Random Lines
Warnings: Eh, I don't think there's anything?
...
It had started when Klaus joked that someone in Excalibur would learn to do something that Julian couldn't just to spite him off someday. Julian had asked what exactly that would be, and Wales had simply replied with the wildest, most difficult task he could imagine at the time: learning Chinese. But his comeback had backfired and the notion that Wales had a secret dream of learning Chinese grew to become a running that had prompted his family to have an impromptu meeting.
The abridged version went roughly like this: "Wales, we overheard Sophie say that you wanted to learn Chinese, and we're not sure why you didn't tell us, but we hired you a tutor. We're so proud of you." And then Wales had hugged them while trying to keep the fact that he was internally screaming hidden behind a mask of excitement. They had seemed so happy that he hadn't been able to break the news to them that, in fact, he had never in his entire life genuinely wanted to learn Chinese.
He hadn't expected that he would fall in love with it. He had only planned to keep at it for six months so that he could tell his parents he tried, but it was too difficult and he was giving up. Two years later, Chao Xin was Skyping him while proofreading his Chinese project. Or, more accurately, laughing at it.
"All right, what's so funny this time?" Wales asked.
"That's not how you say that," he wheezed. "That's so funny- Mei Mei, come here!"
Wales blanched. "Wait! Don't show-"
Too late. Mei Mei's face popped up next to Chao Xin. "Hi, Wales!" She waved. "How's your Chinese doing?"
"Apparently not as well as I thought, as I'm sure Chao Xin will show you," he deadpanned.
"Look at that."
"Oh my gosh!"
"I know right?"
Wales closed his eyes and messaged his temples while waiting for the laughter to die down. Public humiliation, that was what it was. Pure public humiliation. "Are you going to at least tell me what I did wrong?"
"Don't worry. I'll fix it, I'll fix it," Chao Xin assured him.
"You should show Dashan!" Mei Mei cut in.
"Please don't." Wales glanced down at his workbook and jotted down a few more characters. The pro of having a tutor: he could go at his own pace. The con: his pace was pretty fast. It seemed he always had something to do. "You two have humiliated me enough as it is."
"I won't." Chao Xin waved his hand dismissively. "Do I really seem that cruel to you?"
"Sometimes."
"Come on, Wales. You need to relax. I don't worry when I get words wrong." Mei Mei cut in.
"Good for you."
"Okay, Mei Mei, let me finish this." Chao Xin pushed her out of Wales' line of sight. He heard her say something in Chinese that he couldn't make out, but she didn't come back. Wales turned his attention back to his book and both of them continued working. They did this fairly often. Wales found doing his homework considerably easier when he had a living English to Chinese dictionary immediately available and Chao Xin liked to talk, so it was a fairly symbiotic relationship.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, Chao Xin spoke again. "Seriously, though, your Chinese is getting a lot better."
"You say after laughing at my Chinese."
"I said it was better, I didn't say it was good," Chao Xin countered lightly. Wales chuckled and kept writing.
And then he hit a roadblock. He hummed and tapped his pencil eraser a few times in attempt to recall the character on his own before he gave up. "Hey, what's the character for face?"
Chao Xin looked up. "Lian. I'll write it on the back of this so you can see," he told him, flipping the page over before hesitating, a blank expression on his face.
After a few seconds of waiting, Wales decided to investigate. "Is everything okay?"
Chao Xin's head snapped up. "Oh, yeah! I'm fine. It's just that I, uh," he ran a hand through his hair. "I can't remember how to write it all of a sudden," he admitted quickly.
Wales blinked. "You… forgot?" he repeated. The only answer he got was a sheepish look. "You actually forgot," he laughed.
That did it. Chao Xin's face flushed bright red. "Come on, it's not that funny."
If anything, Chao Xin's attempts to defend himself only made Wales laugh harder. "Yes it is! Chinese is your native language. How do you forget how to write face?"
"Hey!" Chao Xin squawked. "I normally know how, I just can't remember."
"But Chinese is your first language!"
"So what? Just because I'm Chinese doesn't mean I was born able to magically remember random lines!"
It was the metaphorical straw that broke the camel's back. Wales fell out of his chair.
"Okay, come on! It's not that funny. You forget how to write things in English, too."
…
A/N: I… have no idea what this is. Well, I do, but the origins are a little strange. First I had a dream that Chao Xin was trying to hook Wales up with some unnamed lady (because they knew each other?) and the dynamic was surprisingly fun. Then I couldn't get their bizarre bromance out of my head. Then I read an article entitled "Why Chinese is so Damn Hard" and it made me think of something that happened in my Chinese class, which made me think of a conversation with my friend, which made me think of these two, which then created this. Yeah. It was a good time. But I had so much fun, so why not share it?
Jeez, with all the random bromances that I ship, I should really just start a collection. Lol. If you're still reading this, 1) I'm impressed, and 2) thank you.
I don't own MFB and never will, which is sad. But hey, what can ya do, right?