breddy oneshots❤🎻

chinese new year

“Long ma jing…what’s that again?” Brett squinted at his little cheat sheet. “Shen? Long ma jing shen. Shen ti jian kang. Aha, got that. And that’s uh, gon…gong xi fa…cai.” He rubbed his eyes blearily. It’s the first day of Chinese New Year tomorrow, and he’s supposed to be Skyping with both his and Eddy’s family, who happen to be in Taiwan. And can only speak Chinese.

Brett groaned helplessly. He’d been ‘studying’ some Chinese greetings for the past hour and was still struggling with some of the harder ones. He could have asked Eddy for help, but Eddy had been practicing and Brett didn’t want to admit that his Chinese sucks. He muttered something about regretting skipping his Sunday Chinese lessons during high school, and went back to studying his cheat sheet.

When Eddy came out, the first thing he saw was Brett ruffling and unruffling his hair as he repeated Chinese phrases. One look at the sight of Brett’s poor hair already told Eddy his boyfriend is beyond stressed at this point.

“Hey, don’t worry about tomorrow.” Eddy smiled and wrapped his arms around Brett from behind, kissing the top of his head. “They won’t mind if you can’t
pronounce ‘Bu bu gao sheng’ correctly.”

Brett shook his head. “But what if they don’t like me? I mean it’s the first time I-”
He was cut off by a kiss. Eddy sucked on his lips, his warm hands tugging gently at his waist to provide reassurance.

“You’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”

---

“Hallo hallo.” The talking person’s head was still a blur when the audio connected. A hand waved over the camera and seemed to have fixed the angle, because in the next moment, Mrs Chen’s head showed up on the screen. “Hallo? Can you hear us lah?”

“Gong xi fa cai! Yes, we can hear you fine.” Eddy beamed at the camera, waving furiously as his grandparents’ figures came into view as well.

“Ah Cheng!” Grandma Chen smiled warmly, greeting his grandson in Chinese. “My, how you’ve grown! Have you grown taller again?”

Eddy laughed. “Nainai,” He responded in Chinese, his voice cracking as he kept laughing. “I’m 28. I’m not supposed to be growing any taller.”

“No lah.” Grandpa Chen chimed in. “You’ll always be my little Ah Cheng. I remember you used to sit on my lap and cry because your mom wouldn’t let you have any candies before lunch…”

Eddy groaned - “Yeye!”and hid his face in his hands from embarrassment, while Mrs Chen was cackling from the other side of the camera. Several more uncles and aunties came into view, and Eddy greeted them joyously one by one, exchanging greetings with some of his cousins as well.

Brett sat awkwardly next to Eddy, still out of shot. He jumped as he heard his name.
“-Brett? Where is Brett lah?”

Brett peered at the camera as Mrs Chen went on about Eddy not letting Brett join in the call. Eddy giggled and wrapped an arm around Brett’s shoulder to pull him close.

“Here he is!”

“Uh, hi?” Brett squeaked at the camera.

“Hello Brett!” The older Chens greeted Brett enthusiastically. Brett waved nervously back at them.

The audio pinged as Belle and her husband joined in the call. “Hello everyone!” Belle said her greetings in Chinese, while her husband just nodded along.

“Belle!” Mrs Chen replied happily. “Now we have everyone! Come, come, everyone. Make me happy and I'll give you electronic red packets lah!”

“Me first!” Belle quipped. “Gong xi fa cai, shen ti jian kang, Mama, Nainai, qing chun chang zhu!”

Grandma Chen nodded approvingly. “Good girl Ah Bei. Let Mama help Nainai give you an electronic red packet lah.”

Belle indicated her husband to say his greetings, who did do so in Chinese with some difficulty. “Shen…ti jian… kang…?” He glanced at Belle questioningly, who just nodded encouragingly. He managed to force out a few (slightly mispronounced) Chinese greetings, but the elder Chens seem to be very satisfied with his performance.

“Red packet for you too!”

“My turn! Gong xi fa cai, shen ti jian kang, qing chun chang zhu, bu bu gao sheng, jin yu man tang, xin xiang shi cheng, wan shi ru yi, nian nian you yu…” Eddy rattled on and on, until Mrs Chen held up to stop him.

“Yes, thank you Eddy. I get that you are working very hard to earn you red packets.”

Everyone erupted in laughter as Eddy feigned a pout.

When the laughter had died down, all the members of the Chen family turned to look at Brett expectantly.

Brett gulped. He had been dreading this moment since last night. He might have met Mrs Chen before – for many times, in fact – but it was the first time he officially ‘met’ the rest of the Chens. He was worried that they might not like him or judge him for his questionable Chinese.

Eddy recognized the look of panic in  his boyfriend’s eyes, and gently interlaced their fingers out of shot. He squeezed his hand and smiled at him for support.

Brett took a deep breath. “Ah yi,” He addressed Mrs Chen. “zhu ni long ma jing shen, chu ru ping an, .” He felt the time stop as he waited for Mrs Chen’s response. His breath was hitched and the tension in the air was so thick he could slice it apart with a knife.

He froze as Mrs Chen frowned. “Hmm, I don’t like that. No red packet for you lah.”

“MOM?” Eddy started to protest indignantly, but was stopped as Mrs Chen held up her hand.

“Why do you call me Ah yi lah? I will only give you a red packet if you call me Mom!”

Brett barely heard Mrs Chen’s words as he could only feel his heart beating way too fast in his ribcage. Didn’t Mrs Chen like him? What if they make Eddy break up with him? What if-

He came back to his senses a few seconds later, and took a few more to register Mrs Chen words. His face flushed bright pink as he finally understood the underlying meaning in her words.

Brett hid his face in Eddy’s shoulder as the latter whispered to him. “Well? What should you call her?”

“Mom.” Brett squeaked at the camera for the second time today, too shy and embarrassed to talk properly.

“Good boy!” Mrs Chen nodded. “A red packet for my other son!”

“Thanks, …mom.” Brett responded timidly.

“No worries!” Mrs Chen winked at Brett. “You hear that, Eddy? Quickly marry Brett so he can be my son as well lah!”

This time it was Eddy who hid his face in Brett’s shoulder.
 
~end~

Characters:
Ah Cheng 阿丞 ／ 陳韋丞 (Eddy)
Ah Bei 阿貝 ／ 陳佳貝 (Belle)
Mama 媽媽 (Mom)
Nainai 奶奶 (Grandma)
Yeye 爺爺 (Grandpa)

Greetings:
Long ma jing shen 龍馬精神
Shen ti jian kang 身體健康
Gong xi fa cai 恭喜發財
Bu bu gao sheng 步步高陞
Qing chun chang zhu 青春常駐
Jin yu man tang 金玉滿堂
Xin xiang shi cheng 心想事成
Wan shi ru yi 萬事如意
Nian nian you yu 年年有餘
Chu ru ping an 出入平安
Zhu ni… 祝你...