Christian was ambivalent about the fact that Eddie, a near stranger, was cooking in their kitchen. However, when he laid out an English breakfast enough to feed everyone, his stomach overruled his head. The food looked delicious, tasted even better, and Eddie seemed innocuous if not normal.

Brendan had managed to thaw enough to join in, which seemed best because Eddie himself hadn’t even mentioned the kiss beyond the act. It had obviously been done for the comical effect, rather than any kind of serious flirtation. Brendan quietly took a plate and dished up for himself, then went to lean against the window sill, holding his plate with one hand and pushing food into his mouth. He didn’t acknowledge Eddie at all. Christian wondered if it was disgust or shell shock.

Eddie on the other hand, behaved like a familiar guest, undaunted by the fact that he was very much not.

Ignoring Brendan in turn, Eddie offered Christian two clean plates.

“For you and little Miss nose-in-a-snit.” He said.

Christian tried not smile at that, but it was accurate enough. Laurel’s door had slammed closed and they hadn’t heard a thing since. Christian knew it was best to let her cool off. He worried about that, but he couldn’t do anything about it, so he made up two plates.

“Thank you.” he said sincerely, and Eddie smiled approvingly at him.

“Such lovely manners.” Eddie replied, then looked questioningly at Brendan. “Aren’t you joining us?”

Brendan looked pointedly at the table. “Only two chairs.”

“Well, that’s stupid.”

Bren half-smiled. “That’s what I keep saying.”

Eddie stood up and looked around the apartment until he found what he was looking for: the small side table next to the couch. Retrieving it, he pushed it up to the table and nodded to it, mouth full of eggs, then at Brendan.

Christian wondered why he had never thought of doing that, after all the times Brendan had complained there was nowhere for them to sit together. Eddie had been here five minutes and had done it without a second thought.

Eventually Eddie took a break from eating and rubbed his hands together. “So, how bad was I?”

Christian paused from his meal. “What?”

“Yesterday.” Eddie clarified. “In my drug induced haze. Did I break anything? Kiss anyone?”

Christian stared at him for a moment. “Well, we only met you about fifteen minutes before you crashed, so I’m not sure. But when you were with us you were just loud.”

“Really loud. And dramatic.” Brendan agreed, nodding at his eggs.

“I was loud? What was I saying?”

“You told Laurel and I that you were writing an epic poem, and that you needed our names for the main characters…” Christian answered, calling up the memory. “You called me a snow-child and you called her a Christmas miracle.”

Brendan snorted. Eddie grimaced.

“Well, at least I was right about you. Was I difficult? Aggressive?”

Christian sat back. “No, not at all. You were just…really friendly.”

“You were like a one-man play.” Brendan added, flicking his fork at Eddie.

“I am always a one man play. But at least I didn’t hit anyone. I didn’t kiss you did I?” he asked Christian.

Chuckling, Christian shook his head. “The only person I saw you kiss was Brendan, this morning.”

Brendan flushed a little at that, again overly interested in his bacon. Eddie tutted at him.

“Oh relax, sweetheart, I was only being nice.” He said, but was clear he found Brendan’s embarrassment entertaining. “I am a touch impressed with myself though, I usually have a lot less self-control when I see a pretty face.” he said to Christian. “I’m glad I didn’t. In the bright light of day, I can see that would not have gone over well.”

Christian opened his mouth to reply, but shut it again, unsure what to make of the cryptic utterance. Brendan covered it by asking Eddie if he was feeling better.

“I’m feeling fabulous, thank you for asking.”

“What did you take?”

Eddie gave them both assessing looks, his jaw going still. Then he put down the fork and folded his arms slowly on the table in front of him.

“Alright, I’ll tell you two because you both have such cute faces. And because you gave me somewhere to sleep last night when by all accounts I really didn’t deserve it after being so stupid.” He sighed dramatically. “I am not a junkie, scouts honour. I am however, a drug tester.”

Christian was curious enough to ask further, which was obviously why Eddie had left a dramatic pause. “You’re what?”

“Drug tester, snow-child. It’s a bit like signing up for free drug trials. You see, I have a friend in biochemistry doing his thesis on recreational drugs.” Eddie waved a languid hand vaguely, “Or something. In any case, he hired yours truly as one of his guinea pigs. I take a drug, then I stay in a quiet, white room while he documents the process, asking me questions, taking my blood pressure, that sort of thing.”

He sighed again, meeting Christian’s gaze with a grimace. “This is the embarrassing part. I wasn’t a very good boy yesterday and after taking the drug. I’m supposed stay put, But I went out to party instead. It was stupid. Bad Eddie.” He mock- slapped his wrist.

Both Brendan and Christian were shocked, but Brendan recovered first.

“You’re kidding me. You take drugs on purpose?”

Eddie looked at him like he was a poor, sad idiot. “As opposed to taking them by accident?”

Brendan leaned back. “Ok, but you know what I mean.”

Eddie was unashamed. “I know what you mean. Try to think of it this way. I take the drug, then we know what it does, at least to my demographic, gender, height etc. We know more about it than we did before, we know what to expect when some poor teenager gets rolled into an ER because he tried to carve the little silver robots out of his wrists. We know how to help.”

He held up his hands and began to count on his fingers. “I’m not the only one in the trial. I never take a drug more than twice. I never take drugs outside of the study. I don’t taint the experiment.” Then his face fell into a guilty pout. “Except for yesterday. I took ‘Ashes’ and then I went out. I’m pretty sure I drank a little.”

“Or a lot.” Brendan mumbled.

“Why did you go out, if you knew it would be dangerous?” Christian asked.

Eddie looked at him and shrugged apologetically. “Out and Proud? How could I stay indoors? Plus, I’d taken ‘Ashes’ before, and the effects were so mild I thought I could get away with it.”

“But then you mixed the alcohol with it.”

“Yes! So actually, if I had just stayed away from the drink, I would have been fine.”

“And not collapsed on park bench and sleep on a stranger’s couch.” Brendan added in a snarky tone.

“I’m guessing by that judgemental tone Miss-nose-in-a-snit is your sister?” Eddie looked at him, hands splayed open and empty. “It was a mistake. It happens. And I met you pretty fellows, so it wasn’t all bad. Besides, it was my last round. When Deon finds out that I haven’t behaved myself, he’ll kick me out. He can be a stickler for rules.”

He beamed at them like he had just performed a trick, cheerful and unconcerned. Christian couldn’t help but like him, in spite of his natural inclination to steer away from the loud and unfamiliar. Eddie seemed to easily make big problems into small problems.

“So are you really writing a poem? Or was that the ‘Ashes’ talking?” Brendan asked quietly. Eddie’s comment seemed to have hit its mark.

Eddie looked startled and then smiled widely, eyes glittering. “Well, I wasn’t, but what a great idea. What exactly did I say it was about?”

Even Brendan laughed at that. He looked completely relaxed now, giving in to Eddie’s effervescence and moving past his initial wariness. Eddie had no ulterior motives and the fact that he didn’t care about personal space was just a part of his character.

“Well, my lovelies, there are probably people wondering if I’m alive.” Eddie told them, pushing his empty plate away and dusting his hands off. “Phones please, so I can give you my digits.” He waggled his hands at both Brendan and Christian. Brendan hesitated only for a moment, shrugging as he handed his phone over. Eddie looked at Christian expectantly, but Christian didn’t move.

“Um, mine’s off.” He lied.

Eddie gave him an intense look, his eyes wide but hard to read, then abruptly turned to Brendan fluttering his lashes.

“Oh well, you can get my number from Brother-Bren over here,” He said brightly, as if Christian hadn’t just told a bald-faced lie. He typed his number rapidly into the phone before tossing it carelessly back, but Brendan caught it in one hand. “Look after that, my pretties. I don’t give my number to just anyone.”

And before they could say anything, Eddie stood up, and walked out, whistling as he closed the front door behind him.

Brendan and Christian stared at the door, then each other.

“That was interesting.”

“Definitely” Christian said. The room felt as if someone had suddenly turned off music that had been playing slightly too loudly.

“Not that I’m saying you should,” Brendan asked in a quiet voice. “But why didn’t you want to take his number?”

Christian looked at him, and saw he was genuinely curious. Brendan didn’t yet know about his trust issues.

“I just… really don’t like doing that. Exchanging numbers.”

“Ok.” Brendan replied but was still waiting for more. He and his sister shared the expression.

Christian hadn’t ever really explained it aloud before. Laurel had just known, or at least accepted even if she didn’t understand. And there hadn’t been anyone else to tell.

“I just don’t like people having my number.” He said, shrugging.

There was a slight pause before Brendan responded. “I have your number.”

Christian smiled at him before playing with the remainder of his breakfast some more. His was the only plate with food still on it. “Yeah, but it's you, Bren.”

“Brother Bren.”

“Heh. Yeah.”

Brendan rubbed his neck again. The hair there was getting long, but still not long enough to stay put when he tied it up, not that he seemed to notice it. “Ok.” He replied, frowning slightly.

Christian began gathering the empty plates, eager to move on from the topic, but first offered his plate to Brendan. “You want this?”

Brendan appeared to debate internally before taking it. “Thanks.” he said, setting about finishing off the egg and mushrooms Christian hadn’t. “So are you going to explain ‘Brother Bren’ to me?”

Christian had to laugh a little at that, as he carried the dishes to the sink. “Yeah. Um. You know the movie Brother Bear?”

“Yeah, I love that movie!”

Christian stopped rinsing the dishes in the sink to look at him. “You do?”

“Yeah, I’m a sucker for animated movies.” Brendan smiled around a mouthful of eggs.

“Huh. I didn’t know that.” Christian replied thoughtfully and went back to rinsing.

“Guess we're both learning about each other, then.”

“Anyway.” Cristian went on, skating past that remark, “I joked about it to Laurel that you’re like the brother who gets turned into a bear. Because you’re always looking after us.”

“Am I?” Brendan looked surprised. He sat back in the chair, hands resting on his thighs and head tilted slightly to the left as he chewed.

“You do our grocery shopping, you cook for us, and you fixed the couch.” Christian listed.

Brendan’s thick eyebrows rose as he realised it. “Huh. I guess I didn’t notice.”

“Well, I do, so thanks.” Christian shook off the last off the water of the dish, and towel-dried it. “Really. And even if Laurel doesn’t say it, she thanks you too.”

“She does not.” Brendan scoffed.

“Well, I’m saying it for her until she gets the stick out of her ass and says it herself.”

Brendan’s laughter was sudden and rich. “Did you just say…?”

“Only because her door is closed.” Christian replied quietly, but still returned Brendan’s easy smile. “You done with that?” he indicated Brendan’s plate and Brendan stood up to bring it to him.

“I like it.” he said, when he was standing close enough to speak quietly. Christian felt the vibration of his voice on his skin. And that was weird.

“Uh, like what?” Christian replied, momentarily derailed.

“Brother Bren. It works.” He told Christian, smiling down at him, dark eyes watching his.

Christian’s hand slipped and the dish he had been cleaning clattered loudly into the sink, making them jump.

“Shit. Um, that’s good.” he said feeling flustered suddenly without understanding why. It was just Brendan for goodness sake.

“I guess I should come up with nicknames for you guys too.” Brendan went on, unaware of Christian’s internal confusion.

“Good luck with that. Laurel might have something say about it though.” Christian managed to reply, finding his equilibrium again now that Brendan was looking elsewhere.

Brendan leaned down to him, speaking even lower now, and Christian tried to lean away without being obvious about it.

Equilibrium not found.

“When she was little, she couldn’t say her own name, so she called herself ‘Lolo’.”

Christian’s mouth dropped open, amused even through his distraction. “No way!”

Brendan snickered, but his face was lost in a fond memory. “Yeah, until about five years old everyone had to call her ‘Lolo’. She would hit anyone who told her that her name wasn’t ‘Lolo’.”

Christian stared at the cupboard in front of his face, imagining a pint size Laurel angrily kicking people on the knees when they called her by her given name.

“I am never going to tell her you told me that.”

“Maybe I’ll bring it up.”

“Could you not?” Christian shook his head. “She’s already going to chew me out about Eddie.”

Brendan looked sympathetic. “Ok, I won’t. And I’m sure that if you keep at least ten feet and some furniture between you two, you’ll survive the night.”

“Hysterical.” Christian said, but he felt tired suddenly, thinking about trying to mend that bridge. Brendan’s hand came up and touched his shoulder, and he jerked slightly in surprise.

“You gonna be ok?” Brendan was saying, serious concern on his face now.

Christian looked away. “Yeah. I’ll figure it out.” He put Brendan’s dish on the rack, not in the mood to dry it. “Look, I’ve got an assignment to finish. You mind if I carry on? Eddie pretty much derailed the whole morning.”

Brendan looked at him oddly, the nodded. “Yeah sure. I’ve got a paper due too.”