the silence

thirty-one.

7:30 a.m., eddy's alarm went off. brett stirred from his deep sleep and smacked it until it turned off, frowning at the unmoving boy next to him in the bed.

"eddy," he mumbled, pushing his shoulder. the taller boy groaned and slid his arms around brett's waist, pulling him close and kissing the back of his neck.

"i don't want to leave you," he whined, sliding his hands under brett's shirt to touch his chest. he sighed and leaned his head back to rest it on eddy's shoulder.

"you have to."

"can i have a kiss first?" eddy mumbled, almost afraid to ask. brett rolled over to face him and cupped his cheeks, softly kissing his slightly chapped lips.

"mm, don't stop yet," the taller boy grunted when he pulled away after only a few seconds. brett sighed quietly.

"you have to go, baby."

eddy's cheeks reddened at the nickname and he smiled, kissing brett's lips once more before climbing out of bed. his smile faded when he reminded himself of what the day could hold. leaving brett alone when he'd been so sad lately was absolutely terrifying. he got dressed and went to sit back on the bed. brett had covered himself with the blankets again and appeared to be trying to go back to sleep, but eddy grabbed his hand.

"brett?"

"mmph."

"will you look at me?" his voice was soft and pleading as he stroked the back of brett's fingers. the smaller boy looked almost childlike as he popped his head out of the blankets and opened his slightly reddened eyes. eddy took a deep breath.

"promise me you're going to stay safe today," he whispered. brett grunted and pulled his hand away, ducking his head back under the covers.

"please?" eddy begged.

"mm."

"i want you to be here when i come home."

"mmmm."

"brett," eddy said, exasperated.

"go to work," brett's muffled voice came from under the covers. "i'll be fine."

eddy was not convinced, but there was nothing he could do. he pulled the covers off of brett's head and kissed his forehead lightly.

"i'll come see you at lunch, okay? i love you," he sighed.

"i love you, too," brett mumbled.

as soon as he left the house, a pit formed in eddy's stomach. every bone in his body was aching to go back home and crawl into bed with brett. all he wanted to was hold him and kiss him until he felt better, but it just wasn't going to work that way. his hands shook as he tried to focus on the road and actually getting to work.

rehearsal did not go well for eddy. he was so distracted by worrying about brett that his hands shook constantly and the concertmaster had to snap at him to get his attention twice. time seemed to inch by slowly and eddy wasn't entirely sure that his watch wasn't broken when 10:59 a.m. seemed to last 20 minutes. but, lunchtime finally came and his fingers were on his phone before he'd even walked out of the room. the line rang twice before brett answered.

"hey, love," his voice came clearly through the phone, providing more relief than eddy could have ever imagined.

"hey," he breathed. "i'm on the way there."

"okay. i'm sorry about this morning. i just woke up in a bad mood... well, i've been in a bad mood. you know," brett went on. eddy raised an eyebrow at how decent he sounded.