incarcerated

17.

    tears burned in brett's eyes as he walked down the hall, his hands shaking. being yelled at by eddy shouldn't have phased him as much as it did, but he felt like he'd been punched in the throat. why was he so angry? what had brett done wrong? the answer to either of those questions was not something that brett possessed, locked somewhere deep in eddy's psyche out of the smaller boy's reach.

the library was where brett was headed, needing a comforting place in his time of sadness. he kept his head down and his fists clenched as he walked down the long halls, trying his best not to bump into anyone and have them be angry at him, too. he felt sick.

   the rest of his long day before dinner was spent sitting and reading mystery novels and refusing to look up from them. once time to eat rolled around, he felt incredibly sleepy and unwilling to get out of his strangely comfortable chair. what were they going to do if he skipped dinner, anyways?

deciding not to go, he sighed softly and laid his head down on the desk. it wasn't like he wouldve eaten even if he had gone.

in his office, eddy had his head down, too. their postures mimicked each other's in a way that was nearly unsettling. the warden, however, was not laying his heavy head on his desk. his forehead was resting on the blanket with which brett had slept in his office. he'd been too busy with conference calls and paperwork to think about brett for a long time, but his fingers ached and the tinny ringing of his phone had ceased for now. the blanket had been sitting on the couch in a heap and he'd grabbed it nearly fifteen minutes ago and had been motionless since.

    his temper had gotten the best of him. but, what was he supposed to do? it was likely that brett would never make his way back to eddy's office and it was all the warden's fault. he couldn't get ahold of brett to apologize and he wasn't stupid enough to call the smaller boy to his office.

    letting out a loud groan, eddy raised his head. sleeping on the job as much as he did was a bad idea and he didn't want to succumb to his exhaustion once more and risk losing his job. he decided to get up and walk around his prison, making sure his officers were actually doing their jobs. their lack of dedication angered him and the fact that it had put brett in danger made him furious.

    the halls were quiet. the only noise was the rumble of muffled conversations coming from the area and the strange buzzing of the overhead lights that managed to make eddy sick every time he heard it despite how often it reached his ears. he walked to the cafeteria and opened the doors, strolling in casually and standing in the corner with his arms crossed.

    as soon as he'd entered the room, the atmosphere changed. the inmates were visibly uncomfortable and strangely quiet as he remained still, his catlike eyes watching over everyone in the room. no one dared to make eye contact with him. even the guards stayed away, fear coursing through their bodies as he stood in silence. he scanned the cafeteria over and over again, confused by brett's absence. where was he?

    the conversations between the prisoners quieted down even more as eddy walked throughout the room, looking down at the people sitting and eating. intimidating people came effortlessly to him and he loved it. but now was not the time to poke fun at his inmates. he needed to find brett.

    he strolled up to a group of COs and crossed his arms, watching as they shrunk back against the wall.

"has anyone seen yang?" he asked quietly, making sure none of the other inmates heard.

"no, sir. do you want us to look?" said officer torbett, visibly afraid of eddy. the warden shook his head.

"no, no. don't worry about it. thanks," he muttered and turned around quickly. the loudness of the room returned as soon as he'd exited it, shutting the large doors behind him.

the library was the first place eddy checked, and that's exactly where brett was. he'd nearly fallen asleep with his head on the desk, a large book in his contrastingly small hands.

"hey," eddy said softly, glancing around the room to make sure no one was around. brett flinched hard and sat up, squinting at the man standing next to him.

"oh. hey," he said, avoiding eye contact. what eddy had said earlier to him had hurt and he wasn't exactly happy about seeing him again.

"you skipped dinner," eddy mumbled. brett scoffed and lifted up his book, scanning the pages to distract himself from how handsome eddy looked in his suit jacket.

"great observation, sir," he said sarcastically, very aware of eddy's eyes and the fact that they were glued to his face. the change in the warden's expression was visible in the corner of his eye and he almost cringed. eddy almost looked sad.

"brett, i'm sorry," he whispered, sitting his hand on brett's. the smaller boy jerked away from the touch and pushed his chair backwards, crossing his arms.

"it's fine. shouldn't you be in your office?"

"shouldn't you be in the cafeteria?"

the silence that followed eddy's question seemed to weigh tons and filled the entire room with its heaviness. both of them had so much to say, yet the air remained empty. they stared at each other, both getting lost in brown irises as the time ticked by.

eddy said nothing as he walked around the desk, standing next to brett and looking down at him once more.

"what?" brett asked, his voice cutting through the empty silence like a knife through paper. eddy cleared his throat.

"i'm sorry about earlier. you didn't deserve that. and i think maybe you're right, but i can't be jobless right now. and i can't see you if i quit. i like seeing you," he mumbled, his cheeks reddening slightly. brett squinted at him.

"there are other jobs. and i really don't think i should matter in this situation," he scoffed. eddy narrowed his eyes and crossed his slender arms.

"brett."

"what?"

eddy leaned down and planted a soft kiss on the other boy's mouth, a small smile forming on his face when brett's lips moved to meet his. the smile faded when his small hands pushed against the taller boy's chest and he crossed his arms.

"someone could've seen us," he hissed. eddy scoffed.

"they're all at dinner."

"it doesn't matter," brett muttered. eddy sighed and sat down on the desk, kicking his long legs back and forth.

"you really think i should quit?" he asked, looking down at his lap. brett nodded.

"yeah. i think you should get the fuck out of here and actually live your life. you're here constantly and it's obvious that it's draining you," he said bluntly, picking at the threads that hung from his shirt. eddy sighed.

"okay."