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CXV

“Mate, you got a minute?”
Nathan raised a brow but let himself fall back a bit with the inquirer.
“Yeah?”
“Uhm…”
Damn! Why was it still weird to talk about it? Was it going to get easier with time? Brett surely hoped so!
“Uh, you know Eddy?”
Nathan looked at Brett from the side and flicked his brown locks back. “Yeah?”
Brett had no idea where Nathan stood in terms of two boys liking each other. Was he going to be hated after coming out? He couldn’t really imagine Nathan being like this though. He might be rough and an idiot sometimes, but deep down, there was a big, gentle heart.
“There… there kind of is something I should tell you. Not many people know by the way. Only Cole.”
“Go on! I’m listening.”
“We…” Wuss! Just get it over with!
“We’re kind of a thing, if you know what I mean.”
Question marks. So he hadn’t suspected anything after all? Brett cleared his throat and tried again. 
“Eddy and I, we kinda like each other-”
“Brett Yang! Shut the fuck up!”, Nathan finally exclaimed with an either extremely shocked or delighted expression, or both. Brett gulped. 
“Uh, yeah. Thought you should know.”
He swung his curls left and right with an incredulous chuckle. “Duuudee!!! I thought something was up! The way you looked at each other back at the diner? But this… damn! Man, congrats!”
Hefty slaps on Brett’s back catapulted the rest of his anxiety away. “Th- thanks, Nathan. Glad you don’t-”
“Of course! Wait! Were you afraid I’d hate you or something?”
“I mean, you never know, you know”, Brett flailed around. 
“Hm, I get that. I mean, I wouldn’t wanna out myself back at my old highschool I tell you that much.”
“Yeah”, Brett shuddered. His highschool wouldn’t have been any better, he guessed. 
“But man! Good for you! And, I mean, don’t wanna pry or anything but how did you guys find out? And wait… did your weird mood the past few days have anything to do with that?”
“Kind of”, Brett said those two words for the dozenth time the last two minutes, “Eddy broke off our friendship after the competition without an explanation, so I wasn’t doing too well.”
“Figures! Damn, I would have been pissed!”
“Cole wanted to punch him.”
Nathan’s laugh made some heads of their group a few meters ahead turn around. 
“Eddy noticed something was off and when I told him why, well… the short version is we found out that we liked each other.”
“Oh wow! Orchestra camp! You go Brett! Finding time for dating even though you’re the soloist! Have to tell me your secret!”
“We’re not dating yet. We need some time first.”
“Oh come on! Why? You know you like each other! Isn’t that enough?”, Nathan threw his hands in the air. 
“We’ve only known each other for like two weeks. And we don’t want to jump into it with how far we’ll be apart.”
“That’s why, man! You have one week left to spend every second together if you like! Why not make use of it?”
Brett couldn’t help but chuckle over Nathan’s intriguingly simple view of the matter. “Maybe you’re right…”
“You bet I am!” 
“Cole said the same. You guys should do a debate battle thing or something”, Brett suggested with an amused tone. 
“Bring it on! Cole’s gonna lose!”
“Who’s losing what?”, Cole cut in and threw an arm around Brett, almost tripping him over.
“What shit advice did you give him with the whole waiting thing?”, Nathan huffed and gave the entangled friends a shove.
“No shit advice! I gave that whole thing a thought much in contrast to you, apparently.”
“And the debate begins”, Brett commented dryly.
“Hey!”, Cole exclaimed, “We’re just very concerned for your well-being! If you’d have this in the bag we wouldn’t need to be!”
“I know, I know”, Brett laughed, patting Cole’s violin case, “Thanks guys! I appreciate it!”
“Thanks for telling me”, Nathan said, “Reckon it takes a lot of courage! So thanks for your trust, mate! And if shit hits the fan in any way, you come to us!”
“I will!”, Brett smiled.

The effects of the heavier lunch showed when they got to their desks and started setting up their violins. Or maybe, it was simple nervousness giving Brett a hard time digesting the food in his stomach.
“Should have gone for salad”, Brett mumbled.
“You alright?”, Eddy asked, his concerned eyes immediately scanning Brett’s expression. 
“Might have been a bad idea after all. The burger, I mean.”
“Want me to bring you some water?”
“Nah, I’ll be okay.”
“Be right back!”
“Hey”, Brett called after a vanishing Eddy as Mr. Thames and Mr. Jones entered the stage. 

“Where’s Chen heading to?”, the conductor asked with a frown when he passed by Brett. 
“Not sure”, Brett answered and luckily, no further explanation was required as Eddy was already sprinting back, a bottle of water in his hand. 
“There you go”, he puffed and handed the bottle over to a surprised Brett, “Hope it helps!”
“A good concertmaster looks after the soloist!”, Mr. Thames gave Eddy an appreciative nod, “Good job, Chen.”
“Trying my best, Sir.”
Brett quickly opened the cap and took a few gulps. It helped with his dry throat but not so much with the nerves. Playing a whole concerto with the orchestra was getting to him and this was simply not the time for it! 
“Shit! I’m nervous!”, he breathed in staccato.
“You’ve got this, Brett!”, Eddy whispered while tightening his bow.
“Nah”, Brett shook his head and it was stupid, really. He’d played the different movements many times by now so why was this getting to him? “Nah! I… nah!”
“Brett! Look at me!”
Brett did, his eyes searching the only life raft they knew, they'd recognize from miles away through stormy seas, thunder and lightning. 
“There's no audience, no jury, only us and we know how well you play. We’ve heard worse from you and no one has made an uproar till now, right?”
Brett laughed nervously though the insult did help bring his pulse down a tad.
And then, Eddy did something that dissipated every bit of anxiety, every fear and silenced every doubtful thought.

He shot over and closed the gap between him and Brett, their lips coming together for a short, sweet, almost innocent little kiss. 

Beautiful eyelashes slowly fluttering open as Eddy leaned away again while Brett’s brain went into overdrive to process what just happened. That Eddy Chen had really just kissed Brett in front of the whole orchestra and, not to mention, their conductors!
“Just play and enjoy yourself, love!”, those treacherous lips whispered.

Play and enjoy! Brett could do that! It didn’t even matter if anyone had seen them (which didn’t seem to be the case judging by the lack of gasps and stares). He was going to think of that moment, of Eddy’s wonderful pair of lips on his right here on this stage, of Eddy calling him THAT word again when he was going to coax Korngold’s lyrical lines out of his violin, be it now or in a week, when the curtains opened for their big concert.

A/N: Slightly earlier upload for once since I'll be hiking on some mountain today :-). Enjoy!