Touch

3.

The weekend came, and Eddy didn't seem to get any better. Or, the heat and the redness that came with it only flared up every once in a while now, but the lack of concentration and the stuttering hadn't changed. They had tried to record some the Thursday before the live stream weekend, but when they didn't get past the opening due to Eddy's memory slips Brett decided to drop it. Eddy was frustrated with this, insisting everything was fine. Brett wasn't convinced, though. Eddy was behaving differently, and he worried it may be a mental health thing. Maybe the fans were right, that he was burning out? Brett felt he needed to take responsibility for his friend if he refused to himself, even if that meant saying no to things he knew Eddy wanted.

"You sure you wanna do the live stream, Eddy?" Brett asked on Saturday morning as they ate the breakfast Brett had insisted on preparing for them. They were planning to go live that evening, and Brett wasn't too sure Eddy was well enough to play his part in the act. Sure, they tried to be as natural as possible in front of the camera, but the constant positive attitude was of course to some degree acting. In a way, the videos showed more who they wanted to be than who they were.
"I've been f...fine all week", Eddy said annoyed, only messing up one word in the sentence. Brett sighed in response.
"You know I only say we can't do things because I care about you, right?" Brett leaned over the table and placed a hand carefully on Eddy's forearm. They hadn't really touched much since Eddy's weird behaviour had started, not by Brett's choice. 
"I know, but you've gotten it all wrong. Please just trust me when I say I'm fine, yeah?" Eddy was almost pleading with Brett at this point, and the eldest of the two sighed.
"Alright, but please promise to take a break if you don't feel well. We need two for TwoSet you know."

They prepared for the live stream, and honestly Brett hadn't felt so unprepared for anything in a while. The plan was to just talk to the fans really, maybe answer some questions, play something for them. Just like meeting up with around 1,5 million people. No big deal, right? Brett felt his palms getting more and more sweaty as the clock ticked closer to the time they had announced. Twenty minutes left.
"You sure YOU are up to it, Brett?" Eddy asked, without stuttering for once. He put on that cheeky smile, the same he had when finally Brett forgot his violin somewhere too so he couldn't bother Eddy about forgetting his all the time.
"Yeah yeah, nerves you know..." Brett replied and tried to wipe his palms on his jeans. Eddy put down the stuff he had been cleaning up in the area the live stream would take place and went over to Brett. Softly, he wrapped his arms around Brett in a careful hug. It felt like he was unsure if Brett would still be fine with it, but any uncertainty disappeared when Brett hugged him tight back. They just stood like that for a few moments until Brett's breathing slowed down and until they both calmed down a bit.
"H...hey... it... it's fine to be n...nervous, yeah? D... Don't worry too much." Eddy stuttered when he pulled away from the hug. The redness in his face flared up again, and it seemed like his hands were shaking vaguely. Brett just smiled at him, knowing that trying to comment on it wouldn't help.
"I needed that", Brett mumbled and brushed some hair away from his face. Time for a haircut soon, for sure. "Thanks."
"No p... problem", Eddy smiled back at him before returning to cleaning up the area while Brett set up the camera and the back-up camera.