Demonic Influence (I hate my co-workers)

Tchaikovsky Drop

Hey again everyone, if you guys are still clicking on this. I know it's been approximately forever, and for that I really don't have much to say. I set the arc of this story up to break their relationship down and then build it back up, but after some personal issues I just couldn't find it in myself to build it back up at all. This is actually the first genuinely inspired and happy thing that I've written in months, and the first time I actually wanted to write for personal reasons in February. I'm just so happy to be feeling better. So, I hope you enjoy. :)

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"You know," Brett mumbled after a while from his cramped position, "This still doesn't solve the issue of who wrote the letter to you."

"Oh, Mary wrote it," Eddy said, pulling back and looking the blue haired witch dead in the eye.

"What?" Brett said, involuntarily side-eyeing Mary suspiciously.

The witch just laughed guiltily. "Fred was getting a bit busy, the little bumblebee, so I offered to respond to some of his mail. He had been complaining about you all week, Eddy." She laughed. "He's just so cute when he's flustered and overworked, but it really stresses him out, so I agreed to help out a bit around the office."

Brett made a face like he'd tasted something sour, and Eddy giggled, wiping his eyes absentmindedly. Neither of them could imagine Fred as 'cute' in any capacity, but he didn't think either of them was going to bring that up to Mary.

"Anywho, that letter was not meant for you, sir!" Mary glared at Brett, "I just sent it so that Eddy would get his head out of his ass."

Now it was Brett's turn to stifle a slightly nervous giggle. "Yeah, overreactions all around," he said quietly.

"Not really, mostly just from you," Mary responded cheerily.

"Yeah alright then, fair enough."

They went back to Brett's house together that day, tentative and awkward. The walk back was filled with half glances and quiet conversation. Their hearts were filled with questions that their mouths refused to ask.

Brett made pancakes for dinner, messing up the simple proportions written on the box twice before he got them correct. When he finally set the plate down on the table between them and they began to eat, Eddy commented that they were the best pancakes he had ever tasted. Brett was pretty sure they didn't actually taste that good, but he knew that just having Eddy here with him was far better than anything else he could think of, so he accepted the compliment with grace.

He realized about halfway through the meal that he didn't want Eddy to leave. More than that, he didn't want to let him out of his sight. Brett couldn't tell if that was his love or his guilt talking, but whatever it was, it came from the heart. Eddy accepted his invitation to stay the night almost too quickly, an emotion flashing across his eyes that Brett couldn't really put a name on.

He had spent a long time carrying all of his heaviest blankets and fluffiest pillows to his little pull out couch before remembering that demons ran cold, but Eddy had accepted them all with a grateful smile and a whispered thanks, and so Brett nodded and went to bed, feeling like an idiot.

He left his wings out most days now, simply because they hurt less if he let them entend. The blackened feathers spread to fill the room as he picked up his violin, mindlessly tightening his bow and tuning. His shoulder rest fell off as soon as he lowered the instrument.

He was playing Tschaicovsky tonight. He wasn't quite sure what had brought it on, but something about it had just felt right, and so he had started at the beginning and just gone from there. He allowed himself to drift into the music, losing his sense of time and just focusing on the way the notes resonated through the room.

It must have been midnight before he realized he wasn't alone in the room.

Quiet clapping, a few moments after the end of the final movement. The ringing of the notes had just barely faded from the room. Brett turned, startled, to see Eddy sitting cross legged in the doorway. His eyes were slightly reddened, and even as Brett watched, he took the back of his hand and rubbed at one of his cheeks.

"Sorry." His voice was gravelly. "Couldn't sleep. Your playing was really nice though..." Eddy made as if to move away, turning his back slightly from Brett.

"Wait!" The word was out of Brett's mouth before he even registered what he was saying. Eddy paused at the noise, eyes flicking up and meeting with Brett's hesitantly. "Want to... stay?" Brett offered, wincing a little and scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. It was still slightly stiff from the playing and he really wanted to crack it but something told him it wasn't the right time to do that.

The corners of Eddy's lips twitched into something approximating a smile. "I'd like that a lot," he answered honestly. Very slowly, as though he were still afraid that Brett would tell him to go, Eddy stepped closer to the center of the room. Brett watched him move, barely breathing. Eddy looked like he was floating, almost suspended in the air.

For someone cast so far from heaven, he flies better than I ever could.

That thought popped into Brett's head as Eddy closed the last of the large gap between them, standing barely inches from his nose. Very slowly, so as not to disturb him, one of Eddy's hands moved up very slowly and gingerly caressed one of Brett's blackened wings.

And Brett just felt himself melt. Without thinking, he threw his arms around Eddy's neck, pulling the taller boy down to his level and burying his head in the crook of his neck, just holding him like there was no tomorrow. His heart was pounding in his ears, an endless stream of I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry.

"Hey now," Eddy said softly, his hands coming up and making large circles on Brett's back.

"I missed you so, so much," the shorter boy whispered, voice shaking, clutching at the back of Eddy's shirt like he was afraid he was going to slip away from him again.

"Shh, it's okay, shh," Eddy just kept rubbing the same soothing circles into Brett's back. "I know, I know, I missed you too." 

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Sidenote: I realized that this has hit 4k in my absence and let me just say DAMN guys, you all are so amazing. TYSM, honestly for putting up with my wonky uploads and only partially fleshed out story.