Friends are Family (Asian MILF & Hot Sister TG/RC/AP) (Patreon)

Sorry for the lateness on this one, everybody. I'd intended for this story to have two parts this month, but after getting back from holiday I've been seriously knocked around by a virus, and have gone (GASP!) five full days being literally unable to even think about writing. I'm slowly getting over the hill now. This part is mostly set up to come, but don't worry, soon we'll start seeing the slow transformation of rascal Matthew into a sexy older Asian tiger mom, and nerdy David into a hot and busty cheerleader type, just as you voted. 

Summary:

When Tim learns that his lonely dad is making him move away from his beloved hometown in hopes of finding a family elsewhere, he makes a wish upon a strange stone that his best friends David and Matthew could always remain part of ‘his family.’ Soon, all three are shocked when the metaphor of the wish becomes literal and David and Matthew find themselves becoming Tim’s hot older sister Naomi and MILFy new Asian tiger mom Amy. Now all three must navigate their strange new relationships to one another.

Part One: The Wish

Timothy simply couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“What do you mean we’re moving elsewhere? This is where we live, Dad!”

Tim’s dad sighed in his sofa chair. He had that depressive look in his eye, and there was a bottle beside him on the table that was half empty.

“It’s just time, Tim. I’m sorry, mate. We need a new environment. This town has too many bad memories for me, and I think it would be best for the both of us if we went to the big city and got some new experiences.”

“Best for you, you mean,” Tim said. “This is because you’re feeling lonely again, isn’t it? You’re going to rip up my life and take me elsewhere purely because you can’t get over Mom leaving us.”

His father gave him a wearied look in the eye. “It’s not just that, Tim-”

“Bullshit!” Tim cried. “This is all about you! You just want to pack us up and go elsewhere so you can find a new wife, all because you can’t be happy here because she left you!”

“She left us, Tim.”

“She left you.”

“You don’t know the full story.”

“I know that it’s put you in a damn depression for years now, and that I’ve had to rely on David and Matthew more than I’ve had to rely on you.”

His father narrowed his eyes. “I’ve worked hard all these years. I come home exhausted.”

“You’re depressed, Dad. And now you think that dragging us across to the other half of the country will be some great improvement, but it won’t! I know you and Mom ruined your teens when you had me, but don’t ruin mine!”

Tears bubbled to the surface of Tim’s eyes, and he turned and ran upstairs to his room, furious, leaving his father in silence. The young sixteen-year old would not normally be so abrasive with his father, but the news that they would be leaving Birch Haven had rocked him to the core. He had spent his whole life growing up in the small mountain town, and despite his childhood woes, he truly loved it. The fresh air, the mysterious forests, the gorgeous rivers, the small town atmosphere where everyone knew everyone else, it was special, somehow.

The last point was particularly important, because that phrase about ‘taking a whole village to raise a child’ was what saved Tim. He had been born Tim Liu-Johnson, to his father Tony Johnson and his mother Amy Liu. The pair were only sixteen when he was conceived. By tradition, many young couples in Birch Haven went out to Haverly Rock in the woods, which was known to be a makeout spot. Teens snuck out to go camping together, sometimes with partners their parents didn’t approve of. As Tim had heard the story go, his father and mother had a crush on each other, stronger on his dad’s side as it turned out, and both had gotten a little too tipsy drinking alcohol that the rebellious Amy had taken from her strict father’s cabinet. One thing led to another and boom, the pair were set to be teen parents.

According to Tony, he’d been excited and supportive, but Amy Liu had been terrified throughout the entire pregnancy. Her parents were aghast. They had a real strict Asian parents thing going on, being real traditional Chinese. And at the time, there was judgement from some corners of the town as well. Still, they rallied to help the young pair in the end. After Timothy was born, the young parents tried to make it work. Tony worked hard at a hardware store, while Amy raised little Tim up. It wasn’t set to last, though. Even when he was just learning to walk, the arguments between Tony and Amy permeated throughout the house. Tim couldn’t understand these arguments, but it was his father who always tried to soothe things over and make them right. He knew even from a young age that his father loved his mother, but that his mother didn’t have the same love back.

Timothy was only six when Amy walked out the door and never looked back. She didn’t give him so much as a goodbye kiss and hug. Tim could still remember the look of her. She was gorgeous, beautiful, with silky black hair and the full Chinese features he’d half-inherited. Her figure had allegedly once been slim, but he remembered - with a little embarrassment - that she was quite full in the chest and hips, and many in the town remembered her beauty when he asked about her. Amy’s parents were as shocked as anyone. They had forgiven their daughter, come to love little Timothy, but clearly it wasn’t enough for the young mother. She needed to escape. Where that was, neither had any idea. Tony tried to pursue her for a while, but lost track of her, and in the end it was left to him to be a single father to Tim. He worked incredibly hours to support the pair, eventually coming to own the hardware store he still worked at today as a thirty-three year old, but it meant he was often absent from Tim’s life. His maternal grandparents did their best to help raise him, even teaching him some Mandarin and giving him many family heirlooms and gifts, but they were sickly by nature, and they passed away when Tim was only eleven years old.

All of this meant that Timothy grew up a stranger, one foot in his father’s life, another in those of his maternal grandparents, and both world’s as fragile as the porcelain he’d inherited. He became broody, quiet, and didn’t know his place. It was two older boys, David and Matthew, who saved him. He was exploring the wilderness, as he often did when thoughtful, when he accidentally tripped and fell into the powerful river that ran near the basin. He was terrified of drowning, but two boys nearby on their bikes rescued him. He was only eleven at the time. David was thirteen, and Matthew was fourteen, and the pair had laughed as they helped him recover. David was a total nerd of a kid, four eyes and thin, with sandy blonde hair and wide blue eyes. But he loved exploring, was a genius with survival training, and had dreams of becoming a ranger. Matthew was taller and stronger, and like David loved exploring and biking as well. He was more sporty in general, but had a rascally, rules-breaking vibe to him. His always-spiky red hair and gap-toothed smile attested to this.

From that day, they had ‘adopted’ Tim into their little tribe. The three snuck out into the woods, rode around on their bikes, sat together at lunch in school despite their year gaps, and generally spent long afternoons playing old video games and finding stupid stuff to do. For Timothy, who’s experience of family had always been so fragile, it was like getting a taste of something he’d always yearned for and yet had never truly understood until now. And for five wonderful years, those two friendships had seen him through so much, even as his father’s depression returned, even as his attempts to woo Stacey Chatts flummoxed, even as puberty began, even as he occasionally yearned to know his mother once more.

But now, thanks to his father, it was all being ripped away.

Tim wiped his tears again, staring at the mirror. His black hair was messy again. It had that habit all the time. He did his best to adjust it, sighed, and grabbed his emergency backpack.

“It’s not damn fair,” he muttered to himself. “I’m sixteen! If he’d just waited two more years, or maybe four just so I could get on my feet, then he could leave. I’d miss him like all hell but I don’t want to leave Birch Haven. This fucking sucks!”

He sighed as he put his gear on. He took his phone and texted David and Matthew. Emergency Meeting. By the basin. You know where. Can you make it in the next hour?

Both must have had boring Saturdays going on, because they both replied within the next ten minutes. Tim sniffed again, wiped another tear.

“Goddamnit,” he muttered.

He opened his shutter window and snuck out onto the side roof of the house, dropping onto the front yard. His dad wouldn’t look for him. He’d be glued to the sofa. And if he did look, he could probably guess where he’d gone.

***

David and Matthew were aghast at the news. The eighteen and nineteen year old looked at Tim with shock. David had to adjust his glasses several times, as was his habit when nervous, but Matthew simply turned and kicked a heap of rocks on the edge of the lake.

“Sorry,” he said, “it just seemed to be the most appropriate reaction.”

“Yeah, I punched a wall,” Tim said, showing them his slightly bruised and bloodied fist. “I think I punched it too hard.

“Damn, dude,” Matthew said. “David, get us some disinfectant and a bandage, will ya?”

David, who never went anywhere without his survival pack, passed it over. Matthew began fixing up Tim’s hand, sighing at his younger friend’s behaviour. He couldn’t blame Tim, not really, he’d be angry himself if he had to leave Birch Town. But punching the wall wasn’t helping anything.

“Next time, punch something softer, buddy,” he said. “Or maybe just get a bit fitter before you start throwing punches.”

Tim smirked. “Yeah, yeah. Can always trust you to parent me, Matt.”

Matt shrugged. “What can I say, I’ve got a real motherly glow about me.” He gave a gap-toothed grin, his hair as mussed up as ever.

“Yeah, sure,” Tim said, not remotely convinced, though it was true to an extent: Matthew was generally the ‘parent’ of the group, helping them with their scratches, getting David out of trouble with his shitty abusive dad. He was equally adept at getting them into trouble though, a fact that made Matt quite proud, except when they got lost that one night in the woods and only David’s nerdy expertise saved them from frostbite. Or bears.

“Look, I’m real sorry about this Tim,” he continued. “But surely it’s just your dad having another whine again? He’s said stuff like this before, right?”

“Never this seriously.”

“Well, maybe he’s just down in the gloom again.”

“He’s bought tickets, Matt. He’s taking us away. Across multiple states. I won’t get to see you guys again.”

“We can do calls?” David said. “Play games online, when my Dad is asleep, that is. He hates it when I play. But I can risk it. And we can do video chats.”

Tim grabbed a rock and threw it across the lake. It skipped across the calm, beautiful water. The far distant side of the lake was bathed in the radiant afternoon sun. It was gorgeous: a reminder of everything he would be saying goodbye to.

“We can try,” he said. “But it won’t last. That shit never does. Mom said she’d call.”

“Dude, we’re not your Mom,” Matt said. “We’re your friends.”

“Your family,” David added. “From a certain sociological perspective.”

“Yeah, that nerd thing David just said.”

Tim nodded sadly. “That’s just it, you are my family, and Dad’s taking that from me. It fucking sucks.”

“We could stage a protest,” David suggested. It seemed a good idea to him, at least.

The two others didn’t think so.

“What about if we ran away and survived in the wild past your leaving date? I’ve refined some of my plans, and I’ve been researching a lot of modern scout techniques lately on wilderness living. I estimate we could probably make it nearly thirty days before we run the risk of exposure. Frostbite may be an issue if we get another temperature drop, though.”

For a moment, Matthew and Tim looked at their wiry friend, both amused. David had the serious, wide-eyed look of someone who genuinely was considering going that far, for all of them. Of course, he’d probably love it anyway. A small part of David was already getting quite keen on the notion.

“I think that’ll just delay the inevitable,” Tim said.

“There’s got to be something we can do, though,” Matthew said. “Can’t we just kidnap your dad or something? Actually, maybe Dave is onto something. We could just skip out of town on our bikes. I could even nip Dave’s dad’s car. I’m qualified now, after all.”

It was what made Matt the undisputed coolest of the three of them: he had his full licence, even if he didn’t exactly have a car.

“I think Dad would beat the shit out of me if that happened,” David said.

“Yeah,” Matt said.

The group fell into silence. Tim picked up a stone that was nice and flat, and skipped it across the surface of the lake. Six skips. Then he found another, and hurled it as well. Seven skips.

“Nice,” Matthew said, impressed. “But check this shit out.”

He flung one that managed nine skips. “Your turn, David.”

David picked one up. “Well, if I account for the wind variance, and the resistance of the waterline, and find the right stone with the proper aerodynamic form . . .”

Matt mussed his hair. “Hurry up, nerd!”

“Stop playing with my hair! Here we go. Now look at this.”

David managed to sail his rock immediately into a tree. He went red with embarrassment, and it took him a moment to face his friends. “I think I calculated that wrong.”

“I think you calculated your muscle mass wrong,” Matthew said, ribbing him, “you’ve got all the coordination of, uh . . . an uncoordinated thing.”

“Real quick,” Tim said. “Very witty!”

“Damn it, maybe we do need to get rid of you!” Matt replied.

The three laughed, ribbing and stirring one another as they continued to skip stones. Tim remained more broody, and a pallor hung over the wider proceedings, but they did their best to cheer one another on, particularly when David managed to succeed in getting a ‘whopping’ three skips off of a supposedly ‘perfect’ rock. His intense love of survivalism and scouting clearly didn’t extend to the art of skipping stones, but it buoyed Tim a bit, making him chuckle. They continued this for some time, exchanging increasingly ridiculous ways of convincing Tony to stay. Most suggestions revolved around Matthew: the young man literally worked at Tony’s hardware store, and so he knew Tim’s dad somewhat well, and Tony clearly liked the boy, despite his occasional goofery. “A good egg who’ll end up right,” Tim had once heard Tony call Matt.

“Maybe you can woo him,” David said.

“Ewww, gross!”

“Woo was the wrong word. Charm him.”

“Still not better, dude.”

“Let’s just cut all chatter about people ‘charming’ my Dad, okay?” Tim said. “Let’s just skip stones and - hey, this one looks cool!”

He picked up a particularly shiny stone. It was, as David would put it, perfectly aerodynamic. Like a flying saucer that was simply meant to be skipped across the lake. But that wasn’t the strangest thing about it. Its surface was shiny, containing a rainbow-like pattern that shimmered as he adjusted it and folded it over in his hands. It was about the size of a single palm, but had an impressive heft to it. It seemed to almost tingle with power, though that had to be nonsense. David and Matthew looked at it with interest, and David in particular was caught by it. His fascination was inflamed by his own geological knowledge, none of which matched the stone, and the many rumours that abounded Birch Haven over what it could be.

“It looks like a Wishing Stone,” he said.

“A what now?”

“Haven’t you heard of it? Either of you?”

Matthew shrugged. “I see a rock, I throw it. Usually at cars by the wrecking yard, but skipping here is nice. Isn’t it just some water stone?”

David rolled his eyes. “This is why every group needs a nerd who knows his history. According to legend around Birch Haven, Wishing Stones look just like this. Sorta rainbow-like, strange to the touch, and radiating power. Supposedly, you’re meant to skip them across the lake just like we’re doing now. But you make a wish first, and the wish comes true.”

Tim considered this. The rock really was strange. And it did seem to shimmer with power. Of course, such things were just weird folk tales on the little mountain valley town. Still, it made him smile at the thought.

“How about this, then,” he said to the other two. “I wish you guys could be my family for life.”

And with that, he skipped the stone across the water. It skipped, and it skipped, and it skipped, and the trio looked on in awe as the Wishing Stone seemed to defy gravity and the laws of momentum, continuing its journey at the same speed until it reached the very centre of the lake far, far in the distance.

“That’s . . . not possible. Einstein would hate this,” David said.

“Yeah, uh, am I seeing this?” Matthew asked.

“It’s real,” Tim said, eyes wide.

The stone exploded into a plume of radiant, multicoloured light. A shockwave cascaded out, causing their hair to whip about, their clothing too. It ruffled the trees, and for a moment, the many birds in the trees fell silent.

“Holy shit,” Matthew said. “You’re right, David. That was a Wishing Stone. Hot damn!”

“And I wished for you guys to be my family for life.”

David puzzled over this. The wording, he considered, was a little strange. But he chose not to say anything, because Tim pulled both of the older boys in for a hug.

“It’s going to happen!” he declared. “I’m not going anywhere! I’m staying right here with you guys!”

They whooped and cheered like they were young boys again, basking in the light of the vanished stone even as it slowly faded away.

“Things are going to stay exactly the same,” Tim said proudly, finally feeling hopeful.

But he was wrong. None of them knew it just yet, but things were about to change in a big, big way that they could never have predicted. As they parted for the night, and Tim headed back to his house with a big grin on his face, David and Matthew couldn’t help but feel a little strange.

Their skin just felt a little itchy. A little off. It was the signal of only the first change to come.

To Be Continued . . .