World Tour

Epilogue

Eddy sank a bit deeper into the plush red seat and grabbed Brett's hand. 
Gah, he'd performed a million times himself, but now, today, he was more nervous than he'd ever been before.
He glanced to his right. Belle was softly talking to her youngest, Clare, coaxing her into sitting quietly and listening to the music, while her son David was just staring at the podium, clearly transfixed with everything around him. David was a pretty level headed little kid, he was just like his dad. Steve looked over to Eddy from the other side and smiled.
¨They'll be fine!¨ he mouthed. 
He smiled back.
Yeah, they'd be fine. He hoped. They'd practiced, they were prepared. They'd been so excited the last few days, ever since they'd heard they were in the final. 
Elly had looked so very proud as she put on the necklace that Lara, Ibo and Elina's daughter, gave her for good luck. 
¨You'll do great, kid.¨ Ibo had gruffed, and she'd hugged him quickly. Elly was very fond of her uncle Ibo, always wanting to sit on his lap, laughing at the jokes he made she didn't yet understand. 
Eddy felt safe, here, in this row of people he loved so dearly. He felt grounded, because he had found his place in the world. His place was right here, right in this seat at this competition. 

The applause rang out and Eddy's eyes shot to the wings. He stopped breathing when he saw them walking out onto the stage, his heart beating a solid presto. They seemed so big already in real life, but out there they were still absolutely tiny. But they didn't seem intimidated at all, stepping forward confidently, their half-sized violins in their hands. 
They stood in the bend of the grand piano, just like Eddy had taught them, and looked at the accompanist at the exact same time. Eddy barely registered it; the twins did pretty much everything simultaneously. 
He saw them lifting their bows, breathing in, and they were off. 

Eddy's smile grew wider and wider as the bars flew past and they were perfect every time. He squeezed Brett's hand so hard he was sure his knuckles were going white, but it didn't matter because Brett was squeezing just as hard. Yes! They rocked! 
He almost teared up as he realised just how happy they would be. Elly and Eli, their big little eight year old twins who loved nothing more than to play the violin. 

It was a raucous applause, at the end of the piece, and Elly and Eli bent gracefully, perfectly in unison, and stood beaming at the crowd. 
Suddenly Eli caught his eye and Eddy smiled widely at him and gave him a big thumbs up. Eli beamed even more then, before taking his sister's hand and walking calmly off the stage.
¨They'll be ecstatic¨, Brett whispered in his ear. 
¨I know!¨ He turned slightly to beam at his husband. ¨It couldn't have gone any better.¨
Brett nodded. ¨Yeah. And now we wait...¨ 

Everyone knows that time never goes more slowly than when you're waiting, and Eddy was shifting in his seat as he thought of how his kids were doing. Would they be alright, back stage? He knew there was a whole team there to care for them, but still. He would have preferred to be right by their side.

But the applause came back and all the contestants filed out of the wings and onto the big stage, all the kids, Elly and Eli being the smallest of them all, arranging themselves into a semicircle on the stage to await the results.
The twins were holding hands, and they really were the cutest thing in the world. Eddy couldn't help the tears that welled up now, and when he looked briefly at Brett he had to smile. Brett was clearly barely keeping it together himself. Brett leaned over slightly, so his head touched Eddy's shoulder. 
¨I love you.¨ he whispered. 
The PA boomed before Eddy could say anything else and the chairman of the jury began to talk about how high the level of this years competition had been. Eddy tried to listen, but why were these speeches always the same? The chairman droned on for a bit, but then he finally got to the bit everyone wanted to hear. He announced the runners up with great aplomb, and both were met with enthusiastic applause. 
Eddy gripped Brett's hand even tighter as they waited, his breath stuck in his throat. 

¨I am very pleased to announce that the first prize goes to: Elly and Eli Chen!¨
The audience exploded and everyone stood up as Elly and Eli stood on the stage gaping at each other, clearly hardly able to believe that they had won. Eddy's hand flew to his mouth, and for a moment he even forgot to clap.
¨Oh my God!¨ Brett said beside him, and he saw Brett had given up the fight against the tears now too. Eddy smiled as he moved his hand up to wipe away the tear on Brett's cheek. 

A few minutes later they could finally make their way backstage to wait for their children. 
¨Dad! Daddy!¨ Elly squealed as she ran into their waiting arms, Eli just half a metre behind her.
¨We won! We won!¨
¨You did!¨ Eddy said, beaming at them. ¨I told you you would rock, and you rocked!¨
He closed his left arm around Brett and his right around Elly as Brett threw his left arm around Eli, and they stood like that in one of the family hugs Eddy loved so much. 
The children weren't there for long though, as one of the women of the venue approached to whisk them away for a photo on the now empty stage. She looked at Brett and Eddy coyly, and Eddy absent-mindedly realised she recognised them.  

¨They look happy, hey?¨ Brett said in his deadpan voice, pulling Eddy closer to him.
Eddy laughed. ¨Do you think?¨
¨Wow. Who would have thought it, huh?¨ Brett hummed, his tone whistful.
¨I know.¨ Eddy smiled. Who would have thought it, indeed. The kids had entered their first ever competition, and they had won. Eddy knew they were talented of course, and they were so driven, much more so than he himself or Brett had been. But still, to hear it confirmed like that... the twins would be over the moon. This was what they had wanted and what they had worked hard to achieve. 
Life was pretty fucking awesome right about now.

¨Right! Dinner's on me!¨ Ibo said as he approached them, his daughter's small hand in his giant one. ¨Hey, kiddos! Well done!¨ 
Elly and Eli walked back in and they stood beaming, surrounded by their family. Auntie Belle stepped forward and hugged them too.
¨Well done, my sweeties.¨ she said, stroking their hair with both hands. 
¨Thank you, auntie Belle! We won!¨
She smiled at them both. ¨I know you did. And you deserved to win, your playing was amazing!¨
¨Thank you, auntie Belle¨ they beamed. Nothing was going to wipe that smile of their faces for a little while, Eddy reckoned. 
The twins spoke to the new friends they'd made for a bit, and then everyone got ready to go out and get that dinner Ibo had promised them. The whole group started to make its way to the exit as Brett and Eddy grabbed the violin cases and made to follow, but they were stopped by the chairman of the jury, who had walked into the room from the jury quarters.
¨Mr Chen? Mr Yang? I just wanted to congratulate you on the achievement of your son and daughter, I just realised that they are your children, and I must say I can see now where they got their talent from!¨
Eddy smiled at him. How nice of him to come and say that!
¨Thank you very much. We're very proud of them.¨
The chairman smiled widely. ¨As you well should be. I also...  I wanted to personally say thank you for all you've done for the violin community.¨ 
Whoa. What? For a moment, Eddy didn't know how to react. 
Now, he'd heard stuff like this before, of course. But coming from this guy? Wow. That really was something else! He tried to keep his voice level as he replied.
¨Thank you very much, sir, we're just doing what we love to do as well!¨
¨Well, I hope you keep doing so for a long time.¨
The chairman nodded pleasantly and shook their hands before walking off. 

¨Bretty?¨ Eddy said as he turned to him. 
¨Yeah?¨
¨I love you too, you know.¨
Brett smiled as he kissed him quickly.
¨I do know. You show me every day. Now, come on, slow coach, before they go eat without us!¨
Eddy grinned and looked back at the empty stage one more time.
Yeah. Pretty fucking awesome. 

A/N. That's it, gosh, guys, THE END! 
I hope you've enjoyed this little glimpse into the future of Brett, Eddy and their family.
I have loved, absolutely loved writing this whole book. 
So, I have some news! I have a new novel, a supernatural romance story, that's just starting, and I'd love to invite you all to come take a look. 
Find it here: https://www.wattpad.com/user/SayaAnneMay (link in comments :)), the story is called Perception. 
I created a different account, because this one is going to be more public than my Breddies, which I'd like to mostly keep between you the reader, and me :)

Anyway, many hugs, and lots of love to you all, see you over at Perception or over at Andante, which is still continuing. Thank you so much for all the comments, all the stars and all the love, it really has meant the world to me! 
So ta!