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XXXVI

There’s one sense that can set you back years and years into the past. 

Whenever Brett visited his grandmother in Taiwan, she used to cook them congee for breakfast. If they were lucky, she used chicken stock instead of plain water, plucked some meat off a few chicken legs and added garlic oil and spring onion on top of it. Brett had liked this version the most. The savoriness had let his taste buds explode in the greatest fireworks and yet, the dish was simple, almost boring an outsider might think. However, it filled Brett’s stomach and heart with a comfy warmth only his grandmama was able to give him.

That’s why when his sense of smell picked up this oh so beloved scent, Brett’s mind was back at his grandma’s again, where she hummed an old Taiwanese song Brett didn’t know while stirring rice soup in a big pot in her small kitchen over a gas stove.

“Brett”, a voice not belonging to this time and place seeped through his drowsy consciousness. He didn’t mind that voice being there though. Not at all.
“Hmmm?”
“Brett, you wanna get up quickly? Try and eat something?”
“Hmmm.”
A cool hand was placed on his forehead. Was his grandmother checking his temperature? Was he sick? He’d often been sick when they had gone back to visit. His mother blamed the plane’s damned AC and dry air and the change in climate certainly did its part.

Reluctantly, Brett opened his eyes and gone was his grandma’s house. Instead, a worried face appeared in front of him, examining him. 
“You’re not as hot anymore, I reckon.”
Oh, this big hand. How Brett wanted to lean into it! Was that a symptom of his fever? Making him crave for touch? 
“I held up the end of my bargain and cooked you some congee. An upgraded version! You’d like some?”
Eddy’s hand was gone so he could hold up a pot from where this wonderful smell was rising from. The pride glowing from Eddy’s face would have made Brett chuckle if he hadn’t been so preoccupied with not tearing up over how sweet all of this was. Eddy had cooked? For him?
The taller furrowed his brows. “You okay? Do you feel sick?”
“No, no”, Brett sniffed and if he’d been better, he would have set up his most convincing deadpan to not show how moved he was. But his filter was once again on vacation in Hawaii, getting tanned to a crisp under the sun and was thus unavailable. “It’s so nice of you to do this. I… I’d actually love some.”
“Great!”, Eddy beamed, set down the pot, picked up a bowl and scooped some of Brett’s childhood memory into it. 

“It’s still pretty hot. Can you sit up?”
Brett tried to prop himself up a bit while Eddy fluffed up his pillow to support Brett’s back. 
“That’ll do!”
He passed Brett the bowl and a spoon. The dish warmed his hands and threatened the tears to actually spill, but before that could happen and he’d start bawling in front of his new, amazing friend for real, Brett stuffed himself a few mouthfuls. 
“And?”, Eddy asked, his expression close to that of a professor observing his newest invention for the first time. 
“It’s so, so good you have no idea!”, Brett mouthed in-between the comforting bites.
The shine in Eddy’s eyes brightened. “Good!”

And just like this, Eddy managed to transport Brett back into his childhood for a bit, which worked wonders on Brett’s energy level. After the meal he made Brett swallow his medicine and when Brett woke up another two hours later, he felt quite okay again.

“Sorry again for hogging your bed, mate”, Brett said when he tried to sit up some more to test how his head was gonna do. There was still a dull pain and Eddy did find his temperature to be quite high when he made Brett’s pulse go through the roof once more by simply placing a hand on Brett’s forehead and cheek.
“No worries. I’m glad you seem to do better. Where do you think you got that from?”
“I have no idea”, Brett scratched his head, “Maybe it was a sun thing? Because it got worse when we walked to that pizza place.”
“Or maybe you’re patient zero and the whole orchestra’s gonna be down for the next week or something”, Eddy proposed. Brett guffawed. 
“You’d be quite a delicate flower if it really was the sun, huh.”
Brett gave Eddy’s arm a slap for good measure since he couldn’t reach that damned guy’s shoulder. 
“That’s why you blocked it for me when we walked back?”
“Oh, you noticed?”, Eddy muttered, suddenly not meeting Brett’s eyes anymore. 
“You thought I wouldn’t just because I was busy keeping myself upright?”
“Was hoping I could keep my knight in shining armor-identity a secret for a bit longer”, Eddy sighed overly dramatic, making Brett laugh again. “You should save this move for getting a girl!”, he said, despite it letting his stomach and gut churn which he not very successfully ignored.
Now, if it wouldn’t have been so obvious, Brett would have placed what he was witnessing into the fever-dream category without thinking twice. This redness colouring Eddy’s face and neck however was so incontrovertible Eddy might as well have gotten a whole basket of tomatoes thrown at him after a very sucky performance (as if that would ever happen).
“Dude, you okay?”, Brett found himself asking against better judgment, unable to contain his curiosity over what on earth had made Eddy Chen blush to this extent.
“Is this how you get girls then?”, Eddy murmured, gaze fixed on the pencil his fingers were turning in all sorts of directions.
“Uh..”, Brett made dumbly, “What, you're talking about me or like in general?”
“Forget it!”, Eddy said, got up with a shock and left the room while rumbling something about warming up the rest of the congee for them for dinner, leaving Brett to wonder about what on earth just happened.