Strolling around the city + lunch impromptu date

After their little breakfast, they decided to stroll around the city. They walked around leisurely, stopping by in front of shops to look at displays showcasing food or some kind of foreign product. At some point, they came across a music store.

And by music store, it's specifically a guitar store. They decided to go inside anyways to check it out.

"Hey Brett, look at this guitar," Brett heard from across the shop. He left the basses he was looking at that reminded him of the little collaboration they did with a certain YouTube channel.

Brett found Eddy with the classical guitars. "Bro, it looks exactly like your dad's guitar. Except, you know, it has all six strings instead of three," Eddy said, gesturing to the nylon-stringed instrument, smiling brightly. Brett found himself smiling as well, taking the guitar and putting it in place, standing awkwardly. He's not exactly the best guitarist seeing his main instrument is the violin, but he does remember one piece he tried to learn once.

He plays the first few measures of Andantino in C Major, right hand fingers playing a clumsy pizzicato. Paganini is indeed the source of pain for many musicians, including classical guitarists. Looking up from his messy try at fingerpicking, he sees Eddy with his mouth slightly open, gaping at him.

"That was actually... unexpectedly good," Eddy said. Brett felt himself getting flustered, hand messing up his hair out of habit. "It's not really that good," Brett confesses. "My dad played it much better." Brett put back the guitar in its place, reminiscing about impromptu duets and unofficial guitar lessons. "Well, I think it's pretty good considering that you play a whole 'nother instrument."

"Violin gang still has bigger pp than guitar gang though," Brett said jokingly. He never really used guitar picks, and he remembers being enraptured by watching his dad's fingers nimbly going over strings making amazing music. Eddy laughed at that, and then they looked through the music books. They joked about guitarists not knowing how to read sheet music and playing pop music all the time.

As they strolled out of the shop, Eddy thought about what would be the funniest song to serenade Brett to. It has to be unbearably cheesy, and it has to be a pop song. Probably something by Shawn Mendes or Ed Sheeran. Shape of You pops into his mind and he laughs out loud, earning a weird look from Brett.

"Dude, should we do violin covers again? It's been forever since we did one," Eddy proposed. Brett looked down, thinking about it. Eddy secretly wishes he'd say yes so he can sneak in a few love songs to an unsuspecting Brett, but nobody needs to know that.

"Nah, I think we have enough videos to do. We still have to practice for the Sibelius drop." Eddy felt himself deflate at the reminder, "Simp Sibelius" ringing in his head accompanied by ding dings from a triangle. Right, they're like 420k away from the drop, and they still have a few promises to fulfill.

"You ever gonna practice Ernst's Last Rose of Summer?" Eddy asked with a knowing grin. "That video has had over 50k likes for forever, man." Brett's face deadpanned at that. Brett groaned with a grimace, "I already did the Tchaik drop, though. They don't know how hard it is to even just get the motivation to get my 40 hours in." Eddy laughed, knowing shared misery is more fun.

They passed by an arcade, and Eddy stopped walking when he spotted a crane machine. It had a koala in it that has the same expression Brett always carries, and Eddy found himself getting coins and Brett shaking his head at him with a smile.

"Dude, you know they're rigged right?" Brett watched Eddy, who looked way too excited. Eddy had a determined look in his face though, and Brett felt fond. Eddy tried once, twice, three times, each time steeling his face more after 2 seconds of defeat. On the fourth try, Eddy managed to snag the koala plushie. He hugged it and Brett took a picture of him then of both of them.

"What should we name this cutie?" Eddy asked, his face buried in the gray softness. Brett found it terribly cute. "We have Sibelius and Ding Ding at home already," Brett mused, more to himself. "I guess we can name him Tchaikovsky," he said with a shrug.

"Alright. Here you go then." Eddy handed him the plush. "Meet your son, he looks exactly like you," Eddy said with an open-toothed smile, his lips distractedly shiny. Brett gingerly took the plushie, muttered a small "thank you" and hugged the koala.

They had a few coins left, so Brett got dragged further inside the arcade by an overexcited 27-year-old man. Brett rolled his eyes at his best friend's antics and buried his smile behind the plushie in his arms.

The floor of the arcade was dark with some kind of space-themed pattern, lit overhead by weak lights from the ceiling. The line where the wall connects with the ceiling is lined by neon lights, casting pink, blue, and green glows in its vicinity. Sounds of different games mix together: fishing games, a Spongebob-themed jump rope game, a whack-a-mole, those coin dropper games only your mom would play. There's some kids crowding around a giant screen playing that game where the chicken crosses the road.

Eddy dragged Brett to a game where the objective seems to be to press the button right as a light going around the entire console lands on the button. Brett isn't really all that interested but Eddy looks adorable when he's concentrating on something, so Brett stands by idly. He saw a basketball game earlier, he'll drag Eddy there once he's done.

Eddy has amassed a good amount of tickets after hitting the button only a second too late or too early twice. On the third time, he manages to get it just right and-

"YES! I got it Brett, I got it!" Eddy yells, his eyes and mouth wide open and the game beeps obnoxiously while puking out tickets. "Good job, bro," Brett says as Eddy bends down to get their tickets. Eddy looks satisfied, "Let's go get this on the ticket counter."

As the machine eats up the tickets, Brett eyes Eddy, who is humming and swaying his head. How cute. His fringe is all up on his golden glasses, and he looks magical right under the ceiling light. Eddy looks right at him, and grins. Brett hugs Tchaikovsky tighter, smiling back at Eddy.

Brett doesn't need his heart, that's okay. He gave it to Eddy years ago.

"Dude, we got 345 tickets!" Eddy exclaims. "Alright, you had your fun. Now come with me," Brett says, grabbing Eddy's arm to pull him to the basketball game (Eddy's tall, he's got some use).

"Gimme the coins," Brett commanded with his hand out. Eddy obeyed meekly, and the machine lit up to life. "Alright, 1v1, let's go. Loser pays for lunch," Brett challenges Eddy with a smirk, and Eddy is very smitten with this smol man exuding such confidence.

"You're on."

Eddy had the advantage of having experience playing basketball in high school, but he knows not to underestimate his best mate. Those legs can jump a good amount and Brett can grab the balls faster because he's shorter.

However, Brett still lost, only by a 2 point lead by Eddy. Eddy nudged Brett by the shoulder. "Guess you're paying for lunch," he says while Brett rolls his eyes. "Alright, alright, now grab your tickets and we'll just take it straight to the prize counter. They have a counter anyways."

At the prize counter, Brett stuck his face to the glass, staring down at the cheap prizes. His eyes land on a dumb Chinese finger trap and smiled to himself remembering the time they got one a long time ago and getting both their fingers stuck in it. He looks at the other items: small slinkies, decks of cards, sad consolation prize candies, and- oh. Bubble tea keychains.

"Yo Eddy, they got bubble tea keychains!" Brett says to Eddy, his hands still flat on the glass. "Yeah, I saw them. We'll get them, gimme your tickets and ima go ask."

Brett checked his phone while Eddy dealt with getting the prizes. As they walked out of the arcade, Eddy gave him the bubble tea keychain... along with a little violin keychain and a plastic sword.

"Dude, what the heck?" Brett laughs, as he takes each item. "Look, I got us both one of each so we can match, see?" Eddy raises his own little keychains and the silly plastic sword, his grin so big on his face. This is just so unhealthy for Brett's heart, it's too adorable. Eddy unsheathes his sword and goes, "En garde!" in a deep voice. Brett parried Eddy's jabs with his own unsheathed sword, trying not to drop Tchaikovsky or the little keychains.

We are two grown men playing with plastic swords . I love this idiot.

(Neither of them knew they're thinking the same thing.)

They sheathed back their swords after their little battle and put their keychains in their pockets. They quiet down into a calm lull as they walk, a bout of laughter still escaping them both whenever they look at each other. A growl sounds between them.

"I saw a Chinese restaurant earlier. Hotpot?" Eddy inquired, eyes already scanning his phone screen on Google Maps. Brett snorted, "Bro, do you even have to ask? You're getting the directions already anyways."

"Wanna get boba on the way too? There's a shop on the way." Brett smiled fondly at how Eddy knows him so well. "Duh, let's go get fat." Eddy snickered at that, patting his stomach as they walked and talked to their destinations.

***

"Look at all this food," Brett said as he moved his phone, letting their Instagram audience see the delicious lunch they're about to have. The camera panned to the right and Eddy made a peace sign as he prepared his chopsticks.

After finishing the quick Instagram story, Brett felt a tap at his shoulder and smiled as Eddy took a selfie. "Lol, I'm captioning this with 'on a hot pot date with Brettybae'" Eddy joked beside Brett. Eddy was blissfully unaware of Brett dropping a piece of meat, heat creeping at his neck at the thought of this being a date. They've joked about it a few times before, like, 14 years of friendship, of course it's bound to come up. The thing is, it's not like he drunkenly kissed his best friend before in the 14 years of said friendship. Why does he have to love partying and be such a lightweight? He can't even remember what he did in that bar.

Brett unconsciously runs his hand through the gray softness to his left. They got Sibelius the Penguin almost exactly the same way: in a crane machine somewhere away from Australia. Brett smiles fondly at the memory.

On the other hand, Eddy is adorably stuffing his face with bean sprouts and beef. Brett snapped a quick picture. He tried not to have a reaction towards Eddy making satisfactory illegal sounds, shutting his eyes briefly, exhaling through his nose as he was reminded of the foot massage vlog from forever ago.

He looked down at the photo and as he put his phone away, a piece of meat was shoved in front of him. Brett looked at Eddy with an arched eyebrow. "What? I can't feed hot pot to my best mate? Come on, just open your mouth." Brett reluctantly opened his mouth, ignoring his heart thrumming underneath his chest, his vision being filled with a rosy image of Eddy feeding him. It reminds him of the Chinese dramas they reviewed on their channel. He shuts down the emerging thought of being Eddy's mate in a different sense, but he'll probably wonder about it later.

Unbeknownst to Brett, who is now focused on eating, Eddy's own heart is thrumming sporadically. He couldn't believe he pulled that off smoothly. It feels like his heart is beating on a 7-11 polyrhythm, which is quite funny since he can't even tap that out. Brett looks so cute, cheeks dusted with pink. Brett looks at him and smiles with cheeks full of food, and Eddy smiles back, feeling giddy. How could someone have a smile that blindingly adorable?

Eddy takes a sip of his bubble tea, thinking if he'd always been this attracted to Brett. Has he always really been that cute? Eddy smiles at the memory of a 17-year-old Brett with awkward braces and wired glasses. He chuckles upon remembering himself say that he would take Brett to prom, and honestly, he really would've.

Eddy looks back at Brett, their eyes meeting. Eddy feels vulnerable all of a sudden, and Brett puts his hand out expectantly. Eddy looked at this very small hand in confusion. He wanted to grab it with his own hand, but upon realization, he handed Brett his drink. Of course he'd want to try it, he always does that when they go to a new boba place. Eddy personally thought that the chai milk tea was pretty good, and Brett seems to agree from the approving hum and the fact that he still hasn't given it back. Cheeky idiot. He's drinking up Eddy's tapioca pearls, and Eddy should've been mad, but he just decides to grab Brett's drink instead.

Eddy ignored Brett's indignant noises at having his drink stolen, hums appreciatively at the plain milk tea. Brett always liked the plain one for some reason, but hey, it tastes good. Eddy gives it back and reclaims his drink from Mr. Tiny Hands Brett, focusing back on stuffing his face full with the Asian goodness that is hot pot.

He hears Brett slurping on his bubble tea when a thought strikes him all of a sudden, and he feels his face getting hot. They just had an indirect kiss. Through boba. Of course, of all fricken things. How did he not freak out with this before?

While Eddy is internally speedrunning through the five stages of grief because feelings, Brett is obliviously enjoying the view. Everything seems more saturated for some reason, and there's a bubbly feeling inside Brett as he looks at his friend. His best mate. His good 'ol buddy pal Eddy Chen that he totally has not been harboring feelings for for about a decade. The light from the window beside him bathes Eddy in a glow, making his hair shine. Soft hair.

Brett restrains himself, opting to continue giving side glances instead. They'd usually be talking through mouths filled with food (yes, his mother taught him manners, but he's always been a rebel anyways), but he doesn't mind comfortable silences at all either. They've shared half their lives anyway. And they would continue to. He is happy to be his best mate for as long as he lives.

Eddy turns to him, holding out-

"Ew, no get that away from me!" Eddy laughs, popping the mushroom in his mouth. "You were spacing out, I guess I'm just that pretty huh, Brettybae?" Eddy bats his lashes at Brett innocently, and Brett doesn't really deny it. "Yeah, yeah, pretty annoying."

"You wound me," Eddy says with his high-pitched voice, his hand at his chest. "Okay, I'll grab this then," Eddy continues in Edwina's voice, taking a piece of meat, "Open your mouth, ahh~" Brett just chomps at it rolling his eyes. "Awww, Bretty, you look so cute," Eddy says, hands beside his face like a kawaii anime girl. Brett swallows and takes some beef, "Okay, your turn."

Eddy takes the bite without hesitation. "Oishi~" he says in his best kawaii girl voice. Brett shakes his head amused and they continue to take turns feeding each other.

***

Eddy whistles (that's an A), patting his stomach. "That was some good lunch. Wanna go walk around again?"

"Yeah sure."

He'd walk around anywhere as long as it's with Eddy.

Notes: (Ima copypaste this part just because, enjoy my oversharing, additions in bold)

Okay, so this was initially meant to be just them having lunch together, but somehow writing Ling Ling gave me 0.001% of their power and I ended up actually writing out the part before they get to lunch. I am proud to have written this entire thing in one day. Hope you enjoy it, it's the most I've written so far!

1. Someone asked on their discord who the guitar belongs to but I forgot if it was Brett's dad or granddad. Addition: it's Brett's dad, saw a pic of the guitar recently and there's actually a pick on it so oop
2. Andantino in C Major is the first piece I tried to learn when I found out about imslp.org and it is suffering to me who is used to using a pick.
3. Shape of You was that one thing Brett was supposed to play in their video with Roomie, I think. Also, they had 2.58M subs for a little bit but I just checked and now they have 2.59M so only 410k needed now. They have 2.89M subs as of Oct 29 2020
4. I think I saw Sibelius the Penguin somewhere on their Instagram. Ding Ding is another plush they have and it's a uhh... just search up 'ding ding plush' I saw on someone's IG story that they have one. There's also a bunch of stories of Brett I saw on Instagram being an absolute pro at getting the plushies from cranes and it's adorable tbh
5. The button game that Eddy plays in the arcade was actually one of the games I used to play in the arcade in the mall near my school. It got me a lot of tickets and many plastic swords. Sadly, the restaurant that the arcade is a part of closed down a few months ago.
6. Eddy also mentioned playing basketball in high school and being cast in a High School Musical performance. As for the bubble tea keychains, there's a lot of cute ones online and I honestly wanna buy them but no money.
7. I wrote the entire lunch part before I wrote the thing with the shops. At some point I though of putting them in the Philippines but it's been 5 years since I was there so I figured I'll put the idea for later. They almost ended up eating at Cabalen by hand and watching the sunset by SM Mall of Asia.
8. I had to insert Tchaikovsky into the lunch scene bc I was bothered about not seeing him. I also actually don't know where they got Sibelius from but I know it was a crane machine.
9. TwoSet loves hot pot and I am slightly ashamed I have never had hot pot before. My cousin has though.
10. One of them does not like mushrooms but I forgot which one it was. I hope I was right. Okay it's Eddy so I was wrong, lol.
11. I have no idea what milk tea flavors they like. Taro is my go-to, but matcha has been growing on me. Chai is my sister's go-to. Okay they said I think in their 2mil discord call video that they prefer the original but ended up falling in love with brown sugar.