It was 8 pm, right after dinner...

XXXII

They still had another video to film today, but Brett was beat after their call with Hilary, so Eddy suggested, they'd take a two hour break before they'd do that perfect pitch scavenger hunt in their appartment. He quickly called one of their team members, Ben, who'd do the filming, to come by later and ushered Brett to bed.

He slept through those two hours and felt like a train had hit him, when he got woken up by Eddy. His head hurt and he tried hard to control his nausea.
Eddy looked at him.
"Brett, you look like shit!"
"Thanks! I feel like shit!"
"We need to talk about taking a break, mate!"
"I just had a break", Brett said and got up from his bed.
Eddy sighed. "You know, what I mean. We need to take a longer time out!"
"Eddy!", Brett looked back as he reached the door, "Stop worrying! I can manage. Now let's film that stupid hunt you gonna win anyways."

There was no time for further discussions as Ben arrived. Brett took some pain killers and they quickly started their next filming session.

Being in Twoset mode helped. Being in Twoset mode let them be in sync and funny, although they didn't feel like it. Brett and Eddy made their intro, as if nothing special was going on and even got themselves fired up for the game. By now, Brett felt really sick though and he had to slightly bend forward while they were on their chairs to keep himself upright (how ironic...). He just hoped no one was going to notice anything.

It got better, when he started running around their apartment, looking for stuff that made different pitches and knocking on things. Somehow, he was able to power through and even win the game! Must have been thanks to some supernatural music deity having pity on him... or Ling Ling... or Eddy's memory problems, because this guy kept forgetting, which pitches he got.

Eddy seemed to have a really fun time during the game though and Brett noticed, that he loved and missed seeing Eddy like that. He made a firm promise to himself to have a proper conversation with him after filming, so they could sort out eventual differences and plan together, how they wanted to proceed.

"Ben, thanks for filming! We'd love to have you around for dinner, but I think, Brett needs rest. So..."
"No worries!", Ben said and already took his coat, "Have to head home to my girlfriend anyways. Sooo, see ya guys! Take care, Brett!"
Brett waved at him from the couch he had placed himself on and didn't plan to get up from in the near future.

"Can't believe you won!", Eddy stated after Ben had left and sat down next to him.
"Got skills, man! Even without perfect pitch! So, what's my price?"
"Can't get you any bubble tea, can I?", Eddy said.

Maybe it was his head killing him by now or maybe it was just his body being tired from fighting against the nausea, but Brett suddenly felt a bit lazy, and a bit bold. So he decided to just lean his head on Eddy's shoulder – to seek comfort and closeness? Or to test, how Eddy would react? He couldn't even tell and it actually didn't matter to him.

He might have imagined it, but he felt Eddy slightly getting stifled but already relaxing after like two seconds.
"Brett?", he carefully asked, "You tired? Shall I bring you to bed?"
Brett shrugged and nuzzled himself even more into Eddy's side.
"Maybe you can give me another price then", he just said.
"What would you like?", Eddy asked and started rub Brett's back as if it was the most natural thing to do. It felt so soothing he could just fall asleep like this.
"Keep doing this for starters...", he hummed, his eyes closed.
"Sure", Eddy mumbled and repositioned Brett a bit, so he could give him a proper massage.

Eddy was a God damn pro and Brett could feel the stress, tension and even some of the pain leaving his body. None of the meds had been able to do that in such speed. He moaned, as Eddy continued to work on his lower back.

"That any good?"
"Fuck yeah, keep doing this!"
Brett heard a little chuckle. "Glad I can help."
"Should have asked you to do this a long time ago! It's better than the pain killers, bro!"
"Yeah? You can always ask me to massage you."
"I'll keep you to it, if you're not careful", Brett warned, while he tried hard not to get too carried away.
But Eddy just said: "I don't mind at all. Just ask. I'll provide."
"Mhhmmmm", Brett made and sunk more and more into Eddy's touch.

Eddy's hands kneaded their way through Brett's lower back and then back again to his neck, where, after a while, they just rested, emitting warmth. His thumbs were gently brushing up and down, causing Brett to shiver and his hair there to stand up.
"That still good?", Eddy whispered, his lips suddenly very close to Brett's ear. Brett's shiver intensified.
"Eddy..." There was no coherent thought left in Brett's brain. His whole being was focused on those wonderful points of contact with the other and he savoured it! Savoured the closeness, the touch...

Eddy's breath went fast and shallow next to his ear and as if on cue, his own automatically accelerated, like he was matching his tempo to a duet partner. His duet partner...

And he wanted more! Oh, how he wanted more! He leaned back into Eddy's hands, until Eddy had no choice than to let them slide down the side of Brett's body and he ended up enveloping him in a tight hug from behind. He could feel Eddy's lips almost grazing his cheek. Almost burning him...

Brett opened his eyes with a shock and froze.
What on earth were they doing? That definitely went beyond what best bros would categorize as a casual massage session and as much as he seemed to like whatever this was, as much as it gave him a sense of belonging and longing at the same God damn time, he knew he had to stop this. Otherwise, he might do something, that would hurt Eddy... Or hurt both of them...

"Uhm..." Brett made and tried to sit up a bit. Eddy's breathing stopped. He immediately let go, like he suddenly realized he was holding a wasps nest and almost jumped away from Brett.
"Oh...uh...", he stammered, his wild, confused eyes on Brett.
And Brett tried, he really tried to hide, how much Eddy's reaction hurt him, but he knew his face deadpanned just a few microseconds too slow. Had he backpaddled too late?

"Sorry...", he mumbled, "Just got really tired and... well, you're too good at this back rubbing shit! Almost fell asleep." Lame excuse, Brett knew. But he couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Uhm... It's fine." But Eddy didn't look fine at all. He turned away, his cheeks flushed and eyes glassy and that's when Brett knew, it was time to flee, before he couldn't hold back the tears pressing underneath his eyelids anymore.