BYR - This is a sequel to a previous fic of mine called New Company, so I recommend go reading that before this so things make a bit more sense!
Reminder:
Xiang - Hong Kong - 14
Dylan - Australia - 8
Steven - New Zealand - 7
Wendy - Wy - 6
Peter - Sealand - 6
Yao - China - 28
Arthur - England - 28
Another nice day graced over the town, yet the young Kirkland children found themselves bored, laying on their backs in the backyard.
"I see a bunny," Wendy said. The four youths were watching the clouds.
"A car," Dylan said, bored.
"I see a sheep!" Steven said more enthusiastically.
"You always see sheep, Steven!" Dylan called back, sitting up a bit when looking at his brother.
"I see Xiang!" Peter called, noticing Xiang walk into the backyard.
Xiang walked over to them. "What are you four doing?" the teenager asked, curious.
"Being bored!" Dylan complained.
Xiang sat crisscross beside his stepsiblings. "There are four of you. How can you all be bored?"
"There's nothing to do!" Wendy whined.
Xiang watched as one by one, each of the kids whined and groaned. They were getting louder and louder with each sound of complaint as if they set off into an unspoken contest.
"How about you... go swimming?" Xiang suggested.
"Did that," Dylan answered blandly.
"Wii?"
"Mama doesn't want us playing inside too much on a nice day," Steven explained.
Xiang rolled his eyes. "Yep, sounds like Baba... How about Long? Where's Long?"
"Daddy took him to the vet," Peter answered.
Xiang sighed. He looked around the yard for something that might entertain the younger kids, stopping at the tree in their yard. "If I cleaned up my old treehouse, would you guys want to play in there?"
"Tree– treehouse!?" Dylan stuttered a repeat.
All four Kirkland children looked all around the yard, eyes wide.
Xiang sighed, shaking his head. "You four have been living here for months, yet you guys never noticed my treehouse? You guys were even looking up just now."
The kids bashfully laughed before Xiang pointed to his old treehouse. Their eyes widened in awe.
"We never had a treehouse before!" Steven said aloud.
"We never had trees big or strong enough to hold one," Wendy explained to Xiang.
"Alright then," Xiang started, standing from his spot, "looks like I'm cleaning my old treehouse for you guys."
The kids all cheered, standing up as well. They followed Xiang inside as the teen grabbed some cleaning supplies: a bucket of water, a scrub brush, and a broom. Once collecting the supplies, the group headed out again.
"You four stay down here," Xiang bade as he climbed up the rope ladder. "Wait 'til I'm done."
Dylan, Wendy, and Peter pouted, wanting to play right away, while Steven nodded obediently.
The Kirkland children sat on the deck, watching Xiang first sweep off any excess dirt and dust as well as any webs. The teenager then started scrubbing down the floors and walls.
"Are you done yet!?" Peter shouted as Dylan told Steven to get a juice box for their stepbrother.
"Almost," Xiang called back, still cleaning the small treehouse deck. He still had to scrub the railings that went around the perimeter of the deck. The Chinese teen then looked over the edge at the wobbly rope ladder. 'I should probably build a more sturdy way to get up here for them...' he thought to himself.
Once Xiang finished cleaning up the old treehouse, he climbed down and received the juice box the others brought for him. "Thanks. The treehouse is still a bit damp, so you're going to have to wait a while for it to dry up before going up."
The kids pouted and whined again, growing more inpatient.
Xiang chuckled. "Don't worry, the wind is picking up a bit, so it'll be dry in no time."
"Did Mama build that whole thing by himself?" Steven asked.
Xiang shook his head. "I think he had a bunch of his friends help him," Xiang recalled. He started walking back inside again with all the cleaning supplies, the others following behind. "I think I have some pictures, too," he added, guiding the others to his room.
After entering his room, Xiang immediately went to where he stored all his old photo albums. The kids only stood near the door, looking all around. They rarely ever went in his room; they never had a reason to be there. So, they took the chance to look around.
"Here it is," Xiang called.
The kids quickly made their way over to their stepbrother, surrounding him. Xiang was sitting on the floor with the album open on his lap.
"Yep, the makings of the treehouse," Xiang said as the others looked at the photos. They mainly consisted of older teens they didn't recognize and the process of building the treehouse.
"I see Mama!" Peter pointed out, pointing to a younger version of Xiang's father, though there was not much of a difference between how he looked then and now.
"That must be Xiang then," Wendy added, pointing to a little toddler behind and clutching their teenaged father's/stepmother's leg. The children laughed as Xiang's cheeks faintly flushed. He had a football helmet on in the photo that was way too big for him.
"Why are you wearing that?" Dylan asked in between laughs.
Xiang quickly shut the album and placed it back. "Okay, that's enough of looking at my childhood. I was probably one or two years old at the time and it's most likely for safety," Xiang answered as they left his room, still embarrassed.
"I wanna see more pictures of you and Mama when you two were young!" Wendy plead.
"Me, too!" Peter joined.
"Didn't you guys want to play in the treehouse?" Xiang intervened with a question, not wanting to show more pictures.
"Oh yeah!" Steven perked up.
"Last one there's a rotten emu egg!" Dylan shouted, dashing down the stairs.
"Not me!" Peter shouted as well, following after.
"I was it last time!" Steven cried, not wanting to be the rotten emu egg.
"Well, it won't be me!" Wendy called, catching up.
"Why an emu...?" Xiang questioned more to himself, trotting behind them all.
As the four younger kids raced to the backyard, they ran past their stepmother Yao.
"Ai!" Yao yelped, hopping back when Dylan first ran passed him, followed by Steven, Peter, and finally Wendy. "What's going on aru!?" he called to them before Xiang trotted and stopped by him.
"I cleaned up the treehouse for them and now they want to play in it," Xiang explained before continuing.
"The treehouse aru...?" Yao questioned, now following behind. When he walked out, he saw his stepchildren already in his son's old treehouse, Xiang halfway up the ladder. "Oh my..." Yao smiled nostalgically.
"Hello, Yao."
Yao turned, seeing Arthur walk around back with Long.
"What's this?" the Englishman asked, seeing the kids up in the treehouse. "Have you always had that?"
Yao laughed, crouching down and petting Long. "Yes, that's Xiang's old treehouse. Some friends of mine helped me build it for him back in high school aru."
"Oh, well that's nice," Arthur said, smiling as he watched his kids. His smile dropped when hearing them argue about who the rotten emu egg was and threatening to push each other off. Luckily, Xiang, who wasn't considered last for some reason, was there to breakup the fighting.
"Do you want to go up as well aru?" Yao asked.
Arthur shook his head. "I don't want to push how much weight it can hold."
Yao rolled his eyes. "If that treehouse can hold eight varsity football players, it can hold you aru," he said nonchalantly, walking up to the treehouse.
"Eight varsity football players? Yao, what kind of friends did you have?" Arthur asked, only to be ignored.
"Having fun up there aru!?" Yao shouted from below.
"Loads of fun!" Dylan answered for the group.
"Look, Daddy!" Steven called. "Xiang cleaned up this whole place for us to play in!"
"That's wonderful, Steven! Did you four say thank you!?" Arthur called back.
"Thank you!"