"Hey, wait up!" he called after a few seconds. Brett stopped and turned around at the end of the hallway, that sober glare in his eyes again. Then he looked around and pulled Eddy around the corner into a different hallway Eddy had never seen before, that was full of marimbas and timpanis. He leaned against the carpeted wall as if he were exhausted.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have stayed at the party, last night. I..."
Eddy glanced around him quickly. There was no one around, but still he felt very exposed. Although he had never been down here, he knew that all of the hallways on the higher floors had bathrooms at the end. He made a quick decision and tugged at Brett's hand.
"Come on."
The bathroom door closed behind them with a thump. Eddy knew they would have to be very careful coming out of there again. Imagine if someone wanted to use this particular bathroom, and saw there had been two guys in here? He didn't even want to contemplate the consequences of that happening. But they were safe for now, at least. He looked at Brett, who was staring miserably down at his feet. Eddy cleared his throat softly.
"She still has a thing for you."
Brett nodded. What was he going to say? That he hadn't seen the glint? Of course he would have seen it.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be daft. You can't help it."
Brett looked up very suddenly with fire in his eyes.
"I could have. I could not have decided to sit there last night all night and chatted to them."
Eddy took a giant breath and waited for a second until his thoughts lined up enough to turn into words.
"Bretty. It was a party. It was fine. I even had a pretty nice time. She'll get over it. I think she'll be pretty aware that the feeling is not mutual after this."
Brett's mouth twisted ever so slightly.
"I don't want to hurt her."
"I know." Eddy said softly as he raised his finger to stroke Brett's cheek, from the edge of his nose all the way to the little bit of stubble on the side and back again. "I know. You don't ever want to hurt anyone. It's one of the things I love about you. But you're allowed to do what's good for you, you know that, right? Whether that is sitting in a kitchen with new friends or walking out when they're glinting at you."
The words slid out so easily, the way words tend to when you know them to be true, deep down. His jealousy was gone now, nowhere to be found anymore. Brett had showed Natalia very clearly what he didn't want. All Eddy wanted now was for him to feel good about himself again.
"Bretty, I love that you're sociable. You're everything I wish I could be, but can't. I'm shy, too fucking shy, and you show me a world outside of my little circle I would never see without you. So don't stop, okay? Even if it takes me out of my comfort zone sometimes."
Something changed in Brett's eyes at that moment and he moved very suddenly.
"Eddy." he whispered in Eddy's ear, his teeth softly around Eddy's earlobe. Then he kissed him gently, just underneath his ear on that soft spot of skin, and he trailed little butterfly kisses all down his jaw until he finally touched his lips to Eddy's.
"I love you." he whispered into Eddy's mouth.
Oh.
He kissed him back gently.
"I love you too."
"We'd better get going, huh? Theory will start soon and people will come into the hallway to practise wooden things."
Eddy grinned at the description.
"Yeah."
It didn't matter that he would happily stay here and rent the tiny space for the afternoon. There was shit to do. Brett nodded once and then he turned around and opened the door just a crack to see if he could get out without being seen.
"Hey Brett?" Eddy said as he caught up to him just before the double doors a short minute later.
"Hmh?"
"We need a house so we can stop kissing in bathrooms and kiss in a bed."