Andante con Brio

LXI

They must have gotten into the sleeping bag at some point in the night, but he had no memory of it by the time he woke up and stretched out gently into the camping mat. Brett was actually still sleeping peacefully beside him, still very close to him, their legs hooked together. 
When Eddy turned slightly to the right he could see his shorts and shirt lying on top of the suitcase on the side and he felt that giant beam spreading on his face again. 
Wow. He had dared, he had done, and it had worked! In fact, it had worked better than he could ever have imagined. And when he gently stretched his arm out he didn't seem to be very sore anymore either. God, this day was really looking up. 
"Hey."
"Oh, you're awake!" Eddy turned to his love and kissed him gently. "Sleep okay?"
Brett grinned. 
"Yeah, for some reason I slept like a baby, no idea how that could have happened."
He wriggled somewhat provocatively against Eddy and grinned again. 
"I like waking up like this. Maybe soon we'll be able to wake up like this all the time."
Eddy wiggled his eyebrows. "What, and do away with shorts altogether? I like your thinking."
"Hmmmm."
Brett's lips where soft against his, so soft, so sweet. 
"We're going to melt if we stay here though." he said after a moment, pushing the sleeping bag down some, revealing his bare chest. "It's getting hot already."
"Yeah."
Brett was right, of course. The fact that he would happily have stayed there all day, kissed that chest and melted if needed be wasn't apropos here, was it? So he gave him one more quick kiss on the lips and then he pushed the sleeping bag off himself and shot into his clothes. He put the night shorts and shirt he never wore under his pillow and winked meaningfully at his boyfriend before looking at the zipper in the front door of the tent. 

Oh yeah. There was that. He really, really wasn't sure whether they had been quiet enough last night. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, but was there really any way their friends would not all have heard? And how fucking awkward was that now, having to open that zipper and slide out of the tent? 
Was this going to be some sort of walk of shame? 
"It'll be fine." Brett said suddenly and he turned around in surprise. Brett was lying back on his mat, his arms folded under his head, his eyes dark and humorous. 
"Well. You're getting quite skilled at reading my mind." Eddy said dryly. "But I hope you're right."
 He nodded once, braced himself and got out of the tent. 

"Good morning." he mumbled as he stepped onto the tarp, where Lily and Matt where already busy making coffee and getting out bread rolls. Lily looked up with a smile. Oh man, was that a glitter in her eye? Or was he just imagining it? 
He hadn't seen a mirror, but he could only imagine how his own eyes looked. Shiny, probably. Happy, most definitely. 
He felt the clap on his shoulder before he heard Todd's deep morning voice. 
"Morning, gorgeous. Beauty sleep done you good?"
It was an innocuous enough comment, but the second he turned around and saw the lobsided smile on Todd's face he scrunched his eyes shut. 
Oh God. 
"Yes. Thank you Todd." he stated in a clipped tone, and Lily giggled. 
"Todd, leave Eddy alone." she said in her singsong voice. Todd laughed. 
"What?! I just thought I'd bid him good morning."
Oh, he loved Lily's stern look. Despite the awkwardness he couldn't help but grin at the resolve on her sweet face. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Brett slithering out of the tent and walking towards the toilet building. 
Good. He would deal with the fall-out here on his own and Brett could join them safely when their friends had gotten this out of their system. 
"Todd. Mate." Lily said sternly. "You behave, right this second or I will tickle you."
Everyone laughed. They all knew that there was only one person here that was just as ticklish as Eddy, and that was Todd. 
"Please, Lily, do?" Eddy asked sweetly. 
But Todd had already jumped out of Lily's reach. 

Okay, so he was pretty sure that they had been heard. But he had heard Lily as well, hadn't he, that first night? They all seemed to be just fine, and slowly he felt the awkwardness seep away.
Because look, they only had a little bit of time left here, right?  
So maybe he should stop worrying about everything and do his very best to make the most of his holiday while he was on it?