It was 8 pm, right after dinner...

LXXXVIII

"Brett?"

A mere echo of Eddy's all deciding question before. And their answers were going to have a huge impact on their lives, probably the biggest ever.

But as Brett watched Eddy's face fall ever so slightly and could see in every crease distorting his beautiful features that he had to hold back from spiraling, fearing Brett's reply the longer it took for Brett to answer, Brett knew there was just one thing to say, to shout out to the whole world to hear.

And after all these months (years for Eddy!) of hoping, pondering, crying, wondering, asking, thinking, the maybe's and probably not and the touches, the hugs, the fireworks, the "Let me take care of you" and "You're cute" and "You're mine" and the almost and actual kisses... there had always only been one answer.

"You already said 'I'm yours' quite some time ago." He took Eddy's hand and brushed his thumb over the back of it like they'd done to each other countless times by now.
"So let me be officially yours now, so you can scare bad guys away for real."
Brett could barely recall a time where Eddy's face lit up the way it did now. It was like the moon was shining on him.
"Oh, Brett..."
Brett just smiled at him.
"Oh, Bretty..." His eyes were glistening again. So, so beautiful.
"This is... I've waited years for this." He took a deep breath and squeezed Brett's hand. "So, I can call you my boyfriend now?"
"Yes, boyfriend", Brett said solemnly and set a storm of butterflies free in his own stomach upon tasting that word. How weird, how new, how very special. And yet, it felt like this idiom was not nearly enough to describe what they had. What Eddy was to him.
"Thank you" Eddy looked at Brett with his shining eyes, "for... you know... starting this with me."
"Can't wait", Brett whispered, leaning over to kiss his love until they were both breathless again.

All this love confessing, savouring the new physical contact and establishing their relationship status made them pretty hungry, so they continued eating dinner at some point. The baozi filled with meat went cold by now, but they were still very delicious, the bags of dried meat and seaweed were quickly emptied and the cups containing bubble tea for Eddy and unsweetened passion fruit greentea for Brett were soon joining the growing pile of garbage. So did the watermelon and orange peels.
Brett couldn't believe how much he was enjoying this. Everything felt light and easy, familar and yet so, so new. The blanket they were sitting on and having a rather simple Christmas meal under the night sky was like a bubble, a different world where there was no sickness, no complicated questions, but joy, laughter and love. Old love and new found love in fact.

"So, did you always also like guys? I just know of you having girlfriends", Brett asked when they were nearing the finish line of their dinner. He recalled his chat with Belle about Eddy's relationships not lasting.
Eddy seemed to ponder about an answer.
"Hmmm... I can't really remember from my, like, early teenage years. I think I generally like girls more and that's why, except for you, I never really fell for any guys. But as I said, we met and I never felt as strongly for anyone as for you."
"Wow", Brett made, amazed how similar their preferences were with both just being head over heels for the other, except for Eddy being in love for more or less a decade more than Brett apparently.
"Did you never think I was bi? Or gay?", Eddy asked clearly out of curiosity.
"I... I actually talked with your sister about it briefly", Brett brought Belle into the equation.
Eddy's eyes widened in surprise. "Belle? When?"
"I wanted to call Ray but accidentally called her."
"Oh, same surname?"
"Exactly. And she said something like that you always put a shitload of effort into your relationships but none of them lasted and that she'd asked you if you were maybe interested in something else."
"I don't even remember that." Eddy scratched the back of his head.
"Forgetting problems", Brett mumbled and got a plastic wrap from one of the baozi thrown at him.
"And that was kind of the first time I really thought it might be possible that you're not just straight... Oh and there was that convo we had about relationships... when you said something about a cute boy changing your mind."
"Oh, that", Eddy laughed, "Yeah... I meant ONE cute boy really, but I was too chicken to say anything more specific."
Brett grinned. "So you meant me." It wasn't a question.
"'Course! Who else would I be talking about?"
"Well, all those K-pop videos you like... Jimin is his name, right? For example?"
"Uhhh, Bretty, you jealous?", Eddy teased with a wink.
"I might be. There is no way I can win against those guys", Brett huffed more or less as a joke, but Eddy was by his side in an instant.
"Brett, everyone pales in comparison to you...", he started with an earnest voice, but Brett cut him off, chuckling.
"Bro, it's fine! I'm not gonna be jealous that fast after that crazy love declaration of yours."

It was true. What Eddy had shown him there gave Brett so much confidence in regards to how Eddy saw and felt for him that it would need more than a little uncertainty to throw him off. And Brett was immensely thankful for that.
"Oh, okay. Yeah, I hope not. I thought long and hard about how to tell you, you know." The tension left Eddy's body again and he gently laid his head on Brett's shoulder, emitting his warmth to Brett's side and tickling Brett's chin with his hair.
"You did?", Brett asked and snuggled closer to his best friend and love. All this was still so incredible Brett had to hold back a giggle.
Eddy breathed in deeply and sighed contently.
"Yeah. I even wrote stuff down. Bits of it. The things I really wanted to nail."
"You nailed the whole performance. Everything! Really... I don't know how I deserve this."
Eddy kissed his jaw softly from where he'd positioned his head.

"You deserve the world, Brett."