lullaby

I. Waltz

Brisbane, Australia.
Present time.

Brett hear the sound of the alarm growing slowly from the back of his head. It's Shostakovich’s Waltz No. 2. The volume is rising little by little.

Brett starts humming the melody as he turns his head from the pillow to the ceiling. With his eyes still closed, he raise his arms and starts directing an imaginary orchestra.

The volume is at his maximum level, and so is Brett's humming and energetic directing. He raise his eyebrows up and down and purse his lips as the  trumpet solo begins. Now his arms are raising higher and the humming is now basically a grave singing.

His feet starts moving under the sheets and as the music finally ends, he open his eyes and watch the orchestra disappear. Now he's sitting in the middle of the bed with his eyes mid closed and his arms over his head.

He yawns, and rolls back to bed.
“It’s freaking cold!!!”, he screams in to the pillow, wrapping his body with the blankets as a cocoon.

Wearing a grey velvety pyjama, Brett finally comes out of the bedroom. He walks slowly and  stumbles in to the door, trying to enter in to the bathroom to take a shower. His hair is messed up in the back and his eyes are still not fully open, not that it will make a difference, since he is not wearing glasses.

As the bathroom  door closes, he groans loudly again. “Fuck! So cold”

Whistling the waltz, the water from the shower starts falling.
Brett’s phone rings, Eddy's smiling picture between the sakura flowers appears on the cell phone.

Brett stares at the picture...and clicks the speaker
“Good morning!”, Eddy screams to the phone, laughing.
“Augh!”, Brett groans. Eddy starts laughing harder. “It's too early for this...”, Brett complains as he take off his t-shirt.

“I'm almost there, dude. Are you ready?”, says Eddy on the phone.
“Of course I am”, Brett screams on a high voice, making Eddy laugh on the phone again, as he removes his pants and enters to the shower. “See you soon!”, he screams to the phone before getting his head under the water.
Eddy laughs a last time before hanging up.

Brett continues the piece as he left it earlier. This time whistling and hitting the walls for the percussions. Shampooing when the strings begins. He dares to improvise a small opera number, before he hears the front door slam...

He closes the shower, so he can hear better. “Eddy?”, he screams from the bathroom, “Is that you?” He takes his towel and rolls it up around his waist. “Freaking cold”, he murmurs. “Eddy! I'm sorry! I wasn't ready. Don't be mad. I'll be in less than five minutes..”, he opens the door slowly...

and Eddy's smiling face appears in front of him. “Boo!”, he screams.

Brett jumps scared almost dropping his towel. “Fuck!”, he screams as he opens the door, trying to adjust the towel, while Eddy watches him walking away.

“Dude, I hate this”, he answers, covering his face with one hand to hide the blush on his cheeks, as he cross the corridor for going back to his bedroom.

“Don't get angry, bro!”, says Eddy laughing. He takes him from the shoulder so he faces him.

“Happy birthday, Brett”, he says wrapping his arms around his neck, squizzing him gently in a hug.

Brett feel the warmness of Eddy's body, the tender fabric of his hoodie and sniffs a little the mix of coffee and cologne on his neck. He's really not a hugger, so he stays still, feeling a bit temped to hug him back. But he suddenly remembers something...

“It’s not my birthday! You damn!”, he groans, pushing Eddy who is laughing once again. And starts laughing harder when he realizes Brett's towel is no longer around his waist.

“What now?” Brett says irritated, when all of a sudden he realizes the coldness coming from his lower body...”FUCK!”, he screams as he run to the bedroom wrapping the towel back enough to cover the front. Then, he slams the door.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He murmurs as he walks around the room looking for clothes. Still covering while looking for some underwear.

The door opens again, and Eddy enters still holding the laugh. “Bro, don't get too mad. We've seen each other before...”
Brett ass is showing as he looks inside the closet. Eddy's starts cackling in laugh.

“GET OUT!” Brett screams, throwing him the first pair of clothes he finds close to his hands.

But he's not lucky today. Brett watchs in slow motion as a pink brief goes flying in front of him and hits Eddy's face right in the eyes.

“What the..”, Eddy says as he picks them up. And starts cackling once again, so loud, he's now on the floor.

Brett is madly furious. His face turns completely red. He stays still, holding the towel watching Eddy squirming in laughter over the floor. He looks just like the kid he met the first time on that  math tutoring. His mouth relaxes.

“Bro...”, he groans. Eddy stops laughing, kind of scared of hearing Brett's voice gone really grave. Is he angry? He turns to see him. Brett has both hands on his head, shaking his wet hair and no letting Eddy read his reaction...

“What a day!”, he says laughing.

Eddy blushes as he watches Brett. On the light of the room, the skin of his chest looks paler, and his slightly wetness of it makes it glow gently. He has seen him naked before, thousands of times, but today...Brett looks particularly charming, isn't it?

“Yeah....well, I'll get out”, Eddy says as he gets up and quickly abandons the room.
“Ah!”, Brett sighs happily. He loves Eddy so much. He can't be angry with him.

“Shit! We'll be late!” Brett totally have forgotten they have made an appointment to see Olaf. That's why Eddy is here after all.

Eddy waits for him on the living room. He's kind of flustered, but doesn't know why. His cheeks feel a bit warm, “Must be all that laughter”, he explains to himself as he remembers Brett's small butt. He starts laughing again as he sits down on the small sofa.

But the memory of Brett glowing in the window of his bedroom interferes. And he blushes again, a bit less than before this time.

“What a lovely Bretty”, he whispers. “I guess it's true that in ten years he will basically be Keanu Reeves”, he thinks, smiling. “Nah, no way”, he laughs.

Brett's house is clean and comfy. Everything is organized and light coloured. Grey sofas, white walls and a small blue coffee table in the centre. As Eddy gets comfy on the sofa, he felts something wet on his neck. Oh, the hug.

“Bro!”, he screams standing up from the sofa, “Lend me some clothes, please. I don't want to”, he sneezes. “Damn it”.

“You don't want what?”, Brett says while getting out of the bedroom wearing a blue sweater, and carrying a 'practice' hoodie on the hand. He stops, and sneezes on the entrance of the living room. “Augh. I hate winter, dude”

“Same here”, replies Eddy. “That’s for me?” says pointing the hoodie on Brett's hand. “Karma, bro”, Brett replies throwing him the hoodie.

“Thank you”, sings Eddy as he starts taking of his hoodie, showing a bit of skin on his waist as he lift his arms.

Brett stares a second. But runs away. “What time the date is?” He asks Eddy as he walks back to the corridor and pretends to fix an invisible frame on the wall.
“09:30”, says Eddy as he throws away the wet hoodie on the sofa.

“Shit. It’s 08:30 already! We'll be laaaate”, he sees the hoodie on the sofa. “No, no, no. Come on, let's go”, he picks up the hoodie and hangs it on a chair. And pushes Eddy trough the door.
“It’s so laaaate”, mimics Eddy. Shaking his arms as he runs out.

The door slams, and the two boys laughter resonates through the hall.

***