Work Text:
Eddy sighed as he held up his phone and snapped a picture of the scenery around him.
Brett would go at him if he disappeared at one in the morning without a word again. It wasn’t the first time he had run out alone after they had a fight. Well. They don’t fight, so it would be more appropriate to say that they had a disagreement that had left the two of them sulking on their own.
Eddy hit ‘Send’ and slipped his phone back into his pocket. He leaned on the rail and smiled for the first time that night, admiring the beautiful night life in Singapore.
Neither of them had been out this late since the start of 2020. True, Brett is a party boy and Eddy is a night owl, but the annoying virus had been preventing them from joining any night events. When they came back to Singapore, they had wanted to hang out with their friends and party till the sun comes up again, but Brett’s health condition had… gone out of hand.
Eddy had the shock of his life when Brett fainted in the kitchen one day. After visiting the hospital several times, Eddy had made a grave mistake of believing Brett when he said that he was alright to film. He should have noticed the signs earlier.
Brett was just as cheery and energetic in front of the camera, but as soon as they finished, he would sit there in his seat and stare blankly in front of him, doing literally nothing. When Eddy had asked Brett what was wrong, he would just shrug and disappear into his room. Eddy knew not to intrude Brett’s privacy when his door is shut, for he never closes the door. But not keeping a close eye on Brett also made Eddy underestimate Brett’s condition. Brett had not been feeling too good one morning with a headache and a pale face, but he had insisted that he was well enough to film. He might have made it through alright if it had been a regular video where they would have been sitting down and giving reactions to a random video or two, but that wasn’t the case. They had been filming a special video on ‘Blind dating Musicians’ where Brett had to stand up and move around quite a lot, as well as use his brain more times than necessary for a patient.
Always the one to put on a brave face, Brett had held his façade in front of the volunteering girls. Eddy could have kicked himself when Brett had leaned his whole body onto him for support, his face whiter than paper. Fourteen years of being best friends and a whole year of dating, and Eddy Chen – THE Eddy Chen, the one and only person who could read Brett like an open book and see through his deadpan face – had failed to see that Brett, in fact, was very not alright.
No longer trusting Brett to say that he was alright, Eddy had proposed that they take a break so that Brett could take all the time he needed to recover. Knowing Brett a bit too well to know that he would never agree to taking a break if he was the main reason for it, Eddy had claimed that he was “never going to survive that shitload of work alone” while Brett was in bed and that he wanted time off as well. Brett, also knowing Eddy too well, of course knew that Eddy was just finding a better way of saying that he needed the rest. Though not showing it on his face, Brett was secretly grateful that Eddy cared so much about him and loved him with all his heart.
Brett had gotten a lot better as compared to the first few weeks of taking a break. During that time, he had been unable to get out of bed without help, meaning that he had to stay in bed all day and could only get up to visit the toilet. His appetite had shrunk tremendously, and the veins on his arms and the ribs in his front were protruding so much Eddy couldn’t bear to look at them when he was aiding Brett in taking a shower.
Eddy sighed and shook his head quickly as a faint breeze ruffled his hair. He was here to clear his mind of thoughts, not to add on to them.
To be honest, he had been quite stressed recently, both from taking care of Brett and continuing to work on TwoSet matters alone with the team. He’s not complaining – he loves what he’s doing, and he also loves taking care of the person he loves, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t tired. Despite that, it was no excuse for him to let his negative feelings out on Brett. Guilt clawed at his heart as he thought of how he had let his fatigue, worry and frustration take over him a couple of hours ago, and he had gone at Brett – the one person he loves and had sworn to protect till his last breath, and whom had been suffering both physically and mentally because of his health condition.
Eddy bit down on his lower lip, eyebrows furrowed as he was yet again stuck on an email. It was the fourth time in this month that their team had encountered a similar public relations problem, and due to its complications, it was up to the two bosses to deal with it. Eddy had never been the social butterfly, so it was usually Brett’s job to deal with human-related issues, but since Brett was sick in bed, Eddy had to do his share as well.
“Eddy?” A soft voice interrupted Eddy’s train of thoughts.
“Brett?” Eddy frowned as he whirled around. He glanced at the clock. It was already ten at night, which was way too early for his bedtime, but definitely much later than Brett’s current bedtime at half past seven.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” Eddy asked again as Brett’s socked feet padded towards him.
Brett rubbed his eyes tiredly. “I couldn’t sleep.”
Eddy hummed and turned back to his work. A pair of small cold hands crept their way up his shoulders, and a significantly warmer head rested on top of his.
“Need help?” Brett gently massaged Eddy’s shoulders, dissolving the knot that had formed there from endless hours in front of the computer.
“Nah,” Eddy shook his head, relishing in the gentle touch.
“Oh, come on.” Brett squeezed a bit hard. “You can’t finish all this on your own.”
Eddy shook his head again, “It’s alright. Go back to bed.”
Brett purred into Eddy’s ear, “Let me help you so you can come to bed earlier.”
Eddy shuddered at the feeling, and as his body shook, his little finger accidentally hit ‘Delete’, and the unsaved copy of his hard work vanished from the face of earth.
“FUCK!” Eddy swore as he slammed his computer shut with a loud bang.
He clawed at his hair in frustration, hissing streams of profanities.
“Eddy?” Brett whispered worriedly. “What's happened? Is something wrong?”
“You!” Eddy didn’t know what had taken over him as he shouted. “You are what's wrong!”
He pointed an accusing finger at Brett, whose eyes were wide in shock. Eddy rarely raised his voice at anyone, let alone to Brett.
"I'm already fucking tired from running around all day to take care of you, and I have to do your share of the work at night. Can't you just fucking leave me alone? Go the fuck back to sleep so I can work in peace!” He screamed at his boyfriend.
“Uh… I’m sorry… I just wanted to help.” Brett mumbled, looking down at his feet.
Eddy glared hard at him, his chest rising quickly up and down. “How can you help? You’re fucking sick. You shouldn’t be working. Heck, you shouldn’t even be out of bed.”
Brett’s small frame seemed to shrink even smaller. His head was down and his hands were fiddling with each other, just like how a schoolboy would when he was being yelled at.
“So, uh… I’ll leave you to it…?” Brett said in a small voice, sounding uncertain.
Eddy unclenched his fists slowly. When had he clenched them tight?
He took a step towards Brett, and halted in surprise when Brett instinctively took a step backwards. By now he had calmed down a bit, and resisted the urge to slap some sense into himself. He had hurt Brett because of his sheer stupidity. When had Brett ever sounded unsure of himself in front of Eddy?
Eddy took a deep breath and opened his mouth, “Brett, I-”
His apology was cut short by a small sniffle. Eddy froze.
Fuck. He had made Brett cry.
Eddy was still frozen in his spot as Brett turned around and shuffled back into his room.
His small “Sorry” as he closed the door hit Eddy like a ton of bricks. He was so stupid, practically an idiot. How could he have hurt Brett like that? It wasn’t his fault that he was sick, and Brett’s probably in enough pain without Eddy hurting him. On top of that, Brett was just trying to help him.
Eddy sighed again. He had wanted to apologise, but as he hovered above their bed where Brett was already fast asleep, he thought that Brett probably needed the sleep. Although he had clambered into bed soon after finishing his work, he hadn’t been able to fall asleep with the heavy sense of guilt in his heart.
A young couple walked past him hand in hand, marvelling at the night light displays in the surrounding buildings and he smiled for the second time. It might be a good idea to take Brett out tomorrow night and treat him to some healthy late-night snacks as an apology.
“Eddy!”
A familiar voice caught his attention a second time. Eddy looked up in surprise as a small figure hurtled at him.
“Oof.” Eddy gruntled as he caught the person. “Brett? What are you doing here?” He pushed the older boy’s bangs away from his eyes as he took in his messy form. Tufts of his hair were sticking up in all directions, he was drowning in Eddy’s red checkered jacket with a pyjama top and their merch sweatpants, and he had mismatching socks on. Not exactly your typical Brett Yang.
“Looking… for… you.” Brett panted as he clutched at Eddy’s shirt. “Who knows if my idiot of a boyfriend might be kidnapped?” He leaned his head onto Eddy’s chest and sighed contently as he felt Eddy wrap his arms around his waist.
Eddy held Brett close as guilt once again made its way up his heart.
“Brett. I’m sorry.” Eddy hung his head. “I didn’t know what came over me, but that’s no excuse. I’m very very sorry. Please forgive me…”
“Sh…” Eddy was silenced as Brett held up a finger against his lips. “It’s alright. I’m not mad at you. I know you’re stressed from balancing between taking care of me and working on TwoSet stuff. You’ve been doing a good job and it’s okay to let it out sometimes.”
Eddy felt the warmth in his chest spread. What had he ever done to deserve such a sweet and understanding boyfriend? He was still mad at himself though.
“Hey,” Brett’s voice came from somewhere in his chest. “Stop worrying. I can almost hear your thoughts.”
Eddy chuckled.
They stood there in each other’s embrace, the only interruption being…
Eddy gently pushed Brett away. “Look at me.”
Brett blinked in confusion, his chest still heaving.
Eddy cradled Brett’s cheeks as he leaned into the warmth of Eddy’s hands. “You’re still panting.”
“Yea, no shit, Sherlock.” Brett’s attempt at sarcasm failed as he struggled to take in another deep breath.
Eddy nudged Brett towards the light. “Holy shit.” Brett’s face was pale, and the dark circles around his eye became even more obvious.
“Are you okay?” Eddy asked worriedly as he caressed Brett’s cheeks.
Brett nodded weakly and buried his face into Eddy’s shirt again. “I’m just tired.”
Eddy groaned. “I shouldn’t have run out like this. This is my fault…”
His dramatic monologue was once again cut short as a pair of lips met his.
Although surprised by his boyfriend’s rare display of affection, Eddy quickly came back to his senses and kissed Brett back. Using their height difference as an advantage, Eddy steered their bodies so that Brett’s back was pushed against the rail, and Eddy was towering over him.
Passionately nibbling at each other’s lips, nothing else mattered to them. They were in each other’s arms, and that was worth more than the whole universe combined.
That was until Brett’s soft, kittenish pushes pawed helpless at Eddy.
Eddy pulled away with a jump, worry etched on his face. “Sorry, was that too much? You alright?”
“Yep.” Brett was panting once more. “I just forgot to breathe.”
“Bro.” Eddy didn’t know to laugh or cry. He was glad that Brett was okay, but he didn’t know how could Brett forget to breathe – they make out almost every single day.
He shook his head and tugged Brett close again, the corner of his lips threatening to curve upwards.
Another question wandered its way into his mind: The bridge was at least ten minutes away from their apartment, and even if Brett had run, given that he wasn’t exactly athletic, it would have taken him at least seven minutes to get here. Eddy had posted the story of his location less than two minutes before Brett arrived, so…
“How did you get here so quickly?” Eddy kissed the top of Brett’s head.
“Ah. I heard you leave.” Brett said calmly, just like it was the most normal thing in the world to have heard his boyfriend leave their apartment in the middle of night.
Eddy looked puzzled. “Why didn’t you call after me?”
Brett shrugged. “How was I supposed to, you idiot? You were long gone before I was out of the door.”
Eddy raised his eyebrow, indicating Brett to continue.
“I figured you wouldn’t turn left because the MRT would have been closed anyway. So I took a right turn and looked around for you. I spotted you from the other end of the bridge, but I didn’t want to scare people by screaming your name.”
Eddy frowned. “Why didn’t you call me?”
Brett nuzzled Eddy’s neck. “Maybe it’s because I forgot my phone.”
“What?” Eddy glared at Brett, “You were running out in the middle of the night without a phone?! You could have caught a cold!”
Brett deadpanned. “I don’t think that’s possible. We’re practically living on the equator.”
“That wasn’t funny!” Eddy exclaimed. “You could have fainted or something.”
Brett smiled as he could see smoke coming out from Eddy’s ears. “Well, don’t run off without me next time.”
“I won’t.” Eddy smiled back softly and kissed the tip of Brett’s nose.
“Let’s go home?”
“Let’s go home.”
-end-