World Tour

Plane ride

The blaring alarm woke the boys up with a start. Eddy opened up his eyes to the still dark room, feeling very warm and comfortable. He realised that at some point in the night, Brett had put his head on Eddy's shoulder, with his arm wrapped around the taller man's waist.  He wished he could stay like this for hours, feeling Brett's warmth around him, and the butterflies softly floating around in his belly. 

¨Good morning¨, Brett said, blinking at him, retreating his head quickly. ¨We better hurry!¨

They shot into their clothes, closed up their cases and quickly got ready. Of course Brett had to quip: ¨Got your violin, bro?¨
Eddy smirked and fired back: ¨Yeah, you got your sheet music?¨ 

They got in the Uber on schedule and actually managed to get to the airport with time to spare. By now, their excitement was palpable. This was really happening!! 

They got a coffee from the airport Starbucks and sat down on a green plastic bench, waiting to board. Eddy hated flying. It wasn't that he was scared, it was just the pure tediousness of it. Hours upon hours of absolutely nothing to do but stare out a window or read a book, or maybe catch some sleep if you were really lucky, only to wake up with a krick in your neck. But today felt a bit different. He was in equal parts looking forward to eight hours of sitting right next to Brett, and dreading the same thing. Especially after what happened last night. What actually happened last night? Did he imagine the look in Brett's eyes? Had he dreamt it? Or did that really happen, and had Brett looked at him with eyes that spelled longing? Had Brett really gotten flustered, just as flustered as he was? And if he did, what did that mean? 

¨Earth calling Chen!¨ he heard a sarcastic voice right next to his ear, and he jumped about a foot in the air.
¨Mate!! It's fucking early, give me a break!¨
He paused and then smoothly added: ¨anyway, now that you've well and truly woken me up, let's just talk through the programme again. We're starting with the Bach?¨

As always, they lost themselves quickly in their shared passion for their music and their goals, and before they knew it their flight was boarding. They got on the plane, safely stowed away their precious violins in the overhead compartments and settled themselves in the tight airline seats. 

They chatted for a little bit, while the sun started to come up as they floated above the clouds, but it didn't take Brett long to fall asleep. This didn't suprise Eddy one bit; Brett, unlike him, was pretty good at falling asleep anywhere. He decided to close his eyes too and try to catch up on some more much-needed sleep. He had started drifting soon enough, when he felt a warm hand softly close around his hand, as it lay on his left leg. He opened his eyes and looked at it, and then looked left, at his best friend. Brett's eyes were open and he smiled at Eddy, whose heart skipped a beat, and his breath stuck in his throat.
What?!
But it felt so right. Eddy smiled back, feeling the smile spread to his eyes, deciding just to take this moment as it was and wonder about what it meant later.  He intertwined his fingers with Brett's, smiled at him once more, and then he closed his eyes again, letting his head slide onto Brett's shoulder.
Soon he drifted into a peaceful slumber. Who knew the answer to his insomnia was having Brett right next to him?