Denial - a Breddy fanfic

100.

"What've you got there?" Brett asked, kicking off his shoes by the entrance. It had just started to rain as he got out of the Chinese restaurant he found just a short walk away, and to avoid getting all wet again he had decided to make a run for it. Still slightly out of breath, he took off his glasses and wiped them clean of rain drops. Rain didn't mix well with glasses.
"Wh... When did you get this?" Eddy asked, still a bit shaky. He looked up at Brett who furrowed his brows in confusion.
"Get wha...? Oh..." When he put his glasses back on, he realized what Eddy was talking about. His stomach made a twist, nervous. "I uh... A few days ago...", he stuttered, feeling his cheeks warm up. He went to put the takeaway on the little table between the comfy chairs, not really brave enough to look properly at Eddy.
"When were you going to...? Were you actually going to..? " Eddy followed Brett with his eyes, seeing how he nervously fiddled with his sleeve like he normally would before a big concert. Brett inhaled heavily, feeling his shoulders tense up.
"I, well, uh... In the castle garden...", Brett mumbled, scratching the back of his neck with a shaky hand. "But I never got to uh... Do it."
Eddy stood up quickly.
"You're joking, really? Nooo...", he said, still with the ring box in his hand. "Nono, you weren't. No way, no. No! You're joking." Eddy's voice sounded almost panicked, but the undertone of it wasn't fear.
Brett tried to smile up at him, but the nerves made it look weird.
"N... No, I really was gonna..." He licked his dry lower lip nervously during the prolonged silence that followed. "But uh, if you don't... Uh... Want that, I guess? I'll just keep it and uh, we'll just pretend this never happened." There was a clear sting of insecurity in his voice, a sting that went straight to Eddy's heart. It explained a lot of the weird behaviors Brett had shown that day in the castle garden, that Eddy earlier only had attributed to him possibly sensing what Eddy was planning.
Brett reached out and took the ring box from him, closing it quietly and placing it back in his pocket before Eddy had collected his thoughts enough to say anything.
"Just forget about it, Eddy, I understand if it's too soon", Brett said, trying to smile his way through it and sound like he was actually fine with it. He had kind of known he was moving too fast when he got the ring in the first place, so one would think he'd be prepared for a potential "not yet". He discovered that he certainly wasn't ready for something like that, though.

"You gotta do it properly", Eddy suddenly said, snapping Brett out of his thoughts.
"What?"
Eddy swallowed hard, trying to bury some of the nerves building in his stomach, making his voice weak and hands tremble.
"You gotta propose and see what I say." His voice was shaky, and his eyes were locked on Brett's in anticipation. Brett searched Eddy's brown eyes for any sign of hesitation or joking, but found none. He too tried to swallow his nerves.
"O... Okay", he breathed, reaching into the pocket of his suit for the silky box. He opened it carefully, almost dropping it with his shaky hands. Slowly, he went down on one knee in front of Eddy. He took Eddy's right hand in his left and held up the ring with the other. He hesitated for a second, trying to think of what to say.
"I... I kind of knew what.. What I wanted to say... But it all disappeared for me when I got down here..." Brett tried to half joke nervously, making Eddy giggle. "So I think... I'll just improvise."
Eddy nodded, tears already threatning to form in the corner of his eye.
Brett took a deep breath in an attempt to calm his nerves.
"Eddy, y... you've been my best friend for a very long time now... And honestly, looking back, I... I don't think there's anyone else I could possibly have ended up with." Again he took a breath, trying to remember to smile through his tense nerves and the emotions tearing through him. "And I was... Really hoping that I could have the honour of spending the rest of my life with you, in a m... more formal sense." Both boys had to blink away a few tears, Eddy shaking just as much as Brett at this point.
A single nervous tear ran down Brett's cheek. Eddy's hand rested warmly in his, and when Brett spoke his voice almost broke up completely as his shaky breathing failed him.
"Eddy Chen, will you marry me?"