i call it magic (when i'm with you)

iii

He's usually stone-faced in the stands whenever he watches Eddy play; everyone and their mother's better off not seeing the worry that itches underneath his skin, hoping he never has to see Eddy get injured by a ball or a fall. And anyway, the one and only time Brett tries to yell out support for Eddy while he's playing, the other man nearly falls off his broom in delight, so. He thinks it's probably not a good idea to try that again.

Hyung, on the other hand, is ecstatic while watching this play out on the pitch, which might also be tied to that age-old rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor aside from plain old amusement, but that's not really something Brett's an expert on. "Merlin's beard, he's fucking whipped!"

He can feel the blush coming on, heat warming his cheeks like he's standing in front of a furnace. Gods, but this is embarrassing. He wants and is ready to cast a few spells to physically sink down through the bulk of the stands and into the earth, but he made a promise to Eddy he'd be here, so that's just a no go. "Shut up, shut up!"

"Don't shut up," Sophie cackles beside him, clapping her hands together as the team from her house scores ten points. "Hufflepuff will win if you keep this up!"

Brett buries his face in his hands, so very close to dissolving into nothingness right then and there, but Gryffindor eventually wins the match, Eddy stating that it's all thanks to the 'call of his clever eagle lover', so he supposes there's at least something to salvage from the situation, even if it makes him want to throw himself in the lake and feed himself to the Grindylows.

*

This fake dating thing: he thought he'd be able to handle it. They'd escalated things a little bit: now, there's a few more shared kisses here and there, a few more acts of intimacy sprinkled throughout each day, the bulk of his free time now entirely taken up by weekend dates at Hogsmeade and shared study sessions and watching his boyfriend fly around the Quidditch pitch while he works through new music pieces with a quill. But ultimately, he's fine with all of those. It's not like he's never experienced them before.

So, he thought he'd be able to handle all of that. That had been before the love letters started showing up.

The first time he receives one, he thinks it's for someone else. For either Ray or Hilary, specifically, because they've both got their own fair share of admirers, and they're seated on either side of him in the Great Hall when the owls start flying in to deliver the morning mail.

"No, but it's got your name on it, though?" Ray squints at the pink-tinged envelope with barely-concealed confusion, his finger rubbing at the elegant scrawl of Brett's name on the back of it. "Oh, wait, hold on—isn't this a Lovebird to Love Note spell?"

Across from him, Jordon swallows down a mouthful of corn flakes before chiming in. "Fifth-Year Transfiguration?"

"It is," Brett murmurs quietly; he'd been hoping no one would catch on to that little tidbit. "Why'd it be addressed to me, then? I've already got, y'know," he pauses, mentally sorting through appropriate words and terms and picking the least dangerous one, "a partner."

"Why don't you just open it and see what it says," Hilary quips, her toast momentarily forgotten as she peers at the letter with interest. "Go on!"

Well, what else can he do? Brett carefully breaks the seal of the letter, watching as it shifts, floating up into the air as it morphs into a form that looks like a Howler, but far more benign. The envelope's mouth is smiling, for Merlin's sake.

And then it begins to sing, and yep, this is definitely not like a Howler.

Oh, blue-bronzed eagle, you breathtaking soul,