Straight

XI

Brett gets dressed as quickly as he can. He doesn't want to be naked, doesn't want to be seen, doesn't want to give away how he feels. So he pulls on some black jeans and a shirt, and it's a relief. He turns around with a neutral, normal smile. 
"That looks awesome Eddy, thanks! How's your head?"
Eddy is busying himself with some toast that he's made them. 
"Fine, now. Sleeping helped." 
Brett smiles again, but for real now. Eddy is looking good, with no hint of how he was last night, no pallour, no awkwardness. He is just Eddy, just his own, beautiful, slightly gawky self, and Brett knows that he's done the right thing this morning.
"We should get practising in a minute." Eddy says. "And don't we have an extra rehearsal later?"
Brett nods.
"Yeah. Rehearsal on Saturday, which idiot came up with that?"
He sits down and digs into the eggs and toast. Wow, he was famished, and he remembers he didn't eat much last night. He smiles at Eddy again in thanks and chews enthusiastically.
"We should get some bubble tea before the rehearsal." Eddy says.
"Love it."

Eddy puts his violin case on the bare mattress, and Brett has to look away quickly, before the images of the night before overtake him again. He busies himself with his own violin case and manages to never look around again. 
"You gonna practise for the rehearsal?" he remarks casually as he tightens his bow and picks up his violin. 
"Nah. I've looked it over yesterday. I need to practise for the competition."
Brett almost grins. Yeah, of course Eddy looked it over. Because he always practises, right, for a rehearsal? He swallows his sarcastic comment and keeps his voice neutral. 
"Yeah. I wish we had more hours in the day to practise." 
"I wish my neck wouldn't get stiff after a few hours of practice."
Now he really can't help his reaction, because the image drills into his brain like there's power tool behind it, and he can just see himself, rubbing Eddy's shoulders, pressing down on the points just above his shoulder blades with his thumb...
Oh, he could make him feel so much better. 
He blinks and puts his violin on his shoulder before that thought goes any further. 

He tries his hardest to focus on the Tchaik he's been practising, but all of his brain power is elsewhere, today. And it would have taken a deaf man not to hear that Eddy's distracted too. I mean, when has he ever played that line in his Katchaturian out of tune? 
And what does that mean? Is Eddy okay? What can he do to find out?
He tries, he really tries to focus, but after a while he knows he's a lost cause. He looks up at Eddy and manages not to smile at how cute he looks. 
"You good? We should set off in like half an hour?" he asks. 
Eddy seems to deliberate for a second, like he's chewing on his words or something. But then he nods. 
"Yeah, I guess I'm still a little tired or something. I'll be fine once I get some bubble tea in my system."
Brett grins. Bubble tea, huh? It's one of the things they've always shared, that they've discovered together, that's theirs. 
"Bubble tea. A panacea." he smirks. 
Eddy nods and grins back, goes back to practising the chord he's been trying to get right for the last few minutes. It works, this time, and Brett knows he's said the right things. 

Now if only he could get some decent practice in himself. But he doesn't feel like that's about to happen any time soon.