Andante

IC

He had splashed ridiculous amounts of water in his face, Brett's comforting hand still on his back. Then he'd shot one look in the mirror at his pale face with the puffy eyes. It wasn't great, but it would have to do. And he vehemently hoped the others wouldn't see that he'd been crying now that they were making their way back down the wide concrete stairs.
But no such luck: Mr. Davids was there, eyeing him from the bottom of the stairs, and his worried eyes told him straight away that he wasn't fooling him. He wasn't fooling him at all. 
Eddy shook his head miserably. So not only had he fucked up in the general rehearsal, now the conductor knew that he'd been crying like an eight year old. 
Well, this was just fucking great. 
"Hey, Eddy." Mr. Davids said pleasantly, as simply as if he were greeting him on the street or something. "Hey, this is what general rehearsals are for, yeah? Don't sweat it." 
Oh. 
The understanding that this guy had never ceased to baffle him, and not for the first time he wondered how he got to be that way. He sure as hell wasn't like most adults he knew.
But was Mr. Davids right? 
He just nodded his thanks at the conductor. He didn't speak, because he wasn't trusting the tears to stay where they belonged. 
"Get some rest, huh? All of you." Mr. Davids said, and looked around at the others, who were all standing silently, waiting with their instruments on their backs.
"Thank you, Mr. Davids." he managed, just as he had to follow the others out to where Scruffy Suit was arriving. 

He was silent, during the ride back to the hotel, his hand very firmly in Brett's, the fog slowly clearing in his head. He closed his eyes for a moment, willing the happiness and exhilaration he'd felt just before the rehearsal to come back to him now. Because, let's face it, that had been all kinds of awesome, and all of the things he'd been exhilarated about were still happening, weren't they? 

So when the evening found them back at the dinner table once more with their friends he was smiling again, and the smile was real now. He had spent the rest of the afternoon practising his arse off and he knew that everything was as in place now as he could possibly get it. 
He'd told himself several times that he should just try and be as relaxed as possible, and having Brett's hand in his now, having his upper thigh touching his own subtly every now and then as they sat and ate was helping that a lot. 
Well, it was helping with the concert stress, anyway.

"So! Penultimate night, guys. How are we feeling about tomorrow?" Todd asked after a while. 
Todd had shot him a look that afternoon as he'd come down the stairs in the big building, but he hadn't said anything. Eddy still reckoned he saw, though. So he answered honestly.
"As long as I don't fuck up again I'm good." 
Todd furrowed his eyebrows at him. 
"Really, Eddy, I'm a perfectionist too, but you do take it to the next level, don't you?" he said in an incredulous tone. "You know those tiny mistakes were so small absolutely no one apart from us heard, right? Plus, you won't make them tomorrow anyway. You must know that, don't you?"
Brett started to laugh softly beside him at Todd's words, and Ian grinned and pointedly looked the other way. 
And the look that Todd gave him now, his lips bent in irony, his eyebrows high, his mop of blonde hair in disarray... he looked just like one of those cute alpaca's Eddy had seen on the internet, and he began to laugh too. 
"Yeah, yeah, I know." he said then. "I'll try." 
"Some perfectionism is great." Ian added suddenly in his soft, hesitant voice. "But too much and you'll just get yourself all messed up."
Wow, what? 
Ian had become a good friend, this week, but he'd never said something like that, something personal, and somehow Eddy sensed it took a lot of courage for him to do so now. So he smiled gratefully at Ian, trying to take his kind words on board. Because he was right, of course. 
"You're right, Ian. Thanks for saying that." he said softly, and Ian nodded and looked away again. 

The mood lightened then, and Eddy lightened with it as they sat and sipped their soft drinks, their empty plates forgotten in front of them. 
"So, do you guys want to get some bubble tea?" Todd asked around nine thirty. "I saw one close by today that's open until like ten, I think." 
And Eddy would have loved some bubble tea of course, in fact, he didn't know when he'd last gone almost a week without it. But it only took one glance at Brett to shake his head. 
Brett very definitely did not want to go get bubble tea right now. 
"Nah mate. You guys go. I'm knackered after today, so Imma turn in."

He didn't miss Todd's questioning look and his slight smirk, but once again he didn't say anything about it. 
"Okay! You guys get your beauty sleep then. You wanna go, Ian?"
"Absolutely, let's go." Ian smiled. 
"Okay guys, well, good night!" Todd said with one more smirk, and then Ian and he got up, leaving them behind.