"Goddamnit Brett.. Please go and get some rest. You want me to wake you as soon as I find out or you good for me to touch base with you in the morning?"
"Wake me. Any time, I don't care, please."
"Okay."
"Promise?"
"Yes Brett, I promise."
-------------------------------------------
Brett arrived home to his apartment he shared with Eddy around 4 pm. He was able to come home early because of the evacuation from the mine when machinery overheated and had broken down. The engineers would be working possibly overnight to fix things up, only if Eddy could convince the directors to continue with the project.
Back at work Brett had gotten out of his coveralls and had changed into a clean T-shirt and a pair of jeans, but was still covered in dust and still felt hot and sticky.
If Eddy was home, he would have made sure Brett showered and ate something, but Brett really felt like doing neither and just wanted to go to sleep. However, if Brett went to bed as he was now, Eddy would've killed him with all the dust and sweat he was covered in, so much to Eddy's horror, Brett had recently established a really bad habit of "camping out" on the living room floor in a sleeping bag. It was Brett's best effort to keep the dust contained and the bedsheets clean yet getting some rest asap. Brett also wanted to make sure he was woken up to hear the outcome of Eddy's negotiations with the director about the fate of the mining project. Brett figured that one way to ensure Eddy would wake Brett up was to camp out in the living room because Eddy hated it so much. So Brett removed his T-shirt and jeans and crawled into the sleeping bag with just his boxers on and he was immediately out like a light.
Brett felt like he barely had any sleep but when he felt a hand on his shoulder and slowly opened his eyes, he noticed the living room was dark.
"...Eddy?"
"Brett, you really should stop this... how can you rest while you're still covered in all that sh*t.."
"...How long have I been sleeping ?"
"Knowing you, you probably crawled into this sleeping bag as soon as you got home? Then you've been out for about 3 hours. It's just past 7pm"
".........Aaargh I have a headache."
"Have you had any more water since you got home?"
"I don't think so."
"I knew it."
Eddy opened a bottle of water for Brett and handed it to him. Eddy had already gone to the kitchen fridge to get Brett a water before he came into the living room.
"Thanks Eddy, what would I do without you, hey."
"Brett, please go and have a shower while I fix something for dinner."
Then Brett remembered why he "camped out" in the living room in the first place.
"Eddy! The excavation! What happened ? Did you speak to the director???"
"Go shower first Brett."
"Nooooooooooooo"
Brett opened up his arms in threat of throwing his grubby self onto Eddy.
"Ew, Brett, don't you dare, I love you but you are so gross."
"Eddy, don't do this to me, please tell me.. Or else..."
Eddy sighed.
"Ok, I got approval. But there are conditions. Now go, shower !!"
"But what are the conditions..??"
"Go !! Go !!"
Eddy knew he had to take action so he nudged and steered Brett along into the en suite via their bedroom.
"Eddy !! The conditions !!"
Eddy turned on the shower for Brett.
"Shower !! I gotta go fix dinner!"
"Nooooooooooooo"
Eddy rolled his eyes.
"Oh my f*cking god Brett you're like a 5 year old!!!"
Eddy was hungry and tired too so he left Brett and his tantrum in the bathroom and returned to the kitchen.
He let out a sigh of relief when he discovered leftover food from last night. He'd only need to reheat this stuff in the microwave and dinner was practically done.
He had just set the food on the table when Brett emerged from their bedroom in an oversized hoodie and sweatpants.
"Are you wearing mine again? I've been wearing those in bed for at least a couple of days."
Brett sniffed the sleeve fondly and muttered dreamingly.
"Sue me. I like yours."
Eddy shook his head and smiled.
"Let's eat, I'm starving."
"Thanks for fixing dinner, Eddy. Sorry, I should've done it, I got home first."
"Don't be ridiculous. I wanted you to rest. You feel better?"
"Yes.. thanks. So.. will you please tell me what the director said ?"
"I was lucky. Ken was on-call. The only geologist on the board."
"Would've still been difficult to convince him though."
" Yes, definitely. Till I showed him your photo."
"Oh yeah... he'd like that.."
"Well, I had to try and teach him how to zoom into the pic on his phone to see the ore veins.. I think he eventually asked his 5 year old grandson for help. Aidan, come help gramps make this picture bigger..."
Brett chuckled..
"And...?"
"Yes Brett, he really liked what he saw."
"Yeah?"
"So, we get to dig another 2km."
"YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS"
"Brett.. we only got 2km. We really need to get this right."
"I know. I need to look at that rock wall before we dust up the place again."
Eddy smirked.
"Ken's exact words. "
"Really?"
"Yes. He said recalibrate the drill angle before we start digging again."
"Of course. OMG Eddy, thank you, thank you...!!"
Brett threw himself onto Eddy for a hug.
"Just doing my job Brett. Oh and I'm coming down the mineshaft with you tomorrow."
"You are ?"
"Yeah I wanna see it, too."