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CXVII

“You’ve never done this in your life, am I right?”
“Dude! Don’t fucking blame me for not having grown up in an Asian household! How am I supposed to fucking know how to prepare freaking pak choi, man?”
“Certainly not by shredding it to pieces by hand before washing it!”
“I’m more than happy to hand over the task I tell you!”, Nathan spat and aggressively flapped whatever was left from the veggie in front of Cole’s face.
“Guys! You’ll get thrown out the building if you keep fighting!”, Brett warned, the butcher knife he was cutting beef with raised to a dangerous height while Eddy sunk down in the corner of the way too tiny kitchen, holding his belly and laughing his ass off. They had deemed it the idea of the century to quickly get the ingredients for a simple stir fry at a nearby Asian store when rehearsals ended, their fingertips burning after a whole day dancing up and down the fingerboard. Cooking together at Eddy’s dorm was meant as a relaxing, low cost, leisurely activity but Brett had his doubts by now if relaxation was really gonna settle in anytime soon. 
“Just throw the bits in here!”, Cole sighed and held a colander which had seen better days as well in front of Nathan’s nose. 
“As if it matters if it’s washed like this or not!”, he muttered, threw his brown locks back and the leaves into the sieve. 
“Eddy, you alright down there?”, Cole asked with a grin as he passed by Brett to heat the dented ikea wok.
The person in question was close to rolling around and cleaning the floor with his white shirt. 
“Let him be. He’s useless at the moment”, Brett jibed and added the garlic he just chopped into the bowl of raw meat to marinade along with some soy sauce and oil. 
“Hey!”, Eddy protested from the ground and gave Brett’s lower leg a push, “Not my fault if there’s a circus in my kitchen.”
“Tsk tsk”, Cole made, “We give you first class entertainment while we’re cooking dinner and you complain? Brett, you sure you wanna be with that guy?”
“Reconsidering life choices as we speak.”
Under loud objections from the taller and a lot of laughter they somehow managed to throw all the ingredients together and serve the dish along with some overcooked rice (damn that dorm for not providing a rice cooker!). The homey, comfy feeling as they dug in with huge grins, throwing jibes and jokes here and there warmed Brett from the inside. It was comforting and reassuring to know that his friends treated him the exact same way they did before they’d known about him and Eddy. He shot Eddy a smile when he caught his gaze and was overjoyed to see him feeling equally comfortable around his friends, or around other people, for that matter. He’d come a long way.

As nice as having his friends with them for dinner was, a small but steadily larger growing part of Brett longed for Eddy and him to be alone. The increasing subtle glances at each other and Eddy’s foot brushing against his in a somehow soothing and maddening way at the same time didn’t help and when their plates were empty, Brett feared he might spontaneously combust any second now. Suddenly he wished they’d have a free evening. A concert was on however since it was a Saturday. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra was going to perform Beethoven and something else Brett couldn’t recall. All he knew right now was that he had to sit through an entire concert and restrain himself from doing what his heart, mind, hell, his whole being and every cell in him told him to. 

Being as close to Eddy as possible!

“We have like an hour left”, Cole informed, “Let’s do the dishes and go for bubble tea?”
“Eddy should do them. He chilled on the floor when we were cooking”, Nathan sighed and leaned back into the chair, rubbing his belly appreciatively, “Was good food I reckon! See? Doesn’t matter how and when the greens are washed!”
“And I reckon we should let Nathan do the dishes just because”, Brett proposed, earning a “Hey!” from the victim and laughter from the others while he got up and started cleaning up.

“You snatching my job away?”, Eddy said, stepping next to Brett by the sink with the rest of the dishes.
“Just lending your lazy ass a hand, that’s all”, Brett sneered, trying to play over his rising pulse and temperature. 
Eddy sniggered. “Not my fault you guys are that hilarious!”
“We are?”, Brett raised a brow. 
“No seriously.” Eddy softly pushed Brett to the side and started to rinse off the plates in the sink. “Your friends are great. And I’m really enjoying the company. Never thought I would.”
Brett’s gaze softened. “I’m real glad you do, you know.”
“Gonna have to make new friends when you guys are gone.”
It wasn’t exactly desperation Brett heard in Eddy’s tone, though it was laced with a certain heaviness. He looked at the taller from the side. 
“Are you gonna be okay when… you know…”
It was kind of a stupid question to ask, given that Brett was pretty sure he himself wasn’t going to be okay as soon as they weren’t able to see each other every day anymore.
Sorrowful eyes fell on Brett’s concerned ones. “Without you, love?”
That word again, making his heart rate double. If he was going to die of a heart attack, he would at least know the cause of it for sure. Brett swallowed hard and threw a look back at Cole and Nathan sitting by the table, talking about the upcoming concert. 
“Uhm… you called me that several times now…”
Eddy tilted his head while his hands were busy distributing dish soap. 
“You mean ‘love’?”
Articulated like a song, a hymn consisting of one syllable. Brett didn’t even try to hide his blush. 
“Uh, yeah.”
Eddy smiled. “Am I allowed to call you that?”
“It’s actually…”
Everything. Everything Brett wanted to be in Eddy’s eyes, called by Eddy’s deep, soothing voice! Too cheesy to say this in a student dorm’s kitchen with their friends only a few meters behind them however, so he settled with a quiet, “I like it a lot.”
“Good! Because I mean it. I haven’t used it for anyone till now, just so you know.”
An incredulous grin broke out which Brett hid in Eddy’s side, burying his face in the other’s scent. He felt Eddy’s chuckle vibrate against him.
“Love, you alright?”
Brett shook his head, crumpling Eddy’s shirt in the process. 
Another chuckle. And then, “Will you look at me?”
He scrunched his eyes together for a brief fraction of a second before obeying, and was met with sweet, plump lips on his. 

The kiss was a mere touch, a light brush of softness, so why was Brett’s whole body lit up by this most innocent of kisses in the history of mankind? It was like a spark, set from their contact point which traveled through his spine to every cell, every neuron and all the way to the tip of his toes, fingers and every strand of tousled hair, making his whole being so light floating away became a real danger all the while being glued to and pulled in by Eddy’s lips. An ever so quiet but definitely audible moan escaped the back of his throat as waves of delicious shivers overtook him and oh, he wanted nothing more but to lean in, pull Eddy closer so they could melt into each other, become one entity…

“Ahem”, someone cleared their throat behind them followed by a whistle and Brett and Eddy jolted away from each other like same poles of a magnet.
“We can go ahead and fetch your bubble teas if you like”, Nathan waggled his eyebrows, amusement written all over his expression in capital letters. 
“Just maybe turn off the water before making out”, Cole followed, “You know, environment and stuff.”
Brett blinked dumbfounded, not sure if he was supposed to feel embarassed or not. Judging by the steam evaporating on his skin it was too late for this question anyway. “Uh… sorry, mates”, he stuttered and then, they broke out in laughter. 
“At least get a room, you two. It’s not like Eddy’s that far away!”, Cole winked, got up and grabbed his violin case. 
“Need to keep the spontaneity in a relationship, you know”, Eddy said while finally putting the last pan on the rack to dry. 
“You being lovey dovey makes me jealous”, Nathan sighed dramatically and reached for his case as well, “But Brett, seems like Eddy’s a good kisser, good for you!”
“Not that you’ll ever know”, Brett remarked which let the kitchen slash dining room echo with their guffaws again.
“Bubble tea?”, Eddy asked after drying his hands, his soft gaze on Brett. 
Brett nodded and took the other’s palm in his. “Absolutely.”