Rewritten Past

For now, I'd be leaning into the girls equals cooties trope to get by.

But anyway.

Mama Yue managed to calm April down by convincing her that marriage was for grown ups and that April had to wait until then.

Miss Serena, thankfully, had decided to stop messing around and help persuade April that we'd revisit this when April and I were adults.

Thankfully.

...It was hard though since she was convinced that she wanted to be with me, I quote, "forever and ever."

But again, both of us were kids. Not to mention that it was super iffy...

Either way.

With that done, we could go onto the more important things.

Like dinner.

I took a look around the fancy steakhouse that Mama Yue took us to and said, "Are you sure this is fine, Mom?"

Mama Yue rolled her eyes and pinched my cheek. "Don't argue, just enjoy, Al."

April cheered and happily skipped along while holding her mom's hand. "Steak, steak, steak~ Yummy yummy steak~"

Miss Serena looked a bit concerned, but she kept a smile on while we walked together.

I understood why Miss Serena was concerned though.

Again, 90s. There was very much an anti-samesex couple culture going on, and considering how Mama Yue and Miss Serena looked...

Well. It was kind of the classic 'they were roommates' trope.

Especially since me and April were here.

It probably would have been fine if it was just Mama Yue and Miss Serena since they would likely just be seen as friends or co-workers at a modeling agency.

Since me and April were here though... well. We were definitely getting some weird looks and side-eyes.

Surprisingly though, not from the typical white folks. Instead, they came from Asians. Disapproving grandmas, stern fathers that clicked their tongues, moms ushering kids away...

That stuff didn't even register to Mama Yue. But it clearly registered to Miss Serena.

April was starting to notice too, hesitantly moving closer to her mom.

Since the vibe was getting weird, I decided to mix it up a bit. Grabbing April's free hand, I started singing a classic.

Well, a classic from the 2020s.

"Baby shark, doo doo doo~"

April blinked and then let out a carefree giggle. Poking my cheek, she said, "You're so silly, Alex!"

I deliberately gave an overreaction and said, "Ew, cooties!" Then I started to move back to Mama Yue's side.

Before I could, April tugged me back and hugged me. "Cooties!"

"Nooo~"

I played along, letting out an exaggerated response.

As I did, I caught Miss Serena's eye and winked.

She rolled her eyes, but smiled and kept walking, still holding April's other hand.

Mama Yue shook her head and said, "Kids..." Even so, she couldn't hide the smile on her face.

I kept distracting April from the tense gazes of those annoying bystanders while we headed inside the steakhouse.

Thankfully, once inside it was a different atmosphere.

The place was definitely ritzy and money, so any riffraffs who had opinions about our little group weren't here. And if there WAS anyone who had opinions about our group, they were either professional enough to stay quiet or too preoccupied with their own business.

Anyway.

Back to the usual sitcom that was my life.

Mama Yue had already reserved us a private booth and ordered for us all as we sat down. Like usual, taking charge and initiative.

Miss Serena looked a bit uncomfortable and kept fiddling with the hem of her blouse, but she did her best to stay upbeat for April.

April, of course, had immediately taken to looking around everything with wide eyes like she was memorizing everything to rant to me later.

As for me... Well, I was still just processing. Lots of things on my mind along with future plans. Like sending a proper email to Mister Tyrone later to keep in touch, since he gave me that as his contact. And a training schedule.

I was VERY invested to see how far someone went if they deliberately kept raising their floor rather than pushing their ceiling, after all.

But before I could get too much into that, Mama Yue spoke up.

Looking at us all with a faint smile, she said, "So what did you all do today? Did you manage to explore downtown LA at all?"

I opened my mouth to respond. But before I could, April chimed in.

"We had LOTS of fun! Mommy took us to the pool, then a scary guy named Mister Tyrone came to talk to us, but he turned out to not be scary, then he became Alex's friend and took us out to lunch, then we went to his gym for a bit to watch, and then we headed back to the hotel and Alex read comicbooks with me while Mommy watched TV!"

...Welp.

Mama Yue raised an eyebrow. "Tyrone?" She shifted her gaze to Miss Serena for answers.

Miss Serena sighed and said, "He was a nice man. He saw how trained Alex was and wanted some pointers."

Mama Yue's eyebrow raised even higher and then she turned to look at me. "Al?"

I coughed. "Well... Mister Tyrone is a fighter. He saw my muscles and realized I had martial arts training. Then we chatted. He's pretty good. I think he can probably make heavyweight champion in the UFC if he trained more."

"...Do we have a picture of this Mister Tyrone?" Mama Yue glanced back at Miss Serena.

Before Miss Serena could respond, April reached into Miss Serena's bag and said, "We took a picture!"

"April!" Miss Serena tried to stop her and said, "You can't just-"

"See?" April pulled out the polaroid with me, April, and Mister Tyrone flexing in the back that we took at the gym he trained in.

Mama Yue blinked. Then she pointedly stared at me with a blank expression.

"What?" I puffed my cheeks. "He's cool! He knew about Dragon Ball Z!"

Mama Yue tilted her head. "...And what's that?"

...

"...Um. It's like... Journey to the West, but a cartoon? And with aliens? And kind of like Superman?"

April beamed and said, "It's with Goku! He's cool! Mister Tyrone showed us a poster!"

"...Right." Mama Yue let out a slow blink. "...At least you had fun?"

"Mmhm!" April nodded. "Lots of fun!"

I sighed.

After a bit more small talk about the day, our food came. Just some t-bones, mac and cheese for sides, along with mashed potatoes.

April let out a happy squeal as she dug into her mac and cheese, completely lost in her own world.

Miss Serena focused on her food too, looking completely relaxed and content for once as she enjoyed the meal.

Meanwhile, I looked at Mama Yue while I cut my steak with the steak knife.

She looked back at me. Then at my plate. Then at me.

I was confused. Then I realized that I was using said steak knife with FAR too much coordination.

Partially because my proprioception was through the roof... probably, from all my training.

Mostly because steak was my meal of choice in my past life... future... thing.

But I played innocent and said, "What is it, Mama Yue?"

"...Nothing." Mama Yue chuckled and ruffled my hair. "Just remembering how incredible my dear nephew is."

I huffed and said, "You keep doing that, Mom, and I'm going to have curly hair!"

Mama Yue deliberately ran her hand through her own curly raven locks and said, "And what's wrong with curly hair?"

...Touche.