Allegro con fuoco

LXIII

He was giddy. There was no other way to describe it. Giddy, as they walked back as fast as they could through the gardens without actually running and attracting more attention than they needed, half jogging through the entrance and into the street to safety. Eddy giggled when they came to a stop at last and he held his knees so he could catch his breath. Brett laughed freely. 
"Okay, so that was exhilarating."
"I know, right?" Eddy stopped himself from taking his love's hand and started walking in the direction of the bus stop at a normal pace, like normal people who hadn't just done that in a toilet cubicle. "I think we got away with it though."
Brett shook his head as he caught up to him. 
"Yeah. We were insane to try. But..."
Now Eddy did take his hand, there was no stopping it, just for a quick second, then let it go again. 
"I know. There was no way we weren't going to. And hey, we didn't just try, right?" He smirked at him sideways as the little shiver pulled through him. "We did."
"We did." Brett gleamed. "I love you so much, Eddy. Surprising me like that. Wow. When did you even get the ring?"
Eddy was about to answer him honestly, about that morning, about the jewellery store in the mall and the friendly guy behind the counter, but something shook inside of him then, holding the words back. So instead he just smiled. 
"Somewhere." he told him, keeping his voice deliberately mysterious. 
Sure enough Brett grinned. 
"Alright, alright. Look, I think there's some restaurants over there. You wanna go see?"
"Absolutely."

Hotpot was fabulous. The best. Almost as good as sitting there with his fiancee was, in a corner of the restaurant, their feet together under the table, their eyes together over it. He could have spent forever there, dunking meat and vegetables into simmering, flavoursome broth until he could eat no more, spending every moment staring in his love's sweet eyes, knowing what they had promised, even though the world around them had no idea. 
"God, I'm so full." he told Brett as they walked out of the restaurant. 
"Me too." Brett grinned. "Wanna go check out the market?"
"Absolutely."
Look. He would have to wait until tomorrow to put his new plan in motion anyway. He might as well enjoy today, right? Even though the nerves were already crawling around his belly?
 They spent the next few hours just wandering around Singapore. Beaming. Smiling. He bought a linen bag saying "Singapore" with a rainbow love heart for Todd with a massive grin. 
"You're trying to show him what he missed?" Brett asked. 
"Something like that."
He put the wrapped bag in his backpack and looked around, eyeing Brett subtly as he did. Would his love be able to tell he was planning something? Surely he would just think it was because of earlier? How neutral would he be able to be?

It had gotten dark by the time they got back to the hotel and rode up in the lift in silence. Eddy's thoughts were all over the place, because what a day this had been. It felt like he had matured approximately six years since this morning. 
"Um... Eddy?" Brett asked him shyly as Eddy closed the door behind them both.
"Yeah?"
Brett grinned then, in some weird mix of irony and shyness Eddy hadn't seen before. 
"Er... you had a ring? You know... this afternoon?"
Oh God, the ring! Eddy's heart skipped a beat. He hadn't given him the ring! He had shoved it in his pocket in a hurry when the applause came from that group in the garden and he had forgotten all about it since. His cheeks where glowing as he dug into his pocket and fished out the black velvet box. Then, on a whim, he walked over to his suitcase and grabbed into the back bit to get his own one, the promise ring that Brett had gotten him, so many years ago. He couldn't just throw him the box, could he? He had to make it some sort of moment, at least? But when he got up Brett was there already. Without a word he handed his own ring to Brett, who was smiling as he took his hand and slowly put it on his third finger. 
"There." he whispered thickly. "Finally."
Eddy looked at the ring for a long second, then opened the black box from the jewellery store with shaky hands. 
"I hope you like it." he said as he took out the engraved ring from its velvet cushion. It seemed to weigh more than was theoretically possible. "It... I don't know. It just seemed like it would suit you."
Brett's eyes glistened with something as Eddy put the ring on his ring finger. He looked at it, then back at Eddy. 
"I love it. I can't even tell you how much."
"Good. Wanna go eat at the buffet again?"
"Absolutely."
"Kiss me first though."
Brett grinned again. 
"Absolutely."