The video footage showed a young boy busking, filmed by his mother, narrating how talented her son was, while the boy played Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. Except, Eddy knew that was not the young boy's sound.
It was Brett's.
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Eddy's heart was racing. His face was flushed and his blood was boiling. He had to take a few deep breaths to calm down.
"Jordon.. I.. I can't believe this.. this is.. so wrong.."
"Eddy? Are you alright?"
Eddy swallowed hard.
"Y.. yeah, I'm okay.. I'm just so pissed.. ya think I should contact this person? Report the video?"
"Eddy.. just get Twoset's admin team to do it.. if you want, I could do it on your behalf. Just myself. The rest of the team doesn't even have to know. Would you prefer that? I don't think you should try to tackle this yourself.. it's too personal for you."
Eddy closed his eyes.
"Y...yeah, you..you're right.. May I take your offer up on that please.. just you.. I.. I don't want anyone else. Yeah, it's way too personal for me.. this.. is really painful.. I.. oh my god I can't believe how much this is affecting me.."
"Eddy..?"
Eddy felt a hand touch his shoulder from behind.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Eddy had such a fright, he panicked and he clapped his hands together, sandwiching his phone in between. He inadvertently hung up on Jordon. The next thing he did was slam down his laptop. He turned around sharply.
"B..Brett...!!!"
"S..sorry Eddy.. I was wondering what took you so long to join me, then I saw you were on the phone and.. I didn't mean to pry but you sounded so distressed..."
"It's nothing...!!"
Brett bit his lower lip. His voice shook as he put his next words together.
"Eddy.. I'm really sorry but I heard some of the stuff you were saying on your phone... you.. you said you just wanted this person you were speaking to.. and you said you didn't want anyone else..."
Eddy's eyes widened in horror.
"It's.. it's not what you think."
Eddy then rolled his eyes because of what he just said.
"Oh f*ck Brett.. that sounds so... sus doesn't it. I'm so sorry..."
Brett shuffled uncomfortably.
"I.. I mean it's really none of my business and I should respect your privacy Eddy.. but you did look quite upset so.. if you do want to talk about it, I.. I'll always be here for you as your.. best friend, okay? I.. I'll leave you to it..."
Brett turned around and started to walk away.
"N, no, Brett! Wait!!"
Eddy sprung out of his chair and managed to grab Brett by his hand. Brett turned around sharply and stared at Eddy's face, then at his hand where Eddy had grabbed him, then back up at Eddy's face again.
"..What are you doing Eddy?"
"Please.. I.. I do need to talk to you. It's not what you think."
"...So you keep saying."
"Honest. That was Jordon on the phone. I can even show you the call log to prove it."
"Jordon? You were telling Jordon that you only ...want ...him...?"
Eddy's eyes widened in surprise.
"N, no!! What I told Jordon was that I only wanted him to work on something on our behalf."
"What? You mean something for Twoset?"
"Yes.. so I want to tell you about it too. Would you please pull up a chair sit down?"
"...I'd rather stand if that's okay."
Eddy sat back in his chair and tensed up as he felt the presence of Brett who stepped over and stood behind him.
"Eddy, is this is okay? You want me to look at something on your laptop that you tried to hide from me?"
"I didn't mean to hide it Brett.. I.. I was just startled.... Look, Brett, Jordon sent me a link to a Youtube video and I want you to see it, too."
"Sure."
Eddy opened his laptop again and played the video. Brett placed his hand on Eddy's shoulder and leaned in to have a closer look at the screen. Eddy heard Brett's words.. so similar to what he had uttered only moments before when he had watched the video;
"So Eddy, this came from Jordon, what is it?? Oh a busking video? Hey, he's quite small and cute.. what's he gonna play? Oooh Tchaik? Wow.. nice. ...Hey it's a nice sound.. wow how old is this kid... he's good, he's got a strong sound happening there... pretty damn solid.. I like his tone.. the intonation is... y'know Eddy this kid.. or rather perhaps his teacher.. has made very similar interpretations to the piece as to what I've... What? Wait a second... wait.. wait.. no... oh no... what... WHAT THE F*CK!?!?!?!?"
Eddy flinched as Brett's hand on his shoulder tightened and squeezed him till it hurt.
Eddy paused the video. Eddy turned his face to look at Brett. He had gone pale as a sheet. Eddy looked genuinely concerned as he reached across his own shoulder to place his hand on top of Brett's.
"...Is this some kind of a joke?"
"I.. don't know. It doesn't give reference to you and I heard the person who was filming.. possibly the kid's mother, gloating on how nice her son sounds... of course he would... he sounds professional...!!"
"W.. who found this?! Did one of our fans tell us about it?!"
"No.. Jordon found it himself... I've just quickly looked at the comments section.. it looks like no one has made a comment that they've used your sound yet... Brett.. I'm so sorry this has happened to you.. and it was just after we uploaded that video about fake busking.... So.. this was why I was so upset before.. And so, Jordon advised me against doing anything about it and he offered to look into it for us instead."
Brett cast his eyes down to look at Eddy. He then let go of his grip on Eddy's shoulder.
"Sorry.. that must have hurt.. I didn't realise I'd tensed up."
"That's okay.. I could imagine it would've been such a shock to you."
Eddy tried to retract his hand but Brett was quicker in turning his over to contact each other's palms. He then proceeded to hold Eddy's hand and give it a squeeze.
"So Eddy.. how quickly did you notice?"
Eddy squeezed back.
"...Longer than I wish I would. About..5 bars? I was distracted by the visual of the kid in the video. If I had my eyes closed or no visual, I swear, I would have noticed by the second bar."
Brett gave a wry smile as he squeezed his friend's hand one more time.
"Eddy.. I'm not blaming you in any way for not recognising it soon enough or anything of the like. F*ck even I didn't notice it was me till the 5th bar. But thanks."
A/N: This concludes the duology of Twoset Detectives. Thank you always for your support with votes and comments and I hope you enjoyed the story.