who could've thought i'd get you

7 | "yes i did, what about it?"

synopsis: eddy confronts brett over surreptitiously filming him.

*

it's only by sheer coincidence that eddy realizes he's being filmed.

he's lost in the performance, as he's wont to be. the world tends to fade around the edges, all blurry and unfocused when the music takes precedence; he's known to forget everything else when he isn't paying attention.

he lets the last note of the phrase take flight into the air, preparing to dive right into spiccato when he looks up—and then his bow skids against the strings. the hell?

"did you just film me?"

brett smirks from behind the camera, fiddling with the buttons as the device makes an excited beep! "yes i did, what about it?"

fuck, he hadn't even noticed. eddy jabs his violin bow in the other man's direction. "you've been filming this whole time?"

"yep." brett hums the first few notes of the tchaik adjacent to eddy's wordless disbelief. he looks up to meet his gaze again after a few moments. "oops. sorry, i should've asked."

"i mean, it's fine, but," eddy frowns, gauging possible responses he can make to that. i look silly on camera is something he can joke about. you're wasting battery and card space is what he should probably say. only one word makes it out in the end: "why?"

brett looks down at the floor, gaze pensive for a moment. "well, y'know. i don't need a photograph or a video recording to remember you." he taps his chest with splayed fingers as if to say, you're already here, what else do i need? "but some evidence would be nice to have too. something to look at, something to share between us five, ten years from now." something sad curls itself at the corner of brett's smile. "no matter where we are in the world."

eddy blinks, moves carefully to put down his instrument where his trembling fingers won't accidentally break it. the thunder-rage of his heart threatens to shatter his ribcage open. if this is why brett's secretly filming him all the time (he only pretends not to notice)—well. he's not going to stand for it at all.

"if you're planning to get rid of me to go off somewhere else, you've got another thing coming." eddy grins as brett rolls his eyes, shaking his head as he turns away, but eddy's not letting him escape from this conversation just yet, no way. "no, i'm serious. you won't need evidence either. you're stuck with me for the next week. the next year. five years from now. ten years from now."

brett looks up at him, then, as he moves closer, the rawness in his eyes mirroring the exposed organ in eddy's chest, laid out at his best friend's mercy. "forever?"

"if you'd like."

"i'd like," brett tells him, reaching out to meet eddy's outstretched hand halfway. the dawn is in his smile, glorious and bright. eddy's looking forward to watching the sunrise for the rest of his life. "i'd like that a lot."