the silence

twenty-five.

brett's head turned in the direction of the raspy voice so quickly that it hurt his neck. jamie's eyes were half open and he coughed hoarsely, half a smile on his face. eddy stood dumbfounded as brett scrambled onto the bed with jamie.

    the tall man's soft and raspy chuckles filled the room as brett's arms and legs wrapped completely around him. his face was buried deeply into jamie's neck and his knuckles were solid white as he held tightly onto him.

    "hey, angel," jamie laughed weakly. eddy was beaming. seeing jamie awake and seeing brett so happy made his heart soar.

    "i love you," brett repeated over and over, tears rolling down his cheeks. jamie closed his eyes and placed his large hand on the back of brett's head to pull him closer.

    "i love you."

    jamie finally turned his gaze to eddy and grinned widely, happy to see him. he waved for eddy to come over and join the hug. eddy gladly agreed and walked to the bed, raising his eyebrows as brett grabbed onto him and pulled him into the embrace. the three of them hugged for a long time without uttering a word. it wasn't necessary in that moment; all they wanted was to hold each other tight and remind themselves that they were all okay.

    several minutes passed before jamie and eddy pulled away, but brett still refused to let go of his best friend. he curled up into a ball on the tall man's lap and kept his wet face pressed against his neck. but jamie didn't mind.

    "what did i miss?" jamie asked in an attempt to lighten the mood. eddy glanced at brett and shrugged slightly.

"honestly, nothing," he laughed, "we've mostly just been here."

"damn, nothing? i'm sorry," jamie frowned. brett smacked his arm lightly in response to the apology.

"he missed you a lot. we both did," eddy said softly, sitting down in the chair next to the bed. brett's face was completely hidden from view despite the taller boy's attempts to get a look at it. he missed its striking beauty already.

"i missed both of you," jamie smiled, running a hand through brett's hair. eddy felt a twinge of jealousy in his stomach and shut it down immediately. now was not the time.

    the smaller boy got out of jamie's bed and pushed eddy into the chair next to it, climbing in his lap. jamie smiled at the two of them and reached out to grab both of their hands in either of his.

    "i'm really glad you two took care of each other."

    the three of them spent the day catching up and eddy was so relieved to see brett happy. the older boy talked so much throughout the course of that day that a soreness developed in his throat, annoying him to no end. but he continued to talk anyways. it was rare that he was in such a good mood and there was no way he wasn't going to take advantage of it.

    jamie's father arrived at the hospital around 6 p.m., well aware of the fact that his son was awake. he was accompanied by jamie's boyfriend, nicolas, and both of them were nearly bursting with excitement when they walked into the room. brett and eddy sat quietly and watched their reunions. it quickly became obvious that jamie was very loved. tears were shed as he and nicolas embraced, the other man clinging onto him even tighter than brett had.

as the two men embraced, jamie's father walked over to brett and eddy and greeted the smaller man with a hug.

"how've you been, bretty?" he asked. eddy looked at him in awe. he was even taller than jamie and made brett look like a child. his eyes were a striking shade of green and the intensity of his gaze made eddy's heart pound. but brett didn't seem phased.