Closer

59.

Telling Eddy was a lot harder than Brett thought it would be. Not because of anything Eddy did, really. He was much calmer than Brett expected despite the feeling of a but in his "I love you" earlier.

The problem was that Brett was so scared Eddy would push him away, leaving him with nobody.

"I... Uh..." Brett began before clearing his throat in a failed attempt to keep himself from crying. He felt Eddy's hand being placed gently over his on the table, and a light sob escaped his lips at that.

He looked up at Eddy's worried, but caring eyes, feeling the heaviness in the bottom of his stomach grow heavier by the second. His voice failed him, and tears quickly clouded his vision.

"I'm... I mean..." Brett stuttered, but realized he didn't know what words to use. Instead, he reached into his pocket and found the two pieces of paper, the folded note and the image, and placed them on the table. He kept his eyes locked on Eddy, half expecting a negative reaction.

Eddy furrowed his brows in confusion at the dark image and picked it up carefully to study it. Eventually, he realized what it was, and his whole face softened.

"She's pregnant?" he asked, and Brett tried to wipe his own tears with a shaky hand as he nodded to answer the question. He waited for Eddy's tears or possibly even anger, waited for the disappointment to show in his eyes.

"And she's keeping it?" Eddy asked, still as calm as before. His eyes were still on the ultrasound image, looking like he expected the answers to show up on the little rectangle. Brett nodded again.

"She says she can't have an abortion, but she doesn't want the baby so... I... I mean, either I take the..."

"Or she gives the child up for adoption?" Eddy completed the sentence for him, and Brett nodded. Eddy ran hids thumb over the back of Brett's hand.

"So what should we do?" Eddy asked, taking a sip from his coffee. Brett couldn't help but smile a bit through his tears.

"We?" he asked, sounding like he couldn't believe Eddy would still stick up for him after all that. Brett wasn't sure how he deserved that, but was eternally grateful.

"I mean, unless you don't want to... I mean, if we're trying to be a thing now, right?" Eddy asked hesitantly, licking his lower lip nervously. "And even if you don't want that, I'm still your best friend, right? I mean..."

"I want that," Brett confirmed, taking off his glasses and wiping his tears with the back of his hand. "I just can't believe you're still tolerating me after all that."

"I love you, you know," Eddy said with a tiny smile. Brett nodded quietly.

"I know. I'm sorry I've taken literally forever to figure out that you're literally the only person I could ever be with," Brett sighed, and Eddy pulled him into another hug.

"Don't apologize. If it's true, then I don't care," Eddy mumbled, and Brett felt his stomach tighten at the "if".