24th May, 2019
Macau hears his phone ring early in the morning, while he's packing his bag for the day. It's Taiwan, he realises, and he picks up the phone with a smile. "Hello?"
"Guess what?" She shouts, loud enough that Macau holds his phone away from his ear in surprise. "We just legalised same-sex marriage! Tons of people are going to tie the knot right now, and it's AWESOME!"
"You what?"
"Legalised same-sex marriage!" Taiwan repeats, and Macau can imagine her grinning on the other end. "We finally did it, after loads of complicated stuff!"
"You're the first country in Asia to do that, you know." He laughs, hearing Taiwan whoop and cheer. "I'm really proud of you. In fact, why don't you come over this afternoon? I'll get Hong Kong, and we can celebrate together."
"Wait, really? Thanks, Macau! I'll bring some food and try to grab a plane ticket as soon as possible!"
And she hangs up, leaving Macau feeling quite envious of his little sister and trying to make up an excuse for his boss that'll let him take the day off.
…
Across the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong is strolling through Causeway Bay when he gets a text from Macau. Come over, the message reads. Taiwan's coming over to visit.
Hong Kong forces his way through a crowd of shoppers in a beeline for a bus to the ferry piers.
He arrives at Macau an hour later, dropping by a bakery at the Ferry Terminal to buy a few (and by a few he means ten) boxes of cookies and sweets. Walking to his brother's house, right in the heart of Nossa Senhora de Fatima, takes ten minutes and quite some looking around at the parish's huge buildings.
The door of Macau's apartment opens after mere seconds, and instantly Hong Kong is attacked by Taiwan, who crushes him in a hug. "Hi!"
Hong Kong crashes into Macau's shoe rack with a yelp, stepping on Taiwan's feet. "What the hell?"
"Did you hear?" Taiwan asks, releasing Hong Kong. She's grinning, bouncing up and down and squeezing Hong Kong's shoulders in a death grip. "We did it! We finally made same-sex marriage a thing!" The plum blossom in her hair is replaced by a rainbow-coloured one and a pride flag brooch glints on her blouse.
"Yoooo, really?" Hong Kong exclaims. "Like, you actually recognise the couples and all? And people are cool with it?"
"Yeah!"
"Hey, congrats!" Hong Kong gives Taiwan a high-five. "I'm real jealous, though. People at my place can be jerks when it comes to stuff like this."
They walk into the apartment already deep into conversation, leaving Macau to pick up his fallen shoe rack with a sigh.
On Macau's dining table is a feast - there are pineapple cakes, steaming almond cookies, rice paper-covered ginger sweets among the many other plates. Hong Kong pulls a box of chocolate cookies and wife cakes out of his bag, adding to the pile of food.
"You're one lucky nation, Taiwan," Macau remarks. "Not many people here are nice to same-sex couples, let alone happy with them getting married."
"I know, right?" Hong Kong drops into a seat and pops a ginger sweet into his mouth. "A couple months ago, a newspaper of mine posted this poll on their website, asking if we should legalise same-sex marriage. Over half the voters said no! They were all like, 'We can't end up like Canada!' It really sucks, to have people like that."
Taiwan nods in agreement, mouth full of egg tart. She's still grinning, eyes shining brighter than ever.
The three of them end up chatting late into the night, gorging themselves on Macau's baking and marathoning old movies.
Meanwhile…
Beijing, China
He reads the news online, with a VPN his boss doesn't know he has. Taiwan becomes the first Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage, the headline reads. China smiles shrewdly, scanning the article with barely-concealed jealousy.
"Good job, Taiwan," he says to himself. "I'll never get to tell you this, but you've made me proud."
A/N: Yeah, this kind of sucks, but I'm really happy about Taiwan's accomplishment. It might never happen, but I hope Hong Kong legalises same-sex marriage too.