Broken String

IC

The evening glides easily. The other boys come in, they drink some tea, they banter. Just like they always do. But Brett never leaves his side. It's like there's something connecting them now, even more than before. 
Has he ever felt safer? 
Has he ever had more to lose? 
He blinks the fear away and smiles at Todd as he gets up. 
"I'm beat. Ian, you comin' too?"
"Yep."
Eddy can't help his grin because he knows that look that they share, he knows they don't usually get beat at ten thirty. Oh, God, it's going to be ear plugs time, isn't it? 
"Good night, guys." he says as they rush out of the room. "Sleep tight, huh?"
Brett chuckles next to him, clearly being able to read their faces just as well. 
"You're a savage." he says once the door closes behind their friends. "So do you want more tea? Or bed?"
"Whatever you want."
He glances at Brett from the side and his heart swells because Brett... wait. Is he flushing? 
Since when does Brett flush? But then he shrugs as if it's nothing and Eddy wonders if he imagined it. 
"Let's just get to bed, yeah?"
"Sure."

They're quiet, more quiet than the normal comfortable quietude they often share. Does Brett feel it too? He pushes him from the bathroom to the bedroom and hands him his pyjamas, just like they do every night now. Eddy looks down at the familiar fabric and stops himself from locking his arms around himself. He can feel a chasm, a huge, cavernous chasm lurking somewhere. 
What if he doesn't feel it too?
What if he does feel it, but he stops?
He's seen him fall for girls, but never seriously. He's seen him dance with them, snog them, sometimes take them home and fucking them. He's seen him break up with them, too. 
He shivers slightly. 
"Hey, you good?" Brett asks with his own pyjama shirt in his hands. 
"Yeah." he says. 
Is this a fundamental difference between them? Eddy himself has not been one to flit from one girl to the next, stupid excursions with friends from the con notwithstanding. Could he ever...
Could he ever go back to how it was before? 
The chasm beckons, flashing in and out of focus. 
Give it time. 
Eddy nods.
Call me.
John said to call him. He should, tomorrow. He takes a deep breath and sinks into his mattress. 
"Hey." Brett says again. He's sliding into bed, instantly filling the arid space with his warmth, with his kindness, with his soul. He looks up at him and that same flush he saw earlier pulls over his face. Then he leans forward and kisses his forehead. His arms are around him, pulling him close. 
"This not sore?" he asks gently.
"No, not at all."
In fact it's life. It's everything. He opens his mouth to say something else but before he can they're both smirking.
"There they go." Brett says soberly and Eddy laughs. The bed next door is creaking ominously and a loud groan rings through the air. 
"One of these days they'll break that bed." 
"If they do I'll make sure to go and take a picture."

They lie in silence as the boys next door make their sounds, doing nothing, saying nothing. Has Eddy ever been more comfortable, despite the vague pain in his left arm? His erection stirs languidly as he snuggles into the nook of Brett's neck, their cheeks together, his nose in Brett's soft hair. It would be easy to kiss him, his lips are right there for the taking, and he knows that at least for now he's allowed. But he doesn't want to, or maybe he does, but just not right now. Right now is for silence.
Wait. Is that a slight movement, under the quilt, right by Eddy's belly? Is Brett feeling it too, maybe? He's certainly not making any move to change where they are, though, and neither does Eddy. Maybe the quilt moved, maybe it means what Eddy thinks it does. It somehow doesn't matter at all right this moment.
"Ian!!" Todd calls next door, his loud groans permeating the thin walls. 
There is no groaning in Eddy's room, tonight. There is just two boys hanging on, chasing dangerous chasms away. 
Eddy takes a deep breath and snuggles deeper. Brett's arms are around him and his thumb rubs his back, up, and down, up, and down, in a soulful rhythm that makes his heart calm. For now, for today, he needn't worry about that shit. They are here, right now, together.
They are safe.
For now.