionally, burying himself into the Brit’s neck once more.

Chapter Text

Things got better since their ‘talk’ - the frigidity between Yao and Arthur had nearly completely disappeared, and they could talk with that ease again - the one they’d cultivated on their shopping/clubbing trip. Alice and Chun Yan brightened at this, and so did the rest of the family.

“Yao, you’ve got Artie talking!” Peter cheered when they witnessed them having a conversation at lunch. “You’re a miracle worker!”

“Or a saint,” Lottie said.

“Could be both,” Alice said thoughtfully.

“I don’t talk that little,” Arthur said, sniffing. “Besides, you’re two children and a middle-aged lady. There’s not much to talk about with you three.”

“I am not middle-aged,” Alice defended herself.

“Well…” Chun Yun said, but stopped herself at her fiance’s look. “Right. Your mom’s a young soul, Arthur!”

The blond raised an eyebrow and Mei giggled.

“What’s middle-aged anyway, like… thirty, da-ze?” Yong-Soo wondered out loud.

Both Alice and Chun Yan suddenly made morbid expressions, and Yao had to try not to laugh. 

“Hit a sore spot there?” Arthur snorted.

“Aiyah, you two are not old aru! Mama is right. It’s all about the soul,” Yao said, trying to cheer up the two women.

“Thirty…” Alice said listlessly. 

“Thirty is not that old,” Kiku said. “You could be older. Like thirty five.”

“Thirty five..” Chun-Yan sighed.

Yao suddenly wondered what he would be like at thirty-five. Would he still have long hair? Would he still be skinny? He looked at Arthur, was busy dissecting a piece of chicken. What would Arthur look like?

An image of the blond suddenly popped up in Yao’s head - one where he was buffer, and bigger - and Yao tried not to turn red as he shook his head, trying to shake away the images. That was too abnormal to think about, that was too abnormal to think about…

–

“Let’s do something fun for Easter!” Lottie told Yao while he was embroidering a small flower on one of Mei’s dresses - her request. All of them were sitting in the living room on various parts of their huge L-shaped sofa. Surprisingly, Arthur had joined them, citing that his plans for the day had gotten canceled.

“Easter..?” Yao tilted his head. “The holiday with eggs… and Jesus?”

“Yeah, it’s a big deal here,” said Arthur. “Not sure how it works in America though. But it’s two weeks of holiday in the UK. Usually I go for a trip with my friends.”

“And how about you spend it this year with us?” Peter exclaimed excitedly. 

“I don’t want to,” Arthur said curtly. “You’ll all just be doing kiddy things.”

“Oh, come on, Art,” Lottie whined.

“It sounds fun, da-ze!” Yong-Soo said cheerfully. “I want to go exploring!”

“I want to go to the zoo, or pet a puppy,” said Mei.

“I want to… finish working on my game,” said Kiku.

“Er, do you know anywhere I can bring them to, then?” Yao asked Arthur. 

The blond raised his brows. “You want to spend Easter break with a bunch of kids?”

“Why not,” Yao said. “It’s not like I have any friends.”

“ I’m your friend,” Arthur gestured to himself.

Yao smiled. “So you’ll spend Easter with me?”

“Well… yeah…”

“So will you spend it with me and our siblings?” Yao’s smile grew brighter, and Arthur was finding it increasingly difficult to look away.

“I mean…” Arthur puffed up a little. “Just some of the days should be fine. But I’ll have my own plans here and there.”

“Of course,” Yao said.

“Wow! Really, Artie?” Lottie jumped up. “You’re spending some of Easter with us?!”

“I…” the blond sighed. “I guess..?”

When had he gotten so soft? What was getting into him? He looked at Yao’s smile - his siblings had never been more loud or annoying in their lives, but it was like white noise to him when he was looking at Yao. Not even Yong-Soo’s screaming could detract from it.

…maybe I am growing fond of him , thought Arthur. That must be it… a certain fondness. He hadn’t really been fond of anyone in a long time. No wonder the feeling was so foreign, so abstract to him…

–

“Hey, are you really OK with spending Easter with us…?” Yao asked later, towel wrapped around his head as he walked out of the bathroom.

He’d just finished bathing and he was in a long, baggy Hello Kitty shirt and some PJ bottoms. Arthur was wearing his usual striped pajamas, listening to a mixtape on his cassette player - one earphone in and one out while reading a book. He looked up from his reading and stared at Yao.

“Well, I already said yes, didn’t I?” Arthur grumbled softly.

“I’m surprised you did,” Yao said, flopping onto the bed next to Arthur. “Hehe, aru. You’re actually a good big brother, deep down inside!”

“I’m not, not really,” Arthur bookmarked his book and set it aside, taking out his earphone. “I really did it for you.”

Yao tried not to think deeper into that statement, ignoring his racing heartbeat. He sat up and looked at Arthur carefully.

“Can I ask you something… a little personal, aru? You don’t have to answer, if you don’t want to,” he said softly.

“... I suppose it’s fine.”

“Why aren’t you close to your siblings?” 

Arthur snorted. “Yao, you do know your relationship with your siblings is more abnormal than mine?”

“No!” Yao defended himself at first. But then he thought about Rachel and her brother - their relationship was more similar to Arthur and his siblings’, with more bickering than caring. “No.. I mean. Maybe?”

“You’re more like their parent than your mum, no offense,” Arthur said. “I’m not close to my siblings because of our age gap, but it’s like - the opposite for you.”

Yao looked gloomily at him. “But isn’t it sad? It’s fun to play with your siblings, and be close to them… it’s nice to know you always have family to rely on aru.”

Arthur gave a thoughtful expression. “I.. I don’t really have that with my mum either. Definitely not with my dad, even when he was alive.”

“Your dad?” Yao cocked his head. “What was he like? I never had a dad.”

“You don’t? I thought Chun Yan got all that alimony from your dad.”

“Just my siblings’ dads. My dad died before I was born,” Yao said. “All Mama said was that he was handsome and cool… he was poor, but he would do anything for her - and that was better than all the rich men she married aru.”

“That’s… a relief to hear,” Arthur scoffed. “Just confirms she isn’t a golddigger - that was a worry my mum had with her other boyfriends.”

“Oh, no, she loves your mum a lot. For real. I’ve never seen her so happy aru,” Yao felt a little sad at that. “Wait - what about your dad? You didn’t answer.”

Arthur made a face. “Honestly. You wouldn’t want to know. He wasn’t a good man.”

“That’s… that’s sad,” Yao said, blinking slowly at Arthur. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. He was a bad man, a bad father, and a bad husband,” the blond shrugged. “Only good thing about him was his money. I think Mum was secretly relieved he died.”

“How..?”

“Freak accident on a jet ski in Martinique,” Arthur said. He suddenly looked a little more pinched, and Yao decided the conversation could do with a subject change. Though Arthur hated his father, there was still a sense of grief in the air - unsolved, unwound, and bandaged around the Brit’s heart, mummifying it.

“Well… I’m sorry,” Yao said. 

“It’s alright.”

The Chinese boy tapped his thigh awkwardly for a moment, then decided to follow through with the topic change.

“Hey… can I see your cassette tape player? I’ve never seen one before yours’, actually,” Yao said, pointing towards it. “If you’re comfortable, aru…”

Arthur looked at the player in his hand and smiled at Yao. “You’re the first person not to call me pretentious for it.”

“Pretentious? They should just call you old.”

“Hey!”

“C’mon show me, aru,” Yao said excitedly, moving closer to the blond. 

“Take back the old comment,” Arthur muttered.

“Fine, fine,” Yao rolled his eyes, grinning at Arthur. “You’re super young and handsome, aru.”

Arthur tried not to blush. “...good enough, I guess.”

The Brit showed Yao the player closely, pointing out the mechanics and the brand new bluetooth port it had gotten updated with. And then he gave the darker-haired boy one of the earphones.

“Have a listen, it’s my mixtape,” Arthur said. “I mean - you probably won’t know it but…”

“No wonder people call you pretentious,” Yao replied. “ You probably won’t know …”

“Alright, alright, just listen!” the blond pressed ‘play’. 

It’s never over… all my blood for the sweetness of her laughter.

“Jeff Buckley?” the Chinese boy stared at Arthur. “I didn’t strike you as that kind of man.”

It’s never over… she is the tear that hangs inside my soul forever.

Arthur spluttered. “Well - you know him too!”

“Cuz my mother looves him,” Yao giggles. “It’s a nice song though, aru. Oh, but maybe I'm just too young to keep good love from going wrong… ooOOOOoOooh- ”

“Stop,” Arthur laughed. “My god, Yao, your singing… I think I finally found something you’re not good at.”

“Hey, it’s not singing… it’s howling aru,” Yao said confidently. “The full moon will hear me now.”

They both burst into laughter for a while, just as the song was ending.

Lover, you should’ve come over…

“ Cause it’s not too late… ” Arthur crooned the final line gently.

Yao raised his eyebrows. “You can sing aru!”

Arthur smiled. “A little.”

The Chinese boy looked over at the guitar case at the corner of the other boy’s room. “I should’ve known… are you in a band or something?”

“Sort of. It’s just for fun…” Arthur suddenly seemed hesitant. “I have no idea why I’m telling you this. I haven’t even told my family. I just told them that I play guitar at the school’s music club sometimes.”

“Why? I’m sure they’d wanna see one of your shows aru.”

“They didn’t seem very interested in my guitar playing,” the blond admitted. “And my band usually plays at… not-so-great places. Don’t think my mum and sis would be down for that, though maybe Petey would enjoy it.”

Yao looked earnestly at Arthur. “I would love to go for a show.”

“Would you, now?” the blond tried not to look surprised.

“Duh,” Yao said. “I’m your friend, aru. That’s what friends do. Right?”

“Right,” Arthur tried to keep down the blush that was creeping up his neck. “I have a show… during Easter weekend actually. It’s on Sunday night. I thought about inviting you but I didn’t…”

“Really, aru?!” Yao cheered, his eyes sparkling. “Oh my god, that’s so cool. Yes!”

Arthur couldn’t help but smile, his cheeks slightly aching. “You’ll come?”

“Of course!” Yao looked outraged. “I wouldn’t miss it!”

He didn’t know why he felt so weirdly unconfident and nervous about his music - but he was glad Yao was at least happy about it. It was so strange, Arthur felt, to have somebody care so deeply for you, to be so supportive - and the most foreign feeling of it all was that this time, Arthur didn’t want to run away.

But maybe it’s just because I’m stuck with him? Arthur thought, as Yao gave another whoop.

“OK! Let’s listen to another song - wait, show me one of your band’s mixtapes,” he demanded suddenly. “No! Wait, I want to hear you guys live first aru. That’s more of an experience aru.”

Arthur felt his heart clench.

Or maybe not.

–

Yao and Arthur began to walk together to school again with their siblings, but then they would part at the academy’s doors, because Arthur did actually have council duties. But they never really interacted at school either, since their friend groups were separate. He had his council people and Yao had.. well, Alfred and the entire swim club, for some strange reason. He had no idea how it happened; because he actually couldn’t swim, but Alfred just said it was normal to get roped in if you’re friends with Liam and Mathias.

“They’re total water freaks!” the bespectacled man had said.

One of the days, one of Arthur’s friends actually came to sit with them for lunch. Her name was Elizabeta and she was incredibly pretty. Until she opened her mouth.

“Are you.. er.. transgender?” she asked Yao.

What happened to hello? How are you? Yao thought, trying to keep a straight face.

“No…” he said. “I’m just..”

“A super pretty boy!” cheered Mathias. 

“Hm…” Elizabeta squinted a little, then smiled. “Cute! I love reading about guys like you!”

Yao had a bad feeling about what Elizabeta was reading, but decided to smile at her anyway. It was better to be friendly, after all. And she did turn out to be really nice.

Plus, he got to know Arthur a little better. From an outsider’s point of view.

“Yao, you know that bushy-browed guy at the council table there - Arthur Kirkland - yeah, him. He’s like crazy popular, and this morning was hilarious . The council tip-off box was overflowing and everyone was so excited, but it was just love letters to Arthur!”

She laughed loudly and Yao giggled too - trying to imagine Arthur dealing with a bunch of love letters. He was secretly so easily flustered after all.

“Well, did he like any of them back aru?” Yao asked.

“Nah,” Alfred chewed on his burger. “Artie barely dates. At most, he just has flings. But he does write a personalized letter back if you write him a love letter. It’s a rejection letter, of course, but he writes it so nicely that you can’t get mad!”

“Oh, that’s.. surprisingly considerate,” Yao blinked.

“He’s actually a big softie,” Elizabeta laughed. “But otherwise he’s still a prick, most of the time.”

She then began to fodder off about some other gossip thing, to which Liam listened to very intently because it involved a girl he liked. But Yao could only think about Arthur and his love letters.

“She’s amazing though, I swear! She’s like, a majestic being who can do no wrong!” Liam exclaimed about his crush. 

Yao heard him and the same thought that had been running through his mind repeated itself.

I wonder what kind of girl Arthur likes.

—

“Do you need help?” Yao asked Basch, who was tidying up some of Yong-Soo’s toys. 

He was home early and alone, as the younger students were practicing for some play or something and Arthur was busy with his rehearsals for his band’s show. He’d passed by Yong-Soo’s room and realised the blond butler was cleaning up his younger brother’s tornado of a room.

“Oh, no,” Basch looked surprisedly at him. “Please. I’m paid to do this.”

The stoic butler continued on with his chores - but Yao suddenly thought: Hey, maybe this would be the best person to ask about Arthur. Or not. He looks kinda young. Maybe he hasn’t been working for them that long.

“You’re going to Young Master Kirkland’s show, aren’t you?” the blond butler suddenly said, and Yao stared at him in shock. “This weekend.”

“How did you know…?”

“Ms Kirkland asks me to keep track of his activities, and the folks he mingles with,” Basch said professionally. 

“I..” Yao was surprised. So Alice did know about Arthur’s band… and probably about everything else. Should Arthur know about this?

“Young Master Kirkland knows,” Basch said, as if reading Yao’s mind. “I don’t know why he pretends he doesn’t. But if you’d like, I can bring you to the shops sometime, to buy something to wear for his show.”

“Wow, really?” Yao smiled. “That’d be… that’d be really nice, aru! Thanks!”

“Don’t mention it,” Basch gave a wave of his hand, remembering why he was even doing this.

“And could you bring Yao out, to get him an outfit for the show? I don’t think they’d let anyone in a sweater in,” Arthur had asked in the morning, rather embarrassedly.

Basch raised his eyebrows. “Young Master…”

“Please, I’ll give you the money. But don’t let him know that I asked - I don’t want him to feel weird or embarrassed.”

The butler nodded.

Is this how you treat your future sibling? Basch wondered, picking up the last of Yong Soo’s toys as Yao walked out of the room excitedly. He’d never seen Arthur so nice to anybody.

And from his ex-Interpol agent intuition, he felt like something.. was going on. 

“Oh, never mind,” he muttered to himself.

Arthur was young. He’d get over it, surely.

Chapter Text

Yao felt a little odd going out with Basch, but he was surprisingly dressed like a regular person instead of a butler when they’d gone out of the house, so it was a lot less awkward. He looked nice, like a regular guy - in fact, he could pass as a student in the Academy.

He barely knew anything about the servant. He was incredibly stealthy around the house, and he tidied up at a record time that Yao greatly admired..

“How old are you, Basch?” Yao asked curiously, peering up at the butler through his lashes. “You look young.”

“Nineteen.”

“What?!” Yao yelped.

“Yeah,” Basch said. “Why?”

“But you’re… you’re.. working aru! What about college?”

“You mean university? I finished at twelve.”

The surprises were never-ending. Yao stared at Basch in shock.

Basch shrugged. “I’m from Switzerland.”

“I don’t think that’s normal there either,” Yao said carefully.

“Ah,” Basch snorted. “Usually that trick works on Americans.”

“Hey!”

“But it’s true, I finished university at 12, then I did a specialized occupation until 16. But then I got my leg injury, so I couldn’t do it anymore…” the Swiss looked pointedly at his right leg. “But then the old Master Kirkland recruited me to become his butler. Said he’d pay for my sister’s education, get me a nice house in London, get her into all the top schools…”

“Your sister?”

Basch gave a small, small smile - the first one Yao had ever seen on him, actually. “Lili. She’s in your school. She’s 13.”

He took out his phone and showed Yao a picture of a small, blonde girl with a ribbon in her hair. She had bright blue eyes.

“Oh.. maybe Kiku knows her,” Yao said. “She’s so cute aru! Like a doll!”

“You look like a doll too,” Basch said.

Yao’s ears tinged red. “I know, I get that a lot.”

“Isn’t it annoying- oh, forgive me,” the butler coughed. “I’m speaking too casually with you, aren’t I?”

“No, please,” Yao laughed. “I like you better like this. I don’t really like formalities aru..”

“Right,” Basch said hesitantly.

“But no, it’s not super annoying,” Yao said. “It’s just.. okay. I suppose it must be a compliment, in a strange way..”

“It is,” the butler said seriously. “Your face is flawless.”

“Thanks,” Yao smiled genuinely.

“Today’s outfit should also be the kind of look you like,” Basch continued. “It shouldn’t just be what the Young Master would wear to a show.”

“Ah, really..?”

“Yes,” Basch said strictly. “The way you dress can make you feel a lot more differently about yourself. And no offense again, but you should be more confident, considering your facial symmetry.”

Isn’t there a certain way you want to dress? Your fashion sense, Yao remembered Arthur asking him.

But in a way, Yao didn’t even know who he wanted to be, let alone how to dress, or how to act. His entire identity mostly revolved around his family.

“I don’t know,” Yao said. “I don’t really know how I want to dress, or even be like.”

At least Arthur had that. Yao wished he could be like that…

They entered the train station, and Basch looked very firmly at Yao.

“Today, that’s our mission then,” he said. “To find something you want to wear.”

--

How on Earth did Arthur get stuck with babysitting duty?

He stared at the six little kids running around his room and touching all his things , thinking he’d rather jump out of the window at any moment than experience this any longer.

He wished Yao was here. He was pretty sure that boy would have things under control in five seconds, the buggers always listened to him.

But too bad - Yao was out, Basch was out, the nanny was off-duty, and Alice and Chun Yan were at work. It was just him… and these six idiots.

“Awaga,” said Kai, sucking his thumb. “Awa…”

“Oh my gosh! I think he’s tryin’ to say your name, Arthur!” Mei held up the toddler to the blond teenager, who simply faced the child with a deadpan stare.

“Um.. great?” Arthur seriously didn’t get the appeal of kids. Why the hell did Chun Yan have five of them? And he never saw her taking care of them - it was always Yao fussing over them, doing their hair, helping Kiku with his computer games, helping Yong-Soo not be weird, cleaning up after them… sometimes he even had to help tuck them into bed , because they couldn’t sleep without seeing him.

She is seriously irresponsible , Arthur thought to himself. He didn’t really know how to talk to Yao about it though, he seemed perfectly content with his role as a stand-in mother.

“Let’s play pirates, like we used to, Artie!” Peter said excitedly.

“God, no,” Arthur replied.

“Please! It was so fun!” Lottie begged.

“I wanna play pirates too!” Yong Soo yelled.

“Sounds.. intriguing,” Kiku said, who was sitting in a corner quietly. Why was he even here, at his age? He could take care of himself!

“Fine!” Arthur shouted, exasperated. “Let’s play pirates!”

—

Yao never had such a tiring shopping trip. Basch basically forced him to model every single piece that he liked, made him analyze why he liked each piece, and whether he would wear it in five years.

“I didn’t know clothes were so serious,” muttered Yao as he tried on another random item. This time, he hadn’t chosen it - Basch had, after getting fed up as Yao discarded yet another piece.

Only when he’d finished putting it on did he realise - oh god, it was a slip dress. It was a short, pretty, silvery thing - something he would never even allow Mei to put on when she was thirty years old.

“Mr Wang? Are you OK?”

“Basch, I think you… picked out the wrong thing aru!” Yao tried not to shriek. 

But I do look good. Yao secretly thought. If he passed by himself, he’d just be another pretty girl in the street. Except that he was a man-

Basch knocked on the door. “Can I see?”

“Uh,” Yao’s ears turned red, but he opened the door reluctantly. “How does it look?”

The Swiss man hmm’d. “You look good.”

“It’s a dress! Why did you pick a dress aru?!” Yao suddenly asked, a wave of shame suddenly overcoming him. 

“I thought it would look good,” Basch said straightforwardly. “And you do. Add a leather bomber and some ripped tights and you’ll look straight out of Young Master Kirkland’s audience.”

Yao looked down at himself. “Are you sure…?”

“You like this outfit, don’t you?” the blond smiled gently. “That’s why you haven’t taken it off.”

Yao hesitated, looking down again. It for sure wasn’t his usual style - and he wouldn’t crossdress often, but he did. He actually liked the damn outfit. And he was already thinking of what shoes he could wear with it.

“..I guess,” Yao mumbled. “But make sure no one else at home catches me in this, please .”

“Sure, sure..”

–

“Enough!” Arthur yelled, flopping on the floor of the foyer. “No more pirates. I refuse.”

“Haha!” Peter pointed his plastic sword at Arthur. “I win!”

“Mei, get him!” the teen called out, and much to Peter’s dismay - the tiny Asian girl hopped onto him and poked her own plastic sword into his back. 

“Aw, you’re the double-crosser!” Peter yelped.

“That’s right!” Mei said proudly. “I’m evil!”

“Are you now?”

Much to Arthur’s horror and the children’s excitement, Yao was standing at the entrance of the house, with Basch behind him carrying all of his shopping. He watched amusedly as Arthur scrambled to get himself off the floor - and six little pirates ran to greet him.

“Gege!” Kai greeted happily. “I am a pirate!”

“I’m the best pirate!” Yong-Soo announced.

“No, I am,” Lottie pouted. “Hi Yao! You’re back earlier than we expected.”

“I’m glad I came back early,” Yao snickered, looking at Arthur - his large pirate hat and - where did he even get that pirate outfit from? It even had boots.

“You haven’t played Pirates in a while, Young Master,” Basch said. “It’s nice to see.”

“Goddammit,” muttered Arthur. “They forced me into this..”

Basch looked amused as well, before his expression turned stoic again. “Right. Children, let’s go - your mothers would like you to get started on your holiday homework…”

“Aw..”

But the five children followed Basch obediently to the dining area - their makeshift study area during the daytime. Meanwhile, Yao picked Kai up and looked at Arthur still awkwardly standing there.

“I should probably put him down for a nap,” he said as the toddler struggled in his arms. “You look kind of cool, aru. In that pirate costume.”

“It was for a Halloween party..” Arthur’s ears were red. “Don’t mistake this for anything else, I was just struggling to babysit  - and desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“You are a good big brother,” Yao grinned

“.. not all the time.”

“But sometimes,” Yao said, walking up the stairs already. “You’re so cool, aru!”

“Was that supposed to be sarcastic…?” Arthur mumbled, rolling his eyes. 

—

Alice and Chun Yan were delighted to have dinner with six children dressed like pirates (much to Arthur’s annoyance, because he had to dress like some preppy schoolboy for meals), and the rest of the week passed by just as fast. 

Yao and Arthur didn’t have that much time to hang out with each other, since Arthur was out late practicing for his show, and Yao busied himself with trying to mentally prepare himself into wearing his outfit. It was the most risque thing he’d ever done, since illegally bar hopping with the Brit.

The weekend went okay, except for Peter and Yong-Soo eating themselves sick. Basch had hidden way too many chocolate eggs around the house. Yao and Arthur had fun during the hunt though, and they’d tried not to laugh as their younger siblings struggled to find any of the eggs. The surprising winner was Kiku, who chalked it up to his intuition.

“You can sense the egg,” he had said, holding a basket full of them. “If you think deeply enough.”

“Um, no, I think you’re just good at finding stuff,” Yong Soo had replied.

And finally, Sunday night had arrived. Everyone was already in bed. Basch double checked that no one was outside and dropped him a text.

basch: Coast is clear now get out there have fun.

basch: Thumbs up emoji.

Yao looked into his closet, staring at the outfit hanging from the coat hanger. He nodded to himself. He could do this. Definitely.

The show started at midnight, and was at a club called HetaOni , somewhere in Soho. He decided to take an Uber, because he didn’t want to take the train alone in this outfit, and also - it was freezing.

It’s good to rebel , he tried to remember his mother’s words - but he felt a spark of guilt for sneaking out. He had never been out this late. And he was scared - what if he looked stupid? 

But never mind that. He liked this outfit, and he was always getting made fun of for looking like a girl so why not ? He rather be himself. And with this self-assurance, he buckled his seatbelt in the Uber, and it drove off into the dark night.

—

Arthur was getting worried. He hadn’t seen Yao yet, and their show started in a few minutes. Had he gotten to the club? Was he OK? Would he even come? 

“C’mon,” Gilbert said. He was just another classmate at school but here, he was the bassist of their band. “Let’s go, Kirkland.”

“It’s showtime, big crowd today,” said their manager - Gilbert’s brother, Ludwig, said. “Your biggest so far, actually.”

He was only thirteen, but he was so strict and meticulous that Gilbert had nominated him to be the manager of their band - and he was definitely the best candidate for the job. He was also the president of the student council for the younger forms at school. Arthur wondered if he knew Kiku. They’d be good friends, he thought. 

“I’m always surprised you’re allowed out so late,” Arthur said.

“Mother told me to keep an eye on Gil,” Ludwig replied.

“Hey!”

“He needs it. The last time he did a gig without you, he nearly got roofied,” Natalya said, adjusting her keyboard. Infamously beautiful, infamously unstable, and the sister of the infamous Ivan Braginski, who owned HetaOni. He owned other clubs too, running them since his father retired when he was sixteen. 

The last member was Berwald, a silent, stoic man who was a beast on the drums. Together - with Arthur as lead singer and guitarist, they were pretty formidable. But in the end, it was just for fun - they definitely weren’t going to do this for a career , they were rich kids with positions that needed to be inherited. They’d become proper and snotty once they stepped out of this club again.

Arthur closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Tonight was their biggest show yet - they were the main act. Not the openers, nor one of the last bits. The main act.

“Give it up for.. BANG!” Ivan announced.

Arthur took his fake gun and shot it upwards as the curtains opened, with Natalya pressing the keyboard for the gunshot effect. Their iconic opening. 

The crowd whooped and cheered and clapped as the spotlights found the band.

“We’re starting off with Robbers,” Arthur announced, smiling.

He started playing his guitar, his eyes still searching the crowd. Where was Yao? He saw his other friends - Angelique, Francis, Lukas.. oh, even Alfred was here. But where..?

“ She’s got a face straight out a magazine… ” he sang. “ God only knows but you’ll never leave her…”

And there he was - in the middle, packed by a swarm of people - like some kind of angel, Yao. 

Once he saw him, Arthur couldn’t take his eyes off him. 

He started to sing so passionately that even Berwald was staring at him in slight surprise - but he couldn’t help it, just looking at Yao’s face made him…  his emotions were running high. And Yao was smiling at him, cheeks pink, dark lashes, his damning brown eyes. 

“And he’s got his gun, he’s got his suit on.. ” he sang. “ She says… babe, you look so cool. ”

The crowd was singing along too - and so was Yao. 

“You look so cool.”

“You look so cool.”

Arthur could almost hear his airy, lilting, amused voice through the crowd. 

They finished the song and Arthur wished the show was over - so that he could run to greet Yao right now . But no, he had to finish this damn set.

Song after song after song. Yao, goddess-like amongst the masses. Arthur, entranced - feeling as if he was singing to a siren. On the other hand, Arthur had never performed so well in his life, and the crowd had never been wilder.

“Damn, what’s got Kirkland so worked up tonight?” Gilbert joked into the microphone.

Arthur shrugged.

“Maybe there’s a special someone here, in the crowd?” the albino joked - and the girls in the crowd began to scream. 

“Hm,” Arthur just smirked, and the screams got louder. He could see Yao rolling his eyes.

As long as he had his attention, he couldn’t care less about anyone else’s. The blond continued to sing, his heart furiously bursting at its seams - he’d never wanted to sing more, he’d never wanted to see somebody so much.

When their set finally ended, Arthur rushed down to see Yao - excusing himself from every fangirl and groupie hurriedly. Usually he took his time, just to peruse which girl he’d take home tonight - but this time, Gilbert had full pickings, because Arthur was off to see Yao and only Yao.

“Looks like his girl’s here,” Natalya said. 

“Wonder what she looks like,” Gilbert raised his brows. “She must be a total hottie if she’s got him captivated like that..”

“It’s good f’r the band..” Berwald said. His boyfriend was heading over as well, and the Swede smiled as the other Finnish boy rushed into his arms.

Meanwhile, Yao was trying to find Arthur as well. He didn’t know if the Brit wanted to see him though, considering that there were so many of their schoolmates here. Would it be like in school, where they didn’t speak?

Plus there were all these weird guys trying to block Yao or hit on him. He dodged them as efficiently as he could, ignoring their leers and attempts to grope him as he made his way through the crowd.

The other band came on as the pair found each other. Even in the darkening club, hazel met emerald - and their faces both broke into wide grins as they hugged each other.

Arthur smelt so, so good - cologne and smoke and all. And his voice - God, Yao had never heard someone sound so passionate, as if he was singing right through Yao’s bones. The Chinese boy smiled up at the blond, trying not to look at Arthur’s exposed collarbones from his slightly unbuttoned shirt.

“Did you like it?” Arthur asked, his eyes twinkling. He looked even more handsome than usual, somehow.

“I loved it!” Yao exclaimed. “That was amazing ! I knew you could sing but.. that was something else. Seriously, aru!”

“Yeah,” Arthur pinkened. It was because of you that I performed so well , he couldn’t say that aloud. And then he noticed…

Yao was wearing a dress. A short, strappy dress. And an oversized leather jacket. And ripped tights . And long, heeled boots. No wonder he seemed a little taller than usual.

But still. A dress. And.. was he wearing makeup ? His lips were glossy, and his cheeks were stained with blush. And his lips were glossy. The dress - the tights..

“You look.. really good,” Arthur swallowed, trying to breathe properly. 

“Ah, thanks,” Yao looked down, now slightly embarrassed. “I know.. it’s not…”

“No, Yao. You look.. really , really good,” Arthur said softly, but his gaze was fierce. 

The blond was suddenly overwhelmed.. he wanted so badly to touch the smaller man, caress him, kiss him - there was something strange, something more than fondness inside of his chest, beating furiously. 

“Yao..” his face drew closer.

The Chinese boy couldn’t help it - what a horrible idea, this was his future stepbrother. Stepbrother, stepbrother, not…! But Arthur’s cologne, and his nearing lips, the blasting music - everything was driving him insane-

“New girlfriend?”

They forced themselves to look away from each other and Lukas Bondevik was standing next to them. 

“Uh,” Yao’s cheeks were burning. 

“O-oh, Lukas.. this is Yao..” Arthur introduced awkwardly. “Yao, this is Lukas… he’s one of my good friends.”

Lukas blinked at Yao. “You’re the new kid.. Mathias’ friend.”

“Oh.. hi,” Yao said, suddenly feeling incredibly shy. The boy’s stare was kind of intimidating. “Nice to meet you.”

Lukas looked up and down at Yao. “He said.. you’re a guy. Was he joking?”

“I am a guy,” Yao admitted. “I’m just.. I just wanted to dress like this.”

He felt so lame and quiet all of a sudden, but Lukas didn’t seem very deterred by this.

“You look pretty. It’s a good choice,” he said.

“Thank you…”

“However… you both.. are entering into dangerous territory,” something flashed in Lukas’ eyes. “I think you know what I’m talking about. See you, Artie.”

And just like that, the Norwegian had disappeared back into the crowd. Yao stared at Arthur.

“H-how did he know aru?!” Yao was totally creeped out.

“O-oh, I met him at Magic Club.. he’s kind of a psychic…”

“What?!”

“Yeah..”

Yao adjusted his jacket. “I mean - he’s right. We almost crossed the line just now aru…”

“But we’re not really… you know. Related..”

“We’re going to be,” Yao hissed.

“But.. we agreed it’s kind of hard to have a.. familial relationship. We’re basically friends right now,” Arthur said. “And y’know, friends can cross that line, sometimes. If they both want it.”

There was a moment of silence, and Arthur scratched his head. 

“Look, let’s just pretend nothing happened, OK? C’mon, I’ll get you a drink.”

Yao sighed, still feeling guilty - but with a trembling hand, he took Arthur’s. In the end, he couldn’t help it. He just wanted to follow the Brit, wherever he went.

Chapter Text

“Let’s go on the dance floor,” Arthur suggested, after encouraging Yao to down his first ever three vodka shots at the bar.

The Chinese boy was feeling funny and warm, if not a little nauseous, and also a little afraid that he’d be caught illegally drinking. He’d tried sips of his mother’s sake and beer before, but he hadn’t really gone all out to get drunk before. 

“I feel a little sick,” Yao admitted. “Why don’t you just go ahead, aru?”

Arthur’s face flickered with concern - but then he heard the calls of his bandmates and classmates from the dance floor.

“C’mon, Kirkland!” yelled Angelique. 

She looked really pretty tonight, her usual pigtails swapped out for a high ponytail and a uniform for a chic romper. And she was gonna dance with Arthur tonight, probably, a thought that made Yao just feel a little sicker. 

But still, he couldn’t dance. Any further movement would cause him motion sickness.

“Just go and have fun, aru,” Yao smiled at Arthur. “I’ll go sit at that table over there.”

“I don’t… are you sure?” Arthur raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I don’t really like dancing anyway,” Yao lied.

“No,” the blond scoffed. “You were happily dancing away just the other day!”

“That’s because…” Yao blinked, swallowing the truth down. “I don’t know. It’s all the alcohol. My tolerance isn’t good, aru. But I’m not unwell, I just need to rest for a while.”

Arthur sighed. “OK then. But if you’re really not feeling well…”

“Just go!” Yao pushed Arthur towards the dance floor and into his friends’ arms, feeling something strange twinge inside of him. 

He then forced himself to lumber to the empty table in the corner, his heels were starting to ache - he really did need to sit down - and he flopped onto the cushioned seats, trying not to feel absolutely miserable.

He took a few glances at Arthur and his friends, who were happily dancing away, drinks in hands. God, he was such a killjoy - he groaned, setting his head down on the table. Time passed by, maybe it slowed down, but it felt like forever until Yao heard somebody speaking to him.

“Why so down, pretty girl?”

Yao didn’t even bother to correct whoever it was this time - he simply looked up and glared. 

Violet eyes met his. He must have been the tallest man at the club, he towered over the table. He was handsome. And for some weird reason, he was wearing a scarf.

But he was handsome.

“Isn’t it hot?” Yao mumbled. 

“Hot?”

Yao didn’t know what possessed him - but he suddenly grabbed at the stranger’s scarf and pulled it down. But it didn’t come off.

“First kiss already?” the stranger smiled. And there was something so strange about that smile too… “We haven’t even introduced ourselves, da?”

“I’m Yao,” Yao said, looking up at the man through his lashes. Why was he here again?

Oh, but at least this guy was handsome.

“I’m Ivan,” he said. 

“Hm,” Yao smiled. “So, introductions are over…?”

“You…” Ivan’s eyes were shining. “You’re something else… but I’m afraid I’m going to ask you for a dance first.”

Yao supposed that he was feeling a little less nauseous, now that he had sat down for a while. And Arthur was busy dancing with his friends anyway - it made sense if he joined the dance floor too. Everyone should dance!

“Let’s go then,” Yao smiled hazily at Ivan, getting up and pulling the large man by the scarf and onto the dance floor. “We should have fun, aru.”

“We should,” Ivan stared at him as if he was about to devour Yao. 

The DJ had put on some weird techno music - apparently he was from Estonia, and everybody was dancing drunkenly. Yao didn’t really know what he was doing, he’d never danced at an actual club before, but he let Ivan put his hands on his waist, guiding him.

Yao really felt like a doll right now. His painted face, his party clothes, his made-up hair. And unlike Arthur, Ivan wasn’t really dancing with him, it was more like Yao was just being danced around, like a marionette. Yao didn’t really like this kind of dancing, but most of the people here were dancing like this. It was normal, wasn’t it?

“You’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen,” Ivan said, looking down at Yao. 

And to Ivan, it really seemed that way… those doll-like eyes, lips, skin. That clear, airy voice. And Yao’s small, waifish body. Yao reminded him of a Barbie that his sisters used to have. She was so pretty too, and the thing Ivan liked the most was that Barbies were bendable, every joint, and you could take off the head too. They were so fragile, so easily broken!

“I’m a boy,” Yao mumbled.

“That’s OK,” Ivan’s eyes glinted. 

“Or maybe..” Yao didn’t even know anymore. “I don’t know.”

“That’s OK too.”

Ivan simply moved Yao around for the next few minutes, and Yao was starting to feel… sad. Why did it feel so strange? Ivan was so handsome. He looked like a prince. Yao could definitely kiss him. They could definitely dance together. Maybe they could do even more. But something in his stomach was churning.

“Can I have the next dance with you, Yao?” a familiar voice suddenly interrupted.

“Kirkland,” Ivan’s voice was cold - and Yao realized that the blond had somehow appeared next to them.

“Your sister asked me to interrupt,” Arthur said, pointing to Natalya - the beautiful keyboardist - who was sullenly standing with Arthur’s group of raving friends.

“Oh,” Ivan sighed, but he seemed to soften up. “Makes sense, da. I guess you guys distracted her for long enough tonight.”

“I’ll see you again, Yao?” the giant man smiled down at Yao. 

“Um…” Yao looked at him.

“I’ll get your number somehow, don’t worry,” he whispered into his ear. Then he took Yao’s hand, softly kissing it. “Goodnight.”

The man then sauntered off, presumably to go entertain his sister. And now it was just Yao and Arthur, standing awkwardly in the middle of a bunch of dancing people. Just like the last time but for some reason - it was just… extra awkward this time.

Probably because we almost kissed , Yao thought guiltily. He was supposed to forget about that. Why couldn’t he forget about it?

Arthur looked at Yao’s troubled face. “Yao…”

“Hm..?” 

“Can we go home?”

“Are you sure? You’re here with your band and friends, and you just performed the best gig ever, aru-”

“I want to go home,” Arthur said firmly.

Yao tried not to smile, tried not to feel that relief.

“OK, let’s go home.”

–

Arthur Kirkland was a selfish person. He had always known that about himself. He hated sharing, he hated doing things for others, he hated giving in. He was so stubborn , even when it came to things he could no longer have. He didn’t play with his trucks anymore, but why should he give them to Peter? When his parents could afford brand new ones? He didn’t ride his bicycle anymore, but why should Lottie have it? He didn’t have his father anymore, so why was Alice allowed to move in a family of strangers, with an unknown American woman, and why should he have to share his room, his school, and his family ?

But from the moment he’d met Yao, he could do nothing but give in. His stubbornness, his strong will, it all faded so easily when it came to him. Suddenly, he was alright with sharing his bed, sharing his life, sharing his hideouts and music. And now, it seemed like the only thing he couldn’t share was… Yao.

Not that Yao was a possession, or object to be shared. He was a human being. An amazing one at that - God, the amount of patience and kindness that he held in a singular thumb probably outweighed the entirety of Arthur’s list of good deeds.

And now, he’d selfishly dragged Yao out of the club. Early. It was literally only 2 AM, when the blond was notorious for returning only when the sun had come up. 

It was silent for a while, only the clacking of Yao’s boots could be heard - and then Arthur stopped him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“What?” 

“Take off your shoes,” Arthur said.

“Why? Aren’t they nice?”

“Yes,” Arthur tried not to sputter. “I-I.. just meant, just take them off.”

Yao drunkenly followed, squatting on the concrete pavement as Arthur looked around for any potential nefarious individuals (though the street was surprisingly mostly empty). 

“I’m done aru,” Yao mumbled, chucking his shoes aside.

“Okay. Er, can you just… sit upright?”

Yao followed. The blond then took off his own shoes and put them quickly onto Yao’s small feet, tying the laces as tightly as possible. He tried not think about how intimate it was - or how close they were together, or how he could feel Yao’s gaze on him.

Arthur helped him up, and he tried not to notice the sudden visible, obvious, glaringly obvious height difference as he looked down on Yao.  “They fit alright?”

“Mmhm,” Yao nodded, looking up at him. He was still trembling slightly.

Arthur took off his coat, and put it over Yao’s shoulders, though he was already wearing a jacket.

“Better?’

The Chinese boy looked down at the coat, and his shoes, silent. 

“Why are you being so nice to me?” 

“I’m..” Arthur made a face. “How am I being nice to you?”

“You just…!” Yao stared at him in bewilderment. “You..”

“I cockblocked you! At the club!”

Yao just looked even more confused.

“Ivan..” Arthur’s ears tinged red. “He’s.. He’s the club owner. I made up the thing about his sister. I mean, it was probably true that she wanted to interrupt, but…”

“You didn’t want me to dance with him?” Yao asked.

“No. I mean. Yes. He’s actually a bit creepy,” Arthur sighed, looking away in embarrassment. “But I wanted to dance with you, and you didn’t want to dance with me…”

“Because you were with your friends,” Yao said. “Not that they’re bad - I’m just… shy aru.”

“You didn’t seem that shy with Ivan.”

“I’m better with one-on-one interactions aru,” Yao said, then he suddenly flushed. “Aiyah! Why am I even explaining myself to you?”

“Ivan’s handsome. And he’s probably richer than me,” Arthur suddenly said.

“Good to know. But why compare him to yourself?” Yao suddenly felt a strike of sobriety. Arthur could see it in the other boy’s eyes, that realisation - the understanding that Arthur was selfish . “It’s not like I can choose you over him, aru.”

“Yao..”

“Arthur…” Yao bit his lip. “I….”

“I-"

“No, don’t say sorry, aru,” Yao said quickly. “There’s… nothing to apologise for.”

After all, they were going to be siblings. It wasn’t right, Yao knew that. Arthur being kind to him didn’t entitle Yao anything. It didn’t mean anything. Even good friends could be kind to each other. That’s the only thing Arthur had promised.

They stood in the middle of the street, not looking at each other, the bright-white streetlight hovering over them. There was the occasional couple, group of friends, a drunkard, passing by them. But they couldn’t do anything, but stay in that silence, the cold wind brushing against their skin. 

Yao finally had the courage to look at Arthur after a while, but the Brit was already staring at him. His expression was so… fond. Not thirsty, lusty, or interested - the usual variety that came from men - but… this… he’d never seen somebody look at him with so much…

“I.. don’t want to go home anymore,” Arthur said suddenly.

“Oh,” Yao cocked his head. “So.. back to the club, aru?”

“Ugh, no,” the blond rolled his eyes. “Let’s go get a cuppa.”

“At this hour?!”

–

A bell chimed when the pair walked into the cafe. Yao didn’t even know that there were cafes that opened so late. Everything back at home closed at 10PM, except for the bars and pubs, like it was in London.

“Hey Artie, where’s the band?” one of the staff greeted them. He was brunette, and also wore a small hat. Yao thought it was cute.

“Hi Vlad,” Arthur looked around. “Busy night.”

The cafe was completely empty. In fact, Vlad was also the only staff member there.

“Don’t need to rub it in,” Vlad said, folding his arms. 

“You’re luckily your daddy’s money is endless.”

“And so is yours!” Vlad looked at Yao. “New g-”

“I’m a boy.”

“...boyfriend?”

“No,” Yao said.

“Aw,” Vlad smiled and Arthur tried not to deflate at Yao’s response. “Well, sit anywhere. What do you two want to drink?”

“Pot of Earl Grey, thanks,” Arthur said dismissively.

“You’re always so charming,” Vlad drawled. “No wonder he’s not yours yet.”

The pair blushed a little, sitting down at one of the booths by the window as Vlad wandered off to make their tea. Arthur set down Yao’s boots and his guitar case next to him, and Yao took off Arthur’s coat.

“Vlad’s descended from Romanian royalty. This cafe’s just a pastime for him,” Arthur said. “But his beverages are… surprisingly decent.”

“Huh, aru,” Yao looked around, noticing that the furniture did look expensive. It seemed that Arthur was only surrounded by rich and richer people - something that he had yet to get used to. “So, is it normal in England to have tea at… 2:28 AM?”

“No,” Arthur said. “I just remembered that you’d never had a proper English tea and I suddenly felt desperate for you to try it.”

“Is it better than vodka?” Yao asked, undoing his updo hairstyle - it was starting to feel uncomfortable. Arthur watched as his loose, soft tresses fell around his face, feeling like he had somehow been transported into a Baroque painting.

“It’s… I think you’d prefer it to vodka, definitely,” he said.

“I hope so."

Vlad eventually came back with the tea, and two round pastries with cream and jam. He set the tray down on the table. “Enjoy.”

“You’re supposed to set it up properly for us,” Arthur deadpanned.

“I’m lazy, I’m going to take a nap,” Vlad said, already walking away.

“Whatever..” the blond gritted out, already setting out the pastries and pouring the pot of tea into each teacup. Yao thought he looked particularly hilarious pouring tea in such a gentleman-like manner, as compared to his all-black outfit and his million necklaces. And his gorgeous, gorgeous piercings, that Yao had been trying so hard to ignore.

“The Chinese have teapots too,” Yao said, though he could acknowledge that the tea smelt quite fragrant. “What’s so special about this?”

“Just wait.”

Then, much to Yao’s distraught - though he had seen this online and in the movies - Arthur actually poured milk and sugar into his cup of tea. And then he stirred it.

“Arthur!” Yao nearly yelled. “Why are you destroying it? It actually smelt nice aru!”

“It makes it better!”

“Don’t lie,” Yao hissed.

“Drink it. A proper English cup of tea. Please,” Arthur said, pushing the teacup and saucer towards Yao.

At least the tea set was pretty - it had flowers on them. Poppies. He blew a little, then he sipped the tea cautiously, afraid of what he was about to taste. After all, that vodka had not been very good.

“Oh..” Yao looked at in, mildly shocked. “It’s not that bad.”

“It’s not bad at all,” Arthur laughed. “Just admit it!”

“It’s better than I expected,” Yao shrugged. He picked up the round pastry thing. “Then what about this?” 

“It’s a scone,” the Brit said. “You cut it up like this, then you spread the jam and cream on it.”

Yao watched as Arthur tediously prepared his scone portion, and decided to follow suit in a more efficient way. He slammed the other scone headfirst into the jam, then the cream, and then ate a huge bite of it. Arthur had just swallowed his piece - and he looked like he was about to shoot it back out.

“You can’t do that ,” Arthur said. 

“I just did,” Yao said, through his mouthful of scone. “Much more efficient, aru. Though I’m regretting it somewhat, because it’s kind of dry.”

Arthur laughed. “What the hell?”

One of Yao’s hair strands fell over his face as he chewed cutely - he sort of resembled a chipmunk, like one of the ones that wore those primary colour hoodies- and Arthur reached forward to sweep it to the side of his face. Yao pinkened a little, but didn’t comment. 

“Don’t double-dip ever again,” the Brit said. “It honestly killed me a little.”

“That’s how I feel about what you do to your tea.”

“It’s a cultural practice!”

Yao double-dipped his remaining half of the pastry. “I’m making this my new one aru. I’ll eat lots of these, just to really solidify its cultural heritage.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Arthur muttered, trying not to smile.

–

When the teapot was empty, when Vlad was playing video games in the backroom, and when the sun was up in the sky - they both looked out of the window. It seemed brighter than usual, somehow.

“Arthur,” Yao said. “Thanks for having tea with me.”

The blond smiled.

“Anytime.”

And for the first time, in his selfish, short life, he meant that.

Chapter Text

Arthur and Yao had walked home in the morning light, managing to sneak into the manor just before anyone else woke up. 

They padded quietly into their room, then closed the door quickly.

“If anyone saw me in this outfit aru…” Yao looked down at himself.

“You look good though,” Arthur’s eyes were glinting.

Yao tried to ignore the blond’s underlying implications. “It doesn’t matter - I don’t think they’ve even seen me in shorts .”

“Sad, you have lovely legs,” Arthur continued.

Yao rolled his eyes, before looking down at Arthur’s own legs. He’d taken off his socks already, and Yao could see that his feet were sore . After all, he’d given his own shoes to Yao.

“Sorry,” Yao suddenly said. “For making you walk without shoes…”

“No, don’t be,” the blond shrugged. “I’ve done worse to my feet. Besides, I offered.”

“Still..!”

“Yao, it’s fine,” Arthur said. “You could honestly punch me in the face at this point and I’d just take it as boxing practice or something.”

Yao turned red. “...whatever aru. Just go and shower first.”

“Y-”

“And don’t ask me to join.”

Arthur sighed. “Suit yourself.”

He went into the bathroom while Yao sat on the bed, still covered in Arthur’s jacket. The blond’s flirting had gone up another notch since their impromptu morning tea - not that Yao minded, except that these strange, horrible feelings were even less likely to subside now. Yao was feeling… interested , like… like he had a crush, or something, and that was not going to work out when the subject of the potential crush was literally his future relative . Sure, they weren’t related yet. Sure, they just met, and it happened to be when they were both a particularly hormonal age. But realistically, nothing was going to happen. Nothing could. 

Arthur and Yao… Yao closed his eyes, trying not to think about it. His mother had finally found happiness - this would only destroy it.

But I’ve finally found happiness too , he thought, somewhere inside of him. And for the first time, in so long…!

But Yao had more self-control than selfishness. He had always been a good son, and it would stay that way. 

Still, when they were both in their pajamas and lying on Arthur’s huge bed, Yao had squeezed Kitty in his arms and he had wished, while looking at the blond’s sleeping face, that it was him who was the stuffed animal instead.

–

Yao hadn’t video-called Kevin and Rachel ever since he reached England. Sure, they texted, but for some strange reason, he wasn’t as homesick as he thought he’d be. But since there wasn’t any school and no siblings to take care of (Chun Yan and Alice had taken them to the park) and Arthur was still dead asleep, obviously exhausted from the previous night, he decided to spend his Monday calling his two friends in the dininghall.

It was late afternoon in Texas - the two of them were seated in their respective bedrooms, nostalgic backdrops to what had been Yao’s life just a month ago. And suddenly, the pain, the longing, and the missing hit Yao all at once. 

“I miss you guys,” Yao said, after Kevin and Rachel had relegated long tales about school to Yao and wow’d at how fancy the Kirklands’ dining room was. 

“Then why don’t you call, dumbass?” Kevin said, chewing through a bag of chips. 

“We miss you too, Yao!” Rachel said, patting her cheeks with makeup. “How’s London! You still having trouble with that stepbrother?”

He’d texted them briefly about them - saying Lottie and Peter were angels, and that Arthur could go fuck himself. But now, this situation was…

“He’s.. he’s OK now,” Yao said tightly.

“Really? You’re sharing a room, right? Can’t be easy,” Kev said.

“Yeah! I can’t even share a room with my brother,” Rachel said. “I’d go crazy.”

“He’s… he’s OK, really. He’s actually nice aru,” Yao said softly, hoping nothing was showing on his face.

“Something’s weird,” Rachel squinted. “What’s up, Yao?”

“Nothing!” Yao exclaimed, waving his hands.

“Who are these people?” a tired voice suddenly said from behind Yao - and he jumped as he realised that Arthur was awake and right behind him .

“Ooh, is that him?”

“I’m Arthur, that stepbrother,” the blond said as he wrapped his arms around Yao’s shoulders from behind, causing every single red blood cell in the Chinese boy’s body to rush up to his face. “You guys?”

“Kevin,” Kevin said.

“I’m Rachel…” Rachel smiled. “Hi!”

“Great,” Arthur said. “Want breakfast?”

Yao swallowed. “Uh.. no thanks, aru…”

“I’ll make you eggs and tea.”

Arthur sauntered off as Yao scratched his head awkwardly, staring at his now wide-eyed friends. When they heard the door close, Kevin and Rachel bursted with their questions.

“ That’s your stepbro? He’s like a model!”

“You guys seem really close.”

“Is he really your stepbrother? Are you guys just fucking with us?”

“He’s.. he’s really…. My… y’know,” Yao finished lamely, not wanting to say the s-word. “He’s just like, touchy aru.”

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “Really, now?”

“It’s England! They’re different here,” Yao lied. In fact, the English seemed to hate physical touch more than anybody he’d ever met. “It’s crazy here, aru.”

“Sounds about right,” Rachel said. “I’m glad you’re coming back.”

“Yeah…” Yao felt even worse. He hadn’t even been thinking about going back to Texas recently. His entire brain had been occupied by Arthur, which was horrible news for him.

After saying his goodbyes to his friends, he shut his laptop and leaned back in his chair, feeling tired. 

“...something’s burning,” he muttered. There was a smoky smell coming from… the kitchen.

He ran towards the kitchen, slightly panicked, only to find Arthur in a charred apron, with a completely burnt pan of eggs and toast.

“You…!” Yao tried not to laugh. He’d forgotten Alfred’s words of advice - to stay away from Arthur in the kitchen.

“I…” Arthur sighed. “Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you ask for help?” Yao gently threw away the disfigured food. 

“I wanted to make something for you,” the blond grumbled.

“It’s okay…” Yao tried not to laugh at how forlorn the Brit looked. “Look, just go and make the tea. I’ll make food.”

“...you’ll trust me with the kettle?”

“I’ll watch you,” Yao said hesitantly.

–

Luckily, Arthur managed to avoid burning water, and they managed to salvage breakfast together. They stood by the kitchen window, in the morning light, in old tees and pajama pants. Outside, the rare ray of British sunlight was shining through the early spring blossoms, their trees no longer stark and naked.

Yao felt strangely content. He never had this back in America, where everyday was so busy, too busy for him to even stand still. He had been happy at times, but not like this - this stillness, this contentment he only felt with the blond. He could breathe, he could relax. He didn’t have to be anything but himself.

But reality wasn’t just Yao’s happiness alone - he knew that something unstoppable, possibly disastrous, was brewing between them. 

“Arthur,” Yao said. “You need to stop flirting with me. My friends think we’re weird aru.”

“I’m not flirting with you,” Arthur replied. “I’m just teasing.”

“You know what I mean,” Yao stared at him. “A friendship is fine aru, but I think- I think we’ve been crossing the line…”

Arthur bit his toast, looking meaningfully at Yao. “I’m attracted to you. That’s all. ‘S not really exactly anything if I don’t act on it.”

“You,” Yao blinked - his mouth falling agape at Arthur’s admission. “You….”

“Oh come off it, we almost kissed last night,” the Brit scoffed. “You like me too.”

“I…” Yao spluttered. “What!”

“Please stop acting stupid,” Arthur said. “We’re attracted to each other. And yes, there’s a lot of things wrong with that but - we’re grown up, we can be civil . We can joke around sometimes, nothing wrong with that. We won’t actually do anything - I mean, we haven’t even done anything and we’ve been sharing a bed .”

He took a deep breath, his green eyes sincere. Yao swallowed. “Have some faith in us, Yao. We’re not doing anything wrong.”

“...” the Chinese boy wasn’t entirely convinced by Arthur’s argument, but he supposed he made a few good points. “OK.. I… guess. But we have to try and- and not act on it, aru. If we have to find new partners, then we should.”

“That’s easy for me,” Arthur smiled relaxedly, and Yao had to fight the pang of hurt in his chest even though he was the one who made the suggestion. “Our attraction is probably just physical, isn’t it? Because we’ve been spending so much time with each other, close proximity - all that.”

“Yeah,” Yao muttered. “It’s not like we’re actually in love, are we?”

The air suddenly turned sour. Arthur’s eyes hardened. “No, we aren’t.”

“Then I guess we should spend less time together too, aru,” Yao said. 

Arthur laughed. “No - I think we should spend time together. Get us more… used to each other. Desensitized, you know.”

That made zero sense, in Yao’s mind. But at the same time, he really actually wanted to spend time with Arthur, so he supposed that that would be a viable solution in some kind of weird, twisted way, and OK yeah, he just wanted to spend time with him. What’s so wrong with that? It was like what Arthur said - they could control themselves.

So he looked at Arthur and said: “...if you say so.”

–

“Arthur, Yaoyao!” Chun Yan greeted them when they returned from the park. “Oh, it’s so nice to see you both so close.”

The pair were watchng some peaceful British baking show on the television (which Yao was greatly enjoying - why were American cooking shows always so aggressive), both seated on each end of the sofa.

“Why are you sitting so far apart, da-ze?” Yong Soo asked. 

“Personal space,” Yao said tightly.

“Right,” Mei said, climbing onto the large gap in between them. “You two! Lottie says there’s some new pandas coming to the zoo this week - can we go, please, please, please ?”

“Ask mum. Or your mum,” Arthur grunted.

“We’re working, unfortunately,” Alice said.

“So you guys are the only options,” Peter jumped onto the sofa. “Come on Artie! Stop being annoying!”

“You’re being annoying,” Arthur growled.

“Let’s just bring them,” Yao said, soft to his little siblings’ forlorn looks. “I want to see the London Zoo too! And pandas aru.”

“I would also like to see the deer,” Kiku said softly.

“And Kiku wants to see the deer,” Yao said.

“Right,” Arthur huffed. He could just let Yao bring them all by himself, but… “Fine! We’ll all go to the zoo. But we’re leaving early. And we’re bringing our own snacks. The food prices are bloody insane.”

Yao tried to stifle a giggle.

“Arthur, darling- money’s not-” Alice sighed exasperatedly. “We live in a manor!”

Chun Yan gave a thumbs up. “Well, it’s good to practice sound financial habits. Have fun kids!”

Chapter Text

The morning of the zoo trip arrived. Basch decided to avoid the chaos by pretending to go check on the garden, and the rest of the helping staff simply sought refuge in the kitchen.

Yao was checking his bag for the thousandth time, Arthur was yelling at Peter about trying to borrow his vintage compass, and the rest of their siblings were just… running around. Endlessly. 

“Yong Soo,” Kiku hissed at his younger brother. “Give me back my cap! That is mine !”

“It’s mine now,” Yong Soo stuck it on his head. “See? I look so much better with it on.”

“You look stupid .”

“Yao hyung! Kiku called me stupid!”

“You are stupid,” Mei said, annoyed. “Kai’s chewing on my barrette!”

“It yummy,” Kai said.

“Where is Peter ?! That prick took one of my ribbons,” Lottie said sourly as she stomped down the stairs.

“OK, aru,” Yao took a deep sigh, zipping up the last backpack while he tried to keep track of all the commotion downstairs.

He ran down the stairs, pulled the barrette out of Kai’s mouth and gave him a juice bottle instead. Then he gave the barrette back to Mei (who was undeterred by the saliva, somehow), untied his own hair ribbon and passed it to Lottie. Finally, he snatched Kiku’s hat off Yong Soo’s head and passed it back to its original owner - and passed Yong Soo his own cap, which he’d retrieved earlier from checking his backpack.

“All OK?” Yao asked, not even out of breath.

“Yes, gege !” Mei said cutely.

“Yeah!”

“Let’s go!”

“Oh, wait,” the teenager suddenly said.

He ran back up the stairs and to his and Arthur’s room, slamming the door open.

“Peter,” Yao said. “That compass is important to Arthur, put it down. You can use my phone’s compass app, OK?”

“Can I play Angry Birds 2 too?” Peter asked.

“...yes, aru. Now come on.”

“Thank you,” Arthur hissed as Peter scampered off. 

He looked good today, Yao secretly noted. He had just a dress shirt on and some cargo shorts but - why did he look so good? Was his hair tousled differently today? Then again, he was always good looking, was it really a surprise that he looked this way?

“Your hair’s down,” the blond suddenly said, gently tugging at a strand. “Where’s the ribbon?”

“Oh, uh,” Yao tried not to look too closely at Arthur’s face. “Gave it to Lottie aru. Hers was missing… does it look weird?”

Arthur smiled so gently that Yao thought he would melt into the ground and die. “No. It looks good.”

“...nii-san?” 

Kiku stood at the doorway with a suspicious stare on his face. Yao and Arthur immediately jumped about five feet apart, cringing.

“Is everything OK?” Kiku asked.

“Yeah!” Yao said a little too fast. “Everything is okay aru!”

“Yes- uh, are you looking forward to the zoo?” Arthur immediately walked over to Kiku, guiding him out and down the stairs. 

“I guess..” Yao could hear Kiku’s reluctant voice trailing off.

That was way too close , Yao took a deep breath. He wished he could just- not do that. It was easy, wasn’t it? It was just physical attraction. He could just stay away from him.

–

Yao didn’t know the zoo was so nearby - the zoo back home had been like, a 20 minute drive. But no, they were walking to the zoo. Yao opted to walk all the way in the back, while Arthur led the way, pulling along a wagon with Kai in it.

“We used to go lots, when Dad was around,” Peter said, holding onto Yao’s left hand while Yong Soo clung onto Yao’s right one. “Artie used to bring us all the time.”

“What was your dad like?” Yong Soo asked. “Mine’s always sleeping. But he’s a nice guy, when he’s awake.”

Yao had only bad memories of Yong Soo’s dad. He was the fourth son of some chaebol family, who had nothing to do other than spend money on women and his raging coke addiction. 

Yong Soo was one of his many illegitimate children, but at least he was sort of a nice dad to him. He called, and sometimes took him out on a rare weekend, when he was in the USA. He was never going to marry Chun Yan, and everyone knew that, so she’d broken it off first.

“Dad was mean,” Peter said. “He was always yelling at Mum and Artie, and he just kind of ignored me and Lott. Honestly - I don’t know why Artie was so sad when he died, nothing even changed!”

Yao looked at the distant figure of Arthur’s back, walking ahead of them. 

He wasn’t a good man , he remembered Arthur saying. But still, it must have affected him greatly… 

“But Yao, you make him so happy!”

Yao looked down at Peter. “Huh?”

“He’s more like his old, decent self these days,” Peter nodded. “I think it’s because he’s been hanging out with you.”

“Hyung is a good influence,” Yong Soo said. “He has that effect on people, da-ze.”

“Then why do you still misbehave aru?” Yao asked.

Yong Soo simply cackled in response - letting go of Yao’s hand and running off into the distance.

“Hey- whatever,” the teenager sighed, deciding to just keep an eye from afar. “I don’t want to run after him.”

Peter tugged at Yao’s hand. “Having siblings has been really fun!”

“Has it?” he smiled at the little blond boy.

The boy nodded, swinging Yao’s hand happily. “Yeah! There’s always someone to play with. And Mum’s around more often too. Everything’s so amazing!”

The guilt inside of him grew. He couldn’t let his feelings ruin everything, he wouldn’t. 

He would just stay away from Arthur.

–

“Young parents, huh?” Yao overheard in the ticket queue. 

Oh god. Yao looked down at his gender-neutral outfit today - why had he worn overalls? And it really didn’t help that the kids were either clearly white or Asian. 

“I could never have that many kids,” he heard another man say.

These are not my damn kids! Yao thought, becoming frustrated. But what could he do? 

Arthur seemed to have heard the passing remarks as well. But instead of disputing them, he put on the most shit-eating grin that he could manage, and looked straight at Yao.

“Walk slow today, you shouldn’t strain yourself with the….” he gave an accusatory glance towards Yao’s stomach.

The strangers grew even more aflutter with conversation, and Yao turned bright red, glaring at Arthur.

“I am not pregnant aru!” he half-yelled. 

Arthur shrugged, then turned to the cashier, who was just as amazed as everyone else at the number of ‘their’ children. “Eight tickets please.”

–

The zoo was actually pretty fun. Kiku enjoyed feeding the deer, Yong Soo tried to taunt a gorilla, Mei fawned over tiger cubs, and Lottie marveled at the elephants. Peter did try to climb into the lion enclosure, but Arthur reluctantly fished him out in time.

“Kai, you are an actual angel,” he said to the toddler, who was sitting patiently in the wagon. He was surprisingly the only child who hadn’t tried to illegally interact with an animal so far.

“Now the pandas!” Mei exclaimed. “Let’s go for the pandas!”

Yao walked over to a random vendor, who was tiredly selling off boxes of popcorn and overly-large cups of soda. “Do you know where the panda exhibition is?”

“You mean the Special Panda Event?” the vendor asked. “It’s just over there, and you keep walking right.”

They pointed over to a random area, and Yao thanked them, before dragging his family off to the Special Panda Event.

And the event was… special, to say the least. 

“Where are the pandas?” Peter asked when they arrived.

Arthur and Yao stared at the exhibition. It was just a guy in a panda costume, sitting on a bench in front of a bamboo tree backdrop. There was a stall off to the side selling some bootleg panda merchandise.

“Are you screwing me aru?” Yao asked.

“I wish I was,” Arthur muttered.

“This is… lame,” Kiku said.

“I want a photograph!” Yong Soo cried, running to stand next to the guy in the panda costume, who looked like he would rather be anywhere else. 

“You can’t be serious,” Lottie said. “ This is the panda event? My friend said pandas were coming to London Zoo!”

“And I’m here, at London Zoo,” the panda man said in a bored voice.

Lottie looked so threateningly at him that Arthur immediately picked her up, just in case. There was a reason why her record came with a warning sign at the pediatrician’s.

Mei’s eyes filled with tears. “There’s no pandas?”

“ I’m a panda,” said the panda man, whom Yong Soo was now climbing on. But somehow, he seemed entirely unfazed by this.

“No, you’re not!” Mei yelled, her voice starting to wobble.

“Mei..!” Yao bent down, patting the small girl’s back. “It’s alright aru…”

“Yeah, Mei,” Arthur scoffed. “At least real pandas aren’t being captured and locked up in tiny little cages in the zoo, jailed away forever from their natural habitats.”

“Arthur, shut up,” Yao said, but it was too late - all the children began to cry, except Kiku, who was busy taking photos of a now crying Yong Soo with his small disposable camera. 

The Chinese teen sighed.

“Z-zoos are jails…” Peter began to cry. “You’re right, Artie…”

“No, I’m not in jail,” the panda man said in his monotone, waving a hand. “I’m out, free.”

Kai peered up, looking around at his crying siblings - and then began to wail as well.

Yao gave Arthur a long, hard look. 

“Sorry,” Arthur huffed. 

“Yong Soo, could you smile for at least one picture?” Kiku asked.

“There’s n-nothing to smile about,” Yong Soo weeped, wiping his snotty nose on the panda man’s ear. “We’ve been in animal jail..!”

“God, if you exist,” Yao began to mutter under his breath as he picked Kai up. 

“There, there,” the panda man patted Yong Soo on the back awkwardly.

—

After Arthur and Yao struggled for twenty minutes straight to calm down all five children, they sat down at a random table by the penguin enclosure, and Yao really felt like killing the blond. 

“I really feel like killing you aru,” he said, watching Arthur sip at his drink.

“Hey,” Arthur said defensively. “Who’s the one who got Lottie to stop her murder attempt?”

“ You gave her that stick to beat that guy up,” Yao replied.

“That was funny,” Mei giggled, high-fiving Lottie.

“Well,” the blond scratched his head. “He was a pain in the arse. He kind of deserved it.”

“He gave me a free panda pencil, da-ze!” Yong Soo held up his pencil enthusiastically.

“Only to shut you up,” Kiku said.

“Meanie,” Yong Soo stuck out his tongue. “You’re just jealous you didn’t get a pencil.”

“Who wants a stupid pencil?” 

“OK, let’s move on!” Yao got up, deciding that walking would kill the argument. “Let’s go aru.”

The next place they went to was the aquarium. Mostly because Arthur wanted to sit down on the bench in the middle, while all the children ran around. 

Kai had fallen asleep in his wagon and was tucked in with a small blanket.

Yao sat down next to Arthur, while also trying not to sit too close to him. They watched the fishes swim by, underneath the blue lights of the aquarium.

“Yao, why have you been treating me like the plague?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“We’re the only two people on this bench, and you’re fifty meters away from me.”

“Meters?”

“I forgot you Americans… feet. Fifty feet away from me.”

Yao bit his lip. “It’s not like I’m trying to avoid you..”

“You’re trying to avoid me.”

“Yeah, I am,” Yao looked down at his shoes. “It’s just weird aru. Can we not talk about this?”

“OK, then,” Arthur said. “What should we talk about?”

Yao blinked, looking at a huge weird fish passing by. “How.. ugly the fish are?”

“They’re all ugly.”

“No! Those small ones are cute.”

“They all look the same,” Arthur said dismissively.

Yao sighed. “I guess aru..”

They sat together, trying not to look at each other.

“Yao,” Arthur said. “You’re not their mother. You don’t always have to be so serious with them.”

“They’re little kids,” Yao said, though he was currently keeping an eye out for them. “You have to be serious with them sometimes ."

“But it’s scary,” huffed Arthur. “You’re so good at managing them, and you take care of them - like everyday, really. Before school, after school. Weekends. Today.”

“Who else will do it?” Yao asked, watching carefully as Yong Soo waved at a dolphin.

“Hm, I don’t know - your mother?”

“She’s busy.”

“It’s her responsibility.”

Yao stared at Arthur. “Why do you care, aru?"

“Because… you shouldn’t have to take care of your siblings?” Arthur deadpanned.

His eyes were so green. 

Yao gulped. Would it be easier if they were blue, or brown instead?

“I don’t know,” Yao said. “I mean, I love spending time with them. So it’s not really that bad.”

“But you know, it should be… not stressful. You shouldn’t have so much responsibility,” Arthur said. “You can spend time with them without the stress.”

Yao tapped his feet on the ground. “I.. know what you’re saying aru, but I don’t.. I don’t know how to spend time with them. And I don’t want to stop taking care of them.”

“I know it’s hard,” Arthur said. “I don’t know what I’d do if I were you. I mean, I barely spend time with my siblings.”

“Why don’t you?” Yao asked. “Peter said you used to bring him and Lottie here all the time.”

“Only to get them away from my mother and father’s godawful arguing,” Arthur snorted. “But I never took care of them like you do to your siblings. You’re sweet. And caring.”

“Go on,” Yao said jokingly.

“And lovely, and pretty… and cute… and…”

“OK, you can stop,” Yao pinkened. “But no- I mean, they said you used to be.. different.”

“I was,” Arthur admitted. “Honestly, I can’t even believe I’m talking about this right now. I didn’t even speak to the grief therapist my mother got me.”

Yao looked at him.

“He was mean to me. Worse to Mum. Entitled, rich brat, who somehow grew up into a man. But inside of him, he was still just an awful, immature boy. And he died like one too, and I was just so... angry at him,” Arthur said bitterly.

“He had his good times, briefly. I think he took me to the zoo when I was little. Maybe to the museum too."

“And once someone you love dies, that’s all you can think about. The good things. I try to remember the bad things, so it hurts less. But it doesn’t hurt any less.”

“You can remember it all… the good and the bad,” the Chinese boy said. “You don’t have to try and forget the good, just to remember the bad.”

“But there was more bad,” Arthur said. “And even worse - he.. he didn’t have to be bad. He was a horrible man, even though he had everything.”

“And I always think - why? Especially sometimes when I look at you - Yao, you could’ve turned out… in so many ways. You get hit on constantly by creeps and you’re basically a mother at seventeen. But you’re still kind.”

“But it’s easy to be kind,” Yao frowned. “It’s more difficult to be mean.”

“No… not for me, or most people. I can be like my father sometimes. I’ve inherited his cruelty,” Arthur said. “I thought I was going to be cruel - rude to you and your family, and try to chase you all out.”

He shook his head.

“But I couldn’t do it. You’re just… so kind. I don’t understand how anyone could be cruel to you, if they ever were.”

Yao stared at Arthur. He didn’t think anyone had ever said something so.. caring to him before. In fact, he didn’t know if anyone had cared so much about him - watched over him, thought of him so much. 

He had always been overlooked, but Arthur was looking straight at him, and only him.

“Arthur..” Yao took a deep breath.

There was suddenly a flash - and Kiku was right in front of them, holding his disposable camera.

“I took a picture,” Kiku said.

“We were talking,” Arthur said irritatedly.

“Do you want one where you’re looking at the camera?” Kiku continued, ignoring the blond.

“…OK,” Arthur sighed.

“Sure, aru,” Yao said.

Yao realized he had somehow ended up sitting closely to Arthur. Their thighs were almost touching. He tried his best to keep his blush down as Arthur put his arm around Yao.

Kiku took the photo, and gave them a suspicious look. “You really do look like a couple.”

“Hey!” Yao stood up threateningly.

“I need to take pictures of the whale sharks, bye,” Kiku quickly scampered off.

Yao sighed as he sat back down, while Arthur grinned at him.

“We do look like a couple,” the Brit said.

Well, what’s the point if we can never actually be one? Yao thought.

“Oh, lighten up, Yaoyao.”

“Don’t call me that, aru.”

“Babe?”

“No.”

“Aw..” 

Chapter Text

Before school started again, Arthur insisted on bringing Yao out again - on a solo date.

“We won’t do anything weird, swear,” the blond said, crossing his fingers. “Nothing coupley. Just a friendly hangout.”

“...” Yao frowned. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to hang out with Arthur - it was more like all he wanted to do was hang out with him. Thanks to their siblings, he had avoided any one-on-one dates and things like that. He’d even managed to sleep as far away from Arthur as possible every night since their talk in the kitchen - they weren’t going to act on anything, and that was all fine. And it has been fine so far. Right?

“Oh come on, it’ll be normal,” Arthur said.

“No it won’t aru,” Yao said grumpily. 

“It will.”

“Won’t.”

“Yao!”

“Oh- fine,” the Chinese boy surrendered. “But nothing weird!”

“It’ll only be weird if you make it weird.”

“I don’t make things weird,” Yao scowled. “You make it weird.”

“How do I make things weird?!”

“You make everything weird aru! You make me feel weird…”

“...”

“...”

Yao scratched his head, trying not to blush or kill himself on the spot. “Forget that please - let’s just… go.”

Arthur nods, agreeing immediately. “Yes.. let’s go.”

–

“Oh, you two are dressed up,” Chun Yan smiled. “Where are you going?”

Arthur and Yao stood awkwardly in the foyer - the blond was wearing a leather jacket, a sweater and his usual ripped jeans, while the brunette was in a long trench coat, trousers, and boots. And he’d chosen to wear his hair in a high ponytail today, rather than the usual low ponytail.

Needless to say, they looked…

“..honestly, if I saw you guys down the street, I’d think you’re a couple,” Chun Yan laughed.

“..” Yao made a face, his ears turning pink. “Don’t say that, Mama.”

“I’m bringing Yao around, just thought he should see more of the city area,” Arthur said smoothly, though his heart was twinging at Chun Yan’s words.

“...right…” Chun Yan suddenly looked a little uneasy, as she gazed at Arthur and Yao. 

Could it be…? She thought to herself for a moment - after all, they shared a room and…

God, no way. Yao was her most obedient child - he would never even dream of it. 

“Okay.. have fun!” she said, trying to keep a regular smile on her face. “Stay safe.”

“Yeah, thanks Mama,” Yao smiled. “Bye!”

–

“Hell no aru,” Yao said.

Arthur had just brought Yao to their enormous garage, only to reveal a shiny Harley Davidson, sitting in all its dangerous glory.

“Oh, come on - man up,” Arthur said, patting his baby. He hardly used it, because it wasn’t the most convenient mode of transport when you had a guitar, but he loved it dearly.

Yao looked cross. “I don’t like it when people say that to me.”

Arthur blinked. “Sorry, I won’t say that again then - but come on, don’t be a chicken! I’m a safe driver.”

Yao looked at it nervously. “It’s… a motorcycle. It’ll be fast.”

The Brit laughed. “That’s the point, darling.” 

At the slip of the endearment, his cheeks tinged pink at the same time as Yao, but they followed their pact, and ignored it.

“Well…”

“Take it as… you’re trying something new.”

Yao snorted. “Oh, fine…”

“Great!”

Arthur placed one of the helmets onto Yao’s head, helping him fasten the buckle under the chin and trying not to look too closely at his gorgeous face. Yao, on the other hand, was trying not to react to the soft brushes of Arthur’s hand against his jaw as he fastened it.

“Your.. head’s really small,” Arthur blurted out.

“...what?!” Yao couldn’t help but begin to laugh.

“Well it is!”

Yao covered his mouth. “I mean… how do I even react to that aru?”

“...right,” Arthur tried to calm down his speeding heart. At this rate, he was going to undergo cardiac arrest on the road. “Sorry.”

“It’s OK,” Yao looked up at him. “Maybe your head’s just really big.”

Arthur looked incredulously at him. “It’s not that big!”

“I’m teasing, darling .”

The blond scowled. “Low-blow. I accidentally said that.”

“I like saying it,” Yao said, putting on a horrible British accent. “Darling… darling…”

Arthur laughed out loud. “God, your accent’s awful!”

“Why, darling?”

The Brit no longer felt embarrassed by the term - given Yao’s butchering of the accent to the point of comedic tragedy. “Say it properly, darling.”

Yao tried, “Darling… Darling, I fancy you, yeah.”

Arthur couldn’t help but guffaw again. 

“What? I heard that on TV aru!” Yao said.

“Darling, I fancy you?” Arthur said. “Whatever you watched was probably American - they’re awful at coming up with British lines.”

“Okay, okay, I give up,” Yao held up his hands in mock surrender. “You’re the Britishiest of them all.”

“I am,” Arthur smirked, getting on the motorcycle. “Now get on.”

Yao climbed on awkwardly, sitting behind Arthur. They were so close to each other - Yao couldn’t even tell if it was his or Arthur’s heartbeat thudding fast, as he pressed his body close to Arthur’s warm back - which was… lean, but surprisingly muscular. 

Maybe he should look at his back more closely when he came out of the shower - no! No bad thoughts! Yao shook his head violently.

“You OK? Is the helmet uncomfortable?”

“No, it’s just… weird aru,” Yao said, trying not to hold onto Arthur too tightly.

“Just hold on tight,” Arthur forced Yao’s arms closer around his torso, secretly smiling as he did so. “And…”

“What?”

“Just for the record, I fancy you too.”

–

Yao had been so thoroughly embarrassed by Arthur’s line that it destroyed any kind of fear he should have felt when they started to move. 

But eventually - the fear returned. As they rode on the streets of London, Yao felt himself gripping Arthur tighter and tighter; he’d never gone on anything so fast, besides roller coasters. But this was a different kind of ride.

“Arthur!” Yao half-screamed. “This is…”

“Great, isn’t it?”

“I was about to say fucking terrifying,” Yao breathed, burying his face into Arthur’s back. “But sure, if you say so.”

After a while, it started to feel a little fun - though he didn’t really want to admit it. Yao bravely looked up from Arthur’s back and in a strange way, the city was beautiful when you were soaring through it, the sights and smells and sounds all a blur. He smiled, resting his head on Arthur’s shoulder.

The blond smiled too. “It’s nice, right?”

“It feels like I’m a bird,” Yao said. “I think I’ve never felt this free aru.”

“On a motorcycle?”

“No,” Yao admitted. “Whenever I’m with you… I always feel free. No responsibilities, no issues, no one to take care of.”

Arthur’s heart pounded, knowing they were edging so dangerously close to the line again. “Good. I.. I want you to feel that way about me.”

Yao laughed. “I think I always will.”

–

The secret destination had been Notting Hill. Arthur ran his fingers through his hair as he shucked off his helmet, hanging it on one of the motorcycle’s handlebars.

Yao’s eyes widened as he looked around, the kitschy, colourful buildings a nice change from the usual white pallour of Regent's Park.

“This is the… movie! The Julia Roberts movie!”

Arthur helped him off the motorcycle, grinning. “I knew you’d love that movie. It’s so American.”

“It’s not,” Yao rolled his eyes, but accepting his hand as he hopped off. He took his helmet off as he continued to take in their surroundings. “But oh, wow, this place is so cute. It’s full of tourists too aru.”

“Well, of course…” Arthur scoffed. “But even if it’s disgustingly touristy, I thought you should at least experience London in that light.”

The two of them walked up the cobblestoned road, Yao wow’ing at every single trinket shop and souvenir stall. He was fascinated mostly by the fact that it actually looked similar to the movie, despite a few modern renovations here and there - OK, he should’ve known that, since it literally was shot here, but he couldn’t help but be amazed anyway.

“I love it here,” Yao declared. 

“Of course you do, you like the damn movie.”

“No, I really, honestly do aru,” Yao put his hand over his heart. “This - this is what I see in the nice brochures. This is what's supposed to be here."

“Really? Not the Big Ben or the London Eye?”

“The States have big clocks and ferris wheels. Those are unimportant attractions,” said Yao. “But you guys have Hugh Grant. That is special.”

Arthur laughed. “What about me? I’m here.”

“Attention-seeking much?” Yao smiled anyway. “But fine, yes - the UK also has the amazing Arthur Kirkland.”

“That’s right!” Arthur grinned back, before suddenly looking at something in the distance. “There it is - the bookshop from the movie.”

Yao immediately looked at it and gasped. “We have to go there aru!”

“O- OK, don’t pull so hard!” Arthur felt himself being dragged along all of a sudden by Yao, his hand grasping his. He tried not to look at their held hands - so close to their fingers being intertwined - and then, as soon as it began, the Chinese-American let go of his hand in the bookshop.

He watched as Yao walked about, looking just as fascinated as the other tourists. He honestly would’ve never been caught dead here - Arthur was usually firmly against tourist spots, but Yao just… brought that out of him. 

No, I’m just showing him around, Arthur thought to himself. Like a good… future brother. I really hate that term. Don’t look at how cute Yao is. Don’t think that. He’s NOT cute. Oh god, he’s smiling at a stupid children’s book - he’s bloody adorable, NO DON’T THINK THAT-

Thankfully, Yao spoke to him again, ending Arthur’s internal crisis.

“A kids’ book about pandas,” Yao held it up. “I should get it for Mei, since she was the most disappointed about the pandas…”

“God, no, let’s not revisit that incident,” Arthur said, grimacing at the memory of everyone crying at the zoo.

“Right,” Yao placed the book back. “Hey! How about we recreate the scene?”

“What scene?”

“From Notting Hill,” Yao insisted. “The one where Julia Robert comes back.”

“I’ve honestly never actually watched it,” Arthur said. "I just know that this is the bookshop from the movie because I saw it online."

Yeah, from that stupid TOP 10 PLACES TO BRING YOUR AMERICAN GIRLFRIEND  listicle, Arthur's brain unhelpfully supplied. Such was the bane of online research.

“What?! Are you crazy, aru?!”

“No, I’m just sane. And I much prefer somber films to rom-coms, sorry.”

“Fine,” Yao said. “Then just stand there. I’ll recreate it myself aru.”

“Here?” Arthur said, standing at the center of the bookshop, in front of a few shelves. 

“Yes! Perfect,” the Chinese boy smiled.

“...this scene isn’t embarassing, is it?”

“No!” Yao said. “It’s super cute. Mama loves it. Now, wait there.”

Arthur sighed, reluctantly standing in position as Yao walked out of the bookshop - and then back in. 

Cheeks slightly flushed from the cold, he walked up to Arthur and smiled.

“But just remember,” he murmured to him, his expression genuine and true. “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”

Arthur turned bright red, gulping as he looked down at Yao. “...”

“End scene aru,” Yao said cheerfully. 

“That’s the seventh one today,” sighed the nearby shopkeeper.

Arthur couldn’t think straight. He already wasn’t straight, really, but he couldn’t help but jumble his mind into a mess as he gazed at Yao. 

“Th-that’s the line?” he said. “That’s it?”

“Yes!” Yao lightly slapped his arm. “See? I didn’t embarrass you.”

Yes, you merely enchanted me , Arthur thought, before composing himself a little. “Well - it was a little cringey.”

“Killjoy…”

“You- you just caught me off guard, you know? What kind of line is that, even?”

“A romantic line,” Yao teased. “You’d love it if you knew anything about romance and happiness.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “I love you.”

There was a dead, lingering silence. 

Yao turned red, saying nothing.

Arthur quickly tried to ease the tension. “Ha! You’d love that if you knew anything about romance and happiness.”

“You can’t just casually say that!” Yao replied, his heart beating fast - and he felt that pang of bitterness. Oh -it wasn’t just a pang, actually. It felt… achey, and awful. Like someone had just dunked a bucket of ice-cold water all over him. He knew Arthur knew that they couldn't be together, the flirting had been fine, but just... saying that?

And no one's ever said that to me before too, Yao thought to himself, looking at Arthur's mouth form into a thin line.

Arthur snorted, though the regret had already begun to sink in when he saw the hurt in Yao’s eyes. 

Truthfully, he’d never told anyone that romantically before, not even as a joke. He had no idea how it had even come out so easily towards Yao.

“Sorry, sorry,” Arthur muttered. “Shall we go now?”

“Yes, please,” the other boy huffed out.

The blond watched as he walked out of the shop again, his dark ponytail swinging. He didn't know why he had said that. Why had he said it? It was just a joke - he could use that argument - but he'd never even joked about it before. 

God, why did I do that.

“You screwed that up, you git,” the shopkeeper said after Yao left, having been a witness to their conversation.

“Oh, sod off,” Arthur mumbled.