Andante

XXXIX

He actually woke up early, the next morning. What the? He never woke up early! There was no way he was getting back to sleep, though, he could feel it clearly. 
He turned onto his left side and looked at his best friend, sleeping peacefully in the next bed. 
Brett had pulled the white quilt all the way up to his chin. He was breathing deeply, his eyes softly closed, his pink slips parted slightly. 
Eddy knew he shouldn't ogle, he knew full well that he was giving up some of the control that he'd built so carefully over the months. He knew the lines of their friendship were blurring anyway, because of what they had done last night at the concert. A warm feeling spread through him when he thought of the concert, of their hands touching like that. It had quite simply been the best moment of his life. So fuck it, he was just going to look at Brett right now, and enjoy the moments that they had. He'd worry about getting back in control later. Carpe diem. 

Suddenly Brett's eyelids moved, and he inhaled quickly through his nose, making the cutest snorting sound Eddy had ever heard. He stretched out as he opened his eyes and smiled at Eddy. 
¨Good morning, wow! You're awake?¨
Eddy would have said something sarcastic about sleeping with his eyes open but he held his tongue. 
¨Yeah, I woke up early. I can't quite believe it myself.¨
Brett grinned. ¨You okay, though?¨
There was something in Brett's eyes he didn't quite understand. Somehow it was like he was asking a bigger question than just 'how are you?'. 
Was he worried about what happened last night?
¨Yeah. No worries, I'm real, real good.¨ he said then, and he saw Brett's eyes relax. 
Eddy grinned suddenly. ¨What about Todd, saying we're indistinguishable, huh? Do you think it's just because we're both Asian, he thinks we all look the same or something?¨
Brett laughed out loud as he threw the quilt off him and swung his legs over the side of the bed, away from Eddy. 
¨Yeah, to be honest I think that's exactly what it was. Oh well, right?¨
Eddy just nodded. Oh well, indeed. It's not like he could help what other people thought or didn't think, could he? He stared at Brett's back as he made his way into the bathroom without turning around once, closing the door behind him. He smiled to himself, because he had a sneaky suspicion he knew what Brett was hiding. 
It was good to know he wasn't the only one who found this bunking together thing pretty awkward... 
Awkward, but also all kinds of awesome. 

He was dressed by the time Brett came back out, so he could go into the bathroom and give Brett the space to get dressed too, and by the time he was ready to come back out he'd decided he wasn't going to say anything to Brett about last night, with one exception. 
¨Hey, Brett?¨ he said as he walked into the room and saw Brett fully clothed, ready to go to breakfast.
¨Hmh?¨
¨Er... I just wanted to say... nice save, last night, with the Lily thing.¨ He looked down at the ground. What if he'd read the situation all wrong? What if Brett hadn't meant it like that at all? 
Brett's answering voice was very soft suddenly.
¨Yeah, I thought I knew what you were doing, so I thought I'd help. I hope that was okay.¨
Eddy looked up straight, surprised at Brett's words.
¨Yeah, of course that was okay! I'm glad you did. That's Todd off my back. I really don't know why they're always asking me these questions.¨
¨Nah, I don't know either.¨ Brett said straight away, but something in his tone made Eddy wonder if he meant what he said. 
What? Did Brett have an idea why they always asked? Did Brett think he looked gay, or something? 
He would have asked, he really wanted to, but he quickly decided to hold his tongue. Nah. He wasn't going to open that can of worms right about now. He was just going to go to breakfast, go to rehearsal and enjoy the day, and who knows, maybe tonight's teacher concert would be just as awesome as last night's had been. 
A guy could hope, right?