the next morning, brett woke up early as usual and fixed himself a cup of coffee. he sat down on the couch and turned on the tv, rubbing his eyes. he'd stayed up late on the phone with jamie to tell him all about his first day of orchestra. the conversation was never boring between the two of them and they'd stayed up well past 3 a.m. despite the fact that brett had to be at rehearsal at 8. as he sipped his coffee, brett remembered their conversation.
"so, what about your stand partner? is he as amazing and wonderful as me?" jamie had asked teasingly. heat spread over brett's cheeks as he thought about eddy; his large hands, his muscular arms, his breathtaking smile. his appearance was dreamy, but brett didn't know too much about his personality. just a little.
"he's from brisbane. tall. very talented," brett noted, shrugging. jamie clicked his tongue and scoffed.
"is he hot? you need a boyfriend, bretty. your loneliness is bumming me out," he snickered. brett nearly choked.
"hey! i haven't said anything about being lonely," he pouted, rolling over in his bed. jamie scoffed again.
"you don't have to say anything, brett yang. i can feel it through the phone. you need some action in your little world," he explained. brett frowned. maybe he was right.
"i don't even think he likes me. and i'm probably not his type. and that's if he's even gay! you can't just assume everyone is gay," brett commented. jamie rolled his eyes even though brett couldn't see it.
"it's 2019. i can assume a lot of people are gay, and there's a chance he's on the list. what's his name?"
"eddy," brett said softly, a small smile on his lips as he remembered their introductions.
"bretty, darling, i can hear you smiling through the phone. hold yourself together. now, you never answered my question: is. he. hot?" jamie teased. brett rolled his eyes.
"all you care about is people's appearances," he scoffed. jamie groaned.
"yes, baby, which is why i'm friends with your cute ass. now answer the question!" he persisted. brett sighed.
"yes."
shaking his head as he remembered their talk, he finished his coffee and got dressed. he wished he had the guts to talk to eddy more, but he just couldn't. he knew that if he opened his mouth and tried to form a sentence or start a conversation, it would just come out as stuttered nonsense. he stuttered a lot when he was nervous, and eddy definitely made him nervous.
the taller boy was the only thing on his mind as he drove to the concert hall.
—
a pleasant morning was not something eddy was lucky enough to have. he was exhausted from waking up countless times throughout the night and he couldn't stop thinking about his argument with mae. it seemed that arguing with her was all he ever did and he was getting quite sick of it, but what was he supposed to do? breaking up with her wasn't exactly an option seeing as they lived together and she didn't know anyone else in sydney. it wasn't practical and he wasn't even sure if he had the power to leave her.
once again, eddy was almost late to rehearsal. he jogged inside with his violin case and looked around, seeing if brett was there. he was, of course, sitting in his seat by himself. eddy opened his violin case and went to grab his bow when he noticed something that made his blood boil.
his bow was destroyed. the wood was completely broken in half and the bow hair looked like it had been cut with scissors. his jaw dropped as he stared at it, unable to form words. he didn't know what to do. he hadn't thought to bring an extra bow and he didn't have time to go get one. the one that was broken in his hands had been his favorite, and the most expensive.
his hands were shaking with anger as he made his way to his seat. asking brett if he had an extra bow was not something he wanted to do, but he didn't exactly have a choice. it would be impossible for him to make it through the day without one. he sat down and turned to brett, who immediately noticed the rage radiating off of him and frowned.
"brett," eddy said shakily, trying to keep his cool. the last thing he wanted was to scare him. brett raised his eyebrows up in response.
"do, um.. do you have an extra bow? mine is, um.. well.. i can't use it," he said through clenched teeth. brett stared at him, wide eyed, before nodding and getting up. eddy followed him because he couldn't stand to sit still.
brett led eddy to his shiny black violin case and bent down to open it, very aware of eddy's presence behind him. hands trembling, he took the extra bow out of his case and handed it to eddy.
"thank you.. i'm, uh, sorry i had to ask. i'll explain later," he mumbled. brett nodded and they walked back to their seats.
hours passed before eddy seemed to calm down at all. he was fuming for the first half of rehearsal and it showed in his playing, somehow making it better and worse at the same time. the raw emotion could be heard and brett thought it was beautiful.
lunchtime rolled around and brett was prepared to just go sit in his car again. going to get food alone and possibly bumping into someone from orchestra was not something he was interested in, so he just hung out in his car until they had to be back. he was starving when he got home, but he didn't care.
he had almost made it out the door when he heard running footsteps behind him and a hand on his shoulder. he turned around quickly and saw eddy standing there, out of breath.
"brett," he said, leaning forwards to try and catch his breath, "where are you going?"
brett stared at him for a moment before shrugging. he wasn't going to tell eddy that his plans were to sit in his car.
"let me take you to lunch," eddy breathed, "payback for letting me use your bow."
there was a strange silence between them as brett stared at eddy, his heart pounding. the fact that he'd been running just to ask him to lunch made brett blush and he figured there was no way he could say no.
"okay," brett mumbled, nodding. eddy smiled cheekily and took his hand off of brett's shoulder, standing up straight again.
they made their way to eddy's car and got in, eddy talking about random things the entire time. brett took a moment to look around eddy's car, sincerely appreciating the lack of a mess. there were a few receipts in the floor and a yellow blanket in the backseat, but those seemed to be the only items in eddy's car that weren't necessarily meant to be in a vehicle. brett smiled a little at eddy's cinnamon scented air freshener, looking down at his lap. he loved the little things about people, like what scent they preferred their car to be or what brand of ice cream was their favorite. silly things like that made brett happy to know and finding out that eddy's car was cinnamon scented made him smile a little too much. he shook it off and looked out the window.
brett noticed that eddy seemed to be a be in a better mood and he was, but only because he wanted to be pleasant for lunch. he was still extremely angry at mae.
they chose a chinese buffet for lunch and brett decided it was time to ask about the bow whenever they were inside. seated across from eddy, he tapped his hand. eddy looked up and brett gestured like he was bowing a violin, raising his eyebrows. eddy sighed.
"my uh... well.. i've been dating this girl for five years, and, um.. things are really terrible lately. we had this huge fight last night, and.." he trailed off, shaking his head. he could barely contain his anger.
"i opened my violin case this morning and the wood of the bow was snapped in half. the bow hair looked like it had been cut," he said finally. brett nearly spit out his drink.
"yeah," eddy sighed, looking down at his hands. brett cleared his throat.
"is it pointless to ask why you're so quiet?" eddy asked, looking back up at the boy across from him. a small smile spread across brett's lips and he shrugged. his smile was contagious and eddy found himself doing the same.
"are you okay? like... do you have people to talk to if you need to talk about something? there's no way you never need that. it's not good to bottle things up," eddy said, the sincerity in his voice catching brett off guard. the smaller boy nodded and took out his phone, pulling up a picture of him and jamie. he sat his phone on the table and pointed to the screen.
"is that your best friend?" eddy asked. brett nodded before going back to eating. eddy eyed him carefully, absolutely ecstatic at the little bit of information that was being shared with him. it was almost like getting a really timid cat to trust you. except brett wasn't a cat. he was a person.
"does he live around here?" eddy said, very aware that he was asking too many questions. he was just so curious about brett and his life.
brett shook his head sadly, looking down at the table. he found another photo of them in front of their high school in brisbane, which he was sure eddy would know. the taller man nodded at the photo.
"he's from brisbane, too, huh? i used to give lessons to kids from that high school," eddy said as he took a bite of a spring roll.
brett nodded and sighed. he missed jamie and being back in brisbane, but he was glad to have started a little on a new friendship in sydney.
the two violinists finished their lunch and walked back to eddy's car, climbing in. there was a comfortable silence in the air as they drove. rehearsal had gotten them sort of used to just sitting in silence together, so it wasn't really a problem. brett picked at his nails and tried not to stare at eddy as he drove. his veiny arms and muscular chest would've distracted any gay boy that rode with him, and brett was falling victim to his attractiveness as usual. he shook his head and stared out the window.
eddy was in a much better mood after lunch despite his broken bow. brett was somehow able to improve his mood without even trying. there was something about just being around him that made eddy feel better.
"thank you," brett mumbled as they pulled back into the parking lot. eddy smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
"thank you. i would've been screwed without you today," eddy chuckled. brett shook his head and grinned, looking down at his lap.
the two of them made their way back inside just as lunch was ending. the rest of rehearsal went as usual, with brett being silent and eddy going on about random things.
and then it was time to leave. eddy dreaded going home because he knew that mae would be there and he'd have to ask her why she broke his bow. he drove home in silence, clenching his teeth.
as he walked into the front door of his house, the anger resurrected itself and his hands were trembling. mae was sitting on the couch as usual, watching tv. eddy stood in front of the tv with his arms crossed, violin case in hand. mae looked up at him.
"what?" she said hatefully. eddy stared at her and sat his case down, bending to open it. he pulled out his broken bow and held it in front of her.
"oh. that," she rolled her eyes, shrugging. eddy narrowed his eyes at her.
"why did you do this?" he asked, his voice low and unnervingly calm. mae shrugged again.
"i was mad at you," she stated simply, ignoring the fact that eddy was shaking with rage.
"do you.. do you have any idea how much these things cost? do you have any idea how much it hurts me that you thought it was okay to do that? do you know how fucked up that was? i was lucky that brett had an extra bow or i would've been fucked the entire day. and i'm fucked anyways because you destroyed my favorite bow. what the hell is wrong with—"
"eddy, it's not that big of a deal. it's just a bow," mae interrupted. eddy stared at her, his mouth half open. there were no words.
"get out."
he didn't even process the words before they came out of his mouth. it was as if someone else in the room had said them and he was just listening.
mae raised her eyebrows at him and crossed her arms.
"excuse me?"
"i said get out!" eddy shouted, stomping to the door and opening it.
"and where the hell do you suggest i go, huh?" mae yelled, standing up. eddy threw his hands up.
"i don't care where you go. just get out. you're not staying here tonight," he shook his head. mae rolled her eyes.
"i'm not going anywhere. i don't have anywhere to go. you can leave," mae shrugged, putting her hands on her hips. eddy scoffed and laughed bitterly.
"it's my house! i pay the bills, i buy all of our shit. i put all the work into this place so you could come back here and sit on your ass all day. when i say get out, i mean get out!" he shouted, stomping his foot and pointing at the door.
mae stared at him for a moment before lifting her hand and punching him directly in the nose, catching him completely off guard. he stumbled backwards and fell against the wall, clutching his face in his hand. blood poured down his face and he spat into the floor, wiping his mouth off with his sleeve. mae just stood and looked at him, arms crossed.
eddy didn't know what to do. he grabbed his violin and keys and walked out, slamming the door behind him. tears stung his eyes as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and called the only person he knew.
brett.