Andante con Brio

VII

They started walking back at a leisurely pace, but there was something nagging at Eddy from the inside out. He looked at his sister out of the corner of his eye. Look, he had gotten so used to playing his cards close to his chest, to keep everything bottled up inside, that it was second nature by now. But he knew that she had just said something important to him.
Just be honest with me from now on, okay?
Should he act on that now?
Yeah, maybe? He cleared his throat and she turned to face him straight away. 
"Sis? You... well, in the new spirit of honesty you may want to know that I'm going to tell mum today or tomorrow that imma audition for the con."
She stopped dead in her tracks and her eyes opened wide for just a second. And then, without any warning whatsoever, she started laughing, huge, pealing drops of laughter, echoing around the street. She was shaking her head as she put her forehead on his shoulder and leaned into him, her arm around his shoulders. 
"Jesus, bro" she said after a moment, when she managed to make herself stop and let him go. "I mean, it's not like it's unexpected, per se? But you're seriously going for this whole black sheep of the family thing, hey?"
He shook his head cynically, more than a little bit amused at her reaction.
"Yup. Black sheep, that's me."
"Whoa. Well, do you want me to stay for that talk?"
He shook his head again.
"Nah. This one I need to face alone. I've left it long enough, no? There's like one week until the deadline."
His sister shook her head one more time and muttered something under her breath, just as she started walking towards their house again. 

"Hi mum, we're back!" she called towards the kitchen as soon as she opened the front door. She winked at Eddy, who was already sneaking past her to get up the stairs as quickly as he could. There was no way his mum was going to miss the red eyes if she saw him. "Brett's here, too!"
"Hi, Mrs. Chen." Eddy could hear Brett's quiet, demure voice from his place at the top of the stairs. "How are you? We were going to do some practising together and maybe go busking later, if that is okay."
He couldn't quite make out what his mum said, but he could hear Brett coming up the stairs, so he guessed she was okay with it. He walked into his room quickly and closed the door behind them both. 

They both dropped on the bed like stones in exactly the same way. Then Eddy turned like lightning and threw his arms around his boyfriend. 
There was no space for words now, there wasn't even space for worrying where his mum was, or whether someone could come into the door. Eddy felt like he had been shattered into a million pieces and been put back together again, all in the space of a short hour. All he wanted in the world right now was Brett's arms around him, holding him safe, Brett's lips on his hair, Brett's soft breath brushing over his cheek. He burrowed himself into the mattress and held his boyfriend tight, riding on the waves of his calm breathing. 

"So. That was something else." Brett said after an eternity, so matter-of-factly that it made Eddy grin. 
"Yeah, you can say that again."
Brett kissed him once and sat up. He crossed his legs and raised his right eyebrow in irony. 
"So. That was something else."
"Seriously? Dad-jokes?" Eddy sat up too and shook his head. His eyes rolled upwards to the ceiling and back. 
Brett shrugged. "But it got you smiling, right? And let's face it, my love, this could have gone much, much worse?"
Eddy nodded. He wasn't quite sure how he was feeling right now, but he did know that Brett was right. This could have gone so much worse he didn't even have words to express how much worse. 
"Yeah." he said. And he didn't have to expand on that, did he? They both knew exactly what could have happened. 
Brett smiled his kind smile and softly rubbed the inside of Eddy's leg with his slender fingers. It was really nice, being touched like that. It was almost like Brett was rubbing the last of the adrenaline right out of his system. 
"How about we talk about all of this at some point when shock isn't in our systems anymore, 'kay? Wanna do some practice and go busking?"
Eddy's eyes flew swiftly to the door. There were no sounds anywhere upstairs, and he was guessing his sister was talking to his mum, safely down the stairs in the kitchen. Maybe even giving him some time? So he bent over quickly and gave Brett one long, sweet kiss. 
"Yeah." he said then as he let him go and got up. 
"Let's go practice."

Just as they had unpacked and tuned their violins there was a soft knock at the door. 
"Eddy?"
His sister was there, stepping in and closing the door behind her. 
"I thought I'd come give you a hug before I set off. Are you completely sure about not needing me to stay?"
He put his violin down and hugged her fondly. 
"Yeah, I'll be okay."
She nodded. "Well, don't be a stranger, okay?"
"Yeah, I'll text you and let you know how it went later. Oh, and sis?"
She looked back at him, one hand already on the door knob. 
"Uhuh?"
"Thanks."