Yao looked at the clock in his classroom. A few more minutes until the period was over. Next period was P.E., though, not for him. Yao finished his needed credits for P.E. last year. It was Xiang who had it next.
"Damn it..." the senior muttered, anxious for his brother. It's been weeks since school started and he was still worried as hell. The locker room had to be the worse place for boys like Xiang who were prone to being picked on. He knew Alfred was in the same class, but that didn't help much.
"-ao! Yao!"
"What?" Yao snapped out of his worry filled mind. He turned, seeing Arthur staring back at him.
"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" Arthur asked, irked with being ignored.
"Sorry," Yao grumbled, not exactly meaning it.
Arthur sighed. "Anyways, want to finish up the project tomorrow? Library like usual?"
"Sure," Yao answered, grabbing his backpack as the bell rang.
"Are you okay?" Arthur asked as the two of them left their psychology class. "You always seem stiff and on edge near the end of this class," he added when Yao gave him a confused look. "Your next class is Physics, which you enjoy."
Yao sighed, stopping his walk to the science class. "It's just Xiang," he answered. The others were used to him calling his brother by his Chinese name compared to English. "He has P.E. this period and-"
"Yao," Arthur interrupted. "You worry way too much about your brother." It didn't even take a week after seeing the two siblings together and the group already knew Yao was the over doting, over protective brother to the younger teen.
"My relationship with my brother is way different than you and your brothers, okay?" Yao huffed, turning away with crossed arms. Doing so made Yao glance out the window and towards their school's field. He instantly spotted Xiang sitting on the artificial grass and Alfred inadvertently annoying the hell out of him.
Yao smiled at the sight. Xiang should be fine, especially with Alfred beside him talking so amiably.
"Okay, maybe he'll be alright," the Chinese teen finally said. "It has been weeks and there hasn't been any issues aru."
"See. He's fine," Arthur responded. "So, tomorrow? I'll swing by at 2:00."
"Yeah, sure," Yao answered, starting off to class again.
"I swear, can't you drive yourself?"
"Don't you care about the Earth? Carpool!"
"You just don't want to pay for gas!"
The next day, Yao and Arthur started their project at the library. They snipped and glued as they worked on their psychology poster project. The two seniors didn't get much done, their time working on the project cut short when an event they were unaware of started at the public library.
"There's no room on these tables," Yao complained to Arthur, having moved to the back.
"We can finish this up tomorrow," Arthur suggested, slightly annoyed with his friend's constant complaining.
"I don't want to do this tomorrow," Yao groaned.
"My house?"
"Remember the last time we tried to work at your house?"
"Well at least we could go to my house! You've never invited us over to yours."
Yao paused. His house was close. And they could probably finish their project quickly. "Alright fine. Since it's just you aru."
Arthur almost messed up his cutting when Yao agreed to him going to his house. "What? Are you serious?"
"Hurry up and pack up," Yao shot back. "Sooner we leave, sooner we get to my house, and sooner we finish this up."
Arthur stumbled a bit, doing as told.
The two of them took a quick drive back to Yao's house. The Chinese teen was growing irked in the car ride, turning over to Arthur. "Quit being tense."
"It's kinda hard since this is the first time I've been to your house since meeting you in elementary school. Seriously, why don't you let people over?" Arthur shot back.
"My parents didn't like people over when we were younger," Yao first answered, 'we' being him and Xiang. "And now we don't like having people over." Again, him and Xiang. "You're starting to make me regret inviting you now," the Chinese teen deadpanned as they pulled into the driveway.
The two of them walked up to the front, Yao unlocking the door. Arthur took in the sight. His friend's house was so... normal. The front door opened up to the living room. Passed the living room was the kitchen, an island counter separating the two rooms. That was all he could see immediately besides the stairs in front of them.
"We can work on the back porch," Yao said, snapping Arthur out of his thoughts. He went straight towards the back door passed the kitchen. Arthur followed behind, still looking around.
"Who's this?" a woman's voice rang.
Arthur turned to the voice, finally noticing the older woman he assumed was Yao's mother in the kitchen. He never really seen her before, the lady looking like a more feminine version of Yao. And to think that was even possible the English teen couldn't help but think.
"One of my friends, Ma," Yao answered nonchalantly. "Library was too loud, so we're finishing orr project here aru."
"Oh! I'll go make something for you boys then!" Mrs. Wang cheerfully said.
Arthur smiled politely. "Thank you for allowing me over, Mrs. Wang."
"Of course! My children never have people over! I'm glad Yao is friends with such a polite boy!" Mrs. Wang said, beginning to make something for the seniors. "Work in the living room! It's chilly outside!"
"No, it's fine, Ma."
"It's cold! You want your polite friend to get sick?"
Yao groaned. "Fine, we'll work in my room."
Arthur thanked for Chinese lady for her words agains. She seemed like a nice and caring mother in his eyes, but the imaged changed a moment later as they headed for the stairs.
"Didi! I'm home!" Arthur listened to Yao call up first. The English teen noticed this practically caused his mother to flip like a switch.
"Yao!" she yelled, the only thing Arthur understood before she started yelling angrily in Chinese. He turned to Yao, only seeing him roll his eyes and glare back at his mother.
"Go up straight to my room first. I'll be up in a second," Yao said before arguing back with this mother.
Arthur was going to question his friend, unsure which room would be his, but Yao and his mother looked to be in a very serious and heated argument. Not wanting to get involved or interfere in something that didn't involve him, the English teen went up.
Stepping through the upstairs hallway, Arthur noticed all the pictures that were hung on the wall. He scanned through them as he went to find Yao's room, noticing something. There was a lot of pictures of his friend when he was a kid and another girl with hair reaching her lower back a little younger than him in all the photographs, but not one of Xiang.
"What are you doing?"
Arthur turned, seeing Yao finally coming up. He could tell his friend was in no mood for any tomfoolery or such.
"I told you to go straight to my room," Yao hissed. He stalked passed Arthur to his room, the English teen following behind him. They went right to work once closing the door part way.
"Uh, everything okay?" Arthur finally asked after working for some time.
"Yeah, why?" Yao hissed, clearly not okay.
"Well, you and your mom were shooting daggers at each other, and you're still clearly tense," Arthur fearlessly answered.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about it. Just finish your part," Yao grumbled, continuing to work.
"Gougou," another new voice called. It was Xiang, poking his head through the door.
"Hey, Didi," Yao called. Arthur noticed how he instantly made a 180 and was back to his normal self.
Arthur watched as Yao went over to Xiang, the two brothers whispering some things to each other.
"You don't have to call me that at home, Gou. It only pisses off Ma and Ba, and you get in a crap load of trouble."
"Di, you're my brother and I'm not calling you anything else."
Arthur attempted to play it off as if he wasn't listening in, but it was hard to do with the room already so quiet. He continued working as the brothers talked, trying to keep his focus on the project when Yao's mother's voice called for Yao.
"Alright! Coming!" Yao had called back, starting to head out.
"Uh," Arthur started, standing from his spot.
"No, you can just stay here," Yao stopped him. "I can bring up whatever my mom made us." And with that, he left.
Arthur and Xiang stared back at each other for a moment.
"So..." Arthur started once more, but didn't get far either.
"Bye," Xiang blankly said, leaving the older teen and heading back to his room.
Arthur stood awkwardly. Since he was already standing, he started looking around Yao's room a bit. He was working so diligently that he never quite got a good look. The room was neat, as to be expected of his Chinese friend. Not much decorated the walls except for some scenery photographs and more family photos. This time, Xiang was present.
Accidentally fumbling on his footing, Arthur tripped. He tried to catch himself on the nearest wall, but the wall ended up to be the closet. The teen ended up sliding the closet door open as he fell to the ground. "Bloody hell..." Arthur groaned, rubbing his soar ankle. It wasn't too bad at least.
With a sigh, the English teen stood. He was about to close the closet door once again, but something caught his eye. Unable to help himself, Arthur took a peek. "What the...?"
"Alright, hope you're fine with Chinese food," Yao's sudden voice called, Arthur quickly closing the closet door as he was entering. "If I hear one comment about this- what are you doing?"
"J-just admiring all the posters you have," Arthur stuttered. "They're all so beautiful. Where did you get them?"
"A cousin took and sent them to me," Yao hesitantly answered, eying Arthur as he placed the plate down on the table.
"That's nice! Shall we finish this up?" Arthur asked, getting back to work. Yao didn't question him aloud any more than Arthur questioned the bags of girls' clothing in the closet.
Newer chapters are probably going to be longer now, no doubt. Also, updated what this is mainly about in the summaries, so the little, weird hints may be more understandable.