Rainy Day

Part 1.

b.y POV

Picture this:

It's a drizzly Sunday morning. The light rain tapping against the window panes and gentle hum of the heater is slowly lulling me to sleep, and the weighted blanket I had decided to burrow myself in for the time being is doing nothing to help my tiredness. 

We've recently been drowning in work with the channel, and so our one Sunday off had somehow been switched into yet another work day. I glance blearily at the laptop screen with a sigh. The white glow it's emitting is too bright for this early hour and the bold text of thirty-two unread emails blares tauntingly back at me.

I begrudgingly get off the couch and turn around to get a glass of water and am suddenly faced with something fuzzy that smells vaguely like my best friend's laundry detergent.

"what the hell dude..." I mutter, stepping back and extracting myself from his chest where we'd collided. 

"s-sorry" he murmurs.

 I shake my head and re-adjust my glasses preparing to ask why the heck he was standing so closely behind me, but I stop short when I look up. He's nervous, I can tell. Hands clasped behind his back, gently rocking back and forth on his heels...I squint my eyes at him not knowing what to think. He's rambling, something along the lines of not sure if this is a good time... I'm not really understanding, and for a fraction of a second my mind goes somewhere it hasn't, no- shouldn't go. 

I've seen the same silly grin, same hairdo that seems to never take one solid form in the mornings always sticking up with multiple antennas, same glasses slightly askew on his nose almost every day. It's him really, as he's always been for the last decade, and by now it must be the lack of sleep talking yet somehow-

it's more.

"the crazy fans were right...and I was just wondering..."

somewhere in the kitchen, the coffee maker's timer goes off but it's merely background noise. Eddy's eyes briefly stray towards the door, flick over on a point behind the filming lights and finally down to his socked feet.

"I think I like you?" 

he's blushing, and a strand of bangs falls directly in front of his eyes. I watch as he hastily brushes the fringe back and bites his lip. 

never in my entire life would I have thought, that's cute in relation to Eddy Chen would ever be on the forefront of my mind, yet here we are. I snap out of it just in time to hear, 

"I dunno if you feel the same but would you like to move in with me?"

What the actual fuck is wrong with me today. He shouldn't think that way about me, it's weird, we're only bro's and yet...

Without missing a beat, I utter the most logical response I could think of,

"yes"

Despite the small whisperings of anxiety and 'that's gay, you should just leave' in the back of my mind, 

I squash those hesitations because deep down, I know I want this. 

---

The next time we film I can't help but be more distracted, fumbling over my words as if talking has become as difficult as sight reading Paganini. 

I'm entirely more aware of him. Sitting next to me, bumping his leg gently against the chair, shaking his head to get the hair out of his eyes.

Out of the corner of my eye I catch his flitting gaze towards me more than once. Always lingering for more than a fraction of a second before darting away again. Really, it's pathetic how these small longing glances get to me, I've been immune to them up until now.

I look away to the right, a hint of a smirk playing on my lips and lean forward to look at the computer screen better. If my hand brushes his fingertips momentarily, it's only a coincidence. He inevitably blushes.

"I want to see that more",  I think. "he's too cute when embarrassed"

My hand wanders under the table over to his right knee and I gently squeeze. The surprised intake of breath could hardly be heard over the soul crushing sounds of the twelve year old prodigy's violin, but I hear it alright and my stubborn grin grows more pronounced. 

Well, well, well. Who knew that man could be flustered so easily, I glance at him once more before adding the outro.

"Accent the like button and legato the subscribe button, we'll see you guys next time!" I grin and Eddy gives an enthusiastic wave.  Right before he puts his hand back down, I grab it and intertwine his calloused fingers with mine. We stand up and I turn the camera off with my unoccupied hand. I notice he's looking at our hands with a small smile. I gently lean in and rest my head on his chest. His heart is beating abnormally fast and I chuckle. Who knows where I got this sudden confidence from, but I'm not complaining. 

I feel Eddy slowly place his hands on the small of my back, as if asking for permission. I lean in impossibly closer, but of course I chicken out and whisper in his ear instead.

"bubble tea?" I ask hopefully.

his ears turn bright red, "brett!" he whines. 

I pull away from him and put on my best pouty face. "is that a no?"

"Well...I just thought you were going to, uh I dunno. Never mind" he looks disappointed and for a second I feel bad. "sure, we can get some boba."

"You thought I was going to what?" I poke him in the arm with a knowing grin before heading to the closet to grab our rain jackets. He follows me and our fingers brush lightly when I hand him his coat. 

"I-I thought you were going to kiss me." he whispers in a small voice. I follow him out the door and as he's busy locking it behind us I add nonchalantly, "really? hm. well maybe after bubble tea?" 

He doesn't respond but instead suddenly turns to me and beams, ruffling my hair a bit before taking the steps onto the sidewalk two at a time. 

"hey! why'd you mess up my hair, huh?" I run to catch up with him, feigning annoyance yet I can't help but blush at the action. The air has a biting dampness to it after the morning rainfall so I shove my hand into his pocket. Much to my delight he grasps tightly onto my cold fingers with no intention of letting go anytime soon. We march through the streets of Brisbane dodging puddles, hands tightly interwoven, side by side as it should be. Friends, lovers, co-workers, who knows where this will go. It's harmless flirting really. But that's the beautiful thing, we don't need to figure things out right away. In fact, we've got all the time in the world.