Andante con Brio

LV

Eddy didn't think he had ever felt quite like this in his life. His legs seemed to be made of cooked spaghetti, heavy with every step and yet barely under his control. His arms were shaking now that the adrenaline had worn off and the feelings of relief had flown in. He already knew he was going to be sore tomorrow, very sore. 
He had been so terrified, and now he was walking back over the gravel in one piece and it was almost like nothing weird had ever happened. Apart from the fact that Todd had left them needing a minute and... well... they had taken a bit more than a minute. 
He shrugged as he saw the tents coming up. It wasn't like Todd had never done something like that, was it? He just hoped he wouldn't make too many jokes. 

Lily was there the second he stepped onto the grass and she punched him in the shoulder, hard. He cringed a little as the pain seared through his burning bicep. Then she threw her arms around him and pulled him in. 
"Jesus, Eddy, that was scary." she said in his ear, maybe ever so slightly too loud. 
He blinked and then he made a split-second decision. I mean, what good would worrying her after the fact do? He was fine and he wasn't going to do it again. 
"It wasn't too bad, Lils, don't worry."
She let him go and stared at him. 
"Really? It looked... and you were..."
He nodded. "I'm fine, Lils. But I'll be more careful, I promise."
"Why did you pull such a stupid stunt anyway? Did you have something to prove or something, after the thing that happened yesterday at the opera house?"
He blinked again, because he knew that what she was saying was dead on. Yeah, he had needed to prove something. To feel alive. To feel anything apart from the dread he had felt ever since he had heard Kevin's soft words. He could just never let his friends know how close it had gotten to something monumentally stupid. Imagine if his mum heard? She'd lock him in his room and never let him out again. 
"I don't know, Lily. Don't worry, I'm fine, honest."
He could see she wasn't convinced, but she was going to let it go. Her little, slender right hand moved up and stroked his cheek gently. 
"Okay." she said then. "I gotta help Matt cook."

He would have preferred to sit down quietly and everyone ignore him, but he could see that that wasn't going to happen. Everyone wanted to know if he was okay, and he found himself repeating his lie that it hadn't been so bad over and over again. By the time everyone had gone back to whatever they had been doing Todd was there and he looked him right in the eye, no jokes anywhere to be found. 
"You sure you good?" he said, and Eddy shrugged. There was no hiding from Todd, he knew that. He would very definitely be able to see through the lie. It was better not to say anything. 
Todd looked at him appraisingly for a second and then he nodded, almost as if he was accepting what Eddy had decided. Then he smiled a tiny smile. 
"Nice long minute though."
Eddy grinned. 
"Yeah. Pretty good minute."
Todd smiled again, a little wider this time. 
"Come on. There's food, I think."
Eddy sat down with some difficulty next to Brett, closer even than the nights before. He didn't even care right now whether anyone would see, he just needed him there, needed his presence, the feel of Brett's thigh against his own. Needed the images of their minute in his head, instead of the minutes before. He was tired, now, very, very tired, his whole body exhausted from fighting so hard against the rip, but yet he sat there and ate his food slowly, his hand always in Brett's, until everyone got ready for bed. 

Then he got up with a groan, to follow them to the toilet building, to brush his teeth with an arm that was heavy, so heavy, until at last he was allowed to climb into the big sleeping bag with the love of his life. 
He was asleep the second his head hit the pillow.