I love you (no homo)

Part Seven

A month passed and Brett got used to those confusing feelings. He watched a couple of gay movies as well as straight-up gay porn to see if it turned him off. It didn't. When he thought about it, it had never really disgusted him or anything similar. He simply just hated it when Mark and Daniel hung around Eddy. All the pieces of the puzzle came together, and Brett knew he just liked his friend a little too much. But Eddy was still with Daniel.

Brett thought that was fine. He'd get over it someday. Ha, maybe he'd even become friends with Eddy's boyfriend. Life didn't revolve around romantic love. There were so many other things he wanted to do in his life that didn't include giving his best friend hickeys on his violin hickey. Or at least that's what he told himself before going to sleep.

He still appreciated him as a friend. So when he got tickets to a symphony concert for his birthday, he took Eddy with him. As a friend. No hidden intentions. He won't hit on a taken man. And the fact that Eddy looked good in the shirt he was wearing was just a bonus.

***

They walked together on the already dark street, talking about the concert they had just seen. Eddy stretched.

"Are you sure you don't want me to pay you back for the tickets?"

"Yes, they were free. And besides, I could finally repay you for the homework you did for me back then."

Eddy waved his hand.

"You spent the whole next day thanking me. I'm just saying that maybe you wanted to take someone else. Some pretty girl, for example..."

"Well, I wanted to take you." Brett realized that what he said sounded not only suggestive but also harsher than he had intended, and he hoped Eddy didn't catch it.

"That's nice, thanks..."

There was silence between them if silence was even possible with the wind blowing and the speeding cars.

"Brett... Are you mad at me for some reason?"

Ah, so he had noticed it. Brett turned to him and smiled, he hoped, reassuringly.

"No, what's with that question? Why would I be?"

Eddy scratched the back of his neck.

"Maybe it's just me, but sometimes I feel like you're avoiding me."

"I invited you to the concert, didn't I?" he said, even though he knew perfectly well that his friend was right. Sometimes he avoided him. Whereas 'sometimes' usually referred to places where he could suspect he'd see Daniel.

"Yeah, I guess. It's just... I don't know... So you're okay? You have nothing to say to me?"

It was a hard question to answer.

"Yes."

Eddy looked disappointed, and Brett started to feel guilty. He really didn't like lying to him. He sighed and closed his eyes.

"Okay, fine, maybe there's something like that. But... But I don't want to tell you yet. I promise I'll tell you someday, okay? Anyway, I'm not mad at you in any way, just so you know."

His friend looked slightly relieved.

"I really felt like I did something wrong."

"Listen, I'm sorry, it's really not your fault."

"Okay, now I know. So... You'll tell me someday, right? About what's going on with you?"

Brett knew that was what he had said, but it didn't mean he was particularly fond of the idea. He just hoped that someday he would get over his stupid feelings and then he could tell Eddy and they would laugh at it together... That would be the best outcome. So he just nodded.

Eddy smiled in such a cute way that Brett suddenly started having really positive fluttery emotions he didn't know he had inside and then...

And then Daniel showed up to ruin his life. The fact that Brett hated him for a different reason than he had previously believed didn't make him feel any better.

"Eddy?!" he called from the sidewalk on the other side, and after a brief look around, he started running towards them. "Hey, Eddy!"

Brett was slightly surprised to see that his friend wasn't as enthusiastic about this chance encounter as Daniel was. And Brett was convinced that they were getting along... On the other hand, how was he supposed to know, he avoided Eddy's boyfriend like the plague.

They stopped, and Daniel ran up to them. Brett tried to be sympathetic.

"Hi!" he called with a smile but was completely ignored.

"I called you but you didn't answer," Daniel said to Eddy. "I was worried."

"I was at a concert, my phone was turned off," Eddy explained without a trace of sympathy in his voice.

"Can we talk?" Daniel asked, and as much as Brett wished he knew what this conversation was going to be about, he realized it was his cue to go.

"Then I'll leave you to it," he interjected.

Daniel looked at him.

"Thanks," he said.

And Brett had to realize once again that not only is Eddy's boyfriend a hundred times better than Mark, but he's also pretty nice overall. And yet... Brett was so annoyed by his existence!

He started to walk away, but Eddy grabbed his arm.

"Brett stays," he said firmly.

Okaaaay, Brett had no idea what was going on or what role he had in this game, but Daniel made such a pitiful face he almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

"Eddy..." Daniel said in a remorseful tone of voice. "Please, let's just talk. I don't understand why you're acting like this..."

Eddy loosened his grip on Brett's arm and it looked like he had softened overall. Brett couldn't blame him, Daniel looked like a beaten puppy. Finally, he sighed and released him.

"You're right, sorry. We need to talk," he said and walked over to hug Daniel.

Brett took the opportunity to flee and pretend it hadn't broken his heart.