Eddy realized that he had grown really fond of working with Brett in projects, and went around and outside his house the next morning looking for jobs that needed two people, specifically jobs that he thought Brett would like to do with him.
As he walked around the perimeter of his house, he noticed an enormous oleander bush that he had forgotten about in the corner of his backyard.
It was filled to the brim with white flowers, and absolutely shining when the sun hit it. Eddy was surprised that he hadn't noticed it before. Along with all the flowers that this bush came with, it also gave Eddy allergies because of all the pollen that was flying off it.
He walked back into the house to call Brett, and was waiting for him to pick up, when he felt another sneeze coming to him.
Brett picked up his phone and anwered it without hesitation, and was about to tell Eddy good morning when he was met with a loud a sneeze right in his ear.
Brett held his phone away from his ear, surprised and laughing at the absurdity of this "good morning".
"Well good morning to you too, Eddy."
"Ugh. I'm so sorry, Brett, didn't mean for that to happen. But that's actually the reason I called you."
"Aww, so it wasn't to say good morning? Meanie."
Eddy laughed at Brett's mock attitude and could imagine his frown from the other end of the line. "That too. I called to ask you if you'd help me trim the huge oleander bush in my backyard."
"Another project? Wow Eddy, in all my years knowing you, I've never seen you be this productive for more than a day, let alone three!"
"Haha. Very funny."
"That's right, it is. And yes, I will help you."
"Ok, great."
"I'll be there soon. See ya."
"Alrighty."
Brett hung up and hopped in his car, simply ecstatic to be working. Again. With Eddy.
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Brett arrived at Eddy's house with the excitement of kindergartener, but the coolness of a cucumber. He didn't want to look like too much of a sucker.
"Yo Eddy, I'm here!" Brett called out into the empty house, wondering where Eddy had gone off to when he'd been expecting him.
That's weird, his car is still here. thought Brett.
Still wondering, Brett tried to search through the house while calling Eddy's name, with no luck.
He finally looked in the backyard, where Eddy was standing in front of a gigantic oleander bush, wearing a mask to stop pollen getting to him, thinking about how exactly to tackle this bush monster.
Brett waved to Eddy and said, "Hey, finally found you!"
Eddy looked at Brett and said, "You were looking for me?"
"Yeah, and called your name about a million times. Searched the whole house."
"Sorry I didn't hear you. Well, anyway, now that you're here, we can get started."
Eddy took two pairs of hedge clippers in his hands and passed one to Brett, who was now standing next to Eddy. Eddy kept the other one for himself, and then turned to Brett once more to explain his master plan.
"Ok, so here's how we're gonna do it. This bush is pretty tall, so we're gonna need to use a ladder to get to the top, and were gonna start at the bottom and sides and then work our way up. Got it?"
Brett nodded and confirmed. "Yeup."
"Alright."
And so the pair worked, diligently, courageously, fearlessly, BRAVELY-, nah, just kidding, it was only an oleander bush, they didn't have too much trouble.
Until they reached the top section of the bush, where the branches grew so high that they're arms couldn't reach the top anymore, and had to use Eddy's ladder to finish the job.
They were tired, sweaty, but eager to be done with the job, and get back inside Eddy's air-conditioned house.
So Eddy, being the tallest, volunteered to take a turn on the ladder first, and let Brett have a break.
Brett disagreed with this, saying that Eddy needed to rest more than he did, but couldn't argue about Eddy's height advantage and eventually agreed.
At this point, Eddy had done well, keeping his allergies at bay, with all the allergy medicine flowing through his immune system and the mask, and had only had four, small, sneezes up to this point. But when he got to the top of the ladder, that all changed.
For a few minutes, he was able to keep it under control, but suddenly, out of the the blue, he sneezed. Really hard. Enough to throw him backwards off the ladder and land on his left elbow into the little patch of grass that ran around the perimeter of his house.
It happened so fast, so quickly, that by the time Brett had registered what had happened and was on his feet, Eddy was already on the ground, clutching his elbow and trying not to cry or yell.
Brett rushed over to him, and said in a calm, controlled voice, "Don't worry Eddy, I'm here, it's all gonna be ok."
He sighed, then continued.
"I know it hurts, I really do, and I want to see your elbow so I can help you. Can you sit up for me?"
Slowly, carefully, Eddy was now sitting up with Brett's hand slowly rubbing his back, calming him a little. Eddy couldn't hold in his tears of pain anymore and looked away in embarrassment from Brett. Brett cautiously examined Eddy's elbow, then spoke to Eddy in a comforting voice, despite his scared feelings. "We're going to the hospital. Can you stand up Eddy? For me?"
Eddy nodded through the pain and with Brett's help, stood one his feet like a newborn giraffe.
"We're going to walk to the car now. I'm going to help you."
Eddy nodded again and they walked to Brett's car, slowly, carefully.
Once Eddy was seated in the car, he realized that he couldn't buckle his seat belt. But before he could even say anything, Brett was there, reaching across Eddy's lap to buckle him in.
"Is this too tight?"
Eddy shook his head no, and Brett nodded with approval before gently closing the door and getting in his own seat.
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They arrived at the nearest hospital 17 minutes later, where they were met with a slightly annoyed doctor's assistant and told her their information, who said that the doctor would see them in a minute and they should wait in the lobby in the meantime.
Brett found Eddy and himself two chairs side by side, and sat down together, Brett again softly rubbing Eddy's back, and Eddy clutching his elbow and leaning on to Brett.
Finally, Eddy's name was called, and he and Brett walked over to room 117 down the hall. Inside, they meant a friendly and much less annoyed doctor, who told them to call him Dr. Tomlinson, or if they were feeling up to it, Mr. T.
Once they had sat down, Dr. Tomlinson asked them, "So what seems to be the problem?"
Eddy gave Brett a pleading look. He was afraid he might start crying again if he talked. Brett understood, and answered, "My friend Eddy and I were trimming his oleander bush, and Eddy was on the ladder, trimming the top, when he sneezed and fell and landed on his elbow. I took a look at it and decided to bring him to the hospital."
The doctor nodded then said, "I see. That's quite a story." He turned his focus to Eddy. "Could I see your elbow please?" he asked.
Eddy nodded and held out his elbow for the doctor to inspect it.
After poking around Eddy's elbow and occasionally ask him "Does this hurt?" while gently touching certain spots on Eddy's elbow and arms, he put Eddy's elbow down and said, "I'm not certain, but I think Eddy may have a sprained elbow. I'll have to x-ray it to be sure. Are you willing to go through that? I promise it won't take long or cost you anything."
Eddy nodded at Brett, and Brett said, "Yes. He's willing. We're willing."
"Okay. Please follow me, and I'll leave you to an open X-Ray room.", said the doctor.
Just like he said, Brett and Eddy followed Dr. Tomlinson into an open X-Ray room, and they went to their places. The doctor sat down at a computer next to the wall to control the X-ray machine, and Eddy set down at the rolly chair right by the glowing table underneath the X-ray machine. Brett stood by the doctor watching the computer screen and Eddy nervously, trying to keep an eye on both of them. Then Dr. Tomlinson said, "Alright Eddy, the machine is ready. Just lay your left arm as straight as you can on the table right there, and this will be over in a few seconds."
Eddy gave a slight nod and gingerly pulled his arm as straight as it could go on to the table. Quick as he could, the doctor took the X-ray picture and signaled that Eddy could put his arm back. Eddy did so with a look of relief on his face, then looked over to Brett, who gave him a reassuring smile in the hope of comforting Eddy a little.
Eddy sensed that his part was done, so he walked over to Brett, and because he couldn't hug him, simply set his head on his shoulder.
Dr. Tomlinson looked up from his computer at the cute pair. "My suspicions were correct.", he said. "Mr Chen, you indeed have a sprained elbow, which is lucky, considering how much weight was put on it when you fell. You don't need a cast, but that means you'll have to be more careful of how you move your arm to let it heal properly. That process will take about two to three weeks, so make sure you stay alert and safe! Also remember to move it from time to time so it doesn't get stiff, and you can take some ibuprofen to help with the pain. Now it was nice meeting you two, and I hope you have a good day and a healthy life. Goodbye."
Brett said thank you, and the two left the hospital in good spirits, thankful for modern medicine and each other.
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Several minutes later, they arrived at Eddy's house, and even though it was only 5:30, they were both tuckered out from the adventurous day, but not quite ready to leave each other yet.
Without speaking, Brett helped Eddy out of the car, led him to his bed, and grabbed some ibuprofen, water, and a couple of strawberries and whipped cream, ready to tuck Eddy into bed. Strawberries, with or without with cream, or one of Eddy's favorite foods, some sweet, tart, some mushy, but Eddy loved them all, and always kept one or two boxes in his fridge.
Brett walked into Eddy's room and sat down on his bed, leaving the ibuprofen, water, and strawberries, on Eddy's night stand for him to take when he was ready. He helped Eddy get his arm into a homemade sling, then sat down on the edge of the bed, tired.
Eddy had just tucked himself into his covers when he remembered that he still had his dirty work clothes on.
He turned to Brett and said, "Um, I still need to, um, change."
Brett widened his eyes and blushed, he had forgotten about that. "Okay, um, you do you need any, um, help?", were the first words that came out of his mouth, and Brett mentally smacked himself in the face because of how stupid his words sounded.
Eddy blushed too, because he knew Brett was just trying to help, not be cringy. "It's alright, I think I got it. If you could just hand me some clothes, I'll manage."
Brett nodded and his blush went away slightly. He walked over to Eddy's dresser and looked through his drawers. He eventually decided on a pair of loose, gray, sweatpants, a large, navy-blue t-shirt, and some socks just incase Eddy got cold. He set them on the edge of Eddy's bed, and asked, "Are these good?"
Eddy looked over the clothes. "Yeah. How did you know I would like these?"
Brett shrugged. "I didn't. I just guessed."
"Good guess then." Eddy smiled at Brett.
Brett smiled back before turning to let Eddy change.
Once Eddy was done, Brett turned back and sat on the corner of Eddy's bed. "Dont forget to take the strawberries and ibuprofen, and if you need me, I'm only one call away."
A bit cheesey, but it comforted Eddy nonetheless.
There was an awkward beat of silence between them before either spoke.
Eddy said, "You don't have to go right now, you know. I mean, it's still pretty early, so, do you wanna, I don't know, watch a movie together?"
Brett grinned. "Yes, I do."
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At 10 ish, when they finally finished watching Captain America, Black Panther, and Avengers: Infinity War together, they turned off Eddy's bedroom TV and once again sat beside each other, a wordful and wordless silence between them.
It was Eddy who spoke up first. "I guess you're gonna leave now?"
Brett sighed. "Yeah, it's late now, I should. But, just one more thing before I go."
Eddy's curiosity was spiked. "What?"
"This." Then, gathering every drop of courage that he had, he landed a soft kiss Eddy's cheek, and then one on his injured arm for good luck. This both delighted and surprised Eddy at the same time.
Brett had almost slipped out of Eddy's bedroom when Eddy called out, "Wait!"
Brett froze in his tracks and turned to Eddy, worry plastered all over his face. There was nothing to worry about though, and Eddy continued. "Thanks for the kiss. I... it was really nice. Anyway, I was thinking about tomorrow, and I thought it would be relaxing if we had a sleepover. Whadya think?"
"No work?"
"No work, I promise."
"Good. Cause I'm plum tired after all the work we've been doing lately. Does ten sound good?"
"Yep. See you tomorrow."
"Bye."
Brett closed and locked Eddy's front door on his way out, and later that night, fell asleep dreaming about tomorrow. Eddy did too, although, they both were oblivious to each other's dreams, and that might've been the best part.
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