It was 8 pm, right after dinner...

XXVIII

In the following days, both Brett and Eddy were almost fully occupied with work, so there wasn't really time for Brett to analyze his weird, fuzzy feelings further. Not that it bothered him. He welcomed any distraction he could get at this point and no, it was simply circumstancial and totally not him running away, like little Ray in the back of his head was scolding...

Also, his health condition deteriorated quite a bit, so he had to get more medication against nausea and dizziness to even be able to go by his daily life. When he went to see Dr. Han to get the prescriptions, she told him to also drastically reduce his workload to a minimum.

"And what should I do instead? Just lay around?", he had asked, a bit annoyed.
"That'd actually be great, yes! Or go outside, get fresh air and do some exercise. It would help maintaining more stability, Mr. Yang."

Stability was great and all, but it didn't pay the bills, so he'd just said: "I'd rather have that screening thing as soon as possible."
"There is a waiting list, Mr. Yang. I'm doing what I can, but we simply have to be patient until we get a free spot." Brett had nodded at that and left as soon as he had gotten the prescriptions.

He didn't tell Eddy about Dr. Han's recommendation.

So, he kept on working, almost as much as before (there was still a certain someone making sure he wouldn't overdo it...) and the day came, where they were going film one of the bigger projects: They were going to work in a music shop called Synwin, serve customers and get themselves humiliated by the most mundane tasks they probably weren't able to do in the first place.

Luckily, it was one of those "good" days for Brett, where he'd feel like a normal healthy human being and he was quite looking forward to meeting fans and selling music stuff to people.

"You ready?", Eddy asked and slapped him on his back. They had set up everything and had gone to the back of the shop to film their introduction.
"Yes! Probably gonna be super embarassing, but let's do this!"
"We might scare away some customers", Eddy agreed and chuckled
"Maybeee, but well... Yolo, I guess."
Eddy snorted at Brett's last comment as Brett held up the camera, so he could get both of them into the frame.

They made their intro and then headed out to get training from Ms. Heng, one of the shop assistants. Both their heads were spinning after just a few minutes though and Brett felt, he would never be able to remember how to use the POS system and where all the things were.

Nevertheless, the time for facing customers had come. Fortunately, Brett's first group were a bunch of fans and he actually had a blast showing them around. Unlike Eddy, who had to serve real customers at the cashier.

"Bro! This is so exhausting!", Brett whispered after selling a 3/4 Violin to a family, who hadn't known who he was.
"Yeah, there are so many steps with this system when people pay. What happened with good ol' take product give money?"
Brett laughed. "Yeah! And when the people look at you when you do stuff? So much pressure!"
"It's like performing, isn't it?", Ms. Heng said and both nodded at that.

There was a little time window, where not too much was going on and Eddy was helping someone changing an E-string. Brett hid behind the cashier and left the other with his service. He sniggered a bit, watching Eddy struggle and putting on the string in a manner like he had never done that in his life before.

Despite the funny set up, Brett really liked, how Eddy was trying to engage that not violin playing dad in a conversation about how his daughter might have snapped the string. This polite side of him, altough he normally wasn't that outgoing, was kind of fascinating for Brett to observe.

Also, he looked so good in that button up white shirt... the shirt Brett had ironed for him this morning, because Eddy was still a baby and incapable of showing up neat and clean for a work day by himself and on time.
The way, how Eddy pressed the violin against his upper body to tighten the string made Brett's head spin and he suddenly realized, that his breath went faster.
What the fuck? Eddy in a formal dress up was unusual, but not something Brett had never seen. So why did it even catch his attention?
He shook his head wildly to get himself together and proceeded to do a transaction for someone, who wanted to buy a viola case.

But it seemed, that Ling Ling or whatever malecious entity wanted to let Brett suffer. Seeing Eddy interacting with a boy, who wanted to buy a new violin and thus creating the most adorable scene Brett had observed in a long time was almost too much for his poor soul and he had to force himself to just stay behind the cashier and not linger around in Eddy's close range like some mad stalker.
After they took a picture with a fan, Eddy told him to help them pick a violin and who was he to deny a little boy's wish? So he listened to and picked up two different ones to play, which where laid out on the table. At least, he had something better to concentrate on than how God damn adorable and gorgeous his best friend looked.

What a mess he was in!

When Ms. Heng brought five bows for the boy to choose, Brett quickly bailed and left Eddy behind with the rosining duty. Serves him right for making him so confused and flushed and flustered... Also, he didn't want to be in the way, when Eddy, kneeling beside the boy, was filmed for future generations and Brett to admire... Not that he would do that of course! He was too busy anyway.

The rest of the time, everything went by quite smoothly. They sold strings, violins, cases, took loads of pictures with fans and signed a bunch of autographs, at the end of the day even two violins, which were going to be displayed by the window of the music shop.
When filming was over, they were beat and wondered, who was able to do that for more than two hours.

"Good job", Eddy praised and patted Brett's shoulder, while they were packing their filming gear away.
"You too! You even sold a 2000 Dollar violin! Not bad for your first day."
"Right? Would you hire me?"
Brett looked Eddy up and down at the by now crumpled shirt and the slightly tired, but nonetheless bright smirk on his best friend's face.
"Nah!", Brett declared and turned away.
"What? Why?" Eddy sounded a bit hurt.
"You'd always be late", Brett said, matter-of-factly, "and you took way too long to change that E-string. You looked like a beginner."
"You'd be the same! There was so much pressure and everyone was looking at me... including you, apparently."
Brett laughed. "It was too entertaining to not look at you."
"Well...", Eddy continued to put away their stuff, "I'd hire you."
"Really?"
"Yeah! You look good in that dress up. Like a real handsome professional." He said it very neutrally, like he was praising the agreeable weather, but Brett's silly heart still skipped a beat. He looked at Eddy, astonished and not sure how to respond.
"Uhm... you look good yourself, I guess", he finally managed quietly. Eddy faced him and smiled with shiny eyes.
"That's what I wanted to hear!"
Brett shook his head to hide his slight embarrassment and retorted: "Dumbass."

After they left the store, they found themselves in the middle of a busy shopping street and slowly made their way through the throngs of people to get a taxi or uber somewhere.

"Have you heard back from the girl you've texted?", Eddy suddenly asked and pulled Brett out of his reverie. Brett's head shoot up in surprise.
"What? Which girl?", he asked, genuinely no idea, who Eddy was talking about.
Eddy frowned while they had to split up because of a family with four very loud children coming the other way.
"That girl from the musician-or-non-musician-video you have a crush on. Bro! Don't you remember?"
Brett was suddenly frozen to one place and Eddy was already twenty meters away, when he finally noticed.
"Brett! What the hell? What are you doing?", Eddy said after he'd hurried back.
"Uhh...", he studdered and tried to get his feet moving. "Sorry, just... don't know..." One step after another, yes, like this. That's right! He cheered himself on and finally started walking again.
"Is your stuff too heavy? Shall I take something?", Eddy asked beside him.
"Nah, it's fine", Brett said and picked up the pace, hoping Eddy'd forget the question from before.

"So, that girl..."
Damn it! No such luck. What on earth was he supposed to say now?
"Uhm, haven't heard back yet...", Brett tried weakly.
"Oh, really? She seemed to be a big fan. How unusual..."
"Don't know... Girls man. Whenever it get's serious, they bail."
"Serious? What, did you make a love confession or something?"
Brett snorted. "Of course not! That'd probably your move."
Eddy laughed loudly. "Good one! Yeah maybe... But only to the really important ones." Brett felt a sting and had no idea, why. He huffed.

"What about you?", he asked and tried to sound as deadpan as possible, his speciality. Might as well grab the chance and get some intel about his best friend.
"What about me?"
"You know what. You're having any dates?" His tone was so flat he was impressed by himself.
"If I would, you'd have noticed by now. Don't you think?"
"Not necessarily. It's not like we're always together..."
"Bro!", Eddy exclaimed, laughing, "I can't remember the last time we haven't been! Besides groceries shopping or when one of us is on the toilet, we're always around each other!"
Brett smiled lightly. Eddy was right and with the amount of work they had, they were practically forced to stick together.

"You didn't answer my question", Brett pressed. They had arrived at a bigger crossroad and waited for a taxi to show up.
"Well, not much for you to know", Eddy answered, while he put down the bags and rolled his shoulders to loosen up.
"So, no girls?"
"Nah! How come you're not asking about any boys?", Eddy winked at him and waved at a cab.
"You're straight!", Brett shot out without even thinking, like it was a reflex.
He got eyed up and down. "Hmmm... Maybe there is a cute boy who could change my mind...", Eddy said.
Brett was pretty sure he'd soon die of lack of oxygen, because he suddenly forgot how to breath. But before he could ask Eddy, if there was in fact someone this powerful to make him change so drastically, they got ushered into a taxi by a stressed looking cab driver and the moment passed.