the silence

twenty-seven.

tears flooded brett's eyes as soon as the car was out of his view and he held tightly onto eddy's torso, crying quietly and burying his face into his neck. the taller boy rubbed brett's back gently and kissed the top of his head.

    eddy was going to miss jamie's physical presence in their lives nearly as much as brett was. he held himself together for brett's sake, though, and decided to focus on trying his best to make the other boy feel better.

    "you want to get ice cream?" eddy asked as his hands slid under brett's jumper to stroke his soft skin. he nodded and eddy picked him up to put him in the car.

    brett's mood improved significantly as soon as they pulled into the parking lot of the ice cream shop. it was his favorite one and he'd been dying to go with eddy, so he was very pleased with their location. he stopped crying and dragged his boyfriend inside by the arm. eddy was smiling the entire time, shocked and delighted to see brett so happy during this difficult time.

    they placed their orders and brett drug eddy around once more, taking him to a table and sitting down. normally, brett would've eaten at one of the picnic tables outside, but the rain prevented that from happening and put a slight damper on brett's newly decent mood. he pouted and played with eddy's hands at the table as they waited on their ice cream.

    "what's wrong, love?" eddy frowned, noticing brett's dissatisfied expression. the smaller boy sighed dramatically and pointed outside.

    "what, the rain? you like rain," he asked. brett sighed again and emphasized his pointing, directing his finger at his favorite picnic table. eddy got it.

    "oh," he nodded. "you wanted to sit outside?"

    brett nodded as well, smiling slightly at the way eddy understood what he wanted. it was sometimes hard for him to communicate nonverbally with people as much as he usually liked to, but eddy understood him fairly easily and it pleased him.

    once the ice cream came, brett felt even better. both of them were shocked at how easy it had been to get him to calm down and be relatively normal, but he was just happy that jamie was okay, even if he had to go home. spending time with eddy also made him happy and the fact that he wasn't pressured to talk was just icing on the cake. he really was in a good mood, for once.

    for now.

    the two of them finished eating and brett grabbed onto eddy's hand again as they walked outside, swinging their arms back and forth. he wasn't thinking about how much he missed jamie or how sad he was; he was thinking about his boyfriend and how lucky they were to be together.

    they arrived home safely and brett said nothing to eddy, but drug him to the couch and pushed him onto it.

    "stay here," he said firmly. eddy was in no place to protest and watched curiously as brett walked into the kitchen, his bare feet making quiet noises against the tile. the taller boy sat on the couch and listened to the sounds of brett moving around in the kitchen. he had no idea what the smaller boy was doing other than the fact that he'd opened the fridge and used the microwave. a smile tugged at eddy's lips when he heard the other boy humming softly, his beautiful voice carrying from the kitchen to eddy's ears.

    a few minutes later, brett walked into the living room carrying two cups of hot cocoa and sat them down on the table. eddy raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to speak, but brett shushed him.

    "be right back," he mumbled and once again disappeared from eddy's view, heading into his bedroom this time. he returned with two large blankets and sat them on the couch before climbing onto eddy's lap and tugging both of their shirts off.

    the smile did not leave eddy's lips as brett kissed them gently and wrapped the blankets around both of them. he leaned his head on the taller boy's shoulder and handed him the steaming cup before turning on the television and browsing netflix's disney movie collection.

    "you're so cute," eddy chuckled, wrapping his arm around brett's bare shoulders. "i'm really glad you're feeling okay."

    "me, too," brett whispered, planting a soft kiss at the base of his boyfriend's long neck. eddy shivered and smiled as brett decided on incredibles 2, which eddy hadn't gotten around to seeing yet.

    not surprisingly, brett was asleep in eddy's lap before the movie was over. all of the social interaction and emotions of that day had tired him out and he slumped over into a laying position with his head on the taller boy's knee. eddy spent the rest of the time before the movie was over running his hand absentmindedly through brett's hair. it wasn't long before eddy himself drifted off, a lock of brett's hair still tangled in between his fingers.

;

hours later, eddy was woken by brett shaking him violently.

"what? what's wrong?" the taller boy asked worriedly, looking brett up and down. his eyes were teary and his face was blood red. he pointed frantically at the television.

the news was playing on the television, images of a fiery plane crash plastered all over the screen. eddy felt his face heat up as he listened to the reporter speak and watched the words pop up on the monitor.

flight from sydney to brisbane. 36 dead, 18 in critical condition.

it was jamie's plane.