mirage

one.

Brett woke up, groggily reaching for his glasses that had been carelessly thrown on the floor last night.

Last night, god. He still couldn't believe what had happened.

A shuffle of footsteps interrupted his daydreaming.

'Morning.' The word was full of love, sweetness, and a bonding that only years of being so close could fuse. Brett knew such a sweet greeting deserved an equal response, but the closest he could muster was a 'mmmph' before he pulled on Eddy's sweater and buried his nose in his fiance's chest.

Brett grinned to himself. It was so strange, the thing he had dreamed of for so long, but it felt so right.

Which reminded him.

Yesterday night felt- distorted- as if someone had messed with a recording and over-exposed it. It felt overly bright and sort of stiff.

He knew he wasn't drunk-he never drank- and he could remember the night perfectly, so why did it feel so weird? He shook the thought away.

Eddy pulled back, tossing a shirt and a jumper to the smaller boy who seemed to melt into the sofa. He walked closer and placed a gentle, sweet kiss on Brett's forehead, not realising his mistake. Brett sleepily grabbed his waist and pulled him next to himself on the sofa, before covering the two of them with a blanket.

Eddy groaned. 'We have to get up. C'mon.'

Brett rubbed his eyes and looked up at Eddy. He was breathtaking, dressed in a black hoodie and sweatpants that were obviously a size too small.

Eddy's expression softened, his eyes landing on his boyfriend's bloodshot eyes. 'Sorry.. Was yesterday night a bit much?'

Brett, in fact, was exhausted after they had stayed up well past midnight, cuddling on the sofa and watching Ghibli movie after movie. But he adamantly shook his head, pout forming on his stubborn face.

'Never. That was the best birthday present I ever got. Except-' Brett stopped suddenly, realisation dawning on his face and his mouth opening and closing like a fish.

'You knew I was going to propose. You knew. And then you went and swept before me. I hate you, Eddy Chen. You little-' He trailed off again, staring at Eddy's right hand, which was fingering something in his sweater pocket. He allowed Brett a tiny glimpse of the black satin ring box-the ring box he was meant to propose with.

'I hate you.'

Eddy chuckled lightly, ruffling Brett's hair and kissing his scrunched up nose.

'No, you don't. You wouldn't be marrying me then.'

'Speaking of which...' Eddy trailed off.

'You didn't get me a present, did you? That was enough happiness for a lifetime.'

Eddy laughed and pulled a cardboard box out of the fridge. Opening the lid, he revealed a vanilla cake with buttercream icing, a scrawled 'Happy 25th Bithday' and a very obviously missing chunk of icing.

Brett's mouth opened. 'Wow'.

'Good icing too-'

'I meant the bithday. Sure i'm the one bad at spelling?'

Eddy slapped Brett. 'You want some or not? I need coffee.'

Brett went about cutting two slices of the layered cake, careful to make his slice bigger than eddy's.

'C'mon here.' eddy beckoned for brett to bring the instant coffee. He sprinkled the powder into the pot.

Brett walked over behind him, his hand right beside eddy's.

The sudden contact shocked eddy, making his forearm brush against the pot.

Eddy let out a string of profanity quite unsuitable for the romantic looking situation.

***

They sat down around the little coffee table, sipping from their cup and occasionally taking a bite of the birthday cake. Or, as Eddy wrote, 'bithday cake'.

'So. Any more surprise presents you need to tell me about before I faint and have a heart attack?' Brett teased gently.

Eddy shook his head, wiping off the foam that had collected below his nose. 'But Ido have an idea. Want to go to the reef?'

Brett's eyes widened. 'Gold coast?' he squealed, and rightly so. Brett had always loved seeing the marine life, and just breathing in the air of the ocean. Brett just absorbed happiness.

Eddy nodded. 'I was thinking of just a day trip, since we've got that vacation to Port Stephen coming up.

Brett jumped up and down like a little kid with a Christmas present. He ran around to Eddy's side of the table and embraced him.

a/n: don't worry i know it's too happy, angst coming soon :)