World Tour

Houston part 2

They'd eventually made it out of bed, and Eddy had splashed the Niagara falls' worth of water in his face. 
But he knew he still looked like he'd been crying, so he dug around the suitcase for his sunglasses before they would venture out of their room. 

The amount of times they were being recognised in the street was growing exponentially: it was insane. 
Just a few months ago it had been a pretty rare event to be spotted, but now they were getting stopped on the streets several times a day. 
It was weird to never feel like you had privacy in public, to never just be invisible anymore. It felt like he always had to be on his game. 
 But hey, a small price to pay for the success they were having, he guessed. And for the most part he really didn't mind, he enjoyed meeting fans and he enjoyed their questions and interest, enjoyed meeting musicians everywhere they went. 

It was a bit different when you felt you'd just turned your heart inside out and back again, though. He really didn't need to have to act all cheerful and upbeat right this second. So he hoped they could have a quiet incognito walk to somewhere that served a decent breakfast. 

He eyed Brett pensively. He was still looking sad, and Eddy walked over. 
¨Hey¨, he said, embracing him from behind, ¨I wish you'd stop taking the weight of the world on your shoulders. Last time I checked your middle name was not 'Atlas'.¨
¨I know¨, Brett said. ¨I'll try.¨

They walked out of the room, and Eddy was lost in thought. 
What could he do to fix this for Brett? How could he take all this insecurity away?
A little bud of an idea had begun to form in his head. He'd need to get away on his own for a bit at some point to get there though... 

Eddy got his wish: no one made them on the street, and they found a lovely little place where they ordered two omelets. The waitress asked them whether they wanted two or three eggs. 
¨Three, please¨, Eddy replied. 
They sat and sipped their coffee for a while, slowly feeling a bit more human as the caffeine entered their system, and before they knew it their waitress came back with the two biggest plates of food they'd ever seen. 
Wait, what? This was three eggs? The waitress deposited the humongous omelets in front of them and walked off as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
¨What the actual fuck?¨ Eddy said, looking at Brett incredulously. ¨Have they been hatching ostrich eggs or something?¨
Brett actually snorted some coffee out of his nose at that comment, and Eddy doubled over in laughter. 
¨Need a bib with that, mate?¨ he said, cracking up.

They hiccupped with laughter, trying desperately to get themselves under control again, because they were starting to get stares. 
The occasional giggle still erupted though, as they tucked into their mountain of food, and Eddy knew they were back. God, was he ever glad they had a day off today. 

They did go to the venue, briefly, and saw it was a lovely little place. 
But the rest of the day they just walked around a bit, talking, laughing, relaxing, and after a while they found a nice park to sit in. It was 18 degrees Celsius in Houston in winter, so they'd been able to shed the warm jackets they had needed in the last weeks and walk around in a hoody. 

They sat crosslegged on the grass for ages, just talking, leaving their phones and their responsabilities firmly in their pockets.
Eddy lay back, after a while, staring up at the blue sky, such a different colour here than back home. Brett lay down with him, and put his head on Eddy's arm.
They were quiet for a long time then, Eddy's head full of thoughts, while the sun warmed them through. It was so nice to see the sun again after wintery Europe and North-USA. 

It was hours later when they finally walked back to their hotel, and  Eddy was feeling a lot more like himself again. And when he looked sideways at Brett, he saw that he looked better too. 
¨Thank you for today, my love¨, he said, softly. 
Brett looked at him with a smile. 
¨Of course. You're looking a lot better.¨
¨I am feeling a lot better. This was a lovely day.¨
¨Yeah, it was.¨