Despite what his parents might tell you, Murphy is not panicking.
Sure, it may look like he’s panicking. He’s brushed Kneil about six more times than necessary, and he can admit that the only reason he hasn’t done it a seventh time is that Kneil extends his claws whenever Murphy gets near him now. His room is immaculate with how much he’s tidied it. He is, in fact, currently wheeling back and forth around the house in what may be considered “pacing.” He’s not panicking, though. It’s excitement. Not nerves.
Maybe if he keeps telling himself that, he’ll start believing it.
See, all his parents know is that a friend from school is bringing his cat over for a playdate with Kneil, and thus they have no idea what’s got Murphy all up in a tizzy. The truth is that Rowan is coming over for the first time. You know, Rowan Khanna. Murphy’s boyfriend. The boyfriend who’s never seen him outside of school before.
And sure, they share a dorm at school. It’s not like they’ve never seen each other out of uniform or anything (not that that stopped Murphy from changing outfits four times already, and he’s considering making it a nice five). They’ve been dating a decent amount of time, too - two months, eighteen days, twenty one hours, forty six minutes, and nine seconds - so realistically, this isn’t an “early in the relationship” type of date where Rowan could decide that actually, never mind, he’s not interested. Although...
They haven’t physically seen each other since school let out. The 30th of June to now, the 22nd of August, rounding up to a full twenty four hours for simplicity, is fifty days out of the seventy seven that they’ve officially been dating, which means they’ve only actually been in contact about thirty five point one percent of the time they’ve been together. And while it’s true that Rowan hasn’t missed a single day of consecutive letters that are absolutely not in a box at the back of Murphy’s closet, fifty days (or roughly sixty four point nine percent of their total relationship) is a long time to not see someone in person. It’s completely possible that the spark is gone. Rowan might see him today and realize he would rather just be friends. Which is something that Murphy would respect, of course, but, well. It’d hurt.
At this point he’s just going to accept that he’s panicking. It seems like the logical course of action here. Of course, right as he’s accepted his nerves and decided that he should probably try breathing, the doorbell chimes.
Unfortunately, Murphy is at the wrong end of the house, so it’s his mother who opens the door to greet Rowan and - oh, wow, that is quite possibly the fluffiest cat Murphy has ever seen. Majestic, really. It’s almost enough to distract him from Rowan in a t-shirt and shorts and oh wow, breathing is important. Where Murphy decided to take a smart-casual approach with a nice polo, Rowan is clearly dressed for pure comfort; for some reason it’s doing things to Murphy’s head.
Kneil is entirely unaffected. He confidently struts up to his fuzzy home invader for a greeting, which Fuzzclaw (very aptly named) cheerfully accepts, and thank Merlin for that, because if their pets had disliked each other Murphy had calculated a twenty two point eight percent chance of a break up, so that’s no longer something he needs to worry about.
He hears his mother exclaim about how cute the cats are - well, cat and kneazle, technically speaking, though they are adorable - before excusing herself to the back garden. He hears Rowan cooing, sees Rowan kneel down to pet the two fluffy new friends, sees the brilliant grin Rowan flashes him. He’s fully aware of what’s happening. It’s just that, well... embarrassingly enough, Murphy is pretty sure his jaw is hanging open. Despite being more of the practical type, there’s nothing but domestic daydreams in his head right now of him and Rowan in a nice house similar to this one but much further into the countryside, with their three cats because of course they would need one together and oh god now he’s picturing kids -
Two months, eighteen days, twenty one hours, fifty two minutes, and thirty three seconds. He’s definitely jumping the starting whistle a bit, which is a foul in Quidditch and usually a bad idea in dating. Murphy finally closes his mouth and enters the room fully instead of lingering in the hall like a crazy person.
Rowan is staring by now, still smiling but likely confused as to why Murphy hasn’t said anything, which is fair, and Murphy definitely should say something, though he can’t quite seem to manage it. A "hello" would be a good start. Although: there are ways to greet people without words, and they are dating...
When his boyfriend giggles into the kiss, Murphy almost sighs in relief.
aka part one of my 'Rowan is gay no matter what gender they are' agenda
Ship: m!Rowan/Murphy 💙🦅
Date: June 3rd, 1989 (fifth year)
Rowan quickly decided that the view from the Commentary Box was the best. Well, of course it was, logistically speaking, it needed to be so that Murphy could accurately describe what was going on to the whole crowd, but he hadn't realized just how much better it was up here. The view was easily worth the amount of stairs he'd had to climb. He'd only thought about asking to be levitated like Murphy a few times.
It still felt like he was somewhere he wasn't supposed to be, despite none of the professors telling Rowan to rejoin his fellow Ravenclaws. Murphy had said that he was allowed to have a friend or two with him, but Rowan had never seen anyone else be invited up here until today. He hoped that meant he was special.
Murphy was as animated as ever, speaking fast enough to not miss a single detail of the match. Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor, playing for the Quidditch Cup - it was a big deal. It was big enough, in fact, that Murphy seemed to be having a spot of trouble remaining unbiased.
"An excellent block by the Ravenclaw keeper," he exclaimed. "Better luck next time, Gryffindor!"
After a while, Rowan found himself no longer paying attention to the match at all, instead watching Murphy. He really was in his element up here; it was no surprise that he'd been the commentator since he first arrived at Hogwarts. Murphy was clever, too, if his creative strategies were anything to go off of. He'd been sneakily helping Ravenclaw win from behind the scenes all year. Rowan wondered if Madam Hooch had actually not caught on, or if she simply didn't care enough to stop him.
"Gryffindor's seeker spots the snitch!" Murphy announced, and the Ravenclaw seeker's neck nearly snapped with how fast she turned it.
Rowan watched as she pushed her broom to the absolute limits, Murphy ignoring a goal from Gryffindor to cheer her on, much to Professor McGonagall's annoyance. Gryffindor's seeker dove hard to the right, causing Ravenclaw's to fly past him, but the maneuver backfired when the snitch darted to the left instead, directly into the Ravenclaw seeker's outstretched hand. She stared at it in shock before lifting it high above her head with a victory cry.
"Ravenclaw has caught the snitch!" Murphy shouted. "With 320 points, Ravenclaw wins the match!"
Professor Flitwick nearly fell off the bench behind Rowan as he scrambled to set off a Blue Sparks charm in his excitement. The crowd down in the stands went absolutely wild, screaming and throwing hats, scarves, whatever they could as they rushed out of the stands to congratulate the winning team. Rowan had little interest in being a part of that stampede, so he stayed right where he was.
It had nothing to do with wanting to talk to Murphy, who looked positively ecstatic that Ravenclaw had won.
"I knew they could do it!" he told Rowan. "That last bit of broomwork was some of the most impressive I've ever seen! Even if she hadn't gotten to the snitch first, I've never seen someone with an older model be able to catch up to someone like that - I suspect that Gryffindor will demand a detection spell on that broom to make sure it wasn't enchanted, which it wasn't obviously because she'd never do that - "
"Parkin would," Rowan interjected.
Murphy narrowed his eyes, considering. " ...fair. But did you see? That strategy I invented for the beaters saved our chasers from eighty-seven-point-three percent of the bludgers, a twenty-two-point-five percent increase from the last match - "
Rowan leaned against the ledge of the box, jaw in his hand as he listened. Admittedly, he hadn't been watching the beaters much, but he'd been Murphy's guinea pig for explaining the new strategy so he knew exactly what he was talking about. The whole thing had almost made Rowan wish that he'd tried out for the team when there was an opening, but he knew he was better off watching. He was a member of the much more relaxed Quidditch Club and it suited him just fine.
"Do you think they'll have to test if the snitch was charmed too?" Rowan asked, cutting Murphy off again.
Murphy hummed. "About a fifty-six-point-eight percent chance, if they have the broom checked."
"Where do you come up with these numbers?"
"Incredible mental math," Murphy said, and winked.
Rowan laughed, but that wink did things to him... it mostly just made him nervous.
They stayed in the Commentator Box until long after the professors had all cleared out - Professor McGonagall confidently telling Professor Flitwick that he wouldn't be so lucky next year - lost in their talk of strategy and how the team could improve even more next year. They only paused when Orion came up to find Murphy, saying that the team desired his presence at their victory party.
"The jubilance is high, but your energy is missing," Orian said. "Equilibrium will not be found until our guiding hand is present."
Whatever that meant.
"Can't let the team down," Murphy told him. "Any chance you can get me out of here?"
"Of course. Allow me to reach the ground first. Walk with me?" Orion asked, addressing Rowan.
"Oh," Rowan said, caught off guard. "Yeah, sure. See you in a minute, McNully."
Too many stairs, Rowan thought to himself, trying to breathe evenly so that Orion didn't notice his struggle. Orion had such a grace to him, both in flight and on the ground, which was something that Murphy brought up frequently when brainstorming strategies. Orion simply wasn't an aggressive enough player for a good portion of the well known strategies, which is why Murphy started inventing new ones in the first place. The way he talked about it, Orion was actually an advantage to Ravenclaw, because he made moves that none of his opponents ever saw coming. He was well deserving of being the captain of the team.
"The two of you seem well in harmony," Orion said, startling Rowan.
"Huh?"
Orion smiled knowingly. "I expect good news soon in regards to you both. Maybe even today?"
Rowan was certain that he was bright red. "I don't know what you're implying," he protested.
"You do."
Well then.
They stepped out into the sunlight, and Orion raised his wand to levitate Murphy out of the box. Rowan wondered why no one had thought to install an elevator, even if it had to be a manual one due to the high magic saturation in the air near the castle. Surely that would be easier than this? Maybe he should suggest the idea to Professor Flitwick the next time he met with him.
"Ah, solid ground," Murphy said, wheeling over to Rowan and Orion. "Party time!"
"Indeed," Orion agreed.
Murphy turned his head. "Hey, Khanna, you coming?"
Rowan scratched the back of his neck, suddenly very nervous. "I mean, it's in the common room, so I guess I have to, don't I?"
"Reluctance, that's the spirit!" Murphy joked.
Orion tilted his head, that knowing smile reappearing. "Perhaps, Murphy, you should accompany him, so he does not feel left out."
Too busy glaring at Orion, Rowan almost missed Murphy turning red.
"I think it's an excellent idea, don't you?" Orion pressed.
Murphy cleared his throat with a cough. "Yeah, yeah, I could do that. Easy. We can continue our conversation," he added, quickly regaining confidence. "I may take you on properly as a strategy apprentice, Khanna. You've got good insights."
Rowan's voice cracked when he laughed. If only a Cursed Vault would suddenly open, causing a terrible emergency. Alas, the earth never opens up and swallows you when you want it to.
It's almost time for Season 2 Orphan Black, so before that happens relive the glory that was Season 1 with our Top 20 'Holy crap, this show owns Rophy' moments!
