"Hey. You're up early."
Frederic turns to see Jazz yawning, bare-chested and bleary eyed. He smiles and Jazz smiles back. "Good morning."
"You making breakfast?"
"Mm-hmm." Frederic cracks an egg into the pan and listens to the way it sizzles, browning at the edges before he's had a chance to put the shells away. "Do you think Falsetto will want any? I know she doesn't usually eat this early."
"She does love eggs, though, so - yeah. Make some extra." Jazz laughs. "Extra. Like there's ever any extras with Salsa around."
"They're growing again. We'll have to buy some more fabric for their winter clothes."
Jazz winces a little at the word winter, just slightly, as if he thinks maybe Frederic won't see. And Frederic does see, but doesn't comment. Instead he cracks another egg and wonders absentmindedly if Viola might have any goat cheese she would let him use. Jazz stands next to him in front of the stove, the gooseflesh on his arms standing out in the pale light of the early morning. "How are you feeling?" the other man asks after a minute, turning the palms of his hands towards the warmth in a show of forced casualty.
"Alright," Frederic answers, just as casually, and he pretends he doesn't see the furtive glance Jazz casts his way.
"Any plans for the day?"
"I thought I might work on some of my music. I had an idea for an etude last night. I didn't happen to write it down, though; I hope I can remember all of it."
Jazz casts another glance in his direction, but this one comes with a smile. "Maybe you should sing it to me. You know, so you don't forget."
Frederic finds himself smiling too, despite the urge to roll his eyes, and adds one more egg into the pan for good luck. "Well," he says, watching his work even as he felt Jazz watching him, "it starts like this."
He begins to hum softly, almost under his breath, and feels his voice catching on the places in his throat that are dry. Jazz reaches over and lays one hand carefully across Frederic's ribcage, across the place where the phlegm grows day by day by day, and both of them breathe together for the first time in what feels like days.