Denial - a Breddy fanfic

74.

The guy meeting them seemed like just any ordinary rich middle aged man, if that was a thing. His hair was possibly a bit more untidy than what you'd expect, but his suit was very obviously tailored even though it seemed like something he'd wear any day. The table he had reserved for them was in the back of the restaurant, a bit away from the other guests.
"So, welcome to Norway, Chen and Yang, even though you've been here for a while", he begun once they sat down. "I hope my son hasn't ruined too much of your time here."
Eddy sat almost frozen at the mention of Chris, and Brett took it upon himself to keep the conversation going.
"Must say it didn't leave a positive impression, honestly. How's his face, by the way?" Brett said, possibly a bit sharper than nescessary. Eddy reached out to grab Brett's hand under the table, forgetting about the injury to his finger. Brett flinched when Eddy touched his hand, as the pain shot up his arm, but still let him hold it.
"He'll be fine, nice punch", mr Hansen replied casually, followed by a laugh. "If what I've heard is correct, he deserved it. I hope your finger isn't too badly damaged? I was hoping to catch the concert tomorrow."
Brett furrowed his brows, ignoring the question.
"You seem to take this very lightly", Brett stated, trying hard to ignore the pain in his finger. Eddy sat like a deer caught in the headlights, scared to even breathe too loudly. Logically, mr Hansen seemed like a nice enough guy, but his brain was not about to let his fear go just yet.
"Oh, I can assure you I do not. Let's discuss what I've done to deal with this once we've ordered, yeah?" he replied, waving for a waiter to come over.
"Please, order whatever you'd like. My treat. I'd really try the cod, though. It's delicious."

The prices on the menu was ourageous. Brett caught himself thinking that this guy probably was made of money, and shat money every time he went to the bathroom.
They ordered the cod, as he had suggested and he complimented them on their good taste in food. The food arrived quickly and they all had a few bites before Hansen re-opened the conversation. Eddy was starting to warm up to mr Hansen, but was still keeping his guard up.
"So, boys, I don't really want to hear the details of what happened. I can see the bruises on your face, Chen, I can't emphasise how sorry I am on behalf of my son." He shook his head and took a new bite of his cod.
"On behalf of him won't do", Eddy mumbled, not looking at the greying man across the table. Brett moved his gaze between Hansen and Eddy, waiting for Hansen's reply.

"I thought so. He's coming later to apologize in person..."
Eddy quickly stood up, knocking his chair back with a loud bang. It felt like the restaurant stopped and everyone was staring, even though only a millisecond later the conversations around the tables started back up.
"N...no...", Eddy stuttered, eyes widening with fear. "Nono, no... no..."
Brett stood up and grabbed his boyfriend's hand with his own good hand.

"Shh, Eddy, Eddy, look at me, come on, it's gonna be fine, alright?" He moved to try and catch Eddy's panicked flickering eyes with his own, not really succeding.
"He'll be totally harmless when I'm here, trust me", mr Hansen shot in, attempting to calm the fragile boy less than half his age in front of him. Brett shot him a death glare, though, as he partly blamed the guy for even being the cause of Chris' existance in the first place.

"Eddy, love, look at me, please", Brett said in a soft voice, ignoring the fact that they were public in a restaurant meeting their sponsor. "Look at me, Eddy. It's gonna be absolutely fine, okay?" He carefully placed his damaged hand on Eddy's cheek, softly as not to hurt himself or to scare Eddy more.

Eddy's eyes fixed on Brett's calming eyes. Everything around him disappeared into a blur ad he focused completely on the beautiful brown colour he was so familiar with.
"It's going to be fine, I'm here, okay?" Brett's soft voice broke through the bubble of blur around him, and eventually Eddy felt the soft skin of Brett's hand on his cheek.
"Okay", Eddy managed to say after a while, forcing his brain to trust Brett. He knew Brett wouldn't let Chris's hurt him, proved to him by his damaged hand. The very hand caressing his cheek in this very moment.

Eventually, Eddy managed to calm down enough to sit back down.
"Sorry", he said to mr Hansen before taking a bite of his now almost cold fish.
"It's alright, the fault is all on my side", he responded, genuinly worried about the poor young man in front of him. He felt guilty, in a way, as it was second handedly his fault. He should have taught his son better, but he'll definitly get the message through to him now. "I have prepared a few, let's call it punishments, for Chris. All driven by the threat of removing his allowance, a significant one that is. Oh, here he is!"
Brett's head quickly turned to face the tall viking of a man who had laid hands on his boyfriend. The purple colour of his nose was evidence of Brett's previous bravery and he could feel himself tense up just at the sight of him. Eddy sat frozen again, luckily not running away.

"Hei pappa"(Hi dad), he said in Norwegian to mr Hansen and went to sit next to his father. Brett wasn't really able to judge the tone of his voice or what hr was saying, but his face told him he was rather embarrased to be there.
"Du glemte noen, Christoffer. Ta deg sammen, gutt."(You forgot someone, Christoffer. Pull yourself together, boy.) Mr Hansen's voice was bery obviously stern, no matter how little Norwegian both Brett and Eddy understood.
"Hi Brett, Eddy", Chris said hesitantly, not really looking at either of them. Brett couldn't help but think that he seemed like a child being asked to apologize.
"Hi. How's your nose?" Brett asked flatly, feeling Eddy's fingernails dig into his arm through his shirt. The panic in the grip var very obvious, and he really wanted to take Eddy away from the situation. To protect him.

"It's alright, thanks for asking", he replied simply, looking away. Mr Hansen sent his son a stern look.
"You have something else to talk about, something your new therapist wanted you to say, right?"
"Pappa!"(Dad!) Chris exclaimed in an annoyed tone. "Alle trenger ikke å vite at jeg..."(Everyone doesn't need to know that I...) He lowered his voice. "At jeg går i terapi."(That I go to therapy.)
"Hvis du ikke får snakketøyet i gir snart, skal jeg love deg at det blir offentlig kunnskap."(If you don't get talking soon, I'll promise you it'll be public knowledge.) Mr Hansen's voice was threatning in the way only a father could be with his misbehaving son.
"Alright, Eddy. I want to apologize to you, really", he said, but Brett didn't feel like the apology was something he really meant. It felt like he was being forced to say it. "I wish I could go back and prevent myself from doing it."
"Why, so you didn't have to go to therapy?" Brett spat, struggling to not punch him again. He felt rage bubbling in his stomach, but Eddy's hand moved calmly to rest on Eddy's forearm.
"Brett, let him talk", he mumbled, way more calmly than Brett was expecting. Way more calmly than Brett was feeling. In a way, Eddy's valm tone was more worrying than any shaky voice he could get when distressed.
"I just... I realize what I did was wrong, alright? I have... a..." His voice trailed off and he turned to his dad. "Må jeg si det, virkelig, pappa?"(Do I really have to say it, dad?) he pleaded his dad.
"Christoffer Hansen, ikke tving meg til å si det igjen"(Christoffer Hansen, don't make me repeat myself), mr Hansen replied, again sternly, and Chris let out a defeated sigh.
"I well, have a problem with alcohol, and... I'm going clean. I'm so sorry for the pain I caused you, for what I did. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I hope the apology will help you move on from this."

The converstion went silent as Eddy considered the apology. Brett was not ready to forgive, but he wanted Eddy to do what he wanted so he kept quiet, even though he was certain his viewpoint was getting across to Chris simply from the aura of anger radiating from him. He hoped he did, as the disgusting man in front of him deserved nothing but bad things in life, in Brett's opinion.