Chapter Text
“Thank you so much for this, Heather,” Ru greets with a smile as she pulls open the door to reveal her friend, “Seriously.”
The auburn haired woman waves Ru off with a grin, “Don’t mention it, you know I’m always down to babysit.”
Before Ru can respond, Kuai Liang races into the room, his footsteps echoing across the hallway as Jiahao, Lian, and Bi-Han round the corner behind him. Jiahao’s smile is warm and fond as he watches his youngest barrel into the newcomer.
“Aunt Heather!” He cheers, crashing into her legs as he hugs her.
“Hey there, little bird,” She greets with a chuckle, ruffling his hair, “You ready for a movie night?”
The youngest Tian sibling nods vigorously as he releases his aunt from his vice-grip.
“We’ll be home by midnight,” Jiahao assures Heather as he comes to stand by his wife, “If you need anything, just call, I-.”
“Ah-ah-ah,” Heather interrupts, wagging a finger at the parents playfully, “Go have fun, I will hold down the fort. Don’t worry about anything.”
Grinning, Ru rolls her eyes, tugging Jiahao towards the door before he can protest.
“Bye kids,” She turns to wave at her children with a smile as she steps to the threshold, “Have fun with Heather.”
“We will!” The children all chime back with smiles of their own.
“Don’t forget to brush your teeth!” Jiahao calls out before he’s tugged past the threshold and out of the house.
The door clicks shut behind them, leaving Heather and the three children alone for the night. Barely able to contain his excitement, Kuai Liang bounces on his heels as he tugs on Heather’s sleeve to get her attention. When she crouches down beside him, he carefully whispers his request and waits for her response.
It is unlikely that she will say no, Aunt Heather is by far the adult most willing to indulge the children’s whims, but still he worries.
“I think I can help with that, Nipotino” Heather nods with a grin, standing to ruffle his hair once more, “Lucky for you, I left some of the stuff for it in the craft cupboard. Lian, Bi-Han?”
The children in question turn from their conversation to face their aunt.
“Do you want to make some jewelry with us, or do you want to do your own thing?”
Lian tilts her head as she considers the question, “How much of your supplies can I use?”
“As much as you want,” Heather assures, “Why, do you have a design in mind?”
A sheepish smile pulls across the teenager's face as she runs her fingers along the sketchbook in her hands.
“I think so, I don’t know if it will work though.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Heather smiles, turning to Bi-Han, “What about you?”
The older boy shrugs, not much caring one way or the other. Jewelry making has never interested him, but time with Aunt Heather is never boring. Besides, it would be weird if he was the only one not making anything, or at least, he thinks it would be.
“Well, alright then,” Heather claps once for emphasis, striding forward as she makes a beeline for the craft cupboard, “Let’s get started.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“You grew these?” Heather asks, exaggerating how impressed she is with an awed tone, “Kuai Liang, these are so cool.”
The youngest cryomancer grins with pride as he takes the crystals back from her open palm. The crystal growing kit he’d gotten for Christmas a few years back had managed to hold his interest longer than almost any other hobby he’d ever tried out, with him needing to buy refills of the materials semi-regularly.
He’s gotten pretty good at it too, able to grow crystals in all sorts of shapes and sizes and had managed to rope Lian’s chemistry teacher into helping him make the powders needed for crystals that the kit itself didn’t provide. More than once, Heather or his parents have been given crystals he’s grown as gifts, leading to the auburn haired woman having a whole shelf dedicated to her own collection.
“Dad says he’s gonna try and turn some into beads for you,” Bi-Han informs as he watches his sister twist the wire in her hands around the brooch she’d co-opted to be her centerpiece, her eyes laser focused on the task at hand.
It seems to be some sort of large choker collar, meant to sit the way the fabric of a high necked dress would, and so far it does appear to be coming along well.
“Can we make them into pendants?” The youngest cryomancer asks, pulling Heather’s attention back to him, “Like your necklace, but for bracelets instead?”
The necklace in question is one of Heather’s favorites, a piece of epidote carved to look like a charred piece of wood wrapped in brass wire that she made after she had finally broken up with Simon. Despite not knowing the story behind it, Kuai Liang had always been fascinated by it, listening to her explanations about the meaning behind the crystal.
(“Crystals have power, right?” Heather explains as she tugs the necklace off, passing it over to the curious boy in front of her, “Each one does something different for you.”
“What does this do?” Kuai Liang questions, turning the pendant over with reverent hands,.
“Epidote assists in recovery and regeneration,” Somehow, despite the lump that forms in her throat as the memories creep back up, she manages to keep her voice even, “So if you get hurt, or get sick, it will help you get better.”)
If Kuai Liang is intending to make bracelets, that would explain the dozens of questions he’s been asking her recently about different crystals and their meanings.
“Yeah, I think we can manage that,” Heather agrees as she looks over the crystals in his palm, “How many did you want to make?”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the end, they ended up with seven bracelets, which Kuai Liang had insisted on doing himself with only occasional instruction from his aunt. One of the bracelets had a deep green pendant shaped like a star and wrapped in brass wire, made from the moss agate Kuai Liang had grown. The other beads were in various brighter shades of green, with the occasional bit of white to break up the pattern, and in so many different shapes it seemed as though no two were the same.
Another was centered around a desert rose crystal, grown into an almost perfect sphere shape and allowed to hang freely, unobstructed by any wire. It had taken some careful finegalling to hide the wires that connected it to the rest of the bracelet and was the only thing which Heather was allowed to help with. The rest of the beads were all raw wood, in various shades of brown and the occasional deep red.
The third pendant was a jagged and unpolished piece of sodalite, wrapped in silver colored wire and accompanied by alternating white and blue beads. The moment it had been completed, Kuai Liang had slid the bracelet onto his own wrist with a conspiratorial grin, holding up a finger to his lips as Heather quirked a questioning brow at him.
The fourth was a heart shaped piece of amazonite wrapped in brass wire. The rest of the beads were in shades of turquoise and broken up by the occasional gold one, each of them a perfect sphere. The moment it was completed, the youngest cryomancer set it next to the desert rose bracelet, tucking them together carefully.
The fifth was similar to the second, with wooden beads in various shapes all centered around a tiger eye pendant. How Kuai Liang had managed to grow that, Heather could not begin to guess, though she suspects that the chemistry teacher is likely not being paid enough.
The sixth was less a bracelet and more a cuff, with a rectangular piece of black tourmaline, about as long as Kuai Liang’s little finger and less than an inch wide, tucked into the middle. There were no other beads, just silver wire wrapped over itself again and again to form the cuff and keep the crystal in place.
The seventh and final bracelet had a teardrop shaped piece of rose quartz wrapped in silver wire and dangling from a string of pink and white beads. It had been the quickest to make, thankfully as they had already been at it for hours even with Heather’s help, and the moment it had been finished, Kuai Liang had slid it onto Heather’s wrist with a bright smile.
The youngest cryomancer had leapt up, running over to the craft cupboard to grab two small gift bags with tissue paper, labeling one for his mother and slipping the tiger eye into it, whilst putting the black tourmaline in the other bag and labeling it for his father.
Now, Kuai Liang sits impatiently as he waits for Lian to finish up her necklace, tapping his foot against the wooden flooring so fast Heather wonders if his nickname shouldn’t be little rabbit instead.
Across the table, the teenager sits hunched over her masterpiece, carefully threading the wire through the last parts of the clasp attachment as Bi-Han leans over her shoulder to watch.
Eventually, the last piece of wire is wrapped, tucked away, and made smooth, Lian letting out a deep breath as she slumps back into her chair in victory.
“My hands hurt so much,” She groans, stretching out the muscles in question as she clenches and unclenches her hands.
Heather winces in sympathy, “Yeah, that does happen, it should fade by tomorrow though.”
“Neat,” Lian replies, giving her aunt a thumbs up as she closes her eyes.
“Can I give you guys your presents now?” Kuai Liang intejects before she can doze off too much, bouncing in his chair excitedly.
The mention of a gift has Lian cracking an eye open to look back at her younger brother, with Bi-Han perking up at her side as he leans forward.
“What kind of present?” Bi-Han asks eagerly.
In lieu of a response, Kuai Liang slides the remaining two bracelets over to his siblings, the moss agate going to Bi-Han while the desert rose goes to Lian. Bi-Han’s eyes go wide as he slides the bracelet on, staring at the pendant as his smile grows wider.
“This is really good, little bird,” Lian compliments as she slides her own onto her wrist, “You might be a natural.”
The youngest cryomancer grins as he slides the amazonite bracelet over to Lian as well.
“This one’s for Angela,” He explains at his sister’s questioning look, “There’s one for Mama and Dad too, and I have one, and Aunt Heather does too.”
Bi-Han hums in understanding as his gaze flicks to the gift bags, suddenly realizing what they must be for.
“So, now we all match,” Kuai Liang shrugs, his grin beginning to flicker and fade, “Do you like them?”
“Dude, I’m never taking this off,” Lian assures him with a chuckle.
“I like it,” Bi-Han agrees, “It’s green.”
Something warm blooms in Kuai Liang’s chest at the confirmation, pulling his grin back to his face as Heather guides them through cleaning up now that they are done.
It’s nice, to have something that ties his family together.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Why would you invite a drunk guy into the ocean in the middle of the night?” Lian scoffs, taking another sip of her soda.
After they had cleaned up the jewelry making, Aunt Heather had suggested they watch a movie before bed, something which had excited all three siblings. For one thing, Aunt Heather lets them stay up late on movie nights, and for the other, she also lets them watch some of the movies their parents say they aren’t old enough for.
Case in point, tonight they are watching Jaws.
“Because she’s got a cru~ush,” Kuai Liang sing-songs as the opening scene plays out.
“That’s one way to put it,” Lian chuckles.
To their left, Bi-Han remains silent, a frown etched onto his face as he watches the screen in front of him. Heather’s brow furrows in concern as she flicks her gaze back to the young boy.
“Probably good that he fell asleep,” Kuai Liang shrugs nonchalantly, “But is that reallyhow a shark would kill someone?”
“Yeah, I dunno,” Lian agrees, “It seems kinda unrealistic like you’d think they’d just bite and then-.”
“And then you’re bleeding,” Her youngest brother picks up where she left off, “Like they’d leave you there, sharks don’t eat people on purpose.”
“Suspension of disbelief,” Lian reminds, a teasing lilt to her voice, “Though I really do hope we get to see some actual blood or something, like this is kinda underwhelming.”
At his sister’s words, Bi-Han’s face pales. The cryomancer stands, eyes fixed on the floor as he darts from the room. Kuai Liang and Lian fall silent as they watch him go, mouths set in a worried line.
“Is he okay?” Kuai Liang asks, his tone thick with concern.
“I don’t know, did we say something?” Lian replies, chewing on the inside of her cheek.
Heather stands, pressing the remote into Lian’s hands.
“I’ll go check on him,” She offers with a gentle smile, “You guys just enjoy the movie.”
“Okay,” Lian agrees hesitantly, “Let us know if we can do anything, yeah?”
“I will.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“You alright, little man?” Heather questions softly as she sits down next to the boy on the carpet of his bedroom.
Bi-Han sniffles, shaking his head.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” He pouts, his tone wet and angry.
“Do you want me to call your mom?” Heather asks, somewhat at a loss for what to do here.
“No!” Bi-Han’s gaze snaps to hers, eyes wide, “I don’t wanna ruin their night.”
“You wouldn’t be,” His aunt assures him, “They love you, and they want you to be okay, everything else is just…a cherry on top.”
The worry bleeds out of Bi-Han at her words, but still he does not brighten.
“Seriously, what’s going on?” Heather prods, “Did you not like the movie? We can pick a different one.”
“I just don’t like that she dies,” Bi-Han admits, resting his chin on his knees, “And I don’t like the blood, and I don’t like the violence, and I don’t like that it’s funny.”
Mentioning that it is not meant to be funny, Kuai Liang and Lian just have rather odd senses of humor, would not be helpful at this moment, so Heather refrains.
“That’s understandable,” She says instead, “It’s a horror movie, so it’s meant to scare you and make you uncomfortable.”
“Why?” Bi-Han’s face is scrunched up in bafflement.
“Some people like that,” Heather shrugs, “I do, and your siblings do.”
Bi-Han frowns, turning back to stare at the floor.
“But that doesn’t mean that you have to,” Heather finishes, knocking their shoulders together.
Bi-Han hums noncommittally before falling silent, his shoulders untensing as he stares down at the floor. Before Heather can get too worried, he speaks in the smallest voice she’s ever heard him use.
“I punched a boy at school once,” He admits, “A lot.”
“I heard,” Heather says, careful to keep her voice even, “Ben, right?”
Bi-Han nods.
“He was bullying Kuai Liang,” The cryomancer sniffles again as he wipes at his eyes to stave off tears, “And, I would do it again, because it was for Kuai Liang but….”
“But you don’t want to,” Heather finishes for him, her tone gentle and understanding.
Tears slip down the cryomancer’s cheeks as he shakes his head, turning to look at his aunt.
“Does that make me a bad person?” He whispers.
“Oh, no, Birichino,” Heather assures in a soft voice, lifting her arm to wrap him up in a hug, “I think it makes you a very, very kind one.”
His shoulders shake as he buries himself in the hug, unable to trust his voice.
“I think you should tell your parents about that, just so they know,” Heather says, reaching up to card a hand through his hair, “But I promise you, you don’t ever have to hurt anyone if you don’t want to, okay?”
“Okay,” Bi-Han sobs into her shoulder.