the silence

five.

warning: mild mention of sexual harassment

    the day had finally come. it was the first day of rehearsal with the sydney symphony orchestra for both brett and eddy.

    brett was very early. he paced around the building nervously, his hands shaking. he'd never been so scared for a job. he'd made third desk in the first violin section, along with some other man whose name he'd forgotten already.

    eddy didn't arrive until right before he had to be there, making his way inside as quickly as possible. he hadn't slept well the previous night because of he and mae's recent constant arguing and had struggled to get there on time. almost everyone else was already seated, including his stand partner. he was a smaller man with black glasses, and eddy thought he was pretty adorable. not intimidating at all.

    "hi, i'm eddy," he said over the noise of people practicing and talking, extending his hand. the man nodded and shook it.

    "brett," he said simply. eddy got the feeling immediately that he wasn't much of a talker. (and how right he was.)

    eddy made it through the first hour of rehearsal without trying to talk to brett. he was a chair below the smaller man and really wondered how he'd even got stuck on third desk. eddy listened to his elegant playing and thought that he definitely should've placed better.

    the truth was that brett would've had no problem being concertmaster of the orchestra, but he'd gotten very nervous before his audition. so nervous that his shaky bow was almost impossible for him to stop and it made his anxiety even worse, which caused a paradoxical situation and eventually made him bomb his audition (in his opinion.)

    brett was extremely wary of eddy, as he was with everyone he met. but he really liked eddy's playing and never once thought to himself that he wasn't doing well. that was a relief.

    "are you from here?" eddy finally asked during a 15 minute rehearsal break. brett had been seated the entire time, playing on his phone without saying a word. he'd been dreading this moment, but it wasn't so bad. he was used to people trying to have conversations with him and dealing with their reactions to the one sidedness.

    brett shook his head in response to eddy's question. eddy raised one eyebrow at his lack of verbal answer and continued.

    "i'm not, either. i'm from brisbane," said the taller boy. brett choked on his own saliva and coughed for a few moments. he had not expected eddy to say that they were from the same place hours away.

"what's the matter?" eddy laughed, patting the other man's back. his touch sent shivers down brett's spine and he shook his head, covering his mouth.

"what, are you from brisbane?" eddy asked, squinting in disbelief. it wasn't really that surprising, but it was a bit odd. brett nodded as he stopped coughing, wiping his eyes.

"huh. small world," eddy shrugged. brett nodded and they didn't say much for the rest of the break.

    eddy decided immediately that he liked brett, despite his lack of oral communication. there was just something about him. perhaps it was the way he watched people, the way his deep brown eyes seemed to possess some sort of knowledge that eddy could never have. or the way he tilted his head when he looked at the music and you could see him analyzing it, and throwing himself into it when he played. eddy admired him deeply after just one day of rehearsal, completely engulfed in his mystery.

    and then it was time for them to go home. eddy reached out his hand for brett to shake before he had to leave. brett shook it firmly, his small hand being almost swallowed up by eddy's. but they tried not to pay too much attention to that. they could both feel some weird sort of tension between them, but it was ignored. eddy walked out of the rehearsal room feeling unsatisfied and empty. he shook it off. probably just tired, he thought.