Neighbour

31.

The rehearsal honestly went fine. Brett seemed to be frustrated with his shaky bow, though it was obviously not his fault at all. The bruising made it impossible to keep his elbow high enough, giving his hand too much weight that he tried to compensate for with his wrist. Eddy wanted to tell him it was okay, to take a break. Obviously, it hadn't been his call to make, though, and the section leader didn't seem to notice.

They had lunch together that day. In the bubble tea and noodle shop. Eddy loved seeing Brett's content smile as he slurped up his lunch and chewed the pearls from his tea. He loved the way Brett laughed at his goofy attempt to make fun of the rather mean conductor, even joining in with a joke of his own.

"You've been in such a good mood today," Eddy remarked as they packed their instruments after the Finnish conductor finally released them two minutes late. "And I mean that in a good way."

Brett shrugged a bit as he closed the case. The happy mood did seem to have diminished somewhat by now, which worried Eddy.
"Well… I guess I just felt… really well rested?" he half asked half stated. "I haven't slept like that in a really long time. I guess your bed is really good or something."

"Yeah?" Eddy asked softly, feeling the warmth creeping up into his cheeks. His bed, huh?

"Yeah," Brett confirmed softly, running a hand through his softly looking hair, seeming to be almost… nervous?

"So uh, do I get a ride home today, or should I run for the bus?" Eddy asked to break the silence that had filled the air. The smaller man blinked a few times, and seemingly snapped himself out of his thoughts with a light shake of his head.

"Oh yeah, sure," Brett said softly, standing up and picking up his violin - or well, Eddy's old violin, and getting it on his back. Eddy did the same with his new violin, following the smaller man as he led the way through the concert hall hallways maybe a bit more fast-paced than usual.

Once they got to the car, Eddy decided to be helpful by taking both violins to place in the trunk, and Brett didn't even say anything as he quickly spun around to get into the driver's seat. The vibe was weird, almost nervous between them now, and honestly Eddy thought for a split second that he had been pushing Brett's limits too far with letting him sleep in his bed, and sleeping with him, with the fun lunch and with paying for his food and bubble tea so Mike couldn't find out they'd been there through his bank statements.

Brett had gotten all weird when they talked about Mike. He hadn't tried to tell himself the dickhead just was bad at showing his love or anything like that, and instead just brushed him off like he was trying to avoid the topic altogether. Which was understandable, but it was different from the pattern they had established. In a good way.

Eddy slipped into the car as well, glancing over at the smaller man as he ran his tongue over his lower lip. What was going on in that beautiful head?