So far, Xiang had only met with his younger half-brother twice and both times were two days in a row. The first they met was prior to his brother's birthday, the official meeting. The second time they met was the day of his brother's birthday party with relatives. Well, Long's relatives. They were Jun's family. And that was a different chaotic story. Now it was meeting number three with Xiang getting dropped off at his mother's house to spend time with his other family.
Xiang knocked on the door and waited. He didn't have to wait long though. In a matter of seconds, loud footsteps could be heard sprinting to the door. It opened.
"Gege!" Long yelled in glee.
"Hey, Daidai," Xiang said with a smirk. Their contrasting dialects would never cease to amuse him.
"Xiang, you're here," Mei called, popping her head out of the kitchen just as Xiang was coming inside. "Did you eat yet?"
"Yeah, I ate before I left," Xiang answered back, though couldn't talk much. Long was already hauling him off. "Woah, slow down. You're gonna make us fall."
"Nu uh!" Long whined. He still slowed to a stop, reaching their destination: the living room TV where his games were. "Come on! I waited forever to play! You said we could beat the Master Hand together!"
Xiang ruffled his brother's hair. "You waited a week. But you're still right." He smiled. "I keep my promises."
Mei watched with her own smile as her boys turned on the WiiU, Super Smash Bros coming up to screen. All she wanted to do was watch them have fun. The two of them barely needed time to get accustom to each other, already so interactive. She couldn't be happier.
"Which trophy do you not have yet?" Xiang asked Long. "I'll play those characters so we'll get you them."
Long looked in awe at Xiang. "Does that mean you can play anybody?"
"More or less. I mean, I still play some characters better than others."
Mei's smile grew even more.
"Mei."
The Taiwanese mother turned, seeing her husband. "Hmm?"
Jun gave a kind smile. "I'm going to go clean up the guest room."
Xiang was going to sleep over that weekend.
"Oh, do you need help?" Mei asked.
Jun shook his head. "It's not much. You stay here." He could tell how much Mei loved seeing the boys together.
Jun headed over to Xiang, a hand on the teen's backpack beside him. "I'm going to take your bag upstairs if that's alright with you."
Xiang's eyes shot back and forth between Jun and the TV. He and Long were in a match, but he didn't want to be rude. "Oh, sure, thank you."
Jun laughed, apologizing for being a distraction. He took Xiang's bag and went on his way.
"How can you use Robin?" Long asked after a few matches. "He's impossible to use."
"I just play way too much," Xiang honestly answered, rubbing his eyes. They were starting to itch. "Sometimes it's not a good thing, so learn from me and don't play too much."
Long scoffed, Xiang's suggestion going in one ear and out the other. Not that Xiang could blame or judge. "Come on! We have to take on the Master Hand!"
"It won't be too hard," Xiang encouraged. The fight was on.
The two brothers continued playing character after character. Mei even joined them on the floor, watching beside Xiang and Long while cheering them on herself. Later, Jun joined as well.
"Everything's moving so quickly," Mei said dizzily. "How can you keep watch of where everything is?"
"Ma!" Long whined.
"Hey, even your brother seems to get dizzy, too," Mei halfhearted defended herself, noticing Xiang rubbing his eyes again. Actually… he had been for a while. His eyes were red. That's when she noticed his nose was itchy as well.
Mei wasn't the only one who noticed at this point.
"Xiang?" Jun called. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah. Just kinda itchy," Xiang answered, brushing off whatever was going on. He stood. "Can I use the bathroom? I think I'm gonna go wash my face."
"Of course," Mei answered, standing as well. "You don't need to ask. Do you need a washcloth?"
Xiang shook his head. "No, it's alright. I brought my own. It's in my backpack."
Jun was next off the ground, followed by Long. "Right, I put it in the guest room. It's up the stairs and the door to the right of the closet on the right."
"Thank you," Xiang said, heading up with Long following on his heels like a duckling.
"Aww, I thought you were going to sleep in my room," Long's whining could be heard as the boys left.
"That's weird," Mei said once the boys were out of earshot. "Didn't it look like allergies to you?"
"Yes," Jun answered, curious as well. The two had seen enough from working at a hospital to know something was up. "But the pollen count isn't that bad in the summer."
Mei thought on the matter more as well. "Huh…"
Though the two ended up shrugging it off for now. They'd keep an eye on Xiang, but Xiang was a teenager and should know himself fine.
Sadly, it seemed Xiang didn't know himself as much as they all thought.
A loud sneeze sounded through the house followed by more.
Uneasy feeling back, Mei and Jun hurried upstairs. There they found Xiang in the bathroom, soaking his face in his wet washcloth.
"Are you sick?" Long asked, standing at the open door.
"I don't think so," Xiang snuffled. "I was fine earlier."
Mei walked into the bathroom, feeling Xiang's forehead. It was damp from washing his face, but fine. "What happened?"
Xiang shrugged, humming his own confusion. "I just walked into the room and, like, started feeling more itchy and sneezy."
Jun perked up when hearing Xiang's explanation.
"Maybe it's dusty in there," Long suggested. "No one goes in there that much. Other than Sagwa."
"Baba just cleaned—" Mei stopped herself, realizing what was up as well. She turned to her eldest son. "Xiang, are you allergic to cats?"
Xiang raised a brow. "What? I don't think so. I mean, when I was here last time I wasn't like this."
"We had cleaned up the whole house before company showed up," Mei explained. That meant a lot of traces of cat were vacuumed up. "And Sagwa stayed outside throughout most of the party."
Xiang looked even more confused. "What?" he repeated.
"Mao!" sounded the source of the uproar.
The family turned, seeing a Siamese cats sitting at the guest room door. She was napping in there moments ago.
"Oh god," Xiang groaned, burying his face in his washcloth once more when feeling more itches.
"Sagwa! No!" Long scolded, chasing down his cat.
"Mao!" hissed the cat as Long picked her up.
"You're making Gege sick," the boy continued scolding, hurriedly bringing the cat downstairs. "You should play outside for a bit."
"Come on, Xiang," Jun started, leading Xiang out the bathroom. "Let's get you some allergy pills. I know we have some in the cabinet."
"Yes, hurry and take them," Mei said, shooing her son and husband downstairs. "I'll go vacuum up the room again and change all the sheets. Tell Long not to let Sagwa in there anymore."
With that, the group split.
Mei went straight to the closet to grab the vacuum cleaner first. As she was bringing it back to the guest room, she was sure to grab her phone as well. She dialed a number and waited for an answer.
Ring! Ring! Click!
"Wei?"
"Yao, it's Mei," Mei said as she plugged in the vacuum. She went straight to the point. "Tell me, is Xiang allergic to cats?"
"What?" Yao questioned from the other side. "Well, I guess he is."
"He is?"
"Yeah. When we went to the animal shelter for Long—our Long, not yours—uh, we were looking at cats a bit, too, but then Xiang started getting itchy. I mean, it wasn't that bad, but I knew cats were a no go. I doubt he even remembers that. Why?"
'Because we have a cat over here…' Mei inwardly groaned. "Oh, I just had a hunch," she said aloud, her voice an octave higher.
"Mei, what happened?"
"Xiang didn't react to Sagwa last time, so none of us knew he was allergic," Mei answered.
"Sagwa? Wait, you have a cat? How did I not see her?"
"She's an outside cat. Anyways, Xiang's fine. I just wanted to double check with you. Jun's giving him some allergy medication right now and I'm cleaning up the guest room."
"Alright… I mean, he was a kid then and it wasn't bad, so I thought he'd grown out of it or something," Yao responded with a bit of uncertainty, sighing. However, he completely trusted his sister, so he wasn't too worried. "Let me know if there's any more problems."
"Mmhmm!"
Mei and Yao said their goodbyes and hung up their phones. After pocketing her phone, Mei went right onto cleaning.
Afterwards, the Taiwanese woman headed downstairs where she ran into Long. "Long," she called when seeing him holding all the cat toys. "What are you doing?"
"Putting Sagwa's toys away so Gege don't get more sick," Long innocently answered.
Mei smiled at the cuteness. She went over and hugged her son. "Aren't you being a sweet didi." She let go. "Make sure Sagwa doesn't catch you. She'll be really mad."
Long nodded, laughing at the thought of his huffy cat.
Soon after, the mother and son duo entered the kitchen. There Jun and Xiang sat at the table. Xiang was looking a lot better.
"You okay, Gege?" Long asked, hurrying to wash any traces of Sagwa off his hands. He then plopped down on his brother's lap.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Xiang answered, patting Long's head.
"Well, I just called your father," Mei started, "and he said you are allergic to cats?"
"Really?" all three boys said at once.
Mei giggled. "Yeah, he said you probably don't remember getting an allergic reaction when you were a kid."
Xiang began thinking back to when a thing had happened. His dad was right; he was coming up blank.
"Well, at least we know now to keep Sagwa away from you," Jun said.
"Good thing Sagwa doesn't really like being around people," Long said as he hopped off Xiang. He took his brother's hand, pulling him up as well. "Gege, you said you were going to teach me how to skateboard, too!" He had just gotten one for his birthday.
Long began pulling Xiang towards the front door. "Come on!"
Xiang didn't argue and followed behind. He was used to following around little kids and doing as they said by now.
"Careful for cars!"
"Wear your helmet!"
Mei and Jun called out at the same time. They only got a door closing on them as a response.
"Alright," Xiang started as he and his brother walked the driveway. He looked at Long's board. "Since this is a band new board, the wheels are still smooth and will be more slide-y." He put the board down. "But that's fine. They'll be scuffed up sooner or later. Let's see how you balance first."
Xiang helped Long onto the skateboard. Long was sliding back and forth a lot, the skateboard flying out from under his feet, but he didn't hurt himself much. Xiang was holding onto him as he tried to get used to being on the skateboard.
"Take it slow first," Xiang instructed as he began pushing Long steadily. Teaching Long reminded him a lot of when he taught Steven how to ride a bike. However, Steven was way more cautious than Long.
Long barely got the hang of it when he declared, "I'm gonna try pushing myself now."
"'kay, just steady yourself first," Xiang warned, already back to helping Long not fall over.
In a matter of seconds, Long's skateboard went flying once more. Xiang quickly caught his brother at least before he fell, giving a sigh.
"Whoops," Long said with a giggle.
"No worries," Xiang responded, helping Long up. He then went to get the skateboard himself, running over to it. He stepped on the tail of the deck, the board popping right up for him to easily catch.
"Woah!" Long yelled in awe as Xiang trotted back to him. "Can you show me how to do that?"
"You don't even know how to skate yet," Xiang teased, playfully pushing his brother's helmeted head.
"Please!" Long childishly begged.
Xiang rolled his eyes, though still smiling. He put the skateboard on the ground. "Fine. Let's see how you'd do it first so I know what I'm working with."
Long wiggled in excitement, stepping up to the plate. He stepped on the tail like his brother did before, but it didn't work. "Hey…" He tried again. And again. It really was harder than it looked.
Xiang was having a good time laughing at his little brother's struggles. The frustration on Long's face was clear. "Long," he started, about to jump in.
"Hold on! I got it!" Long yelled, still annoyed at his inability. With a lot of force, the boy stomped on the tail. The skateboard went up, but not how Long or Xiang had thought it would.
The skateboard went flying once more, heading directly towards Sagwa the cat who was relaxing on the sun grass.
"Cat!" Xiang yelled, jumping for the cat out of reflex. He just had to help little things apparently, even if that meant getting hit by the skateboard when covering the cat.
"Mao!" Sagwa shrieked. Though, she wasn't hurt. Only startled by nearly getting hit and by Xiang protecting her. "Mao?"
"Gege!" Long shouted, running to his brother as Xiang was sitting himself upright. "Are you okay!? I'm so sorry!"
"I'm fine," Xiang reassured, rubbing where the skateboard hit him. He snorted at the irony. "Don't worry, I've been through worse."
"I think we're done for today," Long guiltily said.
"I'm fine," Xiang repeated. "Really, I am."
Long gave a pout, though he did believe Xiang. Even so, he decided to end their little lesson for the day. "Let's go inside anyway."
"Mao," meowed Sagwa, gaining the brothers' attention. She began rubbing her face against Xiang's arm, purring.
"Sagwa! No!" Long scolded. "Gege's allergic to you!"
Long went to reach for Sagwa, but the cat only avoided his hand. She went around and continued brushing up against Xiang's other arm.
"Oh great…" Xiang muttered. Sagwa growing fond of him was definitely going to cause trouble later. Only. It wasn't like Xiang was reacting much now. The medicine was working fine.
Sense of judgement clouding, Xiang couldn't help but pet Sagwa. He pet the Siamese cat's head before moving down to her chin. Sagwa only grew fonder, purring more.
"Gege," Long whined, knowing full well his brother should not be touching his cat.
Xiang did not want to listen "Daidai, shh, it's okay. Look, I'm not itchy, so it's fine."
"Mama's gonna be mad," Long said in a tattletale tone. Xiang only narrowed his eyes a bit at his brother, the younger boy giggling.
"Come on," Long started, pulling Xiang up. "Before you really do get sick again. I'm hungry. I think we have cake in the fridge!"
Xiang smiled as Long began dragging him back inside. "A week later and you still have cake from your birthday? Mine was gone the first night." Such a difference between one younger sibling and four.
Only, Long shook his head. "Uh uh. Mama usually gets a tiny cake from the store the day after my birthday and has her own little birthday."
Xiang grew puzzled. "What?"
"Yeah, she does it after I go to sleep I think. I caught her having cake once without me!" Long huffed his cheeks at this. "She said it was because she was jealous of my birthday party and wanted her own. She lights a candle and hums happy birthday and everything! But she still lets me have the cake afterwards."
Taking in what Long said, Xiang asked, "Did she always do that?"
Long shrugged. "I think so. I mean, for as long as I can remember, we always had that extra cake. Come on!"
Xiang wordlessly let himself be dragged by his brother. His thoughts were taking his full attention. During all their time apart, his mother still celebrated his birthday every year.
"Ma!" Long called upon entering the kitchen with Xiang. "Hungry!"
Mei laughed at her youngest son's childishness. "Good thing I'm almost done cooking. Go wash up first."
"'kay!" Long chirped before running to the bathroom.
"You, too, young man," Mei said to Xiang before cleaning the table a bit.
Xiang silently watched his mother for a moment. He then took a few steps towards her. "Hey, Ma?"
"Yes?" Mei responded, attention back on Xiang.
Xiang gave his mother a hug, catching her off guard. It was a very quick hug, Xiang pulling back after a brief moment. However, it didn't make the hug any less. "I love you," he bashfully said before speeding off to the bathroom with his brother.
Mei stood speechless with shock. Slowly, Xiang actions registered and the Taiwanese mother couldn't hold down her smile.
"Mei?" Jun called upon entering the kitchen. "Did something happen?"
"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing," Mei brushed off, though still had a hop in her step as she continued setting the table.
The love and bond within the house only grew that day and would continue to grow for many more to come with Xiang connecting with his family.
quick reminder, i made long's bday 6/30 while xiang 7/1. also a mini hc that xiang's sort of allergic to cats, BUT STILL LOVES ANIMALS BC ANIMALS! any who! there's actually a lot (well i feel a lot) of you still reading this and aahhh thank you for reading and staying! letting me know helped me write more for this haha!
