There was this one fic in the Digimon fandom where the first season's mc had his mother remarry with his best friend's father. The idea had stuck with me since.

When I saw Mrs. Ong in the movie, I couldn't help but feel the gear starting to move in my head, you know? What if Ali and Viktor were brothers? Wouldn't that be interesting?

In this universe, Mr. Ong is dead (if he isn't already in canon). When Mrs. Ong remarried with Dr. Ghazali, Ali became brothers with Viktor and Viktor's unnamed brother. I'm naming Mrs. Ong and that lil guy Sally and Teddy respectively for this fic.

Enjoy the angst :v

"Ali, dear. It's time for school," the overly sweet voice of Mrs– No, it was mama now. Her overly sweet voice called for him from behind the door. He had half a mind to ignore her, but at the same time didn't feel like having dad breath over his neck– Again– for doing so.

And so he forced himself up, untangling his body from the warmth of his blanket to climb down his bed. "Coming!"

Family breakfast had become a usual thing now, if a bit too early to accomodate dad's strict schedule. When he begrudgingly descended the stairs with mama trailing behind him, he saw a scene that unnerved him. There it was, dad and Viktor chatting animatedly while his youngest brother Teddy played with his food.

Ali had never seen dad so... cheery before. Not outside old family pictures. Apparently the key to the man's smile was a wife and two new sons. And somehow not his own birth son.

Shaking his head out of the thought, Ali forced a small smile and took a seat at the table.

Breakfast went by for an eternity. Every attempt mama made at making him talk pulled some short sentences out of him and simultaneously dad's pointed look lest he said something wrong again.

Like a well-rehearsed play, Ali played his part as an actor, entertaining his audience of four with his scripted words that they all knew to be fake but accepted regardless. Well, other than the six-year-old at the table.

His youngest brother fully believed in the newly christened Ong household's theater magic. Or rather, he didn't care at all, too focused in his own little world and only occasionally looking up when bits of their conversation interested him. Ali supposed it was enough encouragement to keep acting well to not break that illusion.

When the curtain closed and he was allowed to go off stage, the audience demanded more of him, so who was he to deny their wish.

"Ali?" Mama called after kissing goodbye to dad. The man had to leave soon or he'd miss the train. Viktor had gone to the bathroom as well, leaving only the two of them in the room while Teddy headed for the tv.

"Yes?" Ali said, feeling the world around him growing dark while the stagelight focused on him.

Mama smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes like when she talked to everyone else but him. "Are you going to school on your scooter again today?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I like getting some air first before school starts."

"I see." Mama patted his head. "Well then, just don't be late again. You don't want your teacher to eat you now, do you? I heard she's scary. Rraw!" she said, mimicking a tiger.

That pulled a genuine laugh out of him, much to her relief. "I won't. Don't worry."

"Take care." She chuckled, bending down to kiss his forehead.

As the stage dissolved and left only the kitchen, Ali watched the woman leave for her room, her smile a lot brighter than before.

When no one (smart enough) was there to see his frown, he dropped himself onto the living room's sofa to watch the tv with Teddy while his other brother hogged the bathroom. One of these days he was going to memorize the whole Soenghoi Taan just by listening to Viktor's singing.

Nothing beat the early morning breeze hitting his face, especially at the speed he was going.

With barely any car on the road, he was free to scour the city as he pleased, taking detours and roundabout ways until he arrived at his dearly beloved school, SRT Cyberaya 1...

"You're early again today," Alicia quipped when he entered the classroom.

"And you're noticing me again today as well." He grinned, propmting her to make a gagging motion in disgust.

"Morning, Ali!"

"What the– Mia!" He jumped when his other classmate sneaked up on him.

She giggled and fiddled with her fingers, all blushing and the like. "So... Where's Viktor?"

Right, she had a crush on his brother. Clasping his beating chest, he dropped his bag onto his desk.

"He's coming later," Ali said simply but from her expectant expression, he knew she wouldn't let him go unless he gave her what she wanted.

He sighed. "Viktor likes mint chocolate ice cream."

"I knew it! Thanks, Ali!" The girl pumped her fist and rushed back to her desk, presumably to write down whatever dating plan she had involving his brother.

"...you're welcome." He shook his head and sat down on his seat, ignoring the way Alicia stared at him until he couldn't anymore. "What? Something on my face?" he leaned back, weirded out by her uncharacteristic interest in him.

"Nothing. It's just... you're different now."

Ali rolled his eyes, the awkward air around them gone and replaced by tension instead. "Try having your dad remarry with your best friend's mom, see if that doesn't change you."

"See, that's what I'm talking about." Alicia pointed at him as if he was an exotic animal. "You're less annoying now."

She was trying to get a rise out of him, that much he understood. The old him would retort to her backhanded insults but right now he was just tired to deal with this stuff.

"...whatever. Just leave me alone," he said and promptly dropped his head into his arms, burying his head in his desk.

With him not acknowledging her bait, she gave up on him and returned to her post outside, aggressively looking for students that were breaking school rules no matter how small they were.

While the music of students' chatters filled the classroom, Ali too hummed an offtune song of his own that reverberated through his desk.

When dad had told him of his plan to remarry, Ali was adamant against it. He only knew one mother, and that was Aliya. His own birth mom.

But as usual, dad ignored his opinion on everything and proceeded to not only get a new wife, but that wife was also his friend's mother.

Suddenly his house of two evolved into five, and Ali's status for the first time changed from a single child to the oldest of three.

Viktor had always been the level-headed one between them, so he didn't struggle against the sudden change as much as he was. But Ali hated it, which was why he ended up fighting with Theodore slash Teddy most of the time. Mostly because the kid didn't know the concept of boundaries and kept touching his stuff without permission.

Naturally Ali got scolded a lot because "he was older and should be ashamed of his conduct" against his younger brother. Viktor usually played the damage control and lessened his punishment because of course dad listened to his well-behaved son more than Ali. Of course his youngest son got most of his attention while his own birth son had to contend with everything the kid did.

Knowing he was fighting a losing battle, Ali resigned to his fate and gave up announcing his voice because it was going to be silenced anyway.

Then there was mama, and the less he spoke of her the better. She was a good mom, he didn't deny that. But she would've been great mom anywhere else that wasn't his home.

Every passing day, Ali forgot details of his own mom. Little by little, memories of Aliya was being replaced by another woman that had stolen her place. Ali couldn't live with that.

Dad was unhelpful, enough said.

Even his relationship with Viktor had soured. The boy always had his back, and Ali was grateful for that, but he still couldn't help but feel the tiniest sliver of contempt for his supposed best friend. He didn't want to feel that way, but try as he might, only flame burned in his heart when he thought of the boy.

He hoped the sentiment didn't show on his face when said person appeared from behind the classroom door with a goofy grin.

"Ali, I got you something," Viktor said, his hands behind his back.

Forcing a smile, Ali raised his head from his desk. "What is it?"

"Hehe, voila." Viktor gave him a packaged food that he was sure wasn't mama's cooking. "Here you go. Nasi lemak tempoyak udang. Your favorite."

Blinking in surprise, Ali got up and accepted it, tears pricking at his eyes from the gesture. "Th-thanks. You didn't have to," he stuttered out. If Viktor noticed his sad expression, the boy didn't comment.

Ali was selfish, that much he knew. Because Viktor didn't deserve a brother that thought badly of him and wanted the boy out of his family life.

When lunchtime came, Ali's mind had calmed down enough to engage in conversations over his favorite dish... only for him to discover the lack of the dish on his rice. Ali knew Viktor would never toy with him and do this. The boy reacted as much, just as surprised as he was.

"Where's the tempoyak?" The boy scratched his head in confusion, looking over at the food from the other side of the cafeteria table. "Strange."

"Oh well." Ali shook his head, not wanting to dwell on it too much. The world hated him, what else was new. He closed the lid and went to buy nuggets instead. He turned to Viktor. "You want something? My treat."

Viktor nodded. "Curry puffs. Chicken filling."

Ali made an "okay" symbol with his fingers, grinning. "Hot curry puffs coming."

The school bell marked the end of their prison life. As Ali and Viktor made their way to the gate along with their fellow recently freed inmates, he couldn't help but notice a familiar figure waiting outside.

"Uncle?" Ali blinked and rushed out to approach the man, Viktor following closely behind him. "Uncle Bakar!" he called again when they were standing face to face.

"Ali, nice meeting you here." The bulky man smiled down at him before turning to Victor. "Wait, wait. I remember you from the wedding. You're... Hector?"

"Viktor," his brother patiently corrected. "Uh... you're not picking us up, right?" cause he didn't want to walk, his body language conferred as much.

"Haha, no, no." Uncle Bakar patted his back so hard he almost tumble and drop his precious tablet. "I have some work around here. That's all."

The man was acting strange for some reason, eyeing around as if looking for something. Ali did remember him saying sometime ago that he worked for the police or something, so he supposed it made sense.

"Oh, there's mama's car." Ali pointed to an oncoming vehicle. He didn't miss the way Uncle Bakar cringe at the form of address. Ali felt for him. He used to twist his tongue when first saying it as well, but now it was just second nature, his feelings on the matter aside.

The car stopped in front of them, followed by mama's smiling face jutting out from the window. "Bakar! Long time no see!"

Uncle Bakar laughed nervously at being so casually addressed. "You too, Mrs. Ong."

"Tsk, tsk. We're family now. Just call me Sally."

"R-right. Sally."

Ali and Viktor made their way to the backseat while mama talked with the man. Teddy was fast asleep on the front seat, tired from his day at kindergarten. The more mama talked, the more it seemed like the man wanted to get away from the place as soon as possible. Ali wished he could offer some comfort.

"Well then. I'm taking the kids home. Do visit sometime, yeah?"

"Of course. Will do!"

When the car moved again, Ali watched the man's shrinking figure from the back window until the road took a turn and he couldn't be seen anymore.

"So, how was school today?" Mama asked.

"Fun." Viktor shrugged, his eyes focused on his tablet that was loading a game.

"And how about you, Ali?"

Ali pursed his lips. School hadn't been good, and he was glad his brother opted out from mentioning the bad grades he was getting. "It was... okay."

Mama was frowning, the concern on her face clear from the front mirror. She was about to say something when Viktor dropped his tablet to point at something– No, someone!– in front of them.

"Mama, look out–"

The last thing Ali remembered after the crash was someone ransacking through his bag. He grabbed at the perpetrator's hand from instinct, even biting on it when they started to push him away.

For a moment, he felt weightless. It wasn't until he felt pain from hitting the asphalt that he realized he'd been thrown into the air.

He groaned, pushing himself up against the sharp surface. Still in his daze, something round and metallic rolled to his hand. A gruff voice was shouting while a fainter one hissed, but he couldn't make out who was who or which with the world spinning around him.

"Mama, Viktor... Teddy," he tried calling out but no one answered.

His finger landed on something cold, the metallic thingie, resulting in a mechanical beep.

And the world lit up.

[Synchronising]

[Ali Ong]

[Age 12–

[Height–

[Weig–

[#£–

Countless informations passed through his mind in the matter of seconds. Through the bright light, Ali saw a blurry figure looking down at him with a kind and gentle smile. Their mouth was moving, uttering silent words he couldn't understand.

Just as quickly, the flood of data receded to the back of his mind, replaced with this tutorial-like simulative instructions wherever he looked at.

"What the..."

"Ali, look out!" Uncle Bakar's voice shouted from behind him, but his new glasses already warned him of the projectile coming his way. He sidestepped it and locked his eyes with the two people that looked at him with contempt.

But he didn't stay on them long, because behind the two, he could see the smoking car his stepmother and siblings were supposed to be in.

"Don't worry, they're fine. Mr Bidin took them to safety." A new voice joined. A very familiar voice. "Must be nice wearing IRIS, huh?" Alicia said from beside him.

The glasses, IRIS, categorized her and her weird yellow get-up as an Neuro MATA agent, whatever that wa– Oh, a strategical type agent, Ali nodded to himself when IRIS provided him with the information he lacked.

"I'm confused that I'm not confused. Does that make any sense?"

"Kinda."

"Hey! Don't look away when you're fighting!" One of the enemies, the muscular guy, tried to punch them but Uncle Bakar– Kombat, blue– blocked him before he could reach them.

"Heh, pick on your own size."

The other woman tried to ambush them but Alicia quickly fought her off with a modernized slingshot. It seemed like she was about to have another go when she spoke into her comm. She frowned and glared at them before calling her partner away.

"Trez, we're leaving."

Said guy growled in dissatisfaction but heeded her words.

Before soon, it was only the three of them in the middle of the road with strange robots guarding the area.

Ali forewent the cliché route of asking what was going on for a much more important matter.

"Where's my family?" Ali asked Uncle Bakar.

"The hospital," another new voice joined like this was some kind of party. This must be the Mr. Bidin Alicia told him about. Inviso, silver. "But as for you, Ali, you are required to be elsewhere. And don't think of running either, Alicia."

IRIS barely had the chance to warn him of the hypnosis before the world went dark.

Ali wasn't the best of son. Never had been. Growing up, he was nothing but trouble to those around him.

Studying didn't come easy to him, his talent was nonexistent, and the only thing he was good for was to be a trophy son for one of Cyberaya's Pioneers.

Dad scolded him on the regular. Ms. Munah hated his gut. Nothing he did was ever right. He was a complete failure through and through. Then the Ongs came into his life and suddenly he wasn't a failure anymore... because now he was a complete nobody.

When they moved in, his usually spacious house wasn't so spacious anymore. Sure, he hated the lonely rooms that taunted him everytime he went home after school, but at least back then the house was his. Now not even his own room was a sanctuary he could recede to when he wanted to be with himself.

His stuff was Teddy's stuff and Teddy's stuff was a no-no unless he wanted the kid to screech like a banshee. Viktor understood his suffering in that regard, but Ali couldn't allow himself to comfortably confide in his supposed brother, not when then there was the other issue; the fact that he had to compete for dad's attention in the first place.

Before, Ali could just do nothing and the man would still give him a time of the day. It didn't matter if the man chided him for not cleaning the house or if he forgot to switch off the tv. Because at least he had a dad.

Now he had nothing. Mama stole most of dad's attention, Viktor was the good son that Ali never was, and Teddy was young enough that dad gave up everything to pamper him when he had the time to. In the blink of an eye, Ali was forgotten like he didn't matter anymore...

When General Rama offered to train him in return for letting MATA study him, he felt an inkling of purpose. An escape from the unfair treatment the world had subjected him to... A chance to prove his worth.

"You want me to be an agent?" He asked the man on the other side of the screen, the room's dark interior amplifying his presence despite not being physically here. Uncle Bakar stood on Ali's right while Alicia on his left looked at the General with an unmasked glare. There was another person too in red. Jenny, he recalled.

"Until we can figure out a way to separate IRIS from you, this is the best way to keep your mouth shut. Unless you want to be disposed of?"

"Agent! I wanna be an agent!" Ali fearfully affirmed before the man changed his mind.

"What about me then?" Alicia stomped forward. The way General Rama looked down at her reminded him so much of his own dad what with the disappointed gaze and all.

"What about you what?"

Alicia hissed. "How come Ali can be agent just like that even when I've been training longer than him."

"You're still a kid."

"So is he! So why?"

"He's a special case! Now don't interrupt me again or I'll–"

"I want Alicia to train me." Ali interrupted... before shrinking into his seat when he realized all eyes on him. "I mean, we're in the same class, it's easier for us to meet. She already had training, right? And we're the same age too. She can teach me better," he added quickly, trying to make a case for his suggestion.

Alicia was looking at him strangely but General Rama seemed to be considering it. Ali had never felt a more warm feeling in his chest than when the man turned to his friend and nodded in approval.

"Alicia, from now on, you'll be tasked to look after Ali. He'll be your responsibility." Despite the stern way the General was saying it, Alicia straigtened her back with such determination at her new order.

"Ali," the man addressed him.

"Yes?"

"If I find that you're lacking in your training, you will be disposed of." There was a threat behind those words, but it sounded less of an official warning and more of a "if my daughter gets hurt, it's your fault".

Ali nodded, gulping.

"I won't."

"Good. You're all dismissed. Agent Karya?"

A man Ali hadn't noticed appeared from the shadow. IRIS didn't need to warn him of the hypnosis this time around.

For a moment, everything was cloaked in darkness. And then there was light.

Ceiling light to be precise.

"Ack–" Ali covered his eyes when the light put too much strain on them. When he could open them again, he saw his family looking at him with teary eyes. Everyone except dad was here.

"Ali!" Viktor was about throw himself at him but backtracked when nearing the bed. Ali immediately saw why. His hands were bandaged, likely due to the cuts he received after the crash.

"Are you okay, dear?" Mama tearfully reached for his face, her soft fingers carressing his face. Ali froze when she hugged him, not sure how to react in this situation. So he opted to distract himself, asking questions instead of answering them.

"What happened?" he asked, referring to how he in particular got here. His family was missing some context however and answered within that scope.

"The car hit something and went boom. You got hurt. Now we're in the hospital," Teddy summarized for him as he climbed onto the bed as well from the other side, much to mama's chagrin.

"Teddy, m hou tiu pei bo." Viktor frowned and began to chide him in Cantonese. Ali couldn't understand a thing, but whatever he said seemed to annoy Teddy.

"Ngo zi aa." The young boy pouted and crossed his arms. He didn't stay annoyed for long however and instead crawled closer to sit to Ali's left. "You don't look hurt that much," the boy said again.

Viktor seemed exasperated at the behavior, but mama probably had seen enough of it to not care anymore because her whole attention was on Ali. It was overwhelming.

"We couldn't find you when we woke up," the woman said as she played with his hair, her voice weak. "They suspected you had worse injuries so they put you here instead. I'm... glad they were wrong," she finished, choking in her sobs and hugging him again.

Ali was ready for it this time around, so he wrapped his arms around her back in assurance. "I'm fine now. Don't worry."

For a moment, it felt like all of his hard feelings disappeared, forgotten in the warmth of a long forgotten motherly embrace. The woman may not be his birth mother, but it felt just as loving as he remembered. The warm sensation again fluttered inside him, but somehow stronger.

Beneath it however, a part of him began to loathe himself for indulging in her affection. As he warred with his inner thoughts, The door opened to reveal dad struggling to catch his breath. The man scanned over them one by one before his eyes fell to Ali's bandaged hands.

Ali removed one hand from mama's back to wave in greetings.

"Dad– Oof!" he grunted in surprise, his sentence cut midway when the man tackled him into an aggressive hug. Mama took most of the physical impact for him, but the emotional component hit him harder than when he occasionally fell from his speeding scooter.

Dad had never hugged him. Not in recent memory. That the man was crushing Ali in his big arms right now tickled funny in his chest, pulling at the strings in his heart that made his breath hitch.

It was the first time since forever that he cried like a newborn baby, but he didn't care. As the two pairs of arms held him tight, and two more joined to share in the warmth, Ali basked in their loving touch and wished they could stay like this forever.

I was contemplating to have the Ongs speak Hokkien you know, to complement the Ong Lai title pun; the literal "the Ongs come" and the less literal "prosperity comes". Also onglai as "pineapple".

But then I realized I know no Hokkien at all so that's a no go . In the end I chose Cantonese and will forever be disappointed that it doesn't go well with the pun anymore. Ong becomes wong in Cantonese, and onglai becomes wonglei.

The funny part is that I'm not fluent in Cantonese either so it's the same either way lol.

Translations:

-"M4hou2 tiu4pei4 bo3"

[唔好 調皮 噃]

"Don't be naughty" in lieu of not finding the right phrase for "behave". If I got it wrong, don't sue me :3

-"Ngo5 zi1 aa3"

[我 知 呀]

"I know"