Play!

XXXVIII

“Brett, hold on!”

Brett huffed and walked faster despite the chance of Eddy catching up being astronomically high due to the other’s leg length and Brett’s current shitty health condition. A miracle must have been spoken upon him however, because he reached the recital hall before Eddy did, almost yanking one of the double doors open and rushed into it. 

He did fail to remember though that Mr. Thames wasn’t here yet.
God damn it!

“Brett?”, Eddy yelled behind him and there was really no other way than to face this guy, was there? After all, hiding in-between the rows of seats would beat everything he’d ever done in patheticness.
“Shit”, he hissed under his breath, walked over to the piano, placed the case on the ground and took out his violin.
“Brett, what’s going on? Have I done something wrong?”
“Nah, don’t worry.”
“I am though. You’re acting like I’ve eaten your instrument. Tell me what’s going on?”
Too close! That guy was way too close, standing centimeters next to him, imploring Brett with his dark, concerned, glittering eyes like Brett wasn’t just someone who was beneficial for him. Like he actually cared for Brett.
No chance to hide, huh.
But why did Brett want to in the first place? He normally wasn’t one to start a conflict out of nowhere with uncalled passive aggressive behaviour and Eddy had done nothing anyway. What the hell was the matter with him?
“Is it something I’ve said?”, Eddy tried and hit the nail on the head. 
“It’s stupid”, Brett mumbled, turned away and started to tune his violin.
“Brett!”, Eddy exclaimed and grabbed Brett by his shoulders, touching bare skin on one side because of the too wide shirt and whirled him around again, forcing him to look into Eddy’s earnest face. “If I’ve done or said something that hurt you, please tell me. You know I’m not good with people and you said yourself that one can practice that. You’d help me a great deal if you’d tell me what I can improve.”
“Is it just about that?”, Brett blurted out, all controls out the window now, scattered in a thousand pieces on the asphalt in front of the conservatory.
“Huh?”, Eddy furrowed his brow. 
“Is it all about improving, practicing and being better? Is that why you interact with people in the first place? Not because you want to or like them, but because you can gain something from them?”
“... the hell, where is this coming from?”

Brett was boiling. He never boiled! He’d also never confronted someone like this, head on, all the nasty and ugly emotions out in the open, on display for the other to witness. How did Eddy do that? Why did he of all people bring out this unfiltered side of Brett? It was just like when they first talked to each other for real during a break in the big hall on the second day where he’d told Eddy they could just continue to ignore each other if Eddy really hated him that much. 
“You said it yourself, didn’t you? That being all friendly and playing along with Mr. Jones is beneficial for you. Is that how you determine who you talk to? How fucking beneficial they are?”
Brett could practically see it dawning on Eddy's features as the taller paled and fate really was a little bitch tonight, for before he could open his mouth, Mr. Thames opened the door. 

“Oh”, he uttered, gaze wandering rapidly from Brett to Eddy and back and stopping at Eddy’s hands on Brett’s shoulders like that was the only spot lit in an otherwise pitch dark room. “Uhm, am I interrupting? I can come back later if you guys need a minute…”
“No!”, Brett yeeted his coward ass at the life raft that was Mr. Thames' presence, whipping his body away from Eddy’s grasp, “No, we’re good. Can we start?”
“We’re not good!”, Eddy hissed, a pleading undertone however audible. Brett deadpanned over it like the goddamn pro he was.
“Alright, guys!” Mr. Thames walked towards them with long strides, his gaze the exact opposite of what the current summer temperature was and strongly reminding Brett of his mother whenever she was pissed at him, “I’m not working with you like that. You either fix whatever this is or I call off rehearsals for tonight. Knowing Brett, it’s probably for the best anyway.”
“But…”, Brett tried.
“Fix it or I’ll give you plenty of time to do it anyway.”

There was no getting out of this for the life of his tonight. Brett drew a hand over his tired face, cursing his past self for starting this stupid argument to begin with while Eddy’s eyes didn’t leave him for a second. 
“I’ll come back in five”, the conductor informed, “If it’s not all sunshine and rainbows by then, we’re done.”
The door falling shut behind Mr. Thames reverberated throughout the hall, making the following silence even heavier, stuffier.

“Does he always talk like that?”, Eddy broke the quietness after a long, tension-loaded while, pointing a thumb in the direction where Mr. Thames had vanished.
And Brett didn’t know, if it was because of the question being the exact same he had posed earlier, a possible rise of his fever or because the whole situation was so dumb their conductor had to scold them so they’d make up, but he couldn’t hold back a chortle escaping his mouth, causing Eddy to first stare at him dumbfounded and just seconds later, join in Brett’s laughing fit.

“Oh man!”, Brett sighed, still holding his belly. 
“What’s the matter with conductors?”, Eddy wiped a tear away, his gaze turning a tad more serious however when he started, “Brett, I’m sorry for what I said about Ro-... Mr. Jones. I guess it does sound sus to use ‘beneficial’ in that context. But I wouldn’t… I mean, this… friendship with you… it’s not like that.”
Brett searched for any sign in Eddy’s demeanor that would let him believe otherwise. He found none. 
“So, you’re saying…”
“What I’m trying to say is, I like you, Brett.”

Brett’s heart skipped a beat while all the air in his lungs got pressed out as his brain processed what he’d just heard.

What?

“You’re a fun guy and I do like to spend time with you. I don’t think I’ve ever had a friend like this and… I don’t know… I’m aware we only know each other for what, like half a week, but that’s how I feel.”
Oh. Oh!
“You…”, Brett stuttered toneless.
“I like being your friend”, Eddy smiled, “And I’m definitely not trying to take advantage of you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Friend. Eddy Chen liked him as a friend, Brett tried to tell his stupid blood pumping muscle so it would finally continue to do its duty again.
“Uhm”, Brett rasped and cleared his throat, trying to form an apology while the little, innocent words "like" and "friend" echoed throughout his head, “I’m sorry, Eddy, for lashing out like this. For accusing you of being…”
“A cold-hearted ass who sucks the blood out of others whenever he can?”, Eddy smirked and once again, lifting the mood in the process. Not good with people my ass! At least he knew exactly how to diffuse an uncomfortable situation. Brett grinned back, relief flooding his system.
“Exactly!”
“It’s okay. I get where you got that from.”
“And, for what it’s worth, I appreciate spending time with you too”, Brett stated, which was only half the truth though. Apparently, being with Eddy was so important to him that the mere suspicion of the other having motives triggered a major life crisis in him. He shook his head over his own lamentable self and wondered since when he’d been so dependent on others.

The smile Eddy shot Brett swiped all confusing thoughts away for the moment. “I’m glad you do.”