Zhu-Ying At The Diamond (TG)

By: ThatGuy

It was the middle of the afternoon, the game was over, and even though he should have been chatting about that last awesome home-run, enjoying some post-game hot dogs or watching his pal Sid spent all of his hard earned money on overpriced merchandise instead Zhu-Ying was committing a misdemeanor. Just his luck.

It never failed. Once again his little brother Heng had again managed to drive him nuts on a day he should've been having fun. Zhu-Ying was characteristically cold and unemotional, perhaps even a bit robotic if the other more immature guys at school should be believed, but it was times like this that he just wanted to pull his hair out by the roots.

He knew his brother just wanted to do something nice. It was just that he had no common sense! Beau Howell - the Bisons’ second baseman - was Zhu’s favorite player, so Heng decided to go on a mission about it. That is, he hopped right off the bleachers and onto the diamond to find the guy for an autograph! And then had the nerve to get himself lost! So here Zhu was trespassing on a major league baseball field, hoping to find him before they both got in trouble. All part of the pains of being an older brother.

Luckily the workers on the field were too busy dealing with the post-game wrap up and cleaning to notice one slim Chinese-American teen running along the wall. As a proud and proper straight-arrow, Zhu-Ying was not willing to get arrested for this. He had enough problems. They would probably let him and Heng off with a slap on the wrist given the circumstances, but the thought of the hassle and embarrassment involved was enough. So instead of taking it slow he was sprinting across and ducking out of sight whenever anyone turned, not daring to call Heng's name just in case. It was a miracle he hadn’t been spotted yet. The grass was probably staining his pants and ruining his shoes, and he was sure Sid was going to eviscerate him for choosing to dress in his usual nice clothes rather than just wear shorts for once.

Somehow he actually made it to one of the dugouts without being spotted. There was one of the entrances into the “underground” of the stadium, which the staff and players used to get around. He stalled outside the entrance, weighing his options. There was much more of a chance that he would get caught if he went in. Someone had to be working in there. Maybe, he thought, he shouldn’t go in. He couldn’t even be sure Heng was in there!

That was when the sound of a familiar voice crying came from inside. Heng had apparently finally realized he had done something crazy and was only just now freaking out. He was going to kill that kid for making him worry this much.

At this point they were both going to get dragged out of the stadium on their ears, and if that wasn’t bad enough the whole ordeal had Zhu-Ying so worn down he was starting to feel numb. Actually numb! What an impulsive, illogical little rugrat! Even if his heart was in the right place…

… wait…

He dialed back some. Yes, he ran all the way over here and there was that time he did a kind of half-flip to avoid the gaze of a passing groundskeeper, but he was a fairly fit guy. He shouldn’t have been numb from this amount of physical activity. But he definitely was feeling off. It was a sort of tingling sensation all over his body… especially his chest…

His stoic voice made a gargle of frustration, now realizing what this really was. The usual dreading kicking in, he slid his fingers down to his waist and immediately felt the sensation of hands tracing hips that were size or two wider than they were supposed to be, confirming his suspicions.

Fate had chosen now to give him an… episode. It was, once more, just his luck. He was going to be paying for that ridiculous experiment forever!

At least the question of whether to go in was settled, if it hadn’t already been when he heard Heng inside. He couldn’t stay out here where anyone could see him. He threw his caution away and rushed inside. There was a long hallway there, and though he could still hear his brother making a scene further on he instead found the nearest door and slipped inside. It was a water room with some supplies, and he found a corner and leaned up against it. Nobody was coming, thank goodness, which gave him a moment to confirm how far along he was this time.

He gave himself a cursory pat down and was unpleasantly exhilarated by the mass he felt pushing out his shirt, and just plain put out by the need to brush his hair out of his eyes now. He was almost used to these small inconveniences by now, imperceptible until he interacted with them. Always first was these little things, and then - boom! - it all just exploded out of him. Just thinking about it made him groan, with a noticeably more girlish lilt if anyone had been around to notice.

Some time ago an accident involving an one of Zhu-Ying's inventions, designed to postulate alternate realities, caused a cosmic backfire to filter directly into his body. The primary aftereffect was these intermittent shifts, into what he could best describe as a hypothetical version of himself from a reality where he was born female. Sid would probably be more concise, but Sid was not here. They were inconvenient, often frustrating, and he was stuck with them since he had yet to find a cure. Worse, though they were temporary the changes were completely random and always seemed to find the worst possible times to trigger, almost as if his life were dictated by someone’s ridiculous idea of irony.

Zhu-Ying tried to calm himself down. He was still a “he” for now, though not much longer, and he then noticed that something he should have felt was not there. He was missing a ring from his left hand, made from the parts of his original machine.

It was simple to remember why. He hadn’t worn the ring during the game, because he didn’t want Heng asking questions about it. He put it in his bag, which he forgot in his seat when he had to chase after his brother. That meant it was still there and Sid probably had it. Sid had no way of getting to him in time, or even knowing where he was. Which led to one conclusion: he would be transforming without the ring for the first time in weeks. Which was not good.

Since these changes first started his condition had been increasingly relentless on Zhu-Ying’s brain, the part of him that he was most protective of. That ring weaned off the full brunt of its effects, but without it he had no defense. He was coldly aware that the situation was probably going to spiral even more out of control now.

It was a bit ironic, come to think. Heng was just down the hall crying for his brother. Meanwhile his brother was so close and Heng probably wouldn’t know it even if they saw each other. It was stupid, but for better or for worse Zhu-Ying didn’t have much else to do but sit around until this “episode” resolved itself. It rarely took long.

Sure enough only a half a minute later a person wandered out of the water room, but not quite the person who entered it…

——

Just further inside the stadium, baseball superstar Beau Howell was in a very strange situation. There he was, hanging out after the game and definitely not sneaking a bud indoors that anyone could prove, especially not the manager, when suddenly this Asian kid comes running up the hallway. He usually liked kid fans since they were pretty easy to awe, but not when he was pretending not to be toking up. He had only just thrown the thing that definitely wasn’t against ballpark rules into the corner when the kid was in his face talking way too loud and way too fast.

“Hey, you’re that guy Mr. Howell, right? My brother totally loves you, I mean he’s like your biggest fan, and I’d really love it if I could if I could get your autograph so I could give it to him and-“

“Whoa, whoa! Hold on there, slugger!” Beau said, trying to put some slow-mo into this conversation. “You do know you’re not exactly supposed to be back here, right?”

The kid stared blankly. “Huh?”

Beau grimaced and tried another tactic. Maybe if he gave the kid what he wanted, he could convince him to get out of here. “Never mind, kid. Just let me get this straight. You want an autograph or something?”

“Yeah! For my bro, he… my bro is…” The kid looked behind him, then around like he only just then realized where he was. Then all his energy suddenly vanished. “… wait, where is he? Where am I? I don’t like this, I don’t wanna be here!”

Even while high, Beau could sense this would deteriorate badly. “N-now hold on there, tiger. We can figure this out-“

It was too late. The child exploded into tears. “I’m looooooost! I wanna find my brotheeeer!”

“I-it’s not so bad! Calm down, now.” Beau tried to work. It didn’t work, he was still crying. So Beau tried appealing to his stardom. “Hey, how about you take a picture with a baseball legend, huh?” Still crying. He tried distracting him. “Don’t ya wanna play with a nice, shiny league trophy? It’s gold! Please?” Still crying!! "Uh… um…”

“Is something the matter in here?” A voice came from the other side. Beau looked up to see a teenage girl, probably another fan, cautiously approaching them through the restricted hallway. Where was security? She was also Asian, and was dressed a bit boyishly. In fact, her clothes seemed big on her, but Beau shrugged it off. Maybe she borrowed them from her boyfriend or something for reasons he didn’t want to think about.

More importantly, her arrival finally made the kid stop crying. “Ok, now what are you doing here? Does nobody realize this is a restricted area?” Beau said, whining. Then he sighed. “Never mind. Is this little guy yours?”

“Um…” The girl looked at the little boy for a second. She looked a little confused, as if the gears in her brain were still processing. Then… “No? I mean, I’m kind of here to… but no. I mean, why don’t you ask him?” She said, as if it were obvious. “Do I know you?” She said to the kid. The kid shook his head vigorously.

“Ah, whoops.” Beau said, kicking himself for assuming. “Then I have to repeat. What are you doing here?”

“I… uh…” There was that look again, like the answer was right on the tip of her tongue but for some reason eluding her. “I… think there was something about a missing boy. And then I was outside and I heard someone crying, and I though maybe I could help?”

The boy sniffled. “Th-that was me.” He looked up at Beau. “I’m sorry.”

Howell looked at this spacey teen with a new, appreciative light, and not just because she was his savior froman awkward situation. “So you jumped onto the field without a care for getting caught, just to help someone you didn’t even know? That’s decent of you.”

Her face flushed red, and she turned away with an embarrassed flutter. “I-I wouldn’t say all that. It’s just the right thing to do when a kid’s in trouble, right?”

“I don’t know many who would’ve done it,” Beau said, laying on the charm and making her flush again. “Look, I’m… uh… busy down here for a while, so this is great. You can take him back to security or his folks or whatever, right?”

“Sure!” She said. She knelt next to the kid. “Would that be okay with you, little guy?” The kid nodded, and it was settled.

“Great!” Beau said, hoping his draw hadn’t sizzled out by now. “And look-“ he said to the girl. “Since you’re doing such a great thing, how about I give you a free souvenir?"

Although the dazed look from before was slowly disappearing, she still looked awkward. “O-oh! Well, to be honest I don’t usually watch baseball,” she said apologetically. “I don’t even know your name. Though surely I must have seen you during the game…”

“Nonsense!” Beau was so eager to get out of this situation that he didn’t even care about not being recognized. He whipped out a paper and started writing. “It’ll be great. Just give me your name.”

“Okay!” She smiled. “My names Xiuyan!” She spelled it for him, correctly guessing that Beau wouldn’t know how. After that, Beau let her know the easiest way to get back up to the stands, and she took the kid by his hand and led him back out of the underground.

It was only after they were gone that Beau realized he forgot to write a second autograph for the kid’s brother. “Whoops.” He looked down at the now ruined bud that started this whole mess. He would have to clean up the ashes now so that nobody coming later would figure it out. “I really gotta stop doing this crap right after the game…”

——

Heng and Xiuyan snuck back into the stands with surprising ease thanks to Beau's instructions. Instead of going to security, he convinced her to take him to where his brother had been sitting. They spent the whole trip talking, and Xiuyan tried to keep Heng’s spirits up with jokes and anecdotes. She had a similar sense of humor as his brother did, at least when his brother actually felt like being funny, but lighter and sunnier. Heng quickly started to love talking to her.

When they reached the seats Heng was very excited to introduce his new friend to his brother, his young brain already possibly thinking of ways to match them up. But Zhu-Ying wasn't even there! Sid, who he only knew as his brother’s friend, was however. He was going to introduce them when Xiuyan stopped short, with her jaw dropped.

“Sid?” She said, lighting up into a wide smile. He looked up at her, and froze. “This is your brother? I didn’t know you had a brother!”

Sid, meanwhile, nearly had a heart attack. “Xiu…yan…?” Sid blinked. He stifled an “oh, crap” under his breath and said “Y-you’re here! What happened? How did you get here?” He asked, waiting for some kind of clever, secretly coded explanation that would go over Heng's head and keep Zhu-Ying's brother from understanding what really happened.

But instead, the girl in front of him narrowed her eyes. “Huh? What do you mean? I was just wandering through the stands when I heard this little guy crying, and we ran into each other.” She gently guided Heng over to Sid. “You never told me you had a brother!”

Heng frowned. “That’s because he doesn’t! He’s my brother’s weirdo friend!”

“Oh? And here I thought I was your best friend.” Xiuyan said with a fake pout. She suddenly grabbed Sid’s arm and pulled herself close to him, much to his shock, staring up into his eyes with- was that a coy expression? “You holding out on me, guy?”

Sid was totally confused now. He gently pushed away from Xiuyan stammering half-sentences,  not sure how to process the way his friend was acting until he noticed the ring missing from her finger. Then, he couldn't resist another “oh, crap.”

Xiuyan laughed, misinterpreting his expression. “Hah! You’re always so easy!” Her cheeks were slightly red, but there was a patronizing expression there almost like the one Zhu-Ying would give when he failed to understand one of his science jokes.

“But where’s my brother?” Heng asked, looking around.

Sid glanced uncomfortably at Xiuyan. “Uh, he ran off to look for you, but then got into something of a… serious situation,” he said, lying halfway the best that he could. “I don’t think he’ll be back for a while.”

“Oh…” Heng said quietly. He looked down, clearly blaming himself. “I didn’t mean to get him in trouble.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll forgive you…” Another glance at Xiuyan. “…wherever he is.”

Xiuyan stared at him. She was smiling, hands on her hips and looking impressed! “Wow, you’re so good with kids!”

Sid shuffled awkwardly. It was nice to have her here, but it was still very uncomfortable. “It… uh… comes with the territory.”

Heng sniffled a little, getting both of their attention. He looked up at Xiuyan, and she flinched back at the sheer cuteness: he had turned up the puppy dog eyes. “Since you two are friends, i-is it alright if you stay here with us? At least until my brother comes back.”

Sid hid a choke with a cough. Xiuyan hadn’t intended to leave any time soon anyway - which was a problem - but Heng cementing it would just make this worse. “No problem, little dude!” She said. “I’d love to hang with you two. It’ll be just like at school!”

Sid nodded along, but inside he was panicking. Xiuyan obviously couldn’t stay here to wait for Heng’s brother, seeing as she was Heng’s brother. If she stayed here long enough she would change back in front of Heng and everyone else, which would come with a whole new set of problems. There was no way that this was a good idea, but he couldn't tell them why.

“Sid!”

He jumped out of his thoughts. “Um, what?”

Xiuyan frowned at him. “I said this so-called brother would have to be a real jerk to leave a kid this cute alone with someone who isn’t family. So he’s got to be back soon.” She tapped her chin. “Though you’d know him better than I would. Maybe he is a real jerk.”

“Nuh uh!” Heng spoke up. “My brother's rude sometimes, but he’s nice! He likes me… I think…”

Xiuyan just shrugged. “If you say so kid. I’m rude too, but wouldn’t keep my peeps waiting. Right, Sid?” She smirked again, and looped her arm around Sid's waist.

Sid chuckled weakly. “Hehe… yeah…” He was sweating bullets, and not for the reasons she thought he was. This was too weird. Having her here like this was going to drive him crazy. He needed an out.

He took a big gulp to calm himself down (Xiuyan said “oooh” from beside him) and tried to figure out ths situation. Zhu-Ying explained it once, but he was always so technical that you could hardly understand any of the words.

When Zhu changed, there was a whole collection of traits and mannerisms that got mixed into his personality, but he was still him. Just... you know... a girl. But sometimes those traits came in stronger, which was what the ring was for. It kept his original self from being suppressed. So that meant what Sid was looking at now was a rare glimpse at what those traits looked like on their own: like Zhu-Ying, but with some essential parts missing.

As Zhu had described it, without the ring what Xiu remembered was built on pieces… or fragments?… of experiences from when Zhu-Ying has her. She still had those memories, but everything Zhu brought to them was gone. Due to them being best friends and close confidants Zhu-Ying hung out with Sid all the time at school even when he was Xiuyan, so maybe even without her male side she remembered Sid as her friend. Or more, from the way she was looking at him…

He would think about that part later.

But Zhu never wanted his family to know what was happening, so he never went home as Xiu, and so Xiuyan didn’t even remember she had a brother. Like a piece of her family history - nearly all of it, in fact - was just cut away from her. She could spent all afternoon with Heng and have no recognition of who he really was. It was a little freaky to think about.

Luckily he had a plan, but it would be tricky. “Well, why don’t we take a look around while we wait?” He blurted out. He really hoped his panic didn’t show in his voice. Xiuyan was looking at him weird.

It didn’t seem to bother Heng, though. The stadium was big and exciting, and he really hoped to get a tour. It was one of the reasons he bolted off in the first place. “Can we get hot dogs?!” He squealed, and Sid could hardly say no. In fact, it would work to his advantage.

“At the rate these stadium hot dogs go for, the probability of this kid clearing out your wallet is pretty close to one.” Xiuyan said, chuckling. She knelt down next to Heng. “Especially since I’m going to eat twice as many!” The two laughed together, and Heng hopped in step with Xiuyan as the two walked towards the stairs while Sid took up the rear with all their stuff.

“You’re really smart!” Heng said to her.

She grinned smugly. “Thanks, I try.”

“My brother’s really smart too.” He went on. “He’s like the best in his class!”

“Really? Hm… I wonder if we’ve met…”

Xiuyan had no idea, but hopefully not for long. While they were talking, Sid dug into the Zhu’s bag and pulled out the ring. This could get awkward, but it was the only way to fix this quickly.

He walked up to the two of them and put a hand on Xiuyan’s shoulder. They both looked back at him, which saved him from having to get the kid’s attention too. “Heng, you go on ahead. I want to talk to Xiuyan.”

Heng pouted. “Aww, but…”

“Go. I’ll…” he sighed. His poor wallet. “I’ll get you an extra hot dog.”

“Yay!”

Heng practically skipped ahead, the conversation instantly forgotten. Sid now had Xiu all to himself, and was unlikely to be interrupted for a least a minute or two.

Xiu smiled incredulously. “That was subtle. So what do you want to talk about, Siddy boy? Not anything-” she chuckled. “-dangerous, I hope.”

He gulped again and tried to get the words out right. Why did he have to start stammering now? “W-well… uh… Xiuyan… I just wanted to say thanks for bringing Heng back.” She almost waved it off, but Sid kept going. He had to rip that band aid off. “I-I mean, I really appreciate your friendship, and I wanted you to have this.” He shut his eyes and pushed the ring at her.

With his eyes shut he couldn't see her face, but from the way she gasped he was sure her eyes were bulging. “Is this…” she breathed. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Whatever you think it is, that’s what it is. For sure,” he mumbled, hoping she would take the bait. Luckily, she didn't make him wait. She practically snatched the ring out of his hand, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, he would have Zhu back momentarily.

But before he did, he felt something wet touch the side of his face, and he opened his eyes to see her leaning up to his side pressing her lips against his face as she slowly slipped the ring onto her finger.

“When I said dangerous, I didn’t mean this dangerous!” She whispered, somehow bold and shy at the same time. “But thank you. I feel the same… the same… I feel…” The ring was on her finger, and she suddenly got a vague look in her eyes as all her missing parts filled in at once. “I…”

She fell faint against him, just for a moment. When she came back to herself she looked up at Sid, and he was double relieved to see real recognition in her eyes.

“S-sid? Holy crap!” She shot away from Sid like her friend was made of lava. Now that her mind was Zhu-Ying’s again, she would have no trouble remembering everything. “I-I’m sorry, I… that is, I wasn’t…”

“It’s okay.” Now that the panic was over, Sid had no way to keep himself from going red. “I know you weren’t yourself.”

“I’ll say. I can’t believe I acted like that.” She said, and she looked over at Heng with lost eyes. “I was staring right at him, and… nothing. Like he was just some random nameless kid in trouble. It’s scary.”

“I bet.” It had not escaped Sid how unsettling a change like that was, and it wasn't even him going through it. But that wasn’t quite what he was thinking about.. “So I… uh… had to do that to get you back to normal, but… this won’t make things awkward between us, will it?”

“You mean, your romantic gesture with my girl side? Possibly.” Zhu-Ying wasn’t one to sugarcoat anything. Somehow, she could look at this purely analytically. “Since without the ring Xiuyan cannot access any memories that I have made myself, it stands to reason that since that’s a memory I made without myself, I won’t remember it at all when I change back into a guy.” As usual, he paused to let Sid try to absorb that sentence. “Of course, that’s just a theory. But I’ll definitely remember it every time I become Xiuyan from now on. And since I made that memory while being her exclusively, while academically I know what was really happening, the emotions she… I… had at the time are almost certainly going to stick with me. Even now I almost feel… betrayed… even though I know there’s no reason why I should.”

Sid smirked, mostly to cover how uncomfortable this was. “You’re saying girl-you really likes the idea of going out with the Sid-man, is really pissed that she won’t, and you’re just going to have to deal with it.”

She blushed again. “Shut up.” They didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and Zhu’s attention went back to Heng. She now looked at him like the big brother, or sister at the moment, that she was. “I need to go, don’t I? How am I going to ditch you guys without messing him up?”

Sid thought about it, then shrugged. “Do you feel like you’re about to change back?”

Zhu winced. He could sometimes force it, or at least think he forced it. Sometimes it felt like the change had a mind of its own, and only let him think there was any consistency to it. “Well, no, but…”

“Then don’t go until you do. You have to stick around us anyway.”

“But…” She started to panic. Sid thought it was about time it wasn’t him for once. “But I can’t just pretend to be Xiuyan around Heng!”

“You do it all the time at school.” Sid said. “Plus, more memories like this mean that next time you lose that ring you won’t up and forget him, right?”

He was right, not that Zhu-Ying liked it very much. She frowned, but could find no reason to disagree beyond just not wanting to deal with this now, or ever. “But-“

“Are you guys talking about gross teenager stuff back there?” Heng’s voice suddenly cut back at them. He was running back. They both snapped to attention, just in case they let anything slip.

“Um… yeah, kid.” Zhu said awkwardly, trying to keep the same chipper tone she had before. That meant none of the mostly fake disdain he usually had as an older sibling. “Total grossfest.”

“Eugh,” Heng groaned. His eyes lit up with a subject change. He beamed up at Sid. “Hey, did we tell you we totally met Beau Howell?!”

Sid’s eyes widened, and his whipped his head around to Zhu who was cringing badly. It was an odd reaction from such a superfan. “You did? No way!”

Zhu-Ying went from cringing to scowling, remembering bitterly that when she met Beau she’d had no memory of who he was and would have to keep up the charade. “Some baseball player guy, yeah. I guess that might have been his name.” She grumbled. Every syllable was pain. “It was nothing, but he gave me this, though.”

She jerked the autograph in Sid’s direction, who didn’t miss the way she was frowning in the opposite direction. One look at it could tell him why. It was an autograph all right, but it was signed to Xiuyan. Once again, the change had messed something up.

“Yeah!” Heng pouted, oblivious to the girl’s reaction. “He didn’t even give it to me! He gave it to her! And I wanted it for my brother!”

Sid’s mouth twitched. “Well, I’m sure… heh…” He stopped to hold it in. “… I’m sure it’s the thought that counts… hehehe…” Zhu-Ying was glaring daggers at him, but he didn’t care. “And, hehehehe, I least you got one Xiuyan!” And he doubled over with laughter, wheezing and cackling and totally unable to stop himself.

Zhu-Ying punched him in the side, but it had no effect. “Hey, cut it out. Stop laughing!”

Heng stared back and forth between them. “What’s so funny!”

“Nothing!” Zhu squeaked, stumbling back from the scene, which just made Sid laugh harder. She was caught between a secret and ironic humiliation, and it was just too funny for her friend to ignore. As far as the weird adventures they had thanks to Zhu-Ying’s “condition” went, this would be one of Sid’s favorites for a long time…