holy

xxxvii

it was awhile before brett had stopped crying, finally collapsing into exhaustion.

eddy himself barely had the strength to pick the angel up, but he figured he didn't have a choice.

he needed to be strong. for brett.

with a couple of heavy coughs that he still did not know the cause of, he gathered the angel into his arms and hardly made it to their bed before collapsing once again, hard wheezes escaping his chest. he felt a thousand times better than he did when brett first said those fateful words, but it still hurt.

and with what little strength he had left, eddy pulled the covers over the two of them and brought the angel close, safe in his arms. he paid no mind to the golden cross that laid gently on brett's pale skin, nor did he notice the reflection of his own golden eyes in it.

sleep dragged him down quickly, eager to finally spend a night where he belonged.

•

the eye of the hurricane remained over their house through morning. silent and patient as it always was on these soft mornings of love, warm and saturated with a sense of home. the air seemed to be a wonderful shade of blue, like  pure angel eyes or like the holiest river in heaven, and although the months were nearing the dead of winter, it didn't dare to disturb the lovers' peace.

for once, they woke simultaneously.

eddy held his breath. it was too good to be true, the sight before him. his angel. safe, calm, glowing even more ethereally than the rising sun.

brett opened his eyes and shut them again quickly as soon as he saw the beautiful devil's face. he was awaiting the ear splitting sound of that familiar crack, the sensation of burning and bleeding, his silent screams tormenting him. it never came, and that made it worse.

what did come, though, were feather light touches along the curve of his jaw, tracing an imaginary line up behind his ear and into his hair.

"angel," eddy whispered, his voice barely loud enough to travel through the thick air, "it's just you and me."

his long, calloused fingers ended at the nape of the angel's neck where he pressed slightly to pull brett in and kiss his forehead.

the shorter boy let out his breath and inhaled shakily before opening his eyes and staring straight into the gold mines.

his hands shook under the covers with anxiety.

"good morning my angel," eddy crooned, his lips brushing the smaller boy's forehead as he mumbled in disbelief. his mysterious sickness had seemed to subside, although at the pit of his stomach he still felt uneasy.

"hi," brett responded sheepishly, glancing nervously behind him, as if he was afraid someone was watching.

when he turned back to look at the demon, he could've sworn that his eyes were red.

or was that just his brain playing tricks on him?

he couldn't tell anymore, but the sight was terrifying enough. brett untangled his legs from eddy's, pushing at his chest to get away while his heart pounded with anxiety.

eddy was not about to let go, though, not when he had just gotten his angel back. and then brett started to panic.

there were no longer arms around his waist, there were chains. the sunlight turned to fire and the pale cream walls to stone. he was no longer on earth, and eddy's worried pleas were merely echoes, eons away in brett's mind.

his screams were loud, not in the air of the quiet bedroom but in his own memories.

it hurt, all over again.

until it didn't.

•

it took forever for brett to come to his senses.

at least, it felt like forever to eddy.

he spent longer than he could remember whispering into the angel's ear, rocking the smaller boy back and forth, back and forth, until his breathing evened out and he stopped shaking. he didn't dare speak for fear that his voice would send brett spiraling again.

so it was brett who spoke first, his voice timid but clear.

"eddy?"

"yeah?"

brett shifted nervously in his spot between eddy's legs. he wasn't afraid of eddy any longer—thank god. the problem was lucifer—or at least the idea of him. he might've been dead, but the feeling of him was far too present.

as he glanced anxiously around, eddy's long fingers curled behind his ears, stroking the overgrown bits of his hair, cupping his tear-stained cheeks. once again, he was completely in awe of the angel—so astoundingly ethereal that not even the morning sunlight could do his angelic beauty justice. he was absolutely, and utterly, in love.

"yeah?" eddy repeated himself, snapping brett out of his daze.

brett's head whipped back to eddy, seemingly out of his own control.

and everything that happened next was out of his control, too.

his hands latched onto the hem of eddy's shirt and he pulled himself closer, closer until there was no air left to breathe except eddy's.

and he kissed him. simple and sweet and soft.

eddy took it by surprise—he hadn't expected brett to want to be so close with him so soon. he wasn't upset though, he was far from it.

he'd missed the sugary undertones of the angel's kiss and the silky touch of his lips and the way his heart pounded against his chest so loudly. it was a special kind of heaven on earth, kissing brett, and it was one made especially for the two of them.

eddy wanted it to last forever, but there was no way that brett's trauma was going to let that happen. when the angel pulled away, there were quiet tears running out of his golden eyes.

"baby don't cry," eddy whispered worriedly, wiping tears away before they could escape down the angel's cheeks.

"i-i'm sorry," brett hiccuped, squeezing eddy tight and burying his face in his chest, "i'm so sorry."

"shh angel, it's okay."

"i didn't know it was you—he, he," brett's hiccups cut him off and silenced him, but the unspoken words were already painful enough.

"i'm here now, it's okay," eddy consoled.

"i love you, eddy."

the words were somehow stronger now than they'd ever been before, and there was no question as to what eddy would say next.

"i love you," he breathed out as quickly as possible, "i love you, angel."

and they kissed again, longing and melancholic like the last cloud after a long storm, fading into a golden sunshine as bright as their eyes.