in the rain

three.

and suddenly, eddy stops running. he wants to keep this moment and remember this. he wants to stand there and take every single second of that moment in and ingrain it into his memory. (not that he would ever forget.)

brett gets pulled back as eddy stops, and his feet stutter back. he stands in the middle of the road with eddy by his side, the rain pouring down on the both of them, and he doesn't ask why eddy stops.

eddy interlocks his fingers with brett's. and they just stand there in the middle of the road, in the rain.

"do you think time can stop, eddy?" brett asks after a while.

"why do you ask?"

"because i want it to."

"right now?"

"yeah."

"me too."

they stay silent; they stay still; listening to the pitter-patter of the rain.

"this rain," brett talks as the rain continues to fall.

"what about it?"

"it brought me to you."

"the world brings you different things every day."

"you're special," brett says matter-of-factly, leaving eddy speechless.

"no one's ever done that for me, you know. share an umbrella without hesitation."

"any stranger would."

"but you aren't one."

"aren't what?"

"a stranger."

"before yesterday, i was."

"but today you aren't. and you won't ever be, every day after this."

"all because of the rain, huh?"

"yeah. all because of the rain," brett repeats as he looks at eddy and smiles. the rain continues to fall as they stand side by side, hand in hand, in the middle of the road.

"let's get your umbrella?"

"let's go."

☂

"did any of your things get wet?" brett asks as he flicks off some of the rain in his hair outside his apartment.

"nah, they're fine. my bag was waterproof."

"you're soaking, though. i'll get you a change of clothes. come in?" brett opens the door to his apartment, taking his shoes off by the entrance.

"thanks," eddy does the same before he enters.

"just wait here, yeah?" brett says as he goes to change. he comes out after a while, offering eddy some of his oversized clothes.

"you can go change in the bathroom. hopefully those fit."

"thank you," eddy changes to the clothing that brett had given him. it fit him quite fine, not too tight but it wasn't loose. he rolled up the sleeves of the black jumper which was super comfy and smelled like brett.

"of course it does. it's his clothes, after all," eddy thinks to himself.

he doesn't question how he already knows how the other smells, nor how much he likes being around it. it's because he's been in close proximity with the man every time they meet, and it’s only because of unfortunate circumstances, of course, not because he likes being close to him.