(love)birds of a feather

chapter four

"So you think Eddy's starting to fall in love with you?" 

Brett's on the phone with Ray while Eddy's out grocery shopping. He's slumped on his bed, as his "relationship consultant" or so Ray calls himself, talks him through this "inner crisis." Bad idea on Brett's part to talk to the biggest shipper in the Twoset fandom, really.

"No! Well, yeah, but—" Brett sighs. "I don't wanna make any assumptions, Ray. But he has been acting different these past few months."

He definitely has been. The subtle, accidental touches lately seemed to stick out more prominent in both their heads, and in the air around them. He often looks up to see Eddy staring at him in a quiet way. And, unfortunately for Brett, the awkward silence thing that used to be foreign to them is now becoming more of a habit.

Even with all that aside, something just seems—off. With both Eddy and the air between them.

"So the fans and the fanfictions predicted it, hey?" Ray teases. "Who's going to get down on one knee first?"

Brett can already tell Ray's smirking at him and wiggling his eyebrows on the other end. He groans, and Ray laughs.

"Now's not the time, Ray," Brett hisses into the phone, and he's met with more jovial laughter.

"Alright, sorry. Does 'different' in this situation mean he might be feeling differently towards you lately?" Ray asks.

Brett pokes out of his room to check if Eddy's back yet. No sign of him. "He makes less eye contact nowadays, jolts at any physical contact, gazes at me differently sometimes—"

Ray sighs. "You're just realizing that now? I guess I'll have to be the first to break the news to you, Brett, so let me tell you, you've been on the receiving end of that gaze for longer than you think."

Brett's not about to tell Ray how much that shocks him. How had he not noticed before? "But I don't know if that's what I want." Brett sighs, too, slumping back down on the bed.

"What do you want, then?"

"I—I don't know." Brett admitted. "I mean, I guess if I did love him that way, I wouldn't mind being more than—agh, I don't know, Ray. I'm just really confused."

He's met with silence from Ray's end, so he keeps speaking. "Besides, we're just friends. We both established that a long time ago. That means he, Eddy Chen, too, established that we're just friends."

"Are you joking? He looks at you like you're his world. Which you are."

"Spoken like a true shipper." Brett rolls his eyes as Ray laughs. "What's your point?"

"Maybe he's in love with you. Maybe he isn't. But don't let that get in the way of your friendship. Everyone knows your bond is worth dying for, right? We'd all hate to see it end."

And it's true. Their bond is worth dying for. It's like playing an instrument. Or really, any hobby or passion. It grows on you until you're really only a quarter of your real self without said passion.

Eddy's grown on him as much as he's grown on Eddy. He still remembers perfectly clear when Eddy had said, "I just can't function without Brett." Clearer than a bell. And more obvious than the sky. And the same could be said for him; he just can't function without Eddy.

"I guess." He hears the door unlock, creak, and slam shut from the other room. "That's Eddy. See you around, Ray."

"Bye, Brett! I'll get the flowers by next week!"

Brett rolls his eyes as he hangs up, cutting off Ray's hysterical laughter. He sets his phone on his nightstand as he goes to see Eddy.

Eddy has three shopping bags slung on his arms and a cup of coffee in one hand.

"Welcome back," Brett says as he takes the bags from Eddy. "God, these are heavy." Eddy chuckles as Brett sets the bags down on the table.

"I managed to find everything but the eggs." Eddy says as he takes everything out from the bags alongside Brett. "I also went to the cafe to talk with Jordon. Got you this, it's still warm."

"Ooh, thanks. Needed one today." Brett takes the coffee and sips. "What'd you talk to Jordon about?"

"Just discussing a new composition idea." Eddy replies. "I was thinking about having him do another, so..." He slides a box into the fridge. "He said he'll send the MIDI version soon."

"Oh, cool. What's the theme?" Brett asks.

He doesn't miss the way a slight tinge of pink rises to Eddy's cheeks. "Let's keep that a secret for now."

"You're going to kill me with suspense, hey?" Brett says, and Eddy smiles.

"Yeah. Anyways," Eddy says, "anything happen while I was gone?"

"Yeah. I burned down your room, found the hidden theme in Elgar's enigma variations—" Brett counts on his fingers, "—and I thought I'd end world hunger while I was at it," he finishes sarcastically, and Eddy laughs.

"The dawning of the Yang revolution, hey?" Eddy stows away the last of the groceries before walking on his way to the filming room, motioning for Brett to follow. "Should we film that video idea you had?"

"Sure. I just need to change into my Twoset Apparel, gimme a few minutes."