the silence

thirty-seven.

it wasn't that eddy had forgotten. he'd been ready for hours and anticipated seeing brett more than anything. no, he wouldn't forget. there was no way.

he'd left early, too. after gathering a few more things to bring brett(another blanket, his favorite jumper, some warmer socks), he'd climbed into his car and put his keys into the ignition. it had started fine as always and he'd began the slightly long drive to the hospital.

however, he had not considered traffic. the time of day was horrible and he'd been at a standstill for five minutes by the time visitation had started. he couldn't even imagine what brett was thinking.

what brett was thinking was the absolute worst. he sat silently in the common room with his knees to his chest and listened to two other patients bicker about the rules of a card game they were trying to play. terrible thoughts filled in his head and he stared at the wall, trying not to cry for the millionth time.

is he dead? did he forget? did he lie to me? where is he? why hasn't he called? brett thought, digging his nails into his palms so hard that the pain brought tears to his eyes. eddy's absence was beginning to terrify him.

five more minutes passed. fuming, eddy sat in traffic only a mile away from the hospital. he'd chewed his thumbnail down to nothingness and a small amount of blood had leaked from his broken skin. it took another fifteen minutes for him to finally pull into the parking lot, his heart pounding.

by the time eddy arrived, brett had been crying for awhile. he'd laid down on the couch and faced away from everyone, tears leaking out of his eyes and falling onto the soft fabric. it was only when a staff member called his name that he sat up.

"brett?" she said, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. he opened his eyes and squinted at her.

"you've got a visitor."

to say that brett ran to the visitation room would be an understatement. his legs were moving almost too fast for him to keep up as he made his way to the double doors and pushed through them, his eyes scanning the room for the handsome face he loved so much.

eddy stood by one of the small couches, anger visible in his eyes. it melted away when his gaze connected with brett's and the two of them walked quickly to meet each other. the smaller boy jumped into eddy's arms and immediately began to cry again, burying his face in his neck.

"i'm so sorry i'm late," eddy sighed, his large hand running through brett's hair over and over. the older boy said nothing. words would not come out of him no matter how hard he tried, only quiet sobs escaping his chapped lips.

"hey, it's okay," eddy said softly, sitting down and letting brett crawl into his lap. "you're okay."

brett sniffled loudly and rested his head on eddy's shoulder, intertwining their fingers and playing with his boyfriend's hand. eddy planted a soft kiss on brett's lips and sighed.

"i love you," was the first thing out of brett's mouth, the words soft and broken into uneven pieces. a small smile spread across eddy's face at the sound of his voice and he kissed those pink lips once more.

"i love you, too. you wanna see what i brought you?" he asked quietly, his fingers tracing invisible patterns on brett's back under his shirt. brett perked up at the question and nodded.

the socks were his favorite thing. he pulled a pair onto his feet immediately and curled up next to eddy again, holding the taller boy's arm tightly to his chest. words weren't something brett felt like exchanging after being forced to talk so much and he laid his head on eddy's shoulder, closing his tired eyes. all he wanted was to be close to him.