Closer

127.

Brett finally managed to convince Eddy to eat something after almost half an hour of just holding him and telling him how much he loved him. He had to get Elise who had started crying as well, and he felt a bit like joining her.

"You'd be better off without me," Eddy mumbled, taking a tiny bite of the food Brett had prepared for them. "I'm sorry."

"I could never do this without you, Eddy," Brett sighed, rocking a crying Elise instead of eating. "Please don't say things like that."

"You don't have to pretend, Brett. Just tell me to get out and I'll make sure you never see me again," Eddy mumbled, putting down his fork without looking up at Brett. "You can keep the house, make sure Elise gets a good childhood. Maybe even ask Leobora back? Imagine how good that will be, Brett. You can... "

"What did I do, Eddy?" Brett asked, interrupting Eddy. He was getting frustrated by the little girl in his arms crying and Eddy talking himself down without Brett understanding why. "I've obviously hurt you, but I don't understand how and I don't know how to fix it. Please tell me, Eddy."

Eddy became really quiet for a moment, not looking at Brett. He had no answer.

"Please, Eddy, what do you want me to say? I can't explain how much you mean to me, I can't explain how I literally just want our little girl to grow up with us and have the best childhood ever with her two idiots for dads who just fucking love each other," Brett half shouted, and Eddy visibly made himself smaller. "I fucking love you, and I'm sorry I messed you up for years. I swear I'm trying to fix it every day..."

Eddy looked up when Brett's voice trailed off and saw a tear running down his cheek. That was not what he wanted to happen. Not at all.

"I know it's selfish of me to want that with you after fucking everything up for you for all those years..."

Brett looked up at Eddy as he placed his arms around him carefully as if considering if he'd be pushed away.
"I don't deserve you, Brett. I just... I can't believe you want... I can't believe that you want this," Eddy whispered, and Brett hid his head in Eddy's shoulder. "I can't believe you want me, Brett. I have nothing to bring to the table but stress and guilt and..."

"Shut up," Brett mumbled, wiping his tears before handing Elise to Eddy. "You're wrong, but I'm too emotional right now to deal with you."

Eddy blinked a few times, and even Elise shut up for a moment from her baba's unexpected move. It only worked for a second before she started bawling again.

"I'm going to take a shower," Brett sniffled, taking a step away from Eddy while wiping his tears. "And when I'm done everything is gonna be okay, and we're gonna talk about this."

Eddy stood frozen as Brett gave him a kiss on the cheek and went into the bathroom, leaving him alone with Elise.