It was 8 pm, right after dinner...

XXIV

There were birds singing, which was very rare in a big city like Singapore. Brett enjoyed the sound very much. It reminded him of his home in Australia. He turned around, yawned and stretched himself, until he suddenly nudged something. Something warm and loudly taking in air.
Brett froze and slowly opened his eyes.

The weird sleeping face of his best friend, mouth slightly open, glasses askew and lightly snoring just few centimeters apart from Brett's was not something he was ready to deal with so early in the morning!
How the hell did Eddy end up next to him? And not just his head resting on the mattress with the rest of him leaning on the side of his bed or something, no. This guy had full on crashed out next to him, his body even covered under the same blanket!

Of course they had shared rooms before. It was almost inevitable, when you practically grew up together, when you went to orchestra camps or when you stayed over whenever it just got too late to go home.
They had also shared beds together. When they were on tour for example and a hotel room with a double was all they had or had simply been cheaper. Normally, there had been more space between them though and very rarely had they have to share a single bed, not to say the same blanket! Maybe, when they were staying over at a friend's together or when they were too drunk to arrange their sleeping places more neatly.

But both of them, in his own bed when Eddy's was just a few meters away? Without being buzzed? That was quite unusual. And what Brett wasn't used to at all, was to have Eddy's face just a few centimeters away from his own.

He didn't know what the hell he was supposed to do with himself, so he just stayed as still as possible and stared at the other.

There were people, who looked pretty and peaceful, when their mind wandered in dreamland. Not Eddy's. His had always just been funny. But had it always been... adorable too?

Brett couldn't help it. He started to examine Eddy's face closer and compared it to the image from his dream last night. The dream, from which he woke up, drenched in sweat and as nauseous as that evening in the shopping mall.
He hadn't seen the piano players face, but he was pretty sure it must have been Eddy. Who else would he dream of in such a manner?
And why the nausea? Was it his sickness? Or was it the immense sadness he'd felt in the dream, which overwhelmed him in real life? He honestly couldn't tell and his head started to spin of all the unanswered questions.

Brett looked at Eddy. Compared to his dream, this Eddy almost seemed dull. Gone were the beauty, the glory and the greatness, which the one on the piano had emitted. It was just... well, his Eddy. His best friend, who looked after him. Kind of his home too, familiar, warm and wonderful in his own way. He liked this Eddy better. The other almost made him afraid, but this one had been there when he had puked his guts out last night.

He sighed. He couldn't place where the dream came from and he also couldn't tell, why he'd felt so sick. He felt like he was losing control over his physical and mental state and he didn't like that one bit! Twoset needed him. Eddy needed him and there was no time for him to sort out his messed up state. They had so many great and fun projects going on and the 3 mil was coming closer everyday (thank God for that, but also, he really needed to get his gears going for that orchestral part!). So life was being a bitch right now with doing this to him!

Brett sighed again, felt a million years older and for the first time, found, that the term "grandpa" their fandom and editor-san gave him, fit perfectly.

Brett's contemplation about life must have woken up Eddy, because the other suddenly scrunched his face and made a little snorting sound. Cute! Brett thought, and immediately retorted mentally. What the hell?

Eddy yawned and slowly opened his eyes like a lazy cat. "Morning", he greeted and smiled.
"Morning... Uhm...", Brett made and was pretty sure he was blushing a bit, "Why are you here, exactly?"
"Oh, I brought you to bed after you hurled."
"Yes, I remember that part, but why did you stay?"
"Shouldn't I have?" Eddy looked more relaxed than concerned while asking a question which implied a potential overstepping of boundaries.
"No, no, it's fine", Brett replied, not entirely sure if that was true.
"I was worried, so I figured I stay here." Eddy stretched and crossed his arms behind his head, looking up the ceiling.

There was this warm, fuzzy feeling again upon what Eddy had said, filling Brett from head to toe. He shuddered a bit.
"Uhm... Thanks, I guess.", he finally said, quietly.
"No worries, you'd have done the same." Eddy turned around, so he faced Brett again and looked at him.
"Do you still feel sick? It sounded pretty bad last night. I even heard you in my room."
Brett flinched and shook his head. "Sorry for that. Really didn't want you to see this. I feel better now, though."
"You know, why you had to hurl? We should write that down... And do you need additional meds against nausea?"
Brett exhaled and sat up a bit. "I don't know, Eddy. We had nothing weird for dinner and I even went to bed when you told me to. So I have no idea, what it was."
Eddy just nodded and stared pensively at the black and white pattern on Brett's blanket.

Brett looked away. For some reason, he didn't want to tell Eddy about his dream. He felt like it was something he had to think about first and if there was a deeper meaning, it might be too personal to share even with Eddy. He was pretty sure by now though, that it had been one, if not the main reason for the messy event last night.

"Earth to Brett!", Eddy called and snipped his forehead.
"Ouch", Brett exclaimed and rubbed the aching part.
"You're spacing out!"
"So are you!"
"Well... Yeah! You give us a lot to think about!"
"Exactly!"
Eddy smiled. "It's nice to see you a bit more energized."
"Is that why you're attacking me? To see me livelier?"
"Yes! Am I not a good friend?"
At that, the corners of Brett's lips lifted too. "The best!"

They smiled at each other fondly and Brett suddenly felt very self aware, but fully comfortable and happy at the same time. He cleared his throat and decided to stare at his hands instead of his best friends face.

"Uhm... Thanks again... Eddy. For yesterday", he mumbled, "And I'm really sorry, that you have to... see all this. I know, you need me as a functional business partner and I'm sorry I'm dragging you into this mess and make us unproductive..."
"Shhhh!", Eddy made loudly. "You're spiraling! Stop that!"
"But..."
"No! Brett, you're not like this! You're not someone who declares himself a victim of his circumstances and you know it doesn't help anyone if you do. So just let me be a good friend and take care of you and focus on getting better! That's all you have to do, okay?"
"Can't even get a little pitty from you, huh?", Brett sniggered after Eddy's little speech. He knew he was right though and what Eddy had said instantly made him feel better. He still couldn't stop himself from adding a little "I'm still sorry."
Eddy tsked at that.
"Bro, you don't need to be! I'm here, alright?" Eddy took Brett's hand, intertwined their fingers and lightly brushed his thumb over the back of Brett's hand.

If there had ever been a flow of warmth in Brett's whole body accompanied by glitter clowds passing by his very eyes, it wouldn't compare to what he experienced right now.

It was like Eddy's hand was casting a spell upon Brett, which lit his whole being on fire and made him shake with excitement and happiness and, was it fear? Never in his life had he felt so... helpless, so complete and yet longing for more, calm and yet giddy and whatever word he could come up with in the whole English or Chinese language, nothing was able to describe or capture the richness of what he was going through.

But who could blame him? Eddy had the audacity to take his hand in such a manner it would make everyone's heart rate go through the roof! And to make matters worse, they were still sitting on the same bed, covered under the same blanket! No one would stay cold at that!
At least, that's what Brett had to tell himself to not go totally insane. He knew, his face must have been red like a tomato by now and he also knew, that he most likely couldn't hide the slight tremble, which went through his whole body.

Yet all he could do, was to stare at their hands like he'd seen Paganini rise from the dead and curse him with the inability to play in tune... Not that these two things were in any way related.

Of course, Eddy, being all cool and chill and like all of this didn't affect him the slightest, got a bit suspicious.
"Bro, you good?", he asked with a frown, "You look like you've got a fever..." He reached out his free hand and touched Brett's forehead, which sent Brett's brain into overdrive, so he could do nothing else than to immediately jump out of his bed with a little yelp.

"Bro... Are you alright?", Eddy asked, stupefied, his hand's still in the position where Brett was sitting only a second ago.
The other just stood there, unable to move and the glitter and warmth and supernova thing still going on inside of him.
"Uhh...", Brett stuttered.
"Bro, it's me! I'm not gonna bite!"
"Uhh... I..."
"Brett, you don't look good at all! Don't you want to come back to bed again and rest a bit?"

There was simply no way he was going back to that bed with that one particular person in it and there was also no way he could tell that one particular person why. So he did the one thing he was able to do on autopilot: bail!
"I... need... toilet...", he stammered and fled his own room in an impressive speed, leaving a stunned Eddy behind.