Andante con Brio

CLXVIII

He must have fallen asleep straight away, because sunlight was streaming in through the window when he woke up. Wait, what time was it? The bed next to him was empty, so it must be quite late already, if Brett hadn't waited for him. He got up quickly and padded to the living room on his bare feet. 
"Hey, good morning. Well, afternoon, really."
Brett was sitting at the table with a large mug of coffee and Ian was there too, on the couch, lying back in the pillows and looking very pale. Brett pulled him in to kiss him quickly on the lips and then he pointed at Ian.
"I think he drank a bit too much, last night." 
"I know. I helped him." Eddy said somewhat clumsily. "You were fast asleep."
Brett's eyes opened wide. 
"Oh, shit! Should I..." 
"Nah, it was fine."
I mean, what could he say? Could he tell him what worrying things Ian had told him last night? He was pretty sure that would have been in confidence, had Ian been sober enough to understand what confidence was. 
"Do you know where Todd is?" he asked Brett, and Ian grunted from his pile of cushions. 
"He went home with some guy he met at the bar."
Oh!
Whoa, it had been a long time since that had happened. Eddy shook the surprise off quickly and walked over to Ian. 
"Okay. So how are you? Feeling better? Did you hurl again?"
Ian opened his eyes at once, and stared at him. 
"Shit, did you... you were there, right?"
"Yeah. Don't you rememember?"
Ian shook his head and instantly winced at the movement. 
"It's all a blur." 
"I guess that explains the state of the toilet." Brett said in his ironic voice. "Thanks for that, Ian."
"Sorry, mate. I'll clean it up."

Before Brett could say anything else ironic the door opened, and a disheveled looking Todd walked in somewhat hesitantly. 
"Oh, hi." he said shyly. "Er... nice welcome committee. Oh Jesus, Ian, what's going on with you?"
His eyes opened wide with shock when he saw the prostrate Ian, and he rushed over and kneeled down beside the couch. 
But Ian didn't say anything else, he just grunted and closed his eyes again. Todd looked up and caught Eddy's eye, who pointed to the hallway with his head. He nodded and started walking that way.
"Give me a sec, Ian." he said over his shoulder. 

"What happened?" he asked Eddy the second they were somewhat out of earshot of the other two.
"He got sick. And sad." Eddy said quietly. He was aware that there was an accusing angle to his tone, that he didn't really want there. But look. He loved Todd to bits, but last night he left his best friend to get home alone, in that state. That... that just wasn't okay. 
"Fuck." Todd said. He leaned against the wall and rubbed his eyes with his fingers. "I... shit, I didn't know he was that far gone."
"He was pretty fucked up, I think about the competition mostly."
That much he could say, right? That much was obvious, right? The other stuff Ian had said... that he would never repeat. 
"Fuck." Todd said again, and he groaned quietly. "Oh no. I've been such an idiot."
His eyes shot back to the room, to make sure the others were both still there. Then he dragged Eddy into his room and closed the door behind him. He stood for a long moment, as if he were pulling himself together. 
"Ah, fuck, Eddy." he said then as his eyes got all moist. He shook his head hard. "I'm so sorry you were left to deal with that. It was... look, it's not an excuse, but it was... difficult, last night. I... I was struggling, because we'd had the competition, the stress, and then Ian was flirting with this girl... I... I couldn't, anymore. I let myself be picked up. But I...  it was wrong."
It hit Eddy like a brick, his soft, harsh words, his moist eyes. The pain that he was in.
"Oh, mate." he said as he put his hand on yet another shoulder and squeezed it. He was saying that way too often today. "I get it, okay? And it was fixed. He was alright."
Todd shook his head again. 
"I should never have let him go home alone."
"Hey, it's good, yeah? It's done, now. He was safe. I had him, it's fine."
They stood in silence for a long while, until Eddy tilted his head, smiled and tried to lighten Todd's mood. 
"Was... was it good, though?"
Todd looked back at him with the smallest, saddest smile. 
"Not really. I mean, a while ago I'd've said yeah. But this was about as nutritious as white bread and jam. Anyway, let's get back, yeah?"

Eddy took a deep breath as he followed Todd back to the living room. Ian was up, now, and making tea. He walked over to the tiny kitchen and took out some cereal, poured some into a bowl and grabbed the milk.
"So er, thanks, Eddy." Ian said suddenly, his voice quiet. He had a bit more colour now. "And er... just so you know, anything I say while piss-drunk cannot be taken seriously."
"Yeah, of course. Don't worry about it." Eddy said automatically. 
But he knew it would be a long time before he would ever forget the bleak tone he had heard last night.