Ong Lai

Chapter 1

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

「旺來」

"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.