(love)birds of a feather

chapter fourteen

Those words carried the weight of half his life, transferring ounces of tension from Eddy's shoulders onto those words. And he's sure Brett can feel it, too.

He's completely unable to decipher the emotion that's taking over Brett's eyes right now, and truth be told, it frightens him. Very much so.

But then the unthinkable happens.

God, he could've chosen to run straight out the door, but of all things, Brett steps closer.

"Tell me again."

He feels shy, all of a sudden. "I love you, Brett Yang. I've loved you for a while now."

There, he's said it. Three times. The secret he's been pushing away for a century.

"Knew it."

Eddy grins—two can play at this game. "I knew you did."

Brett's eyebrows fly up as he laughs. "Really?"

Eddy nods, laughing with him, and oddly enough, he's not quite shy anymore. "Ray texted me. Apparently you had a feeling that I'd started to—y'know—fall in love with you, but you weren't too sure of it." He stares at Brett appraisingly. "So you knew but you never let on? Seriously?"

"Dude, can you imagine walking up to your best friend and saying, 'hey bro, I know we're just friends but totally random question, are you in love with me?'" Brett laughs. "You can't really blame me, can you?"

Eddy grins. "It didn't have to go like that though, did it?"

"Says the one who just gave me a whole goddamn speech before actually saying 'I love you.'"

"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" Eddy sighs.

"Probably not." Brett breathes in, breathes out, eyes locking with Eddy's. "In all seriousness, though. This is going to sound extremely cheesy, just saying—" Eddy laughs, "and I probably haven't loved you as long as you've loved me, but..." he pauses. It's a second of silence in which a year is passing with every nanosecond.

Brett reaches up, hand cradling a side of Eddy's face, fingers trailing along his jaw—god, but Eddy's amazed at how he's still standing, with the butterflies flocking recklessly though his insides, weakening his knees, all the result of Brett's ever so gentle touch.

"I love you too, Eddy. I love you. And I'll love you every minute of every day, till my last breath. Without pause, without a doubt, with every heartbeat. I'll keep loving you."

Those exact words—he's waited a whole century to hear them. All remaining traces of tension are obliterated from the air, leaving only the weightless feeling of floating in the clouds, the feeling of a vibrant reverie, one he doesn't want to wake from.

He can't help but smile at Brett, who smiles back, their hearts still in sync, this time louder, fortissimo. The universe pauses itself for them as they gaze into eachother's eyes with utter euphoria.

Of course, Brett adds to the moment with his awkwardness, hand brushing a lock of hair aside from Eddy's forehead before falling back at his side. "God, that sounded cheesy as hell, but uh... where do we go from here?"

They both know perfectly well where they go from here, don't they? At least, that's what happens in the movies. "Well, what answer are you expecting to come out of my mouth right now?"

"Well, we could—" Brett stammers, "I dunno, do the... thing, that every couple does? Y'know—"

"Are you implying that you want to kiss me?" Eddy teases.