It was 8 pm, right after dinner...

XXXVIII

There was a rhythmic, by now familiar high pitched beeping sound which Brett started to hear, as he slowly regained consciousness. And what followed were three words popping up in his brain:

Fuck! Not again!

Really? Another time where he ended up in a freaking hospital bed? That was just fucking great!

He groaned and slowly opened his heavy eyelids. His glasses were nowhere to be found, so he squeezed his eyes and tried to make out the time by analyzing the light coming through the curtains. It must have been late in the evening or night even.

The last thing he remembered was his poor self hanging over the toilet retching and crying his eyes out afterwards. There was no recollection of getting to any hospital whatsover.

He turned to the right. Eddy's head was resting next to him and he was sleeping soundly, even snoring a bit, his upper body leaning on Brett's bedside.

Immediately, the tears returned upon seeing his best friend so close to him and Brett took deep breaths, trying to not straight out wail.

What a wanker! How in Ling Ling's name did something like this happen? Brett had known Eddy forever! They were like brothers. They shared a business, an appartment, a vision, life itself.

So how on earth did he fall in love with him? Of course he'd always considered Eddy good looking, because he was, objectively speaking. But he couldn't recall ever having deeper feelings for him. Was it even possible to fall for someone he'd known for more than half of his life?

Well, apparently it was. Because Brett had never experienced something like this before. Some minor butterflies and fun with being intimate with various girlfriends over the years of course, but never had it been so warm, wonderful and so utterly overwhelming that he couldn't function anymore.

And never had anything felt so important in his life. Not the competitions, his time at the con or even his orchestral job in Sydney. Not even twoset, if he was being super honest.
No, this felt so different, that he had to move it to a whole other dimension he had never entered before and it scared the shit out of him.

But all of that didn't even matter, for he could never tell Eddy. It would jeopardize everything they had and he sure as hell couldn't risk that.

This thought hurt so much, that a tear fell and Brett had to hold back a sob, so he wouldn't wake up his sleeping friend.
No such luck though. Eddy stirred and grunted, before he yawned and finally opened his sleepy eyes.

"Brett?", he croaked.
Brett breathed in shakily. He prayed, that him being upset, wouldn't be audible, before he carefully voiced a "Yes?"
"Oh, you're awake..." Eddy sat up a bit and stretched his arms and back. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay", Brett lied, "Uhm... What happened?"
"Well, I found you in the men's room. We were looking everywhere for you, after the girls left."
"Sorry", Brett mumbled.
Eddy shook his head. "Don't be, bro! After I found you there, I couldn't wake you up. So I got our team for help and after we brought you out of the toilet, I called an ambulance."
Brett nodded slowly, not sure what to say.
"They checked your vitals", Eddy continued, "the team was pretty out of it, so I sent them home and the ambulance brought you and me to the SGH. Some doctors checked on you again, but they said, there is nothing really wrong with you, except that you need rest and more iron and stuff. They hooked you up on IV and here we are."

It was quiet for a while. Just the annoying beep every three quarter second.
Eddy sighed. "I spoke to the doctors and called your Gastroenterologist. I told them that we need an appointment for the MRI as soon as possible."
A vivid imagination of a furious Eddy, standing his ground popped into Brett's head.
"Thanks", he said weakly, "What did they say?"
"They said, if it's like the last time you fainted, there is still not much they can do." Brett saw the cold anger in his face. "But I said some things... They're going to treat your case more seriously now."
"That...wow... Uhm, thanks, I guess."
Eddy was not the kind of person who insisted on something. What he had done was so out of character for him, that Brett could just marvel over Eddy's will. And he couldn't help but feel a bit moved.

Eddy sighed again.
"Brett."
His voice was calm, yet determined and almost dominant. Brett froze. He felt like an animal being chased into a corner without a way out.

"You fainted. Again! And you hurled. Don't try to deny it. I saw the aftermath. This isn't healthy anymore! Hasn't been for a long time actually. "
Brett just nodded slightly, not knowing how else to react.

"We are going to take some time out!" He used the same tone like before they went to the studio, when Eddy had told him to stop filming immediately if he'd felt off. Undiscussable. Brett knew, he had no choice than to agree, so he just nodded again with sad eyes. He had ignored the rest his body needed many times now and even he had to admit, that a break was the only thing that made sense.

Eddy took Brett's arm. His gaze went soft and so did his voice, when he said almost inaudibly: "You lost so much weight."
Did he? Brett hadn't even noticed. Eddy's warm hand softly wrapped around his forearm was not at all overlooked though.
He cleared his throat.
"Uhm... well, not much left that I can eat anymore, so..."
"Yeah, and the rest doesn't stay, I guess."
Eddy looked at him.
"Brett, why didn't you say anything during filming today? I told you to stop when you're not fine."
"I thought I can go through with it. Which I did, by the way."
"Yeah, but at what cost? You God damn blacked out! In a toilet stall of all places! And you were unconscious for like five hours!" Eddy turned away, his hand still at Brett's arm.
"I was worried sick for you, Brett." Brett's name was almost a whisper and to Brett's disturbance, he saw silent tears running down Eddy's face.

"Heyy", Brett said, sat up a bit and held Eddy's shoulder, "Heyy, it's fine. I'm okay, thanks to you and I'm so sorry I made you worry."
Eddy sniffled and wiped the drops away with a sleeve of his four seasons cardigan he was still wearing, but they just kept on flowing.
"Heyy, bro..." Brett reacted almost out of instinct and closed his arms around Eddy. He ignored the storm of butterflies, which broke loose in his belly and stroked Eddy's hair while mumbling soothing words.

Brett felt a pang of guilt. Making Eddy cry was the last thing he wanted and just because he'd powered through filming, he had made himself subject of Eddy's worry. If it would have been Eddy there on the ground, he would have freaked out too. Brett tightened the hug around his friend.

"You should go home.", Brett whispered, when Eddy's sobs subsided to quiet sniffles. Eddy shook his head wildly.
"No!"
"But you're exhausted. You need rest!"
"I'm staying."
Brett sighed, but still held Eddy close to his beating heart.
"You can't sleep on this uncomfortable stool thing", he murmured.
"I can slip into your bed, if you insist."

Brett hesitated. As much as he wanted to make sure, that Eddy got proper rest, hospital beds were extremely narrow for whatever reason. They'd have to scoot very closely to each other to prevent any falling-out-of-bed incidences. Not to speak of the hospital probably not being super fond of Brett having an inofficial roommate crashing next to him.

Also, would sharing a bed still be okay after Brett had found out, how he felt about his best friend? And what was with the incident right the night before, when Brett had asked Eddy to stay and had gotten rejected?

But Eddy looked so upset, that he decided to disregard all these complicated questions for now. It was the least he could do.

"I do insist. Come here."
Eddy climbed into bed next to him and Brett threw the thin hospital blanket over him. The urge to cuddle up to Eddy was strong, but he knew, there was no way he could go there without it causing a catastrophic outcome with either Eddy deeming it super weird or Brett not having himself under control and suddenly doing things he really shouldn't as his best bro.
Who knew Eddy would be the one scooting closer, until their heads almost bumped into each other. Well, there wasn't much space, so he didn't really have a choice.
"Good night", he sighed, turned into a sideways laying position facing Brett and almost fell asleep immediately, leaving Brett close to a heart attack and with no idea, how the hell he should ever find dreamland with that gorgeous, unbelievably nice smelling idiot just a few centimeters away from him.

Being at the hospital was suddenly a lot less worse.