79 Episode 77 - A 'Family' Party

Amari knocked playfully on the cab window as it pulled up, and Yangyang opened the door.

"I missed you Yang ge," he said with a bright smile, arms spread wide. Yangyang lifted him up by the waist and kissed him fiercely. With a giggle, he quickly tapped his shoulder. "Put me down. Your ma's here."

Yangyang gently dropped him to his feet and backed up a few steps. "My ma is here?" He sounded suddenly anxious, but Amari kept smiling.

"She's downstairs. C'mon, let's go." Without giving him time to argue, he grabbed Yangyang's hand and pulled him down to The Basement, the man reluctantly following.

Entering the ticket area, the whole place was dark, and Yangyang hesitated. A second later, the house lights went on and there was a loud "Happy birthday!" from the bar, as confetti fell over their heads. He jumped in surprise, then immediately punched Amari in the shoulder.

"Coudon, I thought we said no confetti!" shouted Ziggy, faking anger. "You are going to clean this mess up, hein?"

Cate just hushed him, scolding him like a mother, getting a few laughs and a grumble from her brother in response.

As Yangyang walked further into the room, one by one people came to greet him and wish him a happy birthday. It was only a small crowd - Yangyang's mother and sister, his bandmates, Cate and Ziggy, Zhang shūshu and āyí, Minwoo, Ren, and Joe. A family party, of sorts. Amari took a seat at the bar and let Yangyang chat, Ziggy joining him a few minutes later.

"This was a nice thing to do for him, tsé?" Ziggy gave Amari a pat on the head and he shooed the hand away. "I'm shocked you got his mom to come... C'est tiguidou."

Amari nodded and sighed. "It's been a long two weeks, trying to convince her. I'm sure she thought both you and this place were très sketch." His friend chuckled, not at all offended. "But I think she's secretly happy her son's got people who care about him." He turned on his stool to look at the blur of figures. "When I came back, he told me he's had friends, but never family like this. Since the only people in my life are family, now he's got plenty."

"Anyone who gets involved with mon chéri is a lucky person." Amari rolled his eyes and jokingly pushed his friend away. "En fait, I'm surprised you got your aunt and uncle to come too."

"Oh, yeah... They fucking hate you. But, they love Yang ge."

Ziggy breathed out a dramatic sigh and leaned his head on Amari's shoulder. "I don't know why they don't like me... I'm such a sweetheart, tsé?"

Amari snorted, making his friend huff. "Zig, you're a creepy old perv who runs an underground club and sleeps with any random person he finds on the street." A smile spread over his face. "Of course the sweet, traditional, middle-aged couple'd think you're strange."

"I don't really do that anymore, though," Ziggy protested quietly, a little hurt, but not ashamed.

Amari nodded, giving him the partial win. "Speaking of, where's Nicky? I know we aren't friends, but I figured he'd come for you."

"Non." The word was more frustrated than upset. "Something going on with his wife's family."

Tired of the same old answer, Amari just shook his head. "Jesus Zig. Just get rid of that asshole already. He's such a piece of shit."

A man laughed as he approached the bar, his voice light and sunny. "Such language. There's a small child here, you know?" Joe sat down on a stool next to Amari. "Who's an asshole?"

"Ziggy's boyfriend. If you can call him that." There was a hard slap on the back of his shoulder and he waved that topic away. "Ouais, ouais, I won't talk about him. I wanna be in a good mood tonight anyway." Amari smiled at Joe. "I'll leave him to you then."

He stood and raised a hand at the two men, heading out into the crowd. A few steps forward, he heard little bells approach and was halted by a small body grabbing at his waist.

"Li gēge, did you see the food? And all the desserts?"

Lifting Taitai up and setting his heavy body on a hip, Amari smirked. "You already ate some dessert, didn't you?" There was no response and he poked him in the stomach. "You can't hide it. I can smell it on your breath."

"I just had a cookie," Taitai admitted, then added, "and a little cupcake."

"All chocolate, it seems."

He carried Taitai over to the table he and Ziggy had set out for dinner. Having brought many of the dishes in, he knew the siblings had gone overboard, as always. The Zhangs had also made cookies and scallion pancakes, which Yangyang apparently loved, and his ma brought homemade baozi. It was an eclectic meal, but Amari supposed it perfectly matched the company.

Yangyang chuckled as he stepped beside him, ruffling his son's hair. "Look at you. Someday soon you'll be too heavy for Li gēge to carry and you'll have to walk on your own. What will you do?"

"Ba," Taitai replied firmly, annoyed by his dad's jokes. "I walk all the time, tsé? I can't even..."

"He can't even?" Amari giggled loudly at the slang. "Minwoo?"

Yangyang sighed. "Who else? It's his new favorite saying, along with fire." He reached out and took his son, and Amari followed them to the table. "Then, of course, we have the random French..."

"It could be worse. I can count ten words from school just off the top of my head." Amari giggled again as he sat next to them. "Those blind kids hear too well. They pick up on everything."

Yangyang placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "And how many of those ten did they learn from you?"

"Well, look at this picture," interrupted Yinyi playfully from behind. She had long abandoned her anger at Amari and was back to her excitable, loving self. "Ah, look at your faces. Calm down. Ma is still talking to Cate. They get along pretty well."

She hurried around the table and sat down across from them. "Lili, I feel like I haven't seen you in so long."

"Yeah. It's been busy. Work, night classes, and I've been recording for Joe..." Amari slouched down into his chair. "I spent most of the last three years asleep. My body's hating me for this."

"How are the GED classes going? I couldn't imagine going back to high school."

"Jesus, they're awful," he groaned, the corners of his mouth sinking at the mention of it. "Especially math. Do you know how hard it is to do verbal math?" He sighed, feeling exhausted just talking about it. "I've gotta get a tutor, and someone who can read the notes to me."

"Xiao Yang was really good at math," Yinyi pointed out, taking the opportunity to both help and to tease her brother. "He was quite the nerd, actually. Thankfully, he played guitar in a rock band, so he managed to make it through high school."

"Really?" Amari leaned over, looking desperately toward Yangyang. "Yang ge's good at everything," he cooed sweetly.

Yangyang laughed and rubbed Amari's short mohawk. "Of course I can help you. Did you think I would say no?" Amari shrugged and smiled. "Ah, but how are you going to pay me?"

"I'm sure I can figure something out..."

Yinyi sighed loudly from across the table. "Stop being gross, boys."

Taitai shifted in Yangyang's arms and Amari heard him lightly pat his ba. "What's gross?" he asked, and Yangyang snorted.

Amari pointed toward Yinyi. "Your gūmà's just being weird."

"Gūmà, stop being weird," Taitai scolded. "I can't even."

Yangyang snorted again.

"Yeah. He can't even, gūmà." Amari made sure to keep his tone serious, even though in his mind he was giggling like a fool.

Before anyone could say anything else, others came and sat at the table. Minwoo pushed his way beside Yangyang, taking an excited Taitai onto his lap, and Ziggy sat beside Amari, pulling him into a hug. He forced his friend away, but couldn't hide his smile.

"So, my tongsaeng..." Amari leaned forward so Minwoo could see him around Yangyang's body. "I feel like we should have a chat about the language you're teaching our sweet Taitai." Minwoo only giggled in response. "What father wants their child sounding like a Gen Z teen? It's a parent's worst nightmare."

Minwoo took a breath from giggling and cleared his throat, trying to sound serious. "Hyung. At least he hasn't learned your kind of language. That would be a parent's worst nightmare, no cap."

"Facts." Amari grinned as Minwoo giggled again. "Teach him some Korean teen slang. Then at least he'll be learning another language."

"Then why don't you teach him Montreal slang? You're good at that."

The sound of Taitai running around, spouting the words his native-Quebecois roommate had taught him popped into his head, and he had to choke back a laugh. "That's a terrible idea. Hilarious, but terrible."

"Ah, mets-en!" Ziggy brought Amari in close to him again. "Mon chou here only knows the bad things. Things even he shouldn't be saying, tsé?"

Yangyang coughed in the middle of the group and they hushed. "How about no one teaches my son slang in any language? Let's give him a chance to grow up a normal, healthy boy, with a normal, society-approved vocabulary."

All three snorted in unison at the idea and Yangyang sighed. "Yang ge, have you looked around this table?" Amari rubbed his arm to comfort him. "That's never gonna happen."

"Oui, c'est impossible." Ziggy reached around Amari and gave him a pat on the back. "But, he will definitely know when someone is angry or insulting him, tsé? In many languages."

Taitai finally paused a moment from stuffing food in his mouth to acknowledge the people talking about him. "What's slang?"

The three snorted again and Yangyang groaned, encouraging his son to keep eating to avoid the conversation.

As the night went on, there was chatter and laughter, people passing food back and forth, and Amari could even hear Yangyang's mother chuckling from across the table, sandwiched between Cate and her daughter. Last September, he had only just met Yangyang, still a cold, rude, punk kid, dressed in black, avoiding all conversation and never smiling. In only a year, he was surrounded by family and warmth, with a new and colorful life.

Yangyang leaned over and nudged him. "You're not eating? Those must be some deep thoughts you're having."

"No deep thoughts." Amari grinned wide at him and felt him flinch at the sight. "Just happy."