(love)birds of a feather

chapter seven

And trust his brain to push forward the most random, most out-of-the-blue thoughts, romantic in character, despite consciousness of the fact that Eddy Chen is his best friend, nothing more—

He picks him.

Wait. What?

Brett averts his gaze and directs it elsewhere instead. Not in love with him, not in love with him, not in love with him. He regains his footing. "—one out of those two. Alright!" Brett claps his hands. "Round one!"

♡ ♡ ♡

All the while, Eddy's taking his leisure behind the camera, laughing over how he made Brett do this alone, joking at Brett's indecisiveness, observing as Brett evaluates each musician's playing.

Deep down, though, is a different story.

He'd refuse to admit it out loud, but Eddy can't help but be just a teeny bit jealous.

Fine. Very jealous.

As each musician steps up to play their instrument, to have a conversation with Brett, Eddy wishes he was there in that line. That Brett would just turn his back to the whole blind dating thing altogether and run straight into his arms.

Not gonna happen, Eddy Chen. You aren't in a goddamn movie. Snap out of it.

Jealousy is wanting something—someone, in Eddy's case, that isn't yours. Being territorial is protecting something—someone, in Eddy's case, that's already yours.

How he wishes this was him being territorial.

The person you choose will be so lucky.

♡ ♡ ♡

As Eddy laughs over this situation he's gotten Brett into, Brett can help but soften inside at how jubilant Eddy looks, how his laughter rings through the room and how his smile brings out the sunlight.

He catches his gaze wandering over to him ever so often, despite however much he's trying to focus on the blind-dating.

And Brett can't help but notice, Eddy is as good-looking as most people perceive him; thoughts along those lines run free in his head amidst the small glances, no matter how hard he tries to stop them. But if he's really trying, that's the question.

I'm just trying to see if he's hanging in there, he tells himself with every look.

Because he hasn't forgotten the events up to this minute. He hasn't forgotten the fact that his best friend may or may not be in love with him, his certainty of it growing day by day.

Because he doesn't want to unwittingly break his best friend's heart, whether or not Brett himself feels the same.

Because, theoretically speaking, he wouldn't want to actually date any of the musicians on the other side of the screen.

Because the universe might just be setting him aside for someone else.

Someone possibly right in front of him, yet so invisible all the same in the romance circle.

But for now, he is so coming after Eddy for making him do this.

♡ ♡ ♡

The way Brett asks the question, albeit staring at him, Eddy, is almost enough to make him shiver, under both the gaze and the question.

"If you see someone you like and the only way to get them to have any attraction to you is to sing, and you only have one shot at it, what would you pick? What piece—what song?"