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CVII

The bowls were empty and Brett’s belly on the other hand fuller than it had ever been this week. It felt great, like he’d discovered a new way to live life or had finally gotten better after a long sickness period. Eddy suggested a matcha ice cream they served here as dessert to share and so they sat there, exchanging wonderous gazes and softly spoken words from time to time, neither of them wanting to rush things. Once again, Brett was astounded by how easy and safe it felt being in Eddy’s presence even after the last few days. And when dessert arrived and they were each handed a spoon to scoop out the same bowl, Brett had to hold back hard to not jump up and down in glee. 

“You look happy”, Eddy meant in-between spoonfuls of ice cream. How he managed to get half the dish around his mouth and not in, was beyond Brett. He giggled. Giggled! He couldn’t remember the last time he’d giggled!
“What?”, the taller asked with a confused smile.
“I am happy. But also, you have a little something here” Brett picked up a napkin out of a whim and started to wipe the green mess off the other’s face, “here, here, and here!”
With great satisfaction, he observed Eddy’s cheeks turn from pale to bright red within seconds. 
“Brett Yang. Pulling sappy moves out of nowhere, I can’t believe it”, he shook his head when he’d caught himself again. 
Brett laughed. “Only with people I really like.”
The redness intensified and thus raised the danger of Brett floating away on his happy cloud any second now.

“You really didn’t have to, you know.”
“Let me at least make it up to you.”
“No apologizing anymore, remember?”
“Then take it as one of those sappy gestures, alright?”, Eddy winked and took Brett’s hand again as they left the restaurant, causing Brett’s pulse to accelerate. “Bubble tea?”
“Only if you let me pay this time. Don’t want any imbalance this early in our…”

“...relationship?”, Eddy hesitantly finished Brett’s sentence when it trailed off. Brett looked up at him. 
“Uhm… what do you… I mean… what… do you reckon?”
You reckon? Really? Way to go, Brett Yang, Brett mentally slapped himself hard. 
“Well, let’s look at the facts”, Eddy said, way more relaxed than Brett felt while they strolled down the street, “We established that we like each other.”
Brett swallowed hard and nodded.
“In fact, I hope you know after the second movement I played that there are much stronger feelings involved than ‘like’.”
Heat travelled up Brett’s face while his heart decided to dance to Rossini’s Wilhelm Tell. 
“Oh, uhm…”
“I’m pretty certain I said it at the pier, but let me tell you again to be absolutely sure.”
He stopped under one of the trees by the sidewalk where he took both of Brett’s hands into his and even though Brett almost knew for sure what was coming next and had probably even heard the words before, he suddenly found it impossible to breathe.

“I’m in love with you, Brett”, Eddy stated with such tenderness the last of Brett’s working braincell froze, “I never felt like this for anyone before, not this strongly and not like my life depended on it. So thank you for showing me this, for opening a completely new world for me.”
Tears weren’t far as his feet and knees tried their best to keep him upright in this most precious of moments in which time and space came to a halt for Brett to process what this beautiful man had voiced. 
And yeah, he’d said it before, when they’d been surrounded by thousands of tourists under the scorching afternoon sun only hours ago. So why did Brett feel like it was the first time his ears picked up this miraculous, incredible message, this sweet melody specifically composed for him?

And what else was there to say, what else to respond other than “I’m in love with you too”, which Brett meant from the bottom of his heart? Eddy’s glittering eyes pulled Brett in until their faces were centimeters apart. 
A whisper, a breeze, sweeping thousands of butterflies in Brett’s belly into full flight.
“Can I kiss you?”
Brett blinked in fear he didn’t hear right. Eddy’s eyes were burning with the same question though, expectant, hopeful. He licked his lips subconsciously.
“Always.”

It was the third kiss they shared, but the first where both of them were fully aware of what was happening. The number of butterflies inside Brett grew exponentially when tender lips with a hint of stubble touched his and sent his mind into sweet bliss. Eddy’s scent surrounded him, engulfed him and Brett groaned softly when he felt Eddy’s hand travel down to the small of his back, drawing him closer against him. His fingers brushed through the taller’s dark hair in return, tentatively first before they placed themselves over Eddy’s long neck, eagerly pulling Eddy towards him to intensify their contact. The small moan Brett’s lucky ears picked up was everything and Brett lost himself in their kiss, their lips now starting to move against each other, hands wandering over yet unknown territory, hungrily discovering every swell and firmness appropriate to touch out here in public and for a very memorable first time.
He could live of only their touch, only Eddy’s lips forever moving on his. Eventually, catching a breath was necessary unfortunately, sweaty forehead against the other while small, incredulous chuckles escaped their slightly swollen lips. 

“You sure you have no experience?”, Brett managed eventually when his heartrate finally dropped to a tempo medical professionals would consider healthy, “Because damn!”
“Damn? Good damn or bad damn?”, Eddy breathed and pressed Brett even closer against himself.
“What do you think?”
Another adorable snigger. “You really have to let me guess, huh? You’re the first boy I kissed, you know.”
Brett leaned back a bit, his features displaying a curious grin. “You kissed girls before? You never told me.”
“One. When I was fifteen at another orchestra summer camp. It was awful though. I had no idea what I was doing and she hated it.”
“Were you, like, in love with her?”
It was stupid, Brett knew. But he couldn’t help but flinch at the thought of Eddy kissing someone else, even if it was like three years ago.
“I thought I was. And she thought she was too. We were pretty sure we weren’t after we kissed however.”
Brett laughed. “Well, you definitely improved, I can vouch for that!”
“Good!” Eddy’s breath made Brett dizzy as he leaned in again, and placed a tiny, soft peck on the smaller’s mouth.