Andante con Brio

XL

Eddy was drowsy by the time he sank down on one of the logs that surrounded the fire pit. They had gotten hamburgers and chips from Maccers on the way back from the blue mountains, and when they had gotten back to their little circle of tents they had all had a shower to wash away the grime and the sweat. He had looked longingly at Brett's back as he walked over the gravel path to the showers with his sponge bag. God, how he wished he could join him in the shower and give him a good soaping. 
Yeah, that was probably not a good idea in a public setting, but a guy could dream, right? 
Then Matt and Ian had gotten a fire going while he and Lily had gotten bags of crisps and cans of soda and beer together and dragged them over to the logs. The fire was really coming along nicely by now, the spit and hiss of the flames a comfort, the orange shine throwing warm shadows over the campsite. 
People from the surrounding tents and caravans must have noticed this too, because they were starting to head on over to the pit and making themselves comfortable on the logs. 
"Anyone for sausages?"
A balding middle aged guy in shorts and a shirt that was a little to small for him appeared, holding up a carrier bag. Behind him there were two kids, Eddy guessed they were like five or six years old. 
"Absolutely yes to the sausages!" Todd roared, waving to the logs in an invitation. "Settle in, guys."
Eddy shrugged and grinned. He loved Todd's gregariousness. Somehow he wished there wouldn't be so many people around, though, because there was really only one place he wanted to be after having been scared shitless, after having super awkward conversations with Todd and after holding his panicked friend, and it was with Brett. Ideally alone. 
Oh well. This was nice, too. Some lady actually managed to walk up with a big bowl of dough from somewhere and started putting it on sticks for the kids to hold into the fire and make bread. It was super cute. He watched on quietly and settled a bit deeper into Brett's side. Surely people would think that was just because the logs were getting a bit short of space, now? 
He took the sausage he was given and smiled at the little kid in front of him, waving his stick with its piece of bread on the top around. He was very small, probably no older than four, and his hair was so blonde it might as well have been white. He prodded the stick towards the fire. 
"Just put it close to the fire, but not in it, or it will burn." he said kindly and got up. "Here, like this." He held the kid's tiny hand and guided it to the edge of the flames, so he would actually be able to eat a bun in a minute, neither raw, nor basically a lump of coal. 

Once the kid was walking off proudly with his cooked bun to show it to his parents and dip it in the sugar someone had brought, Eddy sank back down on the log next to Brett. Something had changed, in Brett, from when he had gotten up a minute ago. Somehow he was no longer sleepy, like he had been before, but he was sat just ever so slightly upright, and his foot was against his, it felt like with insistence.
Oh. 
Then Brett leaned over to him. 
"That was really sweet."
Eddy shrugged. "Didn't want him to burn it."
Brett gave the tiniest little grin and leaned even further over so he could whisper in his ear
"Your bum looked nice too, standing there like that, bending over the fire."
Oh. 
"Really?" he whispered back, all thoughts of logs, sausages, fires and buns suddenly completely vanished from his mind. 
Brett just nodded and looked at him, his eyes impossibly large and sweet.
"I'm just going toilet."
He was already getting up and walking off, but Eddy didn't have to hesitate. He got up too and walked very pronouncedly in the other direction from Brett, towards their tent. 
Only when he was sure that he was outside of the light of the campfire did he turn and make a beeline for the toilet building.