Andante con Brio

XCII

They had shot into their night clothes and Eddy followed Brett down the stairs at a slow pace. He was still giddy with everything that had just happened, and so calm, so very, very calm that the feeling seemed to emanate from some place deep inside of him he hadn't even known existed. From a place where anxiety simply wasn't a thing. 
"Happy?" Brett said with one of his sweet smiles as he took the plates of rice off the table to put them in the microwave. 
"You have no idea how happy, Bretty." Eddy replied softly. His voice sounded weirdly different. 
"Oh, I think I do." 
He couldn't see Brett's face, but from his tone he had the feeling he was blushing. Brett set the microwave to thirty seconds and then he turned around and gestured for Eddy to sit down at the wooden table. 
Well, to be honest, there wasn't very much Eddy wouldn't do for Brett right now. 
He ate his rice quickly, tasting the sauce for the first time. It was really good, of course. Mrs. Yang was a great cook.
"You should tell your mum I really loved it." he said after the last spoonful, almost shyly for some reason. He got up gingerly to put his plate in the dishwasher and followed Brett, who was already heading into the living room and to the DVD player. Eddy went around the room automatically to close all the curtains, silently thanking the fact that it had gotten dark and he could close them now. No one would be able to see them.
He settled in right next to his love on the couch, pulled his legs up on the cushion and put his head on Brett's shoulder. 
Had he ever felt his safe, this protected?
"So, how much practice are you going to tell your mum we got in tonight?" Brett said in his deadpan humour voice that always made Eddy laugh. 
"That depens." he smirked. "What are we saying we practised? I mean, one can practise many things, right?"
Brett pressed a soft kiss to the side of his forehead. 
"I don't think you need much practice on those things, Eddy."
"Hmm. Neither do you."
"I'm still going to keep practising though." 
Eddy burrowed himself a bit deeper into Brett's shoulder. 
"I hope you never stop."

The film was good, the special effects very believable, which is what they both liked, but the best part was that he got to sit there like this. But about halfway through Brett pressed pause and turned to him. 
"Todd was talking earlier about a house he saw." he said quietly, almost hesitantly. "He was going to contact the real estate agent and see if we can get a viewing in."
Oh. 
Eddy knew why the hesitation, of course. He also knew why Todd had told Brett and not him. They all knew how ambivalent he was, didn't they? Still he felt guilty, because he didn't want to destroy any joy for them. He cleared his throat. 
"Cool. I'm looking forward to it. I'd get to sit with you like this every night."
Brett laughed curtly. "The other guys may object to us being too lovey-dovey."
Eddy shrugged. "They'll learn to live with it."
"Yeah. So, you wanna play some games later?"
Eddy nodded. "Yes, of course. But maybe we should practise a bit more so your neighbours have heard that we've played, before we watch the rest."
"You're right. Let's do that first then."

Eddy got up from the couch and headed over to his violin case with his head in the clouds. He didn't really want to sleep at all, tonight. He wished they could just stay up all night, practising, playing games, and then spending the rest of the night in the bed, cuddling, being together. They only had one night like this and he wanted to make the absolute most of it.