Allegro con fuoco

IV

"Whoa." he breathed as he got his senses back. They found themselves sitting together, under the hot shower, their backs against the wall, still catching their breath.
"Yeah." Brett said.
"I need about three weeks to process today."
Brett grinned.
"Yeah. I get that. Seriously though, Eddy. You did good, real good."
"So did you. You got me every step of the way, without words. And I still can't believe it's worked out like this."
"Me neither, but there we are. So I guess... we're two couples in the house, now?"
"Wow. Oh God, does that mean we're going to hear their bedroom noises?"
Brett grinned.
"Maybe. That didn't work out so bad today, did it?"
"No, it did not."
They sat in silence then, for a moment, until Brett squeezed his leg.
"So, you wanna wash up and see if they're ready to go anywhere?"
Eddy smiled.
"They may lock themselves in that room, you know."
"I don't think they'll skip the rehearsal."
"Nah, probably not. But we may be on our own tonight."
Brett leaned his head on Eddy's shoulder.
"I don't mind that one bit."

Somehow he was tired, real tired by the time they had put their clothes back on and were ready to leave the room to go back to the music school. Was it the emotions of the day, or what they just did in the shower? He wasn't sure, but stepping out of their hotel room was hard, and raising his hand to knock quietly on Todd and Ian's door he felt like he was moving it through wall paper paste. 
"Er... sorry to disturb, guys." he croaked awkwardly. "Erm... we kind of need to go to rehearsal. Do I need to tell John you're sick?"
The door swung open before he could take a step back and an elated looking Todd stood in the opening, eyeing him up and down. An even wider smile spread on his face.
"Ah! I see you have your I-just-had-sex face on, Eddy." he drawled cheerily. "Good on ya. You as happy as I am? Let's go rehearse! Ian, you comin'?"
"Wait, what?" he called incredulously after his friend as Todd walked back into the room to get his cello. Eddy turned around and gaped at Brett as his hands flew sideways. "I have an I-just-had-sex face?"
Brett laughed. "He just knows you well."
"Well, I fucking well do hope that John isn't about to tell me the same thing."
"I'm sure he won't."
"Oh, Brett also has one, by the way." Todd remarked casually as he came out of the room with Ian on his heel. "Or maybe I know him too well too. So, can I just introduce you to my boyfriend, Ian?"

Had he ever seen Ian look this happy before? He definitely had an I-just-did-something-or-other face, because his cheeks were pink and his eyes shone like never before. And he simply glowed, when Todd called him his boyfriend. It was infectuous, this happiness they both exuded. 
"Wow. I'm so happy for you guys." he said quietly. There was suddenly something stuck in his throat that was difficult to swallow down.
"Yeah, me too, guys." Brett added just as quietly. "This is awesome."

Eddy couldn't help but marvel, as they walked through Taipei, what a difference a couple of hours could make. He remembered vividly how they made this trip earlier this afternoon, how worried he had been about his friends. Now, on the short trip back to the music school, the atmosphere was nothing short of triumphant. And when they walked into the room and saw John, his eyebrows raised again, and he shot an even more surprised glance at Eddy. 
"Er, yeah." Eddy said a little helplessly. I mean, what the fuck was he supposed to say? But he could have known that Todd, who had every ounce of the bad boy banter he had lost over the last months back all at once, would take over. 
"I'm sorry, John." he said, stepping forward and giving the conductor his dazzling smile. "I'm guessing we looked a little rough this morning. So I guess I'll explain... please, if you would, don't tell anyone yet, because this is very new and nobody knows, but can I please take this opportunity to introduce you to my new boyfriend, Ian."