Work Text:
Three days.
It’s been three days since Brett and Eddy last spoke. Three days where Eddy’s wasted a cup of tea each, because old habits die hard, and Eddy keeps accidentally making servings for two instead of one. Three days of being deprived of random cuddles throughout the day, whenever he felt bored or tired or just missed the weight of Brett. Three days of boredom. Of silence. Nobody around to entertain his stupid questions or little games like Smash or Pass: Composer Edition.
Brett’s always done this, but the more time they spent together over the years, the more apparent it became to Eddy.
Every couple months or so, usually for about a day or two, Brett would disappear out of the blue. It always happened whenever their schedule became a little more hectic than usual, or they were planning something big like a tour.
Eddy wasn’t sure where Brett went during these times, but Eddy figured at the very least, he could grant him a sense of privacy. I thought you guys went everywhere together, their friends would muse, and Eddy could feel Brett’s discomfort about it, which is why he wanted to give him the space Brett wanted.
Because sure, they were Brett and Eddy, but they didn’t need to do everything together, right? They’re their own person at the end of the day. Eddy can give space. He’s not like their parents, invasive and boundary crossing. Well…
“You’re sure I shouldn’t be concerned?” Eddy asked, on the phone.
“Yes, it’s better off you leave him alone.” Brett’s mom insisted.
“But he’s okay?” Eddy asked again.
This has always been a problem for him, according to some of his friends: too considerate, never fully assertive. Eddy always asked for permission, he was always hyper-aware of his surroundings, how he influenced those around him. When making convictions, he was never 100% about what he was doing.
He valued heavily what his family had to say about his decisions. It was evident in his career choices, it was evident during his period with his own mother, when they had argued for months, passively, over Eddy pursuing his music career. It was scaring Eddy a little bit that his hesitant nature was also starting to influence his personal relationships too. He didn’t want to be so afraid.
But he can’t help it. As an adult (a big kid, really) Eddy still felt a need to still respect his elders and heed to their advice. Especially Brett’s mom, essentially his mother-in-law to be.
“Yes, Eddy.” Brett’s mom said again. Her tone is a mix of amusement, fondness, but mainly exasperation. “It’s just a family thing, very private. He’ll be back soon.”
“Is it an illness? I was supposed to be a doctor, you know, I could totally—” but he’s cut off by loud laughter, as Brett’s mom says, “I don’t know if you’ll be able to fix this.” Which confuses Eddy, but he doesn’t say anything.
“Look, Eddy. You’re very sweet.” Brett’s mom says, “Tell you what, if Brett hasn’t responded back to you in three days, you have my permission to go visit him in his house, okay?”
“Okay.” Eddy said, ending the call.
That’s how he finds himself in front of Brett’s apartment, three days later, knocking on the door, ringing the doorbell. “Brett?” The curtains are closed, but Eddy can tell the lights are on, which means Brett is home.
Eddy looks under the mat to find the spare key, and says to the door, “I’m coming in, alright?”
The door opens, and Eddy can’t believe what he sees.
The lights are all on, there’s shreds of sheet music, ripped pillow cases, feathers and fluff all over the carpet, scratches on the walls, slanted picture frames. Toppled over boba, crackers and carrots on the floor, crumbs, crumbs everywhere—the living room's of total crisis, a pigsty.
But what makes Eddy really widen his eyes, is the small, fuzzy gray bunny he sees in the middle, chewing on a spilled tapioca pearl that makes Eddy scream.
“What the fuck!”
Oh no.
It’s been a secret for years. He’s been able to keep it a secret for thirty years and counting, why fuck up now? Why did Eddy have to come now?
Brett doesn’t like talking about it. And at this point, he’s made peace with it—A Yang tradition.
Whenever Brett gets angry or distraught, he becomes a bunny. It’s been a family problem for years. They’ve kept quiet about it, everybody’s got a different way of coping with it. For Brett, it’s been music. All he has to do is surrender himself to music, to the violin, and lose himself in the notes, the rhythm, and everything in him relaxes, and he’s a human again, fine and normal and good.
Much training had been involved.
He’s taught himself how to be stoic, to be quiet, to never be too emotional or easily influenced by those around him—purposely ignorant of his surroundings. He became very good at it—laser focus on only the things he wanted. Even his mother and father marveled at his discipline.
Never reveal too much of yourself, especially this side of you, but of course—stresses are inevitable, frustrations are inevitable. Of course, there are downsides to this type of internalization. Inevitably, things will build up, and Brett will feel frustrated and won’t know how to express himself.
When that type of thing happens, his ancestors make him into a little, cute gray rabbit. For a while he’s hated this, Brett always wants to be taken seriously, and this type of thing is so embarrassing and humiliating, especially when you’re angry.
Do you think my ancestors did this to humble me? Brett would often think, during his periods of being a fluffy rabbit, staring at himself with his floppy ears and big eyes that seemed to pull you in. He had never told anyone about this either, and seeing Eddy’s big eyes of terror, Brett was realizing that was probably for the better.
“Holy shit…” Eddy says again, as he nears Brett closer. “I didn’t know Brett had a pet bunny. What the fuck?”
Brett snorts, he doesn’t usually hear Eddy curse this much. He must be really surprised. He watches the boy with wide eyes, hesitant as he nears him even closer. Brett already feels small and defenseless in real life, this form of him doesn’t exactly help his case.
Eddy stares at him, which makes Brett want to deflect and roll his eyes, although a small part of him is really enjoying the attention.
But all it looks like to Eddy is a cross between a pout and a scrunch and Eddy fawns over it immediately, scooping him up and brushing his thumb against his cheek, not too far off from how Eddy pets him as a human.
“Can you help me find Brett?”
I am Brett! Brett wants to tell him, but Eddy frowns, “You’re no help. You’re lucky you’re at least cute, so I want to keep you around.” Eddy says, shaking his head as he gives Brett and a fond pat which he embarrassingly leans into and enjoys too much.
“So like, what are you? Are you a product of like, a mid-life crisis or something?” Eddy asks. Brett’s house is messy, Eddy can’t help but tsk. “Like, where did Brett even get you? He’s not the type to own a pet…” Eddy thinks aloud, a habit of Eddy’s that Brett had always adored.
Yes. Brett says drastically, not really understanding what was happening, if this was even real or a cruel joke. As he watches Eddy look around the room some more.
“So… did you do this?” Eddy asks, pointing at Brett, then gesturing at the mess of the living room he had made during his episode.
Brett looks around. Sometimes, he gets carried away when he’s a bunny. He lets out all his anger and feelings, and he can get kind of carried away. He looks at Eddy and shakes his head, but Eddy looks like he doesn’t trust him.
“Okay…” Eddy says with narrow eyes, “So you’re sure you don’t know what happened with Brett?”
I can’t talk, dumbass. Brett wants to say to him, so he just frowns again, which makes Eddy pout.
“You know, you have a lot of attitude for something that looks so cute.” Eddy frowns, “Okay, but he’s in the house?”
Brett shakes his head.
“You’re sure?”
Oh my god. Eddy always asked so many questions.
“I don’t trust you.” Eddy said, “No offense.”
Frustrated, Brett flops down onto his back, playing dead, which makes Eddy shriek, “WHATTHEFUCK—” but then Brett opens one eye and Eddy immediately groans.
“Don’t scare me like that!”
You were being dramatic, I was just matching the energy. Brett rolls his eyes.
Eddy continues to grumble, as he looks through Brett’s house like they’re kids playing hide and seek, “Brett?” he calls out, and there is something so fond about Eddy’s stubbornness of trying to find Brett.
Brett follows behind, hopping, it’s hard to keep up with Eddy’s pace, just like in real life. He looks through places that don’t even make sense, like the laundry room, or under the kitchen sink. He searches the bathroom, looking behind the shower curtains, he looks through their recording room, checking under the desks and opening any closets.
Eventually he reaches for the handles to Brett’s bedroom, and that’s when he turns to the bunny and says, “Listen, if Brett asks, I didn’t do this.”
My room? Brett wonders.
Okay, granted. Brett doesn’t really invite people into his room. It was just sort of out of habit. Whenever they recorded, it was always at Eddy’s house, which just made more sense because it was spacious and he didn’t have annoying neighbors like Brett. Eddy’s been once or twice, surely it shouldn’t be anything he hasn’t seen before, right?
Eddy opens the door and the room is underwhelming… to Brett at least, but Eddy’s reaction is making it seem like it’s something Brett should feel more strongly about.
It looks the same as Brett left it—bed unmade, a pile of laundry he had left on the bed, some of it had made its way to the floor, the clothing wrinkly due to not being immediately folded afterwards. God, how had Brett survived living alone this long?
Despite the disarray, the whole room still feels clean. Similar to Brett, messy but always acceptable. The stuffed ding ding is on the bed, as well as Eddy’s pillow he got him as a joke, Stroke to get an A 440 which made Eddy snort, “Holy shit, does he actually sleep with that?”
Brett looks away, although you can’t see a bunny blush, he doesn’t want to admit, Yeah… it’s very comfy to sleep with, okay? Plus, it makes him laugh.
Brett always holds onto everything, he loves stuff. Loves buying stupid shit on Amazon that he doesn’t need, but the fact that he can get it always excites him. It’s always made Eddy roll his eyes about the fact that even though Brett’s the older one, he never thought things through like that—always acted on impulse when he wanted something. It’s Brett’s world, whatever he wants, he gets. He always takes what he wants, like the violin, like Eddy.
Eddy is always the hesitant one, the one who overthinks. Brett’s the one who grabs his hand, and always pulls him in.
“My theory on why Brett loves collecting stuff so much is because he’s never moved house as a kid. So they’re able to keep everything, which we never really got to do.” Eddy says, gesturing at bunny Brett, who is watching Eddy pick up all his clothes and put them back on the bed. “But he definitely gets it from his parents too. Brett’s parents hold onto everything, every childhood picture, every book, it’s kind of adorable.” Eddy says, as he starts folding.
Brett should probably feel embarrassed that Eddy is out here folding his underwear, but hey, it’s not anything Eddy hasn’t taken off or seen before, right?
He sits, perched patiently by the pillows, marveling at Eddy. He’s always had pretty dismal fine motor skills apart from the violin, yet here he is, neatly rolling Brett’s socks and lightly patting down his boyfriend jeans (which Brett fondly remembers Eddy fawning over when he first wore the jeans for the year of the tiger photoshoot. Throughout the whole day, Eddy would grab him by the belt loops, bringing him close.) God, he was so dramatic.
He opens the closet to get hangers, then he laughs even more. Hanging in the closet already is all the old merch they’ve made, a couple of Eddy’s hoodies that he’s genuinely forgotten, and then others that Brett’s just blatantly stolen, hanging alongside them.
“See? Cheesy.”
On Brett’s desk sits an endless stack of folders and violin books from childhood, it’s almost careless how freely Brett just allows his childhood and personal papers to sit around so openly. The book Eddy gave him, Howard Leonard’s Perfect Pitch Method has a bookmark in it, which makes Eddy snort, thinking that Brett’s actually read through it. And of course, little trinkets from their outings. Old tickets from concerts they went to together, receipts from their late night convenience store trips.
“He really holds on to everything.” Eddy sighs, as he tidied everything, refusing to throw any of it out. He’s just organizing.
“I need you to get off.” He says, looking pointedly at Brett.
Why all the attitude? I’ve been well behaved! Brett scrunches his nose, in defiance, and stays stubbornly in his place.
“You’re so difficult.” Eddy says, as he picks Brett up, and even though it’s momentarily, as Eddy places him on the floor, Brett darts away to take a second because Oh my god, being carried by Eddy… He’s completely flustered.
He watches Eddy make his bed, relatively easy with a single comforter and two pillows, he faces the Eddy’s Stroke to get an A 440 pillow facing away where it’s white, and dingding plushies tucked in which makes Brett snicker, when he thinks about it. Eddy’s always been the doting type, even more so ever since Brett’s health scare, and it never really stopped afterwards, not that Brett really minded.
The last thing Eddy does before leaving Brett’s newly pristine room is open the blinds, letting the sun filter in. Good for your health. Eddy explained to the bunny, You out of all creatures get that, right?
Right… Brett says, as he follows Eddy out of the bedroom, closing the door behind them.
“You must’ve been really angry when this happened.” Eddy said, looking down at Brett, and then observing the living room. That’s not fair. Brett wants to pout, it’s not his fault that he becomes a rabbit he becomes rabid, insane. It’s not his fault that he became so small, he couldn’t see his own faults!
“You know, my sister forced me to help her rearrange her room for her as a teenager, whenever she was going through some identity crisis, or wanted a sudden change. We had to clean her room, and she always said to me, If you really want to clean something, everything has to get messy for a bit. That’s the price for trying something new.” Eddy said, as he wanders to the kitchen and grabs a plastic bag from their bag of plastic bags.
“So you know, I get it. Doesn’t make cleaning up part less annoying, but y’know… at least it felt nice in the moment, right?”
And Brett just wants to laugh, because God, Eddy really was such a dork. He will really empathize with anything. Even a bunny. It’s kind of adorable.
He hops, following him around, leaning on his ankle occasionally, which Eddy grumbled at, but didn’t push him away.
He likes this side of Eddy. Responsible and doting, yet still teasing like a friend, so it didn’t feel embarrassing.
He carefully folds the pillow cases with their slight rips, murmuring about how he could probably ask his mother to sew it back for him. The pillows that weren’t ripped, he plumped and neatly arranged onto the couch.
The shreds of sheet music, Eddy chuckles at lightly, looking at the rabbit, “Okay, but I felt this though.” He grins, which makes Brett as a rabbit, roll his eyes, because Why does he talk like a teenager still? Ugh… but he’s staring at Eddy with heart eyes the whole time.
Eddy figures that the piece is just for a recent Tik Tok they probably have to film, so he discards it, and points at the rabbit, telling him to remind me to print a new copy for Brett in case.
He picks up the boba, then looks at Brett, “How did you even get this?” he says, looking both impressed and terrified, and Brett looks away to the side, definitely and totally innocent.
Brett’s more impressed by how well Eddy knows the interiors of his house. He supposes it makes sense, but he still can’t believe it, how he moves so well in his home with ease, how he knows where everything is. It scares him almost, how domestic have they gotten?
"Okay, I googled it. Google said you can have a little serving.”
Eddy gets one of those little sauce cups, and pours out the tapioca pearls and tea for Brett to snack on.
“God, you’re so much like Brett,” Eddy says, observing the bunny, as it eagerly goes and laps at the tea, chewing on a ball, cheek full. “It’s almost as if Brett became an animal. Wouldn’t that be so funny?” Brett freezes, staring up at Eddy.
“What?” Eddy says flatly. Then an intrusive thought, he pokes Brett’s cheek and lightly snickers, “Hehe, cute.”
He stands up, and leaves Brett to snack, as he gets the vacuum, vacuuming the carpet, the crumbs and dust and feathers and fluff from the pillows sucked in.
As Eddy walks by, he makes sure to adjust anything he thinks is out of place—any slanted or toppled over framed pictures or figurines they had bought are adjusted. He rummages through Brett’s cabinets again, getting cleaning spray and a rag, wiping down any dusty surfaces.
All this cleaning eventually leads him to Brett’s kitchen, looking through his fridge, just to check on how Brett’s been living.
Eddy scrunches his nose, “God, I forgot, these days he usually stays over mine, so there isn’t really anything here. Uh…”
Eddy mumbles more to himself, as he looks through Brett’s pantry again, and figures he’ll make do with whatever he has, able to find a box of mapo tofu, and those big bags of rice.
Eddy hums, as he gets a cup of rice, rinsing it, and setting the rice cooker on. He wanders over to the kettle, and plugs it in, then looks through Brett’s cabinets, as pulls out an old wok, pouring oil on it, waiting for the oil to heat up as he opens the box of mapo tofu.
As he waits for this, he pulls out a mug, digging through a tea box he had found in the pantry. He makes himself at home so easily.
Brett goes over to the kitchen, leaving his boba behind.
He looks expectantly at Eddy, who grins at him, “Nice of you to join me.” Eddy says, looking down. “You wouldn’t know if Brett is gonna be back anytime soon, right?”
“I just miss him.” Eddy suddenly says, pouring his heart out to this little rabbit. “We’ve never been like this.”
Brett’s heart breaks at the usage of we.
“We always just talk things through, always, but a couple days ago, he was like, I need space. And I get that, so I gave him space, but it’s been three days. How is he doing? Did I do something? I overthink a lot, you know. Do you think he’s moved on? That’s irrational, right?” Eddy says, as he holds his hands over the pan. When he deems it’s hot enough, he puts the mapo tofu in with chopsticks.
Brett nudges Eddy, trying to say I’m Here, I Love You, I didn’t mean to make you feel that way. Soft fur rubbing by Eddy.
“I mean, I don’t know what he’s so afraid of. Both of us have had our moments. The wheelchair, my paralyzed body, his illness, and his body slowly shutting down. That’s what I love about him, the fact that he never doubted me, even back then, when we were kids. He never minimized, or invalidated any of my moments of weaknesses. I guess that’s why I’m so confused why he’s avoiding me, like I haven’t seen him through everything already and still loved him. I mean, what’s the worst he could be, turned into a furry little rabbit?”
Eddy laughs at his own joke. “And guess what? I’d still love him.”
“I don’t know.” Eddy shrugs, continuing, “I feel guilty sometimes, guilty that I don’t do more for him. Sometimes, I don’t know why he’s with me.” Eddy confesses, which makes Brett want to scoff.
Eddy is saying this as tea simmers, and the rice cooks, and the pan sizzles—That’s what you do best, you make everything feel like home. Brett thinks, You always make everything seem like it belongs, even me.
And anyways, he loves the feeling of Eddy leaning on him. Both physically, when Eddy slouches over, and presses his cheek to Brett’s back, when they’re standing in long lines to a concert and he gets antsy waiting, or when Brett comes home after a long day, and Eddy becomes a clingy koala, wrapping his arms around Brett from behind, leaning on his shoulders as Brett makes tea for them.
Emotionally too, he loves how Eddy relies on him for the boring stuff—the meetings, the spreadsheets, the arduous phone calls and organization, administrative work. Even for dates, he’s always the one calling in advance for reservations, always the one responsible for calling Ubers when they need to get dropped off for flights. Brett doesn’t mind any of it, really, doesn’t mind Eddy resting at all, Brett kind of thrives off being needed by Eddy. He thrives on being his stability.
Eventually, the mapo tofu is done, the rice cooker beeps, and the tea is boiling, Eddy turns the stove off and lets the food rest and cool down.
“I just hope he comes back soon.” Eddy sighs wistfully, as he turns off the air fan, and goes to the couch, where he looks like he might doze off and sleep. Brett following swiftly behind. He jumps up to Eddy’s lap, who strokes him quietly.
In the background, he can hear the quiet cars drive by in their neighborhood, the breeze blowing gently. Brett closes his eyes, letting out a soft sigh as he nestles himself on Eddy, enjoying his light pats, as they both seem to drift off peacefully to sleep.
“Brett?”
When Eddy wakes up, he’s covered by a thin blanket, and looks up weakly to see Brett at the dining table, scrolling on Tik Tok at a low volume, while eating the mapo tofu he’s made.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
“Bruh.” Eddy says in disbelief, but before he can get up, Brett is already heading over to sit by his side.
He sits by his feet, but Eddy mumbles quietly, “Sit closer,” which makes Brett snort, as he goes around to the other side by Eddy’s head, who is still lying down, as he strokes his hair softly.
“Where have you been?” Eddy asks, cross, as he sits up, his bed hair is sticking up which Brett finds way too cute.
“I’m being serious.” Eddy says, brows furrowed, which makes the older sigh.
Brett wants to do the same thing he always does. He wants to deflect and change the conversation, keep everything a secret. But he’s looking at Eddy’s eyes, and all he can think about is his clean house, and how full he feels after the nice, warm meal Eddy’s made, and he’s realizing, well, if anyone deserves to know, it’s him, right?
“Okay, promise you won’t get freaked out.”
“Bro.” Eddy sighs, exasperated, looking at Brett pointedly.
“Okay, so. It runs in my family, right? Whenever, I become really angry or distraught or feel a strong emotion about anything, I become a bunny.” Brett says nervously, “It’s been a family problem for years. We’re kept it a secret forever, and we’re not really supposed to tell anyone about it. In our family, everyone has a different way of dealing with it. For me, it’s music.”
Eddy stares at him, dumbfounded.
“Brett.”
“Eddy, I—” Brett is about to apologize, but then Eddy’s eyes light up like saucers as he exclaims, “Brett! Are you serious? That’s so cool! That’s like a superpower or something! Oh my god, you’re like the protagonist of an anime. Ooh, would that make me the anime love interest?” Eddy gushes, but then stops himself.
“Wait, so you were that cute little rabbit I saw earlier?”
When Brett nods slowly, Eddy hits him lightly on the arm, “Bro! I thought you had an infestation or something and we would have to call someone! I also thought you got a pet bunny, but I was like, no way. Unless you were pet-sitting? But I don’t know if I’d trust you with my pet, no offense.” Eddy says starting to babble again.
“Full offense taken.” Brett says in mock-shock, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Wait so, you only get this when you become really mad about something?”
“Yeah.” Brett says, “It just sucks because whenever it happens, I usually find myself in this mess and then I forget what even made me mad in the first place. Mess both physically, and mentally. It sucks just cutting yourself off from people for periods of time, and not really having a good excuse for it either.” Brett says nervously, looking away. That’s when Eddy brushes him lightly on the wrist, his hands gentle in grabbing Brett’s.
“Hey, you don’t need an excuse. Everyone needs a break sometimes.” Eddy says, “Whenever you feel this way, just take a break, yeah? That’s the point of a partnership. You need a break, I’m there for you to make sure everything runs smoothly.”
“Yeah, I know,” Brett says, still not able to meet Eddy’s eyes, “It’s just hard to get used to.”
“How long have you been dealing with this, on your own?” Eddy asks.
“I don’t even remember.” Brett groans.
“Well, that won’t do. We should devise a system. Ugh, that’ll be hard though right, because you can’t talk when you’re a rabbit. And I don’t want you leaving the house, some kid might scoop you up and make you their pet, and I already called dibs first.” Eddy pouts, which makes Brett throw his head back in laughter. Eddy’s childish possessiveness has always been so endearing, yet so attractive to Brett.
“Hmm… should we put an airtag on you? Body camera? Nanny cam? You need a button or something, something you can press whenever you become a rabbit and need to alert me. Maybe a collar?” Eddy suddenly says, wiggling his eyebrows, which makes Brett shove him away.
“Eddy, you sound ridiculous.”
“Brett, you’re literally a rabbit. Bro, do you realize this? Anything is possible! This is real life!” Brett starts laughing again.
"Real life..." Brett can't help but repeat. “God, I can't believe you, Eddy doesn’t know how to turn an oven on Chen, cleaning my house and chastising me like a housewife.”
“Listen, you do the cooking and I do the cleaning, see? Works out.” Eddy grins.
“The only reason you seem like the clean one in this relationship is because you don’t use anything.” Brett snickers, “You haven’t even used half your kitchen appliances. Do you even know how to turn on the dishwasher?” he asks.
Eddy waves his hand around, “It’s bad for the environment.”
The two dissolve into giggles, as Eddy pulls Brett into his arms, Brett enjoying Eddy’s embrace and the soft blanket he's under, everything warm and soft.
“I’m really happy you’re back.” Eddy said quietly.
“Me too,” Brett says, pulling Eddy by the collar, meeting his lips. Communication and emotions are hard to deal with, but Brett thinks everything is going to be okay as long as he has Eddy by his side.