hearing his boyfriend's voice for the first time since he got there immediately brought tears to brett's eyes. he cleared his sore throat and ran his hands down his face, leaning against the wall and picking at the paint, which looked as if many patients had stood and done the same.
"hey," he sniffled, closing his eyes.
"how are you feeling? are you okay?" eddy's voice was lined with concern and brett shook his head, tears rolling down his pale cheeks.
"no," he replied, thinking about mae. eddy needed to know about her presence in the hospital, but brett didn't want him to.
"i'm sorry, baby. what's been happening? are you getting enough sleep?"
"please stop with the questions, eddy. i can't handle it. i want to hear about your day," brett sighed, digging his nail into the drywall.
"bretty, i need to know—"
"how was rehearsal?" he interrupted. talking about his time in the hospital wasn't in his interest. he wanted to pretend that it wasn't happening and like everything was normal in order to hold on to at least a small percentage of his remaining sanity. eddy sighed deeply before replying.
"it was boring. we spent an hour trying to get the trumpets to play the correct dynamics and one of the violists' pegs kept slipping. it sounded awful. the clarinets kept playing for three bars after the conductor stopped and he'd been in a pissy mood the entire day, so we got a lecture."
brett laughed at the misfortune of his colleagues and wiped his tears, sniffling quietly as he continued to scratch at the wall. the sound of eddy's voice was making him feel better, but he knew that it was only temporary and that they'd have to hang up soon.
"eddy?" he asked.
"what, baby?"
"i'm sorry," brett mumbled. eddy shook his head.
"why? you didn't do anything wrong."
"i landed myself in here and now we're both suffering from it," he sighed. he needed to tell him.
"you'll be out before you know it, baby. are you eating okay?"
"y-yeah," brett stammered, thinking about the cafeteria. his heart was pounding and he could still feel mae's skinny fingers around his neck.
"bretty, what's wrong?"
"she's here, eddy," he blurted. "mae is here. she attacked me in the cafeteria."
the last thing brett had expected from the other line was silence, but eddy was too angry to utter a word. his blood felt like fire in his veins and his chest heaved, a red tint spreading across his entire body.
"what?" he asked, voice terrifyingly quiet. brett inhaled slowly before replying.
"mae is here in another unit and she put her hands on me in the cafeteria."
"i'm coming to get you."
brett frowned, shaking his head. just because mae was there didn't mean they could let him out early. they'd made it very clear he was going to be there for at least three days, but it was likely he'd be there twice that. and eddy wasn't even related to him; there was no way they'd just let him out.
"no, you're not. you're going to stay home," brett sniffled, talking quietly into the old phone.
"i can't leave you in there with her, bretty. i can't leave you in there anyways. i can't—"
"eddy," brett interrupted. "you don't have a choice."
it was the taller boy who was crying now, his need to see brett and fear for his safety overwhelming him all at once. he wiped his tears angrily and sighed.
"are they keeping her away from you? i need to call them and tell them to keep her away from you," he said, voice shaking.
"it'll be fine, eddy. i'm sure i'll get interrogated about it the second this phone call is over. can't have any secrets here," he mumbled, glancing at the staff member who sat and the end of the hall and supervised their phone calls.
"how were you doing before that? how are you doing now?"
"eddy, too many questions," brett groaned, shoving his thumbnail into the plaster on the beige wall. eddy cleared his throat.
"i'm going to come see you tomorrow," he said, audibly pained at the change of the subject. he wanted to talk about mae and how brett was doing and what the fuck happened with her. it was not something he could just let go.
"are you?" brett asked, perking up at the thought. being on the list for visitation was something to get excited about.
"yes," eddy nodded. "i promise."
"okay."
the two of them spent the rest of their phone call talking about anything but mae. time ran out as eddy was going on about something trivial that didn't really matter and brett cringed as he heard the staff member's voice tell him he had to hang up.
"eddy?" he interrupted his boyfriend's long story with a timid voice, tears welling in his brown eyes.
"hm? i'm sorry, am i—"
"i have to go."
"oh," eddy mumbled. he'd nearly forgotten that they were on a time limit.
"yeah. i love you. please don't forget to come tomorrow," the smaller boy sniffled.
"i love you, too. i'll see you then, okay?"
"okay."
"bye, love."
"bye, eddy."
brett hung the phone back up on the scratched wall and sighed miserably, beginning the short walk back to his room. he crawled into the bed and wrapped himself in eddy's blanket, crying until he fell asleep.
;
day two.
the following morning was filled with way too many questions being asked by way too many people. brett had already seen two psychiatrists and a doctor before lunch time and every single one of them wanted to know about mae.
"do you know that girl who attacked you?" a woman with dark hair had asked, her blue pen poised over crisp white paper. brett shifted in his seat uncomfortably, picking at the frayed fabric of the worn couch. he wondered how many people had sat and done the same, remembering the jagged lines in the drywall next to the phones whose handles were yellowed from so many tight grips.
"yes," he'd said simply. the psychiatrist scribbled something down on her paper.
"would you like to tell me how?" she asked, her voice slightly impatient. brett shrugged.
"it's not really that big of a deal," he muttered. the woman squinted at him.
"brett, she tried to strangle you."
"yeah," was all he said, staring at the wall behind the woman's head. it was a bluish color, similar to the jacket eddy had worn on their first date. brett had to look away.
"how do you know her?" she asked again. brett sighed.
"she beat the shit out of her boyfriend and he found refuge in me. and now he's my boyfriend and she hates me. that's it," he explained. the psychiatrist, whose faded name tag said heather, raised her thick eyebrows in surprise.
"that sounds a bit messy, brett. what happened?"
brett took a deep breath before answering her question in full. he explained how he met eddy, what had happened between them, and what mae had done to him. heather typed on her computer a lot as he talked. it made him nervous.
another thing that came up during his explanation was jamie. everything was finally all out on the table and he couldn't stop crying, eddy's blanket still wrapped around his shoulders. he curled up into a ball on the couch in heather's office, the two of them sitting together in a heavy silence. there were many things she could say, but she knew it was best to just keep her mouth shut. she let brett cry until he fell asleep once more.
;
after brett woke up, he was told that he could eat lunch in the unit instead of the cafeteria. the staff wouldn't let him off of constant observation and he sat in silence with one of the mental health technicians for the entire hour, staring at the wall again and trying to avoid eye contact. she didn't talk much and he was grateful.
when lunch was over, brett decided it would be wise for him to participate in group therapy. instead of retreating back to his room, he sat down on one of the small couches in the common area and waited for the session to begin.
it went fine, as brett would say. it mostly consisted of people talking about why they were there and what they were feeling. he didn't share much when it came to his turn, but it felt better to be a part of something.
after therapy, an hour remained until visitation. 60 minutes until brett would get to lay his eyes on eddy's beautiful face. 3,600 seconds until the taller boy's arms could wrap around him and make everything go away.
as expected, the hour drug on. brett sat on the same little couch and stared at the photo of him and jamie for what felt like hours, but the one clock in the facility said that only 7 minutes had passed. he decided to do as the other patients did and doodle endlessly on plain paper with a ballpoint pen. he'd seen some of the other people's drawings and was in awe of what they would do to keep themselves busy. he figured it might work.
he lost himself in drawing small circles on the paper. before he knew it, people were getting up around him. raising his head made him discover that the time for visitation had come.
but his name was not on the list.
a/n: i've never done one of these! hey !! sorry the update took forever. i've been goin thru it and soooomebody (nonsenseverses ) keeps me real busy. she's mine in case you were wondering